Dalle was extremely pleased as he left FTL and the staging grounds for his fleet transitioned into view. Scores of ships could be seen with more arriving by the hour. While not very big, hardly classifying as cruisers, the pirate ships held significant numbers for their size, each of them carrying over 100 combat-ready crew.

With the number of ships that would gather within the next 24 hours before they left, he was looking at a fighting force of almost 20.000 grizzled pirates, murderers, arsonists, and whatever else had managed to slip through the cracks of the various governments. All of them were hungry for loot and all of them carried a grudge against Eirik since any pirate attack on his territory was met with swift judgment, usually in the form of railgun fire and tactical nuclear torpedos. So when a pirate leader emerged that could gather up the various groups and focus their attention on a single target, they rushed to join in on the venture they saw as the defining moment of pirate history in the galaxy.

Here they would find out if piracy had a future or if it would be relegated to shady back alley deals and constant running. Everyone was busy trying to summon more pirates for the coordinated attack, the stories of the plunder to be had growing with each captain that was recruited. It didn't matter. The hopeless idiots thought they did this for something as trivial as plunder. Let them. Dalle knew the truth and that was enough. He was going to take everything from Eirik and use his own men and equipment to destroy him!

He started sending out orders and organizing their formation when they traveled, making sure he placed those who had been most outspoken about their newfound loyalty, nearest to his own ship in the center. Loyalty was rewarded with security and he wanted to make sure everyone knew.

___________________________________

Krisnu Stretched out and read the last message for Trasti once more. He wrote that Eirik had found his elusive prey and hopefully, the hunt would be at an end soon, allowing Trasti to return home to bother his siblings once more with his quiet and reserved demeanor.

Krisnu shook her head in amusement as she read that. Her son had changed radically since joining up with this Eirik, their benefactor. She still remembered the night Trasti had shown up out of the blue and demanded that she follow him with the family. She had been tired and confused, half-mad with hunger after yet another evening of letting her children eat instead of eating herself. It was a good thing too, if she had been full and able to think clearly, she would have resisted his attempts to move the family.

Her eyes drifted to the pile of half-grown Kloxna sleeping in a pile on electrical blankets that emitted generous amounts of heat. Gone were the days of scavenging for enough flammable materials to keep the shack warm enough to not die in your sleep. Of working yourself half to death for just enough food to keep starvation away for another day. Of listening to the wails of the other mothers as they burned the corpses of their families.

Her children lay in the sleeping pile, bellies full of food and with a surplus of heat in the house. She never could have imagined such peace of mind. Sure, they still worked just as much as they always did, but now they worked for themselves. Paying careful attention when the friends of Eirik's family came by to offer advice on the livestock and the crops ensured the farm had prospered. They now owned almost 200 chickens that laid all the eggs her family could eat and still have enough to sell.

They had acquired a few cows and bull from the previously mentioned friends, after hearing and understanding that the large creatures didn't require much in the way of care beyond a large field in which they could graze, with a large open barn in case of rain. Supplement to their diet, mostly the vegetable scraps and peels from the house kitchen. Some salt blocks for the minerals and they could generally take care of themselves, as long as you checked up on them from time to time.

At first, Krisnu and her family had thought the cows and bull would be meek creatures, judging from the description they got from Terrans. That lasted until the bull decided that the fence was not sturdy enough to prevent it from approaching a certain tuft of grass that looked tastier than the entire field around the infernal creature. Fate would have that Krisnu and her oldest daughter were present to see the feat carried out and for some reason, seeing a bull smash through a solid wooden fence like it was made of paper was not enough to make her daughter understand the power that rested in these gentle giants.

She had run over and slapped the bull on the rump, no doubt intending to scare it into a run and then herding it back through the hole. What happened was the bull spun around with its head lowered and horns presented as it scraped the ground with its hoof and snorted aggressively. When the bull roared and made to charge, Nu'Kris, her oldest daughter, dropped down to all 4 limbs and darted away as fast as she could. Turns out, that Kloxna and the bulls are about the same speed and the chase turned into a race of endurance. Nu'Kris won, if only barely, but she had enough wit about her to take the chase inside the enclosure, which her family got to work on repairing as she was being chased around.

As the bull finally gave up and came to a stop, his head was drooping and its flanks were heaving. Nu'Kris was not faring much better, only managing to fling herself over the fence before collapsing, gasping for air as she lay on the ground.

Krisnu smiled as she recalled the memory. 2 years ago, such a feat of endurance would have been impossible for any of them. They were healthy and happy. She would forever be thankful for being shown this way of life and to the beings that made it a possibility. If the Terrans could make life like this for all Kloxna, Krisnu doubted the war would last much longer, if they only knew.

She returned her gaze to the message and read the last part, detailing how Trasti was looking forward to a simple life, surrounded by his family. Krisnu sent a silent prayer to the Kloxna that came before, to watch over her son, ensuring he made it home safely. She then took her place on the outside of the sleeping pile, closing the protective ring with her mate. She gave off a happy sigh as the electric blankets on the floor worked their magic, sending waves of heat through her body.

____________________________

Ulla was doing a horrible impression of the song that blared from the speakers in the cockpit of her old cargo hauler. She knew she could not sing to save her life, but she did it anyway. Who was going to complain when she was flying alone? Her artistic expression was interrupted by the emergency line for work. She accepted the call and less than 5 minutes later she had ended it and set the computer to call Eirik personally until he picked up.

It took him almost half an hour and he looked more than frustrated when he did. "What?!?" He hissed as his image appeared on the screen.

"Eirik, I just had a strange call from one of my employees. He was running supplies to the frontline, business as usual. But a skirmish forced him to change course and enter some outlying systems. While out there, he discovered what can only be described as a fleet of pirate ships on their way toward your empire. I just thought you might want a heads up on that." Ulla said in a no-nonsense tone.

Eirik was quiet for a moment before gathering himself. "Thanks, Ulla, I owe you one!" And with that, he ended the call, no doubt to rouse the hornet's nest that was Libertalia.

_____________________

Eirik was scrambling to send out orders after he finished the call with Ulla. The first message was to Lasse, informing him of the possibility of the pirate attack. He needed to get weapons out to the colonies as the first thing, no matter the expense. He wanted those colonies armed to the teeth and ready for anything. With the garrison forces he had on every planet, along with armed colonists, conveniently herded into small secured areas, would hold out long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

He sent out orders to his ships to return home after the next ended mission, and to put all missions on hold until ordered otherwise. He ordered all work outside of the planetary atmospheres, on halt, until the threat had been dealt with.

The success of his empire depended on his ability to keep the civilian population safe and he wanted to make damn sure that as few civilians as possible were lost. When his ships returned to his territory, they had standing orders to secure the space above his planets and start a constant patrolling pattern until the enemy had been located. Once the location of the enemy was known, they would retreat to the space station that represented the heart of the empire and focus their defense there, as it was the only permanent structure in the void, inside of Libertalia.

The individual planets would be on their own until reinforcements could arrive. But with the firepower of the space station, his fleet would be able to face 3 times their number. Looking up the latest reports, his collective battle fleet now comprised of no less than 63 ships, with a single capital ship among them. But Eirik had 4 ships out here, and the capital ship along with 6 other ships was not operational at the moment, leaving him with 52 fighting ships. It was acceptable, but he would have to put a focus on acquiring new ships. There were always pirate ships that could be boarded instead of blasting them out of the sky.

The mix of ships this left Eirik with made his fleet look ramshackle and under-prepared for the task ahead. Nothing could be further from the truth. The lack of a uniform design also meant that there was no definitive weakness that could be exploited. Each ship had another nearby that made up for its shortcomings. The result was a fleet with no particular advantage, but also without a discernible drawback. No matter what they ran into they would have something that could take it down. The rest could function as living shields until they were in a position to deliver the killing blows.

The plan was to face the enemy on home turf and beat them to dust with experience. Should they fail in winning the void battle, the survivors were to retreat to a nearby system from which they were supposed to carry out raids and supply runs to the colonies that would no doubt be under siege.

Finally, he ordered the deployment of all but 4000 men and the recruits still undergoing training, to the various colonies. The remaining troops were to man the space station. It would be enough. With 4000 fully trained soldiers and another 4000 undergoing training as he wrote the message, he was not worried. They had been stockpiling food and water until the stores were bursting and he kept a rotation system up so the oldest storage was used before the expiration date and replaced with fresh stockpiles the moment they were removed from storage.

Eirik leaned back and went through his list of sent messages, checking the names of the recipients to see if he forgot someone or something. He had a weird feeling in his gut. Something was wrong here. He tried ignoring it, but couldn't. In the end, instinct won, as it always did, and he pressed the intercom and connected to the bridge.

"Spin her around and head for home!" He all but spat. So close, yet so far. But now he had coordinates and a definitive hiding place for his nemesis. He could afford to be a patient a little longer if it meant securing what he had created.

___________________-

When Sif was finished taking a shower and getting dressed, she looked out of the window, expecting to see the same boring stars she had been looking at for days now, but she realized they were moving.

"Well, he certainly doesn't waste time." She thought and smirked as she remembered the success of the last step of the plan. Now she just needed to entice Eirik further. Keep him interested.

As she spent time laying her plans, the ship became a flurry of activity, Eirik was driving his men hard to reach their destination as soon as possible. Suddenly the ship left FTL and turned around before heading back to where it came from.

"HEY!! WHAT IS HAPPENING!" She called out through the cell door, hoping to get an answer from the guard. No answer came though, and Sif reluctantly had to accept that she would not know until Eirik showed up again. Hopefully soon, he had been a surprisingly pleasant experience. She could well understand why that blonde witch of a woman was so protective of him.

She settled back into her routine of waiting and trying to come up with new schemes.