Chapter 1
Jake and Neytiri walked through the forest that surrounded the Omaticaya's old home, the Hometree. They saw the roots from the upturned tree, reaching up to the sky like outstretched arms.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Neytiri?" Jake asked. "I know it's the last place where you saw..."
"I'm sure, Jake," she replied. "I need to pay my respects to my father. I haven't done so since the Sky People left."
"I know. OK, let's go."
They approached closer and walked on the green grass where ash had once fallen. It was almost as if nothing happened here at all.
The Na'vi's bodies tensed when they heard low growling. They crouched down and followed the growls, leading them to a small hill. They looked over the hill to see a remarkable sight.
Where the center of the Hometree once was was an RDA mobile mining rig. It's mining arm was retracted, and in it's bucket was about a ton of unobtanium. The most shocking part, however, was the trio of young thanators patrolling around it.
Even more shocking was the human that exited the rig's operation cab. From where Jake was, he could see that the man was young, with brown hair that covered his head in a messy hairstyle, and it seemed like he was wearing a gas-mask.
The man took a rock out of the bucket and examined it. Seeing that it was to his liking, he put it back inside and turned to the thanators.
"We hit gold, guys!" he cheered, calling the deadly predators' attention. They all swarmed around him, and he petted each of them like a man with three giant dogs.
"You see that, Jake?" Neytiri gasped. "He has palulukan for pets!"
"I can see that," Jake replied.
"If Mother were to see this, she would have him killed!"
"I know, but that's not the big issue. The big issue is the fact that a human is still here."
In their hushed discussion, they didn't hear the much larger thanator sneak up on them. They only realized the danger once it was right next to them.
"Oh, shit," Jake muttered when he saw it.
The massive predator roared at them, causing them to fall down the hill. The younger thanators heard the roar and ran to join the larger one. They growled and circled the couple.
Suddenly, they stopped.
Jake and Neytiri looked at the man to see his head now covered by a dark helmet. A set of metal flaps on the helmet clapped against each other in a repeating pattern that the thanators seemed to recognize. The predators then retreated from the pair as the man approached.
"I apologize for my friends," he said through the helmet. "The mother gets antsy when she sees a threat to her cubs."
The helmet retracted into the rest of the man's armor, revealing that he wasn't wearing a face mask, but full facial hair. Jack and Neytiri's faces were open with surprise.
"Before you ask, yes, I can breath the air."
"Wait a minute," Jake said, cautiously standing up. "Were you part of the Hercules Program?"
"Yes. I was left behind in the evacuation."
"That explains it." Jake helped his mate stand up. "Name's Jake Sully."
"I've seen your logs. Congrats on your conversion."
"Thanks. This is Neytiri, my mate."
"Charmed."
The thanators growled at them as the man extended his hand to shake the Na'vi's hands. The man threw them a displeased look to quiet them.
"Name's Kennedy Forewith," he introduced. "These youngsters are Telemachus, Calypso, Odysseus, and the big one's Circe."
Upon hearing their names, the thanators gathered behind their 'friend.' Ken simply chuckled.
"We don't get a lot of visitors," he explained.
"Clearly," Jake replied. "What are you doing here?"
"Mining for unobtarium. Sorry if I'm intruding. I can get moving, if you want."
"For today, at least," Jake said. "She needs to pay her respects to her father."
"I'm sorry. C'mon, guys. Let's go home."
A set of flaps on Ken's shoulders started to clap together in a new pattern. The thanators understood and stood on top of the mobile mining rig. Ken hopped into the cab and started the engine before driving next to Jake and Neytiri.
"If you feel like visiting," he said out the window, "our place is twenty klicks north, past the river. You'll know you're there once you see Circe patrolling the area. Oh, that reminds me."
Ken took out a vial of black liquid and handed it to Jake.
"Thanator venom. Smear it on your body, and they'll think twice about attacking you. I'll be seeing ya!"
The rig drove off with a ton of unobtarium, the thanators laying on the roof of the cab. Jake and Neytiri stood in silence as they watched them leave.
"We need to tell your mom," Jake said.
"But she'll want to kill him!" Neytiri protested.
"I know, but she's also reasonable. If we explain everything properly, we might be able to keep her calm."
"I hope you're right, Jake. I don't want our child to suffer through this."
Ken emptied the unobtarium into the refinery he recently reactivated. The thanators leaped from the roof of the rig to the carcass of a hammerhead titanothere that they killed recently. After shoving the last of the raw metal into the refinery, Ken walked over to the carcass. He pulled out a knife and carved out a piece of the titanothere for his dinner.
He walked into the base. He placed the slab of meat on the counter before tapping his finger on a screen, bringing up his first log since meeting Circe.
"Five months after RDA abandoned me. I've met and made friends with a thanator. I know, sounds impossible, but I've managed. She's a young expectant mother whom I've named Circe, after the witch who kept docile lions and wolves for pets. This will be her second litter, after her last litter was killed by some horny thanator bastard."
Ken smiled as he cut the tendons off the meat and tenderized it. He chopped it right down the middle and set one half on a plate. He placed the plate on the ground.
"Ajax!" he called out. "Dinner!"
He returned to the meat on the counter as a viperwolf ran into the kitchen and started to eat the meat on the plate. Ken tapped the screen again to move on to the next log.
"A year on Pandora, and I've become a father. No, not literally, but I feel like one. Circe has given birth to her second litter, and they're right underneath my base. Makes sense, since lions on Earth move their cubs after giving birth so predators don't follow the smell of a birth directly to the cubs. God, I watch too much nature shows."
Ken sprinkled the meat with an onion-like herb before placing it on a makeshift skillet. Humans were too reliant on synthetic foods, so he needed to make the stuff himself.
"People are so stupid," he said to Ajax. "Not that you would know. You've only ever met me, and I'm not stupid. I think."
The viperwolf simply sighed as he laid on the metal floor next to Ken. Ken brought up another log.
"A year and a half in this hellhole, and I'm making a living. The cubs are learning to hunt very well, and I couldn't be more proud of them. Of course, the road to becoming a successful father was not without it's pitfalls. I've lost track of how many times Telly has thrown up on me. But, on a better note, I've discovered that they can be trained with clickers. With this knowledge, I plan to make a helmet that can translate my thoughts into a language they can understand."
Ken sat at the table with his cooked meat. He ate it slowly, remembering the events of today. After finishing his meal, he pulled up a camera to make a new log.
"Two years on Pandora, and I've made contact with the Na'vi. I was out mining unobtarium with the thanators when Jake Sully and Neytiri were almost attacked by Circe. I calmed them down and introduced myself. They seemed understanding, but they're only two people in who knows how big of a group. I moved out of there with the thanators so Neytiri could pay her respects to her father. I hope they come over to visit sometime."
Ken ended the log and turned off the camera. He scratched Ajax's chin as he thought about the past, present, and future.
"Lot's to do, buddy," he said, "and very little time to do it in."