Signe was walking through the ship, looking for Eirik. It had been an hour already and still no luck, and she needed to hand over the initial reports on the contents of the data they had obtained. Eirik was not going to be happy. It was more or less useless to them, without the missing information, which Signe had a very deep suspicion that Sif had memorized. Eirik was a big boy that could handle himself, but that was an entirely different battlefield than the one he usually braved. His wit would be tested, as well as his resolve. But who knew, maybe Eirik would end up getting what he wanted without losing himself in the progress...

Getting irritated she decided to use the intercom. It was not this difficult to find Eirik under normal circumstances. To her surprise, she got an answer back immediately from the combat training area where Eirik was building something Las'Tai and Trasti as spectators. Signe couldn't understand what they were trying to describe and cut off their explanation and headed there herself. When she arrived she immediately saw what the 2 Kloxna had tried telling her Eirik was building.

On the far side of the room, Eirik had hammered together a makeshift target dummy and was currently in the process of wiping down a piece of wood with a cloth sprayed with wood treatment oil, judging from the smell. Las'Tai was twisting her head this way and there, trying to get a proper look at the bow staff laying on Eirik's lap as he finished treating the wood.

"Captain, I have the reports you wanted. They are not pleasant reading material." Signe said loudly, prompting Eirik to turn around and reach out for the papers in her hand.

"Oh? And what does that mean?" Eirik asked calmly. He had long ago learned that nothing ever went according to plan and sometimes you just had to roll with it.

"All the data is useless to us. It would be invaluable to Terra, but for our current task, it is completely useless. All the essential information we are seeking has been removed shortly before our arrival. If you ask my opinion, it is the work of that prisoner!" Signe explained.

"What prisoner? We took quite a lot." Eirik said, hoping to avoid this specific topic so shortly after Freja had left.

"Don't play stupid Eirik, you know damn well who I am talking about! The way she seems to have planned all of this makes me feel I need to inform you that I have concerns about all of this!" Signe said angrily. She didn't need Eirik playing coy right now.

"Consider your concerns noted. If there is nothing else, I need to train." Eirik brushed Signed off. He didn't need this sort of interrogation and he was not above pulling rank.

Signe huffed and walked away, an air of anger permeating around her.

"I still don't understand how that is a bow, captain! A proper bow has a handle you can hold on to and line up the shot with, along with curved edges so you can create a torsion effect to send the arrow off with kinetic energy!" Las'Tai said loudly as she pointed to the straight piece of wood and made the gestures for a crossbow

"What we call bows, the Terrans call crossbows," Trasti interjected. "No doubt on account of them being invented during their period of religious expansion by one of the current dominant religions, Christianity. The one with the dead Terran on the cross,"

"You reached back to the middle ages in our history?? Or did you start from the back and work your way forward?" Eirik asked as he opened a small pouch on the floor next to him and produced a long thick string. that looked like it had a coat over it.

"If you say that is the bowstring, I KNOW you are lying!" Las'Tai exclaimed when she saw it. "How can you make a bow with such a long string and a straight piece of wood? And what is that coating that string!"

"The string is covered in bee's wax, Las'Tai. It prevents the fibers from drying out and protects against the environment. And let me show you exactly how we Terrans make a bow, just calm down." Eirik said smoothly as he attached the string to the bottom of the staff, placed it on the floor behind his right leg, and, pushing forward bent the wood into the proper shape for a bow and attached the string to the other end, finishing the assembly of the bow.

Pulling his leg out of the loop formed by the bent wood and the string Eirik held it firmly and picked up a 79-centimeter (31 inches) long wooden arrow with a 5-centimeter (2 inches) arrowhead of thin, shaped steel, sharpened to a razor's edge, ending in a needle-point and placed it on the string, notching the slit on the arrow shaft unto the string for added stability.

"I know Terrans are strong, but you can't tell me Terrans can draw a broken bow with their arms. I have heard stories of Kloxna laying down and using their feet to fire a broken bow in our ancient history when we were still locked to a single planet. I would readily believe that Terrans can do that!" Las'Tai declared, full of confidence as Eirik's smile faltered. She started to wonder if she had gone too far but Eirik raised the bow and slowly pulled the string back, making it and the bow creak as it the weapon was properly tested for the first time.

Eirik lined up the shot and let the arrow fly. Whizzing through the air, it closed the distance to the target dummy almost instantly and buried the entire arrowhead in the solid wood. It was a good shot, placed below what would have been the pegs of a Terran male. Had it been a real fight, it would have been a clean lung shot, lethal within a minute or 2. But Eirik was annoyed. He had aimed for the heart, not the lung.

He had grown rusty over the years and he needed to practice hard to regain proper aim with the bow. Las'Tai was already over at the target, examining the arrow. "Just how strong are Terrans?" She said out loud, more to herself than anyone else.

"I CAN SHOW TELL YOU THAT!" Came a call from the door. It was Bjørn, coming in from the gym. Walking over to one of the homemade pieces of training equipment Eirik used, namely a setup, not unlike those used in American football, to train his soldiers in shield wall against shield wall combat. Essentially a bunch of dummies attached to a weighted metal beam on the floor, with armor and shields attached to them. "Let's see," Bjørn said as he examined it. "Each dummy weighs around 40 kilos (88 pounds). There are 9 dummies across, plus an added weight of 50 kilos (110 pounds) from the metal beam they are attached to. So, roughly 410 kilos (904 pounds). How many Kloxna would it take to move this piece of equipment?"

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Trasti, the more book smart of the 2 Kloxna did some quick mental math. "at least 12. 15 if they are to do it comfortably." He said, eyes glistening as he prepared himself to absorb more knowledge on Terrans.

Bjørn started laughing and kept laughing as he armored up and picked up his shield. Eirik was busy attaching shields to the training equipment while this was happening. When Bjørn was finished, he turned to face the dummies and yelled "THIS IS HOW STRONG TERRANS ARE!" Before he ran forward, shield in front of him, intending to push against the dummies. Both Las'Tai and Trasti expected to hear the sound of the shields hitting each other followed by the sound of a Terran getting crumbled together by their own stupidity and hubris (An occurrence they had learned happened much more often than the Terrans were willing to admit).

What they didn't expect was the sound of the shields hitting each other followed by something large and meaty hitting the inside of a shield, followed by a grunt of exertion as the entire row of dummies were pushed ever so slightly off the ground as they moved backward, before slamming down audibly and gaining speed as Bjørn pushed them up against the far wall in a single continuous effort.

When he turned around, red-faced and huffing from exertion, both Las'Tai and Trasti were staring in disbelief at what they had seen. Quickly getting out the armor again and putting it back into place, Bjørn walked over to the 2, still gawking, Kloxna and swiftly scooped 1 under each arm before he started walking away.

Of course, they both protested and demanded to know the meaning of this, but when Bjørn happily said they were going to get some food so Eirik could train in peace, they stopped squirming and accepted fate. The only thing better than food was being carried to extra food.

Eirik laughed to himself. Those 2 could always eat more. He was amazed at the ability of Kloxna to consume food without gaining much weight. He slowly got to work, practicing his aim with the bow. Some might see it as an obsolete weapon, but in the right hands, it was a silent and deadly weapon. A determined soldier with the right training could do tremendous damage with a simple bow.

Eirik took a moment to study the weapon. The dark, polished wood with intricate rune carvings, covering most of the weapon. They were barely more than a scratch, yet well define and clear both to see and to touch. He looked over the name he had chosen for the bow "Shadow-Whisper". It would serve him well in the future. That reminded him that he needed to carve the chosen name into his spear. "Blood-Leaf", on account of the spearhead being broadest on the middle, like a leaf. His brother had outdone himself with the work on the bow, the draw strength was intense, even for Eirik. He was happy Mads had brought it with him since it was finally finished.

Proper stress tests later in the day showed that the bow could comfortably draw with around 180 pounds of force (roughly 800 newtons of energy), meaning he could pierce most personal armor, aside from proper steel plating and modern polymers. but kevlar vests, within 100 meters (330 feet), were possible. Closer than that and he might as well go for the neck. Then there was the different kind of arrows he could field. With modern technology he could make everything from an arrow that worked like a tazer, knocking the victim out with electricity, to highly explosive arrows that required a hard, direct impact to active, for safety reasons.

He was going to have a lot of fun with this new toy.

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Sif was standing in front of the mirror, as she did most of the day in the cell when the guards were not eyeing her up. She was working on her stature, her movements, and her facial expressions. through the loose gossip of the guards in the prison area, she had learned that the cramp of a woman that Eirik had chosen, had been sent back to base. She had also learned that it was on account of a newly discovered pregnancy and she had cursed when she heard that.

It would be difficult to offer something of equal or greater value to a man that acted like Eirik. He had been incredibly secretive about himself during their dinner, but she knew enough. He was prideful. This much was obvious from the way he was still hunting Dalle. He was also obsessed with creating a legacy for himself, evident by his choice to publicly denounce his affiliation with the Terran Empire when he seceded and created his own. It could have been done privately, but he chose to do it in public.

He was vain. He had been immaculately dressed when he had eaten with her and his long hair was well kept. He was used to being the one in control, evident from his lack of action when she took charge of the conversation. And finally, he was empathic. Him sending his woman away as soon as he discovers she is pregnant shows that he carries feelings and emotions. And all of these traits could be exploited if approached correctly.

And now that he was alone, it was only a matter of time before she could finish the little game she had started. She had no doubt he would come, the deleted files only existed in her mind. Men were so easy to predict. Because she looked like a small defenseless woman, none could bring themselves to beat the answers out of her. She knew it would not take long. She hated pain and would gladly sell anyone and everyone to save her skin.

She was strangely excited to execute this part of the plan. Eirik was not an unattractive man. He was well built, maybe a little shorter than average, but still taller than her, very well built, and while he seemed strong and plenty capable of violence, she sensed a gentle touch inside of him. She had only ever been with one man that had a stroke of gentleness to him and he had been killed shortly after taking her in, the first time she ran away as a slave. He had been an old man that merely offered her shelter and food, but she still remembered him placing an extra blanket over her while he thought she was asleep.

Of course, he had been executed in his sleep by her owner's thugs when they followed her trail. But he had shown her kindness. She sensed Eirik could show the same kindness. She angrily returned her thoughts to her practice. This was not the time for childish dreams! Eirik would show up soon enough and she needed to be ready if she wanted to replace that tall ogre of a woman he was with!

________________________________

Ulla was in an extremely good mood. With a good recommendation from Eirik, she and every other cargo hauler she was willing to stand up for had been offered very lucrative contract offers from the TA to bring much-needed supplies to "Areas of significant danger", meaning the pay had been almost extravagant. In any case, she had invested wisely and was now the proud owner of no less than 8 individual cargo hauler ships of the largest civilian model available. She still kept her old cargo hauler, unable to part with the old ship that had served her so well. But it also meant she finally had the time to fly out and see Eirik's new empire. She couldn't wait to see the surprise on his and Freja's face.

With her fleet of cargo haulers working for her, credits were no longer an issue and she could take all the time off she wanted. She still worked most of the time, claiming it helped maintain her physique, which had only been improved upon. She looked as if she was sculpted in stone, every inch of her body covered in bulging muscle. She had seen Bjørn last time and was determined to outmatch him as much as a woman was able to. The night with Jesper had been fun, but he was a scrawny runt compared to the beast of a man that had come to work for Eirik and the man had to be stupid if he thought he could hide how he looked at her.'

This was going to be a good vacation!