LOG-022.The command center was rather quiet, all things considered. The usual chatter of the personnel within dulled beneath the weight that it had already been hours since the silent vigil beyond the boundaries of their fortress had begun, having managed to lessen the immediate urgency of their words, for what was there to speak of when nothing was changing?“Can’t fucking believe we sent her out. Of all the stupid moronic fucking-”Well, it wasn’t total silence, at least. The angry mutterings of the man in charge still drew the occasional wince from most present, save the scarred presence in the corner, who was currently busy glaring out into the wilderness with narrowed eyes.“-bullshit to pull, cause why not right? Yeah let’s just throw our liaison, a fucking shareholder into the fucking jungle and leave her to be eaten by some bullshit hivemind motherfucker-”The remaining point of the Hell’s Gate trifecta wasn’t present, of course. Grace Augustine and just about everyone in her time were more than busy trying to observe the phenomena, in so much as the soldiers almost physically needing to hold them back from passing the fences were preventing such a thing.Eventually, Parker Selfridge found himself whirling around to face one Miles Quaritch, the other man still staring out into the wilderness. And the beasts that were currently staring back, of course.“We shouldn’t have sent her out.”The words earned a sharp inhale from the soldier, his nostrils flaring as he noted a banshee tracking his movements, even from the supposed safety behind the glass he stood.“She said the damn moon was alive and look at where we are now. I ain’t happy about it, you certainly ain’t happy about it, given you two have been fuckin’ like god damned rabbits, but we aren’t in a position to dictate terms here.”Quaritch turned, and Selfridge paused at the anger on the man’s face, plain as day.“Believe you me, suit. I don’t like not being able to dictate terms.”Silence followed after that exchange. Because what else was there to say? Eywa was real, and evidently, she had most of them by the balls.The only hope was that sacrificing the Na’vi that had apparently earned the forest’s attention would prevent an out and out slaughter. Something that was still yet to be seen.Of course, that was until a sweat soaked corporal practically barrelled into the command center, bald head shining beneath the chamber’s interior lights, and simultaneously earned both Miles’ and Parker’s respective attentions with two words.“She’s back!”—“Talk to me Lyle, what are we looking at?”The Hell’s Gate airstrip was abuzz with activity, as pilots that had been desperately preparing for emergency combat takeoffs hesitantly left their vehicles, no banshees or other aerial combatants to be found.“Creepy crawlies are retreating sir, full dispersal on all fronts. Surveillance spotted our cat girl walking towards the front of the base unharmed.”Instead, as Quaritch followed behind Wainfleet, there was an uneasy sense of disarmament, particularly as the dull rumbling of thousands upon thousands of animals pulling back from the edges of the base made its way through the air.It was mask on outside of the base’s interior, naturally. And with the urgency involved, the head of security felt almost naked, unprepared save for the ever present wasp revolver he carried everywhere like a lucky token.“Well shit, let’s hope she pulled off a miracle then.”Parker, huffing and puffing behind them, had elected to slap a bullet resistant vest over his usual dress shirt at least, but experience told him that was just going to ensure his death lasted longer, assuming they were attacked.It didn’t take long to make it to the ‘front’ of Hell’s Gate, in so much as the base really had any primary entrance, and the colonel briefly found himself admiring the firing line of AMP suits that had dug an actual, honest to god trench in what he could only assume was some preparation for a desperate last stand.It was fucking stupid, of course. But he was proud of his boys anyway.“Oh shit, there she is!”Blinking behind his mask and trying not to let the glare of the sun blind him, Quaritch refrained from reaching out and yanking his superior back by the scruff of his shirt, instead settling for watching the gate.As per orders, it had been opened up upon approach from an allied entity, though rather than a dozer, an APC, or a patrol of buggies, the denizens of Hell’s Gate all found themselves witness to a thanator.Even with all of his experience, Miles couldn’t help but wince slightly at the state of the animal. Its eyes had seemingly exploded from within at some point, leaving little more than hollow, gore soaked sockets that stared forward unerringly as the predator took one step after the other, limbs shaking as if possessed.Considering what they’d all been witness to today, the fact he couldn’t rule that out as a factor was…fun, to say the very least.“Opal!”More importantly of course was the pale figure sat atop the creature, who promptly swung off of its back and took to her own feet, her ride collapsing into a pile of twitching limbs and wheezing breaths a moment later.“Parker!”Stepping past the happy reunion of Na’vi and human, the colonel approached the visibly dying animal, pausing as it shifted its head to watch him, eye sockets for all the world managing to track him despite their mangled state.Biting his lip at the increasingly raspy breaths escaping the hunter, the man watched blood pour out of its nostrils and earholes for another few seconds, before reaching for the revolver at his hip and pulling it out.The mercy kill was relatively quick, at least. Shooting through a thanator’s thick skull was made a lot easier when it had two glaring weak points he could use to get past all that durable bone, even as the abrupt gunshots earned yelps from those around him who hadn’t been prepared for the noise.Turning away from the freshly made corpse to regard the seemingly unharmed liaison with his own eyes, the grizzled old man stowed his sidearm back into its holster and crossed his arms, quirking a brow at Parker’s dangling legs.The corporate stooge had evidently realised his position now, held aloft in the air, and briefly wriggled as a few chuckles sprang up from some of the surrounding secops marines, only for those struggles to cease as he was promptly squished into a leotard covered chest in retaliation.Settling for professionalism and respectfully ignoring the byplay, Quaritch inclined his head towards the significantly emptier feeling forest, even as Opal observed him in turn.“So, how’d the pow wow with mother nature go?”The Na’vi stared at him for a long moment, pearlescent eyes searching for something on his face, before she finally shrugged, smiling.“Well I ain’t dead!”Pressing his lips together, the colonel nodded in acknowledgement of the fact.“Hm, good outcome.”Piece said, he waited for his alien counterpart to finally realise that her romantic partner’s desperate smacking of her shoulder was because he was not, in fact, being playful, but rather because he was being suffocated within the fabric covered bounty that was her chest.The Na’vi’s subsequent yelp and apology managed to bring a slight smirk to the colonel’s face, at least. One that immediately dipped back down into a stern frown as corporal Wainfleet pointed it out with glee, the conniving bastard.