Bursting Troops

Sterling City is like flowing mercury, with millions of glass panes shimmering in the sunlight. The silver and black Mengsk Sky Tower stands tall in the city center, surrounded by skyscrapers that resemble stalagmites made of steel and glass.

Looking down from the Mengsk Family's private luxury airship, the streets are dotted with lush greenery, the traffic flows like black lines, and commercial airships leave bright contrails as they weave between buildings and clouds.

Augustus sat in his private seat, looking down through a round window at the streetscape of Sterling and the towering skyscrapers that still appeared majestic from above. Even though the government of the Terran Confederacy was still trying its best to exploit the people here and plunder the wealth of this beautiful planet, Korhal IV remained as prosperous as ever, undiminished by the Guild Wars.

This is why Korhal IV is hailed as a jewel of the Terran Confederacy.

But the Confederacy red and blue star flag still flying in Sterling and the Confederacy military camp nestled against the mountains at the northern edge of the city made Augustus keenly aware that the true ruler of this planet was still the Confederacy.

The senators standing at the pinnacle of power and prestige in Korhal IV, and the conglomerates behind them, all share the same master: the Confederate Congress that Overmind the entire world on distant Tarsonis, and a series of powerful Old Families.

As the airship passed through the hemispherical energy shield that descended like a curtain from the top of the Mengsk Sky Tower and landed on the runway with greenery planted along its edges, a dozen security personnel in black uniforms wearing matching flat-topped hats and goggles immediately ran toward the airship. Except for Augustus and security captain Acton, all accompanying personnel had to undergo the most rigorous checks.

"This energy shield is newly added," Acton said, pointing to the light blue energy shield that appeared as thin as gauze from the tarmac. "It's a new technology from Lars Technology Company that can withstand most energy and ballistic weapons, shield detectors and satellite cameras, and even block strong winds at 3,000 feet."

"Very good design. I need its details, including defense rating, tolerance limits, and other upgrade options." Augustus nodded to the security personnel who bowed to him and then stepped into the elevator on the helipad.

"If it doesn't meet my requirements, I think we should switch suppliers."

"Aren't you satisfied yet? This energy shield cost us a fortune." Acton followed closely behind Augustus. He was a bit older than Angus, but his body was still as strong as a bull.

"Dear Field, if the Terran Confederacy's Fleets is wielding a greatsword while we're just trying to hold them off with eggshells, you'll soon be out of work," Augustus said, half-jokingly.

"We'll talk about that later. I just got back from Meinhoff and will be returning to the army in a couple of days. Tell me, in the six months I was away, what earth-shattering changes have taken place in Korhal."

"Many," Acton Augustus as the elevator began its slow descent. "Your father gave forty-six speeches on the Korhal independence movement throughout the Korhal region over a period of six months, thirty-three of which drew audiences of more than fifty thousand people."

"In October, workers in the Confederate city of Balik responded to Angus's call to take to the streets, demanding that the Confederacy explain the increasingly long working hours and corruption. The local government deployed all its police force, using tear gas and batons to disperse the crowds," he said.

"This resulted in a disaster. When an order was given to open fire, before the poorly trained police could even empty their magazines, tens of thousands of enraged people overwhelmed them."

"Protesters occupied the police station, the city hall, and the UNN's broadcasting building, tearing down the Confederacy flag and replacing it with the blue and three-pointed star flag of the Korhal. In that riot, which spiraled out of control, thousands of protesters and police officers were injured, and hundreds died from stampedes and shootings."

"So, someone's going to be in big trouble." Augustus guessed at the Confederacy's reaction. He had seen a report about the matter in the UNN Evening News, but it was only mentioned briefly from beginning to end, clearly indicating that the Confederacy was trying its best to downplay the impact of the matter.

"The new Governor of Korhal dismissed several people who had little to do with the matter, and then declared that it was all Angus Mengsk's fault for instigating it." As Acton was speaking, the elevator stopped on an upper floor.

"What he said isn't wrong." Augustus shrugged noncommittally and walked through the open elevator doors into the corridor lined with security personnel on both sides.

"Last month, an outpost north of Sterling was attacked by terrorists, and more than one hundred Confederacy soldiers were killed in the attack," Acton said as he walked.

"I know who did it without even thinking." Augustus looked at the smooth walls on both sides of the corridor and the security camera at the corner, but he didn't feel much safer.

"I bet you did a great job, leaving no evidence whatsoever."

"Confederacy officials are in a bind because all the evidence points to an accident—an explosion caused by a leak in a high-energy gas pipeline," Acton said.

"But that's not exactly clever." Augustus stopped at the door of a room guarded by two heavily armed security personnel. After the detector scanned his retina, a spacious office appeared before him.

A gray-haired but still upright man stood with his back to Augustus, facing a huge glass wall. Angus Mengsk, wearing a black square-necked coat and loose trousers, gazed at the UNN building opposite the Mengsk Sky Tower.

This scene seemed strangely familiar to Augustus.

Angus Mengsk, while a highly respected and influential senator in the Korhal Council, consistently acted against the will of his class, delivering speeches and demonstrations criticizing the corruption within the Confederacy and leading the Korhal's burgeoning independence movement. In other words, Angus was a staunch revolutionary and an instigator in the news, urging the people to confront the Confederacy.

In the Confederacy UNN holographic news program, which has been corrupted and controlled by money and power, the host would call his numerous public speeches against the Confederacy in Korhal inflammatory falsehoods. In some more radical columns, writers made no secret of attacking Angus as a traitor and insurgent.

To Augustus's surprise, Augustus also found many photos of his family in his office, including a propaganda poster of him in military uniform, which, as far as he knew, was the cover of a certain issue of a cosmic fashion magazine.

As one of the combat heroes jointly promoted by the Tarsonis Confederacy, the military, and the UNN Universe News Network, Augustus's aristocratic education, his exemplary Old Families background, and his handsome appearance were among the reasons for his selection.

The relentless praise from UNN editor-in-chief Handy Anderson always embarrassed Augustus, because most of the achievements were fabricated and simply couldn't stand up to scrutiny.

However, the Old Families behind the UNN's board of directors and the Confederate Congress are the real driving forces behind the scenes. They package some war heroes as invincible "war gods" to boost public confidence in the war, allowing them to spend money with peace of mind and stimulate the increasingly sluggish economy and the nearly collapsed stock market.

Augustus never been here before, and he never imagined that his father, who always seemed to be at odds with him, had actually been watching him all along.

This suddenly reminded him of something his sister Dorothy often mentioned in her letters, "Brother, we watch the news every day, looking for your name, but we're worried it might be on the list of the dead."

They say you killed many Kel-Morian, down to the exact number for every battle. Brother, we are not elated by your many achievements; we are only worried that you will die in the next battle.

Those letters are the bonds that convey kinship and strength.

"You're back, Augustus. My son." Angus didn't turn around to embrace Augustus; the estrangement between father and son remained.

"Yes. I'm back, Father." Augustus not afraid of his father; in the past, they had only argued frequently because of their vastly different views.

"Katherine just told me." When Angus turned around, Augustus surprised to find that his father looked much older than before, but his eyes, which were so similar to his own, were still bright and piercing.

"I support your idea of sending them to Umojan. The Confederacy's henchmen are watching us closely in the shadows, and they won't let go of any opportunity to blackmail me."

"At present, Umojan is indeed the safest place." Augustus nodded. "The Ghost operative of the Terran Confederacy could arrive at any time, so the security measures here must be raised to another level."

"You think that's not enough?" Angus frowned. "Initially, I didn't want to turn our family home into a heavily fortified fortress, or hire ten times more people to maintain it. Because that would be extremely detrimental to me in terms of public opinion; people generally believe that only big tycoons would spend so much money to buy weapons to protect their property."

"I should have been a fighter for freedom, a leader guiding the people toward the light, not Cromwell surrounded by an army. That way, the Confederacy media would portray me as a usurper and a tyrant."

"No matter how they smear us, I believe that Korhal must have an army that can rival the Confederacy," Augustus told his father.

"I don't care about fame. But they'd better call me Washington of Korhal, the Napoleon of a Terrans empire."

"You and I have never thought alike, child." Angus was not angry at Augustus's words; instead, he appeared very pleased. "I'm glad you've finally taken my side."

"I never tell anyone that I am exhausted, that I am surrounded by enemies and onlookers, and that the Mengsk Family's allies sway like weeds in the wind. Augustus, I am glad you have returned to my side."

"Is this a dream, Augustus? Ever since you grew up, you've stopped calling me father."

"Angus, it's more real than any walled city or city you've ever seen," Augustus.

"Heh, come on, sit down and have a drink, let's have a good talk." Angus smiled and took a bottle of expensive red wine from the wine cabinet in his office.

Since Augustus's coming-of-age ceremony, Angus had barely had a proper conversation with him. Thus, his last conversation with his eldest son, Arcturus, ended in a bitter argument.

Arcturus could never accept his father's revolution, which was Angus's greatest regret in life. Angus originally thought that his second son would follow the same path as his brother and stay away from his tyrannical father, but Augustus not only returned to his side, but also accepted Korhal's revolutionary cause, which made the increasingly old Mengsk overjoyed.

Angus is a typical patriarch of an autocratic family. He believes that his decades of experience can help his sons avoid going astray and prevent them from being harmed or regretting it someday. In the future path that Angus plans for his sons, Arcturus will inherit his position as senator, while Augustus will manage the family's vast business empire.

But Augustus refused to accept this. He was tired of, and even hated, having his life controlled by others, even if that person was his own father.

"How do you think we should achieve the final victory in this revolution?" Angus, Augustus, and Acton sat at a rattan table and chairs in the office, and Angus poured them glasses of wine.

"Only war," Augustus replied. "Angus, I believe you are already prepared for a Total War. In the history of the earth, peace gained through slogans, begging, and kneeling has never lasted."

"We need an army, Fleets, and a commander who can win."

"Of course, we have a Revolutionary Army," Acton said. "We have already recruited 120,000 men and sent some of them to the officer training school in Umojan. They will graduate next year, and then we will have a reliable group of officers and generals."

"Not enough, far from enough." Augustus stared unblinkingly at Acton with his cold, gray eyes. "We need at least a million more people to take this planet, and several times that number, or even more, to defend it."

Mass produce troops.

"That's what we wanted to do too, but 120,000 people is already the limit. All of these people are volunteers fighting for the revolutionary cause. They usually keep in touch through underground organizations and receive secret training," Acton said.

"Then abolish the government and senators, form a new parliament, enact new laws, and change the conscription system. Once we control Sterling, we will conscript soldiers from that city, and once we control the industrial cities in the south, we will make all the eligible young men there wear helmets and hold rifles," Augustus shouted.

"I served in the Confederate Marine Corps and personally killed many Kel-Morian people in a brutal war. I know better than you how terrifying the Confederacy army can be."

"As the riots and terrorist attacks on Korhal escalate, the Confederate Marine Corps will inevitably intervene. Therefore, we urgently need a powerful Revolutionary Army. Politically, we should seek the support of other planets and even some members of the Tarsonis Old Families to obtain more aid and divert the Confederacy's attention."

"I don't know if you don't understand or are unwilling to admit it, but in the wars waged by the nobles and those in power, this generation must be bound to the rumbling wheels of war until they die."

A long silence.

"If we have to fight a war, then the Korhal will win," Angus said. "But ultimately, I still hope it will be a peaceful evolution, a handover ceremony that returns power from the centralized rulers to the people."

"I know what you're trying to say: expecting a dragon to willingly hand over its treasures and gold is, of course, wishful thinking."

Augustus was not surprised to hear such words from Angus. Angus was more like a pure revolutionary leader than an ambitious man seeking to seize power through revolution; he wanted to establish a clean and honest new government and rebuild Korhal IV into a free and peaceful world.

Just like before.

Angus was a great and selfless revolutionary; he was even willing to sacrifice his life to awaken all the Terrans.

"We all know that war is inevitable," Acton added at this point. "I have spoken with your father many times, and we no longer hold any hope for peaceful evolution. Where there is an uprising, suppression will follow. In the coming war, countless people will die."

"Even so, we will fight to the end!" Angus said firmly. "In the past, I always had some illusions about the Confederacy, but now I understand that it is beyond saving."

"The Giant that is the Terran Confederacy is covered in ugly pustules; it must be cut open with a sharp sword before the wounds can heal."

"Compared to Kel-Morian and Umojan, the Terran Confederacy already has far too many territories and planets. Their bloated and corrupt government can only use force to oppress the people on their colonies, and all the oppressed have long harbored resentment towards them," he said.

"Now, as soon as the first planet to sound the horn of rebellion appears, those who are watching will rise up. Korhal will not be the only planet to rebel against Confederacy rule, nor will it be the last."

"Father, how many years do you think this war will last?" Augustus asked in a low voice.

"Ten years or longer," Angus said. "When I'm gone, you will carry on my work, as will your son and Valerian."

"Augustus, though I'm reluctant to admit it, most of the Korhal Revolutionary Army consists of young men without military training. Qualified officers can only be recruited from retired Confederacy veterans, but I cannot guarantee their loyalty. We also lack generals, because the Korhal people are not always skilled in battle."

"This Revolutionary Army, though full of reason and ambition, was in reality nothing more than a hastily assembled group of sons of peasants, workers, and company employees. They were willing to die for the independence of Korhal, but had not yet become disciplined and obedient soldiers."

"Augustus, you are a hero, you are the person I trust most. You will be the leader of the Korhal Revolutionary Army, because you are the most suitable person I can think of."

"Perhaps it will be up to you to lead this rabble."

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