USS Langley
One mile north of Kyoshi Island
Colonel Harry Bedford was preparing.
As soon as he had left the Langley's bridge after his conversation with Captain Henning, he had gone down to the deck of the destroyer to begin loading his equipment into the small wooden motorboat he would soon be using.
First in was his radio, a heavy, bulky unit designated the Type 13. Though complicated and a bit unwieldy, it could communicate with friendlies on air, sea, and land up to thirty miles away. Next was a canvas bag, loaded with canned rations, plus two canteens of fresh water. Now for the last part: weaponry.
Colonel Bedford lifted his weapon, bracing its stock against his bent knee. His gun was large and heavy, almost four feet long and nineteen pounds in weight. Though meticulously cleaned and serviced, it didn't have the shine of a new weapon. Its wooden stock was scarred and the dull gray metal scratched in places. It was a weapon that had proved itself in war.
Bedford slid a twenty-round magazine into his Browning Automatic Rifle with practiced ease, pulled back the bolt to chamber it, flipped the selector lever to safety, and placed it gently onto the bottom of the boat. Six more magazines went into his webbing belt, ready for a quick reload if needed.
Final checks. Bedford looked through his gear, checking if he had forgotten anything, then tapped his utility belt. His .45 handgun was there, as always, in its holster on his right hip, and his combat knife in its sheath on the opposite side.
Three people were watching him make his preparations. One was a seaman, the other two were soldiers like Bedford.
"Good luck out there," said the older of the two soldiers to Bedford.
"Break a leg, Colonel," greeted the other, a cheeky grin stretched across his face. "Try not to end up dead."
Harry Bedford climbed into the motorboat, just as he placed his green steel helmet into his head. "See you soon."
He nodded to the sailor, who began lowering his motorboat towards the water with a pulley.
When the boat touched the sea, Bedford kick-started the engine, waved once more towards the deck of the ship above, then turned towards the northern beach of Kyoshi Island.
He was a quarter of a mile away from the Langley when the alarms began to blare.
Keum Village, Kyoshi Island
The tremendous crashing of the danger gong atop Toshi Hill had an almost instantaneous reaction down in the island's main settlement. Seven warriors spilled out of the dojo at the south end of the village, fanning out, swords drawn and shields at the ready. One looked up to the crest of the hill to their northwest. A single torch, from the row of ten lined up beside the outpost, was lit.
Oyaji, the middle-aged head of Keum Village and chairman of the Kyoshi Island Council, burst out of his hut at the sound ans skidded to a halt beside the warriors.
"What is it, Koharu? It can't be another drill, can it?"
"No," replied a small, brown-haired warrior. "A torch is lit."
Two figures in green came into view down the single path through town, sprinting towards them. A few moments later and they were alongside.
Suki was slightly flushed, but otherwise unaffected by her long run. The other warrior, Rena, had her hands on her knees, coughing.
"One ship, Suki?" Koharu asked. "I thought the Fire Nation would bring more than what they had last time."
"It's much bigger than the one that came before," the commander replied. " It must be some kind of new weapon. It barely looks like a ship. It's huge!"
Rena had recovered her breath. She looked up at Suki, her eyes wide. "What do we do?"
Suki put her hand on the newer warrior's shoulder. "Stay calm. Remember your training. We took them once. We'll take them again, and this time, we have more help." She gestured around her. More warriors from the island's interior were pouring into Keum Village, having heard the call of the gong.
USS Langley
One mile north of Kyoshi Island
It looked like an eel. A giant eel, black, two hundred feet long with yellow stripes near the head and a red dorsal fin sticking from the top. Its green eyes were focused on the Langley, its massive red mouth wide open, showing massive, yellowing fangs.
"Jesus Christ! What the fuck is that?" yelled the first officer, who was currently manning the helm.
The unagi reared its head back. From its gaping maw came a huge, high-pressured stream of seawater.
The ship rocked side to side from the impact of the water. Down below on deck, there were yells of alarm as men skidded and slipped on the sodden metal, crashing into gun turrets, lifeboats, and and railings.
Henning looked to port again. The monster had gone below the surface again. A wake was beating down on his ship, almost as fast as a torpedo but much larger. The eel was closing for a better shot. Its first blast hadn't caused much damage, as far as he could tell, but another, from a shorter distance, could hit something critical.
"Corwin!" Henning yelled at the first officer. "Riight full rudder! Come new course one-nine-five!"
The first officer followed the orders quickly. The Langley heeled violently to starboard, opening up the ship's angle to the unagi and bringing its full broadside towards the monster.
When the ship has completed the turn, the wake was only a hundred yards away and still closing fast. Too fast and too close for the ship's main armament, six five-inch naval guns, to engage properly.
Henning snatched up the interphone. "Anti-aircraft! Neutralize the target!"
The unagi surfaced again, coiling up from the surface to tower over the destroyer from fifty yards away. Its great mouth opened again, hissing, its eyes glaring right at the bridge as it prepared another blast of water, this time right at Henning.
The destroyer had twenty-three anti-aircraft guns. Ten were pointed at the eel at that moment, four forty-millimeter and six twenty-millimeter autocannons. They fired at almost the same time.
High-explosive shells impacted the creature, detonating on impact. They were designed to take down aircraft, and the exposed flesh of the unagi was no match. It was, quite simply, blown apart. Bits of it were thrown everywhere, splattering the destroyer and the sea around it with black blood and entrails.
"Damage control, report!" Henning commanded, five minutes after the shooting.
"No real damage, sir. The water jet threw some equipment crates around and displaced some lifeboats, but we're putting them back in order as we speak."
"Casualties?"
"Two men knocked out from the hit. They're coming to, sir. Another has a broken arm, but that's the worst of it."
Toshi Hill, Kyoshi Island
Akiko and Tsuya looked at the scene unfolding in front of them with growing horror. The strange ship had looked doomed when the unagi had shown up.
It had ambushed other ships before, from small fishing boats to Earth Navy troopships. All had either been sunk or barely got away. This one, though, stood its ground, turning with speed and maneuverability that looked impossible for such a large vessel, and fought back with blazing fireballs that roared through the sky and exploded on contact.
The monster was the bane of Kyoshi Island and the settlements of the Earth Kingdom's southwestern coast, had been for twenty years. It had just been gutted like a fish in the Keum Village market.
Akiko grabbed her companion's arm. "We need to tell them what's out there, Tsuya! Come with me!"
North Beach, Kyoshi Island
"Everyone in the trees, and quickly!" Suki pointed to the bare treetops.
She had twenty-one warriors with her, half her force. She had left the rest with Koharu, in reserve on one of the hills surrounding the Keum Village valley.
Soon they were all out of sight, in ones and twos, flat against the bare treetops. The strange ship was still a mile away, and beside it the floating corpse of the unagi.
A smaller boat was in the bay, speeding towards them at a fast clip. It was the size of a rowboat, but looked like it had some kind of engine propelling it, since it rumbled and roared. It only had one passenger.
Harry Bedford had no more doubts that he was being watched. If the appearance of his ship hadn't been warning enough, then the commotion caused by the fight with that sea monster would've certainly been.
He cut power. He was less than three hundred yards from the beach. The loud roar of the motorboat's engine was reduced to a slow rumble.
A stone's throw from the beach and he turned off the engine completely, gliding slowly towards land, before a soft bump told him that he had arrived.
Bedford jumped out, his boots splashing in the ankle-deep surf. He came to the front of the boat, and with a grunt, pulled it above the waterline, before turning back north on foot. The beach was flecked with snowfall, and white drifts covered the sand at some points.
He frowned up at the treeline to his north. It appeared to cover a pass through the screen of tall hills to his left and right. The pass looked like it cut through the hills and led to the island's interior. That meant that it was a strategically-placed position, and a natural chokepoint.
His best guess as to where the first line of defense was hidden.
Colonel Bedford walked slowly towards the trees, making sure not to make any sudden moves. His BAR and pistol were ready, but if the defenders had bows, he'd be dead.
At fifty feet from the trees, he stopped, still unable to see anyone waiting for him there. He unslung his automatic rifle, placed it on the sand, and raised both of his arms slowly, palms facing the trees.
"I come in peace," he said, in a measured tone, but loud enough to be heard fifty feet away. "I know you're there. We have no intention to fight. I just need to talk with your leader."
Suki heard him. They had been watching the man in the strangely-shaped helmet and thick long overcoat make his way up the beach, waiting for him to get close enough to the trees for them to grab him.
But he had stopped, well out of reach. All they could do right now was look at him.
He didn't look impressive. The stranger was a short man, barely taller than Akiko, and not very burly. He wasn't young, but neither was he the graying type. His hair below the helmet was still black. He was in his thirties, as best as Suki could guess.
He certainly was a soldier, probably an experienced one, too. The helmet and the strange weapon he carried betrayed that. He knew where they were hiding.
Suki signalled with a sharp gesture of her hand, and vaulted out of her tree.
The defenders were there, all right. They were raining out of the trees, landing gracefully, like experienced paratroopers.
They were women, like he had expected. Twenty-one of them, faces carefully adorned in white and red war paint, in loose green dresses. Lightweight metal armor protected their torsos and arms. Instead of helmets, they wore ornate headdresses.
Seven warriors formed ranks, sharp swords facing forward. Their shields, painted in the insignia of the Earth Kingdom, formed a wall.
They had all moved with ease and efficiency, light on their feet. Highly trained. But not a lot of experience. The seven in the wall had started at him for a moment, hesitating.
"Take him in!" a voice ordered sharply. It was a warrior to his left who talked, auburn -haired, looked like the person in charge.
The shield wall advanced. Seeing Bedford was unresisting, two lowered their shields. A cloth bag went over his head, and his hands were bound.
"Take him to Keum," Suki said. "Search his boat and bring everything in it to the village."
She bent down and picked up the strange weapon that the man had put down into the sand. It appeared to be some kind of wood and metal war club, though it was too unwieldy to be useful. up
She sheathed her katana and picked the weapon up by the wooden stock. "Sae, keep your team here. If they attack, get me immediately."
Suki followed the rest of the warriors through the pass as they dragged the man with them.
Author's Notes:
Hope you're enjoying so far. This is my first fanfic and I apologize for any writing, grammatical, or factual mistakes I have made and will make in the future.
I'm no military expert. (Though I do love Tom Clancy!) I will be using a lot of artistic licence, due to ignorance, but I will try my best to be authentic.
Notes on technology and weapons:
-The USS Langley is an Alien M. Sumner-class destroyer. It uses the designation DD-782.
-The Kyoshi Warriors are using swords and shields. Of course, they use their fans primarily, but when things get tough (as we see in S2's Appa's Lost Days,) they bring out katana and shields.
Notes on characters:
-The Gaang will eventually show up. They won't be as central as in the show, but they still have a big, big role to play (later).
Notes on update frequency:
-I'm a busy person, but I will try for at least once a week.
Reviews welcome! Thanks for stopping by.
