Noxlayn was feeling confident. He had monitored the station cameras carefully to choose the best moment to go after the Terran and his Kloxna prisoner. He had been confused when he had seen the Kloxna wandering around with the Terran's, but had not thought anymore about it.

His focus was on the Captain of the Terran ship and the obvious soldiers. Others might be fooled by their civilian clothing and behavior, but Noxlayn saw the signs. Their eyes were scanning everywhere they went with the practiced effeciency of a career soldier and the way they positioned themselves, even while getting intoxicated, spoke of a group of soldiers that had trained and worked together for years.

When the captain had returned to his ship with company, Noxlayn was more than a little surprised. He knew of Terran's approach sex, but had never thought about being with more than a single female at the time. Sourly, he cursed at the captain's image, jealous of the ease with which the captain seemed to attract females. Now all he had to do was wait for the Kloxna female to return to the ship as well and he could spring his trap.

Eventually, she made her way back to the ship and Noxlayn quickly sent out orders to his troops. It did not take long for all 62 of his available soldiers to gather up in front of the Terran ship. Feeling quite satisfied he had allowed himself a moment to enjoy a perfectly executed plan.

That's when the ships hangar doors suddenly opened, revealing no more than 10 Terran soldiers along with the captain of the ship. What scared him though, was the heavy siege armor they were all wearing, along with the shields that somehow was able to create a force field in front of them.

Noxlayn was in too much shock to register what the Terran was saying, but he heard the roar of the soldiers behind them all too clear.

"WE HUNT FOR DEATH!!"

______________________________________

As Eirik charged down the ramp, shield in front of him and pistol in his hand, he started firing with wild abandon towards the grouped up Plyxii guards, as did the men charging with him. The shock of a vastly outnumbered force taking the offensive stunned the guards into inaction and before they knew what was happening, at least 20 of them had fallen to the gunfire.

However, a Plyxii warrior can be hard to kill and the Terran's managed to empty their weapons at around the halfway mark between the 2 groups. Instead of reloading, they dropped their guns as one and all drew a mix of Seax's and hand axes while making themselves smaller behind their shields.

As the laser weapons of the remaining 40-ish Plyxii soldiers started blasting at them with the same reckless abandon they had seen from the Terran's just moment before, but it had little to no effect. the force fields on the shields deflected the shots before they could make contact with the carbon steel shields. Only a single shot made contact, grazing the arm of a Terran on the flank of their moving formation, causing the man to scream in pain and anger before throwing his axe towards the Plyxii that managed to hit him. A spurt of yellow blood and the sound of metal splitting bone made it clear he had hit his target.

A moment later, the Eirik and his man made contact with the group of guards and the area in front of the ship became a whirling chaos of hacked off limbs, screaming and yelling from both sides, blood making the floor slick as it pooled around the dead and dying. Eirik went directly for the leader of the guards, knocking him out with a heavy hit from the rim of his shield.

With no time to think, he ducked down to avoid a claw swipe from the guard next to their commander. Jumping to his right, he came up on the attacking Plyxii's extended right side. Abusing the opening, he hacked his axe deep into the ribs of the Plyxii who cried out in pain from the attack. Letting go of his axe, Eirik drew his Seax and with 3 quick slashes he ended the life of the poor guard.

The viciousness of their attack combined with the overwhelming casualties they had inflicted became too much and the guards broke ranks and started fleeing. Seeing his men beginning to chase them down Eirik yelled out for them to return and enter formation around their new prisoner.

As the last of the guards fled the hangar, Eirik and his men took stock of the situation. They had not come out of this conflict unharmed. 3 of his men were down, though they were still breathing and there was 37 dead Plyxii guards littering the floor around them.

"gather their weapons and whatever valuables they carry. I want their ID cards as well. YOU TWO!" he pointed at the 2 nearest of his soldiers. "Get the prisoner to the brig and lock him up. Let me know when he wakes up. We are going to have a little talk." Before Eirik could turn around however, one of the 2 soldiers spoke up.

"We should just kill him captain, there is nothing new to learn from this Plyxii fuck" Eirik narrowed his eyes and studied the soldier that spoke. It took a moment before he recalled who the soldier was and spoke.

" You are the new guy right?? jimmie?"

"Yes captain" the soldier answered.

"Well Jimmie, let me explain to you how things work on my ship. It's a very simple command chain. There are only 2 steps you need to remember when you hold the position you hold. Step one: I tell you what to do. Step 2: You do it. End of chain!!"

The other soldier smacked Jimmie on the back of the head before moving towards the prisoner to obey the captains orders.

Returning to the ship to clean himself and his weapons, Eirik noticed Las'Tai at her position near the airlock leading further into the ship, but she didnt seem to be combat ready. Her weapon was hanging from one hand and her mouth was wide open.

"That is a great way to catch flies Las'Tai." He said in a slightly mocking tone.

Quickly closing her mouth, she looked him in the eye and said "how did you do it?? you were outnumbered at least 5 to one, yet, in less than 2 minutes you managed to not only kill more than half, but make them run, all the while your own soldiers did not suffer casulties and only a few got seriously wounded. Just... How..."

Contrary to what she expected, Eirik did not smile. Instead his face became hard and his mouth turned into a thin line as he replied

"There is more to me than you might suspect Las'Tai. I laugh a lot and try to enjoy life but that sunny disposition did not come naturally. The best way i can explain it is through an old saying. *The happiest people are usually those that have experienced the most unhappiness in their life*. I hope you understand what im trying to tell you. If not, find me someday when im drinking and i might be inclinced to answer. For now, i got business to attend and you got guard duty until the crew has returned. I will send out a priority message so it should be no more than 1 hour before we are a full crew again and leave."

With those words, Eirik walked deeper into the ship, intending to send the previously mentioned message and start preparations for the ID cards of the now dead Plyxii.