RogerJNeilson
Posts: 1277
Joined: 4/12/2012 From: Bedlington, Northumberland, UK Status: offline
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3rd April 1945 an offer is made…. Collected from my ‘hotel’ still in my missionary kit, and decidedly the worse for wear now. I am driven to Allied HQ in a jeep crewed by two Gurkhas and a Korean - he does the driving. The Gurkhas sit with weapons casually draped but pointed at me in the most offhand manner as I sit in the front. I am escorted in and they wait with me in an anteroom until I am summoned by the door opening and an HQ type coming to meet me. I follow him through into a fairly crowded room, I am guessing that Fusan has not very expected to be the HQ for the Allied war efforts. Across a desk sits a Brigadier General - I stand casually - after all I am not in uniform and he waits the obligatory period of studiously ignoring me - then curtly tells me to sit. The chair creaks alarmingly. ‘Ok Flashman, you will now give me your undivided attention and will not interrupt. I have read your file and we have a small problem as to what to do with you. I will paint you two distinct pictures of your future. Flashman is a daring, resourceful hero who has helped in numerous ways in the war effort, has almost fought his own private war on several occasions and upon his return to Uk will be feted as a grand war hero, for whom doors of opportunity will open. Flashman is an abject coward who deserted his post, went on the run, engaged in numerous criminal activities that probably hindered the war effort. He was finally tracked down near Tsinan by members of the Chinese Army who summarily executed the criminal. Now next to no-one knows who you are since your arrival in Shanghai, and your transportation here is strictly unrecorded in any manner that will survive the next day or two. My own view is that the first description of Flashman is a total fallacy. You have shown the only motivating factor you have is saving your own skin, you are amoral, generally lazy and about as trustworthy as a Cobra - and that is doing the Cobra a disservice. So we have a choice, or rather you have a choice. I am about to make you an offer - and you can choose. Either you agree to do what we request, or else you will have died back at Tsinan and any evidence of your presence here will be destroyed - including of course the skin that you seem very very keen on saving. I do applaud the fact that you are saying nothing, merely listening and - no doubt - calculating how you can get away from this. But I have not yet painted the other choice you have….. it is this. You work for me from now on, and you do whatever tasks I require. Make no mistake, this is sanctioned from the highest level, a member of the Royal Hosehold no less. So in a moment you can tell me which you choose. Either you agree to do whatever you are ordered to, or we reverse history, you ‘die’ on the Chinese mainland and your missionary clothing and your body feed the sharks after a short trip over the Yellow Sea in that Catalina you flew in yesterday. A throw of the dice, but they are loaded. Either death within an hour or the chance to come out of this war with boundless opportunity and still be alive….. A simple nod will suffice….. Yes I rather thought you would see that as the better option. So that is concluded then, I will see you again here in two hours, that will give you time to shower, change into uniform, and have some food. From now on the team that brought you here are your own little section. They will take you to your quarters - not that luxurious but they will do for now - and they will return you here for our next discussion. By the way Flashman, welcome back to the Army, and please note carefully your section will obey you because you are their officer, but they are MY men and they have their own clear instructions if what you do does not fit with what i want you to do. Next time you enter this room you will be in uniform, and I expect you will not have forgotten either how to stand to attention, nor salute…. Dismissed.
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< Message edited by RogerJNeilson -- 12/30/2019 6:40:39 PM >
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An unplanned dynasty: Roger Neilson, Roger Neilson 11, Roger Neilson 3 previous posts 898+1515 + 1126 = 3539.....Finally completed my game which started the day WITP:AE was released
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