Narvik was roaming the ship, looking for Eirik. He needed to ask him something that could not wait any longer. But Eirik was nowhere to be found. They were still 30 hours out from the border of Libertalia so it was not a concern. But he still looked and ended up down near Eirik's temple room. Narvik went there himself when he was sure no one was around. The energy of the room reminded him of home. Ancient, timeless. Peaceful. But as he approached the room, he felt a very different energy in the area. Heavy, dark, and focused. But the room was empty. Yet, it felt so very different from what it usually did.

Narvik looked around and saw Eirik's spear in front of the statuette on the small altar. "This is no place for a tool of war," Narvik thought and approached to pick up the spear.

"Do not touch it, Narvik" Came Eirik's voice from the corner of the room. Sitting in the shadows, Narvik had missed him entirely when he looked around the room. "It is there for a reason." Eirik continued as he quickly got up to a standing position. Narvik recognized him but didn't at the same time. This was the same Terran he had known all along, but his eyes. They were not the eyes of the being he knew.

They were cold, calculating, eyeing him up like a predator would eye a potential snack. As if he was having an internal debate, about whether it was worth the energy spent doing it. It was the eyes of a predator on the hunt, There was no remorse or mercy in them. Had he looked like that when Narvik had first been sent after him by Dalle, He would never have dared to make a move against him! This Terran was very dangerous by nature, but it seemed as if he had focused all that raw and wild power into a single state of mind, focused solely on the total obliteration of its designated prey. It was a gaze of absolute fury

"Did you need anything, Narvik?" Eirik asked, his voice the same as usual, but the intense look in his eyes never faded.

"I.. I wanted to ask you a favor, Eirik." He stammered out, feeling uneasy and scared. How did the man manage to change himself to such a degree over such a short time?

"Ask and you shall receive," Eirik replied with a smile that never reached his eyes. Narvik was starting to become fearful. Was he the target of Eirik's choosing? Or did he just not have any control over the emotional state he was in?

"I wanted to ask you if I could help you kill the false prophet. He lied to my people, led them to the stars, and left them to die after using them for his own goals like their lives were worth nothing more than the value he could squeeze from them before they died in a universe they didn't understand.

"An honorable offer. I will happily accept. On one condition!" Eirik lifted a finger to illustrate his point.

"What condition?" Narvik asked hastily.

"I want you to observe the fighting between me and the pirates before you ask me again. You have learned much on board my ship, and we have tried to show you some of the best sides of our species. But now, you are about to observe some of the worst!" Eirik's voice got milder as he spoke. He had already shattered the worldview of this poor, loveable alien once. Was he really about to do it again?

"And what kind of fighting can Terrans engage in, that Glorpil cannot?!?" Came the angry reply from Narvik. While peaceful at heart, they were still a proud people, and hunters as well. Killing was not foreign to them, they just preferred not to.

"Narvik, how many wars have you been in, and how many died?" Eirik asked as he crossed his arms in front of him. This made Narvik feel a little safer since he would have to unwrap his arms before he could do anything.

"3 times I have fought against bandits, roaming the countryside at home. The last time, over 600 people died. I know fighting!" Narvik gestured with his razor-sharp appendages as he spoke, loudly and proudly.

"Narvik, throughout my military career, I have probably taken the lives of more than 10.000 living beings. The war Terra is currently engaged in with the Kloxna, already has numbers of fallen soldiers in the hundreds of thousands. Millions have been wounded in battle, and many millions of Kloxna killed by Terra. They have the numbers in population to just keep throwing meat at our guns, hoping we run out of ammunition first. Narvik, we wage war on a scale that makes your battle against the bandits look like a drunken bar fight. But as I said, I will let you observe from the ship. We have protected you from this, and from that part of history up until now.

After today, you will be given full access to the information archives. You will learn why we are so good at war. We have been fighting since the very beginning of our species. first against the elements, then against the animals, then against each other, and now finally against other sentient species. The greatest threat to a Terran in this universe is, ironically, another Terran. And you are about to see us fight with everything we have available to us. You will see blood, gore, and death on a scale, and in such a short time frame, you will be disgusted by us. Utterly repulsed.

I only ask that you do not judge us too harshly. And if you do not believe my words, just wait until you see them on the screens! " Eirik stopped his little rant before he got himself going. It would not do to lose focus now.

"See what's on the screens?" Narvik asked hesitantly. Eirik's words had a bigger impact on him than Eirik thought.

"What a Terran can do to another Terran!" Eirik said before he sat back down in the corner. "Now leave me. I am not to be disturbed!" He continued.

"Eirik. Where does this fury come from? What ignited it in you?" Narvik asked. He had no idea what gave birth to the question, nor how he found the courage to utter the words. Such a personal thing was not something you asked about.

Eirik didn't move as he answered. "The fury never leaves me, Narvik." But Narvik heard a small click of a button and drums started playing from the speakers. "Leave or stay, as long as I am not disturbed!" Eirik said a moment before the singing started.

"BELLOWS OF PAIN AND SCRAPING OF CHAIN, THE ECHOES THEY TAUNT AND DECEIVE ME!

OCEANS OF BLAME AND RIVERS OF SHAME, THE FURY IT NEVER LEAVES ME!

GRIEF IN THE SNOW, THE WINTER OF WOE

HAS COME HERE TO JUDGE AND BEREAVE ME!

LOCK UP THE RAGE IT RATTLES THE CAGE, THE FURY IT NEVER LEAVES ME!

ALWAYS WITHIN TO LURK IN THE SKIN, THE WOUNDS EVER ACHING SO DEEPLY!

TRY AS I MAY TO HIDE IT AWAY, THE FURY IT NEVER LEAVES ME!"*

Narvik stayed for the duration of the song. He felt like Eirik was trying to tell him something he lacked the words to express. He had learned during his stay on the ship that Terrans experienced and thought about everything from a personal perspective. How would it affect them. how would they feel? He had also heard the expression "reading between the lines" and had realized how Terrans worked. He wondered how they did that while linked to the species' psychic collective, but that was a quirk he still had not figured out.

He tried thinking like a Terran as the song played. He felt many emotions from the music. Rage. Sadness. Loss. But most of all, an all-encompassing fury at the seemingly powerless nature of a single individual against the universe. He understood Eirik now. This Terran was fury incarnate, but he repressed it. He didn't give in to the anger. He took control and kept it by sheer force of will. And it was this will, that had manifested itself. All he had set out to create for himself was under threat and had furthermore dragged him away from his hunt. His pregnant mate was located at the heart of his endeavors, on his orders.

He was using all of these negative thoughts about himself and his situation, to fuel this fury he carried inside of him. He stoked the fire, carefully as a bronze worker back home, to build a raging inferno inside of himself. He was done playing nice with fate. He had taken full control and refused to relinquish it.

Narvik was in awe of the man sitting silent and cross-legged in the corner, his long hair hanging loose and covering most of his face. But his eyes were visible and he was staring up at the statuette on the alter, not moving a muscle. Narvik could feel the rage building inside of Eirik, ever so slowly, by his presence which seemed to grow by the minute. As the song drew to a close, Narvik left the room quietly as more music replaced what he had just heard.

Once outside the room he had to shake his whole body to relieve himself of the nervous energy that had built up inside him. He didn't like this Eirik. He was frightening.

______________________________________________

David was working overtime with a small group of tactically minded people to set up attack patterns and make battle plans for the void combat. If he knew Eirik right, he would want to hit the pirates as hard and fast as possible, then withdraw after the first hard blow, allowing the ships orbiting the station a chance to strike back. He also knew that Lasse would be BEGGING the gods for that chance. He would capitalize on the confusion with everything he had.

He was worried about Eirik though. Something was different about him. He was not one to withdraw into seclusion at a time like this. He would have to figure out where he was. Everyone knew what they were doing and things would not have progressed much differently with him here, truth be told. But they still found assurance in his presence. The command staff because they knew what he had been able to get them through, the regular crew because the command staff relaxed when Eirik was there. It allowed them to work in peace without being hounded over, making everything run much smoother.

He never had to look for him, as Narvik came to find him. Wanting a word in private, he had to wait for David to be satisfied with their current work on the tactics they would aim to follow. It took almost an hour, but when he finished, Narvik was still standing near the door, waiting patiently. He would never understand where that patience came from, but perhaps that was the advantage of growing up in a pre-industrial society.

He signaled Narvik to follow him into a small office down the corridor. "So, what can I do for you, Narvik?" David asked as he closed the door behind them.

"Well.. It's about Eirik. He is changed." Narvik started as his many legs started moving in place, a sign of nervousness among his people "And I do not understand how this change has come so drastically or so fast. He has made himself very dark!"

David sighed deeply. He had been afraid this was happening. "He is making himself very strong, Narvik. A gift of our people, or a curse, depending on how you look at it." He said slowly, picking his words with care. This was difficult to explain. "It is a very old saying among our people, that a single determined individual with nothing to lose, is the most dangerous enemy you can make. But Eirik is a living example of the opposite. A single determined individual with everything to lose is the greatest enemy you can face.

But you will see for yourself. Eirik gave the order that you be allowed on the bridge when we return home. We already have a place set up with a couple of viewscreens that will allow you to see everything happening, including ground combat when we reach that point.

I know Eirik might seem very different and scary right now, but he is still the same as he has always been. He just allowed a darker side of himself to resurface. A side that, as you said, is very dangerous, if you are on the receiving end of his anger. If you are on the side he is protecting, which I can inform you that you most certainly are, then you could not be safer, Trust me on that, Narvik"

Narvik accepted the explanation, but it didn't make much sense. how could a being hide away part of itself and repress it to a point where it was not perceptible by others?

_____________________

Lasse had ordered the soldiers to prepare for combat and hide their presence until the pirates were almost on top of the barricades. He could see them moving large numbers of troops toward the armory and hospital. It was a good strategy, cutting off the defenders from much-needed ammunition and medical supplies. Unfortunately for the pirates, the station's camera network was still working. The cautious and meticulous nature of Lasse had ensured he had gotten the smallest cameras available, and he had personally helped place them. The resulting network was almost impossible to disable and covered every inch of the station.

Several of the troop commanders had asked about the reasoning behind letting the enemy get close, and he had answered with a lesson taught by his grandfather. "During a battle, the enemy is, quite ironically, the most vulnerable in the moment of victory. Danger will be forgotten, caution will be thrown to the wind and reckless courage will take over.

Once they approach your barricades and see no one, they will become overconfident and funnel larger numbers of them into the kill zones before the trap is sprung. If we are lucky, they will be charging without having their weapons at the ready. Prepare the men for a massacre!"

____________________________________

Dalle was leading his men from the rear. He wanted to get a good look at what happened to the first few hundred men that arrived before he committed more troops. There was no reason to send them into an ambush. The runners came back and reported that the barricades were abandoned and ready for them to move in on. Dalle hesitated, a gut instinct telling him to be cautious, the same gut instinct that had kept him alive all these years.

A few of the other pirate captains had heard the news as well and the word was spreading very quickly through the ranks. Before he knew it, the men started moving again, faster and more eager than before, since the prospect of attacking a fortified position was no longer a factor. Dalle didn't even try to stop them, he knew it would be pointless. "Let them march to their death then. Eventually, they will learn to listen!" He thought angrily as he followed behind at a safe distance.

The closer they got to the barricades, the more unorganized and hasty the pirates became, until they were about 30 meters (100 feet) away and the soldier that had been laying in hiding popped over the top, and before the first row of pirates realized what was happening, the defenders opened fire.