"Comin' in hot!" Gabe yelled, rolling through the event horizon. He heard Hank yell to the newbie to get into position, and grinned. Scrambling to the side, he pulled himself out of the way of his old team, knowing they needed a clear line of sight and that he was blocking.
McKay had been right next to him, and the man burst through the wormhole a second behind, racing straight past them before turning to take cover along the wall, following Gabe's lead. The former 'gate-guard had positioned himself complementary to his old team, helping them out any way he could.
It was Gabriel's fifth mission with Sheppard's team, and while no less strange than the others, this one was much more perilous. They had barely gated in before they were overrun by wraith that had been mysteriously absent from the MALP pictures and scans. As a result, they had gated back out immediately. But not before catching sight of Lt. Ford once more, as they had for these past four missions, as he again evaded them and gated to another, new destination. McKay had barely gotten this one before the wormhole closed, and he had immediately dialed out, sending the IDC as soon as the event horizon stabilized.
The wraith had been mere feet from them, this time, cutting it much closer than they wanted.
Teyla appeared on the heels of that thought, and Sheppard dove through almost on top of her. Stun blasts echoed through the wormhole and exploded into the 'gateroom, just barely missing, before the iris went up. Moments later, the wormhole cut out.
Gabriel waited a few seconds, securing his position. Then he turned to see if anyone had been hit. Fortunately, this time was a near miss. Hank's newbie, a man only slightly younger than the team leader himself, had been part of the reinforcements from Earth. So far, the new men had been able to ease into the realities of life at Atlantis. At war with enemies and weapons they didn't understand, with defenses and technologies they knew only slightly better. Jeff Hopner had been trained for standard, Milky Way offworld recon. So to prep for Pegasus offworld missions, he was on 'gate duty.
Gabe looked the man over. Cool, if a little pale, but still on his feet. With Hank ragging his every step, that was no mean feat. He grinned, gave the man a nod. Unperturbed, Jeff nodded back.
Gabe looked to his new team then; McKay was nursing a few bangs and bumps, Teyla weathering a close encounter with a stun-weapon blast. Sheppard, as usual, looked irritated and unruffled by combat. "Debrief in ten," the Major ordered. He saw McKay shake his head in disgust, and was forced to agree.
For the past four – now five – missions, they had been trailing Ford, who was leading them deeper and deeper into wraith-controlled, if not completely wraith-occupied, territory. It was a strange situation. It seemed to Gabriel as if Ford waited until they arrived at his destination to leave; clearly laying a trail for them to follow, with the only difficulty standing in their way being the wraith themselves. But to what end?
The lieutenant would linger for days on the planet, close to the Stargate, evading wraith notice. They had come across one of his campsites, the contents of which disturbed the hunter in Gabriel even more. He recognized a predator when he saw one, having spent so many years being one himself.
The camp had been redolent with the stench of death. Ford had apparently slept in some brush, piled in a defensible nook at one end of his encampment. There was evidence of a fire, a latrine, and signs of him having eaten . . . something.
And there was ever more evidence of his growing addiction.
There had been six wraith bodies at this site, the number increasing from the last encampment they had found. With a sac containing the coveted enzyme in each hand, it meant that Ford was not only maintaining his addiction, but adding to it by massive amounts. His appearance had changed since they saw him last, as well – and it had only been three days.
But in that time, the olive skin had grown ashen with the addiction that raged through his body. His face was etched with a cold determination. Deep bags descended into the skin of his face from beneath his left eye, the pupil of which had expanded to impossible size. The dark iris had expanded as well, leaving his left eye a pool of blackness within his face.
They had been able to secure more of the enzyme, and Beckett had discovered exactly why Ford had become addicted. The effect of the enzyme was euphoric overall. It stimulated the human heart and body, strengthening the flesh, in order to prolong the wraith's meal. Gabriel had been disgusted by the information, but used the knowledge well.
Beckett had been frustrated in some of his tests by the lack of enzyme he had to work with. They had collected more samples for him today in a grisly dissection preformed by a complaining McKay. Gabriel didn't blame him. But with any luck, Beckett would be able to use what they had collected to find out more about Ford's condition. Synthesizing the enzyme at Atlantis was both too time consuming and too dangerous for Beckett to consider it a feasible option.
A few minutes later, Sheppard was debriefing Weir and Beckett with his team in attendance.
"Rodney, you have the samples for Dr. Beckett?"
"Uh, yeah. Sure. Here." Digging in his vest, the scientist produced several ampules filled with a thick, venomously yellow liquid. He distastefully passed them off to the doctor, who stored them carefully.
"I'll start to work on these immediately," Beckett told them. He hadn't slept much recently, working as hard as he could to solve this mystery, and to prepare his staff to handle Ford when they retrieved him.
"Thank you," Sheppard responded, sincerity clear in his tone.
Beckett nodded to them all, before leaving.
When the doctor had cleared the room, Weir sat forward, folding her hands on the table.
Silence stretched out as she looked at each one of them in turn. "What you've done so far," she began, "goes above and beyond the call of duty."
Sheppard sat back, warily.
"But we need to begin to consider the consequences of Ford's absence," Elizabeth continued. Lines around her eyes, and the tight press of her mouth, denied the calm she projected.
"Consequences?" Sheppard had to challenge, sensing that something was coming which he would not like.
"We need to consider the possibility that Lt. Ford will not be able to be returned to Atlantis," Weir said calmly. She didn't shy away from the truth, locking eyes with the angry Major.
"We do not leave our people behind," John stated flatly. Gabriel knew his CO's record; knew that the only blemish on it was for the fault of returning to save some of his men. He wished Weir luck in convincing Sheppard to abandon Ford.
"John," Elizabeth continued. "When was the last time you heard a word from Ford's mouth?"
"Two missions ago," he returned immediately.
The team had gotten separated; Sheppard from the rest, McKay and Teyla in a second direction, and Gabriel himself, evading wraith as much as he was able, in yet a third direction. Sheppard reported, once they had been able to contact one another and return through the Stargate, that he had made contact with Ford.
The lieutenant had been different, he had said, with an anxiously frightened look. A strange mix of his old personality, which was intent on rescuing and reuniting with the rest of the team, and a crazed obsession intent only on destruction of the wraith and feeding his addiction.
"Since then, the only contact you've had with Ford has been visual. You've been unable to get close enough to sedate him -" and they had moved from physical tranquilizing to tranq guns after that first disastrous attempt "- and have only been able to watch as he traveled through the Stargate to another world. I think it is time that we faced one fact – Ford does not want to return. He knows that you are following him, that he can return if he wants to. He avoids your team, avoids contact with Atlantis, and seems intent only on feeding his addiction."
"I can't deny that Ford is avoiding us," John admitted tightly. "Or that he's obsessed with the wraith. But the addiction is what has control. Are we going to abandon him to something he can't control? Something he would fight if he was in his right mind? I am not going to abandon him to the wraith!"
"I think you need to consider," Elizabeth said quietly, "the risk and expenditure of resources that we are losing in this venture."
"Ford is worth that risk!"
"But is the entire Atlantis endeavor?"
"We're not-"
"John." She cut him off, and then continued speaking in a steely tone that brooked no protest. "It's my job to look at the facts, and to care as best I can for everyone in Atlantis, including Ford. But he is becoming a liability to us all. Every time you follow him to a planet infested with wraith, and dial out again, more of the wraith have our home Stargate address, and know where we are. I won't lie to you – the attacks on our Stargate from unidentified sources are growing more frequent. We're losing the opportunities to utilize what resources we have, here in Atlantis and in the wraith hive ships that we control in orbit. We need you and McKay here, to fully realize those options. We are gaining nothing substantial from the missions that your team is conducting, and quite frankly, we need Teyla with her people, and to negotiate for us if she is willing." Weir paused, clearly hating what she was saying, but liking it far more than the alternative. "I cannot and will no longer authorize such use of the Stargate for these missions."
Gabriel had seen this coming for quite a while, and had been slightly surprised that it had taken so long. Weir was, in many instances, right. Continuing the search for Ford was not worth the waste and risk it posed.
But she had forgotten one important fact.
"I'll be damned if we're leaving him behind," Sheppard snapped, clearly at the end of his patience. "We do not leave people in enemy hands, not if we have the opportunities Ford is giving us to prevent it!"
The risk was incredibly high – the chance that all of Atlantis might suffer for their quest, should they fail to bring Ford back, was very real. But the controversy here would serve no one. If Sheppard pulled rank, ordering his men to dial the Stargate by force, the fragile balance that existed among the military and civilian members of the Earth Atlantis team would collapse. Weir would lose the power and credibility she needed to run Atlantis. Divided, they would fall prey to the wraith, and at the rate they were being besieged, it would happen quickly. This needed to be solved without the two leaders in front of him destroying the delicate peace that existed.
"He's leaving us a trail."
Quiet words broke the tense silence, and had every head in the room swinging toward him.
Gabriel continued, keeping his voice low and even. "Ford. He waits, until we arrive. He dials out, making sure that we see where he's headed, before he leaves. He has close contact with us." He'd taken weapons and food off them, during the previous mission. "He wants us to follow him."
"My God," McKay murmured, adding the pieces together for himself. "He's right."
"Why?" Sheppard asked, a frown creasing his brow as the argument was quickly, expertly, diffused. "Why would he do that?"
McKay spread his hands, shrugging. "Maybe it's the last pieces of the real Ford, fighting the addiction," he suggested.
"Or he is leading us further into the clutches of the wraith," Teyla pointed out darkly. "These last missions have been . . ."
"We've never encountered so many wraith," Gabriel finished grimly.
Sheppard ran a hand through his hair and laid his palms flat on the table. "The question is, what do we do about it?" Unforgiving blue eyes turned to Weir.
She sat for a moment, reading each one of them, before shaking her head. "You have two more missions," she told Sheppard firmly. "That is all." There was no give in her voice.
The Major heard it, and sighed soundlessly. "Thank you," he told her.
She nodded, her mouth a thin slash. "After that, we can do no more."
"I understand."
And they all did, Sheppard merely being the one to accept responsibility. They had a chance, however slim it was.
It was on them now, to retrieve Ford. They had a deadline, a time and resource limit that would not stretch. The facts could not be changed, and the downward spiral the lieutenant was caught in could not be altered without interference. Unless they brought him back within their next two missions, Aiden Ford was lost to the wraith.