A New Mission: Ash to Fire

Goin' Solo

Twelve days had passed since the three Marines first landed in the village of the Ash People. Miles was winding down and resting in his hut in the late night hours after a full day of interacting with the villagers. He was writing report notes on his holo-tablet for the two-week update they'd be sharing in a day and a half when Bob and Mike returned via Kestrel. The reason for this being in-person and not remote was because the archipelago was too far from Bridgehead City and the RDA did not yet have enough triangulating satellites up in orbit for reliable long-distance small-tech communication between faraway points on the moon.

Miles was going over it all again. In this short amount of time, they had learned some of the things that separate, and are even sources of potential conflict between these Ash Na'vi of the "Dragon's Tail" archipelago and the other regional Na'vi clans of Pandora, the Forest and Ocean Na'vi. They reject the three Laws of Eywa and embrace the use of simple technology, as well as mine for and utilize Pandoran materials like metals, precious gems, and minerals. They have some degree of agriculture as indicated by the orchard atop their village's canyon, and also engage in mildly environmentally destructive practices as indicated by the presence of paths cleared of vegetation.

Further, they seem willing to embrace and are curious about the technology and affairs of Sky People, and additionally refer to the recoms as "combined bloods," which seems to be a respected status. Not at all the demons that they'd be referred to by other Na'vi clans. This was all intel that Bridgehead Command would certainly be keen on.

Over the past few days, the Marines had engaged in village life. They've picked up more of the language, even with the Ash Na'vi dialect, and they learned what materials these people made in their day-to-day. Making stuff, what seemed to be in excess sometimes, appeared to be one of their strongest cultural aspects. They had an incredible armory of well-crafted weaponry which included long blades, knives, shields, bows, and spears made from volcanic glass and metal. As a people, their warriors seemed to prefer spears and long blades. They also made excess banshee materials, excess clothes, and, as the Marines can attest to, extra housing huts. It was as if they just enjoyed converting raw resources into items. Whether they would be immediately used or not.

The Marines developed a solid rapport with the clan too. Lyle would be approached each day by new Na'vi villagers eager to try some of the candy he carried. He had plenty, thank goodness, having stolen extra boxes of these candy bars from Bridgehead City. However, it was definitely something that he would request for Bob and Mike's second debrief return at the four-week mark. Mansk would bring his holo-tablet around the village and show the villagers some simple videos. Old school cartoons and stock footage of cities and animals from Earth. The villagers were especially enthralled to see alien animals from another world. They seemed to particularly love the footage of elephants. Extinct in the wild back on Earth, this elephant stock footage was from 2097.

Lyle said to Mansk one day, after letting the villagers watch ten minutes of video, "We gotta get a projector out here. Watch videos on the canyon wall."

Mansk actually didn't think it was too bad of an idea.

Mansk also showed footage of New York City to Zu and her parents one day. They were stunned. They could not believe that was what Sky People villages looked like. Visuals that their minds could not even fathom. The appearance, the sheer number of people moving down the streets, the maglev trains, the skyscrapers, the neon lights. They wanted to emulate Sky People in many ways, but this... was this what they wanted? A question for them to ponder more deeply another time. This was about learning and sharing.

The Marines even learned how to cook local Ash Na'vi food. Six nights ago, they were heating their MREs for dinner when Zu stopped by their huts and asked to try Sky People food. So they let Zu try their "roast beef and mashed potatoes" MRE. It was of course none of those things. It was an artificially flavored concoction of protein and carbohydrate paste. Chunks for texture.