We're Off To See The Altar

Posted on Fri Mar 15th, 2019 @ 2:41am by Major Jacob Asher & Captain Kevin Hawkins & Civillian Dr. Jessica Andrews & Civillian Ravi Azad PhD & Civillian Selyna Braeden

Mission: The Lost Boys and Girls
Location: P3X842
Timeline: Current

Jake led the way down the path, followed by Selyna, then Ravi, then Jess bringing up the rear since she was armed. The Tok'Ra was packing a Glock 19 9mm (standard issue for the teams) and an MSG90 rifle which was not standard. Jake protested at first, but she proved that she could fire it accurately and handle it capably. He assumed her Tok'Ra strength helped her deal with the weight and the recoil.

It took them about thirty minutes at a good clip to get to the Altar. It was a damned impressive site to behold. Almost Stonehenge-like, but the stones were smooth as marble and black as night. The device was housed on a pedestal of sorts in the center. I could probably be moved, but they would need the remote control cargo hauler to do it. Luckily, they'd brought that with them.

There were runes on the device, and runes on the stones. Each stone had different kinds of runes carved into them, and the carved runes appeared to be filled with a gold substance to make them easier to read. None of the work looked crude at all. It was clean, as if done with a...precision laser.

"Well, Doctors," Jake said. "Time to earn your keep."

Jessica looked at the Altar and flipped on her dictation recorder. "Expedition Entry. March 10, 2019, 1531 Hours. Planet; P3X842. Encountered an very similar stone by stone replica of the Stonehenge monument in Witshire England. Composition of the stones are unknown, I'm theorizing a type of unknown composite. The center obelisk itself is made of another unknown material, this is not something the Goa'uld would have built. The runes on the forward facing side of the monument are... Celtiberian... ... This gold inlay work could not have been the work of first AD Celts. The presence of such beautification is a sign that this site was of significant cultural or even spiritual significance, thus leading to a familiar question; who built this place." Jessica continued to study it. "I'm going to need coffee guys. Deciphering a dead language is not going to be easy."

Jake snorted. "Yeah," he said in tone dripping with sarcasm. "We'll hop right on that. Hawk, come with me. We're going to take a very quick walk around the immediate perimeter and see what we can see. I have a bad feeling about what we're going to find." Jake started walking towards the outside of the Stonehenge-like construction.

The captain quickly responded with a nod as he gripped his M416 rifle slightly tighter as he picked up his pace to catch up to the man. He was still getting used to the sites around them but it wasn't going to effect his focus on staying up with the man.

"Sierra Golf One, Sierra Golf Four, we've made contact, of a sort."

Jake paused when he heard Crow's voice come over the radio.

"Sierra Golf Four, Sierra Golf One Niner," Jake replied. "Copy that. You guys okay on your own for a bit?"

"Affirm on that for the moment, One," Jeremy said, "Situation appears doable at this time but there are some irregularities. Will update with further when known."

"Copy that," Jake replied. "Oh, I had the SERE guys through some tools and other stuff they thought might be useful into one of the crates, so you have that to offer, too. Will await further updates. Sierra Golf One Niner out." Jake turned to the others. "Well, looks like the our kids made contact with the local kids. Here's hoping they play nice together. Come on, Hawk. Let's have a look around."

"Sounds like a plan, sir," Kevin responded as he readjusted his sun glasses after adjusting his ear piece from his walkie talkie. "Not going to lie, kind of weird, just kids running around, and no adults. Wonder what happened."

"Well," Jake said. "Figuring that out is kind of why we're here."

The two officers walked a bit around the outer edge of the clearing...and then Jake saw it. On the outer edge of the clearing, on the side behind the altar. Skeletal remains...a lot of them, from the looks of it. Piles of bones. There were clearly pieces missing, probably from some animal dragging them off. The carrion eating fauna of this world had apparently done their jobs on the remains a very long time ago.

"No flesh left," Jake said. "And they don't stink. Most of them are practically dust, so I'm guessing these folks have been dead a long, long while. And if you notice, there's no remnants of clothing or footwear or equipment of any kind. They've been stripped, just like the ones by the gate. Crap. Those kids on the video, the oldest looked to be fourteen! They couldn't have done all of this. It happened too long ago. What the Hell is going on here? Let's finish our sweep and get back to the Geek Squad."

Jake took a moment to inform Jeremy of what they found, then he and Hawk continued to check the perimeter.

Clearing another corner, Hawk came upon another pile of bones. The only difference was that these looked more intact. He leaned down closer and inspected the bones, but with his minimal amount of medical background, all he could do was guess as to what had happened. He picked up one of the bones and looked closely. "You know, when I was growing up, my uncle had a bulldog. He would give that thing hides and bones all the time. Come to find out, that dog got sick from a different hide he was given, and died."

"Not sure I'm following you," Jake said.

"Well, I bring that story up... Cause I could be wrong, but do these bones look chewed one?" Hawk asked as he raised one of the bones.

"Yeah," Jake said. "Just like the ones by the gate."

Jessica took a break and began to set up camp. Including a camp stove with a metal coffee pot and put some coffee into it. "Major. I think the runes are a mythology. It tells the story of the 'font of youth and regeneration.' Gaelic celts were not a straight-forward people. I won't find a clear-cut explanation for this place immediately."

"Whatever, Doctor!" Jake shouted from where he was, which was too far away for talking normally.

Jess sighed and spoke up towards Jake. "If you get eaten by something out there, It will be no one's fault but your own, Major!" She sighed as he was out of range. "One of these days, Damned bullheaded military...." She went back to translating, barely noticing what was going on around her. "Now lets see. Gateway...."

After walking 'round and 'round the device, Ravi was none the wiser as to what it was or what it did. He suspected he might have a better idea if they could work out what the writing meant. "It is like when you speak Hindi and English and the only instruction manual is in German," he muttered.

Selyna had stared at the monoliths for several moments before moving up to one and looking closely at it. The surface looked completely smooth, and black as the void. She reached a hand toward it but stopped short, taking her hand back and putting on a pair of latex gloves. Best not to touch some alien device bare-handed; one never knew what might be on them. Lab protocols could save you in the field, she suspected. After that, she ran her gloved hand over the surface of the stone she was standing by.

"Interesting..." she muttered more to herself than to them. She then ran her hand over the runes, feeling the slight raise in them from the stone around them. They had been carved then filled, the gold-colored metal rising slightly above the black stone, creating a sort of embossed effect. She stepped back and looked at each one then moved to the central obelisk and looked at it and the object on top of it.

"I agree, Doctor Azad." she said after that. "I have no better idea of what they say than you do. However..." She frowned and looked at Jess. "Doctor Andrews, I can't be 100% sure, but it looks like the runes on the object are... some of them are..." She sighed, trying to figure out how to phrase it. "It makes me think that a few runes on each standing stone were duplicated, though not exactly, on the object. They seem to be variants on those on the standing stones. There are others I didn't see on any of the standing stones too." She looked at the other woman then at Ravi. "It has to mean something, right?" Like a recurring term in multiple equations for the same project.

"If this was important enough that they'd use gold inlay, then they'd want everyone in their world to know this place's significance. These are more variations of Celtic, Gaelic, and even Mycenae Greek." If this is indeed a type of rosetta stone, I can compare these languages to the Greek panel, or it could just be the Gaelics telling the Romans to piss off. That has happened before with several second century sites." Jess pointed out.

"Sierra Golf One Niner, Sierra Golf Five! You're going to want to hear this..."

"Sierra Golf Five, Sierra Golf One Niner," Jake said, motioning with his hand that Hawk should go over to cover the Doctors Three, as he walked away to hear what he was almost certain was going to be bad news.. "Go ahead with your traffic."

Jake listened to Shae's frantic explanation, his jaw clenching. He took a deep breath and when she closed her mike, Jake jumped in. "Standby. I'm going to need you to do all of that again, but slowly. Hang tight a moment."

Jake went back to Hawk and the Doctors Three and got their attention. "I'm afraid Shae's got some bad news for us. We may be on a clock. I'm going to call her back now, and she is going to explain what the kids told her about why they, and this thing, are here. Before you listen to her, listen to me. If the kids are telling the truth, then I'm going to need everyone to keep it together. So no matter what you hear, I want you to keep your focus on gathering the information you need to solve the problem. Understood? Good." Jake keyed his mike. "Ree, tell Shae to go ahead. We're ready. Have her go slow."

Copy that, One-Niner, Ree said.