"That's really Cerise Gunvald." Avery mumbled in disbelief.
She was one of the greatest Alliance Police heroes of the current age. Truthfully, her exploits might have been some of the greatest in the entire history of the Dramid Alliance.
Dealing with deadly space monsters, crushing some of the largest and most organized pirate bands, and turning back invading enemy forces, she had done it all. And often with less forces than her opponents had.
Cerise Gunvald was both famous for her skills as a commander and a pilot. Though, she was known to fly a personally modified Alliance Police Corvette rather than small ships like the ones currently being used in the competition.
"This doesn't add up. Why would the Alliance Police let someone like her retire and immediately jump into something ? Also, I feel like she would have instantly realized the true purpose of the second event. There's no way someone of her caliber would have just started aimlessly attacking the ships acting as pirates in that scenario." Kasandra said, just as confused by the situation as Avery was.
Yet as he thought about the inconsistency in her skill level during the second event, he realized that she was the first one to get onto the field and start hunting the faux pirates.
Everyone else joined in afterwards in a hurry because they felt they needed to catch up or be left behind. Well, except for Stifur's pilot Atlas, who took up the correct position from the start.
The two of them continued to talk about the situation, going back and forth on their own theories.
However, in the end, the only real conclusion that they could come to was that there was something else going on in the background of this competition that they were not privy to.
There had been things that were fishy from the start, but the longer things went on, the more dubious the entire competition became.
"I think that I'm starting to hate the capital system. Why do there have to be so many plots and conspiracies everywhere." Avery said while releasing a deep sigh.
Unfortunately, there was little he could do about the schemes going on in the background right now.
Forcefully getting involved was just asking for trouble. Although, he could not allow himself to just remain blissfully unaware either. Getting blindsided by danger was something Avery wanted to avoid if possible and be prepared for if it was not.
"You'll get no disagreement from me." Kasandra said, exaggeratedly nodding her head over the video call. "But at least we can relax tomorrow. And we'll get to see Nianni Taador live. I've always wanted to go to one of her concerts, but it would have meant taking a lot of time off since she always performance in places where there's little to no mercenary work."
Seeing her so giddy for the concert tomorrow, Avery's lips slowly turned up into a smile. Her happiness seemed to have infected him.
'Still, better safe than sorry. It might be time to use some of the special equipment that Grito has been working on.'
While continuing to chat with Kasandra, Avery quickly crafted a message and sent it to Grito. He would be stopping by to grab some things before the end of the day.
"Boss, are we really going through with this?"
"I mean, they did offer us a lot of money, but we're going to end up with some hefty bounties on our heads once we're found out. And what if we get caught before we can leave the system?"
Sitting around a sleek metal table that was covered in acholic drinks and salty snacks, a tall woman with short dark red hair the color of dried blood listened to the whining of her drunk subordinates.
She had to resist the urge to grind her teeth in frustration as the two people across from her, one being a spindly man with a balding head, and the other being a short woman with long brown hair. Complained about their mission.
Normally they were good peons and did what they were told without a complaint, but the moment they got some alcohol in them, the good sense to shut up that they normally had seemed to fly out the window.
After taking a large gulp of the drink in front of her, the woman in charge, Katarina Trix, slammed the glass down and glared at the two troublemakers.
"Listen, we've done a lot worse for a lot less. This is our chance to kiss the stupid mercenary racket behind and score some major positions in another power away from the Dramid Alliance and all of its rules."
"Being mercenaries has only been bad since we got kicked out of the association." The balding spindly man muttered under his breath.
Except, the words that had meant to only been for him reached the ears of his boss.
Having had a bit too much to drink herself, she got up and socked the guy in the face.
"Listen, if you want out, the doors right over there." Katarina said, pointing towards the ship's airlock.
Currently they were out in the middle of space, so what she was really telling the man to do was off himself if he wanted to leave.
"Okay, okay. You're the one in charge. But can't a guy just grumble a bit too himself."
With this violence among their group being a common occurrence, the man got up and headed to the other table where the rest of Katarina's crew were drinking. Downing a few highly alcoholic cocktails to numb the pain in his jaw.
"I get that you're a bit nervous about all of this yourself, but it wasn't necessary to take it out on him like that." The short woman with long brown hair said.
"I'm not in the mood for you to psychologically analyze me or give advice right now Krissy."
Katarina picked her drink back up and drained the rest of its contents.
The apprehension she had been feeling started to melt away as the alcohol made its way through her system.
"All we've got to do is abduct one girl and hand her off to the people that hired us, and then we'll all be set for life."
"When you put it that way, it sounds so simple. But we're not just nabbing a random passerby on the street. We've had to jump through so many hoops just to get to this point. And the risks are still great."
"There's no reason to worry. Our employer wants this done right, so everything's been set up for us. They even got us in this stupid competition despite my record. That just shows how much influence these guys have since they can bend a major corporation to their whim." Katarina said, her confidence bolstered by her drunken state.
"I suppose that's true. And it's too late to pull out now. Still, what do you think they want with her? I guess they could be aiming for some ransom money, but I already feel like they've spent way more on this than they could hope to get back."
"Don't know, don't care. Maybe some really rich pervert wants to lock her up in a cage and have her only sing for him."
Katarina started laughing at this stupid notion, and took a bite of some jerky and washed it down with the most alcoholic beverage left on the table.
Another couple of hours went by as her team drank and ate the night away. A ritual that they almost always did right before a big job. Since their work often was dangerous enough that it could get them all killed, they tended to celebrate beforehand rather than afterwards.
When an alarm she had set while she was still sobber went off, Katarina knew that it was time to wrap things up. She and her crew needed to be in their best shape tomorrow. And that meant trips to the medical pods to flush the alcohol out of their systems.
'Just one more day of all of this and we'll be done with this job and can live the high life somewhere far away.' Katarina thought as she headed to her quarters.
"Commander Gunvald, reporting in, sir."
At the same time that Katarina had been discussing the operation her crew had been hired for, another plot was unfolding behind the scenes of the competition.
The supposedly retired Cerise Gunvald had just connected over a secure line to the Chief of the entire Alliance Police.
He was one of only three people that knew the details of her current mission, and the one giving her orders.
"At ease commander. No need to be so formal when it's just the two of us."
At her superior's directive, Cerise relaxed her posture and sat down. She had no problem with formalities, but she was not so stiff as to force herself when her superior did not care.
"Now, tell me. Have you found anything else relating to your mission?"
"Nothing concrete yet, sir. But I've got my suspicions. I promise that I'll sniff the perpetrator out soon. I'll have more freedom to move tomorrow." Cerise said confidently.