Jesper was disappointed. He had expected a proper fight and had been faced with barely standing raiders that had no fight left in them. All the bragging must have been just that. Bragging and hot air. As his team collected the prisoners he saw their shocked faces as they realized how few it had taken to defeat them. Some looked relieved, which he found a bit weird. Perhaps this emerging crime lord was ruling with fear rather than respect

"There are possibilities in that..." he muttered to himself, "but will the captain approve??" He decided to have a talk with the captain before they handed over the prisoners. They might need to have a civil talk with some of them, "I wonder how the captain is doing over there. I don't like him being on the loose.."

________________________________

Eirik was smiling with glee as yet another Plyxii fell under his axe. This was life. This was the only true place to exist. He avoided his gun as much as possible so his location could not be pinpointed by the noise. Behind the fallen soldier on the ground, he saw the last guard in front of the armory throw down its weapon, holding out its paws to show its surrender.

Breathing a raspy wet breath, Eirik struggled to get the bloodlust under control, but reason won in the end. Killing the innocent and unarmed would only serve to hurt his cause. Accepting the surrender he tied the soldier down with the torn uniform of his dead comrade and pulled him aside for later retrieval. taking a moment to wipe back his slick hair, wet with enemy blood, he inspected a gash on his arm. Not liking how deep it was, he pulled out the first aid kit and gritted his teeth as he stapled the wound back together. Finishing off with a tight bandage to keep the staples in place while fighting, he gathered his weapons and kicked the door a few times.

"I KNOW YOU ARE IN THERE COWARD!! MY MEN HAVE TAKEN THE BRIDGE AND ENGINE ROOM SO YOU MIGHT AS WELL SURRENDER NOW!!" He yelled, hoping that the gathered pirates and their commander inside could hear him.

Quickly contacting his 2 teams, they both gave him the green light on their objectives. everything was going according to the plan. The Panel on the side of the door beeped and he heard an angry voice through the small speaker, "I am no coward human!! Come in here and see for yourself!!"

"Is that why you are cowering behind the surviving guards on the ship??" Eirik answered dryly. Judging from the amount of angry snarling and yipping from the speaker, it seemed as if his guards were questioning his bravery, perhaps. "Why not settle for single combat in exchange for the survival of your crew??" Eirik continued, hearing the silence fall over the other end of the speaker.

"And what is in it for me if I win?" The Plyxii asked hesitantly??

"Prison instead of death. All that surrender will be spared." The snarling and yipping started again, ending with a mighty roar that made all other voices go silent.

"I will fight in single combat human. select your champion and let me know when you want to spare my life"

It took a few different calls and 20 minutes time but eventually, his strike team and Jesper arrived at his location. Jesper looked him up and down before asking "did you lose control?"

"No old friend, not this time. How did your part of the mission go?"

"too well, no fight in the bastards," Said Jesper with a grimace.

Eirik smiled widely, "Then you have a chance to get some fun as well. Single combat against the Plyxii commander"

Jesper simply smiled and reached into a back pocket to withdraw a set of brass knuckles while pulling his knife free with the other hand. "Where" was the only words he spoke, a smile glued to his face. Kicking the door to the armory, Eirik yelled "IT'S TIME TO FIGHT, COWARD!!"

"You promise the safety of my crew??" came the resigned voice from the speaker.

"Yes, as long as they throw their weapons out as the first thing when the door opens."

As the door hissed open, 15 laser rifles were thrown on the floor outside. They were quickly secured and moved to safety as the Plyxii emerged. The commander was easy to spot, being more well-fed and better dressed than the rest.

"Do they wish to observe that the fight is fought fair??" Asked Eirik.

They all voiced their agreements and the Plyxii commander asked "Who amongst you am I fighting"

Jesper took a step forward, knuckles and knife in hand, earning a disgusted sneer from the Plyxii. "THIS is your champion, human? That skinny thing could not hurt me if he tried"

"You might think that, but if I tell you his name you will change your mind" Said Eirik as Jesper walked into the room, rolling his shoulders and kicking out his legs to loosen up the muscles. "And who might this great warrior be then," Asked the Plyxii commander, sarcasm and mirth overflowing in his voice.

Jesper reached the other side of the room and took up position. "He is called Jesper, but was known under a different name amongst your people during the Plyxii offensive. Your people called him *Blood Crazed Boxer*"

As Eirik said the name out loud, several of the now prisoners made, what he guessed was, warding gestures, and the commander of the Plyxii was visibly shaken.

"That is just a myth. A campfire story to scare young soldiers. Just a myth!!" Came the insistent voice of the Plyxii.

Jesper called out a challenge "are you gonna fight me you cowardly overgrown teddy bear, or are you gonna talk all day like a weakling"

The words had the desired effect and the famous temper of the Plyxii took over. Dodging the first 5 blows of his opponent, Jesper seemed to be toying around with the commander. Fast as a snake his knife flashed out and pierced through the arm that the poor Plyxii was currently punching out with. The pained yelp turned into a howl as Jesper, without removing the knife, hammered his knuckles into the arm of the commander, breaking it with a loud crack. The rest of the fight was short and brutal as Jesper tackled the stunned warrior and started hammering at his face with the knuckles until a wet *crunch* signaled the cracking of the skull. Then he got to work with the knife. From the viciousness of the stabs to the obscenities he was spouting while stabbing the rapidly dying commander over and over again, it was clear that the human had a special resentment towards their species, as no indication of the commander and him knowing each other had been made previously. Having had enough, Eirik tried to drag Jesper away from the corpse, but failed a few times before succeeding, leading to a rather gruesome display of a human trying to restrain another human from desecrating a corpse anymore than he already had.

After the whole thing, Jesper simply left the room to wait at the airlock, not saying a word to anyone.

Eirik took the time to get the bodies disposed of, the prisoners processed and crew brought over to salvage what they could before planting beacons for the Terran government to follow. This would bring them a nice fat cash bounty and was supposed to only be a small part of a larger pirate fleet. If they could keep this up, they would be VERY well set for the future, even with upgrades to the ship and weapons.

Finishing up, he walked towards the airlock he knew Jesper would be. they needed to talk about this.