SWNOVELS Chapter CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
The morning of battle finally came and with it a solemn tone fell over the people of New Edo. Van had woken up early, a true feat for him, eager to begin the attack. He had even risen before Yukimi, who was sleeping in late, at least by her standards, the fear of death affected everyone differently. Dallas tried to pretend he was asleep, in the hopes that they’d forget and leave him behind, but gave up when D00D threatened to dump him into open space.
By the time he met with Yukimi and Van in the cargo bay, they had already put on their body armour and were waiting for him. Dallas suited up. The trio left the Bessie in silence and headed off to the main hangar floor, where the massive army was assembled. As they walked away, Van looked back and smiled; he might not make it back, but at least D00D would be safe. Ever since their talk a couple of weeks earlier, Van and D00D had left a lot unsaid between them. Even though he’d never have admitted it, Van was on the verge of breaking and D00D knew that, so he held his tongue for the sake of his friend.
The trio took a freight elevator down to the city sized hangar floor, where legions of loyal troops waited, in formation, for their leader to speak. The three heroes walked between the rows of murmuring soldiers and up to the raised platform in front of them. They made their way to the foot of the platform and stood, shoulder to shoulder, looking out at the endless sea of faces before them.
As they scanned the crowd, Van found his anxiety was mysteriously absent. He felt as if he was in a dream, like this wasn’t real. He had never been part of a battle before. He’d been in a few fire fights and conducted countless skirmishes in the virtual realm, but this was the first time he’d gone to war. Hell, this was the first time he’d had a reason to go to war. He was about to slaughter his way through a battle field, all for the sake of stopping a bunch of people, he didn’t even know, from destroying the Universe. He began to wonder if the similarities between the games he played and the situation he found himself in was a case of life imitating art or just a testament to how fucked up his life was. He stole his thoughts away from this metaphysical dilemma, as the Daimyo was now climbing the platform.
As he reached the top, a hush began to spread through the army before him. He raised his arms out in front of him and the crowd fell silent. He had changed into his war clothing; his long, white kimono had been replaced with a suit of power army that made the warriors in front of him look underdressed. The swords he had been carrying for the past two weeks were gone, in their place were two huge blades that looked as though they might need to connect to his armour to be wielded. His weird, fishy head remained unguarded, though his reputation made him sound indestructible, Yukimi still couldn’t help but feel like this was an ill-conceived wardrobe choice when going into battle. Several enlarged images blared to life above the army, as they Daimyo readied himself to speak.
“My people,” he began, “today we face the most important battle of our history. But that does not mean that it will be any harder than any other we have fought before. Our enemy desires to control the whole Universe and act without impunity. They believe they are above judgement, that they can hide their crimes and no one will challenge them. Well, we are here to show them that THEY ARE WRONG!”
A deafening cheer sprang up from the crowd, flooding the hangar with the roar of a battle hungry army. Nobunaga raised his arms once more, silencing the warriors.
“We will begin with a bombing raid on the air defences, located on your target maps. While the bombing group is clearing out the canons, the second team will set up a defensive perimeter between Thosis and their sister world ‘Thosisa’. As far as we know, this planet is not equipped for heavy resistance, so interloping vessels should be crippled, not destroyed.
“Once we have taken down the defence grid, ground troops will go in and clear a path to the primary target. That’s when the support squad, these three people stood before me,” he gestured to Van, Yukimi and Dallas, “Will make their way to the primary objective and end this injustice. Any and all troops nearby should provide assistance to this team, if called upon to do so.
“Now, my warriors, ARE YOU READY FOR A WAR?!” The crowd erupted into uproarious cheers, louder than before. The Daimyo didn’t bother to hush them again. He cried out, “LET BATTLE COMMENCE!”
The army broke rank, flooding onto their designated ships, as the engines powered to life. The trio made their way to the rear of the platform, where Nobunaga had just descended. He led them to a small drop ship, which had technicians climbing all over it, performing final checks. As they approached, he turned to them and bowed low to the ground. Without raising his head, he spoke to them; “We will soon be brothers of the battle field. If we do not make it back, please know that I consider it an honour to fight beside you and I shall await you in the next life.”
The trio bowed and returned the compliment. When they stood up, Nobunaga was already halfway across the hangar. They turned to the drop ship and began boarding. Dallas caught the attention of one of the technicians; “Hey,” he said, “did you load up the-“
“The equipment you asked for has already been loaded,” said the technician, bowing to Dallas, “may it serve you with honour.”
“Cool, thanks,” he leaned in towards Van’s ear, “What’s with all this honour stuff, am I right?”
Van simply chuckled and shook his head. They boarded the ship and manned the controls. Yukimi was going to act as Van’s co-pilot, as she was the only one that had seen the terrain before. Dallas took one of the rear seats, manning the weapon systems. This small ship only had a few defensive canons, but the hull was thick and would take multiple hits before it ran the risk of critical damage.
They booted up the engines and awaited their launch order on the HUD. Van looked out at the planet below them, floating in the endless black void of space. If I survive this, I’ll never do another brave thing in my life, he thought to himself. The launch command came through all too soon. Van hit the throttle and they rocketed out into space. It was time to thwart a super villain.
A few light years away, another vessel was coming to Thosis, but its sole passenger wasn’t interested in the battle. No, this person had intercepted Van’s transmission to Mondo and was heading there for one purpose. And, even if he had to die trying, Bill Pickles would kill Atlas Van Morrison.