Danika stopped abruptly in her tracks, gaping at him. "Disperse to where?" she demanded in disbelief.
"He did not have suggestions. He merely issued the standing order that, if we were attacked by the Confederation, we are to disperse and do our best not to draw attention to ourselves and to blend in with the humans as best we can until the time when he can find a place for us and gather us together again. We do not have the means or the resources to war with the humans even if that was our desire. Munitions are very low. We will have to raid to gather even enough for a running defense.
"Here we have found shelter and food, but there are no weapons or munitions to be had unless we can take a human base or one belonging to the Andorians."
Danika stared at him in dismay and dawning anger. "Exactly when were we supposed to be informed?"
Dane looked disconcerted. "I was there to hear--as were the others who were off duty from watch. We were to inform those who could not be there because they were stationed on guard posts."
Danika frowned thoughtfully as they resumed their walk. "It didn't look to me like very many had gone with him."
"He took only enough to man the ships since he had hope of filling them with survivors."
"Good thinking!" Danika said dryly, struggling with her anger. "But that leaves us with way more people than the ships that are left can carry. That means all of us can't disperse--not from here, anyway. I don't suppose he had a suggestion for that?"
Dane looked surprised. "He asked for volunteers to draw the Confederation away--that is the plan if they come here to look for us. Those who volunteered will take the ships up and flee in different directions, in the hope of convincing the Confederation that all have left. Also in the hope that they can outrun them and survive themselves. I did not volunteer our squad because you had said that we would stay here and build a homestead."
That speech completely deprived Danika of anything at all to say. It was one thing to form a hypothetical scenario she realized she'd never actually been serious about and another entirely to find herselfstrandedon the fucking planet with no damned choice of whether to stay or not!
Her and her big mouth!
Both Seth and Niles seemed to take the whole thing in stride--as if they already knew even before she arrived with Dane and informed them of the orders!
But then they'd both been awake when the damned ships took off.
She stewed over it while they all settled to eat the food she'd brought from base, discovering it was a lot easier to nurse her anger than to allow the fear churning in her belly and at the back of her mind to take hold.
How could shepossiblyhave forgotten how damned literal minded they were, she wondered angrily! How could theynotknow it was just ... a lame attempt to make herself feel better about the gods awful situation they were in and to cheer Dane up?
She'd only been trying to put a positive spin on an impossible situation, damn it! Boost morale! Especially hers!
She only emerged from her internal rage when the men rose and left her.
Insensitive assholes, she thought angrily! Couldn't they see she was upset? But instead of trying to reassure her they'd all looked at her like she was bomb about to explode and withdrawn to a safer distance!
Peace, of a sort, or at least silence, reigned until they heard someone approaching from the direction of base camp near dusk. Immediately alert despite the fact that the direction indicated a 'friendly' rather than a hostile, they all took up defensive positions.
The rattling of the brush stopped while whoever it was was still some distance away. "It is I, Basil!" the intruder called out.
It took Danika a few minutes to figure out who the hell Basil was.
It didn't take the guys even a nano-second.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" Seth, Niles, and Dane all growled, almost in unison.
Having been hailed, it didn't seem to bother Basil that it wasn't a welcome. He continued his approach. "I have come to join your squad," he said cheerfully when he'd reached them.
Danika merely gaped at him in disbelief.
Seth, Niles, and Dane bristled like cur dogs.
"You are not welcome!" Seth responded.
"We have a squad already," Niles retorted.
"We do not need another," Dane added.
Basil's expression hardened, his features taking on a mulish look. "I have brought supplies--in the event that they are needed."
