Starforce Stories

Scares

   One Hala Day, Vers was strolling along the sidewalk in downtown upper Hala. The sun was dimmed by clouds and a cool breeze blew past. She shivered in her Starforce-issued jacket.

"It sure is getting colder. I bet it's around the time for Halloween," she mused.

There were no Halloween decorations anywhere, however. That only made her more aggravated. "Somebody's got to do something about this," she decided.

   Yon-Rogg was already tired. He had been up since the crack of dawn filing reports for Starforce related stuff, and had now been informed that the Helion's windshield was damaged. Once he had finished up in his office (which was just his apartment), he headed to the Helion to see what was going on, and what his team was getting up to. Coffee in hand, he walked up the ramp—

"BOO!!" shouted Vers, jumping out of nowhere. A few plastic alien toys dropped from the roof on strings.

Yon-Rogg blinked. "Vers, what is this?"

She drew back. "You didn't even flinch! That's not fair! Not even a drop of coffee left that mug. Seriously, why did I think I'd be able to crack you?"

"Maybe you neglected to remember that warriors of Starforce are supposed to be disciplined in suppressing their emotions. And in case you forgot, surprise is a rather unhelpful one."

She scoffed. "Surprise isn't an emotion. It's...an element." She tried to reset her plastic aliens.

"What? No, Vers, surprise isn't an element. Didn't you take Halan chemistry?" he countered. "And what are you doing with those kiddy toys?"

"They're supposed to drop down and scare whoever comes into the Helion. I rigged them up to this tripwire," she explained, pointing to the floor.

He observed. "I didn't see that before. At least you got me there."

She snorted. "Yeah, because making you trigger a tripwire that didn't do anything to you is such a big accomplishment."

He sipped his mug. "Sorry, but I'm always prepared. Even when I'm not."

She rolled her eyes. Then she snatched his mug of coffee and downed half of it.

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. "You know, Vers, you don't automatically own everything of mine."

"If it's yummy, I do," she replied, lighting her hand up under the mug to reheat the coffee. "Don't worry, I know you have a big stash of the instant stuff at home."

"Since when have you been at my home?" he asked.

"Since...every other morning?" she answered. "By the way, there's a chip on the windshield. You might want to go look at that."

He gave her an exasperated smile and went to grab the coffee mug back, but she held on. As they played tug of war, there was the sound of footsteps, a snap, and a high-pitched girly scream. Vers abruptly let go of the mug and it launched backwards, spilling the coffee all over Att-Lass.

"AAAHHhH!" he screamed.

"What the--!!" shouted Vers. Then she noticed that he had triggered her kiddy toys. "Hey! My Halloween surprise scared you!"

Korath walked in. "What is Hala-ween?"

"Oh, well, it's a holiday where--"

"What's a Hala-day?" asked Bron-Char, walking up. "Do you mean weekdays?"

"HAVE YOU GUYS NOTICED I'M COVERED IN SCALDING COFFEE?!?!" shouted Att-Lass, jumping around all over the Helion. Eventually he tripped over the briefing holo-table and smashed straight through the center.