The Legion and the Lioness (World Apart Book 1)

by Robert D. Armstrong

  I thought about my journey, where it started against the androids and where it was now. This could be the end, but if any human can fly this craft against overwhelming odds, I was that pilot. I was the best in my class at flight school, and when the androids came calling against Earth, I was the Navy’s first choice time and time again.

  We might not win, but I would make them work for it. They would remember me as the worst enemy they’d ever faced. The Baron of Earth they would call me. This was payback. For Earth. For my family and everyone I ever knew. But most of all, Luther. Their attack on me likely cost us decades of time that was irreplaceable.

  The glimmer of hope that he might be alive became a precious jewel in my mind. What if there was time left for us? The chance of this was enough alone for me take them on. One single day with him was enough for me to take on four, four hundred, or four million destroyers by myself. I didn’t give a fuck.

  I pushed the throttle forward slowly as I held down the brake. “Captain, do you wish to assume full control of the XU-97?” Xena asked.

  “Oh. I’m in control, believe me.” I gritted my teeth.

  “Very well. I thought maybe I would break through the atmosphere, allow you to collect your thoughts first. I remember reading logs of successful pilots who would meditate before a mission in some way. I thought I would allow you a moment,” she explained.

  “I’ve been meditating for seventy-two years, let me back at `em,” I replied. Drake grinned, but it quickly flattened out. He knitted his dark brows together as his wide eyes reflected the gravity of the situation.

  “You good?” I asked.

  “Y-yeah.” He dipped his head.

  “Are you worried because I don’t have much experience with this ship?” I asked.

  “No. I’m not. On the training run you were already doing things I’ve never seen before. You’re a natural pilot.”

  “I’ll need your help,” I said.

  “Tell me what to do.”

  “I want you to triangulate incoming fire origins. Even if it’s just visual markers you can give me. Twelve o’clock high for example. More than likely, they’ll see us a threat over the drones, and I need to have an idea of where they’re firing from. I’m going to use the size of the ships against them, use angles to figure out weaknesses in their defenses and use their positioning against them.”

  “Explain what you mean by using their positioning against them,” he said.

  “Simple. If one destroyer is focusing on us, I’ll use another one as cover, put it between us and the threat location. I’ll force them to hold their fire or destroy their own. Basic.”

  “What if they’re all firing on us?” he asked.

  I looked over at Drake. “Then we’ll probably be killed. Just give me the callouts. Okay?”

  “I’m thinking the area around the sensor domes will be heavily defended,” he said.

  “More than likely,” I replied.

  “Clear for takeoff, Captain,” Xena said. I scanned the path ahead with a holographic display that cut through the pink mist.

  “Roger. On it. In five, four, three, two, one.” I pushed the throttle forward about ten percent, pinning our heads back in the seat.

  “Shit,” I said. As the engines spooled up it was quickly replaced by the sound of whipping winds as we were catapulted outside. I pulled up the nose, lifting off. My visor displayed a marker, showcasing a muted orange outline of the Abraruss.

  “Target data received,” Drake said. I tilted the nose nearly straight up, pushing through the lower atmosphere in seconds.

  As I guided the XU-97 through the now upper atmosphere, I began to hear what sounded like a large flock of birds underneath us.

  “That noise, hear it?” I asked.

  “It’s our drones. Portside low...and, well starboard, too,” Drake said. I scanned out of the portside and I could see thousands of metallic objects catching up to us slowly.

  It reminded me of a plant stem growing from the ground in fast motion, like cells building atop one another to gain height. By now, it was dozens of kilometers tall. As it grew closer, I could see the gaps of atmosphere in between the metallic drones. I backed off the throttle allowing them to catch up.

  “Whoa! That’s close,” I mumbled as the flock rushed by, creating a swooshing sound as turbulence shifted our trajectory slightly.

  From here, the drones reminded me of robotic silvery stingrays, flapping their wings as tiny thrusters propelled them upward. They appeared different from the drones I remembered from training a few days ago.

  “There’s so many of them.” Drake’s eyes bulged and bounced around. The drones were beautiful and the scale of the numbers was slightly terrifying. Two hundred thousand seemed like an underestimate as they filled our view.

  As we broke through the top layer of clouds, sunlight hit their wings, reflecting into the cockpit. My visor automatically tinted, giving me a view I will never forget. The unified mass seemed to bank hard in unison in front us, as if to say hello, and quite possibly, goodbye.

  “They’re very different from the others,” I noticed.

  “They evolve daily, they can change shape at will for different situations,” Xena said.

  “For the better, let’s hope.” I looked straight toward the flagship destroyer. I powered ahead of the drones with ease, breaking through the upper atmosphere as the pink haze around us turned black. Xena unbuckled, storming to the back of the craft. I could hear her rummaging around behind us.

  “The hell?” I whispered. A grinding sound erupted, like a drill, followed by a snap. This repeated several times.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  Drake glanced over his shoulder. “She’s changing clothes.” He grinned.

  “Well, hurry it up and pick an outfit.” I peered around and couldn’t believe what I saw. Xena was headed back to her seat, but she was unrecognizable.

  The large holes in her exoskeleton had snapped into a larger set of black armor. Two massive cannons the size of grapefruits extended down her forearms with blue lights pulsating down each side. She wore a helmet that was sinister; the shape of a coal black skull with huge canine teeth painted where the mouth would be. The eyes were also painted over the helm, like two blue flames.

  “Ready,” she said.

  “Looks that way,” I replied.

  “If possible, get me close to that ship, within five hundred meters. I will jettison myself through the shaft,” she said.

  “You’ll what?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at Drake.

  “I thought she was expensive? Guess it doesn’t matter now.” I asked, heading toward the destroyer. My visor alerted me we’d be in estimated threat range within sixteen minutes.

  “She is expensive. They’ve put a lot of time into making her a direct-action unit. She’s built for the big show,” he said.

  “Putting a lot of eggs in one basket.”

  “Well, they woke you up, so we have our legendary pilot, an upgraded ship, drone army, and demigod android. Not bad.” He raised an eyebrow.

  “And most of those are on this ship, ready to be blown to hell with one lucky shot,” I said.

  “I calculate our chances are quite good. Despite the destroyers’ sheer scale, we have a vast number of allies,” Xena explained. A static sound garbled from the holographic display in front of me.

  “Captain, this is Corvin. We see you are approaching the battle group,” he said. The transmission cleared up.

  “Fourteen minutes until they are within estimated attack range,” I replied.

  “Understood. Be cautious to their capabilities, our overestimates are based on intelligence from their moon bombings, but we’re unsure of their actual defensive capabilities,” he said.

  “Ah, roger that, General,” I replied.

  “Corvin out,” he said. I stared at the icon on my visor’s HUD. We were coming right at them, and I didn’t like it.

  “Captain, remember we have a stealth flight
mode called chameleon. It makes us invisible to all known sensors while projecting a light bending shell around us, deeming us virtually undetectable,” Xena reminded.

  “I know, but it sacrifices speed, right?” I asked.

  “The ship is limited to fourteen percent of its thruster capabilities in this mode. The effectiveness of the cloak is hindered because of the thruster emission,” she explained.

  “Never mind then. Just be ready on my mark,” I said.

  “Very well. If we continue this approach, it’s highly recommended we use chameleon,” she added.

  “Noted,” I said. For whatever reason, I thought about the school children I saw lining up for class earlier. They were likely huddled together with their parents now, tucked away in some underground shelter waiting to die. I imagined the faint sounds of alarms blaring as their parents attempted to comfort their fears.

  I thought about Xena’s warning as she grabbed me around the collar, piercing me with her wintry eyes. The cold blue was coming for those children and I was the only human war veteran between them.

  It made me realize how much had been thrown in my lap, the implications, the scale of my choices. I could feel the pressure whipping through my body like a coil of stress, but it wasn’t just because of the innocent civilians or even Luther. Deep down, I wanted to win. And I thought I knew how.

  I slammed the throttle toward Saturn at nearly forty percent power, away from the android fleet.

  “Whoa, where are we going? Holy, damn! No, not that fast!” Drake put his hands over his visor. I imagined his butt cheeks clenching together as he squirmed in his seat.

  “Captain, I must inform you, we will reach Saturn in only a few seconds,” Xena said.

  “I got it,” I said. The gas giant instantly grew in front of me, filling up much of the cabin’s field of view as I backed off the throttle.

  “Sorry, the power is a bit intoxicating,” I confessed. Drake did a double take at me before staring straight ahead. I knew he thought I was at least half-crazy.

  The rings were only a few hundred kilometers in front of us. We were staring at the edge of the disk. I could see clusters of ice boulders that must have formed sections a few kilometers thick. I reoriented myself to the android battle group now behind us.

  “They’re gaining on Titan. They’ll be in range soon,” Drake observed. I could hear the lump in his throat.

  “How much longer until the drones engage them?” I snapped around, questioning Xena.

  “Retrieving their camera feed...eight to ten minutes, maximum,” she said.

  “I’m less than twelve seconds away from them at a full throttle approach according to my indicator. We’re fine,” I said.

  “Why are we out here?” Drake posed.

  “Xena. Tell me. What do you think I’m doing?” I asked. She panned back toward the androids, then at Saturn.

  “You’re waiting until the destroyers have the maximum number of targets in their field of view, then we will likely attack from behind?” she asked.

  “Yes. The sheer number of targets on their bow will aid us,” I said.

  “If we launch our attack in the next eight minutes, this strategy will engage the android battle group at a safe distance. Their orbital guns cannot reach Titan per the data we collected from the moon bombings,” Xena said.

  “Drake, this is Corvin, why is the XU-97 stationary?”

  “General, we—”

  “Corvin. I did that intentionally,” I interrupted Drake. I waited for a response, but there was nothing. I pointed the nose of the XU-97 back at the destroyers, slowly increasing speed.

  “Xena, engage hawken flight mode.” The ship’s hull and materials began to slowly fade out of view until the blackness of space surrounded me. I could faintly see my throttle control and emergency system interface just above it. I glanced back at Saturn, this time as if I was floating in space beside it.

  “That’s not any less amazing the second time,” I mumbled.

  “Yeah, let’s hope it isn’t the last time.” Drake stared on.

  “You know, those protesters that marched yesterday, they had it right,” I said.

  “What?” Drake asked.

  “Someone told me that one of the organizers of the protest was an astrologist. He noticed comets headed from Earth to Titan. He warned us,” I explained.

  Drake sighed. “They’ve been saying those sort of things for years.”

  “Well, just so you know, he was right this time.”

  “Xena, can those cannons on your arms breach the destroyers’ hull?” I asked.

  “Yes, Captain.”

  “Good, I want you to enter the jettison tube now and seal the interior airlock. Then I want you to hang your upper torso outside the exterior hatch, in space, pinned against your body so that you can fire at targets. Can you make that happen?” I asked.

  “Processing. It’s a very unconventional strategy, but could possibly provide additional firepower with my suit’s mounted guns. My torso swivels three hundred and sixty degrees as well,” she replied.

  “Do it,” I said.

  Drake narrowed his eyes at me. “What the hell made you think of that?” he asked. I shrugged. It just popped in my head.

  “The drones will be in strike range in four minutes,” Xena said. I thought about something that struck me as odd. Were there differences between my ship AI and the android Xena? They were supposedly one in the same for tactical reasons, but I wondered if there were variations.

  “Xena, if for whatever reason we’re unresponsive for more than several seconds, continue tearing into the flagship sensor domes until it goes down,” I ordered the ship.

  “What if you require medical attention?” she asked. I paused for a second. Luther popped in my head.

  “Keep firing on the destroyer.” I hesitated, I could feel Drake’s eyes on me.

  “Understood,” Xena said.

  “They’ve engaged our drones, Captain,” Xena noted. I gulped. It had begun.

  I slammed the throttle forward as the four rust colored destroyers appeared in view. I pulled back, deaccelerating.

  “Engage cloak! Hold your fire until I give the word!” I yelled at Xena. We could see the four massive destroyers under us. They were five thousand meters away, each of them had their bows pointed toward Titan.

  Each ship must have been a thousand meters long or more. They appeared somewhat crude and jagged, like a floating wedge while maintaining an intimidating, ominous presence.

  I observed the drone’s assault. They seemed to be using small lasers that emitted from the middle of their bodies. They were mostly concentrating on the android’s thrusters, while others were using self-sacrificing tactics, boosting toward anti-aircraft weapons and crashing into them in a ball of fire.

  “All their attention is directed forward, at the drones,” Drake insisted. I could see our allies looping around in the distance as small orange blooms erupted from the destroyers’ decks.

  Sections of the drone formation disappeared with each outburst as Titan loomed in the background. I stared through them at the small moon. Humanity had traded the cushy atmospheric conditions of Earth for the toxicity and frigidness of Titan, but even that meager existence was too much. They didn’t just want us off Earth, they wanted us extinct.

  “We’re losing a lot of drones,” I mumbled.

  “The one in the rear, that’s the flagship!” Drake shouted.

  “I see it.”

  “They don’t have any idea we’re here yet.” I throttled directly above it.

  “Ah. There’s the bridge.” Drake scanned, pointing to a cylinder object aft of mid-ship. It protruded from the ship about forty meters by sixty meters in diameter.

  “You’re sure?” I asked.

  “That’s gotta be it. Those domes on each side look exactly like the ones Corvin showed us,” Drake confirmed.

  I zoomed in with my long-range optics, pitching the craft on an oblique approach to the destroy
er.

  “We see what you’re looking at, Captain. Those in question are in fact the domes. I repeat, those are the targets, people. Take those out and it will cripple their orbital gun capability,” Corvin ordered.

  “Five seconds, I’m opening fire, get ready.” I tightened my grip around the flight stick. As we approached, rapid flashes of light illuminated our cockpit as they laid waste to our drones.

  “Captain, it’s possible once we engage it will reveal our position,” Xena said.

  “Understood.” I felt sweat running down my forehead. I could hear my heart pounding as I began to control my breathing. The guns attacking the drones were quite intimidating. Dozens of refrigerator-sized guns swiveled in all directions, ripping through our drones with rapid fire pulses of energy. I imagined them all turning toward us once I engaged.

  No turning back now.

  “Decloak once I give the order to attack. I’ll take the extra speed without the cloak engaged,” I said.

  “Very well,” Xena said.

  I held my stare and the proposed target. I began to squint, centering my view on the dome.

  “We don’t have much time!” Drake roared.

  “Fire!”

  Xena scorched the portside dome beside the tower with a beam of white energy. Debris ejected out into space as our drones began to fill up my field of view like a swarm of bees hovering around a wounded intruder.

  “Target down, but we gotta move. We gotta move now! Their guns are training in on our position!” Drake shouted.

  “Taking fire,” Xena said calmly.

  “It’s the aft guns, they have a fix on us! Move!” Drake pointed.

  “I see `em!” I darted straight at the destroyer, its hull quickly filled our view.

  “What are you doing?” Drake yelled. I pulled up the nose just before impacting the bridge. I swooped across the colossal craft, then darted underneath it. I began to loop the destroyer at extremely close range, weaving in and out of metallic crevasses, antennas, and mounted guns within a few meters of collision.

  “Whoa, whoa!” Drake shouted as I blasted around the destroyer at hundreds of kilometers per hour. I circled back around topside as Xena charred several targets.