Anali

“Fuckin’ hells, Ja’kol, how bad is it?” I stopped to hit my head against the wall outside the cargo-bay where we were keeping Sora. We had just finished interrogating all three of the prisoners. Well, two and a half of the prisoners, since Ithnaa was still unconscious, but we did manage to get some information from her thanks to our resident telepath. Regardless of how we got the information, none of it was good.

“Probably a solid seven,” Ja’kol answered with a half smile.

“Seven? That seems optimistic.” I narrowed my eyes at him, and his smile widened.

“Seven out of five.” Ja’kol shrugged. “We’re pretty fucked.”

“That’s closer to what I thought. Okay, tell Castin and Doc to meet us in the kitchen. We have a decision to make, and it might get expensive.”

“Sure, but Castin isn’t going to like it if we have to turn down another huge bounty.” Ja’kol followed me through the corridors towards the kitchen.

“I can deal with Castin.”

“I’m not going to like it either.”

I paused just before the kitchen door. “That’s no big deal. Castin might actually put up a fight, but I can always just shoot you.”

That earned a good laugh from Ja’kol, so I stepped into the kitchen and was surprised to see Castin and the Doc already in there eating ramen. Well, Castin was eating ramen, Doc was just sitting at the counter scrolling through a tablet. They looked like they had been waiting for us the entire time.

“Have you assessed the situation?” Doc asked without looking up from his work.

“Ja’kol, you explain. I’m starving.” I started digging through the cabinets, looking for something to eat while monkey boy launched into an explanation.

“Both of the siblings are fully convinced that Virra and the devil are going to hunt us when they get back from the hells, and to make matters worse, apparently Virra can send messages using magic across the planes.”

“Can we block that?” Castin directed the question towards Doc, who paused whatever he was working on long enough to answer.

“It’s possible, but the wards would be limited to the rooms we’re keeping the prisoners in, and if Doctor Virra is as powerful as her reputation seems to indicate, then she’ll likely be able to overpower any long-term solution.”

“Virra might be able to track us down, but she isn’t even the real problem,” I chimed in as I sat down with a bowl of sugary cereal. “Tell them about the devil.”

“Apparently, all three of them think Thea is too much for us to handle, and not by a slim margin.”

“Even the djinn?” Castin frowned, and Ja’kol nodded.

I took over at this point. “Yeah, even the djinn. We weren’t able to get much from her, but what we did get was troubling.”

“Troubling how?” Doc asked. “More than her being a disgraced syndicate lord?”

“Were you able to confirm that?” I asked, and he nodded. The new information didn’t do much to improve my mood. “That probably explains what we discovered. Ithnaa is still regenerating mana, even with the restraints. She’ll probably be awake in less than a week and be able to overpower our shitty teleportation dampeners a few days later.”

“How far are we from where we’re supposed to turn over the siblings?” Castin asked as he pushed his bowl away.

Ja’kol grabbed it and started eating the leftover ramen using a pair of clean chopsticks that he materialized out of nowhere. “We’re three weeks from Mother’s compound, which is what the bounty has listed as the drop off point, but that’s the next problem.”

“There’s more?” Castin directed the question at me, and I sighed through a mouthful of cereal.

“Yeah, there’s more.” I took a second to finish chewing before I continued. “Samira is fully convinced that they’re both going to be slowly tortured to death by Mother when they get turned over. Sora doesn’t entirely agree, but they think it’s a possibility.”

“You don’t want to collect the bounty?” Doc cocked his head, and Castin scowled.

“No, believe it or not, I don’t want to turn a couple kids over to get tortured to death.” I crossed my arms and returned Castin’s scowl. “Besides, if they warn Virra about the trap we set, then I doubt it'll kill her and I'm not sure I want somebody like that after us.”

“Messaging magic will only work if the recipient is awake,” Doc countered. “We can simply sedate the siblings while we transport them, which should prevent Doctor Virra from being warned. Assuming she hasn’t already been told.”

I nodded hesitantly. “She hadn’t tried to contact Sora before we interrogated them, so that seems like something we should do now. Doc, can you handle that?”

“I can, but before I do, I’d like to voice my opinion.” Doc paused to stand, and we all waited expectantly for the rare treat. “While I understand Captain Anali’s concerns, I do not believe we can afford to walk away from this job without any payment. I also don't believe we have the means to hold Lord Ithnaa long-term, and in the event that she’s released from our custody early, it’s very likely that she’ll be able to report our location to Doctor Virra. Which is not a fight I believe we can win without significant preparation.”

“What should we do then?” Castin asked.

“I apologize, but I have no proposed solutions.” Doc bowed slightly before leaving to deal with the prisoners.

“Well, thanks for nothing, Doc.” Ja’kol snorted.

Castin watched Doc leave before turning back to the group. “No, he brings up a good point. No matter what we decide to do, we need to do it quickly. We’re on a time limit here, and we can’t afford to walk away with nothing.”

“Can we just kill the djinn?” Ja’kol asked, and Castin shook his head.

“Not unless we want to deal with syndicate politics. Even if she’s disgraced, killing a lord has consequences, and I’d be more worried about the syndicate being after us than I am of some elf or her devil girlfriend.”

“We’re only a few days from Paradise, right?” I asked Ja’kol, and he nodded. “Is there anybody there who would be willing and able to hold Ithnaa? Ideally, somebody who has ties to the syndicate and is willing to pay us for the privilege of turning her over.”

“That depends on how forgiving you’re feeling.” Castin smiled at me. “Captain Penn still does business with the syndicate, and he definitely has the means to transport a djinn.”

“Hard pass. Anybody else?”

“What about Maymi? We still like her, right?” Ja’kol offered, and I frowned.

“She shot me. Twice.”

“Yeah, but you deserved it both times,” Castin added helpfully. “I vote for Maymi. She’s the least likely to cut us out of a deal, besides we could use the rep with her. Which still leaves us with the siblings to deal with, and I’m not willing to just walk away from that many credits. Not again.”

“Fine, Maymi takes the djinn, and we can still turn over the siblings. I just don’t want to be the one to do it. I don’t need that shit on my conscience. Besides, I get the feeling that whoever does it is going to end up dead.” I paused to think for a moment, then smiled when I came to a conclusion. “I don’t mind pushing that particular shitstorm on Penn.”

Castin laughed. “Well, if anybody is going to survive, then it’s probably going to be him. Only problem is he’ll figure out what we’re up to in a heartbeat, and when he does, he’ll tell us to fuck right off. He doesn’t need the money or the trouble.”

“Is Captain Leo still at war with Captain Nora?” Ja’kol asked.

“Yeah,” Castin confirmed. “And he’s about to lose his position on the council if he can’t get her under control. Which might make him desperate enough to accept an offer that stinks.”

“That could work, but it’s a gamble.” I shook my head. “If this deal goes sour and Leo comes out ahead with Nora, then we’re fucked.”

“We could just, you know, tell Captain Leo what’s going on.” Ja’kol pointed out with a smirk. “We’ll probably take more of a loss, but he can’t hold it against us if we warn him about it first. Besides, we don’t need to tell him everything, just enough that we have some deniability.”

“Castin, how much do you think we can get here if we push the bounty off to Leo?”

“We’d be lucky if we could get fifty-million.” He shook his head as he started to explain his logic. “Captain Leo is going to have to justify spending time and resources in the middle of a civil war, which means he’s going to need the lion’s share.” Ja’kol chuckled at the accidental pun, but Castin ignored the interruption as he continued. “And to make things worse, we’re going to need to front something as a tribute to even get a meeting with him.”

“But it’s doable?” I countered.

“Yeah, it’s doable.” Castin ran a hand through his short black hair before setting me with a glare. “But if Captain Leo ends up losing this war, then you better get ready to explain to Captain Nora why we backed the losing horse, because it’s not going to be a good look for us.”

“Sounds like a problem for future me.” I quickly drank the sugary milk that was left in my bowl before standing up with a smile. “I’ll let Doc know the plan. Castin, you contact Leo, and Ja’kol redirect us back to Paradise. If all goes well, then we’ll put this shitstorm behind us and get paid by the end of the week.”