Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

It took Burke a few moments to get over his confusion and understand what Avery was getting at.

Thanks to Doyle's actions, his and his company's name would forever going forward have a giant black mark against them.

Anyone that showed any interest in working with him would soon see that his partner and members of his company had been involved in a brutal attack on other mercenaries.

That would put their trustworthiness into question and most reputable people would avoid working with Burke. What jobs he could except would come from people looking to use his muddied reputation as a means to lower his pay, or those with questionable morals.

However, if he joined Avery's team as his subordinate, that would no longer be the case.

He would not be the face of the team, nor would they still be using his company's name.

His reputation would matter far less in this scenario and considering that Avery's team were the ones that had been wronged, Burke joining them would show that there were no hard feelings between them.

Some might question Avery's rationality to allow someone that he should objectively harbor negative feelings towards work under him, but it would not be a particularly big deal.

Of course, if he accepted, Burke would no longer be the leader of his own band of mercenaries anymore. He would just be another of Avery's subordinates. After being in his position for so long, it would be difficult to take orders from someone else.

'Plus, I don't deserve this chance.' Burke thought.

If he took Avery up on his offer, it would undoubtably save his career as a mercenary. Yet he was not even sure if he wanted that at this point. So many things had gone wrong all at once. Perhaps it was best that he pulled out of the mercenary life and spent the rest of his days quietly.

"If I might ask, why is it that you want to recruit me? Right now, it is only going to come along with trouble for you." Burke said with as much composure as he could muster.

"That might be true, but I've also got to think about the future. I've always had plans to continue to expand my group into a more proper organization. Experienced and talented personnel aren't easy to come by. You however, and all of the people that are a part of your faction, are now in a precarious position. Alone, you are going to crumble. Pretty much nothing you can do is going to save you at this point. If you work under me though, we can build up a new and stronger mercenary company from the ashes of your old one."

Avery was using some flowery words, but he essentially just wanted to integrate Burke's already existing force into his own and take over.

Normally it took a decent amount of time to recruit people and train them. Burke and Doyle had spent more than a decade growing their group starting out with just the two of them.

In this hypothetical merger though, Avery would receive over a hundred new experienced subordinates. Some were likely to jump ship and cut ties with Burke to do their own things, but he figured that many would remain loyal to him if he joined Avery.

There was one glaring issue, however. There were not enough vessels to go around for everyone.

Insurance was certainly not going to be paying out for the ships Doyle and his followers lost considering how things went down. All of their value was lost, and the repairs needed to fix the remaining vessels Burke's company owned were not going to be cheap. Doyle had made sure of that when he sabotaged them.

Naturally, Burke brought up all of these points, but Avery already had a plan in mind.

"Ever since I became a mercenary, I've had a far-off ambition in mind. I figured that it was going to take at least a decade to get anywhere close, except things just keeping moving faster. I haven't told anyone about it yet, but I guess that it's about time." Avery said, steeling himself to lay bare his ultimate objective.

To many, it would just seem to be a far-fetched dream of a young mercenary that did not know any better. Nothing more than a fantasy.

Nevertheless, Avery had no intention of backing down from his goal. No matter what anyone said.

"I knew that you had aspirations, but that's even greater than I was expecting." Olivia said, nodding in approval.

No one among his team disparaged Avery for his desire or chided him for being unrealistic. They had all decided to follow him because of his skills and charisma. To not believe he was capable of accomplishing what he set out to do would only make them seem like fools.

"That's quite the plan you have. Am I safe to assume that you're taking inspiration from Kaiser?"

Avery smiled when Burke correctly identified the origin of his goal.

There were many famous mercenaries throughout the Dramid Alliance's history, but none more so than a man by the name of Kaiser.

He was hailed as a hero of many battles around three hundred fifty years ago during a full-blown war with the Zatis Consortium.

For all of his exploits, it was only natural that thousands if not millions of different stories about the man and his mercenary band had spread through the Dramid Alliance. Anyone with the slightest bit of interest in mercenaries was bound to have heard about him, and Avery was no exception.

"I figured that if I was going to emulate anyone, it should be the best. He was one of the founders of the Mercenary Association and the first to be recognized as a seven star mercenary." Avery said, looking a bit like a kid talking about how they would grow up to be like their hero.

Although, the dream he was striving for was not so far away that it was out of sight. Avery had always been moving towards it. And with the recent influx of Krenin from multiple high paying jobs, and the possibility of recruiting Burke and his subordinates, his ambition was only getting closer to fulfillment.