Episode Two - Fear Is What We Learn

[Jason Conway]

1852
Gate Ops
Meropis

Brigadier General Jason Conway, out here in the depths of the universe that rank didn't mean all that much. He knew he would have a tired arm from saluting if this were a base in Iraq, he was glad it wasn't. The atmosphere in Meropis was already feeling rather pleasant. Pushing his chair back, Jason rose and paced out from his glass walled office over to the top of the stairs looking out to the gate room. The control room was minimally manned for the evening shift, the staff in there just settling in to a rota of operations. Conway was glad they had all finally settled in, this city had so many secrets and so much new technology, you could not call it a twin to Atlantis, it simply wasn't.

The past few weeks had been a hive of activity. First there were the fail safes that triggered on arriving, bringing the un-vaccinated half of the expedition down with the Su Raan virus. Then there was the incident with wild power fluctuations, one of the two ZPMs Meropis had was trying to eject itself for no reason. Several scientists had worked to solve this and put it down to another fail safe being triggered. Then there was of course, the ongoing worry that the Etruscans might return for vengeance, or to find out what these strange new humans were doing here and where they had got their ship from. The past few weeks had seen a similar theme. The Sun Tzu had landed for a few critical repairs and only recently relaunched, in that time cases had been both beamed across to Gate Ops and manually heaved to various storage locations throughout the city, it was taking time but they were truly making themselves at home.

Jason was glad they were being allowed to keep the two ZPMs, the city appeared to need them to function correctly. There must be a whole lot of ancient tech that had turned itself on, he knew it would take the scientists weeks, if not months to turn everything off and economize the power distribution grid. Then they would probably have to give up a ZPM for the defense of Earth. In the meantime though, it gave them enough juice to cloak the city and power shields - not to mention to dial Atlantis and use the McKay-Carter Gate Bridge to report back to Earth. It appeared that they would need all three ZPMs to establish a stable wormhole with the SGC itself. In light of this, the IOA had asked that the expeditions Civilian Leader Pandora Banks, as well as a few heads of science from various departments to come back to Earth in person and deliver a full report on their findings. Conway hoped he wouldn't need her in the meantime, luckily she had managed to efficiently organize a lot of the civilian staff into rotas and give most departments things to work on before she left.

Then there was the Sun Tzu. The IOA had relayed a message to them that during repairs, the name Sun Tzu would be scrubbed off everything and replaced with Sun Tzu. It was something to do with Chinese funding behind the IOA. It seems they were struggling and the Chinese had decided to inject a huge cash flow into the entire Stargate and Homeworld Security program. As a result Conway had watched most of the Sun Tzu crew make their way through the gate to head back to Earth via Atlantis for re-assignment, he felt sorry for them. He then had the odd experience of watching an equal number of Chinese technicians arrive. He felt sorry for the souls who now had to face possibly being cooped up the SGC, but that was politics for you. Conway had just given the green light for Riley to take his newly repaired Sun Tzu out to the edge of the solar system to investigate a strange moon, at least his good friend hadn't been usurped by the Chinese uprising. Jason smirked to himself at his little joke and turned to make his way to his quarters, it was time to get some rest after another long day.

<Tag all Base Personnel! (See Mission Briefing before posting)>

[Deleted]

1900
Personal Quarters
Meropis


Another day had come and was almost gone. Hard to believe that they had been on Meropis for several weeks now; then again...with everything that had been happening...

Now however it was time to relax. There were no emergencies he needed to attend to; nowhere he needed to be. Lt. Colonel Cafferey was in his quarters; by request they were about as far from the center of the city as he could get. He liked his privacy for a lot of reasons, one of them being that during the evenings he liked to work on his jumpstyle routine and he usually had the music up pretty loud.

Over the course of two weeks he had rigged his specially designed sound system (mainly an old earth style boom box) in to his room. This room was basically like the one he had searched upon arrival in the city. Weird, circular shaped bed; a simple archway leading in to a side room that had small chambers in the walls, however the chambers in Lucas's room were about the size of a safety deposit box, so he guessed it was supposed to be something akin to a closet.

The only difference was that Lucas hadn't found a second stone like he had found in the room he had searched before. The stone he had found he had kept; not telling anyone of its existence.
He didn't know why but it was like the stone was literally like a drug. Each time he held on to it for a lengthy amount of time (usually fifteen to twenty minutes) he felt calmer, more sure of himself. Of course there were draw backs as well. Each time he touched the stone for that amount of time he would find himself fighting off unusually painful cramping in his gut, as well as nausea. After an hour he would find himself on his knees, worshiping Meropis's equivalent of the 'porcelain God.'

Walking to his closet, Lucas opened up one of the chambers and removed a CD. He had burned a specific Jumpstyle mix on to it before he had left Earth, and was a little anxious to try it out.
Going out back out, Lucas loaded up the boombox and hit play; immediately lowering the volume to a tolerable level...just in case.

The familiar beat of Holiday flooded out of the speakers. At a certain point Lucas began to jump to the beat, adding special turns, jumps and a few flips in to his routine. Jumpstyle to Lucas was as easy as breathing. He always felt so free while doing this; well Jumpstyle and Parkour.

About half way through the song Lucas lost his footing and fell to the ground when he tried to do a turn. Sitting up, he rubbed his knees. He had physically felt weaker these past several days; why he didn't know. At first he had figured it was the virus but a quick visit to the doctor had shot that idea down.

Pausing the music, Lucas rose up from the floor and got himself a quick glass of water. After sipping on it he began to feel better; at least good enough that he felt he could continue. Hitting play again, the music filled the room again. Getting the beat back Lucas began to jump once more.

<TAG: Any...if you want to come try Jumpstyle with Lucas.>

[Dominic Evans]

1900
Personal Quarters
Meropis

It felt good to put his feet up. Warrant Officer Evans had just spent the entire day helping to over-see the last load up of crew and supplies to the Sun Tzu as she was launched on a mission within the Meropis Solar System. He then had three hours of patrol duty before the end of his working day at 1800 where he had grabbed some dinner in the commissary before heading off to his quarters to relax.

It really had been an interesting first few weeks. Steve was having trouble adjusting to his new surroundings, it was all so... well, alien. He'd had a moment earlier in the day when he'd looked up at the Sun Tzu and realized he was standing on the loading ramp for an Earth-made space ship. Patrol duty had been fairly uneventful, he had been assigned to a small team patrolling the outskirts of what they had deemed safe, the city was so huge and so much of it remained unexplored. The only thing that grabbed Evan's attention during this was some doctor complaining about the size of his room.

He slipped off his military issue boots and relaxed on the bed. Evans was thankful that the ancients had their own version of a mattress, it was a weird material that appeared to be be packed with the same judo-suit style fillings that the ancients were supposed to have made their clothes out of. He was out of lunch for ancient pillows though, luckily Evans had brought his old faithful sleeping bag with him and it lay unzipped as a duvet over the bed, it was big, fluffy and he loved it.

He went to grab a comic book from his bedside table and was startled by what he found there. With a yelp Evans jumped out of bed and batted away the huge spider that was sitting atop his comic books. Grabbing his boot he squashed the damn thing and pressed down hard to make sure it was dead. Lifting his boot he saw no stain on the floor, but instead saw a splatted bug attached to the bottom of his footwear. He threw the boot across the room to be dealt with later. Cautiously, with his heart beating at a hundred miles an hour, Evans lay back down with his comic book;. He shivered, being arachnophobic was no fun in an alien galaxy.

<Tag Base Personnel Peoples>

[Michael Black]

1900
Science Labs
Meropis

Dr. Micheal Black, that was what they called him. That, or 'sir', 'doc', 'chief' and in one rare instance 'your lordship'. Of course, he wasn't a doctor in a medical sense, he just had his doctorate awarded to him for the work he had done back on Earth with History and Archeology. Currently though, he was putting more of his technical skills to good use, fiddling with a broken power relay in the science labs. Why couldn't people just leave things alone?

Micheal had been drafted in after the base had been successfully established, he was very happy indeed to be out here on new ground, in a brand new galaxy. Who knew what the expedition would unearth, perhaps weapons against the Wraith and the Ori, cures for cancer or new technologies for the benefit of Earth. Either way it was brilliant to be out here. He counted himself as one of the lucky ones, the new influx of personnel to the Triangulum galaxy had been mainly the Chinese, but there were some lucky Brits such as himself who had been able to grab a place. After years of work back at Stargate Command, Black though he deserved it.

He had dreamed of this place, both waking and sleeping dreams, his fantasies for the past three years had all been based around the glimpses he had caught of Atlantis. Now he was here, and there was no way anybody could say it was disappointing, it was magnificent. He didn't imagine however, that he would have to spend nearly all his time fixing broken or experimental technologies. This city was certainly subject to rough hands and experimenting back when the ancients had it, and now that they had turned it out without following the proper start up procedures, it meant Micheal's in tray was overflowing. Sighing at the thought of the many things he had yet to look at, he carried on working on the broken relay unit, jumping back and shaking his finger as sparks exploded from the devices. He swore under his breath and sucked his finger. Shaking his head, he picked up the screwdriver and carried on admirably, at least in his eyes anyway.

<Tag Base Personnel People>

[Deleted]

1905
Infirmary
Meropis


Sitting up straight Cody groaned as he rubbed the kinks out of his neck. He hadn't 'come up for air' in the past several hours, having been going over the virus that had affected a goodly number of the Expedition. While it hadn't been the Su'Ran Virus, though many of the characteristics had been the same as the SR virus.

It had taken Cody a little bit longer to find the correct cure but once he had and had administered it, Captain McCallister and Pandora Banks had begun to improve. Of course all this had been two weeks ago.

Once the kinks had been worked out did Cody bother to check the time. Granted it was getting late; perhaps it was time to call it a night?
As he moved to stand up a slight buzzing caused him to stiffen. He had heard this particular buzzing before and every single time he heard it he felt his heart begin to race. It was the sound of a wasp; a paper wasp to be exact. Swallowing fearfully, Cody looked around trying to figure out where it was coming from but he didn't see anything.

A movement out of the corner of his eye caused Cody to look straight in front of him and there buzzing at the level of his eyes, not three feet from him was a wasp with black wings; the paper wasp.
"Oh. My. God! Cody exclaimed. Every fiber of his body told him to run out of the Infirmary screaming bloody murder but his muscles wouldn't move.

Barely daring to breathe, Cody followed the wasp with his eyes, watching as the wasp began to buzz around his head. When the wasp disappeared behind his head, Cody didn't know what to think...until he felt a sharp, burning pain on his right arm. Glancing down Cody didn't see the wasp on his right arm; where was it? Not a minute later Cody felt a sharp, burning pain on his left arm as well!

Shaking, Cody bolted for the door but just as he reached it he tripped and fell to the ground, sliding in to the door. Hearing the buzzing stop, Cody looked over to the desk and saw that the wasp had landed on the desk where he had been working. Thoughts of grabbing a pistol and blowing the wasp to kingdom come ran through Cody's mind but he knew that that would probably be considered overkill, so after picking himself up off the ground Cody removed his shoe and snuck up on the wasp; bashing it's body in to the desk seconds later.

Once the wasp was dead Cody told himself he could relax, but the burning pain on his arms wasn't going away. Looking both arms over Cody couldn't tell where he had been stung. Normally there would be a red, swollen mark on his arm, indicating the exact spot but there was nothing; only the pain. It was as if he hadn't been stung at all!

Disposing of the body, Cody washed both of his arms before looking them over again. He still didn't see anything that would indicate he had been stung! It was probably a good thing to because Cody knew that he had had a severe reaction to a wasp sting when he was younger; had gone in to anaphylactic shock if he remembered right.

Shuddering, Cody swallowed some Tylenol, already knowing that that would take care of the pain. Where had the wasp come from in the first place? Was the planet home to it's own form of wasp? With the immediate threat over, Cody closed up shop and left the Infirmary


<TAG: Open>

[Deleted]

1910
Mess Hall
Meropis
Outfit

Doctor Piper Stevenson also known to several other people as Pip or just Doc depending on how well they knew her, though some just called her by her given name of Piper; she did not mind any of the above. When she had taken this role, she was leaving a lot behind on Earth and it was something she did not think about lightly. It was her daughters that told her to do this ‘adventure’ and she missed them terribly even if it has only been a short while. Running her hand down her face, Piper never thought that it would be this hard and many times she often second guessed herself if had made a mistake; but them seeing what very few people would see made it all worthwhile and the adventures that were yet to come. It was the challenge that excited her, the very reason why she became a medical doctor – to have no two day the same. Piper could not help herself with her mind in overdrive.

The last couple of days had been overrun with several events happening and the staff in the infirmary had their fair share of it all. In the past few days, this Doctor had seen a few things she could not comprehend but things did seem to be settling down a little – if that was even possible. Tapping her fingers on the table she was sat at, she looked out of the window seemingly lost in her thoughts. Sometimes it felt like she was out of her head and all of this took her by surprise when she stopped and looked at everything. Piper often looked at herself and wondered why they chose her to be a part of the Stargate Program, she felt like she had lacked experience. It had taken her by surprise, there were something she did not even know; but sometimes knowledge was not power it was all about experience and the here and now. Maybe it was time that she let herself calm down and to wind down, but it was quite hard to do in this profession.

Humming to herself before taking a sip of her coffee, this was the break she would be taking for the time being. It was starting to get late, but from all of her years as a medical doctor and being on-call, she could truly say that she was used to surviving on coffee and other caffeine based products. The second disappeared into hours and they disappeared into days, it was just something she was used to, but this job gave her so many reasons to fight and not walk away, it was the very reason why she had not walked away. Though she had only learnt about everything that few people knew about, she had certainly seen quite a bit. Resting her head in her hand, sometimes she did feel lonely; she was used to going home after a day at work or just before she started a night shift. Piper missed the talks she had with her daughters Emma and Sophie or the chats on the phone with her older brother Jon and sister Eliza – she came from a very close family, who just happened to mean the world to her. It could be said that she was feeling a little bit homesick, but she was sure that it happened to most people when they are away for such a long time, not really knowing when they would be home again.

“Since when did you grow sentimental Pip?” She spoke aloud to herself, it was the first sign of going senile, though Emma was adamant that she had been senile for years but that was children speaking, no respect for their superiors. There were times that Piper thought that all of this was a dream and she was back to her normal, almost boring life – nothing could compare to what she had seen already. Maybe it was the fact that sometimes she thought that it was not real, that is was all a lie she had convinced she was living. Without thinking her hand moved to the left a little and knocked her cup off the table and onto the floor. Piper cursed out as she got off her seat to pick up the shattered pieces.

As she looked under the table to pick up it, she suddenly felt her heart race for a moment; it almost felt like something was closing in on her. She then knocked herself out of it and stood up and placed the broken parts in the nearby bin. Piper suffered from claustrophobia or known as fear of restriction and fear of suffocation. “Calm down you silly woman.” She muttered to herself once more, Piper felt silly it had been years since she had suffered an attack, but even then it was for a reason and not in an open space. She just passed it off as being overworked and lack of sleep.

<Tag Open>

[Deleted]

1902
Jacob's quarters

Jacob was in his room listening to rock music and shadowboxing - the current song being Rawkfist by Thousand Foot Krutch. The music blared in his stereo headphones as he bounced about punching and kicking at the air. There was in fact form laden with all the bouncing, as well as repetition, but every few seconds, the moves would change. He would throw in parries, elbows, palm and knee strikes as well. Jacob had to let off steam to keep his mind quiet and focused, and with out bothering going to the gym, the lack of space needed came in handy. Shadowboxing was definitely a good way to let off steam and burn calories for as long as one wanted. Who needs a punching bag?

The past few weeks had been a blur. Jacob was blessed with reasonable sleep since his arrival here, so there was no need for extra energy sources, at least not yet.

All though it might not seem like it, Jacob had a fair bit on his mind. He was revisiting the memories of Meropis and the personnel he was getting to know thus far. He was reviewing all the impressions he'd made, along with all the interactions. A few people stuck out in his mind other than Raiden, his own half identical brother. All in all, he was beginning to realize joining new teams weren't as awkward as he imagined it to be. Jacob was beginning to hope that at some point he might have his own team to lead, but he had to be patient first, and continue to get to know everyone. Not only that, he had to prove himself worthy of such a position. Sure he was a Captain, but not every Captain was automatically granted a leadership-type position. Even more so, Jacob wasn't an autocratic leader anyway, for he only took the opportunities to lead when he saw fit or perhaps when a group of people actually wanted him to lead. He had some chances already in the distant past, so as he 'chilled out' in his room, Jacob reminded himself that this was a time of adjustment and character building. Ultimately, he was content with this, but he was equally excited about the future.

He was excited as well as anxious. He liked the people here so far, and he felt a part of the pack. He had a reputation (which would hopefully be a good one) to get in motion. This meant training and staying strong to keep a good image going, which was exactly what he was doing at this point in time.

[Jason Conway]

1910
Personal Quarters
Meropis

The General sat at his desk, one pile of neatly organized reports signed off to his right, a dis-organized pile off scruffy written staff reports to-be-signed to his left. He sighed and took the first report from the top of the pile, placing it in the center of the glass desk, and began to flick through it. His mind started to wander as he went through report after report, thinking as you do in times like these, of fond memories long gone.

Jason was relaxing in one of the SGC's briefing room chairs, with his feet outstretched. He promptly straightened up when Landry and O'Neill entered the room, not out of any chain of command but out of respect for these two men, who both took a seat opposite him and slid him a classified document. He raised an eyebrow and opened it as Landry began to explain,
"Believe it or not but this is Atlantis. You've seen the Stargate and seen what we're up against, now double it. There are allot of nasty aliens out there but the good out weighs the bad. We've found so much new technology there, most importantly ZPMs, that if we hadn't gone to Atlantis... Earth wouldn't be here as we speak." Conway took it all in as the two rambled on about the brief history of the Atlantis expedition. He paused on a blurred photograph of a creature, it had white hair, a humanoid form but seemed to have a hand raised with a sort of... Mouth... Thing in it. It was labeled 'Wraith'. He knew he'd been asked to lead an expedition to a strange galaxy, but this wasn't it. He sat as they began to explain the findings to do with Meropis and the Triangulum Galaxy. The introduction was rudely interrupted.

The Claxon sounded and the red light flashed, Jason joined the two Generals in running to the control room above the Gate room. Where chief harriman told them, "We've got a Wraith ship inbound sir". The look on the faces of those in the room was enough to convey the seriousness of that statement.

Jason awoke with a start from his day dream. He felt dizzy and had to grip the desk to shake himself out of it. He was certain that didn't actually happen in his memory. Yes, the interview went well without a hitch, he got the job and went off for a coffee with Jack. Why on Earth had he thought that Wraith were attacking Earth. Rubbing his neck he dismissed it, stress and overworking is probably the cause. He settled back down to his paperwork.

[Dominic Evans]

1924
Personal Quarters
Meropis

Officer Evans was still having trouble getting some sleep, he just lay there, mind buzzing and staring at the ceiling. It had been stressful, not only the things he had to do and the fact that he had to cope with being in another galaxy, but he hadn't made very many friends so far. He knew it would be a while before brass got themselves sorted and assigned people to teams, then he might look to making friends. Until then he settled down and kept himself out of trouble. His mind start to drift to fonder times, hanging out with friends in the commissary down at Stargate Command.

He hadn't been too attached to his team mates, but there he was, part of an off-world team venturing to new planets and helping with the fight against the Ori. He really had been thrown in at the deep end. One moment he as a special forces marine, flying missions to Libya, Iraq and Kuwait. Next moment, he's joined by some Americans and a Russian, venturing into alien worlds - doing spec ops missions in medieval looking villages against over powered aliens. It really was crazy. Evans was sat at the bar and took another sip of his beer, it was great to have a night off. He smiled as his team mates joked about the fitness instructor's manhood.

It was then that his mobile phone rang. He picked it up and in his tough British accent, took the call,
"Yeah go ahead... Really... Wait... Understood... Yes Sir... Sir! ... Yes Sir, Thank you Sir!" With that he hung up and turned to his team mates who were all looking at him in anticipation. He put on a grave face, but couldn't hold it, bursting into laughter he yelled, "I got the job!" They all laughed and cheered and hugged him, drinking to his success. All SG teams knew about the Triangulum Project, or at least vague details and only a select few had been invited to apply. Evans was one, and everyone knew how keen he was to get it.

They drunk, and they drunk, and they celebrated. Not only for Evans, but a night off was rare when you worked on defending the planet. It was then that the shot came. The man approached, masked, wearing jeans and a T-Shirt with a spider emblem on. The man raised an M9 pistol to Evans head, and pulled the trigger.

Evans jumped with a start. He had fallen asleep on his bed, jesus he thought, what a freaking nightmare. He thought was just remembering the good old days but man... That was messed up. Rubbing his face he realized that he wouldn't be able to back to sleep, he put on his training shoes and decided a jog around the current perimeter might be a good idea. With that he set off.

<Tag Everyone Else in Base>

[Deleted]

1930
Personal Quarters
Meropis

Lucas stepped out of the shower, toweled his hair dry before getting dressed in civilian clothes.
Walking out of the small rest room in to the closet, Lucas pressed a button on the wall that caused a hologram to appear, covering up the entrance to the bathroom. He had only found the button a week ago and upon first finding he had thought "Huh, they must not like people taking baths here![/b]

Stepping out of the closet back in to the main room Lucas shivered. Since when had it gotten so cold in here?
"Luuuccasss."
What the hell? A voice on the wind? Now that wasn't strange was it?
"Lucas...Lucas...Lucas..."[/i] The voice was everywhere and no where, shouting his name every second. The voice rose in pitch until it sounded like thousands of people were shouting his name.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" Lucas shouted.

Suddenly the lights went out, plunging him in to darkness. "HELLO?!" Lucas shouted once more.
A sudden, firm pressure on his shoulder caused him to jump and turn around again.
"You must calm down. You are becoming agitated again."
The voice belonged to a man with golden blonde hair and pale blue eyes. The man was wearing a bright white lab coat and in his hand was a needle.
"H..who are you?!" Lucas demanded to know. The question did seem to cause a flicker of disappointment on the man's face.
"Oh here we go again, and after we had made such progress last time. My name is Doctor Alik Andrei I am a research specialist for the Rakai Project. You are Arseni Aleksandr, the project director's son."

Hearing that caused Lucas to look at the man as if he had grown two heads.
"You got the wrong guy! I'm not this Arseni dude I'm..." Lucas began but he was cut off by Dr. Andrei.
"Lucas Cafferey, yes we have heard that before. We don't know where you have learned that but it is not true. The life you think you have led...it never happened. You never have been to America, you were never shot with a rifle, your parents never died in a house fire and you were never on any covert operation in Russia. Mother Russia is your home."

Lucas couldn't believe this. For some reason Dr. Andrei did seem familiar but this whole talk of him being the Project Director's son...there was no way this was real!
"No...you lie...YOU LIE. GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" Lucas yelled, shaking his head in disbelief. This couldn't be real, it couldn't be.
"I was hoping that I could discuss your soon to be role in the Stargate Program but I see that you are too agitated to talk about it." Alik said.
His role in the Stargate Program? Now they were getting somewhere!
"Wh...what about the Stargate Program?" Lucas asked. From the look on Alik's face it was clear that he was surprised.
"Then you remember our talks before? Your father is going to have you admitted in to the program. In a few years there is going to be an expedition to a planet known as Meropis; you need to be on that expedition." Alik said.
"My father is dead!" Lucas proclaimed. Even though he hadn't been there, he knew that his parents were dead; they had to be!
"No I am afraid not Arseni. Your father is right over there." Alik pointed to the right, outside of the small room they were in. Lucas looked and saw a sight that he would never forget; a black, wispy mist was floating there. The mist was similar in shape to that of a human plus one could feel the evilness dripping off of the mist. This mist Lucas remembered from his childhood; how could he not remember it?! This was what terrorized him as a young child and now it was back.

Lucas was shaking with fright. This could not be happening it just couldn't...not again! A feeling of drowsiness overcame him, so much so that he almost passed out.
"Rest now...this will all make sense to you soon..." Alik said as the room faded from view.[/i]

Eyes snapping open Lucas found himself on the floor of his personal quarters on Meropis. Had that all just been a bad dream? It had seemed so real!
Picking himself up off the ground Lucas went to his bed and laid down. He literally felt awful; dry mouth, nauseous, shaking...
As he laid back his mind began to wander. Had the black mist returned to torment him some more? He hadn't been bothered by the demon since his acceptance in to the Stargate Program. And what about that vision with the Russian doctor? Had that been real; a suppressed memory perhaps, or was it all thanks to the dark mist?
Lucas knew that he had been in Russia; he knew the reports were classified and it was a good thing to because no matter how hard he tried he couldn't remember what his mission had been in Russia; it was a big blank in his mind.
Closing his eyes Lucas decided to try and get some sleep, perhaps he would feel better with some rest.

<TAG: Open>

[Chicago "Roo" Eastlyn]

1935
Personal Quarters
Meropis

Upon finishing her shift, Chicago had gone straight to her quarters to have a much needed chillax session. She wasnt stressed, just working hard to prove to everyone why she was there. Its just how she was wired. She hated to think that others might not think that she wasnt pulling her weight, especially because she'd always been a hard worker. So, she had spent pretty much every waking moment working her butt off translating things, figuring out communication systems, identifying signals and all those other things.

Entering her quarters with a tired sigh, Chicago went to the bathroom and changed into a singlet top and some shorts, her classic "I'm chilling out" outfit. She padded over to her bed and crawled on and stared at the ceiling until her eyes slowly closed and she gave in to sleep.

--------
Chicago walked into the SGC, ready to recive her assignment, ready to go through the Stargate, ready for anything. Confindently, she reported to Conway, as she was directed. "First Lieutenant Eastlyn reporting for duty as ordered, sir" she said with a salute. Conway gave her a smirk. "Ah, Eastlyn. First name Chicago, right?"
"Yes sir." at that, he gave a conspirital kind of laugh.
"Well Lieutenant, I dont know why you're here..you arent in the program."
Chicago was shell shocked, gutted. "Wh...what? With all due respect sir...Are you sure??" she just couldnt beleive it. All her life, all the training, all the expectations she'd surpassed and suddenly she just wasnt in? Conway smirked again. "Oh I'm certain..you failed. Dismally. Now go away and stop wasting my time." and with that he turned and moved onto something else, and she was left standing there, feeling like her world had come crashing down around her.
--------

Chicago woke up with a start, in a cold sweat. Looking over at her clock, she saw she had been asleep a couple of hours. Slowly, she sat up right and ran her hands through her wavy, waist length hair, trying to calm herself and slow her breathing. Struggling to remember what actually happened, Chicago realised that she none of that had happened. Much to her releif. Failure was something she feared most, which must be why that...dream-thing, had shaken her so hard. Flopping back onto the bed, she was hesitant to go back to sleep again.

<Tag: Open>

[Michael Black]

1938
Personal Quarters
Meropis

Dr. Black had resigned himself to his room for the evening, lying back on his bed he clasped his hands together over his chest and sighed. That's right, as soon as some wonderful piece of new alien technology is found - Give it to Dr. Black! He'll know what to do with it, oh yeah solve the impossible? I'll have it done by lunch, great fun. Not that the pressures of being one of the expeditions key science team members... members? Hell, team leader! Not that the pressures of being one of the expeditions key science team leaders was getting to him, no not at all.

As these thoughts rushed through his mind, Michael began to drift off into a dream state. He recalled being signed up to the Stargate Program, all those years ago.
He plugged in another cable and stood back, taking in the massive six foot tall server rack in all it's glory. The wires weaving out and around it, the comforting green lights blinking away happily. A job well done, he turned to the soldier lying in the chair and went to check the cables around the head area, everything seemed okay. Now to start recording the data! It was strange working with this alien chair, the government had really surprised them with this latest project. Micheal worked for the company who BUILT the new technology, so it was a shock to say the least when the government shoved something in front of him and essentially said, whats this? These were suspicions it was something to do with the infamous Roswell alien landings. His mind raced, all those cover up stories, the military personnel speaking out 30 years later. This job was not without excitement.

He took a moment to take in his surroundings, why on Earth was he in an underground bunker. On that matter, why on Earth was this underground bunker decorated with elaborate statues and artwork. All along the stone walls were carved intricate patterns depicting battle scenes. He seemed to remember he was in Tuscany, he felt a little dizzy. The silence was broken by his cell phone ringing, wow even down here he got signal? He raced to answer it, seeing who the call was from. The others in the room shared excitable smiles with him as they overheard the call,
"Mister President! Yes Sir... The Prime Minister said that!? Okay Sir... Understood... Wow... Thank you Sir... Sir? ... Sir! ... I'll be there Sir... Thank you, goodbye!" He shut the device and turned to the others in the room with an all knowing smile on their face they rushed to hug him and congratulate him, he got the job.

Dr. Black opened his eyes, he rubbed sweat off his forehead. He sat up, whoah bad idea. His head swam as if he had a migraine and the back of his neck hurt. He also realized something else, he was thinking about the time he joined the SGC. That wasn't right, he was in area 51, he already knew what the device was... Why on Earth was he in an ancient chamber in Tuscany? He reached for the glass of water on his bedside table and gingerly took a sip, deciding it might be a very good idea to take a trip to the infirmary he set off down the hall.

<Tag All - Lets wind up in the infirmary =D>

[Deleted]

1945
En Route to Infirmary
Meropis


This was ridiculous. Cody had arrived in his room and had laid down but only ended up tossing and turning; no sleep would come to him. He then had gotten back up and gone to the small mess hall, taking some warm, milk like liquid in an attempt to make him sleepy, but that didn't work either. Finally with no other alternative he then headed for the Infirmary. If sleep wouldn't come naturally then he knew where some medication was that would put him out like a light.

Once there Cody flicked on the lights before jumping back. There, on one of the beds was a huge dog with blood all over it's mouth. The dog raised it's head and began to growl menacingly at him.

Eyes getting to be as big as saucers, Cody watched the dog rise up and then hop down in to the shadows. Not seeing it anymore Cody looked around but it was as if the dog had just vanished.

"I really need some sleep..." Cody muttered to himself.

<TAG: Open>

[Deleted]

1950 hours
Hallway
Meropis

Lucas had tried to get to sleep but every time he had begun to doze he had heard the voices again. After the fourth time he had given up, gotten up out of bed and had left his quarters.
He was tired and a little pale as sweat beaded his forehead.

Wiping the sweat away, Lucas turned a corner finding himself at the corridor that led outside. Okay how did he get here?
Shaking his head Lucas turned around, intending to head back in to the base but as he took a step his right leg collapsed under him sending him sprawling on the floor.

What the hell? Rubbing his tingling knee, a sudden scream brought his head straight up. It was a woman's voice that much he was sure about.
"Hello?" Lucas asked.

He didn't hear a reply but he did hear a weird, deep, cackling voice.
Standing back up Lucas felt a cold chill behind him. Looking behind him he saw a black mist; and it was growing.
"Run..."
Whomever said that had good advice.
Swallowing, Lucas turned around ran back down the hall, away from the mist. Once Lucas was out of sight the black mist slowly disappeared.

<TAG: Open>

[Ahrima]

1951
Hallways
Meropis

It was all still taking some getting used to. Not just for Ahrima, but for the Tau'ri as well. Being in an entirely new galaxy... in this city itself was quite an experience. They had spent weeks not only settling in, but becoming acquainted with the city, and exploring it bit by bit. Many of the scientists seemed to find it the most blissful experience, intrigued and elated at the most mundane of things. Or at least it appeared mundane. Ahrima simply couldn't see why people would get so excited simple conveniences. Of course, as a Jaffa, her interests generally lay in conquering a physical opponent not technical obstacles and mysteries.

Ahrima carried her tray over towards an empty table and took a seat. She hadn't wanted to infringe upon her Tau'ri colleagues... even though she had grown to enjoy some of their company. She had simply decided to eat her meal and then adjourn to her quarters afterwards. After a few moments, she finally felt hand on her shoulder. "Why don't you join us, Ahrima?" Hearing the voice, Ahrima suddenly felt a chill run down her spine. It was one that she was familiar with, but certainly hadn't expected to hear. The bass of the voice was low and seemed to be projected... just as a Goa'uld would speak in its human host. Her eyes widened at the sound, and then she felt a hand rest upon her shoulder.

Ahrima quickly pushed back from the table and whirled around. The airman that had made the invitation had been one of the few she had sparred with in the gym. Staring at him, Ahrima could see the glow in his eyes. Yet, as quickly as it had been there, the glow faded, and the airman's eyes were just as she had previously remembered. Of course, he held up his hands, clearly concerned and perplexed by Ahrima's abrupt reaction. "Sorry, Ahrima. Didn't mean to startle you," he uttered. Ahrima could feel her heart racing beneath her chest. Much of the commissary seemed to be watching the pair. Ahrima's eyes looked around, and no one else seemed to act as if they had heard or seen what she had. Her eyes returned to the airman and she simply let a long breath escape her lips. "I do not... startle," Ahrima said simply.

The Jaffa then gave one final look around the commissary. Everyone still seemed to be looking in her direction. Ahrima then swallowed and began to step away from the table. "I do not require sustenance at this time. Excuse me," she said as she continued past the airman and into the corridor. As Ahrima moved down along the corridor, she continued to replay what had happened in her head. Had she imagined it? It was the only logical explanation. Surely, no Goa'uld could have infiltrated the Stargate Command and remained incognito for that long. And then, why choose a random airman to infiltrate? The Goa'uld were proud creatures that would choose to infiltrate and replace someone in a more prominent position.

As she moved along the corridors she could hear footfalls approaching. They were heavy, and fast. As soon as the runner came into view, Ahrima quickly recognized him as Colonel Cafferey. Ahrima's brow furrowed. One could have assumed it was part of a training regiment, however, the look on his face hardly hinted at that. "Colonel Cafferey?" Ahrima called out attempting to get the Colonel's attention. "Is there some alert or drill in progress that I am unaware of?"

<TAG: Col. Cafferey>