TOPGUN: Unleashed (Brutal Response Book 4) by Michael Anderle

Author:Michael Anderle [Anderle, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: LMBPN Publishing
Published: 2023-04-27T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

Mia tried to keep her face as neutral as possible as she stared at Izzy over the vid-comm. The euphoria of the successful mission had worn off after they caught up with the Erinyes and headed farther away from Trila V. She wanted to confirm the contract results with a real-time conversation because of the complications with the gunships.

From her perspective, her crew had pulled off a nearly impossible feat in taking out the facility so cleanly, but the job had so many stipulations she couldn’t be sure what the client would make of everything that had happened.

She assumed they had no real proof that she was responsible for the chaos at the dockyard. Even though she hadn’t destroyed anything in orbit, they might have found her savage attacks on the guards unacceptable. The loss of a handful of gunships, even with their pilots surviving, might be too much.

Mia was still getting a feel for being a privateer captain and the job politics of the Fringe. The more she learned, the easier it’d be to tailor her strategies to the restrictions of individual contracts.

But for now, she needed the promised money. She’d never let herself forget that being a privateer was a means to an end.

Izzy smiled. That was a good sign. “I had a good feeling about you from that first meeting, even before you outdrew me with your knife stunt. This job proves it.”

“The client’s pleased?” Mia asked in a neutral tone.

“The client is ecstatic.”

Mia couldn’t help but ask, “Despite the fact that some gunships were taken out?”

Izzy raised an eyebrow. “While the contract did stipulate minimum collateral damage and offered a premium because of that, no one was expecting completion without at least some defensive losses. And our reports indicate you managed to destroy the facility with no casualties other than those directly associated with the weapons plant.”

“I’m glad you’re happy then.”

“To be honest, the client expressed their doubts, and so did I, that you’d be able to pull this off as cleanly as you did. Taking out a facility like that normally requires a larger force that can’t help but kill far more people and damage more non-related equipment. They’d wondered if you’d be able to get to the planet without going through militia fighters.”

“If you thought it’d take a bigger team, then why did you suggest my crew take it?” Mia asked. The more she learned about Izzy’s thought process, the more prepared she would be for future suggested contracts and their listed restrictions.

Izzy stared at her as if his eyes saw her soul through the vid-comm. “I wanted your team because I suspected that a smaller team wouldn’t be as reliant on massive amounts of unnecessary shock and awe to accomplish the mission. I’ve seen privateers destroy entire stations as a diversion.”

Mia waited for him to complain about her assault on the dockyard security. She was prepared to defend herself by pointing out she hadn’t killed anyone there.

“In any event,” Izzy continued, “the

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