Chapter 17

Sheppard left Weir's office and went directly to talk with the security detachment and let them know what was going to occur and why. Then he went to Felix's room and waved the buzzer to see if Felix was still there — he buzzed three times with no answer. Sheppard drew his sidearm, tapped his headset and called up the security team first and got them to come to Felix's quarters immediately. Next he called up the control centre when the security team was with him, and got them to override Felix's door and open it.

The 5 of them rushed into the room, expecting to find trouble. And they did — just not the kind they expected.

All of the Atlantis members found Felix sitting huddled in a corner, squatting and hugging his knees, and obviously sweating. He was rocking back and forth as if in a trance — which in a way he was.

Sheppard recognized it for what it was — a really bad flashback for the Sergeant. He motioned for the security team to back off a bit and lower their weapons but keep them ready.

Sheppard called out, "Hey Felix - you okay? Wake up! You are safe here, and we are friends, okay?"

Felix was in another world right then ... Scenes flashed before his eyes and his throat was dry, really dry. He was on a rescue mission of a downed pilot from a group of buildings. He remembered the surprise of the guards as his team descended and the enemy firing at them. He remembered bullets whizzing past; his team returning fire and then diving behind cover; giving cover fire for team members on a flanking movement; grenades exploding; all of them just reacting and not thinking. Take the enemy out and complete the mission. Find cover; return fire; flank them, this time it was him dodging bullets while the others gave covering fire; toss a grenade in and duck; kick the door in after the grenade and check the room; secure the room; ROOM CLEAR; someone else shouting, SECURE; a burst of AK fire from the last room; kick the door and shoot; GRENADE; SECURE; then dragging the bodies out and establishing radio contact. Make sure the pilot was okay. Treating our wounded; there was always wounded; but that was to be expected when you did behind the lines missions ... Okay - call the Hotel's for immediate Evac and we'll secure the LZ - ready to roll now...

Felix came back to reality as Sheppard's hand rocked him and his voice saying, "Everything is secure, Sergeant — this is a safe area, no worries, we're all friends here."

Felix snapped back and realized that he was having a really bad flashback, and there were lots of people staring at him really strange.

Sheppard took hold of Felix's arm and could feel just how tense the Sergeant was — tight as a wire and could break just as easily. He asked, "Can you stand up, Felix?"

As they managed to stand up Felix then noticed that Dr. Weir was there looking very concerned, Dr. Beckett was there with a needle and his medical team.

Sheppard kept talking to Felix; "Deep breaths, relax, concentrate on relaxing, its safe here and they are all friends of yours, okay?"

Felix nodded and gradually relaxed with the deep breathing, and then Dr. Beckett came up to Felix with a needle and said, "I'd like to give you a sedative to relax you, Sergeant - will you let me do that?"

Felix shook his head and replied, "Giving a crazy man a needle right now wouldn't be a good idea, Doc — just give me a minute to get back here." He sat down on the bed and shook his head and then said, "Shit, these have gotten bad since I got here — what's happening to me? Better yet, why me?" Felix looked at Carson and asked, "I've got something bad, don't I?"

Beckett looked at Sheppard and then back at Felix and replied, "I'm no psychiatrist but I would venture a guess that aye, you probably do."

Felix sighed and slumped his shoulders as if defeated and asked, "So I guess it's a trip to the infirmary again? EEG again? Or more blood tests?"

Beckett sighed as well and answered truthfully, "I can't say at this time, but I would like Dr. Heightmeyer to talk with you for a wee bit and hopefully can come up with a course of action for you. Is that okay with you, Felix?"

Felix gave a small smile at Beckett and replied, "Yes, its okay with me — as I said earlier — do I really have a choice?"

Beckett asked, "Do I need this relaxant for you then?"

Felix looked at Beckett with pursed lips and replied, "No." Then he stood up and asked, "Shall we?" and motioned to go out of the room and down to the infirmary — again.

Beckett nodded and Sheppard followed behind Felix as they walked down the hallways; Sheppard told the security team to stand down on Felix.

When the three of them got to the infirmary, Felix went right to the EEG and started putting the wires on by himself. Beckett shrugged and helped him as Sheppard stood and watched as the EEG was hooked up and the monitoring started. No one said anything as the EEG didn't take long, and they all looked at the readout; Beckett said, "Normal again, just like I expected."

He paused and then asked, "I have to ask this Felix — what happened to you out there? You've all sorts of scars and burns on various parts of you body that indicate you have been tortured. Was it Wraith that did this to you?"

Felix looked at Beckett oddly and replied, "Wraith and torture doesn't go in the same breath, Doc - you should know that. All they ever do is suck the life force from people."

Sheppard cut in and asked, "Who did this to you, Sergeant?"

Felix looked down at the floor and eventually gave a small nod. He said softly, "Genii."

Sheppard and Beckett looked at each other in alarm and then Sheppard asked, "Which of the Genii did this and why did they do it?"

Felix sighed and then answered, "It was about a year ago when I was there and I was trying to trade for food. They weren't exactly what I would call friendly, but then the way I was probably looking to them — understandable from their point of view. Anyways, I was giving one of their people a hand fixing a tractor when it was lights out for me. So eventually I came to and ... they didn't like the answers I wasn't giving them. In retrospect, I think I was there just after you folks may have been there, because man were they pissed. They were asking questions I had no clue what they were talking about so they ... did things to me. The one guy I remember that I want a piece of was named Kolya. That a-hole and me are going to be having a real personal close talk. I did manage to eventually escape and got rid of the guys doing the actual abuse, but Kolya..."