The Cheyenne Mountain Irregulars: A Stargate Story Hour. Updated 7/20

Welcome to “Cheyenne Mountain Irregulars”!

This storyhour will chronicle the adventures of SG-17, one of the elite military units that operates out of Stargate Command’s top-secret facility in Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado. Our heroes will travel all over the world – and all over the galaxy – in their attempts to defend Earth from the power-hungry alien Goa’uld.

Now for the meta-notes:

On the Setting: We’re playing the SG-1 RPG d20 system, published by Alderac Entertainment Group. It’s based on the TV show Stargate: SG-1, which in turn is based on the movie Stargate. It’s not strictly necessary to have any specific knowledge of the plot of either the TV series or the movie in order to understand this game, but knowledge of the setting is extremely helpful. If you’re a newcomer to the Stargate world, here are a few links that will help you get oriented:

http://www.stargatesg1.com/home.html - the official SG-1 website
http://www.gateworld.net - Gateworld.net, a fan site with an overview of the world and a complete episode guide.

If you are familiar with the TV show, here are a few other things that you should know. First of all, we are not playing the characters from the TV show, and no characters from the show will appear onstage in our game. (We don’t want any copyright problems!) Second, our game starts in 2010. All the events of the TV show can be considered to have taken place in our gameworld too, but we’ve extrapolated on the future history of the world, and we reserve the right to change future history if the TV show does something that we don’t like

If you are familiar with real-world military practices, but not familiar with the TV show, please be aware that Stargate tends to play a bit fast and loose with military protocol in the cause of dramatic stories. Therefore, if we also bend the rules a bit, please understand that we’re doing it to stay in the spirit of the setting, not because we don’t know or don’t care about military protocol.

On the Players: You may recognize some of them from other story hours. Our intrepid GM is Obezyanchik, who plays Dove on Cerebral Paladin’s Story Hour. Joe is played by the same person who plays Metellus on Alea Iacta, and Orieth’s player also plays Kell on KidCthulhu’s Scarred Lands Story Hour. And I play Kathleen in this game, Cornelia in Alea Iacta, and Ginara in Cerebral Paladin’s game. (To round out the party: Ked’rec isn’t in any other EN World-chronicled campaigns, and Reinhart is an NPC.)

And now with the disclaimers and explanations out of the way, on to the story! We’re having a lot of fun playing this campaign, and we hope that you enjoy reading about it!

Previously, on The Cheyenne Mountain Irregulars

(The first few posts will be "prequels," in which we introduce the characters before the official campaign begins.)

May 23, 2008
With a whoosh of sound and light, the Stargate sprang to life on P2X-305, throwing a wormhole out into the desolate, rocky landscape, then sucking it back again into a shimmering vertical pool.

Nine people stepped through it, all clad in almost identical khaki jumpsuits and tall laced-up boots, lugging behind them a wheeled cart full of equipment. As soon as they were all out and standing on the dusty road, the wormhole disappeared, evaporating to leave only the empty ring of the Stargate.

Two of the larger and burlier men – Marines – immediately broke away from the group, weapons raising as they trotted off to survey the perimeter. The others clustered into two smaller groups: one around Major Robert Farr, the commander of SG-22, also of the Marines, a tall man with a gray crew cut barely visible around the edges of his cap; the other around Captain Kathleen Fitzgerald, several inches shorter but still fairly tall for a woman, with bright blue eyes, short dark curly hair, and Air Force insignia on her jumpsuit. Major Farr already had one hand on his gun, too; Captain Fitzgerald clutched a laptop computer tightly under one arm.

“All secure?” Farr called out as the scouts returned.

“All clear in the immediate vicinity, sir,” one of them reported. “Greenberg thinks that he saw smoke coming from the east, though.”

“Yes, I did, sir,” agreed the other Marine. “Right over there, sir.” He gestured towards a distant patch of scrubby evergreen forest near the base of some hazy mountains. “Should we check it out?”

“Negative, Corporal,” said Farr. “Stay here for now – we’re going to do a regular reconnaissance in the course of the mission.” Kathleen shot Major Farr a skeptical sideways glance, and her mouth turned down in a small frown, but she said nothing to contradict the superior officer’s orders.

“Excuse me, sir,” piped up a tall blonde bespectacled woman, who seemed less at ease in her jumpsuit and combat boots than the others. “The initial MALP telemetry indicated that this planet might be seismically active. That’s why I came. The smoke could be an indication of that – volcanoes, hot springs, so forth. With your permission, sir, I’d like to look at it a little more closely, and sooner rather than later.”

“Fine, Dr. Powers,” Farr sighed. “Stay with my group, and we’ll send someone out with you. Now, let’s get this thing started. Chen and Smith, you came with Captain Fitzgerald, so you stay with her and get your thing set up.” He waved a vague hand at the cart full of wires and receivers and computers, barely giving it a second look. “Stanley, you stay here too and keep an eye on them. Make sure they don’t wander off where they’re not supposed to. Greenberg, you go with Dr. Powers to check out her volcanoes. The rest of you, you’re with me. Standard recon mission: figure out what’s what and what’s where. Shouldn’t be too much of a problem, since there haven’t been any Goa’ulds here for ages, just a group of those rogue Jaffa.” Greenberg opened his mouth, about to object, but Farr barely paused for breath. “We’re not expecting anything to get in our way. We’re going to get in and get out and leave this useless planet alone. Captain – you can get your people set up over there.”

“Actually, sir, I wonder if we could move a bit further off the main path?” Kathleen asked. “Even though I’m sure there isn’t any danger, of course, sir,” she added quickly, with a smile that was just a fraction too ready and accommodating for complete sincerity. “I just think that, well, all that dust we’ve been kicking up might affect the equipment.”

Farr frowned, narrowing his eyes at her expression. “How many off-world missions have you been on, Captain?”

Kathleen straightened her shoulders, erasing any trace of a smile from her face. “This is my second one, sir.”

“Right,” said Farr shortly.

“With all due respect, sir,” Kathleen tried again, “I’m concerned about the equipment. We don’t have enough time to get replacements if anything happens to it.”

Farr rolled his eyes. “Fine, Captain. Set up wherever you want. Keep your equipment happy. Hey, weren’t you supposed to meet a friend here?”

“Ked’rec, my Jaffa contact,” Captain Fitzgerald replied, her tone too polite to be actually correcting him, but with the implication there all the same. “And yes, I thought he was going to be here, but I haven’t heard from him in a while. I hope he shows up while we’re still here. I hope he’s all right.” Kathleen’s eyes flickered towards the east.

“Right,” said Farr absently. “All right, men! Lee, Freeman – you’re with me…”

Kathleen turned her back to Farr’s back, exchanging glances with Corporal Greenberg and Dr. Powers as she turned away. She raised her voice a bit, to be heard over Farr’s impatient orders to his crew and the tramping of booted feet over the hard ground. “All right, people. This is going to be the newest information drop site on the Jaffa underground railroad. You know the routine – we need to get the coordinates encrypted and deposited in safe locations, and we need to get receivers and transmitters set up in the right positions.” She perched her laptop on a free corner of the cart, and flipped it open. “You know what to do – let’s get to it.”

Airmen Chen and Smith started hurriedly unloading equipment from the cart, while Roberts took up a position a few yards away, pacing around the perimeter, and Farr’s men started to fan out along the paths and into the rocky surrounding area. As soon as the major was out of earshot, Chen paused, arms full of cables, and asked softly, “Ma’am? Do you think your contact might have been compromised?”

“I hope not,” Kathleen replied, equally quietly. “A couple of his messages were a little worrying, but I’m pretty sure he can be trusted. We’ve dealt with free-agent Jaffa before, but each group is different, so it's hard to say what these ones will be like.” Kathleen’s fingers skipped deftly over the keyboard, chattering in a quiet counterpoint to her words as she scrolled through pages of diagrams and formulas. “But Nuada was more hands-off than a lot of other System Lords, so his Jaffa weren’t tied as tightly in to begin with. Plus, they’ve stayed free agents for a while now, so it seems more likely that they can be trusted to think independently. Smith, how are you doing with that transmitter?”

“Almost done, ma’am. Ready for the encryption when you are.”

“Good work.” Kathleen unhooked a small thin device, about the size of a finger, from one side of the computer. “Here you go. Now we just need to do that three more times and – uh-oh.”

A puff of smoke rose from behind the trees, followed an instant later by the sound of an explosion. Everyone froze.

“What the - ” said Captain Fitzgerald, instantly turning towards the noise. “Stanley, go-“

“I’m on it, ma’am,” said Private Stanley, heading off down the path towards the trees.

Kathleen reached for her radio. “Major Farr, it’s Captain Fitzgerald,” she said into it. Only crackling static replied. “Major Farr, do you copy?”

“Should we keep setting up, ma’am?” asked Chen.

“For now, yes,” Kathleen replied warily. “I don’t want to call the mission off on account of hot springs.” She tried to laugh casually, and almost succeeded. The others bent to continue their work. “Smith, I’ve got the next encryption key for you when you’re ready,” she said over her shoulder, then spoke into the radio again. “Major Farr? SG-22? This is Captain Fitzgerald at the gate. Please respond.”

A moment later, another explosion sounded, a bit closer this time. “Nobody’s here. Shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Yeah, right,” Kathleen muttered, then lifted her voice. “All right, folks. Pack up. I think we’re – “ And another explosion, and a few smaller blasts: staff weapons, and automatic gunfire. The group froze, alert and on edge.

Corporal Greenberg and Private Stanley came pounding down the path towards the gate, with Dr. Powers staggering breathlessly behind. Hard on their trail were two Jaffa, both in full armor with Nuada’s silver-hand symbol tattooed on their foreheads, and with staff weapons raised. From behind them came the sound of shouting, and more explosions. “Open the gate!” yelled Greenberg. “Open the gate! There’s a hundred of them!”

*applause*

Nicely done, Ladybird. This is off to an excellent start!

I'll add some GM notes as soon as I get my act together, but for the prequels, it's not so urgent. So enjoy, everybody! (How'd I get so lucky as to have PCs like these?)

Can't wait to read your take on how the Stargate universe evolves

“Oh my God,” Kathleen muttered, then scooped her laptop up to her chest and shouted, “We’ve got to get out of here! Chen, go! Start dialing!”

The airman took off running. The Jaffa in the rear fired his staff weapon at Chen, and the airman threw himself to the side, rolling into the rubble and dust at the edge of the path. The energy bolt went wide, and Chen scrambled to his feet, struggling back up the rocky embankment towards the path to the DHD.

“Fall back!” Kathleen ordered. “Fall back to the gate! Smith, leave that! No, wait – take out the encryption keys. We can’t risk them falling into the wrong hands. Take out the encryption keys and leave the rest! We need to get out!”

“Yes, ma’am!” cried Smith.

The Jaffa in the rear fired again, this time at Private Stanley. The bolt caught him hard in the shoulder and spun him around, and he crumpled to his knees with scarcely enough breath left to cry out in pain. The other Jaffa skidded to a stop, charging his weapon. Smith and Fitzgerald dove for cover behind the equipment cart, and Greenberg grabbed Dr. Powers, pushing her behind him to shield her.

And the second Jaffa’s staff weapon fired, hitting the rearmost Jaffa square in the chest. His face didn’t even have enough time to register surprise before it was planted into the dusty ground.

“Tau’ri!” shouted the second Jaffa. “He speaks the truth – there are a hundred Jaffa, led by Sobek. You must leave this place!” More gunfire behind them, and more blasts.

Kathleen looked up over the edge of the cart, eyes widening as she stared at the surviving Jaffa. “Ked’rec?”

“Indeed it is I,” he replied, lowering the angle of his staff weapon ever so slightly. “You are the one who has left messages?”

She had about five seconds to decide whether to trust him.

“Yes I am,” she said. “Captain Kathleen Fitzgerald. How far can that thing shoot?” She nodded at the staff weapon.

“It has a range of approximately twenty n’bi,” Ked’rec answered.

“Twenty what?” asked Greenberg in confusion, but the wheels were already turning in Kathleen’s mind as she made quick translations and calculations. “That’ll have to be far enough,” she said. “Ked’rec, get to the DHD and cover Chen while he dials.” The Jaffa’s impassive face registered the faintest confusion at the unfamiliar terminology. “That thing!” Kathleen fairly shouted, pointing at the DHD. “Smith, get Dr. Powers to the gate.” She reached out to give Dr. Powers a brief touch on the shoulder that served both to steady the other woman and to guide her towards the gate. “Greenberg, how’s Stanley?”

Greenberg knelt down and felt quickly at the other Marine’s neck. “He’s alive, ma’am,” he answered, in obvious relief. “He’s in bad shape, but he’s alive.”

“Good. Get him to the gate too. Where did Farr and the others go? He’s not responding to the radio.”

Greenberg hesistated before answering, grunting with the effort of hoisting Stanley onto his shoulders. The wounded man groaned softly. “Major Farr took the rest of SG-22 north, ma’am.”

“All right. I guess…” Kathleen paused, looking around to take stock of who was there. “I guess I’ll stay here to wait for them.” The Stargate whooshed to life, and Kathleen let out a sigh of relief. “Good work, Chen!” she called. “All right, folks, go!” The marines began lumbering through the shimmering pool, ushering Dr. Powers through before them.

“Incoming!” shouted Greenberg.

From the west, there was the eerie screech of an aircraft, and a death glider burst forth from the trees. “GO!” Kathleen yelled, and Greenberg dashed through the wormhole, taking the wounded Marine to safety.

The tiny ship skimmed down towards the soldiers, firing twin bolts of energy, and they dove for the ground. Ked’rec reached out to push Kathleen down behind the DHD, shielding her beneath him. She, in turn, reached out to shield her laptop in her arms as she crashed onto the hard dusty path. Chen ducked, rolled, and came up with his gun poised, firing up at the glider with a burst of bullets. The glider swooped down and up again, close enough so that the people on the ground could see the insignia on it as it sped past. It was Sobek’s mark, stark black against the metallic gray of the glider’s wings.

Sergeant Freeman burst forth from the trees, with Private Lee and Major Farr close behind him. Lee, in the back, kept pausing to turn and fire behind him at their pursuers: ten Jaffa, all with Nuada’s tattoo on their foreheads and Sobek’s sigil on their armor. And with staff weapons raised.

There was the telltale zipping sound of staff weapons charging, and Lee and Freeman split off, each diving for cover on one side of the path. Major Farr picked up speed, confident in his ability to outrun the blasts – but at least three bolts hit him in the back. He took one more shocked staggering step, his body propelled forwards by the force of the blasts and the momentum of his running, and then his knees buckled and he went down.

Sheltered behind Ked’rec and the DHD, Kathleen actually had a moment to register Farr’s death, and to gulp back a horrified cry. Chen, running only on reflex, spun to aim his spray of bullets towards the oncoming Jaffa, and let out a triumphant shout as two went down. Smith darted out from the cover of the DHD, standing in solitary vulnerability in front of the gate, ready to block any Jaffa who tried to go through, and giving Chen cover to slip through the gate behind him.

Freeman stayed down in the rubbly rocks at the side of the path, taking what little cover he could as he fired up at the legs of the marching Jaffa. One of the Jaffa stopped, aiming his staff weapon directly at Freeman, who barely rolled away from the bolt in time. The energy blast blew a singed hole in Freeman’s sleeve, but he was otherwise unhurt – and four of the Jaffa were on the ground, clutching at their wounded legs.

Another zipping sound, and another bolt flew out of a staff – but this time it was Ked’rec’s, and it sent another of the Jaffa crumpling into the dust. The three remaining Jaffa spun towards the direction of the blast, weapons raised, alert and on edge…and with their backs to Lee. The Marine sprang up from the side of the road, hitting one of the Jaffa in a flying tackle and sprawled on the ground. Bewildered, the two left spun to face where Lee had been – which left their backs open to Freeman, who raised up on his knees to shoot the Jaffa in theirs.

“Smith! Go!” yelled Kathleen. The airman hesitated, looking back towards Lee, who was still rolling on the ground, exchanging punches with the furious but confused last Jaffa. “I said go!” Smith turned and ran.

From far down the path came the sound of marching feet. “More of them,” Kathleen groaned. “Freeman! Lee! Come on!”

“That sounds like the footsteps of twenty, perhaps thirty,” said Ked’rec, with the perpetual Jaffa calm despite the chaos around him. “Your people fight well, Captain Fitzgerald, but we cannot defeat them all.”

“I know. And that’s why we’re getting out of here!” She raised her voice to shout once more. “Freeman! Lee!”

Both Marines were on the ground now, entangled in a brawl with the Jaffa. One of the others, despite his wounded legs, was trying to crawl towards them to help his companion.

Kathleen ducked down behind the DHD again, mind working furiously. “Ked’rec – the ones that are coming – do they know you’re working for us?”

“I do not believe that any of them do. Even these did not know, and I do not think they saw that it was I who fired upon them.”

“Good. Then if this group gets any closer…take me prisoner.”

“But we are no longer adversaries, Captain Fitzgerald.”

“I know! Look, it’s to buy us a little time. If they don’t know that you’re on our side now, if you pretend to have captured me, maybe we can get them to back off for a little while – talk our way through things, and then take them by surprise when we run for the gate.”

Freeman and Lee looked up from the brawl, hearing the sound of footsteps. They glanced at each other, then Lee stood up, while Freeman gave the fallen Jaffa one final, vicious kick. “Down for the count,” said Freeman, as the Jaffa let out a roar of pain. “Let’s go!” As the Marines took off towards the gate, there was an ominous squeal from overhead – the death glider was returning.

“All right, scratch that,” said Kathleen. “Just run.” She sprang to her feet, poised to take off towards the gate.

“Do you mean that I should run with you or away from you?” Ked’rec asked.

She had fewer than five seconds to decide whether to trust him this time.

“With. Come on!” she yelled to the others. “Get out!” She turned back to Ked’rec. “Twenty n’bi, huh? Let’s see what you can do against that thing.” She gave a quick nod towards the glider, then took off.

Freeman and Lee thundered towards the gate, each pausing at one edge of the shimmering ring as the Jaffa marched forward. Ked’rec let Kathleen go, then straightened up to fire one precise shot upwards at the approaching glider. The bolt clipped the edge of the glider’s wing, but the craft kept coming.

Lee dove forward first, with Freeman close behind him. Then Kathleen, still sprinting at full speed, not even turning around to see if the shot she heard Ked’rec fire at the glider hit.

There was the chilly rushing sound of passage through the wormhole, and the dizzying sense of traveling in all directions at once…

…and then Kathleen was running down the ramp into the gate room of the SGC, computer still cradled in her arms.

“Closing the iris, sir,” came the microphoned voice of the airman on duty in the control room.

“No!” cried Kathleen. “There’s one more!”

And Ked’rec rushed through the Stargate, heavy boots clattering on the metal ramp.

“Now! Close it!” Kathleen yelled.

An energy bolt shot out through the open wormhole, and Ked’rec and Kathleen hit the deck together, rolling down the hard metal ramp with a series of hollow clanks.

And then the wormhole cut off, and the iris spun shut, and the room was silent.

Look_a_Unicorn said:

Can't wait to read your take on how the Stargate universe evolves

Click to expand...

I wanted our gameworld universe to diverge such that the Boston Red Sox hadn't won the World Series in 2004, to make Fitzgerald a darker, more angst-ridden character. I was overrulled. Unsurprisingly.

Glad to have folks reading, and thanks!

Eleven various Jaffa, loyal to Sobek, killed or injured: Nine Tau'ri and a rogue Jaffa
One Marine Private, injured in action: Eleven various Jaffa, loyal to Sobek

Ladybird said:

Major Farr picked up speed, confident in his ability to outrun the blasts – but at least three bolts hit him in the back. He took one more shocked staggering step, his body propelled forwards by the force of the blasts and the momentum of his running, and then his knees buckled and he went down.

Click to expand...

One annoying commanding officer NPC, cut down by enemy weapons: Priceless.

There are some NPC's the party can't kill. For everyone else, there's small weapons fire. Check with your local GM for details.

Please, sir, may we have some more?

Steverooo said:

Please, sir, may we have some more?

Click to expand...

Never fear - more is on the way There should be another update by the end of the week.

Thank you for your enthusiasm! It feels great to know that there are so many people out there who enjoy reading our Story Hour!

Hey Ladybird! Sorry I haven't ducked in sooner. I've been trying to find the time to get to this thread for nearly a week now. Great start.

Welcome to the asylu-- I mean... club.