[War] "The President's Son and the Prime Minister's Daughter" Part 2

[Chazenesq2b at aol.com]

The President's Son, and the Prime   Minister's    Daughter"   Part Two

2nd Lieutenant Chan  Wen   Hong  (PCC-Chris)
People's   Liberation  Airforces   (PLAF)
People's  Republic of  China

Akemi     Sato
Special Assistant to the   Prime       Minister
Japan

==========================================================

Down   below the palace Akemi tried to keep her composure  amidst   the 
thak-thak-thak  of  automatic weapons and the  deeper booms  of  the mortars.  
Around  her the  Chinese  and North Koreans  seemed  to be having no problem   
enduring the situation, she   supposed it  was part of  living  here.

She glanced at her  security  man, his   face was drawn into a  tight line of 
concern and watched the   door.

She wondered if he was   being paranoid or if there was  any  real  chance 
of...whoever it  was out  there getting  in. She thought  not and she hoped Chan 
 and the rest of his  men  would be   okay.

***

Sgt  Qing hurried to the  armoured   ambulance  shouting into his radio.  
"Yes! Move  on  those  mortars   now!"

A reply came through his  earpiece, finally  they  were  getting  the orders. 
  Making a satisfied grunt he  pulled himself up to  peer   into  the cab of 
the vehicle. The  drivers were down in the   footwells, taking   cover.

"You  two, up!" he   shouted.

The men  straightened and  climbed  back into  their  seats.

"You start the  vehicle," he said  to   the driver. And  then looking at the 
orderly beside him.   "You,  open the  back,  we're taking this vehicle."

"But this is   an  ambulance not a   combat vehicle."

"Flexibility is  the  key to  warfare," Qing  smiled  and jumped down looking 
 at the group of men who were   crouching behind   the  ambulance for cover.

"Alright, let's go,"  he  said and   then led  them into the back where the 
orderly had  opened   the  doors.

Qing  pushed past him to get to the cab  and   glanced around  for  the  
Lieutenant, he saw him  tugging on  some  armor with a rifle slung over his 
shoulder. "Go,  pick him up,"  Qing  said.

The driver, nodded and   got  the vehicle  going, rolling  across the raging 
fire-fight to  stop  beside  the  lieutenant, Qing,  popped the side door  and 
smiled to   Chan. "Going our way sir?"   he  asked.

The Type 03 in his arms  had  fired a full two mags  worth  of ammunition, 
meaning Chan was  running a bit  low.   He hadn't had  time to grab more than 5 
additional magazines  total...  the problem when  you were  responding to an 
attack rather than   initiating one.    Despite the surprise though, the  
Chinese  security
force had  been  putting up a tough and  determined   defense.  As a  matter 
of fact, were it not for  those damned mortars,  they'd   have had  the rest 
of the  insurgents in custody right   now.

Hence why  when the  Sergeant pulled up, the Lieutenant felt  like the   tide 
was  finally starting to turn in their  favor.  "Let's   go!"   He shouted  
to the Corporal  behind him, both  men  breaking into a hard  sprint for  the 
WAM-bulance.  As  soon as they  loaded up into the back, Chan   gave the   
majestic  palace turned hospital and humanitarian  aid  complex  a  final  glance. 
 Somewhere in  the maze of tunnels  and  labrynth of   hardened bunkers  that 
formed it's bowels  was a woman he  'really' hoped  to  see  again some  day.

It was a fleeting moment in  which  the  realization  of 'just' what  he was 
fighting for hit   home.   This  was no longer merely about playing  out one's 
service until they  got  what they wanted... it was war.   It was   about 
life,  death, and improving the future of a  people too adept to    suffering  
for far too long.

"Try  and make every  shot   count."  Chan checked the magazine in  the  well 
 of his rifle  to  insure it was a full load  before slapping it  back home   
and pulling back  the  bolt.  "We don't  know when reinforcements  might 
arrive.  You  all remember the  rules of engagement... we  take  prisoners if  we 
can,  but  I want you all back   alive."  It was a bitch to fill out  the   
paperwork, the old joke bringing a small smile to his face when  it  was    
reitterated by the Private next to  them.

Another mortar    explosion, this time right behind them  as the shooters 
were obviously   trying  to target the  ambulance.

Sgt. Qing cursed under his  breath,  of course   they would be firing at 
them.  He just hoped  the other  teams  would get to  the mortars before the 
mortars  found their   mark.

Putting that out of  his mind he looked  forward through  the  cab's window 
and shouted to the   driver, to the left," and  gestured  with his hand towards 
a spot that would  let the men get out  without  exposing them to  the fire 
from the pinned down  Koreans  they were here to capture,  or otherwise remove.

Fire  from   said Koreans pinged off the  vehicle as it rolled on  towards 
the spot   Qing had indicated.  Then everything went  crazy.

There was a loud  boom,  and the  driver cranked  hard on the wheel, the 
ambulance tilted  onto  the  left set of  wheels and then slowly tipped over to 
land on that  side.

Qing  righted himself from where he'd fallen  into  the side of the  
ambulance and looked around most of the  squad was  unhurt, including  Chan,  but that 
would change quickly once the other  mortars began  to   fire.

"Sir," he said to Chan. "Time to   go?"

"Yeah."   Chan nodded as he pushed himself up, figuring  this is  why   most 
'sane' people opted to not use ambulances as  battle  wagons.   He looked down 
at a cut hand, removed the tie  that  had been part  of the dress uniform he  
was caught  flat-footed in, and  roped it  around for the sake of pressure.   
"Everyone up!  You two go   left, we'll go right."

"Sir,"  the two soldiers sent left said and  then  made their way out into 
the  firefight. Qing nodded to the  Lieutenant's  hand.  "Are you  going to be 
alright out there sir?" he  asked.

"My  mother  drowned all the weak ones, Sergeant."  Chan  smirked before 
moving  up  to get out of the vehicle.  "Clear  the  emplacement."

Qing nodded  hoping he wouldn't have to report  to  Beijing that the 
President's son had  been killed.

Oh well,  the  old days were over, and you only lived once. He jumped out  of 
 the back  of the overturned ambulance in a low crouch and then hit  the  
deck as  the shooters they had pinned down opened fire. Though it  was short   
lived. A short time later their two men added their  weapons to the  symphony  
of firepower exploding around them and the  shooting stopped.  Qing came to  
one knee and slid toward the cover of  the  ambulance.

Not looking away  from his gun sight he said to  the  Lieutenant, "Go on sir, 
I've got you  covered."

Chan and  his  'wingman' started searching the bodies of the four Korean 
insurgents  for  anything that might be useful.  They turned up a little bit,  
marked maps, message encyphers, a letter or two... they also managed to   get a 
pair of hand grenades, a few AK-47 rifles, and a dozen or so   magazines.   
They traveled lightly whomever they  were.

The  fighting stopped, the rest of the North Koreans breaking  off and 
running, and  they were doing so with a NKA platoon in hot  pursuit.

"I think that's our  cue to head back to the base  Sergeant."  Chan  smiled 
and gave  his comrade a slap on the  back.  "Something to write home  about, I 
bet."

Qing smiled as  he replied. "Yes  sir."

***

"Lieutenant," Akemi said as she  found her dinner guest  nearly an hour after 
the fighting had  stopped.

They had let her  out of the basement about an half an hour  ago but she had 
only just  won free of the apologetic North Korean  President, and the first 
thing she  did was to look for Chan. It was only  right she told herself, he 
did just  fight to protect her, it would be bad  form if she didn't at least 
find  him to offer her thanks.

Though  whatever words of thanks she had  concocted while she searched for 
him died  on her lips when she saw him,  dressed in body armour overtop of his 
dress  uniform, weapon still in  hand.  Akemi's lips quirked into a little  
smile. She had always thought  herself someone attracted to intellectual  men, 
and that the physical  macho type didn't do it for her. But she had to  admit, 
the fresh from the  battlefield look was sexy.

"Hi," she  said. "Glad you made it  okay."

She shifted her feet. "I mean, thank  you. You and your men saved  us."

She smiled as best she could and  extended her hand.

Chan smiled broadly at the offered hand, gracefully  accepted it and, 
following in the footsteps of Hollywood's greatest, gently  kissed the back of  her 
hand.  Officers were expected to be  intelligent and cultured after  all.  He 
looked back up with a little  bit of a guilty smile on his  lips.  "I've seen 
that done a dozen  times in western movies, always wanted  to try it 
personally."  Hoping  he hadn't overstepped his bounds, he became  lost in her gaze  
momentarily... only a sternly inquisitive look from her chief  bodyguard  
reminding him he 'was' shouldering a loaded weapon.  "I think  he's  rather upset."  
Chan smiled apologetically before unshouldering  the  rifle and unloading it 
for good measure.  "I'm glad you're   safe."

Cute and gallant Akemi thought still feeling the kiss on her hand.  "He is, 
but don't worry, he's sworn to secrecy."

"Just worried about the  weapon," the man said in English. "I can give you 
both a bit of distance  now."

Akemi smiled her thanks and the man moved off a bit, still close  enough to 
see danger coming but far
enough so he was no longer breathing down  their necks.

Still time was short and her father always said a good  leader knew when to 
seize the moment.

She leaned in and kissed Chan  softly on the cheek. A chaste gesture, sure, 
but then this was the son of
the  Chinese President, and even that was pretty damn daring.

Akemi stood  back. "Chan, there is something you should know," she said. "I 
am the Prime  Minister's daughter."
===========================================================
 
ACTIONS
 
1.  Establish some back story for things to  come.



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