Expendable Few: a Spinward Fringe Novella

I have "borrowed" the first two chapters of the novella from Randy's network, and am sharing it with all of you. I have put it up on the Goodreads forum, which can be found at the following link:

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/41338.Spinward_Fringe_The_Official_Group

In case you are reticent to go, here is a teaser (if you want the rest, you will have to go to the forums).

FREEGROUND INTELLIGENCE PERSONNEL ONLY
This is a dramatized record of events surrounding Clark Patterson based on recordings made by his Command and Control Unit’s auto-logger, security records, neural captures, military files and action reports. For educational purposes only.
FREEGROUND INTELLIGENCE PERSONNEL ONLY


Chapter 1

Oldest Of Friends

“You’ve got to get rid of this contraband before they do a random inspection,” Mary tells me as she looks through three data chips that she knows are as dirty as they come. The small, light gold bits fit in the palm of her hand - easily hidden from anyone but a Freeground scanning crew.
I ship out in sixteen days. That’s why she’s worried; they always scan commanders’ quarters before you ship out. “Can’t believe that’s contraband now,” I tell her. “Especially at my pay grade.”
“Let’s see if I remember,” she says, holding the first of the chips up between us. She’s sitting cross legged on the floor, I’m stretched out on the sofa. “This one is your collection of Valance’s security footage.”