Chapter 62

Once on the planet and they found the deceased Wraith from previous, Felix showed the team why he did the head-shots for all Wraith, then where the gel-sac was in the arm and how to remove it. Next was the various ways Ronon had showed everybody interested about how to disarm a Wraith about to feed and disable them or kill them. After that, the rest of the day was spent going through stalking exercises at various ranges, which got their goat going against their boss: they could never spot him or find him.

They ended up having a good laugh at each other's expense from their minor errors, which was part of what Felix wanted to accomplish as a team. Then he ran them through break contact drills using peel-back, which they hadn't really used, as it wasn't normal for the Marines.

Last was one of them dialling the correct sequence for Atlantis, then confirming they knew how the IDC worked, and followed by his normal rapid-fire call to Atlantis — it was clear to come home. He had them go through the Gate backwards so they could start getting used to doing it regularly while covering their withdrawal safely back to Atlantis.

When they materialized in Atlantis with their boss being last as usual and the Gate shut down, they unloaded their rifles, then at Felix's nod they went away to get cleaned up for dinner.

Felix caught the signal from Dr. Weir that she wished to speak with him; he went up the stairs to her and nodded a greeting, "Ma'am."

She gave a small nervous smile as she asked, "How did the training go today, Sergeant?"

Felix looked around as he could tell that the boss lady was definitely not her normal self today — she seemed a bit nervous and even on edge, which was not like her. He finally spotted an official looking office type bureaucrat dressed in brand new Atlantis fatigues, standing away and entering something on a laptop. Felix raised an eyebrow as he asked in a laconic manner, "Would that be why you called me up here, ma'am?"

She gave a small nod and replied in a low voice, "Yes, he is Dr. Woolsey from the IOA to assess Atlantis for budgetary reasons, or so he says. Felix ... please ... um, be nice to him."

Felix gave a soft exasperated sigh and rebutted, "Then why don't I just go off-world for a while until he goes away — save me the headaches."

Elizabeth shook her head and added, "He has 'suggested' we have a department head meeting in," she looked at her watch and said, "Well, we should head there right now. I'm sorry about this on such short notice — I truly am."

Felix gave her a comforting smile as he replied, "Ma'am, you have nothing to apologize about, so don't worry. Shall we?" She nodded and grabbed her laptop as she went to take Mr. Woolsey to the main conference room; Felix hung back to chat with Chuck to find out what was going on here. A minute later Felix got the gist — he thanked Chuck and went to join the rest of the department heads in the main conference room.

As he walked into the room he was amazed at the number of heads — about 20 or so; he found a spot away from everybody and started to remove his gear. Colonel Sheppard came over and greeted him in a low voice, "Felix."

He replied, "Hiya sir — where you been hiding?"

Sheppard answered, "Oh, you know — here and there," a short pause and then, "What's with the gear for a meeting?"

Felix replied softly, "We just got back maybe five minutes ago, sir — you know — out and about here and there."

Sheppard rebutted, "Ah — didn't know that. Well, good to see you back again; we'll try and talk a bit later," and went back to his seat.

A few people who had never seen Felix before were staring as he placed his Bergen down, laid Sasha on top with the magazine, tossed the bush hat onto the rucksack, unzipped his ghillie suit, and then finally sat in a comfortable chair. He took out his message pad, opened it, took out a plain pencil and then waited for the meeting to begin; he really didn't like meetings like this as it reminded him of too many officers in the past that never listened at meetings.

A long moment later Dr. Weir called the meeting to start, then introduced the bald guy, "This is Mr. Woolsey from the IOA; he is here to do an ... audit as it were, of Atlantis. I ask that you cooperate as much as you can in the matters he wishes to know about, and any questions you may have can be directed to Colonel Sheppard or myself. I'll let Mr. Woolsey have a few words — Mr. Woolsey."

Felix could tell by the look of ill will on Sheppard's face what he thought of the bald bureaucrat, so obviously there had been previous dealings with this individual that weren't exactly favourable. The tall bespectacled man stood up and spoke in clipped and obviously rehearsed sentences — a typical bureaucrat in Felix's opinion. The man definitely looked out of place in the fatigues he wore, and left people with the impression of having absolutely no sense of humour whatsoever.

When he was finished he sat down and Felix saw the ill looks creeping across a few other people's faces when Woolsey looked at each department head as if memorizing them, and raised a curious eyebrow while pausing at Felix. Richard Woolsey could feel his look being returned by the green-faced person with a sense of amusement rather than disdain like the rest, and that intrigued him: the green-faced man wasn't afraid of him.

Just then Elizabeth Weir stood up and announced in a relieved tone, "Okay — everybody can carry on," and closed her laptop in readiness to leave rapidly from the conference room, as did everyone else.

Felix took his time putting away his message pad, shouldering his Bergen over a shoulder, and then slinging Sasha over a shoulder and neck, then the magazine last. He walked quietly from the room with a small smile as he could feel Woolsey's eyes following him until he cleared the room.

Felix went to his room to change and clean up for dinner, placed the weapons and rucksack in their respective places, piled his laundry before showering, and then relaxed in the shower. He then took the dirty clothes to the laundry area, was shown by the technician how the machines worked, thanked them and started a large load.

Then it was finally time to enjoy some dinner; when he got to the dining hall he saw the menu selection was spaghetti and he got a good-sized portion. And by the looks of the dining area, the main flow had already been through so the selection of tables was plentiful.

Just as Felix was starting to enjoy his spaghetti, he happened to see Mr. Woolsey headed right for his table — and there was no chance to bail out nicely; the bureaucrat actually asked, "May I join you?"