Approximately two kilometers east of the Hell's Gate base, a relatively flat forest clearing near a small bioluminescent river was designated as the site for the exploration team's outpost.
RDA engineering vehicles began operations the day after the agreement was signed, clearing vegetation, leveling the ground, and laying basic power lines and water interfaces. The entire process took place under the watchful gaze of the RDA surveillance towers.
The Pathfinder mobile base was parked in the center of the site, serving as the temporary command center. More equipment and supplies were secretly teleported from the Dead World base via small-scale shuttle transfers—mostly construction materials, prefabricated components, and some less conspicuous research equipment.
The work of establishing the outpost was primarily handled by Mann's squad and several technical servitors. Osiris (his second avatar) spent most of his time inside the Pathfinder, monitoring progress through data feeds and real-time imagery while maintaining a consciousness link with his main body to report status updates.
The three EVA pilots were ordered to remain within the outpost's perimeter to avoid excessive contact with RDA personnel.
Asuka was somewhat bored by the restricted range of movement. She watched the RDA engineering machinery at work and curled her lip. "Tch, acting all mysterious. It's just a bunch of scrap metal; what's so interesting about it?" Despite her words, her eyes couldn't help but stray toward Hell's Gate, showing a hint of technical curiosity regarding the AMP suits and aircraft.
Shinji was much quieter, helping Sasha organize some less critical equipment or staying in the temporary rest cabin, looking out at the strange world through the window. The cooperation with the RDA made him feel a faint sense of unease, especially when he thought of the cleared forests and the Na'vi who were hostile to humans.
Occasionally, he would see Rei Ayanami standing alone at the edge of the outpost, gazing deep into the forest, lost in thought.
Rei's behavior had indeed caught the attention of some RDA observers. She often stood still for long periods, her gaze seemingly unfocused, appearing completely out of place in the busy environment. Several times, small, inquisitive Pandoran creatures—resembling lemurs—approached her, lingering at her feet for a moment before departing.
This anomaly caught the attention of Security Chief Colonel Quaritch. He ordered increased surveillance on the red-eyed girl, suspecting she might be engaging in some form of secret contact with the Na'vi.
A few days later, several modularly designed prefabricated alloy cabins were quickly assembled, firmly connected to the main body of the Pathfinder through sealed corridors. Together, they formed a fully functional, small-scale enclosed compound with basic defensive capabilities.
The interior of the compound was rationally planned, divided into independent living quarters, workshops equipped with standard interfaces and tools, and a small but excellently equipped laboratory. A low-profile induction fence was erected around the perimeter, supplemented by several cleverly camouflaged surveillance probes, forming the outpost's first line of warning. The control of this security system was entirely in the hands of Mann's squad, physically isolated from the RDA's surveillance network to ensure the team's independence and privacy.
Inside the newly established workshop, David Martinez was assisting Pilar and Falco in the preliminary sorting and pre-processing of the first batch of mineral samples provided by the RDA. Utilizing the knowledge he had gained at the base, he operated precision scanners to identify and record the basic physical characteristics of different rock samples. Though the work was foundational, his expression was focused; it was crucial for him to understand and adapt to the team's research pace.
At the communication and monitoring node of the Pathfinder, Lucy was responsible for monitoring the operational status of the outpost's independent security system. Simultaneously, she used her exceptional netrunning skills to passively listen to the RDA's open, unencrypted communication channels, filtering for valuable information—such as logistical scheduling or non-classified patrol reports—to help the team better understand their neighbor's daily operational patterns.
Meanwhile, as an initial fulfillment of the agreement framework, Mann began the "technology exchange" process with the RDA's technical department. He provided a "simplified" blueprint for a plasma rifle. These blueprints were enough for RDA engineers to understand the basic operational principles and structure of the weapon, allowing them to attempt imitative manufacturing.
However, key technical segments—such as the material formula for the energy focuser core, the plasma stabilization containment field, and high-efficiency battery management algorithms—were either vague or labeled as "encapsulated modules," deliberately black-boxed. This ensured the RDA could not fully replicate the performance of the original weapon, and Mann had even pre-installed hidden backdoors in the low-level system code.
Nonetheless, the RDA technicians treated the blueprints like treasures, immediately organizing elite personnel to delve into research and trial production. Although they encountered expected bottlenecks in material processing and energy control (the very barriers Mann had intentionally set), the prototype rifles in preliminary tests demonstrated penetration and destruction effects far exceeding traditional ballistic weapons, which greatly satisfied Colonel Quaritch.
He had already begun planning to form a "Special Tactical Squad" to be the first to re-equip with these new weapons, aiming to more efficiently "clear" the increasingly frequent Na'vi harassments around the mining areas.
In return for the reciprocal technology exchange, the RDA provided the first batch of "mineral samples" as agreed. This batch consisted of a complex variety of common rocks and soil substrates from Pandora, with only a small amount of low-grade Unobtanium fragments mixed in—more like scraps than ore. The other party's intent to test them was obvious, as they did not provide any truly valuable, high-purity ore at the start.
Osiris had expected this and was not surprised. He issued clear instructions to the outpost laboratory: conduct a systematic, multi-dimensional detailed analysis of all received samples. The focus of the analysis was not only to verify the superconducting properties of the Unobtanium ore under different temperature, pressure, and energy field environments but also to attempt to explore the possible deep-seated connections—yet to be revealed—between this unique material and Pandora's overall ecological environment, particularly its ubiquitous biological neural network.
On the central lab bench in the workshop, a piece of Unobtanium ore about the size of a fist, its surface emitting a faint metallic luster, was carefully placed on a non-magnetic fixture, surrounded by precision detectors and energy emission units. Pilar and Falco were fully concentrated on performing a series of physical property tests and energy conduction experiments, while David observed and learned, responsible for recording various auxiliary data during the experiment.