A Cry in the Dark. Chapter Six
Title: A Cry in the Dark
Chapter: 6/8
Rating: PG/12 ish
Warning: Slash
Spoilers: Not so many in this chapter but lets say Seasons One to Four just to be safe.
Set: Mid Season Three, a few weeks after 'Phantoms'
Disclaimer: I still don't own anything.
Previous Chapters: http://sparxxa.livejournal.com/42943.html#cutid1
Chapter Six: A war that could never be won
"Of all the things I thought I'd be doing with my day, interviewing a member of my team who until a few hours ago I believed was dead, wasn't really high on the agenda." Doctor Weir commented with a wry smile as she and Colonel Sheppard walked with Doctor Beckett down to the infirmary.
"Bit of a weird one." agreed Sheppard "Even for us. You'd think we'd be used to this sort of thing by now."
They reached the infirmary and entered, heading over to where Beckett indicated Sergeant Jamie Markham was. It seemed like he had been in conversation with Sergeant Adam Stackhouse but that whatever they had been saying had curtailed off just moments before they arrived.
As they approached Stackhouse stood more to attention and even Markham sat more upright; some things were habit no matter how long it had been.
Doctor Weir smiled gently at the young marine, taking a seat in the chair that had been left by his bedside. "How are you feeling Sergeant?"
"I'm fine Ma’am." he replied politely.
"We need to ask you a few questions about what happened to you. Is that alright?"
"Yes Ma’am."
Looking to the other marine stood awkwardly on the other side of Sergeant Markham’s bed and remembering what Chuck had said and what she and Sheppard had both observed, she decided to pose the question to the recently returned Sergeant:
“Would you prefer it if Sergeant Stackhouse stayed for this?”
To Stackhouse’s surprise, not that he really showed it, Markham nodded.
“Please… I don’t want to tell this anymore times than I have to.”
Doctor Weir nodded in acceptance, indicating to Stackhouse that he was permitted to stay, before turning her attention back to Markham.
“Take your time. What’s the last thing you remember of being in Atlantis?”
“There was a Wraith Dart over the city. We went out in the ‘jumpers to try and stop it. Corporal Smith was with me. It disappeared from view, neither of us could see it and the sensors couldn’t spot it either. Smith was muttering, asking how we could lose something as ugly as a Dart and then…then there was this noise and then nothing.”
“Nothing?” echoed Weir.
“The next thing I knew I was alone, lying on the ground in the middle of this forest…there was no-one else around, no signs of life except…except someone had scraped the word ‘run’ into the ground next to me. Then there was a sound like gunfire that was too close for comfort, so I did what I was told and ran.”
He looked down at his hands, smirking softly, before looking up again; maintaining eye contact with his superiors.
“I did a lot of running. That’s all you could do. Run or die, it wasn’t much of a tough decision. After a while it just fell into a routine, you know. Run, get injured, get captured, get beaten, get healed, get released, run. Over and over again. You just had to keep going because if they got tired of you then it was all over.”
“They?” asked Sheppard.
“The one’s who kept us there. I don’t know who they were, or what they looked like. The word was that you’d only see what they really looked like when they were just about to kill you…most of the time if they were going to mess with you they’d make you hallucinate, make you think that you’d been found…that’s why I reacted the way I did to the guy with you Sir…I thought he was one of them.”
“Ronon can be quite intimidating.” Beckett empathised with a small smile.
“You said ‘us’, were there others there?” asked Weir.
“Yes Ma’am. I couldn’t say how many, I only ever saw five.” He shook his head. “The moment you found someone else your life was twice at risk as it was before. Even if you only talked for a little while, took separate paths and avoided meeting up with them, a few days later you’d still come across their corpse just dumped in your path. You had to be extra careful…only one person I met stayed alive longer than a few days…he was the one who helped me get the message through to you.”
He smirked.
“His name was Boysdanlmead, he was a scientist. He told me where he was from but I couldn’t pronounce it and he just wouldn’t believe me when I told him about Atlantis or Earth for that matter. He was a good guy. While we were trying to find somewhere to hide during another random attack we came across the Stargate…it was overgrown and pretty sorry looking but we went back and he worked out that he could make it open for a really short time, not long enough for us to go through, but enough to get a message through.
“You see; another thing ‘they’ did to mess with you was to leave you with only part of something that could help you. I had a broken radio and Boysdanlmead had some wires and tools, but if we hadn’t found each other none of it would have been any use to us. Boysdanlmead fixed up my busted radio to make a transmitter that we could use to send a message…he didn’t know enough about Stargates to fix that, so we had to make do.
“We split up. We weren’t sure if they could track us, so we split up and went far away from the ‘gate for a few days just to be sure that they couldn’t find it. We arranged to meet up and contact Atlantis since it was our best bet…The day before we were meant to try I found him dead. He’d been captured and killed by them…”
He went silent for a moment before pulling himself together again and continuing to speak.
“I did what he told me and sent the message. I’d wanted- hoped-, to stay relatively near the ‘gate but then the attacks came. Normally they were relatively random and short-lived but the ones after I sent the message were more sustained, continuous. Days passed and I gave up hope that the plan had worked…when I got injured I knew that it wouldn’t be all that long before they caught up to me and probably actually kill me. Then…well you know the rest.”
Sheppard nodded, he’d already briefed Weir and Beckett over what had occurred on the planet when they’d finally found Markham and the marine’s explanation of what had happened to him certainly filled in a few of the blanks.
Exchanging a look with both Doctor Beckett and Colonel Sheppard, Doctor Weir got to her feet giving Sergeant Markham a smile.
“I think that’s enough for the time being. Thank you Sergeant. And welcome back.”
“Thank you Ma’am.” He replied with a small smile of his own.
Doctor Beckett went off to check on another of his patients and Colonel Sheppard and Doctor Weir left the infirmary, headed back to Weir’s office, leaving Jamie and Adam alone again.
Adam didn’t say anything though and after a moment he too turned and exited the infirmary.
He didn’t notice the look of guilt and regret in Jamie’s eyes as he watched him leave…