Star Wars OPEN Elite League Limmie

IC: Falene Trieste
Coronet City, Corellia



The headline of the BBC Sports section on Falene’s datapad read: “THE USUAL BET.” It featured a picture of her mother wearing a worn tricorner hat as she had a look on her face that said, “Oh well, what can you do?” Next to her, the veiled Queen Mother of the Hapes Consortium was visibly delighted. Falene’s cousin Sierra was in the photo as well with her husband Trellam and both of them seem tickled with the situation.

Last year the reintroduction of the Buccaneers had resulted in what was now known as “the usual bet” between the two leaders. Should the Miners win the game, as they had in 274, the Queen Mother dutifully placed a mining helmet on her head at the conclusion of the game for the benefit of the photographers. To say it was incongruous with her finery was an understatement to say the least. However, if the C-Bucs won, as they had earlier in the week, the Chancellor would let her pirate flag fly for the same photo opportunity but with her wearing her mother’s hat from the Captain Jane Wyvern days. The battered hat had been through a lot, probably been shot a few times, and was unquestionably a prized possession of the Noble House.

Falene had had about three seconds with which to look at the picture on the flight out to Corellia with five of her teammates. She hadn’t even seen the next day’s headline: “GALAXY OF ALL-STARS.” Every single Miner on the ballot for the 275 Elite League All Star Game had been elected. It was nothing short of astounding. The only person who had not made the cut was Gaeriel Valerii, the head coach. Had the Miners won against the C-Bucs, then the Miners’ top winning percentage would have resulted in all seven of them making the trip.

And what a C-Bucs game that had been. From start to finish the Miners had been shut down by the Hapan squad, who were clearly there to play. The Miners got down early and couldn’t claw out. Just when it seemed that they had turned the team around with that solid win on Mandalore, they’d regressed to old, bad habits. It had been a frustrating game all around.

Luckily, the All-Star Game’s slate of activities kept Falene from dwelling on it. It wasn’t just a fluff limmie game, not by a long shot. There were two full days of fan events and press conferences and team photos and just about every other marketing gimmick the League could throw at them.

Falene found it overwhelming. She’d been a hot commodity at PCNS so she was used to this level of fan attention, but this was something different. That had been local fans who had been excited over a galactic championship that had put PCNS on the map in college limmie. This was a galaxy of fans who were here to see the stars of the game, the best limmie players in the galaxy and suddenly Falene Trieste was one of them. She signed more autographs in those two days than she did all of last season. That’s the way it seemed, at least.

It was a grind unlike the battles on the field. In the game it was physically taxing, big defenders tackling Falene and pushing her around at every opportunity. She knew how to dig her cleats in and take it and pop up again. What Falene didn’t know was how to smile for eight hours straight while signing autographs on programs, t-shirts, jerseys, bolo-balls, and anything else that would retain ink for just about as long. This was what her mother did, not her. For Force sake, this is precisely what Falene didn’t want to do with her life—glad hand beings and play popularity contests.

Rodders and Glencross had been here last year so they were used to it. Each of them had a smile and a kind word for every fan who came to them with something for signing. Nelly Wizmark was overwhelmed with it, even more than Falene was. She had been a first round draft pick, but she’d not been a super star on the Miners before. Nelly considered herself a journeyman player, a workeopie who did her job and that was it. Having lusty males ask her if she’d marry them seemed to be a slightly unnerving experience for her. Lizbit Comstock was plenty of smiles for just about everyone who came along. However, Falene noticed that she soured instantly when some Devaronian said, “So nice to meet you, lamb.”

“Don’t call me that,” Lizbit said coldly. Her signature on his program was little more than a squiggle.

The Miner who apparently couldn’t get enough of the crowds was Deenever. Niskat was not only constantly sunny, but she was chatting up a storm with everyone.

“Hey, how are you doing?”

“Thanks for coming out!”

“Okay boys, let’s do this picture right…”

“That’s so nice of you to say!”

“You came all this way from Tatooine? Just for us? That’s so cool!”

The Niskat Deenever Sunshine Express went into hyperdrive when she was doing anything with a kid.

“Look at you! You’re in a Miner jersey! Are you here to join the team?”

“You’re from Naboo? I went there last year. It was so pretty! I bet you live in the palace, right?”

“Of course you can get a picture! Here, let me kneel down so we can take a good one.”

“So I’m going to get my chrono cleaned by Kyr Ram’ser? I don’t know. Kyr and I are good friends. I think he’s gonna go easy on me tomorrow…What do you mean he doesn’t go easy on anyone? How else do you explain how I played him two weeks ago, huh?”

“High five! All right!”

She even jumped a barrier at one point to talk to a disabled fan who was in a hoverchair. And she did stuff like that all day, every day. At press day, she talked to every single outlet. Falene didn’t even do that. She hit the big ones: the HSN outlets, BBC, the Elite League markets. Niskat Deenever talked to the beat reporter from New Plympto. She posed for photos with the guys from the Podunk University on Barren Rock Falene Had Never Heard Of. And she answered every question straight—especially the ones from the smaller market broadcasters.

“Oh sure I love being a limmie player, but it’s not like I do anything important. I’m not a teacher or a police officer. I play a literal game for a living. Seriously, why are you even interviewing me?”

“Nerf steak. If I had to eat one thing for the rest of my life, it would be nerf steak. With bacon. Lots of bacon. No, I’m changing my answer. It’s bacon.”

“How about we talk about you for a second? Why did you decide to become a reporter?…Really? That’s so interesting! Tell me more.”

“No seriously, what are you doing later? We should get drinks.”

“If Lizbit Comstock wins rookie of the year over me, I will punch her in the face. I love her to death, but seriously, I will punch her in the face. Her pretty, pretty face. We’re both going to tag team Christine Gamble in the parking lot if she wins it though. Seriously Gamble—tread lightly.”

“I totally have a limmie crush on Asyel Yan’ii. I cried when he got injured. I really did. Asyel—if you’re watching, stay strong buddy.”

“I could absolutely do a better New Aroma commercial than Alana Glencross. I would be like 16 times better than her. There would be unicorns and rainbows and bubbles. I’m serious. I have a script. New Aroma, call me.”

It went on and on like that. All the all-stars had their own rooms (one of the perks of being an all-star: no room sharing like for road games) and Falene and Niskat headed back to theirs after a long day of publicity.

“How do you do it?” Falene sighed as she nearly collapsed against the wall of the hoverlift, “I want to sleep for a week and we haven’t even played the game.”

“I think about the first time I went to a Miners game,” Niskat said, looking at the floor numbers as they spiraled up, “I asked my Dad if we could get autographs after the game so we went to the player exit. You know what it’s like there. Everybody just leaves in their speeders and heads home. That’s what happened to us. So we head to the monorail, the stadium district is pretty empty by now, and we go to get up to the station and my Dad can’t find his wallet. Still don’t know what happened to it. Stolen, lost, whatever. Well, we’re up a creek. He left his comm at home so he wouldn’t be bothered with work stuff so we can’t even call my Mom to pick us up.

“My Dad’s trying to figure out what to do and one of us must have looked pretty worried because up walks this guy asking if everything’s okay. Well, my Dad looks at him with surprise and then tells him what’s happened and the guy fronts us 20 credits, tells my Dad not to worry about paying him back. My Dad says, ‘No, I can’t let you do that,’ and the guy says, ‘Don’t worry about it. Happens to the best of us.’ So then my Dad looks at me and says, ‘Niskat, thank Mr. Adama for being so nice.’ It’s frakking Declan Adama, captain of the Miners, giving us monorail fare. And then he waits with us until our monorail arrives and he talks to us the whole time, asks me where I go to school, do I play limmie, how I liked the game, asks what my Dad does, how long he’s been a Miner fan. I swear he talked with us for ten minutes until our train arrived.

“I was not exactly the most athletic kid back then. I mean, you saw how I ate cheese curls, but after meeting Dek Adama all I wanted to do was play limmie and I told myself from then on if I made it, I was going to be like him and I was going to really interact with the fans every chance I could because of what it meant to me when I was a kid. So it’s a pain in the butt sometimes, but I do it every time I get the chance because I want to make a difference in somebody’s day. For better or worse beings look up to us. I want to be someone that they should look up to.”

Falene Trieste had spent literally her entire life around the Miners. She’d never been in awe of the team or any Elite League player. They were regular beings to her. They were family friends. To think that one of those same beings had such an impact on the course of Niskat’s life was unfathomable to Falene.

“Sithspit, I feel terrible about what I’ve been doing now,” Falene said.

“Nah, you’re doing all right. Just don’t be a jerk ever,” Niskat said, “After all, you are such a big jerk.”

“Only to you because you deserve it,” Falene replied.

“No, you’re just a mean jerk with a big jerkface,” Niskat said, giving Falene a facewash.

“You’re so lucky we’re friends or I would…”

---

The All Star Game itself was uneventful. Well, at least for the Solo Conference. No one was really trying that hard and it showed in the 25-3 score. Moira Mallory was clearly playing favorites with her C-Bucs players. Comstock was subbed out before the first half was over for Montes. Though Mallory obviously played it like an all-star game, giving everyone playing time, it was noticeable that the Buccaneers got more playing time.

Falene, for her part, was fine with that. It was an exhibition game, for which the League made a donation to a charity of her choice. She selected a veteran’s support charity on Bakura in honor of Anton. It was a no brainer for her. Falene didn’t think she’d played super well in the game, and she was more than glad to get on a flight almost immediately after it was done and head all the way back to Bakura for their next game.

Too bad it couldn’t be on Rydonni Prime this year. That would have been a short flight… Falene wistfully thought before drifting off to sleep.

---

Bakura Gardens, Salis D’aar, Bakura

“Business as usual.”

That was the Miners mantra today. Get back to Miners limmie and get back to winning.

One wouldn’t think that would be so hard against an 0-5 team, but the Miners’ star players had been extended thanks to the all-star game while all but one of the Monarchs had an extra week to rest up and practice. Though their 0-5 status might have already put the playoffs beyond their reach, Falene knew exactly what it felt like to know that you couldn’t win. She’d been there last season about this time of the season. All you wanted to do is mess up life for the other team and the Monarchs were in a perfect position to do that today.

Falene had extra motivation to play hard. Last week her cousin and put on an absolute clinic and embarrassed the entire Miners defense—especially Falene—up and down the field all day. Though the Miners had won, the game had left a bad taste in Falene’s mouth. Every time she’d seen any Lynd that taste had risen again. She didn’t want to have to go through another year of living through that. Sure, she’d been happy to be an all-star with Vesper and share that honor of being recognized for superior play, but today she would put any familial affections aside.

Today was the Blue & Gold Bowl, another of the Miners’ newly named rivalries, but no less an intense one. The Miners had elected to wear their standard home dark blues instead of the special yellow uniforms that they had used last year on Rydonni Prime. Some of the players had considered using the gold uniforms after the way the offense had hummed along (and there were plenty of people who believed in superstitious things like the color of your uniform on your average limmie team), but Alana Glencross had decisively vetoed that.

“I look like a banana in that uniform,” the captain said, “We’re wearing blue.”

And so they wore blue with gold socks as they came onto the field.

This game was a big one. The Miners could go to 4-2 or they could fall to 3-3. The Solo Conference was not looking like it was a conference where a .500 team was going to make the playoffs. An 0-2 record in the conference was going to be a big hole to climb out of, they all knew it.

Now was the time to get things rolling. Now was the time to get back to business as usual.


TAG: CPL_Macja

 

IC: Jacen Hunter
Hunter family home, outskirts of Keldabe, Mandalore

What a kriffing week, Jacen just sat at the kitchen table staring at the math problems his mother had assigned him. He was supposed to get them done before his father got home from work (and who knew what time that would be) but right now all he could think about was limmie, and the Mercs, and of course Andres Fortune.

When he had first heard the news he had been upset beyond words, now he just moped around or cried a little bit when he thought about it. It still made no sense to him, and his father had been no help. In fact he had just gone on and on about how the Rebels were going to kill the Mercs in their upcoming game. "Even if they still have Fortune by then." To his father it was all already a done deal. That just made Jacen feel worse.

Of course from what he could see on the Holo Fortune seemed to be in shock about the whole thing himself. He had been quoted saying that he "I don't know what more I can do for this team. I play my guts out every week and love the sport of limmie. I don't know what is going on up there," right after the news had broken. A few days later as he came to terms with things he became more reserved and earlier that day had been a guest on a local sports talk show. "I am just here to play limmie, all that front office stuff I leave to those guys. Just show me the pitch and throw me a ball and let me play." To Jacen though that didn't seem very reassuring.

A speeder could be heard outside and a few moments later the side door to the kitchen opened up revealing his father home from work. "Hey sport, did Fortune get traded yet? I was on my link the whole way home and didn't get a chance to listen to the net."

Jacen let the pencil in his hand roll out of his fingers. "Not yet Dad, I hope they don't really do it." His Dad was in the process of taking off his coat but managed to reply back. "Who knows? Maybe they will trade him to the Rebels before the week is out and we can root for the same team." Jacen looked at the floor and frowned, he didn't really have an answer to that. Then his Mother intervened. "Dear is that you?" she said as she entered the kitchen from the living room. "There is dinner in the..." she paused as she looked at Jacen, who still sat at the table his math worksheet less than half done. "Are you still not done with those!" she yelled at him. Jacen picked the pencil back up and stared down at the worksheet. What a terrible, horrible, no good very bad week.

---

Following the Mercs/Rebel game.
Final score Mercs: 24, Rebels: 18

Jacen let out a whoop as final horn sounded ending the game. "Don't antagonize your father Jacen," came from his mother as Jacen looked over to see his father's hooded look from where he sat in "his" chair. He knew she was right, that his father took as much of not more enjoyment from these games as he did, but he couldn;t help himself. This had been a close and hard fought game throughout, and in the end it had been the Mercs Full Forward, #12, Andres Fortune, who had been the difference maker.

Sure Daryc had a solid game with 5 points and 2 assists. Mor'kesh had managed 3 takeaways (one in the final minutes which had sealed the game) to go along with his own point and 3 assists. The new corner forwards had done well, including a breakout game from Arock who had also put in 5 points himself. But it was Fortune that had put in Six (6!) points who had accounted for the final margin of the game to go along with half a dozen assists of his own. It was spectacular.

He had played like a man possessed, like a man with something to prove. His shots were right on target, and even when he was covered he delivered sharp, crisp passes to the other forwards which often led to points on the board. "Well looks like the Mercs lit a fire under him with those trade rumors. Price is going to be sky high for him now." his father remarked. That statement brought Jacen back to reality for a moment. He had played so well, he had been the reason for their victory. They just couldn't trade him now....could they?

---

Following the All Star game

As bad as things had been going for Jacen after the trade rumors had surfaced the world of limmie had been good to him since the win over the Rebels. Fortune was still on the Mercs of course, though there was rampant speculation on the news about talks with several teams, with the Senators and their 9th rated offense at the top of the list. But no trade had happened by the time All-Star rosters had been announced and when they were Jacen had even more reason for celebration. Fortune had made the cut, he was only a reserve (somehow that blowhard Daryc had been rated ahead of him) but he was there. Jacen wondered if the Mercs would market special All-Star game jerseys for the players. If so he would have to save his allowance up to buy one of those.

The news got better when it was announced that Fortune would actually be starting due to an injury to anoter player. Now Skywalker Conference would have two Mercs starting for them, and four over all. That was more than any other Skywalker team. "See Dad, I told you the Mercs were mighty." His father had laughed at that. "No son, it just means that the Mercs know how to buy votes better than anyone else. Well except for Bakura. Just look how many Miners are on the Solo squad, and they aren't even that good." Jacen smiled at that, but he didn't believe it, the Mercs were mighty, and if they kept Fortune Jacen knew that they were going to go all the way this season.

Of course the game itself had provided great joy throughout the Hunter household. The game being played on their old home world just added to the excitement and joy they felt as the Skywalker squad took control early and never looked back. Daryc and Fortune both great games, though it seemed Daryc was passing off to Fortune quite a lot allowing him to showcase his offensive skills. At midfield Mor'kesh and Glencross played about even. "Those are the two best Midfielders in the game." Jacen's father had commented, "We're lucky to be able to see them play against one another like this." Of course on defense the Skywalker Confernece dominated, and Ram'ser was a major part of it. "He and Corpus look like they have played their whole lives together out there." Jacen didn't disagree, but even he could see that the Solo squad just wasn't taking it as seriously as the Skywalker folks were. In the end the game had been a laugher, and Jacen had gone to bed happy. Content as only a child could be that there was nothing in the universe that could take that feeling away from him...

TAG: No one

 

IC: Zay Antilles
Location: Solo Stadium, Coronet City, Corellia
Time: Late in the second half of the All-Star Game

Chalporrin laid another punishing hit on Aron Rodders. Atta boy, thought Zay. Rodders was slow to get up, and Moira Mallory pulled him for Cord McKerty. Five minutes later, Rodders was back in the game—and back on the ground after the Wookiee hit him again. The female Zabrak referee went over to Chalporrin and talked to him for a moment; Zay assumed that she was telling him to back off a little bit since it was just an exhibition contest. As soon as she turned away, though, Chalporrin turned to the fans and raised his arms to the side, flexing his massive biceps to the crowd's approval.

Zay's amusement as this string of events was cut short when his Master's comlink buzzed. Palla answered with a simple "Hello?" Zay was not able to hear the person on the other end, but it was obvious that they weren't giving Palla a chance to speak. All Zay heard from Palla was, "Wait a... what... how did you... who are..." The activation light on the comlink went off, and Palla was left holding the comlink in front of her with a look on her face that one might expect from someone who was holding a bomb that could go off any second.

"What was that about?" asked Zay.

"We need to get back to Euceron. Now," was all his Master had to say before she bolted down the aisle. It was only due to his Jedi reflexes that Zay managed to keep up.

---

Location: General manager's office, Euceron Stadium, Eusebus, Euceron
Time: Two days later

Palla finished her explanation, and Zay looked at the other three people in the room. The Jedi had initially just briefed Aebatt, but she had brought head coach Haron Orus and team owner Wilrax Tunran IV into the room as well. Now Zay awaited a response from them.

Finally, Haron did the last thing Zay expected: he busted out laughing. "Really? They're going to attack when we've got what'll probably be eighty thousand Mandalorians present? This Bassell guy is obviously insane."

"Maybe, but he's also dangerous," said Aebatt. "And he wants blood, and he's going to get that blood if we don't treat this tip seriously."

"If you ask me, the only defense plan we need is to sic the bucketheads on him. Maybe there'll be enough of him left to throw in jail. You guys have fun discussing this. I've got to get the team back to practice after being off for a week. Bye."

And with that, Haron walked out of the room. Aebatt just shook her head.

Wilrax broke the silence caused by the coach's departure. "So lemme see if I've got this straight. Some random guy, whom you don't even know the name of, calls you during the All-Star Game and just tells you that Bassell is going to attack the Mercs game? And he won't give you any details about the attack or let you ask any questions, and just hangs up without letting you so much as say a word?"

Palla looked him square in the eye. "You got it."

"Well, damn," was all Wilrax had to say in response.

"Seems we can't have any good news without bad news this season," commented Aebatt.

"What's the good news?" asked Zay.

"Asyel Yan'ii. He scored 15 points in his rehab game with the Gundarks, and he'll be ready to go this weekend."

Zay allowed a smile to come to his lips upon hearing this. Force knows the Storm need some offense, he thought.

"Anyway," Aebatt said, "we ought to get the head of security in here and figure out how to stop this madman."

---

Three hours later, Palla, Zay, Aebatt, Wilrax and five security guards had developed a comprehensive plan to thwart the attack. The most important part of that plan was to keep quiet about it and not alert the public. There had been much debate on that topic, for Wilrax thought that publicizing the tip would create 250,000 extra sets of eyes and ears, but ultimately it was felt that doing so would also lead to mass panic and most people staying away from the game. Discussion was also had about asking the League to reschedule the game, but the consensus was that Bassell would just reschedule his attack to match. In the end, all they could do was pray to their deity of choice that they would be able to stop him... before it was too late.

TAG: Nobody actually, since the attack is not public information

 

--Player Transaction Wire--
Euceron Storm

• Asyel Yan'ii (Bothan, Male, Full Forward) activated from injured reserve/designated to return list
• Clarice Su (Sullustan, Female, Full Forward) demoted to reserves
• Jalin Mioree (Human, Male, Full Forward) sent to Commenor Gundarks

---

--Injury Report: Week 6--
Euceron Storm

• Asyel Yan'ii: PROBABLE (knee)
• Calli Webb: PROBABLE (ankle)
• Niast Nan'lie: QUESTIONABLE (ribs)

TAG: Bardan_Jusik

 

IC Tim Dodd - Packers' Shuttle, en-route to Ylesia

The loss in the Euceron game had been somewhat disappointing, even though only two points had been scored; both of them far too high for Hohass to reach.

At least there hadn't been any loud bangs; before, during or after the match! In fact, the entire crowd had been very well behaved indeed.

As for the team, there was no doubt that the 'Charging Bantha' squad were improving, but their 'score' in that game had been of flattened Euceron players rather than points or Goals. Judging by the after-match purring in the locker room, Morto and Mezgraf had enjoyed themselves immensely - they really loved their 'pouncing' style of tackling; although he doubted that Euceron's players had!

This upcoming match should see the brothers on the pitch for the full sixty minutes, once again; unless Asyr took advantage of the fact that the Lightning's large players were concentrated in the deep defensive zone to try 'The Bombardment'. In which case, he had suggested that the Togorians be slipped into the Corner-Forwards' slots. Extra height and muscle up-front couldn't do any harm! Tim could see both of them now, curled up on their circular beds in the forward-outboard corners of the cabin, fast asleep!

Dorf wasn't travelling with the team this week. Tim had sent him off on a scheduled flight to Garqi - as an ordinary paying passenger - to take a quiet look (as inconspicuously as a man of his size could) at the Gunners and their facilities.

The All-Star Game had been a very one-sided affair, with the Skywalker Conference side coming out easy winners. So easy, that Saba Raine (the Packers' one representative this year) hadn't even got to touch the ball during her stint in the Skywalker team's Defensive Zone.

The other point of note was a rare meeting of the Elite League's Board of Governors (Tim's first as Owner). It had been interesting to be in the same room as most (but not all - some teams had been obliged to send a representative) of the Owners.

Tim had sent a courteous note to the Lightning's Owner, Otta the Hutt, declining her kind invitation to watch the match from her Private Box, citing emotional scars from the last time he'd done so! He'd be in the team's pitch-side seating again this week, giving them moral support.

TAG: jcgoble3 (for The Storm), Rebecca_Daniels (for The Lightning).

 

IC: Kaitlyn Vehn
Conference Play, 275, Ylesia

Despite their historical ties to one another, Ylesia and Nar Shaddaa just couldn’t agree on the Limmie pitch. Even Hutt clans were thoroughly divided along factional lines. That was saying something.

That was fine with Kaitlyn Vehn. She wanted her team to have some fire. Wanted her team to show up today and contend with a franchise that was only three years removed from their only Galactic Cup victory. A victory that had been franchise defining as only hoisting the Galactic Cup above ones head could do. Kaitlyn wanted to be there someday. To hear the raucous roaring of the Smuggler faithful, to bask in the cold, sticky liquid of Gundarkade being dumped all over her shoulders, to know that she had steered the franchise to holy grounds, into the very halls of history. She wanted to honor those who had come before. And maybe, just maybe, this was the year they could do it all.

First things first, Ylesia could not be underestimated. They were in the thick of the Skywalker Conference race and equally charged to make a deep run in conference play. The Lightning was the team that for better or for worse, seemed to slip Kaitlyn’s mind every year when they played. It wasn’t because Ylesia played poorly. It was simply because Kaitlyn was still getting used to the idea of having another Limmie franchise in Hutt Space. A franchise owned by a rumored crime-lord and somehow in some very twisted and garbled way, that seemed fitting for Ylesia. The game was starting and Kaitlyn was glad to be able to have a choice to be down on the Smuggler sidelines even if today she chose to stay in the owner’s box.

Shady Leroux, a strong contender for the Ingbrand this year, quickly snapped up first possession of the ball and drove hard into the Ylesian defense. If there was one criticism about Lerouex that had come out of her scouting report it was that she focused too much on the target and not enough on her surroundings. She had the intangibles, the smarts, but there were times where she would make a play or force a play that left Kaitlyn scratching her head. Fortunately, Leroux avoided any controversy on that matter and after relaying the ball over to Brousard who flicked it back with the heel of her cleat, the young rookie from one of the many Bakuran colleges fired a heater into the back of the net for three.

And then all hell broke loose as an offensive shootout ensued.

Back and forth went the hard hits, the dazzling displays of offensive prowess. The home crowd at Ylesia loving every minute as their Lightning lit a flame underneath the Smugglers rears. The defense of the Smugglers might as well have packed it in with the shoddy way they were tackling and forcing turnovers. By the time the game wound down to its conclusion, ending in a narrow Smuggler defeat, Kaitlyn couldn’t help but feel like the team had won a moral victory today. They’d gone head to head with Ylesia in a battle that was overlooked by much of the media as the ho-hum game of the week. Now, well, there would at least be a lot of plays on the Holonet for people to feast on.

Kaitlyn remained on the sidelines while the Smugglers shook hands with the Lightning. She didn’t feel like punching anyone in the face today. Besides, the only one she ever really wanted to clock was Reina Kether and she’d done that. Maybe deep down Kaitlyn was just jealous of Reina’s shiny Galactic Cup trophy from last year. Kaitlyn also knew that somewhere, somehow, her son Jack was watching the game. She couldn’t go out and do a dirty play and she wouldn’t, not against the Lightning. Not when the game had been so entertaining to watch.

Tag: Rebecca_Daniels

 

GM Post

What We Learned: Week 5

Well that was a crazy All-Star Game. Throw in the start of conference play and we’ve got a lot of data points this week. Did we learn anything? I don’t know. Isn’t that the interns’ job? I mean, they’re going to college and all. Learning is their job. We have awesome jobs working for HSN. We don’t have to learn new stuff anymore, do we? That’s the way the galaxy works, right?

Agamar Packers: That Packers defense—what a game against Euceron! They say that good defense beats great offense any day of the week. However, we also learned that any defense beats no offense any day of the week too.

Bakura Miners: It’s clear that the Miners don’t play well when they’ve got something on their minds, like the death of a former player. We obviously don’t want to see anyone else die connected to the limmie field in such a tragic manner, but Coruscant, Chandrila, and Ralltiir, I highly recommend that you put a vidscreen in the visitors’ locker room showing cute Cathar videos. That’ll probably do the trick.

Chandrila Patriots: It’s nice to know that the forthcoming Reina Kether realignment proposal will not solely feature games against Euceron for the Patriots. She’s going to throw Coruscant in there for good measure too.

Corellia Rebels: Now these are the Rebels that we know and love. Not bad, but also not good enough to win. We’re not going to pin this entire loss on Antilles—just 95% of it as he looked merely human this week.

Coruscant Senators: Motivational idea for the Senators—Gark S’rily walks into the locker room wearing the Superbothan suit and he speaks in a super gravelly voice. That’ll set that defense straight. Of course, he’s in real trouble if Rex Kethor, his archnemesis shows up. You know she’s got his number.

Euceron Storm: Did you think that Chenkabukk didn’t deserve to be an all-star? How about after a shutout and then allowing zero goals in the All-Star Game itself? Yeah, it doesn’t even matter if he can rip your arms out of your sockets. I think you’ll agree with him that he deserved that nod.

Hapes Consortium Buccaneers: All that power going to your head MM? Nice to know at the giant ego fest that is the All-Star Game Mallory got hers pulled back down to earth. How do you explain a coach who takes undrafted talent and turns them into a 4-1 team, but can’t get the League’s best players to put a goal in? We can’t.

Mando’ade Mercs: One of two things is happening in Keldabe right now. 1) The Mercs never intended to trade Fortune and they wanted to light a fire under their superstar’s tail to get him scoring again. 2) The Mercs really want to trade Fortune and are getting stars in their eyes on the trade block and refusing good deals for him. Really, there is no other explanation for why Andres Fortune is still a member of the Mercs right now with the Week 6 trade deadline approaching.

Nar Shaddaa Smugglers: John Huntington? You are a god among mortals for putting up 34 points on Ylesia Lightning. Konrad Dvorak, get down on your knees and grovel before him. You are not worthy! You are not worthy!

Ralltiir Starkillers: Dev Poletin is either going to be the greatest feel-good story this season in the Elite League or he’s going to be a terrible, terrible mistake that puts this franchise into a tailspin for seasons. We literally cannot wait to see which it is.

Rydonni Prime Monarchs: Positive #4: The Monarchs offense scored their second highest amount of points this season. That’s a good sign going into an incredibly inconsistent Bakuran defense where Vesper Lynd had a very good day last season. This team is ready to explode…what? Too soon?

Ylesia Lightning: We would be excited about their win against Nar Shaddaa…but putting up 34 points on a Konrad Dvorak offense is like getting the participation award in Little League Limmie. Everyone gets it. Also—INTERNS PRAY HARDER AT THE SHRINE TO KASIN! Your lack of faith is clearly why she let in 32 points.

Not Elite League stuff, so why are we writing about it? Ask our editors who are making us (and by “us” we mean the interns) do it: Apparently Premier League Limmie is going on. Supposedly it’s looking like a good season down there. Maybe you should kind of pay attention it. But only kind of. It’s not like it’s real limmie down there....Wait? It is? Why did no one tell us we could waste more hours watching them and not working?! Uh…we mean doing research for the jobs that we work so hard at every single day. Yeah. Working hard.

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

 

--Injury Report Update: Week 6--
Euceron Storm

• Asyel Yan'ii: PROBABLE (knee)
• Calli Webb: QUESTIONABLE (ankle) [downgraded from probable]
• Niast Nan'lie: OUT (ribs) [downgraded from questionable] [Hacca Bonefs will start]

TAG: Bardan_Jusik

 

IC : Ava Killenger
Thyferra Practice


Ava nailed the ground with her foot as she sprinted, her legs working hard to push her along. She felt stronger than she had for weeks, better prepared to play Limmie. Coach Ortmeyer hadn’t said anything about her playing status this week, but she wanted to be ready. It was her time.

The Force didn’t exactly need her so far, going 3-0 to start off the season and streaking on offense. With Thulius Jomas leading the way, the team that had been dead in the water last season was now streaking and looking like nothing had ever been wrong in the first place. They were blowing out their opponents, scoring points and preventing them from going up on the board. Last week, they hadn’t even given up one in the win over Druckenwell. It was that good of a season thus far.

Ava finished her sprint and tried to catch her breath. It was getting easier to get back into the swing of things, but practice was still hard, and you still needed to work hard to get anywhere in pro Limmie. She looked over at Sulena Gure, the offensive coordinator, who at least didn’t have a scowl on her face this time. Was she ever happy, Ava wondered. The Echani was certainly a bundle of energy, but she never quite looked satisfied, even when her offense scored a plethora of points. She probably figured there were ways to tweak the offense after every outing to make sure that another team couldn’t come in an stop the Thyferran machine. Ava didn’t care so much, since it wasn’t like the team was slacking or anything. They had looked good so far this season, and were intent on keeping that streak going.

Would she be part of that streak if it came? Yes she had played two minutes last week, but what would her playing time be this week? Had she done enough to earn more minutes? There were rumors floating around that Jomas would eventually get called up with the Senators struggling on offense, so she had an opportunity to gain more minutes if she didn’t lose out on this chance. Her drug issues seemed to be a thing of the past; her withdrawal symptoms weren’t occurring nearly as frequently, and they seemed to be going away. She hadn’t failed a drug test since coming here, so that was another positive. Either that, or the team hadn’t disclosed anything yet. They wouldn’t keep it from her, would they?

And then a craving hit. It was a symptom that was part of a drug withdrawal; she thought she was done with these. She hadn’t experienced one in over a week. What was going on? The craving got stronger, and she moved over to the cooler. She had to get a drink of water, had to get something in there to satisfy the craving. But it only got worse. Her chest all of a sudden burst out in major pain, and she crumpled to the ground after her legs went out from underneath her. Her head smacked the turf, and she blacked out in the void of darkness after the whiplash set in.

---

“She’s coming around,” came a voice from out of the blue. Ava’s eyes opened slowly as she tried to regain consciousness. When she could finally open her eyes, all she could see was light all around her. Where was she? What happened? She had been in major pain last she remembered . . . was she dead?

“Coming around,” said that voice again. What did that mean, Ava thought in her addled mind. Finally her eyes opened enough to see where she was. Like a few weeks earlier, she was sitting in a hospital bed, the white walls of the room bothering her vision from the get-go. Groaning, she looked around the bed to see who was speaking. She could see Jed Ortmeyer, the Thyferra head coach, Tama Wor, the Carosite trainer, and Lorrin Malestra, the GM, along with a doctor, standing around her bed.

“What . . . what’s going on?” Ava asked.

“You’re in the hospital,” Jed explained.

Tell me something I don’t already know Ava thought to herself.

“You collapsed on the practice field,” Wor said. Ava could barely see him because the Carosite was that short. He had to stand on a stool to even be up near the bed’s height. “Some tests were run, and you suffered from a major drug withdrawal episode.”

“How?” Ava asked. She hadn’t done drugs in several weeks; why was she still having issues with it?

“I didn’t know at first,” Wor replied. “It looked initially like you were having cardiovascular distress. However, once we looked at your vitals, which were not afflicted, I began to wonder. Then I remembered that I read something about Rush 405, which is the drug you were taking earlier this season, in a medical journal some time back. They found that there was a small risk for major withdrawal episodes up to a month after quitting the drug. I would say that you experienced one such episode earlier today.”

“How bad was it?” Ava asked weakly.

“Bad enough to get you in the hospital,” Jed said. “I don’t like having to be here twice to talk to you.”

“I didn’t . . .” Ava began, but she was cut off.

“I did not say it was your fault,” Jed said. “This is a complication that no one could have seen coming. Hopefully it will be a minor setback.”

“What about the game?” Ava asked.

“About that . . .” Wor said. This wasn’t good, Ava thought. “You will not be suiting up for the game. I’m sorry, but it would not be prudent to let you play after being here in the hospital.”

Ava just leaned back into her pillow and sighed. Here she had done what she could to earn more minutes, and then this happened. Life certainly didn’t like her right now, did it?

“However, I would like to commend you for your efforts out on the practice field,” Jed said. “When I first met you, you were a real wreck. I didn’t know what I had to deal with, because the big club dumped you on the team at the time. I saw you as a lost cause, a drug addict, a complete failure. However, you’ve shown that you have talent, and you have guts. This week, you likely wouldn’t have played much anyways, since you are still on team probation . . . but I was thinking you had made enough strides to earn more time. I’ve seen that you care enough to work hard in practice, and that you can play well when you have motivation. Keep that up, and you will be playing more when you suit up next.”

This was the news Ava had been waiting for. Jed was finally giving her the thumbs-up? This was what she had wanted for several weeks now . . . yet she didn’t feel happy about it. Perhaps being in a cold hospital bed had something to do with that.

“The team has been informed of your condition. I know they haven’t really cared much about you, but I think having a teammate in the hospital, even one who has played just two minutes all season, is enough to get them fired up. I don’t want to say it’s good that you ended up here, but . . . at least you should recover fully,” Jed said.

“I think it is time to let her rest,” the doctor said. The three team staff members nodded.

“So be it,” Wor replied.

“We will be back at some point soon to check in on you,” Jed said before leaving.

As soon as the room was empty, Ava drifted off to sleep. She needed the rest.

---

IC: Jed Ortmeyer
Thyferra


What a start to the season. The Force had just finished off the Byblos Red Wings 23-13 to go to 4-0. For a team that had gone 2-7 last season, it was quite an accomplishment. At this time last year, Jed had been a nervous wreck. His team had been failing, and so had his confidence. But this was a whole new season. This team didn’t quit; they just kept rolling. Jomas had been a complete beast once again, ripping the Red Wings for 13 points on the day to pace the Force. No one could bring him down, and when he was stalled out, he passed it off to someone else who kept the ball moving. It was that kind of game for the Force.

After the game, Jed knew that he likely had seen the last of Jomas. The Senators wouldn’t pass on calling him up this week,. They needed a new face on their offense to try and keep it consistent. But such was life in the LFL; he had to make do with what he had.

“Coach, do you think you can keep this winning streak next week?” a reporter asked.

“I think we can do anything, as long as we want it enough,” Jed replied.

“Coach, what do you think of this win today?”

“It was a great win. These guys trashed us last season, so it feels good to return the favor this season on our home turf. We had a great game all the way around.”

“Do you think Thuluis Jomas will be playing for you next week?”

“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask the Senator front office about that,” Jed said before going into the locker room. It was true; he had no idea what to think on that subject. However, a win was a win, and he was going to take it.


TAG: No One

 

IC: Vesper Lynd
Coronet City, Corellia

The flight to Bakura felt longer than it should have, but Vesper had had a long two weeks. After the match against the Starkillers, she, and the rest of the Monarchs, traveled back to Rydonni Prime. None of them had anticipated being selected for the All Star Game, given how their season had been going so far. She was shocked when Erika O’Shane greeted her on the landing platform looking for Vesper’s reaction to being picked as an offensive reserve. The reporter further explained that Aley Helios was almost voted in as a defensive reserve.

So that meant her relaxing bye week had suddenly turned into a rushed trip to Corellia, living out of a hastily packed bag, and being bombarded by media from across the galaxy. This had been her second go round as an All Star so she knew what to expect. What was different, other than the venue, were some of the comments from some of the fans.

“What is a Monarch doing here? I thought they were all too busy rolling over for the rest of the League.”

“Did your future sister-in-law threaten to start another war if you didn’t get voted in?”

“Hey Vesper, shouldn’t you be back home making sure your boyfriend doesn’t run off with his secretary?”

“I didn’t realize that you could get voted to an All Star team on looks alone.”

“Princess Vesper! You suck!”

“What are you doing out of your castle Princess?”

“Put all your credits on Skywalker Conference. Now that Lynd-ie is here, we know the Solo Conference is going to lose again.”

After the first couple hours of the badgering, Vesper excused herself from the Meet and Greet. She found her way to a secluded corridor inside the stadium. After checking to see that she was alone, she crouched down, buried her face in her hands, and cried. Every emotion that she had been trying to hold back over the course of the last five weeks came streaming out of her. The frustration of not having won a game this season, the pride she felt for the people of Rydonni Prime as they ventured into a new government system, the worry she had for her brother and other service members, the anger at Arden for not sparing any time for her, and the confusion she felt when she was around other guys, like Nicholas.

“I didn’t think big, bad, bolo pros cried.”

Blinking away her tears, Vesper found, as if by magic, the last person she thought about crouching there in front of her. “Nicholas?” she questioned as she wiped tears out of her eyes, “What are you doing here? This is a restricted area.”

The young Bakuran gave her a sideways grin, “Well, you know, security guards tend to look the other way when you slip them a roll of Republic credits.” He brushed away a strand of hair that hung in front of her face, “Besides, I figured you could use a friendly face.”

Vesper just looked at him in wide-eyed amazement, “Thanks, but we can’t be seen together. I have a reporter that watches me like a hawk-bat. I’m sure she would love nothing more than to be able to start circulating a story about me in another sorted affair.”

“O’Shane? We don’t need to worry about O’Shane. Her focus isn’t on you, it’s on the K’ntarrs and Rhemes. You were just her excuse to get a foot in the door.” He stood up and offered her a helping hand, “Come on, I’ve got a limo waiting to take you away from this zoo for a little while.”

Vesper didn’t know why, but she got up, without hesitation and followed him.

---

Solo Stadium, 275 ELL All-Star Game
Skywalker Conference vs. Solo Conference, 25-3

Vesper spent the entire match sitting on the bench watching the action. She got on the field for the closing moments of the first half, but the bolo never once reached her. Honey Ryder, the Hapes midfielder, was subbed in before she was and was having a terrible time at maintain control of the ball. After having been through all the losses that she had seen already that season, another exhibition loss was no skin off her back.

During her time on the bench she had a chance to chat with her fellow Bakurans. She even exchanged a few pleasantries with her cousin, Falene and her new best friend, Niskat Deenever. The rookie Miner seemed nice, almost to the point of being sickening. Once the match was over, she hopped onto the same flight as her Miner counterparts. As soon as they disembarked the shuttle and said their goodbyes, it was game on.

---

Lynd Residence
Gesco City, Bakura

Unlike the rest of the Monarchs, the native Bakurans were allowed to stay with their families instead of at the team hotel. For Vesper it was the first time being home since her brother got deployed. As she walked through the door she wasn’t greeted by her mother, or her father, or her sister, not even by her brother. Instead, sitting in her parents’ front room, was a woman she had not seen in a long time, “Gran?”



The well-dressed, elder Lynd stood to greet her with open arms, “Well hello dearie, how is my oldest granddaughter?”

Vesper dropped her bags just inside the entry way and rushed over to wrap her arms around her waiting grandmother, “Oh Gran, I’ve had the worst couple of months of my life. I can’t wait until the season is over and I can just take some time off.”

“Well, let us have a sit down. We can chat as we sip some tea.” The younger Lynd followed her grandmother’s lead and sat down opposite her. She picked up the cup and saucer that had been delivered by a service droid and took a sip. “Tell me Vesper, how can you be so upset when you have that handsome young man wrapped around your pinkie?”

“I hardly have Baron Arden K’ntarr wrapped around anything of mine, let alone my pinkie.”

Maria Lynd nobly shook her head, “I’m not talking about that boy. I was talking about Lord Nicholas.”

Vesper nearly sprayed her mouthful of tea all over her grandmother, “Excuse me? What are you talking about Gran?”

“You know, Nicholas has always had a crush on you. His Grandmother is forever going on about how he never misses a Monarchs game on the holonet, that he’s even written messages the editor of the BBC’s sports department under various aliases about the lack of coverage of the Bakura Five, and how he regrets not asking you to the senior formal back at College Prep.” Gran’s revelation sent Vesper’s head spinning, “Are you alright dearie? You look like you’re about to faint.”

“Now that you mention it, Gran, I do feel like I need to lie down.”

Grandma Lynd set down her tea, “Well then what are you doing down here with me? Off to bed with you,” Miria stood up and helped her granddaughter to her feet, “We need you in the peak of health if you are going to show those Trieste’s how to play limmie tomorrow in the House game.” Maria refused to call it the ‘Noble House game’ like all the Trieste’s liked to refer to it as. She was born into the House of Captison and nearly flipped her wig when her son married a Trieste.

“Are you kidding me?” Vesper asked putting her hands to her head, “I completely forgot about the whole thing. I have absolutely nothing to wear.”

“I guess it’s a good thing that you’ve got some spares left in the closet of your old bedroom. Now off with you. In the morning you’ll be off to Kilmainham Brook. I’ll see you after the Blue and Gold Bowl this weekend. I have to go to Fleet Academy’s Thanas Stadium to watch the Ensigns and the Apis play. Your cousins just had to go to different schools and one isn’t even in the Bak-10. Although, I hear that the University of Apiaree Apis and the University of Bison Mountaineers are trying to get in and make it the Bak-12.”

Vesper laughed, “Yeah, like Commissioner Yarl Tocst would allow off world universities to become members.” She leaned in and gave her grandmother a kiss on the cheek, “Thanks for the tea Gran. I’ll see you on Primeday.” As Vesper strolled off towards her room she heaved a sigh of despair. Her head was pounding, twirling around, realizing that things she once remembered one way were now seen in a completely different light.

Hopefully a good night’s rest would help clear her head.

Kilmainham Brook, Prytis, Bakura
The Noble House game

Vesper’s hope did not come true. Her night of sleep was anything but restful. As soon as her head hit her pillows her mind was swept away to dreams that were filled with past encounters with Nicholas. But each encounter was different, changed with the new information that her grandmother had brought into the light. Suddenly they all went away when she was violently struck in the face with a feathery pillow.

“Wake up sleepyhead!” Ginny billowed at her, “Mum and Dad are about to leave without you.” Ginny hopped down off of the bed, “Gran had some things laid out for you,” the younger Lynd smacked her one more time with the pillow, “Mum said you’ve got 10 minutes to get ready, so shake a leg!” With that she bounded out the door.

Wiping crusty bits from her eyes, Vesper threw her legs over the edge of her bed, letting her bare feet brush the chilly floor. She stood up and stretched out as far as her stressed frame would allow. Walking over to the chest at the foot of her bed she found a stack of neatly folded clothes with a note on top of them. The note was short and sweet.

Dear Ves,

Give ‘em hell!

-Gran

As she unfolded the clothes a grin spread across her face. She knew that once she stepped on to the yard and the rest of the family got a good look at the design on her shirt they would be raring to have a go at her. Of course it did not help that her alma mater was squaring off with Falene’s just before the Blue & Gold Bowl. At least Vesper had a feeling that the Bluebirds had a better shot at a win than her Monarchs. But at least she would have one thing to celebrate on their way to their next road stop.

---

Bakura Gardens, Salis D’aar, Bakura
Monarchs at Bakura Miners, ELL week 6

Before the Monarchs marched out on to the field, they were paid a visit from their owner and General Manager. Queen Variise just wanted to stop in and personally wish every single one of the players good luck. Setarcos gave a small speech, of which all that Vesper really heard was that he didn’t anyone on the team for their record, it was just a bunch of tough breaks. He also express that he was sorry for the uniforms that they had to wear, but the Miners called dibs on the blue. He excused himself with a reminder that he and the Queen would be watching from the Trieste’s box, so make sure to put on a good showing.



“These things are ugly!” exclaimed the old timer Greenly Zo. She had just been recalled from the Red Wings to fill in the defensive slot left open by Sugnok’s suspension. After marching out on to the field to mixed reactions Vesper figured out that Greenly, who was once one of the youngest member of the Monarchs, was now the oldest player on their side of the ball. She had been with the Monarchs since their first season in the ELL.

Vesper then caught sight of her cousin on the other side of the pitch and walked to midfield, “Falene!” she called out to her, “Come here.” Once Falene reached the magical line that the teams could cross until game time, Vesper reached out and wrapped her arms around her cousin. She pulled her in and whispered a simple phrase softly into her ear before letting her go.

“I’m sorry. I'm so sorry.”

TAG: Trieste

 

GM Post

We are into the post-All-Star Game stretch now. This is where seasons are made and broken. This week we have bonus rolls for Agamar, Bakura, Coruscant, Euceron, Mando'ade, Nar Shaddaa, Ralltiir, and Rydonni Prime.

Week 6 Results

Ralltiir Starkillers at Chandrila Patriots (7-9)
Coruscant Senators at Hapes Consortium Buccaneers (20-1)
Rydonni Prime Monarchs at Bakura Miners (24-36)
Agamar Packers at Ylesia Lightning (18-34)
Nar Shaddaa Smugglers at Corellia Rebels (2-13)
Mando’ade Mercs at Euceron Storm (7-8)

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

 

Sub-GM Post

Bonus rolls this week to (points in parentheses): Commenor (30), Tatooine (28), Byblos (30), Thyferra (32). Banked for next week: Concordia (28) and Druckenwell (28).

Limmie Futures League
Week 5
Commenor Gundarks at Kamino Waves (22–6)
Tatooine Sandskimmers at Byblos Red Wings (6–17)
Thyferra Force at Kashyyyk Rangers (18–23)

TAG: Bardan_Jusik Vehn Runjedirun Rebecca_Daniels Jedi Gunny CPL_Macja

 

IC: Zay Antilles
Location: Euceron Stadium, Eusebus, Euceron
Time: Game day, Mercs at Storm

As he walked past on his patrol, Zay glanced at a holoscreen above a concession stand just in time to see Yan'ii get leveled again. Looks like he's still adjusting to the speed of the Elite League, he thought. But if the Storm's offense was struggling to produce points, their defense was ensuring that the Mercs' offense had the same problem. A minute later, Zay passed another concession stand with a short line. Realizing he was thirsty, he got in line and bought an overpriced small soda. As he paid, he glanced up at the holoscreen just in time to see Yan'ii celebrating a goal that gave the Storm a two-point lead. Zay gave a little fist pump as he walked away with his drink.

The entire game was a hard-fought defensive struggle. Yan'ii's goal was the only one for the Storm, while the Mercs also only came up with one goal; the rest of the scoring came one point at a time. In the end, the Storm came out on top by one point.

Surprised that no attack had happened during the game, Zay watched carefully as fans filed out of the stadium. Ordinarily he might think that this would be the time to attack, when there were thousands upon thousands of unprotected fans streaming out of the stadium. But with roughly one in three fans armored and armed to the teeth, he realized that Bassell would be a fool to try something right now. Security had done thorough sweeps of the stadium, inside and outside, throughout the game, looking for anything suspicious, and Zay was positive that there were no bombs in place.

As the stragglers trickled out, Zay left outside patrols to stadium security and the off-duty cops who had been brought in to assist today. Heading inside, he met up with his Master and compared notes.

"Anything?" asked Palla.

"Nope," said Zay. "I think that tip was a hoax and Haron was right."

"That's quite possible."

Two hours later, every last fan was out of the stadium, the Mercs were on their way to the spaceport, and the extra security had gone home, leaving no one in the stadium but the Storm players and coaches, the two Jedi, and those who would normally be there on any day.

In the locker room, Zay addressed the team. "Well, we apologize for the false alarm today. I—"

"I told you they wouldn't attack with all those bucketheads present!" Haron interrupted.

"As I was about to say, I think—" Zay was interrupted by the buzzing of Palla's comlink.

Palla answered it. "Yes?... Uh-huh... okay... we'll check it out right away... yes, we'll get them out of here." She ended the connection and turned back to the team. "We may have spoke too soon. We've got a situation on the upper concourse. Security caught an intruder that left a suspicious package. We need to check this out. I want you guys to get out of here. Head to the player parking lot; it's guarded and you should be safe there." Signaling for Zay to follow her, she left the room and headed for the nearest turbolift.

When they arrived at the area where the box had been found, Palla reached out with the Force and enveloped the box in a Force bubble, which would prevent it from doing more than superficial damage if it was a bomb and did go off. Maintaining the bubble required her full concentration, so Zay was the one to examine the box. He stretched out with the Force and gently felt inside the box. The initial touch was alarming: electrical wires. Zay felt a disturbance in the Force nearby, but ignored it and focused on the task in front of him Being careful to do something that would set off a bomb in his face, he carefully felt around with the Force to get a complete picture of the inside of the box.

When he had that picture, he knew exactly what to do. Suddenly grinning, he abruptly grabbed the box—causing his Master to lose her concentration and the Force bubble—held it upside down, and ripped it open. A large mass of wires fell out, which Zay then promptly kicked like a bolo-ball.

Palla stared at the wires now scattered over the floor. "That's it? That's all that was in there? Just wires?"

"Yep. If this is Bassell's idea of an attack, then he's stupider than we thought."

"Now wait. Why would he do this?" She thought for a few seconds. "It could be a diversion. It pulled us away from the team, and—"

Zay remembered the disturbance he had felt a few seconds ago. "The team is under attack!" Zay took off in a Force-assisted sprint, heading for the player parking lot.

When he got there, he took in the scene with a glance. About fifty armored attackers, wearing Bassell's logo, were laying siege to the parking lot with heavy blaster rifles. Over a dozen people, maybe two dozen, including all six of the security guards had already been hit and were either not moving or in obvious pain. With most people pinned down behind speeders, injured, or quite possibly dead, the attackers were beginning to spread across the parking lot, applying coups de grâce to defenseless players and personnel.

Zay needed only a split second to read the situation. Already having his lightsaber in hand, he ignited it as he sprinted out of the building. The attackers, registering the new threat, turned their fire on Zay, who batted it back at them. Several attackers went down quickly before they realized that shooting at a Jedi would only get them killed. Ceasing fire, the attackers turned and ran as Palla emerged from the stadium. She sprinted past her Padawan as she fished around in her utility belt for something. As the attackers sped off, Palla hurled the device she had extracted from her belt, and Zay watched as it hit one of the speeders and latched on.

"Tracking device," she said as she came back. "We'll find them soon. Right now we need to assess the damage here and treat the wounded."

Zay knew that she had deliberately left the worst part unsaid. He did not look forward to identifying the dead.

To be continued...

OOC: Part 2 to come tomorrow or Tuesday.

 

IC: Falene Trieste
Bakura Gardens, Salis D'aar, Bakura

Falene cocked an eyebrow at her cousin as they stood at midfield. Sorry? About what?

Here was her cousin stranded on a winless limmie team while Falene had been named a starter all-star, plus her team was in the thick of playoff contention. No, that couldn't be it.

The pair had seen each other the day before at Kilmainham Brook when Vesper had shown up in her UBCS t-shirt, clearly spoiling for a little controversy. She was the only Blue Bird in the herd and everyone was only to willing to tease.

“Hey, I'm the only one who anyone here should be bowing down to,” Sierra pointed out, wearing matching BCC t-shirts with her husband, “You haven't married royalty yet.” It was good to have Sierra being jocular. Things had been rough for her with the recent events in Hapes. Both she and her husband were laying low until they knew more about the situation. Falene was still mystified as to where their security had gone. Hapan Security was just as obsessive about protection as the Senatorial Guard. Something was definitely up.

“Excuse me? I happen to be descended from royalty,” Ayn Dormingale pointed out.

“Elected royalty doesn't count,” Falene called.

With an Elite League game the next day, Vesper and Falene had taken it easy on each other, as had their family members. The last thing anyone wanted to see was an injury on the eve of a major game for both players. That had been an uneventful game (and as usual, they didn't keep score), so nothing to apologize for there.

The All-Star Game? They'd both been non-factors there, but Falene was pretty sure that Vesper was well aware that the poor showing for the Solo Conference had more to do with Moira Mallory's pride than anything either of them had done. Honestly, Falene didn't care that much about it. The All-Star Game was a sideshow to the real deal that took place in the regular season.

There wasn't anything else that could possibly have been between them, so Falene just looked askance at her cousin. “About what?” she asked.

“That was a mighty beatdown yesterday against your Rangers,” Vesper said.

Oh. Right. Yesterday had been the PCNS/UBCS game and the Blue Birds had walked away from that one handily. “Hey, I had to spot you one,” Falene said, patting Vesper on the shoulder, “but that's your one.” She smiled.

---

To say that today had been a wild day was an understatement. The points were coming fast and furious in the Blue & Gold Bowl. Once again, Vesper was having a good day and it stuck in Falene's craw. Last year Falene had done her best to get involved in some double coverage on her cousin, but this year Cuth Hulu's complicated defensive schemes kept Falene higher in the defensive zone on the half forward line.

“That's why Lynd burned us so bad last season,” Hulu told Falene during practice—a short week for Falene and the other all-star Miners—when they had worked out the game plan, “Stay home, be responsible, and don't be a hero. Got it?”

Falene had and they'd contained Lynd better in this game, but the Monarch offense had done much better than their average showing this season and Vesper had been a big part of it. Falene had been itching to get down there and double team her cousin to disrupt the Badger's offensive schemes, but she'd kept to the plan and done her job.

It was working too. When the Miners recovered the ball, they executed beautiful, fluid zone breakouts that were at the core of the “insane” defense of Cuth Hulu. It worked the bolo-ball out of the defensive zone fast through accurate passes and routes that went straight to the midfield and then into the offensive zone.

Valerii had looked at the Monarchs' defense without Umanh and decided that she liked what she saw at the half back match up. Her offensive plan for the week respected Tam-Ford at full back. Though Rodders was still part of the game plan, it wasn't where Valerii put the thrust of her attack.

That would be none other than Niskat Deenever.

The center half forward was dominating Marco DiJohn today and she was firing away. Off her feet, off her hands, it didn't matter. Deenever was dominating the middle of the field and she was becoming one of Clair Oswin's lest favorite people in the galaxy. The crowd was loving it. Deenever had gained a lot of notoriety for her colorful All-Star Game interviews—as if her popularity wasn't high enough already.

The fans had taken up a chant in the stands that they broke out after her second goal of the day.

Up in the city in the clouds she first did come to bat
Our very own carnationed Helmsman nom at that
And she's our daring Golden Bear who'll knock the others flat
For now we've got a hero in the girl they call Niskat!

Falene had to admit, it was pretty darn catchy. She was also going to mercilessly ridicule Niskat over the fact that she now had her very own theme song. In fact, at halftime Falene was already planning how she could set every single tone on Niskat's datapad to play the song. That would be a pretty darn good prank, if Falene had to say so.

Niskat didn't do all the scoring in the game. Everybody got involved, including Rodders who was having a tough game against the massive Tam-Ford. However, the Monarchs defense was clearly missing something without the big man Umanh. The Miners were only too happy to take advantage of his conspicuous absence.

In the end, it was a solid win for the Miners. Once again their defense surrendered 20+ points, but it was a win and that was what mattered. Sometimes you had to play a run-and-gun game and it was good to know that the Miners could win them.

When the game was over, Falene found her cousin and hugged her. “I'm sorry,” Falene said. She didn't mean it as a sarcastic echo of Vesper's pregame words. She meant it. Last season had been hard for the Miners, but at least they'd won games. To be 0-6...that was a fate that Falene didn't wish on anyone, especially someone she was related to. “I'm sorry,” Falene repeated again.

---

The rest of the Miners did not share Falene's regret over the outcome of the game. A dominating offensive performance had helped to erase the memory of last week's debacle against Hapes. It was good to split these home games. The Miners now faced three straight road games for the remainder of the regular season. They would not get to see the Gardens again unless they had a home playoff game. It was going to be a tough slog.

“All right, now that's some Miners limmie,” Valerii said, coming into the locker room for her post-game victory thoughts, “Business as usual, am I right?” The team clapped and cheered. “We all knew that this was a game that we needed under our belt headed into the road trip and we took care of business today. Everyone knows we've got big games on this trip so way to be focused, be focused on what's right in front of us, and take this season one game at a time.

“Game ball...” Valerii said, lightly tossing it up and down in one hand, “Oh hell. That's such a damn catchy song.” She lobbed it over to Niskat, who had her second one of the season.

“I know, that thing gets in your head,” Niskat said, “You're all just super jealous, I can tell.”

“Nothing rhymes with Glencross. That's the only reason I don't have one,” Alana said.

“Ummmm...” Lizbit thought. “She catches lots of limmie balls, her name's Alana Glencross,” Comstock said, “And when the game is won, she always does then floss.” The entire locker room looked at her in silence. “Hey!” Lizbit protested, “Nobody said that it had to be a good rhyme!”

Everyone laughed at that. Only in the aftermath of a win could bad rhymes and jokes feel so good.

The door of the locker room banged open in particularly violent style. Everyone's head turned to look at the cause of the noise—and found a Mandalorian warrior walking through them. Had Bakura not been on such good terms with Mandalore, Falene would have been slightly concerned. As it was, Falene vaguely remembered this Mandalorian thanks to the dark blue beskar'gam with gold trim.

“Hey, what are you doing in here?” Valerii asked harshly.

The Mandalorian's helmet came off and she shook out her long light brown hair. “I'm sorry for the intrusion, but I had to see you before you left.”

“And who are you to just come barging in here?” Valerii demanded.

“My name is Haylee Kelt and I am here on a debt of honor,” the Mandalorian said, “I knew Anton Jorpik.”

Even that stopped Valerii from further protest.

“You have all been lied to,” Kelt said.

To be continued...

TAG: CPL_Macja for game, Bardan_Jusik because there's a Mando, even if she's a Bakuran Mando

 

IC: Jacen Hunter
Hunter family household, outskirts of Keldabe, Mandalore

Jacen watched the holo-screen with rapt attention as the game raged on. It was a defensive battle with not an inch yielded on either side without a hard hit. Neither team seemed to be able to gain any traction on the offensive end, and it seemed as if Fortune was once again lost while Daryc was simply swamped by the swarming Storm defense. Even the shots that they were able to get off were blocked by spectacular play from the Euceron goaltender. At least the play of the Mercs on the other end of the field was keeping them in the game.

But midway through the first half disaster struck the Mercs. Darkrider who was scrambling for a loose ball was run over by Daryc, also after the same ball. Daryc managed to get it, but the Mercs midfielder went down. Play was halted as the medical personnel ran out onto the field to attend to the writhing Darkrider. Eventually a hover cart was called in to bring him off the field with some sort of knee injury. Darkrider may not have been an all-star, but he was serviceable. The Mercs were thin at that position, only their rookie Horonel (a product of the Euceron Strom youth program) and Arick Vau, the talented yet erratic Mandalorian. Both were rotated through to fill in for the injury and both were treated roughly by their Storm counterparts.

Turnovers from the midfield abounded as offensive possessions for the Mercs dried up. The Mercs tried their best to run things through Mor'kesh, but the Storm was having none of it, double teaming the Mercs Captain and allowing the other midfielder's mistakes to derail possession after possession. Towards the end of the match things got even worse as Daryc was pulled as well with an injury of his own. Fortune, perhaps secure now in his place as a Merc did next to nothing the entire game, though he did set up one score for an assist on the stat sheet.

In the end all of the Mercs points were scored by their pair of rookie corner forwards. Arock scored their only goal and managed to put up a respectable 5 points while Mereel scored the other two. But the stout Storm defense had completely shut down the middle of the Mercs offense, and it was enough to propel them to a one point win over the Mercs. At least it was the last time this season that Jacen would have to watch them on the holo, the Mercs would end the season on a three game home stand...

---

Later that week.

It was well past his bedtime, but Jacen watched the HSN tonight broadcast with the volume turned down so his parents couldn't hear him. They had long since gone to bed and he had sneaked out into the living room to get an update on the Mercs. HSN was supposed to be discussing the upcoming Mercs/Packers game tonight.

"..The Mercs have announced that they are calling up 2nd round draft pick Gozer "the Destructor" from the Crusaders to replace injured Xander Darkrider who has been lost for the rest of the season. No word yet on how coach Vizsla will manage the rotation at midfield, but with two rookies and the inconsistent Vau there next to all-Star Mor'kesh he certainly has a tough job ahead of him."

Jacen frowned, he had heard how talented Vau had been, but after seeing him play in one game he hoped to never have to see him again. It seemed like he was always out of position on defense in some kind of attempt to spark the offense. Jacen hoped one of the two rookies would start in Darkrider's place.

"No word yet on the status of Daryc, but with the way the Mercs offense sputtered last week one has to wonder when they will call up last year's Helmman trophy winner, phenom Ariva Kendal. She has been lighting up the scoreboard for the Crusaders who are tied for second in points scored in the LFL. Able to play most any forward position she could be the spark this Mercs offense needs to get them over the hump in their push for the playoffs."

Jacen didn't know much of anything about the Mercs developmental team, he hadn't been following their progress at all. He just hoped that if she was called up that she wouldn't take Fortune's spot on the team.

"Now, we go to commercial and when we come back we will breakdown the Packers and the..."

The doorway to his parent's bedroom opened suddenly and Jacen turned off the holo-set. "Go to bed Jacen. NOW!!!" his mother yelled form inside. Jacen set the remote down and scampered back into
his room. "Guess I will have to wait until the game to see what the Packers are all about."

TAG: No one.

 

​

Mando'ade Mercs player transactions.

Mando'ade Mercs place Midfielder: Xander Darkrider (Human, Male) Contract Year: 275 on Injured Reserve (Knee). Out for season.

Mando'ade Mercs recall: Midfielder: Gozer "The Destructor" (Devaronian Male) Contract year: 279 from Concordia Crusaders


TAG: No one

 

IC: Fenton

Fenton was in a sour mood when he sat down to watch the Starkillers play the Patriots. He and his mother had just moved the previous day and he hated their new place. It was so small. He didn’t know where he would work out. It was bitter cold outside this time of year, there wasn’t enough room to do his workout holos in the new place and he certainly couldn’t afford a membership to a gym. Just when he was beginning to see improvements he never imagined like having to buy smaller sized clothes and hearing compliments from co-workers he was worried he’d have no way to keep up or make the future progress he had hoped for.

To Fenton’s surprise the Starkillers did not let the Patriots roll all over them. It was a low scoring affair; Poletin was doing a spectacular job in goal only allowing 4 points in the first half. Problem was the Starkillers offense had gotten even less past the Patriots defense and had only put 2 points on the board. The second half was a nail biting affair. Loren Jul finally broke through and scored a goal putting the Starkillers in the lead. Then Marmu managed to hit a post and put the Starkillers up by 2 points. Fenton started to believe that the Starkillers could pull this game out. Then the Patriots scored a goal and another 2 points after that. But there was still time on the clock and the Starkillers were only down by three. Hovechar began to dribble the ball up field with only 30 seconds left on the clock. She made a beautiful pass to Jul. Jul had plenty of time to set up her shot and smacked that bolo with everything she had. Fenton held his breath as he watched the ball sail through the air and bank off the post as time expired. It was only good for one point. The Starkillers had lost 9 to 7.

A win today could have put the Starkillers in the playoff hunt, but the loss had all but eliminated them. It would take a miracle now with 4 teams ahead of them all with a 4-2 record. Fenton felt like the world was working against him. His team had lost. He had been forced to move to a small grungy apartment and he was stuck working menial jobs he hated. He walked into the kitchen and grabbed the ice cream out of the freezer. He just didn’t care anymore. What was the use of trying to improve upon himself, what did he have to live for anyway? Then as he was pouring a large amount of syrup onto the ice cream he heard something of interest coming from the holovision. He grabbed his sundae and headed into the living room to watch.

It was a special about the upcoming retrial of Trey Till. Fenton had heard the story over and over the past week; still it fascinated him so he sat down to watch. Besides the station claimed to have the first face to face interview with Trey since the news broke. Fenton shoved a huge spoonful of ice cream into his mouth and allowed the flavor to explode inside. It had been way too long since he had allowed himself such a luxury. Quickly as if someone was about to grab the bowl from him he ate several more bites.

Suddenly Fenton stopped mid bite. There was Trey Till walking into the interview in some plain white cinderblock room obviously within the prison confines. He was wearing a standard prison jumpsuit but what was also unmistakable was that Trey was still in excellent shape. As the interview began another thing stood out. Trey was not bitter about his situation. He claimed that he knew this day had been coming. He had been confident in the legal system of Ralltiir one day clearing his name and allowing him to go free again. Instead of complaining about his misfortune and griping about the loss of four years of his life he was thanking those who had believed in him and making plans for his almost certain upcoming release.

Fenton looked down at his half eaten sundae in disgust. He was angry at himself for slipping up. He hadn’t faced half the hardships Trey had and Trey hadn’t allowed himself to quit. At that moment Fenton decided he wasn’t quitting either. He headed back into the kitchen and washed the rest of the ice cream down the drain. Then he went to his room and found some sweats, hat and gloves. He laid them out and set his alarm for early.

The following morning Fenton bundled up and headed outside into the dark cold air. He put one foot slowly in front of the other until he began to feel comfortable in his rhythm. He headed down the block and to a nearby park. There were several other joggers out at this seemingly crazy hour. A few of them even waved. Fenton felt renewed and welcome. A smile formed underneath his scarf.

@ No one

 

IC: Gark S’rily
En route to Hapes Prime

“So let me get this straight,” Gark said as he sat in the small coaches’ office on the Senator team shuttle. “The Hapan leader, whatever her title is, was recently found dead.”

“That’s what I heard,” the Ishi Tib assistant replied. “It was all over the HoloNet yesterday; you couldn’t have missed it if you were looking at the news.”

“And I have a feeling that this is going to make things more complicated,” Gark replied. “Not just about the game . . . but about everything in general. Get me Adanna; I need to speak to her.”

“Right away,” the Ishi Tib replied before leaving the room. Gark just sat back in his chair and sighed. This was just peachy, wasn’t it? The Hapan leader was found dead, and now the entire Consortium was going to have to deal with the ramifications. The Senators were walking into a potential powder keg for all he knew, and it made him nervous. Going into any locale for a silly game when you knew there was more at stake was never a pretty proposition.

A minute later, the bleached blonde hair of Adanna Inviere poked into the room. “You rang?” she asked.

“Sit down,” Gark said. His assistant GM closed the door behind her and sat down opposite Gark. “I need your advice,” he said after a momentary pause.

“What for?” Adanna asked. “I’m not that much of a strategist, you know. If you want me to find a way to deal with the C-Buc offense, you’ll have to look elsewhere.”

“It’s about the supreme Hapan leader dying just a day or two ago,” Gark replied. “I’m sure you’ve heard by now.”

“Of course,” Adanna said. “And it pains me a lot to think about it.”

“I need your advice on that subject,” Gark said. “Since you grew up on Hapes Prime, and you were living there right before I offered you this job, you obviously have a lot of respect for your fellow Hapans. I want to know what to expect when we touch down as far as atmosphere. And don’t tell me that they don’t like men there. I get that, stupid a bias as I think it is. But that’s not what I want to find out. I want to know what we’ll be dealing with down there.”

Adanna sat there for several seconds before finally speaking. “It’s not going to be a warm welcome,” she said.

“Since when have we ever received one of those?” Gark asked, propping his head up on his hand as the elbow was placed on the desk.

“I suppose it will be about the same reaction as when you . . . died . . . I guess, back in . . . what was that, ’72? I remember that we had to hear all about it after it happened, and then we had to honor your life during that playoff game. But what I remember hearing most from all that was the sudden shock felt by the entire planet, the entire people. It was something that you could only witness if someone very important to them was killed. And that’s what you’re going to be dealing with. How would Coruscant respond if the Supreme Chancellor died?”

“I actually think a large percentage of the planet would celebrate that occurrence,” Gark said in an off-hand manner.

“You don’t get it, do you?” Adanna asked bitterly. “Besides, Kerry Trieste was once my boss, so even though I don’t work for the Miners anymore, you can’t talk in a negative tone about her around me. Got it?”

“Fine,” Gark said, rolling his eyes. “All I’m saying is that I don’t think you drew a good analogy.”

“Look, when you have a planetary leader who is well-respected and holds an office that is as sacred and powerful as the Queen Mother of Hapes has, her death hurts. Maybe we don’t all like her, but when your head of state is killed, especially under those circumstances, I can’t help but feel emotional, feel like something major has been lost. And I don’t exactly fit the regular Hapan mold, mind you. I still have a grudge about the C-Bucs not wanting me after I finished school, or after I retired from playing . . . but I still am Hapan, and to me, this loss stings more than any Limmie loss could.”

Gark paused here. He did remember how the people of Coruscant reacted to his “death” at the hands of Calo Mornd. It had been a state of utter shock, one that had been brought on through a simple Limmie team. Was he a civic leader? No. But he was a civic icon, someone who brought completely-different people together under the team banner. And when he was gone, they had felt shock, they had felt anger, they had felt a sense of loss. Maybe he wasn’t part of their family, a friend, or even a co-worker or cab driver. But he meant a lot to the people of his homeworld, and that would not soon change. So when Adanna spoke of the Hapans feeling the same loss about the death of the Queen Mother that the Coruscantis did about his supposed death, then there was only one thing that he knew was coming. The Hapans were going to play this upcoming game, and they were going to make the Senators work for every inch out there on the field. The team would just have to be ready for it.

“How is Alysha taking it?” he finally asked after deliberating.

“I don’t know, but if it’s anything like me, not that well,” Adanna said. Alysha Romax, the Senator midfielder and captain, had been a standout Limmie player at the Royal College of Hapes before being signed by the Senators many years earlier. She, like Adanna, had not been approached by the C-Bucs immediately, and therefore felt a sense of detachment from her homeworld team. But it was likely that she was also going to be affected by this in some way, and Gark made a note to himself that he would have to monitor the situation. If it came to the worst, then Alysha wouldn’t play. The game would still occur, but the kind of coverage it would get would be phenomenal. If this game wasn’t big enough already with major Solo Conference implications, it would become even more of a media circus, just not for the right reasons.

---

Adanna was right. Hapes Prime was in major mourning when the Senators touched down on planet. Security measures were in full-effect to make sure that no one else was killed, although Gark had a sinking suspicion that if someone wanted to come and murder the team, the Hapan authorities would likely look the other way. That’s what happened when you were a Coruscant Senator, it seemed.

The night before the game, Gark made sure to run through his gameplan with the defense. He had no idea what the Hapans would throw at his defense in this one, given that they were likely to have the entire crowd, if not most of the galaxy, on their side out of sympathy. It had been like the situation several years earlier with him being “gone”. The Senators had garnered some galactic votes of sympathy for losing their head coach, and that would likely play out the same way here. Also, he noted, two of his defenders, Tank Bratter and Reena Wyley, had been CorTech players when the massive shooting of 271 occurred on that campus. They had played under a major pall before, so what could he glean from them about playing against a team and a fanbase that was grieving, that was looking for nothing less than tearing the Senators apart limb from limb? What did Reena have to say about this whole mess, anyways? She was Hapan, so maybe he would have to ask her tomorrow about it.

“Since we don’t know what shape their team will be in tomorrow, I want it known that we need to stick to our game. Yes we can show our respects to them, but this is still a Limmie game, and we cannot be caught napping. We need to play our style of ball and get out of here with a win.”

He drew up a play that showed the corner backs pinching in on the center half portion of the field. “If we can prevent their half forwards from keeping the ball in play, I think we can shut down their corners,” he said, drawing a line to make his point. “This galaxy may think that we are weak at those corner spots because Jerek is out, but I think we still have a great duo there. And I intend to use all three of you,” he said to his corners, “tomorrow in a tandem effort, as usual. We are going to pinch the Hapans into making a mistake, and then we can pounce on them on the other end. If we play solid defense, we will win this match and go home 4-2.”

Before he went to bed that night, Gark analyzed the roster one last time as he sat on his side of the bed. Thulius Jomas, the hard-working half forward, had been called up from Thyferra, and had spent a few practices with the Senators. He would see some action this week. To make room, Alex Renhorn had been sent down. Gayla wasn’t exactly happy about it, but something had to be done to shake up the offense and get it back on track. Hopefully Jomas would prove to be a good signing . . . but was he ready for his Elite League debut with only a few practices under his belt, coming into a completely new offensive system?

“Haven’t you looked over the roster enough for one night?” Me’lin asked as she rolled over on the other side of the bed.

“I suppose,” Gark replied. “It’s just . . . I don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring, with the whole Queen Mother death situation.”

“If we knew what was in our future, we would be too afraid to do anything in fear of messing everything up,” his wife said. “Just let things flow, and respond to them as they happen. And, you need some sleep. You won’t be able to coach that well tomorrow if you’re tired.”

“You’re right,” Gark said, placing the datapad on the bedside table. Whatever tomorrow brought, he was going to have to deal with it as always. It likely wouldn’t be pretty, but hopefully the Senators would get out of here with a win.

---

The pre-game festivities were rather subdued at the Royal Limmie Grounds. Before the game, there was a moment of silence for the departed head of state, and the stadium got deathly quiet. Gark found it eerie to be part of such an occasion, especially to be on the opposite side of this kind of tragedy. As he looked down the line, he could see Alysha with her head down, her chin close to coming in contact with her gray away uniform. It was obvious that she was in much thought. Undoubtedly Adanna, up in the visiting team’s box, was having a similar reaction. On the Hapan side of the field, the entire team looked emotionless, trying to keep their chins up despite the level of emotion that had poured over the planet the last few days. There was no way you could prepare for a game like this; you just had to deal with it, and worry about things later. Limmie was not a forgiving game, but it could still be used in remembrance. And that was exactly what the Hapans were going to try to do here. Now the Senators had to prevent them from pulling it off.

When the opening kick came, Gark made sure to align his defense to match his gameplan. In the back were his usual starters; Leed in goal, Ortho Dyhon calling the majority of the shots from Center Half, Zoom the Wookiee at Left Half, Right Half was going to be by committee today with Reena starting and Tank likely taking over for spells. Abbey Waters was going to man the middle of the back line at Full Back, and Christine Gamble and Reid Livingstone had the corners once again. The unit was banged up, yes, but the bye week had really helped them. Christine hadn’t thought so, since she had started the game and was roughed up by the Skywalker Conference offense, but if she could keep up her usual intensity, Gark was sure that this unit could take on the C-Buc offense.

The first opportunity for the Hapans on offense was going to be the big test. The corners came in to pinch off the attack in the middle of the defensive zone, causing an overthrow on the ensuing pass. The ball skittered over to Abbey, who then chucked it back up the field to Alysha. The team captain had to be brave in this one, Gark thought. She was hurting emotionally, but she needed to be strong to help lead her team to victory.

On the other end of the field, the offense set itself up. The ball went around the formation, finally landing in Cord McKerty’s sure hands. He got tripped up, and the ball fell to the ground. A mad dash for the fumble ensued, and Zadd dove for the ball. The Defel was able to punch it out of the pile, but then two Hapan defenders landed on him, and he got up looking rather gimpy. That wasn’t good news for the offense, because Zadd was fast, and could create mismatches for the defense. Gark looked to Allie Orchetrada, the offensive coordinator; she would now have to make a decision about what to do with her bench. She had Biskis, Edare, and Jomas at the half, and out came Edare. The Pantoran was talented, but not the best option they had. Still, at least the injury didn’t look too bad, so hopefully Zadd would be back in later.

As the first half came to a close, the Senators finally managed to score a goal to break the scoreless gridlock. McKerty burst through a seam created by a Riff Persnor pick and was out in the open field. The Hapan defense converged on him, but the second-year forward leaped over a diving defender and sent a rocket into the back of the net for three past Montes. 3-0 Senators late in the first half of what otherwise was a defensive game on both sides. Neither defense was giving an inch, and it was likely that whoever could score a few more points would walk away with the win.

In the locker room at the half, Gark made sure to reiterate his main points with the defense. They had been working hard out there, but he needed 30 more minutes from them. They had to hold the line, because it was only a matter of time, he felt, before the Hapans would break through. The defense had to hold and keep this game in reach for the offense, which was struggling once again.

“Don’t back down,” Gark said. “You are going to own this turf. They may play here, but you are going to control the defensive zone. You are going to make them pay for coming over the middle or trying a long pass. We want them to feel the pressure, but also drop into boxes and zones when they come up. Throw in some exotic blitzes and keep ‘em guessing. I’ll call some things to mix it up. Now let’s finish this one off.”

And finish it off they did. The defense, behind another masterful performance from the duo of Gamble and Dyhon, stymied the C-Bucs time after time down the field, choking off their offensive routes and pressuring the Hapan forwards into making countless mistakes. Whenever a forward would grab a pass, a Senator defender was right on them, sticking to them like glue. It was a perfect defensive set-up, and the C-Bucs couldn’t shake it. On offense, the Senators finally broke it open. Maximus Qorbus bulled his way through a defender and then beat Montes with a nice skipping shot. Alysha got in on the action with two bar points, her first scores of the season. She used to be more of a scoring midfielder, Gark thought as she pushed through point number two, but since Demetra had been drafted and was being used as the “rover”, and Gayla was brought into the fold, she didn’t have to score as much. Izzi Polakaya, the defensive midfielder, was out there beating the Hapan midfielders to the punch when she was in the game, so much to the point where Honey Ryder tried to avoid making contact after a while in fear that the former CorTech coach would send her down to the turf once again. It got to the point where Izzi finally came up limping, but nothing changed in the middle of the field. In the late goings of the game, Jomas caught a pass from Vail Pin, a fellow rookie, and then scored his first Elite League goal. The big man raised his hands into the air in triumph, but kept it at that. No need to piss off the Hapans when they were down.

When the final horn sounded, the Senators walked away with a 20-1 win over the hapless C-Bucs. It felt good to pick up a win like this, especially over a quality opponent on the road. Now they had to go home and face Bakura, which was never an easy task.

Reporters came up to ask Gark some questions. “Coach, how does it feel to hold the C-Bucs to just one point?” asked one reporter.

“It always feels good to shut down an opponent,” Gark replied. “Jayla played one hell of a game in goal for us, and we couldn’t have asked for more from her. My defense did what they needed to in order to win. That’s all I can say about it.”

“You are currently in third place in the Solo, with a slate of three home games coming up. What are you telling your team now that you are in the home stretch of the season?”

“There’s still a lot of Limmie left to play. We just have to focus and stay hungry, or else we can lose that third spot,” Gark said. “That’s what we’re going to focus on this next week.”


Now it was time to head home to Coruscant for the final three weeks. They had been away for over a whole month, but finally the team was headed back home. For Gark, this meant a chance to sleep in his own bed for once. The hotel mattresses were always hard, and the cot he rigged for himself on the ship was only comfortable for so long. But it also meant a return, in some way, to normality. And it was a chance to get the Senators back into the playoffs in front of the home crowd. This was their chance to make a move to finish off the season. This was their chance to make history.

TAG: No One

 

Time: Afternoon, next day after parking lot attack

--Player Transaction Wire--
Euceron Storm

• Left Corner Back Shanica Terrvold (starter) removed from roster (death)
• Midfielder Thalia (starter) removed from roster (death)
• Utility Back Karron Naykin (reserve) removed from roster (death)
• Midfielder Charlotte Storm (reserve) removed from roster (death)
• Corner/Full Forward Qatis Yannal (reserve) removed from roster (death)
• Full Forward Clarice Su (reserve) removed from roster (death)
• Midfielder Clarisse (starter) placed on injured reserve list (blaster wound in chest)
• Full Forward Asyel Yan'ii (starter) placed on injured reserve list (blaster wound in back)
• Half Back Jaia Honus (reserve) placed on injured reserve list (blaster wound in neck)
• Midfielder Sanyr Ralders (reserve) placed on injured reserve list (blaster wound in chest)

---

IC: Zay Antilles
Location: General manager's office, Euceron Stadium, Eusebus, Euceron
Time: Two hours after release of transactions above

"So that's the serious damage. What about the less serious injuries?" asked Haron.

Palla spoke up. "Everyone else is stable. Thankfully the terrorists were just spraying shots everywhere until the very end. If they had been aiming each shot, we would be in much deeper trouble." Palla detailed each player's wounds and prognosis. "Some players will have to miss a game or two, but depending on how well the wounded respond to treatment, you should have at least a dozen players available for this weekend's game, maybe up to sixteen. Other than the loss of all full forwards and midfielders, you're going to be thinnest at corner back and goalkeeper, with no backups at either spot."

"How the kriff am I supposed to field a fifteen-player team if I only have twelve in good enough condition to play?"

"Well, I've been looking at the Gundarks roster and talking to their coach since I got up," said Aebatt. "They can ship us several players to fill out the roster, but they have to field a team as well, and there's no tier below them that they can call players up from. They're willing to send us six players of our choice."

" 'Willing'?" Haron said, raising his voice slightly. "What do you mean, 'willing'? I thought we could just call up anyone we wanted anytime and to hells with what they want."

"Not exactly. Our contract with them says that we cannot leave them with fewer than twenty-two players without their consent. That means that we only have the right to take four, since they currently have twenty-six on the roster. They're being nice by letting us take six."

"So what do we need? Full forward, two midfielders; that's three. Backup at each of those is five. Add a backup at corner back and one at goalkeeper... Sithspit, that's seven. What are we going to do? Forfeit?"

"No, of course not. Twelve plus six is eighteen, so we can work something out. Here's the problem, though: we already saw during Yan'ii's first injured reserve stint this season that Mioree is simply not ready to play in the Elite League, much less start. The only other full forward they've got is barely competent enough to be an LFL backup. I was told that he'll be fighting just to make the roster next year if we can draft some decent talent. As for midfielder, they only have three to begin with, and their coach isn't confident in any of their skills at the LFL level, much less up here."

"So how the kriff do I field a team without full forwards or midfielders?" There was about fifteen seconds of silence before Haron spoke again. "That was not a rhetorical question. I'm open to ideas from anyone here. Mrolak?"

The head trainer shook his head.

"Chenkabukk?"

The starting goalkeeper, who had escaped injury, threw his paws up in an "I don't know" gesture.

"Anyone? I'll even take fan opinions here." Haron looked pointedly at Palla and Zay as he said this.

"Forget those positions and take advantage of what positions you have plenty of," said Zay.

"What do you mean?"

Zay fished in his pocket and came up with a handful of change. He counted out fifteen coins and put the rest back in his pocket, then arranged them on the desk in a standard limmie formation. Picking up the two midfielders, he talked Haron through his changes. "Get rid of these guys. Instead you have an extra half forward here and an extra player in the back row there. Now slide the center half back back slightly, and the middle guys on the back line forward a bit. Those three clog up the middle of the opposing offense so they can't attack the goal head on; they'll have to chip away at it from the sides. Up front, slide the full forward back, almost to the half forward line, which is now just in front of where midfield used to be. Move the corner forwards in a bit to fill in the resulting gap. Now what used to be the full forward position is more or less part of a five-player second line and should be playable by anyone competent at center half forward, while the corner forwards are left by themselves up front, but the opposing defense will have to expend so many resources trying to stop the five guys behind them that the front two should have a field day."

Haron studied the new arrangement of coins on the desk. "And what do you call this brand-new formation?"

"Uh..." Zay searched for a response. "Um... a winning formation?"

Haron laughed. "How about we call it the Antilles formation?"

Zay blushed. "Well, I don't think—"

"Done deal. We're announcing the Antilles formation later this week." He turned to Aebatt, ignoring further attempts by Zay to protest. "Who do we need to call up to make this work?"

"Well, let me see here..."

---

Time: Late that night

--Player Transaction Wire--
Euceron Storm

• Center Half Forward Mo Klaret recalled from Commenor Gundarks
• Left/Center Half Forward Ryben Cyrrac'lan recalled from Commenor Gundarks
• Left Corner Back Reima Quillan recalled from Commenor Gundarks
• Goalkeeper Gers Tesam recalled from Commenor Gundarks
• Utility Back Cevse recalled from Commenor Gundarks
• Corner Forward Chew Fej recalled from Commenor Gundarks

To be continued...

TAG: Vehn (more details about the formation and who's playing/not playing will come later this week)

 

GM Post
Limmie Hall of Fame, Empress Teta

“Gentlebeings, welcome,” the Kaminoan spokesbeing for the Limmie Hall of Fame said. Today was one of the biggest days at the Hall of Fame: the announcement of the year's inductions. “The Limmie Hall of Fame has finished tabulating the votes for this year's Hall of Fame inductions. The votes have been reviewed and tabulated by third party accountants, who at the close of today’s announcement will make their report available to the media. This ensures the accuracy of all of our voting and preserves the historic high standards that the Hall of Fame takes in all aspects of the game.

“This year, the Limmie Hall of Fame will induct only one new member.”

The crowd hushed. Only one addition? This was news indeed. Who was this luminary.

“The sole member of the 275 ABY Hall of Fame class has the distinction of having been associated with four of the great limmie teams in the annals of the sport. Her career began like any other, only to be cut short by injury. What would be a tragedy for many turned out pave the way for one of the great coaching careers in the history of the sport.”

The initiated already knew who the inductee was.

“She soon became the head coach of the Hapes Consortium Buccaneers where she brought the team back to greatness with a Galactic Cup. She then plied her trade on Chandrila where she had large shoes to fill in the wake of a man who had already been elected to the Hall, Tan Strensky. She did not miss a beat, taking the Patriots to back-to-back Finals in her first two years as head coach, winning another. She then served as head coach of the Bakura Miners for two seasons and was nominated for the Langann Award. In addition to her two Galactic Cups, she has won a Commissioner's Trophy.

“Gentlebeings, this year the Limmie Hall of Fame will be proud to welcome Aileen Wynn to its hallowed halls.”

TAG: No one in particular, but all the Hall watchers will be interested in this

 

IC: Gark S’rily
En route to Coruscant



(Listen from 3:10 onwards)

Gark lowered the datapad and sighed. It seemed like everything was spiraling out of control in the League these days . . . or, if it wasn’t the League, it certainly was the happenings on the homeworlds of the teams of said league. Going into this season, he thought that it would be a relatively simple process. Coaching wasn’t easy, but at least he had done it before. It wasn’t like staring down an unknown. He had done plenty of that in his Superbothan masquerading, but this wasn’t the same. This was supposed to be a simple game, and at the moment the events surrounding that game were anything but simple. It had started with the Ssi-Ruuk War that the Mandalorians and Bakurans were fighting. Sure, that wasn’t affecting anyone on Coruscant directly, but it was still in the background. And that’s when things were simple, back before all hell seemed to break loose.

The revolution on Rydonni Prime . . . mounting fines and suspensions for dirty play on the field . . . the infamous Vehn-Keither exchange. The public execution of a captured enemy head of state . . . that had been a firestorm . . . the ensuing league controversy . . . the whole Taab mess, with him willfully disobeying the League’s mandate despite already slippery footing with the Commissioner . . . the imminent threat of attack at the crappy game that had started the year, against Euceron . . . the news of the death of a former Miners player in the so-called “completed” war . . . the drug addiction of one of his own players . . . what a mess that had been to sort out with the League . . . the Board of Governors meeting that Vehn had called . . . that hadn’t gone so well . . . the bankruptcy proceedings of the owner of the Ralltiir Starkillers . . . the explosion on Rydonni Prime . . . the death of the Queen Mother of the Consortium just last week . . . and now a mass shooting after a Euceron Limmie game. What was the universe coming to?

With the shooting fresh in his mind, what was the League going to mandate be done for host teams in terms of security? If this incident on Euceron had something to do with the situation Week One, when the Storm had travelled to Coruscant, then Gark was angered. He hadn’t been informed of such a possibility of an attack. Who in the hell hadn’t given him notice? Nothing had happened . . . but that was only an excuse for so much. What if something had occurred? What might have happened if he didn’t know what was going on? Nothing had been said for certain, but from all of his crimefighting days, Gark knew that something of that sort wasn’t spontaneous in most circumstances. If increased security was requested for that game, and then a Euceron home game was when the shooting occurred . . . there had to be a link. Hopefully it was their problem, not his.

But the League, and especially the fans, likely wouldn’t see it that way. They would panic, and who could blame them? What would happen if a shooter started to spew laser bolts into the crowd at the next home venue? What would the repercussions of that be? What if no additional security was available? What would the fans, the media, the players, say in that instance? “He could have done more,” they would comment. “He could have prevented that.” But could he? Was he capable of something like that? Who was he anymore? Was he Gark S’rily, the Limmie coach? Was he Gark S’rily, the corporate CEO? Was he Superbothan? Was he the husband of the most beautiful woman in the galaxy (at least in his opinion – the fans might think otherwise), and father of one great young son? What was his role in this drama of life anymore? It seemed like no matter what he tried to be, no matter how many hats he wore at one time, that he wasn’t that important in the grand scheme of things. Recent events had shown that, and he was supposed to respond to them in kind. But what could he do?

What about Galin? He had been brought into this messed-up, topsy-turvy galaxy, and was expected to someday fend for himself. If there was a main hope that Gark clung to regarding the young Bothan, it was that he wouldn’t have to fare this life the same way that his father was. He wouldn’t feel the repercussions of the coaching, or the managing, or the crimefighting. He could just live life free from this drama, free to follow his own path. But nothing in this galaxy was so easy. One had to earn this kind of “free pass”, and even then there was no such thing. One still had to suffer, one still had to struggle to obtain what they wanted. It was a critical view of life, but Gark had been through more than his share of dangerous situations. Every time he looked down the barrel of a blaster rifle, every time he came oh so close to death, he had that internal struggle as well. Was what he was doing helping anyone? Was it making a dent in all that was wrong in this galaxy? How much of a role did he have in making this little piece of the galaxy safe for his son to grow up in?

Gark finally got up and wandered out of the office, but the thought continued to dog him. What was he going to do this weekend for the game regarding security? What did he need to know about the shooting so that he could take proper security measures? What would he need to implement so that fans would come out to the park for the game and not stay home in fear of being shot at? The Mandalorians weren’t exactly available on call for security, and besides, they hadn’t exactly prevented the Euceron attack. He could only do so much, but when information was sketchy at best, what was the right course of action to take? Rydonni Prime was coming in to play, and with the . . . recent situation . . . with the government, not to mention the collapse of a section of hotel near their stadium, that made things even more iffy. What made things even worse was that this wasn’t even the team’s stadium; it was a college, and the school administrators would see to it that he was responsible for anything that might happen. What more could this game do to him in terms of logistics and security measures? Why couldn’t it just be a Limmie game, just a harmless pastime that brought people together instead of making them fear for their lives if they buy a ticket?

Then he made his way out to one of the shuttle common areas. He could see Galin totter around in a small circle, trying to pretend like moving continuously actually meant something than what it looked like to everyone else. And there were the Chambers-Vayne twins joining him in their weird fit of childlike fun. Polis seemed to be disinterested, but Gark didn’t blame him. He was focusing on an offense and two kids, since Meredith wasn’t exactly in town to help take them for a while. But there was just something about the three very young children that Gark thought about as he rested his arm against a nearby bulkhead; what kind of galaxy were they going to grow up in? One that had been relatively peaceful like his upbringing had? Or were troubling times ahead? What would the future hold in five years? Ten years? After they finished high school? When they were 30? What would their children see? Limmie games like usual, with the pageantry, the excitement, the energy? Or would they see fear, violence, and murder at every turn? The galaxy was vast, but for the past few months, it seemed like all of these events were hitting closer to home than they should. And the year wasn’t over yet.

Galin turned around to face Gark for a split second before running over and attaching himself Polis’ leg as the former Senator great sat on the couch in stony silence. He just looked tired, and Gark didn’t blame him. “Look, kid, I would appreciate your presence, but I’ve got two of my own to deal with,” Polis commented, but Galin didn’t really care. It was nice to be young. Then he ran over to bother Reena Wyley, who started to tickle the young Bothan in the belly, making him fall over on the floor and laugh contentedly.

“I want one,” Reena said, grinning. “Just not with as much hair, though. Don’t think I could deal with that.” Cord, who was standing near her, just rolled his eyes. Obviously he didn’t share in his wife’s sentiment.

Then Gark felt an elbow resting on his shoulder. Me’lin was now standing next to him, partially leaning on him so that he was squished against the bulkhead. “Too busy to just enjoy the moment?” she asked.

“It’s not that. It’s . . . complicated . . .” Gark finally said.

“Does this have something to do with the shooting?” Me’lin asked.

“Everything,” Gark said. “The shooting was just one piece of what I’ve seen occur this season. It makes me wonder . . . makes me wonder if . . . if bringing Galin into the galaxy was a . . . mistake. I don’t want him to have to deal with all of this crap that’s going on these days.”

“How could you say that?” Me’lin asked, completely shocked by hearing this.

“Look, it didn’t come out right . . .” Gark backpedaled.

“Galin is the greatest thing that could have happened to us,” Me’lin admonished the Bothan. “Besides, life isn’t easy, you know that. But Galin will grow up fine. It’s your job, and my job, to get him there.”

“It’s just that . . . I don’t know . . . this shooting puts me on edge . . . it just seems like things are going so out of control,” Gark finally said. “I don’t know what to do. I feel lost right now. I have the team, but with the necessary security measures for this week’s game . . . what do I do? What do I say to get people to fill the stands this week? What will make them feel safe to come to a Limmie game?”

“What makes this different than all those times you stuck your neck in the line of fire?” Me’lin asked.

“I’m getting tired of having so many roles. I just want to know what I want going forward in my life, and until I get to the point when I know for certain, I feel confused. Maybe I’m just ranting,” Gark said, staring straight ahead blankly.

“You’re just stressed,” Me’lin said, starting to rub Gark’s shoulders with her strong, yet oddly soft at the same time, grip. “You need to stop worrying about things you can’t control. All you need to focus on is getting the team ready for this week’s game. Everything going on in the rest of the League shouldn’t worry you too much.”

“What if I can’t handle it?” Gark asked. He was definitely stressed out.

“Don’t forget to breathe,” his wife said quietly. Immediately Gark understood; he needed to step back from this stressed-out persona for a while. What he needed was to just focus on what lay ahead, and not about things he couldn’t fix. As always, Me’lin was his moral compass; what could he do without her? “Feel inspired?” she asked.

“I think so,” Gark replied. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a gameplan to create.” That right there was what he had needed, a pep talk to snap him out of the doldrums. Sure he couldn’t do anything about the rest of the galaxy’s ills, but at least he could take care of his own.

---

Gameday, Coruscant Air Fleet Academy

Gark stood in the locker room as Pam Korthe went over the last few things for the pregame speech. The Monarchs were coming in winless, so the main issue was to keep them that way. A local media pundit had said that if the Senators lost another game to Rydonni Prime, especially a blowout loss, he would go and swim in the oceans of Kamino. It wasn’t going to happen, obviously, but the point was there. The fans wanted a win, and Gark hoped that this wouldn’t be a trap game. They needed a win.

But for that to happen, he needed his defense to show up again. Myles Tormera, the starting half back, was out of this game with his broken elbow, and Jerek was still a week or two away from returning, so he was going to have to work with the same squad he had all season. The Monarchs had the worst scoring offense in the league, but anything could happen in this scenario. Winning in the Elite League was not easy, so the entire team had to do its job today to pull out the “W”.

As the team took the field, Gark made sure to mentally review his security measures. Garrumpy Katt was once again going to be stationed with him for this game, just to make sure that the Euceron shooting was an isolated incident. The rest of the stadium security was beefed up just in case; Gark didn’t want to have a repeat incident if he could help it. If the Monarchs brought any trouble with them, whatever that could be, at least it wouldn’t be on the Senators for that. It was little comfort, but nothing was simple for Gark S’rily. As it was, he was just a simple Bothan trying to make his way in the Limmieverse. And that included today’s game. Now his team needed to show up.


TAG: CPL_Macja (for game stuff)

 

IC: Kaitlyn Vehn
Coronet City, Corellia


The rain continued to fall on Coronet City and hadn’t stopped for what felt like days.

Kaitlyn leaned against a durracrete pillar of the departure concourse and allowed the water to flow across her face, dampen her hair, soak her clothing, and rejuvenate her soul. She needed time to think. The Smugglers had just turned in a total clunker of a performance against Corellia and were making their depressing way back to the team shuttle for a home game against Euceron next week. They were 0-2 in the Skywalker Conference and had just dug themselves a nasty hole that would take a strong finish to sniff the playoffs. Two straight losses in a row had a way of killing a team’s momentum. And Kaitlyn knew that very important battles were coming up to finish out the regular season.

Kaitlyn had been there for Tover’s post-game speech. The guy was disappointed. But he also took the long view and encouraged the young squad to keep their chins up, learn from their mistakes, and remain focused on stomping Euceron at Six Boroughs in front of the rabid home-crowd. But there were no guarantees in Limmie. Nothing could be said that would predict a win against the Storm who had traditionally played spoilers for the Smugglers in more ways than one. All Kaitlyn knew was that she wanted to get off this miserable planet and go home to the trash-infested moon that she had grown to love.

She crossed the street to the waiting team shuttle, narrowly avoided being hit by a passing taxi, and jogged her way up the gangplank to the main cabin. Once inside the cabin, Kaitlyn saw that the small shuttle that carried the Nar Shaddaa Smugglers across the galaxy was particularly full with items the players wanted to pick up duty-free from the Republic. Unlike other Limmie franchises, Kaitlyn hadn’t felt the need to buy the team a big shuttle to sprawl around in. Functionality was the word here and the fewer distractions in between games was just fine with her. She took one more look at the packages that littered the passenger cabin. She could understand where the players were coming from and suggested that she take another shuttle home.

“You sure?” Tover asked as he poked his head out into the rainy evening.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’ll catch up with you guys on Nar Shaddaa,” Kaitlyn said as she spun around in her wet clothes before disappearing into the darkness.

45 Minutes Later

The passenger cabin of the small business shuttle went completely dark save for the lights coming from the cockpit as the engines screamed to their full fury indicating a successful startup sequence. Kaitlyn was near the front of the shuttle and peered into the illuminated cockpit with childlike curiosity as the flight crew flipped switches, made final sweeps of their checklists, and prepared the small craft for lift-off.

“Blue Horizon 446 to tower,” the captain said.

“Go ahead Blue Horizon 446,” the tower replied.

“We’re all set to go here. All systems check out and we’re requesting a departure on pad 24L.”

“Roger that, BH-446, we acknowledge that all systems are a go and you are cleared for departure. Have a nice flight.”

“Will do. BH-446 out.”

The pilot killed his throat comm. and looked back briefly at the darkened cabin. A light from a passing plane briefly illuminated Kaitlyn’s face. He flashed a smile and returned his attention to guiding the shuttle off the landing pad and into orbit. The cabin vibrated as the shuttle tore away from the landing pad, raised its landing skids, and began a sharp ascent that would take it to the nearest hyper-buoy and from there to Nar Shaddaa.

Kaitlyn loved space flight and could remember the first time she had seen her home world of Druckenwell from orbit. How excited she had been and how very much in love with the romantic idea of the galaxy that had seemed to be a place of deep mystery, inner beauty, and pure magic. There was nothing quite like floating around in the zero-g environment that her father would engage for her. To bounce from wall to wall, to get “stuck” and have nothing to push off of to keep going, to be free and one with the vacuum. She remembered the way her hair swirled all around her in the most unnatural of ways. How light she had felt. How nothing could bring her down. Nothing could stop her. Not in that moment.

She gazed out the window and saw clouds fall rapidly away. The sky was starting to change colors, the atmosphere grow thinner, they were almost through, they were almost free, and soon she would be home holding her son Jack in her arms and telling him how much she’d missed him, how much she loved him, and what they should do with her day off tomorrow. She smiled as she thought of her boy. Smiled as she thought of the life she had made for him. It wasn’t perfect, nothing ever was, but for now, in this moment, it was good enough.

Almost home, Jack. Almost home, Kaitlyn said as she anticipated the jump to light-speed.

That jump never came.

A loud bang erupted from outside the shuttle. Kaitlyn was thrown hard into her restraints as the engines whined in protest, shuddered. Alarms erupted in the cockpit as the shuttle lost forward momentum and began a deadly pitch towards the fields of Corellia far below. The pilots cursed and worked the controls furiously. All the while, Kaitlyn gripped her arm-rests with white knuckles, no longer enjoying the ride, no longer enjoying life itself as the alarms seemed to grow louder and louder.

Someone behind her threw up as the shuttle pitched violently downward again. Kaitlyn’s stomach flew up into her throat.

“Maker help us!” A woman screamed from somewhere near the back.

Kaitlyn forced herself to look out the window as the clouds engulfed the shuttle, welcoming its deathly descent. The ground was rushing up pretty quickly to meet them. Too quickly.

“Stall! Stall! Stall!” The computerized voice from the cockpit blared over and over again.

“Lock down stabilizers, get those landing jets firing!” The captain yelled.

“Pull up! Pull up! Pull up!” The computerized voice continued.

“We’re not going to make it!” The co-pilot cried out.

“Come on, baby, slow down!” The pilot roared.

“We’re coming in too fast!”

“Tug hard on the stick, now!” The pilot ordered.

Kaitlyn felt her stomach lurch back down again as the shuttle’s pitch lessened, the dive no longer perpendicular to the ground but still at a terrifying angle. She took one final look out the window. Saw the lights of Coronet City in the distance. Saw the stadium where only hours before the Smugglers had been defeated by the Rebels in humiliating fashion. None of that mattered now. And maybe that stuff never really did. Death was coming for her. There was no escaping. There was no way out. The ground was real close now. Too close.

She closed her eyes as a single tear fell down her cheek.

“I’m so sorry, Jack. I’m so sorry…”

Darkness.

To Be Continued

 

GM Post
Elite League offices, Coruscant



In a season that had already seen its share of momentous moments, Niakara Kayl’hen hadn’t expected that she would ever have to take the lectern before the media and address the fans of Elite League Limmie in this manner. Gone was the bristling fur she’d displayed when she had dealt with Beskaryc Taab. Things were so much different now. How could it be that those days seemed like a distant memory now?

“Good morning, gentlebeings,” Kayl’hen said with as much confidence as she could muster. It wasn’t that much. The room was not its usual bustling self. The media had packed itself into the briefing room even more tightly than usual. It wasn’t just the beat reporters or the sportscasters who were there today—there were reporters who covered big stories for their affiliates. Kayl’hen picked out Erika O’Shane in the gaggle. She at least was familiar with some of the Elite League players. Myk Songsteel, HSN’s top reporter, was in the front row.

“This has been the most tragic couple of weeks in my tenure as Commissioner of Elite League Limmie,” Kayl’hen said. She’d stayed up all night working on what she would say today. She knew that this press conference was vital to what happened during the rest of the season. “It pains me to have to list the recent tragedies that have struck the Elite League, but we shall not be cowed by fear into turning blind eyes to our tragedies. That would dishonor those who have been affected by these acts.

“On Rydonni Prime, explosions took place in buildings connected to Monarchs Stadium, popularly known as the Grande Villa. The League has worked closely with local safety inspectors to determine if these blasts have affected the structural integrity of Monarchs Stadium. No final determination has been made as to whether Monarchs Stadium will be available to host the Week 8 Patriots/Monarchs game. Alternate venues are being explored as a precautionary measure.

“As the galaxy is aware, Blue Horizon flight 446 is missing, presumed crashed on Corellia shortly after takeoff,” Kayl’hen continued, “Among the passengers on that flight was Kaitlyn Vehn, owner, president, and general manager of the Nar Shaddaa Smugglers. At this point the Elite League has no information regarding Ms. Vehn. The entire Elite League Limmie office staff is hoping that Kaitlyn Vehn will be found alive and well. We are receiving regular updates from search efforts currently underway on Corellia, who are also providing regular updates to the public.

“The League has reached out to the Smugglers organization to ensure day-to-day continuity of operations. Until the status of Ms. Vehn is positively known, head coach Tover Micjaa is operating as interim general manager of the team. However, the Smugglers organization has informed the League that in the event that a provision of the sale of the Smugglers franchise two years ago was that in the event of Kaitlyn Vehn’s death ownership of the team would revert to Verity Vehn. This will require certain legal proceedings before this takes effect.

“Finally, and perhaps most tragically, as you are all aware, several members of the Euceron Storm limmie team were injured or killed in a terrorist attack at Euceron Stadium. There are not words to describe what happened in Eusebus,” Kayl’hen said, “This is a stain upon the Elite League’s record that will never wash away. There is widespread concern regarding the safety of both fans and players moving forward and it is incumbent upon the League to address them.

“Firstly, the reports that this threat was known to the Storm and the League are true. Threats had been made against the Storm organization, who brought in local security and coordinated with members of the Jedi Order throughout this season to prevent an attack. The League is undertaking an audit of the measures adopted. While I hesitate to make a final pronouncement, the League does not fault local Euceron authorities, the Storm organization, nor the Jedi Order. All reasonable precautions were taken in advance of the shooting.

“Secondly, authorities on Euceron and members of the Jedi Order have definitively stated that this threat exists specifically against the Euceron Storm. This is not a widespread threat against other teams or the Elite League itself. As a result, the League wishes to reassure fans that they should not feel threatened attending Elite League Limmie games.

“Third, because a threat exists against the Storm, the League is currently coordinating with officials on Nar Shaddaa, Euceron, Ylesia, and Corellia for the remaining home games of the Storm. We will make sure that the proper security protocols and precautions are in place to make sure that this does not happen again. The League urges fans who will be attending games in which the Storm play during the remainder of this season to leave extra time for attending games.

“Speaking of which, fourth, the Elite League is not cancelling games in the wake of these tragedies. They are indeed deep, and great tragedies, but to stop play would disgrace the memories of those beings who have experienced tragedy. It will be hard, but we owe it to them to continue play.

“Fifth, the Elite League has undertaken a full review of every member team’s security plan to make sure that it provides sufficient protection to fans. In many cases that we have already reviewed the League is satisfied with the security measures that are being taken.

“Sixth, we are asking that at all Elite League games this week that teams observe a moment of silence for those affected by these tragic acts.”

Kayl’hen turned off her datapad, having reached the end of her prepared remarks. She hesitated a moment, about to leave, but then decided to stay. “I know that beings are scared out there. This scares me too. Elite League Limmie games are high profile events that will always be targets. I will never be able to forget or forgive myself that this happened on my watch. That’s just something I will have to live with for the rest of my days.

“There’s a reason why Elite League Limmie games are a target. It’s because this League was founded on the principle of bringing out the best in the galaxy. There are beings that will want to tear that down and they will never go away. We cannot surrender the best parts of who we are as a galaxy out of fear of these beings. There is responsibility on all beings who come together to bring Elite League Limmie to the galaxy to make sure that it is an enjoyable and safe experience for all fans. That is a non-negotiable.

“What I’m asking is that the galaxy doesn’t stop believing in limmie out of fear. Now is when we need sport to lift us up and bring us together, remind us that we are a part of communities that are larger than ourselves, ones we can turn to in times of sadness and grief. That is why sports resonate so powerfully among us. They are a reminder that we are not alone in this galaxy. That is what we must remember now in our darkest of days.

“Thank you.”

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

 

GM Post

What We Learned: Week 6

With all of the recent tragic events in the world of limmie, we wanted to step back and reflect on what every team should be thankful for these days.

For our part, we're thankful for our interns. We rag on them all the time, but really they're great. Also, we don't have to pay them. More credits for the post-What We Learned publication party fund!

Agamar Packers:That Tim Dood inherited this team. If there's a being who is more committed to promoting virtue and integrity through sport, we want to meet him or her. But for now, Dodd is everything an Elite League owner should be.

Bakura Miners: That Quinn Cundertol is as good as he thinks he is. Case in point: six all-stars.

Chandrila Patriots: That Reina Kether came back and single-handedly saved this team.

Corellia Rebels: That they didn't get their wish and get placed in the Solo Conference where they would be stuck in a logjam instead of controlling their own destiny in the Skywalker Conference.

Coruscant Senators: That Andromeda Steel Corp. bought the moribund franchise so many years ago, because that brought Gark S'rily to their front office and we all know how that's gone.

Euceron Storm: That Aebett Zargana is such a believer in the LFL, because without their affiliation contract they would be in deep trouble right now. Plus Chenkabukk didn't get injured, so the Storm still have a chance this season.

Hapes Consortium Buccaneers: That, recent miscues aside, Moira Mallory is at the helm. The C-Bucs are owned by the royal family and a lesser general manager would be overwhelmed by the current uncertainty surrounding the team.

Mando'ade Mercs:That the trade deadline is almost upon us and Andres Fortune is still a Merc, because this guy is a monster in the middle.

Nar Shaddaa Smugglers:That Kaitlyn Vehn got Tover Micjaa to come out of retirement, because there are no better hands for this franchise to be in right now than his.

Ralltiir Starkillers:That all but two starters on this team are locked up in long term contracts, because this is a core of players that's going places.

Rydonni Prime Monarchs:That Vesper Lynd is a paragon of class, wisdom, and loyalty, because anyone else of her ability would have demanded a trade from this team by now.

Ylesia Lightning: That they didn't throw in the towel after an 0-2 start, because now the Lightning are looking like one of the best teams in the League. Oh yeah, and Kasin Urdaaza.

Interns: That working for HSN looks a lot better on a resume than it does in actuality.

From all of us at HSN, Happy Thanksgiving.

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

 

Week Six Power Rankings

1. Corellia Rebels – A big home win over a solid Nar Shaddaa team proves that this team can really play. However, can they finish is the main question. It looks like they will continue to ride Corvo Antilles as they attempt to push into the playoffs. Up Three

2. Coruscant Senators – Wiping the C-Bucs out on the road demonstrates the ability of this squad in spades. However, they need to keep up the momentum and not fall prey to upcoming trap games, including this week against Rydonni Prime. If they can keep this up, they should make the postseason. N/C

3. Ylesia Lightning – Once left for dead early in the season, the Lightning have put together four straight wins and now find themselves on top in the Skywalker. Kasin Urdaaza finally looks like her old self, which is good news for a team that still struggles at times. Up Two

4. Bakura Miners – A shootout win in the Blue and Gold Bowl pushes Bakura into a four-way tie on top of the Solo. However, their defense had a mental lapse against the lowest-scoring offense in the league, so we shall see if the vastly-improved defense of the Miners from last season can put this bad performance behind them. Down Three

5. Hapes Consortium Buccaneers - The loss this week stings, plus the loss of the Queen Mother. However, Moira Mallory isn't about to toss in the towel. The C-Bucs are still a good team, and will contend for the playoffs unless the bottom really falls out. Up One

6. Euceron Storm – Despite all that has gone on with this team, they managed to grind out a rough win against the Mercs. All things considered, that’s something your hang your hat on. However, with all of the upheaval regarding the shooting and the loss of many players, how will this team finish out the season when they are forced to rely on LFL-caliber players at key positions? Up Five

7. Chandrila Patriots – Underwhelming win over a struggling Ralltiir squad still counts as a victory on the stat sheet. If their defense keeps playing like this, look out, Solo Conference. N/C

8. Mando’ade Mercs – Losing by two to Euceron hurts, but this team isn’t dead yet. There is still plenty of fight left in this high-octane offensive team. N/C

9. Ralltiir Starkillers – An otherwise-poor defensive season didn’t prevent the Starkillers from holding Chandrila to 9 points this past week. Dev Poletin is proving that he is a capable goalie, and can step up when needed. N/C

10. Nar Shaddaa Smugglers – Head-scratching loss to Corellia plus the disappearance of Kaitlyn Vehn has this team in a tailspin right now. They are a resourceful bunch, but can they find some of that magic after this rough week? Down Seven

11. Agamar Packers – Putting up 18 points on Ylesia is a good sign. Allowing almost twice as many isn’t. Their playoff hopes aren’t extinguished just yet, but their chances of breaking out are slim to none. Down One

12. Rydonni Prime Monarchs – They finally got something together on offense. Now they are playing for pride the rest of the way. N/C

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