Fool's Gold: Carson Lyle's War - Part One (10 page)

El Dorado Port Control Room

"Report! What happened to that ship?" Agent Two said into the commlink.

"It was able to enter the gate,"
a voice said.
"It slowed down long enough for us to overshoot it, and reverse our course. We were going in the opposite direction when it boosted again and that was enough. We fired again, but the missiles were probably caught in the gate EMP when the ship passed into jump space."

"They got away, then."

"The ship was going way too fast to enter jump space safely. If it made it to the exit gate, it should be heavily damaged."

"This is disappointing. Highly trained Naval Corps pilots let a lowlife freight hauler escape to Outer Rim space. Stay on station in case the ship tries to come back," Two said, then pressed a button to close the channel. He turned to his right. "Looks like he's in"

One was standing next to him and let a smile curl on one side of his face.

"And you didn’t think he’d make it. I think that makes our wagers even. Send the signal."

Chapter 18

Asteroid Field - Outer Rim Territory

Dex contacted the outpost nearest to
The Majestic.
It took a couple of hours for their help to arrive. In the meantime, Lyle was able to get some power back online and stabilize the ship and stop its uncontrolled drift before it reached the asteroid field.

The list of damage to the ship kept growing with every system he checked. He looked at the itemized list again. The old girl was hurt bad.
Don't hate me, Jack.

There was a lot of radio chatter between the two tow ships that were positioning themselves to link up with
The Majestic.
The chatter was concise and laced with military jargon. The precision of the unit was oddly comforting and he was even more impressed that this unit, thought of as renegade, still looked to have maintained its military discipline after all these years.

But then he remembered: Is this the 501st? Did any of these guys attack Wagner? His appreciation the precision of this unit quickly turned into a renewed focus on the job, at hand. Find the person that led the Wagner attack. That was his one and only goal and he'd do anything to achieve it.

Kagan tapped him on the shoulder. "You okay?"

Lyle shook his head. "Just trying to figure out how I'm getting this ship fixed and what I'm going to do next."

Kagan smiled a full smile for the first time since Lyle had met him. "When we get back, we'll see what we can do. You did a hell of a job getting us here. As long as the cargo is intact, I don't see why something can't be done to help you out."

Lyle sat for a long moment, watching the tow lines get attached to his ship.

"Yeah...we'll see."

A radio call came in from the tow ships, signaling they were ready. Lyle acknowledged it.

The two ships were a couple of kilometers ahead of the bow of the ship, on either side of the center axis of the fuselage. Lyle could see the brief blinks of light on the rear of the ships that were the thrusters firing and moving the ships to get tension on the lines before they got underway. In a few seconds, there was another flash; brighter and sustained.

The ship was jerked forward, throwing everyone back in their seats.

"Dammit!" Lyle said. "They need to be careful."

It was a rough start but the ship was underway again.

"So where are we going?" Lyle asked.

Kagan pointed outside of the viewport. "There. The big one."

Lyle followed Kagan's finger to a planetoid beyond the million-kilometer deep layer of asteroids.

"Camp Neptune," Lyle said quietly.

Kagan looked at him, surprised. "You been there?"

Dammit. "Uh…I know of it. Used to be the Mech Corps main training base."

Kagan looked at him for a long moment, then said, "Yeah, that's right. Specialized in Low G mech combat training."

"Kagan," Dex said. "You should take this." He tapped his earpiece indicating a channel was open for him.

Kagan tapped his own earpiece to join the channel. "Kagan here."

Lyle watched the man listening attentively. Kagan's furrowed brow gave Lyle the impression that whatever was being said must have been important.

"...No. Nothing too far from what was expected," Kagan said. "...Yeah. I'd suggest checking into that...It's not exactly what I would have done, but I don't think it could be helped given the circumstances..."

Lyle wondered if Kagan would tell him what it was all about. What were they going to do when they docked and collected their cargo? What kind of 'help' did Kagan think they might give him? Lyle didn't know and he wasn't sure he wanted to.

If the 501st was, in fact, based where they were going he'd have to be very careful. He'd have to behave like a hauler would when dealing with a client whose legal status was somewhat in doubt: Keep eyes open and mouth shut.

"...We'll report when we get docked. Out." Kagan closed the channel with another tap on the ear and gave Lyle an irritated look.

"What?"

"My superiors and the local governments aren't happy with what you did to the gate. It'll be down for three weeks."

Lyle swiveled his chair around to face Kagan directly. "What I did? Did you just say that with a straight face?" Lyle was genuinely angry.

Kagan straightened up in his seat, asserting himself as a mountain of a man again. "I said they were unhappy, but not anything about any consequences. Your ship. You were at the helm. Regardless of what or why - you did this."

That made Lyle even angrier. It sure seemed like Kagan just threw him under the proverbial bus. Anger filtered in, further coloring his opinion of the men that escaped El Dorado with him. He remembered they were among the rogues that turned their backs on their brothers in the Authority Military Corps. There was a war that devastated the entire territory because of
them
. Visions of the destruction to Inner Territory filled a mind that was already clouded by a hate that hadn't swelled up to this degree in years.

"I don't give two shits about whether or not the locals are happy with me," Lyle said. "I've just about lost everything because if this damn job. If we'd have just glassed the entire region from the start, I guess I wouldn't have been here to make the locals 'unhappy'."

"Did he say 'we'?" Said Dex.

Lyle couldn't maintain control any longer. In his head, logic screamed for him stand down but his heart would not listen. All he could think about was the large piles of smoking ash that used to be the buildings that stood at Wagner. Sarah was somewhere in that ash. Maybe these men didn't have anything to do with that attack. It was likely they didn't. But they were here, in arms reach for Lyle to clamp his hands around a neck and choke the life out of someone that
could
have been involved. He could finally feed the hunger for revenge that had been boiling inside him for years.

Lyle started to unstrap himself from his seat.

"I wouldn't do that," Kagan said.

Dex and Varga drew their sidearms. Kagan waved them off without taking his eyes off of Lyle and started removing his own seat restraints.

"I know a lot of you haulers are ex-military. What corps were you with?" Kagan said.

Lyle finished unstrapping his restraints and floated, in zero G, out of his seat and near a wall. "Doesn't matter!" He kicked his legs behind him and pressed against the wall, launching his body at Kagan. As he did, he reared his right arm back, fist clenched, and unloaded with everything he had. The blow was perfectly timed with his push off the wall.

His right fist came across the side of Kagan's head, making it snap to the big man's right, at the neck. The force of the blow, caused Lyle to careen sideways into the opposite wall.

Dex and Varga started to unstrap.

Kagan looked at Lyle with fire in his eyes. He got a firm grasp on the arms of his seat.

Lyle managed to regain control of his flailing body by grasping hand holds on the wall. He worked to square himself against the wall. When he launched himself again, he was going to draw blood with his next hit. In a single, swift motion, Lyle pulled his feet underneath him and pushed off the wall again, shooting for the big man clutching his seat. Then, for a fraction of a second, he saw the soles of his boots at face level. Lyle's head snapped upwards. He recognized the ceiling right before his face smashed squarely into it.

Lyle was spinning in the control cabin. He couldn't get his bearings. The pain, the taste of blood in his mouth, the site of red streaks of blood hanging in front of him with every rotation of his body. His inner eye refused to compensate for the drastic shifts in motion. Nausea hit him almost as hard has Kagan had. Unable to contain himself any longer, Lyle wretched and vomited. His rotation caused him to draw a long streak of puke in the air that flew outward. He could hear the Dex and Varga gag and the stream hit them where they sat.

His vision started to clear, slightly, just in time to see a large shadow approach. His spin suddenly stopped as he felt a very large hand clamp around his neck. Lyle gagged and gasped for breath.

He could barely make out the words spoken to him: "I should kill you. No one would care."

The grip was comparable to the Agent's.

Lyle hit at Kagan's hand to get him to release. He hit hard on the first two strikes – they did no good. Then it got harder and harder for him to raise his fist, soon he couldn't even maintain a fist.

For Lyle, the sight of Kagan's piercing glare, the muscles tensing in his neck with the continued squeeze of his hand, all began to fall out of focus. For the second time in eighteen hours, Lyle Law felt life leaving his body and Kagan gave no sign that he was going to let go.

"That's it! Break his frackin' neck!" Dex yelled.

"Do it, Kagan!" Said Varga.

Kagan reached up with his free hand and pushed off the wall to turned himself and Lyle around. He pushed Lyle, by the neck, into the seat he had been sitting in. "Strap him in," Kagan said, breathing heavily.

Dex and Varga did so but did nothing to hide their disappointment. Kagan gracefully pulled himself into the command chair, fastened the seat belt, and took a deep breath.

His partners finished strapping themselves back in. Dex said, "What's with that? Why are we bringing him back?"

There was a long pause. Kagan said, without looking back, "The Colonel will want him for something."

Chapter 19

Outer Rim Territory

Camp Neptune - Former Mech Corps Training Base

"Hey! Wake up!"

The voice sounded muffled like someone was yelling through a pillow.

"Wake up!"

Carson Lyle forced his eyes open. But opening his eyes was only one part of the equation that added up to being able to see. The light wasn't blinding, but it was more than enough to skew his focus. He judged the largest shadow, in front of him, had to have been the one talking.

The shadow moved toward him. Pain shot from the left side of his face and down his neck in three sharp waves. Someone was patting him on the side of his face.

"Come on. Focus on my voice."

Lyle raised his head up. He could feel it was unsteady. The shadow started to take some shape and the voice got clearer.

"That's it...Now you're coming around...Let the Colonel know."

The beatings Lyle had taken in the last day, were taking their toll. Even with his injuries being treated before the agents cut him loose, Lyle's body still needed time to properly recuperate and it wasn't getting it. But Lyle was still himself.

"Who's...next?"

Lyle heard a couple of chuckles.

"I'm...I'm serious."

"He's got some fire, I'll give him that," another voice said.

"He's got a death wish."

Lyle knew that voice.

"L-Kagan? Get your ass over...here!"

Lyle looked around the room. He still couldn't make out details, but he saw three shadows and one was significantly larger than the rest.

Gotcha, you son of a...
"Bitch! You're a little...bitch, Kagan!" He tried to stand, but he could barely get his rear off of the chair he was in.

He heard a door open, and a fourth shadow entered the room. Lyle could hear Kagan and the new addition conferring quietly. "You know it's rude to talk about someone when they're in the room."

The fourth shadow moved toward him. "What's your name, soldier?"

For Lyle, all of the talking and trying to focus on his surroundings was starting to pay off and he could almost make out faces. At least now he could tell which blur was talking to him.

"I'm not a soldier."

"Don't give me that crap, son," the shadow said. "You all but blabbed it out right before Kagan, here, took you to school and the shrapnel the med scans found in your right leg says otherwise. Now...what's your name and rank?"

"Carson Lyle, civilian hauler."

"Do you take me for some sort of wet-behind-the-ears scrub, son?"

Lyle laughed. "Ask me that again when I can see you clearly, and I'll let you know."

"I'm not in any kind of mood for jokes and you shouldn't be either. First, you let the Authority impound your ship with my cargo. Then, during the course of getting your ship and cargo back so you could deliver on your end of the contract, you break our jump gate by making the transition to jump space at over a thousand kilometers per second with missiles in tow? It's a wonder you didn't get yourself or my assets killed."

Lyle protested. "I don't think we need a recap but since you brought it up, if I didn't do what I did we would have been hit jump space already dead. All I kept hearing from them was 'it's all in the preparation'. Well someone didn't prepare for the border patrol ships. And now my ship can't even make a jump because I was helping your ass-sets get home to mama. You got your cargo - cargo that nearly got me thrown in jail – but you got it in hand. So else do you want from me?"