Luke

My first though was to where the listening post was. We were on a series of hills, overlooking the plains and hills beyond it where the listening post was said to be, but there was nothing there. No identifiable structure. Nothing. Through the roaring of the wind and rain, I heard the grunt of a Komodo Rhino next to me and turned to see Lu Ten pull his mount next to ours. Without looking to me, but as though thinking to himself, said "This isn't right. They should have fortified it. They can't hope to hold it like this."

"Hold what?" I asked. "I see nothing there."

"They're earthbenders. Why keep something exposed to our artillery when you can bury it miles underground without a single consequence?"

I looked back at the hills beyond us and was thinking of what that listening post was worth at this point. I doubt the Fire Nation planned on wasting the time to dig it back out. "So your saying they buried the listening post underground?"

"Yes, but that's not the issue anymore. The enemy is expecting combat and another step forward, we pass the point of no return and walk into a trap."

I saw it too. There was an empty field directly in front of us with no form of obstacles to keep us at bay. It had to be a trap.

"Lieutenant!" Called Lu Ten to the man who promptly arrived at his commander's side, saluting, awaiting orders. "Get your mine sweepers ready. Stay away from rock formations and mark the perimeters of your search area."

"Yes sir!" The man ran back to his platoon, ready to gather them and have them, what, clear a path for the battalion?

I turned to Lieutenant Colonel of the Crimson Battalion and asked, "If you don't mind me asking, what are they looking for?"

"Mines."

"Mines?"

"Land mines." He cleared up. "Small bombs you bury underground. When somebody steps on it, it pushes down a pressure plate that triggers an explosive. Nasty stuff."

"And you think this field is mined? I can understand it being trapped. Maybe with benders underneath the surface, but how would they get their hands-on tech like that. They steal it from Fire Nation convoys?"

"You're right to assume the tech is Fire Nation, but it isn't stolen. A few years back, the biggest arms producer for the Fire Nation, "Starros Arms", broke up into multiple subsidiaries. I won't bore you with the details, but it was a huge deal. Some of the subsidiaries defected and relocated to the Earth Kingdom and Starros Arms is a shadow of its former self. In response, we nationalized most industries within the Fire Nation."

"So now our own people are working for the enemy, making weapons to kill their own people. Why?"

"You assume they care. They're businessmen. You think they give two shits about nations or ethnicity? They don't. If they see they can make more money somewhere else than where they currently are, they'll go for it."

Well. That was uplifting. "So, what now?"

"We wait. I won't have our battalion march into a trap so obvious. See that?" he asked, pointing to a group of mine sweepers gathering over a small patch of land, hauling out a large circular object and tampering with it, probably defusing it. "We were right. Now, we just hope the Earth kingdom gets impatient and meets us where we are, running through their own minefield."

"You think they're dumb enough to do that?"

"No. So I recommend getting comfortable. We'll be here awhile."