Emperor Mao's Last Dance

[Lord Zalzabad]

Long time no write. Just popped in to say g'day, and post this short story I have written about my most recent game.

This is a short tale (as they are easier to read than long epics, yet harder to write), which is divided into two "Chapters", each one a different point of view. I will continue the final chapter in my trilogy during the summer holidays (around December) sorry for the inconvenience, but I just do not have time to write such a long epic.

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The Violins strung a classic song by the Great performer, Bach, as Emperor Mao looked on, from the high balcony at the cocktail party occurring in the hall below him. He saw the young face of Zhu Rei, sitting alone, while her husband stood on the Flagship of the Central Fleet. Mao looked at her beautiful face longingly, wondering if he could steal her away for a quick dance. Yes, he thought, he would do that. He started to walk towards the stairs, his eyes gazing towards the young temptress, completely ignoring everything in his way, so the voice that spoke out shocked him.
"Your Imperial Highness," said the voice from behind him, a voice that Mao faintly recognised as General Xu Liang, commander of the Imperial Guard, "The invasion begins. We require your presence in the situation room."
Mao turned to face the General and glared at him evilly, and turned once more at poor Zhu sitting all alone by herself
"Do not worry, Your Highness, Madame Zhu will still be there when you return," Said Xu.

Chou Shuchen looked across the deck of the landing craft. The Guns of the Central fleet were bombarding this final post of Japan. This was unlike Chittagong, or Pune, this was different. Once this victory was assured, China would control all of Asia. The nearby shore batteries opened fire at the approaching vessels as the vessels approached the shoreline. As bullets hit the side of the vessel, Chow and his Comrades braced themselves for the rain of metal that was about to descend apon them
The vessel skidded to a halt as it collided into the sandy beach of the Island, and Chou prepared for the onslaught. The front ramp of the landing craft fell down as the sound of Machine Guns ripped through the air. Those Marines unfortunate enough to be at the front of the landing craft were ripped apart by the accurate machine guns, yet this did not phase the well trained, combat hardened Marines, who simply strode over the dead bodies, running up the beach to gain cover beneath the stone support wall, which elevated the promenade above the beach. Chou was one of the last off the landing craft, not due to cowardliness, but due to the fact that he was at the back. He leapt over the bodies piled up at the front of the craft, and crashed into the sea. He stood up, and waded through the waves, as bullets whistled passed him. A shell exploded nearby, but Chou ignored it, racing towards the support wall. Reaching the wall, he layed low, and crawled towards the Radio man.

Admiral Zhu was not looking at the Island of Satsuma, where his forces were engaged with the remains of the Japanese Army, he was looking to the west, where the sun had just set, thinking about his beautiful wife, and her being stuck at that boring party that the Emperor was giving. A radio crackled to life, "Marines on the beach, repeat marines on the beach."
Zhu wandered over to the radio, and picked it up, "Good work, Captain Chou," replied the Admiral, "what are approximate casualties, and what resistance are you facing?"
Chou glanced over the beach, looking at the Marines huddled beneath the wall, and the bodies littering the beach, "I would say that casualties are light, only 30% of the landing party. We are facing sporadic artillery fire, and there are several pillboxes, and entrenched troops on the Promenade. We request artillery bombardment at coordinates Q 234456, 234123 and 234121"
"Got that, Yuan?" the Admiral asked the artillery officer on the bridge of his battleship, who nodded in reply, "Very well, Captain Chou, good luck You know we must capture the city by midnight"
"It will be as good as in our hands," finished Chou, as the battleships in the harbour, opened fire at the fortifications that were preventing the Marines from advancing further. Chou looked towards the coast as the second wave of landing craft approached the beach. The machinegun fire stopped, and Chou gave the order to advance.

As the Emperor walked into the situation room, the consol operators all stood up and bowed low. Xu turned to the nearest one, and asked him if the up-link was ready. He bowed even lower to confirm that it was, and Xu ordered him to put the picture on the central screen that dominated the room. Admiral Zhu appeared on the screen, and saluted.
"Zhu, what is the situation like?" asked Xu
"The first wave has established a beach-head on the Western Beach of Satsuma Island, casualties are light, compared to our previous operations at Chittagong and Pune, only 30% dead or injured. The second wave will land within minutes. The city centre will be in our hands by the New Year."
"Very good, I trust the Emperor can return to his party?"
"Yes, I believe that the Emperor can bring in the New Year without having to worry about us. I do not see any problems arising. But if they do, we will inform you."
"Lets hope not," finished Xu, as Zhu's face disappeared off the screen, "shall we return to the party?" Zhu asked the Emperor, who smiled, and turned to return to the party.

Chou pressed his body against the concert side of the bunker, his assault rifle in hand, and listened. The voices inside sounding panicky, and worried. Chou moved up to the entrance, and peered into the bunker. There were only two soldiers in the bunker, one manning the machine gun, waving it around, looking for targets, while the second had his gun towards the entrance to the bunker.
"Karegi dokonii rukashide imasuka?"* said the soldier manning the Machine Gun
"Kamio wakaruka?" replied the guard
Chou pulled out a grenade, and pulled the pin, and threw it in. He dived to the side, as the blast ripped through the bunker, and the second wave of landing craft hit the beach. Inspecting the damaged bunker, he saw that one of the soldiers was dead, the other was breathing. Chou shook his head, as he pulled his assault rifle up, pointing it towards the wounded soldier
"Watashide tasukuru" cried the guard, as he moved his hand up, looking at a piece of paper.
"Go to hell," said Chou under his breath, not understanding what was said, as he blasted a round into his heart. The soldiers' eyes went wide, and he cried out, "Sumimasen… Kaoru, Yukina, watashiwa darekao yarusu…" and he fell quiet. Chou spat on the soldier that took the lives of so many of his comrades, and left the body to rot.

Emperor Mao strode into the ballroom, where the crowd fell silent. Xu smiled, and proclaimed, "The invasion goes well! Admiral Zhu has promised us the city will be ours by midnight!" Most of the crowd looked at the huge clock set on the wall of the ballroom, which proclaimed the time as 11:30. Meanwhile, the emperor descended the stairs, to where a certain woman was sitting, still looking depressed, even with the news her husband was safe.

His fellow troops had moved to the houses and shops in on the edge of the promenade, and were engaging troops in the town centre. Japanese troops had fortified themselves within the buildings, but the Chinese battleships were firing continuously at the buildings in a desperate attempt to dislodge the enemy. A fighter roared over the field, as Chou moved up to join his comrades, fighting, house to house, yet getting nowhere. The Japanese Infantry had deployed heavy machineguns within the buildings held by them, and were firing purposely into the troops that were climbing onto the promenade from the second attack wave. The centre of the resistance appeared to be a building across a square, and by taking out this building, thought Chou, enemy resistance would become disorganised, and victory could be achieved. He gathered his troops together, and prepared for the attack.

"Would you care for a dance?" asked the Emperor to Zhu Rei. Her eyes rose up to face the Emperors, and she replied in a depressed tone, "Who can resist the Emperor?" She got up, and gave her hand to the decrepit old man who was the Emperor of the nation. Mao smiled, and said to himself, "Yes, who can resist the Emperor?" The orchestra started to play a classic waltz, and away the two of them went.

"Charge!" yelled Chou, as his men began to storm across the square, with almost every gun trained on their position. Chou had lost over half of his men as he approached the building, but gained a foothold in the building, which looked like a grocery store. Gunfire was blasting through the large plate windows of the store, as Chou reloaded his gun and ran towards the stairs that lead to the second floor (obviously) . He crouched behind a wall that backed onto the stairs, and quickly took a look at the stairs. It was strange, thought Chou, that the stairs were unprotected, so carefully, he began up the stairs. Chou began to feel uneasy as he approached the top. The gunfire was continuing, coming from a room near the front of the building. Chou reached the top of the stairs, his gun ready, as he approached the door, which was partly opened. He put his head close to the door, and looked through the crack in the door. No one has there, so , by using the barrel of his rifle, he pushed the door open, to a smiling figure, holding a pistol towards his head, who simply said in a cold, sadistic voice, "shimi"
The gun fired, and Chou let go of his weapon in shock. He staggered backwards, and fell down the stairs , landing in a heap, a surprise to his soldiers watching from below. In shock, the radio officer, Sun Yatsen, yelled into the radio, "Chou is dead, Chou is dead, request artillery bombardments at coordinates Q 235576," and then turning to the other survivors, "Lets get outta here!" The troops jumped through the broken glass window, just as Admiral Zhu received the message.
"Shall we fire?" asked Yuan
"Yes, fire all guns at this point," replied the Admiral, FIRE!"

The waltz ended, and the emperor smiled at Lady Zhu, who still carried the same depressed look apon her face as she had for that entire night; "I thankyou, emperor, for allowing me to dance with you, she said, but I must go home, it is getting late."
"No," said Mao, grabbing the young girl's wrist, "I think you will be staying with me tonight. Your husband will never know."
Lady Zhu turned towards Mao, to protest, but what she saw shocked her. She actually thought about warning him, but only for a second. She smiled, and Mao, replying to this change of emotion, said, "now is that not better? Now lets have another dance, do not worry, it will be the last dance of the night"
"I am sure it will be," Lady Zhu said, smiling at the man that was approaching the emperor slowly.
"Yes, this will be Emperor Mao's Last Dance!" said Mao happily thinking that he had finally won the most beautiful woman in the empire.

Corporal Sun had never ran as fast as this in his life. He was facing the fleet as the battleship opened fire, and as he heard the shell pass by he turned to face the building that burst into flames, explosions ripping the second story completely off, while the fire quickly consumed the rest of the building. Sun dived behind a fountain, and looked towards the Promenade, as the Second Armoured Division began to disembark from their landing vessels.

Lady Zhu walked closer to the emperor, and said, "I am honoured by you choosing me to be your dance partner," but she was not looking at the emperor, but at the man who was now right behind the emperor. She saw what the man was holding, and smiled at him one more time, before the assassin's lightning quick reflexes cut the Emperors jugular with his sharp knife. He then looked at Lady Zhu, smiled, and pushed the dagger into his heart. He stood still for a while, mumbled something to himself, and fell back, dead.

*If this grammar is incorrect, I apologise. Japanese is not my best Language

[Lord Zalzabad]

Captain Tanaka looked through the binoculars at the fleet assembled in the harbour before them. They had been blasting the city non stop for over five days now, and a fleet of landing craft were approaching the shoreline. Tanaka looked over at Private Asahi, who was manning the machine gun of their bunker, and then at a tattered photo of happier times. It showed himself, his wife, Yukina, and his young daughter, Kaoru. His family was killed during the invasion of the Home Islands, when Osaka fell to the barbarous Chinese swarms. It seemed that they were unbeatable. Their armies had wiped India off the face of the map in two years, and this war was proceeding just as rapidly. Outside of their Indonesian holdings, the Island of Satsuma was their last stronghold. Even the Shogun had withdrawn to the Island, and now they were all besieged. Tanaka put the photograph to his heart, and swore to himself that he would avenge the death of his wife and child, and avenge the destruction of their once glorious empire. "Prepare to fire, Asahi!" he yelled, as Asahi trained his machine gun to the door of the nearest landing craft.

He could see him from here, standing on the balcony, eyeing out a woman, no doubt. Typical of an leader who abuses his power, he thought, as his hand moved into his robe, to check to see if the dagger was still in place. He smiled, as his target walked towards the stairs. Saito tried to find out who he was looking at, when a General interrupted his target from his viewing. The target looked angrily at the General, as he was lead away. Saito sighed, and he walked towards a seat that was arranged along the far wall, sitting next to a surprisingly stunning woman, who looked very depressed. He turned to her, and said, "Do not look so sad, things can only get better."
She looked up at him, and smiled weakly, "Thankyou," said she, "you remind me of my husband"
"And is that the reason why you are depressed?"
"Yes, he is at war."
"Against the Japanese?" asked Saito
"Yes. Its unfortunate that we could not get along, but that Emperor Mao is a bloodthirsty, land-hungry megalomaniac, who wants to control the world. We are hated by so many for the actions of so few…" she said, her dark hazel eyes, pierced into his. She closed them, turned, and said, "But it will be all over shortly. Thankyou for talking with me. I only came because my husband wanted me to. I know no one here, and everyone hates me because I am not Chinese."
"You are not Chinese?" asked Saito, surprised at this response.
"No. My mother was Indian, my father Chinese. Even though I am half-Chinese, they still do not accept me. Fortunately, my husband loves me, despite my ethnic origins."
"Well miss…"
"Zhu, Zhu Rei"
"Ah, well, Lady Zhu, I hope we can speak again," Saito said getting up, and disappearing into the crowd.

"Commander, they approach the shore."
"Yes, Tojimi, This time there is no turning back, no retreat… this is our last stand. Send the order to fire at will."
"Yes, Shogun Tokunaga, it shall be done."
Tokunaga smiled at his choice of headquarters. No one would expect to find the enemy commander in a grocery store. He had deployed his men with heavy machine guns in all the surrounding buildings, giving them a protective arc. A Chinese fighter flew overhead, its Vulcan cannon roaring blasting the buildings that contained the arms stockpiles.

"The doors are opening!" yelled Asahi as the doors to the landing craft swung down, exposing the enemy crew to the range of the machine gun.
"Then fire!" yelled Tanaka, grabbing his rifle, and starting to take pot shots at the enemy troops, while Asahi mowed down the troops that attempted to leave the landing craft.
"Ha ha!" Yelled Asahi, as the bodies littered the beach, the sea was red in Chinese blood. The troops that were not dead were cowering beneath the support wall that stopped the Promenade on which their bunker was based, from falling on the beach.
"We cannot shoot them from here, we will have to wait intill they advance further. I will report to the Commander.

"Commander," said Tojimi, "report from the Promenade"
"Yes?" said Tokunaga, picking up the radio
"Enemy forces have landed, approx three thousand. A second wave is approaching. We estimate enemy casualties at 25% we have lost no men from their initial assault," said Tanaka into his radio
"Twenty-five percent? That’s a princely number of enemy deaths. Congratulate yourself for ridding the world of so many of those Chinese Scum!"
"Yes, sir," replied Tanaka, then turning to Asahi, "the Shogun sends his congratulations"
"No time to celebrate, we have incoming!" yelled Asahi, looking at the battleships firing apon their positions. A shell hit the roof of the bunker, but it did not collapse. Asahi manned his Machine gun and yelled, "They're advancing!"
"What?" said Tanaka, the panic could be heard in his voice.
"There! That looks like a commander!"
"Then kill him! I will cover the entrance!"
"Where… where did he go? Do you know where he went?"
"God knows" Tanaka said, as some movement caught his eye. He pointed his gun towards the door, finger on the trigger, and froze in shock at what he saw. As the grenade bounced on the concrete floor of the bunker, Tanaka knew all was lost. He dropped his gun, and reached for his photograph, to get one last look at his family, but as his hand moved up, the grenade exploded, the blast forcing Tanaka to the ground. It was amazing, he thought, he was still alive. In pain, yes, but still alive. A Chinese officer appeared in the doorway, looking coldly at the bodies. Tanaka thought it would be best to play dead, but the officer had noticed that he was still alive. Tanaka said in a gasping voice, "Help me!" The Chinese officer took no notice, and lowered his rifle to his heart, firing once into his heart. He could feel his life draining away. With his last breath, he said, "Sorry, Kaoru, Yukina, forgive me…"

There, Saito thought as his target re-entered the ballroom, after a long departure, pronouncing that Admiral Zhu (Zhu, thought Saito, could it be that young lady's husband? No, it's just a coincidence) promised Satsuma would fall by midnight. Saito turned to look at the clock on the wall. It was 11.30. His target descended the stairs, accompanied by his General. He could not do it now, he would wait. In fact, it seemed like his target was moving towards Lady Zhu, and put his hand out, as if asking for a dance. She bowed, and took his hand, yet her face did not change. Saito's hand moved into his robes once more, gaining hold of his dagger.

"The enemy has overrun our forward positions on the Promenade!"
Tokunaga took a deep breath, and looked out the window. His troops were firing into the enemy troops, but a small group had formed, and had begun to charge towards his headquarters. How did they figure out that this was their Headquarters, he did not know. Before they could do anything, the small party reached the building. Tokunaga pulled out his pistol, and turned to face the door. He could hear someone coming down the corridor. He straightened his arm, pointing it towards the door, at head level. Slowly the door moved, and then suddenly it burst open, a Chinese Officer with an Assault Rifle appeared, and froze at the sight of Tokunaga. "Die," he said coolly, as he pulled the trigger. The officer fell back, and down the stairs.
"Commander! The troops are retreating!"
"Wonderful, he said smiling."

The dance had finished, and his target and Lady Zhu stepped back from each other. Now was his chance. Security was low at this point, his bodyguards nowhere to be seen. He pulled the dagger out of its sheath, and slowly approached the man. There seemed to be a struggle, and Lady Zhu attempted to get away, but his target restrained her. He turned, and Saito's heart sunk; she had recognised him. But instead of warning his target, she just smiled, and walked towards the target.

"Sir, the enemy have taken refuge behind the fountain!"
"Use your machinegun to blast it apart!" yelled Tokunaga.
"Err… sir," Tojimi said, looking out the window, "I think we are finished…"
"What do you mean?" said Tokunaga, walking to the window, and seeing the flashes from the battleship, "Oh cra…"

Lady Zhu saw the dagger, and smiled at him once again. This was his time, he thought, as he reached striking distance. In a second, Saito's left hand moved over Emperor Mao's mouth, while the dagger in his right hand sliced across the Emperor's neck, spilling blood on the poor lady Zhu. Releasing the dead body, he turned to face Lady Zhu, smiled and thrusted his dagger upwards, through his stomach and into his heart. He fell to his knees, and said in a weak voice, "sorry I got blood on you, please forgive me…"

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Excellent

[unscratchedfoot]

Good idea showing it from both sides. Gonna do a little translating just for fun. Please don't mind too much.

"Karegi dokonii rukashide imasuka?"* said the soldier manning the Machine Gun
"Kamio wakaruka?" replied the guard

*Yo Karegi, where is the living ricochet?* (rikusho = general )
*Do you understand the Camio Awards?* (kami ga shiteiruka = God knows)

"Watashide tasukuru" cried the guard, as he moved his hand up, looking at a piece of paper.

*Use me to give help*

and he cried out, "Sumimasen… Kaoru, Yukina, watashiwa darekao yarusu…" and he fell quiet.

*I'm sorry... Kaoru, Yukina, I will have sex with someone...* (yurusu = forgive )

holding a pistol towards his head, who simply said in a cold, sadistic voice, "shimi"

*stain*

You can return the fun when I try to use chinese or spanish in my stories.

[Kaos XIII]

I shall wait patiently, until the summer in December, for the final chapter. Hmm, that sounds funny.

BTW, thanks for the translation Scratch, I would have never gotten it.

[Lord Zalzabad]

I would, unscratchedfoot, but I know no spanish or Chinese. I failed Japanese, as you can see.

[Paddy]

Thanks for that.... really good

I like your interactions, the way you have two parts ineach of your two parts....