Bet you couldn't guess that I don't own Avatar.
Chapter 27: Hail Caesar
- 4 days until projected Na'vi assault -
Date: May 23rd, 2170
Location: Hell's Gate, Pandora, Alpha Centauri A System
Hell's Gate still felt like home. Max knew he should be a little disturbed by that, the idea that the rotting corpse of the human output felt more like home than the camp he had lived for years... but instead it felt oddly.. comforting. It still had the feel of safety and familiarity, even as dilapidated and gutted as it was.
They had set up in their preferred location in the armory block, lunging in their cots after sealing the massive doors, and continued their debate.
"I still don't see how we can communicate with Eywa and get her, it, whatever, to believe us." Katrina stated, glaring halfheartedly at Norm.
"How else are we going to do it at this point though?" Norm pointed out, "The Na'vi are going to go along with what she decides, and the humans are both unable to retreat and unwilling to compromise beyond what they already offered."
He brought them full circle, "The humans can't leave, and won't offer anything more than they have. Talking to them won't get us anywhere. We need to talk to Eywa somehow."
Everyone sat in silence for a while.
"So... we need to talk to a tsahik, preferably." John spoke quietly, "Find a way to convince him or her to go to the Tree of Souls, link with Eywa, and get her to stop this."
More silence.
"More than that, the only tsahik that we know are Mo'at and Neytiri, and neither will probably want to talk to us, and Neytiri will definitely take part in the fight.." Norm pointed out, "Plus the problem of the Na'vi attacking us as soon as they see us coming."
"So," Katrina continued the thought, "The only way we can even try to talk to Mo'at, who may not want to talk with us at all, is after the war-band leaves."
"That's not much of a window," he mused aloud, "Two days, maybe, to convince her, get her to the Tree of Souls, and convince Eywa to stop the attack which will probably have begun by then."
He sighed and laid fully back into his cot as everyone frowned at that. He continued speaking as he stared at the dark ceiling, "Realistically, even if we're able to convince Mo'at to help stop the fighting, and get her to the Tree of Souls, and convince Eywa to stop the attack, it won't be until well after the Na'vi assault has begun."
Norm grimaced, "And given the numbers involved, and human weaponry.. stopping the fight even an hour after the assault starts will mean hundreds of casualties."
"And that's being optimistic about the timing." John pointed out, "We might be able to get Miguel and Dana to help, assuming that they're not roped into the attack."
Max sighed and shook his head, "We haven't heard from them in weeks, which, given the number of other Na'vi there, is unfortunately unsurprising. If they can help us, great, but we can't plan on it. And the rest of the Avatar team seemed to have fully gone native last time I was there."
"They have." John confirmed, "You might be able to convince some of them to help, if any aren't taking place in the fight."
Katrina raised a hand lazily, "Another problem, Mo'at doesn't have an ikran, all the riders will be gone, and it takes days to get there on a pa'li. We'll have to convince her to ride in the Samson."
"Convince a Na'vi, especially one as spiritual as Mo'at, to ride in a machine? Oh yeah, that's going to be a fun conversation." Norm grimaced.
"You have a better idea?" their female compatriot returned.
The lanky scientist shrugged, grimace still in place, "Not really."
"So," He clapped his hands together lightly, "We have a plan. Now, what do we do for the next four days to maximize its chances of working?"
"Well, we'll need to know when they launch their attack, so we can head to the kelutral as soon as we can." Norm pointed out, "Which means we'll need to talk to the UN again, as they're the only ones with satellite access."
John spoke up, "And we need to hunt while we still can. We don't have much food here, and we should get it out of the way before the Na'vi move into the area."
"Lady and gentlemen, we have a plan. I just wish we had time for a better one." Max frowned before nodding, "No sense worrying about it, lets go hunting, we'll call the UN in the morning and see if they can give us a warning."
Date: May 24th, 2170
Location: Hell's Gate, Pandora, Alpha Centauri A System
"That's not the best plan I've ever heard."
He sighed. He had not gotten Weigand like he'd hoped, instead he had been put through to Thomes, and she sounded like she was in an even worse mood than the last time he had had the dubious pleasure of speaking to her.
"We don't have time for a good one Captain, and quite frankly we're also very low on options. As long as their deity wants humans gone, the Na'vi want humans gone." He tried to sound reasonable. "Our only chance is to convince her that you guys really do mean to reclaim the lands that you've already damaged, and that you don't really want to be here any more than they want you here."
A snort, "Shouldn't be hard, almost everyone at Tartarus loathes this planet, if humanity didn't need unobtanium, we wouldn't be here. Or if we were here, we'd be somewhere more sane, like the northern tundra. Shame there's no unobtanium in that region, the lack of savages would make this a lot easier."
"It would have made this situation resolve itself easily," he agreed, "So, will you send us a message as soon as the Na'vi begin to move?"
A pause. "Yes. But you'll have to move fast, Hell's Gate is in the path of one of the blue-skin paths, and all things considered, we'd much rather you survive to attempt your scheme."
He blinked, "You want me to succeed?"
"Naturally," came her smooth response, "We're looking at a last stand situation here, Doctor. And if you're promises don't convince this goddess creature of theirs.. tell it that if this fails, the ISV's coming behind us have orders to resort to drastic measures."
A cold chill ran through him, "Drastic measures?" Please let me be wrong.
"Inconveniencing though it would be, if it means human survival, they will resort to a bombardment of the continent if our attempt here fails." another, longer pause, "None of us want to resort to that level of violence, but if our choices are humanity's future, or the future of Pandora.."
"You'll do anything necessary to ensure human survival." he murmured, remember what Weigand had told him at their first meeting.
"Yes. We will." came the sober response. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have to get back to work preparing for this coming storm. We'll contact you on this frequency as soon as we notice them moving."
The line went dead.
"Are they crazy?" John demanded instantly, "Would they really nuke Pandora?"
"What do you think?" Katrina shot back, "As a species, we're capable of anything when pushed into a corner. I don't think they'd glass the whole planet, but they'd definitely turn this entire region into a wasteland."
Max held up a hand, "It doesn't matter. We have to succeed no matter what, we already knew that. This is just more proof of what we already knew. Let's get to work, we need to make sure that we can convince Mo'at and Eywa, and do it quickly.
Date: May 24th, 2170
Location: Explorer's Dream, Pandoran Oribt, Alpha Centauri A System
Maria Thomes sat back heavily in her captain's chair after closing the link. The command center had gone silent as she talked with Patel, and remained so as the small bridge crew stared at their commanding officer.
"Um, captain?"
It was the communications officer, looking at her rather wide-eyed.
"Yes Lieutenant?"
"Does.. are there really nukes on the Lament or the Winter?"
She snorted softly, "No."
More blinking, "You lied to them?"
"In this situation, I think it's more akin to a bluff, but yes, I did."
"But why? I mean, you don't think his plan his going to work?"
The poor kid is really hopeless, she mused. With a sigh, she brought up the satellite images onto her screen. She stared at the masses of savages assembling to attack their base as she responded, "We're out of options, and you heard the good Doctors plan. He might convince them, but odds are, he won't. If he can't convince their 'deity' that we're going to be good and do as we promised.. maybe he can convince them we'll destroy everything in petty vengeance."
The satellite control officer muttered, "We should have brought nukes. Or mass-drivers. Something."
"No sense worrying about it now, and get back to work." she snapped.
Sound rejoined the room as everyone resumed the busy process of maintaining the station and coordinating with the ground.
She sighed again, closing her eyes and resting her head on her hand. Privately, she agreed with her officer. They should have brought nukes with, even just one to use as a demonstration that humanity was not to be fucked with. Weigand and the UN Security Council had disagreed, believing that bringing weapons of mass destruction would destroy much of the popular support for the mission, and their actual use could spell mass rioting across the planet when news got back.
I might as well follow my own order, no sense worrying about it now. She laughed at herself mentally before resuming writing a report on the progress of the Kamikaze. Between worrying about what could happen in the future, and idly wondering if her crewmen would actually beat Parker's miners for once, she would chose the latter every time. Easier on her sanity that way.
End Act III: Upheaval
Next up is Interlude: Hermes Returns
So, I lied about the whole "being longer" thing, mostly cuz the chapter seemed to flow well enough at this length, and making it longer made no real sense given the short time before the fight starts up. Tried something a little different at the end of the chapter, switching to Thomes as a POV character for a very short bit. Given the nature of the chapters ahead, the usual alternation of Parker and Max is going to break down with everything that's going to be happening. Expect small shorts from other character's POV ahead, along with longer segments from the main two. As the outlines stand, the Act IV chapters are going to be a bit on the long side for this story, but nothing extravagantly long. I don't think. Shouldn't be.
Again, as always, Thou Must Review!