Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

"That didn't last as long as I was hoping it would."

The display on his terminal had now gone completely black, but just a few moments ago he had been monitoring and remotely controlling his Sterkur power armor.

To divert attention away from his true objective, he had sent the unmanned suit on a bit of a rampage through the enemy command vessel.

When it had finally taken too much damage to continue fighting, Avery had sent in the self-destruct sequence to finish off the individuals that had been fighting the power armor and cause some damage to the ship's internal systems.

He felt a twinge of regret at having sacrificed the power armor that had been with him since before he left the Yuson system.

It had been a major upgrade to his abilities as a mercenary and helped him get through a number of tough battles.

However, due to his recent augmentations, he had found less need to use the suit of heavy power armor.

"Are you okay, Avery? We need to get going quickly now before they catch on" Kasandra said, brining him out of his momentary stupor.

Raising his head, he nodded at her and began following behind her as she led the way through the maintenance shaft they had sneaked into.

Liesel was bringing up the rear behind the two of them wearing a light suit of combat armor that was mostly equipped for electronic warfare.

She was using this suit to trick the enemy ship's internal sensors and tapping into some of its less guarded systems.

They had not been able to gain access to the main computer, but thanks to Liesel, they did have a map of vessel's interior which they were using to navigate to their destination.

Fortunately, for a craft of this size, there were dedicated maintenance tubes that would not typically have crew members in them that they could use to remain unnoticed.

Though now that Avery's ruse had ended, it would not be too long until those in charge of this ship realized that something was wrong.

"We need to exit a little way up ahead after turning right." Liesel said, holographic map displayed from a device on her wrist showing where they were and how to reach their destination.

Following these instructions, Kasandra put her ears against the door that would take them back to the ship's main pathways.

"I can hear five people out there. It sounds like they are talking about what's going on right now pretty leisurely, so I don't think that they know that we're here. One of them is complaining about having to sit around while most of the security personnel are storming the hangar."

This small bit of intel Kasandra was able to obtain was quite useful.

They had anticipated their target to be a bit more guarded since it was such a critical area of any vessel, but it would appear that its security was currently diminished.

Holding up her right hand, Kasandra began counting down for when they breach the room and take out the people inside.

Once she hit Zero, she swiftly opened the hatch, and Avery was the first to rush out.

Obviously, the five guards inside the room were surprised to see unfamiliar faces suddenly rush out of an area that should have been sealed.

This may have been a large craft with over a thousand crew members, but as security officers, these five had familiarized themselves with the appearances of everyone that was supposed to be onboard. And Avery was certainly not one of them.

The three closest to him hastily tried to draw their weapons, while the other two moved to report the intruders.

Except, their distress calls were intercepted by Liesel's equipment and were unable to reach anyone.

"You're not the only one's capable of signal interference." Avery said as he punched one of the guards in the face and shattered his jaw and teeth.

He was wearing the exoskeleton apparatus Grito had made for him, but unlike at the concert venue when it had been stripped of most of its weapons to avoid detection, this time Avery was fully equipped.

After taking down the first guy, he opened up his palms which had laser emitters in the center of them and opened fire.

His opponents' personal shield generators soaked up the first blasts and having received decent training, the remain four guards aimed their weapons at Avery.

Except, they could not hit him.

Every time they pulled the triggers on their guns, he darted away outside of their line of fire.

It was becoming clear that they did not stand a chance against him, so the four security officers attempted to exit the room they were meant to be protecting and call for backup.

Unfortunately, while their full attention had been drawn towards Avery, Kasandra and Liesel had snuck into the room and flanked the four guards.

It was not long before all of them were incapacitated by three monstrously strong individuals.

"You two really are something. I think you both might be better fighters than my older cousins. I bet even my grandfather would have a hard time against you two." Liesel said with a hint of admiration in her voice.

She was no slouch when it came to personal combat herself, but she was not up to the same level as Avery and Kasandra.

Her experience in such close quarter fights were very few and far between and most of her experience came from simulated training.

The argumentations she had received were also only around half as good as what Kasandra and Avery had.

That was not to say that this was not already impressive, just that the work Dr Raiti had done on the two of them was at an astoundingly high level.

"I don't know if we deserve that level of praise, but it's flattering to know its coming from you. Now, what level of access can you give us." Kasandra said, pointing towards their objective.

…

"What could they be up to?"

Clarien was watching the aftermath of the explosion caused by Avery's power armor self-destructing.

There was no proof that Avery had not died along with the subordinates he had sent to fight the power hulking power armor, but he highly doubted that someone that had been able to become a thorn in both Adder's and Delilah's sides would do something so pointless.

Though he had never personally met Avery, from all of the intel he had received, it was apparent that he was a quick witted and resourceful young man. If not a bit reckless.

"Sir, our forces are ready to breach the hangar." Clarien's adjutant said.

All they needed was their leader's final order to go in, but Clarien took a few seconds to carefully assess everything before sending his loyal troops in.

He did want to seize Avery and Liesel's ships, if possible, but it was not a matter that absolutely needed to be addressed right this instance.

"First, I want status reports from the rest of the crew. Make sure that everyone is accounted for."

Everyone else thought it was a bit odd for a rollcall in the middle of a crisis, but they followed their commander's orders.

While Clarien often lacked any urgency, when he did become serious, those that worked under him knew that it was for a good reason.

His typical attitude my have been somewhat carefree, but he was a sharp man that acted the way he did often to take his opponents off guard.

It took a couple of minutes for everyone to check in, and it soon became clear that there were five members of the crew that were unaccounted for.

All of them were security personnel stationed inside the room housing the ship's main generator.

Normally, there would have been four times as many people there as well as a dozen combat drones to serve as guards, but all but the bare minimum of forces had been sent to reclaim the hangar and secure the two hostile vessels inside.

"Recall everyone outside of the hangar and send them towards the main generator. Prioritize speed over everything else! I need eyes in there right now!" Clarien shouted, showing a rare display of panic.

Yet, by the time he had realized what was truly going on, it was already too late.

Just moment after he gave his orders to head towards the main generator, the power throughout the entire ship blipped before the emergency backup power came on.

"Sir, the main generator has gone into emergency shutdown from overheating. It's going to be at least… Wait, what?!"

The officer that had been informing Clarien of what was going on screamed when he noticed something else that was happening, but he was unable to explain further.

The panel that he was operating suddenly exploded and an arch of electricity surged through him.

After this, other critical points along the bridge were overwhelmed by bursts of energy. Leaving several people wounded and no working access points to control the ship from.