The Legacy of the Lioness

by Robert D. Armstrong

  “That makes two of us,” Xena said. She looked out of her window, staring into the clouds as if the Moderator could appear at any moment. Her gaze gave me an eerie, unsettling feeling.

  Luther grabbed his door handle. “Leo, you’re with me. Everyone else, stay put,” he ordered, opening his door. Neona’s eyes widened, she seemed surprised by Luther’s decision to leave her behind.

  Just as they got out, he dipped his head back in and looked at me. “It’s unlikely, but if anything unexpected goes down, General Haik is your main target. Run him over first,” he said, shutting the door.

  I gulped as Luther and Leo plopped down in the snow. They walked a few paces and stopped in front of the nomads. General Haik stood in front of Roman and Kodiak. I cracked my door so that I could listen.

  I noticed Kodiak shift his eyes into the trees above the cave. There were two hooded snipers peeking around a large pine tree, one on each side. They weren’t pointing their guns in our direction, but their demeanor seemed suspicious.

  “Captain, to your east there are a pair of snipers,” Xena said.

  “I see them, if they aim their weapons in our direction, jump up on the turret and point it at them. If they fire at any of us, kill them,” I said.

  “Understood,” she replied.

  “The nomads aren’t going to do shit. They need us to go after that vehicle convoy,” Neona said.

  Haik crossed his arms in front of him. He looked at the Mauler then held his stare at Luther. He grinned. “Well, well, if it isn’t the Engineer. When our scouts saw your vehicle approaching, I thought they had been mistaken,” he said.

  Luther nodded. “I’ve had a change of heart,” he replied.

  Haik looked at Leo. “Is that right? About what exactly?” he asked.

  “We want to stop that convoy, and the Legion could use those solar panels,” Luther replied.

  Haik chuckled. “The last time we spoke about this I offered you half the solar panels in exchange for your cooperation. You showed absolutely no interest in them, why the sudden change?” Haik questioned.

  Luther stepped forward. “I’ve had time to clear my mind since then. I want to renegotiate. You mentioned last time one of the vehicles possessed an anti-aircraft weapon?” he asked.

  Haik tucked his hand under his chin. “Yes... But why is that a concern for you? Is the Legion expecting the Architect to return from the dead like a winged archangel?” Haik asked. Kodiak smiled, showing his blackened teeth. He coughed and spat up black and green phlegm on the white ground.

  Luther looked away before staring at Haik. “My men tell me with a lot of work, we can retrofit the anti-aircraft gun into a defensive weapon, depending on the type of ammo it uses.”

  “It doesn’t use ammunition, it’s a laser weapon, three or four petawatt if I had to guess,” Kodiak spoke up.

  “Do you know if it’s functional?” Leo asked.

  “No idea,” Kodiak replied.

  “Well, in that case we might not even be able to use it,” Luther said, dismissing its importance. “In order to sweeten the deal, I’ll take half of the solar panels like you originally offered, along with the anti-aircraft gun in exchange for assisting you to stop the convoy,” Luther said.

  Haik turned toward Kodiak. He shook his head slowly. Haik smiled. “Engineer, considering we’re contributing more men and resources to this mission, we’ll give you two solar panels, not three, and to compensate you can have the anti-aircraft gun. We both know you’ll find some use out of it,” he offered. Luther nodded and crossed his arms.

  “Agreed?” Haik asked.

  “Agreed,” Luther replied. Haik outstretched his hand toward Luther, and they shook hands. They held the handshake for a few moments as Leo and Kodiak stared each other down.

  Haik pulled away. He sized up the Mauler. “Stopping the raider convoy will not improve our quality of life by providing us with electricity, but it will stop a threat we’ve been worried about for some time. With our manpower and your vehicle, we shouldn’t have a problem stopping them,” he said, looking up at the statue of the Warden. “In addition, he would be proud to see us working together, wouldn’t he?” Haik asked, gesturing toward the Warden with his hand.

  “That he would. Do we know where the convoy is presently?” Luther asked.

  Haik pushed out his bottom lip. “Are you in a hurry, Engineer?”

  Luther paused. “As a General, you understand how the absence of leadership can be a dangerous thing. I must return to my people, sooner rather than later,” Luther said.

  Haik nodded, turning his head away from Luther as he held his stare at him. “Ah yes, of course, your people. Come inside and let us speak of strategy, and perhaps a toast to our new alliance,” he said.

  Kodiak shifted his head away from the knights but continued to watch them. At one point, his glowing red eyes peered past him, looking directly at me. I turned away for a moment, attempting to appear as calm as possible.

  Luther looked over his shoulder and waved us toward him. “Xena. Stay put please. We’ll be right back,” I ordered.

  “Understood, Captain,” she replied.

  We followed the three nomads inside the cave to a small room. There was a wooden desk against the back wall. Behind it was a large map spread across the wall. We funneled inside and stood where we could as General Haik walked in front of the map.

  “Apologies, this isn’t the ideal area for a war room,” Roman said politely. I remembered him from the first time we came to their colony. He was surprisingly polite, but I also knew he was not one to cross. I recalled him ordering his snipers to kill the man that groped me without batting an eye.

  A thought crossed my mind about Roman. He was a raider himself, a pillager. For the most part, I got the feeling that he overcame his sins and forgave himself. But I wondered if deep down he was overzealous to right any wrongs he could, to compensate for his past.

  Haik cleared his throat and took off the tiger fur on his head. His dark hair was thinning on top. He pointed at the map. “This map represents our region. We are here,” he said, pointing to a dot on the middle of the map.

  He looked at Luther then pointed to a spot on the map indicted by a symbol of a sword. “And for an additional point of reference, here you are... this is the Legion,” he said.

  Haik looked up to the North toward a large circle. “This is the area where the raiders patrol. We have scouts that report back to us on their movement. Only weeks ago, the circle was here,” he said, gesturing further to the north.

  “The most recent reports indicate their patrols moving about five kilometers south every week, but as you can see it’s clear they’re heading directly at us,” Kodiak said.

  “What’s your plan?” Luther asked, crossing his arms.

  Haik grinned. “Straight to the point. Yes, well, we’ve been devising a strategy without considering your involvement in this operation. We didn’t expect you.”

  “Let’s hear it anyway,” Luther said.

  Haik pointed to the north. “If you will take note of the valley—here. Currently, it’s a few kilometers from their patrol zone. Our plan is to set up an ambush there. We bait the raiders to this narrow pass. We have hundreds of rounds of armor piercing ammunition and dozens of snipers, along with heavy gunners. We set our shooters on each mountain here and here,” Haik explained, pointing to both mountains on the map.

  “What’s the bait?” Leo asked.

  Kodiak shifted his eyes at Roman. No one said a word for a few moments. Haik chuckled. “The biggest obstacle we foresaw was getting the raiders to chase us,” he said.

  “Why?” Neona asked.

  “To be frank, the vehicles we have aren’t exactly an enticing prize, they’re old and run down. Not only that, they’re extremely slow. We’d likely be chased down and destroyed before we could even reach the ambush point,” Haik said.

  Luther held up his index. “Ahh. But what if you did have something enticing for the raiders to ch
ase?”

  “Precisely the reason your vehicle would be more beneficial with this strategy. It’s impressive and menacing in appearance, but let me ask, is it agile? Intelligence reports indicate the raiders have an assortment of high horsepower vehicles,” Roman explained.

  “It’s plenty quick, and I have serious doubts they’ll be able to keep pace with us in the snow drifts unless they have tank tracks,” I spoke up.

  “The anti-aircraft vehicle does, but it’s the slowest of the bunch,” Kodiak said.

  Leo put up his hand. “Let me understand this. You want us to bait the raider convoy to the mountain pass and your shooters will disable their convoy?”

  “Yes, and we also will place explosives along the path to assist us if any of them get through—”

  “Wait. Explosives?” Luther asked.

  “Yes.”

  Luther shook his head. “What’s your fascination with blowing things up, General? Won’t this destroy the solar panels?”

  Haik closed his eyes for a moment. “It’s not a fascination, Engineer. It’s possible we won’t need the explosives; they’re our backup. The raider convoy likely won’t make it past our shooters, but if they do, we’ll be ready. Our main concern is eliminating the threat, and even if the vehicles are partially destroyed, we’ll be able to piece together the panels and make use of them,” Haik explained.

  Roman cleared his throat. “The energy displaced from the explosives will do the most damage to the undercarriages of their vehicles anyway. The solar panels are on the roofs, shielding them. We will have a fire crew on station, just in case,” Roman added.

  Luther sighed. Unlike the nomads, our chief concern was the anti-aircraft gun vehicle. We needed to get it back to the Legion promptly, and in working order. Our chances of stopping the Moderator dropped dramatically if we were forced to tow a crippled vehicle back to the Legion.

  Luther tapped his metallic fingers against the armor on his forearms. “I’m not keen on us driving atop explosives to bait these raiders,” he said plainly.

  “We’re all taking a risk, Engineer,” Kodiak responded.

  Luther stepped toward the old sniper. “Are we? Where will you be when the shooting and explosions start? On one of those mountains with your sniper rifle, far away from danger?”

  The sniper glanced down at Luther’s sword. I could tell he wanted to respond to Luther, but instead he just stared up into Luther’s eyes as he towered over him. Luther whipped around toward Haik. “Whoever orders the placement of those explosives should ride with us,” Luther proposed, glaring at General Haik.

  “What?” Haik asked, lifting his eyebrows.

  “That’s right. If your plan is for us to drive over a minefield, then you should come along with us,” Luther challenged Haik.

  “Engineer, they’re not mines, they’re triggered plastic explosives. Also, I’m leading this ambush, I need to be able to communicate with my troops,” Haik said.

  “I’ve seen some of your men using radios, why not bring one along with you?” Luther asked.

  Haik’s eyes shifted around the room. He gritted his teeth as Luther stared him down. “Engineer, I’m not riding with your crew. I stay with my men. If you’re that concerned about the explosives, then we won’t place them. As I said, they were only a backup, but understand, if one of those vehicles gets through our defenses, that responsibility lies on the Legion, and any solar panels lost comes out of your half of the deal, not ours,” he said.

  “Fair enough,” Luther said.

  “When can your men be ready to deploy?” Leo asked.

  “Within two hours. Roman will take you to your temporary quarters,” Haik said.

  “That’s not necessary, we’ll wait in our vehicle. Besides, we need to ensure everything is in working order,” Luther replied.

  Haik and Kodiak met eyes. “Meet us at the bottom of the mountain on the north side. There’s a cave there. And here, take this,” Haik said, handing Luther an old radio walkie talkie. “For this operation, we’ll be on channel three,” he added.

  Luther took the device and clipped it to the top of his breastplate. “We’ll see you in two hours,” he replied.

  As we made our way out of the cave, I noticed several nomad soldiers standing around. Their demeanor seemed different than the last time we were here. Their eyes seemed to be scrutinizing us, prying for something, but I couldn’t place what. Perhaps they were concerned whether they could trust us to cooperate. Maybe they were curious as to why we turned down their initial offer to ambush the raider convoy.

  Kodiak led out in front of us about ten paces as we squeezed through the cave passageways on our way back to the Mauler. “Luther,” I whispered.

  He glanced back at me. I walked close to him and leaned in. “Something’s wrong,” I said.

  “I know,” he replied. We walked through the front gate and marched through the snow as we made our way to the Mauler. I noticed the nomad snipers in the trees above us. They watched us like hawks.

  I climbed up in the Mauler and noticed Xena leaning back in the seat. “What’s wrong?” I asked her as Luther, Neona, and Leo piled in.

  “One of the snipers just came down here and was looking over the vehicle,” she said.

  “And?”

  “He stood up on one of the tank tracks and was looking inside. I laid down in the footwell,” she replied.

  “Did he see you?” Neona asked.

  “I’m not sure, but as he walked away, I noticed him using a radio to communicate to someone. I couldn’t make out what was being said,” Xena replied.

  I turned the vehicle around and started down the hill. “I wonder what that was all about?” I asked Luther.

  “Just be ready to act quickly when I tell you,” he said.

  It was nice not being in such a hurry leaving the nomad base. The last time we left here, we were rushing to meet up with General Haik and join his assault against the Androids of the Reclamation. “Anyone want to take the same route down the mountain that we took the last time?” I joked, looking over the edge of the cliff beside the track.

  “No, I could do without that,” Leo responded immediately.

  I chuckled and glanced over at Luther. “I gotta say, General Haik was considerably more pleasant and rational this time around,” I said.

  “I noticed that too,” Neona spoke up.

  “Other than the insane strategy of us driving over explosives, I agree. But the reality is, he needs us, that’s the only reason he’s tolerable and open to negotiation,” Luther replied.

  “Did anyone else get a strange vibe in there, particularly with the soldiers?” Leo asked.

  “That’s what I told Luther. Something’s different,” I said.

  “Like what?” Neona asked.

  Luther glanced at me before staring forward. “There’s no way to know for sure. If I had to guess, I would say they are considering double-crossing us for the solar panels after all this is over,” he said.

  “You think they’d kill us over loot?” Neona asked.

  “Doubtful. That’s too much of a risk. Haik doesn’t know how many Legion troops we have. Even he would be mindful of retaliation. However, I think it’s possible Haik might try to instigate a dispute over splitting solar panels. In that case, we would be forced to leave with fewer solar panels in order to get the anti-aircraft vehicle,” Luther said.

  “Then we double down and let the solar panels go,” Leo said.

  “Absolutely. The trick is not allowing a man like Haik to understand how valuable the anti-aircraft gun is to the Legion... to humanity. He’ll want to be in control of the situation. We might need to do a bit of acting and make the nomads feel like they got the better part of the deal,” Luther said.

  “Respectfully, sire, but they are getting the better deal. We’re getting a weapon to fight off the Moderator, and they don’t even have to help us. Not only that, they’ll probably walk away with all the solar panels,” Neona said.

  L
uther turned around and stared at Neona. “What good are solar panels if we’re all dead?” he asked. Neona looked out her window and shook her head slowly.

  I looked back at Neona in my rearview mirror. “And with Haik in command, the nomads assisting us against the Moderator would do more harm than good,” I said.

  “I understand that, but it seems like we’re the ones doing all the work,” Neona said.

  Xena turned toward Neona. “It is my view that the nomads’ support in acquiring the anti-aircraft weapon now is sufficient. There is little they could do against the Moderator controlled XU-97 anyway. In case you were unaware, Captain Belic assisted Sylass against these same nomads. She was able to attack them virtually uncontested from the skies in Sylass’s freighter, eliminating over a dozen—”

  “We get the point, Xena. The nomads don’t specialize in repelling air attacks,” I interrupted. This wasn’t something I wanted to dive back in to. It was hurtful to think I’d killed those nomads because of Sylass’s deception.

  “Indeed, Captain, but to make my point clear, the XU-97 is far more of a threat than Sylass’s freighter was, and they had no way to combat it,” she added. No one said anything for several minutes as I made my way methodically down the mountain.

  The sun peeked through the white clouds in front of us. Leo put up his hand to shield his eyes. I thought about how much smaller the sun looked from Titan during my stay there.

  General Corvin popped in my mind again. He was out there somewhere floating in space. At some point, he likely looked out at our sun from his escape pod. It was depressing to consider everything he and his people had built over the course of seven decades, wiped away in an instant.

  I wondered about the eventual moment when Corvin would lay down in his cryochamber to rest. Even if we were able to stop the Moderator, he could be waiting for decades or even centuries before he was recovered, if at all. I sighed loudly and shook my head. A day might come when someone wakes him up from cryosleep, much like my experience. I didn’t wish that on anyone, not even him.

  “What’s wrong?” Luther asked, looking at me.