The Art of Skirmishing – by a Practitioner
Prologue
My name is U'ok, I was a member of the Big Cliff clan, an edge-of-the-forest clan nortwest of the Tipani clan, not far from the coastline, when it all began. I can clearly remember that day the 6th Toruk Makto landed by the home tree, bringing a Tipani man who had lost his foot in the Great Battle. He held a speech: "Big Cliff clan! I am Jakesully, the 6th Toruk Makto and the olo'eyktan of the Omatikaya! We of the Omatikaya clan will one day need assistance from the Big Cliff clan, we and the Tipani and some other clans too have driven the Sky people away from our world but they are likely to one day return to wreak even more havoc among us. I hereby invite your olo'eyktan Pafa to our discussion circle, so we can plan what to do to throw them out when they do return!"
Pafa accepted the invitation, when he came back he looked rudely shocked. "Males and females of our clan, I have seen some utterly horrible, reprehensible, awful destruction! Those (abusive word omitted) just crushed a tree of voices and they had intended to flatten the Tree of Souls too… Yes I have seen the wrecks of the sky ay'ikran that had been ordered to do it – if they had succeeded, then… I have seen what was left of the Old Home Tree of Omatikaya… I have seen how the pit where they had been digging for a long time looked like… And what they told me... cutting off the queue of an olo'eyktan just for the fun of it… shooting warriors with incendiary stuff to not kill until warriors had been horribly burned… ravaging hunting grounds and other livelihoods of whole clans in a sweep… And knowing that if they come back here in force, the same will come to happen again, very probably to us too... We ought to, we must, we have to cooperate with the Omatikaya to avoid such a disaster once again! Anyone who don't believe what I am now saying should take a trip to Omatikaya and have a look for him or herself!" Tears were in his eyes, he had obviously had a brutal experience. The Big Cliff clan joined the Namana Land Federation against very few protests. Clanspeople understood that Pafa had understood something important.
A time of great reforms began but Pafa agreed with all of them, the shock from what he had seen and heard and then could retell clobbered any protest. His daughter Mnisakx and her mate Mayta'tey were given titles as srung tsahik and srung olo'eyktan, and invited to a school to learn about advanced politics, ceremony and diplomacy. Leading hunters, scouts, healers, priestesses etc. and numerous other leading craftspeople were invited to other schools to learn higher leadership of their crafts, and I myself was appointed to attend a warrior school to take leadership of our clan's kumpongu (warrior party) next to the olo'eyktan. Ang'at was appointed to represent our clan at the just established Northwestern Coastal tribe, and the constituting assembly appointed our leading cook Zemu'by as tribal leader of cooking. An honour for us, our cooks have always been proud of their superb mastery of the culinary art!
At the Warrior school of the tribe I learned a lot I never before knew.
We learned tactics – We met with big walking machines, now motionless, and learned how to defeat them – from above I was told, if we didn't have any Sky People arms. We met a big flying machine, again standing still on the ground, and learned how to defeat that one too - an ikran flyer should attack it from above and behind, and they were vulnerable on or close to the ground. Walking tawtute warriors – never attack them straight at front, rather from the flanks, above or rear, sneak up on them in the deep forest and take them one by one, try to arrange ambushes in tight localities where they had trouble with walking around – cliffs, bogs, bridges...
We learned strategy, how to plan for not tomorrow but for the war to continue and continue for ever if needed be. We learned logistics, to make sure that warriors had the food, the water, the arrows and all the rest they would need to attack the enemy – and to make sure that the enemy did not have the same. They taught us the human kind of discipline, it was annoying at start but we arranged an exhibition, drilling and marching along in closed order and the gawping astonishment of the villagers gave all of us a good taste! We met with warriors of other kinds - sea warriors, spies, scouts, agitators, healers etc. and learned how to cooperate well with them. We were visited by various experts at special fields and given special lessons – once we even had toruk makto explaining us about the importance of picking out right people for special jobs.
Then came the day of final testing. We made a fake war against the warrior school of another tribe and with one exception all of us, of both schools, made a good impression and passed. Two years of training had been successful. So a ceremony was arranged, our karyu asked us one by one to come forth and hand in the adorned black armband we had worn as trainees
and get a brown belt of srung olo'kumpongu eyktan in return, to the applause of all bystanders.
There was no job for me at my own Big Cliff clan but the neighbouring Ali'tutean clan needed a srung olo'kumpongu eyktan and they got me. And I was lucky to get this job, Zo'ar showed to be a natural warrior with a keen sense for what is useful in every situation, he taught me a lot too. So I started to teach the warriors the same tactical and disciplinary abilities as I had learned myself, and the best one out of ten of them were given a black armband as siltsan tsamshiu (elite warriors), and given some tawtute weapon to fight with on top of the bow, knife and spear. Some elementaries I also taught the hunters, scouts and other people of the clan.
We felt strong, competent and foxy smart too as warriors. Come what may and we'll defeat it!
Days would however come when I needed to put the abilities I had learned and taught to my warriors, and to the Ali'tutean scouts and hunters too...
The Hurricane Is upon Us!
In hindsight I understand that the first omen of what was to come was the male who one day came to us, saying his name was Tirom'u, that he had come from the Zakali clan out in the western sea and just wanted to chat a little before he would be on his way again. Not that we had heard about that clan before, but it might have seceded from another one recently. So we thought. He just wanted to talk about what it was like here at Namana Land, who we cooperated with, who were our friends, our enemies, how the Namana Federation was governed etc. Why, it might even be possible to recruit some islander clans to our ring of friendly clans! We told him what he asked for, and it didn't occur to anyone at the time that there was more about him than met the eyes.
But then one day the news came with a messenger that someone had tried to assassinate the son of toruk makto. And somebody had really killed the daughter of the olo'eyktan at the Atoll Islands out in the Eastern Sea. What was going on? The answer came a few days later, one of those "Zakali" was captured in the Mountain Clan land and brought to the Tree of Souls. That "Zakali" was then revealed to be a sly talker of the tawtute, who intended to create chaos among us and so had tried to assassinate, with success in the islands but without by the Omatikaya.
The alarm now started chiming, emissaries went out to the friends of the tawtute that they had been misled. But they were not heeded so a war kumpongu was raised. Luckily the Ali'tutean ay'kumpongu didn't participate at the Battle at the Stone Covered Well, a grace of Eywa because the battle was a horrendous defeat.
The day after the battle Jakesully's helper Tsailoni came to us and sat down to discuss with the ay'eyktan of the Ali'tutean clan.
"A long and hard war is now ahead. This will not be a war like the Great Battle, this time we will fight not like a herd of angtsikä but like a pack of nantang. We'll sneak up on the enemy, take as many as we can of the tawtute - but only as many as we have to of their Na'vi friends, they are not evil only fooled by the wily ay'tawtute. We should rather turn them around, to make them our friends in the next round. In any case we get away as soon as possible after we have taken down our marks, before they can come and take on us. And any time our spies tell us that one clan has become despondent after useless fighting, we will grab the opportunity with turning them around, over to our friendship, we have our ways to convince them.
But we now need to ask the clan to take some general measures. You should leave your home tree and hide in small groups in the forest nearby, your home tree is a simple target for enemy attack. But we can leave a few there, as bait for attackers and then take them if they take the bait.
If we take tawtute prisoners we should not kill them or mistreat them in any way, we must always be what they not always are - civilized! We should take them to home trees in small groups and treat them as our guests, not very welcome guests may be but still. Then we can tell the tawtute, look how well we are treating our prisoners! That will be bad for their fighting spirit.
You need to accept among you refugees from the plains and the bare coastline, it is harder to hide there than in the much denser forests where you live. They need your assistance in the times to come, and they will most probably return the favours in kind in time. Their time of war action will come later on, when we are ready to go on the main attack.
When our spies tell us that one mine is ill defended then we'll attack it. We destroy it as well as we can, the mines are after all the reason that the tawtute are here at our world at all. After pillaging a mine we immediately return to the forest before the defenders come to destroy us.
Thus we shall steadily weaken them, until they in the end have to withdraw from our lands. This I and toruk makto Jakesully and the other leaders of the federation have agreed upon, after a careful debate. Orders for your participation in various special attacks will come in time, until then you can prey on tawtute coming into your territory without risking too much.
Should you be visited by sly talkers offering you sky people weaponry in return for grey rocks then accept, give them rocks and then you can turn those arms over to other clans who may need them better if you don't have the power to participate in attacks. Then those arms will be put to good use, we'll see to that!
Your warriors may in this war often be out of the conflict but still your scouts can do useful job. A discovered enemy is almost as valuable as a killed enemy! Scouts should keep looking for the enemy whereabouts all the time, reporting to the scouting master every move they walk. The scouting master can then report to us in the leadership, we will then decide when it is advantageous to take on them, and thus those not fighting will know in good time that the enemy is approaching. Remember how a pack of nantang often may stalk their prey for a long time, until the opportunity is right to attack. No sooner and no later. So scouts should always try to stay out of skirmishes, their task is before and after, and of course our own talkers and spies are scouts too.
In sum, we shall be the invisible enemy of the tawtute, there will be an eye and an ear behind every three in the forest and we strike whenever we see fit, otherwise they will never find anything but shadows. One enemy warrior down without any fallen of us will be a victory good enough for now.
Such elusive ways have worked well often before at Earth, so why not here? They have an undisputable advantage in technology but we know the nature, the land and the peoples. We are fighting for our own land against an enemy we know well, toruk makto Jakesully has taught us a lot, they are not. That is another advantage for us.
Now I leave to give these orders to other clans too."
The First Raid
A time of small scale skirmishing began. There was a lot of hiding, fleeing to ever new hideouts again and again for females, kids and the elderly, and from time to time arrows were shot out of the shadows and rockets struck down a helicopter cruising in the sky. Very significant it was that our warriors during this period built up a knowledge about handling Sky People's warriors, their strong and weak points – such topics you need to learn by experience because it can't be taught. Also important was that our warriors developed a reputation as elusive shadows with a nasty bite in return among the clans of the "Ocean Federation" – a reputation that probably in time could be exchanged for one declaring us as powerful enemies in offence too…
Once Sky People warriors came to a clan they thought had made peace with them after they had been contacted, only to experience that warriors of the clan stabbed the Sky people leaders and warriors, whereupon the clans promptly disappeared in the forest. So they stopped trusting deals their talkers (diplomatic negotiators) had made.
In the end they stopped entering the forest unless in big raids, which they rarely did as there were few targets offered them by us the Na'vi. Jakesully could in other words start to think in terms of offensive action out of the forest. At the western coastline the forest came right down to the sea in the territory of the U'o'ne and Sunara clans, so that was where the sea warriors of the federation raised their base. They raided island after island by night, after careful preparation by our talkers and spies. But such action was mostly for the sea warriors to handle, plus those islanders they turned to be our friends, few mainlander land warriors took part in that campaign.
However, one day Namana Land grand master of warriors, Yeff, paid us a visit.
"Our spies have told us that mine in the Stingbat clan's land – a small clan, vassals under the Amananga – is currently ill guarded. It is close to a tongue of forest we can take cover in until we are ready to attack it. The Eymastua will then ride fa'li to attack on the ground while you and the Big Cliff warriors will protect the riders from the air. Should the enemy counterattack then keep them back until those on the ground are safe. They will retreat into the small forest and so will you when they are safe. There will be an olo'kumpongu of Eymastua hunters there, ready to receive them. And a Zazawä olo'kumpongu of warriors, those siltsan tsamshiu are armed with rockets meant for ay'kunsip. You see, this is a major attack, if they give chase you should only get as far as the forest and then it is ready set go."
So at dawn the day after we lay hiding in the vegetation close to the mine, I and the rest of the Ali'tutean warrior kumpongu. We heard the trumpet of the fa'li-riders and saw them ride out, and then we waited for our signal and then we heard the flute - to the air! We arrived above the mine about the same time as the fa'li-riders bore down on it, the Stingbat clanspeople working there ran in any which direction, the Eymastua came over a tawtute who tried to raise the Stingbat clanspeople to arms but he was quickly struck down by an Eymastua spear. Having driven away the workers and miners on the ground the pa'li-riders dismounted and proceeded with destroying everything they could of mining equipment and constructions. They hurried, they knew that Stingbat clan warriors probably were soon coming.
Tara-tara-tara-tiiii! That trumpet signal meant "tally-ho, enemy sighted"! I looked around - lo and behold, there they came flying, those ikran-riders. Rather late, but they could still do damage to us. The fa'li-riders were already in full retreat, now it was up to us in the air to keep the enemy flyers at bay until they could disappear in the forest.
So fighting ensued up in the air. They lost and we lost, and then we broke off from the encounter, they would as a matter of self-evidence pursue us now and not the riders down on the ground. So we withdrew to the trees and they pursued us there - and met a withering fire from the hunters up in the trees.
End of the story was six lost to us versus almost sixty to the enemy. The riders then attacked the mining site and destroyed whatever they could, and plundered any tawtute weaponry they could find there – not so many after all, there were few of them at the site. Afterwards we heard from our spies that the success of the raid had prompted the tawtute eyktan (somebody in the Sky People leadership) to give up mining in that mine. And a couple of weeks afterwards the agitators of the Federation landed at the Stingbat clan home tree, soon after this small clan defected over to our side and fled into the forest to us. In sum: brilliant success!
Their olo'eyktan understood fully well that defecting over to our side was the intelligent thing to do but still he was unhappy to cut loose from the clan they had been vassals under since times immemorial, the Amananga. Exile from their home tree was an unhappy affair too. Yeff cheered him up: "Calm down, buddy. In not so long time you will be together with the
Amananga once again, you can one day join in their tribe to be under their vassalage once again, it will probably be named the "North Point tribe". This will be your choice alone. They will join us too and in not so very long time - it is my promise! And you will soon move back to your home tree again - that is also my promise!"
The terms "not so long time" and "soon" are relative, however... But in the evening that day we were told that the tawtute had been driven off the Western Ocean Island, now the sea warriors were on to two of the larger islands in the archipelago, the Bokoyw and Tu'kutx. The battles for those islands would be decisive.
Planning Another Raid against a Mine
Then a spy reported that the two other mines in Amananga and their vassals' land would now be under guard by Sky People warriors. Repeating the success at the Stingbat mine would be much harder this time round, with dug in warriors around and helicopters close by, also because those mines were much further away from the forest.
Yeff went to have some talks with Jakesully, Tsailoni and others in the leadership, to listen to fresh spy reports... and to fish for inspiration for ideas!
I have later been told that it was a not a warrior but a hunter who had the good idea - the former dreamwalker named Erniengum. "During the last raid our flyers fled into the protection of the trees and the warriors hidden there. But do we have to hide them among trees? Why not dig them down into the ground and then let them hide in the hole under dried moss mats, then they can tear open the mats on given signal and shoot down 'copters. Also I can try to see if my own little trick can be for good use this time too, it has worked well before. A herd of big animals is a good cover for our assembling war party too."
"Not a bad idea but it needs some work. We'll then need to know about how many 'copters there are, we do not have overly many rockets to waste. And we must find out if there are defence towers and other defences at the sites, if so it means that this site is untouchable at least for now."
"Agree, but they don't have equipment to erect endless many defences either. It is at least worth an investigation by some scout."
So was done. The scout found out that there were only two towers, autocannons and air batteries. Not many but still something to consider. And three ay'kunsip and walking machines, plus some twenty warriors on the ground, of course in addition to some seventy ikran- and pa'li-riders of the Black Cliff clan, another vassal clan of the Amananga. Looked like they intended to hang on to that mine... The other mine was even further away, not far from the Amananga home tree itself.
The spy who went to take a more careful look at the mining compound gave an interesting report some days later. The tawtute had constructed three buildings there, all of them prefabricated and flown in, they all looked much like the small building where Jakesully had hid his tawtute body during the Great Battle. She said that one of them was much larger than the others, and she had seen them enter that building in the evening with droopy eyes and come out of it in the morning, looking fresher. Sleeping house, she guessed. The other one was a smaller one, only two or three of them entered that house for any long time, and outside it she saw the storage pen where boxes with grey rocks were put together. A working house
for the ay'eyktan of the mine, she guessed. Their "office", the former dreamwalkers said. And finally there was another small and windowless house, with lots of long rods on the roof, where only one person at the time used to sit for any long time.
Hearing about that last house, the ears of Yeff stiffened and stood up erect. "That last small house must be the control central and radio station, where they talk with their headquarter at Amananga garrison and the people at the mine, and control the defences. If something could cut off that house it would seriously hamper their defence of the mine. I wonder if it might be possible to ask a spy to do something military, just for once..."
He asked leader of spies Neytiri, mate of Jakesully, for a spy willing to take this job and was given young Yewetiri. She was present at the meeting where all leaders of the raid came to be told what to, how to, when to and why to do all sorts of thing during the raid. "Now Yewetiri, I have a task for you that might well earn you a tasselled scouting helmet (badge of respect, like a medal at Earth)."
Her eyes widened in anticipation.
"We have destroyed the Stingbat mine. We are now about to destroy the Black Cliff mine, we start action day after tomorrow but then we must have made our preparations finish.
Our problem is that the tawtute warriors have built defences there and there are some ay'kunsip and walking machines. It is vital to put the tawtute towers out of action and to stop them from calling for assistance from all the rest of the tawtute. This is your job Yewetiri: First you infiltrate this mining base. You can then find a small house close to the mine with many rods on the roof. When you have found it you take this stone and open the door into it (a hand grenade). Then you pull out this ring and immediately throw it indoors, then you close the door at once and run away as fast as you can. Finally you leave the base as soon as you safely can. That stone will make the house go BOOOM! It is a very dangerous stone so make sure to do precisely like I now told you. Open door, pull out ring, throw inside, close door, run away. In this very order."
"Understood."
"Next section in the action plan is for those riding pa'li. They are to attack the base as soon they hear the explosion at the mine base. It will not be a serious attack, just a feint to woo the tawtute along. Retreat as soon as you see any kunsip and back off to behind the big rocks. Then you will be safe. There you stay until you see a rocket with a green flame through the air, then you ride to attack them. Have you understood your part of the plan, Zizipx?"
"Yes I have."
"Fine. Now for the main action. Ali'tutean and Mountaineer warriors, you are to dig holes in the ground for all of you, two by two, in the night and then creep down into them before dawn. Pull moss mats over you, to hide you from enemy eyes. You will hear pa'li-feet on the ground, it is a signal to get ready. Then when you hear pa'li feet galloping by second time, it is time to creep out, the enemy is now coming. There are three ay'kunsip and equally many walking machines, so you are given twenty four rockets and that should suffice. Against their ikran-riding guns and bow is sufficient, we must reserve the rockets for the ay'kunsip and walking machines. And here is a special rocket, a signal rocket with a green flame, fire that one when all kunsip and walking machines have been shot down or are fleeing, that will be a signal for ikran- and pa'li-riders to ride in and finish off the base. You have also been given guns to defend yourselves against enemy ikran-flyers. Zo'ar and Talfikx, have you understood your part of the plan?"
"Yes."
"All right. Final part of the team are the ikran-riding hunters of the Mountain clan, your turn is now. When you see that green-tailed light you are to immediately take to the air and ride to the mining base. Together with the pa'li-riders you attack anyone resisting there, and destroy
anything you can. Pursue any tawtute trying to escape. Kxapxe, you got it?"
Erniengum broke in at that point: "If I have managed to herd in a herd of angtsikä I unleash them then, too."
"All of you: Take well care of our misled brothers and sisters of clans for the moment allied with Sky People, they are not evil people just naïve, they are our future friends. Fleeing Na'vi are not to be touched, and take wounded 'future friends' to healers on the double. But bring down or take prisoner all Sky people you see. All of you, anything not clear as day?"
"I have seen it." "And I." "I too." "And me." ...
"Finally, I have very positive news for all of you. Our sea warriors have captured the Bokoyw out west, together with local islander clans! We who fight on land shouldn't be any worse than them, agree?"
Attack on Black Cliff Mine
The plan was elaborate and of course some snag would arise - but a well made plan has flexibility to allow for the unexpected. Yeff gave us reason to think that he had kept that in mind and had tried to retain that flexibility. He had asked Neytiri for an intelligent spy and he had probably got what he had asked for when he was given Yewetiri.
From a friend of mine who talked with her afterwards, I heard what the spy Yewetiri could tell about her actions at the mine. She landed her ikran and hid him in a small grove some distance away from the mine, and then strode towards the mine with the heavy blasting stone – the hand grenade – in a pouch at the hip and adorned like a northerner. She came to the mining area and tried to look busy, to not attract attention as an unknown. Infiltration ability was what had made Yeff ask for a spy to handle this task.
She soon found three small houses tightly together. The description fit – one rather big with many windows in a long row and a door at the short end. Not the house of interest. One smaller with a lot of stone in a bin outside. Not the house of interest either. But that had to be it – one small, boxlike and without windows, with a big array of rods standing up on the roof. She walked to the door in, as all the houses the Sky People built at Pandora it had a double door set with a gas exchange room between the outer and the inner door. She walked to the outer door – but the door couldn't be opened! (She didn't know how to type the keyword at the keyboard by the side of the door, and didn't know the keyword either…) Well now, how to get this stone inside now? Or could it be done in some other way?
A fast glance around – anyone see me right now? Nobody? That's fine! She jumped up on the roof and discovered that all the rods – the antennae – were bundled up together, like a bouquet. She thought to herself: "The heck with it!" Then she dropped her loincloth and stood there stark naked, tied the leather string from her loincloth to the ring in the exploding stone, and dropped it into the middle of the instruments, where her fingers could hardly have wiggled in, and pulled the ring loose with the leather string. And she jumped down and ran.
Other person's POW: Radio-, arms and surveillance technician Elizabeth Baines was sitting at her screen reporting animal herds coming together – rather peculiar with such a large herd, in the direction of the cliffs over there, and talking with her commanding colonel Avellano Cardoso about this, when all of a sudden a big BANG! shook the shack. All the screens instantly went black and the gas alarm went off, she immediately grabbed her emergency exopack and donned it. Then she rose up, took her sidearm and ran out.
Another person's POW: Outside a digger came running from the pit. He saw a naked female coming running and asked her: "What is going on over there?" She hastily replied: "Don't know for sure, just heard a big BANG! My loincloth was torn off me by the blast, someone may need help there, I am running to get it!"
I was lying hidden in my dug in hole in the ground at a hillside, so I had a view of the mining site in the distance when the blast happened. I lifted the mat above me and my warrior partner a little bit and looked out. It looked like utter confusion reigned in the mining site. People were running around in confusion, a small building looked like cracked… And then I heard the pounding feet of the fa'li thundering by.
I could see them shooting and spearing around down there. But suddenly I saw a kunsip – no three of them – in the air. I heard a trumpet tooting and they made a full retreat. Now our turn was imminent. "Ready your drum!" I ordered my partner. Then I heard the thundering feet passing by again – and the buzzing sound of the ay'kunsip. I peeped out and called out: "In range! Drum!"
The signal sounded, up rose the hidden warriors, two rockets struck an kunsip and then another one got three, the last one was struck too but managed to evade the second rocket meant for it, it turned and returned to base. Then we all went back down into hiding, the walking machines and ikran-riders would soon be coming too! And they came and met with the same barrange, all of them were taken down, the ikran-riders turned and ran for it. Then I saw a green flame in the air – the signal rocket, fired by Zo'ar! Down into cover now!
Now the heavy feet pounded heavier than ever, a whole herd of angtsikä stampeded, behind them the fa'li-riders rode in again, and I knew that up in the air there were lots of ikran-riders too. Woe unto anyone at the mining site now!
The rampage was destructive to put it delicately! Anything of use to us was plundered, anything that could burn was set on fire, or it was tumbled over, cracked or broken. We caught fifteen Sky People warriors and probably killed equally many, we brought them to a home tree as prisoners of war – we calmed them down with promising them that no harm would come to them now. And then we retired. I guessed that someone among their eyktan were very angry now!
The day after there was a small celebration, we only lost four of those who had hid in hoes – one of them was trampled by an angtsik – three on fa'li and two on ikran. Yeff was all glee when he offered the once again dressed Yewetiri a flying helmet with a white tassel. We later learned that the mine was attempted put to production again later but they were not to have time for complete repairs, their time at Namana Land was ebbing. They had had bad losses during the raid, they had only three olo'kumpongu (companies) left now at the Amananga garrison, a spy told us. One of them was chasing shadows in the forest, another one was weak and in for refitting and one was ready for action.
A week later they had a success, they raided and destroyed our radio station – but lost two more ay'kunsip. However the day after the news broke that the tawtute had suffered a serious defeat when they tried to recapture Tu'kutx Island and then the day after that again the attack at Jakesully himself badly misfired. Jake grabbed the initiative then, the Amananga home tree was visited and this time they listened to what he had to say. Suddenly the now single and weakened Sky People kumpongu at the base found themselves under siege and they immediately evacuated the base when they discovered that the Amananga had deserted them. And those in the forest broke off and fled over to Marakxali Island like them.
Rest & Recuperation – and a New Target
It was an occasion for a party when all tawtute had left the Namana Land, we thought. We thought we had earned it, we had had losses of young men and women and we needed to return to everyday life to stock up food, garment etc. The party became all the merrier when someone brought the news that all the islands out west had won over to our side too, and that unrest had broken out at Nongona Land far to the west. Probably they would soon come to their senses and take our side too? Soon, perhaps?
We not only had earned our right to recuperate, we even needed it, we had to fill up the ranks of warriors with new recruits to be inaugurated. Those who had been wounded would need time to recuperate and train back to strength. And according to what I heard from other clans, the need to sit down and take rest was widespread.
But apart from recuperation etc. we were of course given duties too. Some of our warriors were given escort duties when our agitators were roaming around, agitating among wavering clans for the advantages with joining one of the budding federations against the Sky People. Knowledgable warriors, history tellers and ay'eyktan from Namana Land soon followed them, building up one federation after another, for starters with constitutions much like the Namana Land federation, with adaptations to local conditions. That way we added a lot of warriors to our side against them.
But still there was a standoff between the Atoll archipelago, Marakxali Island and the Gargoyle Fish Land. How to overcome that? They somehow did manage it, for suddenly one day we got to hear that the two former had joined us and the Sky People had been driven out of there, with very serious losses. Jubilation again, joining in a party was in order even though the warriors of the Ali'tutean clan had not participated in the attack.
But having regained our power some of our hunting parties took part in the airborne skirmishes against the last Sky People garrison that still remained. Those hunters participated honourably, they didn't overcome any kunsip but still lost three ikran-riders. But other skirmishers succeded, our warrior olo'kumpongu was among the six kumpongu that went ashore Gargoyle Fish Land.
Before we were paddled out we listened to briefings by the nxi kumpongu eyktan Zingitar, who had been given command of the land fighting operation. He told us:
"These are utterly peaceful clans. More than ever it is important to behave nice with them. We have had spies give us a detailed picture and our agitators are active already, so we have a pretty good image of conditions. Which is why you land at the southern coast, there are some clans there who are well drawn on to our side there. With them as a base you will go from clan to clan, offer your protection that is demonstrably better than the tawtute can manage, and when you meet with those people then fight them. That will be a demonstration of your ability to defend them the civilized way. You are not likely to meet many of them, they are striving with defending their base against repeated air attacks by ikran riders. When you then make contact with the base defences, give report."
Coming ashore in the night at the beach we had been told to land at, we were met with an agitator at the beach. He guided us to the discussion circle of the clan, we presented our offer and with a trump card: The bundled up Sky People miner we had met with in the forest. The five other warrior kumpongu and the six other hunter kumpongu did much of the same. Soon we were stalking the base itself. But one day we were sneaking through the forest when suddenly WHOOOOSH! BOOOM! A rocket from a defence tower struck down just a few paces away from us, that warrior closest by had to be taken to a healer afterwards but he survived. But that was the demonstration Zingitar had asked for so now he got his report.
Planning to Take the Last Garrison
Three days later Zingitar delivered us rockets for use against defence towers, and we sat down to plan the action against them.
Zingitar struggled with the problem of how to overcome the defences of the base. He couldn't see any way of doing it, and asked for Yeff to come and advice us like he had done before. But having cooperated with him before, Zingitar knew that he would want intelligence about the station, so a spy was sent in to look around there.
The spy was ready with the report when Yeff arrived. First he made a statement: "Our advantage has all the time been that the enemy has underestimated our knowledge of technology and measures to neutralize their technological advantage. We must if possible somehow try to keep on doing that." He then asked the spy what he had seen in there.
"Many buildings, there is a big and very tall one with many rods on the roof." "That is the Central Command and Control tower. With offices in the lower floors. If we could smash the CCC tower it would do the same as we did at the Black Cliff mine, blinding the defences. But it is most probably under heavy guard and lots of gas security, no use in trying to sneak in and try to blast it. Neither is it possible to jam the radio communication, they have switched to different identifications, frequencies and linkings, so the computer wizards can't blind the defences."
Zingitar knew that he was talking about those people who were working at what was left of the old Sky People's den not very far from Tree of Souls and the Omatikaya New Hometree. He understood that they were able to work tawtute magic against the enemy, he would never understand what they were doing but it must have been powerful, since they had blinded the base defences.
"Eight big buildings, four floors tall, and with many windows. Five of them are in ruins." "That is the barracks, where they are sleeping and resting, some of them badly damaged by a rail gun shell we fired when we took the Sea Maggot Island base. Useless for a small scale attack, we would need a huge bomb to take them down. Or a rail gun hit."
"One big building, with many windows, people going in and out all day sometimes in a jolly or talkative mood, at times a horn signal is sounding from the roof, in the morning, at noontime and in the evening." "That is the mess hall, also with a cinema, bath house and a gym. Not very valuable as a target either."
"A big building with a large entrance, side by side a huge but destroyed building. Lots of ay'kunsip and walking machines outside." "The technical repair workshop. Might be a good target for attack if none else is available – if we could push in a sufficiently large bomb…"
"A not very large building, built from very thick stone, without windows. With only one entrance and no double door." "The arsenal, the storage house for their weaponry. Might be a useful target for attack too – but it is probably under very heavy guard."
"A small house, in the outskirts of the base, with many strings from the roof to other houses at the base." "Must be their power station. Might be a useful target, best I have heard about so far."
"Several open areas, one of them with a long, narrow house facing a row of round plates with a spot on. Another has a very large, flat stone on the ground and an unwalled house with lots of grey rock under the roof close by." "The first one is part of their training facility, it is their shooting range, where they train to shoot their guns. The second one is their landing pad of the sky ikran, that unwalled building close by is the storage house for ore to be delivered up to the sky."
"Finally there is an unwalled house located in a grove of trees, in a corner of the base." "That is their reception hall, where they invite their guests from the clans of the land. Well, from what I have heard the power station seems to be the most inviting target. So now I want a closer description of what it look like and where it is located."
"It is the northern corner of the base, standing at a distance from other buildings. The house is rather small, on the roof are many rods and bulbs, like a forest of metal, out of that funny assembly goes the strings that run from house to house. Sometimes there is a humming sound from the building. I never saw anyone go in or out of it. It doesn't have any double door for gas exchange."
"I can explain. The house is standing at a distance from the rest of the base because they are afraid that the power production processes, where our infamous unobtanium is involved, can go wrong and the whole place goes BOOOM! For everydays the house is remotely controlled from the CCC tower building, so it isn't every day that anyone need to into it. It is small, it is only the production going on inside there, much of the building is dug down into the ground. The door is only there to allow repairers entry inside in case it should malfunction. The rods and bulbs on the roof are for distributing power to the different buildings of the base, according to need and also to allow for byways should one power line be destroyed. The humming you heard means that a malfunction is threatening, when the humming stops it means that the problem has been taken care of by the techies. That is everyday coming and going, not something they care too much about. It doesn't have double doors and gas exchange because technical problems inside there might need to be repaired at once, no time to waste with a gas exchange, better to go inside still wearing exopack.
Now the question is: How are we to put this building out of action, more precisely – put an end to what is going on inside it? We could try to throw grenades up on the roof – dangerous because the power going through those lines is mighty! And a big forest of transformators and lines on the roof means that they have built byways to get the power around if one line starts acting up. We should rather go to the root. One bomb to blast open the door, then throw some bombs in to make some mayhem in there. Don't try to enter through the door, the environment inside there is very dangerous! Having done this they should run away on the double and into the forest, if they have succeeded the towers should be more or less "asleep".
Having thrown those bombs in it is time for the spies to evacuate the base at once. When the blasts from the house has come to an end, the warriors in the forest nearby can shoot a green signal rocket, it means that the defence systems are "asleep" – they can safely be approached and shot up with rockets. Only do it quickly, the ay'kunsip are probably up to defend the base now.
Only one problem is left. Can we get our agents into the base incognito, without being discovered? And later evacuated with as little risk as possible? I will go ask Norm for some scouts who can talk a passable imitation of the local dialect and know their traditions of dressing and behaviour otherwise, and see if they are willing to go for it."
Action against the Power Station
(Note from author: The first paragraphs from the point of view of the participants of the sting action.)
In the night a canoe paddled from Marakxali Island towards Gargoyle Fish Land. Eleven scouts waded ashore, ten scouts and one able scout who was Rautu, leader of the team. They had brought the equipment for the action in pouches in their belts. All had been given special tasks to do in the coming action, they were given code names reflecting their tasks for convenience when in action.
They soon established base in the home tree of a "turned" clan close to the enemy base. They donned adornment etc. to look like the locals and made a last rehearsal of the plan, in the best imitation they could manage of the local dialect. And then they set out in the morning.
First of all in the morning they went to the mine pit and asked the engineer present for tools to dig with. They were given and dug like so many did. Lunch time came, food was served for them by the cooks the miners had hired to work as such, and then back to work. At end of the day the engineer told them that they had dug out an appreciable heap of ore – "Now take it to the weighing station to hand it in. Good job, all of you, lads and lassies!"
Carrying ore they now had a reason to go to the base that wasn't for anyone to doubt. That was the reason stooping to work in the mine for a day…
They handed the stones in and the clerk at the weighing station then told them to go to have their well deserved evening meal. Well they walked that direction but didn't sit down at the fire pit, they continued on towards the base perimeter. Rautu saw the building in the waning light: "That is the power station!" she whispered. They walked over to its outer side, the door in faced the rest of the base.
Now Guard 1 took up position with his bow to protect those at work from intruding eyes, as did Guard 2 and Guard 3. Fire put a blanket on the ground and poured some charcoal into it from her pouch, and ignited a small fire. Meanwhile all the rest of them took their makeshift bombs and readied them – blocks of mining explosive with fuses. Then Blaster took his charge and fixed his bomb to the door, in the fissure between the door and the wall, and fixed the fuse to it. When the fire was burning Fire dipped the torch she was given by Rautu in it, and when it burned she walked around the corner to the door and lighted the fuse. Then she ran back behind the house and they all bent down, protecting their ears.
The blast was violent. The door was only slightly ajar but it could be pulled out easily. Now all of them lighted the fuses of their own bombs – all at once, now every second was vital! Rautu screamed: "Hurry up, they will be here very soon now!" Then they all threw their bombs with burning fuses through the door they had blasted open and then they ran into the darkness. When the five blasts had come to an end, the base would have no power – at least for some minutes to come – so they could run out and away into the jungle.
Five loud explosions were heard, and they ran for their lives. Then came an explosion that seemingly could have waken the dead, so loud it was. The defence towers made no protest when they passed them by…
(Elizabeth Baines had barely escaped from the debacle at the Black Rock mine with her life. She was now sitting and monitoring the general situation report screen at the CCC tower. Life was good here, far better than at a hardscrabble outstation mine. It had become noticeably less comfortable after the fall of Sea Maggot Island base but still… BOOOM! An explosion was heard. "What was that?" Security chief on watch Barney Ennery said: "Don't know but it sounded like at the power station. I better send some techies over there to have a look at what is going on over there…" But then five muted explosions came in quick succession and the light went out, all screens went black and the familiar hum of the ventilation system became silent. And perhaps a minute later a huge explosion came that made the CCC tower tremble. The base sirene went off, everyone were instantly at foot, heading for their alarm positions. Looking towards the power station they saw that it had been blasted to small pieces, and flames stood up from the innards of the station like from a furnace.
Elizabeth yelled: "Emergency power!" And now they heard one explosion after another from the defences – she saw colonel Avellano Cardoso howling: "The Na'vi are attacking our base defences! Get out there and drive them away pronto!" But the fox had run away in the night now, the towers, AA batteries and the autocannons were all in various state of destruction.
At daybreak the disaster could really be assessed. The power station was completely wrecked, the power from the emergency generator now had to really do many jobs! No movies, cold water in the showers and mostly cold food from now on, until the power station could be replaced! After the successful destruction of the main power supply of the base, the situation looked even grimmer than ever. The colonel thought to himself that may be he had been foolhardy when he rejected the demand for surrender of that diplomat?)
(POW of U'ok again:)
When the defence systems had been eliminated, it became much simpler for us to attack the base from air. The early warning systems were about the only piece of the defence system left, and it was possible to fool it by flying through the forest canopy. They tried to rebuild the defences and the power station but our warriors never left them in peace to do it, we had completely taken over the initiative now and they suffered severe losses. A week later our diplomat at Gargoyle Fish Land took contact with them again and reminded them about their hopeless situation, they duly accepted a day long ceasefire. I and my Ali'tutean kumpongu took part in the parade that day, I gleefully saw the eyes of the tawtute when they beheld our little… I think Yeff called it a small "tattoo". This was warfare to my liking: Lots of display and no blood shed!
The day after we got to hear that our parade had succeeded with its task, the enemy was now about to surrender! We all felt exceedingly happy, I embraced Zo'ar my boss and many others did likewise, we laughed and joked. Some reacted in different ways though, I saw a warrior who spontaneously gave a loud thanksgiving to Eywa who had persuaded the enemy to accept the inevitable and I saw a few who had broken down in tears, there was even one who fainted. And there was one hot-headed one who cursed: "… but I had wanted to really get in close and intimate with them, now I'll never get to avenge my sister! Dammit!" But afterwards, once the wildest jubilation had died down, nxi'kumpongu eyktan Zingitar lined us up in a formal parade, and led all of us in a solemn, heartfelt and formal homage to Eywa for her grace with saving many lives from an ultimate slaughter.
Victory!
A week later the final, ceremonial surrender took place, I and my olo'kumpongu took part. The ceremony was a spectacle I am no doubt going to tell my grandchildren lots about, the feeling of history in the making was awesome. That evening I went by canoe over to Sea Maggot Island and rejoined my faithful ikran, and we flew back to Ali'tutean home tree. Where I met with my own little soon-to-be mate, we first met at the victory party after the conquest of that island, she was of the Mountaineer clan.
The day after our return from the surrender ceremony a big celebration took place. The food was lavish and exquisite, a cook had been brought in from my own old Big Cliff clan to take care of the serving. There was dancing, socializing – I think that two or three of my own warriors got themselves mates that evening! I met with Yeff, he was obviously having a rather too good time, he even after some time started showing signs of having emptied a little too many cups of drink!
Many of all crafts were decorated for their contributions to the victory with items in brown, white or yellow, however peripheral contributions. Not only warrior's archery bracelets, hunter's feathers, sea warrior's paddle handle and scout helmets with tassels, but also the Omatikaya weavers were awarded a brown or white weaver's spindle of honour for crafting the banner of the Na'vi federations. Some of the awardings went across craft limits, Erniengum got not only a hunter's yellow feather but a warrior's yellow archery armlet as well. Another item in the partying was more solemn gratitudes expressed to Eywa – most of all at the Tree of Souls I later heard.
The feasting lasted for days.
And then everydays were back – but not before we had had time to sleep out after the feasting! As an experienced warrior olo'kumpongu eyktan I was asked to take some years with establishing the warrior school for Northern Land, a single one should do for their not very many clans. Having done that, two years later I was notified that a promotion to tribal n-i-c was available for me – if I cared… it most certainly did – and I became srung nxi'kumpongu eyktan. Lady Luck was smiling at me! And she kept smiling at me, I am now a happy father with a son and a daughter of my own.
U'ok now put a period mark to the story of his war experiences.