The Legion and the Lioness

by Robert D. Armstrong

  “It is. How old were you when you first saw it like this?” I was curious.

  “Fourteen. There was a shuttle that would take families back and forth.”

  “That’s young.”

  “I begged my parents since I was ten. It was sort of a two for one. I wanted to see Titan more so than Saturn, but once I got up here, the rings stole the show. I didn’t know just how much the clouds were hiding,” he explained.

  “Warning. Hostiles approaching,” Xena interrupted.

  “Hostiles? Say again?” I snapped toward Drake, raising upright into my seat.

  “Attack drones. It’s part of the training,” Drake confirmed.

  “I thought Corvin said we could just relax?” I asked.

  “No stress, just let Xena take us through the motions,” Drake replied.

  I sighed loudly. This doesn’t make sense. Combat training should be handled like war. In a real situation, Xena wouldn’t be flying. I would. Why waste our time?

  All at once, something cascaded over the cockpit glass, blocking my outside view. “What the hell?” I stood up, inspecting it closely. The texture reminded me of metallic reptilian scales, layered one over another.

  “Armor?” I turned toward Drake.

  “This is called hawken, named after a bird from your world,” he said.

  “Hawk? Um, no. Hawks can see, very well actually. You must mean bat? I can’t see shit.” I panned around. Drake chuckled under his breath.

  “We know the difference. It’ll make sense in a moment,” Drake said.

  “Wait one—linking to your visors—now,” Xena said. My visor began to fade in a video feed of outside the craft. I could look up, down and all around and see all the ship’s instruments highlighted in a dark blue hue.

  It was like floating in space with clarity unlike anything I’d ever experienced, with no obstructions blocking my view. I waved my arms around. “Okay. Yeah, now I can see.”

  “Each one of those scales has a micro camera that tracks your head movement, tens of thousands of them, so whenever you turn your head, they give you the best possible angle. This technology is combined with a cloak and slight armor boost,” Drake said.

  “The image quality is impressive. It feels like I’m flying outside the ship,” I said excitedly. I couldn’t suppress my smile as I panned my head around. My old XU-97 had the ability to detect threats in blind spots, but not like this.

  “That’s the other thing, you can control the navigation of the ship with your head while in this mode. You can control pitch, roll, and yaw. Tilt your head to the side and the ship will roll, up and down to pitch and so on. There are dozens of sensitivity settings for each,” he explained.

  “But how do I fire weapons while steering with my head?” I asked.

  “Temporarily transferring controls to Captain Belic, in three, two, one,” Xena said.

  “Looks like you’re getting a hands-on demonstration,” Drake muttered.

  “Now we’re talking,” I said. No complaints from me. Drake glared up at the ceiling, “Xena, you’re transferring controls to Belic?” He arched an eyebrow.

  “Yes, Colonel,” she answered without hesitation.

  “O-kay. That’s, unexpected. Slow movements with your head at first, Belic,” Drake insisted.

  “Oh shit.” I tilted my head to the right and the ship reacted instantly, rolling the craft. My head movement was less than a few centimeters and the ship tracked it perfectly. I felt the sensitivity of the action and understood how to use it almost immediately. It just made sense.

  I reached forward for the flight stick in my virtual world. As my hand grasped the cold metallic handle, it made me feel like I was now tapped into the central nervous system of a demonic craft. The power I’d witnessed from this machine was otherworldly for an old timer like myself.

  I whipped my head around, spinning the craft around 140 degrees, pointing the nose at the indicators blinking on my visor. “That worked.” The flick movement of my head aimed me exactly where I wanted to go.

  “If I’d known you were going to fly, I would have told you to stretch out your neck beforehand,” Drake said.

  “I’ll send Xena the chiropractor bill.”

  I pinned the throttle forward to maximum, headed straight for the markers on my visor:

  WARNING HOSTILES APPROACHING

  I felt a degree of power and control unlike anything else I had flown. It was like my old ship, but supercharged in every possible way.

  “Captain, Xena is supposed to complete this portion, not you,” Drake insisted.

  “Doesn’t feel that way to me, I’m still in control,” I said.

  “Xena?” Drake asked. A few seconds went by with no response.

  “Evasive throttle limited to thirty percent, pilot. Keep in mind, we can avoid confrontation for this evolution. We have an additional flight mode called chameleon. We sacrifice speed in exchange for more extensive cloaking. This protects us against the most advanced sensors,” Xena explained.

  “Just keep hawken online. I like this, let’s see what I can do,” I suggested.

  The indicators on my display showed the target’s range in meters, forty thousand, and then twenty thousand. I shifted the approach, then backed off the throttle as a beam of white light erupted from one of the targets, zapping right by us.

  “So much for stealth,” Drake said.

  “Pilot, when you focus in on a target, I will automatically fire. Or I can take over targeting—”

  “I got it,” I interrupted.

  “Very well,” Xena said. I glanced to my left, slamming the throttle to the right. This engaged the horizontal thrusters, initiating a roll that looped toward the target. This made us more difficult to track. The cabin interior strobed as laser fire flashed several times.

  “I think I’m going to vomit,” Drake said. I could only imagine his perspective, Titan and Saturn spinning around him as I flung the ship about wildly.

  “Helmet filtration ready, dispense bodily fluids when ready,” Xena said. I heard a muffled vacuum sound emitting from Drake’s helmet.

  “No-no, not yet, turn that off!” Drake raised his voice. I chuckled under my breath.

  The downside of the loop I created provided less opportunity to engage the enemy. My head was fixed in a specific direction to continue the maneuver.

  “Xena, can you lock my speed and trajectory so I can fire while maneuvering?” I asked.

  “Just say, freefire, this will lock in your maneuver but allow you to look around and fire at targets simultaneously. Engage freefire now?” she asked.

  “Do it.”

  The ship maintained its course as the drone attempted to fire on us unsuccessfully. I focused my attention on the target. As I squinted my eyes, my visor zoomed in by a factor of eight times, filling my view with the enemy.

  The drone was in partial shadow, but I could make out its form. The base resembled a bullet in shape, with four jagged sensor arrays. It reminded me of a mechanized spider. The center of the drone began to glow white, readying another shot.

  As I moved my eyes about the drone’s structure, I narrowed my eyes on the center. To my surprise, laser fire followed behind with deadly precision, melting the target in half.

  “Damn!” I yelled. This was an amazing display of technological progression. Xena adjusted the zoom of my visor so that I can plainly see the target. I assumed the visor tracked my pupil movement as I scanned for a shot, firing when I squinted my eyes.

  “Great shot,” Drake said.

  “Target down. One target remaining,” Xena said.

  “Xena, this is General Corvin, end the drill immediately. Return to base,” Corvin commanded.

  “Yes, sir,” Xena said. My visor link disconnected to the outside of the ship, bringing the interior back into full view. I lost control as the ship looped around, dipping toward Titan quickly.

  “What happened?” I asked. Neither Drake nor Xena answered. Drake lifted his eyebrows as he
glanced at the deck. Xena pinned the throttle forward, hitting seventy percent power before backing off to five percent just before reentry. Titan went from the size of a beach ball ten meters in front of me to filling up the entire field of view in seconds.

  “Drake, any ideas? Did I do something wrong?” I asked rhetorically. This wasn’t the first time I’d pushed things, nor the last.

  “What you did do was great,” he responded. I waited for him to follow up and explain himself, but he never did.

  A red-orange flame stretched across the front glass as we reentered the atmosphere. The cabin glass was filled with thick pink clouds.

  All at once, we broke through, revealing the mountain ranges. I could make out methane rivers spanning across the landscape like arteries. We leveled off at six thousand meters as topography details popped into view. I could see shadows from the clouds casting on the rocky pink terrain beneath me.

  Drake sighed loudly. “I’m gonna hear about this one,” he muttered.

  “It wasn’t your fault,” I said. Drake shook his head.

  “We’ll discuss it in a few minutes with Corvin, face to face,” he said. I didn’t get the sense he was upset with me, more annoyed by the situation.

  Xena lowered us to fifteen hundred meters and increased speed. She doubled down through canyons and blasted by mountains with impressive moves, twisting and rolling upside down. I glanced over at Drake. He had his eyes closed.

  “That’s a bit close for comfort,” I said. Neither Drake nor Xena responded.

  We were literally a couple dozen meters from impact. This seemed like a decent margin for error, but cruising at speeds of over sixty-eight hundred kilometers per hour, it was awfully close. I would have never trusted the old Xena with those moves.

  “Approaching landing zone,” Xena relayed.

  She backed off the throttle. I could make out the installation. It reminded me of a metal monster, like a centipede as each section bracketed around the bends. It appeared to be slowing down to a stop. In the middle of the track were silos and dozens of the igloo-like buildings.

  The hangar doors opened as dust swirled up on both sides of the ship. I noticed the portside engine created a massive dust devil that spiraled out into the vast rocky plain, dissipating into the pink fog.

  “Hold on,” Xena said. I continued observing the mini-cyclone, staring into the nothingness. Xena thrusted into the hangar as the aircraft platform magnetized us to deck violently, jostling us about.

  “Damn. Need to work on that landing, Xena,” I said. Drake glanced over at me briefly, narrowing his eyes. He seemed displeased with my comment.

  “What?”

  “You speak your mind on everything, huh?” he asked.

  “You have no idea.”

  “Thirty-five seconds until you can remove your helmets,” Xena said. She powered down the engines. We waited about four minutes until a crew of airmen rolled a ladder on my side of the cockpit.

  The cabin hatch popped open as a blond-headed version of James Dean waved me out. “Let’s go, hotshot,” he said impatiently. I could tell by his tone he knew about my stunt.

  As I climbed over unto the ladder, I heard a set of footsteps entering the hangar. “That... That is how people die,” Corvin said with authority.

  I made my way down the remaining steps from the cockpit as Drake followed suit. The blond airman stood to my left with an arched eyebrow. He shook his head slowly like we were in front of the principal’s office.

  “Drake, why did Captain Belic assume control of this evolution?” Corvin demanded, raising his voice slightly. He marched next to the ladder as Drake stepped down.

  “Sir, I’m pretty sure Xena was in charge,” he replied.

  “I was.” A voice erupted from the opposite corner of the hangar.

  “What the hell?” I muttered. Why was Xena’s voice across the hangar? Is that part of her enhancements, she’s a ventriloquist? I turned my attention toward the outburst and, to my surprise, it was a humanoid form in shadow, leaning against the wall.

  I peered forward, noticing a female in silhouette. She kicked off the wall and approached, stepping out of the darkness under the hangar light. The woman was tall and lean, but powerfully built like a superhero. She had short white hair, shaved around the sides.

  I observed she wore a light blue formfitting bodysuit underneath some sort of armor. The armor was gunmetal silver and covered most of her body. Robotic extensions layered over her body like an exoskeleton.

  These mechanized limbs connected to cylinder objects at the elbows and knees. I assumed this enhanced her strength, while protecting vital organs. It gave her a frighteningly efficient look. The shoulders had large turtle shell shaped metallic pads, exaggerating her intimidating stature further.

  She was clearly a warrior.

  As she stepped closer I began to make out her facial features. She was young and attractive. Her face reminded me of an exotic Ukrainian model with chiseled features and wide, deep set eyes.

  “No.” I blinked several times. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. She had the trademark stitching on the inside corner of her jaw line. Her eyes had that cold, synthetic blue I remembered. I shook my head in disbelief as it all came back to me.

  “An android?” I mumbled. Even worse, there was something very familiar about this one. I began backing away.

  The assassination attempt on my life had revealed an android model I had never seen before, a female model with white hair just like the one before me. My eyes glossed over as the memory of the attack was injected into my mind.

  I recalled my security detail opening fire on her as she ambushed us, battering through a door access to our left. It sounded like an explosion as the metal hatch slammed against the bulkhead, knocking two guards down.

  The next thing I remembered was her glowing blue eyes emitting from the dimly lit corridor. As fast as she was, it was like slow motion as she zeroed in on me with the same wintry gaze of death before me now.

  “Protect the Cap—” my security officer yelled as the android crushed his thorax with the ridge of her hand. His subordinates immediately opened fire on Xena in close quarters, zapping her torso with scorching laser fire.

  The barrage caused her to stumble. She quickly recovered, smashing the first guard in the chest with her fist. The impact connected with his torso, sending him flying into the bulkhead.

  “Run!” one of the guards ordered me.

  “Luther?” I panned around with no sign of him. I ran in the most logical direction I could, away. I heard the bones from my security team snapping as their shouts of agony echoed through the tight corridor.

  I looked over my shoulder as I escaped. I could see the android hobbling toward me through the halls as people screamed and alarms blared.

  “Captain!” a passerby crewman said, placing his hand on my shoulder.

  “Go!” I pushed him away from the approaching assassin.

  The thought crossed my mind that Luther had been killed. At one point, I lost sight of the android. In my desperation, I made the mistake of stopping. I peered into the dark corridor behind me worried about Luther. I called out for him.

  I never saw it coming. An incredible force slammed into the left side of my skull, like a T-bone car accident whiplashing my head violently.

  I blacked out momentarily, slowly regaining blurred vision. As I stared up at the android stalking toward me, I realized I was paralyzed. It raised its arm overhead for the final blow.

  Out of nowhere, the android was pelted with laser fire from behind. Its head jolted violently as it crumbled to the deck in front of me. Smoke bellowed from the debris. I peered forward as a shadowy figure in the corridor dropped the weapon and fell to one knee.

  “Vic.” Luther reached out for me, holding one of the security guard’s weapons. The last thing I remembered were guards and medical personnel swarming our position as I stared at the assassin.

  “That’s the fucking android!” I sna
pped out of it.

  “What?” Drake’s eyes widened.

  “That’s exactly like the one that attacked me!” I stepped back several more paces.

  “Captain Belic, it’s not what you think,” Corvin injected.

  “Stay away! Don’t come any closer!” I shouted at the bot, stabbing my finger at it. I panned around at the crewman to see if they were armed. “Give me a weapon!” I yelled.

  “Calm down, Captain,” Corvin said.

  “Calm down? Fuck you!” I yelled. He glanced away, biting his lip. Was this a sick joke?

  The android narrowed its eyes at me. “If I may, Captain. Regarding the android that attacked you, technically yes, I am the same model, but I share no programming with that unit. I’ve been converted to serve Titan. Serve humanity. I have no memory of the assassination attempt,” the android explained, showing me its royal blue palms.

  “I have memories of it! You have to know how fucked up and demented this is. You spring this shit on me with no warning?” I demanded, glancing back and forth at Corvin and Drake.

  “Belic, this is Xena, your ship AI. It’s not the exact machine that attacked you. We’ve integrated some of Xena’s programming into this android shell for mission functionality and familiarity. We didn’t think you would remember the details about her appearance,” Corvin said in a low, comforting tone. It reminded me of the way he spoke to me when they woke me up.

  “Why wouldn’t I remember her? In my mind, it just happened. It almost killed me and sent my husband back to Earth. It’s some type of 1.14 military variant.” I stared a hole through the android as she looked back at me, emotionless.

  An irrational thought flashed into my mind. Maybe I’d hop back into the cockpit of the XU-97 and blast this thing to hell. After that, I’d take off and go to Earth for Luther on my own.

  “She’s a 1.14 bravo, yes. She’s heavily upgraded from the android that attacked you. Your ship AI and this android share information instantaneously. They see what the other sees. This humanoid form allows for disembark missions, while relaying intelligence to your ship on the fly, allowing for pin point air support for example,” Corvin said. Xena stepped within two meters of me as if she was showcasing herself. It was neat as much as I hated to admit it.