The Starter (23 page)

TARAT:
I feel bad for the Krakens. Not only did their rookie running back Dan Campbell get busted for mods, but now Ionath has to play its first Tier One game at the
Fishtank
. That is an extremely difficult place to play.

DAN:
It is, Smasher, and the Ice Storm has something to prove this year. They just missed the playoffs last season, they’ve got some new talent, and they are talking big smack about making a run for the title.

AKBAR:
Hey, as long as they have Ryan Nossek rushing the quarterback, the Ice Storm is in every game.

TARAT:
Nossek is the best defensive end in the game. I think Quentin Barnes is in for a long afternoon.

DAN:
More likely Don Pine is in for a long afternoon.

AKBAR:
What do you mean
Don Pine
?

TARAT:
He means that he thinks Don Pine will start instead of Quentin Barnes.

AKBAR:
I know
that’s what he means, Tarat! I’m saying it’s a ridiculous statement. Dan, you’re not going to start a quarterback controversy before the season even begins, are you?

DAN:
What? Me? Who? Start something? Where am I? What am I doing here?

TARAT:
Dan, Quentin Barnes has officially been named the starting quarterback.

AKBAR:
Oh, don’t encourage him.

DAN:
For
now
, Barnes is the starting quarterback, but with two-time league MVP Don Pine on the bench, how much rope does Barnes get before he hangs himself?

AKBAR:
Couldn’t you at least wait until the first snap to say the Krakens need to pull Barnes?

DAN:
No! I
never
wait, and that’s why we have the galaxy’s top-rated show. We get the story before the story even happens! In fact, I want to hear what the peons out there think about this brewing quarterback controversy.

TARAT:
But I’m confused. There isn’t a controversy.

AKBAR:
Too late, Smasher.

DAN:
Line three from Chachanna, you’re on the space, go.

CALLER:
Quentin Barnes is a god!

DAN:
A Sklorno fan of Barnes, who’d have thunk it?

AKBAR:
This is always so uncomfortable...

CALLER:
Do not blaspheme Quentin Barnes, or he will cause the suns to supernova and destroy you all!

TARAT:
I don’t think he can do that.

DAN:
Caller, tell me more about this Cult of Barnes, because I know our non-Sklorno fans just love to laugh about... I mean... love to
hear
about it. Continue!

From
“Tower Republic: Birth of a Nation”

by Shellfish-Related Gatherer

Like so many nations in the history of all races, the birth of the Tower Republic came from a combination of war and isolation.

In 2469, a League of Planets expeditionary flotilla, sweeping near the galactic core, discovered a G-class star. As was the custom in those times, each star surveyed was named for an expedition crew member. Because this expedition had already surveyed and cataloged over five hundred systems, stars had been named after all of the command crew, the surface explorers, the engineers and even the maintenance crew. So it was that this particular G-class star was named after Earnest Tower — the flagship’s third-shift short-order cook.

The Tower System, as it is now known, proved to have one habitable planet. Originally called “Tower 1,” as it was the first planet in the system, the world is now known simply as “Tower.”

The surface of Tower is ninety-five percent liquid. While all the surface liquid is covered by ice, the planet’s internal geothermal temperature creates a thick temperate zone that flourishes with life. The planet’s oceans and the ground beneath them are home to ample natural resources.

Like many frontier planets, Tower quickly became a haven for free-minded Humans seeking a new start. Tower exported animal protein, clothing, and mineral wealth. The population grew steadily via immigration, reaching five million beings by the time it became a voting member of the League of Planets in 2527.

The year 2527 fell in an era known as “The Age of Colonization,” when almost every government in the galaxy had embarked on a major campaign of discovery and acquisition. As the most far-flung planet in the League, Tower became the home of the Sixth Expeditionary Fleet. The League planned on using the Sixth Fleet to explore that sector of the galaxy, but its very first mission proved to be both historic and disastrous.

In 2531, the Sixth Fleet set out on a peaceful mission to contact the Portath, a sentient race that lived inside a dense nebula. While no one had made contact with the Portath, it was known that they had discovered audio broadcast technology and achieved FTL capability. To date, no video signals have ever been received from the race. The Sixth Fleet sailed into the nebula now known as the “Portath Cloud” and was never heard from again.

A search and rescue attempt was in the planning stages when the galaxy heard the first direct message from the Portath. Transmitted in passable English, the message simply said, “To enter the cloud is to die.”

The League of Planets reacted immediately, secretly sending a task force of seventeen warships to Tower. League officials weren’t going into the Portath Cloud until they knew more, but they also weren’t about to leave their newest planet undefended.

The year 2538 saw the beginnings of Tower’s independence. It was then that the expansion-minded Purist Nation launched an offensive on the far-flung planet. The League of Planets immediately declared war, unwittingly falling for the political trap the Purists had set.

To close the First Galactic War, the Purist Nation had signed a peace treaty with the Planetary Union. That treaty clearly stated the Union would not allow forces hostile to the Purist Nation to pass through Union space. Since the primary shipping lanes between Tower and the League of Planets went through Union space, the Union government found itself in a very uncomfortable position. Because the League had declared war, the Union — by the dictates of their treaty — could not allow League ships to pass through Union space.

The Purist Nation had planned for this. They knew they could get the majority of their forces to Tower before the League could send their navy around the broad swath that is Union territory.

In effect, this political strategy completely isolated the young planet Tower from any help. A fleet of over one hundred Purist Nation ships closed in and demanded the complete surrender of Tower. Purist forces, however, did not know about the seventeen League warships that had been sent to protect against potential aggression from the Portath Cloud seven years before.

This fleet of seventeen ships, led by Captain Aurelius Markos, launched what is perhaps the biggest gamble in the history of galactic warfare. Instead of staying back at Tower and defending the planet against overwhelming enemy numbers, Markos bypassed the Purist Nation fleet and launched a surprise attack against Stewart, the Nation’s home planet.

The armada sent to conquer Tower was forced to turn around and defend Stewart. The technically superior League warships inflicted heavy damage, recording a seven-to-one kill ratio, but the Purist navy’s numbers were too much to overcome. Now with only fourteen ships, most of those damaged, Markos fled Stewart.

Eighty Purist Nation ships pursued Markos, hoping to crush his small fleet and then move on to an undefended Tower. To avoid that outcome, Markos again initiated a surprise strategy. With the entire Purist flotilla in pursuit, he took his forces straight into the Portath Cloud.

Markos kept a tight formation, intentionally slowing his ships to allow Purist Nation forces to close in. Once the Purist ships followed him deep into the Cloud, Markos scattered his fleet and ordered every ship to fend for herself. That is the last known communication from this hero of the Tower Republic. Seven Tower ships escaped the Cloud. Seven, including Markos’ vessel, were never heard from again. All eighty ships of the Purist Nation flotilla vanished with all hands aboard. They sent no messages. If they ejected contact buoys, those buoys were never found. It is assumed they were destroyed.

The Purist Nation admiralty could not contact their ships. They did receive one key communiqué, however — a direct message from the mysterious government of the Portath Cloud: “Attack again, and we will destroy you.”

Details of what happened from this point forward are sketchy at best. A persistent rumor is that several Purist Nation spies were discovered on Tower, and that Tower’s intelligence agency successfully sent false information that the planet had achieved a secret alliance with the Portath.

It is important to note that the church leaders of the Purist Nation could not say for certain what had happened to their flotilla. They knew that eighty ships had entered the Portath Cloud, but did not know if those ships had been lost to Markos, to the unknown Portath, or to a cosmic accident. What they did know is that they had instantly lost thirty percent of their overall naval strength. Considering Tower’s possible alliance with the Portath, and considering that League forces were closing in to reinforce Tower, Purist Nation leaders sued for peace.

Tower had fought its first war and won. Their government, the League of Planets, had done little to assist. By the time those League reinforcements reached Tower, they were greeted not by a League planet, but by the new, independent government of the Tower Republic.

Tower’s birth as a nation had long-reaching political ramifications. League officials blamed the secession of Tower on the Planetary Union’s blockade. The Union blamed the Purist Nation for unmitigated aggression and manipulation, and quietly abandoned the Treaty of 2535. Both of these developments would directly contribute to the Third Galactic War.

• • •

THE REALITY WAVE TICKLED
Quentin’s soul as the
Touchback
slipped out of punch space. He inhaled sharply and deeply, the natural reaction to holding one’s breath for too long. It took two more deep breaths before he could open his eyes.

He didn’t throw up. He breathed slowly, wondering if he was finally getting used to space travel. Maybe soon he could actually sit in the viewing lounge with his teammates, and share the experience of seeing a new world with them. One could only hope.

With the punch-out over, he ran out of his quarters and headed for the
Touchback’s
viewing lounge. Two dozen Krakens were already there, staring out the large windows. Quentin didn’t even break stride as he entered, running to an open space at the window. He slid to a stop, hands locking on the rail that ran along the clear crysteel.

“Easy, Kid,” Don Pine said. “A big boy like you could go right though this window.”

Don was on Quentin’s right. Quentin smiled at him, gave him a nod. “I’ll be careful, Gramps.”

“Not enough speed,” said a metallic voice on his left. Quentin turned and found himself facing Doc Patah.

“He wouldn’t go through the window, Don, because he’s
slow
,” Doc Patah said, his voice coming from the speakerfilm mounted on his backpack. “Why is he slow? Because he’s limping.”

“I’m not limping.”

“Q, don’t bother,” Pine said. “Doc Patah has been talking about you for the last fifteen minutes.”

“Talking about me?” Quentin said, feeling a little self-conscious. “Why, what about me?”

“That your limp means something is wrong with your leg,” Doc Patah said.

“I’m not limping.”

“Limping,” Don said. “Limp-a-loo-laa.”

Quentin felt his face flush red. He thought he’d been hiding the limp, but obviously not. “Well, whatever. Everyone plays with pain, right Don?”

Don nodded. “Sure,
after
they get things checked out with the Doc.”

“Yes,
after
,” Doc Patah said. “I will expect you in the Tower Stadium training room after we land.”

This was not how Quentin envisioned starting things off with the new doctor. “Well, if you knew I was limping, why didn’t you come see me?”

Doc Patah spun in place, an effortless move for a floating creature. His sensory pits were only a couple of feet from Quentin’s face.

“I do not come to see you,” he said. “I am a
doctor
, the finest surgeon you are ever likely to meet. You are a professional athlete. If you choose to be
tough
and not protect the team’s investment in you, that is your concern. Gredok hired me to be your doctor, not your babysitter. I am not some star-struck Human girl that will chase you all over the galaxy.”

Babysitter? What did that mean? “But, okay, Doc, but I—”

“One hour after we land,” Doc Patah said, then flapped his wide wings and shot through the viewing lounge. He left the room with barely a hiss of air, leaving Quentin to stare after him.

“What a jerk,” Quentin said, turning back to lean on the handrail and look out the window. “Don’t you think so Don? Isn’t he a jerk?”

Don shrugged. “Too early to tell.”

“Well, what’s he so mad about?”

“I don’t think he’s happy to be here,” Don said. “He is, after all, one of the
finest surgeons you’re ever likely to meet
.”

“He is?”

Don leaned away from the rail and pointed down the windows to Virak the Mean. “Back on Ionath, did you notice Virak had a cast?”

Quentin nodded.

“Well,” Don said, “apparently one of Gredok’s little off-field activities resulted in Virak getting into a fight, blowing out his leg. It should have put him out for four, maybe five weeks. Doc Patah operated on him, and boom — we have Virak back for pre-season. Yeah, I do think Doc Patah is the best.”