Redemption of the Dark kind
Chapter 10: Marriage and infiltration.
12th February 2900.
Island base, 1200 light years from Sol.
Over seven weeks had passed since Alex met the Gaang, and five weeks had passed since Alex's triumph over the rebel hostage crisis in the fire royal palace, and Sokka's proposal to Suki.
During this time, Alex had been busy. His workforce had finished establishing all the necessary defensive infrastructure of the island base, and every structure was fully operational. He was now self sufficient in materials, from asteroids and processing plants on the island and on the asteroids themselves. He was also self sufficient in all kinds of fuel his commandeered fleet needed, as well as water, energy, food, manufacturing capability and defence networks. Now all that was left was for Alex to build up his forces by constructing greater numbers of the fleet vehicles he had, as well as new ones from blueprints in the Liberator's databanks. He would manufacture more fighters, bombers, land vehicles, air vehicles, and even sea vehicles, to station on planet level. This would be added to a force stationed in orbit around the planet constantly, which included the Liberator.
All that was left now besides building up forces was his partner's onlining.
For this, Alex had recently returned from a secret, 3 day stay on his island base, where he tested his greatest and most personal creation, a true friend, companion and servant, one who would assist him in is endeavours, and watch over the fully robotically manned force Alex had on the planet.
2 days ago, his creation had come to life, the last program written, and the last welding complete on its body. Alex had chosen the design, and had commissioned it to be a doppelganger of himself. He would appear exactly like himself, with necessary metal colouring and synthetic skin to fully copy Alex's appearance, right down to his red eyes and the scar on his left cheek.
On the workbench, Alex watched as the fusion reactor was installed, and as it powered up, the eyes of his cyborg creation flickering open, flaring an electronic red before settling into Alex's red eye colour. As he looked at the cyborg, alex saw only one difference on the outside, the robot's eyes were slightly brighter than his own.
Slowly, Alex asked the robot: "Can you hear me?" Before onlining him, Alex had downloaded the English, Na'vi, Cybertronian and almost every language he had heard into the robot's data banks, as a start up programming.
The doppelganger's eyes darted to view Alex, and replied: "Yes."
Alex then asked: "Are all of your systems fully working?"
"Yes."
"Excellent. I am Alex, I am your creator."
"You are Alex, you are my creator."
"You shall be my assistant in maintaining this force of robots on this planet."
"I shall be your assistant in maintaining this force of robots on this planet."
Alex smiled, and allowed the cyborg to climb off the table, already curious about the world, so like a child. He would place him under a training programme and data download program, in a hibernative state, while he was away with the Gaang. He would download data on how to administrate and maximize the base force and its efficiency, as long as Alex was incorporated as supreme commander at all times. Still, before Alex placed his new creation into this 'learning sleep', he gave him his designation, an identity to set him apart from his identical creator. Alex decided to add the letter R twice to his own name, and then shift his own name's letters to form this cyborg's name.
ALEXRR. RAXLER
He spoke to the cyborg: "My creation, you can come to see yourself as a son to me, as I will see you as my child in a way. Your name shall be Raxler."
"Raxler. Designation understood."
As Alex left the base, he commanded the robot overseeing Raxler's hibernative download time: "Be sure to install a module to allow him to learn how to speak in a way that can let him blend in with normal humans, and give him the programming to allow himself to develop a personality and express emotions too. I want a friend, not a robot."
The robot nodded, and waved its master off as he left for a elsewhere.
In the base command room, Alex patched one of the computer consoles to the satellite network now in orbit. He was using the satellites and some dispatched recon craft to monitor the fire rebels and their movements, to try and locate their bases. As it turned out, it had been harder to track them than anticipated, as they relied on guerrilla tactics to a certain degree.
But now he had a lead on their headquarters.
His network had tracked the flights of messenger personnel or messenger hawks across the globe, finding any places frequented by them. He figured that the place receiving and sending most messages would be the fire rebel HQ. As he predicted, one location sent and received vastly more messages than any other known rebel hot spot.
On a relatively large island, near the southern tip of the fire nation, message paths were concentrated in a single location. The place itself appeared to be a facility of sorts, most of it buried underground, appearing as an abandoned factory from ground level. It was not unique, just a medium sized building, with walls surrounding it and a courtyard in front of the building. Beneath the ground though, revealed by scans of the area, lay a network of tunnels and rooms, some large enough to house vehicles such as tanks.
This was obviously where the fire rebel HQ was, and Alex was sure to pack what he would need before leaving. Of course he would order a secret drop of supplies when he got to the facility, when the time came.
But for now, he had a more pressing commitment to attend in the South Pole, where Sokka and Suki were getting married, an event to which he had been invited to.
13th February 2900
Southern Water Tribe.
Alex was half tempted to wear his helmet now, since all the snow and ice was reflecting the sunlight, making the ground somewhat, difficult to look at.
Guess the brown skin of north and south people helps with sunburn too.
In the winter months of the Southern pole, the sun was constantly in the sky, so night was nonexistent until at least the summer months, when it would be plunged in darkness.
For now though, the brightness of the South Pole reflected the atmosphere of the Southern Water tribe. For today was the wedding of the Chief's son. It had been five weeks since he proposed, and now Sokka and Suki were ready to become man and wife. The preparations were all arranged, as were the guests, and now all were sitting in their fur-lined seats, like pews in a church, inside the Southern Water tribe town hall, built 2 years ago by Northern Water benders.
Alex, in a borrowed water tribe parka and coat, sat in his seat, and looked at a very nervous Sokka up on the stage. Sokka wore a more elaborate parka, adorned with stringed animal teeth, for ceremonial purposes. Behind him, Chief Hakoda discussed last minute preparations with the elders. Looking for confidence, Sokka flashed a look of desperation at Alex, who was the only one of the Gaang sitting in his seat at the time. Knowing he could do it on his own, Alex shook his head while smirking, clearly saying: You're on your own.
On stage, Sokka began to sweat, his bid for support from Alex falling short of success. His thoughts turned to ones of fretting, as he looked over the other guests in the room. Before today, he had gone to Zuko about the big day, and had merely gotten the response that he should try to keep his cool on the day, as Zuko had managed to during his marriage to Mai. With Zuko out of the question, he had no other people to turn to, as Aang had not been married, or even proposed yet, and Toph was useless at giving advice to a groom, since she was a girl, and would have no knowledge on the matter.
What if I screw up my vows, what if she doesn't show up.
As Hakoda finished talking with the elders, he walked over to his son, talked in a voice only the two of them could hear, although Alex could eavesdrop by his technologically enhanced hearing:
"Sokka, are you ready for this?"
"I don't know dad. I'm just so nervous, I'm like a tower of nerves waiting to collapse."
Hakoda laughed at his son's predicament, and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder: "I was just like you at my wedding day, I kept worrying about making a mistake and ruining the wedding. But when I saw Kya walk down the aisle, I knew that I could do it, because the joy of being her husband was worth any stress I had that day."
Sokka loosened up a bit at this, and Hakoda gave him a pat on the shoulder before walking to collect the vow scrolls, as he was to act as director of the wedding as the chief.
"When you see Suki walk down the aisle, looking more beautiful than you've ever seen her, you know it'll be worth it."
"Thanks dad."
"Good luck son."
Hakoda walked off, and Sokka felt more confident now, anticipating his bride's, his love's arrival.
Down in the seats, Alex fought back an old depression, of how H'nuptec would never be able to give him assurance should this day come for him, because his rage, jealousy and malice had gained control of his actions.
In the bride's rooms, Suki was finally ready to be escorted down the aisle. Katara had helped in the preparation of her wedding dress and hair. In accordance with her Earth Kingdom origins, Suki wore a dress parka, light green on colour, with a polar skin fur lining inside it. Around her neck she still wore Sokka's betrothal necklace, and her hair had been adorned with blue and green beads, otherwise remaining the same, medium length brown hair it was.
Suki's parents had journeyed from Kyoshi island, in order to see their daughter marry the man she had fallen so in love with. As Suki was hugged by her mother for good luck, Katara found herself beginning to feel the sorrow of losing her mother to the war. Even though she had found the man who took her from her, she had been unable to bring herself to kill her. Ever since then, she had been asking herself whether she was too weak to avenge her mother, or too strong to sink to Yon Rah's level.
As Suki finished checking herself, she noticed Katara's pained expression:
"What's wrong?" Katara wiped her eyes as tears threatened to surface: "Oh, nothing. I'm just so happy for you now Suki. Your about to marry my brother, and all of your friends and family are here to see it. It must be wonderful."
Suki slowly approached Katara, and saw what was troubling her: "You're sad that your mom's not here?" Katara dropped the act, and replied: "She would have loved it, seeing Sokka marry someone as kind, caring and strong as you. And seeing your mother here for your wedding just reminds me that my mother isn't here to see Sokka's or my own."
Suki embraced Katara, and comforted her friend, and soon to be sister in law: "I don't want you feeling jealous of me Katara. I just want to make Sokka happy, as he does to me. You're strong caring, and I know your mother would be proud of you for all you did in ending the war."
Katara pulled away from Suki, and said while perking up: "C;mon, this is your special day, don't let weepy me ruin it." The two girls laughed at this, before Suki's father poked his head through the curtain to say it was time to start.
Katara took off to her seat, wishing Suki good luck as she left.
As Alex waited for the ceremony to start, he saw Katara hurry to join Aang beside him in her seat. As soon as she was seated, the band started playing traditional water tribe marriage music, composed with flutes, harps and tsungi horns, played by local or hired musicians.
The music created a sense of majesty and serenity in the room, and as all the heads turned to the rear to see the bride walk down the aisle, Sokka's fears about the wedding evaporated at the sight of Suki in her wedding gown.
In the light green parka, and simple beading in her wooden coloured hair, Suki looked absolutely stunning. Even though it was a moderately simple outfit, it complemented her physique perfectly, clinging to her body in just the right way to show here beauty to the maximum. As she walked with her father, Suki smiled in sheer joy, almost unbelieving that this day had come for her.
As Suki stopped in front of the stage, her father gave her and affectionate squeeze on the hand, and then declared to Hakoda and Sokka: "Sokka of the southern water tribe, and Chief Hakoda. I come before you to bless the union of our two children, and to relinquish my responsibility for my daughter over to her betrothed." He then let go of Suki's hand, and stepped away from the stage to rejoin Suki's mother at the front of the audience seating.
Up on stage, Hakoda cleared his throat before beginning to recite the Southern Water Tribe ritual scrolls. During all of this, Sokka and Suki stared lovingly into each other's eyes, a serene, graceful smile on each other's lips. This was the moment when they would truly become one, to live together forever and support one another.
In the audience, Suki's parents were crying in happiness for their daughter. Aang and Katara looked on happily at their friends and family, their hands intertwined as if reminding them that they would be up there eventually. Zuko and Mai looked on at the soon to be spouses, reminiscing back to their own wedding day. Toph was smiling at her friends' happiness, their heartbeats making it obvious how much they cared for one another. Up front, she detected the familiar non-beating signal, and she could only assume that he was being moved by this also. After all who wouldn't be?
Indeed, Alex was moved by the ceremony, and he was happy to be here for both them and himself. He knew that Sokka and Suki would be happy together, and also that his being invited meant he had fully cemented his relationship with the Gaang. He had finally found a place where he felt he belonged somewhat.
After 10 minutes of recital, Hakoda addressed Sokka, snapping both of them out of their dreamlike states: "Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe, do you take Suki here to be your lawfully wedded wife, to care for her and help raise her children, and support her in times good and bad?"
"I do." Suki began to tear up at these words, and pulled herself together for her final vow: "Suki of Kyoshi Island, do you take Sokka here to be your lawfull wedded husband, to care for him and help raise his children, and support him in good tims and bad?"
"I do,"
Hakoda closed the scrolls, knowing only one thing was left to say: "I now declare you husband and wife on behalf of the entire southern water tribe. You may now kiss-"
Suki then grabbed Sokka's parka and yanked him towards her, his lips meeting hers in a passionate kiss as the audience erupted in applause.
The reception was something to behold.
In the case of the newlyweds, Sokka was for once not inclined to stuff himself at the buffet, as he figured simply being with Suki would fulfil him more than any food could. Now, the couple danced slowly on the floor, their graceful movements the centre of attention in the party.
At the buffet, Aang and Katara helped themselves to the food, before sitting down to watch Sokka and Suki dance [Aang avoided the stewed sea prunes like the plague]. As they left, Alex came over, curious to try some of the food. He eyed the stewed sea prunes, and figured if he could stomach ration packs during UIP and KI operations, he could certainly eat fresh stewed sea prunes.
10 seconds later, Alex walked away from the buffet, having tucked an inconspicuous lump of spat out sea prunes on the floor and under the table cloth.
Alex looked at the dancing couples, with Sokka and Suki talking with family and friends over at another table. He decided that he needed to tell them of his knowledge of the fire rebel's HQ location, although he would of course change the story of how he got the information. But for now, he may as well let them enjoy the party, and he elected to not ask Sokka or Suki to accompany him, as they deserved an uninterrupted honeymoon.
Since the hostage crisis five weeks ago in the Fire capital, they had all been involved in fighting off 4 rebel uprisings of a large scale, and there were numerous small uprisings across the Fire and Earth nations. Alex knew that by striking and destroying their HQ, he would shatter their morale and leadership, causing them to crumble. With this raid Alex was planning, the rebel uprisings would certainly stop within a few weeks.
13th February 2900.
Southern Water Tribe
Sokka and Suki had decided to go to Kyoshi island for their honeymoon, and had left the morning after their wedding day, accompanying Suki's parents back home.
It was after the newlyweds left that Alex asked the rest of the Gaang to gather with him.
Inside a small ice hut, Hakoda had helped Alex gather who he needed. Aang, Katara, Toph, Zuko, and Mai were now sat in the hut with the enigmatic brown haired youth and Hakoda.
Alex then started: "I want to disclose some highly important strategic information I've been gathering these past few weeks, concerning the fire rebels."
Aang asked: "What?"
"I know where their headquarters is."
All of their eyes widened at this, and Zuko was the first to ask: "How?"
Alex began his tale. He told them that while he had gone off on his own, he had helped interrogate captured fire rebels, including the two he captured during the palace ambush. He had also had a hand in tracking messenger hawks, intercepting them and searching for rebel messages. He said he released them and tracked their movements on a map. He had unfolded a world map, showing traced paths of hawks which he had actually copied by hand from the digital maps of his island base's satellite and recon network. He explained how where the lines all met showed the centre of rebel information, their HQ.
Hakoda was obviously impressed with Alex's devotion to this case, and said to him: "So where is this place exactly?"
Alex unfolded a map of the southern Fire Nation, and pointed to an island near the southern tip: "It's on this island, and there is only one known structure thereabouts roughly, a prison facility used for prisoners of war by the fire nation during the war. It should be abandoned now, but I have my doubts the rebels would let such a place go to waste as a hideout."
Katara asked Alex: "So what are you saying, that we should attack this place?"
"Exactly. Breaking their central power location, and any leadership based there, will weaken the rebels and cause them to dissolve. Many of them were warped by propaganda, as I've heard, and if we remove the leadership, we remove the rebel threat altogether."
Hakoda asked: "But why are you only telling us? Surely some generals in the Earth Kingdom may want to hear this?"
Alex pointed at the island: "I thought that considering the history of this facility, you may wish to take part in a raid on it as payback for what happened to your tribe."
Mai asked: "Why? What was this place?"
"A prison facility built for southern water tribe prisoners. Namely waterbenders."
Katara then exclaimed out loud: "That must have been where Hama was kept before she escaped!"
By now, everyone had heard of Hama, the crazed old waterbender form the southern tribe, taken in some of the first raids on the tribe at the start of the war. She escaped and taught Katara the tool she used to escape, and to also torture local fire nation civilians as revenge, blood bending.
Deep down, Alex sympathized with Katara, as he had used an ability like blood bending once before, although he had only done it on Quirinth's comatose body, and his own old body and H'nuptec's body. He had done it by filling the thicker blood vessels with dark matter and animating it in the case of dead bodies, or simply pulling on the body like puppet strings in Quirinth's case.
However, the determination on the faces of those present showed Alex one thing. He would have plenty of backup in this raid.
15th February 2900
Southern Fire nation, former waterbender prison facility.
Up from the mountain top, the facility looked almost abandoned. However, there were guards posted on duty, walking along the grounds with determined defensive purposes.
The plan had been discussed, and Hakoda had assisted in gathering a sizable force in taking out the base. Currently the attack force consisted of Hakoda, Katara, Aang, Toph, Zuko, Mai, Alex and just under 150 earth kingdom soldiers, loyal fire soldiers and south water tribe warriors.
Around a campfire, Alex discussed the overview of the plan:
"The base could be a trove of information, so we need to preserve it at all costs. A full on assault is too dangerous, since any information may be destroyed for secrecy purposes. Also, if they have prisoners, they may kill them as defiance."
Hakoda then finished: "So we need to infiltrate the place and weaken defences before we move in."
Alex then spoke: "Correct. But, they will suspect any incoming soldiers, and all of you-" He looked at Hakoda, Mai, Zuko, Katara, Aang and Toph: "-will probably be recognized by one of the leaders somehow. I however, am a relative unknown, so I can infiltrate the base more safely if I am seen. However, intend not to be seen at all, to hide in plain sight. Like this."
As he finished, Alex activated the dark matter coating on his clothes and skin. He then completely vanished from view. Hakoda, being the only one inexperienced with Alex's 'dark bending', recoiled in shock, and said in a surprised voice: "I guess your perfect for getting in then. I heard you could do things like this, but no I believe it."
"Yes, I'll get in, and out, undetected." As Alex rematerialized, Zuko spoke up: "So you'll either come to us, or give a signal for us to move in on the base?"
"I'll make a large fire, not to harm anyone of course, or an explosion. If that happens, move in as fast as you can. And ensure no one escapes."
Later that night, as the troops settled down for a brief rest for the coming fight, and the fires were put out, Alex bid his friends farewell, and set off for the prison facility. The mile long walk was quiet, and in the darkness Alex's helmet night vision was invaluable. He walked through the main gate, the duty guards completely unaware he passed them.
The courtyard was abandoned, and as Alex entered the main building, the first thing he looked for was the records offices. According to satellite scans, it was on the ground level, useful for quick escapes, no stairs or anything.
As Alex rounded a corridor corner, he saw a pair of guards approaching. He ducked into a corner to not be bumped into, and listened to their conversation as they passed:
"Yeah, they got me watching the prisoners on duty. It's so boring, a bunch of traitors and old, crippled waterbenders from the war, no fun at all."
At the last piece of information, Alex's eyes snapped open beneath his concealed helmet. There were still waterbenders here, imprisoned since the war for god knows how long. This didn't change the mission though, it merely increased the priority of any prisoner rescue. Now it really was a personal matter for the southern water tribe.
Finally, Alex reached the record offices, and he saw that no one was inside at the time. He walked in silently, and saw a filing cabinet.
Although he had not been able to read initially, Alex had made great progress in reading in the seven weeks since he met the Gaang. He had learnt enough to be able to read basic things, which would be able to help him understand the documents. Although, he decided to use a built in language translator in his helmet display, which had been updated to include the language of this world. It would show a projected image of English text of the writing, allowing for quick translation.
As Alex sifted through the documents, he made sure to return them to their original locations whenever he finished. He memorized, and also scanned additionally, documents containing rebel movement records and plans, and had now moved on to facility prisoner lists,
Alex looked at the documents, seeing that there were a 2 dozen or so prisoners taken by the rebels, most of whom were VIP or high ranking, including commanders, bankers, noblemen and women, and even a fire sage. In addition, records showed that there were 7 southern water tribe prisoners, all of whom were waterbenders, who had been here for upwards of 60 years, the shortest stay prisoner having stayed for 11 years. It was obvious that the waterbenders were the priority prisoners, as they would likely be more vulnerable in the mental and physical state such imprisonment had put them in.
Having finished his search, Alex walked out the door, ready to begin his 'cleansing' of the facility, which needed him to signal the force to begin attacking first. He quickly found the courtyard again, and tried to find a suitable place to cause an explosion. Unfortunately, there wasn't one.
Alex mentally groaned, knowing that he would have to haul a lot of barrels now.
As it happened, the blasting jelly barrels were heavier than Alex thought. The supply shed was open, and Alex had made many, many trips between there and a spot beneath a watch tower. He had been piling explosives at the tower base, disguising them under a layer of dark matter, while also carrying explosives under dark matter to add to the pile.
By the time he was done, he had near robbed the base of a quarter of its blasting jelly and gunpowder, and piled it at the tower base. Now, all he needed was a spark or a lighter. Luckily, he thought ahead for this, as he had requested two of a certain item from the island base to be secretly delivered. He ordered two in case one failed, but at the rate things were going, he wouldn't need the spare.
As Alex ran to the main facility wall, he looked at the watch tower base, and while still under cloaking, he pulled out an incendiary grenade, one concealed in each of his torso in built dark matter compartments,
As he prepared to throw, he looked at the tower base 75 metres away, mentally commanding the dark matter to return and de-coat the explosive pile. As soon as it was visible, Alex threw the grenade with all his might, his mechanical limbs allowing him to throw the grenade a naturally impossible distance, and watched satisfied as it sailed right on target. In his success, he almost forgot to retreat into the facility hallway for cover. As he ducked into the hall, and heard the shouts of a guard at noticing the sudden explosive pile's appearance, he thought excitedly:
This is gonna be one big boom.
Up on the mountain, Aang stood around the campfire with Katara, trying to pass the time as they waited for a signal of some sort from Alex. Mai and Toph were sat against a rock each, having near fallen asleep with boredom. They were constantly looking over at Hakoda and Zuko, who were perched at the ridge top, overlooking the prison, waiting to pass on the message to attack. As it happened, the passed on command may not have been necessary.
BOOOOM!
An earth shattering explosion sounded over the ridge, and in surprise Aang, Katara, Mai and Toph joined Hakoda and Zuko on the ridge. As they met, they saw a massive cloud of smoke where one of the prison watchtowers once stood, and the tower lay shattered all over the courtyard.
Realizing this was the signal, Hakoda commanded for the attack to start.
Down in the prison, guards rushed about in panic, trying to figure out what had just happened. Within a hallway, just near the main entrance, a cloaked, masked man contemplated whether he used perhaps a bit too much explosive.
Shaking it off, Alex peeked around, and saw in his telescopic helmet display that the main attack force was en route down the mountain side, and by now had diverted the guards' attention. Alex stifled a laugh, and set off towards the prisoner bay, realizing that he had certainly used enough explosive after all. After all, thought Alex, when you use too much it can be called overkill, but when you're limited, and need it, one thinks differently.
Nevertheless, with the guards now occupied, he could now infiltrate the prisoner bay, and begin rescuing the prisoners, and killing any guards there at the time to stop him.