Justice

by Scott Washburn

What if Miles Quaritch had survived the Battle of Pandora?

Justice

By Scott Washburn

Author's Note: Some of the characters here come from my "Aftermath" stories, although this story does not fit into that series.

August, 2154

Jake Sully stared down at the unconscious form of Colonel Miles Quaritch and wondered how someone with such monumentally poor judgment had ended up in command of the security forces on Pandora. Poor judgment or really poor luck, he amended. As a Marine he'd seen some officers who were worse, but few of them ever lived long enough to become first lieutenants, let alone colonels.

And while some of Quaritch's woes could be chalked up to bad luck—Eywa's intervention in the battle was hardly something anyone could have foreseen—most of it was the result of some very poor decisions. Underestimating the Na'vi, refusing to listen to Grace—or himself, the attack on Hometree and now the attack on the Tree of Souls. Step by step, his false moves had led to disaster.

And it hadn't even stopped with the destruction of his force. Just a few minutes ago Quaritch had made what would quite probably be his last mistake. After Jake had punctured the canopy of Quaritch's AMP suit, instead of immediately putting on his breath mask, Quaritch had just held his breath for critical seconds. Then, instead of putting on his mask and then popping his canopy, he had popped the canopy first.

Jake saw his chance and took it.

Quaritch might not have realized just how far a Na'vi could leap, but there was still no excuse for such carelessness. The instant Quaritch deactivated the AMP servos so he could put on his mask, Jake sprang forward, pushed off the edge of the AMP cockpit and landed on the other side…

… holding Quaritch's breath mask.

He could have just driven his knife into him. The wide-eyed expression frozen on Quaritch's face showed that is what he was expecting—and what Jake had initially intended, but in mid-leap Jake changed his mind and just ripped away the mask. He wasn't sure why.

Even then Quaritch still couldn't make the right choice. Instead of going for the shack, either to kill Jake's human body, or maybe find another breath mask, he'd tried to chase Jake. His rage was in complete control of him, it seemed. It had been no problem at all to elude him until his lungs were ready to burst. Jake had even dangled the mask in front of him and taunted him.

Finally, Quaritch realized his mistake and headed back toward the shack. But it was far too late. Before he was even halfway there, he started to stagger around, bouncing off trees and eventually collapsing in a heap. Jake waited another thirty seconds just to be sure. He'd dragged him out of the AMP suit, relieved him of several hidden knives and then put the breath mask back on him. Quaritch seemed to be breathing normally now, although his eyes were still watering badly from the irritants in the Pandoran atmosphere.

Jake turned as Neytiri came up beside him. "Are you all right?"

"Yes. You saved him. Why?"

"I'm not sure."

"He slew my father! He killed dozens of Omaticaya! Hundreds of Na'vi! And yet you show him mercy?"

"Oh, it's not mercy, my love. Not mercy at all…

[Scene Break]

Miles Quaritch slowly regained consciousness. The pain in his head and his lungs was matched by pain almost everywhere else. The burn on his shoulder was throbbing and there was a growing pain in both knees and both ankles. The jump from the Dragon gunship had far exceeded safety margins and it was entirely possible he had sprained all four joints. The adrenalin rush had allowed him to ignore them at first, but now…

Of far more immediate concern, however, was the fact that he couldn't move his arms or his legs. What…?

His eyes popped open and he tried to pull himself upright, but he flopped back helplessly on the ground. He was surrounded by large blue figures.

"Well, good morning, Colonel," said a hated voice. Sully! "Just for the record: you did stop breathing there for a while, so I guess we can officially call the battle over now."

Fear cut through the fog wrapping his brain and he twisted around. Yes, Sully's avatar was squatting on the ground a few meters away. Quaritch tried to move, but his wrists and ankles were tied with something that had no give to it. He was caught. A prisoner…

"Let me go!" he snarled.

"Why?" snorted Sully. "So you can kill more people? Your body-count is high enough, Quaritch! We're still trying to figure out our own losses, but I can tell you that your force has been wiped out, Colonel. Wiped out!" He leaned forward, his lips drawn back in an angry snarl.

"You bastard," muttered Quaritch. "They were good men."

"Some of them probably were. And you got them killed. What, didn't you think, the blue monkeys would fight back? You think they were just gonna roll over and die when you showed up with all your weapons? They were fighting for their homes! Their world! And you expected to win just because you had guns? You sent me here to learn about the Na'vi and report back. If you'd bothered to really listen to what I reported you might have known better. Neytiri was right: Skypeople do not see and cannot learn."

Quaritch tried to think of a reply, but his tongue was frozen as the truth began to sink in: he'd been beaten. Beaten! Beaten by a bunch of savages with stone weapons. Beaten by a bunch of wild animals… Impossible! This couldn't be happening! Not to him!

Oh, he'd been expecting a few losses, some casualties to show that it had been a real battle, not just a massacre, but he'd never doubted victory. Not for a minute. Even when the Na'vi's first attack, diving their banshees out of the sun, had knocked down a dozen of his helicopters he hadn't been worried. Angry, sure, losing a dozen choppers in thirty seconds hadn't been part of the plan at all, but after that first wave, the Na'vi seemed to have shot their bolt. The banshees were dangerous in a sharp dive, but once they had gone on past, they were sluggish regaining altitude and made easy targets for his gunships. They had shot down scores of them in just a few minutes. Reports from the ground indicated that things were going even better there. Massed firepower was more than the enemy could stand. Even missing the chance to kill Sully early on had been made up for by taking out that traitorous bitch Chacon. Things were looking good. After blowing up the Tree of Souls it would have just been a matter of mopping up. The hostiles would have been taught a lesson they would never forget and Quaritch could return in triumph. It should have been easy.

But then… then everything had gone to hell. Banshees, incredible swarms of banshees, had come swooping down on them out of the floating rocks. They had mobbed the attack choppers and dragged them down or killed their crews or just wrecked them by getting sucked into the rotors. There weren't even any Na'vi riding them! The animals were attacking on their own! No one had said anything about that happening! And garbled messages from the ground forces said that the same thing was happening down there. Hammerheads and viperwolves were overrunning his troopers on the ground. Even an AMP suit couldn't take on one of those bloody hammerheads. They'd screamed for help, but there wasn't a damn thing he could do for them. It was all happening so fast… too fast to do anything except press on and try to destroy that friggin' tree and hope that it would somehow disrupt the enemy attack.

But even that had failed. The shuttle's defenses had been overwhelmed and somehow Sully had brought it down. He hadn't been looking that way when it happened, there was just the heart-stopping sight of the enormous machine trailing smoke and having its wing sheared away by one of the stone arches. Seeing it smash into the ground and explode was probably the worst moment of his life…

…until now.

The memories of the last few moments of his fight with Sully came back to him. When he had jumped down from the Dragon he was so filled with rage all he could think of was exacting some sort of revenge on the people who had done this to him. The battle was lost but that didn't matter. He himself was probably doomed, alone and fifty kilometers from base, but that didn't matter either. He was still alive and he could still fight. That was all that mattered. And then he was given the one thing he could hope for: a chance to kill Sully.

And he'd blown it.

I couldn't even kill him. Hand-to-hand combat with me in an AMP and I couldn't even kill him! It was unbelievable.

"So, what should I do with you, Colonel?" asked Sully. "I'm told that under Na'vi customs the crimes you've committed would call for you being expelled into the forest naked and shunned by every civilized person. Even if we allowed you an exo-pack I don't think you'd survive long."

"I've committed no crimes!" snarled Quaritch. "I was acting in the interests of my own race—something you wouldn't understand, traitor!"

Sully just shrugged. "I've got no intention of getting into a debate with you, Colonel. The bottom line is that we won and you lost and, as the saying goes, the winners make the rules. Stew on that for a while." He got up and walked away. Quaritch struggled with his bonds but could make no impression on them. It would make little difference since more and more Na'vi were gathering in the area. Finally, he quit struggling and lay limply on the ground while his pain grew.

[Scene Break]

Norm Spellman limped back to the shack and collapsed on the ground next to the airlock door. He thanked the two Na'vi warriors who had escorted him in their own language. They responded warily but then relaxed when Neytiri appeared and confirmed that he was, indeed, a friend. Looking back, he realized that he'd been incredibly lucky to run into that pair. After losing his avatar he'd been filled with such rage he'd put on an exo-pack, grabbed a gun and headed out without a thought about the fact that in human form he'd automatically be considered one of the enemy. By the time he got to the battle area, the fighting was all over and the Na'vi were mopping up. Without his command of the language, he would have been mopped up, too.

"Are you all right, Normspellmon?" asked Neytiri in English.

"Yes, I'm fine," he replied in Na'vi. "But my dreamwalker form has been badly wounded. Perhaps killed. I need to find it and see if it can be saved."

"I will send out search parties as soon as may be. It would be very dangerous for you to go out as you are."

"Yeah, so I saw. But it seems like we won."

"Eywa has granted us a great victory, yes," she said. "But not without a great cost."

"Any word from Trudy?" Norm was sure he knew the answer before he even asked, but he had to know.

"She is not answering on the comm-un-i-cator. We have sent out search parties looking for her, too. I am sorry. Jake has told me that she was special to you."

"Yeah… yeah." Very special. He blinked back tears. Just then Jake appeared. He smiled when he saw Norm.

"Hey, it's the great warrior himself!" he said with a grin. "Bet you didn't expect to be leading cavalry charges when you first came here."

"No, that's for sure," sighed Norm. He tried to feel jubilant about the victory, but somehow he couldn't. "So what's the situation now?"

"Well, we smashed them up pretty good. The shuttle's destroyed, the Dragon's destroyed, and I'm guessing about 90% of the gunships are down. The ground forces, I'm not sure about. There might be a few survivors still trying to get out, but I don't give them much of a chance now that Eywa's involved. "

"She's really involved?" asked Norm.

"Yeah, I guess you didn't see. Hammerheads, viperwolves and banshees attacked in swarms. Just mobbed the RDA forces. It was impressive as hell."

"Huh." Norm was too tired to think of anything else to say.

"As for what happens next, well, that's something we need to figure out. Hell's Gate still has its fixed defenses and they are nothing to sneeze at. But we've got reinforcements still coming in. About five hundred more have arrived just in the last two hours."

"You're planning to attack the base?"

"I don't know what else we can do, Norm. If we just let things go now, you know the RDA will bring in more and more forces until we can't beat them even with Eywa's help. This might be our only chance to get rid of them. Is there any doubt that's what we have to do?"

"No, I guess not." They hadn't really made any plans beyond trying to survive Quaritch's attack, but Jake was right: the only possible answer was to force the humans—at least most of them—to leave Pandora. Any lesser agreement that left them with their base and the existing mine would only serve as incentive to reinforce and prepare for a renewed war—on their terms. The only problem was… "Selfridge isn't going to give up without a fight, Jake. Not while he's still got a fortified base and people with guns to protect him."

"I know. And outside the Flux Vortex their weapons are going to be whole lot more effective. I hate to think about our losses—even if Eywa helps out. But we do have one bargaining chip."

"Oh? What's that?"

Jake pointed to the other side of the shack. "Quartich. I captured him. He's over there."

"Really?" said Norm in surprise. A strange feeling filled him and some of his earlier rage returned. Quaritch! He was the bastard responsible for all this! Grace's death, Trudy's death, all the hundreds of other dead! He reached down and grasped his assault rifle. Jake noticed immediately.

"Not yet, Norm. I know how you feel—believe me! But if there's any way we can use him to prevent a lot more killing, I think we need keep him alive for now."

Norm glared at him, but then nodded and dropped the weapon with a sour smile. "I thought I was supposed to be the rational one here."

"Things change. People change. But we've all done enough changing for one day. If you guys are half as tired as I am then we all need a rest. Let's let Selfridge stew on things overnight and we'll give him a call in the morning."

[Scene Break]

Captain Harriet Kim rushed to the Hell's Gate control room. She'd been trying to grab a tiny bit of rack time—her first since yesterday's disaster—but there was an incoming message from the rebels and she had to take it. As she'd been falling asleep she was still wrestling with the question of whether she should try to contact them, but that decision had already been made, it seemed.

It was strangely quiet in the usually bustling control room. Almost all normal base activity was on hold. The mine had been shut down and all personnel had been brought back within the fortified perimeter. The security forces had been frantically scrambling to figure out what they had left and how best to use it.

And she was in command.

There was a time when she might have been pleased to have been in command, but not now, not like this! Under the old table of organization, she was sixth in line in the chain of command. Five other people either outranked her or had seniority. All five of them were now presumed dead—including Major Halstead, her immediate boss. She still couldn't believe it. He'd been like a father to her…

"Status!" she snapped as she stepped into the center of the room.

"Incoming message from the rebels, ma'am," said Lieutenant Asoka. He was next in line and was acting as her XO. "It's Jake Sully. He wanted to talk to Selfridge, but when I explained that you were in acting command of the base he said he wanted to talk to you."

"Where is Selfridge?"

"In his quarters. Asleep, I think."

"Send someone to wake him. Get him up here." She was in command, but she was certain she wasn't going to want to make any major decisions without consulting him. Especially the sorts of decisions she feared she was going to be asked to make soon.

"Right away." Asoka sent a runner. "Sully's waiting, ma'am." He pointed to a large monitor that was on standby.

"Okay, open the channel." She squared her shoulders and tried to look confident. A moment later a Na'vi's face appeared on the monitor. No, not a Na'vi, an avatar. Jake Sully's avatar. She still couldn't quite grasp what could have convinced him—and the others—to turn traitor. Hundreds of people were dead because of him. And because of us. Takes two to tango… She ought to be angry, furious with Sully over the friends she had lost, but somehow she just couldn't squeeze out any rage.

"Captain Kim? I'm Jake Sully."

"Yes, I'm Kim. What do you want?"

"I'm told you are in charge there now," said Sully. "I wanted to talk to you about what happens next."

"What do you think should happen next?"

Sully frowned. "Let's not play games, Captain. We kicked your asses yesterday. You're penned up inside your base, six years from any reinforcements. I've got reinforcements pouring in here. Eventually I'll have enough to go in there and dig you out despite your defenses. A hell of a lot of people are gonna get killed if I have to do that. A lot of Na'vi and pretty much all of you. I'd rather that didn't happen and I'm hoping you will have the sense to not want it either."

Well, that was pretty blunt. And unfortunately, too damn accurate. Prior to the battle Kim had been the assistant intelligence officer and she had been analyzing satellite recon photos. They had showed a frightening picture of Na'vi mobilization. Thousands, tens of thousands of Na'vi were coming to the aid of the Omaticaya. Quaritch had tried to attack before all those thousands could arrive. Well, he'd tried and lost anyway. But the Na'vi were still pouring in. The latest photos showed nearly 5,000 around the Tree of Souls. At least 50,000 more were on their way. Once they all arrived…

"You are asking us to surrender?"

"Not exactly," said Sully. "We just want you out of here. Norm tells me that's what they used to do in the olden days. 'Honors of War' they called it. You guys get to march out… well, fly out in this case and we move in. Nobody gets hurt."

"Evacuate. You want us to evacuate Hell's Gate. Leave Pandora?"

"No! We can't do that!" Kim turned and saw Parker Selfridge, the RDA administrator hurrying into the room. "We will not evacuate!" She immediately regretted her order to get him up here. There was no way he was going to act rationally. He would go to any length to save the base and the mine—and his career! Even if the military situation was impossible.

"Ah, Mr. Selfridge," said Sully. "I was pretty sure you'd get involved with this. And I'm afraid you are going to have to evacuate. As I was just telling Captain Kim, the Na'vi will continue to mass their forces until we have a enough to take you on. At that point, I'll have very little control on what happens. So it's a pretty simple choice for you: evacuate or face annihilation. Either way you lose the base and the mine. But if you evacuate at least you save your lives."

Selfridge's mouth opened and closed several times before he could sputter out a reply. "But the mine! Earth's economy depends on the production of the mine! If we have to shut it down it will be a disaster! The whole system could collapse! Sully, you're still a human being, how can you do that to everyone? Look, look, I'm sorry about the native's big tree, I didn't want to do that! It was all Quaritch's idea! If you'll just let us stay here I promise that we'll never try to expand beyond Hell's Gate! We'll never bother the Na'vi again, I promise!" He ran out of breath and stood staring at Sully's image on the monitor.

After a long pause the avatar slowly shook his head. "Sorry, but I'm afraid the word of the RDA doesn't have much weight around here anymore. I'm told by the Na'vi that when humans first showed up they promised their base was just going to be a tiny thing so they could study Pandora. And when they started digging the mine it was just 'for tests'. And when the mine and the base got bigger they promised the Na'vi that it was just that one spot and they would never go anywhere else. Step by step and lie by lie we got to where we are now. Nope, if we let you stay then ten years from now you'll have rebuilt your military forces and we'll have to do this all over again. No deal, Selfridge. Either you leave on your own or we'll come there and throw you out."

"But… but…"

"On the other hand," continued Sully, "my science advisor, Dr. Norman Spellman, informs me that despite all the hype to the contrary, Pandora is not the only place where unobtainium can be found. It's also on those other moons we see circling around up there and in the asteroid belt. We have no objections to you mining them."

"It would cost a fortune" cried Selfridge. "It would take years to get it in operation!"

"Not our concern," said Sully. He really had gone completely over to the natives, Kim realized. He was looking out for their interests now. "However, we don't want you folks to go home empty-handed. If you agree to leave we do have a couple of things you might be interested in."

Like what?" demanded Selfridge. Sully stepped back from the camera and pointed. The view on the monitor swung around and was suddenly showing a human in a torn and dirty fatigue uniform…

"Colonel Quaritch!"

[Scene Break]

Miles Quaritch stood there, quivering with fury. His hands were tied behind him, but his feet were free, although his knees and ankles were so painful he could hardly walk. Sully stood just in front of him and dozens of other Na'vi towered all around. Another of the traitors, Spellman, was shifting the camera around to focus on him. "Behave yourself, Colonel," warned Sully. "You get out of hand and we'll gag you. Speak when you're spoken to, okay?" Quaritch frowned even more ferociously, but said nothing. Sully turned back to the portable computer he was using as a communicator.

"As you can see, we have Colonel Quaritch here," he said. "Except for some minor injuries, he's unharmed. We also have three other prisoners. One's unhurt, another has a broken arm, but the third one is in pretty bad shape. We dragged him out of a crashed gunship. We'd like to turn him over to you as soon as possible. With proper care I think he'll make it."

"We can send a helicopter if you can guarantee safe passage," said the woman on the small monitor. It was Captain Kim and Quaritch clenched his fist. She wasn't a bad officer, but she just didn't have the fire in her belly that a combat leader needed. She'd been Major Halstead's protégé and he'd had his doubts about him, too. But she'd been left in command at Hell's Gate and he seriously doubted that she was up to handling the current crisis.

"We can send a few riders on banshees to act as escort," said Sully. "If you'll guarantee not to fire at them when they get in range."

"As long as it's just a small group we'll hold our fire," said Kim. "When?"

"I'll send them out right away. They ought to get to you in about an hour. Make sure you have medical people on that chopper."

"Will do. And… thank you."

"We're not savages, Captain, despite what some of you might think. But back to what we were talking about: the evacuation of Hell's Gate. If you'll agree to pull out, we'll let you go unmolested and give Quaritch and the other two back to you. What do you say?"

Quaritch nearly shouted out, ordering Kim not to give in, but he suddenly stopped himself. He was helpless here as a prisoner, he could accomplish nothing, but if he could get back to the base, back in command, there was still hope to salvage this situation. Yes, there were still some options… He remained silent. Kim looked nervous.

"We… we are going to have to discuss this among ourselves," she said.

"All right," said Sully. "I'll call you back tomorrow." He reached out and cut the connection and then turned to face him. "So, Colonel, do you think your pals will trade to get you back?"

"The game isn't over yet, Sully," growled Quaritch.

Sully frowned and bared his teeth. He reached out and caught Quaritch's tunic in his huge fist and hoisted him off the ground until they were eye to eye. "The only reason—the only reason—you are still alive, Quaritch is the chance that your life might buy the lives of thousands of others. If they reject our offer then you're dead! It's as simple as that." He let go and Quaritch dropped to the ground. Twin bolts of agony shot up his legs as his abused knees and ankles gave way.

"You…you'd murder a helpless prisoner?" he gasped. "I thought you just said you weren't a savage."

"You're no POW!" snarled Spellman, slamming the computer shut and striding over to him. "You're not a soldier! You're a damn terrorist! You attacked Hometree without provocation, killed close to fifty people—women and children!—and came here planning to kill everyone else you could get in your sights! And now that you've lost you try and hide behind the Geneva Convention? Coward!" The man was standing over him now and looked like he was getting ready to kick him.

"Pretty tough, ain't you?" said Quaritch. "Untie my hands and we'll see how tough you are, traitor!"

"He was tough enough to take on your ground troopers with nothing but a rifle," said Sully. "But no, if it comes the time to let anyone have a piece of you, Neytiri gets the first crack." He gestured to where a tall Na'vi woman had been standing quietly the whole time. She was the one who had been riding that big cat-thing, the one he'd almost killed before Sully had intervened. For an instant their eyes locked and a chill went through Quaritch. Her icy, utterly emotionless stare, was perhaps the most frightening thing he had ever seen. For the last day he'd been wanting nothing more than to get loose, get his hand on a weapon, a knife, anything… but deep inside he knew he'd last about five seconds against that woman in a knife fight.

"Nothing else to say?" Sully gestured to a couple of Na'vi who came over and dragged him away. There was a little dell, ringed in by sheer rock on three sides, where they'd kept him the previous night. There were never fewer than a dozen guards sitting around the one way out. He saw that there were now two other humans there. His captors freed his hands and pushed him in with the others. He nearly fell, but managed to remain on his feet. The other two were slumped on the ground. The one he recognized immediately, Sergeant Moghaddas, one of his AMP suit drivers. He knew all the suit drivers well. Moghaddas had his right arm in a sling and there was a large bruise on the side of his head. The other man looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't put a name to him. He had infantry tabs on his tunic, one of Halstead's troopers. The tunic was covered with dried blood, but apparently not his own. Both men looked at him with dazed expressions on their faces. Moghaddas had the look of a man filled with painkillers, the other…

"Colonel," said Moghaddas after a moment. The other said nothing.

"Men," said Quaritch. "How are you doing? Sergeant, has that arm of yours been looked at?"

"Uh, yeah, sir, one of them, a human, looked it over with a scanner and one of the blueskins set it. It's all wrapped up now."

He looked to the other one. "What about you, trooper? Are you hurt?"

No reply.

"What's your name, trooper?" Still no reply.

"It's Kryzwicki, sir," said Moghaddas. "He's a little messed up right now."

"Hurt?"

"Don't think so, but he was shaking real bad when they brought him. Not sure what happened to him."

Quaritch frowned. He was a damned coward, that's what was wrong with him. He slowly sat down, wincing from the pain in his leg joints.

"You hurt, sir?" asked Moghaddas.

"Nothing important. So how'd you end up here, Sergeant?" Moghaddas looked away. "I really need to know what happened, son. I was upstairs and couldn't see. Give me your report, Sergeant."

"Yes, sir. " The sergeant was silent for a moment marshalling his thoughts. "After we were dropped off, we formed a heavy skirmish line, maybe two hundred meters wide and advanced toward the target. We'd gone a klick, maybe a klick-and-a-half when we picked up movement headed our way. We halted and formed a firing line. Then we spotted the blueskins. Five hundred, maybe more, riding those horse-things. The damn fools came right at us! If they'd hit us from all sides it might have been trouble, but they charged right into our guns and we slaughtered them. We lost a couple of people but the fight didn't last five minutes. They broke and ran and a few gunships chased them. Easiest fight I've ever been in. But then, after we'd gone another half klick or so, we got another contact. The bush was a lot thicker there and we couldn't see what was coming until it was almost on us."

Moghaddas paused and then shook his head. "It was a shitload of those big animals, the hammerheads. Hundreds of them! They charged out of the bush and just rolled right over us before we could do a thing. Even the 30s on the AMP suits didn't seem to phase them. I put fifty or sixty rounds into one of them and it kept right on coming and smashed into me! After that… hell, Colonel, after that I was just a damn racquet ball! I don't know how many times I got hit but after a while I blacked out. When I came to the suit was a wreck. Both legs out, the left arm out, my gun gone. Only the suit's right arm worked, but by then mine didn't!" he held up his bandaged arm for emphasis. "The canopy was smashed all to hell. If I hadn't had the sense to put on my mask when the fight first started, I wouldn't be here. Almost didn't make it even so. There were all sorts of other critters prowling around outside and I didn't dare make a move. Later a party of blueskins came by and found me. They brought me here."

Quaritch looked at the other man. "So what happened to you, son? Report, private." The man just stared blankly. Quaritch leaned forward and shook him by the shoulder. "Private Kryzwicki! Snap out of it! I need your report!"

Kryzwicki suddenly seemed to see him and he jerked away in fright. "They… they just killed them! " he cried. "Everyone! My whole squad! Jones! Kirby! The Sarge, that big cat tore his head right off and he fell on me! Oh God!" He looked down at his uniform and started trying to scrape the dried blood off it. Then he looked back at Quaritch. "We were screaming for help! The gunships! But no one came! Why didn't you come, sir? They were slaughtering us and you didn't come! Why didn't you…"

Quaritch slapped him. "That's enough!" Get a hold of yourself!" Kryzwicki cringed back and curled up against the rock wall, sobbing. Quaritch scowled and turned away.

Moghaddas was looking right at him. "Colonel, how could this have happened to us?"

Quaritch returned his stare and ground his teeth. Yeah, how had this happened? Had he been overconfident? Careless? Or just stupid? He remembered back to his days at the academy, those courses on military history. They'd studied the classic military mistakes: Cannae, Hastings, Waterloo, Gettysburg… The Little Big Horn. Everyone in the class, from the professor on down, had snickered at the poor fools who were immortalized as the big losers. Would The Battle of Pandora—and Colonel Miles Quaritch be added to that list?

No!

This wasn't his fault! The battle would have been won except for the intervention of all those damn animals! He'd had no warning of that possibility, there was no way he could be held accountable for that! If anyone was to blame it was his intelligence officer, Major Halstead. He'd been here almost fifteen years, he knew this planet better than anyone else in the security forces. Why hadn't he found out about the potential for the local wildlife to go on a rampage? For that's what it was, wasn't it? Some freak of the local ecology. It clearly wasn't anything the hostiles had planned or they would have unleashed it earlier and saved themselves all their casualties. Quaritch was no more to blame for what had happened than if there had been an earthquake! Halstead was to blame but he was dead and the history books never put the blame on staff officers. It was the commanders who were remembered.

But he was in command—and he was still breathing.

He looked up as a flight of banshees swept past. More damn Na'vi arriving... An idea struck him.

"The game's not over yet, Sergeant!"

[Scene Break]

"The game's over, sir!" said Captain Kim. "We have no choice but to evacuate."

"No choice?" exclaimed Selfridge. "The base's defenses are intact! You've got the fences, the missile launchers, the mini-guns and you've still got hundreds of troops and even a few of the helicopters left. You told me that your weapons will be a lot more effective outside the Flux Vortex. Surely we can hold the base!"

"Perhaps we could for a while," replied Kim, trying not to let her voice rise. "But for how long? Our primary defenses are the long-range missiles. We have a limited supply of them. Those 'hundreds' of troops you mention are almost all rear-echelon support and technicians. I only have two platoons of real combat troops. Oh, I'm sure we could hurt the enemy badly, maybe fend off an attack or two, but in the long run? All we'd do is make them angry. Our latest recon photos show that there are nearly ten thousand of the enemy gathered in the Vortex and another fifty thousand en-route. I'll remind you what happened when Colonel Quaritch thought to win the war in a single blow. Clearly, the Na'vi are not so easy to demoralize."

"But how can you just give up without a fight?" Selfridge looked on the verge of panic.

"We've already had one fight, sir—and we lost. Lost badly. We have no offensive capability at all now. We are besieged. You heard Sully talking about the 'honors of war'? That's exactly the situation! Back in the Eighteenth Century sieges were common. The defenders held out until the attacker had worn them down to the point that the next big assault was certain to succeed. At that point the defenders were given the opportunity to evacuate and hand over the fortress. If they agreed, they were guaranteed their lives, often they were even allowed to march back to their own lines. But if they refused? Then it was no holds barred, war to the knife. There would be no mercy shown to the defenders—and often not to any civilians sheltering in the fortress! No prisoners, Mr. Selfridge! The garrison would be slaughtered to the last man. Is that what you want here?"

"I didn't want any of this!" the RDA manager wailed. "Quaritch promised me there would be no war!"

"Well, he was wrong—again, wasn't he? I was left in charge here and under the emergency conditions the Colonel declared, I have full authority to take whatever steps I think necessary. Sir, I have no intention of repeating his mistakes! When Sully calls us in the morning I am going to accept his terms. And I see no point in even waiting that long to start the evacuation."

"But you can't…" moaned Selfridge.

"Yes I can. And there's no need to remind you about the very limited space aboard the ISV in orbit and the orbital station. Start thinking about what needs to be taken. We'll have to leave almost everything else behind." She stood up. "Lieutenant Asoka, put together an evacuation schedule. Injured first, then mining personnel, then station personnel. Security personnel will be the last to go plus whatever essential station personnel we need to keep until the end. I will contact the orbital station manager and let him know to expect guests. Let's get moving people."

[Scene Break]

Jake looked at the woman on his monitor and raised his eyebrows. "You're agreeing to leave? Really?"

"You look surprised, Mr. Sully," said Captain Kim.

"Well, yeah, I guess I am. After all that's happened, I wasn't really expecting anyone there to have any sense."

A brief smile flickered on Kim's lips and then vanished again. "As the old saying goes, sometimes you have to hit the mule with the two-by-four first, just to get his attention. You've gotten my attention Mr. Sully. I'd be a fool not to see what the situation is. We are prepared to pull out and turn the base over to you, if in return you don't interfere with our evacuation."

"We're willing to agree," replied Jake. A huge wave of relief swept through him. No more fighting. As exhilarating as the earlier victory had been, he never wanted to go through something like that again. "However there are a few conditions."

Kim frowned. "Such as?"

"First, there is to be no demolition or damage to the base. It's to be left in the condition it is right now."

"I suppose there would be no objection to that," said Kim. "But I'm not sure why it would matter to you… oh, of course, you'll still have to support the human bodies of yourself and Dr. Spellman."

"Well, that brings us to the other condition: A number of the scientists and avatar drivers at Hell's Gate have contacted me. About two dozen of them. They want to stay behind."

Kim looked startled. "I… I'm not sure I have the authority to allow something like that…"

"Consider it a prisoner exchange," said Jake. "We get them, you get Quaritch and the other two back. Oh, that reminds me, how's the fellow we turned over to you yesterday?"

"He'll make it. Thank you." Kim hesitated for a moment. "You… you haven't found any more of our people alive, have you?"

"No, I'm afraid not."

"I see. Very well, if the others want to stay, I won't prevent it. It will be that much more room for the rest of us. Frankly, I think they'll come to regret it in the end, but it's on their heads. Uh, when can we expect to receive Colonel Quaritch and the other two men?"

"Considering the uh… combative nature of the Colonel, I'm going to hang on to him until the very last shuttle is ready to lift. At that point, the Na'vi will enter the base and take possession. Once we are satisfied that everything is in order we'll swap people and you folks can be on your way. Agreed?"

"I suppose that will be acceptable. I've given orders to begin the evacuation today. I'm hoping you realize that we can't just ship everyone up there in a bunch. The orbital station can't handle that many people all at once. We are going to have to put them into cryo and get them aboard the ISV . We estimate that the evacuation will take about a week."

"We figured it would take a while," said Sully. "That's not a problem for us. As I'm sure you've noticed, there are still a hell of a lot of Na'vi headed this way. I'm not too worried about you folks going back on your word."

"We will carry out our part of the bargain, sir. In return we are expecting you to keep the Na'vi under control."

"I'll do that. We will stay away from Hell's Gate until the time for the exchange." Privately Jake hoped he could deliver on that promise. Thousands of Na'vi were still pouring into the area. Most of them were disappointed that they had missed out on the battle and were itching to prove themselves. Still, he was amazed at the authority that came with being Toruk Macto. When he gave a command no one argued with it.

"Very well then," said Kim. "I think we are in agreement. We will begin the evacuation at once. I will check in with you every morning at this same time to give you a progress report."

"Sounds good. I'll talk to you again tomorrow, Captain." Jake clicked off the communicator and let out his breath. They'd done it. Won the war, saved Pandora and no one else had to die. An enormous weight seemed to lift from his shoulders. He looked to where Neytiri was standing and watching. He smiled at her but her return smile seemed strained. "What's wrong?" he asked. "It's over. They're going to leave."

"I am happy, of course," she said coming to him and placing her hand on his arm. "But I am unhappy that the man who did us so much harm will go home free and unpunished. He will escape justice."

Jake nodded. "Yes, it bothers me, too. But I couldn't risk getting thousands more of the People killed just to have our revenge."

"No, of course not. You did rightly. You did as Eywa would have wanted."

"I hope so. But as for Quaritch, I doubt he'll escape punishment completely. The Corporation isn't going to be very happy with him when he gets back!"

[Scene Break]

"May the ancestors preserve us!" gasped Lieutenant Asoka from beside Captain Harriet Kim. His eyes were wide open, as was his mouth. Kim hoped that she didn't look quite so gobsmacked, but she feared she did. "Harri, I'm very glad you made that deal!"

"Yeah, so am I," she whispered, unable to look away from the incredible spectacle taking place above Hell's Gate. Thousands, tens of thousands of Na'vi riding banshees were filling the skies overhead. They were literally blotting out the sun like a living cloud. Thousands more on horseback had emerged into the cleared spaces beyond the fences. The two hundred troopers of her rear guard made a pitiful showing in the face of this display of Na'vi might. She tore her eyes away to see how the other humans were reacting. Most were as gape-mouthed as Asoka, but some just shook their heads and a few even smiled, perhaps relieved not to be fighting this host. A few of them seemed to be quietly edging toward the shuttle.

Well, soon enough they would all be on that shuttle and safely away from here. Except for this final act, the evacuation was complete. It had taken nine days from start to finish and all during that time the Na'vi reinforcements had continued to stream in. Apparently Sully wanted to get some use out of them. If he's trying to impress us, I think he succeeded.

The only ones not intimidated were the twenty humans who had requested to stay on Pandora. They stood in a small group off to one side. They were pointing and hooting like it was some damn parade!

"Good God, what's that?" exclaimed Asoka. Kim followed his pointing finger and caught her breath. Another flying creature was approaching. It was easily twice the size of the banshees, probably larger than a Sampson helicopter and it was bright red. Several dozen banshees were escorting it and the whole group was coming in for a landing in the clear space only forty meters away. Some of the troopers were crying out in alarm.

"Stand easy!" bellowed Kim, glaring at them. All they needed now was for someone to panic and start firing! "Weapons down!"

But she had to admit that standing easy wasn't easy. The beast touched down with a blast of wind from its wings that nearly knocked her over. It reared back and gave an ear-splitting scream that sent a shudder right through her. Colonel Quaritch had said something about blasting a crater in the Na'vi racial memories, but this thing was clearly touching some human racial memory. Kim couldn't ever remember being more frightened by a living creature. But at the same time it was… magnificent.

Only when the animal thumped down onto its forelimbs did she notice the figure riding it. Correction, there were two people riding it, but one was so much smaller than the other that she had missed him at first. She recognized the tall one as Sully's avatar and she tensed when she realized that the other one was Colonel Quaritch. Sully lowered Quaritch to the ground by the back of his tunic and then hopped down after him. Glancing around, she saw that two of Sully's escorts had been carrying the other two captured humans. Kim took a deep breath. This was probably going to be awkward.

But to her relief she didn't have to confront the Colonel immediately. Sully had Quaritch and the other two held back while he came forward alone. Kim nodded to Asoka and walked to meet him. She'd never had much direct contact with the natives or even with the avatars and she felt ridiculously tiny as Sully loomed up over her. Like being sent to the Principal's office when you're eight years old! She very nearly saluted, but she forced herself not to. "Mr. Sully?" she said instead. "We are ready to finish this up."

"Morning, Captain," said Sully. "Beautiful day, isn't it? From the air it looked like everything is okay, but I'd like to talk to Dr. Patel."

Kim nodded and waved to Asoka. As part of the agreement, the humans who were planning to stay would inspect the base to assure that there had been no sabotage. Dr. Patel came forward and Kim frowned. She'd found hard evidence that Patel had been involved in the 'jailbreak' of Sully, Spellman and Augustine and had also been supplying the rebels with information since then. He really ought to be taken back to Earth for trial, but with the rebels holding three of their men, that wasn't going to happen.

"Hi Max!" said Sully. "Good to see you again. Everything in order?"

"Pretty much," replied Patel. "No physical damage, although I noticed that all the operating software for the defense weapons has been erased."

Sully turned to look at her and she blushed slightly. Damn, she had hoped he wouldn't notice that. "It… it was traditional for the garrison of a fortress to spike the guns before it surrendered. And I imagine that someone of Dr. Patel's skills won't have much trouble getting them up and running again."

Sully glanced up at the still-circling host of banshees and slowly smiled. "Well, I guess the place will be defended even so. No point in holding things up over it. Okay. Captain, I agree that the terms of our agreement have been met. We'll take our people and you can have yours and be on your way." He held out his enormous hand. "Thanks, Captain, we've dug enough graves and I'm glad there won't be any more."

She awkwardly took his hand and tried to shake it. But when she pulled her hand away afterwards she discovered that a small computer memory chip was resting in her palm. She looked at Sully. "It's a message we'd like to have delivered to Earth," he said quietly. "Our side of the story. I'm not asking for any promises from you, Captain, but you seem like an honorable person. Take a look at it and if you can think of anyone else who might like to see it once you get home… well, do as you see fit." Kim said nothing but slid the chip into her pocket.

"I think we're done here," she said.

"Yes," nodded Sully. "Max bring your people over here and I'll send Quaritch and the other two." He looked at her again. "Safe trip home, Captain."

"And the best of luck to you, sir." Sully stepped away and beckoned to the Na'vi holding Colonel Quaritch and the others. The two groups passed each other and suddenly Kim was face to face with Quaritch.

"Welcome back, sir," she said. She gestured toward the shuttle. "If you'll get aboard, we can get out of here."

[Scene Break]

Miles Quaritch pulled himself through the docking tube that linked the shuttle to the orbital station. He looked over his shoulder at the two officers following him. "Captain, Lieutenant, come with me to the control center." Neither one answered, but they did as he told them. He worked his way through the zero-G section of the station, past hundreds of people who had been evacuated and huge bundles of supplies and equipment. "Make way, make a hole!" he growled. There was no time to waste!

"Captain, what was the condition of the base defenses when you left?" he called back to Kim.

"The computers were purged, but the equipment itself is fully operational, Colonel," she replied.

"And you have backup software that could be reloaded quickly?"

"Yes, but…"

"Good! Perfect!" They reached the elevators that would take them down to the rotating part of the station where the command center was. "Have all the officers and the station administrator meet us there."

"They should already be there waiting for us, Colonel, but…"

"Excellent. We have a great opportunity here, Captain, but the window for it is pretty narrow. We need to act quickly."

"But. Colonel, what…?"

"Hold your questions, Captain, I'll tell everyone at once." Kim subsided and followed him out of the elevator in silence. She was a competent enough officer if well supervised. But she was probably as demoralized by the situation as most of the troopers seemed to be. Well! He would snap them all out of that right quick!

They reached the control center and Quaritch was pleased that everyone was there as Kim had promised, although he would have been just as happy if Parker Selfridge had been absent. "Hello, everyone," he said. "Sorry for my enforced absence, but I'm back now and we have a lot to do. Captain Kim would you please call up the latest satellite photos of the hostiles' base?" She did so and the image of that damned tree appeared on the largest display monitor surrounded by a huge swarm of red and yellow dots. He turned to face the orbital station's manager.

"Mr. Adams, I understand that you folks collect small asteroids up here and extract metals and gasses from them to service the ISVs?"

"Uh, yes we do, we maintain a modest shipyard here," replied Adams looking surprised. "Although I wouldn't really call them asteroids, just bigger pieces of Polyphemus' rings…"

"Good enough," said Quaritch. "I want you to take the biggest one you've got on hand and attach some thrusters to it."

"We could do that, I suppose…. Why?"

"Because I am going to drop it right here!" said Quaritch triumphantly, pointing to the image on the screen. "A few thousand tons of metal and rock hitting at eight or ten kilometers a second will strike with the force of a small hydrogen bomb. It will destroy this Tree of Souls and kill everything within a five kilometer radius—annihilating the enemy army! And before the dust can settle, we will recapture Hell's Gate by storm, reactivate the defenses there, and win this war at a stroke!"

[Scene Break]

Captain Harriet Kim stared at Colonel Quaritch in horror. She had been afraid that something unpleasant was forthcoming, but never in her worst nightmare had she expected something like this! She turned to Lieutenant Asoka and hissed: "Suki, get the surgeon up here. Right now!"

Apparently she wasn't the only horrified one in the compartment. Lieutenant Ivan Anderson looked like he'd been pole-axed, but he managed to stutter out: "B-but Colonel, orbital bombardment devices have been classified as weapons of mass destruction! They've been outlawed the same as nukes and chemicals and biologicals!"

"For use against humans, Lieutenant!" snapped Quaritch. "The animals down there aren't human. The laws don't apply to them. "

"But there are still millions of Na'vi on Pandora," persisted Anderson. "What if this just angers them still more? What if they all move against us?"

"A valid point, Lieutenant. We underestimated their resolve before, but that won't happen again. Adams, I'm going to need a lot more of your rocks. We have the locations of hundreds of enemy villages on our scans. We will begin a systematic bombardment to eradicate any that are within 2,000 klicks of Hell's Gate. If need be we can expand that radius later. But we must act quickly: right now the main concentration of hostiles is still camped around their stronghold, but that won't last much longer. Once they start to disperse we will lose this fine target. Adams, I want your work crews to get on this immediately, understand?"

Todd Adams stood there with his mouth hanging open for a moment but then said: "Colonel, your plan is crazy! Neither I nor any of my men will be a part of anything so monstrous as this! I refuse!"

Quaritch frowned and took a step forward. His hand brushed against his hip where a pistol usually hung. "I'll remind you that we are in a state of war here, Adams! Refusing my order is an act of treason! Traitors can be shot! You will follow my order, or you will be shot. If your second in command refuses then he will be shot, too. I imagine that at some point in the chain of command I'll find someone willing to cooperate! Now what do you say to that? Think carefully!" He took another step forward and Adams took a step back.

Kim took a step forward.

"Relax, Mr. Adams," she said. But she was anything other than relaxed. Her adrenalin was pumping and her heart pounding and her voice echoed in her ears like it was someone else speaking. "You and Colonel Quaritch are both laboring under a misconception."

Quaritch turned to face her. His face was set like granite and his eyes glinted. "What misconception is that, Captain?" he asked, voice filled with menace.

"That you are in command here. You are not. I am."

Now he took a step in her direction. "What are you saying, Captain? The last time I checked the regulations a colonel outranked a captain." His mouth quirked up in a small smile, but there was no humor in his eyes.

"I suggest that you check those regulations again, Colonel," replied Kim. "As I'm sure you know, the RDA security regs are copied almost word for word from standard military regulations. If you look at Section Twelve, the section on Prisoners of War, subsection fourteen, paragraph three, you'll find, and I quote: 'Any repatriated personnel, enlisted or commissioned officers, held by the enemy for more than twenty-four hours will not be returned to duty without a full medical and psychological examination and the approval of the officer in command, and in no case prior to a thirty day observation period'. You have, yourself declared that a state of war exists, and you were a prisoner for nearly two weeks. You cannot resume command for thirty days and not without my approval—which I refuse to give. You have no authority here."

Quaritch's face was slowly turning red. His fists were clenched at his side. "Captain Kim, you are relieved of duty," he grated through clenched teeth. "Remove yourself from here immediately."

She folded her arms. "You have no authority here, Colonel. Please report to the embarkation area and prepare to enter cryo." She had a pistol on her belt and she prayed that she wasn't going to have to use it.

"You are under arrest, Captain! Lieutenant Asoka, escort the captain out of here and have her detained."

Asoka folded his arms as well. "Sir, I respectfully refuse."

"God damn it!" snarled Quaritch. "Anderson! Give me your sidearm!"

Ivan Anderson took two steps backwards and his hand covered his holster. "No, sir. I won't do that."

"Cowards!" he shouted. "You're all a bunch of stinkin' cowards! Don't you understand? We can still win! We can still win!" Kim glanced to her side as the door slid open. Captain Sternberger, the brigade medical officer, stood frozen in the door, eyes like saucers.

"Doctor," she said. "The Colonel has become disturbed. Do you have anything you can give him to calm him down?"

"You miserable bitch!" screamed Quaritch. "Traitors, all of you!" He looked this way and that as if trying to decide which way to strike. A bank of control consoles stood between him and Kim so he suddenly threw himself at Ivan Anderson, clawing to get hold of his gun. Asoka leaped to help as did Adams and most of the other station personnel nearby. Quaritch was strong and well-trained in hand-to-hand combat and at first he held his own, striking down several people, but then more piled in, even Selfridge grabbing a leg.

"Don't you idiots understand?" howled Quaritch. "We have to beat them! We have to beat those savages!"

Doctor Sternberger broke free of the shock that was holding him and moved in on Quaritch with his injector in hand. The Colonel made a huge effort to break free and nearly did, but then the hypo was at his neck and hissed sharply.

"Bastards! You bastards let me go! Let me fight! Can't… give… up…." Slowly, slowly Quaritch's struggles grew weaker. His screams grew softer. Finally his eyelids drooped and he slumped in the arms of the people holding him. Still, no one let go for another full minute just to be sure.

Shaken, Kim slowly returned her pistol to its holster and then let out her breath. Lieutenant Anderson sat on the deck cradling what Kim suspected was a broken wrist. Suki Asoka staggered to his feet and limped over to her. "Holy shit!" he gasped.

"Doctor," said Kim. "Will you please have the Colonel placed into cryo as quickly as possible?" She looked around at the other people in the compartment. "I think it would be best if we didn't mention this to anyone, understand?"

"What? You mean the fact that this maniac was going to commit genocide?" demanded Adams angrily, dabbing at a bloody nose.

"I think he'd insist that genocide is only if you are slaughtering human beings," said Asoka shaking his head.

In any case," said Kim, "no good can come from spreading this around. Our people are shaken up enough as it is. So let's get back to work on the evacuation, all right?"

Most seemed to agree. A team arrived with a stretcher for Quaritch and everyone breathed a sigh of relief when he was gone. Kim looked at Asoka. "Thanks, Suki. Thanks for backing me up. I doubt I could have taken him alone."

"My pleasure, Harri. But tell me: was all that shit you quoted from the regulations really true?"

"Yes, check it out for yourself. Well, I did just make up the section and paragraph numbers, but it's all in there."

"Lucky for us."

"Lucky for everyone." She nodded toward the display that was still showing the Na'vi army. "But come on, let's go home."

[Scene Break]

September 2160

Colonel Miles Quaritch looked at his reflection in the polished metal of the elevator car. He was wearing his 'dress' uniform, although in his opinion it hardly deserved the word. The RDA big-wigs didn't go in for showy uniforms on their hired guns. He wished he was wearing his marine uniform. Now that was a uniform! Anyone wearing that uniform you knew was one tough sonuvabitch! A uniform to be proud of made a man feel proud. And a proud soldier was a good soldier.

But the RDA board didn't care about stuff like that. Budgets and profits and public opinion was all that mattered to them. Just a bunch of damn civilians. They had no clue about what really mattered!

The elevator stopped and the doors opened and Quaritch was escorted by some lackey in a suit through the carpeted and paneled hallways of the RDA's headquarters in Qatar. Earth's gravity seemed to drag at his footsteps. They reached a set of double-doors which swung open at their approach. Beyond was a large, windowless room filled with tables and chairs and people.

People who dared to sit in judgment of him!

Oh, this was supposed to be a series of hearings looking into the 'events' on Pandora, but he knew what it really was: a search for scapegoats. And what better scapegoat than Miles Quaritch? Would they consider that he'd been given an impossible mission, inadequate resources, and disloyal or incompetent subordinates? No, of course not. Bastards. None of them had probably ever touched a gun, let alone carried one or been under fire. What could they possibly know about war? And yet they were going to pass judgment on him. The lackey led him to a table and chair set in the center of the arena. Dozens of faces were turned toward him. He glared back at them.

"Colonel Quaritch." Said one of the faces, "please be seated. I'm afraid we have a long day ahead of us. We have a lot of questions for you."

[Scene Break]

August 2161

Harriet Kim stepped off the maglev train at the main RDA complex in Qatar. She'd much rather be back on that beach in Newfoundland, but she had to be here. No one had ordered her to be here—not that anyone could order her to be here anymore—but she had to be here. Today. She hadn't been here since the hearings almost a year ago and normally she never would have chosen to return. But duty drove her and she had one last duty to perform.

There was quite a crowd around the train station, but this was the hub of the vast RDA empire and it was always like this, twenty-four hours a day. She left the station area and eventually reached less crowded areas in the huge complex of offices, residence towers, malls, and entertainment spaces. RDA Qatar was a city as well as a corporate headquarters. As she neared the tower that housed the RDA security offices the crowds had thinned out completely; it wasn't somewhere people would come for fun. Still, there were a few people heading for the tower entrance. One of them turned…

"Harri!"

"Suki!" Kim's dark mood brightened at the sight of her old comrade. Her step quickened and she caught up with him. He wasn't alone; a slim, raven-haired woman was on his arm. Asoka was smiling broadly and thrust out his hand at Kim. She took it on both of hers and squeezed firmly. "I was hoping you'd be here, Suki."

Asoka turned his head toward the woman on his arm. "Myuki? I want you to meet Captain Harriet Kim. I've told you about her. We served together on Pandora. Harri, this is Myuki, my fiancé."

Kim's eyebrows went up and she smiled. "Well! I'm glad to meet you! And congratulations to you both."

"It is an honor to meet you at last, Captain Kim," said the woman very formally. "Suki speaks of you often." She was very pretty and Kim reflected that she must have been about five years old when Suki first shipped out for Pandora. Eleven years in cryo…

"Glad he hasn't forgotten his hard-assed CO. But I'm not a captain anymore. Just call me Harri." She turned back to Asoka. "I guess you're here for the ceremony, too, eh?"

Asoka's smile faded. "Yeah. I just… well, I just felt like I had to be here."

"I know. Well, come on, they're going to be starting soon." They all headed through the entrance to the tower. The security check was perfunctory: the real security check took place before you could even get on the train coming here.

The lobby of the tower was vast and filled with polished stone and metal. Kim had seen cathedrals less imposing. A lot of people were coming and going on various business, but there was a small crowd of people gathered in an alcove to one side, they headed in that direction.

The RDA had been around a long time and like any well-established institution it had developed traditions and a heritage of sorts. Unfortunately, part of that heritage was the fact that a lot of people didn't like the RDA or the strangle-hold it had on Earth's resources. Far too often that dislike became hatred and eventually violence. RDA interests around the word were under constant threat of attack. Sometimes those attacks succeeded and a lot of RDA security personnel had been killed over the decades. Someone had decided that those who had died should not be forgotten. The alcove was the memorial for RDA security people killed in the line of duty. The dark granite walls had the names of the dead engraved on it. There were a lot of names, some dating back over fifty years.

There were some new names on the wall. A lot of new names, actually.

A pair of corporate suits were reading prepared statements and there were a few newsies there with cameras and a small crowd of people. Kim and Asoka and his girl stood at the edge and watched. She glanced over the crowd and relaxed when she did not find a certain face. Her real reluctance in coming had been the chance that she'd run into him, but she didn't see him. She was kind of surprised that he hadn't come. He'd always liked this sort of ceremonial stuff. And she doubted that he'd even be bothered by the fact that he was the one who had gotten the owners of all those new names killed. But he wasn't here and she was glad.

After a mercifully short time the suits finished up and departed. The newsies didn't linger, either. Some of the crowd moved up to inspect the memorial wall, but most drifted away. Once the crowd had thinned enough Kim and her friends moved forward. The names on the wall were arranged by date of death. Usually there was nothing more than the name, since most of the casualties had been in ones and twos. In a few cases, like the great Carracci refinery attack of '09, there was a larger batch of names and these were grouped together in alphabetical order. Kim and Asoka were looking for the newest names on the wall.

They were easy to find.

Not just freshly engraved, but they were the largest single batch on the wall.

Those Who Sacrificed Their Lives During the Pandoran Expedition, August 2154

Two hundred and ninety-seven new names. Harri Kim knew each and every one of them by heart. She started down the list. Adler… Amhrein…Austin… Baerga… She paused with a snort of surprise when she got to the C's.

Chacon!

Kim shook her head. Trudy Chacon. She had certainly died on Pandora. In August of 2154. But she wasn't working for the RDA anymore when she died! What idiot had decided this? She wondered what Chacon would think about having her name listed among all those she had helped betray? She continued on down the list. Her breath was coming quicker when she got to the H's.

Halstead Samuel P., Major

It was so stupid. She knew his name would be there, but it still came as a shock to see it. There had been no body, no funeral on Pandora, so this was like the first real confirmation that her mentor was actually dead. She stood there staring at it, eyes filled with tears, until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and saw Asoka looking at her.

"He was a good man. I'm sorry, Harri."

"He was a damn good man. Best officer I ever served under. He deserved better."

"They all did."

"Yeah." She patted Suki's hand and then turned back to the list, working her way down, determined not to skip a single name. It was her duty… L… M… N… O… P…

She stopped with a gasp. Frozen in place.

"What's the matter, Harri?"

She pointed with a trembling hand. "What… what…?"

Quaritch, Miles, Colonel, Commanding

"Good God!" exclaimed Asoka. "You mean you didn't know? It was all over the news!"

"I… I haven't been watching the news for quite a while. When? How?" Why?

"Oh, about three months ago, I guess. You remember how they raked him over the coals during the hearings?" Kim nodded numbly. "Well, it didn't stop after that. There were hearings in a dozen different countries and then lawsuits and civil trials from people who had lost relatives. Some people tried to accost him in public and you can imagine how he responded to that! Assault charges followed. Well, anyway, one night he just put his pistol in his mouth."

"And his name ends up here alongside all the people he got killed," said Kim bitterly.

"Well, in a way you could argue that he died on Pandora the same as them. It just took him a bit longer to stop moving. I guess that's how the Corporation saw it." Kim shook her head. Making up history. Apparently, even the losers can write the histories if the winners are four light years away. But she still had that computer chip that Sully had given her. Perhaps it was time to find someone to give that to…

"Still," continued Asoka, "it was a hell of a surprise. I mean you remember how he was on the station! The man wouldn't quit! I never thought he'd take this way out."

"He finally met an enemy he couldn't beat," whispered Kim.

"What? The Na'vi?"

"No. Disgrace."

"Huh," said Asoka. "Maybe there is some justice in the word after all. Can we take you to dinner, Harri?"

"Sure. Just as soon as I'm finished here."

[Scene Break]

April, 2165

"And so, in the end, all the bad Sky People boarded their great ships and left Pandora, never to return. Eywa was happy and all the People were happy. The Time of Great Sorrow was ended. Your father sent the mighty Toruk back to his mountain home where he lives to this day."

Jake Sully leaned against the trunk of Hometree with Norm and his mate, Lanuma, and watched Neytiri telling all their children a bedtime story. Like children anywhere—on any planet—they wanted to stay up just a little bit longer…

"But, Mama, not all the Sky People left, did they?" asked little Silwanin.

"No, indeed, for not all Sky People are bad. Some are very good. The good Sky People were allowed to stay on Pandora."

"But why did Jakesulley send the Toruk away?" demanded Tru'di. "I'd like to ride him!"

"The Toruk is not for fun!" said Neytiri. "He is reserved for Eywa's champion in times of great need. When the need is passed, he goes away again."

"But…" began young Grace.

"One more but tonight!" said Neytiri. "Then to sleep!"

"Why… why did Father let the baddest of the Sky People leave? He caused so much sorrow! Why wasn't he punished?" Neytiri did not reply. Instead she looked at Jake. Norm and Lanuma were looking at him, too.

"Sometimes," he said, "sometimes a leader has to make hard choices. I could have punished the Sky People leader, but if I had, then the war might have gone on. Many more of our people might have died. But don't worry, I'm sure that the Sky People leader was punished. As your mother said: not all Sky People are bad. The good Sky People on their home would have demanded that he be punished. I have no doubt that Colonelquaritch found justice. Now go to sleep!"

THE END