Kas spent the return trip lost in thought. He almost didn’t notice the dizzying spiral as the zipcar climbed back up to the skyway. Milena had joined the rebellion. And she was seriously impressive. He’d never been interested much in the shy withdrawn girl who always hovered around the edges of his social circles. They’d gotten along well enough, but Kas had never seen her as someone with the right sort of potential. Now, she had more than potential. She had power and confidence and a certain sharpness to her he couldn’t help admiring.

If only she didn’t want to burn down the city, they might have gotten along well.

As lost in thought as he was, he almost missed his stop, jumping out at the last minute when the warning buzz of the back closing alerted him. Earning him a scowl and curse from the second zipcar attendant of the day.

“Sorry!” Kas called as he took the stairs two at a time down to the skyway’s walking path, sprinting for home.

The sandglass on his wall read 13:24 when Kas stepped inside. He winced. He’d lost track of time, and now there was no way he’d make it to the meeting on time.

Something squished underfoot. “Kkkkk!!” Miri snarled, her tails lashing as she tugged her paw free.

“How many times do I have to tell you, the welcome mat is not your bed!” Kas grunted, running to the tumble cube to grab the clean tunic. Miri ran from him with an exaggerated limp, disappearing into his bedroom where he knew she’d make a mess while he was gone. “It was an accident!” he shouted, unbelting and throwing the dirty tunic in the general direction of the hamper as he did so. The replacement was still slightly damp, but that was the least of his worries.

He grabbed his company ID and clipped it to his belt loop, stuffed his relay orb - blinking with several missed calls - into his pocket, and stuffed his toolkit into the pocket storage, then paused only long enough to run his eyes across the room in case he’d forgotten something else. Nope, that should be everything.

He hurried back up the stairs to the skyway, pulling on his tunic as he ran.

“Not a good look,” he muttered to himself, scowling at the sky. “Your one big chance and you somehow manage to do everything wrong.”

As soon as he was safely ensconced in the 13:40 heading east, he pulled out the relay orb to see what he’d missed while he was out.

“Hey, Kas, it’s Jarom. You did say 11 at 1012 Blue Spire, right? See you soon.”

Kas exhaled slowly. He’d completely forgotten to inform Jarom of his change in plans, rushing off without a second thought.

“Hey Kas, Jarom again. You remember that we planned to meet today? Just checking. You’re usually good with schedules, but, well, you’re also not here yet. Rel soon.”

“Kas, what’s going on? This isn’t like you. Rel me.”

He squeezed the orb once, then mentally selected Jarom’s link. It hummed for almost a minute before his brother activated the relay.

“Hey, Jarom, I’m really sorry about today, something came up at work last minute.”

“Kas, you’re alive! Praise the Firebird.”

“Yes, yes,” Kas said, acknowledging the semi-sarcastic rebuke in his brother’s tone. “I’m sorry. I forgot my relay and was accosted by robbers, so I very nearly wasn’t alive.”

“Robbers? Aren’t you supposed to be the only robbers in town?”

Kas rolled his eyes. “Mercenary thieving is nothing like robbery. It’s entirely respectable, whereas robbery is crude and vulgar.”

“So you’ve said. Look, I won’t be in town past today, are you getting out of work soon?”

“Not likely. Big job.” He saw the eastern 42nd terminal coming into view. “Got to run. I’ll rel you after, promise.”

“Alright. Kas -” His brother paused, though only for a moment. “I was worried about you today. Be careful.”

“I will.” Kas ended the relay and tucked his orb back in his pocket just as the zipcar pulled into the terminal. He sprinted across to the connected track heading further southeast, which thankfully was running on time. Zipcars rarely diverged from their strict schedules, but given his misfortune today he would not have been surprised if it had.

He started slipping on armour pieces - again - as the vehicle hissed into motion, glancing uneasily at the sandglass. If he hadn’t needed to stop back at home, he could have been right on time. Of all the days to forget everything. He’d have been willing to show up covered in ziga hair if that had been the only issue, but he needed his tools and relay and ID.

As soon as he arrived at the nearest terminal to the meeting point, he set off jogging, wanting to sprint but resisting the urge. He’d be late no matter what he did, and showing up panting and out of breath would only make him look worse. He straightened his tunic, strapped the AutoSlash to his side, and turned the corner.

Meeting a client had certain protocols. While there was nothing wrong with hiring a mercenary thief crew to obtain something of one’s rival’s, it was considered in poor taste to be seen doing so. Therefore, meeting points had to be established for discrete handoffs. More often than not, a client would never even set foot near the licensed headquarters, but instead use relays and covert gatherings.

Likewise, when setting out to perform a job, one simply did not move straight from the office toward the target in a group. Targets with something to hide tended to invest in counter-surveillance. Obvious manoeuvres gave them warning and time to prepare.

Unluckily for Kas, today’s meeting point was over half a sand away from his home, which meant he’d kept the team waiting for almost a full third. He wasn’t sure where he’d lost all the time, between lingering in the armoury and the delay getting in and out of the warehouse, and waiting for zipcars… yeah, today had it out for him.

“Kasimir.” Ziv didn’t say anything more, but her voice and look spoke volumes. Kas’s feigned confidence wilted immediately.

“I’m ready.” Kas looked around at the assemblage, the youngest of whom must have been eight years older than him at the least, and none whose equipment didn’t outstrip his own by several quality tiers. He swallowed, suddenly feeling very small and very insignificant.

“Target is Maesik 3, upper level. Officially, it’s a private research consultancy, but it’s owned by the head of Varknirtek.”

Kas stared out toward the Maesik Spires, stunned. Varknirtek held over 60% of magetech patents to have come out in the past decade. If its head researcher was conducting some private enterprise on the side, it had to be good. No wonder Elurium chose to bring such a big team.

“There are decoy facilities all across the city, but the client is certain the object we’re after is in this one. We have no idea what it is, so grab anything that looks heavily shielded. Kas, that’s where you come in.”

She waved over a pair of employees, a wiry woman in her forties and a well-muscled tank of a man decked out in an absurd number of glittering enchantments. Seeing Kas’ impressed stare, the man winked at him, tapped an unassuming brooch out of a custom pocket storage amulet, and pinned it swiftly to his belt. Nothing appeared to change, although Kas wasn’t sure why he remembered being so impressed just moments ago. Of all the crew, this person was the only one who seemed to be anywhere near his own level of experience -

- in stark contrast to the thoughts he remembered having moments ago. A suspicion ran through his head, and he squinted at the brooch. “That’s a PinDrop, isn’t it?” One of the top-of-the-line stealth enchantments, its primary function was to suppress extraneous traces of magic. It probably cost half his rent for a year.

The big man grinned. “For when your statements get a little too loud. And I, I think we can all agree, am very loud. Not bad at all. Kasimir, was it?”

“This is Lazlo,” Ziv stated, cutting short any incoming pleasantries. “And his partner Agneza, both Rank B16. They’re used to working together. You’re with them.”

Something in the way she spoke gave Kas the distinct impression the brief was mainly for his benefit; that the others had already heard it while the team waited out the delay he’d caused. He swallowed and tried to mold his face into an expression of appropriate gravitas.

“Agneza is your relay specialist and safecracker,” Ziv continued. “Lazlo’s speciality is infiltration. Although in this case, the emphasis is on a smooth exit, not entrance. They will determine where you need to go and when, and protect you while you do your job. Which is to say, provide support where needed and collect the goods. Since we don’t know exactly what we’re after, mobility is key. Follow orders, keep an eye out for anything suspicious, and make sure you communicate effectively as a team.”

Kas nodded. Despite his earlier misgivings, now that the time had come, he felt a thrill at the prospective challenge. Even if he wouldn’t be breaking the defences himself, he’d never seen someone of Agneza’s level work before. At the very least, he might pick up some new tricks.

“For the rest of the team, we have a mix of combat specialists and frontline wizards, enchanters, and conveyance. They will split into small groups like yours. The goal is to cover ground quickly, before a response can be raised. Your group will enter last once the way has been cleared. Teams will ask you for assistance; comply. Otherwise, stay back and let the heavy fighters deal with any resistance. Pick fights you can handle; otherwise let Agneza coordinate a targeted response. If you’re lucky, there won’t be any. But we never make assumptions. Assumptions are what lead to funerals.”

“Well, that’s a bit morbid,” Lazlo wisecracked, slapping a palm down on one of Ziv’s shoulders. Although she swayed slightly under the thump, her expression didn’t change. “If this is the pep talk you give your usual underlings, no wonder we’ve been having retention problems of late.”

“There are two kinds of retention problems,” Ziv replied flatly. She reached up to adjust her already-straight pauldron. “The kind incited by loss of morale, and the kind that comes from being dead. One of these is preferable to the other.”

Off to the side, Agneza smirked a little, only for her grin to widen once she realised she had Kas’ attention. “Can’t argue with that.”

“Speaking of funerals,” Kas mumbled, inserting himself into the semblance of becoming an active participant in this conversation, “and also morale loss, I have to ask you all to sign these liability waivers.”