The confusion spread almost as fast as the panic among the pirates as a firing line of Eirik's old assault squads, equipped with PESSA suits, opened fire on the exposed flank of the attackers. Hundreds were dying by the second and the amount of gore and death on display was enough to make even Eirik's stomach turn. In all of his years as a soldier, he had not seen a culling like this take place before. The pirates were blindsided and out of cover, making them perfect targets, while simultaneously being unwilling to turn away from the second defensive line, rightfully fearing the bullets that still came flying from that front.

Those lucky enough to avoid the first swathe of death tried turning tail and running, but they were pushed forward by those coming from behind, causing further chaos amongst the already shaken troops. The final straw came when Eirik and his men moved forward, determined to push the pirates back to their hangar and make them choose between death at their guns or death at the orbital defense guns. It would be as Eirik had commanded, no prisoners.

The defenders cried out in victory with hoarse and tired voices as the lines of the pirates broke and they started fleeing, head over heel, and rushed out to join Eirik and his men in pressing the attack, only to be shouted back by Lasse. They could not risk the pirates turning around once more and catching them out of the defensive positions. But he did guide them back to the main barricades and take back control of them. He joined Eirik himself as he was wearing a PESSA suit and was, therefore, able to keep up with the steadily advancing soldiers.

"GOD TO SEE YOU BROTHER!" Lasse shouted over the gunfire as he caught up to Eirik, "I SEE YOU STILL KNOW HOW TO MAKE AN ENTRANCE!"

"NO PRISONERS! WE SHOW THE GALAXY WHAT HAPPENS TO THOSE THAT ATTACK US!" Eirik shouted back. He didn't have time for a family reunion right now. "IS THEIR LEADER DEAD YET?"

"NO, WE HAVE NOT SEEN DALLE'S CORPSE!" Lasse shouted back. The words took a second to register with Eirik, but when they did he came to a complete stop.

"REPEAT!" Eirik demanded of Lasse, the desperation for clarity manifesting even through the speakers in his suit.

"DALLE LEADS THEM, AND WE HAVE NOT FOUND SEEN HIS CORPSE AMONG THE DEAD. ASSUMED TO BE ALIVE AND FLEEING!" Lasse elaborated quickly. He knew this was no joking matter and Eirik would not accept anything less than a clear answer. Hel, in his current state, he might shoot anyone joking about Dalle.

Eirik turned back to the fleeing enemies as soon as Lasse finished speaking and took off at a run, quickly outpacing his soldiers that kept a much more reasonable pace, allowing them to fire accurately as they pursued the pirates. As Eirik reached the first of the fleeing pirates, he didn't bother doing more than violently shoving the man out of the way, but with the increased strength the PESSA suit offered, he was sent crashing into the wall with an audible crack as several bones were splintered on impact.

Eirik barely registered this happening. He only had Dalle on his mind and nothing would stand in his way! "KEEP RUNNING DALLE, IT WON'T MAKE A DIFFERENCE!! I HAVE YOUR SCENT NOW, KINSLAYER, AND I WILL FLAY THE SKIN FROM YOUR BODY WHILE YOUR SCREAMS FILL MY EARS WITH THE SOUND OF JUSTICE!! YOU WILL BEG FOR DEATH LONG BEFORE I AM DONE WITH YOU, OATHBREAKER!! DEATH WILL BE A SWEET RELEASE FROM A HELLISH EXISTENCE WHEN IT FINALLY REACHES YOU!"

Eirik roared as he ran through the mass of fleeing men. The sight of one of the suited defenders amongst them caused a panic that sent men scattering out of the way, putting themselves in the line of fire of the soldiers trying to keep up with Eirik. They could not and the distance between them grew as a result. Eirik was giving everything he had in him, crushing pirates that were too slow to get out of the way. "Dalle was here, within reach! This opportunity would never present itself again.

____________________________

Dalle could hear the panicked screaming of the pirates behind him as Eirik's stomping grew louder by the second. He was catching up fast and Dalle felt the cold sweat of fear cover his body. Eirik's angry roaring had taken on an almost incoherent quality as they kept the chase going. How Eirik had found out he was here, Dalle could only speculate, but it was most likely his miserable brother!

He was close to the docking area, he could see the pirates piled up on the other side in a weak attempt at a defensive formation. It would be enough for him to escape, but not much more. That's when he realized Eirik's steps were growing more distant. As much as he wanted to be relieved by this, he knew it was a false sense of security. Eirik knew this station almost as well as Lasse and would have realized that he could not catch Dalle in time. So he would be heading back to his own ship.

He ran past the pirates, past the captains waiting for orders, past everyone. The moment he was inside his ship, he slammed the button the close the doors and immediately called the bridge. "Get us the fuck out of here, NOW!" He ordered before he headed for the bridge. He became furious when he arrived, however, as the ship was still not moving,

"What the shit is the delay?!!? I GAVE YOU AN ORDER!" Dalle screamed in a state of near panic before his second in command answered, "They have orbital defense cannons on all surrounding planets. Leaving would be a bad gamble on life! You can give the order, but I refuse to follow it!"

Dalle stared at him for a second, wide-eyed and confused, before he drew his sidearm and fired a bullet through the man's kneecap. "Defy me again, I take your life!" Dalle said in a calmer voice, the outlet of violence having calmed him a bit. "Fly us out of here!"

He would rather risk his shields failing and the ship blowing up around him than he would face Eirik. Even with an army behind him, he didn't want to face Eirik. That was the whole reason for the betrayal so very long ago! For the first time in his life, Dalle found himself silently praying to any form of a higher power that would hear his prayer, to help him escape this station

Somewhere, someone could see the entertainment in letting that happen...

____________________________________

Eirik was tearing through the station, ordering his ship to be ready for departure the moment he arrived. He barely made it past the doors before he started unequipping the PESSA suit while the ship left the dock to pursue Dalle's ship that had pulled away less than a minute earlier.

"Captain, something is wrong with the orbital cannons!" David called out over the intercom. "They are reporting all systems optimal, but none of them are firing at the enemy ship!"

"WHAT?!!?" Eirik cried out "Full speed! Ignore dock safety protocols! Do whatever it takes to get me close enough to that ship to blast them out of the void!" As soon as Eirik was out of his armor, he sprinted to the bridge, panting heavily as he arrived. He took his seat immediately, focusing on the screen that showed Dalle's ship. And as David had said, none of the planetary defenses were firing, despite having clear lines of fire and all systems reporting as functional.

At the edge of his hearing, Eirik could swear he heard the chuckle of an old man, hoarse and grating but filled with mirth. "Can we catch them?" Eirik asked and David replied after a moment of silent calculation. "Maybe. There is a chance they can get to FTL before we are in firing range."

Eirik silently weighed his options. After 15 seconds, he rose and said "Not good enough!" and walked out of the bridge. "CAPTAIN, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" Several of the bridge crew called after him, but he didn't respond. He just made his way to the hangar that held the prototype bomber-fighter. On a relatively short distance, such as within a solar system, small 1-man ships could easily outrun any of the larger ships. The obvious negative about this was the lack of FTL. A problem that had been solved in this little wonder of a ship.

He had only managed to strap himself in and turn on the engine when Jesper came running into the hangar, screaming his head off "EIRIK, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING, MAN?"

Eirik didn't respond, he just pulled down the cockpit top and engaged the pressurized seals while turning on the engine. He was not about to risk Dalle entering FTL without Eirik having a say in what happened! As the engines fired up, he looked to Jesper, gave him a thumbs up, and guided the small ship out of the open hangar bay doors. Safely outside, he engaged the engines and went to full speed, pulling ahead of the "Void Wolf"

The inside of the ship was almost silent, except for the noises of the computer system. This was the calm before the storm. In these few blessed minutes, he had all the calm in the world to focus his mind. He didn't even try, his anger burning inside of him like an overheating furnace, glowing white and threatening to break apart under the force exerted upon it. Instead, he pulled up some music on his datapad, connected it to the internal speakers of the ship, and put on some fitting music for this showdown*

He knew they would be watching from his ship, connecting to his internal cameras to try and contact him, talk him out of this. The music would drown out any amount of noise they could make, as well as prevent them from hearing anything going on inside the ship. Satisfied with his little bubble of privacy, he checked and double-checked all the weapons and shielding systems, shut down a few redundant systems that would only be a draw on the ship's power, and braced himself. Finally, after all these years, his revenge was at hand and his honor would be restored!

__________________________

Dalle was beginning to relax. It was still a 50/50 chance that they would escape, but those were infinitely better odds than staying at the station had been. His people reported a small ship approaching at high speed, but it didn't worry Dalle. Any ship fast enough to approach at that speed had to be a fighter craft and it would not have the firepower to penetrate his shields.

So when the ship shook violently around him and warning klaxons sounded, he was very confused and very angry. "What just happened!" Dalle demanded of the bridge crew.

"The shields were hit with a small series of bombs, Captain. Another attack like that and they are going to overload!" A technician called out, causing Dalle to panic once again. "Who hit us! What ship is close enough for that??" He asked, but the only option was the small fighter. But that was preposterous, no ship that size could move that fast and still carry that kind of ordnance.

That's when the ship shook more violently than before and the engines died. "ENGINE 2 DESTROYED!" Someone cried out and for the first time, Dalle felt the cold grip of death closing its hand around him. Making a snap decision, he ran from the bridge to find a fighter in one of the hangars. If he could just make it to one of the planets in 1 piece, he could get away for long enough to formulate a new plan!

________________________

Eirik was slowly circling the now drifting pirate ship, looking for the best place to start firing the small railguns on his ship. It would be like firing armor penetrating pebbles at the ship, but if he hit the reactor, the resulting explosion would not leave enough genetic material to make a positive ID of anyone. He found what he was looking for, a hole that was opened by the engine exploding, exposing part of the reactor. Lining up the shot, he pressed the triggers and... Nothing. He tried again, and again the guns simply didn't fire.

He ran a quick diagnostic on the weapons systems, found all weapons reporting optimal system operation, fired a third time, and for the third time, the weapons simply refused to fire.

"Not like this, young warrior." A voice rang out in his head. It was the same voice he swore he had heard chuckling earlier. It was definitely belonging to an old man. "Where is the entertainment in watching you take your revenge by the press of a button?"

"YOU DON'T GET TO DECIDE THAT!" Eirik yelled at the emptiness in front of him, the music he was playing drowning out his voice. "I DON'T CARE WHICH OF THE GODS THIS IS, YOU DO NOT GET TO TAKE THIS AWAY FROM ME!! NOT NOW!"

"Nothing is being taken away. The rules are merely being altered. Show me that creativity that brought you my attention, to begin with. Show me why the Allfather is never wrong!" Odin's voice thundered in Eirik's head, threatening to split it apart. "THERE! Your enemy has leveled the playing field for you"

Eirik saw a small ship disgorge from the drifting pirates and figured it could only be Dalle and he turned his ship to pursue immediately. It barely took him 20 seconds to line up behind the fleeing ship and try to reach contact through a call. Eirik wanted to be sure it was Dalle before he shot the poor bastard out of the sky.

The small screen flickered to life and for a short second, Eirik and Dalle were staring at each other before Dalle cut the connection, no doubt intent on escaping as fast as possible. "Too bad, you worthless sack of pus. I got you in my sights already!" Eirik thought to himself as he pressed the trigger.

Yet again, the main weapons simply did not respond and in a flash of frustrated anger, Eirik slammed his fists repeatedly into the dashboard as he screamed at the void outside of his ship "CURSE YOU, OLD ONE-EYE! WHEN I GET UP THERE, YOU AND I ARE GOING TO HAVE WORDS TO EXCHANGE! YOU DON'T WANT ME TO SHOOT THE OATH-BREAKER OUT OF THE SKY?? FINE THEN, HAVE YOUR BLASTED ENTERTAINMENT!"

Eirik increased the speed of the ship, quickly closing in on Dalle. "You want some fucking entertainment?? I am more than happy to oblige!" He mumbled to himself as he gripped the steering controls tight and checked Dalle's position relative to the nearest planet. This would require the most careful timing if he wanted any chance of it succeeding.

__________________

David, Jesper, Signe, Jeanette, Trasti, Las'Tai, Narvik, and Knud were watching Eirik through the cameras in his ship, as he had predicted. They had tried listening in as well but had turned off the sound as quickly as they turned it on, the music drowning out all noises.

"He started bleeding!" Knud exclaimed moments before Eirik started shouting at nothing. The sound was still off, but there was no doubt he was shouting and that he was angry.

"His weapons are not firing..." Jesper said after a moment. "He keeps pressing the trigger, but nothing is happening. There should be screen shaking whenever the railguns are fired.

"Didn't he bleed like that the last time he said he talked to the gods?" Jeanette asked.

"And the time before that," David confirmed. "That night we partied in the cave on that moon, where Las'Tai managed to get a hold of your baked goods before you were ready to serve them. The only one to ever manage that feat." This earned a chuckle from the group but they quickly fell back into silent watching.

When Eirik started slamming his hands into the dashboard and screaming, they all exchanged worried looks. They had all seen him attempt to fire the weapons and fail once more.

"What is h doing?!" Las'Tai exclaimed when Eirik grabbed the controls and increased speed. When no one answered she asked louder "WHAT IS HE DOING?!"

David put a hand on her shoulder and she turned her head to look at him. "He is taking his revenge any way he can. And since his weapons are not firing, the next best thing is to ram Dalle. From the way he keeps glancing at the navigational map, I am going to guess he will attempt to make both of them crash on the planet nearby to them. It is not colonized yet, even though the atmosphere is within the acceptable parameters. It is a hellscape of a planet, even by Terran standards, and will require an enormous collective effort to tame. Pray for him, Las'Tai. There is nothing else we can do!"

David kept a hand on her shoulder as she looked around, trying to gather support from the rest of the group, but all she saw in their eyes, was a grim acceptance of the situation.

"Trasti, inform his brothers! Their guard duty ends now. Eirik needs them." Jesper said and Trasti hurried over to the communications console.

__________________________

Dalle could not get away from Eirik. His ship was not fast enough, his weapons too weak, and his armor too thin. But he had not shot at him yet, not a single round. But now he was quickly gaining on him, pulling slightly to the side of him. Dalle did not have time to wonder what the maniac was going to do before their ships collided. Dalle was thrown around in the small cockpit of his ship before he settled back on his seat, upside down. When he managed to right himself, he saw the extent of the damage. Engines were out, the computer system was damaged, inertial dampeners were all but gone, and he was falling toward the planet below.

In a panic, he tried restarting the engines, only to hear a disturbing *CLUNK* noise, followed by the system changing the engine status from "Engines damaged" to "Engines gone" He could do nothing to stop the ship from falling toward the planet. He was already caught in the gravitational pull. That's when he looked outside and saw Eirik's ship in a similar state, falling as well. But Eirik's eyes were locked on Dalle.

They stayed like that, staring down each other as their ships fell to the planet, side by side. Dalle's eyes filled with the loathing of envy. Eirik's eyes filled with the rage of vengeance. And for the first time in his entire life, Dalle accepted his fate and gave up on his attempts to get the ship flying again. If it was destiny to die like this, at least he would finally see Eirik dead as well. He could die in peace with that knowledge.