Boss

It wasn't a fair match. It wasn't meant to be. A number of them had raised complaints, as I'd expected.

They were to be divided into 2 teams. One attacking, one defending. The defenders would have every advantage. Not only did they have time to prepare, no, they were fighting in their home field, aboard the Patriot. For around the last month, Jet and his entourage of a few dozen other Separatists had been residing aboard the vessel that I had once called home, that day no far behind us.

Now, those of my trainees who had little to no experience aboard the Patriot, were being asked to attack it, and take it over.

"How the hell is this supposed to be fair?" asked Keerick. Always one to question my orders. Him doing so now, however, I noticed, he wasn't attempting to instigate hostilities. I could tell he was afraid for his own life. He was among the attackers, being sentenced into invading unknown territory against an opponent that would no doubt be ready for him.

"It isn't," I responded.

Some understood, I could tell. Others, Keerick among them, though even he seemed to be beginning to comprehend, required further explanation.

"Out there, when you're sent to fight, you won't know your surroundings. Your enemy, they will. You will be fighting with all of the odds against you. Why should your training be any different?"

They weren't pleased, but I had no doubt they understood. Even if they didn't, they would listen to what I had to say.

Kai was still recovering. Kiu hadn't been either pleased or displeased by my approach. When I told him what I'd done, all he'd had to respond with was the question, "Well, did it work?"

I watched from afar now, a telescope in my hands as I watched the attacking team make their approach, walking straight into hell because I had said so, because they knew I was here to help them, because they knew what I was talking about.

"Yeah," I had responded to Kiu. "It worked."

Jet was leading the defenders. The attackers, they were under the command of Shohe, a boy of around 15 years, recommended to me by Kiu. My first observation was one of little impression. He'd closed the distance to the Patriot intelligently enough, using the shrubbery of the forest to shroud their approach.

The Patriot was still beached, but I'd heard the reports. She was nearly back in working order. After all of these months, she was finally going to be whole again.

It had taken far longer than it ever should have. I wondered if Zadok and Kosah had heeded my warning, stopped trying to sabotage the effort. Considering the time it'd taken, I wouldn't have been surprised if, were they not actively working against Separatist efforts, certainly not aiding them.

I truthfully did feel bad for them. They hadn't elected to leave their nation. They were given to us as gifts, akin to chattel, sold off under the pretense that they were being given to Fire Nation patriots who were bringing the fight to the Earth Kingdom. Now here we were, helping people they likely viewed as terrorists.

I'd once felt the same way, I recalled. A lot had changed in these last few months. They'd held me by the knife point on more than once occasion. More than once had I thought I would meet my end by their hands, but I was still here. They had taken me under their roof, made me one of their own, and I was still alive for it.

I saw who these people were. They were fighting for a home they had lost. They were fighting because it was all they could do. They could run, surrender, give up, but what would they have then? Here. Now. They could still fight. Still give their lives meaning. Still fight for what everyone else had claimed they'd lost. How could I call somebody like that a 'terrorist' with a clean conscience, after I'd eaten their food, consumed their drink, fought alongside them on more than one occasion, made their interests and their survival akin to my own?

If the others could hear me now. I frowned. They'd think I'd turned coat.

Had I not?

I remember first landing at this beach, the Patriot colliding into the ground, sitting exactly where it was right now. Luke and Ka'lira had been kidnapped, and I'd done what I had to do to keep us alive. I'd signed what I believed to be a 'deal with the devil.'

But I hadn't done that. They were no devils. They were just like us, fighting for a lost cause.

We were fighting for a Nation that no longer existed, one that had died along with Lu Ten and the fall of Ba Sing Se's siege lines. The Fire Nation we knew then, the one that still had a future in the form of General Iroh, the Dragon of the West, and his son.

Only Lu Ten had been killed, but Iroh had died too that day, and when we'd heard the news that his father, Azulon, has passed, and Ozai had taken over, we'd known we'd lost our home.

We defected, but the others: Zek, Gordez, and Luke, they still believed in their nation if not the man running it.

I didn't know if it was brave or foolish.

I loved my countrymen, but I had left for a reason. I could no longer bring myself to fight for it. I still found myself viewing the Earth Kingdom as the greatest enemy of all, until recently, that is.

It was difficult to even think of the Earth Kingdom as an entity anymore. Outside of Ba Sing Se, it was clear what the Earth Kingdom was—everything beyond that wall. Out here though, there was no one single banner, no centralized authority, no omnipotent king giving directives to the masses on a whim. It was just a people, a people fighting for their homes.

So what if it meant prolonging this war? There's a difference between right and wrong. Noble intentions do not justify acts of evil.

So what of these 'freedom fighters' then? There was no denying their methods were far from ideal. They still did take the lives of those who didn't deserve.

They were no heroes either. They were no different from the Nation I'd served my whole life. They were all just people. I could finally understand that now.

And these people, I pondered, catching Longshot's figure prowl along the trees from far above the Patriot, in a sniping position not dissimilar to the one he'd been in a few months ago when it was us in his sights. These people were comrades now, I realized. They were in my care, and whether or not they were heroes, I was fighting beside them. For how long, I didn't know. I still had no idea what we would do once this was over, assuming we were still alive by then.

But for now, I realized one things. These are my brothers. And I will die for them if I have to.

But what of my other family?

Gordez, Zek, Luke, Ka'lira, Jadoh, hell, even Zadok and Kosah. They are my family, but do they still see me as such? I'd seen that they'd begun to have doubts, with the exception of Gordez. I had the feeling he would follow me to the end of the Earth if it came to it, for better or worse.

The others, though. I shook my head. I could see their faith in me wavering. I feared I would have to make a choice once this was all over, and I actually found myself which was the right choice. I knew that, whatever I chose, Gordez would be there with me, which was of only some small consolation. I knew which he'd want, to stay with the others, but he would go wherever I did, be it out of obligation, love, whatever one chose to call it. And I couldn't just take him away from his own family.

"Damnit," I muttered quietly to myself.

And to think just over a month ago, I'd been excited for every Separatist to turn on us so we could have the excuse to haul ass away. Now look at me.

I would have chuckled if I didn't feel absolutely horrible, trying now to distract myself on the war game as it played out below me.

The War Game, while never destined to be the perfect representation of combat, would do what it was meant to do at the very least: familiarize the separatists with close quarters combat and the interior of a Fire Nation vessel, outdated though it may be.

I realized something as I closed the distance between me and The Patriot, however, the fun thing they would never learn here—what it really meant to fight a war. They wouldn't learn that here. They would only learn that, I feared, once their lives were already on the line.

Notwithstanding, it was a good match. The attackers had managed to approach the Patriot undetected hugging the hull where upon they split into two groups. One group approached the forward docking bay, ramp already extended, as it had been since we arrived, while the other repelled up onto the main deck.

I was able to see what they were planning. They wanted to present themselves as open targets, draw out some of the more brave-hearted of the defenders. The tactic was successful, albeit only partially. It seemed that the defenders had realized the trap it would be to try and fight on the deck, any ranged support offered by the observation deck doomed to pale in comparison to that which could be provided by the attackers from the far superior tree canopies.

Had this been a modern Fire Nation Battleship rather than a Destroyer, either side could have claimed ranged superiority, but here, as it was, the victory fell to the attackers. A number of defenders attempted to use open windows in the command superstructure to pick off the attackers with rubber arrows, all provided weapons nonlethal. I had no intention of stooping to the same extreme standards that some of the more zealous Fire Nation instructors did. Manpower, to them, while valuable, was expendable. To us, it was a luxury that we could by no means afford to waste.

The defender archers, scarce though they were, were immediately dispatched by those perched in the trees, chief among them being longshot.

It had been easy to detect the dread in the eye of the defending team upon learning that the deadeye would not, in fact, be assigned to them. Jet, more than anybody else, being the archer's close friend, was capable of seeing the challenge cut out for them. He knew the man's capabilities better than anybody else did. With the exception of the Kiu and the archer himself perhaps.

It was thus surprising to me that anybody had emerged from the Patriot to try and score a few potshots. Was he probing their offensive? Turning their attention away from something else? Removing quarrelsome defenders?

The first major encounter occurred by the loading bay. Shohe was leading the main approach, having sent infiltrators led by Keerick to secure the main deck, a feat made only possible by ranged support. It was at the loading bay however that the first real exchange occurred, seeing the defenders using superior altitude and concealment within the ship to bombard the boarders with arrows, decimating a good 5th of Shohe's half.

It was at this point that Keerick led his attacking men below decks. The defenders at this point, or at least, some of them, attempted to flank the attackers, a squad going for the main deck, quickly dispatched by longshot's archers, and the other meeting them below decks. The attackers had lost more men, but the intercepting defending team had possessed less men, and was thus eliminating, allowing the attackers to circle around the defenders held up in the cargo bay. At this point, a two front conflict erupted below decks in the cargo bay, finding the mass of Jet's forces cut off.

Utilizing communication systems such as the shipboard PA, however, was able to call upon the reserve forces in the superstructure to join the main conflict. Keerick's skirmishers were quickly dispatched. At this point, the battle for the cargo bay devolved into a deep conflict, one that lasted nearly half an hour until Jet split his forces, slipping out one soldier at a time under the guise of covering fire until enough had sectioned off from the rest to form a sizeable team that he sent to descend the ship and attack the attackers from the rear.

The ambush had worked, and while Jet's flankers had been eliminated, the man led a frontal charge that fully eliminated the attackers, securing the day.

And I had to give them credit where credit was due.

They were not soldiers. They yet lacked discipline, proper training, weapon mastery, but they had spent years learning how to outsmart the enemy, and it showed.

Needless to say, I was proud.

Not that I told them that of course.

"Jet," I remember saying. "Your handling of your ranged troops was sloppy. You allowed them to be wasted on a front you had no chance of advancing along. You would have been better to conserve your manpower and keep your archers where a main strike was more expected, such as within the cargo bay." He was probing their attack, dissuading a frontal attack on the main deck where they would have been disadvantaged by a main strike, but still, too many men were lost doing so.

"Shohe," I said, turning to the other, "Your left your flank exposed. You believed your flank protected by your ranged support, but did not account for the enemy using the ship's air duct system to attack you from above." And how could he have anticipated it? He had possessed no knowledge of these systems, but still, he should never have left a flank exposed.

I was proud of them. In just these last few weeks, they had come a long way. But of course, I wouldn't tell them that. They were becoming good soldiers. Slowly. But surely. Instead, I said what I needed to say to make them all the better.

"Now, run it again. Switch sides."

And where before I had seen exhaustion, annoyance, harsh words hidden behind a fear of authority, I was now something more. Something eager, something excited, a readiness to prove themselves.

Yeah, I though, remembering Kiu's words. It worked.

I put Jadoh in charge of overseeing the exercise. He was nearly healed now, the boy. His arm was in better shape, nearly back to full use, already beginning to train once again. Tough kid, him, I couldn't help but think admirably.

I trusted him, I realized. More than I thought I ever would. Enough to not only trust him with my life, but that of my men. He, as sad as I was to admit it, did not possess the flaws that Zek, Luke, and Gordez possessed. He was a neutral party. There was no right nor wrong side so far as he was concerned, no Nation that had the right to win. There were only his beliefs, and while once I may have feared where they'd steer him, I now had complete and total confidence.

I took the long trek back to the main camp, figuring the nature walk a pleasant distraction from the conflict we all knew was coming all too soon.

The meetings with the Revanchist Tribe had not grown any more frequent, only amplifying in density and intensity. Where initially they had been reports of the status on the other side of the Sea, they had slowly become battle plans, of a massive offensive, one being planned between the Tribe and Earth Kingdom forces to occur on the day of the full moon. Kiu had demanded I play a part in the meetings, and so I had, watching as it was all laid out before me: the Water Tribe's naval domination, utilizing the monthly occurrence's power while Earth Kingdom forces south of the sea launched a naval invasion with water tribe support while Separatists forces attacked from the north alongside a primary Earth Kingdom army.

It was happening, sooner rather than later. Things were moving quickly south of the sea. A few days ago, Gordez and his men had left for Xiahu, informing me as well of a stray they'd picked up—a young girl by the name of Zare. Now, however, if things had gone according to plan, they should be safely alongside Earth Kingdom forces in the fortress town, and so I hurried my steps the closer I drew to the tree-settlement where, sure enough, we had received news. It was not, however, news of safety and sanctuary. Rather, it was one of death and destruction.

The Revanchist Tribe report was simple:

Xiahu has been destroyed.

Casualties are high.

Survivors unknown.

And that was where things became complicated, and the end of this conflict suddenly became shrouded in mystery once again. A major defeat in the midst of many other things going our way, perhaps it was mere anomaly, or perhaps an omen of things to come. There was so much that was unknown: just what had happened, why it had happened, what the plan was now, who had survived, how many of my friends, my family, were still alive. And as my heart picked up, finding myself nearing closer and closer the precipice of panic I knew I would be unable to control, I forced myself to try and work past the fear of the unknown and find security in what was known.

But what was known, however, was of little comfort. Things were moving quickly. Faster than they ever had before. The end was in sight, and sure enough, this conflict would be over soon, but just who would be left standing at the end of it, that was less certain.

Kiu told me to keep a brave face, but I saw his own fear as well. Both of us knew there was no turning back. We had our jobs to do, and mine was to make sure our men, our new brothers, would be ready for the day when it came.

So I put aside the fear, that of not knowing just where my family was or if they breathed still, and as I had in Ba Sing Se so many times before, forced myself to focus on the here and now, on why I was here. And I let the fear pass through me, leaving only me in its wake, and forced myself to face ahead, a prayer at the back of my mind however that those I loved most in the world hadn't been lost to me.