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 XLVIII – What Price Victory?
"It's Corona, Captain," the engineer reported from the driver's seat of the Inferno.
Gan looked over his driver's shoulder. They were rapidly closing on their sister dreadnought. She was not moving and as they drew closer it became clear she had tipped over. She lay at a drunken angle with her starboard side resting on the eroded face of a small hillock.
"Get up here, Tang!" the former Qu'ai Tau commanded.
Seconds later she appeared next to him. Tang leaned forward and grabbed a cleat on the upper instrument panel for support. She looked out the window and swore under her breath.
"They've blown a tread, Captain," she reported.
He swore too. He knew what that meant from Tang's expert briefings. The intense maintenance regimen for the tank trains required that the treads be disassembled, cleaned, oiled, tightened, worn locking pins replaced and then reassembled every two hundred leagues or so. A blown tread meant hours of delay and the possibility of damage to the road and drive wheels or, worse, the drive shafts and transmission.
It was now afternoon. The tank trains had crossed the Field of Coins without stopping to survey the damage they had done. Bodies, both enemy and Fire Nation, wounded and corpses, were run over indiscriminately. They had deviated from their course only to avoid impact craters.
They ran to escape the arrival of the enemy… and because they had an appointment to keep. Nifong's arrival weighed heavily on the new captain, and not for his own sake. An awful decision loomed and he dreaded to make it alone. Now he wouldn't have to.
"Kill drive engines," he instructed the driver, "Pull us up alongside."
The throb of the Inferno's engines subsided as the driver disengaged the gears. Below them the boiler operators began to dump steam off the main header. The gauges on the dash registered the engineer's actions. Corona and her train grew in their sight as they approached, their speed slowing noticeably.
Tang was correct. A group of technicians could now be seen working furiously around the rear portside tread. They flittered about like a hive of angry buzzard wasps. Moments later the Inferno came to rest next to her distressed sister.
Gan opened the door and hopped lightly into the wavy, knee high grass that covered much of the steppes. He heard Tang drop down behind him. Together they marched over to the site of the repair efforts.
The tread had been completely ripped off its wheels. Several of these were missing, including the forward drive wheel that transferred power from the drive shaft to the tread. The track links lay in neat piles around them. Many were damaged. Corona had tipped over such that the remaining wheels of the blown tread were now about ten feet off the ground.
The engineers had constructed a wide, makeshift gantry to allow access. Chieng stood on top of the gantry with her chief boiler operator and a couple other technicians. Each of them worked quickly and expertly with a pile of tread links and locking pins to remanufacture the destroyed tread. While Gan watched Chieng picked up a large circular object wrapped in oil cloth. Moments later a new drive wheel emerged, its serrated gear teeth gleaming with the preservative in which it was stored.
"Had to break out the spare, Chieng?" Gan called out.
She fitted the gear in place before turning to her replacement captain.
"The old one's on the ground there if you want it."
They looked at the ground before them to see shattered metal fragments that could have been either pieces of wheel or tread. They were so mangled they were unidentifiable. There was no trace of the steel tread guard that normally covered much of the tread to protect it from attack.
"I'll take your word for it. I'd ask what happened, but that seems fairly obvious."
Gan swept the scene before him for emphasis. Huge wedges of stone lay strewn about the area as well as a dozen burnt Earth Kingdom corpses. The impact site, distinctive as a signature, lay clearly exposed on Corona's hull above the blown track.
"Yes, they hit us with a coin," she admitted with more than a trace of bitterness.
"How much longer? Nifong can't be far away. We've got to keep moving."
She turned back to her work and began quickly adding new links to the rapidly growing tread, expertly inserting new locking pins in place with audible clicks.
"About an hour, but this isn't the problem."
Gan's heart sank, he knew what that meant.
"Drive shaft?"
She grunted approvingly, "Tang has done her job well, I see."
"Oh yes, Commander!" Tang chirped from Gan's side, "I was worried when you said the Ministry is full of nothing but idiots, but Captain Shu really is a quick study!"
He turned to look at his Chief Boiler Operator in her dirty maroon coveralls. She smiled back at him, her dark curls framing her face, enthusiastic as ever and genuinely happy. He could hardly damn her for that.
"Yes, that's not surprising," the curt engineer observed without any trace of embarrassment at the revelation of her impropriety, then turning from her work to address the former Qu'ai Tau she continued, "You did well on the Field of Coins. I was right to give you the Inferno. Did you get your money's worth then?"
Gan started slightly. He hadn't thought about the money since Mequon. Now that he had seen the effect he found the question disgusting, but had he not introduced it? He felt ashamed.
He made eye contact with Tang, who regarded him serenely, before replying.
"Ask me after we win," he finally equivocated before mounting the gantry.
He walked across the platform, Tang once again in tow. He sat next to Chieng and began making tread out of links exactly as Chieng had done. The engineer looked over. He was slower than she, but he gained speed and accuracy even as she watched.
"You were wrong, you know," she observed quietly, "You are a natural born dreadnought captain."
Tang looked away to hide the wide smile she couldn't suppress. It was the highest praise Chieng could offer.
"We need to get out of here fast," he answered, so embarrassed at the compliment that he failed to register her declaration of his fallibility, "Inferno can tow her as soon as we get the tread repaired. We can worry about the drive shaft later."
They worked furiously in silence for a little while. As the tread neared completion Chieng stood up.
"Tang and the others can finish this. Let's get a look from up top."
She dismounted the gantry in one swift motion. Gan climbed back down the way he came. Soon they stood on the roof of the Inferno. They swept the horizons with their sight glasses.
The survey did not take long.
Gan stared in horror through his instrument, his hands trembling so badly that he could barely focus on what he was seeing.
The Silk Road lay several miles to the south. They could see it clearly with the unaided eye. It ran straight and wide, a white ribbon in the sunlight, from the southwest to the northeast in the direction of Vyazma. Near the horizon they could see where the Silk Road was crossed by the smaller Hue Road. This did not concern him. What lay beyond the crossroads did.
Over the eastern horizon he could see the dust trails of thousands of hooves waft high into the sky. The main body of the Army of the Granite Mountains could not yet be seen, but its arrival could be no more than a few hours away. Several leagues to their southeast, however, hundreds of tiny dust trails clearly showed the daimyo's position… and his intent.
Nikon's armor had obviously used the Hue Road to protect Tien Shin's right flank, but now, they too had seen Nifong's dust trail. Abandoning the Hue Road, they now cut north along the open steppe, hoping to drive into the Earth Kingdom's exposed left flank.
"He's moving to attack them! Agni damn the idiot!"
He took a deep breath, the resolve instantly hardening within him.
"We have to help him!" Gan vowed, then pointing at an area of high ground several leagues to their northeast, "We can use that ridge line, fire a set, pack up and move just like…"
He was stopped mid-sentence by a hand on his shoulder. Gan's heart froze. He was panicking and he knew it. Chieng's touch was firm, but gentle, and carried with it the stroke of doom. Her touch communicated more than any words ever could.
They stood in silence for a heartbeat before Gan spoke in a low voice.
"He'll die without our help. They all will."
She looked at the ground, her eyes squeezed shut. Her nails began to dig into his shoulder.
"I know."
He looked to the west where Tien Shin's infantry were moving at speed along the Silk Road towards Mequon.
"Why… why not?" he asked, his voice quiet and tense, "Why do we have to let our friend die when we could help him?"
Her hand became a claw. He felt pain, but he did not react.
She answered slowly and deliberately, reluctantly forcing out the bitter words.
"If we go to him now, yes… we might be able to help him… but if we do, we will lose this battle and Mequon will fall."
She was right. The dust cloud on the eastern horizon had grown impossibly high. Nikon's forces were brave and battle hardened, but few. The situation was clear, the conclusion obvious and inescapable.
"If we lose, Nikon will die anyway, won't he?"
"Yes, his only hope… and ours… is to do what we promised."
"So… we have to let him die… in order to save him? Is that it?" he concluded in a tone of disbelief.
The curt engineer released her iron grip and looked down at the sloped metal roof on which they stood.
"His life is not ours to save today."
They both struggled in silence, the implication of their decision crushing them. Both replayed the chain of events on the Nasu, for the situation had been the same. In both instances Iroh and Nikon had needed their help, and both times they could choose only one. Their decision today would be the same. The difference this time was that Nikon had committed no error and was in fact moving at great risk to himself and his men to give the Army of the Great Divide its greatest chance of victory. For this daring he would face the entire might of the Army of the Granite Mountains alone.
"We have to do this… don't we?"
Chieng nodded once. She looked up to regard the growing dust cloud on the horizon. Her posture was perfect, her countenance hard, she might have been a statue.
"Yes… either we help Iroh and Tien Shin destroy Jenju… or Nifong and Jenju will smash Tien Shin… and us… between them."
"Nikon is buying us time then… with his life."
Chieng shook slightly at this. Gan reached out and took her hands in his. She squeezed them hard and he reciprocated.
"Yes," she admitted.
"And we… we have to let him."
"Yes," she replied, her voice finally catching, "It is the price of victory."
They held hands tightly for another moment before releasing each other.
The decision made, she looked up to meet her friend's grey, unflinching eyes. Neither of them could believe what they were about to do, but do it they would.
"Prepare for departure, Captain, we continue as planned."
It was now late afternoon. The morning had seen some of the bloodiest fighting of the whole campaign and in the pale morning light Nikon had seen devastation wreaked on the bodies of soldiers that cried out to the universe for justice. Myojin had drowned men and crushed their bodies with the power of water, but it was fire, unlike any had ever seen, that reigned supreme over the dreaded Field of Coins.
They had retreated north and west as soon as the armor column had received Gan and Chieng's frantically relayed messages of Nifong's arrival.
Now Nikon and Jin watched as the tank trains on the horizon disappeared to the northwest leaving behind only dust and scarred earth.
"So that's it, isn't it?" the tank driver asked dully. He had opened the hatch above the driver's seat and his head popped out of the opening like some grim singing groundhog.
An identical hatch to his right opened with a clang to reveal the pretty young gunner. After miraculously surviving Lake Myojin, the Ping Tou and the desert crossing, she had been promoted to bow gunner and assistant tank driver. She no longer looked young or scared. Her name was Leng, he had learned. She'd earned it.
"We're on our own now, right, sir?" she asked evenly.
Nikon grunted.
The old crew was together again. Nikon had laughed when Jin had appeared at the east gate of Mequon and insisted he be Nikon's driver. The young commoner didn't know whether to hug the surly man for his willingness to court death with him once more, or burn him to a crisp for initially refusing General Iroh's order to cross the desert. In the end Nikon settled for asking why he deserved the honor. Jin's reply had been characteristically blunt.
"Because you need a driver… and I want to kill them… kill them all for what they did to us at Lake Myojin."
He was nasty and a major pain in the ass, but he had the Will of Fire and that was enough.
Iroh's friend had ordered a halt soon after they had left the Hue Road and began to drive across the open ground toward the dust cloud. He saw the tops of two leviathans, small in the distance, still and unmoving. While he watched their running lights sprang to life and they began to move, the rearmost flashing a signal to all who could interpret a one word command, "CONTINUE." As the first two disappeared from sight, two more appeared, separated by a league or two. Ten minutes later these were gone as well.
Their fellow tanks had gathered about them and now sat idling. All of them had been painted with the emblem of Nikon's original Fifth Brigade. Most of the tanks were bedecked with anywhere between five and ten infantry from Second Corps who had been assigned to support the tanks. A few were clearly colonial troops who had survived the trap. They waited for the daimyo to give the order to advance. All had seen the last of the tank trains, no doubt the Firestorm, disappear.
"We're going to be in trouble, my lord, without the tank trains to cover us," Jin offered bluntly.
Nikon couldn't get used to being called "my lord", though this of course was the proper address for the daimyo of a Fire Nation army. He felt the irresistible urge to look behind him every time he was addressed in this manner by someone from the ranks. Iroh's friend had indeed risen high above his nominal station as a commoner, and if he survived the campaign he would have wealth and honor undreamed of in his youth.
The dust trails settled, leaving the western and northern horizons bleak, desolate panoramas. To the east, the dust cloud grew ever larger. A few low ridges were probably all that separated them from the bulk of the Earth Kingdom army.
As he surveyed the eastern horizon once more, he doubted whether he would survive to enjoy his ascendance.
No matter. He knew what he must do. The battlefield had resolved itself and it was plain as day to read.
"Yes, Jin, but we're not here to stay out of trouble. We're here to destroy the enemy."
The daimyo climbed out of the machine and stood on the cupola. Around him the tank crews and their infantry passengers turned their attention in his direction. Most of the tankers wore goggles caked with dirt and dust. A few were bandaged, as tank commanders who were enthusiastic about firebending from the turret were favored targets of the enemy. Almost all were commoners. He knew how to speak to them. Naturally confident and charismatic, Nikon relished the opportunity to address his soldiers. It also helped him conceal his own panic before combat.
"We hit'em hard this morning, ladies!" the daimyo began, his voice strong and confident, "but we're not finished yet."
"No way, my lord, we still owe'em for Myojin!" yelled a tank commander from a few rows back in a brassy voice.
Her tank was marked Flaming Bitch in two bright red characters. He knew her as one of the few survivors from his original brigade. She leaned out over her turret, propping herself up on her elbows. He wondered at her loyalty after such a disaster, but he loved her all the more for it. The assembly roared approval at her bold pronouncement. Every fist was raised to the heavens in affirmation.
"Damn straight, Su Lin!" Nikon rejoined, instantly pointing a finger at the gung ho junior officer, "And this is payback, make no mistake about it!"
"Fifth Brigade!" she screamed in reply, saluting Nikon at the same time.
A few other soldiers, all Fifth Brigade survivors, wholeheartedly echoed the sentiment. Nikon threatened to well up at this display, but instead pressed on.
"You honor me," he acknowledged with a brief dip of his head, "but this is not just Fifth Brigade's fight! The Fire Lord himself has honored us with the glorious mission of destroying General Nifong, and General Iroh has charged us with the sacred task of supporting the right flank of Second Corps and by Agni we're going to do both!"
His audience murmured acknowledgment. Many faces showed worry and fear, but most showed enthusiasm and eagerness. These were the bitter veterans of Lake Myojin. Nikon was terrified in his mind, but his face and his heart reflected the determination and desire of his comrades.
"So what now, my lord? Why aren't the tank trains attacking with us? And why'd we get off the Hue Road?" piped in an older tank driver from his left, from one of Tien Shin's brigades.
"What now?" Nikon responded, addressing the tank driver's first question with a raised eyebrow. He cocked a thumb over his shoulder and asked, "Do you see that?"
All eyes turned to the dust cloud to the east. The wind was still, so it rose in a massive hazy column towards the sun.
"That, my friends, is Deng Zev Nifong! You remember him, right? Deng the Hammer? The guy who let the snow savages do his dirty work for him at Myojin?"
Several bow gunner hatches popped open at this to reveal the firebenders who manned them. Tankers and infantry all looked at each other as they digested these questions. Several whistled and some shook their heads. Low conversations broke out all over the congregation.
"Excellent, my lord! We'll attack then, right? Isn't that the plan?" Su Lin injected after lifting her goggles to get a better view of the dust cloud and her commander.
"Yes, Sergeant, by Agni we will attack, but no, comrades, this wasn't the plan."
The disparate conversations ceased and all eyes turned once again to Nikon.
"No, we thought Nifong wouldn't get here for another day at least," he turned and looked over his shoulder, then back to his audience, "Guess we were wrong."
"So what now, daimyo?" an infantryman shouted from far back.
"Well, folks, our options are to stick close to Second Corps' flank and wait for Nifong's cavalry to drive into us," several boos and catcalls erupted at this, but Iroh's friend plowed ahead, "or, we can leave the road as we've done and drive into his flank. Which do you think we're gonna do?"
"Light'em up!" Su Lin yelled, raising her tiny fist into the air once more. She looked like an angry marionette, but her eyes burned with a fanatical light and Nikon shuddered to think of fighting her himself.
"Burn the sons of bitches!" yelled a young colonial soldier from his right, followed swiftly by a cacophony of agreement from the rest.
Nikon swept his gaze from one end of the line to the other. Not all of them were firebenders, but every one of the burned with the Will of Fire. They might die for the Fire Lord today, but the enemy would pay dearly for it.
As he looked into the faces around him, he remembered once more, as he had at several points over this seemingly endless campaign, how young and innocent they had looked when they had landed at Gela. Laughter, hope, pride, all these had been in abundant evidence. There were no smiles in the faces before him. No laughter. No pride. Not a clean uniform in sight. Now, every one of them was hard, frozen with anger, their eyes simultaneously far away yet bright with desire for battle.
They were going to die today. They knew it and they didn't care.
Taken aback by the observation, he involuntarily paused for a moment of reflection.
Dear Agni, what's happened to us?
Then he remembered Lake Myojin, and the destruction reeked on his comrades by Nifong and his pitiless army of green and blue clad murderers. Suddenly the faces before him no longer seemed alien or scary. Anger surged within him and his fists burst into blue flame. In an instant, his face mirrored theirs.
"Yes, brothers and sisters!" the daimyo thundered, raising his fists to the sky once more, "We will burn them! Burn them to ashes! Agni as my witness, I swear to you Prince Xian and all who died with him at Myojin will be avenged!"
The whole column erupted in cheers and saluted. After a few moments Nikon motioned for silence, and to his surprise they quieted for him to speak. He doused his flames and raised his voice as loud he could.
"Now listen to me, all of you!" he began once more, "This morning, Commander Shiung and the dreadnoughts did the heavy lifting. Now… now it's our turn. We are strong, we are brave, we thirst for the blood of our enemy! But we are few. Even with our tanks, we cannot hope to overcome the main body of Nifong's army alone."
"No, we can't beat them ourselves, but we are going to attack! We must! We gotta stop Nifong from making contact with Second Corps before they have a chance to smash the dirties between them and General Iroh! We must do this, or the Fire Nation will lose the battle, Mequon will fall, and the war will be lost!"
He paused a moment to let this sink in. His words were relayed to the rear of the column by those in the front who heard clearly.
"If we succeed, General Iroh, Commander Shiung, and…" even now Nikon couldn't bring himself to use the hated elder prince's name, "Second Corps will smash the force attacking Mequon in time to face Nifong with everything we've got!"
He ruthlessly put down the sudden urge to acknowledge that even that might not be enough to guarantee victory. At best the odds would be even, for the Army of the Great Divide would be exhausted, whereas Nifong's army would be relatively fresh.
Great Agni, he prayed, don't let our fire go out for nothing.
"We must delay them. We must strike and withdraw, again and again, and if we are lucky they'll follow. Target the earthebenders! Kill every damn last one of them you see!"
This was long a standing order, but he knew repetition never hurt. Benders were prime targets on all sides.
"Don't let them get a chance to flip you over!" he continued in earnest, "The ground is dry, so if we keep moving we should be okay, but if you do get flipped, get out of your machine immediately and jump on a neighbor as fast as you can! You hear me?"
The soldiers murmured their assent. Every tanker present remembered the fate of those who stayed in their machines at the cursed lake.
"They'll aim for the treads! If you lose a tread you're going to get flipped! So don't let them! Remember we are here to disrupt and delay – not to inflict losses! Above all we must… keep… moving, is that clear?"
His voice rang over their heads. They looked at him with feverish eyes.
"Then may Agni ride with us today and bring death to the enemy!"
Nikon brought his goggles down over his eyes and saluted. Without waiting to see his audience's response, he dropped back down into the turret. He rapped his fist on the cupola where it made a hard clanking sound.
"C'mon, Jin, move us out."
The Fury roared to life and lurched forward.
