Cavalier's Gambit 2 -ch 2-

Chapter 2

Wayne was somewhat sad to be returning to the station.

A week at home hadn’t felt very long at all. Almost no time at all with how he had felt about it all. That by the time he had felt settled, it was time to go.

Though, to be fair, Tink had kept him quite occupied at night. In a way that he was surprised, delighted, and worn down by. When she had originally told him she wouldn’t say no, he hadn’t expected him to not say no, either.

Thankfully it wasn’t anything he wanted to say no to, other than perhaps, the frequency.

Which had made spending time in the home with Miriam somewhat, awkward.

Though for her part, Miriam had seemed almost amused by it all. When he wasn’t with Tink, Miriam often took him out to the surrounding areas, where he had frequented, and really just wanted to know all about him before he became the Cavalier.

Tink had almost immediately fell asleep the moment they broke orbit in a private shuttle.

The fact that it was a private shuttle being piloted by Miriam herself seemed deeply circumspect to him. Deeply so and that something had gone wrong.

Wayne had the impression that perhaps something had happened to the transport, or someone had leaked the news of his departure from the planet. Which in turn had scrambled things up and here he was.

The door between the pilot’s area and the shuttle area was shut tight and Wayne looked out the steelglass to his home planet. One that still had a number of Blood of Dashi holdouts on it, but they were becoming fewer and fewer in number every day.

Having kissed the Colonel a number of times during their outings, Wayne was now a very confused Cavalier and felt like he no longer understood his own life. He often just did whatever struck his fancy along with whatever collection of words popped into his head.

Right now, he was suffering from that type of lifestyle and he had begun living underneath what felt a lot like an axe. Just waiting for it to fall and end it all.

“You really don’t care at all that I’m trying to get into your bed at the same time I’m actually in Tink’s?” he blurted out after the silence had gone on for a few minutes. His mind slipping away from him under the pressure of it.

Not to mention, Josephine had started texting him even more frequently than she had previously. To the point that there was almost always a text he needed to respond to with her.

Her texts had gone from playful flirting and jokes, to actual downright flirting, compliments, and becoming something far deeper.

He couldn’t delude himself at all at what was happening.

Part of him wanted to embrace it and run with it.

The other part of him told him he was asking to get his balls carved away with a wood planer one milimeter at a time.

Miriam laughed brightly, her hands tapping gently at buttons and controls as she made some minor corrections. Only to look at him out of the corner of her eye and gifting him with a beautiful smile.

“Did it finally all catch up with you?” she asked in a purring voice. “My poor sweet Cavalier can’t handle what he’s done and is now terrified of it all?”

“A bit, yeah. I mean, can you blame a guy? I’ve got a gorgeous woman who has literally been at my beck and call since I met her, an Armorer who looks like she missed her calling for some camera platforms I whole heartedly didn’t watch as a teen, and an actual princess. One who has been pushing me around in texts lately.”

Wayne said it all, looked at Miriam, and just stared at her.

To which she laughed again, her tongue coming up to lightly trail across her upper teeth before she licked her lips. She finished putting in some type of correction, then turned to face him. The four-point harness belt she was wearing did wonderful things to her and her uniform.

“No. I’m not bothered in the least. Not in any way shape or form. Tink is a sweet heart and I understand her implicitly,” Miriam said, smiling at him. She crossed one leg over the other and lightly pulled at her uniform to adjust it. “She and I see so well, and so closely, that I genuinely would be hard pressed to name someone I could call as close a friend. I’m glad she’s getting her moment in the sun. You.

“Is it a bit weird that you end up… ahem… in the bedroom with her, then run me down, only to take me out and kiss me enough that I get quite dizzy? Of course. But it isn’t a surprise to me.

“Remember, Wayne. I willingly put myself in your path. Even if you had been married and no one knew. If you had been bedding half the station or even Wendy. No one knew. I put myself there and wanted to be there.

“So, no. It doesn’t bother me.

“In fact, the idea that I’m sharing you with Tink and Josie is actually rather pleasing. I feel like I gained two friends and boyfriend when I had gone in without any expectations of what could happen at all.”

“You’re… a braver person than I,” Wayne admitted. “I don’t think I could even consider the possibility of… dating… a woman dating another man. It just isn’t in me to even conceptualize the idea.”

Miriam only grinned wider at that, her head tilting to the side as she watched him.

“Brave. Well. Thank you. I’m rather pleased you think so highly of me,” she confided, her eyes picking over him as if he were a feast laid out on a table. “Did you talk—actually… Wayne, do you care about me? As a woman, not just a conquest? Is that the issue? You’ve realized you’ve conquered the field without meaning to and don’t even know what to do with yourself?”

“I… think so. I was genuinely just being myself with most of it. I saw you, wanted you. Saw Josephine, wanted her. Didn’t really restrict myself and just— just went forward. Same thing happened with Tink.

“Realizing that maybe I can’t just be like that. At least not with women. I don’t have much experience and it was all exciting and-and you’re all lovely. It was exciting and I wanted you all and I ended up with you all and now I’m terrified. Terrified of losing any or all of it.”

“That feels very real,” admitted Miriam, still watching him. Then she reached across and patted his knee. “I don’t care personally, because I was ready for anything and I still wanted to be part of this. Part of you.

“Tink doesn’t care because she’s… different. A great woman, my dearest friend, and a Walker engineer I can’t even begin to define. But different.

“As for Josephine… the best I can determine about her view on it is she’s probably going at this from a military perspective. She can’t achieve ‘total victory’ with you. Claiming you for herself.

“But she’s been offered a majority share and being given the position of dictating how it moves. The relationship as a whole, that is. You’ve put no restrictions on her other than loyalty, love, and a duty to her own family. Which… just so happens to coincide with everything she herself wants.

“If I were you though, I would be very hesitant to approach any further women. Very… hesitant. Thankfully Nat sees you as a brother figure.

“Cara is obvious and… well… it’s Cara.

“I am rather nervous about Barbie, though. As is Josephine.

“She put in her transfer immediately after meeting you. She’s a Walker pilot but also an exo-suit spec-ops soldier. Her ability to defend you in closer quarters outside of a walker, while also moving with you, makes it hard to turn her away.”

Wayne nodded his head quickly to all of that. It made sense to him.

Everything she said did, in fact.

Then his head turned to the left as a while box unfolded itself. His eyes and the onboard AI inside his implant informing him that a ship was out there. Out there and the distance to it steadily decreasing.

“What is it?” Miriam asked, turning to look in the same direction. Her hands started moving across her controls again. “Oh, it’s a Confed ship and it’s heading straight for us. I take it you can read the transponder.”

“The Mariott,” Wayne answered. “Broadcasting openly.”

“It is—” Miriam murmured as her fingers tapped and slid across the screen. “The Mariott. Well. Either that’s an escort for you, or they want to chat on the way back to the station.

“They’re not close enough for a good laser transmission but given how they’re angled on our approach and will intercept us, I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if it’s a laser communique first.”

“Uhm, alright. Though, Miri… we’re… okay? You’re not upset? You’re okay with all this?” Wayne pressed.

“I am, actually. I’m quite alright with it. Thankfully I’m not Wendy,” she said with a laugh. “I think she’d have likely died of shock at the idea of what our relationship is. That and I don’t think Josephine would have been as quick to agree to our not-three-way with a Confed officer.

“I do have one thing I would like you to keep in mind though. I don’t mind you going to someone else after me, but I’m not comfortable with it going the other way. I just… I can compartamentalize a lot, but not that.”

“I… ah… but the dates were okay?” he inquired.

“I mean, I heard you shower afterward, so yes,” Miriam said, sounding very distracted. “It’s a laser communique. The Confed wants to hire you directly. Immediately. Depending on your response they already have dropships ready to collect the rest of your team.

“It’s a request with Wendy as the contractor and Josephine’s already signed off on it. It’s… a… huh. House Ginil has requested you and your team for a peacekeeping mission. Their House was almost completely taken over not long ago. It was a near bloodless coup up until it wasn’t.”

“Peacekeeping?” Wayne asked, sounding deeply surprised.

“Uh? Oh. Ha,” blurted out Miriam which turned in a warm and rich laugh. “Wayne, no one is going to want to go bother you during a peacekeeping mission, unless they really want the Confed, as well as the Mirkil Defense Force, to suddenly show up with a lot of fire and brimstone.

“They’re asking you to do it, because your reputation will proceed you. The pay is good, it’s for your entire team, and they’re paying the drop costs.

“So it’s you, Natalie, Cara, Mick, Sal, and Chestnut. Which is a six Walker drop. They’ve offered a battle-group sized patrol Drop ship to accommodate everything.”

Wayne grunted and thought about it.

“They’re handling everything? Costs to drop, armory, fuel, transit? What’s the pay like? Any good? You’re my handler Miri, handle me?” he said with a laugh. “Isn’t that your job as the Bottom? In fact, I’m pretty sure you’re going to be potentially as messy as I am at the middle.”

Miriam only clicked her tongue, glanced at him, but grinned ear to ear. Then she huffed and pulled up a different screen. It looked like she typed something in, sent it, and then sat there and waited.

“If I don’t miss my guess, our glorious Top has an opinion. She likely sent a message to us but we were in a secure zone and couldn’t get it. Once we boarded, we blacked out our phones. I’m betting that—”

Miriam paused mid sentence and opened up a screen.

“Josephine would like you to take the mission. She uh… here, just read it,” Miriam said and made a gesture against the screen.

The window she’d been looking at appeared on his own screen.

It was indeed a message from Josephine.

“Tell that sweet man of mine that if he takes the mission I’ll let him take whatever pictures he wants of me, in whatever uniform he wants,” the message read. “The fact that the Confed is asking the MDF for this favor is a really big deal to us.

“If that doesn’t get him going, promise him I’ll let him take swimsuit photos to match yours. Though I’d really hoped to hang onto those for a different bribe. What can I say, my Cavalier has expensive tastes? Thanks for checking in, Miss. You’re the best bottom ever.”

“You’re obviously not telling her about that message either,” Miriam said and gave him a flat stare. “If you tell her about me sharing her messages, or this one, I will not… forgive you. Ever.”

Wayne nodded his head and quickly.

He would most certainly not betray Miriam in this.

“Alright. I guess we’re doing it then,” he murmured. “Did they mention if we’re doing this directly, stopping to pick up everything, or… what exactly?”

“Quick drop off at the station for Tink and I, you… are being transferred to that Confed ship right now. It’ll intercept a drop ship with everyone else and all the Walker’s now that you’ve agreed. Which means,” Miriam said, turned to him, and gave him a warm smile. “That Tink and I will be sending you off with a kiss in just a moment.

“Also, I just wanted to tease you a bit. Just a little. Forgive me, I do love getting just these tiny little pokes in.

“You know how you were freezing to death in your Walker in space?”

“Yeah?” he asked, watching her.

“Space is actually kinda warm in the sun. Heat loss mostly happens through radiation in space and it’s hard to manage it because space is empty,” she said, watching him and grinning. Her eyebrows slowly rose up. “When you turned off the systems, the natural materials of the space Walker siphoned all the heat away. If you hadn’t turned it off, you would’ve run out of power. Just wanted to mention it since… well… it was funny to me. Not like you could’ve done anything else.”

“Got it. Next time I head into space, pack a super-parka or something along with some of those chemical heaters,” Wayne said, immediately moving ahead to figure out how to utilize the information. Because now that he was aware of it, it made perfect sense and he didn’t want to repeat the situation. “Now… about that kiss goodbye.”

Wayne unbuckled himself and immediately got up and closed in on Miriam.

“Ah, yes. About that kiss,” She said, peering up at him, a dangerous look on her face.

***

Wayne looked up at Warhorse, his Heavy Assault Walker. It nearly teetered into the Dreadnought range given it’s height and weight, but Tink was a masterclass Engineer. Her improvements had knocked it’s speed and torque into a class that was more similar to a Light-Assault bordering on a Heavy-Combat Walker.

It was big, it was armored, and it moved far faster than one would expected.

Along with a heavy rifle similar to his original weapon on patchwork, Yuna, in design if not size. It also had a shoulder mounted missile launcher and a heavy bore large laser on the left arm. The sword had been ditched in favor of a score of short-range rockets, all mounted in the torso below the cockpit.

While it wasn’t that versatile it had a great deal of ammo and could soak up a lot of hits without actually becoming a problem.

“My Lord,” Cara said approaching him in a panted breath. “Ahhh… you are here. My perfect lord. I’m glad to have found you.”

Her words were much clearer now. She had clearly been working on her pronunciation while he’d been away. She also looked far more at ease as well.

Turning, he looked to the wild Dashi woman. Despite the war being over she had never made a single comment about returning home. If anything, she had immediately bristled once finding out it was all over as if he might send her away.

“My warrior,” he said, staring at her.

Her bright red hair was trimmed short and had some curl to it. It was pinned to the sides of her head otherwise and would only have reached her shoulders at best. Her skin was as pale as could be, to the point that it was as if she’d never seen sunlight.

Her eyes were hard to look away from. Blue with green shafts spreading out from the center. Almost as if it were a green fire within them.

“I should be clear, Cara. I won’t let you go home,” he said, holding her gaze. “You’re my Warrior, of my house. You aren’t allowed to leave. Unless you want to go visit family at some point.

“Would it be funny if I showed up with you or problematic?”

Cara’s smile was immediate and complete. Grinning at him with the entirety of her face.

“They would think you’re my man if you did that,” she said with a chuckle, staring harder at him than she had ever before.

“You’re my Warrior, Cara. I will not let you leave without you demanding it,” he said as if that were the answer. Which only made Cara go still, then nod her head. “You’re in Patchwork, right? You’re my close-work monster and scout? Peacekeeping or not, I want you to be ready to move about and take charge.”

“Of course, My Lord,” she said, her spine straightening. “It’s good you’re… back. Your Warrior missed you. Also, the prisoners we took, the women. They are working as servants for the house now. I have been teaching them your glory. They understand. They now live in the garage and work to protect it, clean, and maintain it. They will be of good assistance to Tink.”

Prisoners.

Prisoners?

Prisoners… but— oh. Right.

We did take a few. I handed one straight to her that I’d almost snapped the limbs off of.

“Colonel Hesh!” said a new voice further behind him. He turned further to look at who was coming in now.

Given that this side of the ship had three bays to it, one was Warhorse, another Patchwork, and the third the Dreadnought he had given to Barbie Chestnut, he was unsurprised to see her striding toward him.

“Well if it isn’t my little Chestnut. Is it finally time to crack you open and get at your insides?” he asked before his brain could remind him that this was a bad statement. Then he just gave wrote it off as a ‘I said this to her before already, it’s fine’ category.

Which sounded stupid, but it was the best he had at the moment.

Captain Barbie Chestnut was a young woman who he had met during a special-forces operation to save some VIPs.

Her platinum blonde hair that was nearly white, dark black eyes, and good looks belied the fact that she was incredibly dangerous and lethal with just her hands. She also had a lithe figure that was toned with tightly packed corded muscle.

He had thought the last time he had seen her she had felt like a drawn gun, just pointed at the ground. Though a pretty gun.

“And really, it’s Wayne. Waaaaayne,” then he looked at Cara and gently poked her in the collar bone. “Wayne. Say it like you mean it.”

“Wayne,” Cara said, smiling at him.

Then he looked to Barbie who was finally close enough. He raised his eyebrows at her, waiting.

She had clearly blanked out a bit at his comment at getting at her insides, only to laugh loudly.

“Wayyyyyyne,” she moaned. “Stop talking about warming me up and getting at my insides?”

To which Wayne couldn’t help himself and immediately turned a deep dark red.

For all his blurted words and immediately flirty commentary, no one had really pushed back at him. The way Barbie had said it had struck a chord with him.

“Ha! Haha! Yes! I will learn from this,” Cara said, looked at Wayne, cleared her throat.

Then she patted at her chest.

“Waaaaayyyyne,” moaned Cara in a similar way as Barbie had done.

“I liked that,” Barbie said with a laugh and shoved at Cara’s arm lightly. “Showed me right up. Now mine almost looked pathetic. Ahem. Wayyyyyyne?”

Blinking, Wayne looked back at Barbie.

“Wayyyyyne,” Cara got out in a lilting way, leaning into her own native tongue a bit.

“Yeah,” Wayne strangled out with a laugh and a sigh. “That’s better than Colonel or Lord Hesh. I was a Walkie-Jock that did loader jobs. It’s easier if you just… be stupid with me.

“Sal, Mick, and Nat on the other side of the bay wall?”

“Yes, they are there, Lord Hesh,” Cara said with a firm nod of her head.

“Load in, then, we’ll do some systems and coms checks,” he ordered. “If the others join us, great, if not, it’ll just be us three.”

“That sounds fun,” Barbie said, leaned in close and peered up at him. “Did you have a timetable on getting to my insides, by the way? How long does it take to warm me up? Because I’m feeling pretty warm right now.”

Cara laughed at the exchange, looked at Wayne with wide eyes, then slapped him on the back of the shoulder. As if she couldn’t contain herself. Then moved over to Patchwork which was next to Warhorse.

“Mm?” Barbie asked, tapped his sternum with a finger, then moved off. There was no saunter or sway to her, just an efficient movement. Which felt odd in a strange counterpoint to her words and actions.

He had to wonder if she thought one way, and carried herself another. Much as he felt like he did for himself.

Well.

At least comms will be fun with Barbie around.