Washington D.C., Earth, Alliance of Democratic Nations
Universe Designate HE-1
17 January 2183 AST
14:00 GST
The ceremony began at 9am EST sharp with the large crowd already gathered in the New Mall. To their backs was the Capitol Building, the age-old symbol of legislative power, and further west from that was, of course, the Old Mall, where the Smithsonian, the National Aero-Space Museum, and other America-centric memorials and monuments were still to be found.
The New Mall was the brainchild of Harriet Donaldson, a senior city councilwoman in 2144 AST when the newly-formed Alliance of Democratic Nations opted to temporarily take up Washington D.C., the former capital of the USA (which, in Universe HE-1, had seen it's capital moved to Philadelphia in the 21st Century due to the upheavals and wars that had nearly torn America apart). Though the future of the capital was still undecided, Donaldson acted to head off the inevitable plans to build a new capital on another world by engaging in a beautification campaign that nearly bankrupted the city but saw it's old monuments restored to luster and also involved the creation of the "New Mall" to go with the "Old Mall"; the New Mall went east, not west, of the Capitol, all the way to the Anacostia River where the old RFK Stadium had been refurbished. Here, the monuments of the Allied Nations would be constructed.
It began, in the 2150s, with the Wall of Honor, a memorial area where three great marble walls would bear the names of those soldiers who were awarded the Grand Cross of Honor by the Council - the ADN's equivalent of the US Medal of Honor of the British Victoria's Cross. In the 60s the Cardassian War Memorial had been added, the Jennifer Verdes Memorial in the 70s. Near the RFK Stadium, the Interuniversal War Memorial was being built to commemorate the simultaneous wars against the Dominion and Plymouth.
Before the crowd now was the new great memorial for the Alliance Capital. The Nicolas Mamatmas Memorial was build in similar fashion to the Lincoln Memorial, constructed to resemble a Doric temple of the Classical Greeks. It faced west as Lincoln's faced east, with three staired-entrance pathways moving north, south, and west, each of them covered by ceilings decorated with traditional symbols of liberty, including the eagle and the Alliance four-colored torch. The grand columns of marble numbered twenty facing to the east and eighteen each facing north and south - a pair of symbolic numbers, as twenty nations had founded the Alliance when Nicolas became the first Chancellor of the Alliance Council, and there had been fifty-six member nations when he had left office in January 2163 - maintaining the limestone roof with the decorated ceiling until one got to the cella in the middle, supported by the innermost columns and the solid construction of the rest of the structure. There, standing in a serene, firm pose, was the statue of Nicolas Mamatmas himself. Clad in his customary suit-and-tie, his face weathered from age and trial, Mamatmas' visage gazed east at Capitol Hill, as if he were keeping watch on the institution he had been the first to lead. His stance was simple but elegant, based upon his official Presidential portrait by Francois de Rumy, with both hands pressed firmly together behind his back. At the base of the statue, upon the marble pedastral, was an inscription.
"In this temple we have consecrated the memory of Nicolas Mamatmas, the Rock of the Alliance. May it stand as firm as he was."
Behind the great sculpture of Mamatmas, at the northeast, east, and southeast corners of the cella, were the engravings of his greatest speeches; his acceptance speech when elected as the Alliance's first Chancellor, his first State of the Alliance speech to the Alliance Council just a few days after he entered office, and the infamous speech of April 29th, 2160 AST, when Mamatmas issued his call to arms to the Allied Nations following the outbreak of war with the Dominion and the imminent outbreak of war with New Plymouth Colony, New China, and New Oranje in CON-5. There were, furthermore, small containers for informational pamphlets, as well as watch stations for the memorial's security and maintainance staff.
In a moment, the screens that had hidden parts of the memorial from view were gone, showing this sight to the assembled crowd, which showed it's approval with applause. Assembled for this occasion was an array of officials. President Alexandria Verdes, Sixth President of the Alliance (and the daughter of Jennifer Verdes, Second President of the Alliance) was in attendance. To her sides sat numerous dignitaries. Nicolas' aging widow, Karyn, looked far older than her last public images had shown; since her husband's death Karyn had grown increasingly withdrawn from the world, seeking solitude in more quiet acts of charity and benevolence to honor her husband's legacy. She was joined by many of Nicolas' family, including Doctor Samuel Mamatmas, the newly-minted Dean of the Orina Belluci School of Sentient History at the University of New Brooklyn, and Admiral Peter Mamatmas, the eldest of Mamatmas' adopted children.
Also in the crowd were other established dignitaries. The two other surviving ex-Presidents of the Alliance, Robert Dale and Sir Kevin Maxwell-Fyfe, were in attendance with families and other close ones. Rachel MacKenzie, the only surviving Chancellor to have served alongside Mamatmas, had also present, as was Prime Minister Omiko Takahara of Japan SE-1, who had served as Mamatmas' trusted Security Advisor in the first years of his Presidency.
A number of foreign dignitaries had decided to be in attendance, mostly people noted for closeness to Mamatmas or sympathy toward him. Standing with her closest advisors was President Delenn of the InterStellar Alliance (Universe Designate EM-5), and nearby, Emperor Vir Cotto of the Centauri Republic from the same universe; both leaders had worked closely with Nicolas Mamatmas in his Presidency in an attempt to maintain the peace of their home universe. Sir Alexander Grant, Alexandria Driscova, and Gabrielle Newson, former Prime Ministers of the British Empire and the Kingdom of the Devenshires and President of Lisea respectively, had come to pay a final respect to their wartime ally of twenty years prior. Some heads turned at the sight of an entourage of Talorans, sitting near Robert Dale, headed by Ulahs Trisimhla, a Hereditary Censor of Quesadia, the most populated city of Talora Prime and one of the major economic centers of the Multiverse.
Shakaar Edon, former President of the Bajoran Republic, had led a delegation of Bajorans to the ceremony, and was joined by Fleet Admiral Benjamin Sisko, Commander-in-Chief of the new Federated Worlds' Stellar Navy and hero of the Dominion War and the Federation Civil Wars, leading a delegation of several prominent officials from the former Federation who regarded Mamatmas as being responsible for their freedom from the Federation and the end of it's increasingly-corrupt government.
Alexandria Verdes was the first to speak.
"I am honored to be here today, in the midst of such a great company of people, to commemorate the opening of this memorial to the great man who proved indispensable to the development and stability of the Allied Nations. Even in death, he continues to inspire with the story of his life, his hardships, and his personal courage. I look around, and I see the common people he loved so greatly, and I see the great and powerful who came here humbly to recognize him, and it fills me with awe that one man can have such a great effect upon others."
"Nicolas Mamatmas believed in the institutions of the Alliance. He believed in freedom, in liberty, in the common man, in a way so few do in the Multiverse. He was blessed with an intelligence and a vigor that led him to high office, from where he could do the most good. And we have all seen the good he did."
"Now we have built this place in his honor, a place of memory that will allow for many generations to come and learn about him. Nicolas himself may be gone, but with this place, he will be immortal in the hearts and minds of all those peoples who love liberty."
There were polite applause. Karyn Mamatmas joined in them, but she was weeping greatly, the wound in her heart still strong after the passing of the years. She missed her beloved husband so greatly that this only served to aggravate the wound.
But she still forced a smile when the cameras came to her. For her family's sake, for Nicolas' sake, she would bear the burden here today, like those burdens he bore so long ago, and allow the people he loved to honor him.