The Ballard of Cairo
Part thirty-one: Hotwired Warriors

Lootera City, Huntress
Kerensky Cluster
Clan Space

O'Brien was lying on a bed in the Wataru's small sickbay when Cairo went to visit her. Sally O'Day, the ship's acting medical officer, stopped him outside the hatch. "Sir, I don't think you should see her right now. She's been through a lot the past two months and needs time to get over it." Cairo just nodded and walked off to the Mech bay.

McCoy was standing on the upper gantry when Cairo found him. "No, I said the left torso! The ATM launcher is to replace the LRM and SRM racks. Oh, hi Sir, just doing the upgrade you asked for. I've managed to fit that new Advanced Tactical Missile unit into your Mech's torso, and I've put a Large Heavy Laser into the re-built left arm. The Targeting computer from that Star Captain's Timber Wolf is jammed in above your LBX. I tried changing your Medium Laser for a Clan ER version, but the coupling won't match. Dancer has switched his LB 10-X for a Clan Ultra and his Medium Lasers for ER ones. We didn't find a LRM-10 rack, so he's had to keep the old one." The old sergeant seemed pleased with himself.

"Just one question Shamus, how did you and Jackson capture a point of Elementals?" Cairo asked just before he left.

The Tech seemed a little ashamed, "Well, me and Jackson, before we left Outreach, had a little wander round the weapons storage locker there and picked up a few bits and pieces..."

Cairo stopped and turned, "What sort of 'bits and pieces' are we talking about?"

"Just a man-portable Gauss Rifle and PPC, nothing the Dragoons will miss." McCoy was trying to hide the smile on his face. Cairo shook his head and walked off.

Jackson was on the bridge, his head under the weapons station and a radio in his hand. "Ok Lenny, connect the last of the ER-PPC's and I'll run power to it."

A tinny voice came back, "Okay, the power coupling is attached and the targeting system is set." There was a shower of sparks as Jackson attached to last two wires.

"Okay, that's worked Sir, the test system has started up." the as-tech's voice came over the radio.

Jackson pulled himself out from under the opened panel and saw Cairo. "Hi Steve, how you doing?" he asked as he stood up.

"The question is Paul, what are YOU doing?" Cairo said, sitting down.

The DropShip pilot wiped his hands on a cloth. "Lenny and I have been swapping the Wataru's weapons for Clan ones that we salvaged. We should be able to give anybody who messes with us a nasty shock."

Cairo activated the targeting system and saw that the weapons system was working better than ever. "And our new friends?"

Jackson sat in the weapons officer's seat. "You mean Rix and his boys and girls? They're doing okay. We put them in the troop dormitory with the other bondsmen. They seem to have accepted being captured. I don't think they were expecting McCoy and me to be packing anti-Mech weapons."

Cairo nodded, "Shamus told me about your little shopping trip on Outreach."

Jackson smiled, "Well, I figured we may need some heavy duty persuaders. You know what they say: pray for rabbit but pack for bear...or Wolf as the case may be."

To Be Continued...