Chapter 2
Action On The Border

They say time flies and indeed it's true. In a blink of an eye, Kiara grows from a newborn into a strong-headed young cub who is both curious and wild hearted. That hasn't stopped her father from keeping tabs on her however. His paranoia has led to him asking Pumbaa and Timon, and sometimes even his human bodyguard to keep tabs on her. There were times when the drone employed by Dornaus, which was used for surveillance and border patrol, was diverted to scout out the cub's activities.

Fortunately for Kiara, her father didn't like the idea of droning someone. He only used the drone sparsely since he still wanted to show her that he allowed some freedom of movement. Besides, the drone's primary mission was to conduct surveillance operations and patrol the border. Most would probably wonder where the drones were being flown from since there was no airbase within the Pridelands.

Truth is, like the Little Bird, the Drone belonged to Magnum Security. They were first generation UCAVs developed and produced by the Dallas Aerospace And Defense Company, a subsidiary of Magnum Security, which in itself was a subsidiary of the global corporation known as Eagle Eye, owned by none other than Dixon himself. Kind of hard to imagine that a former serviceman would go on to become the owner of a corporation but that's fate for you. His father, James Magnum, started the business years ago and he was taking over the family business.

Anyways, back to the story.

Sunrise. And Kiara was up and awake. She was excited, since every new day brought about new adventures. The cub runs out from the royal den and was about to leave Pride Rock when her father stops her. He was being overprotective again, warning her about the dangers beyond the borders and warning her not to stray from the path he marked for her. Yes, the king LITERALLY marked a path for his own daughter to mark.

Nala smiles as she watched her daughter take off. The youngling reminded her of her husband when he was young. Simba always looked for adventure during his younger days and he usually took her along. The two got into all sorts of trouble, like nearly getting their asses eaten by Hyenas for example. And now Kiara inherits her father's thirst for adventure and curiosity.

As the cub runs through the lush and prosperous plains of the Pridelands, she comes across the compound owned by her father's bodyguard. Now officially named the "Dome" due to the dome structure which served both as a central command center and as Dornaus' personal quarters, it was the center of security for the royals. Here was where the human operated his drones on 30 minute patrol flights. It was thirty minutes in the air and thirty minutes of pause.

And Kiara has arrived with 15 minutes left on the clock before the next flight. Her father's bodyguard was at the shooting range, plinking away at Hyena shaped steel ringers with a .22 caliber Uberti lever action rifle.

"Hey!" she shouts. "Dornaus right?"

"Yeah." The human fires his last shot and lowers the lever on his gun before turning towards the cub. "What is it, Kiara?"

"Nothing, I'm just curious."

"About what?"

"Dad told me about you using a flying object to patrol the borders."

"It's called a drone, young one. The one I'm flying is a MKIII Terminator made by Dallas Aerospace And Defense."

"Sounds deadly."

"Oh it is. There is a swivel mounted .50 caliber Gatling gun with 5,000 rounds of ammunition and two hellfire missiles; one on each wing. The hellfires can be replaced with rocket pods."

"But what do you use?"

"Rocket pods. Laser guidance is useless against wildlife." Dornaus places his rifle on the gun rack and turns in the direction of the dome. "Come on in, I'll show you all the goodies and probably let you have the stick."

Always the one to look for adventure, Kiara runs into the dome even before her human pal even got to the door. Compared to last time, the living room area has changed considerably. The furniture and homey touches was gone, replaced with a large central control system. Here was where the drone controls were, along with the viewing screen and an early warning radar screen. Other than that, everything remained the same.

The armory was still where it was, and so were the kitchen and sleeping quarters. Kiara climbs onto the desk, careful not to step on any of the buttons or push the giant control stick as Dornaus performed final preflight checks. Dixon's engineers at the air base have cleared him for takeoff and the air traffic tower was guiding him.

"This is Wolverine 01, I am at the runway." He reports over the radio.

"Wolverine 01, this is Foxhound." ATC replies. "You are cleared for takeoff."

With full trust, the drone thunders down the runway. Once it was at the optimal takeoff speed, Dornaus gently pulls back on the stick and the aircraft lifts off. When he reached the usual cruising altitude of 20,000 feet, the human begins another routine flight on the usual patrol route. He teaches Kiara about the basic flight controls, like how to maneuver and control the speed limit.

He then hands the controls of the billion dollar aircraft over to the cub. It was a big security risk but Dornaus trusted Kiara enough to let her handle the drone. And she was handling the controls quite well, following the pre-planned patrol route. Just then, the early warning sensors begin to blare. Kiara gives the controls back to her human pal and he checks the cameras.

Roughly a few kilometers away, a few heat signatures appeared. They were closing in on the border and seemed hostile. And one of them looked like a gun armed human. Poachers with animal guides? Possibly. No chances could be taken here. The Pridelands' sovereignty was at stake. Dornaus fires a burst as a warning shot. The heat signatures kept approaching, undeterred by the spray of bullets. He does it again, still no result.

Left with no option, the human goes lethal. As soon as the intruders crossed the border, he immediately fires upon them with everything he had on board. The two rocket pods unleashed a "burst barrage" of five rockets, which explode around the intruders. Dornaus could see them clearly now. One was definitely a human while the others looked like lionesses.

"Foxhound this is Wolverine 01." The human reports. "I'm not gonna be able to keep them all at bay. Requesting assistance over."

"Wolverine 01, roger that." A response came. "Scrambling 9th tactical UCAV Air Wing now."

"I don't want Terminators, get Firescouts down range."

"Copy."

Back at the airbase, a flight of six unmanned Firescout close air support choppers lift off. These were fitted with the Eagle Claw offensive upgrade packs made by Dallas Aerospace And Defense, meaning they were equipped with APKWS rockets and a swivel mounted 20mm M193 tri-barreled Gatling gun with 750 rounds of ammunition. All six shrieked towards the border while Dornaus' Terminator drone continues to engage the hostile intruders with its .50 caliber Gatling gun.

Due to the speed it was travelling at, the drone was hard to get a bead on and it flew with immunity as it strafed the intruding lionesses and their human ally. To further boost morale, Dornaus blares "Fortunate Son" in the Dome as he drove circles around his enemies with his UCAV. Kiara seemed to enjoy the song, evidenced by the fact that she was grooving to the beat.

Then the battle really heats up. Fifteen minutes after being scrambled, the Firescouts arrive on station and immediately begin their attack on the intruders. Their slower speed allowed them to take precision shots and the pilots back at base wasted no time unleashing their payload. APKWS rockets flew through the air in clusters, exploding around the intruders as they began to disperse.

One of the Firescouts opens fire with its M193 Gatling gun, taking down one of the lionesses as she ran. Suddenly a burst of automatic gunfire impacts the unmanned chopper, causing it to buckle in the air. The warning sensors blare and the pilot takes immediate action. Down on the ground, the lionesses' human companion has opened fire with his Kalashnikov rifle, which was fitted with a 75 round drum.

He targets the choppers, which were slower and easier to hit than the Terminator. Dornaus scans the area with the aid of his UCAV's 360 degree camera and gets a lock on the gunman. He swings his aircraft around and unleashes what's left of his rockets. All of them explode around the gunman but he survives the barrage. In response, he takes a pot shot at the drone but misses.

Unfortunately for the gunman, he wasn't getting his luck back after the miss. Dornaus turns his aircraft around for a gun run and unleashes hell with the swivel mounted Gatling gun. Several .50 caliber bullets penetrate the lone gunman, taking him out with critical wounds. He slumps back, dropping his Kalashnikov as the drone flew by. Meanwhile the Firescouts were dealing heavy damage to the lionesses.

Several of them were already dead and the two survivors have bolted for the border. Mission Accomplished. The Firescouts return to base along with the Terminator where they would be refilled and put on standby once again. Back at the dome, Dornaus dons his LRRP gear which he bought from Dixon. While obsolete, it was perfectly suited for what the human termed "On The Ground" patrol.

What that really meant was the cleanup job which had to be done after a confrontation near the border. Those not killed outright were almost certainly mortally wounded and it'd be better off for them to die quickly than suffer a slow painful death.