Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

Avery hurriedly activated his craft's left plasma launcher and aimed it towards the incoming pirate.

If what he had read about the weapons specifications was correct, the unbelievably hot plasma should have been capable of practically disintegrating the entire enemy vessel.

Except, the moment that Avery locked his weapon onto the ship, the pirate in control began moving erratically to avoid being hit.

"Sh*t, Sh*t, Sh*t, Sh*t!" Avery rapidly cursed as he failed to line up the shot.

He had never used plasma weaponry before and was finding out firsthand how difficult they were to aim. A large, stationary or slow-moving target was one thing, but a fast and nimble small craft was another.

In the end panic took over and Avery began firing off balls of hot plasma rapidly and hoping one would score a hit.

Several came close to catching the pirate's ship, with one grazing its shields and instantly vaporizing them.

Unfortunately, while the outer hull had started to glow red from the immense heat of the near hits, Avery failed to connect a single shot.

The craft slipped by his bombardment and was only a moment away from impact. At this point all Avery could do was brace himself and hope to make it through.

A thunderous roar followed by SCDX-011 shaking violently assaulted Avery.

His entire view screen was consumed by a fiery explosion and loud alarms blared throughout the ship.

Nevertheless, as he opened his eyes, Avery found that he was no worse for wear. The impact had rattled him up and he could feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest, but otherwise he was perfectly fine.

A damage report soon popped up on the main console in front of Avery.

Despite having another ship crash into him, the SCDX-011 withstood the blow remarkably well.

The shields were down by thirty-four percent, and a few pieces of shrapnel had breached them and scratched the outer plating.

For having another ship kamikaze into him, this was an unbelievably small amount of damage.

"Storren Corp. really went all out with this one. It's got the firepower and durability of a larger craft, while still retaining the maneuverability of a smaller one. I can't even imagine how much something like this would cost."

Avery was truly blown away by how high-end the SCXD-011 was. Even when he connected back to the computer onboard his other ship, he was unable to find any records of other vessels in the same size range with comparable specs.

Still, now that he had a moment to think, Avery realized how poor his engagement with the pirates was.

He had taken far too many hits, and allowing an enemy to crash into you would normally be a death sentence. He only got out alive due to the far higher quality of his spacecraft.

"I'll need to get in some practice later to make sure my performance isn't that bad again. But for now, it's time to head home."

After collecting what he could from the four destroyed pirate vessels syncing up his two ships, Avery set in the coordinates for the trading colony that he was currently residing at and had lived all his life.

Soon he could hear the distinctive whirring of the lightspeed drive powering up.

Then there was a bright flash for a moment as the two ships accelerated and the stars twinkling through the cosmos became long lines on the view screen.

With a great sigh of relief now that the dangers he had encountered were over and he was on his way back home, Avery stood up from his chair and headed out of the cockpit.

Now that he was in lightspeed travel, he would be safe for the most part. If anything unexpected did happen, the ship's computer would alert him.

A giddiness in his step, Avery headed down the vessel's main hallway and opened the first door he passed.

Inside was one of the three rooms designated as crew quarters.

Avery had been inside a different one of the crew's rooms early when he placed the Storren Corp. employees' corpses inside it. However, this one was different.

Unlike the first one he had been in, which had been pretty barebones, only having two three tiered bunkbeds and some retractable drawers inside one of the walls. The room he had just entered was designated for the ship's captain.

 From what Avery could tell the SCXD-011 was only spectacular when it came to military applications. Anything else was simply the most basic models possible.

"This room's at least a bit better than the other ones, though." Avery commented, looking inside.

He was currently in the captain's quarters.

Instead of bunkbeds for multiple personnel, it had only a single large bed that was noticeably more comfortable.

There was also a table and a desk, along with a small personal bathroom. Nothing lavish, but still far better than the crew quarters that were quite cramped and meant for six people.

"I suppose that this is where I'll be staying from now on."

Back on the colony he was living in, Avery was renting a small studio apartment near where his parents lived.

It was not cheap or expensive, though the only reason it was not the cheapest place in the colony was because it was in a relatively safe area.

If he was going to have to pay to dock his new ship anyway, he might as well stay on it. The inside was far larger than his current residence, and just adding a few things would make it nicer as well.

"I'll be further away from mom and pops, but staying here has too many benefits." Avery muttered, a slightly sad expression forming on his face.

"Enough of getting myself down. I need to inspect the other rooms while I've still got time."

He was only about forty minutes away from the vicinity of the colony he was heading to. At that point he would drop out of lightspeed and need to head back to the cockpit so that he could contact the Port Authority. There was a lot of information he needed to give them. Both about the pirates and the SCXD-011.