sᴇʟᴄᴏᴜᴛʜ (ᴛsᴜ'ᴛᴇʏ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ)

Chapter nine

*bold is Na'vi

*Italics is Jake's narration

(parentheses is me, the author, talking to you guys, the readers, directly)

(3rd pov)

We rode out to the four winds. To the horse clans of the plains. To the ikran people of the Eastern Sea. When Toruk Macto called them, they came.

Ikrans flew overhead as Y/n walked up behind Jake. She placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I like your hair," She said and he looked back at her and smiled.

"I like yours."

"Tsu'tey did it,"

Jake laughed, "Tsu'tey can do hair?"

She nodded with a smile, "Yeah, he's full of surprises."

There was a moment of silence before Jake turned to the girl, "I'm happy you and Tsu'tey are happy."

"Thank you. I could say the same for you and Neytiri."

He grabbed her hand, "You're my best friend, and I want to thank you for standing by my side through everything and supporting me. I'm really grateful for you."

"Awh, Jake. Of course, I will always be by your side, Toruk Macto. I see you."

"I see you."

"Everyone on this base, every one of you, is fighting for survival. That's a fact!" Quaritch said. "There's an aboriginal horde out there massing for an attack. Now, these orbital images tell me that the hostiles' numbers have gone from a few hundred to well over 2,000 in one day. And more are pouring in. In a week's time, there could be 20,000 of them. At that point, they will overrun our perimeter. Well, that's not gonna happen! Our only security lies in pre-emptive attack. We will fight terror with terror." He changed the screen. "Now, the hostiles believe that this mountain stronghold of theirs is protected by their... their deity." He said distastefully as soldiers snickered. "And when we destroy it, we will blaster a crater in their racial memory so deep that they won't come within 1,000 klicks of this place ever again. And that, too, is a fact." Soldiers began cheering and whooping as loud as their voices allowed them.

"Jake, it's crazy here. It's full mobilization." Max said on the screen. "They're rigging the shuttle as a bomber. They've got these huge pallets of mine explosives. It's for some kind of shock-and-awe campaign."

Trudy sighed, "Fricking daisy cutters!"

"Quaritch has taken over. He's rolling, and there's no stopping him."

Y/n snorted, "Bullshit."

"When?" Jake asked.

"0600 tomorrow. I gotta go." He said as a girl called his name and the screen went back to its home page.

"We're screwed!" Norm said and Trudy began laughing.

"And I was hoping for some sort of tactical plan that didn't involve martyrdom. We're going up against gunships with bows and arrows."

Jake licked his lips, "I have 15 clans out there. That's over 2,000 warriors. Now, we know these mountains. We fly them. You fly them. They don't. Their instruments won't work up here. Missile tracking won't work. They'll have to fire from line of sight. If they bring the fight to us, then we have the home field advantage."

"You know he's gonna commit that bomber straight to the Tree of Souls."

"Yeah, I know."

"If they get to the Tree of Souls, it's over. That's their direct line to Eywa, their ancestors. It'll destroy them."