Captain Zhao
The fires ravaging the Earth Kingdom ship had finally become extinguished as the last remaining piece of the devastated hull sunk beneath the surface of the water. Something about it, watching what had once been whole, an endeavor of hundreds of men combined to create such a monstrosity, suddenly reduced to nothing but scrap over the course of a few mere seconds, it was humbling to observe.
But I hadn't just observed it.
The shots that had torn about that Earth Kingdom vessel had been my own. My first kill.
"Target is destroyed, Captain," came the calm voice of lieutenant Zeera, now chief gunnery officer aboard the FNS Zodiac.
I'm back home.
It was the logical choice. I was one of their own, and while I had been away from the crew of my vessel for quite a few months now, it still was my crew. Now though, it was my crew no longer by mere camaraderie, but superiority. Now, the FNS Zodiac was my ship, and I, her captain.
"Excellent work, Lieutenant."
It was excellent work. Only two volleys were all it had taken to completely submerge the vessel. I counted only 3 shots having missed.
A shame it was only a decoy.
Was it as much a shame that I had counteracted orders to bring it down? Perhaps. Time would tell.
"Message from the FNS Protea, Captain!"
And it seemed that time was now.
"Read it out, ensign!" I ordered, not keen on lowering myself to read it myself.
In spite of some initial hesitation, the ensign obeyed my request, clearing his throat before reading out, "he requests that you report immediately to the Protea for immediate disciplinary action for disobeying orders."
His orders, I recalled. To not engage any enemy vessels.
What he had not accounted for, however, was the prospect that the enemy would launch an unmanned vessel as a decoy to cover their own escape, knowing we would encounter it.
Our orders went beyond simply not engaging enemy vessels. Our objective for this operation was to ensure the Earth Kingdom's abandonment of Xiahu and their retreat further down the coast to Jingping. Exactly that had been achieved.
And only because I had disobeyed orders.
It was by no means a decision I had made lightly. The last time I had disobeyed orders, I had been stripped of my rank and faced with near execution-a punishment that my Captain had been as unable to evade, however. Captain Sazuh of the FNS Protea was not my superior. He was more experienced, yes, but what was most important was that he had been designated to lead the assault of Xiahu, and thus, both me, Captain Zhao of the FNS Zodiac, and Captain Yukai of the FNS Stalwart. To have disobeyed orders and fired upon the fleeing Earth Kingdom vessel was a chance I had taken, and one Sazuh would likely be desperately to hold me accountable for. My only shot was to stick by it, and pray that General Shu saw the reason of what I did.
"Inform Captain Sazuh that as his stage of Operation Shepherd is concluded, I am no longer obligated to follow his orders, and if he wishes to speak to me, he is to do so at his own convenience aboard my vessel."
My words had clearly taken the command crew by surprise. A number of eyes followed me to where I stood at the helm, and I would be lying to say I didn't welcome it.
I knew what they likely saw me as: cocky, narcissistic, over-confident, but I knew my limits, and I had yet to reach them. Sazuh was a fool, and perhaps if he was lucky, I would give him the chance to realize the error of his ways before he attempted to involve General Shu. Knowing the old guard captain however, I had little doubt he would be quick to go 'crying to momma' regardless of what I had to say.
And I would welcome the encounter.
I noticed that my orders still had not been fulfilled, that my ensign had yet to write out my response.
And my crew? Where did they stand?
They had followed my orders to fire on the fleeing vessel unquestionably enough, mostly thanks to the diligent gunnery of lieutenant Zeera, her skills by no means wasted in sending the vessel to the bottom of the sea. She had not, however, been privy to the finer points of our operation's specifications, namely that of how I'd been ordered not to fire on a hostile vessel. I couldn't help but wonder if, had she known, she would have disobeyed my direct orders. A sour part of me already knew the answer, that she likely would have given her loyalty to the operation's commander rather that her direct superior.
That would need to change.
Even now, my command crew was afraid to encourage the wrath of the chain of command, seemingly forgetting who it was that was their most immediate threat-me.
"Write it!" I ordered once again, loud and authoritative enough to spur them to action thankfully.
By the end of the 2nd minute, the message had been written and delivered, the hawk flying through the fog towards the Protea.
The mission is over, I thought to myself.
We have no reason to stick around. If Sazuh truly does wish to speak to me, he can chase me down.
"Raise anchor!" I ordered. "We're returning to the blockade."
"But sir," came the voice of Semek, the helmsman. I already knew what his complaint was, and as expected, he began to 'inform' me of how we should likely await orders from Sazuh.
Multiple pairs of agreeing eyes followed him, seemingly gratified that he had been the one to speak, voicing their before-muted concerns.
It was difficult to discern between whether or not the complaints of my crew were aimed to serve me as assistance or detriment. It was just as likely that they were attempting to help me, remind me of protocol, help me save face, as it was that they were taking every opportunity available to question my commands. One way or another, it was direct insubordination and a blatant show of dissent within the ranks.
We'll have to fix this all.
"Sazuh is no longer in command. The operation is over, and we must resume our chief objective of blockading the Nip. Now do as I commanded and raise anchor."
"Aye, Captain!"
The anchor raised, and shortly enough, the FNS Zodiac was once again in fluid motion atop the rough morning waves of the Nip, directed towards Shu's blockade. Was I truly in any rush to return to the blockade? Did I truly believe that our vessel would be a key factor in ensuring the blockade's efficacy? Nor was it my intention to be the first to reach Shu and tell him my side of the story before Sazuh got the chance. Of course, however, the paranoid captain would be quick to assume such was exactly my intention, just as I'd hope.
And sure enough, I came to realize a few minutes later upon learning that a Fire Nation skiff had pulled up beside us and was requesting permission to board, he had down exactly as I'd expected and lowered himself down far enough to reveal his fear and paranoia.
Before long, I found myself face-to-face with him within my office. The tides had turned. He was on my turf now, aboard my ship, in my office, seated across from my desk. He, of course, was not aware of this newfound imbalance of power. The man was still clinging onto the authority that had been granted him in the name of an operation that had now since passed by nearly an hour.
He showed no indication of realizing the position he found himself him, further adding to the comedy of his words as he ordered me in the most authoritative voice he could muster, to "Explain your actions!"
"My actions?" I asked, certainly playing coy. I'd already been successful in forcing his hand, dragging him aboard my own vessel. Now all that was left was to aggravate the man, bring him to his limits, ensure that his future encounter with General Shu, when it did inevitably occur, would be as familiar for the captain as possible.
"Don't play around with me, Zhao!" he exclaimed, blatantly avoiding my rank, perhaps terrified to utter it knowing it was the selfsame as his own. "You blatantly disobeyed direct orders and opened fire on an enemy vessel!"
I considered then whether to give him an out, to explain my actions here and now and give him the option of realizing the error of his ways. Perhaps, had I thought he would actually listen to anything I'd have to say, I would have said nothing. However, I knew the man, especially in his present state of mind. I could present to him a 10-page thesis paper on why my decision to open fire on the Earth Kingdom vessel was in the best interest of the battle, operation, and subsequentially, the Fire Nation, and he still would have ignored it all.
And so I spoke, inconsequentially at that, now once again playing the game of pushing him to his limit. The means of doing so…being as perfectly polite and courteous as humanly possible.
"Captain Sazuh," I began, as though I were initiating a formal letter directed towards him. "My observation crew noticed that the fleeing Earth Kingdom vessel was manned only by a single helmsman. We were quick to assess that the vessel was likely intended as a decoy meant to draw our attention away from the primary evacuation vessel."
"That does not explain why you opened fire!"
"We figured that to ignore the vessel would alert Earth Kingdom forces that we were on to them. We decided that to open fire on the decoy was the best way possible of ensuring they still believed we hadn't just let them escape."
"Oh, you decided, did you? It was not your place to make such a decision. You should have consulted me first and I would have informed you how to proceed."
"There was little time to sit by and await your tactical assessment, Captain. I took the liberty of being closer to the situation to make a calculated tactical assessment-one I do, in fact, believe will prove to go further in ensuring a Fire Nation victory in this theater of operations."
He completely ignored what I had to say. The continuation of his barrage was already set and loaded, just waiting for me to finish talking before he could open fire. And so he did, exclaiming, "You directly breached the chain of command and have thus put into question the integrity of this operation's command."
"I believe that the trade-off was necessary, Captain, and I do expect that General Shu will agree."
"You really think so, do you, Zhao? And why would General Shu trust the opinion of some upstart over the knowledge of one such as myself?"
"Because General Shu is capable of seeing the big picture, as you clearly aren't."
"Is that so, eh? We'll just have to see about that." He was smirking. The poor fool actually was oblivious. A small reminder is in order.
"I'm sure we will. Now, if you would, kindly do get off my ship."
So, for the first time in our meeting, he'd seemed to come to understand just where he was. His authority had been left behind on the Protea. Aboard the Zodiac, he was little more than a simple ensign, and I was master, and my words had been made clear.
He was "kindly" escorted off of my vessel and I had no doubt that I would be seeing him in the near future. I had done my job; I had sown the seeds of his anger and irrationality. When he did go to Shu, things would go the only way they could. A part of me couldn't help but feel sorry for Captain Sazuh, but his breed was a dying one, and to rid of such an incompetent commander, well, I'd be doing my Nation a service.
Boss
It wasn't a fair match. It wasn't meant to be. A number of them had raised complaints, as I'd expected.
They were to be divided into 2 teams. One attacking, one defending. The defenders would have every advantage. Not only did they have time to prepare, no, they were fighting in their home field, aboard the Patriot. For around the last month, Jet and his entourage of a few dozen other Separatists had been residing aboard the vessel that I had once called home, that day no far behind us.
Now, those of my trainees who had little to no experience aboard the Patriot, were being asked to attack it, and take it over.
"How the hell is this supposed to be fair?" asked Keerick. Always one to question my orders. Him doing so now, however, I noticed, he wasn't attempting to instigate hostilities. I could tell he was afraid for his own life. He was among the attackers, being sentenced into invading unknown territory against an opponent that would no doubt be ready for him.
"It isn't," I responded.
Some understood, I could tell. Others, Keerick among them, though even he seemed to be beginning to comprehend, required further explanation.
"Out there, when you're sent to fight, you won't know your surroundings. Your enemy, they will. You will be fighting with all of the odds against you. Why should your training be any different?"
They weren't pleased, but I had no doubt they understood. Even if they didn't, they would listen to what I had to say.
Kai was still recovering. Kiu hadn't been either pleased or displeased by my approach. When I told him what I'd done, all he'd had to respond with was the question, "Well, did it work?"
I watched from afar now, a telescope in my hands as I watched the attacking team make their approach, walking straight into hell because I had said so, because they knew I was here to help them, because they knew what I was talking about.
"Yeah," I had responded to Kiu. "It worked."
Jet was leading the defenders. The attackers, they were under the command of Shohe, a boy of around 15 years, recommended to me by Kiu. My first observation was one of little impression. He'd closed the distance to the Patriot intelligently enough, using the shrubbery of the forest to shroud their approach.
The Patriot was still beached, but I'd heard the reports. She was nearly back in working order. After all of these months, she was finally going to be whole again.
It had taken far longer than it ever should have. I wondered if Zadok and Kosah had heeded my warning, stopped trying to sabotage the effort. Considering the time it'd taken, I wouldn't have been surprised if, were they not actively working against Separatist efforts, certainly not aiding them.
I truthfully did feel bad for them. They hadn't elected to leave their nation. They were given to us as gifts, akin to chattel, sold off under the pretense that they were being given to Fire Nation patriots who were bringing the fight to the Earth Kingdom. Now here we were, helping people they likely viewed as terrorists.
I'd once felt the same way, I recalled. A lot had changed in these last few months. They'd held me by the knife point on more than once occasion. More than once had I thought I would meet my end by their hands, but I was still here. They had taken me under their roof, made me one of their own, and I was still alive for it.
I saw who these people were. They were fighting for a home they had lost. They were fighting because it was all they could do. They could run, surrender, give up, but what would they have then? Here. Now. They could still fight. Still give their lives meaning. Still fight for what everyone else had claimed they'd lost. How could I call somebody like that a 'terrorist' with a clean conscience, after I'd eaten their food, consumed their drink, fought alongside them on more than one occasion, made their interests and their survival akin to my own?
If the others could hear me now. I frowned. They'd think I'd turned coat.
Had I not?
I remember first landing at this beach, the Patriot colliding into the ground, sitting exactly where it was right now. Luke and Ka'lira had been kidnapped, and I'd done what I had to do to keep us alive. I'd signed what I believed to be a 'deal with the devil.'
But I hadn't done that. They were no devils. They were just like us, fighting for a lost cause.
We were fighting for a Nation that no longer existed, one that had died along with Lu Ten and the fall of Ba Sing Se's siege lines. The Fire Nation we knew then, the one that still had a future in the form of General Iroh, the Dragon of the West, and his son.
Only Lu Ten had been killed, but Iroh had died too that day, and when we'd heard the news that his father, Azulon, has passed, and Ozai had taken over, we'd known we'd lost our home.
We defected, but the others: Zek, Gordez, and Luke, they still believed in their nation if not the man running it.
I didn't know if it was brave or foolish.
I loved my countrymen, but I had left for a reason. I could no longer bring myself to fight for it. I still found myself viewing the Earth Kingdom as the greatest enemy of all, until recently, that is.
It was difficult to even think of the Earth Kingdom as an entity anymore. Outside of Ba Sing Se, it was clear what the Earth Kingdom was—everything beyond that wall. Out here though, there was no one single banner, no centralized authority, no omnipotent king giving directives to the masses on a whim. It was just a people, a people fighting for their homes.
So what if it meant prolonging this war? There's a difference between right and wrong. Noble intentions do not justify acts of evil.
So what of these 'freedom fighters' then? There was no denying their methods were far from ideal. They still did take the lives of those who didn't deserve.
They were no heroes either. They were no different from the Nation I'd served my whole life. They were all just people. I could finally understand that now.
And these people, I pondered, catching Longshot's figure prowl along the trees from far above the Patriot, in a sniping position not dissimilar to the one he'd been in a few months ago when it was us in his sights. These people were comrades now, I realized. They were in my care, and whether or not they were heroes, I was fighting beside them. For how long, I didn't know. I still had no idea what we would do once this was over, assuming we were still alive by then.
But for now, I realized one things. These are my brothers. And I will die for them if I have to.
But what of my other family?
Gordez, Zek, Luke, Ka'lira, Jadoh, hell, even Zadok and Kosah. They are my family, but do they still see me as such? I'd seen that they'd begun to have doubts, with the exception of Gordez. I had the feeling he would follow me to the end of the Earth if it came to it, for better or worse.
The others, though. I shook my head. I could see their faith in me wavering. I feared I would have to make a choice once this was all over, and I actually found myself which was the right choice. I knew that, whatever I chose, Gordez would be there with me, which was of only some small consolation. I knew which he'd want, to stay with the others, but he would go wherever I did, be it out of obligation, love, whatever one chose to call it. And I couldn't just take him away from his own family.
"Damnit," I muttered quietly to myself.
And to think just over a month ago, I'd been excited for every Separatist to turn on us so we could have the excuse to haul ass away. Now look at me.
I would have chuckled if I didn't feel absolutely horrible, trying now to distract myself on the war game as it played out below me.
The War Game, while never destined to be the perfect representation of combat, would do what it was meant to do at the very least: familiarize the separatists with close quarters combat and the interior of a Fire Nation vessel, outdated though it may be.
I realized something as I closed the distance between me and The Patriot, however, the fun thing they would never learn here—what it really meant to fight a war. They wouldn't learn that here. They would only learn that, I feared, once their lives were already on the line.
Notwithstanding, it was a good match. The attackers had managed to approach the Patriot undetected hugging the hull where upon they split into two groups. One group approached the forward docking bay, ramp already extended, as it had been since we arrived, while the other repelled up onto the main deck.
I was able to see what they were planning. They wanted to present themselves as open targets, draw out some of the more brave-hearted of the defenders. The tactic was successful, albeit only partially. It seemed that the defenders had realized the trap it would be to try and fight on the deck, any ranged support offered by the observation deck doomed to pale in comparison to that which could be provided by the attackers from the far superior tree canopies.
Had this been a modern Fire Nation Battleship rather than a Destroyer, either side could have claimed ranged superiority, but here, as it was, the victory fell to the attackers. A number of defenders attempted to use open windows in the command superstructure to pick off the attackers with rubber arrows, all provided weapons nonlethal. I had no intention of stooping to the same extreme standards that some of the more zealous Fire Nation instructors did. Manpower, to them, while valuable, was expendable. To us, it was a luxury that we could by no means afford to waste.
The defender archers, scarce though they were, were immediately dispatched by those perched in the trees, chief among them being longshot.
It had been easy to detect the dread in the eye of the defending team upon learning that the deadeye would not, in fact, be assigned to them. Jet, more than anybody else, being the archer's close friend, was capable of seeing the challenge cut out for them. He knew the man's capabilities better than anybody else did. With the exception of the Kiu and the archer himself perhaps.
It was thus surprising to me that anybody had emerged from the Patriot to try and score a few potshots. Was he probing their offensive? Turning their attention away from something else? Removing quarrelsome defenders?
The first major encounter occurred by the loading bay. Shohe was leading the main approach, having sent infiltrators led by Keerick to secure the main deck, a feat made only possible by ranged support. It was at the loading bay however that the first real exchange occurred, seeing the defenders using superior altitude and concealment within the ship to bombard the boarders with arrows, decimating a good 5th of Shohe's half.
It was at this point that Keerick led his attacking men below decks. The defenders at this point, or at least, some of them, attempted to flank the attackers, a squad going for the main deck, quickly dispatched by longshot's archers, and the other meeting them below decks. The attackers had lost more men, but the intercepting defending team had possessed less men, and was thus eliminating, allowing the attackers to circle around the defenders held up in the cargo bay. At this point, a two front conflict erupted below decks in the cargo bay, finding the mass of Jet's forces cut off.
Utilizing communication systems such as the shipboard PA, however, was able to call upon the reserve forces in the superstructure to join the main conflict. Keerick's skirmishers were quickly dispatched. At this point, the battle for the cargo bay devolved into a deep conflict, one that lasted nearly half an hour until Jet split his forces, slipping out one soldier at a time under the guise of covering fire until enough had sectioned off from the rest to form a sizeable team that he sent to descend the ship and attack the attackers from the rear.
The ambush had worked, and while Jet's flankers had been eliminated, the man led a frontal charge that fully eliminated the attackers, securing the day.
And I had to give them credit where credit was due.
They were not soldiers. They yet lacked discipline, proper training, weapon mastery, but they had spent years learning how to outsmart the enemy, and it showed.
Needless to say, I was proud.
Not that I told them that of course.
"Jet," I remember saying. "Your handling of your ranged troops was sloppy. You allowed them to be wasted on a front you had no chance of advancing along. You would have been better to conserve your manpower and keep your archers where a main strike was more expected, such as within the cargo bay." He was probing their attack, dissuading a frontal attack on the main deck where they would have been disadvantaged by a main strike, but still, too many men were lost doing so.
"Shohe," I said, turning to the other, "Your left your flank exposed. You believed your flank protected by your ranged support, but did not account for the enemy using the ship's air duct system to attack you from above." And how could he have anticipated it? He had possessed no knowledge of these systems, but still, he should never have left a flank exposed.
I was proud of them. In just these last few weeks, they had come a long way. But of course, I wouldn't tell them that. They were becoming good soldiers. Slowly. But surely. Instead, I said what I needed to say to make them all the better.
"Now, run it again. Switch sides."
And where before I had seen exhaustion, annoyance, harsh words hidden behind a fear of authority, I was now something more. Something eager, something excited, a readiness to prove themselves.
Yeah, I though, remembering Kiu's words. It worked.
I put Jadoh in charge of overseeing the exercise. He was nearly healed now, the boy. His arm was in better shape, nearly back to full use, already beginning to train once again. Tough kid, him, I couldn't help but think admirably.
I trusted him, I realized. More than I thought I ever would. Enough to not only trust him with my life, but that of my men. He, as sad as I was to admit it, did not possess the flaws that Zek, Luke, and Gordez possessed. He was a neutral party. There was no right nor wrong side so far as he was concerned, no Nation that had the right to win. There were only his beliefs, and while once I may have feared where they'd steer him, I now had complete and total confidence.
I took the long trek back to the main camp, figuring the nature walk a pleasant distraction from the conflict we all knew was coming all too soon.
The meetings with the Revanchist Tribe had not grown any more frequent, only amplifying in density and intensity. Where initially they had been reports of the status on the other side of the Sea, they had slowly become battle plans, of a massive offensive, one being planned between the Tribe and Earth Kingdom forces to occur on the day of the full moon. Kiu had demanded I play a part in the meetings, and so I had, watching as it was all laid out before me: the Water Tribe's naval domination, utilizing the monthly occurrence's power while Earth Kingdom forces south of the sea launched a naval invasion with water tribe support while Separatists forces attacked from the north alongside a primary Earth Kingdom army.
It was happening, sooner rather than later. Things were moving quickly south of the sea. A few days ago, Gordez and his men had left for Xiahu, informing me as well of a stray they'd picked up—a young girl by the name of Zare. Now, however, if things had gone according to plan, they should be safely alongside Earth Kingdom forces in the fortress town, and so I hurried my steps the closer I drew to the tree-settlement where, sure enough, we had received news. It was not, however, news of safety and sanctuary. Rather, it was one of death and destruction.
The Revanchist Tribe report was simple:
Xiahu has been destroyed.
Casualties are high.
Survivors unknown.
And that was where things became complicated, and the end of this conflict suddenly became shrouded in mystery once again. A major defeat in the midst of many other things going our way, perhaps it was mere anomaly, or perhaps an omen of things to come. There was so much that was unknown: just what had happened, why it had happened, what the plan was now, who had survived, how many of my friends, my family, were still alive. And as my heart picked up, finding myself nearing closer and closer the precipice of panic I knew I would be unable to control, I forced myself to try and work past the fear of the unknown and find security in what was known.
But what was known, however, was of little comfort. Things were moving quickly. Faster than they ever had before. The end was in sight, and sure enough, this conflict would be over soon, but just who would be left standing at the end of it, that was less certain.
Kiu told me to keep a brave face, but I saw his own fear as well. Both of us knew there was no turning back. We had our jobs to do, and mine was to make sure our men, our new brothers, would be ready for the day when it came.
So I put aside the fear, that of not knowing just where my family was or if they breathed still, and as I had in Ba Sing Se so many times before, forced myself to focus on the here and now, on why I was here. And I let the fear pass through me, leaving only me in its wake, and forced myself to face ahead, a prayer at the back of my mind however that those I loved most in the world hadn't been lost to me.
Luke
I still had yet to get my breath back. My mind was taking it's sweet time to process that I no longer caught in the center of the hell that is, or rather, used to be Xiahu.
"Holy shit," came the girl's voice to my side. Zare, I realized then, finally having the time to process my surroundings after just watching the Earth Kingdom ship finally sink below the waves on the horizon. I could feel my heart leap, knowing that if she was alive, it had to, just had to mean that the others were alright too. Right? My head turned, searching for them by my side. I immediately was able to spot out Gordez and Zek alike.
Thank Raava. The beat in my heart was finally beginning to steady to normal levels, seeing that my friends were no, in fact, scorching bodies left behind in Xiahu.
"Ka'lira?" I asked, having not spotted her amongst the crowd. "Is she-?"
"Alive," Zek confirmed, something grim hiding away in his voice. Is she injured? I wondered. Did she get hurt? He must have noticed the concern in my eyes as he promptly followed with, "She's fine. We're all fine. Thanks to her," and his head turned then to Zare so as to confirm it was this individual he was referring to.
Her effort to evade attention by turning her head, hiding what was either a blush or look of shame, I couldn't tell, turned out to be an utter failure as my eyes still followed her, Zek elaborating on what I had apparently missed.
"Would've been dead without her, deadeye that she is. Any soldier tried coming after us, took them down immediately." Zare wasn't the only one hiding some semblance of shame in her voice, but she was, however, the one less keen on expressing it. Zek wasn't done by the look of things. He looked down now at the hull of the ship where we had settled below decks in a cargo bay left starkly sparce by the crew of 298, a mere fraction of what had been our force only a little over an hour ago. I had a feeling however that in this moment, Zek was glad for the empty space, at the very least for the privacy it afforded us.
"I froze," he confessed. "I don't know-I don't know what happened to me."
It was hard, indeed, to forget how he had appeared to me standing helplessly in front of Ka'lira's door, her refusing to come out until Zare and I had taken matters into our own hands.
What the hell was happening with them?
I should have been pissed. Had no reason not to be. Whatever was going on between them had nearly cost us our lives, yet I found myself more concerned than angry, focusing on the grim potential that they could have been killed there, lounging helplessly around, not knowing what the hell was happening, just lost in a haze.
"What happened?" I ask, only to be met with a shake of his head that indicated a lack of desire to elaborate.
A silence hung in the while, waiting to be broken, but none of us three seed particularly keen to eb the ones to fire the first shot until Zek decided to end the standstill and abdicate from the fight, standing up to say, "I'll leave you two to it, alright? Get some rest. I'm going to-I'm going to talk with Gordez."
Both Zare and I nodded in response to that.
Zek withdrew, leaving me where I was seated with my back to some obscure crate, just glad for the support it offered while Zare was kneeling not far from me. I finally feeling the adrenaline beginning to wear off, bearing the unintended side effects now of feeling the pain roaring through my body: the soreness in the limbs, the burns I'd narrowly avoided, and a number of other cuts and bruises I was only becoming aware of now.
It seemed Zare wasn't far behind, having also noticed I wasn't in particularly tip-top shape.
"Well, you sure took a beating," she chuckled.
I shrugged with a small grin, more of a grimace as I struggled now to even move my body in a way that wouldn't send pain surging through me. "Oh, it could've been worse."
"Hmm, well, yeah. You could be dead."
"And here I am," I said with half-outstretched arms, now managing to stretch them the whole way, but still wanting to think I achieved the same theatric effect.
"Hmm," she smirked. "Should drink some water. Gonna get dehydrated pretty quick otherwise."
She was already reaching for my bag which was laid sprawled out by my side, digging through the minimal contents to retrieve my canteen, which, upon investigation by her, was indeed empty. "Shit," she mumbled. "I'm also out. I'll go find some."
"Nah nah, don't bother. I'm fine just as I am."
"Okay, dumbass," she said, grabbing my flash along with her own, both empty. "I'm gonna get some water anyway. I'll be right back."
She was already gone before I could object, leaving me only to shrug to myself, still coming to terms with the fact that I was safe now, that I was no longer running, flames hot on my trails, being tailed by some of the Fire Nation's most infamous killers.
Zare was right, how the hell am I still alive?
Everything about what had happened had been sheer luck. I should have died there. 20 times over there. We all should have.
How are any of us still breathing to tell the tale?
It didn't make sense to me. Despite the carnage that was wreaked, it almost felt like it could have been worse.
Why didn't they just bombard the entire fortress? Was maintaining the structural integrity that important? If so, why didn't they just continue to gas us? Our masks wouldn't have saved us forever? Were they short on time? Then why didn't they deploy their full contingent? Why did only one ship deploy its soldiers? None of it made sense.
And how the hell did we get away? They had 3 ships. We only had 2. One of which was a decoy. Did their entire task force buy the ruse, focus solely on that, completely miss us passing by? They should have noticed. They should have divided. We should be getting tailed right now. So why weren't we?
I pushed the thoughts aside. I was tired, I realized, imagining things, jumping at shadows.
Speaking of shadows…
Zare. I'd promised to abandon the notion before, but after what had happened, seeing her shoot for real, hearing what Zek had to say…was I right? Should I really be pursuing this?
Zare was back, both her flask and mine in tow, seemingly full of water, handing mine to me which I promptly took a deep swig of, allowing the lukewarm yet still refreshing liquid to gush down into me. It was more than a welcome sensation.
And I spoke before my brain could stop me.
"So…'deadeye that she is'," I say, mimicking Zek's words.
Her face immediately turned into a scowl, though a softer one than last time. "Are you actually going to talk about that now?"
"Now or never."
"Then I choose never."
"Sorry, meant to say, 'now, or I can just keep on pestering you about it.'"
"Or I can shoot you right now."
"Oh, so you are a crack shot."
She scoffed. "Okay, wiseass. Want to hear the truth?"
"I've got nothing but time and I'm not exactly going anywhere?" I said, leaning back against the box I was using for support, realizing she could very easily walk away now, and I'd lack the energy to pursue, but instead, she stuck around, by some miracle."
"My dad was a hunter. Trained me to be one too."
What?
I shook my head, eyes wide, looking straight into hers, allowing a moment to pass, one she seemed to think held some heavy burden, but for me, was just one of stupidity. "What?" I asked, incredulous. "That's it?"
"Not animals."
Oh.
Still, in spite of that added detail, I found myself still feeling as though I was being left hanging, disappointed almost. "Are you sure that's it?"
"Don't believe me?" she asked, accusingly.
"No! It's not that…it's just, I was expecting more. No offense."
"Hmph. Yeah, well, none taken, I guess."
She didn't seem pissed at the very least. Not more than yesterday, or rather, just a few hours ago. That was something at the very least. I still felt as though there was something unanswered. Something more.
"So, what was it? Bounties? Contract killings?"
"Local bounties. Regional government gave out contracts. My dad took them."
"I thought the Fire Nation didn't give out bounty contracts in contested territory. Don't want to legitimize vigilantes, right?" I figured it was possible that frontier law was different than it was in more settled areas such as Citadel or the colonies, but it still felt odd.
She answered my suspicions quickly enough in stating, "Back when it was Earth Kingdom. Before I was born. Stopped when Fire Nation took over. Just taught me."
"Ah," I answered, for some reason having been under the suspicion it had been both her and her father who had done the hunting, this new explanation making far more sense.
A silence hung in the air, as it had when Zek was still around, but this time, I didn't possess the same hesitation to break it.
"So…I was right."
She glared at me. "Don't start."
"No, no!" I defended myself. "I knew there was something off, and I was right!"
"Okay, but you were still out of line for confronting me the way you did."
"Hmm, perhaps, but I am immediately absolved of any guilt as my suspicion was founded and warranted."
Despite the words that would follow, she couldn't fully suppress the smirk as she asked herself aloud, "Why the hell did I choose to come along with you dipshits, again?"
It was a question I figured didn't need answering as I sat there chuckling to myself, each exhale bringing a fresh burst of pain to my chest, and I now found myself wondering just how far away Jingping was, and just what we would fine when we got there. It was thought that Xiahu would be the staging point of future operations, but the fortress was gone now. Whatever we ended up finding in Jingping, it would determine just what the hell was going to happen here.
"So," she asked, as tough she'd been reading my mind. "What now?"
"I-I guess we get to Jingping. See what can be done."
"Not much of a plan."
"Yeah, well. Welcome to our merry band of castaways. It'll be a cold day in hell when you find us actually having a solid idea of whatever the hell we're doing."
Her smile, while amused, didn't hide a sense of worry. It seemed, between the two of us, I was, in fact, the better one at hiding.
"Well," she shrugged. "No point worrying about that now, huh? We should probably get some sleep."
She maneuvered herself into a position on the other side of the box I was resting upon, leaning her back against it as well, the two of us seemingly deigning to use the same support as a headrest.
She wasn't wrong. There was no point worrying on that now. Truth be told, I wouldn't be among those grieving should the Earth Kingdom lose on this front. If it meant the shells stopped falling around here, that the Nip Sea Separatist terrorists would finally face the consequences of their actions, and this war would finally get back on track towards ending, it was fine by me.
And what of the rest? I believed I still knew where Gordez stood. I knew Zek stood firmly by my side in this regard. Ka'lira, so far as I knew, it made little difference to her.
And what of Zare? I now found myself wondering, pondering her opinion as though she was one of us now. Is she? It was hard to tell anymore. But just where does she stand? I'd seen the way she had avoided mortally wounding the Fire Nation soldiers in a similar fashion as me. What was that? Pacificism, sympathy for soldiers simply doing their jobs, or following my example.
I wanted to think I had had questions answered today, at least regarding that deadeye of hers. But everything else? Nothing else had received an answer, simply had become more confusing.
What if she's still hidi-no. Learn to have trust in people for once, Luke.
And where has that gotten you before?
My mind drifted to Citadel, to the Hornets, the Rats, the Fire Nation, to the army, the generals I'd blindly followed, the commanders that led me and my friends to death, but I also remembered my family—the people I'd considered such along the way: Reek, Danev, and now, Boss, Gordez, Zek, Ka'lira, Jadoh, Zadok and Kosah if we were being generous, and now, possibly, Zare.
There was, however, hesitation, stemming from knowing what had happened to those I've considered family before, but I forced myself not to think on it, to not let myself always think on the worst-case scenario, but to, at this moment of time, as a survivor aboard a ship of defeated Earth Kingdom soldiers, just let myself secure some rest.
A war was brewing, and if there was one thing I knew I was going to need—it was rest.