Chapter 31

President Levy's office Earthdome Geneva: The president sat back in her chair a moment after ending her communication with Senator Sobetski. She rubbed her temples, and thought about the situation the Earth Alliance was in. She prayed silently for a moment, and made her plans. Now she pressed her intercom and asked that General Leftcourt, the EA Attorney General and the EA Judge Advocate General be in her office in one hour. She told her secretary to tell the Attorney General and the JAG that it had to do with the incident that started the war with the Minbari. She knew that what they were going to discuss would really piss of the General. But now she thought of the billions of lives at stake, and she didn't give a damn for the general's feelings. She buzzed her Chief of Staff and asked him to come to her office immediately.

..
An hour later, the five of them were sitting in her office. The president activated a switch on her desk, and for a moment the others heard a slight hiss, then nothing. She turned to them, "What I'm about to tell you is classified, and officially, this meeting never took place, do you all understand?"

The men and woman all nodded. "Some of you know part of this information, but not all of it."

She sat straight up in her chair and began. "A little less than a month ago, an EA convoy led by the EAS James Carter was making its way from the Vega system to Beta Durani. Before they could leave the Vega system, two Minbari frigates attacked them. In the initial attack, three cutters and a refugee transport were lost. But the James Carter was able to open a jump point and escape with the three remaining transports."

She watched their faces for any expressions of shock, but there was none. "The convoy made it to the Westminster system, and when they were exiting the jump gate they ran into two unknown warships. As they were attempting communication with the ships, one of the Minbari frigates jumped into the system. The unknown ships attempted to communicate with the Minbari, but since their Captain was human, the Minbari ignored the hail and opened fire."

The EA Attorney General spoke now, "Were the ships destroyed ma'am?"

She smiled now, "Actually Carl, it was the Minbari who were destroyed. In less than a minute."

..
The JAG and the AG had looks of disbelief on their faces, and the President smiled, "Yes the Minbari were destroyed."

The JAG looked at her, "You said the Captain of the unknown ship was human. Were these experimental warships?"

"No Michelle, they weren't. In fact, these ships had nothing to do with the Earth Alliance."

She let that sink in for a moment then continued. "The senior Captain of the unknown ships requested the convoy to fall into formation, and go with them to meet their CO. After what he had just seen, the Captain of the James Carter thought it wise to agree. He met with their CO, an Admiral Douglas, and that meeting laid the groundwork for further negotiations. The Convoy and the Battle group of ships had a run in with the second Minbari frigate, but the Admiral was able to bluff them out of attacking. The group of ships then made their way to Beta Durani, were the senior staff of the battle group met with General Hague. The general and the admiral made a few deals, which this office later backed up whole-heartedly. While in Beta Durani, the battle group discovered and captured a Minbari Scout ship, and then defended the system against a Minbari battle group without losing a single ship."

She saw that that gave the JAG and the AG a moment of shock."

"Not only did our new ally's defeat a large Minbari battle group, but they also took about seventy prisoners. General Hague suggested that the admiral's people keep the prisoners in their custody, to avoid any unneeded troubles. The Admiral agreed, and his people took over the care of the prisoners."

..
"Madam President?"

"Yes Michelle."

"Was this just before the incident with the security officer?"

"Yes Michelle it was."

Now the president continued, "Because of this incident, and the loss of one of their flagships here in the earth sector, we were contacted by the Minbari through a neutral third party. They wanted to meet with us to try to find a peaceful solution to the war. We sent a small group to meet with them, as did our new ally's. There was an incident with the Centauri, which we will discuss later. As a gesture of good faith, we asked the admiral if he would return the Minbari prisoners to their own people, and he agreed that that was a good idea."

The president stopped for a moment and took a sip of her drink. All of them knew that she didn't normally drink, and they could see that she had something big to tell them.

"As I said, the initial meeting was a little rocky, but fruitful. Yesterday, our group of formal negotiators, led by Senator Sobetski met with the Minbari negotiators. They have only three conditions that we have to meet, and they will end all aggressive actions against the Earth Alliance."

The President looked at all of them and told them of the first two conditions. General Leftcourt looked at her, "Those seem like fairly easy conditions to meet Madame President."

"Yes general, they are. It's their third condition that is the reason we're meeting today. The Minbari negotiators final condition is that we turn over the Captain who was in command of the group that fired on their ships and caused the death of their leader."

..
Everyone in the room was silent for a moment, then General Leftcourt stood up, the vein in his temple was throbbing visibly.

"Madame President, you can't possibly be considering this condition."

She stood up and looked him in the eyes, "Yes General I am. God help me I am."

"You want to turn over an Earthforce officer to the Minbari? Do you have any idea what they'll do to him?"

"General, I don't want to do this, but think of the number of lives it will save. And not just those in the military."

The general walked over to the bar and picked up a decanter of amber liquid. He opened it and didn't even bother with a glass. After taking a few big swallows, he set it down and turned back around. "Madam President, I think about those lives every night. I also think of how many we've lost since this began."

President Levy came up beside him and spoke softly, "Leadership is a heavy burden. You taught me that during the Dilgar war, remember?"

He just nodded his head quietly. Now they came back over to the others.

..
"Carl, what I need to know from you and Michelle is the legal ramifications. If we do this, what is the possible fallout?"

Carl and Michelle conferred quietly for a moment, and then Michelle looked at the President. "Ma'am, legally speaking, you can't order Captain Jankowski to do this. And you can't forcibly have him handed over to the Minbari. If this is to happen, then Captain Jankowski must be given all of the pertinent information. Then he must decide if he wishes to voluntarily go."

The president just nodded, and thanked them. She turned to General Leftcourt, "General, where is Captain Jankowski right now?"

"He's currently at the San Francisco base. I'll go there and talk to him about this."

"Thank you General."

Once the generals had left, the president turned to her chief of staff, "Contact Director Iverson, we may need his peoples services."

"Madame President, I think you should wait until General Leftcourt talks to the Captain."

"Alright we'll wait, but we can't wait to long."

"Yes Madame President."

..
Earthforce base San Francisco: General left court stepped off the shuttle and looked across the landing pad at the bay. He never tired of this view; his only regret was that he didn't get back to the base as often as he would have liked. An Earthforce Ensign stepped out of a hover car and saluted him.

"Welcome back General."

The general returned the salute, "Where Jankowski?"

"The base hospital sir."

"What the hell is he doing there?"

"I think I should let Dr. Gupta explain that sir." and he opened the door of the hover car. Five minutes later they were at the base hospital, and the general was met in the lobby by the hospital CO.

..
"Welcome back to San Francisco General."

"Thank you Dr. now where is Captain Jankowski?"

Doctor Gupta looked at him, "The captain is currently resting on the third floor General."

The general just looked at him for a moment, "Well I have to talk to him."

"I wouldn't advise it sir, Captain Jankowski is in a very sensitive state right now."

"Doctor, I don't give a rat's ass what state he's in, I have to talk to him."

"I'm afraid I can't allow that General."

The general just looked at the doctor for a moment.

..
"SECURITY."

As soon as the general yelled, two security agents came over from the main entrance. "I want the doctor escorted to his office, and he is to remain there incommunicado for the next two hours."

Both agents snapped to attention and replied "Yes sir." each agent took one of Dr. Gupta's arms and they escorted him from the lobby.

Now the General looked at the Ensign, "Where the hell is the elevator?"

"Right this way sir."

Soon they were on the third floor, at the entrance to the Psychiatric ward. The General looked at the Ensign, "What the hell is he doing in here?"

The Ensign hesitated for a moment, and then he looked at the general. "Captain Jankowski tried to kill himself three days ago sir."

"How?"

"Apparently he got drunk and then took a large amount of pain killers. He was found by security, and rushed here to the hospital."

The general just shook his head, "OK son let's go and see the Captain."

..
The Ensign buzzed the Ward station and they were buzzed in.

A young Lieutenant met the general. "Hello General, what can I do for you?"

"I need to see Captain Jankowski."

"I'm afraid that the Captain is in isolation right now sir. I can't let you see him."

The General stepped up to her and was nearly nose-to-nose with her. He spoke to her very softly, "Lieutenant. Either you can escort me to the Captains room, or in one hour you'll find yourself being escorted to the worst possible detail I can find in Earthforce."

The Lieutenant saw that while he was saying this, the general wasn't smiling. She knew he was very, very serious.

"Right this way sir."

..
General Leftcourt soon was standing outside of the Captains room, and he pushed open the door slowly. Captain Jankowski was laying on the bed reading. He looked up as the door opened, and he saw the General.

"Hello sir. What brings you to the nuthouse?"

The General looked at him for a moment, "I came to see you Captain."

Captain Jankowski put down his book and looked at the General. "What for sir? Has the Joint Chiefs decided to put me on trial after all?"

"No Captain, I'm here to ask you something."

Captain Jankowski just looked at him for a moment, "Ask me what General?"

General Leftcourt just looked at him. "Captain Jankowski. A few days ago we entered into negotiations with the Minbari Federation, in the hopes of ending this war. Their negotiators gave us three conditions that we must carry out. The first two are simple, and the President has already agreed to them. But the third condition is that we give them you."

Captain Jankowski just looked at the General for a moment, and the General saw a tear forming in the Captains eye. The Captain quickly wiped his eyes and looked at the General, "I take it this is to be a one way mission then sir."

"Most likely Captain."

"What will happen if I don't go sir?"

"Our people believe that if we don't hand you over, then the war will start up again. And this time we believe that the Minbari will not stop until they wipe out every human being in the galaxy."

"I see sir."

Captain Jankowski slowly got out of the bed and walked to the closet. He opened the closet and took out his uniform.

"Can I have a few minutes to get dressed sir?"

"Of course Captain."

The general stepped out of the room and saw the Ensign and the Lieutenant were waiting for him. "Lieutenant. The Captain is leaving, and all records of this visit to the hospital are to be wiped clean. Am I making myself clear?"

"Yes sir."