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Myth said:
hey, its his fault for confirming it! :D

Yes it is my fault for confirming it. But, I must give credit where credit is due. I was starting to wonder if anyone was going to think outside the box of gameplay and figure it out, and Myth did. But, in the end, it still has to happen, and how it plays out will be of more interest than the fact that you now know what will happen. At least I hope it will. :D
 
Chapter 3

The Mortal Coil

(Continued)​

January 16th, 1936. Town of Manzhouli, Manchurian-Soviet border…

The trip out to Manzhouli had been worse than the last one. The Manchurian winter was in full force and travel had become extremely difficult. There had been some concern on Pu Yi’s part that they would make it by the 16th. They actually made it by the 15th. The goods had been kept in one of the empty buildings on the outskirts of town for the night. The villagers gave it a wide berth, which was wise, considering the guards posted around it wearing the uniforms of the Imperial Guard.

At 9 pm on the 16th, a knock came at Pu Yi’s door in the room that he had taken in an inn that had been requisitioned for government use. The owner had been well compensated, so he hadn’t complained and went to stay with family. “Enter.”

The man entered the room, rubbing his hands briskly together. The cold outside was extreme, the wind whipping the snow into a white frenzy. “They are here, your Majesty.”

Pu Yi sighed, and stood. He put on his greatcoat and gloves. “Let’s get this business over with.”

The two men exited the building into the swirling maelstrom of white. Pu Yi looked up the street towards the border and could barely make out the headlamps of the Soviet vehicles. They walked up the street towards his own vehicles which were situated just this side of the border, their headlamps glaring towards the Soviets. He could see a man separate himself from a cluster of Russian soldiers and move towards him. “A fine Siberian evening”, said Colonel Markin. “Perfect for this sort of thing.”

“If you say so”, replied Pu Yi, looking away from the smiling Colonel.

“Second thoughts?” asked the Colonel.

“No.” Pu Yi turned and looked at the man.

“They are on their way, your Majesty”, said the man, guessing Pu Yi’s unasked question, and as if on cue, around the corner came a line of men in cuffs and shackles shuffling along under the watchful gaze of Manchurian guards. The men were stopped beside the trucks that had brought them here.

Pu Yi turned to Colonel Markin. “Do you have the documents?”

Colonel Markin held out his hand and an aide behind him handed him a satchel. He immediately handed it to Pu Yi. “I think you will find that all is in order as you requested.”

Pu Yi took the satchel and handed over to the man. “I think our business is concluded her, Colonel.”

Colonel Markin merely nodded. With that Pu Yi and the man turned and started to walk past the line of men towards his vehicle. “IS THIS HOW YOU REWARD LOYALTY!?” yelled one of the men over the howl of the wind. “I WANT AN ANSWER. IS IT!?”

Pu Yi stopped in his tracks. “Ignore it your Majesty”, said the man.

Pu Yi looked at the man and then back at the ground. “I cannot.” He raised his head and then turned and strode towards the line of men. The Soviet guards were moving forward to take possession and Pu Yi raised a hand to stop them. They looked from Pu Yi to Colonel Markin, confused on how to proceed.

Colonel Markin came up. “Is there a problem?”

Pu Yi looked at the Colonel. “Could you pull your men back and give me a moment.” The Colonel’s eyes narrowed. “You will have them soon enough Colonel, a few more moments should make no difference.”

Colonel Markin thought a moment, nodded, and ordered his men back.

Pu Yi turned and came before the man who had shouted. “General Semenov.”

General Semenov glared at Pu Yi. In a low menacing voice, “How could you…”

“What?!” Pu Yi interrupted. “Do this? Were you in my shoes General, the question would be, ‘how could I not’.”

The General spit at Pu Yi’s feet. “Doubtful”, he said disdainfully.

Pu Yi thought a moment. “May I ask you a question General? What rank were you when Russia fell to the communists?”

Semenov stared long and hard at Pu Yi, and then looked away. “A captain, in the cavalry.”

“Did you love your Tsar?” asked Pu Yi in a low voice. Semenov’s head whipped back to Pu Yi, and he could hear gasps and sharp intakes of breath from the other white Russian officers. “How could he ask that?” said one.

Moisture started to well in Semenov’s eyes and through clenched teeth, “Without reservation.”

Pu Yi’s guilt was ripping his heart at using this mans memories against him, but he had no choice…no choice. “In the last days, if the Tsar had come to you and said, ‘Captain, I have a mission for you. One that you shall not return from, but your sacrifice and those of these twenty-two men that you will lead, will save the empire, will save your Tsar, and countless future generations of good Russians’, would you have accepted?”

The welling in Semenov’s eyes was threatening to spill over. “Yes”, he said breathlessly.

Meeting Semenov’s gaze directly, Pu Yi continued. “I am not your Tsar, but I give you a choice General. If you refuse, you shall go anyway, but if you agree, I shall let you choose the way you go.” Pu Yi paused. “General, I have a mission for you. One that you shall not return from, but your sacrifice and those of these twenty-two men you will lead, will save Manchukuo, your Emperor, and countless future generations of good Manchurians. Will you accept?”

Semenov dropped his head. Another, General Kilitsin, said, “He cannot ask this. He cannot!” Semenov shook his head, as if in argument with himself, and then stopped. In a low husky voice, straining with emotion, “Yes…he can.”

Semenov raised his head. A tear slid from his left eye and slowly started to run down his cheek. Half way down, it froze, the frigid air not allowing it to fulfill its grief bound journey. The lights from the headlamps refracted from it, and Pu Yi could not take his eyes off it. “I accept your Majesty.”

Pu Yi continued to stare at the frozen tear. To the man next to him he said, “Remove their cuffs and manacles. They shall go across free men.”

The man hesitated momentarily and then started barking orders to the Manchurian guards. When Colonel Markin saw what they were doing, he protested. “What is this!” he demanded.

“Why nothing at all Colonel. I am merely letting these men march across the border of their own accord. Once across…” Pu Yi shrugged. Never having taken his eyes of Semenov, “General, please form your men and march them across.”

Semenov nodded. A moment later he drew himself to attention and saluted. Pu Yi was momentarily taken aback by this, and then slowly returned the salute. Semenov pivoted smartly. “Alright you sons of dogs, FORM UP!” the men shuffled to form lines. They dressed themselves, then came to attention. “RIGHT FACE! NOW…WHEN I GIVE THE ORDER, YOU WILL MARCH AS IF YOU WERE PARADING FOR THE EMPEROR HIMSELF! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!?”

“SIR, YES SIR!”, came the roaring reply.

“FORWARD, MARCH”, with that they started to march towards the border. One of the officers started to sing. It was a sad, mournful song, and shortly the others took it up. Pu Yi watched them all the way to the border, then turned and started to march towards his car. The man hustled to catch up and came up beside him. He looked sideways at Pu Yi and then turned his gaze straight ahead.

He had seen the frozen tear on his Emperor’s face.
 
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quite an emotional moment there. but Semenov is a trickster, I'm sure he'll think of something and escape! :D
 
Myth said:
quite an emotional moment there. but Semenov is a trickster, I'm sure he'll think of something and escape! :D

Well, I was hoping for more comments on that update, but, oh well. Unfortunatly, Myth, we will not be seeing the tricky General Semenov again. This is a Manchurian AAR for Manchurians. So, they will live or die with their own people. For anyone who is interested I will be updating later this evening.
 
How dare you post such a sad update ?
cryingsv2.gif


How dare you write such a beautiful and soulful ending instead of the average, run-of-the-mill, politically correct happy-ending that everyone was expecting ? :mad:

How dare you and rcduggan compete in the same awAARds category and thus force me to make a choice ? :(
 
Le Ran said:
How dare you post such a sad update ?
cryingsv2.gif


How dare you write such a beautiful and soulful ending instead of the average, run-of-the-mill, politically correct happy-ending that everyone was expecting ? :mad:

How dare you and rcduggan compete in the same awAARds category and thus force me to make a choice ? :(

Thank you Le. But do not despair. You do not have to make a choice, as I am not eligable for the Q4 awards. I did not start this until January. So vote without guilt...at least until the 07 Q1 awards. :D
 
Chapter 3

The Mortal Coil

(Continued)​

January 19th, 1936, Imperial Security HQ, Changchun…

Major Li found himself once again in the office of Minister Chin. The Minister was not in at the moment, but one of his aides had told him that the Minister would be back shortly and that he could wait inside. Li took the time to do something he had never really done before, examine Chin’s office at his leisure.

As he looked around the room, he noticed a wall of photos and walked over to look at them. There were pictures of Chin at various functions. All of them showed him with some Japanese dignitary or another. There was one with the Japanese Minister of Security, one with the Foreign Minister, there was even one of Chin shaking hands with Tojo. As he looked further, he also found a photograph of Chin in the presence of the Japanese Emperor. After looking at all the photos, one thing stood out to Major Li, there was not one photo of Chin with any Manchurian officials. For some reason, this bothered Li. Li in no way considered himself any sort of patriot, but this sort of apparent boot licking that was reflected on the wall was…disgusting. He was sure that Chin would not see it that way, but more as a reflection of his powerful friends.

Li continued to look around the office and found nothing else of interest, but his eyes and his mind kept straying back to that wall of photos, and the more he looked, the more it bothered him. It was at this time that Chin came strolling through the door trailed by an entourage of assistants, flunkies, and sycophants, all eager to do the great mans bidding. He ordered one to bring him tea, another to bring in some reports that he wanted to look at, and to another an order to pick up his uniforms at some laundry establishment. Chin finally noticed Major Li standing off to one side.

“Ah, Major Li, I am sure you are here to fill me in on the course of your investigation. I am also sure that the additional allocations that I have made to you have been sufficient for your needs?” asked Chin, moving to the chair behind his desk and seating himself in it as if it were a throne.

Li regarded him levelly for a moment. “Umm…yes, they have been sufficient. Although for the next phase I may need more resources allocated for large scale operations.”

Chin waved his hands at his toadies to clear the room. “Yes, yes. If it can be justified, certainly. But first, what have you found out?”

Li’s eyes strayed back to the wall of photos as he gathered his thoughts. Yet, as his eyes wandered over the photos again, his thoughts strayed to…other things.

“Major Li!” snapped Chin.

Li’s eyes snapped back to the Minister. “Sorry sir. Well sir, after all the interrogations of everyone who worked at the warehouse, I have come to the conclusion that the person or persons that were using it as a shipping point quit a week before we raided the place. I can only come to one conclusion regarding this coincidence.”

“And that is?” asked Chin impatiently.

“Why, they were tipped off, obviously”, said Li with a deadpan expression. “This led me to another conclusion.”

“Please Major, dispense with the melodrama and spit it out!” said Chin, his frustration apparent.

“That we have a spy inside Imperial Security”, declared Li.

Chin sat back in his chair, his eyes trying to bore holes into Major Li as he drummed his fingers on the desk. “And how, Major, do you propose to ferret out this spy?”

“Right now I propose no such thing. I have other things to attend to. You can have someone else run around here chasing rats”, said Li, his eyes never wavering under the gaze that would have caused lesser men to quail.

“I see, and just what will you be attending to Major?” asked Chin, his voice taking on a menacing tone.

“Well, I have two choices, Hailar or Ulanhot. One is where the shipment came from, the other where it went. I am leaning towards Hailar. Perhaps I can catch a shipment there before it is re-routed to a different central shipping point. They will have to find a new one since Harbin was there current one. Will you authorize the resources?” asked Li.

Chin continued to drum his fingers on the desk. “Very well, I will authorize it. One question, what do you make of the Emperor’s recent absences?”

Li thought about this momentarily. “Odd. I know what it is that he is reported to be doing, touring the outer provinces, but, at this time of year. Very…dedicated.”

“Yes, very. Makes me almost wonder if he is not setting up his own rebellion” said Chin, chuckling at his own joke. But, it made Major Li think. Perhaps it wasn’t a joke at all. It was something definitely worth considering. “Like that would happen. Pu Yi is a fool, and will always be a fool”, Chin said, continuing his mirth.

“Yes. Am I dismissed sir?” asked Li.

Chin, in his new found good humor, waved him away. “Yes Major, you are dismissed.”

Chin continued chuckling to himself as he continued to make disparaging comments about the Emperor. As Li left the room, his eyes went to the wall of photos one last time. For the first time in his new found career, Li started to wonder if he was working for the wrong man.
 
Li, beginning to have doubts? that is quite a surprise. and what of Pu Yi's schemings to remove him from the equation? another cliff-hanger! :mad: :eek:
 
Myth said:
Li, beginning to have doubts? that is quite a surprise. and what of Pu Yi's schemings to remove him from the equation? another cliff-hanger! :mad: :eek:

Uh...yeah. Operation Rabbit Hole. Remember? Still ongoing. More to come. :D
 
<delurk>AAR is going well</delurk>
 
Dionysius said:
<delurk>AAR is going well</delurk>

What was that? Did someone say something? I could have swore...hmmm...must be my imagination. ;)
 
Chapter 3

The Mortal Coil

(Continued)​

February 5th, 1936, city of Hailar…

They had been watching the warehouse for ten days. And for ten days Major Li and his men had spotted nothing unusual. Not one thing.

Li had planned this operation meticulously. He and his men had arrived five days before the operation was to commence. All had arrived in civilian clothing at different times from different locations. He had arranged for some of his men to find jobs at various establishments throughout the area. He had all the hangouts of the warehouse workers covered, in case they let something slip in conversation, or were having clandestine meetings with mysterious arms smugglers. He had the owner’s house under surveillance. He even had a man placed at the local switchboard to monitor phone conversations coming from the warehouse. And with all that he had nothing.

He sat discussing these developments, or lack thereof, with two of his subordinates, Lieutenants Fong and Wen, or as Major Li knew them, Cutter and Pinch. These two men had been Li’s seconds and chief enforcers during his criminal years. So when Chin hired him into Imperial Security, Li had later brought the two on. As a matter of fact, Li’s entire unit was made up of old gang cronies and street toughs.

The small inn they were in had been taken over by Major Li’s unit when they came into town. It was far enough away from the industrial district to not arouse suspicion, but close enough to reach by bicycle in about fifteen minutes.

“Thoughts?” asked Li.

Cutter was trimming his nails with a large knife. “Smells funny boss. Are you sure your info was good?”

“As good as the paper it was written on and the confirmation from the warehouse owner in Harbin. Not that that means anything”, said Li.

“Well boss, I don’t know how good that was. We haven’t seen or heard shit since we got here. The people who work there, including the owner, they don’t do nothing. Boring as hell if you ask me. Sheep, there all sheep. Not a wolf in the bunch. Oh, that foreman might measure up to a small yappy dog, but that’s about it. We’re wasting our time”, declared Pinch.

Li leaned back against the wall and nursed his drink. He had to make a decision on which direction to go. He finally sat up and looked at Cutter. “Go get ‘Nose’.”

Cutter pointed his knife across the table at Pinch. “What’s wrong with him?” he asked petulantly.

Li turned his good eye on Cutter. “Nothing. But I asked you.”

Cutter tried to hold his gaze but couldn’t. “Alright, alright. I’ll go get’im.”

A few minutes later Cutter came back with ‘Nose’ trailing behind. Benji “the Nose” Wuchen was a huge man. Gentle by nature, but none too bright, and when brought to anger was a force of nature. He had been Li’s number one leg breaker and intimidator in the old days. He had got his name not because his nose was beaklike or enormous, but because it was smeared all over his face from being broken so many times in fights.

“Uhhh…you wanted to see me boss?” asked Benji.

“Yeah. Ok, were gonna do this the government way. I want you all to go put on your uniforms and be down here in fifteen”, said Li.

“Oh, yea. We get to play cop”, drawled Cutter.

“And then what boss?” asked Pinch.

“Why then, we walk right in the front door, show are id’s, and ask to have a look around, nice as you please”, said Li.

Fifteen minutes later, all were back in the main room in there uniforms. They exited the inn and got into the only car they had and drove down to the warehouse. They went inside, spoke to the owner, showed him there credentials, and asked if it was okay to look around. The owner was a bit confused, but you didn’t argue with Imperial Security. So, the four proceeded to look around the warehouse. They looked though boxes and bins, crates and barrels. They looked in every nook and cranny, and found nothing.

They came together near a large stack of crates near the end of the warehouse.

“Anything?” asked Li.

“Not a damn thing”, said Pinch. Cutter and Nose both nodded in the negative. Li was scanning around when something between the stacks of crates caught his eye. He squatted down and peered between the crates at the shiny object that had caught his attention. He put his arm between the crates but could not reach it. Li looked around and spotted a pair of long tongs.

“Grab that”, he said pointing at the tongs. Benji dutifully retrieved the tool and handed it to Li. Li used the tongs to reach between the crates and extract the object. When he pulled it out and held it up Cutter whistled. It was a rifle round, 7.62 to be exact, and chambered for the Nagant. It had Cyrillic characters on the base around the primer.

Still squatting, Li held the round up in his fingers. “Cutter, go get the owner and round up all the workers.”

Cutter smiled and his hand went to the hilt of his knife. Li’s eye twitched towards him. “Not now Cutter. But…maybe later.” Cutter’s hand left the knife hilt but the smile remained as he went to do as he was told.

“Pinch, I want you to gather up the crew and get them in here. I don’t think we are going to find anything else, but tear the place apart anyway.”

“Right boss”, Pinch ran off to get the men.

Li continued to stare at the round and then said, “Does your nose hurt?”

Benji blinked, and then looked around in confusion. “Uhhh…”, Benji actually reached up and touched his nose. “Uhh…no boss. Why?”

Still starring at the rifle round, “Because I am starting to feel like I am being pulled around by mine.”
 
Li is beginning to figure out that the 'arms shipments' may just be decoys! but will his sense of duty and obligation prevent him from fully understanding and/or just ignoring potential danger to himself? :eek:
 
Myth said:
Li is beginning to figure out that the 'arms shipments' may just be decoys! but will his sense of duty and obligation prevent him from fully understanding and/or just ignoring potential danger to himself? :eek:

I will be honest with you. I had already outlined the path for Major Li and Minister Chin. But, I must admit, I am starting to like how Li's character is developing, and I wonder if I will have the heart to follow through with my original outline. I guess it will depend on how much more he develops and in which direction. Like I said, I have an outline, but stories and characters tend to take on a life of their own sometimes. Who knows.
 
I like Li too, somehow. I'm not sure what it is, he's ruthless in some sense, but completely honest, dedicated and whatnot. he also reminds me of this guy:

He had the bearing of a seasoned street fighter, one wise in the ways of fists and knives. He knew how to be stealthy
nods.gif
 
Myth said:
I like Li too, somehow. I'm not sure what it is, he's ruthless in some sense, but completely honest, dedicated and whatnot. he also reminds me of this guy:


nods.gif

Yeah, I remember that. And your right, he has his own sense of honor. Wont stop him from doing what needs to be done, but it keeps him from being indiscriminatly brutal.
 
Due to a minor impasse I have reached in the story there will be no update tonight. I will update tommorow. Just want to keep my millions and millions of loyal fans informed. :D