The Officer And The Princess

Chapter 7

Sung held his hands up to his mouth, a small blast of fire passing between them. The Maroon cape he wore over his armor blew in the freezing wind as he stood on the deck of the Empire Class battleship I.F.S Steel Talon, the flagship of the Naval fleet. Two weeks, he had been at sea for two weeks and he hated every minute of if More than he regularly hated being stuck on a ship. Looking out at the frozen ocean and not seeing a speck of land in sight. Turning his head left and right he saw Fire Navy ships as far as the eye could see, the smoke stacks spitting grayish black smoke that blackened the sky above. Newly promoted Admiral Zhao had planned the unthinkable, an Invasion of the Northern Water Tribe. After leaving the Fire Nation capital Sung had spent a few short days in the Earth Kingdom before making the long and tiring journey he found himself on now. In that week he had attended more strategy meetings than he had done in his entire young career, during these meetings he realized he was the only Imperial fire bender officer present though that was of little surprise. The only reason he was even taking part in this operation was because Zhao wanted as many specialist units he could get his hands on. to his Left sat several officers from the Southern raiders dressed in their deep black armor. to his right Sat Ranger officers though none of them he recognized. he had hoped to run across his old team on this mission fight side by side like the good old days, but unfortunately that would not be the case.

What stuck out to him was the large number of Mercenaries that were taking part in the invasion, from what Sung had gathered the Mercs main job would be to operate in a supporting role manning the various battleships Trebuchet's freeing up more units to go into direct combat, though the soldier's for hire did have their own number of men for combat duty on the front lines. Sung trusted none of them, anyone who's loyalty could be bought wasn't a person Sung wanted to share a foxhole with. In Sung's mind Zhao wasn't leading this campaign to expand the Fire Nations sphere of influence, but to fuel his ever growing ego which is why he would stoop to hiring Soldier's of Fortune to increase his Numbers. No Flag or General Officer worth his salt would enlist Mercenaries unless it was absolutely necessary, then again from a certain point of view this invasion fell under that Unbrella...but that didn't mean Sung had to be happy about it.

The Admiral's plan was tactically sound there was no arguing that. The plan in question was rather simple, soften the Northern lines with sustained Fire then overwhelm the Northern defenses using the ships to provide fire support for the ground troops. Though Zhao was thinking Tactically he seemed to have his own cult of personality of one.

"Sung blew into his hands again sending another puff of warm fire. "Lieutenant Yang" hearing someone call out to him he saw Daichi wearing the same cape his helmet tucked under his arm.

"Staff Sergeant" Sung replied with a welcoming nod. "Cold enough out here for you?"

"Cold is an understatement Sir, Its Fucking freezing out here. no wonder the North has held out as long as it has, only a fool would come out this way"

The young officer let out a chuckle "I guess we are fools then"

the Non commissioned officer took a place next to Sung leaning on the guard rail looking out at the blue ocean large bergs of ice floating on the surface. Silence fell on the two as they each did their best to keep warm, Daichi wrapping his cape around himself tightly. " you know just before we left for the Earth Kingdom I heard your argument with Princess Azula, I have to say it caught me off guard normally when someone is unlucky enough to cross her path they are never seen again, I wouldnt say they are killed but we have all learned to give her a wide birth lest we be the one to catch her on a bad day.  Then you come along and act all buddy buddy with her. It's really none of my business sir but what is your history with the princess"

Sung rose an eyebrow "You're right, it is none of your business" Upon his response the Sergeant deflated at that letting out a huff before turning back to the ocean. Sung felt uncomfortable sharing his life story with a man he had only known for three days, then again in this line of work three days might as well be a life time, It was said that trust needed to be earned yes, but wiggle room was needed for that trust to begin to form. "alright...I went to school with her brother Prince Zuko. we were friends of a sort, best friends. I guess you could say I was Friends with the Princess in a way" Daichi seemed surprised at that confession, it wasn't everyday someone announced they had a personal relationship with the royal family.