The Snake

[Rouran]

Ariunaa looked out of the window of her small fourth floor apartment, and out onto the sprawling metropolis of Karakorum. It was nightime now, but lights and noise were still as consistent as ever. Ariunaa was a 23 year old girl, who most people knew as a fairly succesful waitress. What most people didn't know however, was her work with the Communists. Her father had been imprisoned for being a 'Red', and her mother had committed suicide following the arrest.

Ariunaa had basically found herself being hunted. She saw them everywhere. People who always showed up where she was, but never seemed to look at her. It would be a different person following her everyday, which was useless, because Ariunaa knew exactly what they were doing. They were merely waiting and watching. They wanted to see who Ariunaa's friends were, then arrest them all in a mass group and collect their medals from the illustrious Khagan. However, Ariunaa was to valuable for the Reds to let slip. She ran the entire gun running operation in the Karakorum area. Without her, the Reds had no chance of gaining even a foothold in the capital. But the Imperial Guard seemed to know everything, every move, every purchase, every minute spent with other suspected communists, EVERYTHING. Avoiding Ariunaa's imminent arrest seemed immpossible. But, they didn't call her 'The Snake' for nothing.

She was already planning her next move. The Imperial Guard wouldn't be able to resist a mass gathering of suspects. They would be forced to show their hand. And the Communists would have to fight. And that would be the perfect chance for Ariunaa to escape into the slums of Karakorum for a while, and ultimately dissapear among the nomad tribes. All she had to do was gather her contacts together in the Museum of Rouran Culture... and bring guns. If everything went according to plan, she could begin her escape by mid-day tomorrow. She was eager to test herself against the might of the Khagan.

 

[Rouran]

Ariunaa sat in the lobby of the museum, she had been sitting with many of her lower level colleagues for over an hour now, and Communist fighters had filled the lobby. Many of them were carrying small SMG's or pistols in their clothes, waiting for the imminent arrival of Imperial Guardsmen. As Ariunaa sat, she reached into her pocket and clutched the small pistol she was carrying in her jeans. She then stood up, and decided it would be better for her to wait by the back exit so she could get out quicker. But as she stood up, the front doors to the museum were slammed open, and ten Imperial Guardsmen rushed into the room, guns blazing. Ariunaa crouched down and made a B-line for the door. A random civilian standing three feet away from her was shot in the chest, and was thrown to the floor. But she had other things to care about.

As Ariunaa neared the door, she heard the cries of her men, as they began to succumb to the superior firepower of the Imperial Guard. They were all martyrs, for the glorious revolution that was to come. She ran out the door, and jumped into the taxi that was waiting for her. They were headed for the Hua territory, a Nomadic peoples that still lived in the Ger tents of the ancestors. She was going to meet her Uncle, Al-Gal, who was a friend of the Hua Cheif. She had decided to skip heading to the Karakorum slums, because the Imperial Guard would already be scoping and harassing the poor, looking for Reds. Soon she would be free to conduct her business once again.

5 Hours Later, The Imperial Palace

Tsakhia Khagan was not a happy man. His man had not captured The Snake as he wished. He had had the commander in charge of the operation executed, but rewarded the men under him. For despite their commanders incompetence they did capture and kill quite a lot of Reds.

However, despite these setbacks, the clever Khagan knew were The Snake was going. He was watching her every move, waiting for her to arrive at the Hua territory, so that he would have an excuse to revoke their sovereignty and destroy their savage way. This time the Khagan would not play around, he would be sending in his eldest Son, Tsakhia Sukhbataar. Sukhbataar was a fierce prince, one whom his father was very proud of. He was a Senior officer in the Imperial Guard, and a general of the Rouran Armed Forces, and not just because he was the mighty Khagan's son. He was very talented. And he had shown it in dealing with the last full-scale guerrilla assault on the town of Kushi.