Eirik and Trasti quickly found Las'Tai, still sitting in her room, reading. Eirik opened the door and walked in without knocking or anything. With a yelp, Las'Tai jumped from her chair before hissing at them both.

"Well, that is a new sound I have not heard from you before." Eirik mused as he walked over to the chair and picked up the book Las'Tai had dropped when she jumped away.

"I COULD HAVE BEEN UNDRESSING!!!" Las'Tai yelled at them.

"So what?" Eirik asked "It's not like I plan on sleeping with you, Las'Tai. I have no physical attraction to you. I can't speak for Trasti, but judging from the look in his eyes, I think he would not decline such an offer."

Trasti's tail curled up behind him and the dreamy look in his eyes was replaced by one of sheer horror. Las'Tai snapped her head over to look at Trasti, who suddenly found the floor to be extremely interesting. Eirik laughed uproariously at the sight of the 2 Kloxna's antics and the tension that had filled the room evaporated as they both shot him dirty looks.

"Alright, alright, relax, I'm just having a little fun. Even though the 2 of you would make a cute couple" He started laughing again as Las'Tai's tail followed Trasti's example and curled up behind her. "The reason we came by, Las'Tai, is because Trasti will be combat trained and you will be the one training him. I figured, since you are both Kloxna, you can coach him better than we Terrans can. Especially since you were trained as a soldier before you came here."

"Is Trasti okay with this?" Las'Tai asked, fidgeting with her tail to make it obey her again.

"I am," Trasti answered, "I feel more or less useless when I have to depend on others to protect me. I know Kloxna males usually do not fight, but I want to at least be able to defend myself in the future."

"An admirable disposition. I would be happy to help train you. By the way, what is that you are holding?" Las'Tai said.

"That, Las'Tai, is a trench kukri. I will take him to Signe afterward and have her adjust it to fit his claws better. It is the weapon of his choice." Eirik explained to Las'Tai.

"What is with the handguard?? It looks very different from the usual." Las'Tai was curious. She had never seen a knife like that before.

"It was designed to function as reserve brass knuckles if you did not have time or room to use the knife as intended. Getting hit in the head with those will at least give you a concussion, possibly knock you out. It was invented for trench warfare along with a multitude of other weapons that served the same basic function." Eirik hoped the picture he was trying to paint was clear enough.

"What is trench warfare?" Las'Tai and Trasti asked with one voice.

"That is not a lesson we have time to dive into today. Remind me at some point when we have downtime and I will explain further. Since you are willing to train him, we will take our leave and visit Signe. I need her to properly fit the knife before training can begin in earnest." Eirik moved towards the door and Trasti hurried after him after getting the knife back from Las'Tai.

A minute later they walked into Signe's workshop which was surprisingly stuffed with equipment. The worktable where Signe usually sat when tinkering was overflowing with discarded tools and technical drawings, and the toolbox that Signe kept religiously organized was in complete disarray. Eirik noticed that most of the Siege armors were in here. "HEY SIGNE!! YOU IN HERE?" He yelled out as he could not see her.

"OVER HERE!" Came the reply from further back in the room and they walked past the armors in different stages of disassembly.

"What is going on, Signe? Why are all the siege armors in here?" Eirik asked her as he finally found her hunkered down in front of one of the armors, welding away while humming to herself.

"Jesper and I finally worked out the last kinks in your planned modifications for the siege armors. Once I'm done working them over, they will all be fitted with the shotgun modification, be completely sealed and pressurized, and have a built-in thruster in the feet to help slow the fall of space-to-planet combat insertion. They should be ready in about a week." She announced with obvious pride. "And before you ask, don't worry I left 3 suits in the armory, just in case, until I'm done working on these."

Eirik's smile grew wide, going from ear to ear. "That's fucking awesome, Signe. Consider yourself on the paycheck bonus list next time we make port. Jesper too."

Signe finished the weld she was working on and took off her welding mask. "So what can I do for you this time, Captain?"

"Nothing major, just a simple refit job on a knife. Trasti is going to be trained for combat, and the knife has to be refitted to fit his claws" Eirik gestured to Trasti as he spoke.

"Isn't that more YOUR specialty, Captain?? Seems like smithing work more than anything." Signe furrowed her brows as she thought it over.

"Yes it is, but do we have a forge installed on the ship??" Eirik was well aware of this and had already begun designing a new knife for Trasti in his head. He needed to draw it at some point.

"Fair point, Captain. Shouldn't take more than half an hour at most. But can it wait until later?? This work is quite delicate and requires deep concentration on my part." Signe looked worried she might have to abandon her current work.

"Of course. Training won't be for another few days so you have all the time you need." "Eirik reassured her.

"Why not until a few days from now, Captain?" Trasti interjected.

"Because we are coming up on our second target before we return to the smuggler station, and I need to lead this attack, as I lead all attacks possible. It's a Kloxna military vessel and we need to be on our toes to have a fair chance of success. This means, there will not be any of my soldiers available for training until after the attack." Eirik tried to sound indifferent, but he knew well enough the almost idiotic amount of risk he was taking by targeting a Kloxna military vessel during a time of war. But as the old saying went: no risk, no reward. And he had worked out a plan that might just give him the edge he needed. The deception was key.

"That makes sense" Trasti replied. "What is going to happen to the Kloxna ship, Captain?"

"Either they surrender or they die," Signe said before Eirik could answer. "Never mistake the Captain's peaceful demeanor as him being harmless. You saw his fight against that Kloxna high caste member yourself."

Trasti shuddered at the thought. Tai'Tanu was well known for being freakishly large and strong amongst Kloxna and she had barely been able to block Eirik's attacks, let alone keep up with him. Signe was right, the Captain was anything but harmless, despite his pleasant nature.

"The mushrooms made me sloppy. But I needed the unhinged strength they grant, along with the rage. In an honorable duel, there is not much need for deeper thinking beyond rudimentary tactics.

"Mushrooms?" Trasti asked but Eirik waved the question off.

"Leave the knife on the worktable near the entrance, Trasti. Then, let's go get something to eat. I'm starving and I think today is meatloaf day."

To his surprise, Signe jumped up as fast as Trasti started moving towards the worktable. "MEATLOAF DAY!!!" She exclaimed before running out of the workshop.

"Huh. I guess the work could wait a bit when food gets involved" Eirik concluded with a chuckle before he realized that Trasti was hot on Signe's heels. He had no idea what *meatloaf* was, but if it was anything like what it sounded like, then the young Kloxna had no intention of missing out.

With a loud sigh, Eirik started running after them. "WAIT UP GUYS; I'M JUST AS HUNGRY AS YOU!!!" he yelled after them as he tried catching up with them.