The EA Elects a New President

[Sheridan]

A New Beginning

Bablyon 5 was abuzz with activity, the Inauguration of a new President was always a time of great excitement. The station was awash in festive displays and flags. Numerous representatives and Ambassadors from throughout the Galaxy were gathering in the stations Grand Hall for the upcoming event.

Below decks, Commander Able was preparing for his ascendancy to full President. He had held the title of Interim President by authority of Sheridan when he left for the Rim. Only reluctantly was Able accepting the post. Duty called and he knew the Earth Alliance needed a President. He had wisely led the EA and won repeated battles. There was no doubt he was to be elected by the full Senate.

Able finished suiting up in his full dress attire for the upcoming event. As he discarded his hand weapon, (it was not part of full dress attire) a tingle on the back of his neck raised his hairs. He always relied on his intuition and he felt something was wrong.

Commander Able,.. “Security, anything going on?”

Security,. “Negative Sir”

Commander Able,.. “Raise the station to Amber Alert, let me know of anything strange.”

Able could feel something was amiss,.. he thought Cylons,.. Able was correct, something was indeed wrong, but it was not the Cylons,.. deep in the station a cloaked figure silently stalked its prey.





Ambassador Dellen had returned from Mimbari Prime, and was making her way to the turbo lift. Her thoughts drifted back to the battle at the Home world and her command of the Mimbari Flagship. She chuckled at renaming the vessel, “Sheridan’s Wrath”, time would tell if the name would stick. A whispered voice sounded behind her,..

“Mi Padrone”,.. it was Sheridan’s pet name for her,.. she stopped in her tracks and turned. Had she imagined it? No one was there.

At the turbo lift, she entered and at the last instant a cloaked figure darted in before the doors closed.

The figure whispered,. “Mi Padrone”,..

Dellen,.. “John, is that you?”

The Sheridan pulled back his hood and Dellen gasped as she viewed his bearded face.

Dellen,..”Is it really you John,.. or a,.. a,..

The Sheridan,.. “A clone? Does it matter? We are all the same Dellen. Do you really think I would leave the Station? It is me Dellen,.. I sent a clone to the Rim and stayed behind.”

The Sheridan hit the turbo stop and stepped forward,.. and Dellen backed up.

The Sheridan,.. “It is “our” time now Dellen,.. the Mimbari Leader is weak he can barely lift a hand to do orders. His fleets are commanded by you and I am still the President!,…. Don’t look so shocked Dellen, you know our races are one, we share our souls. Eventually they must combine into the largest super nation this galaxy has ever seen!

Dellen,. “You are not John!”

The Sheridan moved closer,.. “Dellen our child will be the leader of this super nation!”

Dellen,. “Our child, you’re Mad!”

The Sheridan,.. “Yes Dellen, our child,… surely you do not think the Pyscorp Clone labs have been idle? When you made love to me your DNA was taken. Our secret child is already 12AA (Clone speak for years of apparent age).

Dellen screamed “NO!!!” and struck out at Sheridan. He quickly grabbed her arms. For Dellen the room began to spin and quickly the floor rushed up to her face. The Sheridan let go of her arms and she crumpled to the floor. Her head hit with a deadening thunk.






Commander Able awaited at the edge of the stage,.. something was wrong. Dellen was missing. Nearby the order was given for Able to proceed forward to the Podium without Dellen. A thunderous applause erupted as Able made his way forward waving to the crowd.

From the opposite side an unidentifiable cloaked figure appeared and also made his way forward. Able stopped, as did the figure opposite him.. his hairs on his neck screamed danger. Instinctively he reached for his side arm that was absent,. And realizing this just placed his hand on his belt.

The crowds applause skipped a beat and died down as they tried to understand and obliviously unscripted event.

Both figures remained motionless. The crowd’s applause retreated in confusion and the hall became silent.

The Sheridan removed his hood and revealed the heavily bearded face.

Immediately the assembled Senators and Ambassadors erupted into a cacophony. The pro Able half booing and yelling “Coward, Traitor”, and the other half pro Sheridan standing and applauding. Disputes erupted in the crowd,.. pandemonium broke out. Nothing could be heard over the din,..

Commander Able stared across the stage and into The Sheridan’s icy cold eyes,.. behind the beard a faint evil smile broke out on the Sheridan’s lips, his eyes locked back at Commander Able.

To Be Continued:

[Commander Abel]

Cmdr Abel then turned around to his Chief of Staff... "Get me a security team here from Olympia and take that man into custody. Then run an identification check on him to establish exactly who he is and report back to me as soon as possible on the findings. Also send a second security team to find Ambassador Dellen where ever she is on or off the station. Do all of this with security teams from Olympia. If you can't find her quickly, feel free to bring over Marines from Olympia to assist with the search. There is no need to put the EA teams on the spot of having to choose between myself and the possble reappeance of President Sheridan or one of his clones"..........

To Be Continued:

[Sheridan]

The Sheridan sat in the cell on the Olympia,.. he had not anticipated that the Olympia was in the vacinity. He knew that Able could not easily use the EA forces to arrest him, that might well ignite a mutiny. His plans were rapidly degenerating,... as he pondered his situation.

Sheridan surveyed the security detail outside his cell,....



Meanwhile on Babylon 5 news was spreading about the days events,.. and Senators had begun to question what was going on. Commander Able would be very busy for the next 24 hours,...

[Commander Abel]

The Chief of Staff approached Cmdr Abel in the command cenmter and waited while he was dealing with a group of ambassadors. ...
Abel ...."report"
COS.... "Sir, Sheridan has been taken into custody and removed to Olympia where he is under guard by Colonial Marines.
A mixed team of Colonial and Earth scientists are now trying to establish who or what he is. Early scans do not match up with either Sheridan Prime or one of his known clones.
As for Ambasador Dellen, Mixed Earth/Colonial teams are now searching every nook and cranny of the station to try to find the Amassador. Even with all of the coverage, it is still going to be over over 24 centars before the whole station is searched. It is worse than searching a battlestar."

Abel..." Very well, Also Please keep this quiet, but check the Sheridan in custody to see if he is a Cylon construct. A Narn ship did swing through here a couple of sectons ago. What I haven't told you is the Narn seem to be supporting the Cylons in seeking retribution against the Colonials or the EA or Both. What I don't know but am trying to get information on is whether there are 2 or more independent factions of the Narn exist and where that Narn ship came from, near Narn prime or deep space.
One last thing to also keep in mind is the possibility that this is one of damaged clones of Sheridan that were supposed to be destroyed but somehow managed to disappear before Earth was destroyed by the Shadows in the Shadow wars. They were deemed unsuitable because they easily became obsessed with achieving power and glory. President sheridan told me that one before he departed for the rim."

COS...."Very well sir, I will see what i can find out about all of this and get back to you. "

[Gold Centurion]

The Cylon Empire is enjoying this soap opera. Thank you for the entertainment! Most informative.

[Commander Malex]

RE: "What I haven't told you is the Narn seem to be supporting the Cylons in seeking retribution against the Colonials or the EA or Both. What I don't know but am trying to get information on is whether there are 2 or more independent factions of the Narn exist and where that Narn ship came from, near Narn prime or deep space."

Fakshuns Brothah! Man, all we iz iz fakshunz!

[Commander Abel]

Chief Of Staff...."Sir, We have located Ambassador Dellen. We identified her using biometric scans of all of the residents of the station. She was living on the lower levels with a drug induced amnesia. She is in the medical unit as we speak getting her system cleared of the drugs and should be up and about in a day or so.

As for the Sheridan, we are still working on it but we are still stymied as to which one he is or if it even is one of the clones."

Abel.. " Thank you, that is good news about the Minbari Ambassador. The Minbari will be needing her guidance in the coming Centons until the Minbari Gray Council is able to resume control of the Minbari Fleets.

In the meantime The Cylons have shown up at Earth with 2 Narn ships tagging along. Wait, until they find out it is nothing but a wasteland from the Shadow Wars of long ago. They will lose interest in Earth quick enough and continue their search for Olympia. Eventually I am sure they will find their way here to Babylon 5. When they get here, we will be ready for them, just like we are ready for the Borg.

As for the Borg, we have contacts al across the map. We are reaching a crucial time in the battles with the Borg. The next few Centons will reveal if we are lucky and will prevail or unlucky as a darkness decends over the quadrent as they assimilate us. Only time will tell and may the lords of Kobol favor us..."

[Gold Centurion]

The Cylon ship enters Sol, the long sought after system... home of the human scourge. Long range scanners revealed nothing... no life... a wasteland....

[Sheridan]

Ho Chi stood behind and off to one side of Sheridan. Sheridan worked some buttons on the console of his command chair,.. trying to pull up a cup of coffee,..

Ho Chi thought,. "He is getting more frustrated over the coffee,.. could this be a sign of "The Sheridans"? Which one is this,... Are we safe? Dellen thought she was safe,.. "

Ho Chi fingered his holster and felt for his sidearm.

Sheridan,.. "Ah there we go,.. " the coffee materialized on the chairs arm. Sheridan spun his chair around,..

Sheridan,.. "Ho Chi, is everything OK? You have that look upon your face?"

[ISN War Reporter (Embedded)]

ISN BREAKING NEWS!!!
EXTRA!!! EXTRA!!! READ ALL ABOUT IT!!!

SHERIDAN RETURNS FROM RETIREMENT

Which Sheridan is the question which remains unanswered. Commander Abel, stranger from a strange land, savior of the EA or, if Cylon propaganda is true, War Criminal, de facto president and ruler of the Earth Alliance is jeopardized by this unexpected turn of events. Has Sheridan the Original or which clown of clones has come to regain the usurped EA throne? Can this be true? can it be possible? Stay Tuned for the next episode of "60 Parsecs" by Wall-E Chronometer-Kite.

This has been an announcement by ISN news.

[Gold Centurion]

...Wave after wave of Cylon Raiders scoured the surface of Earth and the Sol System. A few outposts and ruins were detected, no great civilization at all. A sole sophisticated science ground base was detected near a large ringed planet. A massive assault of Heavy Raiders assaulted it, and captured its inhabitants. Records were seized, captives brought to the Basestar to interrogate. The science station received a particular form of Cylon attention. A 150KT Thermo-Nuclear device. Early Reports indicated The Olympia came this way. It left a while ago towards the Proxima Colony. What is this Proxima wondered Gold Centurion DCLXVI (666) of the Cylon XIIIth Battle Fleet.


Just then a Centurion of the watch reported, "Co-mman-der, Deep Space Sca-nners in-di-cate a hy-per-space an-om-ally de-tec-ted with-in 31 cen-tons at a-zi-muth Two-One-Five"


Gold Centurion DCLXVI's red eye stopped its back-and-forth pattern. Pondering, then resumed.

"I-den-ti-fy the an-o-ma-ly...Is it Co-lon-ial?"

"Co-Mman-Der, It is not.... Your Or-ders Sir?"

"Con-tin-ue de-struc-tion of Sol Sys-tem and all its in-ha-bi-tants."

The Flag Centurion replied, "By Your Co-mmand!"

Gold Centurion DCLXVI, continued to ponder this strange galaxy. Awaiting more data to compute in his second brain.

[Commander Abel]

The COS approaches Abel with a very puzzled look;
"Sir, The Narn have not gone into orbit around Earth with the cylon basestar. They are believed to be still in the area but they are not participating in any of the attacks. Also as you requested, all of the remaining inhabitants were evacuated and all defense platforms and communications were place on full automatic. Until the cylons actually land on the planet, they won't know that it was evacuated.
Also we have reports from a sector SE from Earth of that a large object has shown up in relation to the power surge we detected earlier. By our calculations, If it were to set a course for either Earth or Proxima, the Cylons would get a good look at it if it approached earth. and will beat the Cylons to Proxima if it should head in that direction.
Also, be advised, PARTHENOPE took some light damage from a bomb placed by a saboteur. At this time we have no information about the source of the spy or the bomb."

Abel ; Very well, Please keep me informed about Earth and the cylons and let me know if they deviate from the expected schedule. In the mean time, open a channel to the Narn and if they will will respond to our hail, see if they will give us a sighting report should they encounter this large mass SE of Earth.

Also as soon as the cruiser can get to a space dock, lets get it repaired and a drone refit while it is in there."