Chapter 516: Chapter 516 A Dangerous Assault

"What?! How many are there?!"

Avery had been asleep in bed when he received an emergency call from Jasmine who was currently in charge of the bridge.

They had just exited hyperspace into the system where they were supposed to deliver their first batch of cargo for the Odium Syndicate. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

The entire time, their two stalkers had been trailing behind them, but now there was something far more concerning to worry about.

Apparently a hundred and sixty-three vessels had been waiting for them to arrive.

These were not just modified civilian ships that had some weapons and armor haphazardly attached either.

Though most of them were older models, all of them were warships that were comparable to what low or mid rank mercenaries might have.

Individually they would not be much of a problem, but all together they constituted a deadly force.

"I’m on my way. Try to keep us as far away from them as possible. Don’t blow our cover yet unless I give the order or our shields drop to below forty percent." Avery said as he rushed out of bed.

At full speed he ran towards the bridge and arrived in less than a minute thanks to his quarters being nearby.

When he arrived, he found the bridge a flurry of activity.

Everyone was frantically typing away at their consoles, and Jasmine was shouting out one order after the next.

It was only a second after Avery arrived that the ship shook as the first attacks reached them.

Since they had not deployed any of their concealed armaments, the missiles that would normally have been intercepted by their point defense systems ended up striking against the Intrepid’s shields.

"Deploy chaffs, flares, and decoy beacons! Don’t let another volley hit us like that!" Jasmine yelled.

Avery rushed over to her, and she turned around to look at him once she noticed the movement in the corner of her eyes.

There was a look of relief on her face now that he was here and could take charge of the situation.

They were dealing with an unforeseen crisis, and she would much rather not be the one in charge of dealing with it.

"Jasmine. Give me an update quickly."

She nodded her head and began relaying what she knew to Avery.

All the while, the bridge crew was furiously working to evade and defend against their sudden attackers without showing their hand.

"They were ready for us as soon as we arrived. Who I believe to be their leader sent us a message demanding we drop our shields and prepare to be boarded. They only gave us thirty seconds to comply. I tried stalling and fishing for information, but they started attacking as soon as the time had elapsed without even giving another warning."

Avery clenched his teeth as his mind rushed to figure out what to do.

"Damn it! Did the Odium Syndicate already figure us out somehow?!"

It felt like the most logical conclusion, as there were not too many people or organizations that would want to attack them like this.

They had also been undercover for a while now, so it would have been difficult for any of their enemies to have been tracking them.

Yet, as Avery was about to accept this conclusion and blow their cover to begin a counterattack, someone else spoke up.

"They aren’t working for the Odium Syndicate. I recognize some of the markings on those ships. They’re here for me and Kaiden."

Avery looked over at Kasandra who had just entered the bridge. She was glowering at some of the attackers with an intense hatred in her eyes.

He almost asked if she was certain, but he doubted that she would show such powerful emotions if there was a chance she was wrong.

"How many of them do you recognize?" Avery asked instead, and idea coming to mind.

Kasandra pointed out ten of the ships she was certain had emblems related to the tribes on her home planet.

As for the others, she was not sure since they did not have any visibly district features that she remembered.

"Communications, send messages to the twenty strongest vessels that aren’t among those Kasandra identified. Tell them that we’ll pay them triple whatever they’ve been offered to take anyone working with them and leave us alone."

Avery knew that this was a unfavorable gamble at best, but he figured that if it made some of their attackers hesitate even just a little it would be worth it.

Of course, he already had a more concrete plan that he had thought up that did not rely on the potentially greedy whims of their attackers.

At his own personal console, he crafted a message and sent it off to Cerise.

Since they were back in Alliance space, she should have a support group stationed nearby. Getting the Alliance Police to deal with this would help keep their cover intact.

’It will depend on how fast help arrives though. I’m not going to risk everyone’s lives for this mission.’

If it seemed that they could not hold on, Avery would not hesitate to give the order to reveal their weapons and attack.

"How did they even know where to find us?" Jasmine said, the frustration in her voice clear.

"I don’t know." Kasandra growled. "But the timing is too good for it to be a coincidence. This feels like it was planned."

Avery could not help but agree with her assertion.

These people that were after Kasandra and Kaiden were determined and not adverse to causing a spectacle to get what they wanted.

Their last attempt took place in the capital system where there was generally higher security than anywhere else in the Dramid Alliance.

If they had foreknowledge of what Avery’s team was doing right now and had been keeping watch on them, then it was only natural that they would choose now to attack.

Right now, they were far from any population center for their clandestine meeting to deliver their illicit cargo, and fighting back would almost certainly see them failing their current assignment.

The presumed Odium Syndicate vessel had come out of hyperspace already and moved away while keeping an eye on things.

’I still don’t know how they figured us out. The Intrepid has been disguised, and we went off the radar before meeting up with Cerise. Only those involved should know what’s going on.’

There were several possibilities that Avery had thought of, but the most obvious and dangerous soon proved to be true.

A report of the Intrepid’s main transportation system having been sabotaged soon came in. At the very least one enemy agent was already onboard and posing as a crew member.