I had never before seen all of the faces of my tank squadron in one place before. Previously, when we set up camp on our way to Ba Sing Se, we all went our separate ways, setting up our tents leagues away from one another. The again, we hadn't even set up our tents yet. The majority of the 15th armored just went to sleep in the trenches, too exhausted to set up tents given the day's work behind us. Shitty thing too. Best spots were taken now. Gi Gu had suggested skipping breakfast to set up our tent, but Gan ordered us against it as we wouldn't have time, and this would likely be our only meal until dinner and to savor it. So we ate instead. It was good enough food. Nothing fresh, just some preserved ration packs.
It wasn't long until our squad commander came up to and ordered us up saying "Meal's over. Grab your gear and get in your tanks. We leave in 5 minutes."
None of us were in that much of a rush that morning. 5 minutes was long enough anyway. Zaedra's lack of fire in his voice that morning also didn't help to emphasize any sense of urgency. It was more of a neutral and informative way of speaking. Wonder if he's comparing this to his glory days. That would depress the hell out of me too if I were him.
I made my way over to my spot in the trench where I had spent the night, hoping never to spend another one there, past the mass graves that were finally starting to be buried, and grabbed my helmet. I didn't get a weapon like the rest of my squad given my "abilities", but I did get a kick ass helmet with a white visor that made a habit of looking directly at me and scaring the hell out of me whenever I woke up. It was an alarm for me of sorts and every time, my morning-self cursed my night-self for arranging my helmet to face me that way.
I got to my tank before Gi Gu and Gan, sitting atop the tank, waiting for the others to arrive. I didn't bother sitting inside as it would be pretty humid and stuffy in there following the night's weather and I could raise the seat without the power of the tank being on and I wouldn't dare turning on that tank without the rest of my crew. One of Zaedra's strict rules was to never start the tank without the full crew being inside. Gi Gu had been a smartass and asked what to do if someone in the crew was dead and Zaedra's response was to stare him in the eyes and say, "Then you carry them on your back into the tank, set them down in their seat, buckle them in, and get going."
It shut Gi Gu up and he hasn't made a joke around Zaedra since, for which I was rather grateful.
It made me wonder about the bodies we were burying, however. I asked myself before why we didn't send the bodies back to the Fire Nation, but then it occurred to me where we were. We were in the heart of Earth Kingdom territory. It had taken us two weeks to drive here with the number of vehicles we had and there were more bodies than the tanks could hold all together. It would be a waste of resources and time, but still, the families of those soldiers would never see home again.
Maybe it was for the best anyways. I saw those bodies. Half of them could hardly even be considered bodies anymore. They were just parts. Calling them bodies would be overstating what was left of them, but I still couldn't help but pity their families. Their mothers, fathers, wives, children. That's why we had to end this war. To end that killing as soon as possible and the way it seemed, a Fire Nation victory was the quickest and most humane way to end this war.
That was why we were here, at the heart of the Earth Nation. To end this war.
My crew arrived soon enough. I made way for Gi Gu and Gan to enter the tank through the hatch and took my seat soon after, immediately discomforted by the expected humidity and stuffiness of the tank. As soon as power in the tank was on, however, I raised my seat to a level where I was halfway sticking out of the tank and settled in.
It was a nice morning and it was looking to be a nice day. We were heading North by the looks of it. I may even get a chance to see the sea. Wouldn't that be something? I had never seen the ocean before. I had read about them, sure, but seeing it would be something different entirely. Bodies of water full of salt and exotic life. I wanted to know one thing ever since I read about the oceans and about the spirits that formed them: Why did they make the oceans undrinkable? Were they angry at mankind, or were they just assholes?
I shrugged it off. It didn't matter. I had my job and my only job here was to keep and eye out and report anything interesting I saw. I really should tart writing this down. Before I forgot, I took out my knife on my belt and made the day's tally on the interior of the hatch. Day 15.
I set my helmet under my seat and felt the tank, following its procedurally checks from Gan and Gi Gu jolt into life as we moved forward, taking our place in the left flank of the formation. I heard Gan knock against the base of my seat and I lowered it slightly and bent over to hear what he had to say.
"Just so you don't ask me later what we're doing, when we get far enough, the squadron's splitting up to cover more ground and we regroup later at the same spot. I'll tell you when. Just wanted to let you know."
"Thanks for the heads up. What's the spot?"
"Zaedra's gunner will signal when and we'll split off. We have our vectors set so we'll just continue in that direction until midday or an incident, whichever comes first."
"Define and incident."
"Zaedra said to look out for Water Tribe or Earth Kingdom scouts so don't drift off. I need you to stay awake, got it?"
I slumped back into my seat. "It's going to be a long day." I murmured to myself as I raised the seat back to its previous level.
I looked at the day on the underside of the hatch once again. Day 15.
I looked at it again when the day was over. Day 15 and no incidents.
Day 16 and no incidents.
Day 17 and no incidents.
Day 18 and no incidents.
The camp became more of a camp than ever before. We set up our tents and I began to come under the impression that the Earth Kingdom forgot there was an Eastern part of Ba Sing Se.
The days continued without incidents for a while. Everything seemed to be going along smoothly as though there was never anything to fear. Everything went smoothly…
…Until it didn't.