Aberrant: Stargate Universe - First Meeting: SG-22

[Courier]

Somehow Steve had shown up at the meeting first... or maybe he'd just come to the wrong room. Hopefully this was were he'd find out a lot more about his fellows and perhaps more importantly, their first mission's planet.

[Katalyst]

The briefing room had just about finished clearing out leaving him and a few others still in the room. Ah what the heck Simms says to himself as he walks over to where specialist Jaunt is. "Hey kid, names Simms. I guess it's about time we finally meet" he says in a surprisingly gentle voice for such a big man. Simms looks around the room looking for the Major and the other specialist he was assigned to. "You didn't happen to catch where the Major went did you? She can be a bit sneaky when she wants to."

[Jaunt]

"Uhh, hey." Jaunt replied, a bit startled. Someone was actually talking to him! He felt like the only person around with out a clue, and was usually right. "Uh, yeah, names Jaunt, nice to meet ya."

Dude's like shaved Kodiak with a human head, Christ!

"Uhh," He hid the drawing he wwas working, not wanting to look like he wasn't paying attention (which he wasn't). "Nope. I uh, was reviewing the itinerary and, um, must have missed her." He looked around, like he actually knew who or what he was looking for.

[Katalyst]

Simms followed Jaunt's eyes around the room as well, and didn't catch sight of the Major. "Well I suppose that she wandered off to one of these other rooms. Let's go take a look and see if we can find her. Oh and you can bring your notes with you if you want."

[Jaunt]

"Um, yeah, actually, hold on..." He ran off and caught up to the exiting Kyria. He handed her the drawing, offering a polite (if not shy) smile.

Whatever they discussed seemed between them, but if he was flirting it didn't seem to go well, she simply smiled and walked on, folding up the picture in half.

When he ran back to Sims, who was almost to the exit himself. "All set dude, where we goin'?"

[Katalyst]

Did he just call me dude?? I'm going to have to work on that, I see. "Well I'm sure there's a room around here that isn't occupied for the time being" he says leading the two of them out of the briefing room. Sure enough Simms spots a room that looks to be unoccupied. He motions to room he spotted as their destination. "So how did you get dragged into the program here? Do you have any special abilities?"

[Jaunt]

"Dude, have you seen this place? It's like a circus side show around here." Jaunt was avoiding the question. After all he signed an NDA that stated no one could know about his abilities, and he certainly didn't know if Kodiak Simms here had 'clearance', or 'authorization', or what ever the Air Force called it. "You might need to define 'special ability' a bit. When everyone is special Mr. Simms, that means no one is."

"I do draw really well," He sighed, never really content with his work. "Well, kind of. I'm okay at it I guess. So, you a Marine too? Or Airmen, or whatever you guys are called?"

[Katalyst]

Simms makes a small chuckle "A circus show you say, I really hadn't thought of it like that. I suppose you could say that's how things have been going. Good one." Great a real joker we got here, could use that around here a bit, I think.

"Drawing wasn't what I meant by 'special ability', and it's Airman by the way. I was thinking more along the lines like being super strong and fast. I've heard the rumors floating around here so I was just curious about it, Sir." Simms uttered the Sir with a bit of disdain. Although it was the proper protocol he didn't feel right saying it to a kid. Hopefully he didn't catch that.

[Jaunt]

"I don't think I'm a 'sir', dude." Jaunt said casually. "I don't even have a rank, but that's mostly because my request for 'Awesome, First Class' was denied. I'm appealing."

As they walk into the room Steve has already arrived and takes notice of them almost immediately. Jaunt just keeps talking. "Yeah, I'm a little stronger, a little faster, everyone here seems to be." A thump filled the air, like air popping, and Jaunt was gone, leaving his trademark wisp of trailing air. His feet hit the table and both men looked to find him sitting one of the chairs, feet propped up, relaxing. "And I jaunt."

[Courier]

Steve's chair falls over as he stands up,

"Whoa! ...That's impressive." Steve is not only impressed but happy to see that kind of power on his 'team'. Steve put his chair upright and said,

"Well, I'm Steve, err Specialist Courier. I guess you're 'Specialist Jaunt'".

Steve turns to the other man and says, "And that must make you Sgt. Simms?"

"Pleased to meet both of you."

[SalmonMax]

The door opened then, allowing a woman in a navy blue Air Force officer's uniform to enter. She looked young for the gold major's starburst on her shoulders, mid-twenties maybe. Her hair was dancing on the line between light brown and dark blonde, and pulled back into a ponytail that went just past her shoulders, and thus could use a little trim. She was pretty; model-pretty, with clear hazel eyes and perfectly shaped nose and cheeks and chin. The service dress uniform she wore couldn't quite conceal that the rest of her seemed to bear that appraisal out as well.

"Gentlemen," she said with a neutral smile as she looked at each of them in turn. "I'm Major Ashley Logan. I am the commanding officer of SG-22. Now...you were all at the briefing, but I figured before we do much else I'd see if anyone had any questions about any of this."

[Katalyst]

"Talofa to you as well Specialist Courier, it's good to meet you," says the big Samoan. "So all we need now is for the Major to show up so we can get down to business." Just as Simms goes to sit down none other than the Major Logan walks in. Simms comes to the position of attention, and just catches himself from calling the room to attention as well. "Umm, hey ma'am. SG22 all present an accounted for!"

[Courier]

Steve belatedly came to attention to mimic the Sargent. In response to the major Steve said,

"Yes ma'am. Have you been through the gate and are you and the Sgt here specialists as well?"

[Jaunt]

"Thanks man," Jaunt said to Steve for the sincere compliment. He didn't laugh at the way the man fell over in his chair, hell, Dev was guilty of that once or twice in his life. "I guess it's impressive, it just kinda what I do now, ya know? Yeah, I'm a 'Specialist'. Of what I have no clue."

Then doors opened and five feet something of pure heart pounding beauty strode through like the world was her runway. Saxophones played romantic melodies as the world slowed down so he could take in every inch if her long legs.

I. Love. This. Place. he thought to himself, mentally reminding himself not to drool.

As the brown nosers stood up 'at attention', and no doubt they were, Jaunt just peered at each of them, Steve to left, and Kodiak Simms to his right with narrowed eyes. You gotta be kidding me.

"I have one. Will Zeus and Apollo be present or are they vacationing with Odin this time of year? When we sneak up on Anubis I don't wanna be surprised by a stray lightning bolt or anything like that."

[SalmonMax]

Ashley smiled and answered Steve first.

"I haven't been through the stargate yet, no. As a matter of fact, this is my second assignment since joining Stargate Command. My first was taking part in the raid that got you two out of NID hands."

She nodded at Steve and Jaunt, then addressed Jaunt.

"Odin is actually, according to the documents I've read, one of the Asgard aliens...they're on our side. As of this moment, we don't have any intel about Greek deities, so we can assume for now that they're just made up."

"That said, no, we don't want to be surprised."

She took a deep breath and went on.

"To answer Specialist Courier's second question, both Simms and myself were exposed to the device that you were experimented on with. In our case the exposure was accidental, but the effects seem much the same."

[Courier]

Quote:

"To answer Specialist Courier's second question, both Simms and myself were exposed to the device that you were experimented on with. In our case the exposure was accidental, but the effects seem much the same."

Steve asked,

"Interesting, what effect did it have? Were you this good looking before?"

[Jaunt]

Jaunt rolled his eyes. "Weak, dude." His feet left the table and thumped on the carpet as he turned to Courier, like this kid any sagely advice to offer. "Try something like," He seemed to have forgotten she was in the room. "'Does the Stargate always open into Heaven, or you the only angel they've managed to pull through it so far?' Be more creative."

The sudden realization of her presence seemed to kick in and Jaunt turned a bit flushed. "Uhh... y'know, just try and think em up while she's... not... standing... right here. I'm uh, going to just shut up now."

He looked to 'Kodiak' Simms and made a face the screamed 'Hi, I'm an ass that just embarassed myself.'

[SalmonMax]

To her credit, Ashley didn't seem perturbed by the banter. She just watched it all with a little smile until it died down.

"Okay then, lets move on. There'll be time for more questions later if you have any. Right now I want to address a couple of elephants in the room. First, our squad consists of two military personnel," she nods at Simms. "And two civilian specialists, neither of which has any military experience. That's going to make things a little rocky at first, and there's no way around it. Eventually I'm going to have the same expectations of you that I would any other enlisted airman, but right now I realize we're starting from scratch. What I need is for you to understand what that means."

She pauses, maybe to build drama, maybe just to let the sizable chunk of words settle a bit. "It means I'm not only your commanding officer, I'm also your drill instructor. You're not just going to be learning how to shoot and survival skills. Those are secondary things. My first priority will be to instill in you military discipline, and the ability to work in a combat unit. This is a bit unusual, because usually a drill instructor is not required to subsequently command the troops she trains. All I can say is that while you're learning the ropes, I will be harder on you than you may like. There will always be a reason though, and if I do my job right, you'll learn to trust me enough to assume that even if there's no time for me to explain. Which will be most of the time."

"Now, the second elephant is our...abilities. I've read the SGC files on their encounters with human beings who have unusual powers. I suggest you all do the same. We'll cover the specifics of what we can do soon. Right now I want to set some general ground rules."

"One...we are not going to be dependent on our powers. This means that no matter how amazing the things you can do are, you will also learn the basic skills you'll need. Firearms. Survival techniques including reading maps and navigation. Other training will be available according to your specialty, which we'll get to shortly. The point is that if our powers vanish, or are nullified, or for any reason are made unavailable to us, we will still be able to operate effectively and complete our goals."

"Two. We will be training with our powers, and developing team tactics. Just because we won't be depending on them doesn't mean we'll be ignoring them."

"Three. I hope this goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway. Classified. What we can do is classified. This means if you're on leave away from base, you do not do anything that you couldn't do before NID got its claws into you. Even if you think no one's watching. Even if you're in a locked room with no windows by yourself. Powers are for use in training exercises and on missions."

She grins. "All right, any questions about all that before we keep going?"

[Courier]

Quote:

"Three. I hope this goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway. Classified. What we can do is classified. This means if you're on leave away from base, you do not do anything that you couldn't do before NID got its claws into you. Even if you think no one's watching. Even if you're in a locked room with no windows by yourself. Powers are for use in training exercises and on missions."

Steve nods and brushes his bang back. (Style Roll: 6 succ)

Click to reveal..

(09:28:24) (Troll): OK, time for a style roll for Steve. First one is the mega.
(09:28:30) ChatBot: (Troll) rolls 10d10 and gets 9,5,7,1,7,6,4,8,10,3.

Quote:

She grins. "All right, any questions about all that before we keep going?"

Steve shakes his head.

[Katalyst]

Simms wanted to laugh at the kid for making an ass out himself, but the the major's words cut him short. Simms listened as attentively as he could, but Jaunt's sillyness keep playing in his mind. Before to long Major Logan had finished and Simms had no clue what she had been talking about. Fortunately for him Courier spoke up first, saving Simms the trouble of asking her to repeat her little speech. "That'll be a no for me as well ma'am. I'm ready to get this training started."

[Jaunt]

"Can I get a sniper rifle?" Jaunt asked. "You should see me in Gears of War 2, I'm tellin' ya, put one of those baby's in my hot little hands and I'm pure tragedy."

He held up his arms like he was holding an 'air sniper rifle' aiming at nothing in particular. "Boom. Head shot, I could do this all day."

[Katalyst]

Now the kid was taking it a bit to far. Time to get some things straight. Simms fixes his eyes on Jaunt. "Listen up kid, he says a bit sternly. "This shit is real life, not some crazy video game. There's a time and place for jokes, but now isn't that time. We all need to take this serious, because our lives will depend on each other."

"I know this is new to you, and heck it's still new to me as well, so that's why we need to work on our training. Is that something we can all agree on?"

[Courier]

Steve spoke up,

"Yes, agreement. On that note, I don't know what I know any more." Realizing how vague that sounded Steve gave a hand wave of frustration and continued,

"I mean I seem to have picked up a... 'flare' for some things. So far it mostly seems good for ordering machinery around. Boolean logic. Electronic operations, command, control, security, that sort of thing."

"I'm not missing anything, but investment banking isn't likely to be that useful."

[Jaunt]

"No, this shit is not real life. Listen to yourselves! Aliens, gods, motherships, boot camp, and so help me if one more person tells me what I'll do with," he glared at the Major. "My powers and abilities I'm going to go off on someone."

He jaunted from the chair to a standing position a few feet away. His trajectory was not difficult to follow with the naked eye. "Now I'm willing to buy that something happened to me, that much is obvious, but a 'Stargate'?! A wormhole generator with the capability to take you to populated worlds that- and pardon me if I sound too doubtful on this one- was created by an alien species modeled off the pantheons of Earth's ancient civilizations?!"

"Smoke a little too much Halo 3 didja?" He shook his head. "I can't believe you two are buying this. The existence of Jason Voorhees has more credibility than the crap sandwich you're asking me to take a bite of. I agreed to two weeks, and in those two weeks I've been poked, prodded, tested, almost crushed, and damn near choked on a Lemon Head."

He glanced briefly at Simms, whose only response was an arched eyebrow following the 'Lemon Head' comment.

"I don't wanna talk about it," the teenager mumbled.

"I'm sorry, but I'm callin' B.S. on this one: a government trick to keep us here for more testing with some empty promise of world-hopping and galaxy saving."

Here he paused for effect.

"Or am I just too sane for you people?"

[SalmonMax]

"No questions then?" Logan asked mildly. "All right, we'll move on. Simms, show our specialist," she nods at Steve, "to the gym. Get into some sweats. I want to see what we've got to work with."

"Specialist Jaunt, you stay here with me."

She waited until they were alone, then waited a few minutes after that, letting the silence stretch out.

Then she said, "Having second thoughts?"

[Jaunt]

"Second? Lady I never had the opportunity to have a first thought." Jaunt started, jaunting from where he stood back into a chair not the same one he was using moment ago, in fact it appeared like he just picked a seat at random across from the Major. "Look, when Dr. Jackson hit me with his sales pitch I thought he was joking about the whole gate thing, appealing to my geek nature and I suppose a part of me wanted to believe it. I've spent two weeks here, like I said, getting treated like a lab rat instead of a person. I'm a bit tired of it. Maybe everyone else is cool with it, but I'm not."

He rubbed one of the needle bruises on his arm. "Now, I signed an NDA, I'll keep your big secrets secret, but I'm tired of people telling me what I'll be doing with my abilities. A non-disclosure agree covers intellectual property; information. But you can not have me sign a contract that strips from me one of my inalienable rights or one that will enslave me, and telling me when and where to use my own abilities is just that. I'm not like you, the military hasn't made me a bastion of emotional fortitude that gets a thrill out of looking stoic and thoughtless while people around her are kicked in the gut."

"In a nutshell Major, I'm a civilian. If you want me to learn, then teach, it want me to apply, then ask." He stood up and leaned across the table towards the Major. "But if you want me to do anything, then, and this applies to all your brass bound buddies, start treating me like a human being and not a damn grunt. You people don't own me, get that through your head."

It was obvious Jaunt was irritated, but at what as a whole, the Major wasn't quite sure.

[SalmonMax]

Ashley's first instinct was to confront. Exactly who did this kid think he was? Did he honestly think THIS was as bad as it was going to get?

There was a reason she'd never put herself out there for recruiter duty. She was a shade too honest.

With some effort though, she forced the urge to defend by striking back down. Jauntsen was at a breaking point. He was either going to get motivated, or get out. Having her yell in his face wasn't going to be motivating.

So she took a breath and let the anger boiling off of him flow around her and away.

"So, if I'm understanding you right, you feel that the Air Force hasn't been honest with you, and hasn't lived up to its end of the agreement that you made?"

[Jaunt]

Jaunt looked confused. "No, they've been honest and held up their end just fine. They told me they were going to run tests, and I agreed to let them. They've done an admirable job, lemme tell ya."

"What I want is for people around here to stop treating me like a lab rat. When someone walks into a room I want a 'Hello Jaunt, how are you?' not a 'Gentleman, I'm so-and-so, I'm your commanding officer, and you will do as I say.'." He scoffed at her. "Please lady, I don't even know you."

[Katalyst]

Simms nods in agreement "Sure thing ma'am" he says as he salutes before heading out the door with Specailist Courier following him. "Okay you heard the Major, let's head down to the gym. I'm not sure what she wants us to do, but if your up to it we can do some sparring before they meet up with us." There's a bit of eagerness in Simms voice. Can't wait to see what these civilians got

[Courier]

Steve said,

"Sure." *Oh joy. One guess what happens next.*

[SalmonMax]

Originally Posted By: Jaunt

Jaunt looked confused. "No, they've been honest and held up their end just fine. They told me they were going to run tests, and I agreed to let them. They've done an admirable job, lemme tell ya."

"What I want is for people around here to stop treating me like a lab rat. When someone walks into a room I want a 'Hello Jaunt, how are you?' not a 'Gentleman, I'm so-and-so, I'm your commanding officer, and you will do as I say.'." He scoffed at her. "Please lady, I don't even know you."

Ashley nods. "Well, you'll be happy to know that the introduction you got wasn't how I'd greet a lab rat. Furthermore, if you're a lab rat, I'm one too."

"That said, you need to understand how this works. You're a civilian who's attached to a military unit, sort of like a civilian contractor. That means you're not separate from the chain of command. The facts are that whether you know me or not, our relationship is pretty much exactly as I described it. If I told you anything else, I'd be lying."

She studies Jaunt for a second.

"I say what I mean, and I mean what I say. I give people under me, beside me and above me my trust until they prove to me that I shouldn't. That means I trust that you're here because you want to be. It means that not only am I going to trust my life to you, I'm going to trust everyone else in the squad's life to you. And it means I trust you to understand that you're going to be depending on us too. You following orders isn't about me having power over you, and it's not about authority or taking away your rights as a person. It's about me living up to my duty to you, and to the other people in the squad. It's about saving you, so you can save us. Every order I give will be with that in mind."

She smiles. "Now I admit freely that there are niceties I'm not so good at. Small talk is one of them. But I think, and the Air Force agrees, that I'm pretty good at giving orders that save lives, and get missions done."

"So now you know where I stand. I don't know you either, but you are in my squad and that's enough for me, for now. It means I have a duty to you, and it means I have certain expectations from you. The main expectation is just this. Trust me."

"Is that something you're willing to do?"

[Jaunt]

"I'm sure you've been told that there are things we need to know, and things we don't need to know. And there is someone above you who knows things that they feel you don't need to know." Jaunt just collapsed his hand to his side. "The officer you are will never be able to be completely honest with any of us, so no, I'm not willing to trust you."

A wavering trail lead over to the door in an instant. Ashley's eyes followed it swiftly but the kid's constant hopping about was going to give her a headache eventually, she knew. "But hey, whatever right? You watch my back, I watch yours and we just keep lying to each other. I'll see you in the gym."

As the door opened he stepped out leaving behind the tell-tale thump of filled vacuum that declared his passing.

[SalmonMax]

Ashley didn't bother trying to outrun Jaunt. She just closed the door behind her and made her way to the gym at a walk. Gave her time to think.

Fact was, he was right that there were sometimes things she couldn't tell her men...but either he didn't know or didn't believe that even when that was the case, she could tell them that she couldn't tell them. That was, she could be honest about the situation, even if the actual information wasn't meant to be disseminated.

On the other hand, Jaunt's paranoia and problems with authority didn't entitle him to special treatment. She'd made an allowance because he was untrained and civilian, but if...when...he kept up that insubordinate behavior, she'd have to discipline him.

But how did you discipline an adolescent who could teleport?

(Those of you in the gym can RP a little, and I'll post her arriving...otherwise if nothing happens I'll just cut to her catching up in the gym.)

[Jaunt]

Silently Jaunt was just laying there on the mats of the gym floor. He tapped his hands against his chest like a lazy drum just to break the silence in the massive chamber.

"Yep," he sighed, bored out of his mind. "This sucks."

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Jaunt

Silently Jaunt was just laying there on the mats of the gym floor. He tapped his hands against his chest like a lazy drum just to break the silence in the massive chamber.

"Yep," he sighed, bored out of his mind. "This sucks."

And Steve with Simms walked in. Steve said,

"How..." *did you get here before us. Right. Teleport.* "...never mind." Steve started stretching out and said, "What did we want to do first?"