Avery ended up putting his foot down on any of his officer’s new identities that were heading towards becoming convoluted.

He did not need a bunch of eccentric characters onboard his ship, no matter what lengths they and Cerise went to in order to make them seem believable. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Fortunately, no one gave him any real pushback, and he was beginning to wonder if Cerise might have been colluding with them to mess with him.

Not that he minded too much, since it seemed to brighten up everyone’s moods.

Within the next three days, the alterations to the Intrepid and the creation of everyone’s disguises were completed.

After that, Avery and his company parted ways with Cerise and made their way to the Favai System where they would begin picking up work as a cargo ship. Obviously with the intent of drawing the attention of the Odium Syndicate.

...

"It’s already been three and a half weeks. We haven’t heard a peep from them yet. I thought that we’d at least have had some interested parties try and meet with us already." Kasandra grumbled.

"These things take time. Criminals don’t often act in the way that you want or expect them to. I’ve had plenty of experience with that before."

"We’re getting paid right now anyway. I say that they can take their time. More money for us." Liesel said as she spread some butter onto a piece of toast.

Currently Avery was having breakfast with his three wives.

Each of them had their own opinions on how the job was going, and he understood where they were coming from.

Truthfully, he had been hoping that things would have advanced more quickly just like Kasandra.

From all of the preparations Cerise had made and the intel she had gathered, it had seemed that everything would go smoothly.

Avery had even recently been approached to take some unsavory jobs from other merchants and business that involved moving goods that were not exactly legal.

Some had been for foodstuffs that were carefully regulated and typically only allowed to be traded by those with the proper permits. Which neither the supplier nor buyer had possessed.

Another job had seen them transporting exotic animals for a collector.

That one had been a real pain as a few of the creatures had not been caged properly, and Avery and his crew had been forced to wrangle them into a contained area and knock them out with anesthetic gas.

Naturally, he had kept records of all of this and was sending encrypted reports to Cerise regularly.

None of the people involved would be arrested or fined until much later though.

As Ferdinand Karas, he needed to build up his reputation in the sector as someone willing to take questionable jobs so long as they paid well.

And it seemed to be working, as they were receiving more requests that skirted the line of legality or were even just downright criminal.

Unfortunately, the target that they were waiting for had not taken the bait yet.

"I think that we’ll hear from someone that will connect us soon. I don’t have any evidence to support this but call it a gut feeling." Avery said as he took a bite of his savory porridge.

The rest of the day went without issue, and they delivered their cargo to its destination.

For their latest job, they had been bringing medical supplies to a private station that was essentially a rich entrepreneur’s playground.

However, along with the mundane supplies, certain controlled substances had been slipped into the shipment.

There was little doubt in Avery’s mind that these medicines were going to be used by the people onboard the station to get high rather than their intended purposes.

Of course, they had not been peddling the drug that the Odium Syndicate produced.

That stuff was a lot more dangerous and outright banned in the Dramid Alliance.

Had they been caught transporting the controlled substances that were in their latest shipment, the worst that would have happened was the items being confiscated and being penalized with a hefty fine.

On the other hand, being caught trafficking the Odium Syndicate’s drug, they would have been looking at some hard time.

Avery had a hunch that their latest job was a test of some sort. To see if he was willing to move harmful substances that were often abused.

If he did so with medicine that was ripe for abuse and known for its addictive properties, then it was only one step up to start moving a drug that was manufactured purely for recreational use.

All of this went against his own personal morals, but he needed to suck it up and keep moving forward.

He had a job to do, and he would see it through.

Fortunately, the very same day, the supplier that had hired them for their latest job contacted Avery.

"I’d like to thank you for delivering those medical supplies without any issue. Though, I did hear that an Alliance Police patrol stopped you for a few minutes. Obviously, you must not have encountered any trouble with them."

"Nope, it was just a routine scan. We were just transporting medical supplies, so naturally there was no trouble." Avery responded, wearing a knowing grin.

"Good, good. Glad to hear it. You know, there were some disconcerting rumors about you... and certain proclivities you have. But I’m relieved to see that you do take your work seriously."

"Of course. A man’s got to make a living after all. Without money, it’s difficult to have any fun. So, I’m always ready to take on any profitable job with professionalism and enthusiasm."

"Ah, you saying that has remined me of something. A friend of mine has been looking ships with specialized capabilities to transport a steady supply of certain items between the Zatis Consortium and the Dramid Alliance. If you happen to be interested, I can arrange a meeting? I guarantee that the job will be quite profitable."

Avery had to suppress a wide smile as the offer he had been waiting for had seemingly finally arrived.

Unless this was a completely unrelated criminal enterprise interested in him, he was fairly certain that he was about to get his in with the Odium Syndicate.