Tales of the Amber Vipers Chapter 348
It had been many decades since Coluber had ridden in a boarding torpedo, but one never forgot the experience. Sheer acceleration ground his bones into his back, making the old wound to his hip flare in agony. A narrow and dark tunnel comprised the interior, with upright Space Marines held tight in restraint cages. Blinking runes overhead counted down the seconds till impact, but otherwise there was nothing to be seen. The torpedo was guided by a servitor brain, taken from some forgotten Heretek, they had no control once it was launched, they could only trust the Machine Spirit.
"Don't like," the Aberrant Hasak grumbled from his cage in typically terse tones.
"Stand firm, we are minutes away from contact, focus on the fight to come," Coluber advised.
"What are we expecting?" Seyda asked.
"The unknown vessel was grappling with a Tyranid Hive Ship, expect bio-monstrosities and relentless hunger."
From the rear Shrios muttered, "We will lose a lot of Brothers, for people who aren't us."
Coluber knew the bitter Apothecary was right, to intervene would exact a toll in blood, but he would not turn away. He had not expected the Serpens Rex to exit the Ghostwind in the middle of a warzone, but they had. Instantly the auspex picked up a pair of embattled ships, one a Xenos horror the other unknown, but at least human and responding to Imperial authority. The first signs of Imperial activity they had seen since crossing the rift. Coluber's decision had been swift, ordering all Brothers to board the Revenge and prepare to engage.
"We are the tip of the spear," Coluber stated firmly, "We hit first and establish a foothold. Strike-Captain Reddam is leading the second wave in gunships, but won't arrive for minutes after we engage. There are five other torpedoes, enough to form a perimeter. Battle-Captain Ferrac is in another, he will certainly garner a high body count but I expect you to do better!"
A dozen Amber Vipers chuckled in dark humour at the proposed rivalry. Coluber had elected to lead from the front this day, escorted by his Brother-Exemplars. Shrios was with them, in case his skills were needed. The rest of the party were from Sergeant Ceces' squad, proud warriors of Primus. They favoured dappled-steel swords, in leu of chainweapons, a style favoured by those who cleaved to Maru Kysoto's teachings. Ceces himself was a student of Kempo, the martial kata the ancient warrior had introduced, much to Ferrac's disgust.
Coluber took a moment to check his weapons. His curved relic blade Venom was at his side as ever, as was a handheld version of a Phusil. He had a backup Fang, but the gas-knife was a last resort. The Brother-Exemplars grasped their Burst-lances tight, ready to ignite the contact Volkite fields in an instant. Shrios was the most conventionally armed, a chainsword and bolt pistol, but his skills lay in other fields.
Coluber's helm lifted as he looked at the countdown. They were travelling at fantastic velocities, but the range was great. Space warfare took place over distances measured in the tens of thousands of kilometres, even a torpedo would take minutes to cross that gap. He forced his mind to stillness, remembering similar engagements from another life. He had earned a fearsome reputation once, as a bold warrior in a Brotherhood famed for its boarding expertise. How easy it had all seemed, how simple. Life had grown complicated, all ponderous decisions and cold calculations, but today was as straightforward as an Ork trying to brash one's brains in. Kill or be killed, Coluber had missed that binary state of being.
When the countdown hit zero everything happened at once. Braking rockets fired, as melta charges blew around the nosecone. Drill bits whirred into action, tearing through the softened armour of a ship's hull, while immense impacts rang through them all. Coluber felt his bones trying to leave his body as deceleration clawed at his organs. Forces that would pulp a mortal, and tested even Space Marines. All was juddering violence for tense seconds, then the motion stopped and noises of quick-setting foam spraying around the breach echoed within.
The nosecone yawned apart and Coluber was the first out of his cage. He found himself bounding into a wide hold, filled with violent death. They had punched into a raging battle and Coluber saw piles of slain mortals laying everywhere, torn limb from limb. Some wore red uniforms, others filthy rags, some brandished lasguns, others unmoving lovers, but they had died all the same. Few remained, desperately falling back before hulking monsters, but these weren't Tyranids.
Coluber started as he saw hirsute beasts, misshapen men twisted in form and mind. Slathering jaws were wet with blood, and curved talons erupted from fingertips, trailing scraps of flesh. Beady eyes stared in rabid hate, without trace of sanity or mercy. Their muscles were doughty, their frames swollen by mutation but they were unmistakably vile. Coluber knew instantly what had to be done this day.
"Cold hearts!" he roared as he drew Venom with a flourish.
"And fast blades!" the Amber Vipers cried as they piled in.
The monsters turned to engage, instinctively recognising a greater threat. They leapt for the closing Space Marines, arms outstretched and jaws opening wide. They were met with vicious sweeps of sharpened steel. Swords and lances sliced the air, spilling blood freely and loping limbs off with precise blows. Dappled steel cut hide, Volkite fields disintegrated flesh and a chainsword chewed meat with relish, as entrails spilled to the deck.
Coluber was beset by a pair of clawed fiends, one with a bestial snout, the other nearly human save for the raging insanity in his eyes. Venom gifted the bestial one with a vicious slice to the shoulder, as the Chapter Master spun on his heel. A return blow passed inches from his eye-lens, hooked claws glinting in the flickering light. Coluber sensed another blow coming and ducked, letting a fist the size of his head sail past.
Coluber pivoted and drove forward, slamming his shoulder into a gut. The mad one was sent stumbling back, only to find Venom rising, cutting a furrow through guts and ribs. Coluber had killed Ork Warbosses with this blade, battled Necron Overlords and Traitor Astartes. He fully expected the blow to end this filth, but to his astonishment it did not. Skin broke but layers of reinforced bone beneath held firm, harder than plasteel.
Coluber saw the rabid cur was injured and moved to end the fight but was surprised when the devolved one grabbed him from behind. Warped teeth in an elongated snout gnashed at his pauldron, while his arms were pinned. The other grinned evilly as he came in with a punch to the gut that shook Coluber's lungs. Another and another, each making his skull rattle. The pair were vicious and strong, but they worked together with instinctive ease, one pining, the other battering him to a pulp. A pack sense guiding them to work as one.
Coluber was in dire straits but was far from broken. He heaved forward, then slammed back, freeing his arm. A half-pivot and his helm rammed into the twisted snout, shattering teeth and exploding an eyeball in a spray of jelly across his brow. The cur fell, but the other pressed in, trying to end him in a moment of distraction. Coluber could have trusted genhanced muscle to hold firm, he could have pitted his strength against strength, but that was not the Amber Viper way. As the blow soared for his head he twisted about and leaned back, his free hand grabbed a wrist and his boot came up just so. The rabid foe found his speed suddenly accelerating, pulled off balance and losing his footing. His own momentum became his downfall, turned against him in a treacherous moment. Coluber too had studied Kempo, and performed the move to perfection.
The Chapter Master released his grip and the foe hit the deck in a tangle of limbs. Venom flashed and the head was parted from the neck, proving less tough than the rest of the foe. The other lay in a bleeding heap on the floor, whimpering through a shattered snout. Coluber did not bother to use his sword to finish this one off. His boot rose and slammed down, crushing the skull beneath his weight and painting his greave with brains. Maru hadn't taught him that move, that was all Ferrac.
Coluber's head came about and he saw the battle raging. Dappled-steel swords were wet with black blood, tearing and dicing with deadly skill. Sergeant Ceces was leading them by example, his movements graceful and swift. Shrios was more workmanlike, chopping foes apart with short chops, spraying blood everywhere as the spinning teeth spat offal left and right. He left a trail of slaughter in his wake, his white armour lost in a shower of red.
The true slaughter though was the Brother-Exemplars. Hasak and Seyda, moving through the fight like whirlwinds across an open plain. Their long lances left glittering red wakes in the air, spinning displays of glowing energy testifying to their skill at arms. Schooled in the highest katas their motions were graceful and swift, yet utterly lethal. Wherever they struck lives ended, bodies reduced to drifts of black ash by the Deflagrating effect of Volkite. Seyda took foes apart with surgical precision, removing limbs one by one before landing a perfect killing blow. Hasak was slower but more deliberate, he went for hearts and heads, every thrust a kill. They left such a trail of death that the foe was broken, and in moments all enemies lay dead.
Coluber kept his sword in hand, "Is that all of them?"
"Area secured," Ceces confirmed.
"Brother Nihco is injured!" Shrios called as he knelt over a wounded Space Marine, trying to clamp a gushing neck wound.
Coluber left him to it as the vox chatter from other squads told that the first wave had secured a bridgehead. The second wave was minutes away, all they had to do was hold this ground. For the first time Coluber could turn his attention to the people they rescued and he saw a fearful gathering of huddled people, staring aghast at the slaughter. Then he blinked again, for among them was a lone Space Marine, clad in red plate, holding a chainsword clogged with blood.
"Hail cousin!" Coluber called gladly, "I am glad we arrived in time to save you."
"You did not save me, you robbed me of a beautiful death!" came the reply.
Coluber bristled, "You offer insult, and you have not told me your name!"
The red Marine stepped forward, "I am Brovus, Regulus of the Blood. These are the Host. You are like me, but not of the Blood, how can this be?"
Coluber knew not those terms, "I am Coluber, Chapter Master of the Amber Vipers. Loyal to the Golden Throne of Terra."
"You fought well against the Vanagandyr, for this I shall not kill you."
Coluber was offended but Seyda called, "Vanagandyr, is that what these things are?"
"You know not Vanagandyr? What of the Sons of Garm?"
Coluber sniffed, "Never heard of them, what does any of this have to do with a Hive Ship attacking you?"
"You don't know... how can this... What of the Blood Talons, have you heard of us?"
Coluber certainly had and blinked, "Blood Talons... but you're all dead!"
A deep howl cut through the hold and the mortals wailed in terror as Coluber spun about. He saw the far doors bristling with fresh foes, more of the tainted fiends pouring into the room. Ceces' squads rallied, forming a line as the Brother-Exemplars took up their Burst-lances. Coluber however saw the odds were too steep, scores of bestial creatures were pouring into the hold, more than they could handle. In moments the Amber Vipers would be overwhelmed, but he was not out of tricks yet.
Coluber drew his Phusil and fired into the crowd. Tiny Phosphor rounds struck the leading figures, one, two, three, and they went up like candles. Searing magnesium flares enveloped the figures, setting them ablaze with eye-watering intensity. Autosenses dampened the blasts but for mutated eyes there was no relief. Malformed irises, adapted to the dark and cold of the end times, were gouged by nova-bright illumination, burning out retinas and grinding along optic nerves. Vanagandyr fell screaming to the deck, clawing out their own eyeballs as the light brought indescribable pain.
Half the attackers were down and Coluber was about to order the counter-charge, but then a new foe entered the fray. Through the blazing columns of light they bounded, forms thicker and more potent in every way. Ceramite shrugged off heat, as wolf pelts singed and yellow eyes adapted without a quiver of pain. Wolf totems jangled as Malefic weapons fumed and lips drew back over protruding fangs. Chaos was with them, yet it did not rule them, a cloak laid over a sleeping wolf. Coluber's shock nearly unmanned him, Space Wolves of evil countenance, the proud warriors of Fenris made vile by the taint of the Ruinous powers. An insult to the proud legacy of Russ.
Their leader stepped into the hold and as his eyes fell on the Amber Vipers growled, "By the hand of Skoll, you shall know such a murder-make as to cause the stars to weep!"
Coluber summoned all his courage to lift Venom high and cry, "For Terra we fight, for the Golden Throne we shall end these Traitors. Ave Imperator!"
