Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
Let's get to it.
Knight: No. Grace was joking with Rey about Rey marrying Ben, and Ben is Grace's cousin.
Chapter 72- Make Ready
(January 19, 2052)
As the sun rises high over the eastern US, Ben yawns and stretches as he wakes up from a long night's sleep. As he does, he suddenly realizes that the bed next to him is empty. He smiles, knowing where his wife probably is.
Ben hops out of bed and makes his way into the living room. As he walks in, he sees Rey sitting on the couch, cradling Vestara as she feeds her a bottle. Rey looks up as Ben enters the room and smiles at him. "Good morning, my love," Rey greets him.
"You're up a little early considering we were up a few times last night," Ben says with a bit of a laugh as he sits down next to her.
"Well, our little star was hungry and a little cranky, so I had to get up," Rey says. It's clear from her face that she's still very tired, but she's still maintaining a happy attitude.
The two chuckle with each other before they hear the door into the living room open. As they both turn and look at the door, they see Luke entering the room. Instantly, they can see the expression on his face, and they know he has something serious to discuss with them.
"What is it, father?" Ben asks.
"I just received a call from Ahsoka. She wanted to tell me, and you two through me, that Grand Admiral Page has finalized his plans for his counteroffensive against the First Order, and he's set a date for the offensive to begin. It begins on April 27," Luke says.
Ben and Rey sit in silence for several long moments before Ben asks, "And Jonathan wants us to return in time for the offensive?"
"Technically, no. He knows you've been focusing on your training and bonding with Vestara since she's so young, so he made no demands, nor did Ahsoka. But they wanted you to know so if you did want to go back to Naboo in time to aid the offensive, you could. He knew as well as I do that if you weren't given the chance to make the choice, you'd be upset in the end," Luke says.
Ben and Rey sit quietly, the silence only broken by Vestara making innocent cooing noises. After a few seconds, they look at each other. And in just their glances, the two know everything they need to. Rey gives Ben a nod before she says, "I guess we need to begin preparing to return."
Ben nods solemnly, knowing this first year of Vestara's life is not going to be quite what they'd hoped. Rey sees the expression on his face, and, wanting to cheer him up, begins to smile as she says, "And I guess we'd better sell our tickets to the Cup since we won't be here."
Ben groans before he says, "Ugh, did you have to say that? That just makes me more depressed we're gonna have to miss it. I've never been able to go to the final before."
Luke chuckles a bit as he hears them bantering about this. For Christmas, he and Kelly had gifted Ben and Rey with tickets to the final match of the upcoming Galactic Cup.
When the Terran Alliance first began welcoming other planets, people of Earth were not surprised that the first real Terran sport to gain widespread popularity on other planets of the Alliance was soccer. Given the fact that most other alien species joining the Alliance did not have biological characteristics that gave them an unfair advantage, and it was already wildly popular on Earth, the sport spread rapidly.
In 2010, after soccer players from Torfa gained fame for their skills, FIFA decided to open the World Cup to teams from other planets, although Twi'leks living on Earth had been allowed to compete since 2002. This continued, with more planets contributing teams, until after the 2034 World Cup, at which point too many planets were wanting to send teams to the World Cup.
By that point, a movement existed to establish a separate tournament for all worlds of the Alliance, allowing not only the traditions of the World Cup to continue, but also allow every world that wished to participate. The movement had first been started by the legendary soccer player Pele, who wished for the entire Alliance to fully enjoy the joy of soccer, and it took off after his death in 2022. Discussions on the idea began in 2026, and by 2032, plans were officially set in place for this new tournament, officially christened the Galactic Cup.
The Galactic Cup was formatted very similar the World Cup. The Cup would take place every 4 years, occurring halfway between World Cup. Any world of the Terran Alliance could put forth a team to compete, and in the three years before each Cup, a qualifying phase would be held and the teams would be whittled down to 48 to compete in the tournament. When the tournament came, the teams would be divided into eight groups of six teams each, and each group would play against each other, with the top two teams moving on to the next phase, where the remaining 16 teams would play each other in a standard, bracket style tournament until a winner was chosen.
The first Galactic Cup was played in 2036 on Earth, with the final match played in Rio de Janeiro between Terra and Torfa, with the Terrans taking the title. The Terrans also won the 2040 Cup. The current reigning champions, who had won the 2048 title, were the Elves of Alfenon, who had defeated Naboo 3-1 in 2048. This year's Cup was moving ahead despite the ongoing wars, scheduled to be played in Asia this year, with Naboo this year's favorites to win the title.
Ben sighs a bit before declaring, "Alright, let's see if any of the family would like the tickets. But we are getting tickets to the next Cup for sure."
"Alright," Rey agrees with a chuckle.
Ben then looks at his father. "Will you and mom be coming with us?" he asks Luke.
"No. At least, not yet. Our place is here. The Force has different plans for us. But rest assured, if the time comes where you truly need us, we will be there," Luke assures his son.
Ben just nods in return before returning his gaze to Rey. The two just look at each other for a few moments before Ben speaks up, a slight smile on his face, saying, "Well, I guess we better hope that Vestara takes to travelling well."
"She's a Skywalker, and I'm her mother. I think she'll be okay," Rey says in a joking manner, making Ben laugh a little bit.
Ben pauses for a moment before saying, "Let's make a goal to leave by the end of the month, after we've made ready." Rey nods in agreement, and the two both look down at their daughter, wondering exactly what the future is going to hold.
(February 5, 2052)
As the sun is setting over Naboo, a shuttle descends through the aerial traffic currently above Theed. And in the passenger bay, Ben and Rey are sitting with their daughter, waiting for the shuttle to touch down.
After setting their affairs straight on Earth for a lengthy absence, Ben and Rey had left Earth for Naboo. And at last, they'd finally reached the planet. Thankfully, Vestara had taken well to space travel and had not been overly cranky on the trip. Hopefully, she'll take well to being on Naboo.
As the shuttle descends towards its designated landing pad, the slight turbulence has Vestara a little fussy. Rey is trying to calm her down while Ben does a quick check of the bags they brought with them in the passenger bay to make sure nothing is being left behind. Seeing a stuffed nexu, which has become one of Vestara's favorite toys, in one of the bags, Ben smiles and pulls the toy out, handing it to Vestara, who immediately begins giggling and squeezing the toy.
Rey rolls her eyes. "I'm her mother. Why are you better at me than calming her down?" she demands.
"I guess she's a daddy's girl," Ben says with a bit of a laugh.
The shuttle shakes a bit as it slows down and the reverse thrusters fire. A few seconds later, the shuttle finally touches down. Rey waits for a moment before she unbuckles herself and stands up, cradling Vestara gently enough to make sure Vestara doesn't drop her toy while she picks up her bag. Ben is already gathering up their other bags, and together, the two head out the back of the shuttle as the boarding ramp lowers.
As the two disembark from the shuttle, the couple looks through the mass of people around the shuttle, and both break out in a big smile as they see a familiar face just ahead.
"Well, if it isn't my long lost cousin," Ben calls out.
Up ahead, Jaina is waiting patiently for her cousin and his family. She is dressed in her Mandalorian armor, although without her helmet. She smiles as Ben approaches her, and gladly accepts a tight embrace from her cousin. "Ah, little cousin. It's good to see you again," she says as she embraces Ben. She then pulls back ever so slightly and says, "I'm sorry I missed the wedding."
"It's okay. Boba Fett is not exactly a teacher who gives out vacation time," Ben responds. He pauses before adding, "I hope you at least spent the time training hard."
"Of course. Boba was a tough teacher. I learned about as much under him as I have during my years as a Mandalorian. I reckon that I could even give Calvin a run for his money in his prime," Jaina replies proudly.
Jaina then looks over at Rey. She had only met Rey a few times in the time between her departure from Mandalore and the time she began training under Boba, but she had spoken to Rey a few more times since then, especially around the time of the wedding. And she had, of course, heard the news about the birth of Vestara.
"It is good to see you again, Rey, especially since you became family since we last saw each other," Jaina says with a smile.
"It's good to see you again, Jaina. I'm looking forward to getting to know you better over the next few months," Rey says, excited to get to know Jaina a bit more.
Jaina then directs her attention to Vestara, who is currently fixated on Jaina's colorful armor. "Can I finally get the chance to hold my niece?" she asks. Even though Vestara is not Jaina's niece technically speaking, Jaina prefers to refer to her as her niece.
Rey smiles at her cousin-in-law. "Of course you can," she replies. She then carefully shifts Vestara in her arms, allowing Jaina to step forward and take Vestara in her arms.
Jaina carefully cradles Vestara, who is looking up at Jaina as if she's trying to decide what to think about this new person. After a few moments, Vestara begins to smile and makes a cooing sound. Jaina can't help but smile as she keeps looking down at Vestara. "Oh, you are just precious," she whispers.
As she continues looking down at Vestara, Jaina feels something through the Force. Opening herself up to the Force, she is stunned when she feels Vestara's presence wash over her. Vestara's strength in the Force is beyond what she even thought was possible for a mortal being. "Wow. And you have quite the little mystery, don't you, little one?" Jaina whispers to her niece, who just coos in response.
Ben and Rey look at each other with bright smiles as they put their arms around each other, then return their attention back to Jaina. No matter what is going to happen in the future.
And, I'll end there. Hope you guys liked this chapter.
So, the big counteroffensive against the First Order will begin next chapter. There will be plenty of action chapters following, so I hope you're excited.
Now, to introduce the next of my Galactic Legends for my version of SWGOH. This is one I have already introduced in text: Calvin Adams, in his prime as an ASAT member.
Calvin is obviously a Light Side GL, with an ASAT Team tag. He is an attacker, and his second special ability deals out massive damage that is virtually guaranteed to kill at least one character on the opposing teams. His first special ability also deals unique debuffs specifically to Galactic Legends. And his ultimate ability will destroy pretty much an entire team except for GLs. He works primarily with members of the ASAT team, and under him, his team can obliterate pretty much any other GL.
Now, for his requirements, which are as follows: Relic 8 Samuel Adams, Relic 8 Kelly Adams Skywalker, Relic 8 Mand'alor Din Djarin, Relic 7 David Ronen, TAS Freedom at 7 stars, Relic 5 Alexander Gates, Relic 5 Marko Loginov, Relic 3 Michael Nantz, Relic 3 Terran Infantry, Relic 7 Tyler Hall, Relic 3 Jonathan Page, Relic 3 Thrawn (Terran Alliance), Relic 5 Dennis Rommel, Relic 6 Lumiya, and Relic 5 Kir Kanos.
I will introduce my next GL in the next chapter. And it will be one I'm sure that players of SWGOH agree should be in the game in real life.
Alright. Next chapter will be up soon. Until it's up, please leave a review, and stay tuned!