Avery chased down the fleeing pirates and easily gunned another three down with his heavy laser cannons.
One of the pirates, having forgotten to turn off his wideband communications screamed, "I don't want to die. I don't want to die." Over and over again.
It was almost enough to make Avery feel a bit bad for them. Almost.
Still, no matter how much space pirates screamed and wailed when they were about to get killed, it did not change the fact that they were scum willing to commit the worst atrocities imaginable for profit or pleasure.
The one screaming for his life had a fourteen thousand Krenin bounty on his head. There was no way that he earned this without having killed dozens of people. Never once having shown them any mercy.
So, Avery was not going to hold back either. Trying to sympathize with these types only led to them getting away and harming more people.
With only seven of them left, the remining space pirates really started to panic.
The formation they had been flying in before completely broke apart, and each of them started going in separate directions. Hoping to be one of the lucky few to get away.
A couple of them seemed to be heading back towards the direction of where the miners were to attempt to act as bait. However, Avery simply ignored them. The other two mercenaries still in the area would be able to deal with them, and Avery was sure that they would enjoy taking the easy bounties.
"This is as good a time as any to test out the auto turret." Avery mused.
So far it was the last weapon other than the torpedo launcher that he had not used yet outside of simulated training.
The ammo was expensive since it fired anti-force rounds at a fast clip, and there was little satisfaction in using it since it worked completely autonomously without Avery needing to do anything but designate targets and let it fire.
Of course, that meant it was more prone to being disrupted by items like decoy beacons and chaffs. Though the sensors onboard the Dauntless were more than good enough to see through whatever countermeasures most pirates might use.
From the top of the ship towards the stern, the auto turret rose up and began swiveling around as the computer took aim.
All of the pirates started moving more erratically and activating protective measures when their sensors picked up on the Dauntless' latest weapon, but it was already too late.
The electromagnetic launcher started firing off projectiles at a rapid pace towards the pirates.
All of them did their best to dodge, and admittedly most of the shots missed since while they were moving fast, it was far slower than lasers which traveled at the speed of light.
Nevertheless, it only took a single bullet hitting to punch straight through the pirates' shields and cause major damage to their vessels.
Then after a single hit, many more came and obliterated the disabled crafts.
It did not even take half a minute for the auto turret to finish up the few remaining pirates and leave their ships riddled with holes.
"Okay, I've marked all of the ones that I took out. I'd better head back and make sure that everything is okay before looting them all."
With the threat eliminated, Avery turned his vessel around and flew towards where the mining vessel and other two mercenaries were holed up.
When he arrived, he found the two pirates that had slipped away from him already destroyed and floating around as space debris.
"Dude, I didn't know you were that good. I almost didn't believe my sensor logs when I read 'em. How the hell did you do that?"
"Yeah, it's hard to believe that you're a two star like us. We're no slouches, but you just took on twenty-one space pirates and trounced them without taking a hit."
The other two mercenaries started raving about Avery's show of power and expertise. What he had just displayed was certainly far above what the average mercenary of their rank could.
Avery's first thought was to be humble and downplay his achievements. He was not the most braggadocios person to begin with. Until recently he was pretty much at the bottom of the food chain out in space.
Still, Urs had hammered into him that mercenaries needed to be boastful when they accomplished a real feat. Humbleness was often looked down upon more as arrogance.
"Well, those pirates were nothing compared to the four star rank advancement program. They moved so slowly, and their weapons could hardly be considered a threat. It was obvious that I could take them down without breaking a sweat." Avery said.
"Wait, I just remembered. Aren't you the kid that Urs has been training. Wow, I guess that's what instruction from a high ranker and a good ship can do."
Instead of feeling envious, the other two mercenaries seemed to appreciate Avery's efforts.
While he was retired, Urs currently was the highest ranked mercenary in this system. He was practically a legend in this sector and a lot of younger mercenaries looked up to him. Though, no one ever seemed to want to approach him thanks to his massive frame and intimidating air about him.
Just by having studied under him, Avery received a small portion of the recognition Urs had built up.
After talking with other mercenaries for a few minutes and assuring the miners of their safety, Avery headed back towards the pirate ships he had downed to collect any valuable loot that was in the vessels' cargo holds.
"Looks like I destroyed a lot of the stuff, but there are some things worth grabbing.
Avery mapped the best path to go to hit the wreckage of each craft and then let the computer do the rest.
When he would pull up next to one of the pirates he had taken out, the Dauntless would stop and release a half dozen collection drones.
"They certainly move a lot faster than the cheap ones I used when I was still a salvager." Avery said, marveling at the advanced drones going to work.
It took him less than an hour to fill up his own cargo hold with all manner of items. From weapons that were still intact, to cases of sealed alcohol. Anything he could sell for a decent amount of Krenin was coming back with him to Yuson II.