Tales of the Amber Vipers Chapter 196

Verina blinked as she tried to orientate herself. She felt a cold hard surface pressed against her face, the unyielding material squishing her cheek into her teeth. Her armour lay heavy upon her back and her limbs were burdened with Ceramite plates that pinned her down. Her head throbbed and she tasted the iron tang of blood in her mouth, signs that she had been subjected to some violent action. It seemed she was laying face-down on the floor and for a heart wrenching moment she thought she had been lost again, acting under the direction of the other Verina, but then memory flooded back and she recalled the Revenge's narrow escape from death, the asteroid and the desperate action it had taken to break free.

Verina groggily stirred, armour humming as power-assisted musculature helped lift the dead weight of her plates. She forced herself to her knees and rocked back, taking in the bridge. All was madness and confusion, crewmen strewn everywhere and many nursing vicious welts and broken bones. On the dais Dylun and Moryna, lay groaning, each one battered and bruised, while above the last Blood Talon chuckled in his chains at the sight of his captor's injuries. She saw a woman laying cold on the floor, neck broken by an impact that had snapped vertebrae and killed her outright. Verina knew the death was on her head but it could have been worse. The asteroid flung into their path had the mass and speed to cripple even the Revenge, perhaps break her in half. Only the frantic order to fire upon it had saved the ship, and even then only barely. She hadn't been dashed to bits, but had been battered by a blizzard of rock regardless.

Verina reached out to grab the rail and missed with her first attempt. She gritted her teeth and tried again, wrapping a Ceramite gauntlet around the bar and then heaving herself to her feet. Her skull protested at the motion, sharp pain running behind her eyes but she fought it off as she wheezed, "Back to your posts."

Nobody heard her feeble whisper so she drew in a hoarse breath and shouted, "Get back… get back to your posts!" Blearily the crew stirred, dragging themselves back into their positions. Shaking hands returned to consoles and neural shunts were reconnected, binding weak and frail mortals to the mighty Machine Spirit of the ship. Slowly Revenge came back under direction, reports flooding in from all decks of the casualties and losses suffered in the collision. The news was not good, the whole ship had been tossed about as badly as the bridge and nothing had escaped the violent tremors.

"Get the hands back to work!" Verina shouted, "We are in a battle here!"

There was a groan as Dylun sat up and wheezed, "What hit us?"

"A mountain," Verina growled.

"Oh…" Dylun slurred, "Going by my head that sounds right."

Moryna rolled over, her ancient limbs somehow unbroken and spat, "Wretched Corpse-worshippers, they lured us into a trap." Verina knew it was true. The Revenge had chased an Imperial ship into the ion storm, thinking to claim an easy victory, but had discovered too late it was a trap. Verina blamed herself; she had been too eager for the kill and let herself be led by the nose. Her craving to retrieve the Emperess overriding any sense of caution or restraint. The swirling Fury interceptors had scattered, a small comfort since her protective Deathbirds screen had been flung away too. She lifted her eyes to the Hololith, looking to find their taunting lead, only for her jaw to drop as she beheld more ships sailing out of the surveyor hash. The Imperial fleet had set out a snare, now they were coming to finish the job, all of them.

"Shields!" Verina barked, "Get the shields back up, roll out the guns and bring the Deathbirds back!"

"They're coming right at us," Dylun breathed.

"They think to finish us once and for all," Verian growled, "We need reinforcements now!"

Moryna wheezed, "The ion storm disrupts our vox."

"Then double the power," Verina ordered, "We sent a message to Echidna and Scorpio squadron, they should be on their way. Tell them to make haste, run like the hounds of hell were snapping at their heels!"

Hastily the crew responded, shaking off their malaise under the threat of imminent battle. Revenge stirred into a ready stance, steadying her course, baring the fangs of her guns and covering herself in layers of void shields. It was barely in time. Just as the shimmering protection arose around the ship the incoming Imperials opened fire. Wyvern led the way, swinging to port to present her broadsides and opening fire with a hail of shots that lit up the void. Waves of destruction lashed over Revenge's bow and made the prow glow with reflected explosions, the shields holding back the onslaught, but only just. Jormungandr was not to be outdone; the crippled ship was wounded but not dead and cut over the dorsal hull, guns firing from the top vector. A Magma Bomb from the bombardment cannons struck the shields and caused them to ripple, sending electromagnetic waves over the length of the Revenge as the brawler passed overhead, raining down fire. Myrmidon squadron went low, laser batteries firing ceaselessly as they hammered the keel, relentlessly trying to break through and land a hit on the lone Battlebarge.

Verina had to cling to the rail as the bridge heaved around her, artificial gravity fluxing in the feedback. Servitors wailed in distress and many burnt out as wild energy pulses surged through them, telling her Revenge was well struck. She braced her feet and yelled, "Roll us ninety degrees to port and return fire! All guns fire the second you have an angle!"

The Revenge rolled in space, bringing her awesome gundecks to bear as Furies and Deathbirds danced around her. The decks rumbled as far below macroweaponry thundered, flinging destruction back at their attackers. The starboard decks lashed Jormungandr, hammered the crippled ship's shields nearly to breaking point while the port guns smote the frigates of Myrmidon squadron, leaving their protection in tatters.

Dylun hissed, "Damned storm is disrupting our aim. We can hardly see, let alone shoot straight."

"The same is true of the Imperials," Verina snapped, "They are as stymied as we are, but we can adapt. Port guns, focus all fire on one ship. Pick a target and hit it with everything you have!"

Revenge's shooting narrowed, inundating a single frigate with a tidal wave of fire. Macroshells hammered her shields, turning them opaque then a turbolaser kissed the envelope, bursting the barrier with an electrostatic bang. The frigate tried to brace against the oncoming annihilation but it was too little and too late. Missile impacts walked up her spine, blowing craters into her hull. Grav-shots crumpled armour, tearing off shield vanes, surveyor spikes and laser turrets. Plasma bolts melted through armour like a blowtorch through ice, incinerating all they found, metal, circuit and flesh alike. The valiant little ship wailed under the onslaught, guts torn to shreds by the deadly fangs of her attacker. Her crew died, her interior was turned into a charnel house and she rolled into a powerless tumble, left drifting as an empty tomb for all eternity.

"Yes!" Dylun hissed, "Ship-kill!"

But Moryna exclaimed, "Our shields!"

While they had been concentrating on bleeding the Imperials, the returning salvoes had not slackened. The shields were already stretched to maximum and under the constant hammering they gave out, popping with a flare of microwave energy. Instantly shells and las began hitting the thick armour of the hull, tearing deep grooves into Revenge's slab-like flanks. Adamantium plates, thick as a Titan was tall, were sundered, blown aside or ripped out. Air and energy and bodies were blown into the void, cast into the bleak coldness of the void to be lost forevermore. Revenge bled, wounded badly and vulnerable for the first time.

Verina heard Lanfast growl in approval as the ship wailed in torment but she wasn't finished yet. "Bring bombardment cannons to bear on the Jormungandr. She's already crippled, now finish her off!"

The doughty cannons atop the spine swung about, disdaining the hail of incoming fire to target the brick hanging off the starboard flank. Plumes of fire signalled the ejection of city-killing shells and they crossed the distance in moments, slamming into Jormungadr's shields. The first bomb blew out the shields entirely, the second missed, but the third clipped the main thrusters, blasting apart several drive coils. Jormungandr lurched in space, helm control ruined as plasma spilled into space from her wounds. The assault barge drifted off course, bleeding energy and air as she sailed in a straight line, unable to come about and reengage.

Dylun hissed, "That wretched little mule refuses to die."

"We've got bigger problems," Verina hissed, "Look!"

In the Hololith the Carmilla was closing from dead ahead. The light cruiser had executed a swift turn and was closing on an attack run, her lances gleaming with deadly power. Those las-weapons could cut through armour with ease and with Revenge's shields down they would prove lethal. A few well-placed shots would leave Revenge crippled and helpless, unable to fight back as her attackers moved in to claim the kill.

"Cycle the shields. Get the damned shields back up!" Moryna screamed in dismay.

"No time," Verina barked, "Ordnance control, give them a torpedo volley!"

"Tube five is blocked by debris," a frantic crewman shouted, "And we have no target lock!"

"Then fire the other five, launch now dammit or I will make sure you die before I do!"

Revenge's superstructure shuddered as her prow erupted with launches, five torpedoes shooting from her bow and hitting the midnight black of space. On flaring trails of plasma wash they raced forward, sprinting away at an incredible rate. They had not been aimed but that didn't matter, their Machine Spirits would latch on to whatever target they found regardless. Imperial Furies raced to intercept, chased by Deathbirds, but they were out of position and could not reach the volley in time. Carmilla saw them coming and heaved about, thrusters flaring wildly as she sought to get out of the way. Turrets spat tracers into the void as the bulk of the cruiser hove to, turning for all she was worth. Her manoeuvrability was impressive for a cruiser of her displacement and she was still some way off, but the torpedoes were lethally fast and closed the range with alacrity.

Three missed their target, failing to lock on, another was struck from the void by a lucky burst of turret fire but the last one locked on and dove through the web of tracers to slam home. The warhead struck her port flank and erupted into a star-hot ball of incandescent fury, blasting an immense crater into her side that left decks exposed like a cross-section of a body. Carmilla reeled from the blow, pulling away as she nursed her wounds but most importantly her attack run was ruined, her lances neutered for a precious minute.

"That was too close," Verina gasped as she sagged in her armour.

"We bought a minute," Dylun muttered, "What now?"

"Look!" Moryna gasped, "Our allies come. Ave Imperata, we are saved!"

Verina looked into the Hololith and indeed saw Echidna and Scorpio squadron edging into surveyor range, drawn by the wild energy flares of battle. They were fresh to the fray and loaded for a fight, eager and ready to spill blood. The tide of the battle suddenly shifted in the Revenge's favour, her fleet's combined might eclipsing the battered Imperial's. Now it was the throne-lackeys caught in a trap and the time had come to slam it closed upon them.

Verina cast her eye over various stations and read off, "Shields are coming back up. Bombardment cannons reloaded and damaged sections are sealed. We have the advantage, it's time to ram it home and end this."

Her words were good but suddenly a frantic crewman shouted, "New contacts! Strike craft in the void and headed our way!"

Verina's eyes widened as she saw Carmilla disgorging bombers, Starhawks picked up after the fall of Lutum. Ungainly attack craft but ladened with deadly plasma bombs. They were joined by Wrath fighters spilling from Wyvern, forming up a lethal arrowhead, that turned for the Revenge with murderous intent. The hardened wedge of fighters blew through the milling Deathbirds, punching in one side and out the other as they dove for the Battlebarge and they would reach her before the new arrivals could close into gun range.

"Emperess save us," Dylun breathed in horror.

"Divine intervention is unlikely," Verina hissed, "Ready defence turrets, launch reserve Deathbirds and signal Echidna, I need every fighter she's got in the next two minutes! Look alive; this isn't over by a long shot!"