Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

"How did this end up happening?"
Avery had expected that the meeting between the leaders of the mercenary groups that Zefield had hired would have either been on the nearby station, or his vessel.
Yet somehow the location had ended up being Avery’s carrier ship instead.
Certainly, it was by far the largest craft among everyone that had gathered and had the best accommodations. Still, it came as a massive surprise when Zefield had said everyone would be coming over.
Naturally, Avery could have refused if he really wanted to, but that would have hurt his standing among the other mercenaries.
Out of everyone here, Avery’s company was the only one that had never worked with the legendary seven star mercenary that had earned the nickname Fiend Hunter for his work hunting down the most dangerous space monsters in the Dramid Alliance.
Obviously, having the meeting on the Intrepid was something Zefield, or perhaps more likely Tuuali, had set up so that the others would become more accepting of Avery and his team. They were going to be instrumental during the operation considering what the Intrepid’s role was.
"To think that we would need to host so many high-ranking mercenaries as soon as we arrived. This job really is going to full of hardshi- I mean interesting and enlightening experiences." Avery said as he walked down the Intrepid’s halls with Jasmine on his right, and Ezra to his left.
He had left Kasandra in charge of the bridge and brought Jasmine along with him since she insisted it was her turn since he had taken Kasandra with him when originally meeting with Zefield.
Ezra had come along as his number two and to serve as an imposing force.
While Avery was strong, his outward appearance was still only that of a handsome young man of average human height and build.
When meeting with other mercenaries, it was important to project strength. Something that Ezra did just by existing.
So, if everyone knew that he followed Avery, it would serve to boost his own appearance.
Truly, this was a bit contrived, but the worst thing for Avery in this situation was to be looked down upon. He was the newest attention to the expeditionary force, and he had only been a mercenary for a bit over a year despite having already reached the five star rank.
It was important that he projected an image of strength right from the onset.
"I think that Zefield arranged it this way so that the others could see the Intrepid and know not to look down on us. There is a bit of a bias among some mercenaries that those that buy bigger ships are trying to compensate for their lack of skill. But that’s obviously not the case with you, Avery. Otherwise, I never would have decided to follow you." Ezra said, wearing a stoic expression as always.
Soon the three of them reached the conference room that was in the process of being set up.
A couple of the rank-and-file members of Avery’s crew were rushing around, making sure that there were proper refreshments ready and that all of the systems were fully operational.
Naturally, no one else from the other mercenaries groups had arrived yet, but Avery needed to be there first to greet everyone.
"Kasandra just sent us an update. Seems that the leaders of all of the top groups are approaching and will be landing in the hangar soon."
Avery nodded his head at Jasmine and recalled the names of the leaders of each group.
Only those of five star or higher were going to be attending the meeting.
The handful of exponential four star mercenaries that Zefield had hired were going to be left out. It seemed that they were not going to be allowed in any input. Simply put, they were just extra fighters expected to follow orders.
Some systems did not even have active four star mercenaries operating within them, so it certainly went to show how powerful a seven star was that he could treat them like extras.
Avery took the seat at the head of the circular table in the room. He may not have been leading the meeting since that was Zefield’s role, but this was his own ship. He could not give up a position of authority on it to anyone.
Eventually, the first five star mercery arrived.
He was a half human, half breolese.
This gave him light blue skin and striking golden eyes.
There was some webbing between his hands, though not enough to be particularly effective. A characteristic of his Breolese heritage.
The man and his adjutant glanced at Avery, but they did not say anything. Instead, they quietly followed the crew member that led them to their seats and sat down.
’He must be Derenkai. From what Kasandra sent me, he leads a team of thirty-nine other mercenaries. His main focus is on hunting space monsters for corporations that use their materials for development and research. When there aren’t many space monsters around though, he apparently operates as a guard for merchants.’
Avery definitely thought that Derenkai was worth getting to know, but before he could think about approaching the guy, the next mercenary arrived.
This time it was a sole human woman who had brought no one along with her. She was apparently a rare five star mercenary that worked completely alone like Urs had before he retired.
She looked like she was in her forties, but apparently, she was actually over ninety years old and had been a mercenary for more than half a century.
Her name was Nali, and she had fiery read hair and a long scar over her left eye.
Her aura was truly on another level, and she gave off a remarkable level of intimidation.
More five star mercenary leaders continued to arrive, but they lacked the presence of the first two.
However, someone that garnered everyone’s attention soon made her appearance. The only six star mercenary that was part of the forces Zefield had gathered.