fandomhigh | Alternative Tactics, First Period, Wednesday 10/10

Class was in a class room, and Kerrigan was looking somewhere between 'suffering from a major headache' and 'intensely perplexed' as she flipped through last week's class notes. "...Well, I guess that means you all get an A for coping with an unusual situation," she muttered, scratching the back of her head.

"Anyway, we're starting on the second module of our course, now. Unorthodox weaponry - I've got a feeling a lot of you kids are familiar with the concept already. Dealing with stuff that's not sticks and stones or guns and knives makes it all a little tricky, but it offers a lot of tactical opportunities if you just manage your resources correctly.

This week and the next, we're going to be talking about telepaths. Some of you may hail from worlds where they don't exist - basically, they're mindreaders. When deployed in battle, telepaths can be an incredibly useful force, not just to gather information but also to breach defenses and safely take out vital targets without anyone being the wiser."

After launching into and then finishing up a detailed lecture about mixing stealth and telepathy, she paced around the desk, throwing an odd-looking metallic device on the closest available student's desk. "Psi-shield," she said, "That one doesn't work, so don't bother. If you're going to deal with telepaths, you absolutely need one of those. Whether it's mechanical or you set it up in you brain, I don't care, but trust me on this - you walk into combat with a telepath without one, and you might as well start picking out your epitaph. Telepathy might seem like a mostly defensive power, but trust me, any telepath worth his or her salt is going to fry you quicker than an egg if you let your guard down."

Kerrigan ran a hand through her hair, staring indecisively into the classroom for a moment, as if trying to figure out what to share with them.

"If you have a good brain on you, though, you can use your opponent's telepathic power against them. But that's dealing with your mind and that's not really what this class is about. It suffices to say that telepaths don't exactly have a high sanity rating, usually."

She stalked back, sitting down behind her desk. "In two weeks, we're going to have an exercise to teach you how to incorporate telepaths into your team - remember their strengths and take good care of their weaknesses. A brain-crazy telepath is no good to anyone."

[ ~~wait for~~ ocd up! ]

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What would be the best way to counter a telepath? How could you work their strengths into your team next week?

"Couldn't you just think about nothing?" Lee asked. "Well, I mean, like stupid things. Fruit or giant...feet."

Kerrigan raised a mostly incredulous eyebrow. "Have you ever tried to think about nothing exclusively? Or feet? People are a hell of a lot worse at controlling their thoughts than they usually think they are." Arrogant bastards.

"I've never encountered mind readers at all," Lee replied immediately. "Forgive me if I'm not an expert at this sort of thing."

"You've got a brain, Adama," Kerrigan said, crossing her arms, "You've got to be able to find something better than 'feet' in there somewhere."

"Are people who aren't trained just screwed without one of those shield things?" Lee asked. "And I was trying to think of the ridiculous with the feet. My brain works fine."

Kerrigan shot him a look that implied she thought otherwise. "You're still thinking one-on-one. Get the hell off that mentality. The only thing it'll catch you is dead."

"My brain works fine," he said again. "So, a whole bunch of people can overload a mind reader?"

"That could work," she said, mildly, "Or you could just, you know, outmaneuver them. A telepath's still just a person. Fleshy parts included."

"Right," Lee said and sat back in his chair. Lee figured he'd just start thinking of his father or something. That'd be enough to scare anyone away or at least make them think seriously about their next step. "What if you are one on one? Are you screwed?"

"Yes," Kerrigan replied. With probably more cheer than she should.

"Uh huh." Wonderful.

"Well, there's that psi-shield thing... I suppose, if there's a way to tune it so that it works offensively as well as defensively," Bridge makes a face.

"Just because the technology exists doesn't mean it'll be on hand if you ever run into a teep on the opposite side," Kerrigan observed, "Although, yeah, 'carry a psi-shield' is probably high up in the ol' survival booklet."

"Well, I mean, if we're just talking about blocking, I can do that fine without technology," Bridge says. "But I was thinking more... altering it, somehow, so it doesn't just block what they're trying to do to you, but does something... more."

"Amplifying feedback loops?" Kerrigan asked, tilting her head. "Interesting."

Bridge nods. "Yeah, exactly. I could probably do something like that." He glances over towards the shield again, practically itching to take it apart.

Somehow, letting Bridge near that psi-shield didn't seem like such a good idea. Kerrigan smiled at him, instead. "Innovation. I like that. Good one, Cadet."

"Thanks," Bridge says with a grin. Chances are, he wouldn't actually *use* something like that, but he still might attempt the modifications, just to see if he *could*. And it would probably also end up dispensing gummi bears or something like that.

"There are all sorts of meditation exercises to help you clear your mind and embrace Nothingness and become One with the blah blah blah. I'll bet if I had paid more attention to them, they might be useful here."

"Some species are naturally resilient," Luke said quietly, thinking of Jabba. He glanced towards Qui-Gon. "I'm sure there have been plenty of ideas trying to counteract the Jedi's abilities. I just haven't encountered a lot of them yet."

"Wait, Jedi? I thought you were a Jedi? Does that mean you can read minds???"

Sokka's eyes bugged out at Luke, and he clamped his hands over his ears, as if that would keep his thoughts from leaking out.

He shrugged. "Sense emotions, mostly. Reading minds is rude without asking permission."

"I'll say!" Sokka countered. "What goes on inside my head is PRIVATE."

Which would be more of a concern if he didn't say out loud almost everything that passed through his mind.

Alternative Tactics, First Period, Wednesday 10/10

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