Chapter 61

Eight days after they had departed Atlantis, Felix and his crew returned to Atlantis in quite a fashion. The incoming alarm sounded — the IDC showed Felix, so Dr. Weir ordered the shield lowered; then they heard the quiet words that chilled them, "Atlantis, this is Felix — we're coming in under contact — clear the Gate room."

Elizabeth nodded at Chuck, who announced, "Security teams clear the Gate Room!" and kept his hand hovering over the shield control. The four Marines came in fast, spread out to either side with their weapons at the ready, followed by what looked like several Wraith stunner blasts.

Finally Felix came in backwards, looking up and yelling, "Close it!" Chuck activated the shield and then the Gate shut down — the Marines all looked to Felix for guidance. He told them, "Unload your weapons, drop your gear in your rooms, shower and change, then we will have a debriefing in 45 minutes at the main conference room. Questions? Ready — break."

When the sounds of weapons being unloaded was finished, Dr. Weir called, "Sergeant Grey? A word, please," and waited for a rather dirty and smelly Felix at the Gate Control.

As he neared them Elizabeth could see the strain and fatigue on his face; she asked, "What happened?"

He gave a small sigh then told her, "Wraith came through a couple of hours ago in three Darts — my Party Poopers got two but the last one dropped off about 10 Wraith soldiers before we nailed the craft. We were in constant contact till about an hour ago — I managed to set up a trap and break line near the Gate. I got the last of them before we dialled the Gate, I'm pretty sure."

She rebutted, "Pretty sure?"

Felix added, "I gave him 3 rounds from Sasha," as he affectionately patted his rifle, "I saw him minus a certain part, so I'm pretty sure, ma'am."

She gave a soft, "Okay," and then added, "Well, um ... Carry on Sergeant." Felix nodded and left to get cleaned up, and Dr. Weir commented to the room at large, "I never realized just how bad a person could reek after a week." There was a mutual agreement among the Gate room technicians as the odour gradually dissipated and everybody went back to their work.

About 45 minutes later Felix and his four Marines met in the conference room to hash out the entire week in detail one day at a time. As they finished Day One where Felix had 2 pads of paper going — theirs and his columns — when Colonel Sheppard and Ronon entered the conference room. Felix greeted them, "Sir, Ronon," and then introduced all four new Marines to the senior ranking military person, and then with Ronon, "Ronon is our resident knife and unarmed combat instructor."

Sheppard sat down and waved his hand while saying, "Carry on with your debrief, Sergeant," and sipped his coffee while he listened to the debrief. It was evident to Sheppard that Cpl Tarsell was very upset with Felix and barely able to restrain him self from going after the much smaller man; the Colonel was intrigued to see how this would be handled. So he let the situation unfold — it was their debrief, not his, and what he was saw so far he was impressed with the way it was conducted, and how he ignored all the sarcasm directed his way by that one Corporal.

Felix ended the debrief with, "Okay — any final comments? Anyone?"

The Texan jumped to his feet and started laying into Felix about how hard he had rode them all week, the unrealistic expectations put on them — just generally upset with everything that Felix had trained them on.

When Cpl Tarsell was just about finished, Felix told him, "Pack your bags, then — if you are that unhappy doing this line of work, report to the Marine detachment commander soonest."

That set the Corporal off like a keg of dynamite — he lunged for Felix but was suddenly stopped by Ronon's huge arm blocking him, and Sheppard saying loudly, "Hey! Settle this elsewhere!"

It was Ronon who suggested, "Why not use the sparring room, Sheppard? 2 men enter — 1 man leaves — no weapons."

Sheppard looked at Cpl Tarsell and asked, "Sound fair to you?"

The Corporal responded with a sneering, "Damn right — I'll show this old man what a Recon Marine can do!" Sheppard noted that the remaining three Marines didn't seem to share the same opinion of Felix that Tarsell did, but were definitely interested in seeing the potential fight. Sheppard looked at Felix and detected a very faint smile on his otherwise stone face — he got a slight nod in return as to the conditions.

So the whole crew of people headed for the sparring room, Felix in the rear mentally toning his mind so as not to damage Cpl Tarsell. Once at the sparring room they encountered Teyla stick fighting with a couple of Marines: Sheppard announced, "Clear the room!"

Teyla stopped and asked, "Colonel? What is the matter?"

Sheppard replied, "A disagreement that should be settled in this room soonest, Teyla," and then got all the watchers off to the side as much as possible and made sure they stayed back. Cpl Tarsell removed his sidearm and multiple knives, while Felix removed his pistols and belt, and placed them near the doorway.

Felix walked into the middle of the room, stone-faced, and waited for the aggressive Texan to make the first move — which was a fast series of short sharp punches and jabs that Felix deflected and blocked — strictly defensive in nature. Ronon could already tell that the smaller man was wisely biding his time by letting his opponent wear out faster. Tarsell started to use his legs and finally connected against Felix's sore ribs, which dropped him to his knees and brought forth a few gasps as they saw this as the end of the fight.

The over confident Corporal came at the wee man overhand — Felix quickly palm heel smashed the inside of the one knee, came up under the Texan's punch and delivered a hard punch into the sternum. It was deliberately pulled for power so as not to break the sternum; it was followed by a fast palm smash up into the nose, breaking it. Final was a hard smack to the temple that stunned the Texan and he slowly dropped to his knees; Felix stepped back to allow the Corporal a decision. Tarsell stayed on his knees, so Felix walked away — which was what Tarsell was waiting for; he rushed the smaller man from behind.

But Felix had anticipated that event, reacted and turned into Tarsell, grabbing his wrist and expertly hip-tossing the much bigger man. He kept hold of the wrist, twisted the arm up towards the upper back and increased the pressure so it was very painful, then put his boot against his neck and told the Texan with an icy calm, "I told you — pack your bags — you are gone."

Felix then let go and told the Marines, "Get him to the infirmary ASAP and make sure he gets well looked after," and then casually retrieved his belt and guns. Sheppard and Ronon traded a knowing look as if they had a pretty good idea of the outcome beforehand, whereas the Marines were a bit shocked at the outcome. They didn't figure that Felix would hurt Tarsell that hard or that fast — but they accepted what happened — that Felix walked away basically unscathed.

Felix paused at the door as if to say something to the Marines, but then changed his mind and left without saying a word. Sheppard went after Felix and told him, "Come to my room for a talk," and then led the way to his quarters, where he admitted the NCO into his room. Felix stayed standing at the entrance to his boss's room, waiting to get chewed out by the Colonel; Sheppard told him, "Sit, and tell me what that was all about."

As Felix explained what had been gradually been happening over the course of the week in training, it became apparent to Sheppard that Felix's training had been hard but fair. He reserved any judgement until he also talked to the three other Marines shortly, which he planned to do immediately. When he told the Sergeant to carry on with his duties, Sheppard waited a few minutes and then called the three Marines to his quarters to talk about Tarsell and the week of training.

The Colonel listened with interest and amusement as the Marines told him how the week had progressed; finally it was Cpl Adams who asked, "Where did you dig this fossil out from, sir? I mean - he is operating on a completely different wavelength than the rest of us, Colonel. And we haven't seen anybody move like he does in the bush — he's downright scary how he appears out of thin air — it just ain't right, sir."

Sheppard gave a small smile and rebutted, "But aren't you glad he's on our side, Corporal? Sergeant Grey may be a bit ... off, but you have to admit — he is good."