Eirik retreated to his room where Freja was cleaning and sharpening her many knives. He sat down at his desk and opened the first message. It was from his grandfather, with details of a mission he requested that Eirik take upon himself. It was a fairly easy mission, Go to Terra, pick up a diplomat, and deliver said diplomat to Plyxii territory. Eirik stared at the location of delivery. It was the same system his infiltrators had pointed to. This was too much of a coincidence. He would have to start communicating through a proxy to find any potential moles and spies.

On a whim, he decided to call the old man. It only took 2 rings before the call was accepted and the old man's face appeared on the screen in front of Eirik."He looks older. Older and worn" Eirik thought to himself.

"Eirik. I had a feeling I would be hearing from you." Colonel Benny said, with the hint of a smile on his otherwise strict face.

"Of course, you did you old goat! Just tell me what you know already. and fucking stop spying on me!" Eirik cursed on purpose, he knew it pissed his grandfather off.

The shadow of a smile on the colonel's disappeared and his expression became a mask of stone. "You know how I feel about coarse language, Eirik!" The words were neutral, but the tone was unmistakenly harsh and threatening.

"You know how I feel about being lied to, Colonel!" Eirik's tone was a younger but completely identical mix of threat and unbending will behind it, and the 2 of them stared at each other through the screen until Colonel Benny looked away.

"Is it going to be like this in the future, Eirik? You, blaming me for that one mistake and me fighting back because I find your judgment and punishment to be unfair?" To Eirik's great surprise, His grandfather sounded defeated. There was a long silence before Eirik drew in a large breath.

"I truly do not know, grandfather. But you spying on me, is definitely not helping your case. You need to let me go. You should know me better than that. You cannot leash me. The harder you try, the more I resist. And bottom line is, you lied about my brothers being alive."

"I merely never mentioned they were alive. You concluded that they were dead." The colonel said meekly.

"Don't give me that shit!! You, yourself, taught me that keeping the truth hidden is as good as lying!! And what was I supposed to think? I watched my brothers disappear one by one into the darkness or under a sea of enemy combatants! And you, you stinking, self-righteous, hypocritical old coward of a man, you had the gall to call me a hero upon my return. I believed my hands to be stained by the blood of my brothers, due to my inability to lead them! So just tell me what I need to know and I will be on my way!!"

Eirik was breathing heavily and he could feel the blood rushing around in his body. The anger had boiled under the surface ever since he learned of his brothers being alive. He had suppressed it for so long. Why was he unable to do so now? Freja put a hand on his back at that moment, and Eirik felt some of the anger dissipate. For Freja, he wanted to be a better him. And that meant reigning yourself in when you got angry.

"All I know is that my grandsons are being kept underneath the prison itself, in a dungeon complex underground. It will not be an easy task Eirik. This is why I have arranged to have the diplomatic envoy have an unusually large honor guard of commandos. Use them as you see fit for the task at hand. As for the spying, I make no promises. I need to know you are all alright. Oh, and it was nice to see you again Freja. As always, you bring out the best in my grandson-"

Eirik cut the call off, denying his grandfather the chance to worm his way back into his immediate life through Freja.

"You are being tough on him, love," Freja said to Eirik and hugged him from behind.

"He lied to me for several years about my brothers being alive. I had to receive a fucking vision from the goddess of history and future telling while being drunk enough to potentially kill me." Eirik mumbled. "How can I forgive him for letting me live with their deaths on my conscience?? I need to get them back. THEN, and only then, can we start working on forgiveness! Don't worry my love. I will reconcile with him eventually. But he is going to have to prove that he repents!!"

_______________________

Later, Eirik was sitting down with Trasti and his family again. He had chosen to do it in Trasti's room, as a lot of the crew was active right now and the Kloxna seemed rather uncomfortable around Terrans. He couldn't blame them. The Kloxna propaganda machine was effective.

"Alright, Here is my proposal. In a few years, I plan to secede from the Terran government. Make a brother nation, open to all the misfits, all the weird existences, all the goofballs, no matter the species. I would like to offer you a large piece of land you can work on your own. For the first while, It would be tax-free, at least until I get my nation underway. When that happens, I would offer that I take 20% of whatever earnings you have, the rest is yours to do with as you please. spend it, invest, I don't care, as long as the tax is paid."

"What would we do with the land?" Trasti asked, and Eirik felt the eyes of everyone present lock on to him. Even the soldier sister had woken up. Whatever she had been told must have worked, she was causing no trouble. Then again, Once they realized that there were 3 large meals every day with enough for everyone to eat to their heart's content, any complaints they might have had seemed to fade away,

"I have actually given that some thought as well. I have some friends of my family that raise cattle. Domesticated prey animals are raised for consumption. They are looking to expand their operation and I'm certain I could convince them to lend you a hand and teach you what they know, to raise animals. Maybe chickens, to begin with." Eirik had pondered this half the night until the obvious answer had hit him like a bolt of lightning.

Kloxna feared want of food more than anything. So, why not have them work in the farming industry? Independent, close to the food supply. It was a good option.

"What are chickens, and why them first?" Krisnu asked?

"Good," Eirik thought to himself, "She is already considering the how's and why's and no longer the if's" He opened his mouth and answered, "Because they are fairly easy to keep, multiply fast and, most important to you, I think, they lay eggs every day." His words hung in the air as he saw the eyes of every Kloxna present expand at the thought of such an animal. Even Trasti had not known this and was just as stunned as the rest.

"I do not understand what you mean with 20%. How much is that?" Krisnu said as she regained control of her thoughts.

"It means, he takes 1 out of every 5 eggs from a chicken" Trasti answered and Eirik confirmed.

"...Only 1 of five...? Back home I would have to pay 4 out of 5... Trasti. You said you would advise me. I am tempted to accept. what do you say?"

Trasti thought it over for a second, tilting his head this way and that in the process. "I say you should accept mother. I still remember you whispering dreams of starting a better life for us all when you put us to sleep. And while the Captain is ruthless, uncompromising, and dangerous, he is also honorable, in his own way. He is trustworthy, for good and for bad. The family would flourish under his guidance, as I have. And Las'Tai as well."

"So be it." Krisnu stood up and extended a claw to Eirik. "I accept your deal, Captain Eirik. Do we have many choices in where we get to settle?"

"I have 3 planets where life can currently be supported. You can have your pick of any of the land on any of them."Eirik grabbed her hand and shook it.

"But we have no way of paying for anything, to begin with," Krisnu said as she realized she only the clothes she wore on her person and her family around her.

"I do" Trasti piped up and everyone looked at him shocked. "What? I have been working for the Captain for a while now and he pays well. Besides, I have nothing to spend the credits on here on the ship. Using them to settle my family in peace is a good way to spend them." Trasti defended himself. Eirik put a hand on his shoulder.

"Trasti, it is not judgment, but awe, you see in their eyes" He whispered and Trasti saw clearly. He was Kloxna. Kloxna families had a matriarch, not a patriarch. And yet, here they were, being cared for by their son and brother. He observed how alien he must have become in his own family's eyes and was, for a moment overburdened with a deep sadness. They had not seen what he had seen. "Yet," Trasti thought to himself, pulling through the melancholy and smiling awkwardly.

Krisnu stepped up to Trasti and looked at him long and hard. "You would have made a magnificent daughter, Trasti. Truly magnificent." She said when she was done looking him over. Trasti felt humbled. It was the greatest acknowledgment he would ever get from his mother. He had proven himself a true caretaker, a protector of the family. Something the eldest female would automatically do. But here he was, Doing it.

Even his sister nodded to him as he looked at her, fearful that she might be jealous, but she accepted that the praise was not a dismissal of her. She had been extremely vocal about wanting to go back when she woke up, but after calming down and speaking to her family, as well as being fed, she had been willing to at least hear Eirik out, despite his rather... creative, way of making sure she came with her family.

"Wait..." Eirik suddenly said. "If you never spent any of your pay... what about all the equipment I see you return with every time we hit port?"

The reaction from Krisnu was NOT what Eirik was expecting. She instantly had Trasti in an iron grip and was hissing "I thought you had put that bad habit behind you!!"

Trasti, with an uncharacteristically lighthearted chuckle, tried defending himself, "Terrans are forgetful, mother. They think they misplaced the things!"

"Trasti," Eirik's voice had suddenly become very dark and foreboding, "You wouldn't happen to know anything about a small knife with a pretty white bone handle, would you? Because if you do, it would be in your best interest to return said knife as quickly as your body will let you run to retrieve it. It has personal value, you see.."

Trasti squirmed out of his mother's grip and ran down the corridor, "Just a minute, Captain!"

"He has done this before?" Eirik directed the question to Krisnu who sighed.

"Yes. I thought we got it out of him. He likes to collect memories but tends to forget that they might be other people's memories." She sounded regretful, sad that she had been unable to get the habit of thievery out of her son.

"I understand." Eirik said, "I am not without sin either"

Krisnu looked at Eirik in wonder. How could someone, willing to admit fault of character so willingly, earn her son's complete trust?. He was an interesting character, that much was certain. She wondered what kind of mate he would attract...