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 XLIV – The Field of Coins
The Inferno rocketed over the steppes. Gan leaned over the pilot's shoulder to look out the glass windshields that fronted the mighty leviathan. The land lay still and quiet in the fragile darkness that exists only just before sunrise. Ahead he could see the running lights of Corona receding into the distance. Moments later a series of rapid flashes flickered from her stern. Soon, he knew, the communications officer would present him with a translation of the coded message Corona was transmitting.
Around them Nikon's entire armored force labored to maintain pace with the tank trains. Although only a fraction of what had disembarked at Gela many months ago, the Fire Nation armor, concentrated now in one formation, nevertheless offered an impressive spectacle.
The message was delivered. Gan barely glanced at it. He knew what it must say.
"Okay," he announced to the bridge crew, "park this damn thing."
Chief Tang tapped the pilot on the shoulder and then bounced over to the chief engineer's station.
"Aye, Captain, but please don't call the Inferno a "damn thing," she scolded, a contented smile on her face, "She's the best tank train in the fleet!"
Gan grimaced. He liked Tang, but she was like a broken wind clock, endlessly announcing the same time to everyone in earshot.
"I stand corrected, Chief," Gan offered with a rueful expression, "and I am… uh… thoroughly repentant."
Tang arched an eyebrow, her smile growing wider.
"If you dropped the "uhhh" I might even believe you, sir," and then, her grin growing mischievous, "Still, let's see how you feel about her after some real combat."
As instructed the Chief Boiler Operator had shown her quality by training him in both the theory and practice of running a dreadnought in extremely short order. Clearly no fool, she peppered her training with the lessons learned from hard battle experience, including the circumstances surrounding the death of her former captain whom she and the crew had greatly respected if not loved. Equally clear was her commitment and dedication to her crewmates, the army, and to the Fire Nation.
The Inferno slowed to a stop.
"Shall we start the conversion?" she asked hopefully.
Gan shivered slightly at the question. Tang was bubbly, boisterous and impossibly nice. The contrasts visible in his subordinate were stark and raised questions in his own mind he had never before entertained. This sweet, adorable person was happy to kill thousands in one blow. Was he? He shoved the question from his mind. It wasn't relevant. He was going to do it whether he was pleased or not. He would give the order, they would do the shooting. He had not processed it yet, but the difference between accounting for deaths and causing them had already settled about his neck like a millstone. He doubted again his suitability for command.
The reluctant leader first eyed the chronometer and then the horizon out the window.
"Yes, Chief, let's get a move on. It's almost dawn… coming up on show time."
"Right!"
The pilot had already left his seat to help deploy the rocket sleds. Gan looked ahead once again to see Corona had likewise come to a stop.
Gan strode over to the periscope, already lowered and waiting patiently for its master. The new captain produced a tablet from his tunic and flipped it open to the firing tables he had received from Chieng. He peered through the instrument to begin his calculations. Only now did he remember the engineer's implicit insult when she had forced on him this dubious "promotion".
"Almost" as good at calculations as she is? Who does she "calculate" she is? We'll see who gets their money's worth, lady!
He quickly busied himself in figures and equations, relieved to put the uncomfortable thoughts he had been entertaining from his mind, pausing every now and again to look through the scope and adjust the view.
On the gently rolling hills of the steppes he found he had an unobstructed view for many miles in any direction. Corona was perhaps a league to the northwest of their present position. Behind them, he knew, Firestorm and Nova completed the chain and were separated from each other by similar distances. They all lay broadside; their bows pointed roughly north, the armored forces arrayed between them.
To their west, still obscured by the darkness, but no more than a few miles away, lay the great Field of Coins, a vast open expanse of ground dominated by hundreds of stone disks. Most of these were sunk into the ground to varying depths. Some lay flat on their exposed sides. All had raised rims and squares cut into their centers like Earth Kingdom coins.
The calculations complete, he flipped the book shut with a snap and replaced it in his tunic.
Gan threw open the hatch and jumped down. To the east the first rosy fingers of dawn stained the eastern sky. Within minutes the sun would peak over the horizon. His crew had already opened all the firing compartments. They were now turning the cranks to aim the sleds. Rockets jutted visibly from the end of each tube. The new captain surveyed the infernal projectiles with a skeptical eye.
He heard Tang come up beside him, her footsteps already familiar enough that he knew it was she without even looking.
"Are these things going to work, Tang?" he asked, waving an arm at the sleds.
"Oh yes, sir!" she replied with complete confidence, "I conducted the field tests with Chieng. As long as we get the range and the elevation correct, we're going to get our money's worth in dead Earthie's, promise!"
He turned to look at her as she replied, noting that there now enough light to see her features.
"Bravely spoken," the new Captain replied, concealing his surprise at the Chief's casual use of her superior's given name, "But I do hope you're right… for all our sakes."
She saluted and took off at a run to help deploy the sleds.
He pulled out the sight glass from his tunic and surveyed the chosen battlefield once more. He drew a sharp breath, for there the rapidly lightening sky revealed the terrifying sight of thousands upon thousands of the Earth Kingdom's finest infantry marching, rank upon rank, into the slaughterhouse carefully selected for their destruction. In front of them he could see the clearly exhausted garrison troops of Mequon running before them. They had clearly lost many in their retreat from the now abandoned town of Vyazma.
He scanned south and west. There he could see the Hue Road, which met the Silk Road northeast of Mequon, stretching like a dusty ribbon in the distance. There he knew lay Tien Shin's entire Second Corps, concealed in a series of hastily dug trenches on the far side of the road.
Gan should have been pleased. Within minutes the densely packed enemy formations would find themselves placed squarely between Tien Shin's infantry to the south and west of the Field of Coins and the armored forces and artillery to its east. He wasn't. They had enough rockets for only a few volleys. Each one had to count.
Tang bounded over from the rearmost sled.
"Good news, Captain, all sleds are unwound. All cars are now balanced, secure on their supports, and ready to discharge."
The former accountant grunted in acknowledgement. Using another instrument he quickly performed a star sighting to confirm their position. He could only hope the Firestorm, the other rocket sled, was in the correct position as well.
The Chief coughed, obviously waiting for the last instructions.
"It's time, Captain," she prompted.
Gan sighed and gave her the final firing settings. Distance, elevation, azimuth, wind correction, propellant charge and missile ballistics had to be properly accounted – and he was the best accountant in the Empire. She nodded and departed to make the last adjustments.
It would have to do.
The sleds were prepared to fire. Tang rejoined him and bellowed in a voice much larger than her thin frame seemed to allow.
"Firing positions!"
Within seconds a lone firebender stood behind each bank of rockets. The rest of the technicians and boiler operators disappeared into the engine. Tang handed Gan a pair of ear plugs and showed him quickly how to put on his own. To the east the sun could only be moments away from peeking over the horizon.
He looked through the sight glass once more. The bulk of the enemy was now in the coin field. Unable to resist, many formations had stopped to pull the coins out of the ground to use as weapons against the bedraggled Fire Nation garrison that fled before them.
Not yet… wait… wait… almost… he thought.
As the final seconds slipped away he recalled the farewell with his friends the day before. He had departed at nearly the same time in the morning, just before sunrise.
The pebbles crunched under his boots as he approached the two men standing next to the Inferno. One was the Crown Prince, the other daimyo Orlando. Around them hundreds of tank crewman mounted their machines in preparation for immediate departure. Gan stood back to let his friends finish their goodbye, but he was close enough that he could not help but overhear their conversation even with the din around them.
"Haven't we been here before?" the young commoner asked with more than a trace of vexation.
"Get used to it, my friend," Iroh replied with a bitter laugh, "A general and his daimyo seldom see battle together, just as the columns that hold the weight of the greatest buildings often stand far apart. We each have our own tasks."
"Am I supposed to find that comforting?" Nikon asked with some cheek, "Any other parting wisdom? Or shall we skip to the calming tea?"
"That actually sounds like a wonderful idea, but no, I don't think we have time for tea this morning."
"Parting wisdom then?"
"No, no wisdom, but final instructions, yes."
Iroh looked over and saw his grey uniformed friend. He smiled warmly and beckoned him over.
"Good morning, Captain Shu!"
"Morning, Gan!" Nikon offered with a wry smile, "Ready for the big day?"
"No," the not quite former accountant replied, "I'm not. This is a mistake, I mean, me running a tank train, in command of, you know… people."
"Now, now, my friend," Azulon's son broke in, placing an understanding hand on Gan's shoulder, "We've been over this. You've been drafted and there isn't a thing you can do about it."
"I know, Iroh, and as Nikon just observed, I think we've been here before." He crossed his arms across his chest for emphasis.
His friends laughed at the shared moment of gallows humor. Both knew he was referring to the fateful evening on the observation deck of the Sulaco the night before they had sailed. The black scroll bearing the imperial seal had contained his unwanted appointment to the office of Qu'ai Tau. That seemed a different lifetime to all of them. A time of hope, innocence and boundless confidence that could now only be seen as if through a glass, and darkly even at that.
"What the hell are those?" Gan asked, pointing at several oblong metal objects hanging from Nikon's girdle.
"Oh, presents from Chieng," he replied, pulling one off his belt and examining it.
"What do they do?"
"They blow up. You twist the tops and throw them. She said they might come in handy, and I'm inclined to agree with her. I haven't tried one yet though."
"Oh, and how much did these cost?"
Nikon coughed.
"Uh, she didn't say."
Iroh laughed.
"Liar," Gan accused.
"Let's just say she wouldn't let him test one because there aren't very many of them," Iroh inserted.
Gan threw up his hands in a gesture of disgust.
"Okay, what's this then about final instructions?" Gan asked, deciding to change the subject, "If you're so certain I can do this job then why does it sound like you're going to be handing out black scroll cases?"
Nikon shuddered at the thought.
"Nothing written, so it's best you both hear this," Iroh replied turning back to the daimyo, his expression suddenly grim, "But it is the subject I know you both dread most. Still, I must do my best to prepare you for the worst."
Iroh turned to look his daimyo square in the eye.
"Nikon, if I should fall, you will be in command."
"Tien Shin will never accept that, Iroh," his friend replied instantly, for he had obviously given thought to this grim possibility.
"No, he won't," the Crown Prince replied evenly, "and for that reason I strongly recommend that you have him arrested the moment you receive word of my death."
Iroh's friends stared at him in shocked silence.
"Furthermore," their leader continued, his voice cold and hard as adamant, "For both your sakes, for Chieng's, for Rhiannon's and above all for the sake of the Fire Nation, I recommend that you execute him in some out of the way place with no witnesses as soon as he is delivered to you."
They were stunned. Nikon's mouth hung open. He had just been ordered, even if conditionally, to summarily execute a member of the royal family. More importantly, his friend had ordered him to commit political murder. He hated and feared Tien Shin, but could he do… that? Would he be any better than the hated prince whom he believed guilty of Xian's murder?
"Iroh…" he finally stammered, "I don't think I could ever…"
"Yes, you can," Iroh suddenly thundered, "You must! If I fall you must act to protect our friends – your friends! You must act to protect yourself! And above all you must act to protect the Fire Nation! You know my step brother too well to doubt what would happen to those we love most if Tien Shin were to come to power! They will die – burned to ashes in front of you if he does not kill you first!"
His words cracked like thunder. Nikon closed his eyes, a pained expression on his face. He knew the Crown Prince was correct, but that did that make it any better? Was murder for gain any better than murder driven by fear of crimes a person hadn't yet committed? The conversation with Rhiannon on the battlements of Mequon rang through his head, but the memory suggested no resolution.
Iroh looked over at Gan and asked without a trace of humor, "Want to trade places with him, Captain?"
"No," the man in grey replied with complete honesty, "Not for any money," then, addressing Nikon quietly, "He's right, Nikon, if it comes to it, Tien Shin will have to die, quickly and quietly."
"I'm sorry to lay this burden on you, my friend," Iroh continued, the heat in his voice replaced by sadness, "I would do it myself, but as long as I live it is not necessary and truth be told we need him in this battle."
Nikon looked up and answered in a steely voice.
"I understand, your Highness."
"What?" Iroh prompted, for clearly his friend had more to say.
Nikon bit his lip and blurted, "Would you tell me to do the same if it were Prince Ozai?"
Iroh nodded once and replied without rancor.
"A fair question, but no, Nikon, I would not. I know my brother. Ask yourself, would Prince Ozai put you to death? No, you are neither a threat nor an obstacle to him. Tien Shin on the other hand will kill you without hesitation. Would my brother condemn Rhiannon to a fate worse than death? You heard Tien Shin yourselves. Her only escape from the wretched slavery that awaits her will be suicide. Would my brother prosecute Gan or Chieng for treason? Tien Shin and Macro will prosecute them both without me to protect them."
"Why Chieng?" Nikon replied in sudden confusion.
"She chose her fate when she supported me taking command," Iroh responded in a tense voice.
"More importantly," the young general continued, "I am asking you to help protect my brother as well, for if I should die, he alone will stand between Tien Shin and the throne of the Fire Nation."
Nikon met his commander's eyes, doubt and indecision still written in them. Then, his decision made, the daimyo nodded in acceptance of his orders and dropped his gaze.
"Don't despair, Nikon," the Crown Prince continued, attempting to soften the blow he knew he had just delivered, "Despite what I have just said, I assure you I have no intention of dying today!"
Iroh turned to Gan.
"I have always been proud to have your friendship, Gan, but today you are going to shine brighter than you ever have before. Today you will be a hero of the Fire Nation, and Nikon and I will tell stories of you to our grandchildren and yours. Your father will be proud."
Gan actually felt himself blush, though his friends could not see it in the early light of dawn.
"Your Highness," he acknowledged formally with a slight bow. He found himself suddenly too choked to say any more.
Iroh hugged them both once and released them. He turned to leave, but reversed himself suddenly in one quick motion, his countenance once again tense. The young general opened his mouth to speak, but stopped.
Gan and Nikon shared a quick glance.
"Hey," the daimyo chided with a gentle, genuine smile, "Don't worry so much. If anyone should worry about her… it's the enemy!"
Months before he would have uttered such a sentiment as insult. Now, they knew, it was a compliment of the highest order.
Nikon saluted and quickly mounted his tank. He looked once more at Iroh, an expression of fear and doubt clouding his face.
"Iroh, if anything happens to me out there…"
"Stop!" his friend responded sharply, turning his face away with a severe expression, "We've gone over this before! You survived the worst defeat in Fire Nation history and nothing's happening to you now! I forbid it!"
Nikon paused a moment before replying, "If only we could, Iroh… if we could forbid things like that Xian would still be alive, wouldn't he? The world moves on… no matter what we intend."
He wanted to say more, but he knew Iroh did not want to hear it. Nikon saluted, wrapped twice on the Fury's turret and the engine flared to life. Moments later the air was filled with the sound of hundreds of engines turning over at once.
The daimyo waved to his friends once more and was gone.
"He owes her his life, Iroh," Gan shouted the noise of departure, "He won't let her down out there or you – and neither will I for that matter."
Iroh's countenance was troubled, but he smiled and saluted his friend.
"I know, Gan," he replied, "Now go and get our money's worth, okay?"
Gan returned the salute, his expression hardening.
"You bet your ass!"
Iroh roared with laughter as Gan stepped up into the Inferno, her engines flaring to life.
The memory blew away like dandelion seeds in the wind as the sun peeked over the horizon. The reluctant dreadnought captain lifted his sight glass once more. The Field of Coins was awash with Earth Kingdom infantry and the wheel and roil of hundreds of gigantic stone disks.
Gan froze.
A large portion of the enemy infantry had just broken from the pursuit of the colonial troops and was turning to face them.
Colonel Liu had marched for hours with his soldiers, but he was not tired. Years of exertion over dozens of campaigns had hardened him and his companions against any physical discomfort. Around them the green clad infantry delighted in picking up and rolling the mighty stone discs that populated the gentle hills like some strange peach melon orchard.
He lifted his sight glass and peered south and west at their prey. The constant whirl and spin of the great coins ran across his field of vision created the impression he was enduring one of those pointless army eye exams. Still, it did not prevent him from surveying the situation. A smile played on his lips as he surveyed the rapidly closing gap between his right flank and the enemy. His maroon swathed opponents were ragged, exhausted and clearly running out of room to maneuver. He estimated contact on the right within a half hour.
Not bad, he thought, pretty close to what we expected.
"Not bad, Colonel!" his aide announced happily from his side in an eerie echo of the Colonel's own internal voice, "What do you think, half an hour maybe?"
"Yes, about that," the heavy set commander agreed.
He chuckled quietly to himself. Soon these Fire Nation murderers, masters of the "superior element", would be force fed a massive stack of two ton coins.
The sun peaked over the horizon. Reflexively he turned to the east to greet the new day.
Liu froze.
There, clearly silhouetted by the new sun, lay a neat line of shadows. He recognized them instantly, his mind filling in the details obscured by the shade. Small in the distance, perhaps no more than a league away, was a large formation of Fire Nation tanks. Worse, he could pick out periodically along the line the larger shadows that must surely be the dreaded leviathans that had nearly turned the Battle of Lake Myojin against them.
He fumbled quickly to bring the sight glass up to his face. What he saw rapidly confirmed his worst fears. Unable to turn from the horror he observed, Liu grabbed the adjutant by his shoulder without looking at him.
"It's a trap! Signal the right and center to retreat! Now!"
The aide turned east and froze in turn.
"Left flank!" Liu thundered in a voice that rose over the din of marching feat and rolling coins, "Turn and charge! Forward for the Earth Kingdom!"
The signalmen nearby immediately began the display of the different flags in careful order to communicate the Colonel's hastily shouted instruction. The signalmen farther afield picked up the code and duplicated it. Like a rusty old battleship, the First Division slowed to a stop and began to turn on its left point, wheeling around to face the east.
Colonel Liu held on to his aide's shoulder with an iron grip.
"Pray, Lieutenant, pray we have enough time."
This was it. The enemy had seen them and was reacting.
Gan had been certain that when the time came he would be thinking about the millions of gold pieces he would be launching into thin air.
He was wrong. All the things he had held so dear, the gold, the debits and credits, the mountains of scrolls, books and tablets meant nothing. The endless arguments back at the Ministry over methods of financing the national debt and whether it was best to use monetary or fiscal policy to curb runaway inflation occupied no part of his consciousness whatsoever.
Out here there was only the advancing green wave and the agony of anticipation for combat to commence. There was nothing else. The soldiers, red and green, the weapons, the armor, all were shadows. The world had been reduced to a single point, a white hot speck of purpose and will. He finally knew what Nikon meant when he had babbled about "tunnel vision" in combat.
He was experiencing it now. Years later, and for the rest of his life, he reflected on how he never felt more alive than at this moment.
Iroh's friend stood in the well of the Inferno's single siphon, for the rocket sleds only had one, his upper body exposed to allow him to take advantage of the excellent panoramic view. He looked down at the four master firebenders who stood far behind each of the rocket sleds. They looked up at him expectantly. He raised one hand over his head.
The hand came down in one swift motion.
"Fire!"
In unison the four firebenders swung their left arms in a wide semicircle, white sparks instantly spitting from their hands and finger tips. As their left arms completed their swings they began the same motion with their opposite arms. With their right arms crackling and popping, they quickly brought their middle and index fingers of each hand together.
Bright, jagged arcs of electricity shot from the hand of each firebender and struck the exposed rear of the launch tubes.
The sound, even through ear plugs, was earth shattering. The propellant ignited on each rocket struck by the lightning. Instantly white hot jets of flame shot from the rear of the tubes as each projectile launched. The rockets whistled with a high pitch squeal that changed in tenor as it exited the firing tube and arced across the sky. They sprang forth one every few seconds from each of the four sleds.
Gan put his hands over his ears in a desperate attempt to protect his eardrums. He automatically knelt down in the well of the siphon in fear of getting burned by the exhaust. Peering over the rim of the well he could see and hear the Firestorm discharging her rockets several miles away.
Suddenly all was silent. As the Fire Nation's weapons of mass destruction streaked through the sky towards their targets, Gan stood up to examine their effect. The Earth Kingdom forces arrayed against them stood transfixed almost to a man, for they had never seen such a sight before. Beautiful and elegant, for most it was their last.
The rockets arced, reached their zenith, descended and disappeared into the mass of green clad soldiers. Instantaneously the battlefield was illuminated in a series of brilliant white flashes that blinded all participants, followed closely by several expanding incandescent clouds that blossomed like mushrooms and spread over the ground. Dozens of smaller explosions flashed in the air above the earth, producing small puffs of black smoke. From the Inferno's position the first seconds of the delivery transpired in silence, but the silence was soon shattered by the reports of the rockets impacts.
Gan stared in horror at the display of firepower. In seconds the Field of Coins was transformed into a sea of white hot flame. Huge columns of white smoke rose into the air, drifting gently in the westerly breeze.
Of the Earth Kingdom soldiers and their stone discs who had occupied the field moments before there was not a single trace.
