Vendetta.

[tm20]

Chapter 26

Dr. Eileen woke up in her bed with a massive headache. The foul aftertaste of alcohol and vomit polluted her mouth and it felt yuck. She rubbed her eyes and her vision slowly cleared to see Tak walking through the doorway. He walked over and sat down on her bed next to her.
“....What happened last night?”
“You tried to finish that bottle of whiskey and then threw up in the toilet while crying so I held you up to the sink so you could wash your mouth out and then threw you into bed.”
“....I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t worry, you’ve been nice to me for the past two months so this was the least I could do.”
“What about the others? What are they up to?”
“Working, or at least pretending to work, bunch of lazy ****ers.”
Dr. Eileen smiled and patted his hand.
“Thanks for taking care of me.”
“Like I said, it’s nothing, but now it’s time you take care of them. They won’t get anything done unless you’re there so get up and have a shower, you look and smell like ****.”
Letting out a small laugh she slowly got up and walked to the shower. Tak went back to his desk to see the others still doing nothing but talking to each other. Some days it felt like he did absolutely everything and he was sick of it. Alan pulled up next to him in a chair.
“Well, now that everyone knows the FEBA base is gone and we haven’t been questioned over it I guess we can take time to relax.” said Tak as he stained a few samples with iodine.
“Yeah....I guess we can.”
“What’s wrong with you?”
“....I can’t stop thinking of yesterday. I was disabling the turrets when one of them saw me, he tried to stop me and the others soon noticed. It just felt like something inside me took control and I killed them, all.”
“You did what you had to do.”
“You know I barely slept last night?”
“You can cry all you want about it but what’s been done has been done, so don’t be such a *****.”
“Easy for you to say, you don’t feel anything.....and I never knew you had so many friends, got yourself a little army.”
“You met them before, you forget?”
“I don’t remember there being that many of them, you’ve never actually properly introduced me to them.”
“Well now you know.”

Dr. Eileen was feeling better physically but she still had emotions trapped inside her and she needed to let them out. Her memories of the horror were still fresh and she wanted them gone but didn’t know what to do, she just wanted to cry. Being trapped in a shack didn’t help so she decided to escape for a while in her other body. As she walked through the peaceful forest which surrounded her she anticipated stumbling upon a dead animal or even a dead Na’vi and it was hell. She continuously looked around in paranoia, thinking the RDA was watching her. Extremely unsettled she stopped and sat down with her back against a tree, she had walked so far that she didn’t even know where she was. With her head in her hands she closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind but it only made it worse. She could still see the blood covered bodies and hear the cry of the lone survivor. Tears began running down her face as she sat helpless, her emotions eating her away. All she could hear was her weeping. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. She stopped weeping and looked up to see Tsuwokan kneeling in front of her with a concerned look on his face. She felt calm for a little while and got up on her knees to slowly hug him and when he reached out to hug her she broke into tears again. She hugged him tightly, frightened and in complete disarray like a child who had lost their parent.
“I know what happened.” said Tsuwokan softly as he tried to calm her down.
“It was horrible, I can’t stop thinking about it.” Her voice was unsteady as her emotions took over.
“You are safe now.”
“But what about those who died? It’s too late for them, and what about their families? What if they get blamed for what happened yesterday?......There’s nothing I can do to bring them back.”
“It is not your fault.”
He was right, it wasn’t her fault, but it would be partly his if the wrong people ended up paying the price for his actions. He stood up and pulled Dr. Eileen up with him after she had settled down and wiped her tears.
“I must return, there are things to do.”
“.....Yeah, ok.”
With a smile and a gentle pat on her shoulder he picked up his bow and returned. Dr. Eileen had been his shoulder to cry on in the past and now he was returning the favour. She felt better and so she decided to return.
Back at the shack Tak was reading a message he had received from Yuki.

“Hi Tak, how are you? OMG did you hear about what happened at the FEBA? The military base was completely destroyed and everyone there was killed! They think explosives were used and suspect it wasn’t the Na’vi who planned it, everyone’s saying it’s that traitor. You’re not too far from there so you probably heard the explosion or saw the smoke. I just hope things between us and them don’t get out of control.

Anyway, you also probably know that RDA setup a new biochemical weapons department. They assigned a team of scientists to work at a new lab in the middle of nowhere and I was one of them, so lame. So here I am in this **** hole, trying to find new ways for people back on earth to kill each other. At least it’ll reduce the world population LOL. But this place is just dead. The vehicles have ripped out all the grass and now it’s just rocks and mud, no plants, just heavy machinery. The grass returns and there’s actually beautiful forest and water in the area but we can’t go there, we have to stay here. Oh yeah, next to our lab are a few barracks and we have to live with these dumbass military douches! I hate it, we all do. This isn’t what I came here to do! Well, at least you’re having an awesome time.

By the way I’ve got a Samson just for the science team and I can use it anytime so if you ever need anything airlifted or need to go somewhere just ask me, I’d love to get away from here sometime. Well, talk to you later. Kiyevame (as the Na’vi say hahaha)
Yuki”

Yesterday had been a bad day for the Colonel and he hoped today wouldn’t be worse. After finding out the RDA had lost control of a crucial area it was nothing but yelling and insults from Parker while under the pressure of trying to figure out what the hell he should do about the situation. It was humiliating to face his colleagues after this defeat but it was a wakeup call. The Colonel was no pacifist, sometimes he saw that war was the only way to end things and although he didn’t believe in unnecessary violence he did whatever had to be done to finish the job. But this time was different, the enemy had managed to seriously wound him and there was no way he could be found, nor was it clear when his next attack would be. Siding with the Na’vi was pretty much a home field advantage and knowing the RDA’s activities just made it easier. He sat at his desk and decided to have a drink, something he rarely did. With a drink in his hand he leaned back in his chair and thought about what to next. It took him a while but he eventually came to realize that in this case, violence solved nothing. Over the years he had learned that the Na’vi are a tough and stubborn race, willing to do anything to avenge the death of their brothers and sisters. Since day one of his time on Pandora it had been nonstop back and forth battles but ultimately he would be the one to make this decision. He called Dr. Augustine to his office.