Season Two Finale: Olympomachy

[Troy Loveridge]

0115
Mountain Ranges

< Continued from USS Iliad >

In a blinding flash of light, Colonel Loveridge appeared on the surface of the planet D2X-374, which he'd once called home for eighteen months. The planet was a shadow of it's former glory; it's once thick and lust forests and towering mountain ranges had been leveled by the explosive device Athena had used to destroy the Delta Site - Troy didn't even wanted to image the destructive power the device must have contained. The land was flat and barren for as far as the eye could see, have for a large mountain Troy stood at the base of. It was the only land form to have survived the power of Athena's bomb, still standing when biggest mountains further away from the blast had been knocked flat. The current theory was an energy shield of Ancient design protected the mountain, meaning it was the most likely place to find the Ancient outpost which resided on the planet.

Bears of light appears around him; the personnel he'd gathered to carry out this important mission. A large flash of light signaled the arrival of their newly modified Puddle Jumper, outfitted with the latest and greatest alien medical marvels. If anyone was hurt or injured, they'd be more than equipped to deal with the drama.

Overhead, flashing lights in low orbit were all that could be seen of the fiery exchange between the Iliad and the Olympian cruiser which defended the planet. With any luck to two nearby patrol ships could take them time responding, giving the expedition personnel time to locate the outpost and get it online. If reinforcements showed up too soon, the mission would be over before it even began.

Turning to look at the towering mountain, Troy took a few hesitant steps forward. "Anyone know where we find the door bell?"

< Tag All! >

[Jerry Garcia]

0115
Mountain Ranges

Jerry flashed in next to Kepler. He had been on the planet just prior to the explosion that had vaporized the base and a good part of this portion of the planet.

Anyone know where we find the door bell? Well, General, it used to be right over there, by the front door. Even in the darkness you could see that it was lifeless for miles around. Jerry had a personal score to settle with Athena, and he was looking forward to the time that debt would be settled.

<Tag Anyone>

[Timothy "Tim" Foster]

0115
Mountain Ranges

Tim lowered the rear hatch of their modified jumper and stepped out in the darkness of their former Delta site.
The sight was really depressing, scorched land were ever he looked, “I sure hope this is going to be worth it,” he muttered under his breath and crouched to pick up some dirt in his hand, “It sure doesn’t look like much nowadays…” and then with a small sigh straightened up and adjusted his back pack as he looked back towards the dimmed light in the jumper.
“You coming doc? I know you’re in love with your new fancy ER, but we can’t stay here all night you know…”

< tag Cordoy >

"Anyone know where we find the door bell?"

“Well, General, it used to be right over there, by the front door.”

Tim chuckled quietly and shook his head, “Or just maybe do it the other way around, sir? Let the door bell find us? The ATA gene might just light up the candle in the window?”

< tag Col. Loveridge >

Tim picked up his map for a closer look and a comparison with the real thing, “Which way are we heading?”

< tag all >

((OOC: Lou? Kepler?? ))

[Robert "Jackal" Walker]

0115
Mountain Ranges

Walker had been rather amused at the colorful response from the Iliad's chief engineer when the orders were given on exactly what equipment needed to be beamed to the surface and how quickly. The 24-year career NCO had openly cursed Walker and deemed the task 'impossible', yet here the Lieutenant Colonel stood on the surface of the former Delta Site with all said equipment being beamed around them. Along with the manpower and their loadouts, three railguns had been transported as well, beamed in a triangular pattern surrounding the mountain in question. Seeing the last group get beamed down, Robert turned to Troy and quipped, "Maybe there's a door knocker."

<Tag Everyone>

0120

The perplexing analysis of the mountain's composition was not limited to simply the unnaturally domed shape of the formation, but also to further scans. When the personnel were all gathered, Walker began loudly, "Penetrating scans have revealed that the known material of the planet goes down only one-sixth of the depth of the mountain, with the remaining five-sixth of the mass unable to be analyzed. These scans were plugged into a geographic three-dimensional representation, and when the organic material was peeled away revealed a nearly perfect dome-like surface beneath." He paused to let that sink in and thought If this isn't an Ancient city, at least something is here.

He continued, "The plan is for the majority of you to assist in a massive excavation project. The goal is to use our laser cutting machines to create a five-meter by five-meter square cut halfway to the unknown layer within the mountain. Once that is done, a few teams will burrow another double the same distance through the mountain perpendicular to the first cut. When that point is reached, a massive C-4 charge would be placed there. All you scientists, your job is to determine what amount exactly would be needed to clear the remaining rock and material to the unknown layer. Once that happens, hopefully we'll be able to see what's under. If it's an Ancient shield, we will use the medical Jumper and two more from Iliad to enter the city. Vessels of Ancient design can pass right through the shields, no need to worry about that. Does anyone have any questions?"

<Tag Everyone>

OOC: Figured I would get our game plan down. Some personnel can be tasked with security in case of an attack, the brains can devise the C-4 issue, and everyone else can probably get some awesome character development on!

[Marcus Garret]

0115
Mountain Ranges

Marcus gathered up some of his gear from beside the co-pilot’s seat of the medevac jumper, and walked through the gear-laden rear of the jumper. He smiled and nodded to the medics and doctors as he stepped outside. He may be pretty good at electronics and pulling MacGyver-style improvisations out of nowhere sometimes, but being good at digging into a stone dome was something he wasn’t really cut out for.

Thus, he’d gotten assigned to helping the medical folks. Granted, he was something of a combination bodyguard/pack mule/extra pair of hands, but he was quite content with helping out that way.

0121

He looks up at the dome, his mind whirling as he wonders what could lie inside. What new mysteries and challenges lay ahead of the expedition? With any luck, this city would prove to be more of a boon rather than yet one more problem that the men and women of Delta would have to deal with. With just as much caution as there was hope in his heart, he took another look around the area before turning back to the jumper.

He retakes his seat on the right side of the craft. The sensors on-board could see farther than he could, so he would use them to keep an eye out for anything unusual, or signs that Olympian reinforcements were en route. From what he could tell from the downlink from the Iliad, the other ships weren’t fully aware, yet, of what was happening overhead. With some luck, they’d take their time in arriving.

<Tag anyone>

[Paul Chapman]

0116
USS Iliad
Planetary Orbit

The moment the Iliad had dropped from hyperspace two things had happened. First, the teams searching for the hidden Ancient outpost along with their equipment had been beamed down to the surface below to begin their frantic and hopefully quick search to uncover what they were looking for. The second thing that happened was an immediate burst of rail gun and missile fire from the weapons of the ship, directed at the Olympian cruiser, sitting in a higher orbit. It was this second action that Paul was concerned with at the moment.

"Missile away!", "Shields at 92%!", "Say again Valkyrie Two?" All around him, bridge crew and staff were yelling out commands, orders and reports. The ships two F-302 squadrons - "Phoenix" and "Valkyrie" - were engaging the cruisers at point blank range. The Olympians were still scrambling and attempting to launch their snub fighter in response, and until that time the 302's were free to engage the vessel as they saw fit. Meanwhile, precision fire from the rail gun batteries and the odd nuclear warhead were fired into the enemy ship, which was already showing signs of coming apart. The element of surprise had served them well.

"Romeo Two and Romeo Three are altering course," called an officer, citing the designations given to the other two Olympian vessels that patrolled this sector. "Angling for approach vector. ETA on Romeo Two eight minutes, Romeo Three will be on station is fifteen." Paul nodded. "It was always just a matter of time. Maintain fire on current target." Out the view port, 'Romeo One' continued to bear the brunt of the combined Iliad and F-302 attack. A large explosion toward the rear of the vessel signified a direct hit from an F-302 missile, and one of the cruisers engined blinked out.

"Open a channel to the surface," Chappy called, when when he received a thumbs up he spoke. "Group elements, this is Iliad. First Olympian cruiser crippled and on the verge of coming apart. Patrol cruisers have detected us and are angling for attack. Suggest you get a move on down there, we can't hold them off forever!" Closing the channel he turned back the view port, and continued to watch the steady destruction of the first Olympian vessel.

< Tag Anyone! >


Earth Forces:
USS Iliad - Daedalus-class battlecruiser

Olympian Fleet:
Apollo the Daphnephorios - 'Romeo One' - Under fire from Iliad
Athena the Promachos - 'Romeo Two' - Moving to engage Iliad
Apollo the Hekebolos - 'Romeo Three' - Moving to engage Iliad

[Troy Loveridge]

0115
Mountain Ranges

"Well, it used to be right over there, by the front door," replied Jerry. "Maybe there's a door knocker," Robert added. Troy chuckled. He raised his night-vision goggles to his eyes and again surveyed the surrounding area. For miles all around the land was dead flat, not a detail to be seen, aside from the single large mountain the teams were standing at the base of. "On the bright side," Troy replied. "This place would make one hell of a housing development." With a father in the building industry, Troy had spent much of his younger life playing around flat and barren construction sites and housing redevelopments. Being here may have even been slightly comforting was it not from the impending threat of destruction from above by the Olympian carriers.

"Or just maybe do it the other way around, sir?" Tim suggested. "Let the door bell find us? The ATA gene might just light up the candle in the window?" Turning, Troy saw the converted medical gate ship sitting not too far away. "I like where your head is at," the Colonel replied. "Check the Jumpers scanners, if might have detected the Ancient outposts presence, might give us a better idea where it is."

0120
Mountain Ranges

With the final pieces of equipment have just been beamed down it was time to get to work. Scans with Ancient and human equipment had pinpointed the location of the outpost, which lay within the mountain under a thick layer of rock. Colonel Walker formulated a plan to dig and plant C4 to clear the remaining rubble, and everyone went to work. Not being much of a combat engineer, the Colonel hung back, doing what most senior officers do best - 'supervision'.

Radio reports were coming in from the Iliad. The first Olympian cruiser was now a lifeless wreck, falling into a decaying orbit. The second the third cruisers were four and eleven minutes away respectively, giving the ship a little bit of breathing room before the next wave of attacks. Colonel Chapman and his crew would do their best to hold the enemy back, but it would be only a matter of time before enemy reinforcements arrived and they were overrun.

Turning from the radio, Troy fixed his attention back to the large mountain. In the darkness he could make out the outlines of personnel as they quickly clambered up the sides of the mountain, explosives and cutting equipment at the ready. Once they began to cut things should fall into place very quickly, though once inside the mountain they'd have the task of getting the outpost back up and running - if that was even possible! Stepping back, Troy continued to monitor the radio, and watch the teams begin the slow work of cutting through the mountain to plant their charges.

< Tag Anyone! >

[Mack Brown]

0120
Mountain Ranges

Colonel Walker had ordered them to dig, so Mack began to dig.

Mind you, he had a different style of digging.

While the majority of teams heading up the mountain armed with laser cuttings and digging implements, Mack hung back, waiting for his toy to arrive. In a large blinding flash, a huge tank-like piece of machinery appeared beside the temporary base camp that was still in the process of being build. Mack walked once around the machine, removing a glove to let his hand run along the steel armored exterior of the machine. It wasn't a smooth or streamlined beats by any means, and instead was layering with armor slates and angled edges. It wasn't built to be admired, it was build to be a workhorse.

It was, after all, an M9 Armored Combat Earthmover.

Mack climbed up the side of the huge vehicle and dropped through the roof hatch into the drivers seat. This machine represented the expeditions only combat engineering asset; most of their equipment had been lost when the Delta Site had been destroyed, and this machine had only survived due to being posted on the Alpha Site at the time. The machines operator was currently in the infirmary of the Iliad with a broken leg, and the machine originally wasn't going to be deployed. That was until Mack volunteered to drive it.

While he was a special forces soldier, the Warrant Officer had been quickly briefing in the operation of most vehicles in the US Army inventory. The vehicles operators had given him a quick crash course before the mission had started, and that combined with some instructions he'd photocopied from the manual and stuck to the wall of the cabin, together with blind luck and experimentation was what Mack would be replying on today. After all, how hard could this thing be to drive?

< Tag Anyone! >

[Joshua "Joker" Benteen]

OOC: Sorry if I’m not suppose to be here, but since Joker is a ship pilot, ‘here’ was the only place I could think for him.

0116
USS Iliad
Planetary Orbit

“Coming out of hyperspace in five, four, three, two” Joker informed working the controls of the Iliad. The Daedalus class deep space carrier dropped out of hyperspace. It opened up with its railgun systems and mark three nuclear missiles. “Looks like we got them with their pants down Colonel” Joker informed as he piloted the ship around the already exploding Olympian cruiser. The vessel’s debris safely hit the Iliad who still had full shield strength. “Should I take us out of orbit? It will make this thing’s turn cycle like a brick… Sir” Joker asked as he kept the Iliad in orbit. He wondered if a Apache would help, but they didn’t have one on board. He was glad he wasn’t picked to fly a 302, as he didn’t like the feel of it. The bigger class ships had the more comfortable handling of any other vessel. He could make the Iliad turn and ‘hand break’ like it was a Ferrari.

The ship shook from the incoming fire from another target, due to the fact they were still in orbit didn’t help Joker go evasive. The ship shook again; he could tell the enemy was pissed for blowing up one of their ships. “Taking fire from Romeo Two Colonel” Joker informed as he waited for the order to break orbit.

Note: Sorry it's small, didn't have much to go with =)

[Katrina Logan]

0121
Jumper

Kat didn’t like this mission at all. The constant reminder that a price was still on her head and the fact an Olympian fleet was probably on its way (Ares’ personal brigade) would surely put even more of a damper on things. She remained with the medevac jumper, inside, for possible wounded and to see if there was anything she could obtain for the group wondering about outside. Nervously, the Major waited.

”Maybe there’s a back door?” she mumbled crouching near the controls where Garrett and the other officers sat. Scanners indicated something was out there amongst the gravel, snow, and terrain of the mountain. Turning to Garrett, she became more concerned. ”Wouldn’t the ancients have set traps for anyone trying to invade their home so to speak?” They were also monitoring the activities from far above in space where the Iliad was holding off an Olympian attack. Somehow they managed to make one vessel near space debris, but that didn’t put any calmness to the young medical officer knowing full well who could be waiting in the wings.

One of the pilots indicated something on the scanner. It lit up Kat’s face with a little more hope. Over the radio, she relayed the information while patting the soldier on the shoulder for a thank you. ”Colonel, it seems that scanners have picked up a change in the molecular structure of the mountain right in front of Warrant Officer Brown. But I advise caution as any blasts could cause an avalanche of mass proportions. But I think we may found our front door.”

<Tag: Loveridge/Anyone>

OOC: I read through posts, but knowing me I might have missed something. So if I need to edit, let me know.

[Charlie Cordoy]

0115
Mountain Ranges

“You coming doc? I know you’re in love with your new fancy ER, but we can’t stay here all night you know…”

Charlie pulled her pack onto her shoulders, adjusting the straps before finally leaving the jumper. "You kidding me? This thing is sweet. Call it Hippocrates, give me a cigarette and I'll stay in there all night." Somehow being humorously sleazy sounded better when talking about a car or a motorbike rather than a modified space-faring vessel.

She looked around their surroundings. It really was as bad as the photographs had suggested. However, she was trying to be optomistic about this whole situation. The approach had been decided sometime between throwing up and seeing the shiny jumper. "This isn't so bad. Nothing that can't be fixed with a couple trees, some grass... Maybe a Delorean and bomb disposal team," she said dryly.

It seemed so quiet. Eerily so, though she didn't know what the planet had been like before. Teeming with wildlife, maybe? Hell, even just the sound of wind through leaves? It felt a lot like the calm before the storm. "So what do we do? Wait for someone to accidentally chop off their own arm while digging? 'Cos that'd be hilarious."


<Tag: Tim, any>

[James Calmara]

0121
Mountain Ranges

Materializing on a rocky outcrop Calmara looked around seeing the devastation on a screen and then seeing it first hand were two different things, after taking a moment he checked the masses of equipment cases that had been sent with them. A quick on-site briefing from Col. Walker re-emphasized the mission objectives, this was a type of mission Calmara enjoyed a huge dollop of engineering with a time limit and the possibility of having to deal with hostiles, exciting stuff, Calmara mucked in as they began braking out the equipment. The drilling gear they'd brought with them consisted of a ten 50cm² squares each with tracks along all four sides which a laser drills are mounted on, these will then carve the 5m² mass into more manageable chunks which will be easier to remove, the cutting was controlled by a state of the art laptop, and the whole rig was power by a naquidear reactor.

For now though some assembly was required, the ten grids had to be pieced together and then mounted in the right place, Calmara was one of a number of personnel working on the drill rig, another he noticed was Lt. Buchanan, an British Sapper, working opposite him "Bet you worked on this type of thing hundreds of times back home, still nothing like a bit of heavy engineering under the threat of impending attack to get you going is their?"

<Buchanan>

Calmara smiled at the reply he fitted an other two squares, then slotted another between the two creating a four square, with other team members completing the other corners, slotting the middle square connecting them together, then slid two more to complete the drilling grid then attaching mini-tripod legs to the corners to complete the setup.

The next step was attaching the ten mini-lasers to the grid, hooking them up via fiber-optic cables to the master box which was hooked up to the naquidear reactor and the control computer, which Calmara noticed was being operated by Chief Upright, Calling over "Hey Chief, you got our depths, angles, and everything worked out OK we don't want to be hitting any shields or anything thats likely to blow up in our faces"

<Upright>

Calmara was connecting his second mini-laser to the master box via the fiber optic as she answered, seeing that all the rest were up and running, "Ye ye I'm sure your right, everyone move back a bit their's going to be a fair bit dust and fumes, if you have to go near the rig will it's in operation wear a mask. If everybody's ready lets get this started." Moments later ten highly concentrated beams of light stabbed down into the rock, alien technology acquired had greatly increased the power of the lasers and they were making short work of the rock, though spiting out plumes of rock dust in the proses, once they'd reached the programed depth they would move round the squares slicing through the rock along the lenght of the beam. Calmara stood back, pulling out his canten, took a mouthful of water and waited for the drilling to stop, he'd then move in and re-position the laser drills.

<tag anyone>

[Marcus Garret]

0122
Mountain Range
Med Jumper

Marcus looked up at the scans of the mountain itself, noticing that the area in front of Warrant Officer Brown wasn’t just shifting on a molecular level, the density of the rock was lessening in density. The phenomenon was actually moving deeper from the point of the digging back toward the area that the scanners couldn’t reach through. The longer he watched, the larger the zone became, until it was easily large enough to move even the largest of their digging equipment through. Shortly after the cylindrical zone of rock stopped expanding, a thought struck him. He blinked a couple times in surprise at the thought before looking around at the others in the jumper.

“You don’t suppose this mountain was created by nanotech, do you? I mean, nothing as complicated as a replicator, but what if the mountain is both a shield and camouflage, with an energy shield beneath?”

He points at the sensor readings of the rock that had shifted.

“I don’t think we ever had a jumper this close to the mountain, and we certainly never had this many people with the ATA gene this close either. What if the city’s computer detected all of this, and is controlling the mountain in some way? Opening a door for us to enter through? I know it’s just speculation, but we’ve certainly seen stuff that was just as strange.”

He smiles a little bit at the prospect of the city being a sort of fortress that they could possibly operate from. A castle strong enough to withstand even the bomb that had decimated most of the continent. What capabilities did the city harbor? What technologies had the ancients used in its construction that could, possibly, aid and protect the members of the Delian expedition?

“Major Logan, I have the sneaking suspicion that the only traps involved with the city would be set for the Olympians. I don’t see the Ancients being quite that paranoid to try to trick and kill or hurt us.”

<Tag Kat>

Throughout all of this, he’d been uncharacteristically absent-minded, and had accidentally been transmitting most everything he’d said over the radio. Oops.

<Tag anyone>

[Ashley "Logan" Kale]

0121
Mountain Ranges

After being surrounded by the white light of the transport beam Kale found himself in a familiar but different place, the old Delta Base except that it wasn't there any more, seeing as it was destroyed by Kendra by the means of a powerful explosive in which Kale had seen before the base was decimated by it's blast, he can still see the device in his mind and he had drawn a few images of it which is in his quarters on the Iliad, he drew those images just to get them out of his head. "Oh Boy.. What a Bang it must have been" Kale thought to himself as the destruction started to sink in even further which caught him by surprise as he thought he was over it.

With his F88 on his shoulder Kale listened to what Lt. Col. Walker was saying to the combined team which is made up of all the SD teams, Walker said the following "Penetrating scans have revealed that the known material of the planet goes down only one-sixth of the depth of the mountain, with the remaining five-sixth of the mass unable to be analyzed. These scans were plugged into a geographic three-dimensional representation, and when the organic material was peeled away revealed a nearly perfect dome-like surface beneath." there was a pause then Kale heard Walker continue "The plan is for the majority of you to assist in a massive excavation project. The goal is to use our laser cutting machines to create a five-meter by five-meter square cut halfway to the unknown layer within the mountain. Once that is done, a few teams will burrow another double the same distance through the mountain perpendicular to the first cut. When that point is reached, a massive C-4 charge would be placed there. All you scientists, your job is to determine what amount exactly would be needed to clear the remaining rock and material to the unknown layer. Once that happens, hopefully we'll be able to see what's under. If it's an Ancient shield, we will use the medical Jumper and two more from Iliad to enter the city. Vessels of Ancient design can pass right through the shields, no need to worry about that. Does anyone have any questions?" After that Walker waited for any questions by the looks of it.

Piping up Kale asked a simple question "Sir what about Security detail, As I am a communications expert would you like me to do something to help with setting up a radio post, or would you like me to help with the Security of the team" After he said that Kale held on to his F88 and grinned.

<Tag Walker, Everyone>

[Timothy "Tim" Foster]

((OOC: Moving up time stamp to be in phase with the rest of the people around here ))

0122
Mountain Ranges

Tim grinned, “ 'The Hippocrates' I like that. Feels better to have a name rather then just 'Puddle Jumper number 24'

"So what do we do? Wait for someone to accidentally chop off their own arm while digging? 'Cos that'd be hilarious."

Tim pointed towards where most of the people were, “I’d say we’d better get over there. With a bunch of combat engineers digging holes in a mountain, you’d better be careful of what you wish for. One chopped of limb or a cranial fracture due to a misplaced shovel is easier accomplished then you or I want to know...” and added with a wink “They’re not exactly known for their brain capacity you know…”
Everybody knew that a 21-Bravo was considered dumb as a box of rocks, right, didn’t they? Or maybe not, the Doc was a civilian... Well time would tell if she knew what he was refeering to.

He nodded towards the inner of the jumper, “I’m sure Major Logan can handle things on her own for a while and we’re only a radio call away if we’re needed. Come on.”

“You don’t suppose this mountain was created by nanotech, do you? I mean, nothing as complicated as a replicator, but what if the mountain is both a shield and camouflage, with an energy shield beneath? I don’t think we ever had a jumper this close to the mountain, and we certainly never had this many people with the ATA gene this close either. What if the city’s computer detected all of this, and is controlling the mountain in some way? Opening a door for us to enter through? I know it’s just speculation, but we’ve certainly seen stuff that was just as strange. Major Logan, I have the sneaking suspicion that the only traps involved with the city would be set for the Olympians. I don’t see the Ancients being quite that paranoid to try to trick and kill or hurt us.”


Tim chuckled quietly at Garret’s mistake and clicked his radio, “5-4 to 2-5… You just went public with you theories, Lieutenant…” What was he thinking in there? He couldn’t be that distracted by Logan?
“Since the two of you are in there checking the scanners, we’re heading towards the digging site; call us if you need us, 5-4 out.”

As they walked towards the moutain slope he gave Cordoy a curious look, "So, how long have you been here in the Delian galaxy?"

< tag Cordoy, Garret and the rest >