Tales of the Amber Viper Chapter 58
Ferrac's axe-rake snarled as it bit leathery flesh, chewing through the thick hide in a shower of arterial blood. The strike elicited a cry but it was more of anger than pain. The two-legged beast before him roared in outrage and swung a snout filled with sharp teeth at him. As if that wasn't enough the Eldar riding its back stabbed a long lance at his face, the crystal at its tip promising to carve through his plate and penetrate his flesh. Ferrac reacted with blinding speed, grabbing the tip behind its point with his free hand while dropping his left shoulder so the fangs merely tore across his pauldron. The foe seemed dumbfounded by the move and in their moment of hesitation Ferrac lunged in, swinging his weapon at the same spot he had hit before. This time the axe-rake caught, its spinning chainteeth scything through flesh and bone, in one sweep Ferrac dismembered the leg and the beast toppled in with a scream of pain. Instantly Ferra pounced upon the rider, stamping down to snap the Xenos' neck with his broad boot.
The Battle-Captain's chest heaved with exertion and his limbs burned. His plate was equally worn, its reactor pulsing heat across his back in a torrent. Ferrac had lost count of how many foes he had defeated this day but it didn't matter, the Eldar's numbers seemed endless. He glanced up and saw his Amber Vipers beset on all sides. Two-legged beasts with snapping jaws dashed to and fro, leaping upon Assault Marines from unexpected directions. Larger quadrupeds with ivory tusks tried to stomp them into the dirt with huge shelled animals lumbering along, their riders showering the Imperials with arrows. The warriors of Primus were fighting back, using all the savage might of the Adeptus Astartes. Hook-flails, energised tridents and serrated glaives drew alien blood and somewhere the hammering beat of rotor cannons announced that Kerubim and his robot were still fighting on. Ferrac had lost track of time, the battle could have been raging for seconds but to his addled senses it seemed like hours. Yet one thing was clear, the Amber Vipers were outnumbered and outgunned. Unless something changed they would all die upon this blasted hill of toxic earth.
Suddenly he saw one of the largest beasts charging at him, one of those huge shelled creatures. He could see its feet churning up the dirt, the weight of it leaving deep impressions on the ground. He could see the blunt head with gimlet eyes and the heavy layers of shell over its back. But most importantly he could see a team of Eldar riding on its back, swinging some form of missile launcher towards him. Ferrac neither knew nor cared where these feral primitives had got a Craftworld weapon but he knew its effects all too well, one shot from that could kill him. The riders screamed some alien war-cry as they set their sights upon him but Ferrac didn't wait for them to fire, instead he braced his legs and triggered his jump pack.
The turbines over his shoulders wailed for a half-second, then blew forth twin tails of rocket exhaust. Ferrac was wrenched off his feet, flung into the sky a heartbeat before the Eldar could fire. His brain was squeezed by immense forces and the world went grey as blood pooled in his legs, but his body was genhanced and his two hearts thundered, forcing his circulation to compensate. His leap took him high over the battle, arcing over in a steep curve that brought him down right on the creature's back.
Ferrac's boots slammed down with enough force to make the creature's knees buckle and his bones groaned with the impact of landing, yet it threw the Eldar into confusion and dismay. The woad painted Xenos were panicked by the unexpected flight and they reeled in shock, leaving them open to Ferrac's attack. The Battle-Captain swung his axe-rake and the spinning teeth sawed one warrior in half at the waist, then he reversed his swing and slammed the pointed spike on the other side into the back of a staggering Eldar. Two more Eldar came at him with short knives in hand, Ferrac met the first with a punch that shattered ribs and stove in the heart but the other leapt at him, sinking the knife into the exposed gap under his armpit. Ferrac snarled in anger as the knife bit deep but his free hand shot forth and grabbed the leather armour the Xenos wore and yanking it towards him. Simultaneously his head slammed forward, smashing his faceplate into the Eldar's face. Thin and brittle Eldar bone met hardened Ceramite, driven by Astartes muscles and it collapsed under the blow. Ferrac's face was sprayed with brain matter as the Xeno's head imploded, leaving him smeared with gore as the frail alien collapsed with a disgusting mush where its face had been.
Ferrac stepped back and shook his head, trying to clear his eye lenses. It took long moments to clear his vision, precious seconds of vulnerability. Ferrac's sight came back to him and he saw that his weakness had not been ignored, for one last Eldar had grasped the opportunity to swing the missile launcher about and point it right at him. Ferrac was looking down the barrel of a heavy weapon, dotted with tiny openings for micro-missiles. The Eldar grinned as he triggered the weapon, but even as he did so Ferrac's boot lashed out, kicking the barrel to one side just as it fired. A roar of discharge sang forth as streams of missiles shot away, arcing over the battlefield to crash into the rising slope of the hill. The Eldar gunner gaped comically at the sight but Ferrac's sledgehammer gun was already in hand and he fired a single round. The Xenos folded up as the round slammed into him, sending him flying backwards with a shattered spine.
Ferrac grinned at the sight but his triumph was short-lived. The beast under him quailed and shivered as its crew were slain, no it wasn't the animal, it was the ground itself that was shaking. Ferrac's eyes snapped to the hillside and he saw the errant shot of the missile launcher had disturbed the loosely packed earth. Dirt and sod were sliding over each other, pouring away in a mudslide. The dirt must have been a thin covering over the hull of the lost starship for thick metal was revealed beneath, a skin of armour sitting just under the layers of mud piled over it. The earthquake shook the combatants from their feet, Eldar and Space Marine alike staggering and for an instant the fighting paused as everybody stumbled.
At that moment Ferrac realised his vox was blaring and he heard a crackling voice coming in, "rrac can you… is Coluber. We are overr… no choice but to withdraw or the Amber Vipers die in this... vacuating immediately, we cannot spare anyone to..."
Ferrac shouted back, "We hear you, go now, save the Chapter nothing else matters!"
Coluber must have heard him for the vox crackled, "Stand fast my Broth… back for you."
Far away the echoing roar of distant engines heralded the Amber Viper's withdrawal but Ferrac paid that no mind. He was already leaping off his perch, hurling himself at the regrouping Eldar. His axe-rake snarled as it tore a two-legged mount apart and then he ducked under a tusked beast, disembolwing it with a ragged strike. He ran through the mad confusion of the melee, wrecking carnage with every step but the Eldar were many and they were recovering. Swift strikes started coming back at him, probing thrusts looking for a weakness in his plate. He fought them off, knocking aside lances and arrows and whips, he was being battered but holding off the swirling foes, yet others were so fortunate. Even as he watched Brother Mossir was knocked down by a charging beast, its tusks smashing through his breastplate to let thick blood flow down his legs. He fell under the nose of the beast and its crushing feet slammed down, ending the Amber Viper's life in a coffin made of mud.
Ferrac's sledgehammer gun was in his hand and he fired with a cry of righteous outrage, the fat round blowing the rider off the beast and sending him flying away. Furiously Ferrac fired into the melee again and again, intending to empty the clip. He killed an Eldar with every shot, his aim perfect and his kill tally mounting, right until his gun jammed on the last round. Ferrac was stunned by the abrupt machine growl of pain and in that instant another shelled-creature slammed into his back. Ferrac stumbled away, barely keeping his weapons in hand. He spun about to see the huge animal looming over him, its feet rising and the riders trying to target him from on high. He stared death in the face but raised his axe-rake, intending to make the cost of his life dear.
Yet as death descended a small round object curved over the top of the shell: a frag-grenade. A sharp crack announced its detonation and the crew were struck by scores of red-hot shards of shrapnel. The Eldar toppled off it in droves and the creature went mad, charging mindlessly away without direction or control. Ferrac jumped out of its path, reflexively striking out but seeing his axe-rake skitter off the shell without harm. The beast lumbered away and Ferrac saw Sergeant Excelsium running nearer his energised trident caked with blood.
Excelsium dashed up to the Battle-Captain and they slammed back to back as Ferrac yelled, "I had it handled!"
Excelsium replied, "Of course you did, I merely wanted the glory for myself. Bloody thing wouldn't die though, what the hell is that shell made of?"
Ferrac clamped his jammed gun to his thigh and lifted his axe-rake in readiness for the next foe as he growled, "This is it, let's show them how an Astartes dies."
Excelsium spat "What?! I'm not dying this day, the Chapter will come and save us."
Ferrac stated flatly, "They're not coming."
"They what?!" Excelsium cried in shock, "They abandoned us?!
Ferrac snapped, "They had no choice, the Chapter had to be saved. This is our death, and we shall make it glorious. We will hold this ground to the last drop of blood. It's not like we have anywhere to run to anyway."
Excelsium half-turned to look at him and retorted, "Battle-Captain… there's a whole rudding starship laying under our feet."
Ferrac's breath caught in his throat as the realisation hit him, then he opened his vox and cried, "Kerubim, are you still alive?!"
"Barely," Kerubim's voice came back.
Ferrac instantly ordered, "Do you see the crater, the one blown into the hill? Get there and open a way into the starship. We'll keep the Eldar busy while you work."
Kerubim replied, "I see it, but there's no hatch only a blank wall. I can't open a door that isn't there."
Ferrac snapped back, "Don't be dense boy, your robot has a melta-gun: make a door."
The vox snapped off as Ferrac threw himself into the fray shouting, "Fight Amber Vipers, let them see your fury!"
The world became a mad rush of hacking, stabbing weapons, coming at him from all directions. Ferrac strode into the melee with Excelsium at his side. He couldn't see Kerubim anywhere, he could only trust that the boy was working. All he could see were flashing fangs and wicked talons, arrows, tucks, spears, whips and massive feet. It was a mad whirligig of carnage, red and hot and angry and the Battle-Captain at last felt truly in his element. Ferrac slashed and hacked, he kicked and punched and stabbed, taking heavy blows to his plate but giving back twice as much in return. His armour was sprayed with blood, his proud colours covered in sick grime but he hesitated not for a moment, meeting death face to face and forcing it into submission through sheer defiance.
He knew not how long he did this for but suddenly his vox crackled, "Battle-Captain… it's done, we have a way in!"
Ferrac roared as loud as he could, "Take to the skies Brothers!"
From across the melee rose flaming contrails of exhaust as the battered Amber Vipers shot high. Their jump packs tearing them out of the swirling battle and sending them arcing overhead. Ferrac too shot upwards, his body feeling once more the tremendous pressures of the jump but he saw the Eldar left dumbfounded by the unexpected manoeuvre. The assault Marines arced high then fell upon the gaping crater in the hill, where a dark hole had been carved into the hull, its edges dripping molten metal. Kerubim was standing before the hole, his Vorax robot sweeping the nearest enemies with rotor cannon fire as he awaited his comrades. Ferrac's boots hit the earth and he saw others make heavy landings of their own. Brothers Excelsium, Kregulf, Berio, Paneyr, Radfal, Vardat and Seyda. Mossir and Holda were already dead but of Ultua there was no sign.
Ferrac had not seen him fall but a grey icon in his vision told him he had lost another Brother, the life-signs being non-existent. The Battle-Captain snarled in anger and his hearts burned with the desire for revenge but he held his anger in check. The Eldar were already rallying and coming about, one overwhelming charge to finish of the Space Marines once and for all. Ferrac judged they had no chance of beating that and ordered, "Get inside, go, go, go!"
The Amber Vipers piled into the hole, disappearing into the darkness beyond. Ferrac went last save for Kerubim and the robot, who fired one last burst. The Eldar were closing fast, trying to prevent their escape but as they stepped within Kerubim lobbed a grenade up high, arcing it to land above the hole. A second later a detonation shook the hill, bringing down more mud and sod. The ground rumbled as Ferrac hastily stepped deeper into the darkness, seeing a torrent of mud burying the opening.
After a long second the earth stopped moving, leaving the Amber Vipers in a world of darkness. Stablights flashed on as they examined their new surroundings, some nondescript corridor made of metal. Kerubim hastily spoke, "That will only hold them for a minute, we need to relocate fast."
"Follow me," Ferrac ordered, picking a direction at random and setting off.
The squad fell in behind him but Excelsium muttered, "We're lost and outnumbered, abandoned by our Brothers and left for dead. What are we to do?"
As he strode into the depths of the lost starship Ferrac declared, "We do what we always do: first we survive then we adapt, then we find a way to kill anything in our path."