Dishonourable Discharge: Grace Augustine

66

Ivory watched in silence as dawn began to paint the sky, the early morning light muted by the windshield of the Samson.

"Rogue one, rogue one, this is Max. We are in motion." A voice crackled through the aircraft's radio.

Trudy jabbed a button. "Copy." She urged the aircraft forwards, her expression grim.

"Rogue one, really?" Ivory raised an eyebrow.

"Norm chose the name."

Ivory twisted around in her seat. "Oh shit."

"What? You didn't hear his first suggestion." Trudy shuddered and didn't take her eyes off of the forest below.

"They're already here." Ivory's face was white.

Quaritch's Dragon Assault Ship skimmed over the forest flanked by Samsons, Scorpion Gun Ships and two enormous Valkyrie shuttles like deadly armoured beetles.

Trudy swore loudly, forcing the auto throttle forward.

"I should've had a better last meal." Ivory muttered. "Bank left!" She shouted.

The Samson lurched to the side, narrowly avoiding the missile that had just erupted from Quaritch's ship. "Did you see where that went?" Trudy asked breathlessly, struggling to get her Samson out of the RDA's line of fire.

Ivory craned her neck. Flames were beginning to lick at the forest below. "The forest."

"Can you see-?"

"I can't see Norm." The woman raked a hand through her hair. "He'll be with Grace. Their Avatars are freakishly tall, if they were down there we'd be able to see them." 

"The handset." Trudy prompted, guiding Maya towards the Hallelujah mountains. "We're in VFR."

Ivory snatched it out of her pocket, hitting the button. "Norm? This is rogue one, this is rogue one. What's happening on the ground?"

"We're falling back!" Norm's response echoed through the Samson.

"Why?" Ivory's voice was urgent.

"We can't-" Norm broke off, shouting something unintelligible. "We're outnumbered."

Trudy's face was a mask of horror.

"Set me down." Ivory commanded.

"What?" Trudy yanked the cyclic, barely making it out of the way before a daisy cutter exploded into the side of a mountain.

"Set me down."

Another explosion erupted inches from the side of the Samson and Trudy screamed. Ivory had never heard Trudy scream before, not even when the Samson had almost crashed into Hell's Gate and it scared the shit out of her.

"Give me a second." Trudy let the Samson drop sharply, smacking a button on the control panel so that bullets raked the surface of the Valkyrie shuttle that had overtaken them.

Ivory took off her seatbelt and snatched the assault rifle from the back seat, lurching slightly as Trudy struggled to land between the trees. "Thanks."

"Keep him safe." Trudy said quickly as she watched the older woman slide a ka-bar knife into her belt loops.

"I will."

"And keep yourself safe too."

"Try not to get blown up." Ivory slid out of the Samson, giving Trudy a lopsided grin before she turned and ran off into the forest, following the sound of the Na'vi's war cries.

Explosions echoed through the trees and the ground shook.

"What the hell am I doing." Ivory muttered, staggering slightly as the ground shook beneath her feet.

A crowd of Na'vi horsemen charged through the forest with Norm heading the group, an assault rifle slung over his shoulder.

Norm stopped short, the Na'vi coming to an abrupt half behind him. "Ivy? Did something happen to the Samson? Is Trudy-?"

"She's fine." Ivory cut in. "Is Grace not with you?"

Norm shook his head. "She's with another group."

Ivory took her handset from her pocket and pressed the button. "Grace, come in, Grace?"

Silence.

"Grace, come in, Grace?" Ivory repeated.

"That side of the forest is already under attack I don't think she'll answer." Norm squared his shoulders. "The RDA ground team should be here in fifteen seconds."

A horde of heavily ground troops crashed through the trees, breathing hard as the Na'vi thundered towards them, launching a stream of arrows as the troopers opened fire, blasting the foliage into a leafy confetti.

Ivory switched her rifle to automatic, sprinting towards the RDA.

"Just try and hit who you can!" Norm shouted above the ceaseless noise of bullets.

Charging direhorses crashed to the ground, flinging their riders off as their flanks were riddled with gunshot wounds.  The merciless fire didn't stop.

"Aim for their masks and throats!" Ivory yelled as the Na'vi reached for more arrows. She shot at the ground troops, not caring wether she knew the person that she was hitting with endless rounds of bullets.

Tracers crashed into the undergrowth, blasting trees apart. The Na'vi were falling, their ranks decimated.

"Jake! Jake! We're falling back." Norm shouted into his handset, wheeling his direhorse around, leading the surviving Na'vi away from the horrific onslaught.

Ivory ran after the Norm, gasping for breath as the bits of forest seemed to explode around them, blasting Na'vi out of existence.

"Help!"

Ivory turned sharply. Tsawke was struggling in the dirt, her leg trapped under a fallen tree. The woman didn't stop to think. She ran forward and tossed her gun onto the ground, pulling her ka-bar from her belt loops. "I'm going to get you out. Don't move." Ivory crouched down on the forest floor and began to hack at the tree where it had begun to splinter, struggling to stop her hands shaking. She drove her knife repeatedly into the wood, her hands slippery with sweat until the wood gave way, snapping in two. "I need you to push this half of the tree, okay?"

Tsawke nodded, helping Ivory drag the wood off of her leg with difficulty.

There was another explosion behind them.

"Go!" Ivory screamed, forcing Tsawke to her feet.

Tsawke ran, staggering slightly as she put weight on her right leg, her green eyes wide with terror.

Ivory forced her knife back into her belt loops and grabbed her gun as another bomb fell, sending ribbons of fire and shell shooting across the forest floor. Flame exploded in front of her, smoke filling her already aching lungs. The woman turned sharply, her eyes streaming as the wall of heat leapt out at her. She began to cough, pressing her T-shirt over her nose and mouth, struggling to create a barrier against the thick smoke as she felt for her handset. The ground tilted beneath her feet as she looked around, desperately searching for something to hold onto. There was nothing but flames. Her lungs felt clogged, her head swimming. Her pocket was empty. She looked around wildly, barely able to see.

And then, nothing.

A/N: I've got assignments due this week but I'm researching how planes work so I can make sure this fanfiction is accurate instead, I regret nothing