The Ballard of Cairo
Part Forty-five: All for one and one for all

Boreal Reach, Black Hills
Solaris City, Solaris VII
Lyran Alliance

Cairo winced as he heard the commentator announce the four of them as Cairo's Crusaders. The name had been coined by the press on Whittington and had followed them to Solaris. He tried to concentrate on the lance of Mech's that they would be facing: a Lineholder, a Bushwacker, an Apollo and a Stealth. He keyed open the lance-wide channel on his radio "Okay, I'll take the Bushwacker - it's the most dangerous of the four. Sinead, you deal with the Lineholder. Get in the minimum range of his LRM's and use that RAC of yours to cut him down to size. Rob, you take the Stealth. Your Ultra AC/10 should make short work of him. Rebecca, you deal with the Apollo. Once you get within the minimum range of its LRM's, use that Large Pulse Laser of yours to rip it a new arsehole. If any of you finish your opponent before someone else, feel free to help someone else with his or hers". Three voices confirmed his orders.

The signal went off to announce the start of the match and the two lances opened fire on each other. Cairo saw O'Brien and Rebecca jump away from the starting position in an attempt to get a better firing position. The advanced holo-projectors had been set to simulate a snowfield, confusing visuals and heat-sensors. Cairo pushed a button on his control panel, and the HUD switched to magna-scan mode. He locked onto the reactor of the Bushwacker, and fired his ATM-9 launcher. The Thakad-built Mech staggered as the HE-warheads stripped armour from its right-arm. It returned fire with its ER Large Laser and AC/10.

Retribution shook as the depleted-uranium rounds dug into its left hip. Red lights warned Cairo of damage to his Mech's left leg: the hip joint was jammed. The laser cut a vicious scar down the Orion's centre torso.

He returned the favour. His LB 10-X autocannon sent a shower of clustered rounds into the centre torso of the Bushwacker, while his Heavy Large Laser welded the lighter Mech's left foot in place, slowing the 55-tonner down. A score of LRM's missed his Mech by several metres. For some reason, his opponent seemed to be in trouble. Cairo fired his Heavy Laser again, doing severe damage to the Bushwacker's centre torso. The 55-ton Mech stood frozen for a second, before falling forward, digging a huge rent in the arena floor.

Cairo received a message from the control room - the Bushwacker's pilot was unconscious and thus out of the match. Cairo surveyed that battlefield as best he could. O'Brien and Rebecca seemed to be doing okay, but Dancer was having trouble with the Stealth. He flicked the ammo-select button for his ATM-9 from HE to ER and sent a flight of missiles at the 45-ton Mech while it was jumping. The missiles destroyed the lighter Mech's right torso jump jets. Unbalanced, the Stealth cart wheeled over as its left torso jump jets continued to send out plasma. The Mech hit the ground, its right arm shearing off under the impact. It made no move to get up again.

A loud klaxon heralded the end of the match. The Crusaders were victorious! Cairo smiled...he was one step closer to Cain...and one step closer to revenge.

To Be Continued...