Erich spent the next two weeks with his wife Erika, and his fiancee Ayumi. As well as his newborn son. As someone who had suffered from childhood neglect by his own father, Erich had vowed to be a proper father to his newborn son. Unfortunately, for the time being, he would still be deployed to other worlds so that he may fight on behalf of the Germanic Star-Empire.

Which came quicker than he expected. Because after a mere two weeks of rest, Erich was once more dressed in his solid black fatigues, saying farewell to his wife and fiancee. Although the proxy war between the Alfheim Dominion and the Svartalfheim Federation had not officially begun. Erich and his team, along with several other special operations units, were deploying to the disputed worlds in advance.

They would be acting behind enemy lines, while secretly reporting information to the Germanic Military's main forces, while also conducting assaults on critical infrastructure. Soon enough, Erich regrouped with his team on Germania, while dressed in his matte black power armor.

As a W-7, there was a white marking on his right shoulder that was newly painted, which signified his status as one of the Germanic Star-Empire's most elite operators. Meanwhile, his helmet's visor now projected a red holographic skull.

It had been some time since Erich last met up with his team. After all, he had spent an entire year away with Lunaria, while also spending another year completing his training. Thus, when he finally arrived, they were shocked to see that Erich was, in fact, still alive. And a W-7 no less.

JT was perhaps the only one to greet Erich with a friendly gesture. The rest of the men had written Erich off after he was engaged to Ayumi without his consent. But JT was not the type of guy to hold a grudge against Erich for a political marriage. Thus, he slapped Erich on the back and welcomed him back to the fold.

"Are my eyes deceiving me? Or is it little Silber, back at last? Hold on, is that a W-7 marking I see on your armor? Is that why you have been gone for so long?"

Erich made no comment. He simply nodded his head in agreement with JT's words. He did not feel much like talking about what he had been through over the last two years. And thus, he simply sat down in the cockpit of the Corvette, which acted as his unit's personal starship. Where he then turned on the nav computer and set a route to their destination.

"It should take us a few weeks to get to the disputed worlds. I hear we are being deployed to a planet which is currently in an ice age. So be prepared for a harsh environment. Are you guys ready to depart?"

Ghost stepped forward and spoke on behalf of the unit. There appeared to be a rather stern look in his eyes, as if he disapproved of serving alongside Erich after what happened on the Oni Capital. Yet he did not speak of these thoughts, and instead confirmed that the unit was indeed ready to depart.

"We are ready when you are Silber..."

With this said, Erich did not bother to wait for anyone else's opinion, and took off from the surface of Germania, where the small warship slowly ascended to the stars. Once the quantum drive was spooled up, and the ship had begun to pilot itself, Erich sighed heavily, before speaking with the rest of his unit. All of which, other than JT, were scowling at him.

"Go ahead, get it off your chest. I'd rather not have to deal with you guys being a bunch of assholes while we are on a dangerous mission. Whatever you have to say, say it now!"

Contrary to what they were expecting, Erich outright pointed out the elephant in the room. And he did so with a gaze filled with rage, as if he was not even willing to tolerate their disrespect. This was in contrast to the lighthearted and easily swayed Erich which his team had previously deployed with.

Ultimately, it was Heavy who came forward and spoke about his misgivings with Erich and his behavior.

"You want to hear it? Fine, I think you are an absolute scumbag, and a disgrace to the Germanic race. Not only are you cheating on your wife, who is loyally waiting for you at home, but you are sleeping with a bunch of alien whores? You absolutely disgust me!"

Erich did not say a word. He simply stood up and got into heavy's face. Where he stared the man down in a rather pathetic attempt at intimidation. Erich was quite a bit smaller than the average Star Marine, who stood at seven feet tall. Let along a behemoth of a man like Heavy. And yet, despite clearly being outsized, there was not any sense of fear in Erich's eyes.

Nor was there in Heavy's who returned Erich's menacing stare with a look of utter confidence. Before responding to Erich's actions with nothing but scorn in his voice.

"What are you going to do, little man? What do you think-"I think you should take a look at

Before he could even finish the sentence, Erich grabbed hold of the back of the man's head with both of his hands, displaying an astonishing level of strength as he broke Heavy's posture, before head-butting the man three times. Which sent the giant to the ground, completely unconscious.

Once Heavy was lying unconscious on the bridge, Erich spat on his face. Before voicing his thoughts about the man.

"Don't you ever call my girls a whore again, you pathetic fucking simp!"

Naturally Heavy couldn't hear him, but the other members of Erich's unit could, and they were incredibly surprised by Erich's sudden and violent actions. It had been two years since they had last saw the man. And Erich was no longer the same man that he was back then.

Erich's wounded heart had been healed by the love and grace of the Alfheim Empress. Which allowed him to overcome his depression, grief, and shell shock. He was no longer simply living one day at a time, and enduring whatever life threw at him, like he was supposed to do. Instead, Erich had begun to have goals and aspirations of his own. While at the same time, there were also things that he wished to protect.

Perhaps it was a matter of personal growth, or it was the fact that he felt like he had gained a new lease on life. But Erich was starting to get sick of everyone telling him that he was in the wrong, for loving multiple women from different cultures and ethnicities.

Erich realized now that he had many people who were precious to him, people who he wanted to protect. Thus, Erich was no longer willing to be pushed and ordered around like a common grunt. Instead, he wanted to fight for what belonged to him. The first step in doing this was opposing Heavy, who dared to slander the name of his multiple alien lovers. historical

Once Erich had properly displayed his willingness to fight for himself, and his loved once, he stared menacingly at the rest of his teammates before asking one simple question on his mind. One that was filled with a newfound aura of intimidation.

"Does anyone else have a problem with my relationships?"

Echo did not say a word, as was his style. He simply shook his head in silence. Ghost was biting the urge to say something, while JT looked at Erich as if he were a completely different person. Once, it was obvious that nobody was willing to fight with Erich over his love life. Erich gazed at the unconscious soldier, whose giant body was taking up the bridge, and gave a command to his comrades.

"Echo, JT, haul this fat sack of shit to the medbay. He's probably concussed after that, and will need treatment."

Despite not being the commanding officer of the unit, Echo and JT did as Erich had commanded, and silently dragged off Heavy's unconscious body, before putting it in the medbay, which scanned his body for possible ailments, and immediately began to treat his concussion.

Once Erich was alone with Ghost, the man looked at him as if he were someone else entirely before expressing his discontent with what had just happened.

"You know I could have you court martialled for this, right?"

Erich looked at Ghost with an entirely disinterested gaze, before shrugging and expressing his lack of fear about such an outcome.

"You do what you have to... But right now, we have a mission to conduct, so I suggest waiting until after we have completed our duty before reporting me to High Command."

With this said, Erich left Ghost alone on the bridge, before heading towards his personal quarters, where he decided to get some shuteye. He did not know it yet, but his actions on this day would shift the balance of power within the unit. And would cause his comrades to treat him with more respect.