Tales of the Amber Vipers Chapter 197
"Follow me in, keep it tight and watch for stray bandits," Reddam voxed as he pushed Grey Avenger into the black.
"We're with you," Tebes voxed from his four o'clock position.
"Ready, willing and able," Kazao reported.
"The Machine Spirits are eager to engage," Larus stated bluntly.
Joffel laughed, "Ha, we'll rip those bastards limb from limb, this will be glorious!"
From afar Wyvern control voxed, "Make your vector 290 mark 100, combine with the Starhawks and provide escort." Reddam obeyed and Wyvern fell away, shrinking rapidly as the Wrath fighters tore through the gulf of space. Ahead lay explosions and death, swirling dogfights and mighty broadsides as thousands of people fought and died. The Imperial fleet lay into the Revenge, throwing everything they had into her redoubtable shields. They had hit her hard indeed, evidenced by bleeding wounds along her flank, but not hard enough. Despite a three-to-one superiority of numbers they had failed to break her, those impregnable bastions shrugging off fire and her stacked ranks of gun batteries giving back twice as much in return.
Reddam knew the astonishing stamina of a Battlebarge, they were designed to break through planetary defence grids and deliver companies of Astartes into the teeth of enemy fire. Naval doctrine claimed they were at a disadvantage in open battle but there was scant evidence of that. Jormungandr was limping away, Myrmidon squadron battered, Carmilla had been forced to peel off and Wyvern alone was no match for the Revenge. One path remained open to them, a bomber run, a faint, foolish chance but it was all they had.
Reddam adjusted his course and saw two flights of Starhawk bombers vectoring to join them. The stray craft had been carried away by Carmilla but now were put to good use. Their plasma bombs would wreak havoc, if they could only launch from close enough. It was Reddam's job to make sure they got that chance, the Wraths would fly escort duty for the bombers, keeping them alive long enough to hit the Revenge. He didn't rate the odds of them all making it, and the chances of any coming back were slim but he knew no fear as he rolled Grey Avenger into a dorsal position and voxed, "Viper-leader calling, nice to see you, I trust you came looking for a fight?"
"Seraph-leader reporting and eager for blood," came the vox of the lead Starhawk, "I've got a full payload of torpedoes ready to go. Get us to the target and well make them pay for Lutum."
"We'll get you there," Reddam voxed, "Stick to us like glue and watch your turret fire, we'll be flying close so don't hit us by mistake."
"Copy," Seraph-leader replied, "We'll save all it for the Heretics."
Reddam turned his attention to the auspex and saw a swirling morass of strike craft blocking their route to the Revenge. Deathbirds, dozens of them, engaged with a pitiful handful of Imperial Furies. The veteran pilots had done amazingly well to hold out this long but it was evident the Heretics had the upper hand. More and more of them poured from the launch bay of their flagship, crushing resistance with sheer numbers. Even as he watched another Fury was blown from the void, sent spinning away with an engine aflame until it exploded.
Tebes voxed, "If we go in there we'll lose some Starhawks."
"We haven't any other options," Reddam growled.
"Space is three-dimensional, we could go around," Tebes replied calmly.
"It would take too much time," Reddam rebuked, "We'll blow straight through and carve a path for the bombers. Arcaka, you ready?"
From the other squadron Arcaka replied, "I can taste their blood already."
"Haven't seen you this eager since I saved your life over Kimara," Reddam commented.
They blooded my squad, I shall make them pay. And it was I who saved your life at Kimara!"
Reddam's lips pulled back over his teeth as he said, "Care to settle it?"
"How so?" Arcaka replied warily.
"A crate of beer says I claim more kills than you."
"You're on!" Arcaka laughed, "I shall enjoy your spoils as I toast my lost Brother!"
Reddam saw the vectors slide into alignment and his mirth faded as reality unfolded. Seconds remained until they made contact and then it would be blood and fury and instant death. He gripped his controls tight and called, "Amber Vipers, break formation on my command and attack. Remember we cover the bombers, nothing else matters. Fight with cold hearts."
"And fast blades!" the others chorused.
"On my mark... Break!"
The swirling dogfight swept up around them and Reddam was plunged into the heart of battle. Flashing shapes and brilliant las lit up the void, casting fighters into silhouette as they duelled. Reddam saw a Fury being chased by a trio of Deathbirds and his hands itched to race after them but he stayed his instincts. Their mission was clear, protect the bombers. An instant later he saw a Deathbird diving on the ungainly Starhawks, plasma cannon blazing in readiness to fire. He spun Grey Avenger about and jammed his thumb on the firing rune, lighting up the void. A flurry of las tore the guts out of the bandit, leaving it to disintegrate in a comet of shrapnel and he cried, "Mortus!"
The vox howled with cries of, "Pair to your five, take them out! Stake one! Take that you scum! Kazao roll right now, now, now! Mortus! They got a Fury! Two minutes to target." Everywhere flashing death played out before his eyes, the frantic dogfight impossible to track. Reddam could only weave through the madness, firing at targets that presented themselves. The Vipers were punching deep into the fray, but they were heavily outnumbered and couldn't cover every inch of space.
Suddenly a Starhawk staggered and spun, spewing plasma from a ruptured drive before exploding spectacularly. A Deathbird burst through the expanding cloud of flame, weaving through the lashing turret fire as it sought its next target. It was nimble and swift, too quick for mortal gunners to hit and it closed on the next victim with hungry intent.
"Oh no you don't," Reddam hissed as he rolled over and dove. His eyes filled with the blessed tone of a missile lock and he cried, "Stake One!" A missile flashed from his flank and tore away, plunging onto the Deathbird an instant before it could fire and blowing it to scrap. Reddam veered off, leaving his kill behind as he cried, "Mortus!"
The tempting target of Revenge loomed nearer, growing from a distant speck into a moving mountain of metal. They were so close but a surge of enemy planes billowed up before them, closing head-to-head with weapons flaring. Reddam threw himself at them, lascannons spitting death as his comrades followed suit. He didn't even try to aim as he flung himself to and fro, jinking wildly to avoid being hit. He fired blindly into the closing cloud, praying that he hit something. A Deathbird exploded as a blast caught it dead-on, another spun away trailing energy and air into the void and still the Vipers ploughed on. A stray las-blast clipped Reddam's portside, burning away a lascannon, another fused from overheating and a third overloading with a spray of sparks. Reddam had no idea if he hit anything as the two forces crossed, diving past each other and then they were out and free.
"We made it!" Kazao cried.
"Don't celebrate yet, here comes the hard part," Reddam growled.
Ahead the Revenge lit up as her defence turrets fired, filling space with darting tracers. A web of deadly force trying to ensnare them, and the slightest touch would leave them as scattered dust. Rarely had Reddam seen so thick a defence, a Battlebarge's protection as formidable as everything else. Their earlier assault on a frigate paled by comparison and it seemed to press on would be suicide. Yet they persisted, for this was their last chance to end the threat. Strike craft were small and slow enough to pass through shield envelopes that would shove aside high-energy macro-weaponry and their plasma torpedoes could melt armour to slag. All they had to do was get close enough.
Reddam threw himself into the path of the Starhawks, bobbing and weaving as he tried to draw fire. The distant gunners would not be able to tell the difference between tiny strike craft at this range and every extra target drew their ire away from the precious bombers. Reddam's bones groaned as he flipped and spun, bursting to one side then rolling over. His movements were random and wild, trusting to sheer dumb luck to see him through the maze of tracers and one single slip would be the end of him.
A Starhawk was not so lucky, catching a round and exploding instantly. Another went up and Arcaka roared, "We're losing them!"
"Stay your course!" Reddam yelled, "We have to get through."
"They'll never make it!" Tebes hollered.
"They'll make it, they have to make it!"
Closer and closer they came, until all Reddam could see was the strobing light of turrets firing. Starhawks followed him in, carrying their deadly cargo into the firestorm. Two more exploded as they closed, lost with their torpedoes and yet the rest did not falter or fail, they pressed their attack with legendary courage. The bravest of men, charging into the valley of death without flinching once. They were close, so close but suddenly Larus shouted, "Ware from above!"
Reddam jerked to one side just as a plasma blast passed through the space he had occupied. He rolled over and saw the worst thing possible, Deathbirds, two more squadrons of them diving from a vertical angle. Enemy reinforcements from Echidna, coming to aid their flagship. They came in firing, as Revenge's close-defence guns widened their spread, creating a kill-box. Into that box dove the Heretics, scattering the fighter screen and pouncing upon the helpless bombers.
Reddam threw himself aside as a wave of Deathbirds swept past him. He spun about and thrust after them but it was too late. Missiles were already streaking away, unerringly slamming into Starhawks in brief explosions of silent light. The bombers refused to break, carrying on with their attack as their turrets spat back defiance, but they were doomed. Missiles, plasma and las tore them to shreds, cutting bombers down in droves. Only one bomber made it into range and its torpedoes were launched a second before it died. They bored in for Revenge's spine but a las-shot clipped one and detonated it prematurely, triggering a blast that took out the rest well short of the target, leaving Revenge untouched.
Reddam couldn't believe his eyes, their attack had failed. His mission had ended in disaster, a chilling loss that spelt catastrophe for the Imperial forces. Yet there was no time to mourn for the Deathbirds spun about and came for the scattered fighters, driving towards the Wraths with all their fury.
"Fallback!" Reddam yelled, "Get out!"
"We're engaged!" Joffel yelled, "We can't get out!"
Deathbirds were everywhere, coming in from all angles. He was forced to fling himself about randomly, flying totally evasively to survive. His ears rang with the alerts of missiles trying to lock on and he could not fly straight for a second or be destroyed. An impact rang through Grey Avenger and the Machine Spirit wailed but he could spare no attention to access the damage. All he could do was press on, trying to find a scrap of spare room to break free.
A Deathbird flashed across his eyes and his thumb hit the trigger on reflex. A flurry of las-shots slammed into the foe and it broke apart, revealing blessed star-spackled space beyond. Reddam dove for that gap, pushing through the expanding debris as bits pattered off his cockpit. He had a grizzly glimpse of a dismembered arm bouncing off his screen but then he was out. Reddam looked about and realised he was alone. That would not do, he spun about and saw Joffel being chased by a pair of Deathbirds. Reddam rolled over and lined up his shot, then blew one away with a pinpoint strike.
"Mortus!" he cried as the other broke off and raced away.
"My thanks," Joffel breathed.
"Keep going, they can't keep up in a straight line," Reddam called, "Anyone else get out?"
"Kazao here, I've got Tebes and Larus in tow," came a call.
"Arcaka, where are you?" Reddam hollered.
"I'm in trouble!" came the reply.
Reddam saw him, Arcaka was cut off from his fellows and fleeing for his life. Three Deathbirds were on his tail and firing furiously. Reddam spun and thrust to get in behind them, shouting, "Hold on, I'm coming!"
"Hurry up!" Arcaka yelled.
Reddam pushed Grey Avenger to the limit, feeling raw acceleration crush the meat of his body into his skeleton. The darting shapes flittered in his eyes but they grew too slowly. In the time compressed pulsing of battle they were moving glacially slow and his hearts skipped a beat as a las-shot kissed Arcaka's Wrath, making it stumble to one side. He gritted his teeth and he pushed beyond safe limits, vision darkening as his blood turned to sludge in his veins. His targeting icon jittered over a Deathbird but then locked on with a glorious tone and he hit the trigger shouting, "Stake two!"
A missile shot away, dashing across the void to slam into the foe and blowing it apart. One attacker was down but the other two were not daunted and press on, slamming Arcaka with a las-bolt to the rear that shut down one of his engines. Reddam gasped in shock as he cried, "Break left!"
"I can't, I have no…"
Arcaka never got to finish his last words. Three more las-bolts slammed into his Wrath, tearing it to bits. The fighter came apart, spilling shrapnel and fire in all directions. Arcaka died in a brief burst of light, then he was gone. A veteran Amber Viper, one of Reddam's oldest Brothers, gone in an instant, cut down by unworthy foes.
Reddam's hearts were stone as he broke off and pulled away to extend for the empty void. His Wrath left the Deathbirds in his wake, the broad-winged craft unable to keep up with his acceleration. He wanted to plunge into the thick of the fight, claiming vengeance as red-hot anger washed away his grief, but his icy discipline held firm.
"Fallback to Wyvern," he ordered.
"But we're not done here!" Kazao protested.
"We can't make difference here," Reddam uttered coldly, "Wyvern will need us to cover her flanks, get back now."
"We owe the Heretics pain," Joffel snarled.
"We will pay them back thrice-fold, but only where it counts," Reddam spat as they sped away, "Make your rage count, Ferrac's going to need us before this is over. But I shall avenge Arcaka, this I swear."