Cavalier's Gambit 2 -Ch 4-

Chapter 4

“That’s a lot of comms gear, Cavalier,” mused Mick on the squad line. “Remote comms gear. You getting a funny feeling?”

“Yeah,” Wayne said after putting himself on the same line, staring at the two Walkers. They’d stopped and were clearly processing what he’d said into the line they were supposed to be on. “Real funny feeling. Walking bombs funny feeling. Think you can give one of those comm setups a speed hole?”

Mick chuckled at that and Wayne suddenly saw a firing trajectory coming out from behind him that would land perfectly on top of the comms gear on the one on the right.

“Yeah, got that,” Mick began. “Assuming there’s no dead man’s trigger on the communication. If the line went spotty it’d go off pretty bad.

“Uh… boss… that line up for you?”

Wayne paused, realizing what Mick was asking. The man had clearly remembered Wayne was running some type of ballistic AI.

“Right on the base of that stupid looking antenna,” Wayne reported, wondering if the two Walkers would ever respond to him. They’d gone still, but hadn’t replied. It was making him nervous.

Wayne watched as the crosshair shifted just a touch until it was stuck dead on the antenna itself.

“Antenna,” Wayne reported after it went still.

“Boss, any chance you’d want to go to the MDF shooting comp as my spotter?” Mick asked. “They got a decent cash prize this year.”

Wayne cleared his throat, and opened his line to the two House Feda Walkers.

“I say again. I want to conduct an inspection on the two Walkers approaching the site!” demanded Wayne. “Immediately. Stand to, open the cockpit, and prepare for review! Non-compliance will be treated as a hostile action!”

Wayne clicked off all his comms other than the line to Josephine and Miriam.

“Lady, Miss, this reeks. They know they’re caught, but they can’t comply,” he said, lifting up his weapon till the crosshair landed on the closer Walker’s antennta. “I’m going to initiate because all that remote comms gear makes me think bomb.”

“Bomb? Bomb,” Miriam said going from question to statement. “That’s what I’d do. A bomb. Then blame them and my two pilots deaths. Might even have corpses inside.”

Wayne raised his eyebrows at that, he hadn’t considered that angle but it’d fit.

“Mick, call the shot, fire when ready, I’ll take the second antenna,” he ordered, and then felt his implant start speeding up. Or more accurately, his mind was speeding up. Miriam had called him a Lode.

Which apparently was just a fancy way of saying he was an extremely tall man trying to sleep on a kid’s race-car bed. It wasn’t going to work out for the race car bed the the extremely call man stopped trying to fit and just stretched out.

Now, leaning into his implant, the Walker itself, and a single chip that let him leverage the Walker to it’s full capacity without breaking, Wayne was recognizing all the signs.

He was in control of it.

So much so that he hadn’t heard when Mick announced he was shooting, but that he could nearly see the moment the round would strike. As if time were stretching out into a flat line that existed at all points, rather than a linear thing.

Wayne fired to coincide the strike on one antena with a hit on the other.

The echoing crack of Wayne’s rifle seemed to play games with Mick’s and they slowly faded.

Using the laser that Tink had put on Warhorse, Wayne aimed at the point that he knew the cockpit locked at. He just lifted it up and began firing a narrow beam at that exact point.

Freebooters only had the single locking latch and it was a decent one, but if someone sat there with a laser like it was a drill, it’d suffer a heat failure like any lock would after some time passed.

“Just drilling the lock out,” Wayne reported to his squad. “Warrior, intercept the two that came from Ginil and start walking them back. Tell them that there was an issue. Escort duty till they clear the field. Shield, pair with Warrior and double up on that escort. Warrior, you’re lead. Squire, remain with Longbow.”

“Understood, Cavalier,” Sal replied.

“Yes, Lord,” Cara said immediately.

“Well, that was… interesting,” Miriam said. “Lady, are you watching, too?”

“Yes, Miss, I am,” replied Josephine. Both of them now seemingly to be talking through his cockpit at the same time. They were clearly both dialed into his camera feed. “I can definitely see what set Cavalier off. That’s a massive remote comms relay. Unless you knew it didn’t belong on a Freebooter it’d just be taken as a back cannister of some sort. Perhaps a shoulder mounted weapon with an aim assist?”

“It’s what I thought it was when I first started looking. I just… wrote it off if I’m being candid,” Miriam confessed.

“As did I, Miss. It’s not just you,” Josephine remarked.

“So… I wasn’t expecting a three way in my cockpit, but I’m very much on board for this,” Wayne stated Wayne after making sure all his other com lines were quiet, then shifted Miriam’s bikini picture to rest directly next to Josephine’s strapless graduation photo that she had given him. “Now I just need a bikini photo of the Lady, and a graduation photo the Miss.”

Both women laughed at that, neither of them seemingly bothered by his commentary. Apparently they’d both long since gotten used to his runaway brain.

“I can make that happen,” Josephine said with a smile in her voice. “Miss? I know your military graduation photos exist because I’ve seen them but you clearly listened to your mother, where I didn’t.”

“Ah, yes. I did indeed listen and mine are quite subdued, but I will gladly add them,” added Miriam.

The lock on the Freebooter failed and the cockpit shifted. The whole Walker bouncing in place for a moment. Wayne’s onboard implant borne AI telling him that the weight had just displaced on the Walker.

“Ugh, if it’s filled with bombs this sucks,” Wayne growled as he moved over to the Freebooters. When he got there, he had put his right arm of the Walker between himself and the Freebooter. With any luck it wouldn’t go off in a big boom but he’d rather have the arm and the weapon in the way than just Steel-glass.

“If it is, this is going to be a very ugly black eye for Feda,” Josephine murmured. “I’m recording this angle right now. You’ve got Longbow’s view, right Miss?”

“I do,” confirmed Miriam.

Wayne used the tip of his weapon to push at the cockpit. It scraped across the Steel-Glass without catching anything. He tried again and it managed to stick on the cockpit and push it open.

“Shit,” Miriam said. “Back up Wayne.”

Wayne kept his arm toward the damn Walker and moved away only to turn around and look back after he got some distance. Facing the Walker.

It was filled with what looked a lot like compact explosives. There was indeed a corpse inside the Walker as well.

“Permission to push on where those Freebooters came from,” he requested.

“Denied. Mission complete. Cavalier,” Josephine said in a formal tone. “I formally discharge you from this duty and will lodge a complaint with house Feda. You may quit the field honorably.”

“Understood, I have a secondary objective though, Lady,” Wayne said and began to troop back to where the child had been. Which was more or less where the meeting had expected to take place.

The little white box that unfolded told him at the very least the doll was still there.

Wayne put his rifle away on his side, latched it into place, then put Warhorse’s large Walker hand down on the ground in front of a ruined door.

“Cavalier?” Josephine asked in a quiet whisper.

A small girl that was perhaps seven or eight came out of the building then. All she had with her was a large stuffed fox. Without waiting, speaking, or explaining, Wayne lifted her up off the ground and held her up just above the height of his cockpit.

“Which way do I go?” Wayne asked, holding his palm perfectly still, though the fingers slightly curled. The little girl was hanging to the inside of them.

“That way!” she said and pointed.

“Lance, with me,” ordered Wayne, the thumb on the hand gently closing till it pressed the little girl to the back’s of his fingers. She was secured. “Longbow, oversight as long as you can, hold the field.”

“Yes… Lord Cavalier,” Barbie said in a whisper.

“Understood, Lord Cavalier,” Mick murmured.

Wayne began moving forward at a steady gait. Going in the direction the little girl had directed.

The sound of her laughter was picked up by his external microphones and pipped into his cockpit. She had her hands up as Warhorse moved out past the ruined neighborhood and toward what looked like a small shopping plaza.

It wasn’t far for a Walker, but likely quite far for a little girl.

When Wayne made it to the location he only had to look at the little girl who was already pointing. It was a small set of houses off to the side of the shopping complex. They’d be hard to see from the ground given their placement.

They’d made for an ideal hiding spot from the rest of the world.

The main space-port for the planet wasn’t far off and a great many people had rushed to it in the early days trying to get off world when the secret broke. Then they’d all flooded the nearby areas.

Wayne got near the houses, then reached out and stretched past the debris and bushes. He didn’t want to ruin their hiding spot by reckless tramping over the cover that’d protected them.

Wayne laid his hand to the ground and the little girl hopped off and looked up to him.

“Who’re you though?” she asked, standing there, unafraid of him.

“Cavalier Wayne Hesh, Colonel of the Mirkil Defense Forces and the Confed,” he said, his voice going to the external speakers. His cockpit view was the little girl.

“Thank you, Mr. Hesh!” the little girl said then seemed to hesitate. “Are… you here to save us?”

Wayne clicked his tongue. He knew the dropship that would come pick them up could easily hold a lot of people, but he had nowhere to take refugees. Nowhere to put them.

He had no land of his own.

Nowhere to put what he believed was likely several families, all hidden throughout the houses nearby. Because the more he looked, the more he could see movement here and there. As if people were peeking out of windows and doorways.

“Yes,” Josephine said, saving him.

“Yes,” Wayne said immediately. “At least for you and those with you. Who’re you here with?”

“Uncle and Auntie Winslow,” the little girl said. “They were my neighbors before… all this happened. My parents-I don’t know where they are. They’ve been taking care of me.”

“I have a drop ship coming in right now, they’ll pick up whoever’s right there,” Josephine stated, sounding very cold, and very detached.

“I’ve already logged the attempted murder of Cavalier Hesh,” Miriam added. “I may have sent it to Wendy, along with some footage of what we’ve already got. Confed wasn’t happy to begin with. Feda just tried to take out a newborn Cavalier. They… won’t be happy.”

Wayne nodded his head, then stood up, retrieved his weapon, and began scanning the surroundings. Watching everything around him.

The little girl had already run into a house.

“I feel like Feda overstepped here. Is this just war and I’m being personally biased as someone who got invaded recently?” asked Wayne.

“The war itself? No. Perfectly normal, I’m afraid,” Josephine said in a clipped tone. “Attempting to blow up my fiance, and yes, the article just went live a few hours ago, that’s not normal. Nor is trying to blow up the MDF’s Cavalier. We might suddenly find somewhere to dump all those Dashi weapons, Walkers, ships, and extra ammunition we can’t do anything with. Through back-channels of course.

“I’ll see if there’s a Privateer or two who’re willing to take a commission to deliver it where it’s needed. Merchant’s by day, smugglers by night.”

Wayne didn’t respond, he just watched the surrounding area.

Not far off,  behind him, Barbie was doing the same.

***

Wayne had watched as the civilians evacuated into the dropship that Josephine had put down. Quite a few of them just about sprinting on board as several squads of MDF soldiers secured the area.

More than a few clearly stopped and stared at Wayne and Warhorse. Patchwork wasn’t far off with it’s iconic look. Though it was more Cara’s at this point than his.

She’d put a lot of hours behind it and made it look look deeply natural. Her implant, though of Dashi make, hadn’t helped her at first, but now it didn’t seem to bother her at all.

Whatever changes she’d made mentally, or physically, had clearly given her the control she needed.

“This is why you’re a perfect Lord,” Cara said suddenly over the coms. Everyone had been silent as the dropship started descent, started loading people, and up to this moment. “This is why our Princess is our Princess. This is right.”

“The optics on this are going to be great,” Miriam purred on the private channel of Wayne’s cockpit. “Lady, I’ve been going through and collecting photos and clips from other perspectives. I’m getting some really good ones of Patchwork and Warhorse standing on either side of the dropship with civilians rushing it. The Mirkil Defence Forces around the area give it a little extra.”

“Sounds like another recruitment poster,” suggested Josephine with a short laugh. “I agree with Warrior by the way, but I’m sure as hell not going to admit that you and I can chat up Cavalier however we like, Miss.

“This is why he’s a perfect Lord. He’d asked about the stupid Fox doll and I hadn’t even made the connection. This is that AI you ate, isn’t it?”

Wayne blinked, freezing in place.

As far as he knew, Tink nor Miriam had told her.

“Armorer told me. A little bit ago. I started texting her about how you always seemed to know where to look, aim, and be,” Miriam explained. “She just about fell over herself to try and apologize and explain to me. I almost felt bad for her until I remembered I was the one she was apologizing to.

“Then I really felt bad and had to get her to stop.

“Also, Miss, did you help her pick out that outfit? Oh my goodness, I didn’t realize we were competing so hard with her now.”

“Right? It’s a bit frustrating but… Armorer’s such a sweet heart,” Miriam admitted. “I’ve got a Spec-Ops crew working on those Freeboters. Since the antenna were taken out all the data has been recorded intact. We scooped out the corpses and explosives and got to work on the data.

“Lady, I’ve got coordinates. Given that we’ve had a rather up close and personal view of the area, I guarantee they haven’t been able to exfil.

“Wendy came to see me on the station in person. Confed is a touch… angry. They are willing to handle any blow-back from Lord Cavalier going and having a shoot out. I even have it in a written contract form. Wendy’s boss’s boss signed it virtually.”

There was a bit of a stunned moment at that.

If the Confed was that angry, this was more than just them trying to blow up the delegates and Wayne. This was more than that, and now, he suspected it was always more than that.

As if something else was going on behind the scenes.

Because the Confed had wanted him there to begin with. They’d wanted him personally to handle this situation himself.

“Somewhere along the line, clearly, the Confed thought something was going wrong,” Miriam put in, her mind clearly running the same track his own thoughts did. Or that she’d already had them. “They wanted the Lord Cavalier there to make sure it didn’t go bad. Didn’t go wrong. That he was somehow an insurance policy.”

“Now they’re frothing at the mouth that it still went wrong, they risked the Lord Cavalier, and the MDF got another ribbon slapped on it’s prized rear end,” Josephine finished with a laugh. “I’m sure they won’t be pleased when pictures of this goes live later when it gets ‘leaked’. Or that he’s my fiance now.”

“They are most especially displeased that your relationship status went live just as Wayne touched ground. They couldn’t stop the mission at that point and they were risking the Prince Consort.”

“Permission granted,” Josephine ordered after a pause. “Search and destroy, Lord Cavalier. Your Princess commands it.”

“Should change your callsign to princess,” Wayne said then flicked his squad comms. “Team, we’re going to go find who sent us those Freebooter bombs. We’ll do a wide walk with a firing line. Lance, Shield, and myself up front. Longbow, Squire, middle and rear. Warrior, you’re on the long scout. Make that red hair fly at a dead sprint. You’ve seen the numbers I put out speed wise. Think you can take me?”

There were a chorus of affirmative responses. Agreements and ‘Lord Cavalier’s’ being stated.

Guess that’s me now.

No longer Cavalier, but Lord Cavalier.

“I will beat your record, my perfect Lord,” Cara purred. “I will beat it and be your perfect Warrior.”

Patchwork moved away even as the rest of the citizens were being loaded up into the dropship.

“Squire, you’re on the global relay and comms,” he ordered as the last citizen got on board. The MDF started to backtrack and move back into the dropship. Wayne didn’t miss it when more than a few of them stopped to get a last look at him. Then the ship started rocketing upward and away. “Roll it out, we’re clear.”

Wayne started moving out with his team.

He felt… right.

It wasn’t a team he had gone out of his way to recruit, but it was a team he felt very lucky to have. Everyone had a role and a skillset that fit his needs.

He likely couldn’t have picked a better team even if he tried to make it happen. That realistically, he’d probably have gotten is worse by trying hard then just letting it happen as it did.

“Oh that’s a great photo. I had the pilot turn the landing camera toward Wayne and company as they flew off,” Miriam whispered. “It’s them moving in a V. It’s perfect. This whole thing is a giant photo-op.”

“Isn’t it though?” Josephine said with a laugh. “Oh speaking of photo-op, daddy says hi, Lord Cavalier. He’d really like it if you came to dinner later. In a day or two. The news has caused quite a stir obviously and we need to do photos.”

“Gladly. Am I wearing my not-house colors, uniform?” he asked.

“Yes. Daddy loved that. Especially when I pointed out the dates involved,” Josephine admitted. Then she cleared her throat. “Uhm… Lord Cavalier… Fit check?”

“Yes! Fit check?” Miriam parroted. “This is because I sent those photos of when I caught him at his home gym, isn’t it?”

“Shush,” Josephine hissed.