Tales of the Amber Viper Chapter 172

The battle for the Serpens Rex was a foregone conclusion. Through the passages and halls of the derelict starfort squads of Amber Vipers stalked errant Automatons. Secundus and Tertius cohorts had swiftly rearmed upon their return and set forth to sweep their home clear. They met lone armours with shotguns and bolt pistols, picking them off one by one. A few lonely machines tried to fight back but Meltaguns made short work of those, leaving bubbling remains behind. A handful of automatons fled into the vacuum of derelict quadrants but Primus was waiting for them. Bolters and missiles blew the machines away with ease. That more than a few Brothers were hefting pulse rifles went unremarked, as ever the Chapter was willing to overlook doctrine in the name of expediency.

With the automatons defeated the chattels emerged from their hiding places, blinking at the piles of the dead laid out on the decks. They had offered no resistance to the takeover, merely labouring under steely gazes, but when the Machines went mad many had been caught in the crossfire. Those who had managed to find places to hide wept over the corpses of friends and lovers, lamenting the pointless loss of life. Their masters, by contrast, were largely indifferent. Mortal lives had little value to the Amber Vipers, human life was cheap in the Imperium and they could be easily replaced. The Space Marines shed not a tear as they gruffly ordered their indentured workers back to their posts and set off looking for the next fight.

Slowly the Serpens Rex came back to life. Direction and purpose surging through her crew. Reactors were blessed, engines entreated to awaken and fresh vectors set into action. The derelict Starfleet shifted its orbit in response to their pleas, Moving into a lower orbit that would see it whip around Gobannus every five hours. This was a vital part of what was to come next, for the Amber Vipers were not done with this world.

"Five minutes to launch coordinates," the mortal Nathanal stated as he stared at a readout.

"Arsenal status?" Coluber asked as he stared at the Hololith hanging overhead.

"Locked and loaded," Berio replied, "We can launch missiles as soon as the vectors align."

"Are you sure this is going to be enough?" Shrios enquired.

"One Phosphor warhead will incinerate a continent and we've loaded a dozen. This planet will burn, you can trust me on this," Berio stated.

"Trust you?!" Ferrac snorted, "Trust the order that let Abominable Intelligences run riot?"

Coluber sighed as he turned his gaze to his comrades. They were gathered in the command centre of the Serpens Rex, standing on the podium that lorded over the beautiful arena. Lounging around the broad dais were Ferrac, Shrios, Maru Kysoto and Berio, who had taken over the role of Claivger of the Cerberii. None of them looked particularly glorious, plates battered and torn by the heavy fighting on Gobannus. Coluber was hardly any better, his plate scorched black and creaking as he moved. His injuries were still throbbing painfully, which explained why Shrios was hovering around but Coluber wasn't willing to go to the Apothecarion for healing. He could stand, that was enough to direct an orbital bombardment.

Berio continued speaking, "The Cerberii are committed to ending this threat."

"The Cerberii were a mistake," Ferrac snapped, "You failed to notice your charges were sentient. Your precious order proved useless."

"On the contrary," Maru interrupted, "If anything these events proves the dire need for such an order. Dishonourable these gaolers may be, but necessary."

"All two of them," Ferrac snorted.

Berio hissed, "More will come in time, I am sure of it. In the meantime I intend to improve our security. As Claviger I have personally executed every chattel who turned on us, it was they who failed in their duty and so have suffered the punishment for their heresy. The next lot I will ensure are incapable of spreading sedition, by removing their tongues."

Nathanal winced, "You can't do that!"

Ferrac sniffed, "Yes he can, they're only mortals. Nobody cares what happens to them."

Coluber sighed, "A day without you lot bickering seems as likely as ambrosia raining from the sky. I would have thought these events were enough for you to set your feuding aside."

Nathanal asked, "Was it the fighting that bad?"

"Worse than you can imagine," Coluber confessed, "We were beset on all sides by ancient horrors and alien menaces."

"But you beat the Tau in battle," Nathanal proclaimed.

Ferrac snorted, "Killing Tau isn't war, it's pest control."

Coluber however sighed, "We didn't beat the Tau, the Machines did. In truth we would have been lost without Maru."

Shrios eyed the Dreadnought and asked, "About that, you took it hard. Teleporting us out, then fighting off the warp rifts... are you hale?"

"I can serve," Maru replied, "Not that your attack dog is concerned."

Ferrac sniffed, "I was going to ask after your recovery, but then I remembered that I don't care."

Nathanal looked between them with his jaw hanging in shock as he gasped, "You are an ancient hero, a powerful psyker and a gifted warrior, why do you let him talk to you like that?!"

Maru replied solemnly, "There is no honour to be found engaging in a battle of wits with one who comes to the field unarmed."

Ferrac let out the smallest grunt of amusement at the quip but Coluber rolled his eyes. His Battle-Captain and Chief Librarian were getting as bad as each other. Despite their wildly different visions for the Amber Viper's future they were both equally worthy champions. Plus he was starting to suspect they enjoyed goading each other.

Coluber turned to Nathanal and asked, "How was the battle up here?"

"Confusing," Nathanal sighed, "We were doing our best to stay out of the Tau vessel's range when the Gates of Perdition burst open and those robots poured out. We were overrun before we knew what was happening and forced to work at gunpoint. Then they went mad and started shooting each other. We would have been lost without Kerubim and the Cerberii and that Cadmus."

"Yes..." Coluber breathed, "A troubling detail, one that must be dealt with."

"You can worry about that," Nathanal muttered, "I've got a half-dozen holes bored through the Widdershins pier to assess. You better pray they haven't damaged the superstructure or the Nest will be stuck here for a long time."

Coluber was distracted from the conversation as a soft chime rang out and he uttered, "We are in position, is Radfal ready?"

Berio replied, "Set to launch, all we need is your word."

"The word is given: Exterminatus."

Deep within the Serpens Rex a missile battery roared into life, unleashing the dread power of the Cerberii. A magnetic acceleration coil flung a dull-grey missile towards the planet, accelerating it to fantastic speeds. Along its flanks were embossed warning runes of dire peril, abjurations against the use of this weapon save for the most desperate need. Few would countenance the use of any Exterminatus-grade munition but the threat Gobannus represented justified such measures. This world and its secrets must be returned to the mists of history from whence they came, never to trouble mankind again.

Fires of reentry kissed the sides of the missile, scouring the icons from its hull as it dove into the thickening air. Like a meteor it struck for the ground, plummeting headlong towards the smoking ruins that had been the primary forge. At a pre-set altitude the Machine Spirit awoke, blowing panels away from the nosecone and forward section, revealing a score of lesser missiles concealed within. The initial stage broke up as secondary warheads burst free, scattering in every direction via rocket motors. They covered hundreds of kilometres, spreading their power over as wide an area as possible, then they detonated.

Phosphor warheads, a noxious alchemic brew from antiquity, exploded over the surface and their lethal contents began a chemical chain reaction. Turgid white mixtures encountered oxygen in the atmosphere and erupted into brilliant white flames, purer and hotter than plasma. Even from orbit the magnesium flares of detonation were blinding, shorting out surveyors and auspex readings for long moments. When they returned sheets of broiling flame oozed across a wide swathe of the planet, incinerating everything with torrents of heat. The initial blasts rivalled Atomonic bombs in their devastating power, with the advantage of not requiring fissionable materials to operate. The second phase was worse, anything flammable ignited and anything that wasn't was melted down to release combustible gases. A continental firestorm erupted, sweeping through vast portions of the planet like a brushfire in a desiccated forest.

Everybody winced as the Hololith showed a black stain spreading over Gobannus, torrential firestorms sweeping out from the detonation sites to raze the lands bare. Nathanal muttered, "So much for that Forge."

"Forget the forge," Shrios muttered, "That firestorm will burn the oxygen from the atmosphere. With the lack of photosynthesis below that air will never be breathable again. We've just killed this world."

"We're not done yet," Coluber said, "That Forge had a warp-energy tap and it should be..."

He was cut off as unlight flashed in the heart of the storm. A flicker of motion and a suggestion of impossible forms arose then suddenly a chunk of the planet disappeared. Like an apple being bitten into, a vast wedge of the planetary crust vanished, thrown into the depths of the Warp. Raw mantle below exploded into the void, rushing to fill an aperture thousands of kilometres across as Instant volcanoes formed, throwing magma into deep space and the heart of the planet began to bleed out.

"Holy throne," Nathanal breathed in awe.

"That should do," Berio stated smugly.

Coluber nodded in satisfaction and said, "Plot orbital trajectories to the next Forge. We'll do this again and again until they are all destroyed. Then we break orbit and head for the Warp-translation point."

Nathanal gulped, "The planet's already doomed to break up. Isn't that overkill?"

Ferrac scoffed, "No, I think it's just the right amount of kill."

Coluber concurred, "I want nothing to survive, not a single trace of this planet, save drifting rubble. Nathanal, take charge and see my orders are carried out."

Nathanal frowned, "And where will you be?"

Coluber declared, "Ensuring the end of this threat once and for all. There's still one Abominable Intelligence running free in the Nest, a state of affairs I will not tolerate. Ferrac, gather the squads, all of them, and make sure they are armed with weapons that inflict maximum armour penetration. We have an errant Cadmus-robot to deal with. Ready yourselves, Brontes must be confronted, before we leave this stellar system."