The Token by Kevin Bird (the little red hen ebook .TXT) 📖

we are to save you and look how you treat us.” The pirate again reached out for the older woman’s arm and this time she apparently let him.
He looked over his shoulder to smile and leer at his friends in triumph but Drake and the others saw his face change dramatically from one of crude joy to one of horror and pain. The woman had taken the opportunity of his distraction and kicked him lustily in his groin. He fell to the ground shrieking and rolling about curled up with his knees to his chest. The other man standing above him swore and rushed after the women who had begun to run away.
A blast cut through the noise and the scene became still and silent. All, including the women, turned to look over at Drake standing with smoking gun in his upraised hand.
“Enough! We are here to do a job and to get paid. No one is going to mess with these people. If you do you’ll lose your share.” That made a few of them stare in shock. “I don’t want there to be any reason for our benefactor to renege on his deal. Got it?” He looked at everyone paying particular attention to the man on the floor. All nodded, not without some muttering. Drake leaned down and gave his hand to the prostrate man and helped him stand. “Come on, Sal. Let’s get you some food and then we’ll go kill something. How does that sound?”
“Sounds fine to me, boss.”
As he hesitantly walked back to his colleagues they all began to laugh and shortly he joined them. Drake walked over to the women breathing a heavy sigh of relief at being able to so easily dissolve the tension. “My apologies, ladies. They are crude men but they won’t do it again. Thank you for the food.”
“You’re welcome. Thanks for getting horrid men away from us. I’m Bella and this is my daughter, Bettine.”
Drake was surprised to see how quickly she had regained her composure and realized that a farming life must breed women tough. He could also hear in her voice an accent that he wasn’t familiar with but was clearly from a different one to his own and that of her husband. It was an attractive addition to her already pleasant good looks. Thankfully his men would be too busy to try to pester these women before they shipped off-world.
“My husband says men will be here shortly to guide to their farms for tonight. I’ve left you some blue and green skin blankets to keep you and your men warm; it’ll be cold.” She put her arm around her daughter’s shoulders and drew her close. “Please do what can to help or it’s children like her that’ll be taken by the Suppliers if don’t meet Token.” She turned and walked away pulling Bettine with her.
Drake watched them as they walked from sight. He was here to do a job and get paid well for the risks it involved, not to be a hero and save the day. No one had ever cared for him unless there was something he could offer in exchange so why should he care for anyone else. He hoped he wasn’t turning into a gentleman. He turned his back on the place where he’d lost sight of them and joined his men to eat his fill, ready for what he knew would be a long night.

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By the time Bella had returned home Jacob had come back from Kai’s. She gave him a hug and told him to sit down, “I’ll bring some food.”
“Dad, are those men pirates? They’re certainly rude and violent enough to be.” Bettine was clearly excited and angry at the same time.
“I thought I told you not to go near them, Bettine.” Jacob was too tired to be really angry with her.
“Mum needed help carrying the food up the hill to them and she didn’t know how long before you’d be back. I thought it’d be OK if I was with her.” She wasn’t very worried about disregarding her father’s orders, as she knew this argument was a good one. She was right, as Jacob just grunted and began to eat the hot food placed in front of him by Bella.
“Come on, let’s all just eat.” She always had a way of soothing the family in times of stress by not dwelling on the problem or issue. She felt, and was always proven right, that if you had a good meal, things always looked better. “What will happen next, dear?”
Between mouthfuls Jacob explained, “Drake and his men will set up some kind of trap around the farms we feel are the most likely to be attacked next. After what went on this morning I’m not sure we can predict with any hope of accuracy where those places might be. These things have suddenly changed their actions. Anyway, he seems to feel confident that they’ll be able to finish them off without too much trouble. That suits me just fine. I want them off this planet, pirates and black creatures both.” He heard Bettine’s intake of breath. He put down his fork and his eyes drilled into hers.
“Yes, Bettine, they’re pirates, and not the kind of people you trust and certainly not the kind we want around for any longer than necessary. Remember that these men are thieves and murderers, only here because they’re being paid, not because they want to help us. Please stay away from them.” He spoke gently to his daughter in order to emphasize his point rationally. He knew she was smart and would respond better to logic than emotion, just like him. How else could he and the others here be non-techs in a world full of technology? Look where emotion had taken the universe; to war!
“Can you pack me up some food and a hot drink? I’ve to leave soon and won’t be back till...I don’t know when. Tomorrow, early I guess.” He already sounded weary he thought. He didn’t want himself or any of his friends to risk themselves or their values by helping the pirates, but they needed this situation resolved as quickly as possible so they could get back to normal. “Bettine, stay here and help out with the work while I’m gone. And remember what I said about those men.” He looked into his daughter’s eyes.
“Yes, dad,” Bettine said gravely. It was the straightforward answer Jacob had wanted.
After he had finished his food Jacob had one errand to run before heading up to the meadow. “Bettine, want to come with me?” The look in his daughter’s eyes showed that she no longer harbored any resentment about being disallowed from visiting the strangers. She loved to help her dad; it made her feel useful and important. Jacob knew it. “Let’s go over to the barns and check to make sure everything’s OK.” The two, father and daughter, left the house while Bella watched with the threat of tears. Jacob looked over his shoulder and saw her face and knew she was stressing over the uncertainty of what the next few days outcome might be. Would their baby be safe or would she be taken from them? He gave her a quick smile, turned and went to catch up with Bettine.

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As they approached the first building Jacob talked more to the girl. “I don’t mean to be tough on you Bettine, but you’re old enough to understand what it means if we don’t meet the Token. I don’t want to lose you to a world of war. Do you understand?”
Bettine was obviously moved by the adult way her father was talking to her, and Jacob saw her stand a little straighter when she replied, “I understand, and I don’t want to go to war. I’ll do whatever you say to help the pirates do their job. If that means staying away from them then I will.”
Jacob put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her, “Thank you, little lady. Now let’s check the animals inside and then see to it that everything is secured.”
They both went to work. Inside the first building, the birthing barn, were maybe fifty animals. They were all greens, several pregnant, and they went about their feeding ignoring the two humans. All looked fine and the doors were locked again on their exit. The next building was the raising barn, which was a little larger than the first, and held about the same number of animals, this time all blues. Several of them were heavily pregnant which brought a smile to Jacob’s face.
After checking that nothing was amiss they again locked up as they left the building. “Let’s go home.”
They walked to the house and after grabbing his food and hugging Bella then Bettine, he left again. As he walked outside, a group of five others were coming up to his door.
“Hi, Jacob.” Blake was smiling. “If all things go well we should see ourselves free of troubles very soon now that these fighters are here to help.” The others with him also seemed to have buoyant spirits. However, Jacob didn’t quite feel the same as they did. He still had a nagging idea these creatures weren’t going to give up quite so easily. He didn’t bother to share his feeling of gloom, but put on a smile too and joined the others walking up the hill.
When they reached the pirate vessel Drake walked up to Jacob. “We’re ready. I’ve split my men into six groups, one group for each of you. Let’s not waste any time.” He waved his men over then spoke to Taren who began to direct each group to follow one of the farmers. “I’ll join you, Jacob, with one of my men and we’ll show you how you can deal with these things better using real weapons instead of your pitchforks!”
The men within earshot laughed and the farmers all bit their tongues choosing to hide their anger. After all these men were right! Jacob knew it was a result of their own beliefs that they were precluded from using weapons and it was obvious now that if these attacks were to stop then someone had to take the offensive. Since it wouldn’t be themselves to make that move then they should just be pleased that someone else was being paid to do it for them. Swallowing their pride would be a small price to pay to finish this once and for all, and then these annoying men would be gone for good.
When the group reached the bottom of the hill the majority went through Jacob’s yard and continued on to the other farms. Drake and the other pirate, Jacob recognized him as the one introduced to him earlier as Cale, followed the farmer toward the first of the fields. It was mid-afternoon and Jacob’s animals were just now rousing themselves from a nap under some large trees at one end of the compound. Whenever the temperature went up they would spend one or two of the hottest hours resting in the shade waiting for it to get cooler when they would become more active again.
By the look on the pirates’ faces it was obvious this was the first time they had seen any of these animals up close and in person. Like most people they only knew them as pieces of meat. They were much bigger in real life than could be imagined; they were very impressed.
Drake turned to the man with him, “Cale, are these bigger than the original prey animals the Hoppers are used to hunting?”
“Hoppers? What’re they?” Jacob hadn’t heard the term before and felt he