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]

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.

"Not in my universe," Faith shook her head, arms folded and crossed over the back of the chair. Chloe had gone for honestly, so Faith would as well. "Never knew anything about any stargates or Goa'uld or any other aliens 'til we met Chloe and -- Cassandra." The brief hesitancy took in the editing out of Daniel, Ami and Jon's names. Faith still thought of the five of them as a collection, because they had all been together when they crashed landed -- literally -- in Faith's backyard in her universe.

"Then again, the stuff that's normal where I come from would give most people nightmares and make them sh-- crap their pants." No elaboration on that point, not yet. Hearing about vampires and demons in a world where they were real could still get a person labeled as a lunatic, at least up until there was no denying the zombie hoardes.

Then it was too late.

Faith shook off the melancholy thought. But if people who had vampires as their next door neighbors couldn't accept it, what would people who probably never had to deal with such a thing think?

"I guess it's possible the stargate existed there too, so you know Ancient tech and Goa'uld too," Faith added as an afterthought. "Didn't exactly research it."

Now, it was their turn. "So what's the sitch with earth? What exactly happened to it? 'Cause I may not be all that schooled in science, but I'm pretty sure the sun's got a few billion years left on its battery before it blows up, especially if y'all are all here and not irradiated or showing some mad mutant powers."

[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.

Thus, when she opened her eyes again there was a sort of resolution in them, even though it didn't directly relate to the two young women sitting across from her. "It's alright," she said quietly in response to Chloe's apology about having no further news. "Even that's something to know for sure."

What might have been fractionally more surprising to those young women was that neither she nor Boone seemed to bat much of an eye at the idea of parallel universes, or Ancient technology that could skip between them. Both had been part of the Stargate program for too long, no doubt.

Elizabeth listened to Boone's question, and Faith's response, before she gave something of a rueful smile. "Less than a handful of years ago," she said, "Earth was attacked. Or rather, our sun was. The Stargate program--" she glanced at Faith particularly-- "if it exists on your world, is probably classified." She glanced at Boone as she chose her next words. Technically, her Earth wasn't his, and she knew it. But, there was no point in telling that to these girls. It was still classified information, after all. "In our world, once we realized that the aliens -- whoever they were; we still don't know -- had accelerated the sun's aging, the Stargate program went public. These lifeboat colonies were planned and populated, though we had hoped they would turn out to only be a precaution, that we'd find a way to reverse the effects on the sun." Her smile twisted slightly, and no doubt the cause of her grief became obvious. She flipped a hand lightly. "Obviously, we weren't able to do that. So, these colonies have effectively become our home, a place to rebuild."

None of that information was classified. Even the school children on Gamma knew it, now. Having given it, however, Elizabeth risked another question or two of the newcomers. "So..." She glanced between the two young women, just to confirm she was understanding them. "You each come from different parallel universes." As they indicated that was correct, she nodded and continued. "If your ship has the ability to jump through time and space..." She canted her head slightly, "how long do you intend on staying? I imagine landing in the middle of a red giant put quite a bit of stress on your systems and hull. Are you looking to make repairs?" Did they even know how to make repairs? She certainly wasn't ready to bet on it. And Sam was off-world... She might need to be recalled, if Jack would spare her. "I'm afraid I'm not sure how much help we'll be on that front."

[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.

"I mean, we could probably fly the ship out, but we don't know jack about the planet and that'd be stupid. Not asking you to trust us one hundred percent and you don't have a good reason to do that. And I don't know that we're ready to let your scientists go salivating all over our ship. Middle ground?"

Faith knew enough to not set the middle ground, also any final agreement would have to be between all four of them. But, if they wanted to stay, they'd have to (mostly) play by Dr. Weir's rules. They could work and earn their own way, just as long as the ship was off limits to the natives.

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 scenario; things she had a responsibility to guard against, if she could.

"I can appreciate you not wanting to have a bunch of scientists..." her lips twitched as she echoed Faith's words, "salivating over your ship -- though they'll do that even from a distance, regardless, I can promise you." She chuckled softly at the mental image. It was almost a shame that Rodney wasn't on Gamma. He'd have jumped at this. But, Sam was there, and she was so much easier to work with. All the brains, all the talent, all the skill; none of the arrogance. God bless her. "We can probably arrange to keep as many away as we can."

Elizabeth's levity was brief, however. Though she still smiled, there was no mistaking the seriousness in her eyes. "But, we need to make sure it's safe. Too, there is the possibility that we can help you with repairs. I've had quite a bit of experience with Ancient technology, myself. And although I'm no engineer and not the one you want poking around anything other than its information systems, if there's one thing I've learned it's that it doesn't always just 'fix itself'. Sometimes it needs help." Unless, of course, the Ancients were experimenting with organic technology like what the Wraith had, though she doubted it. In any case, even the Wraith occasionally needed help to effect repairs. She just really hoped that if the ship really was self-repairing, it wasn't because of replicator nanotechnology. That would not make her happy.

[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.

There were other conditions that came to mind, as well. Elizabeth debated whether to lay them out one at a time, getting the girls' reactions to each individually, or lay them all out at once. Well, most of them, anyway. Given what she'd observed of the temperaments of the two young women before her, she opted to split the difference, with an emphasis on the latter.

Her nose wrinkled faintly. "Just so you know, I am going to have to post some sort of guard around your landing site. This is as much for your protection, as ours." That wry smile returned. "It will help keep unauthorized personnel at bay. But, it isn't meant to impede you personally coming and going." Unless, of course, there ended up being some sort of threat posed by the small refugee crew after all. Elizabeth was really hoping that wouldn't happen. But, she wasn't naive enough to overlook contingency planning... especially since the first thing Jack O'Neill would do upon his arrival back through the gate (once he heard about the newcomers) would be to ensure that there were the right security precautions put in place.

"How does all that sound to you? If we can agree upon this for the moment, perhaps that's enough to go forward with until Colonel Carter has given me a report. Then, we can all sit down and reassess the situation at that point. Does that sound fair?"

[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."

Chloe looked from Dr. Weir to Boone and back again. "So, yeah, jaunting off to other systems to look for more colonies probably isn't a good idea until we can be sure it'll work. But for exploring this system, or simply transporting people or equipment from place to place? It might be more useful than the jumper."

Chloe didn't spell it out, but a lot of it was obvious anyhow. The lifeboat was larger and could transport a lot more people than a jumper. Just in terms of moving people around on Gamma quickly it could be quite valuable.

It also had an actual cargo hold, which the jumper didn't. And an airlock. Which meant you could actually operate in orbit--launching, repairing or retrieving satellites, for instance. She'd leave those points for later.

"We'll have to confer with Cassandra and Xander," Chloe said, "but otherwise, I think we've got a deal."

[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.

[Ron]

[tweets]

Ron moved, with a deep intake of breath, reminding the ladies present that he was still here.

A smile of welcome encompassed the two ladies as he straightened up. "I'll see to it you have tents that you can use for lodgings for the night... then once you're sure of how long you'll be staying we can think of something more or less permanent, depending on how the repairs go.

"In the meantime, there is a small settlement that I'm certain will have rumours going around like a windmill!" he laughed softly "so we will need to get you familiar with the township and where everything is. We do have shops, a restaurant... a bar." He saw a little light in Faith's gaze and knew he'd guessed right. "If you'll permit, Dr Weir? I'll take the ladies back to their ship, so they can talk to the others, then we can move on with preparations for their stay."

[Elizabeth]

[wolfcat]

Elizabeth nodded, rising at Boone's question. "By all means," she smiles. "Feel free to escort them back to their ship, Captain. The only thing I'd ask, though, is that you let me know what your companions say, ladies, and we have one more brief chat before you begin exploring the settlement. There are a couple of other precautions I think we would be wise to take. Nothing serious, just a quick once-over by one of our medical team to ensure you haven't brought any strange or alien bug from your last location through with you."

Fact is, if there was any danger from infectious disease, the damage was probably already done. Elizabeth knew that. But, even so... "It's protocol with any of our off-world teams that they have a brief physical before they rejoin the general population. If you don't have any strenuous objections, I'd like you to submit to the same. But, that's something you can discuss with your shipmates."

She's not going to make or break the deal over this... at least not without a good reason. So, there's certainly a reasonableness in her tone. But, really, it's not that much to ask.

"It's been good to meet you, ladies. I look forward to speaking with you again, soon."

[Chloe]

[sinanju]

"I don't think we'll have any objection to that," Chloe said. "We'll check, but I don't foresee a problem."

The only one Chloe thought might have a problem with it was Cassandra. But nothing she'd seen--and nothing Cassandra had told her--suggested that there was anything to be discovered in a routine physical that would give away her immortality. Cassandra had never said as much, and Chloe wasn't sure she'd ever thought of it that way, but Chloe believed Cassandra's immortality was magical--that there was, in fact, nothing detectable by science to explain it.

And a physical was only reasonable, though Chloe too was aware that if they did have anything communicable, they might already have passed it on to Dr. Weir, Boone, and all the others they'd already interacted with. But verifying their health would be a good way to demonstrate good will--and a clean bill of health would minimize fears of contamination.

Chloe looked forward to exploring the community. She wasn't as eager to find the local watering hole as Faith undoubtedly felt, but it would definitely be one of her stops. The formula for gossip was people plus booze, after all.

OOC

[fikgirl]

And unless there are any objections, that should be a wrap.

Re: OOC

[sinanju]

Works for me!