Idalia was once again watching hyperspace from the window in her quarters when the call came over the speakers telling Strike One to gear up. Ariadne was still unhappy at the conclusion of the long conversation with the IOA rep, but the prospect of seeing this planet with an ancient repository put a damper on the foul mood she’d gotten into. Idalia was happy at that, and excited to see the planet herself, and so it was with great haste that she once again donned her Tok’ra uniform. This time she also strapped the Zat’nik’tel to her forearm and placed her healing device in its place on her sash before rushing out to reach the ships armoury. Once she reached the armoury, Ariadne had taken over. She was a far better combatant than Idalia.

[I]Ariadne strode purposefully into the armoury. She was unsure what exactly the Tau’ri would have, but she at least wanted to have a Ma’tok Staff Weapon. Zat’nik’tels were powerful enough against humanoid targets, but a staff weapon was useful for many more things. The room had little indication of where they might keep staff weapons, but there was, thankfully, a Tau’ri man there who seemed to be in charge of distributing the gear. He was behind a partition, and the majority of the weapons seemed to also be with him, inaccessible to her. At seeing her confusion, he spoke up[/I]

“Ma’am, can I help you?”

[I]”Yes. I require a Staff Weapon. Where might I get one of those?”[/I]

“Here, I’ll need your ID card Ma’am to sign it out to you. It is just to make sure that every weapon is accounted for and we know who had it last if it were to go missing.” He signalled the tray before him for her to deposit her ID card.

[I]”Very well” She said, placing her ID card in the designated tray. It was becoming clear that the Tau’ri were almost as bogged down with proceedure as the Goa’uld were with religous matters. At least they worked together though. For the most part.[/I]

He took the card and then swiped it through the slot, a buzz was heard and he swiped it again. “Uh, sorry Ma’am but apparently you don’t have clearance to take out a Staff Weapon. It could be that your clearance has been entered into the system but hasn’t cleared yet or a clerical error. Though I can’t give you it until I get a green light from the system.”

[I]Ariadne seethed at the insolence. She did not like being powerless against all these regulations, but she’d promised the Captain. No incidents. This was the Tau’ri’s territory, and so she’d abide their rules. “Try it again. I am the only one on this ship even remotely skilled with a Staff Weapon. It would be foolish to deny me one.”[/I]’

“I have Ma’am, several times. I’ve even tried to manually type it in-” At this moment, Miller who had been just standing idly waiting stepped forward. “Is there a problem, Sir?” The Master at Arms was after all his superior. “Simply that our guest here can’t take out a weapon.””Would I be cleared for such a weapon?””As demolitions expert you would be.””Then could I possibly sign out my standard gear with the addition of a staff weapon.””You know that isn’t-””If I may sir, there may come the situation where her having this weapon could save our lives. She has hundreds of years experience, and if anything happens I’ll face court martial.” The master at arms swiped his card and then went to retrieve the gear, L85A2 with a Holoscope and M203 attachment, a Zatgun sidearm two frag grenades, two stun, enough C4 to blow a substantial hole in the side of the ship and some claymore mines. At the retrieval window he packed all of this into his backpack, strapped his zat onto his hip holster and clipped his L85 onto its strap. Then came the Staff weapon and he handed it to Ariadne. “I presume I can trust you not to go on a killing destructive rampage and get me fired and sent to jail?”

[I]Ariadne smiled at the man's generosity. It was good to feel the familiar shape and weight of a Staff weapon in her hands once more. “Not today.” She said in jest. “Thank you Corporal James Miller.” Pointing the weapon away from anything that looked important, she thumbed the activation switch, the familiar sound of the staff weapons head opening up and charging filled her ears. Then she pressed it again, to close it. “It seems to be in working order. Tell me. Have you any experience with that Zat’nik’tel?” she asked him as the two walked to the next room.[/I]

“A Zat? No actually. I’ve used Wraith Stunners but they wouldn’t let me keep one when I was re-assigned to the Tempest after Atlantis returned back to Pegasus. So, it is really the same principle. No real trigger compared to our weapons, shoot to stun. Though these have the additional shot to kill and apparently the third makes it disappear, I don’t know how much is true about that last one but I won’t really be testing that out on the ship.” He lead them into the ready room, putting down his gear he began stripping off the top layer of clothes down to his boxers and black under shirt. He continued to talk through this as he began putting on standard black away dress. “In all honesty, we could of used Zats in Pegasus anyway. We didn’t really have as many wraith stunners as could be needed, and even then most Wraith took several shots to put them down whereas if two shots kills a Human of a Zat it’d only stun a Wraith. However what can you do?” He shrugged at that before he zipped up his jacket, and put on his combat vest over the top. “We’ve got some extra sheets of armour plating if you want one?”

[I]Ariadne was unfazed by this mans state of undress, but she felt Idalia’s confusion. Thankfully, it was only minor, and she did not need to exert more control. She was impressed with Millers understanding of non-human weapons, and glad that the team wasn’t entirely new blood. at his question of what she could do, she puzzled for a moment. He obviously knew she was a skilled combatant from his earlier comments, yet he still apparently wanted to know more. “Well, I am skilled with a Ma’tok staff. I have learnt from a number of teachers how to wield it as an effective melee weapon. Zat’nik’tels are simple for me to use as well. Otherwise, I can operate any Goa’uld technology we may find, and I carry this-” She pulled the Tok’ra healing device from her sash, slipping it on as she did. “A Tok’ra healing device. The armour you offer stops a Staff blast does it not? I had heard of this technology. I’m sure it will fit in my uniform, please give me one.” A thought about the usefulness of the armour when they were still two individuals welled up in her mind from Idalia. She pushed it away, no point in telling Miller that.[/I]

He was slightly, confused at first by her telling him her skills then he realised. “Oh uh, my question was rhetorical. That means that I already know the answer… I wasn’t actually asking what you could do, I merely meant what could be done about us not having zats in Pegasus? The answer is make the best of a bad situation.” He took a piece of armour out of his locker and handed it to the woman. “It may only work on your back, They’re meant to fit in the vests and with your, feminine, figure you wouldn’t be able to have one to cover your front without a vest.”

An Alarm blared throughout the ship, calling ship personnel to their stations. While he was curious to what it was it was none of his concern, they had to finish gearing up.