trans_9 | Mission 02 - Stacy Says Follow the Yules

There is a resounding mental alarum that sounds through the ship. Nearly "deafening." Lights flash from places for extra emphasis, making it impossible to ignore.

||Attention, Attention. All personnel please report to the Observation Deck. Attention, Attention. All personnel please report to the Observation Deck. Attention, Attention, all personnel...||

It's entirely likely that she won't stop repeating the announcement until, well, everyone reports to Obs Deck. Outside the windows, a very Earth-like planet is visible, hanging in space. The mouth in the huge statue opens, revealing a screen. On it, the dossier for the mission flickers into display, understandable to every person there. Smaller copies of the dossier appear in holographic form in front of everyone.

The planet's stats, right next to a rotating holographic picture of it, marbled blue and green, are as follows:

Planet Designation: Earth-78734XM45
Status: Terrestrial, H-class.
Non-sentient life: Extensive flora and fauna.
Semi-Sentient Life: Yes.
Sentient Life: Homo Sapiens. [Various translations of "human" appear here so everyone understands it]
Water: 69.5% of the planet's surface.

Climate: Earth-like, in the throes of a mild nuclear winter [Click here for cultural equivalents for non-Earth cultures.]
Landscape: Varied.
Air: Normoxic concentration. Slightly elevated levels of carbon dioxide.

Air Pressure: 101.3 kPa (kilopascals) = 14.7 psi (pounds per square inch)
Sky: Blue. Often overcast.
Sun: A class G2V, yellow star.

Warnings: Wildlife and plant-life can be hazardous. Humans can be hazardous. A human cultural and legal database is available. [click here]

Mission: Revive the spiritual entity at the North Pole.

--

Following that, there are various maps and things visible. The version of Earth this world is may be very recognizable to some, but vast cities dot its surface.

||Attention, podmates. Attention.||

Apparently Stacy wants their attention.

||It is critical that you pay attention at this time.||

A few people will be able to avoid the call by being in the right place at the right time, but most will be gathered up on Obs Deck.

[ooc: Organization Post | You can post into the gathering thread. I'll add more subthreads with explanations of aspects of the mission as we go. Note: If you don't have time to post to this mission briefing but still want to have your character in the plot, that's fine. You can just pretend they were there the whole time. If you DON'T want your characters to be in this plot altogether, however, don't have them in the briefing--Stacy could have missed snagging them.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Reverend Mother had one final trick up her sleeve. She concentrated on her throat, shaping the muscles, the unconscious clicks and frequencies she would have to use. "Come here."

The Voice of Command. As soon as Katara obeyed, she would be within range for her to pin those dangerous hands together and stuff as much snow as possible down that comfortable looking coat.

Katara was prepared for anything, but a Voice of Command was not something she'd been expecting. She could feel the pull, and she tried to resist, but she could only for maybe a few seconds. She imagined that if she were not to get away from this, it would be over.

And well, resisting is not going to happen. Fighting with water, Katara at least had a chance: but on something this powerful and unexpected, Katara had none. She edged closer to her teacher, sighing and sweating as she tried to break free.

Oh well. Make it quick.

"Don't judge yourself by that. Most Acolytes don't get past the first blow, much less to the point where I have to use Voice." Sheeana said as she carpet bombed the inside of Katara's coat with fine powder. Of course normally they tested Acolytes in a training room, but using a new environment fit well in with Bene Gesserit philosophy...and the Amtal Rule.

"Aagh!" Katara shrieked. Not again! This time at least the humiliation of being dominated was softened by knowing she was getting the stuff: not completely, even she knew that would take some time. But she WAS happy to know that her training with Master Pakku had paid off, as had all the nights she spent reading her waterbending scrolls and all that training in the Sensoriums.

The watert pooled in her chest area and Katara gave a protesting groan. She HATED it when she got wet in areas semsitive to the cold, especially when she was wearing underclothes too. That just made it worse!

Still, Katara wasn't about to show that. She simply bowed her head.

"That was a good battle, Sheeana. I hope I can improve my skill soon."

Tess has been perfectly at home in the snow; her greater weight with the suit makes her sink in a little more, but the thin material of the suit apparently has no problem keeping her suitably insulated. The only sign she's even affected by the cold is that the normally-transparent membrane on her face has turned cloudy and half-opaque, making it seem as though her face is made out of frosted glass.

Watching Katara and Sheeana, she lets out a little giggling laugh.

Katara looked up, seeing Tess laughing at her, and she playfully shook her fist.

"Not that funny!" She called out, sticking out her tongue.

Sheeana peered down, pausing...She sent as much body heat to her foot as she could and it slowly, with great effort came out of the ice.

"Let us see if we can trap her." Sheeana said, recognizing Tess's laugh.

Katara looked down at Sheeana's foot in amazement. "How did you...never mind. You are a Reverend Moother, maybe I'll find out someday."

Katara raised her eyebrows, than gave a grin. "Lead the way then, Sister."

"Pincer movement." She said simply, remembering Duncan and Miles poring over their battle maps. She pulled her hair wrap off, stuffing a snowball inside. "I'm guessing her default escape mode is backwards. Catch her feet with ice the moment she teleports in that direction."

She veered towards her right, sliding down the hill and in front of Tess. A snowball twirled in the improvised sling.

"I see," Katara said, making a mental note to look up certain techniques she wasn't otherwise familiar with. As for how they would catch Tess, Katara gave her a quick nod. "On it."

In a flurry of movement Katara was gone, sliding out of sight but actually moving with the snow. She breathed in, and exhaled: a foggy mist now started to block Tess's visibility, which Sheeana was already in sight of. The Waterbender, however, was now nowhere to be seen.

The snow and ice and rising mist distort Tess' low-power-mode active scanners too much to keep track with that, but Sheeana's amplified body heat makes her stand out brightly on the infrared component of the passive systems, and Katara is hidden only somewhat more by the extra heat put into that cloud. She ducks and scoops a chunk of snow with one hand, tossing it towards Katara. She has a strong arm, and the aim is nearly perfect—one doesn't thrive in a shipsuit for long without a very good internal sense of ballistics and trajectories.

Well, Katara's plan wound up having no effect, but that was okay. Throwing the snowball wasn't exactly the best idea, anymore than her steam was. Katara caught the snowball and threw it back, but Tess would find that the snowball had actually, in the few seconds in Katara's hand, that the small little snowball had increased in mass and weight, and headed back at her.

It was an excellent throw though.

Mission 02 - Stacy Says Follow the Yules

Re: SNOWBALL FIGHT! Jump on in y'all

Re: SNOWBALL FIGHT! Jump on in y'all

Re: SNOWBALL FIGHT! Jump on in y'all

Re: SNOWBALL FIGHT! Jump on in y'all

Re: SNOWBALL FIGHT! Jump on in y'all

Re: SNOWBALL FIGHT! Jump on in y'all

Re: SNOWBALL FIGHT! Jump on in y'all

Re: SNOWBALL FIGHT! Jump on in y'all

Re: SNOWBALL FIGHT! Jump on in y'all

Re: SNOWBALL FIGHT! Jump on in y'all

Re: SNOWBALL FIGHT! Jump on in y'all

Re: SNOWBALL FIGHT! Jump on in y'all