Tales of the Amber Vipers Chapter 81
The wind tore at his face as they flew, cold and filled with acrid scents. It filled his nose with the smell of war and death while the speed of their passage made tears prick the corners of his eyes. His every breath was snatched from the rushing wind, filling his lungs with the ashy embers of burning vehicles and roasting flesh. He could have donned his helm and peered through its autosenses, but today he wanted to experience the rush of combat first hand, to feel the visceral rush of combat without obstruction. Chapter Master Coluber was riding into battle and he would not hide his face.
Coluber was a veteran Astartes, with harrowed features and a thin face. His eyes were calculating and his brow etched by terrible decisions and grievous sacrifices. Yet the set of his jaw revealed his determination and his dream of building a better future, no matter how much blood he had to shed. His armour was gloriously decorated, shining in the gloomy light of this world and fitted with a Null Collar behind his head. At his sides he bore a Volkite pistol and a relic sword, a curving blade of great renown, 'Venom' it was called and it had served him well in countless battles.
Below his feet his personal Land Speeder 'Drakones' roared, turbines flinging it across the ground on shimmering anti-grav fields. The craft bore the heraldry of the Amber Vipers, though they were not its original colours they suited it well and it tore across the heavens in a blur of vibrant orange. Like most property of the Chapter the Land Speeder had been taken from elsewhere and repurposed. The scout bay in the back had been expanded to fit three Space Marines, the front bore a twin-linked assault cannon and the gunner gripped a hefty plasma cannon in his gauntlets. Behind Coluber's head thrummed a pulsing archeo-tech relic daubed a 'Frost-field' generator. Truly Drakones was a worthy chariot, which was fortunate as they faced a deadly enemy this day.
Drakones reached the apex of its run and banked about, giving Coluber a perfect view of the enemy. In a shallow valley a horde of Orks was racing forward, waving cleavers and shooters in the air as they screamed in fury. Their feral faces were filled with the joy of violence, fangs bloody and meaty fists gripping crude weapons. The greenskins were covered in leather hides and studded metal plates, sometimes riveted into their flesh. Among their packed ranks Battlewagons and Trukks rolled, crushing those too slow under their treads. On their backs scores of Greenskins swung shootas about, firing wildly into the air, not caring if they hit their own kind. There must have been tens of thousands of Orks pouring into the barren valley, the horde stretching back to the arboreal forests that covered the world of Kimdaria.
Besides Coluber Brother-Exemplar Seyda stood proud in his Mark VIII plate, his helm fitted with a forward-swept horsehair crest and he cried, "So many of them, so many heads to claim!"
On the other side Brother-Exemplar Vardat agreed, "Truly a glorious fight!"
Coluber grinned at his bodyguard's words and concurred, "Let us reap some more. Brother Rinda, bring us to them. Brother Hyia, ready the guns!"
Drakones banked under its driver's urging, making Coluber's world spin. He held on with one hand and planted his boots firmly as the Land Speeder came to face the Orks. Turbines roared behind his head and the chariot shot forward, metres from the ground but hurtling along at the speed of an aircraft. Only Space Marines could endure such arduous manoeuvres, only they having the stamina and reaction times to steer so perilous a course. It made Coluber's hearts sing, finally a righteous battle of the sort Space Marines were made for. Mankind's champions set against Xenos horrors, exactly the kind of fight the Amber Vipers had longed for.
As Drakones hurtled towards the foe bullets flew at them. Badly aimed and erratic but deadly nonetheless. They filled the air with lead, too many to dodge, yet they harmed the chariot not. As they closed the Frost-field flared, its arcane Machine Spirit drawing molecular energy from the substance of the rounds. Unlike most energy shields the archeotech device drew energy from the target, the greater the velocity the greater the drain and the bullets were travelling so very fast. Rounds met the edge of the field and were drained of all energy, their molecular bonds stilled and their tensile strength reduced to nothing. Bullets became as brittle as glass and pattered harmlessly off the sides of Drakones, doing no harm.
"Return fire!" Coluber roared and the assault cannons flared. Spinning barrels shot rounds at a fantastic rate, chewing through the Ork horde. As they fired the Frost-field flickered, dimming for a microsecond to let rounds pass through unharmed. It had taken three years of careful experimentation, the calculations nearly breaking their calculus-savants, but eventually they had found a way to fire from inside the field. Screaming rounds smashed into Ork bodies, scything through flesh and leather to rend them apart. Orks were cleaved in two by flaring contrails, falling apart in chunks of gore. Meanwhile Brother Hyia let forth blasts of searing Plasma, shining bolts of star-hot fury punching into a Battlewagon and blowing it up in a dirty fireball.
Flames and blood were left in Drakones' wake as the Land Speeder hurtled over the horde, ploughing a bloody furrow across the width of the valley. They shot up the hillside and banked, letting Coluber see the damage they had wrought. The Orks had been bloodied but not defeated, it would take far more than that to break the Waaagh of Warboss Wurd'eye. The horde closed over the wound in its mass, racing up the valley as if no harm had been done. They pressed forward, eager to reach the end of the valley, where the biggest fight raged.
Coluber's eyes lifted and he saw Primus Cohort fully engaged. Sixty amber-hued Astartes holding the hilltops with resolute fury. Bolters fired ceaselessly, flamers spat burning Promethium and missile launchers fired into the packed ranks of Greenskins, bringing the Emperor's fury upon the Xenos. Three Rhino's loomed behind them, adding what little firepower their storm bolters could to the fray. Battle-Captain Ferrac was with them, his assault squad flying from place to place, always heading for the fiercest fighting. It was a bold and stalwart defence, the finest of the Chapter fighting proudly under the gloom of the Grim Pall nebula as Astartes should. Coluber's hearts ached with pride, yet for all their courage they were but sixty against tens of thousands. However they did not fight alone, for the Knight Engines of House Mortan stood with them.
Arrayed along the hillside giant humanoid war machines let loose their fury. Six lances of Knights, some thirty war machines in black and gold heraldry, holding the line. Booming Battlecannons blew holes into the horde, screaming reaper cannons chewed hundreds apart and hissing Thermal lances melted looted tanks and trukks to slag. Great was the clamour of battle as their weapons roared, laying low the Xenos with wanton frenzy. The Knights added the blare of their vox-horns to the frenzy, voices ringing loud in defiance, as well they should. Kimdaria was their homeworld and it was to their aid that the Amber Vipers had come, sailing far to help repulse the invasion of the planet.
It was a brave and noble stand, worthy of any Chapter and the Amber Vipers has never been nobler in action or cause. But the Orks weren't about to give up so easily. Over the horde flew a fat-bellied bomber, its wings laden with incendiary bombs and with teams of Grots hanging in turret mounts, chattering gleefully in anticipation of the destruction to come. It belched black smoke from its whining engines and were it to reach the line the Imperials would surely have been broken, but they were not unprepared.
From behind the line there was a flash of light and a streak of exhaust shot upwards. A Skyspear missile, fired from the prized anti-air Hunter 'Tarasque', another relic acquired under dubious circumstances. The missile blazed across the sky and smote the lumbering bomber before it could hope to react. The left wing blew clean off and the bomber fell from the sky, tumbling over and over until it slammed into the ground in a blazing fireball. Orks cooked alive as flames engulfed them, raging infernos dousing thousands in fire and sending hundreds more fleeing like running torches.
"See how they burn!" Seyda shouted in elation.
"They have tasted fire, now let them feel the burn of ice," Coluber cried, "Coldsnap manoeuvre!"
At his command Drakones lined up for another pass, but this time dropping to a mere metre over the head of the Orks. Turbines roared furiously as the chariot built up speed, accelerating to maximum velocity. Coluber's head was snapped back by the sudden burst of speed and his eyes watered as the wind sank claws into his face. The Orks blurred as they careered headlong at the horde and shot over their heads, barely high enough to avoid crashing. As they did so the Frost-field crackled with eldritch power. Crafted by forgotten science to react to relative velocities the speed of Drakones' passage cause it to flare wildly. Molecular energy was stolen from the skin and bone of the Orks as they shot by, Hearts flash-froze, brains became encased in frost and lungs filled with ice. So the Land Speeder roared overhead, leaving a trail of icy-statues in its wake, still holding aloft their weapons and roaring in frozen fury.
Drakones travelled the breadth of the horde in moments, banking hard to come about for another pass. Yet as it did so it shed precious momentum, slowing down as it turned. just as it did so a pack of Ork Stormboyz shot out of the horde. Each one was equipped with a thundering Rokkit pack, a comically large missile strapped to its back that threw it into the sky with wild abandon. They veered towards Drakones, catching it at the moment of greatest vulnerability. It shouldn't have worked, by all right the Frost-field should have annihilated them. The angles were too extreme, the relative velocities too finely matched to calculate and yet somehow the Orks did it. With that bizarre mix of feral cunning, bestial strategy and sheer dumb luck that defined their race the Stormboyz made it through with only minor frostbite and a dozen slammed into Drakones.
Coluber was nearly thrown from his perch as Drakones rocked under the impacts and tilted dangerously to one side, but he held firm as he roared, "Draw swords!" He matched deeds to words, drawing Venom one-handed and lashing out at the first Ork to come near him. A sooty face, with leering fangs came over the side of the chariot, only to be sliced apart by a sweep of Venom's edge. Coluber snarled as the Greenskin fell away missing its cranium but another barrelled upwards, trying to sink a crude knife into his face. Coluber swayed back but was brought up short as his backpack slammed into the rear of the compartment. The knife flashed for his eye and the tip of it scored over his brow, leaving a trail of blood on his head.
The Ork leered as it drew back for another blow, its eyes were hidden behind thick goggles yet still its hatred was clear. Coluber saw himself reflected in those glasses, bloodied and pinned, unable to swing his sword in the cramped confines, yet his hatred was no less. He suddenly reversed his stance, driving his skull forward to ram into the Orks' face. Genhanced bone impacted with the force of a hammer and the goggles shattered, driving splinters of glass into the Ork's eyeballs. The Greenskin bellowed as it reared back, clawing at its own face and Coluber's arm swung wide, bringing Venom's edge about to cleave off the foe's head.
The Stormboy fell away and Coluber spun about, looking for the next foe, only to find his guards had it in hand. Brother-Exemplar Seyda was swinging a long-handled glaive about, its tip shimmering with a contact Volkite field. Burst-lances the Amber Vipers had daubed them and the thermal edge cleaved through flesh with a deflagrating effect, reducing skin and bone to clouds of sooty ash. With great sweeps Seyda cleared the sides of Drakones, each swing bursting Orks into vapour. Meanwhile Brother-Exemplar Vardat tackled a pair of Orks who had climbed onto the rear and were trying to rip apart the turbines. Two lunges speared into their hearts, tearing their torso to shreds and they were no more.
Another Ork was trying to rip Hyia's head off but the gunner merely drew his Fang and stabbed the knife into the eye of the Greenskin. Compressed gas ejected a stream of venom into its skull and the head came apart, blowing into chunks of dissolving gore. Drakones righted as the weight fell away but Coluber spied one last Ork clinging to the side, holding on by one hand as its legs dangled over thin air. Coluber saw its brutal strength in that grip and knew it would make a fine challenge but he didn't give it a chance to recover, Xenos deserved no such consideration. He leaned out of the compartment and casually swept Venom through its wrist, sending the Ork plummeting to its death with a scream of frustrated rage.
Brother Rinda wrestled Drakones back to level flight, yet during their brief tussle something had changed. From the forest emerged a clanking and wheezing contraption. It was a massive stage, riding high on a hundred spiked wheels that rolled over Greenskins with utter disdain for the lives it was ending. The edges of it were lined with gunz and shootas and countless Greenskins clung to its flanks, waving crude choppas in the air as they chanted "Ere we go! Ere we go! Ere we go!" On its spine were a dozen brass orbs, each five metres wide and crackling with green electricity as Waaagh energy flowing through them. And right at the back was a raised throne, upon which sat a hulking Ork, bigger and more threatening than any other. He was surrounded by a nimbus of shimmering warp-power, focussed and honed through the arcane mechanisms of his insane invention. The chariot of WarBoss Wurd'eye, barrelling through the horde in a headlong charge towards the raging battle.
"The warboss shows himself!" Seyda cried.
Coluber's teeth drew back in anticipation as he opened his vox and signalled, "The target reveals himself. Knights of House Mortan, Brothers of Secundus Cohort, the hour is at hand. Launch the second wave!"