[IC] Grim Galaxy: Shots and Chances

[POOHEAD189]

With deft fingers, Neil twirled a wrench from his toolkit as she asked her last question, his easy going yet daring grin back on his face. "Oh, just leave that to me. I know this ship like the back of my hand by now," He said, catching the wrench in his grip. Only then did he see the cut across the back of his hand. "_{How long has that been there?}"

Not giving Sayeeda time to question his expertise, he expertly hopped down into the Highlander and went about his work. Before he started tinkering on the ship, Neil hopped into the jeep, revving up the engine and getting the gears moving. At first it didn't start up. But after a few choice knocks from one of his tools, it began to purr. Neil ran his hands along the wheel with a familiar touch, always ready to pilot anything he could get his hands on.

"Um," he heard from behind him. The voice of an uneasy, young woman. "Are we going somewhere?"

Neil's body fidgeted from the vehicle as he turned his head to see Taya standing in the entrance-way of the lower exit bay, clothed but with her hair still dripping wet from the liquid prison she had just been encased in. Neil suddenly felt the fire in his veins die down a bit, the adventure they were now on turning into what must be an odd and scary unknown for their new, unwitting crew member. He breathed a sigh and shut the vehicle off for the moment.

"I am heading out just to get the jeep on the beach. We've made it to an unknown planet that...I guess Junebug told you?" He asked her finally, and she gave a silent nod. Neil guessed she didn't know every detail, and so he gestured for her to head back in. "Just grab some rations and get some water. Junebug will be down in a sec." He told her, and winked. "Just chill."

The exit bay opened and he turned the jeep on once more, slow going at first to then speed up before the 'downward' exit ramp to gain some air, hitting the beach with a spray of sand and a satisfying crunch of the impact on the ground. The vehicle twirled, its back now facing the forest as Neil's front had a clear view of the Highlander's exit bay. Neil squinted from the sudden light of the sun, and he reached up to lift the visor to have it block some light, only to find some sunglasses folded up there.

"Oh," he said, slipping them on his face and smirking.

This felt like he was back on his home planet, truth be told. The heat on his skin, a nice ride, and some glasses. "Yeah all I need is an interplanetary mech war." He joked, and hopped out of the vehicle, jumping onto its hood and calling to Sayeeda. "You want to look around first or what?"
@Penny

[Penny]

Naturally Junebug did. The picked their way through the scrubby forest in the jeep, Neil expertly juking around foliage which a heavier vehicle would simply have plowed over. As they climed a rise that was part dune and part low hill Junebug pulled her helmet down over her face and toggled it to infrared. The landscape lit up in a series of pastel yellows and blues. Here and there she saw an orange flash of heat from what might be small aninimal. Behind them the Highlander glowed hot in a number of places, still cooling from the rapid decent. As they crested the rise she switched back to regular vision.

Before them stretched a wide forested plain, rising towards a greenish blue range of mountains in the far distance. The landscape was split by a surprising number of creeks and swales, many of them as large or bigger than the small river the Highlander had put down in. The trees rose high, up to thirty meters in places, but so unevenly distributed as to make the landscape look wavy and unnatural. The leaves were green but seemed to be more like collections of hair or cilia than true leaves of Terran extraction. A few animals chattered and hooted and though she could see a few heat signatures nothing jumped out as immediately alarming. There was no sign of settlements or technology as far as her magnified vision could see.

"Well if there is an infantry battalion sneaking up on us, they have some damn good camo," she observed sourly.

"Looks like we have the place to ourselves."

"Lets hunt up some food and see if we can eat the local, then we can get our mind to repairs."

@POOHEAD189

[POOHEAD189]

"Well I can think of worse planets to be stranded on." Neil said as he parked the jeep, dust blooming in the air at the sudden lack of momentum from the vehicle. The pilot shut off the engine, and had to bite his tongue in order for him not to jinx them any further. This did seem surprisingly lucky for how fucked they were less than a day ago. He'd never had an experience on the Highlander that didn't go from out of the pot and into the fire.

Still, this place was pretty ideal for a tourist location from what he'd seen, and yet the lack of any civilization did not bode well for them. Either there was something on the world they hadn't seen that made humanity give it a wide berth, or they were further away from Imperial civilization than he was used to. "Well we still have a month's worth of supplies on the ship but-" he hopped out, his revolver already twirling in his fingers before halting midspin, smugly cocking it with a satisfying 'click.' "It's a good idea to ration it. Then again I am a city boy. You might need to hold my hand when it comes to hunting."

He certainly looked the part in his urban (albeit functionally simple) clothing, sunglasses gleaming sunlight off its dark lenses. It was an hour before Sayeeda's honed survival skills overcame Neil's incompetence. Then again, he did have a knack for moving quietly, and once he got the hang of slipping through the brush he became an asset. Soon, they caught a curious critter. A grey furred creature, with a raccoon's body proportions if not for the six legs and the bushy fox-like tail.

Neil had flushed it out and Junebug had caught it by the leg, killing it swiftly with her knife. Even after just over an hour, they were both sweating a fair bit from the heat. "Hopefully the sun lowers before too long. I'll need to check this planet's cycle," Neil said casually, stepping over a small bush and heading toward the clearing as Junebug skinned the creature. She saw the mistake Neil was making a second too late, as his foot stepped onto a bit of leaves that suddenly uprooted and shot into the air. Neil was suddenly whipped around by his foot just as the poor creature had been, and the pilot found himself dangling upside down in a makeshift, primitive trap.

Neil's glasses fell off his face, but he had the frame of mind to catch them as they fell. "Might want to cut me down quick!" he whispered vehemently, as the loud snapping of the branches that had yanked him up when he placed pressure on the rope had reverberated through the forest for Gods know how far. Whoever made the trap would be back sometime in the neat future even if they heard nothing.
@Penny

[Penny]

Junebug tried to stifle a snicker, but the events of the last couple of days caught up with her and she snorted out a peel of laughter at the dangling Neil. He hung from a snare wrapped tightly around his ankle looking distinctly unimpressed.

"If you're quite finished?" he asked acidly. With some difficulty she smoothed her face and grabbed hold of Neil's arm dragging him down towards the ground and bending the limb which had been cunningly bent to bear the weight. With a quick slash of her utillity knife she shredded the braided vines that wrapped the pilots boot and dropped him unceremoniously to the ground.

"Well I guess that answers the question of if we are alone here," she commented as Neil picked himself up on the ground. There had been no real heat signatures on the IR but that was only good out to a few clicks. Also it supposed that whoever had laid the snare was warmer than the ambient, which was likely but not certain.

"Maybe that works out in the long run," she added skeptically. Any society with a tech base that included snares was unlikely to run to starship repair but there was always hope. Perhaps a survivalist or a less advanced group on the fringes of a more complex society. Of course it also dramatically increased the chances that someone out there might be about to murder them, a frequent problem with people in general.

"We'd better get to work."

________________________

Junebug had not spent alot of time underwater in her career. There had been occasional insertions through swamps but the difficulty in keeping advanced weapons functioning made it impractical to attack through water. Consequently working underwater in the airsuit was not a comfortable experience. She pressed the structural plastic against the side of the gaping wound in the side of the Highlander and triggered the magnaweld. The strip flared briefly as it bonded the strip to the hull, patching the hole.

"OK fire up the pumps," she said over the comms. Raising the Highlander was priority one.

[POOHEAD189]

Neil was happy the Highlander had power for many reason. One of them was surviving the deep unknown of space. The other was the promise of adventure. The third reason was the acquiring of money and women. However right now, he was very much glad to have it back for the music he could now listen to in the comfort of his cockpit! The band he listened to know was apparently from late 20th century Terra, with lurching riffs, vocals going from soft to suddenly loud, with an aggressive and heavy sound. The name was apparently the same name of an ancient style of automobile, named the Chevelle.

He had his glasses on, toothpick in his mouth from the meal they had eaten before Sayeeda decided to hop down and use some good old fashioned elbow grease. Neil had volunteered to do it, but they needed someone to pilot the ship after all. He made sure the music was not too loud, and he picked up her comm loud and clear. "Got it," he replied back. The algorithm he had set into the data monitor had been made for something as slow and precise as this. Any true use of the engine might harm Junebug, so he placed his hand on the throttle and eased it forward slowly.

At first there was no movement other than a light rumble, and he felt either his algorithm or the ship itself went wrong. But moments later it began to rise, causing massive bubbles to erupt from the inter-planetary vents underneath the smaller frieghter. Neil wanted to get this done quickly. They had scanned the ocean for any sort of large wildlife on the radar earlier, but it only went so far and this was an (probably) uncharted planet. Any kind of beast could get attracted by what they were doing, and Sayeeda was still down there.

But still. "It's fucking working!" Neil laughed, the ship rising higher and out of the water. "Lonney, keep the ship steady." He ordered.

"Yes sir, first officer Neil Edwards." the mechanical voice replied back, suddenly souring Neil's mood. "We really outta get you your voice back, dude."

"What's happening?" Traya asked from the corridor, dressed fully and hair dried. She'd eaten a quick bite with them but had decided to look around the ship for a bit, the music catching her attention.

"Just making sure the ship is fine. Let's go drop a ladder for our Captain. We do not know how long the fuel will last." Neil chuckled uneasily, the fuel reading still broken.
@Penny

[Penny]

Junebug scuttled up the ladder with the ease of a trooper who's life had depended on unassing a burning vehicle in a hurry on more than one occasion. A broad smile was on her lips when she reached the waiting pair, as the slight rocking of ship was already evidence that she had been successfully floated. The world had only very slight solar tides and no moon for which Junebug was profoundly grateful. That would have made this whole plan a hell of alot tougher.

Neil and Sayeeda had stayed up late into the insect infested night, drinking whiskey and coming up with various plans to get the Highlander operable again. The key problem had always been that the repairs necessary were next to impossible while the ship was in the water and there was no way to lift her and set her down safely on dry ground. After many belts of whiskey and a good deal of cursing inspiration had struck. If they couldn't get the Highlander on dry ground, then they must bring dry ground to the Highlander.

The solution, as insane as it initially seemed, was surprisingly simple. Patch the holes and float the ship, then drag it as close to the shore as possible using braided engineering cable as hawsers. The final stage was to build a dam of structural plastic and local lumber around the ship and a cradle to take the weight on the side sloping down towards the bottom of the estuary. Once done they could use the same pumps that floated the ship to pump the dam dry and conduct repairs. It was on the crazier side of plans Sayeeda had tried but neither she nor neil could find any reason why it would work, other than an unexpected typhoon.

It was invigorating to have the first stage come together so easily but there was alot of work ahead to get them back into space.

"Well that is stage one com..." alarms pinged in her helmet and in the ship.

"Shit its the motion detector in the jeep, we are about to have company."

[POOHEAD189]

Neil was just done marking the best places to use as the station for the cable hooks, placing sensors down in front of a large rock jutting out of the forest floor, so long and jagged that Neil had a sneaking suspicion it was a small asteroid that had landed here many years ago. The other was one of the thicker trees of the forest that was relatively close to the shore. He'd made sure not to drink too much the night before, and he was glad for the moderation today. The lack of a true hangover was something he made himself appreciate.

"Targets down, Captain" He said into his comm. Yet again, the day was sunny and hot, with only the barest whisper of a cloud above him, giving a small penumbra upon the brush. Briefly he wondered if there were any real clouds on the planet, but he was certain there had to be. It wouldn't rain otherwise, after all. As Neil lost himself in thought, popping a squat on a smaller, fallen log as he awaited Junebug to reply to him, he stretched.

"Shit its the motion detector in the jeep, we are about to have company."

Neil had been through so much shit recently, he was almost inure before his self preservation suddenly screamed into his head and he halted mid-stretch, blinking and spinning about to gaze into the forest. "What? Where?"

"Right in front of you, idiot." She said, her voice scathing with urgency. "Two hundred meters."

Neil spun again, knowing he couldn't get back to the ship in time without swimming and opening the hatch of the Highlander, and by then he could be gunned down by anyone with a rifle. "Guess I need to improvise," he breathed, his wandering eye catching the log he had sat on, before looking at the tree its butt connected to. With a sudden monkey-like grace, he ran across the small log and kicked off, grabbing a hold of the lowest branch of the nearby tree and using that to climb into the canopy.

He didn't even have his firearm with him this time, which he cursed himself for. As he climed, he realized reminded him a lot of his first mission with Junebug, only this time she was in the ship instead of a tent murdering someone, and this time she might need to save his skin...

It was only a minute before the targets emerged from the forest, so quiet Neil nearly yelped when he saw them. They were humans, as near as he could tell. But they wore little clothing, their bodies covered in barbaric warpaint. Clubs made of obsidian and spears tipped with rock were held in their hands, and a few rode odd, lithe beasts that ran on two legs. Mammals with the body shape of large, flightless hunting birds. He saw many of them holding blow darts.

Neil whispered into his comm. "So what's the plan?"
@Penny

[Penny]

June bug watched the motley collection of humans stream from the forest and for the moment felt her mouth go dry. She was further from a weapon than she wanted to be, there had been no place or need for one in the airsuit and the nearest pistol was in her foot locker. Also there were well over two dozen of the natives, massacring them might not be possible and certainly wouldn't improve their position. Plus with those addaladdles there was no chance that Neil would get out of that tree alive.

"Taya" she said quietly, to the transfixed girl.

"Go below and get my rifle from the arms locker," she said in a whisper, Taya looked up with her with eyes wide with fear and uncertainty.

"Ask loney he will show you what you need. Bring it back to the upper hatch but DONT come out unless things go really sideways." Taya scurried away as Junebug pulled open the closure to the airsuit and removed her helmet. Droping the clear cyloplex to the deck she drew the suit down over her waist and tied it around her hips in a not. She was wearing nothing but a sports bra beneath but the need for mobility out weighed her need for modesty just at this moment. She wouldn't have minded doing the whole business in her bra and panties but the boots of the suit were integrated and she might need the foot protection.

With hands raised in what she hoped was friendly greeting she hopped down the improvised gang plants towards the gabbling locals. They were and intimidating bunch in their way, holding weapons lows as if they knew how to use them. Dark primitive tatoo swirled over their skin. There were even a few women among them, older and with skin stained down by sun and melanin. They wore loin cloth but nothing over their breasts save beads and jewelry of coral and stone.

To her utter shock she found that the words were familiar to her. Focusing in with the intensity of a sniper she tried to focus on the words and tried to drag them into focus. Sayeeda had sleep learned alot of langugages in a busy mercenary career but this was like patching together some archaic tongue. She caught the word for star and the word for Ocean.

"Zil, Its the old zil trade language," she said quietly. THe group recoiled from her words.

"Uhhh We in pace come here," she tried with a friendly smile stumbling over the unfamiliar tongue with some difficulty

@POOHEAD189

[POOHEAD189]

Neil's hand gripped the branch above him to steady himself in his seat, and he needed the added measure at the moment because he was very confused at the turn of events. He hadn't expected Sayeeda to exit the safety of the ship, particularly without armor on and...she was speaking to them. "That's new," he breathed, carrying the 'a' sound in 'that' for a bit to emphasize just how perplexed he was.

He wasn't exactly sheltered, but he wasn't nearly as well traveled as Junebug, so at the moment he was entirely sure that she either had been here before, or had learned their native language in case of a merc campaign. Did Sayeeda know where this planet was located? Did she keep any secrets relevant to their safety? If they lived through this, he would wait until they were alone and she was properly dressed or he'd be a bit too distracted.

A wiry but tall and strong looking man, strode to the front of this staggered formation of barbarians. His black hair was long and his eyes were bronzed from the sun's light. A short spear was in his left hand, held as easily as one would expect from someone who's livelihood depended on how well he could wield the weapon. The spearhead was not rock or iron, but a tooth or claw of some massive animal.

His next words were quick and without suitable pause for Sayeeda to understand them. She would catch the phrases of 'food' and 'water,' perhaps the word 'people' and what sounded like 'legend.' There was a small amount of reverence in his voice, but also a bit of fear and anger, as if he both did and did not quite know what to make of the ship. Gesturing to the ship, he bared his teeth and struck his dirt covered, chiseled chest with his fist.

Neil had managed to shimmy his way across to another tree without drawing any attention. He might not be used to the forest, but he was lithe and dexterous. If worse came to worse he'd need to do something to help his Captain.

@Penny

[Penny]

At first Junebug thought it might all go badly. The locals seemed agitated even though they hand't initiated the encounter with violence. The langauge was a struggle, it was a distant ancestor of the versions of the languges she half remembered from sleep learning during transits to various deployments. He seemed to want to know if they were with the Steelmen or maybe if they were men from the steel beast. Junebug eventually decided this must be some sort of group or faction she didn't know of and shook her head.

"We are ...merchants," she said unable to bring the word to explorers or castaways to mind. The man shook his head in confusion.

"We need your help," she tried vainly.

"Our ...chariot.. has been damaged we need to heal it," she stumbled unfamiliar words tripping her at every turn. At the word heal the chief and the assembled villagers seemed to perk up markedly. He gestured at her with his spear.

"You healing spirit. You come village. Eat we talk," he said, making exaggerated gesture. Junebug nodded and smiled broadly before turning to where Neil was cautiously advancing to the wary regard of their new hosts.

"Either they want to eat us or we are being invited to their village to eat," she said shrugging helplessly. Taya had still yet to appear from the Highlander, but it didn't seem that the presence of an armed amateur could contribute usefully in an case.

"Taya," she said queing the link to to the Highlander with a crook of her little finger.

"Get my first aid bag and stash some weapons in something inconspicuous

@POOHEAD189 and get up here on the double."

[POOHEAD189]

"Tremendous." Neil replied in an extravagant and ostentatious accent. He almost felt like he was in one of the holodisks he sometimes viewed back before he joined the crew when he actually had free time. Ancient humans of the 'Victorian' kingdom dealing with savages at the edge of the known world. Well, at least when he appeared before the tribesman, they only gawked at him a bit before he was sure they were not going to stick him like a pig.

Once Taya stumbled out of the ship with a bag, a few of the tribesmen turned around, spears leveled. She squeaked and nearly dropped the sack. Neil was nimble enough to catch the drooping bag and help her yank it level again. "Nothing to see here. No firewater here." He said, hand in the air to halt anyone coming closer.

"Thank you," she whispered, nervously glancing about. "Do things like this always happen with you two?"

Neil placed his hands in his pockets, giving the fierce spears and wild eyed stares from the locals a cursory look. "...I'm noticing a pattern."

With a wave of the lead one's spear, the small band of hunter gathers and the three Highlander crew members made their way deeper into the temporal forest, soon looking a bit more like a subtropical or even tropical jungle as they moved. Mostly the tribespeople seemed to look outwards, as if expecting some sort of attack. Neil was hoping that they just felt awkward looking at the crew and decided to look elsewhere. Not that he wasn't against excitement, but he had just gotten out of a lot of hairy situations. Oddly enough, the alien mark on his palm from his and Junebug's first mission was itching a bit.

Within the hour, the treeline thinned, and though the area before them was still forested with copses of trees and brush, there were islands of stone and wood that rose out of the ground between them. Primitive ziggurats with oddly alien pictographs chiseled at their sides dominated the low river valley they now found themselves entering. A stout stream flowed across a Grand plaza, filled with trees with surprisingly spaced out and neatly swiped dirt travel paths. On second inspection, the stone and wood ziggurats did not go high in the air. Maybe three stories, and soon they found smaller huts. But it was impressive nonetheless. They sometimes crossed under small roadways of vine bridges above them, and disturbingly, there were times when corpses hung by their impaled wrists and naval cavities swayed lightly below some trees, being picked at by the local birds.

It was past the Plaza and over the river on one of the vine bridges when they made it to what looked like a meeting hut. It was circular and made of wood, and upfront there was a guardsmen who seemed to give a disapproving look to the leading tribesmember, before fingers were pointed at Junebug and the others. Immediately they were allowed inside, where they found a few slaughtered beasts strung up, some still bleeding. There was a firepit in the center.

It took Neil just until this moment to think of it. Yes, the settlement of city they had just walked through was not impressive by his standards, but it was impressive for these people. Yet, it looked nearly deserted. He had seen only a few dozen other villagers since they had come here, other than the close to two dozen who led them. He wasn't good with demographics, but he expected there to be thousand or two people here, not a few hundred.

What happened here?
@Penny

[Penny]

The smell of blood, sharper and more coppery than one found in Terran species was heavy in the air. The locals stepped out and pulled the door shut behind them. Sayeeda opened the door but found two unfriendly looking tibesman standing with spears leveled, the gestured decisively.

"I'm getting the impression they want us to stay in the hut," Junebug commented dryly. Behind her Taya let out a low moan. Turning she found the girl hugging herself tightly and eyes brimming with unshed tears. There was an uncomfortable moment as Junebug tried to figure out what she should say.

"They are going to kill us aren't they!" The girl blurted before the former mercenary could summon up the correct formula open the conversation. Junebug laughed a short mirthful laugh, the sound as unexpected to the young woman as breaking into a hymn might have been. Her face immediately began to color with anger but Junebug held up a hand.

"Sorry Taya, I'm not laughing at you. It is just I have been in the game so long that it never occurs to me to assume that people ARENT trying to kill me." The girl managed a wry smile at that.

"It really dosen't make that much sense for them to bring us all this way to kill us," she went on in an attempt to comfort the girl. They locals might want them as slaves or sacrifices of course, but there was no point in bringing that up.

Sayeeda felt fairly ridiculous in her sports bra with an air suit wrapped around her waist like a diver taking a few minutes break but there was no help for it. She reached into the medical bag and drew out the sub maghine gun and the one reload of ammunition the girl had brought. She worked the action and caught the ejecting round she kept in the chamber and slipped it into the base of the clip with a quiet click.

"Beside if push comes to shove I guess I've done worse thing than blowing away a bunch of indiges with bones through their noses." She tucked the weapon beneath the fabric of the airsuit and drew out a pistol which she tossed to Neil. Taya hadn't bought a weapon, which was alien to Sayeeda's sensibilities but was probably the right choice given the girls lack of training. A wizard at the data terminal she might be but a gunman she was not.

"They were speaking Zil, or at least an old version of it, you see it sometimes on old colonies that haven't had much contact, I can make out maybe one word in ..."

The door banged open interupting the conversation and an old twisted man stepped through the door flanked by the two spear armed body guards. No, now that she got a closer look he wasnt that old. His body was covered with scar tissue and he had been twisted by massive injuries. His right eye was completely gone replaced by an ugly fleshy patch.

"Are you with the Starmen?!" he demanded in heavily accented but perfectly understandable common.

@POOHEAD189

[POOHEAD189]

Neil caught the pistol casually, childishly enjoying the effortless catch. He doubted the two guards at the door knew what the pistol was, so he didn't exactly try to hide it. Tucking the firearm in his belt would do. He let Sayeeda handle Taya initially, his nod accompanied Junebug declaring she assumed everyone would try to kill them. "T's how it is, girly." Neil replied, before getting a huge stinking whiff of the animal carcasses.

Despite how much it smelled, he had to admit he was hungry. Hopefully they'd use the firepit and not just toss them bits of meat to eat. He'd need a real drink if that were the case.

"Are you with the Starmen?!"

Whoever the man was, he'd definitely seen better days. Actually, on second thought today must have been a good day. Most of his others looked even rougher than one would expect on this world.
"We uh," Neil began, looking to Junebug. Taya hugged herself in the corner, shivering despite her obvious curiosity on what was happening. The pilot turned back to the man. "We technically are starmen, right?"

He immediately fell to his knees. Not exactly groveling, but giving respect in some primitive fashion. "The Rakeeri have spoken of you." He said breathlessly, nearly in tears. "We...we have offerings!" He said. "Offerings, but first let us eat and speak. It has been since my father's generation many cycles ago. The God of ash has roared thrice since I last saw your star chariots." Neil was slightly taken aback, but he was not about to say no to a free meal. Still...

"I am sorry, who are you?" Neil asked. He was ready to shoot his way out a few moments ago, but he was curious on what this guy was blathering about. That and, what offerings could they give to them? The man drew himself up, and gave a more serious albeit still somewhat daunted look. "Wetumpkah, son of Warheeka." Neil did his best to follow, but with the accent and those names he simply nodded, not knowing if the man was giving a name or if he tried to speak normally. "The shaman of the village, and the interpreter of what the Rakeeri will."

"I see."

"But first, let us feast!"

Neil did his best to absorb the information, but before he knew it, half naked men and women began to stream into the hut and gather up the animals, and soon a fire roared as Neil, Sayeeda, and Taya were given the pick of the best meats available.
@Penny

[Penny]

Early on in her mercenary career, Junebug had learned that it didn’t pay to ask exactly what was in any given dish if you planned on eating it. The table before them was heaped with dishes which ranged from the appealing to the disgusting. Not willing to offend their hosts new found attitude she picked from a few of the less objectionable looking dishes, trying to prioritize protein where she could find it. There were a variety of local beverages ranging from what smelled like rancid and fermented fruit juice to a pale purplish wine. Sipping experimentally at the wine she found it to be more potent than it looked, not unlike some palm wine she had tried in the past.

The table itself was of a polished wood with an almost firey opalesence which was at odds to its crude manufacture. It was lower to the ground than would have been normal in the societies she was used to dealing with but piles of furs were bought for them to longue upon. Sayeeda tried not to think of fleas on her bare skin but there was no reason to imagine that such insects even existed here. Several other natives, all men and all senior looking joined them, their expressions ranging from awestruck to wary.

“How is it that you come to speak… the Language of the Stars?” Junebug asked the scared shaman as she crunched something that might have been a candied insect between her teeth and chewed stoically. As she spoke a gorgeous young woman, naked save for what looked to be carved bone wristcuffs and a grass skirt that could scarcely be considered to preserve her modesty, approached the shaman from behind and draped an odd leather coat over his shoulders. The thing was stained with dyes and piece of vine in a pattern that was oddly reminiscent of military insignia over his shoulders and set what looked to be a human femur, carved into the shape of a wrench on the table before him. Insight blazed for a moment as she realised that these people must be the descendant of a lost colony ship and that the regalia of rank must have derived from that time. Perhaps this man's distant ancestor had been the ship's engineer.

“The Starmen elevated my grandfather's grandfather to the heavens,” the barbaric looking man responded.

“They taught him the secret language before they returned him to us,” the shaman said proudly. It had been passed down through the generations then, as a ritual language like Anglias. Junebug nodded her understanding.

The table stood on the lower step of one of the ziggurats which overlooked the village. As they watched villagers began to assemble on the weed choked stones below. They seemed universally young and healthy and their faces showed a mix of anticipation and fear. Beyond the assembled youths infront of a line of grass huts the older men were gathered, most of them were armed with clubs and spears tipped with bone and sharpened rock.

At some signal Sayeeda could not detect the crowd of youth began to sing an odd keening song. It wasnt exactly unpleasant to the ear but it had the glassy quality of something repeated over and over like a religous mantra.

“Highlander six to Highlander,” Junebug sub vocalized, her throat moving without producing audible sound. There was a momentary hiss of empty carrier wave as her mastoid implant informed her that there was no connection established. Doubtless the hills and valleys here about were enough to block her connection, via a fairly low powered transmitter, back to Lonney.

“Junebug.. Uh that is Captain?” Sayeeda started slightly in surprise but fortunately attention was universally on the singing youths. She cast side eyes at Taya, whos voice had just come across her radio band. The girl still looked nervous and was fidgeting slightly.

“How are you on the net?” she asked silently realising it was a foolish question the moment it came out of her mouth. Taya answered it anyway.

“I have a dental implant that includes radio function Captain,” she replied. The girl was also subvocalizing, which was smart.

“Can it raise the ship?” Junebug asked hopefully, glancing across at Neil. The pilot might not have an implanted radio himself but he could detect the subtle shift in her body language.

“No..uh negative, Its too far without a retransmitter,” Taya replied running her hands over the shimmering table top between unenthusiastic bites of some sort of venison like meat. For a moment Junebug cursed herself for not putting the jeep up on the ridge where its communication gear could act as a relay, but that would hardly be the first thing she would chose to fix if she were given a rewind button for the universe.

“Should we be doing anything, I mean I’m not used to…”

“Negative, sit tight and wait for…” before Sayeeda could subvocalize the word developments, the Shaman stood up and made a chopping motion with the bone wrench. The singing stopped abruptly and for the moment their was the silence of the night, filled with chirping insects and the occasional calling bird. Raising up his hands the Shaman began to speak. The words tumbled past too quickly for Sayeeda to follow with her limited command of the man's tongue, though she caught the words, climb or ascend and chosen. Even unable to follow it was clear it was an oration of some kind, though for what Sayeeda could not imagine. After a few minutes of speech the shaman made a rolling motion with his tool and the young men and women began to file past in slow procession, each one pausing in front of the table to show off his or her physique.

“How many you elevate blessed ones?” the Shaman asked intently, his eyes on Niel.

@POOHEAD189

[POOHEAD189]

Other than a few comically wide eyed looks from Neil, he wasn't too picky with the foods. After all, these people were human as far as he could tell and they had not died yet. Nor did newcomers get infected with diseases from the foods, if this Shaman's testimony was anything to go by. Still, poking what he thought looked like an egg, only for it to pop and open up like a fleshy soft fruit was a bit disconcerting.

"I'm on a diet," he said to the Shaman once he reached past the delicacy to some of the meatier foods, shoveling what cooked meat he could into his mouth. Once he actually got a taste for a few things, he found some of it to his liking. The insect-like appendages even seemed like some well cooked, land-sea food. Or maybe they actually had caught some of these creatures in the ocean. The sea was close enough, after all.

He did his best to smile and show he enjoyed some of it to the Shaman, only for his eyes to catch the voluptuous and very bare beauty that had draped a familiar insignia on his shoulders. He gave a short whistle at that, suddenly a bit ravenous in more ways than one. Stop it, they have spears and this is not the time for you to think with your other head he heard himself say in his mind. Neil blinked and turned away, shoving some more of the browned meat into his mouth as the youths singing below them were suddenly silenced, and he was unceremoniously (ironic?) thrust into the spotlight with juices dripping down his chin.

"How many you elevate, blessed ones?" The Shaman asked Neil as the younger tribes people filed passed. Neil shook his head, letting out a confused "uh," glancing Junebug's way and then back at the Shaman, who gazed at Neil expectantly. The pilot wasn't exactly paying too much attention to the younger men and women that presented themselves before them. He did his best to nod as if considering, chewing idly.

"How about her?" Neil declared, pointing to the gorgeous woman.

"No!" The Shaman cried, waving his hands about and shaking his head. "she too old."

Neil's eyes drank her in. "She looks just the right age to me."

A glance from Sayeeda snapped him back into focus, and he cleared his throat embarrassingly. After a few moments of consideration, Neil pointed to one of the younger men. He seemed to have very little in the way of tattoos, and there were no bone piercings on him that Neil could see. "You, come here." Neil declared, trying to give an air of command. The Shaman reiterated what he said, and the younger tribesman hustled over, fearful and curious.

"Well he definitely needs some pants first, but I do think we need someone to fetch the crew equipment. Someone other than me." His finger on his chin, Neil didn't want to start more trouble than was necessary, so choosing only one was probably for the best. There was a small rumble, and Neil felt it in his stomach. He supposed some of the food really had not agreed with him, and was suddenly acutely aware of the lack of toiletries he'd be privy to.

However, after a moment there was another rumble. This one an echo, yet much larger and more foreboding than the last. The Shaman Wetumpkah's eyes nearly popped out of his head, and the night sky was suddenly lit in the distance as one of the many mountains on the horizon erupted with a fiery wrath. Fortunately it didn't seem to be a big enough eruption to warrant taking cover, but the Shaman's next words froze the crew in their spines.

"The Rakeeri have spoken. As you elevate Naphrit to the stars, we shall gift the world with this one's body."

Neil suddenly felt his arms grabbed by two of the stronger guards, though they did not seem to be ready or willing to hurt him. They seemed thankful, which was scarier in and of itself. Neil wasn't entirely certain what was going on, but if what he thought was happening was happening, that fucking volcano just asked for his soul. "H-Hey whoa, hold on fellas!"
@Penny

[Penny]

Every trooper had his or her own way of dealing with crisis. Some sprayed the problem with fire power, others put their faith in speed. In the end it didn’t really matter what your reaction was so long as it was action. No decision could be worse than no decision. Junebug came to her feet and stretched her arms to the heavens.

“Praise be to Rakeeri ,” she thundered in a clear calm voice, though she felt the adrenaline beginning to thunder in her mind.

“Praise be to Rakeeri ,” she shouted again this time in Zil. A few of the locals echoed the words. Most were too far away have heard the full exchange between *BLANK* and the ‘star men’ but they had heard the volcano rumble and they knew the name of their deity.

“Praise be to Rakeeri ,” she shouted a third time and this time was answered by nearly all the locals in a throaty roar as they took up the cheer. It wasn’t clear to her whether the Shaman really did believe the volcano wanted Neil’s soul or if he was just reacting to a threat to the pretty girl who seemed to be his favorite servant or slave. Instinct and experience told her it was seldom a mistake to think men were thinking with their genitals.

“Tell them that in honor of this occasion they shall all be elevated,” she said to the Shaman, unwilling to risk such a complicated thought in her limited grasp of the local language.

“Tell them that we shall build a monument to Rakeeri and that as reward they shall all be elevated. *Blank* fixed her with a speculative look before turning and addressing the people in a thundering voice that didn’t seem like it could have come from such a ravaged frame. The content of the speech wasn’t exactly clear but judging by the cheering he hadn’t deviated too much from her instruction.

“Hey what about…” Neil began to protest and Taya, getting over her own shock was already on her feet. Sayeeda slapped Neil hard across the face as he eyed his guards.

“Do not question the will of the great God,” she instructed sternly. Taya took a step forward her eyes scared and angry. Junebug made a stand down gesture with her hand and then realized that no one but her was familiar with her field signals.

@POOHEAD189

[POOHEAD189]

Neil felt the slap hard across his face. It was something he was not prepared for, but honestly he had been slapped a few times in his life and he was glad for it. It brought things into perspective, though the two guards beside him seemed somewhat confused at what the woman was doing hitting the man. The Shaman did not seem to understand the altercation on what was happening, though as the crowds praised the Rakeeri, he raised his hands.

"Elevate them all!?" He cried in broken galactic. The Shaman seemed overwhelmed at the offering. "With such kindness, the Gods would be sated tenfold!" Watumpkah remembered the last sacrifice to the Rakeeri with a star man. It had been a prisoner of them, given willingly by the sky chariot captain. But this one...there would be no need for sacrifice if all of the youths would be lifted. The pilot did not seem to be eager either, and so he called for his guards to lower Neil.

For his part, Neil puffed out his chest and shouldered the guards away from him. "I would never insult the great god." He said, doing his best to seem imposing to those around, yet wary at the same time. Maybe some remorseful glances would work, though he wasn't sure if anyone was looking at him as a sacrifice anymore. Was he supposed to be the leader as the male, since the Shaman had picked him out? He didn't necessarily know what to do here, other than don't stare at the voluptuous woman.

Taya seemed skittish, at the edge of running for her life. She was a braver girl than most, but this was a situation she felt might get out of hand very easily, not to mention she was in a strange world out of known space.

"Starmen," the Shaman began, prostrating himself before them. "You honor us all. In ten nights, we shall watch as you elevate our children into the nether. For now, let us feast and sleep. Tomorrow, we will host the games of our people. Blood will flow, and you will have a seat among the elders to please you."
@Penny

[Penny]

Junebug slept. Like all veterans she had the knack of sleeping whenever and wherever no matter how dire the circumstances. Like many veterans though, that sleep was easily disturbed and so when an unfamiliar hand shook her shoulder she was awake and grasping her assailant by the throat before her concious mind had a chance to weigh in on the matter. She felt greasy skin beneath her grip and could feel the catlige of the wind pipe begining to deform beneath her grip. Dimly she was aware of someone calling her name and the sounds summoned her back to the present moment. She was standing in the large hut they had retired to with a terrified woman, perhaps thirty cycles old grasping desperately at her hand. Embarassed and disgusted she let the woman go. The native immediately fell into an attitude of prostration.

"Uhh... you ok Captain?" asked a concerned sounding Neil. She was breathing hard and adrenaline burned through her prickling her skin like insect bites. With studied deliberation she forced herself to calm down.

"Sure... sure, just startled me is all," she muttered before reaching down to help the trembling Indig to her feet.

"Sorry," Sayeeda said as best she could in the womans language, "Sorry sorry." The girl seemed to understand the words but still seemed petrified. Well of course she bloody was she had just been half strangled while trying to wake someone up.

"Name is call you?" Sayeeda tried.

"Kimbala, Starman," the girl said in a quavering voice. She added some more that was unintelligible to Junebug.

"And what are you doing here Kimbala?" Junebug asked glancing around to Taya and Neil for support but finding none.

"I take you to clean," the woman explained reaching out diffidently to grab Sayeeda's hand. She shrugged helplessly to her companions and let herself be lead away.

The woman, Kimbala, took her behind the village to where a series of pools fed by springs bubbled energetically. With slow gestures she communicated that Junebug should get in. Stripping off her clothes she slipped into the water and to her surprise found the water to be hot, just short of scalding. Well of course they were volcano worshipers afterall, it stood to reason they would have volcanic springs. Trying hard not to think of the stories she had heard of springs suddenly sublimating to steam as magma shifted below Junebug submerged herself to the neck. It felt surprisingly good and the slickness of the cryo liquid, unnoticed except for its absence, sluiced away. The Indig girl splashed in behind her and began to rub her with some sort of coarse soap. It was harsh to senses but she allowed it to happen. Next her short hair was washed and methodically combed with a bone brush. It seemed a waste of effort to Sayeeda but it must have been some sort of ritual because the girl kept up a musical liquid chant while she did so.

Once the bathing was completed Junebug was lead from the spring by the gentle but insistent tug of Kimbala's hand. She began to rerobe immediately but the girl stopped her with surprising determination.

"Well I'm not going to bloody well go back naked," Sayeeda muttered in exasperation. In answer the girl produced a long grass skirt bejeweled with some sort of opalescent shell. Refusing to give in completely Junebug pulled on her underwear and bra before donning the thing. Next the girl produced a cloak of sky blue feathers and draped it over Sayeeda's shoulders providing more decency than she had with the airsuit tied around her waist. Finally the girl began to tie leather straps around her foot, continuing at length until they were encircled by intricate but serviceable swathes of the pale brown material.

"Kimbala what is all this for?" she asked bemused. The girl smiled a dazzlingly white smile.

"Games."

@POOHEAD189

[POOHEAD189]

Neil had a similar experience, having been taken by one of the local women to the bathing area. He'd learned his lesson about attempting to seduce anyone, but he did have to admit it was nice getting a good hot bath from a pretty woman. He hadn't felt it, but his body had been quite tight and dirty. He felt himself lose much of the tension he'd gone through the past...over two years apparently. The crack pilot groaned enough that anyone listening-in would have thought he was having a go with her, but that was just him finally relaxing.

Once out of the tub, he didn't bother to hide his naked body from anyone. The servant simply handed him an odd thong looking thing, and he snorted and shook his head.

"Nothing is going to ride up my ass." He said, and put his boxers on even though there was an insistence for him not to. However, he did accept the odd bone and obsidian necklace, as well as another one made of sea shells. His upper body was bare, and the wet along with the wind gave his hair a wavy quality to it. Once the tribe woman gave him two bracelets he swore were made of gold, he was escorted to the great plaza where the ziggurat, upon closer inspection, was made level by level with spaces small enough to sit. It dawned on him how clever the entire structure was for it to be made for observing games as well as a dwelling space.

He was shown to his stone seat, which was located near the very top center of the ziggurat next to a somewhat similarly clad Sayeeda and Taya, along with Wetumpkah and what looked to be like a few of the elders.

"Think they'll have drinks?" He quipped once he sat down with the other two. Taya seemed to be wearing less than Sayeeda, not having the stomach to quite refuse her servant their request. Neil made sure to only look at her face, if he ever even turned toward her at all. She did seemed to look a bit less scared today, and as the horns blared to announce the beginning of the day, she even seemed cautiously elated at what was to happen next.

Wetumpkah began to speak in his native tongue to the crowd below. A group of about twenty strong and fit young men stood in a column together, gazing up at Junebug, Neil, Taya, and Wetumpkah as he addressed them. Sayeeda would hear him announce that they perform well for their Starmen guests, and even Neil could somewhat tell what he was saying by the way he gestured towards them. The sun was hot as the field turned into a competition.

The first game was a game called Totoloque, where a player would throw five solid gold balls across the plaza into a pure gold ring. The precious metal glinted off the sun as it was tossed, and Neil shook his head when a few of the balls would get thrown wide and lost among the throng of trees. Such wealth could pay for the drinks of the crew for months, or help repair their ship. The third contender managed to get four out of five into the hole, making him the victor at the end. He was then rewarded with what Wetumpkah said was merely a ceremonial trinket, but it was a diamond the size of Neil's fist. The 5 in last place were unceremoniously held down and publicly beheaded, causing Neil to cringe a bit.

"Jeez..." he breathed, his days as a thief making his fingers wiggle in anticipation. But he was just fidgeting. He wasn't planning on committing any sort of crimes here. Not until the ship was fixed at least.

Once the balls and circle were taken off the field, what was next looked like a chakram throwing contest. Wetumpkah turned to Sayeeda and Neil, asking them if they were enjoying themselves.

"What is the prize for whoever wins this one?" Neil asked, hoping Junebug would translate.
@Penny

[Penny]

Junebug watched the sport intently, making certain to keep a bemused smile on her face despite the barbarity. You could never tell what sort of savagery Indigs would go in for but the casual violence and death didn't bode well for the three travelers remaining long term. She needed to get some men and get back to the Highlander so they could get started on the construction of the dam, being out of contact with the ship this long was already beginning to make her nervous. They needed to get some sort of radio relay, perhaps the gun jeep itself and...

It took a moment for her to realize that Neil was speaking to her. Hastily she exchanged a few words with Wetumpkah who in turn turned to his attractive... slave? Assistant? Acolyte and babbled at her. The girl rushed of swaying her hips distractingly. Sayeeda watched her go with a frown and caught Wetumpkah cast a suspicious glance at Neil. A moment later she returned with an odd item of silvery metal. To her shock it had the same strange octoganal construction as the Ancient bunker and other ancient devices they had seen when rescuing/abducting Drake. The girl lay it before Neil all but batting her eyes at the pilot. This time Sayeeda definitely heard the shaman growl in quiet anger.

"Is that an Ancient artifact?" Taya piped up drawn from her frighted stupor by the presence of such an oddity. Junebug conferred in broken Zil with Wetumpkah, he was easier to talk to than the other natives by an order of magnitude due to his limited proficiency in Imperial.

"He says that it has been passed down for many generations, that it once bestrode the sky as a mighty hunter." As she spoke a cheer went up as one of the thrower bulls-eyed the target. A sudden hush drew her attention as a group of perhaps fifty men emerged from the treeline. They made no effort to conceal themselves but their tatoos differed significantly from what Sayeeda had come to think of as 'the locals'.

"The Itzucannu," Wetumpkah explained between dark glances at Neil, "We sent word to the tribes living far far that starman come to our village, they want to make honor."

"I see," Sayeeda said, keeping her tone happy but inwardly wondering how many such groups of armed tribesmen were currently making their way towards the field of low Zigurats.

@POOHEAD189