Episode Twenty Five: Enemy of My Enemy (Part One)

[Troy Loveridge]

0800
Gateroom
Lost City of Akrotiri

It was the day they'd all been waiting for.

A month or so ago, a strange crystal-based life form that seemed to 'feed' off energy had been uncovered underground near the base. The men and women sent down to investigate had discovered three things - firstly, it needed energy to survive, and without letting it feed of the city's power core it would die. Secondly, it was the last of its species, and as such they'd voted against killing it to avoid risking the city. Finally, the most disturbingly, evidence had been found that suggested the creature had been planted by the mortal enemies of the expedition, the Titans, in order to destroy the base.

In the end, they'd allowed the crystal slug to attach itself to the city ship and draw power, all the while looking for a new suitable home world for the strange creature. Just yesterday, SD-3 had found such a planet, and total was the day when the creature could finally be transported off-world, leaving the base to peace. The drain on their power core hadn't been huge, but it was noticeable.

High above the gate room, Colonel Loveridge observed the final preparations. Down below, men and women were rushing the set up the ramps that would allow the slow moving creature to make its way through the Stargate. More personnel were behind Troy in the control room, working away at the computers, making sure the move would go off without drama.

Turning, Troy left the balcony and moved into the control room. "Are we still on schedule?" he asked those present, curious to know what the delay was. They'd planted to move the creature half an hour ago, but a serious of computer glitches had slowed their progress. Hopefully they were almost all ironed out.

< Tag Base Personnel! >

[Pooja Garcia]

0800
Garcia's Quarters
Lost City of Akrotiri

She flickered her eyes open as she woke up, taking a moment to get a sense of self seeping into her she before she rolled over to use her husband's chest for a pillow, not finding him there, panic nearly busted inside her as she remembered where he was. While she had heard him go about into the room to get ready, all that had been forgotten when deep sleep claimed her again. It had been after all a long month for both of them since her return and rescue. So she lay where she was and contented with it for now on his side of the bed which smelled of him.

She knew he had lost weight and seemed even more quiet since he had returned from his own experience of being a POW. Some days when she felt low, his quietness scared her,heck everything scared her, not because of it's depth, but due to her still being in fear. It was understandably given. Her two months as a captive had changed her; she really didn't feel like the woman he had married, and she didn't feel that herself either. She was meant to be a d**n newlywed, and she didn't feel like it. Since this was a drastic change for both of them, she won't blame him if he....she cut if her own thought as she got up a bit and gave the pillow a good hard punch. She wouldn't think that, wouldn't go there. Nearly scowled at herself for thinking down that road.

She was contented to lay here all day and do nothing. Thinking on it for a moment, she could do just that. Just stay where she felt safe. She didn't really have anything or could think of something that required her attention; aside from the base shrink to whom she refuse to go and see. She didn't want to come face to face with a woman who was responsible for her state; nor she was seeing the newly appointed base commander. So far she had manged to avoid both like a plague or a disease. It was just easier not to interact with the two at all. Perhaps she would one day when she was ready, right now she wasn't. At the given moment her marriage and her husband need her full attention, they were her first priority.

Colonel Loveridge and Doctor Collins could just wait. Even if the two had to wait a lifetime.

<<Tag Base Personnel>>

[Robert "Scarecrow" Cromin]

0801
Gateroom
Lost City of Akrotiri

"Good riddance" Cromin spoke under his breath as he made his way to the gate room. Today the crystals that the Colonel had allowed to stay attached to the city's power supply was going to be transported to the planet SD-3 had found for it. Captain Cromin was against this move because he feared that the presence of the crystals threatened the security of the expedition. So far he was happy to be wrong and he prayed that the transportation of the crystals went without a hitch. Today all he wanted to do was have the Colonel sign off on 302 wargames scheduled for 2 weeks from today and kick back playing the new mass effect game he just got from earth.

This was his off day so he was dressed in civillian gear, although he carried his side arm like he always does when he leaves his quarters. Things always go wrong around here and he has learnt to always be armed just in case. As he walked into the control room where the colonel was he heard him say "Are we still on schedule?" He moved to where the colonel was and said "Morning Colonel, just need your signature for the 302 wargames in two weeks and I will be out of your hair sir." As he said this the lights flickered and then came back on. It flickered again and then went off for 5 seconds before coming back on. Cromin wondered what in the world was going on. As he looked around he noticed the whole room was in chaos so he offered his help to the colonel asking if there was anything he could do.

<Tag Base Personnel>

[Cara Coyle]

0801
Gateroom
Lost City of Akrotiri

"Are we still on schedule?" Cara heard Col. Loveridge from where she was working in the control room. She had been going back and forth from the control room to the Stargate area since well....Cara would have to look at the time again to be sure of that. SD-3 had only discovered the new location for the crystal-energy-stealing-making-her-job-harder-slug thing, only yesterday. Of course having the crystal slug gone as soon as possible was on the top of her list of things to be done all month, she wasn't going to complain about it's absence. The 'I want it gone by 0730' however was something she could have gone with out. Cara had been working around the clock to get this task done, and no, she hadn't had a wink of sleep since the night before.

Several time during the night, Cara could have sworn that the slug was working against them. There had been several computer glitches and power drains all night long. They even had a 10 minute black out around 0200. "Of course we are not on schedule, Colonel. If we were, we would be doing other things at the moment." Cara responded in her usual manner when she was started to get a little peeved, just a hint of malice, but the playful sort. Her way of saying 'schedule' had been evident as she used the usual 'sh' sound instead of the 'sk' sound, like most Brits. To be honest, stupid questions got the answers they deserved.

"I'm working as best I can, but every time we solve a problem a new one arises. It's almost as if someone was working against us. Or something," she added the last bit in there, but not making any accusations.

She had missed this. The problems to solve, the team work, even the pressure from command to get things done. Although having Loveridge apply the pressure instead of Kepler would take some getting use to. She had tried living the 'normal' life on Earth for a while, it helped her out in more ways then one, but she was still missing something. That 'something' was here, she could feel it. Cara did admit she had been really moody as of late, but some habits are hard to break. Falling into old patterns were easier than trying to forge new ones. At least that's what Vanessa kept telling her. Future reference, Cara didn't handle heartache well.

Since her return to the expedition and her old job back, Cara had been getting her team back into proper order. She came back to a sort of chaos that worked, but would undo itself eventually. Mostly it was the city and the new discoveries it had that just had most people excited. Many people were glad she was back, and some had yet to make up their minds. Others she had never worked with before, so she would have to see how everyone worked.

The chaos around her at the moment was not contributing to the confidence of her skills, which was probably what was bugging her the most. Her constant need to prove herself.

<tag>

(OOC: Methinks Cara has finally returned....it felt good to post as her again (550+ words!!!))

[Troy Loveridge]

0802
Gateroom
Lost City of Akrotiri

Captain Cromin joined Troy in the control room, and handed him some forms to sign off on. "Just need your signature for the 302 wargames in two weeks and I will be out of your hair sir," he explained. Taking the paper, the Colonel quickly skimmed over them and placed his autograph in the appropriate positions. During their first encounter with the Titan space forces the expedition's F-302 interceptors had performed very well, but it always payed to keep up their training regime.

The lights inside the room dimmed for a moment as if losing power, only to quickly restore themselves. "Of course we are not on schedule, Colonel," Doctor Coyle managed to say over the noisy chaos that threatened to engulf the room. "If we were, we would be doing other things at the moment." All around, computer screen continued to flicker between normal activity and strange screen the Colonel had never seen before, though Cara didn't seem too concerned, even when she explained that the computer were asking as though they were out to get them.

Robert asked if there was anything he could do. "Just keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary," Troy replied after some consideration. "Might be best to avoid the transporters and lifts and stick to the stairs." From memory he recalled a number of times Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy had suffered system malfunctions, and while this one seemed minor at the moment, there was the chance it was the beginning of something bigger.

< Tag Base Personnel >

[Pooja Garcia]

0802
Garcia's Quarters
Lost City of Akrotiri

Flashing lights that were going began to annoy the crap out of her. They had stopped for few seconds before flickering again. Irritated she got out of the bed and placed the clutches under her arms, it seemed today wasn't going to allow her to be in the room for any length of time. Let along a whole day. She really didn't have anything to tent to or anything. But something had to give. Walking over the wardrobe, Pooja threw the doors open and pulled out a v-neck shirt and faded jeans; and quickly changed into them. Someone was asking for their heads to be bitten off by her.

Snapping the door open she peeked around the empty hallways to ensure that no one was around. Alerting Vanessa was the last thing Pooja needed. Inhaling she stepped out the room that had been her heaven since her discharge from the Infirmary. She really hadn't interacted much with anyone expect Jerry and his team members or that new MD who had arrived while she wasn't around Delta. She took short uncertain steps down the hallway and towards the stairs, and the mess hall. Entering it she found too crowded and backed away. Breakfast could wait. For now she would be contented to know what was going on, so she made her way towards the gate room where most of the power was controlled.

0805
Gateroom

She arrived to chaos and sighed, it seemed her arrival was not at a good time. Loveridge was throwing out orders and Cara was...well she was doing what she was good with. Trying to figure out what was wrong and just how she could fix it. Again she didn't know what she was doing here when she couldn't offer any solutions. She stood where she was in hopes that she would get the understanding of what was going on without making her presences known. Stepping back into the shadows the room offered, Pooja planned to only stay few minutes before she went back to her room and to wait for Jerry to return.

Aside from this she was a little use to anyone around here. Expect to be a gold mine for information for Troy on the Titans. SInce she had avoided him this far and she will continue to avoid him as along she was able to before he threw her in the interrogation room. She wasn't sure if the pressure was something she was able to handle.

<<Tag Base Personnel>>

((You guys can ignore her till you all reach 0805 time stamp )

[Tim "Freefall" Shultz]

0805
Gateroom
Lost City of Akrotiri

Timothey Shultz, a German ex-NATO pilot now IOA, walked the corridors of the city. It had been three days since Tim had been transfered here by the IOA. Officially he was here to observe and assist in any way the Colonel saw fit, but unofficially he had asked to be transfered here because of the lack of pilots the expidition seamed to be lacking. Tim was a flier and loved to be in the air. He felt this was a place that he might get more of chance to do that.

It had been three days and yet the English speaking German still had no idea where anything was, he had to ask a passing corporal to find the way to the mess and ask a doctor where the Gateroom was. He was now heading down the right way staring at the bits and bobs that hung around the corridors, starring so much he did not see the young woman ahead of him. Turning he stopped just before colliding with her. "Oh excuze me, I'm such a clutz" he said to the Indian woman. "My name iz Timothy Shultz, is this the way to the gateroom. I need to obzerve a alien extraction but I keep getting lozt" he confessed to her.

<TAG Pooja, Base Personel>

[Pooja Garcia]

0805
Gateroom
Lost City of Akrotiri

She hadn't even noticed herself zoning out at the chatter nor she had realised that she was blocking the door. In fact she didn't know for a moment where she was. She knew she would blank out easily and quickly; even in the middle of the conversation. It was frustrating and annoying, yet it was something she had no control over. Through Jerry being in the same boat, she knew would get worse before it got any better.

When someone had bumped into her, bring her in the present in process, due to the sheer surprise of the contact, Pooja jumped away from the person as she screamed nearly colliding with someone who was on the chair. Panting she looked at the man with wide eyes and near panic. She could feel her heart beat faster and trembles rippling through her, as she stiffened and guarded even as he spoke.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she cursed at the man for alerting Troy of her presences. But for some reason she couldn't get any words out. Since some part of her brain wasn't seeing Tim, but a guard in her cell who was about to drag her out for labor work. Thus Okeavos wasn't all that far away. All she could do was to stare at him till her fisted knuckles went white as the colour. It had been a mistake to leave her room on her own, even to attempt had been foolish. Yet she was fighting the trembles that threatened to come at full speed and weak knees.

She darted her eyes to find some way of escaping the place where she was; yet her brain refuse to work on her. Once she got back to her room she would fine, she knew that. But the trouble was of actually finding the strength to leave. It was hard when fear locked a person in place.

<<Tag Tim/Base Personnel>>

[Robert "Scarecrow" Cromin]

0803
Gateroom
Lost City of Akrotiri

Captain Cromin knew in the back of his mind that there was no such thing as having a day off in Akrotiri, because any and everything can happen at anytime. Cromin saw the chaos this place was disintegrating into and he knew somehow in the back of his mind that the crystals were somehow related to this mess. He had asked the Colonel for directions on what he should be doing and he said for the captain to keep an eye out. Cromin grabbed a radio from an airman passing by and he asked to be patched in through to Lt Morelli who was supposed to be covering his post for him today. "Lt Morelli, this is Captain Cromin, we got work to do. Organize three search teams and meet me in the security station next to the gate room."

0804
security station
Lost City of Akrotiri

Captain Cromin walked in to the security station right next to the gateroom and asked for all of the camera feeds to be displayed on all the screens. He immediately tapped two sergeants in the room and put them to work. I want you for the rest of the day or at least until this possible situation that might be brewing at the moment subside, to watch these feeds, and get in contact with me immediatly if you find anything strange. Cromin also noticed that some of the feeds to different parts of the city would black out for a while and then come back up. He wanted to know why that was happening. The Sergeant in charge explained that it had been going on for about 10 days now but they couldn't find anything wrong. Serach parties have been sent but nothing was found. Cromin found that wierd that there was an ongoing lapse in security that somehow was unresolved at the moment and there were no bodies there present to monitor the situation until it was resolved. It was a difficult task anyways because the camera blackouts were scattered all over the city.

0810
security station
Lost City of Akrotiri

Morelli came in informing the Captain the the search party he had requested was outside the security station. He had a full compliment of combat gear in a modest sized duffel bag he was carrying and he gave it to the captain saying "I believe you are going to need this sir." Cromin looked inside and didn't even bother asking the young lieutenant how he knew that he would need it. Cromin continued to be impressed by the young lieutenant that he had under his command. He just put the tactical vest on that was in the bag and grabbed the SCAR-H that morelli brought with him. He already had a side arm. He placed his ear piece on and tested it to see if it works. When he was sure it worked he walked outside to meet the search teams.

Standing in front of the search teams he said "Alright we will be splitting into three teams. Take the transporters hopefully it will get us to where we need to go. I will be leading team one and 2nd Lt Morelli will be leading team two and finally Master Sergeant Dresser will lead team three. My team will start on the extreme west side and morelli's team will start on the extreme east while Dreeser's team will begin on the extreme south. We will all work our way to the northern part of the city. Make sure to search out the areas where there are camera blackouts. And oh team leaders download the city schematics to your i pads, morelli already got me and old dusty one on paper, thanks. Alright everybody move out, check in every ten minutes unless you find something."
As Cromin and his team made their way to the transporters, he had a thought. and tapped his ear piece. "Sergeant Blake, this is captain Cromin, I am authorizing the use of a jumper, get in the air and map out the cave system where we found the crystals the last time and map the growth of the crystals and send the data to me." Cromin did not trust the crystals and was against its conection to the city's power. He had a funny feeling but that in itself was no evidence. He hoped he was wrong and hopefully the crystals go away quickly and all of this would be over. Cromin had launched a mini scale search operation using both air and bodies on the ground. He probably was carrying the colonel's suggestion too far but then again he might not.

<Tag base personel>

[Troy Loveridge]

0805
Gateroom
Lost City of Akrotiri

For the next few moments the group gathered in the control room about their work, with Troy unable to do anything but watch. As scientists and engineers tapped away at consoles and checked circuits, security teams organized by Captain Cromin began to sweep the areas of the city affected by the power black outs. "Be careful of using the transporters," Troy added over the radio. "We don't know what affect these problems could have on them." Troy didn't fancy knowing what would happen if the power went out in a transported when it was in the process of breaking people down into subatomic elements and putting them back together again.

All around him, experts were conversing about technical terms the Colonel knew nothing about. At the moment the best thing he could do was sit back and let them handle the diagnosis while he did his best to coordinates efforts. It was a feeling of uselessness that had been slowly creeping into life ever since he'd taken charge of the expedition.

As computer screen continued to flash, more and more people were noticing that the language of the Ancients was appearing. To Troy it was just a collection of strange symbols, but it might mean something to an expert. With the scientists and engineers working hard, Troy looked around for someone that could help. In the back of the room he stopped Pooja, and waved her over.

Doctor Garcia, wife of SD-1's team leader, had recently been held by the Titans for two months and exposed to brutal questioning and suspected medical experiments. She hadn't said anything to Troy about what she had gone through as physiological experts had been tasked with her debriefing, though in time they both knew the Colonel would need to sit her down and go through her ordeal, if only for the important intelligence it might reveal.

"Pooja, do these mean anything to do?" he asked, pointing to one of the screens that seemed to constantly be displaying the Ancient text. As a sociologist, Pooja mightn't necessarily be able to translate the text, but at the moment she was the most qualified person the Colonel had.

< Tag Base Personnel >

OOC: We don't have Puddle Jumpers anymore, the expedition's uses the new X-305 shuttles instead ;D

[Cara Coyle]

0805
Gateroom
Lost City of Akrotiri

Cara let out a frustrating sigh, trying to relief the tension she was feeling in her chest. Her eyes were starting to blur from the hours at staring at screens and the tiredness of not sleeping. Looking around she spotted her jacket that she had tossed long ago, she was now in a blue short sleeved uniform shirt and standard pants. A bunch of them had piled their jackets in the same area, but she quickly spotted the Union Jack that was on her’s, Cara reached into her pockets and pulled out a couple items, caffeine pills and a pair of reading glasses. She only needed the glasses when her eyes were getting strained from overuse.

Going back to the work station, she popped a few pills and downed them with some tea she still had in her mug. Cara put on the glasses and stared at the screens once more. She pauses as she watched some of the screens glitching, with what looked like some funky screen saver with Ancient written all over it. She wasn’t the only one to notice this thankfully. ”We’re all done down here, Dr. Coyle.” a call came from down where the Gate was. Cara moved to the railing to view their work. The ramps where all set up, a path all clear for the crystal slug to move on to a different life, good riddance. ”Thank you, Stephan.” Cara called back to the people working down below.

Cara went from station to station, trying not to get in the way of those working, but looking over their shoulders nonetheless. After being satisfied with what she was seeing, and a few more command prompts entered into her own datapad, she turned back to Loveridge. ”We’ve managed to stabilize the system for the time being, Colonel. I don’t know why we are seeing this on the screens, but if we want to be rid of the energy-leech, I beg your pardon, the crystal slug, I suggest we do it now.”

Cara didn’t hide that she didn’t like this, creature. From the very start it had been that way. It was messing with the balance of the city, not to mention giving her a nightmare of a time trying to balance out the power systems all month. One more complaint that a shower went cold on them and she was ready to tear limbs and beat them with it.

<tag others>

[Dieter Troy]

0805
Gateroom
Lost City of Akrotiri


There was little for Dieter to do while the transfer took place. The science and engineering types had quickly taken charge of the creature when it was discovered and not much had changed now that it was being transferred. His job was to provide medical support for the team should any injuries occur. As the mission was simply to dial the date and send the creature through, Dieter was carrying only a simple med pack to provide first aid until a team arrived to transport the injured to the infirmary.

He was watching the process when the lights flickered off & back on. The first time he didn't give it much thought but when it happened again, it caught his attention. A look at the computer monitors revealed a string of text that he had come to know as Ancient. What it all meant he didn't know, but it gave him an uneasy feeling. Apparently he was not alone, as his radio crackled to life.

=/\=Dr. Picardo to Sgt. Troy. =/\=

=/\=Troy here, go ahead Doctor.=/\=

=/\= Are you experiencing the same power fluctuations in the gate room as we are here in the infirmary?=/\=

=/\= Yes we are, it may be related to the transfer but I don't know for sure. =/\=

There was a pause on the other end before the Doctor's voice came back over the radio.

=/\= I'm sending a med team to set up a forward aid station near the gate room. Not that I'm expecting trouble, but I don't want the gate room to be cut off from medical support in a power failure. =/\=

=/\= Roger that, I'll be on the lookout. Troy out. =/\=

With the conversation wrapped up, Dieter returned his attention to the action in the gateroom.

Off:

[Pooja Garcia]

0805
Gateroom
Lost City of Akrotiri

Troy voice slowly brought her to the present and to where she really was. Darting her eyes around she slowly took in the gate room into her brain and system, and tried to breath easy as she could to calm herself. A film of sweat had build up over her neck and face, during her fear that had rippled through her. She wasn’t back in the cell, but at Delta Site and galaxy which she was calling it a home for now. She wasn’t going to be poked with needles and god knew what else she had been subjected to during her time as a captive.

She just stared at Troy; the man seemed calm as the sea; while she weathered the storms of her nightmares and fears; day in and out. Feeling the frustration and anger build up, she forced it down. It wasn’t the place and time to lash out at least not in front of his men. Inhaling deeply she rubbed her face again and secured the clutches under her shoulders again, and limped over. Looking at the text; she tried reading it, but couldn’t. It seemed obvious that it was likely to be a warning or something. But honestly she couldn’t be certain.

Inhaling she looked at the gate, and shook her head, while she didn’t trust herself to trust him, but it seemed there was a need for a verbal communication, “No,” she told him, while making no attempt to break the ice, “Never seen the letters before.” Yet her gaze went back to the screen, she could take a wild crack at it, but did she want to? She rather be up in her room and curled up in bed.

<<Tag Troy/Base Personnel>>

[Robert "Scarecrow" Cromin]

0815
Eastern Quardrant
Lost City of Akrotiri

The Sweep had just began when the person Cromin had ordered to fly the jumper radioed in saying that the last jumper in Akrotiri was unoperational and at that point very few pilots were cleared to fly the new X-305 shuttle. Cromin figured that he'd have to do it because they needed city wide scan and also a scan of the cave system to see if there is anything out of the ordinary. As he relegated the sweep to the sergeant who was with to continue as he made his way to the shuttle he got a call come in from Lt Morelli who told him to take a look at his datapad, he was sending an image back to him. Apparently in an abandoned lab in the eastern quardrant What Morelli saw sent a cold shiver down his spine. There was a computer system which was almost all covered with the crystals in the city itself and the screens were flickering showing ones and zeros. Captain Cromin immediately forwarded the image to the control room and he got on his radio asking to be patched through to Colonel Loveridge.

"Captain Cromin to Colonel Loveridge, Sir we got a problem, I am not sure what this is about but I just sent an image of what it is to your screen. This might or might not be the source of the ongoing problem" Showing on the screen was the very image he had seen in his datapad. Continuing to speak to the Colonel he said, "I think we need a city wide scan of Akrotiri and als a scan of the cave systems again. If you don't mind sir would love to take the X-305 for a fly over except you have something else in mind for me to do"

With that Cromin waited for a response from the Colonel.

<Tag Loveridge and Base Personnel>

[Pooja Garcia]

0807
Gateroom
Lost City of Akrotiri

Troy looked at Pooja then at Cara, then back again for a brief moment. Considered each woman's comment, for now he knew answering Doctor Coyle was the best. Looking at the system outputs or whatever they were called, and nodded. So far the stablising sounded good. He knew that they needed to keep the things even for as long as they could till the root of the situation was found. He wasn’t going to think if they were found, they had to be found to correct the whole picture. Sighing he covered his mouth and thought, “And how fast and quickly; and safely can we get them to the planet?” Troy asked Doctor Coyle.

Turning to Pooja he studied her for a second, but he knew he wasn’t going to lose the chance of talking to Doctor Garcia now that she was out the room she had sealed herself in. While he wasn’t expecting her to interact, he hoped she would. Her reply and expression could only make him wonder. She was not going to make this easy on him, but he wasn’t going to pursue the matter, just yet. “You are welcome to take your time and figure it out.” The Colonel encouraged her, and hoped she would take it.

Pooja nodded, but said nothing. There was no way she could even read the Ancient language, let alone take a super wild guess. Kent would more helpful than she would be. Wanting to point it out but she was saved by the bell or rather a radio.

Even as the radio came to life and Cormin’s voice floated through it, Troy was still in deep thought, listening he considered his options, after checking the screen. If the Captain suspected something it might worth a look, “Captain, you have a go to check out the possible source of the problem. Report back with your findings.

”


<<Tag Base Personnels>>