Chapter 3: Reconstruction

"How many times do I have to say this?"

Zuko was getting quite frustrated with his old man now, and everyone knew it. Here he was with the opportunity of a lifetime, and he wasn't being taken seriously. All on the grounds that he was a banished prince, as if that was the only thing that mattered here. Never mind the space shuttle that he had arrived in, the stormtroopers and officers accompanying him, or the offer their Empire had made. No no, the fact that Zuko had never fulfilled the terms of his banishment was all that Fire Lord Ozai seemed to care about.

It had been half an hour since the shuttle landed in the capital, and Zuko was in the palace's throne room with Ozai. Lao and Shinu were sitting beside the Fire Lord, while Sokka and Toph had arrived shortly after the shuttle had landed. The latter two were skeptical about everything Zuko had told them, while Ozai seemed to disregard the whole thing just because it was Zuko speaking. Having just finished going through it all twice and clarifying several things, Zuko slammed his fist on the map of the world they had all gathered around.

"They don't give a damn about us!" Zuko yelled. "All they want is the information we've collected from the first time. Once they have it they will leave, and hopefully succeed in destroying our enemy along with theirs."

Sokka, sitting at Zuko's right, was still skeptical about everything he had just heard. "And that's what they told you?"

Toph, at Zuko's left, wasn't sure what to think. "Look, Zuko, I believe what you're saying, but I can't believe them until I meet them personally."

"I'll bring you along next time," Zuko promised.

"Still, do you trust them?" Sokka asked.

"Of course not," Zuko admitted. He waved a hand across the world map. "But one thing is obvious. If they were going to invade they would have done so already. I'm inclined to believe that they really are after someone else instead of us."

"So you say," Ozai muttered.

"Yes, so I say," Zuko said, glaring at his father. "You still don't believe me."

"I have no reason to," Ozai said. His eyes narrowed as he glared back. "How do you expect us to trust the message when we can't trust the messenger?"

Zuko couldn't help but pinch his nose at that remark. "You're really going to do this?"

"Looks like it," Toph said, knowing that the Fire Lord wasn't going to budge on this.

Ozai ignored her, instead rising to his feet, recalling the last time his son had insulted him. "You know how this will end, just as it did before."

"Not this time," Zuko muttered, barely audible even to those that were right beside him. Then he stood up, and raised his voice to be absolutely clear. "Fire Lord Ozai, for the restoration of my honor, I challenge you to Agni Kai."

In his private quarters aboard the Stalker, Captain Zed was sitting at his desk working on his personal computer terminal. He was reviewing the intel already provided by Zuko during his brief visit, finding it very insightful to the locals' behavior. It seemed that their last alien encounter had abruptly ended a worldwide war, one that had been fought for a hundred local years all across the planet. All that aggression the locals had was now directed outward, rather than against each other fighting over a single world.

It was hard to imagine what the locals had gone through, fighting a single continuous war for a century. The biggest war in the galaxy's living memory was the Clone Wars, the conflict that transformed the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire, had only lasted for three standard years. Sure it was bigger by several orders of magnitude, encompassing large swaths of the galaxy, but was gratefully short. This war the locals had fought, over one measly little blue marble, had been older than the vast majority of its population. Contrary to most worlds in the galaxy, here War was the norm and Peace the anomaly.

Only the general outline of that hundred year war had been provided, and it had Zed seriously reconsidering the options for dealing with this planet. If the locals were willing to fight each other for so long, there was no doubt that they would fight invaders even longer. Therefore the olive branch was the far more practical choice, if the empire was going to have a lasting presence here. It was far more desirable for a new world to willingly join the empire, rather than take it by force and possibly ruin it in the process.

Zed tapped the comlink on his desk. "Put me through to Imperial Supply."

"Acknowledged."

The comm officer on the bridge rerouted Zed's signal through the Stalker's main array, sending a transmission deep into imperial space. Soon the image on the screen was replaced by an elderly gentleman, who sighed before talking. "Imperial Supply, Quartermaster speaking, what do you want?"

"One relief convoy dispatched to these coordinates," Zed answered, transmitting the Stalker's current location. "Take the funds from the usual place."

Receiving the coordinates at his end, the Quartermaster frowned at the location. "Yeah, there's going to be a problem here. No transport is going to travel there."

"Authorization code nine three alpha one one three eight," Zed said.

"Confirming code… and… request denied," the Quartermaster said. "Your clearance level isn't high enough to send imperial ships into the Neutral Zone."

"For imperial ships maybe," Zed specified. "I was thinking more along the lines of smugglers. Let's outsource this to people that ship things through forbidden territory for a living."

There was a pause on the other end, with the Quartermaster thinking about that idea. He made a couple of keystrokes, and then nodded. "It may take some time to arrange the transport."

"Take as much as you need," Zed said with a nod. "Let me know when the first shipment is ready for transport."

"Of course," the Quartermaster said. "Imperial Supply out."

The image on the computer screen went black, and then displayed a timestamp of that communication. Zed then went back to reviewing the local intel, now thinking of how best to distribute the relief effort once the first convoy arrived. Smugglers could get the supplies here just as fast as any imperial transport, arguably faster depending on circumstance and amount of bypassed red tape. But if the smugglers were detected by someone on the other side, the empire could disavow any knowledge of them and avoid conflict.

After half an hour the comlink beeped, and Zed pressed a button to answer. "Zed here."

"A transmission from the landing party," the comm officer reported.

"Put it through," Zed ordered.

A small blue hologram of the lieutenant appeared on the table, just to the right of the computer screen. "Captain, we have a situation down here."

"What is it?" Zed asked.

The lieutenant held up a hand-sized sensor drone. "You better see it for yourself."

Although the capital's Agni Kai arena had been destroyed at the end of the Hundred Year War, it was no excuse to deny the most sacred battle ritual of the Fire Nation. The western rim of the caldera had been chosen for the Agni Kai, on that narrow strip of high ground separating the city from the rest of the island. Like a proper arena the participants would be up close, yet nothing else would be close enough to catch fire. An audience standing in front of the palace would be able to look up at the battle, while a select few would have the honor of watching from both ends of the high ground.

Fifty feet of the caldera rim was chosen for the battlefield, with Zuko starting at the southern end and Ozai starting at the northern end. Both of them were shirtless and crouching with one hand and one knee on the ground, facing away from each other before the official start of the duel. At Zuko's end Sokka and Toph were watching, and at Ozai's end Shinu and Lao were quietly observing. The sun was almost directly overhead, as the Agni Kai would begin at high noon. There was still time to back out, but Zuko was certain he had to go through with the Agni Kai.

"Are you sure you can beat him?" Sokka asked.

"Only one way to find out," Zuko said.

"Whoop his butt Sparky," Toph said.

Zuko smiled at her, appreciating the confidence. "That's the plan."

High noon arrived, and a loud horn bellowed to start the Agni Kai.

Both combatants got up and quickly turned around, facing each other and then beginning their attacks. A pair of fireballs collided in the middle, exploding into a shroud of flame that lasted a split second. Zuko took a step forward with each fireball he threw next, and Ozai remained in place while he was throwing more fire. The flames collided in a middle point that gradually moved north, until Zuko got within ten feet of Ozai and close enough to see the whiles of his eyes. There was a moment read each other's face, and then attack accordingly.

With a sweep of his right leg Zuko kicked up a wide wave of fire, scorching the ground as the attack burned towards Ozai. The fire spanned the ground from one side to the other, leaving no space for Ozai to dodge the attack, lest he plummet down either side of the caldera rim. Instead Ozai punched to shoot flames into the oncoming fire, piercing them to split the wave in half and let both sides of the fire pass by him harmlessly. Ozai's fire continued on across the battlefield, heading straight for Zuko still on the advance.

At the last moment Zuko swept an arm to the side to divert the oncoming fire, sending it far to his right and out of his way. Zuko then thrust both fists forward to shoot a plume of fire at Ozai, who quickly moved to the left to dodge them. Ozai's left foot touched the edge of the caldera rim, and the other foot was swung to hurl flames at Zuko. Most of that attack was diverted by Zuko's firebending, but enough of it got through to make him dodge the rest, and go past the caldera rim's inner edge and into open air.

When his feet didn't find ground Zuko almost panicked, but right when he started to fall he kicked with both legs to firebend. While not enough to overcome gravity's pull, the flames that erupted from his feet pushed him back towards the narrow strip of high ground. Zuko's shins impacted the edge and he tripped, ending up on one hand and knee when his firebending had stopped. He only needed a second to get back on his feet, but that second was all that Ozai needed for his next attack. And Zuko only had to hear it to know what was coming for him.

During that second Ozai swung both arms in a wide circular motion, index and middle fingers of each hand extended. Electricity crackled around his fingertips to charge a bolt of lightning, a specialty that Ozai reveled in perfecting long ago. The few firebenders that could create lightning needed several seconds to do charge and fire, while he had gotten the time down to just one. Zuko was still getting back on his feet when Ozai pointed his right fingers forward, firing the bolt of lightning directly at his beating heart.

Reacting just as fast as the lightning, Zuko stuck his own first two fingers directly at the incoming attack. The lightning struck his outstretched left arm, and started passing through his flesh and flowing along the chi lines in his body. Using the redirection technique invented by his uncle, Zuko channeled the lightning down his arm to his stomach and then back up the other arm. Compared to the one time he redirected something far bigger than lightning, Zuko felt like he could redirect this attack in his sleep. Last time had wrecked his body for months, this time he barely even felt it.

Just as fast as the lightning was conjured it was sent back at its source, threatening Ozai with the very attack that he had just created. So Ozai charged and fired a second bolt of lightning, shooting it at the first bolt coming back at him. The two bolts of lightning collided in the middle with a bright flash of light, shattering into many smaller arcs of electricity that scattered in every direction. Thunder could be heard across the caldera, and after the collision there was a black scorch mark on the ground between Zuko and Ozai.

After rubbing the glare from his eyes, Ozai relaxed his stance. "Enough."

Surprised, Zuko blinked twice. "What?"

"There is no need to continue," Ozai clarified. "I've seen enough."

Zuko wasn't sure what was meant by that. "And what have you seen?"

"Four years ago you challenged my authority, but would not fight for the decisions you believed were right." Ozai paused to let that sink in. "Today, you fought for your cause, and would kill for it. That righteous fury is what I always wanted to see in a prince of the Fire Nation."

Uncertain if he could believe what he was hearing, Zuko only slightly relaxed. "I'm not that little boy that cowered beneath you anymore."

"You've grown, in body and in spirit," Ozai said. "In my eyes, your honor has returned."

Zuko stood straight, and then bowed. "Thank you."

"Thank yourself," Ozai said, returning a smaller bow. "You earned it."

Feeling very relieved now that it was over, Zuko walked back to the southern end where Sokka and Toph were still watching. "For a moment there, I thought one of us was going to die."

"I'm kind of disappointed," Toph admitted, having her arms crossed. "Was hoping you'd actually put him in the ground, he certainly deserves it."

Sokka shushed her, though he knew that wouldn't stop her from speaking her mind. "I'm just glad you got through it alive Zuko."

"We both are," Zuko said. Then he turned to look at the city in the caldera. "Now then, I believe we have a lot of work to do."

The entire duel had been recorded by the lieutenant's sensor drone, and the footage was being reviewed aboard the Stalker. Captain Zed had seen the initial feed, and had re-watched it several times in the main meeting room. Darth Vader joined him there and watched the recorded duel, not saying a word and keeping his thoughts to himself. The ship's chief tactical officer was in attendance as well, studying the applications of the pyrokinetic and electrical abilities demonstrated. They certainly opened up new possibilities to exploit.

After watching for the eleventh time, Zed folded his hands and looked at Darth Vader. "Is this some form of those Force powers you are so fond of?"

"Perhaps," Darth Vader said, finally speaking his mind on the matter. "I will need to see it in person to be certain."

Zed turned to his tactical officer next, her soft face deep in thought. "Commander Reed, your opinion?"

"Well it's no match for a blaster," Reed said. Under the table she made a small upward thrust of her fist, seeing how fast it could be done. "But it would be perfect for sneak attacks, surprise and kill a target before the blasters are drawn."

"You would consider this pryokinesis an asset?" Zed asked.

Commander Reed nodded, slightly moving her short blonde hair. "In places that don't allow weapons, a living weapon hidden in plain sight would be an advantage. If the rebels could be tricked into believing a peace offering, which we would double cross of course, this Zuko or someone like him could walk in unarmed and still eliminate the rebel diplomats."

"And they would never see it coming," Zed added, liking the possibilities more and more. "Commander, get Zuko back aboard for testing. Invite his allies as well, along with any others he wishes to escort him. And examine the previous escort still aboard, see if they possess similar abilities. I want to know exactly what they are capable of."

"I will oversee the testing," Darth Vader interjected. "There is a supernatural element in play here. I will see if it can be deconstructed and replicated in others."

"I was just about to suggest that," Zed said.

Darth Vader turned and walked away, leaving the room without another word.

Once he was gone, Commander Reed let out a sigh of relief. "Permission to speak freely?"

"Granted," Zed said.

"He really creeps me out."

By royal decree of Fire Lord Ozai, Prince Zuko's banishment was officially ended. After four years with only the princess for a royal heir, the Fire Nation had a Crown Prince once again. For the common folk in the capital it was a joyous occasion and excuse to party, now that there was greater certainty in the royal line providing stability for their nation. For minor nobles with risky ambitions the news was an unwanted complication, something to change their plans in the event of the Fire Lord having some unfortunate accident.

Despite finally having what he wanted four years ago, Zuko did not have the time to celebrate. "Hurry it up. We don't have all day."

Zuko was currently at the capital's research and development lab, personally overseeing all of the activity here. He was standing on the ground floor of the building, watching the workers collect their research and get it ready for transport. Naturally it was all being copied first, and the copies being sent out instead of the originals, which were being stored downstairs. Everything they had on what happened a year ago was being sent out, everything that could possibly be used to find something useful against that threat.

In the middle of it all Chan came up from the lower levels, carrying a crate that contained the partially dismantled blaster he had been working on. "You're certain this goes too?"

"Yes," Zuko said, glancing at a label to know what was inside the crate. "Mai still has the other one anyway. We can take it apart later."

"Understood," Chan said. He was walking past him when Zuko grabbed his arm.

"We captured a different kind of weapon up north," Zuko whispered. "I'll make sure one gets sent down here as soon as I can."

"I appreciate it," Chan whispered back.

Zuko pulled him in a little closer, using an even quieter whisper so only Chan could hear him. "Are the girls still downstairs?"

Chan nodded. "Sokka told you about them?"

Silence was Zuko's answer, and he was already walking away from Chan. Zuko went straight for the stairwell that led to the underground levels, and he took them all the way down to the deepest basement. At the bottom there was a long and narrow corridor, with a solid steel door at the far end. Zuko opened the door and walked into the room beyond, finding a large and cavernous training hall on the other side. There were a dozen women practicing inside, and several explosions blowing holes in the far wall.

"So this is your training hall," Zuko said, approaching the young woman in charge. "I like what you've done with the place, Suki."

Wearing the uniform of a Kyoshi Warrior, Suki walked up to Zuko. "I thought someone told me you could never set foot in the Fire Nation again?"

"Someone was right, up until an hour ago," Zuko said. He looked over Suki's shoulder to see the other women practicing. "This can't be all of your students? Can it?"

"We're very thorough with the vetting," Suki answered. She gestured to her students. "If the wrong person learned this it could become a catastrophe. Better to keep our numbers low than to have one of them go all dictator on us."

Zuko took a moment to watch the students, having a vague idea of how their technique worked. Suki had been the first to learn it, back when the first visitor had appeared to be a generous benefactor. She had learned how to concentrate the innate energy within her body, and release it in explosive blasts. It vaguely resembled firebending, but without the actual fire and more destructive potential. It looked like little balls of light were coming out of their hands, which shot across the room and exploded against the wall, leaving holes of varying sizes in the rock.

Suki aimed her palm and fired an energy blast, and the resulting explosion excavated a dozen cubic feet of rock. "I've only had a year of practice, and I can bring down buildings with that. Who knows how big we can take this?"

"I can imagine," Zuko said. He turned away from the students to look Suki in the eye. "In fact, I might need to count on it."

"What for?" Suki asked.

"Has anyone told you what's going on topside?" Zuko asked.

"That some different aliens have arrived," Suki answered.

"That'd be it," Zuko said. "They don't know about this technique, for now anyway. I'd prefer to keep it that way. If this all goes south we're going to need it."

"Got it," Suki said. She turned to her students and clapped her hands, and every head turned to look at her. "That's enough for today. I want everyone to go home and rest. Next practice will be in a week."

Zuko watched as all the students left through a door on the far end of the hall, entering a corridor different from the one he had entered from. He figured that it led in the ancient labyrinth of tunnels that crisscrossed the capital, mostly formed from old lava tubes that people had dug into long ago. One could go anywhere in the city through them, if one did not get lost in the elaborate maze first. Each of those students could emerge in a different part of the city, and not raise any suspicion from the visitors in the streets and skies above.

Soon only Zuko and Suki remained in the training hall. "Thanks. If things go right I won't need to ask for more. If it doesn't, well then you'll be my white lotus in the hole."

Suki raised an eyebrow and gave an amused look.

"That did not come out right," Zuko admitted.

"That it did not," Suki agreed.

Darth Vader had waited long enough.

There was only so much one could tell about a world from orbit, even with the Force at his command. The time had come to personally set foot on this planet, to see its environment and populace firsthand. Darth Vader wanted to see the supernatural abilities of the locals for himself, and see how they used them in their day to day lives. He had to know if this was some offshoot of Force abilities, or if something else was the source of their power. So he boarded a shuttle and ordered a pilot to take him down there, and he took a small contingent of stormtroopers with him for a show of force.

However he did not set a course for the Fire Nation, where the last shuttle had landed. Instead Darth Vader selected a different destination, one that was currently in the middle of local morning. Within the Force there was still a lingering mark from the last encounter with powerful beings, including a third one nearly forgotten, and Darth Vader directed the shuttle to the place most greatly affected by that encounter. Before long he could see a ruined city through the shuttle's window, a city with walls large enough to be geological landmarks.

The obvious seat of government here was the very center of the city, where a large palace stood at the heart of a once expansive metropolis. There was just enough space between the main doors and the steep steps for the shuttle to land, though it had to do so sideways with the doors on the right and steep steps on the left. Once the shuttle's entry ramp was deployed Darth Vader was the first one to exit, finding an excellent view of the city up until the closest of its walls, which blocked the view of the rest from here.

Already there was a response from the locals, starting with groups of what he assumed to be guards. One group was coming around the palace in front of the shuttle, another group from behind the shuttle, and a third group coming up the steep steps to the shuttle's left. Darth Vader paid them no mind, as the path into the palace was still clear. A pair of stormtroopers followed him into the palace, where they found another group of guards coming from the opposite end of a large hallway. This was to be expected of course, as this part of the planet was still uncontacted.

When the two sides met Darth Vader stopped. "Bring your leader to me."

Sure enough the group of guards parted, as their leader had already been exiting the throne room. Long Feng scowled at the sight of Darth Vader. "And who are you supposed to be?"

"I am Darth Vader." After that introduction he took a step closer. "And you are?"

"Long Feng," he answered, and through force of habit he made a courteous bow. He couldn't help but notice the way Darth Vader breathed, mechanically regular and not aligned with his speech. "I assume you are from the ship up there."

"Yes." He didn't bother with returning the local greeting custom Long Feng used. "And you have one opportunity to prosper here."

Long Feng's eyes narrowed. "I'm listening."

Elsewhere in Ba Sing Se, Avatar Aang had just started his day. But when he spotted the inbound shuttle in the light of dawn, he felt a chill go down his spine. "That is not a good feeling."