Eirik was laughing as stood in front of the room. Knud was a good doctor, but an absolute mess as a tracker. It's what made it so fun to run off whenever he planned to keep you in sickbay. Eirik hesitated with opening the door. His brothers had already been gone when he got blown to hell and so they had not seen his helmet being removed.

For all they knew, he was a random benevolent soldier that had rescued them. He had heard from Freja that they had asked Knud several times if they could talk to the soldier that lead the raid that freed them. Knud, on his part, had been stalling them without revealing Eirik's identity. He knew that Eirik wanted to surprise them.

But now that he was standing in front of the door, he started doubting. had their minds been damaged during imprisonment?? Were they still the same people? Did they blame him for getting away?? Gods knew that his own survivor's guilt had driven him to do things that should, by all accounts, have killed him several times over.

This was not how he wanted to be reunited. He started limping back towards his own his room when he heard the hiss of the door he had just been standing in front of, as it slid open. He turned around in surprise at stared at Peter who was staring back with eyes that seemed to continue growing for each passing second.

"Hej, Peter. Længe siden" Eirik said with a warm smile. It hadn't hit him before, but now he realized how much he had missed his brothers.

[Hej, Peter. It's been a while]

"Eirik? Er det virkelig dig?" Peter whispered. Eirik had changed much over these last 8 years and become a fully grown man.

[Eirik? Is that really you?"

"Ja, det er mig. kan du ikke kende din egen lillebror?" Eirik gave a crooked smile.

{Yes, it is me. can't you recognize your own little brother?]

Peter just stared for another moment before a single sob escaped his lips and he wobbled towards Eirik with his arms outstretched, the escape having drained their bodies of the last of their stored energy reserves, and Eirik caught him in a warm and deep embrace. No words were said, but many tears flowed silently from both of them.

Neither of them knew how long they stood there, but eventually, Peter directed Eirik into the room. Mads, Matthias, and Jonas all joined in on the embrace and once again, time became immaterial as the brothers hugged, lost in the feeling of being with family they had thought dead and gone.

They sat down afterward, eager to talk and question, but Peter took control.

"Eirik, lige så glad jeg er for at vi alle er sammen igen, så er jeg nødt til at vide, hvorfor tog det dig så lang tid?"

[Eirik, as happy as we all are to be reunited, I need to know. What took you so long?]

Eirik took a deep breath. He had no idea how to say this, so he decided to go with brutal honesty.

"Morfar* valgte at holde jeres tilfangetagelse hemmelig. Jeg fandt ud af at i var i live for mindre end 3 måneder siden." Eirik breathed deeply.

[Granddad chose to keep your capture a secret. I found out that you were alive less than 3 months ago]

The silence in the room dragged on. Eirik saw the conflicting emotions flash across his brothers' faces, remembering his own confusion and anger when he found out himself.

"Jeg bliver nødt til at løbe, Knud leder efter mig og jeg har brug for at være i mit eget rum, ikke sygeafdelingen. Vi snakker sammen igen i morgen, når vi alle har fået noget at spise hvilet mere ud" Eirik said, leaving his brothers to ponder the revelation.

[I have to run, Knud is looking for me and I need to be in my own room, not sickbay. We will talk again tomorrow when we all have gotten some more food and rest.]

Eirik limped back to his room, got scolded by Freja for leaving the sickbay as early as he did, took a shower, and laid down on his bed, almost asleep before his head hit the pillow.

__________________________

Colonel Holm Hansen was happy and furious at the same time. He had hoped his grandson would have chosen a stealthy approach. Instead, they damn idiot had almost instigated another war. There were only 2 reasons it didn't happen. The first was that the Plyxii still remembered the losses they had suffered during their last war with Terra.

The second reason was the fact that his 4 grandsons were supposed to have been handed back over to Terra after the war, along with all other prisoners, But that had not happened and they had tried to use them to blackmail him. But he had not given in. He had no doubt his grandsons had suffered as a result, but there was nothing he could do as long as he could not locate them.

And now Eirik had freed them, and not only kicked the hornet's nest, but he had also trambled it to pieces, lit them on fire, and danced in the ashes, in the eyes of the Plyxii. The call from that Plyxii prison commander, Shu'Malen, had painted a gruesome picture of death on an obscene scale, to take 4 prisoners from a military prison.

The Colonel had responded that the prisoners were there illegally and Shu'Malen was more than welcome to complain to the Terran Government.

The Plyxii had roared in rage but had smugly added that at least one of the raiders had been killed, but the Colonel shot down that statement, saying that the soldier lived, he was merely wounded, albeit badly. The Plyxii had devolved into an incoherent screeching mess at that point and he had ended the call.

Knud had reported to him that Eirik was hurt, but nothing life-threatening. He had also requested a replacement suit for the one that was destroyed when Eirik was shot. Benny sighed. Those suits were not easy to get away from the military. he would have to request that Eirik pay for them from this point on. He pulled out the paperwork that needed to be done to make it happen and started writing.