Clarke woke up to a banging on the doors of her room in the tower. Swearing that if this was some pointless message from Titus disapproving of another decision of hers, she was going to kick him off the tower. Sitting up, she got out of bed, bleary eyed and in her sleep clothes and swung the door open. "What?!" She barked.

"Heda." Titus said bowing, while the guards straightened impossibly in the face of her ire.

Stepping back while narrowing her eyes, she waved for Titus to enter. "This better not be a waste of my time Flamekeeper." She slammed the door shut behind him. Ignoring him standing nervously in the center of her room, she began to light several of her candles. She could feel in the air that it was early morning, still an hour at least before dawn. Turning on her Flamekeeper, she demanded, "Why have you disturbed me?"

Titus glared at her tone of voice but seemed to choose to ignore it. "There was a messenger. People have fallen from the sky Heda."

Clarke blinked, that had not been what she'd expected. In fact, it was as expected as hearing that Nia had decided to go be a hermit in the south with multiple lovers. So something that would never happen while the sun still shone. "What?"

Titus repeated himself. "A vessel of metal and fire landed just past Anya's territory. It spat out young pale children. Several of them approached the mountain. Anya ordered that the first to cross the border you set be made an example of in accordance with your edict."

Clarke poured herself a glass of water while her mind spun with possibilities. Staring at Titus, she stalled. "What is your advice Flamekeeper?"

"You want my advice?" Titus asked, sounding floored.

She smirked, good. She had isolated and reduced the man's power ruthlessly since she'd taken the flame and title of Heda and that he now knew his advice was unwelcome and unheeded proved that he had conceded much. "I'm feeling generous. What would you advise?"

Titus straitened, taking the opportunity quickly. "Take Tristan and his rangers. Go wipe them all out before they can either join with or feed the mountain."

Clarke sat down and sipped at her water considering. "What moves besides the first approach have they made?"

Titus frowned but reported anyways. Clarke had made him more than aware he only lived because he was useful and replacing a Flamekeeper was not done on a whim. "She does not know the exact number but less than two hundred. All young, unarmed, they dress strangely, have stayed close to their ship and now erect walls around it. You should strike them down. They challenge your laws being so close to the mountain."

"I am due to leave for Azgeda tomorrow, or today now." She tapped her fingers against her glass in thought. "Leave them to the reapers. Send word that if they attempt to enter Trikru land Anya may do with them as she pleases. While they lay close to the mountain leave them to the cursed place. We can not welcome into the coalition those who have no use. We will see what they make of themselves. If they prove resilient, we can offer them a place and see what wisdom those from the sky have to share. After dealing with the reapers, they will be grateful for any mercy or security given. If they fail in the face of the reaper assault, then they were weak and not worth our time after all. I won't throw away the lives of my warriors to slaughter fools." She stood with her decision made.

"Heda, I beg of you to please reconsider." He said desperately.

"Why?" She glanced at him casually. "This coalition stands because of our allies in Azgeda. You would have me slight them by arriving late at the feast held to honor another year of Nia's successful rule?"

He twitched at the mention of the alliance she'd forged with Azgeda in the first days of her rule. He'd argued against it vehemently. "No Heda, I would not have you insult our...allies. Still, you cannot let this threat go unchallenged."

"And if they become a threat to us then I shall deal with them appropriately. For now, let the mountain be useful for once and test their mettle." There was unmistakable command in her voice. "Now, while I'm gone Gustus' word is my word and as such is law. You will serve him as you serve me."

"Sha, Heda." He dipped his head, though the disappointment and anger was clear to be heard in his voice.

"Leave me, I'll handle the nighblood's lesson this morning before I depart."

-TLGTLGTLGTLGTLGTLGTLGTLGTLG-

Lexa turned as she heard the hatch slam shut. Bellamy was standing clearly on guard, his eyes taking in Murphy's presence behind him locking the hatch, she and Wells in front of him.

"What is this?" He snarled.

"An intervention, what do you think it is dick head?" Murphy said rolling his eyes.

Raising her hand to prevent another argument, Lexa began. "A discussion so that we can come to an accord."

"An accord? You just want me to kiss your ass like everyone else princess." He snapped.

Lexa decided to stop playing games. "I need to know what you did to get on the drop ship. You're terrified of the ark."

"What do you care?" He asked, his eyes shifting about the room.

"I don't, but we need the manpower and your sister is one of us." Lexa stayed standing still, her hands held behind her back. "After her injury in the river she taught the younger years how to braid rope while she rested her leg, now she trains with Miller and I so that she can defend herself. If you want to remain with us and protect her, you need to trust me."

He glared but she could see him cracking under the stress. He shifted to his other foot before spitting out his answer like it was painful to say. "I shot Jaha."

Wells made a strangled noise, Lexa's eyes widened and Murphy murmured, "Dude."

Now that the information was out there Bellamy seemed to be pouring out his knowledge. "Shumway told me about the drop ship, gave me a gun and told me that if I shot Jaha, he'd get me on the ship. I couldn't let her come down here without me, I had to, there wasn't a choice."

"There is always a choice." She snapped. Turning to Wells, she could see the horror in his face. As difficult as the things were between the two, Wells would never have wanted his father dead. Glaring at Bellamy she demanded, "Do you know he's dead?"

Bellamy shook his head. "I shot him, he fell, and I ran."

"Then we don't know." She laid a hand on Wells' shoulder. "My mom would do anything to save your father. You know that."

Wells' voice was thick and he spoke while glaring at Bellamy with hate in his eyes. "Where did you shoot him?"

"The torso, bigger target. I'd never shot a gun before." He said while squaring his shoulders, clearly prepared for Wells to attack him.

Wells breathed in and out through his nose and teeth a few times. "Right. He could have lived…survived that." Sending a truly venomous look at Bellamy he continued. "If you so much as look at me wrong, I'll knock out your teeth."

Lexa frowned suddenly. "Did you say Shumway told you to kill Jaha?"

Bellamy nodded. "Yeah, he was my superior in training."

"Lexa…" Wells looked at her with wide eyes.

"What?" Murphy looked back and forth between them. "Why are you two acting all scared all of a sudden."

Lexa swallowed. "Because my father is the one who becomes Chancellor if Jaha dies and Shumway doesn't so much as sneeze without my father's say so."

"So what's that mean? Your old man is the one who wants Chancellor dick head dead?" Murphy asked.

"Yes, but what it also means is that there is most likely a coup going on in the ark right now." Closing her eyes, she ran various scenarios through her head. "Depending on who takes power, all of us are at risk. We create our own village. We get an open ended pardon for everyone here from whoever is in power. If that's not possible, we leave before the rest of the ark comes down to the ground." Her fists clenched behind her back. "I will not let our people die for the political games of the council."

"Wait, you're protecting me?" Bellamy asked, sounding startled.

"Why did you think we wanted to know?" Wells asked.

Bellamy ruffled his hair. "I figured you'd banish me or something."

"We need all the able bodies we can get." Lexa said decisively. "Especially with your guard training. Defending ourselves and staying alive is our first priority."

Murphy spoke up from where he was still crouched. "So what? The wristbands are fried, Goggles can barely stand, the wall isn't even all the way up yet."

"We start by finishing the wall and training everyone to be able to defend themselves. We hunt, store water, and prepare for the grounders next move. There isn't enough information for us to attack, we'd be slaughtered if we did." She was tense as a drum. They'd found Jasper strung up in a glade with strange words painted across his arms and chest in his own blood. It had been a warning, she had no doubt. Whatever was across the river was someone's territory. They're only hope was that their territory didn't expand to where they were.

Bellamy seemed to settle. "I'll help you."

"No killing Finn for kissing your sister." She added. Already, she'd had to break up that fight twice. It was one of the main reasons they'd decided they had to get Bellamy under control now.

His eyes shifted. "If he keeps his paws off my sister we won't have a problem."

"If he hurts her, you can beat the shit out of him." Lexa conceded. "Until then, Finn is our best tracker and he's been kinda sweet to Octavia."

"Fine," Bellamy growled. "But he so much as makes her cry and I'll kill him."

Lexa accepted that was the best she was going to get. Stepping forward, she offered her hand. "Do we have a deal Mr. Blake?"

"I guess we do Princess." He said, taking her hand.

-TLGTLGTLGTLGTLGTLGTLGTLGTLG-

Myles grinned up Lexa, his perpetual good mood made her mouth quirk up. "I finished those whistles you asked me to make." He reported excitedly.

"Good. Thank you Myles." She took the bag of wooden whistles he'd been carving for her. Heading to where her new guard was training, she watched them with pride. Murphy had done well recruiting several of the older and stronger delinquents. Miller and Bellamy had been running them into the ground every day between shift changes at working on the defense of the camp.

"Miller!" She hollered. He turned looking at her and she tossed the bag of whistles to him. "See to it that whoever is on guard has one of these."

"Got it Princess." He said, saluting her with a grin.

Shaking her head in amusement, she ducked into the drop ship where her hunting and gathering team was meeting over the map they'd been working on creating on the wall of the drop ship. The metal was water proof so no rain, and since they didn't have paper it was an elegant solution. "How's it going in here?"

Finn turned from the map. "We're almost ready to head out."

She nodded in acknowledgment. The hunting and gathering team was led by Finn. Wells, the only other tracker of any skill, was their medic. He was still in the early stages of learning the craft on the ark, but he was the best they had and wasn't permitted to leave camp. Losing him was a risk they couldn't take. They could still use his familiarity with the medicinal plants in the area and he had been sketching various plants that if seen should be gathered on the walls of the drop ship. Monty as their communications expert was also confined to camp but like Wells could give advice on what plant life was useful. In his case, he had more advice on the edible variety. Together the three of them planned out the daily hunting and gathering sweeps.

Monty grinned at her. "We think the hunters found some blackberry bushes on their last sweep. They're going to do the same region today and harvest the berries."

She smiled in relief, any source of food that could help prevent them from getting scurvy was a good thing. "Good, anything else?"

"Don't worry princess, we'll bring back a haul." Finn said confidently.

His incessant flirting grated on her nerves. Sadly, he was useful and popular with the female members of the camp for some strange reason. She assumed her inability to understand his attraction to the female members had to do with her general disinterest in men. Maybe her dislike of him was just fueled by the boy's inability to shut off the flirting even though he had shown a marked interest in Octavia? Whatever the reason, it was inconsequential, he was useful and helped with general moral. "Be safe."

With that taken care of, she moved to the side where the youngest of their members were assigned to various tasks. Generally, they wove rope, baskets, hats, and various pieces of thatch for the roofing of homes they hoped to start building soon. She smiled seeing Charlotte helping correct another one of the kids' weaving on what looked like a basket for carrying goods attached to a belt. Seeing that all was well there, she moved to where Jon was dealing with the rest of the camp's inhabitants.

All those over the age of fourteen who weren't on the guard or with the hunters were their builders. They're tasks generally involved building the walls, a meat smoking building, and other defenses. Jon perked up on seeing her. "Princess, we put in the first tree house this morning."

"Excellent job." She said, congratulating him happily.

He gestured up one of the trees just outside of the wall. Looking up she could see the small platform attached to the tree a good twenty feet up in the air. There was a rope hanging down from it so it could be reached. "Good work, can you get more of those up?"

"Of course!" He said excitedly while nearly bursting with pride. "We're locking this place down."

With her morning round done, she headed back to the guard to help train them till shift change when half of them would be going to help with the construction team while the other half went on watch or to bed. It was hard work, but they had a purpose and they were going to survive.

-TLGTLGTLGLTLGTLGLTLGLTLGTLGTLG-

Lexa was washing her face by the rain tower when she heard the high pitched sound of a whistle from the guard post near the gate. Pulling her gun out of the holster she'd made the day before, she sprinted for the guard giving the alert. The hunting teams were in, it was early morning, no one should have been outside the walls. The tents were turning into a buzz of activity as members of the guard woke up, grabbed their hodge podge of weapons and ran for their posts.

The desperate blowing of the whistle cut off suddenly. Eyes narrowing in focus, she came flying to the wall and hauled herself up to the guard she could see slumped over there. Keeping her head down, she pulled the guard down on the makeshift plank and nearly recoiled at the hot blood that soaked her hand. Yanking her hand back, she stared in horror. The boy was dead, an arrow protruding from his chest. Peeking her head above the top of the wall, she saw a grounder, he was climbing the fence, froth literally coming from his mouth.

She made the quick decision to stick her gun in her holster again and grab the bent and sharpened piece of metal that was a makeshift sword the dead guard had been wielding. Standing while swinging, she brought it down with all of the force she could managed on top of the grounder's head. Ripping the blade out of the caved in skull, she ducked down again as the body fell, hitting the ground with a thump. Peaking over the wall again carefully, she waited for the slightest sign of movement.

Pulling out her own whistle, she sent out two short blasts. Hopefully that would keep everyone at their posts. Seeing Jon looking up at her wide eyed from where he was looking out of his tent, she waved him over with a whisper, "Jon, get up here."

He paled but quickly moved to do as ordered. She handed the bloodied sword to him. Grabbing the whistle off the cord it was hanging from on the dead guard's neck, she handed it over to him. "If you see any movement out there, you blow on this and I'll get here. Keep your head down."

His eyes widened as he hissed. "Where are you going?"

"To see if we had contact at any of the other posts." She hissed back. "I'll send a guard to relieve you as soon as I can." Grabbing his shoulder, she pointed to the other side of the gate where Dax was crouched holding onto an axe with white knuckles. "You're not alone."

Shuffling off the plank, she dropped down onto the ground and then set off at a jog through the camp. She stopped at each tent, directing the scared kids inside into the drop ship. It was the work of ten minutes to reach the back of the camp where the wall was weakest and Bellamy and Miller were both posted. "Bellamy go take command of the gates. There was one hostile, dead now. Guardsman Chuck is dead."

Bellamy gave her a quick salute and then took off for the gates. Turning to Miller, she continued. "Any sightings along here?"

Miller shook his head in the negative. "No contact or sighting."

Taking a breath, she sighed. "Right we keep everyone on the walls for half an hour. If we're clear by the end of that time, we send out short distance sweeps and secure the region directly around our camp. No hunting parties today."

"Got it, where are you going to be?" He asked quickly.

"I'm going to go make sure everyone in the drop ship is calm and update them on what's happening. Then I'll do an inside perimeter check and talk to all of our guard members. That should take up the thirty minutes." She decided.

Miller looked uneasy. "The bodies?"

She grimaced, wishing she could wipe off the blood splatter she knew was on her face. "We bury them at noon if everything is still clear."

-TLGTLGTLGTLGTLGTLGTLGTLGTLGTLG-

It had taken three days for everything to go to hell. Since the first attack, they were lucky to go five hours without another crazed non-communicative, frothing at the mouth savage attacked them. Fortunately, the grounders seemed to travel in small numbers. It was the only reason they hadn't taken worse losses. Four of their own were buried just outside the walls while ten of their enemies had been thrown into a ditch and covered with dirt. Lexa felt like she was running on empty. Sleeping was a myth, it didn't actually exist she was fairly certain.

Their builders and hunters were all in the guard now. They sent out hunting parties out of necessity still but they were heavily armed and went with two members of the full time guard for protection. Rotating guard shifts along the wall and in the three 'tree houses' were keeping everyone sleep deprived and tense at all times. The only good thing to come out of this was that they were slowly acquiring better weapons and armor. Stripping the dead grounders was useful for that at least. They were also positive, even the ever hopeful Finn, that peace wasn't a recourse. The grounders were obviously out of their minds driven mad by radiation.

Pulling on her muddy boots, she worked her numb fingers along the laces. It was a routine and all she had to keep her sane under the constant pressure. She guessed she had gotten three hours of sleep judging by the light, or lack of light. It was her shift at the gates though and she refused to hold herself to a different standard than the others. The guard jacket settled over her like a second skin. Bellamy had handed it to her with a gruff, 'might as well look the part' after her first kill. He was starting to grow on her. He was still an ass but not an irredeemable one.

Moving to the gate, she relieved Drew, who was nearly asleep while on duty. He nodded sleepily at her with large bags under his eyes before heading to his tent. She had no doubt he'd be face planting on his bed and not moving till dawn. Surveying the dark woods in the creepy light given by the fluorescent mushrooms, she settled in for a long watch. The sounds of the forest were becoming familiar. She could hear crickets singing, the wind causing the leaves to rustle, the sounds of small creatures moving about in the woods.

She noticed the sound of footsteps approaching her position and raised her brow when she realized who it was. Monty was nervously picking his way towards her. Reaching out, she offered him a hand, helping to pull him up onto the plank with her. "What are you doing up?" She asked softly.

He grimaced. "We're over hunting our immediate area. We haven't caught anything in the last two days." Looking at her helplessly, he continued. "If Finn and the others are going to bring in enough food for us to survive, we'll need to send them further away from camp."

Lexa stared out into the forest, feeling a sinking sensation in her gut. Of course more things had to go wrong, she should have expected it. "They sent you to tell me because we're friends then?"

He smiled wryly at her. "Yup."

Leaning her head against the cold wet wood of the wall, she considered their options. "This is a temporary fix at best."

He nodded looking helpless. "We don't know how to hunt in a renewable way, and even if we did the amount of land we've claimed isn't large enough to support us, let alone everyone for even a day once the ark comes down." The missing 'if' when mentioning the ark was apparent if not stated.

"Right, did Finn have any ideas?" She asked hopefully.

Monty shook his head. "If we could send hunting teams to hunt miles away we could get enough meat to keep us going till we can get some crops to harvest. Still, if they get attacked there will be no home nearby to retreat to in case of emergency."

Biting her lip, she forced herself to clear her face before releasing her lip. It was an unfortunate habit of hers. "Go, tell Finn he can have his longer hunting trips. Even if it's a temporary fix at best, it's all we can do. Send Octavia and Miller out here if they're awake."

"No problem, Finn and Octavia were sucking face when I came out here." He said with a rather disgusted expression before hopping down and heading back into the drop ship.

Lexa stretched her hands making sure the blood flow wasn't being restricted. The ark needed to arrive soon if they were going to survive. Mount Weather had clearly been taken over by psychotic grounders if the direction of attacks was any indication. It was making her feel for her parents. No wonder they fought all the time. She was in charge of a measly hundred and she could practically feel herself aging.

"Don't look so sad Princess." Octavia greeted looking disgustingly happy. Miller following behind her looking tired but amused.

She rolled her eyes as they climbed up beside her. "I'm assuming you both know the problem?"

"Duh, my boyfriend is kinda the one who found it." Octavia said, with a surprising amount of sarcasm present in her voice, despite how quietly they were talking. Miller just nodded.

Lexa stared at them squarely. "We won't survive if we stay here much longer."

"What?" Miller asked in surprise while Octavia stared at her in shock.

She cut off any protests with a sharp hand gesture. "You both know what our food stores are like. We're already rationing what we have. Clearly our neighbors are hostile and we're in a war of attrition. We can't send out scouts to find their strong hold. Even if we did we don't have the manpower to launch a counter attack. We've already chased all the game away. We'll starve before winter comes. Hell, we don't even know what season it is right now."

"So what, we just leave?" Octavia asked looking like someone had slapped her.

Miller seemed to be thinking though. "If we head as far away from the Mountain as possible, we should get away from the grounders. At least these ones."

"Isn't it supposed to be better the enemy you know rather than the one you don't?" Octavia inquired, clearly confused.

"In this case, we're in a fight we can't win." Lexa said in defeat. "We have three partially trained guards, a few dozen trained civilians, and hodge podged weapons. We're fighting a war we can't win." It was difficult to admit but it was the truth.

Miller nodded in acknowledgement. "Right, when do we leave then?"

"After Finn's next two hunting expeditions. That should give us time to get what equipment we can carry ready to go, as well as to come up with a plan that's more solid than just as far away from the mountain as possible." She met their eyes evenly. "Octavia I'll need you to organize the younger kids. If you can get them building anything we can use as wheels to help with carting equipment and tents that would be very useful. Miller I need you to inform the other divisions and get them organizing and ready. If we get attacked by larger numbers, we may be forced to leave before we're prepared."

"Got it Princess." Miller said, dropping down with a mock salute and heading into the dropship. Octavia remained where she was.

Lexa decided to let Octavia to bring up whatever she wanted to say when she was ready. After a careful survey of her stretch of woods to make sure nothing had changed, she tilted her head back and stare at the stars. She realized there was a falling star. Nudging Octavia she pointed up. "Look!"

Octavia made an appreciative noise as she saw the star. They sat side by side watching it fall when Lexa frowned, it was getting bigger, and shit that was a ship from the ark. Not taking her eyes off it for a moment, she barked directions at Octavia. "Go to the drop ship. Any of the guard or hunters who are awake and look like they're not ready to fall over, bring them here." At Octavia's hesitance she hardened her voice, "Now."

The ship crashed just over the ridge of a hill and Lexa cursed. They'd have to get to it immediately if they didn't want any humans in it to be killed by the grounders. Dropping off the wall, she ducked into the nearest tent and shook Dax awake. He blinked at her bleary eyed. "I need you on guard at the gate."

"You owe me." He grumbled, moving to the gate while pulling on his coat.

With that taken care of, she jogged to the dropship where she could see Octavia clearly looking ready to strangle several tired looking boys. She stepped in, hardening her voice. "A ship from the ark just crashed within a half a day's journey of us. If we want to survive we need what's on that ship. Miller, you're in command here until I return." Examining the wakefulness of various people, she grimaced. "Finn you still need to lead the hunting expedition tomorrow or we'll starve so stay here. Myles, Atom, Harper, you're with me. We're heading to where the ship fell now."

Ducking into their makeshift armory, she pulled on some of the armor they'd repurposed from their enemies. She added two knives to the sword and gun she already had on her person. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see her orders being followed. It took less than ten minutes to gear up and be heading out the front gates.

They moved as fast as possible while not creating a racket that could draw their enemies to them. It was oppressive knowing that they were likely to find grounders drawn to the crash site of the ship as well. The light from the various mushrooms and lichens gave at least enough light they weren't tripping over themselves as they travelled through the woods. It took a good two hours before she spotted the dying flames from the crash. Raising her hand to halt their forward march, she considered their options. "Atom, Harper, circle to the left. Myles, you're with me. We're going to loop to the right. If all goes well, we can clear the area around the crash site before we leave ourselves open by approaching it."

Three silent salutes and they were off. She and Myles moved as quietly as they could as they looped around the crash site, making sure that no grounders were prepared to ambush them. It was dark, the luminescent fungus was sparser in this region. Her eyes had long since adjusted though. The forest was eerily silent, clearly the ship crashing scared off any wildlife in the immediate area. There were no threatening figures in their sweep through, which eased some of the tension out of her shoulders as she caught sight of Atom and Harper creeping along in the dark.

Once they were grouped together again, she glanced around warily. They were sitting ducks right now and she knew they needed to get what was on the ship and get back to the drop ship as quickly as possible. "Atom when we approach you need to stay just out of sight at the treeline and keep guard. Harper, position yourself ten paces from Atom's spot towards the drop ship. Myles you stand guard at the ship while I get it open and see what's inside of it."

With that, she darted out into the clearing trusting that her orders were being carried out by the others. At this distance, her earlier assumptions that it was an escape pod were confirmed. Which meant there might be a person inside of it. Using her sword, she pried the door open. The sound of the metal creaking followed by the whoosh of it opening made her twitchy and paranoid. It was open at least. Ducking her head under the door, she took in the interior. She nearly cursed. It was a person, and no supplies that she could see. Ducking back out, she looked at Myles. "Myles, grab Harper and cut the parachute down and get it packed and ready to go."

Bending back down into the pod she reached over and unhooked the helmet. Hopefully this was an alive human and not a corpse. The moan the figure let out indicated she was alive. Breathing out in relief, she probed the head injury. It didn't seem serious and she knew head injures bled the worst. Not seeing any other injuries, she cut the still limp figure out of the pod. The body slumped out of the seat and into her arms. Hooking her arms around the girl, she hauled her out of the pod. Once she had the girl on the ground and leaning against the ship, she considered what to do. Deciding speed was worth more than keeping a guard, she gave a sharp whistle summoning Atom over to her.

"Princess?" He asked, his head swiveling around trying to keep watch of the woods.

"Try and wake her up, keep an eye out, but be ready to move as soon as possible." She ordered as she scrambled back into the pod.

Once she had climbed in, she took a look at the various controls. She didn't know what any of them did. Her eyes lit up as she spotted a radio. It had lights on it and they were flashing. Grabbing the transmitter, she carefully tuned until the least amount of static was coming through. "Come in Ark station, this is cadet Kane. Come in Ark station, this is cadet Kane."

The radio crackled to life as a voice came through the static. "This is a restricted channel who is this? Over."

She practically slumped in relief. "Ark station, this is cadet Kane. The ground is survivable. Over."

Suddenly, the voice on the other end changed to Jaha's. "Cadet Kane, repeat. Over."

"The ground is survivable Chancellor. Over."

"Good to hear. Over"

"Chancellor there are survivors on the ground. We need reinforcements. Over." She said quickly before he could get sidetracked.

"Repeat that. Over."

Lexa had to keep from banging her head on the instrument panel in frustration. She didn't have time for this. They had to get back to camp as quickly as possible. "We are being attacked by survivors on the ground sir. Over."

There was a prolonged silence before she was surprised to hear her father's voice cutting in from the radio. "There are survivors on the ground and they're attacking you? Over."

"Affirmative. Over." She replied quickly, ignoring the desire to sob in relief that her father was alive and hadn't been a part of leading a coup.

Jaha had clearly reclaimed the radio. "What is your status? Over."

"Six dead. Two in the crash, four killed by outsiders. One code red injury and multiple minor injuries. We have food to hold our position for another week at half rations. Over." If the ark could send some fully trained and equipped guards, it would be a godsend. Movement to the side caught her attention, nearly causing her to stab the individual only to see the wide eyed face of the pilot she'd fished out of the pod. Ignoring the girl for now, she returned her attention to the radio.

"A drop ship cannot be mobilized for two weeks. You'll have to hold your position that long. Over." Jaha's voice came through. Somehow the superiority came through as well.

Gritting her teeth, she considered her options, but the most pressing fact of all was that they needed to move out as soon as possible. "Current location unsecure. Radio and pilot will be moved back to base camp. Will resume contact upon arrival. Over."

Jaha's disapproving voice came over the radio. "Negative cadet Kane. You will finish your report. Over."

Before she could reply, she heard her father's voice coming out clearly having taken the radio back from Jaha. "Status of your current position. Over."

"There are three insufficiently armed members of our new guard, myself and the pilot, who has sustained a head injury. We're in hostile land with low visibility. Over. " She reported quickly. If they didn't give her permission to leave soon, she was going to do so regardless of their orders. She'd only prolonged it this long because in the case of their deaths while on route back to the dropship, the ark needed to be informed of the situation on the ground.

Clearly her father at least had some sense. "Permission to retreat to base camp cadet. Hail us at earliest opportunity. Over."

"Affirmative Councilor Kane. Cadet Kane out." With that she set down the transmitter and turned her full attention to the pale pilot. "Can you disconnect the radio without damaging it?"

The girl looked taken aback. "Of course I can."

Lexa slipped out of the pod giving the girl room to work. "Once you have it disconnected be ready to move out of here." She ordered. Clearly, the girl had some sense because she wasn't arguing and instead realized that something serious was going on and it was best to ask questions later. It was a relief. Once out of the pod, she saw Atom busy folding the space suit and stuffing it into his woven pack.

He looked up at her with a grin. "Should we take the helmet as well Princess?"

She shrugged. "If you think it'll be useful."

Atom seemed to consider it before using some of the rope the kids had been making and attaching it to his pack. She approved how securely he had it tied to his pack. After all, it wasn't going to be worth it to return for it if it fell off during their journey. Harper and Myles came creeping into the clearing, their woven packs stuffed with parachute. Good they were ready to head out then. Pulling her own pack off her back, she prepared to stuff the radio into it.

The pilot ducked out of the pod while holding the radio. "Told you I could get this bad boy out for you."

"Excellent." She took it from the woman's hands and set it in her pack before securing the whole thing to her back again. A quick looked around her group and she nodded resolutely. "Time to head out. Pilot?"

"Raven Reyes." The girl said frowning, clearly disturbed by the tension Lexa was sure was wafting off of all of them. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Atom, explain while we move. Harper you take the rear guard post. I'll take point." With her orders given, she set off straight towards the dropship. The natives were no doubt more familiar with the terrain so there was no point in attempting to throw them off by taking a circuitous route. She felt the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. They'd been out in the open too long and needed to get back the camp, now. To distract herself, and help her tamp down her fear, she listened to Atom filling in Raven on what the ground was like.

Atom's hushed tones were comforting. "People survived the bombs, but they're insane. Like foam at the mouth, nonverbal, and savage. We've killed ten of them so far but they just keep coming. The dropship is our base camp. Princess here's in charge. Miller is head of our guard and Finn of our hunters. Jon is in charge of our builders and Octavia of the kids but at this point almost everyone is part of the guard as well. Little Jaha is our medic. What skills do you have?"

"Oh wow." The clearly overwhelmed voice of Raven came in behind her. "Finn's safe?"

"Yeah, you know spacewalker?" Atom asked softly.

"He's the closest thing to family I have." She said fiercely.

Atom made a humming noise. "So what skills do you have?"

"I'm the youngest zero-g mechanic in fifty-two years. I've got lots of skills. You need something built, I'm your woman." She bragged with a cocky assuredness that told Lexa that it was a well-deserved confidence.

"You'll probably work with Monty, Goggles, and little Jaha then." Atom said and Lexa was pleased to hear him taking care of placement, and doing it well. "You'll be okay working with the geeks?"

"I'm mecha station, we're geeks, but we're badass geeks." Raven ripped.

Atom spoke up again. "I can explain the rest later but we need to get back to the camp without being found by the grounders." Lexa heard a shuffling sound. "Here, it's not much but if we get attacked but aim for the throat, head, and heart. Anything less and they'll keep coming."

Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Atom was pressing a cylindrical piece of metal he had to have removed from the pod into Raven's hands. She was pleased to note how serious the girl looked and returned to her careful scouting as she led them home. They were just skirting the edge of a small creek when she heard a loud snap to the right. It was too close. Spinning, she drew her sword. The others following her example instantly. It looked like they weren't making it back to camp without any encounters with the grounders after all.