[D20 Modern] Stargate SG-1 - Part II - It's getting warmer

[Keia]

Inside Warehouse 37
Las Vegas, Nevada
0725 hours, June 3, 2003

Lorelai made her way across the floor, which looked more like a volcanic primordial land than a warehouse floor. The warehouse itself was enormous, perhaps several hundred yards long and a hundred yards wide. The walls rose forty feet from floor to ceiling, which had moving cranes and other apparatuses in the ceiling as well.

The heat was almost suffocating and the fumes were much more noticeable, making her feel slightly upset to her stomach. Two pools of lava were within thirty feet of the DHD and the Stargate, which rose majestically from the metal braces that kept it vertical.

The DHD was about between three and four feet tall, with two concentric circles of symbols on the face with a large red circular crystal in the center more than a foot across. The symbols on the device matched those on the Stargate. There was no apparent connection between the Stargate itself and the DHD – no wires, cables, or connectors of any kind. In addition, there didn’t appear to be any power source for the DHD or the Stargate.

Based on the information provided by Jeremiah Grayson and Andreev Ilianov, the DHD allowed a traveler to input six coordinates of the target world and a seventh symbol, which stood for the point of origin. Depressing the middle red crystal would 'send' the address to the Stargate, which owuld opening the wormhole between the two locations.

For Lorelai only:

Spoiler

Lorelai understood the basic operation of the DHD and the Stargate, and knew there was no 'harddrive' for the DHD. With no harddrive or recording device, there would be no record from where the gate had opened, depositing the salamanders. And with no record . . . the possible combinations were almost infinite on where their home could be.

OOC: Lorelai

 

[Keia]

Inside Warehouse 37
Las Vegas, Nevada
0725 hours, June 3, 2003

Lucas made his way up the stairs to the trucks accompanied by Lt. Reed, who said, “Fresh air sounds like a good idea, and two search better than one.” As she climbed the stairs, she walked with a quiet self-assurance and seemed to expertly place her footing on the crusted, blackened stairs. All this . . . and she looked good doing it as well.

The climb was uneventful, and after briefly listening for any trouble, the door opened as easily. Blinking in the sudden light of the morning, Lucas and Reed gulped in the refreshing morning air. Air which was thought to be warm when the day started, but was sweet and cool after being in the warehouse. Looking at the yard before the gate, both vehicles yet remained from their journey. Standing next to one of the vehicles were Leonard Campbell and Lt. Stewart, who seemed to be in quiet conversation.

Leonard Campbell nodded in greeting to Lucas as he entered the yard and said, “Don’t suppose you know the gate codes, huh?” Leonard had volunteered to report back to the General what they had discovered, but had already encountered his first obstacle.

Each of the jeeps had three flares and two quarts of oil as the only flammables or combustibles, based on Lucas’s and Reed’s search.

OOC: Lucas

 

[Keia]

Inside Warehouse 37
Las Vegas, Nevada
0725 hours, June 3, 2003

After Durant’s order, Montoya shook himself again and added, “I’m not feeling so well, sir. Not really certain if I haven’t got my endurance back a hundred percent or what.”

The creatures stayed beneath the bubbling pools of lava, the only evidence of their existence was the slowly cooling trails of melted stone left by their tails. Durant took stock of his surrounding and noted a slight sulfurous smell in the air – not surprising considering the lava.

OOC: Durant, Fallon, Grayson, Nguyen

 

[kid A]

Inside Warehouse 37
Las Vegas, Nevada
0724:18 hours, June 3, 2003

After speaking with Montoya and Fallon, Durant calls over his radio. "Andreev, I need you and...oh, I guess just you. Looks like the professor made her way down already. Have whoever's available check our trucks for flares. I think we'll need them."

Finally! Something seems to be going our way! , he thought. He'd have to remember to personally thank Jeremiah for his help.

After Durant had asked for his presence, Andreev grabbed his radio and was preparing to speak into it when Lucas and Lt. Reed volunteered to go out to the jeeps. He nodded his approval to Lucas, and turned back to his radio. "I will be down immediately, Sir!" He walked over to his bag and picked out his harness, fastening it as he moved to where Lt. Donovan was positioned. He hated to use one of the ropes to send another heavy body down, especially when they would now need to send 6 bodies back up the elevator shaft. He made a mental note to tell Durant about the ropes when he got down there.

Finishing up his harness, he looked to Donovan. "Lieutenant, I will need for you to send me down into the pit. Please instruct Lt. Reed and Mr. Fisher to radio down to either myself or Commander Durant upon their return from the vehicles." He handed a rope to Lt. Donovan, and prepared for his descent.

 

[MadThinker]

Inside Warehouse 37
Las Vegas, Nevada
0724:18 hours, June 3, 2003

Finishing up his harness, he looked to Donovan. "Lieutenant, I will need for you to send me down into the pit. Please instruct Lt. Reed and Mr. Fisher to radio down to either myself or Commander Durant upon their return from the vehicles." He handed a rope to Lt. Donovan, and prepared for his descent.

"YesSIR!" said Donovan, who was a little irritated. So far, just about everyone was going down there, and most of them were unfit for combat. Ilianov would be okay, and Grayson was doing fine on his own, but that Lorelai chick was just wasting space. He kept thinking that he should be down there to assist the Commander. He grabbed the rope from Ilianov and began lowering him down. Slowly.

 

[Jarval]

Outside Warehouse 37
Las Vegas, Nevada
0725 hours, June 3, 2003

Lucas shook his head, smiling slightly at Lt. Reed's amazing amount of poise, given the conditions.

Obviously not the first time she's been in a bad situation. I wonder if I'll ever get used to things like this?

Stepping out of the warehouse, Lucas took a deep breath, glad to be free of the smell of the burnt building. He squinted in the bright sunlight as his eyes desperately tried to adapt to the desert light.

"Sorry, no idea." Lucas said apologetically to Leonard. "I can radio down for them, if you'd like?"

While waiting for Leonard's response, he tucked the flares into a pocket on his backpack before picking up the cans of oil. He looked doubtfully at the relatively small quantity of combustibles, hoping it was enough for whatever Durant had planned.

 

[Nuke261]

Outside Warehouse 37
Las Vegas, Nevada
0725 hours, June 3, 2003

Durant slowly lowered his rifle and took a minute to wipe his face off. After that he looked over at Lorelai who was examining the Stargate and the device that operated it. "Glad I'm still in charge around here," he muttered under his breathe.

"All right Ms. Fallon, you're going to stay here and cover the lava pools. You can relax a bit unless one of 'em decides to poke it's head out. But I give the order to fire, is that understood?" Durant examined Rylee Fallon while he spoke. He had not really talked to her before now. Things had been so hectic, not that it seemed that would be changing anytime soon. But, the girl had a genuine toughness about her. A confidence that came from those who knew how to handle themselves in a jam. Not a real surprise considering where she had grown up. Of course that brought up a few other questions, but for now she hadn't panicked and seemed willing to get the job done. That was what the team needed more than anything. "I'll provide security over there at our Stargate. Send Illianov over when he gets here and don't let any of the civilians over unless I ask for them. We'll try not to give these things a buffet, all right!"

As Durant turned to walk over and join Lorelai at the Stargate, he paused and looked over at Jeremiah. "Hey Grayson. What exactly did those things say anyhow?"

 

[Calim]

Outside Warehouse 37
Las Vegas, Nevada
0725 hours, June 3, 2003

"Yes...umm...actually I had wanted to talk to you about that, over here." Jeremiah tells Durant through a voice just above a whisper, being very careful not to strain the vocal cords any further then needed, as they were not out of this yet.

As Durant came closer Jeremiah started relating to the Commander what had occured. "It would seem someone asked them to come here and they were promised a great tribute of fire and umm... well, souls..." Jeremiah said this last bit a tad lower to make sure it was only he and Durant could hear. "All they want right now is to go home and to be warm. This place is freezing to them and they are in a bit of a hurry. I already had to talk them out of one tribute today, so we need to hurry and get them back where they came from ASAP."
Allowing the urgency to creep into his voice slowly to punctuate his remarks.

 

[Keia]

Outside Warehouse 37
Las Vegas, Nevada
0725 hours, June 3, 2003

"Sorry, no idea." Lucas said apologetically to Leonard. "I can radio down for them, if you'd like?"

"Yeah, if it's okay down there - I didn't want to call and interrupt something important just to ask for the key codes," Leonard explained. He paused for a few moments, then added looking at Lt. Stewart, "Also, I think Lt. Stewart wants to stay with the team and help out. Maybe the commander has someone else in mind that can take his place."

Meanwhile, after stowing the flares from her jeep, Lt. Reed was scanning the horizon, looking for trouble . . . well, not exactly looking for trouble as much as being ready to avoid it should it arrive on its own.

OOC: Lucas

 

[Dark Nemesis]

Outside Warehouse 37
Las Vegas, Nevada
0725 hours, June 3, 2003

She realized that Durant was examining her, and tried not to show her discomfort at being scrutinized in such a way. Surely he could not discern anything about her simply from looking from looking at her, right? She glanced first at the others who were down here, and then at the lava pools in an attempt to avoid meeting Durant's eyes. "Got it," she said at last. She could not help but to feel relieved when Durant turned his attentions to Greyson.