Episode Eighteen: The French Connection

[Manprasad Thakur]

1136
Gerobalon
Main Building
Lobby

Astra smiled at the Doctor’s confession at not knowing any French. “That’s okay, Dr. Thakur, we can work together on this one and we can go through it much faster if we combine all our areas of expertise.”

"Alright. Very true." He said shyly and nodded, still keeping his position by the side of the desk in case something went wrong with the connection between the computers. Calmara and Owen started to select files of importance through his laptop and copying the necessary files into it for later scrutiny.

Captain Evans, now on watch duty, was brought back to reality when he noticed something up the door, some figures approaching. He cursed under his breath. "Come on guys hurry it up over there, we got company in two!"

As Evans said that, Manprasad thought it best to take the gum out of the camera and replace with a gum paper that could be blown away easily later. Fast conceiving and building his contraption, he took the gum out and put it beneath the desk's corner. That would be considered an act of lack of politeness, but not espionage which is way worse. After that, he opened his pack and the zippers to the compartments within in order to collect and storage everything back very fast as the time came.

"Come on team lets wrap it up!" Evans said as he rushed over toward the desk, ushering Atalya back over too.

"Just a few more minutes sir, its gonna be close but i think well be ok." he called back in a low voice as he packed his stuff away and felt inside the panel for the 'close' mechanism. "Doc, yank that out as some as it hits 100%. I'll close up the panel"

"I'm watching it. Ready to pack as soon as ready." Manprasad said as his alert eyes were viewing the laptop screen. One of his hands was reaching for the point connected to the alien computer, the other one ready to close the laptop. It was only the normal brain response time that separated the act of seeing 100% complete download screen and yanking the cord and closing the laptop. With Evans' help everything was packed in the already pre-prepared pack, zipped up and back hanging on Thakur's shoulders as Calmara dealt with closing up the alien interface. Then he gave a few steps and blew the paper away from the camera. When he turned to the desk again, the committee entered through the double doors. It was just in time that they covered all their tracks. They'd be considered gum pigs, but not spies.

1038

As the Gerobalonian envoys and the French soldiers arrived, Manprasad joined the team in their supervised tour of the facility. He was soon placed in the middle of the group, not by his choice, but because they arranged themselves that way around him. He noticed as their hosts seemed to lose their breath as Calmara tried to look into some rooms. 'So these people have their own version of secret projects. Never a good thing.' Manprasad thought as he looked outside through one of the many windows of the corridor. It seemed like one of those megalopolis from Sci-Fi movies. It was very high tech looking and architecturally pleasant to the eyes. A very nice place to live, it seemed to be. After a few minutes of walking through the building's corridors, they entered a big room with lots of people working on screens similar to those they had just hacked into a few moments ago.

1040
Office #4
Main Building
Gerobalon

"This is one of our research rooms, focused on transportation, here our designers work on projects ranging from route management, to advances in astronautics, were are currently working on a method of transported that involves moving people and objects by converting them to energy, moving them to another location then reconverting them to matter, its only in the simulation stages would you have any experience with this technology?" One of the envoys said.

As Calmara who stood next to him looked across to Cpt Evans, Manprasad started to think that the best thing he could do was keep his mouth shut until ordered otherwise. Evans knew he was the team's astrophysicist and the one who could explain better the working of the beaming tech. At least how they thought it worked, since a true scientist only knows that he knows nothing. All science as known can change radically in a heartbeat when people decide to think outside the box, like Einstein and others. Not to mention that it always proved to be a bad idea to give tech to a people, even one that seems advanced in their own right like the Gerobalonians were. He'd wait for Evans' decision though since he was their CO now.

<< Tag SD-7 >>

[James Calmara]

1040
Office #4
Main Building
Gerobalon

Calmara smiled at their hosts and then turned to face his team, Cpt Evans had pulled them aside in response to Calmara's sideways glance, Calmara asked "OK how do we play this?"

<Thakur>

"Ye I know it looks way over their heads but if we take a look we'll be able to tell if it was homegrown, or if this rouge group have nicked it from someone."

<Owen>

"Yes but if we have enough evidence, we refuse to help them, tell them why, have contact Iliad and have them send a few marine teams to arrest the rouge group."

After a short while they turned back to their hosts, Calmara noticed the Gerbolians were trying to wait patiently but the French were getting twitchy.

<Evans>

"Very well, please follow me." Theori led them over to pair of consoles, one of which was unoccupied "this is our project lead scientist, she can better explain our progress, i must admit I'm a diplomat not a scientist.

As the team gathered around Calmara looked at the screen as the lead scientist explained were they were up to, most of the physics went over his head Dr Thakur would understand thought Calmara, he was looking for the mechanics, the components that made it all possible, at the moment though the technology was just at the theoretical development stage, so he just looked on an let Dr Thakur have a look.

1044
Office #4
Main Building
Gerobalon

After a few minutes they were left for a a moment as the lead scientist was call to help at another terminal in the room Dr Thakur called the team to him

<Takur>

<Evans>

"Looks like we need to find an excuse to be alone with this info and figure it out"Then as if to answer Theori came in, and asked them "Have you made any progress?

<SD-7>

[Dominic Evans]

1040
Office #4
Main Building
Gerobalon

Upon being asked about beaming technology Calmara had shot a questioning look at Evans who stepped up straight away,
"No we err... We've seen it used but not ourselves come across it I'm afraid. Looks really amazing though." He glanced back at Calmara and nodded ever so slightly. There was an awkward pause.
"Excuse me for a second." He said toward their hosts, he turned to his team outside in the corridor and whispered to them.
"Right."
Calmara asked, "OK how do we play this?"
"We play it calm, cool and most importantly innocent. We don't know a thing." Evans ordered.

<Thakur>

Calmara replied, "Ye I know it looks way over their heads but if we take a look we'll be able to tell if it was homegrown, or if this rouge group have nicked it from someone."

<Owen>

"Yes but if we have enough evidence, we refuse to help them, tell them why, have contact Iliad and have them send a few marine teams to arrest the rouge group."

Evans butted in, "Whoah whoah. Lets not be too hasty with this, we still have the rest of our tour to see." With that Evans led them back into the room.
"I am sorry about that err... Our good doctor here wasn't feeling too well. We just had to check he's doing alright. Now... Shall we continue?"
"Very well, please follow me." Theori led them over to pair of consoles, one of which was unoccupied, "This is our project lead scientist, she can better explain our progress, I must admit I'm a diplomat not a scientist."

Evans listened rather, clearly rather bored whilst the scientist explained things and the team asked questions. He took to fiddling with objects left on the side. The team were asking so as to find out whether it was home grown or stolen, that is all he knew. He was proud of his team but also at the same time could not care less about scientific technical issues. After a while he started noticing a look of agreement across the team's faces and stepped back in.
"Right... Well, this all been just... Fascinating. But now why don't we head upstairs and took a look at that really nice structure you've got on the roof. I've never been up the Eiffel Tower before!" He said in mock enthusiasm. The envoy nodded, "Very well, this way."

The team made their way out of the labs and headed down the halls. Evans turned to them and muttered, "Well?"

<Tag SD-7>

[Manprasad Thakur]

1040
Office #4
Main Building
Gerobalon

Upon being asked about beaming technology Calmara had shot a questioning look at Evans who stepped up straight away,
"No we err... We've seen it used but not ourselves come across it I'm afraid. Looks really amazing though." He glanced back at Calmara and nodded ever so slightly. There was an awkward pause. "Excuse me for a second." He said toward their hosts, he turned to his team outside in the corridor and whispered to them. "Right."

As Evans excused them, the team convened outside in the corridor. Calmara asked , "OK how do we play this?"
"We play it calm, cool and most importantly innocent. We don't know a thing." Evans ordered.

"Agreed. The less they think we know, the better. Let's see if the tech is theirs or scavenged from other sources. A look into the basic Physics behind it will give us a good idea." Manprasad replied agreeing with Evans.

"Ye I know it looks way over their heads but if we take a look we'll be able to tell if it was homegrown, or if this rouge group have nicked it from someone." Calmara said, confirming Manprasad's suspicions. They were thinking the same thing.

<< Owen >>

"Yes but if we have enough evidence, we refuse to help them, tell them why, have contact Iliad and have them send a few marine teams to arrest the rouge group."

Evans butted in, "Whoah whoah. Lets not be too hasty with this, we still have the rest of our tour to see."

"I agree with that. We should wait to see what they show us." Manprasad agreed with Evans. The whole idea of a firefight was against his pacific nature. He'd postpone that for as long as possible.

With that Evans led them back into the room. "I am sorry about that err... Our good doctor here wasn't feeling too well. We just had to check he's doing alright. Now... Shall we continue?"

'Great! Now I wasn't feeling well. If I knew I would've at least made a face. Always the civvie plays this part, always the civvie! Manprasad thought to himself as envoy Theoroi spoke to the team again. It was obvious that the Gerobalonians were trying to wait patiently while the French were getting twitchy.

"Very well, please follow me." Theoroi led them over to a pair of consoles, one of which was unoccupied, "This is our project lead scientist, Kira, she can better explain our progress, I must admit I'm a diplomat not a scientist."

Manprasad approached the console and heard with attention as Kira explained the science behind their project. The specific names she was using to denominate theories and particles were unknown to Manprasad, obviously, but he could get the gist behind everything she was saying, making correlations with his own knowledge of Physics. She was basically explaining the properties of EPR pairs and quantum entanglement. Well known concepts in Quantum Mechanics. After a few minutes they were left for a moment as Kira was called to help at another terminal in the room.

1044
Office #4
Main Building
Gerobalon

"Right... Well, this all been just... Fascinating. But now why don't we head upstairs and took a look at that really nice structure you've got on the roof. I've never been up the Eiffel Tower before!" Evans said in mock enthusiasm. The envoy nodded, "Very well, this way."

The team made their way out of the labs and headed down the halls. Evans turned to them and muttered, "Well?"

"OK. Certainly they're trying to reverse engineer some leftover tech. Be it Olympian or Asgard through the French or something else. Kira was explaining the properties of EPR pairs and quantum entanglement. These are known for some time and I can tell you that, although we have successfully teleported a laser beam using these theories, it is impossible to do the same with matter, especially of complex pattern like a life form, under the same premises. If they think they can do that, it's not their own science behind it. They are just trying to use it to figure out what they have. Much like we did with the first version of the Asgard beam we've got." Manprasad told the others his opinion about what was going on with the Gerobalonians and their try with the beaming tech in the quiet low voice that was his trademark.

"Looks like we need to find an excuse to be alone with this info and figure it out"Then as if to answer Theoroi asked them "Have you made any progress?"

Manprasad nodded to Calmara. It would be helpful to know what kind of tech they were basing their models on. When Theoroi spoke, he got quiet. Not that it was hard for him, being quiet was his normal behavior.

<< SD-7 >>

[James Calmara]

1044
Corridors & Stairs to Roof
Main Building
Gerobalon

As the team walked Dr Thakur explained what he'd found, though most of it was still very hard to follow even though Calmara was an engineer and had a grasp of mechanical physics, he only had a skechy knowlage of quantom physics, and from the look on Cpt Evans face his CO had even less, he tryed to put it in a way he'd understand with out sounding condisending. "Sir their at the level of understanding is where we were at when we first got our hands on beaming tech, and that it looks asgard in origin, which could be a bad sign." Calmara was trying to keep his voice down as they had picked up thier 'securty escort' the second they left the office.

When Theori asked them how they were geting on Calmara found his team looking to him to ask the difficult question Great, let's not mess this up wait untill were away from our 'security escort' first thought Calmara to himself, he played for time "Well we've got some ideas, or should i say Dr Thakur here has some ideas, but we could use sometime to bounce them around come up with something useful, may be after the tour would that be possable""certanly I'll arange a guest room for you, this way please"As they had been talking Theori had led them up a flight of stairs and through a door, and they were now on the roof and, just infront of them was the base of the tower with a lift set in one of the legs,

1046
Lift
Eifle Tower Replica

Calmara guessed their would be only room for the team plus Theori he was right, as the door closed on the rather miffed looking french guards Calmara asked the awquad question. "Theori, Do you mind me asking how your relationship with the french is?

"Very good, were alies, we share most things lingustic, cultural, and thechnological."

"Does that include the beaming technology you've just shown? No offence but it seems a big step up from your currant level."Calmara cringed at his own direction but to his suprise Theori smiled at them then addressing Cpt Evans replyed "your team is very perceptive, and honist to, i see you must be well travaled. yes the technology was a gift from our French alies, were helping with the development." Changing the suject slighly Teori carryed on "We're just passing 40 meters its quite a nice view from here, to the left you can see our new quarter just being construted, I've noticed all the talk has been of technology, are you intersted in anything else i'd be happy to answer any question?"


<Tag anyone>

[Astra "As" Owen]

1040
Office #4
Main Building
Gerobalon

"Ye I know it looks way over their heads but if we take a look we'll be able to tell if it was homegrown, or if this rouge group have nicked it from someone."

"How do you know it was nicked? They could have traded for it?" She suggested. "They'd have allies to trade with too if they want to survive out here."

"Yes but if we have enough evidence, we refuse to help them, tell them why, have contact Iliad and have them send a few marine teams to arrest the rouge group."

Astra sighed. "Is that all you military men think about? Going in all guns blazing?" She asked.

Astra stayed silent as she followed the team around the complex. She didn't feel something was quite right, she couldn't put her finger on it and didn't know why. She didn't really trust these people at all, she smiled politely and listened carefully, seeing if there was anything she could pick up or interrprete.

"OK. Certainly they're trying to reverse engineer some leftover tech. Be it Olympian or Asgard through the French or something else. Kira was explaining the properties of EPR pairs and quantum entanglement. These are known for some time and I can tell you that, although we have successfully teleported a laser beam using these theories, it is impossible to do the same with matter, especially of complex pattern like a life form, under the same premises. If they think they can do that, it's not their own science behind it. They are just trying to use it to figure out what they have. Much like we did with the first version of the Asgard beam we've got." Manprasad told the others his opinion about what was going on with the Gerobalonians and their try with the beaming tech in the quiet low voice that was his trademark.

"That sounds very interesting, but it doesn't make any sense to me," Astra admitted, after listening to Dr. Thakur. She blushed. "It makes my head spin and gives me headaches when trying to understand that techno stuff," she confessed, her cheeks colouring even redder. She gave him a shy smile.

1046
Lift
Eifle Tower Replica

She walked with her team to the replica of the Eifle tower. She admired its beauty and found that it was the same as the one on Earth, down to every single detail. She'd been to France a few times and her parents had taken her to see the Eifle tower. It had been beuatiful to her.

"Very good, were alies, we share most things lingustic, cultural, and thechnological."

"What sort of linguistic and cultural things do you trade?" Astra questioned the envoy. "I'm an archaeologist and linguist, I'm very much interested in cultures and languages," she explained.

<<tag team>>

[xthestrangerx]

1040-1046
Office #4
Main Building
and
Eifle Tower Replica
Gerobalon

This was always the part that Atalya hated the most about team mission. Everyone knew what they were talking about, and Atalya had no idea what they were even talking about. She hadn't really been paying attention to all the small talk since she has been here, and she needed to make that a priority if she wante to help any. I'm only good at shooting or taking anyone down. I don't even know what everyone else is saying she thought to herself. Apparently.........crap...what are we doing? She had been so fascinated by everything here that she didn't even pay attention to what else was happeneing. She followed the group to the 'replica' of the 'Eiffel Tower' which looked absolutely amazing to her. They rode in a lift and the view outside got much more amazing as they continued up.
I hope they know what they are doing she thought to herself as she shot Thakur a look, but turned away quickly to look at the scenery.

<Tag SD-7>

[James Calmara]

1047
Lift
Eiffel Tower Replica


"What sort of linguistic and cultural things do you trade?" Astra questioned the envoy"I'm an archaeologist and linguist, I'm very much interested in cultures and languages,"she explained.

"We trade knowledge of our culture, examining similarities, and exploring differences and taking lessons from these differences."Theori said

<Astra>

"An example, well several thousand years ago a number of groups set out to explore our world when they reached a certain point they set up colony's. We lost contact and in the intervening years there cultures have developed separately to our own, We re-established contact in the past 50 years and started a cultural exchange program almost immediately and since then have learned much from each other"

<Astra>

"Yes we have been through what you refer to as the stargate, but only to a few worlds, most have been uninhabited but we have found a few that are and we are currently trying to further our relations with them, we believe its important to establish a proper friendship with a peoples before going on to seek new ones."he then changed tack "ah were approaching the second level we'll have to disembark here, we tried to build this replica as authentic as possible another example of our cultural exchange program"

1047
Second level
Eiffel Tower Replica

The lift came to a stop and theori and the team stepped out walking to the rail they looked out from this height they could see the city in the and the area surrounding it Theori talked them though it as he led them round the second level platform "Up her you get a feel for the city in its natural environment, to the east the city skirts the hills which give way to mountains, that waterfall feeds out main river which as see flows down through the hills and then through the northern pasts of the city, from there it feed our irrigation channels which feed our fields on the massive planes to the north, south and west sides of the city" Theori then lead them back top the lift to go down, Calmara asked "their's another lift to another level isn't their can we go up?"

I'm afraid not, were still installing certain parts, like the Central strengthening beam"Theori pointed upward a large cylinder shape running though the center of the framework abovewe'll have to go down, i can show you to your room if you like."
Calmara moved next to Cpt Evans and whispered "That shouldn't be there sir, i sujest we get some readings and we'll take a look when were alone, we'll nead a few moments though." after geting an ok from Cpt Evans, Calmara moved to Dr Thakur and said "We nead some readings from that thing, you got somthing that will do the job, good, we'll cover you." hoped Thakur wouldn't object to him being so direct but there was very little time and they as much information as possible if they were going to come up with answers.

"So Theori, do all your city's have there own food production places around them?"

"Most of them do, but they tend to focus on one food type and then we share the produce out equally between each city, we've found over time this is the best way."

Calmara glance across at Dr Thakur to see if he'd finished, then back at his team to see if they had any more questions just incase

<Tag SD-7>

[Manprasad Thakur]

1044
Corridors & Stairs to Roof
Main Building
Gerobalon

As the team walked Dr Thakur explained what he'd found, though most of it was still very hard to follow even though Calmara was an engineer and had a grasp of mechanical physics, he only had a sketchy knowledge of quantum physics, and from the look on Cpt Evans face his CO had even less, he tried to put it in a way he'd understand without sounding condescending. "Sir, their level of understanding is where we were at when we first got our hands on beaming tech, and that it looks Asgard in origin, which could be a bad sign." Calmara was trying to keep his voice down as they had picked up their 'security escort' the second they left the office.

"Wasn't that what I said?" Manprasad said in a quiet and confused tone. The wording was different, but that was what he had said. That was when Astra spoke.

"That sounds very interesting, but it doesn't make any sense to me." Astra admitted, after listening to Dr. Thakur. She blushed. "It makes my head spin and gives me headaches when trying to understand that techno stuff." She confessed, her cheeks coloring even redder. She gave him a shy smile.

Manprasad smiled a shy smile back to Astra. Sometimes his ever lasting love for science made it hard for him to believe not everyone understood or loved it the same way as he did. Maybe he was a bit over the top with the technical terms? He shrugged these thoughts off as Theori approached to talk to them again.

When Theori asked them how they were getting on Calmara said. "Well we've got some ideas, or should i say Dr Thakur here has some ideas, but we could use sometime to bounce them around and come up with something useful, maybe after the tour would that be possible?""Certainly. I'll arrange a guest room for you, this way please"As they had been talking Theori had led them up a flight of stairs and through a door, and they were now on the roof and, just in front of them was the base of the tower with a lift set in one of the legs.

Manprasad just smiled and nodded affirmatively as his name was mentioned not to distress the envoy or make him think they weren't willing to help them for now. Theori seemed nice enough, unlike the armed French that were still on their tail. A guest room would be great so they could revise the information they had 'acquired' earlier without rising suspicion. Theori then lead them up a stairwell and they were at the feet of the amazing Eiffel Tower replica. Something didn't feel quite right about it. Why this tower? The only thing that passed through Manprasad's mind was the fact that the pointy end of such structure would be a great way to focus a great amount of energy and that idea made him uneasy. He'd keep his eyes opened to see if anything was off with the structure itself. He got relieved when the French escort stayed behind them as they went into the lift with Theori.

1046
Lift
Eiffel Tower Replica

Then Calmara started a conversation with Theori on how and which was the Gerobalonians relationship with the French. Manprasad heard the conversation with attention as it could reveal leads. Great, so it was final, the French were indeed using these people to do their work for them. If Manprasad didn't like them before, he liked them even less now. Then Theori's question surprised him, talking about tech was OK for him, though he understood the fact that the others could have different curiosities. Astra took the chance to jump in and ask about her area of expertise, cultural relations. Looking at the view, including the construction site pointed by the envoy, Manprasad's thoughts turned back to his earlier fixation of why this building's shape. The French were up to something, even he could get that by now and Manprasad, though very observant, was slow to get people's intentions sometimes as he always wanted to see the best in everyone. During his mental discussion with himself about the replica, the French and the ways of life, Manprasad noticed Atalya shooting him a look. His shy nature made him retreat immediately and find extraordinarily fascinating forms in the view as they continued to ascend in the replica's lift.

"Ah, we're approaching the second level. We'll have to disembark here, we tried to build this replica as authentic as possible. Another example of our cultural exchange program." Theori said.

"It's fascinating." Manprasad said getting out of his French induced reverie as Theori told them the new information. So it was a nearly perfect replica. This was beginning to feel like a Greek gift.

1047
Second level
Eiffel Tower Replica

The lift stopped and Theori started to walk them around the second level and said. "Up here you get a feel for the city in its natural environment, to the east the city skirts the hills which give way to mountains, that waterfall feeds out main river which as see flows down through the hills and then through the northern pasts of the city, from there it feeds our irrigation channels which feed our fields on the massive planes to the north, south and west sides of the city," Manprasad followed Theori's words with his eyes, taking in the view. It was really nice. Theori then lead them back to the lift to go down and Calmara asked "There's another lift to another level isn't there? Can we go up?"

I'm afraid not, were still installing certain parts, like the Central strengthening beam" Theori pointed upward a large cylinder shape running though the center of the framework above. "We'll have to go down, I can show you to your room if you like."

"That would be nice." Manprasad said absently, the strange looking beam in the way to the third level was catching his attention now since being mentioned by Theori. Sure he was no civil engineer, but even he could see that didn't belong there.

Calmara then moved to Dr Thakur and said "We need some readings from that thing, you got something that will do the job, good, we'll cover you." He hoped Thakur wouldn't object to him being so direct, but there was very little time and they needed as much information as possible if they were going to come up with answers.

Manprasad nodded as Calmara spoke. A prepared scientist was worth for two, was his motto. "It caught my attention too. This whole place did. Stall Theori and I'll get the readings done." He said, slipping his pack absently and innocently to the front of his chest as Calmara began his stall tactics to buy him some time. Soon he could no longer hear what they were talking about as his handheld equipment was on his hand and taking the necessary measurements a bit distant from the others.

A few minutes later, Calmara glanced across at Thakur to see if he'd finished, he had and nodded to signal that. The small equipment was back in his pack, which itself was back on his back. He approached the group and said. "This place is really impressive, Theori. Thank you for the tour." Manprasad said politely. The tower was really well replicated and the view amazing. He had to tell Theori that although it was the second time they were 'stealing' from them. He knew it was necessary, but didn't feel comfortable with it.

<< Tag SD-7 >>

[Dominic Evans]

1046
Lift
Eiffel Tower Replica

Captain Evans kept shut and listened while the team probed their envoy for information. They were a good team, worked well together. Evans watched Calmera at work and did briefly turn over the idea of making him his XO. He had noted that the French Guard were left at the bottom of the elevator, that was good. However there only seemed to be one lift so undoubtedly they would be waiting for the team once their tour of the tour was complete. Upon being addressed by the envoy he simply nodded and smiled, before continuing to exams the lift and the surroundings. He began to zone out, once again gazing out at the metropolis that somebody, French or other, had built.

However, the CO was immediately brought back to reality when "Central Strengthening Beam" was mentioned. He glanced over at the middle of the tower through another of the lift's windows. Sure enough something was being slowly constructed up the middle of the tower, it looked ugly and seemed out of place. Evans twigged straight away, he said nothing though, his piercing gaze examining the tower. He didn't need Calmera's whispering to tell him it wasn't right. Evans had seen the Eiffel Tower before and it sure didn't need a strengthening beam.


1050
Second level
Eiffel Tower Replica

The team emerged onto the Second Level and Theori pointed here and there. Evans had made up his mind about this, the French were using this civilization's for their minds and their technology. But to what end he did not know. Now it was just a case of preparing the evidence enough to bring them to justice. That was how he had been trained, and that was how it would play out. He had overheard Thar and Calamaris planning and stepped in to improvise.

Thar set about taking readings from the beam. Evans put an arm round Theori and led him away, back to the beam to the edge of the platform, pointing up at the sky he said.
"Do you know what is up there? There are ships, we have ships."
"Yes, so do we, we are currently producing our third such space worthy ship as we speak!"
"Of course thats good but, there are bad ships too. Theres allot more bad then good in this galaxy, allot of guys want to blow you out of the sky. And you are getting noticed my friend. Here you are, screaming to the Galaxy, and people are listening! You are just lucky that we found you first... And the French dudes of course. We can protect you, we could be allies. How does that sound?"
Evans glanced behind him and noticed Thar was done already, he cut Theori off before he could answer.
"Thats great buddy we'll sort something out. Now! Lets get down to our room shall we!"
With that their envoy led them once again back to the lift, where they descended back into the main building. At the bottom their escorts joined them. The team were led to a sleek, white walled room, with a desk, bed, and one entire wall as a window view. They were led inside and Theori spoke,
"Please, rest here for a moment. I shall return shortly with food and drinks for us all to share and perhaps we can discuss trade terms!"
"Sounds lovely to me." Evans replied, with a smile Theori shut the door and left them to it. The CO turned back to his team, immediately helping Thar unpack the equipment and laptops.
"Alright, lets get this going, Owen & Calmara translate the files from the main desk. Atalya, once they are translated I want you to read them through and look for anything suspicious or anything we could use as possible evidence. Thakur... Tell me what the hell that beam is."
Evans turned his attention to the door, which he noticed was locked. This worried him. However he noticed that SD-7 was still allowed their weapons inside the building, as on the upper surface of it all this was supposed to be a peaceful trade meeting. Things, however, changed once the Delta team had learned the French had got here first.

<Tag SD-7>

[James Calmara]

1050
Guest Rooms
Main Building

As Calmara wandered into their assigned room he smiled to himself, back on the tower the team had played up great, asking questions keeping Theori occupied, but not to much so as to arouse suspicion.

Now they were alone it was time to compare notes as it were, they had lots of pieces of information now it was time to put them all together. As the team dispersed to there tasks, and after taking one of Dr Thakur's laptops, Calmara sat himself down with his back supported by one of the long sides of the bed, Dr Owen was sat close by he turned to here and asked "OK how do want to play this? i was thinking as i cheat using a language program i could maybe start on this one Personal Files, I'm guessing its going to have lost of names, dates, job titles and things like that, that sound OK?

<Astra>

"Sounds good to me, well lets get to work shall we, we've got Atalya waiting on us? Calmara replies, nodding towards Atalya,"just you wait, you'll have more data than you can cope with in a moment"Then Calmara turned back to the borrowed laptop and started working, reading the screen taping the PDA, back to the screen, taping PDA, looking at PDA puzzled, taping a bit more, just as he'd thought the file was full of people's details, as he went he noticed that these references were more common closer to present day.


After some time Calmara ran his finger and thumb across his eyes and stood up and handed the laptop to Atalya "OK Atalya its not all of it but that should give you something to go on, the translation saved itself under this file" Calmara opened the up the file "Have a look, see what you find, remember anything suspicious, like French people ending up in important positions or associated with important positions, make a note and then pass it back and ill finish up."


Calmara walked round the room, more to relieve the stiffness than anything, crouched in that position was not a wise, he past the window and took in the view, then passed the door, it was semi-transparent so you could make out shapes but not much else he noticed that their was someone stood to the right side of the door they never moved, we're being guarded he thought to himself, someone isn't entirely comfortable having us around. he glanced across to Atalya then to Dr Owen to see how they were doing, both had there heads buried in their work I'll give them i few more minutes i like to help but translation isn't my strong suit he thought and kept looking out the door.

<Anyone>

[xthestrangerx]

1050
Guest Rooms
Main Building

And yet again, Atalya had been wasting time by zoning out and such. She had even noticed that the team was doing something suspicious until she saw the CO go away with the guide. That's weird she thought as she turned to see everyone else doing things. What's going on? she questioned herself as James provided her with the answer.
"Sounds good to me, well lets get to work shall we, we've got Atalya waiting on us? Calmara replies, nodding towards Atalya,"just you wait, you'll have more data than you can cope with in a moment"
She turned to him trying to hide a puzzled expression as she stood around for a few minutes waiting on James to giver her something. Somehow, these moments seemed to pass by pretty slowly as she slowly circled around with her body still staying in the almost exact spot. When she did one turn, James was there with a laptop in his hands.
"OK Atalya its not all of it but that should give you something to go on, the translation saved itself under this file" Calmara opened the up the file "Have a look, see what you find, remember anything suspicious, like French people ending up in important positions or associated with important positions, make a note and then pass it back and ill finish up."
"Um, gotcha." she lied as she started to scan through everything. Of course, it was the perfect time to hand Atalya something, because she hadn't been keeping up with the mission half of the time. But as she scanned through the files with her eyes, she started to recognize some of the names. Pictures came up inside of her head as she kept searching.
I have a pretty good mind she thought to herself.

<Tag Team>

[Manprasad Thakur]

1050
Guest Rooms
Main Building

Just after being left at the guest room, Evans immediately started helping Thakur unpack the equipment and laptops. The laptop with the bigger screen, a Dell, which was used before, was given to the Calmara, Owen and Atalya trio, while Manprasad took the smaller EeePC and hooked it up with the handheld device that took the measures of the central beam. As the data uploaded, Evans gave them their assignments. "Alright, let's get this going, Owen & Calmara translate the files from the main desk. Atalya, once they are translated I want you to read them through and look for anything suspicious or anything we could use as possible evidence. Thakur... Tell me what the hell that beam is."

"I'm on it." Manprasad said as the small laptop declared it had compiled all the necessary data to begin the analysis. Starting the proper program within the machine, the calculus began. Dr Thakur paced around the room with the EeePC on one of his hands and typing with the other. Then he waited a few minutes to be able to analise the screens that popped up at the end of the calculus. They were filled with graphics and tables with figures. One of those graphics was of the chemical composition of the beam and its inner space.

"Oh oh. Bad news, Evans!" Thakur exclaimed to his team. "I think you'll find out that part of the material used on that tower was a gift. It's naquadah!" He delivered in his usually calm tone. He hadn't seen that element being used in the Delian galaxy by natives, so it should have gotten here by the hands of the French. "Best case scenario: that tower will be an impressive defense to the Gerobalonian city. Worst case scenario and the one I'm more inclined to right now: it's complete downfall. A true Trojan horse." He continued disgusted with the thoughts in his mind. Even thinking of the possibility that someone could plan something like this made him feel sick.

<< Tag All >>

Noticing that everyone seemed to want more explanations concerning his findings, Manprasad continued. "For what I could measure that beam is similar to a naquadah reactor. Once finished and online due to its size, it'll be able to produce huge amounts of energy that will be used to power the tower." Manprasad said in a lecture like tone.

<< Tag All >>

Seeing as no one seemed satisfied with that, he continued. "I was suspicious from the beginning about the French's choice of an architectural exchange gift. It's true that the Eiffel Tower is a great Parisian symbol, but it's not the only one. The design of the tower with its pointy ending allows for concentration of energy. Looking at his audience's faces, he understood once more that he'd have to take another turn to explain what was in his mind.

"Think this way, many affluents flow into a river, but it's contained by a dam. When the water reaches a greater amount than what can be contained and such dam brakes, a huge amount of water flows through it, right? Same thing here. That central beam will produce energy through the naquadah which will be taken to the top of the tower through its four metallic and conductive sides. There are small plates of native isolation material beneath the beam to make sure that the energy only goes up. Once the energy reaches the top, it'll storage itself like in a capacitor mechanism that's based in the properties of the Gerobalonian material used in the bulk of the construction of the tower. Once the energy level reaches a threshold, the energy storaged will be released in a huge burst of power. Such field would be so powerful that it could encompass the whole city in a matter of seconds, disrupting all the native technology, since, like us, they also are still adepts of the zeros and ones and thus susceptible to an EM field of such proportions." He explained the nefarious French plan as it formed and became clearer in his mind as more data was spilled in the screen of the EeePC. His voice remained even and calm throughout his lecture. His disgust for the whole thing could be noticed here and there to the attentive ear though.

<< Tag SD-7 >>

[Marah "Tonobi" Law]

1050
Star Gate
Gerobalon


Marah stepped out from the gate as she had done a million times before, this time it felt to be the last. Her mission with SD-6 had ended with the death of a member and friend and the lose of a fine soldier on top of that, Now the rest of SD-6 followed her under her last command. Four members two of which she hadn't really gotten to know. But that was all over now. The IOA had requested that once she stepped back on Earth soil that she was to be before them and the tribunal set up for the mission. She knew that there was no going back.

She watched as SD-6 followed her out of the stargate and then ordered, "Fiala, take Zara and scan the area, Pooja stay near the DHD incase we need another hasty retreat." She scanned the open area herself before grabbing her radio. SD-7 their newest team hadn't reported back and thus because of SD-6's quick return was sent to find out what was going on. "Captain Evans, SD-7, do you read me. This is Captain Law of SD-6. We are here to help you if required. Do you copy" Marah let go of the radio and waited. She sat down as the gate shut down and just felt like she was about to lose it. No I can't give in, I have a team to lead, at least for now, I need to keep strong she told her self as she let out a small smile to her team. "Guess we just sit here and wait for a reply. If none then we go in and find them."

<Tag SD-6 and SD-7>

OOC: Jay asked us to help you guys along ;D

[James Calmara]

1051
Guest Rooms
Main Building

After leting a few minuite's pass Calmara, pushed himself of the wall and steped over back towards Dr Owen and Atalya were working, "Hows it going? you got anything? need a hand?"

<Astra and Atalya>

"ok lets have a look what do we have?"

<Astra and Atalya

As Calmara looked over the data and listened to the explanations he was starting to draw his own conclusions, to confrem them he asked "Ok is it me or is this starting to look dodgy, what do you two think?"

<Tag Anyone>