[Tyrone Gaines]

1400
Stargate

Leading from the front with his weapon at the ready, Major Gaines was the first member of SV-2 to step through the Stargate and arrive on the planet Kota. Taking a few steps to allow plenty of room for the rest of his team, Tyrone took a knee and scanned the horizon through the sight of his weapon. The coast was clear. Just as the MALP probe had suggested, Kota was a desert planet, with nothing by rolling sand dunes as far as the eye could see. It was hard to imagine there being anything of use to the expedition out here, but when the Admiral ordered you through the Stargate, the major didn't ask twice.

With the previous leader of SV-2 reassigned, Tyrone had stepped up to temporarily take command. The former heavy bomber pilot had spent his time with the expedition assigned to the headquarters section, helping to organise missions and plan the exploration of the outpost. Now he was out in the field, and in many ways, out of his comfort zone. Not that he would admit that to his team.

His XO for the mission was a Mr Aear Charter, a human-feline hybrid of the Meowtain species. Operating with personnel from other countries was difficult enough back on Earth. Working with someone from a different galaxy would be more so. Still, the man wouldn't be here if the Admiral didn't trust him. Rounding out the team was Captain Harris, a fighter pilot, Lieutenant Witwer, a recent academy graduate, and Chief Angler, an experimental engineer.

With the team now all through the Stargate and their position secure, Gaines called the team together. "Take a knee," he ordered as he unfurled an aerial photograph of the area surrounding the Stargate. "According to the drone there's a small village ten klicks to the south-west. Looks pretty primative, but the Admiral assures me that looks can be deceiving. We'll approach using this sand drift as cover and try to make a good impression with the locals. Any questions?"

< Tag Aear Charter, Kata Harris, Billie Jean Witwer & Vanessa Whitmore>

[Aear Charter]

1400
Kota
Stargate

Aear strolled out through the stargate, Cyleo in his shotgun form shining from underneath his barrier jacket, the hooded trench coat. Aear closed his eyes for a moment as he followed his CO. His ears flicked and his nose sniffed, a gust of wind went by him. There we're no sounds or smells carried on the wind so nothing was nearby, however something had happened here not too long ago. The mana flows were skewed, bent as if something had rammed into them like setting off a depth charge in a river and it hadn't quite settled yet.

His team had been thrown together pretty much at the last minute, they'd had a major shift recently with their CO out of action and his sister needing some base time after her last two missions went south quickly. Whilst Aear had only worked with Gaine, the man was capable and stepped up to the plate when he was needed, his sisters could vouch for the rest. Harris and he could probably relate, Witwer was a good leader when she needed to be but she was new here. Angler he didn't have a lot of information on, perhaps the three of them hadn't been paying enough attention, from first glances she looked like she could hold her own but she'd have to prove herself to Aear still.

Aear looked at Gaines for a moment with the order, it was new to him, many things these people did were. Watching the other he quickly realised what was being asked however and followed suit. An aerial photograph, on it a primitive village and what Gaines pointed out to be a sand drift. It didn't look right to Aear, the back of the drift shone more than it should. That wasn't sand that was glass. "Wait, that drift. Look at the trail. Something made it. Something hot. You see here. This shine, this is glass not sand. I'd say something crashed here, probably from reentry." Aear spoke calmly pointing out his findings. "I can go ahead. Scout out and get some more detailed aerial pictures."

Tag: Tyrone Gaines, Kata Harris, Billie Jean Witwer, Vanessa Whitmore

[Billie Jean Witwer]

1400
Stargate
Kota

Heat.

Dry heat.

Billie cringed as it slapped her face, hard. Taking her shades out, she placed them on and noted it was dessert heat. Far worse then normal Earth heatwave during summers. It was better then freezing her butt off. The epic tidal lock planet exam couldn't be forgotten since nothing topped that one. Other then the planet where it rained and rained she had mission on. Biting back a grumble, she moved to left and did a sweep, "All clear," she called after making sure that coast was in fact; clear and backed herself to the base of the stairs that lead to the gate, "sir."

Her blue eyes landed on SV-2's new Commanding Officer and gave him a nod, "Can't complain about anything other than the heat." A smirk was on her lips as she remembered Az making so much fuss after that exam. Now she knew how her friends had felt. Dripping in sweat was not by any means fun.

Two pilots on the team gave them a advantage when it came to fighters and way out. Assets, they all were in making this expedition a success. Their cat was also a great addition when it came to using the spells to their advantage.

Kneeing when it was called for, she looked over the photo's and agreed with Admiral's views, "Looks are always deceiving, we will have a better idea of what we are dealing with when we arrive. And no questions." She didn't really have any.

When Aear spoke up Billie gazed at the photo's again before fishing out binocular's and looking towards in the said direction, "I don't see anything," she said, "perhaps the sand has covered it. Could be anything, broken bottles of local moonshine." Seeing something else on the images, she circled it with her finger, "Major, a suggestion would be to take a look, but it's your call sir." Pulling out her canteen, she took a small sip of water.

Tag: Tyrone Gaines, Aear Charter, Kata Harris, and Vanessa Whitmore>

[Tyrone Gaines]

1401
Stargate

The team studied the aerial photographs for a moment as they planned their next move. While to everyone else it looked to be an empty desert, Aear spotted a light reflection which he suggested might have been caused by a crashed ship. Gaines leaned forward and took a closer look at the photo from the drone. There was indeed something there, not too far from the village. “Could be nothing, could be everything,” he said as he folded up the map.

His XO volunteered to go ahead and scout out the anomaly. The Meowtian was in possession of all manner of advanced technology which would make him perfect for the assignment. Tyrone had even heard rumour and his special suit of armour allowed him to fly. “Mr Charter, you have a go. The rest of the team will approach on foot and provide cover fire from the west.” Gaines checked his gear one more time before gathering up the team and heading toward the crash.

1635
Approaching crash site

SV-2 made good time covering the almost ten klicks to the crash site, and were just coming over a sand dune to the west which would give them a good view of the crash.

Just as Aear had suspected, there was indeed a crashed spaceship. The design was unfamiliar to Gaines, with the task of identifying it made more difficult by the sand that was starting to cover the damaged hull. By the looks of it the ship had been here long enough for the desert to start reclaiming it.

The major pulled out his binoculars and scanned the ship. There was no immediate signs of life. “Witwer, give me a wide-band scan of radio frequencies, see if you can pick up any chatter.” Activating his radio, Tyrone opened a channel to Aear. “Charter, Gaines. How’s it going down there?”

< Tag Aear Charter, Kata Harris, Billie Jean Witwer & Vanessa Whitmore>

[Kata Harris]

1400
Stargate
Kota

Since returning to Base after her time on the prison planet life had been nothing but crazy, but she liked it. With McKenzie out of commission due to something that was still baffling the doctors, the entire team of SV-4 had been reassigned to SV-2, with Major Gaines as the Commanding Officer. It was a quick move and Captain Harris did not know much about Gaines but she did know Lt. Witwer, Warrent Officer Angler (from her time on Delta) and then the human cat, Aear who was apparently Chiquita's brother, so she kind of new about him.

Kata followed her team through the Stargate, though the drones had shown no sign of life around the Stargate she still was ready for anything. At the sight of the expanse of desert she scowled, heat was one thing but she was from the Southern parts of the U.S and she was used to the exact opposite of dry, some sumemrs were so humid that it felt like you were swimming in the air. Kata reached up and wiped the dust off her sunglasses, usually she didn't wear any but today it seemed like a good idea.

1635
Approaching crash site

By now the team could see the crashed ship, as Gaines gave out orders, Kata looked down at the ship; the ship had been damaged in some way, they all could see that by the state of the hull, "I don't reconize the design," she said moving along the dune to stand closer to Gaines, "But it looks like something shot it down, though it doesn't seem like it was anything around here." she looked around where they stood but just saw sand. No sign of any type of anti-air weapon or sign of anyone at all. "Any sign of the pilot?" she asked turning her head back to the crash site.

Tag: Tyrone Gaines Billie Jean Witwer Aear Charter & Vanessa Whitmore

[Aear Charter]

1401
Kota

Aear had got his go ahead. He grinned at Gaines, he did so love to fly. Yokai. He nodded and ran ahead a few metres before taking off. He did a few maneuvers to show off before he headed over to whatever it was. It only took him only a short while to get to the trail, he sank low to the ground using his flight to blow away the sand from the trail before taking up a higher altitude again. Definitely glass under the sand, whatever it was had come in fast, too fast from the looks of things. He moved over to the dune and landed on top.

Brushing aside the sand so he could see what he was looking at, the stripes were familiar, this was a Meowtian vessel of some kind. It's size suggested it was a Ocelot and it's minor armaments said it was just a scouting vessel. Meowtian pilots came in pairs, there were at least to people on the ship originally. He just had to get inside. Aear jumped down and looked at the back of the sand dune. He took a jump back drawing his weapon and firing off a round to disperse the sand. Sure enough the rear access hatch, wide open and the lights were off. Not that Aear needed light to see of course, he strolled in right to the front of the craft. One Meowtian casualty. The ships Wizard sat in the seat she had died in, reaching out to the console probably trying to boost the shields just enough for them to survive the crash. Aear placed a hand on her shoulder and closed his eyes. Oyasumi Nasai.

Aear turned to the other chair, pilot controls, cracked HUD, but no Gunner. Looks like her Wizard had manage to get someone out alive. Aear flicked a few of the controls. Nothing. Figured. He'd have to see if he could get power up somehow. He could figure out what happened if he could get into the ships computer and this was a Meowtian ship, if anyone could do it it was him.

1635
Kota[/]b

Aear had been toiling with the ships power systems for at least an hour now. Most of the systems were heavily damaged and he'd had to do a ridiculous amount of bypasses but he thought he'd be able to get basic power back online. She wasn't going to sail anytime soon but they'd be able to access the computer at least.

Charter, Gaines. How’s it going down there?

Gaines, Charter. Managed to gain access to the ship. It's a Meowtian Ocelot class, scout role. The Wizard didn't make it but it looks like the gunner made a break for it. Trying to get enough power to get the computer back up. Aear called back with his telepathic radio. Still didn't understand why they stuck with such low tech options but that was just him. Structurally the ship's sound but short of taking her back to base she's not gonna sail again. Would need too many parts and it's taken me this long to get close to basic power back up. Should have it back up in a couple minutes.

Tag: Tyrone Gaines, Billie Jean Witwer, Vanessa Whitmore, Kata Harris

[Vanessa Whitmore]

1400
Stargate
Kota

Vanessa had been the quiet one and she hadn't made a peep, it was probably why Gaines had overlooked her when sending everyone else wandering around. As usual Vanessa was tossed around wherever her expertise was needed and she was quite used to the fact that she never saw the same face more than a few days at a time at the rate she was going. She headed with the others up to the crash site and remained quiet well that was until...

1635
Crash Site
Vanessa peered around and tiptoed carefully as not to disturb the wreckage. She was used to seeing crash sites of strange and common aircraft and everything else in between to be honest. However most of them functioned off the same basic properties. She started going through the control logs to see if she could find anything.
Any type of communication amongst the strewn apart cockpit would be nice. "The Radio was rigged after the crash.. and where the handheld should be is missing" she pointed out. It was the first words she had spoken the entire trip.

Tag: Tyrone Gaines,Aear Charter, Kata Harris, Billie Jean Witwer

[Tyrone Gaines]

1635
Crash Site

From the crash site down below, Aear reported that he had identified the ship as a Meowtian scout ship, that its ‘Wizard’ he lost her life, and that he was trying to get power back online so they could access the ship’s systems. It took the major a moment to realise that his XO wasn’t communicating over the radio, but rather his voice was somehow appearing in Tyrone’s head. He remembered reading in a mission report that the Meowtian’s used telepathy to communicate over long distances. “Copy that, we’re coming down,” he replied over the radio, unsure if the mind-reading went both ways.

SV-2 came down the sand dune into the valley which housed the crashed ship. As they approached the ship Captain Harris noted that from the damage, it looked as though the ship had been shot down. “The drone only spotted primitive villages,” Gaines replied as they came closed to the downed ship. “Damage could have been from a space battle. Ship lost control and crash landed.” Without thinking he looked up into the sky. Obviously he wasn’t going to be able to see any ships in orbit, but it was good to know that there weren’t any ships flying around above them in lower orbit.

The team moved into the ship, where Aear looked to have restored power. CWO Angler examined the cockpit radio, noting that someone had tried to repair the radio after the crash, and had taken parts with them. That, combined with Aear’s comment of the Gunner escaping and there being two chairs in the cabin and only one body, suggested that they might have a survivor.

“So we have a survivor,” Tyrone declared. “Of the crash at least. Don’t know how long they’d last out in the desert.”

The major had a quick look around the crashed vessel, trying to find any clues as to where the Gunner could have gone. While he wasn’t familiar with the design of this vessel, it looked as though someone had gone through a number of cabinets in the scout ship, possibly looking for supplies and survival equipment. All of this increased the likelihood that a member of the crew had survived.

“Any clues as to which direction they headed in?”

< Tag Aear Charter, Kata Harris, Billie Jean Witwer & Vanessa Whitmore>

[Aear Charter]

1635 - 1656
Kota
Ocelot - Scout Wreckage

Aear had just about brought minimum power back online when Vanessa started poking around. Whilst he appreciated the help he wasn't sure how much she could actually do. I've got enough power back to access the systems. Just be careful, we don't use binary computing anymore and the computers will be in Meowtian. If you hook up your tablet I should be able to quickly make a translation patch however. Aear advised Vanessa. He didn't particularly like the other races poking around their tech, a Meowtian would find things much, much easier but that was what he had to hand.

The pair worked on piecing the logs back together, many of the systems were damaged and huge chunks of the data were corrupted because of it. Aear took a step back from his controls. She wasn't much this ship, but in Aear's mind she was salvageable. He hated wasting an opportunity like this but short of the BC304 dragging her home she wasn't sailing any time soon. We're not gonna be able to pull a lot out, most, if not all the flight logs have been scrambled, the rest of the data is corrupted. Whoever sent her here wasn't doing so without caution. Aear let out a sigh as he spoke both out loud and using telepathy, not realising Gaines was nearby. If we can take her home we'd get more out of her but short of the Shiva towing her she's not sailing anytime soon. Aear took a step outside and looked over the damage again. Judging from the damage to the hull she must have got into a battle and then jumped into the atmosphere. Most of the damage is from atmosphere jump and re-entry but she took one hell of a beating before they managed to jump.

He proceed to scan the area around the vessel. Any tracks in the sand were long gone, the ship had been here a while. The mana flows were screwed from the crash and the wizards death so that didn't help. Only one thing gave them a clue as to where the gunner might have gone. Judging from the radio i'd say it's safe to assume that the wizard spotted the village during the crash. We only keep them on scouts for the other races. With mana-flow and chima space comms systems combined with telepathy we don't really need them otherwise. The gunner must tried to contact the village using the radio then grabbed the portable for the road. Best bet would be to head to the village and see if their still around. Unless it's a Zero then they'll stick out like a Furcadian on Ueda.

Tag: Tyrone Gaines, Kata Harris. Billie Jean Witwer, Vanessa Whitmore

[Billie Jean Witwer]

1635
Crash site

Billie didn't have time to grumbled at the heat and the sweat her cloths seemed to be soaked with. Two hours of walking in the heat was damping her mood. All she could do was suck it up and move along. She listened as the Major checked in with Aear while taking a moment to check her breath. She had to make her water last till they reached village at least. Dusk wasn't far off at least she was praying that it wasn't far off.

The dunes themselves were bigger and higher, some in the right size to give them the shade the team sought from the heat. Getting burnt wasn't on her list and sitting in the med bay with ice all over her didn't not seem appealing. Even her sun screen wasn't going to be much help and she might run out if it before the mission was over. At any rate she might just run out of bottles of the cream themselves.

Her heard perked up as the order came, Pinky rose an eyebrow yet complied with it, "Yes sir." And moved fast to get on with task given, while working Aear was speaking back. Having Kana on her team before the shuffle, she knew that this was going to happen, she snickered at the 'Wizard' comment, hoping that he wasn't referring to Colonel Oxford.

Running through the frequencies, as fast as she could. It was a minute or two later that she came upon one before the device continued to scan for more, when she found no further she went back to the first, "Got one, sir," she called out, "But it's not as strong as I was hoping for. Could be our gunner?" She moved around at the question Gaines presented over which direction, taking a north she found she hold the frequencies for longer then anywhere.

"North, I suspect," she looked back at her team and shrugged, "Frequency is holding." While it was a lame reply, she didn't have anything better.

Tag: Tyrone Gaines, Aear Charter, Kata Harris and Vanessa Whitmore

[Tyrone Gaines]

1635
Crash Site

With the ship deemed to be damaged beyond repair there was little point sticking around. “Alright, grab what intel you can and we’ll move out,” Gaines order. If they had time on their way back to the gate they might have another look at the ship to see what could be repaired and what could be taken with them. The expedition was always in need of supplies and spare parts.

He toed at a pile of rubbish, and spotted beneath it what appeared to be a Meowtian laptop or tablet computer. Making sure that no one else could see him, the major quickly picked up the device and tucked it securely into his backpack. He wasn’t sure what the device would hold, and given that it had been left behind, it couldn’t have been too important. Still, when in the field, intel was intel.

Moving outside the ship, Tyrone watched as Aear studied some tracks on the ground. From the looks of it the survivor had fled on foot to the nearby village. “Village is just over the next couple of dunes, we’ll put on our best smiles and see if we can make friends.” A career as a bomber pilot hadn’t exactly prepared Tyrone for meeting and greeting aliens off-world. Thankfully, for other members of the team this wasn’t their first outing. He’d have to let them take the lead.

1704
Village

From the distance the village didn’t look like much. Nestled between two large sand dunes, it was nothing more that a collection of large tents strung together in a haphazard fashion. Gaines imagined that the camp was only temporary, designed to be taken down and moved if needed. There was an oasis beyond the village which looked like it was almost dried up. The village would no doubt be on the move again in a few days.

After taking a few moments to scout the village from afar, the team moved in. They had elected to sling their weapons over their shoulders to avoid appearing too confrontation, but still, everyone was on watch for the first sign of trouble. Their approach to the village was observed by the locals, who came out with great hesitation to meet them. A representative of the village, dressed in a heavy cloak to protect her from the desert, stepped forward.

“You’re up,” Gaines muttered to the team, waiting for one of them to step forward and make an introduction.

< Tag Aear Charter, Kata Harris, Billie Jean Witwer & Vanessa Whitmore>

[Billie Jean Witwer]

1635
Crash Site

Grab intel? Bills blinked for a second before realising that the Major wasn't talking to her, but the others hoovering over the plane. Even he was talking to her, she couldn't imagine what intel she would find for him. Her major in the SGA had been Geo-science not technology. Moving further away from her team, Witwer used her binoculars to scan the area. There was nothing behind the team other than sand. Looking towards the way she had pointed out earlier.

Moisting her dry lips, she over looked the sand dunes only to find hot winds slapping her face. Putting her shades back on she face the Major and wordlessly nodded. Sounded liked a plan to her. Perhaps it would give them shade and some more intel they weren't able to find out here.

1704
Village

She wanted to scream loudly, cuss and act like she was five as they walked over another set of dunes. It wasn't fair, Bills pouted mentally as she pushed herself along with the group. She was professional enough not to voice her distain over this heat and sand for now. Looking at the setting she was really certain that the reasonable size of storm won't cover it. The idea alone made her shudder.

The way the set was, gave her the impression of nomads. Not really unusual on Earth either. She was the last to change the angle of her weapon as Gaines gave out order. She waited to see who would take the steps forwards. Seeing no one, "Oh for crying out loud," she used Jack's famous line and took a step; and out of the group.

"Greetings," she gave a small bow of her head, "I'm Lieutenant Billie Witwer. This is," she gestured to Tyrone, "My commanding officer, Major Gaines, and my team members, Aear Charter, Captain Kata Harris and Warrant Officer Vanessa Angler."

"We arrived through the stargate, in hopes of finding allies." She added.

Tag: Tyrone Gaines, Aear Charter, Kata Harris and Vanessa Whitmore

[Tyrone Gaines]

1705
Village

Billie stepped forward to make the team’s forward introduction. As an always stoic individual, Tyrone managed to surprised the appreciate grin he could feel forming. Through she was straight out of the Stargate Academy, the LT was already showing good leadership potential.

The nomads in their heavy brown cloaks considered her words before responding. “You came through the Dvara?” an elderly man asked. By the sounds of it, ‘Dvara’ was the local word for the Stargate. “That’s correct,” Gaines replied. This caused an outbreak of murmuring between the nomads. After an impromptu whispered meeting, the elderly man turned back to the team. “Follow me.”

SV-2 was ushered across the camp to what was unquestionably the largest tent. Passing between two guards positioned at the entrance, the came into the large carpeted tent which was filled with a collection of what could be safely considered to be religious relics and artefacts. This was definitely the home of the tribe’s leader or high priest. Possibly, the same person held both positions.

“It has been generations since we had visitors through the Dvara,” a voice said from no where. The team looked around for the source of the voice, startled. From the shadows of one corner of the tent stepped a middle age woman, adorned in a bone coloured flowing gown and several pieces of gold jewellery. “Have you been sent to us by the Gods?”

< Tag Aear Charter, Kata Harris, Billie Jean Witwer & Vanessa Whitmore>

[Aear Charter]

1705
Village

Aear watched the villagers closely. Normally a Meowtian was going to be easy to spot, but on the off chance their missing Gunner was a Zero then they would look human and probably only Aear would be able to tell. He could sense the Gunner's mana in the air and their scent was oddly familiar. If he was going on instinct he say it was one of the other Tridents but that was impossible, wasn't it?

He scanned every person as he strolled into the tent with the others. He could sense the Gunner was here in the village, or at least they had been till very recently. They were good at hiding whoever they were. He gave Tyrone a no luck glance. He listened as he looked around the tent for clues. He spotted one of the newest decorations, a simple mirror but it was built using a Meowtian metal. The crafter was female the mana residue told him that much. Aear looked over to the woman. We're looking for the woman that built this. Aear had been barely listening to the conversation, he was working.

Tag: Tyrone Gaines, Kata Harris, Billie Jean Witwer, Vanessa Whitmore

[Tyrone Gaines]

1706
Village

The priestess moved from the shadows and strode into the middle of the tent. She sat down on a cushion, and waved for SV-2 to do the same. Removing his helmet, Tyrone took a seat. The cushion were arranged in a circle around a crackling fire, from which smoke was rising up and out through a chimney above.

“We came through the Stargate… the Dvara as you call it, from another world,” the team leader explained. “But we have nothing to do with your gods. We’re peaceful explorers from a far off land, here to learn about your people and trade.” As far as introductions to aliens, Gaines wasn’t sure how that rated, but no one else had spoken up. “I am Major Gaines, and his is my team. Mr Charter, Captain Harris, Lieutenant Witwer, and Chief Angler.”

The priestess bowed her head slightly. “I am Uffgah, the high priestess of this clan,” the woman replied by introduction.

Aear had been studying the objects hanging around the tent. He recognised an object and asked where it had come from.

“Yes, a most beautiful object. Curious in design, unlike anything I have ever seen. A local artisan made it, she is new to the tribe. Do you wish to purchase her wares?”

< Tag Aear Charter, Kata Harris, Billie Jean Witwer & Vanessa Whitmore>