“Co, please, have an oyster,” Augustus pleaded with the woman. She stood by the craps table looking bored, with a glass of water in her hand.

“Had a burger on the way over,” Co replied.

“You’re losing a lot of money on this,” Ptolemy added, taking an armful of chips off the table and stacking dozens more in strategic locations, his eyes running up and down the table and the players, making a million calculations a second.

“They don’t build these places on those who win.”

“So we tear the whole place down!” Augustus cheered and rolled, the golden cubes showing a four and a five.

After the cheering died down and Augustus tried and failed, again, to get Co to drink with him, Jasper said, “I ran because I thought you wanted to capture me.”

“Then why did you flee Puqi? Don’t you Prophets have a way to magically go from planet to planet?” Natalya asked, tossing another chip on the table.

“It’s not magic.”

“Or was there some refugee you were protecting?”

Jasper didn’t respond.

“You’d best talk,” Ptolemy suggested. “I’m sure Co hasn’t stopped trying to think of ways to kill you even with your healing.”

“Pretty simple,” Co replied. “Cut his hands off, take his sword. Let him bleed out. That or a clean shot to the skull, place an explosive inside the—”

“You see? She wants to drop a grenade down your neck.”

“I’m not on a mission,” the Prophet conceded. “I was just running.”

“Where to?” Natalya asked.

“Word spread about the ship that carried refugees. I figured if I could somehow get onboard, I could negotiate a resettlement on Prosper.”

“And why couldn’t the Prophets teleport you there?”

“It’s called shifting.”

“Fine, then why couldn’t the Prophets shift you there?”

A woman in a glistening silver outfit leaned forward to place a chip, her breasts draped over the table’s sides. She smiled at the Prophet, who averted his eyes only after she’d crossed her arms over her dress.

“I thank you for not killing me, and for getting me this far,” Jasper said. “But by being near me, you place yourselves in danger.”

Augustus chuckled and said, “I make that gamble every day I wake up on the same ship as Co.”

“He snores,” Co said with a shrug. “Captain wouldn’t let me shoot him through the doors, since it could ricochet out the hull.”

“Whatever it is, we can handle it,” Natalya told Jasper.

“I don’t think you can,” Jasper replied.

“Like I said before…” Natalya tossed a chip onto the table. “Don’t bet against me.”

The dice came up two fives and Natalya smiled, collecting chips from the sweating dealer.

“Ivan not like this sort of table,” the dealer said.

Jasper licked his lips and said, “If you don’t mind being involved in my shame, then you must know that Qin wants me dead.”

Natalya and Augustus laughed. Ptolemy chuckled. Even Co smiled.

“Did I say something funny?” Jasper asked. “He’s the Chairman of the Zhou.”

“He’s also a bore. Wants me dead because I said he’s a jerk publicly. Wants Co dead because she tried to kill him,” Augustus explained.

Co shrugged and said, “I blew up a building he was inside.”

“Why?” Jasper asked.

“Because he wouldn’t come outside.”

“But why did you try to kill him?”

“We all have our reasons for being on his bad side,” Natalya interjected before the conversation steered toward her. “What’s your excuse?”

“I am labeled an assassin,” Jasper said.

“Who’d you kill?”

“No one. They killed… her.” Jasper’s eyes once more locked on the woman in the silver dress, his mind elsewhere.

“Gonna have to be more specific,” Natalya said.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Xia was her name. Lee Xia. She was Zhou Chairwoman, till Qin had her killed and blamed me.”

“So you need to get back on Prosper, huh?” Natalya asked as she twirled a chip, thinking. Ivan called for bets, and Natalya caught Augustus’s eye. She did not place any more chips.

“Betting against me, Captain?” Augustus laughed as he downed another drink, reaching for a handful of shellfish and calling for the dice at the same time he called for a refill.

“I’m just betting. So you need to get to Prosper, avenge your girlfriend?” Natalya asked the Prophet.

“And get the Prophets off your back. Suicide missions are usually the realm of the Red Prophets, are they not?” Ptolemy asked.

“I don’t wish to have my name added to the Pillar of Fools. Nor do I want vengeance. The Prophets will see that I have done no wrong,” Jasper declared.

“Not many Prophets allowed in Prosper space. Colonies neither.”

“Meddlers,” Co added.

“I am aware that this reputation is partly my doing, and want to salvage the name of the Prophets as much as my own,” Jasper said. “We are peacekeepers. We seek settlement of disputes and harmony between the galaxies and use our powers to—”

“Keep the sermons to yourself, goldy, we’re not in the salvation business,” Natalya said. “And good luck booking a ship to Prosper. Ptolemy’s contacts send the people we pick up to other colonies, not the home-world.”

“Speaking of which,” Ptolemy said, smiling and shaking the hand of a short man who’d entered the craps pit. He wore an immaculate tuxedo, top hat and cane, all purple. The man had a thin, black mustache and gold-rimmed, circular glasses.

“Mr. Pdenner,” the purple man said, taking his hat off in greeting.

“Horatio, how are you? Shall we talk?” Ptolemy replied.

“Most assuredly.”

The two men carried on a conversation so close together, with the encouragement of the cheering players so loud, that Natalya couldn’t hear them. But that was typical, Ptolemy meeting their contact, finding where paying customers would be, and telling her where to take Chimera.

They’d been playing this game for the last six months, the money good, the ship and crew more or less intact. Natalya kept telling herself she’d stop once the war was over. Once the dust settled, she’d have no trouble finding a world she could hide out in, and she’d have plenty of money to make a home out of it. The thought was a dream that grew more fantastical with each job, each month the war dragged on and more worlds became permanently out of reach. One world, most of all, loomed in her mind, and it was the last thing she expected Jasper to say.

“Were you on Farbind?” Jasper asked.

“No,” Natalya lied.

“I saw the news feeds. Are you the same Natalya who—”

“You gonna roll those dice or what, Augustus?”

“I need more encouragement. Ah! There it is!” Augustus said, downing a drink before the waitress could set it before him. He tossed the dice as he swallowed, cheers of the players turning to groans of disappointment.

“Seven!” Ivan announced, collecting chips from the losers and passing winnings to the few who’d betted against Augustus.

“I swear you’re that same person. Is that why you’re running?” Jasper asked as Natalya gathered her chips. “If it’s true, you and I both have something to gain by journeying to Prosper and challenging Qin.”

“One thing I’ve learned, Prophet,” Natalya said as Augustus laughed at all the money he’d lost. He dove into another plate of shellfish as the dice were passed to the next player. “You need to know when to quit playing.”

“I’ve not reached that point, Miss Frazier, if Ptolemy was correct in naming you so,” Jasper stated.

“Captain Frazier. And it doesn’t matter to me where you are.”

Ptolemy shook hands with Horatio, the purple-dressed man departing with another tip of his hat, and returned to Natalya. “We have our next job,” he said.

“That was quick,” Natalya said.

“Seems the people are desperate. Been contacting Prosper for weeks.”

“What’s the planet?”

“Teal Autonomous System, inside Teal City,” Ptolemy answered.

Jasper’s eyes widened.

“You’ve heard of it, have you?” Ptolemy asked.

“No way we’re going there, Ptolemy. That planet’s locked down,” Natalya said.

“Which is exactly why the people there are willing to pay so much for extraction. And Mr. Jasper here is familiar with the planet, as it was the home-world of one Chairwoman Xia. Isn’t that right?”

“I know it,” Jasper conceded.

“Wonderful! Shall we set departure for tomorrow morning?”

“He’s coming with us?” Natalya asked.

“This is the job, Natalya. Didn’t you say it was your only concern?”

Natalya frowned.

“Don’t worry, we can drop him off wherever he wants after it’s done. I may even be able to negotiate a ship to return you to Prosper. How does that sound, Jasper? Or would you rather indulge Co in her grenade-based curiosity?” Ptolemy asked.

Co stepped forward, tapping a grenade in her pouch.

Jasper opened his mouth to say something. When he caught Natalya’s eyes, he furrowed his brow, shook away a thought, and said, “I’ll go with you.”

“Prophets teach you anything about spacecraft?” Natalya asked.

“I can navigate. You don’t always have a White Prophet on hand to shift you.”

Natalya nodded, stifling her fury with Ptolemy for adding to her crew without clearing it with her. Having a Prophet on their side would be useful. And they needed a good navigator. Still, she’d have to have words with Ptolemy.

“Back to the ship then?” Co suggested.

“What?” Augustus asked, his mouth full of shellfish.

“We still have time. And Augustus hasn’t burnt through his money yet,” Natalya said, inspecting the tray of shellfish the waitress had delivered, plucking a particularly meaty one and popping it into her mouth. She needed a drink, and Augustus signaled the waitress.

“If you’re joining the crew, we need to see exactly what kind of a man you are,” Augustus declared, throwing his arm around Jasper and holding a glass with a smoking, pink liquid inside. “Let’s see if you can heal from this. You too!”

Augustus grabbed four more of the bubbling concoctions from a waitress who didn’t notice the drinks disappearing from her tray. He set one in Natalya’s, Ptolemy’s, Jasper’s, and Co’s hands.

“To the new crewmember!” Augustus cheered, raising his glass.

“To prosperity,” Ptolemy added.

“To success,” Natalya said, pointedly ignoring Ptolemy as she smiled at Augustus and Jasper. The Prophet simply raised his glass, and drank.

Ptolemy, Jasper, Natalya and Augustus doubled over coughing the second they finished their drinks, stiffening a moment later as Augustus hooted in triumph, shouting, “That’s the stuff, baby!”

Co had not drank, so Augustus grabbed hers and downed it, doubling over and hooting all over again.

“Does she not indulge?” Jasper asked, his eyes tearing.

“We’re not killing him, then?” Co asked Natalya, ignoring Jasper’s question.

“No,” Natalya answered, rubbing her eyes. “But if he tries to drink like Augustus, he just might kill himself.”

“Sounds like a challenge!” Augustus announced, succeeding in forcing a smile on the Prophet’s face.

“Then I’m going back to the ship,” Co said.

“Co,” Ptolemy said, coughing and raising his hand for another drink as he returned to the craps table, “you are the least interesting sociopath I have ever met.”