Author's Notes: Hey everyone, I hope you liked the last chapter. In a review of 'To break the cycle' someone made some comments which gave me the idea for this chapter. So I am going to give it a go and if you all don't like it let me know in the reviews.
We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another- Julius Robert Oppenheimer, "father of the atomic bomb", at time of first artificial nuclear explosion
The fleet was at the captured base for two days before they sailed. The original plan had been to sail back to the Fire Nation but the evening before they were to depart a messenger hawk arrived from the capital with new orders. They were to sail to the Earth Kingdom, once there they were to assist the Earth Kingdom in naval operations. Like the Fire Nation the Earth Kingdom had undergone massive demobilization after the war and their fleet was in an even worse state than that of the Fire Nation, due to its massive size the Earth Kingdom had never had to develop either a large military or mercantile fleet, and they were now scrambling to catch up.
From intelligence reports it seemed that the enemy was aware of this and was moving to attack the Earth Kingdom city of Loa Chi, located near the southern tip of the Earth Kingdom. The city was the base of the majority of the Earth Kingdom fleet was based and the center of their efforts to rebuild their fleet. If the attack were to succeed these efforts would be severely hampered. The message further stated that the Earth King and his councilors had all protested strongly that they were perfectly capable of defending the city without Fire Nation assistance, residual animosity of the war, it had taken the Avatar to persuade them to allow Zokar's fleet to render aid.
In truth, Zokar was not sure how much aid he could render. While the fleet had grown with the addition of captured vessels, including his new flagship, the manpower had not, with the result of all ships being manned by less than full crews. From the reports it did not appear that the enemy had much of a fleet but they did have a large ground force. Zokar supposed that the fleet could off-load the marines but he was not sure if there were enough of them to make that much of a difference, he supposed that they could include their war machines from the ships but still.
There was more, there had been a second message, meant only for Zokar. In it Azula had informed him that she had long been suspicious of the Earth Kingdom activities at Loa Chi. Even in her semi-exile at White Sands she had heard disturbing things, though these had been little more than rumors. She had told Zuko but he had insisted that the Earth King was an ally and allies did not spy on one another, this had been of the points of contention between them. Now that Zokar was going there himself she urged him to attempt to uncover what, if anything, the Earth Kingdom was trying so hard to keep secret. While he could not do so himself, he was a prince and in addition to such activates being beneath the dignity of a prince he would undoubtedly be watched every second that he was there. However, the same would not be the same Haruko, she could go were Zokar could not while attracted all the watchful eyes. All of this made Zokar uncomfortable, assassinating a known enemy was one thing but he had always been taught that the Earth Kingdom was a friend and it felt wrong to spy on a friend. Yet the letter urged him to do so for the sake of the Fire Nation.
Fortunately, his internal troubles were not reciprocated in the real world and the voyage was made without difficulties, either from weather or from enemies. Indeed the greatest source of contention was Anana. The captains had not been happy at the presence of a pirate among them and had insisted that Zokar keep her under control. Upon hearing this she had suggested that she should sleep in his cabin, perhaps keep her on a leash. He suspected that she said this just to embarrass him, if so she succeeded. After that she spent the voyage moving about the ship, flirting with the crew and poking her nose into everything, though she seemed to know enough not to press too far.
Haruko, it seemed, felt compelled to report to Zokar all of Anana's activities. Zokar got the feeling that Haruko did not like the pirate, he supposed she saw her as a threat to security. Indeed, Zokar wondered when Haruko had time to sleep, she seemed to not like Anana very much and spent all her time watching her or Zokar. She never said anything but Zokar could detect the hostility in her voice whenever Anana was discussed. Any hostility that she felt paled in comparison to the hostility that they received when they reached Loa Chi.
Zokar had been to the Earth Kingdom several times, each time he had sensed some ill will, but nothing compared to the barely concealed hostility that he and the others received upon their arrival. General Durjaya, the commander of the garrison and governor of Loa Chi, barely managed to be civil. It was clear that he was allowing them into the city only because the Earth King was ordering him and the Earth King was only ordering him because the Avatar was pressuring him. His mood was not improved when he was introduced to Zokar, Zokar was not sure if it was his age or his status as a member of the family which had tried to conquer the Earth Kingdom. The only thing that seemed to make Durjaya somewhat happy was the knowledge that Zokar did not have any official military rank.
"That being the case Prince you are primarily a guest and you will comport yourself as such. You may render assistance if it is deemed necessary but you will refrain from interfering in our preparations for the defense of the city. If we deem your participation is indeed necessary you will do so under my direction and no other way. Am I perfectly clear Prince?" Zokar felt his anger rising but he bit his lip and forced himself to nod in acknowledgement and with that the interview ended.
Zokar returned to his flagship, his face still flaming with anger. He entered his quarters with Lee and Anana, though he could not see her he was sure Haruko was about as well, he supposed that he should be grateful that she hadn't killed Durjaya. A servant poured them all drinks Zokar threw himself into a chair.
"What a charming fellow," Anana said lightly; "I can't imagine why he isn't still at the Court of Ba Sing Se."
"I agree," Lee said; "The man was incredibly rude. His action flew in the face of all propriety. We are an allied nation after all. And what was with him not saying the Prince's name?" At that Anana laughed lightly, causing everyone to look at her.
"Oh, I can tell you that. It's your name, or rather the person that you are named after. Your uncle left quite an impression on these people. They hate him but they still fear him, even after all of these years, some people here will not even say his name. I think the more superstitious ones fear attracting his ghost." Here she chuckled and shook her head in mockery.
Zokar sat back in his chair digesting what he had just heard. He had known that his uncle was a controversial figure, even in the Fire Nation, and he supposed that he would not be remembered fondly in the Earth Kingdom as he had spent several years trying to conquer it. But this made it seem that some here considered him some more, or less, than human, like a monster out of a story used to frighten children. He was not sure what to think of that, it was clear that his uncle was feared and Aunt Azula had always said that it helped to feared. On the other hand, he was not sure he liked the idea of his uncle, and by extension himself, as being seen as a monster.
The following week was an uncomfortable affair. The Earth Kingdom officers made little effort to hide their hostility and after several incidents in Loa Chi Zokar and the captains ordered all personnel to remain on the ships. This caused moral to drop and several fights broke out. In light of these events it was almost a relief when General Durjaya informed them that the rebels were approaching the city. Zokar was invited to attend the strategy meeting to plan for the defense of the city. From reports from Haruko Zokar knew that there had already been several such meetings but this was the first that he or any of the other Fire Nation officers had been invited to.
The meeting was held at Durjaya's headquarters in his central office, in the middle of which was a table map of Loa Chi and the surrounding country. Fortunately Loa Chi was on a peninsula and so there was only one way that the enemy could come at the city except from the sea and the enemy was not known to have any ships and even if they did Zokar and his fleet would be in a position to engage them before they could reach the city.
What the enemy did have was a force which outnumbered the defenders at least three to one. Reinforcements had been sent from Ba Sing Se but the sheer size of the Earth Kingdom meant that their mobilization efforts were even more hindered than the Fire Nation's efforts. Additionally many of the semi-autonomous city-states were dragging their feet. It seemed they remembered the war and how much, or more accurately, how little, support they had received from Ba Sing Se the last time and many seemed to be looking to their own defenses first and were sending few troops, if any, to aid the common effort. The end result being that they would receive no reinforcements before the enemy arrived.
Another disadvantage that they would have to contend with was the fact that the city garrison had remarkably few benders, less than twenty. These factors apparently had forced Durjaya to admit that he would need Fire Nation help to hold the city. It was decided that, as Zokar had few marines, the best way that he could assist would be to off-load the ships' war machines' and use them to augment the cities defenses. Apart from that it seemed that the role of Zokar and the others would be that of observers.
Four days after the meeting the enemy was spotted and soon afterwards the dust could be seen from the approaching enemy force, from a position on the city walls Zokar and a number of officers, including Durjaya, observed the plains before the city. The few earthbenders available to raise walls and dig entrenchments, Zokar noted a number of empty platforms, these all had barricades built around them and were some distance away from the other positions. As he looked at them movement caught his eye. Moving toward the platforms were mechanized carts pulling contraptions that he had never seen before. They consisted of long hollow tubes on two wheels, they were accompanied by men wearing heavy splint armor. As these were placed on the empty platforms the crews also lifted down sacks and large round balls from the carts.
At the same time the infantry were moving to occupy the trenches. Some of these formations seemed odd to Zokar, taking a telescope from Lee he focused on them. The flanks consisted of spearmen but it was the men in the center who caught his attention. They wore heavy armor similar to the crews and seemed to carry devices that appeared to be smaller visions of those devices, long devices of wood and metal. As the moved into potion the men took out poles with prongs on one end, these they drove into the ground and waited.
As the enemy drew near the cultists among them surged forward. As they advanced the trebuchets opened fire, these inflicted damage on the enemy but did not halt their advance. Zokar watched the men manning the larger devices; once the enemy sprang into action. Some of them seized the bags and tore them open and poured the contents down the tubes. Others then lifted the balls and pushed them into the tubes. Others then took long poles and used them to ram the balls down the tubes while others put short lengths of what looked like hemp at the other ends of the devices.
As they completed each group finished one of the crews would raise a flag and one of the Earth Kingdom officers near Zokar would raise a flag in acknowledgement. Once all of them signaled that they were ready the officer on the wall raised another signal flag, at the sight of it a man in each group took a torch and placed it to the piece of hemp, the results were stunning. Once the hemp burned into each tube there was a thunderous blast and a stream of smoke shot from the tubes, as did the ball. These whizzed through the air towards the enemy. The balls landed among the enemy causing a number of casualties. Sickeningly, the balls continued to bounce among the enemy, crushing bones and even tearing off limbs.
As soon as the smoke around the devices cleared the officer raised another flag and the crews sprang to work preparing the weapons. Once they signaled that they were ready to they again received the signal to fire and again came the roaring blasts and the carnage, though it did not go as smoothly this time. Two of the weapons exploded in blasts that ripped them apart and killed their crews, fortunately the barriers around them absorbed most of the blasts.
While the weapons and the other war machines had inflicted numerous casualties but they had not stopped them. As the enemy drew closer the archers and benders opened fire, many of the cultists had fallen but the traitor soldiers remained largely intact, many of these shields and they locked these and slanted them at an angle and many of the arrows, bolts and stones bounced off of them while benders among them bent away many of the larger stones that would have broken through their shield wall. As they drew near the fortifications, about thirty yards. The men holding the strange devices began to move.
As with the other devices the men poured something down the barrels and then rammed down balls. They then placed the devices on prongs. As they did so Zokar saw that each of the devices had a pan on the side and the men poured some kind of powder into these pans. Each of them also had some kind of hammer-like device and these had a length of twine in them, the twine came from coiled lengths which the men had looped over their shoulders. When the men pulled the hammers back they lit the ends of the twine. At a shouted command the men pulled on a level near the underside of the contraptions. When these were pulled the hammers thrust down into the pans.
When that happened the burning twine came in contact with the powder some simply produced fizzles but most flashed and the weapons spouted smoke and launched the projectiles toward the enemy. Many did not make it, some played into the ground and Zokar did not know where some went, but for those which made it to their targets the effect was devastating. The projectiles tore through both shields and armor, and the enemy dropped in droves. As soon as they had fired the men, who had been standing in rows, fell back as the next row moved forward and immediately set to work preparing to fire again. The process was slow, tearing the twine away and feeding more from the loops, scraping residue from the pans and other steps which Zokar could not make out.
The process was slow, indeed it took several minutes between each shot, but the effect could not be denied. Despite the weapon's slowness and apparent inaccuracy they, in addition to the larger versions, wrought a terrible losses on the enemy. Eventually the enemy halted and began to fall back, having never reached the trenches. As the enemy fell back the Earth Kingdom soldiers broke out into cheers but neither Zokar, nor any of the Fire Nation officers with him, joined in. They were staring at the weapons and considering the possible implications that they represented.
The weapons, whatever they were, were clearly new and in need of improvement but Zokar was certain that those improvement would come with time and when that happened… Zokar could not help thinking of the implications. While the weapons needed work each of them gave anyone the power of a bender, he did not know how long it took to manufacture the weapons and train someone to use it but he was certain that it was less than the time it took to train a bender. And there were other, even more disturbing implications, and he only had to look over at the Earth Kingdom officers to see it. They were looking at Zokar and the others and smiling in ways that he did not like.
The Earth Kingdom still held great animosity towards the Fire Nation but an uneasy peace had held, in part due to the fact that the Fire Nation, even in its weakened state and the advantage that the Earth Kingdom held in numbers, held and edge in military technology. Any effort to invade would result in massive casualties, but that was no longer the case. These weapons could level any fortifications and penetrate armor at short distances and they would only improve with time. The situation had changed; the Earth Kingdom still held the numeral advantage and the hostility remained but now the Fire Nation's technological advantage was gone, and as soon as this conflict was over….
Zokar looked over at General Durjaya, who was looking over at Zokar. Their eyes locked and it seemed that the man could read Zokar's mind and the general's smile grew predatory. Zokar looked at the smile and all it portended and felt fear.
Author's Notes: Hey everyone, how did you like it? I wanted to base their firearms on a mixture of Japanese Tanegashima and European matchlocks, I am not an expert so if I got anything wrong please let me know in the reviews. I based their formations off of European ones where pike men would protect musketeers. I wanted to show that the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation did not just become best friends after the war and the possible implications of the introduction of firearms. I chose the Earth Kingdom because it is based on China and they got gunpowder first and if you had just survived a war by getting lucky wouldn't you try to find and edge? As I said let me know in the reviews if you like this idea or not. Till next time please pray for the families of those killed in France and all who need prayer. Bye and may Jesus bless you.