Chapter 16 - Finding Ford
The small ship arrived in orbit over the planet without incident. LtCol Sheppard only had to skirt the hive ship debris. Once there, he placed the ship in high orbit and began scanning the surface. Sheppard had set the scanner to search for all human and Wraith life signs. The heads up display (HUD) showed dense populations of humans over large parts of the planet. Luckily, the planet was free of Wraith. All they had to do now was find one human among hundreds of thousands.
“So, where to first?” Gibbs asked. He was hoping that Sheppard know were the lieutenant would go to ground once he realized that he was trapped on the planet. As the lieutenant’s commanding officer and teammate for over a year, he would know the man better than anyone else.
Sheppard scanned the screen a few more minutes before he let out a huff of air and sagged in his seat. “I’m not sure. If Ford wasn’t influenced by the enzyme, I’d say that he would go there… to the capital city, hoping to make contact with anyone from Atlantis the next time we visited. But he was high on the enzyme… and with his judgment clouded... he could be anywhere.”
Jon’s snort of amusement drew the eyes of both men. “Amateurs… First of all, it doesn’t matter where Lt Ford would have landed or how drugged up he was at the time, because eventually, he would have sobered up and in the last YEAR moved on. You only need to have a starting point for your search. Secondly, Wraith tech has a specific bio signature. Scan for the dart and you have your starting point without all the convoluted mind games. Thirdly, if he didn’t stay close to the dart, then you will need more than our three-man team to find him; no matter how badly you want to find him this trip.”
Gibbs swallowed down an angry retort at the kid’s condescending tone. It wouldn’t do any good and, damn it, if the kid wasn’t right.
Next, Jon gave booth men a consoling look, “Finally, this whole wild goose chase depends on the lieutenant taking a dart to the planet. Please keep that in mind.”
Gibbs nodded and turned back to Sheppard. “So, we scan for the Wraith dart.”
Sheppard glanced at Gibbs and nodded in agreement. Sheppard worked the controls and several red dots appeared across the HUD. One by one the specifications for each dot appeared in the indecipherable Ancient script before it faded off the screen. Gibbs focused on Sheppard, as the man translated each one, muttering under his breath. The tension grew as each dot was checked and discarded as wreckage.
Suddenly, Sheppard stopped and re-read the screen, a grin slowly forming. “I think I found it.”
“Expand this bit,” Jon ordered quietly.
Sheppard complied, but looked at Jon oddly. “You read Ancient?”
Jon didn’t respond as he carefully read through the text. “It is definitely a dart. But it’s not in good shape. Based on these readings, I doubt it can fly. It crashed hard, tearing up a long patch of ground. The scan doesn’t show any human life signs in the area.” Jon pointed to the screen. “Nearest, life signs are about 100 miles away at this farming settlement.”
“You’re sure?” Gibbs asked, his doubt flavoring his words. He couldn’t make heads or tails of the text, but that one red dot looked just like the others. He didn’t like not being the one with the answers. It was making him cranky.
Jon sent him a brief glare. “Yeah, Boss. I am.”
Gibbs winced. He had let himself forget, for just a moment, who… what Jon really was. For just a moment, Gibbs had doubted the kid, his expert on all things alien. He shook himself to refocus on the task at hand. He would make it up to the kid later. “Good. Colonel, if you would please, let’s go take a look.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Sheppard nodded and moved the small ship towards their destination on the planet below.
--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG—SG
The ship touched down right next to the wreck of the dart. The Wraith ship was clearly destroyed. Jon felt a moment of sympathy as they surveyed the damage. No one mentioned that the pilot’s survival would have been a miracle. It was unnecessary and quite possibly cruel. Instead, he exchanged a look with Gibbs and made his way to the back hatch.
When he finally joined them in the back, LtCol Sheppard’s face had lost his hope and cheer and was back to looking grim. Jon wasn’t quite so happy to be back in the action anymore. As much as he missed being involved in the Stargate Program, this was not what he missed. Surviving in the face of great danger, yes. Retrieving the fallen, not so much.
Sheppard gave them both quick once over; making sure their gear was in place. “Alright, I want you both to promise me that you run back to the ship at the first sign of anything going wrong. I don’t care if it is a bug bite.” Jon watched the colonel shudder at the thought before continuing. “ANYTHING happens; you come back here right away. Got it?”
“Aye, Aye, Colonel,” Gibbs replied.
Jon just nodded, not feeling the need to reply. He knew Sheppard wouldn’t believe that he had experience in the field, let alone the type of experience he possessed. Hell, technically he had more experience than Sheppard… Yeah, that would go over well.
“I mean it. If you two get so much as a paper cut out here, my ass is toast.” Sheppard speared them both with one last glare before opening the door. “Stay on my six, and for god’s sake, don’t touch anything.”
Sheppard stepped out of the ship casually scanning the area as he picked his way across the uneven ground around the dart. Jon and Gibbs flanked him and they quickly crossed to the wreckage. Jon approved as Sheppard cleared the area with his eyes one more time, before stepping up to look in the cockpit of the dart.
Jon and Gibbs exchanged a worried look as Sheppard looked into the cockpit. But, Sheppard quickly turned away with a triumphant grin.
“It’s empty.”
Jon felt both disappointment and relief as he returned Sheppard’s smile. Ford had survived the crash, providing that Ford had been the pilot. But that still left the all important question: Where was he now?
Jon’s smiled at Gibbs as the agent took control. “Colonel, if you don’t mind, let’s look around before we head back to Atlantis. This scene is over a year old, but I’d like to see what we can before we go back for more help.”
“Sure. Standard search pattern. You, then me, then O’Brien. 20 foot intervals. Keep in sight.” Sheppard said absently as his head nodded in agreement. Jon could tell that the colonel didn’t want to go back yet. He had to burn out his need to look first. Jon could see his need to find his lost second. Any sign could be the key to finding Ford. The lieutenant had a one year head start and every little bit would help them find him.
Jon lined up with the others as they carefully started to search the area around the dart, circling outwards slowly as they cleared the ground. The searching was slow and methodical. But as they neared a small glade of trees about 200 yards from the dart the search finally bore fruit.
Jon noticed the flapping cloth first. Slowly a small lean-to took shape. It had been built from the branches of the surrounding trees and blended perfectly with the surrounding vegetation. Except for that bit of cloth flapping in the breeze, he wouldn’t have seen it at all. As he approached, he could tell that the lean-to hadn’t been used or maintained for some time. Part of the structure had collapsed, blocking the entrance from casual view. That bit of flapping cloth had been used to block the entrance from the elements.
Jon felt hope surge. Ford had survived. He had built a textbook short term shelter from the local vegetation. That meant that he might have had a clear enough head to leave them clues, or better yet a note. He grinned with the thought of actually finding the man healthy and whole. A true happy ending.
“I found something,” he called out, not taking his eyes off of the structure.
Sheppard joined him followed by Gibbs. They all stared stupidly at the structure for several seconds before Sheppard finally spoke. “I guess I should check it out, huh?” He took one step forward only to be stopped by Gibbs’ hand.
“I can do it,” Gibbs offered. Jon noted that Gibbs wasn’t smiling. He slowly felt his hope of a happy ending dim.
Sheppard shrugged Gibbs’ hand off. “No. I’ll do it.” Sheppard took a deep breath and started forward again.
Jon watched as Sheppard carefully cleared the branches from the collapsed entrance and then slowly entered the lean-to blocking their view of its contents. He was convinced that the suspense was killing him. But, only seconds had passed before he heard Sheppard’s broken. “I found him.” With those words, Jon felt hope die. They had succeeded. They had found the missing man… yet it still felt like a failure.
Sheppard backed out of the shelter awkwardly; the man’s ability to coordinate his limbs severely impeded by his grief for the lost lieutenant. Jon’s quick look in the lean-to revealed the broken, desiccated body of a man before the sight was blocked by Gibbs as he went in to get a closer look. Jon led the colonel a short distance away and sat him down. Sheppard didn’t resist. He didn’t even see Jon as a canteen was placed in his hands and he drank mechanically.
“He was here the whole time,” Sheppard stated absently, as he stared at the empty space in front of him.
Gibbs joined him beside the colonel, the lieutenant’s dog tags in his hand. Sheppard finally lost himself to the grief he had denied for far too long. His whole body shuddering under the release of the pent up emotions. Jon let Gibbs take the lead with the grief stricken man. He quietly stood watch, guarding the pair from outside harm while Sheppard dealt with the kind of pain that can only come from within.
Sometime later, after Sheppard’s grief had turned from the heaving sobs to something quieter, though no less painful, Jon went into the lean-to and examined the remains. The lieutenant may have survived the crash, but he hadn’t left unscathed. One of his legs wore a makeshift splint. Large, dark brown stains marred his leather pants and tunic. His head had been wrapped loosely with more stained cloth. And a Wraith stunner was gripped tightly in his hands, ready for action, even in death.
Jon was momentarily overwhelmed with his own sense of loss. He had never met the lieutenant, but through the course of the investigation he felt that he had come to know the man and the Marine. Ford had fought courageously against a fearsome enemy and prevailed. Yet, in spite of the events that stained his last six months of life, the lieutenant had died in honor. Defending his teammates and protecting their escape.
“It would have been an honor to serve with you, Lieutenant,” Jon whispered to the corpse. “Now, let’s get you home.”
Jon retrieved a body bag from the supplies in the jumper. Gibbs joined him as he respectfully transferred the remains into the bag and sealed it. They carried the body back to the jumper with Sheppard silently walking beside them as an honor guard. None of them spoke during the flight back to the Stargate and to Atlantis. Instead, they honored their fallen comrade, their brother, their friend with their silence.
--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG--SG—SG
TBC
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