Tales of the Amber Vipers Chapter 190

"Incoming bandits," came the call over the vox, "All Wraths steer course 280 mark 010, to intercept. Fangs sharp."

"I read you Wyvern Control," Reddam voxed, "Fangs bared."

He rolled Grey Avenger over and thrust along the new vector. The Machine Spirit responded to his touch and accelerated rapidly, pressing him back into his seat. The fighter was eager for more bloodshed but he felt a worrying tremble in his hands, they had already endured one dogfight and had enjoyed no time for repairs. Something was damaged inside his Wrath but the instruments gave no sign of what it could be, he could only trust the interceptor's spirit would remain true. Outside his cockpit squat and unlovely cargo ships blurred past, bulky drives flaring as they struggled to escape Lutum's gravity well. A crowd of dirty and ramshackle scows jostling for room as they chased Wyvern's wake.

"Look at them," Kazao sneered, "Fat civilians and mewling cowards the lot of them."

"They are who we are charged to protect," Reddam snapped as he adjusted a fuel line in an attempt to isolate the damage.

Joffel snorted, "The Amber Vipers never cared about collateral losses before."

Reddam retorted, "The Battle-Captain wants them covered, that is our assigned mission and you will pursue it as zealously as any other objective."

The protests died away as Reddam gave up on fixing his engines. He lifted his eyes to the stars and saw the orb of Lutum shrinking as the convoy fled. The planet was already small enough to eclipse with his palm but not small enough yet. His auspex showed a flurry of small icons rising in pursuit, squadrons of Deathbirds burning hard. The tiny fighters had not the life-support capacity or reaction mass for interplanetary flight but their acceleration curves were far higher than any warp-capable craft's. They would catch up before the Imperials reached deep space and then they would taste blood. All that stood in their way were ten Wraths, coasting into a position to intercept.

Tebes spat, "Throne, didn't we beat these curs once already?"

"They must possess considerable reserves in their hangers," Larus answered with his customary grasp of the obvious.

"Then we shall simply have to thrash them again!" Joffel proclaimed.

Reddam snapped, "Don't be too brash, they have the edge in numbers and our machines are dulled by combat. Keep sharp and watch those plasma cannons, against flimsy cargo ship they can be lethal. Arcaka, is your squadron ready?"

"We're with you," Arcaka replied as he brought his Brothers to bear, "Ave Imperator."

Reddam ran a final check on systems and heard the servitor in the rear seat chatter as it cycled fluid lines and blink-test lascannons. He was as ready as he ever would be and gripped the controls tight as the auspex chimed. He squinted into the void as tiny glints of light betrayed the foe closing into visual range. They were flying at maximum thrust, their wings heavy with ordnance. Reddam kept his hand off the throttle, waiting for the enemy to reach the optimum range, then they grew into squat avian shapes and he yanked the lever hard shouting, "Follow me, break and attack!"

The stars jumped as he leapt into the fight, surging towards the foe. A flurry of lascannons shots crossed the space he had just occupied but he was already moving, darting into the fray at extreme velocity. His thumb hit the firing rune and Grey Avenger thrummed as ten lascannons discharged in sequence. He hadn't aimed properly but his intent had been to scatter the foe's formation and they did so, thrusting laterally and spinning to avoid being hit.

Reddam flew through their midst and then spun about to hit them from the rear. Space was filled with a swirling mass of darting shapes, Wraths and Deathbirds dancing furiously as they sought missile locks. He had no time to watch as a winged shape blurred past his vision, wings lit up by swelling plasma in its reservoir. Reddam threw himself onto its six, pushing his fighter hard to keep up. The enemy jittered to and fro as a targeting icon blazed in his eyes and he filled space around it with lasfire as he tried to land a hit. This pilot was good though, wretchedly good and danced through his hail of shots without taking a scratch.

"Little bastard," Reddam snarled, "Die already."

"I see the bandit, taking him head to head!" Joffel shouted as his fighter cut in from the other direction, "Stake three!"

A missile shot from the other Wrath and slammed into the Deathbird, ripping its centre mass out in a flaming fireball. Reddam's eyes opened wide as he hit his dorsal thrusters, viffing out of the line of fire as he heard shrapnel pattering off his belly armour. Joffel cried elatedly, "Mortus!"

"Frakking idiot," Reddam snarled, "You nearly killed me too."

"A kill's a kill!" Joffel laughed as he shot by.

Reddam rolled Grey Avenger over and saw the fight drawing out. Everywhere Amber Vipers fought to hold back the tide of foes, but they were too many. Deathbirds pressed their advantage fiercely and the vox lit up with cries of, "He's on me. I've got you, cut to the left on my mark, mark! Stake four! Mortus. I'm hit, eight lascannons disabled. You're not getting away from me… mortus!"

Suddenly Reddam spied a v-formation of Deathbirds breaking from the dogfight, barrelling through with sheer weight of numbers. Six enemy fighters, escaping the fight and heading straight for the nearest cargo ship. Reddam instantly swung onto their rears and cried, "We've got runners. Stay with the fight, I've got this!"

"I'm with you," Tebes uttered.

"Stay and fight!" Reddam snapped.

"You need a wingman," Tebes countered, "We can argue or we can get after them."

Reddam muttered a curse as he threw Grey Avenger after them, urging the fighter's drive to maximum. The Wrath had greater acceleration in a straight line but the Deathbirds had a considerable lead and he was hard-pressed to catch up. He drove the fighter for all it was worth, feeling his lungs being crushed and his eyeballs being pressed into the back of his skull. G-forces piled up, squeezing the blood in his veins but his twin hearts kept pumping oxygen into his brain and he did not pass out.

Suddenly a woman's voice cut into the vox, "We've got incoming! Can anyone hear us, this is the Fair Lady, we're under attack!"

It was the cargo ship, a filthy scow of a ship totally unworthy of her name. Someone on board was filling the vox-waves with distress and he snapped, "Get off this frequency!"

"Help us!" the panicking mortal wailed, ignoring his distress, "They're on us!"

"Fang-rot," Reddam snarled as the cargo ship grew in size. The Deathbirds were almost upon her and their plasma cannons glowed with deadly potential. A pathetic spray of turret fire rose from Fair Lady, swinging far over their heads without coming close to hitting anything. Reddam saw the enemy beginning their attack run and knew the civilians would not withstand a concentrated barrage. Their main hull was proofed against the tides of the warp but their airlocks and drive exhausts were unarmoured, a direct hit would leave them crippled in the void, to be left behind for the Heretic warships.

Reddam pushed Grey Avenger harder, until even he struggled to breathe and then suddenly the blessed tone of a missile lock sang clear. "Stake two!" he cried as he hit the rune and a dart flew away from his flank. It struck a Deathbird clean on and blew it to atoms, scattering vapour and flames in all directions.

"Mortus," he announced as the rest scattered, breaking formation to scatter across the ship's length.

"You got one!" the civilian vox-operator cheered.

"Shut-up," Reddam snarled as he dove after them, "You're not out of danger yet, this is a Jupiter-sized clusterfrak. Tebes, break formation and pick them off before they hit something important."

A Deathbird flashed by, skimming the hull as its plasma cannon flared. A bolt of star-hot matter struck an airlock and blew it wide open, blowing a dozen flailing mortals into space. A tiny wound to the Fair Lady but one that would be felt. Reddam rolled and spun, making the stars blur as he fixed his sights on the enemy and put a half-dozen lasbolts into its hull. The Deathbird came apart in a spray of oil, flame and blood and he leapt away, seeking another foe as he cried, "Mortus!"

Over the vox Tebes proclaimed, "Mortus, Mortus."

"Four down," Reddam growled, "Where's the other two?"

The Fair Lady's vox-operator wailed, "They're heading for the stern!"

"Frak," Reddam spat as he spun and blasted away, "Keep them from the engines!"

A pair of darts flittered in his sight, drawing near the stern of the ship as they prepared to fire. Reddam lined up a perfect lock and cried, "Stake three!" as he fired a missile. To his surprise the enemy flipped over and reversed course, evading the arching missile by inches. Reddam threw himself aside but the foe seemed to have a death wish and tried to slam into him. Grey Avenger jerked aside but a flashing wingtip caught their underside and Reddam was slammed into the side of his cockpit as the impact tossed him through space. The Deathbird spun out and slammed into the hull of the Fair Lady, exploding into a ball of flame but Reddam saw none of it as he wrestled to get the flailing craft under control.

Sluggishly Grey Avenger came to respond but he could feel the loss of power. One of the engines was dead and his weapons were not responding, he was crippled and could play no more part of this fight. Frantically he looked up and saw the last Deathbird diving for the stern of the Fair Lady, plasma cannon blazing. Tebes was hard on its six, lascannons spitting into the void. A lucky shot clipped the Deathbird but it was not enough. Reddam's jaw fell as the fighter went into a mad roll, spinning furiously as it dove like a thunderbolt from on high and slammed into the towering mass of the main drive.

An explosion ripped through the stern of the Fair Lady, unarmoured thrusters twisting and breaking as chained detonations raced through the rear of the ship. The Machine Spirits responded, shutting off the flow of plasma but by saving the ship they left her adrift in the void. Fair Lady fell out of formation, her comrades pulling ahead and Reddam knew it would take far too long to fix the damage, the Heretic warships would have her and there was nothing they could do to stop that.

"We're hit!" cried the Vox-operator, "Help us!"

"There's nothing we can do," Reddam lamented, "You're on your own."

"You're leaving us behind?!" the woman shrieked, "No, don't leave us here!"

"If they board you try to take some of them with you," Reddam consoled, "The Emperor will judge you by how you face your deaths."

"Throne damn you!" the woman cried, "You're Space Marines, you're supposed to protect us!"

Reddam closed his ears to the wailing as he coached Grey Avenger away. He could hear the curses and entreaties over the vox but put it from his mind as the crippled fighter limped away. Tebes fell in beside him and called, "You look bad, can you reach Wyvern?"

"Barely," Reddam replied, "I have to go now or I won't make it. You need to return to the fight."

"No need," called Joffel grimly, "We beat them back, enemy fighters are running."

Reddam noted the distinct lack of cheer in his voice and gulped, "Don't tell me…"

"We lost a Wrath," Joffel stated, "An Amber Viper died in the void."

"Larus, Kazao?"

"We're here," Larus cut in.

"It was one of Arcaka's flight," Kazao added.

That was no comfort. A Space Marine had died to the foe, a Brother's life snuffed out in a flash of flame. Somehow it was worse in the void than with both feet upon the ground. There would be no harvesting his gene-seed, no rites of the dead, a Space Marine had been alive and now wasn't, like he had never been. A black mark upon this day.

Reddam steeled himself against the grief and hissed, "We've lost enough this day. The fleet is leaving orbit, get back to the Wyvern before she sails too far."

"Are we running?" Kazao questioned, "Are Space Marines really going to flee from a fight?"

"Only for the moment," Reddam replied, "But this isn't over, not by a long shot. We'll regroup and gather our strength, then we'll hit them again. Make no mistake, the Amber Vipers are going to make the Heretics pay for what they have done this day."