The Emperor was their father and guardian. The beacon in the dark that guided all of them. His hand was on their back at all times. This, was what dampened Emia’s anxiety, and let her push forward into the base. There was not much of a plan yet because they weren’t expected, but their presence inspired the PDF and brought hope and zeal into their hearts. Leading the men in a prayer, the Sister Superior of her squad brought every man into the Emperor’s Light, truly bringing them to cast aside the idea of fear and doubt, able to move forward through fire and pain to purge the heretic.

And then the call came in. Not so much a plan as a call for aid. The Imperials had set up several satellite bases around the area to plan a coordinated assault, but the Heretics were not going to just sit around and wait for an attack, and so they had bust out and attacked one of the bases. While usually such a situation would be used to launch a preliminary attack on the Hive while the enemy was distracted, they had people here that were not accounted for, so they could send people to help the base instead. The Angelus were sent to be the relief force. Since the base was not yet taken, they would not need heavy weaponry to take it back.

One final prayer to The Emperor, and Emia took to the sky, taking a running start and then leaping into the air. The packs they had gave less immediate force than the Jump Packs and struggled to lift from a standing start. In exchange, they would keep a woman aloft for as long as she desired. Flying through the air was a great feeling, different to her training. There was something about the knowledge of going to a fight that made the flight more beautiful and glorious than any other.

Covering the ground at subsonic and arriving at the base, the Laud Hailers of prayer to The Emperor, shining wings of the Angelus and stray bolts tearing into the onrushing heretics sent the whole attack into absolute disarray. Being a wholly new group, there was no understanding or expectation of their arrival. To the Heretics, it was as if the Heavens had opened to punish their transgressions. A few of them shot panicked rounds into the sky, but the Angelus even slowed to fight - An Astartes would struggle to hit a target at subsonic, and they were not Astartes - moved with swiftness and grace, being a difficult fly to swat from the sky.

Emia grouped with several sisters and flew in, bolt pistols firing into the crowd and splattering their vicera across their brothers. The system she had aiding her to be terrifyingly precise, and the damage buffs of her proficiency along with the general power of a Bolt weapon, helped her kill her targets with a single shot. Targetting the men with larger weaponry and the mutants carrying them, the heretics were deprived of covering fire and the base was capable of bringing its own emplacements to bear. Thunderous roar of heavy weapon emplacements drowned out the Angelus as the heretic’s frontline was cut down like a scythe. Facing such a situation, the Hertics lost their nerve and broke, fleeing the situation. As one did when fucking Angels came from the sky and destroyed your toys.

A few Angelus harrowed the retreat, with Emia being one of them and using her powerful flame-creating Faith powers to cut scores of heretics down with her holy fire. But, they weren’t chased too far. Chasing after a retreating enemy without support was never the brightest of plans, and while their magazines were specially designed to hold twice as many as normal, that still wasn’t many for pistols. So they landed in the base. And only with her feet on the ground did she realize that people had been killed by her. So, casually and simply. With no thought to it. She just pointed the gun and pulled the trigger, just cut them down with fire and fury and left them to die. Sure they were Heretics who needed The Emperor’s light, but did that deserve such a detached mentality towards doing it?

These thoughts were not good ones. If she let them be she might turn to sympathy for the Heretics. Hesitation at a vital moment causing her death, or the death of others. That couldn't happen. So she just centered her mind with a prayer to the Emperor, and then stood with the Superior as she talked to the base commander. The PDF of the gathered around the apparent angels and seemed surprised to see they were just normal people in high tech suits. Though this shock didn’t last long, and they were back to admiration for the salvation and awe at the glorious, vitalizing appearance of them. The deep veneration of the Emperor, the capability - in part from Emia’s presence, but she wasn’t the only faithful - of lighting full blazing fires of faith and hope in the men here, was a massive boon for morale and the base in general.

And that was her first combat situation. It lacked the...well anything she was expecting out of it. They just swooped in, shot a few things, and the heretics ran away. Sure it was the support of the base that gave the big push towards the heretics fleeing, they weren’t expecting them and were unsupported by armour or emplacements, but still. She expected a little more out of it than this. But, on the other hand, complaining that the fight was easy was a stupid thing, it was good that none of her sisters died and the PDF casualties were minimal. Superior finished her talk with the commander, and the squad returned to the main base to rejoin with the rest of the Mission. This act, though small, was a defining one for the reputation and trust in the Angelus. Before, the new tactics and equipment was looked down upon by the traditionalists. But now, with such a resounding success, they were forced to reevaluate their stance on the Angelus.

There was no other pressing matter, and so the sisters were allowed to be free-standing. Ready in case of an emergency, but otherwise allowed to do as they would. Their menials had set up a camp attached to the main one, and there was somewhere to return to. Though, a lot of the Dominion and Angelus decided to help the PDF with loading and shifting gear. Power Armour was great for hefting things and supporting the men was great for keeping the morale of everyone up while also expediting logistics.

Emia, however, looked to her inventory, and the dungeon key. Last time went terribly, but she was also underequipped, underprepared, and spent too long being amazed at the situation. This time...would be better.