The Ballad of Cairo

Part Twelve: Welcome to Civilisation

Galaport,

Galatea,

Skye March, Lyran Alliance

Cairo looked down from his seat in the stands at the battle going on below. A SDR-9K Venom and a HM-2 Hitman where fighting in an arena almost 1km across. He turned to O'Brien, "Is this normal, wasting Mechs like this?"

The former Wolf Dragoon sergeant laughed at him "You don't have Mech fights on Los Alamos?" she asked.

"There aren't enough Mechs around to justify it. My planet has a small factory that can turn out two old-style Stingers a month. Most of them are sold to keep our JumpShips and DropShips going. The ones we keep are mainly used for training and spare parts". Cairo and O'Brien turned back to the arena as the Venom finished off the Hitman with a blast from 3 of its medium pulse lasers, setting off the lighter Mech's LRM ammo.

O'Brien continued the conversation as the two of them walked back to the spaceport. "So, your planet has a small Mech factory and you sell most of the Mechs it makes - yet you had to salvage the Orion you pilot now?"

Cairo smiled as he stepped through the outer gate of the spaceport, "Like I said, we have to sell most of the Mechs we produce just to keep our ships running. The only place within reasonable range is the Outworlds Alliance, and they charge a fortune. We had to work a deal with them where we give them half the Mechs the factory puts out in exchange for having our ships serviced".

A dark figure stepped out in front of them and they heard a second behind them. "Okay", the shadowy figure said. "Hand over all your money and valuables or the lady gets it". O'Brien looked at Cairo then kicked back at the man behind them, doubling him over.

Cairo's response was more to the point.

His arm cam up at high speed, a slug-thrower suddenly appearing in it as if by magic. He fired a single shot through the forehead of the man in front of him, then turned and calmly shot the one on the ground behind him.

O'Brien was shocked by the terminal action her new CO had taken. Even more so when Jackson stepped from the shadows clapping, "Very nice. Clean, two shots and no mess. Couldn't have done it better myself. I saw them stalking you from the Spaceport bar and figured I'd come and help. Looks like you didn't need it".

Cairo looked up at the intelligence officer. "You think the police will give us any trouble?"

Jackson shook his head. "We're out of here as soon as we get back to the ship. I've got a lead on Cain. He's in the Combine, up near the Clan Occupation Zone. I've found a way to get us as far as Wolcott".

Cairo and Jackson started off towards the DropShip, O'Brien running to catch up. "You shot them! You just shot them…why?" she demanded.

Cairo turned to her, "If I hadn't, they would have killed us… probably raping you first. I've already seen too many people I care about die to let it happen again if I can stop it. If you're going to shed tears, shed them for the people they probably killed before".

O'Brien looked at him. "You really are a strange person Steven. You're going to take a long time to work out".

"No doubt General Wolf can do without your profile on me for a little while longer Sinead", he replied walking off.

O'Brien was stunned. "How long have you known?" she asked.

Jackson turned to look at her, "Why else would they sell us a 60-million C-Bill DropShip for only 10 million, huh? We may be from the Periphery, but were not stupid", he said coldly.

To Be Continued…