Doctor Phil Lawson

Phil couldn't help but agree as he vaguely heard the comment from the medical doctor however he really didn't see the point in putting in his piece. Not when he was so busy, the whole issue was that what he was developing was likely being made to deploy the gas into the vessel which he wasn't entirely comfortable. He never was comfortable working on weapon systems spending most of his time dedicated to preservation systems such as the black box system for the R-302 which had saved a mans life today, off which he made a mental note in order to visit. An airman came into the room and deposited three transmitters. "Thankyou Airman." The Airman offered a polite salute before walking out of the room and returning to his duties.

Phil clicked his tongue against the top of his mouth as he thought. The logical thing was that most beam jammers worked on the principle of not allowing the sensors of the beam site to get a lock. That was how the Wraith did it and that was how the SGC did it. The only thing was that if actual shields came into the equation that was slightly more difficult, shields prevented the actual beaming process by interfering with the matter stream. So to make an effective countermeasure it would have to be effective against both shields and the usual jamming technology. He moved back into the central column of the Core Lab excusing himself to move past the elderly doctor where he picked up a standard issue backpack before moving back into the physics lab.

Placing the bag on the table he opened up the desk and pulled out a naquadah power cell, identical power output to those in a Jaffas Staff weapon just... not as compact. They had been worked on for several years by the SGC in order to power larger weapon platforms and work in parallel to power fighter craft. It wasn't as sophisticated due to its size but it had the bonus of being able to be turned on and off and if needed could be set to overload, a decent sized explosion from a device no bigger than a can of soda. The rest of the task was pretty simple, GPS, Three Transmitters, a Capacitor and a small Electromagnetic Pulse Generator. More than likely as soon as the issue resolved itself the Captain would come and check his progress, and likely in that time he would have it fully functional. A backpack capable of allowing someone to beat jamming while also having the capability to act as a bomb! Though the devices were safe, while at area 51 they tested firing weapons at the generators and it never caused an overload or an explosion. The only way to create one was if someone had the necessary expertise to cause one and these little generators were so knew the list of people that could do that were few.

-Fifteen Minutes Later-

Lawson finished hooking all the wires together and flicked the device on as the generator powered up the small control pad. He had just attached a small tablet device to the backpack and he only had to set it up with something very simple, broadcast and EMP burst. He naturally couldn't practice the EMP burst in the non-protected laboratory. However he hit the broadcast button and heard the generator wine into life and checked the computer viewing a very strong reading from the ship. He powered it down wincing, he really should have informed the Captain however he didn't have time to waste he had one other thing to test before it was ready.

Moving to the back off the room he input his code to the secure-room before walking in and pulling the door closed. The room glowed slightly as a shield activated and he hoped that it would be strong enough. The last thing he wanted was to cripple a couple of decks while they were in a probably hostile situation. Especially with the fact that the EMP would wipe any nearby computers. He tapped his radio piece. "Captain Black. This is Lawson, requesting permission to test EMP device in the secure room."

Rea'c & Kayle

-One hour before hyperspace reversion-

Rea'c blocked a blow that was aimed far too high before bending his right leg to lower himself rapidly where he then kicked the marines thigh to hear a pop as the bone was dislocated. Instantly there were weapons trained on him and he removed a zat from his hip and training it on the nearest soldier. "We are merely training. Sheath your weapons."

To the modern civilian, the Langford’s insides would’ve been like a maze. A series of interwoven paths and hallways, their sections seemed endless in their far stretch as Kay’s boot clipped upon the metal flooring in her way to the gym. She had gotten the location from one of the officers on duty that one of the Jaffa, Rea’c, had been spotted entering it. Her mind had already guessed at the reason and was likely not off the mark. More and more, Kay was becoming thankful she had spent her time retracing most the ship in her spare time. If she didn’t, it was likely it would’ve taken much longer to reach her destination, instead lost for hours in a frustrating amble. That idea caused a shiver to be sent through her spine. Kay didn’t like wasting her energy for no gain, even less if she was failing at her goal and to top it off, she would’ve looked rather foolish.

Upon reaching and entering the gym door, she was greeted by a sight Kay hadn’t expected. Or wanted.

The Jaffa had his zat out, trained upon the nearest private as if ready to attack or defended himself, while several had returned the gesture in kind. A slight irritation had entered Kay at the display. Upon the mat was a man who held his thigh and seemed to biting the back the need to scream, his face twisted up into a painful expression. His other arm held his chest off the floor while he tried to get to a knee on his good leg only to sudden been forced to lean on it and support his body barely. It was hard for Kayle to realize what might’ve happened. A sparring match which didn’t seem to go as it should’ve, ended in the private’s being injured in some fashion that caused the Langford’s men to over react. Though why they had live weapons within the training was a mystery to her, though she couldn’t call the kettles black as she carried a knife on her person at all times and drew comfort from it. Kay resisted the urge to groan at this inconvenience.

Instead she took a step into the room, her chest inhaled, before she came to an abrupt halt within the room’s confines. Her arms pinned to her side as she did a quickly, slightly sloppy, pan around for any higher ranking officer. There fortunately seemed like there were were none on her first and only look. Her voice barked out in authority and command. “Hold your fire, stand down. Secure your weapons.”

The sudden appearance of her voice startled one or two, their bodies jumped for a brief second, while the rest froze in place. One or two heads turned to see the 2nd Lt. standing patiently there for her orders to be followed but the rest seemed to have no need to confirm the origins, her voice enough to convince them. A moment passed by before they started to holster their weapons, their movements filled with hesitation and caution, their eyes stilled set upon the Jaffa in case he became hostile again. The tension in the room was thicker than Kay would’ve liked and felt that if even a spark was lite, the whole scenario would’ve picked up where it left again.

Kay made a mental note to the Captain to mention this incident and hopefully prevent it from happening next time. She doubted she would be around the next time to stop the escalation. After all, nothing strained foreign relationship like a miscommunication and death. She started to pull closer to Rea’c, who would likely know at least her name, and the man down upon the mat. Her expression was fixed in a disapproving one though it was hard to tell for whom it for.

Without wasting much time, Kay’s steps quicken to the fallen man and knelt on one knee to check his status. Pressing two fingers together, she whispered kindly to the suffering man, a dislocation nothing short of pain, as she noted the odd look of his hip socket through the thick pants. It was barely notable if not for the fact he was cradling the area and hissed when she touched it as his body flinched from her touch. “At ease, Private. Looks like a dislocation and risk relocating could cripple him.”

Kay slowly started to push the man over to his back and her hand reached for her radio to call in a medic for the man.

After she motioned for two others to tend for the fallen man, the cleaning of Rea’c mess over with, she turned her focus onto the Jaffa. Kayle’s arm rested upon her upraised knee before she pushed off to stand on her feet and turned to him. “You realize, dislocations aren’t the best teaching methods with Tau'ri. Mainly since your partner can’t get up to try again, at least without further injury. I often thought that defeats the point of sparring or at least its effectiveness.”

Rea’c sheathed his Zat onto his own thigh and he moved over to the rear of the room. “I shall bear in mind your rules and regulations. However Jaffa see sparring as being done in order to improve oneself and preparing them for battle. In battle injuries may be sustained that could incapacitate you. With un-experienced warriors this must be taught and by the moves he was performing I assumed as such. It could have been a lot worse than a minor dislocation, he will be on his feet in no time.”

He moved over to the back of the room and picked up a wooden representation of a staff weapon. He then twirled it in his right hand, before spinning it around his back and into his left hand before bringing it round again in full circle. “I apologise if I seem to have breached some of your rules and regulations however it would of been good if I had been told before I started sparring with anyone.” He lunged forward before spinning back up and around. “We are a very different people. The Jaffa and the Tauri, not to mention with the Tok’ra brought into that. Our paths may have been similar before when we had one common enemy but now they have diverged.” He checked a watch that he had acquired on Earth to keep track of time the same way the Tauri did. “If there is a way I can make this better please tell me. However soon I must kel’no’reem.”

Kay understood his words, her mind knew a bit of the culture he came from after researching it alongside his language, but it didn’t make them acceptable here on the ship. It just made it slightly easier to condone when it happened, mainly since they were supposed to work together. She sighed a bit when she came upright and straightened her stance. The problem between the Jaffa and Tau’ri was the fact they didn’t think the same. Even when it came to combating the same enemy, prior Stargate and Jaffa tactics had differed from each other. Her eyes watched him retreat before he bent to pick up the wooden duplicate of a staff weapon then skillful twirled it about as if it was a second nature to him, likely a high fact due to how long they learn to use them. A slight pang of jealousy ruffled through her chest but she was careful not to show it.

Despite her efforts, her staff weapon skilled still needed work. Though she could handle the physical sparring better than the shooting part, the weapon relied heavily upon strength to wield it and a graceful hand to twist it about. Only the later she had been best at. When he mentioned making amends before his meditation, Kay’s hand reached for another wooden staff and weighted within her hands. Her silence seemed to span for several minutes until finally, after she had measure the weight and slowly grew use to it, then turned to him.

“I’ve learned from my father, the only way to learn is through hands on experience on it. Since you’re sincere, the best way to make amends is to try to learn how to tone your methods down and still provide the maximum teaching result.” She took a tight hold of the training weapon and continued. “We learn best by inflicting light wounds or simply telling what you could do, instead of doing. For example, if I thrust forward…”

Kay placed both hand accurately in the correct positions then thrust forward but stopped it at the end. It didn’t even come close to touching him as she held it there, her muscles taut and clearly more of a display then an attack. “If I had attacked like this, where am I exposed? Where you could hit for the most damage? To discourage injury, keep in mind I’m due to join you on the Strike team. So injuring me too much would result in someone else, one’s skill you’ve not measured, to take my place. Personally, I think it’s more strategic to know your allies’s strengths as well as their weaknesses to cover for them when needed, isn’t it?”

Rea’c moved around in a quick succession of moves, he stepped to the right swinging around the tail of the staff to the woman's legs knocking her off her feet. Gently but probably still a little bit too rough something he realized after, this was no Jaffa he was training with. She was not used to pain and though he no longer carried a symbiote the tretonin still allowed him to retain some of the healing abilities left over. Once she was on the ground he pointed what would be the weapon end of the staff at her head.

“While moving forward and stabbing with your right hand you left your left guard open.You left it open for a low sideswipe in which case I managed to knock you down onto the ground. Had you been a hostile and this a real situation you would be dead.” He extended his arm and helped her up onto her feet before he began leaning on the staff. “This is too advanced to begin with anyway. You are a smaller build, which makes you more agile.” He performed the same move which she had just performed. “These moves are made for strength and for someone more of my build. They rely on strength to knock the wind out of you or alternatively off your feet.” He took a different stance with his legs closer together. “For you to strike you should use movement to build your momentum while also avoiding attacks.”

He stepped twirling the staff under his left shoulder before switching hands to his right and took a turn in the opposite direction swirling lower and switching hands again all the time moving forwards, until at the end he feigned passing over hands and instead thrusted the staff forward and up. “This way you keep your opponent on the defensive while building up your momentum for your final strike. However if your opponent stumbles on the defensive you still get a blow in and open up the way for additional strikes.” He swirled the staff. “I will leave my guard open to the last attack. Attack at will.”

Kay knew it was going to hurt. Her eyes shifted and noted the staff’s movement, the Jaffa’s aim at her legs. She braced but made no move to block it, her body tensed and mind screamed for her to react.

She bit back the yelp which threatened to leap to her lips, her mouth slammed shut and tightly sealed. Pain ruptured through her legs while she landed upon her back, her body curled up to fall in the right way. Her head keep up as one hand cupped over it to protect and fought the instinct to roll onto her side, followed by an impulse to bring her foot up and shot it into his kneecap. She wouldn’t have damaged yet it would’ve affected his aim, allowing her time to bring up her weapon enough to aim for his middle…

However she didn’t. Rather, she chose not to as the man needed to learn how to be gentle and it was difficult to do that with a target that could defend well enough. At least at first. What Kay wanted to show was the fact Tau’ri were adaptable and stubborn, something the Jaffa wouldn’t see if he kept injuring them.

Her eyes looked hard at the weapon now pointed at her face, not a trace of fear or worry that the man could easily bash her head in. She hadn’t been aware her own knuckle whitened upon her weapon, her hand stilled griped it with a white knuckle grasp yet made no movement to bring it up. She forced the pain from her mind while her hand reached for his aid and brought herself up to her feet. Kay could tell her leg would be bruised but only another, much to her regret, but only another hit would tell if he was learning. Besides, for her, a few bruises wouldn’t hurt her in the end. When he had finished his display, she once more took a stance similar to him as Rea’c demonstrated. Her feet pressed together as she started the twirl from her shoulder then out and about, gaining momentum easily. The mimic was decent with the practice she had placed in it when she wasn’t studying up on the language itself, though it would’ve been perfect if she had been able to devote more time to it.

It drew lower then quickly darted up, her right jerked up the heavy end while the other held it down. It lashed at Rea’c’s side, but with barely any of her own forced pushed into the upper thrust. Just enough to keep it from coming too far back and colliding with her face on the pull up.

Rea’c was impressed, she learned quickly. Or she was more skilled than she let on. His watch beeped and he looked down at it after she executed her list of moves. There was now little time before they were set to exit hyperspace. “I must Kel’no’reem now. However if you wish you are always free to join me if you wish to learn more about my people. Though I assume it is much like what you call your meditation.”

He moved to the rear of the room and put the practice weapon back where it belonged before putting his top set of robes back on and arranging them correctly.

Kay’s body stiffened and feet pulled together when the watch upon Rea’c’s wrist beeped, his hand closed around the display then shut off the timer. It seemed their time was up far quicker than Kay honestly wanted as her eyes hid the disappointment. The wooden staff was tilted upright, her hand easily placed to stand at her side in wait. Naturally, for her passion both in languages and cultural background, the offer made by Rea’c was a carrot Kay couldn’t ignore. This was a chance to learn and experience an aspect of the spiritual beliefs, a rare chance which she would’ve figuratively given her right arm for. Needless to say, her eyes light up and expression showed her enthusiasm before she could find the right words. Even if she already knew more about the Jaffa than most the crew upon the Langford, her interest was perked.

Hands scooped the middle of the staff into her grip while she started to move to put it away, the weapon set back on the horizontal rack where she had original found it. Kay patiently waited for Rea’c to finished dressing, his hands moved with practice and instinct rather than thought until he then turned towards the door. Immediately Kay hopped in step beside him and voiced her intentions. “For me, that’s a hard to resist invitation so I’ll join you. Though I will admit, the only type of meditation I’ve done is through prayer with my father. So I can’t do complete silence, hope that won’t be a problem.”

When they reached the door’s exit, Kay’s mind finally remembered the men who had been patiently standing alert during their short lesson. Her head jerked behind her as she continued to follow Rea’c, her voice tossed backwards in a shouted a brief, commanding order. “At ease!”

In moments the pair vanished down the hallway where the lessons began until the ground mission began.

Williams/Halion - Sep/Prince

He paused for just a moment. “What I am proposing is that while we all meet at the site with one scientist and four guards each. Then while our scientist takes a look at the facility, kept in check by your own scientist and their three guards, you and I can speak together to initiate a peace treaty.”

Halion thought about this for a moment, it was a reasonable proposal and the best thing he could do at the moment was stall until Tonak returned or the Lucien Alliance sent help. “Four Military, one scientist. You’re guards bring only stun weapons, mine will do the same, I assume you have Zat'nik'tels or something similar. You will be searched once you reach the ground and if anything form of explosive or wide range stun weapon is found your lives are forfeit. Are these terms agreeable.”

“Quite agreeable. However if stun weapons only I want it ensured that at no point are we in a position where we are outnumbered. Throughout the excursion the number of your people should match ours so that the advantage remains nill. This will ensure a stalemate that leaves no-one thinking they have the other hand. For if one side does feel they have the upper hand it will get messy for both parties. Especially with the Langford in orbit-” He just had to ensure that the threat was present. Basically indicating to Halion that if he was getting any ideas to ambush them later the Langford could easily leave Tolia defenceless. “-I want to ensure that no-one gets hurt on this mission. If you wish to discuss any further terms reach me on this frequency, we will beam down in half an hour. Williams out.” He cut the channel and sighed.

This Halion must really be one of the few people to understand tech on the planet for he wasn’t the best negotiator around so he had to be doing something right. Despite this it was still technically his planet and whether he liked it or not Williams respected that. He took out his PDA and sent a message to Colonel Blaze, Lieutenant Zaken, Lieutenant Brown, Captain Falk, Rea’c, Dr.Lawson and he sent a curtousy message to the Captain.:
“Greetings all,
If you could all please make your way to the ready room we will be disembarking and heading towards the planet in half an hour. If you could all be ready and prepared we will be splitting into two teams once we meet with our counterparts. Load Zat’nik’atels only, no explosive ordnance.

Regards, Mr.Adam Williams
IOA Representative.”

With that he opened a channel to the bridge “Captain, I have secured passage to the previously mentioned site. Please enter a stable orbit and have your weapons powered down, however keep them on standby just in case things don’t go as well as planned. I have sent you a copy of the message I have sent the team members. I will not be taking Ariadne and Milton Brandt with me for I will be relying on them if things do not go according to plan. If you have any questions I suggest you ask them now, there is not much time.”

Tonak/Aeryn
Tonak moved over behind a stump and pulled out a Goa’uld torture device before sitting back down on top of it. “I can make this intensely painful for you, I’m fed up of asking nicely.” He sparked the device. “Either you can do this, or I will make you do it. It makes absolutely no difference to me.”

“Now Tonak,” Aeryn said addressing him like old friends. “I think we both know that isn’t going to work well on me. I still have scars from our last little encounter. But if it’ll make you feel better by all means.” Aeryn watched the man for signs that he was going to use the pain stick. Aeryn sincerely hoped that he wouldn’t but Aeryn was used to pain and he’d been tortured before. He could resist it if he had to.

Tonak almost burst out laughing. In fact he did laugh for a little bit anyway. “Oh this? Oh no I am just playing with this. You think I’m still a rookie or something? Nah.” He put down the torture device. “I just like making people light up a little from time to time. However I am short on time right now I have other places to be, things to do and people to annoy.” He unsheathed his knife. “I do however have a nice sharp knife. So, do you want to lose something or should I give you a bit of a facial makeover?” He moved closer, however not before securing a strap from the end of his knifes handle onto his wrist. He had his knife taken off him before, now all that would happen if Aeryn had undone his bonds is that he would carve up his own hands.

No, as he had said. He wasn’t a rookie anymore. He could even use the cloak and play even more. However Sodan technology was discovered at least a year after Tolia buried their gate so there was no way Aeryn knew about them, and he didn’t really want to show him it quite yet. “It is an easy mission Aeryn, and if your cover gets blown I’ll have you extracted. Lets not waste time, will you keep an eye on them and find out what they learn about the facility? I’d really rather not get blood on my uniform. It’s a pain to get out.”

Tonak was as he said not a rookie anymore. When Tolia fell the Lucien Alliance was small in both malice and as far as Aeryn could tell from Halion’s consoles resources as well. Though Aeryn hadn’t had a chance to go through the records in detail. He and Altenya had had a plan to steal a Tel’tak or an Al’kesh something with cloaking capabilities and pilot it to the nearest Chaapa'ai. The plan had gone horribly wrong and Altenya died in the process forcing Aeryn to barricade himself in Halion’s study and use the console to access the orbital Ha’taks beam systems to make his escape. That day still haunted him in his dreams.

Now though the Tonak had grown far more reckless. His threat actually did get to Aeryn. The boy could survive pain, he’d experienced it enough in his life but this was something totally different, fingers, and toes, and eyes and teeth didn’t grow back and facial scars didn’t heal properly. Tonak could do permanent damage or simple hand him over to Halion.

If for no other reason Aeryn should consider this proposal out of self preservation. He’d been doing it so long that it was like second nature to him. There was only one person he’d ever been truly loyal to and she was long dead.

“Okay hold the knife Tonak, I’m listening.” It wasn’t after all like he owed these Tau’ri anything. Where had they been when this planet needed them. Off alerting another alien superpower that there was new inhabited territory to invade. “I assume if I’m being sent in undercover then I will need two things, a way in and a way to communicate once I’m inside.” Aeryn suppose he could built a rough version of the Goa’uld communication stone with the right materials but it was far more likely that Tonak would give him something that would blend in with the other stuff he already had.

“A way in is go to the river once we’re done here. They’ll find you which is the way it has to be. Once this mission is all done Aeryn we can find you a nice planet to go live on in peace or you can maybe keep working for us depending on how it goes. In terms of communication you don’t need to worry about that now. Something will come to you when you’re already inside. Who from? I don’t know. The only one who knows would be Kane himself.” He sheathed the knife again and sat back down on his tree stump.

“Now the most important thing that you need to know is, the Tauri won’t immediately trust you. I guess you already guessed that little chestnut for yourself. You need to prove yourself to them to allow you to remain on the vessel, I’d start by telling them about your little Tok’ra friend which should evoke some tears from the Tok’ra onboard. Then you need to tell them about the facility, as soon as they have the facility online the Alliance swoops in and takes it over and then whatever secrets the Ancestors made there will be shared with the people of the Galaxy as it should be.” Of course that was after Kane managed to use it to further his own place in the Alliance and gather followers to take it over. However the endgame was to evoke a better galaxy for everyone, under Alliance control - Preferably his. Oh how he was always a bit of the idealist.
“Now if that doesn’t get you trusted when danger comes along you will need to help out, we heard about the little radiation problem and we’ll be sure to replicate it and as you have first hand experience you will be the one to save the day and shut it down. If they still plan to kick you off, then we’ll have to get a few strings pulled with our contacts on Earth. What you also need to know is that it could be a couple of weeks until you can get the information to me, you may even need to get some puppets of your own aboard ship. However I am sure you will manage, and I am sure we will have that nice retirement set up for you.”

Aeryn could have burst out in laughter. If the knowledge from the Ancient Outpost actually reached the populus of the galaxy it would be long after Tonak’s superior “Kane” had warped and weaponized it for his own uses. most of what Kane told him was Alliance propaganda meant to inspire a sense of unity that was lost on Aeryn. Aeryn also very much doubted they’d let him go afterwards. He’d either become a permanent asset to the Alliance or be killed. Both were likely outcomes but Aeryn would have plenty of time to come up with an escape once he was on this “Tau’ri” ship. Some of what Tonak described bothered Aeryn a great deal but he swallowed his conscious as it had never served him well.

“Tonak, show some respect when speaking of the dead.”

He said venomously, Aeryn relaxed his tone knowing that he was still at this man’s mercy. “I will accomplish the task you seek if it means freedom from this rock. I have one condition. When this is all over I wish to be returned to one of Amenthes former planets. It is called Lanus. I would assume you have some record of it.”

Aeryn decided not to think of what his mother would say about the way in which he was planning on getting back to them and focus solely on the mission at hand. “Once I meet these people across the West River I assume since according to all sources except yours I am still a Goa’uld I will be stunned and taken to their ship unconscious?”

“I do not know all that they do, it is quite likely that you will be stunned and taken. Halion will also be on his way there. If he is there at the time I need you to mention the Tok’ra, and request asylum or you will be taken by the wrong person. There is no use for you to be caught up in that mans vendetta against a dead Goa’uld. Depending on how they react to this depends if you will be stunned or not. However don’t fret I will be in the area and watching to ensure things to go to plan.” He grabbed his knife, moving over behind Aeryn and uncut his bonds, however at the same time the tip of the knife pressed ever so gently against Aeryns back to serve as a warning. Not deep enough to dig through material or cause pain but just as a warning.

“I’ll be watching Aeryn.” And then Tonak was gone, activating his cloak when Aeryn was still facing the other way. For all Aeryn knew it was some kind of beam, or a cloak. There was no real way to tell for sure. He walked away, silently. Still cloaked to the edge of the clearing. Just to ensure he went the right way.

Aeryn considered asking Tonak why he didn’t just tell Halion the truth but it was a fruitless question. Halion was stubborn in his belief that the blending permanently bonded the host and symbiote. He wouldn’t believe Tonak and the question would only sound impetuous.

Tonak slit his bonds letting the knife dig into his back just a little to ensure that he knew not to attack. There was a sound behind him that he didn’t recognize, it was some form of technology. Aeryn got to his feet and looked behind him. Tonak was gone. He could have beamed out Aeryn supposed but it hadn’t sounded that way. It might have been a personal cloak. Aeryn had never seen such technology but he knew that the early salvaged ancient ships the Goa’uld had used sometimes carried cloaking generators. It might be possible to reverse engineer a personal cloak from one of those larger models.

Alas speculating would do Aeryn no good. He need to move. Aeryn turned to his pack which was sitting just as Tonak had left it. Aeryn quickly armed himself slipping the Prim’ta knife into his boot, the Kara’kesh onto his hand. The Staff weapon into a clasp on the leather vest he wore, his Zat'nik'tel into it’s slot, and finally the jewel and it’s leather necklace that place it squarely over his voice back. Aeryn adjusted his shirt so that the jewel was invisible as these Tau’ri had more than likely seen the technology before.

Armed with his pack by his side Aeryn was ready to be taken from this world. It was time to see space once again and if he was lucky home soon enough.

GM Ruling - Intervention in player episode with disruptive NPC.
Allowed as part of the rules off player episodes.

Tonak was disappointed in Halion after he got the report from Kane, who had gone to great lengths to fill him in. Even risked the transmission being picked up just to let Tonak know what had to be done. No-one messed with the Lucian Alliance or their plans. Or at least no-one did and lived to tell the tale anyway. He moved to a clearing and pressed a button on his wrist and was beamed up via rings to his Al’kesh. He would just have to hope that the Tauri would blame it on Halion and not be too inquisitive into what was going on.

He moved the ship directly above the meeting chambers of the ministry, as he knew they were in “session” over this little dispute. Especially after Halion had just agreed to terms to meet the outsiders. Once he knew he was positioned perfectly he activated the rings, tearing through the roof of the building and landing right beside Halion with his pistol raised to the mans forehead. “Your services are no longer required." With a squeeze of his finger the man lay dead as everyone else in the room cried out in panic. Tonak fired his weapon in the air to silence them before speaking in a commanding tone; “I am Tonak of the Lucian Alliance as most of you well know. I am taking control of this planet in this crisis in order to protect you from the people of the Tauri.” He aimed his weapon around threateningly.

“Does anyone disagree with my ruling?” He looked around as they shook their heads and smiled. Those in power never wanted to lose it. “This will all be over shortly, and you can get back to your meager lives.” He pointed at someone at random. “You, call back the Al’kesh and the Gliders. Have the Ha’tak stand down.” The man nodded. “Someone get me a line to the alien ship.”

OOC: W/ Sep

There was a request from the good doctor asking for trouble. “If you’re sure it’s safe, go ahead.” Black was a lot surprised and little disappointed at Williams actually pulling it off. She had to admit the man's diplomatic skills were in the top league, having no idea how he managed to defuse the situation. On the other hand, his skills just cost Earth a Ha'Tak and a few Al'Kesh. Oh well, she can't have everything. As far as she was concerned, she didn't expect to be disappointed as other opportunities were likely to arise. "Copy that. I'll be in the ready room." she replied to Williams.

"You heard the man - Assume orbit around Tolia, power down railguns." she said, frankly hating the idea. They could however not detect if the missiles were primed - a circuit the size of a laptop hidden in a piece of tech like the ship and behind shields, there was no way. "Reset the missiles to proximity fuses. Tubes one through three distance 1 kilometer, tube four 500 meters." she ordered, keeping why she wanted it to herself for now.

She was just about to redirect Ariadne and Brandt to the ready room, when the sensors officer frantically called out to her: “They’re retreating! Ha’Tak is powering down!” Kat raised an eyebrow. “What the hell is going on here? Full alert!” she said, cancelling the stand down.

Williams heard the alarms as the lights dimmed and the lower energy red lights came on in order to preserve power that would be needed for shields in a combat situation. He pressed his earpiece not two seconds after he had walked out of his office. “Captain, what is going on? Why have we entered a full alert?”

“They’re withdrawing. I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s not much in character with Halion, is it? Continue to the ready room, I’m sending Ariadne and Brandt as well. We may have to get out fast if this is a trap.” Catherine said, signalling the two infiltrators to the briefing room. “Keep an eye out and inform me of any changes! If they decide to turn around and attack, the three kilometer fuse missiles should be enough to put a radiation cloud big enough to blind the Ha’Tak, and launch the short fuse one in the middle of the enemy strike craft formation as a mine. It should take at least some of them out!” she gave the orders, trusting the bridge to the officers and going to the ready room.

That was when it got interesting. A communication came into ship, routed to both Williams and the Captain. “This is Tonak of Tolia-” Oh, what a lie. “-Due to Halions hostile actions against our allies, those who freed us. The people of the Tauri we have removed him from office and I have taken his place. Feel free to beam down to aforementioned site if it makes you feel safer than beaming into town. You may carry whatever makes you feel safer, I shall disable the beam jammers if I can to most of the sites. However I do not have a broad enough understanding to disable the jamming off the Ancestral facility. If you copy this, please respond.” There was a smug look on his face and no-one else in the room dared to speak. Some of them he knew agreed with him, others were just in it for power. He himself, was using them all.

"A coup? Sir, I strongly advise against going down there. I don't trust these people as far as I can throw them." Black told Williams on a private line, not intending to talk to the Tollian himself. She'd need an editor beforehand. "Before we knew they were hostile, now we know literally nothing. If you insist on beaming down, you have to find volunteers, I am not ordering anyone to go into the unknown." she delivered. Harsh, rebellious even, but she would never endanger a crewman when there was nothing to gain from it.

"Found the gate yet?" she asked, turning to the sensors officer. "It is in one of the areas that was shielded before. It's buried." The officer reported back, a blip lighting on the map with the gate's location. "Beam it on board and have an engineering team look at it. I want it ready to be redeployed to the planet to receive from Earth once we leave."

Williams pondered on it, there was still the whole issue of the Ancient Facility. “I agree with you on this one Captain. They’re too unstable to risk people with. Send a small detachment down to the area we were planned to meet at, say Rea’c and Lieutenant Zaken now in order to scout out the area before we were set to go down. We’ll find out if there are any traps going on and insist on meeting this… Tonak somewhere outside of his power influence. At the same time this Ancient Facility is too good to pass up. There are few of them in the milky way in such good condition. See if we can beam anyone near to it. Lieutenant Brown should have the necessary expertise to find a way in as should Colonel Blaze*. We need to find out if it is worth sneaking into just to download technological specs to go over in the ship.” He paused to think for a moment.

This Tonak obviously staged some form of military coup, so probably some kind of military leader. “Captain, in this case I feel that it should be you to speak to this… Tonak. He is obviously a military leader and will more likely respect speaking to a fellow military mind more than speaking to a civilian. We need a look at that facility, and see if he would allow for a delegation from Earth to be sent. A ground borne SG team will have an easier time being reinforced and doesn’t have to worry about a base attack.”

Wondering if Mr. Williams wanted to torture her on purpose, she none the less nodded, despite only being on audio. “Very well. Just a note: We found the gate and are preparing it to be deployed to the planet as we speak, should that be desirable.” Frankly, she’d love to just dump this planet on SGC and go to the next one. They found the gate, the facility was intact, Earth could do the rest.

Arriving to the ready room, she pointed to Lt. Zaken and Rea’c: “Williams wants the two of you to beam down and scout the area. I don’t know if you heard but there has been a coup on the planet. The ships have withdrawn, but we have no idea of what’s going on down there. I will not order you to go, this is a volunteer task. In case you have trouble, I asked Dr. Lawson to create a beacon powerful enough to punch through the jamming should they put it back up.” she said, looking for the good doctor. Hopefully he would finish it soon enough. “So quick evac is an option should you accept.” she finished, not really knowing enough to give them any other pointers.

Standing a bit aside, she tapped her earpiece: “This is captain Black. Your coup hardly inspires confidence. I may send a small envoy, but should anything happen to them, I will wipe you out as a navigational hazard for other ships.” she told the Tolian, her patience reaching it’s limits

Tonak laughed at this, off the microphone of course. He wouldn’t be so stupid. “I completely understand Captain. I am sure if our roles were reversed I would be just as cautious at sending my people into the fray. If it will make you feel more comfortable you may send people over to the Ha’tak to ensure that it will not be used against your people. I only want to find out the secrets of the Ancestral facility and hopefully instigate good relations with the first ones of the Tauri. Many people here almost revere you as they did the false god Amethes for what you did for us. Now we can find Aeryn, his host, and let him live a free life. For many years the former host of the Goa’uld was hunted by Halion and tortured for the crimes the Goa’uld committed. Some of us are not as backward as you may believe. I only hope that we can make amends and he can too help you and I find out the secret of the Ancestors together.”

He took a break as if some of this was having an emotional effect on him. “I assure you, our government was in agreement to replace Halion we only feared to do it until now, we hope that our planet and its facility can assist in uniting the Galaxy. Please help us do that.”. Oh god, he sounded like the Tauri now in their quest for power. He sometimes had to exaggerate but all this made him want to shoot himself in the forehead. At least with Halion gone he wouldn’t need to uphold the pretext for long.

Cody had been walking back to his quarters from the meeting when all the problems seemed to take place. He sighed at the alarms. "Those will become very irritating if I have to listen to them all the time..." He spoke only to himself of course but the noise wasn't pleasant and he was bound to here them more than not around here. Then his PDA beeped and he pulled it out. 'Non lethal force huh...' The thought ran through his mind. 'Well orders are orders...' He walked into the armory and picked up to Zat guns and by the time the he got there the first alarm had stopped and just then a second one went off.

He simply sighed in response. Something told him that this day just got more compilcated and he then began to grab more than just the Zat guns. He put one in each of his side pant pockets, then proceeded to grab a dual leg holster and grabbed two nine milimeter berretta's one on each side. One extra mag for each which went right next to the gun on the holster in its own slot. He then proceeded out the door. He didn't grab any sort of rifle or vest. If he didn't need the lethal weapons he'd just hand them to someone and head out but this way he wouldn't have to walk back if he was right.

Cody walked into the briefing room and saw the captain finishing up with the Jaffa he'd met earlier and Kayle, which brought a smile to his lips, but only a slight one. He leaned against the wall and waited for them to finish up so he could recieve his own orders.

The colonel walked at a fast pace, right into the ready room, already having removed his uniform coat, and having gotten himself properly briefed on the situation. He noticed that most of his strike team subordinates were already in the room, and getting themselves prepped for drop. He decided to not make himself known just yet. He was slightly late, and although that was excusable to some extent, it wasn't the right thing to show to his subordinates. He berated himself on his untimeliness and lack of punctuality, before moving inward to strip into combat armor.

Before the boarding, he had chosen the standard grey ACU of the Marine forces, except reinforced with kevlar. This was not quite the level of Kull armor, or even near close, but it was an extremely agile suit, while also providing some kind of protection. They were also given a selection of the G36K carbine, the standard tested and proven P90, and of course, after a special requisition, SPAS-12 for slightly heavily armored combatants.

As he prepped himself in haste, he finally barked out "Get ready in thirty! We're gonna take these bloody bastards, and fuck 'em in the arse, oorah?", using the backhanded speech of the drill sergeants of his youth. He noted that the entire team was there, so hell wasn't messing with them, but he'd read their records. Not all of them were accustomed to fighting out in space, and against aliens as he was. And he hadn't gotten to the point of trusting them too much yet, but they were his men now. Except for Lieutenant Cody. The bugger had caused immense headaches with him, with a lot of his records being classified. He'd managed to figure that from his nationality and some digging around that he was CIA personnel. A spook.

A spook on his team wasn't a good thing, so he made a mental note of confronting the Williams about him later, and extracting info, no matter what, but now was not the time. He grabbed the G36K, and pulled the operating rod back, dropping the blank filled magzine out, and checked its usefulness. He made it a point of always checking his equipment, or things would go wrong. He grabbed a couple of clips, around nine to ten, and strapped them to his thigh, and then grabbed some more. Enough rounds to get through with, but if he needed more than that much, they were quite screwed anyways.

Slapping the clip into the gun, and pushing the rod back, the colonel was battle ready. He moved to the screen, just waiting in anticipation for orders.

Williams

Willliams turned to the late colonel. "Excuse me Colonel, you do not even know the mission yet. As such you will not be fucking anybody in the arse. You only have one item right in your little speech there and that is that you are now going in with lethal weapons. My deal was with Halion and even then there were loopholes ready to be exploited for our protection, however this Tonak made no such request for non-lethal force. This gives us the ability to go in with whatever weaponry we see fit for this mission. Which in this case will be standard gear. Lieutenant Cody I would like you to be equipped for Recon work with Colonel Blaze. You will be scouting the facility to try and find a way to allow yourself escorting Doctor Lawson to enter the facility and download any relevant information so we will know if it is worth sending a SG team from Earth into this... unstable situation."

He turned to Rea'c and Kay. "You two will be scouting the area where we are supposed to meet this Tonak in order to ensure it is not a trap. I trust that both of you have enough combat experience to keep yourselves safe however at the first sign of trouble hit your emergency transponders so that the Langford can beam you up, I don't want either of you to take risks or to enter beam jamming areas. At no point has jamming been detected near the river so we will give the anti-jam backpack to Colonel Blazes team as his has the possibility of being jammed." Once he had finished talking Williams moved back over to the Captain, speaking in a hushed tone.

"I want you to have Ariadne and Brandt ready for if things go hostile. We still have a chance to gain some ships out of this. This should go down without a hitch but if it does get complicated I feel you should have Dr.Kate in the command center ready to do some fancy stuff with her weapon enhancements." WIth that he walked away, obviously having other important things he had to do.

Rea'c

Rea'c nodded to the man who called himself Williams. It was a simple task, one that would usually be delegated to a warrior of a lower standing however as Lieutenant Zaken had said the people of the Tauri did things differently. "I will be ready to do what is needed." With that he moved over to a locker that had been assigned to him and placed his outer robes in them. Once he was down to his loose fitting vest and trousers he put one of the Tauri black jackets ove rthe top, and their trousers too. After that he put on what they called a "combat vest" with all the equipment ready. Finishing that he retrieved his staff weapon from where he had left it.

While he had been trained in the weapons of the Tauri as many Jaffa had now adays he still preferred the feel of a staff, especially with its ability to be a useful melee weapon. With that he moved over towards Lieutenant Zaken. Where he did not say a word, however just stood ready and waiting for what was to happen next.

Lawson

--Several Minutes Prior---

Upon permission of testing the EMP he said a quick word to himself before he flicked the switch to build up charge. A couple of seconds only, he didn't want to overpower the thing and take out most of the ships systems and anyone who had a pacemaker - Which probably meant Mr.Williams . He quickly hit the EMP switch and the shield and lights fluctuated and went out. He began counting - "One, Two, Three, Four-" The lights and shield powered back up as their respective control systems managed to connect ot the devices again. That was perfect, four seconds was long enough to beam and could be done easily in a combat situation especially with the fact that he only had to charge the EMP for a split second. Moving over to the door he put in his code as the first door opened. Closing behind him he opened the second and walked out of the lab slinging the rather heavy bag onto his back he began moving through the halls of the ship towards the ready room.

Once he got there he nodded at Williams who was leaving and walked into the room, locating the Captain. "Here we go, one anti-beam jamming backpack. With inbuilt EMP device. As long as they don't have backups-" and why should they? "-It will work perfectly. Two different settings, the first just sends an intense pulse that should be picked up through conventional jammers. However for shields or any kind of jamming tech we aren't familiar with there is a two stage system. An EMP to knock out any nearby shield relays or jamming relays and then the pulse to identify your location. The Capacitor can built for up to thirty seconds if needed which should knock out a twenty five mile radius." He placed it on the table. "So, anything else?"

Colonel Blaze had gone through several wars, and situations that he'd never wish on anyone else. He had fought countless different enemies, from Afghan terrorists to xeno parasites, but to this bloody day, he hadn't come to terms with the stupidity and arrogance of inexperienced superiors. Did Williams have combat experience? Had he ever commanded troops? Morale was a fickle thing, and it required several prodding words, something he'd made a science out of. Carrot and stick, really. But, here this chap apparently didn't realize this.

Although he couldn't truly be blamed for it, since he was inexperienced, but that hardly meant he- ah, hell, he was getting too angry. Damned Americans, with their lack of manners, and damned politicians. That what he had to say, really.

"Understood, sir!" he said, snapping to attention, having understood his orders. But something bothered him. There hadn't been too much intel on the surface much at all, in the briefing. No topographical map for him to study, no "Sir, do we have any intel on the stat set?" he asked, with no emotion what-so-ever.

Kayle

Rea’c’s lessons on his mediation had ended sooner than Kayle had expected. Now she currently sat up in her quarters, her body once more laid out over the made bed and earphones played in her ears to calm her nerves. Like before, her nose was stuck in material over her passion. Her eyes settled over the Ancient writings that flickered across her screen, slightly amused that the languages she was best at had connected to ancient cultures back on Earth. This was a faint attempt not to dwell upon the mediation secession’s short comings. However her perfectionist decided it was far more fun to nitpick upon her performance then leave it alone or focus upon her studying one of the languages she was actually good at. It was the fourth time she had looked over the material that day alone so it was easy to become distracted from it.

Kayle sighed and plopped her reading at her side, her mind drifted back to the scene and the point of how she failed. Her leg curled upright again her front when she let her mind think back. The most notable, at the least the one that bothered her most, flaw was her ability to stay quiet. It wasn’t a surprise taking in account her religion and fact silent mediation seemed akin to idol worshiping when one tried to ascend to that level through spiritual power. Her stubbornness started to drive on her mood while she degraded herself. She couldn’t simply stay quiet could she?

Kay found herself scolding her lacking until it caused her to groan, head thumped backwards against the wall to stop it. It wasn’t going to help her now. Slowly her mind drifted to another topic. This time it was about how many more differences there was then similarities in both cultures, his and hers, when she looked closely at the beliefs systems. Unless she eliminated the key elements like worship source, method of worship, and other aspects, there was one key thing all religions shared: believing in something higher then themselves. God, Gods, the universe, destiny, science, ascension, afterlife, wealth and more, there was always something higher for someone in believe then themselves alone. Or else everyone would’ve been rather content in living out their lives until it ended.

Her thoughts were interrupted when from the corner of her eyes spotted the flashing screen. The second Lt. removed her headphones and picked up the small melody of her PDA, her finger slid across the screen to view the message. She quickly sat upright while she read the IOA’s massage. After finishing it, her eyebrow rose in question and once more retraced the wording until she couldn’t help but smirk. It said nothing about knives or handgun, just no explosives. One could never be too careful when running in the field after all.

Without wasting much time, she pressed her legs together and swung them over the bed side. The PDA was clicked off then left on her bed while she made her way to the ready room’s location becoming one of the earlier arrivals.

The first thing she did was head towards her locker. Clicking the handle and opened it easily, she pulled out her uniform and began to suit up in the black outfit for the strike team which included pants, shirt and jacket finished off with a combat vest over top. Next was the radio as she slipped in the ear piece in before she reached to ensure the wrist watch was secure. It won’t do if she lost track of time when it came to meeting up during splitting up. Another few small items were a pair of sunglasses clipped around her neck alongside her dog tags, pad and pen placed into her side in a pouch. She wanted to create a crude map about the area in case things went wrong and an escape route was needed fast. Part of her was hopeful she was just hauling extra crap instead, something she could’ve lived with, then depending on it. Next came her standard mm9 Berretta and an additional two magazines. She popped open the current one within the gun and counted the bullets, then checked the chamber as she slammed the mag back in. Then she holstered and snapped it in place upon her right hip near the belt pouches with the other two. She liked having them close so it was easier to get to. Last of the fire arms was the Zat, her eyes looked over it warily in her mental debate.

Unlike the gun, her aim seemed off slightly every time she fired it. On a still target it didn’t matter much as even when it clipped, the pulse rushed throughout the whole too fast. However with a moving target, even a slight aim off by a few inches could result in a hit or miss. It was a hard decision but finally, Kay sighed and placed it on the other side of her hip where she could easily get to it. At least now came her favorite part, strapping on her knives. The woman reached roughly for a small, wrapped up bundle which contained about sixteen or more knives of various sizes and unfolded it upon the bench behind her. She separated three throwing knives, a normal combat one, and lastly one that could easily fit into the palm of her hand, attached to a thin cord she create a makeshift loop with.

Anyone who was arriving then would likely see where she had them hidden, though likely that wasn’t all of them. Three throwing knives were placed in clear view towards the back of her belt while a standard combat knife fitted just before the Zat on the other side. Immediately she hiked up her pant leg to slip one into the nook of her boot then hid it under the pant leg. The last one was about to be place within her hair, squarely at the base of her ponytail where the band held it tightly, until she suddenly stopped. For a moment her eyes widened in surprise then her lips broke up into a smirk, her hand pulled away from the hiding spot for another. She mused for a moment about the reason and rolled up her jacket sleeve, the right one, where she placed her last knife within her hand’s reach. Finally done with her preparation, Kay stiffened to attention when she heard footsteps followed by Captain Black’s voice.

It was made clear the mission wasn’t an order and shortly stepped aside, Kay’s attention distracted when Coronel Blaze shouted to those still readying themselves. Her head snapped towards the direction as she inwardly smirked, knowing fully well she was already finished and ready to leave. Though she wisely kept her words to herself, Williams saw little point in it. His words reprimanded the Coronel Blaze for his choice in words and easily chewed him out with corrections about the mission. Her sight shifted from the scene to notice Cody smiling from his position upon the wall, her mouth about to open only to close shut when Williams turned his attention upon her and Rea’c. Kay listened to her mission objective intently. It was simple, her mind recounted the dos and don’ts over again that seemed rather common sense. She only hoped nothing unexpected happened in the meanwhile.

The notion of being stranded on a hostile planet wasn’t a pleasant one to her. Kay pulled from her thoughts when she realized Rea’c had moved to get ready, allowing her to finally reply to the Captain. She watched Williams leave the Captain, unable to hear what was said and not wanted to eavesdrop, and began. “About your comment on this being strictly a volunteer mission, Ma’am, I’ve only have this answer: One of the reasons I was excited about the Stargate program was because of my passion. Off the recorder, I’m going not out of duty or to unite the worlds, but because of my own selfish desire and curiosity. If danger just happens to be part of getting there, it can’t be avoided, can it?”
When she finished her sentence, Rea’c was already on his way back and stood waiting with his staff weapon at the ready. Once the others were ready, she was ready to head out.

What Kat heard Williams say quite frankly left her stunned for a second. She'd never guess the man had it in him to still even think about the ships. She gave him a head nod with a predatory grin, more then enough of an acknowledgement. Passing the comment about the weapons for now, she heard the doctor talking about how the beacon works.

Pleased that the man was once again able to come up with a solution on such short notice, she made a mental note to go thank him later. So far he's been invaluable to her goal of zero losses. Perhaps she'd unseal the booze cabinet once this mission was over. after all, first combat deployment deserves a celebration. If all goes right that is.

As Kayle spoke to her, she couldn't help but snicker. "Aren't we all?" she said, knowing how much she wanted to be on this ride. And if she could do some good for the galaxy in the meantime, that was a nice bonus, but bonus none the less. "Stay alive though, you can't satisfy your greed dead."

Stepping a bit back, she addressed the whole group: "You have the orders. Get in, do what you can, and don't be late to get out. We're here if you need us, so are the 302s if you find yourself needing some muscle. Good hunting!" She said, tapping her earpiece and telling security they were ready to beam.

Once they departed,s he turned to Ariadne and the resident spook Brandt. "All right, up to you two is the infiltration of selected enemy vessels if we get the chance, and by that I mean fired upon. Brandt, you'll be tasked with seizing an Al'Kesh. There shouldn't be much personnel on board one of those, but you have marines available if you want a detail rather than go in alone. As planned, Ariadne will be leading the charge on the Ha'Tak. Good news is we can now beam you on board, so you should be able to get to work immediately. Both of you stun if possible, kill if necessary. Will self destruct be a problem?" she asked, knowing what she'd do if she was cut off from her ship's controls.

Dr. Kate's alarm had grown from mildly to more than slightly. A vial of smallpox, just sitting out in the open-! Her eyes had grown a little bit wider with a shock, until something clicked in her head. That was a joke. This woman was joking. Penelope didn't like to smile around other people. But Ylva was making her grin madly. Penelope, for once in her life, didn't have to hide her passion from someone. There was danger in friendship, though. The more people that learned of her plans with ascension, the more likely the Ancients would find out and intervene in some manner. If they didn't know already. Which they probably did. Her smile turned a bit rueful. She reached for the vial and grabbed it.

Even so, people's religious beliefs probably wouldn't mesh well with her plans. Some part of Penelope's mind would forever caution her against other people. They didn't behave consistently. Their reactions couldn't be counted upon. Her own reactions were suspect, on occasion. Perhaps there was something she could do about that if she ever ascended. Why not add a little order to the lower planes of existence while she was up there? Dr. Kate neatly filed that thought away for later.

“Taking human life isn’t much of a joke, mainly when you’re the victim or have to deal with the mess afterwards," Dr. Sterling said. "I would’ve hoped those who handle such weapons would show that respect…even if it’s so easy for them to take it.”

Joseph's remarks brought Penelope back to reality. She hated him for it. Damnit, it was hard enough for her to trust someone enough to make a friend as it was, without him interfering. An idea danced through her brain. Penelope casually dropped the vial, shattering it against the deck.

"Oops. Now I've killed us all," Penelope said, staring Ylva in the eye. Ylva better have been joking. Dr. Kate was obviously confident that Ylva had been joking. Probably. "At least lead won't shatter if I drop it." She turned to Joseph. "Doctor Sterling, I have the utmost respect for human life. That's why I advocate weapons designed both to decisively end and prevent conflict. But I also like to laugh, on occasion. Behind closed doors, every professional needs to laugh."

Collab: Fallen, Sep and Prince of Seraphs

Kayle smirked when the Captain answered. The comment was slightly made in a way she hadn’t expected, a more casual tone than she was use to was used as she voiced the same desire.The Captain even managed not to make her greed sound so alone.That rather odd for Kay but she shoved it away when she ordered them to move out. That was all she needed as she adjusted her weapon, her free hand clicked her radio and spoke into it. “Ready to beam.”

She placed her hands behind her back as she tensed, her eyes shut for a moment. One thing she didn’t like was beaming as it was hard to describe and that seemed to be the most uncomfortable thing to her. At least within her mind.

Rea’c had experienced many types of transportation before, well. When he said many he mainly meant that he had used the rings before on many occasions and of course he had used the Stargate. However he had never been touched by an Asgard beam before, and it was quite similar except unlike the rings there was no warning. With the Rings you knew when it was going to happen due to the fact that you could see the rings, however he was simply engulfed by a ray of light and then appeared on the surface of the planet.

He was instantly on his guard, he was not as affected by the change in temperature and humidity as he thought Kayle might be due to her inexperience with the technology and he was instantly on his guard. He lowered his staff weapon and scanned the area. He was in a clearing, a river was behind him and the treeline was not far off. Once he established that the immediate area was clear he raised his weapon slightly however it was still at the ready, “Lieutenant Zaken, the immediate area is clear. I suggest we move quickly so that if this is a trap they do not have time to set it.”

Kay’s eyes opened, one then the other, to take in her surroundings. Her spine still tingled and her middle felt like it was twisted into knots though the beaming was long over. Naturally she saw the same thing he did from the treeline to the river, nothing seemed to have been disturbed at first glance. However, Kay knew appearances could be deceiving and going on one’s first impression wasn’t the best. She breathed in to calm her reaction to the beam, the effects fast faded, while she answered Rea’c.

“Or they could’ve already set it and waiting for us to it set off.” Her eyes scanned the horizon, panned about for any sign of life or movement. “We should move out and have a closer look, I’d rather be certain then regret it later. Let’s go and keep your eyes peeled.”

With that, she started to edge towards the river first as the best place to start.

Rea’c was pleased that she agreed with his assessment, that while it looked clear that it might very well not be clear. The best option was, as they had both said to move out. While she began to move towards the river he moved to make sure that he was keeping an eye on the area behind them to ensure that no-one came up behind them. Occasionally he saw an animal move, and he took a glance in the area to ensure that nothing had been disturbing it. “I shall follow your lead Lieutenant Zaken.”

The West River was a twenty minute walk from where Tonak had tied him up, some might have called it a bit of a hike but Aeryn was not one of them. The river lay at the bottom of the valley which meant he was walking down hill and he had long since gotten used to moving through difficult terrain. He was also elated that he with any luck would finally be getting off this rock. He would see the stars again.

When Aeryn reached the river no one had come to the spot Tonak had mentioned. They must have yet to beam down, Aeryn concluded after noticing a distinct lack of any footprints except those made by the villagers getting water. There were no tracks that looked out of place.

Aeryn decided the best thing he could do was retreat into the trees for the moment. Far enough in that he wouldn’t be seen but close enough that he could watch the clearing. In his excitement Aeryn had gotten to the meeting spot early and it was a further five minutes before he saw anything. At first it merely looked as if the sun had shifted into his eyes but a few seconds later the light solidified into two people. Both wore a uniform that Aeryn had never seen before, it’s design was purely functional Aeryn noted the odd fabric that seemed to make it up.

One of the newcomers was female, she was perhaps a little shorter than him. She had dark skin and hair that matched. She looked battle ready, clearly a trained warrior. The other one Aeryn had no need to guess his abilities, he was Jaffa.

Aeryn could guess at the training he had based on his raise and his likely upbringing given his age he grew up before the downfall of the Goa’uld and therefore would have developed under the guidance of a Jaffa master.

Aeryn thought that perhaps he could take the Jaffa in a fight, he was fairly strong and skilled with hand to hand as well as staff fighting but he’d rather not risk it with the Tau’ri girl there as well. He wouldn’t be able to win out over the two of them.

That was when an idea struck him. His objective was not to win but to be brought aboard their ship. He could try begging for asylum but there was every chance that they would say no, however if he were to be incapacitated in a fight they would no doubt bring him to the ship’s medical facilities at the very least to discover any intelligence he possessed about the planet.

The trick of course would be to not get himself killed. His best option would be to orchestrate his collapse on his own or perhaps make sure the Tau’ri woman was the one to attack him. He knew that they resorted to killing as a last resort. The Jaffa on the other hand would be a different story. There was no time like the present and Aeryn had nothing to lose and everything to gain from this. He followed them for a couple of minutes not wanting to look like he had known where they would be.

When they were a decent distance from the beam sight Aeryn switched on the crystal translator and stepped out from the bush raising the kara’kesh on his hand.

”Keep calm and collected and I might let you live.” He said facing them. I did not believe there were any Jaffa left. You should count yourself lucky that this planets leader does not find you. Now -”

As soon as he heard someone leave the treeline Rea’c had turned in the right direction and taken to a knee, readying his staff weapon and flicking the switch along the stalk in order to activate it. As soon as he heard the voice, and saw the Kara’kesh he almost laughed inside. It was typical of the Goa’uld to gloat and it would ultimately be his downfall. He fired a shot straight into the hand device before he even had a chance to activate the personal shield* The bolt flew straight and true and caught the mans hand almost dead centre and the force of the blast itself would likely cause some damage.

Rea’c immediately stood straight up and began walking towards the Goa’uld, weapon ready to deliver the final shot to the head. .

“Stop, enough. He’s down and killing him just proves you’re no better.” Kay snapped, her voice held a little irritation at herself for being so slow. In her hands her zat was already raised, yet Rea’c was the one to get the first shot off. She didn’t lower it but her finger wasn’t completely on the trigger. She had read up on the Jaffa and Goa’uld relationship though to see the actual dislike and instinct to kill was rather a reality shock. Kayle swallowed it down to remain calm as she continued. “Now, the choice is yours.”

Aeryn had expected this reaction. The Free Jaffa which if he was with the Tau’ri Aeryn could assume this one was hated the Goa’uld with a fiery passion. Areyn hadn’t expected the force behind the blow as his body was blown back into the ground by his hand. He heard a sickening crunch and his arm struck the ground cracking the bone in several places. He let out a gasp of pain. No, he had to control his breathing, he had to be Amenthes at least until he got on the ship.

He could feel twisted pieces of burning metal fused into his hands. He would have a scar from this he knew it. It was a pity to lose the kara’kesh but he supposed that it was an acceptable loss.

Aeryn forced his breath to come out in long even waves from his mouth. Concentrating on the rhythm of his breathing helped him ignore the pain at least for a little while. He could not cry out, he would not scream, he would lie and breath and pray that the physicians of the Tau’ri were competent. He did not want to lose his hand or his arm for that matter. Despite his attempts his breath still came out in ragged breath which every now and again were precipitated by a gasp of pain as his arm shifted on the hard ground.

The woman moved to stop the Jaffa from putting another staff blast between Aeryn’s eyes and it occurred to him that if he didn’t do something soon the Jaffa would kill him no matter what was said. He was strong enough to wrestle his grip from the woman Aeryn thought.

“Please,” he said through his laboured breathing, the gasps in his voice becoming more frequent, He used his other hand to move the fabric from his neck revealing the crystal voice modifier.“Just… wanted your... supplies.”

Rea’c recognized the crystal but the thing was it could very well still be a ploy to make them( let their guard down. He merely grunted and shrugged it off as he closed up the staff weapon and raised it in the air, holding it with one arm he used the other to pick up his zat from his side and he opened it aiming it back at the man. “We do it your way then, but I will take no chances.” He stood, still watchful as she indicated for Kay to move up to the man to do whatever she was going to do. “Just ensure you do not get too close, if he truly is a Goa’uld this could be a ploy to get you close enough to draw a knife.”

Aeryn tried to focus on the two figures above him but his vision kept blurring in and out. His hand was suffering from internal bleeding. The Ma'Tok staff was a surprisingly effective weapon, it categorized the wound effectively sealing it while the energy cause a great deal of internal damage that had no way to escape. He knew the symptoms well this had happened a handful of times before. He could survive all the torture in this world but that didn’t mean he could remain conscious through any form of pain. Passing out was often the body’s way to deal with something it couldn’t handle and Aeryn had not wish to prolong his suffering, he gave into to the darkness. His vision blurred and turned black before his eyes rolled up in his head and Aeryn passed out.

“And one of mine will be between his ribs before he knows it.” Kay answered and to prove her point, she reached to replace her zat with her knife. She tightened the strap upon her wrist, ensuring that if the Goa’uld tried to disarm her then he won’t get far with it, and approached with caution. Firstly she had to see if he was still alive. It would be pointless to call in a dead body when they could merely leave it here and not bother with it.

She crouched down and gently held her knife at the ready, the blade against her forearm, as she checked for a faint pulse. It thumped, much to her relief, against her fingers to show he was still alive. Personally she wasn’t sure what to make of this situation. Never once had Kay expected to find this man or the fact he had a device which shifted his voice to sound different, part of her was suspicious about it all if she was honest with herself. It seemed rather odd and that alone set off alarm bells. However she couldn’t leave him to die. Once she was satisfied with the discovery of life, she rose to her feet while her eyes were still fixed upon the body for any sudden movements and clicked on her radio.

“This is Second Lieutenant Zaken. We’ve found someone within the area who at first appears to be Goa’uld. However there’s reason to speculate he might’ve been using a voice modulating device to change his voice. Currently he’s in need of medical aid and requesting further orders.” Kay said in a calm and clear voice into it.

Kat didn't even have the time to leave the ready room yet and already there was trouble she needed to solve. Could anything just go smoothly for once? Tapping her earpiece, she connected to the ground: "Well the way I see it, either he is a Goa'Uld, in which case feel free to do whatever you want to him Rea'c, or he's stupid enough to try and act like one around us, in which case we'd be doing thew universe a favor by removing him, or he'S an undercover Tok'Ra, but we'd knew about that, right?" she said, the last words belonging more to Ariadne instead of Kayle.

Sighing, she for once wished she was worse person. "Security,s end a detail to the med bay and beam the new contact over there. Lt. Zaken, tag him for pickup. As soon as he's stabilized, I want him shipped to Earth. I'm not commander Shepard to pick up aliens everywhere." she growled, not at all happy with the prospect of possible having a Goa'Uld on board. "You two, orders stand. Continue scouting the area as planned and report if any more random Goa'Uld show up."

Barely a day had passed since she was let out of the medical ward at SGC but her deployment to the Catherine Langford had been delayed. For reasons she has yet to understand the medical staff decided it was necessary to keep her under observation, further delaying what would undoubtedly be the most incredible job she could ever imagine. It was ironic that a vaccination designed to prevent her from getting sick did exactly that. Even so, it couldn't be helped, at the very least it gave her more time to pour over the schematics of the BC-304, F-302, and the prototype R-302. Each one was it's own masterpiece and Paige never tired of looking at their specifications, she had practically memorized each ones inner workings by now. She couldn't wait to see them in person, the anticipation almost made her physically ache.

The SGC had more than enough to keep her busy in the meantime. She had been granted access to most of the labs and spent a lot of time talking with other scientists about their projects. All of the scientific staff were brilliant, which was to be expected of the world's most secret military program. There were a lot of first times going on. She had never worked for the military before, although during her time at NASA she worked on projects funded by the U.S. Military. It was her first time having an allergic reaction to a vaccine, which meant that either her immune system decided to take a dump or whatever was in that syringe was very exotic. She had been permitted, after a mountain of non-disclosure forms, to witness the Stargate in action. That one was her favorite so far.

The Stargate, a remarkable piece of technology centuries ahead of it's time. A device capable of forming and stabilizing a wormhole to transport living matter millions of lightyears across the galaxy in seconds. Similar devices were apparently scattered across the Milky Way. Watching the ring spin as each chevron was locked into place and the resulting plume of energy once a connection had been made was almost unreal. Paige was even more amazed at how beautiful the event horizon of the wormhole was, she hadn't expected to see a glowing ocean of blue when the containment field stabilized.

For now, she was "on standby" which for Paige meant that she had absolutely nothing to do. Most of her personal effects were packed away ready to be brought on board the Catherine Langford when she finally arrived, all except for a small bag with a few essentials. She laid in the bed of her temporary quarters with a tablet in her lap. She started the tablet's camera and hit record. "Hello me... and anyone else that's going to see this since it'll probably be classified or whatever. Well, I'm still on stand by same as yesterday but hopefully it won't be for much longer. Should've been on that ship by now. Stupid flu shot they gave me almost killed me and now I'm stuck in this wonderful room." She panned the camera to show the drab utilitarian quarters she had been assigned then focused back on herself. "You see? There's so much color!... They really need to give security clearance to an interior designer. Anyway, there's not much else to say. Maybe next time I'll be recording this in space, that would be awesome! Ciao!" She blew a kiss to the camera before shutting it off. Leaning back in the bed she gave sigh and said to herself. "Next time, Paige.... space..."

Kay and Rea'c

“It’s possible.” Kayle admitted though in truth, she had a distinct feeling Ariadne would’ve likely shared that detail when they arrived close to the planet. At least she wanted to believe so because otherwise, it would’ve brought her pleasant opinion down a few notches about the Tok'ra. The second Lt. could the irritation in the Captain’s voice and slightly regretted her first instinct for a moment. However she didn’t make that known while she listened to orders, nodded when they finished.

“Yes, Sir.” Her hand released from her radio, ending the transmission. Her eyes turned upon the crumpled body of their current ‘guest’ and once more hunched down to examine him. Her fingers gently edged, careful not to agitate the wound in anyway, as she noted the effects of Rea’c’s aim. To be honest, she was rather impressed by the marksmanship compared to her own though she tried to focus on her current task.

When she was finally satisfied the man would be stable enough to be beamed aboard. She retrieved a spare tag she usually carried upon her person and placed it onto the man, securing it there and then reached for her radio to have him beamed up. The familiar white beam flooded her vision before he was gone, not a trace left other than the lingering scent of burnt flesh and his footprints leading from the trees.

“Now that mess is over, where do you suggest we start looking next?” Kay asked as she dusted her hands and stood upright. Her head turned to her companion, her hand was in the process of putting her knife away without sparing it even a glance.

Rea’c put the Zat back in his holster and he scanned the horizon and the footprints of what had been the villagers heading back and forward to and from the river. He scanned around, and at the local mountainous terrain. “We are tasked with checking that there are no ambushes in the area. “I believe that our best bet would be to head to the local mountain terrain, that will also allow us to get a good vantage point of the Ancient Facility where Colonel Blaze and Lieutenant Brown are tasked to try and discover a way into the facility.”

He looked around some more, trying to get a feel for his surroundings. “It does feel like the best course of action. I believe the Tauri have devices for seeing the heat peoples bodies emit? Such a device would allow you to look down from the elevation of the mountain and look for traps.” He looked up at the local face. “It looks to be no more than half an hours walk to the base, and probably a further half hour to the halfway point. I would recommend running however I forget sometimes how long the people of the Tauri can run, as they do not have the same stamina of the Jaffa.”

Kay nodded. “I agree, a high vantage point will be rather helpful. And those tools, they are thermal goggles.”

As she mentioned them, she had already patted her side where her own set was kept. There wasn’t a point in pulling the set out until they reached their destination and motioned for him to lead, her voice added some facts about her own limitations. “Let’s try a slow pace and sweep the area while on route. I rather be thorough and slow, then be too hasty and miss something.”

With that, she got her Zat back out and held it within her hand. After the man’s appearance, she wasn’t going be caught off guard again or allow Rea’c to get a shot off. Last thing she honestly wanted was a death while on her first mission upon foreign soil, fully focus on not allowing it to happen at any cost if possible.

Ze Spy

The spy had an issue, he needed files sent back to Earth to go through channels (untracable of course) in order for the new guest to stay. He knew there was no way from he record that the Captain would keep the man on board as were Tonaks plans. He had encoded the files, however now he needed them to get to Earth. Thankfully he had the perfect opportunity. The orders would come through almost instantly of being sent out and the Captain would have no choice but keep the prisoner on as a "consultant". Of course if someone tried to trace the trail it would take years, going through side channels and political/legal loopholes. It would simply look like the IOA trying to screw with her even more than they already were.

Williams

Williams sighed, he wouldn't have to make this unscheduled report if medical procedures weren't so thorough- which reminded him to get on the case about Captain Falks blood test. He didn't like people keeping secrets from him, not one bit. Irony at one of its highest levels. He had the report condensed and ready to go, no point in having the gate activated for too long. After all in a situation with raised tensions between two sides with space vessels a massive event such as a open wormhole would appear as a massive energy signature and he didn't want it to seem as if they were attacking. He sent the report down to the gateroom and received confirmation when the message had been sent, the wormhole literally only had time to activate, settle and then was deacitvated once again as quickly as the gate and the computer systems would allow it to happen.

The message which compiled several reports mainly detailed for the request for the computer technician who was going to be Lawsons protegee to come aboard. At the same time he ensured that Lawson was duly informed to head towards the gate room in order to meet and greet her. Especially with the fact that they would be going on a mission so soon there wasn't a lot of time.

Ylva grinned slightly at Dr. Kate's reaction and chuckled at the horrified look on Dr. Sterling's face. “Oh, please… You did not really think I would risk taking anything like that out of containment, did you?” she said after she finished chuckling. The older doctor clearly did not know just how strict the restrictions were on handling pathogens on a ship like this. In fact, Ylva had not been satisfied with the security level to begin with, so she had requested that stricter control be implemented. She really did not want any outbreak on this ship. “Every sample with even the slightest chance of transmission is kept in the bio-hazard lab. Nothing larger than a sample suited for a tranquilizer dart will ever leave that lab through the door. If we end up using anything more, it will be produced therein, stored in there and deployed directly from there using the asgard beaming. No exceptions.”

She decided not to mention that there were not all that many physical samples were stored in there to begin with. The samples capable of surviving deep frost were stored in a hollow, isolated compartment on the hull, and most others were simply stored digitally as production diagrams for the asgard core. Only the ones that had to be kept fairly warm and were likely to be used, or the ones used for experimentation, were actually kept in the lab. That information was considered to be given on a need-to-know basis. At this time, the only ones who needed to know on the ship were herself and Oberst Kateřina Černá. The IOA representative probably had some information on it as well, but that was only to be expected. Since learning of the way the Stargate program functioned, Ylva had quickly learned that the IOA had its fingers everywhere. Someone in that organization would know about pretty much everything that was ever recorded. So rather than imagine that it was secret, she presumed that someone knew.

The older doctor looked calmer now, but Ylva decided it would not hurt to make him feel even safer. She would most likely have to work with him later after all. “If you're wondering, that vial contained laboratory ethanol. Nothing else. Even if there had been smallpox in it, which there wasn’t, it would have been dead. Not even smallpox can survive long in 96% ethanol.”

Ylva looked down on the floor, where the shattered vial lay. The ethanol would fairly quickly evaporate, but the glass wouldn't. “Alexei Demyan Sokolov? Would you come to the main lab?” she spoke into her radio, calling for one of the lab assistants on duty at the moment. He did not answer, but about a minute later, he came walking out of the chemistry lab. “Would you clean this up?” she asked. He nodded, clearly a little irritated at getting such a menial task. He was had no doubt expected that sort of task to be below him after reaching a master’s degree in chemistry. Vanja saw that pride in itself as a reason to make him do it. False pride irritated her. Pleased that it would be taken care of, Ylva walked away, heading into the bio-hazard lab to start one of her personal projects.

~| 30 minutes later |~

Vanja leaned over the computer. Like several others in the lab, it was not networked. She knew enough about Tau’ri system security to know that the only way to be sure that nobody could get past your walls of fire would be to not have the computer connected to the network. Of course, as paranoid as Ylva claimed she was, that wasn’t enough. No, this particular computer had been specially built, with a small crystal storage device concealed inside it. That tiny crystal was one of only two possessions she had brought with her to the world of the Tau’ri. It held almost all of her research over the years. It had taken her three years to figure out a reliable interface between it and Tau’ri computer technology.

Right now she was studying Goa’uld queen DNA, working to isolate the memory strands so that she could hopefully find a way replace those strands with the memory of a Tok’ra. She had yet to find a reliable carrier for the replacement strands, but if she could not isolate every single strand of Goa’uld memory, then there would be no point in even finding a carrier. She could not risk the chance of the new Tok’ra queen inheriting any goa’uld traits. It was unthinkable. Later she would have to further isolate the strands related to the bodily functions present only in queens. Thankfully, for that she would be able to use a comparison of the DNA from several individuals. Over the decades, she and a few other Tok’ra had managed to get samples of the DNA of countless Goa’uld, even a few other queens. That was how she had even begun to figure out where in the genetic code memory was stored. There was no doubt that this project would take many hours more of work, and there was no telling if it would even work as intended. When she finished with this round of studies, she would once again remove both the crystal and the interface from the computer, storing them both in safe places.

Joseph

Joseph flinched when Dr. Kate’s hands dropped the vial, the glass shattered upon the hard floor and sent glass flying across it. The liquid quickly evaporated into the air but he made no effort to move from his spot. He already knew the whole thing was some joke, a sick one in his opinion, and wasn’t keen to add to the morbid mirth. It was the punch line and topic that he found the most distasteful as the pale woman made a childish remark over the spilt contents. His jawline tensed yet he managed to hold his tongue when Dr. Kate turned to him and commented upon her reasons for her profession, including the fact she did value life. However her humor over such serious matters failed to ease his own judgment on her lacking humanity when she forgot he would likely be the one that would deal with the aftermath of her as well as Ms. Falk’s creations. At least if there was a body left after the damage at all.

The only notable change in his figure were the hardened eyes upon the girlish pair, especially after Dr. Kate’s comment about laughing. His head tilted to Ylva when she chuckled at both their reactions then seemed to chide him over her own procedures and the details that it was almost impossible for another to contaminate the laboratory. A fact he suspected after his chat with Dr. Ingolfsson, a man who clearly didn’t understand sarcasm and seemed more deadpan serious then even him. If it wasn’t for the red tape barrier then Joseph might’ve found the meeting slightly less irritating.

He fought hard not to visibly shrug off her attempts to comfort him, though there wasn’t a reason to, as she continued to explain more. His hand at his side merely balled tighter but didn’t move from his side, the only indicator of his slightly upset mood when she called in a lab tech to clean up the mess. The young man, Russian in his late twenties, with a strong jaw and ice blue eyes seemed to stare hard at the minor task given to him by Ylva. Instead of questioning, he merely went about to clean it.

Ignoring the busy man, Joseph’s head fixed upon the pair, a frown set in his jaw at their silliness and bad humor. First was his reply to Ylva. “Dr. Ingolfsson spoke highly of your hygiene and caution in your profession, Ms. Falk so there’s little doubt about that substance being harmless. He doesn’t seem like the type to joke much, making it hard to believe he would make up stories. It was the joke that was in bad taste.”

His eyes turned upon Dr. Kate sharply as well. “Laughter is one thing, Dr. Kate. However, the fact you consider death so amusing is rather unpleasant for me. Though I will keep in mind to laugh when I’m cleaning up the bodies left behind in the wake your ‘masterpieces’ create, if there is any. One of the few perks of being both the medical physician as well as the coroner is that I get to admire the morbid success.”

With nothing else to say to either of them, he walked into the lab to deliver the blood samples to the lab technician on duty then quickly returned to his office. The last thing he wanted was to face the gossip the pair no doubtingly would enjoy in their rants against him. There was little wonder why he found socializing to be so difficult.

Collab with Sep

Just as she turned off her Tablet there was a knock at the door. Paige knew it could only be one thing, or at least she hoped it could. Rousing from her bed she threw on one of her loose Nirvana shirts and opened the door to see an Airman waiting expectantly. He informed her that it was time for her to finally make the journey over to the Catherine Langford. Not a moment too soon, she thought.

As she readied herself for the trip through the gate she could only imagine what lie ahead. Walter’s countdown only made the event all the more dramatic. The rush of air from the gate opening once again was exhilarating. She couldn’t help but stand in awe of it’s brilliance until one of the Airman carrying her largest of suitcases nudged her slightly. Seeing his expression she knew he wanted to be somewhere else instead of dragging her monstrous luggage up the ramp. She followed in line and almost jumped in anticipation through the gate.

The gate room was simple, to one side there was a large round slab of what looked like steel several feet thick which appeared to be on some kind of hinge, indicating that it moved around and inserted itself in the gate itself. Obviously the gate plug design that would stop an incoming wormhole from forming. The room was as big as the SGCs gate room, the gate itself was an Atlantis type which to someone new to the programme would raise questions in itself about the difference, the gate wasn’t ramped and built into the floor. At either sides of the room just past the end of the plug there were slits, the ends of guns could just barely be seen pointing out of them. As the incoming travellers were identified as friendly military personnel moved out to help with the suitcases and various pieces of tech that had to be moved out of the room and to their respective locations.

An man, who appeared to be in his mid to late forties, something he didn’t really like when he was only forty two, in a lab coat walked forward ignoring everyone else but the young lab tech who was apparently going to be his responsibility. For all that he had to do he totally had enough time to keep an eye on a lab tech or computer technician or whatever she was. He admired her willingness but it was still an inconvenience. He moved up to her and offered his hand “Dr.Harper? I’m Dr.Phil Lawson, you can call me Phil or Lawson whatever takes yur fancy. I’m meant to be yur instructor so to speak, I’m tae make sure you fit in enough wi’ the ship an’ with the program. There isn’t any time for you to settle in. You need tae gear up-” He indicated to the fatigues he was wearing underneath his lab coat “-We’re gan down to the planet soon. They need me and as your supposed tae be my assistant I want you tae come wi’ me. Any problems? No? Good. Come with me we’ll get you ready.” He began walking down the corridor, she still hadn’t said anything. Likely stunned into silence. “So, can ye talk? I know its impressive an’a but I’d at least expect some reaction.”

Paige had seemingly stepped from one side if the Stargate to another but was now in a completely different place. She almost fell over as she exited the gate and was immediately greeted by an old Scotsman in a lab coat, who addressed himself as Dr.Phil Lawson. He barely gave her enough time to react before he was ready to whisk her away to some other place to get ‘geared up’ which she assumed meant donning a uniform like his own. The amount of new things to see were overwhelming and for a short while she was speechless.

Dr. Lawson beckoned her to come along and she followed quite readily. She was eager to see the rest of the ship, of course, but duty called and she wouldn’t dare shy away now. She walked briskly behind him towards what she assumed would be an armory or supply room of sorts. It took a minute for her to realize what he had said. “Oh, right. I’m Dr. Linda Paige Harper, apparently at your service. Can I just say that this the coolest fuckin’ thing I’ve ever seen? I mean we’re in space! On a spaceship! In Space! Oh wait, you said we’re going down to a planet?”

“Well there is something tae be said about enthusiasm I suppose…” He knew what it must be like for her. He himself had been ecstatic the first time he had went to space. Despite the fact that he had already been working for the programme before hand. The best sight hoiwever had to be watching Atlantis cruise through space, it made all the effort the Ancients put into its aesthetic design worth it unlike their battlecruiser which were built for function, jesus he even digressed when he was thinking to himself. He sighed as he entered the elevator and hit the “up” button rather than the down button where they had to go. He had something to show her first. “By the way, I’d keep that tone doon when yur talking to the IOA rep, he is a bit official an’ all that. Also, aye we’re gan doon to the planet. There is an ancient facility and we need tae download data from it.” The elevator dinged as they reached the top, he took them straight ahead and took a door to the right. Opening them up to what would have been the bridge had the bridge not been built inside the vessel. The observation deck.

Out beyond the rest of the ship could be seen, as well as the planet and the Ha’tak could even be seen in the distance. One of the planets moons could be seen as well in the picture. He turned back to her awestruck face. “Welcome aboard the Langford Doctor Harper.” He left her to the view.

Of all the things she could have seen in her lifetime this was right at the top of the list. Not exactly how she had imagined it but splendorous all the same. Seeing the vastness of space made the entire experience feel more real. There was one thing that stuck out more than the rest however. “Is that… an Alien Spaceship!?” Her eyes were wide open at the site of it. She had been given a vague explanation about alien species but here was an alien space craft hanging out in the upper atmosphere just outside their own space craft. It was certainly a lot to take in. She felt as if she could look out into space until the end of time but again, duty called. “I guess there’s no rest for the wicked. I still have a million questions but if we have things to do I guess I shouldn’t really waste any time staring at space like a deer in the headlights. Onwards to victory then!” Paige started for the elevator again before realizing she had no idea where she was supposed to be going and turned back to Dr. Lawson. “Maybe you should lead the way?”

Lawson ignored his desire to shake his head. He had the distinct feeling that she and Eli Wallace would get along pretty well if she ever had to use the stones to go onto destiny however he doubted that there would be cause especially as she was aboard the Langford and not on earth. “Yur right, we have loads tae dae and naw a lot o’ time.” He moved to the elevator and once they were both in he pressed the down button to take them to the correct deck. Where he walked them to the door of the female changing room. “Just hop in, take a pair o’ clothes and throw ‘em on. Preferably the yins like mine, it is going to be pretty forested down on the planet. Once yur done we’ll sort ye out wi’ the tech you’ll need on the planet.” He stood at the door waiting for her to come back out.

As she passed through the door she turned back and gave a slight smirk. “No peeking.” Once the door closed behind her she tossed her shoes on a bench, along with her shirt and jeans. Scanning the unmarked lockers for a uniform her size she finally found one that both resembled Dr. Lawson’s and was small enough to fit her comfortably. When she emerged from the changing room she took a spin and showed off her uniform for the old man. “Looks good right? Not really my color though.” Paige cleared her throat and pretended to straighten out a tie. “Right, let’s be professional. So what kind of toys do we get to take down planetside?”

He sighed, this was really going to be tough on him to look after her. Or should he say babysit. “This isnae a party Dr.Harper. Anyway we aren’t taking toys doon, a tablet each with translation programmes wi’ some diagnostic equipment and other tools to do bits and bobs. Not a lot of fancy equipment, the fanciest stuff is gan ahead of us with the recon team.” He lead her down the hall. “We’ll get a flak vest each and our gear, oh. This too.” He reached under his lab coat and pulled out a Zat’nik’atel before handing it to her. “Be careful with it, squeeze it once stuns an opponent and the second kills. Try naw to shoot anybody that is a friend. We’ll get you some practice after the curren’ mission however the noo’ we dinnae have ony time.” He lead them both to the ready room which was now empty. He pointed to a locker. “That yin for flak vests-” He pointed to another. “-That yin for your backpack with the gear.”

“Can you really blame me for being excited? Before this I was a nerd locked away in a lab working on algorithms and software architectures that might as well have been designed by toddlers in comparison.” It seemed odd and slightly alarming that she had been given a stun gun. On the other hand, It was the coolest stun gun she had ever seen. She gave it a last look over before placing it securely in her pant’s cargo pocket. She felt a little less talkative now that they would be wearing armor, which you don’t normally put on in advance unless you expect to need it. The flak vest was simple enough to put on with the adjustable straps and the backpack seemed fairly light. Once she was ready to go she gave him a thumbs up. “Let’s get to that ancient facility and crack it open.”

“Haud yur horses. We’re still waiting for the recon team to radio back in an’ then we’ll ken what we’re gettin’ intae. We need to make sure we can get intae it firs’ rather than get doon there an’ just hae to come back.” He walked out of the room. “Come wi’ me. I’ll sure you where you’ll be spending most o’ your time.” He walked out of the room and led them down several corridors. He passed a room with a keyboard and a guard. “I’ll get ya in there later. Thats the Asgard Core. Everythin’ they left behind for us in a nicely bundled up room. Access is restricted but I can get in whenever I wan’ I’m in that many bloody projects.” He nodded at the guard and continued down the hall. He was hoping the kids attitude would grow on him, as right now it was just annoying.

They past the core lab, which again he indicated to and finally they reached his own personal lab. Smaller than the core lab however it was far more private. A couple of work stations and a holographic table in the middle for building 3d models to run simulations. Similar to the one that inhabited the centre of the CIC. Thank you asgard. “This is my playpen. We got a couple o’ workstations as well as the holographic table. I’ll have tae read you into projects I hae running as soon as we’re off mission. However just noo go ahead and power up the table. You may as well get used to the interface as you’ll be usin’ it most o’ the time. Bring up file… 211 it should be a model of the BC-304 so you can learn a’ the ins and oots o’ yur new hame.” He sat at his own computer, and began booting up the R-302 project. No, it wasn’t that anymore. The X-200 project. Yeah, he may as well start a new numerical system otherwise it would be the 306 after the British ship was built and then the transport vessel in design would end up being the 307 and it would just end up a mess.

Paige listened intently as he explained everything. Once they reached the lab her ears perked up. This would be the place she was going to work while aboard the Langford. She did as she was told and opened up file 211 and sure enough a model of the BC-304 Catherine Langford appeared. She wasted no time and started picking apart the model deck by deck. She had nearly forgotten that anyone else was in the room as she concentrated on every detail.