The Arrival
"Acknowledged, Reykjavik Control. Beginning approach to Earth orbit. Autopilot set. Expect to begin docking maneuvers with space elevator number fifteen in about four hours. ISV Ceres out." Said the pilot of a starships, entering the final few commands to her computer, holographic displays and machinery all around her.
"Julia, come take a look at this." Another crewman called her over, looking out a viewing port. Julia looked back at her console, wondering if it would be appropriate for her to leave her post. But as she had just put on autopilot and did not expect to be needed for significant maneuvers for several hours yet, she decided she could afford a brief distraction. She opened her seatbelt and floated over.
"What?" She asked when she arrived. Her crew member nodded towards the window, so she looked outside. And then her mouth fell open in awe.
"Oh. My. God. It's beautiful." She whispered, smiling as she stared out the window.
"They've made a lot of progress. It looks like it's just about ready to come online." She commented.
"It's been twelve years. If they hadn't made any progress in that time I think the RDA would be suing the contractors." Another voice spoke up, two more crewmen drifting over to them.
"Captain Aylesworth!" Julia greeted.
"Timothy." She added a smiling aside to the other crewman, receiving a nod.
Aylesworth drifted over to take a look outside as well. "Well, that is quite a sight. Rather different from the mess of struts and tubes we left behind, isn't it? And far cry from the grimy old docking station we usually put our ship to."
"Construction berths for thirty ships at a time, isn't that right?" Asked the third crewman.
"Yeah, once production starts. And the same number of docking cradles to maintain ships already in circulation. And to think that there are four more such stations out there." The captain said.
"That is progress. By God that is progress!" He said in wonderment.
"And speaking of progress, how are we doing? What's our status?" He then asked.
"I just programmed the approach course to the autopilot. About four hours to docking position." Julia explained.
Aylesworth nodded, satisfied. "Good. Very good. But it won't be long before we start moving to heavily trafficked lanes. So let's get back to our posts."
With that said the four of them drifted back to their seats, strapping themselves in.
"So, Timothy, any plans for the three weeks before we turn back around?" Julia asked as she worked her console.
"The usual. Hit groundside, get to home turf, burn through a solid chunk of my pay getting absolutely wasted in my favorite bars. Want to come with?"
Julia chuckled. "Sure, count me in. Sounds like a fun time. Been a while anyway, since Pandora doesn't yet have decent places to get a drink at. And you have a good taste in bars. I just hope your favorite places are still standing after twelve years away."
"That's half the fun of it. To go see what places are still up and running, and finding new ones that sprung up in their stead. " Timothy replied lightly.
"Liam, want to come along? We could give you a tour?" Julia suggested.
"Yeah. Julia knows you but I've only seen our newest crewmember at work. I think we could stand to change that." Timothy echoed.
"Would love to, but can't. Got family to visit. Been away too long to skip it now." Liam answered.
"Wait, family? Seriously?" Timothy said, astonished.
"Oh don't get me started." Julia replied rolling her eyes. "I told him the very day he submitted an application to this post: This isn't a job for people with family. But this idiot launches into the stars with a wife and a twelve year old kid back here on Earth. Well guess what? His son is now twenty four. And I'm quite sure his wife isn't getting any younger either."
"What can I say? Earth-Pandora flights pay a lot better then commercial flights in system. Negotiated a deal with my bank to have most of the money paid forward to my wife's account. Plus I managed to secure them a set of the Gold Tickets too." Liam replied.
That certainly caught Julia's attention. "What? Gold Tickets? Are you shitting me?"
"Not at all. It was an extra compensation since I have a family. The company needs every starship crewman they can get their hands on."
"I can confirm that. They're on our passenger manifest. We'll be tucking them into cryo when we head back next." Aylesworth commented.
"Yup. The wife's going to continue her job as a dentist when we get there. And my boy, he has a nice job lined up as a school teacher."
"A teacher? Really?" Timothy asked.
"Well the colony will be thirteen years old by that point. Ought to have a need for teachers by that time." Liam explained.
"What about you then?" Julia asked.
"I figure I do this one last trip to Pandora, then get employed doing cargo flights in system. I've missed out on enough of my son's life. And there is plenty of work there, seeing how they're planning to develop the gas giant and the other moons. Lots of stuff to be moved around."
"Well… kind of a shame to see you go your own way so soon. Feels like you just got here. And I suppose from our perspective that's about right too, time spent frozen not counting." Timothy contemplated.
"But hey, it sounds like you worked out a pretty sweet deal with the company. Guess Julia and I will be toasting your new life on Pandora." He added.
"You bet." Julia piped up.
"Thanks." Liam said.
"Say… once we dock and start offloading our cargo, do we have any instruction about our special cases?" Timothy asked after a moment of silence.
"Yeah, Reykjavik Control gave the instructions. Once we dock with the space elevator we're to have them stashed to hangar 42. Word is the RDA is going to have a maglev pick them up, carry them the rest of the way. Don't know where they're going to end from there though." Julia explained.
"Better we don't ask. I'd rather have them out of our hands as soon as possible." Aylesworth commented.
"I'll say. Got a good look at their capsules a while back. Big critters. Would be kind of scary if they weren't both asleep." Timothy said.
"Agreed. They creep me out, seriously. Can't wait to get them off our ship." Julia said.
"Have to say, when I took to spacing I never expected it to get as exciting as our last trip to Pandora was. I mean, first that bombing mission Ardmore sent us on, and now the prisoners in our cargo hold." She added.
"Yeah, not exactly part of our mission profile that bombing." Liam said.
"To be fair I did try to talk us out of that." Aylesworth commented.
"Did you ever. Not that it did much good though." Liam replied.
"Say… did the rest of you guys hear about the effects that attack had planetside?" He asked.
"Sure did. Freaky stuff. All the better that it's now over and done with." Timothy said.
"And six years old news at this point. With a little luck Ardmore will have blasted clean through the Na'vi by the time we swing back around again. And then it will be nice and routine for us then on. So let's just get ourselves docked and our cargo offloaded, so we can leave this ugly business behind us.
"Agreed…" Julia said.
Hours later the Ceres docked with the space elevator, her cargo loaded to climber pods and lowered to the planet's surface. There, in sheeting acidic rain workers in yellow raincoats unceremoniously stashed Jake and Neytiri's cryo pods into one of the warehouses within the starport. There they stayed for several hours. Finally a maglev arrived for them and they were loaded onboard, along with a number of other cargo. The workers did not notice one of their number hiding a tracker in the car where the cryo pods were loaded…
Later a maglev was speeding onwards under the setting sun, moving though a range of mountains.
"So how long until we reach the prison?" A train operator asked from another.
"About forty more minutes." The second answered. He yawned. "Long day."
"Yeah. But at least our shift is almost over. Just one more stop before…" The first driver said before they both grunted in surprised alarm, tossed around in their seats as the train suddenly fell down onto the tracks. A huge shower of sparks flew in all directions as the train slid and screeched to a stop.
"Woah… you ok!?" The first driver asked once they had finally stopped moving.
"Oof… yeah, I'm ok." The second said, dragging himself up from the ground where he had fallen. "What the hell happened?"
"Looks like power unexpectedly cut to the rail line. Emergency breaks kicked in." The first replied t.
"Oh great. So we're stuck now." The second grumbled.
"Looks that way." The first said. "Well there's no use crying about it. Okay, let's go see how the security team is doing and check for other damage. Then we'll have the central station send a rescue and repair team here."
The pair turned towards the door. But as he was turning one of them noticed movement outside the windows, coming from high, on the mountainside. He stopped, staring in puzzlement. The he had just enough time to open his mouth to shout a warning before a rocket broke in through the window and exploded in the control room.
On the slopes a figure in winter camouflage looked on through binoculars as the windows of the locomotive shattered, flames appearing from the ruined front of the train only moments later.
"Good shot Belgae squad. We'll make our approach. Give us cover." She said into her helmet radio.
"Will do." An answer came.
"Saxon and Vandal squads, move in and secure target. Iceni squad, keep a lookout for enemy birds." She ordered.
Next to her a pair of troopers were loading a grappling hook launcher. The other end was firmly embedded to the mountainside, then an armor piercing harpoon pierced the hull of the train, the motors of the launcher pulling the cable taut in seconds. To the left and right more cables were being fired at the train. The commander approached the cable and was about to attach herself to it with a hook on her belt. But just then a number of windows on one of the train's cars were broken from the inside. Bullets began whizzing out from the train, peppering the snow around them, her troops diving for cover.
She too ducked behind a rock, then fired a few shots with the assault rifle she was carrying. Then a second rocket streaked from somewhere in her periphery, blasting open the side of the train car, the fire coming to an abrupt halt.
"Hey, hey, hey! Belgae, don't overdo it with the rockets! Objective at risk." She ordered sharply.
"Roger, restraining fire. Sorry about that." Belgae squad leader apologized.
"We're cool. That didn't look like a freight car. And stellar shooting as always. But don't forget what we're here for. Small arms and non-lethal grenades from now on. The rockets have done their job." She replied.
"Roger that. Small arms and non-lethal grenades." Belgae leader said.
"Come on. Let's get it done." She said to the soldiers near her, then finished attaching herself to the cable. She slid down, arriving at an intact window. After checking no enemies were in sight she moved to the side, letting another fighter arrive. They nodded at each other and took aim at the glass. A few shots from both of them fractured the window, the job finished by blows from their rifle stocks. After raking the edges to clear the remaining fragments they entered the train, detaching themselves and darting to the nearest cover. They waited for several seconds, watching for enemies. Then the commander motioned for them to advance down the corridor. Behind them other soldiers began arriving one by one.
The two of them picked their way through two freight cars without incident, advancing at a measured pace, checking every corner and crevasse as they moved forward. She had just opened the door to the third car when there was a loud bang, a bullet just missing her.
"Shit!" She cursed, taking cover behind the wall next to the door, firing a few blind shots around the corner. There was more shooting, bullets ricocheting from the walls around her.
"Flashbang." She declared, sending a grenade to roll down the hall, then turning her head aside.
There was a loud boom, after which she immediately stepped out from behind the corner. She saw a soldier in and RDA uniform, swaying after the flashbang, trying to recover his bearings, his gun on the ground. One gunshot later the soldier fell, a hole in his chest.
"Got him. Looks like he was alone. Whew, that was a close one. Are you o-?" She said, starting to turn around before freezing. The trooper with her was unmoving on his back, his throat a red ruin.
She took a moment to make sure there really were no other enemies nearby, then walked to the body. She went to one knee and looked down at her trooper, sighing heavily. She put her hand on his shoulder for a few moments, then removed a small metal plate attached to a thin chain from around his neck. Then she resumed her cautious advance along the train.
She had not made it far when she heard movement ahead. She moved to cover again and raised her weapon, but then relaxed as she recognized her troops from Vandal squad.
"Commander. The train is clear behind us." A soldier greeted as she stood up to meet them.
"We heard some shooting. Everything good?" He asked.
"Lone RDA grunt. We lost Cooper." She said, raising the dog tag in her hand.
"Cooper? Fuck." The soldier said, shaking his head.
The commander's radio then crackled to live. "Saxon calling Hildr. Saxon calling Hildr. We found the targets. Freight car number seven. Safe and sound."
"I'm on my way." She said, smiling. "You stand watch here. We'll be leaving for home soon." She told Vandal squad, then left back the way she had come.
She walked to the far end of the train, into the rearmost freight car. There she came across Saxon squad, examining a pair of huge cryo pods. She went to the closest one, wiping hoarfrost from the small viewing port on top of it. Inside she saw the face of a tranquil looking Na'vi woman, coated in a thin layer of frost. She checked the other as expect finding a Na'vi man sleeping within.
"There you are. At last. Six years we had to wait, but you're finally here with us. Hopefully we won't have to wait for much longer before we can talk." She mused.
"All squads, area clear. Precious cargo located and secure." She said into her radio.
"Iceni, are our skies still clean?" She asked.
"Confirmed, no enemy bogeys in sight." Iceni leader reported.
"Excellent." She said.
"Hildr to Parthia team. Come in Parthia, over." She then signaled.
"Hildr, this is Parthia. Send your traffic, over." Came the response.
"Area is secure, we're ready for extract. Precious cargo in possession. You're clear to make your approach." She said.
"Understood, Air Cav is inbound. We'll be on your position in about twelve minutes." Parthia team said.
"Good." She said with a nod.
"Iceni, our airlift has been called. Should be about twelve minutes out. Check your targets. All teams, let's get ready to get the hell out of here. Vandal, Saxon, move Precious Cargo outside for their liftoff and set the charges on the train." She continued.
"Commander, there are other goods here too. Weapons, ammo, foodstuffs. Probably headed for the prison facility. Should we secure it?" One of the troopers nearby asked.
She considered for a moment, then shook her head to herself. "No time for proper looting today. There's no telling when enemy flyers might show up to investigate. If you can grab it and run with it, fine. But leave everything else."
"…There is one of our casualties a few cars that way. We're bringing him with us." She ordered, pointing back the way she had come.
The soldier nodded and walked where she had pointed.
For the next twelve minutes she walked up and down the train, ensuring everything was proceeding smoothly. Then she heard a rumble of engines coming from the outside. Looking outside from a destroyed section of the train she saw a squadron of Samsons arriving, moving to land.
"Right on time." She commented.
She and her troops returned outside and began to board, the cryo pods secured to a pair of Samsons with thick cables
"Commander, charges set and synched." The Saxon squad leader said as she entered the passenger compartment, handing her a detonator.
She nodded. "Squads, roll call. Belgae?"
"Accounted for and ready for liftoff."
"Vandal?"
"Ready."
"Iceni?"
"Onboard."
"Saxon?" She asked of the squad leader next to her
"Accounted for. One casualty. KIA." The leader reported, dutiful but somber.
She nodded grimly. "Parthia, squadron, teams accounted for. Liftoff, liftoff."
The Samsons took to the air again, the cryo pods slung under the rotorcraft carrying them.
She waited for a while as the train began to recede, then lifted the cover on the detonator, reveling the button.
"Parthia, confirm clear?" She asked.
"Clear confirmed. Detonate when ready." The lead pilot said.
"Understood. Detonating… now!" She said, and pressed the button.
There was a chain of explosions, the train torn to shreds, taking a section of the maglev line along with it. Cheers from all the teams as the train went up.
She smiled at the sight. "The job's done. Let's go home. Good work today, everyone."
As they were flying away from the scene of destruction she looked again at the dog tag she had retrieved.
"I hope this thing was worth it…" She whispered.
"So it's as we feared? You can't get them open?" The commander asked much later, back in their home base.
"I did not say that. What I said is that it's going to take time." Replied a technician. "I've got the bypass software running on both capsules but… it's a very nasty encryption we're dealing with. The computer projects cracking a code set could take years at worst." The technician said.
The commander sighed. "We already had to wait for six years for them to get here. I'm not going to wait any longer on this. We're going with the plan B then. Thank goodness we had some early warning this might be the case."
"Have these pods brought to the Doc's lab so we can get started on the memory recording." She ordered.
"Got it." The technician said.
The commander nodded and was about to leave when she turned back.
"I assume the rest of this won't be a problem at least? The hardware, the software?" She asked.
"I'm confident I can MacGyver something together." The technician said.
"Good." The commander said. "If you need anything- parts, tools…"
"…I'll be sure to come straight to you to ask for them." The technician said.
The commander nodded one final time and departed.