The Ballad of Cairo

Part Thirteen: Dreamscape

DropShip Wataru,

Inbound, Wolcott,

The Draconis Combine

Lt. Steve Clark ran along the streets of Cairo with only his service revolver in his hand. A jet-black CHP-2N Champion ran along ahead of him, firing its weapons at buildings that exploded when hit. Clark fired his revolver at the back of the 60-tonne Mech as he ran, the bullets bouncing off the heavy armour.

No matter how fast Clark ran, the Champion simply strode on, not even noticing Clark. The Mech turned a corner, stepping over the bunt-out hulk of a Commando. Clark lost sight of the Mech while he ran around the fallen machine.

When he turned the corner he saw the terrifying spectre of the Champion towering over him. The twin turret mounted small lasers on the dark Mech's centre torso swung down to point straight at Clark. The laser barrels glowed blue as the weapons discharged.

Lt. Steve Cairo sat bolt upright in his bunk, which was unfortunate as the distance between his bunk and the bunk above him was less than the distance between his bunk and the top of his head. He let off a string of curses that would have made a dockworker blush. He looked at the clock beside his bed and noticed that it was not long before he had to get up as it was. He turned off the alarm and headed to the shower.

Twenty minutes later he was on the DropShip's bridge. Jackson was sitting in the pilot's seat, McCoy was at the engineer's station and O'Brien was at the com-unit, asking the ground-controller for an approach vector. Cairo sat in the captain's chair, it being the only spare seat in the room. McCoy's small band of techs where ether off-duty or in the engine room.

Cairo drank a cup of coffee from a vacuum bubble – since the ship's drives were not in use and there was no gravity. O'Brien looked at him and saw the bump on his forehead, "Bad dreams again sir?"

Cairo sighed. He had told the rest of the crew about his dreams after McCoy had burst into his room a few nights ago, when he'd heard Steven screaming. "Same old same old. Back home on Los Alamos, chasing after Cain's Mech. I'll get something to help me sleep when we land. When do we land by the way?"

O'Brien tapped the screen of the Com-unit. "We have permission to land on Runway 6 at Wolcott Spaceport. We should be down in about two hours".

Cairo looked at the Wolf Dragoon sergeant, "And who is our contact on Wolcott? No doubt General Wolf has friends or underlings working on the Draconis Combine's centre of mercenary activity?" he asked.

O'Brien looked ashamed. If it was because she was still in the employ of the Dragoons, despite telling Cairo several times that she was not, or if it was because he and Jackson had seen through her guise so quickly, Cairo nether neither knew nor cared. "The man we need to see is called Jeremiah Rose", she said, reading the information from a small note-puter with a Wolf Dragoons' logo on the back. "He owns the Black Thorns mercenary unit. They got lucky back in 3057, scoring big time after getting very generous salvage terms on a contract. He runs the local branch of the Mercenary Bonding and Review Board and owns two companies of Mechs plus two Union Class DropShips, the Bristol and the Tracy K"

"Ok then", smiled Cairo, sitting back in his chair. "Let's go meet Mr Rose".

To Be Continued…