Chapter 2

Washington, DC, SNSA February 2, 2034 Alexa Dombrowski looked out her window in the Cannon Building wistfully. As one of the few remaining liberal Congresswomen, she was beginning to wonder why she was even here. Every proposal she made received no traction among colleagues. Her latest bill proposal she considered a no-brainer and surely would receive bi-partisan support. It was in response to the proposal made by the Nationalist Congressman from Alabama, John Ruffins. The Ruffins Bill would disenfranchise any voter not owning property and reverse the 19^th amendment. Women would no longer be allowed to vote. Same sex couples would also be disenfranchised.

The Dombrowski Bill she introduced basically was a point-by-point counter to the Ruffins Bill which would guarantee voting rights to all S.N.S.A. Citizens regardless of financial circumstances, sex or sexual orientation. Her bill never got out of the Judicial Committee chaired by Congressman O’Brian from Ohio. Meanwhile the Ruffins proposal is up for a vote today and unbelievably, it looks like it has the votes to pass. She only had the slim hope the Nationalist Party controlled Senate would have enough moral fiber to block it, although based on recent voting patterns, that body did not seem to have an appetite for defending civil rights. The President had packed the Supreme Court with conservative Constitutional originalists who believed the government existed only to protect property and not people or civil rights, so she saw no hope for the courts overturning this.

Now the Nationalist Party had captured a majority in both houses of Congress and the Executive Office and the Supreme Court was ready to uphold any draconian law they wanted to pass. They claimed the time for a more ‘benevolent’ authoritarian government had come and Democracy is morally corrupt. The white Christian evangelicals embraced the message of conservative media outlets by questioning the value of egalitarianism when it promoted rights of ‘inferior races’ that did not embrace the family values extolled on Father Knows Best, Little House on the Prairie and Happy Days. There was a call to go back to those days where men wore the pants in the family and called the shots. Specifically, those men were white and ‘manly’. The churches, especially the mega churches, echoed the fears that homosexuals were ‘grooming’ our kids to be morally corrupt like them. They convinced their congregations that any gain made by minorities or such morally corrupt people were made under false pretenses by stealing elections and getting ‘corrupt’ Government officials in office to destroy American values.

The irony in such statements was not lost on Alexa. When actual voter fraud was found, it was most often a conservative voter and often involved elected Nationalist Party politicians. The Nationalist Majority Leader was found to have registered to vote and had voted in three different states where he had vacation homes. The story in the Press was backed up by strong evidence but was never investigated by the Justice Department and dismissed by the party as ‘fake news’. As for corruption of minors, the Nationalist Party was fraught with multiple stories of child pornography, sex trafficking and statutory rape of teens that failed to be investigated due to their influence over the courts and law enforcement. The Nationalist Party also had more than its fair share of domestic abusers that were never punished. It made sense that a group that believed in authoritarianism would want to exert their absolute authority in their personal lives. While they accused others of political and moral corruption, it turned out every accusation was really a projection and confession on their part.

This issue was also personal to the 54-year-old Congresswoman since she was a lesbian and married to her partner of 10 years. Carol Miller was 16 years younger than Alexa at 38 and she looked even younger, sometimes making Alexa feeling inadequate when they were out together. Carol always turned her on. Her long, dark hair hung halfway down her back and her dark brown eyes always drew her in. She had that cherubic mouth that was just made for kissing. Even after 10 years, she was still in love. As Alexa grew older and her D cup breasts and ass cheeks began to sag, she thought of herself as less desirable and imagined every woman and man Carol talked to was someone with which she was having an affair.

When she expressed her concerns to Carol, they were immediately dismissed. Carol tried to reassure her she was the love of her life. She believed in the work she did to try to preserve the rapidly vanishing democratic principles of government. But even that seemed like tilting at windmills lately. Alexa represented one of the more liberal enclaves left in the country. Brooklyn, New York held a widely diverse population including people of color and a large LGBTQ community that elected her to defend their rapidly diminishing freedoms under this new government.

Her intern, Brandi, knocked on the door bearing coffee. “I thought you could use a pick me up after getting the news on the Ruffin’s Bill.” Brandi, like all her interns were young and idealistic. Brandi was one of the youngest on her staff at 19. She was a mousey girl with glasses, a big nose and quite chubby. What she lacked in appearance she made up in enthusiasm. She as passionate about social justice and Alexa had put the girls in charge of miliary affairs in her office. Her latest assignment was investigating charges of sexual harassment at military bases. Brandi pursued these with dogged determination even though she seemed to be blocked at every turn by Military Commanders that were backed up by their local Congressmen and Senators that seemed to shield the bases from any investigation of charges.

Tammy on her staff was a cute blonde 20-year-old she assigned as Senate liaison. Alexa was more than a little ashamed at her reasons for assigning Tammy to cover the Hart building of Senatorial offices. She knew Tammy would get more audiences with the all-male Nationalist Party Senators and be able to bypass their staff simply due to her looks. Most of those guys were 60 something dirty old men. Tammy was successful getting appointments but the political points had not been getting any support since her appointment spent most of the time staring at her cleavage or making overt passes. More than once Tammy only escaped their office after being grabbed and molested. Alexa filed Congressional ethics violations when this happened but all had been dismissed by the Speaker with an investigation that consisted of a phone call to the Senator who said the attack never happened.

Her third intern, Christy, was also 20 and was an extremely thin redhead with hardly any bustline. Alexa suspected, but ever asked, if she was gay. She knew nothing about her love life as she was the newest member of her Congressional staff. Christy was very studious and already proved herself as very detail oriented when reading Congressional bills line by line and providing Alexa with excellent summaries of the salient provisions of the bill.

Alexa’s chief of staff was Helen Rodrigues who had been her campaign manager when Alexa first ran for Congress eight years ago. Helen was a typical fiery Hispanic grandmother with dark curly hair and an overly ample butt. She was the same age as Alexa but looked much older with streaks of gray hair in her curly dark mop on her head. It was a different world back then when the country as still the USA and not this semi-fascist tyrannical government renamed the S.N.S.A. Back then Helen and Alexa were still hopeful that some of the degradation of human liberties could be reversed.

Instead, they saw bill after bill pass through the Nationalist controlled Congress and Senate and signed by the two term Nationalist President Jordan. The bills without exception widened the income gaps under the trickle-down economic theories that did nothing but slow the economic growth and padded the pockets of the wealthiest citizens. The laws that helped mitigate gender and racial discrimination were for the most part, reversed. Now these same people were about to be disenfranchised. Alexa had always tried to champion women which was why she had an all-female staff. Now it seems the calendar was being turned back on women and minorities to the early days of 20^th century. Now Congress cleared the way for President Jordan to run for unlimited terms. She had never seen such low morale in her staff.

Helen’s latest obsession was what she referred to as a freedom of the press issue. She was asking for information regarding a Philadelphia reporter named Susan Bonner and her Associate Producer Bonnie Dyer. The official local police explanation was they were lesbian lovers that ran off together. Helen wasn’t buying the explanation and had been convinced by Bonnie’s son and daughter that their mother would die rather than participate in a lesbian act. Her son Keith also received a cryptic message about his mother from an old classmate named Danny Thompson who was a soldier in special forces stationed at the Re-education Center in Philadelphia. She tried to contact Danny Thompson who had conveniently disappeared. Helen’s intuition said there was some conspiracy and cover up at play.

Alexa was broken from her reverie by the sound of male voices in the outer office where her staff members worked. She heard Helen speaking angrily in some English interspersed with Spanish curse words. Alexa opened the door to her office and found six armed men were pushing her staff up against the far wall of the outer office. Brandy and Tammy were crying at being handled so roughly. Christy was quiet but looked back to Alexa as if asking for help. Helen was actively resisting but the older woman was no match for the two soldiers holding her and handcuffing her hands behind her back.

“What is the meaning of this? You can’t just barge into a Congressional office and harass my staff like this!”

The soldier nearest her grabbed Alexa’s arm and slammed her against her open office door which slammed against the interior wall of her office. Alexa Dombrowski, you are under arrest for sedition as are your entire Congressional Staff. The Speaker of the House has just announced your sanction and removal from Congress as an enemy of the people.” He pulled her hands in back of her and she was also quickly handcuffed.

“This is outrageous! This has to be some kind of mistake.” The soldier spun Alexa around and shoved a paper in front of her face. She could see the order was signed by the President himself.

“Does this look like a mistake bitch?” He reached up, grabbed the lapel of her jacket holding her Congressional pin and ripped the lapel and the pin off her jacket.

Alexa was marched out into the staff office and she was shoved out the hall into hall of the Cannon building with the other four women. They went down the stairs where Tammy lost a high heel shoe. She tried to stop and pick it up but the soldier pushed her forward and one of the other soldiers picked it up and tossed it in the trash. Tammy yelled at him. “Those shoes are expensive! Get that out of the trash.”

The soldier that was pulling her away as she limped in one shoe smacked Tammy in the face as he dragged her. “Shut the fuck up bitch. You won’t need any shoes where you’re going.”

That comment scared Alexa. “Where are you taking us? I want to speak to my lawyer now.”

“You don’t get a lawyer in a military tribunal, traitor.” They were marched down the tunnel toward the Capital itself and diverted into an underground chamber that Alexa remembered was a bomb shelter she was shown when she first came to DC. It was part of an orientation on where to go in case of emergency evacuations.

It turned out it was a much larger area than Alexa was shown in orientation. They were eventually pushed into a room and made to stand in a line in front of a table with four military officers and her arch rival in Congress, John Ruffins. The center of the seat at the table was General Sable, the Chief of Staff of the Army.

“General, what is the meaning of this kangaroo court. I demand to answer these ridiculous accusations in a civilian court with a lawyer present.” Alexa stood defiantly with her hands cuffed behind her.

“Request denied. You and your staff have repeatedly committed acts of sedition against the S.N.S.A. and its people. Under the seditions act of 2030 a military tribunal takes precedence over the judicial system.”

“What evidence do you have against me and my staff?”

“Your Chief of Staff actively worked to aid other convicted seditionists. She was warned to drop the investigation yet she persisted. Aiding a convicted seditionist is treason. You have repeatedly filed false charges against a member of Congress using unsubstantiated claims by a member of your staff, Tammy Hanks. It has become obvious based on the unamerican agenda you present in Congress, such as countermanding constructive legislation that was introduced by Congressman Ruffin, your intent is to do damage to the reputation and body of our great country.”

“All of those accusations are mischaracterizing what really happened.”

“That is for this tribunal to judge and we have determined you are a danger to the state and shall all become wards of the state to serve it in any way we will please. Now you will undress at this time. Slaves of the state do not wear clothes unless a citizen orders them to do so.” A soldier approached from the rear and uncuffed her arms so she could comply.

“I will do no such thing! You will have to kill me.”

General Sable motioned to a soldier off to the side of the room who immediately left. “I anticipated you would be difficult so we brought some insurance.”

Alexa saw the door off to the side open and a soldier was manhandling Carol, her wife, into the room. The brunette’s hands were bound behind her and her red lips were stretched around a ball gag. She wore a breezy flower print summer dress that was torn at one shoulder and she was crying indicating a previous struggle.

“No! She has nothing to do with the work we did in our office. You have no right to hold her!” Alexa was visibly upset now losing her cool veneer she showed up to this point.

“She is a conspirator as well and is my leverage for you to shut your yap. You don’t obey and she suffers. Now strip bitch.”