THE ALL-PRO (64 page)

The red and yellow were the colors of native trees. The blue spots in the oceans represented bacterial blooms hundreds of miles wide, part of the ongoing lifecycle between the bacteria and the microscopic, waterborne plants that created the dominant green color.

Those colors, the pristine, natural expanse of forests so thick you could go from coast to coast without touching the ground, those were the
beauty
of the planet.

As for
death
, that came from the Ki themselves.

Quentin Barnes had been born and raised in a violent place. From what Kimberlin had taught him, the Purist Nation — Humanity’s most violent society, by far — had nothing on the Ki culture. Wars raged beneath the endless forest canopy. The Creterakians controlled what they could, removed firearms whenever possible. That meant that most of the time, Ki fought with axes, swords, knives, spears, even clubs.

The Ki species had developed agriculture by taking food and materials from their trees instead of cutting them down and planting other things. Even their prey animals flourished in and among the towering red plants. As such, the Ki never leveled their forests as had the Humans and the Sklorno. This lack of open spaces impacted the Ki’s style of warfare — even large-scale conflicts still had the feel of guerilla battles.

The Ki had been a pre-industrial species when the Collectors landed over a thousand years ago. The Collectors enslaved the Ki race, turning them into shock troops that would help the Collectors conquer other planets. After overthrowing their Collector overlords in 2009 ErT, the Ki slid into a dark age. There the race stayed for five hundred years, centuries of tribal warfare and sacrifice to dark gods, a time of subsistence farming and feudal hierarchy. This lasted until the Givers landed in 2518. For the second time, an alien race advanced the Ki beyond their own means.

The Givers provided punch-drive technology, taught the Ki to build starships and also taught them how to develop natural resources without altering the face of the planet. The Ki responded by butchering their benefactors, ending the Givers’ run of technological benevolence that brought faster-than-light travel to the Harrah and the Kurgurk.

Quentin thought about the planet’s history as the shuttle rattled through the thick atmosphere. It seemed shocking to see forest running to the horizon in every direction. Through planning or luck — or possibly both — the Ki had avoided the endless urban sprawl that now covered the surface of Earth, Chachana, Satirli 6 and dozens of other worlds.

The shuttle angled toward a massive, circular city covered by a high dome. Most Ki citizens lived beneath the forest canopy, but intergalactic business required dealings with other races — that meant domed cities dedicated to commerce.

This dome: the city of VikPor, the very capital of the Ki Empire. Home to not one, not two, but
three
professional rugby clubs, including the two-time galactic champion Vik Vengeance. Rugby remained the Ki Empire’s top sport, but that didn’t mean the sentients didn’t enjoy their gridiron. Gridiron was the
galaxy’s
most-popular spectator sport. That meant football was where the big money lie. Where there is money, there are the Ki.

Five years ago, the Vanguard had come just five points from winning it all when they lost Galaxy Bowl 2679 to New Rodina. The team had fallen apart after that, barely winning enough games to avoid relegation. Team owner Kin-Shal-An had hired new coaches, signed key free agents and invested in rookies. Out of the fifty-three players on the 2679 team, only four remained. Forty-nine new faces in all. The Vanguard had gelled into one of the league’s best teams, as evidenced by its six-game winning streak. If Vik landed a seventh-straight win, it had a shot at a home playoff game.

Quentin would not let that happen.

The shuttle slid through a dissolving hole in the city dome, a hole that closed up as soon as the shuttle passed through. Quyth technology. The Ki culture had money to burn — they bought the best tech available anywhere in the galaxy. Like other Ki cities, VikPor was laid out in concentric rings that alternated circles of tall buildings and circles of native vegetation. Near the city center, Quentin saw VikPor’s crowning jewel: three stadiums, one for each rugby team. The teams could have shared a stadium, but funds to build massive structures were in no short supply.

The shuttle shot past that trio of temples, moved closed to the city dome’s edge. There lie the floating Kin-Shal-An Trade Guild Stadium — just two decks, a seating capacity of only 65,000. Six huge, deep-green, arcing pillars rose up and in from a hexagonal base. Thick cables webbed out from each pillar, running down to the stadium’s concave yellow-brown base, under it, rising up and connecting to other pillars. The entire stadium hovered a hundred feet above the city. Kin-Shal-An’s architectural statement of grandeur. Below the stadium, a low-light forest park, home to the Vanguard’s training facilities and administrative offices.

The shuttle slowed, dropped in above a wide radius road. Tall buildings passed by on either side. The yellow-brown was a constantly swirling layer of fluorine trapped between two thick sheets of crysteel, making the stadium seem to float in a bowl-shaped cloud. Bright sun gave way to shadow, to artificial lights bathing everything in an iridescent blue glow. Such a surreal feeling, to fly
under
a football stadium. Above him, a web of tree trunk-sized cables supported the curving stadium bottom. Down below, the strange curls of alien plants.

The shuttle then angled up, slid into an opening below the stadium. Quentin felt the ship slowing, preparing to land.

Once he set foot off the shuttle, he would be on enemy territory. For the next two days, no more thoughts of his fake father, no more thoughts of George Starcher, no more thoughts of Somalia Midori, his sister, Fred’s investigation, Gredok’s double-dealing, Danny the Dolphin’s warning against signing the contract. Quentin Barnes had begun this season with a single goal — lead his team into the playoffs. To make it, they had to beat the Vik Vanguard.

The rest of the galaxy would have to take care of itself for a little while.

He would be busy.

Live feed from UBS GameDay holocast coverage

“Hello there, football fanatics and welcome to our coverage of Sunday Night Football. I’m Masara the Observant. With me, as always, is the galaxy’s most colorful color-man, Chick McGee.”

“Hello, Masara and hello, folks at home.”

“Chick, we’ve got a nebula-sized game ahead of us tonight. A pair of upstarts fighting for a playoff berth. The visitors, the Ionath Krakens, or as their fans call them,
the Orange and the Black
. Led by third-year quarterback Quentin Barnes, the Krakens are seven-and-four — they
must
win this game to make the playoffs and they would also need help in the form of a Yall Criminals loss. The Criminals have already finished their game against the To Pirates and we’re just waiting for the punch-drive messengers to bring us news of the results. Chick, what is Ionath up against tonight?”

“Masara, the Krakens have their work cut out for them in the form of the green-and-gold Vik Vanguard, led by defensive superstar Mur the Mighty. Eight wins and three losses, Vik has already qualified for its first trip to the playoffs since losing Galaxy Bowl twenty-one to the New Rodina Astronauts. But just because they’re already in the postseason parade doesn’t mean they’ll lay low and lollygag in this titanic tilt. If Vik is victorious and Jupiter gets jilted by Jang, the Vanguard will secure the second seed in the Solar Division. That means a
home playoff game
, the franchise’s first-ever. So they want this win badly for themselves and for their fans.”

“Sounds like we’ve got us a firestorm of a game, Chick.”

“Yes, Masara, this one is shaping up to be hotter than Somalia Midori in a wet rad-suit contest.”

“Chick! We’re not even five minutes in! Can you—”

“Sorry, Masara, sorry folks at home, but this game is just that incandescent. The Krakens are up against the league’s best defense, anchored by Ki defensive tackles E-Coo-Lee and Ar-Cham-Bault. You can bet those two have sharpened up their triangular teeth and are ready to take a bite outta Barnes.”

“Chick, major stories in this game for Ionath are the loss of defensive end Ibrahim Khomeni and the benching of tight end George Starcher. Khomeni has been replaced by rookie Cliff “The Spaz” Frost, so nicknamed for his seemingly uncoordinated, lurching style of pass-rush. Frost is only brought in on passing situations. For every-down play, Khomeni is replaced by either rookie Rich Palmer or fourth-year player Wan-A-Tagol. You can bet the Vanguard will attack all three of those players. As for Starcher, last year he and Ju Tweedy seemed to be the final pieces of Ionath’s contender puzzle. But Starcher’s star has fallen as of late, to the point where Coach Hokor the Hookchest didn’t even have him dress for last week’s loss to Themala.”

“Masara, ever since Starcher dropped that game-winning pass against Coranadillana in Week Three, he hasn’t been the same. Fortunately for the Krakens, Rick Warburg seems to have stepped up as a dominant tight end. Warburg has three touchdown catches in the last two games and has become a favorite target of Quentin Barnes.”

“Well, Chick, Barnes will need all of his weapons if the Krakens are going to beat the red-hot Vanguard. Six wins in a row, powered by the league’s best defense that last week hung a shut-out on the Bord Brigands. The teams are lining up for the kickoff. The Krakens will get the ball first. Let’s go down to the action on the field.”

• • •

THE VANGUARD KICKER
blasted the ball, sending the brown leather arcing high over a light blue field marked with dark purple lines. From the sidelines, Quentin watched the Vik players rush forward. Afternoon sun reflected off of gold helmets decorated with a thick, dark-green V. The V’s arms swept up and to the helmet’s sides. The V’s bottom point extended down to the middle of the players’ golden face masks. The wing pattern’s angle resembled that of the Krakens’ own six-tentacled logo.

Vik’s iridescent green jerseys echoed the pattern. A golden triangle started halfway between their helmets and the edge of their shoulder pads, pointing down to their black belts. Small, blacklined green numbers sat in that gold area, on the chest just below the face mask. Gold leg armor and black shoes completed the uniform.

The Vanguard’s two Sklorno shooters raced downfield as Richfield settled under the ball. A wall of orange and black crashed into a battering ram of dark green and gold. Bodies flew, bodies dropped — and Richfield slid straight through the middle. No one touched her. The Human kicker waited at the 50-yard line, the only thing between Richfield and six points.

In the open field, there was nothing the Human kicker could do — Richfield leapt fifteen feet into the air, sailing over his outreached arms. The leap cost her speed and almost let the trailing green-and-gold Sklorno catch her.
Almost
. Two sets of tentacles wrapped her up at the 5 — three Sklorno bodies tumbled but landed in the gold-painted end zone.

The Krakens sidelines erupted. Opening kickoff, touchdown Ionath.

• • •

QUENTIN LOOKED FOR
open receivers. He found none before he felt the pressure coming from his right. A snap-glance confirmed his fear — linebacker Mur the Mighty, blitzing again. Becca stepped up to block. Mur seemed to aim high, to go head to head with Becca, but as soon as Becca rose up to meet the hit Mur tucked and
rolled
past, that eye-twisting motion only a Quyth Warrior could do.

Quentin ran left, but Mur was too fast. The linebacker snapped out of the roll and dove, green-clad pedipalps reaching for Quentin’s black-armored legs. He tried to high-step, but Mur caught him and he fell face-first onto the light blue field.

Fourth down. The Krakens would have to punt for the fifth time and it was only halfway through the second quarter. Quentin had already been sacked three times. The Vanguard defense was for real.

Whistles blew. The mostly Ki crowd sounded its approval with a rhythmic drumbeat, 240,000 arms clacking against 60,000 chests in a deafening combat language. Mur stood and waved to the crowd before reaching down to help Quentin up.

“You’re fast,” Quentin said.

“No, you are slow,” Mur said. He patted Quentin on the helmet, than ran off field.

“
CHICK, THE TEAMS ARE
coming back on the field for the second half. The Vanguard is up 14-7. What does the Ionath offense have to do to get into this game?”

“Well, Masara, someone is going to have to step up and surprise us. Vik hasn’t allowed an offensive touchdown in
six quarters,
not since Rick Renaud ripped them for forty-two points back in Week Eleven. Vik’s linebackers continue to bring pressure on Barnes, not giving him time to set up and get a good look. At the same time, Ionath running back Ju Tweedy hasn’t been able to break a run. The Mad Ju had ten carries for only thirty-one yards.”

“Chick, this is it for Ionath. If they don’t figure things out in the second half, they are out of the playoffs. Let’s head back to the field.”

• • •

QUENTIN DROPED BACK
, eyes taking in a wave of green and gold closing in on him. He turned as he backpedaled, throwing out to the right where Becca Montagne waited for a screen pass. Kimberlin and Vu-Ko-Will were in front of her. The ball no sooner left Quentin’s hand than the lightning-fast Vanguard defense reacted, the three Quyth linebackers tucking and rolling to their left as if they’d been expecting the play.

They
had
been expecting it. Quentin had
wanted
them to expect it.

He sprinted to his left, away from the play, then turned upfield at the left sidelines. He looked back over his shoulder. The entire Vanguard defense closed in on Becca. Instead of tucking the ball and running, the former Green Bay Packers quarterback stopped, raised the ball to her right ear and launched a pass.