Atlantis (City Interior and Exterior)

[SiphonTalvesh]

Posted by Me:

The soldier gave him a nod. It seemed he wasn't taking things for granted, he was stiff, and fully alert, but not in panic mode.

Soon enough Samantha and her small group were out of sight, and a few minutes later they found the two stationed soldiers at the anomaly. All seemed to be well, with one of the soldiers calling out as he spotted Ian.


"Nothing's come this way since I got here, still can't radio out, although we've been getting some really odd interference on one particular radio channel. Listen to this."


He activated his radio at a channel Ian couldn't see off hand, and almost immediately the sound that came out reminded him of something he'd once heard on an old mission with Siphon.

Magnetic storms had caused odd interference, and that had been audible with an almost warbling sound at regular intervals with all their communications equipment. When the storms had ended, so had the interference. Was it possible the anomaly was generating some kind of magnetic field strong enough to have the same effect?


Posted by Copper:

The sound causes Ian's brows to pinch, recollection of it being fuzzy at best, but still there. "Any chance we can get a recordin' a' this? Ah'd like ta get Siphon's input on the sound. Reminds me of somethin' we heard durin' a magnetic storm once. An' Ah know these things are heavy on the magnet waves. An' if we've got a way ta study this," he flicks fingers toward the anomaly, "Ah'd do it. Stahtin' with the magnetic field. This is one of the longest open we've dealt with, Ah think. Shouldn't waste the oppahtunity."

[SiphonTalvesh]

The soldier nodded, holding up a recording device.

"Thought it seemed odd, so I started recording it the moment I noticed it. Sound seems to be getting a bit less frequent too, wondering if that means something. Oh, earlier it seemed to be tugging on anything metallic, like it was trying to suck it inside. Now though ... it stopped doing that. Might mean it's weakening?"

[Copper]

"Possible. Dunno what the fluctuations mean but at least it's not tryin' ta eat us. If it's closin', we prob'ly want ta get as much data on it as we can. Might've needed somethin' from our posthumous friend ta keep it goin' or, like y'said, just hit it's limit. Let's see what we can figger out before time's up."

[SiphonTalvesh]

The solider nodded.

"I'll keep recording everything I can. Wish we had better equipment to work with though. Quite limited in what I can do with this thing and a hand held diagnostic tool."

[Copper]

"Left the microphone in mah othah trousahs," Ian jokes, quieting down so that he doesn't interrupt the recording any more than he has already.  "Just be careful, in case that thing decides ta spike again, a'ite?  It does, beat feet back ta command central and backup."  They were likely going to have to wait to do any analyzing but that still left them with another pressing concern:  Cassie.

[SiphonTalvesh]

The soldier started to reply when suddenly the anomaly began to flicker, seeming to get dimmer in color. Taking a step back, they watched as it began gradually getting dimmer and dimmer, to the point the soldier finally spoke up.

"I think, and I could be wrong, but I think it's about to collapse and close. Is it me, or has it gotten smaller too?"


It had indeed gotten smaller, reducing in size by almost 20 percent in the last minute or so.

[Copper]

"Seems like. Didn't catch the recahds on the last one they dealt with, so Ah dunno if this is pah for the course or not. Least if it closes, means nothin' more's gonna try and come through. At least, here's hopin'. Let's see what we can record offa this. Might be useful latah."

[SiphonTalvesh]

"Agreed. There it goes I think."

The anomaly, which had continued to shrink, suddenly surged outward, pulsating in size for a few moments before suddenly winking out of existence. Almost immediately, the radios came to life.

"Grant, calling any team or Ian out there. Do you read us? Repeat, this is Colonel Grant calling any team, or Ian out there. Over."

[Copper]

Ian notes the anomalies behavior, wanting to see if that compares to other records or if it happens to be unique to this particular portal. The radio chiming in pulls his attention from that.

"Iah heah. Situation's contained but we got wounded an' casualties. Not ta mention we need someone who's able ta poke around with a Klahnell device where we think some of the troops are bein' held, wraith-style. Everythin' bonner on your end, Co'nel?"

[SiphonTalvesh]

There was a short pause before the Colonel responded.

"More or less. When you get the chance you should get back up here. The doctors have some information regarding Cassie that I think you should see. We'll get someone here to work on that device, possibly a wraith."

[Copper]

"Mah fav'rite shiela around?" Ian asks with a chuckle, since he knows Talok's busy. Leaves the possibility of Narlina, though given how busy the queen tended to be, it was a longshot. "We'll be back shortly. Things seem ta have quieted down in our neck of the woods. Hopefully it'll stay that way."

Unless the soldiers have reason to stay, he'll head back with them, making certain the device is turned over to the proper parties before making his way toward the med bay. He'll linger outside of the doors, making certain it's all right to just wander in before he wanders in.

[SiphonTalvesh]

By the time Ian and the soldiers got back to the control room things seemed mostly back to normal. After making sure the device was in fact in the right hands, and making his way to the med bay, Ian found himself dealing with a blonde haired woman, who, by the name on her tags, was one of the doctors here. Christina Olsen it read, though it was hard to tell if she were a military doctor, or civilian. Regardless, once she noticed Ian, she waved him in.

"Ian right? Colonel said you'd be coming down. I think you'd better follow me to one of the screens. This is something you really have to see to be able to understand it."

[Copper]

Military or not didn't matter too much when it came to the doctors, at least as far as Ian was concerned, so long as they knew how to do their jobs. "Somethin' up with Cassie?" Given that it was on a screen, not in person, that brought a lot of possibilities to the fore. Best to see what the doc had to say.

[SiphonTalvesh]

She hesitated a moment, seemingly not sure how to respond. Finally she settled for, "to be honest, I'm not sure. Have a look at this."


On the screen where they had arrived appeared what was clearly a DNA helix. He might remember this from before, having seen it with Nirrti's labs in the past, with what had happened with Vanessa. He'd also been there when Cassie had first been scanned.

The DNA displayed was in a state of flux, as if it were mutating, or already had mutated and the body was getting used to the mutations. What was even more disturbing though was the fact it was remarkably similar to what they'd seen with Vanessa after Nirrti had gotten done with her, but more so ...

It was very much like that of another woman he'd once seen the results for when they'd first encountered her. THE DNA pattern was almost identical to that of Aya's.

[Copper]

The fact that someone had been screwing around with Cassie's DNA didn't set well to begin with. Add in that it looked like they were recreating Nirrti's genetic manipulation and red flags started going up. That they were trying to manipulate her to be another Aya was just the cherry on top.

"Guessin' there's no way'a tellin' how long this's been goin' on, is theah?" He sighed. "Where's Siphon right now? We have any ideah?" He'll wait on the answer for that, keeping an eye on the monitor. "Ya prob'ly wanna keep her undah heavy sedation. Last thing we need is that...whatevah it is finishin' up and her goin' Human Torch on us because she doesn't know how ta control Aya's abilities."

[SiphonTalvesh]

She hesitated a moment before responding.

"Well that's the thing. As far as I can tell, this isn't a random, recent mutation. It's an original part of her DNA structure. I think she has latent abilities that are only now awakening. In fact if anything, I'd say what little evidence I could find of tampering was to keep her powers from manifesting, not the other way around. Which means whoever had her before we found her knew what she was capable of, and tried to suppress her powers, and possibly her memories. Last I knew Siphon was en route back to Peltas from somewhere in this galaxy, but I've no idea exactly where he is now. But there is one other thing I've discovered that frankly ... it baffles me."


She activated another screen, which showed two DNA patterns on the screen. One was from Cassie, the other from Aya. There were minor differences in the DNA structure, but, even to his eye, there seemed to be far too many similarities to be a random occurrence. That suspicion would be confirmed a moment later.

"I've done some testing on samples from Cassie and what we know of Aya's DNA. Ian ... there's no easy way to say this. There's a very high likelyhood, about ninety nine percent, that Aya and Cassie are related somehow. Either as sisters, or possible parental heritage."

((She does not know it was Nirrti that had Cassie for some time YET.))

[Copper]

"We might want ta see if we can hail 'im."

He studies the strands, not quite having the medical pedigree to fully understand it, but he can match pictures like any intelligent person. He's also willing to take the doc on her word.

"How is that...? They're not... Eithah someone's been tinkerin' with Cassie's DNA huge or this...isn't Cassie. Made ta look like her, but act like Aya. Ah do not have enough coffee in me fer this," he mutters quietly. "Unless there's somethin' Aya failed ta mention, there shouldn't be similarities. S'why Ah think someone's been stirrin' the pot, so ta speak. And there's only one person Ah know that was that int'rested in Aya. Outside'a Siphon." The last bit is tacked on as an attempt at humor, though it's clear the situation has him baffled and more than a little concerned.

[SiphonTalvesh]

She hesitated another moment before putting forth another idea.

"I've seen something like this once before in training. Actually, Siphon could definitely confirm if it's the case if we can reach him. This is consistent with one who was formerly ascended like him, assuming it holds true for everyone and it isn't just him. I'd ... I'd like to think that's the reason, and that it doesn't have anything to do with Nirrti. I think you're right, we'd better get him here to look at these readings, or better yet, let me give you a copy of them to send to him. If this has anything to do with Nirrti, gods only knows if it's a trap."

[Copper]

"It kinda frightens me that you've had trainin' on things like this." He chuckles. Of course, the idea that Cassie somehow Ascended and came back is another kettle of worms but better to be sure about that before anything else. "Load 'em up, then. Ah'll see what Ah can do. Last Ah heard, he was galavantin' around in space but Ah'll see if Peltas can reach him for me. Kinda important this."

[SiphonTalvesh]

She nodded, compiling a data device for him. A few minutes later she handed it over to him.

"I'm going to attempt to keep her sedated for now, at least until we have a better idea of what we're dealing with. If this is some kind of trap ... or she wakes up with no way to control whatever abilities she may possess ... well, let's just say I'd rather someone who knows more about these things be here before she wakes up, if you catch my meaning?"

[Copper]

He'll take it, habitually looking it over before putting his attention back on her. "Prob'ly the best course of action. Ah'll do mah best ta get one of the two of 'em heah ta lend a hand." He looks like he might want to say something more but he's refraining. "Now let's see if Ah can catch a ride home, aye?" If she has nothing more to discuss with him, he'll head for the control room to see about dialing back to Petlas. The sooner they get someone on this, the better.

[SiphonTalvesh]

She nodded to him, returning to her work, seeming to try to learn as much as she could regarding whatever was happening to Cassie.


By the time he'd made it back to the control room, a number of wraith were working on the device they had found earlier. The Colonel was a few feet beyond them, currently with his back to Ian.

[Copper]

And Ian knows better than to sneak up on a trained soldier so he'll make sure his presence is heard as he approaches. "Any luck?" He nods in the direction of the device. "Guessin' not quite, given the only folk standin' around it aren't human."

[SiphonTalvesh]

The Colonel turned, shaking his head.

"Not yet, but they are making progress. It seems at least some of that tech is based off Wraith beaming technology, and some Asgard mixed in. It may be a matter of just figuring out what ties in to what and going from there. How about you, anything on your end?"

[Copper]

Ian nods. "Last thing we need is ta cut the wrong wire. Here's hopin' they can figure it out." As the colonel asks about things on his end, there's a faint chuckle. "Requestin' p'mission ta return ta Peltas. Ah gotta get word in ta Siphon. Doc needs him ta take a look at some things."

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