Aberrant: Stargate Universe - SG21: Mission to P2X-313

[Mr Fox]

Three weeks had passed since the last set of missions the Specialists been assigned and the teams had been busy on base despite that. The alien data terminal that SG21 had brought back had proved very interesting. Aside from a partial historical snapshot of the Goa'uld empire as it stood just at the time that Earth was discovered which would keep people like Daniel and Olivia busy analyzing and studying for some time to come, it also contained Ra's database of all his known stargate addresses. After her recovery Olivia and Cam had spent a few hours cataloging and comparing the new set with all previously know addresses. The most interesting fact of all had been that there were 3 addresses in Ra's database that were not included on the Abydos cartuche. The Abydos set was several dozen addresses larger than the database since it was a more recent list. That raised a few eyebrows not only with Cam and Olivia but also among the intel group. For there to be 3 addresses missing from the newer list meant that they most likely had been deliberately omitted. That made for serious curiosity. Why would Ra not write down 3 gate addresses?

Cross-referencing the other known stargate addresses one of the three turned out to be Cimmeria, designated P3X-974, the world where Teal'c was almost trapped in an Asgard labyrinth designed to imprison Goa'uld who dared to venture to the world. Since that address was passed down to all Jaffa as a forbidden world it's omission was pretty understandable. That just made everyone all the more curious about the remaining two addresses.

One of those two had turned out to be a non-working address. The gate either buried or some disaster so great had occurred that it had been destroyed. The Prometheus or one of Earth's future ships would be scheduled to go to the coordinates and get a visual on what was there eventually.

But the final address was another world like Abydos. The gate was located in a pyramid in a vast expanse of sand, or so the pictures from the malp indicated. Despite the lack of any sign of life the gate chamber appeared to be well kept and clean with lit torches on the walls and columns. General O'Neill didn't waist any time scheduling the mission which was why SG21 found itself in the briefing room. Sgt Declan Perault was absent as he was undergoing another in a long line of psyche evals. In his place Colonel Cam Mitchell would be filling in and taking his first mission trip through the gate. O'Neill had made it clear that Cam was not taking over SG21 and would not be leading the mission, that was and would remain Major Caine's place.

"This place looks interesting. Judging from how regularly they have the cleaning staff come in I'd say it's occupied and in use, but the malp hasn't spotted any people in front of the pyramid. We haven't sent it outside where it might attract attention so we don't know what's behind the place, we only know what it could see out the front door. That's where you come in. Go check it out and report. You leave in an hour, dismissed." Apparently O'Neill thought it was straight forward enough not to require discussion or questions.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Olivia was both excited and annoyed. Another freaking desert. More panties, socks and a bra full of sand. Great. But she was thrilled, too. It felt like 21 had gotten something special to do, a shot to really explore a new world. They got to find out why Ra had withheld it. They could be the first visitors in a long time.

This was what she had signed up for, and her hands shook as she packed.

[Rorx]

"All I can think of is that it was a reaction to possibly growing up as a larvae on a swamp world like that last place we visited. After all that water he wanted somewhere dry, but over compensated by the looks of it. Unless there is some correlation with the ambient temperature of the biosphere, the planets position to the star in the system and the liklihood of a reasource they used, like Naquaduh."

Gwyn packed as efficiently as always, but in the back of his mind he was trying to figure out what best to store in his pockets so that he could transform it with him should the need arise.

"Hey Major, are we going to have Zat's again this time? If not could we take an instar pistol each instead?"

[Adrian Moss]

"Jones, why don't we take both. This is an exploratory mission, so we may be there a good time, and we can, by and large, carry the slight exta weight. We may be carrying extra water as well, but by now DesertGate-21," he gives a toothy grin, "is used to it."

"We also get to see what may be the universes first pyramid. Think about it. A frozen moment in history. I can't wait."

"Colonel, we can take a treader with some extra water with us, right? Extend our time on lovely P2X - 313 by a few days?"

[Mr Fox]

Cam nodded, "Absolutely. The desert can be a thirsty place, pays to have some extra water with us just in case. Hell, in a place like that water might even be a traded commodity a few extra gallons could come in handy in more than one way."

Looking at Major Caine and holding up his wrist mounted IDC, "What's today's 9 digit number going to be Major?"

[Adrian Moss]

"27-616-1066. How does that play out?"

There were three dates he remembered from West Point and there were three seperat numbers he was sure he could remember. In truth, he could remember any set of number - probably up to 25 digits for days at a time, but why, when given the choice not have some fun.

[Rorx]

"Sounds fine to me Major. I guess we should pack the hoods and masks we used on Abydos in case we get caught in stuff outside here as well?"

Gwyn unpacked the hoods etc from a storage locker ready to distribute them if necessary. He could already see Olivia's look of disgust from her memories of using them back on Abydos.

"Cheer up Doc, the weather is probably better here, I doubt we'll need to use them at all."

[Mr Fox]

Cam laughed, "1066 huh, Battle of Hastings, nice, I could remember that even if the artifact hadn't enhanced my memory. Sounds good, and I agree with Gwyn, nothing like a little extra firepower, but I think I'll pass on the Instar. The Earth tech batteries are just a bit heavy for my taste, and they don't pack the punch of a Zat. Feel free to carry one if you want, I'm sure they'll approve."

After a few more minutes of gearing up the group headed down to the armory to pick up their weapons and then to the Gateroom. Cam checked his own gear one last time, the checked the FRED that carried their extra water and supplies. Given the pictures of that gate room inside the pyramid he figured supplies simply wouldn't be an issue, they'd meet people on the other side and be able to procure what they needed or they be rushing back through the gate under fire. Seeing that everyone was ready he sat back and waited until Major Caine gave the signal and Walter started the dialing sequence.

Cam had been through the gate exactly two times before once going to the Alpha site and once coming back, not that he was counting or anything, but he didn't think this would ever get old. He could feel the hum and slight bass vibration of the gate in his chest as it spun locking in the chevrons. There was near reverence on his face when the wormhole shot out in it's water like display atomizing the very air in it's path before collapsing back into the liquid mercury event horizon. "Damn that is fun to watch!"

He waited until the Major gave the order and then headed through the gate first with Gwyn next to him to establish the beachhead on the other side. As soon as he was through he did a quick 360 to check for any hostiles then moved forward out of the way of Caine and Olivia. This place looked exactly like the pictures of the gateroom and pyramid on Abydos, the only difference being that this one was in immaculate condition. Despite the long entry hall Cam could see all the way down the length of the passageway to the open door and the bright sunshine spilling through. Despite that open door there was no sand or dust anywhere to be seen. The interior of the was cool simply because of the tons of rock overheard, but there was no breeze to stir the tapestries hanging from the walls and columns. It was going to be damned uncomfortable outside, or at least it would for any regular person.

The first circuit around the interior of the gate room did not reveal any exits or chambers other than the obvious front door. Inside the gate room set in the floor however, were the ring transporters. Unfortunately there was no activation device. Goa'uld and their jaffa servants would be carrying those as part of their armor or jewelry. Looked like the team would have to either wait for someone to come greet them or hoof it across the surface and see if there was anyone around.

[Rorx]

After quickly establishing that there were no hostiles in the area, Gwyn gave the place a once over with a digital video camera, taking additional stills of any writings and the controls on any devices left here.

"Next time we know we're coming to a Goa'uld world we should bring our own Ring activation modules." He turns to the Colonel, "unless you think you could have a crack at the rings yourself Colonel?"

[Adrian Moss]

For an instant he looked over to were Declan would have been/should have been standing. He wasn't there and that left few options.

"I'm going to take a quick peek around the outside. Jones, mind the store. I'll stay in contact."

Cam was just and observer, and Olivia didn't have Jones' experience. He really couldn't put Jones on point anyway. Not his job, so the Team Leader took point. Options in such small teams were like that.

Caine put down his pack, kept his water and his shades, and headed out into the daylight.

[Mr Fox]

Cam considered a moment, "I might be able to make them turn on, assuming they go somewhere and aren't just there in case a ship lands on top of the pyramid. I guess we could try sending a water bottle through and see if it comes back, or if the rings even activate. What do you say Major?"

[Adrian Moss]

"A ship would have it's own. These have to be for something else. Send my camcorder though so if it goes somewhere, we can see were and make some suppositions on what's on the other side."

He hand Cam his camcorder.

"Good bye little buddy," he tells his device.

"You can tell my father works for the Pentagon, so cavalier am I with the expensive stuff," he adds with a chuckle.

[Mr Fox]

Cam chuckled, "Righto." He opened up the little camcorder and prepared to set it recording but looked back to the major, "Major, do you want to make your exploration outside first? If I turn this thing on it could kick an ants nest. Wouldn't want you to be out there if I bring down any negative attention on us."

[Adrian Moss]

"Debating the point. Either action could bring us some kind of pressure, but I suppose looking outside is the lesser risk."

He walks up to the entrance,

"If I'm not back in twenty minutes, DO NOT come looking," he jokes. "I'll be back by then. If you get a message, somethings hinky."

Caine then steps out into the day and starts slinking about in his desert camouflage.

Click to reveal..

Stealth Check:(21:58:35) (Caine): First Dice is Mega

(21:58:46) ChatBot: (Caine) rolls 9d10 and gets 9,3,9,6,4,10,10,8,3 = 6 successes

[Adrian Moss]

Right about the twenty minute mark, Major Caine returns ... smiling.

"I think I found what those might hook up to, but let me describe the situation first. A sound drift covers much of the back of this structure. I climbed to the top of it and looked around. Behind us - to the Northeast - is another, larger structure. It is pyramid shaped, but its not. It's some kind of ship, but I doubt it could ever get air- or space-borne it's so huge.

Instead, it looks like a Goa'uld pleasure palace with balconies and windows. It is it has glyphs and carvings all along it. It most reminds me of the footage we have of Ra's pleasure yacht but is much bigger. I didn't see any life on it, but its about 100 degrees and zero humidity."

Looking around at his team,

"First I suggest Gwyn fly out and take some footage of the structure. Come back and we'll attempt the teleportion device now and get to examining the site when we are done ... and things work out.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

The second Olivia cleared the StarGate and saw there was no danger, her zat was pocketed and the video camera came out. She began a steady circuit around the room, cataloging what she saw. Gradually, her team began to notice that she was mentioning measurements. The odd thing was that she wasn't taking any, she was just stating, factually, that this was so long, and that was this tall. She paused only when someone spoke to her or Caine issued orders.

As the news of the strange ship filled her ears, she remained cool and calm, despite her excitement. But under her excitement, she felt a twinge of concern. She couldn't have said why, but the concept of Ra's 'pleasure yacht' was freaking her out a little. There was no sign of that as she said, "Let's get Gwyn to check it out. Hey, say... did you want me to come with you? I could grab more footage, and be your wingman." She looked at Cam. "That is the right word, right? Not some Hollywood make-believe word?"

[Mr Fox]

Cam chuckled, "Yeah, it's a real word." He looked back down at the rings and removed his pack before kneeling down to place his hand on the top surface of the ring inset in the floor. Looking back at Gwyn, "This will take a bit, once I get it going I'll wait till you are back before I activate."

Click to reveal..

CyberK control roll:

(11:29:15) ChatBot: (Cam) rolls 8d10 and gets 10,10,10,5,10,3,9,2.

Roll for quality:

(11:30:32) ChatBot: (Cam) rolls 1d10 and gets 9.

Mental prodigy: Engineering:

(11:34:02) ChatBot: (Cam) rolls 6d10 and gets 7,8,1,8,1,10.

Damn!!! 12 Successes total.

As he made contact with the metal of the rings he sent his mind probing into them expecting them to be horrible complicated like much of the alien tech he had experienced so far. Instead what he found was simply laid out and elegant in form. Certainly it was complicated and there were many redundancies built in as there should be when lives depended on the technology, but surprisingly he found it all so easy to understand. The systems were so logically laid out that he was surprised he hadn't seen the patterns before. A look of profound understanding crossed Cam's face as he glanced back up at the others and there was a hint of awe in his voice as he said, "I can make these work, no problem."

[Adrian Moss]

"Okay Doc. You go with Gwyn and do what you do, but neither one of you expose yourself and if you see anything out of the ordinary - for us - hurry back here. The Colonel and I will wait until you return to activate the gate. Don't keep us waiting."

"Hurry up now. Things could get exciting real fast."

[Rorx]

"Fine with me Sirs. Doc, how do you want to do this, do you want to take a ride so you can concentrate on the camera work or did you want to copy my flight and try to do it all yourself?"

While he waits for the answer he gets rid of any extraneous gear and attunes the rest.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Olivia watched Cam's awe of his powers and the world he found himself in, and felt a bit of pride. She'd brought this about; she'd given the world its last specialist.

Until we have children.

The thought stopped her cold. It wasn't the idea of having a child - that was fine. But could they? Or would the powerful forces in their bodies kill any baby? Or worse, warp it somehow? She'd always wanted to try for a child - Dominic - and the thought that she might not was sickening.

She pushed it away as the others started to talk again. She was on mission. She'd think about it later.

"Gwyn, I'll fly," Olivia said somberly. Suddenly a wide grin crossed her face. "You know I love to fly. Now I can." And I'll have a video camera with me this time to record it, so that I can half-remember it later.

[Rorx]

Gwyn grins back at Olivia, reflecting his own love of flying. "Ok, doc, we'll both fly and film. We'll take it up to 250kph and spiral around the thing from ground level up to make sure we get a decent coverage on the videos. Set the zoom to the maximum optical so we don't get any digital artefacts, and maintain a good 200 metre standoff from the ship. That should put us outside the effective range of staff weapons at least."

He turns to the officiers, "That cover it, or do either of you gentlemen have other suggestions?"

[Adrian Moss]

"No, I suggest you stay amongst the dunes, not fly-by on the thing. It looks intact, not overtaken by sand, so no exposing yoruselves, understood?"

He didn't want his people getting shot, or alerting any occupants of the place. You were cautious until the time came to not be cautious and as commander that was his call to make.

[Rorx]

"Ok, Major. it's your call. However, in that case there is no point flying at all, it is bound to get us seen. I guess it's going to be a foot patrol with lots of Stealth, it will take a while to go around the ship like that."

[Adrian Moss]

Caine stared at him for a second then rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Go out, take a look at the side facing us. Flying around the pyramid and to the top of the dune will save you some time. Do it, please. Record what you can from the one - closest - face and then come back. We will test the transporter circles to see if that works. If we have no life is located with the circles, then we will make a flying reconissence of the ship. Doc can borrow your strenght too, right?"

[Rorx]

"Yeah, shouldn't be a problem. As for the Strength, I guess Olivia can, it mainly comes from the increased density. So as long as she can copy the density changing power she should be able to get increased strength with it."

He turns to Olivia for confirmation.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"I can handle it," Olivia said, smiling. "Density and Flight - got any other suggestions for stuff I should snag while I'm in there?" Her smile was charming and guileless.

[Rorx]

Gwyn gives her a grin, "Typical woman, always looking to see the offers in the store. If you can afford it I'd recommend the sub-dermal armour and the afterburner since we are mainly concerned with defence and evasion at this stage."

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Olivia nodded. Personally, the 'sub-dermal armor' and the 'afterburner' all sounded better even than the density. She touched Gwyn's arm and let her power choose what she wanted from what he had to offer. When it was done, she didn't feel heavier, or feel that she could be heavier, but there was a sense of weight to her body now. And, of course, the odd feeling that she could slip the bounds of gravity.

With a little smile, she lifted into the air, just a foot, just to feel it. And it felt wonderful. "I could get used to this," she murmured.

[Rorx]

"Yep, it's nice isn't it? Hey I just thought, don't you fly as well Colonel? If so that just leaves the Major as a groundpounder." He finishes with a smile.

Turning more serious he turns bacck to Olivia, "I'm hoping that copying stuff will make it easier for you to figure out how to add some of these things to your repotoire permenantly. So you'll have a core of stuff you always have access to and the advantage of copying stuff you might need as well."

[Mr Fox]

Cam looked up from his communion with the ring device, "I wish I could fly! It's something I'd really like to learn, assuming we can learn new abilities." He smiled and added, "Come on, off you go you two. The Major here is going to be bored till you get back."

The two did as suggested getting their video cameras out and literally flying out the front door low and quiet. Hugging the dunes and the pyramid kept them somewhat concealed, but once around the back side there was no real concealment besides the dunes themselves. Going low and slow was the best option. In the desert camo it would at least be hard to spot them unless someone was specifically looking. Security devices on the other hand were another matter and there was simply nothing they could do about that so they didn't bother.

The gate pyramid was virtually the same size as the Great Pyramid of Giza, that made the second on all the more impressive. It was easily five times the size of the first. Like Ra's pleasure yacht it was gold in appearance with many tiers of balconies and windows. Circling around the thing it became obvious that the massive structure could never take off if indeed it was a ship. There appeared to be no entrance to it from the ground, or if there was it was deeply buried under the sand at the pyramids base. That was the other thing that really boggled the mind, where the dunes dipped down there was no sight of bedrock upon which the great structure was built on, just more of the building going down beneath the sand. It was the same on all sides and from their perspective low to the ground there was no sign of activity.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

It was simply the best thing she'd ever done, and Olivia sorrowed that she wouldn't be able to remember it completely later. I need to get that fixed, she sighed to herself, hating that when she released this power, she'd have to struggle to recall the memory of it.

Pushing that aside, she focused on filming the pyramid and the surroundings. Hot air whipped past them as they flew, but it wasn't overwhelming because the humidity was so low. Instead, she could feel her skin drying out, and she was happy that she'd packed some body lotion. It wouldn't completely stop the process, but it would be a good stop-gap in the meantime.

She did pause several times to take pictures of the windows and balconies, using zoom functions to peer deep into the dark recesses behind. And as she filmed, she continued to take measurements, including an approximate height of the pyramid - at least it's height above the sand. There was no way to know how far down it went.

[Rorx]

Gwyn concentratd on the job in hand, with a side order of keeping an eye on Olivia. Although she could copy his powers he wasn't sure how well that let her control them if anything tricky came up.

After an uneventfull sortie the two of them quickly returned to the Major and Colonel back in the smaller gate pyramid.

"Well we got the footage, but stil no signs of life out there that I could see. You spot anything Doc?"

[Adrian Moss]

Caine waits patiently on watch for his team mates to return. When they finally arrived, he motioned them indoors and asked to see the footage.

"Opinions? Either one of you or both? Do you think its occupied? How long do you think its been abandoned it not occupied?"

He was grinning while he asked the questions. He was having a good day.

[Rorx]

Gwyn gave his quick appraisal of the situation, "Well the apparent upkeep on this place suggests that it is occupied. It is simply to big to be able to tell if there is anything much going on in there unless we get close enough that it would be almost inevitable that we get spotted. I guess the rings would be the thing to try next, but we should probably report back first to let them know what we have found."

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"I looked in the windows, but as you can see, there's too much glare coming off the building," Olivia said. She watched Caine and Cam watch the footage. "What are your thoughts, Major? We going to ring a camera in?"

[Adrian Moss]

"The Colonel says he can do it, and I want to see were this thing goes before someone uses it to pop in behind us. My brave little camcorder will go first. If it checks out as clear, I think we need to send myself and Jones in next, seeing as how we's immune to environmental concerns."

Caine didn't tell them that his immunity was mostly theoretical.

"The Colonel brings us back after a thirty second look around then, if safe, we all go and check the place out. Does everyone remember our dial-up and our scheduled exit times? We won't have much time to discuss them after this."

[Rorx]

"Lets send that camera and see what the story is. Doc from the size of what we can see compared with a normal Mothership how many decks would you say that thing has?"

[Mr Fox]

Cam looked at the others when he was ready and nodded. "Major, give the camera a little spin and we can get a 360 of the area." Once the major did, Cam exerted his control over the rings and they activated with the normal sound and light show. When they had sunk back into the floor the camera was gone. Cam did a slow 15 count then activated the rings again. There was a little release of tension among the group as the camera reappeared in the same spot where it was placed.

It only took a few seconds to rewind and review the footage. The chamber on the other side was very much like the one on this side, but instead of stone the walls seemed to be made of the same metals that Goa'uld ships and structures usually were. Like the gateroom in the pyramid the room on the other side of the rings was pristinely clean. The video didn't show anyone waiting on the other side. "Looks clear major."

[Rorx]

Gwyn turns to Major Caine after Cam's comments, "Major, might I suggest that priority be given to finding a computer terminal. Colonel Mitchell could then access it and hence gain the maximum information about the ship and any inhabitants."

[Adrian Moss]

"Colonel, what are the odds that you can operate the gate from the other end?"

"Jones, let's get ready to go across. Trip number two, everyone."

He looks to Cam," Give us thirty seconds then bring us back. Third trip should be everybody."

Caine stands up within the rings and makes way for the Englishman. He gives a thumbs up when they both seem ready.

"Be ready Jones. Air could be quite stale and not telling how hot the structure is."