[IC] Stargate - H.M.S Tempest

[Sep]

The Tempest is the first of its class, the EX-305 and the first British vessel under the control of the Royal Navy tried and tested in the late months of 2013 and then prepared for launch in January 2014. While her design is based upon that off the BC-303 it was changed significantly by the designers in the United Kingdom, and is the first ship to be built outside of Area 51 as the British decided to use their own resources and facilities. It is designed to be a Research and Exploration Vessel in contrast to the BC-304 which was designed specifically for combat leaving the niche wide open for ships such as the Tempest and several more are already being planned. However though she may not be designed for combat duties the Tempest is still fully capable of defending herself with four dual 4.5 inch Mark 8 Naval Gun Turrets, multiple railgun positions and six missile silos complemented with eight F-302s.

This ship is the epitome of Asgard and Human Technology. With the latest shields, hyperdrive and computer systems all complemented off with an Asgard Computer Core in the centre of the ship she is the most advanced thing to be constructed on Earth since the Ancient known as Orlin managed to build a Stargate out of a Toaster and some wire. It is the only vessel built on Earth to have a Stargate wired into the ship, the gate itself is from the Pegasus Galaxy so that it becomes the priority gate in orbit of any planet so that if the ship is in orbit it can be resupplied directly.

---

She lies in a hangar below a Scottish Loch, the doors sealed and shielded. Not visible to anyone who for whatever reason chooses to take a dive in a cold Scottish Loch. Her systems have been tested and retested making her ready for launch, only one system requires to be tested. That off the onboard Stargate and that system is soon to be tested by an incoming visitor. Sergeant William Thomas sat in the little booth of Stargate control. It was less elaborate than that of the one in the SGC, however it gave him a view of the gate and control over the gates systems, however had no access whatsoever to the rest of the ships systems to prevent anyone who managed to get in to take control of the ship from the gateroom. He activated the mic into the gateroom. "Prepare for Stargate initialization." His hands flew over the keyboard as a diagnostic ran, each of the chevrons turned green on the screen indicating that there was a connection to the Stargate. "Receding gate plug." The metallic cylinder that extended from the rear wall into the gate began receding into the wall, until a metallic clunk was heard. The symbols on the gate lit up, the gate was active and online. "The Stargate is online and ready for operation."

---

Idalia placed the last of the folded garment into the large wooden box she was using to transport her few belongings. The final things to be placed in where still on the table next to her, but before she picked them up she took the time to admire the view from her quarters one last time. The sands of the world that had become her home over the last few years stretched out below the clear night sky, looking like a sea of pale gold frozen in time. Ariadne also took the sight in, but Idalia could feel that her symbiote did not particularly care for the view. After a few seconds, she felt Ariadne’s impatience growing, and went back to the task at hand. She first picked up her Zat’nik’tel, still in its forearm holster, and placed it atop the clothes in the box. The Tau’ri had many like it, and it was more the holster that was important to bring. Next was the Tok’ra healing device that would fit over her hand. She had no need for it now, and so packed it too. Finally was a locket containing a picture of Idalia and her sister on a short golden chain.

She toyed with opening it, but seeing the picture again now would only unsettle the pair of them. Her sister had been taken by the Goa’uld a long time ago, and that was not a memory she wanted to relive. Instead, she simply placed that in the box as well, inside one of the garments.

There was a chap at the door, well, at the lax of door as there was no doors in the city built by the Tok’ra as they held no secrets from one another. At the door stood an elderly looking man, Liel who had been Adrianes guide, mentor and had more or less been charged to keep an eye on her during her transition to the Tok’ra.

Idalia closed the box, mentally asking Ariadne if she was ready, even though she knew the answer. The pair had few possessions as they had been here only a short while, and the Tok’ra placed little value on owning objects. All that Idalia had once owned had been destroyed before becoming Tok’ra anyway, except the locket. Upon noticing her guide waiting at the doorway, she realised she was slightly late. She closed and locked the box, picking it up in both hands and turning to follow the old man. “Forgive me, I took too long… I’m slightly apprehensive about this mission.”

“Would you rather you went on a mission deep cover? No, the High Council feels that this is the best mission for your transition especially as it will be your first on your own. Just remember the Tauri do not know that Adriane was once Goa’uld, and they do not need to know as she is now Tok’ra.” He walked them down the corridor, walking them through the maze of buildings.

“I know, I know…” She thought for a minute, trying to decipher the source of this sudden fear. Ariadne was not at all afraid, in fact if anything she seemed happy to be active again. It occurred to her that even knowing about the vastness of the galaxy, even having been to two worlds other than her own, it still hadn’t quite sunk in that she could actually go and see it all.
“I want to see more of this galaxy, I guess its just… fear of change?”

“Fear of change? You successfully overthrew the Goa’uld of your homeworld and became a host to a Adriane and helped her become a Tok’ra. I doubt she could of made the transition without you.” He stopped and signalled the way out of the pyramid past the columns and to the gate. “She’s all yours. The gate address is just the Earth address. Happy trails.” He turned around and walked off in the opposite direction, he’d be the last Tok’ra she’d see until she returned.
“Farewell.” Was all she said by way of reply, before walking through the two rows of obelisks towards the Stargate. She placed her box next to the DHD, and gave control of her body over to Ariadne, who knew the gate addresses far better than her, and was not plagued by irrational apprehension.
Taking control quickly, not bothering with the physical indicators due to being alone, Ariadne raised the hand that was not her hand but was and quickly pressed the chevrons for Earth. As it always did, the Stargate lighting up, then forming the brilliant cascade of the wormhole opening, finally settling at its water-like appearance. She raised the blocky device the Tau’ri had given her for identifying herself and pressed its buttons in the combination she’d been told, and waited a second or two, picking up the box.

It was finally time to stop waiting around the Tok’ra capital and go forth back into the galaxy, this time, to make it a better place.

Sgt.Thomas was waiting as the gate activated and the alarm blared on the deck with the Gateroom. “Defence teams to the gate room, incoming wormhole.” The screen gave an alert indicating that an IDC had been sent, and received as a Tok’ra IDC. “Opening the Iris.”

---

Corporal Miller was in the gateroom when the gate dialed in with the rest of Tempest Strike One. He took a knee and signalled for his section to do the same as he saw Sgt. Aldurren order hers to do the same. He nodded at her as it was indicated that their was an IDC received and that the iris was going to be opened. He lowered his rifle slightly but still stood ready to fire if the need arose. The first gate activation of the Tempest.

---

General O’Neills face was on the screen of the bridge. “Morning Captain, You all set?”

[Forsythe]

"'Evening, general." Alexis answered whipping a salute. Sparing a quick smile, she returned her gaze to the PDA in her other hand. "All of our supplies are on board, we have just tested the gate, tanks are full... Aside from the Tok’Ra, we are good to go, though 'All set' might be overselling it a little, sir. I could have used a week longer for preparations. A shakedown cruise with skeleton crew is not what I'd prefer but I'll work with what I have." Alexis answered, not sugar coating any part of it.

The government was rushing the Tempest into service. She didn't know why, but suspected it had something to do with egos of those higher than her. Both Russians and Chinese received ships before them, and battlecruisers no less. As far as she was concerned, the rush was putting her ship and crew at risk, and that was all she cared for. At least with a science vessel, they were not likely to encounter any major threat, especially since the gate addresses they will be visiting were mostly unknown, or so she has been told.

“Well I suspect your guest will be arriving soon, it’s not exactly a slow process gate travel. Sorry to say Captain but you’re going the long way around.” O’Neill worked on something off screen for a moment, handing something on. “We’ll have the Apollo on standby if you get into trouble, she’s just had her shakedown cruise after her repairs were finished. All in all it wasn’t up to me when you launched. While I’m giving the orders they have to get approved by your high command and they chose your launch date. Don’t worry, when the Hammond was launched as you’ll know she came under fire and she didn’t have backup.” Several files would of pinged up on the bridge displays as files were sent to the officers at their stations. “We’re finalizing the gate addresses right now with the star charts, while our eggheads do that you got any questions regarding your new toy? I was in charge of the Prometheus once.”

“The Hammond had plasma beams, sir, not naval guns.” Alexis noted, but didn’t give it further thought. Instead she remembered reading the report of the battle where the Apollo got damaged. In fact, she has been doing a LOT of reading lately. It was one other reason why she would have welcomed another week of time, to get to know the galaxy a little better. As things stood, she managed to cover all the combat that have been waged in space and the specs of ships she might have to go against, but much of the history was still kept from her.

“They weren’t exactly, working when she was sent out. The Odyssey was busy with the Lucian Alliance, Sun Tzu still hasn’t been repaired and the Apollo was still limping back to Earth. The Hammond had to be put out for financial reasons and she was the only ship fully available for us to use. You’ll be fine Captain, you’ll have a nice easy run to break her in. If you don’t have any questions first?”

“Wasn’t Icarus base supposed to be secret and easy run?” Alexis said to herself, unsure if the General heard, but not at all minding if he did. ”I’ve done my homework on the likely threats and the Tempest. All I have to know now is the crew and I’ll handle that during the transit. I suppose there would be questions about the difference between a sub and a space ship, but I believe we don’t have time for that. Don’t worry sir, we’ll manage.” the Captain assured, looking at the files she received, pleased to find not only mission details but also several other files she requested that contained some ideas that might be helpful to them.

“Well, being an Air Force man myself, I’m not so sure so much between the difference of a spaceship and a submarine. However, that isn’t important. You know all the rules about the Asgard core and such, the IOA rep will likely press to use it but you may of read the files that we’ve had some bad experience with IOA members and an Asgard Core. However that is for your discretion and you may hand access to it to whomever you want, the President wants me to remind you that your space program hasn’t been active as long as ours so you should be prepared for the possibility of infiltration. Though that’s for another time. Your first missions a simple one and I’ll give you the rundown. Years ago we discovered an Ancient Repository on P3R-272. We all want to know what is on the surface of this planet if anything, simple recon mission. If there is anything nice we’ll have to set up beam relays so we can beam from the gate on the planet to the planets surface. Bon Voyage Captain.” The image faded out, and as it did a bottle of wine was beamed in the center of the bridge.

Walking over to the bottle, Alexis picked it up. Herself she was an abstinent, but she guessed the XO might be pleased. Instructing a deckhand to move it into storage, she returned to her post. There was nothing to celebrate yet, not until the first mission was smoothly accomplished.

Looking over her post, she noted a few differences from the 304s. Instead of having just the chair and few controls, she insisted to have access to more functions of the ship on her own. Now there were two touchscreens on either side of the chair, one feeding her information from the crew and the other tied to the ship’s controls. Sliding her finger over the control screen and selected shipwide on the intercom. “To all crew, this is West. All hands to your stations and report. We are leaving as soon as we have all green.” she said matter-of-factly, eager to leave.

[Marrow]

This one morning Alyssa woke up a little groggy. She hadn't slept well at all. Thinking of her next mission kept her awake almost all of the night. She got up and took a quick shower. While putting on her clothes her eye fell on her alarm clock. 06:30, way too early, Nice time to trim our out of our bed. what was so important so early in the morning? Alyssa quickly strapped on her handgun and picked up her standard issue M16 assault rifle and hurried off to the gate room where the rest of the squad already waited on her. ‘Miller, what’s our status? I heard we have someone incoming?’ Alyssa ordered the men to stand around the gate in a half circle and readied her weapon, waiting for the Tok’ra to come through.

“Yes Ma’am, incoming wormhole. Tok’ra IDC, we’re expecting one too. Supposed to be one Idalia or Adriane depending on who is in charge of the body. She’s supposed to join the crew and the team. Just waiting for her to step through with her effects now Ma’am.” He gave a curt nod to his team, mimicking their somewhat late officer in raising their weapons again.

Ariadne stepped through the gate, just as she had countless times before. The sensation was familiar to her, but not Idalia, and she felt her body tense as she came out of the wormhole. She was greeted by the sight of six of Tau’ri with weapons raised. She’d heard of the famously ‘hospitable’ greetings given to incoming travellers by the Tau’ri, and so she was expecting it, but she still couldn’t help but feel like an untrusted outsider. When she spoke, her voice was hollow like that of a Goa’uld, a measure many Tok’ra took to signify who was in control. “Do you greet all new arrivals like this?” She said as she walked down the ramp, still carrying the large wooden box with her belongings inside.

Alyssa watched the Tok’ra closely as she approached her squad. As the Tok’ra stood still at the end of the ramp Alyssa spoke up. “We can’t be too careless when it comes to new arrivals, standard procedure. state your name and business please.” Alyssa waited for the woman to reply before continuing “please put down that box and put your hands where we can see them”. Alyssa then nodded at Cpl. Miller, a sign that he was to approach and search her.

Ariadne was insulted by the hostility being shown. She was being treated like a hostile. She glanced at the blocky Tau’ri device on her forearm. Perhaps it wasn’t working? It was supposed to signify that she was friendly. Her eyes flashed in an expression of rage and when she spoke again her voice was scathing. “If I were going to attack this vessel via the Chappa’ai, I would have sent Tok’kal, grenades, through first, and came in with my weapon ready.”

Before She could continue with any more remarks, her eyes flashed again and her voice returned to normal as Idalia took control. Another of the Tau’ri had approached, this one a male. She spoke hastily to allay any furtherance of hostility “Sorry, Ariadne isn’t used to arriving to see weapons pointing at her-”

Miller waved at his squad as he walked forwards towards the woman, he himself slung his L8A2 ACOG sight rifle over his shoulder, not even holding it in his hands and just letting it dangle. “Sorry Ma’am, just standard procedure.” He leaned forward slightly as he did so as well, whispering slightly so that Alyssa at the foot of the ramp wouldn’t hear. “Also, few people on the ship have experience with this kind of thing.” He stepped back. “While according to the higher ups I am not required to search your person, or your belongings, I am required to perform a scan for explosive material.” He held out a scanner, and turned it on. “Do you have any, medical devices that may be affected by the scan or any technology? If you do I will have to perform a physical search. Don’t worry Ma’am, we all go through these searches upon returning from off world.”

Idalia firmly held control of herself at that moment, ensuring her obstinate symbiote didn’t make any more remarks. She put the box down and opened it, aware of the humans tensing as she did. From it, she retrieved the healing device and the Zat’nik’tel, handing them to the closest Tau’ri. “I’d like those back right after you scan me. You really don’t need to worry. It’s just clothes.”

“I know Ma’am, but as I said we ourselves go through the same protocols, its a new ship and our first one to have a gate aboard, you’ll get used to it I’m sure.” As L.Corporal Neilson went to walk away with the Zat and the healing device he indicated for him to stay. Taking the scanner he performed a slow scan of both the Tok’ra and the box with all her belongings. Before signalling for Neilson to hand the two devices back to her. He then moved back down the ramp and turned to his commanding officer. “She’s clean Ma’am.” He turned and gave the Tok’ra a slight sympathetic smile.

Alyssa watched silently as Miller performed his duties. nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Alyssa sent a message saying ‘all clear’ to the command post as she turned to the new arrival “Welcome aboard miss, forgive me my cautious actions” Alyssa instantly lowered her rifle when she realised she had it still ready and put the safety pal back up. She swung her M16 over her shoulder, looking at her squad if they followed her lead. “If you will follow me now, I will escort you to your quarters”.

Idalia watched the Tau’ri performing their duty, and felt Ariadne watching intently and critically through her eyes, searching for some sign that these Tau’ri might be equal to all that she had heard of the race, or what she had seen with SG7’s feats against the System Lords. She took the two items back when they were offered, placing them back in the box and shutting it. “I forgive you. I wont speak for Ariadne.” Looking towards the male, she added, “Ariadne says she’ll get used to seeing weapons, but searches… uh, not so much.” She followed the human then, box once more in hand.

Miller nodded at his squad leader as she moved to escort the Tok’ra to her quarters. “All right squad, we’ve got the watch.” He moved to the other side of the room where his squad leader had previously stood, covering the gate again even though as it deactivated the gateplug was put back in place sealing the gate against any incoming wormholes.

Alyssa lead the way to the quarters for the Officers. She looked at her list and saw that the newly arrived woman was assigned to her squad. Great, she got off on the wrong foot with her. Better smoothen the edges and lighten the mood a bit. Well, if she could that is. Choosing her words carefully as she didn't want to offend the woman she asked; “Forgive me as my knowledge about other species and cultures is not proficient. I’ve heard you are Tok’ra, would you mind telling me what exactly is different from huma- I mean Tau’ri as I can’t see?”

Idalia was not particularly surprised about the question, and she didn’t mind answering it. Of course Ariadne could answer better, but Idalia could feel that Ariadne thought it was better for Idalia to handle the situation. “Actually you had it right the first time. Tau’ri refers to, I think, the people of Earth in particular, not the human species. We are different in that, as I’m sure you’ve been told, there are two of us in here. I am Idalia, and I am human, just like you. Ariadne is my symbiote, she lives within me… Anyway, we share this body, and in return I will live far longer and I am stronger. You will know when Ariadne is in control, she speaks with a different voice and my eyes will flash when she takes control. When she controls me, she controls every aspect of me, including arms and legs and hands, not just my voice.”

Convenient thought Alyssa Seems like a good deal to me. She took the elevator to the floor where the officers quarters were located. “You’ll be staying at one of our officers quarters, they are among the finest suites on the ship. Also, you will be under my command as soon as we hit the ground. Here on the ship we are equal in rank to each other.” As they reached the room for her new squaddy, Alyssa opened the door for the Woman who followed her. Alyssa accessed the communication pad inside the room and added her number to it. “If you need anything just contact me and I will either answer your questions or send someone to fulfill your request. I suggest also putting my number in your personal communication pad as we’ll be working together a lot.” Alyssa also put the room’s number in her communication pad which she usually wore around her upper arm. “I hope you enjoy your stay among us” Alyssa saluted as a greeting and took her leave.

Idalia just smiled as the Tau’ri left. It was enough effort to hold Ariadne back at the idea of being the same rank as the Tau’ri. The door shut then and Idalia turned to take in her quarters. They were similar to what she was used to, though quite a bit blockier than Tok’ra architecture. Everything else was forgotten when she saw the window. Right now it just showed a view of the yellow lit hanger in which the Tempest was being kept, but she knew that soon enough it would show the vastness of space, something Idalia had only seen in Ariadne’s memory. She put the box down, leaving it closed, and rushed over to gaze out the window. Ariadne wanted to find the captain, but she was willing to let her much younger host take in the sights first.

A few minutes later, Ariadne was once again in control. She looked at the viewing panel on the wall and poked at it for a number of minutes, trying to find a map. Once she’d found it, she studied it for a few minutes, taking in every detail and committing them to her vast memory. Then she confidently stepped out of her quarters and headed for the Bridge. She wanted to meet whoever was in charge…

[Ellri]

~| Outside the Tempest facility, near the shores of Loch Muick |~

Astridh Nic Shitric looked out over the expanse of Loch Muick. She was sure this time that it was the right loch. It had the right shape and size at least. She had not really needed to go up here, but she had wanted to see for herself whether the facility was truly invisible. Well, to be fair, it had been Eydis that wanted it. She simply didn’t mind seeing for herself. While similar in appearance to her homelands in Ireland, this region of Scotland was also very different. ‘You can see how the glaciers scoured out this lake from the bedrock. Before one of the last ages of ice upon this world, this place was flat. The weight of the ice scoured out this entire valley.’ Eydis’ thoughts flowed straight into her mind. Where these thoughts had once been unnerving and alien, they were simply natural now. Astridh could not imagine not having Eydis in there. She would have been so alone. They did not always agree, but that was only natural and provided ample opportunity to for silent discussions. They respected each other so highly that neither would try to force the other to do something they disagreed upon.

She could feel the strain the climb had put upon her legs, how they were unused to such exercise. Working on naval vessels, especially on the bridge as she had for the past year and a half, did not result in much exercise in the form of hiking. To be honest, she preferred to stay home (whatever base or ship that might be at any given time) and watch movies or read books. Only Eydis’ insistence had her exercise more. Ever since blending, she had gotten in far better physical shape, that was for sure. The fact that her appearance and health improved as a result of it, was a nice boon. She just had not had the patience for focusing on such in her youth. She hadn’t been unhealthy, but she had not been very fit either.

The view was undeniably magnificent. At some 710m, the height known as Ant t-Sròn wasn’t the tallest hill around, but it was the tallest one this close to the Loch. She was glad that Eydis had not insisted on climbing any of the others. ‘I heard that, Astridh!’ echoed into her mind. ‘I know. You were meant to.’ she answered, attaching a mental grin to the thought. Though tall, Ant t-Sròn was not tall enough to show the royal holding of Glass-allt-Shiel, where it lay to the South-Southwest. Even having some idea of what to look for, she could not see any sign of anything buried in the depths of Loch Muick. ‘The Tau’ri have once again proven their skill at construction. Had I not sensed the faint trace of naquadah down there, I would not have thought anything strange about this lake.’Eydis thought to her. ‘Loch, Eydis. Loch. Not a lake.’ ‘close enough.’

Having seen what Eydis needed to see, Astridh relaxed, letting the faint breeze cool her. She was glad they had had her spare clothes and equipment sent to the ship already. It would not have been fun to carry all that up here. And she sure looked forward to a shower and dressing in a proper uniform again. After nearly 6 years of naval service, civilian clothes felt odd. She felt almost naked without uniform of some sort. Opening a pocket, she drew out the small comm device. After the training course in crewing Tau’ri ships, she had been provided with it to use when going to the tempest. Unlike cellular communications, nobody could listen in on the signal. “This is Lieutenant Astrid Nic Shitric, Clearance Code 362156-B calling the H.M.S. Tempest. I am ready for retrieval. Beam me down.”

Less than thirty seconds later, once her clearance had been verified and her exact location found, she found herself aboard the Tempest.

“Welcome aboard the Tempest Ma’am.” The technician manning the beaming controls said to Astridh once she had materialised.

“Thank you. Where do I go from here? I have not quite memorized the layout of this ship.” This was the plain truth. She had not had time to do so, not even with Eydis’ aid.

This time the response came from one of the two marines guarding the room. “Ma’am, I’ll show you to your quarters. Please follow me.”

“Thank you.” She followed the marine, ignoring the looks of the non-navy personnel following her. She wasn’t dressed in a uniform, so it was to be expected. At least the navy and marine personnel had the sense and training not to look where they were not supposed to do so. They did not walk far before entering an elevator, taking it several decks up. Not knowing the exact dimensions of the ship or where they started in it, neither Astridh nor Eydis could tell where they went. Their shared ability to sense naquadah was no help either. There was so much around that it would take days or even weeks to get a sense of direction through it. After leaving the elevator, the marine led her on what might have been a roundabout route, but eventually they stopped at a simple door in a corridor with other such doors It had a keypad beside it. Without saying anything, the marine held out a keycard. Astridh accepted it and spoke to the marine. “Dismissed.”

After the marine left, she waved the keycard in front of the scanner, typed in her code and entered, intending to shower and get back in uniform.

~| Several days later. |~

Now that she had been here on the Tempest for a while, Astridh was finally getting used to the layout of the Ship. Astridh knew they could’ve learned it even better by studying a map, but it would be better not to get too familiar too quickly. Astridh was actually pleased that she wouldn’t be allowed down in engineering. She knew next to nothing about engines herself, and they had not been a favored study for Eydis either. Other than minor exploration of the ship, she had mostly spent her time getting used to the particulars of the Tempest tactical consoles and computer systems. Some elements were familiar to Eydis, others were very different, probably the asgard-inspired elements. Unless of course they had implemented some Ancient elements as well. Neither of them was sure about it.

Ending the Call, West took a look around. Home. Taking a moment, she looked out of the giant window in front of her, wondering what the view will be like outside of the dock. Her controls beeped as the reports started coming in, snapping her out of it. Turning to her side, she looked at her Tactical Officer. The woman was here for the shakedown, like most of the bridge crew, but between making sure the ship was ready and making sure she was ready, Alexis didn’t find much time to talk to any of the crew, and only stormed through their profiles, not that they could tell her much.

“Lieutenant, when all stations report all clear, contact dock control and get a permission to depart, we wouldn’t want to have anyone taking a bath when we leave. Once cleared Take us into low orbit.” the Captain ordered, standing up and walking to the window. Leaning on the guardrail, she looked out again. Alexis hated that chair. She was used to standing for long hours in the sub, ready to take place of any of her crew should they be incapacitated. Somehow sitting on a throne didn’t feel like command to her, and before she had it modified, it didn’t even give her as much information as a periscope. Deciding now was as good of a time as any, she turned to the tactical officer for opinion: “What do you think of the ship, lieutenant?”

For a moment, Astridh was silent, gathering their thoughts. “It is... interesting. Very different from the Navy ships I have served on before, yet also similar. This ship is so advanced. Its almost like it has been drawn out of my favorite Science fiction series. How about you, captain? What do you think of it?”
“It kind of does, doesn’t it. At least you served on actual ships. My sub barely had any guns, my things are torpedoes and missiles.” Alexis said to chip in her own on comparing the Tempest to surface vessels. “Although from what i’ve seen, the armaments are quite well placed. There aren’t many blind spots in the point defense and our main guns can project at least 50% of our firepower into any direction.” the captain noted. She might have not been happy with the caliber of the guns, but she had to give it to the designers that the ship was well built. “After all, they had the 303 and 304s to learn. If they done goofed on this one, I’d recommend Americans never build another ship.” West snickered. “That being said, the Mark IX missiles ARE impressive. I am not sure what to make of propulsion yet. Just the fact we can even reach thousands of kilometers per second in few moments without feeling any acceleration as just a little too hard to wrap my head around.”

“I never was all that fond of the how of making things blow up. I preferred to figure out the best way for the gunners to get it done. Makes it less… personal.” Astridh smiled. “If I read correctly, the reason they can do that is something called ‘inertial dampeners’ or something like that. The ability to go fast has been easy long, its just that human bodies couldn’t take the pressure involved without such. I think there was an episode of Wormhole extreme that was curiously close to the truth about that.” Astridh was silent a couple of seconds, then spoke again. “Have you seen any of that show, Captain?”

“Well that’s what the people smarter than us are here for. If they weren’t we would be collecting their salaries.” West said with an amused look on her face. Her eyes widened though at the mention of that show. “I wish I didn’t. It was ridiculous. But imagine the shock when I discovered it actually was a far-fetched version of the truth.” she said, shaking her head.

“Captain, any idea how the producers could get it even that close to the truth?” Astridh asked. “Surely those Americans wouldn’t want anything with such a number of real truths in them pass through without being controlled.”

“That’s what I thought, then they showed me the actual stargate. Naturally I started digging. You really should find time to read the SGC’s reports. Since we’re an exploration vessel, they gave us access to pretty much all of them. Some of it is interesting reading indeed. It turns out, there was an alien on Earth all this time. Somehow, he caught the wind of what was happening and decided to base the show around it. I don’t remember the details, but SGC eventually allowed it to go on, for exactly the reason you mentioned. It’s close to the truth. And eventually, they just won’t be able to keep this from the public. If they see this, they might react a little better. Or so they think.” West ended sarcastically, really not being a fan. both of the show and the public.

“Huh. I never realized. Makes sense, though. You never know what might hide in plain sight. Not with how human-looking aliens can be.” Astridh was silent for a moment, only to be disturbed by a ping from her console. “Captain. All stations are go for launch. All crew are reported to be at assigned posts. All passengers are in designated zones. We are go for launch. The honor of firing up the engines is yours and yours alone.”

Turning to face Astridh, Alexis’ eyes momentarily stopped looking straight to hers, as if West was trying to get a glimpse of the soul behind them. “Oh, the glorified push of a virtual button. How bad, I love buttons.” West said in a cold, ironic voice. Turning sharply, she walked back to her chair. Not bothering to sit down, she flipped the screen, found the appropriate control and after entering her command code, the ether was filled with the slight buzz of the engines.

The moment the engines were powered up, Astridh input the launch command, letting the ship start the process of lifting off for the first time. Even through the hull, she could feel the docking clamps releasing. She could naturally not feel them retract, but knew they did. Soon afterwards, the ship started to lift off from the hangar floor.

[An Alt]

Dr. Lee had been a resident of the Tempest for about three weeks strong prior to her official launch. They'd been rather hectic weeks at that. Even though all the medical supplies had been stocked long before his arrival, it was his job to go over everything and make sure that nothing was missing or misplaced or mislabeled or expired. Needless to say, it was tedious work, and while he'd gotten to know a few of the crew-members though his work hadn't left him much time for socializing. He figured there'd be plenty of time for that once they got into space, but for now he kept his mind focused on the necessary tasks of checking and familiarizing himself with the equipment.

While he was an expert in the field of human medicine, he'd never had the privilege of operating any Goa'uld or Asgard technology, though after some tinkering he found that the machines were quite easy to operate. The communicator on his arm was new, but came in very handy, as did the Tempest's version of a tablet, at least it sure beat carrying a clipboard around. Launch day snuck up on him though, and it seemed like he'd barely finished when he was summoned to the bridge for launch. He shed the white coat and put it away, donning the uniform jacket with the insignia identifying him as medical personnel and made his way quickly to the deck just as the exchange with the SGC came to a close, and a bottle of wine was zapped onto the bridge. That won't last long, was the only thought he had time to think before the order was given.

He felt a sudden stab of doubt, about his decision to accept this mission. It was true he was probably the most qualified, otherwise they wouldn't have asked him, but he was sure there were others. His parents would be proud of him, he knew, they would want him to go. And it wasn't as if he'd left many close friends behind. A handful that he would miss, but nothing like a wife and children, nothing to really hold him down on Earth. Just the dog, that raggedy old mutt he would miss the most, leaving him behind was probably the most difficult decision he'd made in joining this expedition.

He shook off these feelings as the engines came to life, he could feel the slightest vibration through the floor, but just barely, it was incredible. Dr. Lee realized he'd been holding his breath, and he let it out slowly, watching the faces of those around him, and for the first time since being asked to be here he felt a small thrill of excitement. This was certainly grandest adventure he had ever embarked upon, and by golly he was not ready, but it didn't matter because he was long past the point of no return.

[Rare]

A week before the launch

The sun was up in the sky, making it noon and warmer than the normal weather, Logan walked to the graves of his father and brothers to say goodbye forever. He has visited their graves for most of his life, as it was a yearly thing for Logan to do, but he was going to space and can’t return to Earth for one day to go to their graves. He dropped the roses onto the graves and said to them, “Goodbye father and… brothers, I’ll always remember you guys and pray for my safety.” he got up and walked to his car and drove away. He wanted to die on Earth, where has father and brothers had died rather than in space. However he did not care, for he knew he had a guardian angel.

Near launch time

Logan had got used to the layout of the ship and the use of the bridge, where he stayed the most than his bedroom. He was in a second control room, where he was running some diagnostics on the hyperdrive. It was a half hour before the launch could start but he had to finish the diagnostics in order to make sure it goes all well. When he was done, he grabbed his notes and walked to the bridge, in order to help start the launch but someone was walking in the same way and bumped into him. That someone was an IOA Representative, Adam McClellan, Logan knew bits of him but not his backstory or how he was picked to be on the ship. He didn’t really care for him and anyone else beside the men on the bridge and the ship. He was near the bridge until Adam bumped him, which caused his notes to drop onto the group. Logan was upset at the fact that Adam was wasting his time and said to him, “Could you watch out next time, sir?”.

“Perhaps it is you who should watch out, Lieutenant. As a matter of fact it is quite lucky I happened upon you. The IOA wants a full report on the status of the hyperdrive, it is the most advanced one we’ve put out yet we’re very interested to find out how effective it is. I’m sure you can understand these things aren’t exactly very cheap are they?” He put a hand on the mans shoulder, pushing slightly turning the man around back in the direction of the secondary control room. “So how are these engines functioning in simulation? Would you say they were worth the extra expenditure or are they just like the older models you trained with in simulations?”

Logan didn’t have the time to give a report of the hyperdrive to the IOA he needed to be at the bridge as soon as he can. As he put his arm on Logan’s shoulder, he wanted to punch him in the face for the sudden action but he was a member of the IOA. “Well sir, the engines function perfectly its faster than our other vessels. It could be said it’s one of the fastest vessels to date, not that it is faster in sublight but you know what I mean.” said Logan as he checked the console in the secondary control room. He needed to get to the bridge before it got any later, needing to think of an excuse to stop talking to the man, “I’d love to stay and talk to you all day but I must go to the bridge so I can set up for launch.” Logan had the notes in his hands but he had to take them to the bridge so the crew could check the status of the hyperdrive for comparisons between the simulations and the real deal.

“You have some time left, I just need you to send me a copy of the simulation results-” The entire ship shook slightly as the docking clamps were released and a low hum began to resonate through the ship signalling that the ship was ready to launch. “However, perhaps I have kept you too long on this occasion. You better get going, you don’t want to be late for the launch of her Maiden flight.”

When the entire ship shook, he ran before hearing the mans words, he wanted to punch him in the fucking mouth so he couldn’t talk for a month or so. He ran to the bridge, pushing some people to make way to the bridge before the ship could launch. He made it to the bridge in time and said to the captain, “Sorry Ma’am, I was in the secondary control room but then some IOA guy made me late but I have the data for the hyperdrive. Also the sublight engines are green, they’re good to go.”. He knew that it wouldn’t be the last that he hear the man’s voice again, Logan wouldn’t be a happy camper to see his face again. He sat down on his chair and put his notes beside him and sat on his chair.

[The White Wolf]

Alexander stood idly at attention, his eyes focused on the clock that was hung on the wall behind the old oak desk situated in the centre of the room slowly ticking away. He was currently in the Office of IOA Representative Adam McClellan, or otherwise known to Alexander as the devils lair within which the devil resided. The two of them had made acquaintance before hand while Alexander was serving under the command of Stargate Command. When he had received his transfer orders he was sure he would not have to see the man again, but alas, he was very wrong. The clock kept ticking away, each stroke of the hand signalling another second less he would have to suffer being in the presence of an IOA representative. Alexander cleared his throat.

“Evening Mr McClellan, what can i do for you?”

A slight hint of annoyance in his tone after realising he would be serving on the same ship as the man, whom as far as he was concerned, had bad history with.

Speaking in his typical broad Scottish accent he signalled at one of the comfortable leather chairs on front of the desk, being an IOA representative he did have access to the more luxurious items on the ship. He doubted even the Captain could be in such comfort while at work, however there was benefits in both a political and a scientific calling. “Corporal Johnson, take a seat. If you please, don’t worry it’s just a standard meeting. Nothing to be worried about, unless you have something to tell me?” He raised his brow at that, almost baiting the man.

Alexanders eyes glanced in the direction that Mr McClellan had gestured, he had no desire to sit but simply conceded and took a seat furrowing his brow slightly, not wanting to spend anymore time than absolutely necessary in this room. He then straightened himself up, resting his forearms on the arm rests, his eyes meeting with that of the devil.

“There is nothing i wish to inform you of Mr. McClellan. But if you may, can we get to the point of this meeting?”

“Down to business? I can do that.” He straightened himself up, placing his elbows on the desk and clasping his hands together he rested his chin on his hands and looked at the man sitting opposite. “Simply routine, Mr.Johnson-” Sniding at the use of Mister, the man opposite him knew very well his title after working in the SGC. He’d never understand why the IOA were so unpopular however it really wasn’t important, he did his job and that was all he could ask for. It wasn’t his fault if these military types didn’t get along with him, he knew of how people back in the SGC called him the Devil however the true devil on this ship was another Doctor with a far more sinister reputation. “I am just here to find out how you are settling in, I know from your record you’ve had some… unsettling assignments, and now you’ve been shipped to a long term operation on a space faring vessel all by yourself with none of your squad mates. I just want to make sure you’re coping okay, and if you have any problems to let you know you can come to me. So, how are you coping with the transition?”

[i]‘Mr.Johnson’..[i] his lips pursed slightly he knew that McClellan purposely did that to try and provoke some reaction out of him, but he would do his best to deny that privilege to the man. He knew after this meeting was over he would be free to roam around as he pleased and would make a mental note of going to meet the new members of his team in the gate room.

“I see.. well everything is running as smooth as it can be it would seem. I am emotionally intact, all systems are green, my legs are working and so are my arms. So it is safe to say that the transition from one place to another went smoothly. I have yet to meet my new teammates, which is what i will be doing as soon as we are done here and i will be [i] sure [i] to inform you of [i]any[i] problems that i have if the need arises.”

“Very well then.” The entire time he had been writing down in what was obviously the other mans file, in a pen that would probably be more expensive than the uniform the other man was wearing. He always enjoyed these earthborne posts, he could wear a regular suit however as soon as they launched he would be expected to wear ship fatigues most of the time and he wasn’t looking forward to it terribly. “Do remember and be somewhere with a Window for the rising? By my reckoning it should be quite impressive as we rise out of the Loch and up into space.” He closed the file and put down the pen. Standing up he took the file over to a cabinet and placed it away. “That will be all Mr.Johnson. Good day.”

Alexander had already made a mental note to be at a window during the rising, he had heard snippets of conversation while walking here that it was to be a spectacular spectacle. He stood from the leather chair and slowly made his way to the door before turning around to face the Devil one last time for this day.

“Mr. McClellan, Good day.”

With those final words he departed from the Devils lair and entered the comforting confines of the H.M.S Tempests hallways and slowly but surely began making his way to the gate room where he would greet the new members of his team.. and educate the naive brits on what the IOA really are if he had time.

Alexander relaxed himself now that he was back in an environment he was familiar with, crew members were rushing up and down the confined hallways, preparing the ship for its ‘rising’. A term that he had heard people use to describe what was literally the rising of the ship into space. He wondered if that was actually the technical term for it or just made up jabber from the crew. Rounding the corner into the gateroom he was greeted with the sight of men and women armed and standing around doing various duties, he raised his hand in greeting.

“Evening ladies and gentlemen, i am looking for the members of Tempest One, any idea where i could find them?”

Miller stood forward from the ramp. “You’re looking at them, or us. Most of us anyway, the Sergeant is off showing the Tok’ra to her quarters, so I presume that you’d be our new medic?” He walked down the ramp until he was standing on the normal ships floor.

Alexander nodded, extending forth his hand to shake that of Millers. “You would indeed be correct in that assumption. Corporal Johnson at your service. Whom am i addressing?”

He raised an eyebrow at the mention of a Tok’ra.

“ A Tok’ra you say? Well i’ll be damned, i haven’t seen a Tok’ra in a while, and i least of all expected to be serving on a ship with one. What a pleasant surprise”

Miller pointed at the insignia and the badge on his uniform. “Well, I appear to be Corporal Miller. As far as my uniform tells me anyway, I might be in the wrong one. Second in command of Strike One, demolitions expert. Nice to meet you anyway.” It was a genuine pleasure to meet someone who also had experience with the Stargate program. Most of the other folk from the UK who went to Atlantis were back in Atlantis. “Anyway, better a Tok’ra than a Wraith. Damn those guys are scary. So this is the rest of the team…”

The ship shook slightly, interrupting the introductions. “That’ll be the docking clamps, we should get ready to be away.”

[Queen Raidne]

Lt. Commander Creon Thomas stared at the video screen. It was segmented into four views - each a cell in the ships brig. This deck was completely self-contained, with its own life support - no Die Hard escapes here, thank you very much. Every cell but one was empty. The seaman in suite 3 had been repeatedly late, and was finally caught with contraband of the extraordinarily alcoholic variety. While the Royal Navy normally had a comparitively lax policy towards alcohol, Creon had never appreciated it. Too many disciplinary actions could be prevented with a tighter policy. And while he had no power to change the regulations, he did have the power to interpret them a bit loosely. Might as well start now. Alexis, however, had made Creon swear that they'd embark with a clean, fresh start. That included the utter pillock who'd managed to land himself in the brig before they'd even launched the ship.

But damned if he'd let the sailor get out of it without a stern talking-to, nor would he let him out a second before Creon absolutely had to.

"Open suite 3," Creon ordered the marine on duty. The door opened with a low mechanical whine. Creon stepped inside, and nodded at the marine, who closed the door behind him. Creon stared at the seaman, who had immediately stood at attention. "I'm going to make one thing clear. You should be in here for another week. I don't know and I don't much care what the policies were of other vessels you served on. But you're on the Tempest now, the pride of the United Kingdom, and you will act like it. The captain insisted you be released, and so you are." The sailor (almost) visibly heaved a sigh of relief. "So help me, if you are not the model of a modern sailor, you'll serve two weeks in the brig. Clear?"
"Aye, sir," the sailor said.
"Good. Now get your to your post before you're late again. Dismissed," Creon said, nodding at the camera. The door opened, and the sailor practically ran out of the room. Creon checked his watch. He had only a few minutes to find their guest and escort her to the bridge. There was another lecture forming in his head. He didn't know how the Tok'Ra did things, but from what he'd heard, there wasn't much of a chain of command. Like hell would he let that happen. The last thing they needed was a rogue agent on the ship. Bad enough that they already had to deal with half a crew's worth of civilians. Creon could only hope that the civvies would know enough to stay out of the damn way if push came to shove. God, when did he get so old that all he did was talk at people.

He turned the corner. One spacious grey metal bulkhead after another - it still felt like a luxury ship, but a luxury ship was a ship, and not a converted underground missile silo or office tower or any of the other thirty-odd identical briefing rooms he'd been in over the past few months. The corridors still surprised him with how wide and almost bare they were. He'd thought that space would be at a premium, like any other warship he'd been on - especially since the Tempest was a space ship. Heavier weight, harder to launch, harder to control. Then again, maybe that was the point - the Tempest wasn't a warship. It was an exploration vessel. Some small, stubbornly-civilian part of him noted that the corridors, however spacious they'd seemed to him, were actually still fairly narrow and cramped.

Damned if they needed an advisor, anyway. The Royal Navy had been exploring the seas of Earth for centuries, and they hadn't gotten into too much trouble yet. And as much as the Americans liked to lay claim to space, this ship was British built, British modified, and British improved. Creon turned another corridor and nearly ran headfirst into the Tok'Ra. After giving her a brief glare, he spoke.

"I'm Lt. Commander Creon Thomas, the Tempest's Executive Officer. You must be the Tok'Ra," he said, eyeing her nonstandard dress. "I'll escort you to the bridge."

He turned around, walking toward the elevator. The lecture was foaming in his mind. Chain of Command.

~o~0~o~

Dr. Ishpetyr stared at the pile of papers that had miraculously appeared on his desk. Despite the tablets provided by the Royal Navy, some forms and memos just refused to die. Fine. Half of the ridiculous paperwork that he'd had to do was grant the scientists who obviously would need to be in engineering access to engineering. That was a boon and a hindrance. Abel felt that the Captain would overrule him if he abused it to any obvious degree, but if he could take advantage as long as he was subtle about it.

The truly important paperwork, of course, wasn't written down digitally or otherwise. Players of the game. Dr. McClellan - politically savvy, intelligent, likely to get in his way; probably able to build a small power base amongst certain civilians. Dr. McClellan, fortunately, seemed to be allergic to manners. To be sure, you had to demonstrate power in order to weild it; but the adage of love over fear existed for a reason. Captain West - truthfully, she was something of an unknown to him. She might be playing the game, or she might only be doing her job. Was she a pawn to be maneuvered, or a hand playing against him? The XO, Lt. Commander Thomas, was obviously a pawn. He'd heard the man spouting something about duty and country, and that's all he'd needed to hear. The Tok'Ra, Ariadne, was likely to be a player - even from her lowly position on one of the strike teams. Abel had the distinct feeling that she'd be playing up her "Advisor" status to the point where she'd be on the bridge, "Advising" any of the crew that she could get her hands on, within twenty-four hours of boarding the ship.

The civilians would be split down fairly simple lines. If they were a researcher, Abel had them as their boss. If they needed access to engineering, Abel could at least make a play for them. The rest were already likely under Dr. McClellan's power. The true people that they'd have to play for would be the military. And the key would be Lt. Commander Thomas.

He had a second list in his mind. It was currently empty, with a bright light flashing "need more information". It was the list of people who were connected to "Icarus".

The game was set, the players were ready, and the ship - just now, a low rumble permeated his office bulkhead - was launching.

[Forsythe]

Ariadne had almost reached the Bridge elevator when a Tau’ri male arrived, apparently with the intent of taking her to the bridge. He’d said he was a ‘Lt. Commander’ which equated roughly, in her mind, to a First Prime or Underlord. His greeting seemed respectful, but there was an edge in his tone she couldn’t quite identify yet. “You are the Underlord on this ship then Creon Thomas? I am Ariadne. It is an honour to make your acquaintance.”

“Right. It’s a pleasure having you aboard,” he said, neutrally. Underlord? Like hell. Creon added that comment to the mental list of things to lecture about on the elevator. For now, though, he held off, waiting for the doors to close. It wouldn’t do for a marine or sailor to see him “talking” to their guest. She did, after all, technically outrank them. Not to mention that he didn’t need the crew treating her as any more of an outsider than she already was. The doors closed smoothly shut.

He hit the emergency stop button, turned calmly to her, and contrary to his usual methods, kept his voice in an even, quiet monotone. “I don’t know, and I don’t care how the Tok’Ra do things,” he started. Damnit, he needed a better way to start these lectures. “But on board this ship, my rank is Lt. Commander, not ‘Underlord’. And however much freedom you may be used to operating with - let’s get one thing clear - there is a direct chain of command on this ship, and it ends with me. Captain Alexis is not your commanding officer. Captain Alexis is God. And if she says something, then you’re going to do it like God himself told you. Am I clear?”

Ariadne stared at the taller man for a few seconds after he finished his tirade. She’d hoped to get away from exactly this kind of thing when she’d joined the Tok’ra, and was taken aback by seeing it in the Tau’ri. She could hear Idalia urging her not to do anything extreme, but that wasn’t her plan anyway. “You sound exactly like a Goa’uld Underlord. I don’t think you quite understand the idea of a Commander being a god either. The System Lords styled themselves as Gods, and having served under them in the course of my infiltrations, I know what it is like to have a ‘God’ above you. It was my understanding that the Tau’ri were different. I will not treat your commander as a God. Because it is the Tok’ra’s purpose in existence to eliminate false gods. As it happens, I was simply trying to ascertain your role with the comparison, the Tau’ri have many more ranks than I am used to. And for the future, when talking to any among the survivors of the System Lords reign, the idea of someone being a god does not get a favourable response, especially without the death threats that usually came with it.” Ariadne could feel Idalia’s amusement at the whole situation, but she could also tell her host was masking a very primal fear and anger at the idea of being under the thumb of a ‘god’.

He took that as a ‘no’.

“That’s not quite what I was…” Creon started to say. He was a little flummoxed, actually. Even his usual unusual approach seemed to have failed him. He felt, in fact, like he was back on his first ship. Way back when highly important messages were delivered by hand. And he’d accidentally dropped one overboard. He was, in short, simultaneously in over his head and in some trouble. Which was when he snapped himself out of it. He was an XO, not some seaman greener than leaves in Spring.

“If we ever meet a Goa’uld,” he said, much more confidently, “then I will fight next to you until either we die or it dies. So long as you follow orders, I think we’ll be fine.” He pressed the bridge button again. Creon didn’t want to be anywhere near someone who could throw him so off balance.

Seeing that her response had the desired effect on Thomas Creon Ariadne lightened a little. What he’d said by way of reply was, according to the Tok’ra philosophy, simply a rule of existence. Goa’uld existed to be cast down. She was still unsure herself, she was mostly happy she’d seen the fate of the Goa’uld early enough to survive it. She didn’t feel the need to add anything to the conversation. She’d follow the orders of the Commander because this was the territory of the Tau’ri, and she was here voluntarily. It seemed strange to her that the Creon Thomas felt the need to tell her. She simply turned back to face the door, stepping out into the corridor as it arrived moments later.

The elevator doors opened, and Creon stepped out. He automatically pulled out his badge and showed it to the guard, who scanned it and let him through. He muttered, “Add her to the 24-hour bridge access list,” as he passed the guard. Creon stepped into the bridge, waiting for Ariadne to get through.

Ariadne saw the method by which Creon Thomas entered and pulled the card she’d been given from the sash at her waist. The man guarding the door looked up at her with an expression of surprise on his face. She was probably the first alien he’d seen. Ariadne flashed her eyes at him, just to drive the point home, laughing mentally even as Idalia told her off. Then she entered the Bridge, leaving the flummoxed human in her wake.

As Alexis lifted her gaze from the controls, she saw the door in the back open and the XO along with who she assumed was the Tok’Ra walk through. The tiniest of smirks appeared on her face as she turned to Astridh: “All crew reported to be at assigned posts?” she said, a hint of joke but also a silent reprimand noticeable in her tone. She has been briefed about what Tok’Ra are and that there are essentially two minds in the host human body, yet she expected something at least a little bit different about them. Small things - The composure, body language - but apparently, their role as infiltrators was very well trained. Waving her hand, she motioned for the Tok’Ra to approach.

The doors were opened swiftly - it seemed the ships commander valued the alliance with the Tok’ra, even if some of the inferiors didn’t understand. She walked over to what appeared to be the lords chair, a woman standing beside it. The Pel’tak of this ship was quite different to that of a Ha’tak or Al’kesh, even more so than she had been expecting. According to Tok’ra records, Tau’ri ships were designed based off of Asgard technology now, even though the early ones had used much Goa’uld technology. Still, she kept her attention focused on the ships Lord for now, there would be time later to marvel at the systems and the view. The woman stood as a Lord should, yet she was dressed in the same accoutrements as the rest of the people on the bridge. That gave Ariadne pause for a moment. But only a moment. As usual, her voice was slightly deeper and hollow when she spoke, although this time it was respectful.

“You are the Lord of this ship?” She trailed off in such a way as to make it clear she was also asking the woman's name.

Captain West continued to observe the new addition to her crew as she approached. From her stance she got a sense of pride and maybe a speck of superiority. With anyone else she would have expected a report to duty and to be given the assignment order, but she was prepared to welcome the Tok’Ra representative according to diplomatic protocol, but when the woman simply asked a question without as much as a greeting, her mood went down a peg. Getting the hint at the end, she decided not to be (too) conflicting, but also to stand her ground: “That I am. Captain Alexis West. You must be Ariadne and Idalia. I trust your quarters have already been assigned to you, and that you received….,” she looked at her XO suspiciously, “a … Warm welcome?”

So it was this woman. That was good. If one of such apparent commanding bearing had been less than the Lord of this vessel, Ariadne would have been disappointed at the mismanagement of resources. She nodded her head in deference and spoke again. “It is an honour to be aboard your vessel-” She was unused to the titles the Tau’ri used. They made little sense to her, but then the Tau’ri had long ago dissociated ruling with the command of armed forces. Ariadne had often wondered if that was why they were so effective. “Captain Alexis West. I have seen my Quarters, and I must say that Idalia is quite pleased with them.” She paused for a moment then, conferring with Idalia about whether to give an honest opinion or a diplomatic one as to the welcome. Given what she’d already said, Idalia suggested the diplomatic one, and Ariadne agreed. “My welcome to the ship has been… mixed. Nothing I cannot forgive, however. Some friction is to be expected when two cultures collide.”

From what she said, Alexis would have gathered it was the symbiote speaking, although the deep voice gave that out straight away. Nodding once sharply, she had a few things to say. “And we are honored to have you here. I understand you are here as the representative of the Tok’Ra, but you either volunteered or was assigned to my primary strike team. As such, you DO fall under our chain of command. I just want to be clear on that. I understand you have many centuries of experience, which gives you some benefits to your position, and if your CO on the ground is not using that experience or is misbehaving to you in any other way, I want to know of it. I will not have an incident that breaks the alliance happen in my crew.” She said, taking a breath and softening her tone a bit, “Also regarding your experience, I will confess that the ship and crew are new, and that includes me. If by a chance you see us doing some critical mistake, I would gladly listen to your opinion and advice, preferably on personal channel straight to me, or to Tactical Officer Nic Shitric.” The captain said, indicating the Lieutenant with her hand, ”If you’re right, good for us. If you step out of line, I’ll have you for lunch.” she finished. “If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them. I will also ask you to remain here for now, we are about to clear the dock any second now and just in the mild chance something fails miserably, we can not have people wandering through the halls. Besides, we have the best seats in the house.” She smiled, pointing over to the bridge window.

As far as introductions to service went it was a far more polite one than most Ariadne had received in her long life. Most System Lords generally threatened you with death if you failed them more than once. Since the Tau’ri were not known for cannibalism, she gathered that the reference to ‘eating her for lunch’ would be figurative rather than literal. Idalia was nagging her to get a view through the window before they launched, as well as quite happy to hear they’d been asked to stay on the bridge, and the feelings of her host washed over Ariadne, mellowing her otherwise stern mood. She smiled and turned to face the window. “When you live as long as I have, you learn how to be patient. There will be no incidents. I am not very familiar with your culture, however, as you are likely not familiar with mine. I will try to avoid having that become an issue. Now if you will excuse me, Idalia has been nagging me to let her take in the sights.” She lowered her head for a moment as she relinquished control to her host.

Just as West was about to head for the window herself, the navigation officer stormed to his post, apologizing for being late. “It’s all right, man your post.” West quickly waved to him, making a mental note to go talk to the IOA representative to explain who ran the ship. Taking a stand at the window, she looked out, taking the scenery in for a fraction of a second before giving the order: “Take us out.”

[Sep]

The Hanger flared green, as a shield was activated below the door. A fraction of a second later, perfectly timed the hanger doors began to separate. The shield flashed as the weight of the water began pushing down, trying to obey the laws of gravity only to be betrayed by the wall of pure energy. All this time the hum of the ship had steadily been getting louder, to anyone outside the ship. The Tempest lifted off her legs, only a fraction allowing the ship to compensate to being held under her own power as the legs retracted up and into the hull.

Data poured over the screens on the bridge and throughout the ship, crew staring at their screens and scientists pouring over the data for analysis. Finally the doors finished opening, the sky not even visible through the relatively small body of water. The green light was giving, signalling the various officers of the ship that she was fully functional and cleared for launch as the main engines were brought online. Nearby villages the next day would talk about thunder during the night without even a drop of rain from the sound of the engines igniting.

From outside, Officers of the Navy and members of the Royal Family gathered in Glass-allt Shiel to watch the launch. The Loch sat calm and undisturbed but nought by the wind. Then as the Tempest bridge entered the bottom of the loch, followed by the nose, waves began to form from the centre of the Loch. Lashing against all sides, one after another as if a storm had taken place only on Loch Muick and nowhere else, then she became visible. The Tempest. She rose majestically out of the water, when her entire body was out of the water the waves began slowly to settle. Only then did the letters on the side of the vessel light up with H.M.S Tempest. She almost hovered for a moment, before her drives flashed again and she tore off and up into the sky as to try and avoid detection, some would see lights from the vessel though think nothing on it for many more were inside drinking their tea after a hard days work.

After entering orbit, everyone on the bridge looked in awe out at the stars. While the ship had done a test run on a Skeleton crew many of the crew had never been in space, and those that had were still dumbstruck by the vastness and the beauty of it all. Spirits were high, as the crew of the bridge turned to the Captain, and brief cheers of joy could be heard echoing from down the corridor. Looking back to the crew, west gave a small nod of approval, but much was still ahead. “Allright people, moment’s over. Let’s explore the galaxy. XO, you have the bridge. Weapon and tactical officers, briefing in five minutes.” Alexis said, tapping the intercom, “All members of Tempest Strike One report to the briefing room.” she said and headed there herself.

[Sundered Echo]

Idalia looked on in amazement as the ship entered the water, finding it odd that it washed down over the windows. The light filtering in made quite a difference to the Bridges ambiance, but Idalia was more focused on the myriad small fish that seemed to be swimming as quickly as they could away from this sudden invader of their territory. The Tempests stay underwater was a short lived one though, and just as quickly as water had washed over the bridges main window it then washed away. Moments later, the vast bulk of the rest of the ship broke the surface, seeing the sunlight for the first time as the water of the Loch flowed off it. They hovered in the air for a moment, giving Idalia a brief view of the world the Tau’ri called home, before the ship sped off, angling upwards to escape the atmosphere and any prying eyes.

If the rising from the Loch had been impressive, something even Ariadne admitted, then the arrival in space was even more so. Idalia marveled at it as the earths atmosphere fell away below them, having moved so close to the glass that her nose was just about pressed up against it. She ignored Ariadne’s reminder that she was embarrassing them, looking anything but dignified at that moment. She was in Space! To see it with her own eyes brought so much more feeling than the images in Ariadne’s vast memory.

She dimly became aware of the captain speaking, in time to hear that Strike One was wanted in the briefing room. She continued to stare out the window until Ariadne gently reminded her that Strike One included them. And that the Briefing room also had a panoramic window.

[Sep]

((Bridge Crew can begin their exit hyperspace Collab whenever they like, Forsythe or Ellri must start it. It can be a slow collab like via pms would be or a fast collab when you are all online it is up to you. Same applies for ground crew, we will get our gear whenever we are ready. Anyone can initiate this collab. If you start it mention WHAT collab sheet you are using (Collab 2 or 3 will be taken by Jedi Exile).))
===Post Roster====
Forsythe - Cpt. Alexis West
Marrow - Alyssa Aldurren - SGT
Marrow - Ethan Tassar - WO
Sep - Corporal Miller
WhiteWolf - Corporal Alexander Johnson
Echo - Ariadne/Idalia

==============

Corporal Miller didn’t see the lift off, as with the rest of the squad they were still standing around the gateroom AS ordered, Sgt.Aldurren had been escorting the Tok’ra around so likely she would beat them to the briefing room which was at the other side of the ship entirely and up several decks. He gave a wave of his hand pointing to the door to indicate for them to move out. Of course formation wasn’t really necessary right now they were just walking down the corridors.

He hung back, waiting for Corporal Johnson to catch up. “So, what you expecting out there? I read that you served however it didn’t clarify if you were Pegasus, Milky Way or Ship bound.”

Corporal Johnson waited while the rest of the team filed out of the room and were funneled down the corridor towards their briefing locale. He walked over to Corporal Millar and followed him through the doorway into the corridor and walked side by side with him. He nodded at his last remark “Strange that it didn’t clarify, must be a mistake. I served with the Milkyway teams. I take it this is your first rodeo Corporal Miller? As for what i am expecting, well i am unsure, i guess we'll just have to find out when we hit the dirt.”

“Probably due to my clearance, that it didn’t clarify. I am just a lowly Corporal. Anyway no, it isn’t my first Rodeo hence why I mentioned Pegasus. I’ve done a couple of tours out in Pegasus including when it came under siege by the Wraith. So I’ve seen my fair share and hope that we don’t come across anything like that.” He continued up the corridor. Within several minutes they arrived at the elevator, stopping on their way to pack their gear in the nearest armory. They would be the last to the briefing...

Sgt. Aldurren went to her own quarters after she escorted the Tok’ra to hers. she went to her own quarters to drop off her rifle. however she kept her pistol on her. She bound her hair back to a knot and checked her comm systems. She was way closer to the briefing room then the rest of her squad so she took her time. when she arrived she saw she was still the first one there. Alyssa decided to wait while casually leaning with her back against the wall next to the door.

Idalia came out of the lift with the Captain and led the way to the briefing room. It was a very short walk, and when she got there she noticed the rude human woman from the gateroom waiting outside. Wonderful. She’d have to control Ariadne on this. She wordlessly passed the woman by and went into the briefing room. Upon seeing the large window that dominated it, she moved to the chair closest to it and sat down, awaiting the others.

Though Astridh had seen Eydis’ memories of taking ships into orbit, they were nothing like seeing it for herself. It was so vast. So magnificent. Thankfully she had not had any need to do anything during their rise into orbit, for she was not sure that she would have been able to perform them, not even with Eydis’ prompting. Once they were in high orbit, the captain ordered a briefing in five minutes. Astridh let Major Ethan and Captain West lead the way to the briefing room, satisfied with following along behind. As she did not have anything specific to say to them at the time, she walked in silence.

One by one the rest of the task force piled into the room, taking up seats at the same area of the table allowing the ships crew to all sit together, which put them beside the window as they chose to sat with Idalia/Ariadne rather than leaving her sitting off on her own. Miller sat down beside Corporal Johnson, who had been telling him all about the I.O.A and how annoying and apparently evil they could be, he’d wait until he had a first hand experience until he decided for himself…

Walking into the briefing room, West seated everyone down with a wave of a hand. "At ease people." The captain said as she walked to the front of the room and set her tablet on the desk. Turning to face the room, she counted the heads to make sure everyone was there. Satisfied with the number, she began: "As you all know, our long term mission is to investigate gate addresses that failed to connect from Earth. We are to get to the planet, find the gate, and if possible make it work so SGC can take over. Failing that, it is our duty to perform recon. Our first mission is not the case, however." Alexis said and switched something on her computer, the screen behind her coming to life with an image of an empty room.

"P3R-272. We know the gate is operational, but this is all we've ever seen of it. The gateroom appears to have no exit whatsoever. SG-1 however found something else. An ancient repository of knowledge. Incidentally, at the time Colonel O'Neill activated it and had all of the knowledge of the Ancient civilization downloaded into his brain. The full report has been sent to your computers." West continued. "Given the Ancient presence and our utter lack of knowledge about the planet, we will be dropping out of hyperspace far enough to perform long range scan." Alexis shifted her gaze to Ethan: "When we drop out of Hyperspace, I want shields up and weapons powered. We should be out of range of any possible defenses, preventing us from being targeted as threat.”

Her next words were for Astridh: ”Next I want the planet scanned for those defences. If we're clear to proceed, we will approach and find the beacon that was left in the gateroom to localize the stargate." Taking a sip of water from the glass she brought, West turned her attention to TS-1. "Once we see what is there to see, you will be sent to investigate anything of interest. I want to stress out that last time, it took the Asgard to erase the knowledge from O'Neill's mind. The Asgard are not here anymore. Do NOT stick your head into any alien facehugger, or otherwise interact with any technology. If you find something of interest, report and a scientist will be sent to your aid. I will also have a recon 302 ready for you should you require aerial survey." she summarized the assets available to them.

“Should there be anything major, we are to beam the local Stargate out of the gateroom to provide SGC with access to the planet. If we can’t do the same for the DHD, we’ll need to inform Earth to bring a naquadah generator to dial home. Are there any questions?” the captain asked. Seeing no reaction, she nodded: “That would be all. dismissed.” she said and walked out, returning to the bridge. “Navigation, take us into hyperspace, course: P3R-272. drop us out half an hour early, I want to get a good look at the planet before we approach.”

[Sundered Echo]

~~A few hours into HYPERSPACE~~

Ariadne walked slowly through the corridors of the ship, taking in the details, what few there were, of the walls. She’d been summoned by the ‘IOA representative.’ Even the Tok’ra knew of the IOA and their interference with the Tau’ri’s Stargate program, knowledge Ariadne had gained by talking to other Tok’ra who had had dealings with them. Ariadne was not looking forward to meeting whoever spoke for them on the Tempest, and so, she was taking her time getting there. Unfortunately, ‘admiring the ship’ was an excuse that could only be taken so far.

A minute later saw her finally arrive at the door. She’d half expected it to be made of some kind of Tau’ri finery, as if to lord the position of the man over everyone else, but it was, alas merely a standard bulkhead. She raised her hand and knocked three times.

As there was a chap on the door McClellan pressed a button on the underside of his desk to open the door. He stood up, to show the lady some respect as she entered. “Please, take a seat. I would have named you though after previous dealings I am still unsure what name to use when you do not know who is talking.” He moved over to a cabinet at the side of a room. “Would you like a drink?”

Ariadne was not expecting this. At this point she was almost expecting the not expected to happen, however, as almost none of the Tau’ri she’d encountered today had been what she ‘expected.’ At least one thing was how she thought it would be. His Office was filled with wooden furniture and decorative objects, one of which made an annoying ticking sound. The man within seemed to be polite too, which was a pleasant surprise. She took the seat closest to her, which was remarkably comfortable, and looked up at him. She flashed her eyes, just to show who was in charge of the body. “I would like a drink thank you. You need not worry over which name you call me. Either one is acceptable. Perhaps though, if you wish to speak to one of us in particular, open the conversation with her name.”

McClellan wasn’t exactly sure WHAT she would drink, however he didn’t exactly have tea or cans of soda on his shelf, he had even caught a lower echelon crew member trying to steal from his store who he had been told had then spent time in the brig after being caught by the XO. He poured her a small amount of whiskey into a glass, and one for himself before moving back to the table and placing the glass before her and taking a sip from his own glass before sitting down. “To be honest, I am happy to speak to either of you. Its my job as assignee from the IOA and head of human resources to make sure everyone is coping with life on the ship. So how do you feel you, both of you are fitting in? I heard that you didn’t feel as if you received a very warm welcome.”

Ariadne took the proffered drink, sipping it while the IOA man spoke, savouring the unfamiliar taste. It had no effect on her, as she immediately neutralised the alcohol as it entered Idalia’s blood. Her face curled in distaste as the memory of her greeting was brought up. The Tau’ri man might assume she didn’t like the drink from the reaction, but she didn’t care. “I understand security being high around a Chappa’ai, Dr. McClellan. It is the way of the Tok’ra as well. But I was treated as a hostile when I stepped through. I was under the impression that the device your people gave me to signal the opening of the Iris also identified me as a friend. Is this not so?” She kept her tone level through it. The Captain had asked that there be no incidents, and getting angry wouldn’t help keeping that a reality.

He smiled. “The GDO does indeed alert people on the other side of the gate that you are friendly. However the reason for the security teams on this side is to assure that you are friendly. There have been several incidents on Earth where a GDO was stolen and the code was tortured out the person it was stolen from. While some would give false codes there were those who succumb to torture. However I cannot speak to how you were treated by whomever was on duty at the time-” At this time he was writing in a file, however as he finished talking he gave the Tok’ra his full attention. “I also hear this is Idalias first time on a space faring vessel, especially one to launch through a Loch. How are you finding it so far Idalia?”

Ariadne was not satisfied with his answer, but she’d not expected to be either. She didn’t bother challenging him, especially when he moved the subject on with obviously practiced speed. “I admit its my first time launching from a… ‘Lock’ as well.” With that, she lowered her head and shut her eyes for a moment, allowing Idalia control once more.

Idalia raised her head then, her mind still abuzz with the excitement of being in space. She’d spent an hour in her quarters just sitting and watching the strange blue realm of Hyperspace already, and it was likely she’d spend more. “Its quite amazing!” She exclaimed before getting a hold of herself, evening out her voice. “I mean, I’ve never seen anything else like it. And to think it was only a few years ago that I thought I’d never see beyond the borders of my land… I’m sure I would have travelled with the Tok’ra in space eventually, but it really is an honour to be here for the launching of this ship. it was quite spectacular.” She felt the voice of Ariadne in her mind telling her to stop telling him so much about them. She quickly apologised to her symbiote, she wasn’t used to keeping secrets.

McClellan smiled, not at getting secrets out of her but how excitable she was. While people had been excited about the ship he had not seen such a reaction so far. “I’ll be sure to get a copy of the video we took of the launch from outside the vessel sent to your quarters for your appreciation.” He took another sip of his drink. “Well its as much a honour to have you both here as well, there hasn’t been a Tok’ra on one of our vessels for a prolonged period amount of time, and this being the first British vessel makes it a double whammy.” It was interesting the suggestion that they hadn’t been a pairing for long. “So, do you have any questions about the vessel? Especially if it is the first you have been on.”

Idalia was unsure what to say to the man, especially with Ariadne keeping such a close eye on what was said. She hadn’t a clue what to ask about the vessel, it was merely years ago that she’d thought ships like this were magical chariots of the gods. Instead, she picked up the glass of whiskey and downed the rest of it in one go, and handed control back to Ariadne.
Ariadne felt her hosts body immediately suffer the effects of the alcohol as she didn’t neutralize them quickly enough. Idalia’s mind might also have suffered some effect, but Ariadne remained safe from such things. working on the side to restore order back to her body, she flashed her eyes to signify the control switch and spoke again. “You must forgive Idalia, she is excitable at times. I do, however, have questions about this vessel. I know of the recent… final… actions of the Asgard. I understand you now incorporate much of their technology into your own vessels. How does this ship compare to a Bilskerner class vessel?”

McClellan was anticipating this question at least from Ariadne. “Even with the Asgard cores, there is still a lot we cannot replicate. The Asgard could cross from the Milkyway to the Ida Galaxy in mere moments, we do have the information on that but no way to construct it. Not to mention we’re trying to build at a pace that is sustainable. This ship personally doesn’t have the weapon capability of our other vessels as you have likely been informed however she does have modules to easily install plasma beam weapons which are more powerful than what the Bilskerner used. Our shields are on par for the size difference, and as of yet do not incorporate the smaller weapon systems. So we have a ways to go until we have a ship of the exact calibre of the Asgard though that is to be expected. I presume you, Ariadne have experience with Goa’uld vessels to some degree?” He had noted how they had changed, and how Idalia had downed the drink available. A clear indication to how nervous she had gotten rather quickly, obviously she had disclosed something Ariadne didn’t want her too… interesting...

Ariadne could see how this worked. He wanted to know about her, and was providing fairly unimportant answers to make it look like a fair exchange. It most certainly wasn’t at this point, not after Idalia’s indiscretion. She could feel the shame from her host as their thoughts mingled. She projected an apology towards her host, explaining that she did not mean such a thing to be hurtful. Even as she thought this, she spoke to the IOA rep again. “I, of course, have all the genetic memory of my species. With that I can easily operate almost any Goa’uld technology, including flying anything from a Ha’tak to a Death Glider. But my insights are hardly useful to your species now. You know that Asgard technology far outstrips that of the Goa’uld.”

He took another sip of his drink. Taking into consideration that unlike most Tok’ra she referred herself to be the species of the Goa’uld. Most Tok’ra separated themselves as a separate species... “You underestimate your value. Many of our systems still use crystals such as those on Goa’uld vessels, not to mention the crew are as said inexperienced. I am sure if we ever do get into conflict your tactical experience will be valuable. However unless you have another question may I ask of one?”

Ariadne was guarded at the suggestion, but she suspected this man wouldn’t be able to answer any technical questions of hers anyway. “You may.” Was all she said by way of reply.

He turned a file around on his desk, a historical file. “Would you, by chance be the Ariadne that was supposedly set to protect the Labyrinth? Of course things change in history and your… presence on Earth may of been distorted over time. Though I do remember one of our scientific teams, SG-7 being caught on a Goa’uld controlled world, which after some digging had previously been in control by another Goa’uld called Ariadne. So, your tactical expertise are even far more useful than if you were simply a Tok’ra my dear.”

That, hit far too close to home. She kept her expression impassive and spoke slowly and clearly. She tried very hard to keep threat and insult from her voice. “Do you mean to imply, Dr. McClellan, that I am not Tok’ra?”

“No, no. Make no mistake I am not saying that you are currently an evil megalomaniac being bent on subjugating me and everyone else on this ship or infact a galaxy or two. I know that no Tok’ra would take on the name of a Goa’uld, and no Tok’ra spy has ever taken the name of a God from Earth. Not to mention if you were still Goa’uld you wouldn’t have a newer host and could still be using the same one you used, thousands of years ago. No, I am simply saying your past is one that you may not want to reveal openly aboard this ship. That is all.” He took another sip from his drink, the use of his name in that sentence was a pointer that he was hitting home, for there was no need for it usually in conversation in a question it would be skipped out. There was hostility on her mind, to some degree or other.

This man was smarter than he appeared. To leave now would be as good as an admission of his being correct, but she could see no way to completely dissuade him at this time. “I have never been to Earth until now. My presence in your mythology must, therefore, be attributed to the slander of the System Lords. They would stop at nothing to find an excuse to slay a Tok’ra.” She was not entirely lying now. She hadn’t been to earth. She had kept a world with a name that meant Labyrinth in the Goa’uld tongue, but she had no idea how her name had ended up on earth, she simply wasn’t that old.

“You do not need to have been to Earth, many of the names however were taken from Earth and then similarities arose. Mainly due to the likes of Ra, Egeria was not a god in ancient Mythos. So I doubt a simple Tok’ra would of taken on the name and mantle of a God. Tok’ra undercover also used their own names, as typically the ones that acted as Lords had not been discovered before and their names were a secret to the Goa’uld. Besides, ironically the world in which used to belong to you means Labyrinth in Goa’uld.” He had to resist smirking, he had her now however she was strong willed and would continue to try and avoid the truth.
~Fade to black. We’re not going to tell you what happened…~

[Ellri]

Following the briefing, Astridh had returned to her quarters. Knowing their destination and having checked it on the map, she knew there would be nothing to do for hours yet. The hyperspace journey would, Eydis claimed, be rather uneventful. As such, she activated the computer in her quarters (not far from the bridge) and started accessing mission reports. Eydis had known many of these events, the older ones at least, but more was new to her, and none held the same perspective. For several hours, she stayed there, studying.

After a good while, her alarm beeped, indicating that they were approaching the target zone, whereupon she quickly left her quarters, returning to the bridge and relieving the crewmen there. She sat down in her chair, rapidly studying the information available. Not that there was much of it. Pressing a button on the console she activated the comm unit. “This is lieutenant Astridh Nic Shitric calling All primary bridge crew. Please report to the bridge. We are approaching the planet.” Astridh said, then leaning back in her chair, waiting for them to arrive.

Alexis spent her time on the bridge, silently conversing with the few officers here and there and to some extent let herself be hypnotised by the swirling blue soup outside. As they approached the designated coordinates, she took her usual place by the guard rail at the window. "Allright, drop us out. Remember, shields up, weapons down, but be ready to go to full alert at moments notice." she said over her shoulder, turning back to the window to watch. They would be too far from the planet to to see anything artificial on the orbit with the naked eye, but if there was a moon or asteroid ring they could use to hide if needed, Alexis wanted to know.

Pressing a button the console, Eydis brought the ship out of hyperspace. At first, there was the was nothing but the usual wormhole, then there was a nice spread of stars. Broken up by debris on all fronts. A voice, not unlike that of an old-fashioned british butler, came out of the console speakers. “Ma’am. I believe the ships is in the middle of a debris field. Evasive maneuvers are advisable.”

Eydis, while familiar with many parts of earth cultures, had not quite ever understood the british culture. Not even after four years. She froze up, confused. Astrid forced herself to the surface, assuming direct control again, something she very rarely did. “Thank you Charles. Evasive maneuvers! Metallic debris all around!” she shouted out in order to get everyone moving.

Eyes widening ever so slightly as a massive chunk of something that seen better days came into view, West gripped the guard rail tightly. Her mind raced to find a solution. Sparing half a second to see how the piece of debris was positioned and moving in relation to them, then made the call. "Dive below! Power the railguns and intercept all incoming debris! 302s on standby!" she barked quickly. Fortunately she felt right at home. She did this many times dodging depth charges and torpedoes. "Find the shortest way out. Bow railguns punch us a hole through!"

[Queen Raidne]

Hyperspace.

Particles crashed into the invisible extradimensional folds of space, re-entering 3-space at speeds faster than light would normally propagate, resulting in beautiful blue-ish streaks around the edge of the corridor. The normal laws of physics and relativity didn't apply, meaning there was a miniscule (but measurable) temporal distortion between the bow and stern of the ship.

You could (theoretically) see someone throw a ball before they'd actually thrown it, if you got lucky with the subspatial folding and were sufficiently far away from the other person. The effect was too small and too random to exploit, but if you could....

Dr. Ishpetyr turned away from the window and went back to the proposal he was studying. One of the often-debated questions that had been raised in relation to this trip was fairly simple: what would happen if you activated the stargate in hyperspace? Obviously to maintain a stable connection, you would have to constantly re-dial the point-of-origin coordinate, or find a way to update the dialling address of the gate attempting to connect with the Tempest. But that was an advantage of the Pegasus gate: no spinning. No manual dialling, of course (at least, not without some supercomputers on hand), but no spinning. Theoretically, as long as you could interface sufficeintly quickly with the gate's dialling crystals, it would be possible to maintain a stable connection. That would, of course, require overriding several gate safety protocols, and some other horribly complicated programming that Abel didn't really understand, himself. But there were other researchers on the ship who did, apparently. The proposal was just that - a request to simulate the problem using the Asgard core, and determine if their coded solution was viable.

What that connection would actually do was the heart of the debate. Creating a subspace wormhole in a hyperspace corridor while one of the ends was constantly travelling (or rather, creating a very rapid series of intersecting wormholes with a moving point of origin) made things very, very complicated. One of the theories stated that the hyperspace corridor would rupture, scattering Tempest quarks across half the known universe. Another stated that the process would create an energy feedback loop, severing the corridor off from the known universe, in effect creating a new, tunnel-shaped parallel one.

Personally, Ishpetyr held the unpopular belief that nothing would happen - oh, sure, the event horizon of the wormhole would get redshifted, making a theoretically beautiful purple color - but the ship and hyperspace corridor would remain intact. The energy feedback loop would theoretically be shunted into the wormhole, making the wormhole unusually noisy on any of the subspace bands used for communication.

If you tried stepping through the gate, however....

Maybe you'd travel through time. Maybe you'd be duplicated on the other end. Or maybe you'd get shunted off to a paralell dimension.

It was, one way or another, a fantastic problem to contemplate. Perhaps he'd devote some time to programming a few scenarios into the Asgard core. Regardless, the code seemed robust and well-researched. He was about to grant access to the core when he paused.

He checked the man's file again.

There it was - former assignment to project Icarus.

He flagged the request, scheduling a followup meeting. Followup meetings were rare - generally Dr. Ishpetyr either okay'd or denied access to the core and that was the end of it. Hopefully that would make Bob Bishop nervous. Nervous people were manipulatable. He could - carefully - throw a series of compliments Bob's way, each designed to dredge up more information about Project Icarus. Each designed to entrap Bob.

Dr. Ishpetyr stared out the window again. Particles crashed beautifully back into 4-space.

The ship exploded out into 4-space. Debris was nerve-wrackingly close to the ship. What the hell was Captain West doing?

[Sep]

Idalia was once again watching hyperspace from the window in her quarters when the call came over the speakers telling Strike One to gear up. Ariadne was still unhappy at the conclusion of the long conversation with the IOA rep, but the prospect of seeing this planet with an ancient repository put a damper on the foul mood she’d gotten into. Idalia was happy at that, and excited to see the planet herself, and so it was with great haste that she once again donned her Tok’ra uniform. This time she also strapped the Zat’nik’tel to her forearm and placed her healing device in its place on her sash before rushing out to reach the ships armoury. Once she reached the armoury, Ariadne had taken over. She was a far better combatant than Idalia.

Ariadne strode purposefully into the armoury. She was unsure what exactly the Tau’ri would have, but she at least wanted to have a Ma’tok Staff Weapon. Zat’nik’tels were powerful enough against humanoid targets, but a staff weapon was useful for many more things. The room had little indication of where they might keep staff weapons, but there was, thankfully, a Tau’ri man there who seemed to be in charge of distributing the gear. He was behind a partition, and the majority of the weapons seemed to also be with him, inaccessible to her. At seeing her confusion, he spoke up

“Ma’am, can I help you?”

”Yes. I require a Staff Weapon. Where might I get one of those?”

“Here, I’ll need your ID card Ma’am to sign it out to you. It is just to make sure that every weapon is accounted for and we know who had it last if it were to go missing.” He signalled the tray before him for her to deposit her ID card.

”Very well” She said, placing her ID card in the designated tray. It was becoming clear that the Tau’ri were almost as bogged down with proceedure as the Goa’uld were with religous matters. At least they worked together though. For the most part.

He took the card and then swiped it through the slot, a buzz was heard and he swiped it again. “Uh, sorry Ma’am but apparently you don’t have clearance to take out a Staff Weapon. It could be that your clearance has been entered into the system but hasn’t cleared yet or a clerical error. Though I can’t give you it until I get a green light from the system.”

Ariadne seethed at the insolence. She did not like being powerless against all these regulations, but she’d promised the Captain. No incidents. This was the Tau’ri’s territory, and so she’d abide their rules. “Try it again. I am the only one on this ship even remotely skilled with a Staff Weapon. It would be foolish to deny me one.”’

“I have Ma’am, several times. I’ve even tried to manually type it in-” At this moment, Miller who had been just standing idly waiting stepped forward. “Is there a problem, Sir?” The Master at Arms was after all his superior. “Simply that our guest here can’t take out a weapon.””Would I be cleared for such a weapon?””As demolitions expert you would be.””Then could I possibly sign out my standard gear with the addition of a staff weapon.””You know that isn’t-””If I may sir, there may come the situation where her having this weapon could save our lives. She has hundreds of years experience, and if anything happens I’ll face court martial.” The master at arms swiped his card and then went to retrieve the gear, L85A2 with a Holoscope and M203 attachment, a Zatgun sidearm two frag grenades, two stun, enough C4 to blow a substantial hole in the side of the ship and some claymore mines. At the retrieval window he packed all of this into his backpack, strapped his zat onto his hip holster and clipped his L85 onto its strap. Then came the Staff weapon and he handed it to Ariadne. “I presume I can trust you not to go on a killing destructive rampage and get me fired and sent to jail?”

Ariadne smiled at the man's generosity. It was good to feel the familiar shape and weight of a Staff weapon in her hands once more. “Not today.” She said in jest. “Thank you Corporal James Miller.” Pointing the weapon away from anything that looked important, she thumbed the activation switch, the familiar sound of the staff weapons head opening up and charging filled her ears. Then she pressed it again, to close it. “It seems to be in working order. Tell me. Have you any experience with that Zat’nik’tel?” she asked him as the two walked to the next room.

“A Zat? No actually. I’ve used Wraith Stunners but they wouldn’t let me keep one when I was re-assigned to the Tempest after Atlantis returned back to Pegasus. So, it is really the same principle. No real trigger compared to our weapons, shoot to stun. Though these have the additional shot to kill and apparently the third makes it disappear, I don’t know how much is true about that last one but I won’t really be testing that out on the ship.” He lead them into the ready room, putting down his gear he began stripping off the top layer of clothes down to his boxers and black under shirt. He continued to talk through this as he began putting on standard black away dress. “In all honesty, we could of used Zats in Pegasus anyway. We didn’t really have as many wraith stunners as could be needed, and even then most Wraith took several shots to put them down whereas if two shots kills a Human of a Zat it’d only stun a Wraith. However what can you do?” He shrugged at that before he zipped up his jacket, and put on his combat vest over the top. “We’ve got some extra sheets of armour plating if you want one?”

Ariadne was unfazed by this mans state of undress, but she felt Idalia’s confusion. Thankfully, it was only minor, and she did not need to exert more control. She was impressed with Millers understanding of non-human weapons, and glad that the team wasn’t entirely new blood. at his question of what she could do, she puzzled for a moment. He obviously knew she was a skilled combatant from his earlier comments, yet he still apparently wanted to know more. “Well, I am skilled with a Ma’tok staff. I have learnt from a number of teachers how to wield it as an effective melee weapon. Zat’nik’tels are simple for me to use as well. Otherwise, I can operate any Goa’uld technology we may find, and I carry this-” She pulled the Tok’ra healing device from her sash, slipping it on as she did. “A Tok’ra healing device. The armour you offer stops a Staff blast does it not? I had heard of this technology. I’m sure it will fit in my uniform, please give me one.” A thought about the usefulness of the armour when they were still two individuals welled up in her mind from Idalia. She pushed it away, no point in telling Miller that.

He was slightly, confused at first by her telling him her skills then he realised. “Oh uh, my question was rhetorical. That means that I already know the answer… I wasn’t actually asking what you could do, I merely meant what could be done about us not having zats in Pegasus? The answer is make the best of a bad situation.” He took a piece of armour out of his locker and handed it to the woman. “It may only work on your back, They’re meant to fit in the vests and with your, feminine, figure you wouldn’t be able to have one to cover your front without a vest.”

An Alarm blared throughout the ship, calling ship personnel to their stations. While he was curious to what it was it was none of his concern, they had to finish gearing up.

[Queen Raidne]

Creon stared. He’d picked a gopping wonderful time to use the head. When he did manage to get back onto the bridge, they’d already exited hyperspace. Roughly, from the sound of all the shouting and alarms. Seeing that everyone was obviously aware of the danger, he anticipated West’s next order and slammed his hand against the “silence alarm” button on the wall. For now, that would be the most useful thing he could do. There was such a thing as too many cooks in the kitchen. Until either something went horribly wrong that would require his attention, a sailor seriously screwed up, or the captain needed him, he’d just stand at the back of the bridge, out of the way, yet looming.

[Rare]

Logan sat watching hyperspace and he felt like he would never get used to it. His choice to arrive early on his post in the bridge was a good one. He got to meet all of the other bridge crew and was taking notes until the Captain ordered for them to drop out of hyperspace, alarms immediately began blaring and he looked out of the window. "Oh Shit..." said Logan as he began powering up his station and sat down looking looking towards the incoming debris that was coming towards the ship and said; "Let's hope that the ship doesn't take any damage!" He was piloting the ship, avoiding debris and diving under a huge chunk, a piece of debris hit near the bridge sending Logan into his console.

-Sparks flashed out of several systems in the ship as the shields struggled to take the kinetic strain of the ship and the wreckage joining together, people were pushed down and shoved against walls as the ship moved on.-

He was used to sailing a ship on the sea, but not in space or avoiding debris. He could see pieces of the planet through the debris but the way was blocked, so he spiralled to avoid a large piece of debris but one hit the underside of the ship.

-Again, sparks flashed overloading several power conduits, knocking people down and shaking the entire ship.-

A "fuck" escaped Logans lips as his concentration lapsed focusing on the task ahead, however he was almost through and kept going for it. Then a large piece of debris hit the side of the ship and caused a big shockwave and tremor all over the ship.

-Lights flickered and died, a fire started towards the rear of the bridge and other fires throughout the ship. Sparks as well were the norm, as systems overloaded-

He held onto his chair, so he wouldn't fly away from the controls, he was almost through and he kept going for it until he saw no more debris near the ship and smiled in victory as he relaxed slightly.

[Ellri]

Astridh visibly winced when the ship passed just beneath one of the larger chunks of debris. While it was fortunate that most of the debris was immobile, it was unfortunate that it was all fairly close together and that they were right in the middle of it all. She pulled up the sensor readouts on her console, ignoring the verbal messages from the computer. Their arrival had set quite a bit of the debris field in motion. She put all her attention to analysing the debris movement patterns, then sent several possible routes of minimal impact to the Navigations officer. Avoiding collision altogether would, she quickly saw, be impossible. ‘just our luck to come out in a gravitationally locked point filled with space junk...’ Eydis murmured in their mind. ‘Yes. Lucky...’ Astridh answered silently.

Just then there was a massive impact against the shields. She looked at the sensor readouts and saw that the hit was not far from the bridge. “Impact against the shields, Captain. Shields are holding for now.” While the shields held, there were sparks flying all over the lesser bridge consoles, particularly the ones to the right, which if Eydis recalled correctly, had a main power conduit right behind them. Several crew members were thrown back, some singed, others merely in shock. A small fire broke out in one, which was promptly put out by another. “Shields at 63%, Captain!”

The ship spun as the Navigations officer tried to dodge the debris, but just when it looked like they would go clear of a particularly large chunk, it was impacted by another, causing it to spiral in the ship’s bottom. “Ventral Hull breach! Sealing all bulkheads leading to breach!” Astridh shouted, even as she took in the situation. Only by holding on with her full strength did she manage to stay in her seat, so hard did the ship shake from the impact. “Ship can’t take much more of this, captain!” she shouted, trying to be heard over the screams of wounded crewmembers.

When it looked like they were clear, another chunk came flying out of nowhere, impacting the port side of the ship, just over another of the main power conduits. “Left side impact! Shields are down, but armor is holding! One more impact like that, and we’re dead!”

As suddenly as the last scrap impacted, they were out of the field. “And we’re out! Take us some distance away Sub-lieutenant Rogers, then halt the engines!” having shouted that, she rapidly pressed a series of commands on the console before her, requesting status report from all sections. Then she clicked the comm unit, opening a channel to the infirmary. “Medical team to the bridge! Now!” She did not wait for an answer, but simply closed the channel again. Right now there was nothing of the young woman left in Astridh. Now it was the Naval lieutenant and the Tok’ra used to commanding others, both of them seamlessly merged into one.

Once the ship halted, the reports from the various sections began filtering into her console. “Captain. Ventral hull breach confirmed. Five labs and one corridor and three storage compartments vented. As you can see, there was a power surge from behind the wall to the right. Ruptured main power conduit.” She looked over where some crewmen were checking over those hit by the surge. One felt for a pulse on a particularly wounded woman. He shook his head. “At least one casualty.”

She paused for a moment, reading over the other reports. “Significant damage to Port stern-to-bow main conduit. Damage to hull above it, but no breach. Other sectors report only minor damage.” Astridh looked over her console, noting that while all the primary reports were in, several of the lesser sections had yet to respond. She would wait for them to come in and see what might be relevant to the captain.

[Forsythe]

The first impact sent West stumbling back to her chair. It took a few seconds for her to shrug off the impact. Making her own idea of just how much those inertial dampeners were effective, she listened to the LT's report. When it came to 'One more hit', she couldn't help growling "As if we can do something more about that." Her mind was storming for a solution, but the only one she had was to launch the nukes to clear the way, and that might have blown them up right alongside the debris. Reentering hyperspace without shields and with weakened hull also didn't seem like the best of ideas. No, they had to continue.

And then they were clear. Alexis looked around to check the damage herself, while being fed more by Astridh. "What's the chance, one in a billion?" she asked rhetorically, "Tell the damage control teams to prioritize getting the power back. Nothing much we can do for people that might have been in the vented parts of the ship and the bulkheads will prevent other leaks for now. I want the shield online ASAP." she said, wanting the ship protected first. Pressing the comm control, she connected to the gate room: "Re-calibrate the gate for local coordinates and dial Earth, then patch me through!" she said sharply, "TO, get four 302s into the air and assume escort positions. Any of that debris starts heading our way I want it redirected." she said, remembering the fighters could tow stuff.