The story you are about to read is a remake/reboot of one of my earlier stories, which was also titled "The Tempest". Here, I will reuse some elements from my other Avatar story "The Invasion", although in no way is this new version of "The Tempest" going to be a sequel to that first story. "The Tempest" is a sequel only to the movie Avatar.

I will deliberately go into certain directions and explore certain themes with this story that I think the future movies are unlikely to visit.

This story will be strongly human-centered in the first chapters, but my aim is to take on a more balanced approach between the human and Na'vi sides later on. The main characters will be mostly original, with canon characters on the sidelines. This is a personal preference, because for me it is easier to write original characters which flow from my own heart and mind, instead of trying to figure out what was going on in the minds of other writers.

I had to select one or two genres, but I do not believe "Sci-Fi/Adventure" really covers every aspect I am planning to write. There will also be elements of humor, drama, romance and mystery. Enjoy reading!

Prologue

Ever since the defeat and forced exile of the RDA, the moon known as Pandora had been free. However, not everyone on the moon believed that humanity's attempts at controlling and exploiting Pandora's unique geosphere and biosphere had ended with this defeat.

The RDA on Pandora had been a tiny organization compared to humanity's total population numbers in the Sol system. Although the RDA had a vast amount of resources and manpower at their disposal back in humanity's home system, they had still been limited by technology, and restricted by laws. Shareholder views and public opinions also drove the decision-making process of the company executives. And all these factors combined had ultimately led to disaster.

After word of the RDA's forced exile had reached Earth, the RDA's already waning popular support had taken a deep plunge. Not only had this event been a blow to humanity's overall pride; it also meant there were going to be dire consequences from an economical perspective. The Earth, its moon, Mars, and several of the colonized Jovian moons had grown dependent upon the room-temperature superconductor material UNOB-1, also known informally as Unobtanium.

The economic depression caused a snowball effect. Formerly prosperous regions descended into chaos. For a time, it seemed as if every person had to fight for his own well-being. Religious and ecological radicals took control to carve out their own states. It seemed as if humanity was on a path towards self-destruction.

Fortunately, this period was short-lived, for there was one movement that did not discriminate any human on any aspect, as long as they were willing to devote their lives to the greater good. Though the movement initially became infamous for its use of military force, its Leader justified their strategy as being a necessary measure against all who used violence in the name of their selfish goals.

Eventually, similar groups were formed all over the Earth, who pledged their alliance to the first movement. Like a tempest, the new militant humanism movement spread, until the complete Earth was under their control. Though political similarities with twentieth century history were noted by critics, the majority of the populace was convinced that the Leader was humanity's savior. The movement had gained too much followers to be stopped.

The first movement became known as the First Tempest, later shortened to just the Tempest. Once his power over the Earth was solidified, the Leader directed his organization to focus on creating a stronger and more disciplined humanity than had ever existed in history.

The Tempest also usurped the RDA's space empire, and immediately starting planning a large scale campaign to retake control of Pandora, just as the Leader had promised.

Chapter 1: Operation Hawkeye

A black-hulled interstellar vessel had appeared in the vicinity of the brightly blue colored planet Polyphemus. Nearby was its most prominent moon: the blue and green world of Pandora. The vessel was nearly invisible against the blackness of space. Nevertheless, an observer could have visually followed its movements, due to the large insignia on its hull. It consisted of a white circle, with a black dot in the center, which was surrounded by four black rune-like lightning sparks. Thus it appeared as if a single large Tempest logo was moving towards the moon.

The interstellar vessel was a refurbished former RDA vessel. Apart from its changed color-scheme, its general design had been unchanged. It was carrying two black-hulled shuttles, one slightly larger than the other.

Inside the bay of the largest shuttle, a group of people were strapped into seats, which were divided into two rows opposite each-other. The people were all wearing black military uniforms. Classical music was playing in the background. The most senior officer aboard was assault unit leader Lockwood. His rank was made visible by the domino-like patch on his jacket collar. It displayed four white dots on a black square. Lockwood, who had a large bald and tanned head, was calmly reading a book, while his troops were also taking it easy. The book was titled "Humanity's New Generation" and was written by an author known by the mononym "Wilhelmus". Lockwood momentarily looked up from the pages. As he had expected, the jump light was still red. They had not yet entered the atmosphere, so there was absolutely no need to rush things.

In the corner which was the furthest away from Lockwood, two troops were observing the rest of the group. One was a short, stocky, but broad-shouldered man with curly hair and a grumpy facial expression. The other was a lean and skinny man with a buzz cut. Despite the second man's gaunt, skull-like face, he had a very optimistic expression on his face. Both troops had a single white dot on a black square as their rank insignias, indicating that they were both junior squad leaders.

There were more seats in the shuttle than there were troops, so several seats had been left un-occupied. The two troops in the corner had two empty seats beside them and in front of them, so it made them somewhat stand out, as if they did not belong to the group. However, they were far from the only oddballs here, at least according to their own opinions.

"Look at those crappy cards." Ralf said grumpily, while making a quick nod towards the group of troops who were playing a card game. "They are all cracked and frayed. No-one even bothered to bring a decent deck. For all we know, we could be by ourselves for months."

"Who cares about cards anyway?" Charlie responded optimistically. "I'd much rather look at her." Charlie now pointed his finger at Astrid, the tall and pale blond woman who was seated nearest to them in the opposite row. She had her eyes closed, and appeared to be sleeping. "Have you ever seen such beauty in such an unlikely place?" he asked Ralf.

"Oh, please", Ralf responded. "You don't know her story, but I do. It's only beauty on the outside. The inside is rotten. Don't tell me you haven't noticed anything strange about her?"

Charlie had to think for a while. However, before he could respond, Ralf did. "Haven't you seen that although she might be sleeping, she's actually sleeping with an axe? A bloody axe!". Charlie shook his head. "The axe is clean; I don't see what the problem is."

"It's a figure of speech, you half-wit!" Ralf bellowed angrily. At the same time, he also dope slapped Charlie on the back of the latter's head.

"What's your problem, man?!" Charlie responded, sounding agitated. "My shrink told me I don't have to take crap from you!"

"My problem is that you shouldn't be staring at some woman, who would bring an axe this far into space and hold it while she is sleeping." Ralf tried to explain to him. "She has killed more men than you can count." Then, he shifted the tone of his voice to a more serious sounding one. "Perhaps what I'm actually trying to say is that all of the people in this room have done something to deserve to be here, us included."

Charlie was intrigued, and didn't seem agitated anymore. "What do you mean?" he asked. At the same time, a muffled mechanical clanking sound could be heard, which indicated that the shuttle they were on, had detached from the interstellar vessel.

"Everyone here is a killer. And all of them are good at it. Some of them might even have been considered heroes at one time. But that doesn't change the fact that they're killers. They are good at what they do, but no-one will miss them when they're gone." Ralf replied steadily.

"Take her, for example." Ralf made another quick nod, this time towards Yijun, a small Asian woman, who was laughing at the antics of the group of card players. "She doesn't look like she has ever fired a gun in her life. But I know she's here because of her marksmanship skills. I heard she once sniped fifty enemies on a snowy day in some mountains somewhere. Fifty, without hesitation!"

Charlie still didn't get what Ralf was trying to say. "So, are you saying we ourselves are evil? For popping all those troops of the eco-union, I mean?"

Ralf held a short monologue. "Don't be silly, there is no such thing as good or evil. We did what we had to, for the future of all of humanity. And apparently they found us so effective at what we do, that we were hand-picked for this mission. One mission that is more important than anything else we have done so far."

Startled by an unexplained noise, Ralf and Charlie suddenly looked up to see that Astrid, the woman with the axe, was slowly clapping her hands at them. Ralf's face turned slightly white. Charlie was more amused than shocked.

"No need to worry, fellows", she said with a smirk. "You two are only numbers 203 and 204 on my hit list. You amuse me enough that I will probably keep my axe from flying at you for today. Probably."

"Right…" Ralf replied, when he finally mustered enough courage to talk again. He then turned to face Charlie and lowered his voice. "I suggest a new tactic: you shut up, and you don't look at anybody."

"You're the one who talks the most." Charlie countered. "So you're the one who should shut up." This remark set off a contest of sorts in which Ralf and Charlie told each other to shut up repeatedly, with ever increasing volume and bombastic reasons being given. They did not notice that the shuttle had already entered the atmosphere. Only when they finally heard the stern voice of assault unit leader Lockwood, were they brought back to reality.

"Troops! We have a yellow light! You know the drill! This is why we are here! This is why you have been sleeping for six years!"

The shuttle had already slowed down significantly. All troops began removing themselves from their seat's safety harnesses, and began packing up all their gear: their helmets, breathing masks, weapons, and other tools required for the mission. Lockwood himself was the first one to be ready. He was also the first one in the line-up who would jump from the shuttle when the indication light would turn green.

To the side of the shuttle's rear cargo door, there was a small altar of sorts. A large rectangular painting hung on the wall. It had a gold-plated frame, and was illuminated with two weak orange lights. The lights were meant to function as safe placeholders for candles. The painting depicted the face of an older man. The man had short white hair on his head, white and curly sideburns hanging down from the sides of his face, bushy white eyebrows, and a large and white walrus-like mustache. The face itself was plain in shape and features, but the bright blue eyes really stood out.

Lockwood checked his wrist display, before closing his eyes momentarily. He began to whisper some words into the direction of the portrait. "My Leader, I know you have faith in my troops and me. We will not let you down. I will do everything in my power to ensure a glorious future for humanity. Hominum summa."

He opened his eyes, and checked his wrist display again. It was clear that they were almost where they needed to be. "Masks on!" he shouted. A few seconds later, he did a double finger tap onto a special area on the screen.

Not long after, the rear bay door of the shuttle opened itself. The outside air rushed in quickly. It was hot and humid, but the troops could hardly notice this, due to the completely sealing uniforms they were wearing. Aside from the inrush of air, an inrush of light also occurred. The shuttle had no windows and was poorly lit in comparison to the outside. It was clear that it was midday here at this particular place on Pandora. Lockwood's visor automatically darkened itself accordingly.

Lockwood then turned around to face his troops, who were all lined up behind him. All twelve looked at him through their slightly darkened visors. "Remember, the target area has a diameter of roughly 100 meters. Your computers have already locked onto the area. If you fail to land on target, or fall off for whatever reason, you will be on your own for days if not weeks." he told them sternly through his helmet radio. What he was saying was nothing new; everybody knew the mission parameters. Lockwood felt it necessary to remind them yet again, because it really was true that there was no way to get back up to the target area, once someone fell off. Falling off meant that person would very likely end up dead, but it wouldn't necessarily be the fall that would kill them.

Down below, a multitude of grey rocks partly covered with green foliage were visible. However, these were no ordinary rocks. These rocks were floating in the air. This was not far from the area in which the RDA had been defeated almost nine years ago.

The troops waited for a few more seconds, until the jump light suddenly turned green and a buzzer went off. Lockwood then gave a final rallying cry. "Come with me, and get the final puzzle piece!" Halfway the sentence, he jumped from the shuttle, and soared towards the Pandoran surface. The others followed him in rapid succession. Ralf and Charlie were last ones to jump; Charlie went second to last, followed by Ralf. Both jumped out screaming at the top of their lungs, but not because of fear. They were excited to finally get the chance to do what they had come here to do. They wanted to be feared themselves.

The thirteen soldiers soared towards the target, which was located on one of the floating rocks near the edge of the area. Lockwood visually scanned his surroundings. There was nothing that indicated that anyone knew they were coming. Then again, there was no way to be sure. This scenario had been simulated many times, but the unknown factors had always been the native population and the biosphere responsiveness.

It had been deemed highly improbable that the squad would be attacked immediately upon arriving here. Sure, someone might have seen the shuttle approaching, but the troops had been dropped from a high enough altitude that it would be difficult for any native to determine where they were going or what had even been dropped. The plan was to get the package, and be picked up by the shuttle, all in under fifteen minutes. Even if they had been spotted, they would likely be gone already before an intercepting force could arrive at the target area.

Soon, they were close enough for parachute deployment. Assault unit leader Lockwood was the first to land on the target area. All twelve others followed his example shortly, and without any major problems. After shedding their parachutes, the uniforms of the troops automatically adapted their coloring to generate a suitable camouflage pattern for the terrain type: in this case a patchwork of grey, brown, and light green.

"Keep your eyes open! We'll be sitting ducks for the next 10 minutes!" Lockwood shouted through his helmet radio. "Joseph! Retrieve the package, now! Johan, Mario, go with him! The rest, form a defensive circle around them, I want nothing getting through! Shoot anything that moves within 150 meters from the perimeter."

"Alright then." said Ralf, while cracking his knuckles. "Let's see what we have." He took his machinegun from the side of his backpack and prepared to take a defensive position. "We have rocks covered in bird shit over there. Some more in that direction. Some small bushes, roots and vines on the ground, some of that stuff on the other floating rocks. What a shithole! Only a bloody ape would live here."

"We've got multiple bogeys at four o'clock." one of the soldiers informed the squad over the radio. "Distance is 200 meters and closing in." The soldiers nearest to the four o'clock direction prepared to fire their weapons, while the rest of the squad focused on watching the other directions.

"Well, it's about time." Ralf said to himself, while visually locating the bogeys. "Time to eat lead, you big ugly sons of bitches!"

Ralf, Charlie, and several other soldiers opened fire on the flock of mountain banshees. Ralf fired his triple barreled, belt-fed machine gun from a crouching position. Charlie had decided to remain standing, while firing his drum-magazine-fed assault rifle.

While the squad protected the inside of the circle, the payload specialist Joseph did his job like an efficient machine. First, he located the exact position of the package, using a handheld scanner device. Once he was standing on top of the location of the package, he knelt down and removed his backpack to take out another device.

"Please, get the harness and hold it in position." Joseph said in an almost eerily calm, collected, and slightly monotone manner. Johan and Mario, the soldiers assigned to protect him, did as he asked. Joseph then activated the device from the backpack. He held it with both hands, as he slowly moved it over the ground. The device made a steady buzzing sound, and emitted light from its underside. The ground was unusually smooth here, which made moving the device over the ground relatively easy.

Soon, Joseph had drawn a full circle. It appeared that the device had drawn a black line on the ground, but a closer look revealed that it was actually a laser cut. Joseph then used a specialized lever tool to loosen the package. Once it was loose, it started floating upward like a helium balloon. It had completely left the ground by the time it was caught by the harness. It was a cone of almost pure UNOB-1. The cone had a length and diameter of approximately one meter. "The package has been collected. Repeat, the package has been collected." Joseph informed the squad over the radio.

"Good work." Lockwood responded slightly relieved. "Hold it steady. The shuttle is already on its way back."

Meanwhile, the squad was still firing at the bogeys. The flock of mountain banshees had been thinned considerably. Many had started falling to the ground. Some were fleeing. However, a few had become agitated enough to dare an attack. Ralf ran out of ammo when three of them were still charging at the squad.

"Shit! Charlie, I need to reload. Cover for me!" Ralf shouted over the radio. Charlie continued to fire his rounds into the remaining banshees. The first one went down, as did the second one. The last one was now only about ten meters away from Ralf. Charlie was too late.

The last banshee was suddenly hit in one of its eyes by what initially appeared to be a stray bullet. Both men wondered what had happened, but it quickly became apparent.

"Die, you fucking fuck!" the smallest squad member Yijun yelled at the top of her lungs. She was still looking through the scope of her sniper rifle. Ralf and Charlie looked at her momentarily, and then looked at each other. Both had an impressed expression on their faces.

"Couldn't have said it better myself!" Ralf responded enthusiastically. He then waved to Charlie. "Come on, we're not there yet."

Out of nowhere, Charlie was suddenly snatched up by a large beak and thrown into the air. Someone had executed a sneak attack. Apparently, a banshee had dived down from the clouds in an almost vertical line. This was no regular wild banshee, though. It was being ridden by one of the indigenous humanoid population: a Na'vi.

Charlie fell over the edge of the rock whilst screaming. Ralf couldn't believe what was happening. "Charlie! CHARLIE!" he shouted desperately. He started firing his machinegun wildly at the banshee. It was too close, however. He was knocked aside by its claws, and started rolling towards the edge.

Just when he was about to go over, he managed to grab hold of a vine and quickly climbed back up. He braced himself for a moment, expecting to be attacked again. Instead, he saw an axe flying past him. It buried itself into the neck of the banshee, making it screech loudly and writhe in agony. One of the soldiers, the tallest one, now ran and leapt into the direction of the banshee. Ralf knew that only Astrid, the owner of the axe, was crazy enough to even attempt such a thing. She immediately collided with the Na'vi rider, and they were both sent falling off the edge.

By this time, the other soldiers had opened fire on the screeching banshee that still remained. Ralf could see that despite its wounds, it was trying to get away. Unfortunately, it seemed to want to go straight through him. There was too little time to move aside, thus he braced himself again, although he did not expect it would help much.

The next series of events happened so rapidly, that Ralf barely registered them. The banshee hit him, but somehow he managed to grab hold of its neck. They went over the edge, but the banshee was too wounded to fly normally. Instead, it started tumbling like a plane that had been shot down. The sky and the ground were spinning. At one point, Ralf was swung onto the banshees back, allowing him to retighten his grip on its neck.

Despite its wounds, and despite the fact that it was falling out of the sky, the banshee tried to remove Ralf's grip. He was too small to be within the reach of its mouth and claws, though. The ground appeared to come closer every second. All Ralf could think of right now, was that he hoped to be remembered as having scored a draw in a one-on-one wrestling match with a banshee.

Soon, Ralf and the banshee began hitting the first tree branches. Most of these broke, thus helping to slow down their descent significantly. Eventually, they came to a sudden stop with a loud thud as they crashed into the solid ground.