#rassit

"Oh c'mon Rass, don't play with me like that on comms then point a gun in my face," she sounded more annoyed than anything.

"Tell me the charges against you are false," Rassit ordered. "M'Quve made them up, didn't he." It wasn't a question, so much as making sure she still believed her own conviction. Not that she knew her too well, but Rassit did know her half-sister as an extremely loyal and honest (if not simple...) woman. It was difficult to believe she would even entertain the idea of espionage against Zeon.

Everyone was watching them nervously, but Aria could see three officers on the operators platform huddled over one of the screens.

"One of you is a data officer or somethin', yeah?" Aria asked. Comoli, Sepha, and Osillo looked at each other. None of them were technically data officiers, but they understood why she was asking.

"Yes, Colonel," Comoli responded.

"Don't yes Colonel her," Rassit told her.

"She is a Colonel..." Comoli carefully pointed out, though it was difficult to believe the scruffy little woman in front of them held such a high rank.

"Ya don't gotta call me nothin', sweetheart," Aria told her. She lowered her arms slowly. "They stripped me of my rank. You have my info up, would you kindly read my final status?"

"Yes...ma'am," Comoli responded. "Looks like they called it an honorable discharge."

"Nothin honorable about it...." Aria mumbled, then sighed. "The rest, please, after they released me."

Comoli continued: "um released at the request of Garma Zabi. All major charges dropped upon formal investigation. Honorably discharged; Zeon citizenship maintained."

Rassit lowered her gun.

"M'Quve made them up, you're right," Aria told her. By the end of the war, few people bothered to question M'Quve; the fact that she wasn't a native spacenoid didn't help.

"Bastard," Rassit mumbled as she sat back down in her chair.