Avery found himself on Zefield's ship, following behind Tuuali.

The request to come aboard was a bit surprising since Avery figured that Zefield would just transfer over the payment for the job and they would go their separate ways. The man was pretty busy dealing with the fallout from the failed expedition.

While Avery and the other merceries were just extra hired hands, he was the one in charge and taking the majority of the blame for what occurred.

A lot of lives and a lot of money had been lost, it was obvious that there were going to be some difficult times ahead for Zefield.

Even if no one could have predicted the catastrophe that the mission ended up being, people liked to have others to hoist blame on after a disaster. Zefield just happened to be the unlucky guy in the best position for this role.

Still, he was one of only a handful active seven star merceries in the Dramid Alliance and generally had a stellar reputation from everything Avery had found when he looked the man up.

He would be able to weather this storm and bounce back. Of that Avery was certain.

When Avery was finally brought to the destination of the meeting, a single door slid open to reveal Zefield standing in front of a picture hanging on a wall in a small lounge.

From just a cursory glance, Avery could tell that this was likely a private space just for Zefield and probably his wife.

Avery doubted that there was anywhere on the ship that he could keep Tuuali out of even if he tried.

On the small table in the middle of the room that could seat four people at max was an open bottle with a dark green liquid inside.

Just walking through the threshold of the room Avery could smell the scent of alcohol in the air. Whatever Zefield was drinking, it was strong.

'Can't really blame the guy. If I was in shoes, I'd probably be doing the same.' Avery thought as he heard the door close behind him. Tuuali having stayed outside so it was just the two of them.

"Care for some?" Zefield said, glancing at the bottle and an empty glass already sitting next to it.

"Sure."

Avery picked up the bottle and poured in enough liquid so that it filled up about a fifth of the glass. He was not going to pour till the thing was filled just in case he did not like whatever the beverage was.

Fortunately, it had a pleasing refreshing flavor to it that slightly numbed the tongue.

It was not something he would normally go for, but it was good and it was clearly something meant to help people relax. Something Zefield likely needed right now.

"We took this photo after our first successful job as mercenaries. After a major failure, I always find myself coming to look at it as a reminder of why I do this and that things will turn around." Zefield said, a hint of nostalgia in his voice.

Avery looked more closely at the picture and saw five young mercenaries with bright smiles standing in front of a slightly beat-up and older looking vessel.

Of the people in it. Avery only recognized two.

One was obviously Zefield, and the other happened to be Quokka, the six star mercenary captain that had been a part of their failed expedition. Apparently, she and Zefield were part of the same team during their early careers.

As for the other three, Avery was fairly certain he had never seen them.

A part of him wanted to ask about them, since Zefield seemed in a more talkative mood than normal due to being a little buzzed. No doubt a man like him had some interesting stories to tell.

Still, Avery was here to collect the payment for his mercenary company's work and did not want to take up too much of the man's time.

Seeing as how Zefield had asked for a meeting in person, Avery figured that he was going to be receiving something more than just Krenin.

Zefield did not seem like the type to call him over for small talk.

"First your payment. I hope that this is acceptable." Zefield said, pushing forward a tablet with the amount displayed in a transfer ready to be submitted through the mercenary association.

Avery's eyes went wide when he saw the numbers. It was quite a bit more than he was expecting.

After being silent for over a dozen seconds, Zefield frowned, thinking that Avery was upset that it was not enough.

"I know that you did a lot and that none of us would have made it back without you, but this really is all that I can offer you in terms of money. I'm a bit strapped right now."

"No, this is plenty!" Avery spluttered. "Actually, it's more than I expected. Per the agreement of the contract, I thought it would come out to a little under three hundred million."

"That's true, but you really pulled your weight. It would be disrespectful of me to only pay you for good work when you provided exceptional."

Avery felt flattered by this but almost asked if Zefield would be fine giving him this much. It was clear that his client was going to try and avoid paying him anything and that the money he was giving the mercenaries he had hired was coming straight out of his pockets.

Zefield naturally saw Avery's worry on his face, and said, "I'll be fine. Just had to take out a loan from the Association. Being a seven star, I get a pretty good rate. They'll help line up some high paying jobs for me as well. The last thing that they want is me selling my ships and retiring because of money problems."

Hearing this, Avery nodded and smirked.

He could easily picture some of the bigwigs at the association bending over backwards to make sure that this did not hit Zefield too hard.

Seven star mercenaries were their best of the best, and a major draw that brought in high paying clients.

With Zefield being an easygoing guy as far as mercenaries were concerned and a space monster hunting expert, there was no shortage of people wanting to hire him.

When someone rich had an enterprise threatened by powerful space monsters, he was the person that they wanted to bring in.

That's how he had gotten the recent sh*tshow of a job.

This time it just happened to be too much for even someone like him to handle.

"Okay, I've received the payment." Avery said, smiling as he watched his account become four hundred million Krenin richer.

Of course, not all of that money was his. Once he got back to the Intrepid, he would have to dole out payments to everyone in his company.

"Good. But that's only part of what I want to give you. You stepped up and did a great deal during the crisis in that system. So, I've prepared something extra. Though, I don't know if this will truly interest you." Zefield said as he pulled out an emblem attached to a glimmering chain and put it on the table.