The black Tarok wrapped her tail around the tree limb on which she crouched and stared down at the three massive carnivores that were scrabbling to reach her. Spittle flew from heavy, snapping jaws as they leapt upwards, crowding each other around the base of the tree, scraping at the soft bark with long claws.

The Tarok gritted her teeth and sighed. "This no-gun policy is suicidal," she growled to the empty air. "This is the third time I've been treed today."

"They're the native predators in this area," a voice replied in her ear. "We can't just wipe them out without severely imbalancing the local ecology."

"If you think the bloody food chain won't be disturbed at all as we continue colonizing this planet, you're an idiot," the black muttered. "I see zero reasons why we can't carry guns around here."

"Our children won't carry guns," the voice said, and drew breath to continue.

"Btsa, I'm not letting our cubs go out here without guns!" The black bared her teeth at the carnivores below. "Any adult who isn't an ETE specialist can't take one of these things, even if there's only one of them. We won't always have fences and shields around our settlements, Kylik. We've got to make the place safe for us."

Kylik sighed gustily into the microphone. "You're just an engineer, so I can't expect you to--"

( The black reached up a claw and turned her comunit off, ears flattening. )