Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary - Chapter 352

Chapter 352: Chapter 352 Forced Back
With the destroyer’s shields down, Ezra, Kasandra, and Liesel darted around within close proximity and began eliminating the ship’s weapon systems.

At the same time, Olivia, along with Burke and the top pilots that had once been a part of his company barraged the ship from afar with suppressive fire.

Even with its shields down, the Alliance Police warship still possessed heavy armor that would allow it to continue fighting for a while yet.

One misstep at the very end here could lead to a tragic outcome, so everyone that was a part of the assault kept their vigilance up even as the battle was nearing its end.

‘The other destroyers are still holding their positions to keep squads two and three at bay. We’ve got at least three more minutes until the two corvettes can catch up to us and a couple more after that before any of the frigates arrive. But what are the cruisers and destroyers accompanying them doing?’

Now that the destroyer his squad was engaged with no longer had the leeway to shoot at him, Avery had turned his eyes towards the information coming in from the Dauntless’ sensors.

He was confident that his team could bring down the enemy now without him getting involved. This gave him ample time to fully assess the movements of their remaining enemies.

Except, something strange was going on with the corrupt Alliance Police officers’ main force.

The heavy cruiser, two light cruisers, and two destroyers that had been hastily blasting their way through the asteroid field had just come to a full stop.

At first Avery wondered if the heavy cruiser planned to fire its spinal mounted weapon again to attack them from afar, but the energy reading from the Dauntless’ sensors did not support his speculation.

Instead, what was coming through was confusing to see.

The core force was now turning around and appeared to be powering up their light speed drives.

“What the hell are they doing?!” Jasmine said in surprise, having been monitoring the same thing as Avery.

Going to light speed took a bit of time and careful calculations.

Doing so within an asteroid field was insanely risky as it was not as if activating a light speed drive entered another dimension like hyperspace.

Every object in the way would essentially become a projectile striking against the ships at high speed, and while special shielding had been developed to protect vessels from smaller items floating around space, something of a substantial size could break through this protection and cause serious damage.

It took nearly two minutes before the Cruisers and two destroyers made their move, but for a fraction of a second, they disappeared from the Dauntless’ sensors.

When they reappeared, it was after a very brief light speed jump.

They had now cleared the asteroid field and were clearly positioning themselves to make a few more quick jumps and get the drop on Avery’s team.

Still, the five ships had not accomplished this without incurring some damage.

One of the light cruisers had taken the lead and essentially served as a battering ram to knock any asteroids that had moved into the path that they had carved out of the way.

The Dauntless’ sensors could already pick up that the large craft was leaking plasma from multiple hull breaches. It would not be able to continue and join the fight in that condition.

“This isn’t good, we don’t have long before they get here. We won’t be able to clear the other destroyers in time to get everyone away.” Avery grumbled under his breathe as his mind raced for what to do next.

Liesel had finished landing the last blow against the destroyer they had been fighting a few seconds ago. Rendering it without weapons or propulsion systems.

That left them with a clear path of escape, but the other members of their team were still held in place.

Avery hastily ordered the second and third squads to weave through the asteroid field and that his squad would head over to meet them.

Nevertheless, from his calculations, they were not going to be able to get away before the Alliance Police commander headed them off.

“They really aren’t going to let us out of here without one hell of a fight.”

While rushing to meet up with he other members of his team, Avery had been discussing what their next move should be with Kasandra, Ezra, Olivia, Liesel, and Burke.

With only a bit of discussion they all agreed that their best bet was to head back into the asteroid field to continue using it as cover.

The remaining frigates and two corvettes had taken up positions to close in on the second and third squads, but it would be easier fighting them than the larger Alliance Police vessels that were packing extraordinarily powerful weapons.

‘That spinal mounted laser cannon might still be a problem, but so long as I keep the Dauntless’ long-range sensors focused on the distinct energy signature right before it fires, I can at least give everyone an early warning.’

Flying in a tight formation, Avery’s squad rushed along the outer edge of the asteroid field toward the others that were still hiding within.

Soon the two destroyers tracking the second and third squads came into view.

They were keeping a couple kilometers away from the asteroid field and using their pulse lasers to shoot suppressive fire towards the members of Avery’s team within the asteroid field.

Fortunately, they were not able to score any hits thanks to the asteroids absorbing most of the blasts.

Of course, when they spotted the squad Avery was leading out in the open, they turned their weapons on them as well.

“That’s our cue. Everyone go back in and take cover.” Avery ordered over comms.

As high intensity lasers flew by, the Dauntless swiftly turned and dove back into the asteroid field. With the other ship’s following right behind him.

Had it only been the two destroyers, Avery likely would have elected to stay and fight.

However, the Alliance Police commander’s heavy cruiser, along with the light cruiser and two destroyers accompanying her had just dropped out of light speed not far away. In just a couple dozen seconds they would be in range to begin a bombardment on Avery’s team as well.

‘All we can do now is keep avoiding their heavy hitters while trying to take down the smaller vessels. But if that doesn’t work, we’ll have to rely on is Kaiden completing his mission.’