Today's Pic: A picture of Vers that I put a filter on! I've made one of these for each member of Starforce, so that's probably what you'll be seeing here for the next several stories. ;)

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 One Hala Day, Vers walked across the Helion's docking bay, swinging her arms in a carefree manner. The walls of the bay were lit up in their usual stained-glass manner by bright sunlight. Indeed, it was now getting rather warm on Hala, and Vers found it a welcome change from the bitter cold of winter.

Korath walked out of the Helion pushing the full garbage bin.

"Hey, Korath! Winter went, and spring has come - let's celebrate by doing something dumb!" chanted Vers. "I made that up just now."

"Interesting," he said dully and kept pushing the bin to the other side of the hangar.

"Hey, why are you taking out the trash manually? I thought we had an incinerator on the ship," Vers said, tilting her head.

"We did, but I broke it," Korath replied. He flung the contents of the trash bin out the back of the hangar. It was mostly composed of fruit peels and snack wrappers. "By the way, I believe the Commander has some news to share with you."

"Oh really?" Vers cocked an eyebrow. She turned and dashed up the Helion's ramp. Immediately she almost collided with Att-Lass, who was running around in circles flailing his arms.

"Aaahhh! Everybody panic!" he shouted.

Yon-Rogg was just standing in the doorway of the cockpit, watching him with an unimpressed look. Bron-Char was standing by the weapon racks doing nothing.

"Hey, uh...what's this about?" asked Vers.

Yon-Rogg sighed and maneuvered over to her so that they could be heard over Att-Lass's screaming. "I signed us up for dance lessons."

Vers blinked. "WHAT?!"

Yon-Rogg had already covered his ears, luckily. "You heard me. The Supreme Intelligence said that we should be attending galas more often, and if we are going to start on that, then we all need to know how to properly dance. Mostly so that we don't embarrass ourselves." He gave Vers a pointed look.

"Oh," she said, and then shrugged. "Well, I guess I'm up for it. Seems like a cool thing to know how to do."

She noticed Yon-Rogg visibly relaxed his shoulders. "Great, I was hoping you'd cooperate. Att-Lass is being a tad more difficult, but he'll come around. Now we just have to worry about Minn-Erva."

"Hmm," hmmed Vers. "I'm surprised she doesn't already know how to dance, given that she seems obsessed with being superior to me."

Yon-Rogg gave her a look. "I'm sure she's not obsessed."

"You're sure, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're positive," added Vers.

"Whatever you say," he consented.

"So do you know how to dance? I'd be shocked if you didn't, really."

"I do," he responded. "But I'll still be coming along to oversee everyone's progress, of course."

"Ah, of course," Vers said with a smile. "...But when exactly did you learn?"

"Classified," he answered.

She rolled her eyes. Just then, Minn-Erva came stomping up the ramp, heading straight for the two of them.

Yon-Rogg put on a fake smile. "Oh, hello, Minn-Erva, your angry face is such a charming sight. What can I help you with?"

Vers snickered a little while Minn-Erva fumed. "I just heard from Korath that we're learning to dance!"

"Yes, that would be correct. Is there an issue?" Yon-Rogg asked pleasantly.

"I don't want or need to be doing that," she replied.

"You may not want to, but unfortunately, those are my orders. As for not needing to, you'd be wrong about that, since we have orders from the Supreme Intelligence to mingle at galas more often. And that will intrinsically involve dancing."

Minn-Erva looked down, rather defeated. "I wish you weren't so good at coming up with arguments," she mumbled and walked off.

"LOL!" said Vers and patted Yon-Rogg's shoulder. "Good job."

He sighed. "Those weren't even arguments, just orders based in fact." He checked the time on his wrist display. "It's about time we headed out. Change into your activewear and we'll take the train to the dance studio. Oh, and Vers, try not to make this any harder than it already is."

"Hmm," she tapped her chin. "I can't make any promises."

He smiled against his better judgment and began herding everyone out of the Helion. "That's what I figured. Just checking to make sure."

Vers grinned as they all went to shove themselves into the elevator for the second time that week.

In just a matter of minutes, they were all standing outside an elegant building that had 'DANCE!' written in Kree glyphs over the entrance.

Vers squinted at it. "Does that say 'donut?' Because I sure could go for one right about now."

"Are you actually joking right now?" Minn-Erva asked incredulously.

"What exactly is a donut?" asked Att-Lass.

"It says 'dance,'" Korath said blandly.

Vers didn't know which person to respond to, so she just blinked and then pushed open the doors to the building. The team walked in and found a random Kree guy standing inside waiting for them.

"Welcome, Starforce!" he exclaimed with a bow. "It is my honor to be your teacher today. Please get comfortable and feel free to warm up. I took the liberty of setting out a drink table over there for when you get parched." He pointed to a rectangular table up against the wall. There were water bottles and a punch bowl on it.

"Ooh! Rad!" exclaimed Vers. She darted over to the table and began chugging the punch.

Minn-Erva pinched the bridge of her nose while Yon-Rogg distracted the instructor with questions about the lessons. Once everyone was ready, they lined up against the wall to watch the instructor.

"So here is how you start off a traditional dance," he said. (He happened to have a robot assistant to partner with for the demonstration.) The Starforce team watched and listened as he walked them through the steps.

"Okay, now who would like to give it a try?" asked the instructor.

Vers and Korath raised their hands.

"Excellent! You two step forward."

Vers whipped her head around to see the others. "Oh no. Is it too late to take my hand back?"

"Yes," said the instructor. Korath now stood beside him and just bored holes into Vers with his very comforting gaze.

"Okay, now you two get into the starting position...yes, one hand here, and these two are joined," explained the instructor, getting them in the proper stance. Vers tried not to gag at the close proximity to Korath's bland self. "Now, off you go!"

Korath immediately began moving, but Vers had instantly forgotten the first steps and he mowed her feet over.

"Ow! Hey!" she yelped.

"Be faster," Korath suggested helpfully.

"Step back twice, first, then forward, then back," said the instructor.

"Back first! And forward?" Vers repeated, wrangling with Korath to try and position her feet.

"No, back twice--"

"Forward, then back?"

"Back first!"

"Back then forward?"

"Forward then back!"

"Back and forward..."

"Forward? No, back--"

"ALRIGHT, THAT'S IT!!" Yon-Rogg interrupted. He pushed Korath out of the way and took his place as Vers' partner. "It's like this. One two three..."

He pushed her back a little and she instantly fell into step with him. "Ah! It's back, back, forward, back!" she exclaimed. "It's kinda like sparring! Why didn't you tell me?" She shot an accusatory glance at the instructor.

The guy threw his hands up. Minn-Erva patted him on the back, while watching Vers and Yon-Rogg twirl around the room with a look of mild jealousy.

"You've got that look of mild jealousy again," Att-Lass observed, coming up next to her.

"It's not mild," she replied, sullenly.

"Oh, is it extreme, then?" he asked, subtly taking a few steps back.

"No," she huffed. "It's nonexistent."

"Nonexistent jealousy? Then why do you look like that?" he scratched his head.

"Just be quiet!" she exclaimed, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "And go drink some punch or something. Or I might punch you."

"Hehe..." he chuckled nervously. "I already have some. Do you want any?"

"Fine, whatever," she said and peeled her eyes off the center of the dance floor to make her way to the drink table.

Meanwhile, Yon-Rogg had just shown Vers how to balance on his hand in the air. The rest of the team watched and applauded.

"That was some inspiring teamwork!" Bron-Char hooted. "Looks like the little lass Vers has dancing talent, too! Lemme have the next dance." He extended his hand.

"Uhh...er..." Vers looked from where her hand fit perfectly in Yon-Rogg's to where Bron-Char's palm was nearly twice the size of her own. "I'm...not sure I--"

"GREAT!" he yanked them apart and set off with Vers across the dance floor. Needless to say, a great amount of stumbling, bumping, and grumbling followed. Laughing was heard from Minn-Erva's direction.

Yon-Rogg retreated back to the wall, where the others were standing by the drink table. "Why don't one of you pair up with Minn-Erva?" he asked.

Att-Lass tried to send him eye signals, but Korath just said the obvious out loud: "We are afraid that we will end up losing our limbs if we try."

Yon-Rogg gave him a wry smile. "Why? Because you'll annoy her or because she's a bad dancer?"

Korath tapped his chin. "Both."

"HEY!" shouted Minn-Erva from the other end of the table. "I heard that!"

"Whoops," said Att-Lass. "Too late. She's gonna dismember us as soon as we pass the next dark alley."

"There are no dark alleys in upper Hala," put in Yon-Rogg. "So you're probably safe...for now."

"Thank you, Commander. That is very reassuring," said Korath. Since he seemed incapable of sarcasm, one could only assume he was being serious.

At that moment, Vers and Bron-Char toppled over...with Bron-Char on top.

"AAaARggHH!" groaned Vers. "Why does this always happen to me??"

The rest of the team tried to stifle their laughter, while Yon-Rogg walked over. "It's alright, Vers, you're resilient. Come on now, Bron-Char, get--"

But Vers lit her fists up and blasted Bron-Char straight into the air. He smashed flat into the ceiling and somehow stuck there, becoming a dynamic new sort of ceiling art.

"Oof," he said. "I'm alright, lads."

"Vers!" exclaimed Yon-Rogg. He seemed more incredulous than angry. "What was that!?"

"He was heavy," replied Vers, jumping back up. She took a few deep breaths before cracking a smile. "Don't worry, I'm sure that'll be the last time I ever blast him across a room. Although, it really shows how awesomely powerful I am, doesn't it?" She flexed her muscles, which couldn't be seen through her Starforce-issued jacket.

Yon-Rogg pinched the bridge of his nose. Above, from where Bron-Char was stuck in the ceiling, bits of plaster rained down and settled like snow on his hair.

"Hey, uh, how are we going to get him down?" asked Att-Lass, sipping punch through a bendy straw.

Yon-Rogg cast a tired look at Vers and pulled his antigravity gauntlets from behind his back. He put them on, activated them, and began attempting to pull Bron-Char out of the ceiling.

"Wheeee!" said Bron-Char, even though he wasn't really moving.

"Come on, Yon! You can do it!" chanted Vers. "You're stronger than you think! Rip that charred Bron down!"

"You can stop that now," he said, turning to look at her. "It's distracting."

"Hmph," she crossed her arms. "You're bluffing. You actually find it to be highly motivating."

He turned away from her without responding and gave a mighty pull. Bron-Char came raining down from above...and smashed onto the dance instructor.

"Oi!" he shrieked.

"Ooooooooh..." Vers covered her mouth. "That looks like it hurts. Oh, wait, it does."

Yon-Rogg quickly yeeted Bron-Char off the teacher. He flew many feet and stuck into the wall while Vers helped the guy up.

"Sorry about that," said Yon-Rogg. "We'll be sure to leave a generous tip."

"The most generous thing you can do right now is leave my studio," replied the instructor, looking around at all the property damage. His robot assistant had randomly decided to spontaneously combust at that moment, too.

"Ah, well," said Minn-Erva. "It's a bummer, but I think we can oblige. Thanks for your time!" she shoved Korath and Att-Lass out the door.

Vers and Yon-Rogg looked at each other, then at Bron-Char. His front half was out of sight on the other side of the wall, while his legs kicked frantically.

"Not it," said Yon-Rogg.

THE END!

A/N: This is one of my first stories to be inspired by real-life events; I recently went to an unofficial English country dance lesson, and I thought, "Hey, what if Starforce did this?" :P
(Of course, nobody at my dance got embedded in the ceiling...)