The Reclamation and the Lioness

by Robert D. Armstrong

“Any idea why the hell they’re attacking you?” Leo yelled at Sylass, shielding me with his only arm.

  “Maybe they’re a band of raiders looking to commandeer our shelter,” Sylass guessed.

  “Give me access to one of your aircraft!” I yelled at Sylass.

  “To do what?” Sylass asked.

  “Something besides stand here and die! All this damn firepower and you’re powerless to use it!” I shouted.

  Sylass stared at the ship across the hangar bay. I stepped close to him. “Keeping this colony operational is for the betterment of mankind. If you can’t defend this ship, at least let us do it. There’s no sense in all of us dying!” I yelled.

  Sylass paused. He nodded slowly and slumped his head. “Noted... Access to the freighter is... temporarily granted, but you will not receive any further assistance from us,” he said, turning his back on me.

  “Leo, come on!” I yelled, donning my helmet. We ran past dozens of androids frozen in place like statues. I could hear the engine of the freighter firing up as we approached. The rear gate dropped as I rushed onboard with Leo in tow.

  This ship was larger than my XU-97 and less aggressively shaped. It was more utility, less sports car. There was a small cargo bay in the back of the craft, which had open doors on each side. The port side had a mounted minigun turret.

  I ran through a small hatch and into the cockpit, then sat in the pilot’s seat. The controls were crude but familiar. I had flown a similar freighter in flight school. These LU-class haulers were reliable tin cans.

  “You can fly it, right?” Leo asked, his eyes wide.

  “Yes,” I replied.

  The hangar door to my right began to open as I yanked the flight stick toward it, waiting. Another mortar impacted as a stack of cargo bins in front of us toppled over, striking the front of the ship. “Shit. Come on!” I yelled as the slow-moving door crept open.

  “Can I do anything to help?” Leo asked while looking over the instrument panel.

  “Not up here. Go. Get on that gun turret, portside,” I said. Leo stared down at his arm. I looked up at him as snow flurries rushed into the hangar. “Just do the best you can,” I said. The man only had one arm, after all.

  Sunlight beamed inside the hangar. The door gave me just enough room to squeeze through. I darted out of the hanger as a whizzing sound rocketed by the aircraft. A projectile slammed into the ice next to us, creating a crater the size of a washing machine. Debris flung up, peppering the glass.

  “Get us out of here!” Leo yelled. I gained altitude in a hurry, reaching over two-thousand meters in several seconds.

  “Do you have a visual?” I yelled back toward Leo. I could hear and feel the wind rushing in from the open doors in the cargo bay.

  “Ah-h, west. Go west about six hundred meters!” Leo shouted.

  I pushed forward as snow flurries pelted the large forward glass. “There! Stop! I have visual and a shot,” he said.

  “How many?” I asked.

  “Maybe fifty. I can’t see any weapons other than the mortar station, but they’re loading another shell,” Leo said.

  I wanted to tell him to open fire, but I hesitated. I was waiting for him to do it without my instruction. Nearly ten seconds passed. “Leo?”

  “Uh. Victoria... should I? They’re human... I just... They’re like us,” he asked.

  I bit my lip. “Leo, I thought these androids were our allies,” I demanded.

  “Well, they are, but I don’t know! I have no idea why these people are being so aggressive,” he said.

  I sighed loudly. Was it better to defend the machines that promised to help us or kill our own kind? Leo was obviously struggling with the decision even more than I was. I had been in this situation before, ordering others to kill.

  “Dammit,” I muttered. I engaged autopilot in a hover above the targets and unbuckled my safety belt. I stormed back to the gun. “Leo, move.”

  “What?” he asked, confused.

  “I’m not asking you to do this,” I said.

  He stared at me. I noticed his eyes were glossed over. “Women, men... They’re human. They probably have families somewhere,” he said.

  “And so do we. Families at the Legion are counting on us to make the right call, but I’m not asking you to do this,” I said.

  Leo gritted his teeth and held his stare at me. “I’ve never slaughtered people like this. They’re like sitting ducks, but... I’ll do it if I have to,” he said, shaking his head.

  “No, you won’t,” I said, ripping him away from the gun by his shoulder. “Move!” I shouted. He resisted, but not enough to stop me when he could have.

  “What the hell is your problem?” he asked.

  I aimed the gun turret down at the hostiles. I zoomed in with my helmet’s built-in binoculars. I could see a few people starting to scatter. I assumed they knew we were a threat from above.

  The mortar crew remained in position, tucked beside the capsized destroyer. There were six of them. A man in a fur coat hesitantly grabbed a shell from a stack of ammunition and handed it off to the loader. He stood still when he saw us, staring up at our aircraft like a field mouse cautious of a circling hawk.

  I swiveled the gun toward the ammunition stockpile and reached out for the trigger. I felt my finger touch the cold steel as I inhaled the chilly air howling into the ship.

  I closed one eye and lined up the holographic reflex scope with the target, putting the red dot on the weapons stockpile. I sighed loudly. The entire mortar crew was looking up at me now. They were defenseless. “Fuck,” I muttered.

  I hoped the rest of them would just run away in fear. I wanted to bluff them out of this fight by showcasing air superiority. The mortar crew wasn’t leaving. All at once, they aimed their rifles up at us. “Taking small arms fire!” Leo peered over the edge of the opening before ducking inside.

  “I know.” I could hear bullets zipping by. “No way around it.” I gritted my teeth and pulled the trigger as a beam of white light zapped the ammunition stockpile.

  It only took one shot. A ball of fire taller than the adjacent pine trees billowed into the air. Streaks of fire zipped through the air in all directions as some of the ammunition went off like fireworks. A small shockwave nudged us slightly.

  “Damn!” Leo yelled.

  People were screaming and running from the streaking fireballs. I saw two men on fire and rolling on the snow-covered ground. The unfortunate souls next to the blast were melted in less than a second.

  I panted heavily as my hand shook. Leo leaned over me. “I don’t think they’re a threat anymore,” he said. I could feel him staring at me. “Why... Why did you feel so fucking obligated to do that? I was willing,” he said.

  I slumped my head as my heart pounded. I didn’t know how to tell him, but I couldn’t ask him to kill those people. I had witnessed in my past what this could do to a person. Leo was still reeling from an extraordinary amount of pain after losing his father, and I couldn’t lay more on him. There was a part of me that believed Leo was on the edge, and surprisingly, I was willing to take on the burden of killing those people for him.

  A loud static sound grumbled from the cockpit. I rushed toward it. “Leo, Victoria, do you come in?”

  “Who am I speaking to?” I asked.

  “Sylass. We saw the explosion. It seems to have driven the attackers away. We’re entering the combat zone to search for survivors of the blast. I would appreciate it if you docked the LU-class freighter and waited for my return,” he said.

  I paused for a moment. Why didn’t he ask me for assistance? I was flying an aircraft that could easily transport the wounded. Perhaps he was concerned for our safety. Maybe there were more enemy combatants lurking in the area.

  “Roger, returning to the carrier,” I said, descending slowly as I stared into the smoke trail from the blast.

  I heard Leo’s footsteps approaching. He stopped just before the hatch to the cockpit. I turned around and noticed him biting
his lip. He seemed concerned. “What?” I asked as he stared through me.

  He raised his eyebrows. “The Engineer is on the comms. He wants to talk to you,” Leo said.

  I gulped. “Have you responded at all?” I asked.

  “No, it’s on mute,” Leo replied.

  I sighed, staring up at the ceiling for a moment. I turned around and looked Leo right in the eyes. “Give me the device and unmute it.”

  “What are you going to say?” he asked.

  “Leo... trust me,” I said, outstretching my hand. He hesitantly handed over the thumb-sized device.

  I removed my helmet after we landed inside the ship’s hangar bay. The door closed as dozens of androids stared at us.

  I cleared my throat. “Luther?” I asked, pressing in a small earpiece connected to the device.

  “Where... are you?” he demanded.

  “Sitting inside the pilot seat of a beautiful LU-class freighter,” I replied.

  I could hear him breathing for a few moments. It was obvious he wasn’t pleased with us. “What do the androids want from the Legion?” he asked.

  “Our help. They want our assistance on an assault mission against the android Moderator, to ensure they’re unable to recover and pose a threat,” I replied.

  “That’s not our fight!” he roared.

  “I know that, but they offered to assist us with the Mave afterward—”

  “Since you’ve left, two more Mave infiltrators have surfaced. Nineteen of my people were killed before they were cut down. We are at war, Victoria! We are not at liberty to go fighting sleeping giants yet. The Mave is our fight!” he said.

  I slumped my head. “And we need this freighter if we’re going to have a chance,” I replied.

  “Leo is with you, I presume?” Luther asked.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “I want to speak with him,” he demanded.

  “Luther, he’s speaking with the androids. I—”

  “Listen to me. I want you and Leo to negotiate. We’ll assist the androids after we’ve dealt with the Mave. Make those machines understand that we need their help now. If we don’t stop the Architect, there won’t be any humans left in the Legion to protect... or to help them fight the Moderator,” he said.

  “Luther—”

  “I don’t know which one of you two cooked up this idea to disobey my orders, but there was a reason I sent someone in your stead, Victoria. Knight Renheart was my choice because he’s a skilled negotiator. You forced yourself into this position, and now, you’ll have to pull it off,” Luther said. I could sense he was boiling mad, but he was doing everything in his power to maintain his composure over the comms. If only he knew what had transpired.

  I gritted my teeth. “Luther, we’ll make it work,” I said.

  A few moments went by without a word. I could hear him breathing. Ahead, dozens of androids entered the hangar bay, carrying body bags and burn victims on stretchers. I gulped as one of them was screaming loudly, half his body scorched and blackened.

  “God,” Leo muttered.

  “Who is yelling? What’s going on over there?” Luther demanded.

  “Uh, there... was a drifter. A nomad with... frostbite. The androids are giving him first aid now,” I lied.

  “Victoria,” he said.

  “Yes?”

  “Make the deal with the androids and stay close to Leo,” he said.

  “I will,” I said. I heard his comms mute. I handed the earpiece and device back to Leo as I stared through the burn victim in front of me. I was in a daze as two androids in white lab coats assessed his wounds.

  “What’s the plan?” Leo asked.

  “Uh. Luther wants us to convince the androids to help the Legion against the Mave, first. Two more infiltrators attacked the Legion since we’ve been gone. Nineteen dead.”

  Leo sighed. “Dammit... There’s no telling how many have embedded themselves within the Legion.”

  “That’s the scary part,” I said.

  “I’m guessing he wasn’t thrilled about our decision to disobey him,” Leo said, leaning against the metal hatch.

  I shrugged and grinned. “Yeah. Our decision.”

  “Yeah, ours,” he said.

  I raised my eyebrows. “Honestly, I expected Luther to be more upset than he was, but what can he really do now? We’re already here and he has a lot on his plate,” I said. I wondered if the real reason Luther kept his composure was because he felt I was safer here instead of at the Legion. After all, I was specifically being targeted by the Mave.

  I noticed Leo following something with his eyes. He nodded outside the ship as Sylass approached. “Here comes our favorite android,” Leo said. I could hear Sylass boarding the ship as his footsteps crept closer.

  “Do you wanna talk, or should I?” I asked.

  “I got it,” Leo replied, turning his back to me.

  Sylass stopped a few paces from Leo. “The hostiles have been repelled. It’s unfortunate that human life was lost, but thank you,” he said.

  “You’re welcome. But if I may, you might want to find a workaround to your rules of engagement concerning humans. You might have to defend yourselves when we’re not around,” Leo said.

  Sylass looked outside the ship. “Perhaps. We’re treating several of the wounded, but I don’t expect many of them to survive, unfortunately,” he said.

  “Who were they?” I asked.

  “Nomads. I assume a collection of drifters that banded together over a period of time,” he replied.

  Leo narrowed his eyes at Sylass. “I’m not as versed in the wasteland as some, but I’ve never seen that many nomads traveling together,” he said.

  “Neither have we. If there are survivors, we’ll be sure to question them, but I would wager they followed our scouts back here and were looking to seize our home. It only makes sense. This warship is well protected and insulated from the elements,” Sylass speculated.

  “Which makes it even more bizarre they would attack such a well-fortified position. Those nomads weren’t well armed. Basically a mortar team and some small arms,” I said.

  Sylass crossed his arms. He began to tap his spiny metal fingers against his forearm. “As I said, we will conduct an investigation.”

  “And the Legion would be very curious to see your findings,” Leo said.

  Sylass nodded slowly. “We will provide you those details once we have them. So when can we expect to hear the Engineer’s decision regarding our proposal to destroy the android Moderator?”

  Leo glanced back at me before turning toward Sylass. “We just spoke with him, actually. We’re not capable of providing any assistance. Not now.”

  Sylass’s glowing blue eyes widened. “Why?”

  “Sylass, the Legion is under siege by a new variant of the Mave. We call them infiltrators. They appear human, but they’re not. The issue is, we’ve taken on hundreds of refugees in the last months and we don’t know who the threat is. Long story short, we cannot afford to send Legion knights off to fight. Not now. We’re spread thin as it is,” Leo explained.

  Sylass turned his back to us. He turned his head so we could see his face. “I was aware of a disturbance at the Legion. In case you’ve forgotten, we have sentries at your gates. Their ears are our ears, but we were unsure of the specific circumstances regarding your troop strength,” he said.

  Leo paused for a few moments. “There is a way we can still work together. Do you think you could help us first?”

  “How?” Sylass asked.

  Leo stepped toward Sylass. “We want to mount an offensive against the Architect. Cut off the snake’s head, and the body will die,” he said. Neona flashed into my mind. I wondered if she was in fact infected. What would be her fate?

  “There is no evidence to my knowledge that eliminating the Architect will destroy her minions,” Sylass said.

  “But it could send them into disarray. Not to mention, we’ve got no other option,” I said.

  Sylass
paused for a few moments. “Well then. Give us an hour to give you an answer. In the meantime, follow me,” Sylass replied.

  Suddenly, I heard a man screaming. I looked up through the forward viewing glass to see a man, crawling on all fours, burst through the hatch. “No-o-o!” he yelled. His eyes were bulging as he looked over his shoulder. His face and arms were badly burnt, and his fur clothes were seared onto his skin in places.

  Two androids in lab coats pursued the adrenaline-filled man as he scampered across the hangar bay’s deck for several meters. He collapsed, yelling something I couldn’t understand as the androids restrained him.

  I shot up out of my seat, walked through the hatch, and stormed toward the exit. Sylass stuck out his arm, stopping me.

  “Move. I want to speak to that man,” I said.

  “It could be dangerous,” he replied. I stared into Sylass’s glowing eyes and pushed his arm away. He allowed me to move it, turning his head. Leo followed close behind me. I glanced over my shoulder at him and noticed Leo’s lowered eyebrows. He seemed just as determined to figure out more about who these people were.

  We marched toward the man as he yelled and tossed and turned while the medical androids attempted to calm him. As we approached, the man’s head whipped toward us.

  He was a white male with piercing green eyes and a fiery red beard. He appeared feral, like a wild animal suddenly thrust into captivity. His eyes widened when he saw me. “Bitch!” he snarled.

  “Ma’am, it’s recommended that you maintain your distance,” one of the medical androids said.

  The man panted angrily as he glared up at me. “You! It was you, wasn’t it? You fucking killed our men!”

  “Sir, you’ve attacked the wrong androids. These machines are here to help humanity,” I said.

  The man chuckled as he stared through me. “They killed the only man that could help humanity! They killed our leader,” he said, looking up at the androids. He kicked one of them with little effect.

  Leo stepped forward. “What are you talking about?”

  The man looked Leo up and down. “You’re with the Legion, aren’t you?”

  Leo glanced at me. “That’s right.”

  “Let me guess. Sylass wants you to help him in his crusade to destroy the Moderator? To save humanity? Huh?” he demanded. He gritted his teeth in pain.