Hey guys! This is the rewrite for chapter two and...I am very happy with how it turned out. I put most of the notes on the AN so go check that out for the full info. Enjoy the chapter.
As the people upon the dropship began to see more and more of Pandora around them, the captain walked down the aisle. "Remember people, you lose your mask you're unconscious in twenty seconds and you're dead in four minutes. Let's nobody be dead today, it looks bad on my report." The captain told everyone as he passed by each man and the occasional woman.
Dominika easily slid her mask on as though she had spent many hours practicing this very thing. Taking a breath once she had it working properly, she turned her curious gaze back outside to the floating islands they were passing by along with the many flocks of winged beasts that called out to the ship.
The redhead unbuckled herself in order to get a better look as she held onto the wall. Her electric blue gaze locked onto each interesting sight before she straightened up in annoyance. "I have been on a dropship before, captain, no need to watch me like a mother hen." She said with sarcasm as she turned around and placed a hand on her hip.
The captain eyed her with just as much annoyance. "I don't give a damn, my ship, my rules; meaning sit your ass down before I sit you down myself." He warned her, narrowing his brown eyes as they met her brighter ones.
Dominika merely stared him down for several minutes before she scoffed. "Don't give me that bullshit, this isn't your ship. It is the pilots and you don't seem to be piloting, hmm? So back the fuck off, captain." She said in a hiss as she frowned at him.
The captain watched her before scowling at her and continuing down the aisle, prompting many of the other passengers to begin whispering amongst themselves while Dominika sat down and smirked at Jake.
Jake looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Was upsetting the first guy you spot on Pandora your plan?" He asked with a chuckle.
"I didn't upset you...I upset the first one with a supposed title." Dominika said, pointing it out with a head tilt.
Jake rolled his eyes in amusement. "You didn't meet me on Pandora-"
"Right, right...I met you over Pandora." Dominika corrected herself with a shrug before she teasingly punched him on the arm. "Tomato tomahto."
The former marine punched her back, knowing she could take it before he began working on his mask. "See anything you like out of that window?" He asked before taking a moment to secure his mask.
"Oh...Many things. I think the floating mountains are my favorite." Dominika said with a smile.
"This place has floating mountains?" Jake asked with a blink of surprise.
"With waterfalls, fauna, and flora." After she said that, she snorted at the dumbfounded look on his face. "Animals and plants, you jarhead!" She shook her head at him.
"I'll take that insult as a compliment, and it's the jarhead to you," Jake said in a matter-of-fact tone while he perked up a bit at the mention of the ship landing.
"Shut up." Dominika shoved him a bit before she smoothed down her black t-shirt and blue camo cargo pants.
As the dropship landed with a thud, Dominika paused and stared at the large wave of soldiers that charged out the open door and blocked their path. After a moment of yells and responses to said yells, Dominika was able to stand up.
"Well, they took forever, come on Jake," Dominika said before she began to walk towards the opened door.
Jake almost eagerly followed her out and kept close to the woman. "...Wow." He mumbled under his breath as they had to stop so they didn't get hit by a large vehicle.
Dominika tilted her head at the sight of the arrows that were clearly shot in an attempt to blow out the monstrous wheels before she continued on with an interested expression.
Off to the side were a group of men that looked more like dogs in heat as they eyed Dominika's body. "Damn...When did we get babes in camo shipped in?" A white man with a beard asked and licked his lips when he caught sight of Dominika's somewhat bouncing breasts.
"Apparently on the same shipment as meals on wheels." A man with tattoos snickered while grinning almost dangerously at Jake.
"Man...That's just wrong." The lone black man of the group said as he checked over his gun.
Jake heard them and promptly scowled at them. He didn't say anything until they entered the airlock and then shook his head. "Those guys were hitting on you back there." He told the redheaded woman with a small frown.
"...I know. I'll probably kick them in the balls later for it, but I didn't want to be late for the first-day stuff." Dominika told him as she slipped off her mask.
Jake removed his mask as well and smirked a bit. "What? Is it like the first day of school?" He asked as they waited for the air to adjust.
Dominika snorted and looked down at him. "Try first day of high school only all the students are either the smartest minds on Earth or complete muscleheads that sit around comparing dick sizes and shooting guns." She said and laced her hands behind her back.
Jake couldn't help but laugh at that and barely stifled it when the airlock opened and allowed them to enter the facility. "Sounds nice." He managed out and faked a cough to hide a laugh.
Dominika rolled her eyes as she looked down at her watch. Reading the schedule, she clicked her tongue and shrugged her shoulders. "Well, we're late for a safety briefing. But...the room is...right here." She said and looked up at the room with both of its doors closed.
Jake followed the redhead in and silenced himself as the rest of the people from the dropship glanced back at them. He merely wheeled himself next to a table in the back of the room while Dominika leaned against the wall.
"You are not in Kansas anymore...You are on Pandora, ladies, and gentlemen. Respect that fact every second of every day." A rather buff man with scars that ran from his scalp to his jaw said to the group of soldiers.
The soldiers glanced amongst themselves while the man's name, Colonel Miles Quaritch, was tossed around along with some comments about how dangerous the planet truly could be.
The colonel turned around to face them with an expression that made them all silent and caused them to sit up in their seats. "Out beyond that fence every living thing that crawls, flies, or squats in the mud wants to kill you and eat your eyes for jujubes." He told them, prompting one near the middle to twitch at the thought.
Dominika leaned down with furrowed brows. "What are jujubes?" She whispered to Jake and tilted her head.
Jake glanced up at her before the corner of his lips raised slightly. "An American candy. They're like little...fruity gumdrops of sorts." He informed her as he watched Quaritch shoot a glare at the man who had twitched.
"...Oh. That is a very disgusting comment from the colonel then," Dominika commented with a shake of her head.
"No kidding," Jake said in a dry yet humored tone as he regained his neutral expression.
As soon as everything was silent again, Quaritch continued as he scanned over everyone. "We have an indigenous population of humanoids here called the Na'vi. They're fond of arrows dipped in a neurotoxin which can stop your heart in one minute. We operate, we live, at a constant threat condition yellow." He said with a stern expression before he glanced out the window to look at the mining operation.
"Well, now we know about those arrows," Dominika whispered with a raised eyebrow, prompting Jake to nod with a mildly interested expression.
"As head of security, it's my job to keep you alive. I will not succeed…" The colonel paused and turned around to face everyone once more. "...not with all of you. If you wish to survive, you need a strong mental attitude, you need to follow procedure…" He went silent as the room darkened to reveal a projection of all the things they needed to do to survive.
Over the next thirty minutes, Dominika watched as they were lectured about all the different murderous sights on the planet. Quaritch went on and on concerning how the planet was absolute hell compared to Earth and how we should take our r&r time in a volcano instead of on Pandora.
At some point, it had gotten boring, so Dominika was glad when they could leave and eagerly did so. She was eager to see her 'avatar' as it had been commonly dubbed and couldn't wait until she could link up with it. It was what everyone looked forward to when signing up...well that and leaving Earth.
Everyone was tired of Earth.
As they made their way through the hallways, Dominika flinched a bit when someone bumped into her. The man was lanky looking and appeared to be...walking with them?
Before she could ask who he was, the man smiled and clumsily waved. "Sorry...you guys are the other drivers, right?" He asked them with a slight head tilt.
While Dominika raised an eyebrow at him, Jake nodded and looked up at the man. "Yeah, I'm Jake and this is Dominika." He said and jabbed his thumb at the redhead.
The man blinked at that before smiling wider. "I'm Norm...and you look so much like your brother and I trained with him!" He said, not entirely realizing how awkward the subject was.
"...Uh...thanks, I'm his identical twin," Jake commented with a blank expression before he glanced away.
Norm winced as he realized why Jake made no further comment and turned to Dominika. "It's ah...real honor to meet you. There were rumors of you being in the avatar program but I didn't know we'd be up here at the same time." He said as he regained his smile.
Dominika blinked twice before she shrugged. "What can I say? I worked through the program fast." She said with a wave of her hand as she looked ahead once more.
As Norm continued to talk and comment on her back story, the three reached their destination. The bio lab. The room that held the precious avatars.
Dominika smiled at the thought before she entered and looked over the three tall blue creatures. She quickly identified whose was whose before she walked up to hers and laid her hand on the glass. The female creature was only a bit shorter than the two male ones and had darker blue skin which allowed the spots, which she knew were bioluminescent, to pop more. The dark blue skin faded to a lighter shade of blue near the feet, hands, ears, and the corner of the eyes. Her long hair was an odd dark red nearly black color while she...uniquely had bangs that hid her thick eyebrows.
At the sight of the bangs, Dominika reached up and rubbed the bangs that framed her face. "How odd." She murmured as she looked over the creature's longer than normal tail and her delicate face.
As she continued to examine her avatar, a man in a lab coat walked up to her. "Ah, Dominika, right?" He smiled at her while she nodded. "I figured, your avatar is quite similar to you. Grace looked over it right before she got busy. We believe the extra-long tail is simply a character trait from the Na'vi DNA sample that was used." He informed her as he looked over his notes.
"Oh? Then I suppose it's a coincidence that we have the same hairstyle." Dominika smiled and turned around to show the similarities.
The man chuckled and nodded at that. "Yes, that looks to be a coincidence. It appears to have a tint of red from your side in its hair and is tall for a female. Just like you I see." He said while looking at her in humor.
"Ah, I'm not tall." Dominika waved her hand before tilting her head. "And what about the dark skin? It's like seeing a dark-skinned human next to a pale-skinned one." She commented while rubbing her chin. "And I am very pale."
"We were curious about that too." He said and flipped through his notepad. "Grace has a theory that the DNA may have come from an individual that lived in a cave. She's spoken with the natives in the past and cave-dwelling Na'vi were sometimes talked about and they were mentioned to have...oddly dark skin. For living in a cave that is. They were reportedly very secluded, but she speculates that one may have left the tribe and joined another...hence the dark-skinned sample that was taken." He explained with a thoughtful expression.
"Oh, so the baby daddy of my avatar was a dark-skinned cave monkey?" Dominika asked with a wry grin.
"If you want to call it that...then yes." He laughed at her expression before he held his hand out. "I'm Max, by the way. I make sure you link up correctly."
Dominika nodded and shook his hand before she placed her hand on her hip. "So...where is this Grace?" She asked with a curious expression.
"She's linked in for a few hours and is managing the other drivers. She'll be back, though, so she told me to instruct you three on how to work the video logs. She always says that it's the one thing that keeps you from going crazy." Max said with a chuckle as he led her over to a computer.
"I see where she gets the idea from. It's kind of like writing down your thoughts in a diary." Dominika said as she sat in the chair while Max turned on the computer for her.
"Exactly! It's a video diary. Sometimes we send it back if someone dies so that their family back on Earth has it. Sure it takes a while...but it's the thought that counts." Max shrugged and smiled at her as he got the recording program set up.
"That's kind of you guys. I know I would appreciate it." Dominika nodded as she sat up when the camera was turned on.
"That's why we do it," Max said and stood up straight. "Anyway, when you get done you can go get food. Come back in...three and a half hours to meet Grace. I'll pass the message onto the boys while you get to work on that." He gently patted her on the shoulder before walking away to talk to Norm and Jake.
Dominika glanced back at him before she smiled. "Well, it's my first day here...and it's like extreme high school. Every clique is in this place and we have to be on time for things." She said with a humored smile. "If they have high school lunches, I'm renaming this place to the "Pandora Super School". Home of the super nerds, super pervs, super morons, and super buff guys." She counted off each title before chuckling.
"Hey, who you calling a 'super moron'?" Jake asked teasingly while whacking her on the arm as he stopped his wheelchair.
"You, of course. The great 'Jarhead' Jake Sully is hereby now known as a super moron." Dominika said with a smirk while whacking him back.
"Thanks for the official title." Jake snickered at that as he wheeled up to a computer. "It'll be my call name, Red." He smirked at the end.
"Red? Hmm...Mine is better but I will happily take that name." Dominika said before she faced the camera again. "That was Jake, the Jarhead. We met on the ship and...Jake!"
"What?" Jake looked over at her while Max worked on setting up his computer.
"We're friends, right? I gotta get it down on my video diary." Dominika said while gesturing to her computer.
Jake blinked before he snorted and shook his head. "If we weren't, I wouldn't have put up with you for so long." He said with a grin and a chuckle.
"I wouldn't have put up with him, he means," Dominika said to the camera with a smirk while Jake rolled his eyes at her comment. "Anyway, I'm ending it here so I can get some grub before I starve and this single video log gets sent home." She gave the camera a thumbs-up before she turned it off and leaned back in her chair. "Jake, make it a quick one. I am starving." She announced while her stomach growled loudly.
"Geez, I'm pretty sure everyone can tell that," Jake said in a deadpan as Norm quietly chuckled at their conversation.
"Wrap it up, man." Dominika waved her hand as she smiled and leaned back in her chair.
"Alright, alright." Jake chuckled and raised his hands in defeat before he faced the camera.
After eating a surprisingly filling high school lunch, an action that Dominika said that she predicted, the three used their extra time to find out where their rooms were. While the boys had no issue, Dominika had to exchange hers with another person's as she needed a tub to soak in. The other person was a part of the bio lab and appeared to be very understanding, so she had little trouble with the switch.
At the moment, Norm was currently babbling on about facts about Pandora. Most of it was stuff that Dominika knew...while Jake looked beyond lost. Deciding to step in for the ex-marine's sake, she cleared her throat and smiled. "So, what are you looking towards most when we link up with our avatars?" She asked aloud, though it was mainly directed towards Jake.
Jake blinked while Norm pondered the question. The ex-marine looked down at his legs before looking up at her. "...Legs. What about you?" He asked her with a raised eyebrow.
"No more itching. My burns haven't stopped itching since I got them since it was a weird fire and chemical burn mix. Lotion barely helps...so you know that relief is going to be good." Dominika said with a grin as she rubbed at her arms.
While Jake smiled at the thought, Norm clapped his hands. "Exploring Pandora...from the eyes of a Na'vi." He said with a grin of his own.
Dominika blinked and looked at him. "...Oh, right. You don't have any physical ailments or...anything. Eh...Good for you Norm!" She said with an awkward smile as Jake snickered.
Norm merely nodded as they entered the lab. Before he could continue to speak, Max, thankfully, greeted them with a smile. "Hey, guys. I hope you've all eaten and gotten accustomed to the base since Grace is about to come out." He said while he led them deeper into the semi-chaotic room.
"Yeah, we all had a subpar high school lunch...just as I predicted," Dominika said with a chuckle and a smirk.
Jake rolled his eyes before faking a cough. "*Cough* Bullshit *Cough*." He murmured out with a grin before chuckling when Dominika gave him the stink eye.
Not minding them, Max nodded with a chuckle. "The lunch isn't...extraordinary...but once we can get you guys linked up, you can eat some of the stuff we grow outside." He said with a smile as he turned around.
"If you guys grow stuff then why isn't it used in the kitchen?" Norm asked with a raised eyebrow.
Max shrugged as a beeping filled the air. "I have no idea, it's a decision made by the head boss. Anyway, be ready, she's coming back from the ball and will be meeting with you guys." He said while gesturing to the person that was coming out of one of the link beds.
Before anyone could speak, the woman groaned a bit before looking around. "Who's got my goddamn cigarette?" She asked around as several people blinked and searched for it. "Guys! What's wrong with this picture?" As soon as she was finished, a female in a lab coat rushed over and handed her the cigarette. "Thanks." She drawled out before she got up and headed over to Max.
Max smiled once the woman was standing beside him. "Grace, this is Dominika Vitaliya, Norm Spellman and Jak-." He blinked when he was cut off.
"Norm. I hear good things about you. How's your Na'vi?" Grace asked him while Norm blinked in surprise.
Norm took a moment to recompose himself before nodding. "May the All-Mother smile upon our first meeting." He said in fluent na'vi while he managed a small smile.
"Not bad. You sound a little formal." Grace replied with a hint of humor in her voice.
"There is still much to learn," Norm said in a slightly embarrassed manner.
Grace shook her head and looked at Dominika. "I must say, you surprised me." She said and took a moment to take a drag of her cigarette. "You are basically a celebrity and a quick study. Though, I am more interested in the second. Tell me, how well did you study?" She asked the redhead with an interested look in her eyes.
"I would hope that I studied well. I worked my ass off and slept too little to be bad in the language." Dominika said with a chuckle while her na'vi had a slight Russian accent to it.
"Lucky for you, it all paid off it seems. Though, you still have a slight accent when speaking." Grace replied with a small smirk.
"I'm Russian, I don't think it's going away anytime soon," Dominika said with a smile of her own.
"Touche. Pronunciate well and I don't think there will be any problems." Grace nodded while she laid her hand on her hip.
"Noted. Thank you for the advice." Dominika said with a slightly larger smile.
Grace smiled ever-so-slightly before it fell once she turned to Jake. Her expression turned to disdain when he tried to introduce himself. "Yeah, yeah, I know who you are, and I don't need you. I need your brother." She said with a hint of annoyance while Max blinked a few times. She glanced at him before sighing and folding her arms. "You know the Ph.D. who trained three years for this?"
While Max slowly 'oh'd, Jake looked up at her with a blank expression. "He's dead. Sorry I didn't bring his ashes." He said in a dry tone while Norm winced.
Grace shook her head in exasperation before she looked back down at him. "How much lab training have you had?" She asked him, seemingly getting more irritated at the moment.
"I dissected a frog in high school," Jake said with a hint of a grin.
Grace deadpanned at the answer before she huffed and looked at Max. "You see? You see? They're pissing on us without the courtesy of calling it rain." She turned around and began for the door. "I'm going to Selfridge."
"That isn't a good idea Grace." Max tried to tell her but sighed once he saw that she was long gone.
Dominika leaned over and looked at Jake. "You guys dissected frogs?"
"Yeah...Why?" Jake raised an eyebrow at her.
"...We dissected mutated bats." Dominika said with a few blinks.
Jake stared at her before slowly shaking his head. "I'm not going to ask."
"Good...because I can't explain it." The redhead commented while shaking her head.
As soon as they were done talking, Max turned to look at Jake with a sigh. "Be here at 0800...try and use big words." He said with a small frown before he turned away to do something else.
Jake raised an eyebrow at that before smirking up at Dominika. "Wanna help me look less like an idiot for a bit?"
"...Sounds like a challenge, I'm in." Dominika chuckled before she led him out with a matching smirk.
Grace entered the room, her rage clearly on display as a few people practically stumbled out of her way. They knew far too well that Grace exploded in the nastiest of ways and typically...those on the other end of such an explosion were fearful of the redheaded scientist from that day forward.
As she walked over, Selfridge lined up for his coffee pot while he tested out the mini golf club. Grace scowled and folded her arms as she gave him a withering look. "Parker, I used to think it was neglect, but now I see that you're intentionally screwing us over." She said in a dry yet irritated tone.
The man, better known as Parker, lazily glanced up and cleared his throat. "Grace." He regarded her with an uncaring look as he sat down his coffee mug so he could use it as a hole. "You know I enjoy our little talks." He commented as he hit the golf ball.
Grace promptly kicked the mug away and glared at him while the ball hit her foot. "I needed a research assistant, not some damn jarhead dropout."
Parker looked up at her with a hint of annoyance to his sigh. "I think we got lucky here."
Grace practically scoffed at that and looked at him."How is this in any way lucky?"
"Well, we're lucky that your guy had a twin brother and this twin brother wasn't a dentist or something. We could use a marine, which is why I'm assigning him to your escort group." Parker then walked over to his office while Grace followed him, still quite angry to say the least. "Not to mention...you have someone who is the youngest to get into your program who is also a war hero. I think we hit the jackpot." He commented with a small smirk while he stopped in front of his desk.
"We did not hit the jackpot!" Grace stated before she groaned and shook her head. "And the last thing I need is another trigger-happy moron!"
Parker turned to face her with a small frown. "Look, you're supposed to be winning the hearts and minds of the natives. Isn't that the whole point of your little puppet show? If you look like them, if you talk like them, they'll trust you?"
Grace frowned at that comment as the man sat down on his desk and continued talking. "But after all these years, relations with the indigenous are only getting worse."
"Yeah? Well, that tends to happen when you use machine guns on them." Grace answered with a sarcastic tone to her voice.
The man picked up a rock off of the magnetic field and showed it to her. "Listen. This is why we're here. Unobtanium. Because this little rock sells for twenty million a kilo. No other reason. This is what pays for the party. And it's what pays for your science. Got it?" He glanced up at her as he ran his fingers over the rock.
Grace stayed silent as Parker put it back on the magnetic field and looked up at her. "Those savages are threatening our operation. We're on the brink of war and you're supposed to be finding a diplomatic solution. So use what you've got and get me some results." He finished and her frown only deepened.
Grace stared him down before she turned and left with a rather unhappy expression.