Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary-Chapter 164 A Series of First and a Homecoming

Each of them was slightly different colors, and all of them had visible habitats that had been built on them to accommodate Azade's growing population.

As a terraformed planet, Azade had been precisely crafted for habitation. Water, atmosphere, temperature, and whatever else the minds behind the planet's current form thought of to make it the ideal place to live.

In this region of space, it was by far the most prosperous planet.

Nearly twenty-five billion people lived on Azade, and more than four times this amount lived within the system. Either on the cities located on the moons, in orbital stations, or the colonies and vessels scattered throughout the system.

While the Phregon System had been bustling with activity on account of the planet being terraformed, it was nothing compared to the Cocarro System.

Avery had never seen so many vessels flying about and colonies floating in open space. It really did make his home system look like some sort of rural village by comparison. With Azade at its center, the Cocarro System was a real urban hub of the Dramid Alliance.

Still, they were not here on a leisure trip as tourists. Once Commander Berk had received permission to land on the planet, Avery team was obligated to follow.

"We certainly are being scanned a lot." Avery commented.

The closer they got to Azade, the more attention that their group, and especially the Dauntless received.

Most of them were just curious passersby, but there were some that looked like military vessels but were not part of the Alliance Police.

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At first Avery thought they might have bene some famous mercenary group since all of the ships had the same symbol on one side, but Jasmine explained who these people actually were.

"Those are Azade's Keepers of the Peace. The Alliance Police don't actually have jurisdiction over most of the world and its surrounding space. Azade willingly joined the Dramid Alliance around two hundred fifty years ago. But at that point it had already been terraformed, settled, and had its own government. So, while the planet is part of the Alliance, it's also its own autonomous region."

This was actually fairly common within the Dramid Alliance. Starting with core four member planets that originally formed the Alliance, more and more slowly joined both to protect themselves from other more aggressive powers out to subjugate them and to share in the prosperity being a part of the Alliance brought.

Soon their group reached the atmosphere of the planet.

This would be Avery's first terrestrial landing. Something Urs had made him practice just in case, but he was by no means proficient.

Unlike in space, he had to worry about dozens of other factors.

The planet's gravity and air resistance to name a couple.

"Want me to take over? I've been on a few planets before." Kasandra said.

As much as he appreciated the offer, Avery shook his head.

"No, I need to do this. How can I call myself a competent mercenary if I can't even land my own ship. I doubt that this will be the last time we need to touch down on a planet, and seeing as how you're going to be getting your own vessel soon, it's best that I don't rely on you for this."

Entering the atmosphere, Avery felt the Dauntless begin to shake, and a red glow began to engulf the outside of the ship.

Fortunately, the sophisticated systems onboard helped to correct any of Avery's mistakes, and while it was far from seamless, he did manage to get through it without causing a disaster.

"Wow." Was all Avery could say now that he had a close up look at Azade's surface.

They had entered over one of its oceans as a precaution, and now for as far as the eye could see was what looked like a rising and falling road of blue.

All of his life Avery had lived on a colony. Even after becoming a mercenary and leaving what he knew behind, this was still his first time to ever be on a planet.

There was something profound about it that Avery could not quite understand yet.

He had naturally seen pictures before of different habitable worlds but having it right in front of him was completely different. All that stood between him and outside was the walls of his ship. Very soon he would be able to actually experience the world before him.

After flying for around a half hour, with over a dozen Keepers of the Peace to escort them, a large structure amongst the blue waves came into view.

This was where they were going to be landing, and a base that had been constructed for the Alliance Police that were stationed on the planet. While they did not have any jurisdiction over most of Azade, this base was one of the few exceptions.

Once they had entered the base's airspace, the Keepers of the Peace escorts broke off and monitored Avery's team and Berk's squad from afar. While they trusted the Alliance Police, it was procedure to make sure that they arrived at their destination, and no one flew off to where they should not be going.

At the base, their group began landing on large pads meant for spacecraft, starting with Commander Berk's light cruiser.

When the Dauntless' landing gear finally made contact with the surface, Avery let out a sigh of relief. He had just successfully completed his first terrestrial landing.

The moment that they received permission to disembark, Avery got out of his seat like an excited kid and rushed towards the airlock.

Jasmine had a similar reaction at first, but after standing up and taking a few steps, she came to a stop.

"Is something the matter?" Kasandra asked.

"Yeah. It's probably best that I stay on the ship. I don't want to risk somebody recognizing me and contacting my mother. If we can get through this trip without her noticing my return, I think that would be for the best."

Certainly, this was a pragmatic approach if all they wanted to do was avoid trouble. But Kasandra thought it to be cruel for Jasmine to be denied the opportunity to experience her home again after so long. Should she just stay on the ship, it would hardly be any different than if they were docked on any random colony.

"Sorry, but that's not going to work. How are we going to get by without our local guide." Kasandra said obstinately.

She then told Avery to wait a bit for them, and drug Jasmine into her room.

For the next forty minutes, the two of them stayed locked inside, Causing Avery to wonder what they were up to.

However, when his two girlfriends exited the room, the answer to the question at the top of his mind was answered immediately.

In stark contrast to her usual dark black hair, Jasmine flowing locks were now a bright, golden blonde.

Her district purple eyes were now covered up by green contact lenses, and a pair of thick glasses sat on her nose and occluded part of her face.

Even to Avery, she now looked like an entirely different person. If he did not know that it could only be her, he would have thought Jasmine to be someone else.

In fact, there was an almost unsettling resemblance to himself. Their hair and eye color were now the same, and he felt like the makeup she was wearing made her facial features look a bit closer to his own. It would be easy now for them to be mistaken as siblings.

"How do you like it? I had this disguise ready just in case it was ever necessary. I've actually got some synthetic skin masks that can really change a person's features, but I figured it would be better not to use that here. The cameras around this base are probably set up to catch things like that, and we don't want to raise any red flags." Kasandra said, her chest puffed up in pride as she showed off her work.

Avery asked her about his sinking suspicion that she had purposefully tried to make Jasmine look like she was related to him.

"Obviously. And I've got my own set as well. You never know when all of us appearing to be siblings might come in handy. Like right now. With this, Jasmine won't have to be as worried about being recognized."

Letting out a deep breath of exasperation, Avery could not fathom why Kasandra had prepared for something like this. A regular disguise he could understand, but he could hardly think of a reason that they would need to pretend to be brother and sister.

He also pointed out that Kasandra had three striking features that no human did. The two furry, pointy ears protruding out of her head, and the long tail coming out of her lower back.

Kasandra's solutions to these inconsistencies were surprisingly simple. She would merely wear a hat to cover her ears and tuck her tail into her clothing.

At this point, Avery decided to give up on understanding what Kasandra was thinking and instead turned his attention back towards the planet that was just outside.

After the long and somewhat harrowing journey here, they had been given two days off. During that time all the scheduling and logistics surrounding Grito's testimony were going to be hammered out, but that was of no concern to them. They had been given limited access to parts of the base, so it was time to stretch their legs and explore.