ANME-11

=Chapter 11 Ancient Memories=
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==Tommy 'ows your Soul?==
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The universal name is supposed to be 'John Doe'. And it is, if you're not from the Federated Suns. Then when they fill out a form for an unidentified, or unidentifiable, casualty it's 'John Doe'... but the example name on the Enlistment form for the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns, is 'Thomas Atkins', just like it was for the British Empire in the age of pre-spaceflight.
Which sucks, if your last name really is Atkins, and your parents really did name you Thomas.
The magical joke gets worse if your homeworld is named Dieron and you're a soldier of the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery instead of a Feddie.
NOBODY who knows the joke will leave you alone once they've found out about it. Nobody.
You're always suspect. Being red-haired and tall, thin, and lacking even cosmetic resemblance to the Coordinator, or most of the high command, doesn't help. What helps less, is having that name because someone always suspects you of disloyal feeling.
Living under suspicion of disloyalty can have one of two outcomes. Men under that pressure either become completely loyal, or they… don't.
Too much overt suspicion will turn the most loyal man into the traitor you fear him to be, sometimes.
All it takes is one bad day.
Tommy wasn’t that man, at least not yet. But someone was really trying to make it look like he was.
What Tommy actually was, turned out to be in the way.
He had joined the 22nd Dieron Regulars not long ago, just in time for them to be deployed to Dromini to face the Dragoons.
Just the simple fact that he survived that with his mech intact had given him a level of fame.
Which was when he met Kiriko Yamada.
According to upper levels of Combine culture, they should never be allowed to marry. He was a lowly commoner, and she was a noble. But they were in love.
Which put Tommy in the position he was currently in.
Standing in front of the private residence of the Yamada family.
“Thomas. You need to stop.” Tai-sa Meiji Yamada stood in his path. “Please.”
“I owe you for Dromini, but your father is making my life hell.” Tommy said. “All because I don’t meet some arbitrary standard of privilege.”
“Thomas. You know how this works. She’s nobility, you’re a commoner.”
“Meiji. Move.”
“Not one more step. I have my orders.”
Tommy nodded. He acted as if he was going to turn away then quickly drew his pistol and shot the closest person he had to being a friend.
“She... won’t… forgive… you… for… this…” Meiji said as he slumped to the ground.
Tommy walked past the gates. The driveway was flanked by meticulously manicured hedges, and garden spaced. At the roundabout in the center was a traditional zen rock garden with a modern Combine twist, stones placed for Luthien and each district capital.
There were no guards waiting for him. This had become a matter of honor. And if there was one thing the ruler of Ko, Tetsuo Yamada, was a stickler for, it was the neo-bushido code of the Combine.
It was stupid, Tommy decided. But it would help him complete his task.
Tommy wound through the hallways until he found the room he was looking for.
The floors had been freshly mopped and stained.
“You should not have come here, Atkins-san. Nor should you have shot, my son.” Tetsuo was still a formidable man, despite being many years Tommy’s senior.
“And you could have let me and Kiriko be happy. Now… She’s not.”
“This is the Combine. There is an order and structure to all we are. You reach above your station. I could have made an exception, but you have failed your test.”
“Having your agents root around my life, accusations of treason, and freezing my accounts were a test?”
“Hai. One you failed. Quite spectacularly. If you were truly worthy of elevation you would not have shot my son, marched in here so brazenly, and had found another way.”
Tommy didn’t even hesitate as he raised his pistol up and emptied the magazine into the man where he sat.
“******. She really won’t forgive that,” Tommy shook his head 
Tommy reloaded. The guards might have stayed away initially, but they would come for him for real now.
As he stepped into the hallway, gun at the ready, he felt the first blow on his forearm. Then another a fraction of a second later on his gun hand that caused him to lose his grip.
Tommy tried striking back but it was four on one and then soon after, eight on one.
They weren’t coming at him one at a time. It was a good old fashioned beat down.
He was barely conscious when he felt them stop.
“Thomas. Do not take what I am about to do as a sign of generosity. You will not die this day, but know you have cost yourself the love of the woman you professed to cherish. You are now worse than Ronin. Death would be a release for you. So for the crime of grievously wounding my brother and killing my father, I sentence you to a fate worse than death. You are stripped of everything. Clothes too. Toss him in the worst slum you can find.” Kiriko’s voice was ice cold.
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--- End ----
*; Note from Wiki : The story authors' essentially ran out steam and were unable to continue the story.
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