After David had left the cabin, Eirik sat down at his desk. Rest would have to wait for a little while yet. A plan was needed to keep the crew busy during his short hiatus from the world.

30 minutes later he put his pen down and dragged his tired body to the bed. He was sleeping before his head hit the pillow.

He awoke 12 hours later, parched with thirst and momentarily confused before he remembered he was free and back in his cabin again. Getting out of bed he suddenly realized he could take a real shower, not just wash himself down with a washcloth. Almost falling as he hurried to the bathroom, he couldn't help but make loud whoops.

........

After a long shower, he quickly got dressed and looked himself over in the mirror. Blue eyes and long dark blonde hair adorned his face. He wasn't a beautiful man, nor was he ugly. In his cargo pants, old school T-shirt, leather jacket, and combat boots he almost felt like himself again. He did look skinnier though. Damn lizard rations were barely enough to keep starvation at bay. "Oh, well," He thought, "Old Pan will get me well fed again soon enough". with that, he left the room and headed to the bridge.

Walking onto the bridge again felt familiar and cozy. He looked around at his command staff, who in turn, were all rushing to come to greet their captain welcome back. After a long while and an almost endless chorus of congratulations and well-wishing, he managed to sit them down and go over his final plans.

"First. Thank you all for the kind words. I feel as happy to be back amongst you all. Now, we return home, as ordered yesterday. We will enter within shuttle distance from the planet, where I will leave by myself and not return for up to, but no longer than 7 days, after which point we shall resume our original schedule. Grant shore leave and payout half a month's extra pay as a bonus, the men deserve a break. Resupply and restock, I want our storage brimming. Not just the standard package, fill us up to 100% capacity. Food, water, and ammunition, both lethal and non-lethal. Make sure the armory is brimming as well, I want wartime supply. and enough to last us as long as possible. We also need spare parts for engineering, extra tools, medical supplies for sickbay, the works. It's going to be a long time until our next R&R session. I suggest you all take a few days off as well, make sure you coordinate it properly. we also need to fill out our crew roster, a certified surgeon for the sickbay, and 2 combat medics for our combat Packs. How long until we reach shuttle distance from Terra?"

He looked over each member of his command staff as he spoke. There was Signe, his chief engineer. small framed and with a petite build, She was the last person in the universe you would suspect to be chief engineer, but she was a certified wizard with mechanics and tech.

David, his Navigator, second in command, and childhood friend. They went through life together, from childhood through the army. Always having the other one's back when needed.

Knud, his head physician, was a deceptively jovial older man that had no issue with calling you every name under the sun if your injury or illness was of your own making or stupidity rather than accident. his harsh tone when treating you as a patient was the direct opposite of speaking with him over lunch.

Jesper, his Head of Security. A former independent street thug, loyal to no one but himself. he was arrogant, cocky as hell, and more often than not, a difficult person to be diplomatic around. But in a fight, he was the most stable man you could have at your side. He lived for the moments between life and death, where a single wrong action meant a final game over. certified adrenaline junkie and possible sociopathic tendencies.

And finally, Jeanette. his seer. In truth, an analyst, but her faith was as strong as any Eirik had met (and he had grown up with, and kept, a pretty strong faith himself) and she was quite adept at casting runes. Her predictions rarely failed, and even when they did, there was always some element of truth to be found, if looked at with the right perspective. The others had been skeptical when he brought her on board, but 2 years of proving their doubts wrong had helped a lot and he knew that every one of them thought of her as part of their little excentric family.

The table echoed with "Aye captain" Followed by David confirming 3 more hours until they reached their destination. "Why are we taking this detour captain," Knud asked. Eirik knew this would come and there was no way around it.

"Because I'm declaring an independent war on the Kloxna by keeping our prisoner, prisoner. I asked Odin whether to leave her to a shameful execution for being bested by her prisoner or to bring her as a hostage for reasons unknown to me. The sign said to take her prisoner."

Jesper, ever the skeptic, shook his head. He had learned to live with his captain's weirdness concerning religion, but he still let his disapproval be known. Knud looked paralyzed along with Signe, David already knew so he didn't react and Jeanette immediately pulled her runes out from the pouch attached to her belt and started mumbling into her hands, cupping the runes. a moment later she threw them on the table and everyone looked up.

"What do you see" Asked Eirik.

"Hmmm.. Troubled roads, old friends and enemies, betrayals and alliances, hardships, pain, suffering, and reward. The runes are dark but vague. It's a bad sign captain" Said Jeanette with a shaken voice, " the Runes usually speak more clearly, but the message is muddy and confusing"

A long moment of silence reigned over the table before Eirik said in a grave voice, "So be it. Inform me when we arrive". Then he turned on his heel and walked out of the bridge.

Moments later he Walked up to Las'Tai's cell and started speaking "It has been decided you will stay prisoner on this ship for the foreseeable future. Your species will most likely declare war on me. Is there any way, besides returning you, that can prevent a violent outcome of this situation?"

______________

Las'Tai had heard him coming down the hall, he had made no attempt at subtlety. His voice sounded resigned to his choice of action and she decided to answer him truthfully. "You cannot avoid this conflict even IF you returned me, In the eyes of my people you have committed the ultimate crime. You have attacked, and abducted a member of the higher caste. What you have done is Heresy and the Kloxna will not stop before you and your ship is a burning pile of debris on a collision course with a sun going supernova"

_____________

He sighed heavily as he heard her answer his question. He had dared himself to hope beyond hope and he had seen it crushed before his eyes.

"So be it," He said again as if to affirm his own belief.

.He walked away without another word and headed to the storage bay. He needed to pack a bag for the coming trip.

...............

3 hours later he got the call over the intercom and headed down to the ship launch bay. Arriving, he saw David standing by one of the shuttles, waving him over.

"I prepped it for you. Mountain or forests?? so we know where to find you in an emergency." David said.

"Forests," Eirik said before he stepped into the shuttlecraft and punched in the coordinates for northern Sweden.

He needed to be alone and he needed help to process this. He tapped his bag to make sure the box was still there and initiated the autopilot.