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Disclaimer: Blah, Blah, Blah. I don't own Avatar; James Cameron does. All the Avatar stuff belongs to him. However, my Na'vi character, myself, the Dragon Weyr and its technologies, and the Pandoran animals of my menagerie are all mine. The Protoss - apart from my characters - all belong to Blizzard Entertainment.

Pandora's Templar

A Work-In-Progress Story by Coranth Dehanae

Chapter 21

(Continued from Chapter 20...)

At my call a pair of small hatches situated at the front of the Tunnel Boring Machine opened to release a pair of Protoss Observers. The small aerospace drones, their permanent cloaking fields already active, paused for a moment, whereupon they looked about the area - turning first to the left, and then to the right - before they zipped over to me and then stopped to hover attentively before me, waiting. The fact that they were cloaked didn't bother me, at all; the eyes of my armor's Death Mask granted me the ability to perceive concealed objects, plus I could feel their robotic minds with my psychic senses. "Do you see the tunnel that continues in front of the TBM?" I asked one of them.

The Observer to whom I had directed the question dipped tightly once before righting itself - the equivalent of an affirmative nod - whilst the second Observer rolled lazily before me in the air, its non-vocal reply the equivalent of a slacker teen nonchalantly replying, "Well, duh!" I allowed a brief smile to cross my face at their antics, before I gazed at them solemnly as I said, "That tunnel leads downward somewhere. I need you two to scout it out for me; fly along it until you find where it exits. Can you do that for me?" The first Observer dipped tightly again, righted itself, and then rolled once in the air, blinking the blue-green light at its front - as if nodding and then saluting me - but the second Observer's reply was a sloppy dip in the air before it turned away from me; as if the machine were rudely saying, "Yeah, yeah, whatever..."

Upon seeing this display of disrespect towards me by its comrade, the first Observer emitted a loud series of angry tones and then fiercely bumped the second! The second Observer wasn't amused by this, at all; with the hissing sound of warm air escaping from a cooling vent, it turned and made to ram its comrade... but then, I swiftly stepped between the two. "Hey!" I cried, grabbing them both and pulling them about to face me. "That's enough, guys! That's enough, okay? We're on a critical rescue mission here; there's no time for games! Can you please do as I have asked?" Upon hearing my words and the tone of my voice, the two little machines lowered their front ends slightly - like two children chastised for their actions - before they both 'nodded' and then turned to zoom off down the tunnel.

A short while later, the two Observers returned, but as they flew back to me I soon realized that something was very, very wrong, for they were moving far too quickly and - when they halted before me - only one of them, the attentive 'loyal' one, made to approach me. The other one, the 'slacker' stayed a fair distance away from me, only approaching me - with great reluctance, I noted - when I made a 'coaxing' motion with a hand. "Hey, what's wrong?" I asked softly. "What's the matter, guys?" At my question, the 'loyal' Observer whom, I noticed, was visibly shaking, began to chatter at me in Binaric - a series of high-pitched, frightened Morse-like tones - and then flew into my arms whereupon it cuddled close to me.

Without hesitation, I rocked the terrified machine gently in my arms - as if it were a human baby - murmuring softly to it in Khalani as I did so. I wasn't as good as Sìlpey when it came to things like this, but still, my actions seemed to have an effect; the little machine visibly calmed, its tremors ceasing as it went into standby. As I continued to hold the little suspended machine in my arms - occasionally running a hand over its body - I raised my head to look at the second Observer, the 'slacker', but it was a 'slacker' no longer; it floated stoically before me, occasionally dipping its 'head' to peer at its companion. The machine's body language bespoke of great worry and concern.

"What... what happened in there?" I asked, gesturing to the tunnel that both Observers had scouted. "What did you see?" The little machine backed off a bit, and then gently twisted left-to-right, effectively 'shaking its head.' 'Odd...' I thought. Aloud, I asked, "You can't tell me?" The Observer responded to my question by again twisting its golden psi-steel body left-to-right. "You don't want to tell me?" I guessed. Upon hearing my question, as it continued to hover before me in the air, the machine dipped swiftly, twice, before righting itself; the equivalent of a frantic nod. 'Damn it...' I thought, my face twisting into a grimace, 'whatever they saw in that tunnel must have scared the shit out of them! My friend, can you talk to this little guy, and try and find out what he saw?'

Affirmation filled my thoughts, followed immediately by concentration as the Dragon Weyr queried the Observer. For a moment, the light at the Observer's front flickered visibly as it communicated with the Dragon Weyr, and then sent a databurst to the Computer System of my armor. A moment later, the little machine shivered visibly... and then, in horror, I watched as it attempted to overload itself by draining its power core to send a massive discharge of energy through its critical systems! Immediately, the Dragon Weyr broadcast to the Observer an auto override / standby command, but said command was a nanosecond too late; the Observer hung before me effectively brain-dead.

Now, it was no longer a wonderful, living machine; it was simply an ordinary, 'lifeless' aerospace drone, able to do what it was designed to do but nothing else. My mind wrought by the great construct's sadness and shock - emotions that near-perfectly matched my own - I softly choked out, "Th-thank you. You... you can... return... to the TBM, now..." The lobotomized machine acknowledged my command with a simple blink of the light at its front, and then - without so much as a hint of body language - promptly returned to its home in the Tunnel Boring Machine. Gently stroking the last, remaining Observer - still wrestling with the emotions of the Dragon Weyr raging through my mind - I slowly closed my eyes as they misted with tears, some of which fell upon the little machine as it rested in my arms.

"By Eywa's grace and Adun's glory!" I uttered softly. "What the fuck is going on down here? What could frighten an artificially intelligent machine so badly that it would effectively lobotomize itself? What did those Observers see? Do we even have a map of where that damn tunnel leads?" A mixture of affirmation and negation from the Dragon Weyr answered my first three questions, whilst the fourth was answered with affirmation followed by a feeling of insistence and an image of the miniature Computer within my armor's left forearm; all overshadowed with shock, sadness, and_regret._ For a moment longer, the Dragon Weyr and I continued to mourn for the little Observer within the TBM - whom still existed but now no longer truly lived - until finally, we pulled ourselves together.

After carefully adjusting the still-resting living Observer within my arms, I wiped the tears from my eyes with a piece of my Templar Robe - which I still wore, over my armor - and then, with heavy heart I awakened the suspended Observer and told it of its partner's fate. As I finished speaking, the little machine regarded me silently for a moment as it hovered before me... and then turning to gaze back at the Tunnel Boring Machine - specifically towards the small hatch-door that covered the bay in which its partner now rested - it 'sang' a Binaric harmony of mourning. "You... you can go back to the TBM too, you know, to be with your partner. You don't have to be here with me in this, anymore; not if you don't wish to be. Your job is done, little one." I said to it, quietly, once it had finished.

The little Observer wouldn't hear of it, however; instead of returning to the TBM it chattered at me sharply in Binaric - as if to say, "no way" - and then buzzed around my head once before stopping to hover beside me at shoulder height. "Alright" I replied. With that said, I swiftly checked my armor's Computer System, and - to my delight - discovered that the Dragon Weyr's insistence for me to check it had been justified; the databurst the 'slacker' Observer had transmitted to it was, indeed, a map! After feeding said map into the Computer's Holographic Imager, I examined the resulting image carefully as it lay suspended in the air before me. The tunnel the Observers had scouted continued for another 250 yards before terminating at the entrance of a truly enormous cavern.

Said cavern, unfortunately, was filled with 'They Who Could Not See' but amidst the black marks that were their representations, I espied several faint, flickering marks of cyan. "Alright! Our females are there," I exclaimed, happily. "Well, that's it; let's get this party started!" With the lightest touch of one of the Computer's glyph-inscribed keys, I shut off the displayed map and then turned to face the Tunnel Boring Machine as I issued another powerful psychic call, ~Tsampongu, Zup... MÌ! ~ At my call, the many segments of the Tunnel Boring Machine folded outwards to become large exit ramps, down which sixty veteran warriors and sixty veteran hunters - respectively led by Masters Lompor and Oo'ano - marched to meet me.

Once all were on the ground, they came to stand before me at attention and - after giving both Lompor and Oo'ano a respectful nod, which they both returned, I surveyed both groups with a critical eye, and then I commanded, ~Tsamsiyu Tsampongu, sekrr... TSTAL! ~ As one, all of the Warriors moved into combat stance and activated their psionic blades or - in the case of the traditionalists - unsheathed and presented their stone and bone blades for inspection. I surveyed said weapons with a critical eye; all seemed to be clean and well maintained. 'Excellent!' I thought, and then issued a second command. ~Tsamsiyu Tsampongu, mìso... TSTAL! ~ At said command, the Warriors deactivated or sheathed their weapons, and then moved to once again stand at attention.

With their inspection complete, I cast my gaze over the hunters before issuing them the same command to present their weapons, ~Taronyu Tsampongu, sekrr... TSKO! ~ As per their training, all of the Hunters moved into ranged combat stance, activating Photon Cannons or drawing ceremonial Bows with arrows, but not to fire. All had followed their training well; they were in fine health, their arms and armor were well maintained and clean, and all wore their helmets with Night Vision active. 'Good!' I thought to myself. With the inspection of the entire Tsampongu complete, I issued to them a last command. ~Aynga Tsampongu, kllkxem... NÌMWEY! ~ The Hunters stowed their weapons and then - as the entire War Party moved to stand at ease - I turned to face the TBM once more, and issued a final psychic call. ~Reavers, fall... IN!~

At the rear of the TBM, two enormous bay doors at either side folded downwards to become massive ramps. Then there came a mechanical whirring / piston pumping sound as a pair of gigantic Protoss Reavers crawled slowly out from their docking bays within the TBM, and then moved down the ramps to join the Tsampongu before going idle. The Na'vi had seen these enormous robotic War Machines before - I had introduced one of them to the United Clans during their training for this mission - and, at first, many of the People had jeered and scoffed at its slow movement speed, as well as its docile, gentle nature. Attitudes had swiftly changed, however, when - during a training mission - I'd softly asked the Reaver to show the Na'vi what it could do; the machine had produced a single Scarab Drone with its micro-manufacturing plant, and had then launched said drone into a holographic group of 'They Who Could Not See.'

At first, the raw destructive power of that Scarab had utterly terrified the Na'vi; they thought the Reaver to be some kind of cursed, evil thing. However, when I had explained to them that the Reaver was one of Txra'kon We'er's most potent weapons - and that its dreadful power would be turned fully upon the vrrtep hordes of 'They Who Could Not See' - the people of the United Clans had cheered, whooped and hollered with an almost savage glee. Then, to my surprise and delight many curious Na'vi - some individually and others in groups of two or three - had moved forwards to touch and stroke the Reaver, and the gentle natured machine had adored the attention, humming softly with pleasure!

Now, down here in this dank, fetid tunnel below Pandora, the mere sight of two of these enormous, ketuwong fngap Tsam Ayioang made the hearts of the People soar with courage! With the entire Tsampongu assembled, I swiftly informed them of the security of the Great Seal holding back Aywiya Vitra Txampay, and of the discovery made by the Observers. The Tsampongu of the United Clans - especially those Na'vi from my own Clan, Tawkami - were saddened somewhat by the loss of the tifwew nari but heartened at the discovery for which it had given its life: that the females still lived. The entire party was extremely eager to wreak brutal havoc upon 'They Who Could Not See' but I wisely cautioned them. "The final stage of the Plan approaches, ma 'Olo" I intoned softly, _"and I know, that you all want to battle the Enemy whom destroyed your Homes and took your kin... and you shall! _

However, there is to be no fighting at all until the kidnapped females of Tawkami have been rescued; I shall see to that task, personally. Once our Olo' Ay'ite are safe inside the fngap toktor of Txra'kon We'er, then, and only then will we fight. When the fighting begins you will, indeed, be able to slake your thirst for vengeance upon the Enemy, but your main job will be to support the Rr'ii'vrs of Txra'kon We'er. Together we will crush these enemies of Eywa! Do you understand this?" Prompt replies of, "Srane, Olo'eyktan" and "srane, tsam'eyktan," followed by near-unanimous nods, were the responses to my question and at this, I sighed internally with relief. Aloud, I called, "Good, then let us begin! Reavers, open ranks! Tsamsiyu Tsampongu, form ranks... front! Taronyu Tsampongu, form ranks... rear! Forward... move!"

At my command, the two Protoss Reavers - which had been sitting idle together - whirred to life and then crawled twenty feet apart from each other before turning to face the tunnel we intended to travel through. Then, as Lompor and Oo'ano barked out orders in Na'vi, the two sixty-man parties of Warriors and Hunters each split into two groups of thirty men each to fill the twenty foot gap between the Reavers; thirty warriors moved to close ranks before the front and sides of each whilst thirty hunters took up position at each machines rear and sides, effectively enclosing the powerful war machines into protective boxes. As this was happening, Lompor, Oo'ano, and Tsa'hik San'eya moved to my left side, right side, and back respectively.

Once everyone was in formation, we began to march and as we did so, I employed but a whisper of my psionic power to silence the sound of our footsteps and the noise of the Reavers' motion; 'They Who Could Not See' wouldn't hear us coming... until it was far, far too late! And thus, we marched through the tunnel - that continued broad and unbroken, on an easy, sloping decline - until, at last, I called the formation to a halt within the darkest of shadows that lay just a few feet before its exit. As the map transmitted by the Observer had shown, the great tunnel did, indeed, exit into a truly massive cavern. Strangest of all was how the cavern was lit; glowing mold and mushrooms grew from its ceiling, and the unusual flora cast an eerie light whose colour faltered somewhere between muddy brown and bloody crimson.

With but a touch of my latent psychic power, I concealed myself from sight, and then - taking a few steps inside the cavern - I carefully looked about... but immediately, I wished I hadn't! Dear readers... oh, dear readers... Within that place I beheld things no waking mortal eye should ever see. Before me, a grossly bloated, multi-breasted horror screamed in ecstasy as with a splash of bloody birthing fluid she pushed from her loins a squalling abomination that might have been a baby Na'vi if it weren't so hideous! The child-thing, however, was too weak; without strength it struggled futilely for a moment to reach one of its mother's many breasts, before its 'mother' gently picked it up with a deformed arm.

I thought, perhaps, that she was going to help her child, but instantly I was proven wrong; in horror, I watched as the 'mother' devoured her child, alive and screaming, groaning with pleasure as its lifeblood splashed across her dozen breasts! Sick with horror, I reeled away, only for my eyes to fall upon another sight; that of a second un-Na'vi abomination anally and vaginally rape-fucking what appeared to be another female of their race with his two thick penises! My horror mounting, I again attempted to turn my head from the grisly scene, only to catch sigh of yet another horrific act: another 'male' whom was eating out another female that seemed to be a child; she screamed in the throes of deepest pleasure as the male drove his thick, tentacle-like tongue deep into the depths of her grossly swollen vagina to feast liberally upon a foul mixture of her feminine essence and blood!

Beyond those two, I espied another pair of them coupling; a mutated, un-Na'vi woman, orgasmed in the darkest of ecstasy as her male partner fucked her brutally whilst slowly devouring her alive... These were the vile acts for which the Na'vi had no name - terrible deeds that the followers of Eywa could barely comprehend, let alone understand - but I, being of the Tawtute, had names for them all: Cannibalism, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape... and perhaps even Bestiality, if one were to squint hard enough. No matter which way I turned my head, no matter which way I looked, all around me I could see acts of depravity; it was a bestial orgy of pure, sadomasochistic debauchery, something I once thought existed only in the darkest of nightmares!

The Na'vi War Party with me, too, saw these acts, and - although I couldn't see their faces because they were wearing their animal helms - I sensed that many were struggling not to be violently ill! This was the reason for which these beings were so utterly reviled; this was what the poor, innocent Observers had seen, and this, I realized, was the reason these sick abominations were known to the Na'vi as 'They Who Could Not See.' Still... a flicker of hope yet remained in all this darkness: amidst _ their _ disgusting, writhing bodies, within a simple corral at the very center of the great cavern, I espied our females; just as the holographic map from the Observer had shown!

After being down here within this dank place, however - forcefully separated from their mates, good food, clean water, and the life of Eywa on Pandora's surface - although I was too far away to determine their medical states physically, I knew that mentally and spiritually, their conditions were poor indeed. Like but unlike docile cattle, through eyes glazed over from depression, dementia or most likely insanity, they just looked at the world, unthinking, unfeeling; staring for a thousand yards, a stare broken only by the occasional blink. 'How the hell are they even still alive in this place? How are they able to breathe down here?' I wondered. The Dragon Weyr could not answer, and as for me, dear readers... well, the implications of those questions were too horrible to comprehend.