Today's Pic: Minn-Erva, as drawn by yours truly! It was a lot of fun putting her in an anime-like style (that's the only way I can draw people to actually look decent.) It was NOT fun, however, drawing the Starforce uniform. I don't want to do that ever again...
(One small annoying detail - I forgot to include her bandolier. Whoops!)

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   One Hala Day, Vers strode into the Helion's kitchen and pillaged it for fruit, snacks, and coffee. As she was doing that, she heard the ramp woosh open and closed again, accompanied by commanding footsteps. She stuffed a Hala potato chip in her mouth, thinking, 'I'm sure that's not Yon-Rogg here to make some big announcement.'

A second later, she heard Yon-Rogg's voice say, "Listen up, team! I have a big announcement."

Vers rolled her eyes. 'Jinxed it.'

"Ooh, what is it?!" exclaimed Att-Lass. "Another mission?"

"Well, I just got back from a conference with the Supreme Intelligence," explained Yon-Rogg. He didn't sound as excited as Att-Lass did.

"Oh really? What did it say?" asked Korath.

"We're going to take a little excursion," announced Yon-Rogg. "A field trip, as Vers would call it."

"What?" said Vers, popping her head in. "Field trips are boring!"

"Well then you'll be intrigued to know that the destination has not yet been decided. The Supreme Intelligence only told me that our group should get out and do something educational. I'm taking ideas for our trip currently, so any suggestions?"

"How about a restaurant?" asked Vers.

"No, Vers, it has to be another planet. Maybe you shouldn't think with your stomach all the time, hm?"

She just stuck her tongue out and then slowly shoved a piece of melon into her mouth.

"How about Knowhere?" put in Minn-Erva, ignoring Vers' display of immaturity.

"Or Xandar?" suggested Att-Lass.

"What about that place you guys went to that one time – C-53, was it?" said Bron-Char.

"Yeah, what's there?" asked Vers.

"NO!" snapped Yon-Rogg. "I mean, there's nothing there. No point in going; it won't be educational. It's not a big deal."

"You're kinda making it sound like a big deal," observed Vers.

"Well it isn't," he responded flatly, though he wouldn't meet her gaze for several minutes afterward.

"Then how about Xandar?" asked Korath.

Yon-Rogg pointed at him. "That could work. We could learn a lot about their inner workings and culture, which would be helpful should our war with them take an ugly turn. We'd just need to be disguised."

"So, we're going on a field trip into enemy territory? Seems more like a stealth mission to me. But I do love me a good disguise!" Vers said.

"Well, it's not a mission because we won't have an objective. We'll only be there to sightsee, sort-of," Yon-Rogg replied.

"Ha, that's an unusual thing to hear you say," laughed Vers.

"Well I'm excited for it!" shouted Att-Lass. "It's been a while since I've sighted anything."

Minn-Erva glanced at him. "Logically speaking, I'd say it's only been about two seconds."

"Hey! Are you calling me dumb again?" Att-Lass complained. He leaned in and whispered, "Don't make me tell on you."

Minn-Erva gasped and raised her hand. "Commander, Att-Lass is a tattletale!"

"What? Since when?" asked Yon-Rogg.

"Uncool!" shouted Att-Lass. "She tattled on me for threatening to tattle on her! I didn't do any actual tattling!"

"But you would tattle if you had the chance!" she exclaimed.

Vers was watching them squabble like children with an amused smile. She decided to butt in. "Ladies, ladies, I'm sure we can all agree that one of you is guilty of tattling."

Minn-Erva gave her a nasty look, Att-Lass looked smug, and Yon-Rogg's face said a thousand different things – from thank you for handling that to I'm tired of these people to you have fruit juice on your nose.

"Oh, whoops," said Vers, swiping at her nose.

Yon-Rogg just sighed and turned to Korath. "Alright, Korath, set course for Xandar. Everyone else, let's change our uniforms so we can't be identified as affiliated with Starforce."

Korath nodded, and switched his uniform to entirely black before heading to the cockpit.

"Ooh, okay!" exclaimed Vers. She popped up the color palette panel in her wrist display. After ghosting over neon pink and a red-and-blue combo, she settled on lighting up the lines of her whole suit with rainbow lights. "Epic."

Minn-Erva gave her a look of disgust and then changed her uniform to red and black. "You ought to wear something that blends in, you know, Twinklefists."

"It doesn't matter what I wear, so long as it's not Starforce-y," retorted Vers.

"Indeed," agreed Bron-Char. He changed his uniform to all white, so that it matched his beard.

"Wow," said Att-Lass, who had changed his to match the color of his face.

"Really, Att-Lass? That kinda makes you look naked," said Vers.

"WHAT?! NO IT DOESN'T!!" he shouted. "...Does it?"

"Vers, knock it off," ordered Yon-Rogg. He had simply inverted the colors of his uniform.

"Wow, but that is an interesting choice, Yon-Rogg," she said, with a few claps.

He didn't seem fazed by her sarcasm. Instead, he ruffled her hair like she was some kitten. "It's so overt, it's covert," he said with a smile.

She pushed his hands off and tried to fix her hair with a pout. "Fine, fine. Whatever."

"You know, Minn-Erva, I think those colors are a little menacing. You're sure you don't want to look like a snowy angel?" asked Bron-Char, his uniform shining majestically.

"Pretty sure," replied Minn-Erva, slightly intimidated by his star power.

"But does this color look bad?" asked Att-Lass, who seemed to be sweating from the worry that he might look naked.

"I don't know," said Minn-Erva, because she actually agreed with Vers about the color but didn't want to say so.

"These lights are good because we'll be out and about in the daylight when they won't draw so much attention, but still look fabulous," explained Vers, doing a little twirl.

"Yeah, but as soon as we go in a building, everyone's eyes will be hurting," replied Minn-Erva.

"RRrghh!" growled Vers. "That's not--"

"Korath, stop setting course for Xandar," interrupted Yon-Rogg. "We need new disguises."

"Wait, what!?" exclaimed everyone.

"Clearly the color swap idea isn't working out. Let's just go out-of-uniform in normal clothes," said Yon-Rogg, looking exasperated.

"But...all our clothes are Starforce issued. We're still going to be in Kree colors," said Minn-Erva.

"Then I suppose we'll have to go to a civilian market to find regular ones," he decided.

Korath walked in from the cockpit and they all shuffled out of the Helion.

"A civilian market? Wouldn't buying their clothes be 'taking away from the people?'" Minn-Erva asked Vers.

"Oh, no, of course not," Vers replied. "They'd be happy to sell to us, and besides, we're on official Starforce business, so whatever we take from them is ultimately for their own good."

Minn-Erva squinted at her. "Then why did you say we couldn't go to a market when we were on the mission for the cof--"

"Oh, look, the elevator's here!" interrupted Vers.

The whole team had made their way to the doors, which slid open. They crammed themselves in, which was not pleasant with someone as big as Bron-Char in there.

"Ugh," grumbled Vers, fanning in front of her nose. "Has anyone here ever heard of deodorant?"

"What's that?" asked Att-Lass.

"What she means to say is, whoever forgot to take a shower ought to take care of that," Yon-Rogg explained. He was the only one not smushed into someone else because everyone was afraid to crowd him.

"How do you just know what she means?" Minn-Erva asked, hesitantly.

He turned and gave her a look. But that was all he did as the elevator doors slid open again and they all burst out onto the pavement of upper Hala. Spring was upon them, and the sun shone down brightly, accompanied by a cool breeze.

"Aahhh, spring," sighed Vers, spreading her arms to take in the sunshine. Her hair glowed in a natural kind of way. "Makes me think Easter is almost here."

Korath raised a hand. "What is--"

"We don't have time for that," said Yon-Rogg, searching for the nearest market on his wrist display's GPS. He pointed left. "Two blocks that way."

So they all made the walk, cutting a peculiar sight on the streets. Every once in a while, Vers would shove the person in front of her and then claim it was somebody else.

When they got to the bustling marketplace, the civilians made a wide path for them as they walked through.

"See, Twinklefists, these people respect us and are counting on us to protect them," explained Minn-Erva. "If you acted more mature, they might not seem so afraid of us."

"They're not afraid," Vers snorted. "Just trying to be respectful."

"If they were really trying, wouldn't they come up and thank us for our service?" queried Minn-Erva.

Just then, a random lady came up to Yon-Rogg and said, "Thank you so much for your service, Commander!"

He shook her hand and gave her a smile, then continued on.

Vers gave Minn-Erva a smug look. Minn-Erva just rolled her eyes.

They finally got to a booth that was selling clothes. "All right, team, everyone should pick out a full outfit, but don't go overboard. I'm paying for this through our Starforce team fund."

"Oh, so we have savings?" asked Vers, holding a shirt up to herself.

"Uh...yes," he replied, grabbing a pair of boots.

The guy running the booth said, "Oh, you sophisticated folk are in need of clothing? Please take what you'd like! It's on the house!"

"No, no, really, we'd be happy to pay," replied Yon-Rogg. He gave the team a look, like they'd better hurry up or he'd have to keep tolerating the super-nice civilians.

Vers tried to contain her smile as she piled up a mostly-red outfit and set it on the counter. Everyone else put theirs on too, and the final pile was two miles high.

"Hm, okay, that'll be...a bajillion units," said the cashier.

Yon-Rogg sighed and handed the guy the Kree version of a credit card. "I'm blaming you," he told Vers.

"What!?" she exclaimed. Then she scooted in front of the empty snack tray on the counter.

Once they'd hefted all their clothes, they started the trek back to the Helion. Vers carried her new shirt like a sack, with a lot of unidentifiable objects inside. They totally didn't smell like popcorn.

A few kids meandered up to Yon-Rogg. One of them said, "Was it hard to become a Commander?"

"Yes," he replied without batting an eye. "But we are all capable of anything we put our minds to."

"Woooow," said the kids.

"You're awesome!" said one.

"Thank you," he replied, and ruffled the kid's hair.

Vers was watching the whole thing with a barely contained smile. As they walked away, she heard one of them say, "When I grow up, I'm gonna be just like him!"

She walked up beside Yon-Rogg and nudged his shoulder. When he didn't respond, she nudged it again, and again, until he finally said, "WHAT?"

"I'm pretty sure I've just confirmed my theory," she said, her smile so large her face was in danger of exploding.

He sighed, though he had a hint of a smile too. "Don't bother sayin--"

"Everyone loves yooouuu!" she chanted. "Don't bother arguing."

He sighed, shook his head, and kept walking. Vers continued on, looking smug. Just then, Minn-Erva came up from behind and poked her.

"Woah," said Vers.

"What?" asked Minn-Erva.

"I'm pretty sure that's the first time you've ever poked me," she said. "Or anyone."

"Well don't get used to it," Minn-Erva replied. "I'm just here to tell you to stop bugging the Commander so much."

"Why are you railing on me? He needed the wake-up call," Vers replied.

"He already knew," Minn-Erva responded. "He just likes to pretend he doesn't notice, because he's--"

"—too modest for his own good, I know," interrupted Vers.

"Actually I was going to say humble," replied Minn-Erva.

"Hey, could you guys stop arguing about how great the Commander is? I'm getting a headache," interjected Att-Lass.

"Oh, uh, what?" said Vers, whipping her head around. "That's not what we were doing!" She checked to see if Yon-Rogg was listening. Luckily, he seemed absorbed in scheduling a landing slot on Xandar.

"If you say so," groaned Att-Lass.

Soon they were back at the Helion, and had to go into the bathroom one at a time to change into their new clothes.

"You know, I'm just realizing that these clothes are kind of ratty," commented Minn-Erva as she sorted out her outfit.

Vers scoffed. "Just because they're not as finely wound as Starforce clothing doesn't mean they're ratty." She then noticed a few strings hanging off the sleeve of her shirt.

"You don't think they're ratty?" replied Minn-Erva. "That means you must be used to wearing low quality clothing."

"Maybe I am," replied Vers, and stuck her tongue out.

Korath came out of the bathroom looking like an orphan.

"HA!" laughed Vers.

Att-Lass went in and came out looking homeless.

"HA!" laughed Vers.

Minn-Erva went in and came out looking fashionable.

"HA!" laughed Vers.

Bron-Char went in and came out looking like a hippie.

"HA!" laughed Vers.

Yon-Rogg went in and came out looking pretty ordinary.

"Hmm..." said Vers. "You look kinda ratty."

Minn-Erva threw her hands up and walked around looking for something to throttle.

"And you look like a member of Starforce, which you shouldn't," Yon-Rogg replied and shoved her into the bathroom.

"Hey, who used all the toilet paper?" she asked.

"It definitely was not me," said Korath.

"Do you need some, Vers?" asked Yon-Rogg through the door.

"No, just wondering," she said merrily. The door popped open and she came out looking about as savvy as she could in threadbare clothing.

"All right, then, we're good to go," announced Yon-Rogg, giving Vers a once-over before heading into the cockpit.

"How far to Xandar?" asked Minn-Erva.

Att-Lass went and booped some buttons on the console. "Closest jump point is...two hours."

"Two hours!?" exclaimed Vers. "That's forever!"

"You could always read an ancient scroll," said Bron-Char. He was already in the corner surrounded by long swaths of paper.

"Uh, no thanks," replied Vers. She got herself some coffee and decided to go bother the people in the cockpit.

Many minutes and knock-knock jokes later, the Helion emerged from the jump point and the vast blue expanse of Xandar loomed before them.

"Hey..." started Vers.

"If you're going to ask if they can identify us because our Kree ship, no, I put it in incognito mode," replied Yon-Rogg.

"Oh," she said. "Hey, can I land us?"

"I'm not sure that is a very good idea," replied Korath sternly.

"Oh, it wouldn't hurt to let her," sighed Yon-Rogg. "She's a good pilot."

Vers gave Korath a smug grin and pushed him out of his seat. Then she plopped down and blasted the engines. Everyone flew back into the walls.

"Maybe a little less thrust, lass!?" shouted Bron-Char from the back somewhere.

"Nah, I've always thought you guys land too slowly," called back Vers.

"Well, if you're not careful, we're going to crash land," said Yon-Rogg.

"Pfft!" she waved her hand. "I've never crash landed in my life."

"That's what you think," he mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing!"

Vers finally eased up on the engines, and she heard everyone groaning and getting up from the floor. She didn't notice that she had forgotten to lock in their landing path.

"Vers, you need to veer to the right," said Yon-Rogg.

"Aw, man," she sighed, giving him a side-eyed glance. "Have the puns finally caught up with me?"

He was quiet, his face impassive.

She looked at him. "Did you actually intend to make that--"

"Classified," he said.

She just raised her eyebrows and locked in the flight path. Soon they had landed, and everyone scrambled around trying to prepare themselves for the day.

"Get the atlas of Xandar!" Minn-Erva ordered Bron-Char.

"Did somebody page me?" asked Att-Lass, popping his head in from the kitchen.

"No! We did not!" said Minn-Erva.

"Oh."

Korath was busy putting sunscreen on his head. It was extra shiny when he finished.

"All right team," announced Yon-Rogg, walking in. "Finish up. And get your units ready, because you might want to take home some souvenirs. But nothing overtly Xandarian, alright?"

"That shouldn't be a problem," said Vers. "I'm out of cash." She opened her locker and began pulling out a bunch of snacks.

"I can see why," observed Korath.

Minn-Erva sighed. "Who actually spends their entire wallet on food? Would it kill you to act just an ounce more professional?"

Vers slammed her locker door. "Fine – do allow me to gather my comestibles and then we shall be off."

Yon-Rogg passed by and said, "Knock that off Vers, an expanded vocabulary doesn't suit you." He opened the ramp and bright sunlight flooded the ship.

"See? He agrees with me," Vers said with a smile.

"On what, exactly?" Minn-Erva said with a glum look.

"The fact that I'm fine the way I am," clarified Vers. "Now let's go vacationing!"

"It is not a vacation," said Korath as he walked down the ramp.

"Whatever," replied Vers.

They crowded out of the ship and were met with a vast expanse of smooth white stone for the landing dock. All around them, trees, fountains, and things made of glass were everywhere.

"Wow, the clouds here are so fluffy and white!" exclaimed Vers. "That one looks like a flerken!"

"What on Hala are you going on about, lass?" asked Bron-Char, shuffling around in his peasant clothing. He scratched his armpit.

"You've never named the shapes in the clouds before? What are you, an adult?" she narrowed her eyes.

"Actually, yes," he replied with a bemused expression.

"Well, okay then," she said and they continued on.

They got to a main plaza of sorts, where there were several levels and a lot of glass kiosks and storefronts.

"Well, team," began Yon-Rogg, "as you can see, this is the main center of commerce on Xandar. The HQ of the Nova Corps is also located here. As such, there is a high Nova presence, so keep a low profile." He motioned to two guys in blue uniforms with the familiar three yellow dots in the middle. "Now, who can tell me how long the Kree-Nova war has been going on?"

Vers scratched her head. Att-Lass stopped at a vendor's booth, and Korath wandered off.

"So I'm guessing nobody knows?" Yon-Rogg sighed. Fountain water misted through the air, sparkled in the sunlight, and settled like snow on his hair. "It's been around a thousand years. Not as long as the Kree-Skrull war, of course, but we still have some substantial and rocky history with Xandar."

"Wow, this really is a field trip," Vers commented. "Complete with boring teachers."

He gave her a look. "Fine, if you really think that way, then you can all have some free time. Explore, sightsee, get a snack, shop, or mingle, but not too much."

She saluted. "Yes, sir!" Then she skipped off.

"Twenty units says she blows our cover," Minn-Erva whispered to Bron-Char.

"Hmm..." he stroked his beard. "I say thirty."

"Minn-Erva, perhaps you should accompany Vers," suggested Yon-Rogg, seemingly overhearing them.

"What?" she said. "Why don't you do it?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, I mean, yes Commander! Of course." She hastily went after Vers, who was fishing for units in a big fountain. "Somehow I knew I'd get stuck with you," she sighed.

"You might as well get used to it, because it probably won't be the last time," Vers replied, counting up her loot.

Minn-Erva sighed again. "Yeah, we'll probably end up being sent to a sentient mudball planet to find Skrulls or something."

"You never know," agreed Vers. "So whatcha want to do?"

Minn-Erva thought hard, and Vers thought soft.

"Maybe we should just go to a museum or something," Minn-Erva suggested at length.

Vers went cross-eyed. She tried to figure out how to explain that she wasn't interesting in learning anything in a calm, diplomatic way that did not involve stomping her feet or screaming. She was saved from the effort by Korath coming up and offering them both sun hats.

"For the sun," he said.

"Duh, obviously," replied Minn-Erva, taking one.

"A thank you would be preferred," he answered and went to pass them out to everyone else.

"I'm surprised he was actually being considerate for once," commented Vers.

"Today is a weird day," Minn-Erva said, putting on the hat.

"Hey, guys!" said Att-Lass, walking up. He had a bag full of random Xandarian junk. "You like my hat?"

"Of course I do," said Vers. "I have the same one."

Just then a young boy came up to them. He was barely a teenager from the looks of him, and he was wearing an oversized red leather jacket. Vers could see a scuffed-up patch in the shape of flames on the front. "Hey, are you guys Kree?" he asked.

Minn-Erva and Vers traded glances. "What? Why would you think that?" asked Vers.

"The blue skin," he replied, motioning to Minn-Erva and Att-Lass.

"Hm," said Att-Lass. "I guess we never took that into consideration when we came."

"Don't worry," said the kid. "Centaurians have blue skin too. I should know." Then he walked off.

"Well that was weird," said Vers.

"Why didn't you say anything about this before!? We're probably in trouble now because of that kid!" Minn-Erva exclaimed.

"Well, it didn't really occur to me!" Vers defended. "In case you haven't noticed, I don't have blue skin!"

Steam was puffing from Minn-Erva's ears. "Now the whole mission is jeopardized! I'm tired of being at the center of our problems!" She went to throttle Vers, but remembered that she'd probably get in a lot of trouble if she did that, so she settled for cuffing Vers on the back of the head and tromping off.

Vers immediately cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "YON! MINN-ERVA CUFFED ME!"

Minn-Erva stopped in her tracks. "Now who's tattling?" she asked pointedly, but she had a guilty expression.

Vers shrugged. It turned out that Yon-Rogg was only a few yards away, sitting on a bench and secretly watching them. He called, "Don't worry, she's buying lunch! And don't call me that in public."

Vers and Minn-Erva traded smug looks.

"Wait, why are you looking smug?" asked Vers.

"Because the Commander finally told you off about calling him that demeaning nickname," she replied.

Vers snorted. "It's not demeaning. And he said 'in public,' smarty. Meaning, I can still call him that in private."

Minn-Erva opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again. "He still told you off." Then she walked off.

Vers blinked, then shrugged her shoulders and went to find some kind of frozen dairy to eat.

Meanwhile, Korath and Bron-Char were touring a museum.

"Interesting...they arrest people by levitating them? I think they must've taken inspiration from our antigravity tech!" exclaimed Bron-Char, reading a plaque.

"I'm fairly sure they had their tech before they ever engaged in warfare with us," said Korath.

"Hm," mused Bron-Char. "You may be right. And it's a different sort of gravitational field anyway."

"Excuse me," said a Krylorian lady, coming up to them. "But you two look like homeless hippies."

Just then, their comms buzzed. "Excuse us," said Korath, and they stepped outside.

Yon-Rogg's voice came through. "Everyone, meet back up at the restaurant by the landing bay. It seems we're going to have to cut this trip short, since I've just been notified that our cover was blown."

"Wait," came Minn-Erva's voice. "Who notified you?"

"Classified," he responded.

In a few minutes they were all back together again. Vers had a souvenir bag full of food.

Yon-Rogg looked at it and said, "Of all the things I said, 'get a snack' was the one thing you did?"

She shrugged. "Hey, can we get lunch before we go? I'd hate to waste Minn-Erva's opportunity to be charitable."

Minn-Erva glowered at Vers, but Yon-Rogg said, "Alright, but we should get take-out."

"Cool with me!" Vers said.

"Fine," said Minn-Erva. "But everyone just order something simple."

They strode into the little restaurant and took a few hours to decide what they wanted. After placing their orders, the cashier rung it all up and said, "Hm, okay, that'll be...a bajillion units."

Minn-Erva silently wept as she handed over her Kree credit card.

Att-Lass patted her back. Yon-Rogg smiled.

THE END!