Legal: All movie characters, locations, and names are the intellectual property of James Cameron and/or Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation. I claim no ownership over anything but my original characters and original plot line.

I hope you all enjoy this story. I've outlined quite a few chapters and it should be an interesting ride. Please read and review, let me know what you think and if I should continue. The main focus of the story will be on 3 OCs with J.S. and N as well. Enjoy and please R&R.

I. Triage

Year: 2133

Location: Earth

Jake Sully felt the vibrations of the Samson as it hovered above the tree line moving towards the drop zone. His unit had been chosen as first recon in this area to determine enemy position and strength. It wouldn't be the first time he had been on first recon in a hostile environment, but something felt different about this one. It was another pointless battle over the few remaining resources left on the earth. Jake had watched the earth deteriorate as he grew up; he knew that the amount of natural resources on the planet was dangerously low. Humanity seemed driven to conflict at every turn as competing factions began to wage war over the scarce resources.

This battle would be no different from any others that Jake had been in, fighting to secure some resource that would allow people to live on for however short a time until the resource failed. It was always the same battle, different locations perhaps, but the same pointless fighting everywhere. Jake was resigned to his fate as a marine. In all likelihood he would die on one of these battlefields and become just another faceless casualty of the senseless conflict, conflict it seemed that no one could escape from.

The Samson began a sharp dive down toward the tree tops, pulling Jake out of his stupor and forcing his attention on the coming mission. He could hear his commanding officer speaking through his ear piece, giving details of what the estimated enemy strength in this region was. Jake tuned him out as the Samson leveled off and the green light came on, indicating they were above the drop zone. Jake looked out the door, hooked his harness in and dropped into the waiting darkness below.

Breaking through the trees quickly Jake landed and unhooked himself, raising his rifle in a defensive posture he covered the rest of his unit while they dropped. They unit assembled and began to move, quickly yet quietly through the underbrush. They walked until they came to the outskirts of a small village, cheaply constructed housing designed to hold as many people in the smallest amount of space possible.

"Alright people, listen up." Jake could hear his CO speaking through the radio. "Satellite recon shows this village could be a possible hot spot for enemy activity. I want the area around these dwellings scouted for enemy movements and capabilities. Sully, take Jones and head down the east side, radio in if you have something. Move Out." the radio transmission ended.

Jake looked quietly at Jones and motioned for him to follow as he set off down the eastern edge of the village. Slowly they made their way from corner to corner, crouching low and checking every possible place an enemy might be hiding. Suddenly an extremely bright light flashed to the west. Jake was felt the warmth on his face and the rush of the wind as an explosion ripped through the buildings on the western side of the village. The fire from the explosion seemed to go from building to building, first one exploded, then another, and another.

"Run Jones, run and don't stop running" Jake said as he turned and started to sprint away from the explosions, sensing Jones was running behind him. They turned a corner only to dive to the ground as an explosion destroyed the building nearest them. Shrapnel and debris flew over them, the fire spreading through the buildings. Quickly Jake pulled Jones to his feet and told him the only way to survive was to run. They kept running away from the explosions not watching in which direction they were running. Too late he realized his mistake. Extreme pain erupted within Jake as a bullet entered his chest, ripping through him. Jake's face went white with shock as the realization dawned on him; they had been herded right into an enemy ambush. Jake could see Jones kneeling down over him, firing his rifle rapidly. Everything was slipping away, Jake's view of the world darkened as his body went numb, he felt no pain or fear. It was as if nothing mattered to him anymore other then embracing the cold darkness that was quickly overtaking him.

Jake saw Jones take two rounds through his chest, his body landing next to his. Jake looked into the lifeless eyes and saw the same cold darkness that he knew was coming to take him. All that was left for him now was to embrace the future, to let go and become one with death. Explosions still going off around him, but none of that mattered now as his body went limp, his mind blank, and the darkness overcame him.

**

A thin veil of mist hung over the ground, swirling in the light breeze. John Hale crouched in the brush, watching the mist as it passed over the rubble that had once been a small village. He smelled the stench of death and decay, the air growing fouler the closer he came to the site of yesterdays battle. A slight noise sounded to his right as someone crawled up next to him. John could tell from the soldiers somewhat labored breathing that he was not used to the smells of battle and death. A voice finally broke the silence that had fallen over John's unit, "Area secure, check for survivors and police these bodies."

John stumbled to his feet, realizing his left leg had fallen asleep from the uncomfortable position he had been laying in. His 6 foot frame ached from lying on the ground for so long. He might not be in as good a shape as the young grunts that made up his unit, but he was in incredibly good shape for a marine that turned 30 and wasn't getting any younger. John's green eyes surveyed the battlefield before him, watching the soldiers checking the bodies of the fallen searching for signs of life. He was tired of war, tired of the battlefield and the blood of all the dead that he couldn't seem to wash off his hands no matter how hard he tried.

"You're up Doc, got some wounded over here." came a soldiers voice somewhere from John's left. John sighed as the soldier pulled him out of his inner turmoil and headed toward the voice, fairly sure of what he would find, but holding out some small measure of hope that someone might be saved from this mess of a battle. The body came into view as he walked nearer, immediately John knew that there was little hope for this soldier. He knelt next to the young marine, running his hands over the soldier's arms and legs, feeling the broken bones beneath. There was another complication as the soldier was bleeding profusely and John was certain this was a lost cause. As he looked into this dying soldier's eyes John could feel the tremendous pain he was in.

"I'm sorry son, this is all I can do for you right now." John said as he plunged the needle into the soldier's arm. He heard the soldier's breathing ease as the morphine circulated through his system, relieving him of his current suffering. John stood and made his way through the bodies the soldiers had tagged, searching for signs of life.

John had been on fields of death such as this one before. Battlefield triage was a dirty business and one he was quickly growing weary of. Deciding who lives or dies should not be a doctor's job, but it was the job that had been forced upon John ever since he had joined the marines as a battlefield surgeon. He could still remember how he had been told his future would be so bright; he had done well in medical school even graduating early. All of his colleagues were so surprised when he declined all of their invitations to join up with their lucrative practices. None of them could grasp John's reasoning for joining the marines and becoming a battlefield surgeon. Oftentimes when John reflected on this decision even he didn't fully understand, but it was a decision he had felt compelled to make.

"Doc, we got some more over here for you to take a look at, two bodies. One dead, but the other is alive and in pretty bad shape." The voice broke through John's mental fog causing him to blink, suddenly remembering where he was.

"Yes, thank you corporal. Keep searching the village for any more and keep me informed." John said as he moved away from the living marine, and towards the one who was not so lucky. As he approached John could tell that this marine was dead. He crouched down and searched for the dog tags that would identify the body, finding what he was looking for and noting this was the body of Private First Class Jones. John looked over to see another body near the first. As he moved to check the body he had a terrible feeling that this would be just another corpse

**

Jake could not tell where he was, but he could feel the incredible force of the wind as it rushed by his face, his hair flowing freely in it. All he could see was an impenetrable wall of mist but he could tell he was flying through it. Jake had never felt such an exhilarating feeling as this, he was flying and it was the most magnificent feeling he had ever had. He certainly wished he could see what he was flying over, but the mist would not break no matter how far he flew. There was something else here that Jake couldn't quite make out. A strong female presence that seemed to exist, but also didn't exist. Suddenly Jake heard a voice, a deep voice that he had never heard before.

"Corporal, can you hear me? Come back corporal, come back." the voice was saying over and over. No matter how far Jake flew the voice was getting louder. The mist closed in on him until he was in the blackness once more. With great effort Jake opened his eyes.

**

John saw the marine's eyes open; it was nothing short of a miracle that this marine was even still breathing considering the wounds he had sustained. He slowly examined the wounded soldier noticing some external wounds due to explosive shrapnel and some slight burns. The bigger problem came from the gunshot wound that John found in the marine's chest just under his ribcage. It seemed to pass right through his body and John guessed there was significant internal damage.

"What's your name son?" John asked.

"Sully. Jake Sully, and you sir?" the soldier replied, wincing from pain as he spoke.

"The name is Hale, John Hale. You can call me Doc though, everybody else does." John replied. John grabbed his kit and pushed a needle into Jake's arm, giving him a dose of morphine to deaden the pain. Pressing a stack of gauze firmly against Jake's chest wound, trying to slow the flow of blood. John was determined to save this marine, to give him a second chance at life; hopefully far away from this hell hole. "I need you to tell me some things so that I will be able to help you, can you do that for me Jake?" John said.

"Yea doc, I'm obviously not goin anywhere so fire away." Jake said his voice sounding very pained and weak.

"Can you move your extremities for me? I need to know the extent of the damage." John watched as Jake moved his fingers slowly, then his right and left arms. Suddenly a pained expression appeared on Jake's face.

"Doc I can't feel my legs, I can't even move them. Something is really wrong here doc." Jake said, hysterics beginning to creep into his voice.

John looked down at Jake's legs and feet seeing no external injuries. "Well your legs are still attached, so it is possible you have some internal injury causing this. Don't worry son, we'll get you out of here and get you fixed up. I promise." John said as he motioned to his squad leader that he needed a medevac as soon as possible. John supervised the squad as they carefully moved Jake onto a stretcher and into the Samson that had arrived to get them out of this field of death. He took another morphine injection and put it in Jake's arm. "Hold on Jake, we are almost to a real hospital." John said as he prayed that he might be able to save just one person out of this terrible mess.

**

Jake could tell he was flying again. He could feel the wind against his face and bare skin as he flew. The mist was thinner this time; he could just make out the shapes of giant tree tops in the distance. Jake felt the pain and anguish of knowing that he could not feel his legs anymore. He know something was wrong but it didn't matter, flying felt so liberating to him and he never wanted to stop. Yet he felt the same strange female presence in this place, so powerful and strong willed. He was not sure if the presence was a figment of his imagination, but it certainly felt real. It seemed to be flying with him as he began to soar higher and faster, the trees coming into clear view now. It was the most stunning sight Jake had ever seen and he never wanted to leave.

**

John had never argued so hard for any patient before in his life. He knew that this man was a hero and was worth saving. His superiors had agreed that he was worth saving and so John was allowed to save him. He had taken Jake to emergency surgery several times to patch up internal wounds and close external ones. The problem had come when John had found that the bullet had pierced Jake's spine. This kind of injury would cause paralysis from the waist down and John realized that would be hell for any marine. So he had fought to give the marine his legs back, fought to secure the funding that would allow him to perform the operation to restore the spine.

In the end John's request was firmly denied and he was threatened by way of court martial to let it go. John had been forced to leave Jake's spine in the damaged state it was in. He realized this was condemning Jake to life in a wheelchair, but John had no choice so he repaired what damage he could. John oversaw Jake's recovery, feeling it was a bittersweet victory. He had actually been able to save someone after that terrible battle but at the same time he was not able to fully restore Jake to the way he should rightfully be.

**

John handed in his resignation, not caring what he would do now that he did not have the military to fall back on. None of it mattered, as long as he was away from the death of all the pointless battlefields. As he was lying in bed one morning the video phone rang.

"Hello?" John answered, sounding a bit more annoyed at the intrusion then he meant to.

A woman with slightly curled brown hair appeared on the video phone. "Is this Doctor John Hale?" the voice on the other end of the video phone asked.

"Who are you?" John asked, trying to be as polite as possible.

"Doctor Hale I am Doctor Grace Augustine, I am in charge of the avatar program for the RDA." the woman responded still smiling politely as she spoke. "I would like to offer you the chance to experience something completely different, a research position that I think you will find most interesting."

"What kind of research position? And what do you mean completely different?" John's curiosity was beginning to get the better of him.

"It is a position that is completely out of this world. Tell me Doctor Hale, have you ever heard of Pandora?" Grace asked as she smiled. "Basically I am offering you the opportunity to study the world of Pandora, including the native people and all the other creatures and plants."

"And just how does one go about studying these things on this other world?" John asked into the video phone. "Everything you hear about Pandora is about how dangerous it is."

"Well doctor Hale, my program uses the DNA of the natives mixed with the DNA of a human driver to grow an avatar that the driver can then pilot around." Grace explained. "You are able to use your own avatar to study everything from a truly safe environment."

John thought about his life and about all the death he had seen on earth. He knew that he wanted to get away. He knew that there was something more waiting for him than the death of another battlefield on earth. "I'll do it." John said quickly into the video phone.

"Are you sure you don't want to even take a day or two to think about it?" Grace asked.

"No I am sure, I've never been more sure of anything in my life, when do we leave?" John responded immediately.

"I'm sending you an address and I'll expect you in two days, training for this mission will take 5 years so make sure to get here on time John." Grace said as she sent John the file and ended the video phone transmission.

John looked up through the polluted haze of the sky on earth, wondering what exactly he was getting himself into.