Author's Notes: Well I am back and as promised bring on the Blood! Before we begin as always I don't own any thing. Niccolo Machiavelli owns The Prince.
Fortune is a woman, and if you wish to master her, you must strike and beat her, and you will see that she allows herself to be more easily vanquished by the rash and the violent than by those who proceed more slowly and coldly.-The Prince
The fleet departed on schedule and made good time for the Jade Islands. The fleet consisted of one Empire-class ship, Legacy of Sozin, half a dozen cruisers and eight older ships similar to the one his brother was hunting the avatar on; these last had all had their single trebuchets replaced with ballista. They were to serve primarily in a scouting role.
In addition to his own Ash Knights Zokar had command of the other ground forces with the fleet; these consisted of approximately three hundred men. The contingent would normally be much larger but as no amphibious operations were planed the rest had been sent to General Hong's force, he would see to the pirate bases when he arrived, the fleet's job was to deal with their ships. This also explained why of his entire contingent only twenty were firebenders.
His relationship with Zhao had not improved; the captain clearly relished having power over a member of the royal family, particularly one whom he knew was not in the Fire Lord's favor. He refused Zokar's request that more ground troops be requested and forbade Zokar to make use of the firebenders attached to the ships and not under Zokar's command. Seeing that Zhao was denying him simply for the pleasure of spiting him and further efforts would be futile he avoided the captain whenever possible and spent his time drilling or reading books on naval strategy.
They reached their destination without incident, a fact which disturbed several of the officers, they had seen ships as they approached the islands but these had all stayed well beyond their reach and had quickly disappeared over the horizon. When they were several hours from the islands Zhao called a council of all the ship commanders and Zokar as the ground force commander. When they were all assembled Zhao unrolled a map of the islands and his aids began placing markers on it.
"These gentlemen;" began Zhao, "Are the Jade Islands. As you can see they are arranged in a crescent arch forming a natural harbor. Here;" he pointed to the island in the center of the arch, "Is where we believe the pirate base to be located. My plan is simple; at first light Legacy of Sozin, along with the cruisers, will enter the bay and engage the pirates; meanwhile the smaller ships will form a perimeter on the other side of the islands and attack any ships that evade the attacking force."
One of the captains indicated he wished to speak. "Do we have an estimation of their numbers and wither they aware of our coming?"
Zhao made a dismissive gesture. "All our reports on their numbers come from survivors and those are too contradictory to be of any use; as for their knowing, even if they do, what of it? They prey on merchants; they don't have the stomach for a straight-up fight with a fleet as large as ours, they will run at the first sight of us."
Zokar spoke up. "Captain, with all respect, this plan seems ill conceived. We cannot assume that. The mere fact that we are here shows they can threaten our navy; and to sail in without further intelligence seems unwise. We should deploy the smaller ships to perform the duty we brought them for, to scout ahead of the fleet."
"Prince Zokar;" said Zhao, anger clearly entering his voice." I will thank you to remember that I am the commanding officer of this expedition and a naval captain; I do not need you to advise me on naval tactics. Your brother also had the habit of speaking out of turn in war councils on matters he knew nothing about." Here he seemed to regain his cool and his voice became mockingly sarcastic. "I would hate for a similar fate to befall you." He turned to address the room. "This council is over, dismissed."
As dawn broke the ships sailed into the bay, Zhao had the Legacy of Sozin in front with three cruisers on either side forming a V formation. Zokar was on the bridge with Zhao and most of his senior staff. His Ash Knights were with the rest of the ground troops on the ship. Like him they had donned their armor.
He had offered to have armor like his made for them but they had respectfully declined. They all agreed that it offered more protection, but it cost too much maneuverability. They did have a point; the weight had surprised Zokar and even with his strength his speed was not quite what it had been before. He would have liked to train more with it before going into battle with it but that was no longer an option. Instead they wore the armor of royal firebenders, but were the armor was normally red and black the armor worn by the Ash Knights was dyed an ash-gray, clearly marking them as part of the Ash Knights unit and not firebenders.
"Ships spotted!" Cried the lookout, scanning the bay Zokar saw several ships of both Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe design. They had clearly been trying to leave the bay but at the sight of the oncoming fleet they turned and headed back into the bay. Though the tide was with them they going against the wind and Zhao's fleet gained steadily on them.
"As you can see Prince Zokar;" said Zhao, a smirk on both his face and in his voice, "The pirates are fleeing; it would appear that your fears were quite unfounded." Turning to the speaking tube he addressed the ship's signal man. "Signal the cruisers. Tell them to break off and engage the enemy ships, they are not to let one escape."
Zokar watched the cruisers sail off, each eager to claim a kill, and felt uneasy. This was all going too smoothly; if any of the ships they had seen were pirates they would have had more than enough time to evacuate. Still, he had to admit, he had had no naval experience before now. Perhaps he was not giving Zhao enough credit.
"What is that?" Someone asked.
Focusing ahead Zokar was confronted by a massive fog bank rolling towards them, and it was traveling against the wind.
"Waterbenders!" Hissed Zokar as the fog enveloped the ship. It was so thick that he could not even see the deck below him, let alone any of the other ships. Everything seemed to go strangely silent, even the engines seemed less noisy. Then he heard a number of whistling sounds, barely audible at first but growing steadily louder, and then a cry went up.
"Incoming!"
Barely had the cry been raised when a number of large boulders tore through the fog to crash into the ship. Though he could not see the impacts through the fog he felt the ship rock from the hits. Several men were thrown to the deck and only by grabbing on to something was Zokar able to keep his feet. Then another impact shook the ship; this one struck much closer to the bridge and the glass of the viewing ports shattered, glass cutting several crewmen. Then something both large and heavy crashed onto the roof of the bridge causing it to partially collapse. Fortunately Zokar was on the side that did not collapse; others, including Zhao, were not so fortunate and the screams of wounded and dying men filled the air.
Adding to the noise an anxious voice came over the speaking tube. "Bridge, this is the engine room! They must have hit the smoke stacks! Pressure is building in the boilers! If we don't shut them down they're going to blow!"
Zokar got to his feet, having been knocked down by the last impact, and made his way to the tube. "This is Prince Zokar. Senior Captain Zhao has been injured and I am assuming command of the fleet! Kill the engines!" Turning to Zhao's adjutant, Senior Lieutenant Kai, he said, "You are now acting Junior Captain, take command of the ships!" Technically there was some doubt whether Zokar could either promote anyone or take charge; but Kai seemed quite willing to go along with it and grateful for someone, even a teenage boy, giving orders. Being a subordinate of Zhao, it seemed, was not a job that encouraged a lot of independent thinking.
Just then the fog began to lift, with ambush sprung the benders generating it turned their efforts elsewhere. When it lifted Zokar beheld chaos.
The previously nearly empty bay was now filled with craft of all sizes. Fighting ships of the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes, their decks crowded with armed men, smaller craft that darted about, some moving so swiftly that they had to have waterbenders aboard and farther back three massive cargo haulers which sat unusually low in the water. Something compelled him to look at one with his telescope. The decks of the ships had mostly been removed leaving only a small section upon which five men stood. With the deck gone Zokar could see into the hold and it was filled with rocks. Even as he watched the men made earthbending movements and several large boulders came up from the hold to hurl themselves at the invading fleet.
The Fire Nation ships had by now recovered from their shock and were firing at the pirate vessels, but they were each separated and surrounded by enemy ships and there was no coordination, each ship randomly firing at whatever was closest.
The enemy, on the other hand, was attacking in a highly coordinated fashion. Zokar watched as more stones were hurled at one cruiser which was firing on several ships that darted around it. As the stones arched over the ship the earthbenders made more movements and the stones burst apart, the shards raining down onto the deck. Crewmen fell to the deck, some thrashing and screaming, others lay still and the trebuchets fell silent. As soon as that happened the ships that had been circling it darted in and men poured from them onto the cruiser's deck.
Elsewhere a skiff with three people in it shot alongside another cruiser. Two of them formed twin arcs of water that went up and down as though from a fountain. The water went straight down the smoke stacks and into the boilers. With a great boom the boilers exploded, literally tearing the ship in half.
All this seemed to happen in the blink of an eye. Zokar turned back to Kai; "Captain, drop anchor and signal the fleet! Have the cruisers form a perimeter around us and kill their engines and drop anchor as well. Once they are in position have them coordinate their fire and drive off the enemy ships and order the ships firebenders to keep those small boats at bay and have all soldiers prepare to repel boarders from anything that gets through."
"But we'll be sitting turtle-ducks for those earth…" began Kai.
"I know; signal the ships holding on the other side of the islands to come and engage the ships they're on. They should be fast enough that if they keep their movements random they can avoid the worst of the enemy's fire." So saying he tuned to the speaking tube leading to the soldier's berthing, "Meet me at the boat bay and grab any of the crew you see who can firebend." He then headed towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Kai cried out.
"To take the fight to the enemy."
Fortunately, the ship had taken little internal damage and he was able to reach the boat bay with little difficulty. As the flagship the ship held the largest contingent of the ground forces, about one hundred strong, these had been reinforced by the ships own firebenders adding another sixty men.
Zokar first looked at these. "You men will take some of the boats and drive off the waterbenders; they're in their element so don't engage them on equal terms, stay in groups and support each other." He then turned to the others. "The rest of us are going to get our cruiser back."
They quickly boarded the boats and shot towards the cruiser, avoiding the other cruisers as they moved into position; while the boats containing firebenders split off to engage the waterbenders.
The cruiser had three enemy ships attached to it with grappling hooks and pirates swarmed the ship's deck. The crew seemed to have withdrawn into the superstructure and the pirates were attempting to force their way in. They did not see the smaller craft as they pulled alongside. Zokar signaled for six of the craft to break off, two to each of the enemy ships, with orders to fire them; he then led the others onto their ship.
He was the first one up. He was near the prow of the ship and the enemy all had their backs to him, without waiting for the others he advanced. The pirates were making so much noise they failed to hear him as he advanced upon them. His sword left its sheath and sliced two heads completely off before anyone noticed his presence. When they did those in back turned on him. He was, for the moment, alone and there were dozens of them but they could not all come at him at once and those at the front still seemed unaware of what was going on. Also, at most, they had boiled leather vests, he was clad in steel.
Blows fell on him and rang off his armor; in response he lashed out with sword and shield. His shield was triangular in shape and was made of hard wood. Like his armor he had it painted black except for the emblem of the Fire Nation painted in red in the center. What really made it vicious, however, was the steel rim around the wood, which he had sharpened to a razor point.
He swung it around in an arc to slice open one man's throat. He then used it to block a downward blow from an axe. The blow forced him down on one knee; he then stood and pushed up with his shield, forcing the axe back over the man's head. He then chocked the shield back and rammed the tip of it into the man's left eye. The eye popped and the bone of the eye socket gave as the blow buried the tip in the man's brain.
As he freed his shield another man swung a sword at him. He managed to bring his shield around to block it but the sword had a hooked blade instead of the usual straight blade. The man used it to pull his shield out of the way while he swung a second hooked sword, angled so the tip would strike the side of his helmet. Not wanting to find out the hard way if his helmet could take the hit he sank down onto his haunches and the blade sailed over him to strike his left arm. Pain shot up and down his arm but the bracer held and the arm did not seem broken. He used his stance to spring forward and bury his blade in the man's unprotected stomach.
Just then a shout went up as the rest of his men joined the fray. Chen wielded his twin swords fighting two or three men at a time. Hoong swung his hammer left and right felling two or more men with each blow. Lee and Dee moved so swiftly that at times it seemed they were one person with two swords, one would engage and enemy and the other would strike at his brother's opponent's unguarded flank or rear. Lǎoshǔ, who in place of his usual weapons, which would have been of little value in a close quarters fight like this one, wielded a pair of long knifes stayed close to Hoong. Hoong, whose charge had taken him deep into the pirates, seemed unaware that there were now threats at his flanks and rear. Lǎoshǔ took up a position behind Hoong to guard these positions and allow Hoong to continue his forward rush.
With his Ash Knights and the other soldiers Zokar drove into the pirates. Then a second cry went up. His other soldiers had succeeded in firing the other ships. With the foe pressing them from the front, the steel tower of the ship behind them and now with their own ships burning the pirates lost hope. Some threw themselves at Zokar and his men, a few threw themselves into the sea the rest dropped their weapons and surrendered.
Zokar's men began to cheer and chant his name, as did the surviving crew who now joined them on deck. Zokar quickly ended it, the battle was not done. As the prisoners were taken to the brig Zokar scanned the battle. The cruisers had followed his orders and had formed up around the damaged capital ship and their now coordinated fire was keeping the enemy at bay. The first of the scout ships had just entered the bay and was making for the cargo ships while the boats bearing the firebenders darted about engaging the waterbenders.
But the situation was still grim. Thought the enemy was held at bay for now their ships still outnumbered Zokar's and the earthbenders still bombarded the fleet. Already one cruiser was listing badly to one side and most of the others sported damage to one degree or another. If the scout ships could not deal with the earthbenders they would pound the Fire Nation ships to pieces, and if the enemy ships were not cleared out of the way the scout ships would not have a chance to reach the earthbenders.
Even as he watched one of the enemy ships moved closer to his ships. It was larger than the others, he guessed it to be an old Earth Kingdom warship, and sported several ballista and catapults. At the front of the ship was a man whose dark skin showed his Water Tribe liege. He wore rich clothing of Earth Kingdom make and a jian sword was belted at his waist. As Zokar watched the man moved through a waterbending form. Ice shot from the water to shred two of the boats engaging the waterbenders and their occupants. Somehow the man seemed to know that he was being watched, he turned and even at that distance his eyes and Zokar's locked.
Zokar knew what had to be done; he shouted a command which was relayed to the bridge and the ship shot towards the enemy commander. Other enemy ships saw what he was doing and moved to intercept. In this they were unsuccessful; one ship ended up being rammed by Zokar's cruiser. His ship shuddered terribly but the other ship was crushed to splinters.
Zokar looked at the bay. The other scout ships were now in the bay and were shooting for their targets, unobserved by the enemy ships who were now focused solely on his own ship, even the small craft with waterbenders were moving toward him, he had to keep it that way.
Arrows peppered his ship; these were joined by ice shards, water whips and other water-based attacks. Zokar ordered his men to take refuge inside or to group together and lock their shields if they could not. That did not seem to be such a good idea when the ballista on the enemy flagship opened fire, striking several men. Several boulders also struck the ship causing it list and take on water but the ship continued on and struck the enemy flagship.
By the time it reach it Zokar's ship no longer had sufficient speed to ram through the enemy ship but it did break through the side of the hull they struck, thus locking the two ships together. Zokar sprang onto the other ship calling for his men to follow.
For the second time that day he found himself alone and surrounded by foes. Again his armor lent him the advantage but he felt himself beginning to tire and his armor seemed to gain weight with each passing minute. Fortunately his men were hot on his heels and together they drove the pirates back.
Then with a cry other ships pulled alongside them and pirate reinforcements fell on their flanks and rear. It was then that the enemy commander made his appearance.
Zokar had just cut down another pirate when a water whip struck a man near him. Just before it made contact its tip became ice and took the man's head off. Following the water back to its source Zokar saw the enemy leader approaching.
Several of Zokar's soldiers saw him as well and charged him. The man casually did a sweeping kick and an arch of water shot towards them. This also tuned to ice and the men were sheered in half.
Zokar quickly interposed himself between the waterbender and his men. "Soldiers back!" He cried. "Ash Knights to the fore!"
He charged and as he had expected the man shot a blast of water at him, he tried to dodge but he was not moving as fast as he had at the beginning of the battle. It struck his sword arm and encased the limb in ice; it seemed to be the man's favorite trick. Not slowing Zokar closed with him and swung his frozen limb like a club. The man dodged the blow and Zokar's arm struck the ships mast shattering enough of the ice to allow his arm to move again.
He looked around trying to find his knights. The only one he could see was Lǎoshǔ fighting another bender. Lǎoshǔ had produced his usual ball-and-chain weapons from somewhere. As the bender launched a prolonged blast of water Lǎoshǔ launched himself forward into a roll that took him under the water, which actually now shielded him from the bender's view. His left chain shot out and wrapped around the benders leg; he pulled and the man lost his footing and control over the water which splashed to the deck. As the man fell Lǎoshǔ launched his other weapon, the iron ball of which crushed the man's forehead.
Movement in front of Zokar brought his attention back to his own opponent. The man had formed a sphere of water around him was using it to form a barrage of ice daggers. Zokar brought his shield up and hunched low to present a smaller target.
This could not go on; he was tiring fast, if the man could not get in a lucky hit then he could just wear him out. He had to get close that was a weakness of most bending of any style, they usually needed space. Above all he could not stay stationary, if one was stationary while fighting a bender then the bender could bring his full strength to bear. He gauged the distance between them to be about twenty feet; he saw water coming up the sides of the ship on both sides of him, he moved.
He sprang from his crouch and ran forward; as he had hoped the man's reactions were slower now and the number of daggers had decreased. Even master benders could have difficulty shifting between all the forms of their bending needed to maintain control over large quantities of their element, especially if they were employing multiple techniques; in this particular case, the sphere, the ice daggers and the water tendrils.
Eighteen feet.
The man released the tendrils and the number and speed of the daggers increased again. Zokar had anticipated this and leaned forward as if to go into a role. The man had clearly seen Lǎoshǔ perform this trick and moved to counter it. Water formed ice spikes along the Zokar's path. He had not rolled, however, once he saw that the man had fallen for it he leaped forward. He easily crushed the spikes he landed on, as they had been angled to catch a rolling man, not straight up and down.
Thirteen feet.
Now the man panicked. Zokar had seen it before; benders liked ranged combat, most did not like it when their opponent got close, it made them sloppy. The man abandoned his attacks and went for his sword. Zokar could not allow that. He flung his shield at the man. It was a clumsy throw and his shield had not been designed for it; anyone could have avoided it with ease, but the man thought like a bender, not a swordsman. He raised a wall of water and froze it. Before it could completely freeze, however, the shield struck it and it shattered.
Nine feet.
The man went for his sword again but it was too late. Zokar lashed out as the sword came half way out of its sheath, slicing the man's throat and carotid arteries open. The man fell to the deck chocking on his own blood. Zokar stood over him for a second, and then he thrust down into the man's heart, ending his pain.
Looking around he found that it had all gone quiet. Both sides stared at him and his dead opponent. Though he had won his own battle he and his men were still out numbered many times over. Once the pirates recovered from their shock they would swarm Zokar and his men
Then a series of flaming missiles struck several of the pirate ships. All eyes turned to their source. The Fire Nation ships were once again under steam and heading into the fray.
When Zokar had charged his ship at the pirate flagship the other pirates had gone to its aid. With them gone the scout ships had had a clear run to their targets. With the earthbenders neutralized and the waterbenders engaged with Zokar Kai had order the engines brought on line again. While this was happening Zhao had regained consciousness and resumed command. He had immediately ordered the ships to close with the enemy. Due to most of the pirates being engaged fighting Zokar and his men they were able to sink several of their ships without any difficulty. That, combined with the death of their leader, had been the last straw for the pirates, they had broken and scattered. Some tried to run for the open sea, only a few made it. Some made for the islands, a lot more made it there as the fleet was too badly damaged and short of ground forces to pursue and many just surrendered. The Ash Knights first battle ended in a bloody hard earned victory.
Author's Notes: Well that's done, hope it was bloody enough for you all. What do you all think? If you all see anything that was wrong or needed improvement please let me know in the reviews. It may be awhile till next update; I have another story and I have kept the readers waiting long enough. But I will be back and soon there will be both a new addition and things taking an unexpected turn. Please keep praying for Shawn and the people of Colorado Springs, if you haven't heard there is a big fire there and a lot of homes have burned. Till next time may Jesus bless you all.