Cavalier's Gambit 2 -ch 12-

“Lord!” Cara’s voice came through clearly, cutting through Wayne’s drudgery as he marched on. They’d been moving for thirty minutes at a set slow pace. He didn’t want to tax their systems pre-battle.

Revving the engine and putting the load on a radiator wasn’t an issue, nor was the power usage, but he wanted to have as much ‘room’ in his system as possible.

“Report,” He said as his squad, minus Cara, kept moving. The massive refinery lay in front of them. It was in a small valley and partially sheltered from direct fire. Indirect fire had been coming in the entire time, however.

Rounds, both ballistic and missile type, were streaking in every other ten seconds. All aimed at the refinery. The defenses on site, Walkers, and even a damn corvette were working to defend it.

The ship had dropped out of orbit and just about crash landed itself behind the refinery. It was acting as a giant point defense system now and Wayne wasn’t even sure it could get back off the ground.

From where he was in his cockpit he could see the upper half of it. A multitude of turrets and systems ready to intercept and strike anything coming in.

There was also a large number of drones shooting overhead, all of them heading for the refinery.

The first wave of them had made Wayne just about crap himself.

That many drones would make short work of a squad of Walkers, but thankfully, they weren’t the target.

Everyone who had laser weapons in his squad had been directed to start firing at anything they could over head. Energy weapons weren’t beholden to the same limitations as conventional weapons.

“Contact. They’re moving fast. Very fast. I think they will reach you within five minutes at your current speed,” Cara stated. “I’ve eliminated two scouts as they broke away and attempted to flank. I will continue and operate in this way. I am… you have said I am your perfect Warrior, I will continue to be so.

“I have received very little damage and used no ammunition. Ambush and swordwork, only.”

“Continue, perfect Warrior,” Wayne ordered, then slid his speed upward. He topped it out at the maximum speed of Sal’s Walker. Which they had preset to everyone so that they could move in formation. “Push up, peg it at marker six. We need to get on the line and setup.

“Whoever they’ve sent is just burning their damn engines out to get up here. Longbow, break away, find your perch, be a bastard.”

Mick laughed at that, his voice rough and amused.

“Oh yeah, I’ll do that Lord,” Mick replied. “Want me to cut at a set ammo?”

Wayne thought on that.

“No, we’ll strip the downed Walkers after for ammo. That or I call our company drop ship in for a refit. Chances are it still has all that extra I stuffed it full of,” Wayne ordered. “Because after this, it’ll be redeployment or exfil. Not sure which but… either way, we’re not sticking around this shit for long.”

“Lance, I want the damn end of the line. I don’t want to be the center. That means you get to be my ‘greeting card’ in that big hunk’o walker. Implant doing okay?”

Barbie laughed, the sound warm and lovely inside of Wayne’s cockpit.

He’d ordered her implant, pushed ahead with the surgery, and paid for the medical enhancements so she could get straight back to work. It’d been ridiculously expensive, but she was worth the investment.

They’d been slowly getting her used to it over the constant patrols. This would be the first usage that was more than walking about.

“Yeah, your Lance is ready and I’ll get in there and give us room. You gonna sheathe it in me soon or what? I keep waiting for it since you gave me the implant,” Barbie said with another chuckle.

There was a laugh from Sal and Mick as well.

Barbie had given up on flirting with him only in private. He was fair game at any time on any day and she did so.

Often.

Regardless of where they were or who was around, she just went full on thirsty bar-girl for Wayne.

“You know, you’re supposed to implant it in me since you gave me the implant?” Barbie said with a roll to her words and a warmth to it. “Wayyyyyyne?”

The moan at the end told him exactly what this was.

Nerves.

She knew she wasn’t supposed to use his name and wouldn’t normally break that rule. This wasn’t just a pressure cooker for Wayne, it was for everyone.

“Yeah, yeah, shush. I hear you,” Wayne said as Barbie started leading them off the road and toward a small rise. Even as they went, he could see a number of Walkers, tanks, and gun emplacements that’d all been hurriedly set up all over the area. All of it facing the same direction and being ready for the onslaught that was coming.

Several booms went off over his head as the corvette engaged it’s point defense system and continued to knock things out of the air. The explosions sounded heavy though.

Very heavy.

A chunk of something slammed into the ground twenty feed ahead and to the left, smashing the shed it landed on into little more than a flattened soda can.

Fuck!

The hell is going on anymore!?

Wayne turned his cockpit slightly up and to the rear. Looking to the horizon to see what the hell was incoming.

A number of white boxes all flew up at once as he looked.

Both fleets were engaged in space at the upper edge of the horizon. Merely specks and beams of light at this distance, other than the white boxes that identified them.

Lower than that were a number of what were actual terrestrial fighter jets. Screaming about at high speed as they battled for the skies with one another.

Below that was more missiles, drones, and helicopters.

All of them heading their way.

“Holy fuck,” Wayne whispered, realizing that even in his worst thoughts, it hadn’t truly taken into account how full on this assault was.

His squad quickly settled up in the area Barbie had moved into and no one seemed to care.

Wayne dialed into the command frequency and waited for whoever was speaking to finish.

“This is Cavalier Hesh, Squad-oh-one of See-aitch-one,” reported Wayne. CH-01 of S-01 was the official designation in Confed ranks and it went down to the local Defense Forces as that. “I’ve taken the left furthest flank on the refinery and am reporting in for further orders.”

Lifting up the paltry laser cannon he had Wayne began targeting distant drones and started taking pot shots at them. His AI was giving him near perfect intercepts to knock them out of the sky, so he proceeded to do so.

His cannon wasn’t strong enough to take on missiles so he didn’t bother.

Everyone else in his squad began doing the same thing, taking shoes with energy weapons at anything that they could reach.

“Received, Lord Hesh, glad you could make it,” said a voice on the command line. “Your position is fine. We’re not going to be doing much in the way of maneuvering as a whole. We hold the line because we are the line.”

That and if it goes up in an explosion, there’s really nowhere for us to go anyways.

Fucking thing explodes and the whole thing will become a crater let alone anything remaining.

Wayne looked a bit higher up as he tracked several drones coming in and took out two of them, someone else eliminated the third.

“Lord, I see roughly one hundred Walker’s heading your way. Many tanks, many infantry,” reported Cara. “I will continue to eliminate what I can.”

With a grimace Wayne shook his head. That wasn’t something he wanted to hear. Realistically speaking that wasn’t six companies, but it was close. It meant they’d taken some losses on the way in, but not enough to stop them.

“Command, I’ve got confirmation on about a hundred Walkers coming in,” Wayne stated into the command channel. “I’ve got a scout out there and that’s the number at this time, give or take. As well as ‘many’ tanks and infantry.”

There was no immediate response from the command channel but he knew the message had gone through. Because there’d been a moment, a single moment, where someone had activated the transmit button for a split second and then let it go.

As if they received the message, meant to respond, but just couldn’t. Not that Wayne could blame them. A hundred Walkers was enough to obliterate most targets without a concern.

More than enough to be an entire vanguard force by itself and push deep into a line.

One-hundred Walkers for a single target was a bit much really, but in the same breath, not enough if it was a primary target.

Not enough because a primary target was literally that, a primary target. If was the goal, the plan, and the failure all in one.

“Firing,” Mick reported followed by booms.

Heavy rounds being thrown down-field toward incoming Walkers from Mick’s heavy weapon.

Even as Wayne listened to the heavy and blistering retorts from the left and partially behind him, Wayne continued to take shots at drones.

As well as helicopters as they came within a lethal range of his energy weapon.

Except they were now in range to fire back.

Rockets and missiles started firing out from the helicopters and slamming into the defenses that were laid out. The point defense systems of multiple Walkers going off to intercept them and eliminate them.

Not all were destroyed though of course.

That’d be a silly utopia of bright happy wishes and a land of make-believe.

Heavy anti-armor missiles and rockets began showering into the defenders and tearing Walkers apart as well as tanks and infantry. Explosions and people dying all across the line. More than a few of them came toward Wayne and his people.

Sal had stepped up and was actively doing what he did. His shield out front and being visible. Taking hits from more than a few of the rockets as the squad’s defense systems took care of what it could.

Despite all that, Barbie got hit once in the shoulder and Wayne took one low in his cockpit. His damage indicators told him it was minor, but that the expected tolerances of the Steel-Glass were now questionable.

The helicopters were knocked out of the sky or began veering off as a whole. The damage done and clearing out. Unlike the drones which kept coming on.

A large one that came in so quickly Wayne had barely been able to spot it before it slammed into Sal’s heavy shield. The ordinance was so large on it that the heavy reinforced armored plate cracked at the bottom.

An entire fifth of it simply fell away and clattered onto the ground.

“Was a fucking Drone strapped with some type of god damn shape charge,” Sal reported.

Wayne had been standing behind Sal and he’d seen just how heavy the explosion had been. This wasn’t just a skirmish like what’d happened with the Freebooters. Or even his fight in space where he’d met Natalie.

Then the Walkers and tanks came into view. As well as their infantry.

“Walker priority, secondary to tanks,” ordered Wayne as he immediately began firing on any Walker that had a weapon pointed in his squad’s direction. They were coming straight at him, so he was going to make this ugly and stupid.

He dropped the crosshair on their cockpit and just began firing into it. Round after round he pounded it into the Walker.

They clearly realized what was happening and tried to turn away and fall back. As they nearly completed their turn, Wayne put another shot into the cockpit and it blew out. A hefty amount of Glass-Steel shattering and spraying outward.

The pilot must’ve survived it though as the Walker spasmed away, turning harder to the point that they nearly fell over, withdrawing from the fight.

Wayne only nodded his head grimly and started firing on the next possible target looking his way. Rounds going downrange and pounding into the Walker’s cockpit.

I wonder if I should be doing something different. Most pilots start to panic when you target them directly. But targeting weapons or legs is equally valid.

Often better for those who want to try and salvage the Walker itself.

There was a shift as a number of Walkers started pushing leftward, away from Wayne, and more toward the other side. A number of them started moving at speed as well.

“Longbow, something fucking happen over that way? I don’t have eyes, you got eyes? Squire, Drone?” Wayne asked, changing his tactics as they changed theirs.

He began firing at leg and hip joints. Trying to send Walkers crashing to the ground and prevent them from moving forward. If they wanted to use speed, Wayne wanted to limit speed.

“It’s a breach,” Mick said simply. “The other side didn’t have as good as armor, defenses, fucking luck, who knows, but they took more losses over there. It’ll be easier to push through.”

Wayne blew out a breath, hesitated, then groaned.

“Lance, Shield, with me. Squire, get me a line to god and kill people otherwise. Those tanks that are just now peeking out probably only need a single missile each from you I bet,” Wayne ordered and began moving out at a smooth speed to the left.

Moving away from the line and away from the enemy at an angle.

“Lord, you going to try and get me killed before I can be a sheathe?” Barbie asked, moving along at his left while Sal took his right.

“Nah, we’re going to go see if we can’t start coming up the side. They’re looking left, we come hard from the right,” Wayne ordered and start turning back to the right even as he said it. They’d been able to get a good ways away only to turn back the other way and start closing in again.

Tanks, Walkers, and people were coming into view rapidly.

“I’ll feed you targets,” Wayne ordered and slowed their speed down. They were now coming up from an angle that was nearly behind the enemy line. They’d turned and pushed so hard that it hadn’t been difficult to get this line.

Wayne quickly began designating targets for Sal and Barbie. Sal got a lot of the lighter targets like tanks and infantry. Barbie ended up getting the same ones he did, as well as where he was aiming.

He even began letting loose some of his linear firing rockets as he went, attempting to knock out a hefty looking Dreadnought in front of them.

Barbie’s heavy weaponry began pounding into the damn thing low at the waist. Right where he’d put the reticle point and pinged her.

The same spot Wayne was firing, in fact. A heavy and sustained line of fire quickly knocked it down by virtue of it’s leg shattering at the joint point and collapsing to one side and hitting the ground.

Flicking the target to the next in line for Barbie, Wayne quickly put four rounds into three different tanks. Aiming for the point between the hull and the turret.

After knocking them out Wayne returned to the Walker target just in time to watch it’s waist blow out. Barbie’s accuracy perfectly hitting it in the same exact spot despite it moving as well as her own movement.

Wayne flicked Sal over to a new tank target that ws near two others and then stepped on a soldier. The crunch of them barely registering to the Walker.

They didn’t have much in the way of anti-armor that he’d seen and the vast majority looked to be very basic infantry. Field rifles, field kit, and not a single thing amongst them that gave Wayne pause.

Sal began laying about at all the infantry with his laser cannon, sending all the infantry around them sprinting away. Fleeing past the tanks and the Walkers both.

Lining up all his rockets on several Walkers, Wayne unleashed the entire barrage in one go. Letting rip into the mass of them.

Armor-piercing rockets at this range was going to cause a horrific problem for anything it struck.

And Wayne just sent out his entire barrage with a ‘to whom it may concern’ address.

Two of the Walkers took up a lot of the strike. One of them went face down into the ground and kept moving. As if the pilot had been struck by some type of debris from the explosion and was no longer able to respond effectively. Dead, dying, or otherwise.

The second that’d been struck started to turn toward Wayne

Barbie’s weapons slammed into the same spot his rockets had struck and it blew up to a degree. The arm exploding outright and the whole Walker staggering to one side. It’s weapons went off at the same time and it fired wildly even as it spun away.

Only for two more Walkers to be revealed behind it. Both had turned to look at Wayne and Barbie.

Sal stepped out in front of them even as the enemy fired. Multiple munitions cracking into Sal as he came across.

Wayne targeted the enemy weaponry and began firing immediately as Sal cleared his view. Multiple rounds cracking home into ballistic weapons, weapons bays, and an energy weapon.

It looked like some sort of Heavy Assault class Walker.

Or it did before the Walker exploded outright. It’d been carrying something hefty so and when the rounds from Wayne’s weapon hit it, something cooked off.

Cooked off and the top half of the Walker simply disintegrated.

Multiple explosions came out of it and it tilted to the side, even as it continued to blow up. A large fireball engulfing the Walker beside it and washing it literally in flame.

Something came out of the dying Walker then and struck Warhorse. Causing Warhorse to lock up momentarily and the entirety of the display fritzing in and out. Whatever had struck him had locked him out of his own controls.

Leaving Wayne standing there unable to do anything at all.

Ahead of him Barbie and Sal kept moving.

Shit.

Grabbing up his walkie-talkie he went to let Barbie and Sal know he was out of the action right now, only to realize they both already knew. They’d both stepped in front of him and created a small wall of steel in front of him.

Cara in Patchwork came out of the side of his view, firing ahead of herself with Yuna repeatedly even as she moved up to stand beside Barbie.

The crackling and static noises were fading away, even as his cockpit slowly tilted backward.

Forcing him to face the sky and horizon both.

A white box unfurled itself as he stared up into nothing.

Bertson Orbital Station, it read.

Tch, stupid bastards. If they’d just listened to Wendy then this would’ve—

The white box winked out of existence outright.

It simply ceased to exist in that moment.

Which Wayne knew from experience, meant that either the transponder that that’d been putting out it’s signal was destroyed.

Or.

The station was.