Today's Gif: Excited Vers! 

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   One Hala Day, Vers walked into the Helion with a mug of coffee and looked around to see what her teammates were up to. Minn-Erva was polishing her rifle, Bron-Char was in the corner reading a scroll by the ancient scholars of Hala, and Korath and Att-Lass were on the floor doing a puzzle.

"Hm," said Vers.

Just then they heard Yon-Rogg's voice from the kitchen yell, "TEAM! Get in here!"

They all traded nervous glances and stopped what they were doing. Minn-Erva shot like a bullet into the kitchen, which Vers rolled her eyes at. She proceeded to stroll at a leisurely pace through the doorway, and was met with an uncanny sight. Yon-Rogg stood with his arms crossed next to a pile of wreckage on the counter. It could only be one thing, a thing they all knew and loved...their coffee machine.
And if it was broken, that meant there would be no more coffee drinking. Vers was suddenly very aware that she was holding the last mug of coffee in her hand. She covertly tried to hide it behind her back.

"Who broke it?" Yon-Rogg demanded. Then he noticed their mortified faces and decided to add, "I'm not mad. I just want to know."

Everyone remained silent, and exchanged suspicious glances.

"Okay, I can see the culprit is not going to fess up," observed Yon-Rogg. "Does anyone have a solution for fixing this particular problem?"

Korath raised his hand. "I do believe that Vers has a coffee machine at her apartment. We could borrow hers."

Yon-Rogg raised his eyebrows at Korath, then activated his helmet, which materialized and settled lightly like snow over his hair. He put it in noise-canceling mode.

"WHAT?!" screeched Vers. "HOW DARE YOU EVEN SUGGEST SUCH A THING?! THAT MACHINE IS MY PRECIOUS!! IT GOES NOWHERE! IT STAYS IN MY BEAUTIFUL ABODE AND MAKES MAGICAL LIQUID!! YOU CAN'T TAKE IT FROM ME! WHOEVER TOUCHES IT, DIES!! IS THAT CLEAR?!"

Everyone uncovered their ears with a dazed look. Yon-Rogg watched them all with an evil smile on his face. He deactivated his helmet.

"Since you could not hear, Commander, I will fill you in. Vers refused to lend us her coffee machine with a large fit of rage," said Korath, ever oblivious.

"Wow, you don't think he put on his helmet for a reason, huh?" Minn-Erva scowled.

Yon-Rogg just ignored her. "In that case, I'll just have to take action according to the best interests of our team."

Everyone's eyes widened, especially Att-Lass and Minn-Erva's.

Yon-Rogg took a deep breath and then said, "Minn-Erva and Vers...I order you to go to the store and buy us a new coffee machine."

"WHAT?!" they both yelled.

"You heard me," he said, not reacting one way or another to their shock.

Minn-Erva looked pretty agitated but she swallowed down whatever she was going to say and said, "Yes, Commander." Then she tromped out of the room.

Everyone else besides Vers quickly dispersed. Vers felt like making a stink, though.

"Why are you sending me? I didn't break it!" she complained.

"Perhaps you didn't, but you still refused to help in the way you could've," he replied.

"Fine fine, but still, why are you sending me with Minn-Erva? That's just asking for disaster."

"Perhaps because you two need to learn to get along," he replied with a smile. "And a little team trip to the store is a great way to start."

"Ugggh," she groaned. "You are so weird."

His smile grew bigger and he pointed out the door. "Get going."

She mimicked his smile in an annoyed way and then stalked out of the kitchen to find Minn-Erva. She ran right into Bron-Char, however, who had just been standing outside the door doing nothing.

"Oof," she said. "You sure seem to like standing around doing nothing."

He had a deadly serious face and put his hands firmly on her shoulders. "Young Vers...I just want you to know that we are all rooting for you today."

"Uh, what?" she said, slightly freaked out.

"I'm referring to your mission with Minn-Erva. I am aware that it could have deadly consequences for the both of you, and so I'd just like to say that it was very nice knowing you, and I believe you can do it."

Vers blinked at him. "You sound like every employer, teacher, family member, friend, and vague acquaintance I've ever had."

Bron-Char squinted. "I thought you didn't remember having most of those."

Vers frowned at him and shrugged his giant hands off. "Look, I appreciate the vote of confidence, and I know Minn-Erva has a death wish for me, but we're just making a run to the store. We probably won't kill each other. It's just a simple mission! What could go wrong?"

Att-Lass walked by and overheard her. "Good luck, you just jinxed it."

Vers rolled her eyes and headed to the ramp, where Minn-Erva had been standing the whole time with an annoyed look on her face.

"Well that only took you an hour," she grumbled. "Let's go, Twinklefists."

Vers fell into step beside her. "Quit being such a sore loser. At least this is an easy mission, and not something crazy like infiltrating Ronan's house to find out if he's secretly planning to destroy the universe."

Minn-Erva rolled her eyes. "He may be a tyrant, but I doubt he'd try a stunt like that."

"Eh, well, according to Yon, you shouldn't put anything past him," replied Vers as they took the elevator to the bottom floor of the skyscraper where the Helion's docking bay was located.

"Funny, he says the same thing about you," Minn-Erva said with a scowl.

"Well, what can I say? I'm the unpredictable type," replied Vers with a smile. She tripped over the base of the elevator door, fell, went into a roll, and jumped up again. "Meant to do that."

Minn-Erva rolled her eyes and they continued through the city to catch a train to the store. Once they were aboard, Minn-Erva went to sit near the front, but Vers grabbed her arm and tried to pull her to the back.

"What are you doing?!" Minn-Erva scowled, yanking her arm away.

"We should be courteous and sit near the back," said Vers. "If you take the place of honor near the front, odds are you'll be humiliated and asked to step down."

"We're members of Starforce. Nobody's going to humiliate us," Minn-Erva replied with a raised eyebrow.

"True," said Vers. "But it's still more respectful. And we should also remain standing to give the citizens more space."

Minn-Erva scowled as she stood next to Vers and grabbed one of the wall handles to hang on to as the train started. "Who exactly taught you this weird train etiquette?"

Vers gave her a look. "Yon-Rogg, of course. This is how we always act on our train rides."

Minn-Erva's eyes widened for half a second, and she said, "Well, they are pretty considerate things to do, after all. And wait, since when do you ride the train with Yon-Rogg all the time?"

Vers tried not to react to Minn-Erva's total 180 on the situation. She tapped her chin. "Since...forever. We're not just coffee pals, we're train pals, too!" She smiled brightly, all annoyances forgotten. "And speaking of coffee, I think we're coming up on our destination."

Minn-Erva, who was looking pretty flabbergasted, shook her head and looked out the window. Sure enough, sitting in front of the train, shining in the light of upper Hala, was the large store that all members of Starforce frequented. It was called...Starforce Mart.

Vers and Minn-Erva hopped off the train and strolled inside.

"Alright, let's get this done as quick and cleanly as possible," said Minn-Erva, scanning the overhead holographic signs for the appliance section. As soon as she spotted it, she headed in that direction, but Vers immediately went the opposite way.

"Vers! What are you doing now?!" she called, but not loudly. Only inconsiderate people shouted in grocery stores.

Vers looked back and smiled. Then she turned her attention to a shelf full of snack food and piled a bunch of it up in her arms. "I needed some work snacks," she answered as she walked back over.

Minn-Erva pinched the bridge of her nose. "We're on a mission. You can buy unhealthy crud in your own time."

Vers raised an eyebrow. "You can't mean to tell me that you don't want to pick up some bottled herbal water while you're here."

Minn-Erva shot her a glare. "Don't bring up the herbal water." Then she turned on her heel and stalked to the appliance section, while Vers leisurely followed.

When they entered the right aisle for coffee machines, they found that only one brand was available, and there was only one left. Worse, someone was standing in front of it, looking like they were about to buy it.

"Ugh, great," Minn-Erva sighed. "Looks like we're going to have to make a deal for the coffee machine."

"Shouldn't be a problem," responded Vers, observing the blenders. "You're already so grouchy that they probably won't want to mess with you."

Minn-Erva just ignored her and stalked toward the person. However, as soon as Minn-Erva realized who it was, she stopped in her tracks.

"Uhh, Vers...maybe we should come back later."

"Hm? Why? I thought you weren't afraid of social interaction," said Vers. The fact that Minn-Erva actually used her real name was slightly off-putting.

"I'm not," Minn-Erva replied. "But checking another store seems like a better alternative to this."

Vers looked toward the tall blue guy inspecting the last coffee machine. Now that she looked, he was wearing a weird hat, the type that belonged to Accusers. And upon catching a glimpse of his face, she realized that he could only be—

"Ronan!" exclaimed Vers.

Minn-Erva quickly shushed her. "Yes, it's Ronan! And if we try to take that coffee machine from him, he may very well bomb our apartment building as payback." Now it was her turn to grab Vers' arm and attempt to drag her out of the aisle.

But Vers stood firm. She shoved her armload of snacks onto the nearest available shelf space. "No," she said.

Minn-Erva paused. "No what?"

"No, we're not going to run away," clarified Vers. "That's not what noble warrior heroes like us should do. Think about it. This is the only Starforce Mart in the whole district. To find another coffee machine, we'd have to find a civilian market, and taking one of their machines would be taking away from the public. We wouldn't be putting them first, which is what we should always be doing as members of Starforce. Besides, there's no way Ronan needs that coffee machine more than we do. He can suck it up and send one of his goons to another district if he wants one so bad."

Minn-Erva stared at Vers. She looked to Ronan, and back. "Just for once, can't you be selfish at the right time?"

Vers gave Minn-Erva a stern look. "This is the right thing to do. It's for the good of all coffee." As an after-thought, she added, "It's probably what Yon-Rogg would do, too."

Minn-Erva eyed Vers like she knew what she was trying to do. Then she looked up, down, and all around, and after a furious internal debate, she finally sighed and nodded her head. "Fine. But you let me do the talking."

"Yes! I knew you had it in you!" Vers pumped her fist, and accidentally shot a photon blast at the ceiling. It hit a light fixture, which deactivated and hung at an odd angle.

Ronan quickly turned and looked at the damage. Then he followed the trajectory down and his gaze settled on Vers and Minn-Erva. Vers looked a bit guilty, and Minn-Erva looked like she was ready to throttle Vers.

"What was THAT?!" Minn-Erva whispered, and screamed at the same time.

"It was an accident!" Vers defended, just as quietly. "I was excited!"

They then noticed that Ronan was coming toward them, with the coffee machine tucked by his side.

Minn-Erva blanched (however that looks on a blue-skinned person). "Oh no."

"Play it cool," whispered Vers and turned to face Ronan with a confident smile.

Ronan stopped a couple feet away from them. "Well, if it isn't the unruly photon-happy rookie," he said.

Vers' smile melted. "ROOKIE?! YOU WANNA G--"

Minn-Erva pulled her back and interrupted, "Excuse her, please. I hope we didn't cause any trouble."

"I don't particularly care if you dismantle the light fixtures," he said. "It only shows how unprofessional you are, after all."

"UNPROFESSIONAL?!" Vers shouted. "YOU TAKE THAT BACK, YOU SON OF A--"

Minn-Erva slapped a hand over her mouth. "Um, she's a little on edge today."

"I can tell," replied Ronan, looking utterly bored. "I would expect nothing less from a member of the lousiest team on Starforce."

Minn-Erva gulped. "You...know which team we're on?"

Ronan hefted his coffee machine. "Of course. Everyone knows which commander unfairly got the honor of training the photon-powered newbie."

Vers' hands were glowing almost as white as the polished tiled floor. "Okay, first of all, quit calling me new. Second of all, I have a name. But I don't think you deserve the honor of knowing it. And third, Yon-Rogg is the best warrior for any job, including teaching. So I think you should just leave us alone, hand me that coffee machine, and go back to whatever Accuser sinkhole you crawled out of."

Minn-Erva's eyes widened, and she looked about ready to bolt out of there.

Ronan just let out a single chuckle. "That's about the attitude I'd expect from one of his pupils. I'll let it slide, only because the Supreme Intelligence would murder me if I incinerated you. But you're not getting this coffee machine."

Vers crossed her arms. "And why not? We have a more urgent need of it than you do."

"I doubt that," he replied and began walking away.

"HEY! I'M TALKING TO YOU!" Vers yelled. He slowly turned back around. Minn-Erva looked like she wanted to hide under one of the shelves.

"Do you usually carry things in your armpit?" asked Vers. "Because I personally prefer to stow them in my underarm."

"Is there something you need?" Ronan asked impatiently.

"Yes, I already told you," said Vers. "That coffee machine."

"Not happening," said Ronan.

"Look, you can go a few days without coffee and not die," reasoned Vers. "Except I can't. So if you value my life at all, you'll hand it over."

"I don't," replied Ronan.

"Okay then, how about...if you give me the machine, I'll send you a freshly-made pie."

"Tempting, but still no," he said.

"IF YOU DON'T GIVE ME THAT MACHINE, I WILL LOOK FOR YOU, I WILL FIND YOU, AND I WILL KI--"

"Vers!" Minn-Erva finally stepped in. "I don't think this is working."

"It has to work!" Vers cried, finally starting to look defeated. "Yon-Rogg gave us this mission! And we have to complete it!" She pointed at Ronan accusingly. "It's all his stupid fault!"

Ronan still looked just as much like an emotionless slab of concrete as ever. "Well, if you were given the official assignment of procuring this machine, then you should have said so. It's against protocol to interfere with a mission in progress." He handed Minn-Erva the coffee machine with a gruff expression.

Minn-Erva blinked. Vers stared at Ronan wide-eyed. Then she exploded. "YOU...YOU...PIE-FACED GOON!! WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY THAT EARLIER?! SOMEBODY SHOULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR TYRANNICAL COLD-HEARTED IDIOTIC--"

Minn-Erva pulled her back for like the billionth time that minute. "What she means to say is, thank you, uh, Mr. Ronan. Thanks to you, our mission will be a success." Then she spun Vers around and they high-tailed it out of there.

Vers kept on fuming as they walked to the checkout. "Can you believe that guy? Everything Yon goes on about is true! He is just the worst! I hope he gets painfully incinerated by a powerful energy source." She suddenly stopped. "MY SNACK STASH!" She turned around and dashed back to the aisle where Ronan had been.

"VERS, WAIT!" Minn-Erva cried. Then she sighed. "Never mind. She's lost." She made a Kree gesture of tribute to a dead person. Then she went to buy the coffee machine.

Meanwhile, Vers got to the aisle and grabbed her stash. Just before she went, she noticed Ronan was still there. He picked up a vegetable chopper and started leaving.

"Hey," called Vers.

"Good grief," said Ronan and turned around.

"Why are you buying a vegetable chopper now? I thought you needed a coffee machine."

"No, I didn't need a coffee machine specifically. I'm just buying kitchen appliances to use as target practice with my Cosmi-Rod."

Vers' eye twitched. She took a deep breath and muttered, "Anger only serves the enemy." Then she stalked out of the aisle, hoping she never saw Ronan again.

Minn-Erva was waiting for her outside the store. Despite everything that had happened, she looked surprisingly content. She hummed busily as a cool pleasant breeze swept through her dark hair. In addition to the coffee machine, a few bottled herbal waters were in her arms.

"Oh, you're not dead," she commented.

"I hope you weren't in a good mood because you thought I was never coming out," Vers said dryly as they walked back toward the train.

"Of course not. Why would you even think that?" Minn-Erva actually cracked a little smile. Then she said, "I'm just relieved we completed our mission. Now we don't have to look like utter failures for not even being able to buy something from a store."

"True," Vers agreed as the train lurched forward. They both went and stood in the back without any debate. "I'm glad we can all continue having coffee without any trouble."

Minn-Erva huffed in an amused way. "Well, I wouldn't say that there wasn't any trouble..."

"Oh yeah," Vers laughed. "There was actually a lot. But maybe they don't need to know. I'd rather not remember that experience."

"Agreed," said Minn-Erva.

They returned to the Helion's hangar in comfortable silence, both rather excited to see the familiar faces of their team again.

"Guess what we got!!" cried Vers as they walked in. She triumphantly held up the coffee machine and beamed.

Everyone else appeared out of nowhere.

"Yes! You got it!" whooped Att-Lass. He snatched it from Vers and ran to plug it in.

"Congratulations on not dying to the both of you," Bron-Char said, clapping them on the back.

"Thanks," said Vers. "I actually came closer to it than I initially thought."

"Well, you both seem pretty pleased," commented Yon-Rogg, coming up. "I take it you're getting along much better now?"

Vers looked at Minn-Erva.

"EW, NO!" they both said and separated to different parts of the Helion.

Korath walked up with a cup of coffee. Somehow he had already made one. "I think now is a good time to say that I broke the original machine. Sorry about that."

Yon-Rogg turned to look at him. Just as he opened his mouth, however, Vers butted in front of him. "ARE YOU JOKING?! NOW YOU FESS UP? RIGHT AFTER I PRACTICALLY WENT ON A SUICIDE MISSION GOING AGAINST RONAN?!"

"Wait, wait. Ronan?" asked Att-Lass, coming in. He, too, had a mug of coffee.

"Never mind," scowled Vers. She plopped down in a seat and cast death glares at Korath. Yon-Rogg was looking both concerned and confused.

"You know, Korath sure breaks a lot of appliances. Maybe he should be banned from the ship," said Minn-Erva.

Yon-Rogg sighed. "No matter how many mistakes he makes, he's still second-in-command. At least until further notice. Besides, he still doesn't cause as much accidental property damage as Vers." He gave her a challenging grin.

She stuck her tongue out. "Bet he wouldn't have been brave enough to steal a coffee machine from an Accuser."

"Is that what happened?" he asked, curiously.

"Yes," she nodded. "I also blasted him into the floor and made him admit that you were the better leader."

"That's not true," he and Minn-Erva said in unison.

"Oi," Vers sighed and threw her hands up. "You guys never let me have any fun."

Yon-Rogg raised an eyebrow. "I don't think you have much evidence to substantiate that claim. Would you like me to list all the times you defied orders on a fun whim in alphabetical order?"

She wrinkled her nose. "No thanks."

"Good. Then let's all have some coffee," he said.

So they did. After hanging out in the living room for a while, Att-Lass spoke up. "You know...couldn't we have just ordered a coffee machine on the Halanet? It would probably have been delivered even faster than a trip to the store."

Vers looked at him. Then she slurped her coffee loudly. "I can't hear you."

THE END!

A/N - An alternate story title: Vers Has Anger Issues.  XD