Avatar - The Hidden Story

by boydea

When Miles first meets Eve, a professor forced into the Military by the government, he is disgusted. She is nothing like any soldier he has met before and feels certain she will fail. To his surprise, Miles realises that she is far stronger and more resourceful than he could have imagined. Find out why Miles so hated the Na'vi and what happens after the uprising.

2. Chapter 2

Two

It had been an arduous 10 months of training and, just as Major Quaritch said at the start, only a handful of the original applicants remained. Of the 70 that had stood before him on the first day, only 4 remained and none were more surprised than Miles at the fact that Evelyn had been one of them. Out of all those who had gone through training she had shown the utmost aptitude and resilience. Not once did she falter, that sheer determination and strength becoming infamous amongst all who lived on the base. Evelyn had proven her ability on more than one occasion and had formed incredibly close bonds with many of the personnel on base. Miles saw that she had a natural leadership quality about her, but still found it difficult to envision Evelyn in a live combat situation.

That perception had changed the day that she saved several of her team members. As was always the way, the newest trainees had been sent along on a military exercise, one deemed 'safe' enough for them to tag along. It became clear early into the mission that this was not the case. Insurgents had taken over an embassy and were holding several diplomats hostage. Evelyn and the other new recruits were told to wait outside the building, their job to keep an eye out for any oncoming threats. They had been left with a higher ranking officer and when Evelyn had pointed out a potential threat, he had ignored her. Despite her insistence that something just wasn't right with the truck coming up the road towards them, the young officer, so sure of himself, had told her to shut up and stand down.

Clearly, that was something Evelyn was not about to do, for as the vehicle grew closer she flew into action. Her team members described seeing her grab a grenade from the Officers belt, before running at speed towards the truck. The green tarp that covered the back of the truck was flung up, revealing a heavily armed contingent of insurgents. Several men began to release a torrid of weapons fire in Evelyns direction as she ran towards them. She threw herself to the ground, returning fire with her small handgun as she slid closer towards the men and the vehicle. Evelyn pulled the pin from the grenade and threw it under the vehicle, grabbing a piece of iron nearby and covering herself with it just at the grenade exploded.

Miles could remember vividly running to one of the windows inside the embassy, watching in amazement as Evelyn calmly threw the makeshift shield to the ground and surged forward to take out the remainder of the men from the truck. While the Officer had come to her aid, it was clear that Evelyn had been the one responsible for preventing the deterioration of their situation. During an official enquiry after the incident, Evelyn had been asked what it was that had alerted her to the coming threat. She had tilted her head and shrugged, "My gut", she'd replied smoothly. "I mean, why the hell would anyone want to go down that road with all that military action going on? It would be madness".

That was the day that Miles had finally realised the true potential that lay hidden with Evelyn and he had felt a pang of guilt at being so judgemental when they had first met. Now, that small woman stood before him, those green eyes fixed firmly ahead of her as Miles pinned a medal onto her lapel. He gave her his warmest smile and Evelyn grinned up at him, clearly trying not to laugh at his somewhat sad attempt to appear happy. Miles stepped back and saluted her and Evelyn followed suit, "And finally", Miles said to those gathered before them, "I give you Private Evelyn Tanner". The crowd released a fury of applause and several of those gathered whistled loudly, a reflection of just how popular she had become during her time on base.

Miles looked down at her and sighed. Letting go of such a gifted soldier was going to be difficult but he had no other option. Evelyns stay was only ever meant to be temporary and she had been ordered to return to Britain to resume her position in the Scientific branch of their military.

"Smile Major!", Evelyn said in jest, slapping him firmly on the back, "You're finally rid of me". She strode past him, walking gracefully down the stairs that led from the stage. "Oh, I nearly forgot", Evelyn turned around and gave him a mischievous wink, "See you around hot stuff". Miles watched as she spun around to continue on down the steps. He felt shocked at the comment and unsure how to take the woman who was now walking away with the rest of his team. Never before had he met anyone like Evelyn and Miles was undecided if he ever wanted to again.