Boss

I wish the map had been wrong, but it wasn't. I swear I'd just seen that island. And if we were only at that island, well, we were barely trudging along, on just an emergency's load of coal in the boiler room. It was a miracle we were still moving at all, but not quick enough.

The bridge was more spacious when it was only one aboard. Definitely more so too than the bridge of the Southern Raiders' ships. Those had been built for speed, wrath, and brutality. There were no expenses to be spent on comfort. Not with that lot.

The hatch to the bridge opened up from behind me where I had placed the map atop the compass in the center of the bridge. Out of it, came Gordez first, then Zek, and finally Luke.

Gordez was right on it, as I moved aside for the only other soldier here with maritime experience. He was already, the seafarer he was, looking out the windows on the bridge to the shore, scanning for landmarks. He noticed it too. We weren't anywhere close near where we had to be.

Zek and Luke stayed back. This wasn't their expertise. Neither was it mine for that matter, but Gordez, well, so long as he was up here with me, we'd figure something out.

"We're already past the horn then?"

"Yes. Almost at the strait. And knowing Chan-"

"He'll be cutting through the serpent's pass too. Shit. He's right behind us."

"That's not the worse part."

Gordez looked at me, fear in his eyes as he made the revelation.

"You don't think."

"I saw the black snow this morning. Iroh's host. They're embarking if they haven't already."

"And they'll be waiting for Chan's fleet as an escort. We have no room to turn around or we'll be caught by Chan, and if we reach Iroh's host first, then we're still traitors. Try as he might, Iroh can't protect us."

"No." said Luke from where he stood on the bridge near the back.

Normally, I would have smiled at hearing his voice again, but right now, there was too much concern in me to worry about anything other than what he had in mind.

"But we can protect them," he continued.

"Protect them from what?" Gordez asked. Chan?"

"No. A number of things. Pirates, raiders, Earth Kingdom. If we can get through the strait quick enough," he said, moving up to the map which he had already had memorized apparently judging by his knowledge of the strait beforehand, and pointing it out, tracing along it up until he reached the serpent's lake, "We can group with Iroh's host, say we're there to just patrol and scout ahead for Chan. When Chan's fleet gets there, we just ride along with them through the channel out into open sea, and part ways."

"Chan will know if there's just some random ship following along. And besides, with out fuel and how close Chan is behind us, we'd never get through the strait in time, much less beat Chan there."

"One, Chan may not use destroyers, but Iroh still does, at least I remember hearing that he ferried his troops with them. One extra ship will cause no concern to anyone."

"But we would have just told them that we were sent by Chan."

"We just came back from a historic defeat. I don't think our guys are going to be chatting much on the way home, much less from ship to ship. No. We go in, say Chan sent us, if they ask why we're in a destroyer, say we were rerouted, and go along with them"

Now I spoke up. "That still doesn't solve the issue that we can't get past the strait before Chan."

He paused. That had been the one detail he had hoped to avoid. "Aren't there." He paused. "Are there any currents we can follow or something?"

Zek sighed from the back. He had believed the plan, at least for a minute there, but now-

"Wait" I said. There could be."

"Alright." Zek said. "But even if there were, we have no idea where they are. I doubt the Fire Nation just left any current maps behind.

"We don't need one," Gordez spoke up. "I have it memorized."

We couldn't find Gordez the writing utensil he needed, so with a small chunk of coal that we fully intended on burning later, Gordez drew out the lines and curved marking the currents that ran in our general vicinity, and as it turned out, we had been against the current for the last day.

So Gordez found it. The route that took out far out of our way, on a far larger detour, but we did the math, and Luke verified it simply by not objecting. Kid may have grown up on the streets, but I pulled his files. Everything available on him when he joined our squad. Kid was smart. More than smart.

All the same, we found it, the route we needed.

So we made the alteration in course and headed out. I only hoped Chan didn't have the same idea.

We found out a day later when we reached the strait that led into the serpent's sea, and we were all alone. We made it, but not by much. I could see the smoke behind u

And we made it through, unscathed, until we saw them, waiting right at the exit of the strait. They had destroyers. Good. And as we expected, there was no fight in them.

There was no way to tell that Iroh was even there. If he was, he was in no way diligent. Who can blame him? His son just died. The symbol of the Fire Nation was dead. The army's morale was gone to shit.

We met with their destroyer. By the time we did, it was evening, dark enough to let the lie slide. I did my part. Gordez and Luke were keeping us powered, and Zek was, well, Zek was being Zek.