The Rules are Simple...

Posted on Thu May 1st, 2025 @ 10:06pm by Warrant Officer Koh Ottasu & Warrant Officer Callisi Veera & Commander Ichiko Gail & Captain Abigail Laurens & Lieutenant JG Shaille Levine

Mission: Let The Games Begin
Location: Holodeck 2

(A placeholder for the official tag. Neela teaching Abigail how to play)

The scene in the holodeck was relatively simple: A circular arena split into two halves, differing colors on each side. vibrant colors, easy to notice. Green, and Red. Neela and some of her team were waiting in the Holodeck along with some equipment they borrowed from the officials setting up in the shuttlebay: Some padding, a goalpost, and an official kinetic orb. Neela was checking out the equipment when one of her team came up, "Hey, Captain. You think this is a good idea?" he inquired, and Neela stopped what she was doing, "What, checking the equipment? Seems like standard..." but he shook his head, "No I mean, sharing. We're giving them our best, our biggest. What are we getting out of it?" and she thought for a moment, "We're getting friends? We're getting new fans? Hell maybe someone to cheer against Wataba." and that brought a snicker. "Look, these folks are good. Gotta hook'em before the other teams do, right?" and there was a chuckle from her team. Neela pondered while she finished up the equipment check.

"Does it ever bother you?"

Too late now for that. She suited up, donning a chest pad, and some elbow and knee pads before putting on the helmet. Sure, it forced her ears to move funny, but she'd rather look like a streamlined bean than take a mark two to the ear.

"So when was she supposed to be..." her team inquired, but was cut off by the holodeck doors opening.

As the doors parted, Abigail took a look at the scene that greeted her. She took a deep breath, a smile gracing her lips as she moved forward into the holodeck and looked around, her steady gaze meeting with Neela, at least, she thought it was Neela. In their uniforms with their safety gear it was a little hard to tell. "I asked a few crew members to join us, they should be here momentarily, I hope that's ok?" she asked politely.

Neela gave a nod to indicate it was her under all that. "Of course. It's your ship." she offered with a smirk. "Welcome to the average Kinetic field. Now, before we get started, tora is going to give you a chestpad. Just put it on over your uniform and pull the straps on the sides to fit." Neela instructed, turning to show off the straps as she mentioned them while one of her team brought a piece of protective gear over for Abigail.

"The padding is full of a fluid that stiffens when it takes a hit, so it's not going to get in the way until it needs to." she explained. "Can you imagine the look on the Kinetic Foundation's chairman's face explaining THAT?!" and her crew gave a laugh along, commenting along the lines of how he's never done paperwork before, or something to that extent. After that was handled, Neela scooped up a Kinetic Orb and brought it over for Abigail's inspection.

It felt.... odd. Like how holding a stretched rubber band would feel if there was no fear of it snapping back. There was a tension in its movements, like anytime it moved it just wanted to keep moving. Getting it to sit still was almost a hassle. "I think you're the first outside the Empire to ever hold one. Doing good for your first time." she teased, that smile everpresent. Neela was enjoying this, then took three steps away. "Go ahead, pass it over. Straight over, don't toss it up."

Dressed in the protective gear and holding the kinetic orb in her hand tentatively, Abigail examined it. It was... different. Unlike anything she had ever seen before. She glanced from the orb back to Neela, then back to the orb again, tightening her grip just a little. She held it in her hand, turning it before pulling it up to her chest and passing it back to Neela with a gentle throw, trying to make sure it was directed straight back and not upward as instructed. "Like that?" she queried as the orb left her hands.

Neela's wild smile kept as Abigail gave a flawless textbook pass, though rather than catch it as it approached her she stepped aside. Grinning at it, she followed. "That's a perfect shove, textbook. Well, for those of us that read." she jeered, and her team snickered. Neela walked alongside the orb as it slowly continued, ignorant of such factors as drag, gravity, or even something as miniscule as entropy. Would it stop? Eventually, but not today from the look of it. The only law of physics this thing seemed intent on obeying was, as the catchphrase put it, the first law.

"C'mon over here, no ref to call you out for catching your own pass." she invited. "So, this is the first rule of Kinetic. Movement. This orb here, is always moving, and it only slows down for one reason: You score. The goal is to pop the enemy cap and the way to do that is to store momentum. So yeah, a few dozen slow passes and shots can get you a win, but three or four full tilt shots can do it too." the red-dyed Daughter of Ts'usu moved to catch the orb, "Now, I hate to stop a good roll, but..." and it took a lot out of her to stop that orb. In the end, she was almost dragged a full foot by the orb before it stopped. Without momentum, it was harmless. Well, mostly harmless.

"The orb auto levels out at about four feet up, so if you kick it or throw it or it bounces weird the orb will want to be about here." she motioned with her hand somewhere about four feet off the floor. Chest height for some, but she was short so it was threatening shoulders and chins there. "So, you know the absolute, absolute basic of the field. Wanna see a quick run? A quick pass pass shot, show you how things look at real speed? You'll be off the field for it, of course. You're my favorite Daughter of Terra right now, I'd hate to break a rib." It was hard to tell if someone with that wild of a spirit was kidding...

Abigail grinned, glad of the prospect of the spotlight shining elsewhere. "I'd love to," she replied. At almost the same time, the doors hissed open again, granting entrance to more children of T'su and one blonde human. "Just in time," she said cheerfully as she headed to the sidelines. "We're getting our own personal show."

"Personal show? Whaaaaaaaaa..." Koh started, but then his brain left the room before he found his manners returned to him, quickly shut his mouth. He almost forgot he was in a professional setting. Callisi managed herself a bit better than Koh, but slightly turned away from a direct eye-to-eye glance. Ichiko managed to handle the situation best out of the three, and offered a deep nod, "Captain Neela, it's an honor."

Neela gave a chuckle at the reactions, idly moving the kinetic orb gently from hand to hand. "Captain, your friends certainly are interesting. Introductions are in order I suppose." she grinned wide, "But I promised you a skirmish, so introductions after." she returned to the team. "Now, Kinetic arenas aren't flat. Ever. There's always debris, always architecture, always SOMETHING there to make the match interesting. Usually it's one of four pre-generated fields that the home field is known for. I've taken the liberty of putting one in for this match."

On cue, the field was covered with a set of ruins and pillars. Perhaps architecture of a long lost people, or just a random assortment of interesting angles for the Kinetic orb to plow through. "Team up!" she called, and the Flames took to the field.

What followed was an intense match, if nothing more than just a warmup for the team. Passes, shots, kicks, all the while the orb built up speed, built up momentum. It bounced off pillars, angled off rocks and stone, and after a bit the team was less 'deflecting' the orb and more just 'guiding' it. It was wildly quick, even on a low setting like this for demonstration purposes. All the while, Koh was there to help clarify the situation if needed to Shaile, and Ichiko sat down by Abigail to help translate culture. The team, despite their villainous nature and standing, moved like a team. Some were graceful and elegant, others were brutish and direct in their motions, but watching them all move was like watching a real team move. They knew where each other were, they knew how to move, they knew how to direct the Orb to get it from place to place. The only flaw in their synergy was the terrain itself, which ever now and then one of the more brutish members of the team would just hit the Orb as hard as they could to send it BOUNCING, racing around the arena at breakneck speeds. Never stopping. Never slowing.

Once the Orb really got up to speed, that's when Neela and her team started to really shine. Before their strategy seemed to be 'Get the Orb going', but now that it had capped out its velocity, the name of the game was keep away. Slam the Orb, bounce it around the arena, and slid it along to its destination, THE destination: The goal. Direct impacts were avoided, instead focusing on deflections and redirections. At this speed, a direct bounce would hurt... and they had an actual match coming up in a few hours. Watching them go, Hero or Villain, it was obvious they loved their sport. There was passion in their coordination, there was actual broadcast Joy in that wild smile.

A shot kicked off towards the goal: A pillar with a blue ring over it. The orb passed through the ring and came to a dead stop, while a bar on the pillar started to fill. "And that's the start." she offered, winded. "Fill up that capacitor and it pops, and that's a goal. Nine times out of ten, one goal is the game." the team stepped off the arena, and the ruins and pillars and forms faded away to the ether. Neela ran her fingers through her hair, always pumped after a chance to show off. "Just think of how exhilarating this will be one we have someone to push around on the field." she smiled. "So, who are your friends, and any questions?"

Abigail was still wide eyed as Neela approached. "Woah...." she exhaled, shaking her head, trying to wrap her mind around what she had just witnessed. "Sorry, This is Commander Ichiko Gail, my First Officer, and Warrant Officers Koh Otassu and Callisi Vera, Blink pilots on assignment to the Astraea, and Lieutenant Shaille Levine, one of our Security officers. I thought our Ts'usugi crew members might appreciate a bit of their homeworld being brought to them given that the opportunity presented itself."

There was another moment of silence after introductions were made before Abigail spoke again. "I have no idea how any of you manage to maintain grace and agility while moving so quickly!"

"Squad up!" Neela gave a call, and her team came over and lined up as best they could, before Neela began, "I dodged the competitive exemption to service. Three years. Blink pilot." she started. Down the line, every member of her team called out their line of service. Infantry, demolitions specialists, field medic. Every one of them served, which was not surprising considering, but a few of them had served together. Same province, same age, same service. They knew each other from the front lines, and they brought that here to the field.

To each of the crew, Neela gave a nod and offered out a closed fist for a fistbump, a sign of respect and friendship that she learned on some tour. The children of Ts'usu were hesitant to promote contact, except for Koh who had grown quite accustomed to the notion of physical touch. For Shaille, the same offered fist. "Hell of a crew you have, Captain." then she offered up that wicked smile, "As for grace and agility, some of us have it, others..." she gave the arm of one of her larger Defenders a swat. "Others have to rely on good looks." and the Flames chuckled.

"So what about Magii then?" asked another, referring to the swatted Defender, and the chuckles continued. "But to answer your question, the secret is practice. Drills and training and teamwork."

Abigail smiled. "Well it's clear you've all been putting in the effort. I'm looking forward to seeing the game even more now after this sneak peek." Standing up, she tugged her jacket and smoothed it over her hips before brushing her hair back over her shoulder. "Thank you, Captain Neela," she said warmly. "I'm sure there are plenty of other things, more important things you could have been doing now, but we appreciate your taking the time to spend it with us before the game."

Neela was quiet for a moment, either thinking, or lost for a response. The return of her grin heralded an end to the delay. "What's more important than a fan?"

(Good place to end?)