A/N: This chapter may be a bit boring to some as it's really just setting up the scene with some short inside looks at Laila's personal relationships and her mission. The next chapter will certainly be filled with action and I should have it out soon!

Enjoy!

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The breeze in the night was cool and refreshing, a pleasant change from the previous heat of the day. The hard, desert dirt radiated the warmth it had gathered through the afternoon, the contrast in temperatures sending goosebumps to race across Laila Richardson's exposed flesh. The sleeping bag she laid upon did little to ease the scratching rocks at her back, though she hardly noticed the pain as her attention focused solely on one thing.

Three miles outside the Nigerian city, a lone Humvee sat alongside an abandoned dirt road, its front passenger tire popped and flat to the rim. Laila had spent the day at a firing range with her unit. Due to some fault with her old, hand-me-down rifle, she had been the last to qualify and the last to make the long drive back to base when her Humvee got a flat. After a quick call to her lead Sergeant, the young Corporal was informed that no one would come for her that evening due to the strict curfew. Her vehicle could not be left unattended, so she would have to sleep under the stars until help came that next morning. The situation might have been dangerous, if not for her aid driver choosing to stay behind.

He was a Major at the time. Very easily he could have made a call and had some Officer pick him up, leaving Laila alone with her vehicle. Instead, he chose to stay with her. She couldn't have been more grateful for this decision.

A soft, involuntary moan escaped her and buzzed within her throat, trapped by the lips that eagerly devoured her own. A calloused hand cupped her cheek, appearing giant in comparison to her face, though surprisingly gentle in its hold. His other hand danced along her ribcage. She laid exposed to the world from the torso up, had it not been for the black sports bra that annoyingly clung around her breast. In the back of her mind, she knew that she should stop him. Not only was he of a much higher rank than her, but the nineteen year age gap was nothing to ignore. This would get them both in trouble; a scandal heard around the world. And yet, that only seemed to fuel her desire.

"Miles," she whimpered his name pitifully, desperately. The resounding use of her nickname echoed deep within her ears and clouded her thoughts. His voice was graveled and rough, and the vibrations from his own low groans nearly sent her over the edge right then. Then, he pulled away. Laila's eyes blinked for many seconds as she adjusted to the darkness of the night, searching for the man above her. Miles Quaritch supported himself on his elbows so as not to crush her much smaller form. She could see the shadow of his looming figure, and she could only just make out the expression upon his handsome face. He was smiling.

"Pretty girl," he said again. "What in the world did I do to deserve this?"

"Being funny helps," she teased, a coy smirk playing on her plump lips as her fingers toyed with the hem of his green uniform skivvy.

Miles chuckled and shook his head. "God, I love that smart mouth of yours." He leaned down and Laila tried to meet him, but the hand that cupped her face kept her firmly planted to the spot. To her surprise, Miles did not return to their previous fervent kiss. Instead, he placed his rough lips against her cheek, just below her bottom lashes. The touch was soft, tender, almost sweet even. He placed another kiss against the hollow of her cheek, then her jaw, and finally to her neck. The man that held her was strong and fierce; a battle-marked soldier with years of experience. And yet, the gentle way in which he held her within his muscled arms, his cracked lips caressing her skin as if she was made of porcelain, it all made her dizzy to the head and left her wanting more.

"Time to wake up, Sarge." A bundle of uniform pants smacked against Laila's face very suddenly. The woman gasped in fright and shot up in her bed, nearly smacking the top bunk with her forehead in the process. "Woah, sorry 'bout that."

Laila's brown gaze searched the dull room as her mind worked to piece together where she was. Once her gaze landed upon the half-dressed form of Corporal Ski, the memories of where she was came flooding back. She wasn't lying under a sky full of Nigerian stars. She was in her shared room in the women's barracks at Central Command; a large military base in the center of the Plains of the Goliath region on Pandora. Laila flopped back onto her stiff mattress with a gloomy groan and she hooked her elbow over her eyes, blocking out the dull flicker of the overhead lights.

"It's too early," the woman grumbled. "We don't have to be at the gate 'till seven."

"Brief at o' five, remember?" That's right, Laila thought. She had completely forgotten about the brief with the Commander.

It had been seven years since she had left Earth and two of those years she had called Pandora her home. A home in which every day could be her last. Her current job did not make life any safer. Laila and her comrades were some of few hand-selected to guard the fences of Central Command. Seeing as how taxing and dangerous defending against foreign attacks was, they also happened to be the first soldiers to join the Avatar Program.

Avatar; the term coined by scientists for the alien-human hybrids they had created. After combining the DNA of a human with that of the native Na'vi of Pandora, one could have their very own Avatar. After spending five billion dollars and waiting a short five years for incubation, of course. In the early stages of colonization, a handful of scientists led by Dr. Grace Augustine created the Avatar Program and became the first Avatar Drivers. Guarded by soldiers, the scientist led expeditions into the unknown of the planet, eager to learn of the new world and its inhabitants. However, most of these expeditions ended in tragedy. The soldiers struggled to acclimate as their small, fragile bodies fought against the pressure difference within the atmosphere, and the masks upon their faces that converted the air to breathable oxygen only served to obscure their vision. There were many casualties in the early days.

Thankfully, there had been advances in the technology on Pandora as of recent, which had greatly improved the survival of all who worked to thrive upon the planet. One of these advances was creating Avatars for the soldiers. When Laila first arrived, only twelve soldiers were authorized to become Avatar Drivers. Now there are over sixty, and many more would arrive in the years to come.

Laila's Avatar had been created while still on Earth, the same as all the others. Back then, her alien body had been nothing more than a fetus with a test tube to call its mother. In the five years it took to arrive at Pandora, her Avatar had grown and matured into a beautiful, nine foot tall Na'vi. Most days were spent in this new body as she guarded the outside fences or protected the scientist during their ventures beyond the Compound.

"You're going to make us late," Ski told her. Laila shifted her arm so as to shoot a glare in the other woman's direction. Corporal Nishell Wazowski only grinned back. The tanned-skinned woman continued to brush back her hair, fighting the mass of light brown curls into an acceptable bun. Already the young woman had on her pants and boots, her round face lively and as bright as the morning sun as she began to hum quietly to herself. Laila envied her ability to remain chipper when it was still so early. The blonde was not known for being a morning person. With a disgruntled grunt, Laila forced herself out of bed and she began to dress with great effort.

As she slipped on her shirt, she couldn't help but be reminded of her dream in which it had been ripped from her body. The feeling of blister-scarred hands lingered on her skin, though the cool morning air was quickly washing away the memory. It had all been so vivid - too real to only be a dream, although she knew it was merely that. It was reminiscent of the last night she spent with Miles Quaritch.

Despite the interaction having taken place so many years ago, Laila remembered it like it had happened only the night before. She knew she shouldn't have visited Miles on her last evening on Earth. She knew she should have simply left the past in the past, but her feelings had gotten the best of her.

She had only meant to share a few words between old friends. Now she couldn't keep her mind off of him. The dreams had been more persistent when first arriving at Pandora. As the years passed, however, she thought of the older Colonel less and less, though she could never completely forget him. He was like a ghost that lingered in the back of her mind, never truly gone, always waiting to be remembered. He was not her first love, or even her first sexual encounter, and yet he always seemed to outshine any other. It was growing annoying, to say the least.

Laila huffed inwardly as she threw her hair back into a rather sloppy bun. Seeing as she would most likely spend the remainder of the day in her Avatar, she saw no point in putting effort into her appearance. As long as she was presentable enough to not get written up, the rushed look was fine by her. Once she was fully dressed and thoroughly annoyed by Ski's pestering, the two women left the barracks and met with two male soldiers, who waited somewhat patiently outside their building.

"Don't say a word," Laila warned the men, who snickered openly at the sight of their exhausted Sergeant.

The four walked to the next building over, heading straight for the small office to the immediate right of the front doors. Inside waited Commander William Patrick, who greeted the soldiers with a bright smile and a "good morning!" from across his desk. Commander Patrick was, in Laila's words, eccentric. With large, baby blue eyes on a rosy face of freckles and light blonde hair, he might have passed for some innocent teenager if not for the noticeable wrinkles lining his forehead and around his always smiling lips.

Laila straightened her poster and pinned her arms to her sides. "Good morning, Sir," she greeted and her soldiers did the same. At his dismissal, Laila relaxed her pose and took one of the two seats positioned within the small room. The rest of her crew remained behind her, standing at rest.

"Do you know what this brief is about?" the Commander asked her instantly, always straight to the point.

"Somewhat, Sir. I was told there was a change in our duty station."

"Not exactly. Your orders have been changed."

Laila raised a brow at that. "Are we in trouble, Sir?"

"Quite the contrary! You four have been selected for a trial mission we're calling Operation Na'vi Reconnaissance, or ONR. You remember our little incident with the natives a few weeks ago, yes?"

"You mean the shooting at the school?"

How could she forget? It had taken years to gain trust between the nearby Na'vi clan known as the Omatikaya. The Omatikaya were the first clan the humans had made contact with and the first to establish peaceful negotiations. Dr. Augustine had been the one to found the schoolhouse in a means of teaching the natives to speak English and better strengthen diplomatic ties. Laila was unsure how it all happened - much of what had taken place that day was quickly placed under wraps, hidden from most of the civilians of Central Command. Laila had only heard the rumors, which stated that an altercation had taken place between some trigger-happy soldiers and a group of young students, resulting in multiple Omatikaya deaths.

Commander Patrick flattened his lips, a sinister glint flashing across his otherwise doe-like eyes. "A regrettable incident, admittedly. Unfortunately, the situation has caused some... tension to arise between us and the clan. They have refused all entry into their territory and have met our advances with aggression. As you may know, we cannot condone this resistance. They are still a potential enemy, and they cannot be allowed to operate without our supervision. As such, we are launching ONR as a means of keeping an eye on them."

"You want us to spy on them?"

The Commander tapped the tips of his fingers together. "In layman's terms, yes. You'll be relocated to a safe zone in the Hallelujah Mountains where you will base this operation from. Your mission is to get as close to the clan as possible and gather whatever information you can without raising suspicion or causing any more unnecessary altercations. Of course, there will be a raise in hazard pay and an extension to your contract." He leaned forward, bracing himself against the table with his elbows. "Do you accept?" Although his pleasant smile never faltered, Laila felt the noticeable shift in the room. Her team's acceptance was not in question, but rather expected.

She gave a single nod. "Of course, Sir."

"Fantastic! We'll begin the transfer immediately. For the time being, I think you all need some well-deserved time off. I'll give you three days before your new orders pick up."

With that said, Laila and her team were dismissed. They gathered what paperwork they would need to finalize before the transfer, then took their leave. The sky outside remained dark. Laila's experienced ears picked up on the distant calls of the nocturnal creatures who continued to stalk the forest, and would for at least another two hours yet. Two of the three moons hung in the sky of starlight, casting a dull glow upon Central Command. Or perhaps that was due to the electricity used on base.

"I don't know about y'all," said Corporal Meyer, a six-foot seven ex-football player with a thick Southern accent, "but I am going to be sneaking beer on this trip. Anyone who wants some better stock up now, 'cuz I ain't sharing."

"You read my mind," Ski chuckled.

Laila rolled her eyes. "Just be smart about it. I don't want to get my ass chewed out because you broke a link unit."

"Oh, have some faith in us, Sarge!" Meyer laughed and elbowed her shoulder. Laila grimaced and rubbed the now sore spot. As often as he seemed to forget, Donny Meyer was a great giant of a man whose playful banter often led to bruising. Meyer and Ski continued their conversation on which was undoubtedly the better brand of beer as they made their way to chow hall for an early breakfast. Laila watched them go, unsure on whether she should follow or simply go back to bed.

She would be lying if the prospect of a new mission did not intrigue her. In fact, she had begun to grow quite bored with patrolling the fence. Any animal within a two mile radius had long since left, traveling further and further into the forest to escape the humans. Sure, there were the occasional curious creature that strayed too close to their borders, but Laila and her team had grown proficient in chasing them off. She craved the excitement of a challenge, though she was unsure if this mission was the proper way to go about it.

In her opinion, pushing the limits of the clan's patience was not the right move at the moment, especially with what happened at the school. Despite the clan having responded with mostly peace in the past, they were always wary of the humans. Laila remembered the first time she witnessed Dr. Augustine conduct negotiations with the Omatikaya. Six natives had arrived while Laila's group consisted of only Dr. Augustine, Corporal Ski, and herself. The Omatikaya outnumbered them, yet Laila saw the nervous flickering of their yellow eyes and the low swaying of their tails. They held no trust and seemed to be in a constant state of waiting. To run or to fight, Laila wasn't sure, but she made sure to keep an extra eye of caution on them for the rest of the meeting, and every meeting following. With the Na'vi being so jumpy already, Laila could only guess as to how they would react if they were to discover the humans spying on them. It could start a war.

"What do you think about this, Sarge?" As if he had read her mind, Sergeant Nathan Connell questioned her. Laila grimaced. As a Marine Sergeant, she was in no place to question the direct orders of her Commander. As a soldier alongside a fellow comrade, she wished to share her thoughts on the matter. If she were not the team's leader, she may have even voiced these concerns.

"We're not paid to think, but off the record, I'd say we better watch our asses." That was all she would say. The man from Minnesota accepted this answer with a thoughtful nod. He gave her a light pat on the shoulder, then sauntered on after the other two, leaving Laila to her thoughts.

Her mind swirled in worry over her new mission, and what the future would entail. She couldn't possibly go back to sleep now, she had far too much on her mind. The woman sighed and placed a hand against the back of her neck, trying to massage the stressed stiffness from her muscles to no avail. Her eyes flickered towards the two moons, which had already begun to fade into the darkness in preparation for the sun's wake. The woman sighed softly to herself. Despite her worry and morning exhaustion, the hint of a smile appeared. She pressed two fingertips to her lips in a kiss, then turned her fingers to face the moons and whispered, "goodnight," the gentle word quickly disappearing into the breeze. After that, Laila decided on breakfast after all.