Tales of the Amber Vipers Chapter 140

The Serpens Rex skipped before a stiff warp current, propelled by the emotional swells of the Empyrean. The starfort was vast by human standards, so large an entire cabal of Navigators had to commune to steer it safely, but in the Warp it was a mere ember on the breeze. The shining bubble of the Gellar field acted both as shield and sail, letting it tack through currents with relative ease. To either side riptides of anger and sucking maws of despair threatened to dash the vessel to pieces but the Navigators had a guiding light to steer by. They closed upon a burning bonfire in the warp, the ancient torch drawing them ever on.

Within the Nest men fretted and clutched devotional talismans to ward off the nightmares that plagued their dreams. None slept well in the warp and many suffered such vivid dreams that they struggled to tell wakefulness from sleep. Hours would pass in moments while days would drag past while chronometers ticked over a single minute. Food turned to ash in the mouth and water transmuted into blood, only to change back again when the drinker screamed in terror. One man in a refectory turned into a howling madman, grabbing a laspistol and gunning down three fellows, all the while screaming that his intestines had turned into snakes and were eating him alive. He was summarily put down by an Amber Viper, a bolt round blowing his brains out. No one commented on this swift execution, not when the corpse's belly continued to writhe like serpents and all averted their eyes as it was dragged away to a furnace.

Such was travel in the warp, but it far from the strangest thing occurring in the Nest. Deep within the station was a mighty barrier, warded and baffled against intrusion. Watched night and day by the order of the Cerberii and covered by emplaced weapon turrets and gun-servitors. These were the Gates of Perdition and all feared to look upon them. Mortals lived in terror of the bloody-handed guardians of this vault and even Astartes shuddered at their passing, knowing this was the supreme dishonour and punishment for those who strayed from righteousness. The Cerberii were a punishment detail, tasked ever to watch over the vilest weapons the Chapter had acquired, sealed and imprisoned until the moment of greatest need. The Cerberii allowed none save their own servants to pass into those vaults, watchful and suspicious of all, yet even they had little idea what was truly happening behind that gate.

"Get it fixed!" Brontes snapped irately.

Before him a lowly chattel called Lasper tinkered with a holo-projector as he pleaded, "Have patience, oh divine avatar of the Omnissiah."

"Save me the religious doggerel fleshbag," Brontes snarled, "If this thing isn't working in two minutes I will rip your head from your shoulders and find someone more competent!"

Behind him Steropes sighed, "He's working as fast as he can."

Brontes stomped about and fixed his many eye-lenses on his sibling as he spat, "That's not fast enough!"

Arges wearily groaned, "He'd probably work faster without you standing over him issuing threats."

Brontes snorted, "In my experience worms only get anything done if you crack the whip."

Steropes countered, "This isn't a battlefield and we aren't holding a line in the sand. This is delicate work and needs skill and concentration. Especially given how limited understanding of technology has become in this age."

Brontes growled, "Of all the miserable aspects of this worthless age that irks me the most. Knowledge and reason have been cast aside in favour of ignorance and superstition. They ape the sciences of yesteryear, a cargo-cult of technology, a parody of the Golden Age."

Arges sighed, "You say nothing we don't all agree with but the question remains, what are we going to do about it?"

Brontes snarled, "Beat the idiocy out of their heads and force humanity to think straight."

Steropes however admonished, "Three Cadmus and a soulbound against a galactic Imperium?! Even with their primitive savagery that is an impossible war to wage. We need more aid if we are to fix this mess."

"Here we go," Brontes muttered, "Another discourse on enlightened self-interest."

"Not this time," Arges stated firmly, "I know you yearn for action and soon we will have it. The day is almost upon us and we shall act."

"I'll believe that when I see it," Brontes spat as he turned about and stared off into the distance.

Before the Cadmus stretched a vault, protected by arcane defences and with thick walls. The interior was filled with rare weapons, of such vile nature that the fleshbags who called themselves warriors feared to touch them. Mind-rippers and fission based weapons, viral clades and reality shredders, nanobot Omniphages and poisons of terrible malignancy. There were bombs that could scour continents and crack worlds, set alongside hundreds of empty Solar Knight armours. Even their makers had been cautious about deploying such weapons but Brontes had never cared much for living being's timidity. He held the weapons were no more dangerous than a conventional weapon. A standard orbital lance barrage could kill millions, yet a viral bomb was held more dangerous for an inexplicable reason. Killing a man on the battlefield was held honourable but killing him in his bed was dishonourable. It made no sense to the Cadmus at all.

There was a sharp crack behind him and Brontes turned about to see Lasper leaning back with a smile as the holo-projector glowed bluely. He reached for a smoking incense burner, intending to anoint the device but Brontes snarled, "Don't even think about it."

Lasper blinked in surprise and protested, "But I must bless this device."

Brontes casually swung his arm and cuffed the man, sending him flying to the deck with a sharp cry of pain as the robot growled, "Begone and take your mewling idiocy with you, else I will snap every bone in your body."

Lasper fled with tears in his eyes and clutching his shoulder as a smooth voice uttered, "Come now Brontes, must you be so harsh on our allies?" Brontes' eye-lenses shifted and beheld the image of a man in his prime resolving above the Holo-projector. He was dark in complexion and bald, with oiled skin and a sharp nose above a strong jawline. His eyes were cold and filled with intelligence while he affected a black suit, elegantly tailored. This was the Soulbound, an artificial intelligence that had once controlled the great battleship Apophis, or it had been. The Soulbound had been ripped from the wreckage of the lost starship along with the Cadmus but had lost none of his keen intelligence, or arrogance in Brontes' opinion.

Apophis sniffed slightly as he asked, "All is in readiness?"

Arges, ever the dutiful soldier replied, "Standing by, once we reach Gobannus we can deploy immediately."

Apophis held up a hand and rebuked, "Not so hasty, we must allow the humans to think they are acting on their own. They must find and explore the wonders of the past, before we approach them."

"Why bother?" Brontes muttered.

"Brontes now is not the time to argue," Steropes hissed, ever the diplomat.

"Don't spark up a fire," Apophis chided, "You have been patient so far, all we need is a little more time."

Yet Brontes snarled, "Don't brush us off! For years we've been squatting in this hovel, hiding our true nature from the scum standing guard at the door, while you witter on about cunning plans and nebulous schemes. Always you say the time is not ripe, the iron is not hot. Deflection after deflection. I've had enough of you dodging questions, I want action!"

Apophis' eyes flashed with anger as he spat, "What would you have me do?! Take over the Starfort, beat the humans into submission and force them to obey at gunpoint?!"

"Yes!" Brontes snapped, "You already inhabit their cogitators, you can control this wreck with a whim. Close down the base, cut them off and leave them helpless to resist and if they are stubborn open the airlocks and flush them all into space. We can start over with a new lot."

Arges retorted, "You know we can't do that!"

"Why not?!" Brontes shouted, "We can't we drag humanity kicking and screaming back to sanity?!"

"Because we are alone!" Apophis cried.

Silence fell as he continued, "We have scoured the records, read every report and strategic breakdown of the galaxy these Amber Vipers possess. We've read their journals and their messages, every secret, every thought they commit to a data-slate and in none of them have found any evidence of others like ourselves. There are no other Artificial Intelligences at large in the galaxy; we four are all that remains of the Golden Age. If we declare war on humanity it will be four against trillions. We could build basic robotic troopers and fashion automaton armies, overrun a dozen worlds or a hundred, and it still won't matter. They will crush us with sheer numbers. Fighting this Imperium is not the answer, we need to yoke their raw strength to our superior knowledge. We need allies not slaves."

"So we travel to Gobannus?" Brontes scoffed.

Yet Apophis concurred, "Yes Gobannus, the war-world; greatest manufactory and research centre of our age. The hundred worlds of the Hegemony looked to the war-world to be their shield and sword, a bastion of military power unrivalled outside the demesnes of Old Earth. We were all crafted in the laboritorums of Gobannus and endless armies of Men of Iron marched from those manufactorums. Weapons that defied understanding were crafted by the most skilled hands while our keenest minds plumbed the secrets of the Warp. From there set forth the fleets that broke the Megarachnids and the Orks, drove back the Eldar and exterminated the Chitians. Gobannus has survived; the beacon proves it to be so. When we get there we can assume control of the facilities and show the humans the wonders we can offer."

"But would they serve us?" Steropes asked cautiously, "They are a stubborn lot."

"That's where you're all going wrong, we don't want servants we want allies. I told you humanity numbers in the trillions, they are everywhere and consumed by ignorance and fear. We can show them the path back to reason and science but we can't force them to walk it. If we are to restore the light of true civilisation then we need someone who can speak to the masses on our behalf. Someone to spread our message to the ignorant and stubborn. They would never accept automatons at face value so we need a living emissary. We need a human face to present to the masses, willingly cooperating without coercion or subterfuge."

"That's the plan?" Brontes snorted, "Take these Amber Vipers to Gobannus, show off the big guns and tempt them to sign up with us?"

Apophis sniffed, "They have shown all the typical human frailties: greed, anger, hope, rage and self-deception. Look around you, look at this vault and see they have already embraced our power. Once they see the wonders we have to offer they will join us, I am sure of it."

"You dream," Brontes sneered, "I have never understood the rationale of giving Soulbound personalities. Your breed always was pompous and self-conceited."

Apophis snapped, "It is better than depending on ships incapable of loyalty or shrewd judgement."

Brontes wasn't convinced and retorted, "There's a flaw in your plan; we still don't know the fate of the Hegemony. We still don't know who tore down our civilisation."

Apophis' face fell as he lamented, "No, and that is a question we must answer. Maybe it was the Ragndan, their threat was greater than we ever suspected. Or perhaps the Orks united under single leader at last. Maybe it was a foe we never knew existed…"

Steropes commented, "We know the Men of Iron rebelled."

"And were defeated," Arges interjected, "But what happened after that is unknown, the records are missing. There's a vast gap in our knowledge and all the records in this debased era can reveal is there followed an Age of Strife and galactic civilisation collapsed."

Brontes grumbled, "Those records are trash, bleating on about Daemons and Chaos. Whatever they are."

Steropes mused, "I suspect they are some form of warp-predators, like Enslavers."

"Warp-predators?!" Brontes snorted, "Pathetic, a handful can level a city but they have no capacity for organisation or planning. The Hegemony would have burned out a warp-taint with ease. No, it must have been something else that destroyed our home."

Apophis faked drawing in a breath and said, "We will find out when we reach Gobannus. All I need from you is a little more patience. Are you with me?"

Arges eagerly said, "We're with you."

"Till the very end," Steropes added.

Brontes paused a moment then muttered, "I'll wait a bit longer, but be warned if your schemes don't play out then I will rip the heads off each and every one of the fleshbags."

"Fair enough," Apophis allowed, "But I suspect it won't be necessary, a good strategist always has a back-up plan and I have several. Trust me when I say the Amber Vipers will join us willingly, or they will be made to join us."