Chapter 4
February 1, 2262, Mars.
The giant starfish shape of the Mars High station spun slowly in its orbit just above the thin atmosphere of the red planet. As the only major station in orbit above the planet, it was the natural transfer point for any passengers disembarking from larger vessels such as the Earth Alliance capital ships or one of the large interplanetary liners. In fact, two of the huge liners, each capable of carrying nearly a thousand passengers were currently docked with the station, attached to the ends of one of the triangular arms of the space station.
The station sat above Mars in a low geostationary orbit, positioned so it was always directly above the main civilian spaceport on the planet below. With Mars' gravity around forty percent of Earth normal most smaller transports and passenger vessels could land on the planet with little difficulty, the thin atmosphere still heating their outer surfaces, but not the degree they would have experienced landing on Earth. The larger vessels like the liners, however, were not equipped for planetary landings and were forced to dock with the station to transfer their passengers and cargo, and as a result a constant stream of small shuttles and transport ships could be seen moving between the surface and the station, like bees travelling to and fro from their hive.
The beehive must have been exceptionally busy this day as Susan could see at least a hundred small craft filling the skies of Mars, and this made the piloting of her own large shuttle a lot more difficult. Although once again she had allowed the shuttle's regular pilot to guide the craft while she sat up front, enjoying the view. Despite her misgivings about the upcoming meeting with the commander of Earthforce activities on Mars, she was determined to try to forget her somewhat trivial concerns for the moment, and was spending the entire journey across to the station trying to identify the makes and models of all the different craft that were currently plying the upper atmosphere.
The pilot however did not seem to be enjoying the ride at all, despite the presence of the lovely captain next to him in the Co-pilot's seat. He was terrified of making a mistake, and had Susan taken the time to look, she would have noticed that sweat was trickling down the sides of his face. He was not worried about the actually journey, he had made the same trip many times before, but rather he was concerned about the Captain's presence, sure that she was only here to spot any mistake he made. Despite his concerns, he flew the shuttle perfectly, perhaps the best he had even flown before and his docking with the station was spot on, coming to rest in the shuttle dock with barely a jolt. When he looked back on the journey latter that day, he would sigh as he thought that it really was a pity that he wasn't being evaluated after all.
The pilot breathed a heavy sigh of relief when the shuttle was at last safely secured in the Station's main docking bay and the Captain was climbing back down out of the cockpit. He wiped his brow with a thick handkerchief and gave a little prayer that the Captain would be taking the other shuttle back on her return. Fortunately, it looked like his wish was going to be granted, as he could already see a large collection of uniformed men and woman gathered on the deck, most likely enlisted crew bound for the Rasputin. Tucking the handkerchief back into his pocket, he waited for word from Mars High Flight Control.
Susan was already well on her way into the station proper. She had stopped only for a moment to answer the salutes of the new members of her crew, most of them looking so young and inexperienced to her war-weary eyes. Then she had left the docking bay, almost running in her haste to get to the rendezvous she had arranged earlier that day with Commander Petrov. Originally, she did plan for her executive officer to return to the Rasputin before travelling together to the station, but as he was unable to find a shuttle flight in time, she changed plans and asked Petrov to meet her on the station. Now she was running late, having been delayed by Flight Control for nearly an hour as the Station struggled with the heavy influx of the morning traffic from the surface, most likely the shuttles bringing up passengers for one of the two liners.
Hurrying through the large pressure doors from the docking bay Susan suddenly pulled up short, looking out over the crowded chaos that was the embarkation terminal for the station. Thousands of beings, mostly human, but the odd alien breaking the monotony filled her vision, a swarming mass that she could see no path through. She cursed under her breath, realising that she must have arrived just as one of the big liners that she had noticed on the way in was about to take on passengers. Add to that the merchants who had built their stalls along the walls of the terminal and Susan was stuck.
Still Captain Susan Ivanova was not one to give up easily and with a deep breath, and a quick prayer she plunged into the surging crowd, struggling to reach the cafe where she had arranged to meet the Commander. She soon found herself adrift in a tide of humanity, one that seemed to be going in the opposite direction to her. Still she struggled on, despite the jostling and was soon making headway, although it was slow going.
Then she spotted a break in the crowd and ducked into the open doorway of a small stall that seemed empty for now. She decided that it might be best to wait until the majority of the crowd had bordered their vessel, and again cursed herself for having the bad luck to land in the same station arm as one of liners. Still the crowd seemed to be thinning now, as they all headed towards the customs and security checkpoints at the far end of the passageway.
She was just about to leave the shop when a voice assaulted her from behind. "My lady, what good taste you must have to land here in the humble, insignificant shop of Joran Yari, a poor soul not worthy of your presence."
She turned wearily around to tell the shopkeeper that she was only interested in waiting until the crowd of passengers cleared out of the passageway and was not interested in purchasing any of her wares. The Centari merchant did not even give her the chance to speak though, continuing with what was obviously his regular spiel. "Perhaps I might interest you in this fine brevare, sweetest in all of the republic. Although maybe a lady such as yourself would be interested in this cream, just perfect to make your head lovely and bald and get rid of all that ugly hair. I really do not know why human woman persist with allowing their hair to grow in such a manner when with just one easy application it could all be gone."
He slid smoothly towards her, holding out the bottle of cream in his hands, and even seemed ready to demonstrate its effectiveness on the Captain's hair. Susan looked at him in horror and immediately raised her hands to fend him away. He did not seem offended by this action, putting down the cream and offering her a fine bone comb, one usually reserved for Centari gentlemen. Not wanting any further interruption to her journey she grabbed his arm firmly and said, "look, I am not interested in anything in your shop. I came in here by mistake and now I must be going."
"Not even one bottle of brevare," he said quizzically, holding out the fine crystal bottle in his hands once more for her to examine. "I will even let you have a taste first, I understand that is the human custom. Of course, it spoils the flavour, but only a Centauri could tell the difference."
"I already have several in my quarters, gifts from Prime Minister Londo Mollari," she replied backing out of the shop as fast as she could, and at the same time trying not to offend the merchant too much.
"Prime Minister Mollari," he gasped, suddenly pulling away from Susan and allowing her to leave without any further attempts for a sale. She looked closely at him for a moment before noticing the look of fear that played across his features, and realising that he was likely another of Londo's victims. As much as she had grown to tolerate, even like the Centari ambassador, he had done some horrible things in the past and even among his own people were those he had hurt. This poor merchant was probably one of them. She was tempted to buy something, but then a glance at her link bought her attention back to more urgent matters as she noticed the time. She cursed once more before turning and sprinting down the passageway towards the centre of the station, where she hoped Petrov would still be waiting for her.
As she ran off towards the rendezvous point two men stepped out of the shadows that gathered behind the Centauri's shop and watched her retreating figure. Both men were remarkable similar in appearance, with nondescript features, and the same dark, unremarkable clothing. They even had the same hair and eye colour, both brown haired with brown eyes. Anyone who looked closer though could see that they were not identical twins, but rather two men who had made every effort to look alike, and seemed to be succeeding very well indeed.
The similarity was about the only remarkable thing about them, and most eyes just passed right over them, dismissing them as unimportant, or as too poor to be worth harassing for a purchase. This was just the way they liked it, for their jobs required that they be able to avoid detection at all costs, and these two were very good at their jobs. Even the Centari shopkeeper did not attempt to coax them inside when he came out to watch the Captain hurry away.
They both noticed the shopkeeper however and waited until he had returned inside his shop before one of them withdrew a small data pad from a pocket and consulted it. He looked carefully at the display it for a moment and then in the direction he had last seen Ivanova heading. Satisfied he turned to his companion and nodded once. His companion nodded back in response and the first man returned the data pad to the inside pocket of his coat and they both set off in pursuit, careful not to run, least they raise attention to themselves. The passageway was now clear of the majority of the civilian passengers who had filled it just minutes earlier, the last ones just leaving through the customs port behind them. There were still a lot of shoppers and other travellers left, not as many as a minute ago, but still enough to allow the two men to slip unnoticed thought the crowd as they carried out their pursuit.
Two minutes later Susan finally reached the cafe where she was to meet Commander Petrov and found him already seated at a table, sipping a cup of coffee, and polishing off the last of a plate of what looked like scrambled eggs. She walked over to his table and sat down in the chair opposite him, trying not to look like she had been running to get here. Petrov however noticed her lack of breath and realised at once that she must have really hurried to get here on time.
"Caught in the rush Captain," he asked, smiling warmly at her. "It is certainly busy out there today. It seems like everyone is trying to get off Mars at once."
Susan looked at him curiously, not remembering the Commander as ever having been this cheerful before. She nodded, but as she was still trying to catch her breath, did not answer with words. He smiled again, and gestured to a waitress to bring over another cup of coffee. She quickly complied and Susan gratefully accepted the gift, sipping it slowly as she let her exhaustion slip away and the feeling of warmth and comfort that she always got with a nice cup of coffee return. She closed her eyes and let the steam drift into her nostrils, slowly absorbing the pleasant smell before taking another sip.
Her peace was quickly interrupted though as the dull, synthesised voice of the station's computer echoed across the station. "Attention all passengers for the liner Jupiter's Glory please proceed immediately to embarkation terminal alpha. Liner Jupiter's Glory will be departing in twenty minutes, stopping at Earth, Proxima III, Centari Prime, and Babylon 5."
Susan tuned out the rest of the broadcast as the computer voice repeated the message in several more languages, most human, while others were alien, including worker-caste Minbari, of which she knew a little. She glanced around the cafe, examining the rest of the patrons. There were few who caught her attention however, the most interesting being a young warrior-caste Minbari, a ranger by the look of his uniform. He was sitting alone at a table, being pointedly avoided by other patrons, the Earth-Minbari war and Clark's propaganda not easily forgotten. She quickly glanced away, not wanting to be recognised and also not wanting to remember the last time she had seen that uniform, or who had been wearing it.
"It certainly is busy here today Captain," Petrov said, drawing her attention away from the cafe's patrons. "I even had trouble making it up from the surface by shuttle this morning, and apparently there has been at least one accident, a minor collision between two shuttles."
Susan then remembered why the Commander had gone to the surface last night and leaning over a little closer before asking, "and how did your little trip go Commander, a good result I hope."
Petrov smiled, and then to Susan's amazement even seemed to blush a little. "Very good Captain," he said softly as he remembered his reunion with his lover. "Very good indeed."
"That would explain the good mood then," she murmured to herself. Petrov caught her words, but did not comment, although he agreed with her fully. He did feel a lot better today, with one of the things that had worried him for so long now resolved. With the rebellion on Mars, he had heard terrible stories about the death and destruction that had occurred. It had even affected some of the larger domed cities so he had been most relieved to discover Leira was still all right, and that she was still happy to see him.
Lost in his memories of the previous night he finished his breakfast, while Susan drank her coffee, enjoying the taste of real coffee, something she had not enjoyed since her short trip to the Russian Consortium several weeks ago. "Where did you find this place from Commander," she asked. "It has been a while since I have had real coffee like this on an Earth Alliance Station. On Babylon 5 I even had to grow it myself."
Petrov smiled, "It is one of my favourite cafes on the whole station. T he owner also runs several small cafes in Europe so he imports everything from back home. It makes it a bit more expensive, but as you must agree it is worth the extra cost."
Susan took another sip, enjoying the wonderful flavour. "It certainly is. I will have to remember this in the future, although I usually don't spent that much time at this station. That may change if we are stationed at Mars."
"Well I always make it a point to stop here on my way through," Petrov told her as he finished off the last of his cup of coffee and signalled for the waitress.
She came over with the portable data reader and asked for his credit chit. Just as he was about to reach for it, Susan interrupted him. "No, let me pay for this Commander."
Petrov at once objected, pointing out that it was his meal after all, and all she had was a single cup of coffee. She shook her head to dismiss his objections. "It is alright Commander, Earthforce gave me a year and a half's back pay to help entice me back, so I am fairly well off for the moment."
"Well in that case Captain," Petrov grinned, indicating for the waitress to use Susan's card instead. The waitress quickly scanned the credit chit and after withdrawing the correct amount, handed it back to Susan. Petrov pushed away his now empty plate and scanned his link again to check on the time. "Well I guess we had best get moving Captain. The General is expecting us soon, and with the station this busy it might pay to set out a little earlier than planned."
Susan nodded and after downing the rest of her coffee got to her feet and followed Petrov out into the crowded walkway once more, this time bound for the area of the station restricted to Earthforce members only. Near the rear of the café, the two men who had followed Susan since she had disembarked from her shuttle remained seated, each drinking a tall glass of milk, a rare commodity on a space station far from the nearest cow, or even anything that looked like a cow.
Only when the two Earthforce officers were at last out of sight did the first man raise his hand to the front of his coat and switch on his personal communicator. Looking just like a small button the communicator was designed to be just that, and was usually stitched onto a shirt or jacket so it could be worn without anyone suspecting its true purpose. Inside however was a powerful battery and transmitter capable of sending a signal from the ground to an orbiting spaceship. This time it had a much shorter distance to travel, but it was no less effective.
"Agent W3 to K," the dark clad man whispered softly into the communicator. "Have sighted target two, will follow. Any new orders?"
Through a tiny implant in the man's left ear the reply was almost instantaneous. "Follow target two, but do not terminate for now. However, if she meets with target one then terminate them both. K out."
The man did not question his orders, or ask for further instruction. He was trained to obey, and that is what he did so very well. With a quick glance over at his companion, he nodded once in the direction of the direction Susan had gone. Then, as one, they both rose from their seats and strode off into the crowd in pursuit of their target. Among the throngs of humanity that teamed along the thoroughfare, the two men soon blended into the crowd, relying on their training to pass almost unnoticed.
The General's office was right at the far end of the station, in a region closed to the civilian public. Susan was just glad to get away from the crush of humans and aliens that had filled the other passageways at last. She slowed her pace a little, not really wanting to arrive too early for their meeting, realising that despite her late arrival on the station she had put aside more than enough time for the short journey to the General's office. She was not looking forward to this meeting however, certain that the General was going to send her off on an impossible mission or banish her to some desolate section of the Alliance, all as punishment for her support of Sheridan during the civil war. She knew that she was probably being a little paranoid as most people blamed Clark for the civil war, not her.
Finally, they arrived at the General office and were directed to wait outside by his secretary, who informed them that the General currently had another visitor, but would see them in a moment. That visitor turned out to be a short, black-haired man dressed in the green uniform of a telepath who was currently attached to the military. He may have been attached to the military but as he turned towards Susan and Petrov they could see that he still wore the gloves and badge that indicated his membership in the Psi-Corp. No matter what service they might work in these two symbols never changed for a telepath.
The telepath's eyes passed over the two Earthforce officers and for a moment focused on Susan. She felt a shiver of fear run up her spine, scared that he would scan her and discover her own latent telepathic abilities. She could feel nothing though, and all he did was examine her closely for a second before inclining his head in her direction once and turning to walk back down the corridor. Susan almost breathed a sigh of relief as he left, and avoided watching him as he walked away from them, although Petrov stared at the telepath back for several seconds before returning his attention back to the door leading into the General's office.
Then the secretary informed them that the General was now available to see them and they both entered the large office. General Harry McCarron, a large, white-haired man who looked about sixty, although his muscular body still appeared to be just as fit as he must have been when he had first joined Earthforce. The old warrior had signed up during the war against the Dilgar and now, coming to the end of his career, was one of the most respected officers in the Earth Alliance military, and the current head of Earthforce operations on Mars.
The general invited them to both sit, while he brushed imaginary flecks of dust off his spotless brown uniform. Then when they were seated he spoke, "It is good to finally meet you Captain Ivanova. I have heard a lot of good things about you and if half of what I have heard is true then I am sure we will get along nicely."
"Thank you General," Susan said, relaxing a little from the tension that had gripped her when she had first entered the office.
"And Commander Petrov," the General said, turning his head to examine the Commander closely. "It is good to have you on board for this project as well. Anyway we may as well get down to business, I am a busy man these days, so can't afford to waste any time. I have to organise transfers for over a hundred thousand men, not to mention ten destroyers and a hundred other vessels. A word of warning to both of you, never accept a desk job like me, you will live to regret it."
That out of the way, the General pulled out two sheets of paper from a folder that he picked up from his desk and handed one each to both Susan and Petrov. "Now this is memo from Earthdome regarding a minor change from your original crew. Because the Warlock destroyers have still not really been fully tested, and do contain some alien-sourced technology we have yet to evaluate the crew responses to working on them. So to complete its evaluation, Fleet Command has decided to send two telepaths along with you to assist in this evaluation."
"Telepaths?" Susan asked with a strange tone in her voice. "Is that really necessary?"
The General shook his head. "Not really, and personally I am against the whole idea. I have never really liked the idea of those brain suckers reading my mind. However, I don't make the orders, Earthdome does and they want to send the telepaths along with you. I wouldn't worry too much though as they won't be permitted to scan anyone without their permission, and are only really present to judge crew reaction, not to monitor their thoughts. Anyway, if they do cause any trouble I for one will not be sorry to see you pitch them out the nearest airlock. Don't quote me on that during your court marshal though."
"I am sure the Captain and I can accommodate them General," Petrov said, with a sideways glare of warning towards Susan who looked like she was about to continue her protests. "As long as they do not interfere with the normal operations of the Rasputin I am sure they will be no trouble."
"Good," the General said nodding. "Now one of the telepaths has already been decided, and he is Darren Anderson, the man you just saw a minute ago, outside my office. He has been working with the military for nearly five years now so you should find him easy enough to work alongside. The other has yet to be decided, but Mr. Anderson said he would be choosing a suitable assistant this afternoon."
"I am sure he will make a good choice General," Petrov said, continuing to answer for his Captain on this matter. He had read the Captain's record before he joined the Rasputin's crew and knew her aversion to telepaths, and didn't really want her to get into any trouble because of her feelings. Susan certainly did not look happy about the whole thing, but at least refrained from telling the General what she really thought of telepaths being on her vessel.
"Yes he should," the General continued. "Anyway Mr. Anderson and his assistant will be coming on board sometime in the next two days. The rest of your crew should arrive over that period as well. Some have are being transferred from Earth and other bases even further away so it will take a little while for them all to arrive. I think you will find yourselves very happy enough with the crew we have assembled for you."
"They certainly seemed to be a very experienced selection," Susan agreed. "I was very surprised when I saw some of the names, especially those of the fighter pilots. It looks like we are getting some of the real ace pilots from other vessels."
General McCarron nodded at her assessment, handing her another paper, this one showing the list of fighter pilots that she had just mentioned. "Yes we have tried to put together the best crew we can find. With half of the fleet laid up for repairs then there are plenty of good men and woman with nothing to do, and a position on the Rasputin at least gets them working again instead of sitting around on some base cooling their heels or worse getting themselves into trouble while they wait for their destroyers to be patched up."
Susan looked faintly embarrassed at the General's words, knowing that she was responsible for a lot of the damage caused. The General did not seem to be blaming her though as he continued. "Which is really why we need your ship up and running as soon as possible. Earthforce only has around fifty operational destroyers left in the field right now, the rest were either destroyed in the recent troubles, or so badly damaged that it will be months before they are back in space again. The whole Alliance is vulnerable at the moment, and we need all the vessels we can spare."
"Are there any threats at the moment though General," Susan interrupted. "I mean with the interstellar alliance protecting our borders, are things that bad?"
The General did not seem annoyed at her interruption and he considered her word before continuing. "Well I am sure that they mean well, but we need to be able to stand on our own feet, not rely on outside forces to protect us. Right now, Earth could not even hold off a minor attack from one of the large alien governments, let alone a full assault. With the defence grid around Earth destroyed we have had to position most of the fleet there to protect our homeworld, however that has left us with only twenty destroyers to patrol the rest of the Alliance against raiders and other enemies. I'd consider double that number still too few for the job."
"Is that what you need us to do General," Petrov queried.
"Partly. With most of the fleet around Earth, we need every ship we can get out in the field. There are entire colonies out there with virtually no protection at all at the moment, well nothing more than a few Starfuries anyway. Flynn Colony is being guarded by a single Nova dreadnaught, Proxima has two destroyers, and most of the other colonies are similarly undermanned. I don't think a Starfury and a couple of destroyers, no matter how good their commanders are, can hold off an alien fleet. They are going to be hard pressed to deal with pirates and raiders. This is why I need your ship in the field as soon as possible."
"The Rasputin is hardly ready for active duty yet though General," Susan said, quickly recounting the problems they had experienced already since she had taken command.
General McCarron considered these for a moment before replying. "Hmm, well it does look like a little more testing might be called for. However, that has already been taken into consideration by Fleet Command when writing up your orders. You probably noticed the large number of troop transports over Mars when you arrived."
When both Susan and Petrov indicated that they had seen the vessels the General continued. "Well as you might know Mars is being granted independence, all part of Sheridan's deal with Luchenko or some bullshit like that. Anyway what this means is that Earthforce has to withdraw all of its troops from Mars, and thanks to Clark we have a huge garrison currently stationed here. You will be given the task of escorting ten thousand of these soldiers to their new base."
The General picked up another piece of paper, looked at for a moment to ensure it was the correct one and then handed it over to Susan to read. "As you can see you will be escorting two of our Condor troops transports to Proxima III where a new base is already being established for them. You will be placed under the direct command of Admiral Mellor, the current head of Earthforce colonial authority, at least until your ship has undergone the necessary field testing and is ready for deployment on the frontier."
Susan looked confused about this for a minute. "I thought Proxima wanted independence as well," she asked. "They suffered almost as much as Mars under Clark's rule and I thought they would join them in declaring independence after the war."
The General shrugged, indicating such matters were outside his jurisdiction, which currently only stretched to this station and those soldiers under his command still stationed on mars. "They had some sort of vote on it and decided to stay with the Alliance, mainly for the protection that we could offer. Now we have to carry out our part of the bargain and start securing the planet from attack. Proxima is after all our second largest colony, after Mars, and its protein farms are of considerable importance, especially considering that Earth's food production facilities cannot produce enough food to feed us all. Earth needs Proxima at the moment, and Earthdome was willing to pay heavily to get them back on our side."
"Are we going to be based at Proxima?" Petrov asked.
McCarron nodded. "To start with. You still have to put your ship through some testing. As I understand it, most of the systems are still experimental and haven't really been fully tested. Fleet Command has decided to send you to Proxima, along with the Apollo. The Vesta and the Odysseus are the two destroyers already on station. I think four destroyers should be enough to secure Proxima against any pirates or other raiders that may decide to try raiding the colony. Anything larger and you will have to call on Sheridan's forces."
The General suddenly stopped, his voice interrupted by loud bout of coughing. He poured himself a large glass of water and drank it before continuing. "Of course you will not only be at Proxima III, you will be operating through the entire system. There is also the possibility that you could be sent to another system as well, if you are needed. I think your ship should be able to handle that, and as long as you don't start feeling restless for battle then you should find the posting enjoyable enough. I realise that Proxima is hardly the most pleasant world, but I can think or worse places to be. Well any more questions?"
Neither the Captain nor Petrov could think of anything so he rose from his chair and shook both their hands. "Well then I wish you luck with your new command. You will be here for a couple of days yet while you are waiting for the rest of your crew and supplies to be loaded, so if there is anything else come and let me know. I don't seem to be going anywhere for the moment."
They both said that they would and were just leaving the room when the General called Susan back. "Captain, just one last thing. I was wondering if I could have a word with you in private."
Petrov nodded, and then smartly saluted the General before departing. Susan walked back into the room and joined McCarron next to the large picture window that looked down on the red globe of Mars, some distance below them. The General looked a little uncomfortable with what he was about to say, and hesitated before speaking. "I didn't really want to say this with the Commander present Captain, but I wanted to warn you before you left."
He hesitated again, fidgeting with a thin piece of paper, a printout from a computer terminal. Susan stood quietly waiting for him to continue, not wanting to push him. His attitude still seemed friendly enough, but she was still worried about what he had to say. Instead of speaking, he passed her the printout instead and she quickly scanned it, seeing it was a list of names, none of whom she recognised.
"I thought I had better give this to you Captain," he finally said, seeing her confusion about the meaning of the list. "Earthdome didn't want to worry you, but I didn't think it would be a good idea to send you off without first warning you about all possible problems."
"This is a list of those who remained loyal to Clark isn't it?" She asked with a sudden dread in her voice.
The General nodded. "Only those that we didn't arrest after Clark's suicide. Most of them are only junior officers from some of the ships that remained loyal to him, but a couple on there were his senior advisers. Now we don't know for sure that they will try to get revenge and even if they do, it will probably be against Sheridan, not you. However, I though you have better have this list as well, just in case. A copy has already been sent on to Babylon 5, so Sheridan has been warned as well."
"I had hoped that all of that would be over by now."
"And it probably is Captain," the General tried to reassure her. "This is just a precaution, after all we wouldn't want anything to happen to you. Anyway, as I said they would probably not come after you, but there has already been one attempt on Sheridan, and before you ask he was unharmed."
"Well that is some good news at least," she said angrily.
"I wouldn't worry too much Captain," the General assured her. "Earthdome doesn't want anything happening to you, and if any of those names appear on an Alliance colony then they will be arrested. We think most of them are hiding out on Earth though. It is a lot easier to hide yourself among all the billions down there that out on one of the colony worlds."
"I thought most of Earthdome would just prefer I vanish," she snorted, remembering the way she had been left on Station Prime for three weeks, with no contact from anyone in Earthforce.
"Not so Captain," the General said. "Most of Fleet Command is pleased that you returned to Earthforce, and didn't resign with Sheridan. In their eyes, you made the right choice and returned home with all the other Earthforce officers who sided with Sheridan, rather than continue to serve on an independent Babylon 5. Besides, with so many lost in the war they didn't want to lose you as well. You are one of the most experienced officers left in the fleet, and we need everyone we can get right now. Besides, with ISN portraying you as something of a hero they want you out in the field, flying the flag. I think they wanted your image even more than they you, someone to attract new recruits after the recent troubles we've had."
"I would hardly consider myself a role model General," Susan commented dryly.
"Well you might not consider yourself one, but Fleet Command does. If you are not carefully they will probably want to put your face on posters at recruitment offices."
Susan looked aghast at the very idea, and said as much to the General. He only laughed, obviously enjoying teasing her. "Don't worry Captain I don't think they have any plans to do it just yet. Any more heroic exploits and they might though. For a while, you might like to just stick to being plain old Captain Ivanova, instead of the darling of the media. Proxima III is a good place for that, a nice colonial posting, not too far from home, but well away from any trouble. Of course, the whole planet is one big desert, and it doesn't have the nightlife we have here on Mars, but apart from that it's a good posting. Have you ever consider a posting there before?"
"Not really General, but I guess I could get used to it. After all it is only for a year."
General McCarron nodded in agreement. "Yes probably for a year, although it could be a lot less than that, all depending on how your new ship turns out. Some of the senators back in Earthdome are a little concerned about the amount of money that has been poured into the Warlock project over the past couple of years. It is estimated that each Warlock is going to cost us roughly five times what the Omega's cost, so unless the Rasputin proves to be a big improvement over the older destroyers the whole project is a chance of being scrapped."
"Well then I will do my best General," Susan said firmly.
"I am sure you will Captain," the General agreed. "Anyway as much as I would like to continue this chat I do have work to do. Besides we don't want to keep Commander Petrov waiting for too long now do we. However, if you do have any problems while you are here, don't hesitate to call me, I could use the break from this damn paperwork."
Susan said she would and then after another round of shaking hands the General guided out of his office and into the hallway where Petrov waited. Carefully stuffing the printout of names into her pocket and resolving to deal with it later, she joined the Commander as they walked slowly back towards the busy centre of the Station.