Author's note: A story with 'universe alterations' – that being, Neytiri is now Nicole, a young marine who has come to Pandora to take over her late twin sister's Avatar. Whilst learning through Grace Augustine and the native N'deh, she is requested by Quaritch to get to know the natives. Through this she meets the young Omaticayan prince, Ja'kanhe, who trains her, much to the distress of his future mate, Tsu'tei.

In a male dominated human world, will Nicole and Grace be able to save the Omaticaya clan before it's too late? Will they avoid death and heartache? Or were the events that happened simply unstoppable?

A story I wanted to do several weeks ago, and requested by ObeliskX.

PLEASE NOTE: This story follows a lot of the original storyline of Avatar – that is, Project 880, the unproduced script. Several storylines, ideas and moments will be coming from the original scriptment by James Cameron.

Neytiri/Jake, Grace/N'deh, Norm/Trudy

Rated M for profanity, sexual references, drug references and violent themes

Dedicated to ObeliskX and laurenkeyblade. Thank you for bringing me back to Pandora.

Chapter One

She felt like she was in a coffin. And perhaps she might as well have been.

Nicole's eyes flashed open, finding herself floating in a strange liquid. It was as if she were a fish in a tank with how small the space was. If the fish had its body caught in seaweed or something. She found herself strapped down to the bed. Thank God she wasn't claustrophobic, or prone to freak outs. Her skin looked like it had been drained of all its blood on the journey over, and as she became more aware of her surroundings, a dull pounding in the back of her head made itself known. That's what happens when drugs are pumped into a human system, the effect to cause one to hibernate like bears and other mammals, dozing away the years with minimal cerebral activity.

But she was never into the science crap. That had been her sister's job. So how the hell had she gotten here?

There was a tapping sound behind her, and she bent her head backwards to see a very haggard looking attendant staring at her through the glass. He nodded, and made a motion of pressing buttons on the other side, and she felt herself begin to shift. The liquid began to drain around her, leaving her perfectly dry. Before she could even question how that worked, she found the ceiling above her moving away, and she found herself looking at the attendant outside. He smiled down at her as he floated in zero gravity, though she was still strapped down.

She groaned, and looked up at the man. He wore the scrubs of doctors, and as she looked around at the hundreds of other coffin-like devices being pulled out, she noticed he was one doctor of four, commanding over four hundred sleepers. Goddamn. "Hats off to you, man," she told him with a dark laugh.

He shrugged, giving her a flawless, obviously surgically enhanced smile. "You all right, sweetheart?"

Her jaw clenched at the label. She rolled her eyes. "I was," she said. The doctor, seeing he'd touched a nerve, raised his eyebrows and then helped to unbuckle her.

As she was able to sit up, she felt like she had lost all her muscle mass on the flight over. And she felt like she had had five shots of tequila and an ass kicking. But all her soreness and grogginess seemed to dissipate as she looked directly ahead of her, and saw the sight of a lifetime.

Pandora. She felt like she was looking into the past. It was so much like Earth, a hundred years ago. Before all the global warming, before the nuclear effects, before it was overpopulated, before flora and fauna extinctions left right and centre… She could hardly believe her eyes. It looked so small in her vision, floating right near the large Polyphemus. So close yet so far. Senselessly, she reached her hand out, her index and her thumb fingers zeroing in on Pandora. She gave a small smile; it was so tiny from here, though she knew that was a matter of perspective. The fact was that that, right in front of her, was going to be her home for the next five years. The beautiful, untouched Eden that was the alien planet. The one she had heard about on the news, seen documentaries, everything. She had to admit, it was a sight to behold. She could see the body of the planet, lush and green, and the blue blood that ran through its veins. Was this how those astronauts felt, all those years ago?

It wasn't meant to be her, but right now, looking at it, she felt like it was. This was where she was meant to be right now. Here she wasn't just a piece of discarded human trash.

"A vision, isn't it?" the doctor asked. He still hadn't left, and Nicole immediately felt herself getting defensive. She had been having a private moment. She just rolled her eyes, and moved away from the bed she had been slumbering in for five and a half years. And yet she still felt sleepy.

Stretching out her nimble body, she floated over to some lockers, glad she only had to use her arms to move easily right now. The metal locker read Moakley, S. They never changed it. Opening it, she found the large bag she had packed, all those years before. Though to her it had just been shutting her eyes.

"Moakley! Has anyone seen Corporal Moakley?"

The sharp bark came from a man that terribly mismatched the voice. He was shorter than her, she noticed, with pale skin that made her think of a corpse. Though his deadened looks told nothing of his personality. He was like a little stick of dynamite as he pushed his way through the other floating crew members. She called back with a 'Yessir!' and he came towards her, glancing at her before sharply nodding his head. "Because of your… condition," he said hesitatingly, "We want you to board the shuttle first. Just makes it easier. Time wise."

"Yessir," was all she said, but her thoughts were, You don't have to make me sound like a deadly disease, asshole. She tacked the last bit on because she could tell that for all his bite and acting, that's what it was – acting. He wasn't one of her leaders. From the looks of it, he was one of the scientists, which made her even more pissed off. He couldn't even say the word of her disability. Political correctness gone too far, to the point that was more insulting than actually saying it.

But maybe she was just pissy. That's all she was, these days. Though she tried to focus on the fact that Pandora might be a little better than what she was used to.

• • •

"You're not in Kansas, anymore. You are on Pandora, ladies and gentleman. Respect that fact, every second of every day. If there is a Hell, you might wanna go there for some R&R after a tour on Pandora. Out there beyond that fence, every living thing that crawls, flies or squats in the mud wants to kill you and eat your eyes for jujubes."

Contrary to what that doctor had said, Nicole going first onto the shuttle had not helped with time. Every one of her comrades had run out the door onto the tarmac before she could even get ready. With a grunt, she had pushed the wheelchair out into its shape, shaking her head at the fact it was so old. She had thought, with everything they had on this planet, they could have made it a bit easier for her to navigate. So after struggling with a wheelchair that seemed over a 150 years old, she had gone through, ignoring the jibes from the other military personnel. She'd gotten it all before.

"Meals on wheels!" one had said as she passed, before a large AMP suit had stalked right past her, the wearer yelling "Hey watch it, hot rod!" She smirked a little when he got taken aback and muttered, thinking she hadn't heard, "Very hot." Damn straight. So he slightly redeemed himself through that.

But all the hassle of the wheelchair had made her late for briefing. Perhaps it had been her own fault, but she hated being babied. It made her feel useless – who wouldn't? She didn't need to be reminded of her physical failings. She could pass any test anyone could pass.

The first test however had been arriving on time. As she wheeled herself into the hall, she saw the older commander giving a speech. Well it seemed like she hadn't missed much then. He was a strong, beefy man, with silver cropped hair. Just an ordinary military commander, like she had always dealt with. She knew their humourless, take-no-shit personas. But this one was different by an aesthetic element – the right side of his face, through his hair and near his eye, was twisted by three claw-like scars. She didn't flinch, just frowned at it. What could have possibly done that?

His uniform read his name – M. Quaritch. And as she was looking at it, he turned around to look right at her. His blue eyes raked over her, and it seemed like he gave a scoff. She looked at him, her expression enigmatic. Eventually, he gave her a nod of acknowledgment, before looking back to the rest of the crew stationed. "We have an indigenous population of humanoids called the Na'vi. They're fond of arrows dipped in a neurotoxin that will stop your heart in one minute."

Arrows. Nicole had seen those as she came in. They were huge. They looked almost as tall as her. Huge, stake-like weapons had been plunged into a tire of one of the large mining vehicles that had passed her as she came in. She'd been shot before. She knew what a bullet felt like. A horrible experience. A red, hot searing pain was the most cliché way to describe it, though it was true. But she figured that was shit all compared to one of those going through you, and logic told her that it had happened before, considering Colonel Quaritch's choice of words. Nasty.

"As head of security, it is my job to keep you alive. I will not succeed. Not with all of you." How pleasant. Nicole felt the air change around her, from anticipation to nervousness. All of them were eyeing that disfiguring scar. "If you wish to survive, you need to cultivate a strong, mental aptitude. You got to obey the rules: Pandora rules. Rule number one..." Quaritch continued, before drawling off on multiple rules – don't go out after dark. Stay in groups. Never forget your fellow man. Nicole gave a quirk of a smile. Nothing like an old-school safety brief to put your mind at ease, she couldn't help but think.

• • •

The group dispersed shortly after Quaritch finished his speech. Doctors and Avatar drivers were to report to the labs. Military personnel to the barracks immediately. Everyone was given a directions. Great. Now where do I go? she thought to herself.

The colonel seemed unconcerned with whatever she did. She began to head towards the labs with the doctors and Avatar drivers, everyone swarming in different directions, lugging trunks and duffel bags. She just lost herself within the crowd, until she heard a, "Nicole? Nicole!"

So she looked around behind her, knowing with all the people milling around it would be downright stupid to move her entire body around. She found herself looking into the eyes of a tall, spindly man with a mop of brown hair. He breathed out as he saw her, a grin appearing across his face. "Wow… You look just like her!"

It was what she and her sister had gotten throughout their entire lives – 'You look just like your sister! The two of you are just identical!' No shit – they were identical twins. But she had her sister, older by two minutes, had grinned and bared it, often laughing along with the person who said it. They'd had fun messing with people as to who was who when they were younger. Until Nicole had been confined to a wheelchair, and that just gave the game away. Today, when this strange man said that to her, she didn't say anything. It was still too raw. In reality, she had learnt about her sister's death three weeks ago.

Remembering himself, he stuck out his hand. "I'm so sorry, I'm Norm. Norm Spellman. I went through Avatar training with her."

"Ah," she said with a brusque nod. "Nice to meet you."

He gave her a sympathetic glance. Sympathy for losing her sister or her legs, she couldn't tell. But he remembered himself again it seemed, for he said, "Um, anyway. Would you – would you like to come and see the Avatars? That is where you're headed, right?"

"Yes," was all she said, and she suddenly got the shocking impression he was going to push her there, as he went behind her, but he only did it to let some people through. Good. He might have gotten a torrent of arguments at him, and she didn't think it would be wise to unleash that on someone she'd just met. Especially since he came off as so fragile to her. Like a twig, in body and mind.

They walked down the busy hall, Norm seeming to know the ins and outs of a place he'd never been in his life. She followed him quickly, until they came to a set of glass doors that opened with a card swipe. "They haven't put our fingerprints in yet," he said, "So I got a key from Doctor Shipley before coming in."

The glass doors obeyed and opened, and the two went in. It was a mass amalgamation of the latest technology, with tablets, important-looking science instruments, and things she couldn't put names to. Scientists in white lab coats moved around rapidly, and Norm was able to stop one to ask for assistance. She pointed towards the end of the room, saying, "The other drivers will come in soon. And they can – oh, hold on. Max! Max!"

At her voice, a bespectacled middle-aged man with wiry black hair and a beard looked over. He was standing near a computer, and upon spying Nicole and Norm, smiled and came over. "Thanks Carrie," he said to the scientist, who smiled and left the group. Max shook hands with the two of them. "So you guys are Norm and Sylvia?"

There was a beat of hesitation, and she figured it was up to her to fix it. "Nicole."

"But there's a Sylvia on…" In the corner of her eye, she saw Norm give a quick shake of his head. Understanding seemed to light in Max's eyes, and he pushed his glasses up his nose further. "Sorry, Nicole." He gave her an apologetic smile. "Anyway, I'm assuming you're here to see your Avatars?"

"You'd be right!" Norm said with a huge, childlike grin. She gave a snort of laughter at it. Clearly this was his toy store. But then she saw what he was wanting to see, and she didn't feel like laughing at him any longer.

There were several cylindrical tanks. Amnio tanks. They held a blue liquid, and inside, suspended, were the Avatars. Huge. Nicole slowly rolled over, ignoring whatever Norm and Max were saying as she went to look at it.

It looked like a large baby in a womb. And she realised, with a little uneasiness mingled with excitement, and wonder, that it was like seeing her sister in the womb. Was this what their mother had seen, all those years before? Well obviously not exactly but… was the feeling of amazement the same? The large cyan creature floated, long black hair floating as gracefully as seaweed in the liquid. The long plait that ran from the base of the skull to the waist looked like a rope, as did the long, panther-like tail. Embarrassingly, they were naked, so she could see the breasts of the creature if it moved too much, kicking in the fluid.

But she didn't care the minute she looked at the face. The soft, heart-shaped features, elegant nose, the large eyes… "Looks like her," Nicole murmured, a smile coming to her.

"No," came a response. She hadn't realised Norm had followed her. "Looks like you. This is your Avatar, Nicole."

She tried to ignore the awkwardness she felt at the fact that though the Avatar right now had its hand near its chest, its tail between its legs like a scared dog, it was naked, and Norm was effectively looking at that. But he seemed to show no reservations as he eagerly showed her his Avatar. Looks better than you right now, she thought to herself as she eyed the large biceps the creature had. She kept her eyes locked on its face and chest.

"So the proprioceptive sims worked pretty well!" Norm said, sounding amazed. She frowned at the strange words she didn't know.

"Yeah, they've got great muscle tone. Give us a few hours, you guys can take them for a spin. Maybe you should get some sleep before then," Max replied.

Nicole groaned. "I've slept for five and a half years – I don't need any more."

He laughed. "Well, it's nearly eight o'clock, so the other Avatar drivers will be unlinking soon. This will be a good chance for you to meet Doctor Augustine."

Norm's mouth dropped open. "You – we're – what?" he asked, absolutely flabbergasted. She arched an eyebrow. "We're going to meet her, today?" Max nodded. "Oh my God!" Upon seeing that Nicole was not sharing his enthusiasm, he explained eagerly, "Grace Augustine is a legend. I mean, she practically wrote the book – I mean wrote. The. Book. – on Pandoran botany."

"She will be your boss for the next five years, so don't piss her off, okay? Just remember she likes plants better than people." Max said, tapping him with a clipboard. He looked contemplatively down at Nicole, and bent down to her level. Ouch. "I know this might seem kind of like a scary place, but trust me, if you can get through Grace, you can live on Pandora easily."

"Honestly I think at this point, if I go through without kicking you in the balls, I'll consider my time a success," she said, wheeling past Max to inspect the tablets before he could piece together exactly what she had said.

• • •

The link deactivated, and its user groggily sat up. "God…" she murmured, rubbing her face with her hands. Fifteen years she'd been doing this, and one would think she was used to it by now. But what she wasn't used to was the hostility that she had fought so long to keep from happening, was happening.

Grace Augustine was fifty-four years old, but these days she felt closer to seventy. At least in her Avatar it was a different story. She looked down at her body. The white, uneven skin tone, her pudgy body shape. She felt her straw-like red hair, and groaned. She hated this body. The only aspect of the other side she had was of the three strands of wooden beads around her neck. Her only connection when she was in this one. She'd never say it out loud, but fuck, what she wouldn't trade to just stay in the other forever.

But she couldn't, and the effects of being under for sixteen hours straight, with no food, water or other substances had taken its toll. "Who's got my goddamn cigarette?" she barked, causing three young scientists to jump into action. That's how it was around the lab – Doctor Augustine commanded, and the others obeyed. One young man ran up to her with a pre-lit cigarette, which she thanked him for, putting it between her lips as a young woman gave her a white lab coat.

"Ah there she is! Cinderella back from the ball." Grace rolled her eyes at the statement as Max came in, followed by two unknowns. She stood up from the link chamber, brushing herself down and hoping she didn't smell too badly. She looked at the strangers, seeing a bookish looking man and… a woman in a wheelchair. Christ. What kind of half-assed program was RDA running? But still… a woman. For once. Sexist pricks finally listened to her.

"Grace," Max smiled cheerily, his hands in his pockets as he tilted his head to the man. "I'd like you to meet Norm Spellman and Nicole Moakley."

Her eyes fell on Nicole momentarily, taking her in. She was dark skinned, like Max, but seemed of a different ethnic background. She had a pretty, elongated face that ended in a soft round chin, framed by a soft black bob. Her delicate looks ended right there naturally, though. Her body looked more lean and muscular, making Grace suddenly feel self-conscious, and her expression looked like it was conveying a 'Piss off' attitude. Military grunt, she thought. Fuck. What's worse? Another man, or a woman in the military joining us? Neither sounding pleasing.

So she turned her attention to the man she could pigeon-hole. Norm looked easier to understand at face value. "Norm," she said, making him beam when she gave him attention. "I've heard good things about you. How's your Na'vi?"

Yep, I was right, she thought as he suddenly sprung into action. "May the All Mother smile upon our first meeting," he said, touching his hand to his forehead and then rolling his arm out to her. It was stilted talking, but pronunciation was top notch.

She gave him a nod of approval, and took a drag on her cigarette. "Not bad. You sound a little formal."

"I studied for many years but, there is still much to learn. I can try – "

"Grace?" Max interrupted quickly, making Norm scowl as the spotlight was taken off. She figured she had a bit of a fan. How cute. She looked at the man she had worked with for so many years, and blinked once at him. He eventually understood the meaning, for he pointed behind him to the other newcomer. "This is Nicole Moakley."

She turned to the woman, who greeted with a courteous, "Ma'am", and tried to shake her hand. She wasn't having any of it. "Yeah, yeah. I know who you are, and I don't need you. I need your sister. The scientist? I didn't realise I was trading a scientist for a trigger happy moron."

"Sorry. I wasn't the one who pulled the trigger on her," Nicole said matter-of-factly.

Grace breathed out slowly, eyeing her. She frowned. "How much training have you had? In science, or Pandora itself, or…?"

There was a beat, before, "I dissected a frog once in high school. Saw documentaries on Pandora."

Wow. Grace put her hand to her head, and took another drag on her cigarette. Fuck my life. "I swear this is punishment," she muttered in Na'vi, which Norm seemed to understand. She had to remember he knew a lot. She couldn't just swear people off in the lab and they look at her blankly anymore. There were people who spoke it, sure, but no one was as fluent as her, and she often said it way too fast for them to pick up every word she was saying.

She looked at Nicole directly. "The three of you, get to dinner. And tomorrow, be here at 0800. Got it?"

"Yes, ma'am," came the response, a little too sharply for Grace's tastes. But they were out of her hair, for now.

She stretched, wanting to get some sleep. It would be a long day tomorrow. She looked at her link chamber, thinking to what happened that day. Hopefully it would be better in the morning. Touching the wooden beads around her neck, she knew that worrying would not change anything. All she could do was wait for a better day.

• • •

Nicole slept fitfully that night. She could only picture the flames, her sister in the cardboard box… They just didn't even care enough to put her in a proper coffin. Well actually, her family couldn't afford it. They hadn't even been able to afford to fix her legs. And she certainly couldn't do it herself. It had been Sylvia. Sylvia who had sworn that come fifteen years, if Nicole could just wait… She'd have the money for it. The painfully ironic part was now that she had a chance to get the money in her stead, and while it could repair her legs, it would never repair the pain that she knew she hadn't been able to give Sylvia a proper funeral.

She looked over from her bed in the dormitory to see the time – 0600. Two hours before she had to be in the lab. Around her, five other military women slept. The rooms were still allocated on gender lines – just too big a risk to take, she guessed. Quietly, she slipped out from her bed, which was just a piece of stretched canvas above the ground with a duvet, and hopped quickly into the shower.

Admittedly, she took a little longer in that. A shower… She hadn't had a proper one in ages. Water shortages on Earth limited people, and scientists had come up with small plastic packets with a white liquid for waterless 'showers'. Effective, admittedly, but nothing beat the feeling of the hot water cascading down her back, running along her oily skin. Probably she shouldn't have been doing this alone, and it was hard with no use of her legs, but her arms were strong. She pulled herself in and turned the tap on. She ran her fingers through her wet hair, a smile on her face. She sat under the spray for a little while, scrubbing herself at times, just relaxing in others. By the time she got out, dragged herself back into her chair, she had killed half an hour. Half an hour of sitting in water… She told herself that had been very wrong to do, but God, that had felt good. She had never felt so clean.

She quickly got changed and, seeing as she had nothing else to do, she headed down to the lab. She was shocked to see the Avatars had been taken out of the tubes – they were drained and cleaned. They must have taken them out whilst they were at dinner. So she wheeled herself around, just looking. At the back of the room, there were huge tanks, like the Avatar 'wombs'. They all had murky water in them, though. Curious as was her nature, she wheeled herself over, and looked in.

Quick as a flash, a large, fish-like creature hit against the glass, making Nicole jump slightly. She didn't jump easily, but that was one fucking weird looking thing. It was larger than her, with huge razor-sharp teeth clacking against the glass.

"So I see you met our pet." She turned to see Grace coming in behind her. "Just a baby, right now. But she's growing so fast we will have to put her in the lake soon."

Seriously? That's a baby? Shit. Nicole was dumbstruck as the scientist came over, looking at the creature directly in the eye. It must have gotten scared, for it suddenly melted into the gloom.

So now they were alone. The scientist turned around to look at her, sizing her up again. She was still scowling, but it didn't seem to be as dark as yesterday. Maybe the sleep had done her some good for her mood. "You're early," she said.

Nicole nodded. "Better to be early than late, right?"

"Mmmm." Grace reached into her lab coat, taking out a cigarette from a pack, and lit it.

She couldn't help but frown herself. "I find it interesting that you are a botanist, a scientist – and you smoke. We are in the 22nd century, you know. Got a wealth of reasons why we shouldn't."

"And I've got a wealth of reasons as to why you shouldn't be here. Listen to me, girl," Grace said, making Nicole look directly at her. She bent down. "Woman to woman, we need to talk. RDA is severely understaffed. Based on what I read about you before you came here, you don't even have enough skills to work in the kitchen. I needed a real scientist, which is what your sister was." She groaned, creaking her neck. "The situation is bad here. Parker just wants to fuck us around and strip mine the damn planet. He doesn't want to listen to me that the real treasure is out there, in the forest. Now your home planet was killed because its biodiversity was destroyed. Out here, there are wonders we can't even imagine… And goddammit I did not ask for a witless marine to come out here and help aid the destruction. So I beg you, do not get under my feet – "

The 'feet' comment must have triggered something. Nicole interrupted quickly, looking Grace directly in the eye with a look of defiance. She straightened up in her chair. "Hey, lady?" she objected, her eyes holding fires within them. "I did not come light years out into space, didn't get shot up with drugs and inoculated against fuck-knows-what, and frozen for five years, to come here and be your personal punching bag. Sounds like you got some personal issues with whoever Parker is, but guess what – I'm not him. So if you've got some problem with me, tell the base supervisor, or else, take a pill."

There was a long silence. Grace's eyes almost narrowed to slits as she looked at her, before she gave a derisive snort. She pulled back, nodding slowly. "A live one, then?"

"Yeah. Alive and kicking. So we can spend the next five years tearing at one another, or we can try and work together. Your call."

She looked at the young woman for a long moment. Grace then gave a curt nod, and waved her off. "You'll be testing out your Avatar today. Better hop to it."

And Nicole didn't know it, but as she left, Grace was smiling. Nicole had fight in her, and it left the scientist thinking that maybe she wasn't so bad after all.

• • •

At 0800 the lab was bustling with activity. Scientists barking at one another as they all prepared for the first link session of the new Avatar drivers. Grace was like a commander, getting everyone into position. She took Norm and Nicole over to their links, and he wasted no time in getting under. Nicole however, pushed at the gel bottom, looked at the wires, her face in awe. Grace didn't hold it against her, and just patiently waited. She offered to help with the chair, but the marine turned around with a, "No! I can do that."

The scientist put her hands up, moving away to start the program up. "Keep your head down, and let your mind go blank, all right? Make sure you close your eyes," Grace said, before she felt like she was in a coffin again as the lid went down.

She swallowed, and breathed out, doing so.

And all of a sudden, two scientists with masks on were looking down at her. Their talking was muffled, but the man and the woman were smiling at her, until she heard a, "Can you hear us, Nicole?"

A smile crossed her lips, and she nodded. "Hey, guys," she said.

"See if you can sit up slowly, hon," the man said, and reluctantly, she did. The woman smiled at her, encouraging her to touch her fingers together. But all their words left when she stretched slightly, and felt her legs.

Her legs… they moved. They moved.

She looked down in awe, and tested it. Her eyes widened as she wiggled her toes, which the woman congratulated her on like a baby walking for the first time. But she just didn't understand… she couldn't believe it. Slowly, she swung her legs over the side of the bed.

"Whoa, slow down, whirlwind!" the man laughed, coming to take Nicole's hand. She took hers back with a slight frown, before focusing back on her feet. She put them on the floor. They were responding… Whatever she wanted, they did it. Perfectly. Like they were completely a part of her, as they hadn't been for many years.

So she stood up. The wires that were on her were inconsequential, though the machine that was attached didn't think so as it set off a drone of warning. "Nicole, you have to sit!" yelled a scientist.

"No, no, I can do this!" she said, steadying herself, her arms out on either side as she gained her balance. Wow, humans were tiny. She could hardly believe it as she looked at herself. She began to move, and forgot she had a tail. She looked around as it swiped a monitor on wheels effortlessly to the side.

There came a yelling from behind the glass. "Nicole! Nicole, you must sit! You're not used to your body, yet!"

Oh, but she was. She had a wide grin on her face, ignoring the others as they begged her to sit. "This is great!" she breathed.

And before anyone could react, she left.

"Nicole!" came Norm's voice, but she was out the door.

The Pandoran air hit her, the clearest, most crisp air she had ever breathed in. It had the faintest smell of cinnamon. She saw some other Avatar drivers playing basketball, their long, elegant legs making it easy to jump and score. She laughed as she ran past them, but they looked bewildered as she ran out in a hospital garment.

"Nicole! Nicole! Dammit, get back here!" Norm yelled, breathless. And she had barely started running.

Running. Oh she had forgotten how good that felt. Her powerful legs churned up the dirt and grass under them, and she surged forward, her heart pounding in protest. Her breath came out raggedly as she pushed on, the biggest, most childish grin on her face.

She was in complete control of her entire body. She could feel the absolute power, the strength of her body. She hadn't felt this fantastic in years.

She skidded to a stop, sending a wave of dirt forward. She breathed out, looking up to the magnificently blue sky. She'd never seen a blue sky before… She closed her eyes, just taking it all in. Taking in this miracle of a place…

"Hey soldier!"

Nicole looked over to a smiling Avatar. Her body was something that models would have killed for, with a large bust, thin waist, and elegant long legs. Her face looked so familiar, and that voice… She wore cargo shorts and a Stanford top, with a beaded pendant. She smiled as the name came to her. "Grace…?"

"Of course! Looks like link up worked well." She struck a pose, pushing her hip out and putting a hand on her waist, making Nicole laugh. "Ain't I a babe?"

"Looks good," she said shakily, before bending over, getting her breath back. Tears came to her eyes as she looked at her body. It was her body. She had been running… Sure it wasn't her body, exactly, but… it felt like it. She had commanded it to run.

She felt a finger brush against her cheek, and realised that a tear had escaped her eye. She looked up at Grace, and the two smiled at one another. "Yep. Looks like everything's perfect, kiddo," she said, showing Nicole her wet index finger.

She gave a trembling laugh. "That's the first time I've run in…" She didn't want to think about it.

There was a moment of silence, before Grace put her hand comfortingly on her shoulder. Nicole didn't shrug it off like she usually would have. She needed it right now, even from her. She just needed some reassurance right now. "I know," was all the scientist said.

"Hey guys!" The two women looked over to see Norm finally making up the lost space, and breathing heavily. "Jesus… Don't run so fast!"

"Don't chase me then," she said simply.

Grace chuckled, before realising that effectively, Nicole was naked underneath the robe, and there was no proper backing to it. She quickly turned her around properly so he couldn't see. Human men were all the same in her eyes. "Let's get you both into some clothing, hmm? I think I have some old shorts that will fit you. Or we can find something better."

• • •

"How'd it go?" Max asked as he opened the upper clamshell of the link chamber. A wide smile on her face answered Max's question. Nicole slowly sat up and stretched, before looking to another chamber that opened by the driver. Norm sat up as well, and then Grace on the other side of him.

She sighed as she looked down at herself. "Damn. Same ol' sack of bones." She swung her legs over the side, and clapped her hands to the other scientists. "Let's get some lunch and then we can head out again. These newbies aren't used to such long hours without food yet."

"Then we better set a gourmet feast!" Max chortled, offering to help Nicole with her wheelchair, but she brushed him off.

"Gourmet, my fanny," Grace grumbled, "It's probably just inedible swill."

"Charming," Nicole chortled, wheeling herself after the three intellectuals. Max hurried off to grab them something to munch on while Grace led them over to a group of the scientists. Immediately, she got entangled in the chatter, so much so that she didn't notice another figure approaching the table.

Nicole did. A young woman, about her age, in a flight suit. She took off her sunglasses and shook out her dark ponytail. "Nicole Moakley?" she asked, and the one in question put up her hand. "Colonel Quaritch wants to see you."

She frowned, exchanging a puzzled glance with Norm. He shrugged. She excused herself from the group and followed the woman, and Grace scowled after her.

The woman introduced herself as Trudy Chachon, one of the pilots. The two suddenly got engrossed in talking, having relatable jobs. "You guys are packing some heavy artillery," Nicole said as she looked around at all the weaponry.

"Well, we're not the only ones out there, or the biggest," Trudy said matter-of-factly, before smiling at Nicole. "I'm glad you're here, Nicky."

"Nicole," she smiled at Trudy, effectively politely telling her she didn't like nicknames. Trudy nodded understandingly. "Well, I'm going to need a door gun from time to time. I'm a person short so…"

"No problem." Trudy beamed.

They continued to walk amongst the troops and the heavy duty weaponry, before Trudy pointed down towards a makeshift gym in what was obviously a previous weapons locker. Inside Nicole saw the colonel bench-pressing huge plates. Impressive.

Saying a thank you to her guide, she wheeled herself over to the man, sitting by the door. "You called for me, sir?" she asked.

He didn't say anything at first – he just continued to work, before moving the huge plates up to store back. "This low gravity will make you soft," he said, sitting up slowly. "You get soft, and Pandora will shit you out dead with zero warning."

He was sweating but not winded, and from his looks with the scar and the look in his eyes he gave her, he embodied a complete 'Do not fuck with me' attitude.

"I pulled your record, you've done some tough stuff. Venezuela, that was some mean bush. You got heart girl, I'll give you that. What exactly made you come here?"

"Figured it was just another hellhole," she said with a shrug.

Quaritch laughed. "Well, it's worse," he said, standing up. "Especially for a woman in the Avatar program."

She didn't think that comment had been necessary.

"Why would you say that, sir?" she asked.

"You see, Moakley, Augustine and I never saw eye to eye. And trust me, she knows how to get her claws in you." He gave a smirk and gestured to his scar, pretending to rake his fingers through it to get the point across. "She says all the right things to make people try and bend to these blue monkey's will. She will do the same to you. And she will think it'll be easier getting through to you because you share the same body parts."

There was a lot of this conversation Nicole didn't like, but she didn't say so. Do I say something, or do I keep my job? was what was going through her head, and she wondered if it showed on her face. She had to choose the 'smarter' option – she bit her tongue and waited for him to finish.

"But I suppose I'm going to offer something better before she does. But before that, I must ask you – what has she offered for your help?"

"Nothing," she said honestly, "Except that if I stay out of her way, I might learn something."

"Inadvertently, she's offered you more – with your Avatar you can run, right?" She slowly nodded. "Well how would you like to run in your real body? In three months?"

She frowned, confused. "My apologies, sir, but I don't – "

"Five years you have here, right? In this 'hellhole'. With Augustine and her crew. But what if I were to shorten that to three months if you do a little something for me?"

She was intrigued, and he saw that; he gave a smirk. "That scientist Norm Spellman is here to get into the native's hub, and talk to them. But I can't do shit with a scientist. A marine, now, I could use. You can get into their camp, and get me the intel I need. This is how it will work – you will be under Augustine's command, on paper. But you report to me. You will be telling me exactly how to get what we need through the Na'vi. You would be doing something real, keeping some of my boys from going home like you. Or bagged-and-tagged. And I promise to get your legs back to you completely in three months if you succeed. I do take care of my own. How's that sound?"

It sounded like her entire future was being given to her on a plate, and she was in awe that she didn't know what to say. But that line, 'I do take care of my own' sounded hollow. She remembered the speech that morning – 'I will not succeed. Not with all of you.'

But this was the best thing she'd had since she ran that morning. She wanted that. For real. Not some blue pile of flesh she commanded through a psychic link or whatever. Her own legs… In three months. That hope won over her woes. Her own mobility, not having to pull herself from a bed or a couch to her wheelchair, being able to run as much as she could… Already she was envisioning back home, her legs pounding on the concrete pavement as she ran around the neighbourhood block, running perhaps to the bar or to the small park they had in the city centre. Better yet, she'd be there in three months. Compared to five years, that was a godsend.

A smile came over her face and she gave a nod. "Okay, sir."

Quaritch nodded at her, before standing up and telling to run her tail back to Augustine, giving a laugh as if he'd made a wonderful joke.

• • •

Nicole found herself sitting in the Avatar compound longhouse, in her second body after lunch. She was wearing a simple maroon top, just like Grace's, which was tight-fitting over her chest. The pants she wore were fitted properly, and Grace said they actually worked better than shorts when they went out to the forest.

"When will we be doing that?" Nicole asked

"Tomorrow." She paused suddenly, as if she had to carefully edit the phrase in her mind before she said it. "I want you to meet someone then."

Nicole tilted her head, not understanding the meaning behind it. "Who? Another Avatar driver?"

Grace hesitated again. Her elongated fingers played absently with the wooden necklace. "More like someone who provided your Avatar."

She frowned, thoroughly confused by the scientist. Who was she talking about? Another scientist?

But when Grace just looked at her, still playing with the necklace, the penny dropped. That had been her hint. She was not a fainter, but she had a feeling she could keel over just then. "You're taking me to meet the aliens," she murmured, her voice going up an octave higher than usual.

"Na'vi," Grace sharply corrected, and Nicole wondered if the spell that she seemed to have when in her Avatar body was broken, but she turned softer again. "You'll meet one of them. He's one of the only ones from the Omaticaya clan who will work with us any longer."

"What do you mean?"

"Hmm. I keep forgetting how little you know." She opened her mouth to retort before Grace cut in, "I didn't mean it as an insult. Actually, I shouldn't have said it at all – I bet you anything Norm doesn't know, either. How could you? It happened while you were sleeping away."

"What, exactly?"

Grace turned around, busying herself with closing the chest of clothing they kept in the long house, before continuing. She cleared her throat. "There was an incident three years ago. You know why RDA is here, right?"

Of course. Everyone knew that. Unobtanium. Everyone on Earth knew of its value and what it could do. She gave Grace a look to say 'Go on', but when she didn't, she had to verbally clarify that yes, for twenty-eight years she had not been living under a rock. No pun intended.

"Well, the biggest deposits happen to be sacred sites to the Omaticaya clan – the main clan around here. And unfortunately, RDA are wanting to clear the sites to get at it. There was an incident where some Na'vi got hurt, and the clan want nothing to do with us. Only about five out of about five hundred will do anything with us."

So basically, they had a drawing of straws to see who will deal with the humans, and this native drew short, Nicole thought.

"The patriarch of the Omaticaya clan really doesn't want anything to do with us, ever. But to keep the peace, he had no choice but to let us talk to some members."

"So who is it?"

Grace moved to sit down on the chest, her tail crossing over her legs. It would take Nicole some time to get used to the extra appendage. "His name is N'deh. He speaks English, which should make it easier for you. But I want you to come with me, and see how the world around here is. Because, girl, it's hard out here."

The conversation with Quaritch rang eerily through her mind. 'See how the world is,' Grace said. 'She knows how to get her claws in you,' he had said.

Nicole scoffed, and smiled. "I've been to hard places."

Grace returned the smile. But it wasn't happy. It wasn't friendly. It was just a sad smile, and the way she looked at Nicole it was almost as if she wanted her to understand something. "I know. But… this is something different. Because the hardest part isn't an enemy, or anything like that – it's the fact that you will grow to love it too much."