Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

Once the Dauntless was fitted with a new pair of multicannons and the auto turret that had been stored in the cargo hold, Avery set a course for the Etania System.

The plan as things were, was to finish up this job and then head towards the capital system. The time for the small craft competition between the best ship builder in the Dramid Alliance was fast approaching, and Avery needed to be there to hold up his end of the deal he made with Storren Corp.

There was also Kasandra's new custom-made vessel to be picked up. Originally Avery had been given a credit of thirteen million for the ship's construction, but a little while ago he had made some moves behind the scenes to increase that amount. He had not told anyone else yet since he wanted it to be a surprise, and he was very much looking forward to Kasandra's reaction.

"Okay, we've finally entered hyperspace. We're in luck that it's a straight shot to our destination so we don't have to worry about anything for the next twenty-eight hours." Avery said, leaning back in his chair and getting more comfortable.

"Oh, how about we try some new recipes. Mercedes was kind enough to give me access to her database, and I was able to download some pretty good-looking dishes that are native to Azade."

Jasmine's suggestion was agreeable to both Avery and Kasandra, and the three of them moved to the Dauntless' dining room to try out the new items that their autochef could whip up for them.

Now that they had all received high-end and extensive physical enhancement, it was necessary for them to eat more anyway. This was a good way to kill time and give their bodies the necessary energy that they needed.

Their culinary journey started out with a strange looking gelatin-like food that wobbled when poked.

Inside of it were glassy looking orbs of some kind that gave off an ominous vibe.

Of course, nothing their silver series autochef could make would be hazardous to their health. But this thing did not look particularly appetizing to either Avery or Kasandra.

Jasmine, on the other hand, had a big bright smile on her face as she dipped her spoon in and took a giant bite.

This was a traditional food eaten on Azade during special occasions. Or the best replication of it that the autochef could create using a food capsule.

"Not quite as good as when it was made fresh from the correct ingredients, but still pretty good. I missed this salty and tart flavor." Jasmine said, happily digging in and eating some more.

With a bit of trepidation, Avery and Kasandra moved their own spoons towards the food sitting in front of them.

Seeing that Jasmine clearly liked it, the dish hopefully would not be bad.

One bite was enough for Avery to know that he did not care for the taste. He was on the fence about whether he thought it was bad or not, but it simply was not in line with what he generally liked.

Unfortunately, Kasandra had a much more violent reaction. The saltiness was too much for her and she started to violently cough. It did not help that from its appearance, that she originally thought the dish would be sweet and it was so wildly different from her expectations.

The recipe itself derived most of its ingredients from the sea, and it turned out that the clear floating orbs were meant to be a type of fish egg. Though, they were just recreations this time. Not the real thing. Which made it slightly more palatable for Avery who did his best to finish it to be considerate of Jasmine's feelings. He loved her enough to be willing to eat this on occasion.

After the first dish, their culinary adventure continued. The experience varied immensely, from others ending up with poor reception like the first, while some were a big hit.

All in all, the three of them had an enjoyable time and got to know each other's food preferences a bit more.

"All that eating has got me a bit tired. My body's also feeling stiff, so I think I'll lie down for a nap."

Avery yawned and slowly started to pull himself out of his chair. He was able to move around enough to get by, but he was still in the middle of recovering from the augmentations he had received. It was necessary for him to get plenty of rest.

"Here, let us help you."

"Yeah, no point in straining yourself too hard. We'll get you to your bed."

Kasandra and Jasmine each moved to one side of Avery and took one of his arms and wrapped it around their shoulders. They were both technically still recovering as well, but they had a few days on him, and both were in far better shape.

Soon they had brought Avery to his room and laid him down on his bed face up.

Yet as he was about to thank them for their assistance and then nod off, he noticed a gleam in both of their eyes.

The next thing he knew, Kasandra and Jasmine were taking their clothes off. With the chaos caused by the Odium Syndicate and then going to receive physical enhancements from Dr. Raiti, it had been more than three weeks since they had indulged in a certain activity.

"I know that you normally like to take the lead but just lay back and let us do all the work."

"And don't worry, we'll hold back to not cause any injuries."

Avery could tell that neither of them were going to back off easily. And really the only reason to hold back in the first place was because he was a bit sore.

Still, even though Avery knew logically that this probably was not the best idea, a certain part of his body did not get the memo and was already standing to attention.

The two girls' gazes were naturally drawn to this area, and their eyes went wide in surprise.

While Avery had not had any augmentations applied down there, he was now a bit bigger on account of his improved blood flow and second smaller artificial heart.

"Seriously, please go easy on me." Avery said weakly as his two lovers closed in on him.

…

When he finally woke up, Avery looked to either side of him and saw that Kasandra and Jasmine had already left.

Images of what had occurred flashed through his mind. Both girls had been careful as they said they would be, but their appetites for desire had seemed to be never ending.

'Well, I can't say that it was bad for me by any means. And I feel surprisingly refreshed now. I wonder how long I slept for.' Avery thought, reaching over and grabbing his terminal to check the time.

He was shocked to find that he had slept for nearly nineteen hours. Including the time taken up by their culinary adventure and post meal fun, that left only around an hour and a half left until they arrived at their destination.

Forcing himself up, Avery took a leisurely shower and put on his usual mercenary clothes.

When he came out of his room and walked into the cockpit, he found Kasandra and Jasmine happily chatting away. The two of them looked to be glowing, and for a moment he jokingly wondered if maybe they obtained some augmentation to suck the vitality out of him.

'Enough about stuff like that that doesn't matter. I need to get myself mentally ready for what waiting. From what we heard back from Ezra, things are stable right now, but that could change at any moment.'

Avery sat down in the pilot's chair and asked if there had been any updates.

"Not much. Seems that more and more mercenaries are joining the hunt every day, but there are still enough Jalllas around for everyone to have a good share." Jasmine said in response.

While this job did have a base daily pay, it was only around a fourth of usual industry standards.

Nevertheless, the main draw was the reward for every Jallla taken out.

Frukrate Mining was paying three hundred thousand Krenin per kill. That was an impressive sum, especially when it was feasible to take out multiple each day.

Of course, Frukrate Mining was not taking a loss on offering this much. A Jallla's corpse was worth a decent amount and as per the contract, they held the rights to any and all body parts.

Jallla bodies were highly laser resistant, so they were often used as materials for top-of-the-line laser resistant clothing. A venture normally outside of a mining company's purview, but something they were more than happy to get involved in if it helped them recoup the costs of purchasing the rights to a world that had proven to be immensely troublesome.

"So, we just need to kill ninety-two of those space monsters to equal out what we just paid for our bionic enhancements. I hope the two of you are ready, because we're going to be working hard for the next few days." Avery said, his fierce expression conveying his enthusiasm. He was excited to be getting back to what was considered normal mercenary work.