No soldier liked swiming. It was slow, awkward and there was no cover, plus there was a fair chance that unless you had specialist hardware it wouldn't work. Junebug was no exception but she had gone through rigorous swim PT and at least she didnt have her armor and fifty pounds of gear to contend with. Holding her breath she plunged into the water after the woman diving straight down two or three meters before moving sideways through and opening. Following her guide she kicked off the bottom stiring up a storm of blackish sand before racing upwards and breaking the surface once more. Their guide was grinning with genuine excitment at the stunt and it bought a small smile to Junebugs own lips as she turned her light back to reveal Neil and Taya breaking the water. Brushing wet hair from her eyes she climbed into the ankle deep water of the ledge. To her surprise there was light filtering down from above and a series of handholes was carved into the side of the tunnel. Their guide pointed excitedly.

"Its a filter," Junebug realised as she reached down to scoop some of the sand from her sandal. As she suspected it was a mix of fine white river sand and a dark black substance.

"They must dump charcoal into the pit there to filter it," she mused wondering at the ingenuity of people who it was easy to think of as simple savages. 

"Probably how your not so secret admirer knows about it." Taya giggled at the jibe which made Junebug grin, teeth flashing white in the dark. The girl had a right to be scared but if someone could laugh at a time like this there was hope for them. Neil said nothing but she had the impression he was blushing. Lossening her patrol sling she draped her weapon over her shoulder and climbed up the handholes pushing back a small cover of broad leaves that clearly kept the rain and animals mostly at bay.

It was a relief to be out in the open again, something only noticeable with the absence of tension. Junebug wasn't claustraphobic, no tanker was, but confidned spaces were killboxes in her mind and best avoided where possible. The clearing the found themselves in was surrounded by medium sized trees. The area was clearly tended and some sort of legume type crop was trellesed around them. It was nearly nightfall now but judging by the glow from across the low ridge the party was still in full swing back at the city. With a sigh of relief Junebug sank down onto one of the large roots, feeling the cool water begin to evaporate in the tropical heat.

"Captain," Taya said with a ghost of a smile, "You look a bit like a plucked chicken." Junebug regarded herself for a moment, in several places the feathers had come away from her cape exposing the underlying animal skin, giving her a patchy and disreputable look.

"Well so long as Im not a cooked goose I guess I'll count my blessings," she retorted. It was a weak joke but it got a chuckled that helped to release the tension of the past several hours.

"We ought to get going back towards the Highlander," she mused, levering open the breech of her submachine gun as she did so. A greenish sludge dribbled from the chamber as she freed it. Sighing she stripped the magazine from the weapon and tumbed free one of the plastic sheathed rounds. It was the size of a poker chip and comprised a hyper dense metal pellet along with coiled hyper conductive copper gold alloy that worked with the electromagnets to accelerate the round down the barrel. Experimentally she rubbed the round between thumb and forefinger. The plastic crumbled like compacted dirt.

"Curse me for a fool," she said and then looked up at the puzzled expression on her comrades faces.

"From my perspective these rounds have only been here a couple of days," she explained, tossing the worthless round away and trying the next one.

"But really, they have been under spring pressure for two years, its work hardened the plastic." The second round crumbled also.

"Damn lucky it didn't get me killed right now," she groused. This round still workded and she manually cycled it through the weapon with a series of clacks as she pulled the action open and closed making sure the loading mechanism worked. It was no guarntee but it was the best she was going to get.

"I think our best bet is to hike a few clicks off into the bush," she made a general gesture in the direction of the Highlander, "And then try to figure out what we are going to do."

"Also," she went on, turning to address the native girl in her own tongue, she was watching Sayeeda as though she was performing some sort of magic trick.

"You got a name?"

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