by Scott Sigler
“Remember what we talked about in practice,” he said. “Who is their right defensive tackle?”
“Don-Wen-Sul,” Becca said instantly. “Twelve feet, six inches long, great reach, known for knocking down passes and bull-rushing off the snap.”
“And how to you keep him at bay?”
“Vary my snap-count cadence,” Becca said. “Never make it the same, prevent him from getting my timing down.”
Quentin nodded. “And stay mobile, ready to run, right?”
“Right.”
“Over the middle, who is weaker, their free safety or their safety?”
“Bolgusa, the safety,” Becca said. “Vertical leap has fallen off an estimated three inches since last year. I should go high to Halawa, use Halawa’s superior reach and size.”
It felt so strange to be on this side of the conversation. Pine had done the same to him years ago, as had Hokor, as had even Yitzhak. Quentin had been stubborn about learning this level of detail, but Becca didn’t seem to have an issue with it.
“Excellent,” he said. “And their free safety?”
“Stay away from Perth unless I absolutely have to go at her.”
Becca’s eyes were clear and focused. She waited for him to ask more questions, but he didn’t have to. He’d led her back to the information she knew, to the fact that she had prepared well and knew what needed to be done for the win.
“Thank you,” she said.
“You’re welcome. Remember, you’ve got the best team in football around you, on both offense and defense. Don’t force anything. If you’re in trouble, throw the ball away or take the sack — the only thing that can beat us tonight are turnovers. Got it?”
Becca nodded.
He thumped her shoulder pad. “You want respect? Then take it, it’s yours.”
She pulled on her helmet and jogged out of the training room.
Becca “The Wrecka” Montagne was ready.
GFL WEEK ELEVEN ROUNDUP
Courtesy of Galaxy Sports Network
Home
Away
Sheb Stalkers
38
Alimum Armada
14
Ionath Krakens
14
Buddha City Elite
13
D’Oni Coelacanths
14
Themala Dreadnaughts
16
To Pirates
28
Coranadillana Cloud Killers
3
Isis Ice Storm
14
Yall Criminals
27
Wabash Wolfpack
21
Orbiting Death
24
Bartel Water Bugs
27
Shorah Warlords
21
Jang Atom Smashers
14
Bord Brigands
28
D’Kow War Dogs
14
Jupiter Jacks
17
Texas Earthlings
21
McMurdo Murderers
10
Neptune Scarlet Fliers
7
Vik Vanguard
28
Last week, only one team had locked up a playoff berth: this week, change that number to six.
Ionath (10-0) remains undefeated and in first place in the Planet, barely holding on for a 14-13 win over Buddha City (5-5). The Krakens won the game when Arioch Morningstar kicked a 35-yard field goal as time expired, set up by a 27-yard pass from Becca “The Wrecka” Montagne to tight end George Starcher. Montagne started in place of injured starter Quentin Barnes. Montagne played quarterback for the Tier Three Green Bay Packers on Earth in the Planetary Union, but this was her first-ever start behind center in Tier One.
“It was amazing,” Montagne said after the game. “With Barnes out, we needed a team effort, and we got one. I’m so proud to be a Kraken.”
While Montagne played well enough for the win, Ionath is hoping for Barnes to return next week. Montagne functioned as a game manager, throwing just 15 times for 11 completions and 112 passing yards with one touchdown. She was intercepted twice, both times by Elite free safety Perth. Despite scrambling seven times for positive yardage, including a critical 10-yard run on a fourth-and-seven that kept the game-winning drive alive, she was sacked six times, the most the Krakens have given up all season. Ionath racked up 255 yards rushing, with Ju Tweedy carrying 20 times for 130 yards and a touchdown. Yassoud Murphy had 11 carries for 92 yards.
OS1 (9-1) and Yall (8-2) both posted wins this week, joining Ionath as confirmed Planet Division playoff qualifiers. The Orbiting Death won a 24-21 dogfight against Wabash (5-5), while the Criminals notched their sixth straight with a 27-14 defeat of Isis (5-5).
“We’re a dangerous team right now,” said Yall QB Rick Renaud, who threw for 313 yards and two TD passes. “Six wins in a row? Come on, man, that’s some tough-nosed football right there. I wouldn’t want to play us.”
To rallied from last week’s loss with a 28-3 Monday Night Football victory over Coranadillana (1-9). The win keeps the Pirates in control of the Planet Division’s fourth and final playoff spot, but they face a tough challenge next week against Yall.
The lethal uprising that took place this week in Coranadillana occurred shortly after the game between the Cloud Killers and the Pirates. No members of either organization were injured or killed. However, several thousand game attendees were casualties of the violence. It is not known at this time if the game was a specific target of the uprising.
Wabash, Buddha City and Isis are all tied for fifth in the Planet. With only two games remaining, all three teams have a chance to overtake To and grab the division’s final playoff spot.
In the Solar, three teams locked up post-season berths. Vik, Bartel and Jupiter all won to improve their records to 8-2, and remain in a three-way tie for first. The Vanguard handed Neptune (5-5) a 28-7 defeat, the Water Bugs busted up Shorah (3-7) by a score of 27-21, and the Jacks notched their eighth straight win, 17-14 over D’Kow (4-6).
Texas won 21-10 over McMurdo (1-9) to grab sole possession of the Solar Division’s fourth and final playoff spot. The Earthlings control their destiny: two more wins and they are in. However, both Neptune and Sheb (5-5) are just one game back.
Relegation Watch
Coranadillana avoids relegation if they win in Week 12 against Alimum. If the Cloud Killers lose that game, however, relegation will come down to the Week 13 matchup with D’Oni (0-10), with the loser of that game dropping down to Tier Two.
D’Oni lost a 16-14 heartbreaker to Themala (4-6) when Dreadnaughts middle linebacker Tibi the Unkempt blocked a 23-yard last-second field goal attempt. The winless Coelacanths will avoid relegation if they win their final two games against Buddha City and Coranadillana. D’Oni can also stay in Tier One with a loss against the Elite if the Cloud Killers lose their next two games: Alimum in Week Twelve and the season closer against D’Oni.
In the Solar Division, McMurdo hangs on by a whisker. Jang (2-8) fell 28-14 to Bord (4-6) but is still one game ahead of the Murderers. To guarantee their place in Tier One for 2687, the Atom Smashers have to win their final two games against D’Kow and Sheb. For McMurdo to stay in, the Murderers have to win at least one of their final two games, and the Atom Smashers must lose their final pair.
Deaths
McMurdo defensive end Rakja Knirror, killed in a fumble pile-up against Texas. GFL Commissioner Rob Froese is reviewing the game footage and has yet to determine if the death was incidental or a targeted act. Knirror is the third Murderer player to die in the last four weeks, and the second this year to die in a fumble pile-up.
Offensive Player of the Week
Jupiter Jacks quarterback Don Pine, who completed 27 of 31 passes in a tightly controlled win over D’Kow. The Jacks offense held the ball for 76 percent of the game, leaving D’Kow with less than 15 minutes of possession for the entire afternoon.
Defe
nsive Player of the Week
Themala linebacker Tibi the Unkempt, who notched 11 solo tackles and added six more assists in a 16-14 win over D’Oni. Tibi also blocked a final field goal attempt that would have given the Coelacanths the win.
From Galaxy Sports Magazine
* * *
TERRORISM AND TRAGEDY
Independence Movement Kills Thousands in Coranadillana
by YOLANDA DAVENPORT
CORANADILLANA, SATAH, HARRAH TRIBAL ACCORD — If the tragedy following Monday Night Football was a harbinger of things to come, then the future is grim indeed.
This reporter was in Coranadillana to cover the Week Eleven game between the Cloud Killers and the To Pirates. The game was little more than a footnote to the carnage that occurred here in the days prior to kickoff, when the Ainaria tribe launched an uprising to wrest control of the city from the Irillo clan.
One thousand, seven hundred fifteen citizens of Coranadillana lie dead, along with over five hundred Creterakian soldiers garrisoned in the city. Creterakian officials would not confirm the death toll. Thousands more sentients are injured, filling local hospitals beyond capacity. Some wounded still lie in the streets, as do many corpses that have yet to be removed.
The Ainaria tribe is little known outside of Tribal Accord space. Until this week, Ainaria was a powerful element of the city of
The inner workings of the Tribal Accord are often a mystery to the rest of the galaxy.
Coranadillana, responsible for both the city’s infrastructure maintenance and its waste removal. Ainaria is subject to the Irillo clan, which owns the entire city of Coranadillana. Irillo clan is subject to the Biri tribe, which rules planet Satah.
The inner workings of the Tribal Accord are often a mystery to the rest of the galaxy. Most governance is handled by tribal vote. The base level of Harrah culture is the family unit, which is part of and beholden to a single clan. That clan is part of and beholden to a tribe. Small tribes are beholden to larger tribes, which manage a specific area of Harrah government, which are beholden to even larger tribes, and so on. The descending hierarchy of this vaguely feudal state is as follows:
Tribal Accord
Planet
Nation
State
City or Territory
Tribe
Clan
Family Unit
In matters of elections, family units get a single vote, which is passed up to the clan. Clans tally their votes, determine the result, then pass that result up to the tribe level as a single vote, and so on.
For larger policy issues that affect one or more planets, this pyramid structure can take a very long time to produce a result. Historically, however, this system has proven to be a resilient, methodical form of governance.
That is what happens when the Accord system works.
When the system doesn’t work, the result is usually violence.
The Accord has one of the most democratic governments in the galaxy, yet significant disputes and power struggles are often settled through violence. Strong tribes rule; weak tribes are pushed aside. When a tribe feels it has gained enough strength or allegiances to move up in the hierarchy — for example, to move from running a section of a city to running the city itself — it does so by attacking the tribe above it.
That is what happened here this week. The results are tragic, and the cause is alarming, because the same sentiment that launched this chaos is brewing in the floating cities and dense atmospheres of all five Accord planets.
This system has proven to be a resilient, methodical form of governance. That is what happens when the Accord system works. When the system doesn’t work, the result is usually violence.
This reporter has learned that the Ainaria sought to lead a planet-wide rebellion against Creterakian rule. They hoped to seize control of Coranadillana, the largest city on Satah, then put out a call inviting the planet’s six million inhabitants to join them in the uprising.
Members of the Irillo clan and Biri tribe banded together against this uprising. They were quickly joined by the local Creterakian garrison. After two days of fighting, the city of Coranadillana remained firmly in Irillo control, although that tribe has been significantly weakened by the violence. The Irillo clan lost an estimated four hundred members.
Once the revolt was put down and the instigators either killed or carted off to detention facilities, the Grand Tribe Master of the Yashindi herself visited Coranadillana. She brought her private guard and assigned them to garrison the city.
As the winds of independence sweep through the inhabited galaxy, what government will next suffer this problem?
The echoes of this clash resonate across the planet. Reports have come in of additional, smaller-scale revolts, some of which are still going. Sources say this is nothing more than lower-level tribes using the violence as an excuse to finally make their move on the tribes above them, but this reporter is not convinced.
The Ki Rebel Establishment uprising on planet Ol last month was also a fight for independence from Creterakian rule. Now the Harrah Tribal Accord is facing similar violence. As the winds of independence sweep through the inhabited galaxy, what government will next suffer this problem?
The Creterakian Empire has ruled for over forty standard years. Entire generations of sentients have been born under Creterakian control have never known any other way of life. Perhaps more importantly, those born under that rule do not remember the almost constant state of war that existed before the Creterakians forced peace upon the galaxy.
* * *
45
Week Twelve:
Ionath Krakens at
Wabash Wolfpack
PLANET DIVISION
SOLAR DIVISION
10-0
x. Ionath Krakens
8-2
x. Bartel Water Bugs
9-1
x. OS1 Orbiting Death
8-2
x. Vik Vanguard
8-2
x. Yall Criminals
8-2
x. Jupiter Jacks
6-4
To Pirates
6-4
Texas Earthlings
5-5
Wabash Wolfpack
5-5
Neptune Scarlet Fliers
5-5
Buddha City Elite
5-5
Sheb Stalkers
5-5
Isis Ice Storm
4-6
D’Kow War Dogs
4-6
Themala Dreadnaughts
4-6
Bord Brigands
3-7
Alimum Armada
3-7
Shorah Warlords
1-9
Coranadillana Cloud Killers
2-8
Jang Atom Smashers
0-10
D’Oni Coelacanths
1-9
McMurdo Murderers
x = playoffs, y = division title, * = team has been relegated
• • •
NO MORE HEADACHE, not even a trace.
Quentin sat on the exam table, once again in the presence of Doc Patah, the three league doctors, their escort Leiba the Gorgeous and Gredok the Splithead. This time Gredok had brought Bobby Brobst in addition to Virak the Mean. Apparently Gredok wanted a higher intimidation factor than just Virak alone. Still, Quentin would have put his money on Leiba — something about that guy just radiated mean.
The gathering didn’t really hold Quentin’s attention, though — it should have, they were deciding his fate for Week 12 — because Doc Patah had put a news channel on one of the holotank medical monitors. A Harrah battle cruiser assigned to the planet Yarah had declared itself independent of the Creterakian Empire; the Empire, and the rest of the Tribal Accord fleet, were less than pleased.
The GFL docs were heavily into their discussion with Patah and Virak. It surprised Quentin that he didn’t really care: they were going to decide what they were going to decide. He’d taken the
tests and done his part. Now it was out of his hands. And while he still breathed and bled the sport, at that moment football didn’t seem quite as important as watching distant footage of what looked like a fighter battle.
“Anything new?”
Quentin glanced right: Bobby Brobst, Gredok’s big Human bodyguard, had slipped away from the discussion and was staring into the holotank.
“A squadron of Creterakian fighters tried to escort a troop ship full of bats to the battle cruiser,” Quentin said.
“How’d that work out?”
“The troop ship got destroyed, apparently. So did all the Creterakian fighters.”
“Harrah small attack craft,” Bobby said. “Nothing can touch them. This is getting nuts. First Bord, now this ongoing thing in the Accord. I wonder what’s gotten into sentients.”
Quentin wondered, too. Wondered if the Zoroastrian Guild was behind the Harrah revolt, wondered if “untraceable” money was involved, wondered if the Harrah Kimberlin knew had participated.
Had the ZG caused this?
You’re dividing us ... you’re trying to turn us against each other, make it easier for you ...
Bobby and Quentin both became aware of a black-furred jewelry-encrusted Quyth leader standing only a few feet away, staring at them.
“Brobst, I do not pay you to watch the news.”
“Sorry, boss,” Bobby said and walked back to stand next to Virak.
“As for you, Barnes, perhaps you could join us,” Gredok said.
“I’m kinda busy right now, Gredok. Just tell me what they decided.”
The Leader’s cornea swirled with sudden curls of dark red: pure surprise.
