(Rigel Cup) Ready to Rumble

Rigel System
Starbase 134
Main Hangar
February 2390, During the annual Rigel Cup
Call to start, Delta Squad and Blue Eagles
Authors: Sera Williams, Fergus Notham, Eoghan O'Connor, T'Kara, Alenis, whoever wants in?

As the top two qualifying teams, Delta by season point total and Eagles by defending champion and points, the two squads were set to finish up this year's Rigel Cup. All of the other teams had finished, but none of them had finished with an unbeatable time and score. These two squads had finished higher in the qualification runs.

Delta squad was set to go first, their Valkyries were moved to the starting line and set in a straight line parallel to the start. Sera stood in front of her team. Her hair was pulled back with her ponytail pulled into her flight suit, her uniform spotless and neat. She was ready to go, this was what the team had worked towards all year. Sera gave her team a once over, and said, "Guys, this is it. This is the Rigel Cup. If that doesn't motivate you to lay it all out there, nothing I say can get you ready. All we have to do is fly like I know we can and execute the plan. Stick together and we will see the biggest celebration in the last 20 years back in San Francisco."

She was never one for big time speaches, so she just simply turned around to face the gathered crowd. They were in a fever pitch. The lights from the various galactic news and sports organizations' holocameras were almost blinding. The crowd seemed to represent the entire Alpha Quadrant, each cheering on their favorite team. Some were jeering the two gathered squads and others were cheering.

"Oh?" interjected Hamok, a short, sneering Ferengi in the distinctive blue and silver jumpsuits of the Blue Eagles, who were on deck for the next run. "They really celebrate silver medals that much at the academy?"

Stepping up beside him, Nara decided to hit at least one of the members of the Delta Squad where it huts. "Mr. O'Connor," she called out, "I hope for you're sake you're a better pilot than you are with the ladies."

Eoghan froze as he heard that voice, one which would haunt him for years to come. He didn't turn around to search out her face, he wouldn't give her the satisfaction. Instead he just held his head up higher as he surveyed each and everyone of his squad, proud of them and their achievement to get so far. He would see the other team crushed...for his team and for his own pride.

Fergus didn't have any pride, he raised his hand and spoke. "Hi, Nara," he said, in a quiet unassuming and slightly squeaky voice. She looked a bit caught off guard that the thin, twitchy cadet had deigned to speak to her. The others laughed and one of them threw a vibrospanner at him which glanced off his head making him yelp and rub his temple.

T'Kara bared her teeth at the Orion. They were a poisonous race, with skin the colour of an infected wound. "Don't worry about our flying, you just worry about eating our ion trails." T'Kara said. She then adopted a lighter tone and a fake smile. "Best of luck, by the way, I hope you don't break a nail or a limb. Toodles."

"Yes, good luck to you too," shot back Nara, flanked by Vekijek, the two metre tall Nausicaan member of the squad. "You'll need it, this course isn't for beginners."

With a fake friendly smile, Sera responded, "I bet it'd be pretty embarrassing to lose to a couple of cadets. If we lose, we lose to the number one team with so many years of experience." She gave a light shrug, then continued, "It would be a shame."

"Fortunately, that is something we won't have to worry about," interjected a powerful Andorian voice, from partway across the room.

Shusas sh'Tira was not the most physically intimidating member of the Blue Eagles. Nor was she the craftiest, or the most voluptuous. But she had a certain undeniable confidence, which gave her a presence far greater than her physical stature. She was their squad leader, and her orders went unquestioned. And, given her stature in the sport, when she talked, people listened.

"Ah, Delta Squad," she called out as she strode rapidly towards Sera, not stopping until she was but a few inches from her face. "You did well in the qualifying rounds, I'll give you that. But today is the Blue Eagles' day. We've spent years climbing up to the top of this sport, and we're not going to let our championship slip away to a bunch of cadets. We've been flying since you were playing with toy starships. You can put on a nice little show, maybe the sort of show that your mothers would tell their girlfriends about over tea, but that gold medal -- and the prize money -- is ours."

Sera knew better than to get into a fight just before launch, the last thing they needed was to be disqualified from competition this close to their run. With a smile and voice that showed that she had not been rattled, she replied with her best fake enthusiasm, "We had some pretty awesome toy starships. I had one that had real working lights!"