Chapter 54

Felix waited for more than 2 weeks while on the run before he heard the crackle faintly in his headset, "Felix this is Daedelus, come in."

He waited until it was a bit clearer in the headset then answered, "Daedelus this is Felix, I read you strength 3, over."

The reply was almost immediate from the ship; "We are standing by for pick-up when you are ready."

He shouldered his Bergen as he had waited almost in vain wondering if he was going to be on his own again, and was definitely ready to board the ship to Atlantis; "Ready and waiting for transport, Daedelus." He paused and then remembered he was expected to give the ad-hoc codeword, so he added, "Chicken strips."

On the bridge Colonel Caldwell nodded at the console technician and told her, "Beam him directly to the bridge, please, " then watched as the still camouflaged Canadian materialized on the forward part of the bridge.

Felix looked around and saw he was on the bridge of the Daedelus, then went directly to Caldwell and stuck out his to shake and said, "Thanks for the pick-up, sir - I was wondering if I was going to be on my own again when there was no pick-up as we planned."

Caldwell shook Felix's hand, something he normally didn't do and the bridge crew picked up on that right away, and said, "Sorry about the delay but there were some ... complications the past while." Then he added to his crew, "Set course for Atlantis," then motioned for Felix to follow him to the galley for coffee and conversation.

Felix placed his Bergen down once the jump to light speed had been made, unloaded all his weapons and placed them on his rucksack, then followed the Colonel to the galley.

While the Colonel talked to Felix about the mission, the bridge crew was talking about why their CO was almost kind to the strange Canadian bushman. After a bit of speculation by the various members, it was the navigator who told them about Felix having rescued their CO years before, and how Caldwell had never known who had saved him until they met by chance in Atlantis.

That prompted more speculation about Felix and why he was the way he was; that conversation was eventually stopped by the return to the bridge of Caldwell and Felix. Caldwell told the Sergeant, "It'll be about 2 hours until Atlantis is in range, so if you want to rest, by all means go ahead."

Felix nodded and replied, "Sounds good sir, I'll just crash here with my gear out of the way if that's all right." Caldwell nodded at Felix in agreement as the Canadian lay down against his Bergen, pulled his hat down over his eyes and within 5 minutes was snoring softly to the amusement of the bridge crew.

The one officer asked, "How does he manage that so easily? It seems so noisy under normal conditions here, and this guy falls asleep in no time flat."

Caldwell answered, "He was on the run for the past two weeks from enemy troops who were looking very intently for him - obviously they didn't catch him. He also stayed awake the vast majority of that time, Captain, so I think we can indulge Sergeant Grey a bit of rest for the time being." That brought a mutual unspoken agreement from the Daedelus's crew as they had heard about this strange little man and his huge reputation that they had been told about by their acquaintances in Atlantis.

The two hours passed rapidly for Felix - only one bad flashback that startled the bridge crew when he sat up and reached for a weapon, calmed his breathing, and went back to sleep for a while longer.

One of the crew woke Felix up when they dropped out of hyperspace short of Atlantis; he stood up, stretched like a cat as he yawned and cracked his back, which caused a couple of the crew to wince at the sound.

Felix holstered his pistols, shouldered his Bergen, and then placed the sling for Sasha over one shoulder. Meanwhile Colonel Caldwell had called Atlantis to confirm they could land on the East pier again, and then transported himself and Felix down to Dr. Weir's office, where they materialized just near the office door.

Colonel Sheppard was just walking up the stairs towards the boss lady's office, so Elizabeth said, "Why don't we adjourn to the office while Sergeant Grey brings us up to date with his mission?"

Felix removed Sasha and his Bergen, placed them down outside the office, then sat in the seat offered to him by Dr. Weir while the officers did the same.

Sheppard started the questions; "Were you successful?"

Just hearing the question almost brought tears to Felix's eyes as he remembered every single detail about the mission that he didn't like, but he answered the Colonel by looking him in the eyes and replied, "Yes sir, the mission was successful," and stopped there.

Sheppard noticed that Felix had a haunted looked in his eyes when they made eye contact, and decided to leave things as they were - better left unsaid.

Elizabeth Weir asked, "So what happened out there, Sergeant?" and it was then that she also noticed the haunted look in Felix's eyes but waited patiently for his answer.

Felix looked down, let out a soft resigned sigh, then raised his head and replied, "I did what was asked of me, ma'am - that's all. Then I was on the run for about two weeks until Daedelus picked me up a short while ago. I really don't want to get into the details if you don't mind, ma'am - I'd just like to clean up and get some fresh food, maybe catch up on a bit of sleep."

Elizabeth looked at the two Colonels and they gave silent nods of assent; she then added softly, "Get cleaned up then Sergeant - we'll talk more a bit later - all right?"

Felix gave a slow nod, stood up and replied softly, "Okay," then left her office looking like a man that had seen hell and returned defeated.

When he was gone Elizabeth said, "He seemed out of sorts, which for him isn't normal. Colonel Caldwell - did Felix say anything to you about the mission that gave any indications that something was wrong?"

Caldwell looked at his hands for a moment then replied, "He said about the same words to me about the mission, but I could tell right away that something happened. He won't tell me what but obviously it had an effect on him - I almost ordered him to tell me but he wasn't budging. I don't know what to say, Dr. Weir, except that he has been asked to do some pretty remarkable things in the past and it is bound to have a toll eventually." He stopped there as he found the look on her face indicated that she was in agreement with him about Felix.

She thought for a moment then looked at Sheppard and said, "I'm going to have Kate Heightmeyer talk to him again, but in an informal way - maybe she can figure out what is bothering him. Colonel - have your people just keep a distant eye on him to make sure he doesn't do anything rash. For all we know he could be depressed or just in a funk of some kind - so please just keep a distant eye on him."

Sheppard had a flip rebuttal as usual, "I know - I'll have Rodney keep an eye on him for the next few days. It'll be good for both of them."

Elizabeth flashed her eyes at Sheppard and told him, "I'm serious Colonel," and gave him one of her glares that meant to stop joking around all the time.

Sheppard replied, "All right, we'll keep a distant eye on him for the next day or so - make sure he's okay." With that he stood up as he understood the meeting to be finished, and departed her office; Weir and Caldwell started talking about the latest supplies and personnel brought to Atlantis on the Daedelus.

While this discussion was happening, Felix did a complete replenishment of his Bergen, all the ammo was topped up, weapons were cleaned and put away for the time being, then it was time for the body to get cleaned. That took as long as the cleaning of the weapons, considering how grungy he was after two weeks out - a shave to remove all facial growth, then a good cleansing shower.