One Hala Day, Vers was strolling along the sidewalk in downtown upper Hala. The sun was dimmed by clouds and a cool breeze blew past. She shivered in her Starforce-issued jacket.

"It sure is getting colder. I bet it's around the time for Halloween," she mused.

There were no Halloween decorations anywhere, however. That only made her more aggravated. "Somebody's got to do something about this," she decided.

   Yon-Rogg was already tired. He had been up since the crack of dawn filing reports for Starforce related stuff, and had now been informed that the Helion's windshield was damaged. Once he had finished up in his office (which was just his apartment), he headed to the Helion to see what was going on, and what his team was getting up to. Coffee in hand, he walked up the ramp—

"BOO!!" shouted Vers, jumping out of nowhere. A few plastic alien toys dropped from the roof on strings.

Yon-Rogg blinked. "Vers, what is this?"

She drew back. "You didn't even flinch! That's not fair! Not even a drop of coffee left that mug. Seriously, why did I think I'd be able to crack you?"

"Maybe you neglected to remember that warriors of Starforce are supposed to be disciplined in suppressing their emotions. And in case you forgot, surprise is a rather unhelpful one."

She scoffed. "Surprise isn't an emotion. It's...an element." She tried to reset her plastic aliens.

"What? No, Vers, surprise isn't an element. Didn't you take Halan chemistry?" he countered. "And what are you doing with those kiddy toys?"

"They're supposed to drop down and scare whoever comes into the Helion. I rigged them up to this tripwire," she explained, pointing to the floor.

He observed. "I didn't see that before. At least you got me there."

She snorted. "Yeah, because making you trigger a tripwire that didn't do anything to you is such a big accomplishment."

He sipped his mug. "Sorry, but I'm always prepared. Even when I'm not."

She rolled her eyes. Then she snatched his mug of coffee and downed half of it.

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. "You know, Vers, you don't automatically own everything of mine."

"If it's yummy, I do," she replied, lighting her hand up under the mug to reheat the coffee. "Don't worry, I know you have a big stash of the instant stuff at home."

"Since when have you been at my home?" he asked.

"Since...every other morning?" she answered. "By the way, there's a chip on the windshield. You might want to go look at that."

He gave her an exasperated smile and went to grab the coffee mug back, but she held on. As they played tug of war, there was the sound of footsteps, a snap, and a high-pitched girly scream. Vers abruptly let go of the mug and it launched backwards, spilling the coffee all over Att-Lass.

"AAAHHhH!" he screamed.

"What the--!!" shouted Vers. Then she noticed that he had triggered her kiddy toys. "Hey! My Halloween surprise scared you!"

Korath walked in. "What is Hala-ween?"

"Oh, well, it's a holiday where--"

"What's a Hala-day?" asked Bron-Char, walking up. "Do you mean weekdays?"

"HAVE YOU GUYS NOTICED I'M COVERED IN SCALDING COFFEE?!?!" shouted Att-Lass, jumping around all over the Helion. Eventually he tripped over the briefing holo-table and smashed straight through the center.

Everybody gasped.

"The briefing holo-table! What have you done?!" cried Korath.

"That old thing holds some dear memories," said Bron-Char with a sniff.

"Att-Lass, take a time-out," ordered Yon-Rogg, and pointed to the corner. He also threw a towel at Att-Lass.

There was silence for a minute.

"I'll have somebody get this thing out of here," Yon-Rogg said, motioning to the wreckage. "I can project our briefings from my wrist unit anyway."

Vers sighed. "Well, okay. Have you checked--"

There was another snap, and an "ugh!!"

Vers turned around and saw Minn-Erva. "Ha-HA! My tripwire kiddy toy contraption gave you a scare, Minn!"

Minn-Erva gave Vers a death glare. "Don't call me that. And no, that poorly-rigged excuse for a scare-inducing device didn't startle me, it was the fact that the briefing holo-table is in ruins and Att-Lass is in the corner soaked in coffee."

Vers looked around at the carnage. "What? No, no, my contraption definitely did it."

Minn-Erva looked so annoyed she might explode. "Why is it that every time I get to the Helion last, you guys have either wrecked it or pulled some dumb prank?"

"I don't pull dumb pranks! Whatcha talking about?" Vers laughed innocently.

"Vers, what is this?" Yon-Rogg called from the "cockpit" (as Vers called it.)

"Hm?" she went over and looked at the spot on the windshield where he was pointing; there was a Hala potato chip taped to the glass.

"Oh, hehe, would you look at that, there's a chip on the windshield," she smiled.

He looked at her. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Lighten up, Yon," she patted his head.

The whole of Starforce watched the scene with what could only be described as relatively abject horror.

"Why are you guys watching us with relatively abject horror? It was just a dumb prank," Vers said.

"Yeah, hypocrite. A dumb prank," said Minn-Erva. "On our Commander."

"What? Oh, he doesn't mind! Do you?" she asked, turning to Yon-Rogg.

He looked up. "I'm not going to grace that question with an answer." Then he went to the bathroom.

"GASP!!" Att-Lass gasped. "He never goes to the bathroom. He must be really shaken."

"Bugger off, Att-Lass. Everybody goes to the bathroom," Vers retorted.

"Oh yeah?" he challenged. "Do you?"

She blinked. "Uhh...yes."

"I'm startin' to worry for your health, lad," commented Bron-Char.

"In many military circles, using the bathroom is a sign of weakness," said Korath.

"What? You made that up," said Minn-Erva.

"If you say so," he replied.

"Why are you guys going off about this?" Vers asked incredulously. "Either you go to the bathroom because you need to, or you don't."

"Why are you guys talking about the bathroom?" asked Yon-Rogg, who had just walked out of the bathroom.

"Uh...um..." said everyone.

Just then, the lights cut.

"Woah," said Att-Lass. "Saved by a power outage."

"Saved from what, exactly?" came Yon-Rogg's voice.

"He still heard you, Att-Lass," sighed Vers. "And I thought you were our stealth expert."

"Whoever said I was stealthy with my vocal chords?" he retorted.

Just then there was a loud banging from outside.

"Hey, who's banging on the Helion?" said Minn-Erva. "We just got the scratches buffed out!"

The knocking continued. Then other noises joined it: scraping, whistling, and ghostly groaning.

"Do you guys hear that ghostly groaning?" asked Att-Lass. He started shuffling around and bumping into everybody.

"Would you quit being a scaredy-cat?" asked Vers.

"What's a cat?" asked Korath.

"Would someone open the hatch?" interjected Yon-Rogg.

There was a minute of silence were everyone poked each other and tried to figure out where the hatch was. Finally Minn-Erva said, "It's locked."

"What!?" shouted Att-Lass. "This is an attempt on our lives! We're all gonna die!"

"Calm down, Att-Lass. No one's going to die," said Yon-Rogg.

Just then they heard more sounds from outside: distant screaming.

"Now I am concerned," said Korath.

"If something's happening, we have to get out!" exclaimed Minn-Erva. They heard her banging on the hatch release button.

"I can't see anything! What if there's an assassin in here?!" shouted Att-Lass.

"Ouch! Quit elbowing my ribs!" grumbled Vers.

From outside, they heard someone yell: "Skrulls!"

Then all heck broke loose inside the Helion.

"We don't have an emergency exit hatch?!" shouted Minn-Erva.

"Maybe we could smash the windshield and get out that way," suggested Bron-Char.

"No, it's military glass, designed to be bulletproof. We could get out through the aquatic stealth release," said Yon-Rogg.

"You mean, the underwater launchers," said Vers.

He sighed. "Yes."

"Oh hey, I just had an idea too," she added. Then she lit up her fist so that they could all see each other.

Minn-Erva gave her a trademark annoyed look. "You couldn't have done that earlier?"

"Hmm..." Vers tapped her chin. "Nope."

"It doesn't matter. We have to get out," said Att-Lass. He turned and saw one of Vers's plastic toys hanging in the air. He shrieked like a little girl.

Luckily Vers didn't do anything besides smile creepily.

"Now is not the time for smiling creepily, Vers," said Yon-Rogg as he herded them toward the underwater launchers. "Or screaming like a girl." He eyed Att-Lass.

They all climbed into the little nooks in the walls. "It's dark in here," Korath complained.

"Don't tell me you're chickening too," Minn-Erva scowled, though her voice sounded a little rattled.

"There are likely Skrulls outside. Do I not have a legitimate reason to let my heart rate go up by one percent?" asked Korath.

"You're weird, dude," said Vers.

"Get ready, team. I don't know what we'll see once we're ejected," cautioned Yon-Rogg.

He hit a button, and they were all unceremoniously spat out of the ship. They landed in a pile of limbs, with Yon-Rogg standing on top with his sidearm drawn.

He was pointing it at a group of random Kree technicians were who paused mid-shout. A few were in the process of banging on the Helion with pipes. One of them had a speaker that was playing recordings of Skrull battle cries. Fake ashes drifted through the air, some of which settled like snow in Yon-Rogg's hair.

He lowered his gun. "Vers."

"Yeah?" she asked from below. He could pretty much hear the smile in her voice.

"Care to elaborate on this?" he asked.

"You catch on fast. I see my instruction has not been for naught," she replied, and wrestled herself out from under Bron-Char.

"What are you talking about? You don't instruct him about anything," said Minn-Erva.

"That's what you think," Vers said, still smiling.

"Vers," Yon-Rogg repeated. "Explain."

"Uh-oh," she mumbled. She could tell he was really peeved. "Don't go to the bathroom on me, but uh...HAPPY HALAWEEN!!"

There were crickets for a moment.

"WHAT?!" shouted Minn-Erva. She jumped up and threw everybody off her. "YOU ENGINEERED ALL OF THIS?! YOU LOCKED THE HELION?! YOU CUT THE POWER?! YOU...YOU HIRED THESE IDIOTS TO MAKE US THINK THAT THERE WAS A LEGITIMATE NATIONAL EMERGENCY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?"

"Hmm..." Vers tapped her chin. "Pretty much. I gave you guys a good scare, no?" She turned to the random Kree technicians. "Thanks, guys!"

"No problem," one of them said. Then they packed up and left.

"How did you even convince them to do this? It could be considered treason, almost," said Korath.

"Oh, you know, I just offered them what they couldn't refuse..." Vers replied.

"Am I supposed to guess what that is?" asked Korath confusedly.

She sighed. "Money."

"Oh." He said.

"Well, I'm sure the Commander is going to make sure you're disciplined accordingly for pulling this," Minn-Erva said smugly. "Nobody, not even you, is allowed to get away with this sort of behavior."

Everyone turned to Yon-Rogg, who had been silently watching the scene, stroking his chin with all the prowess of a learned sage. After a moment, he surprised all of them by letting out a small chuckle.

"What Vers did was unprofessional, yes, but she meant well. And she truly did manage to catch us off guard. Not just anyone does that to my team. It was a good Halaween scare."

Minn-Erva's jaw hit the ground. "But...but..."

Yon-Rogg turned to her. "Lighten up, Minn."

Vers almost busted out laughing at the look on her face. Then she turned to Yon-Rogg. "Well said! The student has become...the teaching assistant."

"Relax, Vers. You haven't taught me anything," he responded.

"Pfft. Yeah right. By the way, thanks for not grilling me. I know I kinda overstepped my boundaries there."

"I don't know what you mean by 'grilling,' but I never said I wasn't going to. It's extra lawn mower simulation training for you tomorrow."

"Aw, man! That stinks!" she complained.

"Well you should have thought about that before you staged a Skrull attack," he replied with a hint of a smile. "Now come on team, let's get some coffee."

"Sure! As long as it stays away from my face this time," said Att-Lass.

THE END!

A/N: Hooray, it's a late Halloween story! Or should I call it Halaween. It's actually crazy how many puns I can make. :D 
 So I recently realized that I've been doing something horribly wrong in these stories... I've been including the briefing holo-table. After rewatching the movie for the millionth time, I just now realized that there IS no briefing holo-table. The briefing is, in fact, projected from Yon-Rogg's wrist. So now I feel stupid for putting a table in there at all. That's why it had to meet such a tragic end in this story - to explain why it's not present in the movie. 
 RIP Briefing holo-table. You will be missed.   ;_;