Author's Introduction: So after writing Chapter 2 of GC: Kyoshi Rising, in which I introduced Zuko as a destroyer commander, I thought of the idea of writing a story centered around him and the men of his destroyer, the Tokitsukaze, and their exploits leading up to the events of Kyoshi Rising. So this is the first chapter of said story. Expect appearances from additional characters, Avatar and IJN alike.

And two things. First off, yes, the Tokitsukaze was a real Kagerō-class destroyer. In choosing Zuko's ship, I tried to single one out that wasn't as famous as, say, the Yukikaze or the Shigure. I had toyed with the idea of creating a fake destroyer (a tactic that the Japanese actually employed to conceal the funding that had been allocated to building the Yamato-class battleships), but since I'm not too good with coming up with names, let alone for Japanese destroyers, and because I'm lazy, I decided to use a real ship instead.

Second, I've little to no experience with writing about the functions aboard a naval vessel. What little I know of this comes from reading Tom Clancy's books, Tameichi Hara's Japanese Destroyer Captain, and from the internet. Unfortunately, little to no information can be found about the functions of the crew aboard a Japanese destroyer, so any such jargon that I use is derived from both Hara's book and (ironically) the US Navy's Standard Organization Book for 2100-ton destroyers (even though the Kagerōs weighed 400 tons more). If I make any errors or inconsistencies when writing about this material, feel free to correct me if you can. Otherwise, I ask that you bear with me.

Disclaimers: I own neither Avatar: The Last Airbender nor its characters. Both are the property of the creative duo the internet has come to crown as "Bryke." Thanks for making what I consider one of the greatest animated shows of all time.

Special thanks to Redshirt51 for inspiring me to put ATLA characters aboard a destroyer with his fic Into the Storm.

December 16th, 1940

13:20 PM

Uraga, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan

Since 1906, the shipyards of Uraga Dock Company had been producing destroyers for the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Over the years, in anticipation of the Navy's growing demand for warships, the shipyard had been heavily expanded to include several dockyards to construct, fit-out, and house multiple vessels at a time.

Thus, by this point, especially in the tense political atmosphere that had been brewing over the years, it was no wonder that the harbor had been bustling with activity as of late, with many destroyers anchored at the piers that dotted the harbor while additional ones took shape on the slipways and in the dockyards.

Even so, the docks never failed to draw the eye of many curious Japanese citizens living in the vicinity. For them, watching the yardmen build the newest additions to the IJN's destroyer force was as sensational as whatever secret project was transpiring behind the screens that closed off one of the dockyards in Kure.

As for Zuko Takahashi, he felt right at home as he walked down the pier past the destroyers.

The twenty four-year old fondly recalled the numerous trips he'd taken to the Kure shipyards as a little boy with his beloved Uncle Iroh whenever the older man was off duty and how he'd stared enviously at the sailors milling about the warships stationed there.

"Uncle?" he'd asked one day, "Will I get to join the Navy like you?"

"Someday," Iroh had replied with a gentle smile and a pat on the back, "Who knows? Perhaps you'll get to have your own ship!"

He let out a chuckle as he realized the truth behind that statement. What he had NOT expected, however, was that he would be the youngest destroyer skipper in the history of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

But alas, after graduating from the Officer's School in Yokosuka, serving as a Chief Torpedo Officer, and an eight-month stint as an Executive Officer to his mentor, the legendary Commander Tameichi Hara, he'd become eligible for commanding his own destroyer at the age of twenty-four. Though the appointment of such a young man to such an important position had caused somewhat of a stir among the Navy's upper-echelons, Hara had put all rumors of bribery and corruption to rest by pointing to the fact that his pupil had graduated with top marks from the Officer's School and had demonstrated a remarkable aptitude for destroyer warfare, showing that the decision had been based solely on merit.

After several minutes of searching, Zuko found his ship. The side of the gangway leading up to her deck read "Tokitsukaze" in black hiragana.

The latest ship to be completed in Uraga's slipways, she was also the newest of the Kagerō-class destroyers, quite possibly the best class of destroyer that Japan had ever fielded, with a top speed of 35 knots, a range of over 5,000 nautical miles, and a heavy-hitting armament of six 12.7-centimeter guns in three turrets (one forward, two aft), a pair of depth-charge launchers, and, to Zuko's enthusiasm, eight 61-centimeter torpedo tubes mounted in two quadruple launchers amidships. All within 2,500 tons.

And unlike the equally revolutionary Fubuki-class destroyers that had been introduced much earlier in the late 1920s, the Kagerōs were structurally stable, having benefited from lessons learned from the IJN's original philosophy for constructing destroyers, which had been to cram the largest firepower and fastest top speed within the smallest hull possible.

While this philosophy had worked in theory, the end result was that the destroyers of the time were top-heavy and structurally unsound, as was demonstrated in the infamous Fourth Fleet Incident of September 1935, where the IJN's Fourth Fleet stumbled into a typhoon and, among other disasters, two Fubukis accompanying the fleet had each had their bows sheared off by the high winds and rough waves.

Of course it was worth mentioning that the entire reason for this philosophy was that the IJN was trying to circumvent the London Naval Treaty which, among other things, limited the total tonnage of their destroyer force. As a result, the "treaty destroyer," as such ships were nicknamed, was conceived as a means to circumvent the treaty and still maintain parity with the US Navy's destroyer force, of which the IJN's was limited to 71%.

However, after Japan withdrew from the Treaty in 1936, the restrictions had been lifted, allowing the Navy to build larger destroyers like the Kagerōs.

Zuko was no stranger to the new destroyers, having served aboard one, Hara's Amatsukaze, for eight months. At his mentor's behest, he'd observed and studied every function that the crew carried out aboard the ship in preparation for the day that he would command his own.

As he walked up the gangplank onto Tokitsukaze's deck, he noticed another man standing in front of the #1 gun turret. Like him, the man was dressed in his white officer's uniform. He also seemed older, with a grey beard that ran along the sides of his face but stopped just short of his chin.

The man saluted and approached him, hand outstretched.

"Commander Takahashi, I presume?"

Zuko took his hand and shook it,

"That would be me. And you are?"

He saluted again before replying,

"Lieutenant Commander Jee Sasaki. Since you are the skipper of this ship, that would make me your Executive Officer, sir."

Zuko saluted him back with a grin.

"At ease," he commanded, and Jee complied, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Jee."

"And you as well, sir." he said with a smile.

Zuko looked around, noticing how empty the deck of the destroyer was.

"Where's the rest of the crew?" he asked.

"The officers are below decks in the wardroom," Jee answered, "Since we were in port, I let the enlisted men go ashore. If you want, I can send someone to call them back."

"It's alright," Zuko said with a wave of his hand, "Let them enjoy themselves a little while longer. In the meantime, I would like to meet the officers."

"Right this way, then," Jee escorted him down the stairs that led from the forward deck to the the rest of the ship's deck. They then went down another flight of stairs to below decks and walked down a narrow hallway until they came to a door that read "wardroom." Jee knocked twice, opened it, and motioned for Zuko to follow him.

A large table lay at the center of the wardroom, with several officers seated around it. On Jee's command, they all rose from their chairs and stood in a line in front of Zuko.

Jee led his commanding officer down the line, introducing him to each of the men gathered there.

Once the introductions were completed, Zuko stood before all of them and began his spiel,

"I am honored to work with each of you. But first, I have one little concern I wish to get out of the way."

He took a deep breath and mulled over his words,

"I assume all of you are familiar with the brutal training regimen at Etajima."

The officers nodded in affirmation. Of course they knew. Every man serving in the Imperial Japanese Navy had almost certainly suffered the severe beatings that the instructors at Etajima Naval Academy would administer to cadets for even the slightest mistake. Sometimes, it was even on a whim.

Zuko carried a particularly nasty reminder of those days. To his relief, none of the officers seemed to have paid it any mind.

"Good. Then I wish to inform you that I will not tolerate such brutality aboard my ship. If one of the enlisted men makes a mistake, teach him how to rectify it instead of simply beating him. These men are just as human as the rest of us, and they are just as integral a part to this ship as you and I are. Physical punishment does not correct mistakes. It only breeds silence and misery. We need men aboard our ships, men who are capable of exercising their proper judgement and fulfilling their duties to the letter, not cattle who are only capable of blindly following orders. If any man here has any objections to the practice I am putting forth, let him speak now."

Dead silence. Either they cared too much about their job aboard the ship to voice their contention or they agreed with him. Either way was good enough.

"With that settled," he continued, "I'm very eager to hear about how everything aboard the ship is functioning."

He pulled up a chair and sat at the table, motioning for them to join him, which they did.

"Fukuyama," he motioned to the Engineering Officer, "How are the engines holding up?"

Lieutenant Hiroki Fukuyama reported energetically, "Both turbines are in perfect working order, sir. During our sea trials, we reached our top speed with no troubles whatsoever."

"Excellent. Pass my regards to the engineering crew on a job well done." he then turned to his Gunnery Officer, Lieutenant Iwao Matsukata, "And our weapons situation?"

"The guns performed admirably during the testing, sir," Matsukata replied coolly, "Most of the shells landed on target. Of course, these were dummy shells. Our magazines are to be stockpiled tomorrow," he indicated the man sitting to his left with a wry smirk, "Lieutenant Kuramochi can brief you on the torpedoes."

Chief Torpedo Officer Kenshin Kuramochi hesitated momentarily before giving his report, "We actually haven't practiced torpedo attacks yet, Commander. Jee thought that," he stopped briefly, seemingly contemplating the remainder of his statement, "Since you were mentored by Commander Hara, you might want to be present for the actual testing."

Zuko looked over to Jee with a quirked eyebrow. Not that he was angry with the man. It was common knowledge among the destroyer force that Hara had revolutionized their torpedo warfare doctrine with his manual on the subject. So it was only natural to assume that a pupil of the man would share the same interest.

"It's alright, Kuramochi," he said with a pat on the other man's shoulder, "You can tell Jee," another glance towards his XO, "that his thoughtfulness is most appreciated."

Both officers chuckled softly.

And so the procedure continued, with each of the rest of Tokitsukaze's officers informing her new skipper of the status of their respective responsibilities. By the time he had finished questioning the men, Zuko felt that everything was perfect and, hopefully with the magazines stocked and the torpedoes tested, his destroyer would be ready for battle.

{-O-}

Battle. The thought replayed itself in his mind as he sat in his personal cabin an hour after dismissing the officers to enjoy some downtime until the rest of the crew returned.

Like both Hara and Uncle Iroh, Zuko had kept abreast of the news from abroad following the outbreak of war in Europe. He'd read of how Hitler's armies had cut a swathe across the mainland of the continent, how the Luftwaffe terrorized the cities of Britain with bombs, how U-boats hunted and destroyed the convoys bringing desperately needed supplies to the beleaguered island country.

As for Japan, word had been spreading throughout the Navy of a possible war with the United States as early as the 1920s, a point reinforced by bitter opposition to the Naval Treaties signed between Japan, the United States, and Great Britain. As far as Zuko had been concerned, however, the war was being fought in China, and Japan seemed to be winning.

He had only begun to entertain the thought of war with the United States three months earlier when, during afternoon tea with Hara, he'd learned that Japan had concluded the Tripartite Pact with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy and that as a response, the United States was threatening to impose severe economic sanctions and embargoes on the country.

"We're slipping closer and closer towards the point of no return," Hara had grimly proclaimed after breaking the news to his student, "Mark my words, Zuko. If those jingoistic Army hotheads keep steering Japan on this course with their fanaticism, we may find ourselves at war with America within a fortnight!"

While Japan had not gone to war within a fortnight of Hara's proclamation, the message was clear: War is coming. No one knew when it would come, but it was coming.

Zuko stared out at Uraga through the porthole in his cabin, watching the other destroyers in the harbor, all of which looked ready to go to battle the moment Tokyo gave the nod.

Though he'd never visited the United States, he'd heard tales of the American people from Hara, who'd visited the country during a cruise in the 1920s. From what he'd told Zuko, they were a proud, just, and hospitable people. It seemed a far cry from the demonic picture that the Army-controlled government was painting of them.

Even Vice-Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the Commander-In-Chief of the IJN's Combined Fleet, a man who had visited the United States on countless occasions and even studied at an American University, had spoken of the industrial supremacy that the country held over Japan and how its navy would be able to outpace the IJN in procuring ships and aircraft. While his protests fell on deaf ears in Tokyo, the fact remained that a war with the United States, a war that had started to look more and more like a reality, was not going to be as easy a victory as the hotheaded Army leaders had made it out to be.

And so for the first time since stepping aboard Tokitsukaze, as he rubbed his left cheek contemplatively, his thumb sliding over the knife scar that he'd earned in Etajima, Zuko felt a faint twinge of apprehension for the days to come.

Author's Notes: Whew! I'm amazed I managed to get this done, even whilst going off to college.

So a few notes regarding parts of the chapter:

-The "secret project" going on in Kure is none other than the construction of the super-battleship Yamato. The Japanese went through great lengths to maintain the aura of secrecy that surrounded both her and her sister ships. So successful were they at this task that many details and pictures regarding the battleships (and aircraft carrier in the case of Shinano) didn't come to light until after World War II.

-Jee from Season 1 of ATLA makes his appearance as Zuko's XO. I wasn't exactly sure how to describe his appearance, but I tried my best.

-In naming the officers of Tokitsukaze, I chose their first names based on their personality. For example (Hiroki = "abundant joy/strength"), (Iwao = "stony man"), and (Kenshin = "modest truth").

-While Zuko has a scar here, it isn't of the same manner as the one he has on the show, mainly due to the fact that it just doesn't seem possible for someone to sustain a burn like that in real life and remain functional.

As always, feel free to review the story and post constructive criticism. But please no flaming, anti-Japanese or anti-American sentiment.