ORP: Calm before the storm

[Troy Loveridge]

0704
Obsidian on Sixth apartments
Washington, DC

The sound of a key turned in a lock punctured the otherwise silent apartment. A figure dressed in athletic wear dropped their keys onto a counter next to the door and made straight for the refrigerator, grabbing a cold bottle of water from inside. The light of the refrigerator momentarily let up the darkened kitchen-dining-entertaining area of the small one bedroom apartment, revealing the modern and minimalist furnishing. Returning the bottle to the refrigerator and closing the door the figure headed into the apartments bedroom, stopping only momentarily to deposit their sweat-stained clothes into a laundry hamper.

The light of the bedroom ensuite illuminate the room, presenting Troy Loveridge with his first look at himself since rising. His dark hair, cut short to military standards and sprouting more greys than he could deny, was soaked with sweat from the morning run along the Washington Channel. While the view wasn't as nice as the Potomac River or the Tidal Basin it was a lot less busy, especially at this hour. Troy knew the cliche of the military general assigned to DC who takes morning runs to show he was still in shape. Regardless, the 45 minutes of silence as the foredawn approached was golden, and worth every bit of cheek he coped.

He put himself through a quick shower, dressed into his Air Force blues and headed to the back into kitchen. He turned on the TV as he walked past, and was greeted by the familiar sounds of the two ZNN morning anchors. He'd learned quickly - and the hard way - that it paid to be across the news, even if his work was focused on event beyond this planet. The welcomed smell of the coffee pod machine filling his cup joined the smell of cooked toast, onto which avocado and feta was added. Troy wasn't getting any younger, and while a cooked breakfast would have been his preference for this hour, his MD had recommended he try and eat healthier.

Breakfast was consumed at the dining room table as the sun began to rise over the DC styleline, the silhouette of the Washington Monument becoming clear through the sliding glass doors that led out onto the balcony. Troy's attention was elsewhere, flicking between the latest news reports on the TV and his schedule for today on his smartphone. His morning was already shaping up to be a busy one.

The breakfast dishes were deposited in the dishwasher, and grabbing his briefcase, Troy exited the apartment and locked the door behind him. He called the lift, and after a short descent, walked out of the lobby at street level. As it was everyday, a dark government SUV was waiting out front, into which the general climbed. The car pulled away from the curb and headed toward the Pentagon.

< Tag all >

[Will O'Malley]

0504 (local time)
Stargate Command Infirmary
Colorado Springs, CO

He hadn't gone home yet. Not really unexpected, but still annoying. While he was a raging insomniac, that didn't mean he hated sleep. In fact, Will rather enjoyed it. A way to cut out all the white noise, and just relax into the sweet nothingness, that was a few hours of sleep. But even as he thirsted for rest, he knew he was a long-ways out from being able to close his eyes.

There were people constantly encouraging him to go. 'Christ mate, go take a nap,' muttered amongst the madness. But in reality, he couldn't. Not now. Not while there was still risk of losing several people. It wasn't that he didn't trust his staff. They were all the best-of-the-best; top doctors and nurses across the world. The problem was that he was in charge of them. What if he left and they needed an extra hand? Or liability for something fell onto their shoulders, instead of his? Will loved his staff - probably too much.

And that's why he couldn't go home.

A team had come back from a planet that was hostile. Not the sort of hostile that got the SG-1 team name retired, but the simple sort. Angry wild animals, that had ignored the drones. Or perhaps it was due to the time of day. Either way, the team had been caught off-guard. They did their best, considering. Giant animals the size of mid-sized sedans, jumping at them from the massive trees. Will wasn't above admitting that was terrifying. Some part of him was glad he wasn't in the field anymore.

There was the occasional emergency requiring the hands of the SGC's CMO. Above all, he was a trauma surgeon; trained in handling the worst messes that could be thrown at him. So while uncommon, dodging laser-fire wasn't quite out of his life yet. O'Malley honestly wasn't sure that was a good thing, or not.

Rolling his shoulders, he finally sat down - leaning his back against the wall. There was a cot in his office for this very reason. He could go in there and pass out for a few hours. Take a quick shower. Then he was good for the new day. No need to risk going home with everyone on death's door.

They were stable - most of his staff that wasn't meant to be there for the night-shift, released. But he was also rather aware that their state was...delicate, at best. He needed to be there.

Closing his eyes, he puffed out his cheeks - silently praying the day was a simple one.

<Tag: ALL>

[Travis "Wizard" Oxford]

0639
Mess Hall
Stargate Command

He wondered what possessed him to be up this early? Cracking one eye open, he saw the files and whatnot spread before him and his successor for Delta Expedition sitting across from him deep in though. Hopefully it was not murder she was planning. If it was, he prayed it wasn't his. Opening the other eye, he picked up his coffee. The few seconds of the eye shut did nothing. He had been up most night talking to Matt in the Vedic Galaxy via stones that had been found earlier in the year. Things had gotten interesting when Bobby had decided to butt in. The whole meeting had dragged longer than needed.

Kim frowned at Travis, "Are you even listening to me?" she asked in annoyed tone that resembled his wife's.

What was with women and that tone, he wondered and scowled at the fact that there was no one to back him up. While he wanted to hurt Bobby for dragging the meeting, when it came to dealing with women, he could use the man as a distraction. "No," he replied and knew it was the wrong answer, "Damn Bobby decided to butt in let the meeting drag for the heck of it."

Setting the file down, Kim snorted, "He is a piece of work," she agreed, drinking her own dark liquid. And a PITA, she was careful not to add that. But highlight of meeting him had been seeing him punch an IOA.

"Can we just do this later?" he requested, "After I have had a some sleep. Right now my brain is a marshmallow." And it took him back into the early days of fatherhood when Brandon had been born. Seeing the nod, he almost crawled back to his quarters. Yep, he was going to get back at his cousin big time.

<<Tag: All>>

[Nolen "Dragon" Syaria]

0700
Fairchild Airbase
Washington


Nolen sipped the coffee he had in his hand as he tapped his foot in front of the pilots that stargate command had given to him to mould into 302 combat pilots. He was waiting for one pilot, a man who had seam to have a grudge with the pilot since day one.

He had been given leave after delta and had plans to spend as much time with his fellow delta and wife Astra, but a week into it he had been pulled back to service and dragged to this air base to get another 302 squadron up to scratch … he chuckled at that. Up to scratch he had had the best squadron and the IOA in their vast wisdom had disbanded them. And now he had this rag tag group of pilots to get into shape.

A tapping of boots interrupted the senior pilots thoughts as he took another sip and looked up. He gave the approaching pilot his 'I'm upset look' that had put fear into many green pilots. " Robertson!" he raised his voice to him. "I said 0700 sharp. Not 0701. No I don't want to hear your excuse because it will just make your punishment worse. For your lateness you will head the defending squadron in this dog fight. I will be heading the attacking force, should even one of my group get past you have KP duty for a week. Do you understand Robertson?"

The younger man nodded and replied with a sharp "yes sir" in which Nolen detected a slight tone of defiance. Nolen let it slip, "Pilots to your ships" he ordered then waited until they were all off before joining them in their run to the practice fighters.

<tag anyone>

[Koren Telion]

03 July 2015 (days prior to current ORP timeline)
0712
Deep Space Observation
Stargate Command

Koren straightened his dress blues and adjusted his commendations and puffed out a breath. It's not often that anyone is brought before the senior members of the SGC for any reason, and considering the fact that he had no idea why he was called to stand before them, he was nervous.

No, more like petrified. The last time he had been before these decorated members of the military and civil services, he had a plan and was passionate about that plan, so much so that he got close to arguing with General Carter, who donned her offended yet slightly puzzled smile. Operation Black Widow was his baby, an idea he had been developing ever since doing heavy study on the attack on Antarctica, and that had come to be unavoidable and, in fact, necessary after the struggles of the Atlantis base and the attack on Olympia.

Akin to Operation Red Flag, Black Widow was a homeland/planetary defense/attack scenario which involved all out-of-combat interplanetary forces of the SGC and Worldwide organizations, along with as many of our allies across the galaxy that we could convince to come; the goal being to simulate an all-out mid-low orbit engagement as realistically as possible. Koren's pitch had been successful, and the Admiral presented the plan to the President, who eventually signed off on the Operation, giving it his full blessing.

Operation Black Widow had concluded not two months ago, and he had written a detailed debrief for the General, which had taken him and the team assigned the Operation another month to complete. Ever since, he had been back at Cheyanne, debriefing the individual flight crews, wings and allies on the strengths and weaknesses of each maneuver with the hopes of increasing readiness and combat efficiency across all Stargate operations. The only reason Koren could see that he was being brought before the senior officers was that they had found something wrong, concerning or out of protocol with the Operation or report he filed.

...Or there was an invasion force on the way, but that possibility was unlikely at best, and Koren hoped it stayed that way. Regardless of the reason, Koren was not excited to face the brass, so when the lights dimmed and the double doors sprung open, Koren stepped inside with the alertness of combat, immediately assessing his situation. What he saw before him was a projection of the moments before the initial attack on the units playing the homeland fleet. The units currently highlighted were Eagle flight, hiding in the shadow of the moon.

"Captain Telion," General Carter's voice called from across the projection table, "Would you care to explain to us what led to your decision to launch over half of the homeland defense force's mid-range fighters to hide behind the moon before any known threat had been observed?"

"Sir," Koren snapped to attention, eying the 1:6000 scale digital replica before him, "NASA had reported that SOHO had picked up a series of consistent unexplainable and unnatural anomalous readings in its infrared analysis the day before, and that said readings continued to increase before SOHO passed behind earth for the evening. My Reco, 2nd Lieutenant Clark Reed, reminded me of the theoretical 'Solar Assault,' which, as many of you know, is the prospect that it may be possible to launch a perfectly concealed attack by positioning ones fleet between the sun and Earth, thus using solar radiation from the sun to mask any way of detecting the attacking fleet, leading to a perfect sneak attack that could decimate earth."

"You're telling me, Captain, that, based upon readings from a twenty year old NASA satellite designed to observe solar flares, you correctly identified the location, approach vector, attack pattern and time of assault of the opposing forces?" The General chuckled, "That's insane! It's a massive risk to bet the entire fleet's protection on a hunch and an..." She broke off, her shaking her head quickly in disbelief, "...an airmen's legend!"

"If it was nothing, we were still within 250,000 miles of the fleet," Koren replied, careful to keep his voice level; he was not at all appreciative of such damning cross-examination of his operational decisions in front of his most critical superiors who were no doubt aware of his checkered past. "And," Koren continued, "If the enemy fleet had engaged from the daylight side of the planet, we would have been notified hours in advance and would have easily been able to regroup with the fleet, refuel and resupply before facing a frontal assault."

Koren paused, waiting for a response. When he didn't get one, he pressed on, "This was our only opportunity to get an edge over the opposing fleet. Otherwise, the numbers were even and casualties would have been immense," And I'm not going through that again, Koren didn't add, but he knew his face showed it. There was a brief pause before one of the members of the senior staff standing around the darkened room muttered in disbelief, "Damn!"

The room then erupted into applause and the lights came up to reveal a beaming General Carter surrounded by the most senior members of the homeland defense initiative who were congratulating each other as well. "Congratulations on a successful operation, Captain!" The General called over the din. The senior members began filing out of the room, pausing to shake Koren's hand and congratulate him as they left. The doors then closed behind him, leaving him alone across the simulation table from General Carter; Koren knew better than to dismiss himself without permission from the General.

"You took a big risk coming to me with this op," She said, a mischievous look in her eye.
"And you took a bigger risk enacting it, Sir." Koren said with a respectful nod. General Carter slowly began to round the table, her hands behind her back.
"Black Widow has strengthened our forces strategically, allowed us to stretch our offensive and procedural legs, and given the airmen stationed here at Earth something to put their energy towards. Morale is through the roof; dedication to increasing field efficiency, operational excellence and technological improvement is at its highest in both civilian and military branches since Antarctica." The General stopped and looked Koren directly in the eye, "You should be proud, Captain; you've created something great, something Stargate Command is very proud of, and something that will continue for a very long time."

Koren glanced at the floor, "I only adapted existing ideas to fit our needs, General." When he looked up again, Carter was smiling widely.
"You've changed, Captain." She said, shaking her head, "When I met you, you had no respect for the chain of command, and would take the first opportunity to claim responsibility for positive results in the field. What happened to you?"
Koren was puzzled, "Sir?"
"I think we wore off on you a bit," She said. When it was clear he wasn't catching on, she tried again, "You got humble, Koren.

"And for that," She sighed, grabbing a case off the desk. The door opened behind Koren, and he heard footsteps as someone entered, "And many other things, it is my distinct honor and privilege to promote you, Koren Telion," She opened the case and presented a badge, "To the rank of Major of the United States Air Force." Koren watched, stunned, as the General pinned his new rank on his dress blues. He had no words; this was the last thing he expected at the beginning of the day. Koren turned to see Clark beaming, applauding him along with the four door guards, adorned, Koren noticed, with the new rank of Captain.

"And furthermore," General Carter continued, grabbing Koren's attention again, "For acts of heroism and going far above and beyond the call of duty, at great personal risk, during the siege of Olympia, I present you, Major Koren Telion, at long, long last, with the Air Force Cross."

"No way!" Koren heard Clark gasp.

Koren chuckled, "But..why now? Why here?" Koren grinned in disbelief at the General, "Not to sound pretentious, but isn't this supposed to happen during a ceremony?"

"I wanted to wait for the Delta anniversary to promote you," The General said with an apologetic smile, "But the schedule was tight as it is. Vedas is in need of resupply, and we already have the gate room out of operation for two hours without doing a medal ceremony."

"I understand," Koren said sincerely.
"I've sent notice to the Delta expedition of your new rank and commendation," She gestured to Clark, "And I've provided you, and them, with a witness of the ceremony." She grabbed his shoulders firmly, beaming from ear to ear, "Congratulations, Major. Well deserved!"


"Hear! Hear!" Clark exclaimed, applauding once again. Koren's smile returned; after Afghanistan, Koren didn't think he'd make it one more year in the Air Force, yet here he was, accepting a promotion to Major from General Carter herself. There was no place Koren would rather be.

< Tag ALL >

[Troy Loveridge]

0709 hours
En route to the Pentagon
Washington, DC

There was of course a subway stop right around the corner from Troy's apartment. The ride would have been less than 15 minutes to the Pentagon including changing trains. And yet, every morning without fail, his aide-de-camp Lieutenant Hudson was out front, not once late since this tradition had started. Driving him around was not part of her job description, and yet the lieutenant never once complained or shied away from it. The drives were conducted under the guise that they allowed to two extra time during the morning and evening commute to go over the events of the day, but Troy suspected deeper motivations. Hudson was ambitious, and like everyone who took an aide job, was looking toward the end of her tour where Troy would write a letter recommending her for a her next assignment. It would be hard to not write a shining letter given the dogged determination she brought to work every day.

During the drive Troy skimmed the three binders that had been laid out on the backseat next to him. The first was his list of meetings and appointments for the day, an opportunity to get an idea of what he was up against and make any last minute arrangements. The second was a one-pager on the latest developments from the SGC and Fleet Command to bring him up to speed with their operations from the last 12 hours. The third was a more detailed briefing on a bomb blast near the German military base where they coordinated their country's contribution to the Stargate program. First reports were that it was a coincidental attack, but it paid to double check. It could become a developing situation if deeper motives were uncovered.

Troy's phone buzzed in his pocket. Retrieving the device he asked the call, noting that it was from the office. Apparently the Assistant Secretary for Conflict and Stabilization from the State Department, who was his 1100 hours meeting, had been called away over night. Under Secretary Alec Styles would be joining him at the Pentagon instead.

The call ended, and Troy was about to put the phone back into his pocket when he felt it vibrate again. He looked at the called ID and smiled as he answered the call with a laugh.

"I didn't think you knew that the world existed before 0900?"

< Tag Will O'Malley , Travis "Wizard" Oxford , Nolen "Dragon" Syaria & Koren Telion >

[Ayden "Ghost" Sheppard]

0710 hours
Washington, DC

Ayden was never one to sleep well into the morning when she was still in the military, but as of late her age was starting to show, and it got harder each morning to crawl out of bed with renewed strength ready to start the day with the gung-ho determination that the younger and newer personnel had. She loved her job more than life itself, but some mornings all she wanted was to stay in bed a bit longer and forget her age, forget the hell that she had been through, forget the accident that had pushed her from her military career, and forget the fact that she had lost her husband years prior. 

Today was going to be a good day. She was determined for that from the moment her eyes blinked open and she went through her typical morning routine of going for a run, showering, eating, and getting dressed for the day (not necessarily in that order, mind you). This morning was different from others, however, for she was in a well furnished hotel room in D.C. instead of her home. She had a day of meetings ahead of her, with not only the NID but the military as well, to explain any recent developments her and her team were able to discover from the other SG-teams. 

The morning, however, she had to herself, and she decided immediately she didn't like it. She much preferred to have the constant company of her work or another team member to keep her focused. When left alone thoughts seemed to wander and today she could not have a place for them. As she stopped at a small well placed coffee shop she pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed the number of a man she knew would have been up well before her.

If he answered, well, that would be another story.

It seemed as if fate was on her side today, however, because after only two rings she could hear his voice on the other end and the corner of her mouth turned up in a smile as she paid the barista. "When in Rome..." she trailed off with a soft, barely noticeable chuckle as she stepped aside in line to allow the next customer to place their order. "I'm sure with your connections you're aware of where I am, but in case you decided to not check up on me for once, I'll have you know I'm in D.C. today. I was wondering if you had some free time on your busy schedule to meet up with an old friend."

After all that Troy and her had been through, Ayden was hoping he could free up some time for old friends, but she would understand if he didn't have the time. She had been craving the company of former expedition members, and of them all Troy stuck out the most. Not only had he been there through everything, he somehow had a way of making her forget all of her worries (even if she never showed them to begin with).

< Tag: Troy Loveridge  & All >

[Troy Loveridge]

0710 hours
En route to the Pentagon
Washington, DC

Troy laughed as the sassy reply came back over the phone.

"As you'll recall only one of us works for the nation's intelligence apparatus, and it isn't me," he replied. Only one of them had to authority to authorise spying and surveillance, and it wasn't him.

Calls from Ayden weren't unheard of - the two were in positions of similar seniority within the small and close knit Stargate community. The surprise was that she was in town; agencies like the CIA, NSA, NGA, DIA and NRO had their head offices nearby in Virginia or Maryland. Last he'd heard Ayden was posted to one of the NID field offices, though he'd never been sure which one.

"I might be able to do lunch.." he began to say before noticing that Lieutenant Hudson was shaking her head in the rear view mirror. He consulted his schedule for the day on the seat next to him, seeing that he was booked solid from 1200 to 1500 hours. He'd have trouble enough fitting in food for himself let alone anyone else.

"Maybe after work, where are you staying?" he asked as the lieutenant pulled off the motorway and up to the guards at the Pentagon gate. She flashed an ID at one while the other walked around the car with a ground mirror, checking the underside of the vehicle. "Yeah I know the place. There's a wine bar across the road, hear usually full of spooks and diplomats. Your type of people. How does eight sound?"

< Tag Ayden "Ghost" Sheppard >

[Ayden "Ghost" Sheppard]

0711 hours
Washington, DC

One thing Ayden had always been grateful for was her relationship with Troy. While she fell out of touch with many of her former colleagues over the years, one relationship hadn’t changed and that was with her former Commanding Officer. Both had hit rough times since their first meeting, but had somehow been able to overcome them all. He had become one of her most trusted friends over the years, and a man that she held in high regard and respected completely. He had a way of enticing those under his command to do anything for him, no matter what the outcome was going to become. Ayden would follow the man into battle any day. Luckily enough for them, their time as soldiers had ended and were now in a more subdued role.

“The Kimpton Palomar,” she spoke as she grabbed her coffee from the stand when it was finished and slipped out the door of the coffee shop. She moved to the car that was waiting for her and climbed in the back, thanking the young man that was assigned the duty of her driver. Dinner sounded wonderful, as the woman couldn’t think of the last time she went out without having to think about work. She nodded, despite the fact that he couldn’t see her. “Sounds wonderful, General. I’ll make us a reservation. I’ll see you there at eight.”

2000 Hours
Wine Bar
Washington, DC

Ayden arrived at the bar with fifteen minutes to spare, which was just enough time to check in with the host and be escorted to the table they would have for the evening. She wasn’t dressed in anything fancy, a simple blue bandage dress was what she pulled from her luggage and slipped into that evening after work with a pair of heels. She applied a little bit of makeup, and her usual shade of lipstick before she left the hotel for the evening.

The retired Air Force pilot settled comfortably into her seat, her long slender fingers reaching for the drink menu and she scanned it over as she waited for her companion for the evening to show up. It felt good to be preparing for an evening with her friend, and with every person that was escorted to a table, her crystal blue gaze lifted from the menu to see if any were him. 

When she finally spotted him, Ayden pushed herself up from her seat to greet him. A smile crossed her face and she leaned over to kiss his cheek, her hand resting on his arm, in a friendly greeting. “General, your new position is doing you well,” she spoke, her voice soft as she retook her seat and draped the cloth napkin over her lap. “I hope you didn’t hit too much traffic on your way in.”

< Tag: Troy Loveridge >

[Troy Loveridge]

2000 Hours
Wine Bar
Washington, DC

The day had progressed as most did - a string of meetings, briefings and phone calls intersperred with reading and clearing reports. Working in planning and policy wasn't quite as glamorous as the operations or intelligence directorates, but at the two-star level no job in the military was exciting by any stretch of the imagination. It was the ways things were, stay in uniform long enough and you left the front line behind. Mind you, some days he didn't miss it. Being shot at, abducted by or experimented on by aliens grew old after a while. And besides, the pay here was a lot better.

He'd managed to get away with enough time to swing by the apartment, change into a dress shirt, blazer and pants, and catch the subway up to Dupont Circle near where Ayden's hotel was. It was nice to be out of uniform - again it was a part of the job that grew old after a while. Wearing it to work was one thing, it was the functions and official events on week nights that got to him.

Walking into the wine bar he could see that she'd beaten him them. He moved over to join her, and after kiss on the cheek, took the seat opposite her.

"Caught the subway, like to keep myself grounded," he explained. In a town like DC it was easy to forget about the common folk, who everyone in here was meant to be serving. "Besides, some of the things and people I see down, reminds me of Delta." The waiter came and took their orders, bringing Troy back an amaretto sour. A lobbyist had gotten him onto them one might at a ball and couldn't go past them at the moment.

"To the expedition - far away, and long ago," he declared, meeting her glass in a toast.

"So what brings you inside the beltway," he asked after taking the first sip. Yes, the drink had been a good idea, let him lower his guard a little. It was tiring walking around the Pentagon all day working for the Stargate program and not being able to tell anyone about it. "I thought they had you posted out west somewhere?"

< Tag Ayden "Ghost" Sheppard >