A beautiful black girl on the end kept peeking over at me. She seemed shy. Her hair was pulled up on top of her head as she held her tablet in front of her arms, leaning against the wall.
“How long have you guys been waiting?” I asked her. She shook her head no, pointing up in the sky. I glanced up. “What is it?” I grinned at her.
“It’s a meteor drill, silly. Every morning we do this, just in case.” She smiled.
“Oh,” I said.
“My principal said it was meteors, but I heard my dad say something different. He told my mom the robots are coming for us. You’re in the army, what do you think?” she challenged, staring at my military jumpsuit.
“Um, well, I—”
“Ah, hello there. The Army is here!” An adult male voice interrupted from behind. I glanced over my shoulder, noticing a medium height, middle-aged male in a suit. He had dark skin and sharp features. He had thick, wavy white hair that was styled wildly.
“Hi.” I waved as he approached.
“I’m Robert Contreras. Assistant Principal.” He extended his hand as he glanced me up and down. “Odd, don’t think I’ve seen you around?”
“Probably not. Hello. I’m Captain Belic,” I replied politely, shaking his hand.
“You must have an up and coming student? Well, let me just say, Hidmas Elementary is new, but a performer. We have the top scores in science and math out of the five elementary schools on Titan. Many of our students go on to be greenhouse workers often times, specializing in artificial lighting, humidity, or fertilizers. Some even go on to the oxygen teams, converting Titan’s ice to breathable air. We also—”
“I don’t have any kids. I just noticed them out here and was curious,” I replied with a pleasant smile. He narrowed his eyes at me. “We’ve been doing this drill for years,” he said with a puzzled look.
“Years? How many?” I asked.
“It must be at least eight or nine years if my memory serves me correctly.”
“Hmm. Do you know why?” I asked.
“You’re in the Army, shouldn’t you know?” He smirked.
“I’m asking you.”
“Meteors, of course. I tell my kids what I think is comforting to hear, that’s it,” he whispered.
“Hmm. Seems a bit pointless just standing around waiting for meteors here.” I lowered my voice, extending my hand toward the children.
“We suit them up and stop the installation. Then we file them down to the shelters underground in an orderly fashion, almost eighty meters deep,” he explained.
“Underground,” I said, shaking my head. I thought about what Xena told me the day before about the Rat Race. I glanced over at the kids, skipping across each of their little faces quickly. I hoped that if Titan was ever attacked, the children wouldn’t make it to the shelters underground. I’d rather them die a quick death than hunted underground by the machines.
“Is everything okay?” he asked.
“Yeah. Yep. I gotta get going, though,” I said.
“Were you just testing me? Surely you knew the answers to those questions?” he asked.
“Yep, you got me,” I said, stepping away quickly. I didn’t want to look at the children anymore. I made a dead trot to Corvin’s quarters.
I approached Corvin’s office and knocked. “It’s Captain Belic.” I heard muted voices on the other side of the door.
“Hold on,” a female said. Arania opened the door.
“Well, hello, Captain.” She smiled awkwardly. I could sense they had been talking about me. I entered his office, shocked that it was almost as boring as Corvin himself. It reminded me of a teacher’s office but crammed with holographic displays and satellite live feeds. It didn’t strike me as a military leader’s quarters at all.
“How are you?” Arania asked, sitting and crossing her legs. I felt she was attempting to ignore what happened between us. I noticed her foot shaking while she waited for my answer. I made her wait, controlling the situation as I stared her down. She seemed to squirm a bit in her seat, shifting her weight and glancing away.
“As if you aren’t keeping tabs on me,” I arched an eyebrow.
“Um, what’s that?” she asked.
“I’ve seen the cameras. They seem to follow me wherever I go, and that’s only the visible ones. No telling what you’ve hidden in my room,” I said.
“We haven’t hidden any of them. The others are just precautionary, for your safety when you’re near the public. We’re not just monitoring you, Captain,” she said.
“Uh-huh.”
“Captain, have a seat please,” Corvin said. His tone had a touch of authority.
“Sure, General,” I replied. He was looking over a hologram of the solar system, specifically an object’s trajectory from Earth’s moon to Titan.
“Is that our Russian freighter?” I asked. Corvin didn’t acknowledge me at first. He sighed loudly, kicking back in his chair. He put his arms behind his head.
“Russians,” he said.
“As in plural?” I asked.
“It’s a family.” I could tell he was a bit distant, still upset from the day before perhaps.
“Won-der-ful,” I mumbled.
“Turns out their main food supply crates weren’t vacuum sealed properly. They won’t make the trip. Spoiled,” he said.
“That’s why you seal smaller bags, less chance of losing large quantities,” I said.
“Yeah. Coming from Earth, though, they might not have had a lot of options,” he replied.
“Or time,” I said, standing up.
“We’re sending out the team in five days,” he said. Arania dipped her head.
“Um. That’s not much time.” I glanced up at the ceiling.
“No. And again, we want someone with operational experience up there. A pilot. We have no idea what we might run into on the way,” he said.
“You know what I want,” I said. Corvin shifted his eyes toward Arania, then back at me.
“If we go to Earth for intelligence gathering, we will attempt to find Luther. We think if he has been preserved somewhere, that might be one likely location to find other humans. Otherwise, we’re not risking an additional insertion mission to find your husband when the Russians could possess the same intelligence. We’ll send Xena on a direct-action mission for the virus upload.” Corvin laid it out plainly.
“So that’s it, whatever these Russians say is gospel? How will you confirm their intelligence is the real deal?” I asked.
“Let us worry about that, Captain. We’ll check their information on our end, but I’m letting you know there’s a possibility we might not need to retrieve your husband. It’s as simple as that. I’m sorry.” He raised an eyebrow. Arania bit her lip.
Corvin narrowed his eyes at me. “I’m not playing any more games. You help us get those refugees fuel and food, and then we’ll see what happens from there. This isn’t a done deal, but this is where we stand. Again, the Russians might not know anything of value. In that case, we still have to go to Earth for intelligence gathering, so, finding your husband is a possibility,” Corvin explained.
This was sounding more and more like my only option. He wasn’t budging. I came here to apologize for my behavior, but this Russian situation removed the power I had. Fuck. An irrational thought popped in my head. Maybe I could steal the XU-97? The problem was, they could likely order Xena to override my controls remotely. It didn’t make sense. My back was against the wall. I dropped my head and sighed loudly.
“It seems you’ve had some time to think this over?” he said.
“Yeah,” I whispered.
“I knew rationale would prevail,” he said.
Arania set up straight in her chair. “Captain, I want to apologize for the way this was handled on our end. You’re right, we don’t have any experience dealing with a situation like yours. We’re basically writing the rulebook as we go,” she said.
“Thanks?” I shrugged.
Corvin handed me
a pair of sunglasses. “Take these. If you decide you’re onboard with us, these are accelerated augmented reality modules, weapons handling, day-to-day operation, safety, communication, plus a few more tips for aircraft operation for stealth options. Put on these hologlasses and it’ll be like you’re flying the XU-97 from your room, just like with the weapons range module. As you complete them, I’ll get notifications of your performance.”
I grabbed the glasses out of his hand. “I hope this is better than the augmented reality courses in my day,” I said.
“They are. The trainees that go through the augmented course score almost identical to real life. The gun range is a great example,” he said.
I stood up, glancing down at the hologlasses, then I stared Corvin in the eyes. I hated to eat my own words, but this was my only option. I sighed. “Well, prepare to see all the gun range scores shattered,” I said. Corvin stood up, he grinned, extending his hand. “I look forward to it.”
“Godspeed, Captain.” Arania nodded.
Suddenly, Xena burst into the room, knocking the top hinge of the door off.
“The fuck?” I snapped toward the entrance. Corvin and Arania jumped back. I didn’t move. Xena stopped in the doorway, stoic as if nothing was wrong.
“What?” I asked.
“General Corvin, sensors indicate the presence of four dreadnought class destroyers incoming. The androids are here,” she said.
“No,” Arania whispered, covering her mouth with her hands.
Corvin gulped. “Four, total?”
“Yes sir,” she replied. This was small force compared to their fleet of four hundred.
“Range?” Corvin asked, glancing down at his holographic map.
“We’re guessing we have about ninety minutes to prepare, maximum, based on the bombardment intelligence we gathered from Earth’s moon,” she said. Corvin glared over at me, biting his lip.
“I can fly. I’m ready, training modules or not,” I said without hesitation.
“Be in the hangar in five minutes!” he shouted. I rushed out of the office as sirens began blaring above us. An eerily pleasant female voice came through the installation speakers. “Attention, all non-essential personnel, report to your stations. This is not a drill.”
I ran to the hangar, darting by the guard as he peered through the glass roof. “Open up! They’re not here yet!” I yelled. His hand shook as he entered the pass code.
“Captain!” I heard Drake behind me.
“Let’s go! In the hangar!” I shouted. He didn’t hesitate, barreling toward the hangar like an Olympian sprinter.
“Xena, warm up the XU-97 engines and run a check on all weapon systems. Get us ready to fly, immediately,” I ordered.
“Roger that, Captain. Are we continuing our campaign against the androids so soon?” the ship AI asked. I glared through the open hangar door. The ship’s thrusters snarled as the hydraulic pad swung the nose of the XU-97 toward the exit.
“Get our flight gear ready, now!” Drake yelled at an airman. The James Dean lookalike was already on it, running out from behind a storage room with our suits on a wheeled rack. His eyes were wide as he pushed the cart.
“Course of action?” Drake asked.
“Corvin’s on his way,” I replied.
As I suited up, I remembered my combat run with Commander Rotus on Earth. It had the same feel to it. I wasn’t sure what to expect. The difference this time was I didn’t have the backing of the most powerful military on planet Earth. I had one fighter and a band of untested Titans against four android destroyers.
They better have a plan.
Drake and I quickly donned our suits. Myself, Xena, and Drake stood parallel in front of the XU-97, waiting on Corvin’s orders. I glanced down at my helmet tucked underneath my arm. I noticed something different, a small inscription.
‘Lioness’ it read. I cut my eyes up at Drake. He was oblivious to my discovery, his eyes drifting to some faraway place.
I panned around the hangar, noticing ‘James Dean’ staring at me, he quickly shifted away as we made eye contact. He was standing in parade rest position. He appeared nervous, so I thought I’d take his mind away from the impending doom.
“Airman? Who did this? The inscription.” I pointed at my helmet.
“Well, we did, ma’am,” he replied.
“Who told you this was my callsign?” I asked.
“General Corvin. He said back on Earth you were in a Navy fighter squad called the Blue Lions.” It was true, I was the only female in the elite group.
“Huh,” I said.
“Surely they didn’t call you Lioness just because you were female?” The airman cocked an eyebrow.
“No. No, they didn’t. But do you know what Lionesses do in a pride, airman?” I asked.
“Protect their young?” he replied.
“They’re hunters. The females are responsible for most of the killing,” I said. Sure, they protected cubs, too, but that’s not why I earned the callsign. I was a killer.
Drake sneered and dipped his head as the airman nodded. I never had any cubs for myself to protect. All at once, that notion felt like an empty hole in my heart. I never yearned for children before. I wanted them, but it just wasn’t in our cards. Between Luther’s depression, my combat deployments, and the state of the planet, we decided against it. But now, in the face of certain death, it felt like Luther and I were missing out more than ever.
I bit my lip as Corvin and the mystery men from the meeting marched through the door. They had a group with them of eighteen soldiers, two of them pushing large containers.
“Tell me you have a plan,” I said.
“As you know, we don’t have a large military force. But what we do have might give us a chance against only four destroyers,” Corvin replied.
“Why would they send such a small force by comparison? They have over four hundred?” Drake asked.
“We’re not sure. It’s odd. Maybe a scout force. Don’t be fooled though, four destroyers are more than enough to wipe us out. We have a wild, unorthodox defense strategy in place, it was initially designed for hundreds of destroyers. The downside is, it’s not completely ready,” Corvin admitted.
“Well, let’s hear it,” I hurried.
“Ahem. You see these?” Corvin pointed. The soldiers began opening the containers, pulling out large tablets. Each of them put on a small visor, like a pair of sunglasses.
Corvin dipped his head at the men to his left. “These soldiers will control our Terradrone army. A flying swarm. When the destroyers began bombing Earth’s moon, we started cultivating a farm of military nanobots. They’ve built clones of themselves using Titan’s methane for fuel. These drones are like the ones you attacked during your training mission with Xena.” The man with the blood red tie explained. I recalled the spider-shaped drone I destroyed a few days ago. Great. Something else to glitch out and turn against us.
“How many do we have now?” Drake asked. This was apparently extremely secretive if he didn’t know.
“Our last count this week was near two-hundred thousand,” Corvin replied.
“Well fuck, why do you need us?” I asked.
“The drones, while somewhat capable in our simulations, against their destroyers, are unproven, and will likely be distractions. If these dreadnoughts have the proper close quarters defenses, our drones will go down quickly. The soldiers wearing visors here remote control the leader drones and the others follow. They’ve been summoned and we’re ready. We’ll move to a control room before you launch,” Corvin explained. I agreed, this was very unorthodox. The advantage I immediately acknowledged was the distraction element. Two hundred thousand was a lot of targets.
“What’s my role?” I asked.
“Ahem. We’ve decided you’ll be piloting this mission. We understand you have a degree of unfamiliarity with the vessel’s configuration, but your combat experience is unmatched.” Corvin nodded. Who else was gonna fly? Xena? Drake? Of course, I was
piloting.
“Signal intelligence reveals a command ship in the battle group. We’re calling it the Abraruss. We’ll mark it on your visor when you take off,” Corvin said.
“Course of action?”
“There are large weapon sensor domes next to the bridge. Two of them. Destroy them and Xena will take care of the rest,” Corvin said. I narrowed my eyes as he pulled up a hologram on his watch, revealing the position of the large domes. “Here, and here.” Corvin pointed out.
“Xena will take care of it?” I posed. This made no sense to me.
“Trust us. We don’t have time to explain. Engage the enemy before they reach striking distance and follow Xena’s instructions once you’ve accomplished your task,” Corvin ordered. I glared up at Xena. She nodded her head confidently. “I will destroy them,” she said. I nodded. If you say so, Xena. We didn’t have time for a test run.
I could hear the XU-97 engine’s calling me, like an alluring aurora of power. I was anxious but unbelievably excited to be back in the pilot’s seat. If the androids were anything like the versions from my day, they were predictable combatants. They had issues formulating tactics against an anomaly like myself. I was unpredictable, bold, with instincts no machine could match. The truth was, the androids didn’t frighten me as much as the Titans did. These humans were completely untested and possessed a large dose of confidence based on simulations.
“Take out the flagships domes, Captain. We’ll be in constant communication,” Corvin directed.
“Roger. Load up,” I said. Xena hurried up the ramp in front of me, her metallic boot clanked against the ramp gate. Drake was a few paces behind. I strapped into my seat, linking my visor to the craft. “Welcome, Captain,” Xena said when I pressed my weight into the seat.
“I can turn off that greeting if you’d like, Captain?” Xena asked.
“I wouldn’t worry about that now,” I said. Chances of me hearing it again were low. However, they were slightly improved considering there were two hundred thousand other targets for the androids to shoot at.
I sighed loudly, glancing in my rearview as the soldiers and leadership element exited the hangar. As their door closed, the hangar opened. A gust of wind funneled through the opening, carrying dust particles and pebbles, peppering the front glass.
The Legion and the Lioness (World Apart Book 1) Page 11