Today's Pic: Vers looking out her apartment window at the view of Hala.

Also, it's worth noting (I guess) that this is a Christmas special. Merry Christmas, everyone!

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One Hala Day, Vers was snuggled into one of the niches in the Helion's walls, scrolling through a holo-book on her wrist display. A blanket was tucked over her and she had a coffee in one hand.

Att-Lass walked by carrying a big stack of wood. "Whatcha reading, Vers?"

She looked up. "The Fault in Our Galaxies, of course!"

He paused. "That one's boring."

"Is not!" she argued. "It's very compelling. And sad."

"Whatever. I thought you had mastered your 'no emotions' training by now," replied Att-Lass, stopping to grab a ration bar from his locker.

"Well, I pretend that I've mastered it. But don't tell Yon-Rogg that," she answered, sipping her mug.

Att-Lass rolled his eyes. "Okay, why don't you come outside and see the shed I'm building?"

"Shed?" she questioned, closing down her book.

"Yeah, I'm building it myself so I can store my speeder bike in the same hangar as the Helion," he said, hefting his wood pile.

"Well, okay. But someone is probably going to steal it," she said and followed him out.

It was a pretty brisk afternoon on Hala. The sun was dimmed and the sky was an ugly dirty snow color. Snow itself was coming down in moderate amounts, swept into the entrance of the hangar by a light wind.

Att-Lass walked Vers over to the far right side, where three walls of a rickety-looking wooden shack had been put up.

"Pretty great, right?" he asked, beaming.

Vers poked one of the posts and instantly got a splinter. "Uh...yeah. It's awesome."

"Yes, it's good for him to be branching out and using his creative muscles," said Yon-Rogg, coming up behind them. He too had a mug of coffee.

"Hey! Coffee pals!" yelled Vers and clinked her mug with his.

Minn-Erva, Korath, and Bron-Char were spread out around the hangar, sweeping, tidying up, and doing some winter cleaning. Minn-Erva turned upon hearing Vers yelling weird stuff and gave her a trademark annoyed look. Yon-Rogg rolled his eyes lightly and sipped his mug. Att-Lass began putting up the final wall of his shed.

Just then Vers spat out her coffee. Yon-Rogg leaned to the side so that it missed his face by millimeters.

"CHRISTMAS!!" shouted Vers, so loud that some birds nesting five stories up flew away.

Bron-Char rubbed his ears. "What was that, lass?"

"I SAID, CHRI--"

"DON'T say it again! We heard you," Minn-Erva snapped. "Now what exactly does that mean?"

"I was realizing that it's basically December and it's after Halloween and Thanksgiving and the days are short and cold. That means it's time for Christmas. Another Haladay on Hala!"

"Ooh. Really?" asked Korath. A small cone of snow was sitting on his head for some reason.

"Okay, is every single episode going to be about you forcing us to celebrate a made-up holiday?" asked Minn-Erva with annoyance.

At that moment, the fourth wall of Att-Lass's shed completely shattered. "Oh man..." he mumbled.

Vers looked between the two of them. "No, it's not." She then pulled everyone into the Helion so they could be warm.

"You'd better be right," scowled Minn-Erva. Then she plunked herself down in a seat to bear the long preach talk Vers was about to give.

"I hereby declare today Christmas," she began. "Yeah, I know it's short notice, but I'm the impatient type. We'll need a nice tree, and since it probably won't fit in here, we can put it in the hanger. Ooh, and we can build a fire! And sing! And eat a delicious dinner! And exchange presents! And--"

"Woah woah woah!!" interrupted Minn-Erva. "WHAT is all this crud you're talking about? This seems like a rather complicated made-up holiday."

Vers stamped her foot and stuck out her tongue. "It's not made made-up," she said.

"Well then how come we've never heard of it? Or celebrated it?" asked Minn-Erva with an eyebrow raised.

"Minn-Erva, lay off her. We all know that Vers is a little special," interjected Yon-Rogg.

"Yeah, except 'special' is not the word I would use," Minn-Erva snickered under her breath.

"I heard that," said Yon-Rogg.

She blinked. "Oh."

"Minn-Erva can build the fire," he announced.

"GREAT! I'll get the dinner. My treat," volunteered Bron-Char.

"And I'll get the tree!" said Att-Lass.

"And I will buy presents for everyone," said Korath.

Vers was smiling brightly. Actually, her whole head was glowing. "That's great, Korath, but we all need to buy our own presents for everyone individually. Plus Santa always brings some."

"Hm, that's weird," was all he said.

"Santa? I can already tell he's made up," said Att-Lass.

"Hey!" defended Vers. "Don't quash the holiday spirit!"

"Okay, team, spread out! Let's get this done," interrupted Yon-Rogg and the meeting was adjourned.

As Vers walked out of the Helion, swinging her arms merrily, she stopped and noticed Minn-Erva still sitting in a niche, looking pretty dejected. Vers sighed. She didn't really want to do this, but she probably should. It was part of being a noble warrior hero.

She walked up to Minn-Erva. "Hey. I'm sorry that nobody listens to you. I just really like Christmas."

Minn-Erva looked up. "I'm sure you do. Why else would the Commander instantly go along with it?"

"Listen, I don't know what you're trying to say, but I think you should give Christmas a chance. It tends to bring joy and get people together, which are two things I think you and I really need."

Minn-Erva let out a teeny grumble. "Fine. But don't expect to me to get you a glamorous present."

Vers beamed. "It's a start!" Then she gave Minn-Erva a 0.6 second hug and dashed out of the Helion.

"I'd better go bleach myself," said Minn-Erva to herself.

   Later that night, the team had returned to the docking bay. Bron-Char and Yon-Rogg busied themselves setting up the tree, Minn-Erva arranged wood for the fire, Att-Lass fawned over all the presents, and Korath arranged the dinner on Vers' picnic table. Vers just stood back and observed all of it.

"You all have done well, my apprentices," she said at length.

"I am not your apprentice," said Minn-Erva. She took out her rifle and blasted the wood pile. It burst into flames. "There. The fire's done."

"Great! Did anybody get chestnuts? Cause we could roast them over the open fire," said Vers.

"What are chestnuts, lass?" asked Bron-Char.

"Uh...I don't know," she answered.

"Well then I probably can't help you," he said.

"Hm. Reasonable enough. Now everybody, I think we're ready to get this Christmas celebration started!" announced Vers.

"Okay. So what do we do?" asked Minn-Erva.

"We do all kinds of things to celebrate Christmas! Like decorating the tree with lights and tinsel and putting up decorations and giving gifts and hanging mistletoe!" She bumped Yon-Rogg's elbow after the last part, though no one was quite sure why.

"Okay, but...what do we DO?" Minn-Erva pressed.

Vers tapped her chin. "Hmmm...we be together."

Then she tossed a handful of homemade tinsel into the air. It sparkled in the moonlight and settled like snow on Yon-Rogg's hair.

"But actually, Christmas isn't just about presents and being together. In fact, it's not really about those things at all. It's about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ!"

Everyone gave her a strange look.

"What?" she asked.

"Who is that?" asked Korath.

Vers went cross-eyed. "Well, you see..." she began.

But Minn-Erva interrupted. "Att-Lass, look what I got you!"

"OOH! LEMME SEE!" he shouted and ripped into Minn-Erva's present. "Oh! It's popcorn. Thanks."

"No problem. I got some things for everybody else, too," she said and passed them around.

"Oh, I guess it's present time then. I think it always was exciting," mused Vers.

Nobody's interested in what they all got, but here's some stuff:

Yon-Rogg got a hair comb and a #1 Commander mug.
Minn-Erva got a headband and a throw pillow. People really wanted to throw it at each other.
Bron-Char got a new old book by the ancient scholars of Hala, and a bad drawing of him being killed by Skrulls. (He took it as a compliment instead of an insult.)
Att-Lass got a new pistol and a set of dumbbells. He wasn't very impressed.
Korath got a DVD of the new season of Everybody Loves Ronan, and a hairbrush. (Which was obviously a gag gift.)
Vers got many bags of popcorn and chips, and a note that stated, "I hate you."

Once all the unwrapping was taken care of, there was a large mess of green-and-black Starforce-issued wrapping paper all over the hangar. Everybody began messing with their stuff, except Yon-Rogg because he had no coffee to put in his mug and wouldn't comb his hair in front of other people.

"Well that was fun," said Att-Lass, who was trying and failing to lift his new dumbbells.

"Yeah, didn't I tell you it would be?" said Vers, nomming all of her new snacks.

"Vers, don't spoil your appetite. We still have dinner," said Yon-Rogg.

She just stuck her tongue out. "It's Christmas!"

"That's not an excuse," he countered.

"Yes it is," she countered back. Then she held out her caramel-flavored popcorn. "Try it if you dare."

He rolled his eyes but took some and ate it. "All things in moderation."

"That's the spirit!" she said with a smile. "Now let's eat!"

And so they all settled down at the picnic table for Christmas dinner. The hangar was warmed by the cozy Christmas fire, and lit by the beautiful Christmas tree.

"This is nice, you know?" commented Att-Lass.

"...Maybe," answered Minn-Erva.

"Perhaps we should do this more often," suggested Korath.

"Well, Christmas only comes once a year, but don't worry. Easter is just around the corner!" exclaimed Vers.

"Good grief," said Minn-Erva with a facepalm.

"Why don't we have a toast? The sophisticated folk always do that on a special occasion," suggested Bron-Char.

"Ooh, good idea!" said Vers, raising her glass of juice. "But, I'm not really any good at toasts. Why don't we ask our wonderful Commander over there?"

They looked to the end of the table where Yon-Rogg sat. He looked around at them and sighed, raising his glass. "I propose a toast to holiday cheer, the Christmas spirit, and to the person who brings all of it into our lives." He looked toward Vers.

"Gasp!" she gasped. "How touching."

"To Vers!" declared Att-Lass.

"TO VERS!" repeated everyone, except maybe Minn-Erva was a little quiet. They clinked their glasses.

"Now let's pray and get started on this yummy meal!" said Vers impatiently.

So they did, and Bron-Char began tearing into his chicken like a rabid wolf.

"Isn't that so...Bron-Charming??" Vers asked. "AHAHA!" she slapped her knee.

"Now I've heard it all," said Minn-Erva and ate her salad.

Far above, a sleigh flew over Hala. "MERRY KREE-MAS!! HO HO HOOOOO!!"

THE END!