Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

With the information on their enemies and objectives disseminated, and everyone’s roles in the mission decided on, the meeting came a to a close.
Avery, wanting to make a good impression and be an amicable host, offered to bring anyone that wanted to along to the officers’ lounge for a meal and refreshments.
This was a bid to show off how amazing his new ship was and get on the other upper ranking mercenaries’ good sides.
Regrettably, most of them declined and headed back to the hangar to leave.
Among those who stayed though, we’re the three people that Avery was most interested in making connections with. Those being Zefield, Tuuali, and Quokka.
Nali had also stayed behind, but Avery got the impression that they were not likely to get along. At best, he could expect indifference from her.
She was a loner type that did not want to be beholden to anyone but herself for the most part. That was pretty obvious from her personality and the fact that she worked alone.
It was likely that she was only here because she was offered a load of money and a seven star mercenary like Zefield was the one that had reached out to her.
’There is one thing that I want to talk to her about. And I think Ezra is on the same page as me.’ Avery thought, glancing up at his second-in-command who was occasionally looking in Nali’s directions.
Without a doubt she knew Urs back during his days as an active mercenary.
Seeing as how their mentor had never mentioned her to either of them in the stories he had told about his own adventures, she likely knew things about Urs that had either slipped his mind, or he did not want to talk about.
Perhaps they should have respected his privacy, but Avery and Ezra were curious, and the topic would likely serve as a good way to build up a rapport with one of the pricklier members of the expedition force.
"Wow, this place is so spacious and clean. Are you sure this isn’t a luxury cruise liner?" Tuuali said, half enamored, half teasingly.
There was a bit of a stereotype that all mercenary vessels were rugged and dirty.
With bottles of alcohol all over the place and the smell of drugs wafting through the corridors.
Naturally, there were some that lived like this. Case in point, Kaiden’s old ship back when he was still a solo pilot.
Still, there were plenty of mercenaries that would rather live in a clean and comfortable environment. This became more common the larger the spacecraft and the higher one’s rank went up.
When they reached the officers’ lounge, the visiting mercenaries were practically stunned into silence.
The room was fairly large, capable of holding around two hundred people.
There were tables with chairs set up in one section of the room where people could eat meals provided by five top-of-the-line autochefs.
As for the rest of the space, it was filled up by sturdy but comfortable furniture, with a beautiful conservatory filled with ornamental plants that people look at through glass windows or walk inside of if they so wished.
This had been something that Jasmine had asked for, and a lot of the others had jumped onboard when they heard about the idea.
It gave the ship a bit of nature that people could escape to whenever they wanted. And while the one here was something only for officers, there was another one on the ship that the entire crew had access to. The only real difference between the two was that the open one was a bit larger and filled with cheaper and easier to maintain plants.
"Yep, we’ve been bamboozled. This is definitely some sort of luxury passenger vessel."
After Tuuali broke the silence, the other mercenaries began clambering as they walked inside of the lounge.
This room certainly was grand for something found on a mercenary ship.
Typically, every bit of space would be taken up by necessities, and any extra features for entertainment or relaxation would be few and far between.
However, the Intrepid was massive compared to most other mercenary ships. Giving it some room for things like the officers’ lounge
Certainly, Avery could have gotten rid of every facility meant for recreation of he had wanted to. The Intrepid’s cargo space would have vastly increased if he had.
But that would have been the only perk. Even after all of the advanced systems Avery wanted had been installed onboard, there had still been ample room left to work with.
He figured that having a happier crew would be far better overall than more room for storage. If they were content with their living conditions, they would work better. That was basically a proven fact.
Whenever a crisis did come up, Avery would rather have a fully refreshed crew than one that was already haggard by constrained living conditions.
Of course, some people would say that he went overboard with some of the luxuries. There was a fairly sizable pool on the ship which was practically unheard of. Though Avery had justified it since the pool also served as a part of the vessel’s cooling system.
"Damn, that’s good! I can’t believe this thing is using the same food capsules. These aren’t even the fancy kind."
"These pancakes are so fluffy. How does it do it?"
"That was amazing. I think that I want to live here from now on."
The high quality autochefs received rave reviews from everyone, with the only ones not showing any outward surprise being Zefield and Tuuali.
While the mercenaries present likely had better than average model autochefs, they probably had not upgraded in a while. Once food quality reached a certain level, people kind of stopped caring about going higher unless they were a gourmand.
With the Intrepid being a new ship though, Avery had gone for the absolute best for the officers’ lounge.
The five autochefs in the room were all part of Koken Industries latest platinum line. Each with their own specialization that they made best.
This put them two tiers above the one outfitted in the Dauntless which was already pretty high-end.
When Nali was look pretty content after eating her meal and was sipping on some beer that had been provided, Avery and Ezra headed over and sat down across from her.
Naturally, the two of them asked about Urs, and being in a good mood Nali answered without any resistance.
"We met a long time ago. Urs was just starting out as a rookie with his first ship, and I had just been promoted to three star. I’ll spare all of the superfluous details, but needless to say, we ended up hooking up." Nali said rather bluntly.
Avery choked on his drink when he heard this, and while Ezra hid it well, he was a bit uncomfortable hearing about his uncle’s past relationship.
Nali, being over ninety, and having been a mercery for a long time, was not meek in the slightest as she recounted her time with Urs to his two students.
"That was a long time ago though. I haven’t seen him for decades now. Not since he broke up with me and vanished."
Both Avery and Ezra tensed up as they sensed hostility coming from Nali. It seemed that after all of these years, she might have still been sour about Urs ditching her.
"I’m sure that one of you probably knows where he is right now. I think I might go pay him a visit after this job." Nali said, making her intentions clear.
"That sounds... nice. But what might you be planning to do with him once you see him again after all this time?"
Avery responded diplomatically so as to not get on Nali’s bad side and hopefully find out what her intentions were.
At this point, he wished that he and Ezra had not approached her.
What both of them had thought was that she was someone that had just worked with Urs before. Not that she was an old flame of his that seemed to have ended on bad terms. Which was probably the reason he had never mentioned Nail to either of them.
"Hm, I’m still undecided. But I’m wavering between jumping his bones again or killing him." Nali said in a completely serious tone.
Avery and Ezra now realized that they had really made a mistake. Instead of hearing some interesting or funny stories about their mentor, they might have inadvertently drawn the attention of a crazy ex-girlfriend back towards him.
"If that’s the case, then I don’t think it’s a good idea we tell you where my uncle is." Ezra said firmly.
There was now an awkward, if not dangerous air between the three of them, so Avery faked getting a message on his terminal, and said that there was important business that he and Ezra needed to take care of.
Soon, the small after meeting reception wrapped up, and the visiting mercenaries headed back to the hangar and boarded their own vessel.
Avery could already tell that he had made a good impression on most of those that had stayed.
Showing people a good time was a quick way to improve relationships.
It was possible that things could become very dangerous where they were going, and at least some of the others might be more inclined to give their best effort protecting the Intrepid now that they had gotten a taste of what it had to offer. Something they could look forward to getting more of whenever they stopped by for maintenance or repairs during the mission.