Chapter 26

When the team met at the Jumper Ronon and Sheppard arrived first and Sheppard powered up the craft in preparation for the mission. Teyla showed up a minute after them, and then Felix was last.

This time he was dressed in the normal black military style uniform that was used for off world teams. Felix had his patrol pack on his back and it looked full of gear; he had a small satchel bag clipped to his waist that had something in it, and he had what appeared to be a full tactical vest.

In his hands he held a loaded SPAS-12 shotgun and his one concession was a floppy hat that looked very worn.

Sheppard looked at the Sergeant and asked, "You do remember that we are just going to a farming community, right? Do you know something that we don't?"

Felix looked at Sheppard innocently and asked, "What? You said normal gear for going off world, so I have normal gear."

Sheppard replied, "Uh huh, I can imagine what normal is to you. What's in the satchel bag at your waist?"

Felix replied innocently, "Spare shotgun shells."

Sheppard nodded and continued his visual inspection of the Sergeant; "I see you brought Pain and Panic with you — any particular reason?"

"Never can tell when you may encounter hostiles."

Sheppard replied, "Mm hmm; look Felix — if this is a dangerous place — tell me now."

Felix looked surprised and replied, "It's not a dangerous place that I'm aware of — I gave what information I had at the briefing." Felix finally clued in as to what his boss wanted to understand: why so much gear. He added, "This is what I feel comfortable with, sir. I learned a long time ago that it is better to have, than not to have."

Sheppard inclined his head and agreed with a nod, and then said, "Okay, flight time is about 7 minutes to the main town if my calculations are correct. We'll cloak the Jumper as we go through the gate, land outside of town as per usual, and go see what is being asked of us. Mount up and we'll depart."

The four teammates took their seats in the Jumper — Sheppard and Teyla up front, Ronon behind Teyla and Felix was content sitting in the back compartment. His shotgun was cradled comfortably in his capable hands and his head was leaned back against the wall and his eyes were closed as if asleep.

Sheppard looked to the back and as the ramp was coming up he said, "Hey Felix — you can sit up front here if you want."

Felix said in return, "I'm good — I'm used to hanging out in the back like this."

Sheppard replied, "Okay." He dialled the gate and asked for clearance from gate control — it was granted by the technician and they went through the gate to M-35407.

As they flew to the town Ronon asked, "If we've been to this place before — why are we cloaking the Jumper, Sheppard?"

Sheppard answered, "Gut feeling — something just isn't feeling right." He leaned towards the back and said, "Felix!"

Felix didn't open his eyes when he replied, "Yup!"

Sheppard smiled at Teyla and said, "I think your paranoia is wearing off to me because something doesn't feel right about this one."

Felix kept his eyes closed and smiled as he replied, "Good — maybe you'll live to see another day."

Teyla looked at Sheppard and asked, "What was the purpose of your questions to Felix, Colonel? I do not understand."

Sheppard looked at Teyla and replied, "I was just trying to get a rise out of him and see if he has a sense of humour."

From the back could be heard the comment in a certain voice; "Everybody knows that you don't mess with Sicilians!"

Sheppard leaned back and asked, "You've seen the Princess Bride, I take it?"

Felix replied, "It's a classic: 'I said he looks dead —I didn't say he was dead.'"

Sheppard chuckled and then he heard from the back, "You like sports movies?"

Sheppard shrugged his shoulders and replied, "A couple here and there — why? Which ones do you like?"

Felix then opened his eyes and replied, "Well, 'Slap Shot' I consider to a classic ... then there's 'Bull Durham' and 'Major League' - much as I really dislike baseball - the movies are funny. I was thinking — do you think Ronon would like 'Slap Shot' at all?"

Sheppard said, "Why don't you ask him?"

Felix looked at Ronon and asked, "Do you know what the sport called hockey is about?"

Ronon replied, "Never heard of it — what is it?"

Felix smiled and replied, "A good old fashioned activity where you are skating on ice, holding a hockey stick while passing a puck back and forth and you have to shoot it as hard as you can at the goalie. If the puck goes past the goalie into the net — that's a goal or a point for your team."

Ronon shook his head and said, "Skating, hockey — I have no idea what you are talking about."

Felix came back with, "Then I'll have to show you street hockey seeing as how we don't have ice, or I can show you the movie I was referring to. You like a good physical sport, don't you?"

Ronon gave a small smile and said, "Yeah, something like 'Capture The Flag' — right Sheppard?"

Sheppard piped up: "Don't play that game with him unless you are into getting beaten by him."

Ronon smiled and said, "You got better after a bit, Sheppard."

Sheppard rolled his eyes and said to Teyla, "Yeah, after how many bruises and scrapes?"

After a minute of silence Teyla said, "Our landing area is coming up — no unusual signs."

Sheppard engaged the cloak for the Jumper and then landed the craft near the edge of recognizable woods that Felix remembered from his previous visit.

Once the craft was fully shut down Sheppard reminded his team, "Remember this is a peaceful farming community — they have no reason to harm us so real and take things slow. Got that Felix?'

Felix answered in a bored tone, "Relax and take it slow — gotcha."

The ramp lowered and the team disembarked and just as the ramp raised Felix loaded a shell into the chamber and placed the shotgun on safe. Sheppard looked at Felix and asked, "What did I just say?"

Felix replied, "For me this is taking it slow. I'm not going to harm these people — like you reminded me. I always keep a round chambered just in case Murphy with his screwed up ways shows up again."

Sheppard looked at Felix and said, "You have a rather pessimistic way of looking at things sometimes."

Felix replied, "Yeah I know that — and it is partly what has kept me alive this long."

Sheppard shook his head and said, "Let's move to the town — stay alert just in case but not too alert — don't appear aggressive -okay? We are here peacefully — let's try and leave the same way, shall we?"

"Got it. How about I take tail end Charlie so I stay out of the way?"

Sheppard replied as they moved to the town, "You do that."

They moved towards the town — Sheppard in the lead, Teyla and Ronon hanging in the middle, and a wary Felix bringing up the rear. It only took about 5 minutes to reach the town and Sheppard looked back to see what Felix was doing — and wasn't impressed. He stopped in his tracks just before they entered the town and he told Felix directly: "Keep your weapon out of your shoulder — this is a peaceful town and I want to keep it that way. I don't need an overzealous person on this mission — keep the weapon down at your waist and not pointing at anyone unless I tell you. Got it?"

Felix sighed softly and replied, "Yeah — I got it," and lowered his weapon reluctantly to his waist like he was ordered.

They continued their peaceful entry into the town and made their way to the town hall.

They saw all manners of friendly people, mostly dressed fairly casual but also not threadbare, as they had seen on different planets. There were trading stalls in an open-air market and sorts of wares were being sold or traded. Ronon as usual was bored already and said, "This place isn't exciting, Sheppard — just another farming community. Why did these people call us here? There doesn't seem to be any problems with food — they look pretty well fed."

Sheppard answered, "I think we are about to find out." Three people who dressed a bit better than the rest — not fancy but slightly better quality clothing greeted them. It was a woman who stood with two men, and she was the spokesperson as she asked, "Are you the travellers from the Ring Of Water?"

Sheppard replied, "If you are referring to the gate back a ways, then yes we are. I'm John Sheppard, this is Ronon Dex, Teyla Emmagen, and ... Felix Grey."

The woman, who was a tall brunette answered, "Greetings and welcome to the town of Kokoda. I am Sharra, this is Jerda, and this is Micto. We are the representatives for the farmers and we asked for assistance through Dr. Weir."

Sheppard replied, "Yes, Dr. Weir got your message about you having some troubles with your food supply — how may we help?"

Jerda spoke up; "We think there may be raiders or bullies trying to steal our food and sabotage our farm machinery. We have had 4 tractors unable to work since last week and our mechanic passed away 2 months ago. Plus we think these raiders may have poisoned some of our grain and obviously we won't trade that. Is there any way you may be able to render any assistance?"

Sheppard turned and looked at Teyla and asked, "Would you mind taking a look at their crops and see what has happened?"

Teyla looked dubiously at him and replied, "I will take a look, Colonel, but I don't know what I can do."

She went with Micto to the barn silos to see what had occurred and what could be done to help theses farmers.

Sheppard looked at Felix who replied, "I'll go take a look at the tractors, boss — I'll get back to you in a few and let you know what's what at the zoo." Sharra led him to where the tractors were sitting.

Ronon said to Sheppard, "Don't look at me - you know I'm not a farmer."

Sheppard replied, "Okay then — go and keep an eye on Teyla and keep your eyes open for any unusual things; anything that looks like it may be a clue as to what caused this ... whatever."

Ronon silently went and followed after Teyla's footsteps to keep an eye on her — Sheppard stood with Jerda and asked, "So how long has this been happening, this raiding of your town?"

He replied, "It started a few months ago — a large group of men had sailed near here and landed nearby. They came to us for assistance, and of course we offered what we could give. But it seems it wasn't enough — I think they may be the ones doing the raiding. They seemed like rather barbaric sort of people — always carrying their swords and spears with them everywhere. They talked rather rudely to us about how minuscule we were compared to them, and we asked them politely to leave our town. They did leave but it was soon after that things began to happen. We are a very peaceful and loving people, John Sheppard- all we wish is to be left to trade and live our lives our way."