Fanfic Helpdesk: Technical and Scientific Help for Writers

[SF_and_Coffee]

So, sort of an old mystery to be solved, kind of like a show I saw recently where archaeologists and forensic scientists were trying to determine how a particular mummy was killed, and who it might have been?

(MP - My OC's carry staff weapons and zats! And they're the good guys! )

[Skydiver]

my understanding about the trust....they don't follow the laws as much as operate under a 'if no one knows what you're doing, no one can take you to task for it'

discretion and sneaking and secrecy

if backwards engineering came to light it'd be someone at the SGC recognizing some invention, going 'dude, didn't we run into this on P3X584?' and then digging into it

the sgc would be the only people that'd know better

[WraithRichard]

So, sort of an old mystery to be solved, kind of like a show I saw recently where archaeologists and forensic scientists were trying to determine how a particular mummy was killed, and who it might have been?

Yeah, pretty much. That's all it is. I just want to get the angle right.

I need to get The Big Book of Death. It'd solve a lot of these questions right off the bat. I wish it were still in print.

[WraithRichard]

my understanding about the trust....they don't follow the laws as much as operate under a 'if no one knows what you're doing, no one can take you to task for it'

discretion and sneaking and secrecy

So as long as they don't leave crumbs or there's a legal loophole, they can get away with taking all the cookies they want?

[Keeper]

I'd say it's another wonderful way to take the status quo behind the shed and kill it, but I'm just planning something they find evidence of that's thousands of years old. SG teams aren't going to go 'how strange and horrible' at it.

About The Trust: do they try to keep within/hidden form any laws? Which ones?

definitely from the law. they have had access to a cloaked mothership in orbit (and at one point used it as a WMD platform against jaffacakes and goa'uld.)

remember, the tech they're getting their hands on has to come through the SGC. the SGC itself is portrayed as incorruptible - but Area 51, where everything goes if it's not for immediate study, is not. bribery, blackmail, kidnapping... they haven't directly entered A51 i think, but it isn't certain - they also had access to the mimic devices for a while, and tried to assassinate kinsey while pretending to be o'neill.

[Feast of the Muse]

As for killing - my OC's carry swords.

End of discussion.

Hmmm. Sarah can shoot anything with trigger, but she's a peacemaker. I surrender!

[Skydiver]

definitely from the law. they have had access to a cloaked mothership in orbit (and at one point used it as a WMD platform against jaffacakes and goa'uld.)

remember, the tech they're getting their hands on has to come through the SGC. the SGC itself is portrayed as incorruptible - but Area 51, where everything goes if it's not for immediate study, is not. bribery, blackmail, kidnapping... they haven't directly entered A51 i think, but it isn't certain - they also had access to the mimic devices for a while, and tried to assassinate kinsey while pretending to be o'neill.

the thing is, there were periods of time when the sgc wasn't the sole point of access for gate travel. Members of the NID snuck stuff back to the SGC for a while, as well as the Russians operating their own gate for time too.

so while a lot/most of the stuff did pass through the sgc, some didn't.

[Keeper]

the thing is, there were periods of time when the sgc wasn't the sole point of access for gate travel. Members of the NID snuck stuff back to the SGC for a while, as well as the Russians operating their own gate for time too.

so while a lot/most of the stuff did pass through the sgc, some didn't.

very true - though iirc, at the time of the russian gate, the NID were still seriously infected.

i'm counting the Trust as the period after the purge, though i could be getting totally confused and the russian gate may have been active after that period.

rogue NID still acted - sort of - in defence of earth.. while the trust were personal gains, tied together by their mutual goals of improving their own considerable power bases.

if any of that made sense

[Whytewytch]

My guy is in a shadow place. He is operating enough within the law that he has not been called to task, but he is def in it for personal gain--his main goal is to acquire as much wealth and power as he can while seeming to be a law abiding citizen. He hasn't revealed such to me yet, but I get the sneaking suspicion that he would sell his own gramma (or planet) if he gained from it.

[Skydiver]

any of hte above could work. In addition, any member of the NID - that escaped the roundup- could have brought back any piece of tech and used it as an insurance policy....as in 'i'm risking my life, why shouldn't i bring back a little bonus?'

imagine someone like Sam, completely and totally trusted, who happened to bring back some little thing that they engineer? or have a friend engineer.

totally plausible, especially pre-nid days, when all the security maybe wasn't there

[Whytewytch]

My character, D.S. FitzGerald, won't be arriving in person for quite a few chapters yet, but he has been introduced as a character in the chap I just sent my beta. He's described (paraphrasing) as

Spoiler:

a man whose family is heavily involved with defense contracting with the SG program, but there are rumors that those contracts were not always received on the up & up. This leaves enough wiggle room for him to eventually reveal himself as something more if the plot calls for it. I get the feeling he's not going to accept defeat quietly & may wind up popping up in other short fics. **rolls eyes at headstrong characters**

[WraithRichard]

Sure--maybe it'll spark my muse into knowing how she wants to use the info.

Just a follow-up on the DNA/gene therapy thing. If you're still interested, send me a not or message. I just finished the chapter.

[Whytewytch]

Emails sent between Pegasus and Milky Way--do they need to have the gate open to be sent/received? If so, does anyone remember if the check-in between galaxies was weekly or daily or what?

[thekillman]

there was a weekly check-in, i presume all letters were sent through digitally in a single data burst

[WraithRichard]

Can anyone explain the sign/signifier concept of communication to me?