Avery was a bit trepidatious at first when Jasmine's mother brought up another job, but she already knew that he would need to head towards the capital system soon to complete a contract he had already signed with Storeen Corp.
That ant she either thought that the mission she had in mind would be quick and easy, or it probably took place around the Dramid System.
And as it turned out, this job was the latter.
"Now that we caught Senator Fena red handed, I've directed Azade's Defenders of the Peace to thoroughly investigate all of her affairs." Regina inford them. "They found a hidden room where she had stored transmissions and records of a number of her illicit dealings. Most of which involved the Odium Syndicate. However, so pertained to another matter and are of great concern to ."
It turned out that grants coming for the Dramid Alliance's central governnt worth a great deal of money that should have been going towards programs aid at helping underprivileged children had instead been siphoned off directly into the pockets of several corrupt officials.
Senator Fena had only been one of many to benefit from this obviously illegal practice, and many others on Azade had been robbing the planet's children of valuable opportunities for their own greed.
"And while I've already started taking steps towards eliminating the corrupt officials here on Azade, there are certainly people within the central governnt that have been profiting and assisting with this duplicity. Now, as a politician myself, I can understand that no governnt is ever going to be absolutely clean, but this has gone too far for to ignore."
Regina was clearly outraged by this developnt. As far as politicians went, she was one of the more straightlaced of the bunch. Though, considering the family money she had from generations of her ancestors, it was difficult for her to be swayed by any amount of Krenin.
Her mains goals were always towards the betternt of Azade. So, she could not quite grasp others using their positions for purely personal gain.
"Seeing as how your team is already heading towards the capital to fulfill your job for Storren Corp., I was hoping you might investigate the root of this matter for ." Regina said, before passing over a tablet that displayed the amount she was willing to hire them for.
Avery's eyes nearly bulged out of his head when he saw how much she was offering to pay them.
"Mom, don't you think that this might be a bit too much? I an, I don't want to downplay Avery's or the team's value, but sixty million for a job like this is excessive. It's not like you're asking us to go to a warzone without any backup and beat a vastly superior force."
Jasmine was naturally concerned that this high amount was a bit too much of a show of favoritism. The details of the request did not even state that they had to complete the job. Only that they needed to endeavor to do so.
There was also no penalty for failure, and they were being offered a discretionary fund of ten million Krenin along with the already high paynt.
"Heh. This might be the first ti I've ever heard of rcenaries saying that they're being offered too much money." Regina said, laughing at the notion. "But you don't have any need to worry. I believe that this is a fair paynt, and it is within my power to decide. Anyway, I can't be offering only re change to a group that has three four star rcenaries and two five star rcenaries in it."
Avery, Kasandra, and Jasmine sat there confused for a montarily what Regina had just told them.
Yet it soon set in what she ant.
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?!" Avery asked excitedly.
"Yes, your promotion to five star is all but officially confird. I'm sure that you'll hear word about it soon."
As it turned out, Regina, as the Chancellor of Azade, had recomnded Avery's group for a promotion to the rcenary Association after they had successfully finished the job at the courthouse the previous day.
Due to his and Ezra's achievents, the two of them had already been on the Association's radar and there had been discussion about ranking both of them up.
With Regina's recomndation though, and their most recent accomplishnts, it seed incredibly likely that the two of them would be promoted to five star rcenaries. The first of the top ranks within the rcenary Association.
This would put them at the sa level as their ntor, and both of them had been greatly looking forward to reaching this milestone.
As for Kaiden and Kasandra, the two of them were also being promoted. Each of them was going to now be four star rcenaries.
For the group's third four star, that individual happened to be Olivia. She still maintained the rank since she had earned it before her unfortunate encounter with Iniquus.
Thanks to these several rank ups, the prestige of their group was going to skyrocket. And while Jasmine's mother was still overpaying for the job she wanted them to do, it was not quite as outlandish in light of this new information.
Seeing as how the pay was impeccable, and it was not out of their way since they were headed to the Dramid System anyway, Avery accepted Regina's request.
He was the only one that needed to be tied up with the coemption for the Alliance Police contract on behalf of Storren Corp., so everyone else could turn their focus towards this.
"Now, since we've finished up with business, I'd like to hear what all of you are going to be doing here. I imagine you'll be staying on Azade at least until the trial is over."
Ultimately what Regina wanted was to spend more ti with her daughter. She was hoping that they would be free for at least the next two weeks.
However, Avery already had other plans. Sothing he had put off for long enough.
"Actually, now that things are settled and it doesn't seem like Grito is going to be at as much risk, Jasmine and I were going to get augntations. rcenary work can be dangerous, and we've had a few close calls where the situation forced us to have limited or no equipnt on hand." Avery explained.
The recent attack by the assassin robots ca to mind, and Avery still sotis woke up in a cold sweat when he had nightmares reliving Iniquus snapping his bones.
He had managed to get through these situation and had done well considering his lack of enhancents. But he had reached his limit as a normal human. No matter how hard he trained his body and mind, he just could not keep up with those that had physical augntations. To even the playing field, he needed to get his own.
"I see. But Jasmine, are you sure that this is what you want to do? There can be… complications during augntation procedures. Also, being stronger is not always a good thing."
Regina was obviously concerned for her daughter's safety.
While not particularly common, so people did end up dying while undergoing physical enhancent. Plus, Regina knew that Jasmine would be more inclined to take greater risks if her abilities were heightened. She did not want her daughter to throw herself into danger just because she felt she could take on the world.
"I get where you're coming from, but I've already made up my mind. I want to be a useful mber of this team, and to be able to help more people. Receiving physical augntations will help achieve both." Jasmine asserted, showing her mother her resolve.
Seeing that her daughter was not going to be swayed, Regina stopped trying to convince her otherwise.
Instead, she asked them about which augntation specialist they were planning on going to. Certainly, she was not an expert on the subject, but she at least knew of so of the top companies within the Coccaro System.
"Well, we have our eyes on a specific place, but we haven't gotten any word back from them yet. The business is strange since it doesn't have any sort of site and only a number to send ssages to. Still, the reviews were really good, so I figured we'd give it a shot. If we don't hear back soon though, we'll have to go with our second choice."
After Avery gave his brief explanation, Kasandra sent the contact number to Regina. Just in case she wanted to do so research herself, considering that Jasmine would also be receiving augntations from this place depending on how things went.
Except when Regina saw the number displayed, she smiled, and a confident expression ford on her face.
"I see that you've got so good eyes. I actually happen to know exactly what business you're talking about."
Being the leader of the only habitable planet in the system, Regina made it her point to know about exceptionally talented individuals living on and around Azade.
"As it so happens, no news is actually not bad in this situation. I know for a fact that the sole person running this operation always replies to any transmissions she receive. Normally she quickly rejects most people trying to solicit her services. If she hasn't, that ans she's probably still mulling over the decision. Despite her expertise on the subject of body modification, she's an eccentric who only works with people she's interested in." Regina said, telling Avery, Jasmine, and Kasandra what she knew about the person that ran the augntation office they were interested in.
She then offered to send a transmission on their behalf recomnding them. While it would not guarantee anything, her word did have a great deal of weight to it in this system. The chance of the best augntation specialist in the region accepting them as custors would skyrocket with her backing.
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