Tales of the Amber Vipers Chapter 314
"So here I stand, awaiting your judgement," Maru concluded. Silence greeted his confession, the ring of faces left blank as they tried to process the information. Maru could only guess what they were thinking, the outrage, the hatred, they must be feeling. He refused to skim through their minds and know their thoughts, he had done enough to them. So he waited for their condemnation, knowing it was deserved.
Maru met them in a deserted refectory, where Chattels would prepare rations for the thousands of workers who daily required feeding. Hardly the most auspicious of locations for this meeting but it was conveniently central and easily emptied. Better it offered surety of confidence, no one would bother to monitor a mess hall. Among the cooling cauldrons and long tables, laden with knives sharpened so many times as to be wafer thin, Maru loomed as a giant, his battered frame filling the room. The Transhumans were barely less conspicuous, their armour scored but still intimidating.
Chapter Master Coluber stood frowning, flanked by the Brother-Exemplars Seyda and Hasak. Shrios stood off to one side, expression blank. Ferrac was running late but Reddam was here, as senior Brother of Secundus his voice carried weight. Thaddis was watching the perimeter, but there was one other present: Nathanal, the mortal artisan swept up in events beyond his reckoning. So now they all knew the shameful truth and Maru could not avoid their judgement.
"Exactly what intel did you pass to Auriga?" Coluber asked.
"Excuse me?" Maru started in surprise.
"What have you told him of us?" Coluber pressed.
"I told him your numbers and strength and provided plans of the Serpens Rex, detailed schematics of the Vaults of the Ceberii."
"Why there?" Reddam asked.
"I…" Maru hesitated, "They seek a relic within, the Corposant. Auriga thinks it will let him bridge the Cicatrix Maledictum."
"Ha, fair fortune to them," Shiros scoffed, "The Gates of Perdition are heavily armoured and ringed by guns."
"But the Cererii are few," Coluber countered, "The Howling Griffons, Storm Heralds and Blood Ravens will break through, if given free rein."
"Then we must reinforce the gates at once!" Reddam proposed.
"That is an option, but not the only one…"
"What are you talking about?!" Maru barked.
Coluber looked up, "We're talking about how we respond to this development."
"Not that, what about my punishment?!"
Coluber cocked his head, "That is a discussion for another time, and make no mistake I am angry, but I cannot afford the time and effort to chastise you. There will be redress later, your actions are troubling, but not so horrific as to be unforgivable. You fought to save Tertius, Thaddis tells us you saved our entire recruitment pool. As for the intel, Ryneon has yet to act upon it, so this could be far worse."
"Not that!" Maru barked, "Address the real crime! I cannot bear you delaying my judgement."
"What's he on about?" Reddam asked.
"My origin!" Maru yelled, "The great shame of my Brothers, the secret we hid for millennia!"
"Oh…" Coluber sighed, "That…"
Maru couldn't understand why they were delaying his execution but just then Ferrac arrived. The Battle-Captain strolled in, axe-rake laid over his shoulder. His armour was battered badly but his pauldron had been replaced, a grey ceramite sheen, layered in the pattern of the new Power Armour manufactory. It stood out like a sore thumb but it would cover him adequately in a fight. Though the mishmash of his plate offended the eye.
"You're late!" Coluber snapped.
"I know," Ferrac replied coolly.
"Were you delayed by important business?"
Ferrac grinned, "No, I just didn't want to come."
"You are an uncouth barbarian," Maru muttered.
"And you love your own voice too much," Ferrac rejoined, "For a rustbucket you can't half waffle on, I figured it was best to come late and miss the boring bits. What was so important anyway?"
Shrios answered for the ancient, "Maru was just telling us the true origin of his Chapter. It seems the Amber Vipers were offcasts from the Traitor Legions. Loyalist splinters, who fought among the Shattered Legions of the time. They left the Emperor's Children, to fight for the Emperor and gave battle to the filth of Chaos. Then in time dropped the name and adopted a new one. Maru here is descended from Traitor stock."
Maru's shame could not grow heavier but to his shock Ferrac's lips split in a hearty grin as he chuckled, "Heh heh heh… heh heh…. Ha! Hah hah hah! Hahaha!"
"Does my disgrace amuse you?!" Maru spat.
"Ha!" Ferrac laughed, "It bloody well does! This is rich, oh it's just too damn good!"
"Kill me and have done with it!" Maru barked, "Do not mock me!"
Coluber cut in, "No one's killing anyone."
Maru was set back, "But surely you must carve me open. He said you would kill me, that you would smash the statues of my kin, tear down our monuments. Cast our names into shame forevermore!"
But Coluber retorted, "Who told you that… Auriga? And you believed him, I thought you smarter than that."
Maru couldn't follow this, "You… you don't intend to destroy my legacy?"
"Waste of time," Reddam sniffed, "Nobody remembers their names, save you."
"But I'm telling you that the blood of a Traitor runs in my veins!" Maru wailed.
"And we're telling you that we don't give a rat's ass!" Ferrac barked.
Maru was stunned into silence but Coluber explained, "We are hardly shining examples of chaste virtue. You know our shameful origins, you know who we were and how we came to be. You stand among the kin of a renegade, the cast-offs of a disgraced Chapter, and you are surprised we do not judge you for being the same? I would have expected you to know us better, after all our time together. You may not be of our blood, but we share more than a name, it turns out we were all cut from the same cloth."
Maru turned to Ferrac, "You of all people agree with this?"
Ferrac grinned, "All this time you've been looking down your nose at us, acting all superior. Now it turns out you're no better than any of us. You're gutter-trash, just like the rest of the Amber Vipers. Oh, I am loving every second of this: this is the greatest day of my life!"
Of all the dire responses Maru had expected, this was not among them. He had prepared himself for shameful accusations, torment and death but that these hoodlums simply wouldn't care had never occurred to him. Belatedly Maru realised he had misjudged Coluber's misfits, from the start he had underestimated them. Maru had held himself above them, thought himself their better and never taken the time to truly understand this rough brotherhood. That was the flaw Auriga had exploited, the crack in Maru's soul that had been levered open for advantage. Maru had committed the sin of pride, and fallen as a result.
Nathanal interrupted, "May I ask what brought about this sudden confession?"
"Chaplain Daggon," Maru told them.
"The Soul Drinker?" Coluber blinked.
"Do not judge him by his Chapter's name," Maru responded, "His wisdom is deeper than you know. His heraldry hides a leal soul."
"Easy for you to say," Reddam muttered, "We still haven't figured out his endgame."
Nathanal rubbed his chin, "If we know Ryneon steers for the Gates of Perdition, what are we to do about it?"
"Huh?" Ferrac grunted.
"Maru passed Auriga schematics to the vaults of the Cerberii," Nathanal said, "They seek a relic called the Corposant."
"That is less funny," Ferrac growled as his mirth evaporated.
Yet Coluber argued, "But in Maru's mistake lays opportunity. We know where the next blow will fall, and when. There's no direct route from their barracks to the Gates of Perdition, not without going through us, they must spend hours negotiating tangled passages before making their assault. Time we can use to we can prepare."
"Are we sure Auriga spoke truth?" Shrios asked, "He could have let slip this fact, expecting you to tell us."
"I am a Chief Librarian," Maru scoffed, "I could read a lie in his aura. He thinks me in his pocket, sure of his victory. Auriga can trace faultlines in destiny but he cannot predict which way the pieces will fall when he breaks fate. His clairvoyance is destructive in nature, tending always towards entropy, he can break futures but cannot build them."
Reddam spoke up, "So we intend to meet them at the Gates?"
Coluber shook his head, "No, the Gates have only one approach; if we wait for them to attack first we can pin them against that barricade and destroy them. There will be no avenue of retreat, no cover to shelter behind. They will be caught between the Hammer and the Anvil."
Shrios shook his head, "Howling Griffons, Blood Ravens and Storm Heralds, that's a tough nut to crack and no fight is harder than a last stand."
"We might have an edge," Nathanal proposed, "Castabore; she managed to awaken the spirits of our tanks, before she was captured."
"Before you let her get captured," Ferrac growled.
"I am a mortal man, they are Space Marines, what did you expect me to do: trip them up with my corpse?"
Coluber's eyes gleamed, "Nathanal, are you saying we have functional armoured units?"
"In addition to our Rhinos, we have a Mastodon, a Predator and an Omega Sicaran… if you can find anyone mad enough to drive them."
"I'm sure I can find a few likely lads," Ferrac claimed.
"Oh no, Secundus is our fast-attack division, we will provide the drivers," Reddam argued.
"Primus is the best, so we get the best, Sergeant."
Coluber however cut in, "Reddam is right, Secundus isn't just a recruiting pool but a specialised formation in its own right. Time Secundus was properly armed. Ferrac, I want your best fighters on foot anyway. Maru, I understand a Mastodon can carry a Dreadnought, I want you inside. We will hit them with everything we got in one massive sledgehammer."
Maru was grateful for the gesture and humbled to be trusted with so important a role. After all the doubts he had piled upon them these Amber Vipers treated him as one of their own. Maru could not deny it was he who had been unworthy. He resolved to return to the teachings of his ancestors regarding humility with fresh eyes and reconsider all his assumptions. Which reminded him…
Maru spoke up, "There is one other matter. Auriga did not bring threats alone, he tempted me with a treasure beyond measure. In his possession is a single pair of Progenoids, last of my blood."
"You want us to risk our necks for your gene-line?" Ferrac scoffed, "After what you've pulled?"
"Not sure it's a good idea anyway," Shrios mused, "Mixing bloodlines is a recipe for disaster, as we've all learned."
Coluber however said, "Maru, I cannot risk the lives of all, not for a single chance at a blood-line's restoration. However, should we triumph and the canopic vessel be found intact, I will ask that the Progenoids be added to our stock. Success or failure I cannot know either way, the results may be perfect or monstrous, but I will not deny the chance your blood-line can join with ours."
"Still say it's a bad idea," Shrios muttered.
"It's one pair, if they go hideously wrong, we lose little," Coluber replied.
Maru however was touched, "I can ask no more, I thank you for your trust."
"Thank me after we win," Coluber said, "We face three hardened Chapters, well-armed and skilled in Space Marine warfare. The Amber Vipers will pay whatever price we must to win, but this is still going to be bloody. The butchers bill will be high, even in the best case scenario. We must…"
The vox blared, "Thaddis to Coluber! Come in, there are urgent developments!"
"Never lets me finish a sentence," Coluber muttered, "Thaddis, report!"
"Contact on the perimeter, the Storm Heralds are approaching!"
"Storm Heralds?!" Coluber yelled, "Are they attacking?"
"No my lord, they approach but do not assault. They are asking to speak to you, Captain Toran… he says he wants to switch sides!"
Shock rang about the room as the news broke, even Maru finding it stupefying. Coluber however barked, "This could be a trap, Thaddis do not let your guard down till I get there. Ferrac, with me. Reddam and Nathanal get to the tanks. Shrios prepare your apprentices for the worst. Maru…"
"I have an idea on how to improve our chances," Maru rejoined.
"Make it fast," Coluber snapped, "Everybody look alive, this might just be the opportunity to turn the tables we've been looking for!"