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

had a line-of-sight on him either.”
“Wasn’t he wearing his suit?”
“Yes, captain, but apparently he’d pulled down the helmet hood. Maybe it was tough to see with it up while in the tree. I don’t really know.” He shrugged his shoulders in defeat at not being able to give a better answer as to why one of the men under his charge was now dead.
“OK, no ones fault. Go in grab some food, and take a couple of hours rest. We’ll call you and the rest of the men when we’re ready to go.” He followed them in and waved Cale over to his side. “Let’s go over our equipment. I want to be out of here in three hours time, and I don’t want any delays when we get everyone up.”
They went into the storage area where the container Marshall had sent them had been unpacked. Most of the equipment had already been spread among his men for the work of the previous night. The coming job would need all the same equipment plus a few extras.
“All the weapons, ammunition, flashlights, and armored suits have already been distributed.” Cale went over a written inventory he had found inside the container. “We’ll need to have four men carry these trip mines and the rest can all carry regular fragmentation mines and grenades. We also won’t need anyone to use the tracker ammunition this time around. Anything else?” He looked up at Drake expectantly.
“No, you seem to have covered everything. I think we’re as ready as we’re ever going to be. Go get some rest yourself; we’ve got a busy day ahead of us.”
As Cale walked toward the ship he turned and said, “You should do the same Captain.”
Drake wasn’t in the frame of mind to sleep. He wasn’t overly nervous about the upcoming day of excitement as that was just a job he felt prepared for. It was the whole incident with Jacob and the Hopper that troubled him. He had treated these people with little or no regard, assuming they weren’t worth much of his attention. In fact, he had actually looked at them as annoyances that would get in the way of his work here. The whole concept of non-techs just hadn’t sat well with him, and he had been ready to dismiss those who espoused that creed as fringe lunatics and probably cowards too.
The problem was Jacob. Here was a man whose daughter’s life was literally on the line now because he had come to the aid of a pirate. Of course, Drake could create logic for Jacob’s actions if the man had not been a non-tech. Jacob would have had less of a problem using a weapon and could have understood the value of this pirate who was there to kill creatures that were affecting his life and livelihood. But as a non-tech, Jacob should have shunned leaving his daughter and the safety of his flock to pick up a weapon and become, to all intents and purposes, a soldier. Intriguing and confusing. A hell of a guy for someone whose job was taking care of a bunch of big dumb animals.
Drake was at a loss to really understand the man and his actions. To compound the situation he had another relatively unknown emotion surfacing within him; guilt. He actually felt guilty that his life had been saved at the cost of an innocent young girl and he wasn’t pleased at feeling this way. Jacob hadn’t even tried to attack him, as he would have done if the roles had been reversed. He’d just told him to get on with his job and leave. No vindictiveness, no hint of a need for revenge. In another world he might have seen all this as another sign of cowardice, but this man didn’t seem like a coward to Drake.
Without much more thought he found himself walking down the hill toward Jacob’s farm. He had no idea why, but he felt like he had to talk to him. He felt like he owed him something. Good thing none of his men were around, as sympathy wasn’t deemed a respected emotion in a pirate captain.

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Far away, as Drake crossed the meadow towards the buildings, more than a dozen ships blinked out of nowhere appearing amongst a sea of stars. Within this galaxy were many inhabited planets and all were producing something of value that the Suppliers demanded of them to help in the war effort. These ships were those of the Collectors, the errand boys of the Suppliers, and those they hired to protect them as they traveled through space.
Once they had all been accounted for they were divided into smaller groups consisting of two large container ships with their escorts of smaller fighters detailed to keep their eyes out for pirates. At this stage of their trip about two thirds of the container ships were filled with various products, and if the pirates were planning on doing anything they would do it after this last series of pick-ups. At that time the ships would be filled to capacity and heading for their last shift which would take them so close to the front that no one would be crazy enough to try to attack then.
One of the small groups of vessels altered its course away from the entry point and sped off. On board preparations were being made for the final leg of their mission.
“Sir, the coordinates have been set in and we’re underway. We should arrive at the planet in seventy one hours.” The helmsman’s voice was clear and crisp.
“Thank you Mr. Clayton. We’ll be eating some fresh meat on our trip back to the front. I can almost taste it.” Clayton could see that his captain wasn’t entirely exaggerating; he actually seemed to be drooling! Clayton hated the people he worked with and hated the people that he was supposed to answer to. But, it wouldn’t be for long now.

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As Drake approached the farm he could hear crying and loud voices. He saw Jacob’s house with a small group of men standing around the doorway. As he continued to draw nearer the men turned and walked quickly away. He guessed they were going back to their own farms as he recognized them as some of the farmers who had left with his men the previous night. The crying got louder and he thought it must be Jacob’s wife, Bella. To gently attract attention he coughed as he walked closer to the door that was still ajar. He coughed again and this time someone heard him.
Jacob came out and on seeing Drake spoke angrily, “What do you want here? Shouldn’t you be out killing those things and then getting on with being a pirate?”
Drake could see the man had been crying, too, and bit off what would have been his automatic response to another man being so disrespectful to him. It wasn’t easy, but he had come here to talk, not to fight and so he did just that. “What were the other farmers doing here?”
Jacob was clearly taken off guard by Drake ignoring his anger and just answered him; “They were telling me about everything that transpired last night and this morning. You know of the animals I lost, but I don’t think that you know the whole story.” He looked at Drake inquiringly as if to get something out of him, but all the pirate did was shake his head. “My neighbor, Blake lost two animals himself, one was crushed in the panic within his herd and another died from an apparent heart attack from the fear of having one of those things on its back. Another, Gamik, lost one because your boys couldn’t tell the difference between what they were supposed to be protecting and what was supposed to be killed. We’re in a heap of trouble and there’s nothing we can do to get ourselves out of it.”
Drake could see the man was deeply affected by these events, and remembering what he had been told about the Token, thought he knew what was going on. With the losses Jacob had encountered and those of his communal friends, there was no way some of them would meet their Tokens. That meant that Bettine would be forfeit to the Collectors. No wonder Bella and her husband were both so angry and sad, especially with him around. If Jacob hadn’t left his daughter to save Drake’s life he might have been able to help Bettine keep the animals calm and contained in the building thus losing none of them.
“What will happen when the Collectors arrive?” He was a little surprised at himself as he actually sounded concerned and then realized that it was simply because he was. As a pirate it was his general attitude not to pay much attention to other people’s feelings, and he had done well with that philosophy. Jacob had somehow changed that.
“I think it’s pretty clear to you by now, Drake!” Jacob had obviously not had any reason to change his attitude about him though and Drake couldn’t really blame him. “They’ll come for their food. We won’t have enough to fulfill our bargain. We’ll lose our Bettine. It’s as simple as that!” He was holding his wife whose tears increased before the pirate’s eyes.
He pressed on, something formulating in the back of his mind, “What happens to Bettine then? I mean literally.”
Jacob looked frustrated and almost ready to strike out at him because of his apparent callousness, “Why are you doing this to us? Can’t you see we’re grieving for our daughter?” He turned as if to walk his wife back inside.
“Please! What happens to her next?” He was adamant and he could see Jacob calm himself slightly, take a deep breath and reply.
“The Collector ships will take her away from us to some other planet where they train young people to become soldiers or pilots or whatever it is they need them to become. Why do you care?”
“Jacob, you helped me and I’d like to see if there’s anything I can do to return the favor. I can’t promise anything yet.” He spoke quickly when he saw the immediate response his words had created in the eyes of the parents standing before him. They were suddenly hopeful and he almost regretted having talked with them before he was sure, but he hadn’t been able to hold back. “I have to go now but I’ll try and help your daughter I can at least promise you that.” He turned before they could ask him for more details he didn’t yet have and walked out of the house. Before heading back up the hill he found himself walking around the corner of the house where he couldn’t be seen and eavesdropping on the farmer and his wife. It was strange emotion to him, concern for another.
“What did Drake mean?” Bella’s voice betrayed how nervous she must be feeling.
“Don’t pay him any attention, Bella. He just feels guilty about what’s going to happen to Bettine. As soon as he’s finished here, he and his men will be gone. Don’t build up any hopes, please.”
To Drake it sounded like Jacob had already done that very thing but didn’t want to raise her hopes till he was sure. Drake left as time was running out for him, but he did promise himself that he would try to prove Jacob’s doubts wrong.


Seventeen

Drake was listening intently on the radio and held his hand up to silence Taren when the man walked into his office.
“Thank you, Marshall. I have to leave now. My second-in-command has my men ready, and