Tales of the Amber Vipers 301
In the mortuary deck Maru Kysoto waited. The Librarian-Dreadnought was still as only a machine can be, the humming of his reactor the only sign that he was not one of the many statues. Outwardly he was at peace, but in his soul conflict warred. Emotions he had not felt in many a century stirred, ruining his serenity. Hope for a future he thought lost, anxiety that he was to break his troth, shame that he was willing to turn his back on allies and fear, not of death but that all he loved was to be cast into shame forevermore.
Beset by doubt Maru returned to the teaching of the Librarius. Focus on the facts and build up from there. First: the true origin of his dead kin must remain unspoken. This had been a foundation stone of the original Amber Vipers, their most guarded secret. That they descended from Traitor blood had been a shame that burned in their hearts every day, a flaw in their genes they ever strove to overcome. Their fanatical dedication to pure thoughts and total commitment to action had been a refutation of their gene-father Fulgrim, a defiance of the wanton, hedonistic and irresolute abomination he had become. Some had argued the knowledge should be withheld even from their own recruits, that idea had been rejected, the curse of their genes was a warning against treachery and ignoble intention, a cautionary tale few failed to heed.
Second, the prospect of his gene-line surviving was a duty he must pursue. Not just for Maru's sake but for all his dead kin. The Amber Vipers survived, their genetic potential could be coaxed back into existence once more. Maru had no idea how he would achieve this, or where he would find the resources, but the possibility existed. For his lost Brothers he had to try.
Third, Coluber's hooligans were not his kin. They were squatters in his home, brigands and ruffians of coarse demeanour and ignoble deed. They scoffed at the shining history all around them, treating the Serpens Rex as a gang of criminals do their den. They owned no debt on Maru's soul. He had been more than tolerant of their sordid ways, too tolerant. It was time they were ejected from his house. These things Maru told himself, yet the doubts were not soothed.
A shadow at the door and he perceived Auriga entering. The Blood Raven Librarian had shrouded his mind, but now Maru was alert to his presence he could see the Librarian's talent for what it was. Auriga did not cloud minds as a telepath, nor alter his own brain waves as a Biokine would, instead he slipped into tiny cracks of perception, moving through the unnoticed corners as a shadow. A precognitive then, one who could trace lines of destiny and thought, a rare talent indeed.
Auriga drew up before him and called, "Did you bring it?"
"I have what you need," Maru replied noncommittally.
"I sense a 'but' looming in the conversation," Auriga probed.
Maru continued, "But I ask myself, how I can know you speak truth? You claim to have recovered gene-seed of my line, but it could be a trick. You could have brought forth any Progenoid and claim it to be of my line."
"We can't exactly walk to an Apothecarion to check the gene-codes, but your psychic might is mightier than mine. Test my words for falsehood and tell me what you see."
Maru had been doing so since the start and sensed no deception in the librarian's aura. Such things could be faked, but Maru was no novice in the ways of the mind. He had no choice save to accept Auriga spoke truly. But that left other concerns.
"How will I proceed to use the Progenoids?" Maru asked.
"That is up to you," Auriga sighed, "We can cleanse this place of the false Amber Vipers and leave you in command of the mortal crew, if that is what you will. Or you can depart and travel with me. For a time my ship's Apothecarion would service your needs."
"You would do that?"
"So long as I get what I asked you for."
Maru paused, "Why do you need it? Plans of the Cerberii vaults and the Gates of Perdition. The relic you seek lies within, but you shall not pass unnoticed, this we both know. If you plan to storm those gates you will pay a heavy price in blood, the mongrels are armed with fearful weapons. Your talents must surely reveal that truth."
Auriga sighed, "Alas when I peer beyond those gates my vision grows murky. There is a veil upon that place, obscuring my sight. Beyond the Gates of Perdition I cannot see."
"I did install psychic baffles," Maru mused.
"I could overcome such obstacles, but the contents are a different matter. My talent allows me to trace weaknesses in reality and fate, but when I look within that place all I see are flaws. The entire vault is a seething mass of conflicting fault lines, every molecule within jittering with rotten potential and cracked destiny."
"The weapons the Cerberii guard are foul things," Maru uttered, "The Dark Age of Technology is well named, for it was a seething cauldron of horror, one mankind has tried to forget."
"All I know is it's like trying to see through a blizzard at midnight, hence my request."
Maru took the hint and beseeched his Machine Spirit to begin the exload. A fat file of schemata was transferred to Auriga, who stored them in a data-slate. The Librarian lifted the device and began examining the read-outs, marking defensive batteries and the many protections laid about the vault. Maru knew the Gates of Perdition could only be approached from one direction, under the cover of many guns. All other sides were triple-reinforced with Adamantium and technoarcana protections, to defeat tunnelling or breach. The vault was impenetrable by everything short of a starship's lance array, and even that would have to dig through the structure of the Serpens Rex to reach it first.
Auriga sighed, "Vexingly well-built, that is a problem."
"How will you overcome it?" Maru asked.
"That I am not willing to share, but all defences have their weak points."
"Is the relic you seek within?"
"The Corposant is right there, the key to bridging the Cicatrix Maledictum. I imagine Cawl spat nails when Guilliman confiscated it and sealed it where he could not reach. Those two grow more fractious with every day that passes."
"And then you will return to your Chapter?" Maru asked.
Auriga sighed, "If they still live. The Blood Ravens fight in Imperium Nihilius, they may be dead. Gabriel Angelos led us well, but even he would struggle to withstand the wild phantasmagoria that haunts that blighted realm. I cannot know if they live, but if they be dead then we will fight to honour their memories."
Maru sighed, "A dream I thought to share once."
"Your Chapter died in glory?" Auriga asked.
"You do not know?"
"I knew enough to persuade you, but not the full history."
Maru explained, "We faced the Necrons at the heart of their empire. The Amber Vipers committed to the moment fully, holding nothing back, a full-chapter strike into their capital. I alone was left to enact the Exterminatus, should the battle go ill. As my Brothers died I performed my duty, to no effect. The Necrons could not die, I was left alone, to await ones who could avenge us."
Auriga's eyes narrowed, "I sense a bond of gratitude between you and Coluber."
"Coluber is a grasping wretch, coveting respect as much as he does material possessions. And Ferrac, a rabid attack-dog on his best day. I owe them nothing, but am I any better?"
"You doubt your worth?" Auriga probed.
Maru explained, "Not all my Brother's history is glorious, there were moments of shame too. Legend tells of doomed Tamano and deceitful Kitsuyne, the Nine-Tailed Daemon. Captain Tamano won a great victory over the forces of the Prince of Excess and was hailed a hero. He returned to the Serpens Rex wrapped in glory and it was said heroism shone from his heart as a beacon of righteousness. He became a legend in his own time, greatest in war and peace, skilled in art and rhetoric and enlightenment. Twenty years did he rise in glory till all thought him the next Chapter Master, but it was a lie."
Auriga probed, "This Marine was a Traitor?"
Maru lamented, "Worse, he was possessed. From the ashes came a wandering Brother, Mirusoka, a soul thought dead twenty years. He had seen the supposed victory but been captured in the retreat, and in captivity learned the terrible truth. The victory of Tamano was planned by Chaos, a sacrifice made to insert a shard of Excess in his hearts. Tamano may not have known but the Daemon Kitsuyne rested in his soul, stoking his pride, feeding his ego till he was no more the noble the Amber Viper he once was. Mirusoka had spent two decades waiting for a chance to escape and when he returned he exposed the Daemon."
"How bad was the battle?" Auriga asked.
"The Serpens Rex was wracked by violence, in the high places and the low. The Daemon Kitsuyne tore its way out of Tamano's flesh and laid about with claw and talon. In its hands was death, its breath and inferno and its nine tails brought obliteration to all. A hundred Amber Vipers died in that battle, ten thousand serfs, but in the end Mirusoka took up the sword of Tamano and drove it through Kitsuyne's heart, casting the filth from our home. A hero they named him, but he refused such vainglory, for he had learned from Tamano's fall. He chose the path of purity, to his last day he remained a line-Brother, an example of prudence and patience to all."
Auriga nodded, "You see this tale has parallels to our current conflict?"
Maru lamented, "Treason in the heart of the Serpens Rex, a hidden poison in the heart. We re-enact the events of history, but in this play am I Mirusoka, or am I Tamano?"
Auriga looked up and stated, "Surely you are Mirusoka, lost for an eternity only to return to purge the rot from your home."
"Do not stoke my conceit," Maru rebuked, "We speak of slaying those I call ally. Do not pretend this will not come to violence, we both know it must."
But Auriga argued, "No great thing is ever accomplished without bloodshed."
"Alas that is true," Maru lamented, "It seems for the good of my dead Brothers I must embrace dishonour. For the True Amber Vipers to be resurrected, the false ones must be cast aside."