A clue uncovered
Spider ran across the airfield, past working personnel and soldiers busily boarding the transports preparing for departure. He was very nearly hit by a pallet mover truck carrying a load of missiles, the driver cursing as he had to make a hasty break. Spider mumbled a hasty apology and kept on running.
"Sir! You cannot be in here! Stop!" Shouted one of the two guards chasing after him. But he paid them little mind, easily able to outpace them.
He came to one of the rotorcraft. "Hey! You headed to site 23? Give me a lift, I need to get there!" He said to the troopers that had just taken their seats on the aircraft.
The soldiers gave him confused looks. "What the hell? Why is a civvy trying to come with us? How'd he even get over here?" One commented, then glanced behind Spider to where the two guards were rapidly drawing closer.
"Got to be a reporter, looking for a scoop. Damn press…" Another said, chuckling to himself.
"No, wait. I'm not a reporter. I just need to…" Spider tried to explain.
"Look, buddy, it's a hot combat zone. Ain't no way we're dragging some random civvy ass over there without direct orders." The first soldier interrupted him. "Now back up. We're about to lift off."
Snickering amongst themselves, the soldiers paid him no further mind. With a grunt of frustration Spider stepped back. His eyes moved around, looking for another solution. He only had a few moments before the guards caught him and dragged him back out. Or straight to jail if they were sufficiently annoyed with him, which was entirely possible at the moment. It was then he spotted a familiar sight, and seeing his best chance he took off running again.
"Hey! I said stop! That's an order!" Shouted the guard from before, right at his heels now. He and his partner were held back by the propeller blast of the rotorcraft taking off, allowing Spider to gain some distance. Enough for him to reach his objective.
"Hey! Quaritch! Hey!" He said, breathless as he came to a stop before the door of a Kestrel where Quaritch and Wainfleet had just taken their seats.
"What the…? Spider? What are you doing here?" Quaritch asked.
"Site 23. I need a lift." Spider had time to explain.
At the moment the guards finally caught up with him, taking hold of Spider by his arms. "Sir, you're under arrest for trespassing in a secure area. Come peacefully and there needn't be further trouble."
"Hold! Hold just a moment! You're not taking him anywhere until we've had words." Quaritch barked an order at the guards just as they were about to start hauling him away.
"Please. One of my students is in there. I just need to make sure she's okay." Spider explained.
"It's going to be a war zone we're going to, Spider. I could just try to find this student of yours for you." Quaritch suggested.
Spider shook his head. "It has to be me. My students don't trust anyone as well as they do me. And she's my responsibility. I can't leave this to someone else."
Quaritch paused, then nodded. "Hop in then."
"Sir, this man has been placed under arrest. He's not going anywhere with you." The guard protested.
"Wrong. He's coming with me. And since I'm allowing him to be here he is no longer trespassing. You've got no business with him. So walk away and get back to work." Quaritch countered.
"Sir, I, that is… you've no right! I have my orders." The guard insisted.
Quaritch gave a mildly irritated smile, then slowly stood up to his full height. Forced to crane his head up the soldier swallowed hard, backing away a step.
"Now, listen here, buddy. By the looks of your chevrons you're a sergeant. Well, I happen to be a colonel in case you didn't notice. So I'm bringing him along and arguing about it with my superiors later. Are we clear?" Quaritch told the soldier.
A moment of pause from the guard. "…I'll still need to report this, sir."
"Oh, sure. You go right ahead and do that. I'll be writing my own report once we come back from this mission." Quaritch said lightly.
"Now shoo. We've got a job to do here." He concluded.
Annoyed, the guards turned around and headed back to their posts. And Quaritch turned his attention to Spider. "And you. Find yourself a seat and keep out of the way."
"Got it." He said, complying. "And… thanks."
Quaritch grimaced. "Don't know if thank you will cut it this time. I seriously stepped in the shit for you. Again. Don't know why I keep bothering to, but there it is."
"So who is this student of yours we're going to look for?" He asked.
"Her name us Ilsa. One of my older students. She was working at site 23 as an intern. The main reason I need to be here is because I don't want your goons going in and just shooting anything blue they find." Spider explained.
"Well it depends on her does it not? Because one thing straight, if she decides to attack my troops I won't stop them from shooting back." Quaritch said.
Spider closed his eyes, giving a worried sigh. "I seriously don't think it would come to that. She's not violent. And she's no different from any other worker you might come across. She's not likely to be any threat to you. So don't kill her just because she's scared."
Quaritch gave a nod to indicate he would do what he could.
"Assuming she's there at all. You realize she might have been killed already? Or the Blues may have taken her with them." He then pointed out.
"Even in that case I need to know what happened. And is she's still alive there… I need to make sure she's safe." Spider countered.
"Dude, you are being way too chummy with the Blue Monkeys. Don't know why they bother keeping them as pets to be honest. Easier to just shoot them in the head and be done with it I say." One of the soldiers snickered. Spider shot him a hostile glare. The soldier seemed unfazed and ready to continue taunting. But then he happened to spot Quaritch and his unimpressed expression and went very, very quiet.
"Do you know anything about the attack?" Spider asked Quaritch.
"Not much. Just got a radio report of them being under attack before all contact was lost. Until we know better we have to assume they're all gone." Quaritch replied.
"Do we know how many hostiles were attacking?" One soldier asked.
"Nope, not a clue about that." Quaritch answered. "Still, we're going in with three full companies. Ought to hold our own against anything we find. Nothing the Third cant handle, right?"
His comment got him a few quiet cheers of approval from the troops. Spider didn't join in.
"By the way, where is Sergeant Banda? I expected to see her here today." Quaritch asked another one of his soldiers.
"Uh, pregnancy leave, sir. Got approved for it about a week ago." The soldier said.
Quaritch raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Hadn't heard of that. Got to remember to send her a card or something."
On his seat Spider's frown deepened a fraction. Human children. Pandoran born human children, like himself.
It wasn't news though, merely brought to the forefront by this banter. His position as a teacher ensured he heard a lot about this. The so called *Day Ones, the eldest children conceived in the earliest days of colonization were already in preschool. Some of his coworkers were already tasked in planning the first year school curriculums.
He was told that in its time Hell's Gate had never been envisioned as a proper settlement. Sky People came, worked for a number of years, then rotated back to Earth. Few were those who elected to stay on long term. Kids were not in most people's minds back then. Nor would it have been approved by the Company's policies at the time. He was a rare exception, mostly because no one had had the guts to say no to their head of security. But now? Now everything was different.
There were hundreds of human children by now. And before long those numbers would run into the thousands. And every one would present a brand new dilemma for the Na'vi and the resistance. Even if they managed to defeat this second invasion and were able to push the humans away, what would they choose to do with the children born here? It was not something that had been in consideration before, not in his hearing at least.
Would the Na'vi have to accept that some humans, like himself, were here to stay no matter how things turned out? Or would they choose to only let them stay until they were old enough to go away? How would that even be managed in practice? How would they get the Sky People with their starships to cooperate? How would the children be cared for until they were old enough? And how would they keep the children from adding to their number as they reached majority? And what would keep the humans from returning for a third time?
Or would the Na'vi truly choose to do the unthinkable? As fond as he was of the Na'vi he was not sure he would be ok with that possibility. This was a problem he had no answer for as of yet. And he was not certain anyone else had either.
Now that he was old enough to give it some thought he had to wonder: what had been Jake's broader strategy in the war? The goal he had been aiming for? Had there been one? Or had it all just been an act of defiance for its own sake, with no greater goal than postponing the destruction of those around him?
As the swarm of rotorcraft sped onwards above the canopy of trees he spent his time pondering these questions. And praying to anything that might listen that Ilsa was alive and safe wherever she was. She was his responsibility. He could not allow himself to fail her in such a spectacular fashion.
"We've got visual on the target facility." Came the voice of the pilot from the cockpit a short while later.
Quaritch leaned to take a peek outside from the open sides of the aircraft, then nodded to himself.
"Very good. The rest of the Squadron is to hold position for now. Bring us in for a nice and slow circle around the compound. Let's see what kind of a scene we've got waiting for us there." He ordered.
"Copy that." The pilot replied.
As the aircraft turned to being its flight around the base, Spider got his first good look at the compound. First he saw the smoke rising from the burning fuel tanks.
Then the ravaged remains of the base itself.
"Wow. The savages really did a number on this place." One soldier commented.
"Goddamn terrorists…" Another grumbled.
As their pass continued, Spider could make out several human bodies amongst the ruins, many with huge arrows or javelins sticking out from their corpses.
"Is that a dead Hammerhead down there?" The first soldier from earlier noted.
"Looks like. I guess that's how the hostiles got past the perimeter defense grid." Quaritch commented.
"Didn't our guys fight back? Not seeing any dead Na'vi down there." The soldier wondered.
Quaritch shook his head. "The hostiles would have taken them with them. You'd only see them if they missed someone or there were too many to carry."
"Looks pretty quiet down there. No sign of any movement. I guess we're too late to the party." The pilot reported.
"No signs of survivors either." Spider thought to himself. He tried not to be disheartened by the fact. Someone could still be hiding somewhere.
Quaritch meanwhile nodded grimly at the pilot's comment, his hand then rising to his radio: "First Company, deploy into the base. Fan out and search the area, then establish a defensive perimeter. Second Company, deploy into the jungle. Do a sweep of the surrounding area. Make sure we are as alone here as we think we are. Third company, remain airborne and in reserve for now. Be ready to deploy to assist either group as needed."
After receiving a chorus of acknowledgements from his commanders Quaritch nodded to the pilot. "Take us in. Straight inside the base."
The RDA aircraft moved forward, heading towards their designated areas. In a few short moments they were touching down, troops disembarking, the ground filled with troops spreading out in all directions.
Spider too stepped out, his eyes searching for any signs of Ilsa. He felt the urge to run off and do his own search, to preferably find her before any of these soldiers did. He remembered all too well the ruthless efficiency of the Third from years ago. Under no circumstances would he entrust them with the safety of any of his wards. But he had the feeling the soldiers would be very upset at any unexpected behavior from him, so he resisted the impulse.
Close by Quaritch looked at him for several moments. "All squads be advised, there might be an allied Na'vi civilian on site. Check your targets and do not fire unless fired upon." He then ordered into his radio.
Spider moved with the soldiers, finding ever more signs of destruction. Many dead humans. And still no sign of Ilsa. He was beginning to wonder if she truly was gone. But then:
"Mister Socorro!?"
Spider turned, feeling an overwhelming wave of relief when he saw Ilsa emerge from behind nearby shelves.
"Ilsa!" He said, a smile appearing on his face. They ran to each other, Ilsa having to kneel to be able to do it properly.
"Ilsa. You're alright! You're ok…" He said, still hugging her.
"Yeah, I'm ok. I'm good. They didn't hurt me. But the others…" She replied.
"Jeremy's dead. Everyone's dead. It was so horrible… they killed everyone! Even those who weren't trying to fight. Monsters…" She sobbed.
Before Spider could offer her words of consolation it was Quaritch who piped up:
"Don't worry, kid. We're going to find the monsters that did this. And kill them."
It earned him a glare from Spider. But his offended expression faltered when he turned back and saw a look of interest on Ilsa's face, something dark gleaming in her eye.
"You're Quaritch, aren't you?" She asked, as she extracted herself from Spider's embrace.
"You know me?" Quaritch asked.
"Mr. Socorro has mentioned you from time to time. And very few others in the military you could be. You kind of stand out." She replied.
"So… you would hunt them? The one's who did this?" She asked.
"I would, yeah. But I could use your help with that. If there's anything you remember about the attack, anything you saw, that could be useful in putting me on the right track." Quaritch told her.
Spider opened his mouth to say this was not the time. That she had been through a traumatic ordeal and needed help, not an interrogation. Never mind that he didn't at all like the tone with which Ilsa had asked her question. But once again he was beaten to the punch.
"Come on, sir. She's one of them. Why would she tell us anything?" One of the soldiers commented.
The soldier got a look of disapproval from Ilsa, and Spider. And to the soldier's apparent surprise, from Quaritch as well.
"Why don't you go walk a few laps around the building, eh? Make sure our perimeter is secure." Quaritch commanded the trooper.
The soldier frowned in confusion. "Um… we're inside the fence, sir. And there's a whole company of our guys spread inside the compound. Why on earth would you need me to…?" He began to ask before tapering to a halt as he noticed Quaritch's expression.
The soldier raised his hands in defeat. "I'm going."
"Nice and slow pace now! No rush! Don't want to see you back here for the next hour!" Quaritch shouted after him.
Ilsa watched the soldier walk away. "Thanks for that." She then said to Quaritch.
"He was getting in the way." Quaritch commented.
"And he was wrong. I'm not one of them. I lost friends here today. If you'd kill the monsters back… I'd welcome it." She said. In the background Spider's worried frown deepened further.
"Then can you tell me about the attack? What do you remember?" Quaritch asked.
"I… was indoors at the time. I didn't see all of it. But I'll tell you as much as I can." She said.
She seated herself on a nearby crate. "It started, like, two or three hours ago. Feels like a whole other life now. We'd had a train drop off some cargo earlier, so me and a bunch of others were in the warehouse sorting the crates into place. Then suddenly an alarm starts blaring and we start hearing gunfire. The fence guns I suppose. Not sure. A couple soldiers in the warehouse with us rush outside and basically locked us in. Told us to stay put no matter what happened. For a while we just stood there, listening. There were gunshots, screams, explosions. We could hear the sound of something big rampaging just outside. The roars… they just chilled me straight to the bone." She detailed.
She paused, taking a shuddering breath. "And then… there was banging on the doors and we realized the attackers were going to break in. A lot of us just straight up panicked at that point. Our foreman had the emergency codes to a weapons locker with a couple handguns, so he starts handing out those to anyone who had it together enough to handle one. A bunch of others just armed themselves with whatever heavy tools they could find."
"Jeremy, a buddy of mine, told me to go hide behind the crates, so I did. I probably shouldn't have listened to him. But I was so scared. I didn't know what to do." She added.
"There was nothing you could have done." Spider tried to console her.
"Yes I could've. I could have fought with them. I could have hid someone else and maybe they'd be alive now too. Instead I just froze up and watched it all play out without doing a thing." She argued.
"The attackers broke in through the doors and… and just started killing anything in their path. Didn't matter if they were fighting or not. Our guys didn't stand a chance. I let everyone down." She continued, wringing her hands.
"I saw Jeremy hit one of them in the leg with a crowbar. And then… And then…"
She was unable to continue, tears rolling down her cheeks. Spider stepped closer, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"And they didn't find you?" Quaritch asked.
She shook her head. "Not when they were rampaging around. I got lucky. Two of them did come across me later on, but... they just asked me some stuff."
"What did they ask about?" He inquired.
"Who I was, where I had come from, how I had come to be here. They seemed very confused about me." She explained. "They wanted me to come with them. But I wouldn't go. I refused them, sir! I swear I refused!"
"I believe you, kid. After all, you're still here." He reassured.
"The hostiles… any notion which clan they might have been from?" He continued.
"Um… there were several different kinds. Don't know the clans but… there were both Sea Na'vi and Forest Na'vi. Some others I didn't even recognize. It's odd now I think of it. And strangely armed too. There were spears and bows, but also guns."
"Guns?" Quaritch repeated, narrowing his eyes in surprise. "You're sure of that?"
"Yeah. They pointed one at me. Saw it clear as day." Ilsa confirmed.
Quaritch nodded slowly, gears turning in his head as he considered the implications.
"Did you happen to catch names, something like that? It could be useful." He asked next.
Ilsa considered for a moment. "I do remember one. One of the one's that found me. A woman, of the Sea Peoples. Tsireya."
Spider's eyes widened briefly, though he was quick to hide the reaction. It was a name that rang a bell. His time with the Metkayina had been a brief one. But that one he remembered, because he had been good friends with the Sully children, hanging out with them a lot. With Lo'ak in particular as he had noted at the time. He did not know if Tsireya was a common name among the Metkayina, but if this was indeed the same Tsireya, alive and fighting, then that could well mean…
"And the other one? Did you happen to hear their name?" Quaritch pressed in the meantime.
"Come on, that's enough questions." Spider said, placing himself between Ilsa and Quaritch.
"She's been through an ordeal. She needs to heal. Leave her be." He continued.
Quaritch gave him a long look. Then he sighed, shrugging.
"Get her back to base. And have her scheduled for a psych eval. Then radio HQ that we've secured the area. Tell them go send a forensic team here to find out more details." He ordered his soldiers.
He pointed at Spider. "And you, go with her. You've found your student, so now you're done here. Won't have you underfoot any longer than necessary.
"Alright." He said, nodding. Truth to be told he was relieved to get away. He had been in the field with Quaritch a few too many times in his life for his liking. And he felt he was seriously pushing his luck with the favors he had asked today. Besides, Quaritch was right… he had what he had come here for. Perhaps more than that now…
"We may speak again later." Quaritch said to Ilsa.
"Of course, sir. I'll help however I can." She replied, that dark look in her eyes again. Spider too her and led her away with a few soldiers in tow. As they walked he was unable to completely keep himself from hurrying.
A spare rotorcraft was found for them, getting them on their way back to Bridgehead. The whole ride over his mind was afire with thoughts over what he had learned today. Lo'ak, Tuk… Kiri… they might be still alive. He did not want to get his hopes up prematurely, but all the same he was feeling more energized than he had in years. He had to know more about this. He would have to speak with Ilsa, find out what she knew. And somehow he needed to make sure he was the only one she spoke to about this. Her apparent willingness to assist Quaritch caused a chill in his bones. He needed to head that off, definitely…