Outdoor Docking Area

[SG-ina 1]

Yes, well, Gripley'd started a fire before, of course, but okay, small and big pieces. Cautiously, she found her way through the undergrowth of the forest, looking for some nice, dry wood. Hopefully there wouldn't be any bears around here.

At one point, feeling a little jumpy already, she dropped the wood she'd found so far and aimed her weapon in the direction from which she'd heard a peculiar sound. Gripley sank low to the ground, hoping whatever it was hadn't noticed her yet. Slowly and as quietly as possible, Gripley went over to investigate, putting on her goggles for night vision so she wouldn't need the red light, which might invoke whatever it was over there. She crept around a tree, walked through a crunching brush, cringing herself whenever she made loud noises and finally got close to the spot from where she'd heard the noise.

Peering from behind the cover of a tree Gripley had to give everything not to fall to the ground laughing. Right there behind her tree was the nest of some crazy bird. The young in it were twittering for food in the weirdest way Gripley had ever seen or heard. Well, she thought, these drills do teach about the peculiar fauna on this planet, that's for sure.

Smiling she tucked away her goggles and went back to where she'd dropped the wood, collected a bit more and returned to the camp.

"Ma'am, here's the wood. Big and small pieces," she added with a smile.

[DragonGate]

When Gripley returned with the firewood, Stevens was able to let out the nervous breath she'd been holding that the younger woman would run into trouble in Gaia's forests. "Very highspeed, Gripley. I was afraid I'd have to rally the team to rescue you."

Crescent threw in two cents as she loaded an intar magazine to her P-90 to stand the guard shift. "Let me translate Stevenese, she means you did good."

That got a glare and a swat loosely aimed at the blonde's head before Stevens took the wood and built a nest of the small kindling, lighting with two matches at different spots. As it spread across its nest, she added more wood until it was warm and bright enough to keep animals back.

"Since Crescent volunteered for the first guard shift, everybody else is authorized to go to bed. The rest of the night will be covered like so, Crescent will cover the first two hours, Gripley will cover the next two, I'll take the next to last two, and Hughes will cover the final shift, going until 0600, when he'll wake everyone and we'll continue with the day. I promise the shifts will cycle through the team over the next several nights and balance out, Dasani will pull first shift tomorrow night. But the size of our unit defaults that each person will have several shifts over the next week. Everyone tracking? If yes, go to bed, except for Crescent."

"And eat something before you go to your racks, it'll help keep you warm. Cold will wake you, when you're shivering violently enough to have a seizure. If your sleeping bag zipper is screwed up, ask for help, laying on top of it because you can't open the zipper is not the answer."

((Last paragraph is personal experience of me being a stupid private, basic training in November 2006. I never got a sleeping bag to work right until my first FTX at FT Gordon. Basic broke any idea I had that the South is warm in winter.))

[SG-ina 1]

"Very highspeed, Gripley. I was afraid I'd have to rally the team to rescue you."

Gripley wasn't sure how to respond to that, wondering whether to read it as a joke, sarcasm, or very seriously. "Well, I..." she began, but got interrupted by Captain Crescent

"Let me translate Stevenese, she means you did good."

Gripley smiled, "Thanks, ma'am. But at one point I thought the same thing as the Major, because I heard a very odd sound. At first I thought it would be some weird creature, trying to find a good evening meal, but it turned out to be a nest of birds. Who were, basically, calling out for a good evening meal."

She handed the wood over to the Major, who made it into a nice, big fire. And apparently the Captain would take first watch, well, that was good. Then Gripley herself could get some sleep in before it was her turn. She was very grateful for that fact.

She got some food from her pack, not too much though, you'd never know.

"Well, have a good watch, ma'am, I'll relieve you in two hours," Gripley said to Captain Crescent. She nodded to the Major, "Goodnight," and went to her tent. To be honest, she was pretty tired. It had been quite a day. Which really made her wonder what the morning would bring.

First, though, she'd have to stand guard in two hours. Best to get some sleep then. And as soon as her head touched her make-shift pillow she was gone.

[DragonGate]

Stevens ducked into her tent and squirmed into the sleeping bag, zipping it about 3/4 up. Gaia at nighttime wasn't horribly cold, but autumn could be felt. 'Wonder what winter's going to be like?'

She pulled a powerbar out of her pack, breaking into a couple of pieces to eat while bundled up. She curled up to sleep, pulling tight to help insulate.

************************************

As everyone else went to bed, Crescent folded her legs into Indian-style sitting and folded her arms around her body. She kept her hands off her slung P-90 and settled the weapon in her lap, touching the cold metal would only make her hands colder.

She thought about being a kid again, how desperately she'd sought her brother the entire time. Had she actually told the others anything about Davy? And the still unexplained phenomenon of her powers, she should re-connect with Captain Bystronski.

She retrieved wood once, stacking more than she'd need to help the next shifts and throwing a couple of pieces into the hungry flames.

[DragonGate]

((Double post, I know, but I'm trying to spur some response.))

It was a long two hours, made longer by Crescent looking at her watch a significant amount of time. 'A watched pot never boils, a watched clock never moves.' Finally the two hours ended, without her once falling victim to the sleepy monster.

She crawled into the tent Gripley had set up for herself, careful not to knock over the support poles, even though they were well-anchored by the airman. She started shaking the lump in the thermal sleeping bag. "Gripley, it's Crescent. It's midnight, zero hundred hours. There's plenty of wood, make sure you have gloves. I haven't seen anything moving in the dark, the fire should keep animals away, according to our biologist."

Captain Kari Crescent, USAF, Linguist and Historian

[SG-ina 1]

There was gunfire, she could hear it rattling not far away. Shocked, she looked up. What on earth was going on here? Hadn't it been decided that there would be a cease-fire until the 29th? Had she missed an announcement made by her CO? If that were the case, she was not only screwed by the rattling from outside, but also by the fact she'd hear about her not listening to announcements and possible orders.

BOOM!

A massive explosion nearby, that had to be it. She couldn't explain the sound any other, more soothing, way. She was totally confused now. It all happened in a matter of seconds. She sat up in her bunk, trying not to hit her head.

Suddenly, someone came bursting into the cramped, little room

Gripley, it's Crescent. It's midnight, zero hundred hours.

Crescent? Who?

"There's plenty of wood, make sure you have gloves. I haven't seen anything moving in the dark, the fire should keep animals away, according to our biologist."

With a shock Gripley awoke, disoriented for only a couple of seconds. "Right, right. Thanks, ma'am, I'll get to it." Entirely awake now, Gripley hurried into her boots, grabbed her gloves and craweled out of her tent, still a bit confused about her dream.

Looked at it from that point of view, she was glad she could take her watch, not having to bother with the consequences of that explosion.

((OOC: it might be a while before my next post, because I'm in the middle of moving together with my boyfriend and my birthday is the 18th, so I don't know whether I'll be able to post this weekend. Sorry about that. I'll do my best to sneak away from the guests for a few minutes though, see what I can do ))

[DragonGate]

((No problem, I'll be gone a few days. Work's been busy, I managed to get on tonight, but will be gone the weekend.))

Crescent was extremely grateful that Gripley didn't need nudged again to wake her. Even though she seemed to have been in a pretty vivid dream. The captain crawled to her own tent, pulling and arranging the head end of the sleeping bag to make a pillow. She conked out to sleep until whenever Stevens kicked them awake.

Captain Kari Crescent, USAF, Linguist and Historian

((Whenever you come back, just post waking Major Stevens. Unless your shift isn't going to be uneventful, up to you. Private waking major, if I was in Gripley's shoes, I'd do the next two hours. But don't please, I've got an epiphany in mind for nighttime thinking.))

[SG-ina 1]

The Captain had been right, of course. There was plenty of wood and nothing exciting to report either. Gripley was grateful for the easy watch so far, but couldn't help but feel a little disappointment as well.

With a sigh she stirred up the fire, adding a bit more wood, and sat down not far from it. One hour left. One hour of thinking about all and nothing. Great. One hour, of course, if she'd dare wake up the Major. She hated being the one prior to her CO to take watch, expected to be the one to wake Stevens. That really sucked. Of course, she could take the next two hours as well, which would solve the waking-problem, but it sort of made Gripley feel like a little girl, afraid to wake her 'big-bad-parent.' She didn't want that either. Gripley decided she would wake the Major in an hour and deal with whatever crap she'd get thrown to her. She was a soldier, after all, or better yet, an airman. O yeah.

That, however, would be in an hour. Gripley needed to entertain herself for the next hour first. She was wide awake, so she wasn't afraid to fall asleep anytime soon. That gave her plenty of time to contemplate her life so far...

...No, that would really make her fall asleep, no matter how awake she felt.

Sighing yet another sigh, Gripley stared off into the night. She couldn't exactly see it, but knew the Alarius should be over there somewhere. It made her wonder about aliens. Hm, we should really adjust that term here, she thought, that or the meaning of the word, because we are the aliens here. She couldn't help but smile. She was an alien. It gave the song "I fell in love with an alien" a whole different meaning.

Thinking about aliens, alien life, and all that came with it made the last hour go a little bit faster. Next time Gripley checked her watch it was five minutes past her watch time already. Getting up quickly, Gripley walked towards the tent belonging to her CO. For only a second she was in doubt. This was the right tent, right? Yes, it was. Resolutely she opened the zipper and peeked inside. "Major. Major Stevens, your turn, ma'am. There's enough fire wood for your watch left and nothing's happening so far."

Gripley awaited a reaction. When none came she started to doubt the wisdom of her decision to wake the Major, but couldn't really back down now. She grabbed what she figured would be the Major's legs and shook them as hard as she dared, "Major! Ma'am, your turn to take watch!"

((OOC: please have mercy on her ))

[DragonGate]

At about 0200, Stevens was having the same old nightmares, but the cast had changed . . .

Spoiler:

'The young blonde was close to death when Nemesis gave up and fully powered the ribbon device to throw Gripley down the gilded steps of the throne. "You are very stubborn, Tau'ri. But you'll break." The Goa'uld hadn't had much luck so far trying to get an IDC, the dead bodies of Dasani and Hughes lay a few feet from the tortured airman. Then Crescent came up from behind to grab at her leg. Nemesis swung her heavy ribbon device at the assailant's head, satisfied when metal met skull.'

Then her leg was grabbed, dream and reality had blended as she swatted with her right hand. Then she woke up, stopping herself from completing the hit. "Gripley?"

Confused for a minute, she struggled to reconcile before remembering where she was. "What time is it? And don't wake me like that again, I may or may not have PTSD, depends which psych-quack you ask."

She looked at her watch, then crawled out of her bag to grab her boots and jacket. Putting them on, Stevens added her gloves and wished she had her field jacket. "You can head for bed, I've got it."

Stevens kneeled to stir the fire, still shook up. She'd never put others in Gator, Ka'te, and Mickey's places in her nightmares. Okay so once Paul had taken Gator's place, but it had been more a dream than a nightmare, thrashing the cheating SOB. Under her breath, she muttered to herself, "Guess they're definitely my team, what a mental gesture of acceptance, Stevens."

[DragonGate]

Stevens stirred the fire and watched the tents where her team were sleeping. A complete roster turnover, an entire team that had never looked into a teammate's eyes and seen hatred, arrogance, and white-yellow glowing bright. She could only pray to God that the only time they would see that glow in a familar pair of eyes would be Dr. Almodeus or General Blue.

Her mind bounced around the past, and only a half hour had passed. Stevens got up to kill time with a roving guard, just inside the farthest stretch of the firelight. Outside the fire was a boogie dark that rivaled Afghanistan at night. 'At least the Taliban aren't out there in the dark with an RPG waiting for me to let down my guard.'

While Stevens circled, she noticed the dulled gleam of her wedding ring. The firelight didn't reflect very well, the metal was a little dirty and the little channel-set diamonds lacked any fire. How long had she worn this little circle of gold? Six months, she did the math twice, not believing it had been that long. But the numbers came out the same, even when she scratched the math in Gaian soil. Six months as Widow Stevens, she let herself think about that. The entire marriage was added to that six months, putting in perspective. The ring had stopped meaning anything the night 2LT Tiffany Parris had gotten into a spat with her married lover Major Paul Stevens and retaliated by calling then-Captain Jen Stevens, said lover's wife. There had nearly been a homicide in Austin Estates, the upper-class subdivision they lived in, of Colorado Springs when Major Stevens had come home. At any rate, the neighbors had been able to hear the fight.

She could feel herself getting angry all over again thinking about that phone call. But she let it go, what did it matter now? She was still alive, still wearing the damn ring. And why, anyway? Stevens stopped, standing on the front side of the line of tents. She looked at the dull gold of the ring. And she started twisting it, not in nervousness, but with the intent to remove it. She ended up having to douse her left hand from her water canteen to wiggle the ring off her finger. Held in her right hand, off her left hand, it didn't look like much.

Stevens sat down by the fire, just staring at the little circle of gold in her right palm. The stark-white pale line on her left ring finger showed where the ring had sat for years. She tossed the ring towards the tents, resting her head on her knees and doing something she'd needed to do for months, but hadn't had enough dead time to think about. Staying quiet to avoid waking people sleeping, she let herself cry for wasting six years in a sham marriage and the make-believe she'd been grieving for for months here on Gaia.

An hour had passed in her recollections, Stevens looked at her watch and saw there was a half-hour left before Lieutenant Hughes' shift. She'd wake him in twenty minutes. She got up and walked to the other side of the fire, using the firelight to find the tossed ring. She picked it back up and dropped in a hip pocket of her BDU's. Combined with her engagement ring, the metal and stones would be valuable, maybe she could sell the set to one of the new couples on Gaia. But it'd be cruel to sell two young lovers a jinxed ladies' wedding set.

With that the last ten minutes isolated for the marine to get around and on guard, Stevens flipped a tent flap and called into the tent, "Wake up, L-T. 0350, you have ten minutes to get ready for guard. Speaking of which, just for fun here, what is your Fifth General Order?"

((Looked up the different General Orders for Sentries among the services. Can't believe Navy and Marine Corps have so many, Army just has three.))

[Oranos]

Hughes popped an eye open. It took him a couple of seconds to collect his thoughts. "Right, of course, my shift." It took him another couple of seconds to realize that Major Stevens had indeed added a question. "What? Fun? At this hour?" He shook his head, feigning shock, as he crawled out of bag. "But, for your amusement: Quit my post only when properly relieved." He tossed on his boots in follow-up to the statement, ready to take his post.

[DragonGate]

Stevens nodded. "Got it in one. Just making sure you hadn't forgotten boot camp. There's enough wood to last the next two hours, nothing has happened all night. Bundle up with whatever you have with you, it's a little chilly. Gloves at a minimum. 0600 is wake up for everyone, that's when you'll be relieved."

Stevens stepped away from the tent to give Hughes room to get ready and come out. She briefly wiped her face down with canteen water, making darn sure the epiphany of the last two hours didn't show on her face to a junior teammember. Considering the general order she'd quizzed him on, she couldn't go back to bed until he was out and posted on the fireside.

[Oranos]

Hughes smiled to himself as Major Stevens stepped away from the tent. Was there ever any doubt that he would be wrong? As he took her information to heart and tossed on his gloves, he couldn't help but wonder if there was another reason for the question. Checking to see if he had forgotten boot camp seemed a bit fishy, maybe she was trying to distract herself from something, or had lost faith in his abilities.

He made his way out of the tent, commited to checking on the major. "Ma'am?" He questioned softly. Is something wrong, from earlier, I guess? He paused. Maybe I'm just the suspicious type, but I can't help but believe that there's something more. Quizzing me on the General Orders, I mean. You should know the routine, if we can't repeat them, all of them, without hesitation..." Hughes trailed off. "I have to know: Did you perhaps lose faith in me or my abilities?"

((Packing and posting ... Fun. ))

[DragonGate]

Stevens shook her head. "No, Lieutenant. We both know having questions about your general orders thrown at you is a routine part of pulling guard. There's no reason to read into it, Hughes."

She headed for her own tent, intending to get that last two hours that made the shift she'd given Hughes the worst one. As she crawled in, she had to get off a parting shot. "Besides, I still haven't got you back completely for dodging out of the line of fire in the hangar bay."

With the front flaps pulled closed, Stevens unfastened her jacket and placed it inside the bag, taking off her boots and placing them on the same side as the zipper. Settled back in, Stevens ran her fingers around the left ring finger. She'd shed her ring, where would she go from here?

[Oranos]

Hughes nodded. Either way it had gone, he had just needed to know. It was his nature to leap to the worst possible conclusion. In this instance, that was it. In some ways, it was a real wonder that he hadn't completely ticked off everyone between then and here with that attitude. He let out a small sigh of relief as he shook his head. No need to worry; no reason at all, and, for once, he let a final strike at him go unanswered. That was his last real thought on that particular topic before he began pacing, eyes searching for anything out of the ordinary.

((Gotta call this post short. Bed is calling, finish this up at a later date.))