This chapter covers a lot of time and ends about a year before Jake lands on Pandora. Hope you like it and enjoy.
"I have uncovered coordinates for a landing site the humans will use in two years. This site will be used as a base for mining operations for a rare metal. The data also depicts remotely controlled creatures similar to the Omaticaya, but also human. A blend between the two DNA strands. They are meant to find a diplomatic solution and make the Omaticaya leave Hometree so they can mine here. If they don't move, they will send in air units to force out the natives, " ARC said.
"You said if they don't move. Why is that?"
"I have no data on whether or not they moved. "
"By just being here we are changing the past. How can we minimize our influence here to make the most use out of our current information? "
"Hope is still in orbit, but has no breathable air. We need to activate the cloaking shield on board and hide the shuttle crash. Hope will notify us if another ship enters orbit, but it has no crew to man the guns if it is hostile. "
"How do we get up to Hope? The shuttle is destroyed, and we have no space suits to use on Hope. "
"I have control of all systems on Hope, and have found a repair vehicle that can bring people up to Hope and back, and it has two space suits on board. . I estimate that it will take two days to fix the cloaking shield. "
"At least something is going right. We'll do it in a few weeks. Notify the others. "
"Yes sir. "
"Alright everyone, it's getting late, and we need to be up early tomorrow, so get some sleep. Paul, are you joining us tomorrow?" I asked.
"Yep, " He replied.
"Good. See you in the morning. "
Over the next several months, we learned more about the planet and the wildlife on it. We had managed to activate the cloaking shield on the shuttle and on Hope, and had been accepted to the clan as much as we could be without being part of their species. We couldn't ride their horses or fly their bird things, but our powers had grown exponentially and we could get around just fine without the animals. We had made our own bows and arrows and knives, and embraced their religion, but had not yet been allowed to their sacred places. The plasma cannons had been moved to another place several miles away where we planned to build houses later. It was about noon when they arrived.
"Sir, Hope has detected a large ship entering orbit. Origin is human. They're here a year ahead of schedule, " ARC said.
"Activate cloaking shields on Hope and the shuttle. Tell the others to meet at the base of Hometree, and send them the information too, " I replied.
"Yes sir. Two have already arrived, but Gabe and Paul are hunting. It will be a while until they meet you. "
"Connect them to a secure radio sequence, one the humans aren't on. "
"Done. " I arrived at Hometree and saw the other four Atlantians waiting.
"Gabe and Paul will be here soon. In the meantime, we need to do recon on the shuttle when it lands. Gabe and Paul will move our supplies from here to the camp and then meet us at the landing site. Stay away from contact and keep your radios on. Security level red again. Good luck. " We left Hometree and headed to the landing site.
"Ship is landing in fifteen minutes, " ARC said. We continued traveling, going as fast as we could using bands around our arms and legs and flying just above the trees. It took three hours to get to the landing site, and by that time it was dark, which was good for us. The site had already been cleared and had lights set up around the perimeter spreading light everywhere. I smiled inwardly. The humans knew nothing about the planet, and were just getting started.
I signaled to the others and we moved in and spread out. I had found a scope at the shuttle, and I used it to look closer at the landing site. They had begun to put up a barbed wire fence and establish a perimeter, but I knew it would be ineffective against the wilderness here.
"Alpha this is Gamma and Foxtrot, we are landing now. All gear has been moved to auxiliary camp. " Gamma and Foxtrot were the security level red callsigns for Gabe and Paul.
"Good. Stay silent and use radios as little as possible, and be careful, " I replied. We all got as close as we could without being seen and looked into the camp. Ben made his way towards me.
"We could kill them all now and not have to deal with any of this, " Ben suggested.
"No, let's wait it out and see what they do. They may not be hostile. If we can just keep them away from our ships, they won't even know we're here, which will give us a tactical advantage if it comes to war, " I answered.
Ben nodded. "Makes sense. Are we going to stay the night or leave now? I should find some food if we're staying. "
"The rest of you go back, I need to see what they have in the way of weapons. "
"Yes sir. I'll round up the rest of us and head back. Be careful. "
Ben rounded up the others and they silently left back to Hometree. I flew over the lights and hovered above the camp, looking for a good place to drop in. I flew over to their shuttle and dropped in right next to it after a squad of troops went past. They had small arms, but I could hear heavy machines from the shuttle. I crept to the opening and looked in. Inside was mostly construction equipment, but there were several large suits inside. Atlantis used to use them when the Mundars first came, but they were ineffective so they were discontinued. These models were airtight and I noticed that everyone was wearing rebreather units, so the oxygen content must have been too low for them. I leapt into the shuttle when nobody was around and found a computer. I took the ARC cable and plugged it in.
"ARC, download all data. We'll sort it out at Hometree, " I instructed it.
"Data downloaded, " ARC replied after a few seconds. I unplugged it and explored the ship. They had enough materials to build a small compound, but I was sure more would come. The armory was huge, and had lots of the suits, turrets, and handheld weapons. I grabbed a six barreled machine gun full of ammunition and continued on my way. I heard footsteps coming my way, so I quickly jumped and touched the ceiling with my hands and froze them there, then swung my feet up and froze them as well. The gun dangled below me on its strap, and I pulled it up as well. A squad of troops passed under me and began to pick up boxes of weapons. While they were busy, I slipped through the door and dropped to the floor and continued on my way. I found the cockpit of the ship and found it empty. I looked around and found a schedule, which I flipped through, letting ARC document it all.
I found another storage bay and found tons of mining equipment, as well as construction vehicles. Suddenly the lights turned on and people began entering the storage bay. I ran under a large bulldozer and climbed into the mechanics, letting ARC guide me to a safe spot. There was not a lot of grease on it, which meant it was brand new. It turned on and rumbled, and began to roll forward. It drove out of the shuttle and into the center of the compound. I was surrounded by people and bright light, and it was getting hard to tell where I was. The bulldozer stopped and turned off, as well as the others as the pulled together in a tight group. I waited until nobody was close and then dropped out of the vehicle.
I landed softly and looked around. All of the large equipment was rolling together to form a circle where I guessed the first part of camp would be set up. I ran to the back of the vehicle, staying in the shadows. All of the soldiers were headed into the circle, which was bad for me. I looked around and located the generator. I focused a little and made a stick of ice by the generator. I moved it to where I wanted it and used it to turn off the generator. The lights turned off and everyone was plunged into darkness. In the few seconds before the handheld lights flick on, I flew out of the camp and was headed back to Hometree.