The Officer And The Princess

Chapter 22

"Princess I am overjoyed to hear that you are interested in this project of mine!" The Gruff voice of War Minister Qin said from behind a table as engineers moved back and forth behind him. Just beyond that Sung could see a large cylinder shaped object being constructed in Fort Sozins main courtyard. When Sung said large that was actually and understatement, if he was to put it into a perspective he would guess it was at least as long as over a dozen Empire Class Battleships if they were placed end on end. Tall as Six of them placed on top of each other. and as wide as two of them side by side. It was deferentially an impressive feat of Fire Nation ingenuity. And in line with that Ingenuity it was probably and over complicated piece of engineering.

"I hope it holds up to your sales pitch Minister." Azula said from a throne that had been placed outside so she could watch the construction. "For your sake." The Minister had to be a fool not to catch on to the dangerous undertones in her last sentence.

"I assure you Princess It will, The drill preformed beyond expectations during closed field tests." Qin responded,  Pride painted across his face as he stood with his hands behind his back. "All flaws were stamped out during the prototype phase." Sung stepped next to the War Minister and looked down at the table where a series of blueprints were spread out upon it. Sung was no mechanic which had been clearly shown on his patchwork repairs on the Tank Train but Sung was able to tell the "Drill" as it was called was a complex machine with far too many moving parts to count, such a machine would need an Army in of itself to keep it running. "Can I assist you Captain?" Qin asked in an annoyed tone.

"Not sir." Sung said simply as he continued to look over the blueprints "Just admiring your work." Sung paused for a moment as he looked back up at the Massive Drilling machine " I do have a question."

"And what is that?" Qin asked with an eyebrow raised.

"How exactly does this thing work, it cant all be steam powered can it?"

"You would think that and you would be right it uses three sources of energy, Pipes are spread out through the entirety of the Drill that carry water to keep key systems cool of course and to but it is not dependent on it. There are also a series of massive furnaces that burn coal help the gear running as well but the main power source is an series of experimental devices of my own design."

"And these Devices are?" Azula asked adding to the conversation.

"Batteries your highness. In the most simple terms each one acts like a strike of lightning so to speak giving the Drill power."

"So you caught lightning in a bottle Minister?" Sung asked not bothering to hide his smile which caused Azula to laugh much to Qin's chagrin.

"It is much more technical than that I assure You Captain. But they are far to technical for me to even try to explain to you!"   

"Fair enough." Sung said with a Shrug as he walked away from the Table and taking his place next to Azula's right hand side. "What is its crew compliment?"

Qin scrunched up his face for a moment before sighing. "In total it needs over three hundred Engineer's to keep the Boilers running, as well as preform maintenance. The bridge needs an additional sixteen to operate the Drills system, and finally it is capable of effectively carrying a Battalions worth of Ground Troops."

"How long until the Drill is combat operational?" the Young princess asked as she folded her hands in her lap.

"It will take a Few days to put all the pieces back in there place, but once it is complete my Drill can go into battle immediately."

The princess gave a swift nod as she stood up stretching as she did so "Keep me posted, I want to leave as soon as it is ready" She then turned and began to walk off "Come along Captain."