Roughly 8 days later Eirik's ship made its entry into the Amsilon system, leaving lightspeed a couple dozen million kilometers from Amsilon prime. Homeworld of the Kunstnee, famous merchants and artists. The avian species with the body of an eagle and the head of a hummingbird spent most of their lives traveling and trading or spending countless years making masterpiece after masterpiece as artists of whatever venue of art they chose to pursue.

Eirik looked down at Las'Tai that was standing next to him on the bridge and spoke, "Strange place for a Kloxna representative to request a meeting, don't you think Las'Tai?"

She looked up with confusion painted on her face, "What do you mean, Captain?"

"The homeworld of artists and merchants. Not exactly the place for a warrior species to gather up."

"Maybe it was chosen as a neutral ground?? The Kunstnee are adamantly neutral in any conflicts that aren't directly involving them. It would make sense, if the intention was to convey a feeling of trust, as an act of aggression performed here would have far-reaching diplomatic consequences."

Eirik stared at her for a moment before he burst out laughing, "For someone that wanted to get away from the intrigue of high society, you seem surprisingly adept at it" He managed to wheeze out between fits of laughter.

Las'Tai didn't dignify him with an answer, instead, she simply slapped his leg with her tail.

Still wheezing from laughter but rubbing his sore leg, Eirik made his way down to the hangar with Las'Tai in tow "Are you ready for this??" He asked her as they neared a shuttle transport.

"I have to be. Ready or not, the moment is here and so I have to do the best I can" Las'Tai sounded as though she would rather not be here, but she was facing it and it secretly made Eirik proud.

"I see your studies of the Saga's are going well. That is a strong nordic mindset" He declared, as much to reaffirm it to himself as to support her.

they boarded the shuttle and Eirik guided it safely to the planetside spaceport. Once they touched down safely, he checked his datapad and saw a confirmation message from Jesper that everything was ready. Jesper and 2 of the 3 wolf packs had left before Eirik and Las'Tai, they had been on standby in their respective shuttles. Dressed up in various civilian outfits to fit everything from tourists to merchants, they were to locate their contact and position themselves so they could provide backup if things took a wrong turn.

Armed with nothing more than pistols and their knives, as planetary law dictated, He was confident in their numbers. There was no way an ambush of the same scale as last time could take place without angering the Kunstnee government.

Las'Tai was unaware of these security measures and Eirik wanted to keep it that way. There was no reason to burden her already cracked perception of her own people's so-called *honor*. But Eirik knew very well that Kloxna was, by some strange freak of nature, as fascinated by traps as the Kobolds from Terran fiction they looked so much like.

The ambush at his duel had shown him that when he went over the video footage afterward. Their positions had been extremely well hidden but still close enough to make a noticeable difference. and they had been no hesitation on their part. Every soldier knew their place and role in the ambush and they had executed it almost to perfection But they had not accounted for Eirik's troops having the fire superiority. If he had not insisted that his troops be ready for an ambush, there was a very high chance he would have lost his life in that ambush.

Of course, that would have enraged his grandfather to the point where Eirik's current anger at the old man for concealing the fact that his brothers still lived, was but mere embers in contrast to the raging wildfire that the old man was capable of nurturing. His anger was very slow to become the target of, but once ýou did, no force or place in the galaxy could protect you or your loved ones. His grandfather would have descended upon the Kloxna as a hungry wolf descends upon a fat, defenseless, lamb.

As they walked to the Market where they were supposed to meet with the Kloxna communications officer, Eirik noted the amount of life that was at display. Countless being from all kinds of species was packing the market to the brim, conversations, laughter, yelling salesmen, and much more, all melted into a background buzz of noise. He hoped the war would never find its way to a place such as this.

Looking around the food court area of the market he finally spotted what he was looking for. There, in the of it all, was a group of Kloxna, 6 soldiers, and what looked to be the poor Kloxna he had scared half to death after almost strangling him during his prison escape.

"IT WAS YOU THAT WROTE LAS'TAI! I JUST KNEW IT!! Eirik yelled out as he was making a beeline towards the table with a big smile on his face.

The 6 soldiers seemed undisturbed by his yelling, something they must have become accustomed to if they chose this spot to wait for him every day. The reaction of the communications officer, Trasti, if he remembered right, was completely different. As soon as Eirik's voice reached him, his head snapped up with his eyes almost popping out of his face, bulging as they were with sheer, unadulterated terror. As soon as he laid eyes upon Eirik, he let out a wail of fear and jumped behind the 6 soldiers who were quick to present their claws in a defensive position around the whimpering Trasti.

"Whoah, easy there, I come in peace" Eirik quickly proclaimed as he held his hands up with his palms facing outwards in a gesture to show he was unarmed and carried no bad intentions. "I bring Las'Tai to talk with you as promised in the message I sent back to you."

Trasti peaked out between the Kloxna soldiers who were eyeing him with scowls of aggression, and as he laid eyes upon Las'Tai, he carefully made his way in front of the group

"Honored member of the high caste. I cannot express the happiness and relief I feel at seeing you alive and unharmed." Trasti bowed deeply as he spoke, The soldiers taking a relaxed stance and making short bows as well, never taking their eyes off of Eirik.

"Please, there is no need for formalities here, Trasti. Let us sit and talk." Las'Tai said as she gestured to the table Trasti had been sitting at just moments before.

"But, you are high caste... I could never sit at the same table as you, honored one" Trasti said, straightening back up from the bow. Eirik decided to interject at this moment, "Just sit down. Remember, she is still a part of MY ship!"

Again, the soldiers displayed their claws, followed up by hissing and, what he could only assume, was Kloxna native cursing directed at him. Unperturbed by this, Eirik took a seat next to Las'Tai, he looked up at Trasti expectantly.

Slowly, fighting hard to overcome his fear of this Terran, Trasti sat down at the table. Eirik reached a hand out towards him and spoke, "First, I would like to once again apologize for the way I treated you back at the prison. Had to escape and all that. I promise here and now, you have nothing to fear from me, unless you take directly aggressive action against me. As a Captain and Terran, I give you my word."

The words DID relieve Trasti of a lot of the fear he had felt, but he was still uneasy around the Terran. So much raw killing potential in a being that seemed almost childlike at times, despite being able to escape a Kloxna prison. "I am thankful for that. I am indeed uneasy. Now, As for the return of Las'Tai-"

Eirik held up a finger, "I'm gonna stop you right there. Las'Tai is not coming with you. This meeting is merely to show that she is being treated in accordance with the promise I made to high matriarch Tai'Tanu. Even if she breaks her promises, I keep mine."

The Kloxna soldiers almost jumped him at the last words and even Trasti looked angry. "The high matriarch would NEVER break a promise!!" He exclaimed fervently.

"I have video footage that proves otherwise. Las'Tai can vouch for its authenticity, she was present during the whole thing." Eirik said flatly. "I can show you right now if you wish to see it".

"If high caste member, Las'Tai, can vouch for its authenticity, I would like to see your so-called *proof* Terran." Trasti was reserved in appearance but in his mind, he was shocked to his very core. A high caste member vouching for video evidence of a high caste matriarch breaking a promise?? That could not be. That would go against the very core of what it meant to be Kloxna. It would be honorless. It would be... Heresy.

Even the Kloxna soldiers were getting closer to the table, gathering around Eirik and his datapad as he played the video of his challenge to Tai'Tanu. He could hear them mumbling in approval at his challenge. It was an honorable choice, offering yourself up for a life or death duel to spare your people the horrors of war.

As he played the video of the fight, he could feel them getting excited and, for some reason, agitated as the fight continued. Then, moments before the treachery of his opponent, Eirik heard Jesper yelling, not far away, "CAPTAIN, WATCH OUT!!!."

Not stopping to wonder about warning, Eirik ducked as low to the table as he could, as quickly as he could. The claws that swiped through his hair, in the place his neck had been a mere moment before told him what had happened. One of the Kloxna had tried to take advantage of the opportunity to kill him and protect Tai'Tanu's reputation.