Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

Those onboard the three corvette class vessels heading towards the Dauntless were caught by complete surprise when a phasic torpedo came flying their way.

The data they had collected on the craft created by Storren Corp. during the competition did not show that it was equipped with a torpedo launcher.

Avery had kept this powerful weapon hidden for use during the final event when he figured it would make the biggest impact.

And while he was not using it in the manner he had expected, it certainly was proving to be effective.

Unprepared for the sudden attack, the three corvettes tried to intercept the torpedo, but failed to do so before it went off.

Avery remotely detonated the explosive device the moment he had gotten out of range. He could risk it being naturalized and doing no damage.

Not getting a direct hit would likely mean that the three ships would avoid being destroyed, but hopefully they would end up disabled or at least crippled.

When the explosive blast had cleared, Kasandra immediately began assessing the damage done to the enemy vessels.

"Looks like that attack worked out well for us. Now that I've scanned them properly, their shields aren't all that strong due to their cloaking devices. All of them have been disabled and the central one that was closest to the blast is barely holding on and has hull breaches in multiple locations."

This was certainly good news to hear.

Avery had been expecting to need to a bit more work to bring down the two vessels on either side of the central one. Having eliminated all three of them from the battle at once was a major boon.

Of course, the other ships that had appeared and demanded that they surrender did not just sit idly by while Avery trounced the forces sent to collect the Dauntless.

Four more of the thirty-eight vessels broke off from the main formation and headed directly towards him.

Two of these new enemy ships were smaller assault ships, while the other two were another pair of corvettes.

"Guess they don't plan on letting us use another phasic torpedo on them. Not that we have another one though." Avery said as he locked in a new course and flew away from the next batch of attackers coming for him.

The other torpedoes loaded onboard the Dauntless were for training and lacked anywhere close to the explosive yield of the weapon they represented.

It was only out of an abundance of caution that Avery had purchased a single real phasic torpedo. He had not really thought he would need to use it, nor that he would wish that he had more.

Still, his single act of defiance had helped to change the overall situation greatly.

While the other competitors, save for Cerise who as battling against Atlas, had remained stunned by the current developments, Avery's successful attack against these obvious criminals had spurred on the others to fight back as well.

There would be no salvation in surrender as the people after them said. The only way to survive was to take matters into their own hands and stay alive until reinforcements arrived.

This entire competition had been set up for the Alliance Police in the first place. No doubt a large fleet would be coming very soon to deal with this audacious attack.

That was why these thieves looking to steal the top-of-the-line ships made by the top corporations in the Dramid Alliance wanted them to surrender.

They needed this to be a quick job so that they could escape before being crushed by the full might of the Alliance Police.

"There she is. It's time to pay her back for that tip."

Seeing as how Cerise had been the one to warn him about what was going on, Avery had fled from those pursuing him towards her.

He did so not only to return the favor of her warning him, but also because he wanted some more answers. He figured that if he helped her out here and took Atlas down, she would be more willing to answer whatever questions he asked.

To keep Cerise from using her far faster ship to get away, Atlas had used his micro mines to block off the area and force her into a fight with him.

Naturally, being an experienced officer of the Alliance Police, and hailed as the current greatest hero of the Dramid Alliance, Cerise would not be easy to take down.

Nevertheless, her craft's greatest asset was its maneuverability, and Atlas had limited the space that she could move around.

Fortunately, his small mines had a major weakness that Avery had identified during the free-for-all battle event yesterday.

Since they had been made so small, a central unit was needed to connect them all together.

This device would be placed outside of the set-up minefield to make it difficult to target from inside, but it was easy enough to deal with for anyone approaching from outside of the field.

"We don't have much time, so let's hope that this works." Avery said, firing his EMP blaster.

A couple hits from the disruptive energy attack caused the electronics within the control mine to become disrupted and shut down.

The interlocking web of energy that connected each of the mines then faded away, and the net that the micro mines had created faded away. Making them practically worthless as they would now only explode if something directly bumped into them.

"We've got about twenty seconds until the guys chasing after us catch up. Let's end this quickly and get out of here." Kasandra said, urging Avery to get moving.

Not needing any more prompting, he shot directly towards Atlas and opened fire on the traitorous man.

He was unsure of what could have caused someone that held such a high position in the Mercenary Association to turn traitor, but the reason hardly mattered now.

Atlas was an enemy, and he needed to be taken down.

Yet the moment that the situation had turned sour for him, the man immediately started to retreat towards where his allies were. He had no intention of fighting against both Avery and Cerise alone. Even for only a few seconds.

Obviously, the two of them could have chased after him considering how much faster their ships were compared to the model from Stifur he was piloting.

However, doing so would only end up with them being surrounded.

With how things currently were, stalling for time was more important than focusing on a grudge against a traitor.

"Thanks, for the assistance now let's get out of here." Cerise said in a message she quickly sent to Avery.

Following behind her, the two ran away from the vessels closing in on them.

While the Dauntless could not quite match Ravasz Dynamic's craft, it was still faster than their pursuers. So long as they stayed on the run, they could keep ahead of them.

"Now do you mind explaining what's going on here. I think I'm owed a bit more than just being told that something is going to happen." Avery said over transmission. His tone coming out a bit harsher than he expected.

"Yes, is suppose that I should. But we might want to get a bit farther away first."

A spray of long-range laser fire and a barrage of missiles were coming their way.

Though they were keeping ahead of those chasing after them, they were not quite out of their enemies' effective weapon range yet.

The surface of the planet they were flying over became scarred by explosions from the falling projectiles aimed at Avery and Cerise.

Using every evasive trick that they knew, the two of them managed to avoid taking any heavy damage and eventually escaped from the ships chasing after them.

Unfortunately, it was now not only the ones behind them that were closing in, but more were moving to intercept from other directions.

There was resistance going on all over the planet, from the other competitors to the competition staff that had been organizing the event.

However, the bulk of the enemy forces were collapsing on Avery and Cerise. The two that had been identified as the biggest threats. Hence why the two operative that had been sneaked into the competition, Atlas and Jack Huxley, had preemptively gone after them.

"Okay, give me the quick version of what you know." Avery said now that they were relatively safe for the moment.

"Very well. I came across a piece of intel while on a mission that forces against the Alliance were planning something during this competition. Many of the corporations involved had already suffered from differing levels of espionage and theft as I'm sure you're aware, so it's been clear from the start that criminal elements want these high-tech ships for themselves. I was ordered from the Chief of the Alliance Police himself to fake my retirement and enter as one of the competitors to investigate."

There was obviously a bit more nuance to the situation than what Cerise had explained, but there was no time for anything more detailed right now.