Eirik was sitting crosslegged on the floor in his temple room. He had locked the door behind him and was staring at his new statuette of Odin. Mads had done wonderful work on it, keeping the style minimalistic, yet distinct. Just how Eirik liked it.

His mand was racing, his thoughts focused on Knud's words. The old man had crossed a line. But what to do? Out of line as he was, he was still the best doctor Eirik could get his hands on. Hell, without him, Eirik would be saddled with a robotic replacement arm. His research on the regeneration procedure was groundbreaking and invaluable. But his spying on Eirik and now the accusations of delusional insanity canceled out that achievement.

There was also his grandfather's reaction to take into account. Losing his spy in Eirik's inner circle guaranteed a response. What kind of response it would be, was impossible to predict. The apple did not fall far from the tree, as they said.

He looked to the ceiling, frustrated and undecided. There were also the many years Knud had traveled with them to think of. Even if he had been spying on Eirik all that time, he had also saved countless lives of Eirik's crew.

"Allfather, grant the wisdom I need to make an informed choice!" He pleaded with the statuette. Eirik did not believe the gods would interfere in the lives of mortals. But they would, on occasion, grant mortals the insight and knowledge they needed to make the correct choices. He had never relied upon them, but he attributed many of his sudden flashes of inspiration, to their intervention.

Eirik had always had a small part of his mind that told him there was a chance that religion was bogus, but after not 1, but 2 visions of the gods in Valhalla, that voice had been silenced. His faith had become absolute. The runes he had taken photos of, after the first vision, had him stupified. most of them were completely unknown to him and those few he recognized made no sense, from a power rune* perspective. The placement was wrong and many of them were reversed.

And then there was the web of wyrd**. A rune Eirik had a strained relationship with. On one hand, he respected what it represented and accepted that fate had a part to play in everyone's life. On the other hand, he believed that fate merely brought you to a crossroad. A place, where you were forced to make a choice that would shape the future of the crossroads you would be brought to.

He sat in silence, locked in place by internal debate.

___________________

Jesper, David, Jeanette, Signe, and Las'tai were sitting in the cantina, talking about nothing in particular. They were all adamant about avoiding conversation about what just happened until Eirik called them to talk about it again. They all knew he would summon them at some point. They just didn't know when.

Knud entered the cantina and got a plate of food from Old Pan. As soon as he turned around, the command staff rose from their seats and walked out of the cantina. This was not lost on the regular crew. They were used to the command staff always sitting together. There was a distinct line between crew and command staff and to see them freeze out one of their own made the crew worried. What could be happening amongst the Captain's inner circle that warranted such behavior?

The gesture was not lost on Knud who moved to sit at a different table. He knew it would be like this, but that didn't make it hurt any less. For almost a decade he had shared everything with the people that now treated him as a pariah. A cockroach, something you avoided on principle. He sat down and ate his food in silence. He would suffer his punishment with what little dignity he had left.

____________________________________

Back on Tetrachyon 3, the station commander was staring at the message he had written out, his finger hovering over the send button. "Why shouldn't I send this? He is no longer a Terran, at least not by association. I would technically be doing us all a favor" He tried reasoning with himself. He pressed the button and the message was sent. "Dalle had better pay well for the warning," he thought as he returned his mind to his regular work.

_____________________

Eirik heard the door to the temple room unlock but didn't turn his head. He figured it was Jeanette. She knew he came here to think.

"Seeking wisdom from the gods?" Came a voice he did not expect.

"Las'Tai?" He asked and began turning around.

"And me," Freja chimed in. "Eirik, I know you must be hurt by what Knud said-" She stopped talking as Eirik raised a hand in the air.

"I will not discuss this situation until it has been resolved. And it will not be resolved before I find the answers I am looking for. We can talk about everything else, except that." Eirik's voice was firm but gentle "I do not wish for my judgment to be clouded"

Las'Tai opened her mouth to protest, but Freja put a hand on her shoulder. "Not now, Las'Tai. It won't do any good." She said mildly.

"And that is why I love you, Freja. You understand me." Eirik said and turned to face them with a smile on his face. "Did you come down here just to try and cheer me up?"

"We came to take your mind off of things," Las'Tai said. "Things tend to become clearer when you distance yourself from them. So, we are challenging you to a 2v1 practice fight!" Las'Tai could not hide her excitement. She had trained long and hard, diving into reading material and videos of Terran martial arts, and had started work on developing a Kloxna fighting style that would highlight the natural nimble and quick movements of the Kloxna,

She had learned early on, that speed would always win the fight. No matter how hard you hit, if you could not connect, it didn't matter. Trasti had been invaluable in her research, his meticulous nature and organized way of working had helped her greatly.

"Are you that keen on losing? very well, let's make it interesting. If I win, you will both put on a pink bunny suit, run through the ship, and get hunted by me and the crew with paintball guns. If you win, I will do the same. Deal?" Eirik held out his hand for them to shake in agreement. Las'Tai immediately shook his hand, but Freja hesitated.

"What's the matter, love? Losing your edge?" Eirik teased her, and she reached out and shook his hand.

"It is done! Let's go find out who is the better fighter!" Eirik said as he got up and moved towards the door.

________________

Tai'Tanu was more than happy. The mercenary Dalle had proven to be a great asset to the war. He had brought members of an alien species she was not familiar with, but they were exceptional spies and assassins. Her warriors had complained that the new alien species was, if not openly hostile, then extremely distrustful of anyone that was not Dalle or one of the few other Terrans with him.

"Another victory?" She asked as the man in question came walking towards her.

"If you can call it that! I thought you would be using us to cause actual trouble for Terra. Not waste our talents raiding supply convoys!" Dalle barked at her.

"At some point, I will have to teach him some proper manners for those above his station," Tai'Tanu thought to herself. "A reason for every action, Terran. As long as you get your payment, you do not need to know why I ask you to do what you do. You just have to do it!" She snapped back and for a moment the tension between them threatened to break the tiny barrier of mutual cooperation they had developed.

"There is no loot from this raid. They chose to overload their reactors instead of surrendering." Dalle changed the subject after averting his gaze. He had to play his part until Eirik was dead. Then he could kill this insufferable overgrown lizard and be done with it.

"That comes out of your pay Terran. We had a deal. Only payment for successful raids!" Tai'Tanu turned around and her personal guard followed her, keeping their eyes on Dalle.

With a frustrated yell, Dalle kicked a passing Kloxna worker who was sent skidding across the floor, whimpering in pain. The Kloxna slowly got up and checked herself for injury before continuing with her work, giving a wide berth to Dalle and his mercenaries.

___________________

Eirik, Freja, and Las'Tai took up their places on the training mat. "Alright, ladies. Are you ready to taste defeat?" Eirik said, looking just as cocky as he sounded. He barely had time to dodge the kick from Freja before Las'Tai swiped her tail low, hoping to trip him over. He managed to jump back enough to avoid the attack.

"You 2 have trained specifically for this!!" Eirik exclaimed and from the smiles on Freja's and Las'Tai's faces, he knew he was right. "I might finally have become a victim of my own greatest flaw. Hubris" Eirik thought to himself as he made a desperate dodge to the side, feeling Las'Tai's retracted claws graze his ribs.