Hey granddad

I hope this message reaches you well and that you are in good health. I have found him. I am hunting him as I write this. And I will kill him with my own 2 hands. It would seem I have once again beaten you to the finish line. But then again, the apple does not fall far from the tree.

You and I have unfinished business, but it will have to wait until I am done with this act of revenge. But you will do one thing for me in the meantime. You will be the voice of reason when the people in power start discussing my new empire. And no, I do not plan on dissolving it and returning to the fold. Quite the opposite. This war is presenting me with a precious opportunity to expand rapidly and I plan to capitalize. You will do this to atone for the years of Knud spying on me for you (Honestly, did you really think you could keep it hidden?? Come on, you trained me yourself!)

You will not refuse this. I promise there will be a reward in it for Terra. Most likely a discount for the PESSA suits we have developed. That reminds me, I want the coordinates for any planetary ground assault that hinges on explosive aggression. Consider it a field test for the brass. You will be pleasantly surprised, I assure you.

Hope to hear back from you soon. Love, Eirik.

Colonel Holm-Hansen read the message several times. The nerve of the boy. But he had him intrigued. He had read the reports from the TA soldiers that had been evacuated by Eirik and his troops, but he had chalked up most of it as tall tales. Stories are made grander by traveling. Now he was not so sure about his dismissal. He started looking through the archives on the datapad to find the correct reports section

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Eirik woke up, feeling rested and satisfied. Gently untangling himself from Freja, he quietly slipped out of the bed and into the shower. It was still early in the morning, so only the night watch crew would be awake. Eirik thought about the talk he and Freja had last night and the message he sent his grandfather. He would hate being ordered around, but he would do it. If nothing else, then just for the sake of the goodwill it would garner from Eirik. As much a schemer as the old man was, he still placed family above all. He finished up in the shower and went to the gym. He felt like hitting something.

He thought he would be alone this early, but he could hear the sounds of someone lifting weights. When he opened the door he was surprised to see Trasti, who was frozen like a deer in the headlights. They stared at each other for almost a minute, neither of them moving or talking.

Eirik was the one to break the silence. "Hello, Trasti. Didn't expect to see you here at this hour. But why would you lift weights without a spotter? You know how dangerous that can be!"

Trasti shrugged "I am lifting well under my capacity. This is what you Terrans call "low-intensity workout", I believe. Low weight with many repetitions to build up sinew strength instead of giving me large muscles. I want real strength. Not inflated muscles with no real power behind them." Trasti, as always, was calm when speaking. His previous timid behavior had been smoothed out with a healthy dose of confidence, and it had manifested in a firm but calm demeanor. Reserved, some might say.

"I think Bjørn would like to discuss the pros and cons of having big muscles, with you." Eirik chuckled as he picked up a set of training gloves.

"It always fascinated me how Terrans, despite lacking any useful claws or teeth, managed to find a way to still cause significant damage in unarmed combat," Trasti remarked.

"What, punching?" Eirik was surprised. He had never thought it like that.

"Yes. Your nails are not strong enough to function as claws without breaking, your open palm can cause pain but no real damage and your fingers are only strong enough to do any meaningful damage if you hit a weak point like the eyes. So you instead chose to simply close your hand and use it to pummel things until they stopped moving. Incredibly inefficient, and yet, so incredibly brutal.

Like everything else you Terrans do, it is a conundrum. It should never work, but not only do you make it work by sheer force of will, but your body adapts to the damage you cause yourself by using your fist as a blunt weapon, hardening your knuckles and flattening them out to make the hand a better blunt object, despite it not being designed to handle that kind of treatment. It is quite fascinating to observe your species up close.

The same with your kicks. By themselves, not much of a danger. But add in the momentum of swinging the leg, the twist in the hip at the right time, and the general skill of the Terran in question and you have a potentially lethal kick. You have even gone so far as to use the bone that contains your brain, like a blunt object. The Terran love and affinity for hitting things with blunt objects will forever be a fascinating obsession to me." Trasti said as he laid down on the bench and started a new set with the weights.

"You are just jealous that you didn't need to weaponize your own body in a way that developed martial arts," Eirik said with confidence and started working with the speed bag. "I have seen you training with Freja. And while Krav Maga is a great combat system, I think you would benefit more from Wrestling or Glima. Maybee Judo. something with a lot of grappling. Your people are naturally nimble and fast and you might as well capitalize.

It's the reason Freja settled on Krav maga. She wanted brutal efficiency with minimal effort. Since Terran females, on average, have 30% less muscle mass, it makes sense. Since males are stronger, it makes sense to focus on Boxing or wrestling, to make the greatest use of our biological advantage. It is also why you generally see women fight more with weapons that give reach, whereas most men will go for a blade. Of course, this is generalized and highly dependent on the skill of the individual in question. Signe is decent in a fight, but nothing spectacular. She is not built mentally for combat. Freja on the other hand thrives in the rush of battle just like I do.

Living a breath away from death is exciting in a way nothing else is. Besides sex right after combat, but, that is a whole different kind of excitement."

"...I wouldn't know" Came a low response from Trasti after a short silence and Eirik stopped training to turn and stare at the Kloxna male on the bench press. Trasti was adamantly avoiding Eirik's gaze, concentrating intensely on his form.

Eirik opened his mouth to speak but Trasti cut him off "Do not project your Terran stigmas unto me! I have my reasons!" Trasti all but barked, a very uncharacteristic behavior pattern for the young male.

Eirik cocked his head and stared hard at Trasti as he began speaking "Hmm... Let's see. When I first met you, you were a very timid cautious individual. This behavior continued straight to the point where I forcefully recruited you. Sorry about that, by the way." Trasti waved off the apology with a flick of his tail but did not interrupt Eirik as he continued,

"I have seen you go from nearly bolting from every room Las'Tai entered, to being near her nearly every waking moment you 2 are not on duty. But I also understand that it's because she can relate to you culturally, but don't deny, you are thick as thieves, you are, and I do mean that in the best of ways. But I see no attraction between you. Which only leaves 2 questions.

Number 1, is it because of the cultural stigmas from the Kloxna culture about high and low caste. And question number 2, if it is not, then why not or why not another?? Gods know you have had the chance when we make port. I see how the Kloxna females look at you. If you thought they wanted you before you joined my crew, they are practically eating you with their eyes when we go anywhere. Now that I think about it, your scales have started shining in the same way Las'Tai's did after she joined my ship..."

There was a loud *CLANK* as Trasti stopped training and let the barbell fall into the holders, "Are you saying her scales didn't look like that either before she joined your ship?" There was a sharp edge to Trasti's words. His scholars' curiosity had taken over.

For the next half hour, Trasti asked endless questions and finally narrowed it down to the presence of the jacuzzi and sauna and flew off to start reading up on anything related to studies made on Kloxna scales and their behavior, leaving Eirik more than a bit confused.

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Signe leaned back in her swivel chair and chucked the last of the energy drink in the can. "FINISHED!!" She exclaimed as she throw the can over her shoulder, bouncing it off the wall and tumbling down the mountain of cans covering the trash bin. Every simulation had been run, every calculation had been checked and then checked again just to be sure. Most of the armor from the original design had been written into her original blueprints for the ship as they would sell well with Terra.

But the new design was heavy on shields and engines. Once the shields failed, there was little between you and death, but the massive engine boost coupled with the shields more than compensated for the lacking armor It also gave more room for ammunition or an extra module, and Eirik had opted for the installation of a small escape pod, barely big enough for a person and clunky as all hell, but it would get you planetside in one piece.

Multiple point-defense laser batteries sat on the hull with a few bomb launchers mixed in. A few rotary guns on swivel mounts finished the weapons recap. All in all, it was a defensive fighter or an aggressive bomber, capable of carrying enough ammunition for a small group of 3 or 4 to cause significant damage to even a well-defended space station. A combat group of 10-12 could do blockade runs without facing real trouble.

Signe designated the new type of ship as an 'FTL fighter-bomber'. Now, she could hand EIrik the keys and be done with this. She missed playing strategy games...