Chapter 515: Chapter 515 Trouble Brewing Right from the Start

Having obtained the necessary information and credentials, Avery left the station located in the middle of nowhere along with Kasandra and Ezra.

As soon as the three of them were back onboard the Intrepid, the disguised cargo ship laid in a course for the site where they would be picking up their first shipment of Paradise.

Their destination was only around five days away, and everything was normal except for one thing.

"Do we still have our tail?" Avery asked Olivia who was sitting next to him.

"Looks like it. They’re keeping pretty far back to avoid our sensor range and have a decent cloak to keep themselves hidden. But well, they aren’t going to be avoiding the Intrepid’s detection."

Olivia was the only other command officer on the bridge right now and was keeping tabs on the only thing of note right now for Avery.

It had already been several days since they had left the hidden Odium Syndicate base and they were close to reaching the border between the Dramid Alliance and Zatis Consortium.

At first, they had been moving to their destination without any issue, but yesterday a ship that was clearly following them had been picked up by the Intrepid’s advanced sensors.

Ever since the vessel had kept a constant distance away from them.

Just to make sure that they were being followed and it was not just someone going in the same direction, Avery had directed the helmsman to take them to the nearest station for refueling.

After that they had continued on their way again, and sure enough, the same craft was on their trail again before they left the system.

Avery figured that this was someone from the Odium Syndicate meant to keep an eye on them, but he had a nagging feeling that that was not what was going on.

He fully expected to be watched, but it made more sense for their new criminal employers to wait until he picked up the shipment and was within the Zatis Consortium.

They certainly would have more agents ready to be deployed in their own territory and it would save them the trouble of having to cross the border and extra time and potentially rouse suspicion.

’It could be Cerise, but I feel like she would have told me something, or we wouldn’t have detected a ship she sent at all.’

Avery could have easily ordered that several vessels in the Intrepid’s hangar be deployed to capture their stalker, but that would blow their cover if they were being monitored by the Odium Syndicate.

Not only should the Intrepid not be able to detect the cloaked craft, but it should not have several combat ships stored in a hidden hangar.

"I understand. It sucks to be so passive. If I had to choose, I’d rather be hunting pirates or space monsters myself. But this is the mission that you agreed to." Olivia said, shrugging her shoulders.

In her time as a mercenary, she had found herself on plenty of boring jobs. Things could not be exciting all of the time.

"Yeah, I didn’t really want to though. Cerise just offered too much money to refuse."

It was a problem that all mercenaries faced eventually. An assignment that they found unappealing, but one that offer unbelievable incentives.

"At least this job came from a trustworthy source. Otherwise, I’d have advised you against taking it."

Olivia’s expression became solemn as she said this, and Avery could tell she was remembering when she had been lured in by Iniquus’ offer.

Avery quickly changed the topic to shift the mood of the conversation. He figured that asking Olivia about how her and Ezra’s relationship was developing would get her mind off of her painful past.

...

When they reached the border checkpoint and got in line, they lost their tail for a bit.

However, once they began traveling through Zatis Consortium space, the same ship was picked up on their sensors again after only a few hours.

With nothing that they could do about it without risking blowing their cover, Avery could only let them follow behind them to the meet up destination.

Upon arrival, they found themselves at the edge of the a sparsely populated system.

While the authorities of the Zatis Consortium were not in any way trying to stop the Odium Syndicate’s activities, it certainly was not a good look to allow illegal drug sales out in the open for all to see.

It was not long before a vessel around a fifth the size of the Intrepid dropped out of light speed and sent over a transmission.

Avery exchanged several coded passwords with eh captain of the ship, and once everything confirmed, they began transferring the goods.

Most of the items were the legitimate good that Avery would be transporting, but some of the crates had special markings denting them as the ones with the Odium Syndicate’s drug inside.

The handover went perfectly smoothly, and as quickly as they had entered the Zatis Consortium, the Intrepid turned around and headed back to the Dramid Alliance.

"I think that we can rule out our first stalker as being part of the Odium Syndicate. We just picked up another one. And I don’t really think that they would need two for this." Olivia informed Avery.

Considering that they had just picked up the shipment of Paradise, it was more likely that their latest purser was from their new criminal associates.

The first ship that was following them was also doing a lot better job of trying to stay hidden.

The vessel that presumably belonged to the Odium Syndicate was not keeping as much distance and only had special plating that made it difficult to see visually.

Its stealth capabilities were hardly comparable to a craft that possessed a true cloaking device. Though, had the Intrepid been a normal Ontembaar cargo ship, their efforts would have been enough to avoid detection.

"Let’s just hope they’re both only keeping an eye on us. Maybe we can get through this deliver without any difficulties."

Unfortunately, as Avery was soon to find out. His wishes were going to go unanswered. Trouble was going to be finding them not long after they crossed back over into the Dramid Alliance.