Getting down to brass tacks?

[wolfcat]

Who: Elizabeth Weir
Where: Admin Building Secure Conference Room
When: Wednesday, June 16th
Invited: Chloe Sullivan, Faith Lehane, Ronald Boone
Status: Incomplete

Comments

[Faith]

[fikgirl]

There was no discussion, just a quick exchange of glances and Chloe entered the room first behind Dr. Weir. It was a split second decision; if there was a trap, they'd spring it, but leave Faith in the hallway outside. Not the greatest choice, but Faith could fight her way into a room where Chloe was safe from a platoon of soldiers a lot more easily than she could out of a room once she was trapped

[Ron]

[tweets]

Ron was no fool, he didn't want to be sat between Faith and the exit. Moving to sit a little away from them, but close enough to the door, he relaxed in the chair. He'd follow Weir's lead in that this was going to be informal, but his eyes took in everything.

He didn't trust these new ladies yet. But he was still learning about them.

Resting a cheek on one fist, he watched as Faith explained. "So, like a homing beacon and auto pilot?" he queried softly.

[Chloe]

[sinanju]

"Not...exactly," Chloe said.

"We've been traveling for some time. Our last trip landed us in hot water, metaphorically speaking. A hostile environment that would have destroyed the ship eventually.

"That's when the autopilot jumped us to a new system," Chloe said. She glanced at Faith, then continued. "Frankly, we had no idea it could do that."

"The system it jumped us to was this one, of course," Chloe continued. "Presumably because the planet has a stargate. It was just blind chance that we stumbled across a colony from Earth. It could just as easily have been an uninhabited system, or occupied by former Goa'uld slaves--or even an active Goa'uld System Lord's forces."

Chloe smiled. "Considering all the possibilities, I think we got lucky."

[Elizabeth]

[wolfcat]

"Sounds like you did," Elizabeth conceded. "So, where exactly were you coming from? Were you on one of the other colonies or...?" It was fairly obvious to her that the girls were from Earth originally. Boone had already confirmed they weren't Goa'uld or Tok'ra. That lessened their threat to a degree -- but not entirely.

If the ship really was Ancient, as it appeared, that meant at least one of them had the Ancient gene. "Where did you get the ship? Who flies it? The autopilot?"

She paused then and laughed ruefully, spreading her hands on the table. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to give you the third degree. I'm just... very curious." There was an openness in her expression and in her tone, though she wasn't at all inclined to give away any 'state secrets', so to speak. Still, to gain trust, one had to give it. At least in small amounts. "It's been a while since we've managed contact with any of the other colonies, so you can understand we'd be anxious for news."

[Chloe]

[sinanju]

"We came from earth," Chloe said. Which garnered every bit as much reaction as she'd anticipated. While Dr. Weir and Boone digested that revelation and tried to decide on a response, Chloe glanced at Faith, but there was no help in her face. She was leaving it to Chloe to decide how much to say.

Chloe decided to trust them. "Not your earth," Chloe said, before Weir or Boone replied, "An earth in a parallel universe. We've visited a number of them over the past few months. Our last skip brought us to yours."

"Only we found ourselves inside a red giant star instead of orbiting earth. That's when we learned that the ship could skip through space as well--not just from one universe to another. The autopilot jumped to this system because there's a stargate here. Presumably we could then use the gate to reach civilization again--or at least that's what the Ancients planned for so long ago."

"So I'm afraid we have no news of other colonies," Chloe said.

[Ron]

[tweets]

~Parallel universe? Lan, is it possible they came from ours?~

~Of the millions of universes, the chances are slim. However, it does sound as if their Earth has links to the Ancients and is free. That leaves it closer to our own universe, even if not our own.~

~Perhaps some of our friends...~

~And what? We can't move to the other universes just to rejoin friends or team mates. We have pledged our lives here.~

~Yes... You... right.~

A light of surprise touched Ron's eyes, but he kept his voice level. He could continue to speculate... but that's all it was, speculation.

"So, Ancient technology is common in your universe? And the Goa'uld are known?"

[Faith]

[fikgirl]

They were tag-team pumping for information. While in other settings, Faith might have been tempted -- 'Kay a little more than tempted -- to let the double-entendre fly out loud, she was old enough, wise enough and tempered enough to know when to ignore those urges

[Ron]

[tweets]

That one was Weir's one to answer.

Although Ron couldn't keep the smile off his lips and out of his eyes as Faith stumbled over the word shit.

He nodded in thanks for her thoughts.

[Elizabeth]

[wolfcat]

As Chloe described the red giant, Elizabeth's eyes closed. For a span of about three heartbeats, a subtle grief played across her features as she worked to school them once more. Yes. She knew that was Earth's eventual fate. But having it actually confirmed... and being cut off from the other colonies... There was no more hiding her head in the sand

[Chloe]

[sinanju]

"I don't know how long we'll be staying," Chloe said. She drew a deep breath before plunging on. "But we might be staying indefinitely. For a couple of reasons."

"First, the--we call it the 'skip drive', the dimensional shift device--is experimental. And buggy. We can't control where it takes us, so there's no going back to any given universe. When we...Cassandra and I, that is--Faith and Xander joined us later--gained access to the lifeboat we were already lost. We had nothing to lose by using it. Xander and Faith's world was coming to an end so they had reason to join us."

"Second, as you guessed that last jump--out of the red giant--does seem to have damaged the skip drive. At the moment it's inoperative and I don't know when or if it'll be usable again.

"Ancient devices are incredibly tough, as I expect you already know," Chloe said. They knew about the stargate network and had access to at least one puddlejumper. "Given enough time, I imagine the lifeboat will repair itself. But that could be a long time."

[Faith]

[fikgirl]

Faith digested what Dr. Weir told them, and what she didn't. It wasn't unexpected. With the military presence they saw around them, the stargate may have been open to "the world," but it was still a locked down and guarded entity. In an unknown universe with a bunch of scared and unsure people, that probably wasn't a bad thing.

Probably a whole shitload of things that the common people don't know about and don't need to, Faith thought. Not like we're all with the total sharing either."I guess that means we're going to be camped out in your backyard for at least the next couple of weeks, probably months," Faith said. "I can see why you'd be twitchy about a strange ship, but I think we're gonna have to reach some kind of understanding if we're gonna have to hang around a while

OOC inspiration!

[starborn_scribe]

I think I've got Will's first major objective defined. Bwahahaha!

[Elizabeth] (Part I)

[wolfcat]

Elizabeth took a moment to digest what both Chloe and Faith had to say. The insight into where they'd come from was helpful, to be sure. And the general message was clear: They didn't really have anywhere else they could go, but they didn't want to be taken advantage of, either. She could understand that.

The question was how to balance it with the needs of the colony. Honestly, though having a second space-worthy ship would be a tremendous asset, if that ship was experimental -- and its drives not working right -- how much of an asset would it really be? Could they afford to let it sit for a while, until its crew felt more comfortable with her people? Likely.

On the other hand, it was experimental... Elizabeth had some experience with experimental Ancient technology -- and just what could go wrong with it. (McKay's solar system fiasco came immediately to mind.) While she didn't expect the hobbled ship to be a huge threat just sat out in a field, she knew there were lots of other things that could possibly go wrong with that

[Elizabeth] (Part II)

[wolfcat]

She leaned forward in her chair, now, resting her hands on the table, fingers laced together. "Would you allow me to at least send one of my people in to try to assess the damage and see what might be done? I'm not asking you to admit a whole diagnostic team at this point, nor am I requesting some sort of continuous or ongoing presence. But, I would like Colonel Carter to take a look at it, if she may. She has a wealth of experience with alien technology, and she's in charge of what few scientific resources we have available. She may be able to help, and at the very least she can assure us that there's no imminent threat there." She made a mental note to ask Jack to send Sam back, if he could, at the next check-in

[Chloe]

[sinanju]

"I don't think we'll have any objection to having your Col. Carter take a look at the ship," Chloe said. "Or to your posting guards around it to keep sightseers at bay." Especially since there are already guards around the ship."But I think perhaps I misspoke," Chloe said. "The...'skip drive' that allows--or allowed--us to jump from one universe to another, or from one system to another, is experimental. The conventional drive is not. It's probably very similar to the drive in your puddlejumper

[Faith]

[fikgirl]

Faith echoed Chloe's work with a nod of her head, "Yeah, that's doable. If we're up and working, it's probably useful to you and us to scope out the planet. The guards aren't a problem, either. But, like Chloe said, we need to run it past our companions."

Likely, there would be no bumps. Living among people in a normal environment -- as opposed to the last earth that was so alien to them it may as well not have been earth -- would be a great escape. People, contact, fresh air, sunshine and maybe real food that wasn't processed stuff.

Organic food without the organic price tag, Faith thought. Yes, the girl from south Boston had been spoiled by Andrew's cooking and shopping style.

It was on the tip of her lips to ask about bars and hot spots, but Faith saved it for the moment. If they were staying for a while, there would be ample time to check out the place.