The Severed Finger

Posted on Sun Oct 23rd, 2011 @ 10:51am by Commander Patrick Leroy
Edited on on Sun Oct 23rd, 2011 @ 10:54am

Mission: In Our Time of Need
Location: Somewhere on SB900

***** Somewhere on SB900 *****


The fingers in the gloomy room watched each other in silence. Alarm was in their eyes, nobody had spoken yet, but each one of them knew the thoughts of the others.
They had worked together far too long to be able to hide their emotions between themselves, Pinky squeezed nervously three little glass balls in his hand producing a persistent sound.

Half a hour had passed from the hasty summon they had received from Thumb and not he nor Ring had made their appearance to the meeting yet. The air in the room was so thick it could have been cut with a knife.

"By the hell! Stop with those balls Pinky!" Index snapped glaring at him.

"I'm tired of your bullying big ox. Why don't you try to make me stop." Pinky retorted angrily.

Index half-stood from the seat "Oh, stay sure that I'll make you stop that now and you're not going to like where I'm going to stick those glass balls..."

"Hey guys this is getting too far..." Middle intervened between the two "Calm down before something bad happens and when Thumb finds out something even worse happens."

Slowly Index sat down again still glaring while Pinky put the glass balls into his pocket.

"I'm tired of this mission I want to get my money and forget active duty for a while." Pinky murmured not softly enough.

"We all do." Middle commented "It is better to keep our nerves if we want to see to the end of this."

For an instant static filled the air followed by a high pitched sound and Thumb came out from nowhere.

"Yes, Middle's right. It is better for you all to keep your nerves." Thumb said taking off the inverter from his arm. "This has to be recharged." He added throwing the inverter to Pinky.

"How long have you been around here?" Pinky asked watching Thumb intently.

"Long enough." Thumb's replied dryly. "It has been instructive, if not amusing. Before you ask I have news about our comrade Ring. He was intent into selling us out. I got him contacting that little weasel of Intel Commander Eagle or whatever... I don't know how much he's been able to say but time has become far too tight for us. We have to strike as soon as possible amd then get out of here."

"And what about Ring?" Middle asked a bit surprised.

"Had to deal with him." Thumb responded as if that explained everything.

An icy silence descended on the room as the members of the Hand Of fate eyed each other and Thumb.

"So... You were checking on us on the last half a hour." Pinky said while his hands started to work on the inverter.

"Am I to blame?" Thumb grinned. "One of the squad has suddenly decided to screw up everything."

Index shifted nervously on the seat "What do we do now?"

"We go forward as planned. I've made a short work of the traitor and left him as a message for the chief of Security. But the note I left in his mouth hasn't been taken too seriously. We need a distraction. Middle..."

"Yeah, what now?"

"Hangar 51, is far enough from our objective. Work a bit of your magic, make something explode. Just to keep the darn Chief of Security and her klutzes occupied. Try to avoid casualties but, if the worst happens, I'm not going to lose my sleep on it."

"Aye. Understood." Middle replied. Few instants passed as they watched each other in silence.

"What are you waiting for? The picnic basket?" Thumb scolded him.

"Uh... Er... I'm going." Middle replied standing from his seat and quickly heading for the doors.

"And try to do a fine job." Thumb urged as the doors closed behind him.

"What about the Chief Diplomat? What have you done to her?" Index asked.

"Not all I wanted to. I stuffed her in a marginal escape pod. She's unconscious and in any case she can't escape. I'm throwing her on the plate of bargaining with the authorities here. We'll play the part of some terrorist group of the Arm we've only to choose. This will be another thorn in the side of that darn Commander Zeferino... And while she revels on all her problems we get the fish-head and kill him. Of course I've no intention to free her, all we need is just more time. Jailed and phased as she is in the inactive escape pod it is unlikely they'll find her in time. She's going to die for lack of oxygen."

Pinky closed the inverter and put it on the table "Think I should launch the encrypted sub-space call for our retrieval ship?" Pinky asked already knowing the answer.

"Yes you should. And now... We have to get things done very quickly."



********************

Thumb
Hand Of Fate Leader

Index
Hand Of Fate Member

Middle
Hand Of Fate Member

Pinky
Hand Of Fate Member