The three of them jumped from branch to branch in cloak staying close together. Hawkeye led the team from the front, Lex was in the middle, and Captain guarded the rear. They finally spotted the team of humanoids slowly walking through the vegetation completely oblivious to their presence. It was night at the time, but much of the plant life glowed in the dark. Captain scanned the one behind the others and fired his plasma cannon. The beam of light struck the humanoid to neck mortally wounding him. Captain fired again blasting a hole through his back and out his chest. The humanoid fell to the ground dead without realizing what had happened.
The other humanoids turned their bows in all directions looking for the source. Captain rallied the other two to depart in the traditional Yautja way. They would kill the entire team one by one during the night. Lex scanned the faces and bodies of the humanoids. Their faces looked like a fusion of human and cat. They had human looking faces with cat nostrils and ears. Their hair was long and braided like the Yautja. It seemed too coincidental that humans, Yautjas, and this creature all looked humanoid. Was this frame the only way a species could be sentient?
Hawkeye was suddenly hit with a nerve toxin arrow right to the chest. He quickly took the arrow out of his chest and injected himself with the antidote. The warriors start firing all of their arrows at them; one of them bounced off Lex's mask. Lex wondered how they could be seen in the dark while they were cloaked. She then noticed small white jellyfish looking objects near her. Her mask detected a strong energy signal coming from them, but that they were biologically seeds. They resembled dandelion seeds in the air. Whatever they were there were hundreds of them floating around her giving away her position.
"Withdraw," Captain ordered, and the three of them retreated into the forest. The humanoids went after them shooting arrows close to where they were. "Turn off your cloak," Captain ordered next.
The three turned off their cloaks and immediately the seeds floated away no longer attracted to the energy field. The humanoids continued their pursuit but lost the Yautja in the darkness.
The three of them climbed up a tall tree and reactivated their cloaks. The Captain then relayed to the others that seeds in the air were attracted to the cloaking energy field thus making them clearly visible at night. Their range was a few meters off the ground, so it would not affect Yautja hunters in the trees.
The Prince listened to the report on his ship. A hologram map of the area and the locations of every Yautja were visible to him. "That was quicker than the last group I sent here," the Prince remarked to a veteran warrior.
"I recommend destroying their Tree of Souls my Lord," the veteran advised.
"Only if we have to. It is more sporting this way if the prey can see us in the dark," the Prince said.
As the three recovered from their ordeal, Hawkeye shuttered every so often. He had taken the antidote but the nerve toxin was still affecting him. "Will he be alright?" Lex asked.
"By morning he will be fine. We will need to keep a watch over him as he recovers," Captain said.
The two of them kept watch over Hawkeye throughout the night until it was morning. During her watch, Lex was mesmerized by the gas giant and the other moons. They reflected light greater than that of a full moon on Earth. If not for the poisonous air and wildlife this place would have been a paradise.
The next morning, Hawkeye had recovered from his ordeal and was ready for a new hunt. The body of the humanoid that had been killed had unfortunately been taken away. Hawkeye sent out his mechanical bird to find their prey once more. When it came back it revealed that the humanoid team was nearby, and that they were the ones being hunted.
With the seeds nowhere to be found, the three cloaked themselves, and scanned the area. A trick Lex had learned over the months was to communicate to other Yautja with nearly silent clicks. The mask could read the clicks, and then send the message electronically to the other Yautjas. In this way they could remain quiet and still communicate to each other.
Hawkeye was eager to redeem himself from his near death experience with inferior prey. He snuck up on a humanoid slicing him through the chest with his spear. The humanoid struggled briefly, but died almost immediately. The other humanoids noticed their comrade was missing, and went to investigate. Hawkeye dragged the heavy body into the forest, but he was slowed down. Captain and Lex gave him cover fire blasting the forest with plasma bursts. The humanoids scattered as the forest erupted in flames. Hawkeye noticed that the humanoid's body was too heavy to drag around, so he quickly cut its head off and bagged it.
Lex realized with some dread that she was next. The flames made it difficult for her to scan for heat signatures. The three of them moved through the forest trees to catch up with the team of humanoids. Lex targeted one of the females, and fired on her. The humanoid fell to the ground hit in the back. The other humanoids surrounded her to defend her. Hawkeye fired a claw projectile that blasted through a humanoid skull killing the warrior instantly. Captain fired a net gun forcing another warrior up against a tree where he could not escape. The last remaining warrior threw down his bow, and gave them a defiant look.
The Captain deactivated his cloak revealing himself to the warrior. Hawkeye sent his bird to survey the area, so they wouldn't be ambushed while Captain fought. The humanoid warrior and the Yautja circled each other both holding knives.
"You kill my people, my friends!" the humanoid said in his language.
Lex could understand the humanoid's language through the translator chip in her head. This creature talked more like a human than the Yautja. Captain said nothing in reply, and then the two fought in close combat. As the two fought, the injured female crawled away unnoticed. The Yautja and the humanoid sliced at each other, but it seemed like Captain was enjoying the fight more. Lex stared at the humanoid desperately fighting for the lives of himself and his comrades, and then back to the blood thirsty Yautja. As the fight dragged on Lex found herself conflicted. Captain eventually exploited the humanoid's weakness by having a tight grip on his hair. Captain forced the warrior to his knees, and then struck his head off.
Captain then took his spear and stabbed the other captured humanoid through killing him. Hawkeye and Captain then dragged the corpses together for a skinning. "Your prey is getting away," Captain reminded Lex.
"Oh…yes," Lex remembered.
Using her scanners she went through the forest looking for the injured female humanoid. She quickly found her and started firing at her. The humanoid suddenly fell off Lex's view. Lex got to the site where she had lost the humanoid, and saw a giant cliff leading to a river down below. With no other choice, Lex jumped off the cliff and into the water. The humanoid was struggling to swim down the river while Lex pursued her. The humanoid started shouting some kind of religious gibberish as Lex was almost on her. The humanoid struggled to get on shore as Lex walked out of the water. Suddenly tentacles sprung up, and started stinging Lex.
The sensation was similar to having her legs on fire. Lex tried to get out of the water, but the tentacles started to solidify around her legs stinging her the entire time. In intense pain, Lex fell on her hands to steady herself, but they too became entangled. In desperation she activated her cloak, but it quickly deactivated in the water.
Meanwhile, Captain and Hawkeye were too busy skinning to notice that Lex was in trouble or that a small band of humanoid warriors were almost on top of them. Riding horse like pa'li creatures, the humanoid warriors rushed towards the two Yautja. Once the two realized what they were being ambushed, they activated their cloak and left the scene. The humanoid warriors rode towards the scene, and noticing the gentle disturbances in the air as the Yautja moved, fired their arrows at them. The wounded Yautja fired blasting a few humanoids off their animals. The two Yautja went up the trees and went through the branches to escape. However, a flock of ikranay with humanoid warriors riding attacked them. Hawkeye fired on some of the dragons killing them, and injuring the rider. He was picked up by the talons of an ikranay, and intentionally slammed into tree branch where he then fell to his death.
Captain saw himself surrounded by ikranay pursuing him. He activated his wristband, and started the countdown. An ikranay bit his arm off deactivating the bomb. With his left arm he sliced off the ikranay's head of. The rider and Captain fell towards the ground, the two of them shooting arrows and projectiles at each other until they both slammed into the ground.
The Prince noticed an increase in activity in the hunting zone. He saw readings indicating Lex's two companions were both dead. "We are detecting biological activity headed towards the mining base," a pilot reported to the Prince.
Infrared scans indicated clusters of wildlife were headed towards them. "Bring everyone into the ship," he ordered.
The Yautja miners ran towards the ship as humanoids on pa'li and ikranay flooded the area. Most of the miners managed to escape the shower of arrows on them. The warriors then shot arrows at the Yautja ship.
"How quaint. Fire at will," the Prince ordered.
The Yautja ship fired continuously on all targets, but the warriors persisted in their struggle. "Sir, there is a danger that the bodies of the flying animals may plug up our engines," the pilot warned the Prince.
"Take us higher," the Prince ordered.
The Yautja ship went up higher into the atmosphere until the ikranay could no longer reach them. The humanoid warriors cheered with their bows in the air believing they had won. The Yautja ship then turned its nose down towards the mining spot.
"Full power. I don't want to have to clean up any corpses off my mine," the Prince ordered.
The Yautja ship fired a crust splitting beam towards the humanoid warriors. The beam impacted the ground causing a massive explosion of fire and rock. "Target their sacred tree and destroy it," the Prince ordered.
The Yautja ship moved across the moon at high elevation, and then located the tree out in the open. The Yautja ship fired on the tree incinerating it down to its roots. The Prince clapped his hands in satisfaction. "Order all hunting parties to regroup at the alternative camp," he ordered.
Lex was too much in pain to consider the powerful tremors. She dragged herself out of the water with red burned skin. Through the pain Lex felt hate towards the humanoid female, and went to kill her with her blades. The humanoid fought back with punches and kicks. Lex absorbed the blows and sliced at the humanoid's skin causing deep wounds. The two then circled each other both two exhausted and hurt to continue. Lex finally grabbed the humanoid by the throat, and was ready to slice her head off when a dozen warriors erupted from the forest and aimed their bows at Lex.
Realizing death was imminent, Lex let go of the female humanoid, and fell on all fours in submission. Her legs and arms were in such pain that she wished one of these aliens would kill her. "Demon!" one of the warriors spat, and then moved to slit her throat with his knife.
"Stop!" the female humanoid interrupted.
"These monsters have killed many of our people and destroyed the Soul Tree," the warrior said angrily.
"That is why we must make her a prisoner, so we can learn about them," the female humanoid said.
While they were distracted Lex considered activating her bomb detonator killing herself and the dozen warriors around her. It would be the Yautja way her training told her. All she would have to do is move the bar across and push a small button. Lex was about to do it, but stopped herself. She believed in Hell and that's exactly where she would go if she did it.
The warrior snarled angrily at Lex, and then started to disarm her. He rudely took off her mask making it difficult for her to breathe, and decreasing her vision. Lex gasped for breath as carbon dioxide started poisoning her. Her plasma cannon and blades were then taken off as well as her armor, so that her breasts were exposed. The female humanoid seemed to notice Lex couldn't breathe and was about to pass out.
"Give back the mask," she said.
The warrior then placed the mask on the ground near her. Lex grabbed the mask and placed it on her face. She quickly connected the tubes, and started breathing normally again. She was then forced to walk with other warriors back to their village.
At high elevation, the Prince could see a large tree surpassing all the other trees dozens of times. It was higher than any Yautja skyscraper, and was home to a village of humanoids. A hologram mapped out the tree roots. "Prepare to fire," the Prince ordered his pilot.
The Yautja weapons charged up to destroy the tree from an elevation no arrow or ikran could reach them. The Prince then noticed there was a signal coming from the tree. "My Lord, the Princess' signal is at the base of the tree. Do we proceed?" the pilot asked.
The Prince hesitated as he saw the signal on the hologram of the tree. The signal came from Lex's mask, but it would still continue working even if she were dead. "Shall we fire?" the pilot asked.
"No," the Prince ordered. "Proceed to the alternative meeting place."
The Prince then exited the bridge disappointed.
Author's Note: The bar-headed goose is known to fly above Mt. Everest at 29,000 feet. The record for a helicopter is almost 41,000 feet and the record for an aerial rocket plane is nearly 80,000 feet. With this in mind, I am not sure why it was required to have RNA aircraft be at such low enough elevation that they could be attacked by ikran or why it would take several minutes for them to reach the tree target. The vessel used as the bomber had already been shown to dock with the space station in orbit that transports people and supplies. I would think carpet bombing the tree from a much higher elevation with their big bomber would have done the trick. In this case the Na'vi have no chance against a superior technological race under the command of the Prince. Their only hope may be in Lex or...
My inspiration for the Prince comes from a collection of tactical super villains such as Darth Vader, Aizen (Bleach), Orochimaru (Naruto), Larouche (Code Geass), Gabriel Shear (Swordfish), General Zod, Amon Goeth (Schindler's List), and Kevin Candi (Django).