Chapter 14 – Field Trip
Gibbs strode away from Dr Weir’s office with a grin. He had successfully secured the use of one of the puddlejumper ships and the pilot was none other than one Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard.
Dr. Weir had initially had a few reservations about sending them off-world without a full team for backup. But Gibbs had succeeded in convincing her that Sheppard would make sure they didn’t stray from the designated mission to view and scan the debris field left by the destruction of the two hive ships.
Gibbs didn’t elaborate on what they were scanning for or why, even though Dr Weir had asked. For Gibbs, scanning the debris field was secondary to getting LtCol Sheppard out of Atlantis and alone with them on a ship. He was hoping that away from a briefing room, LtCol Sheppard would feel less threatened and become more forthcoming. At the very least, the colonel wouldn’t have anywhere to run once Gibbs started to goad him into an honest reaction.
Gibbs rounded a corner and came to an abrupt stop as his path was blocked by three Marines blocking the hall. He held his ground as the three moved to surround him. “Sergeant, Corporals, what can I do for you?”
The sergeant pulled himself to his full and impressive height. “We want you to leave the colonel alone. Him and the Ell-Tee kept us alive when Earth was out of reach.”
Gibbs refrained from giving the Marine a smart-assed remark. “Uh-huh.” He stiffened his posture and stance to one of a pissed off drill instructor. The Marines automatically reacted to the change by coming to parade rest, unintentionally giving Gibbs their obedience. Sometimes, military brainwashing came in handy.
“Sir,” one of the corporals started when Gibbs had stared all three of them down. “The colonel has proven himself to us over and over again these past years. Regardless of what you find, we would willingly follow the colonel’s command on any day because we know he will do everything to keep us alive and bring us home. If the colonel says the ell-tee is alive, then the ell-tee is alive. Hell, the ell-tee has more lives than a cat and is way harder to kill.”
“What Corporal Markston is saying so eloquently,” the sergeant interrupted in a slightly threatening tone, “is that if anyone could have survived the destruction of the hive ships, it would by the lieutenant. And until you show us a body, we won’t believe otherwise. The colonel may be Air Force, but he’s been an honorary Marine since that first year… and we Marines protect our own. We won’t tolerate you making him into your scapegoat.”
“Ooh-Rah!” Gibbs replied with gusto, shocking the three men. Only another Marine would use that term of agreement.
They blinked several times before the sergeant ventured a tentative, “Uh…Sir?”
“It has never been my intention to make a scapegoat out of anyone during this investigation, let alone your zoomie short-bird. And you’re right, WE Marines do take care of our own. That’s why I’m here. I want nothing more than to reassure Lieutenant Ford’s family that EVERYTHING possible was done to ensure the safety of their missing Marine. You get me, Marines?” Gibbs stated in a forceful tone.
The three Marines snapped to attention and barked out, “AYE, AYE, SIR.”
“Good. Now, I’m sure you three have something more important to be doing than impeding my investigation or chasing scuttlebutt. Get to it,” Gibbs snapped.
The three Marines disappeared around the corner with all due haste.
An amused chuckle drew is attention from the retreating Marines to the lanky shadow that was leaning casually against the wall.
“Watch out. Gibbs has his gunny face on.” Jon stepped out of the shadow with an amused grin.
Gibbs chose to ignore him and walked past. But Jon stepped up next to him as he passed by heading for their quarters. It was two corridors and three turns later before Gibbs finally broke the silence. “So, what’s with the ordinance?” Gibbs had noted that instead of Jon’s usual attire, he was wearing black fatigues, a tactical vest with suspiciously full pockets, a M-9 in a drop holster, and a MP-5 clipped to his chest.
“What? This old thing?” Jon joked. “This is just a light kit for our trip…which reminds me, in addition to the basic necessities, what kind of party favors do you want for your kit?”
Gibbs spared Jon a brief glance, “Party favors?”
“Yeah, you know…C4, thermite, det-cord, oreos, powerbars…Carter used to pack those snap-it things to impress the locals. You don’t have allergies do you?” Jon asked with an odd look.
Gibbs just shook his head in amazement. The more he thought he knew Jon, the more the kid would surprise him. “No.”
“Cool. I left a set of fatigues in your room. Sheppard seems to prefer black. I figured you already had boots. So… party favors?” Jon asked casually.
Gibbs suddenly stopped in the hallway and turned to face Jon. “This is supposed to be a short trip in a small space ship. No more than a few hours. Why do we need all this stuff?”
Jon smirked. “The SS Minnow was supposed to just go on a three hour tour and we both know how that turned out.”
Gibbs continued to watch him closely without a reply.
Jon’s smirk slowly faded and then he gave a cautious nod. “Alright, look at it this way. We are going to be alone in a small space ship with a potentially hostile pilot, surrounded by orbiting debris, over a planet that has an unculled human population and its only access to other planets is through a space gate. Should anything happen to the ship, we will crash land on that planet, with its human population that may or may not be hostile to strangers, while waiting for someone on Atlantis to notice we are missing and come looking for us. At best, we are inconvenienced for a few hours…you don’t really want me to go over worst case scenarios.”
It was all Gibbs could do to keep the shock off his face. Yup, the kid was definitely full of surprises. “Fine.” He said as he started back down the hallway. “Give me whatever your packing.”
“Will do, Boss.” Jon replied with his casual façade back in place. “I’ll bring the gear and meet up outside the jumper in 10.”
Jon peeled off down another hallway whistling the tune to Gilligan’s Island, leaving Gibbs to wonder if this was such a good idea after all.
--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG—SG
TBC
Finding Closure von Rocza
Kapitel Bemerkung: Sheppard isn't without his defenders and Gibbs and Jon gear up.
Kapitel Abschlussbemerkung: Just a short one this time. Next up - LtCol Sheppard's Interview
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