I do not appreciate your lack of faith in my direct orders. Know that I had him assigned for my own reasons which are none of your concern. Sometimes loyalty must be put up to the ultimate test. I trust that our new captain will succeed unlike how yours has very obviously failed. I do not allow those unfit to serve in my army. You will learn my meaning soon enough.
Documented personal meeting between Fire Lord Ozai and 1st Non-Bending Battalion General.
I would be lying if I said that was the first incident I have witnessed of questionable morality in the Fire Nation. I've been the witness of slavery, abuse, murder, and rape. All things that would appear to be able to burst the bubble created by any propaganda or brain washing known to man, but this was the straw that broke the camel's back. In the last week, we've been moved further northeast into the Earth Kingdom, nearing Ba-Sing-Se one day at a time. The Fire Nation has been making plans for a new attempt at conquering the Earth Kingdom Capital since General Iroh's defeat over a year ago.
I've been making my own plans over the last week. Plans of defection. I'm hoping to involve my entire squad. It's about time I actually took responsibility. If it seems like it's going to backfire, I'll take those I've convinced already and leave. It won't be easy. They were born and raised in the Fire Nation. The colonies at the very least. Their families are Fire Nation. I'd be asking them to betray everything they've ever known. They're still kids. 16 is too young an age for war. All of them are less than even 18. They have parents who non-adult sons would be leaving them behind to fight against their nation. It's not a problem with me. Maybe I'm lucky that I never met them. I can't say the same for the rest.
I look up from the laid down map in front of me, marked with ink, torn, and obvious signs of constant folding and crumbling. The tent I'm inside is designed to be set up in less than an hour including Fire Nation Flags, and propaganda. Now on the walls I see the banner of my soon to be enemy. I think of who to approach first. Tom and Shuno. Dave would come next of course. He never appeared to have any personal ties to the homeland. I hope I'm right. Tom and Shuno are good friends though. We've been friends since assignment to the same squad. If that relationship has maintained itself, they should be easy to recruit. I'll worry about the rest later. I want to have them join me in a way that won't catch the attention of any others. I stand up from the stool I'm sat on and leave the tent, pushing the red flaps aside from in front of me. It's midday. If this goes by easily, we'll all be ready to leave by night fall. We can turn ourselves over to the Earth Kingdom Camp north of here. Hopefully they won't kill us on sight and we'll be able to either join the Earth Kingdom army or form our own militia. I'll see what appeals to the others once we're there.
I see Tom and Shuno already sat together further north of the camp in a deserted area behind one of the tents, eating their lunch. It's a perfect moment. I grab a plate of roasted frog squirrel, compliments to Mido and head over to the other two.
"Hey Boss" says Tom with a mouth full of his filling. Shuno nods at me with a smile on his face.
"Hey Boss" says Tom after he swallows the food that had previously rendered him speechless and he faces me. "Settle an argument. Are they called sky bison?" he says while obviously shaking his head. "Or air buffalo" as he nods very obviously.
"Sky Bison." I say. In old documents found in libraries regarding Air Nomad civilization, excluding edited material, it very obviously refers to their mounts as sky bison.
"Told you so" says Shuno from my right.
"What?! How? That just sounds stupid in so many ways."
"The Fire Nation very clearly refers to them as Sky Bison." I say.
"Well fuck the Fire Nation I say."
That's a great way to start the conversation. Now how do I continue it? "Speaking of which, let's leave the Fire Nation and never come back." I don't exactly see that working. I'll try differently.
"Look Tom, Shuno. There's something we need to talk about."
"Wasn't me." Says Shuno jokingly, sat atop his rock.
I push it aside and continue. "You remember what happened a week ago."
II instantly see the change of looks in their faces from cheerful to solemn. I hate to be the one to cause that change, but It's what I have to do. "I don't think that it's a great idea to stick around if these are the orders we're supposed to obey."
"Wait. Wait." Says Tom. "Are you actually talking about defection?"
"Yes. I am."
"You can't just ask us to defect." Says Shuno. "We have family, friends, lives!"
"I know. I realize how much of a sacrifice it would be, but I don't think I can sleep well anymore if the next day I'm going to be ordered to burn down a farm, steal from innocents, or murder a couple's children while we force them to watch."
"But defection. We'd be leaving everything behind" says Tom.
"Not to mention having the entire Fire Nation on our asses." Says Shuno.
"Which is why this decision will alter how everything plays out from here. If you say no, I'm going, I won't say where, but I'd be leaving. If you say yes, however, I'd be a step closer to stopping ourselves from becoming monsters."
The silence that proceeds feels like it takes up the remainder of the day, but when I have their answer, not a minute has passed. It says a lot that it took them so little time to say yes.
General Zuik Odair-Deceased-Cause: Execution-Reason: Insubordination
Replacement is to be General Huey Zemir.
