Divided Loyalties - Keb Log

[Keb 0]

Nobody was listening to Keb’s pleas for sanity as Manticore’s crew fractured. Erich was barely responding to her as she tried to understand what was going on: why had he dumped the core, and why was Admiral Atragon so angry, so eager to have Erich and all engineering thrown into the brig? It frightened her, the way the admiral commanded security to take any measures necessary. It reminded her of how he’d set his weapon to kill when they’d retaken the ship. It was bad enough when it was a group of unknown strangers who had attacked them first; this was Erich, the man she loved whom she knew to be as loyal to Manticore as she was.

A9 sent Sovak to prepare the brig, with the vague and ominous suggestion that he knew what to do.

“What are you going to do to them?” A9 didn’t respond. Desperate to ensure Erich’s safety, she grabbed the admiral’s arm. “What are you going to do to Erich?” she demanded.

A9 gritted his teeth, like a growling dog, as he glared down at her. “I’m throwing them in the brig for insubordination. Do you have a problem with that, Lt. Commander Mizu?” he barked. “Now please take your hand off of me.”

She pulled away from him as though burned, staring in terror at the man she used to idolize. His supposed death had felt to her like losing her father might, and now she barely recognized him. She feared him, and what he might do to Erich.

Keb gazed through moist eyes at the admiral she’d once so admired. She had been so eager to prove herself to him, and to be honest she hadn’t been much use in the battle to retake the bridge--in part because his behavior had so unnerved her.

What had changed? Only a little more than a year ago, he’d been a tortured prisoner on Titan for months. Keb recalled how gaunt he’d seemed when she first saw him after his rescue. He’d had a year to recover, but he’d spent most of that time away from his ship—as they’d been trapped in the endless time loop that had nearly driven Erich crazy. Maybe that was why this change felt sudden and strange to Keb; perhaps it was a latent effect of everything that had happened. That was the only thing that made sense. She felt like her heart was breaking, torn between her loyalties to Erich, the ship, and the admiral, and she didn’t know what she should do.

She made a weak attempt to regain helm control, but engineering had her locked out. All she could do was warn Erich, through their mental link, of further danger. So she kept an eye on A9 as he sent a ship-wide com declaring that he was taking matters into his own hands, wondering if he was well, wondering just what that horrible man on Titan had done to him.

Four armed prisoners from the brig took up positions on the bridge. Remembering her vows to prove herself to A9 back when he’d first returned from death, Keb fumbled for her phaser to protect him.

A9 was unperturbed. He tapped his comm badge, saying, “We’re ready, Sir.”

Two figures beamed onto the bridge. Keb turned at the sound of the transporter, and her phaser dropped with a clatter to the floor as she realized that there were now two Admiral Atragons on the bridge with her.Now who was she supposed to be loyal to?