It is now early morning, Jake, on his Ikran, arrives at Hell's Gate, where Max and Norm reside, at least most of the time; they are the only Sky People to remain, everyone else left years ago, on the last shuttle to touch down. The base looks abandoned; it appears vandalized, gigantic weed growth around its tarmac joints. The main tower has shattered glass from furious Pandoran storm debris; plant growth covers its walls. The forest has almost taken over the Hell's Gate Complex, rain forest bugs roam everywhere.
Jake flies his Ikran into a platform just outside the main tower, where Max awaits. As he lands on it, he looks down into the tarmac and into some nearby hangar doors, he notices that they are open, they lead to the interior storage facility where military gear still sits, including leftover explosives that were used in mining operations, as well as in military campaigns. The tower is not pressurized, though it is still functional. The Ikran quietly sits on top of guardrail tubing; Jake gives it some water, as he usually does after a long flight. The Ikran is well familiar with the routine; it sits in its usual guarding post every time Jake visits the base. Across from the tower and into nearby watch posts, Na'vi men stand guard, they are armed with those weapons that were left behind by the Sky People, Jake waives at them from the distance as he crawls into the interior of the tower through one of its shattered windows, he must remain in a near crawling position, the ceiling at the tower is not high enough to accommodate him, Jake has gotten used to that. This is the same tower that Parker Selfridge once called his office, where he practiced his putter golf shots, where the Colonel did his usual night watch and where the hologram equipment still sits gathering dust, along with all the monitoring and navigational computers. Max has done his best to keep them in working order; he has covered everything with large plastic bags.
Jake sees Max, in his exogear, since the tower is not pressurized, he notices that Norm is not with him, he asks: "Where's Norm?", Max replies: "he's at the field today doing his usual, gathering more samples, I think he's going to spend the next few days at the mobile unit….". Jake tells him: "I think he left the hangar doors open…. again!". Max replies: " You know, I don't know where his head is these days, I keep telling him not to forget to close it!". Jake says:" well you better tell him again, otherwise one day you're going to get an unexpected fireworks show or else….you'll both be blown to pieces, do you know how many explosives are in there?". Max approaches a control desk where most of the access buttons for automatic doors can be found; he picks up the large dusty transparent bags that cover it and with the turn of a key remotely closes the door. Max then puts on a video shoot of the orbiting ISV, which he recorded just a few hours before, as he usually does every time a vehicle arrives. The video looks amateur, it's blurry and pixilated, but in a few short instances, it can capture the entire silhouette of the orbiter, which is over a mile in length. Max fine tunes the image as he says: " and…. there it is…." he adjusts the video zooming in order to point to the second crossing light. Jake tells Max: "try to get a good snapshot", Max, sensing Jake is acting somewhat nervous and impatient answers: "working on it!..let's see…. how about right ….here!". Max pauses the video, zooms into a snapshot; the second orbiting vehicle is now almost well defined in the screen, though with its usual blur. Jake asks: "is that another ISV?", Max answers: " It doesn't look like one, is too small… that looks like a shuttle right there docked into it -Max points at it in the screen- ..but for sure is not from the Valkyrie family….it just looks like a transport..it doesn't look like it can hold any cargo". Jake then asks: "are you sure it didn't register on radar?". Max answers: "ohh I'm sure, I checked numerous times, didn't even pick it up". Jake asks: "what could that mean?... is it from the Alliance?". Max answers: "well, if it is an Alliance cruiser it is most likely a new one which does not register in our old outdated database, otherwise it belongs to someone else".
After a brief moment, Jake notices his Ikran outside making loud warning noises, when he looks out towards the window through which he had just crawled in, he notices a Na'vi standing there, it is one of his fellow warriors, one of the few men he send out to check on the "Ikran people". Jake quickly approaches the window, as he gets closer, he notices the man is bleeding, he seems to have multiple punctured wounds in his body, he is agitated and nearly out of breath, but conscious. Jake quickly steps out into the platform, he asks his fellow clan member: "My brother, what happened?". The Na'vi warrior speaks in a very agitated tone, Jake can barely make out what he is saying: "Something happened, something blew into them, there are many dead….". Jake asks: "Where's their leader -clan leader-?". The man nervously replies: "we did not see him". Jake than asks: "where's your fellow warrior?". The man seems shy in responding, Jake forces him to answer: "We encountered some strange looking people… with a strange skin color….they attacked us….they killed him!". Jake asks again: "Where they from the Sky?, the man answers: "No!...they seem to be from some strange unknown clan…they came from the sea…..they are not Sky People". Jake is in shock, and confused, nothing like this he had ever confronted, very quickly though he reacts, he asks his fellow warrior: "Can you make it home?". He quickly replies "yes". Jake tells him: "Go back, inform Neytiri and some of the clan warriors to meet me out there…go now!". Jake then hops on his Ikran, Max stands by the window, he asks Jake: "where are you going?". Jake says: "I need to fly out there, stay here at the base, don't go anywhere.. I have an awful bad feeling!".
