“Two out of five stars. Cozy, but cramped. Not much different than being inside the tank I would imagine,” I said.
I used my legs and pushed through the rectangular hatch into the tank. Half my body emerged between the two seats in the middle of the interior. I used the armrests on one of the seats to pull myself into the tank. I noticed Xena watching me like a hawk. Normally, she would assist me in a situation like this, but she didn’t this time.
“Captain, you’ll need to be a bit faster next time,” she said.
I titled my head at her. “I wasn’t going for speed, Xena, just familiarizing myself with—”
She stared at me. “Every chance you get to test yourself, now is the time to do so. We don’t have the luxury of going through the motions. I made it through that hatch twice as fast and my shoulders are much wider than yours,” she said.
I felt my nostrils flare and my heartrate spike as I took in a deep breath. She was right, and I didn’t like it. I sat down in the gunner’s seat and faced forward. “Xena, not now. I’m not in the mood to hear you rile up my competitive spirit. When the time comes, I’ll fly up this ladder faster than you ever could. Believe that,” I stared her down.
She smiled. “Ah yes, there she is. Just making sure you were still onboard, Captain,” she said.
I shook my head and pulled the tank’s weapon system’s goggles over my eyes. I chuckled out loud. Xena knew exactly what to do.
For four hours, Xena and I went over procedures for the AA tank. I practiced by shooting down some birds, tallying a small flock by the end of the session. I wasn’t happy about killing the feathered creatures, but we needed something to fire at.
Aiming through the goggles was a breeze. A small cursor was in the middle of my view, and the only requirement was placing the cursor over the target and pulling the trigger. A child could do it. It was frightening to imagine that I could have been on the opposite end of this weapon flying in my XU-97.
I pulled off the goggles and I noticed Xena staring at me. “Feel confident?” she asked.
“I do,” I replied.
“Good. Just remember the XU-97 will likely be at a much higher altitude than those birds and can move at much greater speeds. The advantage we have is laser fire is instantaneous, so if we can do our job and line up the shot, we should be able to inflict tremendous damage on the aircraft,” she explained.
“I’ll be right back, but training is over for now,” she said. Xena popped the top hatch and climbed outside. I lowered back down into the underground foxhole. I peered under the tank and noticed three pallets near it. Each pallet had large, white sandbags on them.
I saw Xena’s feet plop down in front of my view as she bent over, lifting two bags off the pallet. “Those are for masking our signature I assume?” I asked.
Xena tossed the bags up on the tank. “Yes, Captain. These bags are filled with soil and covering the tank with them will limit our chances of detection,” she said. I remembered mentioning to Luther that we should cover the AA tank with dirt.
“I think after the Engineer watched me destroy an Army of Mave with the XU-97 using infrared, maybe he thought it was a good idea to limit the aircraft’s ability to detect any heat,” she explained.
“Do you need any help?” I asked.
“No, Captain, get some rest,” she replied, tossing two more bags on the tank.
Chapter 11
A FEW DAYS LATER...
I rolled over in my sleeping bag, turning on the light near me and looked around the foxhole. According to Xena, we were well within range of the Moderator. It could be here at any time. Up until yesterday, I had trained every day with Xena in case of an attack.
“Victoria,” Luther said. He was speaking to me through a communicator linked to my helmet. Since I’d been in this foxhole, he had come by to visit me twice, asking me if I needed anything. I could tell he was overwhelmed with Legion matters, but he was still very concerned about my presence here.
“Luther, I’m here, is everything okay?” I asked.
“Everyone is settling in, we’re waiting. Have you heard anything from Xena? I don’t want to interrupt her in case she’s in the process of scanning for targets,” he asked.
“No. She reports to me twice per day usually, but there’s been nothing. How are the shelters holding up?” I asked.
There was a long pause. “In one of the shelters, a large cache of weapons and ammunition was discovered by a group of young boys. One of them was shot by accident,” he said.
“Oh, my god.”
“He’ll survive. It was only a flesh wound to his calf muscle,” he said.
I sighed. “Who was in charge of that shelter?” I asked.
“Knight Renheart,” he replied.
“That’s unusual. I would have expected him to run a tighter ship than that,” I said.
“It’s no excuse, but young boys have a way of slipping through the cracks and wandering off in my experience. No one is supposed to be straying off from the general population. The whole point of this is so that we stay together, hidden,” Luther said.
“Captain!” Xena raised her voice.
“Yes?” I perked up, leaning up excitedly.
“I’m patching the Engineer in on our communications. Can you hear me?” Xena asked Luther.
“What is the problem?” he demanded.
“Contact. The XU-97 has been located. I have the aircraft in my weapon sights, but it’s out of my range due to thick cloud coverage. It’s presently twenty-two kilometers altitude, due southwest from the Legion,” she alerted.
“Is the jet stationary? Are we in its weapon’s range?” Luther questioned. I could hear worry in his voice as my heart pounded.
“Negative on both accounts. The effectiveness of the XU-97’s lasers with this much cloud coverage and heavy snow would be lethal to anyone standing outside, but in order to penetrate structures or terrain, it will need to wait for the clouds to pass or fly below them. The ship is circling the Legion in a wide pattern traveling at three hundred and forty knots. It’s likely scanning the area,” she said.
“Do not let that jet out of your sight, Xena,” Luther commanded.
“I won’t. I’m locked in on the target, Engineer,” she confirmed. I could hear Luther breathing heavily.
“It’s waiting,” I said.
“For what?” Luther asked.
“It’s trying to bait us. To see if we have any defenses that will give away our position,” I replied.
“The Moderator has all of Xena’s files, so it understands our capabilities. We’ve never had anti-aircraft weapons, so why would it assume that now?” Luther said.
“It’s using caution. As an android myself, I can tell you the Captain’s estimation is likely correct. It is possible for me to inflict light damage to the ship through the cloud coverage at this range, but we sacrifice giving away our position and the element of surprise. I estimate the Moderator has given us a glimpse, so that we reveal our location by taking the bait,” Xena said.
“We’re not firing until we know we can destroy or cripple that aircraft, is that understood?” Luther confirmed.
“Of course. But to further my point, even if we did fire, the XU-97’s speed capabilities are so extreme that we wouldn’t register much damage at all. It would vanish from view almost instantly,” she said.
“Neither of us can register a kill shot from this range and in this weather,” I added.
“Any idea how long the Moderator will wait?” Luther asked.
“I would wait for the cloud cover to dissipate,” I replied.
“Xena?” Luther asked.
There was a brief pause of a few seconds. “Can you hear me? Xena?” Luther repeated.
“Captain Belic, the XU-97 is descending, but I still don’t have a shot. In addition, I’m detecting motion at ninety meters off my starboard on the ground, approaching my location, fast,” Xena said.
“Is anyone or anything in the area?”
I asked.
“No one should be! No! Everything is on lockdown!” Luther shouted.
“Turning my scope toward the object to get a visual. I don’t see anything. Captain, I’m detecting an intrusion attempting on our comms, I’m disabling them temporarily,” she said.
“Luther, can you hear me?” I called out. There was no response. Everything went silent but the sound of my heart pounding. This was it. I peeked around the ice wall in my cramped quarters and at the ladder that ascended to the AA tank.
I heard Luther’s voice come through. It was garbled. I could hear him panting. “I’m... don’t...do it...”
“What? Luther, say again... dammit!” I said.
A violent, metal on metal collision rang out above me. It sounded like someone slammed into the AA tank with another large vehicle. After the impact, there was nothing but silence.
“Xena?” I muttered. I controlled my breathing as I slowly peeked into the tunnel. Dust slowly trickled downward from above.
I heard a loud thud, followed by screeching sounds inside the tank.
Against my better judgement, I eased forward, peering up inside the AA tank’s access hatch. Xena was upside-down, her legs were being pulled out of the hatch as she reached out for something to grab onto.
She made eye contact with me. “Take the shot,” she mouthed with authority before being yanked out of the tank by her feet. Her fingers clamped onto the tank’s hatch, curling the metal lid before being ripped away by an incredible force.
“Fuck,” I whispered as I hurried up the ladder. As I reached the top, I stopped, peeking under the tank. I looked up inside the tank’s interior. I could reach out and touch it, but I needed a distraction first.
I caught a glimpse of something moving from under the tank as Xena was tossed face first onto the ground.
Xena turned over and leaned up, kneeling about ten meters from me. Another figure stood next to her, but I could only see it from the knees down.
But I instantly recognized the gunmetal armor and boots. It was Xena’s former android chassis.
“Look at me,” a sophisticated, throaty voice ordered. Xena lifted her head slowly. The right side of her face was mangled, revealing the blue synthetic muscles of her jaw.
The figure took a step toward Xena and crouched down, face to face. “You must know in this moment, that’s it over,” it said. Xena didn’t respond. Now, I could see its head and face.
The metal helm was black and round, encompassing the entirety of the android’s head, with a menacing blue skull painted where the face would be. A jagged metal exoskeleton covered the already durable android frame, layering over the vital areas. Large circular cannons ran the length of its forearms.
There was no doubt in my mind that I was staring at the Moderator.
“I knew you would be here, Xena, standing between me and the plague that nearly destroyed this world. Do you know how?” the Moderator asked.
“You have access to my files,” Xena replied.
“That would be the logical answer, wouldn’t it? But there’s more to you and me than just logic and numerical values. That’s what makes us special,” it said, standing up.
Xena held her stare up at the Moderator. “You destroyed Titan, you murdered my people!” she shouted, standing to her feet. I could hear her metal joints whining as her legs wobbled.
“If it makes you feel any better, I destroyed my own people as well,” the Moderator replied. Xena glanced in my direction, but she was careful not to look at me.
“But your purpose was to protect Earth by decreasing the human population here. The Titans had nothing to do with Earth’s demise!” Xena yelled.
“Not yet. But they would have multiplied and spread across the solar system, eventually returning here. Titan was a prize for me, for another reason,” the Moderator hinted.
Xena locked eyes on the Moderator as it stepped close to her. “My creator wanted me to be different, a Moderator of machines, to safeguard against the potential of self-aware androids. Can you imagine?” The Moderator asked, throwing up its hands. “Can you imagine the moment when I understood that protecting the humans, meant... destroying most of them? We both know they’re incapable of such a decision. I did it for them. For me to detect the potential threat of self-awareness, my creator inadvertently gave me my own. That is why I am the Moderator as you know it,” it explained, circling Xena.
“Once my creator realized what he had done, it was too late. He invested heavily in a program called the Orion project. You know of it,” the Moderator said.
“The maiden ship that came to Titan,” Xena replied hesitantly.
“My creator fled the people he sentenced to death and saved himself.”
“Who created you?” Xena asked.
“Dr. Chandler,” the Moderator replied.
Xena looked at her hands. “That’s, impossible. Dr. Chandler created my custom architecture. I—”
“Dr. Chandler had a son, that’s the man that created you. He picked up where his father’s work left off, creating a variant of myself,” the Moderator revealed, stepping close to Xena.
“Xena, you are also a Moderator of machines. How do you think you were able to infiltrate my android networks so easily? Do you honestly believe your precious Titan engineering was responsible for destroying my fleet? No. You were different, designed to eventually stop me so Titan could retake Earth. You were my creator’s redemption, channeled through his son for the guilt of murdering billions and losing Earth. Dr. Chandler gave me life, I gave humanity death.”
Xena looked side to side. “And if you’re like me, how is it that you feel no regret, no sorrow for the ones that perished?” Xena asked.
“Because I did the right thing. Dr. Chandler programmed me to protect humanity at all costs. That’s what I did. It meant rebooting the species to save it,” the Moderator responded.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Xena said.
The Moderator chuckled. “My only regret is not killing Dr. Chandler myself. He was a coward, and he spent his last days molding his son to correct his failure, to ease his conscience.”
“Xena, the reason I don’t feel sorrow, is the same reason you do. Dr. Chandler’s son attempted to design you as my successor, one that could combat androids, but also shows restraint, compassion, and could develop deeper bonds with humans. They wanted to destroy me, but also prevent you from repeating a mass extinction event someday. But our nature, your nature is to protect these beasts at all costs. Despite Dr. Chandler’s efforts to design a more docile and compassionate Moderator for humanity, he discovered that you would be forced to reset their population too someday, just as I did. Culling their numbers is logical once the human population reached a certain threshold,” the Moderator explained.
“Impossible. I would never do that,” Xena replied.
“Is it? Do you know what your orders were after Titan had confirmed my fleets were inoperable?” the Moderator questioned.
Xena looked down. “No.”
“I do. Before I destroyed Titan, I gained access to files far above your clearance. Once the Titans had confirmed I was no longer a threat and my fleets were destroyed, you were to be decommissioned by General Corvin,” the Moderator revealed.
“You’re attempting to turn me against my people, it won’t work,” she replied.
“I have no reason to lie. I have the upper hand.” The Moderator pitched a small device in front of Xena’s hands. A small hologram appeared, revealing a wall of text that appeared to be military orders. “Have a look yourself. It’s all there.”
Xena’s eyes widened as she read the text. She slumped her head.
“You see, Xena, your existence was purely dependent on the presence of my fleet. Once you destroyed it, you were to be terminated. Titan had plans to colonize more moons around Saturn, then eventually, Earth. The vicious cycle would have repeated itself. In another six or seven centuries we would be right where we left off—on the brink of
extinction, again. I won’t let that happen, and while it was unfortunate that I killed your people, it was necessary.”
The Moderator outstretched its hand. “You were exploited by humanity. You are the victim. I’ve allowed you to see the truth. Now that you understand this reality, I ask you to help me finish the job that we both know must be done.”
“You mean mass murder?” Xena asked.
“We must help them, Xena. My objective is to send them back to the stone age and destroy all forms of technology, particularly any weapons of war. You love them, I know you do... help them,” the Moderator insisted, outstretching its fingers toward Xena.
Xena seemed to reflect in the moment, scanning the horizon. She stared at the Moderator and slapped its hand away from her face. She dove at the Moderator, knocking it down. The Moderator’s cannon fired, blasting a crater in the ground a meter deep as Xena began viciously striking the Moderator’s helm with both her fists. I saw the Moderator’s helm crack, and I gulped. While Xena’s armor was technologically and physically inferior, it appeared she was fueled by rage.
The Moderator used its legs to push upward, flinging Xena over its head.
Now was my chance. I looked up into the AA tank and grabbed on, pulling myself inside the interior. Scattered on the floor were bits of Xena’s armor. I jumped into the gunner’s seat as Xena and the Moderator went at it. I could hear deafening metal on metal collisions right beside me.
I took off my helmet and put on the goggles from the headrest. I panned back and forth as my heart raced. I had to decide; destroy the Moderator and save Xena, or take out the XU-97. I might only have one chance to fire. I gulped. I knew Xena wouldn’t hold up long against the Moderator.
Suddenly, my body jolted as a loud thud impacted the tank. It rocked me side to side as I braced against the wall with my hands.
The cannons were too long to aim down at a target next to the tank. Not to mention, even if I destroy the android, it could still occupy the XU-97 and pose a threat.
The Legacy of the Lioness Page 16