Danev

I saw the letter on my desk, and it took me a solid minute to remember that it wasn't a mistake. I was already making my way out of my tent to give the letter to my commander when I stopped and remembered that when the letter had been addressed to "The Captain of the 31st Platoon", it had meant me.

I walked back into my tent, somewhat embarrassed and sat down behind my desk to read my first official orders as Commander of a platoon. I already had the new armor, adorned in certain markings of my rank and the patch of the 31st. It looked good. There was no denying that.

I fed some gas to the lamp, letting the fire grow to a flame bright enough for me to read. Even with the small opening in the tent, hardly enough light was getting through for me to see a thing. I missed my old tent where the entrance was always open.

And so, after unsealing the letter and failing to read it for the 5th time in the still ungodly-dim room, I put out the lamp, walked to the tent's opening flaps, opened them, and tied them open, allowing the late morning light to enter the room. There. Better.

I sat down again, and new light was literally shed on the letter in front of me. My first orders. Orders that Iroh and Lu Ten had spent the night coming up with. My part in the upcoming strategy may be small, but I had no doubt in the plan they were creating.

I read the orders.

"Operation Farmville

Earth Kingdom sympathy remains high in local villages, settlements, and farmscapes despite reports of unrest in the capital. Fire Nation forces will be conducted a large-scale operation to secure Earth Kingdom settlements surrounding the newly erected Earth Kingdom camp manned by Generals Sodhru and Sung. Infantry will be working in unison with Armored Forces, heading both North and East to surround a sizable portion of the Inner ring.

31st Platoon, your orders will be to capture the nearby Earth Kingdom village of Red Mulch. The 31st platoon will tow 2 carriages of food and medical supplies to earn the loyalty and support of the town. Offer yourselves as peacekeepers. Under no conditions will looting, pillaging, murder, or rape be tolerated. Any incidents of such will be meet with death penalty and commanding officers will be held accountable.

Operation initiates at 1400. New orders will arrive on the morrow.

The war is at its end. Make your Nation Proud. For the Fire Nation. For Fire Lord Azulon."

The message ended there. So we were entering the final stages. But we still had much in front of us. We were nearing the inner ring. That would mean hostile artillery fire from the inner wall. Far more dangerous than anything their ground-based artillery posed to us. They would be far harder to destroy too.

The inner wall, however, was half contested by rioters, the inner portion at least. The Earth Kingdom forces in the camp were also cut off from their supply lines in the city. We could starve them out, but that would take a while. Our resources were running low too. Lu Ten's trip to Chan's fleet managed to yield enough food and supplies for 3 months, but that third month was coming to an end. We would have to start seizing produce from nearby farms and villages

There would be theft, but it wouldn't be looting. With looting, the individual looter benefits. This, however, would be much grander in scale. And as sure as I was that Iroh would have preferred to negotiate peacefully with the natives, I knew nothing would stop him if it stood in the way between him and this city.

I couldn't blame him. We stood on the precipice of the greatest military campaign known to man and the end of a near century long war. The sooner it came to an end, the better. But there was no time to think about the big picture. Now, I had a village to occupy.