Cavalier's Gambit -ch 17- (Patreon)

Getting off the transport, Wayne grunted.

After spending the better part of seven hours holding the bunker as well as the anti-aircraft position, Wayne was exhausted.

After they’d knocked the battlecruiser out of the sky, nothing else had shown up. Leaving him and his people with nothing but tension, small talk, and an empty sky.

Looking one way then the other, he let out a breath he didn’t realize that he’d been holding. They were no longer in what could be called the “front lines” of space.

Everyone was being brought back to a military station for debriefing, medical, and what he assumed would be a long round of the blame game.

While the platform had been taken per the original mission parameters, losses had been catastrophically high. High enough that there was no way this situation wouldn’t make the headlines.

This would be a victory in name only and a defeat in every other way.

“Cavalier, what… do we do?” asked someone behind him.

Glancing over his shoulder, he saw five people from his squad there. He didn’t know where the others went.

All three from Michelle’s group were there, along with two from his original squad.

Michelle’s body had been recovered by Wayne on their exit, as they made their way back to the transport that was waiting for them.

Given the state of her skull, it’d been clear with a single glance she’d died very quickly.

She had a V-shape hole notched in her head. Most of her brains had been scooped out with whatever penetrated her cockpit.

After that, Michelle’s squad mates had followed him doggedly.

“If it’s anything like my last mission like this, medical, chow, debrief,” Wayne relayed. “Might not be though. Not sure. It’s pretty different this time.”

Wayne looked away from his people and to the rest of the area.

The number of survivors was less than a hundred.

“If I were you,” he drawled, looking back to his people. “Stick to the positive points, don’t blame anyone, don’t lie about what we did or what we fought.

“This is already a cluster fuck, don’t make yourself a target. Better off to save that shit for later, when you’re not in the middle of an angry and pissy military outpost.”

“Yes, Cavalier,” they all said at the same time.

Snorting, Wayne looked ahead of him again.

He spotted food and drinks already laid out and waiting for people to come get them. His mind tripped back to Sergeant Willer and what the man had done for Wayne.

No one seemed to be eager to debrief Wayne or his people at the moment. Eventually they’d get around to them he imagined, but for now, it’d be best if he just took charge, for his people’s sake.

“Is this all your first mission like this?” Wayne asked, realizing it was actually his third fucked up mission like this.

A chorus of confirmations came back.

“Alright. We’re getting food. Come on,” he stated, and led the way straight to that position. “See that table there? That’s where we’re going.”

He motioned at an empty table, even as he guided everyone to the setup.

“Get something you want to eat but you don’t mind throwing up later,” he instructed. “Get water and a soda as well. I don’t care what kind of soda, just something with sugar and calories.”

Wayne grabbed a tray and loaded himself up as he had ordered. He also made sure to load the tray of the young man standing behind him.

They couldn’t have been older than thirteen based on their narrow face and lack of facial hair. They hadn’t broken through the fully male side of puberty and had a lot of their awkward “kid-ness” to them.

One of Michelle’s new recruits she’d mentioned.

They weren’t from his original squad after all.

What the fuck was she thinking bringing a kid into this? That’s insane. Too young to be in a Walker.

Taking them straight to the end after loading them up, he put a hand on their shoulder and caught their eyes.

“Go to table,” he stated, then did his best to mimic the sarge’s words. “Eat. Drink the soda. Then the water. After that… look into the contracted therapist. I saw there was one for this mission.

“It can’t hurt to see them, and realistically, it’s better to waste your time with them, than to have something go wrong and you bottle it up for later.”

The kid nodded their head, staring at Wayne with wide eyes.

“Go,” he ordered and then looked to the next in line.

Picking up a soda, Wayne stuck it down on their tray. They hadn’t gotten one.

“I don’t like—”

“Disobeying orders,” Wayne interrupted. “You don’t like disobeying orders. So you’ll drink the soda first. Then the water,” Wayne ordered with a flat smile.

“Yes, Cavalier,” muttered the man who then followed the boy off.

The woman two people down, also from Michelle’s squad, was in line trying to balance a tray that was overloaded to one side with one hand while holding three sodas with the right.

As he watched, she tripped over her own feet and a sealed cup of fruit managed to come free from her tray and shoot toward the ground.

A white indicator had appeared the moment it left the tray.

From the point it left the tray was a solid white line, in front of it was a dotted line. Indicating where it was going to fall and where the cup of fruit would strike the ground.

Without even thinking about it, Wayne stuck his boot out.

Even as he did so, a white X appeared.

Still unthinking, Wayne put the toe of his boot right there.

The cup of fruit struck it and wobbled, before settling still. It landed upright without spilling anything.

Grimacing, Wayne realized that the error codes that had been thrown out in his Walker now made sense. At some point, he ate the AI that had been on board.

After that, things were equally easier, and worse, at the same time.

Fuck, I’m a menace to AIs.

Putting his foot down, Wayne bent over, picked up the fruit cup, and stuck it back onto the woman’s tray. Then he carefully rebalanced it around so things were more evenly distributed, put a hand on her back, and guided her on.

***

“Cavalier Hesh?” asked a woman in a clean and crisp looking uniform. She looked to be in her early twenties, but the rank markings at her collar, shoulder, and breast, had her as being ranked high if they were real, which, considering where they were, was likely the case.

“Yes, I’m here,” Wayne murmured and stood up. The rest of his squad had already been called in for a debrief but never came back.

No one ever came back.

This was apparently a one-way pass-through. Likely heading off somewhere else or home immediately afterward.

Marching over to the woman, Wayne found he had to look down at her.

Once again, he was reminded that those from Faesin really were larger than most everyone he had met so far.

Shoulda seen my dad.

He was much taller than me.

Smiling with one side of his mouth, he tilted his head to one side, and just stood there. Staring at the young woman.

Who stared back at him in a weird way. As if she saw him but didn’t register he was there. Gazing at him in a way that left him feeling odd.

“Yes, ma’am?” Wayne asked courteously. He knew he didn’t have to address her by rank, but his limited awareness of the military made him certain that she was higher ranked than others her own age.

That meant she was connected, intelligent, or lucky.

Either of those three were more than enough to grant someone power.

“Ah, sorry, thank you, Cavalier Hesh,” the woman sputtered out with a cough into a hand. Her other hand held a folio that looked to be made of actual leather.

He noted that along the side of it were three letters.

W.A.C.

Huh.

I wonder what that acronym is for.

No frickin’ clue.

Might as well be Witty and Attractive Captain.

“I’m captain Chilton,” the woman said with a smile and then held her hand out to him.

“Ha, I was just thinking the acronym was witty and attractive captain. I got two out of the three right so far I guess,” Wayne blurted out, unable to control his mouth once again while taking her hand in his.

Captain Chilton blinked twice, her smile locking into place as if it were painted on. She cleared her throat, shook his hand a second more, the nodded and gestured to the door she was standing in front of.

“If you would please?” she asked.

“Of course. Sorry. Kinda wound up and on edge,” apologized Wayne, realizing his mouth had probably just got him in trouble again. “I’m sure the last thing you want is some backwater nobody blabbering on like that.”

Wayne walked to the door, opened it, and went inside.

The captain followed him in and closed the door behind herself. There was no one else inside the room, but it wasn’t an interrogation room, thankfully.

There were two chairs, a coffee table, a tea-service laid out, as well as snacks. The room was warm and decorated sparsely, but well.

“Given what you went through, I can honestly tell you, I won’t hold it against you. Though I don’t think you can call yourself a backwater nobody, Cavalier,” the captain said, and went and took a seat at the same time Wayne did.

“Polite of you to say. Now… what can I do for you? Kinda weird being the last to be talked to from my mission, though I guess that’s expected since I led the squad,” Wayne murmured, looking at her more closely now. “Though hey, nice room. Company is pretty great. You’ve probably got a killer smile, too.”

Ah fuck… whatever.

Too tired to keep my tongue behind my teeth.

He had noted she was attractive earlier, but just now he couldn’t even deny that. Which in turn sparked his brain to malfunction.

Her skin was a light-tan color that made her bright green eyes almost too bright. Her dark brown hair had a shimmer to it that gave it a light and dark contrast depending on the light.

She was slim, athletic, and trim. The picture of a woman who would easily jog, fight, or shoot, without a problem.

A sudden grin split her face, grinning at him and showcasing perfect, straight, white teeth.

With a click of her tongue, she tilted her head to one side.

“Well, if you’re going to be like that, this’ll make my job easier. I was supposed to coax you into telling me everything that happened,” admitted the captain. “Seems more like it’ll be hard to keep you from talking.”

“Oh damn. They sent you specifically cause you’re beautiful and smart, didn’t they?” Wayne asked looking at the tray in front of him.

“We use the tools at hand to secure our objectives. My weapons aren’t the same as yours,” the captain murmured, smiling at him politely.

“Yeah. I get that. Your weapons are pretty scary. Though… well… I mean, there’s not much to tell you, captain. I’m afraid I’m a waste of your splendid talents,” Wayne muttered and then picked up the teapot. He had no idea how to make tea, but he was quite thirsty.

He pulled the top off and saw it had tea leaves inside of the pot.

Pouring into the nearest cup, he filled it most of the way, then filled the captain’s without asking.

“Took my line, found a tunnel, reported it, spotted an observation post, gave the coords to the squad one lane over,” Wayne explained as he poured some type of creamer into his tea. Then he held it out toward the captain’s.

She nodded her head briefly and he poured a modest amount into her cup.

Picking up the saucer, he took a sip and found it was what he expected.

Leaf water with creamer in it.

Fucking hate tea.

Keeping his face neutral, he put his teacup down. He’d drink it if only because he was thirsty, but he would make sure to be polite about it.

“Michelle smashed the thing, found it was communications stuff, then all hell broke loose,” Wayne continued. “Walkers just started dropping all over. Fought them off, took losses, went to assist Michelle, she died, fought off their attackers.

“Knocked a dropship out of the damn sky. Took her people and completed my mission, then completed her mission.”

“Which was to secure a bunker and then an anti-aircraft emplacement,” captain Chilton confirmed.

“Yeah. We shelled the bunker then rushed it,” Wayne agreed and added on. “AA thing was empty. Didn’t have to do anything there.”

“So you tore it out of the ground and used it to shoot down the Bloodship… Ferinox,” Chilton asked. She’d paused to check something in her folio.

“I guess. Hell if I know what the name was,” lied Wayne. He had indeed seen the name of it and knew it was a battlecruiser. “We just pulled the cannon out, leveled it, and shot on the damn thing. Managed to get a lucky shot on it.”

“Four,” the captain interjected.

“Four?”

“Four lucky shots.”

Wayne shrugged his shoulders and picked up his teacup to take another sip.

“I guess. Was just using the trajectory stuff the AI was spitting out at me. It kinda failed not long after that though. I was getting errors for a while before that, though,” Wayne answered. It’d been the best excuse he could come up with when he thought about this before the debriefing. “Damn missile pod failed, too.”

“Yes, I’ve reviewed the status report on the Walker. There were definitely a number of errors you were dealing with,” allowed the captain. She smiled at him in a way that made his hands break out in a sweat and his head feel heavy. “Could you tell me more about the bunker?”

Alright… shit… uh… stick to the story.

Repeat it.

She’s trying to dig into something.

We’ll just keep the party line and… repeat it.

Till she’s sick of it.

Or… flirt with her.

Maybe that’ll knock her back a step.

“You keep smiling at me like that and I’ll give you anything you want. Starting with my wallet and moving quick like to a marriage proposal,” Wayne suggested.

To which the captain’s smile only grew wider.

Though predatory.

“Then tell me everything… Wayne. Tell the Witty and Attractive Captain everything,” she demanded. “Let’s go back to the beginning though. I want to know everything you were thinking.

“I saw you talking to Michelle in the presentation hall. You clearly had some thoughts about the matter, so let’s begin with that.”

Frelking hell.

She reviewed all the footage about me?

Damn.

***

Feeling drained, Wayne got out of his seat and began making his way to the airlock.

After captain Chilton had dug out far more than he wanted to admit, but nothing truly damning, she’d plied him with gifts, loot, and salvage shares.

Along with a promise to reach out to him later, once everything was confirmed and the final results were tallied for the mission.

Additionally, she’d given him a fat packet of paperwork to go over later, as well as a digitally stored copy of the information.

He got the impression that she had a favorable impression of him at the end, but that could have been part of the persona.

It’d been nearly two days since he’d left for the mission, and he was glad to be returning.

Stumbling through the airlock, Wayne nearly bashed his head on the upper bulwark. With the sudden duck, he ended up coming out the other side faster than he’d intended.

And just about ran over Tink.

She caught him with her hands and steadied him quickly.

“Ah! Cava-Wayne! I’m-I’m so glad you made it back!” she declared, peeking up at him through her bangs. Her eyes were locked onto him even if she was hiding. “I-I-I was worried sick! There wasn’t any news or anything and everything was quiet about it.

“I-I used your computer t-to look into it and tried searching around to find things out or where you went and the mission and how it was going and—”

Tink ran out of breath, her last words sounding almost strangled.

“And I couldn’t find anything,” she finished after sucking in a breath of air.

Wayne chuckled, put his left arm around her, and started moving forward. He’d been the only one on the ship and he didn’t want to linger there at the exit of the airlock.

“Yeah, honestly, it was pretty fucked. Here I am though,” he said. “One large paycheck later, too. I even got some salvage shares.

“Can I turn that over to you and let you handle it? I honestly wouldn’t even know what we’d want. I’m more of a Pilot with a basic understanding of mechanical stuff. You’re my expert.”

Tink’s shoulders hunched and she ducked into herself, but began moving with him. His arm still stuck around her.

“I’m y-yes. Yes, I can handle that. How many shares was it? What is it for?” she asked.

“Eh… I dunno. I didn’t really look. I napped most of the way here but I’m still exhausted,” Wayne admitted honestly. He pulled the thick pack of paper out of the messenger bag he’d taken with him.

It’d had the paperwork for the mission, his paperwork stating he was a citizen of the station, and his status as a Cavalier.

Now it had all that plus all the stuff captain Wendy Anna-Marie Chilton, or W.A.C, had given him.

“Here it’s the… uh… oh, the blue folder,” Wayne said while holding open the messenger bag in front of Tink. He didn’t pull his arm off her and was determined to leave it there.

Just in case she tried to bolt off again.

Tink took the blue folder out and flipped it open while Wayne let the bag fall back to his side.

Tink tripped over her own feet, nearly dropped the paperwork, and ended up leaning into him rather than falling onto her face.

“This is-it’s-this?!” hissed Tink, holding a paper up to his face.

It was a copy of a salvage share certificate. It was to be redeemed at a website later once all salvage operations were complete.

“Yeah? I guess,” he agreed. “Why?”

Tink growled, then stuck her finger to a part at the bottom.

It was a number.

“Sixty-four of two hundred,” whimpered Tink. “How? How did you-did you-did-what’d you do? How did you personally earn more than one-fourth of the salvage!?”

I did?

Oh shit, I did.

“I dunno. Technically I think we knocked out something close to eight assault Walkers? Or was it seven. I really can’t remember,” Wayne offered as they continued to walk. “Actually no, it was probably the battlecruiser that got me all that. The captain who debriefed me made kind of a big deal about that.

“Besides, it doesn’t matter. Salvage is junk. Every-time someone talked about it, the first thing they said, was cash was easier.”

“That-you… wait. This says yo-you have other awards,” Tink whispered, pulling out a slip of paper and then flipping through the rest of the blue portfolio. “It isn’t h-here? Is there more?”

Wayne shrugged, then took his messenger bag off, and just handed it to Tink.

Watching his surroundings, he kept Tink in his arm. He really was concerned she’d bolt off again and he didn’t mind hanging onto her.

Tink for her part took the bag and put the blue folder back in. She was now rapidly sorting through all of it as they walked on.

“Ah… ahhh?” squeaked Tink.

Wayne looked down at the document in her hands.

“What?” he asked.

It was a piece of paper that looked a lot like his confirmation of becoming a Cavalier. With swirling decorations, overly large font, and a number of seals on it.

“The-the Terran Confederation is awarding you a rank of major in the Terran Confederation for future missions should you ac-accept them,” Tink whispered. “And-and-and… you’re… your rank of a Cavalier has been confirmed again. You’ve also been granted the right to the title of Lord Hesh, and you’ve been granted colonization rights of unclaimed territory, or t-territory rank four or less. Additionally an-an… a stipend will be granted to you every month to retain your services in the Mirkil House lands.”

“Err… okay,” said Wayne. Some of that made sense to him. Most of it just sounded like government gobbledygook that only mattered to politicians.

Then Wayne remembered what he wanted to ask Tink.

“Oh, hey! Did you get the phone I bought for you? You didn’t call me or anything. Or the new laptop? I also got you a bunch of tools,” Wayne tried. “Was it everything you wanted? Is there anything else you want or need? Anything more?”

Tink was breathing hard, taking ragged breaths as they walked.

She was slowly shaking her head at the same time.

“What, was it too much? You’re worth every credit, Tink,” Wayne stated and then put his free hand to her shoulder and shook her gently while holding onto her. “Now, I was trying to figure out what else you need. I can’t really think of anything.”

“N-no… no. You’ve… given me… everything,” whispered Tink, carefully closing the messenger bag. She wrapped her arms around it and held it tightly against herself. “Everything I needed, you g-gave me. Thank you, Lord Hesh.”

“Wayne,” stated Wayne, squeezing Tink.

“Wayne,” she agreed quietly.

“Oh,” Wayne mumbled, a sudden thought bursting through his tired mind. He leaned down and stuck his head up to the side of Tink’s. “I think I ate another AI. Can you check me out later? Right now I just want to crash.

“In fact, did you clean up the other rooms on the Raider? That’s closer. I’d rather just go to sleep there than go all the way back to my room.”

“It’s-I-yes. I-yes. That’s all fine. I fixed up the rest of the ship while you were gone,” Tink murmured. “Thank-thank you. It was easier with the c-c-card you gave me to use for purchases.”