KG6 - And Now The Bad News - [Carter]
Dave K.
Colonel Samantha Carter looked around the small officer’s mess and sighed, softly. Not very many people had made it. But maybe they didn’t need many. She held out hope that this would still be quickly solved, but six hours had yielded nothing, and now they were on their way to their best offworld bet—the Alpha Site.
“Welcome to the King George VI, everyone. I wish you could be getting acquainted with the ship under different circumstances, but I believe you’ve all been with the program long enough to know how things go. Thank you for responding to our calls and—other than Sergeant Malone—being punctual for your pickups. I understand Sergeant Malone just had to have some doughtnuts, so I hope he remembered to bring enough for everyone.” She flashed a tight smile to the room, unsure of exactly who Malone was. In fact, most of the faces before her were strangers, a testament to how focused she had been the past several years.
“Around 2100 hours last night local time, a team at the SGC began an experiment that seems to have gone very, very wrong. I was coordinating with them on orbital sensor readings as they began the experiment, and shortly after they switched on a device in one of the xeno systems labs, we abruptly lost contact with them and anyone else inside the mountain.” She looked around for a moment and let that sink in. “SFs were immediately dispatched from the surface to try to gain access, but every access point was blocked by some kind of impenetrable wall. Teams at this time are still trying to gain access, but so far they have not been able to breach the wall. Sensor readings indicate it is not thick, but that that is only an indication, not a reliable finding.
“The obvious and early hypothesis is that the device—which we thought was supposed to act as a simple cloaking device—is instead some kind of advanced shield generator. The very obvious concern is that the people inside the mountain cannot help but have noticed that they are also cut off and have been incapable of turn it off, one way or another.”
She looked around the small room again. Everyone had their eyes on her, and she wished she could have more of General Hammond’s presence when it came to reassuring the troops. But maybe she would get there, sooner or later.
“Calculations of the shield’s possible size indicate that the gateroom is likely within the bubble—assuming it is spherical which early measurements bear out—and given the nature of the wormhole created by the gate network, I believe we can reconnect to the SGC through a friendly gate. To that end, we’re making fastest possible travel to the Alpha Site with supplies for both them and the SGC should we be able to reach them through the Alpha Site’s gate.
“If the SGC is not accessible…” She forced a little smile. “Well, that’s one of the reasons we brought you all along. In the meantime, you here will comprise the landing party at the Alpha Site. Captain Serra, as the ranking field team member present will be in command and Lieutenant Carson will be her second in command. You’ll deliver supplies and render any assistance the Alpha Site may need, then dial up the SGC and see if you can get through. It could be, by the time we get there, that the barrier will be down on Earth and this will all be a fun little training exercise.”
She looked around one more time. “But I urge you to treat this as if it is real, as if we represent the only link between the SGC and the rest of the universe. Now, any questions?”
Col. Samantha Carter
SG1
Hilary Doda
Alyssa swallowed hard against the rising panic that the Colonel's words
fired up. For an instant, just one, she was back on Alpha, the comms
were jammed, the ship was descending overhead-
She bumped the knee beside hers - Billy Ray - he was there. He hadn't
been on Alpha. Buzz was on her other side. He hadn't been there either.
She was okay. She would be okay.
She'd just missed the last couple of things that had been said. Alyssa
frowned, took a deep, steadying breath, and leaned forward to try and
focus herself.
They were being sent back to Alpha. The panic rose up again and this
time Alyssa stepped on it firmly. This would be the new Alpha, not the
one that had been her home for a year, and was now a radioactive
wasteland littered with drone corpses and rubble. Not the same one.
"Any questions?"
The Colonel was waiting, and Alyssa itched. There were way too many
people here who way outranked her, but they weren't saying anything, so-
"Ma'am?" Alyssa began, waiting for the nod of acknowledgement before she
continued on. "How much do we know about the nature of the shield
itself? The gate's had problems connecting before, when the wormhole's
tried to pass through things it's not supposed to. What are the chances
that they'll interact... badly?"
/Oh, swift. Real intelligent, Howard. 'Badly.' Way to impress./
SSGt Alyssa Howard
Missile and Space Systems Electronics Specialist
Temporary Assignment: King George VI