While Augustus was worried about his situation and that of his family, he was soon distracted by a name on the recruiting list: James Eugene Raynor, First Squad, Second Platoon, Company D.
A duplicate name?
Augustus couldn't help but associate this name with the famous character from the StarCraft game.
It was possible. The year was 2488, more than a decade before Wings of Liberty began. At this point, the game's protagonist, Jim Raynor, was probably just a young soldier.
Fortunately, Augustus didn't have to speculate for long—he could confirm the truth soon enough.
After receiving his bedding, other standard daily necessities—including a sonic toothbrush, sonic razor, and a titanium alloy short-bladed saber—from the quartermaster, Augustus boarded a military bus headed for the modular ground military camp.
The soldiers' dormitory in the boot camp was incredibly spacious, with solid platinum steel alloy plates on the walls and non-slip wood-textured tiles on the floor.
The wide rectangular dormitory was equipped with six camp beds, each about seven feet long and five feet wide, as well as a separate sonic shower room, toilet, and even a holographic projector.
This contradicted the reports from the Federal News Network, which claimed that the Federal Marine Corps was suffering from severe supply shortages on the front lines, forcing recruits to sleep in farmers' stables and cowsheds.
In a UNN report, a veteran had claimed in an interview that the Federal Marine Corps' accommodations were only slightly inferior to the luxurious villas in Tarsonis. Every recruit, he stated, was assigned a robotic servant, lived a structured life, and only had to complete a mere two hours of training per day—akin to clocking in and out of an ordinary job.
Although Augustus had anticipated some level of exaggeration, he still suspected that his father, Angus, had secretly donated money to the Federal Marines of Turaxis II in exchange for such preferential treatment. However, the Federal Marine Corps system would likely never accept donations from a revolutionary.
Augustus was the last to arrive at the dormitory. He first dropped his backpack and went into the shower room to clean up before preparing to meet his future comrades.
When Augustus stepped out of the shower room, the previously noisy recruit dormitory fell silent. Just as he was feeling satisfied with this reaction, an untimely voice broke the silence: "Look, a beautiful playboy! I bet the villains of Company C will fight over his ass!"
A red-haired recruit, lying on his bed in slippers, shouted loudly and then immediately sat up straight as if to pick a fight.
"But no matter what, when they target you, as a recruit sergeant, I will at least defend your asshole with my life."
Augustus stared at the red-haired recruit's deep blue eyes. Even though it was only the first day of camp, Augustus had already been appointed as the squad leader of this recruit class—a recruit sergeant.
This was actually quite uncommon. Augustus had only learned about it when he received the squad list. Even without much thought, he could guess that this was undoubtedly due to his brother, the commander of the ground assault division. Arcturus Mengsk had likely used some influence to have the training camp officers arrange it in secret.
Of course, Arcturus himself might not even be aware, as there were plenty of people eager to curry favor with this promising general. The highest-ranking officer in the recruit training camp was only a major, while Arcturus was already a colonel. Once the war ended, he could rapidly rise to the rank of general by accumulating military merits.
Augustus had not been made acting corporal because of his looks, but purely because of his connections. Whatever he had thought about this before, he now saw its advantages.
Some troublemakers among the recruits were naturally dissatisfied with someone inexplicably outranking them, but compared to the actual power Augustus held, this was a minor issue.
"Sergeant Mengsk, don't mind him. Hank's way of greeting is just... different, ha~ I believe he's just jealous of your 'golden beauty.'" Before the tension escalated, another recruit with short black hair diffused the situation.
The black-haired recruit had sharp brown eyes and a high nose. Compared to Augustus's fair skin, his complexion was darker and drier, but he still had the youthful vigor of someone his age.
Augustus estimated he was only a year or two older than himself. Judging from the faint smell of motor oil on him, he had probably been an apprentice at a private mechanical repair shop before enlisting.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Jim Raynor, and that idiot is Hank Harnack," Jim said with a friendly smile before pointing to others.
"This is Tom Omer, my elementary school classmate. Several of us are from Shiloh. You may not have heard of it, but I dare say Shiloh is awesome."
"Then, this is Connor Ward, Max Zander..."
...
Augustus's squad is a full squad, with a total of twelve people. In wartime, a reorganized Terran Federation Marine Corps full squad will have three firepower teams of four people, and more elite troops will be equipped with single-person shoulder-mounted rockets and plasma flamethrowers to provide the necessary heavy firepower support as a powerful battlefield fulcrum.
In the period of abundant manpower and medical personnel, the Federation Interstellar Marine Corps Command believed that a standard Federation fire support squad should be equipped with an additional medic or professional medical personnel. However, during the Guild Wars, this situation was quite rare.
"I am Augustus Mengsk, and my hometown is Korhal IV, a garden like a fairyland in a dream." Augustus stretched out his hand and shook Jim's rough hand together.
"Welcome to my home in Korhal."
Unlike Jim Raynor, the commander of the rebels in Augustus' memory, this Raynor is full of youthful vigor and drive, which is why he couldn't recognize him at first.
Raynor's beard and whiskers in the game are neatly trimmed, his forehead is full of knife-like forehead wrinkles, weathered and wrinkled, Jim Raynor at that time was the core of the Rangers.
Most of the time Raynor is always positive, but sometimes he will be depressed and discouraged.
Augustus wrote down the names of everyone in the class and their corresponding appearances and birthplaces.
Four of the 11 people are of Korhal descent, two of whom played cards with Augustus on the Peace Dove transport ship, and the other two are his high school classmates. This should of course be attributed to Augustus's 'good luck'. A prominent family background is undoubtedly crucial for a transmigrant.
"There's no need to go against me. A recruit sergeant is not a dormitory administrator, and I won't use military rules and regulations to restrict your freedom." Then Augustus looked at Hank, who had been looking like a troublemaker.
"I'm Augustus Mengsk. I'm only responsible for leading the second platoon and the first squad to win in all training subjects during the twelve weeks of the boot camp. If necessary, I will lead you to kick the instructor's ass."
Everyone looked at Augustus unconsciously, shocked by his confidence. Obviously, this Mengsk is a person who knows clearly what he wants and what he should do and will put it into practice without hesitation.
Then, under the slightly awed gaze of all the recruits, Augustus skillfully took out a few decks of playing cards from his backpack.
"It's still early, do you want to play cards?"
To everyone's surprise, Hank, who was originally aggressive and ready to fight, completely forgot what he said when he heard this, and immediately jumped up first.
"Great! I like playing cards!"
"..."
The card game lasted until nearly twelve o'clock. Hank, who was penniless and had lost all his clothes, had already lost his third pair of underwear and was holding the last one in his hand tightly. Jim and Augustus each had a pair of lace pants in front of them.
Young people from various main star worlds and colonies in the Federation sat on beds and chairs playing cards. The dormitory of the second row and the first class was full of cheers, boots and Hanak's wailing.
It's not that Augustus and Jim are so good at playing cards, it's just that Hank's cards are always stinky, and he is a real unlucky guy.
Soon, Harnack lost the underwear in his hand, so he untied his belt and prepared to take off the one on his body.
For the first time, Jim showed a look of fear on his face, and Augustus's expression was unprecedentedly solemn. He immediately stood up and tried to stop the red-haired recruit who was taking off his pants.
And at this moment, the seemingly indestructible platinum steel wall behind him suddenly burst open, and a group of human soldiers wearing dark black armor and holding electromagnetic rifles rushed in, raising their guns to point at the confused recruits.
"Huh!" Harnack lifted his underwear in horror, even so, half of his buttocks was still exposed.
"What are you looking at! You perverts!"