Katherine crouched behind the door of the Immolator, preparing to fire around it. The three Immolator and two Repressor APCs were parked in a semi-circle around the entrance to the Hive. The Immolators were parked with their noses pointed north, with the doors open for the sisters to use as cover. The Repressors were parked with their sides facing north, so sisters could be within and fire from the side doorway and out the firing slits. Behind them, on a slight rise, the two Exorcists waited, ready to lob rockets down onto the waves of Bugs.
There weren't many left of them now. Deborah and Abigail had eleven sisters between them, readying to fire their bolters from the protection of the Repressors. Bethany and Rachel had five Dominions ready with storm bolters to lay down suppressive fire. Rebecca and the three last Seraphim were waiting behind the Immolators for the chance to make their final countercharge. Rhoda and three Celestines were leaning around the open doors of the Immolators as Katherine was, prepared to sell their lives dearly.
Twenty Eight sisters…the last of the Commandery of the Ardent Blade, Preceptory of Pentateuch, Order of Saint Celestine. The ground vibrated under their feet as the first broods of Tyranids thundered toward them in a massive wave of chitinous bodies. Katherine took a deep breath, "For the Emperor."
"Hallowed be his name," The sisters chanted.
"We lend ourselves to battle against the enemies of man...To Glorious Martyrdom and Everlasting State of Grace by His Side."
"Amen" Came the answer.
"And for Saint Celestine…" Katherine finished with a whisper, raising her pistol. The first Tyranids broke cover from the trees less than a hundred meters away…
"Fire!"
The roar of the Sisters' bolters rang out as the muzzle flashes lit their determined faces in fiery strobes. The heavy bolters mounted in cupolas on the Armored Personnel Carriers added their chatter, ripping through the front ranks of the chitinous wave. Rockets from the Exorcists arched over the Sisters' head, slamming into the ranks of larger Warrior broods, the Synapse creatures leading the attack. Multimelta beams from the two Immolators incinerated several more.
Termagaunts at the fore of the charge fell in droves at the edge of the forest as they broke cover, cut down like wheat before the scythe. The bolters of the sisters had twice the range of the Tyranid Fleshborers, giving them a precious few seconds of fire superiority. Katherine squeezed off short, precise bursts of the stormbolter she had taken off Mother Agnes' corpse. The woman Katherine had known since she was a child, looking up to her as almost a parental figure, had her face melted off by the hideous bioacid of a deathspitter worm. She pushed the sadness welling in her down and funneled that feeling into a focused hate, directed at the mindless horde of Tyranids assailing them.
In the corner of her eye she saw a half dozen spore mines hurtling down toward them, their simple intelligence guiding them toward their targets with their long threshing tails. "Incoming! Keep Firing!"
The spore mines exploded with a thunderous roar, sending razor sharp fragments of chitin in all directions. Deadly shrapnel ricocheted in between the Immolators, glancing off the Sisters' Vestment pattern power armor. The concussive shockwave tossed the women against the doors and sides of their armored personnel carriers. Sister Vivian the Celestian pitched forward, sliding down to the ground as a fragment struck her in the back of the neck. The four Seraphim crouched behind the center Immolator were thrown to the ground as a spore mine struck the ground just two meters behind them, showering them with clods of dirt thrown into the air like a geyser.
A spore swam through the air, right into the back of the left Immolator and burst, spraying the interior with virulent bioacid. The screams of the driver and gunner were drowned out by the thunderous explosions and chatter of bolters. "Hold the Line!" Katherine commanded. "Ignore the mines! Your Vestments and your faith in the Emperor will protect you! Keep firing! We will hold this line!"
