Na'vi...A Tsu'tey FF

Log Entry: 16

At the desk outside, the lone trooper looks up as Trudy approaches along the corridor, pushing a stainless steel trolley.
"Personally I think steak's too good for these traitors." She says.
"They get steak? That's bullshit. Let me see that-"
The guard bends to look into the hot cart and the muzzle of Trudy's pistol presses behind his ear.
"Oops." Trudy started shoving him down. "All the way down, pendejo."
She whistles and Max trots around the corner. Trudy binds the guard with one of his own zip-ties as Max grabs his key card and runs to the cell. Swipes the card. The door is rolling open when another trooper rounds the corner. Trudy takes him down with a sharp blow to the windpipe and a Thai knee to the ribs.

Meanwhile the first trooper is getting up, but Max clocks him heartily with a coffee urn. He goes down and stays down.
"That was unexpectedly satisfying." Max says to himself before moving to unlock Nyami's cell.
Trudy plants a kiss on Norm as he runs out of the cell.
"Baby, you rock." Norm tells Trudy, who smiles.
Jake wheels out, grabbing the sidearm from the fallen trooper as Trudy binds his wrists.
"Thanks." Jake says. He faces his motley group, chambering a round. "So what do you say? Time for a revolution?"
"I'm free." Grace agrees. Trudy grins and taps his fist. Everyone looks to Nyami.
"When this is over, I'll kill you." Nyami glared at Jake. He nodded. He'd let her kill him if she helped him now.

In the utility corridor under the base, Jake pumps the chair furiously, as the others jog. They reach an airlock and start donning exopacks. Jake pauses and turns to Trudy.
"Get your ship fired up." Trudy nods. She grabs Norm and enters the airlock. Jake turns to Max.
"Stay here. We need somebody on the inside we can trust." Max nods. Jake grips his hand tightly. Nyami loads up a gun, watching people listen to Jake. She could laugh.

In the Samson, Norm is helping Trudy race through the preflight checks as the turbines spool up. A light hits them. An armored trooper approaches, aiming his AR at them.
"I need you to shut down and step out of the vehicle! Now!"
Nyami stands behind him, aiming a pistol directly at the back of his head.
"Take it nice and easy, troop." The trooper turns, sees the gun. "On the ground, face down. Hands behind your head." The trooper hesitates.
"Do what she goddamn says!" Grace yelled.
He does. Norm jumps down and grabs the trooper's rifle and side-arm, covering him, while Grace helps Jake from the chair to the back bay of the chopper. She throws his chair in, and jumps in herself. Nyami hits the trooper in the temple with the back of her gun, knocking him out. She jumps in Samson.
"Go! Go! Go!"

Holding his breath, Quaritch yanks the hatch open and strides onto the outer landing. Inside people scramble for masks. The Samson lifts off in a blast of rotor-wash just as Quaritch opens fire and rounds rake the ship. Trudy banks hard, using the bottom to shield them. Bullets fly into the ship as she climbs-out over the tree-line.
Jake's fist pumps the air exultantly.
"Oh yeah, baby!" Jake cheers as they get away.
"Aaahh, crap. Not again."
Nyami looks over at Grace and freezes. She is looking down at a bloody hand. She clutches her abdomen, covering the spreading stain. Looks at Nyami, wide-eyed.
"This is gonna ruin my whole day." Grace mutters. Nyami rushes to her and applies pressure to the wound.
"Hang on, Grace."

Norms' avatar, with an AR slung over his shoulder, stands on the roof of the link module. He gives a thumbs up signal. The lift cable goes taut and the shack lifts off the ground. Trudy's Samson beats the grass of the mountain meadow, straining to lift the module on a long-line sling. The shack sways as Trudy banks across forested slopes and heads deeper into the Hallelujah Mountains. Outside the windows, clouds and cliffs pass by, lit by Polyphemus.
Nyami is yanking stuff out of the Samson's trauma bag, while Grace lies curled across two back seats, hugging her blood soaked abdomen. She is pale and shocky. Trudy is flying on visual only, by the light of Polyphemus. Her instruments are showing gibberish.
"Well, at least they won't be able to track us up here. Not this deep in the vortex." Trudy optimizes.
"It's strongest at the Well of Souls, right?" Nyami asked.
"Yeah."
"Good, 'cause that's where we're going."
"Copy."
She gives Grace an ampule of morphine for the pain. "I'm gonna get you some help, Grace." Nyami says to her.
"I'm a scientist, remember? I don't believe in fairytales.." Grace denies. Nyami grabs her leg.
"No! The People can help you. I know it."

Dawn light paints the massive arches of magnetic rock above the Well of Souls. Tiny as an insect, the Samson passes. The Well of Souls. The heart of the forest. Nyami and Jake knew the People would go there. The Well of Souls is a deep caldera 100 meters across. It is ringed with enormous willows whose roots seem to pour down the sheer rock walls like candle wax. At the bottom, in a natural amphitheater, the Omaticaya refugees are clustered around a central rock outcropping which forms a kind of dais and altar. Shafts of dawn light reach to the bottom of the grotto, lighting a single willow, the mother tree. Ancient and gnarled, it grows in the center of the rock. Its roots spread down to the grotto floor, where they merge with the roots of the willows ringing the Well, forming a braided mat resembling the surface of a brain.

Mo'at stands on the dais, leading them in a chant.
"Wise ancestors who live within Eywa, guide us. Give us a sign."
The shack descends from the sky like a gift from the gods.
It bumps to the ground. Grace lies, comatose, in her open link. Trudy gives Nyami a look that says not much time. Nyami feels Grace's cold forehead, then crosses to her own link.
Nyami preps her link and gets in. Jake follows as Trudy helps him in, Norm rapidly preps the system.
"Tsu'tey is Olo'eyctan now. He's not going to let you get near that place. Nyami can." Norm tells Jake slowly.
"I've gotta try, Norm." Jake pleads with him through his eyes. Nyami shuts her clamshell and fades through the array of vibrant colors.

Her avatar's eyes snap open and sit up quickly. The hunters around her rejoice. Tsu'tey leaps to her from Mo'at. Nyami stands at the sight of him and meets him in the middle to embrace.
"You came back to me." Tsu'tey whispers, rubbing his cheek on her head.
"I never left. But I need your help." Nyami pulls away.
"Anything." He tells her, sincerely. Nyami turns to Mo'at, who opens her arms. Nyami rushes to her and hugs her tightly.
"It hurt to see." Nyami tells her. Mo'at's arms tighten.
"It hurt to feel." Nyami pulls away to hug Neytiri. The embrace was quick but needed. Nyami turns to The People and reaches her arms out. The clan all reach up to touch her.
"I need your help. Grace is dying. I need a way to fix it. She has loved you all. I am one of Omaticaya, I am right to ask." The clan talks in whispers. Mo'at touches Nyami's shoulder.
"I will help you." She nods. Nyami smiles lightly and turns to Tsu'tey.
"Will you allow?" She asks him. Tsu'tey nods.