This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.
Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet.
Chapter 7: The arrow
Ney'ite got up and climbed down the tree as fast as she could. She snatched her bow and arrows and listened carefully. The howling noise seemed to come from just outside the village. She witnessed several warriors making their way towards the apparent battle and she didn't hesitate to join them. But first she needed to take a little detour. What use was becoming an Ikran Makto, if you weren't going use this skill in battle? Swiftly, she climbed towards the treetops where her Ikran was nested.
Marun was boiling with anger. He had never seen this attack coming. The Uvora clan hadn't encountered the enemy anymore since the battle at the RDA base. All this time, they had been preparing for another battle, but now they had been caught off guard. Apparently, the watchers positioned at the enemy's base had failed to bring back word of the approaching army. How this could have happened didn't matter to him right now. He only cared about regaining the advantage to save the village. Shouting, he commanded every warrior and hunter to engage the hostiles. Without wasting any more time, he too climbed towards his Ikran. The suddenness of this event wasn't the only reason for his anger. It was that horrible sound, which reminded him of the monster that had killed his warriors. He would do all that he could to avenge them.
MT-NET had finally made its comeback. The Type 150 tank had been attracting all attention to itself on purpose. It was all part of the plan. This way, the Na'vi, who were already caught off guard, would focus on this diversion. The real army would then attack the village from the opposite side. Because the new Type 1000 had taken care of the watchers, there was no way they would know about this. The system noticed that the leader of the clan had apparently taken the bait. This battle would be an easy victory. But even now, MT-NET wasn't going to take any unnecessary risks. Their leader had to be taken out to break the morale.
Unbeknownst to Marun, a certain machine was hiding itself in the treetops near the Ikran nest. It was hanging upside down from a tree branch and had wrapped itself in a rag. Patiently, it waited in this batlike stance, until it detected the target. Though Marun managed to spot the machine in time, he needed a few moments to adjust to what he was really seeing, and that allowed the Type 1000 to make the first move. In an instant, the machine launched itself from the branch and mauled the clan leader out of the tree. Marun landed on his back, but there was more needed than this to take him out. He retrieved his axe and roared at the unit, which was still high up. The Type 1000 growled back at him, producing a sound that went through bone and marrow.
The dark one was operating a minigun mounted on the back of the tank and had already killed a dozen Na'vi by the time Ney'ite was in the air. She directed her Ikran to dive towards the tank. At just the right moment, she fired an arrow at the chest of the humanoid machine. The force of the impact made it lose its balance and fall off. The resulting gap in the defence was quickly exploited by the remaining warriors on the ground. Wukan was bold enough to jump onto the back of the tank and climb the torso towards the sensory array. The two mounted machineguns on the sides, which the tank could operate itself, couldn't turn to this angle. He then buried an axe into one of the lenses. Wukan had naively presumed that these were its eyes, something that proved to be correct nonetheless. The Type 150 had thus been incapacitated. The dark one pulled the arrow out from between its ribs and had apparently suffered no serious damage. The machine then proceeded to make its way back to the minigun. Ney'ite, however, wasn't quite finished with the unit just yet.
The Type 1000 had climbed its way down to its target. Marun and the machine now stood face to face. He had his guard up, and waited for the monster to strike. But it didn't make a move; it just kept staring at him. That was when the clan leader realized another attack was taking place. Several tall, one armed, humanoid figures emerged from the jungle. After the first few, more and more kept popping up. There was seemingly no end to their numbers. They shot at everything that moved, but curiously, they all ignored Marun. Stunned by this development, he was unable to anticipate the monster leaping forward. Before he realized it, the Type 1000 had buried the claws of its left hand into his abdomen. He didn't struggle, because he realized that his time had come to go to Eywa. Even though the clan would most likely lose this battle, he didn't lose faith in the fact that one day this enemy would be defeated with the help of the other clans. The Uvora clan would continue to live on in one form or another. His last hope was that his son would be a much better Olo'eyktan than he ever was.
The machine finished him off by burying the claws of its right hand into his neck. The monster then proceeded to take the head and climb back up the tree with it. While holding it up in the air like a trophy, the unit roared victoriously. But this event didn't seem to have a visible effect on the remaining warriors. The ones that witnessed this event or noticed the missing commanding presence still knew what had to be done. Wukan was among those who desperately tried to stop the Type 400 ground soldiers. With a single spear to the neck, he managed to take out one of them. Their numbers however, were too overwhelming. The Uvora warriors were forced back.
Ney'ite once again directed her Ikran to dive towards the tank. This time however, she planned to snatch the minigun operator and let it fall from a considerable height. The dark one had almost made it back to its post, while Ney'ite began descending. Before she could evade, the machine fired a volley of bullets into the air. Her Ikran was hit badly, and could no longer keep flying. As it hit the ground, Ney'ite was thrown off and smacked her head against a tree log in the process. The impact caused her to lose consciousness.
MT-NET noticed that the amount of activity was dwindling. The battle was over. The new Type 400s, as well as the Type 1000 had done their job well. Even the new control subsystem had proved its worth. A month ago, MT-NET had chosen to create a few 'dumb' mainframes, instead of a few extra Type 400s. This way, it was only needed to send general commands that would then be translated into specific machine instructions by the mainframes. This hierarchy allowed MT-NET more processing time to make strategic moves when a battle had already started. There was, however, still the possibility for the system to take direct control of the units in case of an emergency. Now that this village was cleared, similar attacks like this one would be attempted on other settlements.
The remaining Na'vi that hadn't fled, been killed or hidden themselves, were rounded up and were prepared to be taken back to base to be studied. They consisted primarily of Na'vi who hadn't participated in the fighting; elders and children. The Tsahìk of the Uvora clan was among them too. Wukan and a few of his close friends had been driven deep into the jungle and wisely decided to stay there to regroup. The machines failed to notice that Ney'ite was still alive and so ignored her body. Out of eighty-seven Type 400s, twenty-three had been destroyed, which were acceptable losses. The wrecks would however, be taken back for spare parts. The Type 150, though heavily damaged, was planned to be repaired nonetheless.
When Ney'ite opened her eyes, it was morning already. She sat up and instantly felt dizzy, while her head also hurt. And then she recalled what had happened. In a hurry, she searched for her Ikran. What she found shocked her immensely. Not only was her Ikran dead, the rest of the village was wiped out as well. No matter where she looked, she didn't find anybody still alive. Anger, despair, sorrow, she didn't know what she was feeling, but she didn't let it out just yet. Until she found her brother among those who had fallen, there was still a little hope left.
About an hour had passed, when Ney'ite stopped looking. It was around that time that she met with several of Wukan's friends, who had returned to the village. Her brother, however, wasn't among them. She didn't like what they had to say about him. The group of warriors had earlier come across what they believed was a machine similar to those used by the Sky People to fly. Wukan, in his anger, had approached and boarded this craft, as he believed it would transport him to the heart of the enemy, so that he could strike there. The vehicle then closed up and lifted off, while Wukan was still inside. They were unable to keep up with its speed, and that was why they had lost track of it. Ney'ite noted that that was really something he would do, though she hated him for doing it without considering any consequences. She needed some way to find him, but she couldn't think of anything in her current state. It was simply too much to handle all at once.
The remaining Na'vi took their time to organize a proper burial ritual for their fallen family and comrades. During the preparations, it was learned from a child, who had hidden from the invaders, that a significant amount of the people had been taken captive. Once the emotional ritual had been completed, it was decided that they would go to the village in the north. The leader there, the son of Marun, would no doubt accept them, as they were still members of the same clan. From there, they could organize a rescue party. But when they had started the exodus, Ney'ite couldn't bring herself to join them. She still felt like she needed to get her brother, because leaving the village behind felt like leaving him behind as well. She rode her Direhorse towards familiar territories and finally stopped when she could look out over the quarry…
Once again my thanks go to the reviewers. Unfortunately, the next chapter has been delayed an unknown amount of time, so I want to ask for your patience.