Aberrant: Stargate Universe - Joint training exercise leads to Conspiracy

[Adrian Moss]

Caine turned to Noah and smiled.

"WEll, I guess some of us are going to be aromatic when we get back to camp. When I was on a mission, I had to cross Western North America and Asia to get to a funcitoning gate ... walking. Man, a few weeks in the bush and you appreciate a cold dip in some clear water like you wouldn't believe. It also makes you appreciate what you consider home."

"Omar may run things to ground fast, but I think you would be more effective hunter. You are invisible, of course, but you are also patient. Trust me, I know. I leaned to shoot with a bow and arrow by missing a hell of a lot. Our guide used to laugh at me. It was humbling, but I learned. By the end of the year, I could have survived on my own."

"I can't stand the idea of sport hunting anymore. I guess I went a bit native."

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Olivia nodded, catching the spirit of the 'game'. "Alright," she said, then turned to the other two. "We're going to really go swimming," she said, nodding. "Don't worry about us, we'll be back soon."

She touched Aradia's water-slick shoulder and concentrated; soon, she felt an odd looseness in her skin, as if she could flick it off. With the innate knowledge of how to use the power, Olivia pictured a new form and willed herself to be it.

The small fresh-water dolphin appeared suddenly; with a whistle of surprise, she flopped forward into the water as she learned that fins don't support a creature standing vertically in the water. Sputtering, Olivia surfaced, coughing water out her blow hole.

Experimentally, she flexed her fins and tail, then her body. With a squeal of delight, she suddenly shot off downstream. After a brief burst of speed, she remembered that the boys were that way. Despite her desire to cause a little mischief, she wasn't completely a dolphin, and so she was able to turn back, her sharp eyes looking for her sister.

[Rorx]

Gwyn ignored the talk of hunting and wandered down towards the waters edge. Although obviously less comfortable about it than the other swimmers, he did strip off completely before entering the water. Wincing slighlty at the change in temperature on his skin after the earlier workout he walked out until the water was waist deep before swimming towards Damien, stopping at a comfortable conversation distance.

"Well, that could have gone better from any number of perspectives."

[Adrian Moss]

"Some would call it a flaw in our democratic republic. I see it as a diversity of opinions. Olivia is a Concencious Objector. I don't understand that, but I respect her convictions. It's what you get with a conscipted force, because only Vinny and I are volunteers for the SGC. The rest of you, despite possible military, or paramilitary service, were drafted here. That's going to leave a series of different mindsets."

"The Colonel is a crusader. He sees a wrong and he wants to right it. I can't blame him for that, but he could have been more subtle in his recruitment. He put some people in a unteniable posistion - morals, obligations, and duty. Some of us took and oath to protect this nation, but that can have various forms."

"The United States is part of the IOA, so shouldn't we protect and defend it too? We disagree on that. That's the way its going to be. Some of us want to fight the fight in a proactive manner, while others want the fight to be clear and unmuddled. Who is right? Who is wrong? I don't think it matters right now. The mission is most likely scrubbed. Cam was counting on a concensus and without it, the risks are too great. You know what I mean?"

[Forge]

Originally Posted By: Mr Fox

"Captain... Wright, you're with me." He'd almost slipped and called the man Captain Teflon. "You know anything about hunting Captain?"

Vinny looked over at the mention of his name and walked over to Klink, "Sure you are well aware, sir, been through SERE." he answered.

[Mr Fox]

Cam snorted, "Good then you'll be well familiar with field dressing anything we bring down. I kill it you dress it or vice versa."

Despite their ill humor neither man ignored their training and moved through the undergrowth quietly and efficiently. After a short distance Cam looked over at Wright and said quietly to not disturb any game that might be nearby, "You don't like me." He looked back to the forest noting movement off to the right but rather than pursue the small piglike creature he turned back to Wright. "I don't have a problem with that. I figure you don't like many people so I don't take it personally and frankly don't care if it is personal either. We're both career military, we have to deal with people we don't like, it's part of the job. But if you have something to say about what we discussed back there say it. Off the record, no consequences." He gestured toward the pig-thing that was just a little beyond Zat range, "But do it quietly if you can, that looks like dinner over there."

[Yseult Sierra]

A thoughful frown appeared on Yseult's face as she listened, and listened, to Kyria's account of Lorean and the effects of taint. The more she learned, the more she feared that this 'Taint' could turn out to be as much a problem as the goa'uld. Once she had finished with the counter-agent to the goa'uld toxin, this seemed like a worthy, and neccessary, next project.

*Hmmm. I am guessing then, that I will have to speak to Omar Khudikias on this at some time. Truly, Kyria, I am sorry if my questions have cause you any distress, I only wanted to -*

Yseult's thought was cut off by the mocking laughter of a dolphin, and in her startlement, she slipped beneath the surface of the river for a moment. She came back up, blonde hair plastered to her face, spewing out a stream of river water.

"Aradie, you surprised me, you should warn someone-" Yseult began, slightly cross, when she noticed Aridia's vari-coloured blonde head still bobbing in the water. "Olivie?" Yseult called questioningly after the retreating dolphin. "That goes for you too."

Under her breath, Yseult muttered, "Children," but it sounded amused rather than annoyed. She swept her hair back from her face and turned her attention back to Kyria. "You have been very patient in letting me ask you many questions. I thank-you. If there is anything you wish to ask, please, feel free, and I will do my best to answer you as I can."

[Aradia McConnell]

Aradia giggled slightly as she watched Olivia's transformation. She had to admit, it was a little funny to watch someone make a mistake like that, and it gave her a little more appreciate for how her team must have felt looking at a hundred and thirty pound hummingbird. She watched her sister flex, and shoot off downstream. Yseult's reaction made her laugh, and she transformed herself then, dropping into the water behind her and following her.

Ari caught up to her a moment or two after she paused, and with a fluid twist she shifted around and darted off the direction they had come from, almost daring Livy to catch up with her. As the two dolphins raced upstream, battling the current, Aradia leapt out of the water with as much force as she could muster, splashing Yseult and Kyria as she passed and twisting around in mid-air before disappearing back into the water.

Apparently the young gymnast didn't lose much of her flexibility while shifted into other forms.

[z028 Riley]

Kyria opened her eyes and gave the French woman a penetrating look, "What are you going to do about your family, in light of everything today?"

The question was direct and serious; Kyria waited with inhuman stillness for the answer.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Olivia squealed with delight when she saw the other dolphin spin and shoot forward. A quick wiggle of her body had her following after, giggling with dolphinic delight. When Aradia arched out of the water, Olivia waited until she had completed her jump before throwing herself out of the water in a backwards flip. She didn't quite make it; she slammed back-first into the water. It didn't dampen her mood at all.

Something darted in front of her, and Olivia snatched at it instinctively. With her mouth. Shrieking with disgust, she released her bounty when she tasted fish slime and fish fear. A second later, she realized it hadn't tasted that bad and the thought of swallowing it whole wasn't-

Dial back on the dolphin a bit there, Olivia reminded herself before taking another spectacular jump. This one looking good, though, mostly because she wasn't trying to do anything odd with it.

[Rorx]

Gwyn nods to Damien, "Yeah , I know what you mean. Even you and Vinny, who both swore, presumably the same oath have different takes on it. I haven't sworn anything, but my loyalty is more to this world and it's people than it is to SGC or the US. Having said that 99% of the time I would expect to follow the orders of those above me in the SGC, because it's expected, you guys have the experience and equipment to get the job done. I see the IOA as politcally necessary, but that doesn't mean that factions within it that act in illegal or immoral ways can't be exposed and eliminated."

He turns slightly to try to include Noah in the conversation if he is nearby, "Actually doesn't your military oath include something about 'all enemies, foreign and domestic' that would cover this situation?"

[Yseult Sierra]

Yseult met the young nova's gaze solidly. "D'accors, that is a fair enough question." Yseult floated in the water in silence for a moment, watching the dancing dolphins. When Yseult turned back to Kyria, her demeanor was as serious as the other woman's.

"First, I am going to speak to Generel Landry about ameliorating the situation. If that fails, then I will have a decision to make. I can either wait, and hope that when we cause the IOA to clean-up their operation, they will change their stance on my situation. Or I can go to them now, and be damned with the consequences. We would probably be on the run, but we would be together."

Yseult continued her study of the other woman, debating whether to say more. "I plan on helping Cameron with his mission to secure a goa'uld ship. That will give me another option, should I need it."

[Omar]

He ran. He ran to clear his head of the earlier conflict with Olivia. He ran because he had little else to do.

As he did, he began to question coming to this timeline. He had lived both 'off the grid', and in societies they had engineered. Trying to come to grips with the new reality was going to be a lot more difficult that he thought. With the exception of Kyria, there was no-one else. His family was on an innacessible world. His friends were playing at being gods. The only thing that made him unique was his experience and his node.

[Noah Weston]

Noah was only vaguely aware of Jones and Caine's conversation. Every time he looked at the naked men swimming/bathing in the river with him, that warm tingle flooded through him so he did his best to just block them out and enjoy the frigid river water.

Then Jones spoke directly too him. He'd already ignored Caine's attempt to engage him in conversation but the man had never asked him a question so he felt no obligation to talk. Talking meant looking at him and it was too distracting when they were naked. He looked at Gwyn briefly before flicking his eyes away.

"Are they our enemy? Are they the enemy of the United States?" He asked. "Or is this a personal vendetta due to some slight, real or percieved, caused by some bureaucrat?"

He paused an moment, treading water, before continuing. "The IOA is an oversight comittee. It's made up of a lot of people doing a lot of jobs, many of which have nothing to do with the SGC. To say the IOA is our enemy is ridiculous. If however there are elements within the IOA which are working against the wellbeing of the SGC...." He let the sentance trail off.

"Let me ask you this though. If you were some pencil pusher who's job it was to keep an eye on the SGC and you could only see it from the outside looking in, What would you think? The mission, Anubis's invasion, the Specialists, all of it. Wouldn't you want to gather as much information as possible and not have it sanitized by the SGC command? Let's face it, discipline and respect for the chain of command is sorely lacking around here."

[Rorx]

"Oh, I can quite agree Noah, I probably would want to know more about what was going on. On the other hand that does not give them the right to threaten people to try to get, plant a person who had insufficient clearance, and no hope of ever legally obtaining that clearance, into the SGC for nothing other than intimidation of one of the Specialists. This isn't a personal vendetta, it would be an operation to remove the person or persons within the IOA who would use illegal methods to try to obtain information and/or control over people within the SGC."

After a brief pause he continues, "On the other hand I would have to disagree about the chain of command. Considering the wide range of people who have been called in to the SGC as Specialist, both with and without a capital S, I think that pretty much all of the teams respect their team leaders. The team leaders are all military, with the requisite discipline etc. Not being military we don't tend to go in for all the saluting and stuff you may be used to, but then that is less common among the special forces units I've encountered as well, so I don't think that is a major problem."

[Adrian Moss]

"Noah, they asked one of my specialists to spy on the rest of the specialists. That's within their perview, but lousy for the teams. If we have to watch everything we say around each other, trust is broken down and effectiveness is impaired. I want my team on its A-game. Do you?"

"Do you want the IOA to find every little fault and use it against you? They did that to my Specialist. I swear it. They did it in a way that endangered lives of multiple people, specialist and normal personnel alike."

"I'm not pissed wtih them. I'm appalled that an agency that knows the dangerous work we do would play these games with people I'm responsible for. I'm appalled in general."

"I guess the next question is, what do you plan to do next?"

[Forge]

Originally Posted By: Mr Fox

Cam snorted, "Good then you'll be well familiar with field dressing anything we bring down. I kill it you dress it or vice versa."

Despite their ill humor neither man ignored their training and moved through the undergrowth quietly and efficiently. After a short distance Cam looked over at Wright and said quietly to not disturb any game that might be nearby, "You don't like me." He looked back to the forest noting movement off to the right but rather than pursue the small piglike creature he turned back to Wright. "I don't have a problem with that. I figure you don't like many people so I don't take it personally and frankly don't care if it is personal either. We're both career military, we have to deal with people we don't like, it's part of the job. But if you have something to say about what we discussed back there say it. Off the record, no consequences." He gestured toward the pig-thing that was just a little beyond Zat range, "But do it quietly if you can, that looks like dinner over there."

Vinny knew that no matter what was said, 'off the record', was never 'off the record'. People took the shit personally and it always came back to bite him in the ass. Today however, too much had been thrown at him and this gave him a chance to let loose some steam, despite the inevitable ball of shit that would be rolling downhill.

"You wanna know what the fuck my issue is?" Vinny asked rhetorically as 'piglet' darted off into the underbrush at the none-too-quiet Captain. "My issue is that somehow some ass-tard pilot got it up his ass that he could decide what missions were, that he could take it upon himself to design some fuck-all militia within the SGC, bypassing protocol to go after an organization with international connections, giving no real thought to the consequences of anyone else at the SGC. They are a political organization, they are not the NID. They don't fight the front lines like we do. They shake hands in DC and make shit happen. If they wanted, I'd wake up tomorrow in Fuck-meistan tied to a goat bare-ass naked, because that's how they fuckin' roll. So if you think you and your newly formed band of 'Merry Supermen' can fight that, more fuckin' power to ya, but like I said, not that fuckin' dumb. Got some Snake that is hell bent on dominating the galaxy to deal with."

"Now," Vinny continued, having barely paused, "You get Landry to sign off on whatever crazy-ass shit you've designed and he hands down some ass-tard mission, then fine, bring it on. None of this cloak n' dagger shit."

[Mr Fox]

How the hell did this guy get to be in charge of a team with a temper like that? Cam just shrugged and started to speak. His voice wasn't raised, but there was plenty of seriousness to it. "My CO, put me in this position, he was also your CO. The President personally approved the appointment. We just happened to have a change of command over the last couple days, but I did give O'Neill the lowdown on what was going on before he left. He is still in charge by the way, he's Landry's boss. His response and I quote, 'Bring me something I can use and I'll nail their assess to the wall.' But that's off the record. This whole thing is off the record because we can't go at them on the record, or they'd just order the investigation shut down. It's within their power. And like you said you and the rest of us would end up in very dark holes somewhere as 'security threats'."

"I don't know what you think is going on here, but with or without you I don't plan on letting things go on the way they are. The IOA has compromised the security of the SGC on a personal vendetta against Olivia because she refused to play ball with them. That's not only illegal, it's...it's. Shit, I don't have your talent for language Captain, I don't have words to describe how sick that makes me at what their doing. So if you want you can go back through the gate when the mission is over and pretend this conversation never happened that's fine, but with or without you, or anyone else, I plan to give O'Neill what he asked for and hand him the proof it will take to get the IOA cleaned up."

"As for the other stuff we were talking about. Getting a ship and such, well, like you said, you've thought about what could happen if they decide tomorrow that you are some kind of threat. I've thought of it too and I'd like to have a plan should things ever go wrong. But you were right. We shouldn't do anything that isn't sanctioned by our chain of command. If we get a ship and place it somewhere on Earth as a means of escape, it will be with the full knowledge of our chain of command and the President. I'd just prefer that not include the IOA until after they are cleaned up."

[Forge]

That was a far better explanation than the cluster fuck meeting they just had, and went far to bringing Vin around, but he still didn't like the plan, and thought that maybe Klink had some of Steve's voodoo shit going on that was addling his brain.

"Yeah, well, get orders, then our opinions are moot. Still think we got bigger fuckin' fish to fry than some ass-tard organization with small dick syndrome. More power to ya, if you toast the shits, but seriously, Anubis is eating system lords like fuckin' candy and even Ba'al is tuckin' tail. Even the IOA isn't stupid enough to jeopardize the SGC's best weapons by fuckin' with us right now."

[Mr Fox]

Cam laughed the tension easing somewhat. "I think you give the IOA more credit than they deserve. I'm sure some of the people on the board are trying to act in the best interest of the world first and their politics second. Some of them aren't. Some of them have proven that they put politics first, they proved that with Hatchins." He cocked his head a little looking curiously at Vinny. "I don't know you know the story behind that so I won't tell you, but if you do then you understand just how screwed up it was to put him in the SGC, and now they are covering up him being AWOL."

[Forge]

In a grand effort to keep his temper level, Vinny did nothing but nod in agreement as another dagger was thrust into his heart.

What the fuck, Olivia?

"Yeah, they're fucked up. What else is new? Didn't say they were gonna call us the new fuckin' Power Rangers and give us the damn Moon."

Fuckin' pilots.

[Mr Fox]

Cam nodded to Vinny sensing they had at least an understanding if not total agreement. "Captain, I don't expect you to like me or agree with what I'm trying to do, but let's head back to the river or the camp and help with dinner. As for our little job of cleaning up the IOA, you don't have to participate if you don't wish. I won't order you to do anything you don't think is appropriate. This is strictly a volunteer operation, but I would appreciate if you would not stand in the way of those who feel they need to act. After all, I would not stand in your way if you chose to pursue Hatchins and bring him to justice." Cam hoped that would be incentive enough for the Captain to keep him at least from reporting their activities and it was something that needed to be done.

[Forge]

"Well Colonel, long as you have the General's green light, doesn't matter. Even if I was some ass-tard, he'd blockade any shit sent upriver. You fuckin' outrank me, do whatever the hell you wanna do."

Figuring that was about as close as they were going to get to a tentative agreement, Vinny turned around and headed back towards the river and the 'camp'. Stealth was obviously not on his mind as he trampled his way through the underbrush like a bull elephant.

[Omar]

Omar felt a littel better as he slowed. His circuit around the neighboring mountains had taking him farther than he'd thought. He figured he did 2500 kilometer in two hours. The place was deserted with the exception of the native fauna. He realized that if these people were going to trust him, he would need to treat them as if they were equals.

He approached the camp, his body shining with sweat with a fat boar in his hand. He had managed to snatch it while he ran, breaking its neck in the process.

Omar sat on a rock a little ways from the makeshift fort and began the messy job of cleaning the hog.

[Mr Fox]

Cam repressed an exasperated sigh and settled for heading to the river to get cleaned up. He might have boundless energy now and never need to sleep, but he still got sweaty and dirty doing the kind of work they'd done this morning and needed to be cleaned. He regretted the boar-like thing that had gotten away thanks to Vinny, but he was happy to see that Omar had picked up dinner on his jog.

Once everyone was gathered for dinner and the hog-thing was making yummy roasting smells, Cam stood and called for everyone's attention.

"Look everyone, I apologize for earlier, I should have made a couple points more clear from the beginning to avoid some of the tension that developed. We're not going to have another 'discussion' here and ruin dinner but I want to correct the misunderstanding. First, General O'Neill does know about my plan, and he charged me with finding evidence, so this is not something that I cooked up on my own although it was my initiative that brought it to his attention in the first place. His words and I quote them to you exactly were, 'Bring me something I can use and I'll nail their assess to the wall.' That's not exactly a formal mission statement and if you aren't comfortable being part of what I have planned that's fine. This is volunteer only, if you don't want to take part for whatever reason that's fine no one will question your choice."

He looked about judging their reactions as he went on, "O'Neill accepted a new position as overall commander of Homeworld Security forces. He reports to Hammond who reports directly to the president. The only difference is that there is now one layer of command between him and us and General Landry is not yet in the loop on this, but I do have my orders from General O'Neill who is Landry's superior so there's nothing illegal or outside the chain of command going on here other than Landry not being informed and that is only a matter of time. The change only happened three days ago so it's not like he's been willfully left out of the loop, but I wanted to gauge your reactions and get an idea of who wanted in on this mission before we take this to him. Assuming General O'Neill want's Landry brought in of course."

"Finally, anything we do will be on the record, at least as far as our superior officer O'Neill is concerned. If we steal a ship and hide it on Earth, he and the President will be aware of it. However, it will be off the record as far as any official reports go, at least until the matter of the IOA has been cleared up. At that point it will be up to the President whether to inform the IOA or not as he sees fit."

At the news there seemed to be a relaxing of tension from some members of the group. Cam was used to command, he'd been leading men for a while now, but this was the first mission like this he'd had to put together and he could only blame himself for misjudging peoples reactions. With this mix of career military and civilians he had tried to do things in a looser more democratic way, and in so doing hadn't explained things well enough and this is where they'd landed, with tensions running high and misunderstandings abounding. Bah, from now on he'd do things in proper military fashion.

"Now we are going to have a nice dinner of Roast Beast. In the morning those who would like to volunteer for duty meet me by the stargate geared up at 06:00. Those not comfortable taking part you are free to relax and enjoy some R&R here on the planet. There is some fishing gear among things we brought. Feel free to do as you wish as long as you don't leave the planet or get in trouble. Whoever is highest ranking among those who stay will be in charge until the rest of us return."

((OOC: This is an end to the thread. To be continued in Mission: To Steal a Ship and a separate R&R thread for any who decide to remain.))