Authors Note: Sorry, this is a little later than planned. A special thank you to jasminesmommy, Sheppardlover928, emmakooples and my guest reviewer for their reviews on the last chapter, I hope you all enjoy this one, let me know what you all think!
Chapter 4
Ronon took a seat in the briefing room where Agent Gavorn had been conducting his interviews. The much smaller man offered him a seat with a smile that wasn't genuine, Ronon could see a sliver of fear behind his eyes, he smiled inwardly. Teyla had told him that Gavorn may try to get under his skin, two could play at that game. He had no intention of hindering the investigation, but he wasn't here to be manipulated.
He sat down without a word, keeping his face impassive, unreadable. Gavorn introduced himself, as though Ronon might not know who he was, Ronon said nothing. After several moments of silence, Gavorn looked down at his datapad for a moment, then back at Ronon.
"Specialist Dex," he said, "The reports on you make for interesting reading, you've led an interesting life, difficult," he added as though realizing what he'd said, "But interesting."
There was no question, so Ronon remained silent, staring at the man, waiting for him to continue. Gavorn held his gaze for a moment before looking away, he tapped something into the datapad.
"When you first encountered our people you attacked them," Gavorn stated, Ronon remained silent, Gavorn still hadn't asked him a question. The Agent seemed to finally catch on, rephrased his words. "Why did you attack Colonel Sheppard's team when you first met them?"
"I didn't know them," Ronon said simply.
"You didn't know them so you just attacked them?" Gavorn questioned.
"Yeah," Ronon replied.
Gavorn raised an eyebrow at him, then once again tapped something into his datapad. "Do you make it a habit of attacking people you don't know?"
"If they're a threat," Ronon told him, simple and honest, he offered no further explanation. This man could never understand what it was like to spend years of your life just surviving, to do whatever it took to ensure you survived one more day, knowing tomorrow would be the same, knowing there was no end in sight.
"What was it that made you decide to join the people on Atlantis?"
"The food," Ronon told him, Gavorn raised that eyebrow again.
"The food?" he asked incredulously, "Just the food?"
"And the chance to fight the Wraith," Ronon added.
"Your people are gone, your world was destroyed, that must be difficult knowledge to live with," Gavorn said, again it wasn't a question, Gavorn realized his mistake, "Does it make you angry?"
The dumb question made him angry, "Yes."
Annoyance flashed briefly through Gavorn's eyes, he wanted detailed answers and he wasn't getting them. He'd have to ask the right questions, or stop playing mind games by tapping on his datapad or trying to get a rise out of him. Ronon understood the need to be here, understood the job the agent had to do, if Gavorn was straight with him, Ronon would be straight back, this was a waste of time otherwise.
"Do you consider yourself to be an angry person?"
"Depends on the day," Ronon replied, Gavorn clenched his jaw, his gaze going once again to the datapad though this time it seemed more of a defensive move than one intended to annoy Ronon.
"I'm sure you've had the opportunity to speak to Colonel Sheppard and the other members of his team that I have already interviewed, I'm sure you know my intention. Atlantis has had a number of problems recently, I'm going to go through each of the incidents, one of them is likely connected to the situation we now find ourselves in," Gavorn explained, in what seemed like a change of tactic.
"Sounds sensible," Ronon said, waiting for the agent to continue.
"You were present for part of one of the earlier incidents," Gavorn stated, "When Lieutenant Larkin returned from a mission in which he had assaulted someone off-world."
Ronon remembered the incident well, it was unlike the Atlantis personnel to act out in such a way while on a mission. They were usually better at keeping themselves under control when off-world, even during particularly trying circumstances. Larkin was hardly the first of them to cause an issue off-world but it was rare enough to be memorable when it did happen.
"I was there when the team returned, I wasn't present on the mission," Ronon told him, prepared to be more forthcoming now that Gavorn was getting to the point, now that he was asking real questions.
"Tell me what you remember."
xXx
"I just don't see why you need me," Ronon grumbled as he and Sheppard walked through the corridor. Sheppard had been on his way to a meeting with Dr Weir when Ronon had caught him, he honestly didn't understand why the Earthers felt the need to have so many meetings, they'd sit in a room and talk about anything.
"You're part of the team Ronon, where we go, you go," Sheppard explained, not for the first time either. "Besides, if I have to suffer through it, I'm taking you and McKay down with me, I think Teyla's actually looking forward to it."
"Festivals aren't really my thing, especially when they're about farming," Ronon complained, just because the Dorvians were allies didn't mean Ronon should have to sit through yet another of their celebrations, they were boring.
"You're coming," Sheppard replied in a tone of voice Ronon recognized as meaning the discussion was over. They arrived in the control room where Dr Weir was talking to one of the techs, she smiled when she spotted them, making her way over. "Ronon here was just telling me how excited he is for the Dorvian's celebrations."
Weir smiled, her amusement obvious. "Well since your team was the first of our people they met, they've requested that you be present, if it's any consolation, I'm not looking forward to it either."
"It's not," Ronon stated a second before an alert sounded and the stargate began to light up.
"Unscheduled off-world activation," someone shouted over the noise, below them the team guarding the gate room moved into position, their weapons at the ready. "Receiving IDC, it's Captain Barton."
"Lower the shield," Weir said, waiting for the team to emerge and the gate to shut down before making her way to the gate room below.
"Stand down, lieutenant," Captain Barton shouted over the raised voices of his team. Ronon followed Sheppard and Weir to the gate room, mostly out of curiosity, partly because it looked like a fight was about to break out. Two members of the team had injuries, Lieutenant Larkin had bruising around his eye that was the start of a serious black eye, one of the airmen had a bleeding wound on the back of his head.
"Go and get checked out in medical," Barton told the airman who nodded, glared at Larkin and left.
"What's going on?" Weir questioned, "Your team wasn't due back for another five hours."
"We were forced to leave ma'am," Barton said apologetically.
"My office," Weir said, looking over the group. "Lieutenant, go and get your eye checked out."
"No way," Larkin shouted, glaring at his team leader, "You think I'm gonna get out of the way so you can tell them whatever you want."
"Enough," Sheppard cut in.
"No, it's not enough," Larkin continued, "I'm not just gonna go quietly so you can make me some kind of scapegoat."
"Lieutenant, you're out of line," Sheppard said, stepping forward and, Ronon suspected subconsciously, putting himself between Dr Weir and the angry officer. Ronon for his part stayed back, he didn't need to get involved, yet.
"No, it wasn't my fault, the other guy started it. He came up to me, he confronted me, what was I supposed to do?" Larkin continued to shout, he seemed oblivious to his surroundings, to the audience he was gathering as he continued. Ronon was well aware that everyone had stopped what they were doing to watch the scene unfolding in the gate room.
"Not throw the first punch," Barton replied, the Captain's own anger rising now. He took a breath, getting control of himself before looking at Sheppard and Weir. "He started a bar brawl."
"Let's take this to the briefing room," she said, her tone leaving no room for argument.
Larkin seemed to come to his senses, looking around himself at all of the spectators, at the guards with hands on their weapons, at Ronon a few feet away. He was still seething with anger but didn't say anything else, didn't put up any further protest. Ronon watched as the small group made their way to the meeting room, he wasn't needed. Larkin had calmed down, if he got irate again Sheppard and Barton would be able to handle him, or the guard he saw Sheppard subtly nod to, who then followed them up the stairs.
xXx
"Do you know what transpired in the briefing room?" Gavorn questioned as Ronon finished.
"Sheppard said one of the locals had confronted Larkin about being an untrustworthy outsider, said he wasn't wanted there, that the team should leave. He got into Larkin's personal space, trying to be intimidating so Larkin punched him, twice. The whole thing turned into a brawl, one of Larkin's teammates tried to intervene and got a glass to the back of his head. When everything had calmed down the team were asked to leave," Ronon explained, trying to remember all the details, it had been over two months ago.
"What do you think of Lieutenant Larkin's actions?"
"The guy probably shouldn't have gotten into his personal space, but Larkin shouldn't have thrown the first punch, definitely shouldn't have thrown the second," Ronon replied honestly, he'd have been tempted to hit the man too but he'd learned better impulse control than that.
"Did you see the Lieutenant again that day?"
"No, but I know he wasn't happy."
"Why not?" Gavorn questioned as though he didn't already know the answer, were they going back to playing mind games?
"He was suspended from off-world activity for three weeks, he got off lightly because he argued he believed the local was behaving threateningly, his teammate who was with him backed him up. They made him talk to Dr Heightmeyer, he didn't like that either."
"I hear Dr Weir came through surgery successfully," Gavorn said, "I'm sure you're all very relieved."
"Yes," Ronon said.
"What do you think of Dr Weir?" Gavorn questioned.
Ronon didn't sigh, at least not on the outside, but he wanted to. They were definitely back to playing mind games. "She's a good leader."
"You were military on your own world, do you ever find it difficult having a civilian in charge?"
"I don't always agree with every decision made here but I respect them," Ronon stated, he had a great deal of respect for Dr Weir, and a lot of gratitude. She didn't have to let him stay here when her people found him, especially after he'd attacked them. She didn't have to give him a position on their flagship team when she had no reason to trust him. "Dr Weir's rarely wrong, she admits when she is."
Gavorn asked him a bunch more questions, most of them pointless. He tapped repeatedly on his datapad, Ronon pretended to be patient. They achieved nothing else for the rest of the session and Gavorn finally released him. He tapped on his earpiece to find out where Teyla was, he was restless, he needed to move, sparring always calmed him down.
She was already there when he arrived, she smiled in greeting but it didn't reach her eyes. "How did it go?" she asked him.
"Fine," he replied with a shrug. "I was tempted to make him eat that datapad."
"As was I," she told him, her smile a little brighter.
"How's Dr Weir?" he asked as they both prepared to spar, stretching out muscles that had spent too much time sitting around that day.
"Resting more or less comfortably, she was still unconscious when I left," Teyla told him, "John was with her but I believe Rodney said he was going to get some rest."
"Sheppard's not gonna leave until she's awake, not unless he has to," Ronon replied. The military leader of Atlantis was protective of all their people, especially Dr Weir. He hated to think what would have happened if she hadn't come through the surgery.
"He blames himself," Teyla nodded sadly. "He should not, but he does."
They finished stretching in silence, both of them absorbed in their own thoughts. The person who was behind all this was still out there somewhere, going about their day like it was any other. How long would it be until they struck again, what would there next move be? He had to believe this wasn't over yet.
"Ready?" Teyla finally said, Ronon nodded.
TBC
