I laid the loot out on the counter. All of it and there was a good amount. I included the quest items and the drops. Tammy started looking through it all. A notebook came out and she started making lists, organizing everything in piles.

  “Standard looting rules?” she asked

  “Yeah, unless it’s something that either of us can use, then it’s a negotiation and trade.”

  “Okay. Give me a minute.”

  I looked at Sunie, who shrugged and we stepped back. Sunie started looking through the shelves.

  “Are there brews out back?” I asked Tammy.

  “Yes, the only one that drinks them is you. Now leave me alone. I’m busy.”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Sunie, light or dark?”

  The elf looked at me, confused.

  “Light or dark what?”

  “Beer.”

  “What’s beer?”

  “Nevermind, you look like a light kind of guy.”

  “What is he talking about?” Sunie asked Tammy.

  “Busy,” she grunted.

  “You Terrans are so strange,” he muttered, turning back to the shelves.

  I laughed and went out back to the office. There wasn’t much in the space, a small desk and chair, some notes tacked to the wall. A couple of empty shelves and the icebox. It was something we’d made using the crystals from the caves outside Solace. With some runework, we’d been able to create a refrigerator or a freezer. Not both at once. Needed two different iceboxes for that.

  This one was carved out of pieces of stone fused together and then covered in wood to give it a nice finish. The wood was cold to the touch as the runes kept the stone cold and that seeped out through the wood. Not the kind of thing kept near a fire or somewhere you didn’t want to feel a constant chill. They weren’t perfect, but they kept the beer cold. I grabbed two bottles, closing the door and walking back outside.

  “Here,” I told Sunie, handing him a bottle.

  He looked at it, sniffed it and turned a questioning eye to me.

  “It’s called beer,” I told him and took a swig of mine.

  Shrugging, he tried some. A small sip at first, moving the bottle away. He swallowed and thought about what he’d just had. It took a bit then he smiled and took another drink.

  “Not bad.” He took another swig. “Alcohol?”

  “Yeah, but with our Awakened bodies,” I shrugged.

  We walked back over to where Tammy was almost done sorting the loot.

  “I need to get some more of this. Some of my friends back home would love it,” Sunie said, taking a long drink.

  “I’ll hook you up with a case.”

  “You will not,” Tammy said. “Fields is already working out a deal with the Sunrise Formation to exchange food items. You will not mess with that.”

  “I’ll get you a case,” I said in mock-whisper.

  “Nick…,” Tammy warned.

  “Are you sure you’re the Faction Leader?” Sunie asked me, looking from me to Tammy and back.

  I shrugged.

  “We let him pretend he is,” Tammy said, setting the last Stalker claw in the pile. “Otherwise he gets upset.”

  “You Terrans are going to shake things up around here,” Sunie said.

  “We’re going to try.”

  ***

  “Not a bad haul,” I said as Tammy took some of the loot into the back storeroom.

  I played with the Level Shard I’d gotten. We’d ended up with two of the things, so I took one and Sunie the other. I just wasn’t sure if I was going to use it yet. I wanted to get through more of the first floor before I had to start worrying about the Floor Cap, so using the Shard too early wouldn’t help that goal. Sunie was only at Level 101, so he was going to use his to hit Level 102 and be that much closer to equal with mine.

  “How was working with Sunie?”

  “I think we mesh pretty good,” I replied, taking a drink from my second beer.

  I’d have to talk to Sean back in Solacetown and get Sunie a case. I just wouldn’t let Tammy know.

  “Heading back into the Tower tomorrow?”

  “Day after. We figure we’ll do runs every other day for now.”

  “And you’ll keep doing your solo runs?”

  “When I can. I should pop back to Earth more often.”

  “Yes, you are the Faction Leader after all,” she said, coming back out and smiling. “Where’s mine?” She pointed at the beer.

  “In the fridge.”

  Before she could give me the glare, I put a bottle on the counter, even popping the top for her. She nodded her thanks.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “Sunie seems nice.”

  “Yeah, so far. How are things going here?”

  “Pretty good. The store isn’t that busy, but we’ve been getting a lot of new beings in. Different factions. It’s hard to tell the factions about when it’s the same race.”

  “Yeah,” and I explained what Sunie had said about the Formation and only buying from contracted factions.

  “Makes sense. Good thing it’s just you right now. People expect you to screw things up.”

  She smiled when she said it.

  “Har har.”

  “Seriously Nick, you’re doing good. Both Kat and Mike say so. Kat just won’t tell you.”

  “Thanks. I used to think being responsible for the Clan on Earth was bad enough but now got all these other races, beings, factions of the Multiverse to deal with. It’s a lot. Very easy to screw it all up.”

  “But you won’t,” Tammy said.

  “You sure?”

  “Of course not, you’ll screw something up,” she said, but the smile told me she was joking. “But whatever happens, we all got your back.”

  “Thanks,” I said, tapping bottles with her.

  “Besides, if we didn’t think you could do a good job, we’d just replace you.”

  I sighed. I knew she’d been too nice to me.

  ***

  I didn’t head back to the Compound, instead I went back out to the Market District. Wasn’t looking for anything in particular, I just wanted to get a better feel for the Nexus. I’d only been here a week or so, and in all that time I hadn’t just walked around. Aside from the time I’d spent talking with T’Slask, I’d been heading straight for somewhere or something or been in the Tower. I hadn’t just walked all the streets. I really hadn’t looked at all the shops and all that.

  There was some time to kill. I’d head back to Earth in a couple hours, get some sleep in my bed in my house, and do what I needed to there and then come back. Maybe I’d get some time in the Tower later in the day.

  The Clan Howell, I mean Solace Fellowship, shop was at the end of Fourth Street. Sunie had told me how directions worked. The main face of the center obelisk designated First Street, then it was right around the obelisk with Second, Third and Fourth Street. The closer to the obelisk, the better the property and since new arrivals in the District appeared in front of the main face of the obelisk, being on First Street was the most desired.

  New Factions, like mine, got put at the end of the streets. Some were lucky to get in at the end of First Street but normally the progression was to start on Fourth and work the way up to First and the prime spots right at the obelisk. Of course, those were where the oldest and strongest Factions had their shops, the ones that got the most business.

  The ones at the end of the streets, barely got any foot traffic. Which wasn’t the end of the world by any means. Most sales didn’t come from foot traffic, but from deals between Factions. Being a new Faction, we got some interest, some of the mid-tier factions looking to work out deals before the big boys got involved. Some looking to see if they could take advantage of us, some actually wanting to work with us. The big factions, the high-tier ones, would most likely look to take advantage of us, to essentially turn us into their vassals.

  No way was I going to let that happen.

  I didn’t care if the Fellowship grew to be a high-tier faction or one of the big players in the Nexus. I just wanted our people to be able to thrive and be safe. If that meant I’d have to kick some heads and make us a high-tier faction, well, I’d do it.

  The street ended in a bunch of trees that connected to the park areas that ran between each of the streets. Those trees ended in a barrier wall. I hadn’t seen it yet, but Sunie said it was just a black wall that curved up toward the ceiling of the Nexus. I couldn’t see the ceiling, since when I looked up I just saw a fake sky of stars, but I knew it was there. The Nexus was surrounded by a dome, which made sense.

  It was either floating in space or in some dimensional pocket and the only things outside the dome was the vacuum or void. Neither of which most beings would be able to survive. I figured if got high enough Level, the vacuum and void would be survivable but I wasn’t at that point. If ever could get to that point.

  I thought about heading into the woods and exploring around the Nexus, but could do that some other time. This little walkabout was to get to know the neighborhood, so I turned left. The street wasn’t crowded, which I’d noticed most of them weren’t. That was kind of odd as there were probably a thousand or more people in the Nexus at any given time. But didn’t see them wandering around.

  Sunie had mentioned that Factions did most of the day to day equipment shopping for their people, so I guess that made some sense that there wouldn’t be many wandering around the Market District.

  Kind of odd to even have a Market District with shops and such. Wouldn’t offices make more sense for places to work out deals? I could see why a Faction would spend so much to get one of the closer spots, they’d be the only ones that got any real foot traffic.

  We were the newbies and I’d made a bit of a splash, that was the only reason the Solace Fellowship shop was getting any traffic. It’d dry up as other newbies came to the Nexus and we started operating in deals instead of window shoppers.

  I’d only gotten a couple of blocks when I heard a noise in an alley. I cursed, hoping it wasn’t that poor halfling again. Wonder what had happened to him. It wasn’t the halfling.

  Three Anura had a fourth person up against a wall. They were at the far end of the alley and the one being bullied was in shadows. I couldn’t tell who or what species they were roughing up, but I didn’t like that it was happening.

  “Hey,” I shouted, standing in the alley.

  I could feel their eyes turning to me, and some eyes from the few people in the street. The ones on the street were quickly moving away, wanting nothing to do with it.

  Three on one odds weren’t good, especially since I couldn’t get a feel for their strength yet.

  “Why don’t you all just wander off and save us all some trouble?” I asked, knowing they wouldn’t.

  One of the three took a couple steps toward me, a weapon appearing in his hand.