Chapter 2: Rampant Devastation of Aliens
Pandora: Jungle
Erasmus Killgore marched on through the growth at a steady pace, having spotted what he assumed to be his destination a long time ago. Said destination was a tree, giant in scale even when compared to the ones he had dealt with so far. Even if it was not the home of the band of hunters he had slain earlier it had to be important. Primitive people put undue significance in objects and locations of size, considering the Great Pyramids of Egypt, or the massive scale of the Roman Coliseum. He supposed that there was significance to that mythos though, after all, the human mind automatically assumed that which was larger than it to be more powerful. He himself was evidence of this even before his rise to godhood. And if he was intimidating to normal people at only eight feet, the Navi must have been terrifying to the first humans they met when they rose above even him.
Since he had arrived, night had fallen, revealing the world around him to be a place of great beauty. Anything and everything shone with a light of its own, from fern leaf to the animals that scurried out of his way as he progressed. These animals were only visible for a brief moment before vanishing into the brush, and it was not worth his time to give chase, but from time to time he would get a clear view of what looked to be the alien analogue to a dog, or wolf perhaps. A low slung body that seemed to possess six legs if he was seeing thing correctly. Out deeper in the trees he would occasionally see larger things pass by, but whether these creatures were predator or prey he did not know. If they were prey though, he marveled at the scale of animal that would be required to be predator to such a beast. Either or, the beasts decided to leave him alone. Whether this was due to his natural aura of menace of a lack of aggression was open for debate.
More strange plants had crossed his vision as well; things that appeared as fingers rising up out of the ground topped with a small tuft of orange that glowed in the night, large red flowers on equally large stems that seemed to turn and follow his progress, and the most amusing so far, a shrub that would vanish into the ground at his approach with a small sucking sound only to rise again just as suddenly as he passed by. Truly, he envied the Navi one thing and one thing only, that they had had far longer to appreciate this world than he had, though to them the aesthetic wonder of the flora must have been only a passing thought.
On the topic of the blue elfish lookalikes, he found himself again wondering what that hunter had meant by "sky people" when referring to other humans. Surely the humans that lived here did not possess wings? If they did though, that would be, again, wondrous. But, surely he would have seen some kind of aerie by now if such a thing were true, or some kind of floating city? His mind whirled with potential explanations, each admittedly more childish than the last, until he finally dismissed it. He could accomplish nothing by daydreaming. That much was universally true.
He arrived at a small ridge which gave him another clear view of his destination, the tree rising up in a clearing upon which dark shapes moved about. Even considering the hour, which must have been abysmally late to any living thing that required sleep, they restlessly meandered about. They did not however, appear to be either human nor Navi. These animals possessed four legs and bore great similarities to a standard horse, but even his godly eyes could not make out great detail at this distance. He glanced down, seeing now that the clearing and tree occupied a grand basin that could easily have been called a sea were it filled with water. The slope itself was quite gentle as well, and would cut a significant portion of time off of his trip were he to simply jump. If he wanted to continue to take the scenic route, he would be required to traverse a much longer trail that seemed to wander around the walls of the basin for miles. When faced with that boring trek his choice was quite easy and he vaulted off the ridge at a low angle to meet the ground.
He hit the soil walls of the basin, digging the sides of his feet in only slightly to control both his speed and direction. Veering off to the left, he noticed a Navi sleeping with its back to the wider clearing. He pushed off with his long legs, sailing silently through the air to pulp the alien's head against the rock it had been sleeping against. For a moment he stopped, noting that this particular Navi seemed a bit leaner than the others. He glanced down towards the chest area, noting a lack of gender specific parts as opposed to a presence of. Still, the differences between elfish men and women were hard to spot as well, and he was not about to go rooting beneath loincloths to ascertain the sexual identity of his kills. He silently concluded, without remorse, that he had executed a Navi female.
Now that he was on the meandering path, about seventy five percent of the way down, he figured he might as well stay on it. If there were more guards, as he guessed his latest victim was, he could use this as an opportunity to exercise his stealth abilities. And he would have that opportunity soon, there was a small fire lit down what one could consider a "level" of the path where the direction abruptly flipped back on itself, a switchback. Down below, there were two Navi. Judging by build he could guess that both were female. He shot a glance both ways along the path, which was dark due to the soil not glowing like everything else but no barrier for his eyes.
He remained still for a moment, flexing his fingers and debating silently on how he would handle the kills. Reaching a choice, he silently slid off the ledge he was on and dropped like a guillotine on the unsuspecting Navi. The one on the left looked up just as he came within reach, but he silenced it by stabbing his fingers into the large eyes and straight into the waiting brain. The one on the right never knew what happened, as he broke her neck at the same time as he ripped the head off of the other guard. Nearby, something else stirred, and it was with a sigh of exasperation that he turned his gaze to one last Navi that was rising from a bed of leaves, this one male.
He lunged and clamped a crushing hand over the mouth of the Navi before it could crow a warning, whispering as he did so. "You picked a very bad night to fall asleep on the job."
He ripped the razor point of his right index finger through the Navi's throat, severing both the carotid artery and jugular vein equivalents, leaving the dying humanoid to do little more than gargle helplessly as its lifeblood rapidly drained onto the soil. But as he lowered the corpse slowly to the ground a warning cry issued forth from above him. A patrolling guard must have found the body of his first female victim.
He let out a weary sigh as the Navi guards all fell in line charging towards him. "Well, you win some you lose some." He turned his gaze towards the line of blue aliens. "And you will certainly be losing far more than I will."
He held up his right hand, summoning his preferred mystical weapon of choice, fire. This flame was released in a long stream that flowed ironically like water, enveloping the charging Navi in a burning cloud that peeled charred flesh from bone and burned hair away from scalps. While the scintillating whoosh of the flames was certainly quiet enough, the agonized screams of his Navi victims were not, and more boiled out of the giant tree across the way like hornets out of a nest.
He stared down at the clearing, where hundreds of Navi were charging towards him, some on what he could call horseback and some on foot. "Step one; attract a phenomenal amount of attention, check." He drew Soul Edge and waved his free arm, causing a wall of flames to erupt around the entire clearing, with him on the inside. "Step two, cut off all escape for both parties, check." He sprinted down the path, reaching the frontline Navi and brutally bisecting both 'horse' and rider with one mighty swing. "Step three, unleash such terrible carnage that generations yet born will speak of it only in hushed whispers for centuries to come…" A devilish grin spread across his face as the Navi around him seemed to realize the terrible fate that had come for them. "… In progress."
Pandora: Timpani tribe home tree; morning
Erasmus lay with his back propped against the charred remains of the Navi settlement, discovering last night that the blue people actually lived in the tree in small hammocks. This was of course only after slaughtering more Navi than he could possibly count, women and children included, that he had had the time to actually look around. Just for kicks, he had tried one of them that looked to be strung for an adult male. Predictably, it had snapped the moment he set the full weight of his armor upon it. With his exploration done he had torched the entire thing, counting on the massive smoke signal to draw the notice of any human presence. If it drew more Navi, well he could burn that bridge if he came to it, literally.
As an interesting side note, he had discovered that the meat of the Navi horses was actually quite savory when seared to the right degree. And in this case "seared" meant flash burned to death. He had never been that good of a chef, and he seriously doubted by now that he ever would, but he knew meat. He filed away the thought of preparing some for his family for a later date, sure that there would be plenty of opportunity for them to sample this gorgeous world, in all respects.
At the edge of his extreme hearing range he detected something, a light thrumming sound that piqued his interest immediately. It most certainly didn't sound organic, so he assumed that it couldn't be the Navi. They were far too in love with nature to use anything more mechanical than their tools and weapons. So that left other humans, right? He supposed that it was possible that there was a third party that he had not heard mention of yet, but he hoped not. That would just make things more complicated.
In the sky that he considered East a shape appeared, one that at first simply looked like an oval flanked on either side by two smaller circles. But as it drew nearer he could pick out a face through what he could assume to be a window in on the front of the device, a face that he was pleased to see as human. Judging just from what he was seeing now, the moniker of "sky people" could have simply been referring to the object he was now seeing, but something in his gut told him that the notion was off.
The device landed close to the giant tree, standing on what looked to be two metal rods bent at either end and attached to the body by metal struts. From this object's belly emerged a group of four people, three men and one woman, that all held more objects that ranged from fairly small to rather large. The humans held these objects in front of themselves as the stalked towards where he stood, moving like a well trained team. Each one was wearing what seemed to be some kind of clear mask over their faces, and what purpose that served he could not tell. They all appeared to be armored, each with plates that seemed part fabric and part metal, the men wearing far more armor than the woman. They hadn't seen him yet, understandable since his ebony black armor would blend in quite nicely with the charred tree he was leaning against.
The humans reached the base of the tree, still unaware of his presence, and one of the men opened his mouth, speaking in a fairly high pitched version of the common tongue with just a hint of a Spanish accent. "Holy hell, what happened here? It's like everything just decided to burst into flame at the same time."
One of the other men nudged the first speaker with the side of the object he was holding and gestured to one of the Navi that had been sliced in half. "No, some of them have what appear to be blade wounds, if you can call that a wound. You think that the blues are fighting among themselves?"
He decided to make himself visible, letting a joking bit of indignation enter his voice. "You know, I find it mildly insulting that you think a Navi could have done all of this." All the humans, or soldiers as was quite obvious, snapped towards him with mechanical precision. "Sorry, did I startle you? My fault for being so quiet up till now."
The third man, the one holding an object large enough that it required him to hold it against his hip, gestured around with a quick wave of an arm. "You did all of this, by yourself? You slaughtered an entire Navi home tree, by yourself?"
He glanced around at the carnage. "You sound impressed, and I'm guessing that is a good thing. But as to your question, yes, I did. If you don't believe me I can demonstrate."
The one woman answered. "I think we'll take you at your word." One of the woman's hands rose to the side of her helmet and a crackling sound filled the air. "Papa Dragon, this is Able Bravo, we are at the target." There was a pause and there were words in a male voice that he couldn't quite hear before the woman spoke again. "No sir, we have the cause in front of us. No he seems friendly. Yes the cause is a he." The woman turned her gaze to him. "The colonel would like to see you." She glanced at one of the scorched Navi corpses. "Provided of course, that you agree to come with us."
He glanced towards the device the humans had arrived on, secret glee welling up inside him. "Since you were polite enough to ask, then yes I will come along. The first Navi I met shot at me without a single word spoken."
The first human, the Spanish one, nodded knowingly as they all headed towards the flying device. "I feel your pain man, uh, you are a man, right?"
He followed the lead of the woman, climbing into what he could consider the belly of the metal contraption. "I'm quite sure I am, last time I checked anyway."
The three remaining men piled in, and once they were all settled the woman banged heavily on one of the sides. "We're all in, take off."
There were simply so many things for him to look at, in particular the very craft he was sitting in. He watched the wheel-like things spin up, faster and faster, and it seemed that they were the cause of the thing getting off the ground. And just like that, they were flying. Some part of him felt like a little kid again, even if he wasn't flying of his own power. He stuck his head out the door, admiring the view and how quickly the ground passed by beneath them, almost oblivious to anything else.
He felt a tap on his shoulder armor, and turned only slightly to look into the face of one of the soldiers. "Something I can help you with?"
The soldier stuck out a hand. "Nick Ryder, assault specialist."
He glanced down at the offered hand, mildly surprised at the steel in the man's spine, before extending his own hand in reciprocation. "Erasmus Killgore, Grand Overlord."
Nick nodded slowly. "I'm not going to pretend that I know what you mean by that, but ok." The soldier pointed at the others consecutively. "That's Carlos and Yogi, light recon. And the lady is my little sister, Lisa, sig spec."
Carlos carried on the conversation. "So how'd you do it man? How'd you take out an entire Navi village by yourself?"
He brought up one of his hands and snapped his fingers, producing a tiny explosion of flame. "Let's just say that I have a very fiery personality, one a bit too hot for the Navi to handle."
The small group of soldiers chuckled freely at the pun as their craft carted them off into the unknown.
Pandora: The Plains of Goliath
Nick Ryder kept one eye solidly on their "guest" for the entire flight from the Timpani home tree, despite his apparent friendliness. Further, the man, and he really did look like one, had an aura of pure confidence about him and yet was looking around like he was slightly lost, like he didn't know what anything was. And what was with that title he gave himself, "Grand Overlord"? There was something menacing about that, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Then there was the fact this guy could somehow call fire out of thin air, which was just creepy. But, he would grant that this Erasmus guy was funny, witty, and an all around nice guy, so far. Then there was, of course, the consideration that he had wiped out an entire village and was wantonly joking about it almost immediately afterwards.
His sister, Lisa, leaned out of the door, eye clearly caught by something out in the air. "Pick it up pilot, banshees on your tail!"
Immediately springing into action without conscious thought, he pulled the hammer back on his Banisher machine gun and hastily mounted in at the right door. He cranked the sight towards the rear, leading the first blue-skinned banshee by about half the creature's body length for a decent chance of landing a round. The only drawback of this gun was the spread, and the fact that he would waste a lot of bullets before he landed a solid hit. That was why his sister was supporting him with her standard issue rifle, the exact opposite end of the spectrum. The problem was on the other side of the Samson. Carlos and Yogi were both armed with phalanx shotguns, both of them useless at this range.
The Overlord glanced back and forth between them and the two recon soldiers, seeming mildly confused by the sudden eruption of gunfire, "Problems?"
An arrow skipped off the fuselage right next to his head and he flinched, but he still responded. "Yeah, and if you could do something fancy to help out those two that'd really make my day!"
Wordlessly, the ebony armored giant shifted around till he was leaning out of the left side door. There was a flash of light and heat, and a burning banshee trailed smoke across his firing lane as it crashed to the ground below.
He heard Carlos shouting over the gunfire. "Man, you can ride shotgun with me anytime!"
Even though they were fighting for their lives he couldn't help but smile a little bit. Danger had a way of bringing people together more effectively than any number of other methods of social interaction. The act of placing your life in another's hands was the ultimate test of trust, and was played out virtually every day on Pandora.
He tracked bullets across another banshee and chanced a glance over his shoulder before announcing his observations to the rest of the crew. "LZ is only three clicks off people, keep at it."
He half expected to hear a question immediately from their guest, but apparently the Overlord knew that there was a time and place for questions. Particularly one in which they were not getting shot at by angry natives.
He heard his name called in the unmistakable baritone rumble of the Overlord and turned towards the source. "What was that? Something important?"
The Overlord repeated himself. "I need you to get the pilot to roll this craft forty five degrees to the right. There is a Navi positioned above us that is preparing to dive, and I'm guessing that would be very bad for us."
He craned his neck back and caught sight of a tiny wing overhead, confirming exactly what the Overlord had said. He screeched into his radio. "Pilot, do a barrel roll." He directed his next order at his fellow soldiers. "Hang onto something!"
He watched their guest, and Erasmus really did hang on. The metal hull of the Samson screeched as it crumpled in the Overlord's armored grasp, but as the Samson began its slow roll the dark giant remained focused upwards. He saw the trail of a long stream of flame, heard the agonized scream of the Navi rider and the banshee, and felt the heat as the flaming corpses fell past the Samson. The thundering reports of anti air cannons shattered the day immediately afterwards, ironically soothing his spirit as Navi banshees were blown out of the sky. The Samson straightened out and headed for the landing pad in the center of the firebase. And standing right at the bottom of the pad was the man himself, Colonel Miles Quaritch.
The Colonel approached the Samson with perfect military precision, before snapping off a quick salute, "Lieutenant."
He mimicked Quaritch's posture and salute as far as his gear would allow, "Colonel, sir."
Colonel Quaritch motioned towards the Overlord, who was catching some flak from the pilot for damaging the Samson. "That our Unknown?" Once he indicated the affirmative Quaritch nodded once and muttered something out loud. "Big son of a bitch, isn't he?"
Erasmus joined the conversation, towering over both him and Quaritch due to the angle of the ramp. "I take it you are the Colonel that wanted to see me."
Quaritch leaned backwards slightly to look the Overlord in the eyes, "That I am." The Colonel's gaze traversed the ebon armor before settling back on Erasmus's face and speaking in the clipped, gruff tone of an extremely seasoned military professional. "I'll be brief; I've got seven different kinds of hell falling on my men across this entire region. Now, the way my sig spec tells it you are either a walking apocalypse or have extremely poor taste in napping locations. Whichever way it is, I don't have the luxury of being picky when it comes to my allies. Can I ask you to support my men?"
The Overlord's helmet inclined slightly forward, and he received the impression of a devil's grin. "Well, since you were kind enough to ask politely. Just point me at the Navi and watch them die."
Quaritch's face betrayed nothing, but the Colonel's eyes showed a glimmer of approval. "Now that is an attitude I can respect." Quaritch turned to him; "Lieutenant, a moment of your time." The Colonel dragged him aside out of earshot of the Overlord. "Ok son, give it to me straight, what's your impression of tall, dark, and spooky over there? You've seen his handiwork first hand."
He bit his lip for a moment as he chose his words. "I think you put it best sir; tall, dark, and spooky. He shows absolutely no remorse for slaughtering every man, woman, and child in that village, but otherwise he seems perfectly civil, even pleasant."
Quaritch snarled at the idea. "I really don't care if he was Mother Teresa reincarnated, until I say otherwise I want eyes and ears on him at all times, am I understood soldier?"
He subconsciously swallowed his fear of the Colonel, a feeling matched only by the boundless respect; "Perfectly, sir."
Colonel Quaritch gave him an approving nod that emphasized the legendary scars on the side of his head. "On your way then son, report to my squad leaders for your orders, dismissed."
He saluted and turned away, letting out the breath he had been holding and noticing only now that he had been supporting his machine gun with only one arm for a while now, needless to say it hurt like hell. Adding to his luck, the Overlord was right in his way, leaning against a stack of empty ammo crates.
The dark giant waved casually to him. "So, that colonel seems like a good sort. A bit high strung but that's perfectly understandable given the circumstances, he's got a war on his hands." The Overlord rose to his feet. "Any big objectives, or should I just take a path and kill anything blue that I see?"
He responded honestly, no reason to do anything less. "We've got three Navi war leaders in the region. The Colonel wants each of them taken out before we advance on Tantalus."
One of the Overlord's red eyes grew slightly bigger, an assumed eyebrow twitch. "Is now a good time for me to ask what Tantalus is and why we are advancing there?"
He pointed off to the north. "See that giant circle of floating rocks, that's Tantalus. There's an old Navi sacred site there, called the Well of Souls, that we built a device to exploit. Commander Falco, I mean ex-commander Falco, has gone rouge and stolen that device. If he mishandles it, he'll probably kill everything on this planet. And it is very likely that he will mishandle it."
The Overlord filled in the rest. "So we are securing this area so we can pursue this Falco unmolested. All that's left is for you to tell me where I am needed."
He started to explain it verbally, but then he had a bright idea and started working at the strap on his wrist. "Here, take my GPS. You see this red arrow in the center of the interface, that's you and the direction you're facing." He strapped the piece of tech to the smaller of Erasmus's two gauntlets. "You see this yellow circle, the Navi leader Swanta is somewhere in that region. I can share with my sister so don't worry about me."
The Overlord held the GPS up like a watch. "I see, go west into the yellow area and make Swanta go ta ta, easy enough."
He flashed the dark giant a thumbs up, already making tracks for the south gate of the compound. "Exactly, and assist any other people you come across." He waited until he was out of earshot before raising Colonel Quaritch on the radio. "Sir, you've got your eyes. Lock onto my GPS signal and you have the Unknown's real-time coordinates."
Quaritch gave him the affirmation just as he reached the south gate, where his sister was waiting for him in her AMP suit. "Spying on our friend?"
He picked up a fresh drum magazine for his machine gun from the nearby APOD while he answered. "Not spying, just keeping track of him. I'd think you'd be a little more freaked out by the fact that he can throw fireballs from his bare hands and crush high grade steel with just his fingers."
Lisa walked the heavy-duty machine through the south gate, drawing the hammer back on the massive integrated gun as she went. "A little, but I think I'm a good judge of character and I think we can trust him. As powerful as he looks, do you think there is even the slightest doubt that he could have killed all of us before we could even have reacted back at the Navi home tree?"
He conceded the point. "No, he could have incinerated us with a snap of his fingers or cut all of us in half. And I'm not going to hold my breath that guns and bullets are getting through that armor of his either."
His sister smirked through the canopy of the AMP suit. "And that hurts you deep inside because you like to think the proper application of firepower can solve anything."
He made a grand gesture with his arms, holding his machine gun briefly with one hand. "Hey, I've been right so far on this freaky rock, haven't I? You alone are proof enough of that, always running around in your AMP suit whenever you have the chance."
Lisa didn't answer, and just kept marching off to the southwest where the second Navi war boss was stationed. He sighed, hoisted his machine gun, and lumbered off in the wake of the robotic weapons platform.
Pandora: Plains of Goliath
Erasmus eavesdropped silently on the brother and sister as they discussed the covert surveillance he was currently under, not feeling betrayed at all by the concept. He fully understood the mindset, and empathized with the Colonel for the paranoia that a war brought to the forefront of the mind. If they wanted to keep track of where he was, fine, no harm no foul.
What interested him more was the notion that all of the objects he had seen up to now cradled in the arms of the soldiers were guns. He was familiar with flintlock pistols, and only because Acheron carried a pair on his belt, but the size and sophistication of the vast majority of the weapons around him threw his mind for a loop. Even that humanoid machine that the girl had walked off in, maybe especially so, was a weapon that he would love to get his hands on. Although this meant he would need to expand his forge to include a machine shop, or whatever one would call a workshop that specialized in complicated devices, he felt giddy with delight over the new instruments of death and carnage he could construct.
He looked down at the device strapped to his wrist, and orientated the point of the red arrow towards the yellow shaded area on the map. Once that was done he glanced up and found himself looking out the west gate, easy enough.
Starting forward, he drew Soul Edge from his back and flourished the blade once before settling into a steady run. He murmured to the Evil sword. "Excited? You shall soon be feasting upon the souls of many Navi, more so than last night perhaps."
Soul Edge grumbled back as the first Navi came into view. "I doubt that very much. And I doubt still more that their meager souls can satisfy my thirst."
He dove into the fray and impaled a Navi warrior from behind while responding to the sword's morose attitude. "Oh whine, whine, and whine, you are absolutely impossible to please."
He looked down after slaying another dozen or so Navi and found himself looking into the eyes of another human soldier, one of a weary looking group that inhabited a trench dug into the ground in front of a large rock formation. Two AMP suits, as he had heard Nick Ryder call them, looked to be the backbone of the defense. Also, a few human dead were stacked to the rear of the trench, impaled with arrows the size of his entire arm.
He spun on his heel and erected his shield spell before addressing the men in the trench. "This is it? This is all you have to show me? I thought I was coming out here to support a group of soldiers, not a bunch of cowards that hide in the dirt while the enemy approaches unchallenged. Rise up, now is the time for attack to avenge those brave men that lie behind you."
He did not wait to see whether his brief speech had roused the men, their roar of anger was evidence enough of that, and instead rushed the Navi that were sending volley after volley of arrows against the shimmering blue barrier of his spell as if they hoped to break through with sheer numbers. He reached the mystic barrier and pushed, noting in the mild reflection that the men were rising out of their meager fortifications like angry wolves from a den. The magic shield held until he used it to crush the line of Navi archers against the walls of the ravine, whereupon it shattered like glass and the shards shredded what was left of the corpses.
He heard the rhythmic staccato of gunfire behind him and pressed himself flat against the stone walls, literally watching the bullets track past him and into the bodies of the Navi warriors that were filing down the plateau they were attempting to defend. He noted with approval that the shots fired from the AMP suits seemed more than powerful enough to rip an unarmored target apart in one or two hits.
A line of shadows on the walls of the canyon brought him to bark out a notification to the advancing soldiers, using one of the phrases he had picked up in the flying craft out of reflex. "Archers on the ridgeline, look sharp."
The two AMP suits raised their weapons and brought their fire to bear on the line of Navi that were still stringing their bows, shredding the aliens before a single shaft could fly. He took this opportunity to scale the sheer wall above the soldiers, tossing the occasional exploding fireball into the deteriorating mass of Navi still holding the village as he climbed. Topping the plateau he was presented with the back of an armed Navi, this soon ceased to be a problem as he cleared the surrounding area with another wave of flame.
He waved his free hand wide, rapidly adjusting to the concept of commanding purely ranged soldiers. "Spread out and search three by three. I want everything that's blue to stop breathing by yesterday."
He turned his gaze upon the village itself, noticing that there was a fairly isolated part of the plateau that was separated from the rest by a narrow stone span. At the far end, on a small circular island of rock, was a large ornamental display of woodwork that he could assume was the sort of insignia of the local war leader. He could assume this, because in front of it was a Navi standing with the air of calm only a commander could pull off. He made particular note of the headdress, thinking he could identify other leaders by it if he remembered the basic size and shape, but otherwise the Navi seemed to be waiting for him.
He smirked as he realized this, walking at a brisk clip towards the island of stone. "After all, it would be rude of me to keep my opposite among the enemy waiting."
Walking out onto the span he took the time to look down off of both sides. This was more for the purpose of listening to the soldiers tearing through the primitive village to the music of gunfire and flames than any scenic quality, though that was not bad either.
The Navi war chief, Swanta if he remembered correctly, gravely nodded to him once he was within easy sword range. "I have been expecting you, you or the blood kin."
His fingers twitched restlessly on Soul Edge's hilt, but he restrained his combat bloodlust well enough to speak on semi-polite terms. "And by 'blood-kin' I am assuming you are referring to Nick and Lisa Ryder. What might be so special about the two of them?"
Swanta's left eye seemed to twitch involuntarily as he spoke. "They, like you, have caused us horrific losses over the course of this war. And for what, to heed the bidding of the RDA? I stand here to offer-"
He held up a hand and the Navi shut up accordingly. "Ok, right now I don't know whether to be amused or insulted by this, so I'm going to boil my logic down for you. First, I don't know who or what the RDA is, at least not yet, so it is irrelevant for this conversation. Second, my bidding always has, and always will be my own. I am supporting the humans here because they extended me the hand of friendship instead of a poisoned arrow. And third, don't think I don't see the play here, the sleight of hand; you recognize my power as an engine of destruction and desire to have that force directed at your enemies. And for that I am most definitely insulted that you think me stupid enough to fall for that. I would condemn you more for it, but I can tell that you personally clearly don't want me on your side either, which makes this whole argument moot."
Swanta grimaced, pulling up a longbow and stringing an arrow. "So be it, human."
The arrow was loosed, and flew straight for his chest. It impacted dead center, and clattered to the ground with a small but satisfying clink. A demonic snarl twisted his mouth as he advanced at a funeral march pace, only bothering to block or dodge the arrows when there was a chance they would connect with his face, and slowly pushed Swanta back towards the ornamental wooden barrier. The Navi's back hit the decorative shield and the light in Swanta's eyes died, a clear sign that the alien had accepted impending doom. He threw an uppercut that shot Swanta's body through the barrier on a high upward trajectory, following up immediately with a fireball that incinerated the Navi leader before clipping a banshee higher up.
He heard footsteps on the stone span and turned only his torso to look at the soldier advancing towards him and preempted his query. "Was anyone else wounded?"
The three soldiers approaching saluted before the one in the middle responded. "No sir. One man got mauled pretty badly by one of the banshees but he'll live."
He paused to consider for a moment what he had just heard. "You know, soldier, you really don't need to call me 'sir,' I'm not your official commanding officer."
The soldier waved the other two back towards the village before answering. "With all due respect, sir, a commander is someone that gets his men off of their asses and puts the enemy on theirs. We'd still be hunkered down and dying in that ditch if you hadn't come along. Now, I don't know how the hell you were doing what you were doing, but all of us owe you are lives. We don't forget that."
He smiled a bit at that logic. "Very well put soldier, very well put indeed."
The man nodded once and held a hand to his ear. "If you'd like, sir, I can get you a ride back to the base."
He glanced skyward once, picturing the craft he had arrived to the battlefield on. "No, I think I can handle it on my own. But I do appreciate the offer. And, you can inform the colonel that Swanta has been eliminated."
The soldier relayed that information and looked back up at him. "Done, but sir, how are you going to get back?"
He smiled and glanced down at Ryder's GPS, whatever that stood for. "The old fashioned way, probably the same way you'll be getting back after the battle is over."
With two running steps he launched himself off of the plateau and back towards the base.
Pandora: The Plains of Goliath
Colonel Miles Quaritch stared at view screen after view screen inside the dimly lit command bunker that was passed in front of his face, fuming a little more on the inside with every one. He hated this, being stuck in a base while there was war being waged on his behalf. It railed against everything that he stood for as a soldier, but it had to be done. As the ranking officer on this god-forsaken hell hole it was his job to keep as many of his men alive as possible while winning the battle, and regrettably he could not do that from the front lines. There was simply too much ground to cover and too many troops deployed at once. Oh how he wished this war had been brought down to the level of one army just slugging it out with the other on one battle line.
One of the enlisted officers approached him and saluted, inexplicably nervous. "Sir, the ah, Unknown has returned from the battlefield."
He nodded once to show he had heard before gesticulating a silent order for the officer to return to their duties. All the same though, he understood now why the man would be nervous. He was still uneasy himself about this "Grand Overlord" that just showed up out of thin air when they needed backup the most. It was too tidy for him to accept without serious scrutiny. But, if actions spoke louder than words, then he supposed he could place a limited amount of trust in the Overlord if the situation demanded it. He turned from his station to walk out and meet with said Overlord, but drew up short when his gaze caught the glowing red eyes that could belong to no one, or nothing, else on all of Pandora.
The Overlord stood framed in the light of the doorway, reducing him to more of a shadow than a man, but at the same time making him appear all the more menacing. "I trust that your men out in the field informed you that Swanta is literally no more."
He again nodded in the affirmative. "That they have, along with heaping a great pile of praise onto your head for pulling their asses out of the fire."
The Overlord's hands spread wide in a gesture of humility. "It was no trouble, and it was a very informative excursion for me so all parties came out for the better. Well, all save the Navi." He leaned against the frame to let one of the officers out and remained situated thusly. "Now, I know my assassination mission, more or less, was part of a three-pronged offensive against the Navi command in the area. Is that operation complete or is there more to do?"
He narrowed his eyes and thought silently for a moment, debating with himself whether or not he should let someone who was technically a civilian in on the finer details of the operational plans, and ultimately decided to go ahead with it. "No, thanks to your efforts, Lieutenant Ryder, and our forces to the North the Navi have all but been driven out of this sector. Lieutenant Ryder took off for Tantalus in our Dragon gunship approximately…" He checked his watch to assure the accuracy of his words. "… Five minutes ago. With any luck on our part they should have engaged Falco and-"
A ground shaking rumble and sustained flash of bleached red light from outside cut him off before he rushed out the door past the Overlord to see what the hell was happening. High up to the North, the light was originating from Tantalus with such intensity that even as far away as he stood it still hurt his eyes to look.
He put a hand to his ear, barking into his headset. "Lieutenant Ryder? Lieutenant Ryder report damn it. Tantalus is lit up like a Christmas tree so what the hell is going on up there?"
A response finally came through, just as the red light intensified still more. "Assault Specialist Ryder reporting in sir, Sig Spec Ryder is a little busy right now tending to the Emulator."
A heavy thud to his right diverted his attention. It was a Navi body, and he automatically glanced up to see that more Navi were simply falling out of the sky towards him. He shuffled his feet to the left quickly, dodging out of the limb range of another falling body, drawing his sidearm and putting two rounds into the back of its skull when it started to move again.
He shot another glance skyward to make sure he wasn't about to get crushed before speaking. "The Navi seem to have lost control of their Banshees, does that make sense to you?"
The response came following a short laugh. "You know, I think it does. Ryder, out."
An unmistakable voice came from behind him, not exactly addressing him directly. "It would seem that this battle is won, does it not?"
He glanced into the brilliant glow of light from the Well of Souls, somehow not at all reassured. "Maybe, this one battle. But I wouldn't hold my breath that this is the end of it."