Junebug nodded and downed the last of her coffee, wincing at the bitterness of the cheap brew she had collected on Fornax. Over the years she had performed hundreds of briefings, some informal around tables like these, other times crouched in a circle of watchful armored vehicles. This was a different beast though more akin to a planning group in which she had usually participated only as a junior partner.

"That is good news," she agreed, "but it still leaves us with the problem of actually lifting to orbit." She touched a control on a wall panel and a schematic of the Highlander flashed into view. Three of the eight reticulated thrusters were in green with an other in a dark yellow, the remaining for were in red.

"We need to repair the thrusters but we cant do that while they are submerged in water," she went on rolling a vernier control to draw back to a view of the small embayment in which the ship floated.

"Building a retaining dam around the ship is still the best bet and we can use the centrifugal pumps to drain it."

"The problem is that our native friends," - now that Zalli might understand she refrained from using 'indig' or 'yokels' or some other derogatory term - "Aren't likely to leave us alone long enough for us to finish the project."

"Wetumpkah, or whoever won that little fracas at the games yesterday, isn't likely to leave us alone." Zalli, who had been gazing dreamily at the projection screen, which to be fair must seem like magic, started at Wetumpkah's name. Taya lay a hand on the girls arm calmingly.

"So we either need to come up with a plan to neutralize them, or better yet convince them to help with the dam." Although it was true that the crew could complete the work themselves, it would take days, maybe weeks with just the four of them. A rain of spears from the forest would add to that time considerably of course. There were other options of course. In Junebugs minds eye rock flashed into white gouts of flame as she raked the ziggurat with cyan jets of plasma. Huts burst into flames as the locals fled in terror into the woodlands to escape the hell light firestorm. SHe blinked her eyes suddenly snapping back to the real world and aware that others had been speaking while she zoned out.

[@POOHEAD189]