Chapter 469 - 469 The Overrun System (3)

When Avery and the scout team he was leading arrived on the scene of Derenkai's squad, they found them engaged with eighteen Volmargars, which were their designated target.This was not the real problem though, as while Volmargars were gigantic and possessed enormous firepower, that was easy enough to overcome with the nearly one hundred ships under Derenkai's command.

What was causing them problems was a swarm of Hinvieners that had come along in the middle of the battle.

There were around two hundred of the smaller diamond shaped space monsters that were flinging themselves at Derenkai's squad and throwing their formations into disarray.

Each time they landed a hit, they did heavy damage to a vessel's shielding.

No one had been killed yet, but the squad was in pretty rough shape thanks to having been ambushed by a type of monster they were not as well equipped to deal with while already in the middle of battle with several Volmargars.

"This is Avery Asteria. My team is going to provide aid until the reserves can arrive. We'll make some space for all of you to retreat and regroup." Avery transmitted to the entire squad.

Some of the mercenaries responded back with grumbling and assertions that they could keep fighting without needing to run away.

Obviously, they had a lot of pride in their skills, but even if they won the battle, it would no doubt lead to casualties.

In a place like this where it was basically impossible to recruit replacements for any lost ships, that was something to be avoided if at all possible.

Thankfully, Derenkai was not among the hotheads that wanted to keep fighting and ordered everyone to comply with Avery's plan.

He had not been put in charge of an entire squad just because his mercenary company comprised the largest group among the force.

His command skills were a cut above the other five star mercenaries that were part of the Volmargar hunting squad.

"Okay, let's provide some suppression fire. Target the Hinvieners trying to ram themselves into ships. Even if we all focus on one Volmargar, we'll hardly be able to slow it down."

Avery's scout team swiftly followed his instructions and spread out in a crescent moon formation so that they had a wide range of angles that they could fire on their targets.

Their objective was not to destroy any of the space monsters, but merely to keep them off of their allied vessels.

In space, the trajectory of projectiles was fairly easy to change. So, a few well-timed laser blasts were enough to knock the Hinvieners off course whenever they attempted to launch themselves at any of the members of Derenkai's squad.

Of course, Avery's scout squad was only able to assist in this manner so accurately because they were outside of the battle and had clear lines of fire. If they were also embroiled in the thick of the fighting, it would have been difficult for anyone present other than Avery to pull off this trick.

With the support they were receiving, Derenkai's squad was able to slowly move out of the chaotic battlefield where they had been embroiled with space monsters at close range.

Naturally, the Volmargars that they had originally come to hunt were not remaining passive.

The eighteen enormous beasts were constantly spewing out flammable liquid that they would ignite.

These bursts of high temperature flames were powerful. Though fortunately not particularly accurate.

When focused fully on evasion and defense, it was easy enough to avoid or block their attacks.

After just a little over sixteen minutes since Avery's scouting party had arrived, the real reinforcements arrived.

Twenty more ships from Avery's company led by Ezra, along with forty vessels from the reserve forces each squad had set aside had arrived.

This was enough to completely turn the tide of the battle, as the small and medium sized craft targeted the Hinvieners and eliminated them. While the corvettes and frigates held off the Volmargars.

Once the smaller and more plentiful of the two types of space monsters was dealt with, everyone targeted the gargantuan Volmargars and overwhelmed them with sheer firepower.

"And its over. These creatures really are tricky when more than one type fights together." Jasmine said now that they had experienced it firsthand.

Avery had to agree with her himself after what they had just seen.

There had only been two of the five different types working together this time, and that was already enough for one of the hunting squads to need to request aid.

'If you take them all together, these monsters are almost like a well-balanced fleet. That's probably what their creators had in mind. Sadly, there was no way that they would be able to control creatures like these forever.'

Some more of the same two types of space monsters came by to investigate the commotion, but they did not come in as large of groups as before and were easily eliminated.

Around five hours later, there were not any more hostile entities arriving, so Avery took his team members back to the Intrepid along with the damaged vessels from the Volmargar hunting squad.

Before he left though, Derenkai reached out directly to him.

"Thanks for the save. If it weren't for you showing up when you did, there's a good chance that my squad might have suffered some casualties. You put your own people at risk for us even when there were only seven of you. I promise I'll return the favor sometime."

"Just doing part of my job. My company gets to sit in the safety zone most of the time, so when anyone else is in trouble, we're ready to respond. And I'll make sure to collect sometime after all of this is over. I don't mind making connections with other competent mercenaries."

As Avery cut off the transmission, his lips rose up into a smile.

He could tell that his actions today had won him another influential ally.

Derenkai was strong in his own right and had a decently powerful team behind him. Having someone like that owe him one just for helping out during a battle that had not been particularly dangerous for Avery or those under him was honestly a steal.

Without further incident, Avery's forces escorted the ships that had incurred damage back to the safety zone.

There were just over thirty that needed repairs, with fourteen of them being pretty heavily damaged.

Thankfully, the Intrepid was ready to get started on them immediately. With Grito already waiting in the hangar with multiple teams of mechanics he had been training by fixing and taking apart pirate craft they had captured.

"I can see now why Zefield came to seek us out personally. The Intrepid really is instrumental in a job like this." Jasmine said as she watched the damaged ships being dragged into the hangar.

"Yeah, it really is. I figured that we would mostly be doing maintenance, but on just the first day, one of the squads already took some pretty hefty damage. If we weren't here, around half of those vessels would be out of any future battles, and the other half wouldn't have been able to function at full capacity going forward."

The enemies they were up against this time had loads of advantages.

Despite having a fleet of more than five hundred mercenary vessels, they were still heavily outnumbered. It was going to be a war of attrition to annihilated all of the monsters in the system.

Luckily, when news of the other squads came in, it turned out to be good.

None of the others ran into any problems and successfully eliminated the hordes of monsters that were closest to the safe zone.

All in all, they apparently killed over four thousand monsters total on just the first day.

There were some other ships that were damaged and needed repairs, but not a single life had been lost. A sign that things were working out fairly well so far.

"Looks like the squad Zefield is personally leading really is something. They accumulated more than thirty percent of today's total kills. Most of them being those annoying spike ball monsters that shot out all of their spines when they die."

Reading this report, Avery had a bit of an itch to go and watch Zefield the next time the man was out in the field. It was not often that one got the chance to watch a seven star mercenary at work.

"Oh, Liesel just forwarded a message. It seems that some of the squad leaders are asking to dock with the Intrepid. They want to use its facilities for a little celebration in light of a successful first day." Jasmine informed Avery.

He let out an exasperated sigh and chuckled a bit.

It was just like mercenaries to want to party after a big success.

"We're not anywhere near done yet, but I guess I'll approve it this time. It'll be good for everyone's morale."

Avery shrugged his shoulders as he agreed and piloted the Dauntless back to the Intrepid.

Unfortunately, what none of them knew at the time was that this was going to be their last chance to relax during this mission.

The creatures that populated this system had only just begun to show themselves. Only the dregs of their respective species lived in the vicinity of the giant dark purple asteroid.

All of the strongest ones resided far away from it.

Yet, that would not stop them from coming out to destroy the intruders that dare threaten their home with their very presence.