F³ An Offer of A Good Time

            After getting off the phone with Collins, I made one of my own.

            “Dumpling, what a surprise,” came Nikki’s musical voice.

            “I need you tonight.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I winced.

M³ War Machine

            So now that Israel has God on their side (at least claiming to), victory is assured. And, yeah, they win. Decisively. Israel won hard. They pwned the Benjamites that day. Seriously. Tens of thousands of Benjamite armsmen were slain.

            But Israel didn’t stop.

            They went after cities.

            They killed civilians.

F³ Pain Relief at Terminal Velocity

            After three more zaps, Moron finally figured out he should listen to me instead of scream.

            “So,” I said calmly as we descended at approximately 120 mph towards the ground. “I need you to follow my instructions, all right?”

M³ Asking God

            As improbable as it sounds with the numbers in the respective armies, the first time the Israelites went up against the Benjamites, they suffered 22,000 casualties (Judges 20:22). While tactics are important, a lot of warfare comes down to numbers. With the numbers the Israelites have, they shouldn’t have had any trouble squashing the Benjamites. Somebody screwed up. However, we don’t have any kind of record of the actual battle to determine what went down aside from splitting up their forces as “Judah shall go up first” against the Benjamites (Judges 20:18).

Trust Issues

            “Now,” Flynn turned back to the woman, “we are here to escort you out.”

            “Or you could lead us straight to the Nicks to end us in one shot. I don’t trust you, especially you.”

            “If I was with the Nickel Guild, I would simply give your position instead of coming in here. There are enough tanks in the street to level this building from three blocks away. Now, Doc,” Peter made out the medical corps insignia on her collar, also Alliance, “my ship is trying to slingshot around the moon to come back and pick us up, but we’ve only got one shot before orbit gets too crowded.”

            “I still don’t believe you. Not you.”

            “Mr. Reese, would you please reassure our host by giving your voice print?”

            “Certainly, Captain. I’m afraid we never worked out any kind of code phrase to give. The transmission was unfortunately cut short after we received the coordinates. Jamming, no doubt.”

            “Lita, that’s him,” said a man behind her with a machine pistol. “That’s the one I commed.”

            “Doesn’t matter, I still don’t trust him. You don’t know what he did.”

            Flynn’s semblance of patience evaporated, and he said harshly, “I don’t intend to leave people to be slaughtered, so if need be Eltie will wing you, and we’ll carry you out despite your protests.”

M³ You and What Army? Oh.

            The scattering of the concubine throughout Israel has the desired effect: outrage. Israel gathers up a huge army against their fellow tribe of Benjamites, demanding “hand over those scountrels in Gibeah, so that we may punish them to death, and purge the evil from Israel,” (Judges 20:13) to which the Benjamites more or less replied, nuts to you.

F³ Take Off

            The flight attendants went through their spiel from memory with well-practiced smiles, but a weariness that tugged at their eyes that even the best eyeliner and eyeshadow couldn’t hide. They were weary, and wanted an easy flight. For the first forty-five minutes, they got their wish.

M³ Voiceless

            I can’t let this go, yet. This poor concubine has no voice. No one in this story has a name, so that’s not as big an issue, but the fact that this woman never speaks bothers me. Yes, the Bible is pretty terse when it comes to speech, relating things generally and narratively instead of with extensive dialogue, but we do have some. The perverse men, the host, and the Levite priest all speak up in this story. But not this woman. She is voiceless.

F³ WIP Unofficial Permission

            My phone buzzed, and I thought it would be Kate. Instead, it was Collins. I answered immediately, “Hang on, I’ve got a reporter in the room.”

            I looked over to Reese. “I need to take this. Can I have the room?”

            She gave me a venomous look, then stormed over, knocking my shoulder on her way out.

            “Okay, I’m good.”

            “We’ve got it.”

            “It?”