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Tweak says, "Are you humming Metallica?"

Derek Morgan (derek__morgan) wrote in omega_reality,
@ 2012-12-26 22:00:00

Entry tags:

*complete, 2012 12, character: derek morgan, character: derek reese, character: dominic vail, character: emily prentiss, character: g callen, character: john connor, character: marty deeks, character: robert callen, character: sam hanna, character: savannah monroe, character: sean hanna, dead: jenna hanna, dead: leon vance

RP: Another Dimension
Who: the four leads, others as needed
Where: near the safehouse
When: December 26, 2012
Summary: Callen and Sam show Derek and Emily the safehouse and end up somewhere much further away.

The weather on the island was nothing to rave about. More clouds, more rain, and while it wasn't cold, it also made water activities unlikely. People were still feeling the effects of Christmas. For that reason, they decided to make a trip to the safehouse.

Derek and Emily hadn't been there. They knew the location and what was stored there, but it was important that they learned about the traps and bombs just in case they had to lead people up there without Callen or Sam. At the base, they had left the teams with directions of what to do, training at the range and the obstacle course. The drive back and forth would take a few hours. Considering the boat trip and the time they needed there, they would be gone all day and they needed everyone at the base to know what to do (and also stayed occupied, because too much boredom was dangerous).

The drive there meant going through different terrain from Long Beach and LA to the snowy mountains and then back down to snow free land. Sam was driving and they were going extremely slow. It was one of those cosmic laws that said that the sun always came out when the snow was on the ground, blinding you as you drove. While Derek was sure that Sam could drive faster, they didn't have any reason to put themselves and others at risk.

At one point, the blinding light became stronger and an instant later, Sam broke so hard that Derek almost slammed into the front seat. He didn't have to ask why they had stopped. The road had disappeared, so had the snow and the mountains. They had been replaced by lush plant life so tall to filter the sun light. Sam shut off the car and the four of them looked around while staying inside the safety of the car. "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," Derek muttered under his breath.

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Zeta Dimension

sam_hanna
2012-12-26 04:38 am UTC (link)

"Shit!" Sam wasn't one to curse. Profanities and curses didn't make your point. If anything, they tended to subtract from your message, but right now, he couldn't think of anything else that summarized the situation better. At least he thought so until he saw an animal run at a distance. He wasn't a nerd and couldn't name every dinosaur in existence (or extinction until a minute ago), but he still knew a dinosaur when he saw one.

"Wrong movie," he answered Morgan with a little awe in his voice, because this was such a different California, a very different evolution had happened here. Okay, so he might be slightly a nerd on occasion. "This is more like Jurassic Park."

He was also a SEAL, which meant he was mentally calculating what they had in the car, how long it would last them and how to best deal with the situation. "If we can climb a tree without being eaten, we should find a place to drive to, make a base, possibly some kind of cave. We can use the car as a door." Thank God that they were prepared for a whole day trip, which meant extra clothes, rifles, ammo, water, food. It would allow them to explore without being desperate. "You two might want to try and reach that astral plane thing and see if you find other people." Just because in their dimension dinosaurs and humans didn't coexist, it didn't mean they couldn't here. It was still worth a try.

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Re: Zeta Dimension

g_callen
2012-12-26 02:14 pm UTC (link)

"We've all seen that movie, right? We know the cute little lizards are vicious carnivors?"

G briefly wondered if he really was as broken and closed off as Sam had intimated a couple days ago. But, there was no real awe at all in him at what was happening. It was a complication, a new challenge to survival. But, try as he might, he couldn't feel anything.

Instead, he was listening to Sam and planning in his head. The fact he remembered things from sixth grade field trips to La Brea and the Natural History museum was slightly bizzare, he was sure. But, G's head was a weird place anyway. "I'll climb. You stay with them. If they're both astral, they need someone watching their back."

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Re: Zeta Dimension

sam_hanna
2012-12-26 04:36 pm UTC (link)

"But one of those lizards will feed us for a long time, and we're a lot smarter than they are," Sam answered.

Derek snorted. "I suddenly like Kansas more," he answered, looking at Emily, before nodding at Callen. "We'll do what we can. You try don't get eaten out there."

"He's not," Sam said, "because he's going to go very fast, aren't you? I'll watch your back, too, but let's keep the shooting to a minimum if we can. Lots of this cute vicious animals respond to sound and we don't want to see just how many of them there are." He looked at G. "Ready when you are."

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Re: Zeta Dimension

g_callen
2012-12-26 07:48 pm UTC (link)

G snorted. "I meant the actual little ones."

"They aren't the only things," Emily interjected, eyeing the plants around them.

"And you people think I'm the pessimist?" G rolled his eyes while he made sure he had his pistol and a rifle over one shoulder. He wasn't any more enthusiastic about using them as Sam sounded. G actually had seen these movies and a few older ones in a similar vein. He had little wish to follow in the footsteps of hapless park rangers cornered by chittering reptilian roadrunners with Wiley Coyote's appetite. "Ready. Turn the car on, but don't start her. Putting the window down and going out that way will be quieter than shutting that door."

He wasn't pointing out that he might go very, very fast. But, Primordial Jungle was too unfamiliar a terrain for him to want to break his neck getting to, up, down, and back from who the hell knew what kind of trees those were.

Or what lived in them.

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Re: Zeta Dimension

sam_hanna
2012-12-26 07:56 pm UTC (link)

"We're all a chuck-full of sunshine," Derek answered, smiling. Even here, no matter how different their situation, they were all falling back on their roles, but he had no doubt that they were all ready to do what needed to be done.

"Except the rays got killed by those murderous plants Prentiss likes," Sam said, turning on the car and slowly lowering the window. He could almost hear the intake of breath all four took, watching out for some unknown animal. His gun was out already. "Prentiss, pass me my rifle on and one of yours."

"For the little ones, right?" Derek asked.

"Sure or the big ones, or anything in between," Sam answered with a smirk, and then nodded at G. "I've got you."

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Re: Zeta Dimension

g_callen
2012-12-26 11:07 pm UTC (link)

While Prentiss handed up the rifles, G shifted sideways in his seat so he could pull himself up and out. Nodding in answer to Sam, he did this part slowly so he could scan the ground as he went to make sure when he stepped out it wasn't onto something obviously...unpleasant. Or unpleasant and angry considering for all they knew the van could have stopped on something's tale. Even if nothing moved, there was no guarantee the plant life wouldn't poison him, or there weren't funky mesozoic mites or something.

But, by the time he was sitting in the window, arms on top of the van, legs inside, he'd determined nothing was moving. He still took a moment to look around some more, try to determine what was the plant least likely to be his death if he tried to climb it, least likely to be harboring something that would want to eat him, either. When he spotted one that looked sturdy enough, he watched a minute longer to make sure there weren't any visible dangers -- he couldn't account for the unseen accurately here -- between him and it. Then, he slid the rest of the way out of the window and dropped soundlessly to the ground.

Winking at Sam, he took off. Not quite his top speed, but fast enough he hopefully wouldn't be noticed by anything wanting an afternoon snack until he was already long gone and shimmying up that tree.

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Omega Dimension

leon_vance
2012-12-26 04:43 am UTC (link)

Since the discussion with John, Leon had tried to focus on the dimensional differences as they occurred. Unfortunately, he also had to focus on the number and location of people and that took precedent.

This morning, all the rules that he'd previously known about dimension traveling changed in a few seconds. The rift opened and closed almost instantaneously, but it felt tremendously different than the past. He also didn't feel anyone come through, but he could feel four people leave, people he knew full well. It wasn't a hunch, but something more, something he couldn't explain, just like he couldn't explain how he knew when people arrived. Still, he might be wrong. He got his cell phone and made the first call. One by one, he called all four leads and when they didn't answer, he knew he was right.

Time to start dealing with this new crisis.

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Leon, Deeks, Reese

leon_vance
2012-12-26 05:09 am UTC (link)

They had gone through many changes in the past two years, but no move and no death had ever impacted them the way this loss would. His people didn't even know it, but everything was about to change overnight.

There were family members that needed to be notified, but first there was business to run.

The first calls were to Deeks and Reese and summoned them to his office. "Gentlemen, I'm sorry to have to tell you that we've just lost our four eds. They are not dead, but they have crossed into another dimension as far as I can tell. I have every intention of getting them back," he said, "however, we must run this team until we do find them. Mr. Deeks, you're officially are in charge of the field units. I'm not splitting command this time. Mr. Reese will be your second and in charge of security and physical training. We'll work on making the teams as soon as I speak with the tech team and see how many people we'll be able to spare. Mr. Deeks, get in touch with Mr. Marks. I want him back. The twins can find independence without someone to protect them or they can come home as they wish. Any questions?" He hadn't specified, but he was looking at Deeks, to see if he would be able to step into some very large shoes.

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Re: Leon, Deeks, Reese

deeks_marty
2012-12-26 02:12 pm UTC (link)

Marty stared at the Director as soon as the first words came out of his mouth. Really, no good news came when the DIrector called him into the office. Ever. And, yet, Marty couldn't help the first thing that came to his mind...and mouth, since he still didn't have much of a filter on that. "Is this for real this time?"

He couldn't believe Vance wanted to put him in charge. Sure, G and Sam had left him in charge and tapped him to take over when everyone was gone. But, well, that was G and G was insane. Marty loved him like a brother. But, the man was nuts sometimes when it came to work. Took risks and chances all the time, pushing others because he never thought he wouldn't be there to pic them up when they failed.

Marty hadn't ever really thought it would ever really come to this.

"I'll get in touch with Marks as soon as I leave here. What about whomever crossed over? Shouldn't we be putting together a team to go get them?" He hesitated a moment, wondering if what he had to say next would go over well. But, he supposed it was up to him to think of things like this without G around and Marty wasn't G. "I want to be the one to tell the rest of the family. No offense, sir. But, we've done the 'off on an op and now they're gone routine' once. It didn't go so well the first time and that was crying wolf. A second time, even a real one, isn't going to go over well."

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Re: Leon, Deeks, Reese

leon_vance
2012-12-26 04:24 pm UTC (link)

Leon wished it were just another mission, but even he wouldn't send those four out at the same time. "It's for real, Mr. Deeks. We've just lost all four of them and it's time for everyone to step up. Do you feel ready, Mr. Deeks? Because if there's a problem, I need to know now."

He hadn't expected the request but then he should have known better, because he had been trained by Callen. "I was planning on telling them, but all right, you can speak with the four of them in private. Need to know stays in place, Mr. Deeks. Now as for counterparts, there aren't any. This is a drastic change from what we've seen before. The rift is mutating and the dimension they landed on felt... primitive, raw. Whatever they are isn't people's friendly and we're going to find them. This is why I want Mr. Reese to back you hope. You've fought in hostile situations. I want people to fight anything and fight dirty if they have to. This isn't about soldiers anymore. There is something else that you should know. We are completely off the grid. The President has deleted all our traces when we left. Attacks from the outside are unlikely unless something changes. I don't want anyone else to know, because I don't need anyone to get complacent."

"Sir, you're saying that this rift is sucking people from here and sending them who knows what at random moments?" Derek asked.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Leon answer.

Derek looked at Deeks and then back at Vance. "We'll need to move people around again. You have people in that hotel who can't protect themselves and who wouldn't think of walking around with weapons and supplies."

Leon nodded. "You two discuss it and I'll back up what needs to be done. Safety and training are our first priority."

"You will need to be moved, too, Sir," Derek answered, having dealt with one stubborn leader before. "You can't be alone."

"We'll come to that when it's time. Now, is there anything else?"

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Re: Leon, Deeks, Reese

deeks_marty
2012-12-26 07:15 pm UTC (link)

"Anyone who answers yes to that question is either lying or stupid." Marty snorted. People did things because they needed to be done, not because they felt ready to take on those tasks. At least not most of the time. "But, no, sir. No problems." G had trusted him to be able to deal when he wasn't there. Marty wasn't betraying that trust now that it was real.

The temptation was there to check on his own for the truth of what Vance was saying and maybe G would have done it. But, Marty was at least going to start out this one on faith. He might have to start changing his practices with the new situation, but not just yet. One (or twelve) culture shock at a time. He still raised an eyebrow listening to Vance go on, however. No one ever questioned how they knew where arrivals were and Marty was pretty sure they all assumed they had some tech gadgetry doing it. But, he started to wonder when Vance said the new dimension felt different. He cast Reese a look of his own, though he said nothing.

"Not for the moment. Reese, we should talk. But, after I tell the family and get in touch with Marks. My house in an hour?" He'd talk to Reese, make sure they were on the same page and working in the same direction. Then they could see what they needed to do from there with the team and Vance and everything.

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Deeks, Savannah, Robert, Jenna, Sean

deeks_marty
2012-12-26 06:46 pm UTC (link)

Marty asked Reese to meet him after he talked to the family. They were going to have to hit the ground running, which meant the two of them working together a lot. But, Reese couldn't share this particular duty with him.

After he sent a message to Marks, he sent another short one to Savannah, Robert, Sean, and Jenna:

Meet me at our house in ten minutes.

As he waited for them to arrive and, then, when he was faced with all four of them, Marty had a whole new appreciation for what G had done. If Marty couldn't do right be these four, who had been with him and G and Sam the longest, he wasn't going to be able to make this work at all. And that wasn't even scratching the surface of the fact he was delivering about the worst news possible to the people he cared most about.

"There's no good way to put this," he told them, eyes seeking out Savannah after he looked at each of them in turn. "So, I'm just going to say it. G and Sam, Derek and Emily, have disappeared. We know they were alive when they disappeared. But, as of right now, we don't know where they actually are. Finding them just became our primary mission. In the interim, Vance has put me in as Lead. Reese will be acting as Head of Security and Second-in-Command."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he shook his head. Marty hadn't had time to process any of this himself. He wasn't going to get that time, either. "It's not a fake this time. I know he lied before, but I believe Vance on this one. I'm not even going to pretend I can fill G's shoes, or Derek's. But, you guys needed to hear this from me and not the Director."

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Re: Deeks, Savannah, Robert, Jenna, Sean

j_hanna
2012-12-26 07:17 pm UTC (link)

They were all getting used to the news of people dying by now, and already when Marty said that there was no good way of putting this she wondered who had died and how. Still, there was nothing that could have prepared her for the news that came. All of them at once? It was surreal.

In part she felt a rush of relief that they weren't dead, or hadn't been when they went missing, but she was also terrified of what missing meant.

Without thinking, she reached out, finding her brother's healthy hand with one of hers, finding Savannah's with her other. "Can you tell us if they were picked up by the government?" she asked. To them, she had no question that they'd view that as worse than being dead. She didn't ask if they knew, that would be useless because this was bound to be on a need to know basis. She wondered why their spouces weren't here. She wanted Dom here, she was sure Sean wanted Troy. She wasn't as sure about Robert, but for his sake she hoped that it was the case.

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Re: Deeks, Savannah, Robert, Jenna, Sean

savannah_monroe
2012-12-26 07:40 pm UTC (link)

Savannah didn't need to read minds to know that something was happening. Marty wouldn't send out messages to these four people unless something had happened to G or Sam. As it happened, it was to both of them.

Jenna's hand was jolting. She hadn't expected it and felt strange, and Savannah looked at her for a moment, before staring at Marty again. "You and Derek are in charge." She was processing what he was saying without saying. There wouldn't be such a drastic change in leadership if they expected a short term rescue. There'd be words like interim and ad hoc. Vance liked those words to make sure people understood things were temporary. "We're looking at long term plans, aren't we?"

She let go of Jenna's hand and went to hug Robert. It was more a natural act than a way to help. Hugs wouldn't help G. She let go and turned to Marty again. "What do you need us to do?" She needed to get G back and as soon as possible. After the strained few days, she needed to get him back and make things right with him. "Anything at all, Marty, but we're getting them back."

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Re: Deeks, Savannah, Robert, Jenna, Sean

deeks_marty
2012-12-27 03:53 am UTC (link)

"If he could have told us, he would have, Jen." Sean spoke up finally, pulling his hand away from his sister's with a small squeeze. He crossed his arms and stared at Marty. "They were still together, though, right?"

Marty nodded. "As far as we know, all four of them were together. G and your dad would move heaven and earth to have each others' backs, Sean. They're together."

Taking a deep breath, he looked at Savannah and nodded. "Long term, yeah. It's not going to be easy. There will be changes. It's going to get harder, a lot harder." The kind of harder they needed G and Sam for, but if they had them, they wouldn't need them for this. "But, that's the plan, getting them back. The Director's making this his top priority. We'll find them."

God, Marty hoped they found them. Leading was not something Marty had ever wanted. He definitely didn't want it this way.

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Re: Deeks, Savannah, Robert, Jenna, Sean

savannah_monroe
2012-12-27 04:09 am UTC (link)

Savannah left Robert's side and walked up to her husband. She didn't hug him, didn't touch his, just stared at him "It's going to be fine, Marty. It doesn't matter how hard this gets, it will be all right, because you're in charge, and I know you, I know what you can do, and I know that you will find them. And, I'll be here to do this with you every step of the way."

She smiled at him, despite the situation, because she trusted him unconditionally. She had done that from the start and that trust had only grown through the years. "You tell us what you need us to do and it gets done, because together, all of us, we will find them no matter where they are, no matter what they odds, because I'm not going to let anyone or anything divide this family. I told G that God must have a plan for us. We all found a family here, and He won't take it away from us We just need to help him a little."

She finally took his hands and squeezed them. "We'll find them."

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Vance, Dom and John

leon_vance
2012-12-26 08:32 pm UTC (link)

Leon texted both Dom and John as soon as Deeks left. He had asked Deeks to send Robert here as soon as he was done, because they would need him in this discussion.

"Mr. Vail, John, please sit," he started. "I'm sorry to have to tell you that we lost all four leads today. They crossed over into a new dimension. We need to find them and fast, much faster than we had anticipated. Now, I know that you were preparing this video game to run your calculations, but what if we can get you a supercomputer. Would that cut down in time?"

Dom looked at John and then at Vance. "Yes, it would, but when we had discussed it with Hetty, we realized that it wasn't practical. We can't just go out and buy one and the power needed-"

"The power isn't an issue with our own generation," Leon pointed out. "And you're right. We can't buy one, but we can steal one. John, find me schools that have supercomputers in California. I need floor plants. I plan to send Colonel Callen. He can teleport with the supercomputer directly here." It wasn't what he liked to do, but they didn't have time to waste. They'd just have to make a donation to whatever school lost its computer.

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Re: Vance, Dom and John

johnbaum
2012-12-26 11:12 pm UTC (link)

John met Dom's look before looking back to Vance. A supercomputer would be the greatest gift they could get and he already knew where on the island to put it. But...

"CalTech, UCSD, and USC each have one. Berkeley has three. At least, those are the ones on the top 500 list that's released two or three times a year. November's list just came out. There may be some smaller models that will suit as well at other schools I can have a list for you tonight. Floor plans, schematics, and security will take a couple days for all those sites, minimum."

And if he focused on work and practicalities, he wouldn't have to think about missing people. Again.

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Re: Vance, Dom and John

leon_vance
2012-12-27 12:29 am UTC (link)

"I'd like one as close as possible. It's big enough that it will tax Robert. In fact, if there are ways to make smaller, units that can be disconnected and brought in pieces, I'd like to know that as well. This might turn out to be into a two people mission." Anything that they could do to make it smaller and more accessible for Robert would be better.

"John, you're in charge of this. Find me the perfect place and the best way to transport it and we'll train Callen for that. Dom, you start working on the algorithms. This will be your top priority. You can resume training when the computer starts testing your numbers. I trust both of you to concentrate on this for now. It's what we can do to help our people. Now, if you'll excuse us, I have something to discuss with John."

"Of course, Director. I'll get Sheldon and start working on this." Dom nodded in John's direction and left.

Leon waited for the door to close before turning to John. "You were right. I can sense the difference in dimensions, but ours and the Hammonds feel very similar. This is something completely different. It felt dangerous, primeval almost; I doubt people will be the problem. It's why we have Derek as second. This might end up being about survival as much as your world. It also means that once we can build this machine, it has to be capable of being small enough for us to take and with a power supply that can be generated in places with no human life form. See if you can do and if you need help from Eric or Ms. Donovan, you let me know."

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Re: Vance, Dom and John

johnbaum
2012-12-27 07:50 pm UTC (link)

"On that list, closest is USC. I'll see if I can find one closer." They could probably disassemble the racks, but he'd need to see the specs for the individual system they wanted to take before he could say for certain. It would depend on how much Robert could take with him, too. If they had to go rack by rack, it would take forever.

And they'd have to take into consideration who was using it at the time. They could set off a lot of alarm bells the moment it went offline.

Nodding at Dom as he left, John turned his attention to Vance, pleased with what he heard, even if he didn't show it. "The machine we have the plans for is not portable. But, I think I can design a version that would be. It'll require some highly advanced hardware. I'll start working on that. Claudia might be able to help with the power source, depending on how much she understands about how some of the things from her world work. There are some ideas in those weapons she brought with her that might help.

"Question. When you say 'primeval', sir, do you mean that literally?" John was considering all the possibilities and problems that word could represent. Basic survival might be comparative to his world, but the mechanics and challenges would be drastically different. Things that saved them in his world could potentially kill them in a world that was the exact opposite ecologically.

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Re: Vance, Dom and John

leon_vance
2012-12-27 09:00 pm UTC (link)

"Work with Robert on the computer. He'll be able to tell you what you need to know in terms of distance and time that he needs to recuperate, as well as the number of trips he can make." He sighed. He was throwing plenty at these young people, but he had faith that they would step up. "I know what I'm asking isn't easy, but my people are out there and I don't leave anyone behind."

Leon nodded. "You know we will get you whatever you need. One way or another. I think we'll be making a lot more trips out." He'd have to speak with Deeks and Reese and start doing weapon runs again.

He cleared his throat. "I'm ... not sure. I only get seconds to judge these things, and up until now, everything was so similar, but yes, I meant that literally. I couldn't feel any other presence, any of the things I feel with civilization. Maybe I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong for their sake, but I don't think so, which is why we're stepping up research and why Reese will be 2IC. He can give Deeks the support, experience and knowledge that Deeks doesn't have. However, if you do have ideas, you know that my door is always open."

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