The Colony Turns Against Its Own Agent

Command’s treatment of Mickey shifts between contempt, reliance, punishment, and apology, revealing how operational necessity can override both ideology and humane judgment.

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First Impressions in Orbit

An Expendable Meets Command The Reception Hieronymus Marshall welcomes the arriving colonists but treats Mickey Barnes’s questions about his belongings as evidence of poor judgment. When Mickey identifies himself as the Expendable, Marshall responds with visible distaste. A Religious Divide Mickey learns that Marshall is a Natalist who rejects backup bodies as soulless. The mission has assigned a person whose job depends on mind replication to a commander who considers that very technology a violation of human identity. Their relationship begins with ideological contempt layered over rank. Marshall can depend on Mickey’s labor while denying that a reconstructed Mickey is fully human, a contradiction that will shape their later confrontations.

The Attempted Ejection

A Near-Expulsion Mickey’s Past Follows Him Marshall learns about Mickey’s encounter with Darius Blank and interprets the criminal connection as a threat to the expedition. His Natalist beliefs reinforce his hostility toward keeping an Expendable aboard. Authority Checked Marshall nearly ejects Mickey, but the Drakkar’s captain reminds him that he is not yet in command of the mission. Mickey remains aboard because the formal structure limits Marshall’s power, not because Marshall accepts him. The episode establishes that Mickey’s survival depends on institutional boundaries as much as personal courage. Marshall’s moral certainty is real, but so is the need for someone else to restrain it.

Punished for a Lost Body

Command Counts Calories A Report Under Question Hieronymus Marshall interrogates Berto Gomez about why Mickey7’s body was not retrieved after the fall. He focuses on lost protein and the cost of another regeneration as much as on whether the recovery attempt was possible. Shared Ration Penalty Marshall cuts the rations of both Berto and Mickey, making Mickey responsible for the failure to recover his own body. Mickey protests that the sanction makes little sense, but Marshall refuses to reconsider it. The ruling reveals how Command understands Mickey’s role: his loss is an asset loss, and punishment is a means of enforcing efficiency. Mickey’s personhood is acknowledged only when it serves the mission’s accounting.

Threatened Disposal

Doctrine Meets Necessity A Multiple on Trial Hieronymus Marshall calls both Mickeys monsters and states that they will be recycled. He considers whether Nasha should also be punished, even though the colony needs its qualified pilots. The Colony’s Need Interrupts Judgment The confirmation that the creepers possess military technology shifts Command’s priorities. Marshall keeps the Mickeys alive long enough to demand that they undertake a dangerous operation underground. His response is not a conversion of belief but a tactical adjustment. The same commander who regards multiples as an abomination can exploit their existence when a crisis makes them useful.

The Conditional Apology

Command Admits Error A Changed Assessment Hieronymus Marshall apologizes for trying to have Mickey killed after Mickey explains that he withheld the bomb’s nature from the creepers to prevent an accidental detonation. The fact that the colony has survived makes Marshall reconsider his previous conclusion. Another Fatal Assignment The apology quickly becomes a request for Mickey to return antimatter to the reactor by hand. Marshall calls the task an honor, but withdraws the warmth when Mickey refuses. The exchange shows how limited the apology is. Marshall can recognize a tactical mistake without changing the structure that treats Mickey’s body as a resource whenever Command needs one.

Mickey’s arrival at Himmel Station

About a week after the Drakkar leaves Midgard orbit

The morning after Mickey7’s fall

After Command discovers Mickey7 and Mickey8

The morning after Mickey7 returns with the bomb