Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary-Chapter 35 - Patrol Duty (2)

Updat𝓮d from freewēbnoveℓ.com.

Four monotonous days had passed as Avery and Kasandra continued to monitor the area where the pirate's base had been.

So far, they had not personally found anything of interest, but other mercenaries had located and eliminated fifteen pirate stragglers that had still been hiding out.

Right now, they were simply orbiting one of the outer moons. Keeping an eye out for any pirate activity.

"Your move." Kasandra said.

Wearing a nervous expression, Avery's eyes darted around the gameboard displayed on his terminal to find any way out of the trap Kasandra had lured him into.

To pass the time, they had been playing all manner of games. From strategy to cooperative platforming. With five days to kill, and a whole lot nothing going on, this was pretty much the only way they had to entrain themselves.

Of course, the two of them were still in the cockpit, ready to react if anything did occur.

"Ah!"

Finally finding a move that he believed would put him on the path to victory, Avery input the commands into his device.

Several of his pieces all moved at once, and he raised his head and looked at Kassandra with a smirk that said, "Try and get out of that."

"That was a good move. But you're still a bit too inexperienced to be getting the drop on me."

In the next five turns, Avery watched as his entire fleet of ships were taken out by Kasandra's. He put up a decent resistance, but it ended like all of their previous sessions of this particular game. In his complete and utter defeat.

"Okay, I think I'm done with this one. How about we watch another holo-movie, or listen to some music?"

"Hm, I think we've already watched everything we have collectively between us. I'd be fine with some music, though."

Having decided on their next pastime, Avery stared to pull up the list of songs he had downloaded onto the Dauntless' computer, when something in the viewscreen caught his eye.

When he looked down at his sensor readings, he found that there was indeed something there, but it had no heat signature. And after the intense battle that had occurred just a few days prior, there was certainly a lot of wreckage floating around.

Nevertheless, the object that had just floated in front of the Dauntless a couple hundred kilometers away had caught his eye for some reason. It looks like it might have been a very small, but intact ship.

"Kassandra, you mind if I check something out?"

"Sure, you don't need my permission, this is your vessel after all." Kasandra replied with a wry grin.

"I know, but you are a part of my crew. I figured I should get your input first."

For some reason, Kasandra smiled brightly when he said this, but he did not have much time to wonder why and took after the object he had happened to see floating by.

As he got closer, it became clear that what he had seen was indeed a spacecraft.

It was just about as small as they came, only having a cockpit, and the bare minimum of systems to be space worthy. In terms of specs, it was overall worse than the old ship Avery had been flying around in.

"Looks like they realized they've been noticed." Avery said, his sensors reading the craft coming to life.

Immediately, its thruster fired at full power, and it attempted to make a break for open space.

Avery was not going to let them go so easily, however. The price for ships taken out was still in effect. If he eliminated this tiny vessel, he would be looking at another nine thousand Krenin.

Compared to what he had already earned, this was hardly that much. But a mercenary trying to rise through the ranks could never have enough money.

"They're a slippery little bastard."

After three volleys from his laser cannons, Avery had still failed to take down his target.

Whoever was piloting it was decently skilled, and the vessel being as small as it was made it particularly difficult to hit.

Eventually one of Avery's shots managed to graze the ship and take out its paltry shielding.

A few plates of metal flew off from the hull, and the entire craft started to shake.

"Please, wait! I'm not a pirate! Don't kill me!" The person flying cried over wideband communications.

"Well, you're not a mercenary, salvager, or Alliance Police. And you've disabled your signature. Being in previously pirate invested space, the only conclusion I can draw is that you're a scumbag pirate."

Avery fired off a few more shots before his sensors finally picked up on the previously missing signature.

To his surprise, as the man said, his vessel was not that of any outlaw.

It actually was registered to Verdarca Mining. One of the major mining operations in the system, and a rival to Dirluc Mining.

"The ship is not listed as being missing, so we can assume that this man is probably a legitimate employee using a company spacecraft. Still, the only reason he would be here was because he was making some sort of deal with the pirates." Kasandra said, weighing in her expertise on the matter.

She then suggested that they take him captive and hand him over to the Alliance Police. They would likely want to question him.

Thankfully, the man surrendered without continuing to run away. Apparently, he preferred possibly being sentenced to colluding with pirates, rather than being vaporized along with his ship.

Eventually the single reaming light cruiser came by and picked up the man.

"Thank you for apprehending him. We'll make sure to still record this capture as having eliminated a small class pirate craft when calculating your pay."

Once the cruiser had gone back to its position, Avery and Kasandra both leaned back in their chairs and let out sighs of relief.

"So, what did you want to listen to?" Avery said, getting back to what they were doing before being interrupted.