Once the shimmering glow of hyperspace surrounded them, the tension that Avery and Kasandra had been feeling vanished in an instant. Both of them slummed back against their chairs as if a string that had been keeping them pulled taught had been cut.
After a truly harrowing battle that easily could have turned deadly, they had managed to make their escape.
"I don't ever want to go through that again." Avery said as he released a heavy sigh.
"Seconded." Kasandra replied, nodding her head in agreement.
With the recent pirate extermination, this marked the second time they had to fight off a horde of enemies while under heavy fire.
Only this time, there had been no allies or backup to help them out. Things really had been quite dire for a bit.
There was also the giant energy lifeform still skulking about the Prazan System to worry about. A creature like that could not just be allowed to stick around.
Even if it was in an area of space that hardly saw any traffic, there was no telling what might happen in the future. It was possible it might eventually make its way to the Yuson System and cause havoc there.
"Kasandra, how do you think the Alliance Police are going to respond? I don't really know much about how they deal with those types of monsters." Avery asked, wanting to pick his companion's brain since she had more experience than him.
"I've never had to deal with energy lifeforms before, so what I know is all secondhand, but I imagine that they will try to form a strike team immediately to go and hunt down that big one we saw. I can't be sure, but I think that one is classified as a queen. It can create more of those small and medium sized ones we fought by splitting off parts of its body. So even though we wiped out a lot of them, if it's left alone, it will continue to propagate."
Hearing this explanation only caused Avery's expression to sour further. That monster was a ticking timebomb that could turn into a massive threat if given enough time.
However, the only direct path from the Yuson System to the Prazan System was accessible to small craft. The Alliance police only had a few light fighters that had hyperdrives installed. Most of their limited smaller ships were docked in their heavy cruisers and were lacking certain systems that were taken care of by the mothership they typically resided in.
"Do you think that they're going to ask us to immediately turn back around to fight alongside whatever forces they can put together?"
"I'd say the odds are likely. Especially considering how well we fought without even having effective weapons against energy lifeforms. When the Alliance Police can put together a strike squad, they're probably going to want us to be a part of it."
Avery had already figured that this would be the case. Since the Alliance Police had limited personnel within their own ranks that they could mobilize to deal with this threat quickly, it was obvious that they would seek more forces from the mercenaries currently in the Yuson System.
Fortunately, there was still a sizeable amount hanging around after the large raid on the pirates. In a couple more weeks most of them would likely move on to places that had more work, but now, the majority of them were enjoying their recent influx of cash.
'I don't want to fight those things again, but I'll almost certainly have to.' Avery thought, envisioning the request from the Alliance Police that was certain to come.
Naturally, he had the right to refuse. He was an independent mercenary after all. However, doing so could end up coming back to bite him in the future.
The Alliance Police were the organization that sent the most requests to the Mercenary Association, and typically the jobs they offered had the best terms and pay.
Getting on their bad side by refusing a direct request was an easy way to lose out on a good source of Krenin.
And Avery was under no illusion that anyone in the Yuson System possessed a better small vessel than he did. There was practically a one hundred percent chance he was going to be asked to join the assault force to take out the queen energy lifeform.
Still, if he was asked directly, that meant he had more bargaining power. He could set better terms with the Alliance police for a bigger payday, and possibly some other benefits.
"Kasandra, want to help me brainstorm what we should ask for?"
An almost devious look on her face, she helped Avery come up with concessions that the Alliance Police would need to agree to if they wanted the two of them to head back and fight that monster.
When the Dauntless finally exited hyperspace back into the Yuson System, Avery immediately sent a transmission to the Alliance Police.
At first only a low-level grunt responded, but when he explained that he had just come back from investigating the Prazan System and sent the data of what he found over, he heard the man on the other side splutter and say that he needed to speak to his superior.
As Avery closed in on Yuson II, he finally received a reply after waiting for a bit longer than fifteen minutes. It apparently had taken a while to get someone high enough rank on the line.
"This is Deputy Chief Ikla. I just want to make sure first, that information you sent was not some sort of joke, right?"
Avery was surprised to hear that it was the top officer in the system that had responded to his transmission, but after considering the gravity of the situation, it made some sense.
"I'm afraid that it's completely accurate. We saw it with our own eyes, and neither I nor my crewmember have the skills or a reason to falsify the data."
"I see. Well, good work. Your pay for this mission will be fully processed in two days. And we'll likely have another request for you soon. Stay on standby until then."