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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Star Wars OPEN Elite League Limmie

Discussion in 'Role Playing Forum' started by Trieste, May 31, 2010.

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  1. Trieste

    Trieste Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Apr 10, 2010
    GM Post

    HSN Morning Headlines & Rumor Mill
    • Senators resign several key players to new contracts:
      • CB Kara Milovy signs new two-year deal
      • MF Levi Corner signs new 1-year deal
      • HB Jamee Meels signs new 2-year deal
      • CF Vail Pin signs new 4-year deal
      • HF Anya Amasova signs 3-year contract extension
    • Senators reportedly shopping the following players:
      • Ye'ves'toung (Chiss, Female, Midfielder)
      • Mekmek (Mon Calamari, Female, Midfielder)
      • Tria Tyvold (Human, Female, Half Back)
      • Mala Bonero (Selonian, Female, Half/Full Forward)
      • Vontoo (Rodian, Male, Utility Forward)
    • HSN analyst: "Maybe Mando'ade could just trade all their players on the block for all the Senators' players and we could tie this up really nice and neatly?"
    TAG: Bardan_Jusik CPL_Macja
     
  2. Runjedirun

    Runjedirun Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2012
    IC: Ty Allin

    271 Starkillers Training Camp

    After several days at camp I began looking forward to spending time with Trey. He pushed me more than any of the coaches I had encountered at Ralltiir University. Head Coach Foress had all but turned over the defense to Trey so he could concentrate on the offense. I had even made an effort to arrive at the facility a few minutes early so I wouldn’t expend too much energy running laps before we began running drills. Only on this day we had a meeting before we hit the field. It wasn’t even a meeting about Limmie. It was a meeting about facility upgrades. I fell asleep shortly after learning that our locker room was getting a new coat of paint tomorrow so we would be using the visitor’s locker room before and after practice.

    I awoke to a thud as a bolo ball thrown by Coach Foress hit me in the back of the head. “Time to hit the field,” he boomed. I quickly realized my teammates we already filing out the door. “You and I need to talk after practice. Report to my office after you have showered.”

    Foress gave me the usual routine after practice. To my surprise he did not threaten me with loss of playing time. He did little more than to ask for my cooperation and remind me that I could be running laps and doing push-ups all season if I chose. The extra work didn’t bother me. I did my part to be respectful while he raised his voice at me. Beings usually felt better after getting things off their chests. When he finished and I got up to leave I was surprised to find Trey Till in the hall waiting for me.

    “Allin,” he said with a nod. “Let’s me and you have a talk.” Curiously I followed him to the locker room. “I looked you up. I know who you are.” He said once we made certain we were alone.

    “What of it?” I asked.

    I knew what Trey was getting at. He must have searched my background on the holonet. He must know I had spent four months in a detention center. I wondered if it meant he didn’t want to work with me or even be my teammate. “I think it’s admirable you have stayed out of trouble for three years since you got out. It couldn’t have been easy. Especially so far from home without your family to support you.”

    I shrugged. It had probably been easier without my father pushing me and my mother pitying me, but I didn’t let on.

    “I meant it when I said you were talented the first day of camp. I’ve been looking forward to having your assistance on the left corner. That’s why I have been running drills with you all week. You worked so hard to get here. I need to know why you’re not taking Limmie seriously.”

    “I do take Limmie seriously,” I insisted. Trey was the first person in a long time to take an interest in my Limmie skills. At Ralltiir U the coaches were more focused on the other weaker members of the team. When I told him I was disappointed that I wasn’t playing fullback he said all I had to do was to stop taking this opportunity for granted and that I would soon be giving him a run for his credits.

    “If you took this game or more specifically this team seriously you would show up on time or bring caf to the meetings so you don’t fall asleep.” Trey motioned for me to have a seat next to him on the bench. “The reason they are making improvements to the stadium is because our owner Mr. Clarke is lobbying to have the Starkillers promoted. We could be playing for the ELL as soon as next season. Stadium upgrades alone won’t cut it. We have to win games this season. A lot of games. Are you up for this Allin? If you are you start being less of a distraction or I’ll tell Foress to start someone else. He listens to me.”

    For three seasons at Ralltiir U I had been busting my ass playing defense in hopes of getting noticed by an ELL scout. I had become a household name in Cambrielle, possibly on the entire planet. It had been a frustrating battle though. I wasn’t even sure an ELL scout had showed up to a single Ralltiir U game. We lost most of them. Our offense was atrocious and most of my supporting cast on defense wasn’t much better. I had watched HSN every night hoping that I would make the highlight real. When the Starkillers offered me a deal I took it because I had hoped an ELL team would hear about me through their connections.

    If what Trey had just told me was true I wouldn’t have to keep looking into the crowd trying to spot scouts anymore. We could play our way there. That was something I could do. I was capable. The next morning I showed up for practice early. I walked right into coach Foress office. “Allin, this is a surprise. Practice isn’t due to start for nearly an hour. Did you finally read the instruction manual that came with your alarm clock?”

    I ignored his taunts. “Is it true we could be promoted to the ELL?” I asked.

    “Come in,” he prompted. “Shut the door behind you. Who told you about that?”

    “Till,” I answered.

    “I told him that in confidence. Look, Allin there is a very real possibility this team could be promoted. I don’t want everyone in the locker room knowing this information. Some players may not be able to handle the pressure and others will talk too much. It appears the one I trusted already has. I need you to keep this a secret. If anyone else finds out about this I blaming you and I’m benching you. Understand?”

    “How would you know I snitched? Trey already snitched to me he could have already told others.”

    Foress shook his head. “I don’t think he told anyone else. And when I’m done with him he won’t dare tell another.” Foress paused after his threat. “I’ve been watching you in practice. You have been putting in the work and I expect great things from you this season. Don’t ruin our chances by doing anything stupid.”

    I nodded and he dismissed me. From that day on I worked even harder in camp. Knowing my chance to play in the ELL was nearly a reality was all the push I needed. Somehow Trey must have known that. That had been why he had told me. He was late for practice that day and had to stay late every day that week. He never complained or so much as expressed to me that he was upset I had gone to Foress. I was beginning to gain a lot of respect for Trey.

    278 Starkillers Training Camp

    Trey had warned us that training camp would be different this season. Frokabukk, Fortune, Poletin and I were designated as leaders of our areas on day one. We had to participate in all the basic conditioning skills, but often times we did less reps than those who were newer to the team. The rookies were assigned the most reps. Sometimes it was hard to hold back and not run extra drills with the younger players. I was concerned about being ready to play on week one. A lot of my off-season had been spent recovering from my head injury. Trey told me to relax and trust him. He promised I was getting enough conditioning to be ready opening day and not be crippled by week 8 or 9.

    Noah Till was assigned to my group. Noah did everything he was told the first time he was asked. He often did more than he was told. If the group was assigned a thirty minute warm up jog I would find him out jogging before the rest of the group started. If we were running sprints and he finished his before the others he would run extras until the last of the group finished. Noah was young, eager and he had a chip on his shoulder because he felt like his uncle had drafted him because he felt sorry for him. He wanted to prove to his teammates and the Galaxy that he belonged not just to be a member of an ELL team. He wanted to prove he could be a starter and a damned good one.

    Lou Jeffers was also assigned to my squad. Jeffers wasn’t taking camp seriously. I was constantly reminding him that his starting position was far from guaranteed. Still he put little effort into his work outs. Frustrated I tried to look up his past on the holo net. There was nothing out of the ordinary about Jeffers. I was beginning to realize he was just one of those athletes with an ego the size of a skyscraper on Coruscant. He had gotten here and he had started his rookie season. It was a huge accomplishment. The problem was he was under the impression that it was all he had to do.

    I cornered Jeffers in the locker room after practice a week after camp started. “What are you still doing here?” I asked.

    “Huh?”

    “You barely broke a sweat on the field today,” I reminded him. “You could have just gone home. It’s not like you needed a shower. Just forces you to spend more time at the facility. Something you obviously don’t need seeing as you are such an accomplished Limmie player. Remember all those games we won last season,” I continued sarcastically. “If you don’t think you need to participate in conditioning drills why don’t you stay home and watch holos tomorrow.”

    “Don’t worry I’ll be ready to play on opening day. Heck I’m ready right now.”

    “Good,” I told him. “We are arranging a scrimmage vets against 1st and 2nd year players. At the end of next week. Hope you’re up for it.”

    I had opened my mouth without discussing the idea with anyone. Fortunately when I brought it up with Andres the following morning he was on board. We pitched the idea to Reeser and Trey. They agreed as long as we played two hand touch. This allowed us vets some evening practices together. I started to feel more comfortable with my game. Lucie, my mom and T.J. even arranged to come out and watch. Other players invited their families or close friends as well. We played the game in the evening so players who had school aged children were able to attend. Of course the team owner, GM and family also attended. Tomas worked the sidelines and Spencer operated the scoreboard. It ended up being a nice test run of the facility without having the general public there.

    I lined up at fullback with Bo’gruth to my left, Zire to my right and Poletin in front of me. The Knox twins were playing on the opposing side they immediately took control of the first possession. I found myself glancing at the bench to where Hovechar sat alone. She put on a brave face but inside I knew she must be hurting. Ellie successfully passed off to Nikkola. Nikkola found herself cornered. She looked around frantically for someone to pass to but everyone was covered. Before she was able to make a decision Dev had reached her and we secured possession. Dev passed up field to Klick. Klick was unable to keep possession. Alan Knott weaved his way around Kong with grace. This time he passed the ball up to Karuari. Karuari didn’t waste time looking for a player to pass to. He aimed for the goal immediately. He had enough time to line up the shot, but he didn’t take it. The result was that he missed. Wide to the left by about a kilometer.

    Teaspoon was the longest tenured keeper so she was manning our goal. She kicked up field to Frokabukk. Frokabukk made a quick easy pass to Fortune. To his surprise Kent deflected Foturne’s shot. Kent kicked the ball out to Ellie Knott. Ellie easily passed the ball to Gotsburg. Gotsburg made her way up field. This time she was able to find an open Dunerider. Dunerider thought she had enough time to move to the left, but I reached out my hands and leaped. Gently my hands made contact and again we were rewarded possession.

    This time Sureysh lined up a shot. Just after her foot made contact with the ball Jeffers sped towards her and pushed her to the ground, hard. Trey was playing the part of referee. He ran over and blew his whistle in Jeffers face. “Late hit, unnecessary roughness and unsportsmanlike conduct,” Trey boomed. “One more shot like that and you will be ejected. Vet ball.” Kara’s shot had been good for 3 points and we were now being given a second consecutive possession. I liked Trey’s style.

    Us vets went on to win the game 28 to 6. Jeffers was ejected early in the second half. I had hoped to see him perform on field instead he had acted like a fool. I was frustrated about my plan not working when I ran into Hovechar out in the parking lot. “Ty,” she said quietly. “Can we talk?”

    “Sure,” I replied. We walked over to a set of benches that surrounded a still covered yet to be unveiled statue of Martin Vigo. This was the site where Martin had been shot down. The Vigo’s were constructing a sort of memorial in his honor. The parking lot was eerily quiet.

    “Ty, how did you overcome your past?” Hovechar asked.

    That was a tough question. For me moving to a new planet had helped a lot. I didn’t want Hovechar to go anywhere so I didn’t want to tell her that. “I moved forward. As soon as I got out I responded to any school willing to take me. Despite the fact the schools that had wanted to go to turned me down I took the best offer I thought I had. I went there and I played my best. It got me where I am today. So when you are released to play in week 5 and Trey doesn’t start you just come off that bench and prove you are the same player you have always been.”

    “You make it sound so easy,” she responded.

    “You know what you want Alyada, you want to be the same star midfielder you were in ’76 and ’77. We all had a rough season last year and there’s no telling what will happen this season. Don’t worry about anyone but yourself. If you need assistance with doing drills or just want a little extra support you can come to me.”

    Alyada nodded. “Thanks Ty, this means so much to me. I’ll do my best.”

    “I know you will,” I replied. Then I stood and gave her a quick hug before we went our separate ways.

    After the scrimmage we began to get ready for our pre-season trip to Ylesia to face the Lightning. Trey decided to start the Knott twins. He was already working on the paper work to have them promoted from Tatooine. For now the rest of the roster was intact the way it had been last season. There would be changes before opening day I could already sense that several of our starters from last year were struggling. Despite the fact that I would only get a few minutes I looked forward to the trip. I was excited to help evaluate my teammates from the sidelines and help decide who was going to be at my side this season.

    It wasn’t so easy to say good-bye to T.J. at the spaceport. He cried when I left a room sometimes. I literally felt a pain in my chest when he cried out for me as I boarded the shuttle. Lucie and I both put on a brave face as we took our separate seats and prepared for lift off.

    Tag: Rebecca_Daniels
     
  3. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    IC: Eddy Beagle
    Tiny ‘Office’, Work

    Eddy continued to type away on the next article he was going to release on the Senators’ third round pick, Karin Cherf. He had a hard time coming up with material this week for some reason; he just wasn’t sure why. All he knew was that it hadn’t been a great week. It had started with him accidentally drowning his dinner in too much water, which had ruined the whole dish. But since he didn’t have a lot of extra cash, he had to eat it in cold silence. Then came the fact that his subject had been out of town for a few days, causing him to scramble to find some scraps of new information to write up this week. And then he had found a hole in his pair of lucky sneakers. He had worn those since high school, but now they were getting old and frayed. It looked like they soon would be going to the trash heap, which made him sad. At least the work week was almost over.

    He heard a loud rap on the side of his “office”, and he looked up to see Viktor, the Barabel who had shown him around the office on his first day, standing right there. “Boss wants to see you,” he said gruffly.

    “Viktor, if it’s about the fact that Cherf was out of town . . .” Eddy tried to explain.

    “No, I think it’s probably the direction she wants you to go in starting in two weeks when the team goes to camp,” Viktor said. “Now report to her office on the double. Got that, meat?”

    “Understood perfectly,” Eddy said, cowering a little. When Viktor got going, he was downright scary. Barabels weren’t known for being kind souls. Viktor left the space, and Eddy saved his document before going to the boss’ office. What she wanted him there for was beyond his knowledge, but he hoped that he wasn’t about to be fired. Despite just being an intern, he kinda liked the whole writing thing that he was able to do. It was the caf runs that he disliked. Being an intern in an office wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

    He knocked on the door, and then heard a voice on the other end. “Come in.” Eddy did as he was told, and he walked into the office of Lara Spinks, the head of this section of the organization.

    [​IMG]

    She was sitting behind her desk with a glum look on her face. Eddy wasn’t about to ask her why, though. “Close the door behind you, Mr. Beagle,” she said, and Eddy followed the command. “Now, please sit.”

    Eddy sat down in the plush chair in front of the desk. “Now, Mr. Beagle, as to why you are here today,” Lara said. She twirled a bit of her hair in her fingers as she spoke. “I want to commend you on your weekly project. That last article was quite the read.”

    “Thank you,” Eddy said, obviously looking a lot stupider when he said this than he wanted to. No need to seem arrogant in front of one’s boss.

    “I think you’re doing one hell of a job, Mr. Beagle, and I want to offer you an opportunity to move up on the assignment,” Lara commented. She moved her hand out of her hair and onto her desk, where she clasped her hands together. Obviously she had something important to say. “Our first-round pick documenter is going to be our training camp liaison when camp begins in a few weeks, and therefore will be out of the office during that time. Since he will be out of the office, I was wondering if you would be interested in taking over his assignments during that time.”

    “What kind of assignments?” Eddy asked.

    “A lot more than covering the story of a lowly third-round pick,” Lara commented bluntly. “We’re talking a lot more coverage, Mr. Beagle, a lot more. It will bring more pay, at least temporarily, but it will also require a lot more work. Do you believe that you are capable of handling these duties while our regular staffer is away?”

    Eddy thought this through for only a moment. Why wouldn’t he take this? It’s what he had been looking for ever since joining the organization. Sure it was temporary, but it was a chance to prove his worth. “Of course,” he said quickly. “I want to take the challenge, Ms. Spinks.”

    “Then it’s settled. You’ll be taking over that job in two weeks,” Lara said. “Now, if you have nothing else to go over with me, Mr. Beagle, then you are excused.”




    Two weeks came and went, and the Senators and their organization went to Wroona as usual for training camp. Several of the staffers, including Viktor, went along with them to cover the various media operations, and thus the office seemed a bit quieter than normal when Eddy came in the first day. He retreated to his space to get started on work, but found that the boss was standing outside his door. “Mr. Beagle, today begins your new assignment,” Lara said. “We’re counting on you.”

    “Thank you, ma’am, I’ll do my best,” Eddy said with his best grin. He knew he could do this.

    “Oh, and I would like for you to report to my office after work today. I’d like to go over a few of the additional . . . responsibilities . . . that you have now.”

    Eddy didn’t like that emphasis on responsibility. What did the boss mean? But he didn’t let on that he felt a little confused. “Understood,” he said with a nod.

    Then he noticed something about her countenance. She seemed more glum than usual. Something was up. “Something wrong, ma’am?” he asked.

    Lara sniffed, but waved her hand. “It’s nothing,” she said.

    “Really, I . . .”

    “You want to know why I’ve been so out of it these past few weeks, Mr. Beagle?” Lara asked.

    “If you are willing to tell me,” Eddy said.

    “I caught my husband cheating on me . . . again . . .” Lara said. “It was the final straw; I just couldn’t take it anymore. Got my divorce papers signed yesterday, and it’s done. He blew his last chance with me.”

    “Sorry to hear that, ma’am,” Eddy said. “I won’t remind you of it anymore.”

    “You better not. He deserved his fate,” Lara said. “But don’t let that stop you. It’s my situation, and not yours. Get your work done, and then report to my office afterwards, got that?”

    “Understood, ma’am,” Eddy said. Lara left him alone, and he got started on his work. There was a lot more to get done than normal; the workload was immense in comparison. It took him a solid hour to figure out how he wanted to start the article, because he just couldn’t find the right words to hook a reader. Two trips to the water cooler finally steeled his nerves, and he began to write furiously. As he went, it seemed to get easier. Words that an hour earlier had escaped his grasp were now being pounded into the document in a long string. It was as if a light had gone on in his head.

    When he finally stopped writing, he realized that work was over for most of his coworkers. He looked around the office to see a lot of empty cubicles; everyone was going home. He visited the water cooler one last time, but as he drank, he remembered that he needed to go to the boss’ office when he was done here. So he raced to hit the refresher before running back to his space to save his documents. Several more workers left as he went by, which meant that it was getting empty in the office. He doubted that anyone else was going to still be there after he left his meeting with the boss. Obviously he had lost track of time.

    He filled his folder with the materials he would take home, and then he zipped it all up. Grabbing his jacket, he tossed it over his folder and made his way to the boss’ office. As soon as he came near he could hear “Come in, Mr. Beagle.” He went in as instructed, and closed the door. Lara was still sitting in her chair behind the desk. Eddy sat down without being asked.

    “How was your first day in the new assignment?” Lara inquired.

    “It was hard, ma’am, but I’m confident in my skills. I got a lot done today.”

    “Good to hear. I’m glad that your promotion produced some results,” Lara said. She started to fidget with her hair again like she had earlier.

    “I really appreciate the opportunity to do the work. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do.”

    “That’s why I’m here, Mr. Beagle, to overlook hard workers like yourself. And to reward them for good work,” Lara said. She stood up and went over to the window. Eddy studied her lean figure; he had lusted after many women with similar body shapes. Oftentimes those endeavors got him into sticky situations; he usually got out of them, but they still stuck in the back of his mind. Lara then looked out the window for several seconds, apparently not trying to find anything in particular. “Do you know why I gave you this opportunity, and not someone else?”

    Eddy shook his head. “No, ma’am.”

    Lara turned back to face Eddy. “It’s because I see a lot of talent in you, Mr. Beagle. You have a certain knack for words. I enjoy reading your work. And you don’t look like poodoo when you come into the office after a weekend. I’ve caught some of the office workers looking a little disheveled after a weekend of drinking. They don’t last long when I catch them.”

    “Is that a good thing?” Eddy asked carefully.

    “Of course it is,” Lara said. She closed the blinds and then walked around to the other side of her desk and then sat down on its edge, only a few feet in front of where Eddy sat. “I like well-dressed men. My husband was good about it when we were dating, but after a while he saved his formalwear for the loose women he seemed attracted to. I missed seeing him look like a well-kept man at the end.”

    “I’m sorry to hear that, ma’am,” Eddy said.

    “Call me ‘Lara’, please. I don’t need all the formalities,” Lara said.

    “Yes,” Eddy said, his voice trailing off.

    “Mr. Beagle, I have a question for you,” Lara said. “And it’s not to leave this office, understand?”

    “Understood.”

    Lara paused for a moment. “You tell me a lot just by the way you look at me.” She paused momentarily. “Do you find me attractive?”

    Eddy was stunned to hear this; he hadn’t been expecting it in the slightest. But the answer was easy. Still, he didn’t want to let it on.

    “Come, Mr. Beagle, give me an answer. I won’t fire you for your opinion; everyone’s allowed to have them, you know.”

    “Yes. You’re very attractive.”

    “I was hoping you would say that,” Lara said with a slight chuckle. “Obviously my figure wasn’t enough for my husband to stay with me, though. I will never understand what he saw in those other women that he didn’t see in me. But on to my next question. Do you like this new job of yours?”

    Again Eddy replied to the affirmative. He very much enjoyed the promotion, even if it was just temporary. After all, he was a lowly intern, not a seasoned beat writer.

    “I can give you a promotion, a permanent one, if you do something for me in return,” Lara said, leaning forward towards Eddy as she spoke.

    “What would that be?”

    “You do find me attractive, right?” Lara asked, checking her nails momentarily.

    “Yes, so . . .?”

    “If you would like to be promoted, Mr. Beagle, then you will have to prove yourself worthy,” Lara said. She flicked off the heel on one foot, and then the other. The first one landed next to Eddy’s folder, the other landed harmlessly on the floor. “Now stand up,” she said. Eddy did as he was told. He was taller than she, but then she came in close, and his heart began to race. A bead of sweat ran down his face. She wasn’t serious . . .

    Lara ran her finger down the middle of Eddy’s shirt until she reached the top button. “And I want to find out how reliable you really are, Mr. Beagle.” She let out a seductive sigh. “In order to get that promotion . . . you need to make love to me. Right here, right now.”

    Eddy’s mind raced even faster. While this whole thing seemed wrong somehow, he had always found her attractive. Now he was going to get to be intimate with her. First he had gotten a promotion, now he was going to make out with his boss. Things were looking up. “You’re lucky I like to play rough,” he said with a sly grin.

    “All the better,” Lara said. “And don’t hold back, Mr. Beagle, or else you’re fired.”

    “You’ve got it,” Eddy said enthusiastically. He brought his hand around the back of Lara’s dress, feeling the contours of her body as he slid it down her back. He wanted it all. Lara undid the top button on his shirt, and they quickly found themselves making love on her desk. If it was against moral principles, Eddy didn’t care. This was the best job ever.

    When he got home that night, he felt warm and fuzzy inside, a new promotion apparently coming his way soon. His dinner, usually dull and bland, suddenly had new flavor to it. Eddy Beagle was a new man, and it was all thanks to his job.

    He hoped the gravy train was just beginning.

    TAG: No One
     
    Rebecca_Daniels likes this.
  4. galactic-vagabond422

    galactic-vagabond422 Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2009
    IC: Geoff Copin
    Shield Towers, O’pahz, Carratos

    Geoff opened his eyes slowly. It was still dark except for the constant neon lights outside his window. He rolled over carefully to look at his wife. The yellow and red flashing lights danced over her still sleeping face and messy auburn hair. He wanted so badly to kiss her and hold her close but, he didn’t want to risk waking her. Laura had gotten to bed late the night before, working on the final design of a ship that Bilbringi Shipyards were submitting to a shipping company. Geoff tried to stay up but, once her and Yag got into a disagreement about the placement of a control node, using words that Geoff would need another degree just to understand, he called it a night. He smiled thinking about how lucky he was to have found her and that all the important personal events happened outside of the limmie season. Her lifeday, his daughters’ lifeday, and their wedding anniversary all happen in the offseason. He lay on his back just staring at the ceiling. Training camp started soon, the season, soon after. The last season had been rough on the team, and his marriage had taken a hit with the Cavanaugh incident but, both have pulled through fine. The team got some new players and the time away from limmie let him spend much more time with his family. He still worried though, the 279 season was longer and much was expected of the sophomore Pirates. The commissioner himself said it; they were a team to watch. Could he handle the pressure? He almost came apart towards the end of the last season. One good thing was that there wasn’t a long road trip in the schedule, Geoff shivered at the thought of having to do an all road schedule like Euceron. He didn’t know if he could handle being away from Laura and the girls that long. He looked at the bedside chronometer, Ira and Iris would need to get up soon. He got out of bed and found a shirt in the dresser. He also grabbed a black polo and slacks. Moving around quietly he exited the bed room making sure the door closed softly.

    He started making breakfast after taking a shower. Pancakes and scrambled eggs, the only breakfast foods he could make. With the eggs cooked and a few pancakes ready Geoff made his way into his daughter’s room to get them up and ready for school.

    “Iris, Ira, time to get up.” He said softly, Iris lifted her little head while Ira turned away.

    “I don’t wanna’” Ira protested, Ira’s reluctance to attend school had taken Geoff by surprise. He thought she would love learning. Turned out that she liked learning it was just the other kids that made her not want to go there.

    “Ira, I know you don’t want to but, it’s what you have to do.” He said kneeling by her bed.

    “No I don’t” she replied, “I don’t have to go. Mommy can teach me.” Her father smiled and shook his head.

    “Sweetheart, your mommy is a very smart woman but, she can’t teach you everything.” He glanced over his shoulder to check on his other daughter, “Iris you can’t wear your Pirates T-shirt under your school clothes.”

    “But, daddy,” she said

    “Sorry kiddo, rules are rules, no printed shirts.” Iris crossed her arms.

    “Well, the rules are stupid.” Geoff wanted to agree with her, he’d gone to public schools on Denon that never had a uniform policy and he couldn’t see a reason why private schools needed to have them. On the other hand The Nashira Academy System had the best schools on Carratos.

    “Just put on a white shirt please.” He returned his attention to Ira, “Ira, there are a lot of people in this galaxy and you’re going to meet a few of them. School is a place where you get used to being around people. It’ll get better once you make a few friends, I promise.” The little girl seemed unmoved by her father’s reasoning but, got out of bed anyway. They finally got dressed in their uniforms of a blue plaid pleated skirt, white blouse and a blue blazer. The style of the uniform made Geoff feel uneasy, it made his five year old daughters look far too serious. They were kids they’re supposed to be wearing t-shirts and pants but, whatever his misgivings education was important. After breakfast Geoff prepared a plate for Laura and picked up a piece of flimsi and a pen.
    Good Morning babe,​
    Hope you slept well.​
    Took the kids to school,​
    Left breakfast for you (sorry if it’s cold)​
    Love ya’​

    He left the note next to the plate he set on the table and left with is daughters.
    _________________________________________________________________________
    O’pahz Spaceport, O’pahz, Carratos

    Geoff stood in the terminal waiting for the players recently drafted by the Pirates. Logan was next to him looking a little nervous. The young forward’s face brightened when he caught sight of Mikia Sandin. He ran forward and wrapped his arms around her. Mikia returned the hug and they stayed like that for a moment too long for just being friends.

    “I missed you Mikia,” he said pulling away from the hug, “how’ve you been?”

    “I could ask you the same thing,” she replied “Mr. ELL starter.”

    “I never thought I’d be that.”

    “Me neither,” The reunion was cut short when Gorgalan Irukandji walked up. The smile disappeared off Logan’s face.

    “Irukandji,” Logan said nodding in the Nikto’s direction.

    “Manx,” The two men shared an uncomfortable silence before Longjon Sylver and John Masters showed up. Sylver stood ramrod straight with a serious expression. Masters smirked and adjusted the sleeves of his tailored Tomuon wool suit. John seemed to come from money, the way he stood, the clothes he wore and the expressions on his face, all screamed wealth. Could be a dangerous thing on Carratos but, it looked like he could afford personal security on top of the Star Dragon detail.

    “Hello, I’m Geoff Copin,” the coach said to the group. “I’m your new coach. We have a skycar waiting to take you to your hotel where you’ll be staying until you can find a place of your own.”

    “Uh, coach,” Mikia said “could you just drop me off at my mom’s place? She doesn’t live too far from the stadium.” Geoff thought about it for a moment.

    “Well the hotel is in the same area so yeah, we could swing by after dropping everyone else off first.” The five beings climbed into the vehicle, putting their luggage in the storage compartment, and headed off. With traffic it would take a few minutes to get where they were going. “Gorgalan,” Geoff said to the Nikto,

    “You can call me Gor.” The half forward replied

    “Gor, have you been to O’pahz before?”

    “Once or twice,” Gor turned his head to smirk at Logan, “when I came to crush the Gamblers.” Logan gritted his teeth. The athletic teams from the University of Carratos, Logan’s alma mater, were called the Gamblers. Logan himself played for them before joining the Pirates.

    “’Cuse me,” Logan said annoyance in his voice. “UCa smashed the Corsairs in the last Carratos Classic.” Geoff nodded his head. The Carratos Classic, a showdown between the two biggest schools on the planet, the University of Carratos and Norand University. Fortunes were won and lost on that game and the fervor of the fans would often lead to riots afterwards. The sky car stopped in front of hotel in a reasonably nice part of town, within sight of Goss-Pell Memorial. Longjon got out first followed by Gor who was still bickering with Logan. Masters looked out the window with a skeptical eye.

    “I’m sure this is a fine establishment but,” he said with perfect diction, “I would prefer to arrange my own accommodations.” Geoff shrugged his shoulders.

    “You should have Schnitt’s contact information in your holo-net inbox and they have public terminals inside. He should be able to find you, alternative lodgings.”

    “Thank you.” Masters exited the cabin and collected his nerf hide luggage. The only people remaining in the transport were the driver, Geoff, Logan, and Mikia.

    “Now where’s your mom’s house?” the coach asked,

    “Oh, I can give directions.” She said. After a few wrong turns and a miscommunication, they finally arrived at an apartment building. It was in a rather sketchy part of the city, Geoff wondered if Mikia grew up here or if this was a new development. Mikia left the car without hesitation. Logan exited with her to help with her bags. “Hey coach,” she shouted half way between the street and the building, “You want to meet my mom?” Geoff looked to the driver.

    “You going to wait?” He asked. The driver, a Bothan, shook his head.

    “I’m not getting paid enough to even be in this neighborhood, much less wait in it.”

    “All right,” Geoff handed the Bothan a few credits and vacated the vehicle. The coach followed the players up several flights of stairs and down a hallway. A woman in her late forties with greying dark blonde hair answered the door.

    “Oh Mickey,” the woman said as she embraced her daughter. “I’m so glad you’re home. I missed you.”

    “I did too, mom.”

    “Well come in I’m sure you’re tried from your trip.” Geoff entered the apartment and looked around. The space was rather Spartan with only a holo-projector and a couch in the living room.

    “Um, mom this is…”

    “Geoff Copin, coach of the Carratos Pirates.” Mikia’s mother said cutting her daughter off. “I’m Justina, Justina Sandin.” She said shaking Geoff’s extended hand.

    “Hey, Ms. Sandin,” Logan said crossing the threshold.

    “Oh, Logan,” she gave him a hug, “I can’t thank you enough for helping me move all that junk out of here.”

    “Any time.” They all sat down with Logan sitting on the floor over Justina’s strong objections. The minutes past with Mikia’s mother telling stories, like how Mikia first got into limmie and the trouble her and Logan would get up to as kids. It all seemed so perfect but, something felt a little off. Geoff looked around the room and noticed no pictures, not of Mikia, not of anyone. He checked his chronometer, it was almost noon.

    “Well Ms. Sandin,” Geoff said rising to his feet. “I should get going, let Mikia settle in a little.” Justina looked a little saddened by that statement but, gave no protest.

    “Well you must be busy, with training camp starting soon. Thanks for stopping by.” Logan stood up as well.

    “I gotta go too,” He said dusting himself off, “I’ve got things to do back home. I’ll catch up with you later Mikia.” The two men walked side by side down the stairs. Geoff had some questions about Mikia’s mother but, it didn’t seem his place to ask. Outside the apartment building the coach tried to find a cab. “You won’t get a cab in this part of town, too dangerous.” The young forward explained. “There’s a bus stop up the way you should take it about three stops down then you may find a cab.” Geoff turned to walk away, “Uh, coach,”

    “Yeah,” Logan made a fist with his left hand.

    “It’s nothing, sorry.” Geoff waited for a beat then continued on his way.

    ____________________________________________________________________
    Training Camp
    Outside Chofin, Carratos

    It was the fifth day of training at a complex on the coast of the inland sea near Chofin. The new draftees seemed to be handling things well. Masters and Sylver worked well together as a midfield team, Gor was giving Logan a run for his credits and Mikia was fast on her feet and could hit with power. However Eponette looked to be having difficulties. In scrimmages her side always seemed to be weaker. Geoff couldn’t see why this would be happening. He called an end to practice for that day and left to give Schnitt a progress report. As he approached the locker room he heard yelling.

    “You wanna’ go Rhodri.” Eponette shouted. The coach picked up his pace.

    “Bring it smuggler trash.” Rhodri bellowed. Geoff entered the locker room just in time to see Sylvanus and Samia pin the large Klatooinian to the far wall. Jace and Boutros held Ponie back. The screams between the two defenders became incoherent.

    “Hey,” Geoff called out restoring some order to the room. “What’s going on here?”

    “Rhodri has been freezing me out of drills and leaving me out to dry in scrimmages.” Ponie said.

    “Oh, I’m sorry; I didn’t know I had to hold your hand.” Rhodri replied in a mocking tone.

    “That’s it.” The former Miner pushed against her teammates reaching out to grab hold of Rhodri.

    “Enough,” the coach yelled, “Rhodri, I think this is about more than some drills.”

    “What makes you say that?”

    “Are you kidding me,” Geoff looked around, “I heard what you called her before I came in,”

    “I was just…”

    “Taking trash,” the human said finishing the thought, “No, those words came from somewhere more visceral.” The room was silent for a moment. Rhodri pushed the Zabrack and Balosar off and walked to the exit. “Hey,” Geoff called out, “At least apologize. You two are my best defenders I need you to work together.” The Klatooinian stopped for a second then kept walking. The coach sighed, “Rhodri, you’re benched.”

    “What?” Rhodri said turning around.

    “If you’re not even going to try to get along, I don’t need you out there.”

    “You just said that I was your best defender, you can’t bench me.”

    “If your play hurts the team, yes I can. This is not Nar Shaddaa. I can have Bestide take your spot and have Ponie or Mikia in the left half back position.” Rhodri glanced back to Ponie then to Geoff. He growled and stormed off. Geoff turned to the rest of the team, “all right everyone, let’s get out of here.”
    TAG: No one
     
  5. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    IC: Christine Gamble
    Wroona, Training Camp

    “Hey Gamble, you sure you want to do this?” Coach Peet Carelle called out.

    “I’m damn sure,” Christine said. She pounded her gloves together hard to prove her point.

    “All right, but don’t feel bad if we don’t pick you,” Carelle said with a shrug. He turned to Silytia Monn, the Cathar defensive coach who was running the shooting machine. “Start whenever you’re ready, Silytia.”

    The Cathar punched a button, and the machine came to life. It had a full complement of bolo-balls in its depository, and was going to start launching them at the goal. With a servo connecting the arm to the mechanism, the machine could move around and change angles of its shots, so as to simulate different approaches a forward might take during a game. The first ball dropped from the chute into the mechanism, and the computer figured out its first shot. The ball rocketed from the cannon and snapped crisply into the back of the net. Christine had barely blinked, and yet the ball had gotten past her without her really knowing it was there.

    “Come on, Gamble, put a little more effort into it!” Carelle yelled.

    Christine pounded her fists together again and took her defensive crouch. It was more of the stance she used as a defender, and might not be the best goalkeeper crouch. But hopefully if she won the job she would never need to do this during a game. It was called “emergency goalie” for a reason. They had two goalies on the roster, and hopefully one of them would be unscathed each game to start the next one. Besides, they had an experienced Jam Tarpals down on Thyferra, so if the need arose, they could call him up between games to fill in. So this role was only to be used if both goalies went down in the same game; it usually never happened, but Christine had once seen a game where that had occurred, and the team had struggled as a result. No need to let that happen here.

    The next ball came in to the upper left corner of the net, a well-placed shot by the machine. Christine leapt into its path and was able to deflect the ball enough so that it went wide to the left. Another shot got past her, but the fourth one she was able to corral in her hands. It wasn‘t the prettiest catch, but it was a catch nonetheless. She threw the ball back and then readied herself to defend another one.

    After twenty shots, her allotment was up. Carelle told his captain that the coaches would confer with each other later on who had won the emergency goalie job, and that she needed to get back to practice with the defenders. After all, they needed their captain to anchor down the right corner side of the field, not taking shooting practice.

    Christine returned to the field for the 4-on-4 drills. Four forwards, two Senators, two Force, were taking on a similar alignment on defense. Christine got into the line and was teamed up with Jamee Meels, the Talz half back from the Senators. The other two players her squad got from the Force were Steen Roggers, a corner back, and Cancho, a utility back. They were up against Leia Adama, the reigning Ingbrand Award winner, Litan Kuna, Loryyk Fey’limm, the 279 second-round draft pick by the Senators, and Caleeny Worgo, a reserve half forward for the Force.

    When the exercise began, Christine took her first move against Adama. She bumped the second-year player when she started her route on the inbounds, and then dogged her around the field. Whenever Leia tried to get open, Christine was there to stop her. Leia caught the ball from a pass from Worgo, but Christine got in her face with her hands up to prevent a forwards pass. Leia had to turn around and dump it off to Worgo, who had come around to help out. It was moves like this that Christine hoped the other defenders would learn, especially the younger and more inexperienced ones. Rickard Herman was doing his best to learn, but Vex Blooker needed more time to develop those skills.

    The defense eventually won the contest when Christine forced Fey’limm to fumble when she fought off a block by Kuna and hit the Bothan rookie with a textbook tackle from behind. The rookie had gotten too greedy there, and hadn’t secured the ball like she was supposed to. It took a light chop by Christine aimed for the ball to punch it loose. The whistle sounded, and the scrimmage for the two squads was over, now to be replaced by two new groups.

    Christine retrieved the ball and tossed it over to Polis Vayne, who was running the offense. Rosa Berant was looking over the defense. While Christine went to the defensive huddle to break down her play, she ran into Fey’limm. The rookie looked a little shell-shocked. “Hey, rook, don’t worry about it,” Christine said. “Gotta hold onto that ball with two hands when you’re in traffic. I know you miss out on a few yards because of it, but ball possession is key. Keep that in mind next time. You’ll get it.” She then trotted over and got some words of advice from Coach Berant.

    “Gamble, that was a well-executed chop to knock the ball loose,” the human coordinator said. She then looked to Roggers and Cancho. “Those are the kinds of plays that win ballgames. Go for turnovers when you can make them occur, but don’t over play them. If you’re caught flat-footed because you’re going for the strip, you can get burned badly. Play solid Limmie at all times, and only go for a strip if you have a player wrapped up or if you have a safety over the top.” The ‘safety’, although not a position in the standard Limmie formation, was usually a full back, and was considered as help for half and corner backs in case their matchups got the edge and could dodge them or break tackles.

    Several more tries through the scrimmages finished the day of training camp, and Christine then went to check on goalie practice. Oola Ban, the Twi’lek reserve, was finishing her up set, and the other goalies were just milling around. Sarah Connor, the first-round pick from this year’s Draft, was standing there looking glum. Christine had seen her participate in some of the defensive drills when it wasn’t her turn to be taking shots in goal. She had looked lost most of the time. Christine was going to make a note of it to talk to her after this was done.

    When Ban finished her drills, the practice was dismissed. Christine hurried over to intercept Connor. The rookie didn’t want to make eye contact with the captain as she approached.

    “Rook!” Christine said. She pulled up next to the goalie. “You looked really out of place on defense in the drills? Is something wrong?”

    “Nothing’s wrong,” Connor said defiantly. “I’m fine.”

    “No you’re not. What’s wrong?” Christine pressed.

    Connor looked up at her for the first time. “I don’t understand the playbook. It’s difficult.”

    “Of course it is. Coach Berant has a complicated system,” Christine offered.

    “But I don’t understand a lot of it. When I played defensive back in high school things were simple. I could go out and hit people when I wanted to. I never worried as much about formations and plays. I let my instincts do the work. And now that’s failing me.”

    “I know what you mean,” Christine said.

    “You do?”

    “Sure do. When I was a rookie like yourself, I relied on my instincts. I did well that year, but we faded down the stretch. That was because I got a little punch-drunk on my success, and I paid for it. My second year, when I got hurt . . . you know, for the longest time I blamed that fuzzball from the Starkillers, don’t remember his name . . . long forgotten it, and a good thing, too . . . for the longest time I blamed him for getting me injured, because he played hard . . . because he was a physical player . . . because we lost badly that day . . . but now that it’s several years in the past, I’ve been thinking about it from a different angle. And I’ve come to the conclusion that it wasn’t his fault. It was mine.”

    “What do you mean?” Connor asked.

    “I was going full-speed in a game where we were severely outmatched. I was trying to make a big play to show that at least I had the skills to make things happen. I wanted to be a hero out there. And I got injured because of it. I got hurt because I let my instincts take over instead of being rational and playing the game out without the antics. After you’ve had success for so long on a personal level, you forget that Limmie is a team game, and that one player won’t win you games. You have to work as a team.”

    “So what does that have to do with me not understanding the defensive playbook?”

    “Everything,” Christine said. “You need to learn the plays to be a part of the team, and not just rely on instincts. Those can be good at times, but can also lead to bad things, like me getting hurt trying to be a hero. But it also means that you can rely on your teammates to make plays; if you can’t make a play, your teammates will step up to help you. Like right now. You need help working on plays?”

    Connor looked at the mass of players headed to the resort where they were staying. She wanted to go with them, to just hang out and forget the struggles of the day, but her pride told her not to. Then she looked back at Christine. “Yeah.”

    “You want to work on things a little bit more?” Christine asked. The rookie nodded. “OK. How about after dinner you and I sit and go over the playbook, just one-on-one?”

    An hour later, they found themselves sitting in the lobby of the resort going over the playbook. Christine pointed out the major factors in each play, trying to describe what they were for and why they were effective. She was likely boggling the rookie’s mind the longer she went on, but she hoped some of this was sinking in.

    After two hours of this, Connor felt saturated with defensive information, and she went back to her hotel room to crash on the sofas and watch Holo. Christine, instead of doing the same, dropped by the coaches’ meeting. They had just finished up the determination process for the emergency goalie job. “It’s all yours, if you want it,” Carelle said.

    “I’ll take it,” Christine said.

    “Just make sure that you can keep it on your plate,” Carelle warned his team captain. “Being a captain means that you need to focus on defense first and foremost, but that you also have to participate in goalie drills. Understand?”

    “Got it,” Christine said. When she returned to her hotel room, she found Ava sitting watching Holo.

    “Well, how’d it go?” the forward asked.

    “Connor still has a long way to go in understanding the playbook, but I hope she’s a little further along now that I’ve diagrammed things for her,” the corner back said.

    “No, I meant for the backup goalie job,” Ava replied.

    “Oh, that. I’ve got the job.”

    “Unbelievable. Here I thought you were kidding about taking that practice . . .”

    “I’m a captain,” Christine said. “Gotta do everything I can to help this team win next season.”

    “You know, most players with fat long-term contracts get complacent and don’t try that hard with guaranteed financial security. You’re acting different,” Ava commented.

    “Obviously they’ve never met Christine Gamble,” Christine said proudly. “I’m not going to rest on my laurels, not when there is a championship to win.”

    “Really think we have a shot this year?” Ava asked.

    “Depends. We need to see how camp progresses before I can really make a call on anything,” Christine said. “And then we have that friendly against Chandrila a few weeks before the start of the season. That’s going to be our proving ground.”


    Camp had just started, and for Christine, this was going to be a crucial one. With momentum coming in from last season, it was imperative to keep that mojo rolling along.

    TAG: No One
     
  6. Vehn

    Vehn Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 14, 2009
    IC: Lilly Vehn
    Nar Shaddaa

    “If you’re so unhappy why don’t you just go?”

    There were those words again. Hurt, confused, Lilly had taken up Graham on his offer. She’d grabbed her coat and with tears streaming down her face she’d left his apartment.

    Their relationship was over.

    Those words hurt deep. Cut like the sharpest vibro-knife in the cabinet. For over a year Graham had been like a rock to her. He’d been there for her during some of her darest moments and always made time to listen to her problems. They’d shared so many laughs. So many wonderful memories. There’d even been idle speculation of a marriage or at the very least an engagement. But then things went south and fast.

    Things had gone so wrong between them following the assassination of Kaitlyn Vehn. Graham had sulked around, wallowed in his own depression, blamed himself repeatedly for Kaitlyn’s death, and Lilly had tried to pull him out of his slump, tried to keep him focused, but nothing worked. They’d tried therapy, they’d tried all the steps that two people who really loved one another did when their relationship was on the rocks. And like so many young people who fell in and out of love throughout the galaxy their relationship just couldn’t be saved no matter how hard they tried. Some chasms were too wide for even the most well-intentioned bridges of reconciliation.

    People of all species, all walks of life, bustled around her on their way to whatever the day held for them. Lilly Vehn, owner of the Nar Shaddaa Smugglers, youngest general manager in what had to be league history, felt more alone now than ever. She buried her head in her overcoat and fought off the chill of the Smuggler’s Moon. It was going to be cold tonight. She never really knew where the cold came from but she knew it could sneak into the city and really wreak some havoc. Maybe the planetary shields had holes in them that let in the vacuum of space. Maybe. Didn’t really matter at this point as Lilly knew that nothing could compare to the huge hole in her heart right now. She felt so lost. Her parents were long gone, her adoptive mother was dead, Graham left her, what did she have? She didn’t know.

    “If you’re so unhappy why don’t you just go?”

    Lilly’s ears burned as those words repeated once more in her head. She’d failed him. That was it. She couldn’t be the girlfriend he wanted. She couldn’t give him what he needed in his life. Maybe their separation was for the best. Maybe this was the way things had to be.

    Her lonely walk through the many streets of Nar Shaddaa brought her to Six Boroughs Plaza. She climbed the steps of the great stadium that Kaitlyn built. A shroud, nearly invisible in the lumbering shadow of the stadium, flooded her field of vision. She knew what lay covered underneath the shroud: a statue of Kaitlyn Vehn. Lilly had asked for the city to donate some money to the Kaitlyn Vehn remembrance fund. The statue looked good from the early previews that Lilly had seen but it wasn’t enough to bring back her mother. It wasn’t enough to fix what had gone so horribly wrong last season. After all, bronze could never be flesh, no matter how much she might’ve wished.

    “I could really use your help right about now, Kaitlyn,” Lilly whispered at the foot of the statue.

    Only that murderous wind of Nar Shaddaa responded. That murderous wind that covered up the great sins of the Vertical City. That murderous wind that in this very moment failed to cover up the haunting voice that tugged at Lilly’s very soul. The voice of her boyfriend, her love, saying goodbye, parting ways, forever.

    “What’s the matter, sister, you look sad?” Roy Cardan called from the shadows.

    “Just cold,” Lilly responded. “What are you doing here?”

    “I could ask you the same thing but judging by those dried tears I’d say you’ve had a rough night. Come on, follow me,” Roy said directing Lilly to follow him.

    Lilly wasn’t sure if she should follow him. Cardan was kind of a crazy man. She still wasn’t sure he could be trusted. If that was the case why did you hire him, Lilly? Ignoring her thoughts she followed Roy into the bowels of the stadium into a small apartment underneath the pitch.

    “You live here?” Lilly asked.

    “Yeah, been here ever since the stadium was built,” Roy replied as he picked at a can of beans that looked to be several days old and on the verge of spoiling.

    Lilly fought off the urge to vomit at the smell of rotting food and said, “I really need to pay you more, Roy.”

    Roy shook her off. “Nah, I love it down here. You think I want some fancy penthouse in New Vertica?

    “Would it help you go through your food a little faster?” Lilly asked as she took a seat on a ratty old couch with stuffing coming out the seams.

    “Knock it off young lady,” Roy hissed. “You want something to drink?”

    “Sure,” Lilly replied.

    Roy disappeared in a back room. Lilly heard a bunch of rattling, the slam of a refrigerator door, and then Roy re-emerging from the darkness with two bottles of suds. He rested one of them against the counter and brought his hand down popping the cap off.
    Lilly jumped at the sound as a bottle of overflowing suds was thrust into her hands.

    “Frak, that’s cold,” Lilly blurted out.

    “Drink up, Lilly. This is the only way to enjoy this.”

    She did and the alcohol burned all the way down. Maker this was good.

    “So what happened out there?” Roy said jerking a thumb in the direction of “outside”.

    “I don’t really want to talk about it…” Lilly replied.

    “Yeah you do but you don’t want to talk about it with me,” Roy observed.

    “Something like that,” Lilly responded.

    “Let me guess,” Roy said and then folded his arms across his chest and studied Lilly for a moment. “Ah, yes, I know that look. You wouldn’t believe it looking at me but I know what it is to have love.”

    “Must’ve been love,” Lilly replied as she pounded her drink.

    “Easy, sister. This guy,” Roy started.

    “Graham.”

    “Yeah, Gigi, whatever, he really mean that much to you?” Roy asked.

    “I thought he did,” Lilly replied. “Now I’m not so sure.”

    “What happened?”

    “I think he took Kaitlyn’s assassination to heart. As if it were his personal failure that she died,” Lilly said.

    Roy rubbed his temples, grunted, and set his bottle down on a nearby counter. “That was a rough day. I cried my eyes out. Don’t you tell nobody but I did.”

    “Tore us all up,” Lilly admitted.

    “You know the craziest thing about living on this wretched moon?”

    “What?” Lilly said.

    “All the frakking things I’ve seen since first planting my feet many years ago,” Roy said.

    “I bet you’ve seen some crazy behavior in your time: human nature, as they say,” Lilly said.

    “I’ll tell you something, Lilly. Little by little we lose our friends, we lose everything. We keep losin' and losin' till we say you know, 'Oh what the hell am I livin' around here for? I got no reason to go on.' But with you kid, boy, I got a reason to go on. And I'm gonna stay alive and I will watch you make good...



    “You think I can make good with this franchise?” Lilly asked.

    “I know you can,” Roy crowed.

    “What makes you so sure?” Lilly asked.

    “Because you’re gonna eat lightning and crap thunder, that’s why!” Roy laughed.

    Lilly shook her head and laughed as well.

    Roy Cardan was one crazy son of a….

    Tag: No One
     
  7. Trieste

    Trieste Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Apr 10, 2010
    GM Post

    It's Friendly's day!

    [​IMG]

    Wait...I think I did that wrong. What I meant to say is...

    It's friendlies day!

    Much better.

    Bonus rolls (that don't exhaust week 1 bonus rolls) to pretty much everyone: Bakura, Coruscant, Mando'ade, Ralltiir, Rydonni Prime, and Ylesia. For the record, I've checked and everyone has a bonus roll coming for week 1, so you can enjoy looking forward to that. ;)

    Friendly Results
    Naboo Ducks at Bakura Miners (20-8)
    Coruscant Senators at Chandrila Patriots (36-29)
    Rydonni Prime Monarchs at Balmorra Blasters (40-9)
    Ralltiir Starkillers at Ylesia Lightning (4-15)
    Concordia Crusaders at Mando’ade Mercs (1-9)

    TAG: Bardan_Jusik CPL_Macja Jedi Gunny Rebecca_Daniels Runjedirun
     
  8. Runjedirun

    Runjedirun Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2012
    IC: Ty Allin

    271 Starkillers Training Camp

    When we arrived at practice this morning the cheerleaders were using a portion of the field to practice their routines. I wouldn’t be human if I hadn’t taken a look. She was wearing a royal blue crop top with spandex white short shorts. Her hair bounced on her shoulders as she swayed her hips and spun around as she performed. Out of nowhere a hand began to wave in my face, “Snap out of it man.” It was Trey.

    “She’s absolutely perfect,” I said.

    “Except she’s not,” Trey said in a warning tone.

    “What do you mean?” I asked.

    “I mean she’s under age.”

    “No way, I know she looks young but they wouldn’t hire a girl under 18 to be on the cheer squad,” I said in disbelief.

    “I’m telling you Ty, that girl would mean nothing but trouble for you. We’re here to play Limmie,” Trey grabbed a ball from the cart and pulled me out on the field. We stood about 10 yards apart and began to pass the ball.

    “When’s the last time you been with a woman?” I asked him.

    “I gave up on women,” he answered. So that was his problem.

    “How could you just give up on women?” I asked incredulously.

    “Had a real close relationship about a year back, bought a ring, got my heart broken. I’m done with women they’re not worth my trouble.”

    “You don’t have to get into a relationship to enjoy a little companionship with a woman,” I reminded him.

    “You’re young,” Trey said with a shake of his head. “When you reach a certain age you start wanting more than a single evening rendezvous.”

    Just then coach Foress came onto the field and called us all to the center of the field. “Listen up,” he began. “We have two weeks until the season starts. It’s crunch time. I need full effort from every single one of you from now until the end of the season. We are doing full tackle offense against defense drills this morning.”

    It was the first time I faced off against Loren Jul. I was fortunate the cheerleaders finished practice because if I hadn’t had my full attention on her when she got possession of the ball I would have been outright humiliated. As it was she managed to score on me more than a few times. I was good at reading an offensive player though and after a while I learned how to get ahead of her. I got compliments on my play from coach Foress himself as well as several of my fellow defenders. That evening I was feeling good as I left the field. As we made our exit the cheerleaders returned for another practice of their own now that the field was available. I stopped in my tracks as my new obsession ran right by me to meet up with her teammates.

    “Her name is Lucie Vigo,” Trey said putting his arm around me as he led me towards the locker room. “That name mean anything to you?”

    I shook my head.

    “She’s Martin Vigo’s daughter. You know the richest man on all of Ralltiir. She’s more trouble than she is worth."


    “If she’s Martin Vigo’s daughter what is she doing on the cheerleading squad? She should have enough credits available to her that she shouldn’t have to work a day in her life. Or if she did chose to work she would chose something more prestigious.”

    “First of all they like to be known as the dance team. If you ever approach any of them make sure you get that right,” he advised. “Rumor has it she had an argument with her father and walked out. She lives on her own and tried out under false identity. Go ahead, search the holonet, there’s pictures of the Vigo family. That’s her,” Trey assured me

    I pulled my data pad out and did the search before I even took a shower. Trey was right, she was even younger in the pictures, but that was her. I tossed my data pad back into my locker and slowly walked over to the showers. “What’s got you down?” I heard Andi Bliss ask.

    Andi was the starting left half back. We hadn’t spoken much, he had acted like he was too good to waste his time on first year players until just this moment. I shrugged my shoulders.

    I heard you and Trey talking about women earlier. If you’re looking for a good time why don’t you join me and Slynx tonight? We know a bar where there are plenty of women, even a few who might be interested in a guy who hasn’t had any playing time yet.”

    I started to say no. Then it registered that Andi expected to get a better pick of girls than I would get. I was a competitive guy and I just come to realize that the woman I had my eye on here at the stadium was nothing but a girl. A girl who was used to having anything she wanted in life. I couldn’t provide for her the way she was used to being provided for. I had nothing to lose so I took him up on the offer. After we showered I got in my speeder and followed Bliss to a bar. Bliss was right there was no shortage of beautiful women here.

    “The new girls hang out over there Bliss said pointing towards a section of booths. You can probably make out okay over there,” he grabbed Slynx and headed towards the main bar. Instead of heading towards the booths I followed my teammates to the bar. In college I had been the star Limmie player. I had gotten most girls up to my room without even having to ask. Surely I could snag a woman at a bar. What I had forgotten is that I wasn’t 21 yet and to be able to drink on Ralltiir you had to be 21. I was only 20 and it was nearly a whole year before I’d be 21. When I was unable to show ID to buy a drink the ladies at the bar laughed.

    I wasn’t going to go home empty handed though. I would never live it down at practice the next day. So I headed towards the booths. As luck would have it another guy recognized me. When he announced who I was I had a pick of the ladies. A young woman with a dark complexion who reminded me of Lucie came on strong, but I opted for a blond. It was stereotypical and even though I wasn’t really attracted to blonds it was easier because she didn’t remind me of Lucie.

    I wasn’t the kind of guy who just picked up a girl and took her home. I bought her dinner first. We shared a few laughs and I confirmed that we had both walked in here for the same reason before I walked her out to my speeder. It was the first time since I had moved into my condo that I had a girl over and I wondered why I had waited so long. It felt good to hold a woman. She left after breakfast the next morning without even leaving her contact information.

    279 Ylesia New Peace City Gardens

    Our back-up defenders played a decent game. Far from what we would need during the regular season match, but still enough that Dev and I were able to take positive notes from our spot on the bench along with negative ones. The offense wasn’t able to get anything going. They rarely kept possession of the ball, got off fewer shots then was acceptable and those shots weren’t even good for points. The only points scored were scored by Andres in the first 5 minutes of play. I could see his frustration through his clasped fists.

    Trey was not happy either. He enforced assigned seating for the trip back home to Ralltiir. Assistant coach Reeser, myself, Poletin, Fortune, Frokabukk and Trey spent most of the flight back watching game footage and deciding on final roster placements. We started with the defense. “Kent and Stun had about equal performances,” Trey said in opening. “I am still leaning towards Kent but I’m willing to hear you out if you want to make an argument for Stun.”

    Dev voiced that he agreed with starting Kent. As much as I liked Kaat’s spunk she had also been a major distraction to our franchise last season. I felt like Kent deserved the start more so I also agreed. Reeser said Kaat would make a good back up keeper and prove to us she deserved a start. It was obvious that she had grown to like the young woman since she had worked with her last season on Tatooine. In the end she agreed that she had seen enough potential in Kent to give him the nod.

    The corner jobs were given to Zire and Jeffers. I argued strongly for Trey to allow his nephew to start at right half back. Trey had other plans for his nephew though. He said Noah was strong enough to fill in as a corner back or even full back when the back line needed rest. Reeser agreed. They assured me that as long as Noah proved to be the player they thought he was when he got playing time that he would get plenty this season. So we settled on Shyall as our right half back and Roselli as our left half back.

    It was a perilous decision but we decided to let the Knott twins start at midfield. If it worked out it would be awkward when Hovechar returned from her suspension. If it didn’t work out we had a solid back up in Klick to substitute in when needed until Alyada returned.

    We moved on to the offense, none of the second year or rookie players had shown much promise on field in Ylesia. So we had to opt to go with the players who had the most experience. Frokabuuk, Lightcin and Tory would be our half forwards while McTodd, Fortune and Sureysh would play up front. I was able to catch a few hours of much needed sleep when it was all said and done before landing on Ralltiir.

    “Go home and get all the rest you can,” Trey said addressing the team as we came in for a landing. “I’ve spoken to everyone about the decision of if you’ll be starting and explained that even if you’re not I’m going to need you this season. Knowing where you stand should allow you to sleep easier. You will need your sleep. We have less than a week until the start of the season and I will be pushing you all to a level you haven’t experienced yet starting tomorrow morning.”

    I looked out a window and saw T.J. frantically waving at the shuttle as we touched down at the spaceport. I knew he couldn’t see me but I waved back anyway. I popped out of my seat when we made contact and raced for the exit ramp. I was the first one down. He came running towards me. “Daddy!”

    “Oh, I missed you Junior,” I said lifting him up and hugging him close to me. I felt Lucie approaching. I reached out an arm and brought her in. “Mommy missed you too,” I told my son. “Did you miss your mother?”

    He nodded. “Supper?” He asked.

    “I think he missed your cooking,” I told Lucie with a smile.

    As I turned to thank my mom for watching T.J. I noticed Trey had his arm around Mrs. Vigo. He was engaged in conversation with Tomas and Spencer. Trey never talked about his relationship with Mrs. Vigo. It was obvious there was one. What I wanted for Trey was happiness. After all he had been through he deserved it more than anyone. “We should get home,” Lucie said disrupting my thoughts.

    “Do you think your mom is happy?” I asked her.

    Lucie looked over towards her mother. “She’s being cautious, but she likes Trey Till a lot.”

    “She told you that?”

    “She told me that. Now come on. I’m more interested in my own happiness,” she said as she gave me a kiss. It was nice to hear T.J.’s babbling on the way home. It gave me a chance to think of something besides Limmie for a while.

    When we arrived at the house I took T.J. upstairs bathed him and helped him into his pajamas. “Not sleepy,” he kept insisting. I explained that his mother was making dinner and he would get sleepy after he ate. “Not sleepy.” He said again.

    “Hungry?” I asked hopefully.

    “Hungry,” he declared with a smile. I finally got his shirt over his head before he was able to run off again and we headed down to eat. Dinner smelled and tasted wonderful. I offered to clean up because I knew that Lucie was much better at calming T.J. and getting him to sleep than I was.

    “He’s asleep,” I heard Lucie say from the top of the stairs as I was browsing a social media site on my data pad about 45 minutes later.

    “Did he give you trouble?” I asked as I walked up to meet her.

    “He was excited, he missed us being home. What matters is that he’s asleep now. What matters is that our bed is waiting.”

    Eagerly I followed her into our bedroom.

    Tags: Rebecca_Daniels (for brief friendly mention) Trieste (for starting roster assignments)
     
  9. Trieste

    Trieste Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Apr 10, 2010
    GM Post

    HSN Morning Headlines
    • Miners forward Halar'ona'nuruodo fined 5,000 credits by Premier League Limmie for unsportsmanlike comments to officials during game at Naboo
    • HSN analyst: "Considering Ronan is not a PLL player, it's actually a little ambiguous whether he has to pay the fine. Considering this was supposedly a 'friendly' match, the Miners will probably see to it that he does"
    TAG: Nobody but me :)
     
    jcgoble3 likes this.
  10. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    IC: Eddy Beagle
    Work

    There was a week left until the season began in the Elite League, and Eddy was busy trying to finish up all his work for the weekend. He sifted through all sorts of stuff he had finished, trying to find the last little bit he needed to complete. His promotion, despite its benefits, also had worked him mentally, and he was feeling a little overworked as the offseason counted down. The fans wanted as much Senators material as they could get their hands, paws, claws, and other limbs on, and he had to help provide that.

    The dynamic of the office had also changed. There was a lot less talking as the workers went about their tasks, not even coming up for air as they researched and wrote. That’s pretty much all they did in a day. Apparently Limmie season was a lot busier than any other time of the year.

    “Pretty damn hard to keep track of everything,” Dru said to Eddy that day when both men took a quick break to grab some water.

    “Is it always this busy?” Eddy inquired.

    “Always. The fans demand product, so we make sure to give them their fill, and then some,” the Twi’lek commented. “The fans are voracious. If we don’t give them stuff to read, they’ll go to one of those rumor sites and think they’ve got the facts. Truth is, rumors and facts are two different art forms.”

    Eddy kept this in the back of his mind as he frantically searched for the materials on his desk. Then he heard a rustling at the door, and he looked up as if someone had caught him stealing something. Lara was there. “So, Mr. Beagle, how goes the work?” she asked.

    “It’s hard, ma’am,” Eddy said.

    “Please, for the last time, just call me ‘Lara’,” his boss said in a low tone. Eddy nodded; he always forgot. “But you can get it all done before tonight?”

    “I don’t know. Depends on what tonight is spent doing,” Eddy said. “I’m probably going to stay home and watch some Holo.”

    “Want something more interesting to do, Mr. Beagle?” Lara asked as she winked slyly in his direction.

    “Of course. I’d love to,” Eddy said, returning the wink. “But I have work to attend to first . . .”

    “When you’re done, call me. I’ll meet you at the pub down the street,” Lara said before walking off.

    When the day was over, Eddy and Lara went out to dinner. Eddy graciously picked up the tab for both of them; it was hard, given that he didn’t make a ton of cash, and the pub wasn’t exactly cheap. But Lara obviously found it very appealing. “Come on, I’ll take you over to my place,” she said.

    It turned out that Eddy’s night was not spent watching Holo. Instead, he found himself in Lara’s bedroom, the two of them letting out all the frustration they had during the week and replacing it with pleasure as they made love. It was one of those nights where you felt on top of the world.




    Early in the morning, Spinks home

    Eddy woke up from his slumber and looked over at Lara. She was still fast asleep, only her bare shoulders visible above the sheets in her bed. It seemed like the coast was clear. He slowly got out of bed, the colder air of the room assaulting his naked body as he went. So he quickly threw on his clothes to warm up. It had been so worth it to be here, because his boss made this whole venture worth it and then some.

    As he tiptoed his way to the refresher, he accidentally rammed his toe into a dresser. Muffling a curse that he wanted to belt out due to the shooting pain, he instead put a hand on the dresser to try and help the pain to escape his body. The pain quickly disappeared, but his fingers found something small. In the dim light of the room, he picked up the object. It had a very soft cover, like a wallet. He inspected it a little closer, and found that it was indeed a wallet. A small pang of conscience told him not to open it, but he didn’t care. Finders keepers, he thought to himself as he opened the folds up.

    He thumbed through the small slits in the wallet. There were Lara’s credit cards, her personal identification materials, and old shopping list on flimsy . . . wait, her I.D. was here? Eddy slid the card out of its mooring. Sure enough, it was her I.D. card for work, the one she used to get into restricted access areas. Eddy had heard of such places in the Team HQ building; he had overheard some of the other workers in the office talking about them. They said that Lara, with her security clearance, could get into most places any other worker could only dream of seeing. That included not just the office spaces in the HQ building, but also the Holo room downstairs. He wasn’t necessarily interested in that, but then he remembered one rumor that was of interest to him.

    The workers had said something about Lara being allowed to enter the home locker room at Senators Stadium. If he could only access that place for once, it would make his life a whole lot easier. Then he could talk to the players on a personal level, see what it was really like in a locker room before a big game. The more he worked for the Senators, the more his passion for Limmie was being fueled. He wanted to see the interior of the Senator locker room, a place where no one except for Senator players, coaches, and staff got to see. He would be treading on the same carpet as the players. That was a very enticing possibility.

    But there had to be more security than just that, Eddy reasoned. There had to be some sort of pass code, or something else to keep him from just waltzing in there with a key . . .

    And then he found it. Tucked inside one of the plastic sleeves was a code number, with the words “Important: Do Not Distribute” scrawled on it. Eddy took down the number mentally and made sure that he would remember it. Too bad the number was going to be distributed.

    Lara stirred in bed, and Eddy held his breath. If she woke up and found him rifling through her personal effects, he was as good as dead. Even though he was making out with her on a somewhat regular basis, there would be no forgiving that sort of offense. He had to play it safe. So he pushed the I.D. card back into its slit a little more, in case he had to make a quick getaway. But it turned out not to be necessary, as Lara settled back in. Eddy took a sigh of relief and then took the I.D. card out again. Using his datapad, he took a very detailed series of images of the card with its camera before putting the card away and closing the wallet.


    By the end of the day the card was copied on questionable HoloNet site, and within three days the forged I.D. card made its way to his door. When he ripped open the package, Eddy couldn’t believe that it was going to work. As long as Lara didn’t find out, then he was home free. Now all he had to do was figure out what he wanted to do with the fake I.D. first . . .

    TAG: No One
     
  11. Bardan_Jusik

    Bardan_Jusik Former Manager star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Dec 14, 2009

    IC: The Rancor Pitt

    "LIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE! from downtown Keldabe, on a cloudy and cool, Monday afternoon. Welcome on into the Rancor Pit. I'm Randy the Rancor, he's Justin Pitt. Liz Baker on the boards, with Kitterich on the other side of the glass and oh baby do we have a show for you."

    "Well Justin it's that exciting time of year again, training camps are over and the ELL season is almost upon us."

    "It's great, I'm like a kid on Life Day. Every team has a chance, the records are reset to zero and it's anyone's game."

    "Anyone's? Really Justin?"

    "Well. OK, not anyone's. But I'll get into that when we make our picks for the season."

    "Always fun, always wrong, but always fun."

    "The Limmie Gods work in mysterious ways Rancor."

    "That they do, that they do. But first, we need to talk about this past friendly with the Crusaders. What an ugly, ugly game. For both teams."

    "It was Randy. It looked to me like Kor'le was in over her head calling plays on the sidelines."

    "You don't think she was sandbagging it, not showing all of the offense just prior to the start of the season?"

    "meh. Maybe a little, but let's face it, most of what the Mercs have everyone has seen. Maybe not her schemes entirely, but the Mercs need the reps with those plays too, and the traditional pre-season friendly with the Crusaders is the perfect time to do that."

    "Traditional, except for the past few years."

    "Good point, the Mercs always used to do this at the end of training camp. Look, Mercs camp is held on Concordia, these guys, I used to be one of them, these Crusader's players are hungry, and want to beat the Mercs in the worst way. Mercs and Crusader's camps are held simultaneously, on the same site. The competition between the two is fierce. To some of the Concordia guys it's like their Galactic Cup."

    "It's that big?"

    "Totally. And the Mercs players know it too. They want to put the developmental guys in their place, especially after we have been messing with eaxch other all during camp. It's a hell of a lot of fun to play that friendly, and I have to give Kor'le credit there, I'm glad she brought it back."

    "But no other credit beyond that."

    "I... Hey I know I'm in the minority here, but I think they should have gone ut and gotten a coach with more experience. Her play calling against the Crusaders was pretty vanilla."

    "Not going to argue that. Still a lot of the fans loved the move. I can already tell yuo we are going to get callers saying that she was holding back..."

    "And I'll tell them what I will tell you now. They're full of osik."

    Randy laughed loudly.

    "This whole camp, I mean you were there with me you watched a lot of it."

    "mmmhmm, mhhmm."

    "This whole camp was spent on slowing down the game, limiting possessions and holding the opposing team down with our defense. Then strike with just enough offense to pull out a win."

    "It was, and that's just what we got in the friendly."

    "See, just what I said!"

    "And you have to admit, it worked against the Crusaders. Jaing scored their only point in a shutdown win for Kitan."

    "Ugh, that's the other thing. Thorn didn't play and he didn't take a lot of reps in camp either."

    "I don't think he's ready."

    "Nope, still hurt and we are going to have to rely on Kitan until he is up to playing."

    "No telling when that will be."

    "But....that backfield of Tullo, K'karlsson and Mauntak is going to cream opposing offenses this year. It's the strength of the team now."

    "Such a difference from the last few seasons, when they were built on offense and the spread attack..."

    "I gotta tell ya Randy, I love it."

    "You would, but it's surprising given Kor'le's background."

    "It is, and I question her pick of having Langdon start over Lieznam."

    "Just trying to avoid locker room issues in her first year as coach, or do you think Langdon is legit?"

    "I think it's the former Randy, I really do. Langdon is good, but she is no Johnnie Limmie."

    "You sound like me last season, when I championed him all year long and you were against him playing. Glad to see you came around. He he."

    "It's not like that Randy. I just think the veteran should play over the rookie, and now he is the veteran at that position."

    "OK, OK. So we know Langdon is going to start the season. We know Thorn isn't ready to play between the pipes. We know the defense should be spectacular, well we hope. Anything else that we know?"

    "Not sure how ready the team is right now Randy, I'm really not."

    "You think they should have played another friendly?"

    "I do, Yeah it think so. Whatever happened to the days when they played two? One against the Crusaders and one against whatever ELL team they didn't have on that season's schedule?"

    "Well, that was just a money grab by the Mercs. They got to keep those proceeds, well split them with the other team, instead of sharing them with the league. But they play everybody now, it's not such a draw."

    "Yeah, well they should still do it to help them get ready for the season."

    "Won't that get the other team just as ready?"

    'Well...yeah."

    "A ha!"

    "Don't we have to go to break?"

    "We uhhh... Actually we do. And when we get back we'll go into our picks for the season, tell you who we think is going to the playoffs and win the Cup.




    After the break.

    "Seriously, all that smack talk about Johnnie Limmie and you take him on your fantasy team?"

    "It wasn't smack. Besides his face kept popping up on all the ads for my league. I had to take him."

    "And now he doesn't even start..."

    "I know right? If anyone should be mad it should be me."

    "Sure Randy, keep telling yourself that."

    "Hey folks, we're back. Just discussing the prospects for my fantasy limmie team off the air."

    "It's a good thing we don't play in the same leagues, my team would crush yours."

    "Wha...? Why don't we have an office league? We should totally do that."

    "Because my team would crush you."

    "Oh..well maybe. I bet my team would beat out Kitterich's though."

    "Don't..."

    "Yeah, yeah. Well it does bring us to talking about our actual picks for this season regarding real limmie teams."

    "Real limmie?"

    "Yeah you know, athletic types running around the field playing actual games."

    "Hmmm. I've heard of it. probably should have played in my younger days, could have made some money."

    "Yeah. Something like that. Anyway Justin, who ya got for this upcoming season?"

    "You know Randy, I looked at it long and hard and I don;t see the Mercs making the playoffs this season."

    "You don't? Way to kill the mood Justin."

    "Nope, Kor'le will cost them a game as a first year head coach and I think they just miss out."

    "OK, OK. Then who is in?"

    "I've got C-Bucs, the Packers and i hate to say it but the Smugglers with the number one overall seed in our conference."

    "Really! Really? Wow. OK. Explain that to me."

    "It's more a process of elimination."

    "OK."

    "The Storm are rebuilding their entire team..."

    "...and playing an entirely road schedule"

    "..It's going to take a while for them to gel and come together. So while I think it would make for a great story, i just don't see them getting anywhere near the playoffs."

    "OK, Yeah, I can see where you're coming from on that. Gotta say I am banking on pretty much the same thing with my picks. What about the Pirates?"

    "Too new. I know the ELL has had a lot of new teams come in and take the league by storm, but Carratos didn't do that. I think they are good, really good. but still a year away from making the playoffs."

    "OK. I disagree there. but OK. And we already got the reasoning for you not giving the Mercs a playoff berth. So I guess it's my turn."

    "Go for it Rancor."

    "I say the Mercs squeak in, I don't have them going far, but I say they make the playoffs along with the Smugglers and the Pirates."

    "So...except for the Smugglers,"

    "Totally different from what you have. The Pirates made strides and they're hungry. I think they not only make the playoffs but beat the Mercs in the first round."

    "So you have Pirates and Smugglers in your Solo...excuse me. In your Skywalker title game?"

    "Yeah, I do."

    "Well you're half right, and I hate to say it, but there is no betting against the Smugglers right now. I also have them vying for a conference title, but against the Packers."

    "Interesting, interesting. What about the Solo Conference?"

    "Bakura is the cream of the conference over there. I am taking them, the Senators and Monarchs."

    "Wasn't that last season's playoffs?"

    "Yup, and they will all be there again."

    "OK, hate to say it but we agree on those. The odds are against it, but we agree on a repeat performance over in the Solo, at least as far as the standings are concerned."

    "I have the Monarchs bowing out first though, and you have the...."

    "I think the Monarchs will be playing the Miners for the Solo title. The Sens lose out in the first round."

    "No way. The Senators will be playing for a Galactic Cup this season. I think they're due."

    "OK. I have the Miners going to yet another title game. But I think we both have the same Galactic Cup finalist from the Skywalker."

    "Yeah. Yeah we do. And the fans will hate it but we both think it's going to be the Smugglers."

    "Wow. Imagine a Miners/Smugglers matchup. Finally fighting for all the marbles to determine who owns the past decade."

    "It's a neat thought, but not going to happen."

    "Yeah...and we might not get another show to happen after those picks. How could we both take the Smugglers?"

    "We hate them, but they do win a lot."

    "Well lets hope the Mercs get to hoist the trophy someday soon. The fans here deserve it."

    "That they do..."

    "OK. So there are our picks for the season. I'm sure mine are all right and Justin's are wrong."

    "We'll see, come back and look at the end of the season."

    "Yeah, we'll do that. But first lets take some callers and see how they think this season will pan out. Don't forget that tomorrow we have out limmie analyst Lu Braun himself on to dissect the Monarchs and give us his thoughts on how we square up with them, and then we have head coach Ryi Kor'le with her final thoughts and presser before the season starts later in the week. The season is upon us! Give us a call and we'll talk it all out when we get back, right here on the Fandalorian!"

    TAG: No one. Though I am sure CPL_Macja will appreciate my choice of song this week.

    [​IMG]
     
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  12. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    IC: Christine Gamble
    Training Camp, Wroona

    Christine winced in pain as she felt her leg being twisted on the ground by the movement of Syra Kuna over her. The Twi’lek had gone for the loose ball but had been knocked off course by Deluxx, and had landed straight on a downed Christine. The corner back had landed there when the scrum began, and now she could feel her leg stretch too far for comfort.

    “Agh!” she yelled out. The pain wasn’t her friend, that was for sure.

    It wasn’t long before the whistle sounded and the players got up. But Christine didn’t; she was still writhing on the ground. Kuna didn’t notice as she got up, and it was only Jamee Meels, the reserve half back, who motioned for the training staff to come over and give Christine a look.

    Christine knew her day was done as soon as she got to her feet slowly and was helped off the field with two trainers as crutches. Every step was difficult, and although it wasn’t torn MCL pain like she had in that Ralltiir game in 276, it was enough to be bothersome. As she hobbled off the field, it was like the energy of the practice was sucked out completely. What had been intended as a light practice had now gotten the team captain injured, and in significant-enough pain to need help getting off the field. How the team would survive without her was immediately on everyone’s mind; if it was a major injury, would she be able to play at all this next season? They had two months to go until the season began, but would 70 days or so be enough time for their captain to heal up and be 100% for Opening Day against Carratos? They had to hope so.

    On the training table in the shuttle, Christine’s leg was examined by Tama Wor. The Carosite looked it over and stretched out her muscles. “Does this hurt, Gamble?” the miniscule being inquired.

    “A little,” Christine said, her head down on the table. She hated these travel tables, with their cold metal like ice water running in your veins. And when you were on them, you were already hurting, so there was no real reason to make the misery worse. But it was all they could afford to put on the shuttle; this one would fold up into a bulkhead, while a better one that was a little less cold couldn’t fold. On a shuttle, you couldn’t lose space due to things like that.

    “Ankle sprain, likely a rollover,” Wor finally said.

    “How many weeks am I looking at, doc?” Christine asked.

    “At least two,” the Carosite explained. “You may not agree, but I suggest that you’re done with camp this year.”

    Christine sighed and banged her head slightly against the unforgiving metal. Now she was going to miss the rest of training camp. That was just great.




    The rest of camp was spent sitting on the sidelines with the coaches and any other players who were nicked up in practice. Every now and then a player would stub their toe or get a stinger and sit out a few reps. But they would go back in quickly, something Christine couldn’t do. Her leg was in a walking boot to make it easier to stand, but she found it difficult to walk. The rollover by Kuna had obviously stretched her leg out farther than it was meant to go. And it hadn’t been intentional; why in the Galaxy would her teammates want her injured? No, it had been a chance injury, one of those that she had just been talking to Sarah Connor about. Was she trying to be a hero? No. It was just life at the game’s highest level.

    Christine used this time to brush up on her playbook. She was still helping Connor get through the defensive sets, and sometimes during defensive drills Christine, wearing a t-shirt and pants instead of shorts like the players, would coach up the rookie on defensive tricks and techniques to work on. The rookie was getting better, but was still struggling. The only saving grace for her was that she would play goalie in the upcoming friendly against Chandrila, and not play the FLEX Back just yet. That was being saved for Carratos, and had been the top secret in camp. No one was supposed to know outside of the team that Connor was going to be used in that capacity, and hopefully none would know until she stepped onto the field for the first time as a defender. When that would be was anyone’s guess; first she had to make the team. Against the Patriots, with the halftime switch to the reserves, she would get in her reps in goal. There was no need to put her in harm’s way the first time out. The Revolutionary War wasn’t exactly a friendly rivalry; the Senators and Pats went at it with each other, and Connor had to be rested for Carratos.

    Christine found it hard to be out of practices. She always wanted to improve, and now it was difficult to get in her work. She could still do upper-body strength exercises, but the leg was still too sore and puffy to make her want to do anything. So she waited and watched, trying to make something positive out of a major negative situation.

    At the end of camp, the Force players got to play an exhibition against the Wroona Islanders, the local IRLL team. Gark S’rily had once coached the Islanders in 271, when the Senators had been bankrupt, and since the Senators started coming here to Wroona in 273 for training camp, it had been tradition to play a game against the local team with which the Bothan was revered as a legend despite not coaching for them in almost a decade. The game hadn’t gone in the Force’s favor, losing 26-18 to the home Islanders. It had been a hodgepodge game with a lot of minutes being absorbed by the Force reserves, but it hadn’t been a particularly good game by either starters or backups. The Islanders just wanted it more, and their fans had partied for three days after their team won. You could hear the celebrations down in town from the resort by the shore where the teams were staying.

    Christine just hoped that the Chandrila game wouldn’t go that badly. Her team needed her.



    Stoney End, Hana City, Chandrila

    “You ready to go, Gamble?” Peet Carelle asked.

    “Yes, Coach,” Christine said. She was ready to go for today’s game; the ankle sprain, or whatever she had, had healed, and now with careful rehab she felt as good as new. And it was just in time; the Senators needed her help on defense against a Patriots team that could score points.

    The starters were only going to play one half, and then the reserves would take over. Christine lined up with the prospective starters, this time facing off against Lorem Ipsum. The Patriot corner forward had switched over from left corner, and it was obviously a matchup thing. But that wouldn’t matter, Christine thought. She wasn’t going to let him score.

    But that’s what Ipsum did. It only took two minutes for Christine to figure out that she was rusty. Ipsum was keeping her away from the ball, and she just didn’t have the same kick that she usually did. Wor had said that she should be fine, and she did indeed have full range of motion in her leg. But she just felt off today, like she didn’t have the reps she needed to be effective. And Ipsum was having a field day. Five minutes in, he juked Christine out of her cleats and then buried a shot into the net past Camille Montes for three. Christine just hung her head as the Patriots celebrated. Ipsum had her number there, but he wouldn’t again, she assured herself.

    Yet that proved to be a pipe dream. In her thirty minutes of action at the break, Christine had let Ipsum score another goal. She had also missed a critical tackle on him that allowed him to push an assist into the box for a score against Montes. Add in three more missed tackles, of the variety she usually made, and it had been a bad day all around for the Senator captain. She had notched all of two tackles and one fumble recovery, one that was prompted by a nice chop by Deluxx to poke the ball loose from Marmu Ishana, the Patriot full forward.

    As she sat on the bench during the second half, she watched Vex Blooker, the Zabrak reserve, struggle as well to contain Ipsum. It just wasn’t their day at the right corner position. No one on defense was doing spectacularly; the Patriots were making it look easy. Camille Montes and Sarah Connor were struggling in goal in their split reps, and the defenses looked harried. There was plenty to work in in the next few weeks, Christine thought to herself.

    When the game ended, the Senators walked away with the victory. Their offense, silenced against the Monarchs in the playoffs to end their season, came out with a bang. Leia Adama and Max Qorbus had scorched the Patriots defense, especially former Senator Raley Tenegat. The corner back was constantly outsmarted by Qorbus, and Christine wondered what the team had seen in the guy to make him their first-round pick in 276. He wasn’t that good. All of the offensive players had done their jobs, and Polis Vayne was going to be happy that night. The midfielders had been less than spectacular, but they had done enough to earn the win. That was all that really mattered.

    After the post-gamer handshakes, Christine got to raise the Axe of Revolution. The axe was the rivalry trophy for this series, and it hadn’t been claimed since 276 when the Senators had won it. Christine had been injured and missed that game, so she had never officially beaten the Patriots during her career. It felt good to finally be able to lift a trophy over her head; it was no secret the Senators were terrible in rivalry games the past few seasons. Some statisticians said that they won a little less than one in three such games since the trophies were implemented, including four straight against Bakura, three against Mandalore, two against Nar Shaddaa, and five out of the last seven against Rydonni Prime. Rivalry wins were unfortunately hard to come by these days, so Christine was going to relish this victory, even though it didn’t mean anything in the final standings.

    In the post-game interviews, Christine realized that even though she had won the game, the media was still all over her. “Gamble, you gave up two goals in this game, and one more on an assist. The galaxy thinks you were exposed in this game.”

    “Is that a question?” Christine asked, annoyed.

    “Do you feel like you were exposed tonight?”

    “No, of course not,” Christine said dismissively. “Look, I missed half of training camp with an injury, and this was my first major action back. I’ve still got three weeks to iron out the kinks in my game and get completely healthy. There’s time to get right. Besides, Ipsum did well tonight. But exposed? It’s just one game. Too small a sample size.”

    But the media didn’t see it that way. The next day the Coruscanti tabloids were all asking the same question: Christine Gamble EXPOSED?! Just because Ipsum had scored two goals and Christine had a bad game, they were starting to freak out about their golden girl. Some questioned whether she was sitting on her laurels on a fat new contract. Others were questioning her drive. A few extreme elements were calling for her benching, to be replaced by Rickard Herman. Christine made sure not to watch the Holo that day, and she tried to ignore it all she could.

    In the press conference the next week, when Christine was confronted about how she had worked to not be defeated so badly again, she just had one word to say.

    [​IMG]


    She just hoped it would be enough to placate the masses. But winning would do that better than anything, and up first was Carratos in two weeks.

    TAG: No One except for Trieste, whom I am totally ripping off Aron Rodders for this one :D
     
  13. jcgoble3

    jcgoble3 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 7, 2010
    IC: Aebatt Zargana
    Location: Storm offices, fifth floor of Kearzon Tower, Eusebus, Euceron
    Time: Six weeks after the draft, three months before the start of the season

    Aebatt walked into Wilrax's office and helped herself to a seat. It would have been easier for her to handle this in her own office, but with Wilrax now confined to a hoverchair, it was less hassle to come to him. Speaking of Wilrax, he was sitting with his back to the door peering at his computer, so he didn't notice Aebatt come in at first. After a moment, he casually turned around, and let out a small “Ah!” when he saw the intruder.

    “I don't know why you're startled,” Aebatt said. “You're the one that wanted to talk.”

    “I'm aware of that,” he said. “I swear I ought to attach a bell to you so you can't sneak up on me like that.”

    “I'd just take the bell off. I like being quiet.”

    “Whatever. I want to know what the roster situation is looking like for this year.”

    “Basically, we're looking at a team of nothing but rookies on entry-level contracts. We got enough from the auction to field a full set of reserves, but we need League minimum salaries.”

    “Don't we have people on Commenor with minimums?”

    “Yes, but we don't have the funds to pay two teams of players. We need to drop them as a D-team. Their management agreed to let us out of the development contract, but with the condition that we took no players from them. That way they have a full team to play in the Premier League with. Since we're really not in a position to negotiate here, I had to accept that stipulation.”

    “What about Clarisse and Soneps? Can't they play?”

    “Both of their contracts expired after last season, and they both chose to retire. I tried to get them to come back for another year, but Soneps wanted veteran's money that I couldn't pay, and Clarisse said something about it being 'too dangerous' to be part of the Storm nowadays.”

    “Bassell can go kriff himself.”

    “Agreed. Anyway, our only option here is to find undrafted talent from college that have no other realistic option to go pro. I came up with the best thirty I could, but we're going to struggle to win even one game this year, I think. Here's the roster,” she said, handing a piece of flimsi over.

    Wilrax studied the roster for a few minutes, then looked up at Aebatt. “I don't recognize a single name on this list, and I follow all aspects of college limmie. Where did you dig these players up?”

    “It took me three months to build that roster. Many of the top undrafted players got more money from Premier League teams than we could offer them, many more preferred to take less money from a Premier League team that was in position to win now instead of being part of a long-term rebuilding project. And then there were those that, not unlike Clarisse, felt that becoming a professional athlete was not worth the risk of another terrorist attack. I had to dig deep into rosters on losing teams to find players willing to play for us.”

    Wilrax tossed the flimsi onto his desk. “Well, you're right about one thing.”

    “What?”

    “I doubt we'll win a single game this year.”



    Euceron Storm team roster for 279:
    • General Manager/Head Coach: Aebatt Zargana
    Starters:
    • Goalkeeper: Kohdi'orr (R) (Twi'lek, Male)
    • Left Corner Back: Chaffery Ordona (R) (Zabrak, Male)
    • Full Back: Yukkskka (R) (Wookiee, Male)
    • Right Corner Back: Shalla Lionne (A) (R) (Human, Female)
    • Left Half Back: Lyyr Duine (R) (Human, Female)
    • Center Half Back: Raynynn Ska'ia (R) (Bothan, Male)
    • Right Half Back: Kahpbei Kearren (R) (Human, Male)
    • Midfielder: Chibis Dweno (R) (Devaronian, Male)
    • Midfielder: Jalek Puto (C) (R) (Human, Male)
    • Left Half Forward: Larka Rka'sey (R) (Bothan, Female)
    • Center Half Forward: Gurm Nay'ryn (R) (Bothan, Male)
    • Right Half Forward: Pana Nelma (A) (R) (Twi'lek, Male)
    • Left Corner Forward: Darael Nightshade (R) (Human, Male)
    • Full Forward: Mungo Cornag (R) (Human, Male)
    • Right Corner Forward: Boga (R) (Rodian, Male)
    Reserves:
    • Goalkeeper: Miri Skyff (R) (Hapan, Female)
    • Left Corner Back: Jatt Darklighter (R) (Human, Male)
    • Full Back: Seena Bonga (R) (Devaronian, Female)
    • Right Corner Back: Mokin Tavrus (R) (Zabrak, Male)
    • Left Half Back: Niasig Lyu'shyk (R) (Bothan, Female)
    • Center Half Back: Kruom Lor'kre (R) (Bothan, Male)
    • Right Half Back: Tolot'ra (R) (Twi'lek, Female)
    • Midfielder: Celiam Fresana (R) (Human, Male)
    • Midfielder: Garala Koor (R) (Human, Female)
    • Left Half Forward: Eursel Kar'skar (R) (Bothan, Male)
    • Center Half Forward: Akamel Elloinne (R) (Devaronian, Female)
    • Right Half Forward: Vorvrak (R) (Rodian, Male)
    • Left Corner Forward: Patrian Antles (R) (Human, Female)
    • Full Forward: Grouwieedo Paroreek (R) (Human, Male)
    • Right Corner Forward: Kelann Skyezsh (R) (Zabrak, Male)
    Key:
    • (C) indicates captain
    • (A) indicates assistant captain
    • (R) indicates rookie
    TAG: Nobody directly
     
  14. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    IC: Eddy Beagle
    Late, Senators Stadium

    Eddy slid the card through the slot, and it undid the latch on the gate, allowing him passage inside the gigantic stadium. It now seemed larger than ever before, now that he was here on the ground level. He had never actually been on the field before; he had been here twice earlier to gather information on the place as a reporter, but now he was here on his own volition. It was time to see what really resided in this place, not just the main drags that the majority of ticket-holders saw on gameday.

    Eddy Beagle wanted to see the hard-to-access places of the stadium that almost no one else got to see.

    He quickly found himself in a corridor, lined with duracrete. It was a utility corridor that hopefully led into the bowels of the stadium. As he walked, he could hear his footsteps echoing softly on the walls around him. He hoped that there weren’t any security guards nearby; he didn’t know the security detail here at the stadium, if there was anything. It was likely cameras, not actual flesh-and-blood guards, but nevertheless, he wanted to make sure that no one saw him enter or leave. If they did, he would be fired faster than you could say “Limmie”, and probably arrested, too, for trespassing.

    The thought of arrest had crossed his mind ever since he had hatched this plan in the first place. He had never been arrested or jailed before in his life, but he had been disciplined in school for being snotty at times. He never seemed like that to his co-workers, unless Viktor suspected him of it, but sometimes when he found he had the upper hand he liked to brag. And he could come off as stuck-up, somewhat of a jerk, and obviously that had peeved quite a few people over the years. It never made for a good reputation.

    If he got arrested, then that would go on his permanent record. He knew he didn’t need that, because he liked his job. It seemed to have a future to it. After all, he was in an intimate relationship with his boss; how many workers in a company could claim that? And he had been promoted, which meant more money, and more opportunity. He was no longer a low-level intern. Now he had to make sure he didn’t lose this job.

    But the curiosity in him prevailed tonight. In the fight of keeping his job against wanting to see what this stadium looked like from the inside, he had gone with the curiosity over job security. He had to hope it wouldn’t backfire on him, because if it did, it was game over, likely. Not just with the team, but could anyone trust him after being caught trespassing using a forged I.D. card? His professional career was at stake here, and he wanted to be careful in what he did here. He had little margin for error at this juncture.

    Finally he reached the end of the corridor, and that opened into a large, mostly-empty, space. He guessed that this was where all the media trucks came in and parked, where all the video reviews and display boards came to life. Here was the world that no one saw, but they viewed the products of without thinking. It was a thankless job, and the only time you ever got mentioned was when you screwed up. It was just like being an intern, Eddy thought. Little compensation, little room for error, and high job risk.

    He admired the one station that seemed to be there permanently. He couldn’t see into the darkened control room, but from what he could tell of the wires connecting it to a central console, it likely powered the video boards around the stadium and fed them content. If it wasn’t so nerve-wracking, Eddy thought, it might be a fun job. But he moved on, since there was no reason to stop here.

    He found another sealed doorway, and a slide of the card through the slot let him through. As soon as the door opened, though, he quickly shuffled out of the way of a camera that was aimed near the door. He tiptoed his way around the field of the camera, and hoped that it hadn’t seen him. It seemed fixed in place, so there was no worry of it moving to follow him. Hopefully there wasn’t a security guard watching all this footage somewhere and noticing that he was here.

    And that brought up another issue. What about alarms? He hadn’t thought of that before coming, but now that he was here, tripping a motion sensor seemed almost inevitable. Thus he tried to keep as quiet as possible and stay low in case a camera popped from out of nowhere and shone in his direction.

    He went by the home side entrance, which would be used by those with field passes, and perhaps by the team. He had to be getting close. Taking one corridor, he found that it dead-ended with a power control panel. He went back to the main area and tried another door. It said “Officials Dressing Room”. That wasn’t it, he mused, but it had to mean that he was close. He kept going down the row, and hit another dressing room. This was an alternate one, likely for visiting teams who were not playing an Elite League game. Eddy had heard of this in major stadiums; if college games were played here, the “home” team got to use the visitor’s locker room, and the “road” team, even if they were geographically closer, used the alternate locker room, which likely was even crappier than the road locker room.

    He found the visitors’ locker room, and decided that he should pass it by. He had seen images of such rooms on the Holo; they weren’t much to see, very likely. He had heard stories of the dirtiness of some, like at the old Six Boroughs on Nar Shaddaa. But he wasn’t here to see how bad those looked; those were for the guided tours of the stadium, for the general public. He hadn’t forged the I.D. card to see something he could pay 20 credits to see. He wanted to see the real prize, the home locker room.

    Finally he found it. “Home Locker Room” it said. On the placard was a faint Holo of the Senators logo, the crested man staring sternly at Eddy as he approached. The home locker room was off in its own section of the sideline, with its own decorated entrance onto the field. Up above the locker room door were the words “Roll Sens”. Eddy hadn’t heard that phrase before, but it sounded macho. The doors themselves had the Senator logo on it, cut neatly in half down the center with the logo looking out at the entrance to the field. On the team tunnel walls were painted the colors of the team, the black on one side, the orange on the other. Eddy explored this area for a few minutes before turning his sights to the locker room doors.

    There was a hidden key card access slot near the bottom of the door, and he slid it through. The light blipped green, and he raised a hand to open the door. It was a heavy door, but it opened as expected. He had to stifle a celebratory cheer; this hair-brained scheme had actually worked! Quickly he entered the room and closed the door behind him, putting the I.D. card in his pocket.

    A dim light flicked on when he entered, giving the whole scene an eerie glow. But Eddy didn’t care; he was caught up with the scenes on the wall. They were old Holo ‘zine covers; ones from the beginning of the Elite League stating the Team Coruscant would become the Coruscant Senators, the headlines proclaiming the team’s first Galactic Cup championship, the turning of the centuries, more Cup titles. Each cover was ghosted into the wall; they seemed like shadowy silhouettes in the dark light he had been afforded by the single light above. The further he went, the closer he got to the present time. There was a cover of the 245 Galactic Cup finalist team, and then on the other side, as if it was hiding away for good reason, a black mark on the wall that said “Never Forget – 246”. Nothing more was said there, because not too far away was the sale of the team. Then immediately afterwards it was a Cup title, the headlines blaring that the Senators, the nobodies of the league at the time, were now champions. A 268 title cover was shown, then the bankruptcy, then the reinstatement into the league in 272.

    Finally, the last panel resided above another door. “Ready to Make History?” it asked. Eddy was giddy; this was going to be the moment of truth. He breathed in carefully before sliding the card through another slot. It clicked open the latch, and he swung open the doors.

    And his eyes were quickly turned into saucers.

    The whole Senators locker room sat in front of him. Turning some lights on in the room, he was suddenly bathed in orange and black regalia. The carpet was plush, and he got down on the floor to feel its soft texture. Around the center of the room were the lockers, each one made of a very nice, yet durable, material. None of the uniforms or game items were here, as was to be expected, but they would soon reside here for the season opener against Carratos. Around the locker room were pennants that decreed the years of Galactic Cup title winners. In the middle of the carpet was the Senators logo once more. It was huge, and Eddy made sure not to step on it. He didn’t want to show that he had been here; leaving dirt would risk his entire venture here.

    He finally sat in one of the stalls surrounding the main logo. In his mind, he could imagine a coach going over the last few things on his playchart, while the sounds of the million strong crowd in the stands steadily pounded through the walls. He had heard rumors that crowd noise had been intentionally used to throw off visiting teams; the amount of padding used between the stands and the visitor’s locker room was apparently a lot less than it was here. Here it would likely be quiet, but there it could be very noisy. Some critics had charged the team with piping noise into the visitor’s locker room using hidden speakers, but when an inspection was done of the room, nothing came up. Actually, no complaints had ever been filed by opposing teams due to unfair noise in the locker rooms, so those were likely unfounded rumors. Besides, Senators Stadium wasn’t even the largest stadium in the league. It was average, in an odd twist of things. On Mandalore and Rydonni Prime, they used crowd noise to funnel their teams. In Senators Stadium, it was expected that the team perform regardless of crowd noise. Bakura Gardens and Stoney End had seen winning teams with small crowds. Peace City Gardens had seen a Cup-winning team with only 60,000 available seats at home games on Ylesia. You could win without crowd noise, because what was on the field mattered, not the fans in the stands. It helped, but if the team couldn’t produce on the field, things went downhill. The Senators had seen the ugly side of that in 277.

    Eddy poked around the locker room some more. He found the trainer’s room, complete with its own peals of victory, the refresher, and the showers. Everywhere he looked, he was surrounded by the Senator culture. The team was desperate to make a strong showing every year; they had been knocked down and out in 277. Now they were trying to climb out of that hole and show everyone that they were not a pushover. The regalia on the walls certainly mustered up a lot of history and a call to arms. It was as patriotic to a sports team as Eddy could imagine. And he loved every bit of it.

    Finally he left the locker room, and made his way out onto the field. There was nothing to stop him from getting here, and he went out onto the turf in the gigantic stadium without a hitch. The size of the stadium was tremendous; he couldn’t believe his eyes. Row upon row of seats arced up into the heavens, seemingly never-ending. He could barely see the roof that covered most of the stadium, the angular construction that gave the stadium a unique look. He loved the stadium’s design, and now he was here on the field.

    He ran around the field, acting like a player taking a pass and then scoring a game-winning goal. He landed on the turf as if dogpiled by imaginary teammates, and then decided it was time to leave. He had work in the morning, and he didn’t want to be dead tired for it. Another reason was because he didn’t want to be caught by security.


    He made it safely outside without being seen by cameras, and got a good night’s sleep. The next day, he went in to work cheerily, and worked hard without any questions. When his co-workers asked him why he seemed so cheery today, he knew he couldn’t tell them what he had done. Instead he talked about how good he felt the day was going, and that he had a date that night. It wasn’t true, but it got the others off his back.

    As for Lara, Eddy silently thanked her while he plugged away at his desk for allowing him the opportunity to see the stadium. If it hadn’t been for her foolish desires, then he wouldn’t have had access to the key card in the first place.

    On the overall, it had been a good day and a half. And Eddy now had an idea for the follow-up.


    TAG: No One
     
  15. Trieste

    Trieste Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Apr 10, 2010
    IC: Rocket Richaud
    Hickory & Cherry, Gesco City, Bakura

    Rocket was grumpy.

    The Miners were not playing like their usual selves. This stunk. They were going to lose the Bloom Bowl to those stupid Nabooans. She crossed her arms, because cross was her mood right now in her number 7 Glencross dark blue Miners jersey.

    The Ducks, for a team that had played precious little ELL ball in the last decade and a half, were an undue thorn in the Miners’ side, which meant they were a thorn in Rocket’s side.

    Unfortunately, the Miners were shooting themselves in the foot today. They had only replaced one person on offense with the departure of Morlan, but the forwards were unusually unproductive. Rocket couldn’t pin down what it was. She didn’t think that it was Ronan--he seemed to be doing all right. Something was just off. It concerned Rocket because this Miner offense was usually such a well-oiled machine. A Premier League team shouldn’t be doing this to them.

    Furthermore, this was not how she wanted to get Sadie into Miners limmie. The mood in the bar was pretty flat. It wasn’t utterly defeatist, but there was no energy that would keep a casual fan in the game.

    “Limmie games are usually way more interesting than this. Especially Miner games,” Rocket said, “We usually score a lot more.”

    “Well, it’s kind of exciting when there’s a score,” Sadie admitted, “I bet it’d be more exciting if the Miners were scoring. Like when Everdeen scored!”

    “Deenever,” Rocket corrected.

    Sadie cursed. “I was so close!”

    “Well, you got the right syllables,” Rocket said helpfully. She was trying to keep things as positive as possible.

    “So, what’s your take Rocket?” the bartender said, sliding over during a lull in the drink ordering, “We finally coming down?”

    “Heck no,” Rocket said, offended that the idea was even being thrown out there, “Look, we’re just working the kinks out. We’re going to be fine by the Golden Orange Bowl.”

    “You’re seriously buying into this made up rivalry?” the bartender said skeptically.

    “Are you kidding me?” Rocket said, “The Ralltiir game is huge! Every time they’ve won they’ve dropped 30 on us. It’s getting so annoying. Loren Jul would just own us every single time.”

    “Who’s Loren Jul?” Sadie said.

    “She was the most awesome Starkiller. She played forward and she was fearless. She’d go through big defenders like she was twice their size. If she was a Miner...man, she’d almost be my favorite player,” Rocket said.

    “Even over Glencross?” the bartender asked.

    “Well, maybe not over Alana,” Rocket said, bristling a bit, “I mean, she’s Big Red for a reason.”

    “So she’s good?” Sadie asked.

    “Super good,” Rocket said, “Too bad she retired at the end of last season.”

    “Maybe we’ll have a shot at them this year as a result,” the bartender said with a wink, “Not like we ended their massive winning streak once upon a time.”

    “See!” Rocket declared, “That was a great game! Part of what makes a rivalry are games like that!”

    Their attention was stealthily turned back to the vidscreens in the bar. Something was brewing on the field. Ronan was having words with the ref. Rocket didn’t know much about Chiss--but she didn’t think that the way Ronan looked right now was what a Chiss looked like when it was happy. He seemed to be particularly incensed about something. Lun and Aerax on BBC were speculating about what was going on.

    “Ronan does not look happy down there. I mean he really seems to be upset about something,” Lun said.

    “It looks like he’s really hot about a call during play. I’m thinking he feels he was interfered with away from the play,” Aerax replied.

    The ref stepped away from Ronan, apparently finished with the conversation and turned her mike on. “The--”

    That was all that the ref could get out before her head came around to find Ronan right in her face. The mike picked up the conversation between the two.

    “I only ask that you take this matter seriously,” Ronan said. It sounded pretty menacing to Rocket, “You Premier League ref, you’ve been turning a blind eye to their penalties all game long?”

    The ref, without thinking, turned and faced the Chiss. “Are you accusing me of favoritism?”

    “Yes, you stand accused!” Ronan said, really warming to the task now.

    Finally, the official ignored him. “Unsportsmanlike conduct on Bakura, number 65. Free kick to Naboo. Number 65 is officially warned for the duration of the game.”

    The Chiss stalked away, this time smart enough to stay silent.

    “Wow, listen to that guy,” Sadie said, clearly not impressed, “‘You stand accused!’ What is he, Ronan the Accuser or something like that?”

    “Oh no, this is going to become a thing, isn’t it?” Rocket groaned.

    “Wait, did I just make a thing?” Realization was dawning on Sadie. “I made a thing! I made a limmie thing!”

    Well, the game wasn’t a total loss, Rocket figured, as long as Sadie found a reason to enjoy limmie. But maybe it would be best if they kept their thing to themselves and definitely not tell Ronan about it. Something told Rocket that the Chiss wouldn’t appreciate it.



    Rocket’s apartment, Gesco City, Bakura

    If there was one thing that could be said about Rossum’s operation, it was that they did things classy. Rocket knew that the moment she opened the package that had arrived in the mail and found a brand new datapad with Cobalt encryption. Rocket had no idea what Cobalt encryption was or how it was better than any other kind of encryption, but she figured that it was good. It required palm scanning to unlock and the flimsi that came in the package detailing this security warned Rocket that three straight failed attempts to access the datapad would fry it. She had a feeling that wasn’t a metaphor either. It seemed pretty clear that Rossum wasn’t kidding when it said that it protected client privacy.

    Rocket sat looking at the sleek, thin black datapad on the table in her apartment. It was, by far, the most expensive thing in the apartment. The studio apartment had one room, a small bathroom, a kitchenette you could barely turn around in, and just enough room for one chair, one table, and a twin bed. Most of what she’d gotten had been scrounged from thrift stores, so nothing matched. But it was all hers and it did the trick.

    The datapad was preloaded with all of Rocket’s clients and contact information for each. Rocket scrolled through them. Each had a client number, name, home address, employer, and that was just what she got from a quick glance. She purposefully limited herself to that.

    Manipulating the interface, Rocket hid the name column. She’d thought about this ever since taking the job. In her previous job, she’d basically worked the bars for a local bookie and taken bets and made collections. She had known all of her clients. They were good people, working or middle class Bakurans. She’d known when not to take their bets anymore--not because they didn’t pay, but because she knew the next time they’d be using the rent money.

    But these clients...Rocket skimmed the addresses to confirm what she’d suspected. The addresses here were in the well to do enclaves of the city. The firms that employed them were prosperous companies that Rocket had heard about. Thankfully no one from BRC was on there--that would have been a little awkward. What was more telling were the positions of the beings on her list. Vice President. Chief Executive Office. President. These were no slouches these were rich people.

    Rossum had notes on their habits. “Minimum 2,000 credit bet.” “Six game per week ELL bettor, 5,000 credit minimum.” “10,000 game of the week.” These clients were exclusively ELL bettors. That was where the big money was. Rocket did some rough math in her head. These clients probably collectively laid 700,000 credits on the line every week of the season. That was over 6 million credits over the regular season. Wait--no, that was if it was a nine week season. With eleven weeks, plus the playoffs...that was maybe 8.5 million.

    Eight and a half million credits.

    Rocket sat back in her chair and she thought about that for a moment.

    Eight and a half million credits.

    If she worked for a century, she wouldn’t make that much in her current job, but in 14 weeks she was going to have the fate of 18 million credits pass through her hands. A big week before had been pulling down 20,000 in bets. Now she’d be doing 350 times that and Rossum wouldn’t blink an eye.

    Rocket put her head in her hands. “What have you gotten yourself into?”

    The datapad chimed. Rocket looked up and craned her neck forward, as if she was looking at something mystifying like a baby kryat dragon or a miniature tauntaun. She tapped the dark screen to wake it up.

    1 new message, it read.

    Dear Ms. Richaud,

    Per the attached communication from Rossum, I understand you will now be handling my account. Please see the following bets…


    “And so it begins,” Rocket said to herself as she sat up straighter in her chair.

    TAG: Runjedirun
     
    Vehn, Runjedirun, Jedi Gunny and 3 others like this.
  16. jcgoble3

    jcgoble3 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 7, 2010
    Sub-GM Post/IC: Marius Turnell
    Two months before the start of the 279 Elite League season

    “Welcome, everyone, to the seventh season of the Limmie Futures League. To start things off, I want to briefly review last season. In 278, we introduced some sweeping rule changes, including an all-new playoff system and a longer schedule. I am proud to say that both of these changes were successful, and both will be retained going forward.

    “This year, the Futures League will shrink slightly with the elimination of the Corellia Rebels and the Commenor Gundarks. The Rebels were affiliated with the Kuat Triforce, who have been demoted from the Elite League, and the Euceron Storm terminated its contract with the Gundarks due to lack of funds. With no replacement for either team, we return to an eight-team league in 279.

    “This change in the size of the league, combined with the lengthening of the Elite League regular season, does necessitate some changes to our schedule. While brief consideration was given to sticking with a simple round robin, the major concern that ultimately killed that idea was that it was inconsistent with last season's move to a schedule matching the Elite League in length, which was done for the purpose of making sure players are prepared for the rigors of an Elite League season. After trying out a few ideas on the drawing board, we have developed a new schedule that we believe will accomplish that purpose, while remaining compatible with an eight-team league.

    “First, to accommodate this new format, we will be splitting the league into two conferences, resurrecting our conference names of Grames and Strensky from our inaugural season. For 279, the Grames Conference will consist of Byblos, Concordia, Tatooine, and Thyferra, while the Strensky Conference will consist of Druckenwell, Eriadu, Gallinore, and Garqi. Each team will play a total of ten regular-season games, consisting of two games against each other team in the conference and one against each team in the other conference. In setting up the conferences, we carefully analyzed the assignments to minimize problems with home and away alternation in the non-conference portion of the schedule. While it was impossible to achieve a perfect alternation, we were able to reduce the number of affected games to one, that being the Tatooine–Gallinore game which will be played on Tatooine for a second consecutive year. Also of note is that the schedule was set up with care to avoid two teams playing each other in consecutive weeks.”

    “Commish, which weeks will have conference games and which will have non-conference games?”

    'That is a good question, and the answer is that they are mixed up throughout the season. We felt that having all non-conference games on certain weeks would make those weeks less important, since conference record will once again be the first tiebreaker, and we wanted to have important games every week.

    “The playoffs will retain a similar feel to last year, though necessarily altered by the change in the size of the league and the split into conferences. For the 279 season, the first round will see the number three and number four seeds in each conference play each other. The winners will advance to face the number two seed in the second round, and the winner of that will advance to face the top seed in the conference in the semifinals. As always, the two semifinal winners will then face each other in the Futures Cup Final.

    “The schedule is being sent to your datapads right now. Thank you for attending, and we wish all teams the best of luck in 279.”



    279 Limmie Futures League Schedule

    Week 1
    Garqi Gunners at Concordia Crusaders
    Eriadu Thunder at Gallinore Firedrakes
    Druckenwell Marksmen at Thyferra Force
    Byblos Red Wings at Tatooine Sandskimmers

    Week 2
    Tatooine Sandskimmers at Concordia Crusaders
    Gallinore Firedrakes at Druckenwell Marksmen
    Eriadu Thunder at Garqi Gunners
    Byblos Red Wings at Thyferra Force

    Week 3
    Concordia Crusaders at Druckenwell Marksmen
    Thyferra Force at Eriadu Thunder
    Gallinore Firedrakes at Tatooine Sandskimmers
    Byblos Red Wings at Garqi Gunners

    Week 4
    Concordia Crusaders at Eriadu Thunder
    Tatooine Sandskimmers at Druckenwell Marksmen
    Thyferra Force at Byblos Red Wings
    Gallinore Firedrakes at Garqi Gunners

    Week 5
    Gallinore Firedrakes at Concordia Crusaders
    Thyferra Force at Tatooine Sandskimmers
    Druckenwell Marksmen at Garqi Gunners
    Eriadu Thunder at Byblos Red Wings

    Week 6
    Concordia Crusaders at Thyferra Force
    Druckenwell Marksmen at Eriadu Thunder
    Byblos Red Wings at Gallinore Firedrakes
    Tatooine Sandskimmers at Garqi Gunners

    Week 7
    Tatooine Sandskimmers at Thyferra Force
    Concordia Crusaders at Byblos Red Wings
    Garqi Gunners at Eriadu Thunder
    Druckenwell Marksmen at Gallinore Firedrakes

    Week 8
    Garqi Gunners at Gallinore Firedrakes
    Eriadu Thunder at Druckenwell Marksmen
    Thyferra Force at Concordia Crusaders
    Tatooine Sandskimmers at Byblos Red Wings

    Week 9
    Thyferra Force at Gallinore Firedrakes
    Garqi Gunners at Druckenwell Marksmen
    Eriadu Thunder at Tatooine Sandskimmers
    Byblos Red Wings at Concordia Crusaders

    Week 10
    Gallinore Firedrakes at Eriadu Thunder
    Concordia Crusaders at Tatooine Sandskimmers
    Garqi Gunners at Thyferra Force
    Druckenwell Marksmen at Byblos Red Wings

    OOC: The 279 LFL season will begin this Sunday, concurrent with the first week of the ELL season.

    TAG: CPL_Macja Bardan_Jusik Vehn Rebecca_Daniels Tim Battershell Runjedirun Jedi Gunny
     
  17. Runjedirun

    Runjedirun Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2012
    There are several quintessential moments in a man's life: losing his virginity, getting married, becoming a father, and having the right girl smile at you.”


    IC: Ty Allin

    271 As Opening Day Approaches

    Trey gave me grief for hanging out with Andi Bliss. “That guy is up to no good,” he told me.

    It was obvious to me that Trey had lost his ability to have fun. In hopes of bringing that back to him and in the interest of having a little fun of my own I purchased some blue hair dye and brought it to the stadium the following day. I arrived early enough to slip some into Bliss’ shampoo before he reached his locker. After practice we all showered. When he saw himself in the mirror there was a scream.

    Several players ran to see what happened. Everyone was laughing, even Trey. “Who did this?” Bliss demanded.

    “Just a little fun,” I assured him accepting the blame. “Don’t stress, it should all wash out within two days.”

    “Opening day is tomorrow, punk.” He said as he turned in my direction and decked me in the eye. As I fell to the floor I realized I should have seen that coming. Trey knelt down next to me immediately.

    “You okay?” He asked. I nodded as best I could. “You believe me now when I tell you that Bliss is trouble?”

    I sat up slowly with my hands clasped over the right side of my face. It was beginning to throb. “Sit tight,” Trey instructed. “I’ll get some ice.”

    Meanwhile Coach Foress had been alerted to the disturbance, he stood surveying the situation for only a moment. “Let this be a lesson to you Allin,” he said coming to stand over me. “There is a right time and a wrong time to fool around. Some beings can take a joke, others’ not so much.” He turned, put his arm around Bliss and walked him out of the locker room. Trey returned with the ice a moment later.

    A trainer was alerted to my injuries so the swelling was minimal. The following day I took the field for the first time as a professional Limmie player. As I was warming up I watched the dance team perform their routines on the sideline. Then it happened, Lucie turned to shake her backside at the audience. When she did she looked my way. Just for an instance we made eye contact and she smiled.


    279 As Opening Day Approaches

    It was only 3 days until we took the field against the Miners. Jeffers still wasn’t taking practice seriously. Fed up I headed to Trey’s office after showering. I didn’t bother to knock I just walked in.

    “I’ve been thinking,” I told him. “You were right, your nephew would make a great corner. I want you to start him this week.”

    “I’ve got to remember to ask Richard to fix that lock,” I heard Trey say as I looked up to see him and Andres Fortune going over sketches on a whiteboard. “Allin it’s not a good time.”

    “It’s okay coach,” Andres said. “I think we covered everything. I need to get home to my family. If that’s alright with you?”

    “Not a problem we’ll go over this on field tomorrow morning. I think the changes will help smooth out the difficulties we saw on Ylesia.”

    Andres gave me a nod as he left the office and I took a few more steps closer to Trey’s desk. He walked around behind it and took a seat. “Still not a good time,” he said. “I’m trying to prepare for a press conference.” Trey barely took the time to look up. He began scratching out notes on a piece of flimsy.

    “Whoa, Trey it’s not like you to be so uptight. What’s wrong?” I asked concerned.

    “Maybe you’ve forgotten but this franchise didn’t exactly win a lot of games last season. I’ve got the local media breathing down my neck about what we have done to improve. About my relationship with Mrs. Vigo being the only reason I held onto my job in the off-season. This new stadium is putting extra pressure on me to open the season with not just a win but a statement win. And then Richard accepts this challenge from Falene Trieste to make our match up more interesting. The Miners are bringing a trophy. A bowl of Golden Oranges and on the base there are inscriptions of all our previous scores. The winner keeps the trophy until next year. Do you realize we have never beaten the Miners at home?” Trey crumbled up the piece of flimsy and tossed it into the waste bin on the far side of the room.

    “He shoots, he scores!” I complimented. Trey gave me a look that told me he wasn’t in the mood for jokes. I took a seat in one of the chairs in front of his desk. “That was the old stadium,” I reminded him. “We’re undefeated in this building.” Trey still didn’t crack a smile. “You’ve never let the pressure get to you before, what gives?”

    “I’ve worked so hard. As a player you have worked hard too. Don’t you still want to win a Galactic Cup?”

    “Of course,” it was a dream that had been forced upon me by my father for as long as I could remember. “It’s just that after the injury I’ve stopped letting it dominate my life. Look if you want one less thing to worry about I think you should start your nephew at right corner. He’s putting in the work at practice and deserves the start so much more than Jeffers does. You’ve been watching the practices I shouldn’t have to tell you.”

    “He’s not ready,” Trey stated forcefully. “I don’t like what I’ve seen from Jeffers during the pre-season either but at least he has game time experience. He started all last season. If he doesn’t put out during the first couple of games and Noah continues to work hard I won’t hesitate to put him in.”

    “Why wait until Jeffers botches up during a game?” I asked.

    “Ty this isn’t open for discussion,” he got up from his seat walked over to the door shut it and stuffed a wedge shaped block under it so no one would be able to walk in on us. When he returned to his desk he spoke in a hushed voice. “I had a lot of trouble keeping Andres with the team during the off-season. I’m sure you have noticed how much time I have spent with the offense during camp. We’ve put together a new system. Truth is I’ve been so busy working with them that I haven’t really had the chance to work with Noah the way I would have liked. If I have any concerns after the game against Bakura I’ll address them immediately. Now if you’ll excuse me,” he said pushing back his chair. “That press conference starts in five minutes.”

    He grabbed his data pad, unwedged the door and retreated down the hallway. I followed him to the media room. I took a seat in the back as he approached the podium. He paused only a moment to speak to Richard Vigo before taking his place and starting a prepared statement.

    “Good evening. I’d like to start by making several announcements that will hopefully answer the questions of our fans and settle their concerns. Let’s begin with Andres Fortune. Yes, he did request a trade at the end of the season,” when Trey made the admission there were gasps form reporters. “I asked for his cooperation during the off-season. Together he and I have designed a new offensive strategy. We call it the Core Worlds Offense. You will see it for the first time this coming week when we face Bakura.

    Second I am sure that you have all heard about the developments on Tatooine. Bartholomew Vigo held walk on try-outs with the sole purpose of trying out himself and made the team as the starting full forward. We have no intentions at this time in bringing him up. Andres is our starter and will remain our starter.”

    The third subject has nothing to do with Limmie at all, but since I know the question will come up. Madelyne Vigo and I will be getting married,” at this point my jaw hit the floor. Trey had proposed after we got back from Ylesia. I should have known they wouldn’t be able to keep the engagement a secret, but I never imagined he’d make the announcement at a team press conference. “For obvious reasons we haven’t set a time or place. When we do we will not be making those plans public.” There was some laughter from reporters at this remark.

    “Finally the Golden Orange Bowl. The game is in a little less than three days. The Starkillers are ready for battle. We hope to see you all there to cheer us on to victory.”

    Reporters raised their hands to ask questions as I snuck out the back to call Lucie. “Please tell me your mom told you about the announcement,” I said when she picked up.

    “Yes, she told me. Ty when are you coming home? T.J. acted out all during dinner and he refuses to lie down in his bed.” I looked down at the chrono on my data pad.

    “You mean he’s still up?” I asked in disbelief.

    “Don’t act so surprised. He misses you when you’re not around so much.”

    “I’m on my way,” I told her and started heading towards the parking lot.

    When I arrived home I watched cartoons on the holo in my bed as I cuddled with my son until he finally drifted off to sleep. The next morning I reported to practice to find Noah out on the field running drills with fellow rookie and teammate from Ralltiir U, Nikkola. “How long you been out here?” I asked them.

    They had been at the stadium for over an hour already. I wondered if Noah was going to burn out before he ever got his start. It was our last full day of practice before the game and Trey pushed us. I was focused on my speeder and dinner when I ran into Spencer on my way out that evening. The look on his face was one of determination and concentration beyond his years. “What are you up to?” I asked.

    “Going to fix the lock on coach Till’s door. If my brother finds out I put it off this long he’ll kill me.” Sensing that something was bothering Spencer I offered to tag along. We went up to the main control room he logged into a computer and brought Trey’s office up on a camera.

    “This is cool,” I remarked. “You can sit up here and just watch any part of the stadium you want?”

    Spencer shrugged as he began to type some commands into a computer. When he did Trey’s door made a “click” as it locked. Trey looked up obviously he had heard the sound but didn’t know where it was coming from. Suddenly I had an idea.

    “Can you turn off the lights? I asked Spencer.

    “Sure, but why would I want to do that?” He asked.

    “Just to have some fun,” I told him.

    “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

    “Sure it is, what command do I need to type,” I asked moving closer to the keyboard.

    “Oh no you don’t,” Spencer said putting his hands over the device protectively. “I am not teaching you how to work anything in this room. Next thing I know you’ll be setting the stadium lights to go off during a game.”

    I laughed because he was right. To my surprise Spencer began to type again, “Watch the screen”. He instructed just as Trey’s door unlocked and swung open. As quickly as it opened it slammed shut and all the lights went off in Trey’s office. I watched intently as Trey looked up from his work in alarm. The lights came back on. We sat while Trey shrugged and went back to work. Several minutes later Spencer made the lights flicker.

    Trey barely registered that anything had happened. Spencer flickered the lights several more times at about 5 minute increments. Each time Trey would look up from his work. The fourth time he flickered the lights he looked directly at the security camera. “Allin I know you’re behind this,” he said.

    Spencer got up immediately, left the room and bolted down the hallway. I ran to try and catch up with him. “He’s not mad,” I promised. Spencer didn’t stop he sprinted all the way to the parking lot and climbed in Richard’s speeder. For a moment I thought he was going to take off. Then Trey and Richard came running out the rear entrance.

    “Can you take me home for dinner?” Spencer asked opening the passenger door, “I’m hungry.”

    “Sure,” Richard told him. “You want to pilot?”

    Spencer nodded eagerly. As he moved back over to the driver’s side and strapped himself in. Richard approached me before he got in next to his brother. “Coach Till wants to talk to you. He’ll be the one to decide if my brother should be disciplined.”

    I explained to Trey that I was just trying to cheer Spencer’s spirits. “Earlier this week I told that boy I was going to be his father and already I have to punish him,” Trey said putting his head in his hands.

    “No you don’t,” I insisted.

    “Ty, Spencer was to be in the control room during the game in two days. There’s no way I can allow him to be there now.”

    “Sure you can, he would have never have pulled that stunt if I hadn’t been there egging him on.”

    Trey reminded me of the time Spencer emptied a water cooler on the field to help gain us gain a time out the one time his father had allowed him to work the sidelines during a Starkillers game. “The only way I’ll let him be up there in the control room now is if you want to take full responsibility if something should happen,” he offered.

    “Sure,” I said without a second thought.

    “I’ll bench you if pulls anything,” Trey warned sternly.

    I hesitated only a moment. “Understood,” I said.

    The next day was spent in meetings and doing a few last minute walk through drills. It was only a half day of practice before we went home to rest up for the game that was now only one day away. That evening I was stretched out on my bed going over the play book one final time when I heard Lucie’s voice from inside the closet. “Home uniform or Away uniform?” She asked.

    “Oh Luce, I’m trying to study in here.”

    “You’ve been busy studying Limmie all week. I thought you might want to take a break, study some anatomy this evening instead? Besides you always say you get better sleep after a good workout. I’m prepared to work you like you have never worked before,” she said seductively as she walked out of the closet in her home dance uniform.

    The next day Lucie allowed me to sleep in as long as I needed and I felt fully refreshed as I rode into the stadium for our first game of the season. Fans were out in full force tailgating and there was a general buzz of excitement in the air. Our locker room was full of optimism. There was nothing like opening day. It was like the first day of life, anything was possible. With four jumbo screens projecting my mug as my name was announced I ran out onto the field to the roar of 4 million fans.


    As a team we took the field. My eyes wandered to the sidelines. I spotted my wife on the sideline. She turned smiling sweetly and blew me a kiss. I reached up my hand and caught it as the ref dropped the ball into play.


    Tag: Trieste
     
  18. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    IC: Eddy Beagle
    Senators Stadium, Home Locker Room

    Tonight was the night where Eddy’s first foray into Senators Stadium at night was going to pay off. He had invited several friends, including a former girlfriend, along tonight, to show them what he had uncovered. They were all fans of the game to some extent, and they excitedly joined him when he said he was going back in. There was a week to go until the season, and things were just about ready on the field for the season opener.

    “I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Tod, a college chum of Eddy’s, said as they snuck up to the stadium. “How’d you get so lucky to get a key?”

    “Trust me, some things are better left unsaid,” Eddy replied proudly.

    “Oh Eddy, always being a secretive type,” his former girlfriend commented.

    “Hey, I don’t like to give away my secrets. If I did, then everyone would know, and it wouldn’t have me as an awesome tour guide,” Eddy boasted. It was times like this where his snotty attitude tended to come out. “Let’s go.”

    They went up to the gate that he had gotten through with ease. He slid his fake I.D. badge through the slot, and the gate swung open. All five of them went through, and Eddy closed the gate behind them.

    “Wow, this place is huge!” Ric said. He had gone to high school with Eddy, but had majored in biology in college instead of following Eddy into journalism. Unlike his friend, Ric had stayed on Denon for college, and had only moved to Coruscant when a job offer came his way that trumped anything he would get on his homeworld.

    “Quiet!” Eddy hissed. “We need to be quiet so as to not arouse any security features. I haven’t seen everything they may have at this place.”

    “So you’re telling us you almost got caught last time?”

    “No, I just said that we should stay on the move. Can’t let ourselves get caught.”

    “Eddy’s right. Stay on the move,” Ric said.

    The group went past the visitor’s locker room, but Eddy paid it no heed. He wasn’t going to show his friends that one; he was after something a lot more special.

    “Why aren’t we going in there? It says that it’s a locker room!” the girl asked.

    “It’s not the one we want,” Eddy muttered as they kept moving. Finally they got to the home locker room, and his friends looked in awe at its exterior, the “Roll Sens” motto, and the fancy team tunnel out onto the field. “Just like you had imagined it to be like?” Eddy asked Ric.

    “Better than I ever could have imagined,” his friend said, obviously in shock.

    “Wanna see the interior?”

    “You’re kidding me. You can go in?” Ric asked incredulously.

    “I wouldn’t have brought you out all this way if I couldn’t have shown you the best part,” Eddy said with a wide grin. He went over to the locker room door, checked behind him to see that no cameras were following his motions, and then opened the doors with the crested man logo on them. The doors swung open, and his friends were once again in awe as they walked down the historical hallway. All sorts of major events were painted on the walls, relics of the past. And then it was to the interior of the locker room.

    Eddy had been here before, but being in here again was still awe-inspiring. There was so much glory in here, so many reminders of a great Limmie past. Even though he was from Denon, who had been longtime archrivals of the Senators before rivalries with Bakura, Nar Shaddaa, and Mandalore ever developed, there was a sense of belonging here. He had never liked Limmie on Denon; the Demons hadn’t been as good as they could have been, and now that he had lived for several years here, he felt at home. Besides, he wouldn’t have applied for this job if he didn’t like Limmie. It wouldn’t have made sense for him to hate it.

    “Holy crap!” breathed Ric. “This is beyond what I ever thought I would see!”

    “Maker, this is the best!” Tod commented.

    The friends started to stream out around the locker room. Tod took an interest in the locker stalls, Eddy’s former girlfriend in the giant logo on the carpet, and the others just ran around like children in a candy store. This was exactly why Eddy had brought them here, because he knew they would enjoy it.

    “I wonder what it’s like on gameday,” Ric wondered aloud as he poked around.

    “I dunno. Can’t risk that,” Eddy said.

    “I really want to take something home with me as a memento,” his former girlfriend said. “This stuff’s gotta be worth something on the secondary market, if nothing else.”

    “We can’t afford to take anything,” Tod reminded the girl. “Otherwise Eddy’s gonna get busted, and we’re not going to see this place again.”

    “He has a point,” Eddy said. “We need to not leave anything behind.”

    Ten minutes later his friends had seen the interior of the locker room, and then Eddy took them out on the field. Once again his buddies couldn’t believe their luck. “Unbelievable,” Tod commented as he stood in the center of the field. “I wonder what it’s like to play a game in front of all these fans.”

    “We’ll never get to find out,” Eddy said with a sigh. “So this has to do.”

    By the end of the night, Eddy said goodbye to his friends and went home. He was excited to show them the spoils of his I.D. card coup, and intended to maybe take them back there sometime. He had a feeling that this wasn’t the last time he would visit Senators Stadium using the forged card. Hopefully he could get in before a game and see what it was like in full regalia, with jerseys and everything. Maybe he could find an item to swipe and keep on his wall.


    But that was for later. He had work the next day.

    TAG: No One
     
  19. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    IC: Christine Gamble
    Senators Stadium, Coruscant, Game Day

    This was it, Opening Day of the 279 season. 11 games, 11 weeks, 14 weeks until a champion was crowned. Every team was tied for first coming into today, each team with hope that this would be their year. Just because a team was ranked first or last coming into the season meant nothing until the season ended and the contenders survived and the rest went home empty-handed. This was the thrill of the game, the agony of defeat, the humiliation dished out to rivals by opposing teams, the glory of beating down a power team. Everything was an open canvas, and the story was about to add its first real chapter.

    Week One.

    Game On.

    Christine tested her knee out before the game as she sat nervously in her locker stall at the stadium. She could see everyone, and everyone could see her. They were likely watching to see if she had any grimaces on her face, to see if there was any discomfort in the leg that had cost her half of training camp. As was shown last season, the Senators rose and fell with her, and being dragged down due to an injury was the last thing they needed.

    The coaches came into the room, Peet Carelle saying one last thing to his assistants before addressing his team. No one spoke; they all just watched. The gray-haired coach walked around the room once, avoiding the Senators logo in the middle as was custom, and not saying a single word. He was obviously sizing them up, Christine thought to herself as she watched the former Galactic D-I college champion coach size up his team. They were all there, 30 players, from 14 different species, 21 females, 9 males. Sure they were female-heavy on this team, but if that helped them to a Galactic Cup, so be it. It was always about having the best players, and some teams had shown that having diversity wasn’t always a good thing. But winning, that was permanent. And that was what they needed today.

    “I don’t need to tell you the importance of winning this game today,” Peet said. He continued to pace as he spoke. “It’s our first game of 11, our first home game, our first counting test on the road to the Cup Final. And Carratos, they will test us today. We tortured them last season, burned them on all sides of the ball. I don’t expect that to happen again. They will be hungry to start off their second season right with a win. We need to want it more than they do.”

    He turned and looked at Camille Montes. “And in order to do that, we need our new players to fit in seamlessly.” He turned around abruptly and looked at Becki Morlan. Up next was Zovort, the rookie Fondorian. Then Lomgat Vu, the longtime Force defensive back who was finally getting a shot with the big club. Sarah Connor. They were all new to the team this season. “We can’t lose the momentum we gained last year, because if we do, then it will prove difficult to get it back.”

    Carelle went back to the front of the locker room, near where Christine sat in her locker stall. As captain, she was up at the front where all could see. The assistant captains were all off to her side in their own three-locker set, and then the rest were surrounding the logo. “Today we need to prove that we can make noise this year. We will face all the old rivals, all those teams who have made these last few years miserable. But today that starts with Carratos. Remember that. We aren’t facing the Miners, or the Smugglers, or the Monarchs just yet. They will come. But for now we are focused on the Pirates, and on no one else. The fans are coming to see us win today, so let’s give them a victory to kick things off. We have to use home field to our advantage; I know it hasn’t been kind in previous years, but this year that will change. It needs to change. We have to be unbeatable here. We have to win our games and keep fans in the stands. Because this is their team . . . my team . . . your team.”

    He paused for several seconds before continuing. “Now, let’s go out there and Play Ball.”



    Christine stood at the head of the line. As Carratos came out onto the field, everyone stood in the line, holding their breath. It was time to make their move.

    “We’re going one by one today,” the staffer said at the checkpoint. “Team orders.”

    The announcer got real quiet for a few seconds before coming back in. Player-by-player, they were announcing each player, what college they came from, and their height.

    “Starting with the reserves!” boomed the announcer.

    “A 6-7 defensive back from the University of Garos! Lomgat Vu!” Out came the Thakwaash defender, ready for his first Elite League game.

    “A 6-2 half back, from the Ord Sabaok University! Zovort!” The Fondorian, bald as could be, came out for his first Elite League game.

    “A 6 foot goalkeeper, from Taanab A&M! Sarah, the “Terminator, Connor!” The first-round pick came out to the loudest cheers yet.

    “A 6-5 forward from Pirtolanda State University! Thulius Jomas! The soft-handed big man lumbered out of the tunnel to join his teammates.

    “A 5-11 midfielder from Brask Yushuvhi University! Evest!” Ye’ves’toung came out, her “Core name” used instead of her full name. This Chiss woman had won the competition in camp to be the second backup midfielder on the Senator roster over Gayla Renhorn, experienced Mekmek, and upstarts George Wulson and Felda.

    “At 6 feet, a half back from the Citadel University of Anaxes! Vex Blooker!” There went Christine’s backup at right corner.

    “A 5-10 forward, from Grand Vulpter System University! Laura Cellen!” Out came the versatile second-year forward, who had been a first-round pick in 278 but was overshadowed by Leia Adama.

    “A 5-10 corner forward, from the University of Corellia at Bella Vistal! Gemma Sal-Solo!” Sal-Solo was a solid reserve.

    “A 6 foot midfielder, from the University of Alsakan! Levi Corner!” There went Corner, who Christine had once trained with during an offseason.

    “A 6’3 corner back from Republican University of Corsucant! Rickard Herman!” The dreadlocked corner back came out, yelling at everything to pump himself up. He could be downright scary if he got going; he was an intense player.

    “A 5-9 forward from the Prytis College of Natural Sciences! Ynisse Zalt!” The half forward went out. She was a serviceable backup.

    “A 5’10 full forward from the University of Ylesia! Litan Kuna!” One sister went out. The other was to come.

    “A 5-11 corner forward from the University of Ylesia! Syra Kuna!” There went the other sister, the former assistant captain of the Ylesia Lightning when they had won the 273 Galactic Cup over the Senators.

    “A 5-8 half back from the University of Ord Mantell! Augustina Dekula!” The fourth-straight Twi’lek female ran onto the field. If one had been watching just since Zalt came out, they would think this was Ryloth’s, not Coruscant’s, team.

    “And last, but not least, A 6-5 half back from the Orn Free Ta Central Academy! Jamee Meels!” The Talz went out, clearing the reserves bench.

    “And now for the starters!” yelled the announcer. This caused the lights to turn off, and only spotlights could be seen now.

    “A 5-9 midfielder from the University of Euceron at Awuca! Sharsy Wenips!” There went the Zeltron midfielder who had started as a true rookie, the term for a first-year pro. Some rookies were seasoned in the Futures League before making their debut with an Elite League squad. For the Senators, most rookies went that route. But Wenips hadn’t had that safety net; she had started fresh out of college.

    “A 5-10 midfielder from the Royal College of Hapes! Arienne Farfell!” There was the other midfielder, the feisty Farfell.

    “A 6-1 half back from Dac State University! Haybius Korpus!” The Quarren left the team tunnel. He was a good half back.

    “At 5’9, a corner back from the Hapan Technical College! Kara Milovy!” Milovy, Christine’s opposite number at left corner back, came out to applause.

    “A 6-6 full back from the University of Tatooine at Anchorhead! Deluxx!” The budding star Weequay came out.

    “A 5-11 half forward from the Royal College of Hapes! Anya Amasova!” Amasova left the tunnel, her lush black hair flowing freely behind her as she ran.

    “A 5’9 goaltender, from the Royal College of Hapes! Camille Montes!” There went the new Senator goalie, tasked with being their new star between the pipes.

    “A 6-5 corner forward from The Ord Sabaok University! Vail Pin!” The Shistavanen went out.

    “A 6-1 full forward from the University of Bakura at Telaan Valley! Leia Adama!” The chants were already going as Adama, the reigning Ingbrand winner, left the tunnel. She was a fan favorite, that was for sure.

    “A 6-4 half forward from Chandrila A&M University! Becki Morlan!” The new Senators forward was going to make her home debut tonight.

    “A 5’10 half back from the Citadel University of Anaxes! Patricia Meter!” The first-overall pick in the 277 Draft entered the field.

    “And now for your assistant captains! A 5’10 half forward from the Coruscant Polytechnic Institute! Ava Killenger!” There went Ava, Christine’s roommate and best friend on the team. Christine had made her assistant captain prior to last season.

    “A 5-9 half back from the University of Corellia, Bella Vistal! Jenna Leed!” The elder Leed sister went onto the field. Her younger sister Jayla had once been a Senator, but she had now found her place with the Smugglers. Jenna still hadn’t quite fit in here.

    “A 6’4 corner forward from Chandrila A&M University! Maximus Qorbus!” There went the Nautolan who had won the 271 Ingbrand award.

    “And your personal favorite, a 6’2 corner back from The Ord Sabaok University! Christine Gamble!”

    Bingo.

    Christine went out on the field for the biggest round of applause that the crowd had given out. She was the big star out here tonight, the bonafide captain. Undoubtedly there were countless Gamble jerseys in the crowd tonight. She wanted to do them all proud with her play.

    In the team huddle, Christine looked at her fellow starters. The sounds of the music from a long-established musical group blared over the speakers; she had no idea what the song had to do with Limmie, to be honest, except that they kept saying "Play Ball". “We can beat these guys. We did it last year, and we can do it again. Just gotta believe. The crowd is behind us. Finish tonight, and we get our first win of the season.”

    When she went to her spot at right corner back, she knew that this was where she belonged. Carratos had made a strong offer to her as a free agent, but she was a Senator at heart. Now it was to see if her leg held up.

    She smacked her hands together in anticipation of the kickoff. This was the beginning of a new season, and she was ready.


    TAG: galactic-vagabond422
     
  20. Trieste

    Trieste Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Apr 10, 2010
    GM Post

    HSN Evening Headlines
    • Miners chairwoman Regan Eldred announces that Miners game against Euceron will be “the Old Friends Game” in honor of last year’s events on Euceron and the two team’s history
    • As game was slated to be on Euceron this year, Miners will provide Euceron with home field privileges, including ability to wear home uniforms and use of home locker room and owner’s box
    • Miners are negotiating with season ticket holders to make tickets available at face value to Euceron fans through Storm organization
    • Tiarest University and UB Salis D’aar have agreed to jointly rearrange schedules to accommodate Storm practice schedule while on world
    • Eldred: “Even if it’s only for one week, the Storm deserve to feel like a home team”
    • Denon Demons bulk up team by signing ELL veteran free agents
      • Tsulkalu (Wookiee, Female, Corner Forward)
      • Xander Darkrider (Human, Male, Midfielder)
      • Elgin Cormorant (Umbaran, Male, Midfielder)
      • Sugnok Umanh (Human, Male, Full Back)
      • Chantin Zusa (Zeltron, Male, Half Forward)
      • Vicki Devine (Theelin, Female, Half Forward)
    TAG: jcgoble3
     
    jcgoble3 likes this.
  21. Vehn

    Vehn Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 14, 2009

    IC: Lilly Vehn
    Minutes before season opener against Agamar
    It’s lonely at the top.

    It’s lonely at the pinnacle of the greatest sport to ever grace the galaxy.

    It’s lonely not coming home to anyone.

    It’s lonely not having Kaitlyn Vehn by my side.

    I have inherited so much and for that I know I should be thankful. I should not want more. I should just rest on the laurels of those below me. I should rest because I know in my heart that we can’t stay at the top forever. I know in my heart that we will have our
    day in the shadow, our day in despair. But that day has not come. Not yet.

    Still I yearn to follow in the footsteps of my mother. I yearn to be respected and perhaps feared. I yearn to make my own mark on this Vertical City. This city that never sleeps. This city that always stinks. This city that has a way of keeping those who struggle down and out. All is not lost on Nar Shaddaa. This city that rallies to the cause: that rallies to the burgundy and black, that carried a team through the death of a leader, the death of a coach, toward that holy land where the chalice of the Galactic Cup trophy resides. Yes, we took that with us as well. I savored that victory. I savored that moment. I savored it all.

    I should count my blessings. I can walk again where once I thought I was dreaming. Thank you, Kaitlyn Vehn. I found a family even though our time together was brief. Thank you, Kaitlyn Vehn. I am in direct control of an incredibly strong sporting franchise playing in a modern stadium before the greatest fans in the entire galaxy. I know it wasn’t always this way. Roy Cardan tells me of the dark times before. Of the times when the Smugglers had to fight for the scraps of those great teams of the 250s. Thank you, Kaitlyn Vehn, for building a contender.

    Now, where do I go?

    I’ve drafted for depth. I’ve cut unnecessary contracts. I’ve brought in skilled leadership. I’ve honored my mother with a monument that shall stand the test of time. I have so much more to do. I have to lead. I have to prove that I am capable. I have to hold everything together in the wake of the greatest tragedy to strike Nar Shaddaa in recent memory. No, I shall not interfere with the local politics of the Smuggler’s Moon. But I shall investigate. I shall dig into Kaitlyn Vehn’s death. No assassination should be pulled off so cleanly. Something reeks of corruption. Something reeks of deception. Something reeks of evil. There is more to this story. I know there is. I know.

    I wait at the tunnel in the same spot as my mother. One by one the players that she picked, the players that I continue to nurture, walk past me. They nod and for a second I think they see Kaitlyn. For a second I think we’re back in the past and all is right in our world. Slowly reality sinks in and their eyes, their souls, reflect that Kaitlyn is no longer with us. I extend my hand, a gesture of good will, a gesture of peace, a gesture that I hope takes us forward into the future.

    I cringe as Mylessa McCloud opens her mouth and I half expect her to whisper, “Miss Vehn,” in my ears before she takes to the pitch.

    I am not “Miss Vehn”, I am not my mother. I am Lilly Vehn. I am Bakuran. I was a cripple. I am now able to walk. I know how to find talent in this league. I know how to utilize said talent but I am no great broker of the many different factions of this world. I am no politician. I am a young woman finding my way just like everyone else. I know not where I am going but I know where I have been. I know that I seek the answer to the darkest secret in the galaxy.

    The words that come out of McCloud’s mouth hit me hard in the gut. “For Kaitlyn.”

    Yes, we’re living now for the memory of a dead woman. For the memory of a ghost. We’re living too much in the past. I can’t take that. We need to be looking forward. Damn it all we need to be looking forward.

    I stop Mylessaa in her tracks and reply, “No, not for Kaitlyn, not anymore. From this point forward what we do here today, what we feel, what we say, we do it for Nar Shaddaa.”

    I can feel Mylessa’s pulse in my hands. It seems focused, it seems eager, it seems to understand. “Please,” I say, “only for Nar Shaddaa.”

    “As you wish,” Mylessa replies with a smile.

    “For Nar Shaddaa,” Jayla Leed says as she walks by.

    I smile and relax as my Nar Shaddaa Smugglers head out onto the pitch for a conference tilt against the Packers.

    I’ve changed the culture today.

    I’ve changed it all.

    No shots were fired, nobody was killed, and in one fell swoop I’ve set the tone for the entire season. I’ve set the tone for whatever is to come. That has to count for something. That has to make me feel good. Except that hole in my soul won’t go away. Not
    until I find out one thing.

    Who killed Kaitlyn Vehn?

    See, I’m living in the past as well.

    Damn it all.

    “Nar Shaddaa Forever,” I whisper as the crowd roars.

    Meshgeroya has begun.

    Tag:Tim Battershell
     
  22. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    The Extremely Unhelpful, yet Rather Entertaining, Preseason Power Rankings

    1. Nar Shaddaa Smugglers – Hard to bet against the reigning champs. Even when they don’t win the title, they are still a fierce team to defeat, and never go quietly. They are, simply put, the cream of the league.

    2. Bakura Miners – As always, it seems, the Miners are at the top. If it wasn’t for the Smugglers being so damn good, they would be the best team. And we don’t see that changing; if the Miners were to miss the playoffs, the galaxy would probably explode. And the Triestes would probably fire the Commissioner as a result. Which would suck, because he’s so funny to watch.

    3. Ralltiir Starkillers – Should have done a lot better last season, but couldn’t put it all together. They should return to their winning ways this year. Ty Allin should be back in shape and ready to lead his team. Only issues here may be distractions in the front office, but that shouldn’t have much effect on the on-field performance if the players can tune it out.

    4. Mando’ade Mercs – Got better this offseason, and having a new coach means that they likely will do well. Rookie seasons usually go well in this league; staying power is the biggest issue of them all.

    5. Coruscant Senators – Have a strong core coming back from last season’s surprise team. But they are toeing a very thin line this year, because if things go to pieces again, then it will be another rebuild for a once-proud but now embattled franchise.

    6. Agamar Packers – Did a lot this offseason to improve their defense, and that should be enough to get them over the hump this year. Adding in a new formation doesn’t hurt.

    7. Rydonni Prime Monarchs – Losing Vesper Lynd is like basically losing their entire team. It means that a lot of things will need to go right in order for them to repeat last season’s success. They have a foundation in place, though, and the offseason friendlies, despite being against inferior competition, show that their defense is still one to be feared.

    8. Ylesia Lightning – Kasin Urdaaza is back, and the Lightning can definitely contend this season if they put all the pieces together. But it will take a lot given their recent struggles.

    9. Carratos Pirates – Should improve this season after a poor opening year. We’re not thinking playoffs just yet, but they are building a foundation.

    10. Hapes Consortium Buccaneers – Losing their head coach really hurts, and questionable personnel decisions made this offseason really will hurt the C-Bucs. The only hope they have is that they moved to the Skywalker Conference, which many believe is “easier” than the Solo.

    11. Denon Demons – The first season back in the Elite League is a chance for the Demons to prove why they belong. They’ve added some veterans to help them along, but we’re not holding out major hopes for them just yet.

    12. Euceron Storm – It will be very difficult to bring this all-new team of outcasts and misfits to the level where they can seriously contend in just one season. We’re looking at likely a very poor season with hopes to build this team into a contender in a few years.


    HSN Playoff Predictions:

    Skywalker:

    Nar Shaddaa
    Mando’ade
    Agamar
    Hapes
    Carratos
    Euceron

    Solo:

    Bakura
    Ralltiir
    Rydonni Prime
    Coruscant
    Ylesia
    Denon

    Playoffs:

    Mando'ade over Agamar
    Ralltiir over Rydonni Prime

    Nar Shaddaa over Mando'ade
    Bakura over Ralltiir

    Bakura over Nar Shaddaa


    My Personal Picks:

    Skywalker:

    Agamar
    Hapes
    Mando'ade
    Carratos
    Euceron
    Nar Shaddaa (they're long overdue for a huge fall-off, right? :D )


    Solo:

    Ralltiir
    Rydonni Prime
    Ylesia
    Bakura
    Coruscant
    Ylesia


    Mando'ade over Hapes
    Rydonni Prime over Ylesia

    Agamar over Mando'ade
    Rydonni Prime over Ralltiir

    Rydonni Prime over Agamar


    TAGS to Everyone, so Tim Battershell, Rebecca_Daniels, Runjedirun, Trieste, CPL_Macja, Bardan_Jusik, Vehn, jcgoble3, galactic-vagabond422
     
  23. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    279 Team Previews, Brought to you By Limmie Droids, Inc.
    For all your trailer canon needs :D
    Agamar Packers –
    Strengths: The Packers added some extra defenders in the Draft this year that should help a defensive unit that has been much-maligned over the past few seasons. A new formation by a team that loves to mix and match personnel aims to keep the Packers on top of all situations.

    Weaknesses: Reliance on a new formation can easily backfire if all the pieces don’t mesh together. Losing Tim Dodd definitely hurts this team’s front office.

    Key Player: Jiva Taskelor. Taskelor will be asked to score the bulk of the Packers’ points this season coming out of the new formation. With less backup for the forwards with the new look, the full forward will be asked to shoulder more of the offensive load.


    Bakura Miners –

    Strengths: Returning 12 players from 277 Galactic Cup championship roster and plenty of them were on the 275 squad, so experienced front to back. Most impressively, these players are young and experienced and not likely to be intimidated by any team they meet.
    Weaknesses: The big question mark is how many more productive years are left in Alana Glencross and whether she can continue to anchor the Miners. The removal of Morlan from the offense could seriously undermine Morgan Alesh's effectiveness. It's been a decade since she hasn't had Morlan on her opposite wing.
    Breakout Players: The Miners went big on Hervey, so if someone's going to break out, it's going to be him. If Ronan is able to fly under the radar and not mess up a humming Miners offense, that will be an achievement enough for him.

    Carratos Pirates –
    Strengths: Half backs, with Rhodri Gwy’nedd, Eponette Ternardiel, and Mikia Sandin (the latter two being new additions). Adding these talents should give the team an opportunity to take the next step defensively.

    Weaknesses: Offense, despite Logan Manx’s best efforts, the Pirates attack struggled to gain any traction, and they haven’t done much to change that in the offseason. Scoring points will be critical for a team trying to break in new pieces on defense.

    Player to watch: Rhodri Gwy’nedd. The Ingbrand Award Nominee was the anchor of the defense last season and looks to keep doing the same.

    Coruscant Senators –

    Strengths: Return almost entire Front 6 from last year (starters and reserves) that led the League in points scored. Added veteran depth in Becki Morlan to keep scoring punch going, and traded for goalkeeper Camille Montes in the offseason to solidify a swinging-door position. Montes has always been under-the-sensors, and should help lock things down.

    Weaknesses: Team is too reliant on Christine Gamble. As she goes, so does this team. Questions arise if Morlan will be anywhere near as effective without Morgan Allesh by her side, if Montes can be a major signing or another Senators trade bust, and if Gamble’s injury has fully healed. Team can be streaky at times, leading to very inconsistent play.

    Key Player: Christine Gamble. The Senators begin and end with Gamble, their fifth-year corner and team captain. Having just signed a new five-year deal to stay on the Galactic Capital, can Gamble take the next step and take her team to greatness, or is she not worth the money the Senators paid for her this offseason?

    Denon Demons –

    Strengths: Besides being good enough to make it to the Elite League, not a simple task, the Demons look to rely on their solid performers all over the field. They are hardly-ever rattled, and are definitely hungry to make an impact in their first Elite League season in a long time. Adding some Elite League veterans should make an immediate impact.

    Weaknesses: As with all recently-promoted teams, they are behind the curve on the rest of the league. Some are able to come out of the gate swinging like Ylesia in 273, but other teams have a more difficult time adjusting to the change in styles of play and pace of the game. It will be hard for a team that hasn’t been in the Elite League for so long to return to proper form in their first year back to succeed.

    Key Player: Aryan Twig. This corner forward is the unquestioned leader of the Demons offense, and as he goes, they go. There are doubts that he can perform under pressure, and it’s vital that he has a good season so that the Demons do.


    Euceron Storm –

    Strengths: The strongest positions on the team are in the midfield, where captain Jalek Puto plus Chibis Dweno have been dominating intrasquad scrimmages during training camp. The back line is the next best, with assistant captain Shalla Lionne playing as well as one could expect from a woman who was getting ready to start a job in a shipyard when she got the call from the Storm. These are only relative to the rest of the team, however; compared to the rest of the Elite League, not even the most ardent fan of the Storm could honestly say that the team has any strengths at all.

    Weaknesses: The only true answer to this is "everything". Most of these players have no business playing at any level of professional limmie, much less in the Elite League. The Storm have virtually no chance of a winning season, and most Futures League teams could beat the 279 Euceron Storm with ease. The single weakest position is the goalkeeper; both starter Kohdi'orr and backup Miri Skyff have struggled in practice with the rest of the team, and will be in for a long day when faced with the speed of the rest of the Elite League.

    Key Player: It's very difficult to name a key player on a team this bad, but one would do well to keep an eye on Puto, the captain, as his strong leadership abilities are capable of raising the level of play of those around him—one of the reasons for the midfield's relative strength. If Puto gets on a hot streak, watch out, because the Storm could possibly pull off an upset when you least expect it.


    Hapes Consortium Buccaneers –

    Strengths: Can be good on both offense and defense when they want to. Wai Lin is a savvy veteran who can score points in bunches, and Melina Havelock is an underrated defender in the League.

    Weaknesses: Can the C-Bucs recover from losing Meredith Chambers-Vayne as their head coach? Trading away franchise goalie Camille Montes opens up a huge gap in goal, something that could bring what is usually a good defense to its knees quickly. Doesn’t have much offensive firepower outside of Lin, as the Masterson twins and Jinx Johnson are known liabilities.

    Key Player: Ziva Kender. The C-Bucs got her in the Montes trade from the Senators, and now she will be tasked on filling Montes’ shoes. If she can find a rhythm, then the C-Bucs will be fine. If she can’t, it’s going to be a long year in the Consortium.


    Mando’ade Mercs –

    Strengths: Defensive backs. The Fullback (Ike Tullo) and both Cornerbacks (K'Karlson and Mauntak) are hard hitters with a good mix of youth and veteran experience.

    Weaknesses: Goaltender. Thorn was injured at the end of last season and is not yet ready to play. Mercs front office declined to replace him and will instead go with backup goaltender Mij Katan until Thorn can return.

    Player to watch: Jeem Daryc. Despite the new emphasis on defense, how goes Daryc at half forward, so goes the Mercs. He can be a dominating player at times and can completely take over a game when the desire is truly there.


    Nar Shaddaa Smugglers –

    Strengths: Back Six consisting of Jayla Leed, Wilhulf Nexrus, Ken Zetter, Zen Keisel, Zelena Wiles, and rookie Anna Konder. Four of these players are two time Galactic Cup champions.

    Weaknesses: Front Six due to the release of serviceable veteran players like Julius Winifred and Raymondo "Ray" Gunn who never put up the gaudy offensive numbers like Mylessa McCloud, Shady Lerouex, or Gargova Brousard. These veterans have a tall task in assisting newcomers such as Victoria Duchamp (a 278 draft pick) and whomever the Smugglers take in free agency to fill a gaping hole at Right Half Forward. Look for the offense to struggle this year in Meredith Chambers-Vayne's scheme.

    Player to Watch: Anabelle Shaw. Paired with two time Galactic Cup champion midfielder and fellow University of Tatooine Alumnus Erin Windreaver, the "Sand Devils" as the pair are being called by Vertical City media are eager to become the best midfielder tandem in the league.....Shaw has the smarts and the athletic capability to transform one of the most overlooked positions on the field for the Smugglers since their inception as a franchise.

    Ralltiir Starkillers –

    Strengths: No rookie starters this season. Till has worked with all these players at least one season and they all saw playing time last year as back-ups. Experience should help at every position. Star Dev Poletin is back on a long-term contract, and Ty Allin should be back and 100% from his injuries last season.

    Weaknesses: Lots of younger players on offense, so there may be some inconsistencies as they look to gel as a unit. Distraction of owner and coach engagement could easily take the headlines instead of the team, and may prove to be a major headache. The Hovechar suspension looms large over a team that really needs a bounce-back year.

    Key Player: Dev Poletin. The defensive whiz and reserve goalie is back on an 8-year contract, and looks to take another step forward as a defensive ace. If Allin is healthy, he and Poletin form a talented duo to lead the Starkiller defense. If Allin isn’t healthy, Poletin will be looked at to lead the defense.


    Rydonni Prime Monarchs -

    Strengths: Defense. Last season's starting 5 Back field are returning and will be anchored once again by Salbukk award winner, Oss'irh'cgood in goal. Allowing only 11 points in their two (not-so) friendlies that they played as a complete unit shows that they are ready to repeat their defensive performance from one season ago. Entering their third season together, the trio of Kelsei Seter, Cali Royd, and Severine seem to have gelled into a strong cohesive unit. Both Maggie Adams and Liddy Powe have the potential to solidify themselves as the future mainstays on their respective sides of the Field. Bringing with them experience from other team systems, both do not consider themselves as "stars", but they are looked too by players on each side of the bolo to share their unique perspectives.

    Weaknesses: Lacking the true leadership and consistency that Vesper Lynd provided, no true Captain has emerged. Her mysterious post-season injury and conspicuous absence from all pre-season activities has left a power vacuum that is yet to be filled. Half forwards keep revolving; once again Buggie Resh and Fahpe Sojuria have returned to the Monarchs' starting line-up. No other position has seen as much turnover on the Monarchs' roster then there. And the offense is inconsistent. Even though their scoring progressively improved over their three pre-season matches, it is still no indication that they won't return to their lack of scoring. As with last season, their offensive production could be described as feast-or-famine, at best.

    Key Player: Rew Ileo. After being drafted first overall in 275, he has been playing in the shadow of one of the most prolific offensive producers in the Silver Era of the ELL. With Vesper sidelined, indefinitely, the weight of the offense has fallen in Rew's shoulders. The expectation is for him to step up and have the breakout season everyone has been waiting for over the past four seasons. The Monarchs success or failure will be closely tied to his own.

    Ylesia Lightning –

    Strengths: Midfield, still running with 3 starting midfielders and for good reason - all 3 have quietly proven themselves even when those in front or behind have fallen short. Time will tell if the formation ends up being a success or bust, but the players in the middle won't be the reason why. The addition of another Helmsman nominee in Guido Forkes might be the difference that turns years of poor offense into success.

    Weaknesses: Forwards, 4 of the 6 starters are rookies or sophomores, while the other 2 have been around since well before the team's promotion. Youthful energy might learn from veteran presence, but their unfamiliarity with the level of competition combined with players past their prime might spell disaster.


    Player to watch: Kasin Urdaaza. After an iffy season last year, she's in the last season of her contract and with another good goalkeeper ready on her heels it's time to see if she can step it up and return to all-star status or if the team will choose to move on without her.


    Once again, TAGS to everyone (Trieste, Bardan_Jusik, Vehn, CPL_Macja, Tim Battershell, Rebecca_Daniels, jcgoble3, Runjedirun, galactic-vagabond422)
     
  24. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    IC: Eddy Beagle

    When the teams had come back from Thyferra, Eddy had returned to his assignment on Karin Cherf. The rookie half back from Atalanta University had, as she had predicted, wound up on Thyferra’s roster, so she would be leaving for there soon. There were two weeks left until the season began, so it was going to be a long stay there before the beginning of their games. Eddy, to make her feel better, invited her over to dinner a few days before she was set to leave for the humid Mid Rim planet.

    “Eddy, thanks for inviting me over, I really appreciate it,” Karin said as she sat down in the chair Eddy pulled out for her from his table. It wasn’t much of a set-up, but it was better than nothing.

    “I thought I ought to thank you for your help in getting my stories done on time,” Eddy said. He sat down across from Karin. In front of them was their meal; it wasn’t much, but then again he wasn’t much of a cook.

    “It’s nothing, really,” Karin said, laughing the formality of the situation off. She grabbed a piece of bread and bit into it. However, it obviously was tough, and took quite a bit of effort. Finally her incisors cut through it and she was able to down a piece.

    “Sorry about the bread,” Eddy apologized. “I really thought I had softened it up a little bit in the oven.”

    “It’s fine,” Karin said. Eddy thought as he watched her that she was just trying to make him feel better. He had screwed up on the bread, and now she was probably thinking he was a real blockhead. And that didn’t sit well with him. This was his first date in a long time, and he had forgotten what it was like to make a fool of yourself in front of a member of the opposite gender.

    “Want some wine?” Eddy offered, trying to break the silence that had broken over the scene.

    “Sure,” Karin replied. Eddy poured the wine into her glass, his hands shaking a little bit. A few drops hit the table, and he knew that he would be cleaning it up soon enough.

    Karin just laughed. It wasn’t the best laugh Eddy had ever heard, but it was a good one nonetheless.

    “It’s fine,” she said. “I don’t have to clean up after you.”

    “Yeah, I know,” Eddy said. He wasn’t looking forward to having to clean up that mess.

    Dinner went by without either saying much. Eddy tried to study Karin’s face as she ate, but was attempting to not be accused of staring. Karin, on the other hand, was fully immersed in her meal, although it wasn’t that good. Eddy knew he wasn’t a cook, and this was the best he could do without ordering takeout. At least he had tried, and that was what counted.

    Sometime later, Eddy sat on the sofa with Karin on the other side. He wanted to reach out and touch her; she seemed nice enough. His affair with Lara at the office was just for the sex, but he had long wanted an actual partner, one he could be with for the rest of his life. A Mrs. Beagle would be welcome to the intern. Whether Cherf was that woman, he had no idea, but he wanted to make a good impression on her. Some women he had been on a date with had wanted to hit the sack with him as soon as they finished their meal, while others had been a little more hesitant. Commitments were sometimes for the weak, Eddy thought, but in this instance he wanted a little something more than just to give Karin dinner. She was a pretty thing, that was for sure. Yes Lara provided him relief from work stress, but how long was she going to let him keep taking her to bed? She would probably move on from him at some point, like all the older women did when they were sleeping around with the younger men in the Holos. He wanted a woman who would stay with him, one whom he could trust.

    The screen changed to a love scene, cheesy, but rather effective to the storyline. Karin seemed to take notice of this plot device. “Eddy?” she asked.

    “Yeah?”

    “I’ve always found these movies to be crazy with their romantic undertones. Do you get the same sense of silliness out of them?”

    “I don’t know,” Eddy said coyly. “Maybe I would have to find out.”

    “You ever have one of those times where you just wish a date would work out?” Karin asked, her eyes not wavering from the screen.

    “From time to time,” Eddy replied. “Just depends on the girl involved.”

    “The boys from Atalanta were kinda weird,” Karin surmised. “Not quite my material. Some of them meant well, but it just wasn’t to be. And here I was on the Limmie team. At any other school they would have killed to get a chance to sleep with me.”

    “Luckily I don’t have to kill anyone,” Eddy said. He immediately realized that he had said the wrong thing, and his heart rate sped up. Karin looked at the intern immediately.



    “Oh come off it, Eddy. You don’t mean that,” she said playfully.

    “No, I’m serious,” Eddy said. “I don’t know what they weren’t seeing. You’re pretty good, you know that?”

    “You’re just teasing.”

    “No, I’m serious,” Eddy said.

    Karin then let her momentum do the work, and she landed huddled up next to Eddy on the sofa. It shocked the man, as he was not expecting Karin to do such a thing. “That’s what I like about you, Eddy,” Karin said. “Even if you don’t always understand, you at least do your best.”

    “Who said I don’t understand?” Eddy asked.

    “Take a guess,” Karin said.

    “Look, I don’t know everything that goes on in a woman’s head . . .”

    “As you shouldn’t.”

    “But I’d like to find out,” Eddy said. Again, he hadn’t meant to say that, but Karin didn’t slap him or anything. Instead she sighed.

    “These movies are so cheesy,” she said, commenting about the romantic scene going on. The man in the film was lusting for a woman, who seemed to be playfully out of reach for him. “Do you think he gets her?”

    “I don’t know,” Eddy said. “What are my chances that things work out on a date?”

    “True,” was all Karin said. She sat there for several moments saying nothing, watching as the hero finally started to sing to the woman about how much he loved her. It was typical cheesy romance stuff, but it seemed to change the dynamic of the conversation.

    “I wonder what the chances are of them getting together and making out in about five minutes?” Karin finally asked, breaking the silence.

    “I don’t know,” Eddy once again said. “What are the chances that you and I can hold on five more minutes without making a move to find out?”

    Karin looked up at Eddy, and he at her. She had a quizzical look on her face. “Eddy . . . are you trying to . . .” But she couldn’t finish, because Eddy moved his hand up her back, slowly. Her expression changed.

    “Five minutes is a long time . . .”

    “An eternity.”

    “Wine . . . and company . . .”

    “Go hand in hand,” Eddy said. “Come on, don’t make this difficult.”

    Karin looked at the screen. The on-screen duo were now together, singing about how they had found love, or something like that.

    “What did you say your date success was?”

    “Doesn’t matter. All that does is what’s in the present, and the woman you choose . . .” Eddy said.

    “Five minutes . . .”

    “I’m thinking right now.”

    “Mmm, five minutes . . .”

    The two didn’t wait to find out what happened to the on-screen duo in five minutes’ time. They were already making love on the sofa when that plot point came to pass in the movie, the two of them completely ignoring the Holo as they pleasured each other.

    Eddy had always wanted to find Mrs. Right for him. Whether Karin Cherf was that for him, or just a one-night stand, he didn’t know. All he did know was that nights like this wouldn’t happen again, because in the morning, when he woke up in his bed, he found no trace of Karin. She had obviously left in the night.

    TAG: No One
     
  25. galactic-vagabond422

    galactic-vagabond422 Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2009
    IC Geoff Copin
    Shield Towers, Ophaz, Carratos

    Geoff sat up in his bed, hadn’t slept a bit the whole night. The team left for Courscant in the morning, well at this point it was probably just a couple of hours. A couple of hours until his second season of Elite League Limmie started. His mind was racing. The Senators had embarrassed them at Goss-Pell last year, in front of the commissioner no less. Not much had changed since then, sure they picked up Ternardiel and some rookies in the draft but, Rhodri still sneered at Ponie whenever she passed and, the rookies were unproven. In his mind they were the same team they were last year, young determined, and completely out of their depth. He could also be utterly wrong in his assessment and the fault lies with him. That he was the one out of his depth, that he wasn’t the one to coach this team. The doubt hung like a weight around his heart.

    He went to the living room, maybe a change in scenery would help clear his mind. He reread the pre-season power rankings and the team previews. Half backs were supposed to be the Pirate’s strength, right now they were a weakness. They had the potential to be very powerful but, only if Mikia, Rhodri, and Ponie were on the field at the same time. With Rhodri’s behavior at training camp and his continued stonewalling when confronted with it, Geoff was tempted to bench him the first game. The coach thought about it for a bit, Bestide could step in to center half-back with Sylvanus or Mikia on her right and Eponette on her left. Geoff shook his head, benching Rhodri could make things worse, make the key player feel unwelcome on his own team. Doing nothing was also out of the question, to let the bullying of another player to happen without consequence was unconscionable. He held his head in his hands with the unshakable feeling that a veteran ELL coach could’ve solved this problem on day one, and not let it affect the first game of the season. Nothing could be done about those things now. He watches some highlights from Senators games, struggling to find some way to beat them. He gives up and turns on a police procedural holo-drama. As the murder victim is found Geoff looks to the cabinet where the alcohol use to be, Laura had emptied it out a while ago. He couldn’t blame her, he had sacred her with that stunt early last season. Shame joins the doubt in his mind. It was just after playing the Senators that, Geoff failed as a husband. He let someone else into his heart. His actions afterwards probably hurt his marriage more that his betrayal, turning to the drink to dull his pain. He turned his wedding ring around his finger, this act didn’t necessarily clam him but, allowed him to focus. Focus on what was said at the beginning of the first season, don’t give up.
    _________________________________________________________________

    Senator Stadium, Courscant

    Geoff took a deep breath, the game started in a few minutes he had finalized his lineup. Same as when he started, except for Jace Sunrider as left cornerback. Brian was out on parole and traveled with the team but, was too out of practice for Geoff to risk playing him. Maybe Brian would play the home opener against the Mercs but, not this one. The coach looked at his players, the front line Rime, Logan, and Vayan looked ready with Logan bouncing his left leg up and down. The Half forwards looked up their faces determined.

    “Ok team,” He said getting their attention. “The Senators made us look like fools last game.” He turns his head to Rhodri. “They won’t again, we aren’t the same happy-go-lucky Pirates we were last season, we are contenders, let’s act like it.” His words felt like lies but, he couldn’t show them that. They needed their coach to be confident.

    “Aye Capn’,” the players shouted in reply.

    “Alright, let’s go.” Geoff walked with the team onto the field his left hand shaking. This was going to hurt.

    TAG: Jedi Gunny
     
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