"Alright!" I yelled to the nearest passing soldiers, still shaking despite the fact that the fighting had ended hours ago, and we were already back at camp. "get the wounded out of the tanks and to the medical tents now!"
The nearest troops didn't even stop to take my name or rank, but just ran off towards the tanks, ready to help whoever was inside until the nearest one, unit 147 popped open and the squad commander came stumbling out. "No." he said weakly at first. "No." he repeated, louder this time to gain my attention. "We have our own medic we trust."
"You're injured." I stated to him in what I only realized a second after saying was an incredibly stupid statement as though I believed he hadn't noticed on his own. And besides, the least I could do was provide them with the quickest medical attention after leading them into that ambush.
It wasn't for nothing I told myself. While the wounded were stabilized, and drivers were swapped, Luke had gotten out of his tank and gone into those tunnels amidst the confusion despite the fact there could have been hundreds of earth benders inside and went through the trouble of hooking his tank to the debris and hauling it out to clear the tunnels.
We were anticipating a second attack and had fortified ourselves despite the fact that a quarter of us were injured, bleeding and requiring medical attention, fast. So, in about an hour, when no attack came and the injured were stabilized for the ride ahead, and the sun was fully down, we left.
I was too nervous about any of them dying under my watch to consider just what we had found. It. The back door. The way into Ba-Sing-Se undetected. And the fact that there was no resistance in the tunnel and no second ambush meant we were scot-free. They had no idea we had been there and had access to their city. Though. We couldn't be sure the tunnels were unmolested from that point to the wall. There could be natural cave-ins, but the fact it was being guarded suggested otherwise. I think we did it.
I realized then there would be convincing that stubborn brick of a commander and nodded in surrender, allowing him to take himself and his men back to their camp. Wait. Where's Luke? I had a list of items to thank him for from the information regarding the tunnels to his initiative in clearing them. I started towards the one I recognized as the tank he was stationed in when the hurried off in a roar of engines and a cloud of smoke that left me gasping for air up until the moment I heard Lu Ten's voice behind me saying "Kind of late for a stroll, is it not?"
Instincts kicked in and I spun around to salute. However, the illusion of formality was broken as another cough came to my throat and I was left wheezing while he stood in front of me, cross-armed, and grinning as I could see when I had recovered enough to look him eye-to-eye.
"You find the best stuff at this time of the night." I quipped back.
By then the formality had dissipated, I dropped my salute, and we shook hands, approaching each other, and giving each other our customary pats on the back indicating what would be called by some, a "bro-hug".
We pulled back as I asked, "So when did you get back?"
"Just about quarter of an hour ago. We're still unpacking the convoy."
"We got the news that Chan is blockading the city now. Your handiwork, I imagine?"
"I guess you could say that. It's a rare pleasure to find a Fire Nation officer that actually cares about his nation and not his own personal glory."
"A rare thing indeed." I agreed. "I still have yet to meet one."
"Oh shut up. Don't make me pull rank on you."
"Pff. I've heard those threats before."
"Probably why I had to save your ass from Zahckrael and the rest of the 5th. You would have gotten your ass in front of a firing squad by now."
"Aww. My hero." I said mockingly, raising the pitch of my voice as part of the joke, returning it back to normal to return to official business despite my lack of willingness to end the fun so early. "So you want to hear what I found?"
"I'm guessing the answer to the task I gave you almost a month ago?"
"Yep. Just came back with the answer."
"Waited 'till the last minute, then? I'm disappointed. What did you find? Actually, my father should probably be around to hear this. I haven't greeted him yet. I'll meet you at the command pavilion in 5?"
"Yes, sir. See you then."
"Good." With that, he saluted and went off in the direction of the hill overlooking the camp. A swanky spot. A very desirable tactical position.
And in less than 5 minutes times, I was up there as well. I, to my relief, had been expected and the red-clad royal guards at the entrance parted their spears, allowing me to pass.
They hadn't had the guards at the entrance to the tent before. That had changed when a drugged and crippled Luke had crawled through the camp in the middle of a storm and walked in on them demanded he get assigned to a new squad.
I smiled at the thought of it as I entered that tent, but under far more preferable conditions. I was being waited on. But to my surprise, it wasn't just Iroh and Lu Ten. It was the upper command down as low as the individual battalion commanders. How had they assembled this quickly?
The tension in the room was now clear as I took my seat, my entire body now on auto-pilot, a knot in my stomach that had somehow converted my earlier pride in the mission to a newfound sense of fear and concern. No. They didn't know about the mission yet. I was assuming, now.
Iroh spoke first, setting the tone for the meeting, and a serious one at that. "We've been informed by my son that you've discovered a way into Ba-Sing-Se?"
"Yes sir." I replied immediately, realizing inwardly that I still hadn't quite composed myself which was confirmed when Iroh spoke, not in response, but merely in a reassuring manner, saying "You can relax. This is just a formality."
That calmed me down a bit. I knew he was right. The hard part was over. I was alive. I had completed my task. So with that, I found myself growing calmer, and without waiting to be asked for further details, I took the initiative, continuing, saying "Yes sir. The listening post we attacked a few months back. Sergeant Luke, now of Squad Iron Fire informed me of tunnels he saw believes ran under Ba-Sing-Se. Apparently, Earth Kingdom soldiers had used the tunnel to reinforce the defending force during the attack and even today, when we were ambushed."
"I'm sorry." Lu Ten interrupted. "These are a lot of details in really quick succession. You mentioned an ambush. When was this and who was ambushed?"
"Sorry, sir." I said, becoming slightly on edge again. "I'll go further back. Earlier this evening, I decided to act on the tip given to me by sergeant Luke."
"How did this sergeant Luke come to know about this tunnel?" interrupted the Commander of the 14th. The same one who had previously been vehemently against Lu Ten's plan of infiltration.
"When the now Crimson Army attacked the listening post to reclaim it for the Fire Nation, Luke, then a corporal I believe, had participated in the attack and was with a squad of Fire Benders to burn out the personnel in the tunnels."
"If this was around 2 months ago, wasn't he at the time with the 5th?"
"Yes, Commander Zingwe." Interceded Lu Ten on my behalf. "But he had been sent to relay a message to our army and we decided not to wait any longer and attack the listening post."
"The contents of this message?"
"Merely that the 5th was in position. But we're not here to discuss the details of a military operation months old and now only slightly relevant. Where were we, staff sergeant?"
"The ambush, sir. I recruited Squad Iron Fire, requiring a mobile unit, preferably with somebody who already knew this tunnel system, and led brought them to the listening post where we were ambushed."
"Do you have a report?" asked Iroh."
"No, sir. I only returned 5 minutes ago."
"Casualties?" asked Lu Ten.
"Only minor injuries. And we found the tunnel and cleared it of debris. Luke reported to me that it had been cleared and seemed to lead to Ba Sing Se."
"'Seem', 'believes', 'apparently', these are a lot of uncertainties. Can we be certain these tunnels actually lead to Ba Sing Se? Did anybody actually go to see where they led?"
"No, sir. We didn't have time and we had injured men."
There was silence for a while as some commanders began talking amongst themselves, including Lu Ten with his father. Now saying it out loud, hearing it in my own ears, I realized just how little of a success my mission really had been. I mean, really? How did I even know they led to Ba Sing Se? But they had to. Right? Where else. There were no other outposts in that area. At least none we could see.
Eventually though, order had resumed in the tent and Lu Ten became the first one to speak, saying "It's a difficult position, Lu Ten. We have no clear answers right now and you walked into an Earth Kingdom ambush. They know where we are."
"There were no survivors, sir."
"All the same, when the soldiers don't return, those tunnels are compromised. They'll have known we were there."
He was right. I knew that much, but, it couldn't have been for nothing. There had to be a way.
"I'm sorry, staff sergeant. I don't think we can act on this. There simply isn't time."
"Maybe there is, sir." I said, determined not to lose this. He entrusted me with one task. One simple task. I had already fucked up by waiting until the last minute. I wouldn't let the entire thing become a failure. Not now. "You said the purpose of this would be infiltration into the Earth Kingdom city, right sir?"
"Yes. Your point?"
"So you have trained infiltration units ready to deploy?"
"I do, yes."
"Then deploy us. I know the schedule normal units take for graveyard shifts. That's what that ambush was. They saw us coming with the tanks, but they had no reason to assume far ahead of time we were coming. They were simply lookouts at that outpost. We secured the tunnels and made sure nobody returned to the city. They're not expected back in Ba Sing Se until morning. We have time. I can take whatever infiltration units you have ready and get them through those tunnels."
"But we don't even know those tunnels lead to the city."
"Then worst-case scenario we come back home by tomorrow morning empty handed, but we lose nothing. I know what to do in Ba Sing Se. Find a way to help blow through those walls. I know what my mission is."
Then there was another silence in that room. A silence that allowed me to realize the pure insanity of my plan. But it wasn't my plan. It was a plan that had already been approved. One approved because I had experience in just this regard. Infiltration of enemy fortifications. I had been doing it for over a decade in Citadel. I could do it again here.
And by the time the talking amongst themselves had ended, I noticed myself standing taller both physically and rhetorically. I could do this. And they saw that too.
"Very well." Iroh said. "You say you have experience in just this field. Not you can prove that to us. Gather your gear. There'll be a truck waiting for you with squad blackfyre prepped in 5 minutes."
"Yes sir. Thank you, sir." I said, trying my damndest to suppress my smile. And as I turned to leave, I heard behind me "Wait.". And when I turned around, Iroh had a grin on his face that was more than obvious as he said "You do need to know when to sabotage the equipment. Now don't you?"
The day of the 2nd assault. Of course. I wanted to slam my head against the wall for almost forgetting, no, for forgetting such a vital detail when I mentally recovered, saying "Of course, sir. When would that be sir?"
"The full moon of July. The morning after is when we make our play. The day we invade this city for the second, and the final time.