Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

Once the three of them had wrapped up the battle in the lab, Kasandra, Jasmine, and Kaiden rushed out in pursuit of Iniquus' aide.

"Damn it, which way did he go." Kaiden growled when they made it to the first intersection in the corridor.

They were not too far behind, and the man they were after was injured, so he should not have been able to get to far.

Nevertheless, he had managed to get out of line of sight, and there was no telling which way he might have gone.

Kasandra carefully listened with her acute hearing, but there were too many sounds echoing through the station for her to pinpoint their target.

"I hate to suggest this, but we might need to split up." Jasmine said, glancing down the three paths before them.

If they all went in a different direction, their chances of finding Iniquus' aide and Vi'ivando would drastically increase.

Naturally, Kasandra and Kaiden were hesitant to do so though.

They were currently in the middle of enemy territory, and going alone would make them significantly more vulnerable.

Still, time was ticking, and every second they wasted brought Grito's uncle father away from them.

"Okay fine. But if any of us run into any enemies, we need to prioritize escape and head back towards the Dauntless. There's no point in dying just to complete this mission." Kasandra said reluctantly.

After that, they each chose a different path and started hurrying down it. Hoping to catch up with Iniquus' aide and rescue Vi'ivando.

Jasmine ran as fast as she could keeping and eye out for the man she had seen drag Grtio's uncle away.

By some stroke of luck, as she was passing through a corridor and searching around, she caught a glimpse of something taking a turn at the end of the hallway she had just entered.

Intently, she took off after the person.

However, just as she rounded the corner herself, she saw a bright flash of light coming directly towards her.

The laser bounced off her personal shield generator, but her reflexes still kicked in and she leapt backwards so that she was out of line of sight.

"You're not going to be able to get away. Just release Vi'ivando and surrender. When the Alliance Police come by, I'll tell them that you cooperated."

Jasmine had said similar lines many times when she had still been an officer.

Except, she did not truly believe that Iniquus' aide would come quietly. She could count the number of times people had actually surrendered in such a situation on one hand.

And as she surmised, this was not going to be one of those rare occurrences.

There was no response from the man, and Jasmine could hear him continuing to walk away.

Steeling her nerves, she held her laser pistol close to her body in both hands.

When she was ready, she dashed back out into the intersecting corridor and held her weapon up so that she could open fire at a moment's notice.

Except, instead of having his own gun pointed towards her, Iniquus' aide had it pressed up against Vi'ivando's head, who he was holding in front of himself like a shield.

"Stop right there if you don't want me to fry his brains." The man said coldly.

He never ceased walking backwards even as he threatened Jasmine. His eyes though, never left her. He was ready to follow through with his threat if he saw her make any hostile movements.

"Okay, let's just try and calm things down and not do something either of us might regret."

Jasmine lowered her weapon and held out her hands to try and defuse the situation.

Nevertheless, Iniquus' aide showed no signs of dropping his guard and kept moving. He had a destination he was going towards and would not stop for anything. The longer he took, the more likely it was that someone else might come along and stop him.

'I was hoping he would try pointing his weapon at me, but it doesn't appear that he wants to try and fight this out. I'm guessing he's not confident in his shooting skills.' Jasmine thought as she kept in step with the man.

She was ready to act if she saw an opening, but she knew that initiating a fight would only lead to the target she was trying to rescue dying.

So long as she kept in pursuit, there was a decent chance that one of her allies might find them and take Iniquus' aide out while his focus was on her.

Unluckily, even after a few minutes, no one else came across them, and they were only a few meters away from an airlock that a ship was docked at.

Knowing where they were, it became clear to Jasmine what Iniquus' aide's plan was. He was going to take Vi'ivando and whatever sort of deceive the man was building off the station.

"I thought that you were Count Iniquus' loyal aide. Are you sure that you can just abandon him like this?"

"As much as it saddens me to do so, yes. I have been by his side since his birth, and I loyally followed his father as well. However, my true duty comes before that. I urged him to retreat, but he refused. So, I must take matters into my own hands."

Despite having been silent up to this point, when faced with his betrayal, Iniquus' aide suddenly felt the need to defend himself.

His answer did bring more questions to Jasmine's mind though.

"I guess that means that you really work for someone else. So, you're just a backstabbing rat."

"Do not think that you can provoke me. I have always been working towards a single desired goal. One which both the previous Count Dannoso and Lord Iniquus share. Sadly, my lord has lost sight of our purpose. His anger has clouded his judgment, but this matter is too important to abandon. Now I have enjoyed out little chat, but I must be going now."

The airlock behind Iniquus' former aide opened up and revealed the interior of the ship waiting for him.

At this point, Jasmine could not hold back any long and raised her weapon back up.

"Oh, did you want me to kill him? If not, then put that thing down." Vi'ivando's captor said threateningly.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. You are not leaving with him. There is no telling what will happen if I let you take him and get away. So, you've forced my hand. If you take another step or shot him, I'll put you down."

Grinding his teeth in frustration, Iniquus' former aide could tell that Jasmine was deadly serious by the look in her eyes. She was ready to sacrifice Vi'ivando if it meant stopping him.

"You're quite callous. I thought that you had braved the dangers of infiltrating this station to try and rescue this man. But now you're willing to let him die so easily?"

"No, I'm not. If there was anything I could do to save him, I would. But if you take him onto that ship, he might as well be as good as dead. So, hurry and make your decision. Will you surrender, or die with him?"