Tales of the Amber Vipers Chapter 86

A Knightly Keep was in many ways the equal to Astartes' Fortress-Monasteries. Each a bastion of Imperial might, ringed by high walls and boasting Macroweaponry, void shields and thousands of defenders. From such castles did the armies of man sally forth, driving back the darkness besieging the Imperium. They were beacons of hope in an age of despair, eternal guardians standing against the coming of night and the last line of defence against extinction.

Mortan Keep was no different, a collection of soaring towers and mighty walls built into the mountainsides. From those towers flew proud banners and shimmering void-shield vanes, signs that the defenders yet stood. It was ideally positioned in the nape of a sharp valley, making any attacker slog up an exposed approach where they would be easy pickings. The sharp peaks nearby hid Macroweapon emplacements and only a fool would dare face their wrath. That hadn't stopped the Orks trying though and the valley below was littered with Greenskin dead. Many times had Mortan Keep been attacked throughout the Waaagh and each had ended with the Ork's slaughter. Mortan Keep stood proud and defiant, a jewel in the Imperial crown, though the dungeons were less impressive.

Deep under the mountains Coluber strode through a rough-hewn tunnel. It was dank and cold, the bare stone sucking warmth from the air and leaving a shivering chill that cut to the bone. The light was dim, provided only by flickering electro-candles at infrequent intervals. Black iron doors lined the route, each grim and foreboding and all sealed tight against escape. There was also a smell of decay, like a busy morgue and Coluber knew the prisoners in many cells had died in confinement and been left to rot, the guards unconcerned with dragging out cold bodies. The whole cell-block was a pit of wallowing despair, a place where hope went to die and dreams of escape withered before ever being uttered. Coluber approved of its character, whoever built this place understood what prison was supposed to be.

The Chapter Master strode boldly down the tunnel, counting doors all the while. He had left Viper's Bite on a landing pad high above and taken a grav-lift to the gaol. With him were Shrios and Ferrac, both stumped as to why they were here. One other thing was different, a wooden box Coluber held under one arm, the contents his alone to know.

As they stomped along Shrios muttered, "So, are you going to tell is what this is about?"

Evasively Coluber demurred, "I seek a guide."

"To the Masio Silentium?" Shrios queried, "I thought no one ever came back from that abyss."

Coluber explained, "Word has reached my ear that someone has. Our Navigator allies tell me a smuggler found a secret path into the heart of the nebula and returned alive. It has taken me three years to track him down."

Ferrac head shook as he said, "You intend to cross that accursed event horizon?"

"I do," Coluber declared, "I intend to take the whole Chapter into that maze and prize open its secrets."

Shrios paused in his steps and exclaimed, "That's very… bold."

"Reckless is what I'd call it," Ferrac added, "You'd risk the whole Chapter on a rumour?"

Coluber stopped walking and turned about saying, "Talk of caution from you Ferrac? My ears still ache from all your calls for blood-soaked charges and defiant stands."

Ferrac cocked his head and remarked, "Usually I'm the one calling for stupid actions and you're the one urging prudence. What's got you all fired up?"

Shrios added, "Aye, what could possibly justify risking everything we have built on a rumour?"

Coluber sighed, "I suppose you'd find out eventually, but this must remain strictly between us. For many years I have been pursuing a lead on something truly worthwhile. It's all tied up with the history of the Masio Silentium. Tell me, what do you know of the Ghost Crusade?"

Ferrac looked stumped as he replied, "Nothing."

"Never heard of it," Shrios admitted.

Coluber rolled his eyes and said, "The Age of Redemption then, you've heard of that."

Shrios frowned as he stated, "It was the epoch following the Age of Apostacy. With Vandire's death the Imperium stood united and the people were filled with faith as never before. They set out to reconquer all that had been lost since the Emperor walked as a man. Crusade after Crusade was launched, to seize back everything and claim more besides. Billions of souls were sacrificed on the altar of expansion, they spilled blood like it was water. There was no time for consolidation or defending what they took, all they thought of was the next conquest."

"Damned near drained the Imperium dry," Ferrac muttered, "For a millennium they stripped every defence to the bone, striped every garrison bare and when an onslaught of Xenos invasions and a Black Crusade arose there was nothing left to hold them at bay. A thousand years of Imperial conquest came crashing down, losing almost everything they'd taken back."

Coluber nodded in agreement and elaborated, "At the height, 903.M37, Terra declared a Crusade to cleanse the Grim Pall nebula. To penetrate its depths and end whatever threat it presented to Imperial expansion. They wanted to colonise the nebula and lay claim to its resources. A Warmaster was selected, Bertram Drake, conquerer of the Killarnock Gulf and High Lord Tempestus. He led a million men, hundreds of tank regiments, Knights and a fleet of starships into the Masio Silentium and then promptly vanished. A whole Crusade jumped into the nebula and was never heard from again."

Ferrac didn't sound impressed as he scoffed, "So a lot of Guardsmen got killed, why does that concern us?"

Shrios sniffed, "If you're looking to loot graves and salvage ship-parts there are easier ways to do it. I don't see why we need risk the whole Chapter over this."

Coluber however dropped his bombshell, "Because, in addition to the mortal assets, the Ghost Crusade had the support of an Astartes Chapter. One thousand Space Marines, pledged to the cause, along with their entire fleet and Starfaring Fortress-Monastery. They were the Amber Vipers."

Coluber enjoyed the look of shock that spread over his Brother's faces as Shrios spluttered, "The… Amber Vipers? The real Amber Vipers?!"

"Not so loud," Ferrac snapped, "But still… To find the arsenal of the original Chapter, the ones we stole our name from… It's an incredible thought, no wonder you seek this prize."

Coluber eagerly affirmed, "Yes, this will change everything. But it is only a fantasy unless we acquire a guide, now follow me and look intimidating."

With that Coluber resumed his walk, heading deeper into the gaol. They passed many doors, counting down the time to their destination. Coluber was silent throughout but in his hearts excitement built. This lead had been so vague, the chance so small, that he had doubted it would ever come to pass. Yet here he was, finally closing on his most secret ambition. If his suspicions were true his Chapter was about to be elevated to glory, if not then they would fall into the abyss. It had to be chanced, the Old Seventeen were passing and with them any memory of what a Chapter should be, this was his only opportunity to build a worthy legacy. He was no stranger to risk in battle and he knew sometimes one much gamble everything, else forfeit all, there was no more time for playing it safe.

Finally they reached the right door and Coluber slammed it open, breaking the lock in the process. The cell was grim and foreboding, with bare stone walls and a single lumen orb. There were no furnishings and no bed, the only feature a drain in the floor for bodily wastes. The stark walls were covered in scratches, some form of deranged etchings, the signs of an unravelling mind needing to make a mark. Huddled in a corner was the author of those marks. He was a bedraggled soul, malnourished and gaunt, dressed only in rags. He had a wiry beard but his scalp was bald and patterned with liver spots. His arms and legs were stick-thin and age hung upon him like an old coat, taking his body into decrepitude. This was Coluber's guide, Yohan Schwift, the only shipmaster to ever dare the Masio Silentium and return alive.

Schwift's skeletal hands flew up before his eyes at the glare and he cried, "Who's there?!"

Coluber led his Brothers within, their girth barely fitting through the door as he growled, "Yohan Schwift."

"Astartes!" the pathetic wretch wailed, "Ain't me, ain't me!"

"Save me the protestations," Coluber sneered, "House Mortan caught you smuggling goods through their orbitals. They impounded your ship and threw you in here. You are the one I seek."

"He's dead," Schwift pleaded, "He's dead!"

"Then I was mistaken, shame, I was going to take him out of this cell. Come Brothers, leave this one to rot."

Before he could take a step the man stiffened and cried, "Wait! Don't leave me here. I'm him, I'm Schwift."

Ferrac snorted, "Pathetic worm, he's not worth our time."

Yet Coluber countered, "All I need is his knowledge. Speak to me Schwift, tell me of your sojourn in the nebula."

Schwift assumed a cunning glint in his eye as he said, "I wandered a great many places, you'll have to be a bit more specific like."

Coluber took out the box and opened it, revealing the contents. Within was a single helm, Mark IV, a pattern the Chapter had no access to. The eye lenses were smashed and the systems wrecked but it was undeniably an Astartes' helm. Yet the colours were different from the burnished umber of Coluber's plate, a deeper vein of red, threaded with black speckles. Coluber lifted it out and said, "You sold this and other items in orbital black-markets across three Sub-Sectors. My Navigator allies got wind of it and passed your name to me. These items are of worth to me, but I seek the source. Tell me where you found them."

Schwift grinned toothlessly and quipped, "That's expensive talk, what you offerin?"

"You dare!" Shrios snarled.

But Coluber lifted a hand and said, "Freedom. I offer release from this cell and the right to depart alive, if you steer us true."

Schwift eyed them greedily and asked, "Your ship's got showers, hot food?"

"Yes," Coluber said, "Now tell us how you succeeded where no others have. How you penetrated the Masio Silentium and what you found there."

Schwift scratched behind his ear as he explained, "Heard the legends, heard the bar talk of the nebula and the treasures it conceals. Knew there had to be somethin' good inside, else why hide it. But how to get in, there's the rub. Looked for years and years, almost gave it up as a bad idea, 'till I saw a way. A Hrud Migration, heading right into the heart of it. They're a tricky bunch, twisting space and time in freaky ways, but that lets 'em get in where no others can."

"You followed in the Hrud's wake," Coluber pressed, "They blazed a path you could follow."

"Damned rough it was too. Gravitic squalls, supernovas, Ion storms, warp rifts and rogue asteroids everywhere. Couldn't risk jumping more than a few light-years at a time. But I pressed on, drawn by the smell of loot. My poor ship, the Lusty Liz, nearly broke her doing it but then we found what we were looking for. In orbit around a class-A blue star was a doorway to somewhere else. Looked carved from stone it did, ancient and evil. The Hrud ignored it, didn't interest 'em, but we got in close. Crew were pissing themselves, damn near had a mutiny on me hands and that's when it gobbled us up and spat us out somewhere else."

"A warp-gate," Shrios speculated, "A tunnel through the Immaterium, linking two locations in realspace. I've heard of such things in the Jericho Reach. No one knows who made them, but they are powerful and unpredictable."

Coluber nodded as he asked, "Where did it take you and what did you find there?"

Schwift shrugged, "Nowhere in Imperial space, that's for sure. As to what I found: a graveyard. Void hulks as far as the surveyors could scan. Human, Xenos, others… all dead. It was downright creepy, put the fear in me bones. Something was wrong about that place, something evil. Still, I hadn't come all that way for nothin' so I looted the first ship I found and got the Lusty Liz out of there and never looked back. To this day I'm convinced something was watching me, something that thought I wasn't even worth squashing. Never dared go back."

"Didn't stop you boasting about your exploits," Coluber hissed, "Now you will show me the way."

"Can draw you a map," Schwift replied.

"No, you're coming with us."

"With you?! No way, I ain't going' back there!" Schwift protested.

"You can and you will," Coluber hissed, "Else be left here to rot."

"You promised me freedom!" Schwift hollered.

"After we return alive. I am not fool enough to sail into the Masio Silentium with nothing but a map drawn by a madman. You will steer us true yourself, or be the first to die."

"I won't do it," Schwift spat, "You can't make me."

Grimly Coluber ordered, "Ferrac... convince him."

The Battle-Captain stepped forward and hefted his axe-rake, causing Schwift to cry, "You can't kill me, you need me!"

Ferrac gunned the motor as he whispered, "We require your tongue, not your limbs. Which shall be first, hands or feet?"

"Stop!" Schwift yelled, "You win, I'll do it."

"I am pleased we could forge an accord," Coluber stated, "Shrios, give him some booster-stimms and carry him out of here, I don't want him to die before we get to orbit."

Coluber stepped back as Shrios knelt to examine the wretch and whispered, "You understand what this means."

Ferrac nodded, "If that's where he got the helm then he must have found the Ghost Crusade. Strike cruisers, Battlebarges, war machines, companies worth of power armour."

Coluber concurred, "Think what a few tanks and thirty suits did for us. This will catapult us to greatness. With such might our new Amber Vipers shall ascend to heights undreamt. A worthy legacy indeed."

Yet Ferrac muttered, "Just the little matter of whatever could kill an entire Chapter of Space Marines to deal with."

Coluber agreed, "We must go in with our eyes alert and gunports open. This will be risky but it must be chanced. But rest assured, whatever greets us in there I intend to shoot first and ask questions later."

So they left the gaol, heading into the unknown. Coluber's mind was awash with dreams of what he could achieve with the power that awaited him but little did he know his dreams were about to become nightmares. The Masio Silentium was far more than he knew and he had no idea how perilous the danger truly was.