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Aberrant: Stargate Universe - Home Movies


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{Fic Starts after Rabbit Hole }

Gwyn booked the use of one of the movie rooms for several hours in the middle of the day before sending an email around to all the Specialists. He had thought that Damien would do this, but as he had been for a while now, Damien was engaged in a bureaucratic battle to keep track of Sgt Perault and the other Specialists that had left Cheyenne Mountain, and if possible to secure their return. It was work that Gwyn felt was worthwhile, but it took a large chunk of Damien's time.

<Hi all,

If anyone is interested in helping out I've got a couple of hours of video footage that SG-21 filmed recently when we found Ra's Library. Any additional eyes would be appreciated as we go through it for any information we can glean.

Movie room B, 14:00 to 17:00, Coffee and soft drinks provided.

Gwyn, SG-21>

With the invite sent Gwyn busied himself arranging the refrreashments and cuing the video feed on the projector and slaving it to his laptop.

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Yseult received the invitation and grinned - she was very interested in seeing what SG-21 had found on their last mission. Her grin faded into a small frown as she thought about her own last mission, which hadn't worked out as she had hoped.

She had been working a bit more on the goa'uld antitoxin, as something constructive to distract herself as she waited for a response from Landry concerning her family. This was a welcome distraction from that distraction.

She gathered up her laptop, looked around for anything else she might need, and realized there really wasn't. She was able to read Goa'uld flawlessly now, and could remember most anything in crystal clear detail. Besides, Daniel and Olivia would have the better reference material for any cultural and historical significance.

Yseult made it to the media room nearly half an hour early, and helped Gwyn setup. "I've been greatly anticipating seeing images from SG-21's mission to the Library of Ra. Merci beaucoup Gwyn, for arranging this."

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Gwyn nods to Yseult, "Thank you for helping me set up. Anyway any extra impressions will be useful."

He straightens from putting the flasks of coffee and hot water on the small side table, "By the waywhat did you think of Eight when you met him? I know it's not a fun thought having a Goa'uld around the place, but I was thinking more of his origins. you were aware that Eight and his associates are all specially designed Goa'uld put into essentially mindless clone bodies?"

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The beautiful, blonde doctor frowned at the mention of Eight - she couldn't help but find the goa'uld repugnant, the Tok'ra only marginally less so. "I suppose cloned hosts are better than subjugating a sentient being. Still, I'm doubting we know everything that these goa'uld were designed for. Nor do I like it that they can be manipulated to become what their progenitor wishes - it makes them less individuals and simply more like tools."

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Cam walked in and found Yseult and Gwyn already there. He had everything they had seen recorded in his memory and would never forget it, but hopefully seeing the reactions of others would spark something useful. He had a nagging feeling that there was something there that required attention. He was pretty sure it wasn't the Goa'uld, but the library itself.

Truth be told, if Gwyn hadn't arranged the viewing he would have himself. He would already have done it if he hadn't been so wrapped up in the investigation of the IOA. At least that was going well. He had delivered his findings to General's Landry and O'Neill last night. It was in better hands than his now and that was a relief. Now he could get back to doing his job.

"Hey there. Glad you arranged popcorn. I can't say this will be the most exciting footage ever." He grinned and headed for the upright popcorn maker in the corner to get it started. It was there for movie nights and it was way better than microwave.

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Gwyn smiles as Cam switches on the popcorn maker, then turns back to Yseult, "Oh, I agree, we can't know what they might have been designed for. Although in theory it's the Queen rather than Ra that would have had the final say on how they Goa'uld larvae would turn out."

He pours himself a mug of coffee and offers the same to the other two before continuing, "On the other hand, with regards to the hosts, I'd be much happier if all Goa'uld used such hosts rather than destroying the lives of real people."

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Kyria wandered in with her head stuck in a book. She placed a bookmark carefully on the page, marking the sentence as well. She grinned at the room and settled herself on one of the couches available. "I'm here as an official 'Dr. Jackson wishes he could be here but is digging in alien dirt instead' detail for gross theft of books (and a small bookshelf) over the time he was on the Prometheus."

She looked inordinately pleased with herself, and having claimed her couch, bounded back up to grab buttery popcorn and a Sprite.

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Yseult accepted the cup of coffee from Gwyn with a grateful smile. "Merci, Gwyn," she said, taking a small sip, then adding in another sugar and milk. "The Queen may have the final say, Gwyn, that is true, but we have seen that they are as subject to coercion as anyone - anything - else."

She gave Kyria an amused grin as she explained her presence, then went over to get a small bowl of popcorn as well. "Have you considered getting your own books, Kyria? I assume the SGC is paying you, and without having to spend much on food or clothing, you must have a fair amount of spending money."

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Ryan makes his way in. "So this is what passes for Movie night around here eh?" He smiles warmly and finds an unclaimed couch. "At least the company is good." He looks around and smiles.

He looks to Gwyn and chuckles. "Oh so were you the one who edited the masterpiece we're about to watch then?"

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Gwyn grins back at the Major and shakes his head, "To be honest, no. We've actually got all the original footage, or copies of it. While it is all queued up on the projector, I've got it being controlled from my laptop so that I can make notes adjacent to the relevant sections, and can easily rewind sections if necessary."

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Ryan looks to Olivia and laughs. "Put your fist down or we'll have to settle this in the old fashioned art of arm-wrestling."

He winked at her Then looked around. "Anyone else showing up, anyone know?"

He regarded Yesult with a smile, she was perhaps the most outgoing of his team, and she seemed to along well with everyone.

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"Daniel's books are more interesting, and he makes notes to go with them. And I have money, but I spent some of it finding out what happened to my father, um, the Michael Donnighal of this world. A lot of Daniel's books are also one of a kind or not Earth books. I can't buy those." Her response was a mix of impish evil and honest assessment.

"The Man?" Kyria asked Olivia quizzically; she hadn't heard that phrase or title yet.

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Aradia walked into the room, looking a little hesitant. She wasn't sure she was going to be all that useful, but maybe sitting and watching might help her absorb a little more knowledge about what was going on, so even if she wasn't able to contribute that much maybe she could at least learn something.

Her discomfort at feeling out of place wasn't completely obvious, but she certainly wasn't as outgoing as normal. She walked in with a notepad and glanced around to see who had shown up to this outing.

"Hey everybody."

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Yseult nodded Kyria's way, conceding her point, then shook her head. "It is true, that Daniel has many one of kind books, but I have found it very dull when I needed to reference something in his books. They rarely possess anything I find interesting. I will have to tell him to retrieve more books referencing medical and scientific material. Then I too will have something to...borrow." Yseult's smile was almost impish as Kyria's

Yseult turned her smile on Aradia as she entered. "'Allo, Aradie, and welcome. Prepared for notes too, I see."

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"I guess. I don't know how much help I'll be, but I'll give it a shot, huh? So.. what exactly are we watching again? Something about a library?"

She pulled a pen out from her back pocket and sat down, curling a leg up underneath her with typical Aradia limberness. She flipped through a page or two in the notepad and waited, prepared to scribble down anything that seemed relevant.. most likely a bunch of six syllable or more words that she didn't know the meaning of, so she could look 'em up later and figure out what the hell everybody was talking about.

This is probably a bad idea...

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"It is the Library of Ra, a grand repository of knowledge, that SG-21 discovered on their last mission." Yseult full lips tightened as she continued. "It is overseen be specially... designed goa'uld symbiotes that use cloned bodies for hosts."

Yseult reached across the couch and briefly layed a gentle hand on Aradia's leg. "And do not discount your own contributions, Aradie. Most of us will be looking for something of particular cultural or scientific significance, and we may overlook something innocuous while looking for something specific. Without our preconceived notions, you may notice something that we would dismiss out of hand."

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Gwyn looks around from making Kyrie an instant hot chocolate, he'd come specially prepared for the Specialists individual tastes, "Twice the technician I am eh Olivia? I'll remember that the next time you ask me to fix the photocopier for you. Indeed perhaps I should give you a call when it's time for my car to be serviced?"

He hands Kyrie her drink and turns to Ari, "Hi Ari, and don't worry, getting as many viewpoints and different eyes on this was the whole point of this exercise. Now can I get you any refeshments before we start?"

He glances at Ryan and straightens up to address all of the gathered Specialists, "I'd invited all of the Specialists, so we'll give any stragglers another 5 minutes then we'll get started."

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Cam got up and filled the big bowl with more popcorn and started passing it around. "Yeah, the place was massive, it would take a team a good year just to see everything I imagine. Just wait till Gwyn shows you the footage of the outside of the thing. It's the biggest damn pyramid in existence I imagine. You could put one of the biggest sky scrapers on Earth in front of it and it would make the building itself look small."

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Gwyn grabbed a handful of popcorn and said, "Now, now, Cam you're giving away some of the best 'effects' shots of the film."

eating the popcorn he takes his seat and checks the links between his laptop and the projectors. That down he calls up a file to put notes and observations made during the showing in as a scratchpad.

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Yseult's smile was softer, but fond as she watched Olivia banter with Gwyn. She hadn't known the dark librarian for long, but this seemed more like the true Olivia, rather than the one that had needed to spend a night in her bed to help stave off nightmares.

"Speaking of popcorn, maybe we should start the video soon, yes? Else, we will have run out of popcorn. It is not helping, with some of throwing it around." Yseult's oversized irised eyes were bright as she grinned at Olivia.

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Ryan nodded and got his own bowl and smiled. "Some of us prefer to eat our food than wage war with it."

He looked to Cam. "Sounds like a truly huge place. I don't imagine there were any labor unions involved there either." His distaste for slavery was well-known, and there was an edge of bitterness in his voice.

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"OSHA was notably absent. I seriously doubt Ra cared about the humans who built the place for him." He shared Ryan's feeling about slavery and it worried him that the seven goa'uld there still had slaves. Something was going to have to be done about that eventually. Hopefully the diplomats could convince the Goa'uld to give up the practice without any problems. It was out of his hands and that was a relief.

"Lets get started, we've got hours of footage to go through. If you get bored don't worry, I'll understand. Roll 'em Gwyn.

The video started and luckily the really boring stuff had been edited so the video pretty much started with Gwyn and Livy's reconnaissance flight around the pyramid. Despite Cam's warning about the size of the place it was still a shock to see something that big. What put it really in perspective was a shot coming around from behind the big Library pyramid and seeing the small stone pyramid that housed the stargate in the background.

"That stone pyramid is the size of the great pyramid in Egypt." There was a hint of awe in Cam's voice as he said it.

The film went through all the areas of the pyramid that the group had explored including the room with the cloning equipment. The last thirty minutes of footage was of Ra's personal chambers. They were massive and impressive and opulent beyond the dreams of Donald Trump. Last of all was the 'closet' that housed Ra's personal gadgets, his hand ribbon device, healing device, and other yet to be identified objects. The camera briefly focused on each device as well as the art work on the walls in the closet.

((Everyone please make an intelligence + awareness roll.))

Click to reveal..

(1st die mega)

(22:48:40) ChatBot: (Cam) rolls 9d10 and gets 2,7,8,8,4,6,10,6,6

4 successes

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Yseult watched the video, enthralled, wishing that her last field mission could have been like that, despite the goa'uld. Her vivid, turquoise eyes quickly devoured everything that appeared on the screen, imprinting into her mind for later review.

Click to reveal.. ( Intelligence + Awareness Roll)

Intelligence + Awareness

First 2 Dice Mega: 8d10 = 5 successes (sorry about the format)

Discerning Quality: 1d10.hits(7)= 1 success

Total Successes: 6

Also has Speed-Reading and Eidetic Memory, if it matters for this.

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Gwyn tried to look at the footage with fresh eyes, and some of it he had only glanced over before, mainly the footage that Olivia had taken when she went through part of the library while he had been down to the clone storage.

Click to reveal..

Int + Awareness = 9 dice, 1st 2 dice are Mega

(09:39:05) ChatBot: (Gwyn) rolls 9d10 and gets 2,8,10,2,6,6,3,10,1.

4 sux

If relevant he has Goa'uld Tech 1, Analyze Weakness and Engineering Prodigy

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Aradia watched carefully, a little bit of Yse and Livy's confidence urging her to pay attention.. just in case. She might not be the smartest of the specialists in the room, but maybe, maybe she might just notice something they didn't.

Click to reveal..
Rolling for Int + Aware: 5d10 &#8594; [9,10,10,1,9] = 4 suxx, and the roll, just cause I wouldn't believe it either if I didn't see it!!! http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2242266/ - hehe!
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((Those with more than 4 successes notice the following... Aradia also notices since she had a bonus given the circumstances.))

Inside Ra's closet of gadgets on one wall there are 5 indentations. They are subtle and there is no particular attention drawn to them. In fact it looks like the artist took pains to draw attention away from them. The five indentations are not that obvious and where most of the art is embossed and thus raised above the surface of the metal, these 5 are indented. One of the five is a perfect match for Aradia's necklace. It is the Eye of Ra in reverse. Yseult in particular with her spacial sense is sure that Ari's necklace would be a perfect fit for that spot.

One of the other four indentations is also recognizable as the Eye of Tiamat an artifact that once belonged to the System Lord Tiamat and was rumored to possess great power. The other three are unknown, but each is about the same size though different in form.

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Yseult grunted, as if she was just punched in the gut. "Gwyn, if you would, can you rewind the video... as yes, there, forward just a bit - stop!" Yseult stood up and to the side of the projector, turning on a laser pointer.

"These five indentations, you notice them? Yes? Good. This is one, it is an exact match for the pendant of Aradia's necklace, that her grandfather left for her. This indentation here, I believe is a perfect fit for the Eye of Tiamat, these protrusions are quite distinctive." Yseult inhaled with a sharp intake of breath, then glanced at Kyria, looking slightly disgruntled, before continuing.

"Kyria shared a vision with me and Gwyn, that I believe referred to this:

Originally Posted By: Vision
There was a sense of color, red, and green, and blue and yellow and white, and somehow the colors were each an old fashioned skeleton key that together opened a treasure chest, but there was a sense of great loss associated with opening the chest.

It would seem that Aradia's pendant and the Eye of Tiamat are two of the five keys needed to open the 'treasure'. Whether that is a secret chamber within the Library of Ra or if," Yseult shuddered, "it is the key to a monstrously immense Ha'tak, I do not know."

The blonde doctor pulled her eyes from Kyria and turned her uncanny eyes on Cameron, narrow with distrust. "There is this as well, do Eight and the other caretakers of the Library of Ra know of this, and have they sent Eight with SG-21 in an attempt to locate the keys?"

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Cam cursed, "Damnit!" There was nothing that could turn a team in to a complete clusterfuck faster than distrust and like it or not Eight was a member of his team for the moment, but now there was a reason for doubt.

"Crap. This means we need to find out. I can't have a Goa'uld on my team that I can't trust, we can't function like that or we'll get ourselves killed at a crucial moment when we should be relying on each other. I can't go into the field like that."

He looked around the group and his eyes lit on Kyria thoughtfully, "I would have to get General Landry's approval of course, but how narrow can you focus? I would not ever approve of you scanning specialists or SGC personnel, because that would be an invasion and very inappropriate, but if you could scan for just a specific thing like whether Eight knows of the keys, that might be acceptable. He would have to agree to be scanned of course."

He had already considered the possibility of simply taking the library away from the Goa'uld, they were slave masters after all, even if they weren't as overtly evil as other Gou'ald, but the thought of potential destruction they could do to the place was too great a risk. What if they had the place on some kind of dead man's switch rigged to blow if they all died or something?

They were going to have to make another trip to the library, no way around it.

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