ThinksMarkedly wrote:tlb wrote:We know the officers had to be educated, because the lower ranks were people off the Dole. However the officers with the best chance to advance were those from Legislaturalist families.
No doubt. But that doesn't mean that others from outside those families had no chance. Arrogance may have played a large part in not properly recognising the people that were their "inferiors" but some must have stood out. Shannon would have been one.
Also, who's to say she wasn't a distant relation of a Legislaturalist family? Close enough to get good education, but far enough that she'd have been allowed to continue her career as Citizen Lieutenant once the CPS took over and the StateSec purged the Legislaturalist officers off the PN.
Plus, even the StateSec would have recognised her capabilities. The passage above about two people's commissioners passing on reports about her make it clear it had happened at least once. And, of course, no one in StateSec underestimated her capabilities after her final message... those that lived, at least.
Oh... Or she could have hacked her file, and when people asked if she was a Legislaturalist's relation, she'd say "No. Look at my file. It says middle class."