Chapter 468 - 468 The Overrun System (2)

With the battle over, a collection team swiftly went over to gather parts of the space monsters' bodies that would be used for study.Zefield's team had already collected some samples during their first visit to this system, but only a very small amount.

Most of the time they had either been overwhelmed with fighting or fleeing. That was just how many space monsters they had been up against.

"That's enough. We need to hurry. There's an area where they typically won't go that well be using as a safe zone." Zefield said over transmission to the entirety of the mercenary force.

The Intrepid's long-range sensors which were by far the best amongst every ship had already picked up swarms of lifeforms coming their way that numbered in the hundreds.

If they stuck around for too long, they would be in for a fight far more intense than the first one where their only opponents were eleven of the same type of space monsters.

Fortunately, during their original attempt to clear out the system, one of the members of Zefield's team had come across an enormous dark purple and black asteroid that the monsters in this system tended to avoid.

It was made out of an unfamiliar material from what all of their earlier scans had shown, but they would leave analyzing it to the scientists that would come later when the system was safe.

Of course, there was some speculation that the civilization that had once lived here had created the giant rock to serve as a repellent and last bastion. But considering that no signs of any remaining intelligent life had been found, it probably had not worked out for them.

"From the data Zefield sent, it doesn't seem to be one hundred percent effective. If the monsters get whipped up into enough of a frenzy, they'll still attack even within the vicinity of the strange asteroid." Jasmine said, having read the documents that had been sent to them and summarizing it for Avery while he focused on commanding the Intrepid.

"Then, we'll have to be careful considering were going to be spending a lot of our time there to avoid the action. We shouldn't count on its repellent ability too much. We'll want rotating scout squads to keep watch over the area.

"Kasandra, Ezra, Liesel, Burke, and I will lead those. I want Kaiden and Olivia to stay close by to the Intrepid with their corvettes whenever possible. They have the most firepower next to our carrier and will be able to protect it best."

Zefield had already given them some instructions, but those were mostly broad.

Other than keeping near the safe zone asteroid and heading out to provide aid when called, Avery had been given autonomy to act as he wanted.

While the entire force was a large fleet made up of over five hundred vessels, all of them were mercenaries that were used to calling their own shots to a certain degree.

Naturally, Zefield understood this, being a fairly headstrong mercenary himself, so he had no plans on keeping a tight rein on anybody.

Each of the different squads were free to act as they wanted and choose their own hunting methods for the space monsters that had been designated for them.

Obviously, it was expected that there would be at least a baseline level of cooperation between them all, but Zefield did not care how they went about it so long as the job got done.

At the end of the day, their goal was simple. Wipe out the space monsters so that the corporation that had originally mapped the hyperlanes to this system could come and develop it.

"Wow, that really is a big asteroid. It makes the Intrepid look tiny by comparison." Avery said now that their target was visible on the view screen.

It was over sixty kilometers tall and forty kilometers wide.

While there were still plenty of asteroids bigger than it, this one was larger than most.

The rock's unusual color was also very eye-catching.

Space was vast and full of many amazing sights, but this was the first time that anyone on Avery's team had seen something like this.

'It's just as Zefield said. There aren't any monsters within several hundreds of kilometers of this thing right now. I wonder just what about it could be keeping them away. Maybe I could have Doctor Raiti and Grito study it while we're here to see if it's not possible to replicate it or something. I know that isn't either of their specialties, but we've got plenty of time.'

While Avery was mulling this over, the fleet took up their positions around the asteroid and began preparing.

Space monsters that had noticed them were already gathering, though they seemed to be giving the asteroid a wide berth.

This was perfect, as it gave them time to get ready, and send out squads to attack the largest clusters of the types of creatures that they had been assigned to.

Thankfully, the different species of space monsters typically kept to themselves even if they showed no signs of fighting each other. Though, in large chaotic battles, Zefield's team had observed them working together before.

"And there they go. I suppose that now we just wait." Jasmine said, watching as each of the attack squads headed out.

There were around seventy ships other than Avery's company that had been left in reserve that were still sticking around, but everyone else was going to engage their targets.

"I'm going to take the first shift on patrol since I fell like I'll be bored sitting around doing nothing otherwise. I'll leave you in command of the Intrepid. When Kasandra wakes up, have her take over for you. Oh, and tell Ezra to be ready to take a team out when I get back."

"You know, you keep leaving me in charge of the Intrepid more and more. Aren't I supposed to be your copilot? When are you going to take me with you on the Dauntless again?" Jasmine asked, putting on the expression of an abandoned puppy.

She might have been exaggerating right now, but she honestly did feel that Avery had been distancing himself from her whenever he went out on the Dauntless.

It might have been that he was only doing I unconsciously, but ever since the battle against the rouge Alliance Police officers, he had tried to keep Jasmine from coming with him during possibly dangerous situations.

During that time, he had lost control of himself and put her in great danger alongside of him. Perhaps he wanted to minimize the chance of something like that happening again.

"It's just that we don't have many others that can take command of the entire ship. I promise that I'll take you with me next time."

Avery tried to leave, but Jasmine got up and latched ahold of him.

"No, I think that I'll accompany you now. You can't just keep pushing me away when it comes to this. Liesel's not doing anything currently and she should be up to taking over. I know that she's young, but she has plenty of experience with large fleets already. At one point, she wanted to try and become the leader of the Kaizer mercenary group. I'm sure that she can handle command here for a while." Jasmine said, somewhat forcefully.

"Okay, I'll contact Liesel. Let's get going before we cause any more of a scene." Avery replied with an exasperated sigh.

Jasmine perked up as soon as she got her way.

It might have been a bit selfish of her to push the issue in such a way, but now that Jasmine had pointed it out, he had been trying to distance her from joining him on the Dauntless.

'This is one of the problems with working with those that I love. It's hard to draw the line between keeping them safe and being overprotective.'

Avery shook his head and tried to push the unnecessary thoughts out of his mind.

It was impossible to always be there to protect them at every moment. Avery had just been more cautious with Jasmine lately because she was the one that always seemed to be getting dragged into trouble.

While trying to keep his attention on the mission, Avery and Jasmine headed to the Intrepid's main hangar and got into the Dauntless.

There were seven other vessels that would be launching with them, and they would go and scout out the area within a few tens of thousands of kilometers.

The Intrepid's sensors were top-of-the-line, but that did not mean they were infallible.

One of the space monster types was good at signal interference, and it was possible that there were some hiding around the nearby by asteroid clusters that blended in with the rocks.

Keeping patrols out might end up being a waste of time, but Avery would rather be safe than sorry during this job.

"We're clear for launch. Let's go." Jasmine said excitedly.

With seven other pilots following behind him, Avery exited the Intrepid's hangar and flew out to sweep the surrounding areas.

For around two hours, nothing of note occurred, but a sudden distress call reached the Dauntless while they were searching through a debris field to make sure none of the smaller type of monsters were hidden there.

"It looks like Derenkai's team is in trouble. The others in reserve will likely respond, but we're currently the closest."

"I guess that we should go and provide some aid then until the others can arrive. Our goal is just to assist though. Make sure that the rest of the scout team knows that we're not trying to wipe out the monsters but make sure that our allies get back in one piece."