Red stood at attention as Captain Dobbs disembarked the shuttle. The Furious Monkey was too large a craft to enter the planetary atmosphere and stayed docked at the space station orbiting Silkway.

"At ease, wanderer," Dobbs' muscles showed clearly through his uniform as he saluted. He was known as a military man first, and he certainly looked the part.

"Thank you for letting me use your vessel, Captain. I promise I'll keep the working as clean as possible," Red said.

They had respect for soldiers, especially ones with long service records. A person doesn't survive a battle like the Mojang Rebellion on fanfare alone, and that had earned Captain Dobbs respect in the eyes of Red. The path of a lifelong administrator or bureaucrat was a different story.

"I'm interested to hear more about your plan. How many of my men will you need for the ritual? We've got the acquisition orders in place for your requested materia, but the report failed to mention manpower."

"The spell I plan to use requires six participants, including me. In your line of work, have you done much practicing in those techniques?" Red asked.

"Of course. I fight twice as hard in the mindscape as I do in the material realm. I'd be happy to participate. Would you prefer the other four to be strong-willed or strong-bodied?"

"We should cover our bases with both, just in case. The ritual involves pulling the entity from the mindscape and into the material realm. If we have both, then we don't have to worry if something goes awry. They should all have the implant, though."

"I know just the people. Meet me back here at midday tomorrow and we'll begin preparations on the Furious Monkey. I look forward to working with you, Red," Captain Dobbs saluted and left.

Red returned to their quarters to finish preparations on the ritual. They still had to figure out as accurate a name of Lady Luck as possible, which they had failed to share with their superiors. Red pulled up a dictionary of ancient names and tried to calculate the most likely ones. Gods' names descended from an ur-language, and early Jhikae scholars had managed to gain quite a bit of information regarding the language.

Most monks were never trained in using Godspeak. Red picked up what they could from old manuals over the years, but mostly they just used a translation tool. Sadly, they did not have the opportunity to translate Lady Luck's name. The name of a god was carefully calculated from their speech-patterns and arcane symbolic associations. Most of the words they described themselves as were nicknames, placeholders for the true name associated with them.

The calculation involved a high degree of gut-intuition as well. Not every phrase or moniker was relevant, but only careful study of a god (or learning from the god itself) could reveal what the truth was. Red hoped that their experiences with Lady Luck were enough.

They worked late into the night, eating dinner in their room with their head still buried in study manuals. Finally, they determined Lady Luck's true name: ZLLITRA.

It was difficult to say, and didn't seem particularly special, but Red was confident in their calculations. They finally put the work away and went straight to bed, eager to get to work on the Furious Monkey the next day.

As the clock struck mid-day, Red saw Captain Dobbs approach the shuttlepad. They saluted to each other and Red motioned at their bag. "Got everything ready, including extra supplies in case you decide to take us out to dark space."

Captain Dobbs nodded. "That's the plan. Master Gris won't allow it any other way. We'll go a few light-years out and then perform the ritual. If all goes well, we'll be back here in a couple days."

Captain Dobbs, Red, and a few other crew members loaded onto a transport and traveled up to the space station. Red looked out the window and saw the huge ship in the shape of a sphere and a cylinder morphed together. An ornate Jhikae Order circle had been carved into the top plane of the ship.

The captain was the first to step off the shuttle and motioned for the rest to follow. "Welcome aboard the Furious Monkey, Red."

The ship was even larger than Red had expected. They had never been on a Jhikae military ship before, only transports and private cruisers. They expected the crew aboard to be very serious, but the vibe was totally light instead. Perhaps it was just because they were on shore leave.

Red followed Dobbs to their quarters: a capsule room just across from the mess hall. "We depart in two hours. Until then, you're welcome to explore the ship. Meet me on the bridge for departure."

Dobbs was treating them like an honored guest. Red felt weird about it, but figured it had to do with their position. Perhaps they were the first wanderer to come about the Furious Monkey, and Captain Dobbs wasn't sure how he ought to treat them.

They passed their time meditating and trying to stay grounded. Red's excitement was palpable, but they did their best to mask it. They kept feeling the urge to revisit their manuals or recite their spells, but had to brute force their way through those feelings.

Finally, it was time for departure. Red tried to find their way to the bridge but got lost and had to ask for directions. The ensign that they asked happily escorted them and then stealthily disappeared as Red entered the bridge.

The room was filled with commotion. Officers shouting reports and barking orders. Captain Dobbs stood in the center of the room and stared at the viewscreen, which was blank. He turned and nodded to Red, waving them over.

"Take us out of here, helmsman!" Captain Dobbs ordered.

The ship lurched away from the dock and slowly accelerated away. After fifty kilometers of coasting, the helm engaged the warp drive. They shot away from the station and into deep space.

Captain Dobbs invited Red into his office to meet the team that would be involved in the summoning. First Officer Elora, Major Rennart, Lt. Commander Vostrom, and Doctor Silar all stood at attention. Red saluted them and spoke. "Did Captain Dobbs already give you the run-down of what we're doing?"

"No sir! We were instructed to hold our questions until you arrived," Major Rennart answered.

"Okay. I've been tracking a god that calls herself Lady Luck, and her domain seems to mirror that nickname. She was active on a mining colony near Silkway, where she manifested several liquid green gold deposits and threw the economy into a tailspin. What I found, however, was that she acted of her own volition. She is incredibly dangerous, almost killing me and several civilians multiple times. During our last battle, she escaped off-planet. Tracking her down has been difficult, so Master Gris of Silkway Moon III has given us permission to perform a summoning ritual.

"Our job will be to summon her properly, bind her, and then I will destroy her. Your job is primarily to raise enough energy to ensure the summoning succeeds. I will be preparing the ritual chamber immediately after this meeting, so don't be afraid to come check it out." Red explained a bit too quickly for them to follow, but they didn't mention it.

"Is that all, Red?" Captain Dobbs asked.

"Yessir."

"Then you're all dismissed. Once we've reached our destination, we must all be ready in the ritual chamber. Until then, back to your stations!"

The crew dissolved into their duties. Red went straight to the ritual chamber, where they laid out an ornate grid of crystals and electrical equipment in order to properly channel the signal necessary. It was laid out in a circle, with five major points around the outermost edge. Red would stand in the middle, coaxing Lady Luck to their location.

They were scared. Their hands were shaking. Red had trouble placing the objects properly, having to orient them again and again until they were perfect. Despite meditating, they were still having trouble centering themselves.

One by one, members of the summoning team filed into the room as they finished their duties. Almost suddenly, they had all arrived except for the captain, who was heard over the intercom announcing that they had arrived at their destination.

Red meditated until Captain Dobbs arrived. When he walked in, the other team members stood at attention until they were put at ease. Red arranged them around the circle and then instructed them in the incantation they were to recite.

"How much does pronunciation matter?" Doctor Silar asked.

Red answered her. "Not at all. As long as you mean what you say. Godspeak is generally inpronounceable to corporeal beings like us. So just go with it. For those of you who aren't used to working in the material realm, just think of this like one of your mindscape escapades. It's basically the same thing!"

"You got it, boss!" Vostrom shot a thumbs-up at them.

Red stood in the middle of the circle and closed their eyes. They were immediately in the mindscape. "Now," Red instructed the people around the circle.

They began the incantation.

The lighting in the room flickered as ambient energy was drawn into the circle and channeled into the middle. Red started to recite their prayer, much more involved than the phrases that the others had to speak. "ZLLITRA, MONO DEITRA QUN. XING LO NOR FO, ZLLITRA."

Red saw a form start to coalesce in front of them.

"Who are you?" She asked Red.

"You know who I am, Lady Luck." Red readied her spear.

The woman laughed. "I haven't heard that name in quite a long time! Where did you hear it from?"

"You told it to me!"

The god laughed again. "Child, you must be mistaken. I haven't seen you before, and I absolutely would never give such a ridiculous name to myself."

"But you are Zllitra, aren't you?"

The god was clearly puzzled. "How did you know? Who told you?"

Zllitra felt around within Red's memories for the answer. "Ah, it was her. Well, I have bad news for you, child. She lied to you. She's not coming. You'll be stuck with me, instead. And I'm not the kind of god that you should casually cross."

"You're lying! I know who you are and what you did! You must pay for your crimes!"

Red opened their eyes and pulled Zllitra onto the material plane with a word. Zllitra was suddenly in front of them, filling the room with golden light and shrieking violently. "Red, we won't be able to hold her for long! Destroy her! Now!" Captain Dobbs instructed.

Red spoke the final words of the incantation. "ZLLITRA, DREN TUU SILCAE."

Red impaled her through the chest. They were engulfed in burning light. An explosion of energy centered on the wound in her chest rocked the ship. The light subsided. Zllitra went limp on the end of Red's spear. Red looked her in the eyes and watched the golden hues fade.

Laughter echoed through the room. A green spark exploded out of the dead figure in front of Red. Lady Luck had crawled her way through the hole left by the dead. "You silly child. That's what you get for trusting someone!"

"You should be dead!"

"No, dear, you didn't target me. I can't believe, after all this time, you've still got it wrong. You've only managed to kill my sister! Not me. You really are dumber than you look." Lady Luck laughed.

"How?!" Captain Dobbs asked, readying a dagger.

"I gave you a fake name. Duh!" Lady Luck laughed.

"Then what's your real name?" Red asked.

"Okay, okay, fine! I'll tell you, but only if you give me something in return... I know, how about you sacrifice Carlyle for me? Are you willing to give her up?"

"You leave her alone!" Red yelled.

"Typical. You're leading with your heart, not your head. That's why you keep losing. The risk of gambling lies in whether or not you can keep a cool head. If you can't, you shouldn't even bother playing. Though I suppose it's too late for you."

Red kicked the corpse of Zllitra off the spear and lunged at Lady Luck. She vanished in a puff of smoke. The summoning team looked around at each other, utterly flabbergasted. "What the fuck just happened, Red?" Captain Dobbs asked.

"We killed the wrong god."