Author's Note: Thanks again for the reviews, and I hope that everyone reading is enjoying themselves.
Disclaimer: Still don't own any of it.
Chapter 5
Lee stood at the brow of the ship, standing by to welcome the other ship captains aboard. Captain Yuan had called a meeting of every commanding officer in his little ragtag fleet, to see which of them would be on board with the plot for revolution. The night before, they'd had a similar meeting with all the senior enlisted personnel onboard Azulon. To his surprise, they had backed Yuan to the man, colonist and native alike. While the captains met aboard the fleet's leading ship, the chiefs from all the ships would be meeting in one of the larger taverns on the waterfront.
Lee looked down at the pier and saw that the last captain was approaching. Someone on deck began shouting, and he reflexively turned to see what was going on. A deck seaman was so busy swabbing that he had failed to notice an approaching chief, and had wound up elbowing the man. The young man was being shown the error of his ways now, in the form of push-ups to an erratic cadence. The stomping of boots at the top of the brow called his attention back to the task at hand, and he turned to greet the last arrival.
"Welcome aboard the Azulon cap-"
He was stopped short by the realization that the young woman in front of him wasn't the captain of the Tempest.
"Good afternoon, sir," she said, nervousness oozing out of every word she spoke, "I'm Lieutenant Rikke, Fire Navy ship Tempest. Captain Hahn and the First Lieutenant had an emergency come up, so they sent me in their place."
Calm down, Lee thought, wondering idly if her heart would just stop from all the stress.
"That's all right. I'm First Lieutenant Lee. Welcome aboard. If you'll follow me, we'll be meeting in the wardroom."
He began leading the way towards the command tower.
"So this is an Empire Class, huh?" She said. He could hear the wonder in her voice.
"That's right," he replied.
"So big."
"You've never been on an Empire before?"
"No. Are you kidding me? I spent my career on ships just like the Tempest."
Lee racked his brain, trying hard to remember details about the ship. Tempest was a scout ship, if memory served him correctly. The Fire Nation had stopped building them roughly twenty years before, and since then they had been back seated by the larger cruisers, doomed to roles like harbor security, ferrying banished princes, or defending colonies.
"Well, if it helps, I've never been on a ship that small. What's it like?"
The young woman was silent for a moment. He was about to repeat the question when she answered him.
"Tight knit, I guess you could say. On a crew so small, everyone knows everyone else. It's hard to keep secrets, that's for sure."
They wound through the maze of passageways leading down to the wardroom just like that. Rikke would tell stories about life on the smaller ship, while Lee countered with his own tales of life onboard the Azulon and other large ships he'd served on. They eventually came to the wardroom, where the captains were all seated around the long central table, Yuan at its head.
"Lieutenant," he said with a nod, "I assume that this is our last guest?"
"Yes sir. This is Lieutenant Rikke, from the Tempest. The captain sends his regards, but has an emergency that he couldn't leave behind."
"Very well. Take a seat Lieutenant. We're about to get started."
Lieutenant Rikke took the last open seat at the table while Lee made his way around to the front of the room. He could almost feel the hostility of the captains towards the junior officer and himself. Did these guys forget that they stood where we stand once?
"Welcome aboard everyone," Yuan said as Lee took a seat away from the table, "it's been quite a while since we were all gathered together. Too long in my opinion.
"We face changing times. Troubling times. We are the sons and daughters of a century long war, officers bred and seasoned by battle. Peace approaches from without, but war still threatens to rage on from within.
"We are at a crossroads. The Fire Lord is demanding that we uproot the lives and legacies of generations. The Five Islands Council is going to rebel, make no mistake. They have delivered their ultimatum to the Royal Family, the conditions of which will not be met.
"We must choose, gentlemen, which call to arms we must answer. We are duty bound to protect the Fire Nation, and carry out the Fire Lord's will. However, we are also duty bound to defend these colonies from all invaders, all who would seek their destruction. Gentlemen, we must choose whether to rebel against the Fire Nation."
The room went from a model of tranquility to a scene of chaos in less time than it took Lee to blink. Almost immediately, the captains against it began speaking out. A split second later, the captains for it rose up with a noticeably louder voice. One man argued that they had a sacred duty to the Fire Lord, and that they were all honor bound to follow it. A man across the table from him countered with them having the same duty to the colonists, which was more important since they couldn't defend themselves. Lee smiled when he saw that that remark made a few of them change their minds.
Amidst the madness, Captain Yuan sat calmly observing the situation. When he felt that the discussions had run their course, he stood up.
Rather than trying to shout over the cacophony of voices, he opted to send a short burst of fire down the middle of the table. It petered out before it reached the other end, but got everyone's attention nonetheless. As the room quieted down, Yuan began to speak again.
"Now, I know that some of you might be unwilling to go against the Fire Lord. If so, make yourself known now. Know also that you will be making yourself and your crew my enemy, and the enemy of all present at this table that don't speak up."
To Lee's surprise, there wasn't so much as a cough from around the room. Yuan smiled.
"If you're with me, I need you with me a hundred percent. I have you, and I have your ships. The chiefs are meeting now, and soon enough we'll be able to find out if we have our crews. But for now, we have to make plans."
As the captains of the North Sea fleet were meeting, another meeting was being held far to the west, in a Navy building close to the Royal Palace.
In a dimly lit room adorned with maps and charts of the North Sea Islands and the Burning Sea, Commander Long was seated around a desk with the captain of his fleet's flagship and a trusted aide.
"Tell me about the colony defenses," Long said, rubbing his eyes. They'd been at it for hours, but with the Fire Lord's deadline approaching they couldn't afford to stop. He would brief Zuko on their plan of action the following morning.
"Well sir," the aide said as he flipped through intelligence reports, "the colonies are defended by the Colony Defense Force, or the CDF. Each island has its own branch, separate from the others. The governor of said island is essentially the commander in chief of that unit."
"What kind of training and equipment are we looking at?"
More rustling of paper.
"The colonists themselves are fairly well trained, about on par with a recruit division after a few battles. Their uniforms could be considered improved versions of our own, designed by the brains at the research facility. The armor is a new alloy, stronger and slightly lighter than current uniforms. Their weapons are made of a unique steel that only they've succeeded in producing so far. It's more durable and holds a superior edge, as well as resisting rust.
"What sets them apart the most is a fairly new innovation known as the gunboat."
Long frowned. He wasn't aware of anything that went by that name.
"What's a gunboat?"
"It's a small ship that they build on each island. They have a crew of no more than fifteen, as few as nine. It mounts a single naval gun. They're hard to hit because of their small size, and powerful. Dangerous little targets."
Long rubbed his chin. He knew that bringing the islands back under control if they came to open revolt would be no small task. Each island would have to be conquered by itself, and held after it was captured. With only twenty ships at his direct disposal, it wouldn't be easy. Then there was the matter of the theater.
To men like Captain Yuan or the colonists serving under him, the Burning Sea was familiar; a challenge to be welcomed and embraced. To everyone else, it was a hellish nightmare to fight in. Pools of a strange black liquid pooled on the surface of the ocean, coming from somewhere on the ocean floor. Most of the time, the liquid was relatively harmless. It coated everything, killing wildlife but not too much else. However, in several places, the sinister nature of the liquid had been revealed, either by lightning strike or careless firebending.
The liquid was extremely flammable by nature, burning almost indefinitely once ignited. Throwing water on the fire seemed to only agitate it further, and it resisted being extinguished even by trained firebenders. Floating patches would often drift together, forming massive burn zones. Veritable seas of flame on the ocean. Even when the fire was small, huge clouds of oily black smoke were cast into the air, suffocating men and making navigation nearly impossible. Anyone with knowledge of the waters would choose them for battle when faced by an opponent that didn't know them.
That thought gave him pause.
"Tell me, what resources does Captain Yuan's fleet have?"
"Sir, we don't know whether Yuan will back the rebels or us yet."
"Therefore, it is prudent to plan for him being our enemy now."
The aide nodded in understanding, setting down his notes. It either meant he'd been briefed, or intel wasn't good.
"Out of the twelve ships Yuan has under his command, five are scout ships. Lightly armed, lightly crewed. Out of those five, only one has been retrofitted."
"What was the retrofit?"
"Thicker armor plating. No one outside the research facility knows why. We think it was to be used as a target ship for naval gun testing."
"Very well. What else?"
"Six cruisers, none newer than fifteen years old. Two of them retrofitted with naval guns, both still in the yards. And that leaves the Azulon."
Ah yes, Long thought, the dreaded Azulon.
"Azulon is an Empire Class ship. She's been retrofitted several times in the past few years. Thicker armor, improved boilers, and what she is the most well known for. The three guns on the main deck."
Long rubbed his chin again. He knew that if it came down to fighting Yuan, the Azulon would be their greatest threat. Realistically, he could expect to lose several ships to her.
"Our task," he said, looking each man in the eye, "is to find a weakness in the Azulon. One chink in her armor. We find a way to defeat her, we find a way to defeat Yuan's fleet."
