Fool's Gold: Carson Lyle's War - Part One (9 page)

“It was quite unpleasant.” Kagan said.

The data pad beeped and the guard scowled. “These creds are no good.”

“Aw, come on!” Lyle said. “They just gave us the job an hour ago. Maybe they’re not in the system yet?”

The guard swiped card and keyed a command again, then shook his head. “Nope. Stand right there while I find out what’s going on.”

The second guard trained his rifle on Lyle and Kagan.

“That’s not necessary,” Kagan said.

The guard reached up to his helmet to open a comm channel.

Lyle wished he had his club right then. Things were about to get nasty.

“How about we—”

Lyle heard two dull thuds, and the two guards unconscious bodies slumped into Dex and Varga’s waiting arms behind them. Lyle never even saw them approach from behind the guards.

Without another word, they search the guard’s pouches, retrieved something from guard with the rifle, and tossed it to Kagan. Then they dragged the guards off into the darkness. Kagan motioned for Lyle to follow him toward the hatch.

“That was impressive,” he said.

Kagan nodded. “We’ve got seven minutes before those guards are supposed to check in.”

They walked up the ramp to the hatch. It was a site just about any hauler dreading seeing most: the steel X-shaped customs impound seal. Besides denying a hauler access to an impounded ship, it also usually meant the end of a hauler's career was sealed also.

"What's the plan for this?" Lyle said, pointing to seal.

"What? You can't pick it?" Kagan said, surprised.

"No! I can't pick it."

"Keep your voice down."

Overhead, they heard a distant whine of aircraft engines…and it was getting closer. They both looked to the south, behind them. There were two sets of red and white strobes heading in their direction quickly.

“Dammit,” Lyle said. “Are we screwed?”

“Nope. They’ve been ordered to land for a shift change and refueling. That’s our cue. We’ll have about fifteen minutes to get as far from here as we can.”

“How do you know that?”

Kagan turned back to the hatch and retrieved the object Dex got from the guard. “How many times do I have to say it?”

“Say what?”

The object was a chip not too different in appearance from his chop. It mated with a matching slot in the middle of the X. The arms released themselves from the sides of the hatch and it fell to ground, almost landing on Lyle’s feet.

Kagan held up the chip. “It’s all in the preparation.”

Lyle looked around. “Where are Dex and— Dammit! How do you guys do that?”

“Do what? Varga said.

That was twice those two had snuck up on Lyle and he had zero clue they were there.
What in the hell have I gotten in to with these guys?

Dex stepped to the hatch and reached for the access panel.

Lyle’s arm shot forward grabbing him by the arm and pulling him back. “Wait!”

“What the hell, man?”

“You said the booster’s fixed, right?”

“Yeah.”

Lyle rubbed his chin. “The hatch is booby trapped. Only those agents could have got past it to get in.”

“Let’s hurry this up,” Kagan said.

“They could have…” Lyle ran his hand along a line of rivets on a nondescript panel to the left of the hatch. He drummed his fingers in a pattern on four of the rivets and there was a series of metallic clanks that came from the inside the hull around the hatch. Lyle reached for the hatch release lever. “Hold on to your butts.”

Kagan, Dex and Varga, looked at each other, confused.

Lyle lifted the lever. The hatch opened with a hiss. Lyle breathed a visible sigh of relief.

“What was that?” Dex said.

When they finished with the ship, whatever protocol the agents used to disable my booby traps was gone. When the hatch closed - incorrectly - they reset themselves.” He pointed to Dex. “You nearly blew us up.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Kagan said. “We’ve got to get in the air now.”

“But what about—”

“Now!”

The followed Lyle to the control cabin at the front of the ship.

"No time for pre-flight or any of that other nonsense," Kagan said. "Get her fired up."

"What about the tower?" Lyle said, taking his seat in front of the controls and cinching the restraints tight.

The other three men took the seats at the other operational stations. Dex and Varga each pulled devices from their packs and began plugging them into the existing inputs on the panel: Varga plugged into the sensor array and Dex connected into communications. It was the first time in years the cockpit had been fully manned.

"Again, it's all in the preparation," Kagan said.

Lyle wasn't comfortable with a cold launch, not that he hadn't done it before – probably too many times, actually. He started flipping banks of switches, in sequence, on his left and right. The compartment became lit on all sides by console lights as systems came online.

He specifically brought up the booster status and, as good as his word, Kagan was right about the damaged booster being repaired. He began starting up the launch sequence.

Those agents are gonna shit their nanotech when they find their pilots.

The comm chirped, followed by a voice over the speaker.

"Majestic one-one-seven, your take off authorization is not on file. Transmit your departure code."

The voice was familiar. Then he remembered, it was the same controller that brought him in.

"El Dorado control, stand by." He muted the channel and turned to Kagan. "Now what?"

But Kagan was already working on the data pad. "Where's your input?"

Lyle pointed. Kagan connected the patch cable, tapped the pad a few times and after a few seconds, gave Lyle the thumbs up.

"Majestic one-one-seven, your clearance has been received. Depart at your convenience."
There was a pause, then the controller said, "Good luck."

Lyle engaged the lifting thrusters, and pulled the collective to fifty-five percent, then tapped a button to release the docking clamps. The ship shuttered sharply as it pulled free from the dock. The three mountains each had to grab onto something to keep their footing.

The Majestic
rose into the air and began to turn as soon as it was clear of nearby structures

"Set course heading to the Atlantia gate, best speed you can without drawing attention, then break for the Outer Rim gate once we're past the nav buoys," said Kagan.

"Yessir," Lyle said, snapping a sarcastic salute.

Chapter 16

The Majestic
was true to her name, as she smoothly passed through the upper atmosphere. The gold borealis of El Dorado lit up the ship's control cabin, bathing Lyle and the three mountains in waves of gold illumination. For just a minute, Lyle almost forgot why he was there and allowed himself a few moments to imagine what the ship would look like from a chase view. The picture in is mind was captivating.

Lyle's revery was broken by Dex snapping his fingers for attention.

"What is it?" Kagan said.

Dex was listening intently to an earpiece. "The local law enforcement net just lit up…Now the Naval Corps net has increased traffic."

"What are they saying?"

Dex made adjustments on the box he connected to the console. "They're recalling the CAP from the far side of the border."

Kagan scowled. "Didn't expect that so soon." He turned to Lyle. "Change course for the Outer Rim gate. Boost now!"

"Better grab on to something," Lyle said. He flipped some more switches on the console, took hold of the throttle lever with his right hand, and pushed it forward. There was a rumbling throughout the ship that grew louder and louder. As the speed increased, the turbulence effect caused by passing through clouds was amplified. G-forces pushed mercilessly on Lyle and the others. He had to strain to stay upright in the command chair and keep a strong hold on the controls. The green bar indicator on the acceleration meter moved past six Gs.

The ship continued shaking violently as it ripped through the atmosphere and into orbital space. As El Dorado's gravity lost its grip on
The Majestic
, there were groans from the hull as things came back into shape. The high G acceleration lessened the nauseating transition to weightlessness. Lyle was thankful for that.

"Where are those fighters?" Kagan said.

"I don't have them on my scope yet," said Lyle.

"You won't," Varga said. "They patrol the border with Stealth Ravens. I'll be able to catch 'em over here, but not until they're closer." He pointed to the box he had connected to the sensor station.

Dex said, "The radio traffic puts them eight minutes out. They've got orders to fire on us."

Kagan looked to Lyle. "You get this ship to that gate ahead of those fighters!"

"They're not getting this ship again. I'll blow it up myself before that happens," Lyle said. His tone was defiant.

The Majestic
raced through space. The clock for them to reach the jump gate was nearly one to one with the clock for the fighters to reach them. And that time was only estimated by what Dex was somehow able to hear on the military comm net.

Lyle looked ahead and could see the octagonal structure that was the jump gate hanging in space and the distant asteroid field beyond it.

Kagan saw it too. "Head straight for it."

The ship was suddenly rocked by two explosions in its flight path. Loud alarms sounded in the cockpit. Everyone would have been thrown to the floor if they hadn't been strapped in.

"Dammit, Dex! Where are they?"

Dex listened in his earpiece. "Just on the edge of weapons range."

"I think I got 'em," Varga said. "Bearing about two-six-three, then they dropped off the scope."

"Their next shots won't be across the bow! This bucket has got to move!"

Lyle checked the computer. They were still sixty-five seconds out from the gate. "How long?"

"Estimated sixty seconds, but that's a rough guess," Varga said.

As it stood, they were not going to make it.

The comm speaker came to life.

"Majestic one-one-seven, you are ordered to return to the El Dorado Trans-Port, immediately. Repeat, reduce speed and change course back to El Dorado or we will fire on you again."

Lyle thought for a second, looked to Kagan, then back to the controls. He reached for the booster throttle and pulled it back to zero percent. Then he fired the breaking thrusters for a five-second burst to reduce speed. The rapid deceleration caught the other men off guard, throwing them toward the front viewport.

"What the hell are you doing?" Varga yelled as he drew his gun.

Kagan and Dex also had their weapons pointed at Lyle.

"You get this ship moving now! Hey! Are you listening?" Kagan said.

Lyle had his hand on the throttle and was focused on the forward view port.

Varga started to unstrap from his seat.

Lyle held out a hand without looking back. "Stop!"

Kagan motioned for his men to sit tight.

Lyle continued to peer out the port.

"What for it..." He said.

If he'd have blinked, he would have missed it. But there it was; two dim streaks of light from the fighter exhaust ports moving forward ahead of them, then the flashes of directional thrusters that arced them upward and away. The fighter's stealth design suppressed the flashes, but not completely

"Hang on!"

Lyle threw the throttle up to one hundred percent. The ship protested the sudden change in momentum almost as much as its passenger's equilibrium. A button on the throttle control began to flash red. He had to strain under the high G to reach it but managed to get a finger on it.

The roar of the booster engines got exponentially louder.

The ship lurched again from another sudden increase in thrust.

Twenty seconds to the jump gate...

Lyle watched the warnings from the navigation computer. At an emergency burn of one-hundred-twenty percent on the boosters, they were approaching the gate at several hundred kilometers per second.

Way too fast.

"He's gonna crash us into the gate!!!" Dex yelled.

"Shut up!" Lyle yelled back.

The jump gate was getting very close, in the viewport, very quickly.

Ten seconds to the gate. Lyle flipped a switch over his head that sent a signal to the gate to begin the jump cycle.

Another alarm went off.

"Incoming missiles! Ten seconds!" Varga yelled.

He dialed the emergency burn up to one-twenty-five.
It'll have to be enough!

Dex and Varga clutched the armrests of their seats, looking very angry and nervous. Kagan looked calm but serious.

Lyle had to use the manual control to help keep the ship on a virtual line the computer had projected on the forward view port. Any noticeable deviation from it would mean the ship would crash into the gate.

Lyle called the countdown. "...six...five...four...three...this is gonna be close..."

The Gate barely had time enough to open to jump space when the ship went in. The ship shook worse than ever as it made the transition from normal space-time to jump space. There were more alarms throughout the ship. Anything that wasn't nailed down flew about the cockpit.

There was a loud BOOM as it exited the gate at the on the Outer Rim side. The main power went offline in the ship.
The Majestic
was left in an uncontrolled drift, in darkness, at the edge of the asteroid field.

But it was in one piece.

Chapter 17