So Here's The Thing...

Posted on Sun Aug 15th, 2021 @ 6:45pm by Lieutenant Colonel Jonathon Raynor & Master Sergeant Oliver 'Shep' Shepherd & Scarlett Hayes Dr.

Mission: Jumping Right In
Location: Raynor's Office - Level 18 - SGC
1719 words - 3.4 OF Standard Post Measure

IC:

Leaning over his desk, he looked at the monitor which held the date on the shuttles that had come in. He sighed as he looked it all over pondering if this was truly going to be the first mission. But was thrown off when he heard the tapping of foot steps outside his office. He looked up and saw the new arrivals.

"Hey, come in," he waved them in as he leaned on his check and looked at the next screen showing a star map. "How's it going?"

Scarlett’s smile beamed as she walked into Raynor’s office, she was trying her hardest not to bounce up and down for joy at officially being Lucas’ woman. Just being around him made her feel like a giddy little school girl but professional decorum had to be maintained. “It’s going fine Sir, thank you.”

“Actually there’s something curious I wanted to show you both.” She pulled out a note pad. “This pad is from when I was host to Shani, I haven’t touched it in months.” She flipped open a page. “Look at this ...” she pointed to a set of glyphs, “I think this is a gate address.”

Raising an eye brow, John looked over at the pad before looking up at her. "What do you think it means?"

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I have all Shani’s memories in my head but I can’t access them! This must have been important” she flicked through the pages. “Every page has the same set of symbols.”

"Maybe she or he... or it was having a mental break down?" the colonel countered as he tried to wrap his head around the idea of another person in his head, sharing his body.

“I don’t know Colonel” Scarlett shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t even remember writing this, but then it was a stressful time. The best way I can explain it is like being schizophrenic, two personalities in one body sharing the same mind. To be honest it still gives me the creeps.”

Lucas looked over the markings and huffed, he didn’t care much about the fact she had been a To'kra. It was clear she didn't want to talk about it now and he would listen when she was ready, if she ever was. "Those are very much like constellations." He said, having enjoyed stargazing from time to time.

“Constellations ...” Scarlett looked at the drawings. “That’s a possibility, but what constellation?”

"I am not a scientist or astrologist. But they have Leo there for example." He pointed at it.

“So if Shani was drawing a constellation then perhaps she could have been trying to tell us where she needed to be?” Scarlett sighed. “I wish I could remember!”

"Need to be?" He stroked his short beard in thought. His time during treks in the woods with a map got him idea. "You think they are like directions?"he stood up, walked over to a white board and started to write on it. "When you are treating or during survival and have a map. You use points of reference," he paused as he drew a set of random dots. "With these you can navigate and even roughly figure out your position by judging angles." He looked at the symbols and one looked weird, like an A typed by a circle. "No idea what that one is... unless..." he stroked his beard again and placed a dot far away from the others. "Point of origin..." he shrugged. "Nah, that doesn't make any sense." He walked back and sat down in his chair.

“It could be ...” Scarlett nodded. “The Stargate uses a point of origin in it gate addresses, it could be the point of origin of the planet she needed to go to. Maybe she was trying to tell me where to go.” She looked at Jonathon to see what he thought.

"Stargate?" Lucas asked confused.

“Where were you during the briefing?” Scarlett grinned as she looked at Lucas. “It’s the gate we’ll use to travel to our destinations. You’ll see what I mean eventually.”

"I see... I am not much of this high technology stuff." he shrugged, "As to where I was, well... I was distracted a little bit from time to time. Got the most basic stuff."

Scarlett couldn’t help but grin as she looked towards Lucas, her green eyes met his and relayed her amusement at the distracted comment.

"I'm sorry... Do you two need to get a room or something?" John jumped in as he looked between the two. "If so, we may have some issues having you two on the same team. I really don't want to worry about you two acting like rabbits behind some alien tree."

Scarlett looked at Johnathon. “With all due respect Sir, we may be interested in each other but we are both professionals. Our personal and professional lives will be kept separate, that I promise you.”

Lucas was more reserved than Scarlett had been, he felt she didn't need anyone fighting her battles. But he would stand by her. "It very much is like the doctor says, sir."

"Yeah well..." the colonel raised an eye brow as he shook his head and chuckled a little. "...I'll be the judge of that. Just make sure if this little... whatever between you two is serious." He looked up between the two as though they were horny teenagers. In his time as a military person, it wasn't the first time he was in charge of people that were in relationships, but only one other time where people under his command in which were in a relationship. It wasn't always pretty. "...Just remember to get the paperwork taken care of with HR."

Scarlett looked curiously at Lucas. Since when was paperwork necessary for a relationship? She made no further comment.

"Getting back to the topic at hand, the stargate isn't fully operational at the moment. But if you have a gate address, we need to check it out. It only makes best," John announced as he looked at his team.

Scarlett nodded. “Agreed. Call it a dry run on the whole gate travel experience.”

"What kind of weaponry will we need to bring on this dry run? I'll make sure they are in top shape and ready to use."

John raised his eye brow as he thought about that for a moment. "Well all of the weapons are in the armory and the SF are the ones responsible for looking over and preparing the weapons for field work. So I am sure we will be fine."

Lucas chipped in. "With all due respect Colonel, I don't trust anyone but myself to look over my weapon before something as important as this. I have set aside an FN P90 for every member who is rated to use them as the primary tool, each member will have five magazines that I have personally packed, I have even reloaded each bullet myself, inspected each casing, and made sure each has the proper load. Everyone will have an M9 berretta, three magazines for each one. Combat knives are sharpened and inspected. All of the tools are set aside in the main armory." Lucas said, calmly as if what he had said wasn't weird at all.

"What ever floats your boat as long as they are able to do their jobs. You know, that is why they are here," the colonel shrugged as he relaxed and leaned back even as he looked between the personal. "So are you all ready to go through the gate?"

"Yes sir." Lucas said.

"Just yes?" John asked as he looked the enlisted officer over. "I mean come on, the tests are under way to see what we should expect but the damn thing breaks you down, transports your molecules hundreds light years away, and rebuild your body. Kind of messed up if you ask me."

"Yes sir, I don’t make the decisions. I just make them work." Lucas answered flatly.

"Be happy if it put me back together with a little less pounds around the middle." Oliver remarked looking over the board that had been drawn on before taking a sip of his coffee. "If its a new place I hope they like tourists. My time share is up in Spain."

"Everyone, this is Shep, or to you two, Master Sergeant Oliver Shepherd. Not sure if you all already met him. Seems like a sassy little fella," John smirked as he nodded to the new arrival. "I was wandering when you were going to arrive."

"Shep, or Shepherd is fine." He said acknowledging the others in the room. He ignored the little fella comment but would bank it in his memory for later. They were both the same height but he did love a bit of banter from people. Made life a little easier to stomach. "Well, Colonel, British airports are a nightmare... too many people love a good queue but I am here now and ready to see what's really going on." He smirked.

Scarlett offered a warm smile. “I’m Scarlett Hayes, it’s nice to meet you Shepherd. Welcome to the SGC.”

"Pleasures all mine, Ms Hayes." He said with his rough London accent, in his head he was already calling her by the nickname of Red due to her hair colour.

Lucas really like this Master Sergeant. He was 'bubbly' to be a sergeant, he was quite protective of the doctor as well, even if things just got a little more serious between them. He decided not to say anything and kept a stone mask on, not showing any emotion.

Scarlett smiled at Shepard, “Feel free to call me Scarlett when we’re off duty.” She looked to Lucas offering a warmer smile before looking away again.

Shepherd nodded, "Not a problem, love." he said as he waited to see what else the room had to offer. By the looks of things the meeting was coming to a close.

"Looks like this assignment is going to be a blast," Johm remarked. The group continued chatting a bit but soon called it a night and headed to their own quarters. Tomorrow was the big day...

/// OFF ///