Chapter 64 Coming to an Agreement (2)

Once Avery had gotten Kasandra to agree to his generosity, the two of them began discussing the type of ship she wanted with the two Storren Corp. executives.

With Ardesen present, being the Chief of Technology, their discussion was immensely fruitful. He knew the most about his company’s capabilities and the materials that they could get ahold of.

Of course, there were still limits. After a fierce negation with Dorris, they had agreed on a thirteen million Krenin credit limit to purchase the custom vessel for Kasandra. Anything more would come out of Avery’s pocket.

Nevertheless, there was a certain material that he currently had in abundance that he thought might be useful in the ship’s construction.

Avery offered up the energy lifeform cores currently sitting in his cargo hold to be used in the construction of a high-capacity generator, along with other necessary electronic components.

When Ardesen heard that they had a queen’s core in their possession, his eyes practically bulged out of his head, and he stood up in his chair in excitement.

With a complete loss of composure, he begged Avery to sell it to them, and heavily pressured Dorris to approve of the sale.

She eventually offered six and a half million Krenin for the core, but Avery declined. He would rather it be used in the construction of Kasandra’s ship rather than sell it for money. It was far too rare a material to let go of.

Unfortunately, Ardesen crushed Avery’s idea with harsh reality. The queen’s core was far too large to be used in the creation of a main generator for the medium class craft as they had been discussing. It was really only suitable for a heavy cruiser or larger.

"Well, I suppose I’ll hold onto it for now. When I’ve got the funds and personnel to have such a ship made, I’ll reach out to you." Avery said noncommittally.

Except, Ardesen desperately wanted to get his hands on the core so that he could work with it and had a new contract written up. For a half million Krenin, Avery would refrain from selling the queen’s core to any entity other than Storren Corp., or use it in the construction of any devices other than one designed by Storren Corp.

Honestly it was an expensive and heavy-handed means just to get to work with a queen energy lifeform’s core. And Avery was pretty sure that he heard the money was going to be coming out of Ardesen’s personal budget, since the deal pretty much only benefited his own technical curiosity.

Still, the man looked more than happy to spend the sum if it meant he got to work with such a rare material. It seemed that he was not the Chief Technology Officer just for show.

"Okay, if you will sign here, we can make our deals official. And if you would sign here, we can transfer the two medium energy lifeform cores and one hundred of the small ones that will be used in the construction of Miss Kasandra’s ship." Dorris said, passing over her tablet with the finished contracts on them.

Avery carefully read over everything to make sure that it was in line with what they discussed before signing. Thankfully, it did not appear that Dorris had snuck in any shrewd clauses or extra items so, Avery added his signature and fingerprints to the documents to make them official.

With that, he had finished up his business with Storren Corp., for now.

Ardesen had said that they would get to work on Kasandra’s ship as soon as possible, but for such a specific custom job using rare materials, it was going to take a while.

"I’ll try to have it finished by the time you make your way to Dramid System for the small classification vessel showing. That way, you can have something to look forward to other than the competition."

It was not lost on Avery that this was likely another incentive for him to make sure to show up on time with the Dauntless. If he did not hold up to his end of the agreement, then he was not going to receive his payment.

Of course, he had no intention of flaking out now. The competition would be a great way to get his name out there and get experience against other top ships and pilots.


’Then there’s also the Alliance’s home system. Obviously, an event of this magnitude will be taking place in a prominent location. So, what better than where the Dramid Alliance originated.’ Avery thought, already imagining the amazing sights awaiting him.

He had always dreamed of visiting the most notable worlds in the Alliance, and obviously, the planet that the first leader had originated from was at the top of the list.

From what he knew, Dramid Prime was an ecumenopolis. From the surface, all the way into the crust was essentially one massive city that encompassed the entire world.

"Kasandra, how far is it from here?" Avery asked, not exactly sure about the amount of time it would take them to reach their destination.

"If we just headed directly there taking the fastest route, then two and a half months."

Using her terminal, Kasandra quickly pulled up the information Avery asked for.

"Oh, if you want to return with us, we can cut that time down by a significant amount. We’re permitted to use Warp Portals after all." Dorris said, flashing a friendly smile.

This certainly came as a surprise to Avery and Kasandra.

Warp Portals were essentially massive passages that folded two points in space and punched a hole in them. They could allow for instantaneous travel of hundreds, or even thousands of light years. Though, this apparently took an immense amount of energy. Which was why they were few in number.

Obviously, their access was heavily restricted. Only certain government officials, foreign dignitaries, the Alliance, Police, and a few others with special permission were allowed to use them. Common mercenaries were certainly not on this list, so obviously Kasandra did not include them in her calculations.

However, as tempting as the offer was, Avery did not want to get too cozy with Storren Corp. He imagined that if he went with them, he would miss out on many opportunities to do more mercenary work between now and the competition.

The Dramid System, being the center of the Alliance, would undoubtably have impeccable security. The only work available for mercenaries there would be guarding outgoing transport and merchant ships. Which would be counterproductive since the Dramid System was their ultimate destination.

"I think that we’ll stick to hyperplane travel. There are places I want to visit along the way, and I don’t plan on just sitting around doing nothing for the next six months. There’s always more work for mercenaries to do." Avery said, politely declining Dorris’ offer.

With that, it seemed that everything was ready to be wrapped up. But Avery had one more issue he wanted to discuss. Perhaps something he should have brought up earlier but had forgotten to as he got caught up in the negations.

"Before you both leave. There is one other thing that I need to ask you about. A source of mine told me that an investigation into me as the culprit of the murders that occurred on my vessel has been opened by a branch of the Alliance Police in a different system. I just wanted to know if Storren Corp. had anything to do with that?"