Once Avery made his way back to where the mining vessels he was assigned to protect and the other two mercenaries were keeping guard, he found out that their situation was not an isolated incident.
Most of Dirluc Mining's teams had been assaulted by a coordinated attack by space pirates at nearly the same time.
This had kept reinforcements from converging on any one area and was the reason why no one ever showed up to help Avery and the two mercenaries with him.
Fortunately, they had been able to repel the attack without any casualties, but the same could not be said for the other teams.
Nearly a fifth of the mercenaries hired by Dirluc Mining had been killed, and without protection, the workers followed.
Despite the majority of the pirates being destroyed or repulsed, it was still a major lose of forces and manpower.
To the point that Dirluc Mining would need to suspend operations for a couple of days and reassign their mining personnel and the remining mercenaries under contract.
"Where are all of these pirate scum coming from?" Avery muttered as he read the reports that had been sent out.
Naturally, the mercenaries and private security that Dirluc Mining employed had skills and equipment several tiers above what the majority of pirates did.
That meant that the outlaws' only way to beat them was through sheer numbers.
From what Avery was able to piece together, over six hundred space pirates had participated in the raid. That meant this was not the work of a small or even a medium sized group. It was practically an infestation.
"It's been about twenty-five years since there was pirate activity in this sector. There's no way that it's a coincidence."
Avery put what Urs had taught him to good use and quickly sorted through the massive amount of data he had downloaded onto the Dauntless' computer.
Normally he only focused on what was happening within the solar system and surrounding areas, but this time he was searching farther afield.
Space pirates were typically simple creatures. They congregated in areas for only a few reasons.
"Looks like my hunch was right. Three territories not too far from here recently cracked down and mostly eliminated the pirates that were causing them trouble. I'd bet the survivors all assembled near the Yuson System." Avery mused.
Urs had told him that no matter how thorough a space pirate extermination was, a few always managed to slink away and cause trouble elsewhere. Sometimes this simply led to the problem moving elsewhere rather than truly being gone.
Still, there would need to be some reason for them to have come this way. Space pirates often were not the sharpest bunch, but at least some of them needed to have a certain amount of intelligence to keep their operations from collapsing from the inside.
While he continued to wait for his new orders from Dirluc Mining, Avery looked through every bit of information that he could to determine the recent influx of pirate activity.
He figured that the current large group that had formed was almost certainly a merging of the ones from nearby systems that had been recently eliminated, and the ones that had already been around.
Within the vicinity of Avery's home were several mining operations taking advantage of the asteroid fields that were rich in valuable metals, as well as industries that collected the rare gases found in the surrounding nebules.
Other than that, there was not a great deal of activity happening in the solar system as it lacked any habitable planets or attractions that would attract visitors. It was simply a place where resources people needed were collected. Nothing more, and nothing less.
"This might explain it."
As Avery sifted through the information he had, he came across an article talking about the movements of the Alliance's forces within the system. If what he read was to be believed, around fifteen percent of the vessels and troops normally stationed within and around Yuson had left and no replacements had arrived to take their place yet.
This left the entire sector with less protection than it normally had. And space pirates were very keen on locating places that were not as well guarded.
Avery was hoping to figure out the reason why this relocation had occurred, but there was nothing but speculation. It was impossible for him or any of the other masses living in the Alliance to understand what the powers at be were up to.
"Then there's also the fact that Dirluc Mining has been targeted twice now by pretty brutal raids. From what I can tell, neither of the three other major operations have been though."
Obviously, whenever pirates attacked there would be all manner of chatter about it. Most people wanted to steer clear of places where they might suddenly be killed or kidnapped.
Except, try as he might to find something, the only incident's involving space pirates pertained to Dirluc Mining, and merchant companies they usually did business with. All of it was enough to make someone believe that it was a targeted attack.
"If I can figure this out though, I'm sure that plenty of others can as well. Still, knowing the right information can help keep you alive. I should definitely keep all of this in mind and look into it more when I return to Yuson II."
It was around the time that Avery finished up his investigating that Dirluc Mining's upper brass had finally come to a decision on what they should do.
Usually, they had several teams out mining in the asteroid field that was under their jurisdiction to collect the different types of metals needed to fill the orders they had accepted. However, in light of the current circumstances, they were going to have to slow down their operation and keep all of the personnel concentrated in one location at a time.
By doing this, they could keep all of their assets together and make it far easier to respond to any future attacks. There would no longer be any weaker forces to exploit.