Prologue

Flames shooting up from the flare stacks of the nearby oil refinery occasionally brightened the grimy highway parking lot. The sky above was a featureless dull brown, a color it appeared to take on perpetually nowadays. It was hard to say if it was day or night. There was some light coming from the sky, but it wasn't possible to tell if it originated from the sun or if it was simply the result of light pollution caused by the millions of light sources in the nearby city.

At the end of the parking lot there was a tower-like metal framework, which supported giant displays that showed shapes and text in bright, almost neon-like colors. At least one screen showed the current date and time: August 10, 2155, 6:42 pm.

There were only a handful of cars parked on the lot, which could support at least a hundred vehicles if needed. One car in particular stood out; it had a streamlined wedge-shaped body, with gull-wing doors and a pitch-black paintjob. A large symbol almost completely covered the hood. The symbol consisted of a white circle, with a black dot in the center, which was surrounded by four black rune-like lightning sparks.

Behind the tinted glass, a man could be seen sitting in the passenger's seat. The driver's seat was currently empty, but it wouldn't be for long. The driver was now returning whilst carrying two paper bags filled with the typical low quality and mass-produced grub that was sold at the nearby fast-food store. The driver was a short, stout, and broad-shouldered man with dark curly hair and a grumpy facial expression.

After opening the door, the driver threw one of the bags at his colleague. This other man had a lean and skinny physique and had his hair in a buzz cut. Despite the second man's gaunt, skull-like face, he had a very optimistic expression, which did not falter even when the bag was thrown at him. It helped that he managed to catch in time.

"Next time you're going in." the driver barked at the gaunt-faced man. "What kind of joint is this anyway? How can a drive-through even break down?!"

The gaunt-faced man did not have to look up to see that his colleague was getting all red-faced over it. He did not think it was worth getting so worked up about.

"Look, the good thing is you're just in time for the movie." he said brightly, as he opened his bag and took out the plastic drinking cup.

The driver snorted angrily, and seemed to be fuming as he silently settled himself into the seat behind the wheel and closed the door. The prospect of finally getting something to eat did calm him down somewhat.

Both men were wearing uniforms that matched up with their car. Their gear was all black and design-wise looked like a cross between a police uniform and a military uniform. Both of them had an identification name-plate above the left chest pocket. These showed "R. Philips" for the driver and "C. Simmons" for his colleague. Their full names were written out in white letters on the side of their vehicle. Ralf and Charlie now shifted their attention to the commercial-movie that was about to start playing on the main screen of the tower.

"Who were they?" a loud and booming voice suddenly asked. "They were the RDA. The Resources Development Administration."

Several marketing images of the company headquarters on Earth and its broadly smiling employees were shown as the voice continued.

"They were a small organization compared to humanity's total population, and yet they controlled our world. They had a vast amount of resources and considerable military manpower at their disposal. But they cared more about wealth and pleasing their shareholders than about the lives of ordinary people. And they led us to disaster."

Several still images of the aftermath of the Pandoran war were now being displayed, showing the damage done to both humanity and the indigenous population of Pandora, the Na'vi. They showed the destroyed RDA base, various destroyed sections of forest, and a destroyed Na'vi village. The resolution was low enough that no gruesome details could be seen.

"Fucking savages." Ralf commented, spitting out some of the pasta-like grub back into the bag he was eating from. Charlie, who was used to his colleague's pig-like manners by now, simply ignored him.

"After word of the RDA's forced exile had reached Earth, their already waning popular support had taken a deep plunge. By starting a war, not only had they destroyed the lives of innocent aliens, they had also destroyed any prospect of a better future for humanity. The RDA, in their greed, had made the Earth, the Moon, Mars, and several of the colonized Jovian moons dependent upon the Pandoran room-temperature superconductor material, for which the source had now been cut off."

The images from Pandora then transitioned to showing scenes of chaos and destruction on Earth, this time with a lot more detail.

"The economic depression that resulted caused a snowball effect. Formerly prosperous regions descended into chaos. For a time, it seemed as if every person had to fight for their own well-being. No-one was sure of their future. Religious and ecological radicals took control to carve out their own states."

Pictures of various extremist militant groups were shown, as well as of multiple extrajudicial killings and the aftermaths of a number of skirmishes.

"Fortunately, this period was short-lived, for there was one movement that did not discriminate any human on any aspect. They rewarded those that devoted their lives to the greater good."

A large, slowly waving flag then came into view. It was black and displayed the same logo that was on the hood of the car Ralf and Charlie were sitting in.

"Soon, similar groups were formed all over the Earth, who pledged their allegiance to the first movement. Like a tempest, the new militant humanism movement spread, until every corner of the Earth had been liberated."

"The first movement became known as the Tempest. Under the magnificent guidance of the Leader, the organization focused on creating a stronger, more disciplined and more united humanity than had ever existed in history."

"Once the Tempest had the RDA's resources and assets at its disposal, including all spacecraft, interstellar vessels, and the unfinished orbital ore extractor, it became clear to many that hope had finally returned. There was hope for the future. There is hope for the future. We will persevere. We will return."

When the final three words were being spoken, the screen started displaying a partially zoomed-in face that sported bushy white eyebrows, piercing blue eyes and a large and white walrus-like mustache. The anthem of the Tempest then started playing. It featured a full orchestra including a choir, and was slightly sorrowful in melody, but for the most part it conveyed a victorious feeling.

Right about that time, two cars raced past on the highway at such a ridiculously high speed and with such a noise, that Ralf ejected the complete contents of his mouth back into the food container. He immediately tossed the bag to Charlie, who luckily managed to catch it again.

"Hold this! I'll finish it later!" he shouted as he started up the gas turbine engine of the car. For a moment it sounded as if a jet plane was being fired up.

"Son of a bitch." Charlie said, still at the stage of processing the two cars that had just raced by. "You're not going after them, are you? We'll never catch them!"

"Of course I'm going!" Ralf replied confidently before adding: "The lights!"

Charlie used the dashboard console to turn on the headlights, as well as the integrated light bar at the top of the car, which started flashing blue and red. The siren started wailing as well.

As the car started rolling, Ralf demanded to know something: "When we got here, did you see the ramp? Was it still there?!"

"What ramp? Wait! Not that ramp!" Charlie replied worriedly as he realized what Ralf was about to do, again.

"Never mind, I see it already!" Ralf assured him, sounding content for the first time since he had arrived at the car with the food.

The car promptly went up the improvised ramp that had been placed at the side of the parking lot. All four wheels left the ground briefly, as the vehicle passed over the ditch and the guardrail. It landed on the rightmost lane in a well-timed gap in traffic, and immediately swerved to the left to head over to the emergency lane.

"Get the sawn-off! We'll scare the bejesus out of them!" Ralf shouted excitedly, completely in his element. By now, Charlie remembered why he had signed up for this job in the first place. He was smiling as he eagerly reached for the sawn-off shotgun from underneath his seat, hoping that he would get to use it this time.

The parking lot was left in relative silence, the Tempest anthem still playing. The piercing blue eyes of the Leader were still looking out at the flare stacks of the oil refinery, at the brown sky and possibly even beyond that, at the currently obscured star system Alpha Centauri that was the home of the moon Pandora.

Chapter 1: Operation Hawkeye

An interstellar spacecraft had appeared in the vicinity of the brightly blue colored planet Polyphemus. The planet's most prominent moon was nearby: the blue and green world of Pandora. The vessel was nearly invisible against the blackness of space, its radiators and hull obscured by newly added black plating. Nevertheless, an observer could have visually followed its movements, due to the large symbol on the plating. It consisted of a white circle, with a black dot in the center, which was surrounded by four black rune-like lightning sparks. Thus it appeared as if a single large Tempest emblem was moving towards the moon.

The interstellar vessel was a refurbished former RDA spacecraft. Apart from the added plating, its general design had been unchanged. It was carrying two black-hulled shuttles, one slightly larger than the other.

Inside the bay of the largest shuttle, a group of people were strapped into their seats, which were divided into two rows opposite each-other. The people were all wearing black military uniforms. Classical music was playing in the background. The most senior officer aboard was assault unit leader Lockwood. His rank, abbreviated as AUL, was indicated by the domino-like patch on his jacket collar. It displayed four white dots on a black square.

Lockwood, who had a large bald head and tanned skin, was calmly reading a book, while his troops were also taking it easy. The book was titled "Humanity's New Generation" and was written by an author known by the mononym "Wilhelmus". Lockwood momentarily looked up from the pages. As he had expected, the indication light above the rear cargo door was still red. They had not yet entered the atmosphere, so he could still finish the chapter at the pace he liked.

In the corner which was the furthest away from Lockwood, two troops were observing the rest of the group. Both troops had a single white dot on a black square as their rank insignias. This indicated that they were both junior squad leaders, abbreviated as JSL, although since they were now part of a special operations unit, they weren't leading any squads today.

There were more seats in the shuttle than there were troops, so several spots had been left un-occupied. The two troops in the corner had multiple empty seats beside them and in front of them, so it made them somewhat stand out, as if they did not belong to the group. However, they were far from the only misfits here, at least according to their own opinions.

"Just look at those cards." Ralf said grumpily, while making a quick nod towards the group of troops who were playing a card game. "They're all cracked and frayed. No-one even bothered to bring a decent deck. For all we know, we could be by ourselves for months."

"Who cares about cards anyway?" Charlie responded optimistically. "I'd much rather look at her." He then pointed his finger at Astrid Hagen, a tall and pale-blond woman who was seated nearest to them in the opposite row. She had her eyes closed and her head was leaning to one side, so his conclusion was that she was sleeping. "Have you ever seen such beauty in such an unlikely place?" he asked Ralf.

"Oh, please", Ralf responded in a slightly patronizing tone. "You don't know her story, but I do. You're not looking at the beauty; you're looking at the beast. Don't tell me you haven't noticed anything strange about her?"

Charlie had to think for a while. However, before he could respond, Ralf did: "Haven't you seen that although she is sleeping, she's actually holding an axe? A bloody axe!".

Charlie shrugged and replied calmly. "There's no blood on it; I don't see what the problem is."

"It's a figure of speech, you half-wit!" Ralf bellowed angrily. At the same time he also dope-slapped Charlie on the back of his head.

"Hey, what's your problem, man?!" Charlie responded, suddenly agitated. "My shrink told me I don't have to take crap from you anymore!"

"My problem is that you shouldn't be staring at some woman you don't really know who would bring an axe this far into space and hold it while she is sleeping." Ralf tried to explain to him. "She has killed more men than you can count, and not just with that axe."

After a brief pause to let that statement sink in, Ralf continued. "Perhaps what I'm actually trying to say is that everyone in this room has done something to deserve to be here. That includes us."

Charlie was intrigued now, and didn't seem agitated anymore. "What do you mean?" he asked. At the same time, a muffled mechanical clanking sound could be heard, which indicated that the shuttle had detached from the interstellar vessel.

Ralf was semi-whispering by now. "Everyone here is a killer. And all of them are good at it. Some of them might even have been considered heroes at one time. But that doesn't change the fact that they're killers. No-one will miss them when they're gone." he explained steadily.

"Take her, for example." Ralf said as he made another quick nod, this time towards Xinyi Yuen, a small and innocent-looking woman with long black hair and dark eyes. She was laughing at the antics of the group of card players. "She doesn't look like she has ever fired a gun in her life. But I know she's here because of her marksmanship skills. I heard she once sniped fifty enemies on a snowy day in some mountains somewhere. Fifty, without hesitation! They called her the Mountain of Death!"

Charlie still didn't get what Ralf's point was. "So, are you saying you and me are evil? For popping all those troops of the eco-union, I mean?"

Ralf continued with his rambling monologue. "Don't be silly, there is no such thing as good or evil. We did what we had to do, for the future of humanity. And apparently they found us so effective at what we do, that we were hand-picked for this mission. One mission that is more important than anything else we have done so far."

Interrupted by an unexpected noise, Ralf and Charlie suddenly looked up to see that Astrid, the woman with the axe, was slowly clapping her hands at them. Ralf's face turned a bit white. On the other hand, Charlie was more amused than shocked.

"No need to worry, fellows", she said with a smirk. "You two are only numbers 93 and 94 on my hit list. You entertain me enough that I will probably keep my axe from flying at you for today. Probably."

"Of… course…" Ralf replied, when he finally mustered enough courage to talk again. He then turned to face Charlie and lowered his voice. "I suggest a new tactic: you shut up, and you don't look at anybody."

"You're the one who does all the talking." Charlie countered. "So you're the one who should shut up." This remark set off a contest of sorts in which the two men each told the other to shut up after which the cycle was repeated with ever increasing volume and bombastically outrageous justifications being given. They did not notice that the shuttle had already entered the atmosphere. Only when they finally heard the booming and stern voice of assault unit leader Lockwood, were they brought back to reality. Despite the volume, their unit leader sounded very calm.

"Troops! We have a yellow light! You know what to do! This is why we are here! This is why you have been sleeping for six years!"

The shuttle had already slowed down significantly. All troops removed themselves from their safety harnesses, and began gathering up all their gear: their helmets, breathing masks, weapons, and other tools required for the mission. Lockwood himself was the first one to be ready. He was also the first one in the line-up who would leap from the shuttle when the indication light would turn green.

Towards the side of the shuttle's rear cargo door, there was a small altar of sorts. A large rectangular painting hung on the wall. It had a gold-plated frame, and was illuminated with two weak orange lights. The lights were meant to function as safe placeholders for candles. The painting depicted the face of an older man. The man had short white hair on his head, white and curly sideburns hanging down from the sides of his face, bushy white eyebrows, and a large and white walrus-like mustache. The face itself was plain in shape and features, but the piercing blue eyes really stood out.

Lockwood checked his wrist display, before closing his eyes momentarily. He began to whisper some words into the direction of the portrait. "My Leader, I know you have faith in this operation and in the people involved. We will not let you down. I will do everything in my power to ensure a glorious future for humanity. Omnia vincit hominis."

He opened his eyes, and checked his wrist display again. It was clear that they were almost where they needed to be. "Masks on!" he commanded. A few seconds later, he did a double finger tap onto a special area of the display.

The rear bay door of the shuttle promptly opened itself. The outside air rushed in quickly and mixed with the inside atmosphere, momentarily blurring visibility. It was hot and humid, but the troops could hardly notice this, due to the completely sealing liquid-cooled suits they were wearing. Aside from the inrush of air, an inrush of light also occurred. The shuttle had no windows in this compartment and was poorly lit in comparison to the outside. It was clear that it was midday here at this particular place on Pandora. Lockwood's visor automatically darkened itself accordingly.

Lockwood then turned around to face his troops, who were all lined up behind him. All twelve looked at him through their slightly darkened visors as he addressed them. "Remember, the target area has a diameter of roughly 100 meters. Your computers have already locked onto the area. If you fail to land on target, or fall off for whatever reason, you will be on your own for days if not weeks." he told them sternly through his helmet radio.

What he was saying was nothing new; everybody knew the mission parameters. Lockwood felt it necessary to remind them yet again, because it really was true that there was no way to get back up to the target area, once someone fell off. Falling off meant that person would very likely end up dead, but it wouldn't necessarily be the fall that would kill them.

Down below, a multitude of grey rocks partly covered with green foliage could be seen. However, these were no ordinary rocks. These rocks were floating in the air. They were not far from the area in which the RDA had been defeated over eight years ago.

The troops waited for a few more seconds, until the indication light suddenly turned green and a buzzer went off. Lockwood then gave a final rallying cry. "Come with me to take what's ours!" Halfway the sentence, he leapt from the shuttle, and began soaring towards the Pandoran surface. The others followed him in rapid succession. Ralf and Charlie were the last ones in line.

Ralf took a brief moment to himself to stand proudly, and then exclaimed "I think I see Geronimo!" in the most pompous way possible as he jumped from the shuttle.

Charlie could swear the shuttle lurched briefly from the weight of that bloated ego suddenly leaving it. A few seconds later he stepped off the ledge himself and exclaimed "For freedom!"

The thirteen soldiers soared towards the target, which was located on one of the floating rocks near the edge of the area. Lockwood used his helmet display to scan his surroundings. There was nothing that indicated that anyone knew they were coming. Then again, there was no way to be sure. This scenario had been simulated many times, but the unknown factors had always been the native population and the biosphere reactiveness.

It had been deemed highly improbable that the squad would be attacked immediately upon arriving here. Sure, someone might have seen the shuttle approaching, but the troops had been dropped from a high enough altitude that it would be difficult for any native to determine where they were going or what had even been dropped. The plan was to get the package, and be picked up by the shuttle, all in under fifteen minutes. Even if they had been spotted, they would likely be gone already before an intercepting force could arrive at the target area.

It wasn't long before they were close enough for parachute deployment. Assault unit leader Lockwood was the first to land on the target area. All twelve others followed his example shortly, and without any major problems. After shedding their parachutes, the uniforms of the troops automatically adapted their coloring to generate a suitable camouflage pattern for the terrain type: in this case a patchwork of grey, brown, and light green.

"Keep your eyes open! We'll be sitting ducks for the next ten minutes!" Lockwood shouted through his helmet radio. "Agthoven! Retrieve the package, now! Boussaid, Mosconi, go with him! The rest, form a defensive circle around them, I want nothing getting through! Shoot anything that moves within 150 meters from the perimeter. And use your scanners!"

"Alright then." said Ralf, while cracking his knuckles. "Let's see what we have." He took his triple-barreled machinegun from the side of his backpack and prepared to take a defensive position. "We have rocks covered in bird shit over there. Some more in that direction. Some bushes, roots and vines on the ground, some of that stuff on the other floating rocks. Man, what a shithole! Only a bloody ape would live here."

Then he thought he had found the perfect spot, but soon realized there were some larger bushes blocking his view of the surroundings. He activated the barrel motor, pulled the trigger, and completely cut down any plant that was in the way.

Alarmed, some of the others looked around to see what he was firing at. Ralf felt the need to reassure them after he was done. "Don't worry. I'm just doing a little gardening. I left my chainsaw back home."

"You know, he's the only one big and heavy enough to take that insane amount of recoil." Charlie said to a few of the other troops who looked like they weren't sure what to think about this borderline madman. Ralf simply smirked to himself, not recognizing the comment was in fact intended as an insult.

"We've got multiple bogeys at four o'clock." one of the soldiers suddenly informed the squad over the radio. "Distance is 200 meters and closing in." The soldiers nearest to the four o'clock direction prepared to fire their weapons, while the rest of the squad focused on scanning the other directions.

"Well, it's about time." Ralf said to himself, while visually locating the bogeys. "Time for some payback you big ugly pieces of shit!"

Ralf, Charlie, and several other soldiers opened fire on the flock of mountain banshees. Ralf fired his triple-barreled, belt-fed machinegun from a standing position. Charlie had decided to remain crouched, while firing his drum-magazine-fed assault rifle.

While the squad protected the inside of the circle, the payload specialist Joseph Agthoven did his job like an efficient machine. First, he located the exact position of the package, using a handheld scanner device. Once he was standing on top of the location of the as-of-yet invisible package, he knelt down and removed his backpack to take out another specialized device.

"Please take out the harness and hold it in position." Joseph said in an utmost calm, collected, and slightly monotone manner. Boussaid and Mosconi, the soldiers assigned to assist him, did as he asked. Joseph then activated the tool he had taken from his backpack. He held it with both hands, as he slowly moved it over the ground. The device made a steady buzzing sound, and emitted light from its underside. The ground was unusually smooth here, which made moving it around relatively easy.

Soon, Joseph had made a full circle. It appeared that the tool had drawn a black line on the ground, but a closer look revealed that it was actually a laser cut. Next, he retrieved and used a specialized lever tool to loosen the package. Once it was free, it started floating upward like a helium balloon. It had completely left the ground by the time it was caught by the harness that Boussaid and Mosconi were holding. It was a cone of almost pure superconductor material. The cone had a length and diameter of approximately one meter. It took all of their effort to keep it from floating away.

"The package has been collected. Repeat, the package has been collected." Joseph informed the squad over the radio.

"Good work." Lockwood responded slightly relieved. "Hold it steady. The shuttle is already on its way back."

Meanwhile, the squad was still firing at the bogeys. The flock of mountain banshees had been thinned considerably. Many had started falling to the ground. Some were fleeing. However, a few had become agitated enough to dare an attack. Ralf ran out of ammo when three of them were still charging at the squad.

"Shit! Charlie, I need to reload. Cover for me!" Ralf shouted over the radio. Charlie, who had just loaded a new drum, increased his rate of fire. The first one went down, as did the second one. The last one was now only about ten meters away from Ralf. It seemed to be moving faster the closer it got. Charlie was hitting it, but it kept on going.

Suddenly, the last banshee was hit in the eye by what initially seemed to be an impossibly lucky shot from Charlie. It finally went down, just in time.

"ONE MORE FOR THE PILE!" the smallest squad member Xinyi Yuen yelled at the top of her lungs. She was still looking through the scope of her sniper rifle. Ralf and Charlie looked at her momentarily, and then looked at each other. Both had an impressed expression on their faces.

"Mountain of Death, indeed!" Ralf responded enthusiastically. He then waved to Charlie. "Come on, we're not there yet." Subsequently, he resumed reloading his machinegun.

Out of nowhere and without warning, Charlie was snatched up by a large beak and thrown into the air. Someone had executed a sneak attack. A banshee had dived down from the clouds in an almost vertical line. This was no regular wild banshee, though. It was being ridden by one of the indigenous humanoid population: a Na'vi.

Charlie tumbled over the edge of the rock whilst screaming. Ralf couldn't believe what was happening. "Charlie! CHARLIE!" he shouted desperately. He fired his reloaded machinegun wildly at the banshee. It was too close, however. He was knocked aside by its claws, and started rolling towards the abyss himself.

Just when he was about to go over, he managed to grab hold of a vine and quickly climbed back up. He braced himself for a moment, expecting to be attacked again. Instead, he saw an axe flying past him. It buried itself into the neck of the banshee, making it screech loudly and writhe in agony. One of the soldiers now ran and leapt into the direction of the banshee. Ralf knew that only Astrid, the owner of the axe, would be crazy enough to even attempt such a thing. She immediately collided with the Na'vi rider, and both were sent falling off the edge.

By this time, the other soldiers had opened fire on the screeching banshee that still remained on the plateau. Ralf could see that despite its wounds, it was trying to get away. Unfortunately, it seemed to want to go straight through him. There was too little time to move out of its path, thus he braced himself again, although he did not expect it would help much.

The next series of events happened so quickly, that Ralf barely registered them. The banshee hit him, but somehow he managed to grab hold of its neck. They went over the edge, but the banshee was too wounded to fly normally. Instead, it started tumbling like a plane that had been shot down. The sky and the ground were spinning. At one point, Ralf was swung onto the banshees back, allowing him to retighten his grip on its neck.

Despite its wounds, and despite the fact that it was falling out of the sky, the banshee tried to remove Ralf's grip. He was too small to be within the reach of its mouth and claws, though. The ground was coming closer every second. All Ralf could think of right now, was that he hoped to be remembered as having scored a draw in a one-on-one wrestling match with a banshee.

Soon, Ralf and the banshee began hitting the first tree branches. Most of these broke, thus helping to slow down their descent significantly. Eventually, they came to a sudden stop with a loud thud as they crashed into the solid ground.

You might have already seen or read this story in the past. I was inspired to continue it after a long time of not having updated it, but there were some aspects that I wanted to change, hence I decided on a general rewrite.

This story is written as a sequel to the movie Avatar. I will deliberately go into certain directions and explore certain themes with this story that I think the future movies are unlikely to visit.

This story is strongly human-centered in the first chapter, but my aim is to take on a more balanced approach between the human and Na'vi later on. The main characters will be mostly original, with canon characters on the sidelines. This is a personal preference, because for me it is easier to write original characters which flow from my own heart and mind, instead of trying to figure out what was going on in the minds of other writers.

I had to select one or two genres, but I do not believe "Sci-Fi/Adventure" really covers every aspect I am planning to write. There will also be elements of humor, drama, romance and mystery. Enjoy reading!