O'Brien volunteered to take the first watch as she was unable to sleep and knew she was going to be up for a while. The ship crashing appeared to spike her adrenaline and she was unable to relax for quite a while, so it make sense for her to take first watch. Rogers wasn't the kind of guy to take a gift horse in the mouth, so he went to sleep and tried his best to rest despite his head still throbbing a bit from their crash. While it only felt like a few seconds to him, Rogers was shaken awake by something and realized that more than a few hours had passed by. He groaned as he hopped out of his seat, and slowly made his way to the side door of their space vessel. Upon looking outside, O'Brien was outside doing what looked like some Tia-Chi exercises, moving slowly while also stretching her muscles as she did so.

"What the hell are you doing, rookie?" Rogers called out as he also exited the ship.

"Just a little exercise," O'Brien replied, not even bothering to look behind her.

"Aren't you supposed to be keeping guard?" he asked her, still sounding a little grumpy.

"I am," she softly whispered as he walked closer.

"Is there someone watching?" Rogers whispered back.

"There is," O'Brien answered, "But unless we landed on a planet of midgets, it's just a child."

"I see," Rogers said, resisting the urge to turn around to look for it. "Is there just one?"

"I'm not sure," O'Brien replied, "I've only managed to spot just the one. There could be more so we maybe should set some parameter devices to keep a look out for us."

"I'll check the ship," Rogers said, and then he stopped whispering, "When you're finished doing your lame exercises, do a patrol and I'll fix up some chow."

"Yes, Sir," O'Brien answered, aware that her Captain was saying that to hide what they were really discussing.

While the spacecraft has a decent supply of survival rations onboard, Rogers preferred to leave them be as an emergency backup. He instead used the ship's replicators to whip up something that would be more than enough and a little extra for their watcher if he or she chose to get closer. O'Brien was walking back to the ship as he emerged with two hot plates.

"Shouldn't we use the rations to conserve power?" she suggested.

"I am aware of the regulations," Rogers replied, "But take it from me, you use the power while you have it to stretch out all options. Unless you'd like to start hunting for food sooner than later."

"Fair enough," O'Brien conceded, as the man had a point. She took the bowl and started to nibble on the food the machines had prepared.

Stolen story; please report.

"What of our new friend?" Rogers asked.

"Still watching, but keeping their distance." O'Brien answered, "Do you think there is a village or a colony not far from here?"

"It's possible," Rogers said, "But there's no telling what state they're in after the storm that just passed by us."

"I never considered that," O'Brien said, "Should we look into it ourselves?"

"Hold on," Rogers said, as he held up a hand. "We have some activity."

There was some rustling in the bushes across from their position, and seconds later a young boy emerged from them and slowly walked up. He was wearing handmade clothing but it was enough to keep him covered up. A lot of it was still wet, likely from the harsh weather that had passed through their area earlier. The boy spoke a few words, but they were in a language neither of the could understand. After realizing the didn't understand the boy decided to use visual references and pointed to the bowl that Rogers was holding. Rogers replied by pointing at his own bowl and then to the young man. The boy understood what was being asked and nodded. his approval.

"You're offering him your bowl?" O'Brien said, "What happened to stretching out rations?"

"We'll be alright," Rogers said, sounding rather calm. "I made three bowls."

"Of course you did," O'Brien said as she should have know better.

Rogers reached his arm out and extended the bowl out towards the young man. He was hesitant at first but the reached out and took it from him. He immediately took the spoon and shoveled some of the food into his mouth, proving how famished he had been. He looked back up at Rogers with a smile on his and nodded again to give his thanks.

"I hope you made a lot more," O'Brien suddenly said as she noticed something.

Rogers looked up to see what O'Brien was referring to. Several more kids emerged from the bushes and had walked up to the two Patrolers.

"I'll be right back," Rogers said as he started to back pedal towards the ship, "Share yours with someone and I'll get you a new bowl."

"Yes, Sir." O'Brien said, as she had already handed her bowl over to a young girl that had walked up to her. She took a big bite and seemed happy with the food as well.

Rogers was happy he chose not to use the rations, as he used the ship's replicator to make more food for the rest of the kids and then for himself and O'Brien. The ships power seemed stable, so he didn't feel bad using the ship to make more food for everyone, especially if being nice would make a good first impression with who might be their neighbors until the Patrol came looking for them.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" O'Brien asked as Rogers gave her a new helping.

"I have no idea how long we'll be down here," Rogers confessed, "The last thing we need to be doing is feuding with the locals while waiting to be rescued. I'd prefer to remain in their good books for the time being."

"I get your logic," O'Brien replied, "But I hope you are aware what happens when you feed a stray, right?"

"We'll burn the bridge when we get to it," Rogers said, taking a bite of his own food. "After we finish supper, we have other work to do."

"Such as?" O'Brien asked.

"Your job will be to get the solar panels installed," Rogers answered, "That way we can use the sun to keep the replicators online for as long as possible."

"I'll get right to it," O'Brien said, as she wasn't eager to dig into the emergency rations.

"While you do that," Rogers added, "I'm going to access the ships translator logs and see if we can find out what language these kids speak. Things would be easier if we didn't have this language barrier between us."

"Good plan," O'Brien approved, "I don't like not knowing what they're gabbing about."

"That makes two of us," Rogers concurred, "I don't like it either. Let's hope the machine has something that will work for us."

"For now they seem content," O'Brien observed, "As long as we keep them fed."

"Understood," Rogers said, "That should work for now... but let's get to work."