[Evan Cross]

1530
Lounge

Evan nursed a cup of still warm tea, in a flavor he'd been assured was a close approximation of lemon balm. He took a first cautious sip and then a second before deciding the liquid sliding down his throat wasn't actually half-bad. Sighing, he exchanged the beverage for his tablet, set aside on the table beside him; the first chance he'd had to just sit down and read the thesis penned by one of his former colleagues back at Cross Consolidated. Doctor Samantha Ryan's work had always been particularly brilliant, and what better way to unwind after coming a little too close to death for his own liking? Sure, so that had been a few days ago now, but he was convinced his nerves were still shot.

And, though the lounge was unusually quiet for this time of day – the only other occupants had since come and gone – try as he might to concentrate on what was certain to be a comprehensive and engaging treatise, Evan instead found himself staring out the large windows that overlooked the alien forest. Another sip of tea helped. He forced his eyes back down to the screen and tried again from the beginning.

<Tag: Vanessa Whitmore >

[Vanessa Whitmore]

1530
Lounge

Vanessa came into the lounge just wanting to get out of her quarters. She really needed to just relax and calm down. Things were piling up for her again and getting overwhelming. There was no reasonable outlet at the moment. She was in one of those moods that making a punching bag out of something or someone wasn't going to help. Then again Vanessa wasn't the type to make a punching bag out of people. The pent up frustration, however, was like a loaded gun. Right and staying in her quarters was going to do wonders.

Hence the walk she needed and the time she needed to relax in the lounge. When she got there she saw Dr. Cross there. Right, the technical something or another. He looked to be busy but she didn't want to be rude. "Good afternoon" she stated quietly as not to be loud or obnoxious. She was going for respectable and polite. Even in an ill mood she could play nice. Well sometimes.

<Tag: Evan Cross>

[Evan Cross]

1530
Lounge

Evan gave a thoughtful 'hmm' reading through the paper's rather intriguing premise when a softly spoken 'good afternoon' reached his ears and caused his head to come flying up. He recognized her, the Naval Warrant Officer. "Oh, uh, hey. I didn't hear you come in," he greeted her, his cheeks colored in embarrassed red. No denying he was on edge.

No reason not to be polite. A pop-up notification in the middle of his screen alerted him to the results of a project he had running in the background, but he purposefully ignored it and set the tablet beside his cup of tea. Uncurling from the chair he'd settled into and standing, he stuck out a hand. "Don't think we've been properly introduced. Evan. Evan Cross. You're welcome to grab a seat, if you like. Don't know about you, but I wouldn't mind the company."

< Tag: Vanessa Whitmore >

[Vanessa Whitmore]

1531
Lounge

Vanessa raised a brow at the Doctor as he turned red and looked like he was about to take off like a bat out of hell or something. Civilians were very amusing. Shaking her head she spoke. "It's alright. I make it a point to move around pretty quietly. I don't like to disturb people" she replied as she shook his hand in greeting. "Vanessa. Vanessa Whitmore" She was thankful that she didn't carry her adopted brother's last name. The woman didn't like it when people judged a book by it's cover.

Taking a seat she pushed some of her hair back behind her ear. "Then you are in luck as I am a people person" she informed him with a smirk as she got comfortable before digging through her bag for her bottle of water. It was far too late in the day for coffee. She had no idea how he could drink coffee this late in the day. Just no that was for dragging out of bed in the morning

< Tag: Evan Cross >

[Evan Cross]

1531
Lounge

Evan settled back into the seat he'd previously abandoned, which he found about as comfortable now as when he'd left it. But he chuckled at her self-proclamation - according to her, he was lucky she was such a people person. His eyes danced playfully to an amused tune, as he teased her right back. "Oh, are you? So, that's what you call going around, trying to give us civilians heart failure? I never would have guessed."

He held up the mug he'd been drinking from, not far from his lips, stuck in what appeared to be a state of indecision. He caught her eyeing the liquid within, after she had dug out her own bottle of water, and gave her a helpless shrug. "I was tempted to go for something a little stronger, like vodka, but then I wouldn't be very good company now, would I? Amusing, maybe. I'm told I don't handle my liquors very well."

< Tag: Vanessa Whitmore >

[Vanessa Whitmore]

1532
Lounge

Vanessa rolled her eyes. It was nice to be in the lounge and not some crazy place. She was exhausted and her head was starting to blare. She shook her head and spoke. "Just because some of us can move around silently" she shot back. "Doesn't mean we are aiming to give people heart attacks" she rolled her eyes. There was no way that she was in the mood for this during the afternoon.

Vanessa and liquor they were a deadly combination. Bad things happened when Vanessa had been drinking. "Yeah let's just keep the liquor far away from the lounge shall we?" she quiered back. It was more of an agreeance and understanding than an actual question. The last thing she needed was a repeat of Nemea. Oh that had been the most awful experience. No wait, that was a fun experience. The only thing that had been worse than that hangover though was CHENN.

<Tag: Evan Cross>

[Evan Cross]

1533

Lounge

Evan barely refrained from groaning in exasperation. It figured, actually. Of all the people that could have walked through the lounge doors, he would find the one with no sense of humor. Did the military drill that out of their soldiers in Basic or something? Maybe something stronger than tea would have been good. "Look," he started to explain. "I didn't mean…"

That was as far as he got when the base alarm began to sound and the doors slammed shut. Fried nerves or no, no rocketing out of his seat this time; that seemed to be out of his system for now, but swallowing hard, he looked straight at Vanessa. He didn't expect her to have answers, quite the opposite really, considering where they were, but one thought bubbled to the surface. Why does this keep happening to me?

Evan found his voice. It was the not knowing that made this worse, and maybe that's why he erred towards the obvious. "Uh, I'm going to go out on a limb here. That's not good, right?"

< Tag: Vanessa Whitmore >

[Vanessa Whitmore]

1533
Lounge

Vanessa had a sense of humor sometimes, other times she failed miserably at it. Mostly it depended on her mood. "Fumbling over your words?" she chuckled. "Cute" she added with bit of a smirk. It was always funny to watch people put their foots in their mouth for no reason at all. Especially well educated ones.

Though the alarm was the reason he cut off talking. She just sighed and closed her eyes. Her bottom lip tucked under her top teeth, though she didn't show her teeth. It was the 'you must be kidding me. oh well time for fun' sarcasm look. Vanessa was really good at talking with her facial expressions. "Well that means we are stuck in here for any unspecified amount of time. So hope you can put up with me for any unspecified length of time" she added with a shake of her head.

<Tag: Evan Cross>

[Evan Cross]

1534
Lounge

Evan reviewed the situation, going over the facts in his head. As far as he could tell, the two of them had just been locked in the lounge – and together. He lacked the necessary information as to ascertain the why; nonetheless, it was a minor inconvenience, at best. He reached for Vanessa's hand. "Come on! I can hack the door." The crystal technology wasn't completely dissimilar from that of Atlantis. It was a simple matter of rearranging them to produce the desired result. He froze mid-motion and blinked. "Or… is that a bad idea?"

It was true. Neither one of them knew what faced them on the other side. He didn't need to search for his radio either to know exactly where he'd left it – sitting on the desk in his quarters, having purposefully left it behind, so as to not be disturbed. In hindsight, not his best decision of the day. "Don't suppose you have your radio on you?"

And he realized how all of that sounded. Sometimes he just got too caught up in actually solving the problem. "Uh… not that I mind being stuck here with you. I mean, I'm sure that would be great." He just wasn't sure the direction this was going was much better. "Oh, forget it."

< Tag: Vanessa Whitmore >

[Vanessa Whitmore]

1535
Lounge

Vanessa wasn't used to people just reaching for her hand. If he was doing it to be manly it wasn't going to fly but she would figure just what he was up to a minute. Vanessa let herself be dragged to the door as he was informing her he could hack through that. Lets see... computers and Vanessa... That never went well.

1846
Unknown Vessel
Engineering


Troy stepped back and looked around, half keeping an eye out for any signs of impending attack, and half trying to see if this mysterious AI was keeping an eye on them. He'd been yet to spot any kind of visible sensors or cameras, so how they were being tracked was still a mystery.

The colonel produced from his vest a list of parts that they'd need to repair the city-ship of Akoriti. Thanks to their very skilled scientists and engineers the expedition had been able to reroute a number of minor subsystems, only leaving a few pieces of equipment still missing. "We need some control crystals - the higher the resistance the better," he explained out loud to both teams present. "A capacitor capable of holding... well, by the looks of it a lot. And something called a gimbal?" Hardly the tech-head, the colonel had no real idea what any of these parts even looked like. Hopefully the more technically minded around him would know what they were looking for.

It took Vanessa a moment but she finally spoke up to the others. "So where exactly do you plan on finding this so called crystal because honestly I am not carrying one in my backpocket" okay so that sounded a little snippy at the moment but frankly she did not care. Her assignments always ended up with an odond assortment of people and to be honest this was only her second assignment since being assigned to work with Stargate. She could only steal a glance at Pooja for a moment after speaking to the group. "You aren't the only one unbriefed" she retorted. Nothing like going into anything blind. Of course to her that was completely normal anymore. She was just going to have to deal with it one way or the other. So of course she would chose dealing with it.

After a brief pause Calmara followed this up with the rest of there ‘shopping list’, considering what the colonel had told them about events over on Akoitri getting what they needed and getting out again was a good thing. “CHENN We’re also after a capacitor and a gymble, if those are available?”

Informative: These components are also available. Non-essential capacitors are also located at the end of the hall also located, on the opposite panel to the crystals. A gymble is located in the forward section storage area. The console display changed in sync with the broadcast information, zooming out and highlighting the appropriate areas. Turning to both Loveridge and Oxford, “Well three components in three different locations. I recommend splitting into three teamswould be best and a lot quicker.”

The next day...

Troy was about to ask for the cruiser to dispatch a shuttle to retrieve him and his team when CHENN's voice boomed over the ships internal speakers.

"Question: Are you affiliated with the vessel located off our port bow?" Without thinking, Troy answered in the affirmative, adding that the cruiser was theirs and that it would no fire on unless provided. CHENN seemed to mull over this for a moment before responding in her most ominous voice yet.

"Observation: Your vessel is more highly advanced than this one, and will be compatible to my operating system."

"Confession: I plan to steal your ship and make it my mine."

Before CHENN could even speak her next line, Troy knew he wasn't going to like it.

"Declaration: I have no further need for you. Warning: The air supply of this vessel is now being flooded with deadly neurotoxin."

2 minutes of oxygen remaining
Unknown Vessel: Orbiting Pelion
Engineering

She could see people hovering around her,in reality her eyes did feel heavy. 'Just a bit more to go Vanessa' she told herself as she tried to sit up but she realized the only reason she had been able to sit up in the first place was that now she was being carried. She closed her eyes and reopened them, there was nothing she could really do. "The ceiling.. Its on the ceiling" she managed to get out of her mouth but it was merely a whisper. "Someone has to get up there and switch the wires.." she was trying to explain as they were more worried about what was going on with her. She just hoped that people would take her seriously and that the box was not just a figment of her imagination.

She tried to sit up but she was almost too weak to do that. She felt weak comparatively now as the neurotoxin was setting in her system more. She started coughing up the fog and didn't mean to inhale more but she did and she inhaled more of the toxin which caused her to fight more to keep her body from the sleep that her body so desperately wanted. 'You're going to or are feeling very sleepy. Stay with me. Okay?' was the last thing she heard. 'Tell me something I don't know' she shook her head trying to stay awake.

The worst problem was that his throat felt dry. She kept pointing at the ceiling. "Get someone up there" she managed to croak, she was not good at the whole following directions thing. Well she would be if someone would listen maybe. She started coughing again but she couldn't stop it. She just laid down and tried to get her breathing even and decided if they hadn't listened to her now they weren't going to, all she could do was try.

1051 Local Time: Less than 1 minute remaining.
Unknown Vessel: Orbiting Pelion
Engineering

The memories of climbing into the vent and shutting the system off had been fuzzy. Vanessa hardly remembered jumping out of the air vent and landing on the medical doctor. It was all a blur and the memory faded.

It took her a second to come back to the reality of things. "Yeah.. we can do that." There was no computer AI voice around in here was there. Yes she was probably paranoid because of this thing. Then he started fumbling for his words she couldn't help but chuckle a little bit. Okay well there was that. "I have a radio but I can bury it under the couch cushion and ignore it, if you prefer that option" She responded. Really if she could avoid discussing what just went through her head the better. Forcing a smile on her face she moved away from the door and shoved her radio under the couch. "It's probably just a false alarm anyway." She pointed out. Great now what... Well human company was better than no company right?

<Tag: Evan Cross>

Flashback taken from: Delta Episode 28: Sentient and writing is property of their authors.

[Evan Cross]

1535
Lounge

Evan pried the panel free, exposing the crystals that controlled the door to the lounge. He glanced over his shoulder to see Vanessa bury her radio beneath the couch cushion, as he leveled a small smirk in her direction. "I had better not ever find out you used what I'm about to show you to get up to no good. No breaking and entering. No sneaking into places you shouldn't be going."

But something Vanessa said struck a chord. The worst case scenario. What did they do if it wasn't a false alarm? He ran through a myriad of scenarios that were mostly varying degrees of bad. Just because he could hack the door didn't mean he should. Or did it?

And there it was. Back again. That all-too-familiar sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Had some sort of contagion initiated the lockdown, he could be exposing them both should he manually override the doors. He teetered on the edge of indecision, his hands hovering near, but not making contact with any of the control crystals. Maybe... maybe this wasn't such a great idea, after all.

< Tag: Vanessa Whitmore >

[Vanessa Whitmore]

1536
Lounge

Vanessa just rolled her eyes. "Do I look like the type who can't keep a secret?" She responded as she moved towards him and the crystals but blocked his way. With her back to the box she couldn't explain why this made her uncomfortable. Putting her hands on his shoulders she took a deep breathe. How did she explain that last time someone started messing with power crystals a computer tried to kill her? That wasn't exactly a conversation that was easy to have with anyone. It had only been a few years since the incident and she still got massive migraines every now and again from them.

Though for once she was thinking with a clear head, which was nice. "Just don't" she insisted as she moved her hands behind her back covering the crystal panel. There was something she was not explaining and she was doing a phenomenal job of keeping the worry off of her face. 'This isn't the same thing' she heard her head invading her personal space. "We should just wait.." she offered.

Though what would waiting entail? Would it entail her having to spill her guts as to why she was acting strangely? Oh she sure as hell hoped not. "Declaration: I have no further need for you. Warning: The air supply of this vessel is now being flooded with deadly neurotoxin." It came out of her vocals before she realized what she had said. Then came the cover up. "Sorry.. nightmare from the other night" That was only a partial lie... that had been a living nightmare. Perhaps she wouldn't have to give him any other explanation.

<Tag: Evan Cross>

[Evan Cross]

1536
Lounge

Vanessa squeezed into the gap afforded by his work and, a moment later, he felt her hands fall upon his shoulders. Her insistent don't was more than enough to stop him in his tracks. She didn't sound worried – not exactly anyways, but whatever her reasons, her intentions were clear. "I am a trained professional. I know what I'm doing," he protested. Or, well, half-heartedly protested. The other half actually agreed with her.

They should just wait. Far less chance of getting into any kind of trouble that way.

But, when next she spoke, what came out of her mouth wasn't Vanessa at all. It sounded more like… like an AI, or a robot. A nightmare from the other night, she claimed, and then refused to say more on the matter. Evan didn't press the matter – even if he was convinced she was being less than honest with him. "We can wait," he assured her quietly, and finding his feet, marched over to the couch and plopped down. "We could be here a while, though. Might as well be comfortable."

< Tag: Vanessa Whitmore >