<div class="floatleft">(http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/tt168/face_down_ass_up/synhead.jpg)</div><table class="bbc_table"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Character name:</strong></td><td>Syndel</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Location:</strong> </td><td>Aboard the shuttle and exiting the shuttle onto the landing pad</td></tr><tr><td><strong>With:</strong> </td><td> Guards on the shuttle and prisoners loading the shuttle</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Doing:</strong> </td><td> Just arriving on planet</td></tr></tbody></table><br/><hr/><br/>Syndel awoke slowly from stasis as the pod revived her from a deep and dreamless sleep. She had no way to know how much time had passed since she had been placed in stasis, and her thoughts, much like the dark, stormy silver of her slowly opening eyes, refused to find focus. She remembered the whirlwind of her trial and conviction and the cruel fate that awaited her. Given the long lifespan of her species, it might have been far less cruel to have executed her outright.<br/><br/>"I said, get out of the pod and strip, damn you."<br/><br/>She blinked, forcing those dark, metallic hued eyes to focus on the helmet of the guard who spoke to her. She hadn't even heard the first command, for she was weakened by hunger. The furnace of her metabolism was a hard master. As a native of a heavy gravity world, she was usually much stronger and tougher than those she encountered, but the body adapted to such conditions required a great deal of fuel to power it. The Empire had given her only what they thought was enough, and it wasn't. She was not yet truly malnourished, but she was weakened by the hunger. The Empire was almost certainly aware of her dietary requirements now, given the state of medical technology, but there was nothing to be done by the crew of the shuttle, even if they themselves were aware of it.<br/><br/>The practical consequences in the here and now for the guards were that Syndel was too groggy to properly focus, and too weak to truly fight back. With quick, perhaps frustrated, movement, they hauled her out of the stasis pod and slammed her into the restraints against one of the bulkheads. Their armor assured their safety, even if she had been strong enough to resist. One of them drew a cutting tool, and proceeded to remove the prison jumper she had been wearing.<br/><br/>Syndel made no protest as she was then ushered forcefully to a vat full of yellowish ooze. Her thoughts were coming more into focus, her mind's accuity sharpening as she truly awoke from stasis.<br/><br/><br/>"Get in. This is the last suit of clothes you'll ever wear."<br/><br/><br/>The profound truth of that statement hit Syndel hard. But she would not betray her Aklat, and would accept this fate, if it was to be her own. Carefully, with her long tail extended to balance her, she climbed in and felt herself enveloped by the strange goo that filled the vat. She was dunked and coated now in the Smartex suit that all prisoners on the Cooler wore. A permanent coating to protecter her from the cold and ice. Though as it congealed against her flesh, Syndel noted that it offered no modesty. Yet another reminder that her fate had been taken out of her hands and given to others.<br/><br/>She was then directed to climb out and move to an alcove against another bulkhead with cyclindrical walls. She was steady on her feet now, but she was still moving slowly. Part of it was lack of energy from the hunger that gnawed in her belly and sapped her strength. The other part was that she felt awkward and exposed in the Smartex suit she now wore. It felt like a second skin stretched tightly against her own. But she needed no further prodding from the guards as she stepped into the alcove.<br/><br/>Syndel gave a startled gasp as the alcove rotated and left her facing an airlock with a small window. She looked out, and felt her pulse race with the realization that this truly was happening. All she could see out of that window was the barren expanse of pure, frozen hell.<br/><br/>The shuttle hit the Duraplaz landing pad with a gentle bump, and then the airlock of her tiny pod opened. The wind was cold, and bit at her even through the Smartex she had been encased within. That wind moaned to her ears, welcoming her to this lonely, desolate world. Then the speaker behind and above her made her arrival to the Cooler completely official, completely real, and unfathomably permanent.<br/><br/><br/>"You have ten minutes to exit the vessel. If you do so immediately, you will be expected to help your fellow convicts unload and load the shuttle. This will no doubt earn you some favour points. If you are still on the ship in ten minutes time, the ship will lift with you still on board. Please be aware that you will not be allowed back in the ship under any circumstances. This is your only warning. Stay where you are and you will either fall to your death of asphyxiate when we exit the atmosphere. Message ends."<br/><br/><br/>There was no going back for Syndel now, and so instead she moved forward, into the bitter embrace of the cold wind.