Someone commented that it would be best if I kept this story as pure as possible, meaning that I minimize introducing OC's from other well known universes (FMA, gundam, macross, etc.). Anyway, I'm hoping for at least 2 more opinions regarding this before I make up my mind on the final part of the story, where this decision will be important.
The crusade grounded to a halt before the massive outer walls of Ba Sing Se. The order was given for the army to set up a forward base of operations from which they could assault the walls. Warmaster Alexander Thant's prefab command shelter in the rear was one of the first things to have been set up.
He sent for one of the captured fire soldiers from the earlier battle, and instructed him to deliver a message to the de-facto leader of the city, if he ever wanted his freedom. The soldier did as he was told, and delivered the message to the commander of the walls, who in turn promptly delivered the note to princess Azula.
While Thant waited, a shuttle arrived from orbit, bringing Leo Heinemann to the field.
Upon stepping out, Heinemann quickly made his way to Thant with a pace that was obviously suggestive of some sort of urgency.
"Leo, it's good to see you, but what's the rush?" Thant cheerfully greeted.
Leo tried to return a smile, but he still had a hint of seriousness across his face, "It's good to see you as well Thant, but things have gotten more complicated lately."
"What's wrong then?"
"Do you know that there are at least a thousand federation ships in orbit at this moment" He stated coldly.
"A THOUSAND! What in the name of the Dragon star are they doing here?" Thant shouted in surprise.
Heinemann shrugged, "I have no idea. However, I heard that lord Dagon Jor of the Zeonian knights wanted to speak with you regarding this."
"It will have to wait; I've got a wall to breach and a city to conquer."
At around that moment, Delran La Ruel approached, drawn by the warmaster's rather loud exclamation, and by the quickly spreading rumor that a massive crusade fleet had appeared in orbit.
"What's this I hear about a legion of ships up in orbit?" La Ruel asked in a sharp tone.
Leo turned to look at him, and gave him a "your guess is as good as mine" expression, "You would not believe, they've got contingents and vessels from all over the federation worlds. New Republic, Imperium, Earth Alliance, Zhol, Dremen, and a whole lot more."
La Ruel gave him a quirked yet surprised look.
Heinemann continued, "Heck, the presence of the Shivago and the Macross within that fleet is already enough to scare the grit outta me!"
Thant interrupted, "Regardless of the reason, we must first get to the business of getting through this wall with minimal casualties if possible. I'm hoping we could knock down several 1-mile long breaches across the length of it."
La Ruel took a moment to think about it, "Why not just drop troops behind the wall?"
"Because, the area immediately behind the wall happens to be full of farms and villages, and these fire nation bastards did not bother to even let the people evacuate." Thant explained.
"Sort of like calling your bluff, isn't it?" Heinemann suggested.
"Possibly, but that won't stop me from getting through, so if we can't go over, we'll just have to plow right through, and take the villages, one house at a time."
After a few more moments of idle chat, all three continued on with their normal business. Later that day, Thant received word that princess Azula had arrived via terra train, to speak with the warmaster.
Thant sent for 2 of his star legionnaires. Their task was to act as a precautionary bodyguard for Thant, although it was rather unlikely that Azula could overpower the warmaster.
Thant and his honor guard retinue made their way to a point somewhere between the base and the closest section of the wall. On the horizon, they could make out a small group of riders atop strange half-breed animals. They noted that the princess was amongst the group.
Within moments, they had arrived within conversational distance, and the meeting began.
Azula gave him a cold sneer, showing her utter disdain for the warmaster, "I take it that you are the one in charge of this strange rabble?"
"You are correct ma'am, I am warmaster Alexander Thant" the warmaster replied.
"Well now, courteous aren't we" Azula commented sarcastically. "You're apparently not the boorish idiotic brute that the reports led me to believe."
"You would do well to learn not to underestimate your opponents, ma'am."
Azula's wicked smile soon turned to a scowl, "Nevertheless, you have not told me why you are here."
"We are here to incorporate this world into the alliance known as the Federation of the United Imperium. The leaders of the earth kingdom and water tribes have offered to think our offer over, provided we liberate their lands and put an end to this genocidal war."
"I should have known that it would be typical of those cowards to get someone else to do the fighting for them." Azula scoffed.
She continued, "So why did you request this meeting, did you lose your stomach for fighting and decide to come and play diplomat all of a sudden."
"No, I came to demand your surrender" Thant stated bluntly.
"That's a luxury that I will never give you." Azula said coyly.
Thant reached into his storage compartment, and threw a tied bundle of sealed letter upon the ground.
"Do you see that?" He thundered. "We managed to acquire these from a fire nation courier that was accidently killed by one of our patrols. Those letters belonged to the commander that led the ill fated attack against my army far to the south of here."
"So?" Azula shrugged apathetically. "What's your point?"
Thant's visor plate could barely conceal his loathing for this woman, "My point is, this man had a wife, and a son that he has never seen since the boy's birth. These are the people that you so carelessly demand the lives of. What mad cause has propelled your father to continue such an abominable war?"
Azula stared at him, locking her eyes with his, "Oh, I don't think you have much of a right to be pointing that finger of accusation at me or my father. You of all people should be able to recognize the similarities between your side, and mine.
"What are you talking about?" Thant asked.
"This crusade of yours sounds a lot like what my people are doing anyway. If anything, we are birds of the same feather."
"That's not true!" he protested. "We give these people a choice to join us, and we only ever resort to military intervention if these worlds were under unstable government."
"Which is also the situation on this world as well?" Azula countered. "The earth kingdom is corrupt, the water tribes are backward, and the air nomads have become irrelevant. I and my father are just trying to breathe life within this civilization."
Thant thought about this for a while. He realized that perhaps, just maybe, the crusade may have gone too far. How many people had they ever truly saved? Every time they intervened, they killed people that the intervention should have saved to begin with. All through Thant's life, he had known nothing but war, ever since the day the took him from his parents, and engineered him into the superhuman leader that he was now. Pulling out the scroll of the dead commander's wife, he tried searching for an answer to all this and he finally found one.
"You're honey coated lips have failed to sway me, oh serpent of the fire nation" Thant triumphantly taunted. "It does not matter whether the nations of this world join us or not, I will stop the fire nation's scheme of conquering this world. After all, if this war could last a hundred years, who knows how many more generations must die before it ends. I will do this, in the most bloodless manner that a learned warmaster can possibly accomplish."
Azula was visibly angered by the notion of being bested in the art of subterfuge, and not to mention the "serpent" insult. Arcs of lightning began appearing around her body. Her guards readied their weapons, while the warmaster's legionnaire's brought their weapon systems online. However, Azula managed to calm down. She raised hand, signaling her men to stand down. She gave the warmaster an extremely cold stare, and turned around to return to her mount.
"I'll have your head for this Thant, I swear it" She sneered.
"You would do best to look after your own first." He replied.
With the negotiations over, she and her retinue rode back to get aboard the terra train and return to the city. Thant and his honor guard walked back to the camp, where La Ruel and Heinemann were eagerly awaiting his return.
Thant removed his helm; the expression upon it told the two other men that things did not go so well.
"I take it that she was an absolute witch?" Heinemann joked.
"Please, don't complement her like that" Thant said jokingly.
Thant signaled for the captain of the artillery. The man arrived, standing at attention and awaiting the warmaster's orders.
Motioning to the wall behind him, Thant spoke, "Bring it down. Bring it all down."
Sorry for the "macross" reference, but it will be plot necessary towards the end. That is, unless 2 more people suggest otherwise.