Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary-Chapter 191 Checkmate (2)

Going back several days, before the trial against the Odium Syndicate Collaborators had begun.

Avery received a secure transmission from Olivia detailing what had just happened and her plan moving forward.

"You really want us to pretend that the three of you are dead?!" Avery asked in shock.

He had been a bit concerned when Olivia had told him about the attack on her, Havanna, and Rorson, but this stumped him.

"Yes, I think that would be for the best. I don't want whoever was behind this to try again with greater forces. Obviously, our investigation was troubling enough that they already went to great lengths to stop us. But I don't think we need to do anything overt anymore, so staying 'dead' to lower their guard will be in our best interest. We just need to follow the evidence we've already collected without being noticed.

Olivia detailed her plan going forward and told Avery about the important parts about what she had uncovered.

Seeing that she had thought this move through, Avery nodded his head and gave his agreement. He could see the merit in Olivia's plan.

Still, to sell that she, Havanna, and Rorson had died, it was necessary for him to put together a fake funeral and have the rest of the team appear to be bereaved by what had happened.

They could only assume that their enemies still had eyes on them, and if they acted too out of the ordinary it might draw suspicion.

"Okay, I'm leaving this in your hands Olivia. Follow the threads you've uncovered and try to figure out what our adversaries are up to." Avery said.

"Understood, I won't let you down."

Olivia then cut the call with Avery and started investigating from the safety of being perceived as dead.

It did not take long for her to uncover that the man who had instigated the group of kids to play their "prank" was named Fargus and someone that worked for one Senator Dolores Fena. One of the major figures suspected of working for the Odium Syndicate.

He had worn a disguise while causing incidents around the region of Azade where the courthouse was located, but he had made one fatal mistake.

To purchase the alcohol he used to entice the kids to do as he wanted, it had been necessary to use an account linked to his real identity to prove that he was above the minimum drinking age set by Dramid Alliance law.

Naturally he had tried to hide this information by using a program that would overlap the store's records with those of a year ago, but thanks to Grito and Vi'ivando, Olivia had been able to recover the seemingly lost data.

With the perpetrator identified, it was much easier to follow his movements and figure out his motives.

Thanks to the resources at her disposable due to her current status as the chancellor's special investigator, Olivia tracked everything that Fargus had been up to.

She gained access to all of his financial records and any public transmissions that he had made.

This allowed her to track down his connections and what he had been up to.

However, all of this had not been quite enough to figure out exactly what Fargus' plan was. His aim was clearly the courthouse, and he had prepared some grand design for the day of the trial.

Yet not long after Olivia had become stumped, Grito and Vi'ivando reached out to her.

They had finally finished analyzing the transit system network. And not only had they identified every intentional flaw in the most recent update, but they had also figured out the person behind it.

"Everyone's got their own style when making programs. We had to comb through a hell of a lot of data, but we finally found the person that matches. Here' I'll send you over their information." Grito said excitedly.

The person in question was an industrial spy and saboteur named Terrance Brelix.

He would infiltrate different companies and use his skillset to steal data and leave behind faulty programs that would cause untold damage to his targets.

Frankly his identity had not been known up until now. But the man had met his match in Grito and Vi'ivando, and they had tracked him down in a manner that only they could.

Olivia had the man brought in and won him over to her side easily enough.

Without a doubt, he was a criminal. But none of his crimes were considered particularly egregious. Nothing he had done had physically harmed anyone at least.

By offering him a deal to pardon all of his crimes and put his skills to use for the chancellor's' office instead of his current line of work, Terrance had rolled over and told Olivia everything he knew.

It turned out he had found Fargus a bit shady for his liking, but the money had been too good to pass up on.

Nevertheless, his gut told him to take extra precautions.

Terrance had traced the initial transmission he had received back to its source, and through the connection sent to him, he left a listening program on Fargus' terminal.

Having access to this put the last nail in the proverbial coffin.

With the other information she had gathered, Olivia managed to nearly perfectly piece together how Fargus had set up his intricate plan.

Of course, since some of the evidence that had been gathered was through dubious means, it would be questionable if it would hold up in court.

But that did not matter in this case. All that Olivia needed to worry about was stopping the attack and preventing their enemies' escape.

Working together with Avery, Commander Berk, Commander Traustur, and Chancellor Regina, they put together a plan.

They knew what their opponent's moves were going to be, so all they needed to do was counter them.

That is what led up to the current turn of events. With Avery's team having joined a squad of Azade's Defenders of the Peace thanks to Jasmine's mother's influence. Considering how they had been dragged into this mess, Avery had wanted to see it through to the end.

"I'd recommend that you surrender, but I really hope that you try to resist." Avery said, as Senator Fena, Fargus, and their loyal guards had frozen in shock.

If they just gave up, then he would not be able to take his frustration out on them. Being attacked and nearly killed several times would tick most people off.

Naturally, the rest of Avery's team felt the same way.

In the brief moments before anyone moved, Senator Fena and Fargus weighed their options.

If they wanted to, they could throw their loyal agents under the bus. Saying that they had been kidnapped by them.

Regrettably, that would only delay the inevitable. In that scenario, their thirteen guards would be detained and the two of them would be put into "protective custody" until their trial could be rescheduled. There would be no other opportunity for them to escape.

That left fighting the only option left with any chance of freedom. Even if their chances were slim to none, that was all they could do.

"Break through their formation and cover our escape." Senator Fena ordered. She had come to a decision and did not hesitate to act on it.

With impeccable speed and coordination, the thirteen agents sprang into action.

Each of them aimed their prosthetic arms that doubled as electromagnetic launchers and fired.

The supersonic projectiles shot forward, each with astounding precision. Every bullet was aimed at a person's vitals.

Except not a single one hit their target.

Each shot's trajectory suddenly curved and were drawn directly towards Avery, who was standing at the front of the formation. Since they had already known what sort of weaponry their enemies were going to be wielding, he had had Grito install a powerful electromagnet into his power armor.

Its shields blocked every hit, and even if they had not, the dense plating was more than capable of taking hits from such weak weapons with hardly a scratch.

The ensuing battle was entirely one sided.

A fully equipped squad of Azade's Defenders of the Peace, plus Avery's mercenary group, each of them ready and raring for battle, were far too much for Senator Fena and Fargus' agents to handle.

The two main perpetrators tried to use the chaos to escape to the vehicle they had stashed away for their get away, but Olivia had stopped them dead in their tracks.

"Be grateful that the chancellor asked for you two to be captured alive." Olivia said, a vindictive smile on her face.

With a bit more force than necessary, she subdued the two of them. Using her hard light spear in its training configuration that dulled the blade like a bludgeon.

Seeing as how they were the ones that had sicked the thugs on her, Havanna, and Rosson, she took this opportunity to get a little revenge. By the time she had incapacitated Senator Fena and Fargus, both were twitching on the ground with several broken bones.