Off Island: Meetings

[fikgirl]

Who: Some NPCs
Where: Public Park in Colorado Springs, Colorado
When: Seven months post-crash
Status: Incomplete
Invited: NPCs (Yes, if you ask first, you can claim one of the SG-1 team members

Comments

[NPC Jack]

[fikgirl]

Jack felt like a new man once he was out of his dress blues. There was nothing to compare to a comfortable pair of Dockers, shirt and loafers. He thought about Forrester and Wilson while he changed; both were squirrelly as all hell, and though he didn't know Wilson's story - all Bill revealed to him was that the Brit was coming along for "insurance," which Jack translated as "Forrester won't be comfortable without him there" - he did know Forrester's and he couldn't blame the man.

Back in the day, before the Stargate program, hell even after the brass thought that Jack had blown Ra to hell and a whole planet along with him, the military was convinced that any alien life would be guilty until proven innocent. No visions of Close Encounters of the Third Kind for that bunch. Fox had been on top of the game, spouting the right kind of paranoid rhetoric back then, and he'd given Forrester and his kid hell for it.

But times changed and views changed, and Fox was old school. Problem was the idiot didn't realize that he was a dinosaur, and one who couldn't even get the respect of people like Maybourne and Kinsey, using the term people lightly. He wouldn't work with anyone or anything super secret again, and quite frankly the only interest the Air Force had in Forrester was to learn about his planet and maybe make more allies.

Because when you've got snakes out there, and crazy!Carter replicators, you really couldn't have too many advanced alien allies.

Jack bounded down the stairs, happy to see that everyone was seated. He clapped his hands, announcing his arrival, "Hey kids, how's it going? I miss anything good?"

[NPC Sam]

[lost_mckay]

"Well, yes sir, we do." There were times when habit took over. "Only, out over that expanse of ocean, there aren't any commercial satellites. And," here, Sam smiled disarmingly, "the whales aren't that much of a threat to US security." Take that as one will... "Which is why you having ... whatever it is you have ... is a great help. Would be... a great help."

Jack's return found Sam as she was rising once more to invite Paul into the smaller room off to the side, dedicated to the scientist's computer equipment specific to the job. Never hurt to carry more than what was needed, however. She smiled at him, noting that he'd even forgone the 'standard issue' BDUs in favour of civilian wear. It suited him, even if it did look odd.

"No sir. We were just talking about satellite arrays."

The blonde returned her attention to Paul, her brows rising, her fingers clasping before her ever so briefly before she gestured towards the room. "Shall we?"

The small room was obviously built to be a small spare bedroom. There was a daybed tucked in under the curtained window, and a long run of desk and table along the opposite wall, with decorative shelves further up, hanging above the desk. On that horizontal expanse of desk sat multiple laptops, each heavier than they seemed due to mil specs, and a couple of tablet PCs. There was no identifiers of any 'secret' agency.. no markers, stickers or screen savers bouncing around, announcing their owner was the SGC.

[NPC Paul]

[starborn_scribe]

Paul lost track of time as he and Sam poured over the data. He asked Sam to give him an overview of the data bursts McKay had sent and what they'd extrapolated from them. Sam quickly proved herself to be highly intelligent, patient, and articulate.

Kevin participated in the discussion from time to time. He was well versed in physics -- beyond the level of an average university professor. Paul wondered if the Tomorrow People's ship had provided the advanced concepts. Whatever the reason, Kevin's input was welcome.

Sometime after the sun had set O'Neill and Teal'c entered the small workroom. "So," the general prompted, rocking back on his heels. "Time to round up a posse, or should we order pizza?"

Teal'c cant his head and raised one eyebrow. "A posse, O'Neill?"

Paul grinned, pleased that he was offering explanations for once. "In the 1800's sheriffs -- law enforcement in the American Old West -- would organize mounted search and rescue parties. Posses."

Teal'c frowned thoughtfully. "Mounted?"

"On horseback," Paul supplied. Teal'c nodded. To he and O'Neill Paul added, "I think we should order pizza. Teal'c, do you like pepperoni and pineapple? We could split a pie."

[NPC Sam]

[lost_mckay]

It was easy to lose track of time working and manipulating data. Sam lived and breathed science, taking it to the level of an art form. She could take, extrapolate, and leap to the next level as easily as -- well, even McKay had said she was brilliant, better than he in that she could -feel- it as well as make the technical moves. If there was a problem, she knew it almost instantly, and looked for a way around it; to solve it.

Sam listened to Paul, worked with him, took Kevin's input, discussed potentials, options... and laid a few tantalizing clues as to exactly what she had available to her that wasn't quite... of 'this world'. Sensor arrays that could be keyed to those SGC personnel who had implants, if they could get around the temporal bubble, to be able to either force the island to 'stay still' for a moment, or, conversely, set them to align with their timestream. Neither was easy.

The Daedalus had been called in, now that they were nearer to an answer than not, and Sam had even given Hermiod all the calculations that she had. The two datasets were different, however... the formats slightly off. One, was obvious that it'd been done by McKay's laptop. All the signatures were plain. The other, however, took a bit of translation, and the Asgard was a little tightlipped in regards to exactly what could have been the method of transmission. It had the scientists' signatures, Zelenka and McKay, so.. it could be considered legit.

A couple of times, Jack appeared in the door, bearing coffee. At moments like these, it was pretty much all he could do. He'd learned a long time ago that the way he's the best help is simply to 'be there', and offer coffee. 'Being there' could also mean being in the next room.. and when there was a game on?

It was when he checked in again that Sam had an answer. Unfortunately, it wasn't a 'green light'. Looking up from her multiple displays, she smiled at her friends but shook her head. "No sir. Looks like pizza. We're getting close, though."

She laughed as Paul offered explanation. Welcome to her world.

"Looks like pizza."

[NPC Paul]

[starborn_scribe]

An hour later the five of them were finishing off the last of the pizza. Teal'c and Paul had made short work of the pepperoni pineapple pie. The humans agreed that tropical fruit did not belong on pizza.

Although they did their best to kept the conversation non-technical, eventually Sam and Paul discussed some of the work yet to be done. After they'd decided against running a particularly time-consuming simulation Teal'c turned to the general. "Did you bring your video gaming console, O'Neill?"

The not-very-military-looking general sighed. "'Fraid not. Wish I had."

"I do not wish to watch the 'This Is Spinal Tap' DVD again."

O'Neill's comeback was cut off by Paul's and Kevin's laughter. "How many times have you seen it?" Kevin asked.

"Four times, tops."

Teal'c solemnly shook his head. "Eight."

"I can vouch for that, sir," Carter put in. O'Neill threw his hands up in mock frustration.

Still chuckling, Paul voiced one of the questions that he'd been holding back all afternoon. "How long have you lived on Earth, Teal'c?" The soldiers exchanged wary glances. "I'm curious as to how a Jaffa came to work for the Air Force."

[NPC Carter, O'Neill]

[lost_mckay]

Each took care of their own plates, Sam, O'Neill and Teal'c, putting the paper plates into the garbage, refilling glasses when needed. It had been a comfortable afternoon, pleasant evening with nothing more than work and absolutely no conversations deeper than sports teams and what to do while the colonel was 'doing her thing'.

That question, however, caused Sam to glance back at the general, before she looked down at her glass ever so briefly before raising her eyes again. That one, O'Neill was going to have to field; that is, if Teal'c didn't say anything first...

For the general's part, there was a sort of wariness that come to his face again, a sort of solemn seriousness. If they told how long Teal'c had been with them, there'd be some indication of exactly how long the Stargate program had 'at least' been running. Of course, there was the question as to whether or not he'd admit to Teal'c being Jaffa in the first place.

"Why? Is it important?" O'Neill decided on the casual response, though it was obvious in his eyes that there wouldn't be much more forthcoming. "Let's just say, long enough to know that pizza is the perfect food, and not long enough to understand that fruit just doesn't belong on it."

At least they didn't get a denial that Teal'c was indeed a Jaffa.

The general leaned forward in his seat, his brows rising ever so slightly as his elbows rested on his thighs, his fingers entwined. His voice was quiet, the not-quite-so-much-a-general looking very... superior officer-ish. "We're not here to satisfy curiosity. What we want is what you want-- our people home, your boy home." Straightening again, he canted his head in askance, "'Kay?"

He wasn't about to casually talk about the Stargate Program to anyone on the outside just because of idle, curious questions; not now, not ever. Even if it was his call now, he was making it.

(OOC: I'm horrible at Teal'c...)

[NPC Paul]

[starborn_scribe]

O'Neill's "'Kay?" translated to "Have I made myself clear?"

Paul nodded, disappointed but not surprised. "Yes." It wasn't fair that the soldiers knew more about him than he of them, but since when has the military been fair?

Now that dinner was over there was no point in delaying the inevitable. They needed more data to rescue the survivors from the island, and the only way to get it was with the co-locator. /Kevin?/

/Yes?/ The young man gave no outward indication that he and Paul were 'talking.'

/Would you ask Adam to send the co-locator here?/ Paul left the specifics to the Kevin, confident he'd be discreet. They'd already figured out the logistics in case the device were necessary. Teleportation was an infinitely useful skill.

Kevin asked, /You're sure?/

/There's no other way./ To the soldiers Paul said, "There's not much more we can do with the data McKay sent. We need more precise measurements. The only means we have to do so that's mostly under our control is through my device."

"Mostly?" O'Neill and Sam repeated.

Paul nodded. "The device is a co-locator, one of a pair. Scott has the other one. When activated they create a volume of shared space. That's how we've been communicating."

Sam practically vibrated with curiosity. O'Neill frowned and crossed his arms. For an instant Teal'c almost smiled. O'Neill drawled, "What's the catch?"

"Catch?"

"There's gotta be a catch, or you'd have your kid back."

Paul frowned. "Not just Scott. Everyone." The general huffed impatiently. "There is a catch. The temporal distortion makes the shared space unstable. It collapses after a few minutes. That should be enough time to bring in equipment and sensors." Sam seemed ready to leap to her feet to gather hardware. "But there's another catch. I have to wait for Scott to contact me. Normally we arrange a time to call, but that's no longer possible."

[NPC Carter]

[lost_mckay]

O'Neill kept Sam in the corner of his eye, gauging her reactions. Right now, as far as the scientific bit of it was concerned, she was the canary, so to speak.

The very thought of being able to communicate within a shared spot completely outside the time and space continuum was almost overwhelming. They hadn't been able to figure out a way to consistantly work with 'simple' phasing much less playing with the time stream. What this meant--

The ramifications...

'Vibrating' was a nice, polite way to put it. Her blue eyes shown with keen interest; the entire concept would make her revisit everything from Einstein on up to the Asgard and Ancients as far as time travel was concerned. Sam glanced at the general, a touch of a smile creasing her face, softening only briefly. He'd learned something after all, after all those years of working with her. Normally, he'd give a blank stare and turn to her for a translation.

Now?

"Still.. having something up for a few minutes is remarkable." An understatement from the physicist. "I'd love to know upon what theories it was derived." Assuming, of course, that neither of the men were actually the -creators- of said device. "To make a pocket universe, outside.. in what is essentually null space would take a huge amount of power." After all, she was working on simply bridging alternate universes.. and the mathematics there was, for most, rather daunting. "Where does it draw its power from?" If it was simply a slipstream, she'd...

Sam rose now, simply unable to remain seated at the idea. "We'll need to talk to Daniel... and McKay or Zelenka too. If that's possible." One for a survey of potential resources and a quick situational briefing, the other, well.. for the technical aspects. She'll just have to tell them to focus due to time constraints. With any luck, it'd be something they was working on from the beginning.

[NPC Paul]

[starborn_scribe]

Sam's enthusiasm made Paul grin. Kevin was excited as well, and O'Neill and Teal'c interested. Their benign reactions partially assuaged Paul's worry about revealing the existence of the co-locators to the military. Their strategic value was obvious.

Paul watched Sam pace with nervous energy as he answered her questions. "Ultimately the co-locators are powered by Scott and me. We channel some of our energy into the devices. Some is used immediately; some stored for later use. The co-locators and the field they generate are keyed to us. Only Scott, I, or someone we're touching can enter the shared space." After a moment's hesitation Paul pulled his silver sphere from his pocket. "I'll show you."

"But you said--" The glow and hum of the sphere in Paul's hand made O'Neill stop and stare for a moment. "--that you don't have the co-thingy with you."

"This isn't it." Paul gazed at his sphere as he concentrated. "I'm creating an illusion to show you what it'll be like." A luminescent blue hemisphere approximately a foot across appeared in the middle of the table. Five inch tall likenesses of Kevin, Sam, O'Neill, Teal'c, and Paul stood at the dome's edge. The illusion of Paul took mini-Sam's hand and lead her into the hemisphere. Both disappeared inside.

Paul glanced at his audience to find them nodding, gaping, or both. Since they clearly had gotten the point he closed his hand around his sphere. The illusion vanished as the sphere dimmed and silenced. "Also, we can't pass objects to anyone on the island or vice versa. The two volumes of space aren't meant to coexist. Once Scott and I deactivate the co-locators, they'll revert to their normal state. The effects could be... bad."

[NPC O'Neill]

[fikgirl]

"How do you get your co-locator here?" O'Neill asked. This situation held a certain type of familiarity. The familiarity that came with being setup and playing right into the trap. He didn't think it was a negative sort, no one was going to storm the castle, but there was a definite feeling of "backup plan."

Not that he could blame the alien-energy-but-not-Ascended-supposedly sitting in the room with them, nor could he fault Mr. Mysterious High School, correction "they're called colleges in Britain, sir," teacher because clearly the young man had all sorts of paranoid issues going on. Why, Jack didn't know and Bill hadn't been much on the all-over-with the sharing.

"This is the hard part, Jack."

"Because holding a secret meeting in World Ex's New York headquarters wasn't hard at all?" Jack leaned back in the comfortable leather chair and stared across the desk at the man who had actually been allowed to retire.

Bill leaned forward with a heavy sigh, and Jack almost felt bad for his snark. Bill looked like hell. About the same way that Jack would look if their situations were reversed. The same way Jack knew that he had looked when SG-1 had been missing for days and suspected of being in Ba'al's hands.

"Jack, I need you to trust me one more time. There are some things that I can't tell you about the two men that you're going to meet. They may have some *odd* requests. Please don't pry and respect those requests. In the long run, it's going to be helpful and not harmful."

"You know I can't just take that. I need something more. Give me something to let me know this is going to be all on the up and up." Jack thought for a moment, and narrowed his eyes, "This Kevin Wilson, he's related to that project you were working on those years back, somehow? What exactly was that you were doing again, Bill?"

Bill stared back, "What do you do under that mountain Jack? Really?"

"Point made."

"We have a way," Forrester said slowly.

Jack wasn't surprised.

"How?" Carter asked at once. "You couldn't have been followed? Did you have previous arrangements -"

"Carter." That was all it took to quiet her, to cause her eyes to flicker to Jack's before she settled into resignation. Teal'c communicated a million words with the simple inclination of his head toward Jack.

Jack looked to Forrester curiously, and was surprised when Wilson rose with a polite, quiet, "Excuse me for a bit."

"You do know that FedEx and UPS already did their drop offs today?" Jack asked.

Wilson gave him a smile, but didn't respond to the quip. He nodded toward the stairs, "I'll just be upstairs." He left without waiting for permission.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jack saw Teal'c prepare to rise and gave him a slight shake of his head. Bill damn well better have known what he was talking about. He didn't like not knowing, and he didn't like having to give this much leeway, but if it got Daniel back, and the other survivors, and yes, McKay too, then it would be worth it.

"I don't suppose you're going to volunteer anymore information?" Jack pointedly asked Forrester.

The man smiled tightly, "It's not my information to impart."

"Yeah, kinda figured you were going to say that."

"Sir?"

"We wait, Carter."

Jack could see the wheels in Carter's head spinning, but years of working together meant that she said nothing. Jack leaned back and made a mental note to get Carter to do some extra digging into Bill's old projects when they wrapped this one up.

[NPC Kevin]

[fikgirl]

Kevin hated this. He finally relaxed, mostly, around General O'Neill and Colonel Carter and the fullback alien Teal'c only to have to do this. Bill had assured him that O'Neill wouldn't pry into his means and methods, and it seemed to be the case, but Kevin couldn't quite shake the nervous tension that gripped him.

He closed the bedroom door behind him and gave the room several sweeps for bugs and listening equipment. Kevin wasn't as well trained at it as he would have liked, his insistence on such training had surprised Bill, but he hoped it was good enough.

Kevin perched on the edge of the bed. /Adam, we're ready. I need you to bring the co-locator./

/You really sure about this, Kevin?/

He didn't answer right away. No, he wasn't. Bringing Adam here like this could be bad but it had already been agreed that he wouldn't leave Paul alone with the United States Air Force. /No, not really. But Paul is willing to use it, and he's already shown them how it works. If it gets Megabyte and Ami back -/

/Right then./ Adam cut him off before he could finish. There was only a pause, probably no more than thirty seconds, but it felt like hours before Kevin felt the familiar tingle along his skin and the psychic fizzling awareness of another teleporter approaching.

"Megabyte wouldn't have hesitated, would he?" Adam asked as he held the object out to Kevin.

"Yeah, but Megabyte's not here."

Adam nodded slowly, his eyes tracking around the room. "Bit late to worry about spying devices, I suppose."

"I checked," Kevin shrugged. "Best I could. You still better go. They'll either think I've developed a split personality or that we've been infiltrated."

"Be careful, Kevin." The words lingered as a friendly touch in his mind as Adam disappeared in the same fashion he had appeared.

/You better believe it./

With the co-locator in hand, Kevin returned downstairs to the group. "I got it."

"If we ask how, will you tell us?" O'Neill asked. Kevin could tell that the man already knew the answer.

Kevin shook his head and asked with a wry smile, "Would you believe UPS?"

[NPC Carter]

[lost_mckay]

The display of the small holographic images was fascinating, and even then, she wasn't sure if it was actually a projection outwardly, or .. as odd as it sounds, inwardly. She'd stared both at the presentation where she believed it to be, and the presenters. He didn't have any devices to make the images, so... how...?

Sam wasn't all that happy about her questions being forestalled by Jack, but all she could really say to his warning was a quiet 'Yes sir' before settling in. Still, there was just so much, so many questions left unanswered that would simply lead to wild suppositions if they remained in the realm of the unknown.

Sam resettled herself onto the couch, the pacing not really getting her too far, unfortunately. Every once in a while, in those moments, she glanced back at the general and really got nothing much for her efforts there. He was solid in his decision, and in this area, there was nothing that she could say that could even -begin- to sway him. She knew him well enough, and ... respected him enough to know. She'd just have to ask him later, and for the moment, that was going to have to be good enough.

Kevin's reappearance downstairs brought the soldier and scientist back to her feet, her attention on the man. Glancing towards Jack, there came a slip of a smile.. she'd give him that for the question that she really wanted to ask.. and, of course, get the answer to.

Shaking her head, she looked to the door before looking back. Obviously, she was joking, if only a little. "After what I saw earlier, I'd even believe the Easter Bunny brought it in his basket."

[NPC Paul]

[starborn_scribe]

Paul grinned, "Close, but no cigar." Carter's taut smile didn't reach her eyes. She wasn't amused. Paul decided to not attempt humor for a while. Despite years of living among humans he had difficulty determining when humor was appropriate.

Kevin, who looked decidedly on edge, handed the co-locator to Paul. He accepted it with a verbal thanks. /Please thank Adam for me. I appreciate the chance you both took./ Meanwhile the Air Force soldiers scrutinized the foot-tall device. Its silvery curves returned their distorted reflections.

"That's it?" O'Neill drawled.

Paul nodded. "It is." He set the co-locator down in the middle of the table. The ease with which he lifted it suggested its scant weight. Sam looked ready to lunge at it. "Go ahead," he invited. Paul doubted that any of the soldiers would try to take the device -- at least until their men had been rescued -- and there was little they do to break it.

[NPC Kevin]

[fikgirl]

Kevin sat down, watched Colonel Carter and tried not to notice how Teal'c and O'Neill watched him. Well, they watched both he and Paul, and it was a bit disconcerting at how easily the two managed to divide their attention.

The third time he tried to covertly glance at the other alien in the room out of the corner of his eye, Teal'c caught his gaze and gave him a polite nod. Kevin immediately looked away.

"Oh get on with it already, Carter," O'Neill sounded and felt both amused and exasperated. "He gave you carte blanc to go to your happy place with it." Embarrassment followed those words, and the Not So Usual Air Force General waved at them all, "You know what I mean."

O'Neill checked his watch and added with some urgency, "New episode of The Simpsons tonight, you know?"