Petrichor

Mission

One Year Later

Tsu'tey led the party, fifteen ikrans in the sky. They flew rapidly, wings beating fast, to come parallel with the sleeper train. Four helicopters were protecting it. 

Trudy brought up the rear, her chopper blue, her face smeared with blue paint.

"Ground team go!" Jake urged as they flew over the train. 

Tsu'tey had appointed Jake as his war leader. Jake hadn't particularly wanted it, had been quite happy to just help with missions instead, but Tsu'tey had insisted. Each mission was created by Jake, was scouted out by Jake, and usually Leypa or Ilhia, and then given to Tsu'tey to run through. His brother always approved them. Tsu'tey trusted Jake's instincts. 

Ilhia watched as the weapons she'd once feared were fired at the rail, causing an explosion. The train was quick to set its brakes, but it was too late. The front dived to the floor, and the compartments followed suit. One of them was filled with what Jake called fuel, and it was ripped apart from the compartment behind it, exploding instantly. 

The helicopters turned quickly to observe the damage, looking for the Na'vi responsible. Tsu'tey called out a war cry, and the ikrans and Trudy dove. Jake shot one down with his human weapon, Trudy doing the same with hers. Ilhia shot a pilot, and Txi'a landed heavily on the roof, pushing the helicopter down as she forced herself up into the air again. Tsu'tey got another pilot, and then the human on the gun, and there was war cries all around as the last helicopter hit the ground. 

The ground team were already in amongst the burning train, searching for weapons and anything of use to the Na'vi. Ilhia landed on top of one of the compartments that wasn't on fire, and jumped from Txi'a. She was to be a look out, under Jake's orders. 

He hadn't treated her differently. The day that the humans had landed, she'd been an absolute mess. But Jake had always said that they were survivors, everyone. After she'd slept, she'd been given a new focus. Eywa had spoken, in her dreams. She'd been okay since then. 

But Jake didn't want her engaged. He didn't want her near the human weapons. 

"Neteyam, everything okay?" Ilhia asked, a hand to her throat as she scanned the skies and the ground. She spotted Leypa in the distance, handing out weapons from a big opened box. Jake was standing with his hands on his own weapon, surveying the scene. 

"Yes, Mother," Neteyam said. He and Lo'ak were spotters, still in the sky. She saw the two fly over her, and a faint smile graced her lips. 

"Let's go, people, two minutes, let's go." Jake's voice was full of authority over the comms. 

She swapped her bow into her other hand, an arrow notched on the string. She looked to the skies again, but couldn't see anything. The smoke was very thick in the air, and the sound of the burning train made it hard to listen for any incoming ships. 

"What are you doing here? Get out of here!" Leypa's voice was sharp. She'd recognise it anywhere, and the outburst made her look over. 

Neteyam and Lo'ak were on the ground. Lo'ak took a weapon out of Leypa's hands and gave a cheeky grin. 

That boy would be the death of her. 

"Lo'ak, get back to your ikran! Now!" she hissed through the comms. She saw him look over, saw Jake turn his head to her. 

"Ships inbound, ships inbound!" Trudy yelled, and opened fire from her place in the sky. 

Ilhia exclaimed loudly and quickly jumped onto Txi'a, launching herself into the air.