Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

"Huh?"
"What do you mean it’s been resolved?"
Both Avery and Jasmine were surprised to hear from Ciphilolia that the matter concerning Bastion’s sudden arrival had already been cleared up.
However, the expressions that they wore were vastly different.
Avery wore a look of blank shock, while Jasmine was understandably skeptical.
Bastion had come all the way here and garnered support from some of the other senators. Surely, he was up to something. So, it made no sense that he was so readily willing to give up now.
For a moment, Avery wondered how Ciphilolia could have learned this information since she had just been relaying the situation to them.
Quickly though, he remembered that Regina’s trusted aide had an implant in her head that allowed her to receive short-range transmissions directly into her mind. A useful but potentially dangerous device if someone figured out the signal frequency and was able to hack into it.
"Well, it seems that while your mother was trying to cool things down and negotiate with Bastion Cuach, Senator Rowan Listig came over to mediate. Ultimately, it has been decided that Bastion will abstain from the ceremony itself to prove that he is just here to offer his congratulations. But he will be attending the reception afterwards. Of course, Lady Regina had already made sure that he’ll be seated as far away from the two of you as possible." Ciphilolia explained.
This outcome sounded better than the jealous man attempting to ruin the ceremony. He would not see them until after the marriage had been completed. Meaning that hopefully he had truly let go of any aspirations to break the two of them up and win Jasmine over.
Though, they would have to see him during the reception and likely greet him even if only briefly. Just that much was still enough to make Jasmine grumble and complain. This day that was supposed to be special now had a nasty stain on it as far as she was concerned.
Nevertheless, making a bigger deal out of it would just cause her a larger headache than the one she already had.
The politicking on Azade was part of the reason that Jasmine had run away from the planet to join the Alliance Police.
Regrettably, this wedding had dragged her back into that world, albeit temporarily.
With a senior member of the senate like Senator Bruite having brought Bastion as a guest, and another equally if not more influential senator like Rowan Listig mediating, it would look poorly on Regina if Jasmine were to make more of a scene now.
Her mother had gone through a lot of effort to set this ceremony up, so going on a tirade to get rid of one unwelcome guest would cause more trouble than it was worth.
"And there’s really no way we could have him accidently trip down some stairs or fall out a window, right?" Jasmine asked, titling her head back and looking at Avery with a conflicted expression on her face.
"I’m pretty sure that even if we could do so without anyone knowing it was us, people would talk and rumors would spread. This day is about us, so I’d rather forget about him now and let your mother handle it. I’m sure she knows what she’s doing."
"He’ll make things a little awkward during the reception for a couple of minutes at most, and then neither of us will ever have to see him again. Now, let’s sample some of the alcohol that’ll be served. That’ll help take the edge off our nerves."
Pulled along by Avery, Jasmine sighed and pushed Bastion Cuach out of her mind. There was no point on wasting anymore energy on a pest like him.
She would have a bit to drink with Avery and relax for a little while before they needed to get going.
Once about forty minutes had gone by, the two of them went their separate ways to get dressed into their wedding clothes.
It did not take long for either of them to get dressed, and the two of them met back up in the reception area to greet some of their guests.
Fortunately, they had timed their arrival at this moment for a specific reason.
They wanted to avoid being bombarded by important Azadian figures that wanted to talk to them right from the start, so they made sure that someone more important enough to ignore those figures and drew their attention way would be the first person that they greeted.
As soon as she walked into the room, everyone’s eyes turned towards her despite the Avery and Jasmine had entered at the same time. That was just the level of renown and fame that she had. Making her able to draw gazes away from even the couple that were going to be married and should have been the center of attention.
"Nianni, thank you for coming. I know that your very busy and you had to cancel quite a number of things on your schedule to be here." Jasmine said, her lips upturned into a very wide grin.
"I’m also glad that you could come. I know we only became friends recently and haven’t been able to spend a lot of time together, but I’m grateful you could make it."
Nianni smiled and genuinely looked happy to receive such a warm welcome.
"Of course. I wasn’t going to miss this for anything. My managers and some of the executives at the company I work for looked ready to pull their hair out and scream when I said I was going to Azade for a wedding and would need several weeks off. But they saw it my way eventually." Nianni said, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
Later she would tell Avery and Jasmine that she had threatened to lock herself away in her room and not come out until they agreed to let her go. She also claimed that her metal state was a mess since the failed kidnapping and that she would not feel better until she saw her saviors again.
This was obviously a bit childish, and she had exaggerated her distress, but it had worked.
Since Nianni had never been particularly selfish before, and something traumatic did recently occur to her, the people in charge of her schedule eventually gave in and gave her permission to go to Avery and Jasmine’s wedding.
After the three of them had shared a greetings and talked for a around two minutes, Avery finally addressed something that had been on his mind since Nianni arrived.
"And who might this gentleman with you be?" Avery said, glancing up at the more than two-meter-tall man who was standing behind Nianni menacingly.
He was a Bos Therianthrope, and along with his height, his body was noticeably muscular.
The man was not quite at the same level as Ezra who was a bahnen, but compared to a human like Avery, he was huge.
On top of his head were to long horns that curved out of the sides of his head slightly before going straight up.
This, along with the stern expression he wore gave him an imposing impression. It was likely partly due to his presence that no one else had made any moves to approach the four of them.
"Ah, I was so excited to reunite with you two that I forget my manners. This is Beican Riphant. He’s serving as my escort for today. He’s not much of a conversationalist, so I hope you excuse him for not saying anything."
Avery and Jasmine welcomed the man to there wedding, but as Nianni had told them, he did not respond with words.
All he did was nod his head in acknowledgement. All the while keeping a close eye on them as if he was assessing whether they were threats or not.
’He’s pretty strong, and I’m guessing that he’s got a pretty good eye. He’s probably already figured out that Jasmine and I are tougher than we appear.’ Avery thought, understanding what Beican’s glances towards them meant.
Obviously, he was not just here to escort Nianni but also serve as her bodyguard.
Considering the incident that had occurred at the concert venue in the cpatial system, it only made sense that Nianni had someone at the ready to protect her just in case.
She did have a security team protecting her before, but they were all just normal professionals.
Beican was clearly extraordinary. Whatever security firm he had come from no doubt specialized in providing the strongest protectors to high profile individuals. Hopefully his services would not be needed though.
With this wedding taking place with so many Azadian Senators and even the chancellor in attendance, the security was top notch and extensive. Not even a mouse would be able to sneak into the place undetected.
"Well, this has been nice, but I can’t monopolize your time forever. There are others that certainly want to greet you. I think I’ll go an introduce myself to your parents. I’m sure that they’re lovely people just like the two of you." Nianni said before taking her leave.
Now that they were free, more people began making their way over to Avery and Jasmine, but there seemed to be some hesitancy about who would go next.
Soon, one man stepped forward without hesitation.
This was the first time that Avery was meeting him in person, but he had looked him up a couple of hours ago since his name had been mentioned during the earlier Bastion incident.
"It is a pleasure to see you again Jasmine. It has been so long that I hardly recognized you. You’ve grown up into a fine young woman. And you must be the groom, Avery Asteria. I’ve already heard much about you. I’m Rowan Listig, one of Azade’s senators and a longtime acquaintance of Regina’s. It is nice to finally meet the man that she entrusted her daughter to."