Soldiers of Fortune
"Echoes from the Past"
It was lunch time when it happened, when everything changed. Most of everyone was in mess hall eating their food. It only took one person to look out the window to see what was going on. One of the Valkyries had just landed on the tarmac and the other was already making it way into the atmosphere. This would not have been usual and everyone would usually be going about their daily routine except nearly everyone stopped what they were doing to watch the belly of the giant shuttle being unloaded. They watched gunship after gunship being unloaded. Along with AMP suits and large crates which they could see marked explosive on the sides.
"What the hell's going on?" asked Price to anyone who would listen nearby.
"That isn't a resupply," said Leon stomping away from the window.
The other's tried to call him back but he was too full of rage to hear anything they said. Most of them went back to looking out the window as they continued to watch the unloading of war machines.
Everything was going through his mind as he continued to storm his way through the structures of metal. He pushed his way everyone and shoved past people who weren't quick enough to get out of his way. His feet finally found the door he was looking for. He could hear voices on the other side.
"Major what the hell is going on?" asked Leon bursting through the door. The occupants of the room stopped their conversation and looked to the door to see the Corporal standing there.
"Have you lost your mind son?" asked Major Cobb standing behind his desk. The other officers in the room quickly got over their shock and were now glaring at the enlisted soldier.
"Have you lost your goddam mind? You got five times as much munitions out there than you did when I got here," said Leon.
"Corporate requested that we increase security measures," said Cobb.
"Don't give me that load of crap," said Leon.
"Taylor I think you need to go to the infirmary to get your head checked," said one of the other officers but Leon didn't take his eyes off of the Major.
"That's enough," said Cobb silencing his subordinates. "Corporal, return to your post."
"With all due respect sir-." began Leon.
"You should who's toes you're stepping on," said Cobb. "You were hired for a job. Do it."
-
Leon sat in the corner of the school with his arms crossed against his chest. He continued to stare down at the ground not paying any attention to anyone around him. He began to mull over things.
They were really going to do this. This wasn't just about defending themselves any more. They wanted to take action. This is just like how the corporation back on Earth took care of protestors. They slaughtered everyone and called it self-defense.
-
Where there were once trees now stood fields of tall grass. But the grass wasn't green, it was yellow and dead. The ground was hard and looked as if all the nutrients had been used up in the soil. Leon could still smell the faint scent of pesticides.
"Where are they headed Leon?" asked his company commander.
"They headed West," said Leon. "They're somewhere in the brush."
The commander looked up and inspected the yellow grass and which way the winds were blowing. He grinned at the dead grass.
"Pop flares," said the commander.
Leon jumped to his feet. "Sir if those flares land in the grass…"
"Accidents happen," said the commander. "Besides, they had their chance. A chance that the soldiers they killed didn't." The commander looked to his men who all began to grin at him. "Keep em close to the ground."
"Sir they were just protesting to keep this area free from development," said Leon but it was already too late as he watched a number of soldiers fire off flares into the air. The sky turned red.
"Two birds with one stone," said the commander. "Conserve your ammo. Lead's expensive and we don't want to waste taxpayer money."
Leon could only watch as the dead grass and chemicals from the pesticides quickly caught fire and turned into a raging inferno. Everything burned past recognition, no bodies were ever recovered from the blaze. Reports came in that the blaze was an accident caused by soldiers under distress from the hostile environmentalists that still plagued parts of South America.
-
"Something troubles you," said someone in his ear nearly causing him to fall from his perch on the windowsill.
He looked up to find a na'vi with a familiar likeness that he couldn't quite put a finger on. "I am just thinking about something," said Leon watching the na'vi sit on the same window sill except her feet easily reached the floor while his dangled in the air. He must have realized that he was staring far too long because he returned to staring at the ground.
"My sister talks a great deal about you," said the na'vi.
"Your sister?" asked Leon who looked to the other students in the class.
The class was still playing their game. Grace put her hands on her eyes covering them with the tips of her fingers.
"Eyes," the entire class yelled out in unison and covered their eyes as well. He spotted a young na'vi at the head of the class who caught his gaze. She glanced over to him when they all lowered their hands and smiled at him before returning her attention back to Grace and the game.
"Your sister is Neytiri?" asked Leon.
The na'vi nodded her head. "I am Slywanin."
"She is a fast learner," said Leon.
Slywanin nodded her head in agreement. "I always see you and she together. Why?"
Leon looked at her for a moment as if asking the question himself. "She reminds me of someone."
"Some one from your home?" asked Slywanin.
"Well sort of," said Leon rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
"What do you mean?" asked Slywanin looking at him curiously.
"Well…" Leon thought for a moment, trying to find the right words to explain it to her. He opened and closed his mouth several times before he finally started. He figured it was probably best to start at the beginning. "Back on Earth I had a wife, her name was Elena. At first I loved her, or at least I thought I did. We were together. Happy. But then we quickly grew distant, both physically and mentally. I am a soldier, a warrior and we had to leave home to fight." Leon stopped himself and looked to Slywanin to see if she understood what he was saying. But continued to listen. If she was confused she certainly hid it very well. "We fought and argued a lot. And disagreed on many things. But then, I don't know exactly why, we decided to have a child. Her name is Erica. And we were happy for a little while but then things got worse and worse. Until we finally decided it couldn't go any further. We split up…"
"What happened to Erica?" asked the na'vi.
"She went to live with her mother, Elena."
"You miss her?"
Leon nodded his head.
"How old is she?" asked Slywanin.
Leon thought for a minute. "She's probably about seven or so now."
"You left when she was not even a child," said Slywanin. "She knew you?"
"No," said Leon. "I barely remember her face. I mean she looks different now…"
"Why did you come here if you miss her?" she asked.
"Back home we didn't have enough money. We were poor, just like everyone else. And when I was offered this chance at gaining money, I took it. I could have my Erica back. But its stupid. Why would she want to even live with me. Its not like she had a father to raise her in the first place." Leon couldn't hold back the tears any longer. He bent over and wept. Every emotion came pouring out at once.
Pandora was suppose to be this oasis that made everything better. It had wildlife, it had nature, it had money. It was suppose to make life better. It wasn't suppose to be like this.
A/N: Thanks for those of you who are still sticking with me through this story. I just bought the Avatar Blu-ray and I got inspired to continue to write more chapters for this story. As always please continue to review.