Finally reacting to Kasper, Wilhelm instead turns to him and steps right up to him.    He not only invades the other's personal space but moves so close that avoiding physical contact is nearly impossible.  In fact, he's so close that the other is forced to step backward or possibly be pushed backward by the proximity.

"You apparently need to have your hearing checked when we return to base."  He replied in a calm tone of voice, and all the while his face is just a fraction of an inch away from the others.  "I said that I'm here to help, not be subject to interrogation or a victim of some kind of personal vendetta."   There's no give in his expression.  "One which you obviously have...comrade."

"I used to be Force Recon."  He said after a few more seconds, his point apparently having been made.  "As for why I'm here, that's because I kill people.  And I'm very good at it."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:51, Fri 15 June 2018.

In reply to Wilhelm Ashcraft (msg # 194):

Kaspar does indeed back off as Wilhelm steps forward - mostly because the younger man has to step down off the small dais the stargate is set upon - and he maintains his own calm demeanor as Wilhelm reads him the Riot Act.



"There you go!" Kaspar says pleasantly, giving a little 'golf-clap', "You finally answered the question I asked you. Now, was that really all that hard?"

"As for my hearing, if you had heard General Hammond -- which, of course, you couldn't, because you were in the gate room and he was in the control room talking to me on the radio -- you would have heard that he told me nothing about you, except that he was under pressure from above to place you on a Team.  Now, to me, 'under pressure from above' is not really a confidence inspiring statement, wouldn't you agree?"

"Other than that, I had no information.  So when you kept repeating the oh-so-information-packed statement of 'I'm here to help', and then I asked you to tell me just what it is that you do, so that I could decide how best to use you to 'help' … well, Mr. Ashcraft, I do hope that you can appreciate just how frustrating it can be to not only not get an answer to one's question, but to also be ignored after asking it.  I can tell you from recent experience -- just a few moments ago, in fact -- that it is not an experience which makes one exactly happy."

Once again Kaspar brings his hands up and makes a 'golf-clap', but when he speaks, gone is the Chicagoan/Midwestern American Accent, replaced by a Slavic accent,

"Oh, end zuch sarcasm vit de callink me 'Comrade'.  Efter all, International Communism, de Friends uf Humanity, heff taken diss vord for dere own, tak?  If I vas Soviet Russian, or efen Communist, I vould be emotionally deffastated, tak?"

"Howeffer, I must point out dat, for beink formar Force Recon Marine, you do nut pay much attenshun to yoor surroundinks, end you lissen ferry poorly, yourself.  You zee, vor me, you should nut haff said 'comrade', you should haff said 'towarzysz'."

"I haff said it a few times, now, but you are nut lissenink -- Jestem Polakiem, ty głupi Amerykanin! End I really hate it ven zum szarpnięcie try to make me out to beink zum kind uf Russian ass-wad!  Neffer … do dat … again."

Kaspar clears his throat, then continues in his Midwest American accent,

"Now, you've stated that your duties are to kill people and that you're very skilled at it.  Excellent.  Exactly what I needed to know, so thank you, Mr. Ashcraft.  You've also stated that you're a former US Force Recon Marine, also good to know, but that would seem to imply that you're no longer associated with any military service; that you're a Civilian."

"And a Civilian who claims that his job is to kill people is an Assassin.  Nothing wrong with that, if you've the skill set and the temperament.  I've known a few assassins in my time - as I recall, one of them was actually a decent fellow; had a wife and child."

"But that's neither here nor there. As I said, I've no moral objections to Assassins, but I do question the need of placing one on Team SG-X1, which is a Science and Survey team, not a combat or infiltration team.  But, you obviously have combat training over and above anything the rest of us have, so even though 'bodyguarding' may not be your primary job choice, that's what you are stuck with, here."

"So, my original orders stand. As long as all of us are aboard the Ha'tak, your duty assignment is here, in the gate room, guarding the gate.  You inform the Team if the gate starts to dial-in.  Then, with authorization from me, you kill everyone who comes through that gate."

"When someone goes outside the Ha'tak, we must inform you, and you will provide security for the excursion. However!  If Hilda is one of those going out, you and she can discuss whether you need to go or not."

"Trust me Mr. Ashcraft, you unenlightened macho young American male -- if she wanted to, Hilda, there, could pick you up off the ground and break you in half, over her knee.  And I am not exaggerating, Mr. Ashcraft; Hilda is from the planet Cimmeria, which has a gravity higher than Earths.  Despite her size, compared to you, she has a physical strength sufficient to allow her to compete in the Olympic Men's Weightlifting Competition on Earth.  While her skills with advanced Terran firearms are likely not as great as yours, she is likely your equal in hand-to-hand and melee weapons fighting.  Probably better than you with sword and bow."

"So, Mr. Ashcraft, is that going to work for you, or do I have to open the gate back up and send your civilian-assassin ass back to Earth for failure to obey orders?"

"Oh, and as you're making your decision, sir, I'm sure you will spend a moment or two considering the possibility of just killing me, right now.  I want you to know that since leaving the Soviet Red Army, I have prepared my soul to meet my God and answer for my sins.  And I am also confident that, should you decide to kill me now, that before the life fades from my eyes, I will have the satisfaction of seeing your head fly from your shoulders, when Hilda cuts it off."

"So what's it going to be, Mr. Ashcraft?"

As soon as Kasper starts his diatribe, Wilhelm simply walks away and leaves him to yell at him if he wishes to continue.   He walks around the room and heads toward the apparent exit, as if more interested in the room than the probable monologue.   When the major finally finishes, Wilhelm pauses again near the DHD and gives Kasper a blank look.   "Could you repeat that?"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:13, Sat 16 June 2018.

In reply to Wilhelm Ashcraft (msg # 196):

"Why certainly, Mr. Ashcraft," Kaspar says in a pleasant voice, "I said … Gavan, would you please dial-up the SGC -- Freyda, he has a Zat! Neutralize it!"

"Everyone, listen! Probably in about two seconds that joker..." Kaspar points at Wilhelm, "...is going to produce some kind of authorization telling you that he can cancel any order I give, or at least try to convince you he has such.  Well, I am now ordering all of you that, until you have direct confirmation from General Hammond himself, and no other authority, you will obey no order or instruction that that man gives.  And if he attempts to interfere with you gaining such confirmation from General Hammond, or if he attempts to access the DHD, you will subdue him if you can or kill him if you must.  That is an order."

Surprisingly, or perhaps not, Wilhelm pulls the Zat from his belt by the barrel and offers it to Kasper.  "You thought I was kidding about not being briefed?  Well, I wasn't."   He continues only after the major accepts the weapon.   "And since you were too busy screaming at me to actually tell me what was going on, I had to try and figure out for myself."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:32, Sat 16 June 2018.

Hilda rolled her blue eyes at this ongoing argument over nothing, and stared in general bemusement. Was she supposed to be the belligerent one?



'Does that mean I am assassin?'



'So I am on the wrong team...'



'Um...'



'...Já.'



'Uh, what?'



'I never really "obey" orders...' Hilda decided.

Sighing, she faced Kaspar, asking 'What is this even about, Old Man? All this started when you demanded he say silly words. Is that you miss Rajip?' She considered the two men, Wilhelm a young strong warrior and Kaspar, well, not. 'Do you want to fight hólmganga? If you want me to fight for you, I need to know why.'

Freyda flies her hover chair so it is between the two men.

"He is an old man who does not want to be here... or anywhere else other than at home smoking his pipe, and he is angry at the world for dragging him out of retirement to go to the stars," the Asgard says to Wilhelm.

"I am Freyda of the Asgard. Exactly what the purpose of this team is had not been clearly established, for, as you can see, it is comprised of four off-worlders... non-Earthers. Out here, you of Earth are known as the Tau'ri. It is a Goa'uld word."

"Before I 'brief' you, perhaps you can tell me what you do know. You have just come through the stargate; was that your first introduction to it?"

"Do you know about the Goa'uld and the Asgard and the Ancients?"

"Do you know where we are in the galaxy?"

While she waits for Wilhelm to answer those questions, if he wants to, she turns back to Kaspar.

"Major, you are not in the Russian army any more. You are not even in the Polish army any more. You are a member of Stargate Command. While, technically, it is an American military operation, it is being administered by a civilian oversight committee. That is the reason you are on the team. You were place here for the same reason Wilhelm was... pressure from above. Had not some official insisted that more than one country of Earth be represented on the team, you would still be at home smoking your pipe."

"None of us hold that against you, not even your fear of adventure."

"Besides, it is time to send Rajip back through the stargate."

In reply to Freyda (msg # 200):

Kaspar heaves a heavy sigh,

"Freyda, there is a lot of truth in what you're saying.  I respect you and your fellow Asgard for everything they have done for my world, and the trust you have put in the people who live there.  But there's a darkness in my people that you just haven't seen yet - a darkness found in people like I once was, like the people he answers to, and I fear like you will find in him, as well."

Kaspar looks down at the Zat in his hands, then looks over at Hilda,

"Hilda.  Here.  Do whatever you want with it." Kaspar says, then tosses her the weapon.

"I have always maintained that my position here is more administrative, rather than commanding officer." Kaspar says, addressing everyone, "As I have always tried to do, I will acquiesce to the will of the experts."

Kaspar turns and walks over to where he had dropped his pack, earlier, and picks it up,

"Since General Hammond has seen fit to strand us here - thanks to my suggestion, which I now regret - I am going to go and claim some personal quarters.  If you get to talk to the General when you send Rajip back, tell him we still need household gear if we're staying here for a long haul."

His pack in place on his back, Kaspar turns to Rajip, comes to attention and gives him the salute of the Polish Landforces.

"Sargent Mojdar. Rajip. It has been a genuine pleasure to serve with you." Kaspar pauses a moment, then smiles, "Even if you are an American.  Good luck in your future endeavors."

Kaspar drops the salute, turns and walks out of the cargo bay-turned-Gate room, and heads for the central transit shaft.

But, no sooner is he out of sight, than his voice calls back, "And I've got my eye on you, CIA-Man!"

Wilhelm waits until Kasper is safely out of the room before shaking his head sadly.  "It's unfortunate, but I'm going to have to recommend to General Hammond that Kasper be replaced as team leader.   He's clearly unsuited for the job."   He shakes his head again, clearly unhappy about the situation.

That said, he turns fully to face Freyda.  "I have been keeping up with the mission reports filed by the various SG teams and any other supplemental information as of approximately three weeks ago.   Unless there's been new information in that time, I feel confident that I'm about as up to date as I can be.   And to answer your other question: No, I don't know where we are."

He turns his head to look at Hilde.   "I would appreciate it if you'd return that, though I can understand if you're prefer to hold onto it.   I'd really rather not be moving around in a potentially hostile environment without it."

'The goddess is wise.' Hilda praised as Freyda thankfully intervened in the feud between Kaspar and Wilhelm, glad things seemed to be settled, at least for now. She didn't want to have to fight a battle on behalf of the old man.

She caught the zat with surprise, then heard Kaspar say he'd find quarters. 'Does that mean we're staying?' she called after him, slightly annoyed she wouldn't be returning to base and her wondrous television just yet.

Watching him go with a sigh, she turned back to Wilhelm. 'Kaspar is a good leader.' she insisted, with clear loyalty and respect for the Old Man. 'Your coming just surprised him. And maybe he has good cause to be wary.' she wondered, wary herself. 'We've been a team for a while. We've gone a-viking, we've explored worlds and fought Jaffa and beasts, and raised drinks together. Now Rajip is gone, and we have the new boy we don't know. So, give him time.'

She passed the zat gun back, saying 'It is too small for me anyway.'

"Technically, we are no longer in the galaxy," Gavan offers to explain to Wilhelm where they are.

"As I understand it, an error was made on your computers when searching for new gate addresses. Much to everyone's surprise, an address beginning with the letter X was entered and it turned out to be a valid address. When the location was plotted, it was found to be a world in a globular cluster on the edge of the galaxy."

"Many more addresses were then discovered that began with X... and they were all out here in the globular cluster."

"Things are different out here. The Goa'uld are still here, but they call themselves Dragon-Lords. One of our contacts explained that they were all exiled by Ra some 3,000 years ago. Apparently one of the reasons for that is that the Ancients had altered all the species out here to be poisonous to the Goa'uld, so that they cannot take over any of them."

"The Ancients also upraised several species. The First Ones, of which Asherrra here is a member, may very well have been the first species so up-lifted. Or they may just be the first on this planet."

"Our directive was to commandeer this ship and bring it back to Earth since we thought it was abandoned. Out here in the cluster, though, the trip would take years."

"We are considering other options, as, I'm sure, is General Hammond."

"The other thing that is different is the DHD. In the rest of the galaxy, the DHD's are circular, with a big red button in the middle. Here, they are triangular and have no big red button."

As he talks, he walks over to the DHD and begins 'dialing' in the address for Earth.

"There are fewer symbols on this DHD, which means it can go to fewer destinations.... perhaps another limitation imposed by the Ancients. Or maybe this was just an older model."

The stargate opens, and Gavan identifies himself to Hammond, and then Rajip steps through and is gone. The stargate closes again.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:14, Mon 18 June 2018.

Wilhelm accepts the returned Zat'nik'tel with a grateful seeming nod to Hilde before returning it to his belt.   "My life has depended, on more than one occasion, upon my ability to correctly interpret a situation that I've just walked into.   Your own reaction suggests that while he might be a good leader, that he might not be the right leader."  He then gives Gavan's explanation and demonstration his undivided attention.

"As Freyda said, Major Gorski is here against his wishes, and somewhat against General Hammond's... preference," Gavan said to Wilhelm.

"On the other hand, I don't believe Hammond would have accepted the Major if he wasn't qualified. The Major wants to live long enough to enjoy his retirement, so he's a bit reluctant to endanger the team. He has nothing against a little joy ride in an alien space ship, but he would never go into battle with it."

"Anyway, there's not enough fuel in the ship to do much with it. We'd have to mine some more naquadah. None of us are really the miner type."

"We're kind of waiting for Hammond to assemble a tech team to take over for us. In the mean time, we're on our own. I was thinking that we should explore a bit more of this planet."

He glances over at Asherrra... the First One cat-folk.

"Poor Asherrra. I think she may be getting a bad impression of us."

"In any case, they live in a city built by the Ancients just for them. There seems to be an AI there that has been slowly bringing them into a modern, technological society. But, they have not been very far from the city. So, there's a lot of world out there that they don't know anything about."

'Or maybe it is because the globular cluster is smaller?' Hilda speculated. She might be primitive, but she was no idiot.



With a final hearty slap on the back and a farewell, Hilda watched Rajip disappear through the Ring of Stars.



Afterward, she looked to Gavan and Wilhelm and the others, remarking with resignation 'It seems we live here now. We must make this pyramid our fort until Earl Hammond calls us back. We were going to turn on the ha'tak's defenses and make them work for us. We must also watch out for slime-beasts.'

"It's certainly a good guess that we're not going anywhere anytime soon."  Wilhelm waited until Hilde had her say before speaking again.  "If the ship moves away from the planet then we'll no longer be able to dial in or out.   Gate addresses are fixed by planetary bodies, which makes gate travel an interesting experience from a starship."

"Unfortunately, the major is partially incorrect about the nature of the mission given to Stargate Command.   The mission is to locate allies and collect technologies to defend Earth from the Goa'uld and any other hostiles entities."   He gently reminded the others.   "And as it's my first time on another planet, I'd certanly want to see more than the inside of the ship."   He gave Gavan a lopsided smile.  "So, shall we take a walk outside and see the terrain?"

"Sure, that's not a problem," Gavan said. "We're not too far away from the First City, so the First Ones have probably been in this area. Looking to see what the Goa'uld were doing here." He glances at Asherrra who gives him a nod of confirmation.

"In any case, we're not going to see much of the planet on foot. I was thinking we could fly around it a bit."

"One of the odd things is that this gate was not originally on this planet. According to the First Ones, this planet's stargate has been buried for a thousand years. The First Ones know where it is, and are considering digging it up because of us."

"The Dragon-Lord was bringing this gate here to make retrieving the naquadah from the mine easier."

"The ha'tak was sabotaged by another Dragon-Lord and crashed, though it was none the worse for wear. That was the situation we stepped into. That, and the slime creature. The slime was some sort of coalescent organism that has natural counters here on the planet. We think it may have got taken aboard the ship the last time it was here and then just multiplied."

As he talked, he led Wilhelm out of the cargo hold with the stargate, then down the hall to the center of the ship, around the central ramps to the opposite corridor, and then down the ramp and out the still open cargo hatch.

"This is what another world looks like. Hard to believe that it looks just like Earth. Well, I've seen lots of pictures of different areas of Earth, and some of them look far more alien than this. Here, though... if you look closer, you can see the alien difference. The birds don't look quite right, the insects are odder, the wolves look more feline and have horns... you get the picture."

Wilhelm first looked at them pointed to the various members of the group then toward the exit in an unspoken invitation to follow.   He had to trot a bit in order to keep up with Gavan as the invite took a few seconds longer than he might have thought.    "It's not that surprising that planets should look more or less like Earth,"   Wilhelm finally commented when Gavan pointed that out.  "Humans need certain conditions to survive, so I'd expect most planets to fit the same criteria."

In reply to Wilhelm Ashcraft (msg # 210):

Kaspar went up to the pel'tak level, before he took off his pack and started rummaging through it for the SGC-issued manual on speaking the Jaffa/Goa'uld language.  In case he needed to reference it.  Then he went over to the command console and powered it up, accessing the ha'tak's database and, using his recently learned skill with the Jaffa language, looking at the crew assignments logs. Specifically, he was looking for the location of the quarters for the First Prime, or at least, the Lead Jaffa Aboard.

Kaspar had considered moving into the Goa'uld's quarters - after all, he was the Team Leader, and thus now the de facto Base Commander - so the best quarters should go to him.  But after a few moments consideration, he realized that, if there was anyplace where there might still be hidden knowledge or tech, it would be in the Goa'uld's personal quarters.  So, nobody moves in there until after the whole Team has thoroughly searched it.

Locating the "Chief Jaffa's" quarters - as expected, not too far from either the pel'tak or the Goa'uld's chamber - Kaspar grabbed up his pack and went there.  Inside he found a fairly stark, utilitarian, soldierly space.  Of course, anything that was of organic origin, as well as a few synthetics, had been consumed by the "Slime God", but there were a few metallic features and furnishings that were built-in parts of the Ha'tak, itself.

Even the Goa'uld understood that rewarding good service brought better loyalty and greater service, so Kaspar was not surprised to find there was a minimal, but still private, washroom off the small chamber, along with a tiny closet that held a ruined suit of Jaffa armor - the majority of the non-metallic components having been dissolved away by the slime - and a Zat-gun in a receptacle on the wall inside the closet; that would have to be tested to see if the slime had damaged it. There was also another, slightly larger receptacle, which Kaspar guessed was probably for a Staff weapon.; it was empty.

Kaspar placed his pack down on the metal pallet that had once held a mattress and bedsheets - but was now completely bare - then unclipped his P-90 from his vest and put it on the bed, then took off his tac-vest - removing, first, his pipe, tobacco pouch, and radio - then added it to the pile on the bed.  His helmet was the last on the pile.

His trusty old Makarov was in it's leather holster, with the fading Red Star on the flap, hanging from his web-belt, on his right hip, rather than hanging from the tac-vests attach points, like most.  He placed the pipe and tobacco in the left-side cargo pocket of his trousers, and the radio in the right-side cargo pocket, and headed back to the pel'tak.

"Yes, I suppose that is another way to look at it," Gavan replied to Wilhelm.

"We've no indication that the Ancients terraformed worlds, so it follows that they put the gates only on worlds that were human-habitable."

"Still, it seems like an extraordinary number of such worlds exist. It's not that Earth or Tollan are exceptional examples, but the theory of them coming into existence has to be revised to account for that frequency. Tollan-like worlds might come into existence in more than one manner. That seems to be consistent with the universe that we do understand."

He turned to Asherrra then.

"Asherrra, do you know anything at all about the rest of your world?"

While Gavan spoke with Wilhelm, Hilda decided it was a good time for a rest, after a hard day spent fighting orak'tar and mining for naquadah. She was starting to feel rather tired. She headed back to what she knew was the finest room in the pyramid, which still had a bed with pillows, silk sheets, and everything – the dead Dragon Lord's quarters. It would be lovely once she washed the blood out.

"I did not know much about the worrrld beforrre you arrrived," Asherrra replies. "When I decided to go with you, though, I spent some time in the arrrchive looking at wherrre we might go."

"The arrrchive has not been updated in overrr 500 rrrevolutions. Therrre werrre no hostile species within 600 diameterrrs. I did not pay attention to the actual terrrain."

"The Alterran's sensorrrs do not appearrr to extend to the otherrr side of the worrrld, so, no, I do not know anything about this worrrld otherrr than the immediate arrrea."

"Will we go therrre? I will be the firrrst of the Firrrst Ones to see it!"

"Sounds like a plan to me."   Wilhelm said after Asherrra gave her input, still following Gavan.

She's been dying to fly something since she arrived on planet, so while Kaspar rested/slept (he was an old man, after all!), she took the suggestions of the others as a mandate to explore the other half of the planet.

She needed to be able to report on the condition of the ha'tak, didn't she? How could she do that if she didn't fly it? It had been sabotaged and crashed, so who knew what problems that might have caused.

Although the primary mission had been to 'recover' the ha'tak, finding out what was on the other side of the world was a no-brainer, as the Tau'ri liked to say. There was something to be gained (maybe?) by establishing relations with the First Ones. She wondered if the Ancients had anticipated early contact with another species?

"I'll take the ship up to a close orbit so we can do a scan of the other half. Then we can decide where to go from there," she informs the others.

In reply to Vasandra Tourmaline (msg # 216):

OOC: Whoa!  Sorry about that, I hadn't realized so much time had gone by. The past couple of weeks just got away from me.

---

As Vasandra begins powering up the pel'tak for flight operations, a voice comes from up near the viewport/command display.

"Y'know, I never tried to maintain a rigid discipline," Kaspar says, flicking his lighter to life and pausing to draw on his pipe,

"Just the minimum needed to keep us together and focused on the job." Kaspar continues, after his pipe is going, "But, I mean really, would it have taken all that much effort to let me know you wanted to flight test some of the ha'tak's systems, now that we have enough fuel?  Ha'tak systems and operations are your field of expertise, Captain.  I would have deferred to your knowledge and agreed to the flight."

Kaspar puffs contemplatively on his pipe for a moment, then turns to look out the viewport.

"I don't think they heard you, Vasandra - or maybe the CIA-Man is keeping them from listening - but they are all standing just outside the landing ramp.  And they don't appear to be in any hurry to come back in."

Kaspar turns back, "Maybe you should mention your intention to launch to them again.  They may have forgotten that, as a Captain, you are, basically, second in command of this Team, after me.  Of course, by now, the CIA-Man may have convinced them that that doesn't matter."

Kaspar puffs silently on his pipe for a moment, filling the pel'tak with a faint scent of cedar and vanilla.

"I suppose I must deal with this disruption in the chain of command -- but tomorrow, I think.  Now we are all too worked up, especially after my puffed-up agitation at the SGC sending us an Intelligence Operative.  For what do we need an Intelligence Operative?  Bah!"

Kaspar waves his pipe around in annoyance, "Never mind.  Tomorrow for these things.  Calmer heads will prevail, tomorrow."

"If I might make a suggestion, Captain?  The City of the First Ones has Ancient-built defenses, but they function only if it appears that a hostile force is approaching the city, as I understood it.  Perhaps, should we detect the presence of any large-scale communities on this flight, we should avoid any over-flights, in case such might be interpreted as a hostile act?"

Returning to the Dragon Lord's luxurious chambers, Hilda disposed of the headless body (mostly by dumping it outside the pyramid before it took off) then, with a little (especially little) effort, she mopped up the blood. These rooms had been sealed off, not devoured by the slime-beast, so all the goa'uld's clothes, sheets, and pillows remained intact. The worst of them she could use to mop up blood.

Finally done, she stripped off and filled the golden high-backed claw-footed bathtub, and slid her toned tattooed body into the warm bubbly water. Ah! This was some well-earned comfort!