BeyHop Chpt 50

==Beyond Hope- Chapter 50 - Greed==
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===Missing Report===
Kowloon, Federated Commonwealth (Lyran State)3063
“You know the way your face scrunches up when you’re both confused and frustrated is adorable.” Bianh smiled as Jane’s remote returned to a normal expression. “Aw. Knew I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“And you look positively glowing holding our daughter,” Jane Drillson (Cameron) smiled.
“Following the money trail giving you trouble?” Bianh asked
“Of a sorts. I can see all the accounts the outside funding is coming from, but some of them make no sense. Others are clearly intermediary accounts and without a proper warrant from the Star League I can’t dig into them much farther,” Jane confessed. “How about I take a break and start dinner?”
“That would be nice.” Bianh smiled as their daughter stared at her intently.
“Phoebe if you’d be a dear and start a bottle for your sister. Lenny, please set the table.” Jane hummed as she started cooking.
A knock at the door broke the silence.
"Dean! Get the door!!" Bianh ordered.
"Yes ma'am," the door sounded, and then, "no" and closing.
Knock again.
"Dean!"
"It's the police. Sam's in our room," Dean said. "They don't have a warrant so… 'no'."
Bianh sighed heavily and glared at what she was doing, "Lenny, take over…"
Jane understood. The boys were 'special cases'. Their father had gone insane after their mother's death, and turned into a traveling homicidal maniac-and he'd included, and even trained, the boys to 'hunt monsters'. As juveniles in the system, Dean and his brother had been on the fast greased rail to a life in institutions or prisons, but their court-appointed lawyers had actually done their job. The result was two boys with more kills than some combat soldiers, who wound up being questioned every time something bad happened within fifty kilometers.
“Thank you Lenny. Sophie, if you could take Jocasta into your room. Grown ups have grown up things to take care of it seems,” Jane smiled.
Now freed Jane and Bianh made for the door.
“Evening officer. May I inquire as to the nature of your visit?” Jane said as she carefully kept the door part way open.
Constable's deputy Kinslan held up a picture of a girl. "We want to question your sons about this girl, she's missing."
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===Dealing with the Law===
Strana Mechty, Kerensky Cluster (Clan Space)3063
“For how long?” Jane asked.
"Her parents reported it after seventy two hours." the Deputy said. "She's in one of Samuel's classes."
“Then I don’t know what my boys could tell you. They’ve been with me during that time frame.” Jane said.
Dean stared at the holopic, frowning, "Sam's not gonna like she's missing." He was somewhat overprotective of his younger brother.
“So you know her?"
"Sam knows her. He won't stop talking about her," Dean said. "Sixth grade crush. I'll go get him."
"No, Dean, you stay here," Bianh said in a warning tone. Then, "I'll fetch Samuel." The tone she used was clear to Jane: keep Dean here where we can see him. He had, in the past, run off when he felt threatened.
“Yes. Stay here Dean,” Jane wrapped a comforting arm around him. “My boys have been coming straight home from school.”
"Honestly, Mrs. Vu Dao, we're just interviewing anyone who might know her well enough to give us a lead," the Constable insisted. "Your boys aren't even suspects this time."
“As long as it stays that way.” Jane relaxed a little.
Bianh appeared with Samuel in tow. "Lori Kettner's missing?" he seemed genuinely upset, "How long?"
"Three days."
"THREE DAYS??" The boy went from mild worry to genuine upset. "Three days and you're only looking for her NOW?!"
Dean looked up. "Mom, you should call Seether," he said, which was a double surprise: he'd called her every honorific except variations of 'mother'. And Linda Sithers was the Coastie investigator who brought his father in after following a trail of bodies from Camranh to Ia Drang.
“Yes. I imagine she’ll have some interesting things to say and she can get to the bottom of this,” Jane nodded with a smile.
But Jane could see the wheels turning in his head, when he opened his mouth and asked, "Where was the last place anyone's seen her, Constable?" There was a hunger in his tone, an interest and fascination he didn't have with school work or even normal life.
“The bodega out on Ferdinand Strasse.”
"So she vanished in a shopping area and nobody said anything?" Bianh was aghast. "Not even her parents?"
“She stopped by the store quite often on her return from school. The clerk gave us his security footage and it shows her leaving on her own just fine.”
"That's not right," Bianh said quietly. "Constable, are you sure it took the parents three days to notice the girl was missing?"
“That’s what they claim.”
"I…see," Bianh said. "Well… Honey, call our lawyer. Constable, the rest of this interview will be conducted with legal counsel present."
“On it.”
"But ma'am we said-", Constable began.
"I've said the same thing, right to a suspect's face, in the Guard. You will wait for the lawyer, or you will move on and we'll come to the station with the legal counsel for deposition, your choice." She waited. "I see you're not moving, so either this is the only house left, or the only one you were checking… and you can stay in your car, or on the door-stoop. Dean, go help Lenore with dinner."
"Yes'm," he headed to the kitchen.
“I’ll wait in the car,” the constable shrugged as he started walking.
“This is all wrong. When a child is missing there is no mandatory 72-hour waiting period and you’re right, no parent worth being called parents would miss their child for that long without alerting authorities,” Jane shook her head.
"This smells, hon," Bianh agreed. Notably, she kept a firm hand on Samuel.
“Samuel, we can’t promise that we’ll find her. Not for sure. But we’re going to do everything we can.” Jane kneeled down to face her son.
"I know," Sam said. "But you'll do a better job lookin' for her than they do, an' th'Seether sniffed out Dad, and he was careful."
“She’s already on her way. Lenore, make sure we have enough for three more people.”
“Three? Should only be two with Seethers and our lawyer.”
“I’m feeling generous to the Constable. We may not be able to answer his questions but we can show him there are no hard feelings by feeding him while he waits,” Jane nodded.
In the Kitchen, Lenore caught Dean's arm. "Put it back."
The younger teen flushed and complied, putting the carving knife back in the drawer. "And the other one, Dean. You're not going to disappoint the moms, you feel me?"
"Yes, Len," he said. "I know what to do. It's frustrating."
"Your dad carved up ordinary criminals, Dean. They weren't 'vampires' or monsters."
"I Know that!" he shook his head. "Dad was nuts, we learned to not argue with him… But if it really took her parents three days to report her missing, I'm willing to bet she's somewhere in that house, because parents don't do that."
“Makes you wonder if the Constable even talked to the parents,” Jane mused.
“Jane?” Bianh asked.
“I know. Not in front of the children. We’ll talk privately later with Seether and our lawyer. For now Sam, Dean, you know you can trust her so when she gets here I know you two will answer any questions she has honestly,” Jane nodded.
"Yes'm." 
"Yes, Mom."
“That’s my brave boys.” Jane smiled.
===Missing Report===
Arluna, Federated Commonwealth (Lyran State)3063
Elizabeth read the report from Sithers while they were charging over Arluna. "Arthur, sometimes I hate humanity." She handed him the much longer-than-the-press-release report. "Sometimes, I really hate it."
"Yikes," he said. "How could someone do that to an eleven year old kid?"
"I don't know." She shook her head. "Sithers can likely write a textbook explaining it, and I still won't know."
“Evil exists. All we can do is be a beacon of light against the darkness and hope that others see it and flock to it.” Helena offered as Jonathan slept in her lap.
Hannah came in, toddling on her own feet, climbed up, and curled up against her father like a kitten.
"We just have to make sure it doesn't happen to OUR kids," Liz said. "She's a total Daddy's girl."
"I have the loveliest wife, and wonderful children," Arthur agreed. "And, I've had an epiphany of sorts, so we'll have to see where it goes."
“Oh this should be good,” Helena smiled. “So what’s the epiphany?”
"Still working it out, something I saw in the equations," he said enigmatically. "When I work out the solution, I'll know more."
“Okay, so I’ll have time to build up the funding.” Helena chuckled.
===Signs of Past Enemies===
Deep Periphery3063
Cassius N'Buta stepped down from his 'mech onto cold dry earth. The planet had a settlement… at one time. "What am I supposed to see here?" he asked.
"This," the scout party leader told him, leading him into a large, slightly corroded prefab.
The banner was familiar enough. "The not-named stopped here?"
"Aff… not long after they were 'annihilated', and not permanently."
“Then let us deploy the warriors. We shall search for clues as to where the Not Named went if there are any to be found. If not, it will do them good to get off the ships and do something besides bicker and fight among themselves.”
Cassius had built into his plans the possibility for several such stops. So they could spare some time even if the effort was in vain.
The first real discovery after finding the Not-Named's hall, was a 'mech hangar with Battlemechs.
A Coyotl.
"Is that what I think it is?" he asked a tech.
"Coyotl? Aff. Funny it is here. That type was invented by the Coyotes almost twenty years after the annihilation of the Not Named."
"Or maybe not." 
“Explain,” Cassius demanded.
"No Clan Coyote manufacturing marks on the components. All are marked with manufacturers that… well, do not exist."
“Do not exist?”
"None are in the standard record books, my Khan. Not one manufacturer code listed in current or defunct status. The stock numbering is standard for SLDF and even we use it, but the factory codes and manufacturer codes are… they come up with no results."
“I see. So it would be more accurate to say not known to us. Is it possible to get a more definitive date of manufacture? That it is here at all, even in the best case scenario, is troubling.”
"Alloy samples show some, but the error ratio is wide enough it could have been built before Klondike, or up to the middle of the Golden Century."
“If we were to take the manufacturing date stamps at face value, what do they claim?”
"The manufacturing dates in the part marking claim something impossible, ovKhan. They point to just a few months before the Annihilation vote, long before Clan Coyote created the first Omnimech."
“Then it seems we need to keep searching. There must be an answer here.”
“My Khan, your time table…”
“My time table be damned if there are Not Named still roaming around.”
"Of course. My mistake, my Khan." The Tech was hesitant.
"You think it is real, quiaff?"
"I know what I can prove, My Khan. What it suggests is… distasteful."
"Agreed." He drew in a breath, let it out. "Continue to gather evidence."
"Evidence?"
"If this is what it appears to be, then there has been great perfidy. Either the Coyotes continued to have contact with the Not-Named, or the Wolves lied to all of us and the annihilation trial is not complete, and thus, failed. I would know which, including mistakes or frauds, we are dealing with."
“Of course my Khan.”
What other lies did they tell us?
===Whom the People of Kowloon Are===
Herbania System, Periphery3063
Herbania Transit Station was like Point Echo, but… less. To an extent, Kenneth felt relief as he stretched his legs on the somewhat more open decks of the station's gravity ring, waiting for the next relay ship to board.
There was a more… orderly… sense here. A sense of purpose. (And fewer merchant stalls).
“A more military station, quiaff?” Kenneth asked.
"Aff," Morgan Icaza agreed. "Notice it?"
"What?"
"Tan uniforms for officers, blue uniforms for enlisted, all the same pattern.”
“Aff, but I am not sure what the significance is,” Kenneth admitted.
"The station staff here are not line Lyrans, or SLDF. Those are Kowloonese uniforms, which means this base is maintained by Kowloon, largely alone," Morgan commented. "I saw a few during their participation in the annihilation of the Smoke Jaguars. Coast Guard, not Navy-and according to battle reports, quite effective and nasty fighters in their own right… which is only appropriate considering their world of origin."
“Kowloon has a reputation then?” Kenneth asked.
Morgan glanced at Warrior Gabriel from the Goliath Scorpions.
"Kowloon joined the Great Father's war against Amaris. They did so after throwing off the Rim Worlds Yoke at the end of two hundred years of insurgency," the Scorpion said. "During the war against Amaris, they were the single largest non-Terran single-world contingent among the Rallier forces. They spent the lives of three million of their people to fight against the Usurper, Kenneth… from a population at the time of only a few hundred million. Their greatest claim to fame being that they neither offered, nor expected, mercy of any sort from the Usurper's forces or their supporters. On Eagle's Nest, they broke a fortress complex equivalent to a Brian fortress with infantry and combat engineers. They then recaptured the Brian fortress at Elbar later on, discovered an atrocity site, and impaled fifty one Amaris officers, while using surviving Amaris troops as bayonet practice for local recruits on that world." The large woman continued.
"Savashri, what would cause THAT?"
"Oh, dismantling people for spare parts, I imagine," the Scorpion said. "They found the atrocity, saw what had been done, and lost their minds for a time in rage. I imagine many of our Warriors would do the same if confronted with such horrors.”
"You left out the best part," Morgan chuckled. "Their pilots were insane, pulling maneuvers that would get any sane pilot dismissed for cause. They waged attritional warfare and broke three Amaris Divisions on that front the day after they finished impaling those enemy officers, and they did it all without conscription-they were volunteers. And when the Great Father called for Exodus, not one of them-not one… was willing to join. There were none of them in the Pentagon colonies, never mind the origin of the Clans."
“They refused? That makes no sense,” Kenneth shook his head.
Gabriel chuckled, "Kenneth, the Kowloonese did not fight Amaris because they loved the Star League. They joined the war against Amaris because they hated House Amaris that much."
“Savashri… And we’re going to spend a great deal of time with these people…”
"Their attitude toward the Star League has evidently changed. They are hosting the Star League's Council, and Helena Cameron was granted land in that system by the current Duchess." Morgan contributed, "Hatred does, eventually, burn out if it is not fed with new offenses."
“Plus we will keep you safe,” Gabriel smiled.
Star Colonel Roshak came from around the corner holding a hot-bag in one hand, and a thick, colorful sandwich in the other, "Oh Good! You ought to try these, this is the best Banh-Mi I have tasted in years!!"
Kenneth waited for the Warriors to claim the offered food first before he finally gathered up the courage to take a small morsel. What he got instead was a whole sandwich shoved into his hands by Nathan.
The taste of the sandwich was good.
"Napkin?" Gabriel offered him one. "You have some of the sauce on your lips and chin."
"Thank you…?"
He surreptitiously glanced at the station staff as they passed by the alcove, and wondered how these people who seemed so… so normal could have such a reputation, such a history, without showing any outward sign.
“These people are like what we strive to be. We are warriors first and foremost, but even us warriors know there is more to life than war. They perhaps reverse the order. But they can fight and do it well.” Gabriel caught Kenneth’s eyes.
"They should have been ours from the start," Nathan completed the thought. 
“Aff,” Gabriel agreed. “And you can relax Kenneth. I know we Trueborns have a reputation when it comes to interacting with Freeborns. That is something the Clans will have to address if we are to survive this war. But with us you have little to fear. It will actually take a great deal for us to be offended.” Gabriel smiled.
"Part of the selection process," Morgan contributed. "At least, for the Jade Falcon contingent. Khan Marthe wanted to make sure we only took people who could handle interacting with Spheroids without drawing a weapon unless truly needed."
“Aff. Why Yeh turned from outcast to useful, and shared many lessons with us,” Gabriel nodded.
"Lesson time," Nathan said. "Kenneth, now you have been told the history and the legend. I will now explain some basic truths about the people we are visiting. Kowloonese value their word-I do not mean they do not lie, they lie. But if one makes a promise, it is generally good-that is, they will fulfill it, even to their own harm. It comes from their partial ancestry among Sol's Belters-a deal made, or a promise, must be upheld, or the person breaking it is of no value… which may produce some problems for us. Aleksandr Kerensky promised to uphold their independent status when they joined the war against Amaris… but then, Exodus."
"Deserter…" Morgan contributed "...is a common slang term they use almost as frequently as some warriors use Surat or Stravag. But it has a much more… colorful meaning for those people."
“Pirate, Brigand, Slaver. These terms too often are directed at us by their people,” Nathan continued.
"To be fair, their Duchess was one of the first to openly acknowledge our ancestry-but she did so in a speech condemning the sheltering of the Wolf Exiles," Morgan mused aloud. "She said 'shalt we forgive them' as a question… her answer was that you can only forgive the guilty. The innocent do not need it."
“This is a strange world we are going to,” Kenneth shook his head.
"Kenneth, the Kowloonese have been compared unfavorably with your own Clan," Gabriel chipped in. "Your isolation, and your legendary stubborn nature? Are seen by some as VERY like them. I would consider the comparison a sort of compliment. These are, after all, people who fought an insurgency for two centuries then launched themselves into a war to destroy their oppressors."
“Then perhaps a few scant individuals did go after all. Few enough that the census of who went missed them but enough to shape my Clan.”
"Perhaps. Nature versus Nurture. The Coyotes chose not to send anyone, so…" Nathan said "...I feel somewhat comfortable suggesting that conditions shape peoples, not mere genetics."
“Aff. We warriors and the scientists that create us love to play up how we are inherently superior. But the truth is Clan society is like a pressure cooker. So of course the best stand out. But also consider that Clan Steel Viper and Clan Smoke Jaguar were both severely mauled,” Gabriel said between bites.
"It's duelists," a woman in a tan oversuit with a neck ring from her skinsuit showing, leaned against the pillar. "Honored guests, your ride is almost ready." Her name tag said Qua-Devlin221
"What is the significance of the number?" Kenneth blurted out to avoid any other embarrassing question.
"Second wave, second generation, first born," she said. "The hyphenated name is because my family line is associated with the Devlin association of Rockjacks, our co-op. Qua's the family name. I said it's the duelists, because that's how we beat the Steel Vipers. They came looking for a duel, we fought them like Sailors, you're the Scientist, right?"
“Aff.”
"Okay, there are two kinds in space. Spacers, who live out here, who are spacers all the time and sometimes have to fight. That's my people, we're a third of Kowloon System's total population, and I still haven't seen the surface of a habitable world except in holorenders or through a telescope from orbit, diggit?" 
“I think so?” Kenneth answered.
She continued, "Then there's the types like the Steel Viper intruders-they're Warriors, and pretty good shots, okay pilots, but they're warriors, not spacers, sabby Klannahwallah? We beat them because they came looking for a duel in shirtsleeves pressure with inadequate damage control and no understanding of how to live out here. The gear was better than ours, but we had better organization, so we won, they lost. It would be like… I don't know. I mean, I did a tour with the Navy out in the ex-Jaggie zone, and we didn't see shit for burrows or habs, so I guess it just wouldn't compute."
“I am a Scientist… Not a Warrior. I do not understand much of what it means to be a Warrior. Let alone to be a spacer who sometimes goes to war,” Kenneth admitted.
"The second is pure hell," she told him. "Be glad you don't understand, because I wish I didn't. If you fine folk will follow me to the airlock, we'll get you on your way."
“Aff. We ‘travel light’ as you would say,” Gabriel nodded.
"You fought the Vipers?" Morgan asked.
"Yeah, I was on one of the ships that helped sink the-" spitting motion "-Belleau Wood. They renamed it some snake name, but they didn't even bother to change the prefix codes and Star League registry numbers. Then I spent a nasty afternoon digging the few survivors off the irradiated wreck."
“Do not ask,” Gabriel warned Kenneth.
“There is a history there, I take it?” Kenneth asked anyway.
"Twenty Seven Twenty Nine," their local host said. "SLS Belleau Wood, escorting the 332nd Royal Battlemech Division, arrived in the Kowloon system. The Dirtyfeet on the ground had given the Rimjob overlords so much hassle that they called on House Cameron and their alliance to come help put it down… so the Star League did… and then General Chivington-" spitting motion again "-proceeded to orbitally bombard a city of fifteen million people, including a municipal grade fission breeder reactor, creating an entire valley full of thankfully buried nuclear waste where that city once stood. We didn't have the means to rebel against the Rimjobs again, until 2768, when we finally threw them the ****** out after Annie Cu'ong and the Rockjack Co-ops dropped kinetic kill weapons on the Rimjob bases."
“Savashri…” Kenneth shook his head.
"They set the terms when they used capital ship weapons for crowd control in an inhabited city. It just took us a while and some luck, in the form of Steve Amaris trying to overthrow his biggest ally, before we could try again with a major rising. I had an ancestor who died at Dinh Diep, and one who was flying transport for the One-Seven-One when they found the murder factory at Running Deer mountain… but hey, it's all history, you know? The Rimjobs are all dead now."
“Aff,” Kenneth nodded.
“I suppose you did need to ask that question after all. I apologize for being inconsiderate,” Gabriel said to Kenneth.
"Kinetic Kill weapons?" 
"We threw rocks, really hard, from deep orbit. Force equals mass times velocity. Throw a rock hard enough, and it's as good as a nuke. Which is great, because nukes are more useful as mining tools."
Kenneth stopped mid-stride at the admission.
“Nuclear weapons as mining tools?” he asked.
"Yah. You don't think you'll get a five k rock into the processor without breaking it up, do you? I mean, I’ve HEARD of people relying on pathetic little bitty lasers and chemical explosives, but that shit takes forever!"
“Come, Kenneth. The shuttle will not wait for us to pick up all the pieces of your blown mind,” Gabriel tapped him on the shoulder.
Kenneth moved like… well, like a man stunned. "Mining tools… How are the rest of you so calm about this?"
“Because there is no use in freaking out about it. Plus it is how they defeated the Steel Vipers,” Gabriel answered.
"You nuked them?"
"It was very expensive," their hostess said. "See, rocks that aren't valuable? They're cheap, so is hydrogen. Laser triggers for a military grade nuke? Those are expensive. The reserves had to use military grade nukes, because these rules, you know? Can't use a nice Teller Stack because it has too much radiation output and that would be a war crime. Which is the same reason I was on Search and Rescue in the wreck of the Belleau Wood: you don't leave anyone to die like that."
“I do not think I have ever been more glad to be a Scientist,” Kenneth shook his head.
"Yah, Her Grace and her foreign husband? They're gonna love meeting you. BIG science! They blew up a couple moons to test a theory! And the draw off those? We're still finding veins of Germanium the size of battleships."
“Just think of it, Kenneth. You will get to do real science, not the version Clan Blood Spirit has limited you to,” Nathan laughed. “Maybe they will let you blow up a moon too.”
"I think the last First Lord set a bag limit of two," their hostess piped up. "The charge to do that actually makes nuke triggers look cheap."
“Shame. Perhaps they will find something else you can blow up. After all that is the best part of theoretical physics. Something inevitably goes boom,” Nathan chuckled.
"Yep, the boss lady's gonna LOVE talking with you, Mister Kenneth." 
“Do not worry, Kenneth. If it makes you feel safer, I will be there to ‘chaperone’ as the Spheroids say,” Morgan re-assured.
===Draft Notice===
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To: Pham, Giao, MS Sindra, Registry Sithers-Deen No. 4, Boojum IV, Kowloon System
From: Dept. of Legal Administration, Kowloon Star System
RE: Report for Civic Duties under Sec. 6, Subcategory 11
Our Records show that you have completed Coast Guard Course 2274/A with a score of 751 or higher out of 800 possible questions by January of 3060.
You are to report to the Branch National Court in Hue no later than April 4, 3062 to perform your civic duty as a presiding magistrate in the Kowloon System Criminal Courts. Failure to do so, barring acceptable reasons as defined under Section 6, subcategories 11, 12, and 15 will result in penalties including fines, forfeiture of properties registered within the Kowloon system, forfeiture of voting rights, and possible prison time of no less than 5 years.
You may appeal this summons to the System Assembly through the representative of your home of record as listed in your voting registration, or to the present Head of State, waivers may be issued by the office of the Duke directly.
Thank you in advance for performing your Civic Duty.
========================================================================
"You've been drafted? Can they do that??"
"The extension courses I took in the Coast Guard included legal process, procedure, and investigation procedures," Giao said. "Theoretically, now that we're not in the Lyran Commonwealth's system of justice, an interpretation of section six could indeed qualify me to be a lawyer. I don't think Her Grace considered restoring the Constitutional Charter would leave a gap like that, but it did."
"So… you're supposed to go to the bottom of the gravity well to what? Be a lawyer for someone?"
Giao shook her head. "No. I'm supposed to serve as the goddam Judge. This is Criminal Court, which means I have to 'maintain objectivity during the trial, enforce the rules of evidence, and detect and punish attempts to subvert the process of justice'. It's got some pretty broad powers, and under the Charter, I could decide to kick a law back to the Assembly for clarification and, or, even suspend it-but only if it's relevant, and my results are free to be reviewed by the Assembly's justice committee or the Duchess herself… Who can override any ruling I lay down if she doesn't agree with it, but within the context of whatever case I'm overseeing, I'm serving as referee." She spat into a suction mask, "I'm going to guess this is a case involving military or offworlders. The elected magistrates are supposed to handle this stuff, if they're drafting an outsider…"
"Your phobia should get you out of it."
Giao nodded, "Yeah, but I still have to report, if I want to apply for a waiver… ******, this means we're going to lose money. Depending on how long it takes down there, we could be idled for months."
"So… they picked you how?"
"Well, first, everyone who hits a certain point in the Coast Guard had to go through training in policing, which means correspondence courses for Law School. Since there ARE NO Magistrates in the outer system, because it'd take too long to move between stations, habs, and burrows, Coast Guard officers over O-3 have to have pre-preparation in dispute moderation and extra prep in how to both gather, and analyze, evidence for a Criminal Court. Which means court-prep, including key rules we have to observe under the Charter."
"What rules?"
"Presumption of Innocence, chain of evidence, you don't try someone twice for the same offense… that kind of thing. That's on my personnel record, even after I mustered out. Because it was paid out of the System's tax funds, instead of me buying the classes myself, I'm under an obligation to serve the role if called on." She bit her lip. "Closest thing I had to having to use it was during the Smoke Jaguar war, and I had JAG officers I could lean on for it instead… XO, set up a route to Kowloon system that gets me there before April first, pay the penalties if we can for anyone who's going to be late getting their stuff, and keep the receipts. I'll take a shuttle to Hue on the surface. Once I'm away, I want this ship on the path-route out to finish whatever deliveries we were going to be making in that time, with broadcast apologies for the delay. While I'm stuck down on the death-trap playing magistrate, you'll be acting Captain. Congratulations, adjust your shares accordingly."
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