Chapter 667: The Predator Ship
It presented a matte metallic texture. The spindle-shaped hull was defined by fierce, aggressive lines, covered in geometric patterns that exuded raw power and unidentified protruding structures, a stylistic departure completely alien to any human or Na'vi creation.
The ship was approximately fifteen meters long, resting like a slumbering metallic leviathan. Sections of its hull were ingeniously embedded into the rock face, clearly utilizing a natural depression for concealment.
Exactly as Maine had described during his reconnaissance, a hatch at the aft of the ship was visibly open. Cold, unnatural light spilled from within, and the low-frequency humming sound emanated directly from the hull.
"My God..." A Hellfire soldier who had followed them inside couldn't help but gasp in awe. He had never been in such close proximity to a creation from an extraterrestrial civilization.
Ryo's gaze bypassed everyone else, locking directly onto the open hatch.
He stepped forward, but Maine extended an arm to stop him.
"Sir, allow us to conduct a security sweep first."
Ryo nodded, not pressing the issue.
Maine, Dorio, and the two Hellfire operators immediately formed a tactical stack and approached the ship with extreme caution.
Utilizing the cover near the entrance, they swiftly swept the interior of the hatch with their weapon-mounted tactical lights.
"No visible threats detected."
"Atmospheric composition is... complex, but non-toxic. High levels of residual energy."
Only after confirming preliminary security did Maine signal Ryo with a "clear to enter" gesture.
Ryo walked up to the hatch and paused.
He noticed distinct thermal scarring along the edges of the hatch, as if it had been forced open from the inside via high-temperature cutting or explosive means. Yet the scoring was very "fresh," contrasting sharply with the weathered, battle-scarred texture of the rest of the hull.
"It wasn't opened through standard protocols..." Ryo muttered to himself. The memory fragments belonging to Celtic surged in his mind once again.
He closed his eyes, attempting to overlay those fragments onto the physical reality before him.
A few seconds later, he opened his eyes, a glint of comprehension flashing within them.
He turned back to Maine: "The hatch was forcibly blown open by a final directive or signal initiated by Celtic at the exact moment we killed him. It is a... pre-programmed contingency protocol."
This conclusion sent a chill through the squad.
It meant that Predator technology was not only highly advanced but deeply intertwined with a completely alien cultural or security logic.
"I need to conduct a deeper diagnostic," Ryo said, taking the lead and stepping into the interior of the spacecraft.
Maine and Dorio immediately flanked him on the left and right. Asuka hesitated for a moment before curiously following them inside, leaving the remaining personnel outside to maintain the perimeter and secure the cave entrance.
The Terminal
The interior of the ship was far more compact than anticipated, cramped with incomprehensible control interfaces and screens displaying bizarre symbols.
The air smelled of cold machine oil mixed with some sort of biological pheromone.
Ignoring the complex primary flight consoles, Ryo walked directly toward a main control terminal situated near the front of the cabin. It featured a bizarrely shaped interface that appeared to require specific biometric inputs to activate.
He did not attempt to manipulate it physically. Instead, he placed his hand gently upon a seemingly ordinary metallic panel adjacent to the main terminal.
Like invisible tendrils, his psychic power slowly seeped into the console, attempting to establish a connection with the ship's base-level, potentially unlocked log recording systems.
He needed to verify his hypothesis and uncover what other consequences that final death knell had wrought.
Inside the ship, the low hum of the machinery and Ryo's steady breathing echoed in the confined space.
Maine and Dorio stood guard just inside the hatch, their eyes locked vigilantly on both the interior and exterior environments.
Asuka curiously examined the alien-styled decor and equipment around her, though she wisely refrained from touching anything.
Ryo's eyes remained closed, his entire focus poured into the invisible, psychically constructed link.
Celtic's memory fragments acted like a cryptographic key, helping him bypass certain foundational biometric authentication firewalls and access the core data streams of the ship's navigation logs and recent event records.
A massive influx of information, stored via a bizarre encoding methodology, flooded into his perception.
He filtered the data rapidly, discarding routine telemetry such as interstellar navigation routes and energy readouts, and focused entirely on the logs recorded immediately before and after Celtic's life signs terminated.
Images unfurled before his "eyes"—not visual input, but perception reconstructed from raw data.
He "saw" Celtic, the young Predator, stalking through the jungles of Pandora, engaged in a perilous dance with the Toruk, testing his weaponry, and... coldly observing the conflict between the Na'vi and the RDA, evaluating both factions as potential honorable prey.
The perspective of the memories was entirely devoid of emotion, filled only with the cold, calculating evaluation of a hunter.
Then, the critical timestamp arrived.
The logs indicated that the instant Celtic's biometric monitoring system detected fatal trauma and a rapid loss of consciousness, a pre-programmed, ultra-high-priority contingency protocol was automatically triggered.
The first phase affected the ship's internal systems.
An encrypted command was transmitted to the docked vessel, forcibly disabling primary security locks and initiating the emergency blow-out sequence for the aft hatch.
A marginalized annotation in the log explained the cultural significance of this action: The Hunt concludes; the Vault opens.
It was a tradition within Predator culture. When a warrior realized survival was impossible, they would open their vessel to any "successors" capable of claiming their gear. It was an unconventional acknowledgement of a superior opponent, or perhaps... a final trial.
Seeing this, Ryo's first hypothesis was validated.
The hatch had indeed opened automatically upon Celtic's death.
However, the contingency protocol did not end there.
Almost simultaneously with the hatch-release command, a second, far more concealed, highly encrypted signal was activated and transmitted.
This signal was not directed at the ship; it punched straight through Pandora's atmosphere and shot into deep space, targeting a distant coordinate that, according to the star charts, belonged to the Predator homeworld or a major colony.
Ryo focused his "gaze" entirely on this signal.
His psychic perception pierced the outer layers of encryption, touching its core payload.
It was not a lengthy narrative, but a highly compressed data packet steeped in specific cultural imagery:
Hunter Celtic, Young Blood of the Blood Blade Clan, has fallen upon this alien world [Pandora, coordinates attached].
Fatal wound delivered by unknown weaponry; not the work of an Honorable Beast [referencing the Toruk and other apex native fauna].
Verdict: Felled by a cowardly ambush. Honor desecrated.
Request: The honor of the Clan must be washed in blood. Vengeance Hunt initiated.
Appended to the end of the signal was a heavily processed, extremely brief snippet of combat telemetry, specifically highlighting the energy signatures of the weapons used to kill Celtic, along with a rough topological scan of the surrounding environment.
Signal transmission status: Delivery Confirmed.