The arrival of their reinforcements served as a signal to the remaining pirates skulking about the numerous moons.
Practically all at once, the hundreds of remaining vessels came to life and barreled towards the gap in the Alliance Police's blockade.
"Sh*t. We're in their path!" One of the mercenaries that was part of Avery's squad shouted over the comms.
Indeed, the majority of the pirates were rushing towards them like a river that had just burst free from a dam. The area that they had been searching through was almost directly in front of where the blockade had been broken.
This left them nowhere to retreat to. Behind them were the pirates outside reinforcements, and closing in on them was a wave of desperate outlaws hellbent on escaping. Obviously, they would blow away any mercenaries that they came across.
'It's not looking good. We can't go back. Those large and medium transports ships that have been outfitted with tons of weapons will fry us. Ahead and to the sides are pirates making their way towards us. And I doubt we can expect help anytime soon from the Alliance Police or other mercs in all this pandemonium.' Avery thought, analyzing his sensor data and trying to find the best way out of the mess.
As powerful as the Dauntless was, it was still only a single small ship. He would be blasted to pieces if he tried challenging the thirty-five large and medium crafts blocking their escape. Even if they were simply souped-up civilian transports.
Perhaps if he tried using some of the other mercenaries in his squad as diversions, he could get away, but doing so would leave a bad taste in his mouth.
"There's no way we can try and get through the pirates' reinforcements while the Alliance Police are regrouping. Our best bet is to stay and fight."
Despite so many pirates closing in on them, Avery figured it would be easier to take them on. Most of the remaining ships that their enemies had were small and quick. Those more confident in their firepower had attempted to break through during the first battle.
It was also likely that at least some of the pirates would not stop to fight them. While the help they had received from outside the system certainly constituted a powerful force, it would only take the Alliance Police a few minutes to rearrange the blockade and send in a suppression squad to eliminate the interlopers.
In that time, the pirates needed to make their escape, or another chance would be unlikely to present itself.
Fortunately, the other mercenaries accompanying Avery quickly grasped this as well. They were among the best in the Yuson System, and their ability to calm down despite the initial panic showed their experience.
"As much as I hate to do it, we should let the pirates pass by without a fight if they don't want to bring one to us. If we position ourselves here, we'll have a moon to our backs and be off to the side of the route leading out. Should we get attacked, this will give us the best position to defend ourselves." Kaiden said, swiftly suggesting a plan of action.
Without much time to deliberate, everyone agreed. He and his sister were famous in the system as rising star mercenaries. No one had the tenacity to argue with him in the current situation even if they had complaints.
Of course, it was difficult for all of them to simply let the pirates pass them by. It was their job to take them out after all.
Nevertheless, desperate times called for desperate measures.
It was not long after they took up positions that the first wave of pirates reached them.
Naturally, they already knew that the mercenaries were there, since all of them had their ships running at maximum power and their weapon systems armed and ready.
This served as a threat to the pirates. If they wanted to attack them, then they should be prepared to be met with fierce resistance.
"Looks like they're going by." Avery said, discontent visible on his face.
He was grateful to not have been pulled into a fight where he would be in serious danger, but it was difficult to watch the criminals they previously had on the ropes getting away.
Still, not all of the pirates showed as much concern for their own self-preservation as the first group to fly by.
A band of over sixty with another eighty not far behind soon came close.
This time however, around eighty percent of the pirates broke off and headed directly towards where Avery and the members of his squad had positioned themselves. There was no way that they were going to pass up such a golden opportunity to get revenge on some of the mercenaries that had destroyed their cushy base and killed their comrades.
Avery took a deep breath to calm himself. Panicking would only slow him down and make his decisions less precise.
"I don't particularly like using it, but now's not the time to be holding back."
The auto-turret he usually kept on standby sprang to life, and Avery had his heavy laser cannons, plasma launchers, and rear scatter guns primed and ready.
A few moments later, the first pirates came into range, and he and the other mercenaries opened fire.
Lasers and solid projectiles went flying from both sides like a heavy downpour.
With their lesser quality ships, the pirates lost several of their members during the opening barrage.
But those that were destroyed were quickly replaced as more closed in on the area.
Soon there were simply too many for the mercenaries to keep up any semblance of a formation, and the battle devolved into a chaotic mess as the pirates swarmed the fifteen enemies standing against them.
The current situation Avery found himself in matched or possibly even exceeded the stress he had felt when undergoing some of the truly nasty training programs Urs had put him through. Never before had he worked his minds and hands so fast to avoid enemy fire and attempt to shoot back.