Azula sprinted towards the palace as fast as her legs would carry her. She knew that they didn't have much time until they were completely overwhelmed. Unfortunately for her, her father had taken overall command of the capital's military units, and even she couldn't override their current mission without his express authorization. She watched as about a dozen flying creatures swooped overhead, clearly scouting their numbers and position. A few soldiers attempted to blast them with fire. One of them got a lucky shot, catching the creature on the wing. It let out a ghastly shriek and plunged to its doom. Azula hurried on.

She ignored anyone in her way, and simply jumped right over the soldiers guarding defensive fortifications deeper in the capital. As she reached the palace, the guards in front, seeing that she was in a hurry, opened the enormous ceremonial doors for her. She shot in, weaving her way down the hall into the council room. She burst through the door, panting heavily. Her father and his accompanying generals all looked up from the map on the table and stared at her.

"Azula," Ozai said calmly "did you succeed? Is that monstrosity dead?"

"Yes," Azula managed, struggling to catch her breath "But there are several more, and they've already regrouped most of the smaller creatures. It won't be long before they strike."

"We were just discussing that. We feel that we have a reasonable chance of beating them off if we simply remain here."

"No," said Azula "You haven't seen just how many are out there. Tens of thousands. Maybe hundreds. They have enough troops to bury us under the weight of their own dead. Our only chance of survival is to strike hard and fast, right now, with all our offensive power. If we can take out enough of the big ones before they can rally all their troops, the whole swarm will lose cohesion and collapse. Then we can hunt down the smaller creatures at our leisure. If we hang back and try to dig in, the larger ones will simply send wave after wave of their cannon fodder at us until we're overwhelmed. We won't be able to defeat an army that size in a war of attrition."

"I see," muttered Ozai thoughtfully "And what is your recommendation then? If we cannot defeat these creatures from dug in fortifications, how will charging them help us?"

"We've got to take our remaining tanks and try to kill enough of the big ones right now, while they're not done organizing their troops. If we succeed, we've won."

"And if we fail then our defenses are weakened considerably. May I remind you that many of the tanks are forming crucial parts of our hastily-constructed lines? Or that these creatures have difficulty destroying them? The larger ones are the only ones we've seen thus far with the strength to cut through armor. Why risk our lines when the larger ones must come to the tanks anyway?"

"Because they'll be able to take on the tanks one at a time, when they don't stand a chance. They can just cut a few holes in our lines, and then their troops can pour in and crush us all. Then they can pick off whatever tanks are left at their leisure. The monstrosities can easily defeat a tank in one-on-one combat. It's only in a group that the tanks stand any chance at all. We have to concentrate them to have a hope of winning."

"I see. And I presume that you would want to command this attack."

"Yes. Please make your decision quickly. We don't have much time, and our window of opportunity is closing rapidly. I need to get this moving as soon as possible."

"Hmmm…" Ozai appeared to be mulling it over before he said, "Very well Azula, but do not fail me in this. It would be better for you not to come back at all than to come back in failure."

Azula knew he meant it.

Azula climbed into her chosen armored vehicle. She was to lead the attack from inside one of the initial vehicles in the charge. She looked out the viewport and paused briefly before loosing a blast of blue flame skywards. That was the signal. Over a hundred tanks surged forward in almost perfect unison. Azula actually felt confident that her plan might work. She watched as the initial vehicles disappeared over the ledge of the volcano and started down the path. Then her vehicle crossed it and she saw what was below. In an instant, all her confidence evaporated. There, at the volcano's base, was a horde too numerous to count. Hundreds of thousands of creatures swarmed the ruined lower city and docks. Azula was not normally a particularly religious person, but at that moment she said a silent prayer to Agni. Of course, she let no look of fear cross her face, knowing that to do so would be disastrous for morale. She looked more closely at the horde, and felt partially relieved. It was clear that the number of creatures was making it very difficult for the larger ones to bring the smaller ones into range of whatever strange ability they had that allowed them to control the horde. There only seemed to be about thirty-five of the larger creatures, and they were having to call the smaller ones into very tight bunches around them to keep them under control. That, in turn made it difficult for them to move. Even as she watched, one of them toppled over, crushing many of the smaller creatures surrounding it as it crashed. She had to resist the urge to laugh. The enormous thing, however, seemed unharmed and rapidly got to its feet. It and the swarm moved as one, and more of the smaller creatures closest to it ran to join the group. By now the vanguard tank force was approaching the bottom, with the swarm seemingly too busy to notice them. Azula knew that wouldn't last long. Gathering all her power, she loosed a bolt of lightning at the nearest big one. All tanks in range loosed fire at the swarm. The battle had begun.