Episode Six - Eye of the Storm

[Jason Conway]

0955
Control Room
Meropis

General Conway had swept into Stargate Operations, the nerve center of Meropis, and he was barking orders. Things had escalated quickly and Jason's own experience with hurricane relief efforts back on Earth drove his desire to see the team through this in one piece. The control room staff had gone from calm day to day routines up to a control frenzy in the last twenty minutes. Alarm bells were sounding from terminals all over the room and rushed conversations were being shouted over one another. In short, the storm was coming. And it was going to be a lot worse than they'd forecast.

"What have we got?" Conway asked over the shoulder of Peter Grover who had just arrived, his oppo Jaya Bakshi not far behind him. Grover didn't speak initially, he just turned the monitor so Conway could see it. It depicted images taken from a scouting Puddle Jumper that had been sent ahead to assess the storm. The entire horizon was filled with a whirling, broiling dark cloud from land to sky. The next image captured trees being plucked from the ground like dandelions and flung in the air ahead of the Jumper. The final image was zoomed in and captured a panoramic view of the landscape including at least three tornadoes. The General couldn't believe his eyes, the storm had seemingly spawned in one of Meropis' enormous oceans and in a matter of hours had joined with a smaller storm cell to form this beast they saw before them. The Meropis database mentioned a once in a century El Nino style event but as far as Conway had been able to learn, it was contained to a turbulent section of ocean far from the city at the time the ancients had recorded it. Of course, thousands of years had passed since and the planet was much different now.

"Alright, what do we know?" Jason Conway voiced his thoughts, "An ancient city-ship's shields can withhold large bodies of water, but not general rainfall. This was tried and tested when Atlantis faced that tsunami." He clicked his fingers and began pacing up and down behind the control desks, drawing the attention of the hectic control room staff, "We know that the shields will be able to keep out the larger objects, trees and the like. And we know how long we've got until the storm hits..." He looked to Grover.
"Uh, just over three hours hours Sir." Grover replied.
"Right. What else do we know? Anybody?" He turned to the room at hand with an open armed gesture. They needed to pool their resources, review their knowledge and make sure they could get through this.

<tag Benjamin Grisswald Jaya Bakshi and anyone else who wishes to join the Gate Ops fun!>

[Benjamin Grisswald]

0956
Control Room
Meropis

When he had woken up at around six a.m. that morning he had thought that the day ahead of him would be pretty much like any other day. Now, about three hours later, he was absolutely sure it would not. Ben remembered the great storm of 1987 that hit Britain. It had caused much devastation and even some fatalities. He remembered the day without electricity and the uprooted trees. Particularly he remembered that his favourite oak had been severely damaged. In a way that was a proverbial end of his childhood, since he could not longer climb or play around that tree again. Yet, Ben had a feeling this storm would be something different entirely.

Ben had been at the biology lab when he overheard some colleagues talk about a storm that had been detected. None other than the great Dr McKay was apparently present and handling the situation. Ben had actually met the renowned doctor in the flesh back at S.G.C. a few years back, but only briefly. He was not the most sympathetic of men, but he sure did know what his things.

It was shortly after this that people started to go into emergency mode. Checking supplies, running here and there with stuff, yes people seemed busy. Ben figured that the task at hand could wait, this seemed way more urgent. The place to be was surely the control room, so he headed there.

His guess was not proved wrong. Alarms here and there, people running everywhere with tablets showing each other important readings and small groups of people consulting each other. His felt displaced to say the least. He knew only a little about controls, and he was certainly not an expert on mega storms. In fact, he could not see how his knowledge in pharmacology could be utilised at all in this situation. What he did know however was that in this expedition people pulled together, no matter if they were experts or not they could always contribute in their own ways.

As he approached the centre of the control room he heard the general brainstorming. Ben discreetly joined the small group of people that had formed next to the general. Ben quite liked the general, or what little he knew of him. He was a man of integrity it seemed, and a man who was not afraid of asking for help and ideas. It was this atmosphere that emboldened him to speak. “Sorry general, sir, but is there no possibility of submerging the city?” he asked humbly. He realised it was probably a dumb idea that many others had thought of before him, but why not ask just in case? It would spare them a lot of trouble being beneath the surface of the ocean instead of floating on top of it.

<tag: Jason Conway, Jaya Bakshi and all others wishing to join>

[Dylan Hawkins]

0956
Control Room
Meropis

The Sun Tzu had been sent home to resupply, and Hawkins had been given the choice to go home with her. Like the XO, he had opted to remain in this galaxy. He didn't have anyone to go home to anyway, so he figured he might as well stay here and be of some help. Besides, he'd have some days of liberty for when he needed them.

The Commander had woken up today at 0545, and had helped the lads in the Jumper bay for most of the early morning. Shortly before 10, he needed to go to the control room. There was a storm coming, and one of the jumpers he'd helped repair was out on a test flight. He needed to make sure those guys made it back.

When he got to the control room, he saw several people working busily. The storm apparently was worse than he was anticipating. He saw the General give orders, and approached the man. "Gen'ral. Commander Hawkins, Sun Tzu's 302 Squadron. I've got two things, sir. One, I have a Jumper that's still out there. Two, what can I do to help?" he said.

[Tom Chambers]

0957
Control Room
Meropis

Rodney Had spent the last half hour or so continuing to study the storm in the lab before coming u here, he had known the General was in a meeting however he assumed it wouldn't last all of that long, it was like he was Rodney, having to explain one of his magnificent plans to people who needed to ask a question every half sentence. Moving into the control room at his usual brisk walk he overheard the General begin, at least he informed the control room this Gover, or Gopher person earlier.

"Alright, what do we know? An ancient city-ship's shields can withhold large bodies of water, but not general rainfall. This was tried and tested when Atlantis faced that tsunami." that wasn't strickly true, the city just decided to conserve power by allowing the rain through, however as the shield also needed to keep everything in and everything out when in space, it could be configured with the use of more power to keep nearly everything out, however hard radiation had a tendency to bypass shields due to their wavelengths and temporal radiation had a nasty habit of not behaving.

"We know that the shields will be able to keep out the larger objects, trees and the like. And we know how long we've got until the storm hits..." Conway asked.

"Uh, just over three hours hours Sir." Grover replied.

"Right. What else do we know? Anybody?" Rodney raised his finger as he began to talk.

"We also know the storm contains temporal radiation similar to what was found when another me came through a matter bridge, an alternate Daedalus and that ship your Sun Tzu found a while back." He paused briefly going through a few different screens on his tablet. "It will cause significant damage to our systems provided they are powered on, unless they are heavily shielded against hard radiation, or turned off, though nothing should actually appear, we might experience a few weird things; visions maybe ,vivid hallucinations probably more so for anyone like myself with the Ancient gene, since our bodies produce small electrical signals to both send and receive data from gene enabled systems, however you could put the shield into space flight mode, it should keep everything but the temporal radiation out." He paused before adding the next part as an after thought. "Ancient systems should be operable during the storm certainly main systems but I wouldn't recommend flying jumpers too close or attempting to lift the city off the ground with the star drive, the storm could cause any number of issues with navigation or other propulsion systems on the jumpers in particular, they are far more sensitive that the cities systems to damage and interference."


<TAG:Jason Conway, Dylan Hawkins, Jaya Bakshi, Benjamin Grisswald, anyone else>

[Jaya Bakshi]

0955
Gate Ops
Meropis

Jaya took her seat at her station, and quickly brought up all the radar images they currently had. She beamed them over to Grover, who then showed them to the General and that MacKay guy. The General seemed a little on edge about the impending storm-Jaya wasn't THAT scared. She had grown up in California's San Joaquin valley, where thunderstorms and snowstorms and the like had happened, and had visited India during Monsoon season.

The General spoke then.

Right. What else do we know? Anybody? One of the scientists came back, asking if they could submerge the City. Like...in the water?! Not if they wanted the radar and sonar to work properly. Next?

MacKay spoke up next, and Jaya listened carefully. She handed a file off to Hawkins; it was the latest RIO printouts that she hadn't had time to file the night before. She could kill two birds with one stone today.

We also know the storm contains temporal radiation similar to what was found when another me came through a matter bridge, an alternate Daedalus and that ship your Sun Tzu found a while back. It will cause significant damage to our systems provided they are powered on, unless they are heavily shielded against hard radiation, or turned off, though nothing should actually appear, we might experience a few weird things; visions maybe ,vivid hallucinations probably more so for anyone like myself with the Ancient gene, since our bodies produce small electrical signals to both send and receive data from gene enabled systems, however you could put the shield into space flight mode, it should keep everything but the temporal radiation out...Ancient systems should be operable during the storm certainly main systems but I wouldn't recommend flying jumpers too close or attempting to lift the city off the ground with the star drive, the storm could cause any number of issues with navigation or other propulsion systems on the jumpers in particular, they are far more sensitive that the cities systems to damage and interference. That could work, actually. She cleared her throat.

Sirs, I can cancel all non-vital systems from here except the ones that Maccafferty has; she has them password protected and that's a bit beyond my skill level. On your order, all systems will fall to standby power, and the shields will rise. She waited, her fingers poised to type the commands that would make their city-ship both secure from FOD but sitting ducks in case of enemy attack. There seemed to be no good answer.

Tag:Jason Conway, Dylan Hawkins, Benjamin Grisswald, @mackay, Plot Twist, etc.

[Jason Conway]

1000
Control Room
Meropis

The question had been asked, and the answers started to come thick and fast. Benjamin Grisswald was first up,
“Sorry general, sir, but is there no possibility of submerging the city?”
Jason Conway opened his mouth to reply but had to do a double take, Grisswald was part of the new intake and he appeared to be ridiculously good looking for a gentleman, almost as if somebody had airbrushed him into the control room.
"That's a negative. We're land locked right now and we've already looked at the star drives. Even if we could get the parts to get them operational again, I'm told the city would tear itself apart under the strain of lifting that much Earth." True enough, the city was half buried after all with only the higher parts of the piers and the central spire well clear of the ground. It had been left abandoned for thousands of years and this planet had changed.

Another individual step forward, a senior officer from the ship by the looks of it.
"Gen'ral. Commander Hawkins, Sun Tzu's 302 Squadron. I've got two things, sir. One, I have a Jumper that's still out there. Two, what can I do to help?"
"Hawkins, good to meet you." He returned the man's salute, "We need to get that Jumper in pronto, work with Bakshi - she does air traffic around here, get them in before shields up and get them home safe. Do not launch anything else." Of course, the scout Jumper had not yet returned and had merely transmitted all it's data from afar. It was surprising how fast the storm was moving, no doubt the Jumper could out pace it but the wind up there had to be rough already.

It was at this point that the whirlwind that was Doctor Rodney McKay entered the room in his famous straight-to-the-point style and voiced his concerns about the radiation they'd detected within the storm clouds.
"It will cause significant damage to our systems provided they are powered on, unless they are heavily shielded against hard radiation, or turned off, though nothing should actually appear, we might experience a few weird things; visions maybe, vivid hallucinations probably more so for anyone like myself with the Ancient gene, since our bodies produce small electrical signals to both send and receive data from gene enabled systems, however you could put the shield into space flight mode, it should keep everything but the temporal radiation out. Ancient systems should be operable during the storm certainly main systems but I wouldn't recommend flying jumpers too close or attempting to lift the city off the ground with the star drive, the storm could cause any number of issues with navigation or other propulsion systems on the jumpers in particular, they are far more sensitive that the cities systems to damage and interference."

"Visions?" Was Conway's one word reply. They'd already had their fair share of weirdness around here as recently a a few months back, he had to admit his concerns at the other effects this radiation threatened to bring. 

It was then that Bakshi spoke up having assumed her usual position near the front of Gate 'Ops.
"Sirs, I can cancel all non-vital systems from here except the ones that Maccafferty has; she has them password protected and that's a bit beyond my skill level. On your order, all systems will fall to standby power, and the shields will rise."  She offered.
For a moment Conway considered giving Bakshi the password for Maccafferty's systems, but that was a can of worms that need not be opened just yet.
"Do it." He ordered with a nod, "Get the systems shut down first, but hold fire on the shield. McKay's right-" And he knew that would inflate the Canadian's ego no end, "we'll need the shields at space flight level, 110% if you can. We can't afford the damage. But we need that Jumper back first."
Conway ran his hand over his face, feeling the rough stubble from a full 24 hours with little sleep. It was going to be a long day ahead.

<tag Dylan Hawkins Jaya Bakshi Benjamin Grisswald and Tom Chambers as Dr. McKay>

[Benjamin Grisswald]

1000
Control Room
Meropis

For all his airbrushness it seemed someone had forgot to airbrush a brain into him. He realised quite soon after having spoken up that his idea was quite fantastical, in a bad sense. It seemed quite clunky to move the city-ship to the ocean. Ben was just glad that he had spoken up before McKay. The man was a know-it-all of the first order and would have dismissed Ben’s idea in one of his characteristically cruel ways. At this point though he was too busy and eager to explain his own brilliant plan. The others gathered might not get a favourable impression of Ben, but at least they did not seem like the people who rolled their eyes at someone’s less thought-through ideas.

Benjee just nodded at the general’s answer and quite instinctively took a little step back from the group so that he turned more into a spectator than a participant of the discussion. He would stick to his alien substances.

What McKay told the general sounded rather alarming, visions and hallucinations? Ben did, unfortunately in this case, have the ancient gene. Well, sometime is got to be the first time, right? thought Ben with grim irony. Thankfully there seemed to be some time still until such visions would occur, if he had understood McKay correctly. Ben wondered what he would see, and if he indeed would understand that which he saw was not real. He just hoped that the shield would cancel that effect.

The rest of what the experts said Ben only understood on a basic plane; shuting down power to non-essential systems would save them and leave extra power to the shield. Good. Sounds good. He was by no means any expert on any of these things, so he just trusted they knew what they were doing.

<tag: Dylan Hawkins, Jaya Bakshi, Jason Conway, McKay, and all others>

[Dylan Hawkins]

1000
Control Room
Meropis

"Aye-aye sir" Hawkins said. He nodded, and then made a quick turn on his heel. Then he made the few steps back to the Sergeant. "Thank you, Sergeant" the Commander said as he took the printouts. It only confirmed what they already knew. There was a storm coming. A damn big storm. And it had the potential to kill every last person on the base. "Now, then, Sergeant. Please tell my boys they need to run back pronto?"


//Sorry, not a very large post. \\ 

[Michael Hurley]

1000
Control Room
Security Alcove

With the briefing over, Hurley had headed down to the Control Room and taken up position in an alcove to the side of the room, which served as the nerve center for the base's security operations. He immediately went to work. His first course of business was to redirect traffic around the base - at the moment, McManus, and anyone he was working for, had a detailed knowledge of the fastest ways to move around the city. The Chief was intent on making that knowledge void. Using a map of Meropis, he'd selected some of the most commonly used walkways and corridors and ordered they be welded shut, with personnel directed through detours. While this slowed movement down and funneled people together, it made sure that everyone walked past a security checkpoint at least twice an hour. While the checkpoints weren't actively checking everyone's credentials - that would have ground the base to a halt - they were on the look out for anything suspicious.

His next move was to schedule more roaming patrols of the base, and ensure their routes were being randomised. The last thing they needed was McManus knowing their routines. While a SEAL, Michael had been tasked with infiltrating the White House to test the security provided by the Secret Service. A last minute change of a security patrol route had led to his team's discovery as they were preparing to climb through a bathroom window. Ironically, it was one of the few mission in his career when failure had been a good thing - the capture of his team was assurance that the Secret Service had the building well locked down.

"How's the relocation coming along Skipper?" he asked his fellow SEAL. The third prong of their lock-down approach was to relocate key base services, denying outsiders the knowledge of where to strike. Captain Achilles, and his Tok'ra symboiate, were handling that. Between the two of them, the base would be locked down tighter than the White House in no time.

< Tag @achillesjones >

[Jason Conway]

1030
Control Room
Meropis

Half an hour had passed. It was all systems go in the nerve center of the city as the team worked like a well-oiled machine to prepare the city and all it's personnel for the approaching storm, even with Dr. McKay barking orders and generally winding everyone up. Hand in hand they were also dynamically changing the city routines and structure in light of the recent and impending 'threat' highlighted in the senior command meeting. General Conway had been monitoring the computers mapping the projected path of the encroaching beast. He'd also been watching the transmission from the scout jumper closely, the storm was laying flat almost everything in it's path, probably one of the planet's biggest natural weather events in it's own right. The so-called radiation hadn't reached them yet but the first bands of rain had, and the shield had been raised to full strength already.

With only one scout ship returning at this very moment, Conway felt pretty happy about all this and was ready to brace himself against the worst. Until he received a piece of news he could have done without. Grove, one of the gate room's senior technicians, approached the expedition leader and whispered into his ear. Jason's face drained of color, he sighed and wished things would just go to plan for a change.
"Alright listen up!" The air force General clapped his hands twice, dulling the hullabaloo of noise down to a whisper as he spoke with authority, "Good work so far team, but we're not there yet. I've just been informed that some personnel have ventured outside of the shield in an attempt to rescue some of the Koan. I'm going to have to send a Jumper out to retrieve our people. Hawkins you'll lead the rescue efforts. I need somebody with the ATA gene who is Jumper trained and I need a couple more willing volunteers. Who do we have?" He loudly inquired.

A vein of frustration ran along Conway's temple. He could agree that the Koan should be offered shelter from what might well be certain death, but all the same he wouldn't risk the lives of his own expedition in such a reckless way. Conway made a mental note to have a 'little chat' with Dr. Black and Dr. Maccafferty when this was all done with. He locked eyes with Lt. Hawkins as the volunteers started coming forward, nodding to the man he signalled the Sun Tzu Wing Commander take the lead on rallying his new team.

As Conway stepped back a slight wave of dizziness rushed through him. He paused and looked quizzically at the floor. For a brief moment he thought that the control room's hard floor was rippling around his feet. The General blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes. Cricking his neck he gazed up at the rest of the room, it had passed. A small niggling of worry passed through his thoughts as he realized the rather unique radiation was almost upon them. Jason withheld a smirk as he thought about how much people paid for similar narcotic experiences back on Earth, certain universities and science departments would kill for research in an environment like this. Sliding up next to Hawkins he muttered,

"Better get a move on," Knowing the man might well have experienced something similar and sensed the urgency about this. Jason hoped the shields were about to protect them from the worst of it as McKay had assured him, more importantly he hoped the smaller Jumper shields would protect the pilot from seeing anything wacky. Unfortunately, was a risk he had to take to get his people inside before the hurricane hit.

<tag Dylan Hawkins Jaya Bakshi Michael Hurley Benjamin Grisswald Chaplain Osvaldo Zambrano and Tom Chambers as McKay>

[Chaplain Osvaldo Zambrano]

1030

Control Room

Meropis

Osvaldo had been standing off to the side quietly, there was nothing he could really do to help and was honestly not sure why he was there. Watching the people moving to and fro and quite an interesting spectacle to behold, he had seen military people moving about before, but never in an actual military fashion. It reminded him vaguely of a sci-fi show. He closed his eyes and twirled his rosary between his fingers as he listened to the others speak, he wasn't praying or anything, it was just a habit he had picked up over time. Staying like this for a few moments more he finally spoke up "I'll help with rescue." He had done things like this before and he always found that a soft voice often helped when rescuing others, why should it be any different here?

[Ethan Collins]

1031
Control Room
Meropis

Collins had survived his encounter with the raging egos that had been in the infirmary. He would have been one of the first to have his blood taken but he'd swapped queue spots with a few others to get them out of the way first, so after waiting around ten minutes he'd finally had his blood drawn and ten to fifteen minutes later his test had come back clean, he'd made his way briskly through the central tower as people hurried about, he was quickly informed due to good observational skills and the nature of base personnel to talk between their various work stations, that the city was going to face some sort of storm.

When he arrived in the Control room just after 1000 hours at the first opportunity he'd informed the general and everyone else relevant, but getting that in between everyone's preparations for this storm which he soon learned a hell of a lot more about. First of all the storm was going to be extremely powerful but with the shield up the city and probably its inhabitants would be physically fine, it was this radiation that had him concerned, he'd read about it in a few mission reports, something he found more enjoyable than reading fiction because it was pretty much as ridiculous but was actually true.

It was when the General took command of the room and informed them of a situation that was pretty stupid to be in, in the first place, some people were outside and they would need rescuing it seemed. "Alright listen up! Good work so far team, but we're not there yet. I've just been informed that some personnel have ventured outside of the shield in an attempt to rescue some of the Koan. I'm going to have to send a Jumper out to retrieve our people. Hawkins you'll lead the rescue efforts. I need somebody with the ATA gene who is Jumper trained and I need a couple more willing volunteers. Who do we have?" Collins was about to speak up when someone else went first. It was during this brief Pause Ethan had a moment or two to concentrate on the shows flickering at the edge of his vision, it was beginning to annoy him, but as he had overheard they were an effect of the unique radiation the storm seemed to carry.

"I'll help with rescue." Collins took a step forward. "I'll go Sir, I've got both of those." Even a rescue mission seemed better than being in a room for of doctorate holders after his last hour and a half.

<TAG:Jason Conway, Chaplain Osvaldo Zambrano, Dylan Hawkins, Michael Hurley, Benjamin Grisswald, Jaya Bakshi, Myself As Tom Chambers As Doctor Rodney Mckay >

[Jaya Bakshi]

1034
Control Room
Meropis

While the rest of the team made plans to go on a rescue mission, Jaya typed away. She set the non-critical systems off, and the critical ones to low power. They were sitting ducks. All they would need was an alien with a bad plan to come along and blast them into oblivion. What a way to go. Maybe her mom had been right; she should've gone to college at Sac State and gotten an engineering degree. She'd made good grades in high school.

Someone spoke to her.

Thank you, Sergeant...Now, then, Sergeant. Please tell my boys they need to run back pronto? She nodded once.

Yes, sir. She turned to the console, and adjusted her headpiece, tagging the Sun-Tzu. Team Hawkins, this is Command. Please return to Hangar Five on the double. Repeat-Return to Hangar Five. It's now open, and awaiting your docking. She saluted Hawkins, and then turned back to the General.

Good work so far team, but we're not there yet. I've just been informed that some personnel have ventured outside of the shield in an attempt to rescue some of the Koan. I'm going to have to send a Jumper out to retrieve our people. Hawkins you'll lead the rescue efforts. I need somebody with the ATA gene who is Jumper trained and I need a couple more willing volunteers. Who do we have? The men started to step forward; Jaya didn't posesses the gene, and she kinda wanted to see the proverbial sh*t hit the fan when the General found whomever it was who had penetrated the shield. However, she WAS trained in battle triage.

Sirs, unless I am needed here, I can go. I am trained in battlefield first aid. Well, to the extent that the Air Force actually DID battle, that was.

Tag:Jason Conway, Michael Hurley, Ethan Collins, @dhawkins, Benjamin Grisswald, Chaplain Osvaldo Zambrano, @whomever else I missed.

[Michael Hurley]

1000
Control Room

With the new security protocols in place, the base was now protected against any knowledge that McManus had provided to his employers. Rovering patrols had been increased and had their paths charged, personnel were being funnelled down new hallways with previously used one being welded shut, and important infrastuture was being relocated. If the folks McManus was working for somehow got a team inside the base, they would be going in practically blind. The new measures gave the base the advantage it would need if it came down to a firefight.

It was now time to deal with the storm that was about to bear down on the city. From the reports Michael had been receiving, things were about to get pretty wild around here. It was hard to imagine how a little wind and rain could possibly damage a flying city build by the same folks that had created the Stargates, but evidently, that was now the case. By the sounds of it, the weather could get pretty wild on this planet, to a level unseen back on Earth.

Worringly, a team from the base was out in the weather helping the locals evacuate, and with the storm quickly rolling in, General Conway was putting together a team head out and provide assistance. A number of those present volunteered, including some qualified Puddle Jumper pilots. While he was a career Navy SEAL with more than a few search and rescue missions under his belt, Hurley believed he'd be better suited to provide support to the team while remaining on base.

"I'll get a UAV on station," he added. "I'll get eyes on the Koan and provide real-time tracking of the storm to the rescue Jumper."

It was a little known fact that the US Air Force has special operations qualified weathermen to assist in the planning and conduct of direct actions missions. While he didn't have their vast knowledge or training, the CCWO had worked with them enough in the past to have a vague grasp of what he should be keeping an eye on while guiding the rescue team in.

< Tag Jason Conway, Dylan Hawkins, Ethan Collins, Jaya Bakshi & Chaplain Osvaldo Zambrano >

[William Treaty]

Control Room
1000 Hours

William was passing through the control center on his way back to the infirmary, not exactly the posting the SARC had hoped for when he'd been brought into the Stargate Program, but it was what he was trained for, sort of. As he crossed the rear of the control area, he had to slow down, and rubber neck as the Commanding General and some of the base's senior staff stood, clustered around the control consoles - presumably discussing their current predicament and what to do about it. Scuttlebutt around the station said the were gonna get hit by the hurricane of the century, and from what William could see on the screen storm of the century had been an understatement. Standing there gawking, his ears perked up when he heard the CG speak up, "I've just been informed that some personnel have ventured outside of the shield in an attempt to rescue some of the Koan. I'm going to have to send a Jumper out to retrieve our people. Hawkins you'll lead the rescue efforts. I need somebody with the ATA gene who is Jumper trained and I need a couple more willing volunteers. Who do we have?

William stepped forward, clearing his throat, "Send me, I'll go, Sir." He replied looking at the General before looking at the rest of the assembled group, knowing he just poked his head into a conversation he hadn't been invited too. But it didn't matter they had people outside the wire who needed to be recovered, that was what he was trained to do - hell that was the reason he'd come halfway across the known galaxy was to put his skills to work, not stand around the infirmary all day handing out ibuprofen and band-aids. Standing there in his black scrubs, with a stethoscope around his neck, he probably didn't look exactly like the operator type but he was and he hoped those before him recognized that fact despite being an unknown to them. 

< Tag: Jason Conway >