Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

Avery checked over the Dauntless' logs as the cleanup of the battle outside Phregon III began.

Both the attackers outside and within had been quelled by this point, and things were slowly heading back towards stability.

'The plating got hit a couple of times.' Avery thought, grimacing.

In the heat of the hectic fight, he had been a bit slow in using a shield cell and a few shots had slipped through with the Dauntless' primary defense was down.

Fortunately, the ship's armor had been able to hold up against the direct hits, but the damage was not insignificant. He would need to get the plating repaired and have the ship undergo extensive maintenance to make sure everything was in peak condition.

At the very least, between him, Ezra, and Kaiden, they had captured five of the Reswen Theocracy warships.

Among them were three corvettes which were between a hundred twenty to a hundred sixty meters in length. Each one being more than three times the size of the Dauntless. Still, these were the smallest classification or military warships.

As for the other two, they had secured one frigate and one light cruiser. With the frigate being two hundred thirty meters long and the light cruiser being a bit over four hundred.

All of them were fairly impressive ships, and they now belonged to Avery and his team since they had previously been operated by criminals, and they were the ones to take them down.

"They're a bit dinged up and we'll need to pay to have them towed and docked, but I think we can expect to make at least twenty-five million Krenin off them." Avery mused out loud, comparing the prices that the previous vessels of a similar type that the Svantur had sold.

While he was doing this, Jasmine informed him that they had been cleared for docking. Just in case some other terrorists hiding out made their move, the colony's authorities wanted more mercenaries around to offer their services and were more than happy to expedite the process of entering the hangar for Avery's group.

Once they had all landed, Kasandra, Kaiden, and Ezra all made their way over to the Dauntless so that they could discuss their next move. Now that the terrorist attacks had ended, it was time to get onto their next job. Finding and rescuing Grito's uncle.

Except, before they could get down to business, Kasandra stormed into the cockpit.

From the look on her face, Avery understood that she was angry, but he did not know why.

Of course, the answer to this came but moments later when he received a swift and heavy slap to the face.

The loud sound resounded through the ship, and Avery had to use all of his willpower to stop himself from doubling over in pain. Kasandra had not held back one bit, and her biotic enchantments gave her far greater than normal strength.

"Please don't ever do anything like that again." Stay connected via My Virtual Library Empire

Seeming to have released all of her anger with that single slap, Kasandra wrapped Avery in her arms as she began crying.

His unbelievably risky maneuver jumping from Kaiden's vessel to the Dauntless had nearly ended in disaster. For a few moments, Kasandra had truly believed she was going to lose Avery. That his need to always be at the forefront of every conflict was going to finally get him killed.

Watching someone that they loved nearly die would put an emotional strain on anybody. And Kasandra could hardly control herself after reuniting with Avery.

As for Ezra and Kaiden, they arrived a few moments later. Stern expressions on both of their faces as well.

Ezra took the lead in chastising Avery for his recklessness. They understood that he had done so to help Jasmine, but things were not quite so dire that it should have been necessary. Using their ships, the two of them could have kept the attackers after the Dauntless at bay long enough for the Alliance Police to coordinate their forces and take control of the situation.

Avery bit his lower lip in frustration, wanting to defend his actions as he was attacked on all sides.

Everything had worked out in the end, so it should not have been a problem.

'No, I just don't want to admit that I was wrong. I know I've been acting rash.'

If he looked at it objectively, some of his strategies had put him in far too much risk. Charging into large groups of enemies alone, swinging around an emergency vehicle that exceeded the recommended amount of weight his power armor could lift, and most recently jumping from one ship to another during the midst of combat.

There was a fine line between heroics and foolishness, and he had finally crossed it earlier today.

He had managed to recover this time, but what about in the future. If he kept taking such high risks, eventually he was going to fail.

The others had gone along with him so far, since Avery's plans were always sound enough and left enough room for him to retreat if needed, but that was not the case this time. He was just plain lucky to not have died. Had the laser that hit him been more than a graze, or had he failed to catch himself on the Dauntless' hull, things would have ended far worse.

"Okay, I get it. No more stunts like that from me. I'll make sure to listen to all of you in the future, and if the majority of you disagree, I'll accept your decision." Avery eventually said. Conceding that he was wrong.

Kasandra and Kaiden both warning him was still fresh in his mind. Neither of them had wanted him to do something so risky, but he had used his authority as leader of their group to force their hands.

With Avery having admitted his fault, the others quickly eased up and got back to the topic at hand.

They currently had two sources of information to pursue to find out about Grito's uncle. The facility the young Baccigan had been held at, and the prisoner they had captured.