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JAKE:

With your permission, I will Speak now.

You would honor me by translating.

Tsu'tey gestures assent, and they face the clan together.

JAKE SPEAKS, the pain of Grace's death in the passion and

fury of his voice. Tsu'tey TRANSLATES beside him.

JAKE:

The Sky People have sent a message that

they can take whatever they want, and no

one can stop them. But we will send them

a message. Ride out, as fast as the wind

can carry you, tell the other clans to

come. Tell them Toruk Macto calls to

them. Fly now with me brothers and

sisters! Fly! And we will show the Sky

People that this is our land!

TSU'TEY finishes with a bloodcurdling war-cry, and the entire

CLAN responds, their shouts echoing across the forest.

JAKE takes Neytiri's hand and runs to the leonopteryx. He

vaults onto its back and pulls her up behind him.

THE HUNTERS run to their banshees, mounting quickly. Jake's

leonopteryx rises on mighty wings into the night sky. With a

thunder of wings, the banshees take off after it.

LONG LENS -- POLYPHEMUS. Across its face, the banshees rise

like a swarm of bats. Groups of riders peel off in different

directions.

CUT TO:

123.

EXT. CLAN GATHERING - NIGHT

JAKE and NEYTIRI stand before the gathered members of ANOTHER

CLAN. Jake speaks as she translates. We don't hear the

words.

TRACK ACROSS the faces of the clan, a sea of eyes in

flickering fire-light.

JAKE (V.O.)

We rode out to the four winds. To the

horse clans of the plain, to the ikran

people of the mountains. When Toruk

Macto called them, they came.

VARIOUS ANGLES -- SLOW MOTION as riders vault onto their

armored direhorses. Banshee riders raise spears and bows,

spurring their mounts to leap skyward.

CUT TO:

EXT. WELL OF SOULS - DAWN

With a WHOOSH and the crack of mighty wings, JAKE RETURNS.

Jake and Neytiri alight from his legendary mount.

Around them HUNDREDS OF BANSHEES are landing. A gathering of

eagles.

FROM ABOVE we can see hundreds of Na'vi streaming down into

the Well of Souls and many hundreds more camped in the forest

above it.

DIREHORSE RIDERS are arriving along many trails.

BANSHEE RIDERS circle and swoop, darkening the sky above the

grotto.

JAKE, standing next to the Leonopteryx, watches his army

gathering.

CUT TO:

INT. COMMISSARY - DAY

It's standing room only as all base personnel are crowded

into the dining hall. A portable 3D GRAPHICS PROJECTOR has

been set up, and the lights are down. QUARITCH stands in

front of the display image -- a classic pre-mission briefing.

QUARITCH:

People, you are fighting for survival.

There's an aboriginal horde out there

massing for an attack. First slide.

124.

The display shows an overhead image of the Well of Souls. It

looks like Woodstock in the jungle.

QUARITCH:

These orbital images show the hostiles'

numbers have gone from a couple of

hundred to over two thousand in one day,

and more are pouring in. By next week it

could be twenty thousand. Then they'll be

overrunning our perimeter here. We can't

wait. Our only security lies in pre-

emptive attack. We will fight terror

with terror.

TRACKING ACROSS the grim faces of the miners and troopers.

Fear transforming to hatred in their eyes.

QUARITCH:

Next slide. This mountain stronghold is

supposedly protected by their deity.

When we destroy it, we will blast a

crater in their racial memory so deep

they won't come within a thousand klicks

of this place.

CUT TO:

INT. ARMOR BAY - DAY

TROOPERS issue automatic weapons and magazines to a long line

of mine workers. The miners lock and load like the red-

blooded redneck NRA supporters they are.

BLASTING TECHS are setting radio-detonated primer charges

into two-ton stacks of EXPLOSIVE COMPOUND. The stacks are

band-strapped together on pallets.

TRACKING WITH SELFRIDGE, staring around him in growing dismay

as he walks through the full-scale mobilization.

He approaches Quaritch, who is barking orders amid a hive of

activity around the ampsuits.

SELFRIDGE:

This thing is completely out of control!

Quaritch ignores him, turning away to focus on ordnance

loading.

SELFRIDGE:

Listen to me! I am not authorizing you to

turn the mine-workers local into a

freakin' militia!

125.

QUARITCH:

I declared threat condition red. That

puts all on-world assets under my

command.

SELFRIDGE:

You think you can pull this palace coup

sh*t on me?! I can have your ass with

one call --

Quaritch grabs him and PINS him against the side of an

ampsuit.

QUARITCH:

You're a long way from Earth.

Selfridge is paralyzed. Physical force -- against him?

Quaritch releases him and walks away.

QUARITCH:

(to his men)

Get him out of here.

Several troopers converge on Selfridge.

SELFRIDGE:

You touch me you're so fired.

He pushes through them and they escort him toward the door.

CUT TO:

INT. SHACK - DAY

HUMAN JAKE, NORM and TRUDY are gathered around the comms

monitor, talking to MAX.

MAX:

I don't know how secure this channel is.

JAKE:

Talk fast.

MAX:

It's crazy here, Jake. It's full

mobilization. They're rigging the

shuttles as bombers. They've made up

these big pallets of mine explosives.

It's for some kind of shock and awe

campaign.

TRUDY:

Frickin' daisycutters.

126.

NORM:

Holy sh*t.

JAKE:

(to Max)

Can you talk to Selfridge? Maybe we can

cut some kinda deal before this thing

goes all the way.

MAX:

No, Quaritch has taken over. He's

rolling and there's no stopping him.

JAKE:

When?

MAX:

Oh six hundred tomorrow.

Jake takes that in.

JAKE:

Thanks.

Max signs off.

NORM:

We're screwed.

TRUDY:

You know he's gonna commit those bombers

straight to the Well of Souls.

JAKE:

That's right. Because I gave it to him

on a plate.

TRUDY:

We both did.

NORM:

If he takes out the Well of Souls -- it's

over. It's their main line to Eywa, to

their ancestors -- it'll destroy them.

JAKE:

Then I guess we better stop him.

Jake looks like he's about to collapse. He's gaunt, eyes

deeply shadowed, hands shaking.

TRUDY:

You need to get some rack.

127.

He grabs a packet of freeze-dried crystals and pours them

directly into his mouth, chewing them up.

JAKE:

Gonna have to settle for coffee.

CUT TO:

EXT. BATTLE CAMP - DUSK

TRACKING through the warrior camp above the Well of Souls.

Hundreds of hunters from many clans prepare their weapons.

Hunters paint the wings of their banshees like war ponies.

DIREHORSES are painted and ornamented with totemic streamers.

The Na'vi paint and pierce themselves. Dance. Bathe in the

smoke of cleansing herbs -- RITUAL PURIFICATION. HUGE DRUMS

are beaten. A dark primeval energy. They are psyching

themselves up for battle.

JAKE (V.O.)

I was a warrior who dreamed he could

bring peace. But there was only one

thing I was ever really good at. Ooh-rah.

TIME CUT -- Jake, Neytiri a group of banshee riders squat

around an animal skin on which he has drawn the silhouette of

a Scorpion gunship -- like a hunt totem.

JAKE:

(Na'vi/subtitled)

Strike here and here.

Jake splats red dye at the centers of the circles symbolizing

the rotors. The Na'vi absorb the lesson eagerly, like kids.

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