Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

Chapter 569: Chapter 569 Chase and Reunion

After transferring over the prisoners that his company had captured, Avery was ordered to head right back out and continue fighting.

This operation against the Odium Syndicate was happening over a massive area of the Dramid Alliance, and resistance in some places were fiercer than others.

Since he was being paid a lot, the Alliance Police had no problem putting him to work.

Fortunately, diving right back into the fighting was almost cathartic in a way.

It let Avery take his mind off of other things and just blast away at some enemies.

He even got out in the Dauntless and joined in on the intense battles.

Several days went by like this, with Avery and his team going from one battlefield to the next.

At the very end of the operation, they found themselves chasing a group of Odium Syndicate members that were trying to flee across the border into the Zatis Consortium.

"Damn! Where did they even get such fast ships from." Avery said as he barely was keeping up with his targets in the Dauntless.

These criminals had managed to get away after their base had been attacked by the Alliance Police.

Unfortunately, the large ships that had been sent to capture the outpost had not been quick enough to chase after the swift getaway vessels that this portion of the Odium Syndicate had prepared.

Their ships had no weapon systems, and their shielding and armor were only as good as normal civilian models.

Yet for everything that had been skimped on, those resources had been poured directly into the thrusters.

This created weak but very fast ships that were perfect for running away.

Of course, if they tried using a normal border checkpoint, they would end up being stopped, but their aim was to pass into the Zatis Consortium by just flying in.

There were sensor arrays set up to detect vessels illegally cross the border, but that probably would not matter in this case.

With the Odium Syndicate being an extension of some of the Consortium’s ruling corporations, these members did not worry about being put in prison by the authorities that were part of a friendly state.

It would not be too consequential if a few Odium Syndicate members got away, but Avery really did not want to let them escape the punishment that they so duly deserved.

’There’s also a bunch of Paradise and other valuables that they stuffed onto their ships. We don’t want any of it making it back to the their friends in the Zatis Consortium. The fewer resources they have the better.’ Avery thought as he pushed down the trigger for his laser cannons.

Unfortunately, he only landed a couple of glancing blows due to the distance between him and his targets, and the decent skills of the enemy pilots.

A few of the ships from his company were keeping pace, with Ezra’s specter being right next to him, but none of their attacks were able to land solid hits either.

The enemy had managed to get ahead of them, and it was difficult to catch up with people that were wholly focused on escape and had fast vessels to assist in the efforts.

Had Avery received word about the runners before they had made it too far, his company probably could have gotten ahead of them and cut off their escape route.

Regrettably, the Alliance Police commander who was in charge of the area had held off on reporting the group that had escaped until it became clear he would be unable to catch them.

This had left Avery, who was the only one close enough and capable of catching the fleeing Odium Syndicate members, scrambling to chase after them.

Eventually, they managed to take hit one of the vessels, causing its thrusters to sputter out and its momentum to stop increasing.

Still, there were seven more, and Avery was not certain that they would be able to get all of them before reaching the border.

It was already close by, and he had no intention of going over the line. He knew that if he or anyone on his team were caught by the Zatis Consortium’s authorities, it would not end well.

’We’ll just have to do what we can.’

It was difficult to accept, but he was not going to take any unnecessary risks just to stop a few fleeing criminals.

He would only do everything that he could, within reason.

Except, as he was beginning to get ready to call off the attack, a new ship suddenly came into sensor range in front of them.

It took only a moment to recognize the signature of the vessel, and though he was surprised, a smile formed on his face.

"Sorry I’m late to the party. I had some uncooperative thugs that held me up. But Jasmine told me what the situation is and I’m here to help now." Kasandra said over the main frequency that Avery’s company used for communications.

After announcing her presence, she turned her ship towards the Odium Syndicate members and opened fire.

Her vessel’s pulse lasers, that were so powerful they had been given the epithet Duster, really lived up to their nickname.

One hit was all it took to destroy the criminals’ ships, blasting them into space dust.

After two more of their numbers had been taken out, the remaining five scrambled to get away.

They never stood a chance though.

The only reason they had been able to evade Avery and the squad with him was because of their head start and built-up momentum.

When they tried to rapidly turn to get around Kasandra, they opened themselves up to being attack from behind.

Over the next couple of minutes, Avery and his allies chased down the criminals and destroyed or disabled their vessels.

"And that’s the last one. Good work everyone. Relax and start collecting any valuable equipment or cargo they had. We’ll hold this position until the Intrepid and others catch up."

Avery leaned back in his chair and let out a relived sigh.

It looked like they were not going to be able to stop all of their targets at first, but Kasandra’s timely arrival had saved the day.

He was about to contact her directly when a message from her arrived.

"She’s not even waiting for a response before coming over." Avery chuckled.

Kasandra had asked if she could dock with Avery’s ship, but before he could even agree she was already flying towards him.

Of course, he gave his approval and prepared the Dauntless’ airlock for connection with Kasandra’s vessel.

"I’m finally back!" Kasandra shouted enthusiastically once the airlock door separating them opened.

With unrestrained exuberance, she threw herself at Avery and wrapped her arms around him.

It had been a while since they had last seen each other, so she was feeling a bit emotional.

Avery returned the hug and savored the intimate connection for nearly half a minute before pulling away.

"You don’t know how glad I am to see you. So many of your messages said you were close to being done, but you always seemed to have one more stop to make. I was beginning to get worried."

Kasandra blushed a bit in embarrassment and started telling Avery the whole story.

She had tried to keep her angry towards Douvoi and the thugs contained while they were busy with another job, but it had continued to sit and fester inside her head.

Eventually, she was unable to just let it go and had gotten Avery’s permission to set off to find the man.

To do so, she had tracked down the unlicensed mercenaries that he had hired that had escaped the battle.

"Most of them didn’t know anything, and the ones I found that did kept quiet no matter what I did. Other’s fought to the death. Some ran away and led me on wild chases. It was not a good time. But I did manage to find a very untrusting group that had been keeping tabs on their previous employer. I now know where Douvoi and his subordinates are hiding out." Kasandra said, a vicious gleam appearing in her eyes for just a moment.

Avery did not doubt that she wanted to head out right this moment and crush the people that wanted to abduct her and her brother.

These people worked for the man that had destroyed her family, and there was no small amount of rage inside of Kasandra.

She wanted revenge for what they had put those she cared about through.

"But I know that we can’t pull out of our current assignment yet. I’ll make do with the fact that their downfall is inevitable."

"Sorry. I want to go after them too. Except, we can’t bail on Cerise right at the end. Fortunately, it should not be too much longer until this is all over. We’ve basically wiped out the Odium Syndicate within the Dramid Alliance. All that’s left to do is crush the rest of them hiding out in the Zatis Consortium to make sure they can never bounce back."