Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

It did not take long for Avery, Ezra, and Olivia to be granted access to the Mercenary Association headquarters.

Following the directions that were sent to their ships, they made their way to designated hangars where they would be able to land.

"To think that they'd have dedicated places just for upper ranking mercenaries. I guess that you can consider this a bit of a perk." Kasandra said, as they pulled into a hangar that noticeably had the emblem of a five star mercenary painted on its gate.

For rankings four star to seven star, there were designated hangars for use for only people and their teams that met that rank.

Avery was not quite certain of the reasoning, but it might have been partially to make higher ranks feel more elite, but also to prevent fights from breaking out. There were some lower ranking mercenaries that might try fighting higher ranking ones just to show how tough they were.

However, if they never met in the first place, it would be impossible for a brawl to break out.

Before they could even touch down, Avery noticed that a woman with three spherical guide bots floating around her was waiting for them.

"She's certainly pretty. What do you think that they want?" Kasandra said, a hint of suspicion in her expression.

"Not sure. I figured that this would just be a routine check-in. We tell them we're here and collect our money from our last job. But I suppose that the bigwigs here might want something else. It's possible it has to do with our confrontation with Doyle. That was a fairly big incident for them after all."

There were a few things Avery could think of, but nothing that was all that important as far he figured the Mercenary Association would be concerned.

They were an organization that operated all over the Dramid Alliance. What one small group of mercenaries was up to was unlikely to be too impactful no matter what it was.

Still, someone had been sent to fetch Avery's team, and the moment that he left the Dauntless, she started heading directly for Avery.

"Mr. Asteria, I'm here on behalf of Vice Master Sarkych. If you would follow me, the vice master wishes to speak with you. Alone if possible."

For just a moment, Avery's eyes widened in surprise when he heard about who it was that wanted to meet with him.

There were only ten vice masters in the entire Mercenary Association, and it was the second highest rank within the organization. Just below the master of the Association.

As for the name Sarkych, Avery did recognize it. The man had been a pretty famous mercenary in the past, having been one of just a few six star mercenaries in the Dramid Alliance before his retirement and disbandment of his group.

Now that he was out of the field, it seemed that he had taken up a prestigious position at the Mercenary Association itself.

Of course, that was pretty common. Experienced mercenaries that wanted to take a step back but not completely leave the profession would come work at the Association.

"Might I ask why the vice master wants to see me? As far as I know, we just arrived and are here for a routine check-in and to collect our pay for job we completed a couple systems over." Avery said, not wanting to commit to something he had no idea about.

"Yes, it pertains to the recent incidents that you've been involved in. I'm sure that you can think of which ones I'm talking about."

"Yeah, I can think of a few. Still, I'd like to have at least one member of my team accompany me. I may be the leader of my group, but I do like to have some input from my team members in case any decisions need to be made." Avery said, a bit skeptical about why Sarkych wanted to meet with him alone.

"Very well, the vice master has agreed to meet you with the other five star member of your team, Ezra Orso."

The woman's response was almost immediate, and thanks to his recently enhanced vision, Avery was able to notice her facial muscles slightly move. Most likely she had a communications implant in her brain and had been directly conversing with her boss even while speaking with Avery.

With things settled, two of the guide robots with Sarkych subordinate escorted the rest of Avery's team to a private room where a receptionist was waiting to handle their business, and the woman had Avery and Ezra follow her.

Soon they were brought directly to Sarkych's office, and the doors opened automatically to welcome them in.

Sitting at a couch with a table in between it and another couch facing it was a large man who was obviously Sarkych.

He was not a human like Avery, or a Bahian like Ezra. Instead, he was a less common species in the Dramid Alliance known as Rutepirs.

Instead of skin, he had light green scales over his body, and he had a flat face with reptilian eyes.

His hands and feet also featured only four fingers, each one with retractable claws.

Except, despite his species' ferocious looking appearance, they were known to be a pretty calm and collected people. They were calculating and did not like to jump into hasty actions. Something that typically made them good commanders.

"It's an honor to meet with such an esteemed mercenary such as yourself, Vice Master Sarkych." Avery said as he sat down across from the man.

"Likewise. It is not every day that we have someone that has earned the Silver Cross of Heroism coming through. You've made quite the name for yourself, but I'd expect nothing less of one of Urs' protégés."

Sarkych looked towards Ezra as well, and it became clear in this moment that he knew his uncle. A suspicion that both Avery and Ezra had considering that the two would have been active at the same time, and the one that he singled out to accompany Avery was Ezra.

Once the pleasantries were out of the way, Avery decided to broach the topic of why Sarkych wanted to meet with him. He doubted that it was just idle curiosity about an up-and-coming mercenary.

"Well, there are quite a few matters actually, but I suppose that I'll start with the official one."

As it turned out, Avery's battle with Doyle and his followers had caused no shortage of headaches for the Mercenary Association.

Deadly fights between mercenaries of their calibers made people start to question the ability of the Association to handle its members. And since Avery had adopted the remnants of Burke's company into his own, the only one to really take all the blame was Doyle himself.

"You wished to have Burke and the other members of his team spared the lose in reputation from this event becoming public, but I'm afraid that the Association has decided to deny that request. Any client will be able to those records if they so wish."

This news was far from great for Avery and his lips twisted into a frown as he listened to Sarkych's reasoning.

Nevertheless, there was not much that he could do about. His own reputation was still good enough, and building Burke and his company back up as members of his group would be possible.

"Now the other reason I called you in was to warn you about some troubling information the Association has learned. You've made your fair share of enemies and some of them are looking to get even."