Lieutenant Zhao

"Turn us around!" I yelled instinctively at nobody in particular, breaking about three laws of war in the process, subverting the command structure, speaking out of line, and disobeying a direct order when Zain had allowed the ship to pass through.

"Lieutenant Zhao!" cried Zain once the shooting had stopped and both sides were no longer pelting each other with ammunition. "What in spirits' name do you think you're doing?!"

"Captain," I heard myself starting, damning formality, and now too far gone to turn around. "That vessel is under the control of hostile forces and is not one of our own! The fact they fired on us is proof enough of that."

"Perhaps they fired on us because we initiated hostilities!" I was not about to play semantics with this man who was clearly unwilling in every way, shape, and form to perform his duty, so instead, as loudly as I could to have the entire deck hear me without approaching a yell, I said, "We have to pursue them. If they get to our blockade, they could inflict damage upon our ships, reduce our ability to defend this area, and possibly inflict casualties upon friendly forces."

"The ship is one of ours, damnit! And if it's like you say it is, then our blockade will be more than capable of handling it."

Not if they think we let them through like you just did.

"So you won't go after them?" I asked, just waiting to draw him into my trap.

"No, I won't." And so he said just what I'd hoped he would.

"Then I am imposing Section 3, Article 2. An enlisted man or woman is enabled to disobey a superior's orders and assume command if his superior's orders are against his or her direct superior's commands, against the interests of the Fire Nation, against the wishes of the Fire Lord, or endangering Fire Nation citizens and/or personnel." I didn't waste time reciting the rest which stated that, 'The command structure, following investigation and potential judicial action, will be altered accordingly and if a superior's actions are found not to have been categorized under the aforementioned categories, the disobedient enlisted men and/or women will be disciplined and punished accordingly.'

Luckily for me, he didn't think to cite, or even remember that part, and so he was left speechless, as were the rest of the men on the deck, and it was time being wasted. I had won. I craned my head up towards the command deck, yelling "Turn us around and set for full speed ahead. Follow that destroyer!"

And like a well-oiled machine, the command crew above set to work and Zain's protests fell on death ears as I ordered him restrained as privileged to me by point 7 of said article, 'The disobedient enlisted men or women may restrain their superior if his or her actions continue to fall under the category of the aforementioned points of disloyalty.'

"Fire a flare!" I yelled at nobody in particular, yet at the same time knowing I was heard by all. "Let the blockade know negotiations have broken down."

And only a few seconds later, I saw the streak of red smoke fly into the air before the firework erupted over ahead, it's brilliant light show a match for even the sun that rained down on us, granting us its divine favor.

Yet no amount of sun could make our engines roar louder or our rotors spin faster, and so at a comparatively snail's pace matched against our victim, we made our slow turn until we were finally parallel to it, albeit a tenth of a mile behind. A poor start, but one that would have to be made up for.

I had made my way up to the bridge now and the new temporary balance of power had been understood. I'd made sure that it had down on the main deck. Protocol was protocol, and lucky for me, I'd been the one to cite it first. No. Not luck. Diligence. Intelligence.

The blockade was directly ahead, the gap where we'd been moments before still disturbingly open. I could see as the pieces of the puzzle began to reshift and fit themselves into a new image that wouldn't make way for the oncoming blockade runner, but they weren't moving quite quick enough. The blockade's not going to make it.

We were a quarter of a mile away, our prey nearly a tenth. They were quicker than us, and they were going to get through. And we had to make sure we did too.

"Sir, we're not going to make it through," announced the helmsman. I'm not losing my prey. This was the moment I'd been waiting for. This was what had the potential to build careers.

"Order half of our gunnery crew to the engine rooms. Load the boilers to full capacity. Damn the safety regulations. We're not letting them escape." The helmsman's nod was hesitant, but obedient. The deck cleared, and our speed picked up, albeit minimally. We were nearing the so-called "Patriot" but at the very moment I noticed us speed forward was when the enemy broke through our failed blockade, yet they refused to stop their advance to let us through. Stop you idiots!

"Sir. The blockade is still closing."

"Then if you don't want to turn into a Fire Nation cruiser's wall decoration, I recommend you get us through there as quickly as possible." I was in no mood for cowardice. I'd had enough of that with Zain at the head of this vessel, but as we came ever closer to our own line of defense, the more worried I became, but I pushed the thoughts aside, there was a gap, and it was just large enough. I saw it, the helmsman saw it, we all saw it. We would fit. The deciding factor was if we had what it took to get through. And I was done with cowards.

"Don't stop."

And we didn't, and the screech of the FNS Retribution's ram against our hull was the sound of our hearts dropping into our stomachs as we squeezed past the blockade, we'd set up in the first place. This was our prey, and we were in the best position to pursue of any other vessels in the blockade. The time it would've taken to readjust to fit us back in and dispatch another ship after "The Patriot" would have left us more vulnerable. At least, that's what I told myself as the bridge crew looked at me as though they were asking if we'd just gone rogue. On the contrary, this was exactly what we were meant to do.

"Status report."

"Hull damage on our starboard side."

"Are we taking in water?"

"Negative sir. The breach is above sea level."

"Then we'll repair it once our work here is done. Ready the catapults. I want them trained on the engines at once. I want them dead in water."

"Aye, sir."

"The order was relayed through the ship PA and from the bridge, I could see as the artillery was manned and as they all shifted from our port side to directly in front of us, batteries trained on their rear engine. That was the thing about Fire Nation ships. Extremely vulnerable behind, but when your military doctrine was based around a head forward assault, merciless, relentless, the rear no longer became important, a swift and decisive offense became our defense.

The batteries fired from below and I watched as all three emplacements missed their targets. I didn't need to tell them to go again, and no more than 20 seconds later, 3 more flaming boulders roared through the air, and one struck home, perfectly targeting their rear engine, and so emerged the grey smoke of their lifeblood. The smoke rose, and no later were we in the thick of it. Their vessel was slowing, and we were only gaining speed. We have them. I couldn't suppress my grin. I could still see the silhouette of their vessel in front of us. We were almost on them.

"Fire again. Directly ahead!"

"Aye, sir!"

And so came the final barrage, until. Until.

"We're taking on water on C deck!"

What? How? We're above sea level!

Then all 3 shots of the catapults went astray, and the Patriot's silhouette was gone, and we were no longer facing straight ahead. The rain came all at once. There was no gradual increase from droplets to downpour, but in a span of seconds, we were caught in-"

"We're caught in a maelstrom, sir!"

"How?" This time I didn't think it to myself, but accidentally said it aloud. I should have known better, but there could be no containing my shock. This couldn't be real. It had to be some kind of trickery. I opened the door to the command deck and was immediately pelted with the needle-sharp rain pellets as they relentlessly battered me. I looked ahead, and sure enough, the Patriot was gone. Allowing my gaze to go further down, I saw it, the absolute last thing I'd expected on a day such as this. Directly in front of us, a pit in the sea, a whirlpool we were being drawn into. The men on the deck were rushing away from their gun emplacements to get inside, and no later, a wave liberated our deck off our catapult emplacements.

We were being drawn in ever so quickly, and the fear on the face of the men was apparent. No. Not like this. I turned to the helmsman who, in a move of desperation, was trying to turn us away from the eye of the whirlpool, but what he didn't know was that, by turning our most heavy portion of the ship towards the center, he was drawing us in all the more. No, not like this. "Don't turn away from the eye," I said. "Follow the flow of the whirlpool. Ride it and let it provide us with the momentum we need!"

The man nodded and allowed the wheel some slack as we returned to a forward position, and so we rode the waves. And as we rode the circular currents of the spontaneous storm, the eyes of all men and women on deck were drawn to our portside, viewing out of our windows at the anomaly directly to our side, the pit of the whirlpool, the eye of the ever-so-sudden storm, and in that eye, it almost looked like, A face?

I moved in closer to investigate when the smoke that was still circulating in the torrent hit us with full force, obscuring our vision. I could feel our momentum building, we had to get out. "We have what we need!" I yell. "Get us out of here!"

And in that moment, we turned against the flow and aimed for the edge, and so, using the push that the storm had so graciously provided us, we escaped the whirlpool's grasp, and with a loud crash, our bow came down hard on the water, returning us to solid sea. And within the minute, we were out of the storm. We'd made it. And the bridge crew breathed one cumulous sigh of relief. We'd made it, but I had to know. "Get a damage control group on C-deck," I ordered before crashing through the bridge door to look behind us, and where a storm had been only seconds before, calm sea existed only. And in addition to that, we'd lost the patriot. They'd stopped the engine fire and the storm sucked up all of their smoke. They escaped. But how.

The questions I heard behind me as The Zodiac pondered the selfsame question went off. Waterbenders? Flash flood? Flash typhoon? No. This was something else. This went beyond natural occurrences. This wasn't nature. This was the work of the spirits.

Soon enough, ensign Naizo came out onto the still slippery command deck, asking, "What should we report to General Shu and the blockade, sir?"

I breathed out and wondered just how to put this. The enemy had gotten away, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was just how they'd done it. "Tell him-" I paused. "Tell him that the enemy escaped, and that they carry with them a great threat to the Fire Nation."