Episode Six - Eye of the Storm

[Tom Chambers]

1035
Control Room
Meropis

It seemed at least General Conway had some sense of Rodney's brilliance, he took him at his word, which was barring a few incidents, albeit one of them involving the almost complete destruction of a solar system some which his sister Genie brought up sometimes, mostly to get his attention  but still, he listened as the other set out their plans. "visions?" Rodney couldn't really explain more, but from one of his famous guesses he was sure that these were the more likely they were powerful enough or dense enough to cause physical objects to actually appear, to appear to appear to people was a different story, he'd felt it a little but he'd had many a Wraith induced vision, nanite virus and even replicator dreams that it wasn't bothering him as much. "The radiation is dense or energetic enough at it current levels to cause actual physical objects or people to transverse through realities, or time but we wont know until they begin and the storm hits us really hard, however the shield will provide some limited protection, more like taking an aspirin for a broken leg kind of thing." He listened to a few of the Tech's apparently they wouldn't be able to shut down all the systems, most of them were likely Earth systems, he could get around almost anyone or anything's password.

"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." Rodney came over. "I'll get around her passwords." He sort of pushed Jaya out of the way as he plugged his Tablet in and began to run his semi Ancient but mostly Rodney Mckay password cracker program. As the General called everyone to attention he divided his attention between the necessary inputs to his program and the General.

"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?" Rodney had both, one thanks to his kind of dead best Friend Carson, and the other to his other friend and team leader John Sheppard, however he had trouble flying the jumpers, particularly straight and in adverse conditions, besides other volunteered themselves readily enough.

"Need I remind you all the Jumper might have a few glitches, mostly navigation but it could also cause the drive pods to malfunction along with outside of the shield the Radiation will have more of an effect and quicker..." He left out the last part of his sentence hoping they weren't complete apes and got the inference. Rodney smiled to himself as Jaya brought down most of the cities systems channeling power to the shield. Once she volunteered herself he slipped in fully and after a few more moments and once he finally was able to add a minute portion of the cities mainframe to the processing of Maccafferty's password it was quickly bypassed then the remaining systems were turned over to the control room before powering down as required. The shield was already at space flight mode, it was draining the power from the ZPMs far more than even the shield on idle or cloak, but at least they weren't under weapons fire, but the power consumption would rise as the storm got closer and closer until it passed over and dropped off. He clicked his fingers. "Can your jumper switch it's cloak to a shield? it should add some protection, might make the pilot not freak out of his mind."

<TAG: @grovernpc/Conway (radio jumper shield message), Jason Conway, Benjamin Grisswald, Michael Hurley, anyone I missed>

[Jason Conway]

1040
Control Room
Meropis

The General could only watch as his team worked hard to keep things smooth and under control. The rescue team were now on their way and Conway was tracking their progress on a nearby screen, looking over Grover's shoulder as he worked. They were making good progress but their people were still out there and the storm was now intensifying. Even the control room staff were having to raise their voices over the howling winds outside. The outer edge of the storm had now well and truly passed over them and the shield was taking a battering, it had already dispersed one small tornado and intercepted a few flying trees but it remained to be seen how it held up when the enormous broiling black cloud hit them. On the monitors Conway could see the cloud approaching them, with a rough E.T.A of twenty minutes, it filled the scene from ground to sky and it looked as angry as a woman scorned. Conway held his breath for the rescue team, wishing them on with all speed possible.

McKay's voice drifted into Conway's ears as the Atlantis veteran took over running of the show,
"Need I remind you all the Jumper might have a few glitches, mostly navigation but it could also cause the drive pods to malfunction along with outside of the shield the Radiation will have more of an effect and quicker...
 Can your jumper switch it's cloak to a shield? it should add some protection, might make the pilot not freak out of his mind."
He asked. Conway nodded to Grover who immediately hailed the Jumper to pass the message on. Even as he spoke, things took a turn for the 'weird' for the experienced leader.

Jason looked down at the grass beneath his feet. Grass!? What th-
"Hey Jason are ya gonna take the shot or are we gonna stand 'ere all day yappin?" His friend Matthew asked whilst leaning on the golf buggy. He realized he had a golf club in his hand, and he was looking down the fairway at the next hole. Shielding his eyes against the brilliant sunshine Jason judged the distance and wind speed - it was a bit breezy today but nothing he couldn't cope with. Swinging confidently he teed off and watched the ball sail through the air delightfully before landing a few yards short of the flag.
"Not bad at all, I'll take that. Your turn I believe?" He said to Matthew who stepped forward in his knitted sweater and smart trousers before setting down his golf ball carefully.
"You know, you really ought to take ole Hank up on that offer." Matthew said while lining up his shot, "I don't know what could be so top secret that even I can't know about it, but it sure sounds exciting the way he was talking. I think he's still stationed down at Cheyenne Mountain come to think of it."
"Well, I've been giving it some thought. It does sound ideal, I just don't know if I can commit to a move without knowing where I'm going."
"We're having difficulty contacting the rescue Jumper, the signal is suffering storm interference." Jason looked back at Matthew frowning, not quite sure what he was on about and why he appeared to sound a little panicked, the man continued to line up his shot while speaking, "Sir? Is everything okay? Sir?"

Just like surfacing from the depths of a swimming pool Jason Conway was dragged back to reality.
"Sir?" Grover asked again.
"Yes, fine. Thank you Grover... Keep trying the Jumper." He looked around the room, while the majority of the staff were focusing on getting the city through this, it was clear that others were being affected. Conway noticed one of the technicians simply staring blankly at his screen while another appeared to be knelt down and moving his hands through the air, searching for some invisible object. Turning back to Rodney McKay he spoke,
"I think the radiation has just arrived McKay... McKay?"

<tag Tom Chambers as McKay, Michael Hurley Jaya Bakshi Benjamin Grisswald Capt. Kelly Miller and anyone else left in the control room really>

[Jason Conway]

Next post linked in with the infirmary by radio communications here: stargatemeropis.proboards.com/post/9108/thread

[Tom Chambers]

1050
Control Room
Meropis

Rodney was trying to concentrate on the readings he was getting, for some reason the shield wasn't responding properly, it was in a sort of half in space flight mode, the city had begun recycling atmosphere but it wasn't  blocking all of the radiation from outside the city or blocking the rain and wind completely, something was wrong, and finding out what meant he was going through far more status screens than most other people could ever keep up with. he was still trying to get a bead on the normal operating procedures of the Meropis Shield as compared to Atlantis.

"I think the radiation has just arrived McKay... McKay?" He rolled his eyes. "Yes, I Know, I'm working on it, this shouldn't be happening." His tone was mostly irritated at being interrupted and also at this city for not cooperating like Atlantis.

Rodney Blinked as he came upon a screen, he was looking at a timer to the impact of the Lantean storm, he was cold, wet, cut and more than a little closer to hypoglycemic shock than he cared to be. There was a nagging feeling of Deja Vu in his mind but he counted down the seconds until the wave hit them. "There's no time! Either lose them or we lose the City!" He said before Dr weir yelled "Rodney Go!" He looked up Carson and Teyla were here along with one of the Genii. "going!" He replied as he pressed a button funneling the energy build up in the city towards Atlantis's shield generators. The read outs around him swirled and buoyed as energy ran through the city towards the generators, he could only hope now it would b enough to power the shield through the monster wave coming at them.

"what's happening?!" Weir exclaimed. "It's working, It just needs to build up enough power for the shield to activate! Wait for it." He continued looking down at the screens as he saw power levels rising in the shield generators, they were at the threshold and climbing but he wanted to only use the shield as the wave hit them, to make sure they survived it. A tense few moments passed as the wave closed in. He looked over to his friend, Carson Becket, "Carson," "Rodney," the Scott replied. "Just in time to see how this ends huh..." the warning beeping kept quickly chirping in his ears, he knew he was cutting it close, but so was powering the Atlantis shield with lightning. 

The wave loomed over the city as he threw his hand to activation button and said. "Now!" the Cities shield rose almost immediately the generators dispersed the violent lightning energy into powering the shield just before the wave hit it. The cities senors showed the wave dissipating around the shield as power was sucked from it and the cities reserves.

Rodney blinked again. He was back on Meropis, it was five to six years later. It suddenly dawned on him as he looked at the screen showing the shield emitters and the ground that had half swallowed this particular city ship, it was also clear he had missed some of a conversation or two while he was having one of his more disturbing non-wraith related flashbacks/dreams. 

"Great. Alright, I'm going to find him, McKay!" Dr Mckay turned his head to look at General Conway. "Keep working on a way to counter-act this stuff if you can, I know you want to do your research but, things are getting out of hand. I'm going to bring you Glavish..." Rodney looked back at his terminal thinking of solutions. "Fine, but unless he can unbury this city we can't do much more than we already have..." He was now taking scans of the Rock and soil partially covering the city, more than likely if they could get the city free of it, the shield would engage properly, unless the mainframe was locking them out of that feature or the emitters were damaged, in those two cases this city would not be flyable out of an atmosphere unless it's structure could be properly pressurized.

((OOC: Flashback stolen from around the 39 minute mark in Atlantis Season 1 Episode 11 "The Eye"))
<TAG:Jason Conway, Michael Hurley, Capt. Kelly Miller, anyone else around yo >

[Mikaere Glavish]

1050
Control Room
Meropis

Stepping into the Control Room, Glavish weaved his way around a few techs, racing around the room jabbering about numbers and such like chickens with their heads cut off. His eyes searched around the room, but they found no immediate sign of General Conway. Hopefully, the man hadn't ventured down to the Infirmary to speak with him, or worse found himself injured. Taking a deep breath, he crossed his arms in front of his chest as his eyes fell upon the most unwelcome of sites: Rodney McKay. An annoyed sigh left his lips as he began to approach the man, who seemed busy at work.

"Typical that the world would choose to go to hell with your arrival," Glavish said. "And like myself, I'm sure you're not one to believe in coincidences, so please... take the current travesty as a hint." His eyes skimmed through the work that was in front of him. "I trust you've already concluded that the shields needed won't fully engage because the city is still grounded?" He looked over at the man to see if he was truly as smart as everyone claimed. He had to realize that. If not, then McKay was more of a fraud than he initially believed.

"The needed shields won't activate, because the star drive won't come online," Mik commented as his own hands started to tap away on the console. "And the star drive won't come online while the city is grounded. So, we need to find away around that little conundrum." His eyes lifted from the console. "And whatever solution we're going to enact, we need to do soon. The scans indicate that temporal radiation levels will continue to rise, and after that duration of exposure... the neural damage to over 80% of the crew will likely be permanent." Glavish continued to look at McKay. Naturally, to get out of this predicament required the help of the smartest man on this planet... and the assist of a distant second, like Rodney McKay couldn't hurt.

TAG: Michael Hurley, Capt. Kelly Miller, Dr. Rodney McKay

[Capt. Kelly Miller]

Pretend you're viewing this from Kelly's office in this thread: INTERVIEW

1020
Kelly's Office
Meropis

After Kelly posed her next question, she began to notice a throbbing in her head. She gripped the table; it was almost like the headaches that came from morning sickness-a sensation she'd not experience in YEARS since the last time she and John had tried-and failed-to have a baby. Her vision swam a little, and she fought to keep focus. What was happening?! Oh. The radiation. She interrupted Achilles.

The radiation is setting in. If something happens, alert the General. She was the third senior in command; having her down was going to be a problem.

She listened to Achilles for another moment, until she felt her head grow heavy again. She let out another breath. There had to be a shield of some kind, right?! She was losing her ability to focus, and soon, she found herself back at the JAG office in Fall's Church. She stood at the Admiral's desk, holding Harriet and Bud Roberts' new baby, AJ, in her arms, and feeling an intense melcancholy of loss. She'd never see this for herself...

Tag:Jason Conway, Tom Chambers as Mackay, Mikaere Glavish, @achillesjones, Michael Hurley, @whomever else.

[SA Val Olwin]

1020
Command area
Meropis 

Val had been entertaining herself by reading personell files. Especially those of this Dr. MacKay. He was rude, egotisctical, brilliant, and hot-exactly the kind of man she usually went through like water. She was no Maggie LeFebvre, but her job made romantic relationships nearly impossible, and hey, she WAS human, right?! 

She stood up, got her coffee, and went off in search of this Dr. MacKay. It was when she was in the hallway that a strange, indescribable feeling hit her, and she passed out cold. The memories assaulted her-and one in particular. 

0500 Hours
Grammercy, New York City
Valerie Olwin groaned to life. Next to her, she could hear her husband, Ty, searching for the alarm in the dark. She giggled a bit, and spoke, her voice heady with sleep.
Ty. Honey. Near the light. She snuggled closer to him under the covers as he silenced the loud, jarring BEEP BEEP BEEP. She felt him wrap his arms around her, pulling her near, as he placed a hand on her pregnant belly. They dozed off again, just ten minutes, and then rose for the day. Val sipped at some herbal tea that Ty brought in the bedroom for her-she missed coffee so, so much, but she reminded herself that she has only one month left. She could make it, she knew. She stepped into a pair of stretchy black pants, and an old button down that was actually her husbands. Val didn't have a lot of plans for the day-last week had been her final one before maternity leave, and the Olwins had taken a long weekend to go upstate to see Val's parents, as they weren't sure how much time they'd be able to take off once the baby came.

She hurried down the hall as Tyler started to get ready for work, and made them a nice, healthy breakfast-toast, eggs, bacon, and some cut-up fruit. She got the table set, and packed a lunch for Ty, immeasurably happy with her wifely duties. She really didn't mind, and in fact preferred it-left on his own, Tyler would live on microwave burritos and Hungry Man dinners. Val decided she'd go to the fishmonger today and make a nice sit-down dinner. As Tyler appeared, she passed him a second cup of coffee, and then they ate, sharing kisses and chatting. She told him about going to the fish market, and he told her that his company was going to present thier newest intel to the Army that day. Val nodded; she knew how stressed out he'd been about the project. Don't worry, honey, you'll knock 'em dead. Val grinned as she saw him out the door, gathering the newspaper and chekcing the mail left over from the weekend. They'd gotten home late the previous evening, and simply went to sleep. She noticed with joy that that September morning was bright, and warmer than she'd expected.

Val spent the next few hours putzing around the house-moving more things into the nursery, doing dishes and laundry, and preparing a shopping list. Finally, she fixed another cup of the herbal tea and settled in to watch the news. She wasn't fully listening at first; she had been distracted by the sounds of fire engines that seemed to go endlessly down her street. She shrugged it off-they lived in a nice part of the city, but it was Manhattan, after all. She turned her attention to the images dancing across the screen.

A few minutes later, she was physically ill. Two planes had hit the very buildings where she had packed her husband off to...NO. It had to be some kind of evil, horrible prank. In stunned horror, she flipped the channels. It was on every station, the terrible news. In a panic, Val reached for the portable phone and dialed Tyler's number at work. Nothing. Of course, if the buildings were in ruins, he probably wouldn't answer. So she tried his work cell. Nothing again. Now she was worried. Something on the screen caught her attention-survivors. She scanned the pictures, searching for that familiar sandy hair, or a wink to let her know he was OK. Nothing. Just people she didn't know. Other people's husbands...not hers. Some children. Val shook her head and dialed Ty's personal cell. Still nothing.

She heard the newsman say that cell phone service was temporarily out. Figured. Probably meant e-mail was gone, too. Val wanted to scream, to run, to pace-SOMETHING, but she was oddly rooted to her seat, the horrible images playing over and over in a nauseating broken record of death and destruction. Some things sank in-another plane hit the Pentagon. Fantastic. She'd have a TON of emails today. More survivors. Several people missing still...damage. Fires. Soon it all swirled together in one nonsensical cacophany of noise. She flipped the tv off miserably as the phone rang. It was her sister. Val didn't answer. The two women had never been close, and there wasn't much that Val found comforting about Julie Anne. She heard the click of the voicemail machine, then her sister's fake Midwestern accent trilling down the line, telling her that she and her husband, Sven, and all the citizens of South White Elk, the middle of nowhere Minnesotan town she now lived were all praying for her. Val nodded. She appreciated the thought, of course, but she needed MORE. She need Julie Anne to shut up and let a cop call, or Tyler's boss or something to confirm that he was OK. And no, actually, she WAS not interested in hearing about Sven's mother's coffe-klatch outfit debacle. Finally, Julie Anne said she needed to go gather the children, and mercifully hung up. About the same time, Tyler's mother phoned. Her voice was filled with the same concern that Val felt, but Val couldn't answer it. She couldn't do anything but sit and be. Something in the deep recesses of her subconcious told her that it was hopeless, that Tyler was forever gone, but her concious self couldn't hear it. Not yet.

Finally, Val realized that she'd dropped her cup of tea. She stood up then, stretching her long body out, and patting her stomach. She spoke, her voice shaky.

It's ok, little one. Daddy is fine, I am sure...he will call when he can. He is a good, strong, brave man. He will let us know when he can. She tried to believe her own words as she bent down carefully and picked up the cup. She went to the kitchen, washed the mug, and then returned to the living room with some paper towels and spot remover, blotting the stain futilely. She gave up, and went to the bedroom, laying down in thier bed, placing her head on Tyler's pillow, and inhaling deeply his scent. She smiled-he smelled of aftershave and the Burdock root soap he liked. Then she cried.

She didn't know when or how, but Val had fallen asleep. She was being awakened by a loud rapping on the front door. In her still-sleepy state, she wasn't fully aware of what was happening, and she hugged her happy dream to her for a brief moment before sitting bolt upright. Tyler. He was gone. She stood up, smoothing her blouse, and running a hand through her brown curls. She hurried to the door, and there stood an old friend and NYFD member, Jack Murphy. The look on his face was confirmation enough, and she began to cry once more as he simply reached for her.

I am sorry, Valerie. His things were found...it's Tyler. We are trying to arrange for his remains to be removed as carefully as possible. Most of them are-well...there was a blast. It It was messy... He was trying to sugarcoat the truth-that his body had been blown into obliteration and there were NO remains. She didn't care. She just wanted to wake up from what was surely a VERY bad dream. Jack Murphy was wonderful. He had been a very loyal friend to her and Tyler, and proved it more that day, holding the upset Val until she had cried every ounce of water out of her body. He picked her up and carried her to the couch, and arranged her very pregnant frame on it with pillows. He even called his wife, who came over with dinner so Val could sit and stare at the wall. She remained this way, silent, staring, with Jack at her side until late in the evening. She ate just enough to sustain Maddie, but no more. She refused everything else. Finally, she glanced at the clock. It was 9 pm on 9/11, and she spoke, her voice hoarse with sorrow.
Jack, you should go home. YOUR family still has you. They need thier father... Jack had six children, ranging in age from 16-2. He tried to protest, but Val assured him she'd be fine, and then saw him out the door. A bit later, she fell back into bed, dressed in Tyler's pajamas.

Tags:@all you guys. 

[Jason Conway]

1055-1101
Control Room
Meropis

Jason stormed into the control room just in time to see McKay and Glavish (finally) working together on their current predicament, however reluctantly they gelled they were still a team now. Dodging his way past a few technicians, he managed to get within earshot of the two scientists. He caught the tail end of Glavish speaking to the Atlantis know-it-all,
"The scans indicate that temporal radiation levels will continue to rise, and after that duration of exposure... the neural damage to over 80% of the crew will likely be permanent." The General knew they couldn't let it come to that, and he was counting on the infirmary staff to do their best to inhibit any long term effects.
"Half the city is buried, it has been for centuries," the General chimed in, much to the visible annoyance of other the two men, "I'm repeatedly told the city will tear itself apart if we try to activate the star drive or the hyper drive shielding. But there has to be a way out of this somehow, this city has survived all this time, and this storm can't just be a unique one off event. What would the ancients have done?"

Before either Glavish or McKay could answer, they were interrupted by Grover from the desk in front of them,
"Sirs!" He called out, "the storm seems to be subsiding!"
"Bring up the tracking screen again." Conway ordered, not willing to show a hint of relief just yet. Sure enough the rains and wind began to calm outside the city, and he could see the first few rays of sunshine desperately trying their best to break through the thick cloud base. Conway felt as if a great weight had been lifted from his mind, his tension headache began to grow lighter and things felt clearer already, as if he was drunk before but had suddenly sobered up. It was this clear thought that allowed his next worrying realization to creep in. This realization was confirmed as the crew all stared at the read outs on the screen. Sure enough, the city was perfectly encircled in the eye of what looked like an enormous hurricane. Grover punched in some commands to bring up the readings,
"Displaying what we've just been through..." It was a series of percentages and lines that rose up from green levels through to mid-way amber levels, "and displaying now..." He punched in some further commands which showed the levels were all back down to the green, and the percentages much lower too. Conway was far too military to even pretend to understand what the data meant, but he knew that the eye of the storm was much safer than the rest of the beast.
"Now, display the projections for what we're about go through." He ordered, acting on his hunch. Grover obliged. The room went silent.

It was just what the General had feared. The readings were off the chart, all of the info graphics were well into the red and various warning signs displayed alongside them. Conway didn't understand exactly what this meant for the base, injury, death? All he knew was it was bad, and he still had a jumper team out there affecting a rescue mission. His feeling's were confirmed after Rodney McKay punched in a few further commands somewhere to Conway's left and muttered a defeated, "Oh no..." They needed to act fast.

<tag Mikaere Glavish Tom Chambers as McKay SA Val Olwin Capt. Kelly Miller Michael Hurley Benjamin Grisswald Jaya Bakshi>

[Tom Chambers]

1050-1102
Control Room
Meropis

The loud footsteps of someone determines to give him a piece of their mind and of someone who thought they were nearly as intelligent as him caused him to turn once he had finished that particular line of shield return data. "Typical that the world would choose to go to hell with your arrival, And like myself, I'm sure you're not one to believe in coincidences, so please... take the current travesty as a hint." there was a small pause before the idiot continued. "I trust you've already concluded that the shields needed won't fully engage because the city is still grounded?"

Rodney gave the man a look of disdain. "Well I would say it was the Ancients who seem to have a poor record of choosing planets to be their home outside of the milky way, considering if you look back far enough at your sensor data, this system began to form before I even left Pegasus." He ended that sentence with the complete tone of an earlier McKay, completely displeased with everyone else.

"The needed shields won't activate, because the star drive won't come online, And the star drive won't come online while the city is grounded. So, we need to find away around that little conundrum." Rodney gave a disproving smirk, the man didn't even know his Ancient City. "There is nothing wrong this the Star drive, the problem is with the cities fail safes and the damage the planet has caused to the cities Piers." 

He brought up the relevant data onto a display for everyone to see. "The Earth and rock covering this city, have a mass large enough to cause structural damage to the city if you attempted to lift off, now before stardrive's start up two main things need to happen, the inertial dampeners need to come online and the shield needs to change modes, however the city is detecting that a flight isn't possible without destroying the city, so it doesn't initialize the shield don't happen to have the command codes to override the fail safes do we?"

Even Rodney wasn't confidant his current line of thinking would work, but it was better than not doing anything. "And whatever solution we're going to enact, we need to do soon. The scans indicate that temporal radiation levels will continue to rise, and after that duration of exposure... the neural damage to over 80% of the crew will likely be permanent."
 
It was then General Conway returned, if only he and Glavish were able to bounce off one another, sometimes even someone dumber than Zelenka could help him. "Half the city is buried, it has been for centuries, I'm repeatedly told the city will tear itself apart if we try to activate the star drive or the hyper drive shielding. But there has to be a way out of this somehow, this city has survived all this time, and this storm can't just be a unique one off event. What would the ancients have done?"


one of the technicians broke in. "Sirs! the storm seems to be subsiding!" It couldn't be, the storm had been huge... "Bring up the tracking screen again." the technician confirmed all their worse fears in the end. "Now, display the projections for what we're about go through." It was worse than before, so much worse and as soon as the wall of the eye passed over them, they were as good as dead within a few minutes he found as he checked the radiation levels and intuited their effects. "Oh no..."

He looked at Conway then to Glavish, someone he hoped had the ability to keep up with this next verbal vomit.

"As I was just explaining to the Dr coincidence over here." he jabbed a finger in the direction of Glavish "In all likely hood the city either wasn't buried, or they took off, I mean they knew how to make ZedPMs, flying the city around every now and then wasn't a huge problem for them. now unless you want to risk me explaining everything again and wasting time, we need to override the cities fail safes, power the inertial dampeners and see if we can bypass the mainframe, though to then control the power particularly to the shield while we make the changes we will need someone in the control chair regulating power, as I found out while nearing ascension, the control chair is much better at power regulation than these consoles, for obvious reasons. We have a few minutes at most once the storm passes over us before our brains are fried, we need to act now."

Now he awaited their tid bits, once that was over hopefully they could get to saving the city and everyone in it, those outside had until the storm passed over them then in all likelihood they were gone.

<TAG: Mikaere Glavish, Jason Conway, SA Val Olwin, Capt. Kelly Miller, Michael Hurley>

[Mikaere Glavish]

1102
Control Room
Meropis


"There is nothing wrong this the Star drive, the problem is with the cities fail safes and the damage the planet has caused to the cities Piers."

"Excuse me," Glavish protested. "Don't put words in my mouth. I never said there was anything wrong with the Star Drive, merely that it wouldn't come online. And the reason it won't come online is because of the fail safes which shows that they're operating in a nigh nominal capacity." Glavish exhaled and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Was he seriously expected to work with someone that couldn't differentiate fact from such a common misconception.

"The Earth and rock covering this city, have a mass large enough to cause structural damage to the city if you attempted to lift off, now before stardrive's start up two main things need to happen, the inertial dampeners need to come online and the shield needs to change modes, however the city is detecting that a flight isn't possible without destroying the city, so it doesn't initialize the shield don't happen to have the command codes to override the fail safes do we?"

"Didn't I just say that?" Glavish asked. Rolling his eyes he shook his head. "And no, we don't have those command codes. In case you didn't notice, taking the city out for a spin hasn't exactly been a priority lately."

"Half the city is buried, it has been for centuries, I'm repeatedly told the city will tear itself apart if we try to activate the star drive or the hyper drive shielding. But there has to be a way out of this somehow, this city has survived all this time, and this storm can't just be a unique one off event. What would the ancients have done?"

Glavish looked over in Conway's direction as the man asked the question that everyone wanted the answer to. Surely, they would have come up with some sort of counter-measure for a recurring event of this magnitude. Yet, it clearly wasn't labeled with a post-it. The answer had to be there in front of them. One of the technicians spoke up, announcing that the storm had begun to subside. that didn't make any sense. Given the size of the storm and last recorded speed, they should have to endure the storm for at least a couple of hours more. And then, it became clear as the display was brought up. They were now in the eye. which meant they didn't have much time before it started up once more.

"As I was just explaining to the Dr coincidence over here, In all likely hood the city either wasn't buried, or they took off, I mean they knew how to make ZedPMs, flying the city around every now and then wasn't a huge problem for them. now unless you want to risk me explaining everything again and wasting time, we need to override the cities fail safes, power the inertial dampeners and see if we can bypass the mainframe, though to then control the power particularly to the shield while we make the changes we will need someone in the control chair regulating power, as I found out while nearing ascension, the control chair is much better at power regulation than these consoles, for obvious reasons. We have a few minutes at most once the storm passes over us before our brains are fried, we need to act now."

Glavish quickly clapped his hands together as it all made sense. "Of course! Clearly, stupidity is contagious!" said Glavish as he hit McKay on the side of his shoulder with the back of his hand. "Don't you see?" Glavish looked around at everyone to see if anyone was actually following him. "We don't have to bring the Star Drive online. The fail safes... they're already in place. We just turned them off! When we first arrived, the radiation it made us experience our worst fears?" Glavish waved off the droves of confused faces. "The hallucination of our fears was a side effect of the radiation... because it wasn't calibrated specifically for our human brains. Likely, they were still calibrated to ancient. The alarm was the city's way of telling us just that!"

"Listen, if we get someone in the chair, we can reboot the entire system and automatically calibrate the fail safes to sync with our DNA protecting us from the storm," Glavish stated. He was still frustrated by the remaining blank faces. "Really?!" he sighed annoyingly. "Just think of it like this. I used a computer, locked the system and then you tried to use it behind me. You can't unlock the computer because you don't have my password. But... you have the option of signing in on your own account with your own password!" There were a few enlightened ah's to which Glavish shook his head. He started to usher a tech out of their seat and began moving his fingers across the keyboard. "I suggest you get someone in that chair now. We need to prepare to set the city's systems for a hard reboot."

TAG: Rodney McKay, Jason Conway, SA Val Olwin, Capt. Kelly Miller, Michael Hurley

[Capt. Kelly Miller]

*Note: Moving Kelly to the hall and then Gate room since the off-shoot thread with Zodd is kinda dead ATM. Who's ready for a boot up the ass?

1110
Control Room
Meropis

From her office, Kelly stumbled as respectably as she could towards the 'Gate room, her interview with Jones completed for the time being. Her head spun, but she was determined to not give in. Early in her career, the Marines were still doing Radiation exposure training-which is why she was walking down the hallway with her cover over her face. It wasn't an N-95 respirator, but it was better than nothing. Luckily, she had a bit of color to her skin, which would protect her a TINY bit longer than her fairer colleagues.

She was able to make it, though not at her best, to the Gate room. She edged in, and took a position next to Conway and Hurley. She listened to the go-between between the Chief Science Officer and the Dr. McKay wo was staying with them. She ignored the banter, but spoke quietly to the two men.

Most of the Base is down. Captain Jones is still up, and me-barely. The jumper needs to get back here; the largest concentration of able bodied people are out there, she gestured in the general area of "outside", and then turned her attention to the Drs. McKay and Glavish. She raised her voice, fighting the fog, and then spoke. Her words sounded far away, but fairly intelligent, luckily.

I have some of the command codes. Well, MINE. Chief Legal Officer Captain Kelly Miller, she said by way of introduction to Rodney. What can *I* do?! She was now picturing strangeness. It was black as night-then a flash, as if from a gun. It WAS a gun. She was back in Kuwait, and she ducked from the incoming fire. Turning around, she jogged to John-no...Jason...what?!...whatever, and ducked under him.

It was a set up. Give me five; I'll go out. She spoke Farsi, and all she'd need to do was cover her head with a long scarf, and remove her red lipstick. The Chief is a friendly, John. I'll be FINE, She said, noticing the look on his face. He worried too much about her. After a long pause, the man turned back into Conway, who was looking at her strangely. They needed to haul ass, or they were all going to die. She just FELT it.

Tag:Jason Conway, Mikaere Glavish, Tom Chambers as McKay, Michael Hurley, @achillesjones, Plot Twist, @docs, etc.

[Deleted]

1001
Control Room
Security Alcove

Achilles had been working on various things, before the other SEAL on station came up to him and asked him a question. "How's the relocation coming along Skipper?"

Achilles' eyes glowed and then Arson answered. "Well the algorithm was completed and changes are coming along nicely. If we get the entire thing completed, it will provide a 97.4% difference from the previous arrangement."

1102
Control Room
Meropis


Glavish, the most annoyign member of the expedition, was arguing with possibly the most annoying member of the Stargate Program. "Listen, if we get someone in the chair, we can reboot the entire system and automatically calibrate the fail safes to sync with our DNA protecting us from the storm... Really... Just think of it like this. I used a computer, locked the system and then you tried to use it behind me. You can't unlock the computer because you don't have my password. But... you have the option of signing in on your own account with your own password... I suggest you get someone in that chair now. We need to prepare to set the city's systems for a hard reboot."

Achilles walked over to where Dr. Glavish was standing before speaking. "I have the highest ATA geen concentration, and I've used the chair in combat before. I should be in the chair. In addition to that, has anyone thought of using the drone to blast away any of the material encrusting the city?"

Achilles stood in his tactical uniform with his arms crossed wondering why no one had mentioned either of his ideas before him.[/b]

[Tom Chambers]

1102-1110
Control Room
Meropis

Mutual hate for one another seemed to allow them to communicate with each other without words. "There is nothing wrong this the Star drive, the problem is with the cities fail safes and the damage the planet has caused to the cities Piers." Rodney let out an indignant sigh. "I never said anything was wrong with them either, the city and it's computer is the problem here."

"And no, we don't have those command codes. In case you didn't notice, taking the city out for a spin hasn't exactly been a priority lately.""Well that was a mistake, you need those codes to make any meaningful changes to the city's operating system." As he went on an best he could trying to work his way through his explanation it was clear most of them weren't getting it. He was back teaching Sheppard again, great. 

"Of course! Clearly, stupidity is contagious!" Rodney turned to Glavish as he hit him on the shoulder "Don't you see? We don't have to bring the Star Drive online. The fail safes... they're already in place. We just turned them off! When we first arrived, the radiation it made us experience our worst fears? The hallucination of our fears was a side effect of the radiation... because it wasn't calibrated specifically for our human brains. Likely, they were still calibrated to ancient. The alarm was the city's way of telling us just that!"
 
"That's possible, but we wouldn't need DNA unless none of us had the gene, which, some of us do, we can just scan our brain structure into the computers via the control chair, then take control of their shield. but for any plan to work we need to act now."

"I have the highest ATA geen concentration, and I've used the chair in combat before. I should be in the chair. In addition to that, has anyone thought of using the drone to blast away any of the material encrusting the city?"
 McKay sighed and looked between Glavish and then back to Jones. "For one your brain structure probably wont work for the rest of us because your 'passenger' is more than a little different from us. As for your brilliant drone solution, why not just crush all the piers right, now it's not like we need them." He almost spat. He looked to the General. "I suppose the best candidate without a symbiote..." He said clearly not trusting of the Tok'ra/Human "...in their head flew that jumper... great." He said turned out towards the stairs. "Glavish I assume you know how to turn those things back on, and not just turn it off? Okay So I'm going to scan my brain into the control chair, then I'll let popeye over here," He looked at Jones. "Try and keep the shield powered while you restart the computers with the fail safe attuned to our brains" He went back over to where he had been typing and grabbed his tablet, hopefully Glavish knew how to turn the system on and not just off

<TAG: Jason Conway, Mikaere Glavish, @achillesjones, Capt. Kelly Miller, Michael Hurley, SA Val Olwin Possibly Exit Mckay To Control Chair>

[Capt. Kelly Miller]

1105
Control room
Meropis

Kelly had, by now, recovered. AND she had had just about ENOUGH of the male egos going on in here. Men! They were really only good for twenty minutes a day, then damn useless for much else, weren't they?! With a deep sigh, she stood, smoothed her olive-green slacks, and spoke with the air of authority her rank, age, and basic life experience had afforded her.

Gentlemen, I am a Marine, and I know twenty ways to kill you with my bare hands. PLEASE don't make me do it. Now, Captain Jones-not to overstep my bounds here, but you might be more useful overseeing the Jumper rescue mission-we might need a rescue mission to rescue the rescuees. Once you do, please send them STRAIGHT to my office, the woman said. She didn't take kindly to people who disobeyed orders. However, she DID know they were scientists, and young, so she would just read them the riot act, and let Conway deal with the rest of it, but she was annoyed. She turned to Drs. Glavish and McKay.

Dr. Glavish, on my orders, take the seat. Dr. McKay, tell Dr. Glavish what he needs to do. If either one of you so much as THINKS about arguing, I promise you, you will rue the day. General, the alien Princess was looking for you-the Infirmary is a mess. Where is Hurley?! After issuing her orders, she bent over the keyboard, and typed in her command code where the tech indicated. Then, she went off to the Infirmary, to see who else was going to need a boot in the Six.

Tag:@all. Check. Mate. DO IT BOYS.

[Jason Conway]

1108
Control Room
Meropis

Taking a backseat, the General had allowed Rodney and Mikaere to figure it out together, in a way he was proud of them despite all their childish bickering. Rodney was right, Captain Jones might be more than proficient in the use of the ancient chair but his DNA wasn't exactly what they needed here. Dr. McKay was their best shot to start with. Jason gripped the desk tightly and began to chew his bottom lip as he glanced at the various control screen read outs, if this fantastic plan the two scientists had come up with was going to work they needed to move NOW, there were only a handful of minutes left on the clock. Thankfully, at that point, Capt. Kelly Miller entered stage left and did what she does best... Barking her infamous marine like orders across the room she startled everyone into action, lighting a proverbial fire under their behinds - as if certain death wasn't incentive enough, having to deal with the wrath of Captain Miller always seemed so much worse.

Jason watched Rodney McKay and @usmc0311 leave the room heading for the chair room at the base of the tower. Mikaere Glavish bent over his console and began furiously typing in commands to match up the systems to what they'd need in order for this effort to work. Their leader hadn't even considered to learn from his own history, and for that he kicked himself. Of course it was because of them! When they'd arrived Jason remembered vividly the issue they'd had with the ancient device sending out some sort of telepathic radiation to the crew. Everyone's worst nightmares had been seeming to come true until a few expedition members took a step back and realized it wasn't possible for the base to be flooding/full of spiders/under attack by the Wraith all at the same time. The base had gone down-right loopey with it and in the end Dr. Black and Dr. Glavish had managed to shut the darn thing off. Then came the Etruscans, and the device was all but forgotten about, until now. Jason sincerely hoped they could get it up and running again with the right sequences, enough to calibrate the shields to their new requirements and survive this thing. At the moment, it looked like the shields were about to meekly fail and allow the storm to wipe them and most of the Meropis buildings from existence within minutes. Well, at least they wouldn't feel much pain...

"General, the alien Princess was looking for you-the Infirmary is a mess. Where is Hurley?!"Kelly had said, referring to the NCO who was probably rushing around like a blue arsed fly trying to organize military teams across the base in light of this incident and the recent security changes. Conway nodded and made his way toward the exit,
"I'm on my way," he said confidently, knowing it was probably a crap storm down there, "Kelly... Thanks, look after yourself up here okay?" He said to the marine as he passed her on the way to the transporter. It was all up to Miller, Glavish, McKay and Jones now. The fate of the base rested with the finest Meropis had to offer. Conway believed in them, he needed to, he needed them give his off-world teams a home to return to.

<tag the above mentioned and Tom Chambers as McKay>
<there is now a chair room thread on the go to rush off to, good luck all!>