Star Wars OPEN Elite League Limmie

IC: Martin Vigo

I came out of the kitchen with two cups of caf and handed one to Spencer which he greedily accepted. Ty led the defense out onto the field as I retook my seat on the sofa. I sure hoped Till knew what he was doing by moving Ty to fullback. The fact that Lucie was home alone with a 3 week old baby told me she and her mother had had a falling out. I wanted for Ty to have a solid game more than I wanted us to win. This was the guy I was entrusting to take care of my daughter and grandson.

The game began like all the others had for the Starkillers this season. Our offense attacked and quickly put points on the board. As Spencer had predicted Fortune led the offense early with a goal and a bar point. When Fortune ran out of options he passed to Jul who used her signature skills to put a couple points of her own on the board. While we had the lead Till substituted Sureysh in for Jul. She assisted Fortune in scoring another goal and put a point on the board herself.

On the defensive end we were holding better than usual. Only one goal had been scored against us and a handful of bar points. Despite our best efforts the lead had been cut to only two points in our favor as the half was coming to a close. Allin had been covering Jinx hard the entire half. Just as the clock was winding down the ball was passed to Jinx again. Allin matched her step for step forcing her off her intended path. They were nearing the Starkiller sideline when Allin lost his footing and hit the turf. He reached out and grabbed Jinx’s leg to bring her down with him to prevent her from further forward progress. When she hit the ground Jinx lost control of the ball. The ball came in contact with Jinx’s leg at about the same spot where Allin had a hold of her and was deflected out of bounds. It was impossible to tell from the angle shown on holovision if the ball had bounced off of Allin’s hand or Jinx’s leg. The closest ref signaled Bucc’s ball. Allin quickly got to his feet and began to argue the call.

Ignoring him the ref began to hand the ball to Tilly Masterson who had come to help Jinx to her feet. Till stepped out on the field, at first I thought he was going to tell Allin to back down since Allin was still trying to argue the call. Instead Till took Allin’s side and began to argue as well. The ref turned to the pair and warned them to back down. Allin followed the order. He turned and jogged back towards the center of the field towards Poletin. Meanwhile Till stepped closer to the ref yelling directly at him to overturn the decision.

Seeing that their coach was in trouble Allin and Poletin quickly ran back towards the sideline. Each player took one of the coach’s hands attempting to lead him away. At that moment Till was completely caught up in his argument, “You blasted Hapan’s can’t see at night to begin with.” He was ranting. “The Emperor himself made fairer calls than that.”

With that comment combined with the others and most likely his decision to step on the field and argue in the first place coach Till was ejected from the game. Quickly taking action Foress ran out on the field and put a hand on Till’s shoulder. He shrugged it off, but it was obvious he was calming down. He gave the ref one last evil stare, then turned to Allin. “Get a win for me,” he requested calmly before he quickly walked towards the tunnel and exited the field.

As players and coaches on field took time to react and regroup the home audience was shown a re-play from a better angle. When shown in slow motion the ball clearly deflected off of Jinx’s leg alone and not Allin’s hand. “I’ve never seen Till lose it like that,” Spencer commented.

“No other player on the team is as important to him,” I explained. “I’d better go check on your brother,” I said quickly getting up.

I found Tomas in my room watching the game with his mother. “You can’t make me go to bed,” he said defensively when I entered the room.

“It’s not half time quite yet,” I said calmly. I took a seat on the bed next to him and we watched the last play of the half together. The Buccs threw the ball back into play. Their offense furiously attempted a quick score with the little time left on the clock. A wild attempt was made on goal at the last second, fortunately it went wide left and we held our lead as the players headed into the locker room. “You can rest easy,” I told Tomas. “Ty is having a great game.”

“But we’re only up by two points and coach Till got thrown out,” he said exasperated.

“You have a game yourself tomorrow,” I reminded him. “If you continue to argue with me you will be sitting at home missing the game completely. Same type of punishment Till just received for arguing with that ref. Is that what you want?”

“No sir.” He said getting the hint.

“I’ll have the second half highlights up on your data pad at breakfast in the morning.” I promised as I held out my hand. He gave me one last pleading look. Then handed me the device and headed towards his room.

I made it back downstairs just in time for the second half to begin. Spencer was sprawled out on the sofa. He appeared to be asleep. I took a seat in a chair and turned the volume down. “I’m listening to that,” Spencer protested.

There was never much question which team would come out on top once play began. The Starkillers added two goals to our lead early while the defense held strong. Late in the game Hapes was able to add several points to their total almost making a game of it before Jul changed the momentum with a bar point and our defense found their pulse again.

When the game ended Spencer had one thing to say. “Still undefeated,” it was rather unenthusiastic being that he was so tired. He began to climb the stairs as he headed for his bed. I followed.

Tags Vehn and Jedi Gunny (for game play) Trieste (for the ejection)

 

GM Post

Updated Rossum Bookmakers Balances

• Client 214782: +70,000, new balance: 375,000
• Client 24601: +250,000, new balance: 950,000

TAG: CPL_Macja Jedi Gunny

 

IC: Pamila Korthe
Bar, Downtown Coruscant


Pam sighed and took another long swig of her beer. The Senators had arrived the day earlier for their upcoming tilt against the Bakura Miners, but the only thing that had gone right for her this year was finding her way here to the bar. The season was a complete disaster; 0-5 with only 24 points scored. Ralltiir, whom the Senators would host in a few weeks, was averaging more points per game than the Senators had put out all season on offense. The defense had finally shown up, but now the offense was AWOL. She didn’t understand what was happening and why, but it made her very nervous.

Her position as head coach of the Senators was likely almost gone. Gark S’rily wouldn’t take too kindly to her continual failures to win ball games, even though he kept giving her chances to prove herself. He had built a team of All-Stars for her this offseason, and yet what had happened to that team? Demotions abounded, and those that hadn’t been demoted to the bench or to Thyferra were only still around because the Bothan didn’t want to get rid of all of them at once. Or he couldn’t find a trade partner to unload them upon. But what it meant was that she was incapable of making things happen with what she was given to work with.

Coming into 273, she had been a hot commodity. There had been rumors of other teams wanting her to fill their coaching vacancies, but the Senators had the first dibs, and had hired her. She just barely missed out on the Galactic Cup title, losing in the Finals in a heartbreaker. Two seasons with losses in the Conference Semis followed, and then last season. Now a winless campaign was staring her in the face, one which likely would cost her the job. Where would she go after this? No one in the Elite League would hire her now because she had no success to lean on. It was probably back to the Futures League or to the Premier League, where many other washed-up coaches landed.

“I thought I might find you here,” came a familiar voice. Pam looked up to see the golden locks of Jed Ortmeyer sit down on the seat next to her.

“Go away, Jed,” Pam said.

“Are you drinking to forget about this season?”

“No,” Pam said. “I’m just trying to calm my nerves in case I am out of a job.”

“That seems like a disappointment to me,” Jed said. He ordered a beer, and the bartender had it to him quickly. “You know, I was stuck in a place like this once. A couple of years ago, when the Force were crap. I was drinking myself silly for a while there. It felt like there was nowhere to go but further down the spiral. But a few beings kept me going, namely you,” he said before taking a sip. “So I didn’t give up. The next year, I made things happen. We jumbled the roster, and the players did much better. Now many of them are playing for you because they did well.”

“It’s more out of necessity than anything else. No one else has stepped up,” Pam commented sullenly.



“But there is talent in this organization. I know there is. And that includes both of us,” Jed said. “You’re a strong woman, Pamila. I’ve known that for years. Ever since we started coaching together, I’ve seen what Gark S’rily saw in you to hire you in the first place. You have that knack for the game that many coaches could only dream of having.”

“Hasn’t served me well the past two years,” Pam replied.

“But prior to that it did. You turned around a derelict franchise on Thyferra in just a few seasons. Sure we didn’t win any playoff games, but the fans came out again. Thyferra Stadium was rocking. You’re still a local legend there, even though you haven’t visited in years. So now you need to start again. You need to forget everything that has come before this, and just take things one step at a time. Look at me. I did that, and now I’m back here at the Elite League level for the first time since I retired from playing. You should too.”

“Times have changed, Jed,” Pam said, reaching out for her beer. However, she made contact with the glass only to find that Jed’s hand was already on it, preventing her from grabbing it. She looked up at her coordinator’s expression.

“That they have,” the man said. “But you can never be afraid to try something new.”

“Like what?” the Zeltron asked.

“Like right now,” Jed said. “Relax, and just let instinct take over.” He released the beer glass and then squeezed her hand lightly. Before Pam could react, Jed leaned over and kissed her. “You never knew how fond I grew of you over the years.”

“This doesn’t make me feel better,” Pam said.

“What does your gut say?” Jed asked tenderly.

What did the Zeltron’s instincts say? She wanted to keep her guard up . . . but her gut reaction told her not to. She had suppressed any feelings she may have had for Jed deep down for a long time, and now they burbled up once more like a tidal wave. She realized that her instincts had changed course; she truly loved him.

“That . . . that . . . I need you,” Pam finally admitted.

“And?”

“And I . . . love you,” the Zeltron finished.

“That makes two of us,” Jed said with a wry grin before kissing Pam again, and this time the Zeltron wasn’t so shocked. The beer glass would have to wait; this was far more important.

The following events were a whirlwind in her mind. She could hardly keep things straight in her mind as she and Jed drove to her place, after which they quickly undressed and got into her bed. The last thing in this cacophony of sensations was the warmth of Jed’s body against hers. The season was going terribly, but her life wasn’t so bad after all. Perhaps Limmie was secondary to everything else . . .


TAG: No One, but Trieste is gonna love this

 

GM Post

HSN Morning Headlines

• League fines Trey Till for comments made during Bucanneers-Starkillers game
• League fines Pekt for reckless play in Senators-Rangers game
• Lokensgaard leaving Kashyyyk: “Today was an excellent defensive battle and proof that limmie doesn’t need scoring to be exciting”
• Lokensgaard looks forward to returning to Kashyyyk for the Galactic Cup Final
• League insider reports that Commissioner Lokensgaard has already called Membership Committee into session to consider membership changes for 278
• No information on whether expansion or relegation is being considered

TAG: Jedi Gunny Runjedirun Vehn

 

GM Post

HSN Morning Headlines

• Packers owner Tim Dodd quoted as saying, "League requires Gravitas from the Commissioner, not Gaffes!"

TAG: Tim Battershell

 

(Two ABBA songs for the price of one post! Don’t you feel so lucky?)

IC: Falene Trieste
Bakura



“No you don’t you little--!” Falene called out as she tackled her cousin Vesper.

Before she could do so, Vesper made a shovel pass to her winger, who caught the bolo-ball and fired it past the keeper for a goal.

“You’re going to pay for that,” Falene said as play got underway again.

Vesper just smiled. “Yeah, sure, I will,” she said with absolute confidence of the exact opposite.

“Just wait until game day,” Falene replied as the pair jogged up the field, “Then I’ll really be able to tackle you.”

This game was not taking place in front of 100,000 beings, but instead at the Noble House family estate in upscale and exclusive Prytis. It was an annual tradition to have “the family game” between members of the Noble House as schedules allowed them to attend. The Monarchs biennial visits to Bakura had become the standard schedule for the games, mainly because the half of the family that had to play against Falene wanted Vesper there to balance the talent out. The game was two hand touch, which kept anyone from getting injured. Besides, Falene would get her shots in at Vesper plenty.

This was the first family game in 24 years that hadn’t seen Kerry as Taoiseach. Falene knew that her position as a pro limmie player only made the game even more important. It wasn’t just the first family event since she had become the leader of the family, but it was her event. No one was saying anything, but everyone was thinking it.

This year’s game was different not just for the fact that Falene knew everyone was sizing her up, even if only casually, but also for the fact that there were some notable absences. Sierra and her husband had not come out this year. The schedule of the Chume’da apparently didn’t have much time for trips across two-thirds of the galaxy. As usual the Vehn-Triestes weren’t showing (though Oisin had bought the indulgence of his wife and family to attend), especially now that Eleanor Vehn had announced her bid to become the next Tribune of Roon.

Everyone else was there, though, and that was making for the usual family dynamic. Kerry was being told by everyone that she should be “ineligible” to play because she should be the ref as she was suddenly the arbiter of Bakuran limmie as Commissioner. Everyone brought up the fact that Chandrila had been demoted to Nessa and her kids, which invariably resulted in Elphaba shouting, “We’re not talking about it!” Everyone legally able to imbibe and under the age of 30 (and not a few over that age as well) was wearing their university t-shirts. UBSD was still in the majority, but now Quentin Eldred had his Atalanta shirt and Antrose Trieste had his Deredith & Millicent Colonials cardinal and gold. Trixie Eldred out of her usual contrarian nature was wearing a Kessel Penal System Remedial School t-shirt. Mandy Trieste had bought a new Denon Demons shirt, “just because you all kept complaining about the old one.” Atticus Eldred kept himself above the fray by not representing any institution.

“Falene, why didn’t you get Alana to ref for us again?” Enoch Trieste complained, “She was so good at it.”

“Because she needs all the sleep she can get during the season with an infant son and the conference schedule coming up,” Falene said.

“That’s lame,” Enoch said.

“I’ll remind you of that when you have children of your own,” Ronan said.

“I think it’s so cool we’re the only Elite League owners who have their very own limmie game,” Ginnifer Lynd said as the game continued. This was very typical of Noble House games--there was plenty of chatter tangential to the game. It probably wasn’t much of a surprise that a family with so many politicians had quite a bit of hot air to spread around.

“The Vigos could have one,” Kerry pointed out.

“They’d barely have enough for one side of sevens,” Cillian Lynd said, “Right?”

“They could get a good backyard game going,” Ayn Trieste said, “And I mean a good backyard game. They’ve got Trey Till in the family, Andres Fortune almost a member of the family, two general managers, and one of the kids is pretty good in youth ball.”

“How do you know all this?” Oisin asked as he caught a pass from his brother and came up the field.

“Just because something is in a gossip column doesn’t mean it’s not useful information,” Ayn said.

“Shouldn’t you be using your time reading appropriations bills?” Declan asked as he put a block on his wife.

“All work and no play makes--oof!”

“That’s clearly a foul!” Ginnifer cried out in defense of her teammate Declan.

“That was clearly not interference,” Regan interjected, “She possessed the ball.”

“This is two-hand touch!” Ginny exclaimed, “That was a tackle.”

“Rules clearly state that you are allowed to tackle your spouse,” Declan said.

“Since when?” Mandy said, “Because I’ve been laying off Ronan for the last nineteen years and if I knew I could tackle him…”

So, all in all, a pretty typical Noble House game.

---

Bakura Gardens, Salis D’aar, Bakura

But it was not a typical Miners-Monarchs game. For once, for at long last once, Vesper Lynd did not absolutely destroy Falene’s defense. Horst Penn, to his credit, was an outstanding defender and though Vesper worked him hard, she did not have her usual scoring bonanza against her homeworld team. Penn played her hard and he played her smart, limiting her chances. Sure, Vesper still found the back of the net and put up good points, but she was clearly unable to beat the Agamarian like she did his predecessor, Bengi Zire.

The only problem was that as Falene was finally able to do her job against the Monarchs, she watched as at the opposite end of the field the Monarchs continued their Solo Conference Quarterfinal domination of the Miner offense. Their new Chiss goalkeeper, the one that the Monarchs had stolen out from under the nose of the Miners, was stellar, stopping every single shot on net. And those were the shots that were actually making it on net. Fiesta and Lyriss went wide on the goal all game long with an embarrassing lack of accuracy. The Hapans were all but neutralized in the game with tight play from the Monarch back six. Though Deenever and Rodders made strong drives up the middle, they were stonewalled right before they could become a true scoring threat in the situation. Substituting Zonka in for Rodders for a change of pace did nothing for the Miner offense.

Falene walked across the field in the wake of what was a frustrating loss to find her cousin. The Miners had now lost three straight games against the Monarchs and--in an interesting bit of trivia--had done so wearing three different uniforms: their Blue & Gold yellows, their road whites in the Quarterfinal, and their home blues today. If there was ever something to destroy superstitions, that would be it.

The media clustered around Vesper and Falene for the postgame handshake. “Congratulations,” Falene said during the embrace with her cousin, “You always do play your best against us. They say that’s what makes a true rivalry, you know?”

Loving her cousin wasn’t easy after a game like this, but it sure was hard enough.

---

Senators Stadium, Coruscant



It was the first trip for the Miners to the new Senators Stadium, successor to Andromeda Steel Corp. Field and it sure was an impressive sight. Andromeda had never been a slouch of a stadium like the old Six Boroughs had been with its lack of basic amenities for the visiting team, but Senators Stadium soared far above its predecessor. It was a glittering addition to the scrapers of the Coruscanti skyline.

The visitor’s locker room was one of the better ones, at least from what Falene could see. It was probably even slightly better than the one at the Gardens, but she’d never spent much time in there. The Gardens, being owned by the City of Salis D’aar, didn’t have as much interest in creating a lousy visitor’s locker room in the first place as they wanted to attract as many athletic competitions as they could get there. However, something told Falene if the Miners asked very nicely they could get it downgraded. Even so, it wasn’t anything Falene was going to want done. It just wasn’t sporting.

The locker room’s inhabitants were all riding pretty high. It didn’t take a hyperspace scientist to figure out why. The Senators were an 0-5 team, a rollover. They hadn’t even scored a goal in their last two games. They’d barely make a worthy warm up for the Miners going into their tilt with the Starkillers, a game that was shaping up to decide the fate of the Solo Conference standings.

“Man, two weeks ago this team was playing in the LFL!” Lyriss said, “There’s probably going to be riots on Bakura if we don’t put up 60 points on them.”

“If I don’t get at least two goals, then I’m going to blame all of you for hogging the points,” Morlan said.

“To think these guys were once the big, scary Senators,” Grap said, “I mean, the team on Thyferra has more talent than the Senators. I’d be more concerned if we were playing them.”

“What are they even good for? They’re barely worth a practice squad,” Dalton Ward said, “We’d get more challenge out of tackling dummies.”

“I’ve just got one question for all of you!” Alana called out over the locker room din. This got everyone’s attention and they quieted down. She paused for a second.

“What about Livingstone?”

Falene looked around at her teammates. She had no idea what Alana was talking about. Judging by the expressions on all their faces, nobody else did.

“Reid Livingstone? Ring any bells out there?” Alana said as she addressed the team, “Drafted in the third round in 272? Anyone? Anyone? Deenever?”

“Huh?” Niskat said at the mention of her name.

“Reid Livingstone had a huge career ahead of him when he was drafted out of BCC by the Senators,” Alana said, “A career like all of us have right now. But he never developed the way the Senators thought he would. He got demoted to Thyferra after a few seasons and now he doesn’t even play for him. Heck, he may not be playing anywhere right now. I know I haven’t heard about him any time recently.”

Falene wasn’t sure what to say to that. “And you’re bringing him up because…?” Ward asked, echoing Falene’s thoughts.

“Because this is the last time I ever hear any of you disrespect our opponents by ridiculing them like this,” Alana said, “Every time we take that field, you treat your opponent with respect because they’re here in the Elite League. You honor them, you honor yourself, you honor the fact that you play this game for a living at the highest level because even a Wookiee has to retire from the sport one day.”

“Says the woman who got in a feud with Ryi Kor’le,” Ward said.

“That was fun. That was not ridicule,” Alana said immediately, “I always respected Ryi and the Mercs and for all the public strutting I did, and yeah, I did it, I never lost sight of the fact that your opponent deserves respect and you give it to them by playing the best you can. That’s what we’re going to do, are we all understood?”

The locker room was quiet.

“I said, are we understood?” Alana said, louder.

A staggered chorus of “yeahs” came back in reply.

“That’s what I thought,” Alana said, “Because if we’re not careful we’re all going to end up like Livingstone one day, living out the rest of our careers in some sub-ABC league. Now back up all your big talk on the field or I’m going to have to come back here and watch you eat your words and nobody’s going to enjoy that.”

TAG: Bardan_Jusik (Ryi lives on!) CPL_Macja Jedi Gunny Runjedirun Vehn

 

Power Rankings:​

1. Ralltiir Starkillers – Peaking at the right time, and we don’t dare bet against them in conference play. Do we see our first undefeated team in the 9-game season? Doubtful, but we’ve been wrong before. This team can do it all, but they need to play better defense. 1

2. Bakura Miners – Losing to a rival hurts, but having the Senators as a punching bag this week will get them back on track. Chalk up a win going into the Ralltiir game. 1

3. Nar Shaddaa Smugglers – Looking good, having ripped off four straight wins. Now they need to keep this momentum up throughout the conference season. N/C

4. Euceron Storm – Having the second-best defense in the league means you can afford to not always score points. However, it can be a recipe for disaster if the defense decides to take a game off. We hope they don’t, because the Storm are fun to watch. N/C

5. Mando’ade Mercs – We still don’t know what’s going on with this team, but they win all their home games. That’s good enough for us. 1

6. Rydonni Prime Monarchs – Big win over Bakura put the Monarchs firmly in the race for the third Solo Conference playoff berth. Still plenty of season to go, but they have a good chance to claim that position if they don’t slack off. 2

7. Ryloth Rough Riders – We don’t know if there is a more exciting team out there. Blow one team out, get blown out the next week. What will come next? Tune in next week to find out! 3

8. Hapes Consortium Buccaneers – Eh, you can’t win ‘em all. At least they held Ralltiir to half their season scoring average. That’s something to keep their minds off losing three straight. 3

9. Kashyyyk Rangers – Just barely holding on like that isn’t going to win you games. End of story. N/C

10. Ylesia Lightning – Still no Kasin Urdaaza, still no success. Simple as that. 1

11. Agamar Packers – Seriously, Mr. Dodd, this is Limmie, not TenGate. Get with the program; you’ve only had four years. 4

12. Coruscant Senators – Meh. N/C

TAGS to Bardan_Jusik, CPL_Macja, Trieste, Vehn, Runjedirun, jcgoble3, Rebecca_Daniels, Tim Battershell

 

IC: Martin Vigo

The morning following the game between the Starkillers and the Buccaneers I received more phone calls from the press than I had received since the announcement that I was buying the team. Every reporter on the planet and some outside of our system even wanted to know my opinion of Trey Till’s behavior the night before. I did not give the media or the public the satisfaction of giving any comments.

To make matters worse some reporters had the audacity to show up at Tomas’ Limmie game to attempt to speak to me. I had to threaten to call law enforcement to get them to leave me alone so I could watch my son play ball. Tomas had a bit of a rough game at first. He was matched up against another boy who was playing extremely rough. He tackled Tomas on four straight possessions before Tomas realized he had to adjust his playing style in order to get around him. I was pleased with how Tomas passed the ball under pressure instead of trying to make all the plays himself. He’d come a long way since the first game I had seen him in about a year ago.

The following afternoon my wife, Zoey, Tomas and I all attended Spencer’s swim meet. To my surprise his best finish was second place. After the meet I took Spencer and Zoey to the spaceport. I intended to reunite Zoey with her mother and Andres. I also imagined that Till expected me to greet him in person after his outburst on field the other evening and I wasn’t about to disappoint him. I brought Spencer because I was worried about him. He still wasn’t getting along well with his mother and his swimming seemed to have regressed considerably. Maybe I could talk to him on the ride home. At the very least I felt better having him with me. I also wanted him to witness my confrontation with Till. Part of me suspected Spencer was a little afraid of me. I wanted to prove he had nothing to fear.

Justyne was the first person off the shuttle. Zoey ran into her mother’s arms. Andres followed and Ty was just behind him. Once Zoey let go of her mother she gave Andres a hug, he produced a plastic Hapan tiara from his travel bag and placed it on her head. “Bye Grandpa,” she called waiving excitedly. I waived back and watched as the young family made their way to their speeder and left for home. Ty was also in a hurry to get home. He nodded in my direction and I smiled in understanding as he rushed away.

Till waited until all his players departed before getting off the shuttle. I grabbed Spencer by the hand and we approached him. He walked confidently towards us, set his travel bag down beside him when we met and said, “I expected you would be here Martin, thought you would come alone though.” He said indicating Spencer.

I ignored is comment about my coming alone, “I hope you got acting like a child out of your system. I pay you to be on the sidelines to coach this team, not make a spectacle of yourself.”

“Got caught up in the moment, didn’t I?” He asked with a smile.

This was one of the things I appreciated about Trey. He could admit he was wrong without hanging his head. “Did you pay your fine?”

“Sent a wire as soon as I was notified,” he answered.

“Your next step is to speak at a press conference, first thing in the morning,” I explained.

He smiled again. Not because he liked the idea, more so to cover up his true feelings. “You want me to apologize,” he said reaching up to rub his forehead with his thumb and index finger.

“Do whatever you need to do to. I want this incident behind us. We need to concentrate on doing our part to knock the Monarchs out of play-off contention. So they don’t humiliate us the way they did....”

“I understand,” Trey said before I was able to finish. “I’ll meet you at the stadium first thing in the morning.”

Now it was my turn to my smile. I put out my hand, he took it and we shook. “Congratulations on the win,” I said in parting.

I led Spencer back to the speeder and we headed for home. Once we found our way into a traffic lane I addressed the swim meet with him. “You swam well today, don’t get me wrong. I couldn’t help but notice though that you didn’t win any of your events. Last season at the meets I went to you won all your events. Are you having trouble finding the time to practice?” I asked.

“There’s been a lot going on,” he said quietly as he looked down towards the floorboard.

I wanted to address his demeanor, the sulking, the fear of looking at me to answer questions, so I pulled off into a diner parking lot. “What do you say we get some caf? Something to eat if you want,” I suggested.

“Okay,” he said more in confusion than agreement.

We ordered caf and sandwiches and I texted his mother not to expect us for dinner. “I’m not upset about your performance today,” I began. “I’m concerned. Your grades aren’t falling are they?” I asked.

He shook his head vigorously.

“Is keeping up with your classes giving you less time to concentrate on sports?”

He shrugged.

“Look at me Spencer,” I ordered. He bit the inside of his cheek and forced his eyes to look into mine before quickly looking away again. “What are you so afraid of?” I asked.

There was a long period of silence. Our food came. Neither of us touched our sandwiches. “You yell a lot,” he finally managed.

“How do you expect me to react when you pull stunts and break house rules so often?”

“I don’t mean to break the rules, it just sort of happens.”

“When you make a mistake either intentionally or not there are going to be consequences,” I reminded him. “You need to take ownership of your actions. Give more affirmative answers when I question you. For instance when I asked you about your schoolwork a few minutes ago you should have given me a resounding no sir. When you nod, shake your head or worse shrug your shoulders you look weak. You need to radiant confidence.”

“That’s who you are, dad. That’s not who I am.”

“That’s a cop-out. You can learn to be confident, it just takes practice. Less than 48 hours ago Trey Till made a total ass of himself in front of the entire Galaxy. He wasn’t hanging his head when I confronted him this evening. If you want me to consider handing over a professional sports team to you I need to see you behave in such a way that I would know the team would thrive once I’m out of the picture.”

“Wait, so now you are considering handing the team down to me?” He asked bewildered.

“You aren’t of legal age to acquire the team. Once you reach a legal age if you even want to be considered, you will need to prove to me that you could handle the pressure involved in owning a professional sports franchise. Is this something you are willing to work on?” I asked taking a bite of my sandwich.

He started to nod, than he caught himself, “Yes sir.”

I finished chewing and continued, “Let’s start again with your performance today at the swim meet. What’s holding you back?”

“I haven’t been practicing as much as last year,” he admitted.

“Is this because you have been too busy with schoolwork?”

“Not entirely. I took for granted how much that hard work was paying off. I’ve slept in a few mornings and I haven’t worked as hard during scheduled team workouts. That’s going change though. Losing isn’t fun.”

“Better, now I need to ask you something more difficult. Last week did you attempt to run away because you were afraid of a confrontation when I saw how you had callously thrown all of Tomas’ belongings into the hall?”

He took a deep breath, did his best to look at me, “Yes sir.”

“You realized what you had done was wrong, but you weren’t willing to own up to it. Why is that?”

Where Bat and Tomas would stand up and defend themselves in such a situation Spencer allowed himself to be steamrolled. I yelled at him and he took it. At least that had been the way of things until last week when he simply found a way to get out of the hot seat altogether. I certainly couldn’t allow that to happen again. While I waited for an answer from him I finished my sandwich.

“When you had gotten home,” he finally began. “If I had been there you would have taken me into your office, ordered me to clean up the hallway and restricted my privileges or assigned me extra chores or even some kind of work outside the house. I know I deserved it. I just couldn’t take anymore I had reached my breaking point.”

“Were you surprised to find Tomas cleaning up when you got back?”

“Yea, yes I was."

“That’s because you expected me to be against you. I’m not against you Spencer, I would have raised my voice and I would have given you a consequence. But I would have recognized Tomas was at fault for what happened as well.” I paused for a moment and let that sink in. “What’s in the past; is in the past. You got away with a few things I probably shouldn’t have let you get away with. If you attempt to run away again there will be consequences? Do you understand?”

He opened his mouth to agree, hesitated for a moment then said, “You let Lucie run away.”

“That was a mistake. I knew where she was at all times and still I never went to bring her back home. I thought I was teaching her a lesson by making her survive on her own. I expected her to come back and admit she was in over her head. Your sister was headstrong and a hard worker. I was lucky to ever get her back. She has regrets, Spence. I don’t want you to have those same regrets. I know I’m loud and demanding sometimes. I’ll work on my people skills if you’ll work on yours. Sound like a fair trade off?”

“Yes sir.” When we got home Spencer didn’t immediately go study. He went to the pool and swam some laps first.

---

The next morning I arranged for Maddie to take the boys to school. I met Trey at the stadium early. I didn’t read his statement in advance; I trusted he knew what needed to be said. When we got to the press room Ty was waiting to support his coach and friend. The media was there in force eagerly waiting what the young coach had to say for himself.

“Good morning,” Trey began. “Thank you for taking the time to be here this morning. I’m standing before you to apologize,” he said cutting to the chase. “My outburst during the match between the Ralltiir Starkillers and the Hapes Consortium Buccaneers was unprofessional. My behavior does not represent that which should be displayed by a coach in the Elite League. I embarrassed myself, my players, my fellow coaching staff and the citizens of Ralltiir. To all of those beings I am sorry. It has also been called to my attention that I may have made a comment that directly insulted the people of Hapes. That was not my intention. I have a great respect for Hapans. I have played with them; and against them on the Limmie field. I have also had the privilege of coaching Hapans. They are fierce, strong worthy competitors. From this day going forward I hope to show through my actions that the decisions made by the referees are to be respected. Their job is not easy.” Trey looked up from his notes and directly into the cameras. “Now we all saw the final score between the Monarchs and the Miners last week. So if you’ll excuse me I have a game plan to work on.”

After Till was finished and the reporters cleared out I called Ty’s name.

“Yes,” he said turning around.

“How’s Lucie and T.J.?” I asked.

“Good.”

“Andres’ parents are in town this weekend. I’m having them for dinner the night before the game. You, Lucie and T.J. are all welcome to come,” I offered. That is if Lucie and her mother are speaking.”

Ty smiled. “Lucie just wanted her space back. Your wife was a great help to us, there’s no way I could thank her enough. We can come to dinner,” he assured me. “I don’t want to be late for practice,” he said just before running off.

---

The following morning as I drove the boys to school I gave Spencer a scenario and drilled him in the front seat. “You have a job parking speeders at one of my theaters. An especially sporty expensive speeder is left in your care. You take it for a joy ride and blow one of the engines. You make it back to the theater, but the speeder is limping badly. The owner of the vehicle is enjoying his show and has no idea what has taken place. Do you explain to your boss what took place or make a run for it?”

“Either way I lose the job,” he said.

“If it was your speeder who would you respect more. Someone who blew an engine and was never heard from again or someone who offered to help pay for the damage?”

“Okay, so I tell my boss. I offer to tell the owner and when I tell the owner I offer to pay for it.”

“The owner is livid and reminds you that you can’t afford to have his speeder repaired on your salary. What do you do next?”

“Offer to work it off, even if it takes me 20 years?”

“Your answer shouldn’t be a question, but you’re getting the idea,” I said smiling at him.

We practiced all week. I even assigned him the task of apologizing to his mother. To his surprise his mother accepted the apology. He offered to help make it up to her by repairing the dent he made in the hallway when he had thrown one of Tomas’ trophies. It seemed as if my words were getting through to him. His shyness and sensitivity had been the only things holding him back. If I could help him work through those issues I was sure Spencer would succeed in life.

Dinner went well, though I noticed Justyne was quieter than usual around Andres’ parents. I also took note that Zoey called them Grandma and Grandpa Fortune. Andres and Ty were confident as ever going into the game against the Monarchs. “I found some holes in that defense watching tape this week,” Andres promised us. “You have nothing to worry about tomorrow,” he told his father. “This won’t be a disappointment like that game you witnessed last year. Tomorrow I’m putting the ball in the net. Several times.”

“I am never disappointed in your performance,” Mr. Fortune said kindly. “I do wish we could make it out to more games though.”

“You are welcome to come sit in the box with us anytime,” I reminded him.

“How are your parents?” Mr. Fortune said suddenly turning to Ty.

“My mom is well, she’s excited to meet the baby. My father is not anxious to meet the baby. Last time we spoke he told me I should be putting Limmie first and having babies after my playing days are over.”

Lucie gave Ty an evil glare.

“What?” He protested. “The man asked.”

“You play defensive back don’t you?” Mr. Fortune continued. “What’s your game plan for tomorrow?”

“Stop Vesper Lynd,” Ty said cheerfully.

“That’s not going to be easy,” Mr. Fortune began.

“Ty can do it,” Tomas said interrupting. “Ty taught me to play Limmie and I’m the best in my league.”

“Tomas, Mr. Fortune was speaking,” I reprimanded.

“It’s okay. I understand children get excited. You play Limmie? What position do you play?”

“I play midfield,” Tomas said excitedly. “I start and I made the all-star league. Our team is undefeated this season.”

“What about you young man?” Mr. Fortune asked addressing Spencer. “Do you play Limmie?”

“No sir. I’m a swimmer. But I did build a droid that plays Limmie,” Spencer answered confidently.

Tag: CPL_Macja

 

GM Post

HSN Morning Headlines

• Rosty Bassell arrives on Euceron under heavy security and Jedi escort to be tried on multiple counts of capital murder; arraignment scheduled for Monday

---

What We Learned: Week 5


After aggressively bringing in Ryloth and Kashyyyk in the offseason, Lokensgaard is already considering membership changes and conference play has only just begun. Man, this guy really likes chaos, doesn’t he?

Agamar Packers – We respect Tim Dodd for criticising Lokensgaard. Considering the Membership Committee is meeting and the Packers are 1-4, we also think it’s probably not the smartest idea.

Bakura Miners – Honestly, since Penn was since he was the only full back in the 277 draft, we didn’t know if he was so good every other full back looked inept next to him or he was terrible and just the only graduating full back. We’re now voting for the former, except when Penn gives post-game answers to the press like this one.

Coruscant Senators – We’re going out on a limb here, but we bet that Gark S’rily is probably thinking about drafting some stud forwards in 278.

Euceron Storm – The Chenkabukk for MVP bandwagon is rolling now! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Hapes Consortium Buccaneers – Losing by only four points to the top team in the League is nothing to sneeze at. Unless you’re a head coach/GM tandem that has won multiple Galactic Cups and were brought in to turn the C-Bucs into champions, that is.

Kashyyyk Rangers – Given how the Rangers have played in the midst of a riot and after culturally insensitive remarks, they should consider hiring people to insult them before each game.

Mando’ade Mercs – We sure hope the Mercs have a plan for when they leave Mandalore, because this is going to be another frustrating season for them when all is said and done.

Nar Shaddaa Smugglers – John Huntington is suddenly a good coach. Like a really good one. Does Kaitlyn Vehn just make everyone around her awesome?

Ralltiir Starkillers – The Starkillers have now won 11 straight regular season games. That’s got to be some kind of a record. Interns! Have you found out if we’re right yet? And get us more caf!

Rydonni Prime Monarchs – The entire Monarchs organization should pull for the Miners to win out--mainly because the Monarchs would really like every other team to lose so they can make the playoffs and also because playing the Miners again in the playoffs would probably mean the Monarchs are going back to the Final.

Ryloth Rough Riders – If they hand’t been playing the Smugglers, we would have fallen asleep during Ryloth’s game. In fact, we’ve schedule nap time during their Week 6 tilt with Ylesia.

Ylesia Lightning – Need. More. Scoring. And nerfbell.

TAG: Bardan_Jusik CPL_Macja jcgoble3 Jedi Gunny JM_1977 Rebecca_Daniels Runjedirun Tim Battershell Vehn

 

IC: Charles "Chuck" Bonaven
Mehsla Vhetin, Keldabe, Mandalore

The Packers were in town and despite the best efforts of Ms. Felps the fans of the Mando'ade Mercs had packed the Meshla Vhetin to capacity. Taking in the game from the owners box with her Chuck could tell that she was upset, but there was nothing as could be done about that now. She had taken her best shot at sabotaging this season and forcing a move and she had misfired. Of course the
fans could see none of this, nor did the players on the field know the efforts she had gone through thus far this season. Those wouldn't be made apparent until after the game was over. For now the team was in the middle of probably their best game played thus far in the 277 season.

Lieznam was on fire, controlling play at the offensive end. Time after time he pushed the ball to the open man with ease and even when the Packers defense did get to him he improvised ways to extend the play and keep the offense rolling. Daryc and Arock were the primary beneficiaries of this as they caught pass after pass from the young full forward and dumped them into the net or above the bar for points. If Pedro had been on his game the team would have scored even more, but he was in the midst opf another case of "bad hands" and dropped nearly everything sent his way. Clearly playing in front of a full stadium didn;t sit well with his nerves. Fortunately the other forwards were picking him up.

They almost didn't need to though as the defense stepped up as they had in every home game this season. Yes the offense tended to get the glory in the ELL, but defense won championships, and the Mercs hadn't allowed an opponent to score double digits yet this season in the Meshla Vhetin. If contrasted sharply with their road defense which had allowed 32 points aganst the Rangers and a whopping 40 against the undefeated Starkillers, but it showed that the potential for greatness was there.

It all ended up with a lopsided 26-8 victory, the biggest win for the Mercs this year. Johnny Limmie came off the field flashing his "money sign"



and their fans ate it up. Chuck couldn't help himself as he too stood and cheered for the team which had started conference play with a decisive win. Ms. Felps wasn't as enthusiastic, "Oh shut up Chuck..."

---

Home locker room, following the game.

Chuck had been forced to tag along with the twi'lek owner as she made her way to the Mercs locker room. The press hadn't been allowed in yet, in fact they wouldn't be allowed in at all anymore under a new directive from her. Players would be made available after dressing in the press room, but the locker room was now to be off limits. As he neared the door, Chuck found out why.

"Hey there's no hot water in the shower!" he could hear being yelled from one of the players (Daryc he thought) inside.

"..and now the whirlpool is broken." another could be heard through the door.

"That's it, I have it with this nickle and dime stuff. I'm going to get that witch on the comm..." This was clearly coach Braun, taking the side of his players.

It was at that moment that Felps and Chuck burst into the locker room, causing many of the players who were in various states of undress, to scatter. But Coach Braun stood his ground defiantly and very much naked. He looked Felps up and down and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Don't you think you should put on a towel Mr...."

"I'm too old to go diving into lockers, and we're out of towels."

She shrugged. "I can take it if you can." She walked over and looked Lieznam over appreciatively as he stood in front of his own locker. "Did you have a problem?" She asked now, with a sickly sweet tone that belied her innocence in the matter.

"The whirlpool is broke, all we have is dirty towels and now there is no hot water in the showers."

She nodded, feigning concern. "The pipes in this building are old and rusty," she started, but no one with two brain cells rubbing together would believe that. The building was practically brand new! She saw that no one believed her and changed her tune. "Fact is, we lost a lot of money on the Satine game. I simply can't afford for the luxuries that you players are all used to now." The players all looked to one another furtively, though Chuck thought he heard a low growl coming from some of the Mandalorian players.

"If I could have gotten anyone to come out and watch that game, none of this would be necessary." She started to walk out towards the door now, Chuck in tow behind her. "You're all lucky I can still afford to pay your salaries."

---

One week later, 5 minutes prior to opening kick, The Game of Rivals.

Looking down at the players performing their last pre game tasks Chuck knew that it didn't matter what Felps could do to them, they would all show up for this match. No two teams hated each other more than the Mercs and Smugglers. Today would be a game of bone crushing hits, and regardless of how freely the Refs let the two teams play, Chuck knew that by the end of the game there would be blood on the field.

The fans all knew it too, and their taunting and booing of the Smugglers had begun before the team had even made it out of the tunnel and into the field. Felps watched it all with a bored look on her face. She knew that the Mercs had likely already met their attendance goals for the season and that she would have to try something else to get the team moved away from Mandalore. If not at the end of this season, then certainly after the next. But Chuck didn't have time to worry about that now. Right now he just wanted to enjoy The Game of Rivals.

TAG: Vehn

 

IC: Jed Ortmeyer
Korthe residence, Many Hours Earlier

Jed finally stirred, waking up slowly. It was a foreign bed, that was for sure, and he was all alone. Pam had obviously long since gotten up; she certainly had intensity. That’s what he liked about her, that unwavering devotion to the game. But he did miss having her next to him in the bed, her smooth skin against his as they lay snoozing soundly under the covers. What had happened last night was no accident, and he had no regrets whatsoever for it. He had wanted to do that for many years, but had finally gotten the chance to share the moment with the Zeltron.

Slowly getting out of bed, he slipped on his pants that had been discarded on the floor and staggered out of the bedroom, still trying to get blood flowing in his legs and the coordination between legs and feet together. Pam was sitting at the dinner table, going over some notes on her datapad. She looked up to see Jed staggering in from the bedroom. “Morning, sleepyhead,” she said with a smirk before looking back down at the electronic device.

“Do you always get up this early?” Jed asked slowly.

“It’s game-day, of course I do,” the Zeltron said. “I have to get my mind ready for today. Senatorial Showdown and all.”

“But come on, I’m here. Isn’t that cause for staying in bed for even fifteen minutes longer?” Jed asked.

“You’re a funny man, Jed,” Pam said as she shook her head. “As much as I would have liked to have done that, there is a game today, and that takes precedence. Especially one that if I lose could cost me my job. And then it’s your problem to go on without me.”

“More incentive to win today, then,” Jed said as he sat down in a chair across the table. “The Miners have a solid team as usual. We’re going to need everything we can muster today to win.”

“First and foremost, we need to score points,” Pam said. “I’m frustrated beyond belief that we have 24 points scored all season. That’s beyond ludicrous. And your head is in the crossfire, I’m afraid, almost as much as mine is. If we don’t show up today, both of us might be cut.”

“I wouldn’t mind. More time to spend with you naked in bed,” Jed said with a wink.

“Look, buster, just because I slept with you last night doesn’t mean we’re going steady or anything,” Pam said. “You’re still going to have to go a long way before you truly understand what makes me tick.”

“I fully intend to find out,” Jed said. “Very soon, in fact.”

“Dream on.”

“You don’t think I’m capable?”

“I think you’re perfectly capable, Jed, but you’re going to have to show more than just some good bedroom moves to really have my heart. Even though I think it already kinda belongs to you anyways,” the Zeltron commented.

“So you admit that you love me?” Jed asked, trying to coax an answer out of her.

“We just slept together last night, didn’t we? I think that counts for something.”

“But anyone can do that with an attractive other. I want to make sure that this isn’t some passing fancy of yours,” Jed said.

Pam just sighed and looked back up at the offensive coordinator. “Jed, when I take actions, I mean it. There’s no fooling around with me. I like to make things happen, so what I do is no accident. I don’t regret last night; I’ve been wondering about that for some time now. But that doesn’t mean I’m ready to go full-on with you. You may have me on the cusp of wanting to love you unconditionally, but until then, you’re just going to have to deal with potential disappointment.”

“I would if we were in a serious relationship anyways,” Jed pointed out.

“Just let it go,” Pam said before returning to her notes. “You need to get your plans together for today.”

“Right. Then I’ll start it off the right way,” Jed said. He stood up, walked around the table, and pushed Pam’s datapad aside. When she looked up at him to ask why he had done that, the answer was a long, slow, passionate kiss between the two of them. Yes they weren’t officially dating, but Jed knew this was a good step towards that point. When their lips unlocked, he had to ask another question. “Is shooting points under the bar right now too rough for you, or can you handle another round?”

“Save it,” Pam said.

“As a former forward, you know how much I hate saves,” Jed commented.

“That’s the idea,” the Zeltron quipped. “You’re going to have to deal with it until we do go all-in.”

“So it’s certain, then.”

“Perhaps. You’ll just have to wait to find out.”

---

IC: Christine Gamble
Senator Stadium, Outside the Locker Room

Christine made her way through the catacombs of Senator Stadium several hours before the game was slated to begin. It was the Senatorial Showdown; that was big news around these parts. Yes the Miners were 4-1 and coasting on their way to the playoffs, and the Senators were 0-5 and already looking forward to next season. But there was hatred between these teams and their fans, no matter the record. And Christine hated the Miners. They had cost her a chance to see the playoffs last year, and had started the major slide in her rookie year. She wanted to punch them in the nose for last year’s heartbreaker game.

But things had changed in that time. She was now captain of the Senators, newly minted during the week. The press conference that had made it official had drawn a packed house; even though the Senators sucked, the media saw enough potential to come out and feature the story. She was big news, and with that came a lot of publicity. On her way in, she had been accosted by several reporters wanting to ask her how it felt to be going into her first game as captain, especially with the Showdown being her proving ground. She had said that she wasn’t preparing for this game any differently than she had for any other game in her career. Just the stitching and the letter on the uniform were different. If they liked that answer, she doubted, but she didn’t want to say anything to the contrary. She wasn’t in position to say anything else with her team and its dismal position in the eyes of the League and the fans.

As she walked, she hoped that this would finally be the game where she would break through and get that elusive win. She could barely remember the 23-6 win over Corellia that had started last year off. Things had seemed so normal back then. That was before the losing streak, before the trade rumors, before the injury that had put her in her place. She wanted to return to that hallowed ground of the winner’s circle, even though this game meant nothing for her team. A win would only bomb their draft position, it was argued, so why try? Perhaps another good player could be mined from the Draft, and could make an immediate impact.

But she wasn’t one for looking into the future. In her way were the Bakura Miners and their inflated egos. She wanted to knock them down a peg today, even if it meant hurting draft position. She wanted to break the nine-game losing streak she was on. She had to win.

---

IC: Ava Killenger
Field, Pregame Warmups

Ava warmed up on the field thirty minutes prior to the game with her teammates. The stands were pretty much empty right now, but that was to be expected. She would be shocked if a quarter of the stadium was filled, and if 75% of those fans weren’t Miners faithful. They hadn’t done anything to attract the fans back, so why should anyone pay money to see them? It had finally come down to her career and what she was willing to do to extend that for a little while longer. That’s what she had riding on today’s game.

“You’re looking good today, Killenger,” Jed Ortmeyer commented as he watched the forwards warm up. “You feeling all right after last week?”

“I’ll see when we get to the game,” Ava commented. She had undergone extensive bacta treatment after that last game, and she wasn’t sure if her nose was up to taking another beating today. It had taken most of a day to get that bleeding to stop, and she didn’t want to have to go through that again.

“Well, we have to both hope you’re up to this,” Ortmeyer commented before walking away. Ava noticed that he seemed rather bouncy today; she wondered why. Maybe facing his former team was really firing him up?

Ava took a break from her warmups after doing a passing drill, and then she looked over to the nearby seating when she heard her name yelled out. She saw a half dozen of the youths from the Drug Rehab Center she had visited the prior week standing there. Deciding to talk to them instead, she went over to have a chat with them. The first one she could make out was Ilena, the high schooler she had talked to and played catch with, leaning on the metal railing. She was beaming from ear to ear at being here.

“So, how are you all liking the experience here so far?” Ava asked as she stared up at them from the playing surface.

“It’s great!” commented a younger girl. “Never thought I would get to see a game here.”

“It’s going to be fun,” a teenage boy said.

“That’s just because you’re going to ogle their cheerleaders the whole time,” another boy commented snidely.

“Shut it,” the other boy said. “I know you’re going to do that too.”

“I’ll try to score a goal for you lot today,” Ava commented.

“I’d like that,” Ilena said.

Then Ava could sense another presence around her. She whipped her head around to see Christine standing there in her black home kit, the bright orange ‘C’ emblazoned on her chest. “What’re you doing?” she asked.

“These are the kids I told you about from the Rehab clinic,” Ava replied. “I got them tickets through the team to see today’s game.”

“That’s a nice gesture,” Christine said, nodding. She then looked up at the youths. “Heya there. Is Ava filling your heads with propaganda that she’s the best player on this team, because I know I’m the best. Everyone knows that.”

“Whoa, Christine Gamble!” said the younger girl excitedly. “Can I please, please, PLEASE, have your autograph?”

“Sure, why not,” Christine said with a shrug. She signed a piece of flimsy for the girl, who grinned so wide that it was amazing how her mouth didn’t fall out of whack. “So, where y’all sitting?”

“200-level,” Ava said.

“Club seats?”

“Yep,” Ava replied.

“Nice work,” Christine said. “I hear those things are pretty sweet. Maybe not as swank as the team hotels, but still pretty nice.”

Then they could hear another voice. “Gamble! Killenger! What are you doing?” asked Gark S’rily. The Bothan walked over to join them. “This is called ‘warmups’ for a reason.”

“Relax, Coach,” Christine said.

“These are the youth I requested tickets for today, from the Drug and Alcohol Rehab clinic,” Ava explained. “I sent in the request on the way back from Kashyyyk.”

“Hm, I do seem to recall something like that,” Gark said, wracking his brain. Me’lin had mentioned a ticket requisition order from a player, but he hadn’t know who for and why. Now it all made sense. “Rehab clinic, you say? Does this have to do something with Dr. Wor referring you there?”

“Yep,” Ava said. “I thought these kids would like to come see a game instead of being stuck back at the clinic.”

“That’s a nice gesture,” Gark said. He then looked up to the youth. “Welcome to Senator Stadium,” he said. “I’m sure I don’t need introduction.” After signing a couple of autographs, the Bothan walked away. “Make sure to get in your reps before the game,” he said to the two players before doing so.

Then the next ones to bother them were a media team. An attractive Hapan female was holding her wired microphone that was attached to the camera held by a male Zabrak. “What’s the story here?” the woman asked. Ava explained herself, and then the camera started rolling for an interview. Ava hadn’t intended for this to happen, but now she was going to get her mug on the nightly news, and for the right reason. Undoubtedly, during this crappy season, this story would provide a bit of empathy and warmth into the Senators organization.

“How does it feel to be able to help these youths who have troubled pasts?” a question came.

“It felt like the right thing to do,” Ava answered. “I know what they’re going through, and it’s painful. It’s tough to break an addiction when you have little to no help outside of yourself. So I wanted to give them something they could remember fondly as they fight their inner demons.”

The reporter asked the kids a few general questions before wrapping up the interview. She shook hands with Ava before walking away.

“I have a feeling you’re going to be famous for this,” Christine commented as she watched the media team wander away.

“I don’t care if I am or not,” Ava said. “I’ve got a game to play.”

“And a win to collect, right?”

“Yeah. A win would be nice.”

That night, regardless of the Senator-Miner score, “Killenger’s Kids” would be the headline of the night on the news. That was a big deal.

---

Jed prowled around the team warmups, checking in on his forwards. Ynisse Zalt was ready to go after sitting out last week with a tender ankle, and she would be thrown into the fire immediately. She was going to make her ELL debut against Falene Trieste, whom the Twi’lek had played with for several years at PCNS and won a Galactic Championship with. Now they were on opposite sides ready to square off. That would be a big storyline. Anya Amasova, the Hapan forward whom had been seen as the dregs of the Senators-C-Bucs trades, had proven that she had some staying power, and the Senators would need her today. Maximus Qorbus, still scoreless after five games played, was going to start at corner. Yes he could still be benched, but at some point the Nautolan needed to get some trade value in the bank. Either that or the team was just throwing him at the wall and hoping he would finally break out of the slump. They had to try.

Also up from Thyferra were old stalwart Alex Renhorn, two-year player Voontoo, and the newcomer Orrin Calcutt. The Kiffar was the first of the three players in the Alsakan deal in the offseason to make it to the Elite League, and was expected to play solid ball from the corner forward spot. Voontoo, the Rodian, had utility forward plastered all over his intangibles, and was the forgotten part of the deal that had sent Jerek Deter to Cloud City. Now he was going to make his League debut as well. Renhorn had several Senator stints throughout her career, but had never spent the majority of any season with them. She was a fringe forward at best, but could bring some pop if necessary.

Then he saw Pam doing her rounds. She had decided to go fancy today, wearing a striped dress that went down to her knees, and had a team jacket over her upper body to at least look more professional for the Limmie audience. She had done things like this earlier in her coaching career with Thyferra, but had gone into more fitting attire for coaching starting around 270. He thought she looked stunning, though, so he didn’t mind. He made the excuse to leave his forwards and go talk to her, even though they had driven over here together.

“I must say you look stunning,” he said.

“You said that before we left,” Pam commented.

“I know, but looking at you again makes me smile,” the blonde-haired coordinator said.

“Just focus on the game, like I told you earlier.”

“I’ll focus on the game, sure, but then I’ll make sure to make reservations at a fancy restaurant for a post-game meal. Just the two of us.”

“Always thinking with your stomach.”

“I owe you one for the . . . hospitality . . . last night. And then I’d like to find out if the two-night stay is possible at the place. You know, one bed, two patrons . . .”

Pam smiled. “Alright, Jed, I’ll make you a deal. If we win today, I’ll go out with you tonight for a meal, and then we’ll get comfortable at my place again. No holds barred tonight.”

“Then we’d better get that win today,” Jed said with a wink before walking away. Now he was glowing; life seemed good even if the Limmie didn’t.

---

Christine sat through the Zeltron head coach’s pre-game speech, and then her name was called. She went up to the front of the locker room and stared at her teammates, all 29 of them. It was her first captain’s speech, and she hadn’t prepared for it. “I don’t have anything really prepared to say,” she started. “It’s been a transitional week, to say the least, and I guess I forgot to write my speech.

But, I’d like my assistant captains to come up here.” Jenna Leed and Izzi Polakaya, the former captain now turned assistant captain, both came up. Riff Persnor, a former assistant captain, had been demoted to Thyferra, so there was not a third assistant here as was usual with the Senators.

“I know that we’ve had a lot of roster turnover this season. It’s been rough dealing with new faces in different places all season, and we haven’t done well. But that has to end today. We can’t give the media any more fodder to say against us. We’re already looking forward to next season, yes, but we should at least play some decent Limmie this season. We played the Rangers hard last week, and that’s what we need to do again today. The Miners are going to come in here and think they can walk us over. And they have every right to do so. But we have the opportunity to fight back, to make them hurt after sixty minutes. I want to see energy and hustle out there. The entire galaxy has written us off, and the Commissioner probably wants to get rid of us. So we have to prove to them that doing so would be a huge mistake. Today has to be a win, or else things are going to get even messier. And that’s all I have to say.

“Way to be positive,” Ava commented when Christine returned to the team huddle.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” the captain said.

“Then we should make some good news today,” Ava replied.

“That we should,” Christine said. “That we should.”

When the Senators came out of the tunnel, they saw that the stands were still mostly empty. Christine frowned for a moment before finishing her jog.

“Quiet here again today,” Izzi said.

“Then we have a job to do today and next week, to get those people back in the stands,” Christine said. “We have to win today.”

No matter the score, she couldn’t give up. The sting of the blowout losses still ached in her head, and she wanted those pains to go away. Today was another chance to get rid of the losing streak and finally get back on the right side of the standings column. And that would start with Zonko Lyriss, another one of the old CorTech products that Christine felt she had faced off against at least once in college, facing off against her in the Miners’ road whites. By the end of the game, she knew the Kiffar’s uniform would be full of grass stains, because when Christine Gamble got mad, she got angry. And that was never a good thing for opposing players.

TAG: Trieste

 

Big Board!


Week Six:
Quinlyn Zha'rel, (Female, Half-Nagai, Defensive Back, Sposia Medical University)
Game Line: 14 tackles, 2 interceptions, 3 loose ball recoveries, 1 forced fumble, W vs. TBA, 38-19
Analysis: Very strong game from this prospect. Is definitely trying to raise her draft stock, and could be a sleeper in the third round if she keeps this up.

Noj Elbog (Male, Human, Corner Forward, National University)
Game Line: 1 bar point, 1 point scored, 2 shots on goal, 1 loose ball recovery, W @OSU, 8-4
Analysis: Rough game for both offenses, but Elbog scored a point, so that’s what matters.

Welnlseh (Male, Selkath, Corner Back, Manaan Technical Institute)
Game Line: 13 tackles, 3 forced fumbles, 2 loose ball recoveries, L @TBA, 40-19
Analysis: It’s really unfair when you have such a good game but your team loses by double their points scored. But at least you know this guy has skills.

Lowatha, (Wookiee, Male, Half Forward, University of Kashyyyk)
Game Line: 3 turnovers, L vs. TBA, 22-9
Analysis: Nightmarish game for this otherwise-hot prospect. Now we need to see if this is a major slump, or just a speed bump for him.

Megan Meeks (Human, Female, Corner Forward, The Ord Sabaok University)
Game Line: 1 goal, 3 points scored, 3 shots on goal, 1 turnover, L vs. NU, 8-4
Analysis: She scored a goal, but her team couldn’t get it done. Sometimes you just can’t control how a game will go.

Kaat Stun (Hapan, Female, Goaltender, Ralltiir University)
Game Line: 7 PA, 9 Saves, W @CU, 8-7
Analysis: Made a daring last-second save to seal the game for her team. Could be a second-round prospect at this point.

Elgin Cormorant (Umbaran, Male, Midfielder, UB Cape Suzette)
Game Line: 4 tackles, 2 bar points, 2 points scored, 1 interception, 1 turnover, L vs. PCNS, 31-29
Analysis: So-so game from the midfielder. Could do better, but no midfielder did well in this shootout game.

Zelena Wiles (Human, Female, Half Back, PCNS)
Game Line: 3 tackles, W @UBCS, 31-29
Analysis: Rough, rough game for the Ranger defense and Wiles. They have to do better next week if they want to compete and Wiles wants to prove she belongs as a draft pick.

Landra Wygins (Zelosian, Female, Corner Forward, Coruscant Polytechnic Institute)
Game Line: 2 turnovers, 1 shot on goal, L @UK, 22-2

Analysis: Ugh, not the kind of game Wygins wanted. Her draft stock is falling right now, and she needs to bring it back up if she wants to be drafted.

TAGS to Trieste, Vehn, Rebecca_Daniels, Tim Battershell, Bardan_Jusik, CPL_Macja, jcgoble3, Runjedirun

 

IC: Polis Vayne
Concordia

Prior to this week, Polis had never been the head coach of a Limmie team. Now he was standing here on enemy turf ready to celebrate his first career coaching win, a 27-11 masterpiece over the home Crusaders. It would take a while to sink in, he knew, but there was no spoiling the moment. He had finally won a game as coach, and that meant he had some momentum going through the rest of the season.

His offense today had been spectacular. With Sulena Gure recently demoted back to Thyferra as offensive coordinator, the offense had run smoothly. Recent demotions Pella Lovenforth, Riff Pernsor, and Maff Biskis all had large hands in helping the Force to victory. Lovenforth, who had started the season with Thyferra, been promoted to Coruscant, and then demoted again two weeks later, continued to show why she had been traded for in the past offseason. Persnor, an assistant captain with the Senators who hadn’t scored for them in four games, came out to play today and showed why he still had talent. Biskis also chipped in five points.

On defense, newcomers helped out quite a bit. Raley Tenegat had a decent game here, and Patti Meter, playing her first Futures League game, had a monster outing against the Crusaders. Both of the former first-round picks had a wealth of talent, Polis figured. They just needed to show it every week at the Elite League level. Ziva Kender turned in another nice performance in goal, proving why she had still in the organization. Overall, things were going good so far.


But the season wasn’t over yet. The Force still had several more games to go, and they were not out of the woods just yet. Commenor had pole position in the league due to their win over Thyferra two weeks prior, and several other teams were close behind and ready to strike. The Force couldn’t rest on their laurels and expect to win. The Elite League was more unforgiving than this league was, but nothing ever came easy. They had to come out with fire the next week if they wanted to win. And that was just the way Polis liked it.

TAG: No One

 

GM Post

With Week 6 approaching, you may now begin to send in your draft prospects for the 278 Elite League Limmie Draft. I will start using the Big Board players. Please let me know if you submitted any of those players and you would like them to count towards your mandatory three prospects to participate in the Draft.

TAG: Bardan_Jusik CPL_Macja jcgoble3 Jedi Gunny JM_1977 Rebecca_Daniels Runjedirun Tim Battershell Vehn

 

OOC: Oops, forgot my bets for the week.

Ylesia at Ryloth: Ylesia, 25,000
Nar Shaddaa at Mando'ade: Mando'ade, 20,000
Euceron at Agamar: Euceron, 20,000
Kashyyyk at Hapes: Hapes, 25,000
Rydonni Prime at RalltiirL Rydonni Prime, 20,000
Bakura at Coruscant: Coruscant, 15,000

TAG to Trieste

 

IC: Lilly Vehn​

The Ord Sabaok University vs. National University (Coruscant)​

​

Lilly yawned. This was a boring game. A tight, defensive struggle, which would’ve been nice if Lilly and Shay Dionne hadn’t set their scouting sights on Ord Sabaok University’s offense. Correction, the Ord Sabaok University offense. Lilly groaned. She couldn’t stand it when players would introduce their collegiate school at the pro level. Always that annoying emphasis. Always. There was one player in particular that Lilly wanted to see put some fire in their play. Her name was Megan Meeks and today she was playing up to her namesake with one struggle after another against an unusually stout National University defense. Working in her favor, however, was the fact that Meeks seemed to be the only player for OSU that was working it today.​

​

“Sithspit, a turnover by Meeks,” Shay commented as Lilly recorded the interception with her datapad. The footage would be analyzed later toward the end of the collegiate season to determine if Megan Meeks was worth the interest of the Nar Shaddaa Smugglers. So far the young corner forward had turned in a modest game.​

​

“She could work on her foot placement with her shots,” Lilly said as Megan fired another one toward the NU goalkeeper only to have it easily deflected.​

​

“Trainable offense,” Shay said.​

​

The NU offense roared back down the field and put up a bar point. The match was getting out of hand here. Once again, Meeks got the ball in her hands, dodged a NU defender, juked another, faked the goalie on the hard count and went in for a goal putting OSU’s total to 4.​

​

“Not bad, not bad,” Lilly said, “John would have a field day as a rotational player.”​

​

“Rotational? You kidding me, Meeks is the only thing going for this team today. She could start,” Shay responded.​

​

“And who would she replace? McCloud? Lerouex?” Lilly shot back.​

​

“How about Gunn,” Shay suggested.​

​

“The guy is a system player. He’s a body at this point. The Smugglers rarely send him the ball. They let McCloud or Brousard or someone else do the scoring. Besides, think of all the estrogen screaming around that starting line-up, could be dangerous,” Lilly said.​

​

“She could fit in well. Anyway that estrogen you so righteously pointed out is doing all right for Hapes,” Shay said.​

​

“Hapes would be lucky to sniff the playoffs this year. The Smugglers don’t do ‘all right’. They do excellence. How many fingers am I holding up?” Lilly said.​

​

Shay stuck out her tongue as she counted ten. One for each ring the franchise had won in its storied history. “Point taken.”​

​

The rest of the game was uneventful. National University won. Meeks looked depressed as she trudged off the field.​

​

“You looked like the only hope for this team out there today,” Lilly said to Meeks as she walked by.​

​

Megan paused in mid-stride and looked up at Lilly. “Think so? I thought it was one of my off days.”​

​

“If that’s one of your bad days I’d like to see what you can do when it really matters,” Shay said.​

​

“Who are you guys?” Megan asked.​

​

“Scouts, Nar Shaddaa Smugglers,” Lilly said.​

​

Megan’s face lit up. “You think I did good out there?”​

​

“Good enough for this level,” Lilly responded.​

​

“I should hit the showers,” Megan said with a smile.​

​

“We’ll keep our eyes on you, missy,” Shay said.​

​

“I like her,” Lilly said.​

​

“So do I,” Shay responded, “so do I.”​

​

Lilly was tired after an exhaustive day of collegiate limmie review. She collapsed on the bed just in time to catch the start of one of the great rivalries in all of professional sports: The Game of Rivals. There it was again, that ridiculous emphasis, but whomever had come up with the rivalry name had to be congratulated. It wasn’t another battle or a war or some trophy or something fluffy. It was simply good, old, fashioned, hatred.​

​

The Smugglers shook hands with the Mercs. That was as far as the respect was going to go. The game was about to start and suddenly Lilly didn’t feel so tired anymore. Suddenly she wanted to see the Smugglers crunch the bucket-heads where it counted. She wanted to see Taab all depressed and boo-hooing in the owner box. And then she remembered: Taab didn’t own the team anymore. Vhett was gone. So much had changed. So much so that the rivalry almost, almost, lost its fervor.​

​

The game started and the punching and hard hitting erupted on the pitch.​

​

Lilly laughed and smiled as an afternoon of unabated violence greeted her lusty eyes. Yes, this was Elite League Limmie. Yes, the referees were not going to interfere in this particular blood sport, oh, and yes, how dare she ever doubt that somehow this rivalry had lost any of its fervor.​

​

Game on, Mando’ade, game on.​

​

Tag: Jedi Gunny (Mention of big board peeps), Bardan_Jusik (you know why I'm tagging you, don't you. I can feel your anger, it gives you strength, makes you powerful....oh yes, I'm afraid the Nar Shaddaa Smugglers will be quite operational when your friends arrive!)​

 

To: Bennett Halverson
Rossum Bookmakers

Ms. Halverson,

I would like to place the following wagers for the ELL Week 6 matchups:

Smugglers at Mercs: 50,000 credits on the Smugglers to win
Lightning at Rough Riders: 50,000 credits on the Lightning to win
Storm at Packers: 50,000 credits on the Storm to win
Miners at Senators: 50,000 credits on the Miners to win
Rangers at Buccaneers: 50,000 credits on the Buccaneers to win
Monarchs at Starkillers: 100,000 credits on the Monarchs to win

Thank you and have a good day,

Client 24601

TAG: Trieste

 

IC: Korlo Penin
Game day vs Coruscant

The game against Coruscant began with a near-empty stadium, and ended with a fight. The Lightning couldn't get out of there fast enough, though a win felt good, considering everything going on.

And it was his first.Well, as an ELL player; he'd gotten his fair share of wins in the PLL. More than that, a goalless game! How many of those did even ELL goalkeepers get? Right after he'd held Bakura to 8 points, too.

Someone ruffled his hair from behind and he couldn't tell who and it didn't matter. His grin was back and infectious; even the Barabel Shahka had praise to share, if "this one iz a hunter worth keeping in the Lightning clan" and sissing to herself was praise.

It was doubly good to hear that the Commissioner had been at the game, had seen a win. Korlo didn't know how long he'd be with the team, be in the ELL, but he hoped Ylesia's losing streak wouldn't lead to a demotion. He had to work harder to keep that from happening. They might have a second chance in the last game of the season, when Lokensgaard would be there again. Hopefully that would impress him.

But Kasin's disappearance still loomed over them, despite the win. Everyone was off, and their win hadn't been easy. A part of him wished he'd gotten the chance to meet her, but the looks on the faces of her friends told him that maybe he was better off this way. Though he knew it had been some years since Ylesia's promotion, spotting those that had made that transition was easy - they were the ones most off their game. But after a win, finally, it didn't sound like coach wanted to make any changes. Hopefully against Euceron they'd be able to keep things moving.

--------

IC: Lejique Beiron
Game day vs Euceron

Things didn't keep moving against Euceron. Their forwards were shut down again, and only through their defense and Penin's play did they keep the score down.

Injuries didn't help the matter. Early in the first half Litan Kuna limped off after an awkward fall; Nay'shyk stepped in for her, but was out of place for the rest of the game. Closer to halftime, Arren missed a tackle and didn't get up right away; she had to grip her datapad tight to keep from jumping up and interfering.

Just after the second half began, she snuck down to the visitor's room to check on the two injuries. Fans would want to know right away anyway, she told herself. Litan had twisted her knee and would miss at least the next game; Arren had managed to dislocate his shoulder and do further damage to the surrounding tissue that would take some time to heal. Four to six weeks, their doctor guessed. The rest of the season.

"Relax, Lejie, it's my fault." Arren seemed awfully calm when she finally got in to see him as the game continued. "Nothing anyone can do about it now, it wasn't anyone's fault but mine."

"You're out for the season, how can you be so- so relaxed?"

"I'm not, it's the painkillers." He cracked a smile. "And I guess… I don't know. I want to play but this season's a mess. Now I can look to next season. And maybe some time off without nosy General Managers around." Arren raised his eyebrows questioningly, but she shook her head.

"Later. I have to get back to the press box, watch our playoff hopes go down the refresher. You," she pointed a finger, "do what the doctor says. We need you back."

"We?" he asked expectantly, but she just smiled and left.

------

Game day vs Ryloth

There were a lot of changes on the field for this game. The only forward on the field who'd played the previous week was Captain Zoa Vra, the rest subbed and called up until Coach Zan was satisfied. Obviously some were to cover for their two injured players, but the rest wasn't entirely unexpected.

Eriadu's forwards had been tearing it up in the LFL, ranked first for points scored, though their defense needed serious work. Luckily offense was exactly what the Lightning needed.

While the LFL call-ups and substitutions looked thrilled, the three benched players were increasingly sour. At least they hadn't been sent down like Neeoorni Bodotor had been, but it was a near thing. Or stuck on the trading block like half of the Senators, though Lejique had no doubt their GM would jump on a trade for draft picks. Especially if this mass LFL call up didn't help.

Eriadu was going to suffer without their scoring, but they were an affiliate for just this reason: to supplement the main team when they needed it. And they needed it badly.

Lejique at least took solace in how busy she'd been covering all these changes. The last couple weeks had been slow for her unofficial investigation, hampered by distance and the time it took to run tests. The blood sample had been Weequay, and for the moment a dead end. But her friend at the lab had friends of her own, and with a promise of owing a big favour, had snuck it to the Ylesian police to run, in case there was a name associated.

She'd also talked to a good portion of the team, trying to create a timeline. Luckily Kasin was as social as she was, or else it might have been difficult to pinpoint when she disappeared. As it was, the timeframe was still huge, about 10 hours, nothing that would help. And her holocams back in Kasin's apartment had shown nothing, overheard nothing. What a waste of time

And things were looking up. Arren had been sent back to the Ylesia where he could be taken care of, and was going to keep snooping back on the planet. He'd already found out that Agamar had offered a couple detectives to help out, and that, for some reason, the Ylesian police had turned them down. Were they actively trying not to solve the case? Agamar's police, ASF, whatever, were known to be extremely good, exactly the sort to figure this all out quick and find the missing woman. Lejique would be happy to give up what she knew and hand it off to competent police, but it seemed that she had to keep at it.

She tapped out a text message to Arren, wondering idly if he knew who those two ASF detectives were. Maybe she could reach out on her own. No, they'd turn her in for breaking and entering, unless she neglected to mention that part. But they could do a lot, even without Ylesia's endorsement; she could even offer to pay them, her father had money to spare.

Later, though. She still, somehow, had this job that she kind of hated and kind of loved, and that meant putting this investigation aside and focusing on a Limmie game for a little while.


Roster changes:

From Eriadu:
Zodi Tirturat (Male Advozse) Center Half Forward
Romo Menda (Male Chagrian) Right Corner Forward
Emini Leth (Female Arkanian) Full Forward
Fuva Mu'tish (Female Bothan) Midfielder [reserve]

Subbed:
Ema Zostin (Chiss Female) Half Forward
Vursel Nay'shyk (Male Bothan) Full Forward
Bpa Mersac (Twi'lek Female) Midfielder

Benched:
Syra Kuna (Right Corner Forward)
Litan Kuna (Full Forward) [injury]
Zenro Ta (Right Half Forward)
Veiana Eitos (Left Half Forward)
Arren Cosh (Midfielder) [injury]

To Eriadu:
Neeoorni Bodotor (Left Corner Forward)

TAG: Jedi Gunny (for references to last last game, oops) jcgoble3 (for last game and LFL call-ups/changes) JM_1977 (for today's game, roster changes, etc) Tim Battershell (slight ASF mentions, more coming soon)

 

GM Post

Bonus rolls this morning to Bakura, Coruscant, Mando'ade, Nar Shaddaa, Ralltiir, and Ylesia.

Week 6 Results

Ylesia Lightning at Ryloth Rough Riders (13-9)
Nar Shaddaa Smugglers at Mando’ade Mercs (32-27)
Euceron Storm at Agamar Packers (14-33)
Kashyyyk Rangers at Hapes Consortium Buccaneers (12-13)
Rydonni Prime Monarchs at Ralltiir Starkillers (3-11)
Bakura Miners at Coruscant Senators (39-28)

---

Rossum account update

• Client 24601: +50,000, new account balance: 1,000,000 credits
• Client 214782: -25,000, new account balance: 350,000 credits

TAG: Bardan_Jusik CPL_Macja jcgoble3 Jedi Gunny JM_1977 Rebecca_Daniels Runjedirun Tim Battershell

 

IC: Shady Lerouex​

Nar Shaddaa Smugglers at Mando’ade Mercs ​

​

​

​

​

Meshla’Vhetin: one of the largest and most intimidating stadiums in the entire galaxy.​

​

Meshla’Vhetin: the home of the Mando’ade Mercs who had gone undefeated in their own stomping grounds this season.​

​

Meshla’Vhetin: the place where dreams go to die.​

​

Shady could feel the thick, heavy, almost putrid air of this intimidating atmosphere rolling across her chest, sucking the air out of her, choking her, pushing her to collapse and give in before the game had even begun. The amount of hatred for her, for her squad, was unfathomable. The Nar Shaddaa Smugglers were not just welcome, were not just playing a sporting event, they were literally the focal point of so much negative energy that Lerouex had trouble concentrating during the opening warmup prior to kickoff.​

​

It was no wonder that so many teams had lost in these miserable grounds. It was no wonder that the new battlefield for the Mando’ade Mercs had become meshgeroya. Here it was not the rows upon rows of the fallen as in a graveyard that weighed heavily on Lerouex’s mind, no, it was the unseen forces, the unseen torture, the pure, seething, energetic void that the Smugglers had stumbled into today that drained her very soul. She was not welcome here. She was the vanguard of an invasion force and the Mercs, both the fans and the players, had come today to defend their territory, their homes, their honor.​

​

“Se’o,” Shady grunted as she grudgingly shook hands with Manta Se’o who would be her prime adversary during today’s game.​

​

“Lerouex,” Manta replied with a firm grip.​

​

The two held their handshake a little too long. Eyes locked on one another in a deadly duel. Neither athlete blinking. This was serious. So much was at stake today. Playoff seeding, pole position down the stretch of the season, and bragging rights for an entire year. There would be sweat, there would be physical play, and most excitedly to the fans, there would be blood. Oh, the fields of Meshla’Vhetin would run dark with blood today. The people would have their entertainment. The players would have their suffering and their glory all in one.​

​

“That’s enough!” The referees grumbled breaking the two apart.​

​

“You know the rules. You know we won’t enforce them today. We know you guys hate one another so let’s dispense with the pleasantries. We'll let you fight hard, fight fast, but don’t kill one another. You hear me? Nobody frakking dies today on this pitch!” The head referee growled.​

​

Lerouex looked over at Mylessa McCloud who nodded. The Smugglers headed into a pre-game huddle. Lerouex once again fought to drown out the negative waves. She nearly collapsed under the weight of it all. McCloud spoke up, “Focus, ladies and gentlemen, focus! Lereoux, take Se’o out early and often. I want you create a lane. Most of our scoring today is going to come from your side. You hear me? Hit’em hard!”​

​

“Yeah, boss,” Lereoux responded.​

​

“Oya! Oya! Oya!” The crowd chanted. The stadium literally thundered. The heavens above could’ve been torn apart with the energy around here.​

​

​

The referees set the ball down at midfield. The first scrum was fierce, fast, hard hitting, knees were out, elbows extended, even a few sucker punches thrown in and still no whistles were blown. This wasn’t Limmie. This was war.​

Lereoux caught a nice threaded pass from Reaver to open up the first series. She high-stepped over Ciegarth, dodged Slappy Patton, and then was rocked hard by Se’o who squatted over her face while she tried to get up from the ground. The ball squirted out to somewhere unknown. Her head ringing, her ears burning with embarrassment, Lerouex tried to push Se’o off of her but he was too heavy.​

“Get off me, you frakker!”​

​

Se’o just laughed. So Lereoux did the only thing she could do. She popped him right between the legs. Se’o stopped laughing and collapsed to the ground. The next series went better with the Smugglers striking first blood. Se’o had to be pulled and didn’t return for a few runs. When he was back, it was all physical on their end of the pitch. Lereoux got wacked by a flying elbow in the face and crumpled to the ground, another ringer. Team doctors had to rush to her side. How long had she been down? She didn’t know. Her legs felt limp.​

​

“Lerouex, how many players on the pitch?” The team doctor asked helping Lerouex to her feet.​

​

“18,” Lereoux mumbled.​

​

The team doctor looked at his staff and shook his head.​

​

“You going to pull her?” Huntington asked rushing to Lerouex's side.​

​

“She can’t think straight. She got hit pretty hard!” The doctor replied.​

​

“I’m fine,” Lerouex slurred. “Put me back out there, damn your eyes!”​

​

“She shouldn’t go back out, John,” the team doctor explained.​

​

John frowned. There could be potential lawsuits if he ignored Lereoux’s health on this one. On the other hand, Lereoux was irreplaceable in their current offensive scheme. If she went down, well, the reserves would be picked on. A game as tight as this one, as high scoring as this one, it wasn’t going to bode well if he pulled her now.​

​

“Lereoux,” John said.​

​

“Yeah, Coach,” Shady replied.​

​

“You going to play for me?”​

​

“Until I drop dead, Coach,” Shady mumbled.​

​

“Can you see?” John asked moving a finger slowly in front of her eyes.​

​

Shady squinted. One of her eyes was bruised over. It would need to be cut. She lost track of John’s finger toward the edge of her right eye. Although it wasn’t the edge of her vision. It was​

near the center.​

​

“Uh, huh,” Shady said.​

​

“She can’t see, pull her, John, pull her,” the team doctor urged.​

​

“I can see, frak you!” Shady yelled, “Cut my eye, cut it!”​

​

“John, I’m leaving this one up to you,” the team doctor said.​

​

John looked over at Lereoux. She still had some fight in her. Damn lawsuits. They needed to win today. Not dance around like a bunch of stage performers.​

​

“If she says cut it, cut the damn thing,” John yelled and put on his headset. That was it. That was the final word.​

​

“This is gonna hurt, Shady,” the doctor said as he got out a sterilized knife.​

​

“I don’t frakking care,” Shady said, sweat and blood pouring down her puffy face.​

​

“You ready?” The doctor said raising the knife to her eyelid.​

​

“Cut me,” Shady replied with a grimace.​

​

The knife quickly sliced through flesh. Shady screamed. Minutes later she was back on the pitch, she was able to see, and the Nar Shaddaa Smugglers, who were down by nearly 10 points, surged back and never relinquished the lead. They ended up winning 32-27. By the end of the game, Lereoux wanted to die. She didn’t recognize the face staring back at her in the mirror of the locker room. That could only mean that she’d survived another bout with the Mando’ade​

Mercs. This one had been nasty. This one had taken her the full kilometer.​

​

She thought of Manta Se’o. She thought of the Mando’ade Mercs. Only one thought lingered in​

her mind.​

​

“My best enemy,” she whispered to nothing and no one.​

​

Tag: Bardan_Jusik (approved by the man himself)​

 

GM Post

HSN Morning Headlines

• Jury selection begins in Ternardiel trial on Nar Shaddaa

TAG: Vehn

 

IC: Christine Gamble
Senator Stadium, Coruscant

It was clear to Christine that this game was going to be a rough one for her after the first few minutes. The Miner offense had come to play today; they were loading the box with forwards and attacking mercilessly. Zonko Lyriss, the Kiffar, was giving her some issues thus far; he was making some plays and staying out of her sights half the time. When one ball got kicked out of bounds, Christine knew that she had to tighten the screws. Lyriss couldn’t get this much room to operate it. She had to lock it down.

But it didn’t seem to work as well as she wanted it to. Despite slowing Lyriss down from then on, she watched as the rest of the defense wilted under the intense pressure. Reena Wyley and Jamee Meels, who were the new starting half backs across from Jenna Leed, had been absolutely destroyed in this game, not having a chance to make any plays. It was brutal to watch them be so poor on the field. Rana Lel Dey, who had been benched two weeks earlier for her poor play, had to come back in for triage, although things didn’t get much better with her, Rainy Frantsen, and the other reserves. She had some success in her playing time, but not enough to make much of a difference. When she got pulled late in the game for Domino Derval, she just draped her head in a towel and left it there. This wasn’t how the game was supposed to go.

Where was the defense that had been in effect last week against Kashyyyk? Everything that could go wrong on defense had gone wrong. Assignments were missed, tackles were sloppy, and forced fumbles were few and far between on a Miners squad that just wanted it more today. Zeke Barbosa in goal had been shellacked in the first half, and was eventually pulled for rookie Jam Tarpals. The Gungan got his most extensive playing time of the season, but got walloped for 11 points off the bench. On the overall, it was a disaster, and now the media would be all over her for not being a good captain. This was not the way she wanted to start her captaincy, with a black mark loss.

When the horn blared for the end of the game, the Miners were triumphant once more. They were cruising for a meeting with Ralltiir the next week for control of the Solo Conference. That was so far away from the deep dark cave the Senators were living in now, with no hope of escape. With the results coming in throughout the day, there was no way they would make the playoffs now. They had three games left, but they meant nothing. The season was over before it had ever begun. And it just wasn’t fair; what had she done to deserve such cruel treatment? 10 losses straight on her record was unbearable.

But she had to put on a straight face and try to suck it up. So she went through the handshake line as normal, congratulating the Miners for a job well done but not wanting to say it. Someday things would be different. Someday she would win one of these games, and the Miners would be cowering in front of her. That someday seemed nice . . . if only it would ever come.

And then there was the meeting at the middle of the field with Alana Glencross. Christine had never tangled with her directly on the field before, but here was a surefire Hall-of-Famer, at the top of her game with a team that was going places. That was everything Christine knew she didn’t have. The fact Glencross felt the need to spend her time stooping down from her lofty pedestal to say anything to the defeated and overwhelmed first-time captain of a pseudo-LFL team was worthy of respect; there was a reason she had won several Duchess Eldin Awards. This was probably just another blatant awards grab by Glencross, but Christine hoped that such conduct wouldn’t be directed at her for someone else’s benefit. She didn’t need more disappointment.

“You guys played one hell of a game,” Christine said, despite the bitterness she harbored inside for the Miners and their red-headed captain. “Good luck next week against Ralltiir, because you’re going to need it against them.” She wanted to vomit rather than say those words, but she was a full captain now. She had to toe the line of respect here, even if she didn’t want to.

After a few more words and a handshake with Glencross, Christine left the field with her teammates, dirty, bruised, and defeated. They had tried hard today, but as usual that wasn’t enough. Demotion was staring them in the face, and a bead of sweat dripped down the corner back’s neck. There had to be some way to save face. But that seemed impossible now. She pulled a piece of turf from her hair that sat there mocking her, and it dropped back to the field harmlessly. Just like that turf piece, this squad was sinking downwards at a rapid pace.

---

IC: Ava Killenger



This was the sort of the game the Senators had needed all season. The offense, much maligned in their prior five games, was finally breaking out against the Miners. Ava had no idea why this was the case, but she wasn’t complaining. Perhaps this was the game she needed to save face before Sorcha Styles came off the DL the next week from her broken foot issues. Ganlin Costa was now back in shape, so she had a backup, but Styles would likely be the breaking point for her if she didn’t do well today when the team was rolling. She had to play hard and show the team that she was a valuable piece going forward.

Both offenses were rolling against the defenses. Unlike the prior week, which was a defensive struggle in the trenches, this was a free-flowing game where the defenses struggled to keep up. Ava was forced to watch as the Senator defense gave up another score to the Miners when a defender slipped and fell, allowing a clear shot on goal.

The next time up the field for the Senators, Ava knew she had to make a play. Horst Penn was a good full back across from her; the guy knew his Limmie, that was for sure. But rumor had it that he was really stupid. It was time to find that out for herself. Vail Pin, the Shistavanen corner forward, had the ball in the corner, and Ava looked to see who was open to receive it. When it became apparent that she could make the play here, she motioned to her teammate for the ball. Penn followed her as expected, but she had a little surprise for him. “Hey, Penn, your cleat’s untied!” she yelled at him.

As expected, Penn looked down at his cleats, and that was when the ball came to Ava’s grasp. She ran around the rookie and then looked to the goal. Comstock had the goal locked down from this angle, so Ava had to pass. Luckily Max Qorbus was right there, and the ball zipped over to him. The Nautolan responded with a rocket throw that drilled the back of the net for three points. That was his first score of the season, and something the Senators sorely needed after being burned on the other end.

Later on in the first half, the score was tight. Both teams weren’t giving an inch on offense, although the Miners still had a three-point lead. Ava had the ball on the feed from the corner, and Penn was in her face. She passed it out to Pin again and tried to back down Penn like Qorbus always did to his matchup. But she couldn’t make the rookie move, because he was just too good for this. So she had to get creative. She ran towards the midfield line, forcing the rookie to come out and try to pick her up again. The ball came back to her, and she turned on a dime, causing Penn to slip up a little bit. This was just enough space for her to burst through on a charge to the goal. The right corner was open, because Comstock had been caught looking at Qorbus, who was posting up his defender on the block. Ava prepared herself to throw, and let the ball go. However, she was drilled in the back by someone, and she fell to the turf. Still, the ball found its way into the goal for three points. Ava looked up from the field and smiled. She had scored a goal; that was the one she had promised the Rehab kids.

A hand was extended to her, and she looked up to see Thulius Jomas. “Nice play,” he said. He hauled Ava to her feet. “Now do that again.”

And Ava did. At the start of the second half, with the score still tight, she caught a pass from Anya Amasova, dodged a defender, then passed it over to Pin, who had position down low. The Shistavenen passed it back on the give-and-go play, and Ava split the defense perfectly. She now had the ball between the Miner defenders, and then she kicked the ball. It clanked off the crossbar and deflected off in a different direction. However, she laid out and the ball made contact with her head. It had a lot of momentum on the contact, and screamed into the goal past Comstock’s fingers. Two goals for her today; that was a brilliant game for her, exactly what she needed.

And then things went downhill. The Miners started to pull away, and finally Pam Korthe had seen enough of Zeke Barbosa in goal. She put in Jam Tarpals in goal, but the rookie found it difficult to hold his ground against a relentless Miner attack. The Senator offense was tasked with making plays to keep up, and Ava was doing her best. But Penn was locking her down now, and she couldn’t move very well in his tight coverage. Sometimes another defender would cheat over, and would cut her off or bump her off her route. It was a perfect solution to deal with a problem forward.

Pin had the ball, and Ava tried to get free. However, Penn wouldn’t allow it, and the ball instead went to Ynisse Zalt. The rookie in her debut had her former college teammate on her, but found some space and let off a long bomb that arced high up in the air. It somehow bounced off the ground in front of the goal box, surprising everyone, and trickled past the goal line for three. That was one of the weirder goals you would see, but it counted for three.

In the end, the Miners were able to get a double digit win over the overachieving Senator team. The Miner attack had just been too good, and the Senators didn’t have enough firepower on the other end to keep pace. It was hard to admit that they had fallen short once again, because they had worked so hard today. It had been fun to be a forward again, even for sixty minutes. They had doubled their season output, plus some extra, in just one game; they had passed five games worth of production in that time. It was unbelievable how bad they had been then . . . but they had still lost this game. And that was the worst part of it all. They finally scored some decent points, and yet they couldn’t win. What did it take?

At least she had done her part with two goals scored. Amasova had a coming-out party, notching a hat trick and tormenting the Miner half backs all game long. She was trying to prove that she belonged here, because Hapes hadn’t really wanted her. If she didn’t stick here, no one else might want her. Qorbus had finally scored his first points of the season, which showed that he still had some talent (and thus trade value). Zalt finished with four points against Trieste in a decent showing; it had been give-and-take the entire way for the rookie. Various forwards, including the backups Voontoo and Orrin Calcutt, scored points over the bar, but in the end a lack of goals at critical junctures overcame a revitalized offense.

After the team had disbanded for the day and were headed out to the parking lot, Ava was stopped by a security guard informing her that she had several youths wanting to see her. She got to see the Rehab youths one last time for the day, and they congratulated her on the good game. “Nice game,” the young girl who had several autographs from the pregame said.

“Still wasn’t enough to win, but sometimes you’ll take what you can get. Comstock is a good goalie; I’m surprised she allowed us to score that much.”

“We had fun,” one of the boys said.

“At least you actually watched some of the action rather than just ogling the cheerleaders,” another boy said.

“You did what you could,” Ilena said. “I really want to thank you for getting us tickets. I forgot how fun Limmie is.”

“Glad I could help,” Ava said. “We’re headed out on the road next week, but I’ll be in touch. Promise me one thing, guys. I got you tickets to this game. Promise me that you won’t relapse.” That was the big issue here; the Limmie game had been secondary. She wanted these youths to kick their habits like she had. Now the ball was in their court.

---

IC: Pamila Korthe

Pam shook hands with the Miners, including Gaeriel Valerii. The former midfielder had her number once again, having ripped off three straight wins against the Zeltron (and four out of five overall with the Senators). It was difficult to admit defeat once again, because that was all Pam knew these days. Seven straight losses would do that to a being in this game, would wear them down, would make them feel like they were wasting their time.

“Good luck next week,” she said to Valerii. “If you show even half that offense next week against Ralltiir, you should be able to win.” It was tough to have to swallow her pride like this, but it was a game of respect for everyone involved. That was the beautiful thing about Limmie; everyone was on the same plane for respect, although parity didn’t always exist, and some rivalries were particularly nasty. This game hadn’t exactly been nice, but it could have been Nar Shaddaa-Mandalore bad for intensity. No one got a major injury in this game, so that was the good thing.

As the Miners celebrated winning their third straight Senatorial Showdown, including taunting the Senator fans (or what was left of that contingent) in the stands with the Old Rosewood Gavel, which had come with them and would travel back to Bakura soon, Pam walked off the field with her defeated team. She had been proud of them today; they had fought hard on offense, finally breaking that scoring curse they had been in the prior five games. The defense had been blown to bits by the powerful Miner offense, but that just seemed to happen every time these teams got together. She hated the Miners for obvious reasons, but she had to respect how they could put together a team. She just wished the playing field had been more even today.



She knew this was the end. There was no way Gark S’rily would let her continue to coach his team after this losing streak. She had climbed to the pinnacle of the sport, the Galactic Cup Final, in 273, but ever since then things had spiraled downwards. And they had gone down fast. She was now facing a winless season, and things were only going to get harder. Hapes was up next, with a revitalized team that knew the ins and outs of this team due to Adanna Inviere’s influence. Ralltiir would easily win the next week, and the Monarchs likely had enough offense to get past the Senators in Week 9. It was going to be nearly impossible to win the next three weeks, and she was going to be blamed for it. And that didn’t sit well with her. But she had no choice; she had lost her opportunity.

As she walked through the team tunnel, she rubbed her hand across its surface. The grainy texture of the rock against her hand was abrasive, but it was also inviting. She would definitely miss this atmosphere, the energy of the game, the feeling of being here as a coach. No one would take a chance on her now, because she wasn’t worth anything after all these failures. Her career likely was over as more than just a low-level coordinator.

When she got back to the locker room, she saw her players mill about as they prepared to change back into street clothes and leave. They had played hard today; she couldn’t have asked for more. Then she saw S’rily come up. “Pam, we need to talk,” he said. Obviously he wasn’t happy.

Pam knew exactly what this was about. She followed the Bothan into the coach’s office, and then he closed the door behind her.

“We finally scored out there today,” Gark started. “But a lot of things to work out on defense, especially after we held Kashyyyk to 7 the week before.”

“Just get to it,” Pam said. “I know why I’m here.”

“All right, then,” the Bothan said. “The organization needs to move in a new direction. We can’t keep losing games and save face. I’m sorry, but we’re letting you go.”

“I knew this would happen,” Pam said glumly.

“Since we’re still holding onto your contract for the rest of this season plus next year, you will be kept on in the front office for the next few weeks,” Gark continued. “This offseason, your fate will be determined. There is a likely possibility that you will be released from that contract.”

“I understand.”

“Pam, it’s been a rough go. None of us want to make this move, but it’s a necessary one for the health of this organization.”

“I should go pack my bags, then,” Pam said, motioning to the door. However, Gark stopped her. She turned around.

“I want to thank you for all the work you did the past decade,” Gark said. He held his hand out, and the Zeltron shook it. “You’re a good coach, Pam. It’s too bad things had to end this way.”

“I know. Thanks for giving me this opportunity,” Pam said before she left the office.

She stepped back into the locker room, this time stripped of her position. She was no one now, a relic of the past. Her star had quickly faded on the big stage, and now she wanted to hide her face. But she wasn’t a wimp; she was going to take this with all the dignity she could muster. A tear dropped from her eye, and she had to try very hard to stop from choking up. This was her team; no matter what happened from now on, they had been her players, and she had tried to hardest she could to make things work. But the best-laid plans had failed her, and now she had been fired.

Everyone stopped what they were doing to see her. She hadn’t even needed to get their attention. Now she was in the spotlight. “It’s been a rough season,” she said. “And I regret that I won’t be able to finish it with all of you. I’ve just been given my release. But I wanted all of you to know . . . that despite the losses . . . despite the terrible season . . . I’ve loved coaching this team over the years. We’ve had some good runs . . . and some not-so-good ones. I just wish it could have been a little better this year. Good luck the rest of this season.”

She spent the next twenty minutes shaking the hands and receiving hugs from her long-time players. Maximus Qorbus, Izzi Polakaya, Rainy Frantsen, Reena Wyley . . . they all tried to cheer her up, but it was a somber time for everyone. The next casualty of the season had been made; would they be next in the string of firings? Finally Pam got to Christine, who gave her a hug. “Maybe next time, Coach,” Christine said.

“Maybe,” Pam replied. “You were one of my best players, Christine. I hope you lead this team back to prosperity next season, where it belongs.”

“I’ll do my best,” Christine said with a nod.

And then Pamila Korthe was out the door, no longer a coach for the Coruscant Senators. She felt adrift, like she had been dumped in the ocean without something to hold onto. She finally started to cry, and she sat at the base of the wall while the tears flowed. This was a hard way to go, but she had seen it coming. Sometimes those moments were the worst.

Then she could feel another presence. She looked up with her puffy eyes to see Jed Ortmeyer extending a hand. She took it and was helped to her feet before being taken into a bear hug.

“You knew this was coming, didn’t you?” Jed asked as he hugged the Zeltron.

“Of course I did.”

“Are you still interested in going to dinner tonight?”

“Yes,” Pam finally said after she was done sobbing.

“It’s going to be all right,” Jed said as he consoled the former coach. “It’s going to be all right.”


A new chapter was going to open in Pam’s life, just not in the fashion she wanted it to happen.

TAG: Trieste

 

Power Rankings: Week Six

1. Ralltiir Starkillers – Wait, they can actually play defense for once? Sure it was the Monarchs, and they can’t score half the time, but still, the Starkillers CAN play Defense! Now they just need to find a way to do that against the Miners, or their miracle run is going to end. And end HARD. N/C

2. Nar Shaddaa Smugglers – Hard-fought shootout win over their hated rivals in the Mercs pushes this team one step closer to the postseason. Hell, they might as well already be in. This is a dangerous team. 1

3. Bakura Miners – So you beat the Senators. So what? Anyone can beat them. And you let them double their points scored all season in one game? Where’s the Tim Dodd-esque allegations that someone tampered with the water supply, because I’m sure that’s what the Miners are going to claim they were suffering from when playing their “rivals”. Whatever excuses they use, we’re not listening. 1

4. Mando’ade Mercs – Can’t get much better than that Game of Rivals tilt. We were on the seat of our pants the entire way. Such a great game deserves a boost in these rankings. 1

5. Euceron Storm – Oi, not the way you want to go into Agamar. The Storm were easily outplayed and outmuscled. But they are still a good team, and good teams find a way to bounce back after a bad outing. 1

6. Hapes Consortium Buccaneers – Down-to-the-wire game against Kashyyyk puts them in pole position for the third playoff spot in the Solo, but there’s still plenty of season left. This team can be exciting when they want to be, and that’s exciting play on the field. Exciting to watch for other reasons is a given, right? 2

7. Rydonni Prime Monarchs – Well, you can’t win ‘em all. But slowing Ralltiir’s offense down like that is commendable. Now the Monarchs just need to keep that defensive stand going, because their offense can’t score. When you can score only three points against the Starkillers . . . Eek! 1

8. Agamar Packers – That’s how you serve it up to a postseason-caliber team at home. Although we still think this is a flash in the pan game; some changes need to be made this offseason if the Packers truly want to compete. 3

9. Kashyyyk Rangers – Tough loss to Hapes pushes this team down into the bottom of the race for third in the Solo. But they are still alive, and you don’t want to make Wookiees mad. N/C

10. Ylesia Lighting – Won another yawner of a game against hapless Ryloth. We’d care more if Kasin was playing, but this Penin kid might be somewhat decent. N/C

11. Ryloth Rough Riders – Lackadaisical performance against Ylesia gets you one step closer to demotion. Why were they promoted to the Elite League again? 4

12. Coruscant Senators – Doubled their offensive output in one game . . . and yet still found a way to lose spectacularly! Commissioner, for the love of the Maker, please demote these losers! They’re so bad I can’t stand them any longer! N/C



TAG: Bardan_Jusik, CPL_Macja, Tim Battershell, Runjedirun, Trieste, Vehn, Rebecca_Daniels, jcgoble3

 

IC: Adanna Inviere
Hapes

It had been a tightly-contested game between the Kashyyyk Rangers and Adanna’s C-Bucs. Both teams had brought the proverbial hammer down multiple times, but the other team had bounced back and kept it tight. Now the score was tied at 12 with a minute left. Kashyyyk had the ball, and they could easily run out the clock before scoring a point to win it. Adanna frowned; the C-Bucs needed this game. If they wanted to make the postseason, they would need any leverage they could get. With the hapless Senators next on the schedule, a win here could open a sizeable lead on the Rangers and Monarchs. They had to finish it out here.

As a former defensive back, Adanna knew what had to happen here for her team. The Back 6 would have to beef up its defense and tenacity; they couldn’t lose this game now. It would be a shame to put this excellent performance to waste. Wookiees aside, this had been a good game plan drawn up by Meredith Chambers. The GM expected nothing less from her former foe and current head coach.

The next minute seemed to go in slow motion. The Rangers had the ball and tried to push it up quickly. But the C-Bucs defense stiffened, and the Rangers were repelled. Passes went from Ranger to Ranger, and the C-Bucs were right on top of it, not allowing any space. Then it happened. An errant pass was tipped by its intended recipient and landed in the outstretched hands of Abbey Waters. The corner back was shocked to see that it hand landed in her hands, but when she realized that it had, she had to make a play. She rocketed the ball up to the midfielders before being shoved by a Wookiee out of frustration.

Alysha Romax, the former Senator captain, took the ball and slid around her counterpart. She brought it up into the Front Six and then checked the clock. Twenty seconds were left. She checked her options; Kellie Dupont was open, but that hole quickly closed as a defender came over to seal it off. The Mastersons were out of range, as was Jinx Johnson. The Rangers were playing excellent defense, but the C-Bucs couldn’t take a timeout here because that would allow the Rangers to regroup. They had to attack now. Ten seconds.

Alysha find a slight hole on the left side of the upper zone. She ran to that spot, and caused a Trandoshan defender to slip up a bit. Six seconds. “Kick it!” she could hear team captain Wai Lin yell out to her from somewhere in the throng of bodies and in the sound from the fans. She couldn’t wait any longer; she had to let this ball fly. Checking the status of the goal bar, Alysha lined up her kick and dropped the ball. It landed solidly on her foot and shot out on a high arc. It easily cleared the bar and snuck in around the right upright as the horn blared. She had scored the game-winner.

Then Alysha was mobbed by her teammates, and the crowd roared its approval. They had escaped this test, and were now 3-3 on the season with three games left. For the first time in a long time, Alysha felt very accomplished.

Up in the box, Adanna fist-pumped when she saw Romax’s kick clear the bar. She had been standing the whole drive, and now she like all the fans in the stands were on their feet celebrating the veteran’s game winner.

“That game probably cost me a few hairs,” an assistant commented. “I wanted to rip my hair out at times.”

“A win is a win,” Adanna said calmly. “And we needed that one badly.”

“Think we can make the postseason, boss?”

“I know we can. But that’s not up to me at this point. Meredith has that burden to carry; I’ve given her the pieces she needs to be successful. Now she has to finish out the season with what she has.”

Next up were the Senators. They were too bad for words, and Adanna was glad to be gone from there. She had gotten out at the right time, because her stock would basically be zero now if she had stayed. Next week would be an easy win, she speculated. It was a welcome reprieve from the hair-raising game this had been. Her only regret was that Maff likely wasn’t going to be playing for the Senators. Oh well, she figured, she would see him again after the season was over, back in their new home on Commenor. At that point, their season-long rivalries and hatreds could be put aside for mutual respect and love.

But that was for the end of the season. For now, Adanna Inviere wanted to crush the Senators.

TAG: Vehn

 

Big Board​

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Quinlyn Zha'rel, (Female, Half-Nagai, Defensive Back, Sposia Medical University)​

Game Line: 14 tackles, 3 forced fumbles, 2 loose ball recoveries, 2 interceptions, 1 save, W 30-26, vs. TBA
Analysis: Another spectacular game from the prospect whose school no one has heard of outside of academic circles. Her stock will keep rising if she continues this torrid pace.

Noj Elbog (Male, Human, Corner Forward, National University)
Game Line: 4 goals scored, 1 bar point, 13 points scored, 7 shots on goal, W 24-12, vs. CINN
Analysis: Whoa! Elbog easily had his career-best game with this huge outburst. If he can keep this up, he might be the best product from National since a certain Dirxx Horstse was in school. Maybe even better in his college days.

Welnlseh (Male, Selkath, Corner Back, Manaan Technical Institute)
Game Line: 6 tackles, 2 interceptions, 1 fumble recovery, L 29-8, vs. TBA
Analysis: Decent game in the midst of a bad loss. Could be a decent prospect.

Lowatha, (Wookiee, Male, Half Forward, University of Kashyyyk)
Game Line: 3 goals scored, 2 bar points, 11 points scored, 6 shots on goal, 1 turnover, 2 assists, L 31-29, @KFI
Analysis: What a way to bounce back from a bad game. At this rate, this guy is gonna be a first-round pick. Maybe not first overall, but could be a nice addition to a team looking for a good offensive piece.

Megan Meeks (Human, Female, Corner Forward, The Ord Sabaok University)
Game Line: 1 goal scored, 3 points scored, 1 turnover, L 24-4, @ UCBV
Analysis: Got shut down this week, but still managed to score a goal on the Renegades’ otherwise tight defense. Should have second-round draft stock right now.

Kaat Stun (Hapan, Female, Goaltender, Ralltiir University)
Game Line: 2 saves, 49 PA, L 49-47(40-40, OT 2-2, 2OT 7-5), vs. LU
Analysis: We commend her for being a marathon girl, but giving up 49 points in a single game, even in double overtime, is not a good way to boost your draft stock as a goaltender.

Elgin Cormorant (Umbaran, Male, Midfielder, UB Cape Suzette)
Game Line: 5 tackles, 3 loose ball recoveries, 3 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, 2 interceptions, 3 bar points, 3 points scored, 2 shots on goal, W 34-8 , @ UATL
Analysis: Seemingly did some of everything in the commanding win. Could he be the next great Bluebird midfielder?

Zelena Wiles (Human, Female, Half Back, PCNS)
Game Line: 6 tackles, 1 interception, L 39-29, @BFA
Analysis: Not a good game from Wiles, but her entire team sucked as well, so it’s not easy to pin the blame on just her. She’ll bounce back, we’re sure of it. Screams second-round pick right now with some upside, but also some downside if she struggles again.

Landra Wygins (Zelosian, Female, Corner Forward, Coruscant Polytechnic Institute)
Game Line: 2 shots on goal, 2 turnovers, W 27-22, vs. CA&M

Analysis: Her team does a great job, but Wygins struggled once again. Her stock is dropping fast; right now, we’ve pegged her as an undrafted free agent. Unless she brings her game back up, she isn’t worth drafting because of her major struggles.

TAGS to Trieste, Vehn (please, by all means, tell me who to draft this year ), jcgoble3, Bardan_Jusik, CPL_Macja, Rebecca_Daniels, Runjedirun, Tim Battershell