Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

Six and a half days went by while Avery's team reaped the benefits of Burke's mercenary company's assistance.

With the addition of ninety-three vessels essentially working for them, their Jallla hunting reached new heights that they could not achieve on their own.

In total they managed to eliminate another one thousand one hundred seventy-two of the giant space monsters. Reaping more than three hundred fifty million Krenin in rewards for just a few days of intensive work.

Of course, not all of this was pure profit, as killing Jalllas came with extensive ammo costs, but the ultimate payout for Avery's team was still immense.

Then there was also the fact that Burke had offered to give away half of the earnings from his own team's hunting as further reparations for what Doyle and his followers had done.

This came up to another six hundred eighty-five Jalllas and a bit more than another hundred million for Avery's team.

Truly this job had brought with it unbelievably great profits that could not easily be obtained usually. A place where a steady stream of valuable space monsters appearing from a single planet in a populated system was uncommon to say the least. In many ways, this request had been something like a bonus stage in a video game and had made a great deal of mercenaries and cargo runners very rich. Though there were no small number of people that had overestimated their abilities and wound up dying during the hunt.

While the payments for their latest round space monster elimination was going to take some time to process, Avery quickly did some mental math in his head and figured out the rough figures of what his account would soon look like.

'After considering expenses and everyone else's cuts, I should have around two-hundred twenty million Krenin in total. It's such a staggering amount that I can hardly wrap my head around it. Not that long ago I never could have imagined I'd have that much money.'

A grin started to form on Avery's lips at the great sum he had earned as a mercenary, but he knew that it was still too soon to rest on his laurels. His current savings were only around a third of what he would need to purchase something he considered necessary to bring his band of mercenaries up to a higher level.

Right now, they were doing well, but their group was lacking in many ways compared to the few great mercenaries that were known throughout the Dramid Alliance.

Avery and Ezra may have recently been promoted to five star mercenaries, but there were still two more ranks to rise to reach the peak of the world of mercenaries.

As they were currently, it would be basically impossible for them to go any higher. It was simply a matter of lacking in forces.

All four of the vessels that were under Avery's command were strong, but that was all they had. Basically, any six star or seven star mercenaries were known to command either massive fleets or truly elite squads of at least twenty ships. The Mercenary Association simply had no interest in raising people any higher if they did not have the military might expected of the rank. Five star was as high as solo mercenaries or leaders of small groups could except to go.

'Well, I've already made a mad dash to where I'm currently at. For now, I'll slowly work on growing the team. No point in moving too fast and taking on more than I can handle. Things are still only just getting started and there are plenty of other places that I want to see.' Avery thought, content with things as they were now.

Waiting for nearly another day, there were no signs of more Jalllas. Activity had been becoming scarcer, and more mercenaries had been showing up, making competition fiercer. Yet it seemed now that everything had come to an end.

Eventually a few brave mercenaries flew down to the planet to scout things out and headed into the tunnels created by the Jalllas. A risky prospect considering how many other mercenaries had entered only to never be seen again.

Still, this time, all of the scouts that went in came back after several hours of searching. As many were starting to expect, the abundant supply of Jalllas had come to an end. All that had been on the planet and survived their millennia long frozen sleep had immediately rushed out to capture prey. Only to find a horde of mercenaries waiting to turn them into cold hard cash instead.

"I guess that means that this is the end of that. It was a nice job while it lasted." Kasandra said somewhat forlornly.

Requests that had the potential to make this much money in a short amount of time were rare. Nevertheless, Avery felt that they had made the most out of it. His team had earned more here than from everything else they had done since their founding.

"Honestly, I thought I was starting to get used to the money mercenaries can make, but after this job, I can hardly believe how much is in my bank account."

Jasmine may have grown up rich, but she had spent several years working as a member of the Alliance Police without any financial support from her family. Earning what was considered closer to a normal amount.

Now she personally had millions of Krenin that she could spend as she wanted.

That was just the nature of high-risk high-reward mercenary work. Everyone in the profession was at risk of dying at basically any moment. One careless mistake or one unexpected situation was all it took to go down in a blazing ball of fire as your ship exploded.

Not long after it had been confirmed that there were no more Jalllas to be hunted, Avery received a call from Burke.

"It looks like this is going to be the end of our collaboration. I hope that we can considering things square now."

"Yeah, I'd say that were more than good." Avery said, pausing for a second before asking something that had been on his mind ever since he learned about Burke and Doyle.

"You don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but why are you still working with Doyle? I'm sure that you're smart enough to realize that he and his faction are bringing your company down."

It was considered rude to ask about another mercenary's personal matters, but Avery could not help being curious. The difference between Burke and Doyle was vast. One was a mercenary with no principles, while the other seemed to be almost too upright in the way he operated.

For a few moments Burke merely frowned at Avery's inquiry. Eventually though, he sighed and started talking.

"This is all I'll say, but Doyle wasn't always like this. Believe it or not, I used to be the wilder of the two of us. Something bad happened to him a few years ago due to a mistake we both made. It took a heavy toll on him, and he's been having a difficult time dealing with it. Still, he's been getting better slowly but surely. I know a lot of people have told me to break ties with him, but I'm not going to abandon a friend during his time of need."

Avery could hear a resoluteness in Burke's voice and could see his unwavering devotion to his childhood friend that was like a brother to him. Nothing Avery or anyone else had to say was going to change his mind.

"Well, I suppose I can't fault you for sticking by your friend. If he ever does see the error of his ways and is ready to sincerely apologize, I wouldn't mind working with your mercenary company again in the future." Avery said before ending the call.

With all of the Jalllas gone, there was no longer any reason for the two of them to work together any longer. Avery was willing to let the slights against him go now, and everything was good between him and Burke, He would not pursue any further action within the mercenary association against Doyle and his faction.

'We managed to earn hundreds of millions of Krenin because of them, so it's hard for me to stay mad. I really do feel like rooting for Burke now. Hopefully he can get back to that idealistic time with his friend that he once had.'

However, things were never so easy. Once something went sour, it was exceedingly difficult to make it sweet again. Something both Burke and Avery were soon to find out firsthand.

For now though, Avery led his team to a private station owned by a hospitality company that was one of the most high-class establishments in the system. Since they were still barred from entering Etania II, this place would serve as the best location to celebrate their successful job well done and an immense amount of money earned. They had all been working hard for the last several days and deserved a treat to unwind and let loose.