Venenum Filios Chapter 27

The needle slid home with a sharp clunk, sliding into the import socket in his armour and connecting with the catheter beneath. There was a momentary pause and then a thick soup of chemicals was pushed in, mixing with his bloodstream to release its contents. Persion stood stock still as the treatment was administered, waiting patiently as the drugs crept through his enhanced body.

After a few moments Apothecary Memnos pulled back his arm and disconnected the vial, before slotting a new one into his Narthecium. Persion flexed his neck and tested the movement of his arms, checking to make sure his recovery was improving. Memnos looked him up and down and said, "Do you feel any side-effects or nausea?"

Persion replied, "No, but the itching is reduced."

"Good that's a sign it's working," Memnos proclaimed, "Right who is next?"

Persion stepped away as Novak took his place, holding his arms out so the Apothecary could inspect him. His swelling was greatly reduced, but not completely gone; still it was a vast improvement. While the Champion was checked for allergic reactions Persion looked about to take in the room. He was currently standing in a large observation bay on the Thunderchild, one that looked out over the vast green sphere of Trux. It was an awe-inspiring sight, a place where history had been unwritten and new destinies forged, in more ways than one.

With Persion were Captain Toran and the rest of the Command Squad, Furion, Jediah, Bylan and Novak. All of them gathered to receive Memnos' elixir, the latest in an annoyingly frequent series of injections. Novak waited as Memnos dosed him with the same solution then said, "So are we cured now?"

Memnos shook his head and said, "Cured is a rather broad term, but I have found a way to mitigate the Phage's effects. The gene-tech from that vault was remarkable, it was crucial in finding a solution. The answer was so ingenious and yet so intuitive, I would never have found it on my own."

Furion probed, "But we're free of the Phage now?"

"Well no, I couldn't create an antibody to destroy the virus, it seemed deliberately designed to resist such efforts," Memnos explained, "But what I could do was modify our gene-seed at a genetic level so to make the Bio-weapon ineffective. The Phage's own genome-specific targeting was the key to rendering it irrelevant."

"So we still carry the Phage, we're just immune to its effects," Furion mused, "We will have to inoculate the whole Chapter then."

"Indeed but that should be no challenge," declared Toran, "Really I can't believe it was that simple."

"Simple?!" exclaimed Memnos, "That is hardly the word I'd use, you see what I had to do was take a genic sample and…."

Persion tuned out for the next few minutes as Memnos droned on and on about his marvellous medical breakthrough. Words like 'Antigens' and 'Protein-markers' and 'Reactive RNA' came and went in a torrent of technobabble. As Memnos showed off his technical skill Persion reflected upon recent events, the frenzy of activity they had all undertaken. The last month had been a tense time as the Apothecary feverishly worked, spending days at a time in the gene-vault only emerging to test various concoctions upon the initiates.

It had been worrying to see Memnos cursing and blaspheming with each failure, making the Storm Heralds brood that a cure might be beyond the Apothecary's skills. Then after three weeks of frantic endeavour Memnos had emerged in a jubilant mood, proclaiming that he'd found a solution to the problem. Since then he had been making the rounds, dosing everybody over and over with his elixir. He claimed it would only be a few more days until its effects were permanent, so all they could do was wait and trust his claim that it was working.

Persion's attention was dragged back as he heard Memnos say, 'So in the end the Progenoids finally proved to be hiding the answer we'd been looking for all along.'

"Well that certainly clears things up," Novak stated, obviously not following a word of it.

Memnos gathered up his spent vials and said, "Right that's you lot done, see you for the next dose in twelve hours. Now I've got to find Wrethan, he should be back from the planet by now."

Wrethan had been assisting with the recruitment trials on Trux and Persion couldn't help but ask, "He's been avoiding us, what exactly did the Phage do under that helm?"

Memnos shook his head saying, "Trust me you don't want to know, but rest assured that it will pass and he'll soon be back to his usual cantankerous self."

With that he departed, leaving the Command Squad alone under the glowing orb of the planet. Bylan looked up and said, "+Our cousins seem to be making ready to depart+"

Persion gazed up too and saw the speck of the Magnificence in low orbit, hanging within visual range. He took in its lines, barely one-tenth of the displacement of the Thunderchild and said, "Finally, the supply shuttles never seemed to stop coming."

Furion was looking hale as he said, "They've gone through our stockpiles like a horde of locusts. I'm amazed they can pack so many munitions onto such a small ship."

Bylan commented, "+Not to mention the workshops and Apothecarions, they've emptied absolutely everything+"

Novak jested, "Not everything, I know for a fact there are some wash-basins they missed on deck seventy-six."

Toran shook his head, the veins on his face fading to pale pink and said, "Let them have it, its only war material, our Brothers lives are worth more than that."

Jediah's face was almost rid of its bruised texture and he eyed the Captain saying, "If you value your life don't say that to the Forgemaster, he's going to hit the roof when he hears about this."

Furion sighed at that and said, "I was surprised when you agreed to Coluber's terms, to sacrifice Serf lives is not like you."

Toran lowered his gaze and confessed, "We were desperate, I couldn't risk saying no."

"It was good that we avoided bloodshed," Furion consoled him, "Especially after what occurred within the Company."

Toran's gaze hardened and he said, "We will speak of that only when we return home, not here."

Bylan protested, "+But Mylos…+"

"I said not here," Toran growled angrily.

Furion changed the subject saying, "Any sign of the Alpha Legion?"

"None," Toran replied testily, "They've slunk back under whatever rock they crawled out from."

Suddenly Persion's vox-bead tickled and he spoke up, "I hate to interrupt you but Coluber is here, requesting an audience."

Toran blinked as his mood lifted and he said in a lighter tone, "Send him in."

They watched as another Marine entered the space, one in totally unfamiliar heraldry. Gone was the purple and gold, replaced by new colours. Now his plate bore a deep and vibrant shade of amber, with black trim and a coiled green serpent upon his knee pad. The icon on his shoulder had changed too, the Chalice remained but now it was a black silhouette, bereft of jewels or shining rays. Around that cup a black viper was wrapped, coiling up around the stem as it reared its head up over the bowl of the goblet.

There was a simple elegance to the colours of the new Amber Vipers, a clean and fresh look that spoke of dedication and purity of purpose. It suited Coluber's chiselled features and the starlight glinted off his plate as he strode up to them. Coluber stopped before them and bowed low in respect saying, "Captain Toran."

Toran bowed low in return and said, "Chapter Master Coluber."

Coluber looked wistful as he said, "How strange to hear you say that, it still doesn't seem right."

Persion smirked and said, "Better get used to it; you have thousands of fresh-faced recruits to look up to you now."

Toran nodded in agreement and inquired, "The recruiting went well?"

Coluber replied, "Yes, though that Chaplain of yours is a terror, that silent act of his had the applicants soiling themselves. He's ruthless too, barely one in a hundred applicants made the cut, we were fortunate to cull two thousand of them from the whole planet. Shrios is most pleased; accounting for training casualties, combat losses and genetic incompatibilities he projects we will raise up nearly a Company's worth of Initiates in the first generation alone, with enough gene-seed to spare for a second generation."

Nobody baulked at that terrifyingly high estimate; such attrition rates were standard for the Adeptus Astartes' training regimes. If there was one thing every Space Marine in the galaxy would agree upon it was that weakness in the ranks would not be tolerated.

Toran took that in his stride and said, "And the Serf-Artisans?"

"A true blessing," Coluber replied buoyantly, "They work miracles, in just one month they have restored seven suits of power armour that I had deemed beyond repair. They are also most optimistic about our gunships, one Thunderhawk will begin recertification trails soon and they say if we scrap the rest of the derelicts for parts we may be blessed with a second one too."

"The Imperium desperately needs every Chapter it can get and this is a fine start," said Toran, "Yet it will only get you so far, where will you go next?"

"I don't know," replied Coluber solemnly then his face cracked a faint grin and he said, "Isn't that marvellous? Tomorrow is a blank canvass, just waiting for us to write our own destiny upon it. We can seek out the Emperor's enemies wherever we choose, make our own path and create our own traditions to pass on."

Persion inquired, "So you will not keep anything of the past?"

"The recruits will not be told of our shame, the less they know of the Soul Drinkers the better," Coluber replied, "Yet that which was pure shall endure. We shall scour the ancient philosophies and teachings most thoroughly, nothing suspect will persist. Though I will insist upon keeping the Rite of claiming memento's from the dead, personal ones that is, no more ripping up dead men's armour for us."

Persion pressed him, "Will you pass my regards to Sergeant Ferrac and tell him that I expect to fight alongside him again someday."

Coluber grinned, "Captain Ferrac's going to be busy. I plan on putting him in charge of whipping the recruits into shape, Emperor help him. He's going to be up to his eyeballs in crying boys and skinned knees for the foreseeable future."

Persion accepted this but Toran said, "There is one more matter of import, our records here are hardly exhaustive but in our ship's archives we found a single reference to a Chapter called the Amber Vipers. There was one reference to them fighting in the Occlusiad war, but since then nothing save silence for four thousand years. It seems that you have taken up a dead man's name."

Coluber nodded and said, "That is for the best, it should keep the Inquisition from prying too closely into the past. We will prove our worth to them with our actions, not dusty scrolls of forgotten deeds. The Soul Drinkers would never have been allowed to rise again, I see that now, but with this fresh start we can build something better."

Toran bowed low in gratitude and said, "I wish you fair sailing and swift victories in the wars to come. Fight well, for Him on Terra."

"We shall be as the viper: cold and fast," Coluber replied as he bowed in return, "Ave Imperator."

Then Coluber turned and marched out, striding off into an uncertain future. They watched him go and Persion said, "Do you think we will ever see them again?"

Furion replied, "Their fate is in their own hands now, it will be whatever they make of it."

Toran declared, "We may see them again someday but that is a matter for the distant future, we have more immediate concerns."

Persion looked at him and asked, "We return to Lujan II then?"

"Yes," answered Toran, "I must have words with Chapter Master Gorgall, there is much he must hear of, matters without the Chapter and within. Dark forces seek to undermine the Storm Heralds, we must be ready to face them."