(A/N: Hey everybody, writing another short fic here. Bold text is Na'vi language. Please review after reading, as feedback is my primary motivation for posting updates. God, not even one chapter in and I'm resorting to threats and bribery... What a debauched world we live in.)
Silas was jolted roughly against the wall of the armored personnel carrier as it hit some unknown obstacle in the road and continued on. The troop bay was stiflingly hot, as their air conditioning unit had run out of Freon some miles back. Silas reflected bitterly on the fact that the avatar team they were meeting probably rode a helicopter in over the impressive scenery. There was no scenery in here, due to the fact that it was almost pitch dark.
The gunner ducked down from his hatch and shouted over the roar of the engine.
"Thirty seconds boys!"
Every man in the hold checked his weapons one more time, even though they were already pristine and ready to go. Better safe than sorry was an idiom well suited to the unforgiving environment on Pandora. Silas ran a finger along the seal of his exopack to make sure there were no leaks.
The armored vehicle's motor ground into a lower gear and stopped, idling.
"Go go go, down the ramp!"
Grace Augustine folded her arms and let out a long, low sigh.
Grunts.
She had no real idea why Quaritch always insisted on sending along an entire army to shadow her, but she knew that the protection reason was probably bullshit. No, strike that, she KNEW it was bullshit. Her assistant for the day, a tall, quiet man named Jacob, was perfectly able to defend himself. The avatars they were driving were almost ten feet tall and could crush a soda can with thumb and forefinger for christ's sakes!
But still, as the grim faced soldiers pounded down the ramp and trampled all over the local flora, Grace couldn't help but smile. Jacob noticed this and cocked an eyebrow.
"Something funny?"
"I'm practically old enough to be their mother. All of them."
Jacob shrugged and began walking out of the shade of the trees to greet the men.
Silas was left temporarily in charge of his own fire team, assigned to cover Dr. Augustine while she interacted with the locals. At least, that's what had been written on the whiteboard back at Hell's Gate. The actual tone of the mission was much less serious.
Silas's squad leader was back with his half of the squad lounging in the shade of their armored vehicle. He had put Silas in charge not because he was a particularly good leader, but because he was easy to get along with.
The four men plus Silas himself sat in Grace's shadow. Even seated, her avatar was almost as tall as them. The Na'vi children seemed to adore her, and none of them broke eye contact as she taught them some simple words in English.
Across the clearing, past the small crowd of people washing and preparing food, were a group of young males. White face paint had been traced on them in ornate spirals and they were staring at the soldiers in haughty disapproval. When he looked over to his left, he found that the squad light machine gunner, Garza, was staring back.
"Look at that! Bunch of illiterate cave things thinking they're all hard and shit." He muttered to no one in particular.
Silas set his sniper rifle on his lap and watched the warriors with a look of contemplation.
"What do you say Garza, you think you could make the shot from here? Right into his temple?"
The short Hispanic man laughed
"Yeah, I'd take the one on the left, and then you'd pop the other two. Easy money."
Silas unscrewed the cap on his canteen and took a sip.
"Yeah, I wish. Haven't gotten to shot one of the blue boys yet."
"Well, if anyone's going to get to, it'll be you." Garza said.
Silas didn't know whether to be flattered or frightened by the comment, so he remained quiet. It was a true statement, nonetheless. A scout sniper was the eyes, ears, and if need be, executioner of the squad leader. He still hadn't figured out exactly how he felt about the blue skinned natives.
Much to the dismay of Security Operations platoon Winchester 2C, the news made its way through the barracks that they had been assigned to guard duty with the AVTR program again, this time permanently. Silas pretended to gripe along with the others, but secretly he enjoyed the long hikes into the wild. The base was a long boring stretch of concrete where men played basketball in sweltering sun and got into fights over card games.
That same day they were loaded into helicopters and dropped almost a hundred miles into the ocean of forest. Now their security detail of ten men was hiking along behind Dr. Augustine, Silas at the head, and Augustine and her assistant just behind him in avatar form.
They wound their way over streams and down embankments in a steady line southwards until they found the village. It was masterfully camouflaged, the dwellings almost a part of the trees that surrounded them, completely invisible from the air. A shout went up and several armed natives dropped to the ground next to them. The soldiers stiffened, but Augustine walked forward and greeted one of them warmly.
They began conversing in the native language, and gradually drifted away from the squad.
"Do you think we should follow her?" Silas asked, to no one in particular.
The sergeant snorted derisively
"She obviously doesn't need any help from us."
The soldiers dispersed and sat down in their own respective groups, while the team leader kept an eye on Augustine. Silas sat down next to Willis, a thin, wiry kid who he had met back in boot camp on earth.
"This blows." Willis intoned emotionlessly
Silas shrugged.
"Could be worse. Did you hear about those guys in B Company?"
"Yeah, well at least they got to fight, least they got to shoot their damn weapons."
"The whole section got annihilated! Every last man, gored through with an arrow the size of a broomstick."
"Almost makes you wonder why they bother to poison them..." Willis chuckled
Silas shook his head.
"I don't know about you, but that's not the kind of war I signed up to fight."
"Oh really? So tell me, oh great and mighty warrior, what kind of war DID you sign up to fight?"
Silas opened his mouth, and then closed it again. He had to admit, he didn't have a good answer to that question. Willis didn't seem to notice the pause, he was too busy looking over at Augustine, who now seemed to be in heated discussion with a warrior. She pointed east, towards the open plains, and then threw up her hands, both of them talking in escalating tones. The sergeant had picked up on it too and motioned the men to form up.
"On me everybody, lets go and find out what the hell is going on."
Silas was right behind the sergeant, his jungle camouflage patrol cap perched precariously on his bald head. The squad leader marched up to the arguing pair.
"What's this guys problem doctor?"
Augustine whipped around and rounded on the squad leader.
"Sergeant First Class Anderson, if I want your fucking opinion I will ask for it!"
Not to be outdone, Anderson raised his voice as well.
"Oh really? Do you know why I was assigned to you?"
"Because Quaritch likes to make my life that much harder." Augustine spat.
"It is because" Sgt. Anderson continued in a even louder voice "we are assigned to protect you! And when you're arguing with a ten foot tall blue thing that happens to be able to spear you like an olive, then you had better want my opinion!"
Silas never knew what caused him to speak up, but he did.
"Ah, sir, I don't think the native was necessarily arguing, sir."
There was a dead silence and all eyes fell on him. He fervently wished that he could just sink down into the ground and have someone slid a cover on right about now, but since that wasn't going to happen, he continued.
"Uh, sir, I think you're taking this the wrong way, they were just talking."
Everybody present paused, digesting this information. Everybody, that is, except for Dr. Augustine, who was looking at him with interest.
"Yes, actually, that's exactly what was going on. Thank you Private." She murmured.
With the situation defused, the sergeant seemed at a loss for words. He rolled his eyes, shook his head exasperatedly, and stalked off, the rest of the squad following him.
"Your move Chester."
Silas slid the black knight smoothly across the board and let go of it. Immediately, his opponent whisked his own queen from an unseen corner and knocked the piece off. Silas cursed under his breath. Chester was an engineer from the repair depot with a shock of red hair, and brain with a startling aptitude for chess, whereas Silas had only ever been so-so at the game. Chester checked his watch and stood up from the bucket he had been using as a stool.
"I gotta get back to the shop Silas, if the boss catches me on break when I'm not supposed to..."
"What, he'll spank you?"
Chester shivered
"A thousand times worse. He'll put me on oil cleanup detail. You have no idea how messy it gets in there sometimes."
"...And I think I'll stay blissfully ignorant of that particular fact. Good game though." Silas said
"Yeah, see you later."
Chester walked away and turned the corner of the mess hall. Silas didn't bother to put the board away, but rather leaned back in his chair and light a cigarette, thankful for this one oasis of air conditioning he had in the midst of Hell's Gate.
When the door opened he flinched a little and turned to see who it was. It was always a good idea to look as busy as possible around officers.
But it wasn't an officer it was...
"...Dr. Augustine? What are you doing in this neck of the woods?"
Her response surprised Silas. Instead of telling him to mind his own damn business like he half expected her to say, she sat down opposite the chessboard.
"So, you play?"
Silas shrugged.
"A bit. Only started a few weeks ago."
The doctor began re-arranging the pieces into their starting positions.
"And why did you start?"
"My marksman instructor taught it to me. Helps me with focus and patience, or something like that."
Dr. Augustine continued to place pieces down on the board, forming the pawns into a neat row on their respective sides of the board.
"So you're a sniper, yes?"
"That is correct Ma'am."
She spun the board around so that Silas was playing white.
"What if I told you that you could be something more important than a sniper?"
"More important?"
"You came to Pandora because you wanted something more out of life, right?"
"Yeah..." Silas agreed hesitantly
"I saw you out there Silas, you're not an idiot, which is more than you can say for most of your compatriots."
"Uh, thanks, I guess...?"
"Incidentally, how did you know that Nemweypey did not mean me any harm by raising his voice? I know a dozen people who have been working at the native language their whole careers and haven't gotten that good."
Silas pushed a pawn two spaces forward.
"It was his eyes. He wasn't really glaring at you, if you know what I mean."
Dr. Augustine pushed her own pawn up with a forefinger.
"Exactly. The Na'vi's body language isn't all that different from ours, really, with the exception of the tail."
Silas moved his knight to cover the pawn.
"So you were saying?"
Augustine's rook slid its way out of the back of the board and sat in the middle, threateningly.
"I have a job opportunity for you, of sorts."
Silas slid a bishop down the length of the board, to see if she would take the bait and attack his pawn.
"I'm listening."
Dr. Augustine deftly moved the rook sideways and took out a different pawn in his line. Looking over his pieces, he realized he had nothing that could reach it.
"How would you like to come and teach the Na'vi with me."
For a moment, Silas forgot the game entirely and stared at the doctor as though she had grown wings.
"Teach? Well, I don't know, I never got a degree in teaching. Just-"
"-an associates degree in history, I know, I have access to all the dossiers." She finished for him
"Fat lot of good that slip of paper did me, look where I am now."
"You're in a position to make a difference, a real difference, and that's a hell of a lot more than most people get."
"Where is this school?"
"Outside the wire. You'd get to see this moon, and I mean really see it, up close and personal."
"Why me though?"
Dr. Augustine actually smiled at him, and Silas didn't know what was more unnerving, her being happy or angry.
"Because you have guts, and you're smart. That's all you really need."
Silas paused and scratched his chin, deep in thought.
"Look, I'll give you a day to think it over. If you want to do it, come over to the science bay at 01100 hours and I'll introduce you to your first student. If not, I'll never bother you again. Deal?"
She stuck out her hand and Silas found himself shaking it.
(Constructive criticism is much appreciated.)
