Chapter 16

Sheppard and Felix left for the Control centre to see Colonel Caldwell before Daedelus left for Earth. As they walked, Sheppard asked, "Where did you learn that ... groin twisting thing you pulled on Ronon?"

Felix chuckled ironically and answered, "Actually, sir - I saw it done by another guy in a bar fight — worked like a charm. Dropped his opponent like a sack of spuds and that was all she wrote, sir."

As they neared the control centre Sheppard asked, "Are you seriously thinking of jumping out of a Jumper to do a mission? Isn't that a little dangerous?"

Felix smiled at Sheppard and replied, "No more dangerous than auto-rotating your crashing Apache, sir."

Sheppard stopped and then answered, "Maybe so, but I was in control."

Felix nodded his agreement and continued, "Yes sir, you were, and so would I be when I freefall in. I like to keep all options open where possible, and from what I've seen in this galaxy I think we could pull it off if need be. I'd just need a good pilot who listens and has good nerves."

Sheppard answered with, "Why do I get the feeling that you and I will be on that one, Sergeant?"

Felix clapped the officer on the back and said, "There you go, sir — power of positive thinking."

They saw that Weir was still talking with Caldwell in her office, so Sheppard knocked at the door while Felix waited just outside, as he hadn't been invited in yet.

She looked up and asked, "What's up, Colonel? You have a weird look on your face right now and that can only mean..."

Sheppard waved Felix in, who still stood at ease until Dr. Weir said, "Grab a seat, Sergeant."

"Thank you, ma'am."

Sheppard looked at Felix and then looked at Dr. Weir and said, "This nutcase wants to try jumping out of a Jumper while it's cloaked and parachuting down to the ground."

Weir looked at Felix in amazement and asked, "And why do you want to try this, Sergeant?"

Felix replied, "Well ma'am, as I was telling the boss man here, we used to do that regularly back on Earth for certain missions. I don't think this galaxy knows that we have the capability and I feel that if the mission could be done that way that we could pull it off. It would be for a potential rescue for close eyes on the objective, or something along those lines. I just feel that it could be an option that we could use successfully, ma'am."

She looked at Caldwell and Sheppard and replied, "I'm not the military expert here — you people are. Colonel Caldwell — what do you think?"

The Colonel sat back in his chair, looked at Felix for a long moment and then replied, "I would have to base my answer on when he rescued me. I would say that he is a very capable and resourceful person, and if he thinks it can done, then it most likely can be done. But my one question, Sergeant, is — how do you get back?"

Again Felix gave a knowing smile as he replied, "Sirs, ma'am, I may be only a Sergeant, but we planned our missions in detail and we always considered the 'what-ifs' and planned for any unconceivable screw-ups. And we always made them work. Besides, which I still have a couple of tricks that people don't know about that helped me stay alive."

Sheppard asked, "Now what tricks have you got, Sergeant? Like you said, you aren't Superman."

Felix casually replied, "I picked up a camouflage blanket very similar to our poncho liners in the Army, except this one has a half-chameleon outer layer which runs on sunlight and sodium glare. It also has a ballistic inner lining and is quite light and obviously easy to carry — very effective when you don't want the enemy to find you. I've had Wraith soldiers walk right on top of me and they couldn't sense or find me until it was too late for them."