Radical: Heretics

This is Radical part III.  For more check the table of contents here..

My power armor had not been completely repaired by the time we were on our way, and I spent most of the trip shifting uncomfortably in the suit.  The dents from the heavy bolter rounds that had hit me couldn’t be removed without a more extensive repair facility, so the warped ceramite dug into my ribs with every bump our transport hit.  To go along with this, the knee joints that had been cut through were fixed in a rush job, leaving the articulating musculature inside the armor’s legs twitchy and unreliable.  I walked with a limp, sometimes having to drag my left leg along behind me.  Still, it was better to have malfunctioning armor than none at all, and though I would have gone into battle nude if I’d had to, the Adepta Sororitas are as much a symbol as a fighting force, and the power armor I wore served more purpose than simply bullet stopper and strength enhancer.

The Imperial Guard began shelling the enemy’s flank while we were on route, mostly to keep their heads down as we approached.  From there Dominion squads would serve as spotters for the guard’s guns, lining up more accurate shots on the Mechanicus Facility’s defenses.  Celestians were to get to the manufacotrium themselves and set the melta charges that would bring down the servitor production facility while the rest of the Commandery set up a defensive perimeter inside the facility to cover the Celestians.  From there it was a simple evacuation plan of loading back up into the transports and heading home.  Some of the Harbingers’ thunderhawks were to provide air cover and emergency extraction if necessary.  This mission was expected to have very high casualties, but we were Sisters of Battle.  If anyone was prepared for martyrdom, it was us.

Ytet another health update

the medicae really needs to leanr some bedside manner, or to at least come to my bedside at somepoint.  xrays show that i am getting worse, not better, and that is all i know sineno one will freaking talk to me.  more news later.

Even more health update.

my current duty to the emperor has me performing breathing excercises specifically designed to shoot blood pud and who knows what out of my chest cavity and into a bucket.  luckily the omnissiah in his great wisdom saw fit to connect a tube from my torso to the bucket or there would be a frightful mess.

Health Update

to those who are wondering where i am right now, sorry cam, i had a spontaneous pneumothorax, which is doctor talk for my lung collapsed for no reason and left me collapsed in a parking garage.  im currently in the hospital with a tube soved between my ribs draining the air from my chest cavity so my lung can reinflate.  ill be out for a few days to a week, and am updating this from my phone, thus no capital letters.

Radical: Healing

Radical, part II.  For more check the table of contents here.

It was three days before I could return to the front line. The Sisters Hospitaler had reattached the tendons in my legs so that I could walk again, and I was returned to my squad as quickly as they could make me able. Our front line had been secured a few hours after I was pulled from the field by Inquisitor Fane's acolytes when the Harbingers arrived. Never in my life have I seen a sight as magnificent as the rain of steel that fell from the heavens that day. Space Marine drop pods are a marvel of technology whose secret resides rightfully only with the Astartes. Should radicals ever get their hands on them our forces would be hard pressed indeed to repel their attacks. The Harbingers emerged from their fallen pods, bolters screaming, tearing down the foul machines that had torn the Imperial guard to pieces. I believe that we owed our lives to the Astartes that day. Without their fearless presence holding the line we would have surely fallen.

Sister Superior Halquin welcomed me back to the squad with open arms and a warm smile. She was a pretty woman, with light red hair, and when not in combat she wore a pair of pince nez glasses. She'd told me once that she'd never intended to join the Order Militant of the Adpeta Sororitas, but wished instead to be a simple librarian of holy texts in one of our convents. I feel that while a library may have missed a fine tender in Kora Halquin, the Cleansing Fire commandery gained an irreplaceable warrior. Our squad had lost two sisters during the fighting, Sister Candice and Sister Delilah, two faces whom I still miss.

We were held off of the front lines for now while our rhino was being repaired and our armor tended to. My armor in particular needed great care from the enginseers, damaged as it was from the heavy bolter fire I had taken. While we rested and waited in the landing zone where the resupply ships touched down and unloaded with regularity, bringing new arms and equipment into the fight, we were asked by several of the reserve Guard units to give blessings over their platoons, a service we were happy to provide.

Radical: Hell

It's the screaming that I'll never forget.  The Imperial Guard were not prepared for this kind of mission, and The Hammer of the Emperor, blessed be their mission, failed in their duty before we had even landed on that cursed rock the Cult Mechanicus had named Ulric.  The guardsmen in the drop-ship were shouting blasphemies the second we breached the atmosphere, and despite the shaking and sudden lurches in all directions that the ship was taking, the platoon's priest and commissar were making the rounds with prayers and laspistol, attending to the lost.


This was my very first mission.  I was still a novice in the order and had never fired my bolter in anger before.  I can imagine how I must have looked then, too thin neck sticking out of my power armor, trembling as I watched each gibbering soldier cut down, reciting my prayers with a stammering voice as Sister Superior Halquin led us in benediction against the foul creatures we were about to face.  I think I might have pissed myself, I'm not completely sure.

We'd been briefed by Inquisitor Argus Fane, may the Emperor keep his soul, on what we faced upon this blighted world.  Apparently the Mechanicus had been running a research facility here and performed some heresy or other in one of their experiments.  Within a week the facility had gone rogue, corrupted by the warp energies they had released, and within a month there was a full blown daemon incursion on the world.  To this day I don't know why Fane didn't simply call exterminatus on the world and whatever reasons he had for mounting this assault died with him on Ulric.  He'd called upon every resource he could muster to attack Ulric, and they were considerable.  Three companies of Imperial Guard, the fourth and first companies of the Harbingers Astartes chapter and our own Cleansing Fire commandery landed on Ulric, and directly into hell.

Cleansing Fire Commandery: Force Organization

Commander: Canoness Angelica Cross

Executive Officer: Palatine Kora Halquin

Inquisition Liasons: Inquisitor Lord Gibbius Vecht, Ordo Hereticus; Inquisitor Seren Null, Ordo Xenos

Elite Units:
20 Sisters Celestian led by Celestian Superior Andromeda Gray

2 Callidus Assassins

1 Eversor Assassin

Troops:
80 Battle Sisters

20 Inquisition Stormtroopers

Fast Attack Units:
15 Seraphim led by Seraphim Superior Gina White

15 Sisters Dominion led by Sister Superior Loraine Teal

Heavy Support Units:
7 Sisters Retributor led by Sister Superior Vera Brown

3 Immolator Flame Tanks (Twin Heavy Flamers Variant)

2 Excorcist Artillery Tanks

Ship: Inquisitorial Cruiser Nolo Contende.

Important Note: The Cleansing Fire Commandery includes no support staff of any kind due to Canoness Cross's insistence that she never wants to see or hear anyone who hasn't personally killed a heretic with their bare hands.  As such all Enginseers, Sisters Hospitaler and other necessary but non-combat personnel are under the direct command of Inquisitor Null and are not technically part of the Cleansing Fire Commandery.  This has kept friendly fire losses in the vicinity of the Canoness at a minimum.