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SCL Chapter 79: The War Has Already Begun
🕑 Added 2025-05-21 20:52:04 +0000 UTCOn Christmas Eve, Augustus wasn’t spending time with his family. Instead, he hastily convened key members and officers of the Revolutionary Army. Each Confederate city, Free Trade City, Industrial City, and orbital Starport Ring had dispatched two to three representatives. The meeting was held in the warehouse of a holographic screen factory owned by the Mengsk Group.
Though this massive organization already numbered over a hundred thousand members scattered across cities all over Korhal IV, they still relied on clandestine underground networks to evade police and intelligence agents. It was less a military force and more a collective of underground revolutionaries, bound by passion, belief, and an unrelenting thirst for freedom.
The Korhal Revolutionary Army was a relatively loose-knit movement. Each city's cell was overseen by a Revolutionary Committee, and each committee member was responsible for coordinating several urban districts, factories, or rural communities.
At the very top of the Revolutionary Army was a figure known as the 'Supreme Marshal', 'First Leader', or 'Pioneer'. But no one knew his true name—he was little more than a symbolic enigma.
Angus Mengsk was the founder of this movement, but he was not the Marshal. That title was originally meant for his eldest son, Arcturus Mengsk—but the latter was currently preoccupied with mining operations.
On the afternoon of December 23rd, Augustus stood inside the dimly lit factory warehouse—its windows coated in a special black finish to block any view from outside—addressing nearly 130 Revolutionary Army members. Some had organized the demonstrations in Styrling; others worked in recruitment and propaganda. The rest were the so-called initiators of 'terrorist attacks'. Most of their operational funding came from the Mengsk family.
Under the blue factory lighting, Augustus stood before them in a long-sleeved black square-collared coat.
The gathered revolutionaries were dressed in all manner of clothing—industrial uniforms, business suits, casual wear, even high school uniforms and bar server outfits. They whispered among themselves, curious about Augustus’s identity. His codename was 'Lieutenant'—which didn’t sound like much. But within the Revolutionary Army, ranks weren’t assigned by role—they were honorifics, reserved exclusively for key figures.
Many suspected he was the 'First Leader', or even the 'Marshal' himself—after all, only someone with that level of authority could summon so many senior revolutionaries here.
Some recognized him as the second son of Angus Mengsk, the leader of the Korhal Independence Movement, and were astonished to see him in person. Before Augustus joined the military, the Mengsk children had always remained low-profile. Few outside ever managed to get a glimpse of their photos.
But after Augustus gained fame as a war hero and commander of Heaven’s Devils, his reputation had grown rapidly across Korhal IV.
This ran counter to the expectations of the Federal government and UNN, both of whom had believed that such fame would, if anything, diminish Angus’s revolutionary credibility.
Most Korhalans held nothing but contempt for the so-called war heroes endorsed by the Terran Confederacy. But Augustus Mengsk was the exception. And that was solely because of his surname—and those iconic cold grey eyes and silver hair.
Statues of the first-generation Mengsk still stood across many parts of Korhal IV, adorned with fresh flowers on his birthday each year. The 'Wolf of Styrling' was revered as a symbol of the Korhalan spirit—unyielding and defiant in the face of tyranny. The people believed the Mengsk bloodline had inherited the wolf’s traits. Every generation of Mengsk, they said, was born to lead the pack.
“I am Augustus Mengsk,” he declared, “Supreme Leader of the Korhal Revolutionary Army.”
“I’ve gathered you here for one reason—to learn what’s going on.”
Augustus looked into the eyes of all those staring back at him. “But before that… I have an announcement to make.”
It was their first time meeting him in person—but in that moment, no one uttered a word. The gravity of Augustus’s expression and the power in his voice commanded silence. They all stared at his youthful, yet commanding face, hanging on to every word he was about to say.
"Those impassioned speeches—those cries for revolution and freedom, for liberty and independence—my father, Angus Mengsk, has already delivered more than enough of them," he said.
"I only have one thing to say."
"The war has already begun!"
"In the past, you wore many identities—sons, fathers, husbands. But now, I will call you one thing only: soldiers of the revolution. My soldiers!"
"For Korhal!"
Almost in unison, all the revolutionaries raised their fists in salute, honoring Augustus.
"For the New Order!" Augustus raised his right fist high.
"Korhal above all!"
The response came in perfect harmony, loud and thunderous.
"Korhal above all!"
Everyone present understood that this was not just another meeting—it was a full mobilization for war. The Korhal Revolutionary Army was about to become a real army.
The relatively cramped hardware supply warehouse was packed with passionate young men, full of zeal. Their ages ranged from sixteen to forty, and they came from all walks of life. There were both the downtrodden and the accomplished—sewer cleaners and factory managers, failed art students and alleged lunatics. They were a reflection of society in all its chaotic and colorful forms.
Augustus gestured for silence, then began questioning the attendees.
"Corporal Newson, how many men can be mobilized in the southern Confederate city of New Trent?" Augustus asked.
"Two thousand," came the reply.
"If I give you three months, can you raise that number to twenty thousand?"
"I will rally every willing soul I can find. And if I fail… then let my blood be spilled on Korhal’s soil."
Augustus went on to ask each representative about their local revolutionary strength and the public’s revolutionary sentiment. Then he spoke: "Time is running out, comrades. Soldiers."
"We must gather like-minded allies as quickly as possible and form a standing army—no less than ten fully organized infantry divisions, which will combine into two field armies. Remember: this must be a professional military, not a hastily assembled peasant revolt. The army will fall under the direct command of the Revolutionary Military Headquarters and follow centralized orders."
"The Korhal Revolutionary Army must be bound by strict discipline. Sergeants will maintain order; officers will carry out the directives of the high command. We will need a recruitment office, a logistics department, a human resources division, a medical corps, and an oversight bureau."
"We will also build a fleet from scratch—train proper naval personnel. If we lack battleships or battlecruisers, we’ll retrofit merchant vessels into assault ships, cargo ships into gunboats, and giant transport ships into frigates."
"The new government will allocate funding to construct a synchronous orbital platform and convert two satellites into fortresses. That means we’ll also need a rapid response force capable of operating in space."
...
December 24th — just one day before Christmas — Augustus was still working inside the temporary headquarters of the Korhal Revolutionary Army, set up on the sixty-second floor of the Mengsk Sky Tower.
A once-loose revolutionary group was beginning to take shape as a real army, driven by the succession of orders issued by Augustus. The Revolutionary Army was establishing departments, creating a soldier database, consolidating manpower, and organizing troops into platoons, companies, battalions, regiments, and divisions — all according to their places of birth.
At the moment, Augustus was drafting a document requesting funding from his father to establish the Mengsk Military Academy. This had been his main task over the past few days — asking for people, for money, for everything.
Augustus now wielded significant authority. In essence, he was building a new Korhal Revolutionary Army from the ground up, and the wealth and resources of House Mengsk were steadily tilting in favor of the movement. Angus understood well enough the importance of having a powerful military force in one’s hands — he simply lacked the personnel and men of action capable of executing that vision.
After all, Angus was merely a politician. He had always hoped to secure the people's rights through political means. But he wasn’t ruthless enough. He lacked the necessary resolve.
According to Augustus's estimates, the southern Confederate cities and the northern urban centers could each raise three fully reorganized divisions of 25,000 soldiers. Industrial cities, mining towns, and agricultural and pastoral settlements could assemble even more troops, while the port cities along both coasts of Korhal would be responsible for supplying the future navy with sailors and support crew.
These early forces were made up of true revolutionaries — and they would become the most elite and loyal troops under Augustus’s command.
Augustus had an overwhelming amount of work ahead of him. He had come to realize that his father had severely underestimated both the strength of the Federal military and the ruthless nature of the Tarsonis Federal Assembly. They were up against far more than the decaying Federation garrison on Korhal IV — a force weakened by corruption, lack of training, and prolonged absence from the front lines.
The Federal Fleet might not even bother landing troops to recapture the planet. It was entirely possible they would simply raze it from orbit. Korhal, as the first world to rebel, would be reduced to ash — that was the fate the Confederacy reserved for traitors.
