Tales of the Amber Vipers Chapter 96

The gateway to the Enginarium was under heavy assault. Ranks of Necrons advanced with relentless determination, marching in perfectly ordered rows, pressing into the teeth of heavy resistance. Overhead turrets spat autorounds and las-bolts into their ranks and flanking pillboxes blazed with stubber fire. It made little impression, any wounds sealed over in seconds and the Necrons still advanced.

Coluber saw the next wave coming and knew they would be hard-pressed to deny it. In his hand Venom shined, the relic's power field sparking as it cleaved the head off a Necron. The undying fiends were proving hard to kill, shrugging off chainsword blows and bolt-rounds but power weapons made a lasting impression. Coluber had struck down a dozen foes with swift blows, only to watch the fallen vanish as they phased out. At his side Brother-Exemplars Vardat and Seyda fought on, their burst-lances equally effective. A good job too for the trio were the only things holding the line together.

Along the flanks two squads of Primus fought on, bringing their fury to bear. Their weapons were proving ineffective against Necrons but they did not falter. They were brave and bold and defiant, valiant as an Astartes should be, yet that wasn't stopping them dying. Three Amber Vipers were down already, bleeding out from the vicious rents of silver talons or missing the centre of their chests where Gauss blasts had bored through them. Those still standing were troubled by scores of wounds but they refused to despair, determined to die on their feet.

Coluber was proud of their defiance, proud to be leading the best of his Chapter into battle, but he knew the tide was turning against them. The Necrons were making a concerted push and the defence wouldn't withstand another wave. Even as he watched another mass of silver warriors came down the approach, marching through incoming fire like it was nothing. Sergeant Curft, one of the finest of the first generation, lifted a Chainsword and proclaimed, "Hold Brothers, in the name of the…" His cry was cut short as a crackling aura surrounded his head, unknown energies playing around his skull. He collapsed to the floor, leaking neural tissue out of his helm's respirator as high above a one-eyed sniper wrapped itself in shadows and vanished.

Shrios leapt to the fallen Sergeant, to harvest the gene-seed as he shouted, "We can't hold!"

"We stand to the last Brother!" Coluber bellowed, "Cold hearts and fast blades!"

"Cold hearts and fast blades!" the Amber Vipers roared as the Necrons closed.

On the undying foe came, green weapons lifting in readiness to cut down the defiant Astartes. Coluber singled out a warrior, indistinguishable from the rest and swore to himself that he would claim this one's skull before the end. He braced himself to leap at the foe, even as it raised its rifle but then another force intervened.

From behind the Necrons came a crackling red sphere of energy, ploughing into the backs of the enemy. Unlike conventional weaponry it tore deeply into silver bodies, punching through living metal with ease and the wounds left were far slower to heal. Another blast smote the undying's rear and another and another, each shot downing a silver warrior and the clicking of rad-counters in helms proclaimed who it was who had intervened. Coluber's jaw fell as he beheld the Cerberii marching to war, Fission-blasters spitting radiation-soaked death.

At the head strode Kregulf, the silver knife at his belt gleaming. At his sides came Paneyr and Berio, bulky weapons glowing evilly as they disgorged blast after blast. Behind them marched the three Cadmus-robots, weapon arms raised to blitz the foe with sweeps of energised destruction. The Necrons reeled at being caught in a pincer but they did not panic, with clinical disdain they turned to reengage the unexpected charge.

Coluber saw opportunity unfolding and leapt into fray shouting, "Charge!" His Brothers were with him and Venom blazed as he sliced a metal spine open. Knives flashed, Burst-lances thrust, bolt pistols fired into skulls and Fission-blasts smote the enemy in a deadly torrent. Necrons fell like wheat before the scythe, unable to repulse an attack from two directions and it seemed someone decided to cut their losses.

One second Coluber was slicing the arm off a foe, the next it shimmered and vanished, leaving him confronting empty air. All the other Necrons wavered too, then they were gone, leaving the area clear of foes. Brothers milled about in confusion, looking for their suddenly absent enemy and the vox squawked in his ear, telling him the same was happening all over the flotilla. The Necrons simply stopped whatever they were doing and disappeared, abandoning the fight and leaving the Amber Vipers to count their dead.

Coluber was left dumbfounded and the Amber Vipers looked about in surprise, confounded as to where their enemy had vanished to. The entrance to the Enginarium stood inviolate, they had defended the approach but all they had to show for their valour were piles of dead Chattels and the harrowing sight of Brothers laid out cold and unmoving. Only the Cadmus robots seemed unperturbed, lowering their arms slowly as their eye lenses refocused.

Shrios looked up from a dead body, his Narthecium heavy with Gene-seed, as he asked, "Where did they go?"

"The better question is: why did they depart?" Coluber hissed.

Kregulf approached them, steaming Fission-blaster in hand as he called, "They may be regrouping. We should expect another wave to hit us."

Coluber gave him no thanks for his intervention, the Cerberii were disgraced and deserved no honours, but enquired, "Your charges are secure?"

Kregulf merely confirmed, "The Gates of Perdition remain sealed. Fission-Blasters proved most effective against this foe, Though the compartment will require extensive decontamination before any mortal can enter. I left half my order to hold the gates and advanced to secure the ship."

Coluber removed his helm and breathed air laden with acrid smoke and cooling blood as he ordered, "We must return to the bridge and find out what has happened. Shrios, you have the Gene-seed secured? Good, then come, Kregulf you too."

Kregulf turned to his comrades and ordered, "Paneyr, Berio hold this position with the Cadmus robots and send for decontamination teams from the Enginarium to cleanse this area."

With that Coluber turned and strode away, his entourage in tow. Vardat and Seyda were at his flanks and Shrios and Kregulf behind. Swiftly they departed and made their way up the decks, passing many scenes of battle. Everywhere he saw piles of dead Chattels, mixed with the occasional form of an Amber Viper. Warriors of Primus, Secundus and the youths of Tertius, cut down in their prime. The damage to the ship was extensive yet of the Necrons there was no sign, not a single body remained to be seen. Was it an attempt to avoid having their technology studied or a cultural aversion to letting others touch their dead, Coluber didn't know. Were they even dead or were they even now being repaired in some distant foundry, another riddle he had no answers for. All he knew was that had the Necrons wished it they could have obliterated the Amber Vipers, which begged the question why they hadn't.

Filled with questions Coluber strode onto the bridge, finding gaggles of Chattels labouring over glowing consoles. One glance told him the Motive Force had returned to the ship and he leapt onto his Dais calling, "Report!"

Nathanal looked up from a disassembled surveyor station, soldering rod in hand as he called, "Power has returned, we have Auspex and comms, guns and engines should be back in a few minutes."

"Show me local space," Coluber commanded.

The Hololith fizzed into life, blurred and ill-focused as the Cogitators struggled to awaken. In the display were the tiny icons of the Flotilla and the vast curvature of the Tombship's prow, bracketing the Amber Vipers front and back. It was instantly clear that the Necrons had them in the palm of their metal hands, able to blow the helpless humans to atoms with a single volley. Coluber could do nothing to stop them and as he watched the ship stirred to life. Slowly it elevated its positon, climbing vertically above the humans like a cloud rising over a mountain. Its vast belly was exposed, revealing black stone threaded with gold veins and the surveyors spat nonsense as they struggled to get any reading as to what purpose those served.

Coluber watched the ship rising and wondered what their intent was but it was revealed a moment later. With stunning acceleration the Tombship leapt away, going from a relative halt to near lightspeed in three seconds. A move that would have crushed any imperial ship into a tiny ball, executed without a quiver of distress. The surveyors tracked its departure before it sailed out of range, heading towards the Dyson Sphere.

"They're gone," Coluber breathed in disbelief.

Shrios gasped, "But They had us stone dead."

Kregulf mused, "Perhaps they were testing our defences, seeing what we are capable of."

Shrios spat, "Why bother, they could have finished us at any time."

Coluber agreed, "Something else was going on. They were executing some strategy, one that we are failing to see."

But suddenly another voice arose, "They wanted captives!"

All heads turned to behold Battle-Captain Ferrac striding in. The Astartes looked in a sorry state, his armour torn by deep wounds and his Axe-rake missing many of its teeth. His face was even worse, the parts not covered by his iron mask bruised purple like he had flown face-first into a wall. He seemed battered head to toe, yet his anger was no less. If anything he seemed even more irritable then usual.

Shrios snorted, "You look like you had a fight with a threshing machine and lost."

Coluber overrode him, "Captives? Explain."

Ferrac answered, "I got into a fight with some form of leadership Necron, a lord of their kind. It was taking us apart but it wasn't us it was interested in. It wanted Brother Marko, it grabbed him and teleported away."

Memory stirred and Coluber said, "Marko… wait he's an Aberrant. Why would it want one aberrant… unless it didn't. Quickly, vox all squads and have them report any missing Brothers, especially one with Aberrants in their ranks."

Shrios stepped nearer and said, "You think they wanted our Aberrants, but that makes no sense. What purpose could that serve, how did they even know about them?"

Coluber sighed, "I have no answers for you, only questions. This Strategy makes no sense."

Suddenly Nathanal interjected, "Perhaps you're looking at it wrong. Maybe this wasn't warfare at all."

Coluber's head swivelled to stare at the mortal and he snapped, "Explain!"

Nathanal shrugged, "You're assuming the Necrons think like you do, like warriors and strategists but that's not what I've seen. Perhaps this was more like a Magos' expedition, a survey of interesting flora and fauna, capturing unusual specimens for further examination back in the Laboritorum. This may have been nothing to them save a chance to retrieve new samples to study."

"I don't like that kind of thinking," Coluber growled.

"Then you really won't like this," Ferrac spoke, "Reports are coming in, the Aberrants are gone. All of them were captured and taken away. There's worse news though, Reddam signals he lost a Brother and our guide. Schwift went with the Necrons, willingly. He claims the man boasted of luring us into a trap!"

"That Traitor!" Coluber roared as his hands gripped the railing so tight it buckled, "I'll kill him for this!"

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted him," Shrios growled, "I'm going to extract his vital organs one by one and make him watch as I do it!"

"Get in line," Ferrac snarled, "I claim the right to chop off his head."

Coluber's anger was great but it was Kregulf who spoke up, "So… what do we do next?"

Ferrac snarled, "Light the drives, take us after them and punish the Xenos for their arrogance!"

Yet Shrios countered, "Chase them?! Madness, we barely survived one encounter and you'd go looking for another."

Ferrac turned on him and barked, "We are Astartes, we do not abide insults or wait for the enemy to steal the initiative. We should attack with our full force and put the enemy on the defensive."

But Shrios snapped, "Maybe you missed the part where we got our noses ripped off. If we go provoking the Necrons they will blow us out of the stars."

"Retreat?" Ferrac sneered.

"Yes," Shrios stated flatly, "That is the only sane move. We cut our losses and withdraw to the Warp-gate, while we still can."

"Coward," Ferrac snarled as he lifted his axe-rake, "You would abandon our Brothers to the Necrons?!"

Coluber saw his Battle-Captain's anger was frothing over, edging into violence and he barked, "Cease!"

Both Brothers froze as Ferrac spluttered, "But…"

"Do not question my orders," Coluber hissed, "I hear your words and you are both right. We cannot launch a full attack without knowing what lies ahead. We are in the enemies' home ground and they hold all the advantages. But I am not willing to let this pass without redress nor shall I leave our kin in the hands of the enemy. We are nothing without our loyalty to each other. Therefore I shall send a scouting party, one ship to probe the Dyson Sphere and learn our enemy's disposition. If they have any chance to retrieve our lost kin they shall do so, but their primary mission is to gather intelligence."

Shrios dared to say, "But that leaves the Chapter exposed, we should at least withdraw the factorum ships with our gene-seed stocks."

But Coluber sighed, "Do you seriously believe the Necrons will let anyone leave? If they aren't watching the gates then I am a Grot. No, we shall remain here while our scout probes the defences. Send Reddam, the Peregrine is our fastest ship and small enough to avoid provoking a response, it has the best chance of sneaking in unnoticed."

Heads bowed but surprisingly Kregulf added, "They shall require need aid, I shall send Brother Berio and a Cadmus-robot along in Doombringer. Our unconventional weapons proved most effective against the Necrons."

"As you will," Coluber allowed, "This is my order."

Nobody seemed happy but the order was given and they could not argue. Yet Nathanal asked, "And while they scout ahead, I guess we just sit here and piece our fleet back together."

"Not quite," Coluber corrected, "We need better defences and weapons, plus we still have a mission to complete. While Reddam scouts ahead we shall board the Serpens Rex and see if anything can be salvaged. With the Emperor's blessing it may be repairable, without… it will still be a good place to make a last stand. Now get moving, I want to be ready before the Necrons come back again!"