Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

Once the colony police had left his ship, Avery quickly collected a few of his things and exited the vessel.

While he had completed the most tedious tasks he needed to get done, there were still all manner of things that required his attention.

The most important from his perspective was going to see his parents and telling them the good news.

Money had been a problem for the three of them for around ten months now. But, with the SCXD-011, Avery believed that he could make a real fortune. Enough to pay off their debts and afford the treatment his father needed.

With his terminal in hand, he plotted the fastest route to his parents' apartment.

It did not take long thanks to the many electromagnetic trams that crossed over most of the colony.

Just a little under half an hour from when he left, Avery was standing in front of a towering apartment complex made out of a dull grey metal that extended all the way to the roof of the colony two hundred meters above.

This was where his parents, and a great many other permanent residents of Yuson II lived.

The apartments here were small and lacking in anything but the bare necessities, but it was safe and decent enough.

 Avery had seen some of the less fortunate people that lived in the fifth district. That area was basically the slums and a hub of vice for those that could not or did not want to fit in with the rest of society.

He had no desire to end up in such a place, or see his parents forced to live there.

"I should be able to turn our bad luck around now, though." Avery mumbled as the AI managing the building recognized his access code and allowed him inside.

At the far end of the lobby, he entered an elevator that brought him up to the thirteenth floor where his parents' apartment was.

When Avery reached the nineth door, he placed his hand on a pad outside and it immediately began confirming his identity.

A quite ding announced that the scan was over, and the door slid open with a slight squeaking sound.

The moment the door opened; Avery was hit with the familiar smell of home. He had lived here with his parents until just a little over a year ago, before he moved out to be on his own to apprentice at a ship maintenance and manufacturing company.

"Avery, your back!"

An excited woman's voice resounded through the apartment as Avery stepped inside.

His mother rushed out from the main room that served as both a living space and a kitchen to greet him.

"Yeah, I am." Avery replied with a small voice.

One look was all it took him to tell that his mother had been pushing herself.

Her normally vibrant green eyes that were the same as Avery's had heavy bags under them and were bloodshot. Her cheeks were also sunken, and her complexion looked far paler than usual.

'How many shifts must she have taken to look this exhausted.'

Just like Avery, his mother was working hard to keep their family afloat. And the reason that both of them needed to push themselves so hard soon rolled out of the apartment's primary bedroom.

"Hey, pops. How are you feeling today?"

"I've… had… worse." Avery's father responded in between wheezes.

Every time he saw the once strong man that had raised him in a wheelchair with an apparatus that allowed him to breath despite his damaged lungs, Avery felt a heavy lump in his throat.

He tried to keep his expression neutral, but his eyes became pained, and his lips twisted into a frown.

Whenever he thought about the unfair circumstances that had led to his father's current condition, he could not help becoming furious.

'Now's not the time to give into negative emotions. We've got a real chance now.'

As Avery got his thoughts and feelings into order, his mother called out to him with a warm smile on her face in spite of the dour mood.

"So, how was the far reaches of the system this time? Did you come across any unusual sights, or pick up some interesting items?

Hearing his mother's soothing voice helped Avery to calm down, and while a bit forced, he managed to return her smile.

"Yeah. I came across quite the rare find this time."

Avery then recounted the events leading up to discovering the SCXD-011 and what happened afterwards.

Of course, he tried to downplay the danger he was in so that his parents would not worry, but it was fairly obvious that they realized how close he had been to losing his life.

"I'm sorry that I sold your old ship without telling you pops, but I needed the money to pay for docking and registering the one I found."

"It's… fine. All… that… matters… is… that… you're… safe." Avery's father said, every word eliciting a pained wince.

His father's sentiment truly touched him. Avery knew how much restoring that old spacecraft meant to his father. It had been one of his greatest joys before the accident that had crippled him.

"Okay, I understand that we have a great deal to discuss still, but how about some dinner first. I had just turned the autochef on before Avery returned. To celebrate Avery's good fortune, I'll use one of the quality food canisters."

After saying this, Avery's mother headed over to a counter on the far side of the room where a large metal box was sitting.

This was their autochef, a device that specially prepared canisters could be inserted into to almost instantly create meals.

Avery's mother popped three into the machine, and within less than a minute, each of them had their own dinner.

Smelling the food, Avery's stomach began to growl loudly as if it just remembered what food was. This would be the first time he had anything other than a horribly tasting nutrient pack in the last two weeks.

'It's also been around twenty-four hours since I last consumed anything. In all the excitement, I completely forgot about my hunger.' Avery thought as he sat down at the small table in his parents' apartment and enjoyed a decent meal with them.