Part Two: Descent

[Will O'Malley]

1011 hours
Control Room
Lost City of Akrotiri

If Will was honest with himself, he really wasn't paying much attention to what was going on around him. A lot of words he understood, but not well enough to actually contribute to the conversation. At Troy's question about the Infirmary, the Colonel pulled his coffee away from his lips, "Can't do much until the computers are workin', General," he mused, feeling a bit like an ass, but honestly there wasn't much else he could do. Stand amongst the dead equipment and make quiet noises until something over here came to work better? He'd at least prefer to stand around some of his old friends, and just keep out of the way.

Having finished his own cup of coffee, he tossed the disposable cup in a nearby waste-bin, just as Ayden offered him a new one. He offered her a wide and rather warm smile - especially for Will - as he accepted the coffee, "Thank you," his voice a bit breathy - as it always was in matters that were related to coffee.

He was an easily bribed man.

O'Malley's eyes bounced around the others as they spoke, feeling as useful as a glass of water to a drowning man. Meaning pointless at the moment, but as soon as said drowning man was free of drowning and done coughing up water, he'd be rather dehydrated and appreciate said glass. But for now, he'd just sip coffee and watch.

1345 hours
Infirmary
Lost City of Akrotiri

Things were...kind of working. Enough for Will to actually get some of his own work done. The man fiddled about - humming some song he didn't know the name of under his breath. It had played on the radio on his final day of work in that other galaxy he was born in. While taking stock of what was actually present, O'Malley used a datapad to record his findings - missing as it flickered. It was only the third time that he caught it; the screen glitching and giving away to something that was...well, fitting of the name 'Hades'. It was brief; causing him to wonder if he had seen it at all - leaving him standing dumbly in the middle of the room with his eyes focused on the datapad.

"Oh this is good," he whispered, as it did it again - confirming he wasn't just losing his mind. That would have at least been more comforting.

“Command team to the briefing room."

Will laughed under his breath - glad he wasn't the only one that caught it, "General I'm guessing you're getting the fancy glitchin' too?" he quickly replied over the radio - lifting his gaze as he began to walk towards the briefing room, "Happened for me on a datapad just now. I'm no tech, but I feel like we're infected here."

<TAG: Alec Styles + Ayden "Ghost" Sheppard + Cara Coyle + Robert "Jackal" Walker + Travis "Wizard" Oxford + Troy Loveridge >

[Robert "Jackal" Walker]

0927 Hours
Staging Area
Lost City of Akrotiri

When the group materialized the previous day in the control room, one of them had the unshakable feeling of not belonging there - not at Akrotiri, or the Thor, but in this life.

On a personal level, his feeling of uneasiness had a more personal touch. Robert had been forced away from the original expedition while he was the Senior Staff Director for a classified mission that left him crippled and near death. It had separated him from the love of his life, Katrina Logan, when she needed him the most. The couple had a long road back to recovery, but their reconciliation and the revelation that Katrina had given birth to their son resulted in the couple finally having a happy, somewhat normal life. When the Lucian Alliance had finally been taken down, then-Colonel Walker made his exit from Homeworld Command.

Truth be told, had he simply retired, he likely would not be here. However, when he assumed the role of Commanding Officer of the Marine Corps’s elite Marine Special Operations School, he knew when he was at the SGC and heard of the attack on Akrotiri that he would be going. Responsible now for review and implementation of training for some of Earth’s most skilled warriors, he had been asked to use his expertise to help coordinate the counter-offensive against Hades and whatever other forces posed a threat. Taking the assignment this was one of the hardest things he had ever had to do, but Katrina was actually the one insisting on it most in the end.

Barely able to sleep at all the night before, Walker had gotten to work helping the junior staff with what most would consider 'menial' tasks for an officer of his grade. Robert Walker handed a tablet back to a crew member in the bustling makeshift area, and thanked the man before turning away. Still adjusting over the past several months to being a General, the seasoned Marine took a deep breath. His participation in this task force, while voluntary, felt compelling – he needed to be here. His ‘lengthy experience with the original expedition’ had been pointed out when Alec Styles had asked him to come along.

Checking the time, Robert walked down one of the damaged corridors to await the informal meeting with the rest of the group.


1011 Hours
Jumper Bay
Lost City of Akrotiri

” I have more time in spacecraft than you probably have in the Air Force,” Walker snapped at a shorter man with close-cropped hair holding a tablet. ”Trust me when I say that the craft can handle it! Make the modifications.” The Lieutenant, clearly holding back due to talking to a General, retorted, “Sir, with all due respect, I’ve been studying these Olympian ships for 18 months now, and I’m telling you that it will cause an overload that could blow the whole power matrix.” Robert sighed in exasperation and responded, “On one of my first time through the gate here, my team infiltrated, overtook, and stole a Byblos-class battle cruiser, which I then flew back home. I supervised its investigation and commanded it on many missions, and our crew had to make some really funky modifications to get things to work sometimes. Of course, it blew up eventually, but we held our own for a while. Now tell me, if I was able to make that happen in a massive vessel, don’t you think I might have some insight with a smaller Olympian fighter?” The Lieutenant looked slightly embarrassed at being chastised, and replied, “My apologies, sir.” As Walker walked away, he heard one of the other people nearby say to the Lieutenant, “Seriously? Smooth move.”


1345 Hours
Corridor Near Briefing Room
Lost City of Akrotiri


Hearing the radio call from Troy and the urgency in his voice, Robert turned around and jogged down the corridor twenty meters to the briefing room and stepped in. “What’s going on?” he inquired of his old friend. With everything going on, the two had barely had a chance to say two words to each other alone. There was a lot that needed to be said, but now was not the time.

<Tag Alec Styles , Ayden "Ghost" Sheppard , Cara Coyle , Travis "Wizard" Oxford , & Troy Loveridge >

[Troy Loveridge]

1348 hours
Briefing Room
Lost City of Akrotiri

The command team - Task Group Orange as the table of organisation referred to them as, a nod to the old heraldic colour of Troy's and Will's former team SD-1 - made their way to the briefing room. Will reported over the radio as he was en route that he was suffering the same software glitch that Troy was, and reports were beginning to stream in from all across the base that it wasn't an isolated problem. The team soon assembled, with General Walker asking what was going on.

"The attack and the theft of the ZPM may have only been step one," Troy explained as he typed away at his keyboard. The hack was getting worst as the minutes ticked by - where once the demonic lines of code had been an occasion flicker, now they dominated his screen. Using what little computer know-how he had Troy tried to get control of his laptop back, to no avail. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the monitors which lined the briefing room walls come to line, the same lines of alien coding scrolling down them.

"This is definitely a breach," he declared. "Tell the control room to isolate the servers and the mainframe, physically disconnect them if you have to." Not that he suspected their anti-virus protocols would do much good - the hack had managed to remain undetected during the system reports and diagnostics that Cara had just completed.

"Does this mean anything to anyone?" the general asked, looking up at the walls of demonic text flowing down the briefing room monitors.

< Tag Alec Styles , Ayden "Ghost" Sheppard , Cara Coyle , Robert "Jackal" Walker , Travis "Wizard" Oxford & Will O'Malley >

[Ayden "Ghost" Sheppard]

1348 hours
Briefing Room
Lost City of Akrotiri

After the initial meeting in the morning, Ayden had retreated to one of the research labs to scour the Ancient Database in search of some information they could use in this fight against Hades and whatever other gods he had managed to bring to his side after the fall of Olympia. The database, much like the one she had used previously on Atlantis, was a plethora of knowledge, but it seemed as if no matter how far she went back there was little information on Hades. It was almost as if the god-like figure never existed in the minds of the Ancients and was written out of the history of the other gods that had taken over the galaxy. Almost as if he was some sort of prodigal child no one wanted to talk about.

Thankfully enough, there were bits and pieces to string together so all of her work over the past few hours were not in vain. She was able to compile some information on her laptop and tablet before the ancient code flashed on her screen. She rubbed her eyes, thinking she was seeing things - she chalked it up to staring at the screen for far too long - and took a step back to rest her eyes. She refreshed her coffee and came back to the screen but instead of seeing her work, she simply saw that ancient code scrolling across it. It hadn't been a trick of her eyes.

When she heard the call over the radio she rubbed her forehead. She left her coffee on the table and grabbed her things before she made her way to the designated meeting spot, just behind Robert Walker, one of her former expedition companions, and her best friend's husband. She placed her laptop down beside Troy's and walked over to the monitors as the men spoke. "It appears to be a very ancient dialect of Greek," she said after a few long minutes of staring at the screens, trying to make sense of what was flashing across the screen. "Can we isolate and freeze one screen--" she pointed to one that was next to a board she could write on. "I can work on translating it if it's stationary."

< Tag: Alec Styles , Cara Coyle , Robert "Jackal" Walker , Travis "Wizard" Oxford , Troy Loveridge + Will O'Malley >

[Cara Coyle]

1012
Control Room
Lost City of Akrotiri

She was starting to feel like, no matter the leaps and bounds Cara had been doing all night long to get the city run and running, it still wasn't good enough. “Sensors are only good if we can figure out why they didn't work,” the General commented. Cara slightly turned away from the General if only to hide her eye roll at the comment. Then there were the several comments about needed the ZPM. Yes, not having it suck, especially if it was in enemy hands, but if her little project of a sub-space generator worked their lives could be a bit better.

Cara turned away from the console to another where she had a pack of tech stuff. "Call me if the diagnostics come up with anything." she said to one of the control room techs, then back to the task force "I'm going to go cannibalized some non-essential systems and go fix some essential ones. Who knows maybe once things are up and running you may let me test my generator on the city shields or even the Stargate. May be nice to call home...tell everyone that all is well." Blame tiredness on her notes of sarcasm in her voice.

1345-48
Corridor outside Infirmary
Lost City of Akrotiri

Cara had a wall panel open outside the Infirmary, here was one of the main conduits in this part of the city. One of the Naquadah generators powered this section of the city only, in case of power failures in other parts the Infirmary would remain powered unless something happened. She had done this already to the main part of the city with the Control Room and Stargate, replaced damaged components.

“Command team to the briefing room,” Cara's hand slipped at the sudden appearance of a voice in her head and some sparks singed her fingers. "Bloody Hell!" she cursed under her breath shaking it off but then sticking the worst of it to her lips to sooth the irritation. What now? was all she could think, would could possibly be so important that her work need interrupting. It better not just be a status report meeting. Cara made her way to the briefing room.

Cara could hear Loveridge say something about a breach and disconnecting the mainframe servers. Finally Cara got to a point where she could see what the others were seeing. Alien script on the screens, other then Ancient of course. Cara could only stare at the screen, what they hell was going on...and how did the diagnostics programs miss....this!

"Control Room, how are my diagnostics?" Cara asked bewildered. "With the power fluctuations we've been experiencing we've had to restart several times." someone replied. "And you clearly didn't think to see fit to let me know that this was happening." Cara turned off her radio not caring about the response. "Idiots." she muttered.

"General, I suggest we shut off the power. Whatever this is, I think it's gotten past the point of spreading everywhere if it's making itself know."

<tag Troy Loveridge , Will O'Malley , Ayden "Ghost" Sheppard , Travis "Wizard" Oxford , Robert "Jackal" Walker >

[Troy Loveridge]

1348 hours
Briefing Room
Lost City of Akrotiri

”Alright, let’s get a screen grab for Director Sheppard,” Troy declared. The technicians around the room tried various methods of try to print-screen the scrolling text, but were unable to regain control of their terminals long enough. In the end an enterprising technician dug a digital camera out of their bag and took a photo of the screen before passing the device to Ayden. Reading on the small camera screen wouldn’t be easy, but it was the best they could do under the circumstances.

Cara suggested they power down the city. It was the last thing Troy wanted to hear, and a very risky move. If they lost control of the system they might not ever be able to turn the power back on, leaving them blind and defenceless if Hades decided to return. But he trusted her judgement.

“Do it,” he said to a nearby technician. “Power down the city.”

The technician activated their radio - thankfully those were still operating - and raised the core room. Under Cara’s supervision a number of naquadah generators from Earth had been installed to do the job of the stolen ZPM. On the bright side the devices were independent of the city-ship and could be easily disconnected. Within minutes the city plunged into darkness, lid only through the natural illumination of the base windows. Things would really get difficult once the sun went down in seven hours.

“Sir, part of the city is still powered,” stated a technician who was using a wireless tablet to connect to the system - apparently the virus hadn’t get focused its attention of the wi-fi network. “One of the labs in the western pier is lit up like a Christmas tree.”

Troy walked to the nearby window and looked out to the western pier. In the daylight it was impossible to tell which of the labs was the one in question. Still, his mind tried to fill in the blanks. Where was the lab drawing power from? Had the hack originated from that lab? Had Hades left someone behind?

“Lets get a team over to the lab and get some answers.”

< Tag Alec Styles , Ayden "Ghost" Sheppard , Cara Coyle , Robert "Jackal" Walker , Travis "Wizard" Oxford & Will O'Malley >

[Persephone]

Before the Attack of the Delta Expedition

In the factions of the former followers of the Olympians, there was a woman called Cora. She was a leader among her people in light of much civil unrest. While visiting the Lost Ancient City of Akrotiri, another faction came to her settlement and decimated them, leaving the Delta Expedition to offer her sanctuary. For a year Cora stayed among the people of Earth, acting as an ambassador to various people in the Galaxy.

For what is a year, compared to the thousands already lived.

Day of the Attack - 3 Weeks Ago

Cora was surrounded by Olympian soldiers. The people of Earth and others that stayed in the City of the Ancients were fleeing or hiding in the wake of the surprise attack on the city. The city shook, and alarms blared as she stood in the main power room of the city, the illuminated power source before her giving power to the city.

"Is Legion through to Earth?" she asked one of the soldiers. "Yes, M'Lady." Cora took the Ancient Power Source offline and out of it's nestled resting place. One of the soldiers opened a large chest that they placed on the floor, it's height reaching to her waist. She placed the power source in the interface that was created for the power supply and turned on the device. She smiled as a bright light hit her face and filled her with power she had been missing since the Ambrosia was destroyed. Cora shut the chest and locked it. "Take it....and bring it to Hades. I will remain like planned."

Yes, Persephone!"

1348 hours
Mess Hall
Lost City of Akrotiri

The power had been flickering ever since a Task Force arrived the day before and they turn on the power. Persephone was confident that when the power was returned to the city after the initial attack, that phase 2 of the program she introduced into the city's programming over a month ago would start. She had seen the signs on the computer systems around her.

Finally the power went off, as she sat in the Mess Hall, enjoying some food rations that were brought to resupply the city. Persephone smiled as she sipped some coffee, well....this would be interesting.

<tag Troy Loveridge, Ayden "Ghost" Sheppard, Cara Coyle, Robert "Jackal" Walker, Travis "Wizard" Oxford, Will O'Malley >

[Ayden "Ghost" Sheppard]

1350 hours
Briefing Room
Lost City of Akrotiri

While the screen grab Ayden would usually suggest didn't work due to whatever virus this was on their system, the digital camera tactic that one of the techs decided on did. It wasn't exactly the best way to go about with what she needed to do, but it seemed to be the only way they could work on it now. She sighed, holding the camera up so she could get a glimpse at the text and began to scan it over. The dialect was obscure, something she had not seen since her college days and she knew it would take some time to go over everything. 

Thankfully when the city was plunged into darkness at Troy's command the light from the windows was enough to still see what needed to be done. Ayden immediately set to work. She placed the camera down on the table near her tablet and grabbed a marker. She recreated the picture on the board, making sure to be careful as she looked between the two so she would not mess it up. One wrong word and the entire translation would be wrong. 

Once she had completed the transfer from the camera to the board, Ayden handed the camera back to the tech and took a step back as she scanned over her work. After a moment her brow rose and she stepped towards the board before reaching for a different colored marker and started to circle a few of the words that repeated. 

"General Loveridge, this is in Koine Greek -- it was a common dialect within the armies of Alexander the Great. It's the same dialect the New Testament was translated into."

< Tag: Alec Styles , Cara Coyle , Robert "Jackal" Walker , Travis "Wizard" Oxford , Troy Loveridge + Will O'Malley >

[James Calmara]

1350 hours
Briefing Room
Lost City of Akrotiri

Having been down on the lower levels of the central section of the city, it had taken a little time for James Calmara to report to the briefing room as requested. The elevator/transporters beginning to act up,  which left him opting for stairs at least twice, was probably a symptom of a developing problem, along with the flashes of red script and diagrams, he seemed to be catching sight of whenever a monitor was in eyeline.

Arriving at the obvious conclusion some other form of sabotage had been left behind, Calmara was now felt justified at having spent the best part of a day, going through the power conduits and checking the integrity of the surge brakes themselves as well as the status of the inbuilt coding that would activate them in case of an overload. It was a less likely method, but given the lengths that Hades had gone too so far and the reports of documented near fatal results of electrical discharges from Akrotiri's parent ship Atlantis it was worth the effort in his mind.

He made the control room level just as the lights most of the monitors and therefore the power went out. Only small pools of light showed up the laptops and tablets that went connected to the main system. Stepping into the briefing room just as yet another anomaly with the city was detected, with the limited data avalanche and now with limited power no real way of getting any remotely, it was no great supprise when General Loveridge called for a team to go and take a look. "Definitely a flair for the dramatic, there's no real doubting Hades is an Olimpian is there. Power off, Spotlight on, go hear. That said. I'd like to tag a long with said team, General." Calmara requested of his commander.

< Tag Troy Loveridge , Alec Styles , Ayden "Ghost" Sheppard , Cara Coyle , Robert "Jackal" Walker , Travis "Wizard" Oxford & Will O'Malley >

[Troy Loveridge]

1348 hours
Briefing Room
Lost City of Akrotiri

“Well that’s start,” Troy replied to Ayden. The use of Greek writing confirmed that the computer virus was somehow linked to Hades - the thought that crossed the general’s mind that they might have been the work of another enemy. Much better the enemy you know. “The quicker we can get this translated the quicker we can find out what they’re after, and how we can stop them.”

“We’d love to have you along Chief,” Troy replied to Calmara as he joined them in the briefing room. James had been the base First Sergeant when the expedition had transferred back to Earth, and it was only fitting to have him back at the Command Chief of the task force. “I have a feeling we’re going to need all hands on deck…”

1622 hours
Biology Lab
Lost City of Akrotiri

Getting to the biology lab, which unlike the rest of the city-ship was refusing to power down, had by no means been an easy task. With power cut the Ancient transporters were out of commission, removing the usual shortcut the crew used to move around the base. Even though it was only a quarter of the size of Atlantis, that still made the base a quarter of the size of Manhattan. Adding to the sheer walking distance was that every door which had been closed when the power was cut had to be forced or cut open. By the time they made it to lab in question the sun was beginning to set, and they’d be in darkness in just a few hours.

The Marine detachment accompanying them went in first and swept the room. Back in the day Troy and the folks around him would have been the first through the door with weapons drawn - it was funny how everything came full circle. A science and medical team was next, scanning the room for potential threats or clues. When the clear was given, Troy and Task Group Orange moved in.

It didn’t take them long to see what was powering the lab.

“I take it that’s the culprit?” Troy asked as the team gathered around a strange object that dominated the middle of the lab. It was green and orange in colour and looked like a miniature volcano, clearly organic in nature. Closer inspection revealed strange glyphs and demonic symbols carved into the surface of the alien growth. It hummed slightly, and seemed to pulse as it it was alive.

According to the base commander this lab hadn’t been used in years, so whatever this was it had been brought here on purpose, probably by Hades forces during the raid, though they couldn’t rule out an earlier placement.

“Any idea what it is?” the general asked, looking the object over. It was unlike any piece of Olympian technology he’d ever seen.

< Tag Alec Styles , Ayden "Ghost" Sheppard , Cara Coyle , Robert "Jackal" Walker , Travis "Wizard" Oxford & Will O'Malley >