The Ballard of Cairo
Part Eight: Dogs of War
Yorvic Plains,
Arboris,
The Chaos March.
Cairo moved his throttle forward, speeding Retribution up to the old Orion's top speed of 64 kph. Even at full-speed, he could barely keep up with Captain Cameron's Thor-Prime. The slightly lighter Mech was the first and only Clan Mech Cairo had ever seen. The 70-ton OmniMech was even more powerful than his old ON1-K due to it's advanced technology. The other two Mechs in the command lance, a pair of BSW-X1 Bushwacker's, easily kept pace with the Dragoon Captain's machine.
The rolling, gentle hills of Arboris reminded Cairo of his home back on Los Alamos and that reminded him of why he was here: pirates. The Dragoons Intel said that this was the area the pirates had been seen the most and was likely to be the location of their base. Captain Cameron had ordered top speed because the scout lance had reported contact with 6 hostile Mechs, believed to be the Pirates. The assault lance was also making for the scout lance's position, but the bigger Mechs were slowing them down.
The command lance rounded the last hill and saw what remained of the scout lance. The two Fireflies where down and the Phoenix Hawk was missing it's left arm. The 4th Mech, a Panther, was trading PPC blasts with the pirate Battlemaster that Cameron had mentioned at the mission briefing. Two pirate Mechs, a Centurion and a Blackjack, were also down. Cairo caught a radioed order from Cameron to the assault lance to make best speed, followed by an order to the command lance to attack.
Cairo selected a Mech that his updated war book identified as a Lineholder as his first target. The 55-ton Mech was trying to take down the Phoenix Hawk that had been moved to the scout lance to make way for his Orion. Cairo pressed his thumb down on his primary trigger, sending out a stream of clustered rounds from his newly installed Imperator Code Red LB 10-X autocannon. The effect was certainly spectacular - the sub-munitions tore at the Lineholder's left arm and shoulder.
The pirate replied with barrage LRM's from its dual LongFire-V LRM-5 racks. At the close range that the valley enforced upon the Mechs, it was a wonder that any of the missiles hit, but two hit Retribution's right torso above the autocannon.
Cairo added his two medium lasers to the LBX for his second attack, finishing-off the Lineholder's left arm, which housed a deadly large laser. The pirate tried to run, but was caught in a deadly 3-way crossfire when the two Bushwacker's added their LB 10-X autocannons to Cairo's. The Lineholder fell as numerous sub-munitions tore at the pirate machine's gyro, smashing it to pieces.
The two Bushwacker's turned back to dealing with a GAL-1GLS Gallowglas that had taken the opportunity offered by the destruction of the Lineholder to savage one of the lighter Mechs with it's ER-PPC and Large Laser.
Cairo picked his next target, a Gauss Rifle toting BZK-F3 Hollander.
To Be Continued…