The trek back to the main section of the complex somehow manages to be more quiet even than the trip to the rendezvous point had been. No one talked at all until they'd gotten inside and locked the doors behind them, and, even then, their sole sources of conversation were practical: muttered conversations about weapons stockpiles, ammunition counts, and strategies.

Jesus - having returned to his scientific research after they'd radioed to let him know of the crash - was waiting for their return, the slightly-off expression on his synthetic face grave. He didn't speak beyond contributing facts and figures to the conversation, and Rick was glad. The last thing he needed was to deal with another Blake situation on top of everything else.

Dixon took charge smoothly as soon as they returned, sending Rosita and Merle to pull out the munitions they still had, somehow convincing Shane to help, manoeuvring Gregory into the medbay with Jesus, and ensuring that Rick and Judith were as protected from it all as possible. Rick was glad for it; his heart was still racing from everything that had happened and he couldn't focus well enough to be of any use. Instead, he watched with Judith on his lap as weapons piled up onto the table, overtaking the flat surface.

Eventually, Dixon's voice broke out into the room as all motion fell still. "That all o' it?" Someone muttered out a positive answer, and he nodded. "A'ight." He looked over the small arsenal, frowning both in concentration and in unhappiness as he said, "Four pulse rifles with 50 rounds each… that ain't good. Fifteen M40 grenades…" Judith reached over, fiddling with the small canister of metal and Rick winced, opening his mouth to say something, anything, to get her to just put it down… but Dixon was already reaching for it, gently pulling the grenade from her hand with a small smile and a muttered, "Nah, asskicker. 'S dangerous."

Rick looked over the weapons on the table, attention split between watching Judith and assessing their military might (which wasn't very mighty). "That the only flamethrower we've got?"

Dixon nodded. "Yeah. Half-full, but it'll work. Th' others are damaged." Judith kept fiddling with the items splayed out across the table, plucking Dixon's helmet from the top of one of the piles and slipping it onto her head. "Ain't all bad news, though… We've got four auto-turrets over 'ere, intact we can use."

Rick nodded, reeling slightly at how they had plunged in capability from Merle's list of weaponry (so impressive and lengthy on the way to the planet) to getting by (barely a gun for everyone now that they were actually on the planet) solely through Gregory's mismanagement… But he merely asked, "How long after we're declared overdue can we expect a rescue?"

Dixon and Rosita shared a look before he said, "Seventeen days." The words are loud in the hush of the room, and Rick feels his heart stop for a second as the number registers.

That hush is dispelled, however, as Merle starts to speak, a thin edge of fear hidden behind his gruff tone. "Seventeen days?" Hey, baby brother, I don't wanna rain on this little parade you're running here, but we ain't gonna last seventeen hours." He chuckled. "They're gonna come in here and wipe us all out! What are we? Three soldiers and their unconscious lieutenant, a damn synth, a company man, a civilian, and a damn child! They're gonna come-"

Rick could see the beginnings of various emotions - anger, frustration, and fear most prominently - brewing on the others' faces. He couldn't let this continue, so he shouted, "Merle!"

"-And they'll sweep the place like they did before, and they're gonna-"

The other man still ignored him, so Rick surged forward, bypassing the pipes and delivering a punch hard enough to knock them both into the table behind Merle. "Look here, Merle… Things are different now. Right now, panic is not an option; there's us and there's them. Now, this little girl survived longer than that with no weapons and no training." He paused, then looked down at Judith, who still wore Dixon's helmet. "Right?" She nodded, then turned to Merle and saluted.

He was less than impressed. "Then why don't we put her in charge?" He paused, then shook his head. "Or, better yet, someone else. I vote: me! Anybody else?"

Rick interrupted before he could continue further. "You better just start dealing with it, Merle." He sighed as Merle seemed to vaguely listen - relaxing slightly from a tense fighting position Rick hadn't even noticed Merle had adopted - before continuing. "Listen to me…" He trailed off again before selecting for brusque but true rather than tact. "Deal with it, Merle, because we need you and I'm sick of hearing about it. The way we survive this is we pull together, not apart. Now, I want you to get on a terminal and pull up some kind of floor plan file… do you understand? Construction blueprints, I don't care, anything that shows the layout of this place. You listening?"

Rick could tell Merle was pissed, but he nodded. "Yeah."

"I need to see air ducts. I need to see electrical access tunnels, sub-basements, every possible way into this complex." Merle still looked angry, and he didn't move immediately. "We don't have much time."

A glare and a terse nod later, Merle was saying, "Okay. Okay, I'm on it." Without another word, he'd stalked off, muttering slightly under his breath even as Rick could see him obeying.

Dixon gave Rick a brief, silent nod - Rick wasn't sure of what, but he knew it was something good - before their interaction was cut short by Jesus, who walked forward and said, "I'll be in the medlab. I'll check on Gregory… Continue my analysis."

Rick didn't spare a glance as he nodded, confirming. "Fine. You do that."

Merle came back with results ten minutes or so later, the blueprints displayed on one of the tables in the complex. Rick could understand them, to some degree, and he was gratified to know that; at least, should anything happen to the specialists in engineering and blueprints, he knew he could find a way out.

Still, he hadn't yet given up hope that they wouldn't lose any more, and the cluster of people around the table merely felt like a reminder - an incentive - to keep them safe. "So, this service tunnel must be how they're moving back and forth…"

Merle nodded. "Yeah, that's right. 'T moves from the processin' station right to the sublevel over here." He watched as Rick scrolled along the blueprint, guiding him slightly. "Come down on that… Okay, come over… Go back…" The screen moved with each twist of the joystick, and Rick eventually positioned it accurately. "Punch tha' in right there."

Rick jerked as a brief flash of motion appeared to his right, calming slightly as he processed that it was merely Dixon lifting Judith onto the table, helping her perch on the edge so that she could look, too, his arm around her to prevent her falling. So intent was he on watching the motion, he didn't notice the section of the blueprint they needed passing by until it already had. It was Dixon who ended up correcting him, with a pointed finger and a gentle, "Nah, go back."

Rick looked over the lines, eyes blurring slightly as the bright blue sections of walls and doors seemed to close in on one another. He blinked the sensation away and looked closer, stopping on one particular section. "Well, there's a pressure door at this end… Couldn't we put one of the remote sentry units in the tunnel and then seal that door?"

Dixon nodded. "Yeah." He looked away from the blueprint, looking over at Judith, who yawned quietly as he spoke. "But we gotta figure on them gettin' in."

Rick nodded. "That's right… so, we repair the barricades at these two intersections, weld plate steel over these ducts, here-" He paused, pointing out sections of the diagram near the airlock. "And here, and here. That way, they can only come at us through these two corridors."

Dixon nodded again, eyes skimming over the blueprint. "We put th' other sentries here and here."

"Right." Rick watched the soldier carefully, waiting for approval or rejection of the idea.

"Yeah, that'll work." He fixed Rick with his trademark stare and took a slight step backwards, keeping his arm wrapped around Judith even as he did so. "Now all we need is a deck of cards." A few seconds passed, each person clustered around the table relaxing slightly at the relief of having a plan, but Dixon was quick to refocus them. "Alright, people, move like ya got a purpose."

Merle looked over at his brother, discontent still visible in his eyes, but he nodded. "Affirmative."

Judith turned back to look at Dixon as well, smiling and repeating the word, "Affirmative!" She was rewarded with another of his rare smiles as he lifted her down, and Rick smiled as well, heart warmed at the scene occurring despite the danger in which they all found themselves.

That feeling quickly dissipated into the swarm of motion that ensued as Dixon, Merle, and Rosita set up the guns, as Rick, Shane, and even Judith carried other supplies from one room to the next, slowly but surely making their situation a little more secure, but it was worth it to see the display of computers that ended up set together along one wall, the sentries panning back and forth. Now, all they could do was wait.