Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary-Chapter 247 Scoping Out the Competition

With his display finished, Avery navigated towards the area set up for the competing ships.

When he got closer, he saw a landing platform that had been set up that had a fair share of camera drones surrounding it.

While not as many had gathered here as at the location where the introductory performances were being held, there were still hundreds of networks present reporting on the vessels that had already made their appearances.

'So those are going to be the ships we're going up against.' Avery thought, zooming in part of the viewscreen on the five vessels that had gone before him and were lined up on display on the landing platform.

Since each entry had to be within the specifications of a small craft, they were all around the same size.

Some were slightly smaller or bigger than the Dauntless, but not by much.

Going much larger would exceed the size constraints, and being too small would make it impossible to meet the Alliance Police's requirements of housing at least ten crew members at a time.

"Oh, that one looks pretty cool." Kasandra said, using her console's screen to pull up the second ship to have been displayed.

It had a thinner design than the dauntless and its body curved out in the middle making it appear to have wings that looked like a crescent moon.

There was no doubt that the vessel had been designed with speed in mind from its appearance, and the emerald green coloration it had been painted made it stand out.

Avery had to resist the urge to scan the ship that Kasandra had pointed out and instead pulled up what information there was on it from its own opening performance.

Naturally, as he did so, the Dauntless was still moving forward and soon took its own place lined up on display.

"So that's Ravasz Dynamics' entry. They're definitely going to be a tough one to handle."

Of the top ten shipbuilders in the Dramid Alliance, there were three that were unquestionably the frontrunners in terms of production and the general quality of their goods.

One was Storren Corp., who Avery was going to be representing. And another of the three was Ravasz Dynamics.

Of course, this did not mean that the others were going to be subpar.

Every corporation taking part in this competition was a titan of industry in their own right and most certainly put their best effort into designing and building their entries.

"Avery, you should pull up the feed of number seven's performance. They've gone for a very specialized build." Kasandra said, having kept the video of the opening ceremony playing on her terminal.

Knowing that he would need to look into all of the other competing ships at some point anyway, Avery minimized what he had already pulled up on Ravasz Dynamics' entry and pulled up the live broadcast.

Immediately he understood what Kasandra meant. freewebnoveℓ.com

Though he had not carefully analyzed the other vessels lined up with him yet, he could at least tell that they were built to be impressive in all aspects while having one of two attributes that were better than others.

For the Dauntless, its greatest focus was on its high fire power and then to a lesser degree speed.

Obviously, its shielding, armor, sensors, and other systems were good as well compared to most, but they were not the absolute best possible. Considering the weapon systems, engines, and thrusters, other aspects had been less prioritized. On a small vessel, there was limited space after all.

However, the vessel currently on display, and the entry of a corporation called Stifur, was skewed almost completely in one direction.

"That is a lot of armor. I'm surprised that they went all out on defenses like that for a small craft."

The heavy plating was clear to see on the vessel Stifur had made to represent them.

It was practically the opposite of Ravasz Dynamic's design which was sleek and more prioritized speed.

Watching it from the screen and looking at the data being presented, it was obvious that this ship was meant to be a defensive monster.

Though the other vessels in the competition were all close to the maximum size allowed, Stifur's had gone right up to the line before the edge.

There was not a millimeter more space for them to go in any direction. Length, width, and height were all at the absolute maximum allowable dimensions to still be classified as a small craft.

"I bet the shielding is just as good if not better than the armor. That thing might honestly be tougher than the average Alliance Police corvette or even a frigate." Kasandra said.

Incredibly strong defenses were desirable, so Avery understood the angle that Stifur was going for.

They were basically announcing to the Alliance Police that their ship would be able to keep their officers safe.

Though, while defenses were important, so was evasion. Some attacks were difficult to tank no matter how good ship's shielding and armor was.

"Looks like they've tried to cover that weakness with some powerful maneuvering thrusters. Their normal speed isn't fast by any means, but they can change direction quickly in short bursts." Avery observed.

Maneuvers like that would certainly take a skilled pilot, however. It was not easy to kill momentum and then shift directions over and over again without harming your own sense of positioning.

Nevertheless, Stifur seemed to have hired a pilot capable of doing just that.

They were making full use of their vessel's capabilities during their performance and showing off their skills.

"We don't know what its weapon systems are like yet, but I could see it being pretty formidable in the right hands. We'll need to watch out for them." Kasandra said, a serious gleam in her eyes.

Every nodded his head in agreement, but less because he was concerned about the ship itself, and more because of the skills of the person controlling it.

'I wish I could look up who the other pilots are right now, but that information is still being hidden.'

Today was more about promoting the ships and their companies and making a big show of everything. So, the identities of the pilots had been concealed to not draw attention away from where it was currently wanted.

While Storren Corp. really had no other option but to hire Avery since he had come into possession of the SCXD-011, that was not the case for the others.

No doubt each of them went out of their way to find the best pilots that they could for this competition. There was a good chance that there were some famous names among those participating.

"If it were me, I'd look for either upper ranking mercenaries like you, or maybe a sports pilot that's used to pulling off fast maneuvers on a regular basis. Ah, a retired Alliance Police ace might also be a good pick."

Kasandra's supposition was most likely correct.

Some of the companies might have employed talented in-house test pilots, but training and retaining people with top level piloting skills was an expensive venture. It was normally more cost effective just to hire a skilled mercenary for things like test flights. At least for vessels that were not particularly secret.

'Now that I think about it, Storren Corp. lost the Dauntless on a test flight that only had internal members. Of course, that was just to make sure that all of its systems worked over long-distance journeys without any support. They weren't testing out its top capabilities that required intense maneuvers.' Avery thought, his mind wandering to the events that had led up to him finding his ship.

With a show going on before their eyes, Avery and Kasandra decided that it was in their best interest to continue watching the live broadcast where their opponents were displaying their vessels' capabilities.

Any minute detail might help give them an edge in the upcoming events. Some of which were bound to be head-to-head competitions.

Once the seventh entry from Stifur had finished with their promotional performance, the heavily armored ship began making its way towards the landing platform to line up with the others.

Avery had the Dauntless' sensors record its cruising speed and then with that data estimated what its probable top speed was.

"No surprise there. It's certainly slower than the Dauntless. Likely around only sixty-five to seventy percent as fast."

This was not concrete information, but there was a good chance that it was correct.

Still, it was a bit surprising that such a bulky ship was even capable of those speeds to begin with.

"Here comes the next one. Let's see how they perform." Kasandra said excitedly.

Without shifting their attention, Avery and Kasandra carefully watched the eighth and ninth ships as they completed their performances.

It was their first glimpse into the competitors they would be going against very soon, and though there was still a great deal that remained unknown, they had at least gleamed some insight into the abilities of their opponents.

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