Tales of the Amber Vipers Chapter 342

"Never gave up hope I'd see you again," Anaxar explained, "That dream kept me going."

"How long has it been?" Reddam asked warily.

"I can't say, tried to keep a count for the first few decades, but the ship's cycles don't conform to any sense of time I can figure out. Nothing here is linear, even passing from room to room you notice the change."

"Some sort of temporal schism?" Kerubim mused.

"If that's true, hadn't we better clear out?" Joffel proposed.

Anaxar grunted, "If you've got anywhere to go, the Serpens Rex might be long gone."

"We've only been here an hour!" Larus protested.

"To you," Anaxar grunted, "It might have been centuries to the outside world."

That thought made Reddam shiver with dread. This mission had gone sideways from the very start, everything about this ship was wrong, a snare for the unwary and they'd stumbled straight in without looking. Nothing about Imperium Nihilus had been as they expected it. The reports had spoken of darkness and death, war and Chaos, but the strange and macabre reality had been worse than they imagined. The Amber Vipers had barely begun their mission, and everything had gone wrong.

Reddam examined Anaxar closely, barely a few minutes ago he'd been a vibrant youth, now he looked to have a century on the Captain. Age hung upon him, malnutrition and loneliness had ravaged his strength and his weapon had lost its charge. Yet despite that a hard glint in his eye hinted Anaxar had not given up, there was some fight left in the old mutt yet.

"Where's your armour?" Kerubim asked.

"Couldn't maintain it," Anaxar sniffed, "Parts stopped working, joints seized, eventually it was easier to move without it."

"You abandoned sacred plate?!"

"I've abandoned a lot more than that boy! You try spending an eternity alone in the dark and see how well you cope!"

Joffel cut in, "Those writings we passed, that was you?"

"Aye, tried to figure out this place, unravel the mystery. Drove me round the bend trying to chart the flow of time, gave up in the end, just accepted the insanity."

"You did well to hold everything together," Reddam counselled.

"Nope, went completely barmy after the fifth decade. Drooling and gibbering in the shadows. But I got over it. What can I say, it got boring."

Joffel shook his head, "What did you eat all this time?"

"Stolen rations, ship-lice, licked lichen off the walls some days. I wouldn't recommend that, the orange-flecked kind will have you talking to your own feet."

Reddam cut in, "What can you tell us about what happened to you?"

Anaxar sighed, "Long story short, I was lost. Left wandering the ship all on my own. Looked for you, couldn't find you. So I began trying to figure out what's happening to the ship. I figure it's caught between seconds."

"Explain," Reddam barked.

Anaxar waved his hands in the air as if trying to describe ideas, "Life is all choice and consequences, one second you're here, the next you're there. One second you're alive, the next you're dead. Tick, tock, tick, tock, always one thing or another. But this ship ain't either. It's caught between the two, both alive and dead. Trapped in a cycle of time, a snake eating its own tail. The crew are all still here, trapped in between, repeating their deaths for all eternity."

Sergeant Torvus interrupted, "We can't fight time, we need to go."

"We can't leave without the Astrogation data," Kerubim protested.

"Oh!" Anaxar gasped, "Oh! Got something for you!"

The naked Marine grabbed his trident and pushed through the crowd. Eyes turned to Reddam but he nodded to follow, he didn't want to lose sight of Anaxar, they might never find him again. Back to the corridor with the writing they headed and there the haggard vagrant knelt and pulled up a deckplate. He reached below and pulled out a fat cylinder, torn from some piece of machinery. A data-spool from a Logic Engine, the memory core.

Kerubim took it reverently, "You recovered the Astrogation data?"

"Had a lot of time on my hands, figured I'd finish the mission. Couldn't make heads nor tails of how to make the blasted thing work, so I just ripped out the memory cache whole. It'll do, right?"

"It will suffice," Kerubim agreed as he extended a Mechandrite and copied the data within.

Reddam placed a gauntlet on Anaxar's shoulder, "You have held to your duty, despite the machinations of a cruel and uncaring universe. Coluber will hear your steadfast courage and fortitude. You will be a Sergeant again, this I promise."

"I'd settle for a shower and a grox-steak. And some new teeth to eat it with."

"That too, let's get back to the Thunderhawk." Reddam agreed.

"Waited a long time to hear those words," Anaxar grinned, "Stick close, don't get separated and whatever you do: don't die!"

Reddam frowned in confusion but the old Marine had already jogged off, leaving them trailing behind. Reddam led the rest on, keeping tightly together. They emerged from the narrow corridor, only to be surprised by a running man flying past. Reddam's jaw dropped as he saw it was the petty officer from before, heading to the pristine corridor where he'd died previously. He made to stop the man but Anaxar held him back with a grey hand and a shake of the head. Just as before the man reached the same point and then stopped, looking upwards as the roof caved in and crushed him to paste.

"He..." Larus gasped, "He died again?!"

"Ehhh, he does that a lot," Anaxar groaned, "Not much of a conversationalist I have to say."

"There's a thing you need to explain," Tebes grunted.

"Talk later, I might drop dead of old age before I can explain everything I've seen."

Reddam made to lead them back to the corridor they arrived down but as soon as he stepped over the threshold reality blinked. He found himself emerging from behind the squads, stepping back into the wider passage as if just arriving.

"What the Frak?!" he gasped.

"Oh, I forgot... that corridor is one-way only," Anaxar groaned.

Kerubim peered at the opening, "Fascinating, what is this phenomenon?"

"Dunno but it's a pain in my arse. Took me years to find the way around. Follow me!"

Anaxar sprinted off leaving them to trail behind once more. They passed sections where the same drop of water fell from the ceiling over and over, replaying an instant in a loop. In another room a man fired a laspistol at unseen foes, time had slowed around him, making the las emerge from the barrel of his pistol with all the speed of tree-sap running down bark. With every step Reddam was starting to hate this ship more, the twisted temporal mechanics grating on his sense of order. Anaxar led them a winding path through the ship, ignoring obvious ways back to the launch bay and instead taking odd turns and sideways routes. Reddam could only assume they were avoiding strange contortions of time, charted over decades by the vagrant Marine. The tension among the squads was growing, but they remained alert at all times, so were not caught unaware when the ambush came.

From a side passage burst a pair of Ceramite giants, clad in black and gold. Tall as Reddam but with helms crested by gnarled horns. Chainswords covered in brass etchings were in their hands and faceplates, that moved with disgusting ease, gnashed ivory fangs. Chaos Marines, servants of the Archtraitor Abaddon: Black Legion.

Reddam was on a hair trigger, so he met the first thrust with a block of his power spear. The snarling weapon juddered his bones but he twisted and sliced, expecting a clean kill. The blow never landed, the traitor pivoted and rammed a fist into Reddam's flank, knocking him back. A follow-up blow of the Chainsword sheared over his breastplate, tearing a vicious furrow through Ceramite.

Reddam jumped back, trying to redress. Against Anaxar he'd bested easily, but then he was clad in plate and facing a starving Marine. This cur was strong, he was armoured and he was vastly experienced at killing Space Marines. Before Reddam could bring his crackling weapon to bear the filth was upon him, slamming body to body. Chainteeth tore at his side and blood flowed, as pain dug deep. Reddam needed a moment to recover but he wasn't going to get it. He was off-balance, pinned and bleeding, but what he did have was a fourteen-to-one advantage.

"Drop!" Reddam heard Kazao yell. He instinctively fell back, hitting the deck hard as a squat object flew past. A Krak grenade, fired from Kazao's weapon. The shaped charge hit the Traitor dead square and exploded. Reddam was showered by bits of Ceramite and blood, his bones shaking from the shockwave and chest aching from overpressure forced through his respirator grill. Still the knowledge the scum had earned a painful death enervated him and caused him to bound back up.

He rose to find the other traitor engaged. This one had barrelled into Torvus squad, lashing out with an expert slice. Brother Wrexal was collapsing, blood fountaining from the wet ruin of his neck. The silent Amber Viper, so brave and stoic, fell onto his face, crushing his Phusil under his bulk. The rest of his squad fought on, but the Traitor was fast and skilled, laying into them without respite.

Reddam moved to intervene, but Kerubim got there first. A blue flash of light announced a plasma-sabre igniting in his hand. A bulky hilt projected a blade that had no material component, pure energy in a self-cycling loop. Kerubim drove the burning sword into the scum's spine and the Black Legionnaire went down, a hole burned through him.

Reddam came to a halt, hearts thundering in his chest. His side burned as Larraman cells formed a seal but he said, "A good kill."

"We lost Wrexal," Torvus spat.

"Mourn him later, we must carry on."

But Anaxar spat, "Are you lot thick?! Those two don't die here!"

"I don't..." Reddam uttered.

"We're not the first to board this ship, the Black Legion did first, and they died here!"

"So?"

"So look!"

Reddam turned and saw the clean deck behind, without a drop of blood to be seen. No chunks of oozing Traitor, no Ceramite shrapnel. The Chaos Marine was gone, as if he was never there. Reddam glanced back and saw the other one had vanished too, then he heard it, the stomping of Ceramite boots and spied the murky shadow of closing Traitors. Reddam didn't have to be told who it was, the pair of Chaos Marines, coming again to the fight.

"Run!" Reddam barked and the Amber Vipers set off, racing for all they were worth. Twenty-six Space Marines, running from two, but the threat of them was greater than their numbers. If they could come back from the dead then they would have infinite chances to win, the Amber Vipers only had to lose once and they were done for. Reddam knew of no way to counter that threat, so run they did. The Amber Vipers had never been too proud to withdraw from a fight they could not win, an attitude worth embracing this day.

Down the corridor they hurtled, Traitors in pursuit as Joffel gasped, "How... just how?!"

Anaxar's arms and legs pumped as he spat, "I told you, the Black Legion got here first. They died here, they always die here. The same way every time, their deaths are a done deal, and you can't die twice can you?"

Tebes gulped, "Are you telling us those curs are absolutely unkillable?"

"Caught between tick and tock," Anaxar hissed, "Thankfully they were few enough to avoid, but some of them headed down to the reactors, to try to blow up the ship. Saw them once, times all treacly down there but they won't be stopped."

Reddam could not help but ask, "And if they blow up the ship while we're still in it?"

"I spend a lot of nights worrying about that," Anaxar retorted.

"Faster everyone, faster!" Reddam yelled in desperation.

Down the passageways and concourses of the ship they fled, running from a fight they could not dream to win. Reddam pushed harder, setting a furious pace, but knowing the Traitors would be close behind. They were as fast and as strong as the Amber Vipers and had the advantage of being unable to die twice. The ghost of fear tickled his mind, but it did not weaken or debilitate, it lent fleetness to his step and quickened the beating of his hearts. Perception sharpened and his soul quivered with the rush of peril, and absolutely none of it helped at all.

Anaxar screeched to a halt as a sealed hatch loomed in their path, "Fang-rot, wrong turn!"

"Kerubim!" Reddam ordered as the Techmarine fell to the runepad and began working.

Everyone faced back the way they came, presenting a wall of weapons. Bolter, pulse rifle, agoniser, and melee weapons. Might enough to kill regiments but Reddam knew none of it could put down their foes permanently. The Black Legion would come back again and again, till they won the fight once and for all.

"How many times will we have to kill them?" Tebes asked as they watched for the first hint of their pursuers.

"As many times as it takes," Reddam growled.

"We should have brought Maru," Larus groaned.

"Forget him we can win without Psyker aid!"

But Tebes groaned, "We're not just fighting Traitors, we're fighting time itself."

Reddam knew it was true but declared, "We are Astartes, battling impossible odds is what we do! If we must stand and fight we will do so to the bitter end, if we must punch time in the face we will find a way! For the Emperor!"

"For the Imperium!" Tebes declared.

"For Wrexal," Torvus hissed.

Reddam gripped his spear tight, seeing shadows loom as the Traitors came into sight, but as they did so a loud clunk rang from the hatch. Locks disengaged as the thick panels began to split, opening the way. "Kerubim you genius!" Reddam cried.

"It wasn't me," the Techmarine yelped.

"Then who..."

Reddam trailed off as a figure stepped through the door, clad in amber plate and bearing a Phusil. The sight stole his words, hope and dread stilling his tongue. It couldn't be, and yet it was, back from the dead and ready to fight. As the Traitors loped into view Reddam could only watch slackly as Brother Wrexal planted his feet and fired.