Tales of the Amber Vipers Chapter 183
"She doesn't look very dangerous," Shrios remarked as he looked upon the prisoner.
"You didn't take a punch from her," Ferrac muttered, "She is supremely dangerous."
"Then are we sure she's secure?" the Apothecary asked.
That made Ferrac glance about the brig. It was a bare and functional place, a long row of open cells, exposed and bare. Illumination was provided by small lumen orbs and sanitation was a basic hole in the floor of each cell. The Wyvern wasn't a particularly large ship and the brig matched that. Cold, bare and ugly, nothing more than a place to keep prisoners. The Space Marines had come to inspect their captive, ensuring all was in readiness for the long voyage ahead. They found their prize kneeling upon the floor, hands folded in her lap. The null-shackle about her neck remained but Ferrac suspected it wasn't having much effect. She still wore her golden armour but her head was bowed and her eyes closed, as if meditating.
"Be not fooled, she is supremely dangerous," uttered Maru Kysoto. The Librarian-Dreadnought was stood at the end of the row, keeping watch. He would allow no others within and had sent the guards away. Ferrac suspected they would have been of little use anyway, this self-proclaimed Emperess had overthrown worlds, a few armsmen with shotguns would make no difference. Judging by the flickering aura around Maru's sensor-dome the captive's confinement was due more to psychic barriers than physical bars.
Shrios looked up at him and asked, "Have you determined the nature of her abilities?"
Maru replied, "She is a parasite, leeching off the life-force of her followers. She enchants them with a potent glamour and telepathic coercion, then has them give up their lives willingly. The more sacrifices she receives the stronger she grows, and the stronger she grows the more souls she can beguile. A cycle of consumption without end. It is a good thing we defeated her when we did, a few more years and she would have been unstoppable."
Ferrac had felt her psychic claws first-hand and knew to be wary but he asked, "Surely now she is contained her glamour will fade and her slaves will be freed."
"No, they will grow worse. She does more than deceive the eye; she implants her image into the pleasure centres of the brain. Her victims come to associate her mere presence with pleasure and positive feelings. She is to them as a snort of Obscura is to a terminal addict. They crave her, the need to be with her burns their souls. They will never be free of their agony until she is restored to them. They will kill anybody; go to any length, to get their next hit."
"I don't like the implications for Lutum," Shrios muttered, "Riots are spreading across the surface, the death toll has already surpassed casualties inflicted during the invasion."
"Forget them, they're only mortals," Ferrac snapped, "What of an Astartes; can she take over us too?"
Maru replied, "With time. Hypno-indoctrination is an impediment, but she could break through with enough concentration. In truth I suspect only a Psyker of remarkable power and skill could deny her indefinitely."
"Could one recover from such a spell?" Ferrac asked.
"Possibly, but it would take a supreme act of will and unyielding faith. The two halves of the mind would fight for dominance, struggling to assert their identity in dreams and visions. Madness is the most likely outcome; death would be a blessed relief."
Shrios eyed Ferrac warily and remarked, "You look worried."
Maru spoke for him, "He is concerned she corrupted his mind, but worry not, there is no taint within that thick skull."
Ferrac breathed in relief, "Truly?"
"Without a doubt. Your brain is too miniscule a target to be so easily struck."
Shrios grinned at the insult and asked, "If she's so powerful, what's stopping her ensnaring us right now?"
"My will," Maru stated.
Ferrac pressed, "What of the bars, what's preventing her ripping her way out and killing us all?"
"My will," Maru asserted firmly.
"You contain her by sheer will?" Ferrac probed warily.
"She is powerful but unskilled, a blunt instrument in every way. I am far superior in skill, but she is learning."
Shrios mused, "Sounds arduous. Is there anything we can do to help you?"
"Yes," Maru replied, "Shut up and go away."
They took that as their cue and departed, leaving the gaol and the Librarian-warder. Ferrac was concerned that the Librarian would not last the journey but he wasn't going to admit that to anyone. He had a reputation as a sullen brute to uphold. Instead he said, "Sooner we're shot of her the better."
As they walked deeper into the Wyvern Shrios mused, "I wonder what purpose Guilliman wants her for?"
"None of our business," Ferrac muttered, "We're only the delivery boys."
"Stealing psykers from the Black Ships... if the Ordo Hereticus finds out about this we're in trouble."
"Another reason to get moving," Ferrac muttered, "Anaxar and Torvus squads are idling, along with two squadrons of Wraths and our best ship. We shall dump her with the Crusade and get out. Then we can be done with Guilliman once and for all."
"You think he's just going to let us wander off so easily?!"
Ferrac blinked in shock and said, "You don't think... he'd have more assignments for us, do you?"
Shrios snorted, "I think we're going to be stuck being his war-crimes unit for a long time... remember what he did to the Cerberii."
…
The Gates of Perdition loomed, the thick barricade presenting a vision of unbreakable resistance. The door was large enough for a Warhound Titan to pass through and sealed by many locks and runes of aversion. Around the gates defence turrets protruded, gun-servitors idled and force-field shimmered, denying entry to all. It looked impenetrable, a bunker within the Serpens Rex that none could violate, yet that was Roboute Guilliman's intent.
The Imperial Regent stood before that bastion in his full regalia, his jaw firm and his gaze steely. With him stood a hundred Terminators and Reivers, standing guard over the Amber Vipers. Guilliman had ordered their entire Chapter brought to witness this event; it seemed he wanted his new servants to watch as he broke open their most secure holdfast. Few doubted he could and would do it, yet one soul was willing to try and stop him.
Standing before the gate was a lone Cerberii, Berio the Claviger their order. He wore his black plate and had his helm doffed, to reveal a wasted face threaded with black veins. He bore a Fission-blaster in hand, not quite pointed at the Primarch, knowing to do so would provoke a hundred storm bolters to end his life. Despite death being the merest twitch of finger away Berio looked up at the Lord Commander of the Imperium Entire and spoke, "You cannot pass."
Guilliman paused then and remarked, "You cannot stop me."
"And yet my solemn oaths permit me no other course."
"You do realise with a word I can end you."
Berio replied, "I know, yet I must repeat: none shall pass my watch."
Ferrac expected a furious rebuke, or an order to open fire, and yet Guilliman mused, "Destroyer Marines, an outdated and obsolete concept. The Legions permitted their use but too late did we understand the damage done to our morale and moral conduct. Always the temptation to use their arsenals irresponsibly existed, and some could not resist the lure of easy power. I removed such vices from the Astartes in my reforms, and placed them into the hands of men with less perilous ambitions."
Coluber stepped forward from the crowd and said, "Such was my dilemma: the weapons were too dangerous to employ freely but too valuable to throw away. Hence the Cerberii came to be."
"Foolish," Guilliman stated, "If the weapons were too tempting then they should have been expended in the most immediate manner possible. There is hardly a shortage of threats in the galaxy. I could have made far better use of them, I have agents who will."
"You will not," Berio growled.
Guilliman eyed him and said, "You refuse my orders, are you so jealous of your bombs that you cannot bear to part with them?"
"You don't understand," Berio hissed.
"I know these weapon's capabilities far better than you do," Guilliman asserted.
"Then you do not understand me," Berio uttered, "I am sworn not to protect the weapons from others, but to protect others from them. They are too vile, too dishonourable to be allowed to infect good souls with their malignant corruption. I do this not out of pride or hubris, but for duty. My duty to the Imperium and the Emperor."
Guilliman stared at him and Ferrac thought he would strike the defiant Marine. A dangerous air sprang up as the Regent growled, "I am going through those doors, to stand in my way is to die."
"Then shall I die knowing my oath is fulfilled," Berio stated without fear.
Hundreds of eyes watched in silent wonder, awaiting the next response. Would the Primarch strike down the Cerberii, shoot him, or let his men gun him down. Silence reigned as all held their breaths, waiting the moment to play out. Ferrac watched in mute disbelief as Guilliman drew himself up to his towering height and spoke aloud, "Captain Robann... make a note of this Marine's name and enter it into the records with an official commendation from the Imperial Regent, for his unyielding dedication to his oaths."
"I..." Berio stammered in shock, "What?!"
Confused mutters were let slip all around as Guilliman lowered his head a fraction and said, "My theoretical was flawed, I can admit that without shame. You are an unexpectedly bright mote in this cesspit of a Chapter."
"You're not going to kill me?" Berio gasped.
Ferrac was utterly baffled, lost by the Regent's logic, yet Guilliman continued, "Your unflagging adherence to orders is commendable. Yet I must inform you that your orders have been superseded by a higher authority."
A rumble from behind made Ferrac turn to look about and he saw the crowd parting to allow two golden figures through. Clad in Auramite of purest gold, with flowing capes and high-plumed helms two of the Adeptus Custodes approached, their Guardian Spears held in perfect parade stance. Between them trundled a servitor-driven casket, held upright on a caterpillar bed and blowing steam from chugging stasis-field generators. Ferrac was even more confused now but Guilliman proclaimed, "It has come to our attention that your vault contains a number of Adrathic weapons... and the Emperor left standing orders regarding such items."
The casket stopped and one of the Custodes rapped his spear on the floor as he uttered, "Behold the writ of the Emperor, Master of Mankind and sovereign over a million worlds!"
The casket opened to reveal a shimmering stasis-field. Held aloft in that haze was a scroll as long as a grown man, made of finest vellum. It was covered in intricate script but Ferrac's hearts skipped a beat as he spied a regal 'I' crossed by an x, inscribed beside a single drop of blood as a seal. The hallway rang with thuds as Space Marines fell to their knees, showing fealty to the Emperor's Own Decree. Terminators, Reivers, even a Librarian-Dreadnought lowering itself to one knee. All the Old Seventeen fell to their knees instantly, but the younger Amber Vipers stood in mute bewilderment, looking about in confusion as everybody knelt.
Ferrac glanced up and hissed, "Make obeisance fool!"
Sergeant Anaxar yelped, "But... but it's just an old piece of vellum!"
"Get on your Frakking knees!"
Slowly the younger Amber Vipers knelt, until only the Regent and the Custodes were standing. One of the Custodes lifted his voice to recite, "Hear thee the words of the Emperor: 'Of the Adrathic weapon, I do command that all such examples be immediately given over to my Companions, upon pain of death. This is my will and he who defies me shall bring down my wroth, not only upon his person but to his clan, his nation and to the very ground he walks upon. So it is ordered and all who serve me are to make it so, without hesitation or dispute'."
Ferrac was in awe, to hear the direct command of the Emperor as laid down ten thousand years earlier. There was no question of defying such an order, unwavering, unthinking obedience to the Master of Mankind was the bedrock of the Imperium. No loyal Astartes could countenance disobeying His decree and Ferrac would kill anyone who suggested such a thing.
Berio was kneeling with his head bowed and said, "So shall it be, the Gates shall open as He commands."
Guilliman nodded slightly and said, "My retainers shall retrieve the weapons, and several other items I have plans for. But be not disheartened, I have reassessed my Theoretical and judge this storehouse to have singular use. You may keep the majority of your arsenal and I shall deposit a number of Cawl's more insane creations within."
Coluber glanced up from the floor and said, "You intend to leave the Cerberii to guard these inventions?"
"Better that than where the Fabricator-General can find them," Guilliman snorted, "Do not think this means I trust you though, I shall be leaving some retainers behind the Gates of Perdition, to make sure you don't blow up the wrong planet."
Berio rose and hastened to open the gates as Guilliman turned to Coluber and said, "One matter is dealt with… now I shall give your first mission."
…
Ferrac's mind snapped back to the present with an angry snarl. He was wasting time dwelling on the past, when he should be acting. They had their mission; no matter where it had come from it was an objective to be completed. He had a task to complete and he would see it done. He decided then that they would wait no longer; he was getting on the vox-link to the Admiral this very hour to demand they leave as soon as possible. The sooner this was over the better, and then he could get back to killing things.