“Let me just say that this cannon takes time to charge.” Continued the engineer. “The first shot is free, but it's almost half an hour of time for it to recharge.”
Norna looked worried at Sorom, who showed calm.
“If all goes well, you will only need to shoot twice,” he said. “It's good to know that this important part is complete.”
“And I'm going to fly Ringnug, but who's going to fly Rubilacxe?” Asked Norna.
Dice rolled up her sleeves and put her hands around her waist.
“I think I'm the ideal girl for this mission.”
There were no protests and Dice celebrated.
“I know you fly well,” Sorom said, “but be careful, it's your first mission, don't do anything unnecessary.”
The woman agreed and the leader turned to Willys and Dijo.
“How are your parts going?”
The two saluted before answering.
“Dyna42 is sixty percent ready,” warned Willys.
“This is not much,” Sorom said, “we only have nine days.”
“I can do it faster if you want me to blow up the whole base.”
“Continue the good work.” Replied Sorom turning to Dijo.
“There are still things on Simeht's tablet that are encrypted, but I have a good map of the interior of the Air Temple and how its defenses work. By the way, Sorom, I think you should look at this.”
He showed on the tablet the pictures of a woman in gold and black armor with two swords.
“This is Guardian Astra,” explained Dijo, “the best fighter of the Guardians of the Order and how you use a sword I think you should prepare for it.”
“No problem, no,” warned Sorom, “I’ll defeat her.”
“You lost to guardian Kylex and only survived because I saved you.” Norna recalled.
“You also got beat up by guardian Simeht and he doesn't even use a sword.” Said Willys.
“I think if you find her, you'd better run.” Suggested Dijo.
Sorom began to get impatient.
“I fear no guardian and will not flee any battle!”
“I just realized,” Dijo said “Norna has already defeated two guardians, counting the tank, Willys won against the sniper and even Ratz defeated Dunna, but you did not win against any guardians.”
“You are all dismissed!” Said Sorom “Return to your business and leave me alone.”
The group fell apart and Sorom took his sword to train alone.
Before the storm
The next day, he gathered everyone in the hangar to explain the plan.
“In eight days, we will attack the Air Temple and overthrow God!” Began the leader. “I will discuss here step by step of the mission.”
A projector turned on showing Air Temple schematics.
“We will start with an air strike.” Norna explained. “And we expect great defenses. Most of our ships will fly without pilots, with a program made by Dijo, and our troops will be in a transport ship. I'm going to shoot the laser cannon at a specific location on the shell and open a path.
“The cannon must be strong enough to destabilize the temple barriers for a while,” Dijo said. “The air troops will not attempt to attack the Temple, for it would be useless. They will aim only to destroy the ships and defenses they possess.”
“In the meantime, the agents will enter by boom,” followed Willys, “and there they will separate into two teams, each carrying one of my babies. Sorom's team is going after God-Computer while mine and Dijo's are going to mess up their systems. An automatic door closes blocking the way to God, so thick and sturdy that even our super cannon will not work. Then we'll blow up this system to open the door. But this will also cause the Temple to fall.”
The agents seemed frightened by the comment and Sorom reassured them.
“The Temple has an emergency system that will prevent it from crashing into the ground. It will calmly descend and land on the ground.”
“While Willys' group will do this everyone outside should cover Ringnug.” Norna said, “because even with the door open by Willys there will still be a mechanical lock that will need to be destroyed by brute force.”
“During this half hour everyone has to give their best to wind up the enemies, at all ends of the mission.” Added Dijo.
“When the passage to God is open, I will put a Dyna42 and trigger it to destroy him, killing God once and for all.”
The information was absorbed by everyone, who became increasingly tense. Seeing this Norna announced:
“But today will be a day to relax! A party with everything we're entitled to!”
The agents celebrated and made a circle of ships, placing tables with food and drinks and even setting up a campfire in the center. With music for everyone to dance
“This does not seem safe,” Evelin said of the fire.
“Not a problem,” said Dijo gave his hand to the girl. “What do you think of a dance?”
Evelin accepted and joined the party, with many dances and celebration. Sorom watched sitting on Rinlojm's wing next to Norna.
“We are nearing the end.” Norna said.
“Yes. All these years have led us to this moment... Are you ready?” Asked Sorom.
“As ready as possible... What about you?”
Sorom took a deep breath looking at the ceiling.
“It will be good to look at the sky again. And not with a layer of glass and radiation on the way.
“We will succeed.” Norna said.
“I'm sure of it. Failure is not an option, but you should enjoy the party.”
“And you don't?”
“I don't think it will be good for the leader to get drunk and lose control in front of his subordinates. Besides, I need to go to the bathroom.”
He jumped off the ship's wing, moving away from the party going to the bathroom.
When he was washing his hands, he heard the door opening.
“It’s free, you can come,” the leader announced.
When he turned around, he saw a young woman pointing a gun at him.
“Calm down there,” Sorom said worried. “We don't need that gun.”
“Yes, we do,” said the girl with the braid. “That's how you solve your problems, isn't it?”
Sorom had no idea who the girl was and could see that she was very nervous, fearing the
