Takeing a walk on the South Side

[James Calmara]

1000
Corridor
South Sector
City of Akrotiri

Calmara allowed himself a small grin as he arrived in a little junction off which led three door still sealed, behind which lay an as yet unseen part of the city they now called home.

Calmara like the other military personnel involved in this little outing was dressed in full off-world gear and armed, they may call this place home but this was the Delian galaxy. It was only a few weeks ago that CHENN had managed to insert a number of maniacal robots, who were unseen until they started making a mess of the city’s systems and who could ignore the ever present Titan threat. A degree of caution was often the best when dealing with the unknown, even if that unknown is on their doorstep. But for all this Calmara was expectant and hopeful of this little outing, the aincients did of course have a habit of leaving behind some interesting technical ‘toys’ as Calmara like to refer to them. Glancing around noting that Oxford was present offered to him and anyone in ear shot. “How about making thing a little more interesting, a little wager on what we find?”

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[Travis Oxford]

1000
Corridor
South Sector
City of Akrotiri

It was time to explore and have a little fun in areas of the city they had hardly been visited and find what they could to help them against their war on the Titans. Troy had agreed to let them take a look around and come back with whatever they thought would keep the eggheads busy for the next few months. There would be some peace and quiet from the doctors from many branches of science. Travis still wasn’t sure why he was asked to oversee the mini mission as he saw it as. Meh, he mused, it the perks of being the senior officers on the base.

Zipping his vest and securing his P-90, he walked down the corridor along with Calamra, who naturally seemed eager poke around, smirking at his words, “Oh a wager,” he sighed with mock contentment, “I got a 20 grand wager on my head, but I’ll say 200 bucks says we won’t find anything.” If he was bound to lose, he was bound to lose.

“After the colour changing, I’m happy stay clear of alien tech.” It had taken him days to get over see green on his skin and repeat of dreams hadn’t been easy to shake off. “If I end up looking like chow chow, I’ll blame you.”

<<Tag James and whoever is along coming along>>

[Koren Telion]

1000
Corridor
South Sector
City of Akrotiri

Koren couldn't understand how the away teams managed it. Carrying all this bulky gear every time they went off planet...you can't get out of the way of a turtle in this stuff, much less a bullet or staff blast! Ah well, at least he was fit, and the P90 more than made up for the extra weight. Koren had been fortunate enough to use this brilliant bit of engineering a couple times before in training, and once in a hot extraction in Afghanistan where some Shiite rebels had charged the airfield. This baby felt great in your hands, fired way to fast to conceive, had a gentle kick and had lighter clips than just about any gun he'd worked with before. Though Koren was used to having an M9 or MP-7 by his seat in the cockpit if things got dicey and he ended up on the ground, the privilege of holding such a beauty of engineering was well acknowledged.

Koren heard the Major and Master Sergeant making bets, and when their eyes turned expectantly at him, he raised his eyebrows and shrugged, "I guess I'm in for 200 for some Ancient hieroglyphs or some script on a wall nobody knows what it means yet." Stupid thing to burn his stipend on, but more than anything, Koren just wanted to show these guys that he was in this for the long haul; that Delta wasn't just a pit-stop for him. He was committed to this op, and not just because of his sister's situation at home (stargatedelta.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=basepersonnel&thread=4571&page=1); he personally wanted to be here. What better way to show that than trying to invest in some new friendships?

Continuing his previous statement, Koren addressed the Master Sergeant; "You going to call?"

<Tag: Calmara, Oxford, any others who might join us>

[James Calmara]

1000
Corridor
South Sector
City of Akrotiri

A shake of the head at the pair as they wagered, with a note of mock seriousness in his voice offered. “Honestly price a poor enlisted man out of the game why don’t you, typical officers.” He finished with a shake of his head as well as the hint of a grin. Oxford would get the joke and a leg pull, how Koren would react remained to be seen.

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“Only joking, I’ll match the two hundred on finding a library of ancient fix-it manuals, would be nice. I know there kit is fairly intuitive to operate and all that but. But they are tricky to fix, partly because the ancients have a habit of not supplying instructions or procedure manuals. ” He said with a huge grin on his face, “Specifically the propulsion for the puddle jumpers, if we could knew how to fix it properly, we could replicate it, we could shoehorn it into the 302’s and 305’s. Those airframes with such advanced propulsion would be fantastic.” He babbled a little at this point, his love of all things engineering taking over at this point.

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[Koren Telion]

1000
Corridor
South Sector
City of Akrotiri

“Honestly price a poor enlisted man out of the game why don’t you, typical officers.”

This was the first time Koren had been reminded of his rank since he had finished clearing his transfer when arriving through the stargate. The lack of pulling rank in the stargate program was honestly one of his favorite things about the program; the feeling that there is a mutual respect between the men and women assigned to Delta. Everyone knows that in order to be here, most people went through hell and back in their respective fields in order to be discovered by the SGC. Hell, it's a miracle the SGC hasn't been destroyed from the inside from the amount of dirty laundry that pretty much every member of the SG program has sitting in their closet.

But that mutual respect is what drew Koren to accept the SGC position in the first place. That and the money, but that was the part Koren was not at all proud of...

But if this soldier was pulling rank, by golly, so could he.

"Hey, I was only following orders." Koren said, giving Oxford a mock-dirty look. He expected Oxford's well-catalogued humour to kick in. Koren hadn't been on base long, but the stories he'd heard about about the Major were entertaining to say the least.

But Calmara kept continued, and Koren was surprised. I suppose this is the man who is heading R&D for the F-class fighters, he thought. Koren's respect for the man nearly doubled.

"You said it, Master Sergeant."Koren said, a wry grin fading from his face as he sighed heavily, trying to adjust his tac-vest and failing, "Nice to have another flyboy onboard. Should we get this door open, sir?" Koren addressed to the major, tiring already of the ungainly gear and antsy to be on the move.

<TAG: Oxford, Calmara, anyone else coming along>

[James Calmara]

1000
Corridor
South Sector
City of Akrotiri

Okay so that little leg pull didn’t go down quite as well as he expected, still that was to be expected when working with new people, figuring out how each person of the expedition was wired so to speak, was just as complicated as figuring out how a new piece of tech worked. Being referred to as a flyboy was a first, by the way he phrased that comment, figuring the man was a pilot and trying to find something in common. So although he would normally object, he let it go for now.

“Yeah that’s me, those bird were my first intro into the whole stargate reality, we go back a long way.” Calmara commented as memory of the first time he walked into a design office at Area 51 and seeing the, now familier outline of the F302 on a computer screen for the first time floated through his mind. Glancing at the doors in front of them, he responded to Telion. “Ahh but which door, number one, two, or three?” He pointed to each in order. “I have to say I’m favouring two at the moment, with a slight lean towards three.” Calmara voiced taking a couple of steps towards the door he mentioned, glancing in Oxford direction. “Let’s get this party started shall we.”

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[Travis Oxford]

1000
Corridor
South Sector
City of Akrotiri

Leaning back on the wall, Travis grinned as Telion threw in another two dollars into the pool off betting, and then laughed when James’s own joke rounded back at him, “Hey,” he protested looking at his XO with one eyebrow raised, “Look on the bright side, we lose you are four hundred dollars richer. You lose, I’ll take only twenty dollars from you.” Shrugging, “I’m making it fair.”

Tilting his head at the lieutenant, Travis matched the look for looks, the kid was sharp, he would give him that much credit, “I don’t remember giving out any orders,” he mumbled in dryly, while his eyes lit with humour at the same time, “Kid, only follow my orders off-world, here I have the excuse for getting all of us in trouble.” Oh he remembered the drinking game he had started online, Martin and Kepler had bowed out half way through it. Maybe one of these days he would have to start another one. All while keeping Loveridge in the dark about it.

Frowning he looked at the doors James was pointing out, “Eh?” he wondered, then listened as the Master Sergeant, went on musing out loud, “Don’t look at me, this is your idea, I’m only here to make sure that no trouble arises or else Loveridge will have my a$$ for sure.” After all the Colonel did write their paychecks. He was more used to having Kepler writing them, seeing Troy's signature always boggled the mind.

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[James Calmara]

1000
Corridor
South Sector
City of Akrotiri

Even then it’s portably best to use you noggin before you do. If I recall his talents lie in getting us into trouble, than out of it.” Calmara responded giving a quick smile as he glanced between Oxford and Telion before he swiped his hand across the crystal door control. “In that case let’s see what’s behind door number two.” He commented as the door slid open to reveal a darkened but now familiar laid out corridor, P90 was brought to the ready position, instinct. Knowing full well that Travis last statement implied that he take point.

Calmara obliged and moved off into to the darkened corridor. Although this was not off world and in their own backyard, which meant he was a little more relaxed in his stance and readiness. He couldn’t get away from training and practice, he stuck to the side and moved carefully. The lights and crystal door controls were automatically and gradually illuminated as they advanced. "Which squadron did you come in Lieutenant? Are you a Ghost? a Wolves? an Ace? or an Eagle?"

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[Koren Telion]

1000
Corridor
South Sector
City of Akrotiri

"Duly noted."

Koren said in response to both Calmara's comments about the Major and Travis' own commentary on himself.

His protective instinct to cover the Major as he went in behind Calmara made Koren pause for a moment, but at a quick expectant glance from Oxford, Koren raised his P-90 and, checking his corners, followed the Master Sergeant through the door.
The corridor was like many of the others on the station, the only difference being a slight modification in the ceiling contouring and the darkness, the latter of which slowly disappeared into the dull, warm illumination of light refracting through stone. There was a slight shift in the air as power was rerouted to this section of the station, and Koren watched in quiet amazement as parts of the city that had been dormant for ages came to life again.

Koren made a quick glance at both soldiers; this must be so familiar to them, so natural, he mused, a walk in the park compared to most of their missions. Even as Koren longed for the familiarity of time spent off-world, he recognized the privilege of experiencing these wonders anew. While most of Earth would never see beyond it's atmosphere, Koren was exploring a whole new world. It was different than space exploration, where the closest you get to a new world is a couple miles above the surface; this was stepping into the history of civilizations who know or knew nothing of earth and becoming part of that history. Koren all at once came to recognize why a place on an off-world team was such a difficult spot to achieve; because each member of the team holds a pen that can forever mark the history of these great worlds they step onto, and one small slip of that pen could forever tarnish, or even destroy, thousands of years of cultural development.

Looking between the two men once more, Koren realized what a privilege he had been offered to come on this seemingly trivial expedition; Command was making it very clear, and so were the men beside him, that even at this early stage they were doing everything they could to make Koren feel like he belonged there, and to help him find his place.

Calmara confirmed that sentiment: "Which squadron did you come in Lieutenant? Are you a Ghost? a Wolves? an Ace? or an Eagle?"

"Eagle 1," Koren said, "Command assigned me the flight after I-" Koren broke off for a moment; he hadn't had time to think about the loss of his squad since he had arrived at Akrotiri and the emotions that assaulted surprised him. This is no time to pity yourself, Koren quickly reprimanded, suppressing his feelings, and he shook himself back to readiness. "...after my squadron was shot down while serving aboard the Odyssey."
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<Tag: Calmara, Oxford. Anyone else?>

[James Calmara]

1001
Corridor
South Sector
City of Akrotiri

Catching the stalled response Calmara looked across at Telion sizing him up and his change of tack with his response. The experience he’d built up over his career gave him a certain amount of intuition, intuition that was telling him that the officer was shouldering the blame for whatever happened and carrying it round with him. “Say no more, sir, it a strange and sometimes brutal life in this command. We’ve had to face that same situation along the road, haven’t we Wizard.” Calmara commented letting Telion know an explanation was not required, at the same time extending a spirit of camaraderie, reinforced by looking to his CO for a bit of input and back-up.

He felt he could comment freely on the subject although he had yet to lose a long standing teammate the last eighteen months had their fair share of trials, mostly involving people lost in action and then the desperate search to find them again and the issues that usually entailed, with those in mind Calmara felt the need to pass on a lesson he’d had to learn. “Second guessing choices you made won’t help you, analysing and learning from what went down, that’s the more positive side of the line and a very useful weapon one that can be used to your advantage, as long as you handle it right.”

Changing topic slightly, CAlmara pointed out some of the wonders that came with the risks of being an expedition member. “That said there are a lot of incredible sights to see out here. Major do you remember Babila. Now that was a slight to see, there are these huge garden areas on massive rock like formations that actually floated above the surface of the planet!” Calmara went on to explain using wide arm gestures to add to the sense of scale he was trying to convey. Although the slight complication still lingered in the back of his mind.

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[Travis Oxford]

1003
Corridor
South Sector
City of Akrotiri

Shaking his head, he gladly followed as he took in their surroundings. But something about here was giving him the bad feeling. Normally he only got this way when he was off world, but regardless it didn’t brood well with the Army Officer. Listening to James, Travis’s lips curled, “Aye,” he agreed mimicking his wife’s Irish accent. “That we have, more times I really care to count.” Oh he was sure that Loveridge was going to be on his case soon enough. For liable and some non-liable reasons. Oh that would be fun.

Entering the area, he tried to ignore the talks about losing men-in-arms, he had lost his own fair share of them. Not that losing them was easy and defiantly not something one got use to or come to expect, but it was still loss of life. Mack’s death was fresh in his mind even months after the warrant officer’s passing. Pooja Garcia’s anger towards him hadn’t lessened. The two had been best friends. Mack’s passing still hung like a bad weather between Pooja and him. But James’s words did hit home and that hurt too, since there were times he second guessed himself over that mission. He couldn’t get himself stay convinced that it also had been Brown’s choice to do what he did. Instead of commenting on that, he moved ahead

Twisting his face in order to remember the said mission, “You mean the hanging Gardens of Babylon or the floating rocks we saw afterwards?” Either way the sight had been worth the trip alone. “It was afterwards right? Or a completely different mission?” it was easy for him to mix up his mission and not keep them straight, unless he was addressing the CO of the base.

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((Apolosies for the lateness….muses refuse to work.))

[James Calmara]

1003
Corridor
South Sector
City of Akrotiri

It was the same mission, but i'm sure it was the floating rocks first, although it was a little easier to get to some of the gardens as some of the rocks weren't floating by the end of our time there." Calmara responded with a grin that turned into a slight pull of the face. At there slight faux pas on that particular mission, but it all turned out for the best in the end as he pointed out. ”We fixed it though as I recall, left the natives in a good mood to boot.”

As they moved a little further down the corridor and came to the first door, slightly indented and off-set to the left hand-side, giving it a sideways glance, cocking his head at it. “Shall we see what’s behind door number one?” Stepping up to and then swiping his hand across the crystal sensor/door activation. He pulled his rifle a little tighter into his shoulder as the door slid open. Entering carefully, as expected the lights came up gradually aiding him as he took an initial cursory glance around the room. It was however empty for the most part, a large open space with a covered console and a display panel in the near left hand corner. The far wall was made up of large glass panels that appeared to be back lit and cut into equal sections with what appeared to be crystal sensor/door activation panel on the far right hand edge.

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