Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

The roar of multicannons resounded as Avery sliced through the dozens of tendrils reaching out for the damaged cargo vessels that the pirates had very nearly hijacked.

They were without any shielding and their main thrusters had been disabled. Leaving them with only sub thrusters and attitude adjustment thrusters to maneuver with.

This made each of the ships too slow to avoid the attack by the giant space monster that somewhat resembled a jellyfish.

"Looks like the multicannons work well, but our sole laser cannon didn't do anything."

Avery had fired all three of his primary weapons at the Jallla, but as expected, its body was highly resistant to lasers. Somehow it was able to absorb and disperse the energy of the blasts throughout its entire body to prevent the normally intense pinpoint damage that such weaponry produced.

Fortunately, the multicannons were effective, so Avery simply disabled the laser cannon to conserve some power.

"It's starting to build up a massive amount of energy." Kasandra warned as the console in front of her displayed the disconcerting sensor data.

Soon sparks of electricity arced visibly across the space monster's body. When feeling threatened, Jallla's used this bioelectricity as a powerful weapon.

Hoping to disrupt it, Avery unloaded into the center of the creature's body with his multicannons and fired several shots with his plasma launchers towards its tendrils.

Yet, with the Jallla's massive frame, it soaked up the damage that Avery was dishing out through sheer vitality.

Their lack of complex organs meant that they effectively had no weak points, and the only way to bring them down was to cause such extensive wounds that their body could no longer function.

"Discharge imminent!"

Kasandra's voice had a tinge of worry in it as the Jallla prepared to release its attack. It probably would not be able to get through their shields in one go, but they would not get away completely unscathed.

However, the bigger concern was the cargo vessels they were trying to protect. Jallla's were not particularly diligent about their aim and would fire their electrical discharges in wide sprays that hit everything the general direction.

With their shields down and parts of their hull already damaged from the pirates, there was a very real possibility that taking such a highly charged electrical attack would kill everyone onboard the four ships.

Twisting the Dauntless around, Avery sent full power to the thrusters and activated the booster to increase acceleration rapidly.

Since the Jallla perceived him as the only threat, it focused its attack on the Dauntless which was now shotting off in the opposite direction.

Normally it would be considered contradictory to fly away from the target one was trying to protect, but this was a rare situation that called for such a maneuver.

A burst of lightning that would put even the most intense storms to shame chased after the Dauntless.

At Avery's instructions, Kasandra fired off the stern scatterguns at their max rate of fire to try and redirect some of the discharge.

Utilizing every bit of his enhanced speed and processing ability, Avery maneuvered his ship to lessen the coming impact as much as he could.

Without using the Dauntless' light speed drive though, it was impossible to stay ahead of the lightning coming towards them for long.

Warning alarms started blaring through the cockpit, and the meter on the screen in front of Avery displaying the shield's current capacity was cut in half in an instant.

Nevertheless, they survived the attack and had managed to get by practically unharmed.

"All systems are still fully operational, and there isn't any damage to the structure or hull. Our shields managed to absorb everything." Jasmine said, having already prepared a diagnostic before the attack even hit.

While their defenses had been a bit weakened, the Dauntless was still able to operate at full capacity. Thus, Avery turned around and dove back into battle.

After such an intense discharge of bioelectricity, the Jallla was moving more sluggishly. It took a lot out of the creature to release so much energy at once, and it certainly was not going to be able to do so again any time soon.

"I received word from the four cargo vessels. Some of their secondary systems got fried. Luckily their life support and artificial gravity generators are still working. A few people got shaken up, but no one is dead or seriously injured."

Avery felt relieved to hear Kasandra's report. It meant that the maneuver he had just pulled off had been worth it.

"Okay, time to finish this." Avery said, a confident gleam in his eyes.

Turning the Dauntless around, he charged directly towards the giant space monster that had been making the battle more chaotic.

The Jallla had been slowly reaching out towards the cargo vessels with more of its tendrils, but a quick burst of multicannons fire tore through its appendages.

Noticing that the Dauntless was back, the immense creature spread out all of its remaining tendrils in front of it in a defensive and intimidating manner.

This display was almost comical to Avery. His ship was already several times smaller than the Jallla, yet it was still trying to make itself look bigger as an instinctual means of protecting itself.

In response, Avery merely unloaded into the center of it with his plasma launchers and multicannons.

Taking the fierce assault, the Jallla tried to close its tendrils around the Dauntless, but its movements were too slow, and Avery easily slipped away from every one of its attacks.

What made Jalllas so dangerous was their powerful bioelectricity, and the fact that they were normally found in large groups that would surround and destroy their targets.

Against only one that had already exhausted itself by discharging most of its built-up energy, there was absolutely no way that Avery was going to lose.

Eventually the giant and hardy beast went completely still. After being riddled with thousands of bullets and dozens of balls of plasma, it had finally reached its limit.

"All life sign readings have ceased. No doubt about it, that thing is dead." Jasmine said, making doubly sure after completing an extensive scan on the Jallla's body.

This news brought a smile to both Avery and Kasandra's faces. Both of them were thinking the same thing. That they had just gotten three hundred thousand Krenin richer.

Once the three of them had made sure that there were not any other threats nearby, Avery followed Kasandra's directions towards the next battlefield that was in need of assistance.

On the way, Avery asked Jasmine for an update on what she had found out about the rest of their team.

"They seem to be currently locked in a pretty intense battle of their own. I didn't receive a direct response from Ezra or Kaiden since they're the only ones aboard their ships, but from captain Olivia's vessel, I received a short transmission back from Havanna who is currently working commutations."

It turned out that the rest of Avery's team was off on the other side of the current conflict battling it out in the largest battle between dozens of Jallla's and hundreds of pirates.

Of course, the greatest number of mercenaries were also involved in this fight, and the Alliance Police had even recently showed up to help quell the pirates. Meaning it was not an area particularly lacking in manpower where Avery's presence would help out.

"We'll just have to meet up with them once this is all over. Let's focus on what we can do and earn some Krenin while helping out those that are struggling." Avery said encouragingly.

Jasmine responded affirmatively and enthusiastically, and Kasandra nodded her head in agreement. There were not many people that would have a problem with doing some good and bringing in a lot of money at the same time.

However, it seemed that a certain group that was up to no good and only after their own gain was going to be making a nuisance of themselves.

They had noticed that Avery was both bold and powerful, and any pirates he threw himself at quickly had their entire formation disrupted. Perfect for them to swoop in and rack up some easy kills.

Several times the same twenty mercenaries that had shown absolutely no regard for their fellow mercenaries showed up a few minutes after Avery arrived and would clean up any of the pirates.

Of course, they still did not take any precautions and had hit the Dauntless several times with their weapons. Leaving Avery, Kasandra, and Jasmine angry and frustrated. They had been forced to use one of their shield cells because of them, and had they been flying a weaker craft, it was quite likely that depleted shields would be the least of their problems.

"I've marked all of them. When this is over, we're reporting them to the Mercenary Association, once or twice can be considered an accident, but at this point it feels like targeted harassment." Kasandra growled. Her expression conveying that she was fuming right now.

Eventually, the battle did come to an end. All in all, Avery, Kasandra, and Jasmine took out around a hundred fifty pirates and four Jalllas. Counting the extermination reward on the Jalllas, and the bounties on the pirates, they were looking at a bit over two million Krenin in total for the day's work. Not a bad sum everything considered, though they probably would have made more if not for the vultures that had been lurking around them.

"We've also got dozens of pirate vessels that we've disabled that we can't account for yet. Fortunately, some of the cargo ships we rescued are already offering to haul them away for us for free as thanks."

Avery thanked Jasmine for her report and asked her to lay in a course to meet up with the rest of their team. Now that things were finally calming down, it was time for him to retake his place as leader of the group.