Chapter 71

An alarm chimed at the Gate console – it was to remind the duty technician that one of the off world teams was overdue for their radio check-in. Dr. Weir suddenly became all business as she had heard the same alarm and emerged from her office saying, "Who is overdue?"

The Gate technician replied, "Captain Andresson's team, ma'am; M4H-585 – explore to establish contact with the indigenous people."

She continued her train of thought as a pit of fear developed in her stomach, "How long overdue are they?"

The reply was, "One hour as of now, ma'am."

She told the technician, "Open a wormhole and try to establish contact," and did a few mental flips as her fear increased over the many ideas running through her head of what could have happened.

The technician dialled the Gate coordinates and once the wormhole was established he tried several times to raise the team on radio and text, but with no success.

Elizabeth then asked, "Who is on Recovery right now?" which was something Felix had set up after his return to be activated at any time.

A second technician responded immediately, "L/Cpl Meach and Sergeant Grey, ma'am – shall I call them up?"

Elizabeth barely hesitated as she answered, "Yes, call them up," and then started pulling up the mission data, as she knew Felix would ask for it anyways. About two minutes later Felix showed up with all his gear and weapons, followed barely a minute later by Meach with all her gear and weapons.

Elizabeth pointed the pair to the screen that displayed the mission data as she told them, "Captain Andresson's team is 1 hour overdue and have not responded to any calls, so I would like you to check things out to make sure they are all right. Due to the distance, I'll have you go in a cloaked Jumper with a pilot – okay?" who showed up at that precise moment.

Felix nodded and gave her a thumb up while he continued to study the mission data – Meach was doing the same except jotting down notes. Once that portion was done the screen switched to a topographical map of the area; Felix selected 2 separate LZ's and started plotting his legs and bearings in and out, and eventually added his alternates as well. He gave his map data to Meach to confirm, copy, and add to her own compass, and then checked the IDC was working properly.

The female pilot was watching the duo get ready as they donned their ghillie suits, and started applying their face paint when Elizabeth remembered to introduce the pair to their pilot. "This is Captain Lorna Godfrey your Jumper pilot for tonight. She has been working with the Marines and was getting bored, so I thought I'd give her change of pace for tonight."

Felix stuck out a hand without looking at the pilot and said, "Ma'am," as did Meach; the officer looked to Elizabeth for further introductions, as they hadn't given their names.

Elizabeth took the cue and added, "The taller one is L/Cpl Meach and the shorter one is Sergeant Grey, the head of our Search and Rescue team here in Atlantis." There seemed to be an uncomfortable pause while Felix and Stacy concentrated on their camouflage and tuned out the two women until they were done.

Finally the camouflage was complete, so Godfrey and Weir watched as rucksacks were shouldered, weapons loaded, hats on, and they were ready to depart. Stacy looked at Felix as she said in a jovial voice, "Shall we?"

Felix replied in an English voice, "We shall – roight – off we go," and headed up to the Jumper Bay to wait and see what Jumper they were flying in that night.

Captain Godfrey looked at Elizabeth with a perplexed expression on her face as she asked, "They know what they are supposed to do – right?"

Elizabeth replied, "They are ... unorthodox, but they get the job done. Have a good mission, Captain."

Godfrey nodded and followed the stairs up to the Jumper Bays and found the duo waiting at the top of the stairs to see which craft was theirs. She pointed to her craft – Jumper 7 – and she led the pair into her Jumper and powered up the systems and waited for them to stow their gear before raising the ramp. She told them, "Why don't you sit up front for the flight?"

Felix motioned for Meach to take the front seat, as he had no desire to be up front – a carry over from years of being in the back of APC's he attributed it to. The Jumper rose up, spun, and then dropped down to the Gate Room while the Gate dialled, where Felix called in; "Atlantis, this is Jumper 7, request clearance for Recovery Ops, over."

Elizabeth Weir's voice came over the speaker, "Jumper 7, this is Atlantis – clearance granted and good hunting." She grinned at hearing Felix's 'business voice' as she now thought of it.

She then heard the laconic almost bored reply, "Jumper 7, roger out," and then the craft sped through the wormhole to M4H-585; this time she prayed silently that Felix returned unhurt.

Just after the Jumper materialized at the planet, Captain Godfrey cloaked the Jumper and climbed in altitude and levelled off at about 1500 feet. After a minute of quiet, Lorna Godfrey asked, "You do many of these kinds of missions, bub?"

That gave Felix cause to glance at Meach with a small smirk and he then casually replied, "A couple here and there."

Godfrey looked over shoulder at Felix and snorted, "Give me a break – a couple here and there." She paused as she studied Felix's face for a long moment and then added; "I think I remember you from Iraq and Afghanistan if I recall correctly. You were part of some crazy team that was always out for months at a time doing some behind the lines stuff, weren't you?"

Felix didn't reply, as the vast majority of the missions had been Top Secret or worse. Captain Godfrey then continued, "I'm right, aren't I? You boys sure saw some crazy stuff – how about you, sis? See any action overseas?"

Stacy replied in a stiff voice, "I did 16 months in the 26th Marines Scout/Sniper Platoon," and then looked at Felix with a miffed look on her face. He gave her a small shake of his head for her to not get upset with the nosy officer.

Captain Godfrey continued, "How about you – who were you with, bub? Seals? Beanies? Rangers? SF's?"

Felix looked away as he shook his head in amazement and finally casually replied, "22nd LRRP was who I was with."

The officer looked strangely at Felix as she thought for a moment and then replied, "Sounds oddly familiar but I can't say where."

That brought a sardonic chuckle from Felix as he rebutted, "That's the way it should be," and then started talking with Meach to talk over the mission variables again.

Godfrey listened to the conversation and figured out after a few minutes that these two were definitely not amateurs or foolhardy. A short time later the sensors activated to show a distress beacon activation via a GDO from the overdue team. Captain Godfrey said, "This looks to be coming from an older industrial area just outside the city – how do you want to work this, bub?"

Felix ignored the 'bub' and replied, "I'd like to get a visual of the area if we can – get a feel for the area." Godfrey brought the craft in for a lower visual approach – sensors just didn't work him on occasions like this. A few minutes later he added, "I think night time is our best friend right now, Meach – this is workable." Felix then pointed where he wished to go and said, "If you can put us down near the woods, we will bail out there, then you can find a place to park and hide out of sight till we call for pick-up."

Captain Godfrey was used to being in charge so it was natural for her as she replied, "And how long will that be, bub? There are other things that I have on the go later, you know."

The cold look that Felix gave her let her know that she had just stepped over a certain line – he left things at that. He answered, "When we bring our people back is how long we will be, Captain." He then pointed on the screen where he wanted to be let out, and then motioned Meach into the rear of the Jumper, where they loaded their weapons and got ready for a quick exit.

They felt the Jumper angling down and flaring for a landing – Meach lowered the ramp and had to run after Felix as he dashed out to the woods on the left. Godfrey raised the ramp from her seat and left the two crazies as she thought of the pair to their mission while she went and sat somewhere safe for the time being.

As soon as they were out, Felix and Stacy started checking the area with their NVG's and thermal sight – with fingers on triggers the immediate area was seen as clear. They were very careful and methodical and at a shoulder tap from Felix they concentrated on the ruined industrial complex.

After a few long minutes of detailed checking Felix hand motioned they would split up and clover leaf the complex for any further info leading to the whereabouts of the overdue team. Once they confirmed timings, Stacy cracked an IR chemlite and placed it with their cached rucksacks, then went their separate ways to reconnoitre the complex.

About 20 minutes into the recce Felix heard in his headset a hurried Stacy as she said, "Felix – I see our guys; they are being brought out on my side. Can you see them at all?"

He checked around quickly but carefully – nothing seen in his sector so he replied, "Not yet – I'm moving your direction right now." He paused a moment and then added, "Use your best judgement if the situation changes in a hurry – just so we can bring our people back – understood?"

For once Stacy's humour that she had gotten from Felix came to the surface, "Yes Father – nag nag."

Then Felix was up and moving as fast as he could go, given the varied terrain and being night. It took him what seemed an eternity to get around the complex so he could get a glimpse of the situation with the Andresson team. On one of his bounds he spotted the group of what appeared to the Atlantis team tied up being led by a group of about 10 military types.

He decided to go prone and checked closer on thermal – just after he zeroed on the group he heard a shot from what was probably Meach. He saw a person fly backwards – the person definitely wouldn't be getting up again; a second shot and another person was taken out of the picture.

But that shot also gave away Meach's position due to muzzle flash, and enemy shots started splashing around her position.

Felix took aim at the nearest shooter, made sure he was enemy, then squeezed the trigger and removed him from the gene pool. None of the enemy shooters heard the shot but they sure noticed one of their own flying back a ways lifeless and staying on the ground.

A voice – obviously the leader – yelled, "Lower your weapons and stop shooting or we WILL your people here and now! I'm not joking – they are wrapped in explosives and I have a..." Felix took the shot he had carefully lined up on and blew the arm off just below the elbow – a large calibre round like he fired had a tendency to do things like that. The shot sent the hand-held detonator that Felix had spotted flying off to the side; the hand was still clutching the detonator control.

Felix added, "You mean had - past tense."

The leader fell to his knees screaming like a stuck pig in pain and also to kill the prisoners; Felix finally recognized the accent as Genii.

The team was pushed to their knees with no resistance, which didn't seem normal to Felix – but it opened the door wide for Meach and him to start cleansing the Genii gene pool.

Felix was coldly methodical with absolutely no mercy – he wanted to inflict pain but chose instead to just remove the threat immediately with headshots. Once all shooting ceased the only sounds were animals running away from the area as fast as they could move – and the sole Genii survivor who was whimpering laying on the ground now.

He scoped the area carefully in case there were any more surprises waiting them or hidden Genii waiting to pop out but there were no residual heat traces seen on his thermal sight. Felix called his partner, "Stacy – are you okay?"

A long pause and then he finally heard a soft, "I'm hit twice Felix – it hurts bad, but get our guys first."

Felix was immediately concerned for his spotter and replied, "Stay there and I'll come to you – just stay put," and realized just as he said the words just how superfluous they were. He scoped for the chemlite on the rucksacks, found it, and then ran to them, as they were only a short distance away. He shouldered both rucks and went as fast as he could to his partner; he had to call her before he found her sobbing softly from the pain.

His heart ached hearing her in pain as he asked, "Where are you hit?"

Stacy raised her left and said, "This is my good side, plus I'm hit ... in my butt ... sorry I screwed up, boss."

Felix replied softly, "You didn't screw up, Stacy – the law of averages caught up with you." He paused as he assessed the injuries and then added, "Okay – I'm going to pull you up – and this will hurt like hell. Ready?"

She let out a big breath as she replied, "Not really, but I guess anytime works, too."

Felix took her left hand, rolled her partly to one side, placed his feet against hers, and levered her to her feet that way while using the weight of the two rucksacks in his favour. She barely managed to stifle her whimper of pain as she hobbled to her good leg while shouldering her rifle and clinging to Felix's right side.

He told her, "We have to go down to where the team is so I can help everybody in one location – I'll fix you there, all right?"

Stacy nodded again and replied, "Let's get going Felix – this is starting to really hurt now," and hobbled as best as she could next to her boss. It took them a good 5 minutes of hobbling and adjusting to make it down to where Andresson's team was still sitting on the ground, looking shell-shocked from the events that had rapidly unfolded.

Once there, Felix lowered Stacy down gently, removed both rucksacks, slung Sasha down his back – all while asking the team members, "Anybody hurt?" He quickly removed their blindfolds, cut their bonds, and then using his flashlight with a blue filter checked over each member of the team for apparent injuries.

Once he ascertained the team was okay for the moment he then checked the explosives wrapped around each person and figured out the trap, and removed the explosives very carefully. Stacy was watching her boss the whole time and was impressed with his dexterity under low light conditions and filed away yet another aspiration she learned from the wee man.

He then went to Stacy and checked her over thoroughly and let out a couple of choice curses, and then tapped his headset and called, "Jumper 7 this is Felix – I need immediate Medevac at my location."

As Felix opened his medical pouch he heard in his headset, "Jumper 7 moving to your location – I could use a visual marker."

Felix quickly found a 30-minute chemlite, cracked it, shook it, and then tossed it over where he could see it and replied, "Visual up – call the ball."

Captain Godfrey answered, "I see orange."

Felix replied, "Orange is correct," and then tended to Stacy's arm; he lowered the zipper on her ghillie suit just enough to get her right arm out gingerly. He looked very closely and felt her arm all over slowly, assessing her arm and then told her, "Good news Stacy – clean through with no break. Now the bad news – you get my old fashioned disinfectant to clean this wound – sorry but it has to be done."

He cleaned the wound and ignored her muffled screams of pain as the wound was cleaned, and then wrapped the arm with a field dressing. She blinked away the tears that the cleansing had brought – Felix noticed and asked, "You want a painkiller?"

She shook her head no and replied, "I think that was worse than actually getting shot."

Felix gave her a knowing smile and added, "That means it is working," and then rolled her so he could check her butt shot. He looked and chuckled at her as he told her, "Well my dear young lady – your cute butt has a graze across it – that's all. Do you want me to bandage it? Or shall I leave that for a nurse to do?" He had a mischievous glimmer in his eyes as he told her this.