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An Afternoon in the Haven of Hammermen


Bruce Malcom

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The residential hab-module K-74b, or as the residents and locals called it, the Haven of Hammermen, wasn't traversed often by men of the Enforcer type. It was known to have many gang outposts, houses if one wanted to aggrandize the criminal organizations that permeated throughout Armacedia Hive. Beyond the walls of the city the blasted wastes were home to mutants, heretics, xenos and worse, but it was the role of the Enforcers to ensure that didn't spill over into the internal city.

 

The Haven's administrators didn't argue with sergeant Palate when he used the vox to contact them. In all truth, they seemed pleased to hear from the Enforcer patrol. It didn't sit well with patrolman Ferdus D. Verho, one of Palate's patrol. He didn't know what his fellow patrolmen and women thought, he wasn't a psyker, but he could note the eagerness in the administrator's voice. Maybe the person was on lho-sticks, maybe they had a little too much cheap amasec -- maybe they were in league with the Grindstartes.

 

The Grindstartes, the new powerful local gang -- they used combat armor, usually made out of reforged scrap metal, not in short supply in a hive, and made them to look similar to the lord Astartes who held their fortress-monastery in the upper spires. They used heavy weapons to mimic the holy boltgun like heavy stubbers or modified construction equipment; nothing to fear like the real thing.

 

The door to the Haven of Hammermen opened with a loud shriek, as ancient servitors were stirred from their lobotomized sleep and forced to interact with similarly ancient machinery. "And I expect full cooperation throughout the investigation and subsequent detainment and execution of all perpetrators," Palate demanded, before retrieving his stubpistol and shock baton and entering the hab-module.

 

It was peaceful, for a few dozen minutes. The some eighty Enforcers scattered throughout the hab, pushing past hundreds upon hundreds of hivers. Citizens, unaware. Innocent, no. Still, the Enforcers weren't here to kill or arrest everyone in the Haven, just the gang they were after. It took quite the crime to pull in an entire prescient of Enforcers, and while they weren't told exactly what they had done, Ferdus was sure it was a good reason.

 

After the few dozen minutes passed was when things took their expected turn. He and five of his fellow lawmen were searching the home of a hiver family for any hint of gang activity when their voxes rang out. "Grindstartes, eighty-eighth floor, room 398-88!" Ferdus never ran faster in his life, and his squadmates struggled to keep up. The elevator ride was agony, and as the gunshots got louder and louder Ferdus checked again his stub pistol. His shock baton was ready in its sheathe, and his pistol was fully prepped. The doors of the elevator opened and revealed a horrific sight; a well-built ganger in their signature metal armor was pressing a chain-tool, modified to be a weapon like the infamous chainswords of the Astartes, into the armor of his sergeant.

 

Palate howled in pain as blood jetted out from the wound and cutting teeth of the weapon, and he shoved his shock baton into his attacker's protected stomach, and the ganger leapt back in pain before his brethren perpetrators killed the sergeant with a trio of heavy stubbers. Palate was rendered a hulking, damaged mass of flesh -- his blue and black armor rendered crimson with the exposed and burst gore -- and he slumped over, dead.

 

Ferdus didn't say a word, merely raising his stubpistol and firing. The shot hit the neck of the ganger, bypassing the defenses of the haphazard armor. The ganger clumsily clawed at his neck, blood pouring from the wound and the ganger's mouth. Finally, the person fell over dead as well, and the true gunfight began. The other three Grindstartes gangers opened fire, and all but one of the Enforcers dove for cover in the form of the hab-units' alleyways. The shots hit the remaining Enforcer, his cheaper flak armor yielding to the horde of bullets.

 

Ferdus dove between hab-units, and reached a corner. Peaking around, he spotted the three gangers clad in the mimicking of holy Astartes battleplate, and he charged them, swinging his shock baton against one of their heads. The powered weapon struck the man, the energy jolting throughout the metal armor and the body within, and with one well-placed strike did the man die. The other two swung around and kept firing their guns, but one of his squadmates pulled Ferdus back before he could be shot.

 

Ferdus glanced back at his savior, to see the woman readying her shotgun. Ferdus gave an approving nod as the pair stood up and opened fire with their respective weapons, hitting the two gangers. Though the pistol didn't do much, the shotgun did plenty; disorientating its target before the lucky buckshot pellet struck a less protected area. Both gangers died, and the remaining four Enforcers were greeted by the sound of the elevator array all opening their doors. The marching sound of Enforcer boots was a reassuring sound, and Ferdus grinned underneath his lawman's helm. Whatever crime they committed before didn't matter. He was going to enjoy giving them all the Emperor's justice.

 

 

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Good job so far.

 

Nitpick, with suggested corrections in brackets:

The Haven's administrators didn't argue with ergeant Palate when he used the vox to contact them. In all truth, they seemed pleased to hear from the Enforcer patrol. It didn't sit well with [P]atrolman Ferdus D. Verho, one of Palate's patrol. He didn't know what his fellow patrolmen and women thought, he wasn't a psyker, but he could note the eagerness in the administrator's voice.

As "Sergeant" and "Patrolman" are used as Palate and Verho's titles, those words should be capitalized. Note I didn't capitalize "patrolmen" in the sentence "He didn't know what his fellow patrolmen and women thought," as it's not necessary in that case.

 

Why is "Enforcer" always capitalized? To show how important such a person is to the Haven, the way "Marine" is always capitalized in the Codices, showing how important such a person is to the Imperium?

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