The Ballard of Cairo
Part twenty-four: Wolf hunt
River Valley 2114
Constance
Clan Ghost Bear Domain
The rain was so heavy that Cairo had to activate Retribution's HUD to see where he was going. The dark night came alive with holographic Mech's and Elementals. They were still a few kilometres from the last known position of the Clan Wolf Trinary that was trying to take the planet from the Ghost Bears. Cairo looked to his left and saw the image of O'Brien's Shadow Hawk in his heads-up display. To his right was Go-cho Dancer in his Centurion.
The first sign that the Clan Wolf forces were nearby was when a Ghost Bear Elemental was sent flying back the way it had come by a round from a Gauss Rifle. Star Colonel Frank Gilmour's voice came over the radio, "Attention Ghost Bears. We have made contact with the accursed Wolves. Pick you targets and fight with honour. Seyla!" A chorus of voices came back with the ritual response. Cairo checked his HUD: there were several Wolf Mech's before him, but they where all engaged in fighting.
Suddenly a Goshawk landed before him. The Mech bowed gently and a voice came over the radio, "I am MechWarrior Rebecca of Clan Wolf. I claim the right to fight the warrior piloting this Orion before me".
Cairo shrugged and keyed into the same general frequency, "I am Lt Steven Cairo of the Los Alamos Defence Force. I accept your challenge MechWarrior Rebecca of Clan Wolf. Let us begin". With that he fired a spread of LRM's catching the lighter Mech in the chest.
The Clan Mech responded with a series of blasts from its Large Pulse Laser. Bolts of crimson light illuminated the battlefield like some strange lightning. To Cairo, it seemed the rest of the universe disappeared. The only things left were himself and the Goshawk. Time seemed to slow down as the two Mech's danced around each other, striking out with lasers, missiles and autocannon blasts, trying to get in the killing shot.
Eventually Cairo was able to blast the last of the armour around the medium Mech's XL-fusion engine with a spread of SRM's. The follow-up blast from his two lasers sent the Clan Wolf Mech to the ground. He opened the same radio channel as before. "MechWarrior Rebecca, do you yield?"
"Aff, Lt Cairo, I yield". The voice that came back was of someone in pain.
Cairo tried to remember words of the book O'Brien had given him; "I exercise my right to clam you as my Bondsman and your Mech as Isorla. Power down and stand by for further instructions".
He looked round the battlefield. The Ghost Bears had managed to rout the Wolves and were pushing them back to their DropShip. He opened up channel to Dancer, "Rob, have you seen Sinead?"
Dancer's voice was full of sadness, "I saw her Mech fighting a Loki. She was badly damaged and ejected. The Loki pilot claimed her as a bondsman. Last I saw of her, a pair of Elementals was dragging her aboard their DropShip".
Cairo's eyes went wide, "Get back to the Wataru, we're going after her". He changed frequencies, "McCoy, get a salvage team to pick up Sinead's Mech, we're going after that Wolf DropShip." He then contacted the Wataru, "Jackson - get ready for immediate lift-off". Switching back to his chief tech, "Oh, and McCoy, pick up the Goshawk I downed...and the pilot too. We may be able to use her as a bargaining piece".
Cairo turned and, bringing his Mech to full throttle, headed back to the Spaceport.
To Be Continued...