StarGate: Traditions

[RandomUsernamehmimo71]

Dr Felger looks at Julian with a queer expression, not understanding what he's doing, and surprised that he'd be running off saying so little.

He starts to talk a few times, but stops each time, holding back to see what the heck Julian would do.

As the machine is dumped into the bucked, and the waveform normalizes, he blinks, obviously impressed.

"How did you..I..Well of course..."

"OK.. The next step is figuring what the patten is supposed to be saying. Chloe?

She hops up off a counter, and comes over, looking forward to trying to figure out the solution.

"Can you clean that up for us? We don't want anyone accidentally slipping, after all."

{{OOC: You're lucky, almost anyone but Felger would have beat the heck out of Julian for being too brash, and dangerous. If that device hadn't been water proof, or if it had been explosive in water, you'd be in a world of hurt right now. Carter would have had nothing to do with you if you'd done that in front of her, but Felger's impressed. He's a little flustered and frustrated, but the fact that it worked won him over}}

Julian will spend the next few hours working with Dr. Felger to try to decode the device, looking at various ideas, and running through scenarios.

Staying up late working on the device, the two get into a lengthy argument about it's true purpose. Felger seems to think that the device is a form underwater GPS, where Julian is confident that while the device might be able to be used to measure time, It's more than that. Measuring the strength of the signals that are given out, and the way it responds to various tools that emit radiation towards it, Julian will become convinced that it's more of a Jamming device for location technologies. Radar, Sonar, even directed magnetic waves could be reflected and diffused. If this device were in a submarine, it would be almost as if the submarine were cloaked. Unless you were to look at it, of course.

Eventually, Felger will start yawning more, and send Julian to bed. "If we don't get some sleep soon, we won't be in top form tomorrow. I've got a Special Assignment for you, and I know your the right guy for it. You're picking this up pretty quick, you know. I'll get this research up to the commanders ASAP. I'm sure they'll be excited about it."

 

[Kemrain]

Level 19, Science Labs

Ashley sits in the lab, wondering. The evidence didn't support her earlier idea. The prisoners on Hadante would want to be freed; there would be no need to search for them.

We've recovered an additional prisoner from Hadante. That leaves only 4 remaining on the planet. Four what, though? Let's step up tomorrow's search. You don't search for people who want to get off planet, they line up.
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. Is the device you're talking about not the one we found? They could be unrelated. And what kind of scans are you talking about? I wish I could get that damn CD decoded.

She ponders and wonders, doodling in paint for a while, until it occures to her. The device could be used to power a Stargate. It could have something to do with how they got offworld in the first place.

She begins to edit her report, adding in new speculations and making it clear where she was basing her opinions on fact and where she was relying on intuition. She emails her findings to Samantha, adding a hasty message.

We all get carried away sometimes. Nothing to worry about. Here's a copy of the loop. Let me know where you fit into it. Thanks again for your help.

-Wolfe

Realising that by now it's 4 and that she has things to do the next day, she sighs and commits to another all-nighter, leaving the lab to head to the mess in search of caffeine.

 

[Jaeden]

When Felger orders Chloe to clean up the puddle of water he made, Julian hops down and beats her to it, mopping it up with a smile up at her.

Convinced now of the object's sonar jamming capabilities, Julian muses to Felger, "I wonder, what's the turnaround time from when we figure stuff out here, to when it's used? If the Navy had their hands on something like this... We could park our subs anywhere we wanted and nobody'd ever notice unless they pissed us off."

As Felger's Star Wars desk clock signals 4:30 AM, Julian stretches. The stretch prompts Felger's suggestion that they hit the hay, and Julian nods wearily, dumping his five empty Mountain Dew cans into the recycling receptacle in the corner. "You know... Given the fact that we'll be pulling a lot of all nighters in here, and my room mates back at the barracks level, I kinda wish I could just toss a sleeping bag in the corner right here."

With another loud yawn, Julian shoulders his laptop bag. "Catch ya in the morning, Doc!

OOC: E1ven, based on my character's rank, et. al., isn't he supposed to have a "private quarters on base"? Especially considering he's forgoing the off-basing housing the books say he should have?

 

[RandomUsernamehmimo71]

"Well, probably about 2-5 years, at the soonest. I mean, we don't really have any idea how this works yet. And we only have the one, it's not exactly like we can start putting these in subs around the world."

"We need to keep the lab clear for the most part. But you can come and visit my private quarters tonight if you want. I've got a development kit for a Playstation 2. I mean, it runs existing Playstation games even faster, but they isn't really anything that runs on it yet. I mean, People are writing games, but..."

He seems impressed with the toy, but somehow trying to make a genuine offer, althoguh on first glance it seems almost mocking.

Julian heads back toward his room, taking in the base around him. The impression comes through that everyone here is busy. Everyone is dedicated. Everyone cares so much about what they do, and the people around them. It's a nice change from coworkers who just want to get off for the night and do their own things.

Julian sleeps uneventfully, and wakes up early to head back down the lab.

"You two make such a great team," Chloe offers as Julian gets in for the morning. "Dr. Lee was certainly impressed with the work you two did last night. Jay.. I mean Dr. Felger.. was here earlier this morning, but is out getting breakfast."

Julian works in the lab for a while, documenting the work they did last night, and testing the device further. It does seem to draw a lot of power for its size.

The Doctor will return after half an hour, and give Julian a plate of Doughnuts and a large coffee.

"I had some thoughts over the night I wanted to run by you about the device, and then we can start to work on the backlog. But I think we should be able to map the strengths of the fields that this is emitting, in relative proportion to the strength of the fields we throw at it...

Julian and Felger will work on the devices and around the lab until about 4PM, when Chloe reminds Dr. Felger for the 4th time that he still needs to take Lunch.

"Alright, Alright.. I'll be right back. Don't.. Don't solve it all while I'm gone." Jay will smile, showing that he's kidding, but Julian will see a real concern in his eyes.

Jay will head off to Lunch, and Chloe will open up a lunch box, offering Julian an apple.
"So how did you come to the SGC? I've been here a few years now. It's amazing how much we're learning. The work on the space fighters is what excites me the most, though. I mean, the gate lets anyone jump to anywhere in the Galaxy, and that's great and all, but I've always dreamed of going into space, you know?"

After lunch Dr. Felger will return in a rush, holding a small black bag.
"I've got a new assignment in that I'd like to take a look at with you. One of the researchers found this CD off planet. Looks like It's NID, that's the National Intelligence Division, Area 51 people, some of which went rogue. Anyway,
it's encrypted, using some sort of modified triple AES, at least initially. I can only guess what's under that. Interested?"

 

[Jaeden]

Julian will smile and blush at Chloe's assessment of his skills, and make small-talk with her while he works, until such time as Felger returns with the donuts. Heartily attacking the Bavarian creme, he grins to Felger. "I've been here one day, and you not only find a place inside a friggin' mountain that has donuts, but you bring back my favorite kind. You, sir, are a genius."

When Felger recommends mapping frequencies, Julian turns his laptop around to face Felger, and there are several happily humming oscilloscope graphics on the screen. "I've got 'em mapped, and took the liberty of emulating the patterns on this program here, just in case."

Speaking with Chloe... "I was working Intel at Langley, under some total assclown of a Colonel. Worked GPS maintenance before that. Anyway, I'm sitting at my desk last week on my 5th cup of coffee when my CO comes up to me looking like he's seen a ghost.. And there's 5 stars' worth of brass in his office telling me to pack my bags. I go through the friendly frisk at the gate, and here I am."

And later in the conversation...
"Fighters? You mean, like, space ships? What do you hafta do to check THOSE out? I mean, I've gotta see that.... damn! You serious, or is this a screw with the new guy thing?!"

Julian perks up when he hears about the NID CD. "Yeah.. I've heard about NID. They're jerks though; won't work with any of the other branches or acronyms. Come to think of it, I remember some chatter about not providing any intel to anyone claiming to be NID when I was at Langley. Guess that's why, the rogue thing." Julian pulls out his laptop, booting it up. Felger may notice that Julian's operating system seems a bit odd - the taskbar is blue and green, for example.

"Lemme see that disk. And I betcha the last donut I crack it by dinnertime."

Popping the CD into his CD tray, he fires up his ensemble of crypto tools (not all of which are government issue) and sets about interrogating the little glass disc.

OOC: Julian will make a Cryptography check and a Computer check, whichever are needed. With Computers he will be at +23 (+14 ranks, +4 intelligence, +2 Math Genius, +3 laptop computer from Technophile bundle) and with Cryptography he will be at +13 (+7 ranks, +4 int, +2 Math Genius).

 

[RandomUsernamehmimo71]

Ashley will head to the mess, seeing most of the tables empty. While there aren't normally huge numbers of people up at this hour, there is generally at least a quarter of the cafe full, due in part to the sifferent shifts that are assigned.

Making note of the lack of people, Ashley walks over to the Espresso machine, noting that it's broken again. It seems that ever since they let the Marines in here, simple things like coffee machines weren't reliable.

She walks over to the regular coffee machine, putting one of the cups under the nozzle and pressing to fill.

As the black caffine flowed into her cup, splashing a few drops against her hand and against the backsplash of the coffee machine, Erin would notice Major Davis sitting at one of the cold war era tables, leaning back and flipping through a manila folder. He seems to be reading it without interest, as if he knows he has to learn it, but isn't particularly interested.

 

[Kemrain]

Level 22, Mess

Seeing Magor Davis sitting alone she heads over, circling around to come up to him from the front, giving him time, if he spots her, to put the folder away if it is something she shouldn't see. Stopping beside his table, she smiles.

"If you're not too busy, Major, I can tell you what the box from Hadante does."

 

[RandomUsernamehmimo71]

"Well, you certainly have some of them, but I can see a few obvious ones that are missing that I know I had mapped earlier. Let me guess, you mapped what its giving off now, right? That's useful, but I want to see how it responds to different frequencies. How it changes when we expose it to different levels of radiation. It's going to take weeks of testing, but once it's done..."

"Once it's done it might change everything. We could change the face of underwater warfare. But the NID aren't bad people. At least not most of them. They're just scientists. It's just that-" Felger drops his voice to a whisper "They are a little overzealous. Not much, but a little."

As the two of you work, Chloe would be happy to sit and talk a little to Julian, whenever Dr. Felger didn't need her this second. She's obviously interested in Felger's every move, and seems not to take offense at his behavior to her.

"It's not done yet, of course. But the X301 is going to be pretty amazing. We're.. They're... Working on taking some of the engines from the badguy spaceships, figuring out how they work, and building an airforce ship around them. It's pretty exciting!

"I'm sure it will be, if they ever get it off the ground. Right now, it's a gigantic boondoogle. We're working on the interesting things, anyway. I'm still writing a test plan of frequencies to expose this device to, and then we can go forward with that. Remember, we need to be careful, and document the entire way, or it's worse than not finding it out at all. Have you made any progress on that CD?

Julian will find that the CD is encoded with AES three seperate times, each with a different key. He knows that they isn't really a back door in the algorithm, and it's cryptographically sound. No matter how good you are, you can't break it. That said, it can be brute forced- Basically trying every possible combination, until the result is something that looks like text.

Chloe will set Julian up to log into one of the base mainframes, which will start chugging away on decoding the key. He is likely impressed with the speed of the mainframe in running through the key combinations, particularly after he adjusts the algorithm used to select keys. Julian {{OOC: Using computers, Roll of 16 + 23 = 39. You use your computer bonus, since your using your computer to program the mainframe. }} adjusts the algorithm to select the most likely keys first, and adjusts the software so that it runs 5x more efficiently using caching of common mathmatical results, and pre-computed hash tables.

As he waiting for the results, looking over the CD and it's data dump on his HD (Never work with the original) Julian would have a sinking suspicion that people who went through this much trouble, and who were as paranoid as the NID, would likely have another layer of security on under this one, and probably more complex.

A few hours later, Julian's fears will be shown to be correct. The computer made a map of all possible decodings, but none of them made any sense. It is if every possible key leads to random data. Temporarily putting aside the idea that there is no correct key, Julian begins exploring the possibility that one of the decodings is an encrypted one-time pad.

The way a one time pad works in that each letter of a message, or bit of a file, is offset by a specific amount, which varies for each letter/bit. This is incredibly secure, mathmatically unbreakable, but it has the massive downside of requiring the exact same amout of space to store a key, as the message encoded. For example, to encode the sequence 12345, with they key 34512, you'd get the answer 46857. Without knowing either they key or the original sequence, it's impossible to get the other.

Looking at the problem deeper {{OOC: With his 13 + 16 = 29 in Crypto (you can often add your computer bonus to this check, for future reference) }} Julian will know that they were likely more clever that that. They're not just using one of the one time pads, they're likely using all of them, to different degrees. A one time pad in general would be mathmatically uncrackable, but if it hid it's details on the different possible keys, it would not only be uncrackable, but difficult even if he had the key disc. But he'd need that to make any progress at all. As it is, he'd have 200,000,000 different sets of keys, each of which would be mathmatically impossible to decode. Basically, he needs to find the decoding disc to be able to use it.


{{OOC: By the game rules, whomever encoded this disc made a critical success. To decode it, you need to make a critical success as well, and roll higher than they did. Real world mathmateics say it's impossible. Verisimitude/Movie Physics say it's just really hard. Either way, you need the key to get further.}}

 

[RandomUsernamehmimo71]

Major Davis will smile, putting the paper down.

"I'd be glad for the break, Thanks."

"It seemed like an interesting device, and I'm curious about where it was found. Maybe I can give you some tips to use when writing the official version. He smiles, entending a hand, "I know you've been on base for a while, but we've never really had a chance to meet. Major Paul Davis."

"You play cards at all?" Taking a card deck from his pocket, and performing a flourish, moving them from one hand to the other in a short arc.

 

[Jaeden]

He grimaces as Felger informs him of just how not-done his work with the undersea device was, having been hoping to really impress his new supervisor, and Chloe in the process.

Julian listens intently to everything about the x301, clearly very interested in seeing it someday. He also continues to make smalltalk with Chloe, discouraged though he is by her apparent infatuation with Dr. Felger. Pretty much the only thing Julian knew about women with 100% certainty is when they weren't interested. He'd had the most data to work with in that case, by far.

Growing more and more frustrated every time Felger checks on his progress, Julian finally resigns himself to the fact that the computer will not be much luck in the search. Resorting to
an old trick from the newspaper cryptoquotes as a last resort, he reasons that if the one-time pads have to be the same size as the words they originally were, he might stand a chance at manually cracking the code if he can find repeated patterns for common articles like 'the' or 'and'. (OOC: He makes one more Crypto check)

His small-talk with Chloe stops as he realizes the wall he's up against. His frustration grows to the point that he has to restrain himself from physically throwing his laptop across the lab. As he's doing this as a last resort to stretch out his admitting that he can't solve the problem, he will do this until the end of his shift, unless Felger or Chloe calls him off the task. He begins taking frequent breaks, pacing the hallway like a caged animal, clearly frustrated and angry that this algorithm is proving too much for him. Julian isn't used to running into computer or cryptography problems he can't solve, and his second day on the job wasn't an optimal time to start.

If his second Crypto check fails...

Julian walks back into the lab, his brow sweating, his eyes a picture of dark exasperation as he approaches Felger. He explains the padding to Felger in minimal detail and informs him that without the key disc, there is little to no hope of a solution.