Thirteen

Chapter Twenty-Six

Building An Offensive

Brigadier General (nee Admiral) Nelena Cain was never much for food, but spending time on Earth had made her curious about what Earth cuisine was like. She had eaten her fair share of it in the time she had been on Earth, and she knew she had gained weight. So every morning she joined General Ivanova at a local gym to work off those pounds, since both liked to eat and neither one was exactly an ingénue anymore.

She spent almost every waking hour with Ivanova, from the early morning briefings to wrapping up late night planning sessions. Whenever Ivanova wasn't around, Cain worked with one of Ivanova's trusted staffers. It was clear from the effort being put forth by Earthforce that they considered the defense of the Colonists at Babylon 5 and the liberation of the Colonial worlds a top priority. However, they had to work in secret to avoid the notice of any Cylons that might be on Earth, as well as that of more dangerous threats, like the media, senators, and others with different agendas.

The Interstellar Alliance was also helping out with the efforts, as proven by the frequent visits by Rangers to the headquarters of what was being dubbed "Operation Supernova". It was a long-range plan, and Ivanova and Cain were the ones who were in charge of it.

Ivanova joined her in the commissary line, and they took up a tray and placed silverware and paper napkins on the side and made their way through the line. President Hollifield had set up this special section, and everyone, including the cooks, servers, and cashiers in the commissary, were part of Earthforce, and had the highest security clearance. Ivanova had hand picked the officers and non-coms for this duty, and had made a point of selecting single officers so that they could all be focused on this one goal and not have any outside distractions.

Cain selected some chicken cordon bleu, while Ivanova chose the chicken Parmesan, and they made their selections for their sides as well as their beverages. They took their meals to a corner table where they could talk in relative privacy and sat down to eat.

"One thing's for sure: this is the best military food I've ever eaten!" Cain said, and Ivanova nodded. "I suspect that since they don't have to cook for hundreds or thousands of people, they can spend more time on it."

"Indeed. Hollifield wants this to be as secretive as possible, so we're not taking any chances. So, what do you think of the plans for the new fleet?" Ivanova replied.

"Well, they certainly are impressive! I understand that you had intended to use them against a race called the Drakh?"

Ivanova nodded and added, "They're still around, but since we booted them from the Centauri homeworld, they've been on the run. Emperor Cotto has commanded his fleet to wipe them out, and their chief of staff of the military, General Rhys, has been ruthlessly taking them out. Once we find their homeworld, it's checkmate!"

"Excuse me, what was that? Checkmate?" Cain asked.

Ivanova smiled and said, "It's part of a game called chess. Remind me to teach it to you sometime when we find a few minutes of free time one of these days. Basically, its happens when you move one of your pieces into a position where there is no way for your opponent to free the piece called the king. You capture the king and you win the game."

Cain shook her head and said, "With as much as we have in common, its kind of surprising when you find out we have a lot of differences. Like that sport I watched last night on ISN. I can't remember the name, but they were skating on blades and using sticks…"

"Ice hockey." Ivanova interjected, and Cain nodded, recognizing the name. "It's popular in my home country of Russia, as well as in parts of Europe, North America, and Japan. My older brother used to play it before he went into the military." She shook her head at some memory, then drank her coffee.

"Something?" Cain asked, and Ivanova sighed. "This coming weekend would have been my brother's birthday. He died during the Earth-Minbari War. That's why I'm wearing this uniform instead of being a scholar in art these days."

Cain's eyebrows perked up in surprise and she asked, "You don't seem the artistic type to me, if you don't mind me being so bold."

"Nah, I wasn't much of an artist. I was more into art history and preservation than creating art. My mother, before she died and thereafter my father, sent me to many schools to broaden my studies. Then the war came along and my brother died, so when I graduated from high school, I went into Earthforce Academy instead of the University of Strasbourg, where I had a full scholarship."

Cain asked her, "Any regrets about that choice?"

Ivanova paused, because it had never occurred to her that she might have decided to do something different with her life. After a moment of thought, she shook her head and said, "Nope, no regrets. I'm a creature of fate, as Delenn once told me, so I couldn't avoid this life if I wanted to."

"You know, before I got into the military, I wanted to be a musician. The only reason I went into the military was to get into the reserve officer's corps to pay for my studies at the University of Sagittaron, but then I met my husband and, well, the rest is history." Cain sighed and Ivanova picked up on Cain remembering something about her lost daughter, so she let the rest of meal go by in silence.

After their lunch, they returned to the map room, where a large display of the Colonial system was the centerpiece of the room. All twelve worlds were in one system, with a massive red giant at the center of it. It was an unusual system, with twelve habitable planets orbiting one star. The two main targets indicated on the board were Caprica and Picon, and Ivanova pointed to the latter as the twosome approached the display.

"Its my guess that the Cylons probably have taken over your old military headquarters, so it makes sense to try and take it back from them in the first wave of attacks. Also, from what we saw on Caprica, I get the impression that it's the center of the Cylon effort in the Colonial system. We take that head out and the body will slowly die."

Cain nodded and studied the plans further in silence. The plan was simple: take out the Cylons at those two key planets, then move on from there, working from the inner planets on out to the farthest one, Tauron. Sheridan also was assisting in the planning of Operation Supernova, as well as bringing together resources to pull off what they had in mind.

The shipyards where the new fleet of advanced Whitestar ships was being built, along with advanced Earthforce ships, were located in a world long dead. It had been Hollifield's idea during Drakh plague to construct a shipyard to build new Excalibur-class destroyers in orbit around Markab. The race had died out from a plague in 2259, and Hollifield had convinced the Minbari to construct a Ranger base there to help not only protect the history and culture of the Markab race, but to also eventually construct a secret ship yard to be used for an eventual joint Earth Alliance/Interstellar Alliance fleet.

Ivanova had shifted some of the assets to Babylon 5 to upgrade the station as well as the Colonial battlestars Galactica and Pegasus. She knew that the president was fighting a hard battle to keep the station open and supplied, but she knew that it was a lost cause. Despite the fact that the Senate knew about the station being used as a refuge for the Colonials, there were many Senators who were ready to cut the station's operating budget and close the place down.

Hollifield kept the political battles away from her, but she knew that if they lost this one, they would be in serious trouble. Delenn was anticipating this, and had begun to make plans to transfer the Colonials to Minbar if necessary. She hoped it would not come to that, but it wasn't looking good.

Ivanova got through the day with Cain, walking her back to her quarters and then heading towards her own. She entered her apartment and sighed as she unzipped her uniform jacket, tossing it on a nearby recliner. She'd already eaten dinner, so she went straight to her bedroom, stripped out of her uniform, and entered the shower to wash off and to clear her mind.

As she toweled off her naked body, she got a look at herself in the mirror. She remembered when she was proud of her body, though she was never one to show it off when she was young. Now she had a small but noticeable potbelly, sagging breasts and a droopy butt, and she sighed as she mourned the days when she could bounce an old fashioned American quarter off her stomach. However, she rallied herself and put on her nightgown, realizing that she had done far more than any runway model or Hollywood actress could ever accomplish.

She knew she would never know romantic love again, but then she realized that she was wrong. As she looked out her window and into the waters of Lake Geneva, she smiled, knowing that the true love of her life was not a person, but a place: Earth. She sat there for a long time in contemplation, until the chill got to her and she pulled up the covers and got into bed. On most nights, she hated going to bed alone, but, on this one, she realized that she was never alone. She smiled as sleep overtook her and she dreamed of Marcus.