Loyalty
Missing Moment to “Seed of Destruction”
Taking a quick look around the Command Center, John Koenig sighed with relief as his gaze rested on the pile of debris that had been the image alien, then on Helena Russell. She gave him a quick smile that was part relief, part joy to have him safely back on Alpha, and part concern about what damage the power drain caused by the energy beam might have done to both Alpha and Alphans. John returned her smile with a quick nod, their gazes met, then she hurried from the control center. She needed to be in Medical and Life Support.
John’s gaze next rested on Alan Carter. The pilot gave him a lop sided grin and the thumbs up signal. At John’s nod of his head, Carter walked briskly from the Command Center, headed for the Eagle launch bays. He needed to rescue Tony and Maya from that Kalthon asteroid seed before it claimed their lives.
Sandra Benes gave Koenig a relieved smile before returning to her post. She sat and began to correlate the damage reports that were beginning to come in. Once again John Koenig looked around the center, satisfied to know everything was happening as it should without need of a single verbal order from him.
Claiming the chair behind his desk, John settled into it and allowed himself a moment to absorb what he already knew. He didn’t like it, and Helena’s words of affirmation as to his identity echoed in his mind: ‘I need no other proof than his actions, John.’ What did that mean? What had the image alien done that made her so certain of which Koenig was real and which the imposter with only a few words spoken? Sitting forward slightly, John prepared himself for the worst.
“Sandra, status report.”
The petite, dark haired woman began listing the damages, including the frozen water in the recycling plant and the burst pipes that had resulted. She included the destroyed crops in hydroponics and the injuries that resulted from the power drain and the below freezing temperatures in some areas. One death had resulted from the power cuts to Medical Center when an emergency life support system ceased functioning. John bowed his head and closed his eyes.
“Damn... Anything else?”
Sandra replied negatively and John nodded, then asked for repair estimates. He sat back and began to study the data on his screen. He didn’t like what he saw, and made a mental note to have a talk with Tony; see if they could devise a way that would initiate more safe-guards against such a thing happening again.
Becoming aware of his sore and stiff shoulder where the image alien had grabbed it, John moved the muscles carefully and contemplated going to Medical to have it looked at, but decided to wait. He was sure Helena and her staff had their hands full with clean-up from the near destruction of the base. He could wait, it wasn’t a serious or critical injury.
Again John wondered just what had happened on Alpha while he was a prisoner on the Kalthon asteroid. He sat forward in his chair and began to call up files on his terminal screen. He knew he could have asked someone for a verbal report, but they were all busy and he wanted to see for himself the full details of the events Tony and Maya had given him during their brief meeting on the asteroid; he needed to learn for himself what his alien image had done and how he had done it.
“Commander.”
“Yes, Sahn?”
“Alan reports Tony and Maya are safely aboard Eagle One. Their ETA is ninety seven minutes.”
“Thanks.”
John gave her a quick smile, then turned back to his study of the course of events.
Koenig had finished his assessment of events by the time Eagle One landed. He called a Command Conference and welcomed the friendly and non-hostile nods and smiles he received from his staff when he entered the small meeting room adjacent the Command Center. Sitting between Alan and Helena at the round table, a smaller version of the one that had been in his Main Mission office, John paused a moment before beginning. He glanced at Sandra, wanting to know the overall status of the base and the time it would take to make repairs before getting down to other specifics.
Sandra’s report was not as discouraging as it could have been. Temporary repairs had been made to the pipes in water recycling, so the base was not facing a drought, but they were advising water rationing until permanent repairs had been made, and recommending a mandatory water use schedule that would eliminate high demand times and spread water use out more evenly through the day. Hydroponics reported they had been able to salvage some of the damaged crops. Food selection would be limited for a time, but the base was not faced with starvation either.
John nodded, then turned to Helena Russell for a report from Medical and Life Support. When she finished John was encouraged to learn all the damage to Life Support units had been minor, as were the injuries sustained, and everyone would recover. The one fatality still haunted his conscience, and Koenig could see by Helena’s expression they would be discussing it privately later. He asked Sandra to arrange Memorial services for the dead woman, then turned all their attentions toward making certain the base recovered as quickly and as completely as possible.
Satisfied they had accomplished all they could at that time, John adjourned the meeting, but asked Tony Verdeschi to remain a moment. The head of Security watched the others file out, taking note of the pointed look Helena sent John’s way, then he shifted in his chair as the door closed behind the others.
John started at the closed door for a long moment, then sat forward and met Verdeschi’s gaze.
“Tony, tell me it was something other than... blind obedience to duty that prevented anyone from acting sooner than they did.”
Again Tony shifted in his chair, uncomfortable with what he now had to tell his commander.
“Yeah, John, it was... None of us wanted to accept or believe there was anything wrong with you. We all tried to accept you - it - were taking that particular course of action for the reasons you gave. After it confined Maya to quarters for trying to do her job, we were - all of us - a little more... leery of questioning your orders. I admit some of us - privately - held serious doubts and discussed the possibility of having you declared medically incompetent, but after Helena managed to touch you - it - things deteriorated so quickly that... well, we were never able to act on it beyond Maya and I going to that asteroid trying to find some kind of proof.”
John nodded as he studied his hands, folded tightly together and resting on the table before him. He was silent a few moments, processing all that Verdeschi had said. Slowly he took a deep breath and released it as a nearly inaudible sigh. Then Koenig glanced up and met Tony’s gaze squarely and steadily.
“Tony, I want you - as head of Security - to work on some kind of counter measures that will prevent this kind of thing happening again; some kind of... double security check or screen that will prevent one person, in a similar situation, from issuing orders that will endanger the base and personnel to such a degree without the full knowledge and agreement of a second person.”
Verdeschi nodded, not at all surprised by the order. He sat forward as bit more, returning John’s steady gaze.
“I was thinking along those same lines, John. Some system that will require authorization from the Commander or acting Commander and one other senior level officer. Perhaps someone outside the command structure...”
John was nodding his agreement as he unclenched his hands and sat back slightly.
“Work on a couple of different proposals, Tony, something that will give us several options inside the criteria we have just discussed.”
“I should have something for you in a few days, John.”
“Thanks, Tony.”
Verdeschi took that as a dismissal and stood, but paused for a moment before turning away from the table.
“You okay, John?”
Koenig started to nod, then shrugged his shoulders and shook his head no.
“I don’t know yet, Tony. It’s kind of like having a clichéd evil twin - working directly against everything you believe in and hold dear, but doing it so cleverly that the people closest to you don’t realize anything is wrong until its too late, and for no reason other than you look alike.”
“It wasn’t too late, John, or none of us would be here to pick up the pieces.”
“Yeah...”
Tony watched John for a brief moment, then turned and left the conference room. As the door closed behind him, he reached for his commlock and placed a call to Helena Russell. He wanted to be sure the Doctor spoke to the Commander.
Helena Russell found John Koenig in the Observation Room. He sat on one of the sofas, head back, staring at the expanse of stars overhead through the clear dome that covered the room. Moving quietly, she crossed the floor of the large room and eased down on the couch beside John. After a few moments of silence, John sat forward and glanced at her. She smiled and reached for his hand, holding it gently but with a firmness that told Koenig this was to be a professional conversation as much as a personal one.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Everything.”
“That’s hardly helpful, John.”
“... I broke my own rules, Helena. I allowed the reconnaissance team - Alan and myself - to be separated. Had I kept us together, none of this would have happened.”
“You can’t know that, John. One of the things all life forms have in common is the need to survive. The Kalthons were obeying their survival instinct, just as we were.”
“With near devastating results and the death of one person.”
Helena sighed and shifted on the couch so she could meet John’s gaze straight on.
“That patient was going to die anyway, John; that’s why she was on life support.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“No, I suppose it doesn’t, except as a way to help you see none of this was your fault.”
“How can you say that? The life of every single person on this base is my responsibility. How can I fulfill that responsibility, how can I discharge that duty if...”
“If you appear human and fallible just like the rest of us? We’ve had this discussion before, John.”
“This time it’s different, Helena.”
“How is it different, John?”
“Because... the loyalty of everyone on the base was used against them. What normally would be seen as an asset was in this case a liability. Misguided or misplaced loyalty is as dangerous as no loyalty at all. It prevented you from seeing the truth of it until...”
“Until I was ready to see it, John, until it was forced upon me by the actions of a being who, as you put it, could never know what we shared.”
“You can’t deny that it was loyalty to me that prevented you from seeing what he was sooner than you did.”
“No, I can’t, but loyalty was only part of the reason I didn’t want to believe ill of you.”
“What was the other part?”
“Love. More than loyalty, love wouldn’t allow me to see the creature I believed to be the man I love was doing anything to the detriment of Alpha for reasons other than what he claimed.”
“So when you touched him...”
“When I touched him I began to realize everything was wrong, but when he called me ‘Doctor Russell’... that proved to me he wasn’t you.”
John smiled slowly, the first one Helena had seen in hours. She decided to press the advantage.
“It wasn’t loyalty, misguided, misplaced or any other kind, John. It was love that kept me from seeing, and love that made me see things all too clearly.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t love me so much.”
Helena chuckled as she shook her head and drew John’s arms around her, then laced her fingers together behind his neck.
“Not a chance, so just put that thought straight out of your mind.”
Again John smiled slowly, his gaze meeting Helena’s. She tightened her hold on him slightly and moved closer.
“We both know the line between love and loyalty, professional and personal, duty and choice is a very fine one. It blurs more and more each day, but if it were not for that loyalty you’re doubting, none of us would still be here.”
“... Maybe.”
“No maybe, John.”
He glanced away from Helena, at the starscape that surrounded them, then John looked back at Helena and smiled. He still had a lot to think about, a lot to settle with himself, but he could see Helena’s point. He’d earned the loyalty of those around him, and he would do everything he could to make certain it was never misplaced.
Amanda Russell
July 5, 2001