Episode Six - "The Eye of the Storm"

[Jason Conway]

Stargate Meropis: Episode Six - The Eye of the Storm

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Summary
The Meropis expedition are now truly in "The Eye of the Storm" in more ways than one. With the worst behind them, is this the calm before the Etruscans strike again? General Conway isn't taking any chances and orders SM-2 to lead an attack on Eros, the planet the aliens recently conquered. Meanwhile, SM-1 continue their efforts to uncover Lilith's secrets and lead the exploration of what seems to be a prehistoric world centered upon an ancient, abandoned facility. Back on the base, a storm is brewing. Dr. Rodney McKay visits to see Meropis for himself and is immediately tasked with helping the team prepare for an annual hurricane level event, the first of it's kind for the expedition. With rumors of traitors and spies among the ranks, the senior command hold an urgent meeting. Finally, SM-4 return to base with a mysterious woman called "Hanyuu", who is she and why was she in stasis in an abandoned ancient facility? Key elements are at play, the board is set and the pieces are moving. Can the expedition turn the tide of war in their favor or will this be the start of a down-ward spiral that will result in their destruction? Time will tell.

 Base Personnel (w/ guest star Dr. Rodney McKay) - The Storm

Posting Group One will begin with the arrival of Hanyuu (the mystery girl) in the infirmary and will consist of; Dr. Caiden West, Mikaere Glavish, Shauna Alice Keys, Paisley Gregorvich, Jaya Bakshi and Hanyuu
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Posting Group Two will begin with Dr. McKay in the science labs, analyzing the incoming Storm and will consist of; Tom as Dr. Rodney McKay, Michael Black, Finnbar Kennedy, Fiona Maccafferty, Francessca Luks, Izzy Stevens and Gijs de Vos
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Posting Group Three will begin in the briefing room and will consist of; Jason Conway, @achillesjones, Capt. Kelly Miller, Michael Hurley, Shawn Booth, Liam Hart and SA Val Olwin
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While the expedition welcomes Dr. Rodney McKay having arrived on the Apollo from Atlantis, the science team detect a storm that seems to make it's way across the planet annually. The storm brings with it some very unusual side effects causing the team to have flash forwards and memories from things that may not have actually happened yet, some are effected worse than others. The storm also prevents a lock from being established with the Stargate, with injuries mounting the team need to act fast to ensure the city survives the weather. The senior command group begin the episode by addressing the rumors of a spy on Meropis, but things soon get out of hand. Meanwhile, SM-4 have brought back a mysterious girl through the Stargate called Hanyuu, other than her name she remembers nothing but she was found in stasis in one of Lilith's abandoned labs, what mysteries does this girl hold?

This mission will begin in the three locations mentioned above and spread out from there. The flash forwards can be linked to posts from your Stargate Meropis: AU threads or they can be improvised snippets of your characters life outside of the SGC.

Posting Group Four, SM-1 w/ Elly Clark, Tim Law and Dr. Harrison - K2M-237 Prehistoric World
Posting Group Four will begin having just gone through the Stargate and will consist of; Chicago "Roo" Eastlyn, Dominic Evans, Ahrima, Maggie Lefebvre, James Mulholland along with Tim "Dragon" Law as Jumper Two's pilot, Elly Clark as researcher and Dr. Roger Harrison as medic.
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SM-1 accompanied by a second Jumper including Tim Law, Elly Clark, Dr. Harrison and two marines have been tasked with a very exciting mission. K2M-237 contains another of Lilith's abandoned labs, while the search to unlock her secrets and find a way to defeat the Etruscans once and for all continues, the team are faced with an interesting twist of events. The world appears to be inhabited by dinosaurs?



Posting Group Five, SM-2 - K3X-779 'Eros'
Posting Group Five will begin having just gone through the Stargate and will consist of; John Callaghan, Ryan Alexander, Quinn Monaghan and Tom Chambers
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It's time the Meropis Expedition strikes back against the oppressive Etruscan 'Gods'. SM-2 are tasked to take a cloaked jumper, all the weapons they need and return to K3X-779. Eros, the planet that was over-run by the Hinthial's fleet on the day that McManus left SM-2. Under cover of darkness, the team must scout the Etruscan army, look for weaknesses and more importantly, do as much damage as possible before escaping. Time to take the fight to the enemy.

BC-304 Sun Tzu - Not Participating

The Sun Tzu is on assignment to Earth this episode for repairs and refit, as such Colonel Riley, Lt. Decker and most of the crew have returned home for shore leave. Some of the BC-304's crew have opted to bank their leave and stay on Meropis, assigned with other duties they will be active during this episode.

[Jason Conway]

Update - The Story So Far

Base Personnel (w/ guest star Dr. Rodney McKay) - The Storm
With the senior command meeting wrapped up in record time, the base chiefs set about re-designing the infrastructure, patrols and routines in light of the crazed former Sergeant Andrew McManus acting as a loose canon somewhere in the galaxy. In the infirmary, a room full of egos argue with each other over what exactly the mysterious alien girl called 'Hanyuu' is after an off-world team brought her back from an abandoned planet. That would prove to be the least of the base worries however, as a deadly storm rages toward the city seeming to flatten almost everything in it's path. With Dr. McKay highlighting the 'temporal radiation cloud' within the storm as a serious concern it was time to batten down the hatches and prepare to take some damage. Of course, not everyone in the base thought this. A small team had decided to head out into the forest in an attempt to save the local population of aliens and bring them back to the base. In doing so they've put themselves at risk of also being flattened by the storm leading to General Conway authorizing a rescue party to fly out and retrieve them. Will they make it before its too late?

SM-1 w/ Elly Clark, Tim Law and Dr. Harrison - K2M-237 Prehistoric World

The team have ventured onto a heavily vegetated alien world that seems to contain elements of prehistoric life, including Dinosaurs! After locating eight abandoned and potentially ruined ancient facilities, the team finally set down outside the one remaining lab with power. A short while later and the team had negotiated the shield (with a few minor hiccups) and had begun to make their way up into the facility set within a network of caves. 

SM-2 - K3X-779 'Eros'

What had been a routine strike mission for the combat support unit had taken a turn for the worst. The team had not expected to find such a heavily fortified Etruscan presence on the planet counting several mother ships and thousands of enemy soldiers. What concerned them even more was the tens of thousands of slaves working in service of the Etruscans, serious collateral damage should the team decide to strike. Realizing they face a serious threat, the team debate whether to abort or continue with the mission as planned. That is until a familiar face shows up...

[Jason Conway]

Update - The Story So Far

Base Personnel (w/ guest star Dr. Rodney McKay) - The Storm
Rearranging the base security protocols was the last thing the expedition had to worry about, the freakish storm was playing havoc across the base with many members experiencing hallucinations, blackouts and worse. While parts of the city began to take damage, even with the shields up, tensions were still high as to who the mystery spy currently aboard the base was and Captain Miller along with the IOA agents were determined to get to the bottom of it. Scientists McKay and Glavish face a race against time to come up with a solution after the eye of the storm brings clarity, and projections of the scale of damage the other side of the storm will bring. While the medical team in the infirmary were recovering their sense and preparing to deal with a constant stream of casualties from all over the base.

The small unauthorized team that had set out to rescue the Koan now needed saving themselves, so General Conway had authorized Captain Collins to lead a small impromptu squad and retrieve the civilians. Sadly, the storm took it's toll on the minds of the squad once outside the shield and, when they had landed, had scattered the group into the dangerous forest with delusions of past and non-existent memories. With the Koan fleeing for their lives and trees coming down everywhere, the team struggled to keep it together and worked hard to keep De Vos stable after an impact with a falling tree. They noticed the Koan heading for a natural cave formation and decided it was their best shot. During the eye of the storm, whilst heading to safety, a familiar face appeared - Almeda the ancient android. There might yet still be a way to save themselves as well as the Koan.


SM-1 w/ Elly Clark, Tim Law and Dr. Harrison - K2M-237 Prehistoric World
After finally negotiating their way into the ancient lab, Elly Clark set to work downloading the ancient's secrets from the ten thousand year old computer system. The team were fascinated to discover a wealth of information not just on the Ancients, the Etruscans and their origin, but also on a mythical ancient space ship that Lilith herself had been working on. It wasn't to last however as the group were interrupted by a pack of Velociraptors with enlarged craniums and nasty looking teeth! The dinosaurs had evolved to develop the ability to penetrate the team's minds with a form of radiation that toyed with their emotions and memories. The team struggled to fight it off, almost succumbing to the trap before Captain Evans broke the cycle and dramatically pulled a gun on Lt. Mulholland. This of course proved to be a ruse, but enough of one to distract the raptors and allow the team to take back their own minds. No doubt Mulholland would get his payback back on Meropis. After Maggie had learned something important about herself from the alien dinosaurs, Evans communicated with them and realized that the team needed to leave, right now, or face certain death.


SM-2 - K3X-779 'Eros'
An encounter with former Sergeant Andrew McManus had twisted the plot beyond comprehension. The team had split up in disarray, attempting to both capture the wanted man and avoid detection at the same time. After a short brawl, Callaghan and McManus met once more with some brief words before McManus escaped. Unfortunately for SM-2, the team had happened to land near a passing patrol of elite Etruscan Bloodletters, the finest warriors the enemy had to offer - and it quickly became clear that their recon mission was very much done here. A bloody and brutal battle allowed the team to barely escape with their lives, with Major Callaghan ordering a full retreat to the Jumper. It might have been too late for the team however, as one of the enemy soldiers had fled and was now raising the alarm... And alerting the entire Etruscan fleet based on the planet. As John Callaghan put it, "We are leaving right now!".

[Jason Conway]

The Conclusion

Base Personnel (w/ guest star Dr. Rodney McKay) - The Storm

Just in the nick of time, the team outside of the base had managed to get the Koan and themselves into a cave safely. Led by Almeda, they followed the network of tunnels up away from the storm and beneath the city. Eventually, Almeda led them through a hatch up into Dorane's old lab, from there the team were easily able to navigate back up to the main city, leaving the Koan to settle into the tunnels beneath and evade the worst of the storm for now. One day they would re-emerge and rebuild - but at least today they would live.

With the infirmary team having to resort to Dr. Kells' idea of unearthing an old, secret project to try to protect their casualties brains from further radiation damage, it was really down to the wire for Doctors McKay and Glavish to protect the city. Remembering an old device from episode two that gave the team realistic nightmare illusions, Glavish theorized that this device was responsible for correctly calibrating the shields to withstand the planet's unique radiation... And the team had switched it off. Cue Dr. Rodney McKay and a mad dash to the control chair. McKay and Glavish realized the device needed to be switched back on but calibrated to modern day human brain structure rather than the ancient race of ten thousand years ago. McKay managed to use the control chair to successfully interface the device with the shields and protect the base from the horrific effects of the storm for years to come. His ego however, was something they'd have to deal with later.

SM-1 w/ Elly Clark, Tim Law and Dr. Harrison - K2M-237 Prehistoric World

The team had gotten the proverbial 'hell out of dodge' once they realized they weren't welcome on the planet. The native dinosaur-like creatures had sent a clear telepathic message to the team that their death awaits if they should linger much longer. After a short Jumper ride back to the gate, and subsequently back to Meropis. The team were able to breathe and contemplate what they had just discovered. They had hit the jackpot. The information downloaded contained schematics of an enormous ancient ship called "The Ark". It seemed similar to "The Destiny" except it was capable of seeding life itself throughout the universe. This was surely worth exploring, but first, a little R&R was in order.

SM-2 - K3X-779 'Eros'

Major Callaghan's team had made a very narrow escape from the now Etruscan occupied world. With an injured Ryan Alexander and the rest of the team not faring too well either, they high tailed it back to Meropis, narrowly avoiding a hail storm of incoming fire and almost certainly attracting the wrath of the Etruscan Gods. Once back, K3X-779 was blacklisted on the database as an enemy occupied world. One can only wonder though, what were they building an army for? Was Meropis next?