Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

The next few days went by slowly for Avery.

After the incident during the final event in the competition, the next two days had been almost entirely dedicated to interviews with the Alliance Police and assisting with the investigation.

Obviously, Avery handed over all of his ship's sensor logs and answered any questions that were asked of him, but he was periodically brought in to talk with people of rising status within the Alliance Police.

Someone higher up must have thought that he somehow obtained foreknowledge of what was going to occur, citing his rescue of Nianni Taador and his miraculous infiltration of the enemy command ship.

Apparently, there were those unwilling to believe that Avery had merely gotten caught up in all of this due to mere coincidence. They felt he must have been involved somehow.

Of course, they did not outright say it, since he was the person that had assisted heavily in thwarting the criminal activity that had taken place within the competition.

What they wanted was for him to slip up while answering questions and reveal something that he was hiding.

He had felt like this was going to go on indefinitely, until an unlikely savior came to his rescue.

Having been sent in undercover, now that her mission was over and she had given her report to her superiors, Cerise had been reinstated with her old position as a commander of the Alliance Police.

Near the end of the second day of questioning, she personally dropped by and proclaimed that Avery had done exemplary work and deserved some rest now.

This had been her way of telling the officers trying to get him to admit to some connection to the criminals to back off.

Fortunately, this support meant the end of the Alliance Police's suspicions.

However, there were still other troubles that Avery had to deal with.

The very next day, the four remaining competitors were brought in to discuss how the competition was going to be settled.

Naturally, it was impossible to determine who the true winner would have been considering what had happened during the final event.

Reporting on the issue had also gone in the direction that Avery had suspected.

The Dramid Alliance was covering up the attack and claiming that the loss of the broadcast and four competitors was due to an unfortunate accident.

It was being stated that a devastating crash occurred when Jack Huxley's vessel went out of control, and that onboard Jack's ship there were phasic torpedoes that went off. With the large blast having been responsible for cutting off the live recording and also killing Atlas, and the seventh and eighth ranked competitors.

To those that had been there, this was such an obvious lie that it was almost preposterous that anyone would believe it.

Yet, wielding the vast authority of the Alliance Police and central government, this was what most networks were reporting without any suspicions.

Of course, there were those that were skeptical, but they were in the minority and did not have any proof of their claims.

Everyone that had been there kept their mouths shut at the request of the Alliance Police. No one was going to risk angering the powerful organization by spreading contradictory statements from what the official story was.

Now Avery was sitting at a table across from the other competitors and high-ranking members of the corporations that they represented.

Being one of the two that had sponsored him for his position, and knowing the costs involved in everything pertaining to the competition, Dorris was here to get everything that she could for Storren Corp.

"Clearly Cerise Gunvald was going to win. Ravasz Dynamics took her as our representative partially at the behest of the Alliance Police Chief. I believe that the contract should be awarded to us."

"Don't try and spin a narrative that suits you. Before the interruption, Avery here had the best score during the last event. He easily could have taken first place. Plus, he proved the capabilities of our vessel in live combat. Even a light cruiser class ship was taken out by him." Dorris said, attempting to counter the executive from Ravasz Dynamics.

"I think you are the one wanting to change the story to suit their desires, Dorris. Our Star Road Enterprises ship was just as involved in that incident, and our pilot, Liesel Kaizer, showed exemplary skills as befitting someone from her family."

The executive from Star Road Enterprises made sure to put emphasis on Liesel's name and momentarily glanced over at the head of the organizing committee for the competition.

In attendance were also a few captains, commanders, and a single vice chief of the Alliance Police.

They had been the ones that had been chosen as the final judges that would have awarded bonus points at the end to their favorite ships.

Despite everything that had gone down, it had been decided that the Alliance Police's provider for a new fleet of small ships would be chosen between Ravasz Dynamics, Storren Corp., Star Road Enterprises, and De Vlak.

Right now, the Majority of the Alliance Police's vessels were on the larger side to deal with other hostile powers that boarded them.

In a large-scale war, it often came down to who had the bigger guns.

Yet, during this time of relative security, where only the occasional border skirmishes happened with their neighbors, more domestic criminal elements were becoming a greater problem.

Pirates, smugglers, and others of their ilk typical hide in places difficult for anything larger than a corvette to reach.

Advanced smaller ships capable of patrolling these types of areas were a necessity at this point. At least so far as the Alliance Police were concerned.

They had been using mercenaries to make up the difference in their forces, but that was proving to not be enough as of late.

The criminals had been becoming more organized as of late, and it was apparent now that there was something sinister at work in the underworld of the Dramid Alliance.

"Okay, would everyone just calm down." The head of the organizing committee said as the meeting devolved into an argument between the four corporations' representatives.

The pilots may not have been advocating as devotedly as the executives with them, but all of them but Cerise were trying to state the case for why their vessels should be chosen.

Cerise, for her part, seemed mostly disinterested.

She had joined the competition solely because it was a mission signed to her.

Even if she ended up in command of versions of the small vessel chosen today in the future, she would have no real complaints about any of them.

All of them had impeccable specs and would be good enough for the job they were meant for.

This was much to the chagrin of the Ravasz Dynamic executive, but he continued to try and push through that his company's ship should be the winner and that they should receive the contract.

Eventually, the discussion came to end.

Obviously, none of the corporations involved were going to back down and the decision would be made by the Alliance Police officers and the head of the organizing committee.

"So, who do you think that they're going to pick?" Liesel asked Avery while they were waiting for the announcement to be made.

"I can't be certain. But I think it's probably going to be Ravasz Dynamic."

Avery momentarily glanced towards Kasandra as he responded.

She had been keeping her ears open and listened to the breathing, heart rates, and whispering of the Alliance police officers on the judging panel.

From what she could tell they were definitely most impressed with the ship Cerise had been piloting.

Most likely there was some bias considering what an important figure she was within the Alliance Police, but that was just how things were sometimes.

"I see. Well, I was hoping it would be Star Road Enterprises since it would look good for me, but I think I'll be able to get ahold of something better from all of this in the long run." Liesel said, smiling mischievously at Avery.

Seeing this, he felt a shiver run down his spine.

He was not sure of what Liesel's intentions were, but he was far more worried about what she planned to ask of him now.

Kasandra for her part glared at Liesel and her ears were pointed up straighter than usual and her tail had puffed up and was swishing around in agitation.

Clearly, she was more wary of Liesel than anyone else.

"Oh, there's no need to react like that. I don't have any untoward plans for Avery. I'm sure that we'll both be able to benefit."

Before Avery of Kasandra could respond, a member of the competition staff came to retrieve them.

The judging panel had apparently made their decision.

Once everyone had returned to the meeting room and sat down, the only vice chief of the Alliance Police stood at the front of the room and announced which corporation would be receiving the contract to build a fleet of new small ships.