bookbashuk Chapter 568 - 568
Chapter 568 - 568
Avery had been prepared for more unexpected crises during the raid on the Odium Syndicate's main base within the Dramid Alliance, but everything had gone surprisingly well.Thanks to Delia, all of the criminal organization's defensive measures had been disabled and before anyone could get them back up, Avery's company had done irreparable damage.
When it came time to infiltrate the base and capture the people within, he had figured they were in for a hell of a fight, but most people ended up surrendering.
He did send a message throughout the entire base, curtesy of the access codes Delia had provided, saying that anyone who resisted would be killed without question while those who gave themselves up would be treated fairly.
Still, after his company's last operation to subdue a station controlled by the Odium Syndicate, he had been anticipating some fierce fighting.
However, what Avery and his troops found once they breached the station were large groups of people ready to surrender without question.
There had been a few people that tried to fight back, but they ended up being in the minority and easily dealt with.
Honestly, Avery had almost started to believe that he was dreaming, or maybe someone had hooked him up to an impossibly realistic virtual reality machine. Things almost never went this well.
Nevertheless, once they had rounded everyone up and taken all the pertinent data from the base's computers, Avery let himself relax a little.
"We just handedly won, but you don't look all that happy about it." Liesel said.
"Yeah, the mission went off without a hitch. Yet you've been sighing at least every minute despite this supposed to be being a celebration." Jasmine pointed out.
Avery looked up from his glass at his two wives and tried to look happy.
They were in his office, having a small party while traveling through hyperspace towards the rendezvous spot where any captured prisoners would be transferred over to Alliance Police transport vessels.
"I don't know, it was just too easy. It makes me wonder if I had made better calls during the raid on the production faciality if we might have had less casualties. In some ways, this operation should have been more dangerous. But we barely had to do any fighting."
"That's simply because we had far more information this time and access to the enemy's systems. I don't like that woman, but she had proven her worth. Without her, all of this would have taken months to put together and no doubt some of the Odium Syndicate's outposts and collaborators would have slipped through the cracks." Jasmine said, looking at the entire situation practically.
It was not always the most palatable, but sometimes it was necessary to work with criminals to do more good than otherwise possible.
Jasmine was used to this thanks to her time in the Alliance Police.
There were plenty of examples she could look back on when some lieutenant of a minor criminal operation would turn on their boss to get ahead.
Of course, most of the time they did not leave their life of criminality behind, and Jasmine ended up arresting the informants as well at a later date.
"Yes, she's done a lot to help us out. Still, we haven't figured out what she gets out of joining our side. I don't think she was worried about the Alliance Police closing in on her. No one even knew she existed until she revealed herself. She wants something specific and I know its just a matter of time until she betrays us."
"I mean, I don't think that your wrong, but there's really nothing we can do about it but stay vigilant. Right now though, I don't see how she could do anything to us. She's locked in her room most of the time, and any communications we allow her to send are closely monitored." Liesel said, not seeming particularly worried.
Avery understood what she was getting at.
From any logical perspective, Delia was not much of a threat so long as she kept yourself guarded against her verbal manipulation.
She was not inhumanly strong, nor did she possess an army at her beck and call.
At the end of the day, she was trapped on the Intrepid and possessed no real power other than her intelligence. Which was not going to be enough to do any damage on its own.
"Maybe I am just being paranoid because of the first impression she gave off.
"No, she's dangerous, no doubt about that. But a solution to all of our problems will be here soon. I think that part of the reason you're on edge is that you're worried about Kasandra and frustrated that she's not around to comfort you. It's sad, but I know that Liesel and I just aren't enough to make you happy." Jasmine said teasingly.
She began wiping away faking tears and mumbling about her inadequacies.
Liesel just looked at her in confusion for a couple of seconds before realizing what was going on and joining in on teasing Avery.
"You know that I don't rank the three of you in anyway. Just because Kasandra was first doesn't mean I see her as my number one wife. Anyway Jasmine, I met you before her."
"True, and it was such a romantic scene. A young salvager having just found a lost ship that had been stolen years ago and filled with dead bodies. I'll never forget how much my heart fluttered." Jasmine replied sarcastically.
The back and forth between the three of them went on for a bit longer, but at the end of it all, the three of them were laughing together and the atmosphere had noticeably lightened.
"Still, I do wonder what Kasandra's doing exactly. Her reports never go into detail, and she just says that she's getting close to uncovering everything. I know she said that she only has one last stop to make before she's ready to come back. I just hope it doesn't take too long." Avery said, his thoughts drifting again to his absentee partner.
…
"Are you a*shats going to tell me what I want to know already?"
Kasandra grabbed a man by his hair and slammed his face into the corner of a table.
Blood and teeth went flying everywhere, and with a solid kick she sent the guy flying towards his friends who were rushing over to help.
Someone tried to draw a laser pistol, but before they could get the weapon out of their holster a precision throwing knife was sticking out of their wrist.
"Whooo! You get 'em girl!"
While some of the bystanders in the seedy bar had rushed to leave, most had stuck around to watch the actions. Kasandra was pretty sure that she even heard someone gathering bets.
Not that that mattered to her. She had a job to do, and after chasing leads around for a while now, she had finally found her mark.
Of course, they had been less than forthcoming with the information that she wanted, and even tried to nab her once they realized who she was.
That was not going very well for them though.
They might have had some experience with violence, but they were just a group of thugs.
Kasandra had no trouble dealing with their attacks that lacked any finesse and were solely based on strength.
It was easy enough to knock the group of nine around. She never allowed them to surround her to use their numbers to their advantage, and with her keen hearing, she had awareness of the entire area without needing to rely on her eyes.
After just a few minutes, the nine men she had tried to question were on the ground moaning in pain, while she only had a few strands of hair out of place.
"You seem like the leader, so I might as well ask you first." Kasandra said before stepping on the man's hand and crushing his fingers.
He howled in agony, but there was not a hint of remorse on Kasandra's face. These guys were lucky that she was even planning on leaving them alive. A little bit of pain was certainly deserved.
"Damn it! We don't know where he is. He just hired us for a job, nothing more."
The thugs' leader screamed as Kasandra dug her heel into his hand, but he did not give up the information that she wanted.
So, she kicked him in the head a couple of times until he was knocked unconscious. Then she moved onto the next guy.
"Are you going to be more cooperat-"
Kasandra did not get to finish her question before one of the thugs suddenly got up and charged her.
Considering the state of his body, he must have taken a strong adrenaline booster to be moving.
It did not help him though, as without even letting go of the guy she had just picked up off the floor sidestepped his charge and tripped him by outstretching her left foot.
Before he could get back up, she had her foot pressed against his neck.
"As I was saying, are you going to be more cooperative?"
With fear in his eyes, the man nodded his head vigorously.
He only needed a little more prompting before he told Kasandra everything and even gave her his terminal with the information on it which she cloned.
"Thank you. I was afraid I was going to have to go through another one of you unregistered mercenary groups. The last team did not tell me anything so they're not around anymore." Kasandra said as she tossed the man onto the ground.
She then pulled out a prepaid card with ten thousand Krenin loaded onto it and tossed it to the bar's owner to pay for the damage and trouble she had caused.
"I finally found you Douvoi. Now it will be our turn to come after you."