Chapter 458 - 458 Competitor’s Interception

Three more days went by as the expedition force led by Zefield gathered supplies from traveling merchants and prepared to head out.They were going on a long journey where most items would not be accessible to them, so it was important that everyone was thoroughly prepared. Failure was not really an option this time around.

Too much time and money had been put into this mission.

Whoever Zefield's employer was wanted results. Hence why they had approved him subcontracting the job out to several other high-ranking mercenaries. Including Avery's company which had not gone cheap.

"The first squad has just left." Kasandra informed Avery.

In order to avoid attracting more attention than they already had and make it more difficult for anyone not involved to follow them, the different groups that had been decided on were leaving separately.

During the entire process of mapping out hyperlanes, the exploration units had found several paths in between the nearby systems.

So, there was not just one straight path to their destination until they got closer to it.

Their current location was around three thousand light years away in a straight line, but for around the first two thousand light years, there were multiple branching paths that had already been searched through the went to the multitude of systems along the way.

This made it possible for each squad to take their own initial route until they would all meet up again far from any area that might be monitored by another interested party.

It was certainly a bit of extra effort to mask their movements.

Still, from how much competition was around, these actions were understandable.

What they were doing would appear to be a brute force method of having a bunch of groups going out at once and trying to map different hyperlanes.

Avery's company waited for around seven hours after the first group left for their turn to go.

The escorts from Zefield's team took the lead and synchronized their navigation with the Intrepid's.

As the contract stated, for the duration of the journey, only those that were a part of Zefield's group would be allowed to have the data on the hyperspace routes they would be traveling.

To this end, a liaison was going to be posted on the Intrepid, and the shuttle carrying them had just arrived.

"Yep, this place is still way too nice for a mercenary vessel."

Walking onto the bridge with a drink of some kind already in her hands was Tuuali.

Though she was Zefield's wife and righthand, she had somehow ended up being assigned to the Intrepid for the duration of the journey.

At first, Avery had thought that this might indicate a level of distrust towards him and his crew.

But as it turned out, Tuuali just wanted to have full access to the Intrepid's impress accommodations. Almost certainly she had used her authority to make sure that she was the one to get the position.

Normally, it would have been questionable for someone like her to leave her usual post for so long, but since they were just traveling through what mostly amounted to empty space where they should not have been any threats, it would probably be fine.

"It's good to have you onboard, Tuuali. Feel free to make yourself at home." Avery said, figuring that keeping her happy would probably be for the best. Within reason of course.

"I certainly plan on it. But first, could you show me to the navigation station. I'll be taking over for a bit just to make sure everything is going as it should. I'm sure that you understand."

Avery nodded his head and directed one of the crew to take her to where she wanted to go.

Once everything was squared away, the two medium vessels that belonged to Zefield's group that would be serving as the Intrepid's escorts started moving.

A moment later, Avery's carrier ship followed suit and they set off towards their destination.

Soon they reached the hyperlane entrance that they would be taking, and the characteristic dark blue glow of the alternate dimension swallowed them up.

However, only a few minutes after the Intrepid had disappeared, the same entrance into hyperspace opened again.

Yet, if anyone had been watching, it would have seemed as if there was nothing there.

…

"Wow, I can't believe that you have something like this on your ship. There are so many different options." Tuuali said excitedly.

It was now the second day of travel, and Avery had decided to personally show Zefield's wife around to some of the entertaining spots onboard the Intrepid.

Where they were now was a room that was customizable to play all manner of sports from across the Dramid Alliance.

Avery had a few of these installed so that the crew could play some games and get to know each other better, and to offer a means of getting exercise beyond normal workout routines.

Of course, Avery participated as well, and he and Ezra had already started up some rival teams for a few different types of sports. With some of the other leaders planning to start up their own teams later as well.

Unfortunately, as he was about to select the Tuuali's game of choice so that she could test out he system, and alarm began blaring throughout the ship.

"Huh?! What's that mean?"

"That's the level two alert. That means that there's potential danger closing in on us that's likely to become violent." Avery explained while wearing a serious expression.

Until they reached the system invested with space monsters, the route there was supposed to be relatively safe.

Still, the exploration teams that had mapped out the hyperlanes hadn't done extensive searches of each system that they passed through, so it was possible that they missed something.

There easily could have been pirates that had set up a base in the area and used it as a staging ground for raids on the edge systems of the Dramid Alliance.

"Sorry, would you mind returning to your quarters. I need to head to the bridge now."

Tuuali gave an understanding nod and found a nearby crew member to escort her.

Immediately after she was gone, Avery pulled out his terminal and found that he already had multiple messages informing him of the situation.

"So much for an easy trip." He grumbled as he rushed to the bridge.

A few minutes later he arrived and saw around fort vessels being displayed on the view screen.

It currently showed angles from different cameras on every side of the Intrepid.

There were potential enemies closing in from all sides as well as from below and above. They had been completely surrounded.

"Mind filling me in on what's going on." Avery asked Kasandra as he took the captain's chair.

"As soon as we came into the system, these guys showed up and surrounded us. Their ships' signals are being masked so we can't tell who they are. I had communications sent out asking them to identify themselves, but their response was demands instead."

They had asked for the Intrepid and its escorts to surrender and prepare to be boarded.

Apparently, they wanted something specific, and after they obtained it, they would let them go.

Of course, no mercery worth their salt would ever just allow unidentified thugs to onto their vessels just because they were being threatened.

Anyone trying to use force as an intimidation tactic was not likely to just let them go if they cooperated.

"They don't really look or act like priates though." Avery mused. "All of their ships are clearly made by the same company and are high quality.

"I was thinking the same thing. There are some pirates that are highly organized and use modern warships. But they're pretty rare, and this doesn't seem like the kind of place they would operate. If I had to guess I would say that these people work for a competitor of Zefield's employer and they want to steal the hyperspace maps leading to the system where the habitable world is."

Kasandra's speculation was in line with Avery's own, and the two of them were correct.

There were plenty of rumors going around that Zefield's team had been to the location everyone was trying to reach already.

Anyone with half a brain could figure out that he was not a mercenary that would typically be working on an exploration mission. His specialty was in hunting space monsters. Meaning that must have been why he was here.

With how many people were involved, it was impossible to keep everybody quiet. Things were bound to leak even if there was no concrete evidence to support the information.

So, one of the companies that was already behind had decided to take a different approach.

Rather than continue trying to map out the hyperlanes, they would just steal the information.

Which was why they had decided to ambush Avery's group.

From all appearances, they just seemed to be a large cargo vessel being escorted by a mere two medium sized ships from Zefield's group. That made them the perfect target. At least it should have.

"Well, we can at least be sure that they aren't aligned with the Alliance Police and the state sponsored explorers. They're the only ones that know that the Intrepid is more than it appears to be." Kasandra said, offering at least that bit of solace.

"Yes, at least we don't need to worry about another debacle involving the police. I don't want to deal with anything like that ever again."

Seeing that they were not going to be able to get out of this easily, Avery gave out the order to fire a round of warning shots once the enemies got in range.

If they did not backoff and identify themselves after that, then they would begin defending themselves in earnest.