After getting the new recruits set up with the training program, Eirik made a quick stop at Lasse's office to say hello and exchange news.

"I have gotten word that I am to host a diplomat until you pick them up. What is that about?" Lasse asked after the initial pleasantries were over with.

"I have need of a professional negotiator and a diplomat are some of the best. When granddad asks you what I needed a diplomat for, I never told you. But I need someone to facilitate contact with frontier colonies looking for a better life than they would have in the Terran Empire. I simply do not have the time to take care of such a thing. So I asked for a semi-permanent posting. By the way, he might be angry when he arrives. Don't mind him. " Eirik told him.

"I don't even want to know. I am just happy for the heads-up." Lasse replied. The 2 brothers spend a little more time talking before Eirik had to get moving. There were still people to meet, deals to make, and orders to hand out.

________________________

Jesper was sitting at the table outside the small café. His eyes were scanning the horizon, hoping to find see the person he was looking for. While he was looking around, his mind was racing, mostly focused on the conversation with David earlier. How the bastard had found out, and so quickly, he had no idea. But he had to agree to blackmail to keep it a secret.

Fuming with anger he suddenly had a flash of inspiration. Why keep it secret? That would remove the threat. Sure, some fun was sure to be had at his expense, but who cared. Despite how he acted, Jesper felt at home on board the *Void Wolf*. These people understood him and respected his need to be a sour person. Less than a handful knew his full story and he aimed to keep it that way. He had reason to be a spiteful and angry individual, but amongst these misfits, amongst these societal rejects, he felt like he belonged.

"Fuck it, let's give David a reason to curse when I reveal it," He thought to himself as he spotted a familiar shape amongst the moving crowd.

________________________

Ulla was making her way through the crowd at the smuggler station. She had been very surprised at Jesper's message, but it was a pleasant surprise. There were few men, secure enough in their masculinity, willing to sleep with her, and she knew why. Being a female bodybuilder removed a lot of femininity from her, and her trucker job did not help either.

And ever since Freja and Eirik had found each other again, Ulla had accepted fate and started living again. Jesper was not a bad-looking man and his temper would only be a positive thing. But she was only interested in fooling around.

She finally spotted the café they had agreed to meet at, but as soon as he saw her, he rose from his seat and approached her.

"Change of plans, we are going to the ship. My room." That was all he said as he led her back to the ship.

_____________________________

David was busy in front of the ship, directing the cargo they had to load and taking care of the unloading of prisoners when he saw someone turn the corner.

"Oh no, you didn't fucking do that!" He thought to himself as he saw Jesper and Ulla walking towards the ship, the eyes of the crewmember outside, glued to the pair. With the tight short, loose hair, make-up, sensual sway in her hips when walking, and shirt with the words *No gag reflex* imprinted on it, there was no doubting what she was there for.

"Clever, Jesper. Very clever. But I will find a way to get a hold of your dessert rations eventually!!" He continued his train of thought before he shouted to the crew that was scattered around, to get their asses into gear and finish loading the cargo.

______________________

An hour quicker than Eirik's previous 12-hour estimate, they finished up with everything on the station and prepped the ship for takeoff once more. Eirik would tolerate no delays and so, Jesper's departure from Ulla happened rather abruptly, but in front of most of the ship as Jesper had planned. Now the secret was out and his dessert rations were safe once more. "Nobody steals my strawberry porridge, least of all you, David!" He thought to himself while having a staring contest with David who was seething with disappointment.

Eirik was quite surprised to see Ulla but did manage to have a few friendly words with her before he moved to the bridge for the undocking and to align their travel route with the 2 other ships carrying the extra troops for the besieged Terran army unit.

And Tai'Tanu had overall command of the Kloxna laying siege to them. Which was why Eirik was in such a hurry. That crazy lizard spoke loudly of honor and integrity but displayed none of it. Planning ambushes for honor duels, secretly working to use biological and chemical warfare on civilian targets, hiding the truth from her people just for the sake of her image, he could go on about her faults.

But most of all, Eirik hated her for having the audacity to try and have him killed in an ambush after they had agreed to an honor duel, specifically to spare their respective people from the horrors of war. Eirik did not doubt that she would happily commit genocide against the Terran Empire and laugh as she danced in the ashes of their homeworld. So he needed to stop her.

To the rest of the galaxy, this was a war, like any other. Eirik, on the other hand, understood the underlying motivations of the unofficial leader of their enemy. She truly believed her people were superior to other species. That kind of fascist mindset was an abomination in Eirik's eyes and had to be snuffed out with the same carelessness you would display when swatting a mosquito or stepping on an ant.

The 3 ships entered FTL and now they could only wait and hope they would arrive in time to make a difference.

___________________

Corporal Tina cursed loudly as the building shook under the makeshift mortar fire they had been suffering under for the last 4 days. Whoever was leading these Kloxna, had obviously taken a lesson from the military history of Terra, Using the anti-gravity components from a hovercar, some metal tubes, and a literal shit-ton of grenades, the Kloxna had rained death upon them for 96 hours. The building would hold, as long as they did not increase the size of their explosives or started bundling the grenades together.

What worried her was what would come after the shelling stopped. She had been left in charge after all her superior officers had been killed off, either by sniper fire, or death in action during the beginning of the siege when the enemy still charged in waves. Or, as the Master Sergeant had died, by a lucky hit with one of those cursed mortar/grenades, altered to detonate on impact instead of on a timer.

His death had been a good one, instant and painless. Catching the grenade in the chest, there was not much left of them after the immediate explosion. Whatever was not ripped apart by the concussive blast of the explosion, was shredded by the shrapnel. She had been the highest-ranking soldier left at that point, but she knew less than nothing about leading soldiers in combat. She was an E-4 in the military branch of the United States. When Terra unified, the US was designated as the nation responsible for delivering and training foot soldiers for the Terran Military.

No matter how advanced an army, no matter how many tanks, planes, artillery pieces, and bombs you possess, you need boots on the ground to hold the area you clear of the enemy. And the American " 'Murica, Fuck Yeah! " mentality made them the obvious choice for infantry.

With a heavy sigh, she leaned against the sandbag wall they had constructed inside the building as a fallback position and as a safe place to rest if you could call it that. All around her, the remaining 327 soldiers of the 113th Terran Infantry Division did the same. They all knew that no enemy would attack during an artillery barrage, no matter how improvised it was. The best they could do was try to rest before the inevitable wave of Kloxna would come rolling in to finish them off.

The 21.000 soldiers of their division had been split up into 14 assault regiments of 1500 soldiers each, before being stationed around the planet in strategic locations. The Kloxna had systematically wiped out regiment after regiment and Corporal Tina's regiment was the last one alive.

She hoped the mercenaries the Master Sergeant had kept talking about would show up soon. According to the message log on the Sergeant's datapad, they were less than 2 days away. 48 hours until help arrived. Hopefully.

Her stomach growled and she tried to think about something else. Supplies were running low. Same with ammo and food. They lacked everything. Even if the Kloxna could not break their defenses, they just needed to hold them here for another week. Starvation and hunger would do the rest.

If only those mercenaries showed up before the artillery stopped. She had nightmares about the first few days and the carnage they had been in ever since. From 1500 fighting men and women to this. 327 scared and wounded soldiers, all looking to her for direction, and she was just as scared and clueless as they were. She could not do it again, she could not engage in such brutal hand-to-hand fighting. The feeling of her combat knife slicing through the chest of a Kloxna soldier, screaming in agony as her knife kept cutting deeper and deeper, would never leave her memory.

If the artillery kept up, she did not have to do it again, the mercenaries could do the fighting.

...

It was a strange experience, praying for artillery to keep raining down on your position.

___________________

Eirik sat in the armory with David and Jesper.

"So, how do we approach the planet with 3 ships when the space above it is under Kloxna control?" Eirik asked.

"Technically, Captain," David said, "We only need to approach the planet with 2 ships. all the troops are in the other ships."

Eirik fixed David with a stare and slowly arched an eyebrow. "If you think I am going to risk a full 4th of my mercenary groups' effective combat strength without getting involved, you are pissing up against a strong wind, David."

"I see your point, Eirik. I just stated facts." David responded, unfazed by the crude language.

"I know, David. But I do not yet have enough soldiers under my command to risk such a large portion of them without leading from the front." Eirik was frustrated. He knew what David said was true, but risking a 4th of your armed forces was not a thing done lightly.

"According to the reports we managed to get from the Terran Navy," Jesper said slowly as he shuffled through some papers, "The enemy fleet is mostly capital ships. They are too large to enter the atmosphere without risking severe damage, both on reentry, but also if they want to leave the atmosphere again. That only leaves their supporting smaller ships, most of which are made to function as moveable point defense platforms.

Even if the Kloxna ships are technologically superior, we have the advantage against those support ships. We could try simply blasting our way through. I highly doubt they set up a proper blockade, they know the Terran Navy could never face them in a straight-up fight. "

"That...Is actually not a bad idea. Hit so hard and fast that we punch straight through and take the ships down on the planet. Of course, We could not leave for the foreseeable future, as they would be ready and waiting for us. We would have to wait for the Terran navy to finish gathering strength enough to see off the bastards in orbit. But it could be done. And with the supplies from the ships, we have nothing to worry about, be it food or ammunition." Eirik mused.

"I'll send a message to the Terran navy," David said as he got up.

"You do that," Eirik responded. "And get to the armory when we are nearing our destination. Signe has a surprise for us!"