"We’d be happy to stick around and guard you, but our services aren’t for free. We’re mercenaries after all." Avery replied to the small convoy’s leader.
He did not receive a particularly enthusiastic response and the woman on the other end told him that she needed to confer with the other captain’s first. The damage to their vessels from the pirates was already going to be costly to repair. Losing too much more money might put them in the red.
"Are you sure we can’t just help them out? That’d be the right thing to do." Jasmine said, her sense of justice from when she was still a member of the police as strong as ever.
"That would certainly be nice, but it’s not good for a mercenary to give their services out for free. We fight for money, plain and simple. If we went around trying to help everyone we found in an unfortunate situation, we would just exhaust ourselves and our resources."
Kasandra’s blunt but logical refusal was difficult for Jasmine to argue against. Still, this was Avery’s ship, so she looked to see if he had a different opinion.
"I’m sorry Jasmine, but I mostly agree with Kasandra. Still, that doesn’t mean I’d abandon someone if they were in danger right before my eyes. I may not be trying to be a hero, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a time and place for heroics."
To try and appease his kindhearted crew member and lover, Avery thought up another way to get compensation from the cargo ships they had saved from pirates.
Eventually he came upon a good idea when he glanced at the destroyed vessels the outlaws had been piloting.
The one major flaw with his, Ezra, and Kaiden’s vessels was their lack of cargo space. Something had to be sacrificed for their powerful weapons and high maneuverability.
Even when they downed a bunch of pirates, they were forced to leave most of the salvageable equipment behind.
Before the merchant captains finished working things out amongst themselves, Avery contacted them and presented them with his offer.
Of course, if all of their cargo holds were full it was going to be a moot point. But as luck would have it, they had dropped off goods in another system prior to this one and had about twenty percent of their available cargo space open.
"Got it. Then in leu of payment, if you’ll store and sell some of the goods and equipment from the pirates we took down for us, we’ll consider that payment enough."
Avery received heartfelt thanks from the merchants for this generous offer and told him that they would be more than happy to repay the favor in the future.
With that deal worked out, Avery, Ezra, and Kaiden got to work using their collection drones to pick up the still intact weapon system, shield generators, air filters, and other valuable goods from among the wreckage.
Since these pirates were packing better than average gear, it was certainly more valuable than what they normally might get. They would be looking at an extra few hundred thousand Krenin at least.
Eventually, some Alliance Police vessels came by to investigate and tow the merchant convoy back to Phregon III.
Their commander thanked Avery for his service and happily accepted some of the data caches that they had harvested from the pirates. With any luck, they might be able to locate a nearby outpost and eliminate it with the information
However, the series of events was not going to turn out well for everyone. The five mercenaries that had abandoned their clients were going to take a big hit paying for breach of contract and a drop in their reputation.
In the worst case, they might even be kicked out of the Mercenary Association. Though this was often only used as a last resort, since former mercenaries that could no longer find work often became pirates themselves.
"Well, that was certainly worthwhile, but it’s not time to rest on our laurels yet. We’ve still got a job to do, and far too much space to cover." Avery said, piloting the Dauntless back into the asteroid field so that they could continue with their mission patrolling the area.
After two weeks of hunting space pirates and protecting the vessels the outlaws were going after, the contract Avery’s group had signed came to an end.
During this period, the five of them took out what felt like an endlessly spawning wave of pirates.
No matter how many they eliminated, more seemed to take their place the very next day. Too many of these outlaws had been drawn in by the heavy traffic of valuable goods coming to the Phregon System. They were like certain animals that were attracted to shiny objects and could not resist their instincts even when they knew there was danger afoot.
"So, what was our total kill count?" Avery asked while they were heading back to Phregon III.
"Looks like between you, Ezra, and my brother, we took out three hundred seventy-eight. As for individual kill counts, Ezra got the most by a slight margin at one hundred thirty, we took out one hundred twenty-seven, and Kaiden eliminated one hundred twenty-one."
While there was some variance, the three of them had gotten around the same number of kills. Proof that they were able to work well together and possessed similar levels of skill.
’I’m glad that I decided to split our pay based on a percentage. We’re all the type to go crazy to get more kills ourselves if it meant more money.’ Avery thought, a wry smile forming on his face.
Had each of them only been receiving the bounties from the pirates they personally took down, it was obvious what would happen. They would end up fighting each other rather than cooperating.
Of course, there were downsides to the way they were distributing pay. If one of them slacked off, they would still be getting the same percentage. Fortunately, none of them were the type to do so. In some ways, they were still competing with each other to prove who was the best.
Avery, Ezra, and Kaiden all had strong personalities. Each of them wanted to prove themselves to the others. They worked together but were also rivals. Avery knew that if he let his skills slip, one of them would take the position of leader from him by force if they felt it was necessary.