Rest Eterna - Mission Three

War does not wait, and Sister-Superior Silvia’s temporary incarceration in the medicae facilities wasn’t about to stop Command from pressing forward. Reliable intel had ascertained the approximate location of an enemy encampment. The Sisters therefore were to find its exact location, scout the area and mark it for long range eradication.

At least Command had the foresight to provide someone to fill in for Superior Silvia. Superior Katya makes no bones about the temporary nature of her assignment but is none the less cordial with Sisters Alicia and Jenine. She briefs them of the mission and together they make their way to the transport. Waiting for them are the usual fire team of four Battle Sisters and a recon team of two Novitiates.

A few hours later the Sisters deploy to the edge of the camp, it’s a hodge-podge of tents, a storage container and a smattering of supply crates squatting in the clearing like a dishevelled vagrant. Just as the fire and recon teams move forward, a half dozen filthy cultists emerge from behind the container. The fire team of Battle Sisters back up slightly to give themselves some room then open fire with their bolters. Their barrage blows two to shreds and wounds another, but it isn’t enough to deter the degenerates who surge forward into the fire team. The cultists claw and club at the Battle Sisters with rusty improvised weapons. One of the Sisters goes down with a hate filled scream, blood pouring from the seal at her neck as she falls. The Sisters fight back with their trademark ferocity brutally dispatching one of the cultists and stunning the other.

The cultists attempt to get the drop on the Sisters.

Alicia charges into combat with a cultist roaring a prayer of hatred, they trade blows and while Alicia gets the upper hand she can’t find the killing strike. She does however create enough space that Jenine can blast the cultist to bits with her bolter. Superior Katya commends them on their teamwork as her own bolter puts down another deranged cultist.

The team press forwards, Katya and Alicia making to skirt around the storage container while the Novitiates range ahead towards the centre of the camp. Their progress is halted when a horde of undead shambles out from behind a cluster of trees. Thinking quickly Sister Jenine runs up and pitches a grenade into the centre of the zombie mob, blowing five of them to rotten chunks. The fire team of Battle Sisters move in support and with a barrage from shells from their bolters, blast the remaining zombies apart.

For a moment silence reigns over the camp, but it is nearly immediately shattered by the sound of another group of undead behind them clawing themselves free of the earth. While the Novitiates continue making their way to the centre of the camp the rest of the Sisters concentrate their firepower on the new horde of zombies, their combined salvo reducing all but one to bloody chunks.

Superior Katya comes face-to-face with a large horde of undead.

With momentum on their side again, Superior Katya surges forward and rounds on the storage container. She stops dead in her tracks as on the other side of the container is another horde of foul undead. It’s easily twice the size of the group she and her Sisters had just blown apart and will be on her in a second. The Sister Superior drops her bolter into the mud, both hands reaching towards her belt. In one fluid motion, she tears a grenade from her belt with one hand, rips the pin out with her teeth, and sends the explosive sailing into the centre of the undead mass while the other hand unholsters her chainsword and thumbs the activation rune. The roar of the chainsword is drowned out by the thunderclap explosion of the frag grenade that vaporises five of the zombies and stuns another six. The remaining four that haven’t been dumbstruck by the explosion close the distance to Katya whose chainsword greets them in earnest. She easily decapitates one and keeps the other three at bay.

Just as Katya’s grenade detonates, a group of cultists charge out of the trees and attempt to cut the Novitiates off. Fortunately, the Novitiates have been trained well and almost on instinct they wheel about and unleash a torrent of bullets from their autoguns that kills two of the degenerates. Sister Jenine moves up to support them, and her bolter turns a further two into a red mist.

The undead surge towards Katya once more biting and scratching at her armour. She can dodge most of their clumsy swings but one manages to knock her in the head, causing her vision to swim briefly. Nearby, Sister Alicia and the fire team advance towards the container, their bolters spitting hatred at the enemy. The warp infused creatures absorb most of the damage, with only two falling into the mud, but the weight of fire does keep them at bay.

Sister Jenine and the Novitiates continue their deadly prosecution of the cultists, cutting down a further two and keeping the rest pinned in place.

Having created some space and with her Sisters at her side, Superior Katya retrieves her boltgun from the ground. She cycles the action on her weapon and begins to chant the Hymn of the Storm Unrelenting. The others quickly join in and as one they unleash a firestorm of disciplined bolter fire at their enemies. In the face of holy words and blessed gunfire the diseased horde whither and crumble. By the end of the Hymn, all the cultists have been blasted apart and only one of the undead remains standing.

Faith and firepower however are not enough to carry the day and another four warp-riddled undead claw themselves free of the earth. Katya, Alicia and the fire team immediately switch to this new threat, charging their weapons with fresh magazines and let loose a salvo of bolt shells into the zombies. Two stumble under the weight of fire but the other four lurch towards the Sororitas. Their hearts filled with holy rage, Alicia and the Superior easily dispatch the foul beasts. The appearance of a further ten undead horrors does little to quench their anger.

Sister Jenine investigates the ring of mushrooms.

With the undead temporarily kept at bay, or at least returned to a state of death, the Novitiates refocus on the objectives swinging about a tree and towards a small cluster of bivouacs. Jenine starts to follow them but something catches her eye, in the shadow of two fir trees is a circle of mushrooms. The closer Jenine gets the more her unease grows, the mushrooms aren’t arranged in a loose shape approximating a circle, they have formed a perfect circle. Fearful of warp magicks, Jenine spits out a curse and crushes the mushrooms under her boot. Satisfied that whatever foul sorcery has been snuffed out, Jenine turns back to the rest of the camp. Seeing the emergence of the horde near the Battle Sisters, she waves the Novitiates onwards to the tents while she makes for the centre of the camp.

Superior Katya and the Battle Sisters fire their bolters at the latest batch of zombies to have woken from the dead. Their well placed shots put down four of the horrors between them before they steel themselves for the imminent melee. The undead surge forwards with Alicia and Katya once more taking the brunt of the assault. They keep their footing, cutting down two of the shambling horrors and keeping the rest at bay with fist and blade.

Alicia kicks a zombie hard enough to pitch it into the mud, she takes the opening and brings her boltgun up, flicking the fire selector to automatic. She squeezes the trigger and four undead explode into chunks of greying dead flesh. But Alicia keeps the momentum up, she repositions to the other side of Katya and unleashes another burst of fire that see three more of the undead collapse into steaming corpses. A zombie rushes at her but once again the bloodthirsty Sororitas easily stomps it back into the dirt. The Superior fires off a burst of bolt rounds but in the swirling melee, the shots go wide.

The Novitiates make it to the scattering of tents, one of them takes an auspex from their belt. In a few moments the device scans the local area and records the location data. Their first objective complete, the Novitiates move towards the centre of the camp to link up with Sister Jenine.

The undead are both relentless and seemingly without end.

Katya chastises herself for her lax marksman skills and refocuses. Together with Alicia they concentrate their fire and bring down three more of the hateful undead. The fire team attempt to lay low the single zombie near them, but their shots hit only air. Even worse, said zombie lurches forward and crashes into one of the Battle Sisters. The Sister screams as she is dragged down and the unholy strength of the undead tears her throat out. Out of instinct the Sister pulls the trigger on her bolter, the burst of shots practically bisecting the zombie. But it is already too late, they both collapse into the mud, the bright red blood of the devout mixing with the dark ichor of the unholy.

In the centre of the camp, the Novitiates reach Jenine just as the earth in front of Alicia and Katya churns and writhes. A score of undead pull themselves to the surface around the cluster of trees. Jenine curses, the undead are aggravatingly close to the second set of tents that form their second scouting objective. She first a burst of bolter shells at those nearest the tents in the hopes of clearing them out. For her trouble, she manages to kill four of them. Superior Katya orders the Novitiates to swing around behind the horde and use their superior speed to keep out of harm’s way. The Novitiates do just that, advancing cautiously towards the tents while laying down suppressive fire to keep the undead at bay. While their autoguns don’t have the stopping power of a bolter, they still manage to kill one of the zombies.

Sister Alicia manages to unload the remainder of her bolter’s magazine into the horde, killing three of them, before they descend upon her and Katya. They stand shoulder to shoulder as six undead throw themselves at the Sisters. Katya’s chainsword cuts bloody arcs as Alicia fights with her combat blade, between them they manage to kill four of the foul undead.

As if to make a mockery of the Sisters’ efforts, a further eight zombies rear their rotten heads from behind the trees. Katya grimaces in frustration but gets to work, her bolter cutting down another two zombies. The three remaining members of the fire team meanwhile, close up towards Sister Jenine, firing as they move and felling another zombie.

One of the Novitiates sprints forwards, auspex already in hand and scan already running as soon as she’s in range of the objective. The other covers their rear, firing at the group of undead coming up behind them and killing one of them. As soon as the first Novitiate voxes that the auspex has completed its scan, Katya orders the team to collapse in around Jenine. They pick their way over re-dead corpses and assorted viscera, covering each other as they move. As the rest of the team gather around her, Jenine jams a targeting beacon into the mud and presses the activator rune.

The Novitiate complete the objective while another Novitiate and Sister Jenine make ready to extract.

Superior Katya doesn’t waste any time, immediately calling for extraction as soon as the beacon is activated. The transport comes screaming in from its holding pattern and drops Extraction Long Lines as soon as it’s overhead. The Sisters waste no time in attaching themselves to the ropes and leaving this cursed patch of forest behind them.

Debrief

On board the transport the Sisters stow their weapons and collapse into their seats. All of them are exhausted beyond belief, the fire team especially looks downtrodden with the loss of one of their number.

Superior Katya none-the-less attempts to raise their spirits.

“Have a heart Sisters, for surely we have purged enough heretics this day that the God-Emperor blesses us!”

The words do little to ease their sore muscles but it does lift their hearts a little. She leads them in the Psalm of Remembrance for the fire team’s fallen member.

Alicia hangs her head, staring at her gauntlets. Underneath the ceramite and fibre muscle bundles her hands are shaking as the adrenaline crashes out of her bloodstream. She’s snapped out of her reverie by Katya slapping her on the pauldron.

“You fought with the fury of a raging storm, your Superior will be proud!”

She gives Katya a weak smile, but the compliment gives her to ask the question that has been playing on her mind for some time.

“Superior… How do I find out what happened to my Novitiate-Superior?”

Katya is momentarily taken aback by the question until she remembers Alicia’s service history and the events that saw her elevated from Novitiate to Battle Sister. With that revelation her expression softens.

“If you have been told nothing and are even forbidden to ask, then you know that means only one thing.”

Alicia knew the answer, if Palmora was dead then there would be a record of her redemption through martyrdom. If she was still on active duty then Alicia wouldn’t have met such resistance in trying to contact her old Superior. With a heavy heart she admitted the truth to herself.

“Repentia.”