Responses to Reviews:

Zigzagdoublezee: I always enjoy writing Varrick, he's got a distinct "voice", and he is quite funny. Also, no pressure then.

RonaldM40196867: It's not as easy to pinpoint this. I think Meelo has her temper, while Jinora has more of her caring side.

As Always, Please Review!

Kuvira

Smoke curled into the sky on the horizon as Kuvira stood on the bridge of the Battleship Colossus, staring imperiously out of the window.

The Colossus was a behemoth, deliberately designed to be the most powerful vessel afloat bar none. Armed with eight spirit cannons and many more compressed air cannons as secondary armament, clad in thick platinum armour, and 190 metres long, it was an imposing symbol of the Earth Empire's power.

Deep inside the ship's hull sat two of Varrick's spirit vine power generators, each of which generated thousands of horsepower, propelling it up to a surprisingly quick top speed. Technicians bustled around the ship, making sure that everything was working as it should. Baatar was directing them from his place at the Chief Technical Officer's office just behind the Bridge, a space that was conveniently right next to Kuvira's own berth. So far, everything seemed satisfactory. Colossus had performed exceptionally well. It had made very good time from its launch site to Kyoshi Island, and had even killed a Unagi in one shot, using just one of the eight spirit cannons it carried.

It had been expensive, Kuvira decided, but entirely worth the investment. It had passed its first test with flying colours, but soon would come the real assessment, when she turned north to bring the former Fire Nation colonies masquerading as an independent nation back into the fold. There were four nations, everyone knew that, not five.

She stared out of the window onto the deck. Beside one of the gigantic turrets with its spirit cannons pointing straight ahead imposingly, guards were pushing a prisoner. She had asked for this prisoner to be separated from the others and brought aboard personally.

Around her, crewmen bustled around the room. In the centre of the bridge stood a large wheel to control the rudder, and next to it was a lever that was used to control the power output of the engines and thus the speed. The whole thing was automated, meaning in theory one person could pilot Colossus by themselves should it come to it- and given that the wheel and lever were both made of metal, Kuvira could do it while standing on the other side of the room. Around the pilot's area stood several desks where radio operators, navigators, gunnery officers and technicians worked.

Baatar came up next to her.

"Everything's in order!" He said.

"That's great!" Kuvira replied. "This is an excellent thing you've built here."

A moment later the doors were thrown open and Chief Jing was thrown inside in a heap on the floor. Nobody so much as glanced up at her.

"Ah, how nice of you to join us!" Kuvira told her, turning away from the window. "I regret you're here for business, not pleasure."

"Why did you attack us?" Jing asked. "We've done nothing to you!"

"Haven't you?" Kuvira asked. "Anyway, I'm asking the questions here. Perhaps if you answer them I'll answer yours."

Jing shrugged.

"Alright, straight down to business then. Where is she?"

"Where's who?" Jing just looked confused.

"You know perfectly well who I'm talking about," Kuvira snarled. "Tell me!"

"Why do you want her?" Jing asked.

"Isn't it obvious? An ex companion of Avatar Aang? That alone means she has power and influence should she choose to wield it."

"Oh, are you worried she might try to use it against you?" Jing was beginning to catch on now. "Maybe you should have thought of that before you came here?"

"Enough!" Kuvira spat. "Just tell me where she is!"

"Outside your reach," Jing told her gleefully. The metal cuffs around her wrists suddenly began to lift themselves into the air.

"Nowhere is outside my reach," Kuvira told her forcefully. "Not with this. Now be more specific."

Jing groaned in pain as the cuffs lifted higher, and then they suddenly dropped to the floor, taking her with them. She impacted with a huff as the air went out of her.

"Submarine!" She choked.

"Pardon?"

"Her daughters took her in a submarine!" Jing coughed. "They'll be miles away by now, in any direction."

Kuvira frowned.

"Was that why you resisted for so long?"

Jing did not answer.

Kuvira sighed. So they'd got away. That wasn't good. If they were smart they'd probably have run towards the South Pole. That was the closest neutral country. But Kuvira wasn't about to delay her plans for just a couple of extra prisoners of war, no matter how many avatars they might have fought with in the past, and she also didn't want to unnecessarily antagonise the southern tribe. All in all, she decided, it was probably better to just wait and see where they surfaced.

"Well then," she clapped her hands together. "I think you're done here."

"What are you going to do with me?" Jing coughed. "Kill me if you must, but don't hurt my people."

"Kill you?" Kuvira shook her head. "I'm not going to kill you. I am a woman of mercy. But you, as a collective on this island, appear to have forgotten to whom your loyalty is owed."

She approached Jing.

"I see that statue of Kyoshi in the centre of town. I see you've named your island after her, dress your soldiers like her, your national holiday is celebrating her. The problem is, around here we don't like the Avatar very much. So how can I tell, if it came to it, that you wouldn't side with Korra and her allies instead of me? It's an unacceptable security risk, and one I cannot take."

She paused.

"How many people live on this island?" She asked.

"A few thousand?" Jing replied.

"A few thousand. We can accommodate that."

"What do you mean?" Jing asked, sounding worried.

"Oh, I don't know. A hundred in Ba Sing Se, a hundred more here, more there, all over the place, everywhere. Everywhere, that is, but here. I'm going to move you to the mainland. Permanently."

"You're going to deport us?"

"Oh, deport is such an ugly word. I prefer compulsory new start." Kuvira folded her arms. "You will go to your new homes and you will stay there. You will cease practicing your traditions relating to Kyoshi. Your warriors will hand in their uniforms and weapons. Your population will be separated, scattered to the furthest reaches of the Empire. Who knows, maybe you'll get used to it. And you, you personally..."

Kuvira smiled.

"Well, I hear the Si Wong Desert is lovely this time of year."

Jing looked horrified.

"Please don't do this!" She pleaded. "This is our home!"

"Was your home," Kuvira corrected her. "Now, I don't know. Maybe I'll turn the entire island into a naval base. Now, haven't you got packing to do?"

And the guards picked Jing up and carried her out, still pleading for Kuvira's mercy.

Fool, Kuvira thought. That was my mercy. She wasn't a butcher, intent on killing thousands of unarmed and defenceless people. But leaving a potentially hostile population in place along what would probably be the front line in any future war with the South Pole would be stupid. Who was to say they wouldn't just side with the South and allow them to base privateers and raiders on the island? They had spent hundreds of years intermarrying with Southerners after all. For that reason alone, they had to go, Kuvira had decided. Their insults and weird veneration of the Avatar did not help.

Of course, Kuvira wasn't planning a war with the South. It would be unwise not to plan for one, but she wasn't actually planning to start it. It would be enough to reunify the Earth Kingdom. That would include the destruction of the United Republic. But to go any further would make her no better than the Imperialist Firelords of old.

She watched as Jing was led over to the side and lowered down into a boat, to be taken back to the island to inform her people of their fates. She looked tiny on the Colossus' deck.

"Radio operator!" She called.

"Yes?"

"Orders for the garrison," she told him, businesslike. "Leave two thousand men here to oversee the removal, reduced to one thousand after they've gone."

The order was duly transmitted.

"We'll rendezvous with the rest of the fleet in two days," she continued. The remaining Earth Empire fleet, the ships left over from the old monarchy, was small and outdated, not just in comparison to Colossus but to ships from the other nations, but those ships could still be useful. Apart from anything else, they would give any resistance they encountered something else to shoot at.

"And then we go north. Our final victory awaits us in Republic City."

The Colossus began to move, bearing Kuvira north, towards the United Republic, towards the Avatar, towards her destiny.