2066, Ciad Juarez, Aztlan
"Lt. DeSoto, tell us about your upbringing. This tribunal understands that your family does not share your genotype. Can you explain that?"
"I fail to see the bearing my family has on my combat effectiveness. But, should it please the tribunal, I will expound on my genetic history. My mother was Maria Hernandez of Garza Garcia, while my father was General Marius Rodriquez of the Mexican Army."
"You mean Azlanner Army, yes?"
"No. Mexican. My father served the Republic of Mexico. It is not a political statement to say the name of the nation he served at the time, any more than to refer to the old United States to reference that state before its balkanization."
"But you agree that the Mexican State was far inferior to the Aztlanner Republic, a true defender of the spirit of the indigenous peoples of Central America and the heirs to Montezuma?"
"Yes yes, of course. Moving back to my family, your original question. I was born in 2011, just before the accepted date of the Awakening. At this time, Nobilis and Pumilionis were still born to baseline Sapiens parents. While I was considered to be an oddity, I was by far not the only one."
"I see. And at what age did you decide to serve the Aztlanner Republic as a member of our patriotic and heroic Armed Forces?"
"I joined in 2053. I was 42 years of age."
"Why did you wait so long in your life to join the Glorious Armed Forces of the Atzlanner Republic?"
"I was in no rush. I finished my Masters degree in Cybertechnology at Universidad de Aztlan in Tenochtitlan, I had been employed with Universal Omnitech for nearly a decade. I wanted something more challenging. More rewarding than installing cybereyes in the failing bodies of the wealthy. I wanted to serve my people."
"Very noble. I note here in your file, you have never been married. Why is this?"
"I fail to see what my social life has to do with my combat effectiveness."
"Answer the question, please."
"I never married because I never met a man I was willing to throw away my career for. I have no taste for children, or cooking, or home making."
"But you… like men."
"I fail to see what my sexual orientation has to do with my combat effectiveness."
"Lt. DeSoto, you will -answer- the questions as they are put to you."
"I am classified as heterosexual. I have had sexual relations with males of Nobilis, Robustus and Sapiens. I am not attracted to women. To be fair, I am attracted to very few men. Sexual relations are not a desirable or interesting dimension to interpersonal relations at this stage in my life. To put in perspective; I am 56 years old. To you, I am perhaps beyond marriage and childbearing age, were those to be desirable to me. But, as a member of the genetic phonotype Nobilis, I am as of yet still an adolescent. With a projected lifespan of five hundred years, I am one tenth of the way through my life cycle. This, to put to you, means I am a girl just barely out of her Quinceanera."
"Lt. DeSoto, why did you wish to join the Jaguar Guard?"
"I wished to join the Jaguar Guard because it was quite simply, the best. I knew I was capable, I knew I could do it. I did not appreciate the insinuations that I, as a female, was unable to measure up to the standards of the unit. I took it as a challenge."
"It appears to be a challenge you were not up to."
"I resent the implication, Colonel, that being injured in the line of duty as any honorable soldier would be, is some how an indication of my being unfit for duty. Were the 1,923 other casualties and 302 fatalities suffered by the Jaguar Guard in the last 10 years also unfit for duty?"
"Let us discuss your injury. State the extent of your injuries."
"As the result of a bla…"
"We are not interested in how they happened. That has been on record already."
"I sustained major head injuries, including eyes and inner ear. Additionally, I sustained major flash burns to a large portion of my body. My right arm was severed from the elbow down."
"And how do you think this affects your suitability for duty with the Jaguar Guard? Do you not feel this diminishes your capability?"
"No. I do not feel this diminishes me in any way. What I have lost in magical ability, I have countered with the addition of technological offsets. I have lost no combat capability, in the eyes of my doctors or my commanding officers."
"We are your commanding officers."
"The commander of the Jaguar Guard, then."
"I see. We have the report of Colonel DeGuzman here and have taken it in to advisement in coming to our decision."
"Your decision is already formed then. Do you have further questions that have little to no basis in logical decision making, or shall we simply end this session?"
"It is the finding of this tribunal, that for negligence in the dispatch of you duties and injuries that render you unfit for your duties, that you be discharged from the Jaguar Guard with a disreputable commendation. You may no longer style yourself as Lt. or carry yourself with military privileges."
"Permission to speak freely?"
"Denied."
"Go fuck yourselves."
And that's how I come to Denver.
It wasn't immediate. I tried to do the Corp-Sec route, but Aztechnology wouldn't hire me and the Disreputable commendation, no matter how well explained, barred me from work inside Aztlan unless I wanted to go shadow. I didn't. I wanted respectable work. I wanted pride. I wanted honor. I got nothing back for a lifetime given.
When I came to understand the nature of the situation, when I came to appreciate the enormity, I spoke with Corizon. She understood, and made sure I got passage out of Aztlan. First to Havana, then some minor work in the shadows of Miami, then to Saint Louis doing some hired gun work for smugglers. But it wasn't what I was looking for.
I've come to Denver looking for something. I'm not sure what it is yet. But I'll know it when I find it.
