A Legacy left Behind - Initial encounters

Part 1

"Well, the Major's been transported to a medical facility and he is getting the best care there is. So hopefully he will pull through. He was still alive when I left him."

So many questions about how, where and why bubbled up in Steve's mind; but he could only respond in one way to that.

"Thank you Sir."

"So why don't you tell me what happened Lieutenant, from the beginning. Start with how you got to the crash site and then Sheppard? Tell me everything you saw, heard and did. As I understand it, your team was tracking a weapons convoy to the north about 15 klicks away from the site, correct?"

"Yes sir. The forward element of my team was on foot along the road a couple of klicks ahead and I was in the transport at the back giving a status update to my base CO. Then the SOS came through on one of our private team channels and I responded. Freddie-ah the SEAL Chief Petty Officer Hart that is-was on the line requesting immediate backup and possible exfil. He gave me the coordinates to his position when I answered his call. He described the crash and that he had four more with him, two civilians and one critically wounded SEAL. He then also said that another chopper just landed there from the Air Force, it was Sheppard and one crew. And instead of evacuating them, Sheppard armed himself and ran off leaving his crew behind with Freddie and his group. So I took four of my team with me and drove off towards the crash site and left my 2IC to contact the base."

"And then what?"

"We got to the site within half an hour but it was too late," Said Steve flatly.

No matter how guilty he felt about what had happened to Sheppard, he still felt angry at the fact that the zoomie had taken off on a wild goose chase instead of evacuating the hell out of there. He couldn't think of a reason for that crazy stunt. Only that they'd all be alive if Sheppard hadn't done it.

"The enemy had already gotten to them when we arrived - a targeted hit from a somewhat advanced RPG from what we could tell; both the choppers had exploded and were on fire. We could see the five bodies and we couldn't find any survivors in the vicinity," Steve continued in the same flat tone.

"Then we started looking for Sheppard and we found him on his way back to the site. He was somewhat unresponsive. And then we apprehended him and brought him back to base."

Colonel Marshall Sumner just stared at him for a moment longer.

"Did you know him before? Sheppard, I mean? Did your Petty Officer know him?"

Steve was thrown off guard by the comment. He didn't know how the shrewd Colonel had found that bit of information. But he knew he had to come clean on the topic.

"Uh... Yeah. We knew each other from previous missions. Sheppard flew our teams from time to time and did CSAR for us a couple of times as well. And Hart was on my team during some of those missions. That's how we got to know each other and we all became good friends."

He and Sheppard had become a bit more than friends whenever they'd crossed each other's paths, and it had been on the verge of becoming something more. Steve thought the Colonel did not need to know that particular tidbit.

The Colonel nodded to himself once as if that had clarified something for him and he'd decided to let Steve in on the other side of the story.

"The thing is Lieutenant, the chopper that your fellow SEALS and the civilians were in was supposed to be on total comms blackout due to the nature of the cargo they were transporting. They had a self-destruct directive on everything including themselves in case of capture by the enemy. They all had to volunteer and sign on this before undertaking the mission. They weren't even supposed to be on this side of the planet for this run."

The Colonel sighed to himself tiredly and Steve felt his mind boggle at that little revelation. What in the hell was going on here? This was the first time in his career that he heard of any mission directive quite like that!

"I can't give you any more details on that mission than that, but that is how my base caught the wind of this cock up- we tracked the origin of the appearance and the subsequent attack on that Black Hawk from our side. It wasn't any RPG you would know of Lieutenant and believe me when I tell you that there was nothing you could have done to save your fellow SEALS from that. The moment that call went up on an open channel they were dead. That was how they were targeted. I am sorry for your loss."

His voice softened then when he added, as if he knew what had been going through Steve's mind.

"And Sheppard couldn't have saved them either, Steven. He couldn't have done anything even if he tried. He was under a completely different and inescapable imperative by then and he did save a lot of lives by doing what he did that day."

And with that veiled and mysterious comment the Colonel got up, patted him on the shoulder and left the small office; most probably on his way to interrogate the others. Steve had a feeling that the Colonel somehow wouldn't be as reasonable with them.

On his way out of the admin building, Steve had a moment to actually think about what it meant if he believed the Marine Colonel; which he realized he did. Even though what the man said hadn't made any sense to Steve, he felt the Colonel had been honest. It meant that Freddie had called upon his own death and destruction along with his fellow team members and civilians. And the guilt over what happened to Sheppard came back on full force, almost doubling him over.