Las'Tai was taken aback by the lack of... anything.. in the captain's eyes. Despite growing up amongst a Sentient, cold blooded race of lizard's with a martial culture, she was used to Kloxna not conveying emotions with their eyes. But Terran's always did. You could always tell a Terran's mood from their eyes. They even had a saying for it themselves. "the eyes are the mirror of the soul" They say. Yet, the captain seemed to be an empty shell as he looked at her, knife in hand, covered in the blood of the shivering Plyxii on the floor that looked at her with a silent plea for help. How a Terran could inflict that kind of fear in a creature built like an 8 foot badger on steoroids would forever be a mystery to her.

"Well??" his voice broke the silence.

"I heard screaming coming from the brig and went to investigate. I tell you again captain, torture is illegal and you know it!! How can you do this??" She answered.

"Did you forget the part where i became an outlaw to my own government, declared personal war on one of the most martially cultured species in the universe after kidnapping a member of the higher caste only to hire her on my crew and finally.. wipe out half the security force of a smuggler station who had been hired to kill me??

I needed answers and he would not speak. So i made him. At this point im already as fucked as fucked can be." Eirik shrugged at this point. "I understand if you do not agree with my methods, but im left with precious few options here. Besides.. Happy as i am in general, im not a good person. It's why im at slight odds with my family. we all love each other, but my actions shame them, at least in their eyes. I dont care for that. Nothing i do dishonor my family. Their honor is their own and it is well earned. Mine was forfeit long ago.

As for this poor thing on the floor here, Knud is gonna fix him up well enough and we will turn him over to the Terran government. We will tell them the station is inoperable and i'm gonna contact some old friends and have them set up shop here after we deal with the last pirates still out and about in the system.

If you want, i can leave you here on the station with them, while i go out to fight your people"

A coughing was hurt at the end of the corridor, "That might not be needed captain. We have recieved a message that the offer of personal combat has been accepted" Jesper was walking towards them, holding a datapad.

".....Now why would she send assassins if she is accepting my offer of personal combat??" Eirik muttered, turning his eyes down to the Plyxii who started shaking and whimpering under his gaze.

"Stop it Eirik!!" Las'Tai's voice was firm and steady. "She must have sent them before accepting. They would have taken time to arrive and find you!"

"...Plausible enough. Jesper, could you tell Knud we are bringing a trauma patient to his infirmary?? I have to make preparations for an ambush and people to call."

"Sure captain, right away." Jesper said and turned around.

Turning back to Las'Tai, Eirik continued "Seems plans have changed. I get a chance to settle this without spilling your people's blood. I hope it pleases you as much as it pleases me."

"You are pleased you get to avoid slaughtering my people?? Look at the poor being beneath you!!" She retorted angrily.

"I gave him the chance to tell me before i did anything. What i did was horrible, yes, but could have been avoided, had he just talked." Eirik reasoned.

"But..... That's so .. savage!!" she spat out, voice full of contempt.

"Maybe you should read up on the old scandinavian people during the time period known as *the viking age*, Las'Tai. It would help you understand me alot better if you did." Came the dry reply from Eirik as he got up and moved away from the prisoner. "For now, i need to make those calls.

Without another word he walked down the corridor to his private cabin. Once inside he called communications. "I need a private call Colonel Holm Hansen, directed to my Cabin. Full scrambling." As the call was directed and ringing, he pulled out a white noise generator and turned it on so nothing and no one could listen in.

He listened to the ringing for almost a minute before a the hoarse voice of a old man that had just been woken up blared loud enough for Eirik to recoil from the sound "WHO IN THE BLOODY HELL IS CALLING AT 2 IN THE MORNING!!!!"

Eirik looked at his grandfathers angry face on the screen and grinned sheepishly "Good morning granddad. I hope i'm not disturbing too bad."

A long moment of silence was followed by a deep sigh. "What do you want Eirik."

"I have a smuggler station under my control and i am about to finish the contract on pirate hunting. I expect to capture their ships intact as well so you better get the military bounty wallet ready for me."

"You work fast boy. But fast is not always smart." Colonel Holm-Hansen replied.

"Oh, please. You and i both know that if you want to get anywhere you get to make waves." Eirik snorted out the reply.

"What do you want, boy"

"I need a crew loyal to the family that can run the smuggler station. I... Also need you to gather the family for me. They wont attend if i call a family meeting. But nobody refuses you. The last to try was the Plyxii war council, and we all know how that went." Eirik's last words hung in the air between the 2 men, millions of lightyears apart, but still thicker and heavier than any wall.

The colonels eyes become soft and he was the first to look away from the impromptu staring context through the communication screens. "I thought we put it behind us Eirik. You know i had no choice."

"Lying to a dead man is the same as lying to yourself." Eirik simply said.

"And how are you a dead man, grandson? You seem healthy and hardy, if a bit bloody around the hands...?"

"Interrogation. And that is why i need you to gather the family. I am to enter into Holmgang with the matriarch whose daughter is now part of my crew, to settle this feud without the need for innocent's to die." Eirik stated the reason for his call and saw his grandfather's face become worried.

"That's why you are a dead man. A fight to the death awaits you in the near future and as we know, the gods are fickle with their favor. Allright, i will gather the family in a week. that should be time enough. But tell me Eirik, why do you seek Valhalla with such desperate yearning? What does it offer that you do not have here??"

Eirik looked at the old man for a long time before breaking the silence. "I miss my brothers, granddad." With that, he turned off the communication, but he did have time to notice the shamefull look in the old man's eyes.

Leaning back after the call, Eirik sent a message to Jesper to prepare the trap for the pirates. It was fairly simple. once docked, they would active the docking clamps, locking the ships in place. At which point 5 soldiers in siege armor and 5 assult support members would round up the crew and lock them up in the station prison. Their ships and cargo would be stripped, sold and the ships themselves delivered to the Terran government for the privateer bounty.

While they waited for this to happen they moved in on station security and took over temporarily until the people Eirik had requested would arrive, but if Eirik calculated right, it would take 3 days.

The remaining Plyxii guards was initially not happy with the new change in management but were quickly convinced at the promise of a steady monthly pay in the high end for guards and the promise that those that had fallen to the assault on Eiriks crew would have compensation paid out to families. At 10.000 credits per dead guard it was a hefty sum of money but with the prospected income of further ships, Eirik was not worried for the economy of his ship. Besides, the side income from this station would add a pretty penny to his coffers in the long run. He had yet to empty the ships collected savings, not to mention the emergency savings and his private savings.

Eirik considered himself the Hlaford of his crew. An archaic norse word for *The male head of a household* And as such, making sure that they would always have what they needed was his responsibility and he should have the money to purchase his way out if possible.

Moving to his bathroom sink he cleaned the blood from his hands. Everything set up and done, he went to get some sleep,

During the next 3 days, no less than 5 pirate ships returned and were all captured rather smoothly, only the last ship making trouble, which was quickly stopped when the rest of the Terran soldiers showed up. On the third day the expected reinforcements arrived, among them and middle aged man that Eirik embraced warmly. His big brother had come to take over control with his soldiers. Living a life much as Eirik but with a love for the government, they were on opposite sides of the same faction. A good choice by their grandfather. He would be strict, but fair and the station would flourish as a result.

Eirik allowed himself a day with his brother, catching up on the family and letting him in on the situation as he knew it. With 3 days to spare, he left the station with his crew rested and relaxed and with a bank account brimming with credits. He had paid out another bonus of 50.000 credits to each member of crew, a rather small dip into the wealth the 5 ships had yielded.

On the second day of travel, after a few hours in the gym and training grounds, Eirik was relaxing in the sauna when Las'tai scampered in and conquered her personal spot in the furthers corner from the door.

"Las'Tai, i have a request to ask of you" Eirik said as she got settled.