A/N: Hello, I hope you enjoy my story, which I do not own. As you can see, Avatar is owned by James Cameron, which means that I claim no ownership at all. This is merely an exercise in entertainment for myself, so suing is going to be a waste of time. Anyway, this story is rated M for language and possible citrus fruits arriving to quench everyone's thirst in the future.
Causality
Solaris 1989
Part One: Aftermath
Chapter One: Dark Star
Alejandra's eyes shot open to the sound of her personal computer's notification of an incoming message. Quickly rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she stood from her bunk and crossed the short distance to her desk and tapped the glowing notification on the screen. The notification window expanded to a live feed of her executive officer on the Dark Star's Command Information Center. "Chacon here," she replied to the man on the screen.
"Captain, there's been an incident on Pandora. We've lost control of the planet," Commander Darren Fisher said, his voice grave.
Alejandra's eyes went wide. "How? When? What the hell happened down there?" These were the only things she could think to reply to what her XO had just said.
Fisher took a deep breath before continuing. "From the information we received from the Venture Star and RDA high command, forty-eight hours ago the Na'vi took command of the Hell's Gate base and have driven almost all of the remaining military and civilian personnel from Pandora. The Venture Star is already en route back to Earth as they do not have enough remaining military personnel and resources to attempt a retake of the facility."
She froze for a moment. Oh no, Trudy, she thought before replying. Unable to contain it, anger crept into her voice as she replied. "How the hell did a bunch spear chucking primitives drive out a military force of nearly two thousand strong packing state-of-the-art weaponry?"
"Apparently one of Augustine's avatars, a Marine Corporal named Jacob Sully, staged a rebellion against Quaritch's command by gathering many of the tribes together with a fighting force equal in number to the planet side RDA forces. Quaritch retaliated by launching a counter strike against them before they could storm Hell's Gate; however, they lost the battle with the Na'vi and they overrun the base because Quaritch committed nearly all his forces. Damn son-of-a-bitch didn't leave enough forces at home to stop the locals." Fisher stated to her unable to re press his opinion.
Alejandra crossed her arms. Quaritch had committed all his forces without leaving enough behind to guard his assets, a bold and arrogant move that had cost the RDA billions of dollars and cost the lives of many good men and women. "What about Quaritch?"
"Dead. Sully killed him himself, then moved on Hell's Gate and booted everyone off the planet except for the other avatars, scientists, and a few others willing to side with the Na'vi."
"Do you know if Trudy…Lieutenant Chacon survived?"
Fisher sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry Captain, but the casualty reports are sketchy at best. The Venture's crew is still tallying who made it, who stayed on Pandora, and who's missing or dead. As soon as we know anything about your sister, I'll let you know."
Eyes downcast, Alejandra shook her head. "I know, thank you." She sighed. Trudy would have to wait because the proverbial shit had hit the fan and her ship, the ISV Dark Star, was the next ship slated to bring in a fresh shipment of personnel and supplies, and with Quaritch dead, she was now the senior RDA commander for all Pandoran matters for the next two years until the ISV Alpha Star arrived at Pandora. The Dark Star would arrive at the world of Pandora in a week's time, which only gave her a week to prepare for either a military move to retake Hell's Gate or seek a diplomatic solution with the Na'vi, the later the preferable scenario. Even with a shipment of over five hundred troops meant to refresh the ranks and relieve some of the planet side personnel, she would be unable to repel a force as large as the one Sully had gathered against Quaritch. Plus with most of the RDA air force destroyed, they would have to replace those birds with the ones in storage and manufacture more on site, which would take time…time they did not have.
"Darren, I'm on my up there. I want the Venture Star's captain on the horn and I want RDAcom on as well when I get there," she said closing the COMM window on her terminal. Alejandra turned and walked over to her closet and pulled out the nearest of her uniform jump suits and slid it on, zipped it up, and tied her neck length hair into a functional small ponytail with a rubber band she kept on her desk.
Within minutes she was leaving her quarters and headed for the CIC one level above, relative to the rotating section that comprised the ship's command decks. When she arrived, Darren was talking rapidly to three people on the large monitor at the back of the center that normally dis played the ship's status. She recognized all three. On the left was RDAcom's chief, Nathan Andrews, the center of the screen displayed the Venture Star's captain, a Philippe Renaldo, and the right side displayed the now former RDA head of operations Parker Selfridge. Selfridge for his part definitely looked worse for the wear; his hair was unkempt, clothes wrinkled, and he had not shaved in the two days since Hell's Gate had fallen.
"Ah Captain Chacon," said Andrews looking at her as she walked over to join Fisher.
"Gentlemen," she replied gesturing to the men on screen. "Let's get started, my first officer has brought me up to speed on the situation. I need you to fill in the gaps and assist in how I should proceed with this…situation."
"The situation is fucked up; that's what it is," Selfridge said shaking his head.
Alejandra nodded, "Indeed it is, but I need to know exactly how the shit hit the fan before I proceed. Fisher said that an avatar named Jake Sully built an army of angry Na'vi and rebelled against our forces on the ground."
Selfridge laughed hysterically, "That's not exactly how it happened Captain."
Frowning, Alejandra crossed her arms and looked Selfridge in the eyes. "Then what re ally happened Administrator?"
Selfridge sighed as he remembered recent events. "A few months ago, right before the Venture Star arrived; we found very large deposit of unobtainium underneath the local Na'vi tribe's hometree, the largest deposit within nearly two hundred kilometers…"
"Let me guess, you wanted it and were determined to access it," Alejandra interrupted.
He nodded, "Yes, you just don't ignore a deposit that large…but I wish we had. When Jake Sully arrived with the Venture Star, he was assigned to Grace's…Dr. Augustine's avatar program. On his first mission, he got lost and somehow stumbled upon the local tribe's hometree. Somehow, he persuaded them into not killing him and to teach him how they lived. For the next few months, he mostly lived among the Na'vi, and at some point during that time he went native and mated with the chief's daughter."
Unable to suppress a small smile, she shook her head. "Damn, Sully didn't go halfway did he?"
"No hid didn't," Renaldo said with a look of disdain thinking about those humans lost.
Selfridge sighed again, and shook his head. From what she could see, Selfridge was on the edge right now. "When our dozers got there, he attacked one of them and disabled it. With that incident, we knew that diplomacy had failed and decided to proceed with the tree's destruction. We thought that they'd just move on, I mean there are plenty of trees right?" He asked try ing to justify his actions.
Alejandra shook her head. "No, that was there home. That tree was more than a tree to them, and you know it."
Interrupting her, Andrews spoke up. "Excuse me; we're not here to discuss who was right or wrong. We're here to discuss how we should proceed with taking back our assets."
Assets infuriated her. The only thing worse than a greedy corporation more concerned with assets than the safety of those who work for them was: greedy corporations more concerned with assets than the safety of those who work for them. But now was not the time to voice her opinion; she needed to know exactly what happened because she was responsible for the lives of 557 people, 558 if she counted herself.
"Right sir," she said nodding to Andrews, "I was out of line. However, I would like for Mr. Selfridge to finish. If this situation is going to continue to be hostile, any information could valuable in making command decisions. I may have over five hundred people on this ship, but I don't have enough resources or capability presently to engage in a straight up fight…unless you want to have another failure on your hands."
Andrews nodded to Alejandra. "No, we've already suffered a large enough loss this quarter. Parker, please continue."
"Oh, uh, yes," Parker stuttered as he continued. "We arrested Sully…the real Sully, Dr. Augustine, and a scientist named Norman Spellman."
Spellman, I've heard that name somewhere, Alejandra thought as Selfridge recounted re cent events.
"A few hours later, one of our pilots broke them out of their cell and stole one of our Samsons and headed for where the Na'vi had relocated. A few days later, our satellites picked up elevated thermal signatures in Na'vi territory. We realized that they were amassing an army that already equaled ours, and would possibly grow to ten times that in a few days. Quaritch decided to take the fight to them before they would be able overrun our perimeter by assaulting one of their most sacred…holy places, something they call the 'Tree of Souls.'"
Alejandra pinched her nose, "And he committed nearly all his forces in this attack."
"He left a small contingent behind to guard the base…"
"Administrator, a small contingent is not enough to guard against an OpFor numbering over two thousand," Alejandra said incredulously. She knew Quaritch, she knew he was head strong, but she never thought him stupid enough to risk everything on such a gamble."
"Don't you think I don't know that," Selfridge yelled his eyes wide and wild. "We lost contact with them, and we watched the Na'vi just…just swarm all over them. I had no choice but to surrender…surrender or die."
Using her hands in a calming gesture, Alejandra looked at him sympathetically. "Administrator…Parker, you did the right thing, the same thing I would have done in your situation. Your actions ensured that some survived, for that you should be commended."
"Right…uh thank you Captain," Selfridge said, "but I do…do not deserve praise. My actions caused more death than good."
Andrews cleared his throat. "So now you know everything we know. The only other thing you should be apprised of is that yesterday Dr. Spellman sent a superluminal COMM burst to Earth saying that Pandora is 'sovereign territory,' and that 'any unauthorized landings would be considered an act of war.'"
Alejandra shifted her weight and to face Andrews. "I assume you are not ordering me to turn back sir."
"Correct Captain. You know as well as any of us that Pandora is the only known source of unobtainium and how valuable this material is to advancing our technology. We cannot let a bunch of flea bitten; tree hugging savages stop us from accessing those deposits."
Nodding at his assessment, "I understand sir, but with all due respect; these savages have done a remarkable job of impeding our efforts so far," Alejandra replied.
"True," Andrews agreed, "but I believe it's time to remove our gloves. I am authorizing you to take back Pandora with any means necessary. This includes accessing the special payload that former base commander Falco requested that is secured in your hold," Andrews said as a smile began forming.
"You want Chacon to nuke the Na'vi!" Selfridge said hysterically.
"If it comes to it Parker; personally, I think we should have done this much earlier." Andrews smile now taking a sinister twist; "I think that we should consider achieving peace with the Na'vi through superior firepower."
Alejandra's stomach lurched at the notion, and she found herself wanting to throw up. This was wrong…just absolutely wrong on all levels. What happened under Quaritch's leader ship was a tragedy for both sides. If the situation progressed along the lines that Andrews was thinking, it would be unforgivable. "You can't be serious!" There were just some lines one could not cross.
Andrews face darkened, "I'm more than serious Captain. However, please do not underestimate me. Only resort to deploying radiological ordinance as the last option."
Oh so it's alright to nuke innocents if it's your 'last option', but under other circumstances it's bad press, Alejandra thought as her ill feeling shifted to anger. "I assure you Mr. Andrews that I would exhaust every other possible option before I even consider considering something like that."
"I understand Captain, I don't like this scenario either," said Andrews in an attempt to look sympathetic toward her. "I would never consider having you make a decision of this mag nitude lightly."
I can't believe this shit. I won't do that... I can't do that! "I'll take it under advisement sir," she managed to get out without sounding too angry.
Andrews merely nodded, giving no indication that he knew how angry she was. "I expect that you will. Well, if there is no other business I must go. Unfortunately, there are angry share holders and government officials I must placate. Good evening to you Captain, I trust you will keep us apprised of your current situation."
"I intend to sir." Alejandra replied curtly.
"Excellent." Andrews reached toward his screen and the left side of the screen went blank as his disconnected from the transmission. Selfridge and Renaldo remained onscreen as their sections expanded to cover the space left when Andrews disappeared.
Alejandra looked over to Renaldo. "Please tell me you aren't going along with this."
He looked over to Selfridge, who was transmitting his feed from his quarters aboard the Venture Star. "Personally, I think we should kill three Na'vi for every human we lost, but I understand your apprehension at using nuclear ordinance. Just remember that you're human Chacon."
Selfridge sighed again for at least the tenth time since the meeting had begun. "Captain, you can't nuke them. It took our forces being slaughtered and us being evicted from the planet to open my eyes. We were wrong, we were so very wrong. All we can hope is that it isn't too late to redeem ourselves. Grace was right; she knew that we should have focused on the natural wonder of Pandora instead of raping the planet like Earth."
"Well our resident capitalist turned naturalist may disagree with Andrews, Chacon, but I think that we need to send our blue buddies a message about messing with us," rebutted Renaldo. "Regardless, you have one hell of a mess waiting for you Captain, and I want you to know that I wish you the best of luck. However, I do not envy you."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Alejandra replied almost sarcastically, though she realized that Renaldo was being genuine in his gesture.
Selfridge made one last, pleading look at Alejandra, "Please Captain, don't make us any more unredeemable."
She looked him in the eye. "I can't promise anything at this point, but I'll do everything in my power to keep this peaceful. As I said earlier, I don't have the manpower to fight a war."
"I know you'll do your best," Renaldo said before cutting the transmission from the Venture Star.
She and Fisher stood there in silence for a moment, the only sounds coming from the ship's computers and environmental systems and the bustling of the other CIC staff. Alejandra then turned to face her XO, "Darren, I want you to get our COMM officer to transmit the standard notification to Hell's Gate control to notify them of our intended arrival, then I want you to meet me in my quarters. We have a ton of shit to plan for and only a week to plan for it."
"I'll get right on it Alejandra," Fisher acknowledged with a kind smile on his face.
