Avatar: Macai's Journey

Chapter 40: Push into Vanaloori

After the "death" of the Avatar and capture of Ba Sing Se, the Fire Nation pushes deeper into Earth Kingdom territory. Several cities have fallen, but Earth Kingdom forces have started to stand their ground and halt several Fire Nation advances. Once proud Earth Kingdom units who engaged the Fire Nation in direct combat are increasingly using guerrilla tactics to ward Fire Nation forces off.

Militia groups of civilian volunteers have joined the ranks of Earth Kingdom forces to help push back the Fire armies. Even some criminal organizations have sided with the Remnant Earth Kingdom forces to expel Fire Nation tyranny. General Eyre has called the conflict a "war of attrition" claiming that the Earth Kingdom forces had dwindling resources and would collapse as long as the Fire Nation kept them under consistent pressure.

Because of this, Eyre launched his "Break the Stool" campaign on the Earth Kingdom. Several Fire Nation units were sent to attack key coastal, production, and mining towns in the Earth Kingdom. If the Fire Nation forces couldn't manage to capture the towns, they were ordered to destroy their economic and industrial facilities before falling back. A few attacks from Fire Nation air balloons have been used to hit key industrial facilities with moderate success.

The Fire Nation plans to later use a fleet of airships to further deplete the Earth Kingdom industries when the time is right. Following this agenda, the 31st regiment has been assigned with attacking the Earth Kingdom town Yunogo which has valuable agricultural fields. Now, Macai meets with several 31st marines in the armory of the Prompt Adjudicator.

Macai: "Alright marines, we have another great mission. It shouldn't be insanely difficult, just seems to be a normal mission but our enemies are getting increasingly desperate. So I warn you all to beware, a man who has nothing to lose is very dangerous. Even the simple missions mean a lot now, they can have a major impact on how long our enemies remain standing. I don't know about you all, but I want to wrap this war up as soon as possible so we can all go back home to our families."

The crowd cheers, but Macai stops thinking he has no family back home. He has his father, but his mother gave him more of a familial feeling than anyone. He has Zyger, who is like an uncle to him, perhaps more. Even so, something seems to be missing.

Rosh: "What's the lineup this time commander?"

Macai explains, "First, we will move up the shoreline and our ship will dock at the beachhead. Friendly forces have already cleared that out, but the town we want to hit is about 60 kilometers from that position. We will take several metal boats and sail across the river until we get close to the enemy town then we will move up the riverbank near that town and quickly deploy."

Macai continues, "Our teams will have two positions that we'll have to deal with. This time, we will primarily hit them with two teams. One team will hit the right side of the town and the other team will hit the left. The objective is simple, search and destroy. Clean out the area of any hostile infantry around. Expect to face moderate resistance but highly motivated foes."

Basin adds, "But we're also highly motivated and they've never fought anyone like us. They'll be outclassed."

Macai: "The right team will consist of me and Rosh. The left team will be led by Asad and Kanna."

Rosh asks, "So, are we going to capture this city? I didn't hear about many infantry forces planning to stay here and they'll need to keep moving if they want to take down larger municipalities that are deeper into hostile territory."

Macai responds, "I have orders to burn down the agricultural fields after we annex the city."

Kanna: "But, Macai, that will hurt the town and its local economy. Those people live off those fields."