The MVP

20





Week Eight: Ionath Krakens at Alimum Armada



PLANET DIVISION

SOLAR DIVISION



6-0 Yall Criminals

5-1 Bartel Water Bugs



4-2 Alimum Armada

5-1 Neptune Scarlet Fliers



4-2 To Pirates

4-2 Jupiter Jacks



4-2 Wabash Wolfpack

4-2 Vik Vanguard



3-3 Buddha City Elite (bye)

3-3 Bord Brigands (bye)



3-3 Isis Ice Storm

3-3 D’Kow War Dogs



3-3 OS1 Orbiting Death (bye)

3-3 Jang Atom Smashers



2-4 Ionath Krakens

3-3 Sheb Stalkers (bye)



2-4 Themala Dreadnaughts

3-3 Texas Earthlings



1-5 Coranadillana Cloud Killers (bye)

1-6 New Rodina Astronauts



1-5 Hittoni Hullwalkers (bye)

0-7 Shorah Warlords





QUENTIN STARED OUT into the blackness of punch-space. They’d punch out in moments. His stomach was doing flip-flops, and this time it had little to do with his motion sickness.

Word was the city of Alimum was having a difficult time controlling riots. Millions of citizens were burning, destroying and even killing because Ionath’s Prawatt players were coming down to play against their beloved Armada.

Riots, over a football game.

And yet he knew this went way beyond sports. The Krakens’ latest acquisitions were forcing an entire galaxy to reevaluate their stance on the Prawatt race. In his few years of life, Quentin had learned that sentients did not like to be forced to reevaluate anything.

His Sklorno teammates packed the observation deck, ready to lose their little minds at the sight of planet Chachana. Like they did for any Dynasty world, they pressed against the crysteel windows, their raspers dangling, their bodies hopping up and down, under and over each other.

John Tweedy was nowhere to be seen. He hadn’t talked to Quentin that much lately. Things had seemed a little off with his friend since Quentin had somehow offended him on the landing deck of Buddha City Station. John wasn’t being unfriendly, but it wasn’t the same. Besides — John spent most of his time with Becca, and Quentin spent all of his time studying game holos.

Captain Bumberpuff was also absent. Quentin had asked him to stay in his room this time, so as not to create an incident with the overly excited Sklorno.

The reality wave hit, and sure enough, Quentin’s body did what it always did. He finished his messy and unfortunate ritual, then looked out the viewing deck’s crysteel windows.

Out in the void waited the pale-pink orb of Chachana. It was much bigger than the Purist Nation worlds, even a little bit larger than Earth. It was his second trip here, but his focus drifted from the planet to a dozen or so tiny lights that seemed to be growing brighter.

He felt an instant rush of adrenaline. Pirate fighters? Not again …

As if to confirm his fears, the alarm blared through the Touchback, followed by Captain Kate’s voice bellowing over the ship’s sound system.

“Battle stations! We have ships approaching with hostile intentions. All non-essential personnel report to the dining deck, everyone else, man your positions.”

Quentin turned to run, to head for Gun Cabin Six, but before he did he saw a huge, white shape out beyond the viewport. It came from somewhere behind the Touchback, not there one second, huge and rushing forward the next. On that mass of white, he saw a flash of purple and blue — the GFL logo.

Denver started throwing herself against the crysteel windows. “The commissioner! I love-love-love him to save us!”

It was the Regulator, the flagship of Rob Froese.

Something slammed into the Touchback, throwing Quentin to the deck. A second alarm joined the first. As he scrambled to his feet, the Regulator started firing.

Clouds of rapidly expanding gas shot out of the white ship’s gun batteries. Some clouds were giant, billowing puffs, others were staccato bursts marking rapid-fire weapons. Quentin could no longer see all of the approaching lights, not with the Regulator blocking his view, but the ones he could see flashed brighter for a moment, then faded to black.

It was over in seconds. The sirens continued for a while, then fell silent. Quentin wasn’t sure what to do. Should he still report to the gun cabin?

“Attention,” called Captain Kate. “Emergency is over. First shuttle passengers report to the landing bay. GFL fighter craft will escort the shuttle down to Alimum. And if any of you boys or girls sees Commissioner Froese, make sure you tell him that Captain Kate owes him a bottle of Scotch. And a kiss. Maybe several kisses.”

Denver, Cheboygan, Halawa and Wahiawa all ran to Quentin.

“Quentinbarnesquentinbarnes,” Denver said. “Are you unhurt?”

Quentin nodded. He was shaken up a bit, but it would take more than a little fall to hurt him.

“I’m fine,” he said. “Come on, let’s get to the shuttle bay. It’s probably not a good idea to keep GFL fighters waiting.”

“Fighters!” Denver said. “I did not know the GFL had fighters!”

Quentin shook his head. “Neither did I.” He guessed no one had, and he also guessed that before Rob Froese took over as commissioner, there hadn’t been any GFL fighters at all.

They headed for the shuttle bay. How many sentients had just died in that exchange? And more than that, what was wrong with everyone? Football was worth dying for, if you played on the field, but if you didn’t — was it really worth killing for?

? ? ?



QUENTIN AND HIS TEAMMATES stepped off the shuttle and onto Alimum Stadium’s beautiful landing pad. The hum of nearby engines filled the air. Four white hovertanks floated high around the landing pad. Each tank bore the GFL logo on its sides and bottom, and each pointed wicked-looking guns away from the pad and into the city.

Like the domed stadium itself, the landing pad was made of two layers of crysteel sandwiched around a two-foot-thick moving wave of multicolored plasma. Beneath Quentin’s feet, the floor blazed like a living, molten jewel. The stadium itself shimmered and glowed, illuminating the pink clouds above for miles around, lighting up half of the city with its glowing magnificence.

But that staggering beauty couldn’t hide the ugliness of this place. Normal crysteel rose up from the landing platform’s edges, curving in to protect sentients against attacks that might come from the buildings towering high on all sides, or from the five levels of roads that snaked through the city. He’d been on this same platform two years ago — the crysteel walls looked more scorched and more bullet-ridden than before. In several places, he saw splatters that looked like dried blood.

Creterakians in white uniforms clung to the underside of those crysteel curves. They clearly didn’t want to expose themselves, even for a moment.

Quentin felt an elbow hit his right shoulder.

“Jeeze, Q — even the bats don’t want to pop their nasty little heads up! This is serious!” Whatever was bugging John, it faded away in the face of such severe security measures.

The Regulator had destroyed eight ships. All of the ships had been modified civilian vessels, no match for Commissioner Froese’s converted warship.

Choto the Bright slid in line on Quentin’s left.

“I do not like this,” he said. “The landing pad’s armor is significant, and with the tanks there is little that could harm us, but I still do not like it.”

As Quentin and his teammates lined up for inspection, a roof door — heavily armored — opened, and three white-uniformed Quyth Leaders scurried out. Usually, they were already waiting when a shuttle landed.

A reddish-furred Leader appeared to be in charge. He waved at Quentin and the others to come inside.

Quentin looked at John. John shrugged and shouted at the Leader.

“Hey, your miniature masterfulness, no inspection?”

If the Leader answered, no one heard it thanks to the explosion that blasted against the crysteel wall on their left. Choto at his side, Quentin sprinted for the armored door, his teammates close behind. As he ran, he heard gunfire and the whine of hovertanks moving to engage the attackers. He also heard the hum of the Touchback’s shuttle lifting off and heading back up into orbit.

Quentin ran inside, the others close behind. The armored door clanged shut, cutting off the sounds of battle beyond. Quentin looked around. John and his other first-shuttle teammates were packed into the hallway. Everyone seemed fine. A little shell-shocked, perhaps, but fine.

The Quyth Leader smoothed out his reddish fur. “You’ll be safe here,” he said. “The terrorists have been trying to hit the landing pad all day, but their weaponry isn’t good enough to breach our defenses.”

“All day?” Quentin said. “High One, what if they attack the shuttle on the way down? Shouldn’t we cancel the game?”

The Leader’s pedipalps twitched. “Cancel the game. You are making a joke? I have heard about you, Barnes, and your sense of humor.” The leader waved them down the hall. “There is nothing to worry about. Customs check is canceled for today, head to your locker room.”

“But more of my teammates have to fly down, they —”

A big hand gently grabbed his arm. Quentin turned to look at Michael Kimberlin.

“Quentin, come on,” the HeavyG said. “The league personnel know what they are doing. They wouldn’t take chances with teams.”

“Wouldn’t take chances? We just got shot at!”

Choto leaned in. “Michael is correct, Quentin. Those explosions were little more than fireworks. Our teammates should make it down. We need to prepare for the game. We must defeat the Armada.”

Quentin didn’t know what to say. He followed Choto farther into the stadium as they all headed for the locker room. Explosions? Gunfire? Tanks? How could anyone think of football at a time like this?

He shook his head and tried to clear his mind. He had no control over the game being canceled or not. And if it was game on, his head needed to be in it.



From the Ionath City Gazette



* * *





Krakens Pound Armada, Defense Finally Steps Up

by TOYAT THE INQUISITIVE

ALIMUM, CHACHANA, SKLORNO DYNASTY — The Krakens’ second-straight win has moved the team two games clear of the relegation zone and possibly put Ionath on track for a late-season playoff run.

Ionath (3-4) traveled to Alimum (4-3) for a Week Eight tilt against the Planet Division playoff contender and returned home with a 42-28 victory. Coming into the game, Alimum had won two straight and was tied for second in the division.

Ju Tweedy led the Ionath offense with 186 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Tweedy’s only flaws in the game were his two fumbles, both of which led to Alimum touchdowns.

“Ju needs to hold onto the ball,” said Ionath coach Hokor the Hookchest. “He has protected the ball this season so today was most likely a statistical anomaly. We will continue to give him carries and expect him to excel.”

Wide receiver Denver had her best game of the season, catching eight passes for 156 yards and two touchdowns.

Krakens quarterback Quentin Barnes threw for 312 yards, two touchdown passes and no interceptions. He also ran for 56 yards and another touchdown. He was sacked three times.

Turnovers were the real reason Alimum fell behind early. Armada quarterback Kirill Gomelsky was intercepted twice in the first quarter, once by Ionath free safety Katzembaum Weasley and once by corner-back Cormorant Bumberpuff. Weasley’s interception set up a 17-yard TD pass from Barnes to Denver, while Bumberpuff returned his interception 52 yards for a touchdown. The pick-six marked the first time in history that a Prawatt player scored points in a GFL game.

Bumberpuff added two more interceptions in the second half. Gomelsky seemed slightly upset about the game.

“The [expletive] Prawatt just [expletive] move different than what I’m used to,” Gomelsky said. “How the [expletive] am I supposed to [expletive] prepare for a [expletive] game against a [expletive] race I’ve never seen? I know I’ll figure them out by next year, but they were just different enough that I [expletive] couldn’t get a [expletive] [expletive] [expletive] handle on it.”

Gomelsky also suffered four sacks: two by Mum-O-Killowe, one by Alexsandar Michnik and a one by rookie linebacker Pishor the Fang.

The game was marked by several violent incidents. A fringe Sklorno religious group attacked the Touchback, Ionath’s team bus, when that ship came out of punch-space. A GFL warship repelled the attack. Eight small ships were destroyed, and 56 Sklorno died in the exchange. A second attack at the stadium’s landing pad resulted in the death of another 11 attackers. No one from the Krakens organization or any GFL security forces was hurt.

The win moves Ionath into a four-way tie for sixth place in the Planet Division. Alimum dropped to fourth place behind Yall (7-0), To (5-2) and Wabash (5-2).

Next week, the Krakens host Coranadillana. With a win, Ionath evens their record at 4-4 and remains in the hunt for a playoff spot.

“We need to beat the Cloud Killers,” said Barnes. “They’ve beaten us the last two years, but we’re gelling as a team and have to find a way to win at home.”



* * *





GFL WEEK EIGHT ROUNDUP

Courtesy of Galaxy Sports Network



For the second week in a row, the Yall Criminals (7-0) set the all-time highest margin of victory. Last week Yall beat Isis (3-4) by 63 points, 70-7, and this week the Criminals hung a 65-0 shutout on the Buddha City Elite.

“I know we’re new to Tier One, but come on,” said Elite coach Ezekiel Graber. “The Criminals are just dominant. There isn’t one weak spot on that team.”

Yall running back Jack Townsend set a single-game rushing record with 289 yards. He carried the ball only 18 times, averaging 16 yards per attempt while running for scores of 99, 42, 23 and 14 yards.

“I was feeling it,” Townsend said. “I think the Elite did a good job of containing me. Except for those four touchdown runs, I mean.”

To (5-2) and Wabash (5-2) both won to stay within two games of Yall in the Planet Division. Alimum slipped three games back thanks to an upset home loss to Ionath (3-4). Alimum quarterback Kirill Gomelsky was intercepted four times, once by Prawatt free safety Katzembaum Weasley and three times by Prawatt corner-back Cormorant Bumberpuff.

“I just run the plays that are called,” Bumberpuff said. “I give thanks to the Old Ones because without them we are nothing. Thank you, Old Ones!”

Coranadillana (1-6) and Hittoni (1-6) both lost, keeping them locked in a race for Planet Division relegation.

In the Solar Division, Bartel (6-1) moved into sole possession of first place thanks to a 38-35 victory over Jang (3-4). The Water Bugs continue to win with their punishing ground game. Quarterback Andre “Death Ray” Ridley scored one rushing touchdown, while running backs Jason Crashmore and Bradley Richardson each scored two.


After starting out 4-0, Jupiter (4-3) dropped their third straight game to defending champion Themala (3-4). The 24-21 loss puts Jupiter in a tie for fourth in the Solar. The win keeps the Dreadnaughts’ playoff hopes alive. Jacks quarterback Don Pine was sacked five times and threw three interceptions in the loss.

Texas (4-3) beat Bord (3-4) 24-21, and Sheb (4-3) kept D’Kow (3-4) out of the end zone to win 13-3.

In the Solar relegation watch, New Rodina (1-6) and Shorah (0-7) both had byes.

Deaths

No deaths reported this week.

Offensive Player of the Week

Yall running back Jack Townsend, who rushed for a league-record 289 yards against Buddha City. Townsend also had four rushing touchdowns.

Defensive Player of the Week

Themala middle linebacker Tibi the Unkempt, who recorded three sacks in the Dreadnaughts’ 24-21 win over Jupiter.