Altair tried to put Kale from his thoughts as he went about his daily work. Working the fields without his brother was lonely, but he had to earn his keep and he wasn't skilled in anything else but the manual labor. It wasn't all manual labor though, he would spend most of his time guiding a robotic plow that plowed the earth, dropped seeds in, and covered them back up as it went down each row.
These particular seeds were fast growing crops they had been fortunate enough to come across on one of the worlds they traded on. Taking three weeks to reach maturity, they decided to break them out of storage so they wouldn't have to ration for more than a couple weeks. The fields were worked in a rotation, and the next field that reached maturity was more than 4 weeks away.
The elders were very cautious of rationing the food in case something happened, but everyone questioned that thought as the Palentar were a righteous order that never let the people down, or so they were told. The people had no idea that Kale had to use himself as a bargaining chip to get them to even make the promise in the first place, but Altair wasn't going to say anything as long as it got done.
Everything for the villagers was looking up. The raiders would be gone and they could go back to living in peace and harmony on this little slice of the galaxy they called home.
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Three weeks went by and the crop they had planted was ready to harvest. Kale worked a harvester all day and then they spent the night loading the cargo ship that the elders used to travel between the neighboring worlds to trade. They had over planted so they could sell a lot of the excess to catch up with other essential supplies they had been unable to purchase the last few months due to the raiders.
The elders went on their trip and to the villagers delight, they brought back desserts to have a grand celebration once the raiders were vanquished. The Palentar were due to be here within the next day, and they planned on having a grand feast to show their appreciation for helping them.
The next day, everyone was extremely nervous and excited now that the Palentar were finally due to arrive. They had even went so far as to clean their small landing field to make the best impression they possibly could. Most people only saw the Palentar once in a life time if even that, but they were getting the pleasure of seeing them twice in a month.
The day drug by with no sign of the Palentar. Altair was starting to get a bad feeling, but he could not place it. By the evening time there was widespread panic. The elders had sold the excess crop, if the raiders came before the the Palentar arrived, they would effectively be doomed. They knew that if they lived to see another day it would be because some of their friends and neighbors wouldn't. The raiders would not look kindly to not having anything to take but the left over rationed food of the villagers. If they took all the remaining food, the villagers would starve. It was checkmate if the Palentar didn't show.
Evening turned to night and the Palentar never showed. Altair was worried, but more than that he felt a deep seated hatred for what was happening. His brother sold himself to the order to save the lives of these people, and now his sacrifice was in vain. The Palentar had come and taken what they wanted with empty promises. everything that he had ever heard about the just and noble order was a lie. Just like everything else in this life, nothing was free and no one wanted to pay. The Palentar were powerful enough to take what they wanted and pretend they cared about the people they were supposed to protect.
Altair was sick over it. He wanted his brother back from the clutches of those people that dared to take the only family he had ever had over a false promise. He wanted his revenge, but he knew he most likely wouldn't see the morning. He was prepared to die this night because of the lies of a corrupt order. But he told himself he would stand tall and go down fighting. He had no combat skills, but he had a hard body built by years of manual labor and he knew it would take more than a few blows to bring him down.
He stood outside with the elders and the other men waiting for the raiders to return. The elders were going to try and talk them down but Altair and the others would have rather gunned them down from the relative safety of the walls. The elders disapproved this idea and did not condone the bloodshed. They were ok with an outsider doing the dirty work, but they couldn't bring themselves to order their own people to be someone else's executioner.
At 21:00 on the dot, the raiders finally showed. The villagers kept looking towards the sky in the hopes they would be saved at the last minute, but alas, it was not meant to be.
"What are you wretches looking at the sky for? We are down here" said the raid leader with a laugh. He got an endless amount of pleasure from tormenting these villagers he often referred to as sheep to the other in the raiding band.
"Master Korlan, it's always a pleasure to see you at the gates" said the one of the elders in complete submission to the raid group.
"Don't be a filthy liar elder Talbot" replied Korlan with a sneer. "Give us what we came for so we can get out of this filthy place. The stench of sheep ripe for the slaughter is too much for my sensitive nose."
"Master Korlan, we need more time, please...our people are starving, if we could get two mo.."
Korlan pulled out his small plasma pistol and put a hole through Elder Talbots head in the blink of an eye.