Star Wars OPEN Elite League Limmie

IC: Sandy Starkrimson
Evenvale, Bakura

“So Cady heard something interesting while you were on your last job,” Jed said as he and Sandy sat at the breakfast table. He’d head to work soon and she’d go to the shuttleport. She was already wearing a Lightspeed jumpsuit. Judging by the stains, it had seen a lot of flights.

“What’s that?” Sandy asked.

“Horst Penn has a wave show now.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard it.”

“And she said last week someone named Sandy called in. Apparently for the second time.” Jed gave her a is-there-something-you’d-like-to-tell-me-about look.

“Did I forget to mention that?” Sandy asked innocently.

Jed couldn’t hold back anymore. “Sandy, this is so cool! You were on a galactic wave show!”

“It’s probably just regional,” Sandy demurred before stuffing some toast into her mouth.

Jed got up and walked around to the other side of the table to lean over Sandy and hug her from behind. “I think every being in the galaxy heard it.”

“Stop,” Sandy said, giving his face a light, playful shove.

“Cady said you sounded really smart.”

Sandy rolled her eyes. “That’s not hard. We all love Horst because he’s like a huggable Wookiee, but he’s not going to be winning any Laurel Prizes for Physics any time soon.” She paused. “Maybe one for Peace though.”

Jed leaned around to kiss her on the cheek. “Have a good trip.”

“See you in a few days, babe.”

---

Hyperspace

Sandy put her hand to her forehead and sighed. She’d been in and out of the wiring and just could not figure out what was up.

“So…is this bad?” Roze asked. The Herglic had been placed on another flight with Sandy and was currently peering over the mechanic’s shoulder at the mess of lights, circuits, and wires.

“Only if you like breathing,” Sandy sighed. She’d flipped the ship to the auxiliary life support systems because the primary was seriously fried. “If I can’t figure this out by the time we get to Selonia, I’m going to have to recommend they ground the ship until they get it fixed.” That never went over well. The whole reason Lightspeed got hired was to keep ships flying and prevent downtime. Sandy always felt like she’d failed when that happened, even though sometimes she just got assigned a ship that hadn’t seen a lick of maintenance in years. But she wasn’t a miracle worker.

“Think we need to call this in?” Roze asked.

Sandy pressed her lips together. “I really don’t want to…but yeah. Otherwise we’re going to blow something and be drifting in space and no one’s going to know where we are.”

“Somebody’s been watching too many holodramas,” Roze murmured. “I mean, has that ever happened to you?”

“No,” Sandy admitted. She decided against mentioning that as an engineer she knew the odds. It was not as comforting a number as beings might like. “Yeah, let them know.”

“Will do. Hey, while I’m gone, do a hula hoop or something,” Roze said.

“What?”

“Take your mind off it. Sometimes that frees the mind up, gets it going.”

“Do you actually use a hula hoop when you need to do that?”

“I wish. Nobody designs starships with enough room for Herglics to hula hoop.” Roze grumbled as she left.

Sandy put her back against a bulkhead and slid down until she was sitting on the deck. How was she supposed to take her mind off this kind of thing? She found herself looking at her datapad, as if her subconscious knew the answer.

She flipped the datapad on and opened the wave tuner.

“…no matter what, I dare you to say that the Miners didn’t look fantastic out there last week,” Horst Penn declared, his broadcast already underway. “The Miners were just on fire. And let me tell you as a former player: these games against the Smugglers matter. It’s not just another game. You know you’re going up against the old guard when you play Nar Shaddaa. We’ve talked about the Miners’ identity, but the Smugglers have one too. They hit hard. Really hard. Like I think I still have bruises.

“Winning against the Smugglers is a big deal. But winning big? That big? That’s a statement win. I know I keep saying it and some of you keep doubting me, but the Miners are bound for the bigtime this season. The hype is real! Anyways, what was your question?”

“…oh, I was just curious who you thought played the best this week.”

“Oh right! The answer is everybody.”

“That’s…not…”

“OK, OK, if I have to choose one player, and that’s super hard, I’m going with Bree Veers. The Miners’ marvelous captain. A+, top shelf, player-of-the-week stuff. This is the second time this season the Miners have held a team to 4 points. This defense is just getting it done! I wish I was still playing so I could be part of it.”

Sandy’s finger extended and then stopped halfway to the datapad. She really shouldn’t call in again. But it would get her mind off this life support issue…

“You’ve reached Horst Penn’s show. Do you have a comment?”

“Yeah, I wanted to—”

“Hold please.”

“And we’ve got our next caller.”

“Hi Horst. So about the Miners’ best player—”

“Hey everybody! It’s Sandy! Bet! It’s Sandy! Hi Sandy!”

“Uhhh…hi Horst.”

“I was wondering when you’d call in! What’s on your mind?”

“Well, I love Bree Veers—”

“She’s so good, right?”

“Yeah, and only allowing 4 points was big—”

“Huge. Like ‘that’s no moon’ huge.” Horst did not do a very good Obi-Wan Kenobi impression.

“—but let’s look at how the Smugglers have done this season. Coming into the game they’d scored just 5 points. They actually had their best day of the season against the Miners. So if the Miners’ defense is so good, shouldn’t they have held them to less than 4?”

“…that is not a bad point.”

“My player of the game is still Kassandra Kirt. The Miners lead in point differential by more than twice the next closest team. Kirt’s really come into her own this season. She and Amun are a joy to watch out there.”

“It’s a thing of beauty. I had to get Dr. Hull to sew my jaw back onto my face after that one play in the first half.”

“That inside-out twist, right?! Oh my gosh that was so awesome! The way they did that just confused the Smugglers. It was like their wires were crossed.”

Wait.

“That’s it! Crossed wires!” Sandy got to her feet and opened a panel, leaving the datapad on the floor.

“100%. It was like they thought up was down and left was right. Which, admittedly, is a pretty regular Centaxday for me.”

“Not that Horst!” Sandy said as she unhooked one set of wires inside the innards of the ship. “If I just switch this…that’s gonna bypass the burnt out circuits and I can redirect this flow to that junction…” She made the connection and slammed a button, waiting for the readout. The system display went from orange to green. Sandy pumped a fist in celebration. “Yes!”

“I know I say this a lot, but this time I really don’t know what’s going on…”

“Don’t worry about it, Horst! Just know it’s good! Talk to you later!” She tapped her datapad with the toe of her boot, ending the call and sending it back to regular listening mode.

“So home office knows where to look for us if the engines explode,” Roze said, coming back into the engine compartment. “Which I told them was definitely not going to happen and they laughed at me.”

“I fixed it!” Sandy proclaimed. “Nobody’s dying today!” She did a celebratory dance that was one part dance and another part Teräs Käsi—or some vague approximation of it.

“…right then. Guess I’ll just call that in too…” Roze said, walking backwards out of the room.

“I am invincible!” Sandy shouted, putting her arms over her head. She felt like she’d just scored an ELL goal.

TAG: @Vehn

 

IC: Tendra Nalo-Linrai

Tendra was adjusting. That was basically it. She made adjustments to the offense here and there. She made adjustments to the offense everywhere. And she made tweaks (okay, minor adjustments) during the game as well. Tendra was certainly adjusting... and sometimes she was adjusting herself. After over a decade of being out of the public spotlight, going back to limmie sidelines, public practices (Officers practices were always open to the public to spectate), and the HSN and wave interviews that came along with that (she'd had one of each already) was certainly an adjustment as well. Simply put, Euceron fans still adored her for bringing them a Galactic Cup and she had to deal with that.

Oh, and the press conferences. She'd weaseled her way out of a couple, but couldn't avoid the one after last weekend's big win over Carratos. She did get flustered at the barrage of questions a couple of times but managed to recover. She made it abundantly clear that she was not traveling to away games... "But what Euceron makes the playoffs?" Tendra's response was a firm maybe: "We'll cross that bridge if and when we come to it," followed by cutting off further questions and leaving out of frustration.

Anyway, not traveling to away games is why she found herself on Mom's couch getting ready to watch the Kothlis game on HSN. She could have watched it at her place, but after the stress of the last week and a half, she needed company. Sometimes one just needs Mom to comfort them, and that's the way it is, and it doesn't matter how old you are or whether Mom is still alive. Best to take advantage of the opportunities before she isn't. And so she drove her speeder across the city (she now lived on the opposite side of Eusebus from where she grew up) to plop down on the old couch that she played too many holo games on as a kid. Very few words were exchanged between her and her mother, Jaria, but none needed to be said. Jaria intuitively knew what Tendra needed and wanted and when, and it was comforting to Tendra to just be in her Mom's presence. For now, little more was necessary than an occasional "thank you" or "you're welcome"; there would be time for discussion later.

That quiet time was interrupted by the chime of the doorbell. Tendra walked over and looked through the peephole before immediately throwing the door open. "I haven't seen you in a long time!"

"Yeah, you didn't even give me a chance to threaten to cut the door open with my lightsaber. What are you doing over here? I was going to come to your place later today."

Tendra looked her younger brother, Jado, up and down, dressed in his tan Jedi robes. Jado was a Jedi Master at the Ossus Temple, and so Tendra rarely saw him. "I needed Mom. You?"

"Had a break so thought I'd stop by and say hi. Force knows I don't see y'all enough."

Jaria heard the conversation and entered the living room to see who was at the door and immediately wrapped Jado in a hug. "So glad to know you're okay. I'm always worried about you."

As the two were embracing, Tendra looked around them and saw a human teenager also in Jedi robes, with a single braid hanging down in front of her ear, standing a couple of meters away. "Another Padawan, Jado?"

Jado weaseled his way out of Mom's hug and motioned to his Padawan to approach. "Yes, let me introduce you. This is Kelsar Noralla, my new Padawan. She just turned 18 last month, and I've been training her for about three years now. Kelsar, this is my sister Tendra and mother Jaria."

Kelsar's eyes widened. "The limmie player? Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"You didn't need to know."

Kelsar jokingly stuck her tongue out at her Master, who laughed, and then she turned to Tendra. "Nice to meet you. I'm a Senators fan myself; sad to see them demoted, but life goes on."

"Indeed. Even the Officers were out of the Elite League for a while." A crack of thunder split the air, signaling an approaching storm as rain began to sprinkle. "We should go inside."

"Indeed," said Jaria. "I have food coming up, but I don't know if it will be enough for four people. We might need to order delivery."

The familiar tune of the opening sequence of the HSN pregame show was heard by all, and the three younger people all raced for the couch, landing in a pile with Tendra at the bottom. "Ow! Get off me!"

"I will when Kelsar gets off me!"

"Play nice!" Jaria called as she headed to the kitchen.

Tendra, Jado, and Kelsar all finally found seats, with Tendra and Kelsar on opposite ends and Jado in the middle, as the anchors talked about how Tendra had transformed the Officers' offense. Each had a different reaction: Tendra rolled her eyes, Jado (who hadn't heard yet about Tendra becoming a coach) watched casually but with interest, and Kelsar watched with wide eyes, still alternately in awe of her Master being the sister of a limmie player -- no, a Limmie Hall of Famer, she realized as the anchors mentioned that fact -- and trying to make small talk with said limmie player.

Pretty soon the food was ready, the storm passed quickly as most Euceron storms did, and food delivery arrived to feed everyone as the game was about to start.

For Tendra, life was a whole lot better now than when she had woken up this morning.

TAG: @galactic-vagabond422 for a brief reference to the Carratos game

 

Jay Chu-ni
Euceron

Another week another loss, the Pirates could come back, they usually would. Jay again spent most of the time on the bench just watching the game happen. Most of the other young players were taking notes or playing a game like Limmie Manager or something. She was just watching with a detached affect. She just couldn't care. It was all the same right? They'd win here go to the playoffs and fail or lose and still go to the playoffs and fail. If they don't make the playoffs then the season ends early for them. There was no losing really. Though she was ready for the season to be over. They weren't even half way through the season and she was already done with it.

Maybe someone picked up on this, as she looked over to her side she caught Zara Bellator tilting her head. Jay didn't think anything of it, returning to just staring off into space. She wondered what she would do after this, likely just go back to the hotel lay down and watch holo. That was something she was looking forward to. And it looked like that would be soon, there was no way the Pirates could come back. Even if Iris went All-Star they couldn't make up the difference. Could they just give up and go home, was that in the rules? It didn't matter. They'd be leaving soon.

The game ended and Jay was all too happy to pack up her gear and head towards the hotel to stay the night then travel back home. That was her plan until Zara dropped in next to her.

"Hey Jay" The veteran defender said bumping the forward with her shoulder, "You got plans tonight?"

"Just going back to the hotel."

"Really, nothing?"

"Just want to go lay down."

"Why? Didn't do much."

"I just don't feel like doing much."

"Come on me and some of the girls were going to hit a local bar, and get smashed." Zara smiled, "We need it after today."

"Ah, I don't think so."

"Come on just one drink isn't going to kill you."

"I just want to lay down."

"You don't need to drink but come out with us. We all could use a night out."

"Ehhh…"

"Come on, just a little bit, we'd love to have you there."

"That's a stretch."

"You're part of our team, we want you there."

"You weren't doing much anyway, and I'm paying."

Jay was tired but Zara seemed determined to have her come out drinking. It wouldn't do to keep fighting.

"Ok, ok, I'll go,"

"Awesome, do you need a ride?"

"Well, since I don't know this city yeah."

"Cool, I'll arrange something."

And just like that she was sitting in a bar, some distance away from the stadium, surrounded by her teammates.

"They don't have Arcadia, so I just went with whiskey don't need a repeat of the Blunder Rum." A few of the other players gagged a bit, Jay looked around and couldn't quite place all of them. There was Zara of course, but the others around her she couldn't place a name of. Did that make her a bad teammate a bad player? Sure she played with these women but, she just couldn't remember their names. It wasn't like she interacted with them much outside practice.

A glass of whiskey was put in front of her and she looked at the contents, a pale amber and smelling of alcohol. She carefully took a sip and curled her lip. It didn't taste good, it was like drinking rubbing alcohol or something. With another sip she started to try and place it looking around the other players all looked disappointed. Mouthwash, unflavored mouthwash that's what this tasted like to her. This wasn't her being a snob, she'd had a few drinks in her time, but this, this was just awful. Everyone around the table agreed. This was bad.

"Well," Zara started, "That'll teach me to expand my horizons." She downed her drink her nose crinkling. "Maker this stuff is terrible." She looked at the bottle, "It said aged in rum barrels, I thought it would be close to something." She shook her head again. "I guess it's close to undrinkable. But, it has alcohol so that's something."

"That's about all it is." A voice called out.

"Well might as well make the best of it, another round?"

"Sure."

That was the first of many drinks that night, Jay just sat on the edge feeling warmer, and floaty that sort of fun drunk but not plastered. She sat swaying back and forth enjoying her buzz. Looking up she saw her teammates smiling, laughing, bemoaning the loss they'd suffered. A thought tickled at the back of her mind.

She used to be like this too right, she used to be happy, used to love this game. What happened? When did her love die for this game?

As she looked across the table she caught the eyes of Zara again. She shared a smile with the veteran. Jay looked down another drink in her hand. Taking a sip, yep still terrible, but they had a bottle to finish and they might as well right? Not let it go to waste. The young woman tried drinking it quickly but gulped too much and it burned the back of her mouth the fumes rose into her nostrils causing her to cough and wheeze.

A strong hand slammed on her back.

"I'm not choking…" tears were in her eyes, "It's just this stuff burns." she grabbed a cup of water trying to quench the burn in her mouth. It helped a little but it still took her a solid few seconds to get her bearings back. "Maker that stuff…"

"Yeah could knock the hair off a bantha."

"Burned my nose that's for sure." Everyone had a laugh downing their drinks and a munch more reasonable pace so as not to repeat the burning of Jay's nose.

Again Jay met Zara's eyes a slight nod cause Jay to furrow her brow.

What was that about?

TAG: @jcgoble3

 

GM post

Bonus potential for Bakura, Carratos, and Euceron.

Week 4 results
Carratos Pirates at Nar Shaddaa Smugglers (36-0)
Geonosis Gangbusters at Mando’ade Mercs (14-13)
Bakura Miners at Corellia Rebels (9-3)
Euceron Officers at Kothlis Spies (13-29)

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

 

OOC: Accidentally put this in my fanfic!

IC: Sandy Starkrimson
Hyperspace

For the first time in a long while, Sandy was on a starship—doing absolutely nothing.

It wasn’t that there was no work to do on the shuttle she was on (for all she knew it was about to fall apart). It was that she was a passenger for the first time in a long while.

After her last flight had made port, she’d received a message from Lightspeed saying she was being routed to her next job straight from the spaceport. They said they were going to pay her time in transit, which they almost never did.

This had to be a big job if they weren’t going to arrange for a paying job to take Sandy from A to B. But she wasn’t going to complain. Instead, she settled into her seat with earphones in to listen to Horst’s show.

​

“I love this song! I’ve been listening to it nonstop since the Miners game! I even made up my own dance to it! I’m doing it right now! Bet! Bet! Can we get a HoloNet show so everyone can see me dancing?...No?...Well did you ask?...You did?...That’s disappointing. I’ll ask Trixie if she can negotiate a HoloNet show for me.

“What I most love about this song is that it perfectly embodies the defensive slugfest at Solo Stadium this week. For everyone who said the Miners can’t play defense-first, I guess you’ll have to eat your words now! And that’s hard to do, because I find words get out of my mouth before I can catch them.

“There just wasn’t a lot of room out there. For a while I was concerned that the Rebels were going to get their first win of the season, but the Miners showed why they’re still undefeated. I’ve said it before and I’ve said it again: the Miners are on top of the ELL and have the inside track for the championship.

“So let’s open up the lines and talk about how amazing the Miners are!”

Sandy didn’t hesitate this time before calling in.

“Hi, I want to talk about the Miners and their undefeated record.”

“Sandy!” the being on the other end said brightly. “We were hoping you’d call in. I’ll put you right through.”

“And guess what! Our first caller today is Sandy! Hi Sandy!”

“Hi Horst.”

“So let me guess—you want to talk about how the offense really won this one, right? Well I’ve got like three dozen note cards to prove you wrong this week!”

“Actually I agree with you this time, Horst.”

“…you do?”

“The defense really came through. I couldn’t believe the Miners won with just 9 points on the board.”

“Bet! Were we recording that? Sandy and I agreed!”

“I agree with you about the defense part, but I’m not convinced the Miners are going to go the distance.”

“Darn it! I just lost 20 credits to Trixie.”

“Huh?”

COLOR=#660033]“Oh I bet my wife 20 credits that you’d agree with me this week. And she’s probably going to say lawyer stuff that add up to her winning. If she didn’t negotiate all my contracts so well, I’d really dislike the fact she was such a good lawyer.”[/COLOR]

“Well…uhhh…sorry about that, but I’m worried that the Miners’ success is overstated. Their remaining three games are against the other teams who would make the playoffs if we started them today. I mean, they’ve got to play the other two undefeated teams in the next two weeks and then they come home against the Pirates, who just shutout Nar Shaddaa.”

“Didn’t you say last week that we shouldn’t read too much into teams’ performance against Nar Shaddaa after last week?”

“Fair point! But if the Miners let a team like Nar Shaddaa score on them and the Pirates could shut them out, I’m pretty concerned about what’s going to happen when we play them on Truce Day.”

“This last piece of the season is going to be pretty big. And it’s going to start this week on Kothlis.”

“I guess Kothlis and Geonosis making the Final wasn’t a fluke last year.”

“For sure. Hey, where are you calling from, Sandy?”

“Hyperspace.”

“Cool! I didn’t even know they got the wave in hyperspace.”

“The physics of it are complicated.”

“I bet. Anything else on your mind, Sandy?”

“Yeah—think the Miners have already locked up a playoff spot?”

“…I was told there would be no math.”

Sandy laughed. “Fair enough. Have a good day, Horst!”

“You too Sandy!”

---

Corellia
A few hours later, Sandy stepped off her shuttle and was met by a Lightspeed coordinator. “There you are! Do you need to collect any luggage?”

“Nope, got it all here,” Sandy said giving her duffel bag a single up-and-down shake.

“Oh good. They want to get underway as soon as possible.” Sandy followed the coordinator out of the hangar bay and into the crowded, busy concourse. “Your work on that life support system in flight on that last job was great. That’s why they wanted you for this job. It absolutely cannot have any downtime. The flight margins are too tight. We needed our best being for it.”

Sandy’s chest swelled with pride. “I’m flattered.”

“Well, make sure you bring your top work for this one,” the coordinator said, touching the panel to open the hangar bay door.

Sandy stepped through the bulkhead and stopped in her tracks. She dropped her duffel bag on the the deck.

“It’s a BRC Lightspeed custom modified Model 4, put into service two years ago. Systems should be pretty standard, new as of two years ago. Still, they like to have engineering support because of the scheduling concerns, just in case anything happens. You’ll get this flight out to Kothlis and the return flight to Bakura. Designation—”

Sandy didn’t need to be told. She’d know this ship anywhere.

“—Gold Pickaxe.”

She was going to be the in-flight mechanic for the Miners’ team starship.

Sandy screamed with joy.

TAG: None because I get three straight NPC teams now. Hope everyone's doing OK out there!

 

IC: Tendra Nalo-Linrai

Tendra had not been particularly impressed with how the Officers offense had reverted to early season form on Kothlis. She drilled them extra hard in practice the following week. Mando'ade was always a tough team, regardless of records, and she needed to have the offense at their A game. Jado and Kelsar were sitting on the bleachers along with a few dozen fans who showed up to observe and perhaps snag an autograph or two.

During a water break, Tendra turned to Jado and rolled her eyes in the direction of the offense. She wasn't getting anywhere with them. Jado looked at her for a moment and then beckoned with one finger. Tendra jogged over, ignoring the couple of fans that stuck pens in her face, and listened as Jado whispered in her ear. Tendra gave him a weird look, then shrugged her shoulders. It was worth a shot since nothing else was working, especially since the defense had stunk as bad as the offense on Kothlis.

Tendra went over and talked to the head coach, Rockta Sparks. The Rodian listened for a second, then exclaimed, "Are you out of your mind?"

"No. If they understand how the opposite half plays more, they can understand how to beat them more. What have we got to lose at this point?"

"Tendra, you don't know... wait, did you do this when you were playing?"

"Leota did it once or twice. Usually in training camp, but we did it once during the season when we were stinking up the field like we did last week. It's good at loosening up the tension as well, so they can play more naturally."

"Alright, I guess we can try it." Rockta blew her whistle, and the team gathered around. "We're not making much progress, so we're going to try something off the wall. Tendra says she did this a few times in her playing days, so hopefully it works for us. I want everybody to switch sides. Offense, take your opposite position on defense, the position you would be directly matched against. Defense, likewise, play offense in your opposite position. Middies, uh," she looked at Tendra, who mouthed stay put. "I guess you stay put," Rockta finished.

The players looked confused, and rightly so. What was going on? Tendra stepped forward and explained. "The goal of this exercise is twofold. One, loosen up, blow off some steam, and have a little fun. That will help you relax and play more naturally when we get back to regular practice drills and into the game this weekend. But the real goal is to gain an understanding of how your opposition operates so that you can outsmart them. To that end, if you beat your opponent that's in your normal position, talk to them about how you would play that to not get beaten. Teach each other and learn from each other. We'll allow breaks for that kind of talk to take place. The better you understand how to play your opponent's position, the better you'll be able to adjust your game at your own position to beat them, because knowing your enemy is the first step to defeating them."

The players did not look like they were buying this second goal, but they took positions anyway. Initially there was some hesitation as players didn't know how to play their new position, but they started talking to each other and Tendra saw several pairs of players educating each other on their respective positions. Soon the intensity ramped up a few notches as players began to settle in and have fun. Kayce Masteratti, normally the left corner back, took a pass at right corner forward and drove it toward the goal, only to be laid out by a hit from Bradfra Nonce, the starting full forward. Kayce managed to hold on to the ball, though, and flipped it to the starting full back, Frodir Hringer, who immediately buried it in the back of the net as the backup goalkeeper was caught flat-footed. Rockta's whistle blew, and both Kayce and Bradfra got up with grins on their faces, chatting about the play and ways to play it better, as Frodir came over giggling about the goal and pointed out that a better full back would have not attacked the ball so aggressively in that circumstance as it left him wide open and help was coming from the half line.

They played like this for the rest of the day's practice session, and Tendra pleasantly noted the smiles and laughs as the players filed back into the locker room to change and shower. They had definitely loosened up, but how much they had learned would be seen at tomorrow's practice. She reminded herself to thank Jado for reminding her of the drill Leota had run occasionally.

TAG: @Bardan_Jusik for tomorrow's game

 

Jay Chu-ni
Carratos

The Pirates were in a slump. Having lost to Euceron the team was still trying to pick up the pieces. The practices had been long and tiring. Even Jay was feeling rundown, not that it was all that difficult anymore. She used to be a dynamo, never slowing down. Now though she rarely made it halfway through the day without feeling like she wanted a nap. At the end of this particular day she just wanted to go and sleep until the next game a few days away. But, once again Zara showed up next to her.

"Hey Jay we're going to blow off some steam and you're coming with us." Jay narrowed her eyes.

"Don't I get a choice."

"Nope mandatory team building exercise. We're going to go out and destroy things."

"I'm really tired."

"We'll get caff on the way, now come on."

And just like that Jay was whisked away a cup of dark dark caff put into her hand. She didn't know where they were going but Zara assured her that they would have fun. Looking around they seemed to be heading deeper and deeper into the manufacturing district. Rusted buildings, and empty streets, faded signs that once proudly bore the names of many companies now out of business as they moved to other districts and other cities.

"Are we in the right place?" Jay asked looking around.

"Yeah, should be there soon." Zara assured Jay.

They eventually ended up at a run down looking warehouse, on the side painted in red letters: "RAGEHOUSE"

"Ragehouse?" Jay asked getting out of the speeder.

"Ragehouse." Zara smiled widely nodding her head. "Best place to go when you can't drink, or shouldn't drink too much because we have practice." Zara, Jay, and the core of the defense walk into the building, a reception desk waiting for them. They all walk up and start signing waivers. Jay signed as well though she didn't know exactly what she was signing.

They were given goggles, gloves and an apron.

"Alright, you are allowed 5 minutes in the Rage Spaces," The wequay woman that greeted them started, "only one being can be in each rage space and anyone time. If you see a red light in your rage space, you are to stop immediately and put down your tools. Do you understand?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, time to let your rage out." The door opened onto a wide space cordoned off by transparisteel. In the spaces were broken speeders, large appliances, and even some prefab homes. At the entrance of each space were hammers and spanners of every size. Around her Jay watched her teammates grab hammers and step into the Rage Spaces. Then all at once they started wailing on the items inside. It was a cacophony of bangs and shattering transparsteel. Meekly and quietly Jay moved to an empty space and picked up a small hammer. She looked to the battered speeder and gently tapped her tool on the metal shell.

"Come on!" Zara called out from the space next to her. "Let that anger out." The defender heaved up the heavy hammer and dropped it down on the appliance with a might bang. "Aren't you angry, about the losing," BANG, "the defense not pulling their weight." BANG "The pundits already ruling us out of the playoffs." BANG

Jay looked at the hammer in her hands. What was there to be angry about, if they lost and got shut out of the playoffs she got to go home early. It was almost perfect. She would be at home doing nothing, which is what she would like to be doing now. But it wasn't always like this. She used to care but now she doesn't. What happened?

It stopped being fun, she lost the things she cared about her brother, her boyfriend, her love of the sport. It was all taken away on that day. That started a spark. Her brother hadn't let her talk to him, Kin cut her off cold, she couldn't explain, couldn't talk about her feelings to him, couldn't let out the pain she was feeling, the guilt that was pent up in her.

Now that made her mad. She slammed the hammer down, feeling the vibrations up her arm and ringing in her chest.

She needed to talk and she was not allowed to talk. Blocked from telling the people that needed to hear her. That would let her explain what was going on and that she didn't mean to mess up, and they aren't giving her the time to tell them.

She slammed the hammer down again and again sneering at her brother, growling at Kin. If only they would let her talk to them.

Bang.

Tell them her side.

Bang

Explain how she felt.

BANG.

Transparsteel shattered, durasteel was dented, her hands started to hurt, her arms tingled, and her muscles burned. She kept going, sweat forming on her brow, her breathing becoming deeper and deeper.

Before she knew it the red light flashed and she had to put down the hammer…it wasn't long enough but…she felt different. Maybe better.

The next game was an absolute blow out…a complete shut out of the smugglers…

Maybe the Rage House helped…

TAG: @Vehn

 

GM post

Bonus potential for Bakura, Carratos, and Euceron for some Monday Night Mesh'geroya.

Week 5 results
Nar Shaddaa Smugglers at Corellia Rebels (19-22)
Bakura Miners at Kothlis Spies (2-21)
Carratos Pirates at Geonosis Gangbusters (36-13)
Euceron Officers at Mando’ade Mercs (16-2)

HSN Headlines

• HSN projects Kothlis Spies have secured a playoff berth.
• HSN projects Nar Shaddaa Smugglers are eliminated from the playoffs.
• HSN declines to project any further Galactic Cup Playoff berths because it's a holiday on Coruscant and nobody showed up to work.
  • Other than the being who writes these headlines who gets double-time for showing up on a holiday.
  • They really want to buy a new speeder, so they're OK being at work today.
  • Also it's really quiet.
  • And honestly there's not that much work to do.
  • So yeah, maybe they could do the projections.
  • But it's a lot of work.
  • And beings don't really expect anyone to do that much work on a holiday.
  • So.
  • Yeah.
  • They're fine.
  • We're all fine here now.
  • Thank you.
    
  • How are you?

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

 

IC: Sandy Starkrimson
Hyperspace
First day on the Golden Pickaxe

Sandy had to remember to eat. Not because she was too busy to eat. Far from it. She was sitting in the starship mess with food in front of her, on her fork no less.

But two seats away was Jimsey Vigo and she could not get over it.

Though she mainly kept to the engineering sections, she’d already passed several players in the corridors heading to her quarters or using the shipboard amenities. Sandy knew she had to hold it together and be professional.

She didn’t want to look like a wide-eyed nerfherder every time she saw one of Bakura’s sports heroes. Sandy kept her head down and tried to not hang out around the players and coaches too much.

Sandy hurried through her meal so she could go back to her bunk and scream into her pillow with how awesome this was. As she dropped off her tray, a boisterous voice boomed through the mess.

“Hey Jaze! Good to see you! Farklar! Keepin’ it hot as always! Umgot! That’s my being! Do you have pudding today? Score!”

She knew that voice. It was Horst Penn.

She hadn’t expected he’d be on the shuttle. Sandy bit the inside of her cheek. What if Horst recognized her by her voice? More accurately, recognized her voice? She was suddenly more nervous than if she accidentally tripped a player and didn’t yet know if they were injured.

“Hey!” Horst said, coming up next to Sandy before she could make an escape.

“Uhhhh…hi…” Sandy said, making her voice sound unnaturally husky.

“You must be new! I know everyone on the ship.” Of course he did. “I’m Horst Penn.”

“I’m…Sandy…ton. Sanditon. Kimmie Sanditon,” Sandy said, continuing with her disguised voice.

“Cool name, Kimmie!” Horst shook her hand so enthusiastically that she thought she was going to flop about like a ragdoll. “Welcome to the ship!”

“Thanks, Mr. Horst. I mean Penn. I mean Mr. Penn,” Sandy fumbled. “I’ll just be…uh…checking the…stuff.”

Sandy hurried off before Horst thought to ask her what the stuff was.

---

Kothlis spaceport
Game day

“Hey Sandy,” one of the other techs said, poking his head into her berth, “want to watch the game in tech bay? We put it on one of the screens.”

“Do I?!” Sandy exclaimed, hopping off her bunk. She’d been about to turn on the BBC wave broadcast, but this would be way better.

He led her through the deserted passageways of the ship. Everyone but the beings who kept the Golden Pickaxe were at Fey’lya Forum. In the tech shop, they’d set up some chairs all pointed towards a large vidscreen that had the BBC Sports feed. Lun Selayen and Aerax Skytrain were providing opening commentary, but Sandy couldn’t make it out over the general conversation.

She didn’t care. She was watching the Miners game on the Miners’ ship. This was going to be great.

---

Hyperspace
The next day

​

“That was terrible. Live from the Miners’ team shuttle, this is Horst Penn on…you know what I don’t even have a good name for the show this week. That’s how bad that game was.

“Seriously. I don’t know what to say. And I always have something to say. Like, nothing worked in that game. We got shut down. The Miners offense! Shut down! Let me just tell you it is not happy times on this shuttle right now.

“Bet’s telling me that we’re gonna open up the lines now. I mean, I guess. But what are we gonna talk about? I’m just gonna put this blanket over my head and pretend like that game didn’t happen.”

Sandy looked at the call-in button on her datapad. She reached for it—and then pulled her finger back. This seemed dangerous. What if Horst realized that the mechanic Kimmie Sanditon from the shuttle cafeteria was the Sandy who’d been calling in? She didn’t know if this was a conflict of interest or something. Did she have to only say nice things about the Miners? Could she get fired? Or sued? Horst’s wife was an attorney—the District Attorney of Salis D’aar, no less. Maybe she’d get arrested?

No, that wouldn’t happen…probably.

Sandy punched the call-in button before she could rethink the decision.

“Hi—”

“Oh Sandy. Thank the Force.”

She was patched in immediately.

“And it’s everybody’s favorite caller, Sandy! Though I think you’re about to tell say, ‘I told you so.’”

“Hi Horst. I mean, this game was just a tough one. Kothlis is just playing really, really well right now.”

“But you called it last week. The Miners have racked up some easy wins and they’re running into the toughest part of their schedule now.”

“Well, maybe this is the wakeup they needed?”

“Maybe. By the way, did you upgrade your HoloNet plan, Sandy? Your connection sounds really good today!”

Of course it did. She was like 20 meters away from Horst, maybe less. “Oh really? I guess it’s just a good day in the vacuum for transmissions.” “A good day in the vacuum?” Sandy slapped her forehead.

“Lucky us!” Oh right. Horst wasn’t going to know about the electrophysics of communication technology. “Anyways, Sandy, I can barely talk about the Miners today.”

“You know, there are seven other ELL teams we could talk about if you want.”

“That’s such a good idea! Isn’t it a good idea, Bet?...What do you mean ‘Of course it is, because Sandy thought it up’? I have good ideas!...We’ll talk about that later. So, Kothlis. Obviously they’re the nexu’s pajamas.”

“They definitely look like the team to beat, though that week 7 game on Geonosis could turn out to be really interesting to close the season.”

“Especially if they beat the Miners next week. #1 seed would rest on that game.”

“Geonosis has got a good defense too. I’m sure you’d like to point out that the Miners’ is better though.”

“After this week, that doesn’t feel like something we should hang our hat on. I mean, we’re no Smugglers.”

“Oof. Talk about a season off the rails. Is it weird I feel bad for them?”

“Kind of? Honestly, they sort of feel like they’re on autopilot right now.”

“That’s a good way to put it. Them and the Mercs. Usually those two teams are tearing it up.”

“Alana’s got to be close to tearing her hair out right now. I mean, she went through rough seasons as a player, but this is probably her worst as a coach, even going back to All-Bakura and Bak10 days.”

“Do you think her job’s safe?”

“They’re really loyal on Mandalore. I don’t think they’re going to drop her after one bad season…but they also really, really like winning there. So maybe.”

“True. You know who looked good this week? Carratos.”

“So good. It’s like their entire offense woke up this week. They’re sitting in that last playoff spot and they look like they’re starting to get hot. They’ve put up how many points in the last two weeks? 72? That’s wild.”

“Yeah, I wonder what was up with them at the start of the season. It was like they couldn’t put it together. I know the early playoff exit was disappointing, but there’s so much talent there that I just thought they would have done better.”

“So much depth talent in particular. That’s what’s made Carratos so good for so many years. They have great players who come off their bench. Yeah, Iris Copin is the engine of that team, but she’s always done her best work when she’s got a supporting cast so she doesn’t have to do everything.”

“Euceron looked good this week too. I think they could get into the playoffs. It’ll be tough—they’d need some help ahead of them because they’re playing games against teams behind them in the standings, but they played a solid game this week.”

“They can’t catch Kothlis, but everybody else is in striking range for them. Depending on what happens next week, we could start looking at tiebreaks.”

“Get out! You think that will trigger extra games?”

“I hope so! More limmie is the best!”

“I think I’d explode if there were extra games this season. Especially if the Miners were in it.”

“Don’t explode. If you do that, who am I going to talk to on this show?”

“You’ve got other callers, Horst.”

“But you’re one of the best!”

“Well I should really give everyone else a chance. Take care!”

“Don’t be a stranger, Sandy! Even if you kind of are a stranger since we’ve never met.”

“…right. We’ve definitely never met. Definitely.”

Sandy hung up before Horst thought about that one too much. Now she’d definitely have to crawl through the exhaust vents to get back to her bunk to make sure she wasn’t going to run into Horst again.

Definitely.

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

 

IC: Tendra Nalo-Linrai

Tendra groaned and rolled over again to look at the clock. It was 18:45. She had woken up at 04:00 this morning with a terrible headache that was not going away. She knew it was a symptom of the many concussions she had suffered in her playing days and the lifelong condition she likely now had from them. But she hadn't had one this bad in... well, ever.

Despite the pain, she forced herself to climb out of bed. She needed water, because dehydration would only make things worse. Also, her stomach was growling because she hadn't eaten anything today. She popped a can of soup into the quick-heater and poured a glass of water, pondering the state of the Officers. The offense had not done much better against the Mercs than the Spies, but the defense had stepped up big time. The opposite positions drill had really helped the defense understand more about how the offense operated, and their defensive plays against the Mercs had been more nuanced and effective as a result.

In two days' time, the Officers' ship would take off to Nar Shaddaa for the Smugglers game the next day. The Smugglers were winless and Tendra knew that sometimes a winless team, especially this late in the season, was more dangerous than you would expect. Nobody wanted to go winless on a season; it would be a black mark on the team and every player's career forever, and the Smugglers would fight like crazy to not suffer that fate. Still, the Officers were favored, but Tendra hoped they could pull it together without her at practice today.

The quick-heater dinged and Tendra pulled out the hot soup and began eating and sipping it. She needed to take care of herself, and at some point, she needed to start on her Hall of Fame acceptance speech. Maybe she'd do that this weekend... if the headache went away. If not, she'd have to call her doctor.

TAG: @Bardan_Jusik @Vehn

 

GM post

Bonus potential for Bakura and Euceron (the latter of whom just got in before the lock).

Week 6
Kothlis Spies at Carratos Pirates (0-30)
Euceron Officers at Nar Shaddaa Smugglers (13-0)
Geonosis Gangbusters at Bakura Miners (3-30)
Corellia Rebels at Mando’ade Mercs (12-17)

HSN headlines

• HSN projects Bakura Miners have secured a playoff spot.
• HSN projects Corellia Rebels and Mando'ade Mercs eliminated from playoffs.
• HSN Carratos Pirates and Geonosis Gangbusters will secure playoff spots with wins in Week 7.
• If both these teams win, it will create a four-way tie among all playoff teams with the following head-to-head records.
  • Carratos 2-1
  • Kothlis 2-1
  • Bakura 1-2
  • Geonosis 1-2
  • Extra games of Carratos v. Kothlis and Bakura v. Geonosis will be played to determine playoff seeding, including the Commissioner's Trophy.
• HSN projects Euceron Officers will secure a playoff spot with Week 7 win and Carratos loss.
  • In the event of a win by Euceron and losses by both Carratos and Geonosis, it will create a three-way tie with all teams holding a head-to-head record of 1-1, triggering two extra playoff games.
  • The ELL has yet to say how home field advantage will be assigned in the four-way tie or how the team receiving a bye will be assigned in the three-way tie.
• Also, the being who worked on the holiday has just proven they clearly can do work on a regular workday.

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

 

IC: Tendra Nalo-Linrai

Tendra considered the outcome of yesterday's Smugglers game as she left the doctor's office and got into her speeder. Her headache had broken by the day before the game, but she had decided to see the doctor anyway because of the severity. The doctor had ordered tests that would be scheduled in the coming weeks.

The game had been interesting: the same lackluster offensive showing, the same dominant defensive showing. This time it was not just a shutdown, but a shutout -- and surprisingly not the only shutout of the weekend in the Elite League, with previously undefeated Kothlis taking a shocking 30-0 loss to the Pirates.

The other thing on her mind was HSN had messed up the playoff projections in one way. She pulled into her driveway (the doctor's office was just down the street from her house), went inside, and pulled out some old-fashioned pencil and paper and started working things out.

Essentially, Kothlis and Bakura were locked into the playoffs, while Corellia, Mando'ade, and Nar Shaddaa were eliminated. Geonosis and Carratos were not yet locked in but controlled their own destiny, while Euceron needed help to get in.

There were only three games that mattered this upcoming weekend, as the Mando'ade/Nar Shaddaa game had nothing at stake other than the Smugglers' attempt to avoid a winless season. The other games that did matter were Kothlis/Geonosis, Carratos/Bakura, and Corellia/Euceron.

Tendra wrote down all of the possible sets of winners of those three games and how the playoffs would shake out:

• Kothlis/Bakura/Corellia: Kothlis wins Commissioner's Trophy in head-to-head over Bakura (#2 seed), while Carratos takes the #3 seed over Geonosis (#4) by way of head-to-head
• Kothlis/Bakura/Euceron: Kothlis and Bakura #1 and #2 again by head-to-head, then a three-way tie for two places between Geonosis, Carratos, and Euceron with all teams 1-1 in head-to-head.
• Kothlis/Carratos/Corellia: Kothlis wins the Commissioner's Trophy outright. Carratos (#2) wins head-to-head against Bakura (#3), and Geonosis claims the #4 seed outright.
• Kothlis/Carratos/Euceron: Same as the previous bullet point, except Geonosis (#4) needs the head-to-head advantage over Euceron (out).
  
• Geonosis/Bakura/Corellia: Bakura wins the Commissioner's Trophy outright, Geonosis (#2) takes head-to-head over Kothlis (#3), and Carratos is outright #4.
• Geonosis/Bakura/Euceron: Bakura wins the Commissioner's Trophy outright, Geonosis (#2) takes head-to-head over Kothlis (#3), and Euceron (#4) takes head-to-head over Carratos (out).
• Geonosis/Carratos: Kothlis, Bakura, Geonosis, and Carratos all tie for 1st place, making the winner of Corellia/Euceron irrelevant. Carratos claims the Commissioner's Trophy by way of head-to-head sweep (beating Geonosis in Week 5, Kothlis in Week 6, and Bakura in Week 7), while the others are all 1-2 in head-to-head and would go to extra games.

So basically HSN was mostly correct, except they had screwed up the head-to-head calculations in the last scenario. There would in fact be a clear Commissioner's Trophy winner no matter what: Kothlis would claim it with a win, otherwise the winner of the Bakura/Carratos game would claim it.

As for Euceron, HSN was right: they needed to win and get help from Bakura; it would be ideal for Geonosis to beat Kothlis as well since that would immediately lock Euceron in, but if Kothlis won, a three-way playoff for two spots was not bad odds.

She gathered her things to head to the practice facility. The team shuttle should have landed by now bringing the team back from Nar Shaddaa and they had work to do.

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

 

IC: Sandy Starkrimson
Hyperspace

Sandy was not on the Golden Pickaxe. After the Kothlis game, the team had returned to Bakura for the rest of the regular season and, thanks to their recent win, maybe the rest of 305 depending on how things played out. Though being on the team shuttle was cool, she could breathe a little easier on a regular job. In fact, even though this deflector system was being stubborn. In fact, it was being so tough that she almost forgot to turn Horst’s show on.

​

“Wooooooooooooooooooo!”

Horst was so loud Sandy had to turn the volume down.

“Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Playoffs! The Miners are going to the playoffs! I’m Horst Penn, the host with the morst, and we are going to talk about that game all show long because that was a game. I mean, the Miners really needed that one against the defending champs. And wow, did they show up this week. They look like a team with the best point differential, best points allowed, and second-best points scored. Because they are all of those things! And they are in the Commissioner’s Trophy hunt! Let’s open up the lines!”

Sandy tugged against the hydrospanner. This darn thing was sticking something fierce, but she felt like she almost had it. She had so much to say about this game, but she was so close to getting it to give…and she’d have to start all over if she stopped now to call in…

“Hey Horst. What a game. What a game. The Miners looked awesome, top to bottom.”

“Didn’t they? Might have been one of their best games of the season. They just pried open the Gangbuster defense.”

“Yeah. I just love your show, Horst. It’s so good to listen to someone who actually enjoys watching the Miners play.”

“If you don’t like the Miners, you’re probably calling into the wrong show.”

“Totally. But that Sandy girl always seems to find something wrong with them. Like she’d probably be on here complaining about the fact the Miners still let in a goal. I mean, c’mon.”

Sandy paused her straining with the hydrospanners. She had been planning on mentioning that, but it wasn’t like she hadn’t enjoyed this week’s game.

“Well, it has been something of a theme this season. Great defense performances, but the Miners keep letting a goal slip in.”

“I just wish she’d stop being a wet blanket and just be happy that the Miners are winning, especially after last season.”

“Well, thank you for your opinion. We’ve got our next caller.”

“Horst, first time caller. Glad to be on here. I mean, it’s not like many other beings get a chance with Sandy calling in.”

“This is like a three hour show. And I’d know because the BBC doesn’t have commercials. It’s not like she’s on here for three hours.”

“Well it feels like she is. She’s always just jabbering on like she’s the only one in the galaxy who’s got opinions.”

Sandy paused her work, despite not wanting to do that earlier.

“Isn’t that the point of a wave show? For beings to share their opinions?”

“Sure, but you should make sure the real Miner fans are on here, not the ones who are just going to be disagreeable all the time.”

“You’re being more disagreeable than Sandy ever is.”

Wait…did that mean Horst thought she was disagreeable?

“Next caller.”

“Horst, first off, love your show.”

“Thank you. Nice to know someone likes it.”

“But I think we need to from you more. We don’t need all these callers.”

“Like you?”

“Well, I’m just calling in to say that you should have less callers. OK, it does sound weird when I put it that way.”

“Let me guess. Less callers like Sandy.”

“I mean, she’s taking up your air time. Nobody’s listening because they want to hear Sandy.”

“Bet! Can we make up a commercial? Or put lightball on? I need a break.”

Sandy turned her datapad off. She needed to work right now and Horst’s show was distracting her. This bit of the exhaust system was being really stubborn. Apparently like her. She’d just keep working at it.

She drew one sleeve of her jumpsuit across her face. It was tough work trying to get this thing to give. There was a lot of sweat on her face from how much she’d had to work at it. Yes. Sweat. Definitely sweat. Definitely nothing coming from her eyes. Because that would be stupid, letting random beings on the HoloNet who didn’t know her and she’d never know get to her. It would be even stupider if it was about something like limmie.

Because there’s no crying in limmie.

TAG; None

 

Jay Chu-ni
Carratos

Ever since the loss to Euceron the Pirates have been playing like beings possessed. Scoring 30 or more points a game, shutting out their opponents twice. It wasn't enough to get them better than the middle of the pack in points allowed but, it had shot them to the top of points scored. Iris was back to producing like she was years ago, the only question that remained was could they keep it up. Jay was watching largely from the sidelines but there was something shifting inside her. Letting out the anger at her brother, at Kin, at the situation, had released a block she'd had for this season.

Now watching her offense moving like lightning. Logan (Zar) was burning up the field being the spearhead of the offense pulling the opponent's defense with him. It made Jay want to get out there, to run that pitch again. For the first time in a long time, she wanted to play. Her heart was beating faster and faster as time ran down in the last game. She wasn't played against the Spies, the engine was running fine and Coach Manx-Sandin didn't want to lose the shutout, and giving the Spies their first loss of the season.

The next and last game of the season was on the horizon and Jay wanted to play.

Though now she needed to ask for it. Manx-Sandin had been keeping her on limited minutes, it was time to get more. She needed to prove that she ready, that her head was in this game. And well, she was in the place this turnaround started, The RageHouse. The hammer fell on the poor speeder in the Rage Space she'd taken. The metal dented, the glass shattered, and mirrors fell to the hard floor.

She was going to walk into Coach's office, BANG, stand in front of Coach, BANG, and ask for more time on the pitch, BANG.

The red light glowed and she put her hammer down taking deep breaths.

Tomorrow would be the day. The day she tried to get more time.

At practice Jay found her speed again, that drive that got her there. Blowing past all the others at the facility. She couldn't wait for the next game, the last game of the season, and she was actually excited to get to the playoffs. It was the first time in a long time she was excited to play.

At the end of the practice out of breath and tired she walked up to the office door for the coach and knocked.

"Come in."

The door opened and Jay saw the legendary coach of the Pirates sitting behind the desk. His golden cybernetic eye fell on her and she shivered a little. It was a little intimidating now that she was here. But, this was her plan she had to see it through.

"Um…" she looked down then back up. "Ah…Coach Ah…I would like to um, play in the upcoming game…well, play more. I really want to play."

"Well, you did step it up in practice today. But, you've been a little slow for most of this season."

"I know but, I've gotten better, I promise. I really, really, want to play." She smiled her heart pounding in her chest. "I can prove it, I'll work really hard."

"I'm sure you will, but, I want to see what your hard work."

"You will….You will."

"Then we'll see."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Jay said nearly bouncing before turning and walking out the door. It was going to be a long week but hopefully she would get what she wanted. For the first time she actually wanted to play.

TAG: No one

 

GM post

Bonus potential for Bakura and Carratos to close out the season.

Week 7 results
Kothlis Spies at Geonosis Gangbusters (8-5)
Carratos Pirates at Bakura Miners (9-15)
Corellia Rebels at Euceron Officers (27-26)
Mando’ade Mercs at Nar Shaddaa Smugglers (2-28)

Final standings

1. Kothlis Spies (6-1)
2. Bakura Miners (6-1)
3. Carratos Pirates (4-3)
4. Geonosis Gangbusters (4-3)
5. Euceron Officers (3-4)
6. Mando'ade Mercs (2-5)
7. Corellia Rebels (2-5)
8. Nar Shaddaa Smugglers (1-6)

Galactic Cup Playoffs
Galactic Cup Semifinals
(4) Geonosis Gangbusters at (1) Kothlis Spies
(3) Carratos Pirates at (2) Bakura Miners

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

 

IC: Sandy Starkrimson
Evenvale, Bakura

Sandy thought Bakura was a great place to live. After all, she could live anywhere with her job. She didn’t have to live here. Yeah, the taxes were kind of high on Bakura. But she’d been born here and it felt like home.

So her heart swelled a little bit with patriotism today, Truce Day. But honestly she valued the paid holiday more than anything else.

It meant that she got to be home to watch the Miners game with Jed and their friends. They’d started out as just Jed’s friends—Cady, Jax, and Ronnie—but they’d adopted Sandy into their group.

Cady listened to Horst’s show, mainly because Sandy had been on it so much. As a result, she was unsurprised that everyone had insisted they watch the Miners together this week. She was equally unsurprised that no one brought up what happened on the last. Sandy and Jed had talked about it privately and he’d expressed several thoughts about what he would do if he ever met the beings who’d called into the show and said such things (which Sandy was sure he’d never do, but she appreciated the sentiment all the same).

“Too bad the Commissioner’s Trophy isn’t in the building,” Jax said. “They’ll have it at the Kothlis game since they own the tiebreak.”

“Eh, the Commissioner’s Trophy is a curse. We never needed it to win a Cup.” Cady said. She stubbornly maintained her allegiance to the Starkillers, even if they weren’t in the ELL these days.

“Yeah, well, I’ll take it all the same,” Ronnie said. “At least they’re in the playoffs, no matter what. Hey, maybe we should root for a loss. Then Sandy could get to work the Miners’ team shuttle again!”

“No no no no no,” Sandy objected quickly. “I’ll be too concerned I’ll leave a tool out and then Kassandra Kirt will trip over it and break her leg and I’ll be the reason the Miners lose in the semifinals.”

“Like Kassandra Kirt’s going to poke her head into engineering,” Jed pointed out.

“Hey! She could be a total gearhead for all you know,” Ronnie said, swatting Jed.

Sandy just nestled against Jed to wait for the start of the game. The banter reminded her how nice it was to be home, among people who loved her.

---

“It’s a tight game down there today. Let’s go to field-level reporter Horst Penn to hear what he sees on the sidelines,” Aerax said.

The vid feed cut to Horst in the retro mustard BBC Sports blazer that was now a trademark of his gameday look. “Thanks Aerax and Lun. Great prompt. But I’m not going to talk about what’s going on down here.”

“Are you kidding me? Again?” the voice of Lun interjected. “How does he still work here?”

“Instead, I’m going to talk about what happened this week on my wave show. Several beings called in to object to the presence of a regular caller on the show. Her name is Sandy.”

Sandy felt everyone’s jaw drop, but could tell that they were also riveted to the vidscreen.

“What we heard this week amounted to that Sandy’s opinion isn’t as valuable as anyone else’s. And I think that Tendra Nalo would agree with me that there was an undercurrent of misogyny to these comments. And I know that because my wife wrote that word down for me to make sure I got it right.

“These callers seemed to think that because Sandy is female, her opinion about limmie isn’t as valuable as a male’s. And that’s just ridiculous. Mainly because dudes are wrong about limmie all the time. And we’re talking about an integrated sport where some of the most successful players and coaches are female. In this very game, Leigh Cavanaugh and Iris Copin are on the field. In fact, I’d argue females are probably more successful at limmie than males when you look at beings like Ryi Kor’le, Rhia Grames, Tendra Nalo-Linrai, Reina Kether, and Alana Glen—Kirt. Alana Kirt. She’s gonna kill me for that one.

“But that’s not the point. The point is that some beings think they get to decide who gets to talk on my show. They don’t. I do. And who gets to talk is anyone who wants to give their thoughts about limmie and respect the opinions of others.

“If you can’t do that, don’t call into my show. No, don’t even listen to my show. Because I’m not going to give people a platform to be mean to others. That’s not what sports are about. And you’re not a real fan if you’re going to spew hurtful words about others.

“So Sandy, wherever you are, if you’re watching, I hope you call into the show this week because I want to hear what you have to say.”

Horst looked over his shoulder and then back at the camera. “Oh, and the Miners just scored. But seriously, Sandy. I hope you call in. Lun, Aerax, back to you.”

The room was silent as the broadcasters resumed their focus on the Miners game, recapping the Miners score that Horst had basically ignored.

“Did that just happen?” Jed asked.

“So you all saw that too?” Cady asked.

“Maybe we experienced a mass hallucination event,” Ronnie proposed.

“Cady, what did you put in these nachos?” Jax asked.

“No, I think that just happened…” Sandy said. Because of course it did. It was Horst, after all.

“So…are you going to call in?” Jed asked.

---

Evenvale spaceport
The next day

Her ship was late, so Sandy was sitting in the spaceport concourse. Lightspeed had told her that it would be along soon and they considered her on the clock, so she didn’t mind hanging out for a bit with her headphones in.

Besides, she had some other business to attend to. The moment Horst’s show started, she hit the button to call in.

“Hi, this is Sandy.”

“Sandy. Oh thank goodness. I’m so sorry about last time. All of us are.”

“Yeah, I saw Horst during the game.”

“He was really upset about what happened. We’ve got a new policy now. We’re on one minute delay so I can yank anyone who does that kind of thing again. Probably should have done that before.”

“It’s OK.”

“No, it really isn’t. Like I said, we all feel terribly about it. We need to stop that kind of thing from happening. Anyways, Horst’s still on the intro. He should be done soon. I’ll put you right through once he’s done.”

“Thanks.”

“By the way, I’m Bet.”

“I wondered!” Sandy said. “You were on so little that one time I didn’t really remember your voice.”

“There’s a reason I produce the show instead of being on air talent,” Bet said. “Hey, Horst’s winding it up. Just hold on when you’re finished with your time, OK?”

“Uh, sure…”

“And I’m really pleased to welcome one of our favorite callers back to the show. Sandy, welcome back. And let me start by apologizing for last week.”

“Hi Horst. That’s nice of you, but you don’t have to do that.”

“I definitely do. This is a jerk free zone. Because I’m allergic to jerks.”

“Well I saw what you said during the BBC broadcast. It was kind of you.”

“It was literally the least I could do. I want everyone who listens to this show to know that respect for others is a baseline for being part of it in any form. And anyone who’s got a problem with that can go listen to another show. Like Looga’s Lame Limmie Show for Losers.”

“Speaking of…maybe we should talk about the game?”

“But I have like three more pages of apologies that I wrote down.”

“I think the first page was enough.”

“If you say so! So, what’d you think? Miners win, we’ve got a home game for the Semifinal and it’s the Pirates again.”

“I guess they’re going to save a lot on their shuttle fuel bills. But do you think this could be a trap game, Horst?”

“Very possibly. Both teams are going to get some good rest this week and they just saw each other. This game could come down to who wants it more.”

“If that’s the case, who do you think wants it more?”

“That’s tough. Carratos has a lot of skill and experience that could just explode at any moment. I hate to pick against the Miners…but I kind of think the Pirates may have this one.”

“Really? You’re going to pick the Pirates? In Bakura Gardens? After the game we just saw? No way. Miners all the way. I mean look at their defense. Best in the league!”

“Yeah, but think about the Pirates’ offense. They were absolutely lights out.”

“…Horst. Do you realize what just happened?”

“Did I just argue for offense over defense and you did the opposite?”

Sandy laughed. “We totally did that.”

“I guess we’ve rubbed off on each other.”

“Guess so!”

“Thanks for calling in Sandy! Always great to have you on.”

“Always great to be on. Thanks Horst.”

“Don’t be a stranger!”

“Still there, Sandy?” Bet asked.

“Yep.”

“Oh good! There’s something I wanted to run by you. I was talking to a friend of mine in the break room the other day and we’ve got this idea…”

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

 

Jay Chu-ni
Carratos

Jay buried her head into the cushion on her couch upon retuning home after the Miners' game. She asked for minutes and she got her minutes, and the Pirates lost by two goals, two goals that could have been answered if someone else had been on the pitch. Ugh, why couldn't she have done more, gone into the playoffs with a win, maybe a higher seed. A long gumble left her throat. It was really close and it was all her fault or at least it felt like that. If she hadn't of asked for any playing time they might have won. Grabbing one of the pillows and shouted into it.

She was so mad with herself. There were so many chances, little moments that past her by, moments that could have swung the game in the Pirates favor. Just one of those moments capitalize on could have won the game and she would have been lauded as a hero. Now she just felt like a failure. Another scream into the pillow the anger slowly leaving her. It was still there, the disappointment and pain at the loss still stung in her chest. It just sat there not going away like a heavy weight in her heart.

Though it wasn't like she could go back and change the past. Go back and put in two goals to even the score. All that could be done was be ready for the playoffs. Get ready and hope that they didn't get bounced from the first round like they always did. Even though she was disappointed she didn't feel like not playing in the next game. She really wanted to play in the playoffs. It was just that she knew she needed to step up her game in the coming week. Practice was going to be a bit of a challenge. Coach Manx-Sandin almost confirmed as much after the Miners game.

Though for now she was just going to take some time to get her head right for the playoffs. It wouldn't be good if she was still in her head when they needed her focused on the game at hand, not thinking about the game they'd lost. Her first step in doing that was screaming into her pillow for a bit longer, then watching some stuff on the holo, possibly from the Net. Something to get her mind off things for a little bit.

After flicking through some videos she found something interesting. The Pirate Bartender, a little holo-net show featuring the bartender from the Stacked Deck making drinks, some standards of the Deck and a few challenges for himself. The video she was currently watching was the blonde hair human stare at a bottle of clear liquid, likely an alcohol of some description. He turned the label towards the camera on it was a green monster that looked twice as ugly as a rancor, and three times as mean. His brow was furrowed as he looked between the camera and the bottle and back again.

"I might have bitten off more than I can chew on this one." He picked up the bottle and looked at it, "Now some backstory on what I mean. This…" He held up the bottle. "Is a bottle of Rancor Killer, a local favorite of Denon. And I said that I could make a cocktail out of anything. And my girlfriend, whose from Denon, handed this to me and said prove it." He let out a breath. "And well, I'm stumped for ideas on this one. It has a very, very, powerful flavor. And doesn't seem to have any sort of profile I can pin down. And all the mixers I try, are either overpowered by it or bring out the worst of the Rancor Killer. I just can't seem to crack it."

He went on for a little bit, and Jay just watched with some curiosity. He was also just fun to listen to. Watching him go round and round with this one liquor, was entertaining. We went through everything in the bar behind him trying his best to make the Rancor Killer work in a cocktail. Eventually he might have found something that worked though it might have just been his inebriation catching up with him. But, he was confident enough to hand it off to said Girlfriend, Zara Bell'ator. Jay smiled a bit as the veteran defender took a sip and nodded her head.

"It tastes pretty good." She said nodding her head.

The Bartender threw his arms into the air as if he'd scored the game winning goal in the playoffs. He was so happy to have finally cracked that. And Jay was interested to try the concoction he'd created. However after a quick search on the net, she found that she couldn't get Rancor Killer on Carratos, well not easily any how. Thwarted by the complexities of getting a specific type of alcohol from a planet many parsecs away, Jay decided to just have a Cyclone a Stacked Deck creation.

Taking a sip she tasted the sweet fruit juice with that rum undertone that came with all Stacked Deck drinks. Settling into the couch again she found something else to watch taking sips from her drink. It was relaxing, just sitting on the couch drinking feeling the rum warm her up just a little and relaxing her mind. Made her feel a little less stressed and guilty. The videos she watched in the meantime also helped giving her a distraction.

There would be time for hard work and giving her all. It was not today. Today was about resting, having a drink or two, and then tomorrow she would give everything she had to team to get through the playoffs and maybe, just maybe get to the finals and maybe hoist the cup. Those dreams would could wait for a little while longer. Right now she was just going to kick back and relax. She would be back to her regular self in no time.

TAG: @Trieste

 

GM post

Bonus potential for Bakura and Carratos today. At least this year one player team will be in the Final!

Galactic Cup Playoffs
Galactic Cup Semifinals
(4) Geonosis Gangbusters at (1) Kothlis Spies (4-23)
(3) Carratos Pirates at (2) Bakura Miners (37-42)

149th Galactic Cup Final
Fey’lya Forum, Kothlis
(2) Bakura Miners at (1) Kothlis Spies

TAG: @galactic-vagabond422

 

Name: Tay neir
Species: Human
Gender: Male
Birth year: 286 ABY
Physical appearance: Black hair, blue eyes and a scar across right eye
Homeworld: Lucicar
Relation to team: Fan
Brief biography: Tay Neir was once a Jedi Palawan and left the order after the death of his master Anothny Nidor. He now works as a bounty hunter and spends his time when he’s not after a bounty tuning into the game. He does carry a set of lightsabers with him at all times along with a blaster. He also goes by the name of The saber to most.

 

IC: Sandy Starkrimson
Hyperspace

This might be the toughest thing that Sandy had ever had to do on a flight. But she couldn’t Endorian chicken out. She walked down the shuttle corridor until she found the compartment she was looking for. She reached to press the button for the chime…

And pulled her hand back before retreating back the way she came.

Sandy took five steps before she stopped herself. “No, you can do this,” she muttered, spinning on her heel and walking back to the door.

She reached for the chime again and hesitated. Then, before she knew what she was doing, Sandy punched the button. Suddenly this didn’t seem like such a good idea. Maybe she should run away before—

The door slid open. “Hi!” Horst Penn said. “Oh hey! Sanditon! It’s good to see you!”

“Hi! Horst!” Sandy said, automatically matching his boundless energy before she remembered why she was here. “So there’s something I wanted to talk to you about…”

---

The next day

​

“Live from the Golden Pickaxe, it’s the Horst Penn Show with Horst Penn! Bet, can we make that the official title?...No? Why not? You know what, we’ll talk about that later. I think HPSHP would be a great abbreviation. We could say it ‘hipship’. Which is appropriate! Because I’m on the Miners’ shuttle, which is a hip ship!

“But we’ll save all that for hour three when we’ve run out of things to talk about. Instead, let’s talk about why I’m on the Golden Pickaxe. That’s right—you know it, I know it, we all know it, but I’m going to say it anyways—the Miners are headed to their 13th Galactic Cup Final of the Silver Age. And that’s a huge deal. The Miners will tie the record for Silver Age Finals, joining the Mercs. They’ve also got the opportunity with a win to break the tie with the Smugglers for the second-most Cups in the Age. They’d trail the Mercs by just one Cup then.

“But as exciting as that is, I’ve got something even more exciting. And that’s a guest in the studio! I’m so thrilled to invite everybody’s favorite caller! It’s Sandy! Hi Sandy! We’re sitting across from each other! In the same room! This is amazing!”

“Amazing is an understatement.”

“In case you’re curious how this happened, no Sandy didn’t win a contest for free tickets to the Final.”

“That would have been cool though. And also not the first time I was involved in getting Final tickets through a wave show, believe it or not.”

“Bet! Hey Bet! Can we put that down for an idea next year? Free Final ticket contest?...Why do we always have to talk about things later?”

“Maybe because you’re live on air?”

“This like when I have an awesome idea like buying a real-life house made of candy and Trixie says, ‘We’ll talk about it later,’ and then we don’t talk about it later.”

“As great as a candy house would be, maybe we should talk about the Miners being in the Final?”

“Good idea! So never let it be said that Horst Penn doesn’t admit when he’s wrong…I heard that Bet! Anyways, you were right, Sandy. The Miners did pull it out and I have to eat my words.”

“Yeah, but I thought they’d win on defense and they won by outscoring the Pirates, which I definitely did not see coming. I think it’s safe to say we were equally wrong about how that game would go.”

“I guess you’re right! So let’s talk about how we’re going to be wrong about the Final. Do you think the Miners are going to take it, Sandy?”

“If so they’re going to have to play their best game of the season. The Spies are no joke. They handed the Miners their only loss of the season and that was a bad one. Bet, how bad was it?...Yeah, that’s right 21-2. It was awful. And it was on the road too. And the Miners are going back into the Forum. I mean, it’s hard to pick the Miners. Horst, did you have to deal with this scenario? Playing a team in the same circumstances in the Final?”

“Actually, no. All of my Finals were neutral site games. Sure, we’d seen our opponents in the regular season, but repeating the same scenario like this wasn’t something I ever had to do.”

“Do you have any advice for the Miners?”

“Always pack an extra pair of underwear. You never know when you’re going to need it.”

“…how about any advice for the Final?”

“Oh that kind of advice! Well, if I knew what they should do, I’d have Leigh Cavanaugh’s job. And then I’d probably be dead because I don’t think she’d let anyone take her job. But when it comes to what the Miners need to do, I think they need to get on the board early. The Spies shut them down in their regular season meeting. If the Miners don’t get their offense moving, they’re probably going to get in their own heads and worry that history will repeat itself.”

“Interesting…. Do you think that their loss to Carratos, a team the Miners beat twice, provides a roadmap to victory?”

“I think what we saw there was a real Death Star exhaust port shot. One in a million.”

“You make it sound like the Miners don’t have a chance.”

“No, they do have a chance. But I don’t think they can play a Carratos-style game to get there.”

“Well I’d love to hear how the fans think the Miners can win this one. How about we open up the lines?”

“Yeah! Let’s do it! You’re on with Horst and Sandy!”

“First off, so glad to be here and so happy to hear you Sandy. It’s always great hearing you on the show and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

“That’s so nice of you!”

“So yeah, about the Miners. I think they need to just embrace the power offense. This is what made Bakura famous. I’d rather lose on the backs of Superspy and Quinn than win by playing a conservative, defensive game that relies on Veers and Hypertravels.”

“Those are fighting words!”

“It’s mainly because I don’t think we can win that way.”

“Fair, fair.”

“But hey, before I go, Sandy, how’d it work out you got to be in the studio with Horst today?”

“Funny story about that.”

“Turns out Sandy’s a mechanic on the Miners shuttle! Well, some of the time anyways. She’d been a few compartments down and I’d never known it!”

“That’s super cool. Glad you two could be on together today!”

“Let’s go to our next caller!”

“Hi there, this is Shasta calling in regards to your speeder warranty. The warranty is up for renewal. I’d like to congratulate you on your $1,000 instant rebate and free maintenance and oil change package for being a loyal customer. Call me back at…”

“Bet! I need to call them back! I didn’t know that my speeder warranty was about to expire!”

“Horst! Horst get back here! It’s a spam call! Uh…hey folks, we’ll be right back.”

TAG: @galactic-vagabond422

 

GM post

Bonus potential for Bakura today.

149th Galactic Cup Final
Fey’lya Forum, Kothlis

Spoiler

(2) Bakura Miners at (1) Kothlis Spies (14-4)

Congratulations to the Bakura Miners, the 305 Galactic Cup of Limmie champions!

But more importantly, LimmieCon 306 approaches...

TAG: None, actually, but tags are coming!

 

IC: Sandy Starkrimson
Kothlis

Despite all the excitement, Sandy had conked out after the Golden Pickaxe landed on Kothlis. Her unexpected wave show appearance had, thankfully, been the most exciting part of the journey. All the systems had behaved themselves and they’d gotten to Kothlis safely and on schedule.

The mood on the shuttle seemed surprisingly loose for a team that was on their way to their first championship game in six years. Though six of the Miners had been on their last championship team, that meant two-thirds of the team had never played on this stage. And yet she heard beings laughing and enjoying themselves during the flight.

The shuttle was quiet when she woke up on game day—except for the knocking on her door. She pulled herself out of bed, hair a mess, and slid it open.

“Hey, come on you’re going to be late,” one of the other shuttle crew said.

“For what?” Sandy asked, yawning.

“The game.”

“Game’s in…” Sandy looked at the chrono. “…six hours.”

“Yeah, but the crew shuttle is leaving for the stadium now,” the tech said.

“Huh? Crew shuttle?” Sandy hadn’t had her caf yet. This wasn’t making any sense.

“Didn’t anyone tell you?”

“No. Are we going somewhere? I thought we were watching in the maintenance bay.”

“Oh sweet baby Grogu. You didn’t hear?” her crewmate said. “We’re not staying here. We’re going to the game.”

“Nice,” Sandy said. Then her eyes went wide. “We’re going to the game? Ahhhhhhh! I need to get dressed!”

“Wait, you’ll want this,” the tech said, tossing Sandy something. She barely processed what it was before she closed the door. She was going to the Galactic Cup Final and she hadn’t even showered yet. Things had just gotten wild.

---

​

Fey’lya Forum

There was nothing like being at the Galactic Cup Final. Even though she’d been once before (and it would probably always be her favorite Final, seeing as it had been her first date with her husband), it was still amazing. The atmosphere was charged. After hosting their first Final in decades last year, you could sense the Bothans were ready to win this one.

But what was more amazing was the Miners had used part of their ticket allotment to host the beings who traveled with them for road games. On top of that, Sandy was wearing a flight jacket with Golden Pickaxe on the back and her name embroidered on the front like the other crewmembers. Some of them had patches on their sleeves from past team events, testaments to their histories with the Miners.

And everyone was going to get a new patch for their jackets, because the Miners had just brought the defense that had powered their entire season. With it came their sixth Galactic Cup of the Silver Age.

The team was moving through the handshake line now and Sandy counted them off in her head.

Goalkeeper Runi Meshurok, who had played so well and yet never shutdown a team, allowing a goal in each of her games. (She probably didn’t mind given how it all turned out.)

Danys Dragonstorm.

Koryaka Konstantos.

Obi-San Samya, the smiling rookie who’d improved the defense so much, anchoring the half back line.

Bast Amun, one of the three-time champions on the team, who’d anchored the midfield that had been so much a part of their success this season.

Astra Sixtrees, the first Kurtzen in over a century to win a Galactic Cup.

Jimsey Vigo, who had two Cups in his career, matching the number of championships his family had brought to Ralltiir in that period.

Angel Sorano, another three-time champion, one who’d been a yeoman player in the hard minutes.

Gerald Riviera, “the Witcher” who’d honed his play under Alana Kirt and now had a Galactic Cup to accompany his GCAA championship.

Rorie McLita, who’d done the same thing alongside Riviera.

Alexa Superspy, another two-time Ralltiirian champion with a wicked throwing arm.

Rose-Lynn Hypertravels, who had her first Galactic Cup, something she could now lord over her boyfriend on Carratos (who certainly wouldn’t touch the Cup at whatever events Hypertravels had to celebrate her championship).

Kassandra Kirt, the new star of the Miners, who’d done in two years what it had taken her mom five.

Harle Quinn, a three-time champion and face of the team who now had something other than boloball to fight for.

Bree Veers, the only captain other than Alana to see the Miners to two Silver Age championships.

May Hull, who’d kept them healthy.

Leigh Cavanaugh, who’d turned a team known for being an offensive juggernaut into the best defense in the league.

Shay Dionne, who hadn’t overreacted to missing the playoffs and had found just the right compliment to bring them to this moment.

They each raised the Galactic Cup in turn before they took a team holo that would hang on the walls of Bakura Gardens. Sandy might not be in that holo. Her name would not be etched into history. She hadn’t had to make a last-minute repair to rescue the ship from exploding or drifting dead in space. Even so, Sandy would always know that, in a small way, she’d been part of this. Even if no one else knew it, she’d still be proud of this championship.

---

Some time after the Final, a Verpine bent close to the Galactic Cup of Limmie to carefully engrave another year’s champions on its hallowed surface.

BAKURA MINERS 305
DECLAN TRIESTE THE NOBLE HOUSE OF TRIESTE
SHAY DIONNE LEIGH CAVANAUGH MAY HULL
BREE VEERS CAPT. BAST AMUN DANYS DRAGONSTORM
ROSE-LYNN HYPERTRAVLS KASSANDRA KIRT
KORYAKA KONSTANTOS RORIE MCLITA
RUNI MESHUROK HARLE QUINN GERALD RIVIERA
OBI-SAN SAMYA ASTRA SIXTREES VERRAL SORANO
ALEXA SUPERSPY JIMSEY VIGO​

---

But that isn’t where this season’s story ended. No, that was somewhere else. If you turned on your datapad and searched the wave, you might stop on BBC Sports. And then you might hear…

“Hi! Welcome! I’m your host, Sandy Starkrimson, here on BBC Sports. You might have heard me on Horst Penn’s show…which still doesn’t have a name. That’s Horst for you.

“Well, his producer, Bet, said that the BBC wants to lift up the voices of all beings, especially those that are underrepresented in media. And when it comes to sports, there aren’t a lot of female broadcasters. I was flattered that one of her fellow producers took the idea of a sports wave show with an all-female crew to the BBC producers and they decided to do it.

“Which is why you’re listening to Hit Like A Girl, a show about sports by females that we hope all beings can listen to and enjoy. Since I know limmie the most, I’ll be bringing in females who know other sports as we cycle through the seasons for discussions about the wide galaxy of sports we’re privileged to enjoy.

“And in case some of Horst’s listeners are curious, yes, I still work on starships as a flight mechanic. I’ll just be taking jobs that let me be in the studio for the show. Because beings can be more than one thing, after all.

“Anyways, that’s what we want for the show! We hope you’ll like it. But enough about the show. Let’s talk sports!”

TAG: None

 

GM post
A cantina, somewhere in the galaxy

The bartender knew it wasn’t the nicest joint in the galaxy. They were never going to get a high-class clientele around this place. But that didn’t mean it needed to feel like a spice den. Ever since that place down the street got the R-3X DJ, she’d decided that they needed their own hook to bring beings in.

She’d decided that they were going to be a “sports cantina.” Someone passing through a few months back had asked if they were one. The bartender had never heard of such a thing, but she decided it wouldn’t hurt to put a game on. Failing that, there was always a wave show. The bartender was a fan of this one on the BBC Sports with a cool female. (It was probably the only thing to come out of a stuffed-up, self-important, generally-annoying planet like Bakura who thought they were better than everyone else. Winning a Galactic Cup hadn’t done anything to tamp that down.)

So she had the wave on while she fixed up some drinks.

“…and I heard the most interesting rumor on Kothlis at the game. The word is that Commissioner Lokensgaard has said the Corellia Rebels, after two straight seventh-place finishes, are out. It’s a tough break for the Rebels, who could never get up to the competitive level of the league. Unlike a team like the Spies, who have hosted the last two Finals.

“But that’s not the most curious part. Apparently the front-runner for the open spot is not one of the teams you often hear talked about in conjunction with any ELL spot. You know the teams I’m thinking of Rydonni Prime, Coruscant, Ralltiir, Hapes, Ryloth.

“No, the word around Fey’lya Forum is that Lucicar might be home to the newest ELL member. And I don’t even know where Lucicar is! Hey, if you’ve got any scoop about this new team, we’d love to hear it.”

“Lucicar,” the bartender repeated, followed by a short laugh. “Bet they don’t even know what limmie is over there.”

Unbeknownst to the barkeep, Tay Neir was sitting at the bar four stools away where he could clearly hear this remark.

TAG: @Tay Neir

 

IC: Tay Neir

Tay had been in the cantina for many hours. He liked to come here after all of his assignments as a bounty hunter. Tay had recently had an encounter with his old friend Bolen Carlon. Tay sat awaiting the time when his next assignment would come through. Tay currently held some Jawa juice. It was a poupler choice of his. Tay went by many names but the one he was known as right now was THE SABER. Tay was unbothered by him being one of the only ones in the cantina until he heard the name of hi homeworld. When Tay heard the name Lucicar he removed the mando helmet he wore and listened closely

“No, the word around Fey’lya Forum is that Lucicar might be home to the newest ELL member. And I don’t even know where Lucicar is! Hey, if you’ve got any scoop about this new team, we’d love to hear it.”

“Lucicar,” the bartender repeated, followed by a short laugh. “Bet they don’t even know what limmie is over there.”

Tay picked up his helmet, put it on and approached the barkeep.

"I think you'll find that they do, they have been paying attention to it for quite some time now, and it seems that now they have decided to join in." Responded Tay to the barkeep.

"Do you know anyone who might be aware of this New member, Barkeep?" Asked Tay frowning under the helmet.

TAG: @Trieste

 

GM post
Cantina

The bartender turned to face the inquiry from one of the few patrons. Looked like some kind of bounty hunter. The helmeted ones almost always were. Though this one didn’t look like a Mandalorian. Otherwise they’d be spouting off about the Mercs and the Beskar Age of Limmie.

“Seems like just about everyone in the galaxy cares about limmie one way or another,” the bartender said. “But good luck to them all the same. ELL’s the best and if they make it in, it won’t be easy for them.”

The bartender shrugged in response to Tay’s next question. “I mean, only the Commissioner knows for sure. In theory it’s the Selection Committee who decides who’s in and who’s out, but everyone knows that Lokensgaard puts his thumb on the scale. If he wants the Mustafar Rockheads in the league, they’ll probably be in the league.”

She inclined her head, remembering something. “Though, the last few years all the big announcements have happened at LimmieCon. The Commissioner loves an audience. I bet that’s where he’ll announce who’s taking Corellia’s spot. I’ll just wait for the news to hit the HoloNet though. Never seen a good reason to drag myself to Coruscant.”

TAG: @Tay Neir

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Limmie Hall of Fame, Empress Teta

The stately Limmie Hall of Fame rolled out all the bells and whistles for its induction ceremonies. The Hall honored beings at every level of the sport, but the greatest attention always went to the pros, especially those who had an ELL history. That was why the plaza outside the Hall was full of beings who had brought hoverchairs and blankets early in the day to get a prime position for this induction.

“Gentlebeings, welcome,” the Hall official said, a distinguish Fosh. “Today we honor a being of many accomplishments. She brought the Galactic Cup of Limmie to her homeworld, a major achievement for any being, but one especially poignant given the long journey the Cup took to Euceron. In some ways it could be said that she was the only being who could have done it.

“But her accomplishments go beyond the limmie field. She reminded us of the responsibility that public figures, including athletes, have to make the galaxy a better place. She put her career—and her life—in danger to speak out against sexist attitudes in the Hapes Consortium. Even though she did not achieve change in her time there, I would argue that makes her work all the more valuable. It is only through those who speak up and carry a torch when it’s inconvenient to do so that we achieve the change the galaxy needs.

“During and after her career, she became an advocate for player safety at all levels. I think it’s safe to say that without today’s inductee, the Head BAND-AID would not exist…no matter what one might think of the name the device has been branded with.

“Gentlebeings, limmie fans, it is my pleasure to introduce 305 inductee to the Limmie Hall of Fame, Tendra Nalo.”

TAG: @jcgoble3