STARGATE ATLANTIS: Casualties of War by Casualties of War (SGA-7)

Author:Casualties of War (SGA-7) [Retail]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fandemonium Books
Published: 2020-06-30T19:03:41+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Nothing ever failed quietly on Atlantis. Radek Zelenka had come to this conclusion quite early in the expedition. Inevitably, experiments went one of three ways: brilliant success, marginal success, or catastrophe.

Rodney’s head poked out from behind the lab bench, and he peered with suspicion at the still-sparking components of what might have been a small-scale Ancient weapon utilizing extreme heat. Alternatively, it might have been a curling iron. For all they knew, it might have been a waffle iron. “Right,” he said brusquely. “Anybody missing any limbs? No? Moving on, then, to a rapid explanation of what the hell just happened.”

Radek fixed a murderous glare on Kendall. At almost the same moment, Miko murmured something behind her hand that sounded like ‘miscalculation.’

“Hold on!” Kendall protested. “You’re already pinning this on me? What about — ”

“Save it.” Rodney cut him off with a dismissive wave. “Exactly how bad are we talking here?”

“Do you measure ‘bad’ in wasted effort or broken equipment?” Radek grumbled.

“Never mind. As much as I appreciate being asked to witness this delightful fiasco, I’m going back to some productive research. Call me when you fix your theories and/or your test rig.”

Atlantis’s chief of science stalked out of the lab, leaving the others to survey the damage. Radek sighed and opened a tool drawer. The heat emanating from the unidentified gadget had warped the test stand’s casing, and he’d need to clamp the entire apparatus in order to work it back into place.

The directed energy team had been eager to begin studies of the adarite sample, developing numerous potential experiments in the span of a single day. When adarite investigation as a whole had proved unwise, the scientists had quickly turned to other pursuits. Each of them had experienced research setbacks in the past. They were professionals, and they would not spend time licking their wounds.

Kendall had proposed a battery of tests on a cylindrical object they’d once located in one of the city’s storage areas. Not understanding its purpose, they’d initially put it aside, but Kendall believed that it might operate on a similar principle to the adarite whips. It appeared that he’d been approximately half correct. Immense heat, yes; easily directed, no.

While the dejected engineer downloaded the data from the failed test, Miko drifted back to her own workstation. Her spare time had been devoted to scouring the Ancient database. There were extensive records on the battle for P7L-418, containing multiple subcategories beyond the main files that had previously been translated, and Miko had expressed to Radek a belief that some further information about the research conducted on that planet must be contained within.

No one seemed willing to believe that such an efficient power source could be completely unavailable to them. Too much was at stake. If not adarite specifically, then some aspect of the Ancients’ weapons technology ought to provide them at least a head start.

“Message from Linguistics,” Miko announced, raising her voice just enough to carry across the lab. It was entirely possible that the Japanese scientist did not in fact know how to shout.

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