Avatar: The Last Airbender Created By: Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko
Avatar: The Last Airbender Owned By: Nickelodeon, a subsidiary of Viacom
All original content and characters © Acastus
Chapter XXVI – Fortune Favors The Bold
Iroh summoned his friends. It was now evening. They stood before him in a protective semi-circle. Nikon, Gan and Chieng. Xian's message lay on the table, once again enclosed in its protective case.
"Now," the new general began evenly, "tell me everything."
The tank commander drew a heavy breath and began the story of Nifong's ingenious trap. Iroh's eyes widened at the description of the wave and the allied army it carried. Chieng supplied the particulars surrounding the occupation of Cemetery Ridge and the Round Tops. Once again Nikon recounted the death of Xian, this time in detail. He concluded with a brief description of the retreat over the frigid peaks of the Ping Tou. Iroh's friend neglected to relate his attempted suicide and Chieng gracefully allowed the omission.
Iroh considered the tale, his brow furrowing in confusion.
"What was my cousin doing out there? Did you ask the guards or the medics?"
Nikon and Chieng exchanged glances.
"We never found out," Nikon replied, "We didn't have time to ask before the situation went all the way to hell."
"And what about Tien Shin?"
"We don't know. We don't know if the Comet made it out or not."
"We don't even know for sure if he was on the Comet," the engineer added.
Iroh stroked his chin a moment in thought before continuing.
"Right, now let us consider our situation and options."
He stood up and walked over to the large table behind him. On it was spread the campaign map of the western Earth Kingdom. His friends followed and spread themselves around the four sides of the rectangular chart.
"Gan, count it off," Iroh commanded.
The Qu'ai Tau grimaced and produced a small book from his tunic. In a clinical tone he reviewed the losses in men and material at Lake Myojin. He read from the Order of Battle, listing each formation, its strength in men and equipment upon its dispatch over the mountains and its fate at the encounter.
"A complete disaster, General," Gan summarized unnecessarily, flipping the book closed with a snap, "Over ninety percent of all forces committed destroyed, though the tank trains did a little better proportionally. Three hundred and twenty seven million gold pieces in equipment lost – and that doesn't even include payload on the tank trains… Twenty three thousand soldiers dead or missing."
The silence was thunderous.
"Has there ever been such a loss?" Nikon finally asked in a small voice.
"Not in material, no," Gan answered instantly, "This represents almost six months of total Fire Nation industrial output," he continued, shaking his head in horror, "I…I…I've never seen a price tag this big on anything – ever!"
"Who cares about the money!" Nikon almost shouted in dismay, "Great Agni, I meant our people!"
"I care about the men," Gan retorted, uncharacteristic anger flashing briefly across his narrow features, "and I care about the money! Those are my instructions from the Fire Lord, Nikon, and I will do it whether it offends your sensibilities or not."
"Oh bullshit, Gan, are you an accountant or a man!?" Nikon roared, his fists balling in anger, "If you'd been there you wouldn't give a damn about the money either!"
"I'm not impressed by your profanity, my friend," the Qu'ai Tau replied, his normal calm restored, "and I'm not ashamed to be called an accountant – that's what I am. As for combat, I've had my share, more than any accountant I know. I don't remember seeing you at Nomura."
Nikon opened his mouth to reply, but failed.
"He's doing his job, Nikon," Chieng reproved quietly, "Do you really doubt him?"
"No," Nikon answered instantly, his anger fading as quickly as it had arisen, "No, of course not… I just… I just don't give a damn about the money when my people are at the bottom of that god damn lake."
Iroh eyed his friend sympathetically, but reproached him just the same.
"An army is not only made of men, Nikon, but of all the things they need to make war. We must never lose sight of either."
Nikon forced his fists to uncurl, his body to relax.
"Yes, General."
"Now," Iroh continued in answer to Nikon's original question, "If I remember correctly, the Battle of the Song was much worse in terms of manpower loss, over forty thousand dead. Sun Valley was about the same as this."
The young general paused before turning his attention once more to Gan.
"What about survivors?"
The Qu'ai Tau sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair before he replied.
"Two dreadnoughts, twenty eight tanks, and two thousand six hundred and forty men. Half of them wounded."
Iroh nodded once in acknowledgment before making eye contact with Chieng.
"What about Corona and Phoenix, Chieng, can they fight?"
"Yes, General, they need repair and refueling, but I can have them battle worthy in short order."
The Crown Prince rubbed his chin again thoughtfully.
"The supply chain – how many dreadnoughts are running between here and the gulf of Gela?"
"Four, Highness," Chieng replied automatically.
"Which ones?"
The engineer recited the names.
"And which types are they?" Azulon's son queried, the ghost of a smile playing on his lips.
Chieng, until this point her expression an impassive mask, smiled wickedly, her golden eyes narrowing dangerously.
"Two carriers and… two of them."
"Them?" Nikon prompted, obviously confused.
No one answered. The young general looked over to Gan.
"Forgive me, Iroh, but so what?" the accountant finally countered, his tone incredulous, "You're not actually considering continuing the campaign are you?"
"I am."
"You've got to be kidding!" Nikon gushed in horror, "I don't care what's in those trains. We have almost no armor or cavalry! We've taken tens of thousands of casualties! Nifong is probably on his way right now. We should be getting the hell out of here!"
"Not true," said Iroh raising a finger in unconscious imitation of his cousin's expression, "or at least not entirely true."
"What do you mean? Which part isn't true?"
"Come with me," the Crown Prince instructed.
They followed him out the back entrance of the tent. They snaked their way through the camp to one of the main logistic staging areas.
Nikon whistled. Chieng beamed.
"Still not enough," huffed the accountant.
Parked in front of them were eight rows of twelve tanks each. Obviously brand new, their steel sparkled in the sun.
"Replacements," Iroh explained, "they arrived two days ago."
Nikon ran his hand appreciatively along the body of the nearest machine.
"Yes, I'm sure Nifong will wet his pants when he hears we have these," Gan remarked sourly, waving his hand in a dismissive gesture at the tanks, "So, including what we've got here, all told we have about a hundred and thirty working units. We started with well over a thousand. We took eleven tank trains into battle and two survived, for a total of six remaining. No matter how you cut it we are at a severe deficit compared to our starting point."
"We probably have another fifty tanks in the garrisons at Cam'ron and Nanjing," Iroh countered.
"He's right, Iroh," Nikon agreed, his enthusiasm at the appearance of the reinforcements rapidly ebbing, "No matter how you cut it, not only are the mobile forces a fraction of what we started with, but also based on what we saw at Lake Myojin we're probably outnumbered… I don't know… 4 to 3, maybe worse. What do you think, Chieng?"
The engineer considered briefly before answering.
"Yeh, that's about right. We're facing pretty crappy odds now, General."
"That's even before accounting for the enemy relief armies that have arrived from the lake country," Gan added.
"Very well, my friends, let's return to the map."
They abandoned the neat rows of armor and made their way back to the command tent. Once they were assembled again around the table Iroh continued.
"Nikon, you said earlier that Nifong is probably on his way right now, yes?"
Color rose briefly to his friend's face at this reminder.
"Yes, well, sorry for the outburst, I just assumed he'd attack you immediately given his success against us."
"Not an unreasonable thought, but if so, where is he?"
The question hung in the air.
"Yes, General, I see," Chieng said finally, realization dawning in her expression, "he'd have been here days ago if he came straight through."
"Right," the new general agreed with a gentle smile, "but there's been no sign of him."
"Maybe he's coordinating with the armies from up north? A pincer attack?" Gan mused.
"Word is that the relief armies have laid siege to Edo and Shimonoseki," Iroh countered, indicating several scrolls lying next to him on the map, "Our garrisons are trapped there. If they were going to link up with the Army of the Granite Mountains they'd have bypassed."
"Still, it's not good, our rear is threatened," Nikon observed, "and the supply chain to Gela is in real trouble. How are we going to continue the campaign, Iroh, if we get cut off?"
"Good question," the Crown Prince replied, eyeing the map, "to answer that, we have to ask ourselves what our enemy's intention is after his victory at Lake Myojin."
Silence again greeted this question.
"Chieng?" Iroh prompted.
She hesitated, her face downcast.
"General, my… my judgment has been proven suspect in these matters, so I'd rather not speculate."
"Nonsense," Iroh replied with a trace of sternness, "stand up and be counted."
She lifted her gaze to meet her commanding general's eyes.
"All right…" she replied, uncharacteristic indecision showing in her voice, "Since he declined to attack immediately… I believe he is after something else, but I haven't any clue what that alternate objective might be."
"Relieve Amiganza?" Nikon offered, then with bitterness, "I mean we know now that letter was totally bogus."
"Not likely," Gan responded, "If cleaning us up isn't worth the time then relieving Amiganza would be a complete waste."
"Okay, then what?" Chieng prompted.
"Oh," Nikon began, suddenly grimacing, his eyes transfixed on a different area of the map.
Iroh regarded his friend evenly.
"Oh, sweet Agni," he continued, "You don't think he'd risk an attack on Mequon, do you?"
They considered this, tension filling the tent. Mequon, the last major Fire Nation colony in the Earth Kingdom, lay over three hundred leagues to the southeast, across the devastated wasteland known as the Dune Sea.
"It's a really long haul," Nikon said, answering his own question, and tracing a finger along the lower portion of the map, "almost six hundred leagues, because they have to round the Ping Tou down south, swing out east and then south again around the desert's eastern escarpment… but we don't have much in the way to stop him, do we?"
"We appropriated all of the colony's mobile forces for the Nasu Campaign," Gan agreed quietly, "If the garrison has to face the entire might of the Army of the Granite Mountains with no support… it will probably end badly."
"If Nifong brings up proper siege equipment, even the primitive pieces of crap that passes for artillery here, it'll just be a matter of time before the city falls," Chieng agreed, "It doesn't help now, but it was probably a stupid idea to strip Mequon entirely."
"Leaving Mequon exposed was always one of the risks of the plan," Nikon admitted, biting his lip, "How large is the garrison? Do we know?"
"About five thousand, but I'm not entirely certain," Gan replied.
"Who is the governor?" Nikon continued, "A friend, I hope?"
Iroh and Gan shared a quick glance.
"Rhiannon?" the accountant prompted somewhat mysteriously.
Iroh nodded once, then looked down again at the map, a brooding expression on his face.
"Rhiannon? Never heard of him," Nikon said, obviously confused.
"Her," Iroh corrected.
"Her?" Chieng questioned sharply.
"Is she hot?" Nikon injected before he could help himself.
Chieng and Gan shook their heads in identical displays of disgust.
"Yes," the young general confirmed, kicking his friend sharply underneath the table, "but you would know her only as Governor T'zan. Rhiannon is her given name."
Grimacing from the well-deserved blow, Nikon continued hesitantly.
"Um… wait a minute, isn't Governor T'zan a man… like a really rich old man…?"
"Her father," Gan supplied with a shake of his head, "and when he died a few years ago she was appointed his successor by the Fire Lord."
"I never heard of this," Chieng accused, as if Iroh and Gan were to blame for the oversight.
"He didn't just die, Gan, he was assassinated," the Crown Prince clarified, "and Rhiannon had been his deputy for two years before that. She is capable and popular, the appointment was natural. The Ministry of War suppressed the news of the assassination of course."
"It's part of our function," Gan observed coolly.
"Assassinated by whom?" Chieng asked.
"Dai Li agents, apparently posing as civil construction workers," the accountant answered, "Rhiannon had them arrested and executed, but the circumstances were rather mysterious."
"How do you…?" the engineer began, but was cut off by Iroh's curt reply.
"We grew up together."
Chieng observed Iroh closely. She then looked over to Gan who looked troubled. After a few moments of silence Iroh returned to the original subject.
"How long do you think it will take Nifong to invest the city if we are correct?"
Nikon considered this, deciding to leave the subject of the governor of Mequon for later.
"Two months, maybe, if they have reserve mounts and good supply along the way, which they probably do. More important, I think, will be if the weather holds," Nikon turned to the Qu'ai Tau to ask, "Aren't we about to enter the wet season for the lower latitudes?"
"Yes," Gan replied, "My father has told me the weather often turns sharply in the next few months."
Nikon thought about this a moment. Then, expelling a large breath, concluded dully, "Well, whether he gets there fast or slow, what does it matter? It won't change the outcome. Chieng's right, the city is doomed if he decides to attack."
"We can't let that happen," the engineer interjected vehemently, "If Mequon falls our ability to operate large field armies in the western Earth Kingdom will be eliminated. What will happen to the Army of the Song or the Army of the Cree Valley without Mequon to supply them? Supply by sea is acceptable for a single campaign, but not for years at a time. And once that ability is gone, how long will it be until we are driven completely into the sea?"
"Or worse," Gan added darkly.
"Yes," Iroh agreed, "It is these very questions that concerned my father when he gave my cousin this task."
Briefly the young general recalled the Harvest Moon Feast from what seemed another lifetime.
"Yes, I see no other real possibility," Iroh concluded, "He will attack Mequon. If he succeeds, the war is essentially over and we are finished. Does everyone see that?"
He met each of their eyes in turn. He saw grim realization in Chieng's, worry in Nikon's, and cool acceptance in Gan's.
"Our options are to retreat," Iroh began, tracing each option on the map as he spoke, "fight our way back to the gulf of Gela and return to the Fire Nation in disgrace. Or, we can attempt to break the sieges of Edo and Shiminoseki in the hopes of smashing the relief armies threatening our rear, but leaving Nifong with the strategic initiative."
Chieng snorted and looked away, clearly disgusted with both of those options. Nikon and Gan looked downcast.
"We will do neither," General Iroh stated flatly.
All eyes turned once again to him.
"What will we do then?" Nikon asked.
Iroh straightened before replying, clasping his hands behind his back.
"We will cross the Dune Sea and destroy the Army of the Granite Mountains on the steppes east of Mequon."
Nikon and Gan surveyed their leader in horror. Chieng's eyes widened, her head nodding in approval.
"A bold plan, General," the raven haired engineer offered, clearly impressed.
"Have you lost your mind?" Gan finally choked out, "There's no water – I mean zero! Even if every tank train carries nothing but water we'd never make it!"
"Yes, my friend," Iroh replied in a hard voice, "I probably have lost my mind, but that will not change my decision."
"And I'd have thought you'd have had enough of bold plans after Myojin!" Gan declared, turning to Chieng with an incredulous expression.
"Fortune favors the bold, Gan," she replied, quoting the ancient saying, "besides, we're in a shitty position, so pretty much any course we take besides laying down to die will require bold action."
"One thing I am sure of," the engineer continued, "is that there is no way in hell the enemy will expect us to try to cross the desert."
"I agree with you there," Nikon inserted, "but Gan's right. We can't carry enough water to get across and there isn't any to be found in that blasted waste. It's suicide."
"There is water in the Dune Sea," Iroh disagreed, "Plenty, as a matter of fact."
"You mean the salt lakes?"
"Yes."
"What good are they? We can't drink salt water."
"No, we can't."
"So… I don't get it."
Iroh turned to Chieng. Her eyes were suddenly apprehensive.
"We need a fast way to separate salt from water."
Nikon and Gan shifted their gaze to the now visibly uncomfortable woman. A few moments passed in silence as each of them surveyed their chief technician.
"How do you like the plan now?" Nikon asked her quietly, his voice betraying sympathy the barbed question did not intend.
She allowed her fellow Myojin veteran a rueful expression before answering Iroh's implicit challenge.
"There isn't any."
Iroh nodded.
"I understand, my dear," the Crown Prince acknowledged gently, unconsciously using a term of endearment for the harsh engineer, "It will take a week at least to recall the dreadnoughts and gather the Nasu garrisons that aren't yet under attack. You have that much time to come up with a solution."
Indecision, anger, and other emotions warred within her. She lowered her gaze, her fists clenching.
"That's not really fair, Iroh," Gan injected, taking pity on the engineer, "You can't just command miracles, or dictate invention. It just doesn't work that way."
"I believe in her," Iroh replied softly.
Chieng's head snapped up, confusion evident on her face.
"Why?" she asked, honest curiosity burning in her expression.
"You have a way of inspiring confidence in those around you," Iroh responded with a smile, "and you haven't let me down yet."
She didn't answer, her face betraying her doubt.
"Iroh's not alone there, Chieng," Nikon found himself saying to his own surprise, "I do too. We've been through way too much for me to doubt."
The engineer quailed internally at the impossibility of the task before her, but she could not deny that she was touched by the simple expressions of faith from her companions. When had they become comrades rather than professional acquaintances? Were they actually friends? She was not used to asking these questions. Recoiling at such intimacy, especially in a public forum, she ignored the comments.
"I can't promise anything, General," she said finally, crossing her arms across her chest in a gesture of self-protection.
"Yes, I know, but you will do your best. I know you understand that if we fail, all those who passed at Lake Myojin will have died for nothing."
She looked stricken. Feelings of guilt threatened to overwhelm her once again. She dropped her gaze in fear of finding accusation in her leader's eyes.
"I best get started. May I go now, General?"
"Of course, Commander," Iroh agreed gently with a slight dip of his head.
She walked stiffly from the tent, the weight of the entire Fire Nation on her shoulders.
