Shooting Stars | Lo'ak¹

Chapter 33: War Cries pt. 3

His voice made its way into the girls' ears, "Can you hear me, Corporal?" He said, and Ja'lia's head snapped to look up at the Avatar.

"Yeah, yeah. I think you can," the Colonel taunted, causing Ja'lia to furrow her eyebrows at the man.

What the hell was he playing at? Why was he being so smug when talking to Jake? Did something happen? Did someone get hurt?

"I've got your daughters." Quartich informed before adding on, "Same deal as before. You for them."

Ja'lia shook her head and tried to yell out to Jake to not do it, but one of the Colonel's men came over and placed his gun in her face to shut her up. The girl glared up at the man, and she felt the strong urge to free her hands, but now wasn't the time.

She had to figure out what game Quartich was playing. Why was he suddenly speaking to Jake now? Why not earlier? Something had to of happened otherwise he most likely would have threatened one of the girls, or waited for Jake and Neytiri to make a move.

A moment of silence fell over them as Jake had yet to respond to the Colonel's request, and suddenly more Avatars started to disperse around the ship at Quartich's order as the man walked over to the railing on the other side of the ship.

"Talk to me, Corporal," He said, clicking the button on his neck. "I need something, Jake. Or there's going to be consequences," Quartich threatened.

"Yeah, I hear you," Jake's voice sounded through the device, causing Kiri and Ja'lia to share a glance.

It got dark quickly, and Ja'lia watched as eclipse had finally set. Worry and fear started to build in her stomach as she didn't have a good feeling about the impending battle that was to come. She didn't know what it was, but Jake's voice didn't sound right to her.

There was an underlying tone of an indescribable emotion in his voice that she had never heard before.

"Hold fire!" The Colonel ordered, holding his hand up into a fist. Quartich turned around to look at his men. "He's coming. Let's get this guy!" He said, and Ja'lia looked at all of them men to see they were distracted by the arrival of Jake.

If she wanted to get loose from the cuffs, she would have to do it sometime soon.

"It's what we came here for!" Quartich spoke, causing Ja'lia to snarl at the flashbacks of what happened to her parents the moment those demons returned to her home. They all watched as the men who were gathered around the Colonel ran to their posts. "Heads on the swivel, guys." A man said.

The tension in the air covered Ja'lia like a warm, suffocating blanket that she couldn't get out from underneath. Her skin crawled as she waited for the time when she would be able to break free. Ja'lia wanted to end this fight once and for all, and she could feel that her time was coming.

"Talk to me, Corporal," Quartich said, placing a finger on his neck and holding his assault rifle simultaneously. "This ship's going down, and it's taking your girls with it."

However, when the man said his next sentence, Ja'lia's heart stopped beating, she stopped breathing, and her entire world came crashing down. "Your boy didn't have to die."

Lo'ak.

No.

Lo'ak can't be hurt. Please, not Lo'ak.

But then the Neteyam flashed in her mind.

Please, Great Mother. Ja'lia thought to herself as a prayer repeated itself in her mind.

Either way, it felt like her heart was going to rip into a million pieces. The love of her life, or the boy who had always acted like her older brother. She didn't want to have to say goodbye to either one of them. They were her family. They were her reason to live, and she kept going every day, even when she wanted to give up.