By this point, the blooded warrior found himself in a dire predicament. The electronic jamming severely compromised his targeting vectors and cloaking field, the dense suppression fire from Maine and Dorio prevented him from stabilizing his shots, and Valerie's Ironclad mech was closing the distance with heavy, deliberate strides, its massive mechanical manipulators reaching out to seize him.
Realizing his compatriots had been subdued and that escape for himself was rapidly becoming impossible, the blooded warrior let out a furious roar. He abruptly shifted strategies—no longer attempting to engage the Ironclad, he snapped his shoulder cannon around, tracking toward the Na'vi hunters assisting with the perimeter lockdown nearby!
"Stop him!" Maine bellowed, instantly deducing the intent.
An ice-blue beam cut through the air faster than Maine's voice. It came from Jack, concealed high above on a fungal platform; piloting the second Ironclad, he scored a precise hit on the blooded warrior's shoulder cannon with an impact round, throwing its alignment slightly offline. The plasma beam grazed the crown of a Na'vi hunter's head, obliterating a colossal mushroom cluster further back into atomic dust.
Seizing this window, the massive mechanical hand of Valerie's Ironclad mech finally clamped down securely on the blooded warrior. The immense hydraulic pressure pinned him entirely, preventing movement before a high-dose sedative payload was injected directly into the seals of his armor plates.
The engagement concluded in mere minutes.
Two Predator young bloods and one blooded warrior had been successfully captured, plunged into deep unconsciousness. Maine's squad moved in rapidly, securing the three captives with energy-suppression binders and specialized containment bags, followed by a continuous-release sedative line.
From the outer perimeter, Seze and her Na'vi hunters had witnessed the entire sequence. Watching Maine's crew neutralize an enemy that had inflicted staggering casualties upon them with total efficiency and near-zero injuries, their hearts filled with profound shock and conflicted emotions. There was relief and gratitude, but also an underlying sense of unquantifiable awe.
"Targets secured, mission complete," Maine reported to Osiris. "No casualties on our side, zero losses among the Na'vi support detachment. Captives are stable and en route to the temporary containment block."
"Excellent," Osiris's response returned. "Bring back the specimens. Maintain absolute operational security. Let the Na'vi recognize that cooperation yields value, but make sure they understand the Predator threat is far from over."
The three Predators were covertly transported to a heavily modified, lower-deck isolation block aboard the Pioneer, lined with energy-suppression stasis fields. Apothecary Gaius and Tech-Sergeant Cassius immediately initiated preliminary examinations and biological sampling protocols. Luminescent green blood, dermal scrapings rich with distinct pheromonal compounds, and active cellular tissue were meticulously extracted, categorized, and cryo-stored. Every sequence adhered strictly to maximum bio-safety parameters.
Osiris gazed through the viewport of the isolation cells at the Predators locked in forced stasis, a clinical gleam of scientific inquiry reflecting in his eyes. "Flawless biological specimens—anchoring the hidden architecture of longevity. Ensure they remain viable, Gaius. Their value completely transcends your imagination."
"Vital signs are stable, but their metabolic signatures are exceptionally high. They burn through the sedatives rapidly, requiring constant monitoring and automated dosage adjustments," Gaius replied, logging the data matrices. "Preliminary genetic sequencing indicates abnormally stable telomere structures. Their cellular division limits far outstrip baseline human parameters, even eclipsing an Adeptus Astartes Battle-Brother. This Yautja Prime lineage is truly remarkable."
Concurrently, the intelligence that Maine's squad had successfully captured three Predators circulated within restricted channels. Upon receiving confirmation, Seze and Clan Leader Eytukan breathed a massive sigh of relief, their trust and psychological reliance on the Seekers elevating significantly. They genuinely believed that with this formidable, cooperative external alliance, the Na'vi had finally secured a beacon of survival.
However, the deliberate ripples of Osiris's "limited" support model began to materialize.
Despite losing a patrol cell (which the Predator mothership merely logged as "comms blackout," projecting they had met an honorable demise), the Predator Elder's wrath did not subside. Instead, it burned more intensely due to this unquantifiable loss. He deduced the Na'vi had acquired more effective support, yet this intervention had clearly failed to halt their hunts globally.
The Predator incursions persisted.
They systematically avoided sectors displaying overt signs of Seeker activity, pivoting to aggressively raid the RDA's supply corridors and peripheral outposts with heightened frequency, while simultaneously descending upon the Na'vi's smaller, poorly defended settlements and wilderness tracking parties.
On the corporate front, Colonel Quaritch was deeply unsettled by the intelligence indicating the Seekers were covertly coordinating with the Na'vi, but he was currently overwhelmed by his own crises. The phantom-like strikes executed by the Predators kept his personnel operating at a breaking point, fracturing morale. He had attempted to coordinate several targeted counter-insurgency sweeps, but the yield was profoundly marginal, resulting in the further loss of several AMP suits and security staff. The Predator threat acted like a grinding file, systematically wearing down the RDA's resources and operational patience.
As for the Na'vi, while principal clans like the Omaticaya experienced marginally reduced pressure due to intermittent support from Maine's squad, grim reports flooded in from alternative sectors without pause. A minor foraging encampment put to the sword, a logistics convoy ambushed—the Predator Elder and his core blooded inner circle continued to drift like specters through Pandora's canopy, identifying prey and tracking opportunities for absolute vengeance.
During his convalescence, Tsu'tey learned the fine details of how Maine's squad had captured the Predators from his scouts, leaving him deeply conflicted. He felt gratitude for the Seekers' intervention, yet he harbored profound doubts regarding this "capture-only" protocol that clearly hinted at alternative motives.
"Why do they not simply liquidate those monstrosities? What are they waiting for?" he voiced his confusion privately to Seze.
Seze lacked the capacity to fully resolve his doubts. She could only offer baseline reassurance: "Regardless of their reasons, they aided us. Without them, our casualties would be catastrophic by now. Perhaps... they operate on a grander design."
Through his network of monitoring feeds, Osiris observed the evolving parameters of the conflict with complete detachment. The RDA and the Na'vi remained tightly constrained by the Predators, both factions bleeding continuously. Meanwhile, securely insulated within the eye of this chaotic maelstrom, he systematically harvested the most priceless spoils of war.
"Three... is nowhere near sufficient," Osiris murmured to himself, studying the diagnostic readouts of the isolation block. "I require a broader specimen pool—varying age brackets, diverse ranks... especially that Elder."
He recognized that executing a live capture on a Predator Elder would be exponentially difficult, requiring the commitment of the heavier military assets at his disposal, but the timing was not yet optimal.
Turning to Cassius, he directed, "Analyze the cloaking technology and weapons arrays recovered from the captives. Ascertain if they can be reverse-engineered, or at least identify more definitive electronic countermeasures. For the next deployment, I want the capture cycle executed with greater efficiency. Target profile: a coordinated cell of two blooded warriors."
"Understood, Commander," Cassius replied with a concise bow.
Under Osiris's precise calibration, the theater of Pandora maintained a fragile, bloody equilibrium. The Predator threat persisted like background radiation—an unceasing structural pressure forcing both the RDA and the Na'vi to continuously hemorrhage assets.