Dalshon
Chapter 13
Delenn shook her head at the yak hair, but did not comment. Instead she asked him about current business. The Interstellar Alliance was settling into its new capitol on Minbar and experiencing a few growing pains. Sheridan and Delenn carried on a normal conversation about rather boring details of the setup of the Gaim embassy's environmental system and the job requirements of certain bureaucratic posts. All the while Sheridan was screaming inside.
Delenn said, "Now, about this ISN broadcast."
"Yes." Sheridan straightened a little. If he could direct her attention to this subject in the right way, maybe she would guess what was going on.
"I have confirmation from Captain Punch that it was a real conversation she had with her first officer. The camera angle shows it was recorded from near the floor, from a hidden recording device. Not that that helps us now. John, this looks very bad. Even here on Minbar, and among the Alliance representatives, people are talking about whether they should still trust you."
Yes! This was it. "Well, they should be worried," Sheridan said. How much could he say? How much would his own mind let him say? He tried to tell her that he could receive a message from Lennier at any time, but he could not get the words out.
"We will deal with it," Delenn said. "We will remind them about all the good things you've done for the Alliance, and for the League before that. And you can remind your people about all you've done for Earth. I hear you are already on top of that, planning a trip to see President Luchenko and be seen by the media. I know how much you hate reporters, it was good thinking."
"It could backfire if something happens." That was as close as he could get to the truth, dammit.
"Then you will see that nothing happens," Delenn said, in that same self-satisfied way in which she had once said 'Then you shall give them a victory. Just like that' during the Shadow war. And he had. Her confidence in him was not misplaced. Usually.
So it was back to the campaign of weirdness. Just how weird would he have to act to get Delenn to cancel his trip for him? To take away his authority, and get him help. 'The help he needed to become a productive citizen', that was the Clarkist euphemism for a stay at the kind of mental hospital where people come out cured of their political beliefs.
How weird would he have to be to get Delenn to bring a telepath in here to force his mind? She probably wouldn't, no matter what he did.
Alright then, how weird would he have to be to get someone else to do it? Ivanova, Garibaldi, hell maybe Londo. What would it take to get someone to try a palace coup against him?
Well, what had it taken to get him to rise up against Clark? Declare martial law. Start a secret police, slaughter civilians… that was the kind of thing that started a revolution.
He did not want a revolution, though. He did not want to destroy the Alliance. He wanted people who knew him to start wondering if he was nuts, and do something about it.
The comm panel beeped with an incoming call. "On screen."
It was Garibaldi. "John, have you gone off your rocker? An IA telepath corps?"
Yes! That was exactly the response he wanted. He knew he could count on Garibaldi! Now all he had to do was say something really weird in response, like, oh, maybe an ancient Chinese saying, or something about flarn maybe.
"Michael, I thought you'd approve. Using telepaths for intelligence work was your idea." Huh? Where had that come from, Sheridan thought.
"Well, yes, but, not like in any kind of Psi Corps."
"No, of course not, you misunderstood me," Sheridan said. What was he doing? He didn't want to allay Garibaldi's suspicions. He wanted to fan the flames until Garibaldi had to put out the fire.
"Oh. Sorry, John, I should have realized it. Who were you thinking of for Director?"
"The top of my list would be Lyta, if she'll do it."
Garibaldi smiled. "Great idea. The Director would be the public face of the project, and Lyta's got a helluva face. Send me the rest of your list and I'll review it."
"Thanks, Michael." The stellarcom call ended.
Hell. What had just happened? Had his very success in provoking Garibaldi's suspicions caused him to shut down his campaign of weirdness?
Yes, Sheridan realized. That was exactly what had happened. The loribond command overrode everything else. When he sensed that his mission might fail, he took steps to get the mission back on track. And if quieting Garibaldi's suspicions had not worked, he would have pushed Garibaldi away instead. He would have told him he was hurt by Garibaldi's questioning his sanity. Sheridan could practically hear the conversation in his head, exactly the way it would have played out. He would have ended by saying something cutting about meeting for drinks in a bar on Mars.
Acting weird enough to get everyone he knew worried about him, and then pushing everybody away when it worked. That was exactly how Londo was acting. Oh. Hell.
End of Chapter 13
