I. Do. Not. Own. Avatar.
Chapter 29: A God's Wrath
Date: 07:00, May 25th, 2170
Location: Hell's Gate, Pandora, Alpha Centauri A System
Even though he was still on the radio with Maria Thomes, the other two men were already scrambling frantically, packing what gear they would need into their elderly Samson. Katrina was already running through the preflight checklist, muttering to herself as she frantically double-checked the systems.
"All four native groups have begun moving," the United Nations Captain was telling him, "They'll hit us in a staggered order, starting around midnight on the twenty-seventh, until just after dawn on the same day. Looks like your friend Sully's group will be the last to arrive." She paused, "Hope you've got something good planned Patel, the numbers involved are not comforting us."
"We're going to head out right now." He assured her, "We should get there around noon, since we have to detour around the attack force. With luck, we can convince their Tsahik and be at the Tree of Souls by nightfall."
"With luck." Came the dry reply, "Somehow I doubt it will be that easy."
Privately, he did too, but saying that out loud would not help anything. "We'll work it out."
"Weigand is putting our battle plans in motion now, if the negotiations stall, call us on this frequency, maybe we'll have done enough to convince them how bloody this is going to be."
I don't like the sound of that. He winced, "What kind of plans?"
"You don't need to know that at the moment." was the immediate, and expected, retort, "We'll tell you if you really need the information, but you're a smart man professor, I'm sure you'll be able to figure some of it out."
Yeah. That doesn't sound good. With a sigh, he nodded to himself. Pressing the issue would not get them anywhere "Very well. We'll contact you if they stall or once we convince the Tsahik to head to the Tree."
She did not even bother to acknowledge that, simply cutting the connection instead.
Grabbing his exopack from the wall next to him, he moved to his feet, shut down the computer system, and headed outside. John and Norm were already in the back, the Avatar manning the Hydra mount. Katrina was already spinning up the turbines, the low roar building as he sprinted over and clambered into the rear.
His friend did not even wait a moment after he was in to lift off, and he had to swiftly grab onto the handholds to avoid falling out of the machine.
"Plan to avoid them to the north then Katrina?" Norm called out as he helped Max settle in.
Her voice carried back, "That's the idea. Head an hour or so that way before we head west to the home tree. Should avoid the main warband that way." After a few moments, they all began to get settled in for the flight, carefully watching the skies around them for any sight of the Na'vi or any native fauna that might decide to take interest in them.
It was not until a half hour into the flight that he saw something on the ground below.
"Hey! Katrina! Slow down a minute, take us over that clearing to the left!" he called out.
The Samson obligingly slowed and banked left, Norm and John both carefully leaned over to look at what had caught his eye.
Nantang. A lot of them. Several full packs at least, all racing south. A palulkan, dwarfing its smaller cousins, bolted through the clearing, ignoring the animals it would normally have preyed upon.
"Hey guys. It's worse." Katrina's voice came across, quiet and tense, "Look south."
Raising his eyes from the ground, he instantly noticed what she was talking about. On the very edge of his sight, what looked like a living cloud was swirling southwards. Scrambling to open his pack, he raised his binoculars to his face and stared at it. It was not the warband. None of the ikran had riders, and he could make out several Toruk in the massive swarm.
"Eywa goes to war." he said quietly.
"That's got to be every ikran and toruk from the mountains." Norm said, voice barely audible, "Plus all of the animals on the ground.."
"It's going to be a nightmare at Tartarus." John voiced their thoughts out loud. "The sheer numbers involved... I mean, my god, they're just going to overwhelm them. All the defenses in the world won't help against that swarm. The casualties..."
He shook his head, "Are going to be insane. For both sides. They'll overwhelm them all right, but they'll be climbing over the bodies of the fallen to do it. Eywa is going to destroy her own balance with this, with how many of her animals are going to be killed. And god knows how many Na'vi clans are going to be destroyed by this."
"That's our best argument for Mo'at." John pointed out, "She's never been a fan of killing, of any kind really. I mean, she's not going to be thrilled with a 'save the humans' campaign, not after losing her home and her mate to them, but if she realizes just how many are going to die here, and that the humans do want to fix the damage they did."
Max nodded, he opened his mouth to tell Katrina to get them moving again, when he heard her let out a startled exclamation.
"Katrina! What is it!" he called out instead.
Any reply was drowned out the by the suddenly massive crack of a massive sonic boom.
She shouted once their ears stopped ringing, "A Valkyrie just went overhead, flying way too damn fast!"
He had a cold feeling in his gut, "How fast?"
"Too fast to be intending to land anywhere within several hundred clicks of here." she reported.
"Think they're using it as a bomber? A high-altitude one the Na'vi can't reach?"
"No way Max, that thing was hauling ass!"
Frowning, he ran it through his head. It's going too fast to land at Tartarus, so it's not carrying any reinforcements. It's also going too fast to be used as a bomber. He tried to run through the logic chain, figure out what the hell was going on. Something going that fast, at that altitude... he suddenly felt a k chill run through him. Oh. Oh god no.
Mathematics ran through his mind without him consciously thinking about it. A Valkyrie, fully loaded, traveling at orbital breaking speeds would have enough force to.. to be an extremely powerful weapon.
"They're going to crash it." he whispered out loud. "Katrina, what direction was it heading?" he shouted.
"South-west, towards Tartarus. Why?"
He wracked his memory. What directions had the Na'vi been planning to assault from? The North, East, and South. The Southern group, the most isolated of the four. That was their plan, to try and eliminate as many of the Na'vi as they could before they could reach Tartarus.
"Son of a bitch. Get us to the Omaticaya!"
"Max, what's going on?" Norm shouted even as the turbines began to roar, bringing them back onto their northerly course.
"They're going to crash it Norm. Use it's mass and speed to make it into a weapon, slam it right into one of the Na'vi groups to try and kill as many as they can before the battle starts." he explained,
Norm paled, and John looked like he was about to be sick.
"That's.. insane! The damage that's going to cause when it hits! And those things have fusion reactors, what about the radiation released when it hits!" he Avatar protested.
Katrina's voice carried back once more, "I think environmental damage is a bit low on their priority list at the moment John. Considering that they're willing to sacrifice one of two or three Valkyries, I think survival is their only goal at the moment, and they're willing to pay any cost."
"It's still insane." Norm chimed in, "Even with Pandora's higher radiation exposure, it's still going to do severe damage to the area. Kind of goes against their promises to reclaim the lands, doesn't it?"
"I'm guessing that's why they didn't tell us." Max confirmed, "But she has a point, at this point, they're doing anything and everything to try and survive. We can worry about getting them to reclaim the land once we stop this insanity."
They all fell quiet as the Samson roared northwards, heading to a meeting with the only person who might be able to convince a living goddess to end the spiral of death.
Date: 12:30, May 25th, 2170
Location: Omaticaya kelutral, Pandora, Alpha Centauri A System
Even as they banked in for a landing, the area around the home tree was swarming with the clan members. Na'vi were rushing to and fro, elderly warriors and youngsters too young to have become ikran'makto were seizing weapons and pushing those who were unable to fight inside.
A few arrows whistled at them, missing wide, but still causing John to lean as far out as he could and shout what sounded like reprimands mixed with insults at the two youngsters who had opened fire. Max belatedly realized that one of the ones who had shot was Jake's son, Tsu'tey. He had the same facial features of his father, if upon a more natural build.
One of the older warriors grabbed the young man's bow before he could shoot again, snapping something at him.
Katrina kept them hovering over the jungle until she was sure no one was going to resume shooting arrows at them, before slowly gliding their metal bird into the clearing at the base of the tree, before bringing them down for a landing.
He jumped out as soon as the skids hit the ground, Norm and John piling out of the other side. The elderly warrior who seemed to be in charge made his way over.
He and John exchanged civil greetings, before he began, "The olo'eyktan says he was mistaken to exile you. You are still not omaticaya, and you may not call our kelutral yours, but you may visit." he turned his wrinkled face to Max, "I see you, friend Patel. But why do you bring that machine here once more?"
Inwardly, he felt a sharp relief that they were dealing with one of the older warriors. The elder Na'vi seemed to react to things far more calmly than the younger generations did. He idly wondered if it was genetic, or merely experience. "I see you, warrior. We are here to speak to your Tsahik, to Mo'at. We are still striving to cease this war, before it consumes all, and I believe she may be the only one who can aid us."
"Lies!" A young voice barked, the crowd parted, revealing Tsu'tey and a young female shoving their way forwards.
He has inherited much of his namesakes temper, combined with Jake's impulsiveness. He thought, rather uncharitably. He hadn't met the original Tsu'tey, but Jake had told him much about the former olo'eyktan, much of it good, quite as much of it bad.
"You bring machine here!" he snapped at them, his poor English a sharp contrast to the almost cultured tones of the elder, "All tawtute lie, harm Eywa, only way stop them is make them leave!"
Max snapped. Enough was enough. He had accepted a lot in the last several years: fifteen years of living hand to mouth in a deadly jungle, the pain of watching his close friends die, watching other friends drift away to fully become Na'vi, suffered in silence as history began to repeat himself despite his best efforts. But God Dammit, he was not going to be talked down to by a fourteen year old with too much ego who had no idea what was truly happening.
"Because you've back the humans into a corner, and they're going to do anything and everything they can to survive." he snapped, half shouting. "They've probably already killed everyone who was going to attack them from the south, and the only way your parents are going to drive them out is by climbing over the bodies of everyone who died before them!"
Everyone had gone silent and simply stared at the normally unflappable scientist.
He continued his rant, "Don't you get it? The humans can't retreat this time, there is nowhere for them to go. It's not going to be like last time, where you and Eywa can drive them off in a single fight. It's going to be a multi-day bloodbath on the scale you can't imagine, and the only way to prevent it is for Eywa to realize that!"
Norm and John had backed away a step from him, and the Na'vi, most of whom he belatedly realized, probably couldn't speak English, were staring at him like he'd gone totally insane.
He felt his cheeks begin to burn as the silence and staring continued.
"I will.. ask the Tsahik to speak with you." the elder stated finally. Turning, and telling everyone else to get back into the kelutral, the tribe members made their way inside. The younger ones tossing alternate glares and scared looks at the insane tawtute.
Once everyone had headed inside, he let out an explosive breath, tried to ignore the continued stares of his friends, and moved over to settle down against the side of the great tree.
The quiet sniggering made him glance up. Katrina, leaning against the Samson a dozen feet away, was apparently trying not to laugh her head off.
At his glare, she lost all control and started positively howling. That, in turn, set off Norm and John, who both started cackling.
"Been.. been keeping that inside a bit too long Max," she managed breathlessly, still laughing.
He couldn't help it, he felt himself grinning, "Better than trying to bash through a wall."
She nodded, but kept laughing.
They, fortunately, managed to calm themselves down by the time Mo'at emerged from the tree, several of the elder warriors with her.
Exchanging polite greetings, she got straight to the heart of the matter, "You wish me to speak with Eywa, to convince her to cease this fight?"
"Yes." He nodded, "The humans truly do intend to fix the damage they did Mo'at, they have changed. But if pushed.. if pushed into a corner, like they are now, they'll fight with everything they have."
The elderly, even for a Na'vi, woman slowly sat before them, bringing her down to his height. "You ask me to go against the will of Eywa, against the will of the clans, to do this."
"Honored Tsahik," Norm spoke, "I'm afraid we don't have a choice. The humans who are here now are but the first of many. They don't want to fight, they just want to mine and go home. Their war leader is different than the cruel one from before, he was honoring his promise to us to begin reclaiming the land when the fighting began."
Mo'at frowned, "The land still lays dead, and the machines and stone of their former home still scars Eywa's beauty."
"It isn't a swift thing. It is far easier to destroy than to heal," Max said quietly, "But they were starting. We talked with many of them as they worked, trying to find the best way to go about healing the damage."
"For more immediate concerns though," the lone female huamn joined the conversation, sitting on the ground not far from her Samson, "This battle that is coming.. it's going to destroy everything it touches."
A wince from the Tsahik, " . Both are terrible, and much will be destroyed. But am I to question Eywa's will?"
She's uncertain. Keep pressing it, "Eywa is letting her fear and anger over what happened before consume her Mo'at. This fight won't be like last time. The humans sent away their ships in the stars, they can't retreat to the skies this time. Can't be sent away. They're going to fight to the death, every last one of them, and many brave warriors will die to do it. Entire clans worth of warriors will die in the next few days, unless you help us stop this."
Norm spoke, very quietly, "You remember the shuttle they used as a bomber last time, right?" He waited for her to nod, "We think they crashed one into one of the groups moving to attack them. Considering how big it is, and how fast it was going... the deaths have already started, the first of thousands."
The tsahik sat in silence for a long while. "Thousands." she whispered eventually, "You claim that Eywa herself may be suffering from the madness of the tawtute, ask me to travel to the Vitraya Ramunong to convince her of this, and believe that she might listen?"
He spread his hands, "We can only try, Mo'at. If she does not listen.. than she doesn't listen. But we have to try to stop this insanity before it can get any worse."
Yet another long silence. "The Vitraya Ramunong is no short distance from here, and I have no ikran, nor do any of the elders or youngster here."
"We, ah." he coughed awkwardly, "Have a way around that." he glanced at Katrina, and at the Samson behind her.
Mo'at noticed their glance, and hissed softly as she stared at the machine behind them.
Next up is Chapter 30: Demon's Roar
And here have Max and company doing everything they can to stop the war, and it looks like it's not going too badly for them. Hope everyone is still enjoying. This chapter actually took a bit. Wrote part of it last night.. hated it, scrapped it, and started over this afternoon. Think it turned out well, so please let me know what you think, as always. Love reviews, so please keep them coming.
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Double incentive.