Utopia War

Chapter 24 - The Gathering Storm (i)

Ashikaga Shin's body screamed at him to tremble, but he would not allow himself to appear weak.

He looked out at his men. There were almost five hundred of them. Even aligned in rows and resplendent with lacquered armor and steel weapons they looked every bit the peasants they were. It seemed not even the horrors of a losing war was going to be enough to turn them into soldiers.

Where once Shin would have felt frustration at this now he found a twinge of pride.

Shin looked out over the crowd for one long, pregnant moment. The crowd quieted in anticipation. He was sure all the men knew that he had recently received orders. While they may not have been soldiers his unit would have made excellent spies.

There was nothing left to do but to get on with it. Ashikaga Shin was already at peace with his decision.

"Great Sumitomo has issued us our orders. I will be blunt: they are the ramblings of a madman. In vile language I will not repeat to soldiers of the realm he blames his subjects for his strategic ineptitude, for the loss that is his and his alone. He orders not so much a plan of attack as a childish lashing out in anger, an attempt to drag as many of us down into hell with him as he goes. Our orders are suicide in all but name."

A murmur of hushed conversation fell upon the crowd. This was not what they had been expecting to hear.

"These are dishonorable orders issued by a dishonorable man. I choose to be executed rather than ask you to carry them out. Great Sumitomo is broken. Do not throw your lives away fighting for nothing. Return to your homes and families. Those are my orders. I command you thus with all the authority of my position. Go now. Don't waste even a moment!"

The general sense of confusion bubbling in the crowd suddenly came to a boil. A few men peeled away from formation, followed by a stampede. The camp was thrown into chaos as the soldiers began preparations to desert en mass.

Shin returned to his tent to calmly await his just punishment. Great Sumitomo should be able to cling to power just long enough to have him executed. Shin preferred it that way. He had spent a lot of time thinking about it and this was the only outcome where he retained his honor intact.

Shin sat at his desk, took pen and ink, and began to write letters to his friends and relatives informing them of his death. For the first time in his life he was glad he never married.

"Hello!" said a strange woman's voice.

Shin turned around. Somehow an immodestly dressed woman had snuck into his tent.

"Who are you?" Shin demanded.

"My name is Sparkle. I'm a dog," said the woman.

Her accent was tinny and unnatural. Shin couldn't begin to place where she was from. It was all most unusual.

"I cannot believe that," said Shin.

"Humor me," said the woman called Sparkle "We don't have a lot of time. I'm going to ask you a question and it will sound absolutely crazy-"

Shin was willing to believe that part at least.

"-but I need you to answer me honestly. Consider it a- um," she snapped her fingers "Right. Hypothetical."

"Very well," said Shin, for he could think of nothing else.

"I'd like to talk to you somewhere a little less stressful. Do I have your permission to displace all the space around you into a flying ship in the sky? There's a... very small chance there will be a critical error and you'll be sent off course, probably into the sun."