Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

"What the hell is this?! How could everything slip away so quickly when I invested all that time and money into this?!"
Bastion Cuach had just woken up on the day before Avery's and Jasmine's wedding.
Since the ceremony had been publicly announced, he knew that he had to do everything in his power to stop it.
Fortunately, his mother had decided to retire and leave the position of head of the family to him, and he had easily won the senatorial race in his district thanks to her support.
That gave him far greater influence and capital than he had only just a few months before, and he planned on using all possible means at his disposal to prevent the woman he loved from marrying someone else. Especially some uncouth mercenary that clearly only wanted to use Jasmine for his own ambitions.
Bastion had obviously looked into Avery's records, and they hardly made any sense.
Only when one considered that he was receiving strong support from a powerful backer would his meteoric rise be feasible. At least, that is what Bastion believed.
While there had been barely any evidence that Regina had been helping Avery Asteria and showing him clearly corrupt levels of favoritism. That had changed recently.
A little under a month ago now, the order to send out thirty ships belonging to Azade's Keepers of the Peace had come in from the chancellor herself.
On the records, this fleet was to serve as escorts for Avery's parents. Yet, to bring a measly two people to Azade, just one craft or perhaps two at most would have been more than enough.
However, when the thirty vessels arrived in the Yuson System, they immediately engaged with pirates that had been attacking the station that Avery's parents were on.
As far as Bastion was concerned, this was clear proof that Avery Asteria knew the attack was going to happen and had used his connection with Azade's Chancellor to exploit the planet's forces for his own gain.
Finally, he had the evidence that he needed to bring the man down for good. Even if it was still only circumstantial.
All that mattered was that he was able to plant the seeds of doubt in the people's mind and drum up popular support against the marriage. When it became clear that it was political suicide for Regina to continue to push the marriage, Bastion figured she would do everything in her power to cut ties with Avery Asteria a stop her daughter from marrying him.
That would give him the opportunity to get close to Jasmine again as they had once been.
Back when they were still just children, he still remembered the first time that they were introduced.
He had ended up being infatuated with her ever since.
There were still many fond memories he had of the two of them playing hide and seek and tag. Though had one asked Jasmine, she would have told them that she was not playing around and genuinely wanted to avoid him.
When he had been told that there was a strong possibility that the two of them would be arranged to be married, Bastion had cheered loudly and run around his room in excitement.
Except, not long after that, Jasmine had run away. Bringing an end to any talks about the two of them being married.
For several years, there was not a signal sign of Jasmine's whereabouts, but just a few months ago, she had returned.
Obviously, Bastion attempted to inquire about Jasmine and hopefully begin talks about their betrothal again.
He had just recently become the third youngest senator in Azade's history. Which he figured would give him an even greater leg up than he had previously and would make him a more desirable match than any of the other suitors that had been pining for Jasmine.
But when he had reached out to Regina to inquire about this, he had been flatly rejected.
She had told him that her daughter had already found someone that she loved and that the two of them had received her approval.
Without even acknowledging the harm that all of this had done to Bastion, she had ended the brief transmission.
Never before in his life had Bastion been as furious as he had been at that moment.
Jasmine was supposed to have been his. All this time he had denied any other perspective matches since he had been waiting for her to return.
But the moment she did, the door was slammed in his face, and he was told that it was too late.
That was unacceptable. It had not even been one of his rivals on Azade that he had lost to, but a mercenary from the middle of nowhere.
Unable to accept this, Bastion began formulating a plan. He would expose Avery Asteria as the swindler that he was and win Jasmine back to his side.
Things had not been going too well at first, since he was unable to spread his message effectively, but a more experienced collaborator had offered his assistance around two months ago.
With a more senior senator backing him from behind, Bastion had been able to make far more progress in his efforts.
It had seemed that he had almost brought Avery's image down to rock bottom. Public opinion had been swayed exactly as he wanted.
But now, everything was unraveling after just a mere two days.
"This doesn't make any sense. I paid off so many reporters and even bought an entire news station just to bring that guy down. So why are they all talking about what a great man he is now." Bastion growled as he skimmed through the headlines of the current most popular stories going around Azade.
It did not take him long to figure out how Avery Asteria's image had shifted so quickly.
He had apparently been going around the world and offering opportunities and information to less fortunate children.
Of course, that by itself would not have been much of a big deal.
This was an obvious stun to create some positive coverage of himself.
Had he just been promoting his own business, then it would have been easy to spin what he was doing into trying to capitalize on the desperation of underprivileged children.
However, he had brought along the Keepers of the Peace and the Alliance Police. Both were quite popular since they were the ones actively keeping the public safe from external threats like space pirates and monsters.
Still, had Avery just been promoting those three occupations, then Bastion could have at least criticized him for trying to encourage kids to join organizations that dealt with a great deal of violence.
Yet, he had somehow roped in the Dramid Alliance greatest hero, Cerise Gunvald, and the extremely popular singer Nianni Taador.
Both of these renown people had vouched for Avery and were participating in his presentations.
Now that was all everyone was talking about, and with two trusted and famous figures backing him, there was doubt spreading about whether Avery really was a scheming villain. The narrative that Bastion had spent months and a ludicrous amount of Krenin propagating.
"I have to contact him and get this all sorted out. There's so little time left."
Bastion grabbed his terminal and fumbled with it for a moment as he nearly dropped it in his haste.
Immediately he pulled up the number of his collaborator and sent a message saying that they needed to talk.
For several minutes, Bastion waited impatiently for a response. Tapping his foot as every second that went by increased his frustration.
Eventually he received a message from his collaborator that they should meet at their usual spot in three hours.
Bastion grew angrier at the delay; he wanted to act immediately. But he knew that the man he was dealing with was not to be trifled with and that trying to push the issue would see him most likely being cut off from the support he had bene receiving.
"Even if I had the time, which I don't. I wouldn't be able to find a benefactor with more influence than him. His family held the chancellorship for ten years before Regina took over, and he's been a senator for over forty years and is one of the senior members. With his help, I can still turn this around." Bastion mumbled to himself as he tried to calm down.
Eventually, the time came for him to head out, and he bored his personal ship. Not taking anyone along with him as that was one of the conditions for whenever he met with his collaborator.
Upon arriving at his destination, Bastion headed inside a discreet building that looked completely ordinary from the outside.
On the inside though, the space was filled with high-quality furniture and refreshments.
Naturally, it was also equipped with the best security systems and anti-eavesdropping devices that money could buy.
For a clandestine meeting between the rich and powerful, there were few better places on Azade.