A/N: My brother recently introduced me to the Swedish metal band Sabaton, who is freaking amazing! Anyway hearing a couple of their songs gave me a couple of ideas for some quick Avatar Sabaton song fics, even though most of them are based around historical events.
My first is based of the Song Wolfpack. Check it out here: www. youtube watch?v=joZaJqyl2S0
Avatar the Last Airbender: Wolfpack
For over a hundred years, the Fire Nation had ruled the seas. Their navy was by far the most advanced, and the most numerous. At the peak of her strength the Fire Nation fleet had almost three hundred modern ironclads, hundreds of riverboats and thousands of tough and veteran sailors, and marines at her disposal.
Even with the loss of the Northern Fleet, and the added strain of patrolling the newly conquered waters of the Earth Kingdom, no fleet a float could challenge the might of the Fire Nation's Grand Armadas.
That was why Rear-Admiral Li saw no real need to hurry the ships of his command along. The squadron, and the eight coal barges they were escorting, were making very good time in these calm seas; they would back at port in the Capital by the end of the week, well ahead of schedule.
Li idly scratched at the rough stubble on his chin, as he gazed back out to the sea, studying the forms of the plodding coal barges. High Command had recently increased the already massive demand of the fuel source, and Li, for the life of him could not figure out why for the sudden increase in demand.
The Fire Nation had won, hadn't they? Ba Sing Se was theirs. Conquered by Princess Azula and Prince Zuko, the Avatar was dead, killed by the Prince's own hand, the only thing that remained to defy the glory of the Fire Nation were the Water Tribes, at the ass ends of the world. Li wasn't too worried; they would be simple to conquer now, especially with the losses the Northern Tribe had suffered at the hands of Admiral Zhao despite his defeat.
Ah, it didn't matter. Li told himself as climbed to the bridge of his ironclad battleship, the Soul of Fire. His pride and joy, he had commanded her in over a dozen battles, and when he had finally been given an Admiral's commission, he had insisted that the Soul remain under his command.
The increased demand of coal being shipped to Fire Nation islands had pushed the merchant fleet almost to the breaking point. Tanks, reinforcements and supplies had to be delivered to the occupying forces, scattered throughout the Earth Kingdom. The navy needed fuel, tools, and equipment to maintain their fleets and to keep their ships operational.
Adding to the strain on top of this, pirate activity was on the rise. The slow moving coal barges were prime targets, the Earth Kingdom rebels and rebel groups would pay a high price for the stolen fuel.
After several attacks on the lone merchant ships, High Command had come up with the idea of the convoy. A squadron of Fire Nation Navy ships would escort several cargo ships at once, providing protection for the venerable merchant ships against the pirates.
Li had to admit, despite putting more strain on the navy, that the idea was working. Pirate attacks were down by almost sixty-percent, and those that did attack, would hastily retreat when they realized that they were facing off against a dozen Fire Nation cruisers.
Li grinned to himself as he entered the bridge. The bridge staff was hustling about, navigation was making calculations on the dozen sea charts that were spread out on the large wooden table that dominated the room. The communication officer was watching the other ships and reporting flagged messages back to navigation. The helmsman was arguing with engineering about the amount of speed that was need to keep in pace with the rest of the convoy.
He was proud of his men. Despite the strain of the long days and weeks at sea, they had remained professional and dutiful. He made a promise to himself that when the convoy arrived back home he would see that they got some shore leave. He gazed out of the bridge to calm blue sea, which stretched for miles a head of him. Just the way he liked it; a quick run and no sign of trouble.
What Li did not realize, was that the eighteen ships of his convoy were being followed. Not on the surface, where the Fire Navy ruled, and not in the air, as unbeknownst to him, last Airbender was actually already in the Fire Nation, preparing for the Day of Black Sun.
No, he was being followed from where he would never expect an attack. He was being followed below the deceptively calm surface of the seas, which the Fire Nation had ruled for almost a century.
Chief Hakoda of the Southern Water Tribe, smiled grimly, as he studied the eighteen ships of the convoy from the periscope of his submarine.
"They're turning." He barked sharply. "Five degrees east, still moving rather slowly. Move a head of the convoy, and prepare the torpedoes!"
His men snapped to work; the waterbenders of the Foggy Swamp tribe began to move their arms in graceful pulling motions, propelling the submerged vessel forward against the current of the sea. Hakoda felt the whole ship shift as it raced to get ahead of the Fire Nation convoy they were stalking.
"How much air do we have left, Mechanist?" Hakoda asked the eccentric inventor, and pilot of the craft that he and his warriors were now embarked on.
The genius pulled his sleeve back, over a device that had been strapped to his upper arm, giving Hakoda a glimpse of the scared flesh of his arm, the results of dozens of experiments that had gone awry. Although he had never been a spiritual man, Hakoda found himself thanking whatever spirits that might have been listening, that the submarines had not been added to that list of catastrophic failures.
"Approximately thirty minutes, Chief Hakoda."
Hakoda nodded and turned towards one of the Foggy Swamp waterbenders, Tho or Due, he couldn't remember which. "Send the other subs a message, we attack in five minutes, remain submerged; four torpedoes each, targets are coal barges first, military ships last. We withdraw to a safe distance when we have fifteen minutes of air left."
Due, (or was it Tho?), nodded and using his waterbending, he sent the message through the sea to other four subs.
Before the invasion force had left for this exercise, Hakoda had realized the importance of being able to communicate with the other subs. Normally, while on the surface, Hakoda and his ships, could communicate through raised flags or the blinking of lanterns.
All that however, was useless underwater.
Any commander could tell you how vital communication was during a planned invasion, so Hakoda, after consulting with his waterbenders, had devised a code based on the Water Tribe alphabet. It was a system of dots and dashes pulsed through the water, a dot was short pulse while a dash was longer, the pulses could then be translated into a message.
He was thinking of calling it 'Hakoda Code.'
The torpedoes were encased in ice, and slid into their tubes. Their target was sighted, a heavy merchant ship, loaded down with cargo. All that Hakoda was waiting for was the conformation from his four other submarines.
Seconds ticked by like hours, tension filled the sub as each man held their breath.
Finally Tho, or Due, nodded. "Message sent and received there boss! Ready to fire!"
Hakoda felt another grim smile tug at his lips. "Then fire! Send these bastards to the bottom!"
As one, the four waterbenders operating the two torpedo tubes, punched the air with an open palm, sending the two ice cased torpedoes rocketing towards their intended target.
Seconds later they struck home and exploded.
Alarms rang throughout the massive battleship, calling men to battle stations. Armoured men, yelling and cursing in confusion, ran through familiar halls and decks as they readied weapons, and armed the twelve trebuchets and the ballista along the sides in preparation for attack.
All Rear-Admiral Li could do was stare in abject horror, as two massive explosions detonated off the starboard side of the merchant ship Corona, sending two great waves of water shooting thirty feet in the air. The massive ship, listed as water flooded into the hold, dumping tonnes of its cargo into the dark blue of the sea. He watched as red-clad men, leapt from the doomed ship, only to be dragged to their watery grave by their armour.
The sailors were more fortunate, the few who had manged to escape the ship were not burdened by heavy armour, and most were able to keep a float.
"Shen!" Li yelled to his watchman, "What in Sozin's name just happened? Where did that attack come from?"
Shen, a veteran of several actions, including being one of the few survivors of the ill fated Siege of the North, could only shrug helplessly.
Li cursed, "Helms! Turn us around and assist with resc..."
He was cut off as another massive shot of water erupted off the bow of another barge.
Even from that distance, Li could hear the screeching of twisted metal as the bow cracked, leaving a gapping hole in its armoured bow. Li could tell from the damage, that the ship, Southern Runner, would sink slowly beneath the waves, giving her sailors and soldiers much more time to escape then those of the Corona, the cargo might even be salvageable.
Up and down his convoy, ships were struck by unseen enemies. The barge, Surveyor, was struck twice mid-ship and broken in half. It sank quickly, vanishing beneath the waves, and to Li's dismay and horror, he could not see any survivors, as he surveyed the scene through his spy glass. Next hit was the cargo ship King of the Sea as it listed and sunk as the Corona had just moments before. A few minutes later the heavy cruiser, Azulon's Vengeance was struck in the rudder, jamming it in place, forcing the ship to come to a halt.
Then there was silence.
"Helm..." Li called again after several minutes of quite and stilled waves, "turn us around... assist with rescue operations..."
Li was furious. What kind of honourless bastard fights like that? Striking at unarmed and almost helpless cargo ships, and merchantmen? Pirates he could understand, they were motivated by greed, they would at least take the cargo, but this? This was just senseless.
Beneath the waves, the subs beat a hasty retreat from the convoy. All around him the men cheered, and congratulated each other, slapping themselves on the back and gripping forearms. Hakoda joined his men in celebration, allowing a rare, real smile to grace his worn, weather beaten face.
Five ships had been hit, four sunk. Not bad for just a test run.
As he raised his hands to calm his crew, he knew that this was just the begining. They would return, they would send the Fire Nation to the bottom of the sea.
The sun was just setting and the recovery was still slow going. They had rescued all that they could, many were wounded, and disoriented; few had any idea of what had hit them. Theories ranged from angry water spirits wanting revenge for the Siege of the North, to a lion turtle, who was disturbed by the convoy's passing over it.
The cruiser Azulon's Vengeance, wasn't repairable right now, they would have to tow it back dry dock; Li's men had already hooked it up to the cruiser Empire's Fury, and the coal barges Young Luck and Grandfather where already salvaging cargo from the barge Southern Runner, whose bow had been badly damaged.
Li was cautious. He had ordered extra watchmen to be posted, and for the ships to remain at alert. He himself had gone down to the infirmary; these were his men. Men who had just died, who had just shed their blood for their Fire Lord, for their nation, and for him; Li would see that sacrifice with his own eyes.
Moans, and cries of pain, greeted his ears as he pushed his way into the infirmary. Most had already been treated, clean bandages and fresh stitches held together jagged wounds, and covered freshly burned skin.
Undaunted by the scenes of carnage, the Rear-Admiral made his way through the rows of beds, shaking hands, talking to his men, learning anything more that he could about the attacks.
He didn't get much more than from the sailors on his ship, they were all just as confused as everyone else in the fleet.
"Damn! Their protecting them like mother artic-hens." Hakoda cursed as he viewed the convoy through the lens of his periscope. The subs had returned to the wounded convoy immediately after surfacing for more air, only to find eight serviceable warships patrolling tightly around the four surviving coal barges.
Any attack they made would be spotted. It was one of the down sides of the new torpedoes. The subs had to be fairly close to the surface to increase their chances of hitting their targets. This meant that the wake caused by the speeding missile was visible on the surface, and Hakoda did not have the firepower to take on that many Fire Nation ships.
Hakoda wanted those barges sunk. Every ship that he and his men killed meant less coal for the Fire Nation's war machine. It meant less coal for their foundries and factories producing tundra tanks, and heavy ordinance. It meant less fuel for their army. It meant for every ship sunk, more of his men might return home alive.
Then he had an idea.
"Mechanist, take us up just outside of catapult range, then fire off a torpedo at those two ships salvaging cargo."
The Mechanist twisted around in shock at the Chief's orders. "Are you insane? If we surface..."
"Then the Fire Nation will attack us. They will see us, and thinking that we were the only one responsible for the attack earlier in the day, they will chase us..."
"Leaving the convoy unprotected..." The Mechanist finished, stroking his thick moustache. "Devious, Chief Hakoda. Very devious."
Hakoda smiled without humour. "It is one of the ways the polar wolves hunt polar beardog pups. One attracts the attention of the mother, and when she goes to chase it away, the rest of the pack strikes. We'll try that tactic here. Get us underway, my friend."
"Portside! Portside! Ready catapult!" Shen's warning sounded throughout the Soul of Fire. Rear-Admiral Li, raced up from the infirmary, as alarm bells began to clang, calling the ship to arms.
As he left the lower deck, he whipped out his spyglass, and saw... something breaking the surface, just outside catapult range. It looked like the massive hump of a great whale, but wrong. It looked almost man made...
Then he saw it, a large, thin wake shooting from the mouth of the whale thing, heading straight for the barges assisting with the salvaging operation. Unable to avoid the incoming wake, the coal barge Young Luck was struck mid ship, a gaping hole torn in her side.
So this was the thing responsible for the deaths of his men, and the destruction of his ships. Li's eyes narrowed, that thing, that ship, was going to die. He gestured for his communications officer to give the order for a general attack, but it was unneeded as several of his cruisers had already launched a volley at the whale ship.
They were out of range, their volleys landing harmlessly into the ocean, but his military ships were already advancing at full steam, hoping to be the one to sink this new enemy, hoping to be the one who avenged their comrades.
Li was not going to be denied his prize. "Helm! Full speed ahead! Catapults! Fire at will! Don't bother trying to disable! I want that thing resting at the bottom of the ocean tonight!"
The men raised a cheer as the first volley from the Soul of Fire's trebuchets was released, more in a show of rage than an actual attempt to hit their target. The whale ship turned and fled, as it caught sight of the seven Fire Nation cruisers and single battleship heading straight for it.
Li was surprised at the speed of which this new whale ship was able to move, but was confident that his ships would catch it. Maybe he wouldn't sink it. If it was able to move this fast there no was telling what the Fire Nation could learn, there was no telling what new technology could be gathered from this new enemy.
Li grinned; the hunt was on.
Bato, Captain of sub-2, blinked in surprise as he watched through his periscope, as eight of the massive Fire Nation ships turn northwards and steamed away from the convoy, leaving it virtually unprotected. Giving him and the five subs a perfect opportunity to strike at the coal barges, and the two cruisers tethered together.
He felt an eager grin tug at his lips, as the convoy escorts moved farther and farther away from their charges.
One of the strange waterbenders that Hakoda had picked up at Sokka's request quickly approached him, her leaf skirt swishing against the wooden deck of the sub. It was weird, fighting along side women, but they needed every waterbender they could get their hands on, and with the Northern Tribe still rebuilding and exhausted after the Fire Nation attack, they had to look else where.
Bato sighed, he would just have to adapt.
"Message from the chief for yah, sah." The waterbender spoke in that same strange drawl, as her kinsmen. "He's leadin' the enemy away and clearnin' a path. He orders us to attack them Fire Nation boats while they're undefended."
Finally. Action.
The sub sprang to life as Bato gave the order. Two ice encased torpedoes where loaded in the tube. Bato would target the two cruisers who had been left behind, and then the subs would descend on the helpless barges like wolves upon an unprotected herd.
He watched as the two underwater missiles slammed into the hull of the cruiser that had been acting as a tug for the one who had been wounded in their last attack. The explosion ripped through the metal hull, ripping the steal apart, allowing thousands of gallons of seawater to flood the lower decks.
He watched with savage glee, as the massive warship listed, as men on the tethered ship cut the line to avoid being pulled down with the doomed ship to a watery grave.
Nothing could save them. They were already dead. A second sub had already selected that ship as its target and had launched its deadly payload. The first torpedo missed its intended target, but the second slammed into the stern, destroying the already damaged rudder, and tearing a great hole in the rear of the ship.
The barges began to panic and attempted to scatter. Chaos reigned in the convoy, as the ships fled in all directions, two almost colliding with each other and another, unwittingly, passed dangerously close to the sub that had just hit Azulon's Vengeance.
The captain of Sub-3 was not going to let such an opportunity escape him. A torpedo was quickly loaded, and launched. The captain watched, eagerly waiting for the tell tale sign of one of their deadly torpedoes making a kill.
The wake sped towards its helpless victim, who was unable to do anything, but watch in horror as its doom sped right for its port side hull.
The torpedo struck true, but instead of exploding it slammed into the side of the ship, and then sank into the darkness of the sea. A dud.
The men on board the barge, Grandfather cheered in relief, as they were spared the fate that already so many of the comrades had suffered. The captain, gave the order for full steam, they would escape this massacre.
Even as he gave the order, the cruiser Azulon's Vengeance shook as a second unseen explosive device slammed into her already devastated hull. The poor ship could no longer bear the strain, and split in half, dragging many of her brave crew beneath the waves.
The Grandfather steadily picked up steam, her stacks belching out black smoke, as she turned north, and fled from the ambush, hoping to reach the protection of Admiral Li and his squadron.
Bato had already spotted the fleeing ship and had acted accordingly; none where to escape their ambush. The pilot had guided sub-2 so that it rested at an angle, aiming just in front of the fleeing barge. Two of the Mechanists wonderful new weapons were already loaded and ready.
"Fire!" Bato barked, as the barge moved past them, slowly building momentum.
The escape attempt was all for not, as the two torpedoes struck, one after another. The first struck the bow, hitting it hard, tearing metal like thin rice paper, the second detonated mid ship. The barge ground to a halt as sea water flooded her decks, dowsing her boilers, leaving her dead in the water, dooming her to sink.
Her crew leapt for their lives, the captain spending just an extra moment longer to launch a flare into the dying light of the day, hoping to alert Admiral Li to their plight, before he too abandoned his doomed ship.
It was too little too late. The convoy had been ravaged. Unable to defend themselves, the cargo ships where little more than sitting turtle-ducks. The Water Tribe subs tore into the disorganized and panicking ships, attacking them at will, killing them as they tried to flee.
Smoke rose into the horizon, as burning ships sank slowly into the deep. Years of anger, hate, and a desire for revenge were finally released, as the men of the Southern Water Tribe were finally able to bring the war to their enemy.
In a matter of minutes, the convoy was destroyed. The barges had all either been sunk, or were sinking. Their brave sailors clung to whatever wreckage they could, some crying, others cursing the hidden enemy who had attacked them without warning and without mercy.
Li snarled in anger, as he brought the spyglass to his eye. The whale ship was proving illusive. Despite his ships going at full steam, the smaller ship had managed to stay just out of range, as it led them farther and father away from the convoy.
"FLARE! FLARE TO THE SOUTH!"
Li turned in surprise; there on the horizon, Li could see the smoke, and the bright flash of flare. The convoy was in trouble. He threw his spyglass against the bridge smashing the fragile tool. It had been a trick, and he had fallen for it, he had taken almost every ship available to chase one enemy, never thinking that were there was one there would most likely be more.
"Helm!" Li screamed as he pounded his fist against the wall, "Turns around now! Full steam back to the convoy! Lau! Alert the other ships; have the Pride, and Inferno continue the chase, all others are to follow us south to assist with the rescue!"
As he felt his ship move, turning south and racing to help those who he had abandoned, Li casually reached up to his shoulders, to the epaulettes of his rank, and slowly removed them. It had been his proudest moment when he had received his commission, now he knew that his rank would not survive this disaster.
Where once there had been calm waters and several ships of the most powerful navy afloat, there was now only wreckage. Men clung desperately to floating debris, waving the arms, and shouting at the ships that approached, begging for rescue and medical treatment.
Li felt a wave of depression wash over him. There sinking off to the west, was the proud bow of Azulon's Vengeance, a ship that had over a dozen years of proud and honourable service, sunk by enemy it could not see; sunk by an enemy it could not attack.
Behind him, the cruiser Fire Lord's Sword, was struck by their unseen enemies. Li wasn't surprised, he had a feeling that the killers would be waiting for them. All around him, men shouted for orders, even as the Sword was struck again, water erupting in large, thirty foot splashes and cascading over the deck.
The Sword, a ship that had been decorated for her defence of the battleship Royal Phoenix, when a dozen Earth Kingdom junks had come across the damaged ship as it was making repairs. It was unfair, a ship like that deserved to fight, deserved to defy her end. Instead she cracked in half, and sank quickly, a watery tomb for over three hundred men.
Up and down the line, the scene was repeated. Cruisers where struck, even his beloved Soul of Fire was hit several times, water flooding into the lower decks.
Men were screaming for him, demanding orders, demanding direction. Li could only stare at the destruction of his command. He could only stare as his ships were destroyed and his men killed before they could even fight back.
The Soul was struck again. Shaking as another explosion tore another hole in the battleship, another explosion claiming the lives of his men, and there was nothing he could do. His ship was doomed, they were doomed, he was doomed.
He turned to address his men. They were running here and there, dosing fires, sealing decks to keep the flood of water from reaching any farther. Li knew it was all for not. They were done.
"Men." Li started, his voice calm and collected, as though he was merely commenting on the weather. "Men you have served your nation well, and it has been my honour to lead each and every one of you through this war. Now I must give you one final order: abandon ship. The Soul is doomed, abandon ship."
Beneath the waves, Bato watched as the massive battleship shuddered once again under the blow of a torpedo. He watched as red clad men threw themselves into the ocean, or lowered themselves to surface in makeshift rafts and small boats. He watched as the proud ship, still flying the banner of the Fire Nation, slowly began to sink under combined onslaught of the four subs.
They had done it. Eighteen ships of the most powerful navy in the world, now rested at the bottom of the Eastern Sea. Eighteen ships, ten of them warships, without a single loss of their own. All around him, the men and women of sub-2 cheered and celebrated. They had struck their first blow against the Fire Nation, and they had lived to tell about it.
Hakoda and sub-1 had returned to the convoy, after finishing the two cruisers that had remained to chase after him. Their surviving crews where now in chains and under guard. Although every instinct he had, screamed at him to let these bastards drown, Hakoda just couldn't; it was an ignoble way for a fellow warrior to die.
The crimes of the Fire Nation against the Southern Water Tribe were great, but Hakoda would consider them justly avenged, when those who had gave the orders to attack his tribe were dead, and their heads were hanging from the masts his tribe's ships.
Until then, he would treat these men as fellow warriors; he would give them the option of living, if they surrendered. As sub-1 and the others, broke the surface, Fire Nation survivors were already swimming towards them, desperate to escape the certain doom of the watery grave.
Hakoda slapped his black helm onto his head as he exited the sub, and climbed onto the deck, surrounded by his warriors.
He glared out at the desperate survivors. "I am Chief Hakoda, of the Southern Water Tribe. I will give you this offer only once. If you surrender now, you will spend the rest of the war as prisoners, but you will survive to one day see your families again. Resist, or reject this offer, and we will leave you to your own devices. You have one minute to answer."
It was usurping that most took him up on his offer. As he and his men rescued those who surrendered, and put down those who attacked, Hakoda turned to sub-2, and waved to Bato.
"What now?" Bato shouted to him, as he guided a manacled firebender into the hull of his sub.
Hakoda turned east, and stared off into the distance; to where the Fire Lord and his nation waited. Ozai had a surprise coming. In just a week, an eclipse would blot out the sun, and render firebending useless, and on that day the Water Tribe would have its vengeance and the war would be over after a hundred years of bloodshed and misery
"First we head back to the Earth Kingdom and rendezvous with Fong!" Hakoda shouted back, "We'll drop off the prisoners there, and pick up some more forces, that Fong's willing to provide!"
"And then?" Bato shouted back.
"Then we end this war."
As his ship vanished beneath the waves, as the flood waters rushed into his bridge, seeming almost eager to claim his soul, Li kept his gaze on the sea. Watching in fascination, as four more whale ships broke the surface, to join the one had led him and his squadron away from their escorts. He watched as men clad in the fur lined armour of the snow savages, climbed out of the whale ships hailing to his men in the sea.
The waters flooded the bridge, and the last vision of the living world that Li saw, was the savages helping his men aboard their ships, and clapping them in irons. He was grateful even as the sea claimed him, that at least his men would survive.
Here is a revised version, with no lyrics as I just discovered that using lyrics was actually against FF's guidelines.
So how was that? I got some more ideas that I'll upload whenever, I don't really have any real plans for a schedule. Anyway I hoped you enjoyed and if you did please drop a review!
If you have a favourite Sabaton song that you wish to see turned into a fic, leave a suggestion and I'll see what I can do!