The Reclamation and the Lioness

by Robert D. Armstrong

  The guards seemed to be in communication with Roman, and they opened the hatch to let us out with no delay. We funneled through the door and ran at full speed toward the Mauler. Xena jumped up on the mounted gun turret and aimed behind us. “Is there a problem, Captain?” she shouted.

  “No! The nomads are about to attack the androids. We have to leave now,” I said, climbing up onto the tank tracks.

  “The engine is running, Captain,” she said as we clambered inside.

  “Everyone in? Strap in and hold on,” I ordered.

  A nomad guard ran up to the side of the vehicle. Leo opened the firing port. “Yeah?” he asked.

  “General Haik is expecting you. We gave him the description of your vehicle, but I wouldn’t assume he will wait, so you’ll have to hurry,” the guard said.

  “Thanks. Is there a faster way down this mountain other than the path? That’ll take forever,” Leo asked.

  The nomad shrugged and shook his head. “We don’t bring vehicles up here for a reason,” he replied.

  “Great,” Leo said.

  “Xena, what’s the fastest route from here?” I asked.

  She paused, looking over the edge of the mountain. “It’s much faster if we don’t take the path and go straight down,” she said.

  Leo chuckled. “Straight down? That’s completely crazy,” he insisted, peeking down the mountain.

  “Navigating all the way down this mountain on a narrow path is already dangerous as it is, and we don’t have much time. If we’re going to ensure they destroy the androids, we need to be a part of the assault,” Luther explained, looking over at me. He put his hand over mine on the steering wheel. “I trust your instinct. Get us down this mountain the best you can,” he said confidently.

  I raised my eyebrows and pressed the backup camera button. The mounted screen on my dash flickered and displayed my rearview. I shifted into reverse and backed up the mountain slowly, aiming the front of the vehicle down the mountain. I shifted into low gear and eased toward the edge.

  “Hold on,” I said, opening my door. I stood up on the tank tracks and assessed my descent. We were at least four hundred meters high and the decline was steep and a mix of rock, ice, and thick snow. I could see the snaking path winding around the mountain. We would be forced to cross over it a few times on the way down. At the bottom were hundreds of trees. “Shit.” I panned left and right, looking for a better route to descend, but there wasn’t one.

  Even though there wasn’t a clear path, there was something inside of me that just understood I would figure it out on the way down. It sounded insane, but I’d always felt a mechanical connection with driving or flying, whether it was jets, sports cars, or jeeps.

  I got back into the vehicle and glanced at the back seats. Everyone but Xena and Luther had their hands braced against the seats in front of them. Their eyes were wide, and they stared at me like a group of kids ready to take the plunge on a roller-coaster—half terrified, half excited.

  “What do you think?” Luther asked.

  “I think we’re going down in a big hurry,” I replied.

  “She can drive anything though, right?” Leo glanced at Luther.

  “Yes,” Luther replied.

  “One way to find out,” I said.

  “Wait, what?” Leo asked. I crept forward, and our view quickly changed from looking at the horizon line to staring down at a massive slope. I felt my stomach knot up as I smiled.

  “Oh-h-h no, this is too high!” Corporal Dinu shouted, getting a good look down the mountain for the first time.

  The Mauler picked up speed as I tested the brakes. There wasn’t much grip. I could hear ice and snow breaking loose beneath us. “Up ahead. What’s that?” Leo asked. I steered us away from a ten-meter crevasse that I didn’t see before and edged along one side of it. I could feel the Mauler tipping as we skated around it. No sooner had we cleared it than we slammed into one of the paths beneath us. The front of the Mauler nosedived and bounced up. For a fraction of a second, we were airborne until we landed on the slope.

  The impact seemed to cause a few people to gasp. “We’re gonna fucking die!” Torres shouted. For a split second, I thought about him vomiting behind me and how gravity might be the recipient of it. Oddly, I was more concerned with that than the two hundred meters of mountain left beneath us.

  Xena rocked back and forth violently but stared forward, unconcerned like it was a Sunday drive through the suburbs.

  We slammed into another path, skidded across it, and plopped back into the mountain. I was beginning to get a feel for it. Responsive steering wasn’t to be expected, but I could aim the nose of the Mauler in a general direction and drift left and right. My main concern was turning the vehicle sideways, which would certainly initiate a rollover.

  The bottom of the mountain was approaching quickly. I scanned for a gap to shoot between the trees. I picked out a spot about twice as wide as the Mauler. It had large pine trees on each side. Before we knew it, we leveled out and the brakes began to have some effect as we sliced past the trees and came to a stop in front of a thicket of saplings.

  The crew grumbled and sighed in relief. They were glad to be alive.

  “You act like that’s a game? We could have died. Easily,” Leo said, staring at me like I was half crazy.

  “Well, look at it this way. With every death-defying maneuver, I’m learning more and more about this bad boy,” I said, patting the dash. “Everyone good?” I asked, glancing behind me.

  Torres flung open the door and vomited—again.

  “Thanks for waiting to do that until when we got to the bottom of the mountain. Much appreciated,” I said, grinning. I glanced out of the small gap in the back glass.

  “Hold on. You hear that?” Neona asked. It sounded like a distant rain approaching. Everyone looked behind us.

  “Fuck.” I searched around me for an exit path as a tidal wave of snow rushed down the mountain.

  “Captain, I think the appropriate phrase is, ‘We’re not out of the woods yet,’” Xena said.

  “That’s just perfect, Xena,” I said, desperately scanning for a way out.

  Luther pointed. “Vic, this way.” There was a small but bumpy path to the right. I backed up and shifted into low gear, then plowed through dozens of saplings. We could hear them snapping and popping beneath us as the Mauler ejected bark and tree limbs all around us.

  Then we hit a patch of snow that bottomed us out. One side of the Mauler dropped into a rut. I shifted into reverse, looking for any degree of movement. “Hurry it up!” Neona said, peeking out of the gun turret hatch. The hole was so deep that I couldn’t see the ground above.

  “Sit back down!” I shouted. The avalanche was over halfway down the mountain.

  For the first time, I floored it, turning the wheel back and forth. I could hear the loud, throaty diesel engine kick in as black smoke wisped into the air. The tank tracks spun as the Mauler glided to the side slowly. “Come on! Grip!” I could hear ice and stones from the avalanche pelting the undercarriage as it approached to within seventy meters.

  “Captain, I estimate we have five and a half seconds before impact. It’s highly likely you and the crew will suffocate after being buried in tons of snow, rock, and—”

  I felt traction as it hooked and rocketed out of the hole, smashing through a medium-sized pine tree that snapped on impact. “Shit!” Splinters of wood and pine cones filled my view. I heard the top portion of the tree trunk smash into the top of the vehicle as we blasted through the forest. I did my best to dodge the larger trees as I glanced at the tsunami of snow rushing behind us. As we navigated through the woods, the roaring snow quickly dissipated.

  “We’re clear!” Neona said. Luther put his arm around me and squeezed me tightly, pressing his mask against the side of my head.

  “I think it’s safe to say we should take the road next time,” Leo muttered, slumping his head as he panted heavily.

  “Vic, let’s keep moving.
We might not have much time,” Luther said.

  “Which way?” I asked. I had a vague idea of where the androids were located, but I was a bit disoriented, considering our mountain adventure.

  Leo pointed to my left. “Head in this direction,” he said.

  AFTER NEARLY TWENTY minutes of rushing through mixed terrain, we pushed up a valley between two small mountains. There was a large missile truck battery tipped over to the left of us. It appeared to have been a remnant from before the android war.

  “Hey, slow down. We should be able to see something from this vantage point,” Leo said. I eased up the thirty-degree incline until it leveled out and overlooked a sprawling tundra vista. Far in the distance was a frozen inlet with dozens of abandon warships. They were mostly smaller frigates and destroyers. We were close to the androids’ base of operation, but our approach was different from the last time I saw here.

  The light snow and white haze made it difficult to see. I put on my helmet and scanned the surroundings. “Ah, there,” I said, pointing to my right. There was a small abandoned building beside a shoreline and dock. A large military truck with an array of solar panels on the roof was parked next to it.

  “Troop transport, five hundred and twenty meters that way,” I said, pointing in the direction of the vehicle. Around it were several brown tents.

  “I can’t make it out. What else do you see?” Leo asked.

  “Three dozen armed soldiers standing around tents. There is a small building next to the frozen waterline and two mortar teams. I can see more troopers inside the structure, but I can’t tell how many there are total,” I said.

  “Approach them slowly with the headlights on. They know we’re coming, but I don’t want to take any chances,” Luther ordered.

  “Understood,” I replied. We descended the ridge and flattened out on a tundra. I aimed the front of the vehicle toward them and flashed my lights. I zoomed in with my helmet optics and noticed several of them looking at us. Dozens came out of the tents and the buildings to have a look.

  In the front of the amassing crowd, I saw a dark-skinned man with broad shoulders who wore a white and orange fur coat. He appeared to be about thirty years old and probably had a Middle Eastern background. As we got closer, I noticed his fur was that of a large Bengal tiger. The tiger’s head sat atop the man’s, the upper jaw overlapped his forehead.

  He was wearing dark face paint under his eyes like an American football player. He held up a pair of binoculars, looking right at us. He pointed behind him as the men took up defensive positions around the building. He didn’t seem excited or threatened, but I gathered he wasn’t taking a chance, either. Some of his men instinctively aimed their rifles at us, but he quickly waved them off and ordered them to lower their weapons.

  “I think I see General Haik,” I said. He continued looking through his binoculars periodically as we slowly approached to within two hundred meters.

  “How many nomads are there?” Luther asked.

  “At least a hundred and fifty,” I replied.

  “That’s not as many as I expected. The androids have more than three times that number. They must have a solid plan in place,” Leo said.

  “Or not,” I replied.

  “Well, let’s hope they learned their lesson from the last assault,” Leo said. It was strange assisting the nomads this time around. Leo and I were responsible for their defeat previously. Fortunately, they had no idea we were involved.

  The leader outstretched his left arm, signaling us to come closer. “See that?” I asked Luther.

  “Yes. Stop about thirty meters from him but aim the front of the vehicle away from them so that we can make a quick escape if needed. Xena, stand by and be ready to use the gun turret just in case,” he said.

  “Roger,” Xena replied.

  “Sire, are you expecting trouble?” Neona asked.

  “I’m not expecting anything,” Luther replied. As we approached their leader, he stepped away from his soldiers. He glanced over his shoulder before doing so. As his fur coat whipped in the wind, I noticed he was armed only with a pistol on his belt. It seemed oversized, even larger than a Desert Eagle sidearm.

  He confidently strolled out to meet us as I turned the profile about twenty-five meters away from him. Luther opened his door and stood up on the tank tracks, shielding most of his body with the armored door.

  Surprisingly, the man continued marching forward, unafraid. He stopped about five meters from the Mauler as he held his stare at Luther.

  “Are you General Haik?” Luther asked.

  “I am,” he replied. His voice was very deep.

  “General, I am the Engineer. The Legion is here to assist you in your assault against the androids,” Luther said.

  Haik cracked a smile. He sized up Mauler, then looked behind. “So you have a vehicle to offer but no army?” he asked.

  Luther paused. “Did you speak to Roman? We have a plan in place to use one of their androids to hack their security system and—”

  “Let me explain something to you, Engineer. I know who you are. We’ve all heard the stories, but the reality is, I lead an army, not Roman and not you. We don’t care about other plans, but if you wish to assist us, I might have a role for this vehicle to fulfill. I’ve already implemented a strategy,” he said.

  Luther paused for a few moments. I gathered he was assessing what type of man we were dealing with. “What strategy?” Luther asked plainly.

  Haik pointed behind him. “Over the last several days, we’ve been sending divers beneath the ice to plant explosive charges throughout the android ship. They probably didn’t consider this or maybe they thought we couldn’t come up with this much firepower,” he said.

  “Your plan is to... blow up the ship?” Luther asked.

  “We have more than enough explosives primed and ready to go. We’ve been collecting munitions for a very long time. I don’t expect all the charges to detonate, but even if half of them do, it’ll be enough. We’re not allowing them to scramble their aircraft, not this time,” Haik said. Leo and I met eyes.

  “General, have you considered the possibility that the androids might have humans onboard?” Luther asked.

  Haik crossed his arms. “We consider anything on that ship that resembles a human to be an abomination. I don’t care how close to us they appear. They’re not. They were created in a lab by machines. We’ve lost enough as it is. They killed our Warden! Not to mention the dozens that died in our last battle. It won’t happen again,” he replied.

  Luther looked away from Haik for a moment. “I can appreciate your frustration, General, but my understanding is that there are clones inside. That means they’re exact copies of human beings. That means they feel pain, just like you and me. Not only that, we’ve discovered these androids have been kidnapping civilians for further testing. They’re on that ship you’ve rigged with explosives as we speak,” Luther said.

  Haik shook his head. “Let me ask you something. The Warden was a friend of yours many years ago. Despite the crimes he committed before his redemption, do you not honor that friendship?” he asked.

  “I do,” Luther replied.

  “Then join our fight to avenge him. This is where they fall!” the general shouted, stabbing his finger at the ground. Luther hopped down from the tank tracks and plopped onto the snow, then slowly stepped toward Haik. The general glanced over his shoulder at his men.

  “Let me ask you something, General. How long have you been in command of the Warden’s army?”

  “Since the day he was killed. As I said, this is my army now,” Haik replied.

  Luther turned away from Haik before turning back around to face him. “So you’ve been in command a few weeks. Listen to me. I’ve been making these sorts of decisions since you were a boy. Your strategy to blow them to hell is short-sighted. Allow us a chance to recover the innocents first,” Luther pleaded.

  Haik didn’t respond. “General, if you don’t care about the innoce
nts, at least consider your command.”

  “It’s not that I don’t care, Engineer, but it’s too much of a risk. The innocent people inside that ship will die as heroes. What do you mean I should consider my command?” he asked.

  “Believe me when I tell you that your soldiers understand what’s at stake here. There’s no going back after you destroy that ship without allowing us to search for innocents first. Your men might not criticize you publicly, but this will be a festering wound for your command. They will view you as irrational. They will undermine you in private first and eventually challenge your authority,” Luther said, crossing his arms.

  “I told you, I’m not allowing them a chance to scramble aircraft again, and how do you know what my men will think of me?” Haik asked.

  Luther stepped close to Haik and stared down at him. “Because I know what I think of you, and I understand soldiers and leaders,” Luther replied.

  Haik looked away from Luther. He seemed to be deep in thought as he scanned his surroundings. He nodded slowly and looked up at Luther. He turned and marched toward his men in a hurry. Luther got back into the vehicle.

  “That could have gone better,” Luther said.

  “Did you get through to him?” I asked.

  Luther sighed. “He’s considering it, but I’m not sure what he’ll do. Unfortunately, the young general is already a legend in his own mind,” Luther replied. Then General Haik waved us closer to his camp.

  “Move closer. See what he wants,” Luther ordered. I pulled the Mauler to within several meters of the camp. From here, we could all see the Warden’s army up close. Face and neck tattoos seemed to be popular. Most of these men were completely covered in dark ink. The designs seemed to be centered around the wings of various animals—hawks, eagles, even bats. I wondered if this was related with the Warden’s bird-like cybernetic features.

  We watched as General Haik stood in the middle of a group of five men I assumed were his lieutenants. As Haik spoke, they often shifted their eyes toward us and nodded in agreement. From here, I could finally observe the androids’ warship far in the distance. At more than two thousand meters away, it was obscured by a white haze.