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John Sheridan waited a full five beats after Michael Garibaldi had left the conference room off C&C. Then he waited a little while longer, wanting to make sure his Security chief was out of earshot, but his face began to contort, then writhe with suppressed laughter which he finally let out in a loud guffaw. He was still chuckling when Ivanova approached the doorway and poked her head into the room.
“Most of the ships are either on their way or have been given departure times and gates.” She looked at his gleeful face with suspicion. “What’s so funny?” she asked, then quickly added, “Sir.”
His face sobered, although a glint of malice still lingered. “This whole thing with Abel Horn…undoubtedly there’s someone behind it, probably either in the government or MarsCorp as Ms. Carter suggested. But I’ve just convinced Mr. Garibaldi that there’s a massive farflung conspiracy headed up by a shadowy group called…” His voice choked with amusement as he leaned towards her and announced in a stage whisper “Bureau 13!”
Disconcerted, Ivanova stared at her commanding officer. “Why in the world would you do that? You know how paranoid he is about…well, about everything! He’ll be looking for evidence of this group in every unusual thing that happens on the station from now on!”
“I know,” said Sheridan, nodding with a smile. Ivanova’s disapproving glare continued unabated. Suddenly uneasy, he protested, “It was just in fun. The man really is extremely paranoid, and I thought it might help to lighten things up between us.”
Ivanova’s eyes began to roll before she sternly forced them back to the forward position. “I see. You lied to him to earn his trust.”
“How could he buy that story, especially coming from a stick-up-his-ass by-the-book officer like me?” Sheridan started laughing again at Ivanova’s expression. “It’s all right, not a bad description over all, but I mean, I told him I collected secrets, was fascinated by conspiracy theories, had been for years! If he took me seriously at first, or just agreed with me to my face, he must suspect I was joking!”
Ivanova’s comment was terse. “Garibaldi collects secrets. Garibaldi sees conspiracies everywhere.”
Sheridan, taken aback, looked down at the desktop and thoughtfully rubbed the back of his neck. “So, you think this might backfire, huh?”
Again, Ivanova’s eyes had to be forced down before they rolled back into her skull. “Yes sir. I think it might.”
“What should I do? Come clean with him before it goes any further?” Sheridan was beginning to look worried, and a bit truculent.
Ivanova shook her head. “I’d leave it alone. Let the whole thing die a natural death. If he doesn’t find anything, and he won’t, he’ll either think you’re eccentric or crazy or mistaken. Better than thinking you were playing him for a fool.”
“All right,” replied Sheridan. He sighed, “I don’t think Mr. Garibaldi is ever going to fully accept me as Commander Sinclair’s replacement. But as long as he does his job, I don’t suppose it matters.”
“No sir. It doesn’t, sir. And he will, sir,” said Ivanova with crisp assurance and a deliberate pause between statements for emphasis. She went over a few more items on her copious to-do list with him, and left him to his own duties.
On her way back to C&C, she began to mutter to herself, “Why do they do these things? Do they want to drive me crazy? The Captain’s job to lead, and it is true that Garibaldi is sometimes reluctant to accept leadership as determined by rank. But he’ll do his job no matter what he thinks of the Captain. And the Captain should know that. I will make sure he knows that.” She paused at the entrance to the command center, adjusting her uniform jacket to eliminate errant creases and checking her tight braid for runaway strands of hair. She continued her running soliloquy. “And my job to keep things running smoothly. It is fortunate that I enjoy a challenge. It would have been easier to stick to pilot school and skip command training. Ah well,” she shrugged her shoulders, then pulled them back as she entered into the swirl of voices in C&C, “It was my choice. And as they say in Russia, ‘if you’re afraid of the wolves, stay out of the forest.’ “