An hour later, the women all presented themselves at sickbay to have their locators removed. Danika didn't congratulate herself. She felt a mixture of anger and pity that they'd been forced by circumstances to throw away their past for a future that looked anything but promising.
* * * *
As shaken as Danika was from the trip--probably everyone considering the ship she was on had given rise to a lot of doubt that it would even break Xeno-12's pull of gravity--she was glad she'd still had her wits about her enough to have her gun in hand when they started down the gangplank. They encountered a hail of primitive projectiles before they were halfway down. One sharpened stone-tipped spear with a three foot wooden shaft narrowly missed her shoulder. She didn't think it would have if Dane hadn't batted it aside as it shot past him.
It took Danika a few seconds more to react. "We're under attack! Fire! Fire! Fire!"
The cyborgs, naturally enough, were far faster at reacting than the handful of humans among them. The projectiles had scarcely cleared the jungle growth before they had tracked the origin and returned fire. Within a matter of seconds, they had cleared a swath of jungle to the dirt, with the exception of a smattering of very large trees, a hundred yards from where their ship had landed in a swath as wide as their angle of view allowed.
The hail of projectiles ceased. Holding their guns at the ready, they continued down the gangplank and began a sweep of the area around their ship as the other ships settled near theirs. They discovered, however, that any natives that had managed to survive the first retaliatory strike, had disappeared back into the jungle.
Satisfied that they'd routed the natives, at least for the moment, they returned to await the other arrivals.
Reuel was not happy. His features were tight with a mixture of anger and disgust when he had descended the gangplank of his own ship and surveyed the clearing.
He turned and faced the troops, his hands planted on his hips. "What part of 'stealth' did you fail to understand?" he growled, loud enough for everyone to hear.
Danika, Seth, Dane, and Niles all exchanged uncomfortable glances. "We were attacked by the natives, Sir! We were not told not to retaliate if we encountered resistance from the natives," Danika responded uneasily since no one else seemed inclined to volunteer an explanation.
Reuel's lips tightened. "You could not interpret 'stealth' as an order NOT to return fire, Captain Hart?" he growled.
Danika felt her face heat. It occurred to her then that they might have overreacted just a hair, but she wasn'tusedto primitives lobbing projectiles at her! Obviously nobody else had considered that a few well places shots would have been sufficient either. "Sorry, Sir! Gut reaction."
Reuel summoned her with a motion of his hand. Danika didn't glance at her squad that time, but she was relieved when they fell into step with her as she answered the summons.
Reuel studied the men for a moment before he returned his attention to her. "This site was chosen for the fact that there would be ample cover for the ships so that we might escape the notice of both the Andorians and the Confederation," he responded finally, gesturing to encompass the flattened jungle. "What do you see here, Captain?"
Danika chewed her lip. "An open area, Sir?"
"And what should we be seeing, Captain?"
Danika cleared her throat. "Jungle?" she hazarded.
His eyes narrowed. "Precisely. Since you have been so helpful, Captain, you are in charge of restoring the jungle."
She gaped at him in shocked disbelief for a few seconds before she recovered enough to realize he was waiting for a response--a positive one. "Yes, Sir!" she said, saluting. "Uh ... How do we do that, Sir?"
He rolled his eyes. "I will leave that to your imagination. I feel confident you will figure something out."
Danika watched his back glumly as he strode away.
"Fuck!"
She glanced at Seth, surprised more by the vehemence in his voice than the 'word'. "My sentiments exactly," she muttered, releasing a huff of disgust. "I guess we need to get some of that stuff out there and replant it here. I suppose we need to see if we can find something to dig with." She considered for a few moments. "We're going to need to find water, too. They'll just croak if we move them otherwise. Niles--you and Dane hunt up something to dig with and something to carry water. Me and Seth will find that stream Reuel said was close by."
Niles and Dane looked at Seth questioningly--which irritated the hell out of Danika. She wasstillteam leader, damn it!
"We do not know that the natives have gone far," Seth said after a moment. "Would it not be better for all to go and search for the water?"
He had a point, damn it! "You really think they stopped running?"
Seth shrugged. "They were brazen enough to attack us as soon as we landed. Clearly they do not care if we are of the Confederation or the Andorians. They are hostile to all."
"Yeah, but .... Ok! Fine! We'll all go look for the stream and make sure the area is secure."
It wasn't much of a stream. Danika had seenditchesthat were far bigger. It had been hidden by the newly mown vegetation. She found it by stepping in it and sprawling out on the bank on the other side. Seth grabbed one of her arms and Dane the other and hauled her to her feet. Niles collected her gun since she'd lost her grip on it when she hit the ground hard enough to temporarily paralyze her reflexes. Embarrassed, she focused on brushing the dirt and water from the front of her hab-suit. "Well, we won't have to go far to get the water. Good thing I was wearing my hab-suit," she added dryly. She thought about that for a moment and her frown deepened. "Actually, it was. You know these hab-suits are really going to make us stick out in the jungle. Maybe I should point that out to Reuel? Not that I think there's much chance we've got anything that'll work for jungle camo but .... these are blinding white. Well, mine isn't anymore."
The suits had also been designed to keep them warm on the frozen world and Xeno-11 was close enough to the sun they all discovered very quickly that what they needed were hab-suits to keep them cooler. Danika was ready to strip hers off by the time they'd trekked out to the 'stream' and back to the ship in search of tools. She debated the merits of having something to protect her skin from the vegetation and the insects as opposed to keeling over from heatstroke and decided to skim out of the suit. Her T and briefs were as blinding white as the hab-suit, but made of material that was more inclined to absorb moisture and she doubted those would be white very long.
