I stood to greet the half dozen port security guards as they approached, sheathing my machete after having cleaned every weapon in my small arsenal. The soldiers’ weapons drew and swung towards me as the instinct that every trained soldier had kicked in. Not wanting to wait for them to decide to try and rough me up and ask questions, I took the initiative and gave them the name that I had used since arriving in the Over Cities.
“Glad to see you guys decided to join the party. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’d planned to swing by your station tomorrow to introduce myself and give you guys the security team special, but this will work too.”
Confused looks shot across the faces of soldiers who’d been planning on a fight and not a conversation. My hands were up to make it clear that I wasn’t a threat. I took a few steps closer and spoke loudly enough to keep their attention.
“I’m Everrune Shasagit, the new owner of the Moonlight Terrace. The restaurant up the street. I served in the armed forces on Skystrand for several years, so I know what you do for the city, and I’d love to give back. All you have to do is show your badge when you enter or make a reservation, and you will get twenty-five percent off of your meal, no matter what you order.”
The group relaxed and began to break formation, checking every corner of the large cargo bay. I had to fight the urge to chastise the soldiers for relaxing after hearing the two little, not entirely true, facts I had just dropped about myself. Had I done something like these soldiers during my time in the Nameless Legion, I’d have been in more trouble than anyone could imagine.
As their shoulders relaxed and fingers moved off of triggers, the time had come to test the waters. I pushed myself to my feet and leveled my gaze to meet the eye of the shorter man who was the focus of the other men’s nervous glances.
“I needed a ship, so I had to use the spoils clause on this ship here. I’m happy to trade it if the port defense has a small civilian freighter. If not, I’ll follow the city’s laws about my ship’s weapons to keep it. I had to sell my last ship to buy the restaurant and the apartment complex across the street.”
The port guard’s struggles with the information played across his face with twitches of muscles and his averted gaze. Seeing my control of the situation begin to slip, I decided to shift the conversation away from the ship.
“I did leave everything else, including the weapons, armor, and other spoils, for your men. I’m sure there should be plenty to keep everyone happy, and it shouldn’t be a problem for me to keep the ship. Besides, two more ships in the next bay were abandoned when I attacked.”
The team leader’s tight jawline and darting eyes made it clear that I had to break the tension, or I could be in trouble. My instinct kicked in as my subconscious registered these changes, causing me to overplay the scene and throw out an additional odd request to break the man’s battle focus.
“Oh, and could you have the delivery team bring my stuff over when they can? I arrived earlier than expected, so I’ll be available to accept delivery whenever they can send it over instead of tomorrow. I’m looking forward to seeing you guys and your families in the restaurant when we get it open.”
The sergeant’s eyes lost focus on the world around him and shifted as he glanced away from me. Slumping slightly in surrender to my victory, he called over his sergeant to verify my claim and create the proper registration. When everything was done, I thanked the soldiers with a wave and reopened my ship, taking off and flying it over to the landing pad atop my three-story home.
My shoulders relaxed slightly with relief as I descended the ramp to my private docking platform and moved across the metal platform. I entered through the locked lift that dropped me down to the kitchen. Despite the detail of this plan and the number of times I had already done things like this, I had to force myself to relax as I moved on to the next step in the plan. As I stepped through the kitchen to the dining room, I studied the beat-up tables and chairs left by the previous owner, wondering what it would look like when everything was updated.
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After picking up one of the stacked chairs in the center of the room, I carried it over to one of the dark corners and sat down, leaning back against the wall. Kicking my feet up on the table, I placed my pistols in my lap and closed my eyes, waiting to hear the first sign of trouble that was bound to come. For several seconds, I let my nanite-enhanced brain process the sounds outside the door and the lights shifting through the large windows.
The whistle of the wind that constantly blew in the Over Cities and the banging and shouting of soldiers in the port a few blocks away was the only noise that broke into the restaurant. Despite the cause, the sounds of war calmed me as I fought to not let my mind wander. I couldn’t believe how easily those soldiers had been manipulated. Now I just had to wait. I hadn’t really needed the ship; I could use it, but the real purpose of claiming the ship was to see who the real power of the city was.
This was a lesson I had learned the hard way earlier during my exile, running up against a local gang’s street boss that had decided that she didn’t like me. I had been forced to fight off that city and had given away too much information about myself in the escape. After that, I learned that the best way to figure this out was to intentionally cross a small line that would antagonize the crime world to shake the tree and see whether the local government or the gangs were in charge.
For several minutes, I listened to the silence of the streets, still not hearing the return to everyday life that I was expecting. The flashes of my past warred with the shadows and sounds of the room, causing my draining adrenaline to spike again. When I was starting to win the battle with the ghosts that haunted me, a rattle at the front door ripped me from my semi-trance.
Shifting my weight slightly, I lined my right pistol up to hit anyone who stepped through the door in the chest. Moving my left hand to lay across my chest, I targeted the kitchen door with my other pistol so that no one could sneak around the back to ambush me. Sure that I was in position, I stopped the small rocking motion of the chair in the tipped chair and waited as the unlocked handle clicked and the door swung slowly open.
Just before deciding whether to fire or not, I recognized the thin torso that slipped through the door. Stepping into the room, Oclorth put three boxes he had been carrying on the nearest table. When I was sure he wouldn’t drop anything, I spoke from the corner, causing him to jump and spin to face me.
“How often do I have to tell you to message me before walking into a dark room where you expect to find me? You almost got shot again. One of these times, I won’t catch myself and will have to clean up a mess. Maybe I should just get it over with.”
I pushed off the wall with my head to keep my blasters still trained on the door while I dropped back to the floor. Relaxing as the spike in adrenaline slowly faded, I casually walked across the room to pull one of the boxes off the stack and check what was inside. As I began pulling out the tablecloths we had custom-made for the restaurant out of rare stain-repelling silk from the surface, Oclorth finally found his ability to speak again.
“By the Faded Gods, you about gave me a heart attack. What in the sky were you doing over there?”
Before I could respond, his face went pale as he spoke. “Oh, Skies of the Faded Souls, you were the gunslinger that has the entire city in an uproar. Why would you go and show off your abilities like that? You already have the wrong people asking too many questions.”
Moving over to the walled-off servers station, I began putting away the table clothes as I answered. “We talked about this before we moved here. I need to figure out who is running the city, and the best way is to poke the bear. When the raiding party decided to attack the port with the rest of our stuff, I figured it was just the opportunity I needed.”
I got up from the floor where I was kneeling and walked back towards the door. Turning as I stepped partway out the door, I added one more thing. “I’m going to see if I can light a fire under those dockworkers and get our stuff over here. Maybe we can throw a block party this weekend to open up. As long as we can get everything ready.”
Turning to leave, I tried to act as casually as possible as I turned back again. “By the way, there’s a ship up on the third floor. Don’t get too close. It doesn’t have the same restraint that I do.”
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