The captain of the Venture Sun clicked off his mike with pity, anger, and no little amount of disgust. "Damned bureaucrats. Divert the ship and abandon the colony, then change your mind even though it's not going to do them a damn bit of good. They were just lucky we hadn't started making the course correction before the order got countermanded. Didn't they realize that jerking this ship around like that could snap it like a matchstick?"
The ship's cryogenic technician nodded sympathetically. He knew the captain was upset more at the thought of leaving the colony in its current state than he was upset at the course changes. The cryo tech was the RDA CEO's operative on this ship, and he was just as perplexed at the situation as the captain was. "Well, at least someone got their heads on straight in the end," he consoled the captain.
The captain grumbled, "It's hypocritical to leave them our cargo and get their hopes up. Worse, it seems like we're accessories to torture for keeping them alive. Seems like it'd be more merciful to just let them go and not make them hang on longer."
The tech sympathized, "Never know Sir, maybe they'll beat it."
The captain grumbled, "Not too damned likely if you ask me."
The tech tried to interject a cheerful note, "Well, it hasn't killed them yet, maybe it won't."
The captain took his frustration out in his orders, "I don't want a single man going down there without a full hazmat suit on."
The tech was a bit surprised "You think that's advisable, sir? "
It was a mistake to give the captain a target for his anger. He whirled on the crewman and pointed an accusing finger, "We're going back to Earth with an empty cargo hold! You think the bean counters are going to be concerned about a few extra hazmat suits gone missing? Not one man gets on that shuttle without a suit on and that's a direct order!"
The tech backed off immediately and left to go carry out his orders. He brooded all the way to the cryo banks. The directive I got confirms everything the captain said, we're to drop supplies and take back no unobtanium – but that's insane! The plague story's a farce, it has to be. No Earth germs can survive down there to begin with, and if they did, and it was as deadly as they say, why is anyone left after a year and a half? The situation was frustrating, to say the least. Well, he'd sure keep his eyes and ears open. That's what I get paid for, after all.
"I don't like it, Jake," Norm confided to his friend at a hastily-called meeting outside the Hell's Gate perimeter that evening, "It stinks to high heaven."
"No argument here," Toruk Makto agreed. "Something's going on for sure."
"You sense something wrong?" Perrat inquired sharply.
The marine nodded, "The tawtute home will die without the rock they take from Pandora. They have to be in a panic already because we made the last ship go home empty, yet this ship is acting as if having no rock to take home is unimportant. Why?"
Norm affirmed, "It should be the most important thing in the world to them, as important as air to breathe or food to eat. That's what they were sent here six years ago to get, after all. Why are they willing, even eager, to leave without it now? I wouldn't be surprised if the people who sent them would kill them for coming back without it, and they have to know that."
The Na'vi were sickened at this further depiction of the depths of the tawtute insanity.
Sir'tey thought out loud, "Perhaps because they have no great number of warriors with them?" He shook his head and answered his own question. "They will know that the uniltirantokx clan has even fewer warriors. An animal facing its own death does not surrender peacefully, it fights even more violently, especially if the adversary is not significantly larger than it is. Norm'an is correct, this response from the tawtute makes no sense."
Jake's mind was working furiously. "The only way this makes any sense at all is if it's a part of a bigger plan." He looked up at the group and quoted, "'Give them what they expect to see.'"
Norm countered, "The RDA wants unobtanium. They want Hell's Gate back if they can get it, as intact as possible. They know that there aren't any miners left here, no stock besides what we had on hand when the Venture Star left. They know we sided with the Na'vi."
Mo'at stated, "This ship knows it would lose against us in a fight. We would perhaps gain more ships like the one you stole the last time, as well as whatever else they possess, when they lose."
That was a huge idea. The xenoanthropologist looked at the marine with momentary excitement, "Should we try to take the ISV somehow? We can't fly it, but we could strip it to the walls, take it out of commission."
It was a tempting thought, but after a minute Jake reluctantly shook his head. "The Na'vi can't function in the ISV's atmosphere." He mentally kicked himself for not having considered the need for that function earlier. "None of your people are fighters, and they do have the standard rotation of people for Sec Ops on board. In fact, we'd best be prepared – one ploy behind this could be that those guys will be hiding in the supplies they bring down."
"A trap," Perrat agreed. "We must watch them carefully when they leave these supplies, and the uniltirantox clan must check them afterwards before bringing them into their clan-home."
"Now that makes a lot more sense," Norm said in relief. "That would explain everything."
"So we counter it," the Olo'eyktan of the Ikran Clan stated. "Let them come and leave these supplies. When the small ship leaves we will watch your people check everything. If there are any warriors hiding inside, we will kill them."
Jake interjected a note of caution to the scientist, "Better have your guys suit up. If there are people hiding in the crates, they'll be a lot safer with some armor plate around them. The avatars are too vulnerable."
"Can't replace them, for sure," Norm agreed. "Let's work out where the best places to station warriors will be," he suggested. Most of the assembled turned to the base layout on the ground to discuss positioning for the morrow.
Neytiri had been silent throughout the entire discussion. Jake turned to her while the others started working out where the warrior groups would be and took her arms, "How are you holding up? You okay?"
His mate nodded. "I will be glad when the ship is gone and we can get our son back."
He understood that sentiment completely. "The tawtute may not hide warriors in the first load of crates. If I were them, I wouldn't. I'd wait until everyone felt safe and let their guard down first. It'll take days for them to bring all the supplies down."
"Then we must be watchful every time they come," she said definitively. "We must share this with the others." She walked towards the others with a firm and unhesitating step.
Jake had to admire her for it. Neytiri was every inch the hunter at the moment, just as she had been when they'd first met. Her determination to protect kin and clan was even stronger now than it had been back then. God help whatever tawtute she comes across! he thought to himself. He had to chuckle, remembering when she'd come across him. Damned lucky I didn't wind up perforated. Somehow I don't think anyone else'd get that lucky. He followed her to the others to get ready for tomorrow's first delivery.
