CHAPTER 2 – BEAUTY BENEATH THE DIRT
Patting his stomach in appreciation of a meal that had, for once, done more than just fill an empty hole, John left the mess with Ronan in tow. Ronan, as usual, had managed to consume enough food to satisfy the hunger of around three normal men, but then again... Ronan was no normal man. The Satedan stood head and shoulders above anyone else on the base and with a musculatory structure to back it up, there was no doubt his size was extemely formidable.
John however, did not fear him. They had become good friends since the Satedan's arrival on Atlantis, often sparring together, and although John generally came off second best, he was beginning to sneak in just a few little hits of his own and had managed to wound Ronan, just once or twice.
"Let's go check out our little gate refugee...I'm curious to see how she cleaned up." He turned to Ronan. "Wonder if Rodney had any luck in tracking down that gate address..." keying his ear comm, he checked in on Rodney. "Sheppard here. Any luck on that gate address Rodney." He paused in the hallway, with Ronan slowly his own pace as he saw the look on John's face. "Strange... keep looking then, see what you can come up with. Getting the feeling that something's not right here..."
John deactivated his comm and turned to Ronan. "Rodney can't track the address – said it had been 'blocked'... odd... we've not come across that before, and Rodney didn't even know it could be done. This is starting to carry a rather rank smell about it..."
They continued on and entered the infirmary, where Carson was standing over the bed in the far corner. Carson heard them enter and turned as they neared the bed.
"Colonel - we've cleaned her up a little and there's definitely a lovely young woman under all that dirt. She's still not conscious yet, and I've run a few tests now and we can at least get an indication of some of her injuries. A couple of broken ribs, the right arm is broken and I'm just about to set that. Facial bruising,a few lacerations - but no spinal or neck injuries and given that she is unconscious, I'm assuming we'll be looking at concussion as well. The young lass has been beaten up Colonel, and I'd like to get my hands on the person who did this to her." John noted the spark of anger in the doctor's eyes and laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Let's wait until she wakes up then Doc and hopefully she'll be able to tell us who did this to her. Then I'm sure Ronan and I will be paying them a little visit..." Ronan had neared the bed while John was speaking and looking down at the doll like patient, marked by bruising and lacerations, Ronan's jaw clenched and his hands fisted. "He'll be feeling more than just my fists Sheppard, the firing end of my weapon will be too good for him..."
"Easy big fella, I know how you feel, but we need to get all the facts first." John neared the bed now, and his breath hitched as he got his first good look at her. Impossibly pale skin upon which the bruising on her face stood out in vivid relief, long, long eyelashes, dark and curling, were feathered down across her cheeks and a cloud of wheaten coloured hair, curling and now clean, spread out across the pillow, looking like gold upon the white of the pillow and her pale face.
"Wow... under that dirt... wow!"
"Eloquent as always Colonel Sheppard." Carson leaned over his to adjust one of the monitors. "But yes, she is an extremely beautiful young woman, let's just hope we can find out where she's come from. I'm sure there is someone out there looking for her right now and must be frantic with worry."
"Any markings on her Doc, distinguishing ones, that is? Could be helpful in assisting us to find out where she comes from." John found it hard to take his gaze from her face, and the slight fluttering of those incredibly long lashes as the rapid eye movement under her lids caused them to dance lightly on her skin.
"Now that you mention it Colonel - have a look at this." Lifting the blanket from the bottom of the bed, Carson exposed her feet and turning her ankle slightly, he pointed out a tiny tattoo of a flower, positioned just above the ankle bone. John reached over to pick up the foot, noting it's high arch and saw how it fitted into the palm of his hand, incredibly tiny, in fact everything about her was extremely petite. He bent closer to look at the tattoo.
"Many cultures in this galaxy promote tattooing, but not many on women I should imagine. Perhaps that fact will help us find out where is from? Ronan?"
Ronan was looking closely at the tattoo. "The design is not one you would see on either a man or a woman from here, and the ink colouring is different." He looked at Carson. "Can a sample of the ink be taken for testing?"
"If it comes down to that Ronan, then yes, we could do that. I prefer not to be cutting bits off her at the moment, until she wakes up at least..." He covered her foot back up and the tiny tattoo etched a pattern in John's mind, triggering something just out of reach.