The Cairo Saga, Book 2: The Solaris Irregulars
Part 39: Traitor!
Europe planes
Callisto V
Lyran Alliance
Cairo looked up at the barrel of the Gauss Rifle and smiled, "Nothing in particular Carpenter: I'm just wondering when my darling wife's going to get her finger out and fire."
The air was filled with the sudden roar as Seined fired her RAC point-blank into the back of the Assault-Omni. The Templar shudder as the stream of rounds hit it, and Cairo fired his ATM- launcher, sending a flight of HE-missiles upwards.
The Templar fell to the ground as Cairo slowly got his Orion to its feet. He carefully aimed his Heavy Laser at the OmniMech's cockpit, "Surrender or Die!"
"What's the point, your just kill me in any case." Carpenter's voice came back over the link.
"Surrender and I give you my word that no-one under my command will hurt you in anyway." His sensors showed that the Templar's reactor was shutting down.
"Very well, I surrender to you." Carpenter sounded dejected.
The W.o.B Atlas hit the ground with a thump as the rest of Rob Dancer's Assault-Lance appeared, followed closely by the Scout-Lance. Cairo smiled, "Rix, take Sgt. Carpenter prisoner, and see if the pilot of that Atlas is still alive. Rob, secure the perimeter. Rebecca, take your Mechs and head back to base; tell Cameron to move to the alternate location, and get McCoy back here with the prime movers. If we can salvage these two Mech we will, if not, we blast them to pieces." His commands where met with his unit's normal efficiency.
He was just beginning to relax when his com-system bleeped, telling him he had an incoming message from Sinead. Sighing, he turned the radio on, "Yes, oh light of my life?"
"'Going to get her finger out and fire' that's what you said, wasn't it." Seined sounded less than impressed.
"True, but you had been standing behind her for about 15-seconds and you were yet to fire."
"I just wounded what your last words were going to be. You're lucky as hell that she didn't just shoot you out of hand."
"I've found that people like her have a need to gloat before they kill you. It's a character trait that can often lead to trouble: an honest person would have just fired."
"So you were saved by Carpenters need to gloat before she killed you? Don't rely on that in future Steven: there are plenty of 'honest' people in Word of Blake."
To Be Continued…