Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary - Chapter 359

Chapter 359: Chapter 359 Bitter Resolution
As Cerise continued to explain the situation, Avery understood what the Alliance Police were really after.

Naturally, he had grounds to seek recompense from them as well as from the officers that had conspired to kill him and his team.

Just because the Alliance Police were the ones to enforce the law did not make them entirely above it.

Rogue officers trying to murder dozens of people to cover up their illicit dealings with pirates certainly was not something that could be defended.

Still, it was likely to be determined that under the circumstances that Avery used excessive force to defend himself when he had brought down the Alliance Police destroyer.

This circumstance was not like taking out priates who practically no rights under current Alliance law.

Avery had already demonstrated that he was perfectly capable of disabling even Alliance Police warships and with Cerise’s fleet so close by there had been no real need for him to have taken the drastic actions that he had.

Of course, Avery had basically not been in his right mind after watching members of his team be killed. Which had sent him into a blind rage where his only intent was to crush the people responsible.

Now that he could look back on it, he regretted what he had done.

Had he remained levelheaded, perhaps he could have focused on protecting his subordinates rather than charging headfirst into a one-man assault on the enemy flagship.

Four more members of his group ended up dying as well while he was busy giving into his fury.

Now they were gone and his rash actions had made it more difficult for everyone else.

“You’ve basically got two options in front of you now. The Chief of the Alliance Police met with Vice Master Sarkych of the Mercenary Association to hash things out while you were unconscious to figure out how to address this matter. Both of them concluded that they did not want this incident to become public. As such, you won’t claim any damages against the Alliance Police, and we won’t seek any action against you for the lost destroyer. Also, in lieu of compensation for your lost members, you’ll be retroactively given a mission to wipe out the priates in this system. From the compensation from that, you can send money to your members’ deceased families. That’s the best that I was able to help negotiate for you.”

The other choice Avery had was to formally seek compensation from the government.

In that case, it would likely become lengthy and public scandal that would bring harm to both sides. Plus, the Alliance Police would feel forced to hold Avery accountable for the warship he destroyed and the people he had killed.

Ultimately, both outcomes were not fully favorable to either side, and wishing to keep it quiet was mostly a political mauver.

Neither the Alliance Police nor Mercenary Association wanted this to get out.

It was bound to cause tension between the two organizations that currently relied on each other.

Public opinion was difficult to maintain and an incident like this one could shake people’s faith in the Alliance Police.

The challenges of maintaining even a semblance of order within a massive galactic power like the Dramid Alliance were already monumental. And the last thing that they wanted was for mercenaries and the Alliance Police to start distrusting each other.

“You say I’ve got options, but there’s really only one thing I can chose. I’m sure I could cause a lot of damage to the Alliance Police if I stirred up a storm about this, but then you’d do everything possible to crush me for it.” Avery said, glaring at Cerise.

She remained silent, but her demeanor was all the answer that Avery needed.

Being a mercenary meant working closely with the Alliance Police more often than not.

They were the ones that set and paid out bounties on pirates, and if Avery got on their bad side, he could easily end up blacklisted from being able to collect from them.

This would vastly limit his options going forward and likely see his team earning at least twenty to thirty percent less overall even if they only stuck to jobs that did not involve the Alliance Police.

“Don’t think that I’m not sympathetic to what you’re going through. I’ve lost my fair share of subordinates in the past and wanted to make the people that did so pay at any cost. Yet sometimes I had to consider my position before acting and it meant I couldn’t do what I wanted. The dead aren’t coming back, so focus on what’s best for those that survived.”

Avery ground his teeth at first when he heard Cerise’s words.

They sounded condescending to him, but when he looked into her eyes, he could see that she was being genuine.

There was a lingering pain in her gaze, and the weight Avery was feeling now must have been something she had experienced countless times before while fighting on the frontlines against the Zatis Consortium.

‘She’s right. I can’t drag everyone else down just to satisfy myself.’ Avery thought, taking in a deep breath and calming down.

He was hurting right now, so he wanted to make other people feel pain too. Namely those that had caused anguish in the first place.

Except, doing so would only bring about more suffering, and the cycle would continue until one side, likely his, was worn down.

“I’ll accept the proposal. I won’t make this matter public, and neither will anyone on my team. We’ll go along with whatever fabrication the Alliance Police wants to turn this event into so long as it doesn’t paint us in a negative light.”

Cerise nodded her head and a slight smile formed on her lips.

There was still a great deal that needed to be accomplished to put this unfortunate series of events to rest, but they were at least move down a unified path now.

“The particulars of this are still being worked on as we speak, so I’ll have to ask that you stay aboard my ship until everything is settled.”

“To make up for your lost time, I’ll reach out to some merchants that I know and help facilitate the sale of the pirates’ goods and supplies that you’ve recovered. There’s a limit to the amount that you’ll be able to sell in this system so consider this a bonus on my part to help you out personally.”

“That’ll be a great help. And thank you for coming to our aid. Things would have been a lot worse if you hadn’t shown up when you did.” Aver replied, genuinely grateful for the assistance that Cerise had provided to him and his team.

“It was no problem. I still felt that I owed you for what happened during the competition. I’m the type that pays my debts when I can.”

With that, Avery, Kasandra, Jasmine, Ezra, and Olivia left the meeting room and headed back towards their respective ships.

While they walked it was completely silent between them. No one among them could find the right words to say.

Eventually, Avery was the one to speak up first. He had something that had been eating away at him and he needed to get it off of his chest.

“I have to apologize for my actions at the end of the battle. I lost control of myself and put everyone at risk. It was a foolish mistake and something that a leader shouldn’t have done.” Avery said, his expression grim.

For a few moments, no one spoke and they merely glanced around at each other. Until finally Ezra broke the silence.

“You’ll get no words of comfort from me. You did mess up. Lives were lost this time and in the wake of it, you were unconscious and barely holding onto life. Among the team, there have been some that have had their faith in you shaken, and I’ve heard mumblings of some thinking about breaking off from our group. It’s going to take time and effort to recover from this.”

Ezra fixed Avery with a steely stare as he admonished him.

He was the second in command of Avery’s team, so it was his duty to speak up against Avery if that’s what he thought was right.

“Everything you said is right. But I won’t run away from my responsibility. I’ll be calling everyone together soon to address what’s going on and what our plans will be going forward. They can all air their grievances then.” Avery said, not looking away from Ezra even as he exerted pressure on him.

“Good. Seems that you still have the same spirit from back when we first met.”

Turning so that he was facing forward again, Ezra took a slight step back so that he was no longer in line with Avery but slightly behind him.

This was his way of expressing that he would still continue to follow Avery.

Olivia merely nodded her head, indicating that she was still fine with the current arrangement too.

And while both Kasandra and Jasmine looked like they had plenty they wanted to say, they would wait until the three of them were in private. Since their words would not be as members of Avery’s team, but as his fiancées