Pandora: The Final Solution

I gratefully acknowledge one of the foremost creative geniuses of our times, James Cameron, for conceiving the lush moon Pandora and the "noble savages," the Na'vi, that inhabit it. This chapter uses one character and the setting he created for his movie, Avatar. I have not received any money for my work based on Avatar. If I could get paid by the hour for these stories, I would retire and spend all my time dancing and writing in comfort.

Chapter 13: ISV Venture Star

Parker Selfridge is livid. "What do you mean, you can't leave? I've got to get back to Earth as soon as possible. Come on, let's go! Go! Go! Go!"

Captain Gustav is doing his best to hold his temper. Administrator Selfridge may have lost his command through gross negligence, and this officer is determined to keep Selfridge from causing more mistakes. "We cannot break orbit until everyone from Hell's Gate, including you, are in cryo. Those that vanquished your forces did not prep most of you before sending you up here. Even with the emergency toilets installed, your people are being processed as fast as possible. It could go faster if we got some help from Hell's Gate. We also need some consumables, but apparently no one in Hell's Gate is hearing our hails."

"I told you, they destroyed the command center. Doctor Max Patel knocked down the outside walls and roof with a boom mower before the avatars swarmed in and shot the freakin' place all to hell. There's no one listening, and the only people that could fix it, the SecOps tech team, are either dead or up here. You're not going to get any supplies, so let's get out of orbit. Now!"

"We will not break orbit until everyone is in cryo, and that's final! Only the ship's crew have the training and spaces to deal with the boost phase. Your people will be bouncing off bulkheads injuring themselves, and we have only a minimal complement of medical staff, thanks to you. The longer you hold me up, the longer it will be until we break orbit. I have a meeting now with my command staff and I'm late. The most useful thing you can do right now is write up your report to RDA. Make it short and to the point. If you don't stop wasting the time of me and my staff, I will have you confined in a cargo hold until that report is ready to transmit, and then I will have you put straight into cryo without the proper preparations!"

Parker knows that skipping cryo prep is usually very painful and sometimes fatal when thawing out, but the fact that this captain can threaten him like this tells him volumes. This encounter is another waste of time. "You think I've never used the FTL before? You think I don't know how to write a condensed report for FTL?"

"I know you have, but you are not doing that right now. Get to work, and stay out of our way. You lost Hell's Gate, and maybe spacing you would be a mercy killing." Captain Gustav is looking straight into Selfridge's eyes, and his face is turning red with his barely restrained anger.

Selfridge sees that he has pushed the captain too far again. "OK! OK! I'll get to work on the report, but I really need to get back, pronto."

"We all want to get home as soon as we can, but not at the cost of more lives. I do not sacrifice the lives of others to increase my bonus!" The Captain pushes past Selfridge and heads to the wardroom for his meeting.

Parker shakes his head and mutters to himself "I can't... I can't... What do I have to do to get through to these military types?"

The Captain works his way through the crowded passageways towards the wardroom in the officer's country in one end of the rotating habitat module. It seems that every cubic millimeter of habitable space has been taken over by the refugees from Hell's Gate. His ISV crew has trained for this emergency on numerous occasions, but nothing has prepared them for having the habitat module stuffed full of humanity like it is now.

Captain Gustav strides into the wardroom and sees its back tables and floor covered with refugees. He stops and addresses the newcomers. "I am sorry, ladies and gentleman, but I need the entire wardroom for a command staff meeting. Please find somewhere else to go for the next hour or so. Thank you for your cooperation." As the Captain takes his place at the front table, the refugees pack up and file out, the last one closing the door.

Once he is alone with his staff, he speaks "Sorry I'm late. I was accosted by Parker Selfridge again."

Everyone around the table groans, most have had multiple run-ins with him already.

"I'm hoping he dies of withdrawal from Scotch and cigars."

"Permission to space him with the garbage, sir!" That gets lots of laughs.

The captain replies "As tempting as that sounds, we better keep him alive until we deliver him to Earth. Who knows whose ears he has in RDA back home. Pandora was RDA's top profit center until this fiasco. I don't know if Selfridge will be publicly hanged or promoted."

The ship's doctor appears in the doorway. "Sorry I'm late, sir."

"I understand, doctor, sit down. With all the problems caused by evacuating Hell's Gate, you've got stuck with the worst."

"Thank you, Captain." She closes the door and plops into the seat closest to the door. She rubs her face with her hands before running them over her hair to flatten it somewhat into place.

"We have had some time to see how this evacuation has affected our departments. Doctor, I'll start with you, so you can get back to your new patients. How's it going? Have you been getting enough sleep?"

"No, sir, but I'll have lots of time to sleep on the trip home. Thanks to Engineering for getting the emergency heads installed. They have been in use non-stop since they became operational. The most seriously injured were prepped before the flight up here, so they went straight into cryo. The walking wounded were not prepped, and we have been processing them as fast as we can. The uninjured will go last, and we won't get to them for several more days. Any chance of getting help from Hell's Gate? Apparently the entire medical staff stayed, and the only avatar driver up here is a microbiologist. She has been helping out, but, really, all she can do is cryo prep, handing out the laxative pills, the bottles of G.I. cleaning solution, and cup after cup of water. The rest of us deal with the injuries, making them cryo-ready."

"My guess is that the entire medical staff on Pandora is working overtime with the injured Na'vi from the battle SecOps lost. The med techs that are up here on rotation, have they said anything to you?"

"Yes, sir. They are disappointed that they are stuck here. Both want to return to Hell's Gate."

"That's one money saving idea I've always hated, using the avatar med staff for the ship's company. I'm glad I don't have to worry about losing you."

"Thank you, sir. They all start out with human medical training. If they are good enough, the tops in their specialties, they get selected by RDA for avatar medicine. They do the ship's crew because they have to in order to get to Pandora."

"These people spend their whole lives trying to get to Pandora. No wonder they mutinied when Selfridge shut them down. Do you need more help, doctor? This is not a criticism of you, but we are not getting these people prepped quickly enough."

"We need more facilities, more heads. Any chance of getting more installed somewhere?"

"Chief Engineer, can you do any more?"

"No, Captain. We have all emergency and spare units in service now. Even moved some junior officers out of their quarters so their heads could be used."

"Send me a list of those displaced officers, I'll commend them."

"Aye, Captain."

"If Hell's Gate is willing, is there anything they could do for us?"

"We could install more heads in the exercise room, if we had them. But, we've already maxed out the reclamation units and are short of water for the whole system. All emergency and spare carbon dioxide scrubbers are also online and maxed out. I understand that Hell's Gate has emergency head strings, H2O reclamation units, and CO2 scrubbers in their ISV equipment warehouse. And, we are short on consumables. We can get home, but we're on the edge, especially with some lubricants and sealants. We could use more welding gasses, acetylene, oxygen, hydrogen, helium, argon, carbon dioxide. Too bad we can't bottle CO2 from our breathing air. A good portion of the industrial capabilities at Hell's Gate is solely to supply the ISVs for the return leg to Earth. I'll be happy to look over the stores and send you a list, if it is worth the time."

"Do that, please. I can't make any promises, but we need to do something to get out of here faster. The more items we request, the stronger our argument that we are not ready to leave becomes. But, we cannot be greedy, or they will think it is a ploy."

"Yes sir, Captain. Unless something has broken down during this meeting, I'll get on it right away."

Looking to the Quartermaster, the Captain asks "Do you need anything? I'm sure our food stores have been hit hard with all these refugees."

"Yes, Captain. Fortunately, they did put some tanks of raw food paste on the shuttle, and there are still a number of food crates in the cargo holds meant for Hell's Gate. But, until we get them all into cryo, they'll be eating up our stores."

"Make up a list for me, too."

"Aye aye, Captain."

"Doctor, do you need any more help?"

"No, sir, not at the moment. I will if we get more heads in service for cryo prep."

"Very good. Let me know if your needs change. You may leave now."

"Thank you, Captain." She stands up, stretches her back before sliding her chair under the table, turns, and heads out of the wardroom.

"Master-at-arms, how are our new passengers behaving?"

"Surprising well, considering the circumstances. There have been a few flare ups over the no smoking, alcohol, or drugs policy while we are in this over-crowded condition. We intercepted most contraband as they disembarked the shuttle, but some got through. Now the fights are over sleeping places in the habitation module. Most ground pounders can't sleep in zero gee. Between the tight quarters, injuries, and lack of sleep, these outbursts are expected."

"I know your personnel scanned the DMTs of everyone coming off the shuttle. Any surprises?"

"Well, the one avatar driver was a surprise, and getting no med staffers was another. A couple of SecOps officers from Quaritch's staff logged us into the station's computer system. Guess no passwords have been changed. I ordered them to not wipe the systems yet."

"Good. Do not wipe the Hell's Gate system without my say. Make sure they know that."

"Aye, Captain. We have uploaded the personnel files for everyone from Hell's Gate and cross-matched the files to our list of names. It appears that we have most maintenance and engineering personnel on board."

"Excellent. These avatar jokers gave up the very people that could keep them alive. That gives us some bargaining power. How are the debriefings coming along?"

"Although Quaritch led his forces into the field in the Dragon, he kept most of his staff back at Hell's Gate coordinating the attack via radio. Unlike Quaritch, they survived. They, too, want to know what happened, and have taken on the task of interviewing everyone here that was in the attack."

"Do you trust them?"

"Only enough to know that they will make sure it is not their fault. Any report they make is going to be a hard sell back on Earth. I've been asking around and find it hard to believe what I'm hearing."

"Fill us in."

"We brought a paraplegic former Marine out here in cryo, a Corporal Jacob Sully. His twin brother Thomas was a PhD avatar driver killed in a robbery just before we departed from Earth. RDA recruited Jacob just in time to take his brother's place. He had no training, no understanding at all of Pandora. A copy of his military records made the flight out here in our computer, thanks to Colonel Quaritch, and I found it intriguing. Jacob made it into First Recon, the best of the best, but he always resisted promotions or taking on leadership roles, a lone wolf type. Took a career ending spinal injury in Venezuela before that became an issue. Then he came out here. Apparently, on his very first sortie into the jungle, a thanator separated his avatar from the avatars of Dr. Grace Augustine, the head of the avatar program on Pandora, and another. His avatar was saved by the daughter of the leaders of the local clan, and stayed with the clan after that. Here is the weird part. Three months later, after SecOps destroyed the tree where this clan lived, he is married to that very same daughter, appears to be the ruler of all Na'vi, and flies on a great leonopteryx. He commanded a combined force of over two thousand Na'vi when Quaritch attacked their new home up in the mountains. By all accounts, the SecOps forces had the Na'vi on the run, both on the ground and in the air. Then, the wild animals attacked, routing the humans. The wild banshees even attacked the gunships. SecOps lost two thirds of their ground forces and over three fourths of their pilots. Witnesses say Corporal Sully brought down the Valkyrie and Dragon single-handedly."

"So, a grunt who wants no part of command marries into the ruling family and becomes the king. They lure the SecOps forces into their territory and stampede the local animals to trample them. They fly their tame banshees to push flocks of wild banshees into the gunships. What about the avatars?"

"According to the SecOps staffers, when it became clear that no deal with the Na'vi was possible, the avatar program became pointless. So, Selfridge shut them down. All personnel on the avatar program, except for some of the medical staff, were scheduled to leave on the next shuttle. However, that flight was canceled due to the massing of the Na'vi in the mountains. Quaritch declared Threat Condition Red and took over. It appears that Quaritch forgot about the avatars in the face of the Na'vi build up, or never took them seriously. Those in the avatar program had nothing more to lose, and everything to gain. The only way they could stay on Pandora was by attacking and defeating SecOps, which they did."

"The avatars at Hell's Gate were waiting for transportation back to Earth, since Selfridge fired them and no longer wanted them on Pandora. Their lives were focused on studying Pandora or the Na'vi, and he put an end to their dreams. They took advantage of the skeleton crew Quaritch left at Hell's Gate and rebelled. Sounds reasonable to me."

"Aye aye, Captain. That sums it up nicely."

"Keep up your interviewing and document everything you can, all the details. We will be asked to provide our own report, so we will send them your report and interview notes. I'm expecting requests from Earth for clarification about my emergency flash, so I'll write a quick summary after this meeting and send it out. Keep up the good work. If you need help, let me know."

"Aye aye, Captain. Thank you."

"Since Hell's Gate is not listening to our hails, I'm thinking that the SecOps staff should send an email to everyone there asking someone in charge to contact us. Any discussion?"

"That will give away our access to their computers."

"If they haven't changed the passwords, that tells me they don't know how to take control of the system. So much for PhDs running Hell's Gate." That gets some head nods and chuckles. "Master-at-arms, have SecOps send an email to everyone in Hell's Gate requesting their leader to contact the captain of the ISV Venture Star to discuss providing the items we need to leave orbit. They can reply via email, but radio is best, if they can use it. I want to talk the their leader, in person if possible. I suspect they do not understand their situation, and I want to plant the seeds of doubt."

"Aye aye, Captain."

"The doctor is getting the injured into cryo. I'm wondering if we can find any uninjured maintenance or engineering personnel that want to stay. Someone has to shut down the unused systems and keep everything else running."

"The SecOps personnel will not like that, Captain. We don't want another mutiny."

"Yes, I'm sure the SecOps personnel want the avatars and their friends to die. But, we need their help, and if we can keep Hell's Gate from collapsing or blowing up because of lack of maintenance, we can make the case with SecOps and RDA back home that we are protecting the assets they need to retake Pandora. Maybe we should have the SecOps staff join us here after we are done, and explain the situation to them. Any discussion?"

The master-at-arms speaks up "That's a great idea, Captain. By getting the SecOps leaders working with us, like picking out personnel they trust to keep Hell's Gate working, they will be much more likely to keep everyone in line."

"I am not including Parker Selfridge in this discussion." Everyone around the table laughs in agreement with their captain. "He has his assignment and orders. I bet if I use the intercom to summon the SecOps staff, he'll appear. Master-at-arms, please gather up the SecOps staff, quietly. Detain Selfridge if he tries to barge in."

"Aye aye, sir." He strides out the wardroom, closing the door behind him.

"Is there anything else to discuss?"

"We have to work out a totally different weights and balances for the trip home now that we have so many more humans and are short one Valkyrie. Can't really work that out until we know what equipment and stores Hell's Gate will provide."

"That's good for everyone to know. Put out a memo to the crew once you work out what has to relocated to get into flight trim. I think we have most of the processed unobtainium on board now. I'll ask for the rest along with everything else on your lists. We will have many more humans in cryo than planned, but my guess is that we'll be running light. Let flight ops know which docking mast the remaining Valkyrie will ride home on."

"Aye, Captain."

"If Hell's Gate lets us land, we should off-load all unnecessary cargo and scrap like exo-packs from those in cryo. Maybe we can shave some time off the trip if we can lighten up enough."

"Aye, Captain."

The door cracks opens and the master-at-arms slides his head inside. "Captain, the SecOps staff from Hell's Gate are here."

The Captain stands, causing his staff to stand. "Bring them in, please." Once everyone is inside and the door is closed, the captain says "Welcome aboard. I am Captain Pieter Gustav, master and commander of the ISV Venture Star. I apologize for not having a proper ceremony to greet you, but your arrival was unanticipated and we have been very busy since you docked. Thank you for working with our master-at-arms. My weekly command staff meeting has just ended, so after introductions, my staff will be getting back to their duties. A few of us will remain, as we need your help in understanding the situation in Hell's Gate. We cannot leave until we get everyone into cryo, and we can speed that up considerably if we can get some equipment and supplies from the folks on the ground. I am also concerned that they did not keep the personnel required to run the place, and Hell's Gate will be needed intact when SecOps returns in force to resume RDA mining operations. Now, let me introduce my staff..."