Zek

We've been at sea for just over a week now. And we're still alive.

I want to say it's all because of me, and, in a way, it is, but I gotta say, we'd all be dead if Boss hadn't saved our asses there. Hell, we'd all be dead if everyone hadn't done their part.

*1 Week Ago*

"We still have about a week's worth of food here," I said, examining the rest of the contents of Shanzi that were still stored in her rear. I winced. Any other day, with Hizo around, I would have made a countless number of jokes about Shanzi's present predicament. Unfortunately, he was buried at what was beginning to seem like half a world away. Another life.

I shook my head, looking at the food we had stored away from Citadel. The price of his Hizo's life. There were, of course, ration packs, stale bread, some old cheese, some eggs that shouldn't be bad yet, and even some meat from the outpost.

None of them would last long hanging around here.

"A ship this size has gotta have a freezer or something, right Gordez?"

"Of course. A normal ship would, but this one was about to be destroyed when we stumbled upon it. Wouldn't be surprised if they took it out."

"Well shit," I said. "Might as well check. Where would it be?"

"One would be down here in the mess. Another could be in the superstructure in the command lounge, or, well, what's left of it."

Alright. Luke, wanna check that one?"

From where he was standing behind the two of us, he shrugged and turned around to get to the task.

And as soon as he was out of earshot, "For fuck's sake, that kid," I said.

"He went through a lot."

"So have we."

"He's 12."

"Yeah. Yeah. I know."

I sighed, realizing the real gravity of just how fucked up this whole situation was. "Whose dumbass idea was it for the child conscription anyway?" I asked.

"That would be Sozin," Gordez said mater-of-factly.

"Sozin. Of course it was Sozin." I took a breath, realizing now that my own country was back to where it had begun. Sozin, despite what the Fire Nation taught us, was far from a hero. The validity of his actions in establishing the colonies and declaring war on the Earth Kingdom can be debated. I for one have come to believe that it was for the best. Before the Fire Nation made landfall on the Earth Kingdom shore, what were now the 16 colonies had been just small fishing villages, miners' towns, struggling to survive on a daily basis. Then the Fire Nation came along, and, beyond all shadow of a doubt, brought peace, prosperity, security.

And the War on The Earth Kingdom. While it was harder to justify, still was within the realms of reasons. 95 years ago, when the war began, the Earth Kingdom was just a collection of tribes and warlords who pled half-assed loyalty to a man they never met sitting in a castle larger than some countries. Those who knew of the King's real power, bowed to him as the first step on a long path to become him. Those who didn't know, lived in fear of him and pledged their fealty to avoid his supposed wrath.

And to an extent, it still was that way today in what was left of the Earth Kingdom. When the Fire Nation came by, mostly under Azulon as Sozin had already abdicated to search for the Avatar, order was brought to these tribes, these warlords. Regional governments were established, governors risen from the towns, mayors too. Order was brought, and consequentially, peace.

Azulon was the shadow of hope that maybe things would start getting better. And to an extent, they did, but he was still his father's son. He launched campaign after campaign to kill every last waterbender. And while our history books taught us as kids that it was only because the Water Tribes had joined the Earth Kingdom in the war (which was true), the elimination of a people is never justified.

The same goes for the Air Nation army. So even if our books were right, and the Air Nation attacked first, an entire culture, an entire history was lost. Where's the justification in that?

Then Iroh was the promise that all the promises of his forefathers were finally here. Peace, security, integrity, honor. He was on the precipice of winning the war, then all at once, everything went to hell. His son, another hope for the Fire Nation's future, fell in combat, his death verified by Luke himself. Azulon died of his age, Ozai rose to his place of power, illegitimately no one in the army doubted.

Maybe the homeland, or hell, even the colonies believed the story, but nobody in the Fire nation army with the right mind would ever buy it. We knew Iroh, the Fire Lord who was promised. We knew that Azulon would never name Ozai his heir. Talk of defection was rampant that morning. Talks of civil war were even more so. Soldier after soldier, squad after squad, company after company swearing that if it came to it, they would follow Iroh to the end.

Maybe that's where we should be. Not trying to break a wheel and try to save those who will always be beneath the soles of whoever was at war.

"What do you think of Boss' plan?" Gordez asked me as though he were reading my mind.

And I was ready for the answer. "I think he's an idealist. I agree with everything he wants, but it's not realistic."

"Quick answer."

"You feel differently?"

He paused for a moment. "No," he eventually said. "Boss wants to do the right thing, but will it work, maybe, but will it be as he intended, I don't think so."

Of course we were of one mind when it came to the reasonability of Boss's plan, but this was a criticism I was foreign to. "What do you mean?"

Gordez closed Shanzi's trunk, in a fashion that once again would have preluded a number of precise jabs aimed at Hizo's pride. "Boss wants us to be the ones who defend the innocents of this war, civilians."

"Right."

"How do we keep that up? Just look at us right now. The only weapons we have are those we came with. The only armor is the same ones we've been wearing for almost 2 years now, well, except for Luke's but that's not going to be fitting us any time soon."

I smiled. It was good to see Gordez was still capable of joking. He was shy by nature, undoubtedly introverted. His time to shine was one-on-one, face to face with whoever he was talking to. And shine he did. "So how do we keep supplied?" he continued.

"We only have food thanks to you, and some water and medicine too, thanks for that, feeling a lot better by the way. How do we keep in good supply? The week in Shanzi, maybe good for a week. Boss wants to help these civies out of his own kind heart. That's great, but how do we get what we need? Start charging? Then we're just mercenaries, and what difference does it make. Something I noticed about the poor and mistreated, the ones we're trying to protect, in the last 2 years, they aren't rich. So do we start doing work for others? Those with money? Well, we're just mercenaries then. And something I noticed, those with money tend to be the ones fucking over those without. So then what the hell are we?"

"Lost," I answered.

"Exactly. I see no good way this ends."

"We need to trust Boss," I said. "He's a smart guy. He'll figure something out. He'll see something we don't."

"I hope you're right. I trust him too, but starving at sea isn't how I want to go, nor killing for some rich asshole in a big mansion."

"We won't," I said, despite the fact that I myself was beginning to doubt that very statement as I said it. I didn't want to think about this anymore. "I'm going to check the mess down here. Maybe find a freezer that still works."

"Alright. I'll head to the engine room. We'll need to load some more fuel, but there may be some breakers I can screw around with an get power running to this ship."

"Yeah. Good idea. Best of luck, then."

So from the motor pool, I turned, going down the hallway leading to the dormitories for the chief engine staff.

It was easy to tell from being on this boat for just over a day that there was a clearly defined caste system. You had the engineering personal, who stuck below decks. As I could see now, much like the upper decks, they had dormitories for their chief personnel, but nothing so lavish as the rooms for military and naval personnel who resided in the command structure that rose above deck. The engineering crew, as I saw now as I passed through, had their own barracks with what I counted to be 18 bunks. That and the separate private rooms counted up to 26 personnel in the engineering crew of this vessel. I eventually found the kitchen too. A rather small one at that, though suitable to seat 26, albeit cramped, though I imagined the 8 "superior" engineering crew didn't share the miniature cafeteria.

There was no captain's lounge per se as there was in the command structure, but an auditorium of sorts with enough seating for the engineering crew, hell, the entire ship, around a shared fire pit.

Looked like it would be cozy on a rainy day, situated below decks right next to the storage room, not too far from the engine room and boilers. Plenty of warmth for the cold. I imagined that may have been its intention, and as we neared winter, it started to seem viable as an option for where to spend the nights, especially given the benches that lined the walls providing ample sitting or lying space.

I took note of it as I moved into the kitchen, noticing that the tables hadn't been stripped. Another indicator of Ozai's up and coming military strategy? More metal goes to ships, less to commodities. I sighed, thanking whichever lord of karma was listening that we got this ship while we could. It was small, unfurnished, but in a way, cozy.

I moved past the steel benches and tables that would have been scrap metal if it weren't for our little escapade, moving into the kitchenette, and into the freezer, opening the great steel door, fidgeting with the door handle as I did so, until, all at once, it open, swinging open, into a room temperature room.

Damnit!

I slammed the door shut, which took a sad amount of effort given the strength of the door that was originally intended to seal in all now non-existent chill into that one spot. "Damnit." I grumbled.

"That one doesn't work either?" I had completely forgotten about the other voice in our little crew of deserters.

"Oh right. You're not mute," I joked, instantly regretting it lest I send him into another stage of silence.

"Had nothing to say earlier."

Damn, this kid was dark. I remembered when we first met outside of the outer walls of Ba Sing Se when he first joined us. He was a different person then. Still seen his share of action, but nothing like what the next weeks brought him after that. Couldn't say I didn't understand the state of mind he was in. He was just a kid. Hell, we all were, but him more so. Was glad I wasn't the youngest for once though, so that helped in having him around. I was 15, Luke was 12. Despite that, though, they always still seemed to see me as such. And they treated Luke like the fighter he was. I couldn't blame them. They were right, but I'd been hoping that when Luke joined squad Ironfire, I'd no longer be treated like the youngest. Guess I was wrong.

"Understandable," I said. "Yeah. This one doesn't work. Guess we're going to have to find some other way to-"

I was interrupted by the rock of the ship, the hum of generators, the hissing of steam pipes, and the sudden sounds of the freezer coming to life, and doing it's given duty.

I was so taken aback in my effort to open the freezer to make sure it was working that I didn't notice Gordez who came up behind me to say, "I wouldn't open it yet. Give it time to even out."

"Got it working, huh Gordez?" I asked.

"Yeah, well, part of it. With just the few people we got managing the ship's power, we can only have so much power at a time. Auxiliary power should be fine though. We have a freezer, plumbing should be pressurized now so we can take shits that aren't off the boat's side and keep us moving most importantly. We'll have no lights though. We'll need torches."

"First we need wood."

"First we need everything."

A day passed. It snowed the next morning. The first snow of the winter, at sea, hugging the Earth Kingdom coast.

Another day passed. We were eating lunch at an actual table in the cafeteria. A nice meal of Luke-warmed MREs.

And as our little trio sat there, we overheard the sound of the ship's pa system coming to life, which was just a system of tubes running through the ship from one speaker to another in key locations. In this case, the kitchen. The faceless voice stated, "Gordez, thanks for the power, but all of you get to your stations. We may have an issue."

I made the decision to answer the call, for one reason or another, asking "What are our stations?"

"Just come up here. I need to speak with all of you."

I put a hand on the speaker, turning to the two watching from a distance, one disapprovingly, and the other with a blank look in his eyes, and whispered "He's got a temper this morning."

"Can't blame him," Gordez said.

"Must've woken up on the wrong side of the steel floor," quipped Luke, surprisingly.

I smiled, turning back to speaker, saying, "Coming right up!"