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

rid my world of some creatures that were killing our animals. I saved the life of one of the pirates he’d hired to do the killing and this pirate, a man named Drake, said he would try to save my daughter. We’d failed to meet our Token and Bettine was to be pressed by the Collectors. I’m guessing that Drake asked Marshall as he knew that would be the best way of helping Bettine.”
“OK, then where is Bettine?” He was still confused but he didn’t feel suspicious anymore as this man’s story made too much sense and fit the facts, at least as far as Clayton knew them.
“When she was to be taken I offered to go in his place, as I’m a wanted man worth more than my daughter. They accepted and here I am. Sean’s father also failed to meet the Token and so Sean was forfeit. Since Marshall told you to save Bettine and she’s not here I’m sure he’d want you to take us.”
“Those aren’t my orders.” He was becoming increasingly torn. He knew his time was almost up, and yet he felt for this man and the boy. Suddenly, a thought came to him. The radio call! He had never thought to check for any message that had arrived while he had been on the bridge. Realistically it could have only been Marshall, but he had been too busy to think about it. He reached into his pocket and looked at the device, pressed a few buttons and held it to his ear. Marshall’s clear voice came to him and he listened intently for a moment.
“You’re a lucky man, Jacob. It always helps to be friends with someone like Marshall.” He opened both doors letting Sean and Jacob out. “Come on, we have to hurry. Both of you stay close to me.” They ran to the elevator and while waiting for the doors to open Clayton suddenly felt the ship come out of shift and knew their time was up.

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Throughout the Cargo 1 a siren wailed and the captain rushed to the bridge. He was angry, mainly because he had just ordered for one of the blues to be slaughtered and prepared for his table. The last thing he needed right now was some false alarm to disturb him and his meal.
As he entered the bridge he knew immediately this was no false alarm or drill. Men were running around shouting questions and orders, punching buttons, and adjusting dials, it was pandemonium.
“Be quiet!” The captain roared above the noise, silence falling around him as everyone turned to stare at the unusual outburst. “What’s going on?” He looked at the officer he’d left in charge of the bridge while he was away.
“Sir, I don’t really know what to say. We can’t explain it.” He stammered with the fear of telling his superior that he couldn’t really answer the question and that a problem had occurred on his watch.
The captain was getting angrier, “Then don’t explain it, just tell me what “it” is and do it now before I strangle someone.”
“Sir, we just came out of shift ahead of schedule. As soon as we did our sensors showed we were not only off target, but also alone. The rest of the convoy, including our fighter escorts, is no longer with us. Also, we’ve just detected another vessel below us. It seems to be a small, long-range patrol vessel that’s had some modifications done; stronger hull plating, and apparently, more powerful than usual weapons for its size. We think it might be a pirate vessel though it hasn’t made any aggressive move towards us yet.” He finished his report with a large intake of breath glad to get all the words out.
“What does Mr. Clayton have to say about our location? In fact, where is he? He should be here by now.” He looked around the bridge, his fat face red with anger.
“Mr. Clayton hasn’t responded to our call, and he didn’t show up in the mess.”
“What? Get security out looking for him. Now!”

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As they traveled quickly down through the many levels in the huge cargo ship, Clayton inserted the computer key into the control terminal on the wall of the elevator. Pressing the buttons with a practiced speed that Jacob’s eyes could not begin to follow, Clayton instructed the key to download and initiate its pre-programmed orders. As he was finishing he felt something odd through his feet.
“We just opened fire! I may have downloaded this too late.”
“Why didn’t you do it sooner?” was Jacob’s reasoned response.
“Because I didn’t want to run the risk of someone discovering the program if they were doing any computer maintenance sweeps. This ship’s weapons aren’t that powerful so let’s just hope for the best and keep going.”
“We don’t have a choice anyway so we’re with you.” Jacob patted Clayton on the shoulder in a gesture of friendship.
Clayton looked gratefully at the farmer and went on, “OK, we’ve only got a couple of minutes to make sure we’re off this vessel before the pirates get in. Once in they’ll kill everyone left on board. So we need to move quickly. I was only expecting two of us in the pod so it’ll be a bit tight for the three of us. That’s just tough, so no complaining.”
They had reached the lowest level and exited the elevator into a corridor with flashing red lights along the ceiling and floor. On either side of the corridor were small panels each consecutively numbered. These were the emergency escape pods. Each held life support, food, and water for several days plus enough propulsion to get them away from immediate danger, but not enough of a fuel store to travel more than a day at high speed.
Jacob put his hand on Clayton’s arm as he was punching keys on one of the panels. “What pirates?”
“I assume they’re the same ones that Marshall hired to rid your world of your little problem. This ship and its cargo is their payment.” The panel opened and he climbed up one step into the pod.
Jacob continued, “But how are they going to get in? I remember that these vessels have fighter escorts plus internal security forces. They’re designed to get their cargo to its destination whatever gets in its way.”
“That’s what that computer key was for. I’m pretty handy when it comes to programming and re-programming.” He sounded pleased with himself. “That’s one of the main reasons Marshall has been happy to pay me so well over the years. Anyway, as we speak, my work over the last few days is now affecting virtually every system on board. I have to make sure the pirates take this ship with only minimal resistance, and make sure we aren’t here when they board us. We…”
Jacob held his hand up in a gesture meant to hold Clayton from carrying on. “I know how to use these pods. Why don’t I take the boy with me?”
“The pirates have been told to expect a pod that has a homing beacon signaling at a specific frequency and destroy anything else that tries to get away. Marshall can’t afford any of this crew living to tell what happened to this ship. Also, we’re only going to be in the pod for a few minutes till the pirate ship picks us up. He’ll be transporting us back to your world, and then I’ll be taken on to my haven.” He was pressing buttons inside the pod and lights were coming to life. “Come on, get in.”
Jacob began helping Sean into the small pod but before the boy got in Clayton told them to wait a second.
“I guess I won’t be needing this anymore.” From out of the opening to the pod a jacket came flying landing on the hallway floor. “I’m done with that uniform and if I never see it again it’ll be too soon.”
Sean continued climbing into the pod and Jacob followed him. The door sealed behind them cutting off the loud sirens and flashing lights. The pod was quiet and very small; Jacob found his knees nearly touching the control panel. He tried shifting around and Sean sat on his lap, which made it a little more comfortable for all of them.
Jacob asked, “Won’t they know you’re powering this up and just override your commands?”
As Clayton continued he smiled and said, “No. Their systems are feeding them false information about all aspects of the ship to keep them confused. Also, by now, they know I must’ve been involved in our coming out of shift here so I made sure the door to my quarters was locked from the inside. When they come looking for me they’ll assume I’m still in there, and call security to break in and arrest me. That’ll waste enough time.” He smiled with apparent glee at his own cleverness. ”I also have some other surprises planned for the few men who might actually be trained well enough to give the pirates any trouble. The rest will be easy; they’re just fat flight crews.”
With a final check that everyone was strapped in as best they could be in the cramped space, Clayton threw a switch. The wall in front of them blew out, and the pod followed. All around them were stars and blackness except for the massive wall of the cargo ship falling behind them. Clayton pulled a small metal cylinder out of his bag and hit a button on its end.
“Now we just wait for the pirates to do their clean-up act, they’ll then come to this homing beacon, and we’ll be taken on board. Then we’ll be on our way. Easy.”


Twenty Four

“Captain!” The man’s voice was loud and excited. “Coming in now, dead ahead and right on target. They’ll break out of shift in thirty seconds.”
It wasn’t much of a warning but Drake knew that it was impossible to track a vessel in shift unless you knew exactly where they were to appear, then if you were lucky you might detect the rush of the energywave that preceded the vessel. He realized he should be pleased with even thirty seconds of notice.
“Flash the landing lights.”
“Done, sir.”
Then there, not more than two ship lengths in front of them, was a flash of light and the enormous cargo vessel appeared.
“What can you tell me?” His men knew what he was looking for and so their scans were already geared to gather that information.
One of the men at a console spoke up after a moment checking his readings. “Captain, they’re here alone and I can see nothing following behind them. It looks like our man did his job.”
“Captain,” another man said, “their shields are still up and all exterior lighting is operational. I believe their armament remains on-line too.”
“Damn, what’s going on? He should’ve been out of there by now with everything we expected already done.” The spy’s delay was becoming a thorn in Drake’s side though he had no idea it was because of Jacob.

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On the bridge, the captain had ordered security to find Clayton, and then proceeded to have all systems checked. He had also sent their position and a quick report of their problem, but it would take many hours before they could expect a response, and potentially days before help could arrive.
“Everything, other than our position, seems to be in order, sir”
“Very well. Is the pirate ship shielded and prepped to fire?” Since this was not a fighting vessel the captain knew that his best hope was to strike first, hope to disable the pirate ship, and then get