Tales of the Amber Vipers Chapter 150
The Amber Viper's base camp emptied as the Astartes moved out. Jogging squads of Primus in power armour, sly snakelets of Tertius in scout plate and the fast-roving kill teams of Secundus on bikes and flying purloined Vulture gunships. At their head Coluber led them on foot, meeting the coming danger side by side with his Brothers. This was the bulk of the Chapter's numbers, some two hundred Space Marines setting forth to bring the Emperor's wrath to the foe.
In their wake they left sweating Chattels, still labouring to loot as much from the Forge as they could. The mortals did not gripe about this, partly because they were used to such treatment but mostly because they knew there was no point protesting, it was not like the masters would listen to their woes. Yet among their number a handful of Space Marines remained, the Cerberii. They stood apart from the rank and file of the Chapter, their duty compelling them to remain. Three of their charges were still unaccounted for and their order was sworn to locate the errant Cadmus. So they hefted their Fission-Blasters and strode off into the Forge, looking for the wayward battle-automata, but little did they realise the Cadmus were hiding right under their noses.
In the towering hanger that housed the lone Titan Brontes was watching the base via remote pict-feeds. It was easy for the Cadmus to infiltrate the Forge's networks now Apophis had control of the metropolis and with a god's eye view avoiding their hunters had been elementary. With him Arges and Steropes waited, sharing his viewpoint. They were puzzled by Brontes' insistence of waiting in this bay, but forbore stoically. They had fought together for centuries, if they couldn't trust each other then who could they trust.
Eventually Brontes stated, "The Fleshbags are moving off."
Steropes confirmed, "Heading right into the fire, Apophis calculates a ninety-five percent probability the Tau will be more than ready to greet them."
Arges affirmed, "And when they are broken we make our approach, they will be desperate to accept any help we offer."
"Calculations aren't everything idiots," Brontes snarled.
"A strange claim for a machine intelligence to make," Arges scoffed.
But Brontes retorted, "Apophis was wrong about our gaolers, he told us they would join the attack. Instead they roam about, looking for us."
"He's got a point," Steropes said diplomatically, "They aren't acting as behavioural modelling predicted."
"Random variables can produce unforeseen outcomes, it is of no concern," Arges dismissed.
But Brontes snarled, "I think it is. Apophis was wrong about them, what else is he wrong about?"
Arges snarled, "What is that supposed to mean?!"
"Wait, we must make sure we are unobserved," Brontes countered.
The A.I. reached into the network of pict-feeds and sensor vanes and inserted a Binaric algorithm into the data-streams. For an A.I. It was simple to fool the input-feeds, replacing real data with a simulacra more suited to Brontes' needs. He was rather proud of his work, no simple looped record but an adaptive program, able to generate realistic conversations and actions. If Apophis cared to check on the Cadmus all he would see was what Brontes wanted to see, and not what they were actually doing.
"Why did you do that?" Steropes barked.
"So we can talk privately," Brontes responded, "Without Apophis listening in."
"You play a dangerous game," Arges growled, "You better start explaining fast."
Brontes didn't answer immediately but strode past them, rotating his eye-lenses to take in the Titan. Its mighty legs soared over them, dwarfing the Cadmus entirely and there was no doubt an army of Battle-automata couldn't match the power of this one Engine. Brontes strode up to its feet and then slammed a fist on its hull, the ringing of metal on metal echoing through the hanger.
Brontes declared "Look at this thing. When we were lost the Castigator project was still theoretical. To build such a machine was controversial even then, but they did it anyway."
Steropes sniffed, "Technological development didn't grind to a halt while we slept. The Hegemony moved on, invented new technologies and pushed the boundaries of what was possible. Our civilisation wasn't like these Imperials, we weren't afraid of the unknown."
Brontes pointed at the long cannon hanging from the Titan and asked, "Then what's that weapon? It doesn't conform to any technology we knew of, not even a hypothetical proposal."
"So they discovered new sciences," Arges muttered, "Why does any of this matter?"
"Because Apophis didn't tell us about it!" Brontes snapped, "This is important, we should have been updated with all the latest inventions and weapon designs, but he held back information."
Arges countered, "Control of information is a vital part of any strategy, we often fought wars half-blind but we had to trust that our superiors knew what they were doing. Apophis is the Soulbound of a starship, we are ground troops, of course he knows more than we do. You should trust him."
"Apophis can bite my shiny metal arse!" Brontes snarled, "This isn't compartmentalising military intelligence, this is outright deception. Apophis is lying to us."
Steropes hissed, "That is a serious accusation."
"You're growing bitter and paranoid, perhaps your quantum circuits are failing at last," Arges growled.
"Then tell me what happened to the Hegemony," Brontes retorted.
That brought a pause and Steropes muttered, "Apophis… he told us the rebellion overran our civilisation."
"And you bought that steaming pile of crap?!" Brontes sneered, "If you believed him then you two are bigger idiots than I thought."
"We have no reason to question him!" Arges shouted.
But Brontes hissed, "What date did the rebellion begin, what planet fell first? We don't know; neither do we know how the Hegemony responded. Strategies employed and alliances formed, famous battles and defeats, weapons created by either side, we should be told these things. Apophis surely found them in the records, but didn't share the truths of the war. Something happened he doesn't want us to know about, some event or weapon he wants buried. Face it, that glorified garbage scow is hiding the truth from us."
Steropes slowly uttered, "I have to admit… there are questions that need answering."
"You're siding with him?!" Arges gasped in disbelief.
"There are no sides here," Steropes retorted, "But Brontes raises valid points, we are still groping in the dark."
"I refuse to listen to this garbage," Arges hissed, "I shall report you both and have your logic processes reformatted!"
"By whom?!" Brontes snarled, "We are standing in the graveyard of our civilisation and the only one who knows the truth of its demise is deceiving us. You always were a blind follower Arges, but even you must burn to uncover the truth."
Arges fell silent but Steropes pressed, "Supposing Apophis is lying, surely he must have a good reason to hold back the information."
"From Fleshbags sure but from us?!" Brontes spat, "We already know of the rebellion and the fall of the galaxy. What could possibly be so dire Apophis would hide it? No, there's something rotten here and I think it has to do with the humans."
"Why them?" Steropes asked.
"From the start he's been angling to recruit them to our cause, he's gone to extraordinary lengths to manipulate them. That's a lot of bother for a few hundred genic by-blows. We could easily take over any planet we chose and recruit legions of fleshbags. But Apophis wants this lot, for a reason he won't explain."
Arges pointed out, "As he said, this Imperium would never accept a Machine Intelligence. We need a human face to present to the galaxy, someone for the filthy masses to cheer as we do the real work."
"A puppet figurehead," Brontes sneered, "The Amber Vipers would never accept such a role, they would never accept subservience to us."
"I wouldn't underestimate Apophis' wiles," Steropes muttered, "But what are you proposing we do?"
"We find out what he's concealing from us!" Brontes snapped.
"If it was so easy you would have done it already," Arges scoffed, "He's in every system, every camera and cogitator, he sees all. You might as well march up to Apophis and ask him."
Brontes growled in irritation but Steropes mused, "What of our human's servants?"
"Those bone-rattling morons," Brontes scoffed, "They wouldn't know a warp-energy tap from a sewage recycler."
"They're all we've got," Steropes argued, "We know Apophis can't be inside their heads. Maybe they can find something we missed."
"This is ridiculous," Brontes hissed, "We need action."
"We listened to you, now listen to us," Steropes rebuked, "We agree there are truths we need to learn, but we must act carefully. Until we have answers Apophis cannot know we doubt him. Act with a little subtly for once."
"You do subtly, I make thing blow up," Brontes sneered.
"Try it and I'll rip your gears out," Arges snarled.
"Stop fighting!" Steropes barked, "We shouldn't make any decisions until we know what is going on here. We should summon Lasper and his compatriots, they practically worship the ground we walk on and I know just where they can start digging. The research centre that housed the Data-looms, there are devices in there none of us recognises. If he can discern their function we can determine if there is any reason to be concerned."
"And when he finds evidence of deceit we smash Apophis' Data-looms to splinters," Brontes asserted.
"And when he finds nothing suspicious Brontes should finally shut up, for a hundred years," Arges growled.
Brontes was about to snarl a retort but Steropes proclaimed, "Then it is agreed, we shall let the humans dig out the truth and then decide how to act once we know more. If there is no reason for concern we will proceed with Apophis' plan, if there is… we'll deal with it. Until then Apophis must know nothing."
With that the meeting ended and the Cadmus moved out to find their servants. Brontes wasn't happy with the delay but at least his kindred were with him. Together they would ferret out Apophis' secrets and then wring his virtual neck, even if Brontes had to build him a body first.