Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

Avery and his companions, which currently consisted of him, Kasandra, Jasmine, Ezra, and Olivia, were escorted to a private room upon arriving at the Mercenary Association branch on Etania IV.

Already waiting inside were branch manager Luca and Burke.

Even though he had not been directly involved in the altercation, and had even helped them out, Avery could not help but scowl when he saw Burke. He was one of the co-leaders of his and Doyle's mercenary company, and it could be considered a failure on his part to keep his friend and men under control.

'Try to keep calm. He's not free of responsibility, but he's also not the one that I should be taking my frustrations out on.' Avery thought, breathing in deeply and controlling his animosity towards Burke.

So long as the man had come here to approach them with them sincerity, then Avery would try to be reasonable.

Once Avery and the members of his team sat down across from him, Burke bowed his head and began apologizing.

"I know words cannot fully make up for what members of my company have done to all of you, but I truly am sorry for what happened. I asked Doyle not to approach any of you, but my co-leader did not head my words. I should have been more attentive so that I could have prevented what occurred."

After Burke gave his apology, Avery glanced towards Kasandra, and she nodded her head. Burke was telling the truth and had given his honest feelings without hiding anything. At least there had been no changes in his heart rate that Kasandra could hear to prove otherwise.

"Go ahead and raise your head. I accept your verbal apology, but I'm sure that you know that words alone are not enough to make this right. My team and I will soon be traveling to the Dramid System for a prior engagement, and I currently plan to bring this matter up with the central branch of the Mercenary Association located there. I'm sure that you can understand my position here." Avery said, his tone and expression devoid of any anger, but his determination to receive retribution unwavering.

He had already gone easy on Burke and Doyle's company the first time after their multiple breaches of conduct.

It was obvious to avoid friendly fire against fellow mercenaries whenever possible, yet a squad belonging to Doyle's faction had at best given Avery no consideration, and at worst, been targeting him with their harassment.

As the higher ranking mercenary due to his recent promotion, Avery could not allow for the hostility against himself and his team to go unpunished.

Both Burke and Luca winced at the mention of the central branch. Despite the latter supposedly being an impartial mediator of this meeting.

Naturally, Burke's and Doyle's group had avoided more heavy-handed actions against them so far thanks to their long relationship with the mercenary association branches in the Etania System and the ones surrounding it.

However, the central branch that managed all of the others would be far more partial to Avery on account of his prestigious status as an up and coming five star mercenary. Burke could see his mercenary company hit with a lot more than just another fine. It was possible that every member of his group could have their mercenary licenses suspended, and Doyle and his followers that had attacked Avery might have their revoked.

This was far from an ideal outcome for Burke, and avoiding it was one of the main reasons that he had wished to meet with and negotiate with Avery.

"What you plan to do is reasonable considering what happened, but I'd ask that you hear me out first. My partner and members of our company did something inexcusable to all of you. I won't deny that. So, I would like the chance to make amends myself without having to further involve the Association."

Burke explained what he had in mind, and Avery listened attentively. Occasionally looking towards Ezra and Olivia for their input since the two of them were far more experienced with matters like these.

'That's a pretty generous offer he's given us. We stand to earn a lot if I take him up on it, but then we'll lose our chance to seek greater retribution from the Mercenary Association.' Avery thought, considering his options.

It all came down to whether he wanted to prioritize monetary gain, or if he wanted to strike back against Doyle and his followers.

If he really wanted to, Avery could put them in quite a bind. As Burke feared, having his partner and the faction of their company that followed him expelled from the Mercenary Association was a real possibility.

Should that happen though, it would mean that they could no longer work as mercenaries and their source of income would be as good as gone.

When that happened, there was no small number of former mercenaries that resorted to piracy and became the very criminals that they used to hunt. Considering Doyle's and his followers' personalities, there was a good chance of this happening.

"Before I decide, I want to know how Doyle and the men he attacked us with are going to be involved in this. I hope you don't expect us to be working with them in any capacity."

"No, they won't be around. As part of their punishment for assaulting your team, they are currently doing community service by lending their aid for free to the Alliance Police as extra manpower for routine patrols of the system." Burke said, informing Avery of what Doyle's and his factions' punishment was.

They had fortunately been able to avoid any jail time by paying a hefty fine and being sentenced to several days' worth of community service.

Of course, Avery could have tried to pursue some action against them if he really wanted to but now was hardly the time for him to be bogged down in legal proceedings, so he had left everything up to the Alliance Police's discretion.

'Well, I think that's it's fitting enough. I bet for a guy like Doyle, it must be torture to have to follow the orders of the Alliance Police and do work without even being paid for it.'

Avery thought over Burke's proposal, and seeing as how none of his companions had interjected, it was obvious that they were fine leaving the decision up to him.

There were mostly only positives to agreeing. Burke was going to issue a formal apology with the Mercenary Association that would serve as a permanent record, and while not offering them any money outright, he was willing to create an immensely profitable alliance.

Seeing as how Jallla hunting was becoming more difficult as pickings were becoming slimmer, Avery had been planning on leaving the system soon.

Yet, Burke had offered to assist Avery and his team with the faction of his company that followed him.

They would use their numbers to tag the Jalllas for Avery's group and allow them to take as many as they could handle for themselves. Then for any that Burke and his followers defeated fifty percent of reward for killing them would go to Avery's team.

Honestly, the terms were immensely in their favor. With such an increase in manpower, the prospect of continuing to hunt Jalllas for a bit longer was very enticing.

'I still need a lot more Krenin to purchase what I have in mind. The only thing that I would receive from pursuing further action against Doyle and his faction would be self-satisfaction. Really, it would just be a big headache if I'm being honest. If Burke's willing to go this far to make things right, then I should just take him up on the offer.'

The allure of a great deal of money was too great for Avery to pass up on. He was not the type to abandon his principles for a quick buck, but he could tell that Burke was being sincere in trying to make amends, and this compromise was acceptable.

"Very well, I'll agreed to your proposal. My team just finished an extensive hunt of our own, so I'd like twelve hours for us to rest and restock. Can you be ready to go in that time?"

"Yes, absolutely. That will not be a problem." Burke said enthusiastically, clearly relieved that Avery was willing to agree.

After that, they discussed a few more details pertaining to their collaboration, and Luca filed a formal apology that Burke presented to Avery and his team.

With the matters that they had come here to discuss concluded, Avery and his companions took their leave.

When they were out of the building and on their way back to the hangar, Ezra smiled, and said, "I'd say that things went pretty well there. Burke seems to be an upright guy, and this certainly gives us an opportunity to make far more money than we were expecting."

"Yes, I think that all things considering, we've come out on top." Olivia said, nodding her head and wearing a satisfied expression on her face.

They had managed to settle things and if all went well, they would be coming out of it far richer than before. At least, so long as something unexpected did not occur.