Tales of the Amber Vipers Chapter 61

The harsh glare of stablights penetrated the darkness, the pencil-thin beams illuminating a cavernous hall. Kerubim swept his light back and forth, examining the space in detail. The darkness was cloying and thick and the air heavy with the weight of ages and dust that had been undisturbed for thousands upon thousands of years. Oxygen was marginal and his armour's rad-counter clicked in his ear but it was nothing a Space Marine couldn't handle. Before him was a nave like structure, lined with rising pews on either side. The far wall held an inert Hololithic projector, which was flanked by four decorative arches set against the back wall.

Kerubim judged they had found their goal and said, "If I'm right this should be the secondary bridge."

The Amber Vipers followed him in and Battle-Captain Ferrac growled, "It had better be."

The warriors all looked battered by their fight but they retained a fierce pride. Their heads were held high and weapons held ready. They had suffered pain and loss but survived in the face of impossible odds. Since then they had wandered the depths of the lost ship, searching for anything they could use. Their chronometers told them it had been a day and a night and Kerubim had not been idle, he had slowly begun to piece together the layout of this ship and discerned it was not too contrary from STC designs, in form if not in function. He had seen many things in the depths, many wonders he couldn't understand, but sadly all smashed to ruin. What mysteries might this ship have once carried, what secrets could it have revealed. Sadly, he would never know.

The squad marched up the length of the bridge, dogged by Bane whose cannons swept left and right. Kerubim was glad of the Vorax's presence; his faithful companion had fought hard and slain many Eldar. Sadly the toll had reduced its ammunition stores to thirty percent, but Kerubim didn't begrudge the expenditure of so many bullets. He was certain they would all have been killed without the Vorax's fire support.

He was distracted as Brother Kregulf proclaimed, "I've found something." Kerubim hurried over and saw him examining a console in the pews, one that had lit up at his touch.

"Battery power!" Kerubim exclaimed as he jumped into the aisle and pushed Kregulf aside, "Omnissiah be praised. Whatever the builders used as a storage medium for the Motive Force must have incredible longevity."

"Never mind that," Ferrac snapped, "Can it tell us anything?"

Kerubim examined a glowing runepad and was relieved to see it was a standard STC design, unchanged since mankind first voyaged into the stars. He pressed what should be an awakening rune and was rewarded by nearby hum. Set in a low cage nearby a bulky cogitator slowly stirred, humming loudly as it awoke from millennia of slumber. Kerubim looked for the sacred incense burner, to anoint the Machine Spirits, but was distressed when he saw no such item existed. In fact there were no signs of the Cult Mechanicus, no purity seals, no devotional shrines and no holy prayers inscribed on the walls. To one trained in the Imperial sciences that was disturbing.

Kerubim was distracted as the console lit up with letters and he said, "I've got it… I… wait… what's this gibberish?"

Sergeant Excelsium closed in enquiring, "Problem?"

"Oh, of course," Kerubim mused, "Proto-Gothic, the ancient root tongue of both High and Low Gothic."

"Proto-Gothic," Ferrac spat, "Can you read it?"

Kerubim peered at it and explained, "This language hasn't been spoken aloud in twenty thousand years, but parts of it still inform the Lingua Technis. I can make out something here, its the ship's name and registry. This ship is called the Apophis, a sister ship to the Spartak."

"Spartak class?" Excelsium pondered, "Never heard of it."

"Forget that," Ferrac snapped, "Can it provide anything useful, auspex, vox, internal schematics, anything to give us an edge over the Eldar."

"A working macrocannon would be nice," Excelsium added.

Kerubim bent down and began tapping runes. The language barrier was formidable so it was easier to work in Binaric. He saw a wealth of files laid out before him, some regarding the functions of the ship's workings, others data-archives and crew logs, star-charts and technical readouts. His mouth went dry as he saw the possibility there could be STC patterns held within the cogitator, that alone made all the bloodshed worthwhile, but that would have to wait for later. He focussed on the ship's functions but was stymied by the language barrier, without a clearer grasp of the syntax he was a caveman trying to operate an orbital shuttle.

Kerubim decided to change his approach and hastily constructed a cypher, a translation matrix to smooth the work. It was the work of a few minutes to enter the ritual data-incantations but then a tinny female voice issued from above calling, "Language assimilation complete: updating user interface. Warning, warning, critical damage detected: primary systems are off-line, reactors are non-functional, Soulbound is not responding. Emergency protocols are in effect."

Kerubim looked up in wonder and exclaimed, "The Machine Spirit awakens, Praise the Omnissiah!"

Heads lifted but their wonder was cut short as the voice uttered, "Unknown presence detected in auxiliary control centre. State your security clearance immediately or be deemed hostile."

Weapons raised as Excelsium growled, "That doesn't sound good."

Kerubim cried, "Blessed Machine, look not upon these humble questors with anger, we seek only enlightenment!"

Yet the voice only uttered, "Your security clearance is invalid. All hands: intruder alert, intruder alert. No response from ship's officers, activating autonomous defence units: Cadmus protocols are authorised."

There was a harsh squeal of noise and all eyes darted to the far end of the bridge, where the four arches were shaking dirt from their surfaces. Rusty growls hissed from every edge and three of them clunked and whirred in a tangled snarl of broken machinery, yet the fourth drew back to reveal a chamber beyond. Hidden behind the arch was a looming form, twice the height of a Space Marine. It was a mechanical humanoid, somewhat similar to a Castellan robot of the Legio Cybernetica but bigger and more menacing. Within a thick layer of armour strange devices whirred and growled, making the air vibrate with hostility. Its wide-sprayed feet gripped the cold deck with claws as big as a man's torso and its arms ended with bulky fists while clamped to the backs of its forearms were two looming cannons. It had rounded pauldrons over its shoulders and a sensor-dome head with many eye lenses was protected by a looming cowl of armour.

Everybody drew back as it took a lurching step forward, moving away from its bulk as hostile red eye lenses glinted in the gloomy darkness. Kerubim was amazed, a working battle-automaton from the Dark Age of Technology was right in front of him, a wonder made manifest. It was a holy artefact of the Machine God, a fragment of divine knowledge. Yet his professional eye noted it was in a poor state. Its movements were awkward and jerky, the joints filled with the debris of millennia neglect. It was dragging one leg behind it, like it was lame and all the lights on the right side of its head were dark and cold. Its original colours were indistinguishable, buried under a layer of mould and its fists did not crackle with energy as they must surely be meant to. For a moment Kerubim thought it was non-viable, but then its right arm came up and a red blast of ravaging power shot out of its cannon.

"Scatter!" Ferrac shouted an instant before it fired, and Kerubim threw himself out of the way as the blast tore into the pews. A brilliant explosion lit up the room as the pews melted, solid metal running like water before the intensity of the detonation. Kerubim gasped, for the shot had chewed through matter like plasma weaponry, yet his rad-counter screamed in alarm, wailing that the blast had unleashed a shower of radioactive particles.

A low growl announced the cannon recharging as Ferrac shouted, "Suppressing fire!" The Assault Marines darted up out of cover and fired their pistols, sending mass-reactive rounds to ping off the automaton's hide. Unfortunately the thick armour was impervious to their light fire and the robot slowly lifted its left arm to point at them. A loud whine arose but to Kerubim's surprise nothing happened, no blast of power shot forth to attack them, no searing ball of radioactive energy. He half-rose from his position and cried, "It's not working!"

A second later Excelsium slammed into him, throwing them both aside as the robot fired. Another blast blazed into the pews, chewing metal apart as Excelsium snarled, "Stay down you idiot." Kerubim was horrified to realise the robot had been faking its disability, pretending to be impotent to lure him out of cover. It was a shocking display of intelligence, far more than any doctrine of the Machine Cult would permit and he grasped that this automaton had a mind of its own.

The robot came about to face him directly, raising both arms in readiness to fire and Kerubim knew one direct hit would melt his armour to slag. Yet before it could fire a spray of bullets pinged off its hide, rotor cannon fire falling like hail. Kerubim's head snapped about and he saw Bane charging forth, pounding forward with its melta-gun swinging about. Kerubim' hearts soared and he knew the weapon could penetrate that thick hide, but alas it seemed the robot knew it too. The automaton took a lumbering step forward and swung its arms upwards, catching Bane with a vicious uppercut that sent it flying away. Bane hit the deck and squealed in distress as it fought to get its feet back under it, leaving the automaton unharmed. The Vorax's attack had failed, yet it had bought a moment of distraction.

"Charge!" Ferrac roared and as one the squad rose up and ran for all they were worth. Kerubim was with them and he saw the Astartes pile in, surrounding the robot on all sides. Chain glaives roared, energised tridents hacked at plates and knives were shoved into joints as they sought a weak spot. The robot roared mechanically and swung wide but this was the Amber Viper's element and they dodged its clumsy blows with ease. Kerubim bunched up and jumped as high as he was able, grabbing onto its back and clinging on as it thrashed about. He saw an opening in the armour plates, time exposing a weak spot, and plunged his hand inside, feeling complex circuitry within. He gripped a handful of components and pulled hard, ripping out arcane sub-molecular processors and quantum relays in a shower of sparks.

Abrupt silence fell as the robot went still, its movements grinding to halt like a puppet with its strings cut. Kerubim held on for long seconds, unsure as to whether it was faking. Normally Kerubim would have considered that notion laughable but today he was not so sure, the Cadmus automaton had displayed an eerie intelligence and he had a dark suspicion the machine mind within was of an order no Sanctioned Tech-Priest of the Cult Mechanicus would have ordained. Thankfully the machine's cunning did not extend this far and with a thud the internal mechanisms ground to a halt, going silent as their direction was cut off.

Finally Kerubim let go and dropped to the deck to look about. The bridge was wrecked, shattered consoles and broken cabling hanging from the roof, it looked like a battlefield and the rad-count caused his autosenses to click furiously. The other Amber Vipers stood dumbfounded, unsure if the robot was really dead. Kerubim was heartened to see none had fallen, though he knew that owed far more to the automaton's dilapidated condition than their skill.

Unexpectedly Battle-Captain Ferrac slapped him on the shoulder proclaiming, "It's dead. Well done boy, I knew you had it in you."

Sergeant Excelsium snorted, "High praise indeed, the Captain must like you. I think you've made a friend for life."

Kerubim bowed his head in acceptance but a moment later saw Bane limping nearer, the Vorax hunched over like a kicked mastiff. The hunter-killer had been humbled by the battering it had received and limped to its master, head bowed. Kerubim reached out and patted it affectionately saying, "When we shall return to the workshop I shall soothe your aliments with the proper rituals."

Meanwhile Brother Kregulf idly tapped one of the bulky cannons built into the robot's arms saying, "I've never seen the like, what are these?"

Kerubim half-turned and said, "Some form of plasma weapon."

Kregulf muttered, "It was dirty stuff, my rad-counter is deafening."

"STC plasma weapons utilise fusion power," Kerubim mused, "I suppose this could be fission based instead."

Excelsium cocked his head and said, "It's a fission-blaster."

Kerubim blinked in surprise and asked, "You've seen these before?"

"No, he hasn't," Ferrac snorted, "He just made up the name."

The Battle-Captain stepped away from the robot and started walking towards the door but Kerubim called, "Captain wait, look!" From the inert Hololithic projector a soft glow was starting to emerge, while the bulky cogitator was humming loudly and Kerubim had no idea what mystery it was churning out of its eldritch depths this time. A wavering form was starting to emerge in the beam, a human outline and all weapons pointed at it as Ferrac snarled, "What fresh devilry is this?"

Kerubim however looked at one of the few surviving consoles and said, "I don't think it's another attack, its some form of recording."

Slowly the image of a human appeared in hololithic form, a mortal man in a soft grey tunic and trousers. He was utterly unremarkable, plain-faced with thinning hair and stubble upon his chin. Yet his eyes held great sadness and he looked harried, like he was recording in great haste. His lips were moving and fuzzy words blared from a tinny speaker, yet they did not match. Kerubim realised the man was speaking his native language and the cogitator was still translating for their benefit. The recording finished then started again and Kerubim moved to a console, pressing a few runes to clear up the audio feed.

Slowly the voice clear, hashed by static and untranslatable phrases but this time they could make out some of his words, "This is the last log of Captain Pic… mander of the proud ship Apophis. Our counter-offensive… end this bitter war has failed… ambushed as we entered the Mournful Abyss. We have been boarded by Rangdan Cerabvores, we destroyed many waves of claw-craft but … my ship's Soulbound projects we cannot hold... Our payload… wipe their nest clean but now it will fall into their claws… that happen, I won't allow it… nearby planet, trusting that the impact will kill them along with us… is uninhabited or our payload will surely make it so. I commend my officers for their unflinching dedication and… Log is found you must take an urgent message to the Hegemony, tell Star Command they have underestimated the Rangdan, they are building… and find Captain Veronic, tell her she was right. Humanity should never have… Halo Stars were not meant for mankind. This is Captain P…"

The message looped around again and Excelsium spat, "That's it? Useless Grox-fondler, if he weren't dead already I would kill him for wasting our time."

Kerubim too was disappointed, he had hoped for more but Ferrac surprised them all by saying, "He's given us everything."

Kerubim frowned as he asked, "What do you mean?"

Ferrac sounded eager as he uttered, "The legends were wrong, this is no colony ship, no meek passenger liner, this vessel is a ship-killer and world burner."

Excelsium sounded lost as he asked, "How does that help us?"

Ferrac explained, "This is a warship and warships have weapons. Follow me Amber Vipers; we're going to unearth this ship's secrets, no matter what it takes."