Making the Grade (Omnia Online Series Book 2) by Christopher Booth Page A

don’t know when we might need to leave to follow up on either.” replied Drake.
    “Well, that leaves us with jobs like tracking down bothersome animals, finding stolen goods, missing people, and one item listed as a short-term protection assignment.”
    “Some of that sounds more like private investigator work then mercenary.” responded Drake.
    “There’s some overlap, but if they’re hiring a mercenary, they usually have a good idea who they thing stole their stuff, or where the person is.  Take this one for example… A family would like to hire a mercenary to get their son out of a cult compound, where he disappeared with a girl he likes.  The cultists are refusing his family access.  Because the son is over sixteen years old, the police are reluctant to get involved, since they have no proof he’s there against his will.”
    “Where the law is involved, this falls into a gray area, if you took a job like this, you could get into trouble if someone got badly hurt.  I would suggest a less risky assignment for a first job,” said Samantha.
    “There’s one here, it’s almost a bounty type job.  Someone has been poaching Narack.  They’re kind of like a cross between a cow and a goat, with swept back horns and fleece like sheep have.  Ok, they’re nothing like any animal on Earth.  Anyway, the co-op of Narack ranchers has posted a request for a mercenary to track them down.  It’s a little short on detail, but they appear to have enough weight with the local government to get whoever takes up the job a temporary deputation.  So you’d be acting as a police officer of a sort.” said Samantha.
    “It’s a little strange since this should be something the local law enforcement should deal with.  I think there’s more to the story then we’re hearing up front.  Sam, could you do a search through the local news and public sources for more information?” asked Drake.  “For now, we’ll pass on that one.”
    While Drake continued to explore the guild job offerings, something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention.
    He saw a short Karura approach the information desk near the Guild Hall entrance.  What caught his attention was the size of the avian-like humanoid.  Most Karurian were just a little shorter than the Human average.  But this one stood at about 130 cm, and this made it the shortest Karurian Drake had seen who wasn’t accompanied by an adult.  This caused Drake to suspect that he was looking at a child or teenage Karurian.
    After talking to the receptionist for a few minutes, the receptionist shook her head at something the short Karura said.  The little avian humanoid then took a looked around the Hall after a moment and paused while looking at Drake, as if it recognized him.  It then started to walk over to where Drake was standing beside one of the information booths.
    Drake was trying not to stare at this scene, but he did look up as the seemingly young Karura approached him.
    “You're him, aren’t you? You’re the man that saved all those girls from the pirates… Drake right?” it asked Drake in its song like voice, which Drake found the most appealing feature of the avian race.
    The question didn’t surprise him. When the news of the rescue of the captives from the pirates and their plight hit Hassan, it was the primary cause of local news on Hassan for weeks.  Made even greater by the fact the Navy and the bounty hunters involved voted to give up some of their prizes for a fundraiser for the free slaves.
    While Drake tried to keep clear of the press, his name had become involved in some of the news articles.
    What he did find surprising is that this young person recognized his face on sight, since Drake was able to at least avoid the cameras at the time, or he thought he had anyway.
    “How do you know who I am?  I don’t think my image was ever posted in any articles,” asked Drake.
    The young Karura seemed embarrassed, Drake guessed since he’d so