Ya, so, I dunno if anyone could have guessed it, but I don't own Avatar.
Chapter 20: So It Begins
Date: May 2nd, 2170
Location: Mining Site Zero-Two, Pandora, Alpha Centauri A System
Parker was stretched out, oddly comfortable, in the spare seat of a Helltruck as it trundled from Tartarus to the unobtanium mine. Rather than mindlessly stare out of the windows, he was going over the reports from the last month so that he could build averages and expectations moving forwards.
It had been, thankfully, a slow month since the fleet had left. Their rusting barriers had slowed, though not stopped, the attacks by the local creatures. Though they had managed to convert over half the junkyard into their new, less than shiny spears and barbed wire, Weigand had requested that they leave it at that. The old man had pointed out that without an STG plant, the junkyard was their only source of additional sheet metal for repairs or any other crazy ideas that they managed to come up with.
Captain Jones had managed with what he had been allowed to use. Working with Kozlov, they had concentrated the sentry guns on the areas where the 'barriers' were the weakest, the end result being identified 'kill-zones' around each mining site. The road had been deemed critical enough that it had been fully barricaded along both sides. While there had been some very close calls during the construction phase, once finished, the barriers of metal and men had been able to hold.
That suited Parker just fine. He could now head to the mining sites to talk with his foreman and crews without needing a full AMP squad escort every time he hopped into one of the trucks, and those trucks no longer needed to move in convoys. This allowed for a far steadier flow of material between the base and the mining sites, in turn resulting in an increasingly large pile of unobtanium slowly accumulating within Tartarus.
Let's see... we're back to being on schedule, and Augustus thinks we might be able to pull ahead in the next two weeks, assuming the attacks don't pick up. He tapped the screen on his tablet lightly before scrolling down, marking several check boxes and generally acknowledging that had read and approved the report.
"Been a good month, hasn't it sir?" the driver spoke up, noticing him put down the screen and relax even further.
"It has," he agreed, "No blue monkeys sighted, mining is back on track, barriers are holding, morale is good even though the hunting trips have stopped."
"And we won that last game against the Germans." the driver pointed out, a broad grin on his face.
Parker grinned as well, "That too." Originally he had not cared about the football games that were scheduled every week, but he had taken a personal interest in his civilian team when he realized that it was a good way to get under both Weigand and Thomes' skin. They both took the games very seriously and he delighted in pointing out that his civilian miners had beaten both of their teams.
"Got Kozlov next week though," the driver grin faded into a slight frown, "The ruskies are the only other undefeated team."
"We'll win," he assured his subordinate, "and then it's an easy stomp against Jones after that."
That seemed to cheer the other man up a bit, and he waved goodbye cheerily when Parker hopped out after they reached the foreman's station.
Waving back, Parker headed towards the small prefab. A pair of the soldiers assigned to guard the area nodded to him as he passed, their eyes snapping back to the jungle as he moved on. Even from here, he could see several dark shapes, unmoving, in a nearby 'kill-zone'. A much larger shape, probably a Thanator, was sprawled out across a section of their barriers. Even from his distant view he could make out the blood that was staining the ground near the corpse.
Still not safe. But better at least. We haven't lost anyone in two weeks now, and the beasts must have realized they can't get us anymore. That, or Thomes' hunting plan worked. He shrugged mentally. Either way, we can get back to schedule now, and that's what's important here.
Entering the dull, rectangular building, he nodded to Augustus as he happily stripped off his mask. Tossing his tablet and paperwork onto a convenient counter, he settled down in front of the small holotable and began to work out how to best expand the mine over the next month while remaining within their perimeter.
The pair had been working for perhaps and hour when the sentry guns began to chatter in short bursts of harsh noise.
He ignored it, and so did his foreman. The sound of sentry weapons firing was nothing new to either of them. They went off every few hours as something stupid inevitably showed up. A few seconds later, however, the heavy thud-thud-thud of an AMP suit opening fire reached their ears.
That, he did notice. AMP pilots did not unload at anything for no reason. Feeling a shiver of fear run down his back, he immediately rose and moved over to the window.
"Can't see anything from here." he cursed, and turned instead to the holotable. Something had tried to enter what the table labeled 'Kill-zone-02-C'. The computer registered its thermal scan as a Na'vi, and a wounded one. The sentry guns had probably shot it as soon as it entered the clearing, and ceased fire when it stopped moving in a coherent fashion.
He saw several arrows wing out from the jungle and rebound off the AMP suit, which promptly opened fire once more. The computer was not having any luck in identifying targets in the jungle, the range and the, hopefully, low number of hostiles were working against the limited local sensor net.
Several of the local soldiers had rushed to that area, leaping into pre-dug fox holes. More arrows flew out as they did so, and the return fire quickly became a blanket of noise, even within the prefab.
Stabbing several buttons on the table, and willing his hands not to shake, he brought up communications, "Ops center! This is Administrator Selfridge, Mining Site zero-two is under attack by natives! Repeat, we're under attack!"
The communications officer did not waste time, "Affirmative sir, I'm sounding the alarm immediately. Redirecting the on-duty Samsons to your location now. Is your location secure?"
"I think so, yes." he was a little breathless as he watched a human id suddenly flash red, a small label stating 'KIA' appearing as an arrow imbedded itself in a fragile body. "We're in the mining control shack, there's at least one soldier and one Na'vi down so far."
"Affirmative Sir. Oberst Weigand has arrived, putting you through."
Her smooth voice was replaced by Weigand's germanic rasp, "Parker, this is Weigand. Stay at your location. I'm in touch with Kozlov and will handle the fight. Again, do not leave that prefab."
He cut the connection before Parker could respond. Glaring, and still struggling to keep control of himself, he resumed watching the battle.
Like the previous night engagement, the Na'vi were not getting close enough to be seen. Arrows were instead flying in from what he guessed to be long range. His attention instantly snapped to the sentry guns when their tiny icons blinked bright yellow, the computer pausing before updating their labels as 'Stand-by Mode'.
Panicking, he began to try and bring up the command and controls for the turret grid to override it when a pair of Samsons roared overhead, their agile shapes slewing into place near the now disable guns. Not pausing, they began to slowly glide towards the trees, door guns roaring at targets below.
"Oh." he said aloud, feeling a bit stupid. Weigand was right. I'm not at all cut out for fighting. Why the hell does this always happen to me? All I want to do is mine this shit, maybe save humanity, definitely save myself, get paid doing it all, and then go home dammit.
That the natives seemed to have a penchant for attacking when he was nearby was getting old to him. And worrying. Was this another attempt to kill him? He shuddered, Maybe I better have Augustus start heading to the base to talk to me, instead of the other way around.
The arrows ceased firing all at once, and the gunfire petered out shortly after as the soldiers lost the easy way to track their targets. Several tense minutes followed, before the AMP suit slowly began to move towards the injured blue-skin still laying within the kill-zone. One of the Samsons moved forwards slowly, covering the walker's advance. They reached the savage, the AMP seizing it in one hand before beginning to move cautiously back to the relative safety of the perimeter.
The two gunships moved out over the woods once the metal suit had returned, flying low and scanning the area. Another Samson roared down shortly after, rapidly offloaded numerous troops before the native was hoisted in. It was airborne again almost immediately, racing back towards Tartarus.
What felt like a lifetime to his too-fast beating heart, but what was only a mere fifteen minutes in real life, passed before an all clear was sounded. Kozlov strode through the airlock even as it sounded.
"What happened?" he asked the Russian, forcing himself to speak slowly, so as to prevent his voice from shaking.
"The moron who tripped the sentry gun looks like a kid. Or he's just short. We've got what looks like one more body in the jungle, and blood for a wounded one, maybe two." his accent, usually impeccable, was present now, "We lost one of our men, and another was injured. It seems hostilities have resumed. We've got another Samson en route to take you back to the Ops Center, the Oberst has called a full meeting of the staff."
Date: May 2nd, 2170
Location: Tartarus, Pandora, Alpha Centauri A System
"As I am sure you are all aware, there was an incident with the native population at our unobtanium mining site this morning. One of the attackers was wounded, and another killed. We had hoped to question the wounded one, but unfortunately he died en route to Tartarus." Weigand was addressing Parker, Thomes, and their various subordinates in the base's main conference room. "Our best guess, given what the native was equipped with and wearing, is that it was another scouting party sent to evaluate our defenses. More importantly, however, they did not bear the markings usually associated with the local tribe."
Sulfurous but quiet swearing greeted the last remark.
"They're calling in reinforcements, just like last time."he spoke up, already convinced, "They're going to attack again."
"Possibly." the Oberst nodded, "Thomes, anything to report?"
Irritation flashed across her face, "Nothing unusual, or I would have contacted you."
Weigand glanced at her, nodded, and then resumed, "At the moment, we assume it was a scouting party. Adler, I want the patrol schedule changed daily, no reason to make their recon work easy for them. Jones, Parker, make sure the defenses around the mining sites are secure. Kozlov, keep your men on their toes."
Parker frowned, "Are we ever going to go after them? Or is the plan to just sit on the defense?"
"Unfortunately, Administrator, we are in the unenviable situation of having several fixed locations to defend, without a solid airborne reserve. For now, we remain on the defense. That is not, however, to say that we will not be prepared to counterattack when needed. We'll keep Brunhilde on alert, along with our Samsons. If they attack us en masse, we can intercept them and thin the numbers with her heavy guns long before they arrive."
"As long as our entire plan isn't to sit back and defend." Parker said, feeling a little defensive as everyone stared at him. He had been trying to learn at least the basics of warfare, the terminology, simple tactics. Not that he wanted to fight, but because he was sick of not knowing exactly what was going on around him. "Do you think they'll actually launch a full scale assault like we saw at the Tree last time, or some kind of raid like we saw here?"
He shifted in his seat. Everyone was still staring at him. Thomes' eyebrows had vanished beneath her bangs and the military men looked surprise that he was the one asking the questions.
"If I was in their place, I would continue to scout until I had identified a major weakness, launch raids to distract and disperse us, and then launch a full assault against that point." The Oberst replied after taking a moment to consider. "Currently, our weak areas are the kill-zones around the mining sites. I don't like how few sentry guns are placed there, but we have no more to put into position, and given the size of the mining site, placing more soldiers runs the risk of them being surrounded and trapped should it come under heavy assault."
"So... would they retreat down the road then?" he asked.
"Yes." It was Kozlov who replied, "If there is a full-scale assault on either mining site, our response would be to immediately withdraw the mining teams back to Tartarus and fall back along the roads as rapidly as we can."
Parker frowned, "And abandon the mining equipment?"
"We're getting the heavy equipment in the next shipment, and the STG in the one after that." Thomes pointed out, "Easier to replace equipment than lives Parker."
"I know that," he scowled at her, "But if they attacked say, the unobtanium mine, couldn't we also withdraw the equipment from the gravel mine since it's closer? If we had the time? We could always abandon it en route."
It was Weigand's turn to frown, "If the time is present, and if the natives attack in that order, then yes, your miners could attempt to remove their equipment with them. But make no mistake, if it comes down to the crews or the equipment, the equipment is gone."
"I'm not arguing that, just trying to keep as much of our limited gear as we can. I know what's more important, but we need the lighter stuff for mining too, we can't just use the huge excavator for everything."
Weigand nodded to him before rising, "If that is all the questions, you have your orders."
Next up: Chapter 21: Unheard Prayers
And here's the start of Act III. Was originally going to be much longer with some philosophy and a bit about life on the base, but a combination of sudden writers-block and a realization that the events after this did not mesh well with the attack and the meeting (plus it would have been the longest chapter yet) caused me to remove it until 22.
Hope you're all still enjoying, glad to see the reviews as always, thanks guys, even if some of ya'll have different opinions : ).