AN:) OK REALLY FIST I'M NOT VERY GOOD WITH MILITARY RANKS SO IF I GET SOMETHING WRONG LET ME KNOW.

Grace should her head. "not thinking. We need to disappear all of us. We cant ever let the RDA know that we're alive. We need to make it look like we died. We need to destroy everything, our records, this base, everything that could link us to still being alive."

CHAPTER 6

Across the room Norm who had taken a seat on a crate spoke up. "Hello!? We can't do that. We need oxygen remember? We only have enough supplies to last us 2 days. After that we suffocate and die, remember?" grace rolled her eyes. "Duh. I said we have to make it look like we're dead. I never said we'd actually die. There are other bases. We need to get inside one and disable the signal that tells the main base someone is there. Once that's done we can disassemble the base and move it where ever we want to. From there we'll have power, oxygen producers, and as for food. After we finish off the rations there and what we have we can always hunt and gather." Trudy sighed. "I'll get my tool kit." As Trudy vanished down the hallway, Neytiri looked to grace. "Where are my mother and Tsu'Tey?" grace shrugged. "They went back to the hometree. They said you needed to be alone. I guess that'll be yours and Jake's next destination. But before you go Jake you and I need to talk." Jake nodded and left Neytiri to rest. Walking next to grace down the corridors Jake allowed himself to be steered into a side room before grace spoke.

"look Jake. I don't care what you and Neytiri do when you're alone with each other but don't forget." Grace pointed a finger at him. "You're not a member of their clan yet. So you don't have all the rights they do." Jake raised an eyebrow but grace didn't allow him to speak. "I know you care for Neytiri and I think I might know what took you both so long to get back here. And I'm telling you don't get caught by anyone. It would make everything you've done worthless. So don't screw this up. Ok?" Jake nodded and slowly left the room, making his way back to Neytiri. They had been about to leave when Trudy who had been walking passed them stopped them to talk. Shifting the large poles she was carrying Trudy spoke. "So Jake looks like you got yourself a nice shiny new body. Good for you. Don't waste it." Smiling at that Jake nodded. "Yeah ok. Trudy. Need any help with those?" Jake gestured to the pipes. Shrugging Trudy spoke. "to tell you the truth Jake if you stay I think you'll be here for a long while. We've got to pack up everything, and move it to a new base. Norm's packing the medical supplies and I've still got to rig the base generator to explode. And docs recording some kind of fake message to warn the RDA away from the lab. We could use some extra hands if you're offering."

Smiling Jake turned to Neytiri and spoke. "I won't ask you to stay if you don't want to. This will take some time. If you want you could go back to the hometree. I'll come back when the work is done here." Neytiri shook her head. "No jakesully. I will not risk loosing you again. If you stay I stay." Jake smiled and nodded gently cupping Neytiri's cheek before turning back to Trudy who had a slightly amused look on her face. "What?" Trudy shook her head. "Oh nothing. Just thinking get what took you 2 so long to get back. Anyways if you want to help then why don't you help norm bring things to the Simon." Jake nodded and led Neytiri to the norm who had stacked several boxes along the walls of the medical room. As they walked in Norm spoke without even turning. "So decided to help huh. Doc says we can't take much from the base. So I've packed the scanners, any food, and water, and basic medical supplies. I need you to take these crates and load them onto the Simon. Think you can do that in that new body of your's?" Jake rolled his eyes and heaved one of the boxes onto his shoulder. Next to him Neytiri shoulder a box and together they began packing the boxes into the Simon.

It was long work, each box had to be picked up, carried through the base out to the Simon, tied down with nylon rope, and then made sure that it wouldn't fall. As they packed the last of the crates, grace emerged from the lab and smiled at them. "Thanks for the help. I've found us a base. It's a bit far from here but it's closer to the hometree. So if we get in trouble we can call you." Walking down the hallway grace Jake and Neytiri were quickly joined by Norm, and Trudy. As they put on their breather masks Trudy spoke. "I rigged the base to blow in 16 minutes or so. Norm stashed your's and his avatars about 5 clicks west of here. When we get to the new base you'll have to bring them here. Ok?" grace nodded. And a moment later the doors hissed closed behind them. As they walked away from the base Jake nodded the loud metallic click that showed the doors had sealed behind them. As Jake climbed into the Simon he watched as Neytiri mounted her banshee and a moment later both Simon and banshee took to the air, in flight.

Jake watched envious of Neytiri as she flew along side them on her banshee. He knew in the back of his mind that with his avatar's death he would have to 'conquer' a new banshee. Jake shuddered at the thought of that. With the Simon it was a relatively short trip to the new base. Tucked away in a small canyon the base sat huddled half hidden by fallen rock, from the canyon walls. As the Simon touched down Jake watched as Neytiri dropped from her banshee and landed next to them. As they began unpacking Trudy made her way to the keypad lock and began punching in codes. And after several minutes the doors hissed open. Smiling she turned back to the group. "Ok folks doors are open and the activation signal has been disabled. We own the place." A short while later the everything was unpacked and Jake found himself in the hallways of the new base getting ready to leave. As the doors hissed closed behind him Jake stretched and looked to Neytiri who smiled at him.

It was a relatively short jaunt to the hometree. As Jake slowly moved amongst the na'vi he couldn't help but smile. Several na'vi had stopped and watched him move passed them. But as much as he wanted to he couldn't stay. He had to see Neytiri's parents and explain to them the situation. Pushing the vines that covered their home, Jake found Neytiri's parents sitting around a small fire. Jake smiled as he saw mo'at's look of surprise at seeing him alive and well. "Honorable patriarch, honorable tsahik there is much we must talk about." Behind him Jake felt Neytiri close the vine curtain obscuring the room from any and all eyes allowing them privacy.

MAIN HUMAN BASE

Colonel Miles Quaritch made his way through the crowded corridors of the base. Pushing open the large ornate oak doors to Selfridge's office. As he did so he was greeted by Selfridge who didn't look happy. Quaritch sighed and spoke. "Selfridge what the hell is going on? I was supposed to be out on patrol and now I'm here. Care to explain that to me?" Selfridge, slammed a small folder of papers onto his desk. "Jake sully is dead. And the base his group was stationed out of has been destroyed. I just got the news from the monitoring station. To be frank captain I don't care about what you want. Right now your orders are to gather a platoon of men and investigate the base." Quaritch sighed again. "Fine Selfridge all do it. But only because sully is one of my men. Not because you ordered me to

30 MINUTES LATER

Quaritch smiled slightly as they flew over the forest. Behind him he could hear the sounds of his men loading guns, putting on their breather masks and sealing them. turning to his troops he spoke. "men it would seem the na'vi have destroyed one of our bases. We're to look for survivors and if possible recover the stationed teams avatars. Try not to get yourselves killed! Ok?" the chorus of "SIR YES SIR!" met his ears. Grinning again Quaritch began to put on his own breather and a moment later stepped down the ramp onto pandorain soil. In front of him the destroyed base stuck out like a sore thumb. The base was blown apart Quaritch could see several large bits of metal imbedded in the ground all around the base. The base itself looked like a torn open box. And while it still resembled something like a base the walls had been twisted in such a way that it looked like something had gone in one wall and had jumped out of the base's roof taking a sizable chunk with it.

As his men began sifting through the ruble Quaritch felt the hairs on his neck prickle. Something wasn't right. But he was torn from his thoughts by one of his engineers speaking to him. "sir. It looks like the base's generator overloaded. Blow the shit out of the base, and most likely destroyed everyone inside. I don't think we'll find any bodies. Might be able to recover some of the data from some of the computers. But there's not much left." Nodding Quaritch gazed out over the ruble. He had been about to turn away when something shiny caught his eye. A small holo disk lay half sticking out from under an overturned heat resistant box. Picking up the disk Quaritch pushed a small button in the front and dropped the devise. A moment later the devise sputtered to like creating a 3D image of doctor Augustine blossomed up from the ground. As his men gathered around to listen the hologram began to speak.

"Quaritch. I can only guess they'd send you to check on us when our signal went down. we've had a bio containment breach. Something began to infect Jake and then a short while later norm. as far as I can tell this virus is unlike anything anyone has ever seen. Symptoms of infection include, weakness of joints, exhaustion, blurred vision, discharges of blood from the eyes and nose, dizziness and eventually death. it would seem even our avatar's can be infected. Jake's began to show the first signs of infection. So we quarantined it having as little contact as possible. It didn't work and now everyone here is infected. I've rigged the base to blow in 15 minutes. It seems heat is the only way to kill this virus. If you're watching this it means the base has been destroyed. But don't think that means all of the virus has been killed. It's very possible that by now any or all of your men including you have been infected. If you go back to the base you need to be put under quarantine. I'm sorry this happened."

As the hologram faded Quaritch could hear the unrest and nervousness in his troops and they turned to him for orders. In back of his mind he knew the doctor's words could hold a very real death sentence to him. But he was also very used to his gut being right and right now his gut was telling him something wasn't right here. Turning to his men Quaritch spoke. "Well what are you pansies looking at?! Get back to work! Techs get as much data recovered as you can, john I want to know exactly what cause the generator to overload. NOW!! As the crowd around him to dissolve Quaritch found himself walking around the perimeter of the camp. As he walked passed where the main door had been something caught his eyes. The area of the mountains was well known for its constant fog. As such the ground was always in a semi-muddy state. What caught Quaritch's eye were 4 sets of parallel impressions on the ground. He recognized the impressions; he could do so in his sleep. They were the impressions of Simon landing gear. A Simon had landed on this spot and judging from the impressions had been there for some time. Maybe 2 or 3 days. Straightening up Quaritch called his captain over.

"Captain have you found any signs of or parts of a Simon?" the captain shook his head. "no colonel. Why?" Quaritch gestured to the impressions on the ground. "If the base was blown up it's possible the Simon was blow away by the shock wave. Captain I want your men to search this mountain. Find that Simon." As the captain ran of Quaritch heard someone call his name, and making his way over through the debris, he found a tech with a laptop. "Colonel I think I've recovered some of the damaged date from the base security system." Nodding Quaritch watched as the tech punched in a few commands into the laptop. The screen flickered and a moment later an audio recording began to play.

"Why not just tell them the truth?" "Nope. They'd kill Jake again and try to see if he would come back again. Not only that but they would do all they could to figure out how he came back. Not only that but they'd tear apart the forest to find out how. No we can't let them know Jake's alive. In fact I think we all have to disappear. Trudy can you rig the base power supply to blow up?"

The tech looked up at him. "Sir I think some of the data is still missing I'll call you over when we recover more data. I just thought I should update you." Quaritch nodded and straightened up. "So there had been no outbreak. It had all been a plan to disappear. Grinding his teeth Quaritch ordered all his man back to their transports and a moment later they were in the air, heading back to the main base. As the transport flew Quaritch's mind went through dozen ideas on how to find Jake and everyone else. But as they landed a grin crept up over his face. He had just the plan.

JAKE'S POV

Jake sighed as he finished he story. In front of him Neytiri's parent sat deep in thought. Next to him Neytiri sat watching her parents, waiting for there reaction to the tail. Of course Jake had left parts out. Mainly what had happened between the 2 of them by the lake. By law Jake cold be killed for mating with her when she was already to be mated to another. After a long while Eytukan stood up. "That is a very interesting tale jakesully." Jake nodded. "It's the truth." Eytukan nodded. "Yes it would seem so. Ewya is telling me that you are not lying but one problem does come up with your new body. How do we explain it to the others?" Jake smiled. "I've been thinking about that myself. They don't know much about sky people. We could say this body is for my upcoming acceptance into your tribe." Eytukan nodded. "Yes I believe that will be fine. Neytiri tomorrow you and jakesully will go to the mountains and he will gain another banshee. Only you 2 are to go, be sure no one follows you. We must keep this secret. Understand?" Jake and Neytiri nodded and left the room.

Walking through the hometree Jake began to notice the eyes of several females following them. As he passed by a group of the girls from before he could hear them gasping and swooning over his new form. Next to him Jake felt Neytiri stiffen as they walked passed. As they turned a corner Jake spoke. "you really don't like them noticing me do you?" Neytiri nodded. "Yes. You're my mate not there." Jake sighed. "yes but they don't know that. And we can't tell them. But yet anyways." Stopping them Jake put his hands on Neytiri's shoulders. "Don't worry Neytiri. In a month I'll be one your clan, and then we can tell every one of our actions." Neytiri opened her mouth the speak. She had to tell Jake. She had to tell him about her arranged marriage to Tsu'Tey. But she found she couldn't not while those heavenly yellow eyes gazed at her with love and concern. So it was with a pang of guilt that she nodded, and smiled weakly at him. "Alright jakesully. I'll try to not let it bother me. But you must also work. You cannot simply deny every females attention. You must act as though you are still unmated." Jake smiled. "Ok. Don't worry."

Neytiri smiled and for a moment and then her's and Jake's lips touched. But it was only for a moment and then they were walking again. As the sun began to set, Jake and Neytiri climbed into their hammocks. As the lights began to dim around them Jake moved so his arm hung off his hammock and towards Neytiri. Jake smiled as he felt Neytiri's hand touch his. They weren't holding hand, but they were close enough so that their hands touched. Jake closed his eyes sighing with content. He was happy. Right now despite everything that had happened her was happy.

AN:) OK FOLKS. I HOPE YOU LIKE THIS CHAPTER. I'M SORY IT'S SHORTER THAN THE OTHERS.

WELL I THINK THAT STORY IS PROGRESSING NICELY. I HOPE THE READERS THINK SO TOO. NEXT CHAPTER MIGHT TAKE ME A WHILE TO DO. I CANT SEEM TO INSTALL MICROSOFT OFFICE2007 ON MY LAPTOP. VERY ANNOYING.

IN THE NEXT CHAPTER WE'RE GOING TO BE SEEING A BIT MORE FROM JAKE'S PAST. PLUS WE GET TO SEE WHAT THE COLONEL IS PLANNING. I WOULD LIKE TO REMIND EVERYONE THAT THIS IS AN 'AU' STORY.

I HOPE I'M MAKING MY READERS HAPPY, WITH THIS STORY.