Penn-4

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==Chapter 4 - Pennants==
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===Like Yesterday===
Terra, Terran Hegemony
2755
The MPs at least didn't frog march her naked, when Anh was arrested.
She was allowed that fragment of her dignity, at least.
"Commander Cu'ong, Anh Li, you stand accused of seditious speech against the institution of the First Lord of the Star League."
Toshiro hadn't been at their apartment when it happened, he'd found out in the aftermath.
Several officers from their last command were also being arraigned, but he was not.
"What is happening?" he asked.
"She signed a confession. They're going to sentence her, but you 're in the clear."
"I'm in the clear?"
It was worse than the Combine. His homeland at least was honest about such things.
"Yeah, even under heavy interrogation."
"What's going to happen to her?"
"She's to be turned over to her home government: the Rim Worlds Republic. Probably going to be placed into re-education or executed."
Politics. It was all about politics. 
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Stockade Visitor - Room
"...the deal's done." Anh sat on the far side of a ferroglass barrier. "I was spotted."
"I don't understand…" Kaneda began
"More than ten years before I joined the SLDF? A First Lord's order banned all Kowloonese planetary nationals from joining the Star League Defense Forces directly. It was at the request of House Amaris. The justification was that the rebels in Dinh Diep had advisors and supporters that were SLDF veterans. This year, they extended it to the non-planetary inhabitants, Kaneda. Anyone born in the system is now covered by that executive order. They spotted me in a standard records search."
"What?"
"They 'closed the loophole' that I used," she explained. "Since there’s some question remaining about my 'loyalties'? I'm being forced out. The rest of this is just for show, in hopes of nabbing activists."
"The rumor is that you signed a confession." Kaneda told her.
"I didn't. I've got a junior JAG officer trying to find an exemption or waiver, but it's not looking good on that front. And our record in the Territorial states isn't up to Amos Forlough's fine example, so I'm still being accused of sympathies for the insurgents… And they're just short of accusing me of stealing children again."
"I… I still don't understand that one." Kaneda stumbled
"Back in the days of First Exodus, Stateless spacers like The Folk were a lot more common as the links between distant worlds. And sometimes they were accused of stealing children from their families to refresh their numbers," Anh explained. "In some regions, that reputation's so big it's a stereotype. I'm from a Spacer population, and even though we're centered in a single system, the nasty stories about 'Spacers taking your babies' are still bandied around."
"I was going to… I mean, I went to the jeweler…" he began.
"Don't. Protect your career, Toshiro," she cautioned him. "I don't have any associations they can really use against me, but you do. And if you end up linked to me, especially that way? They're not going to let you stay in and finish what you started. Don't burn your dreams because of me…" She stretched in her seat. "Besides, I might win. We could do it after that, clean for you, no dishonor to your family back in the Combine."
"Anh…I-" Kaneda began
"I love you too," she said. "Which is why I'm telling you to protect yourself now, before you do something stupid and romantic. Better for one of us to go down, than both. As Naval Officers we have to address conditions objectively, even when it hurts." Anh told him painfully.
He was silent.
"You know what the worst part is of this? I came in intending to be part of Interstellar Survey, and instead, I met the guy who had to get away."
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