A New Mission: Ash to Fire

Calm, Part 1

Miles was dreaming, drifting. He usually found himself reliving the horrors of the transplanted memories from his past—the war and the misery of Earth, the terrors of a hostile Pandora; Or the memories made in his new recombinant form—waking up in the body of his enemy, the underwater darkness he fell into with Jake Sully's arms around his neck. But not today. Miles was dreaming about his recent happiness.

It was just Zu. She was gracefully walking ahead of him in a gorgeous Pandoran forest, streaks of sunlight radiating upon her through the canopy. She was in her gemmed tiara and her jewel-embedded light linen top, her long wrap sarong flowing with every step. Her beautiful gray-blue back was exposed to him through her long wavy-curly dark hair, and the cute extra-long tuft of her tail swished with its every movement. She then turned to face him with a beautiful smile, her huge white canines sparkling, and her big ember eyes batting toward him. After smiling for a moment, she gracefully glided toward him and hugged her mate. Miles just held her there in bliss, the sounds of the forest around them.

Suddenly, Miles was pulled from his pleasant dream. He awoke in the Med Bay, still holding Zu tightly on the small, white, Na'vi-sized recovery bed. Zu was still asleep, drugged up, and certainly exhausted and weak from her brief time in life-saving cryo. What woke Miles was the subtle entrance of the kind medical worker.

She, with her exo-pack on in the Pandoran air-filled room, was coming in to change Zu's IV bag, but she didn't turn the lights on, and she entered through the airlock very slowly and carefully, allowing it to completely equalize before entering. Miles barely moved, not wanting to wake Zu. He just leaned his head up ever so slightly over Zu to look at the entering human, curling his tail gently.

The medical worker approached the right side of Zu's bed, Zu's left, to change the bag, opposite from the side that Miles was on. She looked at Miles over Zu, his glowing freckles twinkling and his big yellow eyes almost glowing at her in the dark, reflecting the ambient light of the status screens and from the light coming in through the small window on the airlock.

He looked intimidating, frightening even, but she smiled warmly at him. Miles kept on a neutral but acknowledging expression. The medical worker then, with a small flashlight, worked to switch out Zu's IV bag of post-cryo pain drugs and nutrients. In the mostly dark room, the additional light ensured she moved more efficiently, lessening her time to disturb the two Na'vi lovers.

Miles appreciated her thoughtfulness and care. He then leaned back down into the bed, pressed his face against Zu's cheek, careful of her stitched cut, and she stirred slightly. When Miles heard the medical worker finish her task, he leaned his head back up one more time to look at her. She gave him a nod and a kind expression, then quietly exited the room.

Miles, still leaning up, then looked at Zu, at her peacefulness, remembering his dream. He smiled, kissed her soft lips, and once again nestled his face into Zu's. He took his right hand and brought it up to her left cheek and gently stroked her with his thumb. This was happiness, he thought. Miles took a deep breath in and dozed off back into a shallow sleep.

His next awakening would be less gentle. Miles' big yellow eyes reacted with discomfort to sudden bright lights overhead, and his ears fell back, irritated by the loud sound of the hiss of the airlock barely being allowed to equalize. His tail thrashed angrily and he leaned up quickly, his teeth bared, pushing himself up with his bent left arm. Who the hell—it was the General, as well as Lieutenant Korman and Charles Stringer all with exo-packs on.

Miles quickly steeled his anger and got up out of the bed, his legs quickly rotating over to the ground. He stood at attention with a salute and said, "General," with a tired morning voice and an uncomfortable, startled expression on his face.