Few Nebula Hopper League craft have as storied or vibrant a history as the Maple Leaf. Under the guidance of Star Captain Kyle Dubas and Master Engineer Sheldon Keefe, the legendary vessel speeds through the galaxy searching for new tales of glory...

“I’ve received a transmission from the league.” Kyle says on the Maple Leaf’s comms. “Looks like the race is on.”

“I’ll be right up.” Sheldon answers.

The Maple Leaf is a large ship and Kyle knows it will take Sheldon almost a minute to reach the bridge. The star captain prints up a pair of hamburgers which are ready just as his friend steps onto the deck. The master engineer immediately taking a bite from the still hot burger. The 3D printer had been upgraded last month and he was still getting to know the flavours. This was a good one.

“Ser fe gommen?” Sheldon asks before swallowing, then he tries again. “So we’re going?”

“That’s what it says.” Kyle points to one of the smaller monitors, where the official Nebula Hopper League insignia rotates above some text. Sheldon takes another bite and stares at Kyle while he chews, waiting for his captain to read the transmission. Resisting his urge to take a bite of his own burger, Kyle paraphrases.

“So the race is on, but things are going to be a little different. The Covidian Expansion, which is what they’re calling the bullshit we just got through, has changed the way we can do business. They are restricting our area of operations, which means it’s going to be crowded in our sector but at least we don’t need to go anywhere else.

“It’s not all gravy though. Because we are more familiar with the quadrant we aren’t allowed to use our charts for mapping a route before the race starts.”

“What? How does that make sense?” Sheldon isn’t surprised, the league is notoriously arbitrary.

“They are also going to limit our use of the official quark regulators because we have an excessive surplus.”

“That’s bullshit!” Sheldon shouts in frustration. “We already have to keep the other ships stocked with our regulators. Now we can’t even use what they let us keep? Is there any good news?”

“Well, we get to be in the race.” Kyle says. “And they have lifted the restrictions for torpedo flair.”

“Great.” Sheldon laughs. “ Since we can’t practice maneuvers or calibrate our coils we might as well paint smiley faces on our ordnance.” Despite his anger, Sheldon can’t help but feel eager for all the airbrushing in his future.

A proximity alarm starts to ping and the crew of the Maple Leaf slide into action. The odds of a genuine threat are slim but habits become rituals because there is no room for contextual interpretation. Sheldon steps to his console and immediately engages the defensive systems before shunting extra power to the engines. The Maple Leaf is one of the fastest ships in the League and in space speed kills. Kyle sits at the controls, peripherally noting the approximate location of whatever tripped the alarm. He shifts the ships course, veering away from the object slightly. Two quick taps on the command array and the main view screen has the target locked. Both men relax as one of their less bitter rivals, the Penguin, slips through the void. Once the race starts these encounters will end only one way but until then the Maple Leaf is content to watch. At least, Kyle is content.

“That’s bullshit!” Sheldon shouts, again, as a green shimmer puffs out from the Penguins quark scoop. “How come they get to use their regulators? Our regulators, but whatever, that’s super not fair!”

“I know.” Kyle agrees, but has had more time to process the absurdity. “Ships can only use the regulators they are given through escrow. We are never given any so we don’t have any to use.”

“You ever feel like the NHL is specifically trying to mess with us?” Sheldon let’s the question hang in the air.