Yesterday, I received a review for user "Spiritual-Sister" which I cannot address through PM. I will just say it aloud here: Proselytizing is not appreciated in reviews to my story. If you really want to win me to Jesus, just PM me and try to persuade me to stake my eternal soul on Christianity. That will be far more effective than reviewing my story and not having PM enabled.

To clarify: I identify as agnostic rather than atheist, but God's not going to help me get the next chapter out. It's MY effort, and I'm taking credit for it.

Ah...the much-anticipated battle of Macbeth! Yes, that will be contained within this chapter. I will also be including various references to the play by Shakespeare, much like were included in the game. Okay, the game didn't have too much. But, still, those who have read/watched the play, I hope that you appreciate it.

If parts where they are dancing to "Sugar, We're Goin' Down" look a little choppy, there is a reason. The lyrics were originally there, but I removed them. I don't want this story deleted any more than you guys. In fact, I want it LESS than you guys. Fanfiction is my life.

And yeah, I really did enjoy putting in all of those Shakespeare references.

LUCAS'S POV

Two days later, the Great Fox came within range of Macbeth. After putting the landing gear down, we got off and appraised the new landscape.

The whole time, I was thinking about the play by William Shakespeare, a great tragedy indeed. It didn't seem like a very auspicious name for a place where we were going to have what was arguably the most important mission other than Venom. The Venomian weapons factory was located on this planet.

The play Macbeth is about a military general of the same name, who is given a prophecy by a trio of witches that he is going to become the king of Scotland. Determined to make it come true, he kills the sitting King Duncan and takes the throne. However, he soon finds himself forced to commit more and more murders in order to defend himself from suspicion.

Eventually, this strategy backfires, as people realize that he is a dangerous person to be around. He kills the family of Macduff, another nobleman, which causes Macduff to lead an army against him. Macbeth is told that not until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane, his estate, he cannot be harmed, and he can't be killed by any man born of a woman. This reassures him, but when the army advances each soldier takes the bough of a tree and carries it up to the battle. Not only that, but Macduff tells Macbeth that he was born via Caesarean section, so he was not "born of a woman" in the technical sense. As a result of this, the witches' prophecies come true, and he is slain.

Based on that, I figured that I had reason not to be optimistic about what was going to be going on on this planet. I just didn't think things could go right.

The Great Fox touched down in the middle of a village called Cawdor. It was basically just tents that had been set up by members of the Lylatian army, trying to find a way to get into the weapons factory and have a shot at taking the planet back from the Anglars.

So far, however, none of this had come to any fruition at all. To make matters worse, with every day that went by, the Venomians were shoring up their defenses even more, in order to ensure that this was going to be impossible.

No. I couldn't think like that. I could never think of taking Macbeth as impossible, because if that was the case, we could never win this war. But it was a tall order, given that the enemy base, known as Dunsinane, was fifty miles from Cawdor.

Fifty. Miles. Just put that in perspective.

It might not seem too long when you're thinking of something like the distance between planets in the Lylat System, but that's when you are thinking of traveling in the Great Fox. Here, we just had the Landmaster and some Arwings. While the latter could move pretty fast, it was inadvisable to do so this close to the ground. That was just a fact of life when you were trying to do something on Macbeth.

The general environment in Cawdor was miserable. Like I said, it was made up of communities of tents propped up with pillars made of rock mined from the nearby mountains. Even though there were plenty of mines near Cawdor, they didn't produce nearly as much as tunnels like Birnamwood and Dunsinane did.

Cole and I were staying in a tent with Willow and Dr. Howler, while Falco, Ian, Konstantin, and Jack got another. We were allowed to share the canned food that the people of Cawdor ate, and we all ate breakfast together outdoors, the radiation being pretty manageable.

As soon as I saw my bed, however, I knew that I was not going to enjoy my stay in this village no matter how hard I might try. For one, it was just a small mattress on the floor, much like at a hotel when there's one more person than the number of beds in your room. Plus, I knew that I was not going to have very many private moments with Willow here, just because of the whole fact that Cole and Dr. Howler were present. While Cole might have respected our privacy, the Bengal tiger would want to make sure that we were not...doing something else with each other. Yeah, that's the mildest way I could think of to put it.

In short, no, this wasn't the best place to have personal discussions about our relationship. Not when we were living in such close quarters.

Of course, not everything about being on Macbeth was bad. Even though the air was dusty sometimes, it was still a lot fresher than that on the Great Fox, or even the underground base on Fichina. Every day, we would eat breakfast on a picnic blanket, so even though it was cereal and canned pineapple, it felt a lot more fulfilling than it was. In addition, we got to trade stories with the other people in the village, but I tended to be evasive in general. I'd only state my name, Lucas Enfield, and talk a little bit about my own interests. Who knew if maybe they were Venomian spies in disguise?

In addition, the mountain air was a cool, crisp temperature at this time of year, and the wind often caused my jacket to billow around me like a cloak. It really added quite a cool effect.

The first evening we were there, Falco and Jack went over the map of Macbeth with us.

Dunsinane, the enemy base, lay fifty miles down the train tracks, way beyond the reach of the Landmaster. It would take it a good hour and a half to reach it, but that might be our best option.

"There are eight switches around here on the map" Falco said, tracing his finger along a specific part of the tracks that was probably about twenty miles away from Cawdor. "If we hit all of them, the train is going to crash right into a base filled with explosives. If not, it's still 30 miles to Dunsinane, but we can defeat it along the way. We kind of have to, in order to win this war.

"The most dangerous part of the path is Birnamwood Tunnel. There will be a lot of things there that are made to trip us up, for certain. Beams jutted out of the walls the last time the Star Fox team tackled Macbeth, and we have no reason to think that it will be any different this time".

Of course, Falco was able to say this for certain because he had been a part of the second Star Fox team eleven years ago. That one had consisted of him, Fox McCloud, Slippy Toad, and Peppy Hare, who was also a member of the team betrayed by Pigma Dengar.

As a result of this, my dreams on the first night in Macbeth were filled with images of James McCloud getting betrayed by Pigma and dying in a massive explosion on Venom. I woke up in a cold sweat, which the dry air quickly whisked off of my body. It wasn't as bad as Titania, but it wasn't that pleasant. In addition, it got very cold at night, which brought back not-so-pleasant memories of being trapped underneath ice with Fox McCloud.

Over breakfast the next morning, we had quite a few more conversations about matters related to taking the base.

"I think we should go through Birnamwood Tunnel" Cole said. "That's the quickest route".

Cole had been judged healthy enough to take part in battles once again by Dr. Howler, so his life had a stake in this. He wasn't simply making this decision on behalf of us.

"Birnamwood Tunnel is pretty direct, but it's also narrow" Ian said. "The Landmaster might not fit in there with the train, and there's the minor matter of how long it's going to take".

"We have plenty of time, Ian" Dr. Howler said. "As much time as we need, provided that Corneria doesn't get overrun by the Anglars during that time, which doesn't seem to have happened. I think things are going to be just fine".

And so the conversation went on and on. The strategy discussion seemed never-ending, until Willow finally brought up the idea of her and me going out to see how we could sneak into Birnamwood Tunnel. We were going to fly the Arwings down the train tracks, just to see if we could figure out a way in.

"That sounds all right" Falco said. "Just make sure that you guys stay safe, because I'd rather not have one of you die before the real fun begins. And believe me, the battle is going to be fun, I'd hate for you to miss out on it".

"All right" I said. "We will".

And so, around two that afternoon, Willow and I got into our Arwings and began flying along the train tracks. It had been some time since I'd gotten to be alone with her, so I welcomed it. It wasn't just that, but flying in itself was such an exhilarating feeling that I wanted more of it. I really did.

"How are you liking Macbeth, Willow?" I asked her as we flew over one of the many small hills on the planet.

"It's all right, Lucas. It really brings out the blue in your eyes".

"Oh, shut up" I said, trying not to laugh.

"It's true, though. All of this brown and grey...you know, this place is really nice. The air is so fresh, even though Venom has their weapons factory here.

"It's like Swanville, Lucas. It's like...home".

It was hard for me to control the Arwing after that, I felt such emotion come from Willow's voice. We hadn't talked about our former hometown that much. After all, it had been nearly three months since we had seen it, and our little trip to Cartagena, while it had given us some hope in the possibility of one day returning home, hadn't really been enough to figure out how we were going to get there.

"You know...there's a portal back to Maine above Corneria" I said, remembering the ride we had taken in order to get into this alternate dimension. "Maybe, after this war is over...we can find a time to get back to Swanville...".

As soon as I said it, I regretted it. I didn't really want to face my parents again. Even if them selling me to the Grey Clouds Flight Academy had been necessary for the Cornerians to win their war against the Anglar forces, I was still resentful about that. Perhaps I would be for the rest of my life. Whether that was for another eighty years or another eight hours, I didn't know.

"You know, I'm not sure that's such a good idea..." Willow said, trailing off.

"What? Why not?"

"Never mind" she said, sounding rather crestfallen.

"No, I want to know. I'm your boyfriend, I think I have the right to know".

Willow said, "You know, I'm not the biggest fan of my stepfather. He's not abusive or anything, he's just not my favorite person. And my mother...she sold me to the GCFA. I' not eager to go home".

"Our home right now is the Great Fox. Or maybe Corneria" I said.

"Not Fichina?" she said, chuckling good-naturedly.

"No, not Fichina" I said, remembering Wolf shooting me in the leg and slicing my arm to ribbons. I wasn't eager to repeat the experience.

Before Willow could respond, there was the sound of cannons coming from far away. It sounded like it was a ways to the left of us.

"What was that?" I asked.

"I don't know, but let's get out of here!" Willow practically shrieked.

We quickly turned around and headed out of the mountains. We'd only made it five miles or so down the tracks, but even though Dunsinane was still 45 miles away, there were enemy cannons this close to Cawdor. Was the makeshift village even safe where it was?

"Use the boost, Willow!" I said.

"When did you become so demanding?" she asked indignantly.

There was no time for any of that, though. We quickly reached a flowery field, at which we got out of our ships and made sure that we were safe from the cannons here. After all, we were probably seven miles or so from the village of Cawdor.

We looked at each other a little awkwardly, just like it would be normal for after a minor argument like the one we had just had. Willow pulled out her iPhone.

"Are we seriously going to..." I began to ask.

"Yep" Willow said.

Willow went to her Fall Out Boy playlist and selected the song that she wanted to play. Then, she took my hands in hers and allowed the song to begin.

I knew this song. It's called "Sugar, We're Going Down", and it's considered one of the band's best songs. It's a nice, catchy summer rock anthem...about unrequited love and a stalkermance. In keeping with the theme of happy-sounding songs that aren't actually happy, Willow chose this one.

I picked some flowers and poured them over her head like she was in a shower. In response, she did the same to me. Soon, we were rolling on the ground, laughing, spreading dandelion feathers all over the place. And the song was only half over, too.

If one of the Anglars was flying over this part of Macbeth at this very moment, I wondered what they would think when they saw this.

This was one of the best parts of the song, in my opinion. I could tell that Willow was having a great time dancing to it. I knew I was, even though it's not a happy song in the least.

After this, the chorus just repeated on and on as we continued to dance.

"You know, that was fun" I said, beginning to walk back towards my Arwing.

"Are we leaving already? I want to spend more time here!" Willow said. To me, it sounded rather like a child who doesn't want to take a bath.

"Look. The others are going to be worried, because we were gone so long, and they might have even heard the cannons, because those things were loud. I really do think that we should head back".

Willow relented, and we both got in our Arwings and flew back to the village of Cawdor.

JACK'S POV

"I've found the way!" I said triumphantly.

It had been two days since Lucas and Willow had flown their Arwings along the tracks, looking for a way in, and gotten shot at by the cannons. Since then, we hadn't made much progress. Things had been getting more and more bleak. Right now, Corneria might be getting overrun by the Venomian forces. It was entirely possible.

I didn't want to let that happen, so I had been scrutinizing that map from the moment I woke to the moment I slept. In addition, I'd become an expert at barrel rolls and other evasive maneuvers. I had to, because of the fact that there were plenty of cannons there to shoot me out of the sky.

In the time that I had been looking over the map on the morning of March 8, over a breakfast of canned peaches, I'd found a weakness in Dunsinane. It was right on the way there, and so we were going to go after it with everything we had.

"Sounds dangerous" Ian said, as if he was being skeptical of my expertise.

"I know what I'm doing, I've done things like this before" I said to him, trying to assuage his fears. To be honest, however, I was a little nervous myself. This was going to be the most pivotal moment in the war thus far. I knew that we'd already taken Titania, Bolse, Zoness, and Sector Z, so losing Macbeth wouldn't be too big of a problem for us. But the other side already held Macbeth, so we could turn their own weaponry against them.

So, no pressure.

The real risk was that we would get killed by the Forever Train, the name that was given to the train that travelled from Cawdor and through Birnamwood Tunnel to Dunsinane. It had the ability to detach the cars in the back, which would allow the train to move faster. It could also release boulders, which we had all gone over.

I walked them through the route we would take, while showing them all of the places where we might get tripped up. Then, we went over the basic plans of the mission to take Dunsinane. This was the strategy:

Lucas and Dr. Howler were going to stay behind. We needed medical support just in case, and Lucas just didn't seem like the right person for this mission. His legs would not fit comfortably into the Landmaster, even though he was 6'2" to my 6'5". They might end up coming in one of the spare Arwings if there was any trouble on the way to Dunsinane, but they were staying in Cawdor for now.

Willow, Cole, and myself would be piloting the Landmaster, with Cole manning the cannons, myself steering, and Willow peering out to give us directions. I figured that this way, things would be easier to accomplish, because I truly felt that each person was the best at their respective job we'd assigned them. Ian, Falco, and Konstantin were going to give us air support in the Arwings, flying alongside us on the path to Dunsinane.

That was our current plan. Of course, plans could change, but this was what we were going to do for now.

The following morning, we set out in our respective vehicles. We all made sure that we were all doing okay, and then we almost immediately came across an immovable stone gate. Those in Arwings could fly over it easily, and the Landmaster could hover, but not high enough to get over the gate.

"Let me help you with that!" Konstantin said from above us. I saw lasers come from his ship, and the gate was destroyed. Now, we could pass through.

"Thanks, Konstantin!" Cole said. The Texan had just been a very big help to us, eliminating one of our biggest obstacles to making it to Dunsinane.

"No problem! It's only about ten miles until Birnamwood Tunnel, and then another ten to the switches. Good luck, guys".

We continued on the path for another several miles, Willow helping us navigate the whole time. I knew that this wasn't going to be a cakewalk, though. Sooner or later, we would have to face enemies.

After what I estimated was five miles or so, a voice with what sounded like a Southern accent said, "Here come the little hyenas, now!"

My heart started pounding. The Forever Train had appeared.

There were quite a few cars on the freight train, and each of them no doubt contained many boulders that could be used to trip us up. We had to tread carefully around this thing. It was trundling along the tracks like it was from the 1800s, so I wasn't too concerned about keeping up with it, if we could just hover over all of the rocks.

"Let's shoot down those freight cars, guys!" Falco said. Apparently, he'd done this before, so I didn't question him. I ordered Cole to start shooting, which, when coupled with lasers from Falco and Konstantin, made it very easy to destroy the first boxcar. It took almost no effort at all.

But then, we came across a causeway that went over a small canyon. The train could only go over the causeway, while we could choose whether to take the high road or the low road.

"I say we go low" Willow said. "I don't think we can fit there with the train; it's pretty narrow".

"I agree" said Cole.

Even if I had wanted to stay next to the tracks, I was outvoted. I could have used my veto power as the leader, but there really wasn't time to do so, so we just went into the canyon.

"Take this!" said the conductor of the Forever Train. He was the one who had the Southern accent that I spoke of earlier.

Immediately, the door of the boxcar opened and dropped about a dozen boulders that rolled down the hill towards us.

"Hover!" Cole said desperately.

I did so, and we were barely able to avoid getting the Landmaster destroyed or severely damaged. We didn't have to do a barrel roll, though.

"There's a tunnel up ahead! Is that Birnamwood?" Willow asked.

I looked out the window and, just like Willow had said, there was a tunnel coming up. When I looked at it, I saw that it was just barely wide enough for the train, which meant that it could fit the Landmaster slightly comfortably, but not with too much wiggle room.

"Okay!" Cole said. "Hover over all of those things that jut out from the wall!"

I once again hovered above the obstacles as we continued through Birnamwood Tunnel, always maintaining a distance of about ten meters behind the train. I knew that if we got too close to it, the Landmaster could take a lot of damage. Therefore, it was best to stay safe.

IAN'S POV

Birnamwood Tunnel went on for what must have been at least twenty minutes. It was rather boring, waiting on top of the tunnel for those in the Landmaster to reach the other end, but that was our only option. We didn't have to be seeing where they were going to have a general idea. The tunnel was not soundproof.

Far more important was it to see each other when we had gotten to the other end of the tunnel. There, we had to shoot down the eight switches, as well as the ninth switch that appeared after shooting the first eight. In the game, this is how you get to Area 6 from Macbeth, instead of simply shooting the boss to death.

"All right!" Jack said from below us. "We're through the tunnel. Why don't you guys help shoot down the switches? Cole tells me that's the best way to get them to crash into Dunsinane".

"Will do, Jack!" Konstantin said. Falco, him, and myself were now orienting ourselves based on the positions of the 8 switches. If we were too careless with this, and missed a switch or two, we would still be able to get the train to reach Dunsinane, but it would take another thirty miles, not time that we wanted to waste if we could help it.

I managed to shoot the first switch, with Falco taking the second. Switches one and two were the easiest ones to get. Switches 3 and 4 were on opposite sides of the track and, to make matters worse, Switch 4 was elevated on top of a cinderblock cube. This made it a lot easier to get from the air.

"Shoot three, I'll take four, Konstantin!" Falco barked at the Texan.

Both of them managed to succeed in getting the switches, but then came the voice of the conductor.

"I didn't expect to have to use this!" he said in his Southern accent.

And then he deployed the robot, which is called Mechbeth. We still had four switches to go, but our task would be made that much more difficult by the fact that we now had this thing to avoid. You could just shoot it down, but it would distract you from hitting the switches.

Switches 5 and 6 went just fine, but the real snag hit when we reached the last two switches. Konstantin, charged with Switch 7, missed it by an inch.

"Fuck!" he yelled. I could have said the same thing, but I wanted to seem like the better person in this scenario. I didn't want Falco mad with me as well.

The train began to slow down, but it didn't matter too much. As we passed the ninth switch, we saw that we were now going to continue on the slower road to Dunsinane. We had to survive all the way there.

I was pretty mad at Konstantin. It would have been so easy for him to just shoot the switch, and yet he had missed it! Now, we had to do this the more difficult way, which might kill us. It took the fact that I would probably get in deep trouble for it that I didn't try to shoot down Konstantin's ship.

"It's okay, Konstantin" Falco said. "We're still going to be able to get the train to Dunsinane, and we can defeat it there. And then we'll take the base".

It was hard for me to be as optimistic as Falco, however. There were still 30 more miles to go until we reached the enemy base. That wasn't going to be easy.

WILLOW'S POV

For the next hour, or what felt like it, we continued driving across the dry, rocky ground. Macbeth was a series of mining villages and mountains, which seemed to go on forever. This might have had something to do with the fact that Macbeth was one of the largest planets in the Lylat System, or it might have had to do with this battle. Either way, we still had to get to Dunsinane and take down the train, then take the base from the Anglars.

Then, and only then, would we be able to win this war.

"We're getting close to the base! Only about a mile and a half!" Jack said.

I saw that, ahead of us, the train had grinded to a speed of about five miles an hour. I could run faster than that, so maybe...

I didn't know what I was thinking (in fact, I still don't), but I asked Jack, "Can I get out and run, and kill the conductor?"

It was a crazy idea, and I was expecting Jack to cut me off for being crazy, or yell at me until I had a seizure.

What I was not expecting was for him to smile and say "Go for it".

Two minutes later, I had clambered out of the Landmaster and was now sprinting to catch the train, which was now moving at what might have been seven miles an hour. However, I was a pretty decent sprinter, and so I had soon caught up with it.

The conductor shouted, "Shucks! She's caught up!"

The boxcars opened again, dropping more boulders, but I was already clambering inside. I was determined to get to this guy. At the same time, however, it wasn't like I did not have even the slightest bit of reservations.

I'd been okay with killing aliens thus far. However, the conductor of the Forever Train was, as far as I could tell, another human being. It was hard for me to get myself in the mood for killing, to say the least.

But then I remembered Lucas lying in that hospital bed on Fichina, hooked up to all of those machines...and I knew that this person might have been at least partly responsible for it. I couldn't let him get away with that.

I pulled myself into the boxcar through the window and sat down on the dusty floor, trying to catch my breath, which wasn't that easy in this environment.

Breathe, Willow, in and out...

I got to my feet and looked at the door to the next car. Even at this slow speed, it was going to be a dangerous crossing. I would need to make a four-foot leap from one car to another or else get crushed by the wheels against the hard, rocky ground.

Holding onto the wall of the car for support, I staggered to the front before making a leap of faith.

I landed in the next car, but the celebration was short-lived. I realized that I still had to make four more of these leaps of faith before I reached the conductor. It was going to be risky, for sure.

Even so, I managed to get through the next gap. And the next. And the next.

Soon, I was in the car immediately before the first one. Once I got in there, I could fight the Forever Train conductor. I pulled out my blaster, fully ready to do it.

I made the last jump and walked to the front of the car. The conductor, a red-colored ape with a little white fur behind the ears, didn't seem to notice me.

In hindsight, I should have just killed him instantly. But they always say, hindsight's 20/20. And I wanted to make this guy suffer. So I pistol-whipped him with my blaster.

"What d'ya think you're doing, huh?" the conductor snarled, turning to face me.

He pulled out his own blaster, and soon we were climbing to the top of the train. I really don't know why we didn't just duke it out in the car, but this was just what was going on.

We both pulled ourselves onto the car, although I was much stronger than the elderly-looking monkey. I immediately began swinging my blaster at his head, trying to knock him off, but he was more nimble than he looked for his age. The Forever Train engineer was really putting up a fight.

I managed to shoot a hole in his jacket with the lasers from the blaster, but he didn't shoot me back. Clearly, he wanted to do this the old-fashioned way, like in some old Western movie. I didn't know exactly where in his head that made sense in the slightest, but I was okay with that. He might have been strong, but I felt that I was stronger.

"Go easy on me!" the conductor wailed. "I'm an old man!"

"Well, you worked for Andross in the first war...and now you're supporting the Anglars...give me three good reasons why I shouldn't shoot you".

In his Alabaman accent, the conductor said, "That's reversing the burden of proof! You can't just ask me to-".

"Yes, I can" I said.

Before the Forever Train conductor could say anything else, I shot him in the chest. As a result, he tumbled down off of the boxcar, a fall of a good fifteen feet. That was a fall that was survivable...if you hadn't just been shot in the chest with a laser. There was little question in my mind that I had just killed him.

Despite what you might think, I didn't feel too much right then. I just knew that I had to keep hanging on if I wanted to survive. I didn't want to experience the same fall that the conductor did. The train sped up a little as it approached Dunsinane, so that was a real worry.

Of course, Murphy's Law dictated that there had to be a tunnel with a low clearance for the train.

Meaning that I was pushed off by the stone wall and landed flat on my back, knocking the wind out of me.

I lay them for a second, but then I stood up and caught my breath. I didn't seem to have any major injuries. Nothing was broken or anything like that.

A little behind me, Falco got out of his Arwing. "Are you okay, Willow?"

"Yes" I said, not fully convinced of it.

"Did you get him?" Jack asked, his very tall frame climbing out of the tank.

"Yeah, he fell back there. Off the top of the train. As a result of me shooting him. He's dead".

"Nice job, Willow!" Ian said, offering a hand for me to high-five. I did so.

"This is no time to celebrate" Falco said. "We need to defeat everyone inside the fortress so that we can retake Dunsinane. It's six of us against several dozen of them, most likely. Those aren't the best odds, but there's nothing we can do about it".

The train went down a short tunnel, and then we had reached the interior of the fortress of Dunsinane. It really didn't look like much, just the remnants of an old mine that had long since been abandones. Really, I don't know why the Venomian army was still using it at all.

The core of the base was in the middle, a pillar of light with the Anglar insignia on it. If that area was captured, the entire base would go to the side that had captured it. This was the way the technology worked, which helped to support Clarke's Third Law.

"Are you ready, guys?" Falco asked.

"Ready!"

Sure enough, what must have been fifty or so Anglars came rushing out of the various hallways that were attached to the central atrium that we were in at the moment. We immediately started shooting into the crowd.

Soon, however, it became clear that they were fleeing, not fighting. This meant that they didn't even have their blasters with them. This meant that it was a cakewalk.

"That was quite something, Falco!" Konstantin said, chuckling.

"I know" the avian said. "Come, let's take the middle. We've done it, guys. We've got Macbeth".

Back in the village of Cawdor, we talked over dinner about how our mission had gone. We'd retaken the planet, but we were staying here for dinner before we would leave in the Great Fox that evening. It was going to be amazing just to sleep in my own bed again, I thought.

"So, you guys got Macbeth?" Lucas asked through a mouthful of soup.

"Yeah" Jack said. "It's going to be a cakewalk from here on out. Well, maybe not a cakewalk. But still, I think that we are definitely more likely to win than they are".

Cole nodded. He might still have been in awe with me for having killed the conductor.

Now that I thought about it, Albus Dumbledore had been right: Killing was not as easy as many people who had not done it before believed. Even though there was little question in my mind that I had done the right thing, I knew that it was going to haunt me for a long time: Could I have done something different, other than shooting him?

For now, though, I tried to concentrate on what was really important, which was the war.

Tomorrow, March 10, we would reach the space sector known as Area 6. There, we were going to fight our way through everything that the Anglar army had to offer. It was going to be dangerous, no question about it.

Then, Venom.

I apologize if this chapter seemed a little bare-bones. Really, I was finishing it at 8 PM, at which point I'm getting kind of tired (I often wake up at six or earlier). Plus, I feel that the battle for Macbeth might have been a little anticlimactic, but I really figure that the aliens would probably just flee or something. Even so, it DID hit well over six thousand words even BEFORE the question. I don't think it could be considered too bad then.