Cavalier's Gambit -Ch 4- (Patreon)

Pulling at the panel, Wayne grunted with all the effort that he could put into it.

With a pang, it came loose finally.

Which unfortunately sent Wayne shooting across his workshop and slamming into a several crates. Though the plate was in one hand, the pry-bar the other.

“Fuck, Patchwork. Just didn’t want to give that one up, huh? I can finally put in an armored glass canopy though. I have to get these panels off to put in the armored liner,” Wayne growled and tossed the heavy steel panel to the side.

His back reminded him at that moment that it was hurting.

Leaning to the side to try and ease the pain, he found himself looking at the hunk of metal he’d stolen from his mission yesterday.

“Light,” he mumbled, staring at the green LED.

Then it turned back off.

And turned back on.

“Light?” he repeated, his eyebrows raising up.

Despite his back hurting, Wayne reached out and grabbed his prize. Standing upright with a grimace he flipped over the piece of metal and looked to the inside of it.

There was a small chipset mount there that looked a lot like a computer processor. The light itself was on top of the chip.

Using the prybar Wayne tore open part of the hunk of metal. Exposing a partial circuit board that’d been in between the metal sheets.

The chipset mount was at the edge of it though it was hanging on by a ribbon cable. It’d once been all attached

Lifting up the chipset Wayne found that the chip itself would have been directly in the middle of the glass bubble that went over it.

“Neat,” he said then tore the chipset off, ripping the ribbon cable out.

Dropping the metal frame he lookeda t the chip more closely.

It wasn’t labeled, nor did it have any type of serial number.

Which meant it was a non-standard chip and wasn’t manufactured by any tech companies. That also eliminated any type of military application.

Turning the chipset sideways Wayne looked at the circuit board section it was still attached to.

It was old.

The traces were corroded, the flash was crumbling, and the whole thing looked as if it’d been made by hand.

“Uuuh? Huh. Well. I guess… you’re worthless,” Wayne mumbled. He sniffed and looked at the chipset for a bit longer.

Turning it upside down he saw the mount itself had a battery in it. Which was why the chip still had power.

Given that the whole thing was on the larger side so it was possible it had some type of storage on it.

Walking over to Patchwork Wayne clambered up the stepstool and looked to the computer in the back of it.

Reaching in he unlatched the door to it and looked at the available sockets.

Looking from the chipset to his Walker, then back again, he realized that it looked like it might fit the AI slot.

“Yeah… that seems like a really stupid thing to do,” Wayne mumbled, his mind having briefly considered just sticking the chip into the socket.

Then he shrugged.

“Whatever, I was going to buy a new mother-board anyways. This fucker is a bottle-neck,” explained Wayne to himself.

He popped the chip out of the chipset and stuck it straight into the board. Then he pulled the small latch down over the top of it.

Turning a bit he tapped the tablet duct-taped to the inside of the open cockpit. Then he hit the “activate” button on the Walker diagnostic system.

“New software recognized. Outdated. No driver in library,” stated the tablet.

“Outdated? Huh?” Wayned said. “Activate it anyways.”

“Activated,” said the tablet.

“Okay… what does it do?”

“Unknown. Data sent to implant.”

“Ugh… is it… does it look corrupted?”

“Negative. Data looks to be similar to IFF information.”

“IFF information?” Wayne asked then clambered up into the cockpit.

Getting into place he stuck his head down to the implant point and waited.

Nothing happened at all.

“Hello?” Wayne tried, pushing the word into the implant. Wondering if the AI would respond.

At the same time, he tried to communicate with it. To contact it and transfer information back and forth.

Nothing happened.

“What a bust,” Wayne murmured.

His phone began ringing at that moment, the tablet also had switched to it’s phone app in case he wanted to take it there.

The number was the contract broker guild.

Not moving out of position, he reached over and tapped the accept button.

“Hello?” he asked.

“Hello, Mr. Hesh. I have a contract request for you directly,” said the voice on the other end.

“Great, what is it? When is it?” he asked excitedly.

“Now. Eradication,” said the voice. “There’s a migration movement of Karsks that’re moving into lands that we don’t want them to.

“Your name came up as our company worked with you just the other day and you were listed as a quality re-hire.

“They would be similar terms to the previous work, such as medical care, life insurance, and funeral rights.”

“Oh. Ah… err… right. Right. Uh, what’s… whats the contract value?” he asked.

Right now he was in the middle of doing an upgrade. He could forcibly put back the plates he’d put on to get back into the fight but he’d rather complete the upgrade.

“The contract is a full armory replenishment for any ammo used as well as twelve-hundred credits. A third up front,” stated the woman. “Contract completion is just being on duty and eliminating all targets that present themselves.”

Sighing, Wayne realized he didn’t have a choice.

“Alright. How much time do I have and where do I go?” he asked.

“Two hours, I’ll send you a pickup point. You’ll be retrieved from there and returned to there,” said the woman.

Wayne shook his head, then nodded it.

He couldn’t argue that this was a good job.

A job he needed.

It was just bad timing

“Alright. Send me the waypoint, please,” he said, still shaking his head.

This felt like he was about to be abruptly dropped into a hostile situation and he wasn’t keen on it.

But he wanted the money.

***

Blinking, wishing he’d taken the time to buy some type of glasses or goggles that’d help him with his eyesight, Wayne pulled the trigger and held it down.

A massive herd of Karsks, the biggest he’d ever seen so far on this mission, racing out from a strange gully.

He hadn’t seen or heard them until that moment. The lay of the land had hidden them quite well until that moment.

The Karsks, giant-two legged birds that were easily nine-feet tall, didn’t seem to notice or even care that Wayne was laying waste to their numbers as he continued to fire into their numbers.

Running ever onward.

Even as Yuna’s explosive rounds tore them apart and blew them into more manageable chunks. Splattering them in every direction as they ran on.

“Holy shit, I’ve never-there’s so many,” Wayne remarked.

He’d been here for seven hours already and the drop-ship that’d put him here, had already returned with more ammo twice, due to the large numbers of Karsks he’d slaughtered.

They’d been coming out in groups never larger than ten or twelve up to this point.

This was by far the largest herd as of yet that he’d encountered.

“Patchwork!” Dema said on the line. “You need to get ready to get lifted! They’re turning your way, the whole herd just hasn’t done it yet!”

“I’m what now!?” Wayned shouted over the din of Yuna cracking off endlessly.

“You’re getting extracted because there’s no cover for you there!” Dema repeated.

Wayne blinked, then looked around.

He didn’t stop firing as he did either.

Out here, where he’d been dropped off, there really was no cover. There was nowhere for him to duck into or get behind.

Taking a small side-step while still trying to keep rounds moving into the herd, he looked to the distance.

Toward the only other group of people that’d been here.

They had been far to his rear, though were now gone. All that remained of their small setup was a bunch of wrecked equipment and a lot of dead Karks.

The two Walkers that’d been there were gone.

“Dema, what the hell, did you guys lose contractors!?” he shouted, looking back to the monsters.

“No! We’ve been pulling them out and redeploying elsewhere! A few had some close encounters but we extracted them,” Dema answered. “This is gonna be close, just be ready!

“We weren’t expecting them to turn like this! All the bait we put out was to draw them into a kill funnel. They’re literally going the opposite way.”

“Ah fuck me,” groaned Wayne watching as the Karsks as the whole of the herd wheeled. He now saw what Dema had been talking about.

They were all coming straight at him.

He kept up the fire though now he was focussing entirely on the section of the herd that was directly in front of him. Everything that would impact him if they kept moving in the same direction.

“Dema?! I could use that pickup?!” he asked, holding the trigger down the entire time. He could tell that the Karsks were moving with speed.

Then Yuna stopped firing outright.

There was a series of rapid beeps and the display on the side of the rifle was a bright flashing red.

Not only was he now out of ammo, but the heat sensor in the weapon had malfunctioned. Which meant the barrel was probably fucked on top of everything else.

With a groan, Wayne attached his rifle to it’s position and then just stood there.

Trying to outrun this massive herd wasn’t an option. Nor was running out to the side. The number of Karsks were so many that it was like looking at an oncoming fog-bank.

Rolling across the plains and moving toward Wayne without stopping at all.

Even at this distance, the size of the Karsks looked impressive.

Impressive and dangerous.

“Dema?!” Wayne tried again.

“It’s-it’s on the way,” she said, her voice much more subdued now.

“It’s not going to get to me in time, is it,” he murmured, immediately noticing the change in her voice.

“It’ll arrive just about when the Karsks overtake you,” Dema admitted in a very tight tone. She sounded frustrated, too. “Just-just run for now. Try to increase the distance to buy time. We’re still going to get you one way or the other.”

“Ha… what was the medical clause in this contract again?” Wayne asked as he pivoted and put his back to the Karsks. He began sprinting all out.

Patchwork loped around at full speed. The Walkers mechanical legs pumping along in a perfect stride.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,” whined Wayne as he ran. He was holding tightly to the control sticks of Patchwork as he bounced around inside of the belted harness that held him in place.

Being a “Light-Scout” walker, which was what Pathwork would be if he actually had a standard set of armor, which he didn’t, meant that Patchwork could actually move swiftly.

It could maintain that speed for a significant time as well given that more often than not, they were used for reconnaissance.

There just wouldn’t really be any outrunning the Karsks.

Just buying time.

“Ah fuck, if this goes on a satelite vid they’re gonna watch me die to a herd of big damn chickens!” screeched Wayne as he sprinted along. “Why didn’t he run to the side hyuck. Ugh!”

Wayne was pushing Patchwork hard. His thoughts controlling it to rocket onward across the field. To the point that there were times when he felt almost as if he were airborn.

There was a fleeting thought that flickered through his head that he was moving incredibly fast. Faster than he wanted to consider with just pushing his implant.

That if he thought about it too hard, he’d end up tripping.

That maybe he was going so fast he might actually be distancing the Karsks.

He wanted to turn and look over his shoulder but that sounded like a great way to get his feet tangled in one another.

As he listened though he didn’t think he was actually expanding the gap. It sounded to him like they were genuinely still catching up to him.

Then, surprisingly, a Karsk slowly moved past him.

The massive two legged bird with it’s stubby neck turned and looked at him, then ahead again. As if it was curious but not a problem.

“Fuck! Dema! Are you here?! Am I gonna get run down!?” he shouted.

“They’re already all over you!” Dema answered. “And they’re circling you like they’re going to—”

Patchwork was knocked to one side suddenly with a fairly solid thump. It wasn’t enough to knock him over, or to even actually damage the armor of the Walker.

However, it was just enough to get Wayne’s feet tangled up with one another. His ankles clanging together and launching himself forward.

Hitting the ground Wayne skidded across a large swath of long bladed grass. A great amount of it smashing Wayne across the face.

Something big and brown shot up into Wayne’s view and slapped him in the face.

Or stabbed him, really. Something sharp rammed home into his face and then was wrenched free.

He suddenly felt like something wet was resting against his cheek as he slid to a stop.

Blinking, Wayne was in an incredible amount of pain. It felt like his face was on fire and he didn’t doubt he was probably bleeding quite badly.

Getting his hands down, Wayne powered himself up to his feet and found he was in the middle of the herd.

They were racing by all around him.

He couldn’t see very well, his right eye was partially closed and blood was running into it. His left eye wouldn’t open no matter what he did.

Shouting wordlessly Wayne yanked out his sword and got it up in front of himself. Hours of training went out the window in that moment and he found himself standing there without any idea of how to use his weapon.

His mind was fluttering about one way and then the other without doing much of anything. Unable to decide on what to do exactly.

Then a Karsk ran straight at him.

The world slowed down, then sped up. Sped up and his thoughts did as well.

Except he didn’t feel as if he couldn’t keep up.

His thoughts felt heavy and ponderous despite the swiftness of them.

As if he were light-headed and the world was spinning.

Which was entirely possible given his magnificent faceplant.

His sword was down at his side, then up and across in a flash. The heavy weapon bisecting the Karsk at the hip to it’s shoulder.

Bringing the heavy weapon back around Wayne knocked the head off another Karsk as it came at him. The short neck bending to the side as the beast fell to one side.

Wayne let out a breath.

The two kills had come and gone in the time it took for him to take a breath.

Nothing stopped even as he breathed in again as another Karsk came at him, which he quickly dispatched. Then another, and another, and another.

All of them racing at him even as the world spun faster and faster. Wayne’s mind was speeding further and further ahead of what was going on to the point that he felt as if he were moving long before he moved.

Karsks fell no sooner than they appeared before him until they began veering around him. Unable to shoot over the bodies of their fallen comrades any longer.

They’d risen too high.

“Hold on!” shouted Dema a moment before Wayne was quite literally yanked off his feet. Jerked into the sky and upward.

Looking up, Wayne could see that a giant hovering plane had snapped a line onto his back. Likely something with a heavy duty magnet he imagined.

He was now hovering above the herd that only moments ago he’d been a part of.

Now that he wasn’t in their movement, he could see there was literally hundreds of them. Hundreds and hundreds.

“Oh my gosh!” squeaked Dema. “Are you alright!?”

“I don’t know, I think so? It’s hard to see,” Wayne answered. His left eye still wouldn’t open and his right was smeared with blood and wanted to close.

“Yeah. Yeah, we’ll-yeah. Let’s get you to the medical center,” Dema said. “We’ve got a heavy-assault Walker coming in to mop this up. That’s too many for anyone else to handle.”

“A heavy-assault Walker?” Wayne asked in a breathless way. He’d always wanted to see one in real life. The pictures of them always felt weird and as if they weren’t quite true to size.

“They’ll be here in about ten minutes,” Dema confirmed.

Damn.

Wayne closed his eyes and just let himself hang there. His head hurt a lot right now. As if he’d been hyperventilating and his temples were pounding now.

Pushing his eyes closed tight he just stared at the back of his eyelids.

His back suddenly felt weird and he opened his eyes again.

Only to find he was staring at the inside of what looked a lot like a clinic. He could tell because it had all the stupid “motivational posters” that they all had.

Matched with the water stains in every corner that made it look as if it hadn’t been worked on in forever. The strange tiles that went from one corner to the other in perfect squares were only a truly bad storm away from collapsing.

“Uh?” gurgled Wayne.

He’d apparently lost consciousness at some point.

“Ah, patient forty-two, good evening,” said a fairly robotic female voice. It sounded as if it was behind him and above.

Turning his head, or at least he tried to turn his head.

His body was strapped down to the bed.

“You’ve received treatment for extensive damage to your eye and orbital bones,” continued the voice. “Unfortunately, your eye was not able to be saved. Per your contract with Sigma Liquidations, you have received treatment.”

“I did?” he inquired. “What kind of treatment?”

He didn’t quite understand what they meant by his eye not being able to saved since he was clearly looking out of it. He even closed his right eyes and then opened his left eye. Only to swap back and forth several times.

“An orbital blow out fracture as well as a globe luxation,” the voice stated.

“Oh. Is that a fancy way of my shit popped out like an over pressurized coffee ground can? When they barf grounds all over me?” Wayne suggested.

“Yes,” confirmed what Wayne assumed was an intelligent that was monitoring patients in the clinic. If that was true, though, this was probably the fanciest shit-hole clinic he’d ever heard of.

“Okay. So who’s eyeball is this? Why aren’t in pain? Have I been out for a while?” he asked, then grunted and tried to sit up. “Also, why am I strapped down? Did I get some happy-fun time and this is the after-wards but I don’t remember it?

“Or is this some type of like… self-help and I have to wriggle my way out. All the while chanting, ‘go turtle go’.”

There was no response from the automated voice.

“Yes, no?” Wayne tried.

“The eye is yours. It was replaced at no cost to you. It is a Laywend model,” the woman began to explain. “You’re not in pain, as you’ve been sedated for several hours, and are still sedated.

“You were recovered from the field, seven hours ago. The operation to fix your wounds was two hours long and performed by Yatuni and HAL AIs.

“You’re strapped down as your new eye needs time to adjust and it would be best if you were immobile.

“You were not part of an sexual activity, though I noted you have thirty-seven erections while you were unconscious. This is an abnormally high number.”

“Go me. I’m all muscle, ya know?” Wayne murmured, sighed, and relaxed into the bed. “So. I’m gonna live? Not fucked? I can get out of here soon?”

“Twenty-four hours medical rest per your contract and then you will be released. You are not… fucked,” confirmed the voice. “Your Walker was recovered and was deposited at your place of residence.”

“Alright. Shoot me up with something fun then so I can at least look at something while I’m stuck here,” Wayne tried. Then he looked toward the left where there usually was a monitor in places like this.

Often playing some old movie that no longer had any distribution rights to worry about.

Wayne stared at it for several seconds.

The TV was there, though, there was a white box surrounding the TV. One that looked two-dimensional rather than as if it were around the TV.

A white line slid out of the TV and then a series of boxes of text showed up.

Listing out everything about the TV regarding it’s electrical specifications, what network it was operating on, it’s construction, likely faults, and what it’s usage was currently.

“About my eye, uh,” Wayne said stupidly, wondering how to phrase the next question.

“Dosing per request,” said the voice from earlier.

And Wayne was put into a world of colors that tasted like fruits and a lot of eyeballs that continuously blinked at him while asking him what the weather was like.

As well as what it tasted like.

Which he was delighted to inform them that today it tasted like snozberries.