Six hours before midnight...
"What? I'm the new Dictator?" Anna exclaimed.
"Yes. You found her body, and you retrieved her ring." The immortal Kizzie answered.
"Wait, succession in Korea is dependent on finding a stupid ring?"
"Yes. Don't be a witch."
"So that means Tochiro..."
"Has to step down to you. I don't like trusting anything coming from the UN, but I serve the country, and frankly anyone would do a better job than him."
"So I can just walk up to the palace and stop this whole thing?"
"In theory, yes."
"What do you mean, in theory?"
"Tochiro has shown difficulty in the past of accepting a woman holding a higher office than he does, and with the Black Eagles answering solely to him..."
"...This isn't going to be easy, is it?"
"No. You need to confront him, but you also need enough backing that he can't simply make you disappear. Best way to do that is to make it very public, get a large crowd. He's giving a speech in Shikoku in a week."
"So I can do it there, in front of a large crowd, present the ring as evidence..."
"And become the Dictator, as he will be forced to bow before the people."
"One problem, though...how do I get to Shikoku from wherever here is?"
"That's your problem."
Two hours before midnight...
Anna stepped off the plane at Shikoku International. Outside the airport, conveniently located in downtown Shikoku, the city had recovered in large part from the devastation immediately following the Hawai'i'an bombs. While it was far from a shining megalopolis, it was a very populous city for its size with a virtually nonexistent crime rate.
Space was at a premium in the city, so Anna checked in a hotel room consisting of little more than a bed with a ceiling no higher than four feet. She stowed her few belongings in the crawlspace beneath the bed. I should get familiar with this city. After all, I'm going to rule it soon. She thought. "No, you're not working right now." She told herself. "You've got a week to plan for this, and it's been six years since you've been around anyone except that creepy Kizzie." She reached back under the bed and pulled out one of her bags.
Forty-five minutes before midnight...
Anna wafted out of her room, wearing a pink dress with a red tie in her dark hair. The ring was safely hidden within her left shoe, incidentally not a heel. She seemed to have lost the skill at some point during her trek across the Korean Wasteland.
Within a minute of leaving her room, the bellhop was at her side, asking some inane question about the weather. She smiled, and offered him her arm. He took it, and they left the hotel. The manager at the front desk spewed coffee as he saw the only employee on duty walk off the job in the middle of the workday. He spent so much time coughing that he couldn't stop them.
They exited onto the sidewalk, chatting animatedly about little of import. Then they began to tour the city.
Twenty minutes later, they came to a particular intersection. Soldiers bearing the insignia of the Black Eagles blocked all civilians from approaching and kept a road through the intersection clear. A gold-plated car whizzed through the intersection.Wait, what? Why is Tochiro in such a hurry? He should be here on business for the rest of the week, why is he...wait. Only one thing could cause the Tochiro to evacuate so quickly. Anna felt dread well up in her chest. He's got to be stopped. "I'm sorry, but I need to go now. She whispered into the bellhop's ear. It's something I need to do. I will remember you."
"Where are you going?" He replied.
"After Tochiro. It's my job." Anna stated.
"Sounds like an adventure. I'm in."
"What?"
"You heard me."
"Fine. Follow me."
Anna slowly walked towards a cargo halftrack idling, waiting for the Black Eagles to lift control of the intersection. She opened the door to the exclamations of the driver and kicked him out. Noticing the disturbance, the soldiers opened fire. Blood blossomed all over the bellhop's chest as bullets penetrated him. Anna accelerated through the roadblocks and set off after Tochiro.
Fifteen minutes before midnight...
UN Army 1st Lieutenant Anna Sinclair floored the stolen Sdkfz halftrack past several Type 59 battletanks, each painted with the dread insignia. Anna swerved to avoid a civilian knock-off of an 8x8 Hawai'i'an truck as it practically flew towards her. A tank shell smashed into the truck and exploded, sending small parts of truck, cargo, and driver all over the parking lot of Shikoku international airport. The tanks kept firing.
Anna ducked from row to row of parked trucks, halftracks, buses, and the cars of foreign dignitaries. The tanks simply rolled over the vehicles in their path or blew them up to take the most direct route to her.
Anna gritted her teeth, then aimed the halftrack directly at the terminal. The vehicle smashed through the glass doors into the crowded terminal accompanied by screams and several sickening thuds. An explosion rocked the terminal as the tanks followed like seeking missiles. A semi-solid biological goo soaked the terminal floor as people and baggage were ground into a fine meal beneath the treads of the armored vehicles.
Not enough time...
Midnight.
Partitionanian warheads slipped past the vastly improved Korean SDI and detonated, shattering the city of Shikoku, killing everyone inside.
From the Korea Wasteland, a figure responded to the disturbance. She looked up at the sky, and tears dripped down her face as the newly dubbed "glowroaches" waited upon her command.
Kizzie screamed an echoing wail of hatred for everything the UN, the Warsaw Pact, Hawai'i, every enemy Korea had ever faced in her 156 years had ever stood for. Then she began to walk, slowly but surely, towards the Order of Iblis and beyond it, Partitionania. Thousands of glowroaches, and many larger creatures beside, attended her trek.
Seven minutes after midnight...
The Kysu bomber, one of the last remaining of these mighty warplanes, slowly banked towards one of the few Korean possessions to remain untouched by atomic war. The aircraft was dyed purple with trim of hammered gold, cannons plated in bronze & the flag of Korea etched on the left wing. To its left and to its right flew two green bombers bearing the etched symbol of a black eagle, wings dripping in blood.
Acting Dictator Tochiro reclined in his plush chair, staring at the mahogany paneling as the bomber rocked with the turbulence of the shock waves escaping Korean territory. Two young women dressed only in short skirts and heels waited in silence, as they knew better than to interrupt the Acting Dictator when he was thinking.
Ten minutes after midnight...
Anna, her dress ripped and bloodstained, crept through the Black Eagle bomber. In her hand, she clutched a bloody combat knife taken from one of the dead. She slowly crawled to the cockpit, mentally checking down the aircraft crew. Both radar operators, check. Engine technician, check. Ordnance technician, check. Three defensive gunners, check. Backup flight crew, check. ECM technician, check. ECCM technician, check. Primary flight crew, not check.
The primary flight crew carefully kept their aircraft in their assigned cover position of the dictatorial bomber. Anna slowly came behind the co-pilot, then stabbed him in the back. The pilot noticed the sudden jerking of the body of his buddy, and reached for his pistol. Anna fell upon him before he could draw the weapon, and slit his throat.
She settled into the pilot seat, and reached for the controls. I forgot I don't know how to fly.
Fifteen minutes after midnight...
"Acting Dictator, collision alert!" Blared a loudspeaker within the dictatorial bomber.
"What?!?" Tochiro shouted at the top of his lungs.
One of the two Black Eagle escorts had broken formation and made a close pass above the dictatorial aircraft, rolling upside down as it did so.
"Pull back or be fired upon." The other Black Eagle craft coldly stated over the radio.
The pilot of the dictatorial aircraft applied the air brakes as the out of control escort flashed overhead. Something smashed out of the escort's cockpit as three missiles fired from the other escort turned the craft into rubble.
A figure burst through the cockpit of the Acting Dictator's airplane from the outside. The pilots had no time to shout as the figure killed them, turned on the automatic pilot, and walked deeper into the aircraft.
Twenty minutes after midnight...
Tochiro got up and began to pace. The women made room for him as they continued to wait in silence. Suddenly, the ornate door opened. Tochiro looked with the same snap ferocity of a snake seeing a new target.
Standing in the doorway was a woman wearing a dress which was probably once pretty but now was ripped and soaked in human blood. She was bleeding from numerous cuts all over her body, and holding a knife dripping with gore.
"Who the hell are you?" Tochiro angrily shouted.
"I am UN 1st Lieutenant Anna Sinclair, and I am the new Dictator of Korea, for I found the body of Aung Jim-Tong and I have her ring of office to prove it." Anna claimed coldly.
"Interesting story. It may even be true. But it doesn't matter." Tochiro claimed, suddenly calm. "Korea needs me and my policies now more than ever. My actions made Korea strong after Armageddon."
"Yes, but they weren't right. Even if that doesn't matter, your actions brought Partitionania's destruction upon your people, and you are running from it."
"Of course. I need to be alive to lead Korea into the future."
"You do not need to be alive when millions of your people are dead, but that is aside from the point. I am the Dictator, and it is time for you to give up your office."
"Of course, madam Dictator. Of course, there might be a slight problem..."
"And what is that?"
"By my ruling, women cannot hold office. It has the same power as a Dictatorial ruling, because I was Dictator when I made it. That means you cannot hold office, and must give the ring to me so I may become full Dictator."
"I think not. Do you really think the people will support you?"
"Do you really think it matters? Now give me the ring, girl, and I will find a position worthy of you..."
"No. Do you care about Korea? I can fix its relationship with the UN, its relationships with the world. Korea needs to be less aggressive, and I am not going to agree to be under you."
"Well then. I guess this has to happen like this." Tochiro suddenly snatched a samurai sword attached to the wall and swung at Anna.
The shimmering blade missed Anna by less than a centimeter as she retreated. Tochiro attacked, swinging at her repeatedly. Anna attempted to parry one of his strikes, but he twisted the knife out of her hand. Sparks flew as the sword bounced off of bulkheads and various pieces of military equipment. Anna searched for an opening, but the Dictator was so fast and precise that few presented themselves.
Anna retreated until she stood in the middle of the cockpit. Tochiro swung again, and Anna barely dodged. The sword smashed the autopilot control panel, and electricity surged through the sword into the Dictator. Tochiro yelled and let go of the sword.
Anna responded by punching the Dictator. Blood spurted out of his nose as he seized her and they struggled.
With the automatic pilot smashed, the aircraft began to nose over towards the ground. Alarms rang as the craft accelerated.
The Dictator gained the upper hand as he pushed Anna towards the gaping hole in the cockpit glass. "Get off my plane!" Tochiro growled.
Anna grasped a shard of glass beneath her even as it opened a new cut on her left hand. She tried to speak, but the Dictator's grip on her throat was too tight.
"What?" Tochiro asked sadistically as he loosened his grip.
"It's my plane." Anna stated as she stabbed the Dictator in the eye with the glass. Tochiro screamed and let go to claw at his eye. Anna flipped him over her and out of the dictatorial bomber.
She quickly got up and seized the controls, righting the airplane.
Anna Sinclair, Dictator of all Korea, flew off into the sky.
-Nukeknockout