The Ballard of Cairo
Part twenty-nine: To the death
50km outside Bagera
HuntressKerensky Cluster
Clan Space
The Clan warrior kicked out at Cairo, who was able to dodge. It was obvious that the Star Commander had been trained in unarmed combat, but so had Cairo. He had grown up in a very rough part of town and had spent many years in a street gang. Star Commander Marcus may have been taught the proper way to fight, but Cairo had learned to fight dirty.
While the Clanner tried to go for knockdown blows, Cairo concentrated on doing as much damage as he could. He rained down blows on his opponent's kidneys, throat and groin. His next blow was a head-butt that broke the Star Commander's nose. He followed this through with a vicious kick to the groin. While his opponent was doubled over, he brought up his other foot and caught the Clanner below the ribs, winding him.
Marcus fell to the ground, gasping for breath. Cairo elbow-dropped him on the back, cracking two ribs. The Clan MechWarrior lost consciousness. Cairo looked over to the other Clan warriors who had gathered round the hover-car. They nodded to confirm his victory.
He picked up O'Brien and helped her back to the ground car that Jackson and McCoy had driven. Cairo walked back to his Mech as the other two helped the battered MechWarrior into the back of the car.
Cairo was just climbing into his cockpit when a voice called out over a loudspeaker, "I am Star Captain Drake of Clan Wolf. I wish to speak to the one who defeated Star Commander Marcus".
Cairo picked up his neural-helmet and keyed in the radio to a general frequency. "This is Lt. Steven Cairo. I defeated the Star Commander". His eyes went wide as a further ten Clan OmniMech's burst forth from the tree line.
"The trial you fought for the bondswoman Sinead was not sanctioned by me", the Star Captain continued, "And thus I am not bound to abide by the results of the trial". His Timber Wolf raised its arms at Cairo. "Surrender or die!"
"I doubt he'll do that...Canister-Mopper!" Came a voice from behind Cairo. He turned to see a company of Mech's walking towards him. He recognised the unit emblem on the Mech's: Shadow Company. Piecemaker's voice came over the radio again, "And just to keep you from doing anything stupid, Star Captain, we are going to escort him and his friends back to Lootera. If you have a problem with that, you can take it up with me and my men".
Star Captain Drake responded by firing his Timber Wolf's twin ER Large Lasers at Piecemaker's Awesome. The SLDF Mech hit back with a trio of ER-PPC's.
Cairo ducked into his cockpit and strapped himself in as the battle began.
To Be Continued...