Carter tries to find a way to look at the internal workings without damage.

Kyle is wandering around, muttering to himself and jotting notes as he begins to figure out the language.

Coleman just keeps up his search until Jik announces that he's finished.

"Ok. I guess we've already cleared the ship. How dynamic will the scuttling be? Do we need to worry about any of the furlings getting hurt by it, or will it be contained enough that we just need to get clear and trigger it?"

"It will not be as spectacular as the arc reactor problem," Jik answers Coleman. "I just need to use an inverteron because I can't risk reactivating the reactor."

He starts out by going to engineering and retrieving a device that looks like a crossed lugwrench that pivots in the middle. He carries it back to the dormant reactor, opens up the pivot, places it over the reactor, and begins sliding some of the rings up and down the four shafts.

"My ship, the Contemporaneous, was on its way from Kazarian'trah--the Kazarian Galaxy--to relieve Commander Nen Thur Jul on the Incorrigible in the Bracsene Nebula--what you call the Horsehead Nebula," Jik explains as he works.

"We have several colonies there, including mining the particle fountain there for undifferentiated matter. Our transgalactic drive is the Z-drive... or N-drive... though it is most often called the Slide. Rather than form a wormhole that connects two distant points in the space-time continuum, we generate a subspace disruption and 'slide' down the energy differential."

"In this case, we collided with what your translation nomenclature calls a 'cosmic string'. This is a two-dimensional phenomenon that you can't detect until  you hit it... if you encounter it edge on, of course. We no more know what this 'cosmic string' is than you do, though one theory claims it is a disconnected piece of the universe. There has never been such an encounter in the Slide before."

"The collision fatally damaged the arc reactor, sending us flying out of control down the Slide. It took days and many lives before we were able to regain some semblance of control amid the runaway reactor. Finally able to exit the Slide, we immediately crashed."

"And now it is time to destroy my ship to keep it from falling into the hands of the Grognards."

"Do you have an electronic device, Colonel, that you can spare that I can use to trigger the destructive sequence?"

Kyle listened with fascination to this account of how Jik's people travel the universe.

"It is a shame that you want to destroy such a rich source of information. Can you not find some way to separate out your military secrets from everything else?"

"That is quite an adventure that you had. What a difficult situation to end up in."
Coleman pulls out his flashlight; "Will this work? Or do you need something specific?"

"Perhaps, but it is not an adventure I wish to repeat any time soon. The price is too high," Jik replies.

"I do not see that your flashlight has a remote activation system, but perhaps I can modify it to a timer... I'll set it for 10 minutes. That should give us sufficient time to get clear."

"I do not know that there is 'anything' other than military secrets within the ship, Kyle. I am quite sure that you do not mean what I had for breakfast last Thursday?"

Jik tweaks the flashlight somehow, attaches it to the inverteron.

"Time to leave."

He then leads the way back out of the ship and moves around 200 yards away near some convenient rocks.

And then you wait. When the appropriate time elapses, there's a small spark of pale blue actinic light that then expands to encompass the entire ship. Pulses of light within the glow appear, shift, twist, and seem to collapse in on themselves. The light does a quick fade... and the ship is GONE!

"Woah, that is a very impressive self-destruct. But, I guess with the kinds of intergalactic travel you're describing I should expect that you'd have pretty nifty tricks for everything.

Hopefully, you have the means to contact home for someone to pick you up as well. I'm not sure we have the means to help with that, though perhaps some of our allies do.

Shall we head back to the main Furling settlement, so this guy's fellows can rejoice in him having survived?" Coleman smiles and signals the direction they'll head.

 Lizzy was still working with the scanner, as they talked about the self-destruct, she left with the others, and went immediately to check on her Furling patient.

Having expected some sort of colossal explosion, everyone was a bit stunned at the silent implosion that totally destroyed the ship without leaving any residue.

Jik goes back to where the ship was and points to a 3" 'lump' on the ground.

"That piece weighs about 200 pounds. The implosion compressed out all of the empty space between molecules while converting a lot of matter to energy. That is all that is left of the Contemporaneous. No secrets will be garnered from it now."


As the group heads back to the Furling compound, Jik continues to explain to Lizzy how to use the scanning device.

About the size and shape of a slender pepper grinder, it has 8 dials along the bottom and one at the top. It is a dull black but not quite flat black, and Kyle recognizes Jik's description as being that of a naquadrium alloy.

The top one is the lens and is used to dial broad or narrow scans. In its hemisphere shape, it is broad scan while the cone-shaped one is a narrow focus.

The bottom most dial simply turns it on. It does not make an audible sound when you turn it on, but you can feel the connection when it activates.

Next dial up is the Science setting.
Next dial is the EMS setting, including x-ray.
Next dial upwards is the CAT/neuro scanner.
Next dial is MRI.
Next dial is sonar and wound detection.
Next dial can stop bleeding and heal sprains.
Next dial is Life Sciences... BP, temp, pulse, oxygen, and toxins.

The device holds around 100 charges, can be recharged just like a cell phone. There's a small 'dot' above the first lower dial that is actually a holoprojector that displays the readouts of the dials. While it can combine all of them into a single display, that is super busy to read.

 Lizzy paid close attention to Jik as he explained how the scanner worked, she was in awe and what it could read and tell her in a few seconds. This was an amazing device and would help her immensely in diagnosing any medical condition she knew of.

 " Thank you Jik this is an amazing device, so small and able to do give that much medical information in a very short period of time." Lizzy even made notes on its operation just in case. Lizzy was like a kid in a candy store learning how to truly operate the scanner that would make her job a hell of a lot easier, especially in the field.

There is, however, a learning curve for Lizzy to learn how to use it due to the different language involved. It does not have any translation capabilities.

Whenever she uses it, she'll take a -3 penalty for 6 uses, then a -2 penalty for 5 uses, and a -1 penalty for 4 uses before she can claim to have 'mastered' it.

Each dial has several settings depending on what you want to scan for. The 'life' dial can just be set to scan temperature of an object (normal range of  bio forms), though the 'science' dial can register much higher temperatures.

 Lizzy knows it will take time to master the scanner and the language, she tried to keep good notes so she wouldn't do the same mistake twice. Lizzy knew though once she mastered it the scanner would help her immensely. As soon as they got to a power source that could charge it, she was going to ask if she could experiment with the scanner.

The group has moved a few hundred yards back to the Furling base a when weapon blast disrupts the ground less than 20 feet away from Jik. It clearly came from behind you. There's enough force to stagger Jik for a moment but not enough to knock him down.

Coleman, Jason and Carter immediately whirl around and find four flying Furlings hurling at them through the air!

"GROGNARDS!" Jik quickly identifies them as he pulls out his weapon and commences firing back.

There are four Grognards riding on some sort of flying wishbone. The wishbone part is where they stand while a vertical column at the front holds the control handlebars. They are about 200 yards away but closing fast.

At the first blast of weapons fire, Jason dove aside to the ground, rolled over and scrambled around to face the attackers. There were four of them on some sort of flying wishbone-shaped personal conveyance. It was even more intimidating because these were Easter Island statues flying and shooting at them!

They were using some sort of 'blaster' type weapon, not unlike a Goa'uld staff weapon in effect but in a more condensed and practical handgun version. Jik seemed to have identified the enemy simply by the weapon, but then he wielded something similar.

As near as Jason could tell, these Grognards were focused on their 'traditional' enemy but didn't seem to care if anyone or anything else got in their way.


He shot back with a burst from his FN P90:

18 (1d20)
+1 BAB
+3 Dex
+1 Weapon Focus
+1 Point Blank Shot
+0 Controlled Burst (no penalty)
+1 Large target
+2 (+1d6 Action Dice) Threat Range!
_____
27 total to hit


03:25, Today: Jason Bjorn rolled 25,2,25,6 using 1d20+7,1d6,3d10+3,2d6 ((18,2,10,10,2,5,1)).

25 (3d10+3 burst)
+1 Point Blank Shot
+6 (2 Action Dice)
_____
32 points of AP3 damage (x3 Improved Critical = 96 points of damage or else NPC reduced to 0 HP)

Don't have Defense or HP for Grognards, but that should take one of them down.

Kyle was startled. The Furlongs were the Grodnards this fellow had been concerned about? It seemed so out of character for the Furlongs to harbour such a massive grudge against another species.

  Lizzy was startled was she seeing this right the Furlings where these Grodnards, and why where they firing at us, we just helped them. Lizzy took some cover but yelled," Stop this now, Jik is my patient and under my care, everyone stand down and lets figure this out instead of just trying to kill each other. Now STOP everyone."

 Lizzy would protect herself but there had to be an explanation and a way to settle this peacefully. She didnt believe the Furlings where like this, or was Jik's race evil, they had to figure this out and shooting each other was not the answer. She put herself out there hoping everyone would give talking and Peace a chance.

At the first shot, Karen immediately looked for cover, and only after she had something did she try to assess the situation. With P90 in hand.

"GET DOWN!" she yelled at Lizzie. "It's not what you think!"

"These Grognards aren't Furlings! They are clearly an evolutionary offshoot, though. Traditional enemies of Jik's people. Pay more attention next time."

"Jik hasn't explained why they are enemies. He might not even know any more."

Coleman, seeing Kyle acting dumbfounded yelled at him; "For God's sake, Kyle! Take cover!"

As for Coleman himself, he's all for peace, but these things were shooting at them. And, further, Jik had already told them that Grognards look somewhat like the Furlings. Time to shoot.

Coleman recognizes that these things could be very tough, so makes the decision to try to unload on one. But, their similarity to Furlings kind of threw him off his game, and he utterly missed his target.

OOC:
13:41, Today: Coleman Hendricks rolled 8 using 1d20+7 with rolls of 1.  Autofire; 4 volleys.

If the GM wishes to spend an action die, that's a critical miss :'( Not great for my first-ever attack roll in this game. :P

 Lizzy takes cover she realizes they are different, she takes cover and then opens fire with her p-90 at the closest Gronard.

(OOC: 17:00, Today: Elizabeth 'Lizzy' McKeon rolled 20 using 1d20+5 with rolls of 15.  P-90 attack Autofire.)

A startled Kyle ran towards the nearest bush...

Although both  Jason and Lizzie take down one of the flyers, it doesn't seem to deter the other two. The one Coleman was shooting at manages to hit him for 17 points of blast damage.

That flyer, in turn, is taken down by a well-placed shot by Jik.

The last flyer is brought down by the combined firepower of Karen and Carter.

 Lizzy runs to Coleman to check his wounds and begin working on him.

(OOC:22:32, Today: Elizabeth 'Lizzy' McKeon rolled 25 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 17.  First Aid.)
This message was last edited by the player at 02:33, Mon 13 Mar 2023.

"Woah... good job guys! And thanks for the aid, doc!

Jik, are there likely to be more coming? Dang, I hope they didn't attack the Furling village, or, at least, that the Furlings have some means of defending themselves."

OOC: how much does first aid heal?

Strangely, Stargate's First Aid skill doesn't seem to do what you'd think it would, which is treat Vitality damage. It deals more with poison and disease and long term care. How is this FIRST Aid?

In the Revised system, it's treating those typical Vitality symptoms.... cuts, scrapes, bruises, sprains, etc. It's stopping bleeding, minimizing blunt force trauma, reducing shock, etc. It's the Wounds that represent broken bones, damaged organs, and more serious damage.

The target number for treating injury depends on the nature of the injury.

TN 10: minor injury (remember, there's still a penalty for a minor injury)

TN 15: serious injury

TN 20: major injury

TN 25: deadly injury

In Coleman's case, because his injury was caused by a previously unknown type of blaster weapon, the TN is 20.

A successful First Aid check restores 1d6 Vitality, plus one additional Vitality for every 5 points you succeed. Even if you don't succeed, as long as you have the skill, you restore 1 point (unless you fail by more than 10?).

Lizzie succeeded by 5, so she restores 6 points (max out of combat) plus 1. That puts Coleman back down into the LEVEL 1 FATIGUE category, with 1 Wound.

That's all First Aid will do. She still has her shiny new bioscanner.