Updated: 11/26/2013		CON-061

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OPERATION HEDGELY MOOR

September 29th - October 1st 2006

Issued: 09/29/2006@14:00A

Important Notice: In respect of our notification of 03/17/2006 it is our duty to report that due to delays to the repairs to the Gate Tower's systems, the alarm and defence components are still yet to be installed. However, a basic flight service is available for CON-61.

Gatewatch report the formation of a total of only 14 usable inbound and outbound wormholes during CON-61. All signals are exhibiting extremely high amplitude, which we inturpret as representing high risk flight conditions for our crews. This comparatively low number of Gates is in part but not entirely due to improvements in signal resolution. However we are of the opinion that traffic on the SG#51 system is continuing to decrease in line with our report for CON-60.

The 14 activations for CON-61 cover the period 09/29/2006 (22:45) - 10/01/2006 (13:08). Six of these activations have been designated as Pathfinder missions, Gates #5 & #6, plus #11through #14. We recommend great caution in regard to #3 & #4 to VXC213B last visited during CON-43.1. C213 was also accessible via SG#55 via a "C" Gate, position unknown.

As per CON-60, wherein US and Russian crews suffered a number of serious casualties due to extremely rough in-flight experiences, we believe that there is no reason to expect anything other than similar conditions during CON-61, due to the very strong amplitude of the Gate's signal spikes. As before great caution and firm flight discipline is essential to prevent injuries, damage or loss of personnel and or equipment during this operation.

Gatewatch 50, 52 and 54 are in the present operational cycle, all reporting similar levels of activity, with very few useful, yet incredibly strong well resolved signal spikes. These signals have also enabled us at this time to identify the actual flight operation dates through to the end of 2007. Consequentially the conference and EIC dates for 2008, have also been planned as flight operations will typically commence around May/June of /2008.

During CON-60 the agrigate total of ABC recovered from off-world equipment reach +79% above pre-CON-52 levels, which is an increase of +16% over CON-60. Therefore CON-61 will be subject to Extreme ABC Protection Protocols. Additional NBC suits and filters will be provided. Thus it will be necesary for all exteria gear to be removed for decontamination to ensure personnal safety - NO EXCEPTIONS! CON-61 will like CON-60 conclude with a mandatory "lock down" pending a full medical and equipment inspection/decontamination at each of our operational fasilities. We at GATEWATCH apologise for the inconvenience and thank you for your co-operation in maintaining bio-security.

Please also see the GATEWATCH Report "SG51 Gate Identification Chart", for more information on the data recovered from CON-60.

CON-61 Op.Hedgeley Moor

CON-61 Roster

CON-61 Mission Log

Intelligence Summary: No summary possible due to lack of data.

After Action Reports: No reports submitted for this mission.

Mission 2

Intelligence Summary: World formerly destroyed by Worm infestation. Covered in snow with raging snowstorms/storms and sub-zero temperatures. Atmosphere thin. No flora or fauna visable. From Gate site at least 9 different Gates seen forming an approximate circle some 3/400 mtrs in diameter, possibly more hidden under snow fall.

After Action Reports:

LTC DG Rhys

Mission Personnel: LTC Rhys (OC), 2LT Lewis (2IC), (?) Sackville-West, (?) Church.

Details:  Due to the low oxygen conditions prevailing on this world during the previous visit (CON 43.1, 26/7/2003) all personnel were issued with an independent oxygen supply as part of their equipment.  Gate transition was exceptionally turbulent, although all personnel eventually arrived unharmed.  Conditions on the planet are now EXTREMELY hostile, during Op. Hexham the planet was arid with severe dust storms and a low oxygen partial pressure.  The oxygen levels are still low, but climactic conditions have changed, exhibiting extremely low temperatures.  Taking wind chill into account ground temperature was approximately -40 degrees C with heavy snow and hail.  Lt. Lewis took the required samples while the rest of us built a windbreak.  Through breaks in the weather we could see at least 8 or 9 gates within an approximately 4-500 metre radius but, due to the severe weather conditions I decided against leaving the working gate until we can get back with a larger force.  Extraction was also very turbulent, so much so that my weapon was ripped out of my grasp and lost in transit.

Conclusions:  Generally uneventful, if a further expedition with a larger force is possible it should be carried out.  With a larger force it would be possible to sweep the additional gate sites and further investigate the drastic change in climate.

***NEXT REPORT***

2nd Lieutenant Bertrand Sackville-West.

VXC213B Gate 03

Gate travel was rough, and one member without a sling on his gun lost his personal weapon on return.

On arrival there was a total whiteout, with temperature estimated at -40C with windchill. The wind was very strong, and I was the best equipped in terms of clothing, with just gortex, a padded combat jacket and thermal vest.

We started an immediate program to cope with the extreme weather, with a snow hole/windbreak. The atmosphere was lacking oxygen, judging by the breathlessness I suffered when I removed my oxygen supply briefly.

The snow nearest the ground was grey in nature, looking as though it had a lot of dust in it.

The wind dropped, temperature rose to a balmy -20C and suddenly we could clearly see 9 sets of gate prongs, ours included, in a circle of c.300m -400m diameter. We had our backs to our gate, and given the intervals between the cluster of 6 gates opposite us, I would estimate a gate cluster of between 65-80. This would be smaller than the Antartica cluster. The
world had what appeared a weak winter sun, low on the horizon. There was white, powdery snow visible in all directions. There was a valley filled with snow, which I assume holds hidden gates.

Previous visit indicated an arid, dusty world that had been wormed, with no organic material present. Given the dust in the atmosphere I would posit that we are looking at the result of a nuclear winter. Climatologists would be delighted to see positive confirmation of their theories.

***NEXT REPORT***

LCPL Kira Lewis Intelligence Officer, RGHQ 51

Destination: VXC213B (G-1549). Outbound Gate: 06:53 - 06:59, Inbound Gate: 07:27 - 07:33.

Team: LTC Rhys, Church, 2LT Sackville-West, LCPL Lewis.

Parameters: Standard recon of world destroyed by Worm infestation.

After an extremely rough transit, the four of us exited through the Gate into the teeth of a howling snow driven gale. Last reports were of a world destroyed by Worms but this was no longer a desert planet. The vista was concealed behind a whiteout and the temperature was sub-zero. We immediately began to dig in as our Gate out wasn’t for another half an hour and we were not wearing arctic clothing. Just visible in the distance were a few dark shapes that looked like gates half buried in snow drifts.

After a while the wind began to abate and the world around us became more visible. The dark shapes were in fact gates and there appeared to be about 9 of them visible, in various states of burial, forming a rough circle approx 3/400 mtrs in diameter. The distribution of these gates suggests that there are probably more gates that were not visible in the cluster.  The countryside was gently rolling and covered in snow. Sackville-West tried the air and found it thin and almost un-breathable with no taste or smell. I took some snow, air and soil samples from around the gate site (see DSTL report). By this time there was weak sun shining through the clouds, the wind chill had dropped off and the air temperature was about  –20C. There was no flora or fauna visible and no sound other than the wind and distant thunder.

Mission 3

Intelligence Summary: No summary possible due to lack of data.

After Action Reports: No reports submitted for this mission.

Mission 4

Intelligence Summary: See CON-062 Mission 1 for latest summary.

After Action Reports: No reports submitted for this mission.

Mission 5

Intelligence Summary: No summary possible due to lack of data.

After Action Reports: No reports submitted for this mission.

Mission 6

Intelligence Summary: No summary possible due to lack of data.

After Action Reports: No reports submitted for this mission.

Mission 7

Intelligence Summary: No summary possible due to lack of data.

After Action Reports: No reports submitted for this mission.

Other related Material

2nd Lieutenant Bertrand Sackville-West.

An interesting conversation in the canteen.

After an extended period on perimeter defence I returned inside with hot food very central in my thoughts. I grabbed some of the calorie containing food of indeterminate origin, texture and flavour that our canteen does so well, and sat down at a nearby empty chair without much thought. After the excitement of the initial mouthful had worn off, I realised I was sat opposite a distinguished looking elderly man along with somebody whose badge would have said minder/bodyguard, if he'd bothered to wear something so informative. A few seconds later the penny dropped, and I realised I was in the presence professor Farquar. The food in the canteen appeared to thrill him to the same degree as me, and to distract our attention from the culinary massacre occurring in our mouths, we started chatting.

S-W: I started off by asking about how type Is operate the gates, and the concept their home.

F: Each planet has a unique 'signature' of nanites, and this becomes your 'home' when they infect you. Note it's the world the nanites come from, not where you're infect that is critical. If you touch your wrist, where the nanites are concentrated, along with the neck - and thus responsible for the glow under ultraviolet, to the gate, then in the absence of any concentration the gate will cycle, and do either of two things :-

  1.. Take you to your home world if you are on the correct spline.
  2.. Take you to a world where there is an interchange available that will take you nearer your homeworld.

The transfer gate may be some considerable distance away from where the previous gate delivers you, so it's still possible to get lost if you are conscious.

If you just request a gate, then effectively you take pot luck, and you are delivered to a random point on the spline. This is why the type Is have developed a standard operating procedure for each spline, such as walk several miles north from the gate, and there you will find a tree with a planet name inscribed on a tree. This is essential to orientating yourself in the event of trying to get to s specific destination, but requires somebody to take some considerable time to confirm the lcoation. Given the random nature of the gate destination, often the most efficient way to get anywhere quickly is to send out many small groups, and hopefully, one will get lucky after a couple of jumps. This also explains why you mostly only meet small groups of type Is, as they are using the shotgun approach to get a small number of people to a specific location quickly. In fact, I'm rather minded of the old joke of how do you make a small fortune on the stock market - start with a large fortune.

There is an interesting corollary, given the penchant type IIs have for following type Is through the gate network, is that they either can activate the gate to the last cycled location, or that the location only changes after a finite period, and that anybody requesting a random gate will get this location, until the next change locks in. I can't remember at this moment in time which of the two is correct.

S-W: Is there any difference in the gravity measuring device between the one you built, and the standard issue UNSGC one?

F: No, the UNSGC one is just a little more robust and better packaged, given that mine was cobbled together from whatever we could get hold of. Both seem to have reached about the minimum size with current technology, given most of the bulk is the actual sensor, rather than the recording apparatus.

S-W: How do you think the gravity waves work, and how they're unidirectional.

F: As far as we can tell, all the splines are anchored on a planet, or planets orbiting a black hole, singular. The worsening of the gravitational 'weather' is probably due to some of these orbiting solar system(s) either falling into the black hole, or getting noticeably closer. We do know there are a lot of splines, and sometimes one world can have multiple gates.

S-W: Have the type I archaelogists found any prehuman civilisations?

F: No, the fossil record on each planet is pretty identical until about 65m years ago. Apart from earth, no simians exist anywhere. The magafauna all dies out everywhere at much the same time etc. The gates are all rooted in rock that is definitely older than 650m years, but younger than several billion - there are only a few places on earth where rocks that old are exposed - Greenland (c3.9 billion year old), NW Australia, NW Canada etc.The gates on Antartica had moved a lot over the geological eras since they created/placed. Another major difference is that the KT boundary is absent offworls, which is not entirely unsurprising given that it required a massive impact event, and the chances of that being duplicated elsewhere would be remote. Some of the worlds even have their magnetic fields flipped when compared to earth.

S-W: Why are there no nanites on earth?

F: There don't seem to be the repositories of nanites, or indeed the same sort of aquifers that are found on other planets. It has nothing to do with earth gates being blocked off by geological/climatic conditions as that has been documented on other worlds as well.

S-W: How is iron 3 different from normal iron?

F: A very good question, and one that is still a long way from being solved. It appers to have the density of granite (about 3g/cm3), hence its colloquial name. It appears to have interesting properties in n space, although the mathematics to describe it are at a rather infantile stage at present, to put it politely. Given the limited number of suitably able minds with access to any sort of information on the phenomena, I don't expect anything to change really quickly. Of course, we may just acquire someone of the stature of one of the greats of physics, but given the riches available elsewhere, and the somewhat paranoid and unimaginative nature of the military mind, I'd be amazed. If you look at the nuclear bomb program, it was mostly derivative and predictable rate of progress after the trail was blazed by some of the geniuses in the Manhattan project. Of course, I'm not saying there wasn't the occasional world class scientists left in the program after the start, but given the secrecy surrounding it all, it's frnakly rather difficult to know.

S-W: Do you know the results of your extensive program of scanning (Cat, magnetic resonance etc) you were recently put through?

F: I'm happy to report that I appear to be relatively well, given my age. The only noticeable difference is the standard amount, 20 ml, of type I nanites located in my wrist, neck and brainstem. The nanites appear to be organic, but incorporate some inorganic material in the manner of bacteria when they create their protective coatings. Of course, the one big difference is that they have no known reproductive mechanism. The type Is are specialised into type A - K, or so, I forget the exact number. There is only 1 Type II M2 nanite, and in comparison it looks somewhat cruder, a bit larger, and has a very limited set of functions. On analysis, I found some of my motivations had subtly been changed after infection - certain actions feel right or wrong - its that imprecise a level of indirect communication, which I suppose reflects where the influence is being applied - ie the brain stem. I still, when I'm not at my full mental poweres, feel a little homesick for the planet where I was infected. We all ask the same question all the time - why do I feel like this, and it affects different people in different ways, loosely correlated to their attitudes and intellect prior to infection.

Anyway, I'm sorry, but I've got to go now - I've another interminable meeting with some second rank UNSGC fluncky on a subject I frankly have no interest in, and wonder why they waste my valuable time on such irrelevancies. Somethings never change, although the food was often better back offworld, if a bit rustic, but your coffee is better...

Sackville-West

***NEXT DOCUMENT***

Below is a documant retrieved along with a case of 5 weapons grade U235 slugs. Case originally opened on base to verify contents, then sent to Porton Down for security and study (see DSTL report).

CON-061 Intelligence Debrief

TBA

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