The Ballard of Cairo
Part thirty: Rumble!
50km outside Bagera
Huntress,Kerensky Cluster
Clan Space
The exchange of fire between Star Captain Drake and Captain Piecemaker started a free-for-all battle between the Clan Wolf forces and Shadow Company, with Cairo and his people caught in the crossfire. Cairo quickly strapped himself into his command couch and hit the quick-start button to light up Retribution's fusion reactor.
Go-Cho Dancer and MechWarrior Rebecca had started to pull back towards Lootera, covering the ground car containing Jackson, McCoy and the injured O'Brien. Cairo fired on a Shadow Cat that had taken a shot at the fleeing car. He fired every one of his weapons at the OmniMech, instantly sending the old Orion's cockpit temperature from cool to searing. The Clan Mech shuddered as every weapon hit. The LRM's slammed into its left and centre torso, ripping armour off in shards. The LBX autocannon caught a lucky hit on the Gauss Rifle, ripping the capacitor out, destroying the right torso in a blaze of electrical-discharge. The Medium Lasers and SRM's tore the exposed XL engine to shreds.
As the medium Mech went down, Cairo had a look around the battlefield. Shadow Company had slashed its way through the Clan lines, ripping Mech's to pieces. Cairo saw an Avatar go down to a Mad Dog, and fired on the Wolf Mech. His spread of LRM's caught the OmniMech in the leg, and destroyed its knee actuator. His opponent turned on him and fired a spread of missiles like none Cairo had ever seen. Eighteen missiles caught the old Orion in the left torso, taking the shoulder and arm off.
After fighting to recover his balance, he clicked on his radio. "Rebecca, what the hell just hit me?"
The bondswoman came over the link, "Advanced Tactical Missiles. They can fire either Extended Range or High Explosive missiles. The ER versions has a longer range than a LRM, and the HE version is almost as powerful as a SRM". Cairo shifted his Mech to avoid a second spread of missiles. "It's a very new weapon. At the time you defeated me on Constance, only one Mech in the Trinary had them fitted".
Cairo fired the last of his LBX ammo at the Mad Dog at point-blank range, ripping a hole all the way to the reactor beneath. The Mech fell to the ground as the emergency shutdown system kicked in.
Cairo looked round the clearing. The Clan Wolf Mech's were in full retreat, being hounded by the surviving Shadow Company Mech's. Piecemaker's Awesome limped over to Cairo's Orion. "You did well Lieutenant Cairo. I lost more than a few C-Bills to Boyd, my Catapult driver, when you took down that Star Commander one-on-one. You can have the pick of the salvage to repair your Mech's and then get the hell out of Clan Space before the rest of Clan Wolf comes hunting for you. I don't need that sort of trouble on my watch".
"Don't worry Captain; I have a man to kill back in the Inner Sphere". Cairo turned his Mech and followed the ground car back to Lootera.
To Be Continued...