The Cairo Saga, Book 3: Legacies of War
Chapter 4: Big trouble, little Tukayyid
Tukayyid City
Tukayyid
Free Rasalhague Republic
The concrete canyons of the warehouse district forced the Irregulars to keep a tighter formation then Cairo would have liked: his scout units where unable to spread out and provide advanced warning of enemy Mech's.
Despite himself, Cairo was quite happy with that: Sinead was where he could keep an eye on her.
His eyes caught the flair of a DropShip drive as three ships came in for landing. Cairo brought up the magnification on his secondary monitor, then uttered a string of curses under his breath when he saw the markings on their side: Clan Smoke Jaguar. He activated his long-range communication system, "Lancaster, this is High-ball: what is going on up there?"
Star-Commodore Ivan Leroux's voice came back over the link, "Sorry about that High-ball: they managed to bluff their way in by pretending to be ComGuards reinforcements, and waited until we were out of position before making a run for the planet."
"It makes you wonder how they ever managed to stop your people here in this first place…" Cairo sighed under his breath, "When will Lancaster 1 and 2 be in position to offer fire-support?"
"Lancaster-1 can be in position in five minuets, but we will only be able to make one pass before we are over the horizon. Lancaster-2 will be in position in ten minuets, and will be able to hold above the target zone indefinitely." Leroux sounded less than optimistic, "Can you hold them that long?"
"Call me back in eleven minuets." Cairo gritted his teeth, "High-Ball out."
The warehouse gradually shrunk as they reached the edge of the spaceport, and Cairo was finally able to get a good view from the cockpit of his Templar OmniMech: the Smoke Jaguar prisoners had managed to escape and highjack several ComsGuard BattleMech's, catching two Shadow Company Mech's, downing what looked like an Uziel, and savagely damaging a Catapult.
Cairo tried to remember Shadow Company's TOE: if it was the same as on Huntress, then the Catapult belonged to a Warrior named Boyd. But that was a long time ago, and he didn't trust his memory that much.
The Catapult scored a pyretic-victory against a Jaguar-piloted Orion: destroying the larger Mech as its own reactor went critical. Cairo saw the Shadow Company MechWarrior punch out, and passed the information onto search and rescue, before levering his crosshairs over a Grand Dragon that had just come into view: he knew that the Mech did not belong to his command, and the file McKinlay had given him made not mention of one among Shadow Company. Cairo took deep breath, and then letting half of it out, fired his Extended Range Particle Projection Cannon.
The beam of man-made lightning stabbed at the other Mech's right arm, melting away a ton of armour as it went. Sparks played over the Mech's shoulder, no-doubt fazing its pilot slightly.
Cairo smiled as he opened up the company-wide channel: "Time to Rock and Roll people!"
TBC…