Chapter 53 Unyielding

Avery found his target at the center of the queen energy lifeform.

Its crystalline core, and true body, was about six meters in diameter and was giving off an enormous amount of power.

The pressure being this close to the source of the powerful space monster’s energy shell was straining the Dauntless’ shields, and Avery could see them rapidly depleting on the console in front of him.

"Let this work!"

Pressing down on the trigger, Avery fired the Aida EMP Mk VII at its maximum rate directly towards the Queen’s core.

When the first shot hit, a horrid screech resounded from the creature.

Avery winced at the sound that felt like it was being directed directly into his mind, and Kasandra folded her ears over her head and covered them with her hands.

Still, despite how uncomfortable the screeching was and the sudden violent rocking of the ship, Avery never let up on firing. At this point, their only chance of survival was to kill the queen energy lifeform that had engulfed them.

With one eye focused on his aim and the other on shield strength, Avery fought back with everything he had.

’Only fifteen percent left!’ He thought, the end coming closer and closer. Once the Dauntless’ shields failed, the outer plating would only protect them for a few seconds at best. Then they would be vaporized.

Yet, right as the shields dipped down below ten percent, the queen energy lifeform let out a truly anguished cry.

A moment later, everything went silent, and the powerful energy field around them began to dissipate.

The ever-present orange glow that had surrounded them slowly vanished, and Avery and Kasandra were able to see normal space around them again.

"We’re alive." Kasandra muttered in disbelief.

"WERE ALIVE!"

Reality setting in, she jumped out of her seat and threw her arms around Avery. Feeling an unfathomable sense of gratitude for having survived such a harrowing battle.

However, things were not over just yet.

While the queen had perished, the other energy lifeforms she had spawned were still alive, and hundreds of them dotted the Dauntless’ view screen.

Yet, as Avery and Kasandra got ready for a grueling fight with their shields barely holding out, something unusual caught their attention.

Though the energy lifeforms were alive, they had become completely inert. Originally being part of the queen, they had lost all ability to function now that it was dead.


"Dauntless, come in. Are you alright, and what happened?"

Avery and Kasandra were brought out of their daze when they received a sudden transmission from Captain Ais.

Without delay, they responded and sent over the data the Dauntless’ sensors had recorded during their time inside the queen’s energy shell.

"What the hell! This is insane!"

On the other end of the call, Captain Ais momentarily lost his composure when he skimmed the information he had received. It all seemed preposterous. After being consumed by the queen energy lifeform, Avery had miraculous killed it before being destroyed. A feat that was practically unbelievable.

Nevertheless, it was impossible to dispute the results. Several mercenaries and even a couple of the Alliance Police officers had seen the Dauntless get engulfed.

With the queen dead and Avery and Kasandra having survived, there was only one reasonable outcome.

Unfortunately, this brough with it its own problems.

A single mercenary ship with a crew of only two had singlehandedly brought down the queen energy lifeform. Something that no one in the Alliance Police had figured would be possible.

Originally, they were supposed to bring it down with a concentrated bombardment from every vessel in the strike force after all of the other energy lifeforms were taken out.

This would have made eliminating the final boss a joint effort. Keeping everyone’s achievements relatively the same.

Now, however, only two mercenaries could claim that honor, and since they used an EMP weapon to kill the monster, its rare and valuable core belonged solely to them.

"And how are we going to count the remining ones that are floating around harmlessly? Will those be considered their kills as well?" Captain Ais grumbled, a headache coming on as he imagined all of the paperwork and reports to his superior he was going to have to do.

In his distressed state, the top officer in charge of the entire mission had forgotten to mute the call with the Dauntless. Allowing Avery and Kasandra to hear everything he said.

"I’d recommend we throw a bone to the other mercenaries. We’ve already earned enough already and don’t want any unwanted resentment coming our way because we took too much of the pay."

Avery nodded his head and agreed with Kasandra’s advisement. While it was no fault of their own that they had eliminated so many energy lifeforms, some of the mercenaries might hold it against them for taking all the prey.

"Captain, why don’t you equally distribute the remaining energy lifeforms equally among the other mercs. Those with EMP weapons can then go around disrupting their energy shells and collecting the cores." Avery said to the still muttering officer.

Captain Ais was naturally surprised to hear Avery’s voice and soon realized his blunder.

Still, he happily accepted the generous offer, and along with his officers, started ordering the wrap up of the battle.

"Looks like we’re going to be here a while." Avery muttered.

"Yeah, we can’t leave until we’ve made sure the system is cleared, and repair craft come to fix the ships that are too damaged to enter hyperspace. No man left behind after all." Kasandra responded.

The battle had been especially fierce, and the two of them were not the only ones to get into trouble.

Around a fifth of their force had been destroyed, and dozens that had made it through did so with heavy damage to their vessels. Proof of how dangerous mercenary work truly was.

At the very least, the Dauntless managed to pull through without too much trouble.

Other than their dangerous low shield output, only the Aida EMP MK VII was a problem. Firing it so rapidly at the end had overheated it and warped some of the key components and left it unable to function.

"They’re going to take repair costs for it out of our pay, aren’t they?" Avery said solemnly.

"Yeah, I expect so. That weapon was only on loan to us." Kasandra shrugged her shoulders and agreed with Avery’s assessment.

Of course, using it in such a reckless way had been their only chance of success. Losing out on a small portion of their reward was an inconsequential price to pay considering the alternative.