Author's Note:
I do not own Avatar or the characters. Wish I did though. To the fans of Golden Dawn and Addition Into the Circle, this is not going to be a really long story, and I already have chapters planned for both stories. I estimate 10-15 chapters depending on what I feel like doing. I wanted to try something new and somewhat different. Please rate and review.
Pandora's Box
Chapter 1: Prologue
Location: ISV Serenity
Date: August 15th 2153
Samuel Borodin woke up with a groan. Of all of the things he expected about being placed in cryo, it was not this. Every joint in his body was stiff, the muscles screaming in protest if he even twitched. The headache was worse than the morning after a 3 day drinking binge. He blinked a few times as he was laying there, flexing his hands and feet to work the kinks out of his muscles. The tube's blue light shone throughout the cryo tube as he laid there, breathing in and out slowly. The tube clicked and hissed as the door opened, the table whirring as it slid out. Sam blinked his eyes at the white light, which seemed bright to him. Slowly, the rest of the ship came into focus, the flurry of activity was apparent as medical personnel were moving around to check on the small army of people emerging from stasis. A doctor in medical scrubs floated over and checked Sam's vitals quickly, the pad in his hand downloading the data quickly.
"Vitals are good, Sergeant. How you feeling?"
"Like shit, Doc," Borodin replied in a slight southern accent, still disoriented.
"Yeah, that is common when you come out of stasis. Grab your gear and get moving. It won't be long until we arrive." The doctor replied as he undid the straps to the chamber and floated away to check on another patient.
Sam propped himself up and hesitantly slid off the small bed. He ran his fingers through his dark hair, looking around to get his bearings from the disorientation that was common due to emerging from cryostasis. He grabbed the rails and glided himself to a row of lockers above his head. Finding the one with his name on it, he opened it up and pulled out the backpack and the duffel bag that was inside and shut the now empty locker. He floated along grabbing the hand rails, following the line of people that were moving to the assembly area. Sam sighed in relief as he felt the pull of gravity on the small platform, landing on his feet. A soldier with brown hair and tanned skin landed next to him with his eyes wide open.
"Why is there gravity here? I thought we were weightless. This shit feels weird, man."
"Because this section is rotating with centrifugal force, simulating gravity. This is the assembly area where we get dressed and get our gear ready. It would be awkward to change in zero gravity." Sam replied wryly, the accent now gone from his voice as he sized up the soldier. He looked young, certainly younger than Sam's thirty-one years. Or thirty-seven, if you count the trip to get here. Now there is a depressing idea if I ever heard one. He thought to himself as he headed to the nearest changing room. The young soldier followed him anxiously, carrying his own duffel bag as Sam entered the changing room. Both men set down their duffel bags and stripped off their medical gowns, dressing quickly into their uniforms. Sam adjusted the beret on his head and pulled out a stainless-steel ring and put it on his right pinky finger. The young soldier looked at him strangely.
"What kind of ring is that, sir?"
Sam turned around and gazed at the young man, whose uniform nametag read Snipes. He wondered briefly why Snipes was so curious at who he was.
"It is the engineer's ring. A symbol that reminds me of who and what I am."
Snipes nodded.
"I see, sir. Oh, Private First Class Malcolm Snipes. You can just call me Mal, though." He extended his hand.
Sam, after a moment's hesitation, took his hand.
"Sergeant Samuel Borodin. I guess you can just call me Sparky Sam. Seems I inherited that nickname along the way and I have no idea if rank really matters here." He replied dryly.
Malcolm chuckled slightly.
"Yeah, since we are on corporate pay. Sure as hell beats the jungles of Venezuela, peacekeeping and all that bullshit. Which really means sitting on your ass and drinking beer while the natives sneered at you on patrols."
Borodin decided he rather liked the young man and gave a small laugh, slipping back into his southern accent.
"I suppose so. Never was there myself. I was a REMF."
"REMF?" Mal asked in confusion.
"Rear Echelon Mother Fucker. I got to sit on base and fix things like communication relays and sensors. It's what I do."
"Smart thinking there, sir. You get better pay than I do, without the hazards that go with it."
Sam snorted at that.
"Not for long I'm not. Pandora is a death world. Even sitting on base can get quite interesting from what I have heard. Half of the plants want to eat you, and the animals are even worse. So, tell me Mal, why you decide to sign up for this shithole?"
Malcolm gave a small grin as he sat on the metal bench and laced up his boots.
"Oh, the pay was good. Far more than what I normally would make. Applied for it, got the job, and here I am. They wanted experienced veterans like myself. I have, and I quote, "combat experience." I guess just being in Venezuela qualifies me as someone who saw combat. I never really saw anything other than a few long range gun fights with the militia down there. They run like pussies whenever we shot back. Enough about me though, why you decide to come to Pandora?"
"Oh, well….I was bored on Earth, fixing things that were mundane. RDA offered me a job with pay that was lucrative. Enough that I'll be rich and able to retire somewhere around fifty or so. Better than what most people do. Plus, it is exciting to come to a new world. Makes me feel like I can do something worthwhile." Sam shrugged and picked up his bag.
After checking a few items, he made sure the revolver he had was empty and put it in his holster. Mal noticed the gun with interest.
"Nice gun. Didn't know they made revolvers that looked like that anymore."
"A gift from the family. Reliable, plus I like how easy it is to use. They don't make them like they used to, Mal. This here is an antique, a piece of history. This, my friend, is a 44 magnum. Been in my family since my grandfather. It was a gift from my father when he heard I was coming here. They stopped making these in 2094. Would you like to hold it?"
Sam pulled out the gun and handed it over handle first, with the barrel pointing down. Mal took the gun and grinned.
"Pretty heavy gun. Makes you feel more like a man than the Wasp."
Sam snorted in agreement.
"I fired that gun before. Nice and light, but it is a woman's gun. Plus the bullet caliber is tiny, only 9mm. Sissy gun. This…this is a man's gun."
"I'll probably get the Wasp. I'd like to borrow your gun sometime and try it out." Mal grinned and handed it back. Sam put it back in his holster.
"I suppose I can let you fire a few shots. I only got a few hundred rounds of ammo, though. Maybe they got more of it on base." Sam added thoughtfully as a voice spoke over the intercom.
"All personnel proceed to Embarkation Area. Repeat, all personnel proceed to Embarkation Area."
Sam sighed as he looked over to the brown haired man.
"Time to go. Which Valkyrie you riding on?" One or Two?"
"Valkyrie One. You?"
"I'm on Two. Thankfully, I don't have to crawl all of the way down the length of the ship like your sorry ass has to do." Sam couldn't resist the sarcastic reply.
"What can I say, man? They obviously picked the fittest to ride on Valkyrie One. The few, the strong, the brave." Mal smirked back at the ribbing.
"Yeah yeah, all that muscle you built up must have squeezed out your brain. Fittest my ass. You won't live it down if you get eaten by some thanator and get turned into a steaming hunk of shit." Sam couldn't resist the southern accent, despite his best attempts at restraining it. He usually hated the accent, but it seemed appropriate.
"Oh yeah? Well now, that is better than what my dad told me. He told me I wouldn't become shit. Worst case, I prove him wrong. See you on the ground."
"Yeah, nice to see you are an optimist." Sam snorted as Malcolm walked off. He climbed down the ladder, heading down to the docked Valkyrie. He noted that it was zero-g again as he floated down to the waiting shuttle with his gear. Once inside, he floated to one of the seats and strapped himself in, other people were doing the same around him. Sam sat down and waited as the last of the passengers took his seat. A voice spoke over the intercom.
"Valkyrie is ready to depart. Final check on restraints before we take off."
A crewman got up and began to check the restraints of the passengers and the cargo pods that were secured to the floor in webbing. As he moved, another crewman followed behind him distributing exopacks to the passengers. After a few moments, the crewmen walked back to their seats. One of them hit the intercom and reported to the pilot.
"All passengers and cargo secured. Ready for departure."
"Valkyrie departing. Detach….3….2….1…..detach!"
Sam closed his eyes and waited as the shuttle detached from the main ship. Strangely he felt nothing as his thoughts ran through his head. In what seemed to be an eternity for him, but could only have been a few minutes, he began to feel the pull of gravity as the shuttle orbited down to Hell's Gate. After a while, he felt the shuttle switch to jet engines as it began to slow down, his stomach gave an uncomfortable roll. God, I hate flying. I love machines more than people usually, but the act of flying is just unnatural. If God wanted us to fly, he would have given us wings. He thought dryly to himself as the shuttle lurched, signaling that they had landed. An officer got up from his seat and started barking orders.
"Get out the restraints! Exopacks on! Get those Exopacks on! You want to get high off of the Pandora atmosphere, do it on your own time! Go straight inside when the ramp opens! Do not pause to admire the scenery ladies!"
Everyone began to put on their exopacks as Sam complied with the orders, making sure it was secured. The mask pressurized as air began to flow. Satisfied with the mask, Sam picked up the backpack and his duffel bag as the ramp began to lower. The officer gestured for everyone to go inside as the ramp hit the tarmac. People began to jog off the shuttle as Sam followed behind obediently, taking a quick look around at the large base. He had arrived at last.