The Manchurian Candidate: Pu Yi's Attempt to Restore the Qing Empire

Myth: POF? Might that be the next greatly anticipated AAR from Myth Inc.?

rcduggan: Will be back from vacation on the 3rd. Update shortly after...hopfully.

canonized said:

BAH , on the THIRD ?! So far away !

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Patience my young apprentice. Soon I shall reveal to you the powers of the "Dark Side".

Okay, I am back from vacation. Trying to get caught up from my time off left me with short time for writing, but there will be an update tonight, I promise.

thrashingmad: Hey, nice to hear from you sir!

Le Ran: I have thought of that, but I better get an update in first before I worry about a table of contents, dont you think?

rcduggan: As you command, look for after midnight pacific.

Chapter 7​

Obscured Visions​

May 15th, 1936. Imperial Security HQ, Changchun…

The squad room was chaos, his office was chaos, hell, as far as Li was concerned, the entire world was chaos. Li watched Chen and Pinch going over the quickly filling rosters of the rapidly expanding unit. With Colonel Dai’s help they had located an area suitable for training and were selecting a team to send there to make preparations to receive the large number of men that would soon be sent there.

Li looked over at his two latest recruits and was pleased by their performance so far. Kang and Huan had just been commissioned lieutenants in Imp. Sec. but still retained their rank of captain on the reserve rolls of the army, which meant that if the army ever expanded and did a recall he would lose them…maybe. For now he would ring every last bit of knowledge and expertise out of them that he could. The two men were busily comparing supply manifests to make sure they had not been cheated by the commissariat, which was likely considering the corruption that was rampant in just about every facet of the government of Manchukuo.

Li turned to scan the room. He could not ever remember this much going on as he watched newly made aides scurry to and fro to carry out the orders and requests of his command team. Li had to chuckle as he watched Benjie struggle to keep his burden of files from toppling as he brought them over to Leiutenant Chen.

“Hey boss”, Benjie said, his eyes peeking over the towering mass of paper he was hauling.

Still smiling, “Good morning Sergeant, and how are you today?” asked Li.

“Uh….fine”, Benjie replied, looking for a place to deposit his load.

“Have you seen Cutter today?” asked Li.

Finally spying a momentarily empty chair, Benjie dropped the files onto it with a grunt and turned to face Li. He reached up and scratched his head, “Uh…no boss, I haven’t. You want I should find him?”

Li frowned, “No, never mind.” He turned to go back to his office. On his way he gestured to Pinch. “Need to speak with you a moment if you can tear yourself away?”

Pinch smiled and turned to Chen. “Think you can manage for a few moments without me?”

Chen smiled back, “Somehow I will muddle through.”

Pinch turned back to Li, “All yours Boss, what’s up?”

Li motioned for Pinch to come into the office. When they were both inside, “Close the door”, Li said. Pinch closed the door. “Sit”, said Li. Pinch sat.

“What is this about?” asked Pinch.

Li looked again at the muted chaos in the outer room, “So, how is it all going, Kang and Huan working out?”

Pinch turned his head and looked out into the squad room. “They know their stuff, administratively speaking, very organized. Everything seems to be going well. Chen and I have almost finished picking the advance team for the training site, should have it wrapped up by days end. I think we can have them on their way by day after tomorrow, which is good considering how fast we are filling the rolls. We need to get the new men out of here. We are running out of room.” Pinch turned back to Li. “What is bothering you Boss? You didn’t ask me in here to ask about training preparations.”

Li frowned at his desk. “It has been two weeks and I have heard nothing from General Hsing. Also, the gentleman that I told you about has disappeared with his daughter. I expected to hear more from him…and nothing. When was the last time you saw Cutter?”

Pinch sighed. “Couple of days ago. He was at his usual haunt, drinking a lot and hassling the working girls. What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know”, Li said rubbing a hand over his eye.

“Look Boss, you can’t worry about Hsing. That is out of your control. He will get back to you or he wont. I haven’t heard anything to make me think that he has sold us out. You just have to be patient. You don’t just knock on the Emperor’s door and walk in. That stuff takes time. As for your other concern…I don’t know what to think. All this time we thought he was dead and all of the sudden he shows up. Of all the things going on, he bothers me the most. He’s a ghost. I can’t find anything on him, what he goes by now, where he lives, nothing, and you just go and hand his daughter back over to him”, Pinch said in an exasperated tone.

“I don’t use children as leverage”, growled Li, “you know that.”

Pinch blew out a breath. “Yeah, I know, but sometimes…”, he let the sentence trail off.

“One other thing”, Li said, reaching into a drawer and pulling forth a small box, tossing it at Pinch. “Congratulations.”

Pinch caught the box and looked at it. “What’s this?”

“Open it”, said Li.

Pinch pulled the top off the small box and stared down at the gold collar tabs of a Captain.

“You’ve earned it, besides I need an XO”, said Li, grinning.

Pinch dumped the tabs into his hand. “Cutter isn’t going to be happy about this. He always considered himself your number two.”

The grin faded from Li’s face. “Cutter”, he mumbled. “That’s a problem I am going to have to deal with very shortly.”

I know this looks a little different from my other postings, but for some reason, this proxy server I am using wont allow me to use certain tabs.

I will fix it from home. Enjoy.

Myth: Cutter is a petulant, violent, malicious child who reckons his worth higher than it actually is.

canonized: Li has his moments. And thanks, nice to be writing again after my short hiatus.

rcduggan: In a most unexpected way.

Due to extreme business at work, a massive paperwork load that I have to have finished tonight, there will be no update tonight. I will be back next week and will start updating on a regular basis again as the company quaterlies will be over.

On another note, the Q3 awards have began. Please make your preferences known and vote for your favorite writers. It doesn't take much time, but it is greatly appreciated. Whether you vote for this AAR, or someone elses, please vote. There are a lot of great writers out there and this is just one way for you to let them know you appreciate their work. If you are not sure who to vote for, please feel free to check my ballot in the voting thread for ideas on where to look for great writers. Granted, my votes are my opinion, but hey, if you need a little help, always glad to be there.

Rodrico Stak said:

Ahh... an update. I'm not sure what made my day more: this AAR being updated, or you voting for my AAR.

At any rate, I'm glad to see that this is back!

And I should cast my vote as well. Even though this AAR isn't updated as often as I'd like, its still far and above any other narrative AAR that I've ever read (though Services for Your Country, In Peace and War Alike is a close second ).

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I am hoping to rectify that little updating issue starting next week with more regular updates. And thanks for your vote. Hey, it's a good gameplay AAR, worthy of my vote, you deserved it.