Katherine stood at the front of the personnel space of the Immolator APC, legs wide for balance as it bumped and swayed over the rough terrain. The formation of ten vehicles had pushed into the Ushas forest as ordered, passing through clearings and rough gravel roads whenever possible. When it wasn't, the Repressors would take the fore, ripping up underbrush and knocking down small trees with the dozer blades mounted on them.
They had encountered four heavy scouting elements of Tyranids, a mixture of prowling Lictors, fast-moving Raveners, and flying Gargoyles. They had managed to destroy them with little trouble, their firepower so concentrated together, but it also meant the Hive Mind likely knew they were coming, and their defenses would be prepared.
"We've spotted the Hive," Saint Magdalena's voice came over the vox. She and the six Seraphim of Grace squad were flying high above the forest canopy, scouting for the armored column. "Four hundred meters west by southwest."
Katherine popped open the commander's hatch and climbed up for a look. From ground elevation, she couldn't see the Hive, only the dense trees of the forest. There was a clearing that ran nearby, with lighter growth to the north. A worn gravel road passed north by northwest through the forest, and she could see shadows of movement flickering in the trees on the opposite side. "Contact, enemy forces two hundred meters. Sharon, Martha, get Devotion and Absolution squad out of those trailers and approach through those trees along the south side. You'll be our flanking force while we push up the middle. Column formation four by two, let's move in. We need to punch a hole through their forces and get to that Hive!"
The Immolator of Hope squad commanded by Mother Agnes was on her right, with the Repressors of Chastity and Serenity squad pulling up alongside to the far left and right respectively. Behind them, the two Immolators of the Dominion squads Piety and Humility followed, with the two Exorcist IFVs on their flanks.
Katherine saw something in the distance fly up into the air rapidly, arcing toward them. "Spore mines! Brace for impact!" She shouted, slamming the hatch shut. The whole vehicle shuddered as one struck the front glacis, exploding with a deafening roar. Katherine offered a short prayer to the Emperor, as it was a fragmentation spore, unable to penetrate the light armor of the vehicle.
A second spore hit the roof of Hope squad's Immolator, splashing virulent bio-acid all over the front quarter. Mother Agnes heard the pitiful screams of the driver as she was burned horribly by the acid and molten metal raining down on her. "Everyone out now!" She wrenched open the side door of the Immolator and leapt out, the four Celestines of Hope Squad right behind her.
Through the forward vision slits, Katherine could see the road and tree line where the Tyranids were massing. The only hope the Sisters had of defeating them was in their superior firepower, and the APCs' few firing ports wouldn't be enough. Keying up the vox-caster she ordered, "All APC's halt! All sisters disembark! Exorcists roll out onto the flanks!" She exited the right hand door of the Immolator with four Celestines of Cathedral command squad and Sister Rhoda. "All sisters form a firing line in front of the APC's!"
Chastity squad piled out of their Repressor on the left, and Sister Superior Deborah's Auspex buzzed with a proximity warning. Her eyes roving the forest directly to her south she saw the insect-like Lictor skulking low along the ground, ready to ambush them. "Lictor! Fire at will!" The sisters of Chastity squad raised their bolters and ripped the thing to pieces with a brutal volley of concentrated fire.
The line of trees came alive with Tyranids breaking cover and charging in. Raveners and Genestealers rushed from the south, while two clumps of Termagaunts charged into the high grasses led by six huge Tyranid Warriors. Two trees crashed down as a monstrous Carnifex pushed its way into the field. However, the rockets of the two Exorcists streaked out and the Carnifex was struck by half a dozen. Holy Prometheum consumed the beast in brilliant white flame.
