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

or battle; this was the edge that had kept him alive. He knew that Cale was feeling the same though his head of security was a more experienced fighter. Cale’s time working for the Suppliers had been exciting, but eventually he had realized that there might be a way to get the excitement he craved while at the same time taking better care of his financial future. Through the grapevine of mercenaries and other questionable characters he had found himself talking with Drake about becoming more neutral in his allegiances. The argument was sound; why represent only one side when there was money to be made from both sides? A pirate’s life was not a bad thing if you didn’t care about politics. Drake and Cale had been together for quite some time now and trusted each other implicitly; that was why Drake had chosen him to be working at his side tonight.
Drake’s quiet voice came over the radio. “See anything?”
Cale whispered back, “No, but I can feel them out there, somewhere. They’ll come tonight.” Anyone else might have laughed at that, but Drake knew better than to ignore the man’s senses in these things. “Now it’s time to just sit tight and wait.”
Drake was lying on the flat roof of one of Jacob’s buildings, he didn’t know what it was used for and didn’t care, as from here he had a panoramic view. His weapon was the same as Cale’s, but his ammunition was different; he had the tracking rounds that would help them find the creatures’ lair.
He knew that he wasn’t as good a shot as Cale so he could rely on him to kill as many as possible while all Drake had to do was hit at least one of them, more if he could, for this night to be deemed a success. The reward at the end of this job would make the risk completely worth it for both himself and his men. If Marshall fulfilled his end of the bargain, and he had no reason to suppose that he wouldn’t, things would change for all of them. No more small stuff for them, they would move up a notch or two and become a force to be reckoned with. The thought of his name, Captain Drake, being known and feared across the vastness of space should have done more to keep his mind off the weather while he waited for something to happen; unfortunately, it didn’t and the biting cold sank into his very bones.

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The sun had gone now so it was again time. We must move out from the relative safety of our home inside this mountain and into a world we hardly recognized anymore. The previous night we had begun something we hoped would save us. Not us as individuals, but us as a family. Our thoughts and dreams would carry on in those to come after we had gone; so we hoped.
On waking there had been very little play or rejoicing at being alive except for the very young amongst us who did not understand what lay immediately ahead. It was a sad thing for the elders to see them playing and to receive their images of leaping freely and hunting wild game. Those were false images now and might not become reality again if we failed. Only half-finished, our task must be completed tonight. We had sensed and felt the arrival of another noisy thing from the sky, and we knew from past experience what that presaged. If we delayed, the two-legs would come to finish what they had started long ago.
Everyone among us who could move would go out tonight, old or young. We would all be important and since this was not a hunt for food, our usual need for stealth, strength, and experience was not so important. Large numbers were more valuable to us.
In a more muted fashion than usual, we moved amongst each other rubbing together, smelling each other, and bonding in the ways that had always been so important for our success and survival. For all we knew this could well be the last time we did this and it was all the more poignant for it. As elders we tried to keep our spirits and images as high and as positive as possible, little point in frightening the younger ones with something they could not control or understand. The truth would come to them when it would, hopefully quickly and painlessly.
With a final image of family sent to those who would not be coming with us, we took off down the slope toward whatever our future held. As we ran and leaped, it was hard not to feel the primal joy of the hunt coursing through our veins. A night like this was made for us; overcast and dark it afforded us all the advantages lost to our prey with their daylight eyes. Even the two-legs of the previous night had not succeeded in stopping us, because it had been dark and we had moved too fast for them. Tonight would be no different, though we were concerned about the noisy thing that had come. Was it bringing the means of our destruction as before? We could not let that thought keep us from what we must do.

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All Drake’s men were ready. At Jacob’s, Blake’s, and four of the other farms, the pirates were in positions waiting for the creatures to show up. In each case one man had been assigned the same type of ammunition Drake was carrying so they would be guaranteed to have several animals embedded with the transmitters. Tonight’s work would be a success and life could return to normal.
Inside the raising building Jacob and Bettine were up in the rafters where extra equipment and animal feed was stored. Lying on their bellies they could see out of the air vents, very necessary when the building was usually caring for many young at any given time. Their field of vision was reasonably extensive. They couldn’t make out Cale in the tree at the far side of the nearest enclosure since it was now dark, but they could see Drake ahead of them on the roof of the seed house.
Bella had packed them some food and blankets to keep them as comfortable as possible during the long night ahead. This had turned into a pleasant adventure for both of them. It was just like a father daughter camp-out, especially now that they were so much more convinced of the inevitable results of tonight’s efforts.
“Dad, why are we non-techs?” Bettine was leaning up on one elbow and looking over at Jacob with a serious expression. She looked like a little grown up and Jacob found he had a lump in his throat; time had flown and his baby was quickly becoming a young woman.
“What do you think, little lady?” Jacob believed in making his daughter work things out for himself.
“Well, mum’s told me some things about the beginning of this war that are kind of scary. I think they made a lot of people want to kind of escape from things they thought were bad.” Her face was screwed up trying to concentrate on the subject, clearly wanting to please Jacob. “I guess a lot of people didn’t believe it was right to go to war and kill other people just to get more planets. It seems to me that it was a big step to just turn our backs on pretty much all technology though, dad.” She had clearly given it a lot of thought and Jacob was very impressed with his daughter’s grasp of the subject.
The heat created by the mass of animals below had warmed Jacob up enough that he pushed the blanket off his back. He could hear regular breathing sounds from them and knew his stock was relaxed and most of them were already asleep. He hoped the peace would continue.
“Well, you’re right about why we chose to separate ourselves from what we felt was wrong and, sometimes, even evil. You’re also right about how big of a step it was for us, but I don’t think it was a bad one. Do you?”
“No, not really. I don’t like what little I’ve heard about the outside world. It just seems to be one big war and I’d prefer to live here tending the animals. I admit I like all this excitement for now, but I’ll be glad when they’re gone.” She pointed towards where they could see Drake lying on his belly just as they were. “They kind of scare me.” She looked a little ashamed at his admission.
Jacob didn’t hesitate in his response, “Hey, don’t worry about it, they scare me too. These men are pirates who only care for what they can get from you. I don’t trust anyone motivated that way. I want them to succeed in helping us, but then I want them gone too.”

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Drake got what he’d been waiting for; something happened. He’d been scanning the hillside ahead of him, though all he could see was a vague dark blur of rocks, trees, and distant fencing, when something caught his eye. At first he was sure his eyes and the darkness were playing tricks on him. He adjusted the simple controls on the goggles he was wearing to try to clarify what it was his brain told him his eyes had caught. He still wasn’t sure and needed confirmation.
He radioed Cale and whispered, “Cale, can you see anything to your left, in the hills?”
He waited for a moment and Cale’s voice came back to him sounding nervous and excited at the same time, “Yes, I see movement in the shadows. No real shapes yet, but there’s definitely something alive out there and whatever it is it’s coming this way.”
“Hold your fire until you hear a shot from me. We have to make sure we tag at least one before you have your fun.”
“Copy,” was the hushed reply.
Drake knew what Cale was thinking; he would have loved to be given authority to just fire as he wanted. Oh well, he’d have his chance shortly.
In his tree, Cale carefully pushed the animal skin blankets from his shoulders and brought his weapon up, resting his cheek against the cold metal of the stock. He settled into the rifle and aligned his right eye with the telescopic nightsight squinting with his left.

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As we approached the farms we divided our numbers into three groups and went our separate ways after a final co-mingling and sharing of scents. This might be the last time we would see some of our friends, and the images in our minds as we went ahead with our plans were sad and resigned. They were also determined to fulfill what might become our only hope of survival.
We drew close to the perimeter around the first group of penned animals and spread ourselves throughout the rocks. Our plan was simply to attack in much the same way that we would if this were a hunt but with two big differences. First, we would jump over the fence together, no stealth tonight, and second we would not be killing any animals, so if we went home at all it would be with empty bellies. The rocks and darkness had hidden our approach, and we could neither see nor sense any of the two-legs we had expected to be waiting for us as they had been the previous night. With luck we would survive to return to our caves intact and having fulfilled our goals.
The animals ahead of us were spread throughout their confined area. Most were settling down to sleep