Tales of the Amber Vipers Chapter 115
Battle was imminent and the tension was an oppressive weight on every soul. Guardsmen gripped their lasguns tightly and prayed for deliverance as heavy weapon crews found advantageous positions. Tanks rumbled as Enginseers hurriedly sprinkled them with battlefield sacraments. Hydra flak tanks raised their barrels to the false sky as artillery crews of Earthshakers counted their remaining shells. Knight Engines cast long shadows over their comrades, the air over their thermal exhausts shimmering with leaked heat. Preachers walked amongst the ranks, reassuring the faithful that by the end of the day they would sit at the right hand of the God-Emperor and officers bit down retorts that it wouldn't take anything like a whole day. The Crusaders were ready as they were ever going to be and soon their last battle would begin.
Coluber looked out over the massed crusaders from atop a low pyramid. He was some five stories over the ground and boasted a commanding view of the defences. His snakelet-scouts had soon found a route from the stasis-vaults to what passed as a surface, climbing ramps and transitways that led ever upwards until they found themselves emerging to the false blue sky. They had found themselves on the edge of a Necron city, a deserted expanse of mausoleums, tombs and pyramids that seemed to be some form of capital or nexus for their rule. One could only assume that the crypts had been emptied to muster elsewhere. Coluber had decided that it was better to meet the foe from cover than face them on a barren plain, where the battle would be concluded in minutes.
It had been impressive how quickly the Ghost Crusade had got organised. The regiments and mechanised columns forming up into their disparate parts and following the Amber Vipers from their gaol without nary a question or protest. Coluber would have expected it to take hours for one hundred thousand fighting men to reform under their banners but under the harsh eye of their Warmaster they had mustered with amazing speed, for mortals. Drake had proved a logistical genius, with an eye for detail yet the drive to ram through any disruption through sheer force of will. Imperial politics bred nepotism and corruption but no man reached the lofty rank of Warmaster without dazzling competence, a fiery will and a ruthless streak that would make a Marine Malevolent blink.
Coluber had packed the Imperial Guard into the deserted buildings, trusting Necron stone to provide some meagre cover from the Undying's arcane weaponry. Tanks rumbled impatiently in the avenues and boulevards between them, barrels loaded and ready to fire while Knights twitched their Reaper blades in anticipation of the coming fight. There was even a single example of a Stormlord tank, a Baneblade variant equipped with a Vulcan Mega-bolter, set to cover one of the widest approaches into the heart of the city. The front was kilometres long but the Amber Vipers were positioned to hold the centre, where Coluber judged the hardest blow would fall. Primus, Secundus and Tertius, all prepared to sell their lives dearly. Which looked more than likely to be their fate. All was in readiness, which was good, because Coluber's ears detected the sound of an approaching enemy.
He turned about and said, "They are coming."
"Good," snapped Warmaster Drake, "My zealots are chomping at the bit for a rematch."
The Warmaster was standing on the rooftop, surrounded by vox-operators and bodyguards. The chain of command was simple but robust, each of his junior officers knowing their place in the coming battle. The plan was simple and brutal, engage the Necrons in the urban environment and buy time for the strike team to reach its objective. Urban warfare favoured the defenders and each unit had a secondary and tertiary fall-back position should they be overrun but Coluber was under no delusion anyone would live long enough to reach them. This wasn't a battle to be won, their only goal was to delay defeat as long as possible.
Maru Kysoto was standing alongside them and uttered, "Their spirit is strong, their will shall not break."
"That's good," Drake muttered darkly, "Because we are desperately low on ammunition, we have no resupply or logistics to speak of. Each man only has as much ammo as he can carry and the tank's shot-lockers are half-depleted. I estimate this army has three hours of sustained fighting in it, then we'll be reduced to hand-to-hand combat."
"As the Emperor wills," Coluber stated, "Command of the Crusade is yours, I shall lead my Brothers from my Land Speeder."
Coluber turned and walked to the rear of the roof where Drakones floated on a cushion of anti-gravs. He hastily mounted the rear compartment and stood between Seyda and Vardat as Brother Rinda tweaked the turbines and Hyia whispered catechisms of accuracy to the spirit of the Plasma Cannon. He settled into his familiar position and voxed, "Amber Vipers, report."
From the left flank Ferrac voxed, "We're ready, just bring them to us."
From the right flank Kregulf voxed, "Cerberii deployed, may the Emperor absolve us."
From the rear, where the drop-ships lurked, Shrios called, "Apothecaries, standing by."
Coluber sent back, "Stay alert and keep those servitors close, if any Brother falls I am counting you to drag their armour back onto the dropships. I don't want to leave anything behind."
"Don't tell me how to do my job," Shrios snorted.
The far horizon was darkening and Coluber saw the land shimmering with silver. From one wall of the Dyson Sphere to the other the Undying marched, a hundred-kilometre distance packed tight with metal bodies and stretching back further than he could see. Strange machines floated over their heads and even higher than that a shadow billowed to fill the sky. Coluber knew the Necrons intended to roll over the Imperials in one massive hammerblow and the Crusaders would be hard pressed to slow them down, let alone repulse them.
He opened his vox on all channels, so all could hear him as he proclaimed, "Soldiers of the Emperor, sons of Terra. See the foe closing, you know well their might but I know in your hearts you are not afraid. You have already faced the worst these Xenos can throw at you; you have endured horrors that would break any lesser man. The enemy sent their worst against you once and yet you are still here! Now we shall show them that the courage of men cannot be broken and the Imperium's will cannot be gainsaid. For the Golden Throne of Terra, we shall fight to the last breath: Ave Imperator!"
"Ave Imperator!" one hundred thousand throats let cry and the silence of the city was broken by the thunderous cheer. As if that were a signal the closing army spat forth spears of darkness. Necron fighters, leaping ahead of the line and crossing the distance in moments. Dark crescents howled with madness-inducing shrieks as they shot across the sky and under their bulk eldritch weapons flared. Coluber saw their fire smite dozens of buildings across the front, blasting them to send masonry and bloody corpses tumbling. Screams rent the air as men smashed onto the unforgiving stone, their bones broken and skulls shattered by hard impacts. The Necrons showed total disdain for their own city, uncaring for the damage they wrought in their effort to hurt the humans.
Dark wings shot overhead, moving at fantastic velocity. Hydras chased them with thunderous flak volleys but hit nothing, so fast did the Necrons move. The Doom Scythes shot away then banked about, coming in for another pass. Yet as they did so a lone missile shot upwards, the Hunter Tarasque sending a rocket straight into the path of a fighter. They collided in mid-air and the craft broke up, broken wings shimmering away into nothing as it tumbled from the sky. The rest wobbled as they compensated for the loss and now flak pounded them hard, the Hydras making up for their inaccuracy through sheer weight of fire.
Coluber saw several fighters break apart under the onslaught and the rest veered off, running long to gain space. Ferrac snarled over the vox, "Hah! That gave them a bloody nose!"
But Coluber demurred, "Don't celebrate too soon, it's only just starting."
Across the horizon the Necrons were advancing steadily, their footsteps bringing them into artillery range. Coluber heard a familiar roar from behind him, followed by a sharp whistle as Earthshaker rounds tore across the distance. They arced over and then fell upon the hoard in a series of brilliant explosions. Metal bodies flew high, shattered to pieces under the ferocious blows. They shimmered and vanished in mid-air and not one touched the ground before they phased out. Again and again explosions bloomed, tearing great holes into the mass of the oncoming foe but they cared not. The Necrons marched through the bombardment, unflinching for their losses and unperturbed by the casualties they suffered.
Coluber gripped the frame of Drakones as the Necrons advanced and now they unleashed their power. Over the army a black cloud surged forward, barrelling ahead of the line in a smear of darkness. His Autosenses magnified and Coluber gasped to behold millions of tiny scarabs, flying through the air in a wave of silent death. Their mandibles were sharp and their eyes gleaming with hostility, closing towards the waiting flesh of man with ravenous intent. One look told him that these tiny foes would rend apart any man they found and they would not cease until every living thing in their path was dead. Earthshaker shells flew into the cloud and the flak shifted its arc but to no avail. Thousands of tiny scarabs were destroyed but the rest drove on, swarming around the explosions without pause. They dove from on high, blotting out the blue slice of sky with their mass and replacing it with the promise of death.
Screams of terror arose and Coluber's hands tightened into fists. Yet just as the cloud was about to descend Maru Kysoto lifted his Katana blade high and cried, "Fear not, the Emperor's Divine Wind is with us!" A shimmering aura surrounded the Librarian-Dreadnought and suddenly Coluber was nearly torn from his perch as a swirling vortex of wind burst into being. His feet staggered and the whole Land Speeder rocked as Rinda fought with the controls, forced to angle the craft downwards and start the turbines to prevent them from being dragged into the sky. Coluber struggled to stay upright as the wind clawed at his armour and his jaw fell in amazement.
Over the city the air circled like water going down a drain, drawn away by a maelstrom born of Psychic force. A funnel began to extend from that vortex, a writhing twister that grew more frenzied and hungry with every second. Coluber was stunned to witness the birth of a tornado, crafted by Maru's mind and filling the sky with his wroth. He realised then that he had badly underestimated the ancient warrior's power, Maru's natural abilities being boosted by the arcane mechanisms of the sarcophagus. The Osirion-pattern had been fashioned by lost arts, designed by one now counted among the Traitor Primarchs and the powers opened to the incumbent were staggering to witness.
The Scarabs fought to get away, they struggled to flee in all directions, but the tornado snatched them from the air and gobbled them up, dragging them into its swirling abyss. Psionic crystals embedded in the Librarian-Dreadnought's frame flared, silhouetting his sensor-dome with white light as he roared, "Rain!" At his command water droplets condensed out the air, lashing the scarabs with water. They were drowning in mid-air, coated in moisture that clung to their sleek bodies. "Hail!" Maru bellowed and the water froze, encrusting the Scarabs in ice and stopping their motions. Water yet in the air froze, becoming lumps of ice as big as a man's fist. They flew through the tornado at tremendous speed, becoming ice-bullets of irresistible force. Scarabs were smashed to kindling, broken and shattered by the impacts battering at them and their broken forms spilled out of the tornado in a shower of metal.
Maru was not yet done and he cried, "Lightning!" Instantly the Tornado blazed like a lighthouse, filled with electric discharges as sheets of energy swept through it. More Scarabs died, blown apart and overloaded by impossible energies and falling to their dooms. "Thunder!" Maru bellowed and the air was rent by sonic booms, percussive force smashing the last Scarabs and ripping them apart with violent vibrations. The cyclone was terrifying to witness, Maru's revenge for his lost Chapter wrought in the elements themselves.
Through it all Coluber watched in awe. The Librarian-Dreadnought had single-handedly demolished the black cloud, leaving the sky clear of threats. Yet the while the Imperials were engaged the ground army had advanced and the Necrons at last poured into the streets of the city. Endless waves of silver warriors marched into the avenues and boulevards, gauss weapons flashing as they fired up at the dug-in defenders. Actinic blasts tore through stone and flesh, floating monsters ripped bulwarks apart with silver claws and Wraiths slipped through solid matter to surprise soldiers from behind. Above them rode Destroyers, Monoliths and Annihilation Barges, blasting away at all they saw.
They were greeted by monsoons of las-fire, flung by guardsmen firing frantically from above. Heavy weapon teams let fly, tank barrels boomed and bolters roared. Knights charged forth to engage the foe at point-blank range and jump-packs howled as Amber Vipers leapt into the fray. The exchange of fire was so thick a man could walk on it, flesh and blood rained down from broken bodies as silver corpses shimmered and phased to nothing. Buildings collapsed in the onslaught, their stone walls crumbling and foundations smashed by the fury of two races grappling to the death.
Coluber saw the battle joined in full and he knew the bloodiest hour was at hand. He grinned as he drew Venom and commanded his drivers, "Take us at them and fire at will. For the Emperor and the Chapter, for the living and the lost, let us bring death to the undying!"