You are Major General James Harrison. Your father wanted you to become a politician like him, but instead you stuck with the military and now lead a top secret project for the US Space Force.
Manage the Stargate Program and defend Earth against the dangers of the galaxy and the tyrants that rule over it.
The phrase "hurry up and wait" was widely known in the military for a reason, but this was getting ridiculous. You had been urgently called to Washington, rushed with a helicopter from Andrews to the Pentagon, just to sit in a blank room for three hours. Then some harried looking Corporal came in, handed you a deployment order and told you that you would be briefed in the plane before running off again. So, back to Andrews AFB it was and an hour later, you were ushered into the cargo hold of a C-130 heading for Colorado of all places.
You had already been expecting to be left sitting there for another few hours without much information and just the drone of the engines for company. The deployment order itself was far from enlightening. You were to report to Peterson Space Force Base. No mention of to whom or what for, just the location. You were also getting promoted for the duration of your command, and they had unceremoniously stuffed your two new starts into the same manila envelope the order came in. Quite a breach of protocol, but you weren't going to complain about an unexpected promotion.
You were now Major General…
[] [Name] Write-In Name James Harrison
… which had been a long way from your background as …
[] [Background] … Special Forces Operative. You had been involved in quite a few fights over the years, more than a few of which clandestine in nature. Increase personal Combat and Stealth. Trait helps to keep discipline and training your soldiers for combat.
[] [Background] … Military Attaché. You had been stationed in embassies around the world, working with and advising the militaries of Americas allies and other friendly governments. Increase personal Diplomacy and Awareness. Trait helps when setting up military cooperation's with alien governments.
[] [Background] … DARPA Liaison. You have been working with the military-industrial complex and learned a lot about both procurement and various experimental technologies over the years. Increase personal Diplomacy, Engineering and Physics. Trait can help with procurement of experimental equipment.
[] [Background] … son of a political dynasty.
You had only joined the military because it would look good on your resume, but kept sticking with it instead of following your father into Congress. Increase personal Diplomacy. Gain additional Trait "Connections in Washington", which can be called upon to resolve political situations in your favour.
It seemed almost as if that would be everything that the Pentagon would let you know until you arrived in Colorado Springs, but shortly after taking off, a young woman in Air Force dress uniform came from the cockpit. She gave a sharp salute. "General, it's a pleasure to meet you and I would like to apologise for the chaos. The Joint Chiefs of Staff were debating your posting until an hour ago and then told us to immediately bring you to the installation. I'm Captain Samantha Carter and here to brief you on Project Lodestone."
"At ease, Captain," you replied while taking the folder she offered you, stamped with 'Top Secret Lodestone' in bold letters. Opening it, the first page was dominated by the drawing of ring with strange symbols on the rim. "What am I seeing here?
"This device is called a Stargate. It was found in 1943 during an archaeological dig in Egypt and brought to the US, where it was seized by the US army. It was analysed on and off for decades until it was successfully activated the first time as part of Air Force project 'Lodestone' two years ago. We established a connection to another Stargate on an alien planet called Abydos and under orders of Major General West, a reconnaissance team was sent."
She paused there, waiting for you to finish thumbing through the documents. Your first impulse was to call this all nonsense. Some inane MK ULTRA nonsense that somehow escaped being shut down, but if that was the case, then they were rather committed to the bit. The documents certainly made everything look legitimate. Star charts. Wormhole theory. Room temperature superconductors. Exotic energy. You felt a bit out of your depth. "What about General West? Why am I taking over the project?"
"Major General West…" She hesitated until you opened up the next page, which was a mission report. "He was dishonourably discharged for insubordination."
"Come again?"
"He had failed to obtain proper authorization for the Abydos mission. Or for the use of a nuclear weapon during it." At your incredulous stare, she pointed at the mission report. "The team was tasked with assessing the surroundings of the gate on Abydos and if any threat was detected, to destroy it with a modified W88 warhead. After encountering an alien being that styled itself as the Egyptian sun god Ra that ruled over the local human population as slaves, the team activated the device before retreating, destroying the Abydos gate, the alien Ra and the spaceship he was using as his base of operations."
You kept staring at her, expecting someone to jump out and reveal the joke, but she seemed dead serious. "No offense Captain, but that's all a bit hard to swallow. So, the Air Force nuked an alien god. What then? Where do I come into the picture?"
"The project was frozen when the Pentagon learned of General Wests actions and after he was discharged, the base was mothballed and only a small research staff was allowed to continue purely theoretical work on the device. The assumption was that with the gate on Abydos destroyed, it had become unusable."
She handed you a tablet on which grainy security camera footage was playing. The ring from the drawing was doing something, part of it rapidly spinning, before something like a cloud burst from it and a shimmering blue plane formed in the ring. Some sphere tumbled out of it and a woman in an Air Force jumper came into the picture to investigate it. A few seconds later, multiple people marched out of the gate, all wearing silver metal armour and comically huge helmets in the shape of a serpent. The last to step through wore a golden version of the armour.
You kept watching in rapt attention as a firefight started. The aliens, and now you could fully believe that this was indeed what you were seeing, were shooting bolts of energy from their staffs. They were taking fire from the Air Force personnel in return, but most failed to penetrate their armour and a few were stopped by a shimmering barrier around the golden figure leading them. It did not last long. In the end, the Stargate activated again and the aliens fled, but taking four wounded Air Force members with them and leaving three of their own behind.
"This happened today at 01:22. There have been 6 dead on our side, 4 abducted and 3 dead on theirs. The Joint Chiefs of Staff have been debating since then what to do. Project Lodestone is getting reactivated and on direct orders of the President, you were picked to lead it. Overall jurisdiction will be with…"
[] [Branch] … the US Army Fighting on the ground is what decided the only other Stargate mission and based of that experience, the Army was assumed to be the best suited to deal with the threats that the early exploration will likely face. At least that is the official reason. The unofficial reason is that there was no majority willing to trust any of the other branches while the Army managed to sound like a much less risky option in comparison.
Advantages Combined Arms
You have a large pool of vehicles to draw from and both the doctrine and training to put them to good use. The only hurdle to clear is to somehow get said vehicles to the Gate and to convince your superiors that such deployments are reasonable.
Low Scrutiny
The Army was picked for the Stargate Command in part because it managed to sell itself as the most reasonable and level-headed options. As a result, people in Washington are less likely to pry into matters in Cheyenne Mountain unless you give them reason to.
Disadvantage Bad Neighbours
Due to some snide comments during the negotiations, the Space Force did not take it well that they lost control of the Stargate to the Army. And since they are still in charge of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex above the Stargate Command, they have plenty of opportunity to meddle in its affairs.
[] [Branch] … the US Marines As all Stargate related deployments will boil down to scouting and expeditionary operations, it was decided that the Marines would be the best fit for commanding the program, mutterings about putting the worst meatheads in charge of such a delicate matter notwithstanding. It will be quite a challenge though for the corps to establish a presence and logistics network in the middle of Colorado.
Advantages Expeditionary Force
The Marines have been operating alone, with little support and far from home on hostile ground since their inception. Your soldiers will barely notice the difference between being dropped on some remote beach on Earth or an alien planet.
Every Marine a Rifleman
The Marines traditionally train all personal as infantry combatants. As a result, the Stargate Complex will be very well defended, and you don't have to worry so much about support personal being at risk when going through the Gate.
Disadvantage Fish out of Water
The coast is far away from Colorado and so are the bases and assets the corps is built around. Worse yet, you are quite reliant on the Navy for a lot of things. You will not only have to manage the Stargate Command, but also put some effort into developing the logistics train to support it.
[] [Branch] … the US Air Force The Air Force originally had jurisdiction over matters related to space and thus the original Stargate mission. In the intervening years, the political landscape has changed quite a bit, but through some strings being pulled on the highest levels, the Air Force retained control of the reconstituted Stargate Command. However, this is far from uncontroversial and many in Washington are just waiting for an excuse to put someone else in charge.
Advantages Loose Structure
The Air Force has traditionally been less rigid and giving lots of leeway to many of its force members, especially officers in frontline roles. As a result, your soldiers are more comfortable to make difficult choices in the field and are better at improvising and adapting on the fly.
Connections
Many in the top ranks of the Air Force still don't like to have lost part of their mandate to the new Space Force and the Stargate Program is seen as the best way to revert that development. Plenty of people in high positions want you to succeed and are willing to make some calls or write a few nice emails on your behalf to make that happen.
Disadvantage Increased Scrutiny
The Space Force wasn't created on a whim. The Air Force has a history of neglecting anything that isn't their preferred type of aircraft at the time and many in Washington are just waiting for a screw-up that proves they are doing so again.
[] [Branch] … the US Space Force
Regarded by many as a joke, the Space Force is none the less the branch that arguably should have been in charge of the original Stargate Program. Despite many arguments that the youngest military branch lacks the equipment and personnel for this task, it was decided that some padded funding would be enough to take care of that. It remains to be seen if that is true.
Advantages Poster Child
Despite being a program that doesn't exist, housed in a base that doesn't exist, and which works with things that don't exist, you are the biggest and most prestigious operation of the as of yet tiny Space Force. With that comes a lot of political pull within the force and a short line to the Pentagon and the White House.
Ample Funding
Space is expensive and so is building up a new branch of the military. There's also not a lot of surprise that most of that funding ends up in projects that need excessive security clearance to even learn the name of. As a result, your budget is very well padded and nobody is going to look too closely on your spending.
Disadvantage Bare Bones
The Space Force is tiny and most of it is centred around satellites, not ground missions far from friendly lines. You will have to build up pretty much all capabilities in that regard from the ground up, or get some aid from other branches. The requirements of secrecy might also make it difficult to obtain heavy equipment, should the need ever arise.
It took a moment to digest all of that. Aliens, attacking an US military base, and you were put in charge of fighting that conflict. You could have really done with some time to prepare for this, but when you were done skimming the dossier, it was only two more hours until landing in Colorado Springs. At least Captain Carter, who had been in charge of the scientists still working on the Stargate and what little data they had from the Abydos mission, had managed to have the Pentagon sign off on some orders. Most of the old personnel, if available, was being rushed to Cheyenne Mountain and they were trying to get the cobwebs out of the base as fast as possible.
Using a secure line, you gave your first orders too.
Pick two things to be done while you are on the way:
[] [Orders] Get more soldiers and some heavy weapons to defend the Stargate in case the aliens return.
[] [Orders] Urgently get some medical personnel there to analyse the dead bodies. You need to know what these aliens are.
[] [Orders] Let the scientists do some tests with the captured alien equipment to assess their capabilities.
[] [Orders] Spend the extra effort to comb through the storage rooms of the base. You want every bit of equipment available that West got his hands on. Or be aware of any surprises he left behind.
[] [Orders] Get a staff of linguists. The reports mention that the aliens on Abydos spoke ancient Egyptian, so you will likely need people with knowledge of it.
[] [Orders] Call the commander of the Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station. You will be operating in their cellar for the foreseeable future and would prefer few tensions between your bases.
[] [Orders] Have the scientists prepare a briefing for you on what they have been working the last two years. Maybe there's something that could be immediately useful.
Commander
Rank: Major General (OF-7)
Name: James Harrison
Service Branch: Space Force
Traits:
Political Dynasty - You had only joined the military because it would look good on your resume, but kept sticking with it instead of following your father into Congress.
Connections in Washington - You've spent years rubbing shoulders with congress members, diplomats and ministers. With many you have a decent rapport, giving you the ability to resolve matters with a few well placed calls.
Skills:
Combat – 1
Diplomacy – 5
Awareness – 2
Stealth – 0
Medicine – 0
Engineering – 0
Physics – 0
Luck: 1
Misfortune: 0
Stargate Program Poster Child
Despite being a program that doesn't exist, housed in a base that doesn't exist, and which works with things that don't exist, you are the biggest and most prestigious operation of the as of yet tiny Space Force. With that comes a lot of political pull within the force and a short line to the Pentagon and the White House.
Ample Funding
Space is expensive and so is building up a new branch of the military. There's also not a lot of surprise that most of that funding ends up in projects that need excessive security clearance to even learn the name of. As a result, your budget is very well padded and nobody is going to look too closely on your spending.
Bare Bones
The Space Force is tiny and most of it is centred around satellites, not ground missions far from friendly lines. You will have to build up pretty much all capabilities in that regard from the ground up, or get some aid from other branches. The requirements of secrecy might also make it difficult to obtain heavy equipment, should the need ever arise.
Pending Review
The Stargate Program will be reviewed at the end of the fiscal year (after Turn 15). You have until then to build a case for why the program should continue.
Mining Engineers
Your engineering company has at it's core a group that is most experienced with mining and the construction of bunkers, making such projects much easier for you.
Bases
Name
Description
Traits
Stargate Command – Cheyenne Mountain Complex
Control Room
The room from which Earths Stargate is monitored and controlled.
Jury-Rigged Control Systems – It's a testament to the ingenuity and skill of your scientists that you managed to active the Stargate at all, but the system was none the less kludged together by trial and error.
Self-Destruct Mechanism – There are three armed nuclear warheads placed in a hidden sub-level of the base. The system can be armed or disarmed by two commissioned officers and, if initiated, will destroy the entire base.
Gate Room
The room housing the actual Stargate.
Heavy Machine Guns and Fire Teams – There's two M2 heavy machine guns with ballistic shields and sandbag reinforced firing positions in the gate room, ensuring that any threat coming through the gate can be greeted with a hail of gunfire.
Iris – A set of metal blades that can be extended from the Stargate to block incoming mater from reforming. As long as it is closed, it will stop any conventional attack.
Infirmary
The place injured and sick members of the SGC go to for treatment.
Well-Equipped Infirmary – With a large number of beds, dedicated isolation rooms, state-of-the-art diagnostic machinery and a large, well-educated staff, your infirmary can give a level of care equal to any hospital.
Barracks
Quarters for your soldiers.
Minimal Accommodations – Only bunk beds and very basic amenities are available. Soldiers only stay here if they absolutely must or are on-call, while everyone else lives in Colorado Springs.
Diesel Generators
Provides power for the base.
Armoury
Contains the weaponry you have available for your teams.
Standardized Infantry Equipment – You've set up contracts to give you an ample supply of a default kit that has shown itself effective against Jaffa warriors.
Pistol: SIG Sauer M17
Submachine Gun: FN P90
Rifle: M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle
Light Machine Gun: M249 Light Machine Gun
Small trial stock of XM5 rifles.
Night Vision Goggles: ENVG-III
Gun Sights: FWS-I
MALPs - A small, threaded drone equipped with various sensors to assess the atmospheric conditions on a planet and to transmit video material back to the base.
Laboratories
Workspace and specialized equipment for your science staff.
Basic Laboratories – You have a number of work rooms and access to some high-end computer hardware.
Abydos Outpost
Gate Area
An open area dug into a dune that houses the gate.
Heavy Machine Guns and Fire Teams – There's four M2 heavy machine guns and reinforced firing positions made from HESCO barriers and sandbags that have a direct line of fire to the gate.
No Man's Land – The area before the gate has no cover for 400 meters and has mines and concertina wire traps placed to break up any attempts to charge the firing positions.
Teal'c
Status: Wounded
Languages: Goa'uld, no English
Skills:
Combat – 5
Diplomacy – 0
Awareness – 1
Stealth – 3
Medicine – 0
Engineering – 0
Physics – 0
1 Specialist - Wounded
1 Specialist - Wounded
Master Sergeant Tonya Walt
Died in the Battle of Abydos
Skills:
Combat – 4
Diplomacy – 1
Awareness – 2
Stealth – 3
Medicine – 1
Engineering – 0
Physics – 0
Technical Sergeant Ethan Foster (formerly SG-2)
Died in the Battle of Abydos
Skills:
Combat – 3
Diplomacy – 1
Awareness – 0
Stealth – 0
Medicine – 1
Engineering – 1
Physics – 1
Special Mike Tenant (formerly SG-2)
Died in the Battle of Abydos
Base Staff Captain Samantha Carter
Skills:
Combat – 2
Diplomacy – 0
Awareness – 2
Stealth – 1
Medicine – 0
Engineering – 3
Physics – 4
Captain Janet Fraiser
Skills:
Combat – 2
Diplomacy – 1
Awareness – 3
Stealth – 0
Medicine – 4
Engineering – 0
Physics – 0
Doctor Daniel Jackson
Skills:
Combat – 1
Diplomacy – 3
Awareness – 5
Stealth – 0
Medicine – 0
Engineering – 0
Physics – 0
Research
None so far.
Connections Senator Matthew Harrison of Oklahoma (Father)
Currently in his 3rd term and ranking member of the Committee for Small Business and Entrepeneurship, your father spent most of his life in politics and has cultivated many contacts in Washington. One day, he wants you to inherit that network.
Administrator of FEMA Catherine McAllister
Having been briefed on the dangers that the Stargate Command has been founded to protect against, she is very clearly aware of what kind of devastation a Goa'uld attack on Earth could mean. As a result, she is extremely supportive of your efforts and will both have her agency assist you as good as possible, and use her political influence in your favor.
Known Planets
Arrangement: planet, trinary system, no moons Climate: BWh - hot desert climate Settled: Humans Control: Abydonians / Stargate Command Points of Interest: Naquadah mines Exploration Status: ground exploration near Stargate, cordial contact to natives Traits:
Goodwill – The people remember your fast and generous support in the wake of their forced displacement and as a result are very open to diplomatic requests from Stargate Command.
Numbered Days – The population must be evacuated or supplied with water by turn 12 or they will have to disperse, which will likely cause a sharp decline in population.
Notable People:
Dr. Daniel Jackson - Former member of Project Lodestone and the person who managed to active Earths Stargate and dial to Abydos. Now a influential person among the Abydonians. Married to Sha're, daughter of Kasuf, and father of a young boy named Kasuf after his grandfather.
Kasuf - Current leader of the settled Abydonians.
Skaara - Brother-in-law of Daniel Jackson and son of Kasuf. Current leader of the Abydos militia and likely the next leader of the Abydonians at large once Kasuf retires or dies.
The only planet that was visited by the original Project Lodestone and the first to be visited by the new Stargate Command. Formerly a colony of Ra, it became independent after the System Lord was killed in Abydos orbit. Briefly under the control of Apophis, but the small Goa'uld presence was driven off in the Battle of Abydos.
Arrangement: planet, two moons Climate: A - Tropical Settled: no Control: unclaimed Points of Interest: city ruins (Goa'uld vassal state) Exploration Status: ground exploration near Stargate
According to the information from the pyramid on Abydos, this planet once rebelled against Ra and as a punishment, he sunk their great city into the sea, killing all who lived there. After scouting, it seems certain that the settlements was devastated by orbital bombardment, which also destroyed all freshwater sources on the tropical island the city was located on, thus making it unfit for long-term settlement. Texts found in the ruins reference a gift that the people of the city wanted to make Ra and that he was greatly angered by it, but it is unclear what this gift was.
Arrangement: unknown Climate: ET - Tundra Settled: unknown Control: unknown Points of Interest: presumed to contain ruins of prior settlement Exploration Status: ground exploration in immediate Stargate vicinity
In the past, this planet was losing the grace of Ra and thus the warmth of the sun, prompting the people do abandon it to be closer to their god. It is unclear from your brief exploration what the cause was, but it is clear that the climate must have dramatically cooled at some point, prompting the people to abandon the planet.
Arrangement: planet, rings Climate: C - Temperate Settled: no Control: unclaimed Points of Interest: ruins of prior settlement, unknown source of gamma radiation bursts Exploration Status: ground exploration near Stargate
According to the pyramid inscriptions, this planet once was one of Ra's most beloved gardens and only his most favored servants lived there. But after one of them sinned against their god, he cast them all out and struck down all who dared to defy that decree. After a brief visit, you now know that the 'curse of Ra' is a sporadic event of intense gamma radiation that would easily kill a human and even damaged electronics. Any further exploration would require either hardened drones or be done under extreme risk for the teams sent there.
Traits, Advantage & Luck
This quest uses rules loosely based on the FATE system. On the strategic and tactical scale, the roll mechanics differ, but both scales share the Trait mechanics. Characters, locations, or any other thing can have Traits, which can either help or hinder certain actions. A Trait always bestows a bonus or malus when applicable to an action, but it can also be used actively by burning it or spending a Luck point. When doing so, you can either gain Advantage on a roll, meaning you roll twice and take the better result, or force your enemy to have a Disadvantage, meaning they roll twice and take the worse result. Luck points can also be spent to temporarily remove the malus given by a negative Trait or to negate a Luck point spent by an enemy. Burning a trait removes it permanently, while spending a Luck point means the trait remains active.
Luck points are gained whenever you manage to score a major victory, or suffer a major setback. You also gain Luck points whenever a negative Trait is created or a positive Trait is lost, except if you burned it. If you have no Luck points, you can at any point decide to gain one by also gaining a Misfortune point. A Misfortune point can be used by any enemy against you as if it was a Luck point. You can also spend a Luck point to buy off a Misfortune point.
Strategic / Base Management
During turn-votes, you manage the base of Stargate Command, send teams on missions, start research projects and do various other tasks necessary to keep the lights on and your head free of slaving alien parasites.
Missions
To perform Missions, you send SG teams or other groups, whose stats and equipment decide over success or failure. Usually this will mean sending an SG team on a scouting mission to an unknown planet, or to follow up on leads or opportunities gained through other missions or events. Most missions will only last a single turn, but some assignments might lock in a team for multiple turns.
The mechanics and rolls done during missions are explained in the following section.
Command
Command actions centre around the daily work you have to do to keep the project running or to expand its capabilities. Expanding your base, procuring new equipment, recruiting new personnel or vying for influence in Washington all fall under Command. You get a certain number of dice to spend each turn and can allocate as many to any single action as you wish. Each dice adds 1 + 1 FATE dice of progress to the action and once it reaches the required progress, it completes successfully. In addition, roll 4 FATE dice to determine if any positive or negative random events occur for this action. Having am applicable beneficial Trait adds +2 to this random event roll. Take note that having many active actions means that you also will do many random event rolls. For good or ill.
Research
These actions centre on learning more about the things you discovered during missions, adapting alien technology for your use or trying to devise new ones. These actions function analogues to Command actions, with two important differences. For one, you don't know ahead of time how much progress you will require to finish a project. Additionally, once you invest a given number of dice into a research action, they will be locked in. You can interrupt a research action to regain these dice without finishing it, but doing so will remove two turns worth of progress from the action due to the interruption.
Tactical / Missions
During missions, the deciding factor for most actions are the Skills and Traits of the characters or teams you have sent. Some traits from your base (such as equipment in the armoury) or completed research action might also impact the outcome of missions. The skills are ranked on a scale from 0 to 10, with 0 meaning untrained, 2 being proficient, 4 denoting expert status in the relevant field, 6 being world renowned for that particular skill, and anything beyond being reserved for heroes and geniuses as there are only a few in the galaxy.
The skills are:
Combat – General skill at fighting with or without weapons.
Diplomacy – Resolving combat by talking.
Awareness – Used for scouting and to learn hidden information.
Stealth – Infiltrating enemy bases unseen.
Medicine – Healing wounded and conduction medical research.
Engineering – Building, maintaining and researching physical devices.
Physics – Abstract physics as they are used by many advanced technologies.
Rolls are either 4 FATE dice + skill +/- traits against a fixed DC or against the roll of an opponent. Sometimes rolls can be made cooperatively (which is usually the case in combat), in which case the roll gets the highest skill bonus of the participants, and each additional participants adds half their skill (rounded down).
Heavy Weapons: 4U1 => (0 +1 +0 +0) = 1 => good equipment available
Cleaning Up: 4U1 => (1 +-1 +1 +1) = 2 => found a surprise
The last hours had been taxing. You had spent most of the flight going over the mission report for Abydos and getting a crash course in higher physics by Captain Carter. During the car trip to Cheyenne Mountain, you were reading up on as many of your new staff as you could. And once you had reached the concrete reinforced caverns, there was already the first reports waiting for you.
Standing at the briefing rooms window, overlooking the gate room, you took the first deep breath since you had had opened that manila folder on the plane. Some things were going well. The armoury of Peterson SFB had some spare M2 heavy machine guns, ballistic shields included, and they had already been mounted in front of the Stargate. A few specialists were still busy stacking sandbags, though the gate was already much better defended than before.
There was still the other matter though. "Please repeat that for me, Major Samuels," you said slowly and quietly, inviting him to correct himself. "You found a sub-level not marked on any maps, containing what exactly?"
"Sir, we assume that it is the implementation of the 'self-destruct mechanism' that General West wanted installed." As you turned around, he clutched the folder even tighter. "We are still interrogating the technicians and scientists to see who might have been capable of assembling it, but with the staff changes over the years…"
"Yes, Major. The years." You took another deep breath pacing along the window. "You have been in command of this installation for two years at this point and you did not notice the three armed nuclear warheads sitting beneath your feet."
"That appears to be correct, sir."
"How? General West was court-martialled for deploying a nuclear weapon, and you want to tell me that the investigation failed to notice the other three he 'appropriated'?"
"That too appears to be correct, sir."
It would have been very tempting to shoot the messenger, maybe even literally, but it was hardly the Majors fault. He hadn't been serving under that lunatic West, or been involved in the apparently quite lacklustre investigation afterwards. "Have the technicians investigate the devices. They haven't been triggered yet, but I won't take chances with that. Dismissed, Major."
Stargate Command gains Trait: Self-Destruct Mechanism – There are three armed nuclear warheads placed in a hidden sub-level of the base. The system can be armed or disarmed by two commissioned officers and, if initiated, will destroy the entire base.
As the Major hurried out of the briefing room, you quietly wondered if that would be the last surprise left behind by General West. Hopefully, it would be, though it seemed unlikely you would be that lucky. Maybe you should have someone look into the matter once the immediate crisis was handled.
Before you could dwell any longer on the matter though, your next appointment was ushered in. Slightly greying at the temples, wearing a jeans and an open flannel shirt, he just nodded in greeting. "General Harrison."
"Colonel O'Neill," you replied flatly while ordering your thoughts. "Take a seat. You must be wondering why you were brought here."
"Oh, I have a faint idea." He took the nearest chair and swung his feet onto the table. "But since I'm happily retired and my security clearance was revoked, it's probably better if you tell me."
"I have some questions about your last mission during Project Lodestone."
He kept the jovial tone as he answered, but you had spent too much time around people with skeletons in their closets to not notice how he clammed up. "Well, I'm sure my report can answer those. It's been a while ago, so the details are a bit hazy."
"Interesting. Major Kawalski and Major Ferreti told me exactly the same." They had not. Ferreti was still on the way to the base and Kawalski was currently locked into a spare room two levels down for refusing to talk with you, but you were fairly certain you were the better liar between the two of you.
"… that you might have been wrong about your conclusions." You were pretty certain that he had lied in the report, though it would be easier to pry out the truth without accusing him of that.
"How so, General?" He seemed to take you seriously for the first time, even taking his shoes off your meeting room table.
"You wrote that Ra's ship and the gate were destroyed, but you were not present to witness that. Maybe the warhead failed to detonate, or the alien managed to defuse it. We have no proof that Ra is no longer a threat or that Abydos can't be used as a staging ground against us."
There was tense silence between the two of you, until O'Neill ground out. "Sir, Ra is dead and the Abydonians are not a threat."
"It would be easier to trust your assessment if you told me the truth. What happened during the mission?"
O'Neill visibly rung with himself, until finally making the right decision. "The report is accurate save for two things. We do know why Ra kept those people enslaved. They mined the mineral that the Stargate is made out of. I decided to leave that out of the report to not tempt General West to try and open the gate to Abydos again."
"As for the bomb, it happened as outlined, but when I used the ring-thingy to beam it up to Ra's ship, it was already in orbit. It exploded. We watched the chunks rain down on Abydos for a few hours while the people cheered. He's definitely dead, Sir, and the Abydonians have no reason or ability to threaten us."
"That also means that Daniel Jackson did not die in the explosion, correct? I take it he stayed with the woman he had gotten married to?"
"Well, I sure hope so. I didn't cover for him to dash on her."
"Alright," you said, while feeling the situation was anything but. "That will be all for now. You will have to stay my guest for a bit longer in case some other questions arise, but I won't be taking more than a day or two of your time." You waved to the guard at the door, ready to dismiss O'Neill.
"Actually, I would have my own question, General." He stood up and put on his most winning smile. "How is the enlistment going with the Space Force? Any openings for a dashing Air Force retiree?"
"Excuse you, Colonel?"
"As I see it, you will be sending a team to Abydos again and Kawalsky, Ferretti and me just happen to be the only people on this planet who travelled though the Stargate. Also, the Abydonians already know us and are quite fond of us for the whole freeing them from slavery thing."
He had a point. He was incredibly presumptuous about it, but still. And you were very short on manpower that you could send on a combat mission. "And assuming I accept your 'request', what reason do I have to believe you won't disobey my orders just as you disobeyed General West?"
"Do you plan to order me to blow up my own team and a few thousand civilians?"
You did not deign this with an answer and after a few seconds, O'Neill shrugged and turned towards the door. "I'll give you my request in writing once I found some stationary, General."
Another hour of meetings later, you sat down in your own office for the first time. A large cup of coffee in one hand and a thick stack of papers in the other. You already knew this would be a short night. Or maybe a nap of two hours.
The first request on your desk was indeed from O'Neill to be enlisted in the Space Force and not even as a handwritten note, but with the proper form and all T's crossed and I's dotted. Curiously enough he had not specified the rank he wanted to enlist as and noted among the remarks his stellar service record prior to Project Lodestone and that he had carried out every lawful order given to him to the full satisfaction of his superiors. The next two requests were, unsurprisingly, the very same forms from Kawalsky and Ferretti.
[] [Old Guard] Accept their requests and re-enlist them in their old ranks.
[] [Old Guard] Only re-enlist them in a lower rank as punishment for lying in their report.
[] [Old Guard] Deny their request and look for other soldiers.
The next one was from Captain Carter and surprised you a bit. She was applying to be transferred to a field posting, reasoning that her abilities would be very valuable when encountering alien technology in the field. However, this would also mean you would be missing her expertise in the scientific teams and those were already rather short on qualified staff.
[] [Carter] Accept her request and transfer her to a frontline posting.
[] [Carter] Deny her request. She is too valuable in the lab.
Next was perhaps the weightiest decision. The first Stargate mission. Orders from above were to find out where the attack had come from and, if possible, to retrieve the captured soldiers. The initial assumption was that they must have come from Abydos, but after reviewing more footage from the security cameras, that was apparently not the case. The leader of the attackers had somehow activated the Stargate with a device on his wrist and while the images where to grainy to be certain about the address, it was evidently not Abydos.
It could be narrowed down to about two dozen likely combinations. A small enough number to go through them by trial and error. On the other hand, you could not be sure if there was only one valid address in that set and you only had one team for now, so you might be sending them on a completely unrelated planet.
[] [Mission] Scout Abydos first.
[] [Mission] Try to follow the attackers.
Lastly, you gave one more order to be carried out while you rested for a while.
Pick one:
[] [Order] Urgently get some medical personnel there to analyse the dead bodies. You need to know what these aliens are.
[] [Order] Let the scientists do some tests with the captured alien equipment to assess their capabilities.
[] [Order] Have the technicians carefully dismantle the self-destruct device. You don't trust whatever West had his people cobble together there.
[] [Order] Get a staff of linguists. The reports mention that the aliens on Abydos spoke ancient Egyptian, so you will likely need people with knowledge of it.
[] [Order] Have the scientists prepare a briefing for you on what they have been working the last two years. Maybe there's something that could be immediately useful.
AN: I have a hunch how most of those votes will turn out, but the butterflies deserve to roam if they want.
"I think the new guy doesn't like us very much." Kawalski nodded towards the window of the control room from where General Harrison was peering down into the gate room. "You in particular, Major."
"Is that a way to speak with your commanding officer, Captain?" O'Neill shot back in a mocking tone, earning a laugh from both Kawalski and Ferreti in return. "Not as if you would mind either. If I put on a uniform again, then I'd rather go out and do something instead of mouldering behind a desk. I've got a nice camping chair next to a lake for that."
"You should be a bit careful, Sir." The latter chimed in without looking up from the magazine he was checking over. "I've read up on him once they've let me near a computer. His father is a Senator. Got his star faster than most get Colonel. He might prefer the old O'Neill."
"Come on. The old O'Neill was an ass."
Ferretti and Kawalski glanced at each other, though they were saved from saying something return by the arrival of the rest of their troop. "Major O'Neill," the young woman saluted. "Technical Sergeant Atkins, reporting as ordered, sir. With me are Specialists Bashir and Hartman."
"At ease, Sergeant. You know what you are about to do?"
"We've been briefed and know what to expect," she replied without much conviction.
Before they could say anything more, the klaxons started blaring and the floor began to vibrate as the inner ring of the gate began to spin. "Trust me, Sergeant," the smiling O'Neill shouted over the wailing to the stunned Space Force soldiers. "You do not."
Going through the Stargate did not actually feel like anything. One moment you walked into what felt a bit like a standing puddle and the next moment, you are on another planet, walking out of another. The problem was, in between those events, you were broken down into your component atoms, squeezed through a wormhole and reassembled on the other side. Hopefully in the same general shape as before. O'Neill had read enough of the technical documents to know this and somehow it helped to keep his breakfast down despite his stomach feeling as if he had just ridden every rollercoaster built by man at once.
Specialist Bashir, retching qietly a few steps away from the gate, seemed not like a rollercoaster fan. "Give it a moment. It passes," O'Neill told him while patting him on the back and walking on. Atkins was kneeling next to Hartman, who had sat down behind the stone altar, while Kawalski and Ferreti had taken up a firing position behind the nearby stone pillars. They still had the bullet holes and scorch marks from two years ago. He quickly joined them and scanned the room.
"Pretty sure I saw movement when we came in, Sir."
"Abydonians?"
Ferretti just shrugged and pointed towards the other end of the colonnade where he could faintly make out something shifting in the shadows. If those were Ra's minions, then there was a distinct lack of strutting around compared to the last time.
"Let's see. What was it?" He tried his best to remember, but it's been a while and he should really have written it down. "Inw herit!" No. That wasn't it. "Inwa hwrit?"
"Sir. What the hell are you yelling?" Ferretti not quiet yelled back at him, but it wasn't far off.
"It's either 'we come in peace' or 'live long and prosper'. That's the only two phrases Daniel taught me."
Footsteps could be heard from the far side of the room and a man with glasses and wearing a brown robe came out of hiding, raising his arms before even any weapons were aimed at him. "It should be 'inwe hwrit', but that was actually quite good." As the weapons were lowered, Daniel Jackson began to wave at them awkwardly. "Uhm, hi. You were not supposed to come back."
"Happy to see you too, Daniel."
Despite the armed stand-off, the greeting was quite warm, with plenty of the Abydonians seeming ready to throw another welcome party for the team. That also extended to the three Space Force soldiers, who were more than a bit bewildered to be greeted like this. Especially Sergeant Atkins was rather tense around the cheering crowd, doubly so around the 'guards' that had been posted around the gate and who were waving around a mix of their old MP5's and four of the alien staffs. Giving up on quieting the Abydonians down, O'Neill simply ordered Kawalski and the three soldiers to secure the gate while Daniel, Ferretti and him would go outside.
It wasn't far. A sizeable camp had sprung up right next to the entrance to the pyramid that housed the gate and they had barely time to feel the heat of the three suns beathing down on them before they were in a tent with a few cups of water. The tent itself was not exactly lavish by any standard, but it was still obvious that Daniel was in charge of the place by how people deferred to him.
"You've done quite well for yourself." O'Neill remarked after taking the smallest possible sip of water to be still polite. "Building your own city?"
"No, not at all. This is a dig site."
"Missed the archaeology and decided to dig up one more pyramid?"
"Unfortunately, it's more grave robbing." Daniel put down his own cup and began pointing at a large sheet of papyrus with a drawing of the pyramid and the temple, though they were a lot larger than what O'Neill had seen. "There's a whole city buried here. Ra had it burned to the ground when the people rebelled against him. It's fascinating to see this side of the development of this culture and I would love to excavate more of it but…"
He sighed and pointed at the temple. "We are mostly just digging into the temple and pyramid, hoping there's some weapons buried there." He looked defeated while saying it.
Ferretti laughed bitterly in response. "Didn't think I'd live to see the day where you would be looking for some fancy ray-guns, Jackson."
"It is certainly not by choice. I've been exploring the pyramid on my own for a while and, well, we found some signs that there might be other planets that can be reached with the Stargate. Probably they are ruled by other 'gods' like Ra and I doubt they will be any more reasonable than he was."
"That's actually why we are here," O'Neill began and drew out a tablet, showing Daniel the footage from the attack on the gate room. "We got visitors back on Earth and we are here to make sure that they are not from Abydos."
"You… did not bring another nuke, right? General West doesn't want you to blow up the gate anymore?" Daniel glanced nervously between Ferretti and O'Neill.
"West isn't in charge anymore and the new guy is…" O'Neill waved his hand in a 'so-so' gesture. "He can be talked to. I think. Haven't had much time to get to know him. But no nuclear warheads this time, just recon."
"Good. Yes. No nuclear warheads is good." He put on a forced smile and nodded a few times, before sighing and staring into the distance. "You think he would be willing to talk to me? Negotiate something? Might be better to take a chance with your new general than with Apophis."
"Who?"
"Oh, him," Jackson pointed at the tablet. "Or his people at least. There are a few deities associated with snakes, but Apophis, or Apep, is the most major one. He is also called the chaos serpent or the devourer of souls."
"Sounds like a nice guy," muttered O'Neill while Ferretti got out his own tablet to take notes.
"From context and since this pyramid has a few boasts about how Ra defeated him, I'd assume that he is another of Ra's kind and used to be his rival. So, when Ra died…"
"… this snake fellow decided to take over Ra's old turf," Jack finished the thought. "Has he attacked Abydos too?"
"No. We had guards near the gate the entire time to make sure that nobody was using it."
As if on cue, the soldiers radios buzzed shortly before Kawalski spoke. "Sir, the gate is activating."
"Reinforcements for you?"
"Nope."
An unknown, likely hostile group is trying to come to Abydos. What does the team do in response?
[] Prepare an ambush in the temple. Low visibility will impede both sides equally, but you have the element of surprise.
-[] (Optional) Spend 1 point of Luck on the first round of combat.
[] Wait till they reach the ramp leading down from the temple entrance. They will have no cover there, but if they are hostile, they might fire into the camp.
-[] (Optional) Spend 1 point of Luck on the first round of combat.
[] Convince the Abydonians to not fight and instead wait to see what happens. (Requires DC 4 diplomacy check.)
Current Luck: 1
Temple Interior modifiers:
Low Visibility – It's very dark in the temple, making visibility an issue. Will impose -2 on checks by both sides.
Surprise – They won't expect to be fired upon the moment they step out of the gate. Will give +2 to the team in the first round of combat. Trait disappears after the first round.
Temple Ramp modifiers:
Open Ground – There is no cover on the ramp, making the people standing on it easy targets. Will impose -2 on checks by the invaders.
They did not waste another second, jumping up from the pillows they had been sitting on and rushing out of the tent. Daniel was following them out, shouting something at the people. A moment later, the entire camp was in uproar, but O'Neill didn't care. He needed to be up there with his soldiers. Running up the ramp to the temple felt like an eternity and yet he made it. The gate was still spinning when he dove into the room and hid behind a column next to one of the Abydonians, seeing from the corner of his eye how Ferretti dove into an alcove in the wall.
"Hold fire until my order," he shouted to the others, glancing at the Abydonian. Hopefully they would wait too. There was no time to say anything more as with a cloud of plasma, the Stargate came to life and filled the dark temple with faint blue light.
Who is left standing? 1d13 = 8 => regular Serpent Guard
1 Elite Serpent Guard down
11 Serpent Guards down
First Wave Routed
Surprise lasts another round
The first thing that came through the gate was a familiar looking, blank metal sphere. O'Neill was not sure if he should curse for them coming right when their team was on Abydos, or grateful that he was there to help the people here once more. It tumbled a few times, before coming to rest somewhere behind the altar, letting a tense silence fall over the room again.
A few seconds later, the first person came through the gate. A tall man, built like a linebacker and wearing heavy metal armour. On his head, a helmet shaped like the head of a cobra with two glowing red jewels as the eyes. Just as he had stepped out of the gate, three others followed. They wore the same armour as the first, though lacking the helmet, and were marching side by side in a neat line as if this was a parade. Unfortunately for them, it was not.
"Fire," O'Neill shouted through the room and immediately the air was filled with bullets and whatever these staffs fired. Their leader with his fancy helmet took a full salvo from Hartmans M60 machinegun to the chest before the Specialist walked his fire over the other three. One of them managed to dodge but took instead a rifle burst to the face.
In the time it had taken to take them out though, another three had appeared. The Abydonians were firing wildly, one of their staff blast claiming one of the next three mostly by luck, but O'Neill took care of another one and the third took shots from Ferretti and Bashir. He went down, but he wasn't dead and started firing his staff blindly towards the pillars they were hiding behind.
Another three arrived and O'Neill could not see what happened to them as a stray staff shot threw up dust and blocked his sight. The M60 lashed out again, filling the area around the gate with bullets again until Hartmans box ran dry. More of the staff bolts shot out of the dust, but then the other soldiers blindly returned fire at the aliens through the dust, hitting the hulking men as they stood there out of cover and kept firing from the hip.
When he could see clearly again, O'Neill counted twelve dead on the ground and one laying next to the gate, clutching a heavily bleeding chest wound.
"Is taking cover against their faith or something?" Kawalski was calling from the other side of the room, getting a dry chuckle from a few of the other soldiers.
O'Neill changed his clip but kept his eyes on the gate. "Don't get cocky now Captain. This isn't over yet."
Foothold Established
1 Serpent Guard down
Captain Kawalski down
2 Abydonians down
There was a brief lull in the fighting, giving everyone a chance to reload and O'Neill a moment to look over his team. They all seemed fine. The Abydonians were getting lax, joking and talking with each other, but at least they weren't running out of cover.
Two metal spheres came flying out of the gate, red lights shining on them. "Grenades," somebody cried out, but it was too late. A keening wail and a blinding light came from the things, painfully boring into his ears until O'Neill could only hear ringing. He called out for suppression fire, but couldn't even hear his own voice. He could barely see in the darkness of the temple anymore, yet he rose from cover anywhere and squeezed out a few shots towards the vague shapes before the shimmering blue Stargate.
Staff bolts slammed into the pillar he hid behind, forcing him back. Stone shards were flying everywhere, and he saw Hartman nearby, hunkering down instead of firing. The aliens were hitting his pillar in a steady rhythm, their weapons chewing large chunks out of the solid stone. 'Kawalsky just had to taunt Murphy,' O'Neill thought while firing a salvo blindly towards the gate. Beside him, the Abydonian boy desperately trying to ram a new clip into his MP5 while shivering like a leaf.
O'Neill – Fall back or tough it out?: (0 -1 +1 +1) = 1 => Falling back.
Apophis – Where to direct your anger?: (0 -1 -1 +0) = -2 => The Abydonians. This is now a punishment raid.
Gate under Serpent Guard control
2 Serpent Guard down
Specialist Bashir down
2 Abydonians down
They were losing. He knew it. His team knew it. The aliens knew it.
"Hartman, cover fire. Atkins, fall back." O'Neill yelled the orders into the room, while pulling a grenade from his webbing. If he damaged the dialing device, they would all be stuck. If he didn't get them out of the temple, they were all dead. Somewhere, Bashir was crying out in pain. He lobbed it as far to the gate as he could, hoping for the best.
Ferretti appeared on the pillar to his right and shoved the Abydonian that had been hiding there towards the door. "Kawalski is down. Two civvies too."
O'Neill briefly popped out of cover again, putting a bullet into one of the attackers that was trying to flank an Abydonian. "Take Hartman and move down the ramp. I'm rear."
"Like hell you are," the Captain spat back at him while waving for Hartman to get moving.
"Fine," he took his second grenade, trying to see if everyone was gone. The attackers were hammering the pillars harder and harder as the temple emptied out. One of the Abydonians rushed out, trying to hit them with his staff, but the alien was ready for that and felled him with one strike. No more gunfire was coming, just the alien staffs filling the room with dust and the sharp smell of ozone.
The two remaining soldiers nodded at each other, each one throwing one grenade into the room where the aliens had formed ranks again. The second the explosion rang out, they were running out. Coming from the dark temple, the desert was blinding, and both dove back into cover at the door, firing some more shots into the dark.
"Over here!" It took a second for O'Neill to recognize the voice. In the camp, Daniel was standing next to a pit with a ladder leading down into it. Atkins was taking cover next to him, aiming up at the entrance and waving them over.
It was not as if they had much choice, and so they ran.
Temple / Stargate: under Serpent Guard control
Camp: Evacuated
SG Team: Retreating
Own Forces:
Major O'Neill – Combat 4
Captain Kawalski – Down / Captured
Captain Ferretti – Combat 4
Sergeant Atkins – Combat 3
Specialist Bashir – Down / Captured
Specialist Hartman – Combat 2
Allied Forces:
5 Abydonians with MP5's – Combat 1
2 Abydonians with Staff Weapons – Combat 1
4 Abydonians – Down / Captured
Assault on Abydos – Defeat Gain 1 Luck.
Gain 1 Luck for defeating the first wave.
Current Luck: 2
AN: Combat went much better than expected. It was very likely for your team to get fully overwhelmed and captured. Instead, canon is well and truly derailed. We will now take a break from events on this ill-fated mission and jump back to General Harrison.
And for clarities sake: Going down in combat does not automatically mean you die. Just that you are wounded, knocked out or otherwise unable to continue contributing.
The Serpent Guards kept coming through the gate. Rank after rank, stepping over the dead bodies of their brethren without pause or emotion. They had been trained for this. To find sure footing even on the bodies of the fallen. It was the purpose of the Jaffa to die for their gods. It was the greatest honour to fulfil one's purpose with stoic dedication, showing no distress for your own wounds, let alone those of others.
Beneath his golden helmet, standing next to the gate and surveying the carnage, no one could have told if Teal'c had broken with this commandment. And yet he did not. He still pretended. Still acted as if he was being watched. The Goa'uld could not read your thoughts, no matter how much they pretended otherwise, but there was still never enough caution. He had sacrificed too much and too many to throw it all away just to be free of his mask for a moment, even in the privacy of his own armour.
When the last group of Jaffa had arrived, the gate still remained active and Teal'c knelt immediately. The soft steps of sandalled were the last to arrive on Abydos. "My lord," the First Prime spoke in greeting, not daring to rise his eyes.
His master Apophis stepped around the body of a dead Jaffa, his steps weaving between pools of blood and spattering's of viscera. Silken robes glided over the carnage, taking up not the slightest speck of dirt. "Tell me, Teal'c of Chulak, are my Jaffa weak?"
There was no answer to that question that would not invite punishment. "I have no excuses, my lord."
The two golden serpents rising from Apophis shoulders let their glowing eyes roam over the room. "You have said so yesterday already. Four of my own guard, four of my greatest, slain by slaves."
One of the Jaffa, bleeding heavily from the stumps of his legs, weakly rolled over and tried to shift himself into something that was vaguely like kneeling as Apophis passed him by The Goa'uld did not turn his head and neither did he slow his walk. Only one of the serpents watched him as he did so, coldly staring as the man tried to swallow his grunts of pain. "And now, I come here to see this pathetic display." A bolt of light shot from the serpents head, caving in his head like the blow of a hammer.
"I have no excuses, my lord," Teal'c repeated and gripped his staff tighter.
Apophis stopped, both serpents regarding his First Prime. A long moment later, they turned away. "They have performed better under your direct command. You will purge the weakness from my Jaffa, once we return to Chulak." He walked on, out of the temple and into the desert heat of Abydos. "But now, we shall punish this world for its insolence."
AN: A short one, but I feel this works better as a stand-alone than as part of the first turn-vote, which is coming up tonight.
"As far as we can tell, these hosts are largely human, but the differences are pronounced. Denser bones and musculature. Enlarged cardio-vascular system. Even their skin is tougher. Given that the pouch in which the other organism is carried has clearly been created intentionally, we assume that they used to be human, but have been altered in some fashion. Gene editing seems the likeliest explanation for these systemic changes. But there is much that I can only speculate about with the limited data we have."
You listened only with half an ear to Captain Fraiser's report. She had already briefed you on her findings earlier, and now it was more important to gauge the reactions of the other listeners. The Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of Defence and the President himself were part of this video conference and they followed her explanations with a stony face.
At least they had calmed down after you had to admit that you lost contact with the Abydos team. When they had missed the second deadline for reporting back, you had the gate dialled and tried to reach them by radio. No response came, but you could get some footage from the MALP that you had sent ahead of the team. The battle made for a grim showing. The Chiefs of Staff were none too pleased, though the video at least dispelled the notion that the teams fate was your fault.
"Speculate then, Captain," Admiral Tate prompted her. You were growing quite fond of him. With no skin in the game, the Navy was the most impartial of all participants.
"Sir, as far as we can tell, the membrane in the pouch allows for chemicals to be transferred between the host and the creature. My team is divided if this implies a parasitic or symbiotic relationship, though I think the latter is more likely. In this case the organism would act as an additional organ for as long as it stays within the host. We can't be certain about the details without examining a living host and symbiont."
General Chavez was still glaring at the camera as if having to participate in this meeting was an acknowledgement of your leadership. The Air Force very much did not like that they had lost the Stargate Program, though a large part of that might have been that it aired Major Generals Wests dirty laundry. "Are these the same species of being as this 'Ra' then?"
"We are not sure. There is no nerve connection between the host and the symbiont, so it's unclear how the alien would exert control over the host's body. It seems more likely, given that the three specimens show different stages of development, that these are immature specimens."
"You want to tell me alien body snatchers are using the guts of human slaves to grow their young in." General Reed probably meant to sound incredulous, yet it came out mainly as defeated. The representative of the Army was probably the most shaken by being informed about the original Project Lodestone mission and what has happened since. "Can't we just bury the device? The report form Major Samuels argues that this would be the easiest way to defend ourselves and I'm inclined to agree."
Oh? A report from Major Samuels? You certainly had not passed any such reports along. General Jenner replied in your stead, as you mentally noted down to have some words with Major Samuels. "Burying our head in the sand will achieve nothing. It would be like saying we don't need an army, because nobody is going to attack us from land. The Space Force has been tasked with defending this world from extra-terrestrial threats and we can only fulfil this duty with the right tools. And right now, the Stargate is the only tool available for us. Without it, we can just sit here, wait and hope the alien body snatchers don't find us."
"With all respect, your performance is not engendering trust in your abilities." General Chavez seemed far too pleased with himself to have found that opening. "The Air Force has sufficient capabilities to deliver nuclear weapons into space. We can defend this planet quite fine, without any undue risks for the lives of US soldiers."
"It is as of now unclear how well nuclear weapons would fare under these conditions," you countered very carefully, hoping not to offend him any further. "We do know that they have some kind of 'shield' technology, and we won't have the luxury of teleporting a warhead aboard any attacking ships like the team on Abydos. Further reconnaissance and analysis of the enemies technologies and capabilities is vital at this point."
"Gentlemen, I think we are getting ahead of ourselves," the President cut in. "There is much we don't yet know, and I believe that bickering will not help us in our goal to protect America. I would like to thank Captain Fraiser for her report and Major General Harrison for his leadership in this crisis. We will experience setbacks as we venture into the unknown, and it is much easier to heckle from the side lines than to chart the course under these conditions."
"You have my full trust, General Harrison. For the time being, the Stargate Program will be funded through shifting of funds. We will review the status of the program once the fiscal year ends and Congress has to decide on the new budget. By then, we will hopefully know more and can have this debate based on facts. I'm sure you will be putting those tax dollars to good use until then."
Gained Trait: Pending Review – The Stargate Program will be reviewed at the end of the fiscal year (after Turn 15). You have until then to build a case for why the program should continue.
Soldiers (DC 2): (1 +-1 +1 +-1) + 2 (Poster Child) + 2 (SG Team lost) = 4
Gain 2 SG Teams (4 soldiers each).
"That we will, sir. Thanks to General Jenner's great aid, the base has already reached a state of readiness."
"Good. Carry on then, general."
You held your breath until the secure call had disconnected, then sighed deeply. "No pressure, right?"
You have 2 SG-Teams that are ready for Missions, 10 points for Command actions and 3 points for Research actions.
[] Write-In Plan
Available Teams:
SG-1 – Major O'Neill Missing in Action on Abydos
SG-2 – Technical Sergeant Foster
SG-3 – Sergeant Yi
Missions: [] Combat Mission to Abydos – (Write-In Teams)
The video material strongly implies that most of SG-1 escaped the attack by the aliens. You owe it to them to send a rescue mission.
[] Reconnaissance Mission – (Write-In Teams)
You have a few possible gate addresses from where the attackers might have come. Try dialling them and explore if any of them are valid.
Can be picked multiple times.
[] Training – (Write-In Teams) – (Write-In Skills)
Try to improve the skills of your teams. Each team member has a chance to raise the target skill by one rank, up to a maximum of rank 2.
You have 10 points for command actions.
[] Base Improvement – Dismantle the Self-Destruct – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
Sitting above armed nuclear warheads is not terribly reassuring and you can think of a lot of ways this system could be used against you. Better to not keep it around.
Progress: 0 / 2
[] Base Improvement – Formalize the Self-Destruct – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
Maybe this system is not entirely unwarranted. Being able to sterilize and destroy everything in Cheyenne Mountain might one day be the only way to save the world. But it might be better to design something to do that instead of relying on Wests nuclear IEDs.
Progress: 0 / 8
Applicable Traits: Poster Child, Connections in Washington
[] Base Improvement – Stargate Iris – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
According to Captain Carters analysis, the Stargate is designed to accommodate a defensive metal shield that can be extended over the event horizon. She theorizes that this could stop any matter from coming through and thus offer the perfect protection against intruders.
Progress: 0 / 5
Applicable Traits: Ample Funding
[] Base Improvement – Better Quarters – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
It would be preferable if more of your personnel lived on the base, as that makes it more likely for you to have them on hand in emergencies. Improve the accommodations to make that more palatable.
Progress: 0 / 5
Applicable Traits: Ample Funding
[] Base Improvement – Better Infirmary – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
Your infirmary is decent as far as frontline care goes, but it's a long way off from a proper hospital. Expand it and procure the equipment needed for surgery and radiological examinations.
Progress: 0 / 10
Applicable Traits: Ample Funding
[] Base Expansion – Geological Survey – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
You have plans. Big plans. Why should only people move through the Stargate? Unfortunately, the designers of the base lacked such vision. Order a geological survey as the first step on the way to deploy vehicles through the gate.
Progress: 0 / 10
Applicable Traits: Ample Funding
[] Base Expansion – Biology Labs – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
Captain Fraiser would prefer to not keep her regular patients and the alien horrors near each other. Build dedicated labs to store and analyse alien lifeforms.
Progress: 0 / 20
Applicable Traits: Ample Funding
[] Base Expansion – Weapon Test Range – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
There's a lot of alien technology out there and some of it is lethally dangerous on purpose. Build some laboratories and a test range to aid your weapon research.
Progress: 0 / 20
Applicable Traits: Ample Funding
[] Base Expansion – Particle Physics Laboratory – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
Captain Carter would like to set up a dedicated lab for high-energy physic experiments, including a small particle accelerator. She is certain that it would help her work greatly.
Progress: 0 / 50
[] Procurement – Infantry Weapons – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
You currently still use the weapons that the Air Force left you with, which is mostly old SOCOM surplus and only a few new weapons.
Progress: 0 / 3
Applicable Traits: Ample Funding
[] Procurement – Optics – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
This isn't Vietnam. You can get night-vision and thermal imaging systems on the free market. Procure some systems and gun sights for your armoury.
Progress: 0 / 2
Applicable Traits: Ample Funding
[] Procurement – Ballistic Shields – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
As the fight on Abydos has shown, moving through a defended Stargate can be a very difficult operation. Obtain some ballistic shields that your teams can use in such situations.
Progress: 0 / 3
Applicable Traits: Ample Funding
[] Procurement – ABC-Gear – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
Given that you have no idea what might lurk on other planets, it might be prudent to keep some ABC equipment in the armoury and to stock up the infirmary with the means to threaten soldiers that got exposed to such threats.
Progress: 0 / 5
Applicable Traits: Ample Funding
[] Procurement – Heavy Weapons – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
The original Abydos mission was nearly powerless against the enemy close air support that the team dubbed "Death Glider". Obtain MANPADS, ATGMS and heavy weapons to be ready for such threats.
Progress: 0 / 5
Applicable Traits: Ample Funding, Bare Bones
[] Procurement – Man Portable UAVs – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
It would be quite useful for your soldiers to have fast and easy to deploy UAVs to aid them when scouting. See if you can get in on any ongoing procurement programs for such weapons.
Progress: 0 / 10
Applicable Traits: Ample Funding, Bare Bones
[] Recruitment – SG Team – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
As far as actual soldiers go, you are comically understaffed. Recruit more frontline soldiers from within the Space Force.
Progress: 0 / 2
Applicable Traits: Poster Child
[] Recruitment – Veterans – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
Unfortunately, the ill-fated Abydos mission has cost you most of your experienced frontline personnel. Try to recruit replacements from other service branches.
Progress: 0 / 5
Applicable Traits: Poster Child, Bare Bones
[] Recruitment – Recruitment Program – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
Your need for new soldiers won't stop any time soon. Set up a recruitment program so that you have a steady intake of recruits and to make it easier to recruit skilled officers.
Progress: 0 / 20
Applicable Traits: Poster Child, Bare Bones
[] Outreach – Peterson SFB Commander – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
You still haven't talked with the commander of the Peterson Space Force Base and by extension the Cheyenne Mountain Complex above Stargate Command. You should probably change that.
Progress: 0 / 1
Applicable Traits: Poster Child
[] Outreach – Your Father – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
You are pretty sure he doesn't have the security clearance to learn any details, but it might be helpful for your future interactions if you kept him appraised of your new long-term commitments.
Progress: 0 / 1
Applicable Traits: Poster Child, Political Dynasty
[] Other – Investigate Major General West – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
Your processor was certainly something and you have many questions about the circumstances of Project Lodestone and its end. Make some calls. See if you can find out more.
Progress: 0 / ???
Applicable Traits: Connections in Washington
You have 3 points for research. Once allocated, you will keep spending that amount of points on this each for each following turn until it completes. You can interrupt an action, but this will result in a loss of progress.
[] Autopsy – Host – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
You need to learn more about the humanoid alien warriors. How were they created? What makes them different from you? Do they have any weaknesses?
Progress: 0 / ???
[] Autopsy – Symbiont – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
You have three specimens of what presumably are larval aliens. See what you can learn about their biology and how they relate to their hosts.
Progress: 0 / ???
[] Technology Analysis – Jaffa Armor – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
The armour worn by the aliens seems to be a mix of chainmail and metal plates. It seems almost medieval. Investigate it in detail to see if there is more to it than that.
Progress: 0 / ???
[] Technology Analysis – Staff Weapon – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
You have four of the alien infantry weapons available. Have some of your scientist try to use them and disassemble one to see how they work.
Progress: 0 / ???
[] Other - Stargate Anomaly – (Write-In number of points to allocate)
There have been some anomalies in the Stargate since the aliens activated it compared to the baseline data from Project Lodestone. While nothing indicates an acute danger, the science staff wants to try to find out what has changed.
Progress: 0 / ???
AN: Plan voting only please. Keep in mind that you can spend a point of Luck to roll progress for an action twice and take the better result, provided you have a positive trait associated with it.
Most of the preparatory work for installing the iris had already been done by Carters team. They saw it as the preferable alternative to just burying the gate, an option that had been floated since Project Lodestone had been mothballed, and they had precise enough measurements of the inner rim of the gate to design the blades. There was still some debate if they should use Titanium or some high-temperature alloy for the blades, the argument going back and forth about corrosion or heat being the bigger risk, but you ordered them to use whatever could be procured faster. You would rather pay for an upgrade later than wait overly long.
Unfortunately, finding companies even capable of manufacturing something with the necessary precision turned out to be quite difficult. Even a lot of suppliers in the aviation industry had to tell you that they simply lacked the equipment to make blades of that size within the tolerances given. Others would need a few weeks to figure out a way to make it work and to clear their work schedules enough to produce something. The only company that seemed confident was some obscure manufacturer from Germany, who usually made turbine fans for nuclear power plants and whom one of your technicians knew about from a friend he had studied with. The price tag they had for a rush order was quite prohibitive though.
That very night, the choice was made easier for you. At around 3 in the morning, the base alarm woke you up and you barely had time to throw on a jumpsuit and rush into the control room before the first aliens came through the gate. Squads of the snake headed soldiers came marching in neat ranks, just to be cut down by heavy machine gun fire from the M2s. Luckily, they seemed not as well organized as the group on Abydos. They came through in parade formation, weapons not at the ready, and had foregone leading with the flashbangs they had used against SG-1.
The result was pure carnage. Infantry walking leisurely at machine gun emplacements had only one possible outcome and when all was said and done, the gate room was filled with over sixty badly mangled bodies. A few small fires had started and one explosion had occurred in the enemy ranks, likely the result of damaged staff weapons or some other equipment failing catastrophically. On your side, there were only three lightly wounded. In body at least. Captain Fraiser had sent everyone involved in the incident on medical leave, pending some rest and a talk with a psychiatrist.
As for yourself, you had given green light to the rush order for the iris blades the moment the gate had shut down. A few days later, they arrived on a C-130 flight from Ramstein Air Base. Nickel-Cobalt superalloy with Platinum-Aluminum coating. The technicians seemed quite happy with the parts and began installing them right away while around them, others were still busy patching up bullet holes in the concrete.
Gate Room gained Trait: Iris – A set of metal blades that can be extended from the Stargate to block incoming mater from reforming. As long as it is closed, it will stop any conventional attack.
While operational security was a major matter, there were still some rumours cropping up in the wake of the failed attack on the gate room. A lot of soldiers getting medical leave at once was hard to hide in a small force like the Space Force and while nobody knew the why and how, it still had a chilling effect on recruitment. There were no volunteers coming for now and you would have to try again at a later point.
Looking for experienced NCOs worked out much better, despite having to poach them from other services. Getting people capable of leading what amounts to Special Forces teams on short notice is far from easy, but after a few inquiries, you got sent the file of a Sergeant First Class Tonya Walt. She had recently washed out of Ranger School after a physical altercation with one of the instructors. No disciplinary action had been taken and the whole matter had been hushed up, but the officer had ensured that she would carry the black mark in her service record anyway. She had since unsuccessfully tried to get into other Special Forces training courses or units.
You had a feeling she would get along with O'Neill like a house on fire. Hopefully it wouldn't be yours.
Colonel Dorn from Peterson was harder to get hold of than you expected and it took a few days to schedule a call. He immediately disliked you for the sole fact that you were commanding Project Lodestone and after a bit of prodding, he was quite happy to vent why. You were mucking up his command by your mere presence. NORAD had moved from the Cheyenne Mountain Complex over a decade ago to Peterson, but a few years back, the new leadership decided to install some new equipment in the mountain again. The back and forth had already caused quite some problems, especially when Major General West started inserting himself into everything and making bogus demands, throwing the plans back years.
And now you were there, making new problems. Suddenly his funding had been put on review, NORAD seemed unsure what was going on in their mountain, nobody was giving him a straight answer if the project would continue, Raytheon was bugging him because nobody was talking to them either and for some reason the Air Force had suddenly developed an intense hatred for him. That is, even more intense than usual. He was close to taking a two week trip to inspect Thule Airbase in Greenland, just in the hopes of everyone else getting their act together in his absence.
What do you do in response?
[] Commiserate with him and make sure he doesn't blame you for his troubles. You are just as overwhelmed by the chaotic circumstances as him. (DC 2 Diplomacy)
[] Call your superior, General Jenner, and speak out on behalf of Colonel Dorn to get his budget problems resolved. (DC 5 Diplomacy, +2 from Poster Child)
[] Make some calls in Washington and see if NORAD can be convinced to cancel their plans for Cheyenne Mountain, granting you control over the whole mountain. (DC 8 Diplomacy, +2 from Poster Child, + 2 from Connections in Washington)
-[] Write-In: Use a point of Luck.
Calling your father still made you feel strangely small. He had always been this huge and domineering presence in your life, expecting much from you and carefully doling out what he gave back to not spoil or coddle his son and heir. Reaching him was not that hard as Congress was in recess and campaigning season still a bit off, though you still had to make an appointment to fit in between donors, allies and reporters.
His reaction to your new posting was muted. You had half expected him to be angry at you yet again choosing the military over finally entering politics in earnest, but that you were heading a great and important project for the Space Force seemed to mollify him somewhat, even though he lacked the clearance to get told any details. He, of course, reminded you that his seat was up for re-election in two years and that he did not plan to die on that chair, seeing himself in a different post by then. For some reason, he also already knew that your posting would be up for review, and he promised that he would make some calls to ensure the final report would be helpful for your career.
Figuring out how to activate and use the alien staff weapons turned out to be incredibly easy. There is one button that acts as a safety and one that fires. That's all. The weapon is also completely sealed from the outside, save for the firing mechanism when armed, so it also seems to not need much maintenance. It can also fire safely while underwater, shows no signs of impediment by being filled with sand or mud, and is very durable against physical abuse.
All in all, a very reliable weapon that is easy to use, but that comes at a cost. The ergonomics are lacklustre, even though the scientists assume that the weight is less of a problem for the alien warriors, and accuracy is likewise low at even medium ranges. The shots of charged plasma also can't penetrate armour at all, though they make up for that by the explosions they cause doing very high damage to all materials you tested it against. Light Kevlar body armour offers no real protection, while hard armour can stop one hit with some reliability, but not a second.
Between these properties and what you had seen from the alien warriors tactics, Captain Carter has been speculating that the teams you have witnessed are not supposed to fight as individuals, but as something akin to line infantry. They kept trying to form ranks and were the most dangerous when they managed to operate as fire teams against SG-1, which allowed the coordinated fire to overcome the precisions and rate of fire deficits of the staff weapons and pin your soldiers. She suggests that SG teams should aim to disrupt such formations and that they should be equipped with more light machine guns and explosives for that purpose.
As for the technical details of the weapons, there is as of yet not much to report. The comprehensive fire tests took quite some time and after the evidence from the gate room attack that the weapons can be explosive when mishandled, the scientists have decided to err on the side of caution and order some blast resistant equipment and specialized tools before they try to open the casings by force.
The amor worn by the aliens was rather surprising to your scientists. They assumed it would be some kind of special material, maybe the same mineral that makes up the Stargate, but they are just plain, regular steel. Even the spectrographic analysis showed nothing out of the ordinary. The plates offer decent enough protection from a staff hit, turning it from a lethal wound into a likely survivable one, but otherwise it seems positively medieval. As part of her speculations on their tactics and doctrine, Captain Carter argued that these soldiers might be mostly tasked with counterinsurgency operations. Chain mail makes a lot of sense when the most likely threat is a slave that has, at best, a knife.
About the only noteworthy thing about the armour are the helmets, which apparently have a rather complex folding system and probably some kind of optical system as it lacks any visible slits or other means for the wearer to actually see something. Given that the aliens had shown no signs of impeded vision, the scientists assume that the coating on the inside of the helmet is some kind of display, but they have yet to find a way to turn it on.
AN: Next up will be Abydos and your attempt to rescue SG-1.
Hearing Colonel Dorn's plight, you tried your best to sound sympathetic, but inwardly, you were already calculating how to turn this into your favour. If there was confusion about the status of the upper levels of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, then why not resolve them? Right after your talk with the commander of Peterson SFB was over, you instead called a few acquaintances in Washington. Senators, Generals, some lobbyists and everyone else who might have been inclined to nudge NORAD towards abandoning their plans in Cheyenne Mountain. Especially Raytheon seemed very amenable to your suggestion as they would get paid either way and you made some off-hand remarks about your own procurement budget being rather generous.
After a days' worth of politicking, you finished by telling your own staff to keep an ear to the ground and appraise you of any news concerning the upper levels. It would take a while to see if you had succeeded.
The next morning, you were going over some papers as an urgent meeting request came in. For once it was not someone from outside the base, but the freshly arrived Master Sergeant Walt. Given that she was scheduled to lead the rescue mission to Abydos in just two hours, the urgency was probably warranted. She was ushered in by Harriman a few minutes later.
The young woman came to a perfect parade rest in front of you desk. "At ease, Sergeant," You told her, but that did not mean she actually relaxed even tiny bit.
"Sir, I have concerns about the upcoming missions," she blurted out after a while, the words rushing out despite her nervousness.
"So have I." You sighed, which was only half played. "Missions to Abydos have not been showing a tendency to according to plan so far."
For the first time she actually looked at you instead of trying to bore a hole into the concrete wall behind you with her eyes. "It is… I am concerned about my soldiers, Sir. I frankly don't think they are ready." Her eyes went back to the wall and she tensed even further as she waited for your reply.
"You have been deployed in Afghanistan, is that correct? Did you feel ready for your first combat patrol?"
"Yes, sir," the answer came immediately.
"And, just between the two of us, were you actually ready?"
This time she hesitated. "No, sir, I was not."
"Good, Sergeant. You passed the test by not lying to me," you tried to sound jovial while saying it, but Walt still stood there as if you were about to summon a firing squad. "Your concerns are noted and to be quite frank, I share them. But unfortunately, we are short on experienced soldiers in this command and SG-1 won't hold out forever while we cut through the red tape necessary to deploy Delta Force through the gate."
You waited a while, giving your words a bit of space to sink in before you continued. "We have mission that needs to be fulfilled. We have comrades out there who are counting on us. You are here, Master Sergeant, because I trust you to be able to keep my soldiers alive until they are ready to bear that responsibility on their own. Do you feel capable of that task?"
Finally, she seemed to relax the slightest bit. "Yes, sir," she answered and even managed to sound sincere.
A small smile crept on your face. It had been a while since you had to give an NCO with nerves a pep talk, but you apparently hadn't forgotten how to do it. "As long as I am your direct superior, my door remains open and I would ask you to come to me with all your concerns or suggestions."
You were ready to dismiss her, but thoughtful look on her face made you pause. "I do have a suggestion, sir. I have spoken with Captain Carter…"
When the time for the mission had come, the control room slowly filled up with people. Captain Fraiser had insisted to be present in case she would be receiving wounded and Captain Carter had come up with some excuse about observing kinetic interactions on an active gate. It did not help her explanation that she was obviously nervous, which grew even worse once the dialling process had begun.
"Relax, Captain," you said quietly to your side. "Speedy thing go in, speedy thing go out is pretty much what we keep seeing from the gate."
"Of course, sir, but there might be an upper limit for that… or safeties to stop people from doing what we are about to try…"
"Even if it does not work, it won't jeopardize the missions." At least you hoped so. The general nervousness in the base had largely passed you by, but now that showtime was drawing close, that began to change. And yet, you could not show it. When everyone around you was doubting themselves, at least you needed to seem to know what you are doing.
"Chevron seven locked." Harriman called into the microphone before him.
Time to see if you knew what you were doing. "Send the MALP in," you told him before turning to the second microphone and pressed the button for the gate room. "Master Sergeant Walt, you are in command of the gate room."
From there on, you could only watch. The MALP lurched forward through the gate and showed the by now familiar sight of Abydos temple. It was not empty though. Three guards could be seen on the video stream, two standing right next to the drone and another with the by now familiar snake helmet near the temples entrance.
Who is left standing? 2d7 = (4 3) => 2x regular Serpent Guard
1 Elite Serpent Guard down
4 Serpent Guards down
Beachhead established.
You did not hear Walt give the command, but you heard the machine guns just fine. Both M2's opened up on the event horizon and the Stargate dutifully turned the speeding bullets into raw energy and back into deadly projectiles on Abydos. Everyone pretended to not have hard Carters muffled cry of joy as the manoeuvre worked. The two aliens next to the MALP were immediately cut down and guard further back had to duck behind one of the badly shot up pillars to avoid the same fate.
The fire cut out and SG-2 sprinted up the ramp to the gate, followed immediately by Walt and SG-3. Everyone in the control room was glued to the screens as the MALP filmed their attack. The leader of the aliens had made the mistake of stepping out of cover again when the M2's had stopped and so was caught out in the open and took a few bursts of M-16 rounds the second that SG-2s boots hit the dirt. Four more guards came in from outside, two of which went down by fire from SG-3 as they blindly stormed into the temple and fired without much coordination towards the gate.
2 Serpent Guards down
Abydos temple under SG Team control.
The battle lasted not much longer. The aliens were badly outnumbered, and they clearly had no idea to react to the sudden attack. But they didn't stop. They didn't waver or try to surrender. They stood there, taking fire from all sides and giving badly aimed return fire, right until enough bullets found their way past their armour to take them down. It was all over within a minute and as SG-2 reached the door and peered out, it became clear that no enemy reinforcements were coming either.
Unfortunately, there was no sign of SG-1 either and a few minutes of trying to establish radio contact bore no fruit either.
What are your orders?
[] Abort this mission. Without a lead, it is too risky to proceed.
[] Have SG-2 secure the gate and SG-3 explore the burned down camp near the pyramid.
[] Keep SG-2 at the pyramid to secure the gate and have SG-3 try to find the settlement mentioned in the original Abydos mission report.
[] There is strength in numbers and one team alone won't stop an assault on the gate. Send both teams to find the settlement.
