Resocialized Soldiers

At midnight the next day, Augustus and the soldiers of 1st Squad climbed up from the sheets and blankets spread across the floor and assembled at their designated location in Vellino.

The 5th Battalion's assembly point was an open area in the town center, once used by the locals as a marketplace. Augustus's 1st Squad stood in three columns of four rows, between 2nd Squad and 3rd Squad of 3rd Platoon.

The searchlights on the chest plates of all the Marines had been switched on, bathing all of Vellino in brilliant light. Only one of Warfield's companies occupied the wide-open ground; the vast stretches of empty space around them were still vacant.

Half an hour later, a Marine unit marched into the open ground in perfect formation, as if taking part in a parade. They stopped opposite Augustus and stood facing him.

Those Marines also belonged to the 33rd Ground Assault Division. Their Power Armor was painted the division's signature silver-gray, but bore no insignia or numbers identifying which unit they belonged to.

The sudden arrival of this unit, which numbered about a battalion, made no sound beyond the thud of power boots on muddy ground as they entered and formed ranks. Their discipline was astonishing.

At first, no one in Augustus's unit thought there was anything amiss about them. Then, at 12:45 a.m., a commander stepped in front of the soldiers, loudly announced his name and rank, and ordered them to take a pre-battle oath.

The instant the final word of the order fell, all the soldiers snapped to attention and lowered the Gauss Rifles slung over their shoulders. They opened their helmets and began the oath. Their movements were perfectly synchronized, astonishingly uniform, as if they were one.

"We swear here and now that it is our responsibility to protect every planet and colony of the Terran Confederacy, and that we regard this as our birthright and calling. We will fight all enemies of the Confederacy, whether they come from within or beyond the stars."

"We will obey every order from our superiors as though we were obeying the will of God. We are the Marines, and we are forever loyal. We will send every enemy of the Terran Confederacy to hell, until it is filled with the wailing souls of the dead."

"We will all die, but that is what we strive for. We make this sacrifice so that the Terran Confederacy may endure forever."

Once the oath was complete, all the soldiers closed their helmets at the same time and slung their rifles over their shoulders again. Not a word passed between them from beginning to end.

"What a pitiful bunch." A platoon leader suddenly spoke over the command channel for all commanders above the rank of squad leader in 1st Company.

"Resocialized Soldiers?" the 2nd Platoon leader said. "Now that you mention it, I remember hearing about them. They used to be deserters, political prisoners, murderers, or some other kind of social scum."

"They don't look like criminals. They're more obedient than a bunch of chicks." The 4th Platoon leader had a booming voice.

"Resocialization." Reagan, the 3rd Platoon leader, seemed to know more. "To put it simply, it's what you call brainwashing. There are plenty of methods. For instance, you can stuff a criminal into a tank filled with chemicals, or cut open their head and remove unnecessary parts of the frontal lobe, then implant some extra memories."

"After that, these Resocialized Soldiers become mindless drones who obey the Confederacy without question. Even if an officer told them to jump into a lake of magma and take a bath, they wouldn't hesitate for a second."

"God, that's a crime against humanity!" one squad leader exclaimed.

Augustus said nothing, but he listened carefully.

Since entering boot camp, Augustus had gradually learned a few things about Resocialized Soldiers. The 4th Brigade had the lowest proportion of resocialized troops in the entire 33rd Ground Assault Division, so its officers weren't very familiar with the subject.

In other units, such as the 1st Brigade and 2nd Brigade, Resocialized Soldiers already made up one-fifth of all troops. Some were assigned to independent units, while others were scattered among various squads and platoons.

To win this war, the Confederacy was already sending brainwashed soldiers onto the battlefield, and was making plans to replace ordinary soldiers with independent minds with Resocialized Soldiers.

These Resocialized Soldiers were brave and fearless, with no concept of fear. The will and skills to fight were inscribed in their bodies like instinct, and a single operation was all it took to turn an ordinary person into a killing machine for the Confederate government.

But these Resocialized Soldiers also had a fairly serious flaw: the procedure damaged their brains.

Along with their individual personalities, they lost the ability to think and make decisions for themselves. They could only know what to do when given direct orders by officers who had not undergone resocialization.

All in all, aside from this flaw, Resocialized Soldiers were perfect warriors. They carried out their commanders' orders to the fullest, never made mistakes, never knew fear, and never retreated.

Augustus also knew that after the Guild Wars ended, the proportion of Resocialized Soldiers would continue to rise. By the time of the first Total War between humanity and alien races, most soldiers in the Confederate military would have undergone the procedure.

At one o'clock in the morning, Warfield's company set out on time, advancing through the silent night toward the eastern district of Pride of Boke. Four sister companies and two battalions of Resocialized Soldiers marched with them.

On Augustus's HUD, the district was labeled Dunlin District. Before it fell, Dunlin District had been home to the largest assembly plants on Turaxis II for maglev cars and IAA Holographic Projection equipment. These factories had previously belonged to the Terra Family, one of the Old Families on Tarsonis.

According to the assault plan, Warfield's 1st Company would be among the first units in the center to advance into the district, while two other units attacked from the left and right flanks. Before setting out, the Marines followed orders to switch off the searchlights on their chest plates and change their visor displays to night-vision and thermal-imaging modes.

As they neared Pride of Boke, just two miles from the outermost buildings, two Arclite Siege Tanks and a full squad of twelve Goliath combat robots joined Warfield's forces. One of the tanks was right in front of Augustus's squad, while two massive Goliaths strode heavily along their right.

Because Turaxis II always had two moons in its sky, its nights were not particularly dark when the weather was clear. But tonight, thick clouds covered the skies over Pride of Boke. With all the Confederate forces' lights extinguished, the army advanced through darkness so deep they could not see their hands in front of their faces.

At four in the morning, Augustus could finally see the Goddess Lighthouse, the landmark of Pride of Boke's Dunlin District, with his naked eyes rather than the helmet's zoom camera. Only then did the Kel-Morian defenders in the city fire their first flare.

The Confederacy's fleet had already destroyed all Kel-Morian space stations and satellites in synchronous orbit. So even though the Kel-Morians knew a large force of Confederate troops was approaching from the rear, they could not determine exactly when the attack would come.

But the Kel-Morians had clearly been awake all night. As dozens of flares lit up the sky, the concentrated fire from their mortar and electromagnetic-gun positions rained down on the first Resocialized platoon to charge forward.