A New Mission: Ash to Fire

Aftermath

Zu regained consciousness with a mask on her face and the gentle voice of her mate echoing in her ears.

"Zu... Zu, come on darlin', come on back to me."

She began to blink her big orange eyes. Her field of vision became clear, and she saw her handsome My-ulls over her face, his big yellow eyes staring at her with deep care and worry, the pinks of his small ears facing toward her. She looked at his still-healing Ta'zem-inflicted wound on the right side of his head cutting through his brow, and at his hair which had gotten a little longer at the top.

She weakly, sweetly said, "My-ulls?"

Zu could then hear the sounds of the Command Center around her, the chatter of the human personnel in the room. Lieutenant Korman then approached Miles and gave him an additional breather, Miles having given his to Zu. He took it with a look of appreciation toward Korman given that he didn't ask for it.

Miles, on his knee, cradling a soaking wet Zu in his arms, her head resting against his huge left bicep, looked down at her and gently smiled with relief that she was awake. Zu smiled back at him for a moment until reality came flooding back to her. Zu's father, Zek'arayo, was dead. Killed by the shrapnel from the explosion of the very gunship that was moments from departing to take them home.

Miles saw Zu's face drop, his mirroring hers. He blamed himself. He was the one who convinced Zek'arayo to stay one more day and to leave at eclipse when Zek'arayo asked to leave yesterday. They could have left in the morning, and probably yesterday evening if they really tried.

And he was the one who stalled their departure by meaningful minutes because he was nervous about telling Zu that he wanted to stay in Bridgehead. And he has failed time and time again to kill Jake Sully who was undoubtedly the orchestrator behind the attack.

Miles looked at Zu with a despondent face, his ears fallen out, desperate that she did not see his fault for the situation the way he did.

Zu, without warning, quickly pulled away from Miles, grabbed her spear off the ground, and stood up. Miles stayed on his knee for a moment, surprised at her abrupt rise, and looked up at her as she faced away from him, unable to read her emotions. Miles then stood slowly, grabbing her father's blade from the glassy ground which he dropped when he caught her.

Zu was looking down and around, scanning the screens displaying the destruction of the base, large fuel fires still raging despite the pouring rain outside. She then looked back at Miles with an intense expression. Miles' ears fell back, his tail flicked tensely at the end, and he stopped breathing for a moment, an icy cold feeling moving down his spine.

The General was watching this interaction intently, looking left to Miles and right to Zu with an anticipatory and curious focus. All the higher leadership was. Their base was just devastated by the Na'vi insurgency and a few minutes ago this Ash Na'vi girl violently busted into the room, scaring the hell out of all of them, and announced exactly what they wanted to hear—that her people would go to war with the Na'vi that they have been in conflict with since their arrival to Pandora.

This could turn the tide. This could get them back to their main operations and prepare Bridgehead City for mass colonization. And with many of the Ash Na'vi already skilled in human weapons—which proved to be the proper gamble by the RDA in giving them an arsenal—and their known cultural conflicts with other Na'vi as reported by Miles, they were a perfect ally and asset.

Zu held her intense expression towards Miles for an almost uncomfortably long moment and she glanced down without moving her head to see that he was holding her father's blade. Zu brought her ember eyes back to Miles' worried ones. He was still frozen. Zu, without saying anything, then turned her head toward the humans. She looked at the General, then Stringer, then Major Laurent, and glanced back at a downcast Parker who was hanging towards the edge of the hologram projection area.