Pandora's Templar - Chapter 34
#34 of Pandora's Templar
Disclaimer: Blah, Blah, Blah. I don't own Avatar; James Cameron does. All the Avatar stuff belongs to him. However, my Na'vi character, myself, the Dragon Weyr and its technologies, and the Pandoran animals of my menagerie are all mine. The Protoss - apart from my characters - all belong to Blizzard Entertainment.
Pandora's Templar
A Work-In-Progress Story by Coranth Dehanae
Chapter 34
(Continued from Chapter 33...)
With those words, I ceased caressing my beloved's head - which she promptly removed from my lap - and then, standing, I turned to address the Probes clustered around us and uttered in Khalani, "All Probes, issah'tu!" At my softly spoken command, all six Probes moved to hover before me in a 'choir pattern; the five 'youngest' moved before me first, followed by the four 'oldest' whom hovered below them, and the senior-most Probe hovered before me last. Once all were serene in the air before me, I carefully inspected them all for damage with a critical eye and, upon finding none, I nodded to myself. 'Good,' I thought, 'they're all intact and undamaged.' Moving to address the senior-most Probe I softly said, "Friend, the place where we are was once the site of a Great War between my former people, humans, and the Na'vi whom we now serve."
Pausing, I turned to gesture to the ruined Kelutral before us and the senior Probe briefly dipped than straightened, 'nodding' in assent as he transmitted a holo-image of the place to the rest of them. Returning my attention to the group of Probes, I continued, "Since the War, nothing has grown here. I need you to examine this place thoroughly with your group that we might find out why. You'll probably need to split up as it's a pretty big area to cover, so talk amongst yourselves and determine who among you will cover what part of the site. Additionally, when you're scanning, make sure you use all sensors in your pallets, alright? I want as much data as I can get no matter what it is!"
As I finished speaking, the senior-most Probe 'nodded' and then queried me softly in binaric. "What are you looking for?" I asked, taking a guess at its question. The Probe sounded an affirmative tone at this, and swiftly I responded, "A source of radiation. Look for any kinds of radioactive materials buried below the ground; Ieesha and I suspect that irradiated soil might explain why nothing's grown here for so long. Do you understand your orders?" All of the Probes nodded this time and then - after conversing amongst themselves to determine which of them would cover what part of the site - they all dispersed to begin the seemingly momentous task I had set before them. 'Momentous is right' I thought, darkly.
'By Adun's Blunt Blade, this is a huge area, Ieesha; it's going to take forever for them to scan it all! We should have requested the Dragon Weyr send us more Probes...' Upon hearing my thoughts Ieesha softly nudged my side. ~Sweet David~ she said softly, her words rich with warmth and affection, ~you worry far too much! Trust in the Dragon Weyr, beloved; six Probes are all we need for this, you'll see...~ At her words, I heaved a weary sigh as she and I moved to begin the task of not only exploring the site ourselves, but also collecting samples for later analysis back at the Dragon Weyr's Laboratory. Roughly three hours later, whilst Ieesha and I were gathering said samples - soil exhumed from the ground around the Kelutral and scrapings of bark and ash from the tree itself - we were interrupted by the smallest Probe of our group.
Said Probe, whom we had affectionately nicknamed 'Little One', zipped out from the Kelutral's lowest level - a subterranean catacomb amongst the great tree's roots - and charged over to us both, chattering so fast that its binaric was barely comprehensible! "Whoa, whoa!" I said to her as she skidded to a halt at our feet. "What's the matter, Little One? What did you find down there?" As one of the Probes newly constructed by the Dragon Weyr for this mission, the Probe called Little One was only a day or so old; thus it didn't yet have a full pallet of sensors for scientific analysis. Those few sensors it did have, however, were always useful in a pinch and - after calming down and collecting itself - Little One displayed the recorded data from one of them via its holographic emitter.
Upon seeing said data, however, Ieesha and I both paled for it was a reading from the probe's Geiger counter as it recorded a huge spike in radiation levels! No sooner did we hear the counter's ominous click-click-clicking than I turned to Ieesha, a softly spoken and crass, "Oh, fuck" escaping from between my pale, bloodless lips. ~I hear you, sweet David~ Ieesha replied, swallowing thickly to moisten her suddenly dry throat. ~I hear you...~ Inhaling a deep breath, I carefully checked the NBC shielding of Ieesha's armor and then checked said shielding on my own; it was intact and undamaged. Then, returning my attention to Little One, I crouched down to the Probe's level and asked, "Where exactly, in the catacombs, did you take this reading?"
Wanting to be as much of a help to us as it could despite its age - and a highly eager help at that - no sooner had I asked the question than Little One was intoning the binaric for "Follow!" as it turned to head back from whence it came. As the childlike Probe started to move away from us, however, I immediately yelled out, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold your horses; wait a moment, please!" At my words, the little machine ceased moving and then turned to face Ieesha and I once more, a sound of impatience escaping from it. "I know you want to take us there as quickly as you can, Little One, but please, let me round up the other Probes first, okay? If you've got something to show us all, than everyone should see it."
At this, the small Probe briefly dipped in the air and then righted itself - giving me the equivalent of an affirmative nod - before it... shuffled from side to side in the air, as though it was feeling a bit sheepish! At its actions, I couldn't help chuckling softly for a moment whilst beside me Ieesha, too, chuckled softly, her teeth bared in an amused grin. A moment later, however, we were all business again as I called loudly in Khalani, " _All Probes, fall... IN!" _ Once the other five Probes had returned - their micro Ihan Matrices brimming with all kinds of recorded data from the site that Ieesha and I would examine at a later date - I spoke to them all. "Little One" I softly intoned, gesturing to said Probe, "picked up a reading on its Geiger counter just now from a large source of radioactivity that is somewhere in the catacombs beneath the Kelutral.
I'd like us all to get in there and take a look at what it found..." As I made to continue speaking, two of the older Probes of the group spoke up, chattering softly in binaric as they hit me with a burst of psychically delivered data. As said data filled my thoughts - and passed to Ieesha via our bond - Ieesha snarled and I cursed softly under my breath; the place wasn't at all safe; the once great roots of the ruined Kelutral were sagging almost to the point of collapsing upon themselves, and the Probe we called Little One had been very, very lucky that it hadn't been crushed! "Ah, okay" I said after a moment, "slight change of plan: before any exploration of the catacombs takes place, I'll need to contact the Dragon Weyr and get..."
As I made to continue speaking, said Weyr opened a Warp Gate at my location, through which was sent a neatly stacked pile of massive Psi-Steel beams, perfect for reinforcing the ruined root 'roof' of the Kelutral Catacombs. "... Some Psi-Steel beams to reinforce the area." I finished, as the Dragon Weyr's amusement filled my thoughts. 'Oh, ha-ha, very funny' I thought, sarcastically, 'give yourself a pat on your metaphorical back for anticipating my needs. You are so very clever; I'll now bow down and worship you...' The Dragon Weyr's response - as usual - came in the form of a vision... Wayne and Garth fell to their knees before Alice Cooper, chanting, "We're not worthy! We're not worthy!"
When the vision faded from my mind - shaking my head at the construct's foolery - I directed all of the Probes, aside from Little One, to take the enormous, golden-metal beams and use them to reinforce the roots of the burned Kelutral. Moving to the entrance of the subterranean catacomb at the base of the ravaged tree, I and my beloved Ikran watched with a critical eye as the Probes worked to shore up the area we intended to investigate. One hour later and it was done; Ieesha, I and the Probes all peered into the entrance of the subterranean catacomb but we could barely see anything at all; strange formations of bioluminescent moss were the most meager of light sources, allowing us to see nothing past the Pandoran daylight streaming in from outside.
'Nothing's ever easy, is it?' I thought, heaving a weary sigh as I activated the powerful searchlights built into the body of the Encounter Suit. Seconds later, my beloved activated the lights built into her own armor and then, she I, and our six Probes, all proceeded inside with the Probe known as Little One leading the way. A fairly short trip down a corridor composed of long-dead, string-like root offshoots, preceded our entry to the subterranean catacomb beneath the ancient, ruined Kelutral. Beyond that point, we were rewarded with a larger opening which led into the catacomb itself. Said catacomb was unremarkable; it was a simple place with an earth floor and a 'ceiling' composed of the of the ancient Kelutral's thickest roots, roots which had been reinforced earlier with the mighty Psi-Steel beams delivered by the Dragon Weyr.
What caught our attention the most however, was not the catacomb itself, but what was within said catacomb, at its heart. There before us, rested the twisted, contorted skeleton of a Na'vi man long since dead, his body having been crushed by a... ~By Trag'Oul's Burning Breath,~ Ieesha whispered, the slitted, elliptical pupils of her midnight-blue eyes dilating with horror. ~That... is an old Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.~ Said missile had penetrated through the ceiling into the catacomb - leaving an enormous hole through which the daylight from Alpha Centauri B now streamed - whereupon it had slammed into the earthen floor without detonating, crushing the hapless unnamed Na'vi.
"Poor sod..." I murmured quietly, "he's probably from the last days of the war; might have come here to offer up one last prayer to Eywa before bugging out with the rest of the Omatikaya. Eywa, obviously, didn't hear him..." Lapsing into silence for a moment I bowed my head in mourning for a moment as beside me Ieesha did the same. Then, lifting my head to survey the scene before me, I spoke softly to the unnamed man's spirit. "If we can find a way to safely dismantle and remove the missile, ma Tsmukan, we will take you out of here, restore your bones and allow Eywa to take you home" I vowed. Her determination filling my thoughts, beside me Ieesha firmly nodded her head.
~I agree, David; it would be a shameful thing to leave him here~ she said. A thought suddenly occurred to her, then, and she went with it. ~Perhaps... perhaps we could search through the remnants of the Kelutral; maybe find where within it he lived. If his possessions are there - if they are intact - we could return them to his family... if he has any.~ Pleased with her idea, I nodded my head; it would be a fine thing to do as part of my Penance to atone for my actions against Jake Sully. "That's a good idea, Ieesha - we'll do it - but first..." Affixing my attention to the Probe known as Little One, I crouched to face her and asked, "This is where you took the reading?"
Sounding an affirmative tone, the little Probe deployed its Geiger counter... and when said counter began clicking with a vengeance - showing that the entire place was flooded with radiation - I heaved a weary sigh, gave Ieesha a look than instructed the Medical Computers built into our Encounter Suits to give the both of us a dose of Hyronalyn, a medicinal drug used to counter the effects of radiation poisoning. As my beloved felt the drug enter her system, she looked at me curiously, cocking her head. "The NBC shielding of our suits should keep us comfortable through all this, but... better to be safe than sorry." At this, Ieesha nodded in agreement. ~Thank you, David~ she replied.
With that I, Ieesha, and our six Probes all proceeded towards the ancient Intercontinental Ballistic Missile and - as the Probes started to scan it thoroughly - my beloved and I circled it warily, examining it visually. What we discovered wasn't good... at all! An old Russian thermonuclear Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile called the RS-24 Yars, the thing was supposed to be equipped with four 'multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles' - or MIRVs - each of which carried a separate nuclear warhead, allowing the missile to hit multiple targets. This particular RS-24 Yars, however... well... it was, put simply, a mess. "Wow..." I said softly, whistling in awe, "this thing's as crude as they come; I'm surprised it even got off the ground, let alone landed without detonating! Damn..."
The twenty-three by two meter missile was old - either it had been repaired many times, or pieced together from multiple missiles - and its outer casing was patched and rusting away in places, whilst the MIRVs that were supposed to have housed its four nuclear warheads were irreparably damaged. With mounting horror, Ieesha and I also noticed that the warheads themselves had been compromised, their uranium-235 / plutonium-239 payloads exposed to the world. "Well, that explains the source of the radiation and confirms our theories; the RDA definitely played foul and the land here has definitely been irradiated such that Eywa hasn't been able to heal it. Oh boy... Jake's not going to like this..."