Tales of the Amber Vipers Chapter 1

Contents

1-32 Browncoats

33-80 Athelling

81+ Serpens Rex

Browncoats

The horizon was an endless line of glowing golden light laying before him, calling him on with its radiant aura, so crisp and so clear. Behind him lay the darkness of night but ahead was the promise of dawn, the glimmer that foretold the arrival of the sun in all its glory.

Between his legs his bike roared with the throaty growl of a Promethium engine. It was a reassuring noise, one he had not heard in a long time but never forgotten once heard. The bike was hurtling over rough ground, a dank moor covered in bracken. Mists clung close to the ground and the smell of damp was ever present, clinging to the nose and back of the throat. Tufts of bracken and unexpected dips buffeted the bike as it raced onward and such a rough ride would have broken the spine of any mortal, but the rider was anything but mortal.

He was a gene-forged Transhuman warrior, sworn to the service of the Emperor of Terra. His bulk was impressive yet one could not help but notice that he was not clad in mighty power armour but instead lighter scout-carapace armour. It was a vibrant amber colour, edged in black and upon his shoulder was the icon of a black goblet, wound about with a snake that rose up over the cup. Under the layers of his garb his arms bore the scars of centuries of service and his eyes were cold and flinty, yet within them burned a fearsome will and an unbreakable sense of duty. His name was Sergeant Reddam, from the Secundus Cohort of the Amber Vipers Chapter.

Reddam raced over the landscape, his bike's roar making his lips pull back over his teeth in feral joy. Behind Reddam trailed five more warriors, each one nearly matching him in bulk though not age nor experience. Like him all of them wore light carapace armour but unlike him they had never known the blessing of powered plate. These were the warriors of his squad, his charges and Brothers and it was Reddam's new duty to lead and teach them.

Reddam spent a microsecond checking their positioning in his bike's auspex and was forced to grunt in acceptance as he saw they were perfectly aligned in formation. On his left flank rode Joffel, the ambitious and driven youth keeping close to the squad leader. On the right rode Kazao, a thoughtful and dutiful warrior who always wore an expanded Stormtrooper helmet, hiding his face even when not at war. Further to the right rode Tebes, a dour soul who seemed to find no joy in anything. Lastly trailing behind were Larus and Glord, the attack bike drivers who brought the squad's heavy bolter with them. The pair were as night and day, one serious and terse, the other joyous and wild, yet they worked together with peerless dedication. All of them had been elevated from the Scout-cohort and this was their first mission together as a squad.

Reddam put them from his mind and widened the focus of his bike's auspex. Like him this bike was an old veteran, rededicated to the cause. Its armoured cowlings glinted with fresh amber colours and the metalwork was still slick with unguents from the Chapter's workshops. It had been lovingly restored by serf-artisans, the only slight flaw being a patch where repeated buffings had failed to erase the icon of a spiral in a starburst. Reddam glanced at the tiny pict-screen on his handlebars and saw a cluster of blips appear, closing rapidly. He grinned in triumph for the target was right where it should be. Reddam opened his vox and declared, "Heretic convoy sighted, attack pattern tango-six, weapons free, engage armoured vehicles first."

Joffel's voice arose proclaiming, "We'll tear the scum apart, they'll never know what hit them!"

Tebes countered his enthusiasm by intoning, "Death comes for all, there is no hiding from it."

"Vox discipline," Reddam snapped angrily, "You're not in the Tertius cohort anymore, form up on me and prepare to engage."

The youths obeyed and Reddam was left to fume. How was he supposed to turn this bunch of sloppy and ill-disciplined children into an effective squad? What were the Scouts being taught these days, he wondered. For a moment his mind drifted back to the old days, when he had been trained under the strictest regime imaginable and known another way of life. Then his mind slammed down on the memory, that life was over, the future was now and it was all that mattered.

Reddam looked ahead and saw the ground falling away, a rolling hillside that dipped before him to reveal an endless road. It stretched across the moors in an unbroken line of ferrocrete, linking distant cities across the vast hills and plains of the planet Maraha. Reddam had read all the tactical briefings and strategic assessments, but none of that mattered now. What mattered was the convoy of vehicles moving along the road. There were a dozen cargo-8's, all brimming with goods and supplies, no doubt intended for the rebel army but Reddam wasn't about to let that happen. Yet what drew his eye were a pair of Chimera transports, one at the front and one at the back, escorting the convoy. They had multi-lasers fitted in turrets and heavy bolters set to their front glacis plates, a dangerous threat but thankfully the mortals didn't seem to have spotted the approaching bikes yet.

Reddam twisted his throttle and his bike shot forward, hurtling over the wet bracken with break-neck speed. The wind lashed at his face and stabbed into his eyes as he dove down the hillside but he was untroubled and the convoy swelled in his vision. The sun was just beginning to appear over the horizon as they closed and Reddam voxed, "Kazao, take out the lead Chimera! Joffel, guard his flank."

Kazao accelerated ahead of the squad as he replied briskly, "Ave Imperator, they shall all die."

Reddam bit down the urge to micromanage the pair, he could only watch as they pulled away and crossed into weapons' range. Kazao's bike bore an Astartes grenade launcher, a simple but effective weapon, especially when couple with the Bike's auspex and recoil dampening mechanisms. Kazao veered off, headed right for the Chimera. Finally the dull-witted mortals noticed they were under attack and the Chimera's turret began to grind about, trying to fix upon them. It was too late however for Kazao raced in and elevated his grenade launcher high and with a sharp crack fired a Krak round.

His aim was flawless for the small explosive sailed high and impacted the transport right under the seal of the turret and the hull. There was a sharp bang and the turret half-lifted off, torn from its mounting, leaving the Chimera crippled as flames licked about the top of the hatch. Kazao shot by the damaged machine, his bike flashing past the prow before the hull-gunner could draw a bead. The transport ground to a halt as its rear-hatch slammed open, the men inside desperate to get out. Like all troopers the rebels hated the idea of being trapped in a burning vehicle but they were too slow to realise that they were doomed already. As the hatch opened Joffel shot past the rear and his hand flashed as he lobbed a Frag grenade into the troop bay. There was a second of panic inside and then the grenade detonated, spraying deadly shrapnel everywhere to kill every heretic inside. Joffel rode on crying, "I got them!"

Reddam saw the first threat was broken and ordered, "Tebes with me, take out the rear Chimera, attack pattern beta-nine. Everyone else, break and attack. Cold hearts!"

"And fast blades!" the squad hollered as they pounced upon the bewildered cargo-8's, pouring bolter fire into their canvas coverings. The drivers panicked as they realised they were under attack and tried to turn off the road but every direction was filled with roaring bikers, blasting streams of mass-reactives as they closed then veering away before a response could be mustered.

Reddam left his squad to it as he focussed upon the primary threat, the remaining Chimera. It saw him coming and the turret's multi-laser ground about to aim at him. At the last second Reddam yanked his bike hard to the right and managed to jink out of the way as a burst of las-fire shot by where he had been a second before. He righted himself and charged on, headed right at the oncoming machine. The turret tried to track him but the hull heavy-bolter discharged first, sending rounds his way.

Reddam ferociously jinked and felt his bike shudder as a single round clipped the front cowling but then he was past the Chimera, racing away at top speed. The Chimera tried to turn after him but its commander should have been paying more attention to Tebes. While Reddam had drawn its fire the other biker had swung wide and was approaching from the rear, holding a melta-bomb in one hand. Tebes slowed as he skidded past the Chimera, clamping the bomb to the engine block and then he darted away with spine-shattering acceleration. A moment later there was a flash of fusion fire and the Chimera ground to a halt, losing all power for its tracks and turret.

Reddam swung out wide to make another pass but he saw rebels pouring out of the rear hatch. They were mortal men, utterly mundane and unremarkable in their drab brown helmets and long leather coats of the same shade. They could have been PDF soldiers from any world, completely indistinguishable in every way, save one. Out of the corner of his eye Reddam saw their leader raise a strange looking pistol and he swerved a heartbeat before as the man fired. Instantly the air erupted as a hypersonic pulse of matter flew by, setting the air alight as it shot off into the distance. Reddam snarled in disgust for the reports had been right. These rebel scum were indeed being armed with filthy Xenos gear, a disgusting perversion to add to their tally of sins. Reddam skidded about and lined up on the man, spraying bracken everywhere as the rear tire chewed up the ground. He saw the man trying to draw a bead but the Astartes was too fast and closed before the man could react.

Reddam's anger waved strong and he eschewed his bolters, instead reaching behind him to draw a long energised spear from his back. It was a beautiful relic, a power spear of remarkable craftsmanship, whose perfect form was marred only by the hacked out icon of a lightning bolt bisecting a red-bar. Reddam gripped it under his arm like a lancer of proto-history and the blade crackled with arching energies as he hurtled at the rebel's leader. To his credit the man stood his ground and tried to draw a bead on the closing Astartes but his bravery did him no good. Before he could fire Reddam lashed past him, the spear ramming into his chest and out the other side as it lifted him off the ground. Reddam felt the impact rock his bones and the spear was nearly torn from his grip but his strength was transhuman and he held on despite the body hanging from his weapon. He twisted his spear with practised skill and the bleeding corpse slid off, falling in his tracks to be forgotten.

Reddam heard the roar of bolters behind and knew Tebes was finishing off the surviving rebels with his bike's guns. Swiftly the last of the rebels fell, their brown uniforms fading into the drabness of the moor. The Sergeant deemed the threat dealt with and brought his bike about to assess the ongoing fight. He found the rest of the bikers racing up and down the length of the convoy, pouring bolter rounds into the flimsy cargo-8's. Fires were blazing everywhere and dead bodies were strewn about, the craters in their backs attesting to the drivers cowardice as they were cut down running away.

The Attack bike was bouncing along, pouring Heavy-bolter fire into each vehicle as Glord roared, "Easier than shooting fish in a barrel!"

"Pay attention," Larus snapped as he wrestled with the handlebars, "You nearly missed one."

Reddam joined them commanding, "Finish this, leave nothing for the rebels to salvage and no survivors."

In moments the squad reduced everything to flaming wreckage and cut down every rebel without exception. Yet they did not stay to enjoy their triumph for Reddam was already racing for the horizon declaring, "Make haste Amber Vipers, the next target is eighteen klicks away. Ave Imperator!"

With that the squad rode away, leaving only death as a testament that they were ever there.