Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

The two people that had accompanied Zefield both turned towards Avery when he asked for their names.
Neither of them said anything, but their boss spoke up for them.
"Petris, Trisrora. They’re both my trusted lieutenants."
Now having learned their names, Avery nodded his head towards the two of them.
They nodded back in acknowledgement. Yet, they both remained silent and seemed to want to avoid eye contact with Avery.
’I wonder if they are even less sociable than Zefield is?’ Avery thought after seeing Petris; and Trisrora’s reactions.
Petris was the male Vensian, while Trisrora was clearly a woman who was of mixed heritage that Avery could not place.
Still, he mostly wanted to know their names to make it easier to look them up. It would have been harder to figure out who they were just based off of their appearances since Zefield and those working with him avoided the limelight despite their skills as mercenaries.
’Hm, I wonder...’
Suddenly having an idea, Avery activated his ability that allowed him to perceive the flow of energy.
Zefield had brought Petris and Trisrora along to this meeting for some reason, and Avery had an inkling as to why.
When he opened up his sight for just a moment, he saw it. What looked like little strands elongating from Petris’ body.
The man was the same species as Nianni, and it seemed that his unique racial ability went beyond communicating with plants as well.
Whatever it was, his power was far weaker than Nianni’s, but Avery believed that he could get empathic readings from people within close proximity to him.
To test this, Avery turned his thoughts back to his honeymoon with Kasandra and Jasmine. Focusing on when they had been intimate together.
Almost immediately, Avery got the reaction that he was looking for.
Petris looked at him with wide eyes for a moment, before turning away wearing a clearly embarrassed expression.
The Vensian man may not have been capable of reading minds, but he had picked up on the emotions behind Avery’s thoughts.
’Well, that explains why Zefield brought him. He would be able to tell what our general reactions to most things are even if we didn’t show any emotion on our faces. That’s pretty useful for meeting with people for the first time. Trisrora on the other hand, doesn’t have any particular energy coming off of her from what I can tell. She must have been along for another reason.’
Avery felt satisfied that he was able to determine what one of Zefield’s lieutenants was capable of.
They were certainly not enemies, and Avery found it unlikely that they ever would become hostile towards each other. Still, he thought it best to be aware of what Zefield and the people working for him were capable of. Just in case.
With that, the meeting came to a close and Avery and Kasandra went their separate ways from Zefield, Petris, and Trisrora.
Once he was certain that they were far enough away, Avery asked Kasandra if she had noticed anything with her acute hearing.
"Not really. Zefield never lied, and his two companions just sat there calmly for the most part. His two companions seemed to get a bit nervous when you asked for their names, but I think that was more out of shyness rather than because they have something to hide." Kasandra said, having assessed things similarly to Avery.
He told her about the ability that Petris had, but she did not seem too surprised. Compared to what Nianni was capable of, his power was pretty tame.
"Perhaps such psychic abilities are more common among their people than we know. It’s known that they have a unique characteristic to communicate with plants already. Maybe that is only the public story though. I could see it being possible that more Vensians have the capabilities to affect other people with their powers than we think. They just don’t want everyone else to find out."
This sounded a bit like a conspiracy theory to Avery, but he could not outright deny the possibility.
Nianni and Petris might have just been incredibly special outliers among their species. Or potentially, psychic powers beyond just speaking with plants may have been more common than the Vensians let on.
"It’s an interesting theory. Although not one we could probably ever prove." Avery said, shrugging his shoulders.
He then turned the conversation towards something more pertinent to them. They had a long expedition that they needed to prepare for. One where they would be leaving the confines of civilized space. That meant that they needed to gather up plenty of supplies for the coming journey during the next few days.
However, someone aboard the Intrepid had other plans for Avery. And now that she was ready, she was not going to wait any longer.
"My lab is finally set up the way that I like it. I’ve got everything that I could possibly need for a thorough examination prepared. It’s time that you hold up your end of our deal. I did uproot my entire life to join your crew, so you owe me at least this much."
When Doctor Raiti ambushed him almost as soon as he got back onboard, Avery looked towards Kasandra pleadingly for help. He had agreed to let Mercedes examine him because it added a capable specialist to his crew, and since he was curious about the changes going on with his body.
Nevertheless, he did not want to go through with it right now. Not when his focus was on the important assignment they had just agreed to.
"Don’t worry, I’ll handle your share of the work. Just consider this as part of your duty as captain of this ship." Kasandra said with a smile. Cutting off any hope he had of escaping.
After Avery’s sudden brain damage during their battle with the corrupt Alliance Police officers, she and Jasmine had both held some lingering worries.
Avery had explained everything he knew about himself and his mother to them during their honeymoon, but that had not assuaged all of their concerns. They wanted Avery to get examined by Doctor Raiti as soon as possible just to make sure that there were not any hidden problems that a typical medical pod could not detect.