Sorry for taking so long on this chapter! I kept on running into roadblocks, creative type, and it took a long type to get past them. This chapter is still kind of...blah, to me but I realized I needed to let it go.
With Grace
The ongoing search for a body was slow and Grace found herself doing other things while the device behind her repeatedly flashed red every minute or so.
"The Vitaliya family." She read the title with a raised eyebrow, "Hm. Didn't know your whole family was famous."
'The Vitaliya Family come from a military background and have had close relations with the Government of Russia.'
Grace looked a bit stunned at a female who looked eerily like Dominika smiling with a man by the name of Vladimir Victorovich.
'Eudoxia Vitaliya in particular was especially close and was rumored of being the maiden of President Vladimir Victorovich. While a marriage never happened, due to his current wife, they remained close until his demise which caused the German-Russian War that is still currently ongoing. Eudoxia went MIA during a bombing in the first days of the war. Viktor, Artur and Dominika Vitaliya are thought to be the last remaining of the Vitaliya family.'
She shook her head, "What about their father? Then again, Dominika never mentioned her family." Grace frowned and continued reading.
'Viktor went onto inherit his family's empire and his brother became the lead ship designer. Artur trained himself in psychobiology, astrobiology and is said to be preparing to go to Pandora.'
"That would explain the ship she mentioned." Grace commented, looking at the two brother's faces. They share a great resemblance with one being notably more alike than the other.
'The siblings were known to be building a deep space craft but little to no details have been given about it. There are several theories about how they built it with one saying they built it on the dark side of the moon using robots.'
Grace let out a snort at the theory as she looked at a picture a blurry image of a sphere-like object.
'The most popular theory is that the ship, which has been dubbed 'Russian Death Star', was built underground in smaller pieces before being flown into space. This would work out because America has said on several different occasions that they have seen a near invisible space station on the dark side of the moon. Recently, scientists have heard strange sounds from space that have fans of the Star Wars trilogy raving. While they have not linked the sounds to the Russian Ship, many speculate that the sounds are the Russian Ship testing it's weapons.'
"That would mean...You have to be kidding me."
Somewhere in Space.
"Viktor, is it necessary to be trying the weapon system? I thought ve agreed to be peaceful!" Artur exclaimed, seeing his brother standing over a console with countless buttons as he heard booms in the distance.
"We agreed to be peaceful on the planet. Are we on the planet, brother?" Viktor asked, not even bothering to turn around to face him as he pushed yet another button.
"Vell, no...b-but that shouldn't mean that you get to mess vith the weapons! Vhat if you are alerting them that ve are dangerous? They may have the technology to detect all the sound you are creating!" Artur argued, walking over to Viktor while frowning.
"Sound? In space?" Viktor stared at him as if he said something stupid.
"It's more like...a signal! Ve may not necessarily be able to cause sound in space, but vhat you are doing is creating a signal. A wavelength. Something that can be picked up with the correct device. In the past the Americans have picked up strange sounds, signals, that they think are aliens trying to communicate vith us. Ve have to be careful vhat we do, brother." Artur explained, scratching his head as he tried to simplify it without confusing himself in the process.
"And what if we aren't?" Viktor turned around, a cold tone to his voice.
Artur shivered from both the tone and the look he was receiving, "If Grace Augustine is still alive, out of everyone on the planet I think she'd be the one to survive, she vould have the ability and the authority to access the defense protocols." Artur pulled out his tablet and pulled up a holographic image of Pandora, "The Americans put different devices on several high parts of Pandora using the ships themselves the drop the devices that vould cloak themselves to be invisible to the natives."
"You hacked them." Viktor stated, a smile on his face replacing his once cold glare.
"I vanted to know more about the base on Pandora." Artur sighed, "Reports brought back vhen they picked up more soldiers reveal they vere able to hear the song of a black hole. It was so deep they claimed it vas deeper than the deepest note ve can hear."
"They could easily pick up all the sound we were making then. How far away did they hear the black hole?" Viktor asked, looking thoughtful while rubbing his chin.
"From Earth they calculated that the massive black hole was about...250 million light years away. They only heard the sound it vas making years after being on Pandora." Artur said, pulling up the data on his tablet.
Viktor turned away, looking at the empty space that lay outside, "I will stop the firing if you get us there pronto."
Artur tilted his head, unfamiliar with the word, "Pronto?"
"Fast. Old american slang I heard. I want you to get us there within this week." He whipped around, a smile on his face. A smile that Artur recognized as his 'thinking' smile.
"Within this veek?" Artur repeated incredulously, looking at his brother like he had just told him a joke.
"Did I stutter? We both know this ship has the power to dramatically shorten the time it takes to reach the planet."
"I-I will get working on it brother." Artur said uneasily, pulling up a program on his tablet.
Viktor walked away from the room, and Artur shakily breathed as he prepared to send a message to the possibly doomed planet of Pandora. He paused as he thought of a way to convey the warning…He smiled as he thought of something rather clever.
With Grace.
A sudden ding on the tablet she was using caused her to raise an eyebrow, "That's strange."
She opened the message and was greeted by a video dubbed "One Winged Angel" and a paragraph below it in Russian.
"It's an awful good thing I told her to stay in the area."
Grace marched out of the room towards where she knew the Russian was.
The redhead was meditating alone on the blacktop as her ikran was elsewhere, Dominika's ears twitched as she heard the human's footsteps, "Grace?"
"Well, we just got a message from your country. It's a video and something in Russian."
Once Grace played the song, Dominika jumped up and turned around in horror, "It can't be...Artur vould use that song to be a warning sign vhen we were kids. It's a song from an old video game and-and he vould play it over our headsets. He vas always such a nerd, but that's besides the point! It can only mean one thing…"
"And?"
Dominika's eyes narrowed, "Artur said he would never play this song unless we vere at a risk of dying from something. Artur sent this to me as a warning. My country is planning to destroy Pandora, and I fear Artur is at risk himself...The message is a mangled form of Russian, bit of Na'vi, and english." Dominika paused as she decoded it in her head, "Warning, Dominika, Viktor is out of control. Ve will be there in a weeks time. He believes you are in danger and has hired over a million soldiers to retrieve you. I have tried to make him stop, tried to tell him that you are safe and alive, but I fear nothing can stop him now. He forced me to construct a flying Death Star of sorts that can blow up Pandora in a single shot just like in the movie. Please, sister, protect Pandora! I never vanted any of this to happen and I just wish that they vere left alone." Dominika stopped and frowned deeply.
"Wait...It's not your country?" Grace asked, "God." She murmured, rubbing her forehead.
Dominika was still, "Let me send a message back to him."
Grace nodded and transformed the tablet so it was projected in front of the taller woman.
I was planning on sending a fake body, but it appears I can no longer do that. Artur, you must listen to me carefully. If Viktor steps foot on this planet I will kill him. His petty decision of retrieving me is not worth the lives of the People. I have a life here. Don't let him see this message, I do not want to risk you. Be safe, brother.
Later
Artur looked up at the holographic screen and his eyes shook as he quickly deleted the message. He gulped as he heard footsteps, "Viktor."
Viktor looked at him absently, focused mainly on his tablet, "Put the ship into autoflight."
Artur felt dread as he put it into auto and turned around to face his brother, "Is there something wrong?"
"Oh many things are wrong." Viktor pulled something up on his tablet, "The emails are in my top five." He said with an eerie tone to his voice, "Emails addressed to my loyal brother."
"Emails?" Artur asked warily, backing up and standing behind the console. How did he even find those? "I haven't sent any emails."
Viktor stared him in the eye, "Don't play dumb. You have been sending warnings to that Augustine lady this whole time!" He yelled, his eyebrow twitching in anger, "You're trying to stop me, aren't you?" He whispered, shaking in rage at his brother's actions.
"If saving a race from being destroyed is stopping you...then I guess I am. Vhat's so wrong about that?" Artur asked, a bite in his voice as Viktor put the tablet away.
"What's wrong is that you don't want our sister saved!" Viktor stated, hand falling to something that was at his side. "She could be in danger and here you are trying to prevent her rescue. Do you even care about her!?"
He vouldn't… Artur thought, knowing exactly what was going to happen. "Viktor, she is my little sister too, I love her and vant her back as much as you do, but this isn't the vay to do it. Please, just leave them alone." Artur asked pleadingly, holding his hands up in surrender. "They have done nothing."
"They won't go down without a fight, they didn't with the Americans. If I don't do this they won't let her go." Viktor said lowly, pulling out the gun, his eyes full of blinding hatred.
"...Vhat happened to the brother I knew as a child?" Artur had nothing on him besides his tablet. His fingers began moving fast as he typed out what could be his last message to his sister.
VIKTOR IS GONE, KILL HIM DOMINIKA. IT'S THE ONLY WAY. DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME.
"Vhat happened to the man who vould protect his siblings on a battlefield? The man I looked up to? Vhat happened to him, Viktor?"
"He died when Mother betrayed us, he stayed dead when America betrayed me, and now with you also betraying me, he is long gone." Viktor switched the setting on his gun, a setting Artur recognized as the mind control/erase setting.
"Dominika knows about you. She's aware of your plans. She vill fight you if it comes down to it. If I am to be reprogrammed to be your mindless slave, let me say this." He glared, a rare look of hatred on his face, "You vere never my brother, you vill never be my brother and if mother could see you now...she vould be ashamed of you."
Viktor snarled and let out a roar of anger as he fired the weapon,the beam causing Artur's eyes to glaze over as he passed out. He walked over and picked up the tablet his brother had, canceling the email and taking it with him.
"Delusional."
The both of them were simply delusional.
The next chapter may end up being filler, I cannot guarantee that it will be, if it is I'll post a note and if it isn't, then well, no note.