Sister Superior Zethina had never experienced such pain in her entire life. She winced as she made an effort to open her eyes. She realised that she was face down in the mud within the courtyard that had acted as her squad's practise area. The courtyard was situated on a higher level of the fortress and was surrounded by corridors that led off to different sections. Her squad's makeshift quarters were near here which made the courtyard perfect for their needs.

Her dirtied white hair was stuck to the front of her face and she could smell the rust like tang of blood amongst the dirt.

"How…?"

Then she remembered. How strange it had been when the dozen or so crimson marines entered the courtyard in full plate and armed, how none of them spoke a word before…before…

Zethina gritted her teeth and in a hoarse voice said:

"Traitors."

Her eyes opened fully now. The sight that greeted her was not a pleasant one at all.

She was indeed lying in the mud; it had blended with blood to form a putrid mixture of liquid and amongst this mix lay the bodies of her sisters.

Her head rolled over and she cringed; the bloody body of Sister Maritha lay next to her, her features contorted and a visible wound from a bolter in her stomach had torn her frame apart from within. Past her body lay others, Sarathiel, Margaery, Joss… Their silver armoured forms were difficult to look at. All lay pale and lifeless, some were missing limbs and all of their bodies had been left here in the muck.

But they were not alone.

Zethina's attention was suddenly caught by the large Crimson and gold lump lying in front of Sister Joss's immolated corpse.

It was the body of a space marine, a space marine from the Roaring Lions chapter's fifth company to be exact. A traitor. Zethina bared her teeth and winced as her facial muscles groaned in protest. She then moved her stiff arms and pushed at the ground. Her hands sunk an inch before hitting something solid, she pushed herself up and ignored her burning muscles.

Zethina's feeble ascension was met by silence. She looked around from her new vantage point and winced at the sights around her.

The rest of her squad's soiled corpses, as well as the mortals who had attended them were visible now, none had escaped. To the nine dead sisters there were only two space marine corpses.

A lesser woman would have broken down in grief, but not Zethina. She was a Sister of the ecclesiarchy, and there were traitors in their midst.

She pushed herself backwards and landed on her rump. She groaned in pain again but did her best to ignore spotted her power sword lying to her right, the blade had not shed any of the traitors' blood and was now instead covered in the blood of her sisters and the mud they lay in. She once again looked to Maritha's pale face.

"You shall be avenged." She vowed quietly before closing her eyes and muttering a prayer to the Emperor. "Give me strength, cast your light on me within this darkness."

Her prayer was suddenly interrupted by the sound of distant and sporadic gunfire. Bolters.

She perked her head up and listened. The boom of an explosion did nothing to silence the constant crackle of shots that echoed through the air.

"Ghh"

Zethina instinctively drew the plasma pistol on her belt and turned towards the new noise and aimed the pistol in a single movement. Her eyes narrowed.

One of the hulking crimson and gold corpses was stirring. The marine was on his front, his legs were starting to push against the ground and his gauntleted hands were clawing out in front of him feebly.

Zethina picked up her soiled sword from the mud and using a newfound strength within her, stood up.

Her muddy porcelain features twisted into a visage of anger and she began to stride towards the wounded marine. She made no effort to move quietly and thus the Marine stopped moving and made an attempt to turn.

Zethina's boot crashed down on the marine's back and forced him down again.

"Gah!" He growled.

"Silence, Traitor." Zethina replied as she readied her sword.

"You would kill an unarmed warrior while he is wounded?" The Marine laughed. "I guess the Emperor's purest have no such honour after all."

Zethina's eyes widened in anger at the insult, she activated the power sword and drove it through the marine's back at an upward angle. The marine gurgled in pain and jerked.

"You showed neither my sisters, nor I the courtesy, and neither will I to you." She hissed as she forced the blade further.

The marine did not reply, he jerked once more and then relinquished his last breath.

Zethina withdrew the sword, the blood upon it crackled and danced along the now active blade. She allowed a satisfactory grin.

Another loud explosion rang out over the courtyard and she turned away from the dead marine. The body littered courtyard was open topped and had four doors that led to several passages within the fortress. The two ahead of the marine's corpse was where the marines had originally come from, and the direction that the noise was originating.

Zethina took one more remorseful look at her sisters' bodies. She wished with all her being that she could bury and honour each and every one of them, but the situation did not allow for it. She had to find Cannoness Taula or Cannoness Lethe; if either of them had survived the betrayal they would know what to do.

She placed her sword back in its sheath and held her plasma pistol with both hands and then began to head towards the double doors ahead of her. The doors had been damaged in the ambush, evident by the dozen or so holes that had been punched in by bolt rounds. She pulled the door open and cautiously began to enter.

Putting her head around the doorframe carefully, she raised the plasma pistol to bear on whatever she saw.

The dark corridor that met her held no immediate threats and she took a step in. She walked along the corridor at a careful but speedy pace, making sure to keep her plasma pistol raised and ready as she went. As she turned a corner, she grimaced.

Littering this part of the corridor were the bodies of the mortals who had served within the fortress; PDF soldiers, serving women, children. None had been spared, their corpses were mutilated and their blood painted the walls. These people had had no real armour and more importantly these people were no threat, bolt rounds tore people like this apart with ease.

At the end of the corridor was a large golden handled door that was left slightly ajar.

Zethina approached cautiously and soon saw what was causing the door to remain open. Another PDF trooper's corpse lay between the door and its frame, the man's head was not present and neither was his left arm.

Zethina took a slow step over the corpse and edged through the door.

Only a dozen or so small candles hanging from the ceiling lit the room that the door led into, there must have been quite a struggle in here evident from the overturned tables, blood splattered floor boards and the state of total disarray that it was in.

She grimaced as she spotted a pair of Repentia sister bodies lying near the door across the room. They had both been gutted it looked like and one of them had been cut in half from the waist.

Taking long and confident steps, she made her way across the room in a dozen paces. The noise of distant gunfire didn't sound so distant now. She was getting closer.

This door seemed to be undamaged and when Zethina attempted to open it found it was locked. With a quick and precise kick to the handle, the door swung open and smacked into the wall on the other side. As soon as the door had opened, a light source shone into the dark room and illuminated more of its features.

The sight that greeted Zethina when she walked over to the window that sat opposite the door she had kicked open was shocking. The window faced down to the centre of the fortress that lay open like a large courtyard and it had been reduced from the active buzz of vehicles being serviced and aligned with beautiful statues, to a wreck. The slabs and brickwork that made up the ground had been torn up and craters were visible everywhere, mud and earth from beneath had been forced up and stained the remaining slabs that lay undamaged. There were several Exorcist tanks lying in ruin, two of which had been disabled before they had even had a chance to move, another one was lying in pieces a few feet away from the rest, littering the floor around them were the bodies of the crews who manned them and those of servitors and tech priests.

This was all overshadowed by the fact that the entire courtyard was alive with the sound of gunfire. Zethina spotted at least two-dozen crimson and gold marines taking cover inside the larger craters and moving towards the side of the courtyard that her window faced. The part of the courtyard that they strived towards was made up of a separate barracks that was now covered in collapses, but from every dark crevice that it held, flashes of bolter fire were being returned toward the marines.

Dotting the edges of the barracks were the corpses of Roaring Lion marines, all lying face down in the mud except one who had been beheaded and was leant against the wall for all to see.

Zethina spotted a marine get struck by a bolt round and drop to the floor, his squad leaving him as they sought cover. Her heart lifted.

Her sisters had survived and better yet, they were fighting back.