The Starter (22 page)

Quentin nodded.

“Well
that
is a midget. Only don’t call the Commish that, or he’ll string you up.”

“So what do I call him?”

“You call him
sir
.”

Coach Hokor walked across the landing bay to face Commissioner Froese. They were the same height, exactly, and could look each other eye-to-eyes.

“Commissioner,” Hokor said, loud enough for the team to hear. “To what do we owe this honor?”

“We need to speak to one of your players,” Froese said. Quentin would have expected a tiny voice, but the Commissioner’s words boomed through the landing bay.

Froese turned to face the gathered team. “Dan Campbell, please step forward.”

There was a pause, a murmur. Krakens players looked around. Then, a scuffling sound. Quentin saw a smaller body at the back of the pack, pushing through the team.

“There he is!” Froese screamed. “Seize him!”

It was Campbell, running for the landing bay door. The Creterakian flock swarmed down, flying in front of him and flapping their leathery wings as they leveled their entropic rifles. Dan paused, then took a step forward and stopped, as if he was thinking of taking his chances. Another pause, then he lowered his head and rushed them.

Quentin winced as he waited for a dozen entropic rifles to turn Dan Campbell into a puddle of rancid goo and a cloud of stinky smoke, but the shots never rang out. The two armored Sklorno hit Campbell from behind. Dan’s forehead bounced off the deck, instantly split and bleeding.

Quentin heard the stop-start buzzing of an insect swarm.

John grabbed his arm and yanked him to the side just before Leiba the Gorgeous stomped past.

Campbell pushed away the Sklorno tentacles, came to his knees and threw an elbow at a midriff. The sound of bony elbow hitting armor echoed through the landing bay, followed by Dan’s sound of surprised pain.

Leiba closed the distance and shoved his shock-stick into Dan’s stomach. The rookie running back twitched, his face screwed into a tight-eyed mask of pain, then he fell into a fetal position.

Leiba reached down and grabbed Dan’s ankle. The power-armored Quyth Warrior dragged Dan across the deck to the white-painted tank.

“Commissioner!” Hokor said. “Tell your goon to unhand my running back!”

“Your running back has mods,” Froese said. “We have a statement from the doctor that installed them. Synthetic nerve augmentation, new technology that slipped past our detectors at the
Combine
.”

Hokor’s one big eye tracked a twitching, prone Dan Campbell’s slide across the floor, leaving a trail of blood in his wake. Leiba effortlessly tossed Dan into the tank’s dark interior. The Quyth Warrior turned to face the landing bay, his head once again scanning from side to side.

Hokor turned back to Commissioner Froese. “If it’s new tech, how did you find out?”

“We have other means of collecting information,” Froese said. “Campbell’s doctor...
talked
. That’s all you need to know, Hokor.”

“If you’re wrong, we want Campbell back.”

“We’re not wrong. We have every reason to believe the Krakens franchise did not know about this violation. There will be no fine.”

The Sklorno guards walked past Leiba and into the tank, followed by the flying, white-suited Creterakians. Froese walked up the ramp, his little feet padding on the metal surface.

“Hey,” Quentin said. “Wait a minute.”

Froese stopped and turned. Quentin felt a hand grab his elbow.

“Q,” John hissed. “What are you
doing?
”

Quentin shook his arm free. “Where are you taking Dan?”

Froese paused a moment, staring until the wait felt uncomfortable.

“Barnes,” Froese said. “That is none of your business.”

Quentin instinctively looked into the tank, fighting back his fear at the Creterakians inside. Someone had to speak for Dan. “That’s my teammate and I want to know where you’re taking him.”

Froese put his little hands together and cracked his little knuckles. “Creterakian law stipulates that Campbell’s mods must be removed. We’re taking him to the hospital onboard the
Regulator
.”

“The
Regulator
?”

Froese inclined his tiny head to the landing bay doors. “My ship. The
Regulator
.”

“I want to know Dan will be safe,” Quentin said. “I want your guarantee.”

“
Barnes!
” Hokor shouted. “This is not the place for you—”

Without looking away from Quentin, Froese raised a hand, cutting the coach off in mid-sentence. Froese kept staring, again waiting until the whole landing bay felt full of awkward air.

“Barnes, you don’t get to ask me for a guarantee of anything. You are an employee of the Galactic Football League, a rather privileged position. As for your teammate — excuse me, your
former
teammate — he broke not only GFL regulations but also Creterakian law. He has mods. Those mods have to be removed.”

“These synthetic nerve things... can you take them out safely?”

Froese shrugged. “There’s always a first time for that. I didn’t put the mods in him, Barnes. He made his choice. He knew what would happen if he was caught. Well, he got caught.”

“Okay, sure, but—”

“Enough,” Froese said. “I have a schedule to keep. But don’t worry, Barnes, I’ve been reading up on your history. I’ve had sentients keeping an eye on you. I think that soon, you and I are going to have a nice face-to-face chat.”

The Commissioner smiled for the first time. He had red teeth. Quentin didn’t know what to make of that, not one bit. The small man turned and walked into the white tank. Leiba gave the room one more scan, then walked inside. The door lifted and closed shut with a hiss and a clank.

“Q,” John said. “What was he talking about? Have you done anything that puts you at risk? Do you have mods?”

“No,” Quentin said. “You know better than that.”

“Then what was he talking about?”

Quentin shrugged, but he wondered the same thing. Quentin was as clean as clean gets. Unless... could Froese know about what Quentin had done to clear Don Pine’s gambling debts? Or even worse, did Froese know the To Pirates had tried to get Quentin to throw games? Maybe Quentin needed to come clean on that. But he
hadn’t
thrown games. He hadn’t done anything wrong. Reporting that now would create suspicion where there was nothing to be suspicious about. The team didn’t need distractions like that, not now.

[
PLEASE CLEAR THE LANDING BAY IMMEDIATELY. PLEASE CLEAR THE LANDING BAY IMMEDIATELY
]

Quentin felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to face a smiling Yassoud Murphy.

“I believe that we had a bet about Campbell making it out of training camp?”

“What? Are you kidding me? Dan Campbell is probably going to
die
, and you want
money?
”

Yassoud held his hand out, palm up. “A bet is a bet, hayseed. The idiot got mods, that’s his problem. No wonder he was so agile.”

Quentin filed out of the landing bay with the rest of the team. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll pay you tonight.”

“Good deal. Because if you wait until tomorrow, I’ll have to start charging you interest.”

Yassoud seemed far too happy with the situation, but Quentin couldn’t really blame him — his top rival for the starting running back position was out of the picture. That,
and
he’d won a bet. For Yassoud, that was about as good as it got.

As for Dan Campbell, his GFL career was over, and he’d soon undergo forced surgery that might prove fatal.

The Krakens faced off against the Ice Storm in just two days. There wasn’t enough time to find a free-agent replacement for Campbell, and any free agents left unsigned most likely weren’t even at Yassoud’s level. If Yassoud didn’t deliver as the starting running back, the Krakens were in even more trouble than before.

Transcript from the “Galaxy’s Greatest Sports Show with Dan, Akbar, & Tarat the Smasher”

DAN:
Welcome back from the commercial break, and remember to patronize our sponsor, Kolok the Daring’s Spindly Spider Snacks, with that deep-fried taste of tarantula. Now in nacho flavor. Tarat, what do you think of those nacho-flavored tarantula treats?

TARAT:
I have to say that I don’t like many things the Earth has produced — no offense, Akbar.

AKBAR:
None taken.

TARAT:
But these big spider treats you breed there? I can’t get enough of Daring’s Spindly Spider Snacks. I’m having one right now.

AKBAR:
Oh God, I can’t even look at that. Tarat, don’t bite it in the middle! Spider juice is getting all over the counter! It makes me want to vomit.

DAN:
Akbar,
come on
, that’s our sponsor! Try one.

AKBAR:
I’ll quit the show before that happens. Can we get to the news?

DAN:
We’ve been waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and
finally
, kickoff is here. Akbar, Smasher, in just a few hours the Tier One season begins as the Coranadillana Cloud Killers, pride of the Harrah Tribal Accord, play host to last year’s Galaxy Bowl runner-up, the To Pirates.

AKBAR:
Oh, Coranadillana is going to get
destroyed
.

TARAT:
That outcome is highly probable, Akbar, but it is not a foregone conclusion. Last season the Cloud Killers lost four games by three points or less, which is why they signed kicker Shi-Ki-Kill away from the Orbiting Death in Tier Two.

DAN:
A bitter pill for the Death to swallow, Tarat, considering the Cloud Killers and the Death have such an intense rivalry.

TARAT:
They haven’t been able to play each other in the past few seasons, with the Cloud Killers in Tier One and the Orbiting Death in Tier Two, but you are correct, Dan. Those two planets are just a single, short punch away from each other and share a great deal of commerce. One of the truly great rivalries of the GFL.

AKBAR:
Well, unless the Orbiting Death earn promotion this season—

DAN:
Which they will.

TARAT:
I also think so.

AKBAR:
—then that rivalry doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that all twenty-two Tier One teams are playing this week, no bye-weeks until Week Three.

DAN:
You got that right, Akbar. This week and next, all twenty-two teams have to step up and battle.

AKBAR:
Including our two newly promoted teams, the Ionath Krakens and the Chillich Spider-Bears.

DAN:
It’s going to be a hard season for both squads. Really, it’s too bad they don’t play each other, at least one of them would get a win this season.

TARAT:
Dan, I think those teams will each win at least one game.

DAN:
I’m kidding, Smasher. But seriously, it’s silly they don’t play, the two planets are only a single punch apart. Practically neighbors.

TARAT:
I have often thought the Quyth Concordia should annex Chillich, which is practically in our sovereign space.

DAN:
Smasher, hey now, we don’t need to start talking about a new war between the Concordia and the Sklorno Dynasty, do we?

TARAT:
It would be more like a minor skirmish that we would win.

AKBAR:
Smasher, ever the pacifist.

DAN:
At any rate, Chillich is in the Solar Division, the Krakens are in the Planet Division, and the two teams don’t play each other this year. The Spider-Bears open with a road game at the Bord Brigands, while the Krakens travel to the Tower Republic to face the Isis Ice Storm.