Engineer Corps

Two days later, after completing the Rune Town mission and returning to the Pride of Boke, the 5th Battalion's base, the 1st Squad had been resting for some time, and Augustus's state of mind had also changed from before.

Augustus thought that his service in the Confederacy military would not last much longer. As soon as the war ended, he would leave.

On this day, June 22nd, at 6:00 AM, Augustus woke up on time as usual, woke up the soldiers in his squad, and asked them to get dressed immediately and go to the mess hall at the battalion's base for breakfast.

At this time, two silver moons hung in the sky, and the silhouette of another moon and a brighter sun appeared on the horizon. The company barracks became noisy, with sleepy-eyed marine soldiers crowding the narrow corridors, rushing towards the military mess hall.

In the mess hall, Augustus received toast and fried pork sausages and sat at a standardized alloy dining table, chatting with Raynor opposite him about reports disclosed by the UNN Global News Network concerning the corruption within the Confederacy government. Harnack and Josephine, meanwhile, were loudly telling crude jokes.

"Does anyone know where we're going today? I didn't see the mission briefing," said Private Zander, a piece of bread in his mouth, with Harnack on his left wolfing down his food.

"The central urban area of Pride of Boke, specifically about eight miles northwest of our battalion's base," Josephine said, eating bread without any of the composure and elegance expected of nobility, looking like she hadn't eaten in days. "Guess what? There's an engineering team working there, and they've sent us to babysit them because it's very close to the Kel-Morian dogs' den."

As he spoke, Josephine swallowed another whole grilled sausage, which almost choked him. He couldn't help but grab his own neck and roll his eyes, snatching the porridge bowl from Harnack next to him and gulping it down.

So, when the assembly call sounded, Harnack and Josephine were both furiously strangling each other.

"Grab your M-2 packs and assemble at A-2-7 Barracks Plaza!" As everyone was laughing, several non-commissioned officers walked in and shouted. Regardless of whether they had finished eating or not, all the soldiers complied.

Augustus led the 1st Squad into the barracks and armory, where the Sigma Grey Wolf Emblem was engraved on the walls, and put on his power armor.

Since the central urban area was not too far away, and the 33rd Ground Assault Division had only arrived at Turaxis less than a week ago, there were very few atmospheric transport aircraft available for them to use. The 1st Company took heavy trucks lent to them by the Pride of Boke Army Logistics Support Transport Regiment to their destination, while other trucks were loaded with ammunition, grenades, and explosives.

Each truck could carry a maximum of 6 to 8 heavily armored marines. Augustus, Raynor, and several other soldiers from the 1st Squad sat in the cargo bed of a truck, the entrance and exit of which were sealed with a pair of heavy windproof curtains.

Pulling back the windproof curtains revealed dozens of similar trucks behind theirs.

Initially, the convoy drove north from the base along a straight urban road in Pride of Boke. Although there were occasional shell craters on the road, it was still relatively smooth. However, once the convoy entered the city center, the speed immediately slowed down.

This was because this part of the city had been the main battlefield between the Confederacy and the Kel-Morians, changing hands repeatedly between the two sides for several months.

Now, the entire city center had become a ruin filled with huge shell craters, barbed wire, abandoned vehicles, and tanks. Skyscrapers stood silently, like tombstones of this once prosperous city.

About two miles after leaving the base, Augustus saw a different scene: a large group of ragged refugees were trudging along the road.

These groups ranged from dozens to hundreds of people. In just over ten minutes, Augustus had seen thousands of them.

People with blank expressions carried sacks, pushed carts and old suitcases, on which sat crying or silent children or various kinds of scrap metal, mostly parts of robots or cars.

These people were called Scavengers by the local garrison of Turaxis. With the tacit approval of the local garrison, they made a living by entering the city to search for valuable scrap or other discarded items.

Pride of Boke, where the 4th Brigade Augustus belonged to was stationed, originally belonged to the Terran Confederacy. It was a large city with two million Terrans, and its industrial zones and farms outside the city were home to more workers and farmers. But after becoming a strategic location, the city had become the main battlefield.

In the part of the city controlled by the Kel-Morians, all the urban population had become miners and laborers serving the large factories, whipped and enslaved by Kel-Morian overseers, forced to work endlessly until they died, producing more weapons and supplies for the war.

The Terran Confederacy had forcibly driven all the people in its controlled areas to the lower city and suburbs far from the combat zones, but refused to provide living support for the war refugees.

The truck Augustus was riding in moved past the group of trudging refugees. After driving a few more miles, it finally turned by a long river flowing east and west, driving west along a tarred road pockmarked by artillery fire.

To the north of the convoy was the shimmering Paddick River. This river, over a thousand miles long, looked like a golden ribbon under the bright morning sun.

The Paddick River, flowing through the center of Pride of Boke, divided the magnificent city in half. The widest part of the river in the city center reached five miles.

Before being drawn into the war, three aerial train tracks and more than ten steel bridges connected the northern and southern parts of the city into one. Hundreds of artificial canals dug along the Paddick River and its tributaries added a unique charm to the city, like a water town. The intricate canal network made the barge transportation industry of Pride of Boke increasingly prosperous.

In its heyday, the slow-flowing artificial canals of Pride of Boke were not only navigated by large cargo ships but also by luxury yachts carrying the upper class and retro sailboats using modern technology. The riverbanks were lined with towering skyscrapers, office buildings, squares, and parks.

Due to pollution from prosperous oil refineries and crystal ore purification plants, the sky of Pride of Boke was always filled with a fog-like crystal dust. Continuous, sparkling crystal clouds gathered over the azure canal network.

Starting more than twenty years ago, music, etiquette, and literary works from the medieval Earth era became the favorites of Pride of Boke's upper class to display elegant taste and flaunt their family's ancient history.

Wealthy people sat on expensive and fashionable yachts and cruise ships, listening to music passed down from medieval Earth while enjoying the scenery, while libertines sought pleasure. Time seemed to have returned to Victorian London on medieval Earth, where the rich took their boats to tour the Thames River.

The prosperous cities of the past could only be found in documentaries and postcards. Now, most of the canals had dried up due to silting. When the rainy season arrived, the swollen river water would refill the channels, causing floods. Some blocked, un-dried artificial canals had become sewers, with garbage floating on the dark green water surface.

When the convoy reached its destination, the Engineer Company was clearing debris in an area marked by caution tape, using a fusion welder to join prefabricated modular alloy steel building panels to construct barracks, supply stations, garages, and armories. Their work area was about two miles from the Paddick River.

The division of labor within the Engineer Company was very clear. While some people operated engineering vehicles to build new barracks, other engineers were busy erecting scaffolding to build water towers and engines, construct septic tanks, and lay underground electrical wires and water pipes. Rows of barracks and camp signal control lights rose at an astonishing speed.