Desert Landing (PM for Interest: Fringe)

[Livia Maddox]

[member="Manu Xextos"] | [member="Erryn Xextos"] | Anyone Who Wants In On Colonizing A Barren Desert World, PM Please.

"Captain Maddox, Sabarene orbit is achieved." Lieutenant Grant saluted and shoved a data pad at the svelte young blonde in the Captain's chair.

"Really, Grant are you sure? I'm terribly confused, you see." The Lieutenant stuttered and held the pad out for Captain Maddox to take, faltered. "Terribly, terribly confused as to why you would make the mention of what I can clearly see outside the viewport. Be off with you. Tut tut."

The Lieutenant hopped off with a crisp salute, rushing red-faced back to his station. The strict Captain exhaled sharply through her nose as another officer came up to her vantage point by the Vi'Nu's massive bridge's viewport. "Little harsh on the kid, Captain."

"Commander Dasha I do not have the time to make my minor officers comfortable with mind-bendingly boring redundancies. If Grant is to become a higher officer, he must learn what pieces of intelligent news to bring to my attention, and which ones to vet himself. We're in orbit. Thank you. I must be blind. Prep the passengers for departure in the Hangar Bay. Open all Hangar Bay doors and coordinate with the Brynjar, Pra'Kara, Sri'Usha, Seer, and Ech'atar to bring the first stages down to the surface below. Deploy the probe droid and our Engineering Squad. Drop the pre-fab cargo containers in escort with the engineer's shuttle."

"Yes, Ma'am. I took the liberty of triangulating the source of the 3rd Hemisphere's underground water flow. The Lochan's Drill Team is en-route already."

"See, Commander? I don't need to tell you to stop feeding me redundant information. You may go oversee the launches personally." The Commander stood at attention, and the severe faced captain raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"May I oversee it from the ground, Ma'am?"

"It's a desert, Commander. Not Zeltros. There's enough work to be done on board to keep a major multitasking Commander occupied."

"It's home."

 

[Manu Xextos]

Sv'Yato Fleet Flagship Brynjar - Bridge

A figure clad in white was a familiar presence on the Brynjar's bridge. Fleet Admiral Manu Xextos stood with his hands folded behind his back as he watched the desert world beneath. Devoid of nearly all life, Sabarene had been the home of battles and genocides, a world fought over by odd collections of Force Users, inconstant hounds and the harbingers of refugees. A perfect place, then, to set his Fleet's berth. Sabarene would become the home for the civilians who entrusted Xextos with their lives, it would be a place of peace, wonder and readiness to defend the Fringe Confederacy which took them in and gave them a home. A key defensive point in the overarching protection of the Fringe's flank, Sabarene was a waypoint for the fleet and for the defence of the Fringe's cloning world and major ship yards.

And Manu Xextos would defend it with the lives and souls of every soldier he commanded. As he looked down on the drop ships and shuttles beginning to make their way toward the surface, he felt a stroke of the harrowing pride his crews were pushing from their bellies. They'd made it. Crossing Crusade and Protectorate space in tiny bunches, hiding from sensor nets and running across the galaxy's spine, they had finally made a safe haven. In moments like these, the Empathic Master allowed himself the luxury of letting down his considerable mental barriers and he could taste the exhilaration and bliss of the settlers and their naval kin. The planet would be taken by engineers and terraformers to make hospitable the areas they habituated, he'd leave room on those travel lanes where the few nomadic locals that weren't killed or otherwise destroyed kept their huts in all seasons.

Now Manu Xextos began to send his consciousness toward the planet itself. He would find it - that one perfect place to commune with the Force. He would find it, but not today. Today was about the movement of people who were hungry for a square foot they could call home.

"Admiral Xextos, Sir. We've received communications from the Vi'Nu. Captain Maddox sends her regards and has begun the deployment of the first wave to the surface." The Lieutenant stood at attention, his silver hair cast behind his back in a single tail. Manu put his hand on the young man's shoulder, and gave him a genuine smile.

"Glad to hear it. Send back my regards and tell Captain Maddox to relax. Follow our protocols and start sending down the rest of our supplies as the landing parties are organized. Tell Captain Maddox she may send whomever she wishes to coordinate the parties on landing. I trust her judgement on this. As for myself, I and my wife will be landing as soon as we won't be in the way. Lieutenant, go get me Commander Ashra. Hop to it. Thanks." He saluted back at the Lieutenant as the young man ran to find the Commander. Manu couldn't help but laugh at the face [member="Livia Maddox"] would most likely make at having been ordered to relax.

It was worth it.

A middle aged Echani woman snapped to attention and bowed for Manu, he waved her off and nodded to her to walk with him as he patrolled the sizeable bridge. "Ashra, how much of our water stores are needed for the Brynjar's operations?"

"Are you concerned, Sir, at what the Drill Teams will find?"

"They're not going to drill fast enough for the amount of people clambering to get to the surface. How much can we send down?"

"Conservatively, 10%. Recklessly? 15%. I advise sending the Vadra, Minos, Chandaar Queen and Ipnu on an asteroid mining run. The Chandaar Queen sensors pegged water stores in a few not far from here."

"Do it. Send them and grab as much as they can and get back quick. I want to send as many of our civilians to the surface as I possibly can. Go."

"Yessir."

As she left, Manu continued to pace the Bridge.

 

[Livia Maddox]

"Relax!? Fleet Admiral Xextos orders me to relax!? Me! Captain of my own ship and I'm being ordered to relax!? Ah!" Captain Maddox slapped the arm of her chair, grunting through her teeth. Relax. She'd show that loose-commanding Echani the meaning of being a proper officer. It wasn't all smiles and affirmations, there was real discipline to be done! "See if he's smiling when half the drop pods on the Lochan tumble down at once. Relax. Bah! I'd rather one of us be organized."

"Something on your mind, Captain?" Commander Dasha bit the inside of his cheek and pushed his thumbnail into the soft flesh of his palm. Anything to keep from bursting out laughing. The KP wasn't worth it. Her eyes tore at the air between them, she slapped the data pad against the side of her Captain's chair and grimaced. "Yes. Who I'm going to choose to be your replacement while you're down playing in your sandbox."

"You mean..."

"Yes, you can go to the surface. But if I find out you're lollygagging down there so help me I will whip you back to the Vi'Nu faster than your mum tugged your ear as a child." Eyes narrow, the stern Naboo shut her jaw tight. Commander Dasha grinned and snapped an impressive salute.

"Roger that, Ma'am! I'll call Commander Marron, if you're amicable to the pairing."

"Might as well. I could use another back-straight etiquette bound female on my bridge."

"Thank you, Captain." The Commander rushed off the Bridge, barking orders into his comm unit as he went to prepare for the surface.

"Off with you!" Captain Maddox shook her head and whispered under her breath, "Watch it Maddox, you're growing soft."

She tapped at her personal holoscreen and saw the ship movement as shuttles, drop pods and the smaller light cruisers made for the Sabarene surface. A few of the larger ships broke off from the fleet and made toward an asteroid belt, the Captain of the Vi'Nu tapped at the image and called up their mission parameters. "Water, eh? How desolate is that rock? Science! What are the readings on the oceans and tundra below?"

A Rodian glanced up from his sensor console and down again to tap at keys. "Sending them to you now, Captain."

"Thank you." She said as the constitution of the planet came up on the holo screen. "Hmm. . . we'll never move all 130,000 down at that rate. Terraforming the water supply to something worth drinking and growing crops with will take years. Decades. . . Science, what's our current water store on board?"

The Rodian once again ducked down to his panels and consoles, and the holoscreen fluctuated to show the planetary information and the Vi'Nu's side by side. "Damn. Science, correlate this data with the data from the Fleet central database. Cross reference that with the drill team's findings and give me a realistic number of settlers we can support on the surface as-is."

"Yes Ma'am." The Rodian went to work, and Captain Maddox sat back in her chair, banishing the holo-projected image. Finger on her lips, she frowned. What was Xextos thinking? What was the settlement rush? A chinking sound disturbed her reverie, as an ebony skinned woman came to a crisp salute in front of Maddox's chair. "Marron, update me on the Away Teams."

"Captain, the Drill Team has landed on the surface and is in place for the first drilling. The second and third engineering units and droid drop ship made surface ten minutes ago and are unloading their cargo and personnel now. The pre-fabrication shuttles are still en route. They should hit the surface in fifteen standard minutes. Once their first shipment is unloaded, the engineering teams should have dwelling patterns established within two standard days."

"Refresh my memory, how many dwellings is that?"

"Twenty six per day. Each dwelling can hold four dozen settlers, dormitory style."

"That's only an average of 900 settlers per day. . . Commander we had a doctor and his staff on board in our civilian contingent yes? Yes, of course we do. Call him up to the front of the next passenger transport. Call it a hunch, but I have a feeling they're going to need a medical presence down there. Give them an assignment to scan the landscape for biological contaminants, anything to keep them busy but down on the surface. Prep four skids of our dehydrated emergency food supply and send it down with them. You can send Commander Dasha down on the same transport. Go do it. And advise the Pra'Kara to do likewise. Oh, and see if there are any engineering volunteers who could head to the surface and hurry the process up a bit. I want forty houses per day as a minimum."

"Yes, Ma'am." Commander Marron saluted and left the Captain to her devices and her thoughts. If they didn't get enough supplies and logistics down there before the refugees started arriving, Sabarene would not be a peaceful place.

 

[Manu Xextos]

A flicker wafted in the general excitement of his fleet: one of his usually steady officers was perturbed and the Admiral didn't have far to stretch his empathic talents to find the culprit. "Huh, would you believe it? She's figured it out." He said to the air at large, glancing down to check the Bridge. "Commander Ashra, report."

"Operations is moving twelve percent of our water stores to cargo containers now, Sir. The Vadra, Minos, Chandaar Queen and Ipnu have moved off from the main fleet and made for the asteroid belt. They should arrive at their destination in a matter of three, four hours. I have a personal guarantee from the Captain of the Ipnu that they'll find water within a standard day cycle."

"Yeah, that'd be dandy. I'm feeling a little parched. We're all going to be feeling it, soon. Ashra, put the Brynjar crew on half-rations for water, starting with the Officers and working your way down. We've got the heftiest crew, it'll mean more if we conserve what we can, and bump that water donation to 17% of our total stores. When's the biodome going down?"

The Commander checked her data pad and stood at attention, "Shipments five, six and seven, Sir."

Manu nodded and craned his neck back and forth till it popped. "Ready my Yacht, I want to go down there sooner than later. Coordinate with Captain Maddox on the Vi'Nu, she can handle the logistics up here. Oh, and send a message to my wife to meet me at the Yacht."

"Yessir."

"Comm, open a channel to the Vi'Nu." Manu stood on the holo-projector pad and waited for the image of Captain [member="Livia Maddox"] to shimmer on his holo-screen. "Captain Maddox, don't get up on my account. I see you're handling the logistics well. I'm routing all vessels through your command for the remainder of the settlement colonization. Coordinate with me directly on the surface, understood?"

 

[Livia Maddox]

The call came through and Captain Maddox put her hands on her arm rests to stand, but as always with the Master Empath he called her to stay where she was. Did it bother her? Not that she let on. Or, more rightly not that she let anyone see the difference. Leaning back in her chair, the Captain of the Vi'Nu listened to her orders and waited for the Admiral's words to end. "Understood, Sir. May I say thank you for your faith in my crew's abilities to handle the necessary discipline of the space lanes? I do have one question, Admiral Xextos. When were you going to tell your Captains we're running out of food and water? The colonists aren't going to make it more than four months with the provisions I've calculated, given that the planet's surface is all but barren."

Leaning forward, she called up her holoscreen's science notes and pointed to the polar ice caps. "I've sent a team down to drill the ice caps, but the going will be slow. I suggest we call in outside help. There's a mining company with its' headquarters on Atrisia. Do I have your permission to call in their services, or is our money running as low as our food?"

The Captain kept her voice low and to the comm link, watching the ever shifting expression on the Admiral's congenial face. The entire mission had been a Hail Padme since [member="Manu Xextos"] woke up and made for the Army of Light. Had it always been such a way for the timeless wanderer, to play sabaac with the stomachs of his charges? Surely he'd have better plans then all that. Watching his jaw settle, Maddox wondered if she'd pushed too far, but with a slow exhale the Admiral looked reasonably refreshed. Commander Marron came to her and slid a data pad. The Captain glanced at it and tapped at the screen.

"Loads three and four are offloaded, the cargo ships are heading back up to the Brynjar and Pra'Kara as we speak. What are your plans down there, Admiral? How will we move 130,000 people to a city that currently doesn't exist?"

 

[Manu Xextos]

"What, and send half the population into a panic? That's a secret you and I can bear the brunt of. At least until I can get ahold of the Fringe Confederation's High Council. They're bound to send aide when they're fully briefed. Keep it under your efficient hat, Fury." He smirked at the young Naboo who had followed his command through so many things since he woke in this time. Standing back, he considered her words. Having one major resource flowing would settle a lot of the dis-ease the population could suffer and the Captain knew it. Dealing with scarce food was all together possible if they had the water to spring around liberally enough. Anything to get the biodome functioning as quickly as possible.

"Call in the mining team, but keep it on the down low. Oh, and the first colonists I want down here are the Nelvaani Hunters and Scouts. They can land here then coordinate via speeder runs to the tundra until they find a piece they like. They'll be our first responders in the search for water up there." About to end the transmission, the Master turned back to the young Naboo Captain and leaned forward in the holo-projector lens.

"A little more faith in the abilities of a certain Admiral and Jedi Master would be the first step to solving that supply and timeline conundrum, Captain Maddox." Manu cracked his knuckles then waved his fingers back and forth, as flickers of light dashed between them. "And that time you're going to buy me is also going to make up for a bit. The people have been gracious so far, and although I know it's a different story when home is so near, if there are any issues with the civilians you will deal with them graciously, understood Captain?"

He waited for the message to sink in, then dispensed with the pleasantries and headed to his yacht.

On Sabarene

The engineering teams were bustling like sentients possessed to open the cargo canisters and begin the process of setting up their new home base. When the Admiral's Yacht arrived, the bustle came to a stand-still. Manu stood at the edge of the vastly barren desert world and felt the warm sandy wind hit his face.

They'd be glad of the shelters facing away from the wind. "This. . . this is a good place." The Admiral and Master said. The crews relaxed and Manu rolled up his sleeves, tossing his cloak into the yacht. "Start marking out where you want these construction containers to go, then stand back."

"Yes, Admiral Xextos."

"Down here? Just call me Manu." He watched some heads turn, wondering how many of those heads were from the Vi'Nu, then it seemed as if Manu was watching nothing at all: a construction container jiggled, creaked and the bolts holding it together fell away to reveal all the relevant pieces of a pre-fabricated dwelling. Manu's eyes closed completely and his hand outstretched. Slowly the dwelling's individual walls and pieces began to shudder into place on the crosshatch of an engineer's bedrock-revealed setting. The Master breathed deeply of the arid air, letting it fill into his lungs as he held the pieces steady. Commander Dasha of the Vi'Nu began barking orders for his engineering team to confirm bolt-lock on every single suture.

Soon, Manu was able to let the pieces go. The house settled, and Manu opened his eyes. "Right, a few hundred more to go. Commander Dasha, with me. Commander Allard, take Engineering teams one, two and four and start on the next row. Lieutenant Commander Pru, coordinate a landing site with the drill team. Let me know when they hit water, got that?"

"Yessir!"

"Great! Let's get to work."

 

[Livia Maddox]

"So there is a danger. Very well, Sir. I'll send for the Engineer and her Mining crew. The Nelvaani are aboard the Brynjar, they'll be sent down after the next equipment batches. In the next batch, I've sent some skids of emergency provisions. Dehydrated foodstuffs, protein packs and the like. Oh, a personal matter Sir. Don't let Commander Dasha have too much fun on the surface. I don't want to be hearing of his sandcastles for the next standard month."

Maddox's cheeks flushed with the sting of [member="Manu Xextos"]'s rebuke. Her lips pursed and she nodded in affirmation. "Gentle as the hand that feeds, Sir." The transmission ended, the Vi'Nu's Captain snapped her fingers and Commander Marron was by her side.

"Continue coordination efforts with the remaining ships, get the first Nelvaani settlers to the surface as quick as they can. Use the Admiral's Templar-Class Yachts if you have to but get them there. Their natural talents will go a long way to resolving the tundra. Oh, and wake up C-Crew. I know it's their night cycle, but get them up, get them supplied and get them down to the surface. I want Lieutenant Fridley and her maintenance crews working alongside the droids and other engineers."

"Yes Ma'am." Marron saluted and left the Captain to her devices. She poked at her lips with her fingers, before chiming her Communications officer. "Lieutenant Naule, open a direct channel to the Captains of the Brynjar, Pra'Kara, Lochan, Indra, Kavi Raste, Divya, Sri'Usha and the Yash."

"Communication link opened. Captains are responding now." The Lieutenant brought the individual captains up on Captain Maddox's holoscreens and as each flickered on the different faces of the Captains glanced at her with what she thought of was a mixture of hatred, honour-bound affiliation and quiet distain.

"This is Captain Fury Maddox of the Vi'Nu, I have been given logistical control of the fleet while Fleet Admiral Xextos surfaces to help the construction teams. Sirs and Ma'ams, we have a predicament. All settler and engineering offloading will concentrate on the Sri'Usha from this point onward until its entire contingent of civilians, machinery and supplies is down on the surface below."

The Captain of the Pra'Kara went to speak, Captain Maddox raised her hand.

"Captain Maddox has been given the authority." Said Commander Asha of the Brynjar.

"Simply put, once the Sri'Usha, Yash and Kavi Raste are unloaded, I'm sending you off on a supply run. Go to the Fringe Confederation, ask for High Councillor [member="Lucianus Adair"] or [member="Sargon Vynea"], then patch through to Admiral Xextos. You will not return to Sabarene until your cargo holds are stuffed with seed, livestock, food stuffs, medicines and fuel for the settlement."

"What do you mean will not return?"

"I mean if there's a derelict along the way that scans negative for the Gulag Virus and doesn't have a crew of zombies on board you will crack it open and take the marrow inside. I mean you will be filling your ship's holds with cargo for Sabarene and however you make that happen will depend on how polite you are to the High Councillor, and how happy we can make the Fleet's children look when they get an apple in their gift baskets. Discontinue all shipments to the surface until the Sri'Usha's cargo holds and civilian contingents are knee deep in sand, Captains. Captain Dureesh, the Lochan holds the most drop ships and cargo capacity, begin the process now. The Admiral is already on the surface and I can guarantee you he'll be overjoyed. Do you have any further questions?"

"I have one." Commander Asha said, hands folded across her chest. "What do you expect them to barter if it comes to that?"

"We are a naval fleet. Barter your services, your engineers, your operations officers, your marines for a week whatever you have to do, I give you leave to do it. I do not, however, give you leave to return without those supplies. Get going."

With an abrupt stroke of her hand, Captain Fury banished the transmission. She straightened her uniform jacket and rubbed her forehead. "Sensors, keep me linked to fleet movement, planetary infra red and send the Pra'Kara to patrol the system on the off chance someone's taking a sneaky look. Send the Nelva and the Tyr as escort. Release a squadron of droid fighters to accompany them, chafe out any unwanted chatter from our space."

"Yes Ma'am."

Maybe Dasha and the Admiral were right. Maybe Maddox did need to lighten up. She banished the thoughts, but they crept back in as she stared at the holoscreens and their constant scans.

 

[Manu Xextos]

Sabarene Surface

The scanning crew had found a massive crescent shaped cliff burnt into the craggy and rocky ground. Manu Xextos found himself sitting cross-legged on the sand, hands raised toward his shoulders deep in meditation. The history of the area began to tell on him, a residue here, a scorch mark there. What had Varanin said? This was the place of a battle? One where most of the sentients had been wiped out? He felt out for their signatures, their presence in the Force to see if they rested disquietously in the space - but no avail.

The ground was clear. Rising up, he stepped to the ground and walked forward, his body beginning to luminesce as he infilled himself with the Light and with the heat of the three-sunned world. Raising both hands to the wall of the cliff, he felt downward until a stroke of rock plateaued at an odd angle at the bottom of the cliff faces. "There." He had an Ensign hold up a level, to give him a focal point as he outstretched his gifts to alter the environment and telekinetically change the landscape. The Plateau of rock shook itself slowly from the frothing layer of fine sand, until it was level. The Plateau was large enough to land a 500 m ship, and oh how it would be used. As the sand and bedrock settled, the engineers double-checked that the plateau was stable and Manu let go. As the feeling drained away, he opened his eyes.

The striking sunlight hit his face and shone around him. This would become a lively, contented place. "Abha. We'll name her Abha, for radiant light." The city had a name. As the landing crew chattered to each other, the name began to grow in whispers, until even the next transmission from their orbiting fleet began to send the drop ships and cargo containers to Abha. Manu began to repeat the process of levelling parts of the ground farther away from the drill team at its' core: a future space port would be born from the settlers' landing docks. As the supplies and peoples began to come down, Commander Dasha organized them all from a staging point beside the Drill Team. Manu looked back up to the sky and wondered how many people Maddox was ticking off to get work done so quickly.

He almost didn't want to know.

 

[Livia Maddox]

The Vi'Nu - Sabarene Orbit
15 Standard Hours Later...

The Fury put both hands on the armrests of her command chair and pushed until she felt a series of pops and stretches in her arms and chest. Stifling the yawn in her throat was harder than she expected, but the Captain would not leave her chair. A-Crew had been replaced with B-Crew, the first crew off to its night cycle of recuperation and rest. But, when Commander Marron usually came to Command Chair during B-Crew, seconded by Commander Dasha, Maddox sent Marron off to bed. What could be said? Fury trusted her tired judgement over the tired judgement of her third in Command. Long hours were part of her training and game, she could handle it.

Maybe if her eyelids weren't so heavy. A cough took Maddox's attention. She glanced up and saw little Lieutenant Grand holding a steaming mug and plate. "Captain, ah, Ma'am. I ah, got you ah, got you some stim caf and a . . a sandwich. Cookie sent them up."

"Thank you, Grant. This is the info I love to receive. Have you slept, yet?" Taking the plate and mug, Fury sipped the scalding stim-caf, until her eyes watered. The caffeine would do her well.

"Yes, Ma'am. I was relieved at 0100. But I woke up early and came back up."

"When does your shift start?"

"0800, Ma'am. But Lieutenant Fridley's down at the surface and she asked if I could cover her Bridge Deck shift."

Maddox nodded and motioned for the boy to sit down at the next command station over. "Have you eaten?"

"No Ma'am." Fury handed over half her sandwich. "This is an order. Don't tell Cookie."

"Thank you, Ma'am. Ah.. Ma'am? How's the . . the colonization process going?"

"The Sri'Usha finished unloading four hours ago, they're off escorted by the Yash and the Kavi Raste. The Pra'Kara is still on patrol and the first wave of droid fighters haven't seen a single sentient ship or out of place asteroid. The unloading efforts are focusing on the Brynjar and us, at the moment. I'm about to send the Lochan crew to half-time. They've been working the hardest. What you can do for me, is check in on the surface. Comm down to Dasha, see how he's holding up. How's the sandwich?" Try as she might, Fury couldn't defeat the smirk crawling up her face. Grant looked ridiculous with half his mouth full of masticated food bulging from his cheek.

"Rrlllygood. Roasted bantha. . an'smthinn spicy?"

Maddox took a bite, chewed and swallowed. "That would be my personal supply of horseradish. Adds kick to most dishes. Very well, finish your sandwich and get to work. Let me know the instant the Drill Team has a water flow."

"Yesmm'" Grant sat and ate at the command console, rubbed his hands on his trousers and walked off to his station. Maddox was too tired to tell him off about the non-correlation between napkins and uniforms. "Comm, get me the Lochan."

The chime and sudden activation of a side holo screen brought the Second Officer of the Lochan to her view. "Lieutenant Commander, where's your Captain?"

"Captain Maddox, are you still awake?"

"Does it look like I'm sleeping, Lieutenant Commander?"

". . . Captain Droosh went to sleep hours ago. I'm in command till 0800."

"How many more trips do you think you can make before your crew starts making mistakes?"

"We switched to droid pilots an hour ago. Sergeant Cradd nearly lost a finger shoving containers and I called it in."

Maddox nodded and took in a deep breath. "Keep me posted. Maddox out."

Leaning her elbow on her command chair, Fury propped her chin in her palm. Sabarene. . . the city of Abha had to be worth it.

 

[Manu Xextos]

On Sabarene

Night should have fallen on Sabarene's newest construction project, but the triple suns were less docile in their watch over the desert world. For the sake of his construction crews, he was glad of the lingering daylight. Nothing slowed a humanoid quite like the descent into dusky night, and at least they could trick themselves to believing they hand't all been at this for twenty-four hours straight.

"How many dwellings do we have up and running?"

"Water & generator power still isn't hooked in, but there's thirty dwellings built. Solar panels go up on the roofs once they come down from the Vi'Nu."

"Yeah, why didn't we get the solar panels hours ago?"

"Captain Maddox sent the Sri'Usha, Yash and Kavi Raste on a supply run. Their cargo had to be offloaded first, Sir." Commander Dasha stretched both arms over his head then thought better of it, taking a sniff and plastering his arms at his side. Water. A shower. Could there be more luxury? The Master only laughed, shaking his head.

"She did, eh? Okay, that makes sense. What're the civilians up to?"

"The Nelvaani and a squad of House Najwa left to explore the Tundra plains up North. I left a comm officer with House Najwa to coordinate with the Mining Company once they get here. Irrigation is fitting the system of pipes and spigots together by the Biodome Crescent, but the water we've got now is being soaked up by our thirsty crews. The droids are still constructing at a significant rate, and we've got the baselines for the road network etched into the sand. Our markers keep being blown over by sand. The House Najwa and Xextos folk that've made it down here already split themselves into foragers, canteen running, odd jobs and construction. We've got the kids helping unload seed packs into the biodome. It'll be another day or three before the panels are complete, but the exoskeleton is all but up. Permission to send alpha, beta and gamma teams to get some sleep?"

"Give them four hours, then I want them up and working. We've got too many civilians down here right now to get complacent and ask around to the adolescents. Any of the teens who want to work, or help out, give them a job. You're doing solid work, Commander. I can see the good Fury is rubbing off on you."

Dasha rubbed his eyes and gave a thumbs up. "She's a good Captain, if she'd let herself see it. Think we'll ever get her down to the surface?"

"Hey, these things take time. Once the roads are level, let's think about it then. For now let her have her logistic domination. Let her feel useful."

"I get that, Admiral but ever since she.." Dasha was quieted as Manu raised his hand.

"Healing takes time. She'll get there, although I've done what I can for her it might require the touch of a personal friend."

"What do you mean, Sir?"

"There's a Master in the Levantine Sanctum. [member="Ilias Nytrau"]. When it comes to healing the head, heart and body he's the best I know. Was going to call him once Abha is running, I have plans he might just like." Manu cast his eyes to the far-off ocean on the other side of the world, there was a feeling in his gut that by the ocean he would find respite. Rest. Maybe then he could convince Fury to take him up on the offer of easing her mind of its' sins.

A shout came from the Drill Team. First one, then another as splashes of water surged from underground. Manu ran to the site and laughed. "We got it! We got water!"

The entire area erupted in celebration even tired and listless bodies could bask in. Dasha threw himself down in the collecting mud, feeling the cool, crisp water on his face. They'd done it. They'd gotten to the water table. Women and other civilians started filling every vessel they had with the liquid, as a science team began to test it for particulates and mineral content. And Manu knew precisely what was to be done.

The drill equipment shook and spewed from the ground, all pieces but those integral to the pumping process were thrown neatly to the side. Stroke by stroke, Manu began to manipulate the ground, sand and rock until a fountain formed of crude slabs and a pool formed as the sand was pulled away. The pool ran clear, and as the last bits of Manu's telekinetic efforts pushed rocks into place, the scientist came back from her scan.

"It's consumable. Higher in calcium than I'd like, but we can drink it. We did it."

Manu's laughter rang for miles.