A hail of swift moving bullets targeted the phasic torpedo launched from the Dauntless.

The other dangerous munitions fired by Avery's team had already been dealt with and now the frigate's defensive weapons fired on the explosive device.

The shielding around the torpedo held out for a few seconds under the barrage, but eventually its capacity was overwhelmed, and the outer plating of the torpedo's shell was torn through.

A blinding explosion of impressive yield followed.

Though it was still several kilometers away from the Alliance Police frigates when it detonated, the blast radius extended out as if to swallow them up.

To avoid taking any damage, the two vessels backed up through the asteroid field. No doubt planning to resume their assault on Avery's team once the explosion had faded.

However, instead of continuing to run away as the Alliance Police captains in league with their corrupt commander had expected, Avery's team pressed the attack.

Before it had seemed like all they were trying to do was get away, and that their attacks were merely meant to slow the two frigates down.

And in a way they had been.

Except not to try and immediately escape, but so that Avery and those that followed him could get closer and turn the fight towards their advantage.

Avery and the others among his group's leadership had already decided that it was too risky to try to run away and allow themselves to be shot at from behind.

Those with less advanced ships with weaker shielding and armor could be taken out in one shot if they were unlucky.

It was likely that the two frigates would at least destroy a few of them before they could create enough distance. Losses that Avery was not willing to accept.

"Ezra, I'll lead the charge against the other one to you. Kasandra, Liesel, follow me." Avery said, diving towards one of the frigates.

Only the best of his team was participating in the main attack while the others remained on standby nearby to fire long range attacks from a safer distance when the opportunity presented itself.

High powered laser blasts flew by the Dauntless with only a few meters of clearance as Avery approached. Each one packing incredible power and capable of quickly depleting his shield's capacity.

'I can see it again.' Avery thought as his thoughts accelerated and the flow of energy around him somehow became visible.

This unexplainable phenomenon had been becoming a more recent occurrence ever since the first time it happened. Though Avery still had no idea how to activate it at will. It simply occurred sometimes.

Still, he was grateful for it now, since it allowed him to dodge the incoming attacks from the enemy ship with relative ease.

A part of him wished that he could hear what was going on inside the frigate, since he could already imagine the captain giving out frantic demands for his crew to hurry up and destroy him, while those manning the weapons panicked since they could not get in a solid hit.

'This should be close enough.'

To keep the majority of the frigate's attention on him, Avery locked on with his plasma launchers began firing them at their maximum rate.

He had already been sending out volleys of attacks with his primary laser cannons, but it would take well over a hundred strikes from them before he could pierce through the advanced Alliance Police's shields.

The burning hot plasma he was firing now though, was another story.

His target had to immediately respond, taking what evasive action it could in the tight asteroid field, and using its point defense multicannons to disperse the plasma before it impacted.

Luckily, Avery's seemingly prophetic evasive maneuvers and the threat that his attacks posed helped to lessen the pressure on Liesel and Kasandra. Allowing them to close in without having taken too much fire.

The Dauntless had been clearly identified as the primary threat, but Kasandra's and Liesel's ships had merely been concealing their true power for this moment.

Kasandra's ship's two primary weapons, the twin Sundrast M6 A4 heavy pulse lasers, burst to life and released two devastating blasts.

A bright flash crashed into the frigate's shields, and despite being around ten times larger in overall size than Kasandra's vessel, it visibly shook from the impact.

Her weapons had not gained the moniker "Duster" for no reason, and even an Alliance Police craft could not shrug off a direct hit from them.

'That's some really firepower. Her ship doesn't boast the strongest laser weaponry in the group for nothing.' Avery thought as he watched around half of the frigate's guns that were currently targeting him shift over to Kasandra.

Of course, not to be outdone, Liesel's multi-barrel laser blaster and micro missile pods unleashed a relentless barrage of attacks.

While no induvial hit of hers boasted the same impact as Kasandra's heavy pulse lasers, the sheer volume of attacks made up for the difference.

Once it became apparat that all three of the vessels attacking them were dangerous, the frigate equally split up its weapons to focus on and surpass all three of them.

Yet, that turned out to be a major mistake.

No longer under as much pressure, Avery weaved through the heavy laser cannon fire and only took a few hits from the smaller laser blasters and multicannons that only chipped away at the Dauntless' shields.

Soon he had gotten under the frigate where he could cause as much havoc as he wanted.

There was barely a meter of clearance between his own shields and the frigate's, and he stuck under it and used its size against it.

His plasma launchers sent unavoidable strikes into the enemy ship while he weaved around its weapons as they frantically targeted him.

Eventually even the sturdy shields of the Alliance Police vessel could not hold out against the three-way assault from Avery, Kasandra, and Liesel.

There was a visible flash as the craft's main protection faded.

It was a massive surprise for the crew onboard that a mere three "pirates" had driven them into such a desperate situation.

While the captain, who was the only one aware of the actual situation, now understood that the mercenaries that they had come to silence were far stronger than average and would not be taken out easily.