Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary
Author: MegaC
Chapter 473 Days of Endless Battles (4)
As soon as the phasic torpedo left the Dauntless’ launcher, Avery jerked on the controlled and flipped the ship around.
At full speed he shot away, knowing that he needed to put some distance between him and the target to escape the explosion of his own weapon.
To make sure that he landed a hit, he had gotten as close as he could to the Volmargar and used the Dauntless’ momentum to help propel the phasic torpedo faster than the propellant inside the weapon would normally send it.
This was all necessary to make sure that the monster did not use its combustible liquid to set off the explosives in the missile early.
Avery wanted a direct hit so that it would be certain that the enormous creature and the other monsters around it would be destroyed.
Fortunately, his bold strategy had paid off.
The Volmargar was too slow to get its massive frame out of the way, and it was not able to spew out its signature attack and ignite it on time.
When the phasic torpedo made impact, it immediately erupted in a blinding blast.
The radius of the attack was far reaching, and along with the Volmargar and the Hinvieners around it, dozens of the nearby Fluem were caught up in the explosion and were either killed or heavily injured.
With so much damage caused to the space monsters’ side, they were unable to recover again and were swiftly exterminated.
Within around forty minutes, the last one was killed, and the area was devoid of any other hostile creatures. All that was left were thousands of corpses floating around lifelessly.
It was a bit or a morbid sight, but none of the mercenaries offer and ounce of remorse to the creatures that they had killed.
This was a war against them. And considering that there were nine casualties during the fight, it would be difficult to find anyone that would spare pity for the monsters that were designed to be weapons.
"Are you sure that you wanted to use something as expensive as a phasic torpedo? This job is paying well, but our ammo costs aren’t being covered." Kasandra said, having established a transmission link with Avery so that they could talk to and see each other on their ship’s viewscreens.
"Yeah, if it’s just one or two, I can eat the cost without issue. The squad assigned to hunt the Fluem already took some losses, and I didn’t want the fight to drag on any longer and risk one of our own going down."
In such a fierce battle, it was only expected that some people would fall. Still, that did not make it any easier.
The people that had died all had friends among the other merceries here, and their losses would have an effect not only on the strength of their forces, but on the morale of those that were still alive.
Nevertheless, heavy feelings were not something that could hold mercenaries back for long. They lived hand in hand with death, and there was still much work to be done.
There were far too many space monster corpses to collect all of them, so only the best samples were gathered while the rest were destroyed.
Leaving the bodies around would just allow the other monsters in the system to feed on them. They had already noticed cannibalistic behavior from all five types of space monsters in the system.
Though, they would only eat the dead. Not once had they been observed attacking a living member of their own species or of any of the others.
Most likely this was leftover programming from when they were originally developed as weapons.
They were not allowed to fight each other, but any corpse was just food to be used to continue fueling the living. A brutal, albeit practical way to use any creatures that fell in battle.
Avery wondered who or what exactly the people that had once lived in this system had been fighting against to want to develop these biological weapons in the first place.
However, there were no signs of anything beyond the ruins of a civilization that had once stood on the only habitable planet in the system.
If there had been another intelligent species that the people here had been fighting, they were either long gone now or had been wiped out by the space monsters as well.
’I suppose it is more likely that it was some kind of civil war though. Different sides fighting each other for control of the planet and system. And ultimately, they ripped each other apart until no one was left. But I should leave finding out that kind of stuff to the anthropologists that will come after we clear out the space monsters.’
Avery really was curious about the circumstances that had brought this system to where it currently was.
A den of vicious space monsters, devoid of the people that had once called the place home.
Sadly, he had very little time to think about such frivolities.
Another message came through around two hours after the battle he had joined had ended.
The front against the Hinvieners was being pushed back this time and they were requesting assistance.
Most of the Fluem hunting squad was in no shape to offer aid right now, as they barely had enough people to hold their own position while the wounded people and damaged vessels were sent back to where the Intrepid was to get fixed up.
"Looks like its up to us again. Who knew being left out of any of the main squads was going to keep us this busy." Avery said with a sigh.
He had figured that his team would mostly just be waiting around the Intrepid and would get called out only occasionally.
But he had needed to continue mobilizing all of those under him practically every day since the first.
"That’s just how it goes sometimes. Think about it this way, though. The more these monsters throw themselves at us, the easier it will be once they’ve exhausted their numbers. In a few days, we may just be sitting around with nothing to do while everyone else has to scour the system."
Avery smirked and scoffed at Jasmine’s optimistic viewpoint. Something in his gut told him that the fighting was not going to be ending anytime soon, and that it was only going to continue to get fiercer.
At full speed he shot away, knowing that he needed to put some distance between him and the target to escape the explosion of his own weapon.
To make sure that he landed a hit, he had gotten as close as he could to the Volmargar and used the Dauntless’ momentum to help propel the phasic torpedo faster than the propellant inside the weapon would normally send it.
This was all necessary to make sure that the monster did not use its combustible liquid to set off the explosives in the missile early.
Avery wanted a direct hit so that it would be certain that the enormous creature and the other monsters around it would be destroyed.
Fortunately, his bold strategy had paid off.
The Volmargar was too slow to get its massive frame out of the way, and it was not able to spew out its signature attack and ignite it on time.
When the phasic torpedo made impact, it immediately erupted in a blinding blast.
The radius of the attack was far reaching, and along with the Volmargar and the Hinvieners around it, dozens of the nearby Fluem were caught up in the explosion and were either killed or heavily injured.
With so much damage caused to the space monsters’ side, they were unable to recover again and were swiftly exterminated.
Within around forty minutes, the last one was killed, and the area was devoid of any other hostile creatures. All that was left were thousands of corpses floating around lifelessly.
It was a bit or a morbid sight, but none of the mercenaries offer and ounce of remorse to the creatures that they had killed.
This was a war against them. And considering that there were nine casualties during the fight, it would be difficult to find anyone that would spare pity for the monsters that were designed to be weapons.
"Are you sure that you wanted to use something as expensive as a phasic torpedo? This job is paying well, but our ammo costs aren’t being covered." Kasandra said, having established a transmission link with Avery so that they could talk to and see each other on their ship’s viewscreens.
"Yeah, if it’s just one or two, I can eat the cost without issue. The squad assigned to hunt the Fluem already took some losses, and I didn’t want the fight to drag on any longer and risk one of our own going down."
In such a fierce battle, it was only expected that some people would fall. Still, that did not make it any easier.
The people that had died all had friends among the other merceries here, and their losses would have an effect not only on the strength of their forces, but on the morale of those that were still alive.
Nevertheless, heavy feelings were not something that could hold mercenaries back for long. They lived hand in hand with death, and there was still much work to be done.
There were far too many space monster corpses to collect all of them, so only the best samples were gathered while the rest were destroyed.
Leaving the bodies around would just allow the other monsters in the system to feed on them. They had already noticed cannibalistic behavior from all five types of space monsters in the system.
Though, they would only eat the dead. Not once had they been observed attacking a living member of their own species or of any of the others.
Most likely this was leftover programming from when they were originally developed as weapons.
They were not allowed to fight each other, but any corpse was just food to be used to continue fueling the living. A brutal, albeit practical way to use any creatures that fell in battle.
Avery wondered who or what exactly the people that had once lived in this system had been fighting against to want to develop these biological weapons in the first place.
However, there were no signs of anything beyond the ruins of a civilization that had once stood on the only habitable planet in the system.
If there had been another intelligent species that the people here had been fighting, they were either long gone now or had been wiped out by the space monsters as well.
’I suppose it is more likely that it was some kind of civil war though. Different sides fighting each other for control of the planet and system. And ultimately, they ripped each other apart until no one was left. But I should leave finding out that kind of stuff to the anthropologists that will come after we clear out the space monsters.’
Avery really was curious about the circumstances that had brought this system to where it currently was.
A den of vicious space monsters, devoid of the people that had once called the place home.
Sadly, he had very little time to think about such frivolities.
Another message came through around two hours after the battle he had joined had ended.
The front against the Hinvieners was being pushed back this time and they were requesting assistance.
Most of the Fluem hunting squad was in no shape to offer aid right now, as they barely had enough people to hold their own position while the wounded people and damaged vessels were sent back to where the Intrepid was to get fixed up.
"Looks like its up to us again. Who knew being left out of any of the main squads was going to keep us this busy." Avery said with a sigh.
He had figured that his team would mostly just be waiting around the Intrepid and would get called out only occasionally.
But he had needed to continue mobilizing all of those under him practically every day since the first.
"That’s just how it goes sometimes. Think about it this way, though. The more these monsters throw themselves at us, the easier it will be once they’ve exhausted their numbers. In a few days, we may just be sitting around with nothing to do while everyone else has to scour the system."
Avery smirked and scoffed at Jasmine’s optimistic viewpoint. Something in his gut told him that the fighting was not going to be ending anytime soon, and that it was only going to continue to get fiercer.