Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

Once they had gotten into position, Avery, along with his parents escorting him, walked into the area that was set up for the ceremony.
There were rows of fine chairs set up that had hundreds of guests sitting in them and waiting with rapt attention.
Among the group, Avery did not know most of the people and had only been introduced to them earlier today.
They were members of Azade’s upper echelon that were here primarily because they had been invited by Regina. Ultimately, she was just showing off her daughter’s wedding to them.
Fortunately, there was one section that was filled with those that Avery was well acquainted with.
His entire team was here and were seated in the first few rows on the right side of the aisle.
As he passed by them with his parents on either side of him, Olivia and Liesel smiled and waved at him, while Kaiden just bobbed his head in acknowledgement.
Ezra on the other hand was standing up on the stage off to one side.
He had taken the role of Avery’s best man. Something that was popular on Azade that arbitrarily had the groom assign a special role to a close friend.
Considering that Ezra was the second in command of the group, Avery figured that he would be best fit for the role.
Kaiden had been a consideration, but his personality was not really suited to the position.
When Avery moved up the first step of the slightly raised stage, the second induvial that was already up there came into view.
Wearing a light green dress that looked great on her, Nianni stood towards the back of the stage with a small floating sphere a few centimeters away from her face.
This served as a high precision microphone to pick up her voice and project it over the entire room.
She was already singing a traditional Azadian wedding song that was often played as the wedding party entered.
Naturally, with someone as famous and talented as Nianni singing, there was no one in the room that looked bored.
Some even looked to have already fallen into a sort of trance-like state as they listened and became drawn into Nianni’s psychic ability that she was unconsciously using.
After he had gotten up on stage and taken his own position, Avery nodded towards her in acknowledgement, and she smiled at him.
Feeling a bit nervous, he turned around and looked out at the crowd.
There were a lot of eyes on him, and for just a moment he almost felt like shrinking away.
This was the first time he had been in a room with so many individuals focused on him.
Certainly, during the competition in the capital system he had far more people that had been watching his every action, but that had not been in person. A trillion people watching him over a transmission was far less nerve racking than the crowd in front of him.
Luckily, he locked eyes with his parents who had just sat down after escorting him, and they gave him reassuring looks.
Calming down a little, Avery tuned out most of the people and only focused on those he knew.
There was Burke sitting next to his trusted adjutant Victoria Werta, Havanna and Rorson bickering with each other next to Olivia’s lieutenant Langdon, and the dozens of other members that had joined Avery’s mercenary team as he traveled across the Dramid Alliance.
Seeing them all sitting there, it really hit him just how far he had come in what felt like such a short amount of time.
The first nineteen years of his life had not been particularly notable.
He grew up in an average family, went to school, and was planning on pursuing a specialized field.
It was a common story throughout the entire galaxy, but the accident that had nearly killed his father had changed the trajectory of his life forever.
At first it seemed like everything was breaking down around him. Yet, as if to pay him back for all of his bad luck at once, he had found the Dauntless.
That was the second turning point in his life after his father’s accident. With the acquisition of that single ship, everything had changed.
Avery could not say that every moment had been positive, but he felt satisfied and fulfilled by his current life.
’I mean, I get to travel across the stars and see so many amazing sights. And now, I’m getting married to the women that I love today.’ Avery thought, feeling a warmth building up in his chest.
It was not much longer before Jasmine entered with her mother and Kasandra beside her.
Though he had already seen her in the dress earlier, Avery thought that Jasmine looked more beautiful than ever right now.
Perhaps it was her makeup or the way her hair was styled, or maybe it was just the obviously romantic setting.
As Jasmine approached, the song Nianni was singing shifted and Avery felt his heart beating faster.
The fact that he was really getting married was really dawning on him.
’Now that I think about it, she was the first person that I met after getting Dauntless. On that day, I never thought that I’d end up marrying the police sergeant that had come to collect the evidence on my vessel.’
Avery felt nostalgic as he thought about the past. It all seemed so far away even though it had only been a little over a year.
"You look as dazzling as all of the stars in the night sky combined." Avery said after Jasmine took her position across from him.
Obviously, the sudden complement caught her a bit off guard for a moment, but she smiled and a few tears trickled down her eyes a second later.
"And you’re the most handsome and wonderful man I’ve ever met or will."
Jasmine wiped a few tears from her eyes as she responded.
Her intent got across to Avery. Making the emotions he had already thought were as strong as they could be go up another notch.
He had to hold himself back from pulling Jasmine into his embrace and kissing her right then and there.
’It’s not called a ceremony for nothing. I’ve got to keep myself under control and followed the proper steps.’ Avery thought, impatiently waiting for when he and Jasmine were official pronounced husband and wife.