StarGate: Traditions

[Jaeden]

Julian is silent through Gen. Hammond's explanation, a look of incredulity on his face. He was just about to ask if this was some sort of practical joke, when the event horizon filled the ancient naquadah ring in the Gate Room through the window. Julian can be seen craning his neck to look around the room from the window, trying to see if there is anywhere else the people could be coming from. He even goes as far as to examine the sides of the window, convincing himself that it in fact is a window and not a monitor screen that could be altered.

As the reality sinks in that there is no viable explanation for the phenomenon he is witnessing, Julian simply leans on the wall with one hand, staring with his mouth agape at the shimmering event horizon. He visibly jumps when the vertical puddle splashes out of existence and the iris spins shut, almost as startled as he was when the horizon was established. His eyes locked on the Stargate, he doesn't even acknowledge the General as he is clapped on the shoulder.

After the General has left the room, Julian finally starts to put it together in his mind, having been stunned as if he had been struck with a taser.

"It... it's incredible... How does it work? Wormhole physics? It.. I... what the hell is it made out of?! No metal on Earth is strong enough to contain a stable wormhole... how... how long have you guys been running this here? You bring stuff back through the gate? From other worlds? And you want me to.. My god, you want me to reverse engineer alien tech... Holy s***... this can't be real... You guys don't expect me to go thr.... does it hurt?

Julian takes a deep breath, realizing he hasn't given the Major a chance to answer any of his questions. Peeling his eyes from the window, he turns to face the Major, a blush detectable on his face as he realizes he's acting like a 10-year-old at a manga convention. Then again, the prospect of the military propelling people millions of lightyears through empty space by stepping through an anti-gravity wading pool is exactly the kind of thing you'd expect to find at a manga convention.

"Major Davis, I... I just don't know what to say. I hope everybody else was as flabbergasted as me when they saw this thing. I've got a lot of questions, though... and if you guys honestly aren't pulling my chain and you want me to reverse engineer alien technology, I'm going to have to get up to speed quick. Would it be too much to ask if I were to request that you give me the tour a little bit?

Julian turns back to the window as he speaks, touching it with two fingers as if trying to hold the distant Stargate between them and examine it like a rare coin. After a moment, he turns back to face the Major, all the apprehension on his face replaced with the grin of a kid on Christmas morning - or perhaps a geek in a secret base full of advanced alien technology.

"If it's not too much trouble... I'd really like to start the tour down there..."

 

[Kemrain]

Glad that wasn't me, she thinks to herself as she looks at the photographs of the deceased.

"Major," she starts, her eyes scanning the reports, "Where would the things that SG-4 recovered from their trip to P4C-554 be stored? I'm not looking for artifacts, but personal media, things the people on that world might have written or recorded. It seems there was a rogue NID Stargate team on that world," she glances up to register Samantha's facial response to her statement as she continues, "And anything that they made note of could help us figure out our new toy."

Showing the pictures to Major Carter she adds, "It looks like they didn't get their NBC suits on in time, huh?"

 

[RandomUsernamehmimo71]

Major Davis will smile, starting to reply several times as Julian layers on question after question, eventually grinning a bit.

"It is incredible, isn't it?"

Major Davis watches Julian's expressions of childish delight, remembering how different his first reaction had been, and how much fear he still held. Working as the liaison to the
Pentagon, he knew the threat more intimately than he'd like. But he also knew the potential for growth and discovery that the Stargate held, and that the biggest risk was in inaction.

"It's Real," the Major would offer, "And it's the greatest discovery of our civilization."

Turning to look at Julian, "It's made of Naquada and was built by a long extinct race known as the Ancients."

"These gates litter the galaxy, and potentially others. With work, we can travel from any one of them, to any other. They're accessed with a 7 digit dialing sequence, sort of like dialing a phone number.

Major Davis will bring TSgt Anderson downstairs, explaining some of the history of the Goa'uld attacks, and SG1's role in defeating them.
He'll show him around the gateroom, before turning Julian over to Walter, the gate operator.

Walter will explain the general principals of how the gate operates, and how they do the dialing to other planets.

After answering some questions, Walter will show Julian to a 4-person room on Level 12. "You'll be sleeping here, with Master Sergeant Robert Joyce, Sergeant James Connery, and Airman Ted Pierceson . It's a small room, but the men seem friendly. Almost like a barracks, the room will be decorated with two hangings- A map of Unix workstations from 1982, and a poster for some new science fiction show called Farscape.

He'll lead Julian down the elevator to Level 19, to show him the labs that he'll be working in every day, and introduce him to Dr. Jay Felger, who will be explaining the scientific endeavors of the base over the coming days.

 

[Jaeden]

Julian listens to Davis, Walter and Felger with raptured interest, quizzing them on the nature of the Stargate's dialing system, the DHD, the physics behind it all... He pays particular attention to Walter's description of the Stargate as made of naquadah, as the mineral will most likely be present in a good deal of Julian's assignments. He also listens carefully to the discussion of the Goa'uld, particularly to the talk of their ships, weapons, and ring transporters.

Once he is introduced to Dr. Felger, Julian will attempt to engage him in a very in-depth conversation regarding the nature of naquadah, until such time as Felger changes the subject and/or Julian is called away.

 

[RandomUsernamehmimo71]

"I can call and have those brought down. Good thought. I don't know if they had much in the way of personal effects, given their circumstances, but anything they do have is certainly worth looking into to. I'll see if I can get them brought down."

She makes some final notes into her notebook, and gets up, "I'll be right back."

Major Carter heads out of the room, and lets Ashley work alone for a few minutes while she asks that the materials be brought down, before returning, and offering a new insight. "If the NID operatives got these from Hadante, the interesting part will be finding how they got there. I doubt they were welcomed on Taldor. See if you can find any information about how they got to the area. I'd also like to see more about P4C-554."

As the books and papers are dropped off, Sam would sighs, looking down at her beeper.

"I've got to take care of something, can you work on this for a bit, and catch me up later?"

In looking at the notes, Ashley soon learns that the team didn't keep thorough notes, at least not on paper. The documents talk about ordering another crate of anti-personell ammo, and that it would be useful if they could get a stock supply on base, so that they didn't need to ration as strongly. Additionally, an ammo press would be highly valuable. There is a CD-ROM that was recovered, but the contents appear encrypted and the time hasn't been spent to try to break it.

Along with the notes, Ashley would be given the uniforms of the corpses found on the scene. While they've been cut to remove and autopsy the bodies, Ashley will still find, a number of fibers which have high heat reflection, similar in some ways to asbestos. They appear to be silvery grey threads, which are run vertically through the cloth.

In looking over their sparse paper notes, Ashley will also find the imprint of another document. Using the tools available, she can just make out most of text.

"We've recovered an add...nal prisoner from Hadante. That leaves only 4 ....ining on the planet. Let's step up tomorrow's sear..
Hopefully, we can all get off this rock soon. Remember to keep an eye on the Mu..... ...ice- It's been showing up on a fe.. of the scans lately. Probabl..........to worry about, but let's .e carefu.."


{{OOC:Search DC 20- I'm assuming she's taking 10. You made the DC, that's all there is, at least without using some sort of high resolution imaging device.}}

 

[RandomUsernamehmimo71]

Felger seems like a scientist who is perpetually on the precipice of a breakthrough, but never quite crossing it. He's a competent enough guy, and explains some of the various SG technology to a sufficient degree. He explains the idea of a Ribbon Device, of the Stargate itself, and the Asguard transporters.

"Oh, the Asguard? They're your basic Greys. Short little guys with big eyes, sort of like on television. Think X-Files."
Felger will pull up a picture on his computer, probably violating a few protocols about what to do, but excited to be the one who knows stuff for once.

"They're cute little guys, aren't they? Saved our butts more than once. Then again, we kicked ass for them, too. This little gentleman is named Thor, the Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet, and apparently a good personal friend of Jack O'Neil.."

He'll be happy to explain most of Julian's questions for hours, staying up late in the lab. They'll occasionally be joined in conversation by his assistant Chloe, but Dr Felger seems more interested in dismissing her than paying attention to what she says. "Oh, of course the wormhole is stable, don't be careless. Yes, I know that technically it will fall apart when the power is cut, but that is what stable means. It's stable, not free-engergy. Don't you know anything?" He'll ask, shaking his head.

 

[Kemrain]

Level 19, Science Labs

Ashley calls in the fibers for chemecal analysis, the CD-ROM for cryptographic analysis, and the text imprint for high-res visual enhancement, copying the message down to the best of her ability before sending it off to be analyzed.

Reading what she has, she extrapolates:
We've recovered an additional prisoner from Hadante. That leaves only 4 remaining on the planet. Let's step up tomorrow's search.
Hopefully, we can all get off this rock soon. Remember to keep an eye on the Mu Device- It's been showing up on a few of the scans lately. Probably nothing to worry about, but let's be careful.

Are they freeing the prisoners in exchange for their service gathering technology, she wonders. It would be a viable means of swelling their ranks with people who were willing to work and shared their lack of ethics. These folks must have had access to Area 51. No wonder Major Davis assigned me to this- he's questioning my loyalty.

Ashley will spend some time writing up a research report and a list of suggestions for what to do with it. She will suggest that P4C-554 be gone over with a fine toothed comb, and that, given the NID's position of knowing so many of the SGC's secrets, this research be given a higher prioroty due to the nature of the security breach it could represent.

That out of the way she pours over her notes, trying to discern the nature and purpose of the device that seems to have cost 3 men their lives. Pacing around the worktable, her brow furrowed, she thinks hard about the situation and what the NID could want with this artifact.

OOC: I'd like to spend an action point and make an Inspiration Check (+5) to have Ashley figure out anyting she can about the aforementioned conundrum.

 

[Jaeden]

While discussing the Asgard and other miscellaneous Stargate trivia, Julian walks about the lab, examining the various artifacts and experiments Felger and Chloe have running, and asking questions about them.

At one point, Julian picks up a small alien device, which Felger has not yet figured out. Scanning over the wavelength readings from their initial scans, Julian notices a familiar pattern. According to the printouts, there was a predictable but foreign phase in the wavelength, as if the emissions were distorted deliberately. Julian rubbed his tired eyes, staring at the wave for a moment as Felger's anecdote about Asgard rituals faded into the background of his mind.. He'd seen this pattern before.

OOC: Julian takes 10 on his Electronics check to determine the pattern, giving him an effective +21.

"I'll be right back, Doc."

Julian jogs into the hallway, excitedly bowling into the men's room. He was going to make an impression on his first day. From the logs, Felger had been working on this device for 2 weeks. Grabbing a bucket from the janitor's closet, he hastily fills it with water from the sink and returns to the lab.

"Doc, I got it... Your notes were right.. the wave -is- deliberately distorted. And here's why."

Snatching up the alien object, he turns on the monitor. Immediately, the distorted wave begins scrambling across the oscilliscope. Praying he's right, Julian dumps the device into the bucket of water. Immediately, the signal on the oscilliscope rights itself into perfect phase.

"I knew it. It's designed to work underwater, so it's compensating for the distortion of the wave through liquid." Beaming, Julian sits on a stool next to the workstation, watching the oscilliscope hum along.

 

[RandomUsernamehmimo71]

Colonel Johnson interviews a number of canidates for the team, spending most of the day in the process. While many of them have promising aspects, the majority of them see to lack an outstanding reason to be chosen, and otherwise fail his requirements. The Colonel isn't a whole lot closer to knowing for sure at the end of the day than he was at the beginning.

At 22:00, Johnon will receive an unexpected visit from General Hammond.

"I'm sorry to bother you so late Colonel, but I thought I might we might be able to talk for a moment."

"I'd like to hear how the process is going and when we might be able to get you out with a new team. We're pretty short handed right now, and we could use you and your team at 100% as soon as you're up to it."

"How many people do you expect to see tomorrow? I know it's cutting time short, but I'd like to see a short-list of the top canidates on my desk by 12:00 tomorrow"

General Hammond stands, turning to Colonel Johnson.

"Colonel.. I hear Bragnan's been doing better. If you have time, they think it might be helpful to see a friendly face once in a while."

{{ooc:I'm sorry I haven't gotten to you enough. Like I said, I'm trying to hurry this along. It's not a SG adventure until we have somthing to do}}

 

[RandomUsernamehmimo71]

Ashley writes up her report, struggling on the crucial question of what the NID would be doing with the object.
Some of the answers would be easy ones- If they could find a way to harness it as a weapon, it would be highly useful. Or perhaps they simply didn't know what it did until it was too late. But for some reason Ashley can't put her finger on, the answers don't seem right.

It occurs to her that this device and the NID connection is probably why Major Davis was here. She knows that he normally doesn't spend most of his time on base, only becoming involved when something requires the attention of the Pentagon.

As Ashley continues to write away at her report, the idea of them releasing prisoners continues to nag at her. There is something about it that doesn't seem to make sense.

The question nags at her for most of the evening as she writes her report. As she's nearing the completion of the data parts, Ashley received a new email message from Major Carter.

"I'm sorry, but it looks like I'm probably not going to be able to get back this evening. I ended up taking a bit too long, and now I've got to finish up my report on theories for disrupting the electromagnetic fields of the replicators before a briefing in a few hours. Keep me in the loop on this though, OK?"

Sitting back from the laptop a little, a thought will strike Ashley. If they were freeing prisoners, why would they have to search for them? The tone of his message implies that they're almost looking for the prisoners, like they were capturing them.

In that light, the role of the device starts to make some sense. Maybe it was some form of location device, or something for keeping them safe. Maybe they were addicted to it's radiation in small doses, or maybe the prisoners had build up a tolerance to it. After all, the SGC report mentioned NID bodies- It didn't say anything about bodies of prisoners.

Ashley will save a draft version of her report, noticing that the clock has turned to 02:16. She has duties to attend to in the morning.