God is Back
by Dandragon Wolf

Just poking a little fun at Lochley. All characters, except
those I make up, belong to J.M.S. and Co. (you know who they are).
Hope you enjoy the story. Comments welcome.

Captain Elizabeth Lochley entered C&C and nodded at Corwin
and the others. Corwin handed her the report, which she read while at
her consul. Her eyes widened suddenly in disbelief. She quickly hit a
button. A sleepy looking President John Sheridan answered.
"What is it Captain?" he asked.
"I just got a communiqu?from Earth Force sir." She said.
"You get communiqu? every day Captain." Sheridan said grumpily.
"Yes, but this one is notifying us that she's back." Lochley said
urgently.
"Who?" he asked, too sleepy to know the difference.
"Her!" she hissed urgently.
"I have no patience for games Lochley!" Sheridan snapped irritably.
"Who is it?"
"Ivanova." Lochley whispered as loudly as she dared.
Sheridan's eyes widened.
"Ivanova?!" he repeated incredulously.
Lochley frantically made motions for him to lower his voice. Too
late. Corwin and the rest of the staff heard him. They immediately
dropped to their knees and bowed so that their heads touched their
consuls.
"Ivanova is always right. I will listen to Ivanova. I will not ignore
Ivanova's recommendations. Ivanova is God. And, if I ever do anything
wrong, Ivanova will personally rip my lungs out." they chanted
obediently.
Lochley hung her head and sighed. Sheridan had the grace to look
sheepish.
"Oops." he said. "I'll be right over."
The screen went blank. Lochley endured the usual five minutes of
chanting before the staff all got up and went back to work as if
nothing had happened. Lochley didn't even bother asking the staff why
they did what they did. Every time she tried, they didn't understand
the question and said that they had not been doing anything out of
the ordinary. It wasn't just the staff in C&C either. Some of the
other officers and aliens even did the same thing upon hearing
Ivanova's name. Lochley had filed a complaint to Earth and now
apparently someone was going to do something about this. Admiral
Overton was arriving on the Avenger with Captain Ivanova to put an
end to the problem. Lochley gave a small sigh of relief.
Lochley and Sheridan stood on deck as the Avenger docked. Two
people emerged from the ship and headed towards them. Admiral Faye
Overton was a short, stocky, blond haired, green-eyed woman with a
perpetual smile that didn't match the scarred face and fighter's
body.
"Admiral, Captain." Lochley said, shaking their hands.
"President, Captain." Overton replied.
"Admiral, Susan." Sheridan said.
"Captain, John." Ivanova replied.
"Welcome to Babylon Five Admiral." Lochley said.
"Thank you Captain Lochley." Overton replied. "I'm here to put an end
to your problem. A genie on command."
Sheridan smiled. Lochley didn't. She wasn't sure how to react to
Overton's sense of humour.
"What problem is that?" Ivanova asked, since no one told her.
"Classified." Lochley replied sharply, not liking Ivanova immediately
since she was well accustomed to the problems that name caused.
"Yes, I'm afraid it is classified." Sheridan said apologetically.
"But Michael and Stephen are very interested in seeing you again." he
added brightly.
"I'd like to see them as well." Ivanova replied with a smile.
"Well, let's all go to C&C." the admiral said. "Captain Ivanova, if
you wouldn't mind escorting me."
"Of course Admiral." Ivanova said graciously.
The two went out. Sheridan and Lochley exchanged glances.
Frustratingly enough, as soon as they entered C&C, no one
bowed at Ivanova. Corwin and some other merely congratulated her on
her promotion. Ivanova thanked them. Lochley took every opportunity
to call Ivanova by her name in C&C but it didn't seem to affect the
crew at all. Frustrated, Lochley watched helplessly as Ivanova left
C&C. Then Admiral Overton deliberately mentioned Ivanova's name to
Sheridan. But again none of the crew reacted. Overton looked a little
annoyed.
Over the next week, Lochley and Sheridan did everything they
could to get the crew to react. No such luck. Overton ended up
leaving them with a stern warning about making such ridiculous
accusations. Ivanova left after many a cheerful reunion with her old
comrades on Babylon 5. Sheridan and Lochley stood in C&C and watched
Ivanova's ship depart.
"I can't believe it." Sheridan muttered.
"I know how you feel sir." Lochley replied. "But at least this means
they won't react when we say 'Ivanova' any more."
It was as if the crew had been waiting for it. They immediately
dropped to their knees and bowed so that their heads touched their
consuls.
"Ivanova is always right. I will listen to Ivanova. I will not ignore
Ivanova's recommendations. Ivanova is God. And, if I ever do anything
wrong, Ivanova will personally rip my lungs out." they chanted
obediently.
Then they rose and continued on as if nothing had happened. Sheridan
and Lochley looked at each other with horror in their eyes.
As the Avenger departed, its Captain received a message.
Ivanova viewed the message in the privacy of her quarters.
Garibaldi's face appeared and he smiled at her.
"Success." he said.
Ivanova smiled as the message ended. Success indeed.
A month later, Captain Susan Ivanova was standing in C&C with
Garibaldi and Franklin. They grinned at each other and the rest of
the crew. Apparently Lochley had lost her mind and was now in the
Earth Force Psychiatric Ward on Earth muttering:
"Ivanova is always right. I will listen to Ivanova. I will not ignore
Ivanova's recommendations. Ivanova is God. And, if I ever do anything
wrong, Ivanova will personally rip my lungs out."

The End :)