Star Wars OPEN Elite League Limmie

IC: Lilly Weste
New Vertica Hospital, Nar Shaddaa




“What do you mean you’re discharging me?” Lilly asked.

“You’ve exceeded your treatment plan,” the orderly explained. “If you continue to see us for physical rehabilitation we’re going to have to charge you.”

“I’m 15 years old! You think I have a bunch of money lying around?” Lilly argued.

“Your policy, taken out by your parents before they,” the orderly paused and looked down at Lilly, “passed was to have you covered until the end of your 14th year. We’ve been very generous towards you, Lilly, and we hate to see you go but there’s nothing more we can do for you. I’m sorry.”

Lilly felt white, hot, galaxy splitting anger rise up inside of her. “You’re not sorry. If you were sorry you would continue to help me! If you were truly sorry you would find some way to get me out of this frakking hoverchair that I’ve been strapped to the last several years! Don’t you frakking care? Don’t you have a frakking heart?”

The orderly shrugged and said, “I don’t make the policies. I wish you the best of luck, Lilly. If you’d like I can call a cab to take you to the Valor Foundation.”

“Just frakking get out of my way!” Lilly burst out as she steered herself toward the hospital exit.

Hot tears fell down her face as Lilly hovered away from the hospital. Nothing seemed right anymore. Nothing in her life had gone right since that terrible day when her parents had been killed in that speeder accident. She wished she’d have died too. That way everyone would be put out of their misery. Nobody really cared about her. Nobody wanted to help her escape this terrible prison that held her back.

No, Lilly thought, there was little point in going on, there was little point left in living.

“I didn’t ask for this,” Lilly cried out to the night.

“I didn’t ask for this!”

---

Nar Shaddaa Smugglers Front Office HQ, New Vertica

“The plan seems solid. Ralltiir is known to use that kind of defense during this time of the season. Think we can exploit those weaknesses?” Kaitlyn asked as she sat in on a meeting with the coaching staff prior to the home opener against the Starkillers.

“Leed knows her stuff so defensively we’re strong,” Meredith said.

“I want to shift the scoring away from McCloud as Ralltiir is going to want to shut her down. We’ll move McTodd over and have Lerouex strike from the corner,” John Huntington said.

“We’re going to get the mid-field heavily involved. Reaver is ready,” Tover Micjaa said as he outlined his pattern of attack on the holographic display that dominated the center part of the room.

Kaitlyn smiled and knew that the team was in good hands here. “I would also suggest that—“

Her datapad vibrated. She frowned as she saw that the hospital was calling her.

“Carry on,” she said as she left the meeting.

“This is Kaitlyn?”

“This is Ori from the front desk at New Vertica Hospital calling to let you know that Lilly Weste was discharged earlier today. We phoned ahead to the Valor Foundation to expect her arrival and she never showed up. She had you as an emergency contact
number in case of an accident,” the woman explained.

Kaitlyn felt her heart plummet to the floor. This wasn’t good.

“I’m on my way.”

---

New Vertica, Nar Shaddaa


“Miss Vehn, we’ve been searching for nearly an hour. Nar Shaddaa is a big city. If she doesn’t want to be found, well, she’s got plenty of hiding places,” Kaitlyn’s driver said.

Kaitlyn had to admit that her driver had a point. Still her intuition told her to keep looking. She thought of what she knew of Lilly. Her parents had been killed in a crash, she’d survived, they’d lived at that apartment complex on the corner of Sluis and Vaos streets. Lilly would often visit the top floor of the apartment when she needed some peace and quiet, some time to think. The realization hit Kaitlyn like a ton of bricks.

“Driver! I know where she is!”

The speeder squealed to a halt. Kaitlyn tore out of the back seat and headed up the stairs to the highest floor of the apartment complex. She didn’t want to take the turbo-lift, not for something as important as this, not for all the sore muscles in the galaxy. Please be alive, Lilly, please be alive Kaitlyn thought as she pounded up one flight of stairs and then another. Anything could happen on Nar Shaddaa and Kaitlyn feared the worst.

“Lilly!” Kaitlyn called out once she reached the top floor.

The top floor was abandoned, or rather, had never been fully constructed. Steel girders jutted out into the maw of the city and a fierce wind whipped through the exposed structure. The apartment was like so many on Nar Shaddaa. Begun by city funds and never finished. Sad, really, that so many projects never got to be fully used, incomplete, just like so many things on this wretched moon.

She spotted Lilly near one of the steel support beams that jutted out into nothingness. Kaitlyn could tell that she was shivering, cold, and had been crying. She also was concerned that Lilly might jump to her death.

“Lilly,” Kaitlyn said.

“Leave me alone,” Lilly insisted.

“Don’t you pull that sithspit with me, Lilly,” Kaitlyn said in a tone of voice that surprised her.

Maker, my mother used to talk to me like that. Kaitlyn realized.

Lilly looked up at Kaitlyn and said, “Why are you here?”

“The hospital called me,” Kaitlyn said. “Emergency contact number, remember?”

“How did you know where to find me?”

“Someone I knew told me that she liked coming up here when she needed to think,” Kaitlyn said with a smile.

“You did listen to me. All those times I thought you were tuning me out. Telling me to go frak myself,” Lilly said.

“Lots of people are worried about you. Don’t you think we should go home?”

“I don’t have a home! Don’t you get it? I’m one of those kids that has nobody. No parents, no money, nothing. Nobody cares about me,” Lilly moaned.

“What happened today?”

“The hospital kicked me out, Kaitlyn. My coverage ran out,” Lilly said through chattering teeth.

“So you ran away?”

“I didn’t want to spend another day in the Valor Foundation. I didn’t want to look into the mirror and see a crippled teenager who has nothing to live for, nothing at all,” Lilly said.

“You have your entire life ahead of you,” Kaitlyn insisted, “so much to look forward to, so much to do, so much to see.”

“I’m stuck in a hover-chair for the rest of my life,” Lilly said, “what kind of life is that?”

“Maybe you won’t be stuck in a hover-chair for the rest of your life,” Kaitlyn said.

Lilly wiped the tears from her face and looked at Kaitlyn. “You never told me how you are able to walk again.”

“I’ll tell you everything if you step away from that ledge,” Kaitlyn said as she held out her hand.

Lilly looked down toward the black abyss beneath her and after a long pause headed toward Kaitlyn. One foot in front of the other and finally Lilly was off the ledge, safe, and sound.

Kaitlyn breathed a sigh of relief as she wrapped her overcoat around Lilly’s shivering body. She held Lilly tight as the two walked toward the service turbo-lift. She knew that she would have to tell Lilly how she could walk again. That question would never go
away until it was answered.

“Several months ago I was approached by a Jedi Master who helped me work through some issues I had about my marriage. Through him I discovered that the Jedi weren’t just guardians of the peace, I found out that they were healers, protectors of a beautiful light energy. After my accident I was terribly depressed, wanted to kill myself, wanted to just stop living."

“So what did you do?” Lilly asked.

“I fought my way through my own pain, through my own fear, and I contacted the Jedi. I explained what had happened and they very graciously brought me to Ossus where they healed me,” Kaitlyn said. “I never have to use a hover-chair again.”

“Is that the truth?”

“Have I ever lied to you before?” Kaitlyn replied.

“No,” Lilly admitted.

The two were near the service-elevator now.

“I’m all alone, Kaitlyn. I don’t have anyone,” Lilly said as they rode the lift down.

Kaitlyn fought back her own tears, her own feelings, felt her throat constrict, knew what she had to say, and replied, “You have me, Lilly. Don’t you worry about a place to stay. You can stay with me. I’ll take care of you.”

“You mean that?”

“Yeah, Lilly,” Kaitlyn said as she gave Lilly a hug. “I do.”

“You’re the only person who cares about me. Ever since my parents died I’ve had no one until you showed up at that physical rehab meeting at the hospital. That day changed my life,” Lilly said with a laugh.

“That day changed my life as well,” Kaitlyn said.

“I love you, Kaitlyn,” Lilly blurted out as she cried into Kaitlyn’s blouse.

Kaitlyn felt her own tears fall down her face as she replied, “I love you too, Lilly. I love you so frakking much.”

Tag: Runjedirun (brief mention of Ralltiir)

 

IC: Jacen Hunter
Coalition Memorial Game Mando'ade Mercs at Bakura Miners
Bakura Gardens, Salis D’aar, Bakura

Even after the pre-game festivities drew to a close the excitement of the Bakuran faithful didn't dwindle. In fact, their eager anticipation of the opening kick seemed to only fuel their frenzy to even greater levels, and the Miner's players on the field responded. For those first few desperate minutes the Miners simply outplayed and out-hustled their Mercs counterparts. Glencross beat Mor'kesh on a wide pass that should have been ended up out of bounds. Rodders beat out Jowa and initiated him into the league with one of his patented moves leading to a quick Miners score, and a three point lead.

Things went downhill from there as the Miners built up their lead and stymied the Mercs offense on the other end. It wasn't as if the Mercs played uninspired ball, they were hustling their tails off out there, but the Miners were just a tad bit sharper, a tad bit quicker and seemingly a tad bit more motivated. Midway through the first half they had already jumped out to a 8-0 lead when disaster struck the Mercs.

Lieznam had already taken a number of minor hits in the game when Ternardiel blasted in from out of no where and delivered a low hit that sent him crashing to the ground, his head bouncing off the turf. "Shab!" Jacen cried out involuntarily, earning him a scalding look from his mother and a brief "language," rebuke from his father. Jacen was certainly no fan of the Fortune's replacement, though if Johnny Limmie's play thus far was any indication he wasn't doing much replacing, but he didn't want to see the player hurt.

As the game came to a halt Lieznam stayed motionless on the turf, attended to by the Mercs training staff. Eventually he was led off under his own power and Naughten, the Shistavanen, came in to replace him. The stoppage in play either took the wind out of the sails of the Miners or lit a fire under the Mercs as the game was kept nearly even from that point forward. But in the end the Mercs still failed to score any points and the Miners came away with an 11-0 victory. Not the way to start a new season.

---

​

Mando'ade Mercs Injury report for week two (Host Rydonni Prime Monarchs)

Jonathan Lieznam: OUT, Concussion


Mando'ade Mercs player transactions:

Mando'ade Mercs recall from Concordia Crusaders, Pella Lovenforth (Human female) Full Forward

TAG: Trieste, CPL_Macja

 

IC: Christine Gamble
Shuttle, en route to Agamar

Christine took off her headphones and rubbed her eyes. She had fallen asleep for what seemed like just ten minutes, but when she looked at the time on her music player, she realized that she had been out for an hour and a half. Groaning at how she had lost track of time, she looked around the rest of the cabin. Only a few other players were in there, making it a nice quiet environment to sit it. Most of the team likely was either in the bar or the practice facility, which made sense given the length of this trip. Agamar was a long way out to play a sixty-minute game and then come all the way back home for one game. Stupid schedules.

Christine then called up footage of the Packers in their last game. She had taken quite a few looks at the corner forwards for the Packers during the week’s video sessions, but now she had a chance to really look at things on her own. The Togorian brothers, apparently, were big. Real big. They made her and her fellow human corners, or Khil, in the case of Calmerung D’jukk, look small. That was going to be a big challenge. Although they had been slowed down the prior week, Christine noted that they were close to bursting out of the contain defense and running wild; that wouldn’t do this week. The Senators still had a young goalie, so she needed all the help she could get from the veteran defense in front of her. And that was going to start at the corner position. It was no secret where the experience dropped off in the Back 6. Half back was covered above and beyond, with veterans like Myles Tormera and Evis Kunat leading the way with their many years of service time, and a few younger, yet still experienced, players to fill in the gaps such as Bratter, Wyley, and Zoom. It was a veteran core unit. Full back had the experience of Abbey Waters and Doon’sun, both title-winners in their careers. They knew what had to be done each and every week.

But corner was difficult. Raley Tenegat and D’jukk were both rookies, and although D’jukk had put in two years on Thyferra, that still didn’t mean much. The Force’s defense had been atrocious two season prior, so one good season was not indicative of much right now. This was the Elite League, and that meant that every team was going to come to play each and every week. Experience was at a premium here, and Reid Livingstone, a third-year corner, was the oldest and most experienced out of the unit. That wasn’t good for those looking at service time as indicative of overall effectiveness.

It was going to be a physical match. The Packers loved to play big, and the Senators were going to try and smash it right back in their faces with Bratter, Zoom, and Doon’sun providing the meat. Christine knew that she was going to have to sacrifice her body a few times to get in good body blows on the Togorian, who she likely could beat with speed but would need to work hard in order to stop coming up the middle. Toughness was not the strong suit of the defense these days; those days, for the most part, had passed. In the Horstse era, he, Shayt Contar, Shev Fil’yer and Doon’sun had provided a solid core of hard hitters, but now the team was built on speed and finesse. In order to beat a smash-mouth team, they would have to get creative.

Then she heard laughing, and she turned her head to look at the source of the commotion. She could see her three corner teammates sitting around, Reid in the middle and Raley and Calmerung flanking him. They were looking at something on a datapad, and all Reid did was smirk while the rookie Tenegat kept shaking his head.

Christine finally had to know what was so funny. She got up and moved over to the three men. “What are you three up to?” she asked.

“Nothing much,” Reid said.

“Don’t be so modest,” Raley replied. “Reid’s showing us his girlfriend.”

“I didn’t know you had one, Reid,” Christine replied. That was news to her. She and Reid were close enough that Christine knew how to play with him in a defensive scheme. His social life was still a mystery to her, though.

“That’s because I never brought her up,” Reid said with a shrug. “I met her several months before camp started, but I didn’t give it much thought during practice. She’s a specimen, let me tell you.”

Christine ripped the datapad from Reid’s grasp and took a look at the image. Hm, the image seemed a little bit risqué, but on the overall the woman on there didn’t look too bad. Of course, Christine thought she looked better, but it was obvious that she shouldn’t say anything. Knowing how interested Raley was in her, at least at the beginning of camp, there was no real reason to get that train of thought flowing in the minds of these three young bucks. From the look of it, though, Reid had already started.

“Not bad,” she said, handing Reid back his datapad. “I mean, not bad . . . for you.”

“Hey, leave me alone,” Reid said, frowning. “You’re just jealous, Christine. You know you are.”

“The only thing I’m jealous about is you three finding time to not focus on our game this week,” Christine said, equally unimpressed. “We’ve got a huge challenge this week.”

“I’ve already looked at the footage,” Reid replied.

“Then what is your plan of attack on the Brothers from Hell?” Christine asked. She had given the Togorians this moniker because playing them one-on-one was going to be a hellish task.

“Simple, we . . . well, we . . .” Reid said, but it was obvious that he had no idea what he was talking about.

“Just what I thought,” Christine said, shaking her head. “You haven’t done a damn thing.”

“Give me a break. Long ride out to Agamar,” Reid said.

“And, from the looks of it, you have about a day left to prepare before we get there,” Christine said. “All of you better figure out your gameplan, or else I’m not looking forward to telling Coach C that you all slacked off. If you think I’m bad when I get angry, you’ve never seen her. Doesn’t take more than once to realize you made a bad move if you piss her off,” she said, referring to Contar.

“I’ll be ready,” Reid said. He put the datapad away.

“You better be, because I’ve been known to torment people about their lovey-dovey tendencies,” Christine said. “You don’t want me to start singing ‘Reid and . . . well, I don’t know what her name is . . . sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S . . .”

“All right, all right,” Reid said, holding his hand up to stop Christine from going any further with this. “I’ll get on it. But I think we’re going to have to work on the shift, because their Full is massive too. We’re going to need to match brutes with them, and we can’t win that, Christine. We just can’t. I’m not built like a tank . . .”


“We’re going to need to be creative,” Christine replied. “That’s all I can say. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to do a little more review of the footage.” With that, she walked back to her seat, put her headphones on, and continued to watch the footage. However, she could still hear the three corners talk about the woman in the image on Reid’s datapad. She even thought she could hear Reid comment that he ‘was going to marry her someday; just needed to find the day’. Great, Reid, that’s just great. But, for right now, why don’t you focus on your job, because I bet this new girl wouldn’t give a womp rat’s ass about you if you didn’t play Limmie for a living Christine thought to herself vehemently before finally tuning out the outside surroundings and focusing in on the footage. She needed every little bit of time to figure this out. If that meant sitting here most of the day, so be it. She was an assistant captain, and was expected to be the field general when Evis wasn’t out there to help her. This was her defense for the most part, and she was going to be ready to go when the time came to start the game.

TAG: No One

 

GM Post

The following is a presentation of Elite League Limmie.

"Hello, I'm Esther Gondorf, General Counsel of Elite League Limmie," the Near-Human said.

"In Game 6 of the 276 ABY Elite League Limmie season, Eponette Ternardiel of the Bakura Miners delivered the following hit on Jonathan Lieznam of the Mando'ade Mercs." The hit was played in real-time speed and showed Ternardiel coming in low, taking Lieznam down hard. "To make this hit, Ternardiel started coming across the field from her usual position, heading towards Lieznam." Replay footage of that end of the field showed Ternardiel's path. "Ternardiel began her movement towards Lieznam well before the bolo-ball entered his area of play. While Ternardiel made contact while Lieznam possessed the ball, her actions prior to the hit show that she was not tracking the course of play, which was on her own side of the field, but was rather preparing to hit Lieznam. When Ternardiel made the hit, she did so from Lieznam's blindside. This is not grounds for discipline by itself. However, Ternardiel also left her feet in the process of making the tackle, as seen here.

"To summarize:

• Ternardiel left her position without a limmie reason to do so
• Ternardiel clearly intended to his Lieznam well before the bolo-ball came to him
• Ternardiel left her feet when making the tackle

"While Elite League Limmie acknowledges that hard hits are part of the sport of limmie, hard hits must be delivered in the act of making a reasonable play on the bolo-ball. Ternardiel did not do so in the course of her play.

"Accordingly, the Elite League has suspended Eponette Ternardiel for one game with her suspension to be served during Game 12 on Corellia. Her pay for that game will be withheld and donated to the Player Safety Fund. Thank you."

This has been a presentation of Elite League Limmie.

TAG: Bardan_Jusik

 

GM Post

What We Learned

Do you know what we learned? These interns don't have any sense of priority. "Oh my Galactic History class had a 15 page paper due yesterday." "Oh there was a kegger going on at the frat house." "Oh my great-grand-uncle twice removed was having an organ removed--I can't remember which one." "Oh I had to go cast my early ballot for Chancellor." College kids.

Agamar Packers: Honestly, at this point we have no idea where Neaga should play because the Packers need her everywhere.

Bakura Miners: Lizbit Comstock has given up zero goals in 120 minutes of Opening Day play in her career. Lizbit Comstock has not given up a goal in over 120 minutes of consecutive play. You sure picked a real loser on this one Cundertol.

Chandrila Patriots: Remember how the Rebel Alliance got absolutely destroyed at Hoth after their stunning victory at Yavin and everyone said, "Hey, that was fun but I guess the Empire's got this one wrapped up"? Well, Reina Kether would like to remind you that the Empire kind of came crashing down after that and that same bunch of plucky upstarts blew up another Death Star.

Corellia Rebels: This week we learned that the Rebel offense still hasn't gotten back on its feet and that the interns apparently didn't want to use a Rebel Alliance metaphor ABOUT A TEAM CALLED THE REBELS.

Coruscant Senators: This is Christine Gamble's defense now, plain and simple, and that is looking like a very good thing for the Senators.

Euceron Storm: So, this is just going out on a limb here, but maybe the Storm have really figured out this Antilles Formation.

Hapes Consortium Buccaneers: For a race of Near-Humans that are considered extremely attractive by roughly two thirds of the galactic population (get with the program Whipids), that was a really ugly loss.

Mando'ade Mercs: Given how things went on Bakura, we're guessing 1) that the Mandalorians are overjoyed at the use of the Mercs' first round pick as a reach pick and 2) the Manda'lor probably wishes he could execute something right about now.

Nar Shaddaa Smugglers: Why did the Smugglers ever let Tover Micjaa leave the sidelines? No, this is a legitimate question. We don't know why he isn't permanently tethered to the sideline at Six Boroughs because the man makes magic out there.

Ralltiir Starkillers: Let's recap: get rid of really good goalkeeper--give up a lot of points. Get really good full forward--score no points. None of us are math majors (except for one of the interns, but we keep him locked in a closet because he uses annoying things like "facts" and "statistics" to think about limmie) so we're pretty sure that this is a surefire recipe for success for Ralltiir.

Rydonni Prime Monarchs: Psst...call us crazy Abe, when you rebrand yourself you're supposed to get better.

Ylesia Lightning: WE NEVER LOST FAITH IN YOU KASIN!!!

TAG: Bardan_Jusik CPL_Macja jcgoble3 Jedi Gunny Runjedirun Tim Battershell Vehn

 

IC: Tim Dodd - Dodd Apartment, Calna Muun

Another Season Opener, another game against the Patriots, and another loss. That said, it wasn't last season's defeat of 25 points to 4; this one was a far more respectable 16 points to 27; and the team (after having to be rapidly reshuffled after Alice's unforeseen departure) still hadn't fully settled down and gelled again after the changes. Another part of the problem was the Patriots' Chadra-Fan Right-Corner-Forward. Being not much larger than the ball, she was easy to loose track of, and the Packers' Defence (as Gentlebeings) had to make sure that she was not immediately behind the ball before applying cleat or tail to clear it upfield. They also had to ensure she wasn't accidentally stamped into the ground!

This next match was against the Senators, who'd had their own set of team changes since last season, including a new Captain (albeit their Assistant Captain from last year) and a new Assistant Captain who had been promoted from the ranks. Come to think of it, wasn't their keeper new too? And last season had been a tight 12 to 19 result.

Possibilities there! Apply sufficient pressure and the Senators' Defence might fall apart - and a good way of applying such pressure (as had been learned against the Mercs last year) was to double-mark a targeted player with a pair of Noghri!

He'd heard nothing back from Gark S'rily, which was a pity. Still, he knew how time consuming running a Limmie team could be (and S'rily was apparently involved on the Coaching side these days, as well) plus there was always the possibility of the letter either having gone astray or having been misplaced in the Senators' team offices. The Packers, by comparison, were a much smaller operation and he was therefore able to deal with all communications himself.


TAG: Jedi Gunny

 

GM Post

I think we're going to have some super games today. Some of them might even be played in stadiums that are like bowls. I wonder what we would call those games?

Bonus rolls to Agamar, Bakura, Coruscant, Mando'ade, Nar Shaddaa, and Ralltiir.

Week 2 Results

Chandrila Patriots at Ylesia Lightning (20-33)
Coruscant Senators at Agamar Packers (34-40)
Rydonni Prime Monarchs at Mando’ade Mercs (22-7)
Hapes Consortium Buccaneers at Euceron Storm (2-31)
Ralltiir Starkillers at Nar Shaddaa Smugglers (16-22)
Bakura Miners at Corellia Rebels (38-3)

TAG: Bardan_Jusik CPL_Macja jcgoble3 Jedi Gunny Runjedirun Tim Battershell Vehn

 

IC: Christine Gamble
Agamar

The first hit on her person was all Christine needed to know that this was going to be a long game. The Noghri midfielders of the Packers had decided that now would be a good time to single her out and keep her on the turf, even though this was something that no one else in the league ever tried. When she had seen the double team coming, she thought that the Packers were crazy. How could they play defense with no midfield help?

Only problem was, they didn’t need to.

Christine found herself battered and bruised every time she tried to make a play on defense. She tried to bring down one of Agamar’s forwards, but one of the Noghri smacked her in the back and sent her sprawling. It was an interesting strategy to be sure, but she was being mauled the whole time. The referees were blind to this obvious fouling, and the second-year pro tried to stay composed. But it proved impossible when you couldn’t get free to do much of anything. The other defenders were struggling mightily; Reid was burned time and again on his end, demonstrating that he had in fact not worked that hard in preparation over the long trip out here. The rookie corners Tenegat and D’jukk were horrendous, neither doing anything when their shifts were on. Christine finally had to check out of the game, but was given one last lick as she tried to get off the field. It wasn’t anything that the refs would call, but it was just a sign that the Noghri middies had her number today.

The Packer offense ran hog wild on the Senator defense. Ziva Kender, making her first road start, was getting pounded with ball after ball that she couldn’t stop, ending the game with only one save. The Nautolan had absolutely no help whatsoever from her defense. Abbey Waters and Doon’sun were pathetic at full back, unable to keep up with Taskelor, and were thus unable to stop the Thakwaash when the ball came down low. The half backs had been just as ineffective. Tank Bratter held his own, but had picked up two penalties as a result of his rough play. It was the only thing he could do to keep the Packers from continually punching it into the defensive formation of the road team. Tenegat was also called for two infractions, even though the refs seemed to like calling penalties on the human corner while the brutes that the Packers were using absolutely chewing up the smaller Senator defenders.

On offense, the Senators were also nearly unstoppable. It had started with Alysha Romax finding herself inexplicably open in the middle of the field, the Noghri having left to hit Christine even though the ball wasn’t even in their possession. The Hapan looked down at the ball, flummoxed, before finally kicking it at the uprights. The ball barely made it over the crossbar, but it counted for a point in the end. Max Qorbus, whose larger frame made it more difficult for the physical Packer defense to make a play, was able to use a bevy of post moves to get into position and then make his move. He put in a hat trick on the day, notching ten total points in the losing effort. Sorcha Styles, the Bothan Full Forward, also found it easy to work against the Packer Contain defense, routinely making her way through the formation and catching passes with little fear of being hit. Dauza Chary, the roughed-up Nemoidian Center Half Forward, was barely even touched on the game, the home team deciding to stay back and guard their goal. She was able to dish out double-digit assists on the game, finally showing off her promise after a rough ending to last season. Gayla Renhorn, the fiery midfielder, was able to have her best game as a Senator, pushing in two goals and two bar points as she went to town on then beleaguered defenders. It was an amazing game from the sixth-year player, one that demonstrated why she was still starting and not Demetra Silkins. Romax also had a solid game, putting in three bar points and showing why she had been kept during the offseason.

But Renhorn and Qorbus’ big games weren’t enough to make up for the defensive blowup, and the Senators dropped the game 40-34. It had been a hard-fought game, and a real treat for the fans at home. But for the Senators, they felt that it was a lost opportunity, a game they should have had. There had been no defense on either side, but the Packers had come to expect that week in and week out. But the Senators were shell-shocked, the strong defensive unit that had been stout in Week One now broken. Evis Kunat, the assistant captain Zabrak, had been undercut during the game and had to be taken off the field on a cart. It was that kind of game.

And it was going to be a long ride home, Christine thought as she limped to the team shuttle after the game. She wanted to yell at her fellow corners for not studying like they should have. But it hadn’t just been them. No one on defense had done anything, and it was a complete team failure. No doubt Coach Contar was going to be in her ear the whole ride home for the next game. Then again, she hadn’t had space to make any plays, so it wasn’t all her fault. The rest of the defense needed to step up, or else this game demonstrated how ugly it could get if things weren’t firing on all cylinders. And there was little time to fix the issues. This was going to get out of hand unless something could be done to fix the leaks. And with Evis down, it all started with her.


TAG: Tim Battershell

Transaction Report:

The Senators call up Girola Gundor (Nautolan, Female, Half Back) from the Thyferra Force

Evis Kunat (Zabrak, Male, Half Back) placed on Injured Reserve

 

IC: Martin Vigo

Taking the boys to the track and running them before the game may not have been the best decision. I stood in line for concessions with them watching the game on a small screen over the menu board while the workers behind the counter took their time filling the orders. The Smugglers were up 5 – 0 and the boys were hanging their heads. Just then Allin leaped into the air and head butted a ball to Hovechar. She in turn passed it to Flarn who quickly moved the ball up field. Sensing something I lifted Tomas’ chin so he could see the screen. Flarn found Frokabukk across field who kicked the ball in Jul’s direction and the Starkillers had their first goal of the season. Tomas grinned broadly. Spencer pumped both is fists in silence and I was finally at the front of the line so I placed our order.

Knowing it was impossible to underestimate how much young boys could eat I ordered as much as we could carry and we headed back to our seats. We started to sort out who wanted to eat what when Spencer spoke up. “I don’t believe it,” he said. “Teaspoon just blocked a shot on goal.” My first instinct was to reprimand him for his disrespect, this being my team and all, but I had a mouth full of food and before I could swallow there was another development. As Teaspoon prepared to kick the ball back into play Sunrider bent over and untied Keisel’s shoe string



The boys giggled uncontrollably until Keisel realized his shoe strings were untied and had to find a safe place by the sidelines to retie them. The prank backfired on Sunrider, he was so busy watching Keisel fix his shoe that the bolo went right by him and into the goal. Till replaced Sunrider with Drif for the remainder of the game. I wished I could be down there on the sideline to hear what he had to say to his player.

We were down 8 -3, but the boys were enjoying the food at least. It was 3/4 of the way into the first half when Till finally put Fortune in the game. He took the field with a sense of purpose. He caught a long pass from Allin to score a point off the upright which made Tomas extremely happy. Before the half ended Fortune was beginning to make me feel like he was going to earn some of those credits I was paying him. He had put 5 points on the board in only a handful of minutes and the score was 11 – 8. We were in it.

As Nar Shadda sideline workers quickly prepared the field for their own halftime show the Starkillers dance team had a moment to take the field for a quick routine. “Where’s Justyne?” Tomas asked curiously.

“She’s back at the hotel.” I explained. “Lucie said she was feeling under the weather this morning.” It was what the text had said, but I didn’t believe it. Lucie probably benched her sister for breaking curfew, I had no doubt she was out with Fortune last night, but Lucie thought she was being a good sister to try and hide the truth from me. If there was a way to teach Justyne responsibility I certainly hadn’t figured it out. Zoey complicated all the usual techniques. There was no way I could kick a young mother out of the house, or cut her off financially.

The Starkillers struggled a bit at the beginning of the second half. I was hoping that since we had been hot at the end of the first the momentum would continue. Whatever coach Micjaa had done to adjust his defense was shutting down our offense though. Teaspoon was holding her own back there in goal, but she wasn’t blocking everything the score started to build up on us. When it reached 20 – 8 Till called a time out. Nar Shadda quickly drove the ball down field again, but Poletin was ready this time. He intercepted a pass and dished it off to Allin who once again made use of that arm of his sending the ball down field. Fortune caught it and ended our scoring drought with an easy looking goal. Jul and Marmu put up a point each in the next consecutive drives. 20 – 13 we were coming back and there was plenty of time left on the clock.

It was the Smugglers turn to call a time out. For the next several minutes no one scored, defenses on both ends held strong. Time continued to tick off the clock and Nar Shadda started to break through and pull away putting two more points on the board. The boys sat quietly disappointed looks on their faces. Then for the third time Allin passed to Fortune and by the third time I expected Nar Shadda’s defense to be ready for it, but Fortune evaded their attempts to stop him and put another 3 points on the board. There was less than 2 minutes left on the clock and a win just wasn’t in the cards for us today. With a final score of 22-16 Spencer and I began to gather our trash. I noticed Tomas wasn’t helping. He was brooding over the loss, his arms crossed he sat motionless in his chair. “We fared better than last week.” I reminded him.

“But we lost.” Tomas said sadly.

I glanced down at the field. “Take a look down field.” I ordered raising my voice enough so that he knew to listen. His head didn’t lift but his eyes moved. “What’s Ty doing?” I asked him.

“Talking to Meredith Chambers.”

“Is his head down?”

“Ty is always happy.” Tomas grumbled.

“Do you see any Starkillers moping down there?” He shook his head. “You need to learn how to lose gracefully.” I said.

Sensing that I was about to dive into lecture mode Spencer grabbed Tomas’ hand and pulled him to his feet. “Grab your trash and let’s go.” He told his brother. There were no further incidents as we made our way to the team shuttle and prepared for the trip home.

Tag: Vehn

 

IC: Tim Dodd - Memorial Oval Stadium, Calna Muun

It had been a calculated risk, perhaps even a 'Gamble', but it had paid off. Definitely a tactic to be used sparingly, though, not on a week-by-week basis.

Christine Gamble had, from the off, been subjected to the undivided attention of two of the four Noghri on the pitch. Some of their plays had been, he thought, a bit over the top (probably frustration at the narrow loss to the Senators last year, and also in reaction to the defeat by Chandrila last week); but the officials hadn't blown for a foul on any of them. Still, that was the price one could pay for wearing a letter on one's jersey, a letter that marked a player out as a leader.

The upside of the double-marking had apparently brought about, as thought possible, the virtual neutering of the Senator's Defence. Without her leadership, the other Defenders had looked distinctly ineffective, which in turn had exposed the Goaltender's lack of experience at Elite League level to punishing shooting from Jiva's (and others') cleats. It had, before the end of the match, also seen Christine Gamble walking (limping?) dejectedly back to the Bench, not to take the field again.

The downside had been a weakening of the Packers' Defence. That was more-or-less expected, if not welcomed - but so long as more points were being scored at the other end than the Packers' defences were letting in at their end, then that was OK. A win was a win, after all; and the team understood (at last) that wins were the main determining factor in getting to the Playoffs and beyond.

Other Senator players had felt the weight of Barabel and Wookiee tackles too, leading to one Senator being taken off the field and many looking rather the worse for wear by Full Time.

A Forty points to Thirty-four victory - more importantly one-all in wins and losses! Also, soon to be ex-Supreme Chancellor Kerry Trieste had given the Packers a hit-list of teams she wanted them to humble after her Miners had (more by happenstance than design) been taken apart. The Mercs had been well and truly humbled last season, now the Senators had had Agamarian turf rubbed in their faces; which left the Smugglers as the only team left on that list.

Next week it would be on-the-hyperlane to the Hapes Consortium and a return match with the Buccaneers. Although the C-Bucs had had nothing whatever to do with the poisoning incident that had marred the first-ever match of his tenure as Owner, they'd still taken advantage of the Packers' condition (albeit unknowingly) and made the team look very bad. The C-Bucs would have to be made to pay for that piece of involuntary disrespect!


TAG: Jedi Gunny, Trieste.

 

IC: Kaitlyn Vehn
New Vertica, Smugglers Headquarters

“Did you know that over half of Nar Shaddaa is populated by females?” Shay Dionne pointed out one morning during an otherwise routine meeting.

“Not something I thought about,” Kaitlyn admitted.

“And yet, Miss Vehn, nearly 75% of our ticket-sales go to males,” Dionne pressed.

“Well, Limmie has traditionally been a male-dominated sport,” Kaitlyn said.

“Some of the greatest Smugglers to ever play the game were women. Rhia Grames, Selene Minn, Cally Thrace, Meredith Chambers, Corrie Andersen….” Shay rattled off.

“I thought you were in charge of scouting, not marketing,” Kaitlyn reminded Shay.

Shay smiled and replied, “Scouting is a lot like marketing. You sell your product well and people want to come buy it. We have a nice organization and young talent will want to come play for us. I’m telling you that New Six Boroughs could really do well to tap
into the female market.”

“What are you suggesting? Have a ladies night out where one of our games has the slogan, ‘Tough Enough to Wear Pink’?” Kaitlyn asked.

“No. The ladies of Nar Shaddaa can handle the men,” Shay said, “I’m just saying that a little positive reinforcement might be in order.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Watch this,” Shay said as she keyed a button that fired up a hologram.

---

IC: Lars Steelhead

Six Boroughs Stadium, 276 Home Opener

Starkillers 16, Smugglers 22

“Sithspit, man, these beers are getting more and more expensive! What is Kaitlyn trying to do? Nickel and dime us!” complained Lar’s friend, Reggie.

“This is an expensive stadium. She built it with her own money. Shut your mouth and pay the dues,” Lars reminded his friend. They were decked out in their worn out Smugglers jerseys. They were ready for the game today. Ready to bleed burgundy and black.

“Whatever,” Reggie grumbled as the announcer’s voice rumbled throughout the stadium.

One by one the players of the Nar Shaddaa Smugglers came out of the tunnel.

“Mylessa McCloud, marry me!” Reggie screamed as he nearly spilled his beer on her as she ran out of the tunnel.

Lars rolled his eyes. He jumped to his feet as a familiar rock refrain coursed through the stadium. ‘The Crew’ went absolutely nuts, this was their song, this was the song that got everyone pumped up at home. It was old, it was crude, it was…

“Son of a b—“ Lars cursed as he looked up at the board.



“What the hell have they done!” Reggie shrieked.

At first the stadium went oddly quiet. Then the women in the crowd went nuts. A few of them took off their shirts and waved them in the air. Reggie couldn’t complain there. Lars couldn’t either. A pair of Twi’leks were totally getting into the female power thing
and soon the entire stadium was rocking out to a new version of the song that had sent many a Smuggler great to victory. Now that Lars noticed, there was a lot of pink in the stadium. What had happened to his favorite sport?

The game was a total slugfest. Nar Shaddaa simply outdueled a particularly feisty team from Ralltiir. Today wasn’t really an offensive shootout but it was a game of strategy and planning. Point and counterpoint.Mylessa McCloud and Shady Lereoux were absolutely tearing it up out there. Gargova Brousard, the calculated veteran, even got in on some of the action and punted the game ball into the stands where a sea of pink fought for it. What a day.

After the game, Lars got some autographs from Meredith Chambers, Vick McTodd, Shady Lerouex, and Mylessa McCloud while Reggie got a photo with Erin Windreaver.

A Smuggler victory, some beers, and some feisty Twi’leks in the stands, yeah, Lars thought, today had been a real good day.

Tag:Runjedirun (Just for the mention of your team)

 

IC: Jacen Hunter​

Back yard of the Hunter family household, outskirts of Keldabe, Mandalore.​

​

​

"BANG....ZOOM!" Jacen cried out as he *whooshed* his Mando Marauder actions figures around the back yard. "There's the lizards, set up a strafing run," he said in his best approximation of a "Mandalorian" voice as he could muster. Flicking the hidden button, a spring loaded rocket launched out and struck one of the toy Ssi-Ruuk soldiers that occupied the hard dirt out behind his parents house. The "enemy" rocked back under the impact and promptly fell over, just like it did on the holo-commercials.​

​

"Candysee!"​

​

"It's Kandosii," came an exasperated voice from behind him. It was familiar of course, but still Jacen jumped slightly as Ris'kah spoke, he didn't know she had been there. "Would you stop doing that!" He cried out as he spun around to face her. "Doing what?" she asked innocently. Jacen had no way of knowing of course but he imagined her winking at him behind her T-visor as she said it. "I hate when you sneak up on me like that." He blurted out, he knew that she knew this already, he had only told her a thousand times. She shrugged in response. "Not my fault that your situational awareness hasn't improved since we first met." She took a few steps forward now and took the Mando Marauder action figure from his hands, examining it closely. "Really? Playing with dolls?" She looked back up at him. "hmmmm."​

​

​

"It's not a doll, it's an action figure!" ​

​

"Right...." She glanced now at the "battle" he had set up. "Well your "action figures" are going about this all wrong." She knelt in the dirt and started moving the "Ssi-Ruuk soldiers" farther apart from one another. "Even at this scale their intervals are far too close together. One shot could take out two or more of them...well if you ran a half decent attack run anyway. Your's was sloppy."​

​

He grabbed the doll, action figure, back from her. "Is that why you came over? To criticize my fun?"​

​

She stood up and regarded him. "Not my fault you're doing wrong. Of course it's about what I expect from an aruetii." His eyes flashed at the insult, "You play at war, but you don't learn anything about it."​

​

"It's just a game, not real. I won't ever be in a real war."​

​

"Hmph, and that's the difference between you and me aruetii....I will be."​

​

He looked down at the ground now, not sure what to say to that. It irked him somewhat that she held that over him. Not that he ever really wanted to fight, but she knew how to do so much, and he was still playing with dolls, action figures, in his back yard.​

​

"Did you go to the game?" Jacen nodded, but still didn't look her in the "eye". Limmie was the only thing he and Ris'kah really had in common and it had been the basis for their friendship, but the game had been a horrible one. The Manda'lore had been there of course, flying into the stadium in his distinctive armor. He had worked the crowd into a frenzy before their home opener, though much to Jacen's relief there had been no public executions this time around.​

​

The team had then been introduced to fireworks and a laser light show while fast music blared through the gargantuan stadium. Everyone was fired up from the owner to the coaches and players to the fans and the guy selling gihaal in the stands. And then the team came out and laid an absolute egg.​

​

Oh their play hadn't been as bad as it was back on Bakura. The team had at least scored this time around, but for the second straight week they had simply been outplayed in every aspect of the game. The fans weren't having it, not after missing the playoffs for the past two seasons. As the game wore on and it became apparent that the Mercs were going to start the 276 season at 0-2 the boos began to rain down on the team. The Mercs may have been a relatively new team to the ELL, and they had never won a Galactic Cup, but the fans came into every season expecting to win. Jacen was only glad that their frustrations didn't completely boil over and lead to objects being thrown onto the field...or worse.​

​

"Yeah, I was at the game," he finally answered. "Sucked didn't it?" Jacen nodded again, wondering where she was going with this. "They're at Coruscant next week." Jacen continued his nodding. He knew, he also didn't see any way this team could beat the Senators, not with the way the Mercs were playing now. Suddenly, Ris'kah spun around and began to walk away. "Well maybe I'll come over and we can talk after the game."​

​

"ummmm....OK." was all Jacen could mutter. "And leave your toys inside. Next week, I'll bring one of mine."​

​

TAG: CPL_Macja for Monarchs in game action.​

---

​

Mando'ade Mercs Injury report for week three (at Coruscant Senators)

Jonathan Lieznam: OUT, Concussion

Jedi Gunny

 

IC: Martin Vigo

After I got assurances from Tomas’ teachers that all classwork, homework and tests had been caught up I sent a message to Ty asking him to meet me in my office. I’d just gotten off a long call with one of my accountants who had spent the better part of an hour warning me that offering health care to dancers, concession workers and other hourly waged part time employees could send me into financial ruin when I heard him tapping his knuckles on my open door. I looked up and did my best to smile in greeting.He didn’t look like much. Just under 6 feet in height, hair that hung down to his shoulders, his youthful form was slouched and leaning against the doorframe.

“Am I in trouble?” He asked.

“You’re not in trouble.” I assured him. “Come in, have a seat, there are several things I want to discuss with you.” He came in and had a seat on the sofa that was up against the wall, not one of the chairs in front of my desk.

“Is this about Tomas? I’m sorry I got the little guy in trouble. I had no idea he would get suspended from school.” He was turned sideways on the sofa now facing me with his back up against the armrest and his feet sprawled out in front of him. He’d taken off his shoes and I tried not to watch him curl and uncurl his toes as he made himself comfortable.

“He told me you had nothing more to do with it than to teach him a few basic Limmie moves in the gym.” I began.

“You did tell me you and your wife had kept the children out of the sport due to dangers, and when he originally asked me to teach him to play I told him to keep it a secret. But I had no idea he wanted to play or how far he’d go to get the chance. I heard you may let him play after all. Is that true? He’s a natural. He can throw the ball nearly as far as I can and he does this fancy footwork thing.” Ty stood up and pulled a bolo ball out of the duffle bag he’d carried into my office upon his arrival. He placed the ball under his left foot, he jumped up spun around came down and gave the ball a kick with his right foot. The ball rolled across the floor to my own feet. “Pretty neat, huh? Tomas created that move.”

I reached down picked up the ball and tossed it back to him. “I am going to allow him to play. That’s one of the reason’s I called you up here. You work with Youth Leagues in the area; I want you to find an appropriate team for him.”

He perched himself on the arm of the sofa and tossed his bolo from one hand to the other. “I’ll make some calls.” He said. “What else do you need, Lucie gets mad if dinner is cold when I get home.”

“Did you remember to invite your parents to sit in my box with me and my wife at the game this weekend? If so I’ll arrange to have Richard pick them up.”

“My father’s looking forward to it.” He said. “Anything else?”

He tossed the ball directly over his head, butted it with his forehead, caught it and repeated the sequence again. Despite his complete lack of ability to take our conversation seriously I continued. “I wanted to know how things were going for the team from a player’s perspective. I noticed you didn’t speak up for Trey the other night at dinner. That’s not like you. Is there anything going on in the locker room that I should know about?”

He caught the ball.“Trey and I had a misunderstanding, that’s all. It’s sorted now. Can I go?”

My instincts told me not to push Ty on this subject. So I told him to enjoy his dinner and say hello to Lucie for me. Once he departed I quickly gathered my own belongings and headed to Till’s office. His door was open but he was drawing out what appeared to be a play on a board on the wall of his office as assistant coach Reeser looked on. I wanted to get home myself, so I interrupted. “You have a minute Till?” I asked.

“Sure” he said looking up. He looked towards Gwynn.

“Just the two of us,” I confirmed.

“Go grab some dinner” he told his assistant coach. “We’ll pick up from here in an hour.”

Gwynn nodded and left the office.

“What can I do for you?” Till asked, as he took a seat behind his desk.

“I just spoke to Allin.” I said taking a seat myself. “He didn’t say much; in fact he didn’t say anything. That troubles me, two losses back to back to open the season trouble me.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “How much longer do I have to wait for a win?”

“I’m having some trouble with the defense.” He said standing up and beginning to pace back and forth behind his desk. “Poletin doesn’t want to play goal, Teaspoon really isn’t ready for this stage yet, Allin thinks he knows everything, Sunrider is pulling pranks on the field, and Sen’s been complaining of an old knee injury bothering her. I’m lucky we’ve held the last two teams to scores below 25. The Lightning have more points in the past two games combined than any other team. I’ve been running drills all week, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned.”

There was only one statement in his long list of excuses that I chose to focus on. “I know you and Ty are friends but you’re the coach, if you can’t get the relationship to work it’s your job that gets cut not his.”

“I understand.” He said.

“What about your offense?” I asked curiously.

“I’ve got several of them playing new positions and we’ve brought in a new player who’s learning a completely new system. They showed progress on the field last week. I’m not as concerned about the offense.”

“You’re not even concerned that Fortune will break curfew again?” I asked.

“He knows if he does, he’ll miss an entire game, not just the majority of the first half.”

He sounded confident. “You played defense.” I told him flatly. “I want to see improvements in ours, this week.”

“You will.” He said. But I was concerned he said that because it was what I wanted to hear. There really wasn’t anything left to say so I wished him luck and made my way home.

---

I was sure to get to the booth ahead of Mr. and Mrs. Allin so I would be there to greet them. My wife had a beautiful lunch catered. I admired the set up and her ability to keep the boys from tearing it apart. Spencer and Tomas wore matching dress pants with collared Starkillers shirts they were up at the window watching the players warm up. Zoey was in a royal blue dress with orange ribbons in her hair waiving a set of authentic pom poms, a gift from her mother. Madelyne wore a stunning form fitting blue dress with an orange belt. She looked more than a bit nervous sitting off to the side tapping her foot.

“I just got a text from Richard” I announced. “They should be here in about 5 minutes.” Madelyne got up, brushed off her dress and went to stir one of the pots on the food table. I poured myself a drink and took a seat where I too could catch a glimpse of the warm ups. I watched as Allin conversed with Fortune on the sidelines before he grabbed a bolo ball and threw it hitting an unsuspecting Teaspoon right in the hindquarters. She turned around and shook her head before heading out into the goal for some practice shots from Fortune and Jul.

Just then I heard the door open and turned to see Richard popping his head in. He looked exasperated. He made eye contact with me then motioned his head to our guests as he let them in with a roll of his eyes. Mr. Allin entered wearing denim pants with a hole in one knee and a blue and red Snart Corellian Rebels Jersey. “Put the holo on” he ordered pointing at a blank screen on the far side of the booth. “The Rebels game started 5 minutes ago.”


TAG: No One

 

IC: Falene Trieste
Kilmainham Brook, Prytis, Bakura
After the conclusion of the 276 ELL season

After Fionn Cormac Trieste retired from private life, Bakuran politics underwent another shift. In a wave of democratization, membership in the Senate became open to any native-born Bakuran citizen (for offworlders, even naturalized ones, were still viewed with distrust), not just Arden's descendants. This injected new life into the political system, but the old families continued to hold many seats and a place in the popular election. The Noble House of Trieste had gotten into politics in just enough time to be viewed as an “old family.”

This was to the great benefit of the next Taoiseach of the Noble House, Amergin Trieste, eldest son of Fionn Cormac.



Amergin Trieste’s life, now that Falene thought about it, was not so different. His father had been Prime Minister and he had been raised as a young boy at Marian Square. Greatness was his pedigree and his birthright. Whether Amergin aspired to the same heights as his father was unknown. Amergin was one of those beings to whom numbers were a second language. He did not follow them in their purest form, but in their most societally valuable form: economics. He achieved an advanced degree in the field, completing his graduate work at University of Evenvale’s nascent—but soon to be respected planet-wide—Department of Economics.

Most interested in economic policy, Amergin sought out a Senate seat, becoming the first of many members of the Noble House to trade on the family name, to put policy into action. He accepted ignominious committee seats in order to gain a coveted spot on the Senate Finance Committee. Amergin grew his influence by sponsoring financial legislation that sought to grow the Bakuran economy out of mining, repulsorlifts, and organ replacement into a broad basket of skilled industries and service sector positions. He was varyingly successful in his quests, but he gained a reputation as a critical thinker about the state of the Bakuran economy and became a standard bearer for Fianna Fail in economic policy.

After winning his fourth term in the Senate concurrent with the election of a new Fianna Fail Prime Minister, Amergin was asked to become, like his father before him, Chancellor of the Exchequer. He accepted immediately. Amergin would serve two terms in the post advocating for moderate economic growth. He unsuccessfully advocated for reduced federal deficit spending, fighting his own party in the process. Where Amergin was more successful was in wielding the Exchequer’s regulatory power to curb financial institutions in flagrantly risky investments. Amergin succeeded in even and modest economic growth without major market panics or depressions.

Amergin declined to run for higher office when his two terms at the Exchequer’s helm had been completed, instead preferring to retire to private life with some part-time work as a professor of economy to fill his days.

Then again, Falene thought as she looked upon this portrait of her ancestor, I think he’s got more in common with Declan…

---

Bakura Gardens, Salis D’aar, Bakura
Week 3



The Miners had shown the galaxy their Galactic Cup victory had been no fluke. The Rebels, looking like a shell of their former selves, had been bombed out by the Miners with an all-out assault offensively, a defense that had stood them up at every turn (especially where Falene was concerned), and another flawless performance by Comstock, who was now nursing 180+ minutes of no goal play, a franchise record for the Miners.

Accordingly, Comstock jerseys had been flying off the shelves of the team store and anywhere that sold Miner apparel (licensed or not). The women’s sizes were going just as fast as the men’s. She was the talk of the town—but no one in the Miners’ locker room, front offices, or practice facility was talking about her. Professional athletes were a superstitious bunch. No one wanted to jinx it.

Especially with the Crew coming to town.

Falene did the mental equivalent of an eye roll. Despite the fact that Smuggler fans were not popularly conceived as having the most disposable income in the galaxy, there were always burgundy and black fans peppered through the stands of Bakura Gardens every time the Smugglers came to town. Death, taxes, and Smuggler fans at the Black and Blue Battle. You could count on all of them no matter what—and that all three would generally be obnoxious. It was almost as if they didn’t realize they weren’t at Six Boroughs any more. There’d probably be even less difference now that they had a shiny new box to play in that would seem even more like Bakura Gardens.

Now, the closest Falene had ever gotten to a member of the Crew was last year’s visit to the Valor Foundation facility. Maybe they weren’t all knuckleheads…but Falene was going to go with the preponderance of evidence.

Valerii had been clear: they might have dropkicked the Rebels last week and turned the Mercs into an exercise in futility the week before, but the Smugglers were a vastly different team than either of their opponents. “This is a Micjaa offense,” Valerii said, “It takes risks and when they pay off they pay off big. Watch for the big plays.”

“We’ve got the Smugglers in our house for the first time in four years,” Alana told the locker room, “We went to Six Boroughs and we took it all. We did it from their locker room. You think that they’re not thinking about that? Heck, they’ve probably smeared the visitor’s locker room with black and red paint by this point. We need intensity right out of the gate or they’re going to mob us. Now, let’s get out there and show them Miners limmie!”

As Falene and the team came out of the tunnel, the Gardens were jumping today. Comstock’s streak had the fans riding high. On top of that, it would be only a few days after this game that the planet-wide elections would be held. Political feeling was thick in the air of the capital, which obsessed over such things. Though the blue and gold bunting for Truce Day and playoff games weren’t stowed away, the sea of Miner jerseys, many more of them boasting “COMSTOCK 2” than had two weeks ago, were like a dark sea of Bakuran patriotism.

“As I was going over the Atalanta Mountains
I met with Tover Micjaa and his money he was counting
I first produced my blaster and I then produced my lightsaber
Saying, ‘Stand and deliver for you are the bold deceiver!’”

Falene smiled. It was good to hear the home lyrics for a change.

As the teams took their starting positions, Falene had one of the rookie standouts for the Smugglers to deal with. McCloud had transitioned to the Elite League game as easily as Wowcin had in starting his first game against Corellia. Falene did not underestimate her.

“There can be only one, Mylessa McCloud of the clan McCloud,” Falene said.

Only one of them would taste Vertical City whiskey in 60 minutes time. Falene intended for it to be her.

TAG: Vehn

 

GM Post

What We Learned: Week 2

One of the interns threatened to quit. We locked him inside the Setarcos Memorial Broom Closet where he can learn some proper respect for the venerable profession of sports reporting and making others do you work for you.

Agamar Packers: They don't always win, but when they do...they score a lot of points. They are...The Most Interesting Team in the Galaxy.

Bakura Miners: Okay...yeah...maybe Lizbit Comstock is a big deal...but it's not like she's Kasin or anything. I mean, we had to clean out the interns' votive candle shrine to her. That's just uncalled for.

Chandrila Patriots: Speaking of which, Reina Kether put up 20 points on Kasin and lost. She's probably banging her head against a cinderblock wall in Stoney End right now.

Corellia Rebels: It's official--everybody's favorite team to discount is back!

Coruscant Senators: So about that whole "run a defense where your cornerstone is a second year back" idea...yeahhhhhhhh...

Euceron Storm: We are now officially scared about the Antilles Formation. It is apparently a maelstrom that will destroy every team in its path.

Hapes Consortium Buccaneers: You know that hot seat at the Royal Limmie Grounds? Let's crank the knob to 11, shall we?

Mando'ade Mercs: You know when you're dating someone and you really like them for a while and then you start dating someone else, but you forget to tell them that you're seeing that other person and then you hang out with that someone and while you're hanging out they go out and key your speeder? Well substitute the emotion of love for hate, Mando'ade for "you," Rydonni Prime for "someone," Nar Shaddaa for "someone else," and the Mercs' season for "your speeder" and that pretty much sums this last game up.

Nar Shaddaa Smugglers: Seriously, what are we supposed to write about now without Konrad Dvorak to pick on? There's nothing we can complain about. We're sure Smugglers fans will find a way to do so though.

Ralltiir Starkillers: So is anyone else really wondering about this whole swap-your-starting-full-forward-for-your-goalkeeper idea? No? Oh, okay then.

Rydonni Prime Monarchs: Do you know how hard it is to not be excited about the Monarchs after a 15 point win? Well...if you do call us because there's an old saying on Rydonni Prime—I know it's in the HSN offices, probably on Rydonni Prime—that says, fool me once, shame on—shame on you. Fool me—you can't get fooled again.

Ylesia Lightning: Today is apparently opposite day because the interns told us that the Lightning have the highest points scored and that's clearly wrong. However, if it were true, that would mean Zoa Vra is reasserting her captaincy and that's got to be a good thing for the Lightning.

 

IC: Vesper Lynd
Ryell, Rydonni Prime
Board Room, Monarchs’ Corporate Offices

The past couple of months had been a whirlwind of activity. The last time Vesper sat in this very room her status as a Monarch hung in the balance. That meeting was extremely brief and, compared to the one at the end of last season, sparsely attended. Sitting with Nicholas at one end of the table, she looked down to the opposite end at Setarcos and the K’ntarr House Solicitor. Nicholas presented his client’s counter-offer of six years at 8 million per with a No-Trade Clause and no franchise tag. The General Manager swiftly rejected it and proclaimed they were going to Franchise Vesper. That was when Nicholas swung into action.

He explained that either by clerical error or intentionally included, there was a loophole in Vesper’s contract regarding the franchise tag clause. In order for the tag to be fully accepted both parties must agree to it being applied. Vesper did not agree so the tag was null & void. Setarcos simply looked over at the Solicitor who was franticly looking through the contract, not sure what to say. Nicholas then counter proposed that Vesper was willing to play, without a contract, until they could come to mutual terms or after the Dual with the Mercs.

So after losing the Civil War to the newly promoted Colonials on the newly reconstructed and re-christened Monarchs Stadium, winning back the Adrimar-K’ntarr Shield and Old Cannon in the Fight and the Match respectively, and dropping their home opener to the Smugglers, they still had not come to an agreement. The flight out to Mandalore had been a tense one on the Crown Jewel. Not just because the Smugglers lit up the defense for 40 points or that Romo announced that the coordinators were no longer going to be making game day decisions or that all the new players but Cynour and Starr were optioned to Byblos. No, it was due to Vesper and Setarcos having to occupy a confined space as they journeyed half way across the galaxy.

Come game time things hadn’t changed much, then Romo dropped a bomb on all of them. He posted the starting line-up. Only six people were in the same spots they had been during the prior week. The position players, Abe, Bry, and Cali, along with Lana Ping on defense, and Fahpe and Winnie on offense, stayed pat.

Defense saw the biggest changes. Aley Helios was moved from the right corner to her father’s old post at full back. Cora Xux dropped down to right corner. Sugnok moved to right half back with Staweh-Tam opposite him. The rookie, Bella Starr, took up center half.

The biggest shock though was on the offensive side of the ball. Vesper swapped with Rew and Shae exchanged spots with Buggie. Going into the match, no one was quite sure how this was going to shake out. Either Romo would look like a genius or an absolute fool. Seeing as Vesper watched Setarcos joyously accept the Cross Pistol Trophy from Aay’han Vhett, Romo was looking extremely smart. The defense played the game like their hair was on fire. Starr’s speed and tenacity was perfectly bookended by Ford and Umanh power. Meanwhile Ping, Helios, and Xux were like a pack of buzzards flying around the backfield, picking off passes left and right.

The team celebrated the entire way home. It was at that moment she realized what she needed to do in her contract negotiation. Nicholas picked her up from her apartment that she shared with Winnie and Cora and he escorted her to the meeting. There they sat, waiting for the General Manager and the House Solicitor to arrive, her acting Agent with an uneasy look on his face.

“Are you sure about this, Lynd?” he whispered.

Vesper thought about it for a moment. “Absolutely, without a doubt, Nicholas.”

Before he could ask another question, the double doors opened behind them, “Sorry about the wait,” Setarcos announced as he strode across the room, “I was tied up with the engravers getting our victories etched on to Vhett’s WESTAR.”

“That’s fine, Mr. Rhemes, it gave us more time to consider the offers from other teams.”

Setarcos chuckled as he took his seat, “You’re funny, I now see why Vesper likes you so much.” Normally Vesper would have vehemently denied the implication that she was even remotely interested in Nicholas Arden, but she knew the GM was just baiting her. So she sat, a stoic look upon her face, and held her tongue. “So, have you come to tell me that you’ve reconsidered and plan on taking our three year deal?”

Nicholas shook his head, “Not when her fellow free agents were given five.”

“Well then I guess we are at an impasse still and Vesper’s season will be cut short.”

“Do you honestly expect us to believe that you’ll let her walk away from the Monarchs? Especially since you’ve reveled so much about stealing her out from under Quinn’s nose? No.”

“Do you honestly expect us to shell out a grand total of 48 million credits over six years? Especially since most top end players in the league are only getting 30 million credits over five? No.”

“Well then what…”

Vesper stopped the two men when she rose to her feet, “This is what I am proposing. I will settle for five years at 5.5 million per, a No-Trade Clause, and none of this franchise tag garbage.” She paused to take a breath and could see that Setarcos was about to interrupt her, “Plus,” she squeezed in, “You renegotiate every one of my teammates’ contracts, removing the franchise junk and keeping us all together until after the 280 season.”

A look of confusion fell upon Setarcos, “Why would I do that?”

“To build a dynasty of course,” Vesper knew at that moment the world was her’s.

TAG: Trieste, Bardan_Jusik

--Transaction Wire--
Rydonni Prime Monarchs

• Vesper Lynd (Bakuran, Female, Offensive Forward) Signed to a five year contract.
• Lana Ping (Corellian, Female, Defensive Back) Signed to a four year contract extension
• Cora Xux (Bakuran, Female, Defensive Back) Signed to a four year contract extension
• Aley Helios (Human, Female, Defensive Back) Signed to a four year contract extension
• Bry Dougant (Human, Male, Midfielder) Signed to a three year contract extension
• Shae Bellweather (Corellian, Female, Half Forward) Signed to a three year contract extension
• Staweh-Tam Ford (Human, Male, Defensive Back) Signed to a two year contract extension
• Sugnok Umanh (Human, Male, Defensive Back) Signed to a two year contract extension
• Rew Ileo (Human, Male, Offensive Forward) Signed to a two year contract extension
• Fahpe Sojuria (Bakuran, Male, Half Forward) Signed to a two year contract extension
• Buggie Resh (Bakuran, Male, Half Forward) Signed to a two year contract extension

Byblos Red Wings

• Greenly Zo (Human, Female, Half Forward/Back) Signed to an indefinite contract solely with the Red Wings.

New Players assigned to the Byblos Red Wings:

• Rayel Edure (Pantoran, Female, Half/Full Forward)
• Drista Konnenwirth (Bakuran, Female, Corner Back)
• Bly Dredsoe (Bakuran, Male, Full Back)

 

IC: Christine Gamble
Senator Stadium, Gameday vs. Mercs

Christine sat in front of her locker, trying to go over things one last time in her head. Last week had been an unmitigated disaster, one that she cared not to repeat today. The Packers had kept her on her ass, and it had been an effective strategy because of the Noghri and their size against her. It proved that the silly little “A” on her uniform meant a lot more than it appeared. But the real worry was not about herself, because she knew she could bounce back. How couldn’t you do better? The real concern was how the rest of the defense was going to do. Most of the defenders were more experienced than she, had more games under their belts at this level than she did. Tormera, Bratter, Wyley, Zoom, Doon’sun, Waters, Kunat before he was injured, Livingstone . . . all of them had a year or more experience than she did. But the coaching staff seemed to be looking to her to carry the torch. After last week, that seemed like a crazy notion.

So the coaches had gotten creative this week. Without Evis to help run the second unit, they had worked on trying to get everyone to stay on their assignments and to not look to one leader. That had burned them last week when Christine had struggled, and was something the Mercs likely would be looking for. Dirxx Horstse had opined that everyone looked to Christine because she had taken over for Jerek, who had once been the defensive leader on the team and someone everyone looked to for energy. When Jerek had gone down, the team had been deflated, but Christine stepped into the void and scrapped, pushing the team to the fourth-best scoring defense in the league on her back. But that was then, this was now. This had to be a team defense, not just her and a bunch of other uniforms.

Christine knew that this game wasn’t going to be easy. The Mercs came in only having scored seven points in their first two games combined, and that likely would change at some point soon. Not today, she thought to herself. We can’t let them back into this thing. That’s the last thing we need. Then again, the more she thought about it, the more obvious it became that the defense could do no worse than it had last week, so the only way to go was up. A small positive to take out of that disastrous effort, but it was something, wasn’t it? The Senators had a good defense, but it would take effort out there becoming of their talent to pull out the win today. Teams never stayed down in this league, so they had to be ready.

When the team hit the field, Christine surveyed her defense. This was going to have to be a good game from the half backs, from the full backs, from the corner backs. This had to be a complete game for them to win. The offense was looking better than it had at the end of last season, but two games was nothing to look at and make good judgments. They had to continue to produce if the team wanted to make the postseason, because the defense proved that it could be dominant and pathetic, rock-solid and porous. Which defense would show up today? Could the Senators pick up the pieces after last week’s tough loss and get a win here in front of the home crowd?


As she settled into her spot, she took a look at Kad Mereel across from her. He was a veteran player in this league, so she couldn’t underestimate him. At some point she would likely see the Wookiee backup, Tsulkalu, so she had to be ready for that. The Mercs would likely try to push size in this game against the smaller Senator corners, so the rest of the defense had to be ready to switch and keep up the pressure. At least the Mercs weren’t as large as the Packers had been; not the best positive to get out of all this, but a positive none the less.

TAG: Bardan_Jusik

 

IC: Ava Killenger
Thyferra Stadium at Byree Clearing, Thyferra

Here it was, the beginning of the 276 LFL season. For Ava Killenger, this presented a new opportunity to prove herself worthy of a return ticket to the Elite League. But it wasn’t going to be easy. In fact, the road to the Elite League perhaps was harder than it had ever been. Yes she had started a few games last season, yes she had made progress from her drug problems, but there was still plenty to do. Not only were the Senators stacked at half forward, including Thulius Jomas, but Ava had teammates who would have the first crack at making it. And she had no chance.

So what was the point exactly of playing here? She had no chance to make it this season thanks to the League Commissioner, so this was a lost season, one where she was going to be wearing the dark and sky blue uniforms of the Thyferra Force, not the black and orange. Those two weeks she had played with the Senators seemed like an eternity ago, back when she had other worries over Limmie. Her name had gotten in the media guide, but that was about the only positive she had out of last season. At this point last year, she had lost her brother, started to do Quervian Rage Weed, had ten turnovers in her first and only two ELL games, and had been chewed out royally by Gark S’rily and threatened to not be paid to play. That decision had been overturned, but the point had been there. Sober up, or ship out.

A year had passed, and she had accomplished quite a bit. She had made the team, despite Jed Ortmeyer pushing her harder than she ever thought she could go, had played a few minutes here and there, got angry and Ortmeyer for not letting her play, then started the last few games of the season to mixed reactions. She had even signed an autograph for a young fan, obviously a child who didn’t understand the issues Ava had been going through but was just happy to get a scribbled name on a piece of flimsy to take home and revere. Maybe she had done some great things after all.

But now was a whole new beginning. The 276 season was ready to go, and the Kashyyyk Rangers were coming in to town. The Rangers and Force had played two tough games the past two seasons, one costing the Force a perfect regular season, and the other mercifully giving them their only win of the year. Now they would have a showdown here with both teams at 0-0 in the standings and anything possible.

As Ortmeyer went over the plan of attack against the Rangers, Ava ignored him for a few moments and looked at her teammates. At Half Forward, she was going to be joined by Alex Renhorn, who had played a few games with the Senators like Ava had last season, and rookie second-round pick Ynisse Zalt from PCNS. The Twi’lek had looked good in camp, but the Wookiees were going to make it difficult to get traction in her first pro game. Mala Bonero and Caleeny Worgo were the backups at the position, so there was some depth, but not enough to give them all a rest. Someone was going to log heavy minutes here, unless there was a lot of shuffling of spots. Looking at the rest of the offense, Ganlin Costa was the starter at the Full, and Zoobel Ra had the left corner. Almert Song, the Senator’s top prospect down here with Calmerung D’jukk now up with the big club, had gotten injured in camp, and was going to be out a while. Marrett Wingo, the Zeltron, was now going to start in Song’s place, making his first career LFL start today.

Defense was vastly different than the last season. Gone was D’jukk, and Steen Roggers was still new to the starting lineup. Carder Blylock, acquired in the Jerek Deter trade, was going to man the other corner spot. Brancko Nagriski, one of Ava’s old teammates at CorTech, had the Full spot, with Vilnova Rickmond, Jamee Meels and team captain Rainy Frantsen manning the half back positions. Frantsen was the last remaining holdover on the team from the 269 season when they had been purchased by S’rily to be the Senators’ development affiliate, and she had seen her fair share of action down at this level. She was likely sick of being team captain of this squad, while being unable to make it back to the Elite League. Given that some of the Senators’ best players had come in through here, such as Riff Persnor, Reid Livingstone, Jayla Leed (at least before she had been traded), and then Thulius Jomas, it sucked to be stuck with the younger players when all of your old teammates made it to the show.

Jam Tarpals, the third-year Gungan goalkeeper, was going to mind the net. He had a rocky first pro season at 1-6, but had come back at 6-1 last season to finish 7-2 overall. You never knew when he would have a good or a bad game, so the defense had to be ready. Mekmek and Arienne Farfell, the third-round pick, started at the midfield spots. Farfell had been the questionable pick of the entire Draft in the eyes of most pundits, who had slammed the Senators for taking her. That had given the Hapan motivation to turn on the jets and prove them wrong.


The minutes seemed to fly by, and Ava finally found herself out on the pitch. Thyferra Stadium was small compared to most Limmie venues, but it had a nice atmosphere. The Thyferra fans were invigorated after 269, and still came out even if their team struggled. Now she had to give them a show, had to prove that at this time next season, she was going to be on Week Three instead of Week One. Maybe, if she did well enough now, in camp next season that elusive roster spot could have her name written all over it. And she would succeed. But first things first, she had to play today.

TAG: jcgoble3 (for scores tomorrow)

 

IC: Kaitlyn Vehn
Bakura Gardens, Bakura

“Good hunting out there,” Kaitlyn said as the Nar Shaddaa Smugglers filed past her in their road whites. Each of her players thumped their chests with a closed fist, a salute, a sign of respect, to their owner whom they’d follow into the very depths of hell.

The atmosphere at Bakura Gardens was charged. Two franchises that had battled for decades for all the rights that Elite League Limmie could award. The analysts had been all wrong when they’d proclaimed after the 274 realignment that the Black and Blue Battle didn’t matter anymore. Tell that to the players, Kaitlyn thought, as she saw a level of intensity to their warm-ups that she hadn’t seen in the two previous games so far. The Smugglers were ready. She could tell.

She was happy that Bakura Gardens had such a healthy turnout of burgundy and black jerseys. This was hard to accomplish with Bakura being so far away but she knew that there were many closet Smuggler fans on this planet just as there were Miners fans on the Vertical City. That was the way it was and that was the way it would always be. Fans loved both these teams. They were the old guard of the ELL and everyone wanted a good scrum. Part of her was relieved that the Smugglers were in a different conference now. Although this game still mattered at the end of the season, she felt that in recent years the contest had taken on a more playful tone, less anger, less to fight for and that had done well to keep players on both teams happy, healthy, and the fans satiated.

Tover Micjaa blew his whistle as the warm-ups came to a close. The team gathered around him as he gave his pre-game speech.

“The last time we won this game in Bakura Gardens was in 270. Think about that. Many of you weren’t even in college yet, maybe not even graduated high school. That was the year when this franchise last took home the Galactic Cup. We beat them that year. We’ve always played them close. We’ve always come only so far. Well this year that ends. This year we don’t just play them to keep up. This is the year when we bury them. They’ve got a good goalie in Comstock but she’s young and she can be broken. She’s no Meredith Chambers and I wouldn’t trade her for all the Jayla Leed’s in the galaxy. I believe in you and by the gods I will stand by you through thick and thin. Valerii’s system has flaws, people, and we’ve trained hard all week to exploit those flaws. This team is built to knock down the Miners. We’re built to keep up with them if we get into a shoot-out. We’re built to hit hard.”

“And strike from afar!” Erin Windreaver shouted.

Tover smiled and with glowing eyes looked up at Reaver. “You got that right. We can go aerial. They’ll have a harder time with that. They never played us last year in a meaningful game. That’s too bad. We’re going to go out there today and push them around, disrupt their timings, block their shots, and in the end, whiskey, ladies and gentlemen, whiskey will be ours.”

“Play fast, play hard, let’s do this!” McCloud crowed. She’d been pumped for this game ever since she first shook Kaitlyn Vehn’s hand. She’d watched the Black and Blue battle as a child. Now she was playing in it. How sweet it was.

“Hands to the center, hands to the center,” Tover instructed as he put out a fist that was soon joined by the team.



“Whatever happens out there today, I love you guys. You fight hard, you hear me? You fight like the world’s ending. We’re the wild bunch, the wild rovers,” Tover said, “and I will be damned if I am going to allow the Bakura Miners to gloat to the galaxy about winning the Galactic Cup last year. Not to us. Not ever. Their dominance ends here! Believe me when I say, no, nay, never, no more!”

“No, nay, never, no more!” the team cried out in unison.

“No, nay, never, no more!” they yelled out again.

A song was taken up by the Crew that had journeyed out to Bakura Gardens. A tear came to Tover Micjaa’s eye. He remembered this song during his time with the Smugglers. It had fallen out of use in recent years but boy was it wonderful to hear again as
the Miners contingent, usually boisterous and having sung their opening song, fell silent and listened in astonishment as the Smugglers roared their own ditty.

---

IC: Lars Steelhead

Bakura Gardens

“No, nay, never, no more!”

Lars perked up. Chills rolled down his spine. He knew what this was all about. He hadn’t heard this in years. He was of the older Smuggler fan contingent. The ones that could remember this song. He stood up, shoving several Miners fans aside, and roared,

“No, nay, never, no more!”

Other Smugglers, older fans, urged their younger fans to their feet as the lyrics rippled and rolled through the stadium in homage to the teams of the past, to the hard working people of the Vertical City, to laying aside the troubles of today and living for the moment, for now.

I've been a wild rover for many's the year
I've spent all me money on whiskey and beer
But now I'm returning with gold in great store
And I never will play the wild rover no more
And it's No, Nay, never,
No, nay never no more
Will I play the wild rover,
No never no more

Lars’ chest swelled with pride as the song continued. He’d never felt so good at a Bakura Gardens game before. This was how the game should be played. Between two fan bases, between two franchises, that had so many stories to tell, so many players to love, so much heritage to pass on to future generations. He appreciated that the Miners fans didn’t try to shut them out. This was their song and the Smugglers fans, despite their blue collar origins, respected the Miners when they sang their songs.


What a blessing to be a fan of the Nar Shaddaa Smugglers. What a blessing to be here on Bakura surrounded by the respectful enemies of the Smugglers. It didn’t matter how the game ended. What mattered was that everyone was getting drunk today in the spirit of friendship, camaraderie, and good old-fashioned fun. Keep the drinks going, Lars thought, because many a cup will runneth dry today.

“No, nay, never, no more, indeed,” Lars mused as the game began.

Tag: Trieste

OOC: This game should really be called 'The Battle of the Two Irish People and their Folk Songs.'

 

GM Post

What will this week bring? Given the first two, I have no idea, but this season is starting to heat up nicely! Bonus rolls to Agamar, Bakura, Coruscant, Mando'ade, Nar Shaddaa, Ralltiir, Rydonni Prime.

Week 3 Results
Nar Shaddaa Smugglers at Bakura Miners (29-26)
Mando’ade Mercs at Coruscant Senators (23-16)
Euceron Storm at Rydonni Prime Monarchs (14-26)
Ylesia Lightning at Ralltiir Starkillers (28-21)
Corellia Rebels at Chandrila Patriots (23-11)
Agamar Packers at Hapes Consortium Buccaneers (2-28)

TAG: Bardan_Jusik CPL_Macja jcgoble3 Jedi Gunny Runjedirun Tim Battershell Vehn

 

IC: Christine Gamble
Coruscant

“Switch, switch!” Christine yelled at Reid Livingstone. Her fellow corner tried to make the switch on his matchup, but he tripped and fell because of bad footwork. Fu Arock took advantage of this misstep and shot a ball into the back of the net for three past a bewildered Ziva Kender.

“What the hell, Reid?” Christine yelled. “Your head isn’t even in the game!”

“Sorry,” Reid mumbled as he walked off. Christine wanted to scream at him some more, but it would do no good. It was that kind of day for the Senator defense. She was doing all she could to keep her team in the game, as Mereel had absolutely nowhere to go in her airtight defense. Every time he had the ball, she was right in his face, forcing several turnovers and making his life a living hell. At least the other defenders were doing their jobs today . . . well, except for Reid and the rookies. Myles Tormera was finally getting back into the swing of things at half back, making plays and funneling the Mercs to the corners. Ortho Dyhon and the reserve half backs were hammering away at their matchups, keeping the Mercs honest up the middle.

But the left corner was a disaster zone in this game. Arock was making play after play, eating Reid and rookie Raley Tenegat alive out there. When the half backs kicked the Mercs out to the corner, a bad move by Tenegat freed up the Mercs forward, and the defense had to shift around to keep the offense in front of them. And then there were the lucky breaks. Sometimes the ball just barely went past Kender’s fingertips, and other times the 50-50 balls just didn’t go the Senators’ way. It wasn’t like they were doing a terrible job out here in this one. They were just unlucky as all get out.

Christine was making plays as best she could, but the black hole at the other corner spot was killing the entire defense. She petitioned to be moved over to the left corner spot, but when Gark S’rily moved her over there to match up on Arock, Mereel started to get things moving on his end against Calmerung D’jukk and Tenegat as they switched in and out. No matter what substitutions were made, the corners were the problem today, and it wasn’t the second-year pro’s fault. She had done her job. Frankly, she had done more than her job.


It was odd, really, because the Senators had been wearing the Mercs down on offense. Unlike their last meeting, the home team had been switching effectively to keep players fresh, which was effective against the Mercs and their starter-heavy minutes. Even at the end of the game Christine felt like she could go another ten because of the rest she had been given during short spurts here and there. The half back switching had been effective, because when Ortho, Myles, and Zoom wore down, in came Bratter, Wyley, and rookie Girola Gundor making her ELL debut. All three were effective in their stints off the bench, keeping tabs with their counterparts. It was just the corner problem, Christine noticed when the game was over and she was sullen on her way back to the locker room. Arock and Mereel had scored most of the Mercs’ points, if not all of them. She hadn’t kept track, because it was too much to keep in mind when she was trying to put Mereel on his face when he had the ball.

A reporter came up to ask her some questions as she walked off the field. “Christine, the corner position was a mess today. How will you get that fixed for next week?”

“We’re going to have to play better,” Christine said. It was a cliché, but there was nothing else she could say here. “I don’t know why it’s been a problem as of late, but I’m sure we’re going to be grilled this week by the coaching staff. We’ve played dreadfully, and you just can’t win when you don’t seal off the edges like that.”

“Do you feel frustrated when you play your best, and your teammates let you down?”

“Of course,” Christine said. “We lost the game, didn’t we? But we lost today mostly because of the lucky bounces that didn’t go our way. We could have done better had we been in more advantageous positions, but we weren’t, so we lost. Hopefully those balls will go our way next week, and we can tighten the screws.”

She wanted to call out her fellow corners here, but decided it would be against her best interests to do so. That would just lead to more infighting, and when this team had dropped five of its last six games, that was no time to be bickering in the locker room. Things had to change for them to win the next week, or else it was going to be a long slog through conference play.

The offense had been OK today. Not perfect, but not terrible, either. Max Qorbus had a hat trick, bullying his defenders time and again in the low post. Cord McKerty finally got his name on the scoring sheet with a goal late, but it hadn’t been nearly enough to push the suddenly-leaky Senators teams to victory. The midfielders had held their own, although many loose balls they could have recovered just didn’t go their way. But that was something that could be fixed in a week, Christine noted. But the defense needed to be fixed soon, because the wheels were falling off. If they didn’t get reattached soon, things were going to get messy.


TAG: Bardan_Jusik, Vehn

 

Sub-GM Post

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

Limmie Futures League
Week 1
Concordia Crusaders at Garqi Gunners (17–16)
Byblos Red Wings at Druckenwell Marksmen (17–20)
Commenor Gundarks at Tatooine Sandskimmers (12–3)
Kashyyyk Rangers at Thyferra Force (9–27)

TAG: Jedi Gunny Bardan_Jusik Vehn Runjedirun Tim Battershell CPL_Macja

 

IC: Martin Vigo



Hold on to the ones who really care. In the end they'll be the only ones there.


Corellia already had 4 points up on Chandrila once we got the game on for Mr. Allin. Mrs. Allin was a quiet woman. She sampled the food my wife had catered, but mostly she sat and watched her son play bolo ball. He played well as usual, but not well enough. Mr. Allin was obnoxious. He cheered each time the Rebels put points on the board and cheered even louder when he switched over to the Smugglers Miners game to see that the Miners were down, even if it was only by one point. “Martin” he said to me. “If you only win one game this season, please make that win against Bakura.” He made a fist with his right hand and slammed it into the open palm of his left. “Crush the Miners.”

The best part of the game was watching Richard, Spencer and Tomas get along so well. They made friendly wagers on who would score next, when a coach would call a time out or if a defender would be able to block a shot. Shortly after half time Mr. Allin complained that we didn’t have any “game food” on hand. The boys volunteered to go pick up some nachos. It was shaping up to be another disappointing afternoon. The Starkillers were down 22 – 11 so I allowed them to go. They came back with nachos for Mr. Allin and separate serving for themselves. Zoey joined them to see what the excitement was all about. The next thing I heard was Richard’s panicked “Dad.”

I turned, Zoey was choking. I hit an emergency button and paged the paramedics. My wife ran down to try and help. The wait was agonizing. Zoey stopped coughing and lost consciousness. I opened the door and saw the medics running towards our box. “She choked,” I said pointing helplessly towards my granddaughter.

The two paramedics took the girl from my wife and set her on a clear flat area of the floor towards the back of the box. One of them prepared a vial and shot. “It’s an allergic reaction.” He explained. “This is the third one we’ve seen today.” He punctured Zoey’s arm with the needle, we all waited. I saw her little chest start to rise and fall, then she vomited violently.

“It’s a reaction to Kamino Sea Salt.” The paramedic explained. “In some cases humans can’t deal with the substance it causes their throats to swell and close up. She’s going to be sick for a while, possibly a few days. But she will recover.”

“Thank you.” I said absent mindedly. I rushed over to give Zoey a hug. The paramedics left and for several minutes we all stood around in shock. My wife and granddaughter were covered in vomit. When I found my voice again I told them to head home. Richard, Spencer and Tomas wanted to leave as well. I apologized to the Allin’s for being such poor hosts, but they understood. I arranged to have a taxi pick them up and once they were gone I sat alone trying to piece together what went wrong and what to do next.

The game ended with little fanfare, I knew we had lost but I had no idea what he final score was. I texted Justyne to let her know her daughter was sick and that she should come straight home. The paramedic’s words kept echoing in my mind “It’s an allergic reaction. This is the third one we have seen today.” I looked over to the half-eaten plate of nachos and made a call. The head paramedic confirmed that all victims of the food allergy had been eating nachos. One had already filed a complaint because he knew he had the allergy but nothing was posted on the menu board about our nachos containing Kamino Sea Salt.

When I got to the nacho stand only Bat was left. “Is this team ever going to win?” He asked. “The customers are so hard to deal with when we lose.”

“Did we get a new shipment of salt this week?” I asked ignoring his comments.

“We get a new shipment every week.”

“Was there anything different you noticed this week?”

“No. Why?”

“Was there anything different about any of the ingredients this week?” I tried.

“We actually used a different recipe this week” he said proudly. “One of my employees created it, we got lots of compliments.”

“Bat are you telling me you served ingredients that aren’t on the menu board?” I asked with growing concern.

“I guess.” He said with a shrug.

“Bat your niece had some nachos this afternoon and she nearly died. Two other people that I know of also had to call paramedics during the game. Apparently the nachos contained Kamino Sea Salt.”

“I didn’t mean to harm anyone.”

“I know you didn’t mean to, but you have a responsibility as supervisor to follow specific procedures. People depend on those ingredients being accurate.” I said pointing up to the menu board.

“I’m sorry.” He said, hanging his head just slighting. “It won’t happen again.”

“Not under your watch it won’t. I can guarantee that.” I said swallowing hard. “Bartholomew you’re fired.” For the second time that day I could feel a physical pain in my chest as a family member suffered, first my granddaughter and now my son. I couldn’t bear to watch his reaction. I quickly headed towards my office to check in with my wife before I headed home.

Apparently Zoey wasn’t feeling much better. Justyne hadn’t arrived home yet and Zoey was asking for her. So I headed down to the locker room to see if she was still at the stadium. The dancer’s locker room was empty. I checked the text I had sent her, it was unread. Justyne must not have turned her data pad back on since the start of the game. Not knowing what else to do I headed home.

My wife sat on the sofa in the front room, Zoey was wrapped in a blanket next to her. “Bat apologized,” she said. “He told me what happened. He explained this was his fault. He feels really guilty. I think you should go talk to him.”

“Did Justyne come home?” I asked.

“Not yet.” She said. “Go talk to Bat.” She pleaded.

To my surprise Bat was in the gym. Letting off steam by beating a punching bag I had hung years ago for just that purpose. “I hope you’re not pretending that’s me.” I said trying to lighten his mood.

“Maybe I am.” He said giving the bag a left hook. “You want to do something about that?”

“I want you to understand that I did what I had to do. I hope it doesn’t change our relationship. You’re still my son and I love you. I support you. Are you okay?” I asked.

“I’ll be okay.” He had stopped hitting the bag, he looked up at me. “Thanks for checking on me. I’m really, really sorry. I’m glad Zoey is going to be okay.”

“Me too,” I said smiling. I reached out grabbed the back of his head and pulled him in for hug. Something I hadn’t done in too long. “Keep your head up.” I told him.

“Yes sir.” He said. I shook my head, relief flooded through me. I knew we were going to be okay.

The rest of the evening went by with a fairly normal feel. I went to bed early knowing I had a long week ahead of me. In the middle of the night I was awoken when I heard my wife rustling around the room. “What’s wrong?” I asked still half asleep.

“Zoey’s sick again.” She explained. “I’m just grabbing some clean clothes.”

“Have you been up all night? Where’s Justyne?”

“Most of the night. Justyne hasn’t come home.”

I reached for my data pad to call Justyne, but my wife stopped me. “Go back to sleep.” She said sweetly. “I can handle this.”

It took me a while, but I did fall back to sleep. When I got up my wife still wasn’t in bed. I found her in Justyne’s room, sharing a bed with Zoey. By the time I finished my swim she was up making breakfast for the boys. She tried to hide it, but she was exhausted. I checked my data pad again and the text I had sent to Justyne sat unread. Could she be ignoring me? Or had she just never turned on her data pad. Either one was irresponsible and unacceptable. Zoey needed her mother and she was not here. My wife needed sleep last night and she had not been here. I looked up the schedule at the stadium. Due to the extra travel day needed to reach Agamar both the Limmie and Dance team’s had practice today, instead of the usual day off after game day.

After dropping off the boys I headed directly to the stadium and the dance team’s locker room. Lucie was in the doorway. “Where’s your sister?” I asked.

“Morning,” she said.

“Good morning.” I said correcting myself. “Is your sister here?”

Lucie laughed and nodded. “You want me to get her?” She asked.

“Please.”

Lucie disappeared into the locker room. A few minutes later Justyne came out. I motioned for her to follow me down the hall so we could find a more private place to talk. Once we were in a more secluded area I jumped right to the chase. “Zoey is sick.” I told her. “Your mother has been up all night with her. I need you to go home and give her some relief.”

“I will,” she said, “Right after practice.”

“You’ll go now, I texted you yesterday before the end of the game. Your daughter had an allergic reaction yesterday. Her throat closed up and she may have even stopped breathing, gave us all a real scare.” I paused a moment, I didn’t realize I was still shaken up by what had happened. “The paramedics were amazing, they saved her. But she’s been pretty sick ever since, they told us it could take a few days for her to recover. She’s been asking for you.”

“Why didn’t anyone come get me when this happened?” She asked angrily.

“Why didn’t you check your messages?” I fired back. “You are a mother, you have responsibilities. Responsibilities you need to stop handing off to your mother.”

“I didn’t know Zoey was sick.”

“You didn’t even bother to come home and check on her. Even if she was well it’s common practice to tuck your child in bed at night. That’s what being a parent is, being there. If you don’t want the privilege I can have the paperwork drawn up to make your mother her legal caretaker.”

“What would you know about being a parent?” She barked back. But she didn’t wait for an answer; she stormed off towards the parking lot. I couldn’t help but think I deserved the remark. I could never make up all the nights at home I had missed. At least for now though I had convinced her to go home. Zoey needed her and I believed she had it in her to be a good mother.

After quickly explaining to Lucie what had happened and that her sister had an excused absence from practice today I left the stadium to check on other business investments. If I stayed here and thought about the team I’d probably end up firing Till. I could promote Reeser to interim head coach for the remainder of the season, but I didn’t think we would win any more games if I took that course of action. I needed distance from this investment.

TAG: No one

 

GM Post
Elite League offices, Coruscant

"Good morning gentlebeings," the Commissioner said, "As you know we will soon be opening voting by members of the public for the annual ELL All-Star Game, which has become a staple event for fans and players alike. This year the game will be held at Bankers Mansion Stadium on Ralltiir. After a great draft on Ralltiir, we're confident that we will have an equally entertaining time with the All-Star Game in Cambrielle.

"However, more importantly, the Elite League is proud to announce that we have selected the site for the 121st Galactic Cup Final. It is the League's pleasure--"

Oh Force help me, the Commissioner thought.

"--to award the Final to Keldabe, Mandalore."

The truth was that last season the Mercs organization had sponsored an exceedingly good bid. Had the League not been intent on awarding the Final to Nar Shaddaa, Mandalore would have gotten the 275 Final. As a result, the Site Selection Committee had viewed the renewed application by Keldabe very favorably. Sure, there had been that other thing too.... Well, hopefully an unexpected byproduct of this award would smooth over any remaining ruffled feathers on the Mandalorian side.

"Mandalore has put together an excellent Final week package and we look forward to bringing both the season awards ceremony and the Final itself to Keldabe. We'll see you there."

---

Please send to me by this Saturday a ballot with only players from your team. These nominations will be aggregated to form the ballot for everyone to vote on.

Goalkeeper:
Defender:
Defender:
Midfielder:
Forward:
Forward:

TAG: Bardan_Jusik CPL_Macja jcgoble3 Jedi Gunny Runjedirun Tim Battershell Vehn

 

IC: Falene Trieste
Bakura Gardens, Salis D’aar, Bakura
Week 3

When the Smugglers scored their first goal—something odd happened. The Smuggler fans went predictably nuts (that was to be expected), but the sound of their celebration was overtaken by the applause and cheers of the Miner fans.

The reason was that Lizbit Comstock’s goalless streak had come to an end. She’d set a Miners franchise record in the process with just shy of 200 minutes of play. It was an achievement that everyone was sad to see finally capped, but a moment worth celebration.

Falene would congratulate Lizbit later. Right now she had a game to win.

---

And to that end, it had been an intense game—perhaps one of the most intense games Falene had ever played. McCloud had given her nothing for free today and Falene had returned the courtesy. That was the story all over the field—neither team giving a millimeter without price and neither team letting the other run away from them. The score reflected it and Falene had never heard Bakura Gardens like this.

Sure, over her life she’d heard it be loud, but she’d never been at the epicenter of so much noise in her home stadium. The waves of sound had crashed upon the field with every reversal of play. To those who thought with its small size the Gardens couldn’t bring the noise, Falene was pretty sure that today had disproven that point of view.

The game had ended the only way it could—with one team making an egregious mistake. Falene was sure that she had Ponie’s eye when she hurled the pass in her direction. The VCU product, who had played Vertical City limmie against her hometown team (and had the penalties to show for it), was caught literally looking the other way and the pass was picked off by a Smuggler. That led to the ultimate score of the game and the one that broke the stalemate.

Falene put her hands on her head and looked upwards. Though some could have said the mistake was Ponie’s fault, Falene felt like it was all hers. She should have put the ball deep, not tried for a breakout. They could have gone to overtime and Falene knew that the Miners would have had the Smugglers there.

But no, for a second straight year, the Smugglers walked away with the win and for the first time in a long stretch of games, Falene had the acerbic taste of defeat in her mouth.

---

60th Precinct, Nar Shaddaa
Week 3

The 60th Precinct of the Vertical City Police Department was home to Six Boroughs Stadium so, predictably, the detectives on duty had the game on the vidscreens mounted in the office. Truth be told, almost none of them were getting any work done, not with this game on. Comments like “I knew I should have gone to this game! It’s a classic!” and rebuttals of “Yeah, no way on your salary you could afford it,” filled the air as everyone was on the edge of their seats.

Well, almost everyone, that was.

Installed behind his desk like it was a fortress to be held against the barbarian hoards, newly promoted Detective Inspector Vercrup drowned out the cheers and groans of his fellow officers with his single-minded focus on his work. He had one purpose and that was the pursuit of justice. His only interest in limmie was arresting those who engaged in hoodlumism in whatever form it took. He had tangentially heard that Agamar had little tolerance for such things. He commended them for their rectitude in that regard. It came as little surprise that a peaceful agrarian world would have high standards for itself. If only an urban cesspit like Nar Shaddaa could purge itself of the criminal element then such a feeling could take root here.

That was Vercrup’s calling: to make the Vertical City safe for the righteous. To that end, he kept a small plaque on the front of his desk:

THOSE WHO FALTER AND THOSE WHO FALL MUST PAY THE PRICE​

It was Vercrup’s guiding star in the night of the Vertical City. It was why he was determined that he would have the highest clearance rate in the precinct, if not the whole force. Someone had to set an example for the rest of the VCPD. Part of that was making sure paperwork was in order, which is why Vercrup was in the precinct on a weekend. It was usually a good time to get work done—usually being when the precinct was not filled with limmie foolishness.

The officers were now collectively losing their Sithspit as grown beings shouldn’t do and Vercrup got up testily.

“What is going on here?” he asked.

“Smugglers win! What a goal! It put that Comstock girl in her place all right!” one of them said as the others high fived themselves.

Vercrup looked up at the vidscreen where the Vertical City sportscasters were waxing panegyric about the game. It showed exuberant Smuggler players and downcast Miners.

“…and it’s cruel irony that Vertical City University product Eponette Ternardiel should be the reason that the Smugglers walk away with the victory today. She just didn’t have her head in the game there at the end…”

“Ternardiel…the Smugglers should have taken her. Can’t let this talent get off world like that. And to the Miners!” one of the officers said casually to his desk mate.

“Pfft,” the second officer said dismissively, “Cundertol’s always finding weird gems like that. Ever since he got burned on Lynd he’s not taking any chances. When he finds talent he likes, he nabs it. I bet the Smugglers had Ternardiel on their board as a free agent signing and the Miners outsmarted them.”

“No way. Cundertol’s not smart enough for that. I think the Smugglers dropped the ball…” the first officer retorted.

Vercrup watched the vidscreen with its procession of players giving sportsmanlike handshakes.

“Everyone, back to work,” he said crisply, turning back to his desk.

Limmie, he thought, An almost total waste of time…

---

Kilmainham Brook, Prytis, Bakura
After the conclusion of the ELL season

“Your mother asked me to tell you that she will see you shortly,” the protocol droid said.

“Thank you,” Falene said to the droid. Since the resettlement of Bakura after the Sith destruction, the more cosmopolitan residents had become more comfortable with droids. Falene had grown up with them, but she knew that not every Bakura was at ease with them.

“She said you may help yourself to a drink if you so desire,” the droid continued.

Of course she would, Falene thought. “I’m fine,” she said.

“Very well. If I can be of further assistance—”

“I’ll let you know,” Falene said.

The droid toddled off and left Falene looking at the portrait of Saraid Trieste.



Unlike the preceding portraits, this one had been done posthumously, which might explain the somewhat defiant pose that the artist had chosen for Saraid. The eldest daughter of Amergin Trieste was, by all accounts, a firecracker. She probably inherited it from her great-grandmother.

The mystery was why Amergin had selected her to be his heir and the fourth Taoiseach of the house. Saraid had no interest in politics—in fact she had an open disdain for the family’s political work. She was apocryphally quoted as saying that, “Politics is the rich being’s pastime: lots of glory, lots of talking, and absolutely no change.”

Saraid’s chosen profession was a throwback to the Noble House’s origins. She took up the trade of bounty hunting and was apparently quite good at it. She hauled in some very high profile targets in her time. Something about the fact that people would pay her to hunt down other beings and bring them back was quite appealing. Saraid supposedly preferred to bring her targets back alive because that was more “fun.”

Looking back on it, Falene was suddenly unsure as to whether Saraid was perhaps just a little off-her-rocker. If she had been, apparently it hadn’t been enough to stop her father from making her the first female Taoiseach of the Noble House. Saraid apparently never touched the money or property unless she needed to draw expenses to perform her bounty hunting. To Falene’s knowledge, there were no rumors of Mandalorian armor clinging to Saraid’s memory.

Though I bet Taab would still have liked her, Falene thought, They probably would have gone shooting together and the like. Maybe she had a Mandalorian lover. It’s possible.

The profession was not without its dangers. Saraid was killed during one of her hunts—not by her target but in retribution for one of her previous captures. Saraid’s five year tenure as Taoiseach remained the shortest in the history of the Noble House.

---

Euceron Stadium, Eusebus, Euceron
Week 4

Falene could see it in Valerii’s eyes all week.

The head coach was worried about the Antilles Formation. Yes, it had been blown up the previous week, but that was just it. The Antilles Formation either worked spectacularly or it fell apart in a blaze of shambles. Limmie was a fickle sport, but the Antilles Formation only exacerbated that.

The prep work this week had been intense. Valerii had found a high school team that had adopted the Antilles Formation for the Miners to scrimmage against to get used to the formation. They’d watched the footage from the Euceron-Rydonni Prime game over and over again. They’d done the same with every single game the Storm had played since instituting the Antilles Formation. They explored every crack, every strength.

The formation was simple, but the fact that it was so new meant that the whole team was constantly thinking about it. Falene would pick up snippets of conversation on the shuttle, in the hotel, everywhere there were two or more Miners.

The formation hadn’t revolutionized the game, but it certainly threw a hydrospanner into the usual gameplan. Even so, the head coach was putting on a brave face for the team.

“Everybody, gather up,” Valerii said, “We’ve looked at this Antilles Formation inside and out, up and down, every way you can think of it. And at the end of the day, it’s still just limmie. We’ve got this. We play our zone coverage and we’re going to be okay. Alana, Jolla, this big adjustments are yours. This formation tries to split you. Well we’ve been jumping a midfielder into the offensive zone ever since Alana got here and if they want to give her more room to work, we’re going to take it.

“This is going to be a game everyone. Let’s come right back and take this one, bounce back.”

Falene could feel it—the storm was coming.

And so were the Storm.


TAG: Bardan_Jusik (Mando stuff!) jcgoble3 (game day stuff!) Tim Battershell (passing Agamar stuff!) Vehn (other game day stuff!)