In the skies of the planet, humans called Pandora also known as the Second Earth. The RDA/Atlas shuttle that departed from the Venture Star a few minutes ago was flying towards the base called Hell's Gate which was located in the Earth Kingdom carrying troops of both RDA and Atlas corporation along with weapons and supplies. While it was flying towards the base, it crossed many beautiful forests of the planet that resembled a lot like the forests on Earth. There weren't a lot of forests on Earth anymore because of the overuse of natural resources, there were only small amounts of forests left on Earth.
As a result, humanity started exploring outer space and travel between the stars while searching for answers and ways to save their home planet. After fifteen years of exploring space, humanity discovered a planet that looked a lot like what Earth used to be and named it Pandora. RDA saw it as an opportunity to harvest the planet's resources and started a mining operation but it had an unfortunate setback, the natives of the planet attacked them and destroyed the mining equipment. After that RDA formed a partnership with Atlas corporation which allowed them to fight the natives and establish the base on the planet.
To this day all contacts with the natives have been hostile which is the reason why negotiating was off-limits and why the Operations Center was more like a military base than a colony. While the shuttle was approaching the base, the pilot informed them about their arrival.
"This is shuttle 2 asking permission to land," the pilot said while they were approaching the base.
"Roger that shuttle 2, you're clear for landing docking bay 9," the Hell's Gate air surveillance told the shuttle pilot.
"Roger that. Initiating final approach Hell's Gate, docking bay 9," the pilot said as he was preparing the shuttle for landing. Troops in the shuttle patiently waited for their arrival at Hell's Gate while one of them named Jason Connor was having a conversation with the base's head researcher Dr. Grace Augustine who didn't sound very happy about their arrival since she asked for more scientists, not soldiers.
"Every time I tell them 'stop sending grunts.' And every time...more grunts arrive," Grace said while not being pleased about the soldiers' arrival.
"Atlas special forces and signals specialist," Jason corrected.
He was a member of Atlas special forces and Gideon's team. He had an impressive record which was the reason why the CEO of Atlas Corporation Jonathan Irons wanted him to go to the planet Pandora and why RDA wanted to hire him. He also had a unique skill as a signals specialist but Grace didn't sound impressed by what Jason was.
"Yeah, the same thing as far as I'm concerned. But I won't be dealing with you on Pandora, you're Dr. Harper's problem. You disappoint him and that becomes my problem. So I got three words for you, don't screw up," Grace told Jason.
"Yes ma'am. But technically I don't take orders from you or Harper," Jason said making Grace a little upset.
"Yeah, you don't have to remind me about the protocol. The only reason you're even here is that Mr. Irons said so," Grace said.
Jason kind of liked it when he told the scientists in a polite way to back off or fuck you. He didn't have anything against the scientists but it was kind of annoying when they were bossing around.
"I have one more piece of advice for you kid, file away fantasies about a vacation. If you go cowboy like the rest of these jarheads, you'll be dead inside 2 weeks. I guarantee you this planet is the most hostile world you've ever seen but if you keep an open mind, she'll reward you in ways you can't even imagine."
After she said it, Grace turned off the visual communicator. When the shuttle reached the base and prepared to land, everyone took their seats and waited until they landed. When they were on the ground and the ramp opened, everyone came out from the shuttle and were greeted by an RDA officer.
"Welcome to your new home people, Hell's Gate. I'm officer Midori but I'm not much on formalities so you can call me Kendra. I'll be in charge of your orientation," Kendra said as she introduced herself. "Now, which one of you is Connor?"
"That's me," Jason said while he raised his hand to reveal himself from the group.
"Okay, you stay put. The rest of you, climb on board and you'll be shuttled to the main complex," Kendra said. The rest of the group headed to the main complex while Jason and Kendra headed to the Operations Center. When they were in front of the entrance, Kendra started to explain the situation to Jason
"Commander Falco's been damn near frantic for your arrival."
"Falco?" Jason asked.
"He's the reason you're here. But I'll let him explain it all. First thing first, let's get you up to speed," Kendra answered.
"Wow. Two years of sleep in space and now it's go-go-go," Jason said. He was excited to get into action but he kinda hoped that he could rest for a first day in the base before going to missions but somehow he kind of knew that after two years of being in cryo he would be immediately sent to the field.
"A lot's happened while you were in cryo and not all for the better," Kendra told him. She sounded very concerned when she said 'A lot's happened while you were in cryo.' Jason wasn't sure what could've happened but he thought that it might have something to do with the natives. Kendra decided to continue explaining.
"Now that the noisy stuff is out of the way, let's check your avatar. Dr. Monroe should have it ready to go. Are you ready?"
"Are you kidding? It's all I've dreamed about for two years." Jason said while being excited about testing his avatar.
"Just watch yourself around Dr. Monroe, he treats the avatars like his own personal guinea pigs," Kendra said warning Jason about Monroe.
After their conversation, Jason entered the base and headed to the avatar link center where people made a connection to their avatars. While he was getting there, he passed many other centers and rooms such as the armory, infirmary, and bio lab. The base was indeed impressive but it wasn't really a big surprise since it was built and owned by Atlas Corporation and RDA, the two companies have been working together for some time now and have been really good at it because Jonathan Irons was a good businessman and politician.
After a few minutes of walking around the base, he finally arrived in the link center where the doctor was waiting for him near the link chamber. When he turned to look at Jason, he didn't look very happy.
"Ah, if it isn't the member of Atlas special forces and the signals specialist. About time you showed up. Day one and you're already behind the schedule," the doctor said.
"Nice to meet you too," Jason said in a sarcastic tone. He wondered what was this guy's problem.
"Senior science officer Victor Monroe at your service. And just because your DNA is a one billion match doesn't mean you can be a prince. Head over to the link bed so we can link you to your avatar, chop-chop." doctor Monroe said who didn't sound very happy that Jason had come a few minutes late.
"Is this guy a nutcase or what?" Jason thought as he approached his link bed. When he laid down on the bed, he relaxed and closed his eyes while the chamber was closing, sealing him inside. When the link was formed, Jason saw first a bright white light and then he started slowly open his eyes. When his eyes were open, he saw two doctors in front of him asking questions about his condition.
"Are you alright Connor, how do you feel?" One of the doctors asked.
"I think I'm okay. At least I don't feel anything strange," Jason said while feeling perfectly normal like in his original body
"That's good. Now try to stand."
He did as the doctor said and slowly stood up from the table. He felt a little weak but he was able to stand up and take a few steps. He first looked at his hands and the rest of his avatar body, then he looked at the mirror to see what he looked like. Jason looked mostly like his real body except he had features of a firebender which meant that his avatar had firebending abilities. He was about to try his bending but he suddenly lost his balance and fell back on the table.
"Whoa, it's okay Connor. This is normal," the doctor said.
"Okay, guess I still need a little practice," Jason said.
"Don't worry Connor, just lay down and we'll send you back."
He did as he was told and when he laid down and relaxed, the link was broken and he was back in his real body. When he was back in his body, the link chamber opened and he got up from the bed. While he stretched his arms and legs, Dr. Monroe was checking the results of Jason's connection to his avatar.
"Hmm, you're actually quite good at this. All test results show green. You better get going, officer Midori's waiting for you," Monroe said making Jason sigh.
"Yes, doc," Jason said.
After that, he left the link center and headed towards the operations center where Kendra was waiting for him. When he got there, Kendra was having a conversation with other officers and it didn't sound good, something about security systems going offline. When Kendra noticed that Jason had arrived, she told her officers to go back to their duties and turned to Jason.
"Commander Falco is now ready for you and he's eager to meet you. He usually doesn't interact with the avatars, he hates them," Kendra said.
"He got a thing against avatars?" Jason asked.
"Like I said there's more going on than you know. You don't want to be in his bad books, good luck Connor." Kendra told him while being concerned about what was happening. After that, Jason entered the office where commander Falco was waiting for him.
"Connor, hard to believe you're finally here. Seems like a lifetime ago I got permission from Mr. Irons to bring you here." Falco said while feeling excited to finally meet Jason in person.
"Reporting for duty, sir," Jason saluted in the good old army way.
"Drop the formalities, kid. I've got a serious situation. Someone in the Avatar program is feeding classified information to the nearby native city. If word gets out what we're planning, we could have a full-scale native attack on our hands." Falco told him with a concerned voice. Jason became worried but also curious about what Falco told him, worried because there was a traitor in their ranks who was giving information to the natives and curious because of what Falco was planning.
"What exactly are we planning?" Jason asked while still being curious about what kind of plan Falco had. Unfortunately, Falco didn't feel necessary to give him any details or even small pieces of information about his plan.
"You'll see soon enough. It was hard to convince Irons to let you come here. Your skills will be useful here but you still have to watch your back. Play your cards right and you'll get far, screw up and you'll be dead in two days," Falco advised Jason.
"I'll do my best," Jason said.
"Right now your job is to find that mole. Gather your gear and head to the base located near the native city called Zaofu, move out," Falco ordered.
After Falco gave him the instructions, Jason left the office and headed to the armory to get his gear. A lot was in his mind right now, his first day on the planet and they send him to hunt moles. Not exactly a good way to make friends but he didn't let it bother him, he had a mission to complete and he was going to get it done no matter what.
Meanwhile in Zaofu
In the city of the metal clan, Suyin was having a conversation with her sister Lin, Tenzin, and Kuvira regarding the sky people. They weren't only concerned about the safety of Zaofu but also the safety of the whole world. Ever since the sky people came, they have been destroying their land and taking their resources without stopping. So far the sky people have been living in a small area away from Zaofu but they were worried that they would eventually come to Zaofu and destroy it. Su along with Lin and Tenzin wanted to solve this problem peacefully but Kuvira thought that there was no peaceful way to solve this. The sky people have always been hostile towards them ever since when they were attacked by earthbending bandits when they came to their world for the first time.
"We'll have to solve this peacefully, we cannot attack them and start a war," Su said hoping the war wouldn't come.
"The war has already begun! those aliens are destroying our land and taking our resources!" Kuvira said angrily, she couldn't believe that Su who was like a mother to her wouldn't defend their home from the sky people menace.
"We know how you feel Kuvira but we cannot attack them," Tenzin said.
"And why not?!" Kuvira asked furiously.
"Because they possess advanced weapons and technology which alone makes them very dangerous." Tenzin reminded her. They knew the sky people were technologically more advanced and what damage they could do but Kuvira didn't care.
"Maybe, but there's only a few hundred of them and we have thousands of troops. We can easily crush them," Kuvira said.
"Even if we wipe them out now, there's no guarantee that they will stop coming here. Our scouts reported that more of them arrived this morning with more weapons and supplies." Lin told them which immediately made everyone in the room worried about the current situation. While they were trying to find a way to solve the problem, they didn't notice that someone was listening to their conversation. It was Korra and her team who was listening behind the door to what Su and everyone in the room were talking about.
"This is crazy, we shouldn't be here. What if we get caught." Mako said while being concerned about what trouble they would end up in if Su or Lin found out that they were eavesdropping.
"Calm down Mako, we must know what this problem is so we can solve it," Korra said while being curious about the whole situation. She had heard of sky people but no one told her who or what they were exactly and what they were doing.
"I'll have to agree with Mako, if we get caught we're in big trouble," Asami said being concerned like Mako.
"Come on guys, I'm the Avatar. What could go wrong?"
"A lot," Bolin said, he really didn't like what they were doing because the last thing he wanted was to see angry Lin Beifong again. The time when she fought her sister was enough to scare him. While they were listening, something that Su brought to the conversation caught their interest.
"I don't know what they're up to but I have a contact in their ranks. A scientist named Dr. Harper," Su told them.
"Are you sure he can be trusted?" Kuvira asked while being suspicious about the whole 'mole' thing. She didn't think it was a good idea to have one of those 'aliens' as a spy for them.
"He had proven himself trustworthy many times and I could see from his eyes that he opposes what his people are doing to us," Su explained.
"I agree with Su, I may not be a truth seer but I can tell when people truly want to help us," Lin agreed.
"I'm afraid you're on your own on this one Kuvira," Tenzin said making Kuvira a little angry but she didn't show it. That was the last thing Korra needed to hear, if she wanted to find a way to solve this problem and bring balance to the world, she had to find this Dr. Harper.
"Okay, it's time to go," Korra said.
"Go? Go where?" Asami asked.
"To find this Dr. Harper," Korra answered making everyone's eyes widen and think that was she crazy or what. Most of all going out of Zaofu to find the sky people without the permission of Tenzin, Lin, or Suyin was like trying to steal honey from a swarm of angry bees.
"Are you out of your mind Korra? We can't just walk out of Zaofu without saying anything," Mako said making clear that he didn't like the idea.
"I know but even if we ask permission to leave Zaofu, I don't think Lin or Tenzin want to let us go," Korra reminded them.
"What about Su?" Asami asked.
"I don't think she's gonna let us go either because Zaheer and his thugs are still after me," Korra said. Even though she was on good terms with Su she still wouldn't let her go, especially when they were dealing with something completely unknown like the sky people. Everyone sighed and decided to go along with Korra.
"Okay, but we'll have to be careful, there are too many unknowns on this one," Mako said. He didn't like this but he felt that someone's gotta be there to cover their backs if something went wrong.
"I'll go too," Asami said
"I'm in too," Bolin said while being excited.
"Thanks, guys it means a lot," Korra said happily. Maybe it was her instinct or her past lives but something inside her told her that she and her friends were going on one of the greatest adventures of their lives.