Chapter 11

One Last Chance at Salvation


On board EDS Yamato

In port at Valendor harbor

January 28, 2271

12 noon

Chief Engineer Miles O'Brien and Doctor Julian Bashir looked over the assembly of the machine that was, the Yamato crew claimed, would cure the Earth of this universe of the plague unleashed upon it by the Drakh. Assisting them were the leading heads of the Minbari science community,and Sisko had warned the two of them to not make any jokes about "bone heads" or anything of the sort. At least when there were any Minbari around.

They were too busy to do even that, because the Yamato's chief science officer was working around the clock and he required their help, along with scores of others. They were almost finished with the reassembly of the Cosmo DNA, and were going to test it on an inner planet in the Minbari system called Gertalma, which was basically a barren rock like Mars was, except, to the best knowledge of the Minbari, there had never been life there.

Doctor Hector Perez, science officer on the EDS Freedom, was assisting as well, and his dark skin and smooth Hispanic features sort of made Bashir and O'Brien a little self-conscious of their looks. They both had thought that, had the three of them walked into a bar together, and all three were single, that Perez would have had more girls by the night than the two of them combined. The fact that he was a happily married Catholic man, absolutely devoted to his wife, was all the more annoying.

But they didn't say any of that, because his wife was also on Earth, and would be dead within two years if a cure could not be found. To Perez, this was a shot worth taking, and he was working as hard as Sandor was to get the machine ready.

Sandor stood up after attaching the last power coupling to the machine and turned to Perez, "That's the last of it. According to the readouts, the machine is getting full power, so we have the chance to make this work. How's it looking on your end, Doc?"

Perez nodded his head and said, "All indicators are in the green. We're ready for the test, as far as I am concerned. So when do we head to Gertalma?"

"In a couple of days. No one lives there and there are no colonies anywhere nearby, so if something goes wrong, I highly doubt that it'll affect Minbar. But we have to be absolutely sure, so they're going through all the various scenarios back on shore and they'll let us know something later today or early tomorrow.," relied Sandor.

Chief O'Brien spoke up, "Good idea. This is technology that I've never seen before, and I'm sure it worked for you guys on your Earth, but we have to be sure it's got a fair shot at working on this one."

Bashir agreed, "Right. And according to the notes I got on the plague from President Sheridan, it's not a biological plague. More like a nanovirus, so this could be a bit tricky. Are you sure you want to fly Yamato into Earth's atmosphere and put all of the crew at risk?"

Sandor nodded, "We'll all be wearing space suits once we begin to enter Earth's atmosphere, and thanks to Chief O'Brien here, we have plenty of ultraviolet scrubbers to kill any of the virus that gets on board. Captain Wildstar and I spoke to the crew and said that all non-essential personnel would be allowed to leave the ship."

O'Brien asked, "How many will be staying on board the Freedom or the Wildstar?"

Sandor simply said, "None."

Bashir looked astonished, "None? You mean they're all going to stay on board? Don't they realize the risks?"

Sandor nodded, "You forget that we had a similar situation on our Earth years ago, when the Gamilon radiation bombs almost wiped out all life on the planet. It would have had we not used the Cosmo DNA to purge the Earth of the radiation."

Earth Alliance Vice President Garrison Hollifield came out of the tube car and walked over to the four of them and asked, "How's it going?
We're set to test tomorrow at 2000 hours on Gertalma, so I came down to see if you guys had this thing ready."

Sandor nodded and said, "It's ready, Mr. Vice President. Once the test is successful, when do we leave for Earth?"

Hollifield bit his lip and said, "I'm not sure. You see, there are plenty of folks back on Earth who don't believe this is possible.
However, I've talked to the Pope, and she's agreed to lead a special interreligious ceremony in St. Peter's Square to try and get as many people to watch and participate at the same time. Granted, I think Bernadette II has her own reservations about this, but with the way things are back on Earth, she's willing to take a leap of faith, so to speak."

Perez nodded and crossed himself. "I'm sure the Holy Mother will come through for us. I don't doubt that she's had her own moments of doubt about her faith after all Earth has been through these last three years. My wife's mother, a woman in perfect health before the plague, died last year of a rare strain of pneumonia. Diseases we thought were eradicated ages ago are coming back with a vengeance. Personally, between the five of us, I think time is much more limited than what we initially thought it was. The five years was the best guess we could come up with at the time, and there's no guarantee that all life on Earth won't die out before then."

Hollifield nodded soberly and was about to say something until his communications link beeped. He pulled it out and took the call.
It was his personal assistant, Dan Tanner. "Sir, we're receiving word from the Excalibur. They'll be in the system in twelve hours. She's also bringing two other ships with her."

"Good, anything else Dan?"

Hollifield heard the hesitancy in Tanner's voice, and his worries were confirmed when he said, "Sir, we got word that the President is close to death. You might want to come back to the Freedom just in case. Justice Sophia Sabatini is on board and ready to administer the oath of office when the time comes."

Hollifield soberly sighed and replied, "Yeah, I'll be over right away. Hollifield out." He then turned to the others and said, "I'll see you tomorrow in orbit over Gertalma.," and he walked back to the tube car and departed.

Perez crossed himself again and said, "God grant him the strength to bear the burdens that he's about to receive."

On board EAS Freedom

January 28, 2271

3:15pm

Hollifield was in his room, by himself, looking at his old friend Suzanna Luchenko on her deathbed in Geneva. She was barely hanging on,
but she knew her time had come.

"Garrison, you know how I want my funeral to be."

Garrison managed to croak out, "I know. I've already contacted the mayor's office in St. Petersburg. They'll have your funeral at the Winter Palace, and they are already looking over the plans you laid out."

Luchenko nodded and said in a whisper, "Good. I have to keep up my image of the bitchy Russian diva, you know? Even in death."

Garrison smiled, "You never were like that with me."

Luchenko smiled, "No, because I loved you as a friend. Remember back before the Minbari war, when I was a Senator's aide and you were captain of the guard for President Levy, and we used to hang out at that bar by the lake?"

Garrison's eyes were already teared up, but the memory began to send the tears flowing down his face, "Yeah, I remember. We had some good times there. You were young and single and I was on the verge of divorce from my first wife."

Luchenko closed her eyes for a second, "It's not your fault she took her own life. She had her own demons to face and they just were too much for her."

"I know, but it doesn't excuse what we did. I just hope she can forgive me for what I did."

Luchenko smiled and said, "I'll ask her when I see her.," and then she closed her eyes and did not open them up again.

A doctor came into view and passed a medical scanner over her body, finding no vital signs at all.

"Stephen, is she gone," he asked Doctor Franklin.

Franklin nodded and said, "Yeah, she's dead. I wish you the best of luck, Mr. President."

"Thanks Stephen. I'll let them know and take the oath, then go make the official announcement to the networks. You'll contact John and Delenn?"

Franklin replied, "Yes, sir. I'll do that right away."

"Good. Thanks for doing your best, Stephen."

Franklin's mouth tightened into a grim frown, "My best wasn't good enough, I'm afraid. I just hope that this...Cosmo DNA, is it?...can do something, because things are getting desperate down here. Riots in America, suicide cults in India and China, and anarchy all across South America. We need a miracle, Mr. President, and we need it pretty damn quick."

Hollifield nodded and said, "I'll do my best."

Franklin replied, "I know. Godspeed, Mr. President."

"Godspeed," and Garrison signed off.

A voice came from inside the room, "My condolences."

Hollifield turned around and saw his old friend, the technomage Alwyn. He had aged a bit more since last he saw him, but the twinkle in his eye and the smile on his face was as warm as ever.

"Thanks. Didn't even notice you in the room."

Alwyn laughed and said, "Well, that's a damned thing for a telepath like yourself to have happen," and he walked up to his old friend, sobering quickly, "I know it is a huge burden you have to bear, but you can bear it. I'll be here to help you as best I can, for as long as I can."

Hollifield smiled and asked, "How are you doing?"

Alwyn frowned for a moment, but recovered with a smile, "About as well as a man of my years. How's Dan doing?"

"Good. He'll be glad to see you. Lord knows we had plenty of adventures back during the Shadow War."

Alwyn chuckled and said, "Ah, we did indeed. Well, you should be off to get sworn in and get used to being president."

Hollifield shook Alwyn's hand and left the room. Alwyn stood for a while and then spoke out loud, "Isabelle, if you have a moment, ask the Almighty to grant my friend the miracle that he so desires."