Tales of the Amber Vipers Chapter 75

Kerubim blinked as he emerged from the depths of the Apophis, stepping out onto the surface of the world. His armour immediately noted the surge in toxin levels, threatening to overwhelm the blessed seals and its spirit locked the airflow to internal stores, effectively cutting him off from the atmosphere. Even so his armour was at the verge of tolerances, the toxicity of the air clawing at his armour even as thick spores tried to cover his eye lenses and block his vision.

Kerubim forced himself to take another step onto the world and peered about, looking for the dropship. Sure enough the looming bulk of the Angantyr was just visible through the murk, sitting where he had left it, its bow open and ramps extended to receive him. Kerubim hastily advanced towards it, followed eagerly by Bane and ten Brothers of Primus Cohort, all in sealed power armour. It had to be sealed for no other protection could withstand the lethal quagmire the atmosphere had become, tainted with spores that multiplied like crazy. Already Kerubim's armour was coated in the stuff, its black flecks building up in his joints as he walked.

A few hours earlier the survivors of the battle in the depths had broken out onto the surface, only to be surprised to find the Amber Vipers waiting for them. Jubilant greetings had been offered and boastful tales exchanged of their various battles, but they had been brief. Within minutes the deadly mould the Chapter had unleashed began to encroach on the lost starship's position, making it hard for the mortals to breathe. Chapter Master Coluber had ordered the Huscarls and lighter-armoured Brothers to withdraw back to base, to commence an emergency evacuation back to orbit and send the Angantyr to their location. Only Primus Cohort remained to salvage the Apophis' treasures, a most difficult and dangerous operation.

Kerubim glanced back at the squad and felt his skin crawl. In their arms were carried strange containers, canisters of lethal viruses and artefacts of dread power and malevolence. In their all too vulnerable arms rested spheres holding nanobots killers, warp-funnels, psionic ravagers and devices that could rend reality itself. It made Kerubim's bowels loosen to imagine what would happen if just one of the containment wards failed, the loss of every single Brother left on the planet would only be the beginning. Kerubim wasn't sure that removing these devices from the secret vaults was a good idea and he wondered if the Chapter Master grasped how lethal this ordnance was. Sadly orders were orders, Coluber had decreed the Chapter would claim the spoils of this place and Kerubim was in no position to argue.

While he had been walking the alarms in his helm's vision were soaring worryingly high. This already contaminated place was getting worse by the second. The lands around them were a festering quagmire of disintegrating wood and grass, becoming putrid swamps that bubbled poisonous gases. The terrible blight the Amber Vipers had unleashed seemed to be growing more toxic by the second. Perhaps it was due to the increasing scale of the rot or perhaps some strange interaction between the contaminated landscape and the mould, either way Kerubim was eager to be somewhere else.

He hastily put his foot on the ramp of the dropship and hastened inside, followed by his Brothers. At the top of the ramp plastek screens, specially coated in bleaching agents, had been erected to seal off spores from entering. They already looked heavy with mould but Kerubim stepped through an opening to enter a disinfection area. Once inside the Brothers were doused with chemical agents and caustic liquids, killing off any spores that coated their armour. Black runnels poured off Kerubim's plate, draining away dead microbes and fungal spores. He endured this for several minutes until he was waved through. He stepped within the dropship proper and directed the Brothers to secure their trophies alongside those already claimed. The wide floor of the Dropship was filled with weapons stolen from the hidden armoury. It had taken almost a dozen round trips to empty the vault but now the Amber Vipers had a substantial supply of Fission-Blasters, Volkite pistols, Burst-lances, rad-grenades, Bileflamers and other items. The sight of so much arcane lore on display made Kerubim's head spin, what he could learn from studying them, such secrets as mankind had not known for countless millennia. Dotted among the weapons were the strange armours, Kerubim wasn't certain that he could find any use for those but who knew what mysteries they would reveal.

He heard a heavy footfall behind him and turned to see three Space Marines approaching: Master Coluber, Battle-Captain Ferrac and Apothecary Shrios. They were all wearing their helms, nobody was willing to risk breathing the air even inside the supposedly safe interior. The youth bowed low and said, "My lord, this is the last. I must urge haste, I wish to secure these weapons as soon as possible."
"A special facility on the Wyvern is being set aside for them," Coluber affirmed, "Any sign of Eldar in the depths?"

Kerubim answered, "A few sightings but nothing threatening. The survivors seemed to be looking for a way out. We avoided confrontations."
"Hah, let the knife-ears run," Ferrac scoffed, "If they step outside they will choke to death and if they stay they will starve in the depths."Kerubim replied, "I doubt it will take that long, toxicity is creeping in. The ship won't be viable much longer."

Coluber nodded sagely and said, "I am pleased by your swift work."
"You're not the only one," Shrios muttered, "At the rate the toxicity level is rising we wouldn't be able to stick around for another run."

Coluber ignored that as he said, "The base is evacuated, though they had to leave many heavy structures behind. A shame but with this bounty we gain more than we lose, in the long run."
Kerubim asked, "What of Dewmar and Anaxar squads?"
Coluber informed him, "They have nearly finished excavating the Howling Griffon's equipment. They report there is one more tank to unearth, a big one, then they shall board Viper's Bite and Poisoned Fang and depart this planet."

Coluber hadn't forgotten the wealth of Astartes gear left in the forest and had sent two squads back to finish what the Amber Viper's had started, while the remainder worked to loot the lost starship. They had been forced to travel in Thunderhawks, for nothing else could have flown through the torpid mix the air had become. The gunships and the Angantyr were the last Amber Viper presences on the planet, and when they left Athelling would be nought but a memory to the Chapter. Kerubim's mouth went dry at the prospect of what he would find waiting for him when they returned to orbit so he asked, "Are we done?"

"Almost," Coluber replied, "Squad Treno is on its way back from the secondary bridge and then we can leave."
"Finally," Ferrac snarled, "I can't wait to get off this planet and get Primus Cohort back into training."

Shrios looked at him and said, "You're going nowhere save to the Apothecarion. Your face needs attention."
Ferrac was indeed a state, his armour battered and broken, not least the hideous ruin of his faceplate. Yet the Battle-Captain muttered, "It can wait."
"No it can't," Shrios barked, "The burns I could have repaired with skin grafts but the rad-exposure killed your nerve endings. You will have no feeling in your face without extensive medical interventions. You can expect to be spending months on a surgical slab."

Ferrac sniffed, "I don't have time for that, I have Warriors to hammer into shape and wars to fight."
"Do you want to walk about with dead flesh dropping off your face?"
Ferrac replied dismissively "Kerubim can forge me an augmetic."

Kerubim blinked as he replied, "Battle-Captain I am not sure my skills could meet your requirements. The best I can give you is a fashioned mask, to cover your features. I'd have to fuse it directly to the bones, you'd never be able to remove it."
Ferrac sounded intrigued as he said, "A mask? A war mask with savagery written all over it… I like the sound of that."

Coluber's head turned as he queried jestingly, "You desire to walk about with a faceplate fused to your head? You'd look like some savage barbarian warlord at best, a monster at worst."
Ferrac sounded genuinely amused as he said, "You make it sound better and better. Kerubim get to work as soon as we return to orbit, I expect you to make me look like the wrath of the Emperor made manifest. I shall need if I am to whip any hint of sedition out of Primus Cohort."

Coluber's voice lowered and all trace of amusement vanished as he said, "I scarcely believed it when you told me of Excelsium's betrayal. To think one of our own could turn against us, it strikes to the very core of me, of all Amber Vipers."

All eyes turned to a corner, where Excelsium's armour lay. The body had gone putrid over the course of several days and the stench of it would have scoured the nostrils, were they breathing open air. Still the armour itself had been too valuable to lose, so Ferrac had gone to retrieve it himself. Kerubim still found it hard to believe the Sergeant had turned against his Chapter but Shrios didn't sound so concerned as he said, "It was only one aberration, one misguided soul. Nothing to distress the rest of the Vipers with."

Coluber however said, "I disagree, this is could be but the first sign of a deeper flaw. How many more think as he did, how many hold their own personal glory higher in esteem than their duty to Chapter and Emperor?"
Ferrac snarled, "If one can turn more can, it cannot be allowed. We did not build this Chapter up from nothing only to watch it slide into Heresy."

Coluber concurred, "I know we have played fast and loose with our discipline but I would slit the throats of every single Amber Viper with my own two hands before I allowed another Heretic to arise among us. Better to be dead than Traitors."
Shrios nodded as he agreed, "I understand, I won't let such treachery happen, not again."

Kerubim wasn't certain what the trio meant, for their words sounded vehement. He did not think they meant Excelsium alone but as always he was excluded from their deliberations. He drew in a breath and questioned, "What do you intend to do?"Coluber breathed, "Something must change. Our training and hypno-indoctrination have proved inadequate. We need something else, something sterner. I shall meditate upon the issue another day. For now let us secure our prizes and be off."

Kerubim turned as another group of Space Marines entered the drop-ship. It was Sergeant Treno and his squad. The warriors were lead by Vardat, who suffered the chemical showers with annoyance written all over him. Kerubim spied the others carrying a Cogitator core, torn from the Apophis' bridge and three bulkier forms. These were battle-automata, similar to the one that had attacked the Amber Vipers on the bridge. Their frames were so large and cumbersome it took three Space Marines to carry each one and they set the machines down with relieved grunts. The sight of the automatons worried Kerubim, the Cadmus-robots had proved dangerously intelligent, not to mention heavily armed. Yet they were badly damaged and non-functional. Studying them may prove interesting, but in his heart of hearts he intended to make repairing them a low priority. Coluber turned from the sight and declared, "That is the last, seal the hatch and take off."

The great doors began to close and the ramps retracted as the dropship prepared to depart. Kerubim took one last look out the diminishing gap and saw a world beset by poison and contagion, lost to the contamination his Chapter had set loose. He had no love for the Eldar but the lost chance to explore the Apophis and uncover its secrets gnawed at him and he said, "I wonder if we can ever return, there is so much more to learn here."
"I doubt it," Ferrac muttered, "This region will be uninhabitable for thousands of years, maybe more. Even in power armour I wouldn't risk it."

Shrios concurred, "We have other concerns, the decontamination procedures awaiting us will be arduous. I won't let anything off this dropship until I am satisfied not a single spore made it inside."
Coluber walked away as he said, "You do that, I intend to browse our prizes. I spied a remarkable Null Collar that would complement my armour and a Volkite pistol would suit a Chapter Master most well."
Ferrac muttered, "You can have mine, I prefer my sledgehammer gun, I miss breaking spines."

As they departed Bane inched nearer and Kerubim placed a gauntlet on its head. Together they watched the dropship's doors close and Athelling disappeared as the engines began to rumble. As the Amber Vipers departed forevermore Kerubim rubbed the Vorax's casing soothingly and pondered what mysteries lay before him. The deepest secrets of the Machine God were within his grasp and he did not intend to stop exploring until he had mastered them all. He envisioned a future where he strode the stars as a Techmarine proper, using his lore with a cold heart and a fast blade, as was the Amber Viper's way. But that was a matter for another day, right now he had labours to tend to. So he turned his face away and forgot Athelling as he set to work.