The next morning I gathered all the supplies I had and needed for a ten day expedition in-country. Our team was going by its new call sign now, Jian-one. Jia's Jian. It was a very apt play on words, fitting for our current mission.

Our first mission was planned to be a boring one. Hei Bai was to provide overwatch on a farming village where there was a high chance of a terrorist raid taking place. In other words, we were to baby sit Hei Bai for a few days while he was glued to his binoculars and directed the cavalry over the radio in the even that anything actually happened.

Nevertheless, I made ready for our excursion. I packed light – not that I had much to pack anyway. None of us did. One of the few things that almost all experienced members of the military have in common is a strong sense of perfectionism and a type-A personality. Keep everything organized. Less is more. It was also one of the things that set Hei Bai apart from the rest of us. I have never seen a more type-B personality in my life. He went into the field with us carrying a fully loaded rucksack with enough useless equipment for just about any scenario possible. I didn't think someone so wiry could carry so much weight, but somehow he managed it. It seems obvious in retrospect, but maybe we should have all had our eyes opened when we saw this. It was the first red flag about Hei Bai. We all should have seen the others after it.

We rolled out of the FOB at 0830. We took a modified truck designed to withstand buried mines; mines where becoming an increasingly popular weapon for the enemy in these parts. The top half of the satomobile had been removed – the Jians found that in the case of an ambush the trucks armored canopy turned it into a cramped death trap. Odds were better to just bail and retreat on foot. Still, riding in one feels incredibly exposed. I rode to the rear of the vehicle, keeping my rifle level and scanning for threats. Next to me sat Peng, who kept to himself. He wore a large yellow-black checkered bandanna, wrapped around his neck like a scarf. It was combat memorabilia, just like my gloves; a reminder that he had fought sand-benders in the Si Wong desert. In the dessert it kept sun off your neck, but out here it kept the biting flies off.

And how the flies bit! They were completely silent but would come round and round to pinch with their mouth-parts. These flies were relentless and impossible to deter. It felt like being stabbed with a redhot needle. I take immeasurable solace in that their bites did not itch afterwards as a mosquito's does.

"How do you bear it?" asked Buno of all people at long last. "I've tracked up and down the brush of this land my whole life and even I still cannot bear these flies"

Though he did not open his mouth, Chang's shoulders heaved in laughter, "you may have been born here, but to these flies you are still all foreigners. I suppose your blood is like a delicacy to them."

Peng lit a cigarette, took a puff, and then passed it to Chang. "The smoking does help, too," Chang said, "they hate the smell more than I do."

Two miles from our OP we disembarked and hiked our way through the dense tall grass to the top of the hill; it was important that not even the farmers we were protecting knew of our location. The first thing we did when we got to set our equipment down and begin clearing a space to camp with our machetes. Hei Bai and Chang worked together to set up a large thermal imager on top of a tripod. He got on the radio when we were done and said, "Jian-Actual, this is Jian-One. We are grey on the rock."

This was spec-ops jargon that is fairly irregular among even those who have served in the military. The 'grey' dealt with the level covertness of an operation. White-Ops were completely overt. Grey-Ops were ops that were not illegal or operation outside of one's jurisdiction, but a low profile was still required. Black-Ops were operations that were completely covert. There was also another color code that would be added in front of the white-grey-black color code if the situation was called. That was Red, like the color of blood – guess what happens on Red-Ops. Lastly, there was the phrase 'on the rock.' The 'rock' simply referred to the ground, meaning that a unit had successfully infiltrated and was in position for the operation to begin.

"What do you mean, grey?" said Koko, looking genuinely disappointed.

"Grey," said Hei Bai, "like in between but neither black nor white. Like, grey."

Koko pouted, "Ah, man. I was hoping we'd get some action, sir. We're not gonna go on a whole deployment without getting' to dispatch some baddies, are we?"

"Not up to me. That's up to the baddies," Hei Bai said. "You're not bored already, are you?"

"No, sir!"

"good." He turned to the rest of us, "If you want to keep yourself busy, you can go freely anywhere on the hill. Stay within range of radio contact at all times. There must be at least two people on the OP at any given time. Maintain noise discipline at all times, and maintain light discipline after sundown."

It wasn't just a nicety that he was extending to us. We weren't in enemy territory; the more we moved around the hill the less suspicious and more civilian we'd look. It'd also be a lot harder for the enemy to sneak up on us if we were constantly and randomly moving.

Nothing much happened that night. Hei Bai maintained unwavering attention to the villages through the sights of his thermal imager. Koko zipped around the OP on her air-scooter, or used it to sled to the bottom of the hill. Chang field stripped and cleaned his rifle. Peng sat away from everyone else and smoked.

Me, I watched Jia's sunset. It was strong and shimmering, a proud red sun surrounded by a heavenly gold halo as it crawled across the faded purple pastels of the Jian sky, setting behind the countryside's fertile green hills. I think maybe I understood why so many had come here, why so many had run away from their previous lives to start over.

The next three days were uneventful. Buno and I had one thing in common: we slept at all times possible. On the fourth day I woke up to find that Buno had completely disappeared without anyone seeing him leave. Three hours later he returns with four freshly killed possum-chickens.

"Hiro, Koko: get to work on a fire. Make sure there's no smoke. It needs to be out before sundown," Hei Bai ordered.

While we started the fire Chang and Buno got busy with skinning the possum-chickens. We roasted them on a spit over the open flame. Not exactly gourmet, but if you've spent the last four days eating freeze-dried hermetically sealed 'food' that was packaged before you were born and isn't set to expire until sometime after you're probably dead, then chicken-possum is delicious.

"So," Koko asked Chang, "don't you live in a village like this one?"

"Yes, my family does. The government has just answered our request to start a farm of our very own. It will be good for us to own our farm; there are even some Water Tribe member only a few klicks from us if we have trouble with irrigation."

"Aren't you worried," I asked, "with all this trouble going around?"

"It is troubling, but I have tought my wife to shoot and look after the home in my abscence. she can take care of herself. Besides, I am of an important family in my tribe. Now that I can own a head of cattle, I can finally show off my status to the other villages. It's common in my culture to take a second wife to show this as well, but," he laughed, "a farm seems like much less trouble to be in."

"Don't be so sure," said Buno. "these criminals that claim to be fighting the Water Tribe have hurt or killed a lot more of their own people so far, all in the name of the greater good."

The greater good.

It's amazing how meaningless that could be, and how both sides at any given time could invoke its name to ward away evil spirits.

Contact came at 0700 the next day

The first things we heard were the distant sounds of gunshots. It wasn't an unfamiliar sound, and every one of us did a double take at the noise.

"Go time, people!" shouted Hei Bai. "Everyone on me."

Hei Bai jumped onto his thermal imager and began looking at the village below, then took a reading with his laser range-finder. Chang started looking through his set of binoculars

"They're… They're killing the farmers!" said Chang. "We need to do something! We need to get down there!"

"Hold your ground, Chang." Hei Bai said. He turned to his radio. "Jian-Actual this is Jian-One. We have confirmed sighting of fifty plus hostile foot-mobiles in village to the South-East of our location. How copy?"

*Bzzzzt* "Solid copy, Dagger-One. Reinforcements are on their way – ETA five minutes. Wolf-bats are already in the air and are being redirected to your location. ETA one minute. You are to remain at OP and direct Wolf-Bat till reinforcements arrive. You will then direct the landing zones for reinforcements to provide stops and a sweep line. How copy?" *Bzzzzt*

"Solid copy, Jian-Actual. Jian-One out." He turned to us. "We're going to hold this hill and call down the pain on the insurgents."

I looked over my shoulder and saw it coming in low and fast. A small powered glider, armed with rockets and machine guns – the wolf-bat. From our OP I could see tactics the Jians used in action. Jian-Actual had patched in Hei Bai to speak directly with the wolf-bat's pilot. Hei Bai guided it in over the hilltop straight to the heart of the insurgent's current position. a wispy trail of smoke fwooshed from the wolf-bat as it fired a rocket at roughly the middle of the insurgents on the edge of the village. The wolf-bat fired another rocket at the same target and a dense purple smoke marked the area. The wolf-bat came around for several more passes at the stunned enemies with the staccato bursts of its machine guns.

Two minutes passed. I looked up just in time to see a fleet of aircraft pass over head. These ones were called auto-gyros. They had a propeller in front, just like a regular powered glider. However, instead of two wings, they had three. These wings were on top of the fuselage instead of the side, arranged like spokes on a wheel. They were free to spin like a wheel as well. As the propeller pulled the auto-gyro forward, the wind passing through the wings caused them to spin, generating lift. They weren't very fast, but then again that was the point. They could go so slow without stalling that the squad they were carrying could jump out of them from low altitude and remain unharmed. A lot cheaper and safer than riding in a 'humming bird,' too.

The doctrine followed by the Jians would make an airbender proud. The soldiers assigned to counter-insurgency were lean, light, fast, and highly mobile. The first auto-gyro to come in was a gunship. It carried a machine-cannon – a weapon similar to a machine gun but firing 20mm exploding shells. This weapon was operated by a door gunner and mounted on the left side, meaning that the pilot could only make left hand turns it engaged the enemy. The gunship saw the smoke, pulled up to an altitude of three hundred meters, and began orbiting the battlefield. The gunner fired his cannon at fleeing troops in bursts of three. As he fired there was a noticeable delay between the report and the impact.

*DAKADAKADAKA*

*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*

*DAKADAKADAKA*

*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*

After action assessments were studied meticulously and they showed a consistent behavior among the insurgents. Once reinforcements showed up, they would 'bombshell,' scattering in all directions and then escape to regroup later. The Wolf-bat's job was to scare them long enough for the reinforcements to get into position and use the smoke to mark the center of their bombshell. The pilot of the gunship used this to figure out the best center of orbit, but the pilot had to be very skilled to succeed: AAAs also found out that the insurgents moved at an average of 150 to 200 meters per minute. The pilot had to constantly widen the center of his holding pattern.

Next came troop transports. They came in low and orbited the perimeter of the town at an altitude of only ten meters. One by one, Hei Bai radioed the first four and told them the best places to set down their troops. These troops were to form stop lines. A panicked fleeing enemy would, in most cases, try to follow the natural terrain such as ditches, riverbeds, or the valleys between the foothills. The next two transports carried the troops that would form the sweep line. This line would start at end of the village and slowly work its way across from one to the other, killing or capturing all insurgents that were trying to hide or were caught inside the village by the stop lines.

Once they dropped off their troops, the transports would fly away to closest incoming convoy of reinforcements, scoop up some riflemen from their trucks, and fly back to the village to get them to the fight even faster. It was remarkable to me how quickly the Water Tribe came up with these tactics, and let no one doubt that in practice these tactics were devastating to the troublemakers. But nothing was ever perfect. And nothing ever went according to plan, either. Five minutes after the sweep line set down, we got the call.

*Bzzzt* "Jian-One, this is Jian-Actual. The sweep line has taken a casualty and is requesting aide to fill the line. Move rapidly to grid-square provided and continue the assault according to our time-table. the gunship and wolf-bat will take over as combat controllers and forward observer, respectively. How copy."

"Solid copy, Jian-Actual. Alright boys and girls, it's show time!"

Koko charged her rifle, "lock and load baby! Woo hoo!"

The five of us leapt to our feet and began vaulting down the hill, heed to the sound of gunfire coming from the village below us. Wait, did I say five? There should be si—

"Out of the way, pretty boy!"

I dodged to the side just in time to avoid Peng as he raced down the hill at break-neck speeds using his earthbending like a mountain board beneath his feet.

I looked at Hei Bai. Hei Bai looked at me.

He shouted, "Koko!"

"On it, sir," she responded. She summoned an air-scooter and flew down the hill to catch up to Peng. I guess two is one and one is none, after all.

Fifteen second later, the rest of Jian-One reached the skirmish line. Koko and Peng were taking a knee and securing the area. With a wave of his arms Peng had erected an earthen berm to provide us cover.

Hei Bai spoke, "Form a line. Three meter spread. Guns up. Keep visual contact of the people on your left and right at all times. We'll move as fast as we can while staying together until we catch up with the line. Be ready for anything."

The pace was slow. One step at a time we waded through chest high grass. The insurgents could be anywhere at any time. We could hear the sound of sound of gunfire all around us, but these were just ambient noises like the sound of cicadas in the summer. Then I heard a snap and everyone instinctively dropped to their knee. The bang of gunfire isn't what you need to watch out for; the snap, however, is the sound of a bullet flying past your head.

We continued moving forward through the grass in a duck walk. Every so often, one of us would stand up and take pot shots at figures running through the grass. Then things go frantic. Point blank range, two insurgents lying in wait leapt at us from the grass. The first was cut down in a hail of bullets. Just as I was caught reloading my rifle, the second lunged straight for me with a knife in one hand and the other hand in an open grasp. I threw my rifle behind me to keep him from grabbing it and put my hands up in front of me to counter. He came straight for my face with the knife. I leaned my head to the right. He slashed again. Leaned to the left. He stepped back. I shot a blast of fire at him. The earthbender blocked it with a wall of dirt and then lunged straight through it.

This time I parried his knife attack. A large windmill motion with my left hand pushed the knife away from my body. I followed through with the sweep, wrapping my arm around his, securing his between my armpit and elbow. I twisted my torso upward and there was a sickening crack as his elbow hyperextended. His head shot back in pain as he gasped, and I gave a chop with my right hand to his exposed neck. I shoved him away from me and got back into a defensive fighting stance. Immediately the man was tackled by Buno, and in quick succession Chang plunged his kukri straight through the man's heart.

"That was a close one," I said.

"Alright everybody," said Hei Bai, "let's get back on the line."

*BZZZZT* "This is Stopline Three to Jian-One. We just routed several insurgents. They look like they're headed you're way" *BZZZZT*

"Yeah," said Hei-Bai, "We're already well acquainted"

I turned around to grab my rifle and… it was gone.

Peng said, "Aren't you forgetting something?"

I looked ups to see him holding my QBZ.

I walked over to grab it, "Thank you."

I held out my hand to accept it. He held the rifle out with one hand as if to hand it to me then dropped it at my feet and started to walk away.

"Peng! Hiro!" shouted Hei-Bai. "Do we have to start doing trust falls? Both of you get back on the line, now!"

The rest of the sweep remained unremarkable, though Buno made sure to put himself between the two of us from thereon out.

The rest of the evening felt excruciating in the sun. We swept with the line thru the village. every house. every shed, every drain, and every stone were cataloged and inspected for any signs of hiding insurgents. I wiped the sweat from my eyes, cursing myself for not working on my tan before coming here. And then the commander made us do it again. after about seven hours he felt satisfied with the inspection.

Police and gendarme had come from all over, intermingling with the military personnel, while ambulances awaited the engineers to fully clear roads to the hospital for mines. We had taken a few casualties, but the boys would pull through and be ready for action again in a few months time. A farmer and and his wife had been shot, both in critical condition. It didn't take the police long to figure out the ones responsible and drag them off to who knows where.

Those terrorists that had surrendered and survived were bloodied and sitting in a patch of dirt on the outskirts of the farmstead, surrounded by armed guards. There were about twenty or so of them. Hei Bai and Buno handed their weapons over to us and made their way thru the guards to the terrorists. squatting down at their level, Hei Bai produced his canteen and gave a particularly delerious looking captive a sip. Buno scanned each of the prisoners with his piercing eyes, looking for some clue or sign related to his police work, though I knew not what.

With the remaining water, Hei Bai gently teased it from the opening of canteen and floated it onto his hands. He coached a prisoner to lay supine and Hei Bai then laid his hands on the man, the water glowing as he began healing his wounds. It was certainly unusual for a male water bender to possess healing hands, but I don't know why that would surprise me anymore.

"Hei Bai, this man is the enemy," I had protested to him.

"Those we can convict of crimes will be punished. That's how it is. But many of these troublemakers are only fighting because their families have been kidnapped or they've been tortured for refusal. You know those machine cannon rounds the gunships shoot?"

"What about them?" I asked.

"We don't just fire in bursts to prevent accidents, we fire in bursts because at the end of the day they're expensive. It cost twenty thousand yuan for every insurgent we killed today, counting the fuel, the bullets, the maintenance, medical bills, and everything else. Yet we haven't managed to hurt our real enemy in the slightest, only his proxy."

Putting it in that perspective, I realized that our flawless military victory today was still a strategic failure.

"So the reason I am here is this," said Hei Bai. "I have not come to kill our enemy, but to persuade him. Give me the budget of just one single Fire Nation battle tank, and I will give you a pacified province."

I went to bed uneasy and exhausted, thinking about what Hei Bai had said. I was thankful to be sleeping on a cot instead of solid granite and I was grateful to be alive another day. But in Jia, it was just another Wednesday like any other.