Rune Town

Before June 20th, the missions executed by Warfield's 1st Company were quite monotonous; they spent two days training in the barracks, and the rest of the time was spent being dispatched to escort supplies arriving from the Pride of Boke starport.

For an entire week, Augustus's squad followed container trucks, circling the ring highway back and forth.

By this time, more than a week had passed since Augustus was promoted to lance corporal and made acting squad leader of the 3rd Platoon's 1st Squad. The military administration had yet to assign a non-commissioned officer to the role, so he remained an acting leader. As far as Augustus knew, the squad leaders of the other new recruits who had arrived at the 1st Company with him had all been replaced by veterans.

Augustus soon realized that until he was promoted to corporal and officially confirmed as squad leader, a replacement might never arrive.

During the supply escorts, although the Kel-Morians never appeared, Augustus remained constantly on guard against enemy ambushes.

The daily life of Augustus and his men was repetitive; from the moment they opened their eyes in the morning, they had to don their power armor and board the troop transport. For the better part of the day, the marines would spend their time inside the armored vehicle.

During this period, the Pride of Boke remained in a state of mundane calm. The Kel-Morian and Terran Confederacy armies continued to face off across the Padek River in the city center, yet the frontline troops did not fire a single shot. Only the artillery units of both sides fired on enemy positions at scheduled intervals, and the buildings and fortifications within range had long since been razed to the ground.

In the past year, no large-scale battle involving over ten thousand troops had ever broken out on Turaxis II. Both sides occupied half of the planet and seemed content with that status quo.

However, Augustus knew that this delicate balance was like thin ice suspended over a candle flame; sooner or later, one side would break it.

What worried Augustus most now was that if both sides viewed the Pride of Boke as a breakthrough point, the 33rd Ground Assault Division, situated at the center of the war, would face a brutal conflict.

Perhaps the escort missions had bored the hot-blooded recruits of the 1st Squad, so on the morning of June 20th, when 3rd Platoon leader Lieutenant Reagan told them that their 1st Company was about to execute a combat mission in a small town called Rune, everyone except Augustus and Omo began to cheer.

Lieutenant Reagan could only sigh at this; the first battle Augustus had led these recruits in had been won too easily, leaving them without a serious view of the war.

Perhaps only after witnessing the deaths of their comrades, and after friends and brothers-in-arms left them forever, would they truly mature.

Near noon that day, Augustus led the 1st Squad in formation into the barracks, where a giant wolf emblem was engraved on the wall.

This was their first time using the 33rd Ground Assault Division's power armor. Because this unit had previously been serving and fighting in the frozen Silver World of Sigma, the surface paint of their armor was a silver-gray that matched that environment.

Like the power armor of the others, Augustus's breastplate also featured a crouching gray wolf.

This set of power armor was still the older CMC-200 model, and some signs of wear could be seen on the interior, but overall, it was far better than those at the recruit training camp.

According to the newly issued "Supplement to the 33rd Ground Assault Division Squad-Level Weapon Management Regulations," every member of Augustus's squad was also issued an under-barrel grenade launcher for their Gauss rifles.

Additionally, the armory's supply sergeant issued them an extra Hellfire flamethrower with a pair of parallel liquid fuel tanks, a brand-new CMC-230-XF heavy power armor, a seven-foot-long single-man rocket launcher with two large bundles of rockets, and several men were assigned a Whisperer heavy machine gun along with four crates full of ammunition belts.

Augustus noticed that all squads in Warfield's company, including the medics, had completed their re-equipment. Clearly, the high-ranking commanders of the 33rd Ground Assault Division intended to reorganize the entire 1st Company into a primary assault company.

Warfield's company had always been known as the Iron Company, always charging at the very front, often suffering over fifty percent casualties after a few intense battles.

The 1st Company's receipt of such honors was well-deserved, even if other brother companies felt they deserved the better equipment, as it also meant the battalion commander had more reason to deploy them in the most dangerous places instead of anyone else.

Although these weapons were meant to be held only by professionally trained NCOs, it was clearly unrealistic to break down a full-strength combat squad to send people for training during wartime.

After consulting with Raynor, Augustus decided to hand the rocket launcher to Ward, the heavy machine gun to the tall Benjamin, and Omo would act as his assistant by carrying the ammo crates.

The flamethrower was given to Harnack, simply because Harnack claimed he had loved playing with fire since he was a child, and as it happened, no one else wanted to use such a dangerous and difficult-to-operate weapon.

Augustus then divided the 1st Squad into three fire teams, each centered around those who had received the new equipment. Augustus led the first team, consisting of machine gunner Benjamin Crando, assistant Tom Omo, rifleman Kurt Josephine, and sniper Rick Kidd.

The second team was led by Raynor, with subordinates flamethrower operator Harnack Hank, rifleman Ilya Kurovsky, and Amy Brandon. The third team was led by Arland Londerstein, with members rocket trooper Connor Ward, grenadier Zander Marks, and Lee Pachinyang.

"Augustus, I think we're still missing a medic," Raynor said to Augustus after the weapons were distributed.

"Our personnel and weapon configuration are infinitely close to a standard 'Special Tactics and Missions Squad,' so be content," Augustus said, beaming. "Usually, we call these special squads the elite of the elite; in any case, such good gear would never fall to recruits who have only been in the service for a few months."

"We will be the elite of the elite sooner or later," Raynor said.

By the time the 1st Squad marines put on their new gear and boarded an APOD-46 transport, Augustus believed they all looked like brand-new men.

Harnack's change was the most significant; he was now wearing the CMC-230-XF power armor, the famous Firebat suit, which had been developed and released by Procyon Industries.

Compared to other models from the CMC-200 to the CMC-300, the Firebat power armor used thicker, sturdier refined steel plating, with a special heat-resistant coating on the surface to withstand the scorching high-temperature ion streams released by the Hellfire flamethrower.

The additional steel plating and insulation made the Firebat armor heavier and bulkier than standard power armor. The crimson paint job also made the Firebat look even more dangerous, with various emblems of Procyon Industries and the 33rd Ground Assault Division painted on the chest and groin armor.

The 33rd Ground Assault Division's Firebat armor had been repainted silver-gray, making it look like a giant silver titan.

After some additional modifications to Ward's power armor, the steel plates on his shoulder pauldrons were replaced with a larger, flatter model to mount and secure the cylindrical rocket launcher.

His helmet visor was fitted with a more precise HUD missile-targeting sight, and a bandolier strapped with twelve auto-targeting rockets along with a sharp bayonet were fastened to Ward's waist.

While the transport was en route to their destination, Augustus used the HUD display on his power armor visor to browse the mission briefing.

The latest briefing indicated that their destination, the small town of Rune, was fifteen miles from the center of the Pride of Boke. Before the war, it had a permanent population of about five thousand, which had now dwindled to two thousand.

The town remained under the control of the Terran Confederacy army, but the area was located downstream of the Padek River, which flowed through the Pride of Boke, and was garrisoned by only one Confederate Army battalion.

The army battalion could not monitor the dozen-mile-wide defensive depth in real-time, so Kel-Morian scout units frequently entered the Confederate-controlled zone via the Padek River.

The briefing's description of the mission was very brief—according to reliable intelligence, the small town of Rune had defected to the Kel-Morians. Warfield's company was tasked with retaking control of the town and executing all the townspeople.

Seeing this, Augustus couldn't help but widen his eyes.

That's right—execute, not arrest.