A/N: Ah it's time for another update ladies and gentlemen. Again, thank you for the reviews and enthusiasm you have shown toward this story. I'm really glad you all are enjoying reading this story as it has been a pleasure to write. Your happiness gives me happiness, so without any more delays, here's Chapter 6. Enjoy! Oh and who can find the 2001: A Space Odyssey reference? :3

Okay, small update. I looked at the layout, and noticed that the extra spaces I'd left in Word for the transitions from Points of View were not present here. Oops, well I've added in some horizontal lines to allow for easier transition markers :)

I hope to have the next chapter up soon, but it may be late since it's Mom's Day and all :)

Chapter 6: Dreams

It was after 1030 before Alejandra woke, more than two hours later than she intended, but there was thankfully not much happening on today's duty roster other than the continued braking maneuvers the Dark Star was making to achieve a successful Pandoran orbit. In three days, they would enter the Alpha Centauri system.

When the Dark Star arrived, they would execute a slingshot-braking maneuver around the star Alpha Centauri C. This maneuver would take the ship around the star and angle the ship on a trajectory toward Pandora. It would take an additional three days before they reached the world of Pandora though as they would have shed most of their velocity during the slingshot around Alpha Centauri C.

Alejandra slowly extracted herself out of bed and stretched. Her joints were stiff from sleep and she was in need of a shower. She stripped out of her underwear and headed for the small shower at the far end of the small cabin. Within ten minutes, she had bathed, cleaned her teeth, and was dressed in a clean uniform.

After she was finished, Alejandra left her cabin and headed for the mess hall for her usual cup of coffee and bowl of fruit. She preferred a light breakfast in lieu of a heavier meal in the mornings, saving either lunch or dinner for her heavier meal during the day.

After finishing breakfast, she headed for the CIC, which was abuzz with activity as the officers completed their tasks with efficiency and pride. The same officer she spoke with earlier this morning was still in command and saluted her as she stepped into the room. Alejandra re turned the salute and relieved him of his duty before assuming the watch.

A few moments later, she was joined by her XO who walked right up to her. "Good morning Captain," he said using her honorific in front of the crew. "I trust things went well last night."

Nodding, Alejandra smiled. "It went better than I believed it would, but I fear this is only beginning of our troubles Commander."

"Did you reach an agreement with Sully?"

She stood and walked over to the ship's master systems display, which had the previous night displayed Captain Renaldo, Nathan Andrews, and Administrator Selfridge when she had Darren summon them for the briefing regarding the current political situation on Pandora. "He agreed to allow me to send down a negotiator," she said rubbing her hand across the monitor.

"Does he know you're going to be the negotiator?"

Alejandra shook her head. "No, but he probably suspects."

"You know, if this plan of yours goes south, you'll be in his custody and there will be lit tle we can do that wouldn't result in your death as well as theirs," Darren retorted as he joined her at the monitor. On the screen, the Dark Star was displayed as a rotating wireframe model as data streamed across the screen, reporting the current status of the ship's various systems.

Alejandra nodded. "Yeah I know, but all negotiations have risk in them. It's just a matter of taking the right risks at the right time." The two stood in companionable silence for a moment before she turned to face Darren. "Would you mind watching things up here for a while? I've got some business to take care of."

"Sure Captain, no problem. Do you have anything that you want me to complete before your return," he asked calmly. "Or do you just want me to stand up like I usually do and look pretty?"

That statement drew a laugh out of her. "No," Alejandra began, "but I think you should ride the staff a bit more. They haven't been whistling enough while they work." She said it loud enough so the whole command staff could hear her. Of course it was all in jest, as they were a good crew. It was just necessary to ease tension with humor on occasion.

"Just admit Captain, I'm pretty and you know it," Darren added in his best sarcastic tone.

Alejandra just snorted. "Yeah, you're pretty annoying."

"Ooh burned," the on duty navigation officer said from across the room.

"Shut up Ensign," Darren yelled playfully before looking back at Alejandra. "Yeah we've got it up here." His face then turned serious, "Just remember that once you're down there, there's little we can do."

"I know," Alejandra said turning toward the CIC's main entrance. As she exited, she could hear Darren Fisher strike up a conversation with a certain attractive young Lieutenant Commander that worked at the Operations station.

Walking down the main corridor of the rotating Command Sector, Alejandra spotted the Bio Lab toward the bottom end of the rotating section. Inside, the lab housed a number pods filled with artificially maintained Na'vi amniotic fluid, and inside each pod floated the naked body of an avatar. On another side of the room was a small one avatar-decanting chamber. The remaining corners of the room held a series of gurneys where the decanted avatars would be parked and connected to an IV for nutrition and hydration. There were also five link chambers for the avatar drivers to operate their units.

However, she wasn't there to admire the floating blue bodies…no matter how attractive some of them were. Walking over to one of the female avatars, she peered into the tank and looked at its distinctly Hispanic face and features. In response, the avatar twitched as the pod sent an electric jolt through its umbilical cord and stimulated her muscles to prevent atrophy. Every time she saw her avatar, she got this weird feeling that she couldn't place. It was like she was looking at her body asleep and comfortable in its pod while she its dream.

She stared at the not-being for a moment longer as it periodically twitched and floated be fore her. Then, gathering enough strength to focus, Alejandra checked the unit's status to make sure that it was physically ready for use. "Just making sure you're a-okay," she said to the avatar as the pod's small screen displayed the avatar's vital signs. "Got a feeling that you and me are going to spending a lot of time together in the near future," Alejandra continued as she finished reading over the screen.

Alejandra knew that talking to her avatar was really a waste of time. However, being stuck on a ship that had a livable space about the size of a high school gymnasium, which housed a little over twenty active staff members, was enough to drive anyone loony after a while. After she finished her task, she gave her avatar one more look and left the Bio Lab and headed toward the middle section of the rotating command section.

As she neared the Dark Star's lateral axis, she felt herself begin to float free of the floor. There was no artificial gravity along this section of the ship since the middle sector of the command section barely moved in relation to the module's spin. The spin itself did not generate gravity, just centrifugal and centripetal force to keep you on your feet. These forces were strong est at the ends of the section and weakest at the center. The variable gravity was enough to make anyone sick to their stomach; hence the barf bags positioned inside cleanup kits along the walls.

Opening a round airlock, Alejandra pulled herself horizontally into the midline of the ship. Using handgrips, she floated along one side of the wall until she reached the Cryo Bay One and entered through the entrance above her. Inside, she saw a couple of techs floating about as they checked the status of the inhabitants lying dormant inside each of their own little refrigeration units. On her way to the nearest tech, she didn't even pay attention as she passed an empty unit labeled A. Chacon before passing yet another empty pod labeled R. Matthews. The tech, a man named Wallace Petrovsky, looked at her as she floated up to him. "Need something Captain," he asked as she braced herself against one of the pods.

"Yeah Wally," she acknowledged using his nickname, "I need you to wake up a couple of the Valkyrie pilots. I don't know if you heard, but I'm taking a little vacation down to the nine levels of Hell in a few days and I need somebody to ferry my happy ass down there."

Wally only smiled and shook his head. "How soon do you need them?"

"We'll be arriving at Pandora six days from now, so at least by tomorrow," she answered. "I need to meet with them and bring them up to speed on how things are going to progress."

Wally nodded and added a note on his tablet. "Sure thing Captain, I'll let you know as soon as their defrosted."

"Thanks," Alejandra replied as she turned to head back toward the midline. "Now I've just got to requisition the supplies I'm going to take with us on the little pleasure cruise."

Wally waved at her as she pulled herself out of the room and into the ship's lateral spine.

Jake awoke to find Neytiri already up and staring at Mo'at's painting on the bunkhouse's floor. Speak only to your mate and NormSpellman about this; he heard Mo'at's say in his mind again. He intended to speak with Neytiri about this, but he believed that Norm would be a better person to try first.

But how am I going to approach this with him without sounding like an idiot, he asked himself.

"Good morning my Jhake," Neytiri said looking away from the painting and moving to sit next to him on the bunk. She noticed the preoccupation in his face. "What troubles you my Jhake," she asked wrapping her arm around him.

Jake met her gaze. He couldn't lie to her, she'd see right through it. "I'm just thinking about what Mo'at said to me last night," he said trying to look cheerful.

"She talk about that," Neytiri asked pointing to the painting on the floor in a level of bro ken English that would make any grammar teacher cringe, but he just found it cute.

"Yeah, something like that," replied Jake before kissing her gently. Since his transformation from human to Na'vi, the two had been very intimate with each other; something he hoped didn't fade with time. "It's something to do with the tawtute ship…at least I think it does," he elaborated as he moved some of her dark hair behind her ears so it wouldn't hide her too beautiful face from him.

Neytiri smiled in response to his attention, and then concern returned to her face. "What did Mother say to you?"

Jake bit down on his lower lip as he recalled the legend. "She said that long ago during the time of the first People, someone told of a warrior summoning something called the Txon Tanhì, Night Star, and it would usher in a New Dawn from the Gray Jewel in the Sky.

"She thinks that the tawtute ship, which is named the Dark Star, could be this Txon Tanhì."

"Maybe the answer isn't the tawtute ship my Jhake," Neytiri said studying the painting. Specifically, she was studying the Gray Jewel. "Maybe you should look to the Jewel for your answers."

Jake considered it for a moment. "Summon the New Dawn from the Gray Jewel in the Sky, eh," Jake speculated. "I was considering speaking with Norm about this legend. Maybe the RDA's equipment could help out there."

Neytiri stood and gathered her bow and arrows and her hunting knives. "I will speak to Mother about the Txon Tanhì; you speak to NormSpellman about the tawtute ship and the Gray Jewel."

After she had her equipment she walked back to Jake and embraced him. "I see you, my Jhake," she said holding him tight.

"I see you my Neytiri."

They held each other for a long moment before Neytiri let go and left to see Mo'at. Jake looked after her for a moment and then left the bunkhouse as well. He headed for the Administration building where Norm would most likely be. He would use the avatar showers to bathe himself and then he would seek Norm out and ask him about using the Hawking Space Telescope to look over the nearest moon for anything that might shine any light on the New Dawn.

After he spoke with the scientist, he would probably have to head for the Control Room as it would most likely be nearing noon.

Alejandra looked her wrist chronometer as she floated down the docking umbilical where Valkyrie One-Six resided. It read 15:47, which gave her a little over an hour to finish up before contacting Sully. So far she had had a busy morning and afternoon. After leaving Cryo Bay One, she had requisitioned several months' worth of food and medicine that would be loaded into Valkyrie One-Six. From there she had looked over a small problem from one of her engineers, which they concluded could wait till they were in orbit around Pandora. The engineers could then go EVA and repair a damaged short range COMM device known as the Alpha Echo Thirty five Unit.

After leaving the engineer, she headed for Valkyrie One-Six. Once inside, she powered the craft up and ran several diagnostics and integrity checks to ensure the shuttle would be ready for leaving the Dark Star in a few days.

During the long diagnostic process, she had accidentally drifted off to sleep in the pilot's chair of the Valkyrie. While asleep, she had dreamed a peculiar dream.

In the dream, she found herself walking down a street in one of Earth's many mega-cities. It was a clear night and people were going about their business while brightly lit advertiscreens displayed the latest and greatest of various products offered by the many corporations on Earth, Luna, and Mars. However, a moment later the familiarity shifted to something more frightening. Alejandra had rounded a bend and began down another block of the city, except there were no lights and no people. She looked behind her, but everyone was gone and the bright lights behind her were gone as well. She looked up and the buildings were crumbling and looked to have been neglected for centuries. The sky was a dark brown as black clouds floated over the long dead city.

The dream shifted again, and she found herself at Hell's Gate on Pandora, but like the city before it was long abandoned. The sky here was also brown with black clouds. The only light and color was coming dimly from what little of the gas giant Polyphemus she could see through the thick cloud cover. In her dream both Earth and Pandora were dead.

The dream shifted once more, and she found herself on a lunar surface. She could see the dead world of Pandora before her with the bright blue of Polyphemus as a back drop. She reached out her hand and realized that she wasn't wearing a space suit. She panicked. However, she was calmed by a familiar voice. Relax, the voice said in her mind. Alejandra looked around to see where the voice was coming from, and discovered a figure in the distance. Instinctively, she ran toward it.

As she neared the figure, it resolved into her avatar. "Follow me," it said in her voice. No it wasn't her voice, it was Trudy's voice. She followed the Trudy-avatar figure toward a crater in the distance. When they reached the edge of the crater, the Trudy-avatar pointed down to center of the crater.

Alejandra peered down and saw…

That was all she could remember of the dream. Before she could see whatever it was at the bottom of the crater, the Valkyrie's computer beeped, signaling the successful completion of its diagnostic test, and waking her in the same instant.

As Alejandra entered the command module, she couldn't shake the eerie feeling she had awoken with on the Valkyrie. However, she would have to compartmentalize it for another time when she didn't have the RDA, Na'vi, and the weight of commanding billions of dollars in tax payer money on her shoulders.

Jake was so glad to have taken that hot shower. He felt so much better than he had when he first woke up this morning. Normally, he and Neytiri bathed in a river or lake together, and usually turned into more than just bath time, which didn't bother him at all.

Norm was in the control room, hovering over the holo projector. It was currently dis playing the current weather patterns near Hell's Gate. He was overlaying the image with advanced weather models to see what to expect for the next few days when he looked up at Jake. "Hey Jake, need something," he asked pushing away from the table.

"Yeah Norm, I could use a favor if you have time." Jake walked over to the table to join Norm.

Norm could tell that his friend had something on his mind. "What's up?"

Jake was silent for a moment then began. "You remember last night when Mo'at called me into the bunkhouse," he asked.

Norm nodded. "Yeah and you were acting strangely after she left. Is this about what you two talked about?"

"Yeah, you could say that. She told me about an ancient Na'vi legend about something called the Txon Tanhì."

Scratching his chin, Norm looked down. "Well Txon Tanhì literally means Night Star when you translate it to English, but what's…oh the Dark Star."

"Right Norm, she said that in a time of need, a warrior would summon the Night Star. Then this Night Star would shine brighter than any other star and bring forth the New Dawn from the moon, she called it the Gray Jewel in the Sky," Jake said reciting the legend to Norm. However, he left out most of the Na'vi words in lieu of English with his friend. "Does this make any sense to you?"

Norm mumbled the legend again to himself. "I don't know Jake. I fail to see how a star ship has any connection with the moon. The shining part could mean that the Dark Star's matter/antimatter containment system failed, which would destroy the ship in a violent explosion, or perhaps they nuke the moon for some strange reason," he speculated.

Jake shrugged, "Yeah I don't have a clue either, but Neytiri suggested maybe the answer is on the moon and not the ship."

"There's one problem though, Jake," Norm interjected. "We can't get to the moon with the equipment we have here."

Jake shook his head in agreement. "No, but we can look at with the Hawking Space Telescope."

Norm smiled as he considered it for a moment. "Yeah we could us the telescope. We could get some pretty high-res images of the moon, but it'd take days to complete. Then there's the fact that the telescope is in orbit of Pandora, and the moon's tidally locked to us. We'd only be able to see the day side of the moon from orbit." Norm brought up a model of Pandora and the moon. He then displayed the Hawking Space Telescope's current position. "I'd have to wait till she comes around to this side of Pandora before initiating the scan," he said keying in the commands to display when the satellite would be overhead.

"Well, that's better than nothing," Jake replied. "How soon can you get on it?"

Norm pursed his lips before replying. "It'll take about three hours for the satellite to come into range for lunar observation, but I could begin sending it instructions anytime. I'll just have to head down to Stellar Cartography in the Science Wing."

"Thanks Norm, I owe you," Jake answered.

"Nah, it'll give me something to do since I can't go out and collect cell samples with my avatar down and all," replied Norm smiling as he reached for his tablet. "Hey Jake will you be up here for a little while?"

"Yeah, I've got to speak with Dark Star in a few minutes. Why, do you need something," Jake asked.

"If you don't mind, Max might come up here in a bit, and I bet he'll want to know where I am. Just tell I'm in Stellar if you don't mind," Norm replied as he gathered the last of his things.

Jake nodded as he turned toward the office, "Yeah Norm, be more than glad to."

"Thanks Jake," Norm said as he left the control room.

Seating himself in front of the computer terminal as he had the evening before, Jake waited impatiently until the computer chimed in that it was receiving a superluminal COMM burst from the ISV Dark Star. Here we go again, he thought as he tapped the Accept button on the terminal's screen.