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 XXXIX – Captain of the Inferno
"So, what are we here to see?" Nikon asked, folding his arms across his chest.
They stood before the east gate of the colony's great outer wall. Not as high as the inner keep, the outer walls were nevertheless several stories high. Guard towers appeared at regular intervals, as well as flat firing platforms occupied by large ballistae. Behind the wall, spaced in between the platforms and guard towers, torsion catapults waited patiently to greet unwelcome visitors. Except for the two towers flanking the east gate itself, however, none of the fortifications or artillery pieces was manned.
Two tank trains, complete with their towage, were parked on either side of the gate. Their names, painted in gold leaf, appeared dull on an overcast morning. One read Inferno, the other, Firestorm. Technicians and boiler operators swarmed over each. Chieng stood next to the Inferno, giving orders and supervising the preparations that were underway.
"Here to see?" Gan huffed, "We're here to see a massive waste of money, that's what we're here to see!"
"Now, now, Gan," Iroh admonished, raising a finger in the gesture he had unconsciously adopted from his cousin, "behave in front of the Lord Governor."
Rhiannon smiled. She stood as she had received them the day before, resplendent in her crimson bordered kimono, her face framed by her platinum locks.
"He's teasing you, Gan," she said finally with a small laugh. Iroh joined her.
Nikon had the distinct impression this was a scene that had played out countless times before and was ashamed to feel a twinge of jealousy. He felt excluded, an unpleasant sensation he was not used to feeling around his friends.
"Oh, I know, Rhiannon!" the accountant acknowledged, clearly unamused, "but he won't find it funny when the War Ministry presents him with the bill for all this!" he concluded with a sweep of his arm in the direction of the dreadnoughts.
"The Qu'ai Tau is upset over something, General," Rhiannon observed, tongue in cheek, "But I haven't the faintest idea what he's talking about, do you?"
"No, Lord Governor, I haven't a clue," Iroh played along, "especially since we left a couple mountains of salt in the desert that he told us could pay for the whole campaign."
"Would someone please tell me what's going on?" Nikon quailed.
"Now you're both teasing me," Gan accused, ignoring the daimyo completely, "some things never change, do they?"
"Of course not," the governor conceded warmly, "would you really have it any other way?"
Gan sighed and shook his head. He had met Rhiannon at the keep and escorted her to the eastern staging area. They had clearly used the opportunity to catch up, and despite his ill temper, the Qu'ai Tau was happy to see the woman he regarded as his elder sister.
The governor turned to an obviously confused and exasperated Nikon.
"If it helps, daimyo Orlando," she said archly, "I am just as much in the dark as you are."
Suddenly the object of her complete attention, Nikon struggled desperately to resist the temptation to flirt with Iroh and Gan's beautiful friend. He felt certain Iroh would kill him if he did.
"I'm surprised to hear that, your Excellency," he replied with a smile and the slightest cocking of his head, "It seems there is little you don't know."
The governor shifted her eyes instantly to Iroh, though her smile did not waver, then back to the daimyo.
Catching the reaction and realizing his mistake, Nikon moved quickly to recover. As his fellow soldiers and many women in the capital were aware, though for widely different reasons, he was good under pressure.
"Pardon me, Lord Governor," he prevaricated with an easy laugh, "I just mean you seem very well informed based on the excellent briefing we received yesterday."
She paused a moment to study the young man from the commons who had become the boon companion of the Crown Prince. The question raised by his remark flitted about the edges of her consciousness.
"I have to be daimyo Orlando," she finally replied, her smile widening, "and that's why I'm here. General Iroh bid me join you this morning to demonstrate why offering battle in the Field of Coins is a good idea," cocking an eyebrow and turning to Xian's cousin she continued in mock severity, "rather than one of his usual ill-considered and impulsive decisions."
Chieng had approached the group while Rhiannon spoke, her expression turning hard as she overheard.
"General Iroh's decisions are neither ill-considered nor impulsive, Lord Governor," she countered coldly, "Your colony would have no hope of survival were it not for the quality of his judgment. You would do well to remember that."
Rhiannon regarded the engineer evenly. Her eyes flicked over to Iroh whose ears were burning. He was about to speak when the governor graciously bowed her head in acceptance of the admonishment.
"I am thankful indeed for the general's presence, Commander," she replied, then added with the smile she had suppressed moments before, "in more ways than you know."
Chieng bristled at this response. Nikon grinned widely in amusement while Gan looked back and forth between the two women, his expression carefully neutral.
"What she means, Commander," the young general began lamely, trying to salvage the situation which had suddenly and unaccountably deteriorated, "is that…"
"What I meant," Rhiannon cut in, deciding Iroh had suffered enough, "is that you are, of course, correct, Commander. I meant no disrespect. General Iroh, the Qu'ai Tau and I were friends in our youth and we used to tease each other constantly. Old habits are just hard to break."
Chieng was clearly unsatisfied with this response, but as she could find nothing overtly wrong with it she simply nodded.
Nikon drew a breath to comment, but wisely let it die after a single frigid glance from the engineer.
"Besides, Commander, I wager the General has summoned me here to witness the power and glory of your divine creations," Rhiannon continued with a majestic sweep of her hand, "and I freely admit I have never seen a more glorious expression of our nation's superiority than your mighty dreadnoughts! Your father must be proud."
Whatever she was, and she was many things, the young governor was both charismatic and persuasive. The change of subject caught the engineer off guard, who replied hesitantly.
"Yes, Governor… my father is very proud."
"Governor T'zan is correct," Iroh inserted, trying to take control of the situation, "I summoned you all here to show you why we intend to engage the enemy near the Field of Coins, or rather, so Chieng could show you."
At that moment Tien Shin arrived, his expression impassive. He saluted no one.
"Ready for "show and tell", brother?"
"Why yes, Tien Shin," Iroh replied, refusing to respond to the rancor offered, "We are."
The elder prince turned to the blonde woman, anger etched on his face.
"Why am I refused access to the colony's messenger hawks, Rhiannon?" he demanded without preamble.
"General Iroh so ordered it, your Highness."
"I did, Tien Shin," Iroh confirmed unapologetically, "There will be no messages sent home except mine."
"My messages are personal, brother, not official. You've no right to deny me."
"I have every right, Tien Shin, and my decision stands."
Iroh stared his rival down, daring with him eyes to press the matter further. The elder prince glowered, but declined the implicit challenge. He then turned to Chieng, nodded once and motioned with his hand for her to begin.
"Proceed with the demonstration."
Behind her the technicians had successfully extended telescoping metal legs into the ground beneath each engine and each of the cars in tow. These obviously acted as supports to hold them in place, but for what purpose remained unclear.
"There are several different types of tank trains," the engineer began, "there are command models, like Corona and Constellation, there are personnel carriers, like Nova, and then there are the specials, like these two in front of us."
"Specials? What's special about them?" Nikon questioned in a slightly dubious tone. After a moment of observation he offered, "Well, I can see these only have one siphon instead of two."
"Correct," Chieng confirmed.
Iroh made a twirling gesture with an index finger, urging her to get on with it.
"This," Chieng said, motioning to each dreadnought in turn as if she were introducing two people, "is Inferno and that is Firestorm. What makes them different than the others? Observe."
She shouted a few orders at a technician wearing a white arm patch populated with obscure symbols. Moments later the rear section of the engine and several of the cars in tow opened at the top. They split open length wise into two equal halves. After a few seconds each half swung down on a hinge to land with a crash on the ground. Crews in each compartment had worked winches to open the cars. Now they cranked handles attached to gears that moved the firing platforms concealed within each car.
On top of each platform rested a large, complex mechanical scissor jack that supported a collection of tightly bound, long black metal tubes. As the audience watched the crews turned their cranks feverishly and the scissor jacks began to rise, lifting the tubes toward the sky. The platforms on which they rested also began to turn so that the ominous metal pipes soon aimed at a ninety degree angle to the length of the train.
"What the hell are those things?" Nikon blurted.
"Those," Chieng answered proudly, "are rocket launchers."
Gan snorted.
"Nooooo, those are gold launchers."
"Oh, out with it, Gan," the engineer commanded impatiently, "you won't be happy until you do."
"Oh, I will, Chieng, gladly!"
The accountant clearly relished the challenge and was delighted that he could finally unburden himself on a matter which had long since weighed on him in private.
"Each of those rockets costs eight thousand gold pieces! Eight thousand! Every time you fire a bank of these damn things it costs about four hundred thousand gold pieces!"
"Holy shit!" Nikon exclaimed.
"Yes!" Gan agreed, wholeheartedly approving of the profanity, finding it a completely appropriate expression in light of the obscene revelation, "Four banks on each train, two trains – that's over three million gold pieces we blow on each launch!"
Rhiannon's eyebrows disappeared under her bangs in surprise.
"That's ridiculous," the governor stated flatly, "that means those rockets are literally worth their weight in gold."
"Yes," the Qu'ai Tai rejoined, his words clipped, brutal and intense, "actually, based on the Fukuoka Metal Exchange's third quarter average spot price, they are worth more than their weight in gold! The only thing worse is that we lost four of these rocket sleds at Lake Myojin – and they never even fired a shot!"
"Why didn't anyone say anything about these things before?" Nikon asked incredulously.
Iroh coughed in embarrassment, but it was Tien Shin who answered.
"Need to know only… daimyo," he replied, using Nikon's title for the first time with obvious scorn, "and you didn't need to know."
"Well," Nikon stuttered, "why did Gan need to know?"
Gan made a sound of utter disgust.
Chieng smiled evilly, her eyes narrowing, and answered.
"Because the Qu'ai Tau has to sign off in writing before we can launch. I guess the Fire Lord cares about the money too."
Nikon looked over at Iroh, who nodded.
"My cousin made him sign an undated order when were at Nanjing. He carried it with him to Lake Myojin."
"Okay," Nikon replied, obviously struggling, "so, now I finally understand what "Commander, Strategic Rocket Forces" meant, but I still don't get the problem – if they are so stupidly expensive why do we have them? What do they do?"
Chieng snapped her fingers and two technicians who were loading one of the tubes rushed over with their load. They held between them a six foot metal cylinder with fluted ends and a blunt nose.
"Each of these tubes is a firing chamber for one of these, a Gong Feng artillery rocket. The back end is a simple solid fuel propulsion system, the front is a warhead. Some are packed with blasting powder and metal shrapnel, others with a pyrophoric metal compound that burns hotter than any fire known to us and can't be extinguished with water. Aimed properly, using the correct azimuth and elevation calculations for indirect fire, you can strike a small area with devastating force."
"So… what costs all the money?" Nikon asked non-plussed.
Tien Shin and Gan both snorted in almost identical fashion.
"The machining has to be precise," Chieng replied, "Or the projectiles aren't accurate, but the main expense is the shell alloy, the solid fuel and especially the thickening agent used to produce the pyrophoric metal compound."
"Couldn't you have found something less expensive? Like platinum?" Gan scolded.
Chieng ignored the remark and motioned for the technicians to return to their task.
"So, how many dirt slingers are we going to kill, Chieng?" Gan continued his prosecution, "I want to know."
"Obviously I don't know exactly," she replied clinically, "but based on the War College staff's latest estimates of the average density of the standard Earth Kingdom infantry formations, each sled should inflict a few thousand casualties with each launch."
"What a deal!" the Qu'ai Tau responded slightly hysterically, "That's more than a thousand gold per kill. I mean, why don't we just give the money to each earthbender who'll agree to just go home? I bet they'd take five hundred a piece and we could pocket the rest!"
"Are you saying you won't sign off on the use of these weapons?" Tien Shin broke in using his most calculating tone.
Gan hesitated.
"No," he replied, regaining his composure, "I didn't say that, your Highness."
"That's good," Iroh injected, "Because we will need them to spring our trap."
"Besides, Gan," Chieng offered in reply to the accountant's unanswered question, "these rockets were produced and paid for long ago. I believe you would refer to it as… a "sunk cost"?"
"Sunk is right, in more ways than one," he confirmed acidly, "but yes, you are correct, the money's already been spent."
He turned to Iroh.
"Of course I'll approve their use, General, but I'd like to know how we're going to get our money's worth… or," he added shooting an accusatory glance at Chieng, "as much of it as we're ever going to get."
"Yes, I would too," the governor challenged, folding her white arms across her chest, "What does all this have to do with the Field of Coins? Why do we insist on offering battle in the only place for a hundred leagues with exposed rock? Why don't we use these weapons somewhere else, anywhere else on the steppes? Why do we insist on throwing away our advantage?"
"Still don't see it, Rhiannon?" Tien Shin asked somewhat incredulously, for despite her rejection of him he held a high opinion of her intelligence, "Think about it. We need to maneuver the enemy, or rather as much of the enemy as we can safely handle at once, into exposing himself to this artillery in a tight, densely packed formation."
"And the best way to do that," Iroh continued seamlessly, "is to lure them with the promise of easy victory. Fortunately, Governor, you have offered us an excellent opportunity to do just this. How? Well, why not allow them to chase a weak Fire Nation unit near enough to this Field of Coins for them to imagine trapping and destroying them in it?"
Gan squinted, quickly assessing the plan in his mind.
"Okay, which part of Nifong's army are we going to target? And how are we going to isolate it?"
"Excellent question, Gan," Tien Shin comment with a sardonic, but approving smile.
"I don't recommend the cavalry vanguard, General," Nikon offered, "We should let them pass and go for the heavy infantry coming up behind."
"I agree," the elder prince agreed to everyone's surprise, "the heavy infantry is most likely to employ "the square" or one of the other tight formations."
"Who will be the bait?" the governor asked suddenly, clearly uncomfortable.
The group fell silent, for everyone suspected the unpleasant answer.
"If Iroh has any guts at all," Tien Shin finally supplied with a glint in his sharp brown eyes, "the garrison of Mequon of course. They are supposed to be here. We are not. Sighting a group of colonial soldiers will provoke no special alarm."
Rhiannon looked at Iroh, her face pale, her expression taut.
"General?" she finally prompted.
"Yes, Lord Governor," the Crown Prince confirmed, his expression sad, "our greatest advantage is that Nifong does not know we are here."
"You will sacrifice my people to preserve this advantage, then?" she challenged, her voice cold.
"I will sacrifice no one," Iroh vowed, "but every Fire Nation soldier will risk their lives many times over before we are through with the Army of the Granite Mountains."
The silence returned and quickly became awkward.
"I don't like this plan," Rhiannon finally concluded, "but I understand why you propose it. Will any of my people survive, do you think?"
"They should, your Excellency," Nikon speculated, trying earnestly to give hope to the strange and exotic colonial ruler, "Really all they'll need to do is retreat, if they get overrun then they will be in big trouble, but if we play our cards right the majority should escape."
"No promises, Governor," Iroh stressed, clearly striking a less encouraging tone than his friend, "Like I said, we are all at risk here."
"I understand," she replied, clearly unhappy.
"Okay," Gan injected, "I get it, I think. So this is why the length of the enemy column is of such interest, right?"
"Exactly," Iroh confirmed, "They've spread themselves out. This is a great boon. It will help us to isolate whatever piece of Nifong's army we choose to destroy first."
Gan nodded his head once in acceptance.
"All right, I'll sign the order as soon as we get back to the Constellation."
Iroh smiled slightly and shifted his eyes to the raven haired engineer. She turned and motioned one of the senior technicians to come over to the group.
"Don't bother with the permission slip, Gan," Chieng directed bluntly as her technician joined them, "You're going to have your finger on the launch button yourself."
"What?"
"Captain Fujiyama died in the desert."
"So?"
"You must take command of the Inferno."
Gan blinked.
"No, I don't."
They all regarded their bookish friend with compassion. Only Tien Shin remained impassive.
"Yes, my friend," Iroh corrected gently, "You must."
"I'm an accountant, not a warrior," he refused flatly, "I can't do what you're asking."
"That's not what I saw at Nomura, or half a dozen times since then."
The Qu'ai Tau eyed each in turn, finally coming to rest on the engineer. He was too perceptive not to recognize the author of his misfortune.
"Why?"
"You can think, learn, and make decisions under intense pressure," she replied without hesitation, "You can do calculations in your head almost as well as I can. This is all that is required to make a good captain, and the Inferno needs a good captain. I need you to do this."
"No, you don't," he contradicted firmly, ignoring the implicit insult, "Why not do it yourself?"
"I command the fleet," she replied, "I must pay attention to the whole battle. Besides, then Corona would be without a captain."
"This is ridiculous, promote someone else. You have hundreds of technicians who actually have experience."
"Gan," she replied with a tone of finality, "I want you to do this. I trust you. There is no time now for argument."
He looked over at Iroh, and then to Rhiannon. He found sympathy, but no help.
Nikon put a supportive hand on Gan's shoulder.
"I know just how you feel."
"Gan, this your Chief Boiler Operator," Chieng continued, indicating the thin, curly haired woman in maroon coveralls who had just joined them, "Chief Tang, this is your new captain."
"Greetings, Captain!"
Gan did not respond, clearly still in shock.
"Chief, I expect Captain Shu to be trained in all dreadnought mainline operating procedures within forty eight hours. I ask nothing less than that you teach him everything you know and obey his commands as you would the word of Agni."
"Of course, Commander! I look forward to it!" the technician responded enthusiastically.
She turned back to Gan.
"The Inferno is yours, Captain."
The accountant stood there, dumfounded. Finally he choked out a response.
"I don't believe this is happening. This is a mistake."
"Don't worry, Captain! We have the best crew in the fleet, and we'll show you everything!" Chief Tang beamed with confidence and pride, "Besides, you should be happy. You don't have to worry about that silly bean counting stuff anymore. You've been promoted!"
