'The Bolter'

[MalevolentPixel]

'Sargent Harkar now pounded through the tight corridors of the hulk, plunging into darkness, he had his helmet lights on in an instant, their hurried and wavering beam sweeping the dark corridor as he ran. His heavy armored footsteps sounding out as they impacted on the grated floor, they were not the only footfalls he could hear, a quick glance over his shoulder revealed Marick was still hot on his heels, he had obviously barged through in his sergeants wake through the dizzying melee they had left behind, a status rune on his battle-helm flashed yellow, upon further examination, this revealed that Fenrick, his heavy weapon specialist, had been injured, if he was not fast now. he knew there would be many more injuries on this blasted Hulk. he would not see on of his own left on this lifless corpse of a Ship, he had come to far for this. He veered right, then right again, running back the way he came, his huge strides propelling the giant with unsubtle speed, gaining elevation as he did so, he was going the right way, he now heard the combat up ahead, guessing he could of without his enhanced senses at this range, he and his Brother marine were closing fast.

 

He could see the light of the room up ahead, the sharp flashes of gunfire making his adrenaline pump through his veins. visibly tense, a Marine could stay in a state of combat rush for much longer than a normal human, a trait that Harkar was glad of, he loved the feeling, no, lived for it. He burst into the light, skidding to a halt befor teetering over the balcony, his bolter primed in an instant, up into his shoulder, Marick was at his side in no time at all, the perfect firing stance adopted already, at a standard two meter spread, even in the thick of it, Marick was always ice cool, executing his drills precisely and efficiently. This is probably why Harkar was so surprised he had plunged into the hell of the servitors behind him, uncharacteristically shunting sound reason in this daring maneuver, he was glad to have him by his side. Harkar let a Malevolent grin slip across his features "Purge these intolerable whelps" he snarled, his finger squeezing the trigger on his Phobos pattern Bolter, the deep and loud 'chug' of the Bolter music to his ears, it defined his very purpose. Death.

 

The Carnage was glorious. the bolters of both Harkar and Marick spitting death at the horde of servitors suicidally rushing into the Hanger towards the rest of the Marines Malevolent. Harkar's Phobos was on burst, reaping mass reactive carnage from his vantage point on the balcony, Marick's Umbra Ferrox pattern bolter was on Full manual, characteristically preforming his accurate, one shot, one kill executions, one of his rounds. spat with the wonderful and heavy 'chug' from the Marines weapon, struck clean into the back of one of the mindless machines, the thing twitched, body pitching with the impact, before its chest blew apart in a shower of heavy gore, the round detonating in its chest cavity as it slumped to the ground, disfigured.

 

This new onslaught proved to much for the heavily punished, would be attackers, the programming in their dead minds switching to sustain the optimum 'work force' the dead ship required. Ironic, he thought. His marines did not let the attackers simply slip away, he could see Fenrick at the Front of the pursuit, vengeance burning in his eyes as he reduced all within range to nothing but molten slag, mangling bodies beyond recognition in the deadly and punishing arc of his Multi melta. The Sargent regarded his Brother Marine with pride, the great gouges in his armour obvious, the wounded marines enhanced body had clotted the damage wrought upon it by these things. He expelled the magazine from his bolter, snarling as his foes retreated, his blood up for more of a fight, he slid the rack with a satisfying 'chink', ejecting the bolt still in the chamber, running though the reloading procedure in less than 3 seconds, the movements going further than simple second nature, Marick was still executing his fleeing targets efficiently, through his helmet he could imagine the warped smile he had seen his second in command adopt in moments like these, morbid plesure in the death of the enemies of the Chapter. He put a hand on his Pauldron "Marick!. stand down" the sargent rasped, his voice grated "Regroup with the rest. let us push further towards our objective".

"Yes. Brother Sargent" He replied dutifully, a warriors salute as he banged a gauntlet to his chest, before leading into the dark corridor to retrace their steps, his bolter aloft. ready to kill at a moments notice ... his blood must be up too.'

 

Extract from a Story i'm doing to get into the mood for a Trilogy for the Marines malevolent, Malevolence is a short story, and a Cannon 'pre-trilogy' practice for my project. its currently going fantastic, and im really having fun developing my characters to be diverse and different, each with their own, personality. Marick is my current favorite, Although his name may change. In short, i have plans for him to rise to the Rank of Sargent in the first book, and in turn, following his first mission as such.

 

The C&C of fluff i was after was the 'interior of the ship' and the balcony over the hangar etc. im planning on some Horus Heresy books to get an inkling.

Also, the Bolters. thus the title of this current extract.

 

I want to know your views on the sounds made by the Bolter and the result of a striking round, how accurate is this?

 

The start of my Pre-trilogy story is heavily influenced by the Salamander novel, only to the point of the ships servitors attacking the boarding party and the raid on a Hulk this was only to get me into the swing of things and the story takes a rather unique turn after the first 2 chapters.

 

Let me know what you think. and if you like my style of fiction, ive recently started up a blog that i will update weekly, and it will sometimes include inspired short stories of battles i have experienced. Also, i will be contributing much more to the fiction forum, i have lots lay around that i will be refining for your reading.

 

-Malevolent