Chapter 112 Jasmine’s Predicament (2)

Once Jasmine’s request to leave had been accepted, she activated the Dauntless’ auto flight protocol, and the ship followed the predetermined path out of the hangar.

Naturally, the people trying to break in and retrieve Grito tried everything they could to stop her. However, their best efforts were ineffective. To bring down a high-end military vessel like the Dauntless, they would have required far better equipment than what they had scrambled together.

Originally the plan had been to sneak into the police station and nab their target, it was wholly unexpected that he would somehow end up tagging along with mercenaries.

"Okay, we should be safe out here." Jasmine said with a sigh after leaving the colony.

Parking the Dauntless around a hundred kilometers away from Phregon III, Jasmine finally felt at easy.

When she looked out of the viewscreen, she could see that thousands of other ships were waiting out in space for the terrorist attack to be contained. There had been no telling if the hangars might become a target at some point, so those that could leave did so almost immediately. Practically the only ones that had stayed were mercenaries or police.

"I hate to say it Grito, but whoever is after you has a lot of money and power."

While their gear had not been the most up to date military equipment, the assailants that had attacked the Dauntless possessed older models that were still quite powerful.

Their training was not bad either. Jasmine had not witnessed a semblance of disorder among their ranks, and even when she suddenly started up the Dauntless, they never stopped firing. There was no doubt in her mind that those had been someone’s private soldiers.

’That begs the question, who in the Phregon System could mobilize such a force?’

Jasmine could only speculate, but her instincts as a former officer were telling her she was probably on the right track.

Except, before she could think about it further and start creating a list of possible suspects, the Dauntless’ computer sounded another alert.

This one she recognized well, since it activated whenever the ship’s sensors detected a spacecraft with a bounty on it.

Normally this would be inconceivable this close to a station that was heavily guarded by the Alliance Police. Wanted individuals knew to avoid places like this unless they wanted to be killed or captured.

Yet, as Jasmine looked into the alert more closely, she noticed dozens, no, hundreds of vessels with bounties on them. S~eaʀᴄh the Nôvelƒire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

As others began to notice the sudden incursion, merchant and civilian ships scrambled to get away, while mercenaries either prepared for a fight or fled as well.

"No way, why are they here?!" Jasmine shouted when she recognized some of the attackers.

The group using old military vessels from the Reswen Theocracy was among the raiders that had just dropped out of light speed.

After being mostly destroyed by Avery’s group and the other mercenaries escorting the Moonrise merchant fleet, the ones that had gotten away had bounties placed on them courtesy of the data Svantur gave to the Alliance Police.

However, they were far from the only ones initiating an assault on Phregon III. All manner of pirates that had been skulking out on the edge of the system to attack unsuspecting cargo and passenger ships had arrived in mass as well.

In fact, while Jasmine did not recognize them, had Avery, Kasandra, or Kaiden been around, they would have instantly spotted a group of large and medium transport that had been modified with powerful weapons and armor plating.

These were the same vessels that had appeared during the pirate raid in the Yuson System. Making a public appearance for the first time since the previous incident.

Seeing all of this was overwhelming for Jasmine. Avery had made sure to teach her the Dauntless’ basic controls, and she had spent a bit of time practicing with the flight simulation mode during their time traveling through hyperspace, but she was far from confident enough to fight against a massive horde of outlaws.

"A-Avery, another situation has come up."

Jasmine immediately contacted Avery and caught him up on what was happening. However, as she was doing so, several of the attackers made a beeline for the Dauntless. Completely ignoring the other vessels around.

In a panic, she started jerking around the controls.

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The Dauntless moved like wild, and though she was unable to fire back in this situation, it did make it difficult for those targeting the ship to hit it.

"Just do your best to stay alive. Once we reach the hangar, we’ll come out on Kaiden and Ezra’s ships to help." Avery said, doing his best to reassure his panicked crewmember.

"Got it. Just please hurry, I don’t know how long I can keep this up."

Lacking the skills to fly and fight at the same time, Jasmine diverted full power to the Dauntless’ thruster and attempted to outrun those pursuing her.

Fortunately, the ship was exceptionally fast and could keep ahead of most of the outlaws swarming the area.

To further impede them, she constantly flew closer to Alliance Police vessels that mercilessly targeted the pirates and shot them down.

As time went on, more Alliance Police ships that had docked in Phregon III to provide support troops started to come out of the hangars and join the fight.

While the attackers had picked an opportune moment to invade, it was still only a matter of time before the overwhelming might of the military tasked with protecting this system drove them away.

But before that could happen though, several of the large and medium transports outfitted with weapons suddenly turned towards the Dauntless.

Up to this point, they had shown no interest in getting into the thick of the battle and had merely been causing chaos at the edge of their weapon range.

Yet now they were coming for Jasmine with their entire force.

As she fled, the alarm indicating a hit blared loudly through the cockpit. The vessels after the Dauntless were even activating tractor beams and trying to drag the ship into their cargo holds. Fortunately, so long as the shields were active it would be impossible to do so.

"Grito, what the hell is your uncle building that is so damn important that capturing you is worth this much effort?" Jasmine screamed, the frustration of everything finally overwhelming her.

She had endured a lot as a member of the police, but never anything like this. Having been a colony officer fighting against dozens of far larger ships had never been something she would experience.

Just as she was about to need to activate the Dauntless’ first shield cell, refinements finally arrived.

Kaiden’s and Ezra’s ships came speeding out of Phregon III’s hangar and immediately moved to intercept the vessels swarming Jasmine.

"You held out well Jasmine. We’ll take over from here."

Hearing Avery’s reassuring voice over the comms, Jasmine felt the immense pressure she was under lighten up a bit. She knew that she would be able to rely on her companions to get her out of this sticky situation.

Except, what Avery said next only caused her panic to come back and increase twofold.

"I’m going to need you to open the cargo bay doors for me. I’ll be coming over there shortly to take over the controls."