Boss

Just one week ago, my biggest concern had been how I was going to word the plan to Luke. Just one week ago, I had been wondering how to put the words together to him in the most delicate way possible. Just one week ago, he had been the only concern I had. The only one I had to look out for.

Now there was only one person I didn't have to look out for: myself. Luke was Luke. Zek was grieving. And Gordez was losing faith. In me, the plan, all of it. The plan had been tough enough as was, but we were a man short now. I didn't blame the rest for having their reservation. Raava knew I did.

So for the next few nights, I spent the nights thinking, trying to piece it together. Make sure it could work. So on the night I had originally decided to tell the plan to Luke, to tell him that everything would work out, I ended up having to do it for 2 others as well, in the middle of a new moon, with the only light the flame we sat around.

"It's been a tough last few weeks." I acknowledged. There was no response from Luke. Gordez made what I imagined to be the shadow of a scoff, and Zek just stared at the flames a while longer.

"This war's given us a hell of a beating these last year and a half. There used to be 15 of us. You were there, Zek. I know you remember." Still, he stared at the flames. What did he see in there?

"Then we last Harreck, the Zee, then Chun, the Haz, and now Hizo. Just because we no longer follow the Fire Lord, that doesn't mean we're out of this war. Nobody's out of this war. Soldier, Civilian, Child, you're a part of this war, whether you like it or not."

Luke looked up from the floor now. Zek too. I imagine it may have been Hizo's name that raised his attention.

"It shouldn't be that way, but that's how it is. All of us have served long enough to see the horrors inflicted, both against us, and by us. People, uninvolved in this war, have been dragged in, conscripted, robbed, pillaged, raped, killed." I tried to avoid looking at Luke with the mention of that last word. Instead, I looked at those I had served with. "We've all done things we've regretted. We cannot be afraid to acknowledge the past. Gordez." He looked up. "You stole from a starving village so we could feed our own. A month later, when we passed that way again, the village had been abandoned for lack of ways to feed themselves. What happened next?"

Gordez was reluctant to speak. I wonder if he felt I had called him out particularly. That wasn't what I had intended at all. I knew that whoever I called first would receive the blunt. Unless it was me. That would just give the impression that it was something to get over with rather than something to actually acknowledge. But, still, even if it took him a while, he spoke. "They drove themselves right into the hands of slavers."

"What did the slavers do to them?" I asked. I was picking old scars. I knew, but it was the only way. I had to remind them why we were here.

"They. They raped the women and girls."

"And the men?"

"They made them watch. And they cut their throats once they broke the girls in."

"And the kids?"

"They made them fight. Made them kill each other to see who was strongest?"

"And what did you do?"

"We killed them all."

I nodded. How the hell would I get the others to speak after that?

"Zek."

He looked at me. Good. "In your first month of service, you had raped almost 5 women. All widows of men you had slain yourself."

Luke looked at Zek. It wasn't judgment that was in his eyes. Something else. What though? When he looked at Zek, was he now seeing the man Zek had once been, or was he seeing what Zek was now? A man who had thrown his past aside, risen above it?

"Other soldiers treated you like a legend. And you loved it. What changed?"

There was a pause as he looked into the flames again, wondering what to say. I knew the answer already. I had been there. "I killed one of them. In front of her kid."

"And what did you do?"

"I vowed never to touch a woman who didn't ask me to ever again."

"And have you?"

"No."

I nodded. Now for the tough one. "Luke."

He didn't look at me. He already knew where this was going. And he was one step ahead. "I killed a town of civilians."

"Why?"

"Because. Because I believed they had killed my friends."

"And did they?"

He shook his head. He shook it some more. And when he realized that wouldn't suffice, he said "No. No. They didn't. The Earth Kingdom did. The war did."

"And what did you do?"

I was worried I had cornered him, asked him a question I knew he had no answer to, but he took it in stride. With dignity. That belonging to a man who knew his errors, a and who vowed to never repeat them again.

"I don't know yet."

Good. I nodded. I sighed. My turn now.

"When I joined the army. I helped the Fire Lord to bring a people to the brink of extinction. We targeted anyone and everyone who could waterbend. We kidnapped them imprisoned them, tortured them, killed them. I went along with it. I didn't stop to think what I was doing. I just did it. We killed every last waterbender in the Southern Water Tribe. We killed an entire people. I killed an entire people. And I didn't do anything. I didn't right my wrongs. I didn't repent for my sins. The Southern Raiders were nearly dissolved, and I was reassigned. I had the chance to make up for what I did, and I didn't take it, but some of you still do. You still have the chance. We all still have a chance.

"If there was one thing we learned in our time at war, it's what it means to be a soldier. It's gone from being a job to being a warrior, to being a killer, but we all see now that it means something else. War is hell, but that's doesn't mean that those who wage it have to stoop its level. It doesn't mean they have to be corrupted by it. Soldiers are the deciding factor in what makes a war just or unjust. It is our decision that give a cause meaning.

"That cause is being lost. Under Iroh, we fought with purpose, with meaning, with honor, but he's gone now. He was a last hope for this war, for this nation, but he's gone now, but we're still here. This new Fire Lord and his new Fire Nation may revive the cruelty and hatred of the days of Sozin, and the Earth Kingdom may throw aside all it used to stand for in the name of justice, but we know better. We know that there is honor to be found in this hell. We just have to look for it. And we do this by helping those who cannot help themselves and hurting those who use their power to abuse those beneath them. Because that's what it means to be a soldier. To help those weaker than yourself. I don't know about the rest of the world, but we are soldiers. And we're going to fight.

"We may accomplish nothing. We may die horribly. We may see our actions have horrible consequences down the line, but that doesn't matter. What will matter is that we stood up for what was right, and we did what we could to help those who couldn't help themselves."

There was no cheer. I hadn't expected one. This wasn't to rile them. This wasn't to anger them. This was to waken them. And I did that much at least. They may have looked little different, but in their eyes, I could see the change. I knew that, come morning, they would be ready to fight.

I had intended for this night to be one to explain the plan that lay ahead, less figuratively and more literally. I planned to tell them about our roles tomorrow and who would do what, but they had enough of me talking for the night.

I would explain it tomorrow. And they would listen, because they listened to me tonight. Whether they looked it or not.

Did I have doubts? Sure, but did I have faith in them even more?

I did.

/

And so, the next day, a half day's ride away, we were there.

I had told them all about the facility on the way there. Fire Navy Disassembly Yard E-7, or as the Squad Iron Fire had grown accustomed to calling it, the dream crusher.

Ever since the Fire Navy had developed a new wave of heavy cruisers around 10 years ago, Azulon has decreed that his Navy would be making a shift towards a heavier reliance on their larger cruisers. Since, lighter ships such as the age-old destroyer have been systematically reduced to scrap to provide raw material for later classes of warships.

The name "dream crusher" was applied to such facilities, at least amongst what used to be squad Iron Fire as certain members including myself and Gordez had come to the squad from the Fire Navy and had developed a sense of affinity to these cruisers. Reliable, quick, but doubtlessly less armed and armored as the new variants. Perfect for battling the smaller and quicker Water Tribe navy, but with the renewed offensive against the Earth Kingdom, it only made sense to switch to bulkier, stronger variants. A sad, but understandable shift.

Hopefully when this was all over, the Fire Nation would stick to a variety. I still think like a Fire Nation soldier. Am I not? Maybe I don't follow the Fire Lord, but the Fire Nation's still my country. Do the others feel the same way, I wonder?

I had not just told them the background of the installation, but its layout. Well, Gordez told that part. To the best of his memory. He'd been stationed here at one point. As punishment. He had allegedly made modifications to his vessel, the F.N.S. Allegiance, without his captain's knowledge. The upgrades were helpful and increased the ship's performance, but the captain had no seen things that way and treated his acts as insubordination all the same.

A common occurrence in the military, no matter where. Superiors hated being proved wrong by those under their command.

Lucky for us though, we had Gordez as a result, and everything he knew about this facility.

He repeated himself at least 5 times in the tanks, trying to relay the facility's layout to us with no success. So he settled on doing it now as we viewed the facility from the top of a cliff that overlooked it, allowing us to see what he meant as he pointed out the different parts.

"There was the port, to the coast's north, where, by the looks of it, at least 50 Fire Navy destroyers were docked, all in groupings of 5." Gordez elaborated.

"Only the cruiser in the middle is sea worthy. The others are just "husks" to be towed to it pulled along. These destroyers are small, but their engines, well, they beat anything put out since, especially on those bigger ships. I'd bet anything one of these destroyers could push an Empire Class Cruiser to kingdom come if it so desired."

"To the south, with about half a mile put in between 'to help adjust their path' of open coast, was the dry dock with a functioning water lock."

"The 5 ships would be brought to the first segment, closed off. The water would be lowered to nearly nothing as the ships were untethered to one another, attached to cranes, and separated into 5 different dry docks where they would be disassembled individually."

"Disassembly takes about a weak. Lucky for us, we're right on time. Early even. Process starts at noon. You can see that group of cruisers over there, already grouped together. They have a skeleton crew onboard. About 4 to 6 guys. Just enough to get it moving. At noon, right after they eat, they'll take it out to go to the southern dry dock. So Boss. Wanna say the plan?"

Gordez is back to normal. Good. "Gladly."

I started. "The plan is this. There's not a lot of places to eat around here save the mess. This entire scrapyard is on a skeleton crew what with the siege. We're lucky Ozai hasn't gotten this place back to full operation yet. Anyway. It's about 1145 right now. We go down there, wait for the ship's crew to get something to eat. We jump them, take anything we need, hide them, and take their places on the ship.

"Once we're out to sea, we ditch the back two husks. The facility will probably send a patrol boat or two to check up on us and the husks. We deal with whoever comes to check on us, put them back on their boats, ditch the front two husks, and get on our ways."

"Sounds easy enough." Said Zek. Not exactly himself, but, well, better. I guess.

"So far yes, but we all have our jobs to do. I'll be getting to the bridge, getting us on course. Zek, when our visitors come aboard, I need you to send them back home. Try talking to them, see if you can convince them there's some huge problem with the ship and it's about to blow up or something, or that Ozai sent you to deliver the cruiser directly to him, I don't know. It's likely going to end in a fight, so be ready for it, but do try to avoid any deaths. We don't need the Fire Nation branding us killers.

I saw the look that Luke gave me. 'Why am I not fighting?' I knew the look. He knew that I knew he could fight, but he made no complaints.

"Gordez, Luke, I need you two down in the engine room. The regular crew would generally get it running for just a small trip half a mile down south, but we're going to need more than that. Gordez will know what to do, Luke. Just do what he says, and we'll be fine."

Luke nodded his head. And just like normal. His old silent self. Great.

"Then we all know what to do. Helmets on. We don't need the Fire Lord knowing our faces."

"Well I think he'd like my face," quipped Zek as he slipped on his helmet. It didn't cover his face unlike Luke's facemask appropriate to that of a firebender, but it did enough. I smiled. "Good to have you back, Zek."

"Good to be back, sir."

Soon enough. We were at the facility. The security was easy to sneak around. They only had 2 men on watchtowers, and I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't awake. Oh how the Fire Nation ha fallen. I rolled my eyes as we continued on.

We found the mess hall easy enough. It was the only other structure in this side of the base that wasn't the barracks.

It was a small metal structure, but definitely sturdy and in good repair. At least they maintained themselves. Clean too. Nice.

I snapped out of it. We waited outside of the mess hall. We could hear them inside. 4 by the sound of it. Unless one was very quiet. It would fit the number Gordez gave us.

I motioned to stack of soldiers behind me, Zek right behind me, then Gordez, then Luke. "Walk in like everything's normal. Split in 2, get behind their seats, and knock 'em out. Luke. You know what to do?"

He nodded. Damn it, kid. Just talk. Is it that hard?

I shook my head, tossing it aside. Whatever. "Alright. Casual now."

We walked in, overhearing the last bits of the troops' conversation:

"So anyway, she asked me if I'd ever been in combat before and I said, "Lady. You're looking at the guy who-"

The speaker was cut short by me slamming his head down against the table, knocking him out cold. And before any of the other soldiers had time to react, they were out cold. Zek had dragged his off his chair and punched him in his mouth, Gordez as choking his out, and Luke, well, Luke had grabbed his soldier's helmet off of where it was resting on the ground, and used it as a weapon, swinging it across his guy's head, knocking him out cold, face in his meal. A sorry display.

Zek was chuckling as he took his victim's chopsticks, wiping them off and helping himself to the meal in front of him. "Nice knockout, Luke.:

He then saw the looks that his companions were giving him. "What?" he asked. "You said take whatever we need. I'm hungry."

I smiled. "He's right," I said. Take whatever you need off of them and drag them somewhere secluded. Gordez, where's the bathro-"

I was interrupted by the ball of fire that headed straight in between me and Gordez. Zek stumbled to the ground, scurrying for cover as I kicked over the table, sending it over, providing cover for me and Gordez, sadly knocking whatever food remained onto the ground.

Wait. Where's Luke? He wasn't behind cover with me and Gordez.

A second blast of fire came towards me as I lifted my head to get a look. Damnit. Somebody was going to hear this for sure.

"Base on alert!" I heard the troop yell. "We have." He was cut off by a blast of fire taking in the leg knocking him to the ground mid-sentence.

Then from behind the support beam where he had been taking cover, Luke revealed himself, approaching the fallen soldier who wasn't badly hurt, but merely down for the count, struggling to crawl away.

Luke unsheathed his short sword, and, no.

The fallen troop voiced my own thoughts. "No. Wait don't."

I got up, vaulting over the table to stop him, but I was too late. The soldier tried to scream, but he was cut short. Not, however, by a killing blow. At the last minute, Luke flipped the sword in his hands, smashing the hilt of his sword against the soldier's head, knocking him out cold.

Of course. If course. He wouldn't do something like that. It was his country as much as mine. His people as much as mine. What had I expected?

"Shit." I heard from behind me. No.

Gordez was on the ground, a grizzly scorch mark going across his chest piece near his side,

"Gordez!"

"It's fine. I'm fine. I'm not burnt."

"Zek, Luke. Grab what you can and hide the bodies. Meet us on board."

"Got it," said Zek. Luke nodded, and they hurried off to their tasks.

I helped Gordez up. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah. I think so-oh. Oh. No. I don't think I can."

"Alright. Arm around me. Let's go."

Getting on board was simpler than I imagined. The guide ship, the center ship, already had its docking ramp lowered onto the concrete port, its 4 retainers tethered to it at a safe distance, not too near, but not too far.

By the time I had gotten Gordez up the ramp, Zek and Luke had already gotten past me. They pulled the lever activating the mechanics that slowly shut the boarding ramp.

I set Gordez down right as the ramp shut.

"He good?" Zek asked.

Gordez?" I asked to confirm. "You good?"

"Yeah, ah shit. I think it broke my rib. That was a helluva punch.

Damnit.

"Boss?" Zek interrupted. "We need to go. I doubt those soldiers we knocked out will stay out of it much longer.

Shit. It all fell apart right away. How?

"Gordez. Think you can still do your part?"

Please say yes. Please say yes.

I don't think I can stand on my own right now, Boss. It's fine. I'll just tell Luke what to do.

I turned to Luke. Hell. I don't know if he was even listening to what was going on. He was looking around the ship. As though it were the strangest thing he'd ever seen. There wasn't time for this. Shit. How could I trust him to do this?

I looked back at Gordez. He was hurt. Bad. He'd make it, but I wasn't going to risk making it worse by putting him to work. We've lost enough as is. And here, on the ship, well, it was too late to turn back now.

"Luke," I said, rousing his attention. Listen to what Gordez has to say and follow his instructions to the letter. Can you do that?"

Luke looked at me, then to Gordez, back to me, and nodded. Damnit, Luke. Please come through.

Luke went off to hear what Gordez had to say and I turned to Zek. Now the real trouble began. "You remember your part?" I asked.

"Oh yeah. I got this."

"Good. I'll see you on the bridge once this is all over. Do what you gotta do."

I wondered if he understood what I meant. We had our priorities in regard to our standing with the Fire Nation, but I wasn't losing any more men. If it came to the lives of my men and a few troopers, I knew which I'd chose.

We hurried off together, parting ways once we were on deck. I headed for the main command building, quickly climbing up the ladder that connected the levels, reaching the very top, the bridge.

I opened the hatch leading to it, shutting it behind me if worse came to worst. None of the lights were active. Damnit Luke. You got this.

I spent the moments before the first light came on remembering how it had been steering the Southern Raider ship. I wasn't the captain or pilot, but it had become tradition back there to take turns at the wheel. It wasn't what I'd call professional experience, but it was better than nothing.

So I stood there, at the wheel, waiting. Waiting for the light that indicated engines were online to come to life, but the longer we took, the closer we were to missing our cue. And when that moment came, it meant patrols, and we would be found out. And we would be forced to fight. And in our state, we'd lose. Come on, Luke. We're running out of time. Come on.

And the first light came to life. The engines were alive. The turbine was moving. Hell. I could hear it all the way from up here. Loud thing, that.

The coal was in, the fire was lit, it was burning, we were moving. Slowly. Too slowly. Damn it. This was supposed to be a 5-man job. Not 3-men.

We were moving though, and that was something. It took a few minutes for us to actually gain some momentum. And we were moving. Now came the tough part. Zek's part.

The other husks were connected to our vessel via multiple cables attached to the main deck. He had to cut the 2 rear ones first. And once he did, well, that would get this place's attention. And not in the good way.

And soon enough, I looked behind me to see 2 empty derelict Fire Navy relics drifting off into the noon horizon.

The reason we chose to cut only the 2 rear ones first? For one, drag. The second, 2 can be an accident, but all 4 at once, that warrants shooting on sight. That's no accident.

And as expected, the Fire Nation patrol was quick to pick up on our little "accident."

They signaled me, I signaled the "engine crew" through the many utensils available to me up here, and Luke did as he was told to do once more. I did what I had to do from my position up here, and Luke shut down the engine, and we slowed down to a halt.

I remained up here. It was Zek's turn now. There would be two ways that this would work. A, fighting would start, and that would be my cue to leave as fast as fucking possible. B, and very unlikely, Zek would find some way to talk his way out of this and signal me from the deck.

Not out of confidence, but out of trust, I left my position behind the wheel and walked onto the command deck, looking down onto the deck of the vessel, where Zek stood, clad in appropriate Fire Nation armor, awaiting the arrivals: a female Fire Nation security officer and 2 escorts.

I could hear the conversation from up here. Zek made sure of that, despite the fact he wasn't the first to speak.

"Soldier. Inform the pilot that you've lost your trail."

"Yes, ma'am. We are well aware. It was intentional."

"And why was it intentional, may I ask?"

"The 2 vessels we were trailing behind us had not yet been completely stripped of their navigational capabilities. I believe that whoever assigned these vessels to us failed to designate them correctly."

"You mean yourselves?"

"Yes. Of course. We made a slight miscalculation."

"And how did you notice this error, just now rather than earlier?"

"Well. What happened was that while powering up our own vessel, we noticed one of our husks powering up as well. Likely an electric malfunction, but we didn't want to continue dragging them with us for concerns of future errors."

"In your half a mile trip?"

"Exactly."

"I see. Allow me to regroup my men. They've been checking the other 2 vessels and we'll corroborate our findings to validate your claims."

"Of course. Take your time."

And the Fire Nation envoy re-entered their patrol vehicle, set off, and got the signal, but I didn't need to see it. We had to go. Now. I rushed back to the command bridge, sending the signal to the engine crew to set full speed ahead, and once again, it was a race against time as I waited for that light to come to life once more, but now, everything was on the line.

The Fire Nation patrol was still heading away, unaware of our very stressful starting up procedures.

Come on, Luke. One last time. One last time.

I was looking behind us. The Patrol crews were conversing and-and that was the sound of us ditching our last 2 husks. Zek cut the cables. And they noticed. They were speeding towards us.

Come on, Luke. Come on!

They were closer. There were 3 boats. 9 or 10 personnel in total. We couldn't take them. Not in the state we were in. There was only one chance of getting out of here. "Come on, Luke!"

And the light came to life once more, the turbine spun, roared, and the ship came to life, slowly at first. They were still catching up to us. Come on. Come on!

Then we shot to life. I didn't know what it was, but we did. I watched behind us as we left behind that forsaken facility and the officers who I didn't envy considering the job of filing the reports that lay ahead of them.

I don't know how long I stayed on that bridge. Long enough for Zek to have come to me first. And before I opened it to celebrate, I took note of our situation.

We were stuck at sea, with 3 able crew members. We had wounded on board. We had no food, we had to leave our tanks behind, and we were low on supplies. We had no money, no destination, and no idea what to do next.

But we were alive. We had made it another day. And right now, that's all that really mattered to me.