The Redcoats of Kyoshi Island
The 74th Highland Regiment is departing for a tour in India shortly after the final defeat of Napoleon Boneparte at the Battle of Waterloo. But an unusual storm blows the transports off course and the battered Scotsmen land on an unknown island inhabited by girl-warriors. Col. Alexander Mackenzie must find a way to get his men home without causing too much trouble with the locals, and avoid getting involved in a war raging all around them.
Part One: A Most Curious Storm
A surprise Indian storm blows the unsuspecting 74th off course...
Colonel Alexander Mackenzie, of His Majesty's Seventy-Fourth Highland Regiment of Foot, stood near the helm of the transport HMS Cheval de Frise, the lead of a fleet of 4 troop ships and 2 escort warships. The regiment and their escorts were on their way to a garrison posting in Calcutta, which was expected to be quiet for a few years as a break from active service during the waning days of the Napoleonic Wars. The men were quite happy with this low-action post, as they were mentally and physically exhausted from tireless campaigning against the French Empire and her allies.
Recently assigned with many recruits, this would give the regiment the time to train the new men and get them up to shape. This swell of recruits, nearly a full company's worth, was due to losses taken in Spain during the retreat to Corunna, an action that had earned their regiment and several others honours for their rear-guard actions against the mighty French army that pursued them.
All in all, things were looking good for the 74th. Naturally, the exact moment that Mackenzie thought that, was when things veered so far off course that absolutely no-one on-board the 6 vessels could have predicted what happened next.
One of the men on the mast, up in the crow's nest reported the makings of a storm ahead of the small fleet. The signal was sent up for the rest of the fleet to prepare to fight a storm, and the infantry, including Mackenzie all headed below deck to allow the sailors the room to perform their duties without interference. Above deck was controlled chaos, as the sailors prepared to battle the wrath of Neptune, as Captain Donner shouted orders and barked at less-than-productive men to prepare the ship for the storm to come.
Not an hour passed before the winds picked and rain began to fall in sheets. This was an Indian storm, tried and true, only it was out of season, the schedule of the transport fleet picked purposely to avoid storms such as this while far from friendly ports.
For four hours, the fleet battled the crashing waves and rushing rain, the unrelenting force of Mother Nature and the unyielding will of the Royal Navy clashed. Sailors managed the sails to maintain a common course without tearing the vital cloth, as the waves and wind pushed the ship around. The sailors organised themselves into rotations, to keep the on-deck crew from becoming too exhausted. The pilot struggled to keep the ship moving straight while referencing his compass all the while.
After an eternity, it seemed, the rain and wind let up and gave way to a lighter rain and calmer seas. Mackenzie chose this point to come back on deck, and asked the scout above to report on the position of the rest of the fleet. Miraculously, all six ships had made it, albeit worse-for-wear, they would be able to make repairs as the 74th disembarked in Calcutta.
It was several days later, when the coast of India should have been in sight, that Mackenzie considered that the fleet had been blown off-course. The pilot and the captain both insisted that they were headed in the correct direction, so land should be in sight any day now.
As the second week after the storm passed, Mackenzie was trying not to get angry at Donner, but as rations dwindled and land remained elusive, the Colonel's patience ran thin. Donner had agreed a week after the storm that they were off-course, but refused to admit that the fleet was completely lost. Even a week of sailing should have seen the ships finding a British colony or island in the Indian Ocean, or even the coast of India itself.
It was the 17th day after the storm, when Mackenzie was having yet another meeting in Captain Donner's cabin.
"Captain, I believe we should spread the fleet into a search formation to find signs of land." Mackenzie said.
"I have full confidence in finding land without needlessly exposing our ships to possible attack by spreading them out beyond reinforcement range, Colonel." Donner retorted with the same rhetoric he had used for the last week.
Just as Mackenzie was to call him out for such, a midshipman entered the cabin. "Sirs, the scouts aboard the Hercules have reported signs of land to the north-west." The HMS Hercules was one of the escort frigates, armed with several guns more than the troop ships.
Donner jumped at the opportunity, "Redirect the fleet at once! Have the Hercules lead us in and we shall find out just where that blasted storm has blown us."
The sailor nodded and rushed out to relay the orders.
Within an hour, the orders had spread to the rest of the fleet and the Hercules was leading the fleet northwest towards what appeared to be a lone island. Facing the fleet there only seemed to be a small set of docks. Mackenzie prepared two companies, the Grenadier company and his own battalion company, to land on the island and investigate it. Landing boats were prepared as the men stood-to on deck and the fleet approached the island.
Another hour later, the two companies landed and prepared to march inland, to investigate the docks that had been sighted from the coast. As the men marched down a dirt path, Mackenzie got the feeling they were being watched, a feeling honed from dozens of run-ins with French skirmishers. Before he could order any caution, a village came into sight, with about a dozen defenders. At a closer glance, these were… girls? Several girls, for they were just children, lined up at a pass in front of the village, dressed in what seemed to be Japanese armour and make-up, as their white faces and armour resembled what he had seen paintings depict samurai in.
"Company, halt!" Mackenzie ordered, then approached the girls with his staff close behind. The defenders looked at him with equal amounts of fear and scorn.
"Good day, my ladies." Mackenzie began, "I am Colonel Mackenzie of His Majesty's Seventy-Fourth Highland Regiment. I mean you and yours no harm, as my fleet has been blown off-course. Could you be so kind as to tell me just where we are?"
"This is Kyoshi Island, and we are the Warriors of Kyoshi." An older girl, who seemed closest to adulthood out of all the young faces, spoke.
"And you are?" Mackenzie prompted.
"Suki, leader of the Warriors."
"A pleasure to meet you, Suki of the Kyoshi Warriors. Tell me, are all of your warriors, well, this young?" The colonel decided not to bring up the lack of men, since experience told him that all-women fighting groups absolutely hated that and would take it out on you and your manhood. "It seems fairly unusual to have such young people concerned about fighting and warfare, much less defence against a superior force as it seems you have prepared for, if your forces in the forest are any indication." At this, Suki's eyes hardened. "Rest assured, that my men and I truly mean you no harm, we just wish to make repairs to our ships and resupply while we can."
"It is not often that such a large number of men come to our shore 'just to trade'." Suki responds skeptically.
"I admit, I was unsure of if we would have to defend ourselves against an attack by whoever lived here." Mackenzies tells her. "And my men deserve some time on solid land before heading back to the seas."
Suki considers this for a moment, then signals her warriors to stand down. "We can discuss this with the village elders in the town hall, if you'd like."
"Of course. Allow me to get my men settled out here then I shall join you."
Mackenzie rode back to the men and had them stand easy, for there was (hopefully) no reason for them to stand at arms while the negotiations took place. A messenger was sent back to the ships that the locals were not hostile, and negotiations for supplies and lodging were underway.
So that was the first chapter! I hope you enjoyed it, and more will be soon to come.
A note on historical accuracy: I am not making this story as close to historically accurate as possible. The fact being that this time was a very long time ago and the nuances of the British Regimental System were complicated. So for brevity's sake, I have dispensed with things like the battalion system, and created a set number for the companies to sit at, as historical sources vary and I was forced to choose from one. I also did not make 74th RoF a Lowlands regiment like they historically were after 1808. This is solely because I wanted a Highlander regiment and 74 was the number that popped into my head. By that point I had rough drafts with the 74th all over it and, since they were a Highland regiment prior to 1808, I decided to keep them there.
So, don't come to me saying this isn't completely historically accurate. This is inaccurate for some of the same reasons movies are never accurate: For the ease of writing, entertainment, and to reduce expenses, though in my case this saves me time and sanity instead of money.
However, you can expect me to describe things like historical dress for the 74th (while they were still a Highlands regiment), and historical drill, among other things like weaponry, etc. since I am not barred by a money barrier, just how much time I am willing to invest into research for this project.
A similar note applies for the canon of Avatar. I'm not going back to re-watch the entire series just for this story, besides most of the events of the show are outside of the scope of this fic, you'll see why later.
What you can expect from me in this regard is skimming on a lot of the stuff that happens in canon, and more of the actual changes. There is nothing I hate more than a fic that literally copies the script of a movie or show (looking at you, Star Wars Episode I remakes) with little change or effect by the new character, thus very little effort from the author. So when the script or event is unchanged, expect a short description rather than the full script and dialogue, unless it is relevant and actually affected by a new character or circumstance, such as Col. Mackenzie's presence.
Now that that's squared away, again, thank you for reading, and I hope you'll stick around for next time!
