I'm running out of new things to put down for a disclaimer, but I'm assuming everyone that's still with me at this point knows that I don't own any of it and never will.
Chapter 7
Azulon's gun deck was a scene of mass chaos the following morning. The entire crew stood in loose formation, milling around aimlessly while various chiefs and officers barked out orders. Lee stood in a doorway, watching the pandemonium play out with a look of mild amusement on his face. No one had the slightest idea why they had all been gathered there. He'd heard plenty of guesses, though. Most of them pertaining to the fight late last night.
He looked over at Captain Yuan. The man was leaning against a bulkhead, eyes closed as if deep in thought. It looked like he hadn't taken his own advice the night before, instead choosing to stay up and take care of anything that needed taking care of to get ready for today. Either way, he would tell Lee if he felt like it. It wasn't his place to ask.
"Let's address the men, Lieutenant."
"Aye, sir."
Lee stepped out onto the deck first. As with all assemblies of the crew, it was his duty to make sure everyone was ready for the arrival of the captain. That meant standing in awkward silence while the chiefs restored order nine times out of ten.
This time was no different. As soon as the sunlight hit his shoulder plates, chiefs everywhere seemed to triple the intensity of their shouted orders. Sailors fought to get into line while at the same time trying to make sure they had a clear line of sight to the area where the captain would be speaking. All Lee could do was stand there and marvel at how unseasonably hot it was. The sun beat down murderously, while the black steel under his boots radiated every bit of heat back towards the sky. He felt a few rogue beads of sweat threatening his brow, but he crushed down the urge to mop it away.
When the crew stopped moving and quieted down, Lee stepped forward.
"Good morning crew of the Azulon!" he shouted, throwing every ounce of authority he could into the yell. Every officer was well trained to do that at the academy, ensuring that their voice could be heard by every single body on deck.
"Good morning First Lieutenant!" a thousand voices roared back at him. He allowed himself to smile. The men had spirit, and it would be clear to everyone for a mile around.
"I hope everyone enjoyed their liberty in the Fire Nation, short as it was. Lots of beautiful ladies, huh?"
The comment drew a ripple of laughter from the crowd, with isolated whistles here and there.
"You guys deserved it after all the hard work you put in getting this proud vessel underway. And you put in just as good of a job in getting her back here safely to your families and friends. Let me give a shout out to the crew of gun mount number two!"
Each of the men on the crew cheered, with even the gun chief joining in. A few others playfully jeered them.
"While everyone else was chilling, mount two was drilling. It goes without saying that mount two has the finest gunners in the fleet, and everyone else should follow their example. Now, I know you all are wondering why we have you assembled up here today. Now, I could tell you, but the skipper has some words for you instead. Give him your undivided attention, please. Chiefs, keep your men under control until after the captain is done speaking."
With that said, Lee turned towards the door where Captain Yuan was standing. He nodded to the old man, and received a nod in reply. He then turned back to the throng standing before him.
"Captain on deck, a-ten-shun!"
Every man on deck came to rigid attention as the old man walked out onto the deck plates. He walked until he was standing just to the right and in front of Lee.
"Thank you, First," he said, "at ease, everyone! Good morning!"
"Good morning, sir!"
"As the First said, you all have been doing an outstanding job, and I'm proud to say that I have you men for a crew. As you all know, the world has become a far different place than it was when you first enlisted. The tides of time are always ebbing and flowing, and it is our duty to ride them wherever they may take us. We are, however, able to steer our own course on the waters of fate. Every decision we make determines whether we encounter smooth sailing, or end up in a storm. Some headings are easy to set, some are not.
"You all are standing in front of me today because you all have a heading to choose. Some of you have already heard the rumors. For those of you that have, as well as those of you that haven't, let me set the record straight for you. The Fire Lord has ordered our fleet to tear the colonists of the North Sea Islands away from their homes, their lives and legacies. Even their families for some.
"It is every man's duty to stand up for what he thinks is right. It is a sacred duty that we all share. Honor binds us to the paths that we think are right or wrong. Only history has the clarity to tell us for sure whether the path we chose was actually the right one. I ask that you look into your own hearts, men. Is it right for a ruler to tear his people away from the lives that they were asked to live in the first place? Is it right for any king or queen to make the decision to rip you from your home without ever even looking you in the eyes? Every one of you swore an oath when you put on the uniform that you wear now. You swore to defend your nation against threats at home and abroad. But you have also sworn a sacred oath to the people of the islands. To the islands themselves, to defend them against the same. Now, you must choose which of these oaths you are called to follow.
"Men, I give you a choice. You may choose to remain in the service of the Fire Nation. You will not break your oath to uphold the Fire Lord. You will not be persecuted for your decision. Safe passage back to the home islands will be provided for everyone that wishes to return. You may also choose to side with your islands, as I myself have and the First Lieutenant has. You will become members not of the Fire Navy, but of a new navy. A new nation. You will be the first men on the first ships of the North Sea Navy.
"The Five Island Council is at this moment preparing a declaration of our independence from the Fire Nation. They will draft laws for our new nation. A system of government run not by some royal family that has lost touch with the citizens it is supposed to rule, but by the people that live under it. A government truly by the people, for the people. The Fire Lord will try to stop us, but only time will be able to tell which of us has the right of it.
"All of you that wish to remain loyal to the Fire Nation do not need to declare it here. Simply let your chief or division officer know, and you will be released from your duties on my ship with no ill will. If you wish to remain, again let your chief or division officer know. And a word to those of you that wish to leave.
"You will not be punished if you leave peacefully. I bear you no ill will, as I trust your shipmates will also. However, those of you that choose to remain loyal to the Fire Lord and also choose to remain here, thinking that you will better serve his cause by trying to undermine ours, your presence will not be tolerated. Just last night, a pair of men acting on a rumor of revolution attacked the First Lieutenant on the gun deck. They ambushed a decorated naval officer, their own comrade in arms, in an act of extreme cowardice and shame. Master at arms, bring the men forward."
Lee looked over to where a number of guards were standing, surrounding the prisoners that had just attacked him last night. The man he had burned looked absolutely piteous, most of his face wrapped in bandages that looked to have been haphazardly applied. Medic doesn't have much taste for men that try to ambush an officer. The other man attempted to look proud, but under the hard glares of the entire crew he did a miserable job.
The men were frog marched at spear point over to the captain, where he looked at them with no emotion whatsoever in his eyes.
"You men stand accused of mutiny and attempted murder of a senior officer. In wartime, these crimes would be punishable by death, but fortunately for you two we aren't currently at war. Have you anything to say for yourselves?"
The burned man didn't say anything. He simply shook his head without making eye contact with the captain. He was a man broken by the burn and the thought of how far he'd fallen. The second man, however, looked the captain square in the eyes.
"I have nothing to say to a traitor to the Fire Nation," he said.
"Just as well. I have nothing to say to a man that turns his back on his crew in the shameful way that you two did. It's not your country that keeps you alive when your ship sails into a typhoon. It's the men you see standing before you. Your shipmates are your true family on this vessel, and anyone that would betray the absolute trust in the man next to you to do his job and keep the two of you alive is the true traitor.
"By the authority vested in me by North Sea Naval regulation, as well as Fire Navy regulation, I hereby sentence you men to twenty five lashes apiece, to be served immediately. Master at arms, ready the convicted."
Two of the guards jammed heavy steel poles into fittings in the deck prepared especially for this purpose. Two more stripped the shirts from the backs of the men to be flogged, forcing them over to the frames set up. Their arms were bound so that they were outstretched. The final piece in the puzzle was a thick wooden bit given to each man to prevent him from breaking off his teeth or biting off his tongue.
Lee willed his mind to be somewhere else as the captain picked up the whip. As the commander of the ship, only Yuan could mete out justice. That meant that he would be the one to wield the whip in a situation like this. For that, Lee was grateful. He didn't have the stomach to put a man through that kind of pain just to make an example of him. While the second man hadn't actually been hurt in the fight, the man he'd burned definitely had. Lee knew firsthand how long the burn would plague him, and that should have been adequate enough. But, regulation was regulation. Order had to be maintained, and example had to be made.
Whatever makes you happiest, he told himself, knowing that the only way to compartmentalize the situation would be to find some form of justification for it in his mind.
Not watching a punishment being handed out by the captain was considered a shameful show of weakness for any man in the Navy, but it went double for the First Lieutenant or any other line officer. For that reason, Lee couldn't look away from the grisly event. It didn't mean that he had to pay attention to it, though. He found himself thinking of memories from his childhood, of times spent on liberty in rough foreign ports with his fellow junior officers. Anything but what was happening in front of him. The only thing he couldn't drown out, however, was the sound of the whip cracking across skin and the cries of the man it was making contact with.
A healer stepped forward to administer to the cuts in the backs of the flogged men when the captain set the whip down. As a part of their punishment, the two men would spend another week licking their wounds down in the brig, but it was important to make sure that they wouldn't die from their injuries while they did. The rest of the crew simply looked on in numb horror as the men before them were taken down and carried away, weeping piteously as they went.
"Consider that your first and only warning men," the captain said, looking across the crowd in front of him with a hard stare, "Leave peacefully, stay peacefully, it makes no difference. Choose to make trouble like these men did, and the same fate awaits. You all are dismissed."
He turned away from the crowd and walked back to the command tower. Lee remained rooted in place, looking at the men in front of him. Ordinarily, they would be practically tripping over themselves to get out of there and back to work or off the ship for liberty. Now, however, they just stood there. Staring at the frames. The deck seamen were first to react, grabbing buckets and beginning to scrub the blood and sweat off the deck before it had a chance to crust on and really make their lives miserable.
The sound of the stiff brushes on the deck plates seemed to break the trance. The crew began to slowly disperse, everyone quietly shuffling away. Even the chiefs were unusually quiet as they went. Lee wondered if it was the weight of the decision they all faced, or what they had just borne witness to. Probably a bit of both he concluded before beginning the walk back to his office.
The ship stayed quiet for the rest of the day. Lee sat down in his office for the majority of it, leaving only to get himself dinner from the wardroom. As he was coming back, he noticed a small note sitting on his desk. He picked it up eagerly, thinking that it was another letter from the pretty governor that had taken such an interest in him. Instead, he found himself reading a simply scrawled note.
The ship needs a new name. Let me know what you come up with.
There was no name signed, but Lee knew who it was without having to try. Captain Yuan. The reasoning was sound. It wouldn't do for the ship to retain the name of a Fire Lord when it didn't belong to the Fire Nation anymore. He took a seat behind his desk, brushing aside tactical plans for the gun crews and a modification to the guns that he had come up with himself. He paused, admiring his handiwork. Inspired by Seaman Kuruk, his plan for the next generation of naval guns involved a small charge of blasting powder to be used as a propellant for the bomb instead of a firebender. Touched off with a spark, the gun could be operated by anyone. No need to come up with firebenders to form the crews anymore.
Names, names, names, he thought, trying to force his mind into the same inspiration that had brought the gun idea to him. It would be weird to refer to his ship by anything other than Azulon, but maybe it was time to rename the ship. Azulon had stricken fear into the hearts of men the world over, bringing pride and glory to the Fire Navy. Now, it would be the Fire Navy that needed to live in fear at the mention of the ship's name. It would be this vessel that would truly serve as the North Sea Islands' fifty thousand ton declaration of independence.
He stopped there, grabbing his brush. He jotted down Declaration, but paused. It didn't have a good ring to it. He continued. Declaration of Independence. Too long, not inspiring enough. He rubbed his chin, then decided to shorten it. Independence.
"The North Sea Navy ship Independence," he said aloud. The name had a good sound to it. Sounds like a keeper to me.
He set the paper aside, picking up the tactical plans he'd been working on before and starting work on them once again.
