Avery was just about to lay down and call it a day when his terminal started buzzing on the nightstand next to his bed.

Knowing from the sound that this was not an emergency message, he almost turned over and disregarded it.

Unfortunately, he knew that his mind would not settle down so that he could go to sleep if he left it unread.

He would just end up wondering what the message might be for hours until he finally could not take it anymore and just read the thing anyway.

"Who could it be though? Jasmine and Liesel would just come in if they had something to say. And Kasandra’s right next to me." Avery mumbled, glancing over at the content sleeping face of his wife.

He doubted that Ezra, Kaiden, or Olivia would have messaged him in a non-work capacity at this time when they knew he was off duty.

With a hint of curiosity, he reached over and grabbed the terminal.

When he saw who it was from his eyes opened a bit wider and he felt the tiredness vanish from his body.

The message was short, but it conveyed all that it needed to.

"Looks like it’s finally time."

For the last few months Avery’s mercenary company had been taking it relatively easy.

They had stayed closer to the central sectors of the Dramid Alliance and picked up some simple escort jobs while focusing on recruitment.

Profits had not been particularly high, but they had shored up their numbers, and the total crew had reached just a little over three thousand two hundred now.

This was still nowhere near the maximum number of people the Intrepid could hold, but there was little need for more personnel at this point. All of the stations could be manned around the clock by the crew without any difficulties now.

The only reason for more people would be if Avery wanted to keep a standing army on hand. Something that would be costly and pointless for most of their jobs.

"I guess I’d better contact the bridge and tell them to change course. It’s a good thing we were on our way to pick up a new job and don’t have an active contract right now. We don’t want to keep Commander Gunvald waiting for too long."

Avery felt his hearts starting to beat a little faster.

While he had enjoyed and needed downtime away from high-risk jobs after the fiasco with Zefield’s expedition, a part of him had been longing for something more interesting to happen over the last couple weeks.

Certainly, the job that Cerise Gunvald had lined up for his company was going to be fraught with danger, but there was little doubt that it would be exciting as well.

It would be Avery’s first time leaving the Dramid Alliance, and he was interested in seeing what the Zatis Consortium was like.

The role he was going to be playing from what Cerise had discussed with him sounded like a merchant captain that dabbled in smuggling. No doubt that would see him moving about and going around to different places.

"I was about to go to bed, but I don’t feel tired at all anymore." Avery muttered, a slight grin still plastered on his face.

Feeling awake now, he decided to do some reading on the Zatis Consortium to pass the time. He figured a bit more knowledge on the place would help with the upcoming job.

...

Around two and a half weeks later, the Intrepid came out of hyperspace into the Eomia System.

It was a fairly desolate place with only a small red dwarf star that had a single planet caught in its gravity and rotating around it.

Needless to say, the planet was not habitable and was basically just a mass of worthless rock.

The only permanent installations in the system were a few unmanned Alliance Police bases meant to monitor the area to make sure it did not turn into a nest of space monsters or pirates.

There were not even any trade routes through the place as other hyperlanes in the sector were faster for anyone heading to populated areas.

Basically, the place was a dead system that no one cared about. Which happened to make it perfect for a clandestine meeting.

Though, they were not up to anything actually illegal since Avery would be working for the authorities on this mission.

’I mean, I suppose we are about to become drug smugglers if things go according to the plan. But that should be fine since there are records of the contract and Cerise doesn’t seem like the type to double-cross us.’

Not long after Avery had arrived, the usually devoid of life system was suddenly filled with nearly three dozen new ships entering from hyperspace.

Cerise had arrived with her main vessel and quite the entourage.

Around half of the ships were part of her fleet, but the others were specialists that had been brought along to make sure that Avery’s carrier and crew looked the part of merchants that were down on their luck and willing to do some unscrupulous jobs for quick and dirty money.

It was not long before a transmission came in and Cerise was brought up on the Intrepid’s viewscreen.

"It’s good to see you again Captain Avery. I’m glad to see that you’re in one piece. I heard about what happened while you were working for the Fiend Hunter. Sounds like it was a nasty time."

"Yeah, it certainly wasn’t fun towards the end. But my group managed to avoid most of the damage luckily so we’re still good for the job you’ve got lined up for us. I’m assuming since you called that you’ve finished laying all of the groundwork?"

"That’s correct. Identities have been prepared for you and your crew, and I’ve set up some contacts for you that will help you integrate into the Odium Syndicate. All we need to do here is change some faces and rough up the exterior and parts of the interior of your carrier ship. It still looks a bit too new and shiny."