"Bang! Bang!"
"Boom! Boom!"
Not only 20mm autocannons, but 40mm cannons, 105mm howitzers, and even larger-caliber artillery echoed across the entire war zone.
Pandora's wildlife did indeed include many colossal beasts and fierce predators with hide tough enough to withstand rifle and machine-gun rounds.
But as long as they were carbon-based lifeforms, there was no problem that modern weaponry could not solve. Even Homelander and Soldier Boy, who could withstand nuclear and hydrogen bombs, could not escape that rule. It was only a matter of whether the yield was large enough; they all had their limits.
Only Homelander was difficult to deal with. After all, that "bootleg Superman" could fly at supersonic speeds, making him somewhat troublesome. For the time being, there was no way to eliminate him quickly without causing widespread urban destruction or massive civilian casualties.
But Pandora's colossal beasts and predators clearly did not belong in the "troublesome" category.
The beasts that had once posed a severe threat to RDA's ground forces were blown to pieces by artillery of every caliber.
Such concentrated bombardment indicated that pre-positioned ground artillery batteries existed somewhere beyond this area.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Dozens of air-to-ground missiles streaked overhead of the RDA flight formation with white exhaust trails, then scattered directly among the massive army of beasts and Na'vi.
BOOM!!!
In an instant, "lotuses" made of dirt and all manner of debris rose through the rainforest—their "petals" formed by the shockwaves and overpressure effects of the violent explosions.
The situation reversed in an instant.
???
The Na'vi, who had been cheering and celebrating moments ago, were utterly dumbfounded. Even Jake Sully, who had willingly cast off his humanity, stood frozen in place, not knowing what to do.
?!!
"Fuck yeah!"
"Hell yeah! This is awesome!"
"Woohoo! Counterattack, brothers!"
In contrast, the RDA ground forces, whose morale had nearly collapsed, erupted with renewed fervor after seeing the beast threat instantly eliminated. They rebuilt their firing network and continued suppressing the Tree of Souls and Sanctuary.
At this moment.
Inside the cockpit of the Dragon Assault Ship.
The sudden question, along with the bombardment support from long-range artillery and missiles, left the pilots and gunners somewhat stunned. They had not expected to have reinforcements.
Seeing this, Quaritch hurried to the pilot's side and looked up through the window.
Sure enough, he spotted two "black dots" circling several thousand meters overhead. At the same time, he happened to see several fighter jets streaking through the high sky as well.
"Sir." The observer, still focused on his duties, reported, "An unknown force has sent a request for video communication. Should we accept?"
Hearing this, Quaritch walked over to the observer at the rear of the cockpit, resting his left hand on the seat. He leaned down and looked closely at the holographic display.
"Of course. Putting on airs would be rather rude."
"Yes, sir."
After receiving the order, the observer performed a few operations and established the video link.
The caller displayed on the holographic screen was likewise standing inside the cabin of some kind of airborne transport. He wore black combat gear, had a full beard, and held a cigar between his teeth.
?
Though Quaritch found the other man's attire strange, he reined in his earlier arrogance and introduced himself first. "Former Marine, current chief of security for RDA's Hell's Gate base, Colonel Miles Quaritch. I greatly appreciate your fire support, which prevented our formation from collapsing.
But forgive my presumption, Major Morgan. Could you explain where your people came from? As far as I know, only RDA has been conducting mining operations on Pandora."
"You're welcome. We're all human." Arthur Morgan first responded to the man's thanks, then raised a hand and removed the cigar from his mouth before answering with a question of his own.
"As for where Atlas came from, that's a long story. So I suggest we first work together to eliminate the Na'vi threat, then sit down and have a proper talk. What do you think, Colonel Quaritch? Besides, our ground forces will be arriving soon."
"..."
Quaritch frowned deeply at those words. He knew there was a trap, but he had no choice. The other side possessed both high-altitude support and ground artillery, so he could only nod in agreement.
"You're right, Major. The Na'vi are the primary threat at present."
As he spoke, Quaritch opened the internal comms and issued an order to RDA in front of Arthur. "All personnel, this is Dragon Daddy. Friendly forces will be arriving shortly. Watch for friendly fire, watch for friendly fire."
"Team A copies."
"Team B understood."
As the order was given, commanders from every unit responded in turn.
"Thank you for your understanding. See you later, Colonel." Arthur smiled and took the initiative to end the video call.
"Sir, the other side is clearly hiding something. Shouldn't we make preparations in advance?" The observer, who had listened to the entire exchange, sounded somewhat puzzled.
"Preparations? Kid, Pandora's oxygen concentration isn't all that different from Earth's. It just contains a fair amount of gases toxic to humans." As Quaritch spoke, he pointed upward.
"That means they only need minor adjustments to use fighters and attack aircraft suited to Pandora's atmosphere.
"And they have indeed deployed such military units. They also detected the magnetic interference in the war zone and chose to bombard us from afar to avoid their fire-control systems failing. So tell me, what do you think we are in their eyes?"
"Live targets... sir."
"We're in a terrible situation, kid. So we can only act the way they expect us to."
After saying that, Quaritch, his expression grim to the extreme, spotted another helicopter formation through the window.
Leaving the Dragon Assault Ship.
High above the war zone, another flight formation composed mainly of large transport helicopters was rapidly approaching from the northeast.
The transport helicopters resembled V-22 Ospreys in many ways, but were roughly three times larger overall and had an additional pair of tilting wings and engines.
The RDA personnel did not recognize them, but Atlas was intimately familiar with them. They were the United Defense Force's standard transport aircraft—BBQT-V-44 quad-tiltrotor transports, also known as Red Hawks.
In Universe 01, the United Defense Force used Red Hawks to transport Exoskeleton troops.
There were also BBRH-66 "Peregrine Falcon" attack helicopters, a hybrid of the Comanche and Apache, escorting the entire flight formation.
However, the prominent red "Λ" insignia painted on their fuselages showed that these former UDF military vehicles now belonged to Atlas.
In the blink of an eye, the flight formation reached the RDA ground forces' position, then descended and hovered.
After the Red Hawks opened their belly hatches, nearly a thousand ARS infantrymen equipped with UDF-model Exoskeletons—bulky-looking machines—rapidly completed their rappelling insertion via steel cables in one smooth motion.
At the same time, RDA's Valkyries began launching airstrikes against the Na'vi Sanctuary.
(End of Chapter)
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