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. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.

Chapter 8: New hope

He looked in the mirror and saw a drooping face with a beard. His hairline had receded to about halfway his head. To compensate, he had let the remaining gray and thin hair on his head grow wild. Now, he attempted to imagine what he would look like in his Avatar. His hair would be black again and his head would be full of it. Overall, his appearance would change quite drastically. He still couldn't entirely wrap his mind around the fact that this was even possible. Even more amazing was the fact that it would be possible for him, a simple engineer, who hadn't met any of the qualifications that were normally required to get an Avatar.

Obviously, the RDA had never approved of the creation of this Avatar. They were never even aware of its creation anyway. The scientist Gerald Hamilton, John's friend, was the one who managed to independently create a usable embryo for the first time. He had succeeded with this breakthrough during the last few turbulent days of the RDA on Pandora. The lax internal security at Hell's Gate as a result of the threat of an outside attack, had allowed him to take whatever tools and resources he needed for the experiment. It also helped that he had made several influential friends among the scientists there. When it became clear that he had to leave the main base, he packed up everything that he could bring along. In the chaos outside, he stole a buggy with a small trailer and got away with equipment and supplies worth millions of dollars.

Once the RDA had been expelled and peace had resumed, Gerald showed to John what he had achieved. This development impressed John very much. Then, Gerald agreed to try to make another embryo using John's DNA, something which eventually succeeded. In the storage area of the outpost they recovered several used maturation tanks as well as a supply of still usable amnio fluid. Together, they managed the maturation process. Gerald did the biological part, while John did the technical part. All went well for a few years, until Gerald's health began to deteriorate. To ensure that his work wouldn't be all for nothing, he taught John the basics of maintaining the growth process and explained to him what he needed to do once his Avatar was complete. Feeling that his end was approaching, he desperately attempted a final experiment, while John was sleeping. Gerald tampered with his link unit so that the link between him and his own Avatar would be more permanent, or so he believed. When he attempted to link with the still incomplete body, something went horribly wrong, which resulted in a brain aneurysm that killed him. His Avatar died during this event as well. Thus, he left John with quite a mess to clean up. Luckily for John, this event did not damage his Avatar in any way.

As he exited the building and locked the door to begin his daily routine, he heard something unusual. It seemed to come from the side of the building. Carefully, he peeked around the corner of the wall. He was bewildered to find that a female Na'vi was sitting on the ground with her back against the wall, apparently sobbing. She didn't notice him until he fully revealed himself. John wasn't as afraid anymore of the Na'vi as he used to be. The encounter that had taken place two months ago had changed this. Now, he couldn't help but wonder what she was doing here. Suddenly, he realized that she was the same one, who had come to him before. Ney'ite tried, but failed to hide the fact that she had been crying for some time. While she had been sitting out here, all by herself, waiting for him to come out, she had been unable to contain her emotions any longer. She now stood up and faced John, who still had a bewildered look on his face.

Without hesitation, she asked him if he knew the locations of all the former RDA settlements in this area. John figured that this was his chance to earn some trust of the Na'vi, and so he revealed what he knew. He was familiar with about six locations, including Hell's Gate and this outpost. When he carefully asked why she wanted to know this information, she confessed that she needed to find her brother. John assumed that this had been the reason for her crying. To show his sympathy, he asked her what had happened to him. This question prompted Ney'ite to tell the whole story. The group consisting of the reanimated human corpses and the metal creatures had attacked their village. Many Na'vi warriors had been killed, and the elders and the children had been captured. She then described what her brother had foolishly gotten himself into.

The story left John speechless for a few moments. Ney'ite expressed to him that she believed her brother had been taken to one of the RDA facilities, which was why she needed to know where they were located. But John still couldn't make sense of these mysterious intruders. He deemed it highly likely they were sent by the RDA to reclaim their lost properties, though he still couldn't make a final judgement as to whom or what they actually were. Ney'ite then proclaimed that she was going to the nearest base and that he was coming with her. However, John wasn't as pleased about this as she had hoped. He tried to explain to her that he wasn't a warrior and didn't stand a chance against the intruders out there in the jungle. Ney'ite simply refuted his claims by stating that she would protect him no matter what. John had no doubt about her abilities; it was just that he didn't see why she needed him to come along. He pointed out that he could just explain how to get to the facilities, while she would go on her own, or with the help from her friends.

Ney'ite started to get a little irritated by his constant lamenting about what he couldn't do. She gave him a menacing look that made him reconsider. Considering what she had been through, the least he could do was to come with her, so that he could provide her with useful details and information. In other words she, needed his help to devise a plan to rescue her brother from behind a presumably tight security perimeter, as he knew much more about human technology than she did. With some reluctance, John finally agreed with her. But then he realized that there was a much quicker way to find her brother. Instead of travelling to each of the facilities separately, they could use the facility at Pearl sector to remotely monitor the other facilities. This facility was relatively small and poorly equipped compared to the others, and so John deemed it unlikely that the intruders would have made it their headquarters. If they spotted the craft, which had taken her brother, on one of the surveillance feeds viewable at this facility, the corresponding base would be the most likely place that he'd be. That was, of course, assuming that the surveillance system were still in operational condition. But even if they did find the location of the craft, John found it unlikely that her brother would still be there, or that he would even be alive for that matter. That wasn't something Ney'ite wanted to hear, however. Nothing was confirmed at this time. He had given her new hope for now. That was the one thing she currently needed the most.

A few minutes later, John was ready to go with her. He had gone inside to get a map to the Pearl sector. Ney'ite would ride her Direhorse towards the location. He, however, would have his own ride. The old buggy that Gerald had once taken was still drivable. Hopefully, the road would not be overgrown too much. But even if it was, this vehicle would still be able to traverse the jungle, albeit a little slower. He would go ahead, while she would be closely following him. If he encountered anything hostile en route, be it one of the intruders or a hostile indigenous creature, John would evade, and Ney'ite would engage the threat.

Luckily, it didn't have to come to that. Aside from a few Viperwolves that had only looked up as they passed by, there hadn't been any problems. John slowed down and stopped in front of the building. It was largely overgrown, but otherwise it seemed to be in good condition. The outer door of the airlock was closed and all the windows were intact, which would mean that the pressure seal hadn't been breached. When Ney'ite approached him, he wanted to inform her that she couldn't go inside due to the different atmosphere, but then he suddenly realized that he didn't even know her name yet. After a brief exchange of names, he explained the situation to her. Ney'ite agreed to stay outside and stand guard. John would attempt to locate the craft himself. Even though she couldn't describe to him what the craft looked like, as she had never seen it herself, he nevertheless had an idea about what to search for. Considering that the RDA had been defeated, it would be unlikely that any assault ships or shuttles would have remained undamaged. That would mean that he was either looking for a damaged, but still operational craft that had already been Pandora, or a new craft, which had arrived at a later time. In any case, he also needed to verify if the craft was located at either an occupied base, or a deserted one.

He closed the outer door of the airlock and initiated the air exchange. It seemed to be still working. Carefully, he removed his mask to check if it was safe. The air smelled a little musty, but otherwise it was okay. Now, he opened the inner door and stepped into the darkened room. There were about half a dozen terminals. Across the room there were several large screens attached to the wall. But all the screens were blank; nothing was powered on. As an engineer, he had familiarised himself with quite a few electrical layouts of the RDA facilities. It wasn't a problem for him to locate the emergency power switch for the interior systems and turn it back on. For a moment, he wasn't sure if anything was even going to happen. The functioning airlock didn't really prove anything, as it operated on a separate system altogether. For all he knew, the subsystem could be fried, but that theory was proved to be wrong. The terminals started booting up and the screens on the wall began displaying a blue background image, indicating they didn't receive a signal. However, it took some time for the surveillance system to fully restart.

Several moments later, the screens were each divided graphically into twelve smaller screens, with each section displaying its own video feed. With this capacity to display forty-eight feeds at once, it took a while for John to find what he was looking for. A few sections remained displaying a blue colour, indicating that either the camera's had been destroyed or the feeds had been interrupted. Also, some of the feeds featured an outside view that was obstructed by the ever expanding jungle. But one particular screen caught his attention. There was a lot of activity visible. Two men, or what appeared to be men, were carrying a large crate and disappeared out of view. John used one of the terminals to change the angle of the corresponding camera and what he saw next astonished him. There was almost no doubt about it. That had to be the craft they were searching for. He could now see the two men entering the cargo hold and disappearing into the darkness. They were not the only ones there however. Two other individuals were standing besides the entrance and appeared to be in discussion. John manipulated the terminal to let the camera zoom in. He could not believe his eyes. One of them fitted the description Ney'ite had given him of the intruders. But the other appeared to be a genuine human being. Although he now had an eye patch, John recognized the man as Mark Dodgson, his former superior, the man he had betrayed…