Recombinant Bridgehead

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To bury his head in his hands was how Serrano decided to deal with the chaos thrown on his plate. Amongst the damage reports, images, statistics and beeping messages were piles and piles of problems scattered across his desk, all for the sovereign of the city to magically resolve. Instead, he ran his hand down from his head to his chin to his neck to then readjust his tie.

"The situation is now under control, sir."

The leer he cast Ardmore had never been so hostile. "Oh, sure... It's all straight sailing from here." He pounded his desk. "How am I going to survive this?!"

"You allowed the city to think the recombinants were behind this. And I already told you they weren't." The air clinging to Serrano would have broken away as steam if he were left to fume for a few seconds longer. "The recombinants were out on a mission, Governor. They couldn't have had any involvement."

"And how do a bunch of primates learn how to drive a vehicle and use automatic machine guns?!" his question climaxed into a riled scream.

Ardmore had no theories.

"Someone trained those Na'vi!—that's what the citizens will be saying! You may be military smart, General, but I know politics. And the bottom line is—we need a scapegoat."

The arms behind her back fell to her sides. "You mean, you don't believe they were actually involved?"

"What difference does it make if they were or not? We allowed a band of unsupervised Na'vi to access deadly assault weapons. Do you want to take the heat for that?"

"They're awfully expensive scapegoats, Governor. I thought you were against that?"

"My neck is worth it. Listen, General, we both answer to the investors. You and I have a common interest in keeping them happy. Now, the recoms were always a wild card—Pandora Effect and all that. We sell them the idea they were a hundred percent to blame for all of this, and we don't get shipped back to Earth."

She had to think about it; his plan had potential. "What do you want me to tell them?"

"Give all the evidence you can that points to their involvement. Say they were already showing signs of sympathizing with the enemy, just like Sully was." He noticed her reflective frown. "What is it?"

The taciturn woman returned from her thoughts. "During the recombinants' raid on the village, one of them rescued a Na'vi mother."

"Good. Good!"

"As for Quaritch—I was told he had the option to kill Sully and didn't. Left the traitor completely unharmed."

Serrano clapped his hands and rejoiced. "That's perfect! We can use that as proof!"

The general didn't say anything, for she never wanted to be accused of thinking the man intelligent.

"Anything else?"

"There is one issue. For some reason, the recombinants went AWOL after returning from their mission. I've no intel on their current whereabouts."

"That's because I gave the order to have them rounded up and sent to Hades to await termination."

Ardmore went very pale. "You signed off on their execution?"

"We can't afford them talking."

"And what of the captive they returned with?"

"What captive?"

Ardmore bunched her lips, then threw her palms on his brown desk. "The girl they were sent out to capture! The one the investors wanted!"