Episode Three - Extinction

[Hamish Flanagan]

1422
Control Room
Meropis

The screams that grew when the shot had come soaring towards Meropis had been enough to strike sympathy for his fellow personnel. Hamish had been concerned just as much so as the rest of the Meropis team, however, he, unlike many others, couldn't find a way to let a wail escape his lips. Then life bursted into the city. People began to run to their posts; doing all that they could to overcome their concerns and keep themselves busy; desperate to make use of themselves. The sound of General Conway's voice broke through the air, and a remark from Captain Oliver and the Jaffa representative followed in-tow. And then came a loud call to the General from Dr. Glavish. The Chief Medical Officer felt a rush of curiosity pulse through him at the urgency of the doctors words, and he immediately allowed his feet to take him a little closer to where the technician had been operating and beaconing the General from. Just close enough to hear exactly what it was that had been so crucial to be conveyed to their leader.

So, the enemy was trying to hone them? That was alarming, indeed. Dr. Flanagan felt an uneasiness wash over him from his initial thoughts. If the enemy was calling them, then, undoubtedly their general position had been well known enough - and the shot earlier - no doubt, had been a warning from above. A warning that these foreign folk had every capability of eradicating Meropis with their weapons if they so required. Well, at least that was how it had come to appear from a medical mans standpoint. Flanagan had hardly been honed in the technicalities of honing another ship or base - but - in his mind, for that to be the case, the other party had to have a fairly bloody distinct idea of where their point of interest had been located.

And so, for that reason, Hamish finally broke his silence, eyes looking between General Conway and the doctor whom had ever so eagerly wished for a moment with him.
"Forgive me if I'm wrong here, doctor - bu', fer these lads to be callin' Meropis - they must have a pretty bloody clear idea of where we are; if not an exact one.... If we connect communications won' they have a clear indication that we're cloakin' an' know full well that openin' fire on us now will leave us defenceless?" he felt completely out of place and out of line. All such things, most likely already considered, and better yet, understood by the company he had been in. Yet, Hamish felt the need to at least try an make some use of himself - even if he were only pointing out the obvious. "Maybe i's time fer shields.... Tha's all I'm sayin'." he smiled uneasily, before a voice came through his earpiece.

"Dr. Flanagan, we have a member of the personnel in the infirmary. They suffered a panic attack during the initial enemy shot fired. I think we have her under control, but I'd prefer if you checked her out when you get the chance. Not crucial. Just a caution, sir."

Tapping his comm in, Hamish gave an understanding, "Aye" he knew well enough that his team took precautions just as much as he did, "I'll be down as soon as I get a chance, love. Thank ye'." though his eyes had flashed away from Conway and Glavish for a moment, they had returned just as fast; watching, waiting and desperately hoping for Conway to make his next move for the well-being of Meropis.

<TAG ALL/GEN. CONWAY/DR. GLAVISH>

[Chicago "Roo" Eastlyn]

1423
Control Room
Meropis

The scream of the weapon coming towards them had been disconcerting, sure - but it hadn't necessarily been unexpected, right? It appeared to be either a warning shot, or like another Captain had pointed out, a feeler shot which honestly - it made sense. Didn't make it any easier to bear for some, but it helped her if even a little, and she had never been one to back down or run scared easily.

Chicago remained in her place, absorbing everything that was happening around her, listening to other people speak and taking it all in. "They poke the brush to see what lies within," Ahrima said aloud, "predator or prey." Roo fully understood the concept, but couldn't help but think that maybe next time they were "poking" it'd be better for everybody all round if the poked with something a little less...deadly.

When the doctor at one of the screens piped up, Chicago strode over and stood behind his chair, leaning slightly to study the screen. "Forgive me if I'm wrong here, doctor - bu', fer these lads to be callin' Meropis - they must have a pretty bloody clear idea of where we are; if not an exact one.... If we connect communications won' they have a clear indication that we're cloakin' an' know full well that openin' fire on us now will leave us defenceless?" She shook her head slightly then, turning slightly to see the CMO better, and made sure her tone was calm - she had no desire to cause any kind of unnecessary internal arguments when they already quite evidently had their hands full. "Turnin' it into something we can understand doesn't require us to pick up their call on our private line, so to speak." The captain was suddenly rather glad of the experience she had in communications mixed with her experience as a Stargate Team Member. Certainly made it easier to try and clear up things for people when they needed it. "Like the doc said, it's a looping broadcast - it'll be playin' on any frequency they got available to 'em, and we've obviously picked up one of 'em. As of right this second, we have no need to open up a direct channel of communication with them and therefore give away our position or clue them into anythin' we've got going on over here. Evidently they know someone is here, they might even have a general idea of where we could be based on that shot just now, but they don't know exactly where we are yet and that's somethin'." Always look on the bright side of life...right?

<Tag: Hamish/Control Room dudes and dudettes>

[Deleted]

1426
Chair Room
Meropis

Achilles quickly made his way to the chair room and sat in the control chair while everyone else was running around preparing for battle. Once he sat down, the chair reclined and activated as normal. Achilles hated this part. even though he was really good at controlling the chair, he much much preferred the head of hand to hand combat and close-quarters-combat. Oh how he longed for boarding actions.
"Chair, control." Achilles spoke into his radio. "Con here." The NCO at the control room's communications station said into the radio. "Chair active, drones charging. Let me know when and I'll light them up."

<Tag All>

[John Callaghan]

1431
Meropis Gate room
Meropis

Just before John had returned to the Gate room, with a dozen Marines following him, a loud blast was heard. While John did not see it, he knew that it could only mean one thing: A fight was going to happen. He did not know how long they had, nor what had actually transpired. He just heard the Civvies screaming and shouting. HE kept his cool, and proceeded to the Gate room where he saw the commotion. Apparently the Alien object had fired a blast at the nearby forest. He told the Marines to stay put in the Gate room, while John proceeded to Gate Ops.

Arriving there a minute later, John looked at the General and asked "The Marines are ready... Your orders, sir?"

[Jason Conway]

1431
Control Room
Meropis

Jason toyed with several options in his mind, he felt like he should have been shuffling a casino chip along his fingers, bluffing his opponent or otherwise outsmarting them. His thoughts couldn't have been summed up better when one of the Captains spoke, "I think they want to play 'Battleship', sir." Who was that? Ah yes, Oliver, the man who he and the executive officer had selected for team two when they got up and running. Battleship, a good analogy. Perhaps it was all a game, and perhaps it was Jason's turn to play then. He turned to the senior officers in the room waiting for his orders,
"Captains... On my mark, launch Jumper's two and three. Get the ancient chair online, I want the drones ready. And send the marines out with the heavy weapons on the balconies, if our last encounter was anything to go by we might be facing a little air support from our new friends." Turning to the team in the control he added, "I also need to know if there have been any subspace transmissions detected from that ship, is it alone or has it communicated with others elsewhere in the galaxy?" He nodded as the men saluted acknowledgement of the orders, he trusted them to deal with the finer points of the battle plan and further trusted them to knew what he meant by "mark". His final move was to turn to Doctor's Black and Banks at the ancient console to his left and, making sure he raised his voice so that everyone in the control room could hear him, he issued the order, perhaps a little bit emphatically.
"When I say, and NOT until I say, switch from cloak to shields. If they are probing us after our last encounter it's a good chance they know why we were here. Well, let's show them that we got here first, that this city is ours, and that  you can be damn sure that we armed. Let us send a clear message to the occupants of this galaxy, a message that if you bark at us, we will bite back twice as fierce." He rested a hand on Dr. Black's soldier, half to round off his point but half to help ease the anxiety he knew these orders would create. He had the past five minutes to consider his options and right now, this seemed like a strong option A.

His attention was caught amid the blur of activity as one of the technicians called him over, clearing making some sort of break-through on the situation. He noticed Captain Eastlyn stood over the console, contributing her two cents to the latest development. "Like the doc said, it's a looping broadcast - it'll be playin' on any frequency they got available to 'em, and we've obviously picked up one of 'em. As of right this second, we have no need to open up a direct channel of communication with them
..." Right, so it was a looping broadcast. Conway watched, an internal smile, as his talented and handpicked crew deciphered the looping broadcast. He watched as the team worked together, looping and re-looping the broadcast through various programs. The audio started to come through the speakers, crackley and distorted. The team frowned and struggle to interpret the words, it seemed like they had jumped in mid-sentence.
"-paradothoún. Ypotachthei ti̱ dýnami̱ ti̱s LARAN! Xéroume óti o prógonos ti̱s póli̱s eínai edó̱... Échoume to éna ti̱s fylí̱s sas... Paradothoún kai tha deíte to éleos tou Theoú sas. Apsi̱foún mas kai tha chatheí... tha sas-"
An image appeared on the screens, blurry and distorted at first. Then it clarified... To the General's horror, the team in the control room were confronted with the face of their enemy, brutally spitting it's demands into whatever device it was they had used as a camera...

<Tag All>

[Plot Twist]

1431
Unknown Alien Vessel
Meropis Orbit

The creature snarled as it entered the final commands into the device, the red light confirming that the broadcast was now active and looping. It yelled it's orders in the alien dialect, a deep snarling voice that seemed wrapped in venom and anger.
"-paradothoún. Ypotachthei ti̱ dýnami̱ ti̱s LARAN! Xéroume óti o prógonos ti̱s póli̱s eínai edó̱... Échoume to éna ti̱s fylí̱s sas... Paradothoún kai tha deíte to éleos tou Theoú sas. Apsi̱foún mas kai tha chatheí... tha sas-"
An image appeared on the screens, blurry and distorted at first. Then it clarified... To General Conway's horror, the team in the control room were confronted with the face of their enemy, brutally spitting it's demands into whatever device it was they had used as a camera...




<Tag All>

[John Callaghan]

1431
Control Room
Meropis

John looked at the General, as he gave the order to launch the Puddle Jumpers on the man's mark. By god, he hoped that the man was talking to the two other Captains, because John knew that in order to fly a Jumper, one needed the ATA Gene.... Something he did not possess. "sir... I... Cannot fly a Jumper, so I'll be out on the balcony there with the railguns.

Having said that, he walked out of the Control Room, and slung his rifle on his back, before he motioned for the Marines to follow him. A minute later, he was on the balcony, and he was looking at the controls of the Railgun. He looked around to see several others, all of them now manned by the Marines. There were still a few guys here and there, but he knew they'd be ready, should the aliens attack.

[Hamish Flanagan]

1431
Control Room
Meropis

As he had expected, Hamish found himself corrected on his knowledge of the communications. He offered Major Eastlyn a thankful smile and nodded his head. "Aye. My mistake." he responded, before giving an apologetic nod to the gentleman who had called upon the General to hear him out. No less, Hamish knew well enough that his uses in the control room were limited. He needed to get himself somewhere he knew his skills would pose much more useful. Allowing his feet to take him through the gathered crowd, which, thankfully, had now died down with the need for personnel to distribute themselves about the city. Though, the CMO stopped when the sound of the enemy broadcast bursted into the room. His neck craned back around and his eyes caught sight of the creature that sat on screen. A pale grey-skinned, no-haired, teeth baring demon-like alien stared down upon them all. The doctor felt his knees buckle for just a moment as the fear struck him. An uneasiness stung at him, and he knew without a doubt, they had their hands full with whatever it was that this being was going to throw at them.

There was no doubt in his mind now - seeing this alien - that there would be no friendliness exchanged between his own people and theres. Anger plagued his every word as he, what seemed like, demanded the Meropis personnel of something. Hatred lingered in his eyes. A lust for blood and power in his gestures. It truly had been quite unlike anything Dr. Flanagan had ever seen before in his time with Stargate Command, or more-again, with the Meropis expedition. Under his breath he felt himself speak, "God help us...." something he knew only he would have heard, especially with the demands of the creature blaring out over all the other quiet voices in the control room.


1433
Infirmary
Meropis

Quickly, the doctor hastened in his intent, heading quickly through the people he still had to clear and out of the control room. His feet moved rapidly as he made for the infirmary, his eyes catching his staff as he entered.
"Girls an' boys, le's get this place ready fer the worst. I need a medical kit prepped pronto! I'm gonna' stay out there with our lads and lasses servin' ta' protec' this city. An' I wanna' have everythin' I need ta' patch 'em up if it comes ta' that." his intentions were fuelled by the face of the enemy that continued to rattle him. He was not going to let anyone in Meropis die at the hands of this, what seemed like, violent creature. Not today, not tomorrow.... Not as long as it's race dared to push Meropis into a corner.

The CMO watched as one of his staff ran off to retrieve a medical kit and set it up with as much of the infirmary as it could fit within it. Then, finally, she moved back towards the doctor as he examined the member of personnel that had suffered a panic attack earlier. Thankfully, she had been fine and Dr. Flanagan had been more than comfortable in relieving her from her rest period in the infirmary, giving her the go-ahead to go back and help out those that would soon, undoubtedly need it.

Turning his attention back to the doctor he'd set out in retrieving his medical kit, Dr. Flanagan took the kit and slung it over his shoulders, fastening the straps so that it clung to his body. "Thank ye' love." he offered her honestly. "Ya' got the charge here 'til I get back, dear. Keep a clear head an' make sure ya' call me if ya' need a hand with anythin' at all. I'll be back here as soon as I can." he gave the medical team member a reassuring hand on the shoulder, clearly seeing the uneasiness in the woman in front of him. "You'll be fine, lovely. I promise." his words were full of confidence, and the smile he offered her added to his faith in her.

<TAG ALL>

[Jacob "Jake" Oliver]

1431
Control Room
Meropis

Captain Oliver stood by the General, his eyes fixated on the personnel that continued to spring to life; each and every member doing their own thing and playing their own crucial part in the defence of the city. His attention had been predominantly with the broadcast which had began to loop - over and over it played - though, it had been nothing he could ever dream of making sense of. No less, he payed it the utmost attention as if he were trying to decode it the same as the programs tech's were running would have been. However, when General Conway called out to the Captain's in the room, Jake's eyes snapped quickly from the personnel to the General himself. With a respectful nod of his head, the Captain allowed his eyes to move towards Callaghan, his C.O. When the team leader acknowledged his inability to pilot a jumper to the General, Oliver allowed himself to relieve his superior of the responsibility.
"I'll take care of the Jumpers, General." he spoke firmly, allowing himself to look over at Callaghan and gave his leader a smile. Allowing himself to hasten towards the exit, the Captain stopped at Callaghan's side. "I'll see you when I get back, sir. You've more than got this covered. You're starting to make the rest of us look bad." he chuckled with a wink. He had immense respect for Callaghan, and knew well enough that the man had great ability as a soldier and a leader. No less, he also knew, as an airforce recruit to the expedition, Jake himself would pose much more useful in the skies.

Giving his C.O a reassuring pat on the back before he headed for the Jumper Bay, Captain Oliver stopped for just long enough to turn his eyes to see the enemy on screen. He narrowed his gaze, studying the demanding creature displaying on screen. Despite having faced some pretty intense creatures in his time with the SGC, whatever this was, it had been something which had him reconsider what it was that he and his fellow armed soldiers were going to be facing both on base and in the sky. Regardless, it had done anything but dishearten him. In fact, it had strengthened his want to deflect their enemies attack. To wipe the sheer confidence and arrogance that lingered within, whoever it was, completely away.

1433
Jumper Bay
Meropis

Breaking into a slight jog, the Captain made his way through the halls and down into the jumper bay, manning the controls of puddle jumper two. Sitting himself down in the seat, the Captain tapped his comm. "General Conway, this is Captain Oliver in Jumper Two. Ready to go on your mark. Jumper three is awaiting the same orders, sir." he allowed his eyes to drift over to one other member of the expedition who sat beside him, giving the man a smile. "I hope this flies something like what we had in Afghanistan." he joked, watching as the tech had a flash of concern on his features.
"Relax. We've got this." Oliver reassured, giving him a open hand pat on the chest, before shutting the jumper door behind them, readying the ancient craft for Conway's orders.

<TAG GEN. CONWAY/CAP. CALLAGHAN/ ALL>

[Michael Black]

1433
Control Room
Meropis
[Joint Post with the General]

Doctor Black frowned as the broadcast looped over and over again. He tried to focus his attention entirely on the controls in front of him, partly out of professional curiosity but mostly to prevent him looking up at the overhead screens depicting the alien's face. He had been briefed to expect strange new life in a distant galaxy but now that the time had come, he would admit to himself that he was terrified. He glanced down at the terminal beside him and noticed that the technician had already attempted to run it through the system, no matches. Michael took a moment to reflect on the current situation, well they obviously had an idea of where on the planet the ancient city-ship was and they obviously knew it was occupied. What else? They surely didn't know it's exact location or they would have landed and invaded? Why the orbital bombardment then the looping message? He started to pick up certain words... Then it hit him.
"Sir! I think this might be some sort of very crude version of Ancient Greek, I can understand certain words here and there. And if I'm right Laran was the name of that charming young fellow we met five weeks ago aboard the Sun Tzu?" He concentrated and allowed the broadcast to play through entirely.
"-paradothoún. Ypotachthei ti̱ dýnami̱ ti̱s LARAN!" Clicking his fingers next to his ear somehow helped spark his brain into gear, "Surrender, bow to strength of Laran." His brow furrowed, this was hard work, they had truly butchered what he considered to be a beautiful language, "Xéroume óti o prógonos ti̱s póli̱s eínai edó̱..." "Know, you may, the mercy of the Gods" All those hours of self-taught study were paying off... "Échoume to éna ti̱s fylí̱s sas..." Michael gulped and let the alien speech continue. With a slightly pale looking complexion he turned to the rest of the room, who had all stopped expectant of the translation. He gave it to them all at once...
"Bow to the strength of Laran and you will know the mercy of the Gods. We know the location of the ancestor city. We have the knowledge of one of your own. You will surrender."
The control room fell silent. Nothing needed to be said as it was now very clear what the situation in hand meant. The expedition leader took a deep breath in, and broke the silence with three simple words. Three words that were the signal everyone had been waiting for.
"Raise the shield." Doctors Black and Pandora nodded, tapping away at an incredible words per minute speed into the laptops interfaced with the ancient consoles. The cloak fell almost instantly as the glowing sunset colored shield rose from the ground at the edge of each pier up toward the central spire. Doctor Black would have taken a moment to glance out over the balcony in awe of the wonders of ancient technology but the moment had once again been ruined by their new enemy. He noticed blips appearing on the screen in front of him,
"Oh no..." He muttered, mostly to himself. Another technician across the control had evidently picked up on the same readings.
"Sir, the enemy vessel has launched some sort of fighter. Multiple signatures heading our way."
The General glanced at the technician, at Doctor Black and back at the looping image of the grey-skinned beast that had hailed them.
"So it begins." He said, audibly enough for the rest of the control room to hear him. He tapped his ear piece to open the challenge to all captains. In his mind hoping the team in the Jumper bay, the marines on the balconies and Achilles in the drone chair all knew the plan. As if the shield being raised wasn't enough... "We've got incoming, battle stations all. Lets show them what Earth does to false Gods." Doctor Black clenched his fists on the desk in front of him and bit his lower lip. Now it was zero hour, time to see what this old city-ship could do.

<Tag All>

[Clarence J. Smith]

1433
Control Room
Meropis


As he heard the loop repeat over and over again he began to smirk, he had heard of several gods that ruled over the Milkyway. Thought they aren't around anymore mostly because of the actions of the SGC the same group stationed on this base. He began to laugh to himself softly, it was a appropriate laugh for someone in with his demeanor. As he looked the man on the screen over, his smirk widened 'He even looks like a barbarian' he thought to himself. "Isn't Laran a god of war, or something along those lines" he said looking at Dr.Black almost waiting for his response. Though I guess it doesn't really matter, there are few ways to deal with barbarians like him he adds before Dr.Black could responded. He then turned his attention towards the woman he had exchanged works with just moments earlier "It has seemed that you have foreshadowed the appropriate response to this," he says to her "For the best way to deal with such barbarians is quite simple" he adds as he turns his attention back at the screen.

<Tag All>

[Chicago "Roo" Eastlyn]

1431
Meropis City
Control Room

Roo saw the Dr Flanagan's thankful smile and returned it with a friendly one of her own. She knew what it was like for people to not explain things to you, and sometimes even when they did, they weren't very nice about it.

General Conway had given the order to ready the puddle jumpers, which she intended to do - unsure as to how the existing tech's would take her trying to butt in to what they were doing - but in the end, she would do whatever needed to be done. Chicago had been halfway to the jumper bay to join Callaghan when she heard the transmission start to trickle through their speakers. Lord save us all.. Flicking her eyes around to the people left in the room, she didn't stay more than a second longer before picking up her pace from a job to a run and double timing it to the puddle jumpers.

1433
Jumper Bay

Running into the bay and seeing Jumper Two ready for action, she quickly boarded Jumper Three and wasted no time in getting situated, glad of the fact that it was pretty much ready to go thanks to her co-pilot already sitting in the seat next to her when she arrived. "All systems are operational, ma'am and weapons are online." Roo nodded her thanks and rolled her shoulders as she settled in her chair. "Captain Eastlyn in Jumper Three," she spoke, having switched over to the channel that the Control Room was using to communicate with everybody. "All systems are green and we are ready to go."

The cloak shimmered as it disappeared and the shields came up in its place. "We've got incoming, battle stations all. Lets show them what Earth does to false Gods." Chicago turned to face her co-pilot, "Ready to rock and roll?" and smirked when he nodded "Yes ma'am."
"Let's do it then." Resting her hands on the interface, Chicago thought about raising the cloak and watched the affirmative message pop up on the heads up display. It wasn't much but it'd help. "Jumper Three to Two - Oliver, ready to show 'em what we think?"

<tag: Oliver/All>

[Jacob "Jake" Oliver]

1433
Meropis
Jumper Bay

Hands steadily set atop the interface, Captain Oliver offered the tech in the seat besides him once more as he ran through some of the technicalities of the jumper. While Jake hadn't been completely certain of the tech's know-how of flying a jumper, he knew well enough that the gentleman to his side would pose extremely useful if all went to hell and they needed to channel or redirect power to certain systems in the jumper itself. And that, without a doubt, was something the Captain was greatly thankful for.
"You ever been in a firefight in one of these, buddy?" he asked with a cock of his brow, his eyes once more studying the screens popping up before him.

"No Captain. I'm afraid I haven't." there was a slight tremble in his voice; one that the Captain understood completely.

"You got a name? Last thing I wanna do is have to call you tech-guy while we're out there." Oliver smirked, giving the man a wink.

"I'm Harrison." the tech offered back with a slight, yet nervous, smile.

"Well Harrison, we're gonna have some fun. You just sit back and relax and hopefully this will all go ahead a-okay." the Captain smiled giving him a nod before getting up the cloaking screen, readying to head out of the Jumper Bay. Then came Conway's voice over the comm's. It had been clear. It was time to throw everything Meropis had at these evil buggers. And God knew that with Roo and Oliver piloting the Jumpers, these sinister folks were in for a bumpy damn ride.

Hearing Jumper Three hone him, Oliver tapped back into comms and gave a cheerful greeting, "Jumper Two to Three, Oliver here - let's give 'em some hell, Captain." he flashed Harrison a smile, before his eyes found themselves looking back out the viewing window before them, as he did, tending to some of the controls on the Jumper to drop down some of the pop up screens which had been blocking his view to a degree.

It was go time.

<TAG CAP. Chicago Eastlyn/All>

[John Callaghan]

1435
Meropis Balcony

Captain Callaghan had barely set up the lot of Marines when there were fighters reported. John quickly got on one of the railguns, and aimed it at the sky. He could see several hostiles on the screen. He put on his game face, and shouted "Okay, Gentlemen. You wait for a firing solution. I do not want you to 'eyeball it', as that will get us all killed. You got me?". While he was sure the others heard him, they only replied in low voices. John took this as a sign. How he remembered his first taste of combat. A part of him wanted to call them 'boots', though, as a man of his former command would call them.

John snapped out of it, and turned back to his railgun. He entered a few things, and then heard a beeping sound, meaning that he had a firing solution for one of the enemy fighters. Okay, boys... Light 'em up, he shouted as he hit the fire button. An instant later, the sky was filled with bursts of projectiles coming from the railguns.

[Hamish Flanagan]

1435
Control Room
Meropis

Dr. Flanagan had been racing through the hallways to get back to the control room; his field medical kit strung over his back as he moved through the masses whom had now dispersed from the control room and into the halls and beyond, in order to get to their positions for combat. Though, for Dr. Flanagan, the control room would be his best bet to position himself; at least until he got any calls for medical assistance from the personnel. In the forefront on his mind, he hoped that he would receive none - but deep within his stomach - he felt as though his hopes would be outweighed by the reality of things.
No less, when he finally arrived back at the control room, breaking up a slight sweat, the CMO moved towards the General; his eyes scanning the mans arm, recalling the wound he had sustained some time ago.

His ears perked up when the sound of railgun fire rattled through the air; the tremendous thundering of their firepower something that never failed to strike a sense of uneasiness into the doctor.
"I'm takin' that barrage o' fire as a commencement of combat then?" the doctor spoke rhetorically to the General, with a half smile. And just when he thought heading to the infirmary would mean that he would hardly miss a thing. Meropis never seized to amaze.
The doctors eyes remained on the man on screen, and he read and listened to the looping decryption of what was being said by their enemy. He swallowed a lump in his throat when he'd finished. There was no doubt now; this would end in bloodshed. Hamish only hoped there would be a limited amount on their side.

Blinking back to reality, the doctor turned to the General and allowed his voice to receive some positivity and calmness once more; something he had to summon from the deepest depths of himself, given the circumstances.
"Perhaps not quite the time for a check up, General, bu' ya' arm, sir? Is it feelin' a'righ'?" he'd hoped to take the General's mind at least to some degree off of the chaos that was about to come upon them; not to mention ensure that Conway was healing up as the CMO had hoped. More again, he had hoped to take his own mind off of the battle ensuing as well. Because, for the moment, the two of them were in some regards, onlookers to the rest of Meropis. Members of the team whom simply needed to watch, wait and orchestrate whilst everyone else played their own crucial parts in the defence of the city. And thus, lingering in the little that they could do for the moment would hardly do either of them any good.

Soon they'd be back in the game. Lads keen and ready to do their own part once more to benefit the defence of Meropis, and the wellbeing of it's inhabitants.

<TAG GEN. Conway / All>