Conversion

Hell's Gate squatted on the horizon like a badly-camouflaged mantis, as Toruk soared on the thermals high above the forest beyond the perimeter fence. As they crossed the high fences several sentry turrets targeted them and began clicking monotonously; the ammo had been removed several days before to allow the Na'vi entry to the base.

Toruk settled in the Avatar compound, looking around with beady eyes as Jake jumped down, helping Neytiri after him. She still wasn't quite sure of herself around the flying behemoth, only Jake had any idea of what was going on inside its head and he wasn't the kind of person to speak about it. Jake however, patted the huge brow above the creature's eyes before it took off again as Neytiri looked around for someone to talk to.

There were only fourteen humans left on Pandora and they had all been chosen for particular reasons, including the fact that they were in love with the planet and its creatures. A door opened at the side of the main Research Complex and two figures stepped out, Jake grinned at the sight of them as he recognised Norm and Jans Fenitil. Norm gave a whoop and ran towards them, while Jans simply waved as he swung the door closed again.

Norm grinned at Jake as they stood up, 'Wow! Look at you, all dressed up!'

Norm's Avatar had been killed in the battle with the RDA, afterwards it had been discovered with a huge hole through its chest; the victim of a GAU-90 round. Norm was mourning the loss of both his lover and his Avatar, but was trying desperately not show it.

Jake was still in his formal tribal regalia, and was carrying the ceremonial bow but before he could speak several Avatars came down the steps from the longhouse and a woman at the front asked, 'How can you have your Avatar here, Jake? The range from that Link Pod is nowhere near wide enough for you to get here, how did you amplify it?'

Honor van de Joesy didn't miss a thing; outspoken and holding views on everything, she could seem arrogant and rude without meaning to, but she was essentially a good person. Everyone who came to Pandora was there for a reason though; she was an expert in Psionic Link technology and she wanted to know what Jake was up to.

Suddenly Jake and Neytiri were surrounded by confused faces as the others realised Honor's words to be true. Jake however, sighed and said, 'Well, the game's up. Somebody tell Robbie he doesn't need to fly out; nobody's there.'

Most of the Avatar drivers simply continued to look confused, Norm and Honor were quicker on the uptake and, as though channelling the spirit of Grace Augustine, Honor placed her hands on her hips, saying, 'You need to explain yourself, Mr.'

Neytiri smiled at the apt depiction of Grace, remembering Grace telling a Na'vi girl off at the old school. Jake, on the other hand, let a full grin spread across his face and spoke with words reminiscent of several months before, 'Hell, you ain't gonna believe what I've done.'

The Avatar drivers sat astounded around the pair of Na'vi in their midst, Honor was still trying to make sense of it all. Norm just blurted out, 'So, your body? It just died?'

'Yeah, I guess so. I didn't really want to check it out too much.'

'Where is it?'

A flicker of some strange emotion crossed Jake's face, but he answered levelly, 'Mo'at buried it.'

'Max is going to go mental with this Jake.'

Jake grinned yet again at their confounded faces, 'Yeah, I kinda guessed he would.'

'He's gonna want to run all kinds of stuff on you.'

Jake had seen it coming, but he had other things to do, 'He's got until we need to head back.'

Max was gobsmacked at the news and didn't believe it until he saw Jake; even then he went to check the main Link Room to make sure they weren't pulling his leg. Then he was in his element, and with Honor began running all kinds of tests on Jake before he could leave. Norm however, just kept asking Jake and Neytiri questions about the ritual and if had ever been done before, or could be done again. Neytiri wasn't particularly helpful however, and kept telling him to refer to Mo'at whom Norm had never really talked to and found quite intimidating.

The people were stunned by Jake's conscious transfer, and one or two asked about it. Jake either ignored the questions or brushed them off with tales of the party afterward. When asked about why he had to return so quickly however, Neytiri answered for him, 'Toruk Makto has many pressing matters to discuss with the Clans' Elders. We could still all starve before season changes.'

There was silence for a few moments as the scientists remembered the outside world; only a couple of them had seen the wreckage and bodies left by the clash of the Na'vi and SecOps.

Norm had several questions of his own however, pressing them on Jake as he underwent an MRI scan after Max had taken DNA samples.

'Jake, we need to talk about a few things.'

There was a sigh from inside the capsule, and Max muttered something about not moving.

'Jake, the RDA are going to come back at some point, what are we going to do?' Norm asked, 'And there's the ISVs on the way here already, they can't turn around once they accelerate.'

The bed on which Jake was lying slid out of the scanner, and he sat up. Max frowned at the computer screens in front of him, pointing something out to Honor.

Jake stood up, towering over the humans as Norm watched him, waiting for some kind of an answer. Neytiri was hovering by the door, leaning against the wall, head only inches from the ceiling and she too looked over at Jake. Her gaze had much more meaning behind it though as Jake caught her eye and he nodded, she smiled back at him, the warmth in her eyes shining out. Norm completely missed the exchange and Jake said, 'Let's go outside.'

Sitting on the grass outside, all of the people left at Hell's Gate were there to put thoughts of the future forward. Only Max and Honor were still inside as they began to discuss what would happen over the next few months.

'It'll take almost four and a half years for any messages to get back to Earth,' Ed Downs said, 'Even the RDA can't send anything faster than the speed of light, so we've got over ten years before they can get a response team to us. We might get a message back in about nine years, but we'll just have to wait and see.'

The others nodded and one man stood up, 'Just going to the loo,' he said as he walked away to the buildings. Out of the fourteen humans left on Pandora, three were ex-SecOps; Corporal Dirk Kazo, Pilot Robbie Johnson and Medical Officer Kira Shah-Rasu. All three were trained specialists and had been vouched for by the science team as having helped them at one point or other. When asked why she wanted to stay Kira had simply replied, 'What if one of you lot got hurt? Max might be great with Na'vi, but he doesn't know shit about human medicine. I'm staying.'

No one had disagreed.

Dirk wandered away to the buildings, and they continued their discussion, 'How about food supplies, water, energy, all the essentials?' Jake asked.

'We've got enough rations to last us for years, some food can be hunted; water gets purified from the river, energy from the solar panels or the river, as well. Anything machine based can be made at the plant,' Jans said, he had effectively been a quartermaster to the Avatar team and knew his way around just about every facet of the base.

The door to the main base hissed and swung open to admit Max, who shouted and waved his arms at them, only Jake and Neytiri could make out his words however, 'Jake! Look at this! It's incredible!'

Jake frowned, wondering what could possibly have got the usually quiet man so excited. He stood as Max came running across, joined by Honor who would have never normally abandoned her dignity in such a way.

'What?' Jake asked as Max arrived breathlessly with Honor right behind him.

'Um, you need to see this,' Max said and thrust the Lab Tablet into Jake's hands.

Jake stared at the pad in his hands; he recognised a simple DNA structure but couldn't make head nor tail of any of the rest of the diagram. Neytiri looked over his shoulder with an even more blank expression, but Norm gasped and Jake saw his jaw drop.

'How the Hell…?'

'What?' Jake said.

Max looked at him, awe in his eyes, but Jake spotted something else as well. Before he could decide what it was Max looked away.

Jake's brow furrowed, and he looked back at the pad; trying to make some kind of sense out of it. Thankfully Honor took pity on him and began to explain, 'Something happened when you transferred. Several things in your body have changed; your body has changed.'

Neytiri looked at her, 'Everybody's body changes with age.'

Honor shook her head, 'Jake, your DNA has changed.'

Jake stared at her.

Everyone else stared at him.

Somewhere in the distance, there was a hiss and clunk of a door opening and closing.

Jake was just about to ask how, when the smell of something caught in his nose and he looked around. He recognised the smell of someone who was sweating heavily; out of fear or nervousness he was not sure and he looked sharply. He felt Neytiri tense beside him, as she too caught the smell.

There was no threat to be seen.

Corporal Kazo was just about sit down when Jake started and looked around. Jake saw the man tense as well, noticing the Na'vi's alertness; he expected no less from a former SecOps Special Forces Commando. The Corporal's eyes darted around the group; scanned the tree-line quickly then pulled out SN-9 WASP automatic revolver.

Jake almost threw his knife at the man as the huge gun swung out from behind his back, only stopping as he saw the gun wasn't pointed at him. Jake realised the smell wasn't coming from the commando as he scanned the tree-line; Kazo was simply taking Jake's lead.

Neytiri had noticed it, and her ears were flicking back and forth trying to pick up any tiny noises that could give away what was happening. Others began to notice their anticipation, and there was a gasp as Lara Gray noticed Kazo had his gun out.

Click.

Jake realised too late where the smell was coming from; with the sixteen people standing almost in a group it had been too hard to pick out a target. He dropped the Lab pad and dived forward, tackling Neytiri as the assassin fired.

He hit the ground and rolled sideways, pushing Neytiri in the opposite direction to confuse the man's aim. The sound of the safety catch had given the assassin away and Jake wasn't taking chances. He scrambled to his feet, pulling out his knife only to find Ed Downs now had the handgun pointed at Victoria Hassel's head, his arm around her neck to use her as a shield from Kazo's WASP.

Kazo glanced at Jake for permission but Jake shook his head, the WASP could have put a hole through both of them and had enough power to kill someone else. Instead, Jake drew his knife from the sheath across his chest; made from volcanic obsidian, the foot long, black blade was a lethal weapon. It was no use against a man with gun and a hostage though.

Neytiri recovered her bow from where she had left it and aimed it at Downs, who Jake had realised wasn't just nervous, but scared and frightened. She started moving around the pair to take a clear shot, but Ed jammed the gun against Vicky's temple and she screamed. Jake could hear her whispering under her breath, 'Please don't kill me. Please don't kill me. Please don't kill me.'

Downs was shaking like a leaf too though as he stammered, 'St… Stop! Or I'll shoot her! I will!'

Neytiri and Kazo stopped trying to flank him.

Jake was completely bewildered; the usually rational scientist had just tried to kill him and was now on the point of tears while trying to hold a colleague, and friend, hostage. He tried to be friendly, but in his current state it was hard; he could feel his tail twitching back and forth, his ears were flat against his skull. He was bearing all the signs of a very angry Na'vi and Downs was a Pandoran Behavioural Psychologist.

He looked downright terrified.

Jake had to try though and said as softly as he could, 'Ed, what are you doing?'

'Back off!' The frightened scientist shouted, 'All of you back off!'

Everyone but Jake, Neytiri and Kazo took several steps back.

'Ed, what's wrong? What's happened?' Jake tried again.

Downs began to shuffle backwards, away from everyone, dragging Vicky back with him.

'Ed! You can't do this! Tell us why! You can't just run out of here!'

Downs stopped dragging Vicky, and let out a heart wrenching sob, 'They said they'd kill her if I didn't!'

The gun barrel pressed harder against Vicky's temple as he broke down and Vicky's eyes widened with fear.

Jake was bewildered, 'Who did? Kill who?'

'M…my daughter!'

Jake looked around for Max and Norm, who both looked shocked and as confused as Jake was. Max even mouthed, 'He doesn't have a daughter!'

'You don't have a daughter.' Jake repeated, confused.

'I… I do. Selfridge said they'd kill her if I didn't do what he said!'

Jake suddenly realised that the forest beyond the fence was deadly silent; and silence on Pandora was never a good sign. Something was out there. He thought he glimpsed a shadow move as he strained his eyes past Ed's shoulders, Neytiri noticed and glanced across too, looking concerned.

Jake only wanted to end the situation and he decided for honesty, 'Ed, listen to me; if you put the gun down no one will get hurt, no one will hurt you. It's just that there's something in the forest behind you.'

Ed glanced back fearfully and then his nerve broke, he lifted the gun from Vicky's head and fired in Jake's direction as he shoved Vicky towards Kazo. Kazo hesitated; aim blocked as Vicky stumbled towards him, screaming. Jake hit the ground for the second time and Neytiri fired her arrow as Ed turned to run, only to be distracted by the gunshot and the arrow flew wide.

Ed run for the door back into the building, pulling his keycard out as he ran. Kazo turned the WASP on him, but Jake shouted, 'No!' It was too late though for the arrow that seemed to fall out of the sky, it wasn't quite on target but from that distance it was an astounding shot. It flicked through the air and sliced the back of Ed's calf as he ran. The scientist went down in a tumbling heap as Jake spun to see who had fired the shot.

A Na'vi warrior had just dropped down on the inside of the wire fence, he stood up and ran towards Jake, who recognised him as Ta'yan; one of the two hunters he had taken Iknimaya with. In the eyes of the Na'vi they were as good as brothers because of it. Jake was astounded Ta'yan was there though.

He turned back to see Kazo crash into the door just as it closed, and there was a second crash of a gunshot from inside.

'Shit!' Kazo shouted, 'He's shot the locking system! It's jammed!'

Ta'yan reached Jake and they embraced, 'What has happened, Toruk Makto? I thought the evil sky people had left?' he asked in Na'vi.

'It's complicated.' Jake replied in English, 'We need to disarm him and stop him going anywhere, can you help me?'

'Anything.'

The trail of blood that dripped from Ed's calf led to the Armour Bay on the other side of the compound. Jake, Neytiri and Ta'yan were waiting outside as Max opened the doors from the Ops Centre, and Corporal Kazo, Robbie and Kira covered the exits back into the base. Ed Downs was trapped in the Armour Bay, and he had at least a pistol with several rounds left in the magazine. Jake was worried they could lose someone from their small group and desperately wanted to stop Ed from hurting himself or anyone else.

The Na'vi stalked inside, using the cover of abandoned vehicles and various crates. Jake could see Robbie up on AMP rack at the Southern end with an assault rifle covering them, just in case. There was silence in the giant hangar though; Kira was at the East entrance from the Ops Centre and Kazo was on the ground on the West side. The only possible escape route was behind the Na'vi.

Jake tried to smell the man as he had out in the Avatar Compound, but all he got was fuel fumes, oil and a metallic taste in his mouth. He wrinkled his nose at the unpleasantness and saw Neytiri doing the same. Slowly they edged around the AMP section that was now mostly empty, and they neared the clear area where the C-21 Dragon Gunship had sat only weeks before.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

Three gunshots roared out and Jake heard Kazo yell, 'KIRA!'

Then there was another roar, but of an engine and Jake threw himself out the way just in time as a Swan careered round the end of the AMP rack, the bull bars on the front missing him by inches. By the time Jake looked up again Downs had left the bay and was heading towards the gates.

He sighed, took a hold of his com link and glanced in the direction Kira had been before he said, 'Max, let him go.'

'Sure?' Came the reply.

'Sure.'

The gates opened and Downs roared out down the dirt road into Pandora's forests under the late afternoon suns.

Ta'yan appeared beside Jake and said, 'He won't get far.'

'Why not?' Jake asked, puzzled.

But before Ta'yan could answer he heard a voice in his head, "They're fond of arrows dipped in a neurotoxin…"

If the arrow had indeed been tipped with poison, Jake pitied the psychologist would had just left Hell's Gate forever.

A/N: Sorry for the awful delay! Exams... Coursework... Revision... Basically all the exciting things in life are going on at the moment, and only have the odd moment to do a spot of writing. Couple of things for you to think about: what will happen to Downs? How did Selfridge persuade him? What happened to Kira? Back to the Na'vi and their life next time. Oh, and what has happened to Jake's body?

Oh and maybe offer the nice author a review or two? Always great to hear from you guys!