Chapter 53
Beta Durani station: Lt Commander Duganerro entered the office that had been set up for Captain Santiago. She saw the Captain and a few people from his staff, and she smiled at them.
"Hello Commander, what can we do for you?"
The commander opened up the satchel she was carrying, and handed him a stack of papers. "These are the Corporation papers that we need to file with the Earth Alliance, so we can get our Corporation legally recognized."
The Captain took the papers, and turned to Terry, "Send these to my uncle on a gold channel signal, he wants them fast tracked right away."
Terry took the papers, "Yes sir."
Now the Captain looked at the Commander, "My uncle has already told me that he has arraigned with the Ministry of Finance to get your people's paperwork done it record time."
"Thank you Captain, I'll inform the Admiral right away. How soon can we expect official recognition?"
The Captain smiled, "Most likely by close of business today. Once he has the official recognition, my uncle will contact the Admiral personally."
"Thank you again Captain."
"My pleasure Commander."
Now Commander Duganerro left the office and proceeds toward the landing bay. She just had to report to the admiral, and then she had an appointment with her rack. She wasn't as young as she used to be, and pulling an all nighter is something only a young lawyer should have to do.
----
Office of the Vice President: The Vice Presidents chief of staff gathered the documents as soon as they printed. She had been waiting for these, and once she had them all, she headed to the Vice Presidents main office. "Sir, we have the documents from the Admiral."
Louise Santiago smiled, "Good, just let me get my coat, and we'll head over to the Ministers office."
"Yes sir."
The two of them left and proceeded to the Ministry of Finance, and when they arrived, they went directly to the Ministers office. The Veep had told the Minister that it was important to get these documents filed right away. But when the Veep himself showed up with them, the Minister realized just how important it was. The Minister had his entire staff work on getting everything duplicated and filed with all of the necessary agencies. The process normally would take one to two weeks, but his staff, once realizing the importance of the task, literally moved heaven and earth to streamline the entire process. By 19:00 hours, the process was almost complete. The Minister handed the final document to the Veep, "You just need the President to sign this, and everything is complete."
"Thank you Minister, I'll have the President sign this right away."
The Vice President now headed to the Presidents office.
----
Office of the President: Elizabeth Levy was sitting in her chair, and she was tired. In the past few days, she had done more politicking than she had done in years. But she had managed to get all the right people on board, and now she just had to make her announcement. Her secretary buzzed her, "Ma'am, the Vice President is here to see you."
"Send him in."
A moment later Louise was standing before her and he was smiling. "Tell me you have some good news Louise."
"I do Elizabeth." and he put a document in front of her.
"This needs your signature."
"What is it?"
"The final form to duly recognize the Confederation Corporation."
Now Elizabeth smiled, for she knew what this meant for the Earth Alliance. She picked up her pen and signed the document. Now she looked at him, "Thank you Louise, for everything."
He smiled again, "It was a pleasure Elizabeth, good luck with your announcement."
"Thank you Louise."
----
20:00 hours Earth Mean time: All across Earth Alliance space, monitors and communication systems were tuned in to the speech that was to be made by the Earth Alliance President. Soon the face of Elizabeth Levy came into focus. She was sitting in her office, and she had a small smile on her face.
"Citizens of the Earth Alliance, I come to you this day with glad tidings. The time of our terrible darkness has passed over us, and we stand at the dawn of a new age. We have formally signed a peace treaty with the Minbari. Our war with the Minbari Federation is now over, and from the ashes of war, a new hope for peace has arisen."
"Today the Senate has approved funding to begin the construction on the Babylon station. Located in neutral space between several major governments. Together we stood on the brink of destruction, as the result of a terrible mistake. A mistake which none of us can afford to make again. The Babylon station will provide us all a place to work out our problems peacefully. It is we believe our last, best hope for peace. I thank you. May God Bless you, and good night."
The monitors soon switched over to political commentators and various reporters. In the Centauri Consulate, Lando switched off his monitor, and raised his glass of Bravari in a silent toast to the president. On the Minbari Cruiser Valen-Tha, the Gray council watched the announcement, and Delenn could only smile to herself. Elsewhere on the Valen-Tha, the two Vorlons also watched the announcement.
"The circle is not broken, all proceeds as it should."
"For now."
Kosh Naranek could only hope that things would continue to go, as his people knew they should. On the TCS Bull Run, G'Kar had watched the announcement with Lennon and the others.
Now he looked at Lennon, "Let us hope that this grand idea works out."
"I am sure it will G'Kar. But only the future knows how it will work out."
Both of them just nodded their heads slowly.
----
Admiral Douglas's quarters: He had watched the Presidents speech, and he had silently hoped that this great idea would pan out. Now he was getting ready to go and see Terry, when he was informed of the call from the Vice President. He went to his desk and activated the monitor, "Hello Mr. Vice President, I hope that you have something good to tell me?"
The Vice President just smiled, "I do indeed Admiral. The Ministry of Finance has all of your documentation filed, and the official recognition of the Confederation Corporation has been ratified and signed. As of just over one hour ago, your Corporation is an officially recognized entity by the Earth Alliance government."
The Admiral smiled, "Then Mr. Vice President, we look forward to many years of business between us."
The Vice President now smiled, "In that case Admiral, why don't you call me Louise?"
"Only if you call me Luke sir."
Now both men smiled at each other, "That I can do Luke."
----
Anthony and Melissa had watched the Presidents announcement, and he felt a new sense of hope. Soon he felt Melissa's arms wrap around his arm "Are you OK Tony?"
He turned and looked into her eyes, "Yes Missy, right now I'm more OK than I've been in a long time."
She stepped into his embrace, and he hugged her tight. "I think we're both going to be OK Missy."
She liked it when he held her, she didn't really know why, but it felt right to her. She looked into his eyes, and she saw that he was happy. This made her feel happy as well. She felt that he was her angel, and that he would always keep her safe from the bad man. She slowly leaned her face to his, and they kissed, a soft and gentle kiss. Soon they stopped, and she started to walk to the cot. She turned her head and looked at him, "Sleep with me."
A part of Anthony knew he shouldn't, but the look she gave him melted all of his resistance. He walked over to her and kissed her again. As they stood by the cot, they slowly removed each other's clothing.
As they lay together on the cot, he felt her reach out with her mind. As their minds touched, so did their bodies. Soon the world around them was lost to them. They were the only two people in the universe. She saw his earliest memories, and he saw hers. As they made love, more and more of their memories surfaced. They saw her darkest secrets, and his as well. She was afraid of what she saw, but he was there and she soon felt calm again. She felt his feelings for her, and she now knew what they meant. For she also had these feelings, even before the bad man had come. She had known him back at home, when they both worked for Mom and Dad. But she couldn't tell him then, Mom and Dad had said no. But here and now she could. But she knew she didn't have to, because he already knew. As they climaxed, she felt his soul and hers merge as one. She liked this feeling, and wanted it to last forever.
As they lay together afterwards, as she was drifting off to sleep, she heard his thought, "I love you Missy."
She held him a little tighter, "I love you to Tony."
----
Landing Bay Alpha TCS Bull Run: Captain Grove and the others were standing by the Minbari ship, and he was watching the others say goodbye. Megan came up to him, and it was strange to see her in civvies. She saluted him, and he returned it, then he held open his arms, and hugged her. "If you ever need anything, you just have to call."
"Yes sir."
"And remember, you can always come to Vega for a visit."
"I will, I promise."
"I'm going to hold you to that."
Nossan came up next, and the Captain looked at him and held out his hand, which Nossan took. "Nossan, it's been a pleasure and an honor working with you."
"I feel the same way Captain Grove."
"You just remember to keep an eye on Megan."
Nossan smiled, "I will keep both eyes on her." Both of them laughed a little.
----
Now Lennon came up to him, and Captain Grove bowed to him, "You will be missed Anla-shok Na Lennon."
Lennon was a little shocked, but quickly regained his composure and bowed to the Captain. "As will you Captain Jeffery Grove."
Jeff looked at one of the crew chiefs, and the chief handed him a package. Jeff handed the package to Lennon. "A small going away gift."
Lennon took the package, and looked at Jeff. "It's some of the tea you seemed to enjoy."
Lennon smiled, "I will think of you and our talks when I drink this."
Now Lennon moved a little closer and said softly, "Who taught you Minbari?"
Jeff tilted his head toward Nossan, "I asked him what would be the proper way to say goodbye."
"You speak it well Captain."
"I've always had a knack for picking up languages."
"Well then, I will send you some data crystals of my peoples languages."
"I look forward to receiving them."
After they had boarded the ship, the people stood back as it lifted off. Soon it was out of the bay and flying close to the Valen-Tha. As the ships moved away from the Bull Run, a vortex opened to hyperspace, and both ships entered. Shortly afterwards, the Bull Run moved out of orbit and was cruising toward the jump point on it's way Back to Beta Durani.
----
Captain Santiago's Quarter's 06:00: Ricardo heard the alarm on his monitor going off, and he slowly opened one eye. He immediately knew that was a mistake. He groaned softly, and sat up very slowly. He waited while the room spun for a few seconds, then he tried to remember everything that had happened. He was startled from his thoughts by another groan. He looked to his left, and saw another person in the bed with him.
"Will you shut off the alarm already."
He immediately recognized Heidi's voice.
"Oh shit, what did we do?" he thought.
He got out of bed as fast as he could, and turned off the alarm. When he turned around he saw Heidi turn over, and the events of last night started to come back to him in flashes. The celebrating, the drinks, the dancing. the kissing. Then he saw flashes of her in various stages of undress. He then remembered the two times they had sex. The first time was just inside the door to his quarters, he had lifted her up and took her against the door. The second time was in the bed, and she had started that one. She had done things to him that he had only heard of, and a few things he had never heard of. He then looked down and realized he was nude, and there were scratches, bruises and lipstick smears were there shouldn't be any.
She looked at him, through half closed eyelids. "Oh my god. What time is it?"
"Oh, uh, it's 06 hundred."
"God Ricardo, do you get up this early all the time?"
He shook his head, and instantly regretted it. "Yeah."
"Well I don't, unless I've got the early shift. Wake me up in an hour."
She then pulled the covers back over her head. Ricardo looked at her again, and then headed for the head, he needed to try and clear his brain, maybe a shower would help.He showered and dressed as quietly as possible, and then went and got them some coffee. He returned to his quarters, and found her just getting out of the shower. She saw him, and wrapped the towel around her wet hair. She then walked up to him and kissed him, her tongue was quickly dancing against his.
When they parted she looked at him, "Thanks for last night, you were an animal."
She then took one of the coffee's, and sipped it while searching for her uniform. Ricardo could only smile, she must have liked it, he knew he did. As soon as she was dressed, they headed for the open mess.
----
Captain Santiago's Office, 09:00 Now Ricardo sat at his desk, nursing the granddaddy of all hangovers. There had been celebrating all night long on the station, and he and Heidi had participated in those celebrations and 'others' till the wee hours of the morning. But Ricardo took some comfort in knowing that most of his staff, which was mysteriously absent, had also celebrated. Terry entered the office, and she looked at the Captain.
"Good morning sir."
He looked at her, and she seemed way to happy this morning. "If you say so Petty Officer."
Terry felt a little sorry for him, but it was his idea to party like a cadet on his first liberty pass. Terry then went over and opened her desk drawer and took out a bottle. She handed it to the Captain, and he just looked at her a little suspiciously. "What's this?"
She smiled, "My dad calls it the 'Hair of the dog'."
Ricardo just opened the bottle slowly, and sniffed it. "Phew."
"Your not supposed to sniff it, just drink a swallow."
Ricardo closed his eye, and took a gulp of the liquid. As he swallowed it, he felt it burn as it made it's way down.
"Guahhh." and he made a fairly funny face.
"Are you trying to kill me Terry?"
Terry laughed a little, "Oh please, you've had this before. My dad used to make it for you, remember?"
Now he smiled, "I knew there was some reason I was glad he retired."
Terry took the bottle and recapped it. She put it in her desk drawer again, and looked at him. "Just remember where it is the next time you over do it sir."
He just nodded and put his head back down on his desk.
----
Half an hour later, he was feeling better, the Nick Charles concoction had done it again. He looked at Terry now, "And how was your evening?"
She looked at him, "Now Captain, I'm shocked you would ask such a thing."
He saw that she was smiling, "Well you and the Admiral did disappear rather early last night."
She just looked at Ricardo, "We were playing baseball." and she winked at him.
He just looked at her quizzically, "I don't think I want to know what that means. Do I?"
She just blushed a little.
"That's what I thought."