Colt Blaster HDW Mk.15


 * "The poor man's MA5."

- ChatterNet Tagline for Online Gun Retailer. The HDW Mk.15, referred to as the '''Home Defense Weapon Mark. 15''', is a series of gas-operated or electronically-discharged rifles manufactured by multiple weapon firms but notable for being one of a few weapons more commonly 3D printed instead of acquired by purchase. The weapon's official designation is that of a "ghost gun," a weapon without proper license or distribution rights that is a free resource to anyone with access to ChatterNet devices.

More commonly recognized by its moniker, the "Colt Blaster," the Mk.15 is a commonplace civilian-oriented firearm with a service history that can be traced back three centuries. Given its long period of existence, the rifle has seen extensive modification and moderate evolution with time and a general drift in basic design past the end of the Human-Covenant War.

This weapon is a favorite among price-gouged Insurrection cells and civilian militias. It is most commonly seen on fringe-frontier worlds and on worlds in the Joint Occupation Zone.

Functionality
"Did you see that? That Spartan shrugged off everything!"

- Remark by an Insurrectionist soldier when using an HDW Mk.15 against a Spartan supersoldier.

The weapon is highly diversified and featured in a hundred different configurations across human-controlled space with millions of clones having been created since the weapon's introduction onto the ChatterNet. Lacking the technological and systematic advantages of modern Assault Rifles, the HDW Mk.15 makes up for these shortcomings through its availability, price tag, and simplicity.

While the weapon is ancient by modern standards, finding use three centuries after its inception - the weapon managed to stay relevant by the third-party upgrades produced for the rifle. One of the easiest distinguishing features of the HDW Mk.15 is its profile and cut down weight - in comparison to the UNSC standard service rifle, the MA5D ICWS, the HDW Mk.15 is three pounds lighter and features a less obstructive profile. The weapon's overall higher accuracy and effective range have made it a proper challenger to even some weapons designated in the Battle Rifle and Designated Marksman Rifle categories.

During the Insurrections, as the knowledge of Spartan supersoldiers became more widespread, many Insurrectionist cells stowed away their Colt Blasters in favor of higher caliber firearms as the weapon found difficulty piercing the armor of Spartans and juggernaut-type combat armor. First contact with the alien Covenant mega-theocracy also put the Colt Blaster further on backburner as the discovery of personal energy shields required heavier bullets to counteract the new alien technology.

The creation of the UNSC Spartan Branch almost put an end to the Colt Blaster as well, meshing supersoldiers in titanium-armored suits with personal energy shields. This distinction made the weapon unpopular till a technological renaissance took form in the Joint Human-Sangheili Occupation Zone between former Covenant-client species and Humanity on multi-species colony worlds. The HDW Mk.15 was plentiful in gun bazaars all over the Joint Occupation Zone, once the former human Outer Colonies and the Glasslands Region of colonized space.

Covenant technology incorporated into archaic and outdated firearms breathed new life into the Colt Blaster. A diversification of ammunition types brought this old war machine back into the forefront as a staple of the Insurrectionist movement.

Design Improvements
The HDW Mk.15 is a conventionally configured assault rifle, placing the magazine well and gas piston ahead of the trigger guard, much unlike a majority of the firearms in the UNSC Inventory. When first developed, the weapon featured a standard but improved smokeless powder, gas-operating system similar to its older design used on Earth. This incremental change would allow the weapon to function on worlds with atmospheres not of Earth.

Further developments on far-flung frontier worlds include the addition of electronic fuse-based ammunition, superposed loaded ammunition that stacked bullets on top of one another and forgoing bullet casing to shrink the bullet profile and increase the number of rounds per magazine. This design would further be incorporated into other human weapons such as the MA5B, a former UNSC service rifle, which is famous for stacking sixty rounds of ammunition into a typically thirty-round magazine.

This addition of the electronic fuse allowed for the Colt to also fire at a higher velocity and function more effectively in micro-gravity environments and in space where an atmosphere is nonexistent. These additions made it an effective weapon for the insurrection, being notably easier to handle than the MA5 series that was favored by the United Nations Space Command and the Colonial Military Administration.

Following contact with Spartan supersoldiers and hostile first contact with the Covenant races, many users deduced that the Colt Blaster had seen the end of its lifespan, unable to counter the tough titanium alloy of Spartan armor or to puncture the shields of a shielded Covenant sfoldier.

The post-Great War era instead was a boon for users of the HDW Mk.15 when Covenant and Human technology meshed together to create new weapons and hybrid technologies. Newer technology allowed the Mk.15 the capacity to use ammunition modifiers that were popular with the more advanced Covenant military.

Plasma-tipped Full Metal Jacket rounds are exceptionally popular for their capabilities to take down everything from a Spartan supersoldier to a Brute Chieftain. This specific modification were exceptionally good for take down energy shields and breaching nano-weave body armor that is common among both Humans and Sangheili. Other improvements include limited experimentation with hard light and the introduction of ammunition infused with the highly-reactive, high explosive material referred to as Blamite. Some controversy has been founded around the use of Blamite rounds as an act of cruelty and has bee known to rarely explode in while in the rifle magazine, harming the user of the HDW Mk.15.

Being a mess of legacies from different eras, this weapon still features its original ejection port, charging handle, barrel placement, and style of functioning piston among other universal parts. The weapon externally has changed little in comparison to its internal advancements.

Early History - "The Colonial Scramble"
Referred to in technical manuals as the Home Defense Weapon, Mark. 15, the Colt Blaster has a history that dates back three centuries.

The weapon that would become known to many as the Colt Blaster did not have much relevance following its ancestor's departure from the service of twentieth century nations. The ancestral weapon had a long, checkered history of its own, however, much of that information has been left to the deserted halls of ancient history.

The newer Mk.15 maintained a healthy following among civilians for decades to come - it became the first and one of the most circulated 3D printed firearms in Human history. Downloaded and rebuilt from the ground up, billions of times over.

The Colt Blaster served its purpose as a self-defense weapon for those that sought to live on the fringes of civilization to the fullest extent, creating a Colonial culture reminiscent of "Wild,Wild West" and reflecting entertainment trends of a "Space Western."

The HDW Mk.15 was one of many commonplace self-defense weapons that were popular with colonists on the frontier. It was the perfect home defense weapon and great for hunting live game on planets that already had indigenous fauna or were stocked by Human Colonization ships generations before.

It's name is hypothetically derived from a number of places. Some adamant followers of the weapon see it as a weapon that was known to destroy "warm bodies," any living creature it came across as the bullets would rip a person to shreds at close ranges.

Academics reason it has much to do with the weapon's ancestor, tracing back to a famous weapons manufacturer on Earth, long since having been absorbed, forced out of business, or having a massive change in it marketing after some time.

While commonly manufactured, most users of the Colt Blaster found themselves producing their own from scratch - usually using a 3D printer to produce individual parts for self-assembly.

It would not be long before the weapon would be often seen clashing with itself between parties of unorganized crime and homesteaders living at the edge of civilized space. It would not be until the rise of the Insurrections that the weapon would receive a major boost in popularity.

Return to Prominence - " An Insurrectionist Favorite"
The Colonial Insurrections did not begin from nothing, however, the economic foundations and military infrastructure needed to support a sustained conflict - especially against a military juggernaut like the United Nations Space Command were not matured yet. This logistical difficulty meant rebel cells would have to turn to what was viable on their homeworlds as the war machine that would support the Insurrections for years had not been put into place yet, civil unrest and violent squabbles against the Colonial Administrative Authority and the UNSC on occasion were simply isolated events.

The Insurgency had yet to be born and so did any form of conventional confrontation. Rebels, once decided to actively resist the authority of the Unified Earth Government, took up arms by any means they had available. This included the introduction of the HDW Mk.15 as a mainstay in Insurrectionist inventories.

While the Colt Blaster was a common favorite for many rebels early into the Insurrections, the eventual development of a wartime economy and the required supply lines needed for a war machine, the deployment of more modern military equipment became commonplace. Trends start to shift away from the HDW Mk.15 toward more modern weapons such as the MA5 service rifle.

The introduction of Spartans against the rebel forces served to shut down most use of the Colt Blaster for the rest of the insurgency. The weapon did not have the penetration power required to breach the MOLJNIR armor worn by Spartan-IIs. It was around this point weapons like the "Confetti Maker," a popular .30 caliber machine gun used by Insurrection cells, replace the HDW Mk.15. Most notably among cells who transitioned, General Howard Graves's unit of the United Rebel Front on the colony world of Victoria in the 2530s.

This decrease in use was further supported by the arrival of the Covenant in 2525 over the agrarian colony of Harvest - knowledge of Covenant energy shields meant the .22 caliber rounds of the HDW Mk.15 were insufficient against more powerful Covenant troops and proved only very effective against lesser races such as the Kig-Yar and Unggoy. The Colt Blaster would remain a rebel weapon used against UNSC ground forces during and after the Great War.

While insignificant, there is an account from October 2552 that a civilian on Earth: in Kenya, Africa - used an HDW Mk.15 to down two Kig-Yar marksman and eight Unggoy soldiers before dying at the hands of a Covenant Energy Sword. The event was predated by a few hours when a gun retailer, Arney Antics, was looted during a Covenant attack - the looters ensued to use the stolen firearms to fight against invading Covenant Forces.

Post-Great War Conflicts
In the post-Great War era, more focus was put into rebuilding rather than military ventures by the Unified Earth Government and its alien counterparts across known space. The UEG did not provide as much, the same funds to the UNSC war machine as infrastructure became a much larger focus. The United Nations Space Command in 2553, released emergency martial powers and allowed the democratic processes to return to normal.

On the surface, it appeared that there was no conflict besides the ongoing Covenant Civil War, the Great Schism, that went mostly unnoticed for the civilian population of the UEG. This alien conflict that would expand into the Sanghelios Blooding Years conflict, the Sangheili-Jiralhanae conflicts, and the Covenant remnant wars.

The Office of Naval Intelligence, ONI, instead was propping up proxy wars on the fringes of Human space and beyond it in former Covenant space. These unconventional conflicts at the edge of Human space were the upset the intelligence community was hoping to capitalize on: allowing the acquisition of alien technology, promote rebuilding on Human colonyworlds, and destabalize any potential power that might come to challenge the fragile power Humanity had over their little pocket in the galaxy.The Colt Blaster for a time remained forgotten, lost as a memory of another time - distant in the memories of most Humans still fresh from the horrors of the Human-Covenant War. Excavators would often find the burned frames of HDW Mk.15 rifles on glassed colony worlds, left behind by refugee owners or destroyed with their owners when these rifles failed to kill the arriving Covenant ground forces. They were treated as obsolete and overlooked by most militias who had turned to the surplus of weapons being acquired from the Great War draw-down which had proven far more effective and useful against the Covenant than the previous inventories used by militias and rebel forces alike for decades.

In the Joint Occupation Zones and Glasslands region, the Colt Blaster began to have a resurgence around 2555. Mixing of technology between former Covenant client species and Humans produced a renaissance of technology that culminated in a massive overhaul in the capabilities of the HDW Mk.15 and weapons like it. The capability for variable ammunition that incorporated Covenant technology was a game changer.

Even ONI field agents could be found on occasion to use the Colt Blaster as a substitute for their usual equipment. The Colt Blaster was the perfect "jack-of-all-trades" weapon for field agents as they were easily maintained, handled, and drew less attention that a new production model of a BR85N Battle Rifle, or an MA5D Assault Rifle.

Plasma-coated FMJ 5.56mm rounds have become a requirement for the HDW Mk.15 in the Joint Occupation Zone as it served as a good balance in breaching energy shields and body armor, both technologies commonplace between Covenant remnants, rebel forces, and pirates that often operated in this lawless region of space.

Brief Description
''The HDW Mk.15 is a multi-function, civilian-oriented combat rifle capable of firing small kinetic rounds at significant distances. An Insurrectionist favorite, this weapon is known for it's ageless versatility and diversification. It's use of varying ammunition types makes it a viable weapon against human and alien combatants alike.''

Remarks
"Go for Wrangler: This is a Mk.15. Commonly used by Insurrectionists, its an old gun. Recent upgrades in the J-OZ have made it viable for your operations. Diffuse them to your agents at your own discretion. Killing the connection, over."

- Classified ONI Section 3 Transmission to Mission Handler in the Joint Occupation Zone. "Meet the Ugliest Beauty in the galaxy. Puts every UNSC shitface you meet into an early grave."

- Rogue CMA Major, Unverified Identity.