Las'Tai heard more than felt the ship transition from FLT back into regular space but nothing had happened after that. She had tried to continue reading the book she had picked up the first day, but the sheer number of names, places, and laws that were quoted were so mindboggling difficult to sort out, especially because of their frustrating insistence of often using the male parents first name as part of the spawns last name. Instead, she had settled on the book, "Erik and the gods", hoping to find some answers to this half-crazed human prisoner charge of hers. He had mentioned something about his gods demanding he take her prisoner instead of leaving or killing her. But that could not be, everyone knew that superstitious religion was nothing more than the delusions of the insane or an excuse for the uninformed to explain what they didn't know. So why did all these other humans go through so much trouble to not only rescue this lunatic but put him back in charge of the ship without question!!

It was very confusing to her and the book did not yield any immediate answers. During the 3rd day of her imprisonment, however, (the 2nd day of Eiriks absence, unbeknownst to Las'Tai) the young man in the book was making his way around the supposed realm of the gods and meeting, what she guessed, was the gods given personalities that fit the role in this confusing polytheistic mess of a religion. Suddenly, she could hear someone other than the guard that brought her meals, coming slowly down the halls. The heavy footsteps had a militaristic, almost clinical tone to them as they hit the metal floor and sounded like they had a massive weight behind them. She hurried to put the book back and sat down on the chair, looking out the window at the stars hanging in the void.

The footsteps stopped outside her cell and ..... nothing happened.

As the seconds dragged on she started to become worried and curious at the same time. Unable to stand the suspense any longer she turned her head and looked towards the hallway outside her cell.

A human with a sharp face, wearing heavy full body armor was staring intensely at her. on his hip was a weapon and on his back hung what looked to be an old-fashioned tool.

She felt herself withering under his gaze and ended the crushing silence "What do you want?"

Her voice was not quite as stern as she would have liked, which was apparent in the human, his eyes narrowing slightly and a predatory smile forming on his lips.

"I simply wanted to see the being, capable of making the captain losing his fucking shit like that" She winced slightly at the crude language, as he continued "For 18 months this ship has been smooth sailing, Easy jobs with fat paychecks, a steady crew that sticks together because we are all a little nuts, and the captain being generally well balanced. Then your species come along, imprison him on (almost) entirely false charges and when he finally manages to break free and call us to come get him back, he is acting like I haven't seen him do for many many years, he is back to rambling about the will of the gods which he has not taken this seriously since I enlisted and he is deadset on accepting a personal war against your entire species."

He never took his eyes away from hers while speaking, he barely even blinked. But when he finished, he took a single step forward. the action in itself was innocent, but the atmosphere around her changed in an instant. she could sense the danger in the air, the intent to cause her harm radiating from the human, his eyes looking her over like a predator before it strikes. Adrenaline pheromones quickly filled the cell, she could taste them all over her tongue, even with the human standing outside of it and when he spoke, his voice was raspy and threatening.

"you will tell me what happened during the escape that made the captain go nuts again and you will do so now!"

......

A short explanation of her side of the story later didn't seem to satisfy the human on the other side of the cell. As she was talking she could sense his anger grow with every word and grew ever more fearful as she neared the end. She knew she didn't have any answers for this human and his possible response was what made her fearful. Humans were known to be volatile, unpredictable, and usually violent in their response to bad news. The human didn't fail her expectations as he started kicking the wall behind him in frustration.

Suddenly he whirled around and pointed a finger at her. "You should give praise to whatever gods your worship that the captain wants prisoners unharmed!!" before stomping off away from her cell.

Before her heart had a chance to settle down she heard footsteps approaching again, but these sounded more relaxed and lighter. An older human holding a clipboard came into view and turned to face her, a mild smile on the Terran's face.

"If you are trying to get more answers, I'm sorry to say I cannot give what I do not have, I was not lying to the other one" she hissed at him, rising from the chair and moving to the window."

"Pragmatic, but uninspiring. I can see why you infuriate Jesper" he began, his tone mild and amused "No sense of the dramatic. No, I'm not here to question you about anything other than your health. My name is Knud, I'm the ship's head physician and the angry fella that just left was our head of security, Jesper. While far from an expert on Kloxna physiology I should be able to at least provide basic medical care. with help of some medical text, I should be able to treat most anything you should encounter as a prisoner. Now, how are you feeling? The after-action report the captain filled out suggested you took a heavy blow to the head and while I DID examine you quickly during your imprisonment process, I wish to know how you feel and if there is anything that needs attending"

Las'Tai was taken aback for a moment, the thought of getting medical attention as a prisoner never occurring to her. In stunned disbelief, she could only get out the words "no, I'm quite fine, thank you"

Knud's smile grew wider and he wrote something down on his clipboard. "Great, if you need anything, just let the guard know, he will summon me." With that, he turned and walked away again, leaving Las'Tai to her thoughts.

"they send the head physician down to check on the health of a prisoner......" continued to ring through her head, blocking out all other thoughts for the longest of time. She didn't move until the evening meal was served and she was ripped from her stupor by the scrambling of the tray against the floor.

Looking over she still marveled at the (to her) generous rations. There was enough food to keep her full strength intact and then some. It did, however, raise a lot of questions about just how much energy these humans needed to function if the captain's words were to be believed. She took the tray and sat down to eat.

The next few days passed in much the same way as the previous ones, except she called for the doctor when she got stomach pains. The doctor, Knud was his name, she remembered, gave her some pills he called vitamin supplements to be taken when eating. 2 meals later she had felt much better again. during this time she also realized there was a lot more activity and yelling around the ship. New voices had joined in after her 6th day of imprisonment, but nothing else happened. the books kept her from getting too bored, but she was starting to feel cooped up. She also wondered what the captain was doing, on account of the increased activity on the ship.

On her 8th day of imprisonment, the ship became a flurry of activity and started moving again. She suddenly heard footsteps walking in sync towards the cell, but didn't have time to ponder their meaning. Three armored soldiers walked up to the cell, the Head of security among them. She didn't like that one, Jesper. He seemed to be tethering on the brink of madness, only a single wrong word or action away from the uncontrolled slaughter. He opened the door and put a bundle on the floor inside the cell.

"The clothes you were captured in, cleaned and ready for use. better get changed, captains want us planetside. You get 5 minutes."

They walked down to the end of the hall and started small-talking as she changed into her Kloxna military uniform again. It felt good, but also slightly ominous. "Why does the captain want me looking like a pristine kloxna soldier on whatever planet this is?" she wondered as she pulled on the boots that were polished to a shine that would have made an officer in the Kloxna military weep with happiness.

As she called out to the guards, they came back to get her, Jesper leading the way and the 2 guards flanking her shoulders, slightly behind her. She felt like she was walking to her execution. "If I am indeed to die soon, I will face it with courage," she told herself, even though the thought of dying at this young age felt like being cheated.

Never had a walk to a loading bay felt so long.

She felt the ship touching down moments before they reached the bay and the massive doors started to open. She looked out the doors, not knowing what to expect and what she saw was a frightening sight, far more fear-inducing than Jesper losing his temper on the wall.

She was staring at the same man that had taken her prisoner 8 days ago, but the man was not the same. Looking stronger and far more collected than the last time she saw him, he was standing in front of a tree stump, holding a large axe, 2 smaller axes on his hips, a large knife on his leg, and what she assumed to be an old fashioned shield for melee combat on his back, a large half-circle of torches behind him. This whole thing reeked of something ceremonial or ritualistic. But her fear did not come from his weapons or the setting. It came from his eyes. In them, she saw an unbreakable spirit, unwavering determination to follow through, and a pinpoint focus. The look of a predator on the warpath. A hunter wronged, out to take revenge on the prey that dared hurt it. "How had this human, this half-raving lunatic, transformed himself in such a short while?" she wondered.

"Bring her here" The man's voice was normal in volume but impossible to overhear, despite the noise of people lining up to get out behind her.

Those eyes were burning into her very being as she slowly walked towards the tree stump, towards the most terrifying being she had ever laid eyes on.