Mess Hall / Commissary

[Vagabond Serpent]

Lance showed up a few moments later and immediately approached Scorpio, addressing her and smiling.

'He's obviously in a good mood now.' - she thought, returning his smile and barely refraining from a laugh.

"What? No, I sat in this chair just a minute ago. When you left me with Marcus, we had a little chat and then I took him to the armory. But just as we got there, you called me back here again. So I told him to hang somewhere for a while, but stay in touch with us, and I returned to the mess. In fact I thought that this time it would be you waiting for me."

Lena ended her speech and noticed three determined men entering the room. One of them waved to Tallon while moving towards chow line. They all grabbed some food and two of them approached their table. The third one was still choosing his meal. The man with captain marks on his uniform sat down and spoke. Something about an upcoming mission, she understood. Suddenly, he quite rudely pointed at her and asked Lance if she was his XO. Elena didn't even blink, but inside she was boiling.

'Well, well. I'll keep silent for now. First of all, you weren't talking to me, and, secondly, you have captain bars. Otherwise you'd receive a lesson of respect immediately! Let's see what you've on your mind, my friend...'

As this captain was calling for some medic from the infirmary to join them, the last man reached their table and sat down. He seemed to be surprised to find a bigger company then initially, but he seemed to be happy with it, rather then upset. When he murmured to the captain something about considering himself a ghost and literally started devouring his meal, Lena looked at Lance, asking him with her eyes only:

'What's going on and what's next?'

[Oranos]

He stared at Oxford, trying to size the man up as the captain flippantly gestured at his XO. “Yeah. That’s her.” His eyes continued to narrow. ‘Basic medical thing my ***. You think I’m going to get them shot, don’t you?’

Lance lifted his hand and shielded his mouth, speaking just loud enough for the woman sitting next to him to hear. “Just ignore him,” he muttered, giving her his undivided attention. “I’d really hate to have to clean up after you got through with him.”

Elena’s eyes found his. She wanted to know what was going on. He pulled back, a little stunned. 'God, am I really that good at reading women? Or is it just her?'

“I told you we’d going on a mission, right?” He was pretty sure he’d mentioned that. Maybe not, though. “That’s what this is about.”

[Vagabond Serpent]

Scorpio listened to Lance and muttered in return, so the others wouldn't hear:

"Comrade Lieutenant, please keep in mind, that if I ever get through with somebody, there's nothing to clean up. And I remember perfectly well that we're going on a mission. You told me that before. But I thought we'd be going alone, only SG-7."

She returned her attention to the other men, waiting for their next move.

[1LTBarden]

Barden finished eating his entire plate of food in just about 4 minutes. It was a habit he picked up from being a spec ops soldier before coming to the alpha site. Everyone at the table seemed to look at him as he took a sip of water from the bottle. He looked up and kind of smirked before speaking.

"Sorry it's a habit thats hard to break. During selection we had to learn to eat very quickly otherwise we didnt get to eat. Whats this mission yall are supposed to be heading on?"

He looked around the table searching for an answer as he was always interested in hearing about off world activities.

[DragonGate]

<<from Outdoors>>
((Wind storm and power outage knocked out my Comcast service. I'm back, they finally fixed it.))

Greg had ended up behind Barden and Oxford as the two fledgling teams merged together at one table. He took a quiet seat, listening as SG-7's positions were established. Not that he was any more thrilled than Oxford seemed to be with their presumed inexperience. Then again, on the other hand, if the engineer had to guess, he doubted Travis had experience with leading a unit as small as this. Paper pushing a company or a platoon was a lot different than leading a small unit in the field.

But if everything went the way it was supposed to, nobody would have to learn how much experience anybody had. But he knew things never go the way they're supposed to. Repairing a Kosovar village's irrigation channels turned into a brutal firefight had proved that.

Speaking to Barden and letting Oxford get what he needed from SG-7, he'd introduce himself properly in a bit. "Snooping around, looking for some information. Hopefully no shooting, I've been in enough firefights to last me a lifetime. Well, two, but that's enough."

[1LTBarden]

He smirked abit at Greg's comment about being in a couple of firefights. He remembered the firefights he had gotten into when he was a platoon leader back on earth with his unit.

"I remember getting into more than a few firefights when I was a platoon leader before I came here. Sometimes I can still hear the bullets going overhead before I drift off to sleep at night. The only time I have stepped through the stargate was when I came here from the SGC. I was due to take a week leave back on earth before it was destroyed. I remember distinctly marking down the days in my calendar. Then came the news about earths destruction two days before my leave was going to start. I guess thats why I try to keep busy around here to take my mind off of it."

He thought to himself that this is the first real conversation he has had in awhile with someone on base and it felt good to talk about everything.

[DragonGate]

Greg tapped the table idly as Barden mentioned his own history. He'd been still at Shanstid when it had happened. "My experience with the gate is all of two trips. Earth to Shanstid, Shanstid to Gaia. I don't think we properly introduced ourselves out on the range. Doctor Greg Shelder, but Greg is fine. I've only ever forced undergrads to call me doctor."

[1LTBarden]

Chris smirked abit at the realisation he was beginning to make new friends for the first time in a while.

"First Lieutenant Chris Barden United states Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command assigned to 3rd Marine special operations battalion out of Camp Lejeune North Carolina. That was before I came here. Nice to meet you Greg. Where did you call home back on earth?"

[DragonGate]

"Can I claim the entire western United States? California, New Mexico, Colorado. Home-home would be Napa Valley, California."

As he was beginning to think about getting a plate, he had to muse. "A marine and a combat engineer, between us the most intellectually maligned people in the military. Though hopefully not as stupid as people think we are."

He bowed out to get food, hungry after doing a PT test and a range in the same day. Coming back pretty quickly, he re-joined Barden.

[1LTBarden]

Chris Laughed at the comment by Greg.

"You know I knew I was going to get along with you for a reason. Well I would say that you can claim the western united states as home. I was born and raised in New Britain,Connecticut then went on to the US Naval Academy in Anapolis, Marayland and headed straight to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina."

[Vagabond Serpent]

Lena felt herself uncomfortable, because it seemed that all people, except of her, had already knew each other for some time, or, at least, they had already met. When the talk at the table ceased for a moment, she used this advantage.

"I guess I can use this pause to properly introduce myself to those of you, who don't know me." - She spoke slowly. - "First Lieutenant Elena Ovcharenko, United States Air Forces, SG-7, Executive Officer. Former Captain of the Russian Federation Space Forces, Special Forces Division, StarGate Command Branch. I'm Lena for the friends and call me Scorpio, please, when enemy is nearby."

She looked at Barden.

"Chris, you may relax. You're not the only one here, who hears past. You hear bullets going overhead sometimes, and I hear explosions, screams of wounded, killed or tortured, armor engines running, sounds of executions performed by bandits, flybys of different aircraft when I fall asleep after an extremely stressed day... Six years of the war, when you have no single idea will you see next sunrise or not, will always echo in your mind."

Scorpio went silent and closed her eyes for a few seconds, getting herself together. She knew that she will never forget these years, no matter how hard she will try, and that she needed to focus on the future of the whole mankind, not relive her own past. Elena opened her eyes, returning back to the reality and the other men at the table.

[1LTBarden]

Chris looked at Elena and smiled abit before answering.

"Nice to meet you. Do you prefer Elena or Scorpio? I apologise I didnt mean to bring up the past. Its just been awhile since I have actually sat and talked with someone. It is refreshing to be in the company of all different people from different walks of life. I'm still getting used to haveing all the scientist around."

He smirked alittle before taking a drink from his water bottle and setting it down.

[Vagabond Serpent]

Ovcharenko returned smile to Chris.

"It's nice to meet you too. And I prefer Lena, Elena is my full name. There's no need to use it constantly. Scorpio is my combat nickname. One of the separatists' commanders called me Scorpio for some reason before I ended existance of this son of a desert jackal. And that nickname has sticked to me. While I was in the Academy, friends made a tattoo of a scorpion on my forearm. See?"

She turned her right hand to let the big black scorpion, depicted on it, be clearly visible to Barden.

"Anyway, I prefer to be called by my nickname only when someone who'd be better not to know my identity is nearby. And, yes, it's refreshing to make new friends after all that happened. I hadn't talked much to anyone for all these months that I spent here myself."

Elena's eyes travelled from Chris down to her arm and focused on it for a moment. Then she turned her hand palm down again and looked back at Barden.

'Eight months of loneness and boredom, then I met five new people in a one day. Maybe my life is getting better finally?'

[1LTBarden]

Chris smiled once again at Lena enjoying the conversation. He thought to himself.

I like a girl with some ink on her

"I like the sound of Lena it rolls of the tounge easily. Nice ink. I have a few myself."

He stood up and leaned his weapon against the table and removed his vest. He then took off his uniform jacket and showed Lena the tattoo on his right forearm.

"This one I got along with my classmates from Annapolis. We all decided to join the marines so naturally we all decided to get matching tattoos."

He pointed to the Marine Corps logo with the words Semper Fidelis written under it. He then rolled up the sleeve on his left arm to reveal the one on his left bicep.

"This one was actually paid for by my platoon when I had been their platoon leader for a few months. They thought it fit well with my leadership style."

He showed her the Bull Dog flexing his muscles wearing a Marine Corps uniform and campaign hat smoking a cigar. He put his uniform jacket back on as well as pulling his vest back over his shoulders and reclaiming his hold on his rifle.

"Lena what brought you the service of the Air Force and the stargate program?"

He thought to himself

I can see getting along with her really well.

[Vagabond Serpent]

Elena watched Chris displaying his tattoos with a light smile and she would give him a playful glance from time to time.

'Hmm... This guy is much more friendly than many others I see most of the time here. But this ink boasting... Heh, he just wants to make an impression on me. And he made it. I like him. He'll be a good friend.'

She waited for him to sat down, before answering to him.

"You like my name? It's very common russian female name. There's nothing unusual in it. And you have a nice dog on your shoulder. I like it. But I have no idea what Semper Fidelis means on your second one."

Scorpio's face turned serious.

"Well, I always wanted to fly like my grandad. He made me enter aviation school not long before his death. I was only fifteen then, so I couldn't even think about entering the Academy. This school actually trained special forces personell for the Union's Air Forces. The one and only aviation thing that we were taught there was piloting of the helicopters. But when I graduated from it with the rank of Sergeant, it was already the Russian Federation Air Forces, though. I tried to enter the AF Academy, but failed. Then there was first war, captivity, Hero's Star... I used my Hero's rank to pursue my dream and enter the Academy finally. I graduated from it after three years of studying instead of five with the excellent diploma and the rank of Lieutenant and was assigned to the 764th fighter regiment. Then second war has began. I was shipped back to Caucasus. I was piloting fighters and heavy attack helicopters during the active war phase. In 2000 I was promoted to the Senior Lieutenant, and given command of my own SF squad. In 2003, top command called me in Moscow, and told me about the StarGate program, and that very strong presence of the ATA gene was detected in my blood. They offered me to join the russian team there in SGC. That was even more than I dreamed of, so I blissfully agreed. I was immediately promoted to the Captain and reassigned into the Space Forces, Special Forces Division. After two years of training I was finally allowed to pass through the gate with my team. On our fifth mission, we were desperately overwhelmed by the enemy, and my team was killed almost instantly. Colonel Fedorov only had time to order me to leave through the gate. Earth wasn't responding, so I dialed here, on Gaia. It was here where I knew that Earth was gone while we were offworld. Blue and Sharp integrated me into the USAF soon after my arrival, giving me the rank of the First Lieutenant. After that eight months of loneness, boredom and doing next to nothing followed."

Lena felt her throat went dry after such a lengthy speech. But she had nothing to drink at the moment.

"Um, Chris, I very want to drink, but I'm stuck here in the corner, and I don't want to push people around while getting out of the table. Could you please bring me something? But don't even think about the coffee, though."