Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

Watching the Intrepid unloaded with nearly all of its weapon systems was truly a sight to behold.
Over a hundred blasts from heavy laser cannons and pulse lasers fired at once, followed by a volley of twenty-two high-speed seeker missiles.
The enemy fleet tried to escape by going to light speed, but it was too late for that.
They found that an error occurred as soon as their light speed drives attempted to generate the necessary energy field around their ships. Courtesy of the Intrepid’s field disruption projector that was meant exactly for scenarios like this.
The first wave of lasers reached the vessels before their crews were able to recover from the shock of being unable to jump to light speed.
Some of the smaller and already damaged ships were unable to withstand the attacks and their shields were breached and their main thrusters damaged to the point of being inoperable.
Only a few of the spacecraft were outright destroyed though, as the Intrepid’s barrage had been spread out among all of them rather than focused.
It was at this point that the enemies began to panic and lost all semblance of a formation.
Each one of the vessels split off and attempted to escape in different directions.
Perhaps this was a coordinated effort on their part to make it more difficult for the Intrepid to target them, but to Avery, it just seemed like they had all become frantic to try and get away without putting much thought into it.
Another round of lasers hammered into the now scrambling fleet, and the first volley of missiles was finally closing in.
The seeker missiles quickly locked onto the nearest ships, and while they shot down a little more than half of the missiles, the rest impacted into five different craft and caused major damage to them.
Burst of light and explosion continued for around another minute and a half before the Intrepid finally let up.
Every one of the enemy fleet’s vessels had now been either disabled or destroyed. There would not be any more threats or resistance from them now that they had been reduced to such a pitiful state.
"It looks like the idiots are ready to talk now. They just sent over their terms for surrender. With the only condition being that we spare the lives of those who are left and provide medical attention for their injured." Jasmine said, relaying the message that had just been sent to the Intrepid by the lead ship that was just barely still intact.
This had not come from the fleet commander though, but instead one of their lieutenants. Apparently, the man in charge had taken his own life when it became clear that they were not going to be able to get away.
"What a coward." Avery said, shaking his head when he heard this news.
"Send back that we accept their surrender. Prepare to send out teams to collect the survivors and secure the vessels that are still partly functioning.
"Oh, and make sure that they know if even one of them acts out, we won’t show any mercery to the rest of them. They attacked us unproved after all. We could easily just kill them all and be done with this and no one would bat an eye. They’d better be grateful that we’re giving them a chance at all."
Avery’s words might have seemed a bit callous, but he cared far more about his crew than he did some thugs that had tried to attack them.
If it came down to getting rid of every single one of the surviving enemies or letting a single person under his command die, he would not hesitate to eliminate them all.
Fortunately, no one put up any resistance, and over the next hour, the entirety the surviving enemies were brought over to the Intrepid and detained.
Normally, Avery would have quickly decided on his company’s next move, but currently they were under contract with Zefield. That meant, he needed to get input from Tuuali who was here as a representative before doing anything.
"This has all become one big headache. I thought that I would be able to relax and enjoy a little vacation for a couple weeks." Tuuali grumbled now that a mountain of work had landed on her plate.
They had already been delayed by the battle, but now the aftermath was going to take far more time to deal with.
It was technically possible to bring the slightly more than three hundred people they had captured along with them and take the vessels that could be salvaged into the Intrepid’s hangars while leaving the rest behind.
Still, this would lead to problems later and put a strain on the Intrepid’s supplies.
Avery had prepared plenty of food and water for a long-term mission, but he still did not want to have to care for hundreds of prisoners for an extended period of time. Especially when their destination was such a dangerous place swarming with space monsters.
"It will probably cost us an extra five or six days, but I say that we head back to the Ainelou System and drop them and their ships off there. We can then bring a few of the trusted merchants your team has waiting there along with us to replenish the supplies the rest of our forces will use while waiting for us."
While Avery’s suggestion was sound, Tuuali frowned when she heard it.
Making everyone else wait potentially another six days would put the entire operation way behind schedule.
That meant more money, and Zefield was likely to take a hit to his reputation. Neither of which Tuuali wanted.
There was also another reason that she was hesitant.
"I don’t think that things will go well for us if we return now. Captain Finral who’s in charge of the Alliance Police in the Ainelou System might not be a completely lawless asshole, but he is definitely a snake. As soon as we try and hand over our prisoners, he’ll stick his head in our business and try to keep us there as long as possible."
"He’ll probably also insist on sending Alliance Police along with us under the guise of offering protection just so that he can learn our routes. I can already imagine what sort of pain it will be dealing with him. Plus, it will give our competitors more time to set up another ambush for us." Tuuali said, wearing an uncharacteristic look of frustration on her face.
They certainly were in a difficult position. Cleaning up after the battle was proving to be more difficult than the fighting itself. Though, that was really only because no one from Avery’s side had died and only a few of their vessels has suffered major damage.
Eventually, Tuuali came up with a solution to most of their problems.
It would not conclude everything perfectly, but the plan of action she had decided on would get them moving again in just two and a half days.
"I’ve sent out a message to our support team waiting in the Ainelou system. They’ll be heading over her as fast as they can. When they arrive, we’ll hand over the captured ships and their crews. After that, we can head on our way."
However, in the meantime, Avery’s team was stuck where they were waiting.
Still, that would let them do some repairs on the remains of enemy fleet so that they would be easier to move and sell for a bit more.
Avery’s company was promised thirty percent of the profits from the sale, while five percent would go to Zefield. As for the rest, it was going to the merchants that Zefield had hired as supporters who were on their way to pick up the ships.
"There is still one thing I’d like to do before we hand the people over. We still don’t know who they’re working for." Avery said.
"I’m sure that the police will get that out of them. There’s no need to trouble ourselves with an interrogation. Is there?"
Tuuali did not look enthused by Avery’s idea. It would mean more work and possible complications in the future
Neither she nor Zefield were the vengeful types, and so long as the problem was resolved, that was all that mattered.
The timing was also inopportune, to say the least. They were busy with a massive job that was going to take a long time. That left them without the resources to be worrying about striking back at whichever competitor had targeted them. They could leave that to the authorities.
Avery was not of the same opinion though.
He wanted to know who had it out for them.
When it came to those that threatened his crew, he could be quite vindictive.
"It’s possible that there are other ambushes waiting for us ahead. And it will make me feel better if I know exactly who the bastards that did this are." Avery said a bit forcefully.
Seeing that she was not going to change his mind, Tuuali finally agreed to assist with the integration. Although she had been hoping to be enjoying the facilities aboard the Intrepid, her position meant that she could not just leave this business completely in Avery’s hands.
"Once this is all over, I’m seriously going to relax."
Hearing Tuuali’s muttering, Avery smiled and said, "I’ll make sure to have the best my ship has to offer ready then. I can’t fail to meet the expectations of an important guest."
As they left the office they had held their meeting in, Avery contacted Ezra and asked him to identify and separate the leaders of the enemy fleet. If anyone among them was to know anything, it would be them.