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Description
Scout

"One of the first orders of business is getting the mining operation back up and running." Said Director Parker Selfridge to the militiamen, colonists and RDA soldiers gathered before him. We spoke in what was basically his standard issue executive public speaking voice: clear methodical and unbiased, with a tinge of condescending. "We need to do this in order to help cover costs and create a sustainable source of income for the colony. In the past few days, we have successfully started up farms, lumberjack operations and a small engineering outpost on the base, but we need to start up the mining operations as we know many of you miners are still having to sit on your asses, waiting for mining sites to be cleared and scouted." He smiled. "This is just about to be addressed."

"You mean that you haven't been working on it for the past two weeks?" shouted out a tired looking miner, who had to drown his boredom in a flood of alcohol.

Parker sighed in a frustrated fashion but quickly regained his composure again. "I can assure you that we have all been quite busy for these past weeks. Between the construction and repair work there has been a lot of work to do. But now we are about to move on with the next phase."

He brought up the 3D projector online. On it swirled a representation of the colony and the surrounding area. In about two weeks, the repairs had been mostly complete to the base. The perimeter was up again, defences had been brought online again, new buildings were constructed, and militia were doing their field exercises in the training yards set up under the watchful eye of RDA supervisors. Generally, everything was going to plan.

"We believe that the old mines and refinery left over from the last administration still have a reasonable amount of Unobtainium in them. However, the place is still not secure. That's where our friendly militia come in." He signalled to some of the militiamen seated near the front. "These fine gentlemen here are going to head to the mines and secure them for us. It will be their first real test outside the base perimeter."

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The chopper ride to the DZ was not exactly exciting, but it gave most of the militia who were on the op a chance to see the sights and sounds of Pandoran jungle from the air. There were five Samson helicopters delivering the militiamen about ten klicks to RDA ESM-1; the old Unobtainium mine that the RDA used to run. Everyone on board the choppers was gaping at the scenery. Most of them were city people in nature, with few of them having seen what little countryside there was left on Earth. Alex was felt like he was in one of the old fantasy novels his uncle used to read to him. Mac just watched it all with the same attention as if he was watching an Oscar winning film. Same with Noh, who would then just go and randomly comment on something that he sees. Like "Why does everything here have six legs?"

They past natural wonders. Things that seemed to suppose to only come from fantasy games and novels. There were great trees, towering over the land, so that when the Samson's flew close to the waters of the rivers, the crew got the full impression. They flew over waterfalls, great cascades of water that seemed to go on forever into mist. They flew under great stone arches that seemed to rise up out of the ground, like the ribs of a Titan. And in the distance, they saw solitary trees that towered of the rest of the landscape like skyscrapers and off in the horizon, they could just make out the great flying mountains of Pandora.

Suddenly Alex felt a huge feeling of loss. When he was little, he used to watch old history videos on planet Earth. Now, after seeing this world that his own might have been, he felt one thing that he whispered to himself.

"Boy we really fucked up our own world huh?"

Everyone was silent. Alex then realised that he accidently voiced it on the radio.

Captain Halverson gave him a look. It was hard at first, but then seemed to soften into sadness. A voice on the radio sighed "Yeah... we did." The rest of the trip was done in silence.

The Site was like a great big pimple scar on the surface of Pandora. The mines were three pits dug into the ground that even six years of nature couldn't take back. They seemed like almost abhorrent bits of khaki land on a sea of green. The place was barren and lifeless.

"Okay folks, we are about to touch down in a few seconds, get ready." The pilot radioed.

The Samson's then landed on the ground. The Militia got out of the choppers and began securing the area. The sun was beating down that afternoon, so the place reminded Alex of a desert. They checked the abandoned mining vehicles, the roads and the perimeter. Five minutes later the radios squawked again.

"Alpha clear."
"Bravo clear."
"Delta... cleared."
"Where's Charlie?"

A militiaman came running towards Halverson. "Boss, my team's radios can't work for shit right now."
The Captain rolled his eyes."Military equipment... always works... Alright then, The engineers and surveyors are touching down in about 10 minutes." He called out on the radio. "Keep watch until then."

He turned around to Alex and Noh. "I want you two up on that excavator."
"Why?"
"For the view."

The two started climbing up the excavator ladder and onto the canopy. The great beast of a machine hadn't seen any action for years. It was rusted, pitted. The paint was coming off of it in big great flakes, exposing the utter corrosion underneath. The control booth was covered on mould, which might have had something to do with the smell. As they climbed, Noh grunted a question.

"You know what really pisses me off?"
"What?"
"That they call this stuff 'Unobtainium.' I mean what kind of a stupid name is that?" he said genuinely indignant. "Can't they like, I don't know... call it 'Magnetite', or 'magneto' or whatever?"

Alex called back "It's something you can barely find on Earth, that's why it's uh, heh... 'Unobtainable'."
"Oh ha, ha, ha, very funny..."
"Look, if it's such a problem for you..." he said hoisting himself up on the roof. "How about.... You just call it...'Really stupid flying metal'?"
"Yeah... exactly!" he heaved himself onto the canopy. "I mean, considering that we rely on this stuff so much back home, you'd think that we'd think up some better name, but nooo..."
That was a bad sign to Alex. If Noh said 'but nooo', it meant that he was about to go off into a rant.
"Yeah okay, I get it."
"I mean even something like..."
"I get it! Jesus Noh, do you have to rant on about everything you see?"

Noh shot him a look. "Well excuse me Mr. No Complaints! I'm only trying to..."
"Look, I can appreciate the input, but you've always had problems with keeping your damn mouth shut when nobody wants to..."

Before he could say anymore, Mac's voice cut on the radio. "Guys, could you shut up over there? I thought I saw something to the north."

Noh looked out to the horizon. "Hey wait, I see it too. What are we looking at?"

There was something moving just above the treeline. It was up in the sky, a little blob flying around. It seemed way too big to be just some bird.

"Hang on a moment... lemme just get up on the excavator spades, I think I might get a better view from up there." Alex said, already climbing the raised boom.
"Fine, sure, whatever." Noh said distracted.

Voices on the radio started asking each other questions. "Do you think it's the surveyors?" and "I don't think that's a chopper."

Noh looked to the left where something caught his eye. He squinted to see what appeared to be Charlie squad. They were shouting and pointing like maniacs in vivid fear of something. Pointing at him of all things.

"What the hell..."

What are they on about?
Then he realised something very strange happening around him.

Is it just me, or has it suddenly got dark around here?

He never saw it coming.

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Neytiri could see them from up where she was. From her Ikran, she could see the sky-people in groups around the scar in the earth that was the mine. The place seemed abhorrent to her. The yellow earth was like a gaping wound. Few plants ever grew there, for the chemicals and poisons from the left over mining would not go away.

And now they finally show themselves again. She thought furiously inside her head. The sky-people were trying to do more damage were they? She wasn't going to put up with that. Despite that, Jake felt that the humans would have to make the first move. The Hell's Gate base defences were up and running again and they were set to fire upon any non-human that strayed too close. So after hearing that they were back he wanted everyone to wait until some of them had left the compound. He wanted the terms to be on their side.

They had been watching the humans come to the mine from afar, when one of the hunters had come up with an idea for 'procuring' one of them. They then had at the young Na'vi's suggestion, sent a flyer on his Banshee to distract them. With all of the sky-people trying to find out what the strange shape at the mine's edge, Neytiri could pick out someone very vulnerable.
The poor bastard never saw her coming.

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Alex was still trying to figure out what the thing on the horizon was when he felt something big fly past him. Then he heard the screaming.

"What's going on..." Halverson had begun and then he saw the mountain banshee, with a screaming Noh gripped in its mouth.
"HELP!!! HELP MEEE!!! SOMEBODY HELP!!"

"Jesus Christ, it's got Noh!" shouted a militiaman on the radio. He looked up. "Shit, They're everywhere!" He was right. In the sky about six banshees circled the mine. They were strangely beautiful in appearance. Their colours were iridescent, with blues, yellows, greens and reds. They were cawing down at them, being interrupted by the continuous screaming of Noh, who was gripped tightly by one of them in an upside down fashion.

Some of the militia began to open fire on the banshees. They tried to keep to their training, short controlled bursts and single shots and all that, but were interrupted by Halverson's angry shouts of "Cease Fire! Cease fire! You could hit Noh by mistake! Stop shooting!" And all the while Noh was still screaming "SOMEBODY HELP ME, YOU ASSHOLES!!!"

One of the banshees flew alarmingly close to the excavator boom, where Alex was still perched. He felt the wind turbulence nearly blow him right off, but he managed to see an angry face, blue in nature, hiss at him as it flew by. "Shit... boss... These banshees are being piloted by Na'vi..." he whispered into his radio. Nothing came out of it. The excavator boom was starting to groan now. Men were trying to find cover near rocks, under giant hell trucks, even trying to dive into ditches. The boom then shuddered for a second.

Fucking Murphy's Law...

He started to try and climb down the boom. He didn't feel safe up there anymore. As he made his way down, he felt something weird.

It's getting darker...

He turned his head to look behind him.

"OH FUCK-"

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"Hey Neytiri! How do I shut this skxawng up?" shouted Mu'kala from his banshee. "I tried singing loudly, but even that can't drown out his terrified screaming."
"Put up with it. I'm going to get my own one. Then we go home."

She was started to enjoy the chaos unfolding before her. The sky-people were cowering into whatever cover they could find like beetles in the light. She was a little worried at the beginning, when they were shooting at her and the other hunters, but even then they must have realised that they had no chance of hitting them.

She spied a new target: a soldier trying to climb down the giant digging machine near where his comrade had already been taken. He was hanging on to dear life and was unable to even look down. The perfect target.

As she piloted her Ikran to him, a surge of adrenaline made things slow down. She could see that the soldier did not wear the garb and colours of the RDA. This mattered little to her, as since he was armed, and armed people never had any good intentions. Then, as the man started to turn around, she saw his face, dirty as it was. And she noticed that he did not wear the mask that all sky people wore down here. She also saw the absolute terror of the man just before her Ikran grabbed him.

The soldier screamed just like the first one. He flailed and screamed for a minute before realizing that it was futile. The other one on the other end was still going at it like no tomorrow. She signalled to the other riders to get back into formation.

"Alright, we got them. Let's go ho-"
One of the riders screamed out clutching his shoulder. Blood started to run down his arm and seeped through his fingers. "I'm hit!"
"How badly?" Shouted another rider.
"I'll... I'll live..."
"Then let's get out of here GO!"

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"Hey boss, I think I got one." Mac lowered his rifle to get a better view.
"Nah, I think you only winged him." Another man said through his binoculars.

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Alex was riding on a brand new rollercoaster. He was rumbling on the tracks screaming in glee as the cart rode around the park of Happy Fun Land. He tried to keep this memory alive as much as possible. He was trying to think happy thoughts.

Then he woke up and realised that he was still in the air. Everything was extremely disorientating to him. The fact that the banshee was holding him upside down did not help either. He was then aware of someone else screaming.

"HELP!!! FOR FUCK'S SAKE, HELP!!!"
"NOH! NOH! STOP SCREAMING!! SHUT UP!"
Noh finally started to run out of breath. "They... they get you too?"
"Yeah... I don't think we can do anything now..."
"Why... why not?" breathed Noh raggedly.
"You notice... that... the sky is... up?"
Noh realised that he was upside down and just how high he was above the forest canopy. "Yeah... I... guess."
"Let's not... Do anything... until... we're on the ground again..."
"Yeah right! These guys are going to kill us!"
"What makes you say... that?"
"Don't you get it?!? They took us... TO EAT!" cried Noh in a dramatic fashion.
Alex was lost for words for a brief moment. "What?!"
"Don't you remember what they say about the Na'vi? They EAT Their PRISONERS... That's US!!"
"You dumbass! Do you really believe that?! They don't eat people... That's just RDA bullshit to scare the colonists..."
"YEAH?... well... you can say that when they roast you on a pot..."
"You mean boil in a pot..."
"SEMANTICS!!!" screamed Noh.
"SHUT UP DOWN THERE!" roared a voice from above.
Both humans were silent for a minute. Then Alex was brave enough to whisper "Did that guy just speak English?"
If Noh was still conscious, he wasn't listening.

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The trip took about one hour in real life, but to Alex, it felt like an entire week. He was struggling to stay conscious, the sun was burning his cheeks and he was practically gasping for air. He was aware that the sun was setting in the horizon, and the great giant Polyphemus was starting to change colour. Other than that, nothing happened for a long time.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the Banshees landed. The great beasts let Roger and Noh go where they dropped onto grass. Alex tried to get collect his thoughts and get his bearings again. He was aware of Noh trying to get up, moaning on how his shoulders were hurting. He then looked at the scenery around himself. He was in some sort of forest clearing. The sun had gone down, so it must have been night, but strangely enough, it was still light enough to see all around him. He could see past the trees and catch glimpses of small creatures. Unless he had just developed night vision eyeballs, it didn't make sense.

Then he realised it. Nearly everything in the forest, the trees, the plants and the animals, were glowing. The lichen on the trees, lit up the place in its own mood lighting allowing him to see everything. He'd heard of such things before, on the instruction courses and videos he took before going to Pandora, but this was just incredible. He was also aware that there seemed to be something... big. Something huge, towering over the forest. He felt as if he was in some sort of dream.

He began to be aware of voices again. They were speaking in something he couldn't understand; the blood was still draining from his head. He felt the great banshee beasts over him. He heard footsteps. Then a glowing hand grabbed him by the shoulder and forced him on his feet. He came face to face with one of his captors.

He was big. He was vaguely blue, but then everything in that forest was somewhat blue. He too was glowing, a pattern dotting his face. His features were somewhat flat, feline in nature, and it reminded Alex of his old cat; Tom. The face was painted, lines etched upon it in orange. It had one vicious scar, a slash on its forehead. But by far the most vivid thing about his face, were the eyes. Big green eyes they were. And they stared at him with a mix of recognition and anger.

It asked him something in Na'vi. Alex started to get scared. "I... I don't know what you're saying..."

The face snapped at him again. This time in halting, accented English.

"Why are you here?"

Alex didn't know where to begin. "Um... we came here to... uh..."
"Answer me shxawng!" he snapped, drawing a bone knife. "Or I'll cut your finger off!"

A woman's voice shouted back from the banshees. Alex looked passed the Na'vi man and saw a group of Na'vi tending to the wound of a hunter. From what he could tell, it looked like a gunshot to the arm. The woman was young-ish, but she seemed to carry authority in her movements, and in her voice. She moved up to Roger and the Na'vi and looked straight into the Na'vi's eyes. He backed down coolly. She then turned her gaze to Alex. He blanched. Her eyes seemed to pierce through, and see through any defence he had.

"Hands." She ordered evenly.

Alex slowly raised his hands. She grabbed the two of them, and before he knew it, they were bound together in front of him tightly. The woman said something to the scarred hunter, and then went back to the wounded hunter.

The scarred Na'vi watched him. Meanwhile, Noh had finally got his shit together, but was bound before he could do anything. He looked at Alex. Then he said a very strange thing.

"On three." His voice barely a whisper.
"What?"
"One."

The Na'vi watching Noh looked at him with curiosity. He didn't seem to know English.
Noh winked at Alex nodding his head towards the scarred Na'vi, and towards his own watcher.

"Two."

Alex braced himself. He knew that Noh was about to do something stupid.

"Three!"

With the speed of someone who didn't quite know what he was doing, Noh punched out at his guard with both his bound fists. At the same time, Alex kicked his watcher in the back of his legs.
In normal circumstances, any human who would have tried to do this would have been laughed at. Being so big, taking on a Na'vi in close quarter combat is inadvisable. However, both Alex and Noh, as well as most of the colonists, were wearing exo-suits. As mentioned before, these powered exoskeletons amplified the strength and speed of the user. So when these two humans made their attacks, they made their marks.

Noh's hit was meant to be a sucker punch. Unfortunately, he wasn't tall enough to reach his guards face. It only bruised the Na'vi's chest, causing the two of them to stagger back. He wasn't fast enough to run away before another Na'vi grabbed him. Alex's hit was not so extravagant, but it served to trip the scarred hunter. Before anyone could see him, he sprinted off.

"RUN ALEX!"

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Ar'kadi was assembling a trap that he was showing to a young huntress in training. It was something that the Na'vi hadn't quite figured out yet, so Norm was trying to drill it into her head.

"What do you call this trap again?" asked Shee'kana absentmindedly.

"Noose Trap! Damn it listen to me!" he snapped, frustrated. "You put this bit of rope..."

Ar'kadi was known by many as the Engineer. He was quite different from many other Na'vi in that his affinity was in machines. He wasn't a very good hunter and he didn't get along with his Ikran, but he understood human machinery extremely well. When he was younger, he used to watch the human planes and machinery go by from the forest. Of course when the Hometree was destroyed, he was equally enraged as anybody else. But when the humans went away he still played and poked around the wreckage from the battle. There was a lot of it lying around. Norm and Max were impressed by his interest, so they taught him everything they knew about the machinery. He was, by nature, introverted. He dressed differently as well, his charms made not of wood and beads, but with wires, circuitry and metal parts.

He was getting through slowly enough. The young blood then finally finished it off.

"Okay then... let's get out of the way... we can come back later this evening."

They were just about to leave when they heard rustling in the bushes. Before the two of them could react, a man wearing stained yellow and brown camouflaged fatigues in a metal frame ran right past them and on to the trap. It sprung, hoisting the man by his leg, and faster than anyone could do anything, he was dangling upside down crying out in panic.

Ar'kadi was dumbfounded.

"Wow." Smiled Shee'kana. "Guess I got it right this time huh?"

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Alex was in a daze. He remembered something about being cut down. Then something about having his head smashed in.

"Alex?... Alex wake up!"he heard someone whisper. Or was it just said? He was slowly coming to his senses.

He was in some kind of clearing surrounded by trees. Then he realised they weren't trees but Na'vi. Lots of them. Of all ages and sizes. They regarded Alex and Noh with a mix of feelings; fear, anger, curiosity and contempt to name a few. Above them, was what Alex first thought was a building. Then he realised that it was a tree a huge tree. One that was as tall as a skyscraper, and with roots that were the size of trees in their own right. One of the Na'vi was right in front of the two humans. He was big (they all were.) but unlike the others, he wore a cloak that had to mean he was some kind of leader. He also looked a little different as well. He indicated that he was waiting for them to speak.

"Uh... what do we do Noh?" whispered Alex.
"Hang on..." Noh tried to say the greetings he had read from the language book that he seldom looked at. His words must have come off wrong because the Na'vi smirked and laughed. The Chieftain (for the humans were convinced he was a Chieftain) smiled and said "Not bad. But I think you just dropped a syllable or two there and said something else."

Alex and Noh's eyes practically popped out of their heads. Not only did the Chieftain speak perfect English, but he spoke with, bizarrely enough; an American accent. Noh stammered. "well-I... We're sorry I..."

Then both Noh and Alex looked at the Chieftains hands. He had Five Fingers. Everything started to click.

"Oh god..." Alex whispered. "You're him aren't you?"

Description
Scout

"One of the first orders of business is getting the mining operation back up and running." Said Director Parker Selfridge to the militiamen, colonists and RDA soldiers gathered before him. We spoke in what was basically his standard issue executive public speaking voice: clear methodical and unbiased, with a tinge of condescending. "We need to do this in order to help cover costs and create a sustainable source of income for the colony. In the past few days, we have successfully started up farms, lumberjack operations and a small engineering outpost on the base, but we need to start up the mining operations as we know many of you miners are still having to sit on your asses, waiting for mining sites to be cleared and scouted." He smiled. "This is just about to be addressed."

"You mean that you haven't been working on it for the past two weeks?" shouted out a tired looking miner, who had to drown his boredom in a flood of alcohol.

Parker sighed in a frustrated fashion but quickly regained his composure again. "I can assure you that we have all been quite busy for these past weeks. Between the construction and repair work there has been a lot of work to do. But now we are about to move on with the next phase."

He brought up the 3D projector online. On it swirled a representation of the colony and the surrounding area. In about two weeks, the repairs had been mostly complete to the base. The perimeter was up again, defences had been brought online again, new buildings were constructed, and militia were doing their field exercises in the training yards set up under the watchful eye of RDA supervisors. Generally, everything was going to plan.

"We believe that the old mines and refinery left over from the last administration still have a reasonable amount of Unobtainium in them. However, the place is still not secure. That's where our friendly militia come in." He signalled to some of the militiamen seated near the front. "These fine gentlemen here are going to head to the mines and secure them for us. It will be their first real test outside the base perimeter."

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The chopper ride to the DZ was not exactly exciting, but it gave most of the militia who were on the op a chance to see the sights and sounds of Pandoran jungle from the air. There were five Samson helicopters delivering the militiamen about ten klicks to RDA ESM-1; the old Unobtainium mine that the RDA used to run. Everyone on board the choppers was gaping at the scenery. Most of them were city people in nature, with few of them having seen what little countryside there was left on Earth. Alex was felt like he was in one of the old fantasy novels his uncle used to read to him. Mac just watched it all with the same attention as if he was watching an Oscar winning film. Same with Noh, who would then just go and randomly comment on something that he sees. Like "Why does everything here have six legs?"

They past natural wonders. Things that seemed to suppose to only come from fantasy games and novels. There were great trees, towering over the land, so that when the Samson's flew close to the waters of the rivers, the crew got the full impression. They flew over waterfalls, great cascades of water that seemed to go on forever into mist. They flew under great stone arches that seemed to rise up out of the ground, like the ribs of a Titan. And in the distance, they saw solitary trees that towered of the rest of the landscape like skyscrapers and off in the horizon, they could just make out the great flying mountains of Pandora.

Suddenly Alex felt a huge feeling of loss. When he was little, he used to watch old history videos on planet Earth. Now, after seeing this world that his own might have been, he felt one thing that he whispered to himself.

"Boy we really fucked up our own world huh?"

Everyone was silent. Alex then realised that he accidently voiced it on the radio.

Captain Halverson gave him a look. It was hard at first, but then seemed to soften into sadness. A voice on the radio sighed "Yeah... we did." The rest of the trip was done in silence.

The Site was like a great big pimple scar on the surface of Pandora. The mines were three pits dug into the ground that even six years of nature couldn't take back. They seemed like almost abhorrent bits of khaki land on a sea of green. The place was barren and lifeless.

"Okay folks, we are about to touch down in a few seconds, get ready." The pilot radioed.

The Samson's then landed on the ground. The Militia got out of the choppers and began securing the area. The sun was beating down that afternoon, so the place reminded Alex of a desert. They checked the abandoned mining vehicles, the roads and the perimeter. Five minutes later the radios squawked again.

"Alpha clear."
"Bravo clear."
"Delta... cleared."
"Where's Charlie?"

A militiaman came running towards Halverson. "Boss, my team's radios can't work for shit right now."
The Captain rolled his eyes."Military equipment... always works... Alright then, The engineers and surveyors are touching down in about 10 minutes." He called out on the radio. "Keep watch until then."

He turned around to Alex and Noh. "I want you two up on that excavator."
"Why?"
"For the view."

The two started climbing up the excavator ladder and onto the canopy. The great beast of a machine hadn't seen any action for years. It was rusted, pitted. The paint was coming off of it in big great flakes, exposing the utter corrosion underneath. The control booth was covered on mould, which might have had something to do with the smell. As they climbed, Noh grunted a question.

"You know what really pisses me off?"
"What?"
"That they call this stuff 'Unobtainium.' I mean what kind of a stupid name is that?" he said genuinely indignant. "Can't they like, I don't know... call it 'Magnetite', or 'magneto' or whatever?"

Alex called back "It's something you can barely find on Earth, that's why it's uh, heh... 'Unobtainable'."
"Oh ha, ha, ha, very funny..."
"Look, if it's such a problem for you..." he said hoisting himself up on the roof. "How about.... You just call it...'Really stupid flying metal'?"
"Yeah... exactly!" he heaved himself onto the canopy. "I mean, considering that we rely on this stuff so much back home, you'd think that we'd think up some better name, but nooo..."
That was a bad sign to Alex. If Noh said 'but nooo', it meant that he was about to go off into a rant.
"Yeah okay, I get it."
"I mean even something like..."
"I get it! Jesus Noh, do you have to rant on about everything you see?"

Noh shot him a look. "Well excuse me Mr. No Complaints! I'm only trying to..."
"Look, I can appreciate the input, but you've always had problems with keeping your damn mouth shut when nobody wants to..."

Before he could say anymore, Mac's voice cut on the radio. "Guys, could you shut up over there? I thought I saw something to the north."

Noh looked out to the horizon. "Hey wait, I see it too. What are we looking at?"

There was something moving just above the treeline. It was up in the sky, a little blob flying around. It seemed way too big to be just some bird.

"Hang on a moment... lemme just get up on the excavator spades, I think I might get a better view from up there." Alex said, already climbing the raised boom.
"Fine, sure, whatever." Noh said distracted.

Voices on the radio started asking each other questions. "Do you think it's the surveyors?" and "I don't think that's a chopper."

Noh looked to the left where something caught his eye. He squinted to see what appeared to be Charlie squad. They were shouting and pointing like maniacs in vivid fear of something. Pointing at him of all things.

"What the hell..."

What are they on about?
Then he realised something very strange happening around him.

Is it just me, or has it suddenly got dark around here?

He never saw it coming.

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Neytiri could see them from up where she was. From her Ikran, she could see the sky-people in groups around the scar in the earth that was the mine. The place seemed abhorrent to her. The yellow earth was like a gaping wound. Few plants ever grew there, for the chemicals and poisons from the left over mining would not go away.

And now they finally show themselves again. She thought furiously inside her head. The sky-people were trying to do more damage were they? She wasn't going to put up with that. Despite that, Jake felt that the humans would have to make the first move. The Hell's Gate base defences were up and running again and they were set to fire upon any non-human that strayed too close. So after hearing that they were back he wanted everyone to wait until some of them had left the compound. He wanted the terms to be on their side.

They had been watching the humans come to the mine from afar, when one of the hunters had come up with an idea for 'procuring' one of them. They then had at the young Na'vi's suggestion, sent a flyer on his Banshee to distract them. With all of the sky-people trying to find out what the strange shape at the mine's edge, Neytiri could pick out someone very vulnerable.
The poor bastard never saw her coming.

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Alex was still trying to figure out what the thing on the horizon was when he felt something big fly past him. Then he heard the screaming.

"What's going on..." Halverson had begun and then he saw the mountain banshee, with a screaming Noh gripped in its mouth.
"HELP!!! HELP MEEE!!! SOMEBODY HELP!!"

"Jesus Christ, it's got Noh!" shouted a militiaman on the radio. He looked up. "Shit, They're everywhere!" He was right. In the sky about six banshees circled the mine. They were strangely beautiful in appearance. Their colours were iridescent, with blues, yellows, greens and reds. They were cawing down at them, being interrupted by the continuous screaming of Noh, who was gripped tightly by one of them in an upside down fashion.

Some of the militia began to open fire on the banshees. They tried to keep to their training, short controlled bursts and single shots and all that, but were interrupted by Halverson's angry shouts of "Cease Fire! Cease fire! You could hit Noh by mistake! Stop shooting!" And all the while Noh was still screaming "SOMEBODY HELP ME, YOU ASSHOLES!!!"

One of the banshees flew alarmingly close to the excavator boom, where Alex was still perched. He felt the wind turbulence nearly blow him right off, but he managed to see an angry face, blue in nature, hiss at him as it flew by. "Shit... boss... These banshees are being piloted by Na'vi..." he whispered into his radio. Nothing came out of it. The excavator boom was starting to groan now. Men were trying to find cover near rocks, under giant hell trucks, even trying to dive into ditches. The boom then shuddered for a second.

Fucking Murphy's Law...

He started to try and climb down the boom. He didn't feel safe up there anymore. As he made his way down, he felt something weird.

It's getting darker...

He turned his head to look behind him.

"OH FUCK-"

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"Hey Neytiri! How do I shut this skxawng up?" shouted Mu'kala from his banshee. "I tried singing loudly, but even that can't drown out his terrified screaming."
"Put up with it. I'm going to get my own one. Then we go home."

She was started to enjoy the chaos unfolding before her. The sky-people were cowering into whatever cover they could find like beetles in the light. She was a little worried at the beginning, when they were shooting at her and the other hunters, but even then they must have realised that they had no chance of hitting them.

She spied a new target: a soldier trying to climb down the giant digging machine near where his comrade had already been taken. He was hanging on to dear life and was unable to even look down. The perfect target.

As she piloted her Ikran to him, a surge of adrenaline made things slow down. She could see that the soldier did not wear the garb and colours of the RDA. This mattered little to her, as since he was armed, and armed people never had any good intentions. Then, as the man started to turn around, she saw his face, dirty as it was. And she noticed that he did not wear the mask that all sky people wore down here. She also saw the absolute terror of the man just before her Ikran grabbed him.

The soldier screamed just like the first one. He flailed and screamed for a minute before realizing that it was futile. The other one on the other end was still going at it like no tomorrow. She signalled to the other riders to get back into formation.

"Alright, we got them. Let's go ho-"
One of the riders screamed out clutching his shoulder. Blood started to run down his arm and seeped through his fingers. "I'm hit!"
"How badly?" Shouted another rider.
"I'll... I'll live..."
"Then let's get out of here GO!"

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"Hey boss, I think I got one." Mac lowered his rifle to get a better view.
"Nah, I think you only winged him." Another man said through his binoculars.

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Alex was riding on a brand new rollercoaster. He was rumbling on the tracks screaming in glee as the cart rode around the park of Happy Fun Land. He tried to keep this memory alive as much as possible. He was trying to think happy thoughts.

Then he woke up and realised that he was still in the air. Everything was extremely disorientating to him. The fact that the banshee was holding him upside down did not help either. He was then aware of someone else screaming.

"HELP!!! FOR FUCK'S SAKE, HELP!!!"
"NOH! NOH! STOP SCREAMING!! SHUT UP!"
Noh finally started to run out of breath. "They... they get you too?"
"Yeah... I don't think we can do anything now..."
"Why... why not?" breathed Noh raggedly.
"You notice... that... the sky is... up?"
Noh realised that he was upside down and just how high he was above the forest canopy. "Yeah... I... guess."
"Let's not... Do anything... until... we're on the ground again..."
"Yeah right! These guys are going to kill us!"
"What makes you say... that?"
"Don't you get it?!? They took us... TO EAT!" cried Noh in a dramatic fashion.
Alex was lost for words for a brief moment. "What?!"
"Don't you remember what they say about the Na'vi? They EAT Their PRISONERS... That's US!!"
"You dumbass! Do you really believe that?! They don't eat people... That's just RDA bullshit to scare the colonists..."
"YEAH?... well... you can say that when they roast you on a pot..."
"You mean boil in a pot..."
"SEMANTICS!!!" screamed Noh.
"SHUT UP DOWN THERE!" roared a voice from above.
Both humans were silent for a minute. Then Alex was brave enough to whisper "Did that guy just speak English?"
If Noh was still conscious, he wasn't listening.

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The trip took about one hour in real life, but to Alex, it felt like an entire week. He was struggling to stay conscious, the sun was burning his cheeks and he was practically gasping for air. He was aware that the sun was setting in the horizon, and the great giant Polyphemus was starting to change colour. Other than that, nothing happened for a long time.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the Banshees landed. The great beasts let Roger and Noh go where they dropped onto grass. Alex tried to get collect his thoughts and get his bearings again. He was aware of Noh trying to get up, moaning on how his shoulders were hurting. He then looked at the scenery around himself. He was in some sort of forest clearing. The sun had gone down, so it must have been night, but strangely enough, it was still light enough to see all around him. He could see past the trees and catch glimpses of small creatures. Unless he had just developed night vision eyeballs, it didn't make sense.

Then he realised it. Nearly everything in the forest, the trees, the plants and the animals, were glowing. The lichen on the trees, lit up the place in its own mood lighting allowing him to see everything. He'd heard of such things before, on the instruction courses and videos he took before going to Pandora, but this was just incredible. He was also aware that there seemed to be something... big. Something huge, towering over the forest. He felt as if he was in some sort of dream.

He began to be aware of voices again. They were speaking in something he couldn't understand; the blood was still draining from his head. He felt the great banshee beasts over him. He heard footsteps. Then a glowing hand grabbed him by the shoulder and forced him on his feet. He came face to face with one of his captors.

He was big. He was vaguely blue, but then everything in that forest was somewhat blue. He too was glowing, a pattern dotting his face. His features were somewhat flat, feline in nature, and it reminded Alex of his old cat; Tom. The face was painted, lines etched upon it in orange. It had one vicious scar, a slash on its forehead. But by far the most vivid thing about his face, were the eyes. Big green eyes they were. And they stared at him with a mix of recognition and anger.

It asked him something in Na'vi. Alex started to get scared. "I... I don't know what you're saying..."

The face snapped at him again. This time in halting, accented English.

"Why are you here?"

Alex didn't know where to begin. "Um... we came here to... uh..."
"Answer me shxawng!" he snapped, drawing a bone knife. "Or I'll cut your finger off!"

A woman's voice shouted back from the banshees. Alex looked passed the Na'vi man and saw a group of Na'vi tending to the wound of a hunter. From what he could tell, it looked like a gunshot to the arm. The woman was young-ish, but she seemed to carry authority in her movements, and in her voice. She moved up to Roger and the Na'vi and looked straight into the Na'vi's eyes. He backed down coolly. She then turned her gaze to Alex. He blanched. Her eyes seemed to pierce through, and see through any defence he had.

"Hands." She ordered evenly.

Alex slowly raised his hands. She grabbed the two of them, and before he knew it, they were bound together in front of him tightly. The woman said something to the scarred hunter, and then went back to the wounded hunter.

The scarred Na'vi watched him. Meanwhile, Noh had finally got his shit together, but was bound before he could do anything. He looked at Alex. Then he said a very strange thing.

"On three." His voice barely a whisper.
"What?"
"One."

The Na'vi watching Noh looked at him with curiosity. He didn't seem to know English.
Noh winked at Alex nodding his head towards the scarred Na'vi, and towards his own watcher.

"Two."

Alex braced himself. He knew that Noh was about to do something stupid.

"Three!"

With the speed of someone who didn't quite know what he was doing, Noh punched out at his guard with both his bound fists. At the same time, Alex kicked his watcher in the back of his legs.
In normal circumstances, any human who would have tried to do this would have been laughed at. Being so big, taking on a Na'vi in close quarter combat is inadvisable. However, both Alex and Noh, as well as most of the colonists, were wearing exo-suits. As mentioned before, these powered exoskeletons amplified the strength and speed of the user. So when these two humans made their attacks, they made their marks.

Noh's hit was meant to be a sucker punch. Unfortunately, he wasn't tall enough to reach his guards face. It only bruised the Na'vi's chest, causing the two of them to stagger back. He wasn't fast enough to run away before another Na'vi grabbed him. Alex's hit was not so extravagant, but it served to trip the scarred hunter. Before anyone could see him, he sprinted off.

"RUN ALEX!"

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Ar'kadi was assembling a trap that he was showing to a young huntress in training. It was something that the Na'vi hadn't quite figured out yet, so Norm was trying to drill it into her head.

"What do you call this trap again?" asked Shee'kana absentmindedly.

"Noose Trap! Damn it listen to me!" he snapped, frustrated. "You put this bit of rope..."

Ar'kadi was known by many as the Engineer. He was quite different from many other Na'vi in that his affinity was in machines. He wasn't a very good hunter and he didn't get along with his Ikran, but he understood human machinery extremely well. When he was younger, he used to watch the human planes and machinery go by from the forest. Of course when the Hometree was destroyed, he was equally enraged as anybody else. But when the humans went away he still played and poked around the wreckage from the battle. There was a lot of it lying around. Norm and Max were impressed by his interest, so they taught him everything they knew about the machinery. He was, by nature, introverted. He dressed differently as well, his charms made not of wood and beads, but with wires, circuitry and metal parts.

He was getting through slowly enough. The young blood then finally finished it off.

"Okay then... let's get out of the way... we can come back later this evening."

They were just about to leave when they heard rustling in the bushes. Before the two of them could react, a man wearing stained yellow and brown camouflaged fatigues in a metal frame ran right past them and on to the trap. It sprung, hoisting the man by his leg, and faster than anyone could do anything, he was dangling upside down crying out in panic.

Ar'kadi was dumbfounded.

"Wow." Smiled Shee'kana. "Guess I got it right this time huh?"

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Alex was in a daze. He remembered something about being cut down. Then something about having his head smashed in.

"Alex?... Alex wake up!"he heard someone whisper. Or was it just said? He was slowly coming to his senses.

He was in some kind of clearing surrounded by trees. Then he realised they weren't trees but Na'vi. Lots of them. Of all ages and sizes. They regarded Alex and Noh with a mix of feelings; fear, anger, curiosity and contempt to name a few. Above them, was what Alex first thought was a building. Then he realised that it was a tree a huge tree. One that was as tall as a skyscraper, and with roots that were the size of trees in their own right. One of the Na'vi was right in front of the two humans. He was big (they all were.) but unlike the others, he wore a cloak that had to mean he was some kind of leader. He also looked a little different as well. He indicated that he was waiting for them to speak.

"Uh... what do we do Noh?" whispered Alex.
"Hang on..." Noh tried to say the greetings he had read from the language book that he seldom looked at. His words must have come off wrong because the Na'vi smirked and laughed. The Chieftain (for the humans were convinced he was a Chieftain) smiled and said "Not bad. But I think you just dropped a syllable or two there and said something else."

Alex and Noh's eyes practically popped out of their heads. Not only did the Chieftain speak perfect English, but he spoke with, bizarrely enough; an American accent. Noh stammered. "well-I... We're sorry I..."

Then both Noh and Alex looked at the Chieftains hands. He had Five Fingers. Everything started to click.

"Oh god..." Alex whispered. "You're him aren't you?"