43. Time of Great Time of Sorrow to come

A few minutes later after the 'spar' Liam was back wearing his chest plate, backpack placed to the side he was in a structure akin to a tipi but exponentially bigger, almost the size of a house, roughly cut wood beam with bones holding a hide sewn of various animals skin, some not even from the plains. 

In front of him sitting upon a stone covered in soft plant material with a backrest was Akwey, his face twisting in pain as the Tsahìk tended to his left shoulder.

<You asked for this, Akwey. Stupid actions earn you stupid dangerous consequences, your lucky it was a spar, I can see yet again why you are the father of your son. He got this stupidity from somewhere.>, Marali said in a low tone the emotion behind was a hint of something akin to mockery for the Olo'eyktan's actions.

She took a concoction that was shimmering above a small fire at her right side with her wrinkled hand, killing the fire with a clay plate as she did so before giving it to Akwey, it was a mix of the pink aloe vera, something akin to honey but gold in color and a mix of powdered plants.

Ignoring the old hag's words, the same words he heard hundreds of times he gulped as rapidly as he physically could the mixture, stopping himself from gagging at the taste.

For a human, it would taste sweet with a hint of spiciness but again the equivalent of taste buds for Na'vi were fundamentally different from human's ones in every aspect besides their function as one of the senses.

<You hit hard, Liam… And by all means, you surely did hold back. It felt as if my shoulder was going to be ripped off.>, Akwey said toward the human who simply nodded before he continued, <What did you want to speak about?>

<Things are going to shift, shift in a direction I cannot predict nor control, but one that will lead to great and many death.>, Liam's face hardened and he spoke, the entire atmosphere becoming deadly silent.

On the side one frowned Akwey, face becoming solemn while Marali stayed calm, composed as if knowing and both the chief and Lost Child knew she knew more than she let out. Extremely annoying but she was rational and wanted only the good of her clan even if she was senile.

<The leading figures Sky People of the "RDA", as you must know are a leading factor behind the conflict between both species.>, he continued, stating the obvious and both knew what was to be announced would be unpleasant.

<I understand… This fact is known for some time to the point it could be considered old. But this is none of our matter.>, Akwey said, not really following where Liam was going while the Tsahìk only closed her eyes pensively.

<It is indeed not but it will, even if indirectly, they will not stop until the All-Mother is stripped bare of all of her valuable resources.>, Liam continued with no small amount of venom and something akin to despair at something out of his control, <This is an inevitability, I do not know when but it will happen, the conflict will but expand, expand and expand. The ones leading "RDA" will not abandon their "cash cow" using diplomacy, particularly with the People being judged as simple-minded wild beasts needing to be tamed or culled to extinction.>

'War will happen, that's a certainty… Even if cripple guy succeeds the RDA will still want more and more until nothing valuable remains of consequence to everything but themselves be damned. But for an alliance between most clans to happen more than my words are needed.', Liam thought, thanks to Overseer and his communication with the two scientists he was aware of many ongoing things about the RDA such as Jake Sully.

Though as of now nothing truly concrete on the manpower and full resource of Hell's Gate, this lack of more concrete data was because neither Grace nor Max had the necessary clearance level or authority to have access to such data. 

But Liam still got an overall idea and a grasp of most of what the RDA down on Pandora had, such as what material their equipment and vehicles are made of, like windshields made of a type of synthetic gem as hard as diamond but resistant to extreme physical strains and temperature variation, while the metal used is, to put it mildly, whatever was found in the ground that made mediocre alloys for what it must for but nothing exceptional.

Not that they couldn't do better, they simply didn't have the need to. After all, the savages don't have anything to fight them. 

Another point was that the RDA machines weren't the newest, some being four decades old and from outdated if slightly altered blueprints for Pandora's hazardous environment.

Blueprints he couldn't get his hands on due to them being unaccessible to the two scientists, again. And for more than hierarchical reasons, the blueprints were stored within the computers that controlled the giant 3D printer-like machines.

They didn't craft their own machines by hand with those printers at hand and it translates as one of the reasons why there was a great lack of engineers but it was compensated by non-self-aware AIs that were tasked with cleaning toilets, helping carry heavy charges, regulating the air quality, to building and repairing aircraft and other menial tasks. 

It was their purpose and that made them a weakness.

The RDA here was limited in terms of manpower, resources, and machine, and they didn't use the top of the top in terms of technology due to various laws, cutting corners, and how 'old' the base was but all way more advanced than technology he was used to before this.

Powerful but not invincible and most important of all, the ones in their possession were arrogant and ignorant.

Conflicts he couldn't stop, at best directly influencing now will put him as a target and not stop the RDA from continuing its activities one bit as they will divert a figment of their earlier mentioned resources specifically aiming for him. 

The ex-Marine will learn about him, Jake was playing the spy within the Omatikaya clan not realizing he was going native and that means mention of his existence will be brought up as he learns their language and ways.

And it's what happened, even if it's under his title, he knew of this because Grace asked with Overseer and he gave an affirmative response. He supposed this brought up various other questions but as far as he knew she didn't ask any.

But being discovered this way was a thing he was aware of from the moment he was in contact with the native. Na'vi will speak about him to others be they other Na'vi, Avatar, or humans. Or Eywa herself.

His secrecy was going to be not so secret in the next few months, and then there were people like Norm Spellman, Grace's new assistant. He supposed this new one will also need to be informed about him to avoid potential complications as from what Max told it was almost a mental breakdown for Grace. 

In another aspect, he was glad Grace had the immediate response of taking Jake and Norm to a remote base in the Hallelujah mountains, though unknown to her it helped him. It gave him more time.

And it has happened, Grace having asked if he was this individual with this title and his answer was affirmative.

He was and could only prepare, not being alone being one of them. The Olangi clan being the first on the list, he wasn't a leader, at least not in that sense, and wouldn't act as such, not that he ever could.  

The Na'vi even if on friendly terms wouldn't let this happen like this even if it was a direct order from Eywa herself, he didn't lie to himself that he was and will be alienated. He wasn't one of them, never pretended to be or ever wanted to.

But his words would hold a lot of weight and he will make sure they do. Even if it means the usage of force.

Akwey frowned, face deep in thought. This was sudden, not what he expected, or more precisely what he didn't wish to hear. Deep down he knew conflict was inevitable, but he couldn't play the ostrich for all of his life.

He couldn't comprehend what it truly entailed, the scale of it that is, outside of what was told being horrifying and true. He trusted the Lost Child's words never would he doubt him but there must be other options as he was aware of what it meant.

War. A word rarely if ever heard, Na'vi conflicts were rare though only in rarer cases they became bloody, and as for war… It wasn't a foreign concept. Only a few instances of such events truly were heard of, one that affected the entirety of the People was supposed to be the reason the three laws of Eywa existed.

He personally experienced many battles, he was a warrior, but if what he heard was correct and even if he underestimated them, the sheer madness of what they represented…

Birds of metal impervious to the strongest of arrows shot by the most skilled of archers that would rain down fire from the sky upon the land without discrimination, metal weapons that with loud deafening noise and flash of light killed instantaneously from a great distance, suit of metal that made them fight on equal ground, and giant creatures of metal bigger than anything from the land should be capable of devouring entire forest in mere days.

Akwey didn't fully believe all due to tales' tendency to twist facts but he understood it held way more than a few inklings of truth and in any case… He wasn't delusional, he couldn't see how winning was even a possibility. Not presently and as is.

If they could cause great damage to the respected clan of the Omatikaya in the rainforest where they are at their strongest he doubted on open fields his clan would fare better. Though he didn't despair or feel great fear.

<But we have time. Not much, not even for the rainy season to end but that is what we have and the time I have estimated before the War start.>, Liam tried and failed to reassure both his interlocutors, but they were not the ones to panic for so little.

<This isn't pleasant, a great calamity, a Time of Great Sorrow you are speaking of but one that wasn't unanticipated... I believe you as your words echo the ones of the All-Mother. If you deemed it apt to speak with us now then you have plans, Liam Cram, may we know them and what do you ask for? You have reasons, you follow rationality and the path to survival.>, the Tsahìk said matter of factly, seeing where Liam was going but not what he wanted.

<Yes that is correct, it isn't truly out of the sole goodness of my heart, it is for my own interest, my own gain, my survival. The "RDA" purpose will not shift when my existence becomes widely known to them, I will become another target.>, he said, voice getting colder by the second but holding only the truth.

<I will need your help, the help of your clan, the help of the ones under you, and that of many more. And you will need mine, they will need mine. This is born out of our mutual interest. Neither of us will survive without uniting.>, his implant glowed progressively brighter and brighter as more words came out.

<Indeed, the future is bleak but there is light, a light we can reach only with a form of unity. You have a better understanding of the Sky People than us… But… For this unity to happen, someone capable of untiring the clans must be chosen by the All-Mother…. The Toruk Makto.>, Marali agreed almost instantly with the Lost Child.

'Ah, this… Yes… There was this in the movie with Jake.', Liam thought it was something Tsu'mong, the Anurai wandering artist, spoke fondly about but it didn't click, he simply thought of it as a random but important legend.

A legend speaking of a warrior, savior, and leader having tamed a Toruk, Great Leonopteryx, the largest and most majestic flying creature of this moon, an ultimate predator to aid within Times of Great Sorrow.

But 'ultimate predator' as it was, it wasn't rocket proof or would like having a multi-ton helicopter ram into its chest at full velocity, and he held great doubt on the rider's capability of uniting the various clans.  

Not forgetting if someone like that appeared at all to begin, thought Eywa will intervene, that he could almost feel it. But the Toruk Makto wasn't going to be him, it needed someone reckless and self-sacrificing and someone physically capable of taming an adult Toruk.

He could hatch one but getting an adult one, no he couldn't and if he even could tame such a creature in this way it was extremely risky, to a suicidal degree. A Toruk Makto was a hero which he wasn't and didn't want to be.

There will be luck involved, and why he was stacking the odds in his and the People's favors. 

Akwey didn't speak, he wanted to convince himself Liam was overreacting and overestimating the RDA and how horrible they could be but the words of Marali drenched the amber of doubt to his great sadness.

And so he lifted his right hand, attracting the attention of the other two.

<The Olangi clan will support and ally with the Lost Child for what is to come, and I vow upon my name, blood, and soul to uphold those words. Personally, those words I will uphold, Savior of my son and the Tsakarem and Architect of Metal… What do you have planned for the future, Liam?>, the Olo'eyktan said at the end with an almost feral smile forming at the end, his yellow eyes staring into the silvery one of Liam.

On the side Marali closed her eyes, this will need an apt ceremony under the Tree of Divergence such words Akwey said weren't light such as the subjects involved. 

It needed to be officialized with the clan, war was going to happen whether she liked it or not and it was the same for every member of the Olangi clan. The elders will not be pleased, well some as the others were warriors and wanted to be back on the ride.

People of all ages and sexes will die, yet she wasn't despairing, on the contrary, she felt confident. Yet still a deep feeling of sadness was within her old heart for tragedies that are to come and not only for her clan. 

Liam nodded and said, a thin confident smile forming as he opened his backpack and took several objects, <Their "technology" is flawed, primitive in many points, it has many weaknesses, exploitable ones.>

Words of extreme arrogance to some but holding yet again only the truth, the RDA has access to technology from 2150 and uses the one from 2050, laws or not they could do better but they didn't, they can use antimatter safe-ishly and have a super metal that broke the regular laws of physics.

A century is an eternity in terms of technological advancement with the use of modern standards of advancement and even more for him. Primitive in many aspects or not, the RDA on Pandora is still the most powerful by a long shot.

Anyway. 

The objects consisted of two long and thin black smoothened pieces of wood both with different ends that he clipped together, Akwey realized what this was at this instant then the strange 'stone' objects he added one by one until it made a strangely shaped arrow to then add in the other end red flat piece of material only confirmed it. An arrow, one adapted to Na'vi as it was nearly Liam's length in height.

<An arrow?>, the chief mumbled visible confusion on his features. Outside of looking odd if masterfully crafted and unbalanced, it didn't look like much.

<Yes but one that creates fire, an "explosion". An "explosion" is only possible with the black liquid found underground.>, Liam said after putting the arrow together, it was way bigger than the one he usually does.

For him it was a lance, this size let him put a more explosive concoction within the arrowhead for a stronger explosion which here is made of ceramic, even metal such as bronze will be better. 

It wasn't a random decision he switched from bronze to ceramic here.

Metal will be more resilient to shock and the environment, so safer and more stable that was a fact but it cost more in resources, skill, knowledge, and time. The first three only he possessed and didn't have the last to teach in so little time. 

And ceramic here used clay so it was not a metal from the ground. Adding that the petroleum used for the explosion, that he didn't know how Na'vi will react as he didn't know what it represented for them, was it Eywa's blood, some other fluid of the tree goddess, or something totally unrelated? 

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