Now Leaving Pandora

Location: Hallelujah Mountains, Pandora, Alpha Centauri

Time: 2:36 ESA (Earth Standard time), 2154 A.D

fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck

"Fall back! Fall back!"

"On your left!"

"You want some motherfucker?! Come on you bi-BRAAAAA"

"Wait dont leave me! Come back!!!"

"Get to the evac site! Get to the fucking evac site!"

"The blues are coming back! The blues are b-"

Thiswasntsupposedtohappenthiswasntsupposedtohappen

-----( 20 minutes earlier)-----

"Hold position! We got movement out there! 500 meters" Lyle Wainfleet announced from his AMP suit, removing a hand from his GAU-90 rifle to raise a fist. The row of advancing RDA soldiers and fellow armored mobile platforms came to a halt as they trudged through Pandora's lush jungle. Each solider eyed the wilderness warily, on the lookout for their crafty and dangerous enemy, the planets native inhabitants, the Na'vi.

"Charlie 2-1 Hold position" Den Lenus heard the nearest AMP unit, as it raised its fist, signalling  to the rest of the line. The medic tightened the grip on his SOLARIS IV  assault rifle , the weapon feeling heavier for some reason. Den eyed the area ahead, his breathing slightly fogging the bottom of his mask. He didn't realize until now, but the area had grown quiet, very quiet, but they're was something, a deep reverberation... a rumbling.

"Hehehehe, here they come, hehehehe" He slightly turned his head, spotting the solider to his left who was giggling maniacally, as he hefted his M60 machine gun to aim strait ahead. His fingers shifted on the trigger, waiting for the movement to strike. Den couldn't help but feel a shiver run down his spine, he was here for the some reasons as the other soldiers, for the money, but that didn't mean he had to revel in the killing.

"Firing Line! Targets closing. Range 400 meters!" Lyle called out, bring his rifle to bear as his suit entered a battle stance. The other AMP's  followed as the soldiers formed a line in the brush. Den readied his weapon, as he prepared for the coming fight. He aimed down his sights, and pressed his finger close to the trigger. The rumbling was increasing now, and then he spotted them.

Hundreds of Na'vi, all on those 6 legged horse creatures. They war cry's echoed across the vast distance, and Den could hear it clear as day.

"Easy..... easy....wait for it........"

Den swallowed the growing lump in his throat as he massive force continued its charge toward them. Thousands of pounds of muscle and anger ready to kill him and his fellow troops.

"Light em up!" Lyle yelled, his GAU-90 rifle unloading its 30mm armor piercing rounds towards the advancing enemy. The entire firing line joining him in releasing their devastating weapons upon the natives. There was no sound save for the gunfire of the RDA's weapons, creating a deafening echo around the area. Den spotted a Na'vi approaching his 2 o'clock and aimed his rifle at center mass. Pulling back on the trigger, he rifle pushed back into his shoulder as the rounds were released from the barrel, careening away to their target. The Na'vi's steed took most of the bullets to the head, as it suddenly collapsed forward, sending its rider to the ground with a sickening crunch, but Den was already focusing his attention on a new target. There were plenty.

"Yeah! Get some!" He heard Lyle yell over the comms, and he couldn't help but smile at that. An arrow whizzing by him quickly ruined his smile as a fellow solider was impaled against a rock, arms outstretched as he dumbly tried to remove the 4 foot arrow from his chest cavity. Den cringed inwardly, he could do nothing for the solider. He took some comfort in the fact that the combined adrenaline, shock, and nuro-toxins from the arrow would offer the solider a rather quick and mildly painless death.

Taking a step forward, he yelled " Come on! We can do this!" emptying his rifle at the Na'vi. The firing line was hammering the advancing force, and many were not only halting their approach, but actually retreating.

"Scorpions! Pursue and Destroy!" the commander, Quaritch ordered over the comms. Sure enough, multiple scorpions appeared above the foliage raining death from their rocket pods. They had officially routed the enemy, as the Na'vi were now in full retreat. However, the firing line continued to unleash its barrage, bullets ripping into the back the unsuspecting enemy's. Den, emptied his mag, and eyed the battlefield around him. Fires raged around the forest, the chocking black smoke spreading chaos into the enemy ranks. The scorpions and AMP's combined might bathed the jungle in a hell fire of death and destruction.

"Push forward! Push Forward!" Lyle ordered. Advancing his AMP forward to keep the natives in his kill range. The other soldiers were all too eager to finish off the already weakened enemy.

"Yea! They think they can fuck with us?!"

" Look at em run! Fuckin blue bitches!"

The cheers of his fellow soldiers to little to elevate Den's mood, he was happy, but this mopping up didn't feel right to him. As he hung back, allowing the more gung-ho soldiers to advance, he couldn't help but let out a sigh. This was no longer a battle, this was a slaughter.

"Doesn't feel right huh?" He heard a voice ask to his right. Den turned his head and spotted another solider matching his pace a few feet away.  Despite being here for months, he failed to recognize this new solider.The soldier was light skinned, same as himself, and his brown hair was cut extra short, leaving barely hair on his head. His dull green eyes seemed to bore into Den,as he flinched back, returning his attention back to his 12 o'clock.

"No, it doesn't" He admitted.

"At least they're are a few of us out their that actually don't like what were doing here" The new solider spoke.

Den deeply sighed. " I wouldn't say that. No offense, but I really don't care what happens to them. We need the minerals, I need the money, they need to wise up and realize they cant fight us."

" So, just for the money huh? Some would say that's a selfish move" the solider rebutted. This caused Den to stop and turn sharply towards the other solider.

"And who the fuck are you? Your out here doing the same thing, so your not exactly innocent yourself" Confident in ending the conversation, he began to increase his pace towards the rest of the line. Unfortunately, his new quarry would not be easily removed.

"That's fair. But seriously, your only out here for the cash? Oh, and by the way, names Thanatos. My friends call me Than"

What the hell's with this guys name? The medic thought.

"If you really want to know, I'm not just doing this for me. My family needs the cash, and I'll be damned if I let my family down'' Dren stated. Back on Earth, jobs were scarce, what little was left besides industry was quickly taken up. If you didnt find a job quickly, chances you weren't finding one. Both his mother and younger siblings worked, however his father had become bedridden when Dren was young due to an accident in the factories. The financial strain on keeping his father healthy resulted in him taking the contract with the RDA and being shipped off to Pandora.

"And I was going to be a doctor" he scoffed, shaking his head slightly.

"So why not rap up your contract with the RDA and go back home? Be a doc, save lives, not take them" offered Than.

" Because no one pays as well as the RDA does with their hazard pay. It may be blood money, but its money"

" But if you had the chance, you'd go back and be a doc? "

"Yes, if I could yes. I would've avoided all this mess and just been a doctor. " Dren sighed.

"Huh, looks like here's your chance"

"Wha-

" I got movement I got movement " one of the AMP pilots announced.

"Hold position! Somethings coming!" Lyle ordered, swaying his mech slightly as he checked his radar. Spotting a large cluster approaching their position. Another wave? He thought.

"We've got movement 200 meters" Lyle called, not taking his eyes off the instrument before him.

"Hold position hold position" the same AMP pilot added.

"Be ready!"

"Watch your flank"

Den, Lyle, and the rest of the soldiers readied themselves for any type of attack. Suddenly, the crashing and breaking of many trees were heard. Something big was coming. Something big and fast. Almost instantly several HammerHead titanothere's burst through the nearby trees. The massive 11 meter long, six legged, 14 ton creatures slammed into the line of AMP's. They're heads unique shape allowing them to bulldoze down a few AMPs with little resistance.

"Fire Fire Fire!!!" someone yelled. All the soldiers unloaded on the massive creatures, but only the GAU-90 rifle's posed any threat to the Hammerhead's naturally thick skin. Many soldiers were trampled in the stampede and the AMPs could to little against the armored fronts of the native fauna. Den was barely able to roll away as one obliterated the area he was just standing in.

"We got to get outta here!" Another yelled over the chaos. Den, luckily being near the back of the line at the time, realized there was massive disorder as the soldiers lost their AMP escorts.

"FALL BACK FALL BACK!!" Lyre yelled, as he continued to fire at an approaching hammerhead. The creature leaned down in its approach, before throwing its head up, slamming the AMP into the air. Lyre felt only a sense of weightlessness as gravity kicked back in, slamming his mech to the ground. He barely was able to register what happened before a massive foot bared down on his cockpit.

"AAAAAAHHHH!!" Was all he could say before he was unceremoniously crushed in his corpse of a mech. The remaining units  that survived the stampede fled for their lives. Den retreated himself, and didn't see Than anywhere, he could only assume he'd been killed in the chaos.

-----( Now )-----

Den bounded through the undergrowth of the jungle, his chest burning as his lungs took in what little breath he managed with each gasp. Behind him, three other RDA soldiers were following closely, shooting back at the newly reinforced enemy. Somehow, the entire wildlife of Pandora had turned against them almost instantly. The Bomber group had been completely annihilated by a swarm of Banshees, dragon like lizards that had ripped apart the aerial vehicles. What was left of the ground forces has been attacked by Pandora's native wolfs, the viperwolfs. Now, Den had his remaining comrades were rushing to the designated evac sight for the ground forces. Viperwolfs and some Na'vi were closing in on their position. He had nearly burned through most of his  rifle ammo, and had a half and empty magazine and one full one. His pistol was still unused with 4 full mags ready to go, but at this point, the rifle's full auto was his best bet against his enemy.

" We're coming up on the evac site! We need to hold out a little longer!" Den yelled over then discharging of multiple weapons. They were approaching a large clearing in the jungle where they had originally landed, it now offering the only hope of escape for the remaining forces.

Breaching into the clearing, the group was also joined up by another two man and three man squad. One soldier was carrying another, who left leg was bleeding profusely, the fabric of the pants torn away and soaked crimson. Joining together, the ten remaining members voiced their concerns.

"Where the fuck are the Samsons man???" One of the new soldiers asked. He was referring to the light ducted-fan craft, basically advanced helicopters, armed with door guns, detachable rocket pods, the Samson was the troop transport for the RDA.

"I dont know! They should be here! They cant all have been taken out? Right?"

"Shit! We're on our own! We're fucked! Positively Fucked!"

"Keep shooting! Those fuckers are still coming!" another yelled, as he fired at an approaching viperwolf. Forming a small circle in the clearing, the soldiers sparingly fired to keep the enemy from getting to close.

Den however was more focusing his attention on his wounded comrade. Laying the solider down with help from his friend. Den went to work on checking on his leg.

"What happened?" He asked, tearing away what little of the fabric was left.

"One of those fucking dog things got his leg, barley shot the fucker off before he could do more damage"

"This isn't good, his femoral artery is severed, hes lost a lot of blood considering he's already passed out", at this Den removed his pack and removed a few medical supplies.

" Is he gonna make it doc? Kyle's been with me through all this shit" the solider said, patting 'Kyle' on the shoulder.

"First, Im not a doctor, medic, but no doctor. Second, I can only stabilize him with what I have, we need to get him back to the base if he's going to survive." Looking around at the firing soldiers, he yelled " Has anyone got in contact with aerial? Anyone?"

"Our comms don't have that kind of range! That's why we had the AMPs!"

"So if they don't fly near us they wont know where down here???"

"Oh fuck me!"

"Your name?" Den asked Kyle's friend as he returned his attention to his patient.

The solider was confused slightly, answered " Its Jack, Jack Sinner"

"Try getting in contact with aerial. Try your comms till they answer." He turned his head to address the group. "The rest if you! Keep them off us until help arrives!"

One particular solider, Sean if he remembered correctly, looked over his shoulder. "Who the fuck put you in charge?!"

Not bothering to dignify it with a response. Den continued his work. Injecting morphine now would be useless, as it had the chance to stop his heart with the amount of blood-loss. All he could do was clean and seal the wound. As he began to wrap the the leg in bandages, Jack excitedly yelled, " I got through! I got through! Scorpion and two Samsons coming in hot! We're gonna make it!" This was accompanied by a few cheers and "OORAH" by the group.

Sure enough, moments later the sound of chopping air could be heard as twin SA-2 Samsons came into view as a Scorpion covered their approach. Not bothering to wait for them to land, the group made their way over to the descending SA-2 s one missing a door gunner and another missing both. They barely touched down before they groups piled in, Den and Jack helping load Kyle into the transport.

" Were the fuck is everyone else?" Sean asked the pilot as he manned one of the door guns.

"We are everyone! We barely made it out of that clusterfuck!  What about the ground forces?" the pilot answered over the roar of the engines.

"Your looking at us!" Jack deadpanned. The pilot simply nodded and pulled back on his control stick, causing the Samson to rise out of the hostile jungle.

"Kilo 1 Kilo 1. We got hostile birds at 3 oclock, heading our way" the pilots comm alerted. True to the Scorpion pilots word, there were several shapes approaching quickly in the distance.

"Shit! Kilo 2 get your ass in the air! Your the only one with rockets left!"

"I've got engine trouble! My rotors aren't spinning fast enough! I cant get any lift!"

"They're sitting ducks down there. They need to move!" Den yelled to the pilot.

"Stinger 5, this is Kilo 1. Kilo 2 has clipped wings. Can you assist? Im going to make a break for the base"

The scorpion was already in motion as it positioned iteself between the incoming banshees and the Samson.

"Get out of here Kilo 1, I can handle a few lizards with wings"

"Roger, heading home. Good luck" With that, the transport moved away, gaining speed and altitude as it headed back to home base. Each solider released a breath they hadn't realized they'd been holding, as they realized their hellish situation was over.

Den wanted nothing more then to remove his now rather stuffy mask, as his face was doused in sweat. He leaned back in his seat, and attempted to steady his heartbeat. Looking around, each solider was still on alert, the door gunners consonantly swiveling their .30 caliber machine guns, daring anything in the sky to challenge them.

Taking another deep breath, he slumped over slightly, and closed his eyes. The only sounds were the hum of the engine and the buzz of the rotor blades. He could finally feel his muscles begin to relax before a piercing cry was heard above them. A cry that made his blood run cold and his eyes shoot wide open.

"Aye Aye! Ayeeeee! "

"Fucking blue above us!" One of the gunners yelled, aiming his machine gun up and firing. The other followed but not before an arrow pierced the cockpit and its pilot. The body going limp against the control panel and sending the Smason out of control. Everything seemed to slow down for Den, he watched as a few soldiers held onto their straps for dear life, while the door gunners continued to fire, he was able to see every spent cartridge. Jack made an attempt to grab for the stick, nearly falling over the wounded Kyle. Den barely realized he wasn't strapped in before the Samson leaned to the right. Den frantically tried to grab something as he felt himself slipping out of the transport, his fingers failing to get a firm grasp on something.

Suddenly, he was weightless. He was falling. He stared dumbly as he watched the Samson continue to spin out of control, its gunners shooting wildly now. He was able to make out the falling form of a banshee and its rider near the corner of his eye.

"Heh, got em too" he said, although the only sound his ears heard was the whistling of the wind. He turned his body in the air, and immediately spotted the foliage of the forest rushing to greet him. His last thoughts were of his family and his life. At peace, he waited for the end.

Then, there was only darkness.