Chapter 10 – Lost & Founded

1 Month Later

Architecture had never been his forte, Norm was a scientist, a man who thought rather than designed. The distinction seemed lost on many of the survivors and even on some of the old avatar drivers who truly should have known better. That he was, perhaps, the most talented of the xenobiologists didn't really matter here. Such a thing didn't always translate into designing buildings. Yet his mathematical talents and understanding of physics had landed him the job anyway. Now he was stuck with a shift supervising the assembly of the village. Timbers had been salvaged from the avatar barracks and training camp, taken apart for transport to the new site. There were a couple of engineers among the survivors, but none in Avatar form just yet, which limited their usefulness. Construction had to proceed anyway, Hell's Gate simply didn't have the room for a new clan of blue-skins.

Finding a suitable site had been rather easy with the satellite imagery. Convincing the other tribes that the members of the Sky Clan were harmless to them had been far more difficult. Awkey of the plains people had insisted on watching the construction of the new Sky People encampment. His involvement did make a certain kind of sense to Norm, after all the location was on the boundary between the plains and the forest, and it was well that the plains people and the Omaticaya should watch them. Still, the situation made the scientist more than a little nervous.

"These are wood, from the trees?" Awkey asked, taking in the site of the smooth-cut timbers. To him, wood should have been natural, craggy and not conforming to straight angles.

"Yes. We carve them straight, like the arrow flies." Norm explained.

"Many trees must die for this?" The plains leader asked darkly. "You do not use branches?" The question was certainly valid, the leader's people did build huts of sticks and stone on occasion, for there was far less shelter away from the forest, but such buildings used every piece possible.

"It is our way that for each tree that we cut, we plant three more." Norm offered. Technically, it was a practice that had ended on Earth long before he had been born, but it was one he intended to see through here. In any event, salvaging the wood from the Avatar barracks and the training course had provided them with most of what they needed in the near term.

Awkey frowned at the scientist's words, obviously not entirely satisfied, but determined not to press the point just yet. Norm knew they were walking a fine line with the Na'vi tribes, yet thus far compromise had held true. A familiar shadow hovered over him and his eyes took in Trudy's ikran, flying by gracefully, the creature's rider as beautiful as her human form. Soon, he too would take the trial, and they would pass through the Eye of Eywa, to become a true part of this world. The first of the survivors would follow suit not long after, the Sky Clan had been founded.

"Your mate, she flies well." Awkey pointed out, watching as the pilot landed her ikran expertly. "She was a rider of your machines?"

"Yes. She was the best flier. Still is, probably." Norm answered distractedly. A crashing sound emanated suddenly from work site, and Norm ran forward hastily. "No, no. Those are the ceiling beams. Supports are thicker, you can't use ceiling beams as load bearing supports like that."

As Norm turned around, the plains leader was already riding off towards his home, but the scientist was under no illusions. There would be others watching them, learning their ways, seeing if they were truly worthy of trust and respect. Much remained to be atoned for, so much death did not simply vanish from the minds of the People overnight or even with the passage of many years. It would probably be generations before all debts had been settled, yet the Na'vi were willing to give them this chance and that boded well for the future.

"Hey." Trudy kissed him lightly, the act bringing a smile to his face. Things had changed greatly between them since the training program had begun. Their spots matched as closely as any mated pair, and the depth of the bond had strengthened their relationship greatly. Now that he felt her, shared thoughts and even memories, existing as a couple without such a bond was incomprehensible. The biology of such a thing was of immense interest to him, but the results were of even greater importance. All life on Pandora depended on the connection between all living things, it had taken Doctor Augustine's death to convince Eywa that life from Earth followed a very different paradigm.

Once, Norm had thought the Pandoran way inherently better, simpler and ultimately superior by its very nature. Now he understood it as simply better for him at some deep, personal level. Though humanity had never shared such a deep connection, great things had existed for them too, it was simply that those amazing gifts had been squandered, wasted in petty conflict. Mankind had been given power to travel the stars and had, instead, used that wondrous gift to destroy itself in a fit of childish stupidity.

He had connected with the Tree of Souls, felt the sadness Eywa held for Earth's fall, the pity for humanity's children. Truly, the lifeforce held no ill will for them, wishing only to live in peace. Someday, he knew, humans as a physical species would vanish and no one would remain to remember their origins. Only Eywa would still shed tears for old Terra, seeing the memory of it as if she had been among them when the asteroid fell. To her, humanity was a young species, a race annihilated before it had a chance to truly grow into its own.

"What's eating you?" Trudy asked as his stared off into space.

"Just thinking about what's going to happen, you know, after we're gone." Norm answered. "Will everyone forget Earth eventually?"

"Yeah, we're probably done. Had a good run though, right? Made it all the way out here..." Trudy replied wistfully.

"It just doesn't seem right. I was always jealous of Jake, you know. He had it all when we came here, acceptance with the Omaticaya, an understanding of Pandora I thought I'd never share." Norm explained. "Now that it's my turn, so to speak. I want to go through with it more than anything, but..."

"You don't want to forget." Trudy finished for him.

"Yeah. I want to remember. I want our children to remember."

"Children? You're getting way ahead of yourself, fly-boy." Trudy teased. Norm laughed for a moment, trudging down to the work site, helping to sort the timber frames with the others, stressing the need for a proper load-bearing structure. Slowly, the new, smaller buildings took shape. Eventually these small buildings would serve as the nucleus of the Sky Clan village. More Avatars would finish maturing in the coming months and the clan would grow.

1 Week Later

Iknimaya, they were called, the thundering mountains. It was a name well deserved. Though it happened relatively rarely, the floating mountains would collide from time-to-time, the thundering rapport echoing everywhere, giving testament to the name of the place. Why ikran chose this particular place to nest, Jake would never know, but it was enough, simply, that they had. Perhaps Eywa wanted new hunters to have a difficult time of it, to prove their worth in the Trial. There would be a lot of that going on today, a full ten of the recruits, including Norm and Larson, ascending along the path.

Jake was anxious, much depended on the successful outcome of the Trial, of the final mark of integration with the Na'vi population. He knew they would never live exactly as the People did, but as long as they could see, as long as they understood, things would be well. It hadn't been an easy road to go down, there had been many bumps along the way. Everything from men afraid of heights to one individual who couldn't keep it in his pants had slowed the process. Yet despite these obstacles, they were here. He owed to all of them to give the recruits the best chance of survival possible.

"You might be wondering what advice I have for you now. I really don't have any more to give you now. Each one of you has been trained, has endured hardship and came out alive at the other end. There's only one more trial left for you and I know you won't let me down now. Remember, you must feel your ikran, you must see from within. When you do this, there will be no turning back, you will be one of us." Jake's booming voice echoed from within the cave leading to the nest. None hesitated, each wearing an expression of eagerness touched with excitement.

"Do I have a volunteer to go first?" Jake asked. No one spoke up, and that was good. His lesson about restraint had been, perhaps, the hardest thing he could teach. Now that it had been mastered, however, things were different. "I won't make you run any laps," he chuckled a moment at this. I'm asking who wants to fly right now."

"I do." It was Norm, and that didn't surprise Jake in the least. The scientist had been impatient for his opportunity to fly with his mate and that had actually hampered his training progress somewhat, but he had come around finally. Jake nodded briefly, stepping out of the way, giving the man a firm pat on the back in support.

"You'll do good, Norm." Jake stated with confidence. The scientist's answer came as he slid along the rock face without even a moment of hesitation. He really wants to fly, Jake realized, and not just for Trudy's sake either. He hadn't realized just how determined Norm was to see this thing through. Furthermore, the scientist had expressed a desire to become one of the Omaticaya rather than live solely with the new 'Sky Clan' that was forming.

The clan leader watched in amazement as Norm strode fearlessly into the nest, his rope held in perfect form, every movement calculated and practiced. Without that instinctive drive many of the others had, the scientist had to work a lot hard than most to learn the ways of the Na'vi. As Mo'at might have said, his cup had been full. Yet Norm attacked the problem in his own way, learning by rote and sheer persistence, mastering each task with strength of character instead of natural talent.

One of the largest ikran Jake had ever seen came to meet Norm, but the scientist didn't even slow down, slinging his rope around the creature's jaws. Like the scientist, it seemed relatively docile, at least as much as a massive flying lizard with claws and sharp teeth could be. As Jake watched the man expertly rope his ikran, wrestling the creature to ground with flawless technique, he felt pride growing in his chest. He hadn't failed his friend, Norm was doing so well he almost made it look easy, the scientist remembered everything Jake had taught him. Moments later, the bond had been made and Norm was off, flying through the clouds as if he had always belonged there. Jake's mouth hung agape for a moment, shocked by the ease at which the scientist had tackled the problem.

"Practice makes perfect." Jake mused, still shocked at the ease at which Norm had pulled it off. Trudy had been circling nearby, and she followed her mate through the skies, letting loose a whoop of delight.

"Thought this was supposed to be hard?" A whisper came from one of the men.

"Want to be next?" Jake offered to the man, smiling. For a moment, silence reigned, everyone knew the danger of taking up such offers from him.

"I'll go next." Jake wasn't surprised to see the face behind that statement. Ryan stood forward, ready to man up and demonstrate for the others. Mo'rel stood in the distance, smiling weakly at her mate, concern for him plain on her face. Jake knew that particular relationship was still on thin ice, yet he couldn't deny the positive influence it was having on the battleship captain. Apparently all the skipper needed was one hell of a beating by his mate to turn over a new leaf. There was still hesitation among the old crew of the Montana, the incident had nearly destroyed his leadership role among them, yet somehow he had managed to hold on to his position. Jake supposed the man really had no choice, he had to be the first of his crew to do this thing. The Na'vi philosophy of leading by example had fallen over the recruits, too. Jake knew that there was a great deal of damage to Ryan's reputation that needed mending.

Jake stood aside, letting Ryan pass. The man turned and regarded him curiously for a moment. "Any last-second advice?" He asked.

"Don't get yourself killed." Jake offered.

"Okay, very helpful, thanks." Ryan answered dryly, clutching the rope rightly.

"Anytime." Jake replied, amused.

"You must see your ikran." Mo'rel reminded her mate. "We will fly together soon." She stated confidently, laying a supporting hand on his chest.

The captain approached, banshees fluttering about angrily, their patience with the invaders having already worn thin. Most wanted nothing to do with him, watching the skipper warily for any sign of mischief. Only one stood its ground, a older creature which seemed rather unremarkable save for the scar tissue covering its flank, tooth marks from where some toruk had probably taken a bite out of it. Somehow that felt appropriate and he felt a certain kinship with the animal, they both had their scars. Whatever he felt, however, the ikran obviously had other ideas, thrashing about angrily.

Jumping onto the creature's back, Ryan forced the rope around the animal's jaws in one swift motion. He reached for the queue triumphantly when the banshee bucked him off and straight into the rock wall. The impact stung terribly even as blood dripped from his forehead, seeping into his eyes. Wiping it away, struggling to see, he ran for the creature, faking it out with a shift to the side and back again, sliding underneath the beast and reaching for the dangling queue. It was against everything he had been taught to do, but somehow it felt right. This ikran was a crafty beast, obviously making up for its age with cleverness, the normal rules didn't seem to apply. Fortunately, the banshee hadn't expected that move, most warriors who were caught underneath would have been eviscerated by the animal's claws. Ryan moved quickly enough to make the bond just before the claws reached for him. He felt the ikran's shock at this, its displeasure at losing the duel fading into a deep-seated loyalty and respect.

"Uh... fly?" He stated hesitantly as he clamber onto its back. It was still remarkable, being able to bond with the life here, to feel as if both bodies were one. Sometimes he questioned the ability to simply tell the animal what needed to be done. Yet it worked in this case, his ikran leaped off the cliff face, diving to gain speed.

"Level out." And the banshee obeyed, gliding gently along the breeze. Okay, he thought, he needs a name. Ryan's mind searched for a designation for the clever ikran, even as the beast screeched at him in protest, wanting to go make a meal out of some low flying wildlife beneath them. Your name is... Joker. It fit the banshee well enough and it had been the callsign of a fallen wing-man ages ago. Mo'rel pulled up along side of him, smiling with the thought of the unorthodox (but painful) success he had achieved. That seemed to be the general pattern of things on this rock, they would hurt him, he would learn and go do it all over again with some other task. But pain always did make the best teacher. Mo'rel had certainly convinced him of that much.

Battleships had never been designed for long voyages, the cramped quarters even further restricted by the outbound maneuvers. Most of the ship was accessible only with cables and climbing equipment now, only the flag deck and cargo bay were rotated in line with the acceleration. That meant very little to see or do except remain where he was, trying to figure out what went wrong with it all. He had something like five years to figure it out.

Parker putted the golf ball around his quarters absentmindedly even though he hadn't played a single game of real golf since before his first voyage to Pandora. Every golf course in the universe had gone up in smoke anyway, he'd never see the greens again. There was much to consider in that, he couldn't deny his own involvement in events. It had been his stupidity in deferring to Quaritch that had set everything in motion. It was frightening to think how much effect a single decision could have.

RDA's bankruptcy had broken the back of the Terran economy. Even if he hadn't been solely responsible, he had been saddled with the blame by the unemployed mobs. Earth had erupted into riots and brush wars, triggering the conflict between the homeworld and her inter-system colonies. Perhaps that was inevitable anyway, much of the heavy industry had moved off of Earth in search of greater supplies of natural resources in the belt and as far away as Pandora itself. A certain amount of jealousy on behalf of the masses left without jobs was natural, not that he had ever really cared about such things before.

Clank. The golf ball made contact with the plastic cup and he smiled triumphantly. When acceleration maneuvers finished, he could knock the golf ball all over the ship as he had done in the zero-g mining colonies. The dirt and grime of that place had scarred him permanently. His hands were worn and he knew he bore a certain amount of lung damage from the faulty air recyclers, but he was still breathing.

"Parker. What's going on?" The Admiral stood in the hatchway, watching him bemusedly. She had also chosen to stay awake, yet in her case it was more justifiable. The ship needed a small caretaker crew to ensure the engines continued to function properly, the equipment remained in good repair and that course change adjustments were correct.

"Keeping my sanity." He replied absently, sinking another putt into the cup. "Look at that! Still got it."

"Pointless game. Where are you going to find a golf course out here?" She pointed out.

"Got anything better?" The ex-administrator asked impatiently.

"Actually I do. We've been analyzing the log data we pulled from RDA HQ on the way out. We already knew Montana escaped somewhere but now we've confirmed that her destination was Pandora." Ellen frowned in contemplation. There had been other planets that astronomers had located and suspected were capable of supporting life, but Pandora was the only rock confirmed to be life bearing, even if rather hostile to humanity.

"Well it's three against one. They'd be stupid to fight us, right?" Parker had very little understanding of military tactics, but three warships to one sounded easy enough. At such odds, an enemy should simply surrender, right?

"They would lose," she confirmed. "But it would be bloody. Kongo is a Montana-class ship, you know. Montana's ever bit as modern as this ship. We have the battlecruisers to back us up, but they can't hang around a fight like a true battleship, you know."

"Why are you telling me this?" Parker inquired. No one had ever asked for or wanted his advice on military matters.

"I'm looking for another option, one that doesn't involve an orbital battle. We don't know what the situation is, but we need something to entice them with, a way to get them to join us instead of fight us." The Admiral explained. That, at least, was something he could ponder. His trade wasn't flying spacecraft into battle or even playing golf. Parker was, at heart, an administrator, a negotiator whose strength was in managing people for maximum advantage.

At least, that was what he used to tell himself. Last time he had tried to apply a carrot-and-stick negotiation, he had killed innocent savages and inadvertently started some kind of interstellar war. As much as he wanted something to do in the intervening years, he just wasn't sure of himself anymore. Certainly he didn't trust these Belters any further than he could throw them. He knew they had a hand in the destruction of Earth somehow, though exactly how much of a role, he couldn't say. That and killing more Na'vi just wasn't something his nightmares could handle. With Earth gone, his personal fortunes long since taken away from him, there just wasn't a lot left to live for anymore. The experience had been curiously humbling.

He dreaded falling asleep, seeing the fires burning on the monitors again, watching as their home fell. Sometimes he would see that final battle again, watching as IFF icons vanished from the battlefield, knowing everything was going to hell. Through it all was Jake's victorious face, glaring at him, gesturing towards the shuttle waiting to haul him back to Earth. Parker only wanted to kill one man, no more, no less. Maybe it wouldn't remove the haunting guilt, but it would feel good.

"So... what'll it be?" The Admiral questioned impatiently. There was a deadly air surrounding that question and Parker knew it for what it was. Though he wanted to put off his return to Pandora as long as possible, he also didn't trust this bitch not eject his cryo tube into space on a paranoid whim. On board the Kongo, one always slept very lightly. The thinly veiled threat to simply have him ejected into space showed plainly on her face, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. One crewman had already "taken a spacewalk" for a poorly chosen political diatribe and Parker was in no hurry to join him.

"Well, I've got the time. Give me all of the information you have. There's gotta be something we can convince them with." Parker replied, making his choice.

"Good. I didn't want to have to shoot you out of an airlock." Ellen replied icily. "Here's the data, bios for crew we confirmed were on board, cargo manifests from the ISVs, etcetera. The last captain was Ryan Larson, though we could not confirm that he was still in command. I'm sure you are acquainted with the Na'vi and Jake Sully, of course." She stared intensely at him, enjoying his discomfort. It was an expression he had seen before on the face of a certain Colonel just before the man had ridden to his death, taking everyone's hopes down with him.