Cavalier's Gambit -ch 13-

Over the last handful of days, Wayne had gotten some time to size Tink up.

Since hiring her, she’d been working non-stop on the ship, as well as Patchwork.

Every day he’d take Patchwork out to do some work as a loadmaster while spotting as a loader, and each evening she did repairs. She brought its efficiency up, and each time he took it out, it was simply better.

A lot of the small hangups Wayne had learned to deal with, were eliminated one by one. This last evening, their fifth day working together, he’d finally given her a list of things that annoyed him.

They were all taken care of by this morning when he’d taken out to the next job.

On top of that, several small hitches he hadn’t even realized were there until they were gone, had been handled.

“Let’s chat her up a bit… see what she thinks. And if it goes well… we’ll show her the contract.

“Starting to feel like I’d do my best with her around, so let’s make sure this goes the right way,” Wayne said to himself as he walked up the stairs to the entry door of the Cougar. All the while staring at it with some trepidation. “Probably should name the ship. At some point.”

Grunting, Wayne lifted his hand up and tugged at the door handle.

It swung open easily.

Given that he’d already walked Patchwork into the loader elevator, she was well aware he was on his way up. The loading alert would have alerted her immediately.

Stepping into the cargo bay, he was once again surprised.

Having only been in here once, when he was first given it as a prize, there hadn’t been much here. Other than trash, debris, and some terrible looking stains.

Now it’d been converted.

Tink had someway, somehow, refloored it, cleaned the interior to a level that it likely hadn’t been since it was made, and added shelves, Walker jacks, and locking clamps.

All of them were clearly repurposed and none of it was likely in any way purchased, but rather, salvaged. Yet it was all in working repair and sturdy looking.

There was a series of three cockpits computers daisy chained together on a workbench, which was new. There were also what looked to be engine blocks piled up in a strangely organized way.

Tink was head down in a larger engine bay with only her back and lower-half visible.

“Ah! Good evening, Cavalier Hesh!” Tink called from inside the bay.

“Wayne, Tink. Wayne. Wayne,” growled Wayne, walking over to the mechanic. The last thing he wanted was her calling him that, and he fought her at every turn about it.

“I-you-but you’re—”

“Wayne,” stated Wayne with absolute certainty as he came to a stop a few feet from her. “Say it, Tink. Wayne.”

Tink had frozen in place, then her shoulders flexed, and she stood up. She had what looked like a cylinder assembly between her hands. Dripping oil onto the drop cloth at her feet.

“Wayne,” Tink said quietly, her eyes locked to where the oil was hitting. Giving him an odd profile of her face.

Over the last several days, he’d found that more often than not, her jaw and nose weren’t always prominent. That or he’d learned to look right past it.

Tink was interesting to him.

She was oddly mousey, yet horribly determined and forthright if she was cornered or felt she was wronged. To avoid confrontation, but be the first to attack if there was no other option.

He also found it hard to look away from her eyes when she actually met his gaze.

“Again?” Wayne asked with a grin.

“Wayne,” Tink murmured with a small nod of her head. “Wayne, Wayne, Wayne, Wayne. Wayne.”

“Thanks. Yes, Tink. Wayne,” he agreed with a laugh. “Watcha up to?”

“Ah! Digging out parts. Pistons, cylinder casings, O-rings. Lots of parts like this get forgotten when an engine gets tossed,” Tink said excitedly, looking up and smiling at him. There was a smear of oil that ran from one shoulder down to her waist. As if she’d had something resting against her shirt and overalls at the same time. “Just trying to get all the free things we can for backups.

“That and other projects I’m working on. Other things I want to get moving.”

“Ah. What’s up with the computers then?” Wayne asked, hooking a thumb at the daisy chained computers.

“Oh, that. Well… hold on,” Tink sniffled, then went over to a bucket that was set near a workbench. She hesitated for a moment, then just stuck the whole assembly inside it.

Picking up a handtowel, she quickly wiped off all the oil and grease from her hands. Then looked at her shirt and sighed.

Pulling at the hip of her coveralls, she tightened up her clothes against herself and then blotted gently at the oil smear.

“Dangit. I knew I should’ve changed. I just bought th-this,” complained Tink.

Wayne had found that in this moment, in a surprising way that he hadn’t expected, Tink had a body that was incredible.

Her bust was much larger than her frame would suggest, her waist was fairly narrow, and her hips a touch wider. Giving her a somewhat top-heavy hourglass figure.

It was a look that many women would kill others to get.

Tink clicked her tongue, let her clothes go, and then flung the cloth onto the workbench.

“There was a really strange error report in Patchwork. I’ve been trying to figure it out since I first saw it days ago,” Tink explained, moving over to the loading elevator. She hit the button and stared down the chute as the cover began to rotate out of the way.

She was steadfastly not looking at him once again.

Thankfully she could hold a conversation, but she never did it while meeting his eyes. As if she couldn’t bear to see someone looking at her.

“Oh. Really?”

“Yeah. There was a number of burnt-out capacitors. A short that ran across a number of them. Burnt out a few resistors too, somehow. A chip too, but it was replaced,” Tink rattled off quickly as Patchwork was brought up from below into the cargo bay. “It was all replaced at the same time by a competent hand but… it still didn’t make sense.

“There wasn’t anything that’d cause the short or create a build-up or corrosion or… or… anything. It just happened for no-no reason.”

“Ah… I have an answer for that,” Wayne said, realizing this was an opportunity. A chance for him to wrangle Tink into a long-term contract.

Her curiosity of electronics, programming, and engineering, was certainly a weakness for her.

Wayne was suddenly thankful he’d veered off course on his way here to hit up the administration building. It’d only taken him a few credits to get one of the employees to punch out a hiring contract for Tink for him.

All he had to do was upload the storage device they put it on to any device with an internet connection, sign it, and send it, and it’d be legally binding throughout the Terran Confederation.

That and trust her with the fact that he had an AI in his implant.

Or at least, that was his best guess about what was going on.

“You do?” Tink asked and finally looked at him.

Grinning at her, he held her eyes with his own.

“I do. But… I can’t tell you what that is. Not without some guarantees from you,” Wayne began.

At the same time, Patchwork clanged into place and the loader bay shut itself.

Tink hadn’t looked away from him and was instead staring at him. Her brows coming down partly.

“Guarantees,” she mused hesitantly. “What kind?”

“A contract,” Wayne said and looked around. He spotted a tablet not far away. Pulling out the storage device he had stuck in a pocket, he fit it into the tablet, then held it out to her. “I’ll tell you exactly what happened. But… you need to be mine.

“My armorer. To work for me and only for me. The contract is ten years, the rate of pay is open as… well… I’m not sure what the going rate for a mechanic is. You can fill it in.”

Wayne walked up to the diminutive woman and held out the tablet.

“That’s my requirement to tell you why that error is there,” Wayne finished, still holding the tablet out.

“You-that-me?” Tink asked in a choked voice. Her hand came out and took the tablet from him. Then she grabbed it with both hands.

Despite that, he could see they were trembling. The tablet jittering as she stared at it.

She planted it down against her chest and looked down, forcing it to stay still now. It did reinforce Wayne’s belief that Tink was actually rather well-endowed, and had just not been his imagination.

“It’s for ten years,” she whispered. “It really does list me as your primary armorer. It’s-it’s stated quite clearly that I can’t be employed anywhere else during this time.”

“I-yes? Yes. I did say that. I want you all for me, Tink. You’re an incredible mechanic and I’ve only seen your abilities for a few days. I can’t even begin to imagine how good you’ll be with an investment,” Wayne admitted. “See… here’s where I left the rate open. It increases by three percent every year no matter what so… whatever you put in, be sure you’re happy with it.”

Tink was nodding her head.

“Current rate is about fifty-thousand credits a year. I’m not-not certified thought so… forty-five? Is that-is that okay?” Tink asked, looking up to him. Her eyes were wide, and he swore, partially dilated. “I’d-that’d-Wayne, I’d be really happy to make that amount as my base salary.”

“If you’re happy, I’m happy. Just type it in right there and sign, then I’ll sign. I paid extra so this would be able to transmit immediately,” Wayne stated and pointed to the spot on the device. He couldn’t deny he was hoping that Tink would sign it right here and now. In fact, he was so eager, there was a kernel of guilt gnawing at him. “Tink… think about that. Please make sure you’re happy with this. It’s set for ten years.

“I want you as my mechanic. My armorer. I know we’ve only known each other a short time, but you’re amazing.”

Tink blinked while holding his gaze. Then blinked several more times, each more slowly than the last.

With a soft huff, and a smirk tilting one side of her mouth, she looked back down to the tablet. She used her index finger and quickly signed her name there. Wrote in forty-eight thousand instead of forty-five, then handed it over to him.

“Forgive me, I don’t believe you. I still think that this is some elaborate scam to screw with me,” Tink apologized with a weak tone. She was watching him as he flipped around the tablet. “This is just to break me. And that—”

Wayne flipped the tablet around, signed, and hit the send button before Tink had even finished speaking.

He looked to her and smiled.

“Done. You’re mine, Tink,” Wayne said with finality. “Now… the reason that error code happened?

“Actually, first, I have an implant. You know that, right?”

Tink was staring at him like a startled owl might. With wide, almost unseeing eyes.

She took the tablet back from him and looked to the notification that it’d been received by the administration. Only to look back at him.

“I’m your armorer,” she whispered in a hushed tone. “Wait, an implant? You have an-an-an actual implant? It-it didn’t show up on any of the registration information!”

Tink just about dropped the tablet when she put it in his hands and spun away from him. She went right to a work table and started rummaging around through a box of what had looked like random bits of electronics.

“Dunno about that. I do have one though. Had it done by someone who wasn’t really supposed to be doing them,” Wayne admitted. “It’s the right product, I bought it myself. It just… wasn’t installed or turned on in a normal way, you could say.”

“Or they bo-bo-botched it,” suggested Tink while jerking out something that looked a lot like a cell phone. She stuffed a plug into the top of it and pulled the suction cup at the end of the wire it was connected to, to her hand.

She turned and looked to him.

“Ah… sit down for me?” she asked, staring at him in a way that was similar to how she looked when inspecting Patchwork.

Wayne took in a short breath, then sighed. He didn’t want her to go prodding around at his implant or head, but this felt like the right course of action.

Grabbing the stool Tink sat at, he dragged it over and plopped down on top of it while dropping the tablet on top of the workbench at the same time.

“Now, Cavalier Hesh—”

“Wayne,” he interjected.

“—how long has it been since you had the implant put in?” Tink asked. Then she blinked. Again. As if processing what he said. “Wayne.”

I… fine.

I’ll take it.

“A while now. I had it put in before I became a Pilot,” Wayne answered as Tink leaned in close to him from the side. She put the suction cup up to the point where his implant was and pushed it against his head.

It stayed there with a force that felt magnetic.

“Ah. Ah. Yes,” Tink said quietly. She breathed in and out slowly, looking at the readout of the device she held. “Have there been any other conversions to your body or alterations?”

“My left eye was replaced with a prosthetic,” he offered. “Otherwise, no. Though the eye is part of the problem.”

“Hm. Hm. Yes. I see that,” Tink said in a soft voice. She moved around to the front of him, then stuck the device in his hands. Leaning in close to him, he found himself staring into her eyes from a short distance away.

It made his heartrate increase.

Tink put her right hand to his face, then spun away and snatched up something off her workbench. It’d looked like a rifle optic to Wayne.

Turning back to him, she came right up to his face, leaned in, and put the optic up to his eye.

He could taste the exhale of her breath with how close she was.

Surprisingly, it was minty.

Her eye was wide and peering at him through the optic. Despite it being reversed, it somehow made her eye look larger.

Her eyes have a green ring around the middle.

That’s rather neat.

“It’s-this-I don’t think-it’s military grade. Military grade, and it’s at a point where I honestly think this is something special,” whispered Tink. “In fact I… it’s Terran Confed-Labs. This is straight from the labs. If this isn’t a prototype, it’s a very small production line.”

“Government gave it to me for a job where I got injured,” Wayne answered.

“Hm. Mm. Yes,” whispered Tink. Still staring. Each breath washed over his face with a minty wave. With a blink, she stood up suddenly, pulling away from him. “The error? This all fits doesn’t it? But how?”

Tink’s head tilted to one side, her hair falling oddly. It gave her a rather interesting look. Like a curious animal.

It was somewhat endearing to Wayne.

“Oh, uh… the chip that got fried in the middle of all that was an AI. A utility AI,” Wayne explained. “It shorted out when everything kinda went crazy during that error and… well… now I think the AI is in my implant, and sending everything to my eye.

“I can see all the utility stuff it was sending to the HUD of the Walker, through my eye. I don’t know how, or why, or even how to turn it off. It’s always on.”

Tink blinked.

Blinked again.

Then blinked a third time, though very slowly.

In that moment, Wayne realized that she had quite long eyelashes.

They were quite nice and dark too.

She sure blinks a lot… but… hey, definitely brings the focus to her eyes.

Wait, shit.

I’m acting like a horny teen.

Is it because I’ve been around her so much?

Haven’t been around many women.

At all, actually.

Most loaders were men.

That’ll make this awkward if I—

“What about all these?!” Tink asked excitedly. She’d grabbed a box and held it up for him to look at.

Immediately he closed his eye and looked away. The sheer number of white boxes that’d appeared in that moment nearly gave him a headache.

“Yeah, no… that’s… too many,” Wayne complained.

Tink fished around inside of the box and then pulled out a single chip.

“Okay, ah… what about this one? This is a—”

Tink paused and looked at it. “Oh! Yes. What is it?”

Wayne opened his left eye and focused on what she was holding.

“It’s a chip for wireless connection. An X554382 dash Y,” Wayne rattled off.

“Wait, it’s a Y? No! It’s listed as a— err, wait. If it’s a Y, that’d explain why it didn’t work,” Tink mumbled, staring at the chip in her hand. Then looked to him with a wide grin. “Wait, you know what this means?”

“No? I don’t,” he answered. He wasn’t really fond of his newfound not-so-super power. Though he couldn’t deny it had come in handy on the battlefield already.

“We should go to the dump,” Tink deadpanned.

“The dump.”

“Yes! The dump. We can-we can absolutely scour the place. I can just have you check things! You can check things and-and-and I don’t even have to buy it to test it!” Tink said with glee. “Let’s-let’s go! Now! I want to go immediately. I know it’s getting late, but I kn-know just the place to go. It’s not far, and it’s actually pretty safe.

“Then again, who would want to mess with you anyways? We’ll be fine! Very fine.”

Wayne took in a slow breath, grinned, then let it out.

“Sure, Tink. We’ll go, if only because you’re my person and I want you happy,” Wayne agreed, then stood up.

“I-ah-yes. Yes! Yes. I’m your person,” Tink agreed, then shot off toward a shelf and grabbed up a large plastic crate. “Are you ready? I’m ready! Let’s go.”

Nodding his head, Wayne grinned.