LOG-018.Managing the disparate personalities of Hell’s Gate had become almost routine at this point, usually starting in the morning with the person who was technically in charge.“You know, sometimes I get the weirdly distinct feeling that you’re manipulating me.”I answered the outrageous, slanderous, downright untrue claim in the most reasonable way I could, namely by leaning downwards and pressing my lips against the top of Parker’s head, even as I carefully read the latest set of messages RDA executive command had sent in from Earth.“Mmmwah.”The man blinked at the kiss, face slightly glowing from the light of the monitor in front of him, before huffing.“I’m immune to alien cat girl propaganda. I’m immune to alien cat girl propaganda. I’m-”“Mmmmwah.”“-not at all immune to alien cat girl propaganda. Where did you say you wanted the internal school for your clans’ kids set up again?”I smiled, bringing my hands up to begin massaging at his shoulders. Though considering the size different, it was more like I was massaging a significant part of his upper back, honestly.“Next to the hospital, just in case something ever happens. It’s still on budget?”My…well, I supposed he was my boyfriend at this point, let out another huff, a slight amount of chagrin entering his voice this time.“Not at all, actually. I’m uh…gonna need to pay out of pocket for the expenditure of materials and labour. Mostly labour.”Ah. Well, I certainly couldn’t afford him having any regrets about that, so…Peck peck peck. Mwah mwah mwah.“You are such a good man, helping take care of all those children.”“Morality doesn’t work on me.”“Yes it does. And think of the PR.”“...Okay that works. Hell’s Gate native education center. Or…eh, we’ll workshop it. Gonna need to get a camera crew set up. Oh shit, you think Grace will get mad about the competition?”I snorted at the thought, even as I stood back up straight, tail languidly swishing behind me as I allowed the morning sun to filter into my eyes from one of the windows of what had rapidly become a shared office space between Selfridge and I.“I think she’ll just be glad that we aren’t shooting them or something, honestly.”—“Opal, need you for a sec.”Blinking, pausing and finally redirecting course past the line of AMP suits as if I hadn’t been intending to go this way initially, I settled to a stop before one Miles Quaritch, the grizzled old veteran bent over a large paper map of all things, narrowed eyes and scarred features betraying nothing.“Colonel?”The soldier glanced up at me for a second, before slapping a tanned hand against a specific section of the map, one that I realised correlated with the rough coordinates I’d given the RDA about a week prior.I glanced over it, before letting out a quiet “ah” of understanding, stepping out of the way of a marine carrying some kind of crate and taking my place opposite the colonel.“They’ve managed to scout out the deposits, then?”Quaritch nodded, mouth set into a thin line as he inspected several symbols that probably meant something to him, but remained utterly incomprehensible to me.“More than that, they’ve got a small outpost established. Everything’s set and ready for expansion, and once the next flight in from Earth gives us the increased manpower we need, we can probably staff the place enough to get started on actual resource extraction. I just need two things from you first.”Tilting my head slightly in bemusement at the visibly annoyance on the grumpy old man’s face, I watched him take a breath, before nodding at me.“First thing’s first, I technically need your…permission to give the go ahead for my men to set up shop permanently. Your damned paperwork came through, so you own that entire area. I’ve been told there’s a bunch of legal bullshit regarding payment and such by one of my guys. You’ll be getting those once we start getting some dividends from the place, most likely. Don’t ask me how it works, I don’t know.”At my nod, the man moved on, clearly more comfortable discussing the next part.“The second is my main concern, security. We’ve gotten used to the locals and their wildlife here in the forest, but ocean critters aren’t something we have much experience with. The hunters you sent along have been helpful in keeping any incidents down, but as things ramp up I’m gonna need a coherent report to give to any new arrivals.” Quaritch gestured to one of the nearby crates that seemed to litter the area, even as he reached for a notepad set beside the map, the honestly kind of hilarious sight of the muscular, scarred special operative holding it forcing me to hold back a laugh.“Think you can give me the rundown?”Smiling, I moved to take a seat, even as I began to list off what immediate problems any human explorers might face when visiting the home waters of the Kyra'meta.—I was in the middle of making my way to the Avatar facilities to see if I could poke at Grace for something or other (I’d probably figure it out when I got there, honestly) when I was interrupted by alarms.Hell’s Gate had lots of alarms. General role call alarms. Incoming or outgoing aircraft alarms. Wildlife assault alarms.This particular alarm was the third type, and I found myself rushing towards a group of marines rapidly assembling near one of the perimeter fences, trying to get a peek at just what we were dealing with as one of the men practically threw themselves over a ladder and into the seat of some kind of turret, strapping in while the others scattered from the barrel they’d apparently been playing cards on and grabbed rifles from a nearby rack.The sight I saw past the fence caused me to freeze in place, and it earned a similar response from the soldiers as we all stared through the barbed metal.Because staring back at us were eyes.Hundreds. No, what had to be thousands of eyes. I saw hexapedes and direhorses side by side, standing in eerily coordinated lines. Ikrans utterly silent, hanging from trees like overgrown birds. Even what had to be the horrifically predatory form of a Thanator, sat utterly placid in the midst of a massive pack of viperwolves.All perfectly still. All gathered outside the walls of humanity’s lone bastion upon Pandora. And to my horror, as I tracked just what all those eyes were actually focused on…All staring directly at me.“...Nope!”And so I did the reasonable thing and turned right the fuck around, heading safety.Namely, the center of Hell’s Gate, where it was all concrete, heavily armed sec ops soldiers, and occasionally pollution filled air, even as the men behind me finally noticed my rapidly departing form and began to call out for advice.Cause fuuuuuuck all of that!