Tukayyid City Spaceport,
Tukayyid,
Free Rasalhague Republic.
Cairo moved his one-armed Templar forward, dumping the last to rounds for its missing LB 20-X autocannon as he went. He stopped the Mech in the center of the main road running trough the neighbourhood, it's right arm held out to the side slightly. A Black Knight in Clan Smoke Jaguar colours stood 100-meters down the road, rent's in its armour, coolant leaking from ruptured heat sinks. The two Mech's looked like they had been to hell and back, and that wasn't far from the truth.
A now familiar voice came over the radio, "I am impressed Steven: very few freebirths would have the honour to face me one on one like this. Perhaps if things ad worked out differently, I would have taken you as a bondsman." Cairo gritted his teeth, "I am not sure my wife would like that: she has grown used to having me around, helping with the kids." It was a calculated insult: Cairo needed Showers angry enough to make a mistake, but not enraged enough to order a full on attack.
Showers seemed non-fazed, "Yes, I am beginning to understand you freebirths better, but I can not say I understand the concept of pair-bonding. Tell me Steven, which of the so-called 'Great Houses' to you come from?" Cairo had found his opening, "I hate to tell you this, Wade, but I am not from the Inner Sphere: my home world lies in the Periphery, outside of the former Star League." His eyes narrowed and he found himself leaning forward, "You have been trading pleasantries with someone so-far down your scale of importance you can hardly see me."
The shot hit home, enraging Showers, "STARVAG!" The Black Knight surged forward, rushing Cairo's Templar at near top-speed.
Cairo waited until the last possible moment before igniting his jump jets, and his Mech blearily cleared the other Mech, and came down heavily, shattering it's other ankle, almost toppling the Omni. Cairo recovered just in time to catch Showers in the rear with his two ER Medium Lasers. He tried firing again, but the weapons shorted out as the focusing crystals melted under the extreme heat. The feedback shorted out several circuits in the cockpit, blowing out the interior lights. Cairo found himself reduced to operating his controls by the glow of his instrument panel.
Showers returned fire, unleashing all his weapons, heedless off the cost to his heat levels. Cairo felt his make shake and shudder as the weapons found their mark: the twin ER-PPC's finished off what was left of the armour coving the Templar's left torso, turning the remaining internal components into slag. The Large Laser cut an ugly scare down the Mech's left leg, while the 4 Medium Lasers took all but the last scraps of armour away from his left leg, weakening the limb even more.
Cairo returned fire with everything he had while he tried to dodge to the left, protecting his damaged flank to the homicidal Star Colonel. He was rewarded with the destruction of one of the Mech's ER-PPC's, as well as two Medium Lasers, but he paid for it when his jump jets shorted out due to a short circuit, enveloping his Mech in a dark oily smoke that foretold of a series internal fire.
Robert Dancer's urgent voice came over the radio, "Punch out Steve: she's going to blow!" Cairo responded by ripping the com-system from the bulkhead and dropping it to the floor. The air insider his cockpit was growing hot and stale, the air-conditioning having long since packed in. Cairo took a deep breath, and then fired everything he had at the Black Knight, trying one last desperate time to down the other Mech.
Showers weathered the storm, pushing his Mech forward as it fell apart beneath him, intent on killing Cairo if it was the last thing he ever did.
The two Mech's collided with a sickening crunch, armour plates giving way, internal structure bending and entangling, locking the two avatars of war together in a deadly embrace. Cairo found himself starring face to face with Showers, only the thick Perspex of their cockpit visors separating them from each other. The burning look of pure hate in Showers eyes was a mirror of Cairo's.
As if reading each other's minds, the two men unbuckled their safety harnesses and made for the escape hatches. They clambered out onto their respective machines, intent of finishing it hand to hand. Showers pulled a long bladed combat knife from a scarab in his boot, holding it menacingly I one had, his eyes burning into Cairo, who reached round into the small of his back and pulled his Kukri, the heavy curved blade held tightly in his hand, lighting reflecting off of the razor-sharp cutting edge.
The two men leapt at each other, steel clashing against steel as they struggled to gain the upper hand. Cairo lost his footing on a patch of coolant, falling onto his back. Showers lashed out with his knife, slashing across Cairo's chest, severing the tubes within his cooling-vest, cutting into his skin, but being deflected by the other mans ribcage. He raised the log blade above his head and lunged forward.
Cairo only just managed to react in time: be brought up his Kukri low, the keen tip of the curved knife entering Showers just above his navel, and travelling up behind his rib-cage, burring itself in his heart. The Star Colonel went rigged with shock as the light of life slowly drained from his eyes, his blood running down the side of the Mech with the rainwater.
To Be Continued.