[Henry Pratt]

1409
USS Shiva Bridge
Observing Blackhole

Doctor Pratt was deep in thought. Standing at the front of the bridge of the Shiva, he stared out the forward view screen at the object they were approaching. In the months since the cruiser had been MIA, they’d approach planets, asteroid fields, gas giants, and even a nebula. But this was the first time they’d approached one of the most dangerous objects in the known galaxy - a black hole.

Being a man of knowledge, Henry had taken some time this morning to read up all he could on black holes, and had gained a fearful respect of them. From a black hole, nothing could escape, not even light. They were so powerful that even the fabric of space was distorted and the laws of physics were broken. And it was this power that they were going to use today to try and get back home.

“I’m sorry to be a broken record, but could we go over the plan one more time?”

The plan, of course, had been explained to him a number of times, in both the most basic of terms, and in the most scientific. It involved dropping one of their few remaining nuclear warheads into the black hole, and detonating it at the exact right time to open a subspace rift that would take them home. It was a risky plan, and almost impossible to pull off, but they didn’t have many other options remaining. It had been months since they’d lost contact with the Vedas base. Supplies were running low and folks were getting desperate.

< Tag Matthew Oxford, Travis "Wizard" Oxford, Stephanie Martin, Lily Tuck, Victoria Palmazio, Isabelle Cooper, Nick Harper, Gavin Barker, Steve Hamrick, William Huxley, Declan Murphy & Akash Malhotra >

[Isabelle Cooper]

1409
USS Shiva Bridge


Isabelle stood with the others looking out at the intimidating beauty known as a black hole. It made her nervous, being so close to something so...impressive, it was honestly an amazing thing to see, figuring she had only read about them in textbooks..just like most of the things they had come across. Cooper looked down at the tablet she held in her arms; she had gotten ahold of it a few weeks back and mainly used it to take notes and record things that happened, if anything it would be a final record if anything happened to the ship. 

Dr. Pratt spoke as she was typing a note about what the black hole looked like; “I’m sorry to be a broken record, but could we go over the plan one more time?” Isabelle smiled to herself, glad someone else had decided to ask again what exactly the sciencetists on the ship thought they should do. "I believe we are going to drop a warhead into it and hope it opens a rift or wormhole." the plan sounded insane, but if it worked then it would go down on the list of crazy things she had seen since joining the expedition. She hoped it would work, "This has also probably been asked before, but is there any chance this could backfire and blow up in our face?" she asked, hoping to whatever deity that was listening that what she asked didn't happen. 

Tag: Henry Pratt Travis "Wizard" Oxford Matthew Oxford Nick Harper Lily Tuck Steve Hamrick

[Matthew Oxford]

1409
Bridge
USS Shiva
Observing Blackhole

What he had seen over the time they had left Earth gobsmacked him. Sure he knew the universe was endless, but little he had know the wonders it held hidden in nooks and planets. To see a nubela in person, words didn't comes to describe it. There were times he saw Travis throwing smirks in his way. Knowing full well at the awe the Admiral was in. Then there moments when the lack of expressions on Travis face over the beauty of the glaxay, baffled him. It was those moments he forgot that Travis wasn't new to "discovering a galaxy" game. He had done all with Delta.

Now the view of the black hole, almost made his heart stop. Watching the most dangerous region of the galaxy he wasn't sure what to think or even to think in the first place. They were standing front of jaws of death. Given no one knew what was on the other side. And that bought him to the reason they were here. When the idea had been presented, he was sure someone was missing few marbles -not that changed after he agreed. The idea of ripping space and time was not what he had in mind.

Pratt's voice broke his train of thought as he turned to face the man, moved his mouth to speak when Miss Cooper beat him to it. The plan was insane, "All of this has to be in precise order for it to work by throwing a warhead into the blackhole." Timing, location of the bomb and what not, "And this better not fail." Or the whole thing was going to on his XO's head. And he was not going to listen to the younger Oxford if insane ideas like these were presented on his table. Or Travis was going find new medications on his bed side table.

"What we find on the other side, if this is successful," he looked at the group, "is hard to say. It might be worth keeping an open mind as possibilities are endless. Any other questions?"

Tag: Stephanie Martin, Henry Pratt, Lily Tuck, Nick Harper, Isabelle Cooper, Victoria Palmazio, Steve Hamrick, William Huxley, Declan Murphy>>

[Steve Hamrick]

1410
Bridge

Steve had his elbows propped on the chair arm as he double-checked his math on the Shiva's weapons station. And kind of wished Lieutenant Kensington, the actual weapons officer, wasn't among the missing members of Shiva's crew. "It's worth noting the last time a team tried this, they were 'Ori about to invade Earth' desperate. Which of course we clearly are there."

As he checked the time needed to let the warhead get to the appropriate point and the timing of the fuse to detonate, Steve filled in more of that precise order the admiral spoke of. "The warhead has to explode just inside the event horizon, enough so the blast is drawn in by the gravity but not so far that dilation starts to screw with the timing of the fuse. And ta-da, we should create our own wormhole back to base. The ride won't be smooth, but the ship can take it."

Once he was satisfied with the equation, he looked to the admiral. "After three days of figures, I'm confident as I can be that it's ready, sir. On your order."

<<tag Matthew Oxford, Isabelle Cooper, Henry Pratt>>

[Victoria Palmazio]

1410
Bridge


Okay this just didn't seem like a great plan but that wasn't Victoria's time to speak up. The woman's job was to merely keep stupid is and stupid does from having a fist fight in the back and keeping alien invaders away from the team. If someone decided they were going to throw a nuclear warhead into a blackhole, well that went under dumb but she wasn't about to go against the commanding officer at least not out loud. her look in Matthew's direction said it all. It was one of those you cannot be serious looks. Then again she knew that flying INTO the blackhole was an even worse option.

Hambricks words did not put the redhead at ease at all. She was on edge but didn't let it show. Right now this was about what option was better than the other and she wasn't here to cause a scene. It would just get in the way of whatever it was the goal was and she knew it so she more or less was just keeping her mouth shut and to herself. She could tell this was going to be one of the missions where she came home face palming on the wall.

Tag: Matthew Oxford, Travis "Wizard" Oxford, Stephanie Martin, Lily Tuck, Henry Pratt, Isabelle Cooper, Nick Harper, Gavin Barker, Steve Hamrick, William Huxley, Akash Malhotra, Declan Murphy

[Stephanie Martin]

1410
Bridge

Okay so they idea made sense, at least in theory. Stephanie was no stranger to trying and failing objectives but at least this made some sense. Worst case scenario they waste a perfectly good warhead and still don't get back to the base. No wait scratch that, being drawn into yet another altered part of space would be even worse. Stephanie like the security officer was quiet and didn't have any input into the option. Stephanie would speak her mind, that wasn't the issue; the problem was she didn't really know if this was a good idea or a bad idea. Then she heard Hamrick say something about how that last people that tried this never made it to earth. "And we still this is a good idea?" she interjected.

Stephanie was logical and calculative. The end results in her head just didn't seem like a good plan at all. "Sorry Admiral but I need to play devil's advocate, there are like 3 or 4 outcomes if this doesn't work and honestly is this really the only way? To risk the ship, its people, and already low supplies on a hunch?" she knew the situation. They were more likely to find some other planet or something. Right now Stephanie just wanted to be home. And not home back on base. The last place Stephanie needed to be was the bridge but she was acting civilly but like others she wanted to be home but putting the whole ship at risk, she didn't really agree with. if she got out of this, Ajay was going to kill her.

[Steve Hamrick]

1410
Bridge

"Last time this was done, Captain, another dimension's SG-1 successfully crossed the divide between universes and got to our Earth. I changed some of the numbers in the figures they originally used and gave to our SGC. Without any navigation references around us, this is the only shot we've got." But Steve re-checked his math as the matter around the accretion disc seemed to slowly spin.

Steve scratched at the fading cut across his palm from the Magadhan blood sample. "And combined with the technical input from our clone friends, I am as confident as science will let me be that this will work."

<<tag Henry Pratt, Matthew Oxford, Stephanie Martin>>

[Matthew Oxford]

1410
Bridge

As everyone started to speak what seemed to be at once, over what they could do, should do, shouldn't do. What he needed to was to address the present questions. And hopefully it will bring everyone on the same page, yet again. So first he faced Captain Martin, "Captain you can play devil's advocate for all you like, however this is a risk that we need to take or otherwise, we will be stuck in the uncharted section of the Galaxy for who knows how long. Unless you have a better idea that we can look into."

It was made worse since the Ships system didn't recognise the star systems around them, as the data came from the base's computers, "But I have a responsibility of getting my people back to the base, which includes you. For that I'm willing to give this go."

He waited till Hamrick was done talking to Martin, "Major Hamrick," he looked at the man, as he cleared his mind, "Do it. Whatever happens, I'll take the full consequences of it one my shoulders." Travis, Matt was sure was going to disapprove like Martin had. But the Colonel was not going to be pleased. He would deal with Travis later once the man was fully back on duty. Since light job and plenty of bed rest had been ordered to him.

Tag: Stephanie Martin, Henry Pratt, Lily Tuck, Nick Harper, Isabelle Cooper, Victoria Palmazio, Steve Hamrick, William Huxley, Declan Murphy>>

[Steve Hamrick]

1411
Bridge

And there hadn't been a single day as the most reckless midshipman in the history of the USC NROTC program that Steve imagined himself saying this. "Firing warhead. Detonation in 96 seconds."

The nuclear device armed and started counting halfway to target, with the timer count showing on the weapons station computer screen. Steve raised the shields, anticipating needing them to transverse their homemade rift, and then hopped quickly to navigation.

"Due to the way a black hole works, we won't see anything from the blast, but we should see the rift open. Exotic particles, radiation, should be pretty in an 'OMG!' kind of way. Shields'll protect us."

1412 and half

The four goose-eggs were lined up on the weapons console timer, and it beeped an alarm. Outside the bridge portholes, the black hole seemed to, ripple, that was the best word Steve could think of, and deform as it opened and every sensor on the bridge started squealing.

And really he was glad he pestered the actual navigation officer into teaching him something while he was fixing some computer issues on the bridge as the rift expanded and he brought the sublight engines up to the precise speed he'd calculated and went toward the rift. The right speed, the right timing, the right megatons. This would work.

The first feeling of the rift was the way everything lurched to one side and truly psychedelic colors sparked and flowed outside the bridge porthole, as the energies of the rift flowed and ricocheted off of the shields.

"Shield, percentages, now, please. We're almost there."

<<tag Matthew Oxford, Henry Pratt, Victoria Palmazio, Stephanie Martin>>

[Henry Pratt]

1412
Bridge
Approaching Blackhole

Henry was pleased that others shared his trepidations about the nature of their plan. Ms Cooper also seemed unsure about their current course of action, voicing her concerns that this might all blow up in their faces.

Being an academic, Henry was sure that all the science and maths added up. While he stuck to the humanities, he had been witness to a number of fascinating science and physics experiments around various universities that made one question what they thought they knew about the world around them.

But this wasn’t an open day experiment designed to lure in new students - this was mixing two very dangerous things, a nuclear warhead and a blackhole, and throwing the team right in the middle of it.

Major Hamrick, who was overseeing the mission, reminded everyone that three days had been spent on the precise calculations needed to open the rift and traverse it. Admiral Oxford was in agreement, and forged they ahead.

Doctor Pratt just hoped that their maths was better than his. He studied archaeology for a reason.

The warhead detonated and the Shiva commenced it’s approach on the newly opened space rift. Even with the shields up and their engines powered, the pull and tug of the blackhole was impossible to ignore. Starting slowly, and gradually getting more and more violent, the cruiser began to shake. Deafening proximities alarms rang out across the ship; no doubt their systems were designed to avoid blackhole rather than approach it. Between the rattling and the alarms, it was becoming harder and harder to talk to one another.

Just as had been predicted, an array of colours danced across the forward viewport as they closed the distance to the rift. Hopefully the shield was protecting them from whatever was causing the lights; there had been word of exotic particles and radiation. The colours grew brighter and brighter as they approached, and Henry shielded his eyes as they threatened to blind him. Then suddenly, as quickly as they appeared, the colours faded to darkness. They must almost be at the event horizon.

“I take it this is normal?” he asked. ‘Normal’ was of course a relative term given what they were doing.

< Tag Matthew Oxford, Travis "Wizard" Oxford, Stephanie Martin, Lily Tuck, Victoria Palmazio, Isabelle Cooper, Nick Harper, Gavin Barker, Steve Hamrick, William Huxley, Declan Murphy & Akash Malhotra >

[Isabelle Cooper]

1412
Bridge
USS Shiva


Everyone on the bridge seemed split about if they should do the plan or if they shouldn't, it went on till Admiral Oxford quieted everyone with a final say, all before telling Major Hamrick to fire the warhead. "Due to the way a black hole works, we won't see anything from the blast, but we should see the rift open. Exotic particles, radiation, should be pretty in an 'OMG!' kind of way. Shields'll protect us.", Cooper glanced at Hamrick a moment before taking her eyes back to the main screen; sheilds protected them from a lot of things, but how much could they take?

They started approaching the black hole, the deck beneath her feet started shaking, alarms started going off, Isabelle called out a question but her voice was lost over the noise. The ship seemed to groan and Izzy quickly found herself on the still shaking floor, the sheilds will hold, she told herself as she closed her eyes at the bright light. She still saw spots when she opened them a few moments later when they were gone. “I take it this is normal?” Dr. Pratt called, grabbing a chair Isabelle pulled herself to her feet and brushed her hair out of her face, "I hope it is." she replied nervously to the Doctor as she looked to Major Hamrick to see what he had to say.


Tag: Matthew Oxford, Travis "Wizard" Oxford, Stephanie Martin, Lily Tuck, Victoria Palmazio, Isabelle Cooper, Nick Harper, Steve Hamrick, William Huxley, Declan Murphy  Akash Malhotra 

[Steve Hamrick]

1412
Bridge

As the shaking stopped and normal space surrounded them, Steve threw an all-stop to the sublight drive to give them a chance to gain their bearings.

Outside the viewing window of the bridge, was a familiar planet with familiar forest and a familiar Ancient city. Steve let himself lay back in the navigation seat. "It worked. Now to get on subspace and raise them."

What wasn't familiar was the next moment as a subspace hail came from the planet. The officer-of-the-day who spoke was no one Steve recognized by voice. "Unidentified Daedalus-class, we are unable to verify your IFF. Please respond, any hostile actions will be met with extreme prejudice." The link was still open as the OOD apparently yelled to the rest of the room. "Heffer, radio the doc and the captain!"

And breaking from the forest below were fighters of a design that wasn't Tau'ri at all. Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. Right planet, wrong reality. "Ever spiked the football in the end zone and realized you were in the wrong stadium?"

<<tag Matthew Oxford, Henry Pratt, Travis "Wizard" Oxford, Stephanie Martin, Isabelle Cooper>>

[Matthew Oxford]

1412
Bridge
Approaching Blackhole

As the warhead was fired it was a waiting game to see to if their plans, calculations and the risk they were taking paid off. The reply to his concerns came in the form of psychedelic colours as the rift opened from the blast as the black hole played a tug of war. Not long after that he felt floor of the ship vibrate with enough force that he mentally the whole ship would be torn apart. As they approached the only thing on his mind was the family he was leaving behind.

But it was the alarms blaring which roared in his ears as the ship inched closer to the rift. Backing away was not an option any longer. As the lights, like others he shielded his eyes while he had to grab the arm rest of Erickson's seat. Once the whole thing was over almost like in a blink of an eye he looked around, as he got his bearing again. And looked out in the starfield. Anything he had seen earlier wasn't there.

1412
Bridge
Parallel Universe

Hearing the comms, "Major?" he asked, his tone clearly firm, "What am I hearing? Did this..." he motioned with his hands, "even work?" If it didn't, he was sure his own head would be bitten off by his kid brother, even if the man was out of action for now.

Walking over he took a good look, and picked up the radio, "This is Admiral Matthew Oxford. Leader of this ship known as USS Shiva. We mean no harm. And who am I talking to? And your leader would be?"

Akash rubbed his eyes as he wondered just what he had signed up for. Now it appeared that they were even more far from home than they had been moments back, "Kamal ka idea," he muttered in his mother tongue, ((Wonderful idea)) "Aab ghar be door hai." ((Now even home is far away)) Now he was going to wait and see what the Major said and the Admiral did.

Tag: Stephanie Martin, Henry Pratt, Lily Tuck, Nick Harper, Isabelle Cooper, Victoria Palmazio, Steve Hamrick, William Huxley, Declan Murphy>>

[Steve Hamrick]

1413
Bridge
Parallel Universe

Steve checked the star positions and the sensors. "Kinda, sir. See, I compensated for a interdimensional possibility in the rift creation. Or thought I did. We're back in orbit of Vedas, but it's not our Vedas."

Over the subspace radio, "This is Dr. Blake Warren, leader of the Vedas Expedition. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume you guys aren't from around our parts. The Lyrians'll ride herd if you plan to land, Admiral. They're armed, but I'm not sure if you're gonna like our situation."

And Steve had to jump at that. How the hell had Blake gotten the resume for that position?

<<tag Matthew Oxford, Henry Pratt, Stephanie Martin, Victoria Palmazio>>

[Stephanie Martin]

1414
Bridge
Parallel Universe

Stephanie held her tongue. Right now saying something would make matters worse and clearly out of place. The urge however to tell the Admiral told you so was strong. So instead she thought it and closed her eyes a moment before reopening them for a moment. She went to checking the systems. It took her a moment before she spoke. "All systems still working Admiral" she informed him. Whatever bigger problems they had right now she would let the people who managed to mess everything up figure it out. She thought about asking Hamrick straight out what was going on, since he wanted to just spit out things in some long symbolic manner. Stephanie kept her thoughts to herself as she listened to what was going on around her. Last time she had opened her mouth to input opinions, it was dismissed. Oh if she didn't want to keep her job, the things she would do right now.

Tag: Base Personnel