Thirteen

Chapter Seventy-Five

Handing Over The Keys

The inauguration of Sarita Chandra as the new president of the Earth Alliance had gone smoothly, and Garrison Hollifield, along with his wife Twanissa, stayed in the background and watched the new president, along with her husband, a Briton named Brandon, enjoy the acclaim of the party faithful. During a break from the festivities, the new president came over to the old one for a word. "So ready for life after this place?" she asked.

"Indeed. I've got a lot on my agenda now that I've handed over the reins to you." Hollifield replied.

"You sure you want to do this? You have my full support if you do!" Chandra said.

"It's for the best. We've worked for years to get ready for this. With my military experience, along with the others involved in this project, I'm needed out there."

Chandra nodded and said, "No rest for the weary, eh?"

"Nah, that's not my style. Besides, we can't leave these Cylons and Drakh alone."

Chandra replied, "I agree with you there. Well, you have my full support in whatever you do, and Earthforce will be behind you, if I have anything to say about it!" She stuck out her hand and he shook it. "Now if you will excuse me, I have some arms to twist!" She smiled as she walked away, heading towards a conclave of Earth Alliance senators in both major parties.

"Well, I'm sure gonna miss this place!" Twanissa said with sarcasm.

"You aren't the only one! In a way, it's going to be nice to get back into space and do something constructive." Hollifield replied.

"More like destructive, hopefully, towards the enemy! So when do we head off to Minbar?"

"Tomorrow morning. We'll head to Tuzinor and meet up with our allies. Then, when we are ready, we'll give the enemy something to remember!" He put his arm around his wife and led them to their room where they were staying for the night.

The next morning, they were joined at Geneva spaceport by an old friend who had been assisting Hollifield with the preparations for Operation Supernova, and despite the graying hair, General Laurel Takashima still was a fine example of Japanese beauty and intelligence.

"Mr. President! Glad to see you this fine morning!" she said sarcastically as she brushed away some of the snow falling in her face. An overnight snowstorm had arrived and was dumping several inches of snow on the ground. It wouldn't affect their departure, though, as the Whitestar was used to landing and taking off in extremely difficult conditions.

"General, fine to see you as well. My wife will be along shortly. She had to go to the powder room to freshen up a bit before we leave." He brushed away some snow from his eyes before continuing, "It's gonna feel like old home week, with almost all the old Babylon 5ers involved with this."

"Speaking of which, here comes another old timer as well!" Takashima said, gesturing with her head at two other people headed towards them. Coming alongside the former first lady was the recently promoted General Sharon Valerii, who had also been involved with Operation Supernova.

"I'll be glad to get back into space just to get out of this weather!" Twanissa Hollifield said, shivering even though she was well bundled up against the weather. "Makes me yearn for the Bondi Beach this time of year!"

"Well, when we get done with this, I'll take you to the Gold Coast for a nice, long vacation!" he said as he embraced his wife.

"Screw the vacation! Let's retire there!" she countered as she kissed him on the cheek.

The two other women were feeling kind of left out, so Takashima interjected by saying, "If I may be so bold, the sooner we get on board, the sooner you'll be close to retirement!" Valerii looked a little shocked by the bluntness, but was even more shocked by Hollifield sticking a tongue out at her and saying, "Spoil sport!" They were all laughing as the boarded the Whitestar, which soon enough took off and headed up into the heavens.

The trip took five days at top speed, and they soon were descending through the atmosphere of Minbar on a course for Tuzinor. As he usually did whenever he was arriving on Minbar, he remembered what it was like the first time he had arrived here. It was 2248, a few months after the end of the Earth-Minbari War. He had been part of a delegation to discuss plans for the Babylon project with the Minbari, of which he had been assigned to work with alongside of then-vice-president Luis Santiago. No one knew what to expect on that first trip, and when Hollifield climbed out of the shuttle and became the first human to set foot on Minbari soil, little did he know at the time how the fates of each world would be intertwined with one another.

The Tuzinor spaceport hadn't been around when that historic visit was made, but it seemed like an old friend nonetheless. Once a sleepy Minbari town, the place had exploded with growth. Being home to the Interstellar Alliance as well as the Rangers helped to make the place a very sizable city, but it still kept the small Minbari village feel. Crystalline buildings were omnipresent, with even the smallest abode having a small garden and fountain to make the place even more serene.

They were taken to ISA headquarters to meet with the others who had assembled there. It had been a while, but he still knew the layout of the place, which made his guards all the more nervous as they struggled to keep up. He wanted to get right to business, as he usually had a way of doing when something big was about to happen.

As he entered the conference room, he spotted Delenn, his old friend, at the head of the table. Her hair had gone a bit grayer in the time since John Sheridan's passing, but she still held up despite that as well as her responsibilities as president of the Interstellar Alliance. Beside her was Entil'zha Susan Ivanova, whose brunette locks were tinged with blonde highlights these days, which made Hollifield suspect that she was using it to camouflage the gray strands. Ivanova wasn't the most vain person in the world, but he didn't blame her for using a little enhancement to hold back time a bit. Besides, he himself dyed his hair these days, not caring to be reminded of his age in the mirror.

Michael Garibaldi didn't need to worry about that, as he had gone bald a generation ago. If one didn't know better, one would think he hadn't aged at all until you looked into his eyes and saw the fatigue. The same look was in the eyes of Dr. Stephen Franklin and Tessa Halloran, who were also veterans of the Shadow War and the civil war on Earth. Matthew and Elizabeth Gideon hadn't been with them at the time, but they had been around for the Drakh plague as well as the eventual liberation of Centauri Prime, as had Galen and Dureena Nafeel. Admiral Adama and former colonial president now ambassador Roslin also looked as if they'd been going without much sleep for years now.

In contrast, Starbuck, Helo, Apollo, and Boomer (who wasn't phased by the presence of the original Sharon Valerii, having become used to her over the years) still looked in the peak of youth. They were each in their thirties now, having gained more and more responsibility with each passing year. Apollo was now a battlestar commander of his own, having taken the reins of Galactica from his father. Starbuck commanded a fleet of Whitestars these days, as did Helo, who had Boomer as his second in command.

David Sheridan stood beside his immediate commanding officer, Starbuck, and he looked like a clone of his father. Memories of his old man flooded into Hollifield's mind as they waited for the meeting to start, and he wondered how David was handling the legacy of his father. He knew it had to be difficult, and he made a mental note to speak to him when the chance came up.

Then there was his old friend Andromeda, who stood beside Alwyn. Somehow the both of them defied the passage of time and chatted like old friends. Andromeda rarely left Earth these days, but had volunteered to help with the operation when Hollifield informed her of his decision to step down from the presidency and help lead the final push against the Cylons. Her black, triangular ship, similar to those piloted by Alwyn and Galen, would be used for the first part of the operation, which was to shuttle in units that would help set up a base of operations for ground combat on the Colonial worlds.

Delenn called the meeting to order and they all sat down at the large conference table to begin the final preparations for Operation Supernova. The outline for it had long been readied, and now all that was left to do was to fine-tune the last details. The fleet assembled at the Marcab shipyards was on its way to Kobol, and the fleet assembled at Minbar would soon be on its way as well to the former home of the Colonial gods.

The pieces were being placed on the board, and the final chess matches against the enemy were soon to commence. Who would be the first to yell out checkmate remained to be seen, but the allies were as ready as they ever could hope to be.