Star Wars OPEN Elite League Limmie

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IC: Lars Steelhead
LimmieCon, Coruscant

The entire LimmieCon was a whirlwind. First Lars was answering questions in a sort of formal town hall type setting and the next he was being ushered along to sign autographs from a bunch of pimply faced freaks. Ok, so freaks might've been a strong word for the Limmie faithful who gathered from nearly every planet in the known galaxy, well known to have a limmie program, to see the pinnacle of the sport before them. It was all so overwhelming and Lars craved downing a twelve pack of his favorite beer. Something, anything, to help ease the tension that was all around him in this interesting social setting.

Nevertheless his pen was out and about as he signed shirts, hats, Smugglers memorabilia, a couple of campaign posters, and even a pair of nicely shaped Twi'lek---

Lars stopped and worked hard to suppress a smile.

Was he going to get in trouble if he signed those? Did he even care? The Twi'lek gal in front of him was well endowed and was smiling widely from ear to ear as if begging him to ink all over her. He glanced furtively from left to right and grunted. No kids were around. Well, none that cared. He delicately signed his name on the pink colored flesh of the Twi'lek and put the cap back on his pen. He gave a wink and flashed his own teeth. Perhaps today was looking up after all.

It's good to be the owner Lars thought as his eyes looked around for what to do next.

Lars' eyes settled on a pretty young auburn gal. He cleared his throat and spoke up, "Can I sign something for you?"

Tag: @Trieste; @jcgoble3; @galactic-vagabond422

 

IC: Sandy Starkrimson
LimmieCon, Coruscant

“Oh! Right! Yes, of course, Mr. Steelhead,” Sandy said. “That would be great.” She handed him her program.

“So…the Smugglers…” Sandy wasn’t sure what to say next. “What are the odds they’re going to lead the league in penalties this season? Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” Sandy said hurriedly.

TAG: @Vehn

 

IC: Lars Steelhead
LimmieCon, Coruscant

Lars gently took the program in his giant hand and signed away. He added a little message: Reach for the stars.

"I expect them to be the most heavily penalized team in the league," Lars admitted, "if they're not then we aren't playing our best version of ourselves out there. We've got some obstacles to overcome this season but that is true of every season I've ever watched. I know the current roster is getting a thorough comb over by our head coach and front office. I expect us to able to field a competitive squad that can chase a title. Where did you say you were from again? What do you do for a living?"

Tag: @Trieste

 

IC: Sandy Starkrimson
LimmieCon, Coruscant

“Oh, I’m from Bakura, Mr. Steelhead, just like Shady,” Sandy said, referencing the Smugglers’ long-tenured head coach. “I work on starships, keeping everything running. I’ve been to Nar Shaddaa a few times, but never made it to a Smugglers game. But from what I’ve seen on the HoloNet, it sounds like the team is definitely the best version of themselves—at least by your metric. In fact, I heard your fans are living their best lives too. My husband once got super drunk trading whiskey shots with a Smugglers fan and—”

Sandy stopped herself from saying and accidentally punched her in the face. She wasn’t sure how that was going to go over with this guy. Talking about the Smugglers beating up others was different than admitting your partner was the one laying hands on people.

“—he said she was really nice,” Sandy recovered. “Which you are too.”

TAG: @Vehn

 

Jay Chu-ni
LmmieCon

It'd been one year almost to the day since she'd been here, in the autograph line, giving the autographs. Thought she was a little different now. Things had gone off the rails for her. They made it to the playoffs only to loose in a heartbreaker of a game, not that Jay remembers much from it. The day before she had a fight with Kin and then out of nowhere Mech, yelled at her. It'd been six months since she talked to either of them, since that day. All she's had is training and mayber a few more hot chip nights than she expected. Yearo was still there but, things were awkward between them, what with Kin losing his cool when they were having caf. It gave that whole situation a dark cloud that hung over them when they met, which was getting less and less often.

Not that she could let that play on her face, she smiled as beings came up to her signing their programs or holos of herself, though she felt a little pain in her chest when she saw those rookie holos. There was a glow to them her smile went to her eyes. Part of her missed that girl, the one that was just happy to be here, a little bewildered by it all.

"And is there anyone you'd like me to make this out to?" She asked to the being in front of her after a while they just became a blur to her.

TAG: @Trieste

 

IC: Sandy Starkrimson
LimmieCon, Coruscant

Program returned to Sandy’s hand, she had barely even moved before Jay if she wanted an autograph too. Famous beings were definitely much friendlier than Sandy had expected them to be at LimmieCon. Tendra was a Galactic Cup champion, Lars owned a freaking ELL team, and Jay was living her best life as an ELL player, probably living her dreams. And they all were happy to see her! LimmieCon was great.

“That would be awesome, Ms. Chu-ni!” Sandy said. “Could you sign this program? To Sandy. That’s me. There’s still room left.” She handed Jay the LimmieConn program. “Thanks so much for being here! It’s great to meet you. This has been one of the coolest days of my life, but I bet your life is way more exciting than this! What’s the best part of being an ELL player?”

TAG: @galactic-vagabond422

 

OOC: Setting the stage for later in the day if and when Sandy shows up at the skills challenge as invited. This takes place several hours later. No rush to respond immediately if you're not ready.

IC: Tendra Nalo-Linrai
Skills Challenge, Hall P24, LimmieCon, Coruscant; late afternoon

Tendra signed yet another autograph, this one for a Rodian boy who looked to be about seven years old who had just tried out the agility course. Unlike the paid autograph session in the morning, which was open to anyone who could afford a ticket (or lucky enough to be given one), here she was giving autographs for free, but limited only to children who were having a go at the skill arenas. The skill arenas themselves, on the other hand, were open to anyone, and many young adults, some slightly tipsy, were embarrassing themselves for HoloNet laughs, while a number of teenagers (or the equivalent in non-human species) were challenging their parents, with mixed results. All in all, it was good fun and a good way to make sure one would get a good night of sleep tonight.

There were six arenas. One was the aforementioned agility course, requiring the participant to carry a bolo ball while weaving through a series of immobile tackling dummies and performing some footwork maneuvers, before launching the ball at a passing target at the end of the course. The course was timed, and since it was identical to the standard layout most professional players had drilled on in tryouts and (back when it was a thing) the All-Star weekend festivities, participants could directly compare their times against their favorite pros (a list of pro times was readily available at the timing table).

The second was a shooting drill, Tendra's favorite as a former full forward. 8 balls were placed on stands around the attacking zone, with a cardboard cutout of a defender in front of each stand and a box drawn on the artificial turf (and a cardboard goalkeeper moving back and forth on a track in front of the goal in a predictable manner). The participant could start at any station of their choice and, while being timed, had to pick up each ball, shoot it at the goal from within the box (avoiding the defender in front of them and the goalkeeper) and run to the next one until all 8 had been shot, with time penalties applied for each missed shot (small penalty for hitting the goalkeeper, larger for missing the goal entirely or hitting the defender). Like the agility course, it was a standard pro tryout drill, allowing participants to compare their times against the pros.

The third was another of Tendra's favorites, penalty shots. The task was simple: shoot five penalty shots against a live professional goalkeeper. The goalkeeper varied throughout the day, but usually a group, consisting of goalkeepers either from the Premier League, the old SkimmerAde League, recently retired players, or some higher-level college graduates that hadn't gone pro, took turns. Tendra had heard that the Officers' Togruta goalkeeper Trax Yar had stepped into the pipes earlier this morning and delivered a reality check (followed by an autograph) to a few adults who were feeling a little too full of themselves. Currently, at about 1620 -- ten minutes before Sandy is due to show up, Tendra reminded herself -- it was a pair of Premier League goalkeepers rotating with each participant, although one was due to be relieved at 1630, as was Tendra herself.

The fourth was a pure defensive drill: 20 droids (padded for safety) were advancing on you in a staggered formation, and you had to tackle as many as you could as fast as possible while trying not to let any cross the line on the turf behind you. Like the first two, it was a standard pro tryout drill for defenders, and so pro results were directly available for comparison.

The fifth was a passing drill. Participants had to run a set, weaving path across the field. At marked red checkpoints, a passing machine would launch a ball at them, which they had to catch and carry to the next yellow checkpoint, where they had to launch it into a passing target. Participants could raise a hand to signal for the pass at a red checkpoint to be launched early if they wished to try to catch it on the run, but most amateur participants opted to stop and set their feet to catch and then continue (although a good pro would never stop). As usual, it was timed with penalties for missing a catch or a target, and pro times were available for easy comparison.

The sixth and final arena put the participant between the pipes as a goalkeeper. For this challenge, LimmieCon had hired groups of former college players who hadn't gone pro, along with some Premier League players and retired pros, to simulate, in a somewhat scripted and choreographed manner, four attacks on the goal, some with multiple shots. Unlike other arenas, the players here were instructed to be gentler with younger participants and give them a fighting chance. No official scores were kept here due to the messy nature of goalkeeping, but participants often came away from the challenge with a newfound respect for the sheer difficulty of defending a goal against a relentless attack.

This last arena is where Tendra found herself at the moment. Tomorrow she would be part of the choreographed attack for an hour and be launching shots at poor convention attendees, but today, her job -- paid job -- at the moment was to coach participants. There really wasn't much she could do in that regard at this arena because she played at the other end of the field, and goalkeeping was a rather unique skill anyway, but she was also on the lookout for good performances to award random prizes. She watched as the pro players toned down the attack substantially for the eleven-year-old in the goal, but Tendra recognized real goalkeeper skills in her stance and the way she moved and positioned herself (after all, Tendra had faced those skills for a living) and guessed that she was a Little League goalkeeper, and a pretty good one for her age. The pro players increased their intensity to match, and eventually beat her for a goal on a difficult putback, but the human girl walked away with a grin on her face.

Tendra walked up to the girl and reached into the bag she was wearing over her shoulder. Despite her age, the girl recognized Tendra immediately -- not terribly surprising since she was wearing an Officers jersey, and Tendra was wearing one of her old Officers jerseys and a name tag -- and her eyes grew big as her father approached. "Good job," Dad said to the girl with a smile. "I think your hero has something to say."

"Indeed," Tendra said. "Do I detect Little League skills there?"

The girl was still speechless, so Dad answered. "Yep. Led her team to the league championship last year and then the all-star team to the sector championship."

The girl started to laugh and relax at Dad praising her to her idol and spoke up. "And this year we win the Little League Galactic Cup!"

Dad let out an exaggerated sigh through a laugh. "And she won't shut up about it."

"Nor should you," Tendra said, responding by addressing the girl directly. "You can do anything if you just believe in it. I wish you good luck, but I have something for you now." She pulled her hand out of her bag and handed the girl a little card. It was Tendra's official trading card from her Galactic Cup-winning season, already autographed. "Keep that and use it as a good luck charm." The girl took it with wide eyes and clutched it tight to her chest. "I have to keep moving, but maybe I'll see you in the Elite League in ten years or so."

Tendra walked away toward the front of the hall, stopping at the shooting drill to observe. She watched a teenage Zabrak young man firing wild shots and recognized a mechanical error in his throwing motion. She stepped as he finished his first run (participants in timed drills were allowed two attempts) and briefly pointed out the error and guided his arm through the correct motion so he could feel the difference. She then stepped back and watched as the teen improved from one goal to five goals on his second run, with a faster time before penalties as well.

Moving along, she found herself at the front of the hall at 1629, with no point in making another lap. Her shift was essentially over, and her replacement was already on the floor. Sandy was due to meet her here any minute, though Tendra wasn't fully convinced she would show. Apparently her friends had guilted her into coming to the autograph session, though, and so Tendra knew the peer pressure would be strong.

TAG: @Trieste

 

Before any skills fun and hopefully not preempting a post from gv for Jay doing an autograph, there's something else we should get to.... Naturally, weave yourselves in and out as you like here!

GM post
LimmieCon, Coruscant

"If you three could come with me," a LimmieCon volunteer requested, his words directed at Jay, Lars, and Tendra. None of them had anything on their schedules at this point. If they'd been hoping for downtime, they weren't going to get it just yet.

The volunteer led them out of the autograph area, this time keeping to the back corridors, twisting and turning through the convention hall. It seemed like whatever they were being pulled into was more coordinated than their experiences thus far. Eventually they stopped behind a long curtain, a brief set of steps leading to what looked like an opening between them. A voice amplified by speakers could be heard, but since they were pointing the opposite direction it was hard to make out what was being said. That tone of voice sounded familiar though...

The volunteer was standing in front of the steps, positioning his body so nobody could walk up them. He was listening intently to audio through a comm, which the limmie luminaries couldn't hear. All of a sudden, he stepped aside. "OK, on three, head on out," he said, failing to explain what was about to happen. He held one hand out in front of the steps. "Three...two...one...let's go!"

When they reached the top of the steps another volunteer held the curtain open for them and they stepped into the bright lights of the largest hall of LimmieCon. "Please welcome none other than Lars Steelhead of the Nar Shaddaa Smugglers, Jay Chu-ni of the Carratos Pirates, and limmie legend Tendra Nalo-Linrai!" Elite League Commissioner Fenrir Lokensgaard announced. Each of them was greeted with loud, raucous cheers, no doubt led by fans from Nar Shaddaa, Carratos, and Euceron (maybe even Hapes), respectively. "Please! Sit, sit!" Lokensgaard greeted each of them, indicating chairs behind a panel table waiting for them.

Once they had all settled in, Lokensgaard also took his seat. "It's so good to have such a diverse group of beings with us, representing so many corners of the galaxy. I thought this would be a great way to talk about the changes that are coming up this season for the ELL. We've been listening to fans and are proud to announce a couple of things that we think are really going to make for a great season.

"First, tiebreaks have become a fact of life for the ELL. I mean, I've got to sign the paychecks for an entire analytics department just to figure out who finished where these days," Lokensgaard said. This drew a few light laughs. "But tiebreaks aren't really that fun. There's been an idea floating around for a while, one that I challenged the Competition Committee to take a hard look at. They did and they've recommended a rule change that I've decided to implement.

"Beginning this season, we will have exactly one tiebreak: head-to-head record. This has always been fair, especially in our current format of round robin play. But, as we know, sometimes even with just seven games we get into circular ties where some teams are still tied within the tie break. See what I mean? It gets complicated fast.

"So we're just going to do away with all that stats. In the event of ties within head-to-head record, we're going to play extra games!" Lokensgaard declared. "Panelists, you're hearing this for the first time just like everyone else here. Thoughts?"

TAG: @galactic-vagabond422 @jcgoble3 @Vehn

 

IC: Tendra Nalo-Linrai

There was a few moments of awkward silence because nobody wanted to go first. Tendra, in particular, wanted the others to speak first because she was not in favor of this idea, but she finally had to prevent the situation from becoming more awkward.

"Alright, I'll go, but this won't be easy. Honestly, I'm not in favor of it. Limmie is a hard and rough game, one of the roughest out there. The career injury rate for the average player is one hundred percent. Playing an extra game just creates extra risk of injuries and of losing your star players for the rest of the playoffs. Concussions may be a thing of the past now that those headband things are a, well, thing now after I took my stand in retiring, and I'm happy that my push for improvement had positive results, but there are so many other ways to get injured.

"In 12 years in the Elite League, I think I had at least four to six non-concussion injuries, maybe more because my memory isn't what it used to be, that limited my playing time or forced me to miss games. Multiply that risk by fifteen players plus reserves, and I'd wager there's a good chance trainers are on the field at least once in that extra game. Is the risk of losing a star player, or really any player, worth the spectacle of playing an additional game that isn't needed?

"And really, it's not just one game, since head-to-head ties are typically three-way ties, so you're looking at three extra games, maybe two if you copy lightball rules, but you can't break a three-way tie with just one game. So it's multiple chances for a star player to get injured, and nobody wants to see that happen -- not the team, not the fans, not even the League because it takes eyes off the later games and reduces HoloNet ratings. All because people can't add and subtract to calculate a point differential? What's the point?"

TAG: @Trieste @Vehn @galactic-vagabond422

 

Jay Chu-ni
LimmieCon

"Um..." Jay replied looking for an open space on the program. She used to say 'I'm just happy to be in the league, to get to play the sport I love with my heroes and the team I love.' But that didn't quite feel right. The love for her team and the sport had waned in her slightly. The circus around her had left her a little worn out. Though she couldn't really show that to a fan beaming with enthusiasm. "Getting to travel is nice." It gets her away from her problems for a bit. "Seeing the galaxy and people like you." She put on another winning smile as she signed the program. "Enjoying your day so far?"

TAG: @Trieste

 

IC: Lars Steelhead
LimmieCon

"I can't really comment, to be honest," Lars admitted, "I never played the game. However,"

Lars paused for dramatic effect, "if I did play the game I think I would be upset about putting my body on the line for some extra games. I'll defer to the players on this one. Really out of my realm. What's not out of my realm, and I hope this gets resolved tonight, is that I really need a cold one. Not just an ordinary cold one. I'm talking a Nar Shaddaa infused, garbage stinking, Twi'lek lusting, cold one. You know? I mean you all want one right?"

The crowd cheered.

"So to answer the question I just think that we've got to let the players play the game and if a team gets into a tiebreak situation, well," Lars paused, "just pop open a cold one."

Tag: @Trieste; @jcgoble3; @galactic-vagabond422

 

GM post
LimmieCon, Coruscant

“The health and safety of our players is, of course, front of mind for the ELL,” Lokensgaard said smoothly, having listened to the thoughts of Tendra and Lars. “Thankfully, the shorter regular season helps out here.

“With only seven games, adding two extra tiebreak games means that tied teams will still be shy of the ten-week season we used to run as a matter of course.

“Ms. Nalo-Linrai raises a good format question. To avoid the three-game solution she mentioned, what we’ve decided to do is not throw the point differential out entirely. The team with the highest point differential in the tiebreak will get a bye, so to speak. They’ll host the winner of the two other teams.

“And should there be four tied teams, we’ll run a two game, single-elimination bracket, sorted by point differential. With a seven-week season, it’s impossible for there to be more than four teams tied with each other.” Lokensgaard paused. “And if we ever expand to a longer season…well…we’ll ride that rancor when we get to it.

“So the max is a seven game season, two tiebreak games, two playoff games. 11 games. That’s one less game than Ms. Nalo-Linrai played to win her Galactic Cup, if memory serves correctly.” Lokensgaard smiled at Tendra, as if daring her to point out that he’d sidestepped her history of injury.

“But I think that Ms. Nalo-Linrai has yet to ask the big question: why is she here? At this panel?” Lokensgaard continued. He crossed the stage to stand next to her. “While it’s true that she’s a valued ELL alumna we’re always happy to see, the truth is I thought she should be here to celebrate an even more exciting announcement from the league.

“That’s right: the Euceron Officers, who last won their Galactic Cup thanks to Tendra Nalo-Linrai, will be joining the ELL in 305!” Lokensgaard announced.

“We couldn’t be happier about having Euceron back in the league.

“But that’s not all. There’s a very special reason that we had Ms. Nalo-Linrai join us today for this announcement. Something that, frankly, is long-overdue.

“Tendra Nalo-Linrai—it is my pleasure and honor to inform you that, later this year, you will be inducted into the Limmie Hall of Fame.”

TAG: @jcgoble3

 

IC: Sandy Starkrimson
LimmieCon, Coruscant

“Today’s been great!” Sandy said. “Who would have thought LimmieCon would be so fun! I was worried it would just be a bunch of beings moving from place to place aimlessly, but it’s been really cool meeting beings like you! Good luck this season!”

With a triple-signed program, Sandy left the autograph area. There was still an afternoon to enjoy and she’d already met a Galactic Cup champion, a current ELL player, and an ELL owner. Everybody wasn’t going to believe it.

But now she had to decide what was next. She scanned her program on her datapad. Her stomach growled as she saw there was the Great Nacho Cook Off in 15 minutes.

Decision made.

---

It had been a long day by the time that Sandy arrived at the skills challenge section, which was quieting down as tired convention goers headed out for dinner or to flop into their hotel beds. Sandy was looking forward to the latter, but even if she’d been on her feet all day, she wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to spend time with an ELL champion—no, a Limmie Hall of Famer (Sandy hadn’t been present for the Commissioner’s talk, but a convention update on her datapad had alerted her to the news)—doing limmie things.

“Hi!” Sandy called out as she spotted Tendra at the entry way to the skills challenge space. “Wow—this is way more complex than I would have expected!” She looked at the arenas for each skill. “I thought this was going to be like those Little League Limmie kick and pass things. This is way bigger than that!”

Sandy paused. “So…uh…any tips before I begin?” She put her bag with her convention swag and souvenirs down at a check stand operated by a volunteer. “I definitely won’t pretend I couldn’t use them.”

Before Tendra could reply, Sandy smacked her forehead. “Where are my manners? Congratulations on getting into the Hall of Fame! That’s so awesome. And on the Officers being back in the ELL! I wonder if they’ll come to Bakura this season or if the Miners will go to Euceron? I guess we’ll find out when they release the schedule.

TAG: @jcgoble3

 

IC: Tendra Nalo-Linrai

Tendra was genuinely surprised at this, and her expression showed it as the audience rose in a standing ovation. She had thought this honor would never come, that she hadn't done enough to earn it.

"Wow. I'm... honored, sir," she stammered after the applause died down. "This is an honor I thought would never come, but I'm happy it has. I only wish... my father were here to see it." She shed a tear as she, and nearly everyone else in the hall, recalled the devastating explosion nearly 30 years ago that claimed over a quarter million lives, including her father Marte who was enshrined in the Hall of Fame himself, and led to the bankruptcy liquidation of the Euceron Storm the following year. Even younger fans who had not yet been born at that time had been taught about the history of these events by their parents.

"I'm not really sure what else to say right now, but it looks like I have a speech to write, so I better get thinking about it."

TAG: @Trieste for Commissioner response, if any

IC: Tendra Nalo-Linrai

Tendra chuckled at the babbling from Sandy. "Eh, it doesn't really matter to me. I'd enjoy a good Truce Day game myself."

Tendra allowed Sandy a chance to respond, then continued. "Yeah, it seems the stakes have been raised a bit. You're not just going against a retired pro, but a Hall of Famer. I hear you have some friends back home who are likely jealous about that. Anyway, we're just going to run through all six arenas and straight up compare scores and times. I expect I'll beat you in five out of six, because I'm a terrible goalkeeper." Tendra winked as she said that.

"But if you can beat me in just one challenge, I'll have a secret prize for you. And to make things a little easier, since we get two attempts each, we'll compare your better time against my worse time at each arena. Sound like a plan? Oh, and no tips from me, because my hour to do that just ended," Tendra added with a mischievous grin as she removed her name tag and dropped it on the registration table. "There's a new coach on the floor, though, so you might find some help there, but no guarantees."

TAG: @Trieste again for Sandy's response

 

GM Post
LimmieCon, Bakura

"And we look forward to seeing you--and hearing that speech--on Empress Teta, Ms. Nalo-Linrai," Fenrir said. "Now, I think that just leaves one more item of business before we close. If you'll all consult your digital convention programs, I think you'll see something you've all been waiting for."

Sure enough, on datapads across the convention, the 205 ELL schedule was dropped.

Week 1
Corellia Rebels at Kothlis Spies
Nar Shaddaa Smugglers at Geonosis Gangbusters
Bakura Miners at Euceron Officers
Mando’ade Mercs at Carratos Pirates

Week 2
Kothlis Spies at Nar Shaddaa Smugglers
Geonosis Gangbusters at Euceron Officers
Mando’ade Mercs at Bakura Miners
Corellia Rebels at Carratos Pirates

Week 3
Corellia Rebels at Geonosis Gangbusters
Carratos Pirates at Euceron Officers
Mando’ade Mercs at Kothlis Spies
Nar Shaddaa Smugglers at Bakura Miners

Week 4
Carratos Pirates at Nar Shaddaa Smugglers
Geonosis Gangbusters at Mando’ade Mercs
Bakura Miners at Corellia Rebels
Euceron Officers at Kothlis Spies

Week 5
Nar Shaddaa Smugglers at Corellia Rebels
Bakura Miners at Kothlis Spies
Carratos Pirates at Geonosis Gangbusters
Euceron Officers at Mando’ade Mercs

Week 6
Kothlis Spies at Carratos Pirates
Euceron Officers at Nar Shaddaa Smugglers
Geonosis Gangbusters at Bakura Miners
Corellia Rebels at Mando’ade Mercs

Week 7
Kothlis Spies at Geonosis Gangbusters
Carratos Pirates at Bakura Miners
Corellia Rebels at Euceron Officers
Mando’ade Mercs at Nar Shaddaa Smugglers

And 305 was going to begin before they all knew it.

TAG: @Bardan_Jusik @galactic-vagabond422 @jcgoble3 @Vehn

 

IC: Sandy Starkrimson
LimmieCon, Coruscant

“OK, sounds good,” Sandy said to Tendra, with a nod of her head. This was going to be…interesting, to put it mildly. Even though she’d heard of the Little League Limmie kick and pass contest, she’d never played Little League. But there was a first time for everything, right? Even if that first time was going to be against a Hall of Famer.

Sandy stepped up to the first challenge, the agility course. The floor coach, who was wearing a jersey for the Tynna Navigators and looked to be from that planet, flipped Sandy a ball, which she bobbled slightly as she caught it. “All right, this one’s easy. Just hold the ball, run around the dummies, and then make the pass at the end. Watch the floor markings for where to put your feet. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Ready? Set? Go!”

She took off, holding the ball with two hands in front of her. Sandy belatedly realized that she probably should have tried tucking the ball like she saw the pros do. But she was on her way. No sense changing things now. She’d probably drop the ball in the process and that would ruin her time.

Sandy easily avoided the dummies (they were stationary, after all), but had to slow up to make the footwork patterns. When she got to the end, she skidded to a stop and with one arm launched the boloball with an overhand hurl. It clunked off the side of the passing target. The coach clicked her stopwatch. “Five second penalty for blowing the pass, that’s 36.5. Not bad.”

The next event was a shooting drill. Eight boloballs were already waiting for Sandy, set up by a helpful volunteer. “Just get it into the goal anyway you can. I find its best when you get your feet set before you make your shot. Go!”

Sandy took off at a run, scooping up each boloball and squaring up to the goal before shooting. She waited for a clear shot, but her accuracy still wasn’t there. She made 2 out of the 8 shots, with all 6 of her shots hitting the cutout of the goalkeeper. “Hey, that’s pretty good! You’re getting better! So with the penalties, that comes out to 1:17.9.”

When they got to the penalty kick challenge, which had live goalkeepers, Sandy asked the Tynnan, “Can I get the fake goalkeeper back?” The one in the goal right now had a friendly smile, but was wearing a Ord Mantell Scrappers jersey. This was going to be hard.

“You got this. It’s easy for them to play against someone who’s really good, because you know how they should act. He’s got no idea what you’re going to do,” the Navigator said. “Just have fun.”

Sandy took a deep breath in and let it out as she stepped up to the line. Her first and second shots were stopped, but, in a miracle akin to hitting the thermal exhaust port on the Death Star, Sandy somehow unwittingly faked the Scrapper out and tucked a ball into the net. She felt like she’d actually scored in the ELL. Her fourth shot was stopped, but somehow she made her fifth and final shot too.

“I can’t believe I did that!” Sandy exclaimed. She wished someone had been recording that. Jed was never going to believe it.

Riding that high, Sandy came up to the tackling event. “Ever play that game with the blocks that are coming from the top of the screen?” the coach asked. “It’s kind of like that. Just focus on what’s closest to you. Go!”

Sandy headed for the first of 20 droids and launched herself onto it. She brought the droid down, pleased with herself, brushing herself off as she got to her feet…which was when she discovered that she’d apparently been taking her sweet time getting upright again. The second droid was almost over the line. Sandy ran after it, but was too late to stop it from crossing the line. She tried to make it to the next droid, but was too far away to stop it from getting over the line too.

After futilely crisscrossing the field a few more times, she remembered the coach’s advice to focus on what was closest to her, not the field. By then there were only so many droids left to tackle and she finished with an abysmal 4 out of 20. “Easy peasy, lemon squeezy…more like difficult difficult, lemon difficult,” Sandy said.

Sufficiently chastened by the experience, Sandy came to the passing drill. “You can signal early to receive the pass on the run, but I recommend you just let them pass to you when you get to the checkpoint so you have the best shot of catching them,” the Navigator recommended. “All right, go!”

Sandy had no trouble following the course and followed the coach’s recommendation to receive the passes once she arrived. She was able to snag all of them that way, but much like the footwork course she’d started with, Sandy’s accuracy was off on her passes, missing the targets. However, she got better as the event went on and made her last couple. “With the time penalties, that’s 59.8.”

The Bakuran drew an arm across her forehead as she came up to the final event, the goalkeeper challenge. “Phew, you really do this for 60 minutes? I thought there was a lot of standing around in limmie!” Sandy commented.

“Well…not really, but goalkeeper is largely standing! Except for the part you’re about to do, that is,” the Navigator said with a friendly smile. “Honestly for this one…I got nothing. There’s a reason I never played goal. Just do what feels right.”

Sandy wished her coach had a bit more to say on this one, especially because now she was facing three players wearing a variety of jerseys. An entire full forward line. Sandy swallowed. She couldn’t imagine how Runi Meshurok faced twice this multiple times a game. Maybe more if there was an aggressive midfielder in the mix. But the Miners’ goalkeeper also had six defenders to help. It was all down to Sandy here.

“OK, let’s get this over with,” Sandy said, settling into what she thought was a goalkeeper’s stance, knees bent, arms spread wide, which she waved periodically as if that was going to do much to block a boloball.

Indeed, it didn’t, as Sandy dived left when the ball went right, right when the ball went left, and low when the ball went high. But, perhaps through the intercession of the Force, a long reach on the fourth shot glanced off Sandy’s outstretched hand and beyond the goal post. She’d stopped one shot in the end.

As she picked herself up off the artificial turf, Sandy huffed, “Thanks for—taking—it—easy on me. You just have fun with…Tendra, OK?” She walked to the observation area for the challenge, looking forward to seeing just how much she got smoked by the former all-star.

TAG: @jcgoble3

 

OOC: Each arena is two attempts at each, so I'm going to assume you only described the better of Sandy's two scores on each. Per the terms of Tendra's deal, it's the better of Sandy's two times against the worse of Tendra's two times, so I'll cover both of Tendra's attempts at each.

IC: Tendra Nalo-Linrai

Tendra gave Sandy a high-five as she smiled with a hint of a chuckle that all but said "watch this". She did say, "Why don't you follow me around? I'm probably going to get quite an audience and I'd hate for you to not see me beating your times," with a wink.

Leading Sandy to the first arena, Tendra stepped in and the Navigator threw her hands up. "I've got nothing for you. Got something for me?" Tendra laughed as she took the ball and tucked it under her arm to her side. On the signal, Tendra raced around the dummies, getting quite closer to them than Sandy did, then nimbly stepped through the footwork patterns before launching a perfect pass. "28.6, plus a three-second penalty for stepping on a line, makes 31.6."

Tendra's second attempt showed the first was just practice. It was a perfect run with a final time of 26.9 seconds, and went straight to the top of the leaderboard displayed nearby. "Nice!" said the coach. "I wish I was that good here in my prime!" Tendra didn't have the heart to tell her that in her prime, Tendra had easily gone sub-26 seconds.

The second arena was much the same story, and Tendra was in her element here as a full forward. Tendra put 4 balls in the goal the first time around, with 3 of the other 4 off the keeper and the other one just missing high. She also moved around the arena much more quickly and efficiently than Sandy, leading to a time with penalties of 1:12.9. On the second run, her throws were more controlled but no less quick as she settled in, leading to 6 goals and the other two off the keeper for a time after penalties of 0:58.7, which appeared in second place on the leaderboard. Tendra made a mental note to ask about who the leader, Orin Lacer, was, as she didn't recognize the name.

The third arena, penalty shots, was tricky. Sandy had the advantage of being unpredictable; indeed, Tendra had seen a lot of average con attendees having success here. However, penalty shots by their nature were difficult to predict. Many attendees were opting for all kicks, and the relatively slow speed of the average person's kick often allowed the keeper to react to the kick instead of having to guess, whereas Tendra could shoot faster and was not afraid to mix the style up a bit. So it was that her first shot was fired sidearm into the upper left corner as she faked out the Scrapper, who dived to her right. The second shot Tendra drop-kicked into the right side of the goal. The third shot was guessed correctly by the Scrapper, who blocked a rocket of a place-kick low and left. Tendra's fourth shot was fired straight down the middle as the faked-out goalkeeper dived left for goal number three. And the fifth shot went in the top right as the keeper dived in the right direction but too low. "Damn, you've still got it," said the Scrapper after the fifth attempt.

The second attempt was a similar story, albeit with three goals, with one save off a sidearm shot to the left and one place-kick that clanged off the upright.

Arena number 4 was a bit out of Tendra's element, having been a forward and not a back during her career, but she had still needed basic defensive skills to challenge opponents when they possessed the ball near their goal, so it was not foreign territory. She took her stance and started tackling dummies. She knew it was physically impossible to get all 20 down by design, but she moved around gracefully and efficiently and did her best to knock down one dummy after another. When the dust settled, she had managed to tackle 11 of the 20 dummies. On the second attempt, she did one better with 12. The leaderboard was full of 15s and 16s, and she recognized some of the names as college backs.

The fifth arena was more Tendra's style. Tendra breezed through the course, taking each pass on the run and shooting on the run as well. To her surprise, she completed both runs with the same time: 45.7 seconds, in both cases including one penalty for a missed pass.

Finally, it was time for the goalkeeper challenge. Due to the lack of official scoring here, it was a single-attempt arena (instead of two attempts), but Tendra was going to base the challenge to Sandy off of number of saves. The Navigator looked at Tendra and shrugged her shoulders. "You got any idea what you're doing here?"

Tendra glanced over at Sandy and then said, "As much as you do, which is probably nothing."

"Well, good luck."

Tendra stepped in and tried to think about how opposing goalkeepers had positioned and moved themselves. It was useless though. The opposing forwards in front of her gave her no leeway and attacked her ferociously. Tendra was caught out of position every time and could only watch as they scored four straight goals on her practically uncontested, meaning Sandy had finally won one.

Tendra walked over to Sandy barely sweating and looking as fresh as could be and shook her hand. "Well, you got one from me, and that's all you needed. So here's something for you." With that, Tendra pulled her Officers jersey off her back (revealing a black T-shirt underneath), signed her autograph on it with the words, "To Sandy: Thanks for being a good sport!", and handed it to Sandy.

TAG: @Trieste

 

IC: Sandy Starkrimson
LimmieCon, Coruscant

“Wow!” Sandy said as she accepted the t-shirt and looked at the signature and message. “Thanks! They’re never going to believe this back home! I’m going to have to make a LimmieCon space on the wall now!

“I’ll see you on Euceron when the season starts!” Sandy realized what she’d just said. “Well, I won’t see you there, but you know what I mean. Thanks again!”

Just wait until she got home. She’d show Jed he wasn’t the only being who could have amazing stories about limmie-inspired visits to Coruscant. And she didn’t even have to get blackout drunk for hers!

TAG: @jcgoble3

 

GM post

And we return to the rhythms of a season. Bonus potential for Bakura, Carratos, Euceron, and Nar Shaddaa.

Week 1
Corellia Rebels at Kothlis Spies (6-15)
Nar Shaddaa Smugglers at Geonosis Gangbusters (2-7)
Bakura Miners at Euceron Officers (11-4)
Mando’ade Mercs at Carratos Pirates (16-16, OT 22-16)

TAG: @Bardan_Jusik @galactic-vagabond422 @jcgoble3 @Vehn

 

IC: Sandy Starkrimson
Hyperspace

Sandy strode down the corridor to the engine room. She’d signed on for a run from Bakura to Thyferra. The starship was in need of routine maintenance, the sort that could be done in flight. Most of her jobs were of this sort.

She pulled her datapad out of the pocket of her flight overalls. For work like this, Sandy would put on a wave show. She didn’t need to think that hard and having something in the background helped her concentration. She’d rigged a loop for the datpad that she could use to hang it on a convenient protuberance. She preferred shows about limmie and today was Taungsday which meant she tuned directly to one station…

“Welcome to the first of four straight hours of lightball talk here on The Fandalorian—”

“Lightball!” Sandy exclaimed. “Where’s The Rancor Pit when you need them?” How was she supposed to concentrate listening to lightball? The only thing more boring than lightball was listening to beings talk about lightball.

She told her datapad to scan the waves for sports programs. If the old standby didn’t work, then she’d have to find something else.

​

Sandy wasn’t sure what this program was, but it had an interesting intro song, if perhaps not very typical for a sports show.

“Welcome, wave people! Broadcasting live from BBC Sports studios on Bakura, I’m your host, Horst Penn.”

Sandy dropped her hydrospanner in surprise. “What?!”

“Wait? Do I have to say ‘This is the BBC’? Is that legally required? Or do I have to say ‘This is the BBC Sports’? That sounds weird. Can I say ‘This is BBC Sports’? Or will they throw me in jail for that?…I don’t have to say any of that? That’s a relief.

“So, you’re probably thinking, ‘Horst, what are you doing on the wave? You’re the ridiculously handsome sideline reporter for Miners games on the HoloNet. And the wave is not the HoloNet. Did you get lost?’ These are very good points. In fact, I had these same questions myself.

“But it turns out my agent-slash-lawyer-slash-wife wants a beach house, so she signed a new contract for me to have my own wave show with BBC Sports. And congratulations! You’re listening to it! Aren’t you lucky?

“For those of you who tuned in looking for the BBC’s blob racing coverage, my apologies. They decided to give me this time because they said, quote, ‘You can’t possibly do any worse than blob racing.’

“So that’s why you’re listening to me! On my show! Which doesn’t have a name! Because I vetoed ‘Not Blob Racing with Horst.’ But ‘What’s the Worst That Could Happen?’ is still on the table. Hey! Could we put ‘What’s the Horst that Could Happen?’ on the list? I think it could be a winner!”

Sandy couldn’t help but laugh at that.

“Let’s talk about that Miners game on Euceron yesterday. I saw it, you saw it…or should I say Eu-cer-it….No? I shouldn’t say that? OK then.”

Sandy rolled her eyes. That was a terrible joke—if Horst even meant it to be a joke. You could never be sure with him.

“The Miners came out of the gate flying with some great defense. Second-least amount of points against on Opening Day across the League, trailing only the defending champs. It was a great team effort, but my MVP of the day was none other than Obi-San Samya. This kid is hot. Like Tatooine sand hot. Like Mustafar lava hot. I mean his future is so bright he’s gonna need sunglasses.”

“I mean he was good, but the whole defense looked good,” Sandy mumbled as she opened up a panel to look at the inside of the coolant system.

“He’s exactly what the Miners were missing last season. I mean, they looked like a completely different team. Except they were still the Miners! 14 of last years’ starters came back.

“I know you could listen to me talk all day, but I think a lot of other shows don’t have enough callers on the broadcast, so I decided I’m going to do things differently. Also Trixie, my agent-slash-lawyer-slash-wife, said that I get paid even if I let other people talk, so that sounds like a great idea to me! So the lines are open! There should be a call-in button on your datapad, console, or however else you get the wave if you’d like to be on the show. And it looks like we have our first caller! You’re on…the show, whatever it’s called.”

“Hey Horst. So cool to be caller number one.”

“You’re probably going to be in the Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Or the Limmie Hall of Fame. Or the Limmie Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Does that exist? Can someone look up if that exists?”

“I just want to say you’re right on the money, Horst. The Miners defense was an absolute beast this week. This is championship-level stuff we saw.”

“Right? The Miners are going to go 9-0 and win the Cup this year. I’m calling it right now. That’s an official Horst prediction. Trademark. That’s how trademarks work….What?…Well let’s ask Trixie about that. Hi, you’re on the show!”

“Horst, if you’d been playing would you have given up that goal to the Officers? The Miners were so close to a shutdown.”

“No way. I would have been like WHAM! And POW! And ZOP! Everyone forgets about zop. That’s why I played so long in the league. I knew about zop.”

“What is this? The Adventures of Superbothan?” Sandy commented as she stuck her head inside a bulkhead to look at some wiring.

“Yeah, the Officers played really tough this week, definitely see why they made it back to the ELL. They never gave up in that game, made the Miners earn it. I think they’re still missing a few pieces before they’re contenders though.”

“For sure. There’s always going to be a ramp up period when you enter the league. Luckily the Miners got an early game while they’re still figuring things out.”

The next caller came on and also praised the Miners defensive showing. “Seriously?” Sandy exclaimed as she finished a diagnostic. On an impulse, she reached over to her datapad and hit the button to call into the show.

“Hold please for…the Horst show,” the being on the other side said, clearly unsure of what to call the show. As Sandy waited, she wondered what she was doing. Calling into a wave show? She’d never done that before. She’d never even thought of doing that. She was about to disconnect and go back to listening to the broadcast when she heard:

“You’re on the show! What’s on your mind?”

“Hi,” Sandy said. “Don’t take this the wrong way…but I think you’re giving the Miner defense too much credit.”

“Sure, the Officers weren’t that polished, but still, they’re in the ELL for a reason.”

“Yeah, but you’re acting like the Miners’ defense is the greatest thing since they started putting umbrellas in tropical drinks.”

“Oh man. I love those umbrellas!”

“I think everybody does,” Sandy said as she reached inside the coolant system to make an adjustment, “but the Miners have never been a defense-first team. Look at the Silver Age. That’s, what, 40 something years? How many times have the Miners led the league in points scored? Twice?”

“That sounds about right.”

“And I don’t think they won the Cup in either year. They’re an offense-first team. We invented the west galaxy offense, the power offense, the strong midfield, whatever you want to call it. I’m honestly concerned they only put up 11 on the Officers. They should have destroyed them.”

“It was a pretty low-scoring week. I mean, if you take the overtime period out on Carratos, the top score over 60 minutes was 16.”

“Yeah, and a Miners team that average 16 points a game over a season? That’s a Miners team that doesn’t make the playoffs. I mean, they averaged 19 points a game last season and were first out,” Sandy pressed as she pulled her arm back out of the innards of the starship. “If there’d been a player like Tendra Nalo-Linrai out there—heck, if Tendra was been out there herself—I think the Miners would have lost that one.”

“Interesting point. Innnnnnteresting point. Good thing she’s retired! Though I should check if I’m slated to play against her in any charity games soon. That could be bad. Thanks for calling in!”

The datapad went back to the live broadcast and the next caller came on. “Huh,” Sandy said. Horst Penn thought she had an interesting point. “Who would have thought?”

TAG: @jcgoble3

 

GM post

Bonus potential for Bakura today.

Week 2 results
Kothlis Spies at Nar Shaddaa Smugglers (6-3)
Geonosis Gangbusters at Euceron Officers (13-2)
Mando’ade Mercs at Bakura Miners (17-38)
Corellia Rebels at Carratos Pirates (23-27)

TAG: @Bardan_Jusik @galactic-vagabond422 @jcgoble3 @Vehn

 

IC: Sandy Starkrimson
Hyperspace

“Hello?”

Sandy slid out from underneath the hyperdrive. She couldn’t quite place the accent. “Hello?”

“Where are you? Maybe just keep talking?”

“Ummm…what should I say?” Sandy asked.

“Oh there you are.” Standing over Sandy was a large female Herglic. From her position on her back, the Herglic looked very large. “You’re the engineer?”

“That’s me! I’m Sandy.”

“Hi! I’m Roze. The programmer they hired on for the flight.”

“Nice to meet you!”

“So this explains a lot,” Roze said.

Very little about this situation seemed self-explanatory to Sandy, but she decided not to say so. “Something up?”

“Yeah. I was working on the hyperdrive computer—which is honestly more of a mess than my sister’s room when she was a teenager—when things started going wonky. You fiddling inside the hyperdrive makes sense.”

“Sorry!” Sandy said as she sat up. “I didn’t know someone was working on the computer.”

“That’s OK! Honestly it’ll be better if you do your thing. I’ll have to run a diagnostic after you finish your calibration thingies. Might as well just do it all at once.” Roze settled onto the floor with her back against one of the bulkheads. Given her size compared to the compartment, it was a good thing Sandy was working underneath the hyperdrive. “Besides, we get paid a flat rate for the journey. I’m all about working smarter, not harder.”

“If you’re sure,” Sandy asked to confirm.

“Knock yourself out. Except don’t. It seems like you could hit your head under there really easily,” Roze observed.

“You learn pretty quickly to be aware of your clearances in this line of work,” Sandy said as she shimmied back underneath the hyperdrive. “Mind if I put the wave on?”

“Go for it. Are you listening to a true crime broadcast? Because I love those. I was just listening to Only Murders in the Starship. I’m addicted.”

“I was going to put on a limmie show. Big game for my team this week so I want to hear the chatter. Would you mind?”

“It’s your engine room.” Roze didn’t sound that convinced, but it was good enough for Sandy. She turned her datapad on.

​

“Welcome to…do we have a name yet?…No? I thought we liked ‘Just Keep Talking with Horst Penn’?…We don’t like it? That’s disappointing. But we’re gonna get it! I believe in us!

“First things first—we got a lot of messages after the last show about the fact that I’m, and I quote, ‘just another cis Human male giving his opinions on the wave.’ This is true. That’s why I’m forcing my producer, Bet, to say something on the air to prove that a diverse team makes this show happen.”

“I really don’t want to do this.”

“But people need to believe you exist!”

“Liz never has to do this.”

“She would if she worked on this show. I tried to get her to leave her job and join this one.”

“She’s the smart one.”

“You’re smart too. I mean, you agreed to produce this show!”

“My point exactly.”

“Thank you….And now Bet’s walking away. Bet! We have more time to fill! I planned on like 30 minutes of banter with you! At least! Maybe an hour!...What? We have callers? Already? OK! Put them on!”

“Hey Horst. So glad to see they didn’t cancel you.”

“That’s because my wife wrote a contract that said that they have to pay me even if they cancel me. She’s the best.”

“Well everybody loves you. I’ve gotta get your take on this week’s game. I loved seeing the Miners take it to the Mercs. Felt like old times.”

“OK, so this is my certified hot take. My hot Horst take. My Horst take? Bet, let’s work on branding this. I know the Miners scored a bunch of points, but this game was all about the defense.”

“Seriously?” Sandy shouted from beneath the hyperdrive.

“Was the game not about defense?” Roze asked.

“The Miners scored 38 points! That’s…like…basically the maximum amount of points you can score in a limmie game!” Sandy objected as she kept working.

“That does sound like a lot of points,” Roze agreed.

“…look if the Rose-Lynn Hypertravels isn’t out there, tearing it up, then the Miners aren’t breaking up the play, the Mercs are establishing their offensive zone presence and they’re doing Mandalorian things like shooting a lot. Probably with flamethrowers.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Sandy continued.

“Hi Horst. You’re so right about this game. The Miner defense really stepped up this week.”

“Am I living in an alternate universe?” Sandy wondered aloud.

“Very possibly,” Roze said. “Why don’t you call in and tell him he’s wrong? I love nothing more than telling males when they’re wrong. And when a Herglic tells them, they usually don’t object.”

“I called in last week.”

“Is there a limit to how many times you can call in?”

Sandy paused. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Then what’s stopping you from calling in again?”

“I don’t know. Letting other people have a chance?”

“Apparently the other people are wrong so that’s working out great,” Roze commented.

“They’re probably not even going to let me on again,” Sandy said, but she hit the call-in button on her datapad.

She was connected to the switchboard surprisingly fast. “You’ve reached Horst Penn’s show.”

“Hi, I was on last—” Sandy began.

Sandy didn’t even get to finish. “Oh good, another caller. Please hold.”

“Welcome to the show! Let’s talk about how great the Miners were.”

“Hi, the Miners were great, Horst, but the Miner defense was not great. I’m not saying they were bad, but do you really think giving up 17 points is good? It’s average at best.”

“Tell me more about that, caller.”

“ Setting aside the fact that the Mercs scored a number of goals—you know, the thing a defense is supposed to prevent—the offense looked way better. Every member of the Miners’ front six had a multi-point day. Alexa Superspy alone accounted for 9 points.”

“That’s true.”

“But if anyone won this game, it was the midfield, not the defense.”

“You’re talking about Kassandra Kirt.”

“Who else? This is the second year that the Miners have put up 38 points on the Merc and she was huge last year for us.”

“Really? I’m checking that now…yeah, you’re right! 38-13 last year.”

“She just seems to bring her best game when she plays her mom.”

“And brother.”

“Right! Yeah, I guess she’s probably been watching them both her entire life.”

“That’s a pretty good point. Wait a second…did you call in last week?”

“Yeah she did!” Roze said.

“Shhhhh!”

“She totally called in last week! Her name’s Sandy!”

“Once again, great points Sandy. The midfield was pretty crucial this week. But only because they carried the ball from where the defense did their great work to the offense so they could score the points.”

“Right, because Kassandra didn’t have 8 points in that game.”

“Sandy, that’s wrong. She had 8 points in the game.”

“Horst, that was sarcasm.”

“Oh right! I always forget about sarcasm.”

The call-in ended and the datapad went back to the regular broadcast.

“That was fun,” Roze said.

Sandy pushed out from under the hyperdrive. “I’m glad you enjoyed yourself, because I’m done with the hyperdrive. Can I distract you while you do your work and force you to call into your favorite true crime broadcast?”

“Please. That would be so awesome. Let me tell you what’s happened on Only Murders in the Starship last week…”

Apparently someone else conveniently forgot about sarcasm too.

TAG: @Bardan_Jusik

 

IC: Tendra Nalo-Linrai
Week 2 loss to Geonosis

Tendra sat in the owner's box, bemoaning the lack of offense from the Officers over the first two weeks of the season. It was almost enough for her to turn to the team owner sitting next to her and ask for a contract. Those years had passed her by, alas; she was too old to keep up with the pace of Elite League play nowadays, despite the opinion of that one caller on that wave show whose voice sounded vaguely familiar (there were quadrillions of beings in the galaxy, so she couldn't be certain it was that woman from LimmieCon, although being a Miners fan narrowed it down somewhat). But there might be something she could do, still.

She was in the owner's box because for the first time in several years, she had set foot on an actual limmie field just under two hours ago during pregame ceremonies. Tendra had been the Officers' honorary captain for the pregame coin flip, celebrating their return to the Elite League. She would have been here for the Miners game, but she had another commitment she couldn't get out of, so she was here this week instead.

As she watched the Duros full forward Bradfra Nonce give up yet another turnover, it occurred to her that the current Officers team was faced with a challenge not unlike that faced by her father when the Storm entered the Elite League. The Officers had been in the Premier League for some time and their roster reflected that. The players were not used to the speed and skill of the Elite League, and they needed an Elite League caliber coach to help them. The defense was doing a decent job, but the offense was sputtering.

Apparently the GM, Dr. Aebatt Zargana (who had finally accepted that people were going to call her Doctor and she couldn't stop them), had the same thought as she got up and walked around to tap Tendra on the shoulder. "Crazy thought for you, Tendra?"

"Lemme guess: you need an offensive coach?"

"Well, yes. I was going to ease into it a bit more slowly, but sure, we can get to the point."

"I've been sitting here thinking the same thing. I have no interest in traveling with the team but I'd be happy to work with them during practice."

"Great. We need to formalize it with a contract and all because of League bylaws, but unless you're asking for something outrageous on salary I'm sure we can put that together tomorrow and get you on the practice field the day after."

"Honestly, I'd do it as a volunteer just because I don't like seeing my team struggle like this. But extra money is always nice," Tendra said with a chuckle.

Aebatt laughed as well. "I'll get a figure befitting your experience and have it ready for you tomorrow."

Just then the Officers managed their second point of the game, distracting Tendra for a moment before she turned back to Aebatt. "I'm seeing flashes of excellence out there, but it's too inconsistent and with too much sloppiness. I think if I can clean that up, we might have a chance to make a run at the playoffs."

---

Officers practice field, two days after Geonosis loss

The Rodian head coach, Rockta Sparks, stood in front of the team with Tendra at her side as the players murmured amongst each other. "Quiet, everyone," Rockta called out. "You all know I was stressing in holo review yesterday about our offensive issues. Frankly, y'all are not used to the speed and skill of the Elite League, because none of you have played here before. That's okay, but we have to do better to stay here. Dr. Zargana and I put our heads together on this, and Tendra Nalo here has agreed to come on board as a practice coach. Some of you may or may not remember her, so I'll give the quick rundown. She played in the Elite League for 12 years, five of that with the Officers. She led the Officers to our one and only Galactic Cup, and she, specifically her calling out the League on the issue in her retirement speech, is the reason we have these fancy headbands that shall not be named that prevent concussions. She is also scheduled to be inducted into the Limmie Hall of Fame later this year.

"Tendra will not be traveling with the team, but she will be here on the practice field with you most days helping you out or... something like that," Rockta trailed off as Tendra, dressed in a practice uniform instead of the business casual attire worn by other coaches, began doing jumping jacks to warm up. "Or maybe she'll take a bit more... active role. It's not really my place to tell a Hall of Famer what to do. Just listen to her and do what she says, because we're not out of the playoff fight yet."

Tendra indeed took a more active role, strategically substituting herself for individual forwards one at a time to show, rather than tell, how things should be done and why certain moves were wrong. As practice went on through the week, Tendra could see the level of play of the offense increasing noticeably. Carratos was a tough opponent, but their defense was their weakness so far, and Tendra thought the Officers offense could break out against them. She would be on the sideline since it was a home game, so could help fix problems if they cropped up, but she couldn't substitute herself in-game like she could in practice.

TAG: @Trieste (for Sandy reference, though Sandy wouldn't know that Tendra heard) @galactic-vagabond422 (for Week 3 game)

---

HSN Headlines

• Officers sign former player and new Hall of Famer Tendra Nalo-Linrai to a one-year contract as an assistant coach
• Nalo-Linrai will assist with practice and be present at home games, but will not travel to away games
• GM Aebatt Zargana: "Our offense has been surprised at the speed and skill of the Elite League, and frankly that's not their fault. We believe that Tendra can whip them into Elite League shape. We're not out of the playoffs yet."

 

IC: Jay Chu-ni
Carratos

The alarm went off for the 3rd or 4th time. Jay hit the snooze again. She didn't want to get up, she hadn't wanted to get up for days now, months maybe. Whatever love she did have for this game it didn't seem to be enough to get her out of bed. She barely even remembered what day it was. They'd played two games already, gone 50/50 and Jay couldn't find it in her to care. It had been years since the Pirates got out of the first round of the playoffs, much less get to the finals. They were just spinning their wheels, much like Jay. She woke up in the morning showered, went to practice, and came home. It was a cycle the same thing day in and day out with nothing changing.

She didn't have a social life to break things up. Her brother no longer replied to his messages, Kin hadn't called her since the incident, and she'd been avoiding hanging with the team outside of practice. She wasn't sure why she'd been dipping on the team it was just, she felt awkward. There was a pain in her chest an anxiety every time she was around them. Fear that they would find out she didn't love the sport like they did, that she was just going through the motions so she wasn't in breach of contract.

It hurt to see them smiling and happy playing this sport. Not that she was playing much, a few minutes at the end of the last game. Even on the field she felt a little out of it, like she didn't want to be there. She used to love playing, getting to step on the pitch and diving at the net. Now she was just doing what was needed.

And right right now she was struggling to get out of bed to slap on a pair of shoes and go for a run. Or maybe she would just slap shoes on her feet and go to practice. The latter was the most likely. Her motivation had just been gone.

Dragging her carcass out of bed she half heartedly showered her mind wondering. What else could she be doing? Did she really have any transferable skills? She could still run fast, and that was just about it. Was that it? What could she really apply this to, and would she be making as much as she was playing limmie? Certainly not and she needed to keep sending money back home. So there wasn't really anything else that she could see herself doing and certainly not for this amount of money. Was that all she was doing this for, the money?

She finished her shower and headed out the door, part of her wishing to be anywhere else but at practice.

Time seemed to draw out an hour, seeming like an eternity. It was all the same stuff run here, pass there, shoot on net. Things she'd done a hundred times so much that her body could do it on autopilot with her mind just running in circles. It was nothing in particular but the one overriding thought was she just didn't want to be here.

Several eternities later she found herself going back home, flopping on the couch and turning on the holo and finding something simple to watch. It was a cartoon she'd watched when she was younger. It was simple the heroes win, the villains lose, and the dreams are achieved. Though she just felt a pain in her chest.

"What do you do after you get your dream huh? What happens when the people you now rule hate you, what if the company you now control fails, what if the farms crops die huh?" She rolled over on the couch curling tighter. "It's not that easy once you achieve your dreams."

TAG: No one

 

GM post

Bonus potential for Bakura, Carratos, and Euceron. Now we're talking. It was a little lonely last week.

Week 3 results
Corellia Rebels at Geonosis Gangbusters (6-17)
Carratos Pirates at Euceron Officers (15-40)
Mando’ade Mercs at Kothlis Spies (6-19)
Nar Shaddaa Smugglers at Bakura Miners (4-37)

I confirm I rolled a max out roll for Euceron and they did indeed get a zero.

TAG: @Bardan_Jusik @galactic-vagabond422 @jcgoble3 @Vehn