LOG-008."This is some girly ass shit man."I rewarded the marine's comment with a light smack to his bald head, prompting a wince from him as I continued to apply more paint to his face."It's traditional Lyle. You're going out to battle, even if it's with beasts. This will bring you good luck. And besides, you look good in Kyra'meta colours!"The man let out a snort at that, casually flipping off the trio of chuckling soldiers watching us from across the shooting range. Every now and then, an impossibly loud bang would ring out as sec ops personnel fired at preplaced targets, something which I knew for a fact a few of the warriors of my clan had begun watching, out of bored curiosity if nothing else."Yeah? What, think it'll get me some Na'vi tail or something?"My own ears were currently stuffed with a pair of buds to avoid long term damage, but something about them allowed me to still make out my chosen practice dummy's words."Horny fool. And…hm…not by itself, and certainly not from other clans. Maybe if you hunt down a wild beast and present its heart to one of the huntresses or something though…"Dabbing the last of the shattered piece of shell against his upper brow, I stepped back to examine my handiwork, smiling."Admit it, I look stupid."One marine dyed in shades of white and light blue, with the occasional bit of soft purple. Not too bad for a first attempt, all things considered."Hush, you're insulting my skills. You look like a warrior."I was shaken from my inspection by the sounds of someone jogging up to us, and idly took a breath from the mask hanging at my neck before turning to take in a soldier I didn't recognise, the man snapping off a salute as he came to a stop."Opal, ma'am. I've got the Colonel asking for you in the briefing room."Nodding along with his words, I shot Lyle a warning glance, stopping the marine from picking at his face."I'm gonna go see what the Quaritch wants. Don't you dare wash off my hard work, or I'll place a wicked curse on you."The statement, as predicted, earned a grunt from the man, accompanied by renewed laughter and 'spooky' sounds from his team.—"Colonel, you asked to see me-"I was cut off by Quaritch's severe scowl, his eyes narrowed at something on a tablet, left at an angle I couldn't see."Opal, I've got a situation I was hoping you could help me with. Sit down, would ya?"Hesitating only briefly, I did as asked, moving and taking a seat left near one of the walls as the older man did the same, before he turned the tablet around, showing me…"Now I've got Na'vi insurgents that have set one of the bulldozers on fire. Sec ops are in pursuit, but they're starting to lose em in the damn brush, I was wondering if you could maybe do a fly by for us, get some cooperation between my boys and yours-"The man went silent as I lunged forward, staring at the looped recording of lithe blue figures pouring some kind of fuel or liquid atop one of the RDA's immense machines, before setting the damned cabin alight and fleeing to the sound of gunfire."Call off your men Colonel, those are children."The words earned me a blink and a furrowed brow from my far smaller counterpart, his eyes moving to glance at the video."...Those fellas there are kids?"Waving a hand at him, I continued to stare at the footage, thinking back to the one situation I knew of in which a bulldozer had been set on fire, with nothing else happening at the same time.Save for a certain school getting shot up, of course. So, that's where I was in the timeline. Good to know. Bad to deal with, of course, but good to know."Na'vi develop faster than human beings Quaritch, you really ought to know this by now. Regardless, they're either kids or teenagers. Call off your men."There was a hint of protest in his eyes, so I raised my hand before he could argue and shook my head."I'll round up some hunters and we'll go find them, think of it as that cooperation you were just asking for. The last thing the RDA needs is to shoot up a bunch of Omatikaya younglings before I even get the chance to speak to them. Call off the sec ops, Quaritch."Maybe it was the slight pleading in my tone, or maybe it was that I was just speaking plain common fucking sense, but the Colonel held my stare for a moment before slowly nodding, slapping his thighs before getting up with a sigh."Alright, I'll see if you can handle this. But there's almost certainly gonna be hell to pay for that equipment, stuff ain't cheap, I'll tell you that."Breathing out a sigh of my own, I stood up, moving to leave only to pause at the doorway as Quaritch called out."And Opal…I'm giving you a measure of trust here. Don't fuck it up."Rolling my eyes, I gave the man a small, sarcastic salute before moving on.—"We've fashioned these transponders for you to wear! They'll let the base defences know you're friendly! Do not lose them!"Shooting the masked operator a thumbs up with one hand and accepting the smile, dog tag looking thing with the other, I lifted its chained length over my head, allowing it to settle around my neck as the woman warily stepped back.Beneath me, Alfa let out a slight hiss at the usual hustle and bustle of Hell's Gate's airstrip, even as six other Ikran all glanced around with uncertain eyes before their respective riders got them to focus again."Blue Squadron this is Hell's Gate, flight path is cleared and outer perimeter security have been informed. You're good to take off."Reaching for the minimalistic radio setup currently strapped to the rather snug flak vest wrapped around my torso, I mumbled back an affirmative, before giving Alfa the mental all clear.Within moments, we were in the air, soaring beyond the boundaries of the base and heading into the forest.Thankfully we weren't searching blind, I'd been given a map of RDA points of interest, including both Grace's school and the site of the bulldozer burning. More important was the school, of course. Unless memory failed me, that's where the kids would go to hide.Which meant that's where I needed to go, so I could round them up and get Grace involved before the RDA decided to do something stupid."Turn left! I am your star! Follow!"As the evening continued to encroach, I allowed a slight flicker to engulf my hair, giving the hunters I'd chosen to help me with this fuckery (all older, more level headed Na'vi who wouldn't do something idiotic unless I explicitly told them to) an easy beacon to track as we flew.I could only hope that I could defuse this whole situation before it exploded into something worse.