Fool's Gold: Carson Lyle's War - Part One by Thomas J. Rock Read Free Book Online Page A

principles, extremely personal for those fighting it. Any Mech Corps driver with a confirmed kill on a rogue mech would get a bonus. Command called it a ‘Traitors Bounty’.
    The force that defected was sizable, but lacked the supply infrastructure and support from Earth and it was believed the traitors would be mopped up quickly. That wasn't the case. The Authority Mech Corps kept going after them in the asteroid territory and they were taking heavy losses with each engagement. This cycle of attack and loss went on for three standard years. But with reinforcements arriving from Earth, time was on the Authority’s side.
    Then the rogues launched a daring raid on the Earth gate. They stole the jump space interface control fuse, disabling the gate. During the battle, the getaway ship carrying the fuse was destroyed. The fuse for a deep space, interstellar gate is unique. No replacement was available or could be manufactured. Without it, there was no gate. No reinforcements from Earth. No supplies to make up for the loss of raw material the inner worlds used to get from the Outer Rim colonies. After that, the two military forces were on much more equal footing.
    It wasn’t long after that a cease fire was declared and a treaty signed granting independence to the break away colonies. But the ripple affect of not having support from Earth, and very limited trade for raw industrial materials from the Outer Rim for the last nine years had crippled the economy within Authority territory and not done anything to mend fences between the two populations. Popular opinion would have the war start again tomorrow if it meant getting the Earth gate back online.
    “They truly are traitors of the worst kind,” Two said. “The very act of trying to deliver illegal cargo meant for their hands constitutes a charge of treason on top of everything else.”
    "If you do this for us, you have the opportunity to bring closure to those that lost friends and loved ones in that attack,” said One.
    Hearing the story again was torture for Lyle. He did his best to remain calm, but he couldn’t hold it all in. A painful tear slowly ran down his cheek. Sarah…
    “You lost someone too,” One said.
    Lyle nodded slowly. It was almost too painful to think about. He wasn’t there to protect Sarah. He should have been, but he wasn’t. He was in so much inner turmoil, he almost lost sight of the fact that he wasn’t there to protect her because of the Authority…that the attack happened because of the Authority.
    Lyle felt his face contorting into an angry grimace.
    “What do you think about that?” Said One.
    “I think…you may know more than you let on,” Lyle said, evenly, without looking at them directly.
    Then Two asked suddenly, “Have you ever been to Farpoint?”
    Lyle’s face was stone cold. He turned to Agent Two and stared for several long moments. There was a perceptible increase in tension in the air.
    “No,” he said, turning away and looking straight ahead again. “Why?”
    Two stepped closer, beside Lyle, and leaned down next to him face to face. Lyle continued to look straight ahead.
    “I think,” he said, very slowly and deliberately, “that you may be one of the few people that’s done something worse than treason.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 10
     
     
     
     
    "There are…irregularities…in your file. Very subtle. Almost imperceptible except to possibly an A.I Inspector."
    "Or someone like us," One added.
    Lyle kept looking straight ahead. To his left, out of the corner of his eye, he could see Two still staring at him at face level.
    "What about these little scars along your jawline?" Two said. "If we were to really look, would we find cosmetic reconstruction?"
    Lyle grounded his teeth.
    Agent Two smiled.
    Lyle could almost feel the Agent's joy. He could only imagine what inhuman thoughts were happening behind that visor. Whether or not they really knew all about him,