Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

After nearly half an hour, Commander Berk's direct adjutant, Lieutenant Laletta, came into the brig holding a tablet in her hands.

"This is the deal the commander is willing to offer." The lieutenant said curtly as she passed the device over to Jasmine.

Once she had finished reading it over, Jasmine nodded her head and thanked Laletta and told her to thank Commander Berk as well.

"It seems that fortune is on your side. The officer in charge of this squad of Alliance Police vessels has mostly agreed to the terms that we discussed. You two can read it over yourselves and decide whether or not you want to accept."

Jasmine had the forcefield blocking the cell Dustin and Sasha were in disabled and handed them the tablet through the bars.

As she did so, Avery and Kasandra both inched their hands closer to their laser pistols and were ready to fire if necessary.

It seemed unlikely that Dustin or Sasha would try something, or that Jasmine would actually get caught off guard if they did, but the two of them wanted to be ready just in case.

Thankfully, the handoff went without issue, and Dustin and Sasha carefully began reading through the plea deal that had been offered to them.

Everything was as expected until they got near the end. There they found a difference in the terms from what Jasmine had offered them.

At the end of the day though, she did not possess any authority over the Alliance Police. The fact that Commander Berk had allowed them to do as much as they had without any interference was already a show of how they had earned the man's begrudging respect, and how much he valued Jasmine's expertise as a former member of the Alliance Police.

"I thought you said we would be avoiding any jail time." Dustin said accusingly as he held up the tablet and pointed to the relevant section.

"Yes, but we're only here as representatives. The actual agreement is between the two of you and the highest-ranking officer that commands this ship. Also, what's mentioned there is not really a prison sentence. You'll merely be held in a detention center for a few months while evidence is gathered, and your bosses are charged. It will just be the two of you there and it's not like all of your freedoms will be restricted. Think of it more as protective custody."

While Jasmine's explanation made sense, that did not change the fact that Dustin and Sasha were disheartened by it. The two of them wanted to quickly put this whole mess behind them, but that was certainly not going to be happening now. They would not be prisoners per se, but they would still be locked up.

Still, the alternative was being charged with the crimes they had committed and ending up in a far worse situation. The only loyalty they had to the company they worked for was the money that they were being paid, and it was quite obvious that now that they had been caught that their superiors would cut them loose like a lizard sacrificing its own tail.

"What choice do we have, Dustin. We knew that what we were doing wasn't exactly aboveboard even if it didn't cause any real harm to anyone. We got caught, so now we have to face the consequences." Sasha said with a resigned sigh.

She had been the biggest proponent against making a deal before, but it seemed she had changed her mind at this point.

With that, the two of them finished reading over the document and agreed to the written terms.

Once they had signed it and provided their biometric data, the agreement became legally binding. The two of them had now officially betrayed the company that they worked for and sided with the Alliance Police.

"Now, I think it's about time that you tell us who you're working for."

Under the pressure that Avery was exuding, Dustin and Sasha flinched for a moment but nodded their heads in resignation.

"We're employees of Snyder Heavy Industries. The two of us have been with them for a few years, but we're really just grunts barely above the bottom rung." Dustin said, finally spilling the secret of who their employer was.

Truthfully, it was a bit of a surprise to hear.

Snyder Heavy Industries was a prominent company within the Alliance and manufactured all manner of large machinery for multiple different fields.

Their mining technology was purported to be second to none, and they were not slouches when it came to other technologies.

In fact, the shipbuilding part of the company was among the top ten in the Dramid Alliance. Just like Storren Corp. they were going to be taking place in the competition to win the contract with the Alliance Police to build a new line of small vessels.

"That' quite the reveal. And I assume that you have evidence to back up that claim?" Kasandra said, speaking up for the first time.

"Yeah, we do. We've got our company ID badges, messages from our suppliers, and while our vessel isn't registered as property of Snyder Heavy Industries, you'll find that all of its major components were manufactured by our company. Heck, you can also check our bank statements and see that we've been getting our salary from them."

After Sasha's confident explanation, there was little doubt that she was telling the truth. If she was lying, the Alliance Police would be able to find out pretty quickly.

Now that they had done their part, this was normally when Avery would have pulled out and let Commander Berk handle the rest.

However, now that he knew which company was involved in the scheme to change the migration pattern of a strexnoid collective, there were some ideas brewing in his head.

'Yeah, that could work. I could see them going for that.' Avery thought, the beginnings of a plan forming in his mind.

As he was formulating a scheme of his own, several members of the Alliance Police, under the direction of Lieutenant Laletta, came in to bring Dustin and Sasha back to their ship. The two of them were going to help gather the evidence that was supposedly aboard the vessel.

Before they left though, Avery suggested that his team should accompany them. Specially that it would be advantageous for Grito and Vi'ivando to go along since they were technological experts and might be able to find things out about Dustin and Sasha's craft that even they did not know about.

"I'll need to ask the commander first." Laletta said, pulling out her terminal and calling Commander Berk.

Their discussion was brief, and before it was even over, Avery could tell that his proposal had been accepted. With everything his team had done up to this point, they had managed to earn a bit of trust despite Berk's previous dismissal of them.

"The commander has agreed. He sees the merit in having those two Baccigans around. If only so that they can make sure that those two don't try anything once their back aboard their ship." Laletta said, looking at Dustin and Sasha distrustfully.

In her eyes they were still just criminals that might try and stab the Alliance police in the back at any moment. Clearly, they only cared about their own self-preservation

"Got it. I'll contact them. Please prepare a place for them to dock. I don't think that our corvette is going to fit in the hangar considering its already nearly full."

With a curt nod, Lieutenant Laletta began preparing for Avery's team's corvette to arrive.

While she was taking care of that, Avery, Kasandra, and Jasmine stepped out of the room to contact Grito and Vi'ivando. Avery needed to make sure that what he told them was not heard by any of the Alliance Police members.

"I'm not sure if I can condone this." Jasmine said, a conflicted expression on her face after reading the message that Avery had sent.

"I understand, but it's not like this will hurt anyone. Plus, we'll probably be able to get some nice benefits from the information."

"This could jeopardize the Alliance Police's investigation though." Jasmine countered.

"Only if we send it off before their investigation starts. All we need to do is slip in between the window after the proceedings begin but before it becomes public."

It took a bit of convincing, but Avery was eventually able to argue his point to Jasmine and get her to accept what he planned to do. They had worked hard to capture and get information out of Dustin and Sasha, so it only made sense that they receive some extra benefits for the effort they had put in.

A few moments later, the Alliance police light cruiser shook slightly. A sign that the corvette that Grito and Vi'ivando were aboard had just docked. It was time to head over to the captured vessel and collect what evidence it held.