Tales of the Amber Vipers Chapter 214
Verina was frustrated, she paced her dais like a caged Carnodon, every motion loaded with threat. Her ire waxed strong, driven by the injustice of the situation and the frantic need burning in her breast. The Emperess was so close she could taste the glory. All she had to do was reach out and take it, yet something stood in her way.
The battle had gone well at first. Revenge had made short work of the defences and driven all before her. The sudden turn of Carmilla had left the Imperials reeling and exposed, made easy pickings. Carmilla had killed Jormungandr and Revenge's guns had crippled Wyvern. The battle was all but won, then Wyvern had run away to hide among of the civilian ships, like a child fleeing under a mother's skirts. It was base and cowardly, not at all what she had expected from the vaunted Space Marines. She wouldn't have cared save that the blasted ship was squatting besides the Mass-conveyors, the precious vessels where Verina expected the Emperess to be imprisoned. She couldn't risk firing into that mob, not when an unlucky shell could well obliterate her sovereign.
Frustratedly she barked, "Does Echidna have the shot?!"
"Negative," a crewman replied from across the bridge, "The environment is too rich in targets, they can't get a clear angle."
Hanging from his chains above Lanfast chuckled evilly. The last of the Blood Talons seemed amused by her predicament, his mirth at his captor's impotence ringing through the chatter of the bridge. Verina was tempted to draw her weapon and shoot him, but forwent the pleasure. She had to be in control of herself, else suffer a relapse. She couldn't risk that. Ever since she burned Dylun alive her will had been set in stone, without deviation or doubt. The other had been blessedly silent since, no longer daring to intrude into her thoughts. She dared to dream it may have been excised, but knew it was not so simple. Only the radiant glory of the Emperess could wash away that taint in her soul.
There was a soft cough as Moryna proposed, "What of our erratic ally?"
Verina spat, "No good, Carmilla reports some form of weapon malfunction, she refused to reengage until it is fixed."
"They're probably planning to run at the first hint we aren't looking."
"Which is why I am keeping the port batteries trained upon them, they aren't going anywhere."
Moryna tutted, "They make for untrustworthy allies."
"Only until our Emperess is among us once more," Verina pointed out, "One taste of the glory will seal those curs to our cause."
"So how are we going to ferret the foe out?" Moryna asked.
Verina turned her eyes to the Hololith and saw the lay of the land. Amid the buffeting interference of the ion storm the civilian cargo ships drifted, flurries of icons surrounding the last warship. Revenge prowled the edge, keeping a wary eye out while Echidna trailed her wake, ready to respond to any surprises they may have in store. Carmilla hung off to the side, moving lazily and without direction. The Imperials couldn't run nor fight, but neither could she winkle them out of their shelter. A wounded ursal trapped in its cave by band of hunters who dared not enter to finish it off.
"This is appalling," Verina hissed.
"Why the rush?" Moryna mused, "They can't escape, sooner or later they must make a run for it, then we have them."
"Too long," Verina snapped, "I need the Emperess back now!"
"We all do, but mistakes made in haste will lose her forever. Think the problem through, we could try sending in the Deathbirds to flush them out."
"Too risky," Verina spat, "They may be small but a misplaced shot could ruin everything. Besides I will need them to coral the cargo ships while we search for our sovereign."
Moryna proposed, "Boarding pods, waves of them can break through the defence turrets and swamp that warship."
"It's a possibility," Verina allowed, "But they'd be running a gauntlet of smaller ships to get there. Even cargo vessels have turrets."
"Send them in from below then," Moryna stated.
"What?" Verina started.
"We're in space, height and depth are meaningless. Send them up from below where the cover is thinner."
Verina looked up in shock and saw the hag was right. The cargo ships were spread in saucer shape, thicker in one plane than the others. She had seen them as a circle, thinking only in two dimensions, forgetting that space combat was a three-dimensional environment. She kicked herself for the elementary mistake and realised there was a way in after all.
"We can do it," Verina breathed, "We can..."
She was cut off as a crewman's voice cried, "Massive power surges from Carmilla, catastrophic overload detected!"
Verina's eyes darted to the Hololith and her jaw dropped as the icon flared. A bright mote burned fiercely, then cooled to a blackened cinder. She frantically scoured the Sensorium for a detailed reading and saw images of half a ship tumbling away into the void, Carmilla's front end vaporised utterly. She was dead, killed from within by unknown forces.
"What was that?!" Moryna gasped.
"An accident or sabotage, either way the result is the same. The turncoats are dead."
"So much for our new allies," Moryna muttered.
"We'll manage without them," Verina said, "Now we must..."
Suddenly Lanfast hissed above and she spun about to see what fresh surprise was in store. To her amazement a single ship had left the pack, one lonely civilian making a run for it. Yet its course was baffling, it wasn't heading away from the hunters, it was heading straight at them. A pathetic little scow, making a suicide run.
"What madness has seized that cargo ship?" Moryna scoffed.
"Thats no cargo ship," Verina breathed as cold realisation stole over her, "It's the last Fire ship and it's heading straight for us."
"What do we do?!" Moryna gasped.
"Raise bombardment cannons!" Verina shouted at the dazed crew, "Take it out before it blows off half our flank!"
Frantically the crew rushed to obey, imploring the gunnery teams to bring their awesome weapons to bear. Slowly the spinal turrets came to bear, bringing enough firepower to blow the scow to atoms but they were racing to lock on before the ranged closed. The challenger was pushing her drives to the maximum, surely red-lining her reactors in the quest for speed. Verina knew that ship must be carrying enough ordnance to carve a chunk even out of Revenge's thick armour, if they got inside the shield envelope before they detonated the Battlebarge would bleed.
She held her breath as the ranges closed, feeling claws of fear wrap around her heart. They were going to make it, she could see it, see how they were closing so fast and curving around. Wait, she blinked as the vectors began to shift, the tiny scow was changing heading. Confusion rang through her as the intruder pushed her prow about, steering away from the Revenge. She wasn't aiming for the Battlebarge, she was arcing to pass by her stern instead.
"What are they playing at?!" Moryna spat.
"They don't want us," Verina breathed, "They're going for Echidna."
"Shoot them!" Moryna cried, "Shoot them now!"
"It's too late," Verina hissed.
Sure enough the fire ship was pulling hard about, bringing her bow to point at the light carrier. Echidna saw the manoeuvre coming and panicked, thrusters flaring as she tried to heave to. She eschewed her guns in blind panic, thinking only to flee. The Fire Ship slipped past Revenge's firing arc before she could be targeted, sailing straight at her prey. Terrified bursts of turret fire lashed out from Echidna, a pathetic display of terror in the face of death. The Fire Ship shrugged off the paltry sprays and drove forward, her prow plunging into Echidna like a stone into a glassic window. Then her cargo detonated.
The Hololith whited out as forces to rival a Nova Bomb went off behind her stern. Surveyors screamed in dismay and the Logic Engines howled, Machine Spirits wailing in distress. The whole ship lurched in space as the shields were slammed by a terrific explosion, waves of plasma and debris hammering them like a broadside. Revenge rolled with the impact and the internal gravity tilted as the generators failed to keep pace.
Verina clung to the rail as the deck tried to become a wall and shouted, "Get the helm stabilised! Bring us out of this roll now! Reset the gravity generators and implore the spirits of the auspex for aid!" Desperate men and women hammered on panels as a tech-magos chanted soothing psalms in Binaric and slowly the ship came back under control. Verina staggered as the gravity righted and the servitors stopped screaming. The flickering hash of the Hololith spat static for a moment, then cleared, revealing the aftermath.
In Revenge's wake the remains of Echidna hung. The vessel was aflame from prow to stern, every inch of her ruptured hull spilling flaming gases into the void. Her guns were charred ruins, her hangers vomiting debris and her bridge was a burnt stump, like a lightning struck tree left to burn. One whole side of her was missing, a massive moon-crescent chewed out of her flank to expose her innards to hard vacuum. Echidna was dead, there could be no doubt.
"They... They took out our support," Moryna gasped.
"Yes they did," Verina hissed, "But why would they do that when they had a clear run at Revenge herself?"
"Maybe they thought they could do more damage to us this way."
"Or maybe it was a distraction, look!"
In the Hololith another icon had emerged, the Wyvern. The crippled warship had seized the moment of blindness to emerge from the crowded civilians and make her move. Yet she wasn't heading towards Revenge at all, she was sailing away, sailing in a straight line for the storm. The Space Marines were abandoning the fight, running away in a cowardly attempt to save their own skins. They left the civilians for dead as they fled into the night and did not look back.
"Those cunning wretches," Moryna spat, "They are going to get away."
"No," Verina growled, "They won't get away from me so easily."
"They've got a hell of a head start and will be out of range by the time we swing about to present our broadsides."
"Who said anything about shooting them. Helm point us right at them, ordnance control open torpedo tubes and fire!"
Revenge's length rumbled as five thick doors rolled open on her prow. Then with a plume of exhaust gases she spat fat warheads into the void. Oversized plasma drives shot them away at amazing velocity, far outstripping the acceleration curves of any capital ship. They tore across the distance like hawks diving upon a mouse, seeking the bright mote of Wyvern's drive emissions with undeniable fury.
Wvyern saw them coming and let loose a spray of turret fire as she pushed her drives harder. She was desperate to get away, seeking sanctuary in the hash of the ion storm but it was too late. The torpedoes overhauled her with ease, and then they struck. One torpedo missed its target, shooting off into the void, another clipped the hull but spun away, nosecone dented and augurs confused by the glancing impact. Yet three others slammed home and ignited, unleashing star-hot fury upon the crippled ship.
Wyvern screamed into the vox-waves; her hull violated most terribly. Plasma spilled into her guts, racing through corridors and compartments to incinerate all they found. Chattels died by the thousand as flames consumed the ship. Workshops, munitions and fuel were annihilated, destroying everything the Amber Vipers had so carefully gathered. Wyvern burned from the inside out, her life stolen away and then her reactors breached.
A blazing fireball tore out of Wyvern's Enginarium, forces that put the torpedoes to shame. Metal vaporised, crew turned to dust and then to atoms as the ship tore itself apart with incandescent rage. With a flash that etched corona-ghosts into the auspex of any ship in range Wyvern ceased to be. The pride of the Amber Vipers reduced to free-floating atoms, along with all aboard. Nothing remained of the once proud ship, not even a single soul had survived.
On the bridge cheers erupted at the sight as the crew celebrated their victory. The enemy was dead and the field of battle belonged to them. Victory was theirs and they sang huzzahs to the roof as they cried aloud in joy. All were swept up in it and Moryna laughed, "We did it, we actually did it!"
Verina grinned from ear to ear as she agreed, "Yes we did and to the victor goes the spoils. Signal the Deathbirds to coral the civilians and ready all boarding pods. Let's go get our Emperess back!"