Eirik looked up at the large loading bay doors on his ship as they rumbled open. He could see the prisoner standing out front with Jesper, in full Kloxna military uniform, neat and clean, with shining boots.

"Toy soldier," He thought to himself. "Bring her here," he said to Jesper, but the soldier started moving towards him of her own will. stopping 2 steps in front of him and looking up. He saw fear in her eyes, but it was not the dominant emotion. No, the determination was the dominant one. He could respect that, though it was misplaced. He had no intention of killing her.

"Stay there," he said and without waiting for a response, turned to his crew and directed them into the half-circle of torches. One of the engineers was setting up the camera and connection and yelled to Eirik that everything was ready to go and he just had to give the order.

Facing the crew again, he couldn't help but notice quite a few new crew members. Taking a deep breath, he started "First off, in case you were not briefed on what I plan to do here or you were not paying attention during the briefing, let me recap it quickly. I plan to declare a one-man war on the entire Kloxna species. Anyone that does not want to be a part of this will get their chance momentarily, but I want to make it so they get to stay completely out of this conflict."

Taking another deep breath, he continued "My reasons for doing what I do are my own for the time being, and asking about them will only earn you trouble. I do not expect anyone to stay with me during this, but those that do shall be greatly rewarded. I am still a licensed privateer of Terra, so we can salvage whatever we want from fights and earn a nice commission for notifying the Terran government of possible scrap and debris locations. Now that you have been informed I must ask you to stay quiet. As I said, you will get the chance to opt out in a moment. Roll camera and get over here." he finished, gesturing to the engineer with the camera setup.

Putting a hand on the shoulder of Las'Tai, he moved her to stand beside him, next to the tree stump.

The man obeyed command and Eirik looked into the camera and began speaking. "High caste members of the Kloxna species. After being taken prisoner on false charges, sentenced to death by an unjust court of law, and having attempts made on the lives of my crew members, I still offer you this chance of a peaceful solution to this situation. Let us meet up and talk things out, like beings of honor. During my escape, I took a member of the higher caste prisoner. I cannot return this member at the current moment in time, but I give you my word, as a warrior, that she will be treated with respect and every effort will be made to keep her alive."

He sighed audibly and continued. "However, If this is not a possibility, I see only 3 possible outcomes, but before I continue. Allow me to address my crew for a moment"

He turned halfway and said loudly "those wishing to not be a part of this conflict, kindly stand in front of the camera"

For a long moment, nothing happened. Then a young man, barely out of his teens slowly came forward, his hands shaking like leaves in the wind.

"Please captain, I didn't sign up for this. Don't be angry with me"

Eirik smiled softly and said "no one here blames you, friend, we all get to choose. If we survive this, you are welcome back anytime" He squeezed the kid's shoulder and looked up to see if more were coming. Seeing no one, he looked back at the camera.

"This young man has no part in this conflict, and attacking him from this point forward will count as an attack on a regular Terran citizen, unaffiliated with me or my crew. This, effectively, would be a declaration of war against the Terran government. My actions are my own, they are performed without sanction from, and in violation of, the Terran government, and any crew that leaves my ship within the next 6 hours are to be counted as outside the conflict as well."

His crew remained silent in the background as Eirik gestured for the young man to go over by the camera and wait.

"The 3 possible outcomes I see are as follows. Number 1. I meet a champion of your choice to settle this dispute through personal combat. Cultural pre-industrial weaponry only. Number 2. You manage to kill me in which case I get to die in a blaze of glory. Number 3. I Genocide your entire fucking race until you seek peace."

Lifting the axe from the stump, he grabbed it in both hands and looked at the ax's head. He had done this work with love and care and it showed. When he spoke again, his voice was strong and proud...

"During the early medieval period of my race, my ancestors were known and feared as warriors around the entire known world. The only people to ever beat us overwhelmingly during that period were the people known as Native Americans. One of the tribes amongst them had a tradition. At the beginning of a great conflict, they would bury an axe in a tree, signifying to their entire people that this was a time of war. The axe would not be removed until the conflict had been resolved or the people had been wiped out: It is a tradition I have a great deal of respect for."

Eirik suddenly lifted the axe high in a twohanded grip and swung it downwards with a roar. The large axehead embedded itself several centimeters into the tree stump.

"Members of the high caste. I have now planted my axe of conflict. when it will be removed, I leave it up to you."

Eirik signaled to the young man by the camera to stop recording.

________________________________

Las'Tai had been shocked when the human spoke to the camera. First at the revelation that she was not to be killed, but even more so when he, himself essentially declared war on the Kloxna in advance. What perplexed her though, was his conflicting logic. He was gonna treat her with respect and aim to keep her alive, according to his own words, but at the same time, he promised Genocide against her people. As he finished the recording, she slowly looked up at him again. This human was not half-crazed. He was a full-blown madman, completely insane and beyond all help.

After the camera was cut he looked at her, everything that scared her about him returning full force, but she also saw something else. something softer, deep beneath the fortress he had built around his mind. "Join me in the cantina," he said, We need to lay down some basic rules"