Quentin and the Krakens gathered in the Touchback’s shuttle bay. Just as with the arrival of rookies from the Combine, the retirement ceremony took place on the Touchback — no media, no fans, just the players, the coach and the owner.
Free agent Dimitrovgrad had surprised everyone by making the final cut. The Sklorno strong safety from the Tier Three Barca Baccalaureates had been placed on the practice squad.
At fullback, Nancy Wolf easily beat out Pete Marval and was even threatening Kopor the Climber for second-string. Pete had joined the Krakens just last year, had seen limited action in his rookie season, and now he was gone. A hard call, but at least he’d seen playing time during last year’s title game and had a Galaxy Bowl ring to show for it. Quentin was confident Pete would catch on with a Tier Two team — the twenty-four-year-old would never be a star, but his football career was far from over.
Josh Athanas was everything Quentin had hoped he could be. The young HeavyG would backup Bud-O-Shwek this year, and possibly next, as Hokor groomed him to be the Krakens future starting center.
New rookies meant new blood, and meant some of the old guard had reached the end of the line. Gan-Ta-Kapil’s and Richfield’s careers were over. Instead of reaching out to other organizations, they chose to go out on top as Galaxy Bowl champions. Wearing the white jerseys given only to those who retired as Krakens, Gan-Ta and Richfield stood by the lowered shuttle door ramp.
Gredok, Coach Hokor and Virak the Mean stood nearby. Gredok walked up to Gan-Ta for a few private words. Standing before a quarter-ton Ki lineman, the Leader looked more like a well-groomed pet than the team owner.
Gredok turned to face the rest of the team.
“It is with a heavy soul I speak to you today,” he said. “We have two players who spent their entire careers with the Krakens. Gan-Ta-Kapil played twenty-three seasons in the Orange and the Black. He was here when I took over the team in 2664. He became the starting center in Ionath’s second season as a franchise. Gan-Ta is a walking monument to the history of modern professional football.”
Quentin glanced at Bud-O, who years ago had taken the starting spot from Gan-Ta. The timeless Bud-O was entering his twenty-ninth season of pro football. With Gan-Ta gone, the next closest in experience behind Bud-O was left guard Sho-Do-Thikit, entering his nineteenth campaign. Even for the Ki, the specter of age was always lurking, waiting to take you out of the game forever.
Gredok continued.
“Gan-Ta played in the anything goes days of the league’s early years. Many of you weren’t even born when he first suited up for Ionath. The exorbitant salaries, the luxurious team bus, the media attention ... none of that existed back then. In Gan-Ta’s first three seasons, the pay was so low he also had to work a full-time job. He played for the love of the game and nothing else.”
Gredok moved to Richfield. He reached out a pedipalp hand, lightly touched the black-trimmed orange 88 on Richfield’s jersey.
“I remember it well,” the Leader said. “It was fourteen seasons ago. At the Tier Three tournament, I saw a young wide receiver playing for the Wapashana Skyjackers.”
Purple — the color of sadness — swirled in Gredok’s eye. Quentin didn’t know if the emotion was genuine or an act, but that didn’t really matter, because it hit the team hard: he heard the sniffles of grown men trying to choke back tears.
“I signed her on the spot,” Gredok said. “She was with us for all that time, never going to another team. For a Sklorno to play fourteen seasons in our league is a testament to her skill, hard work and toughness. She will be missed.”
Richfield started to shake. The praise was too much for her, perhaps.
Gredok walked up the shuttle ramp, stopped at the top.
“Krakens, as you board, make sure you give Gan-Ta and Richfield your respect,” the leader said. “They have mine, and all of you know how hard that is to earn.”
Gredok entered the shuttle. Hokor and Virak went in with him.
As if on cue, Shizzle — the team’s Creterakian translator — flew out of the shuttle and landed on Gan-Ta’s upper right shoulder. For once, Shizzle had left his hideous clothing behind; a plain black outfit covered his tadpole-like body.
As team leader, Quentin was expected to be the first to bid farewell. He walked to Richfield. Her coarse black hair had a reddish tint to it unique among the team’s Sklorno players. For the first time, though, Quentin noticed that the transparent skin on her eyestalks looked a little cracked, a little scaly. Denver’s eyestalks didn’t look like that. Neither did Milford’s or Halawa’s. He realized that was because those three receivers were young, just ten or eleven years old, while Richfield was twenty-two — well into middle age for the Sklorno.
“Sorry to see you go,” Quentin said. “It’s been great to play football with you.”
Her little head bobbed up and down, making her coarse black hair move in time.
“Quentinbarnesquentinbarnes,” the receiver said. “No longer will I catch your holy blessings!”
He shook his head. “No longer, Richfield. I’m honored to have been your teammate. I hope you have a great life.”
“Oh, yes! I am to travel to Earth, Quentinbarnes! The CoQB has invited me to preach your holy word on the planet of your species!”
She was going to be a preacher? A preacher for his “church”? All he wanted to do was play football, yet he couldn’t escape this religion even when saying goodbye to retiring teammates.
“Good luck with that,” he said.
“Thank you, Godlingquentinbarnes. I will not be there long, you will see, I have magic to help me.”
He had no idea what that meant, nor did he care to find out. He smiled awkwardly at her, then stood in front of Gan-Ta-Kapil.
The Ki was just an inch shy of twelve feet long: six feet on the ground, supported by multi-jointed legs, six feet rising up and ending in the Ki’s head.
Quentin looked into the emotionless black eyes.
“I don’t know what to say. Not sure I’ve got any words of wisdom for a player that’s been with the Krakens longer than I’ve been alive.”
Shizzle translated, although Quentin suspected Gan-Ta understood English well enough.
The Ki grunted a string of syllables. Before Quentin could try and process the sentence, Shizzle spoke.
“The introspective and highly comical Gan-Ta-Kapil said, thank you for the glory, and take care of his team.”
Quentin gripped Gan-Ta’s left shoulder, then walked into the shuttle.
Becca still wasn’t talking to him anywhere outside of practice — for over a week now — but Quentin was so busy prepping for the season opener that he’d barely had time to think about the gnawing feeling her absence left in his soul.
He loved her, but right now his duty was to the Krakens. He would take care of Ga-Ta’s team, all right, and the best way to do that was with a Week One win over the Isis Ice Storm.
Ionath Krakens 2686 Roster
No.
Name
Pos
Ht / Ln
Wt
Age
Exp
74
Athanas, Josh (r)
C
7-6
600
18
0
10
Barnes, Quentin
QB
7-0
380
22
4
27
Breedsville
CB
8-3
282
13
4
79
Bud-O-Shwek
C
13-1
630
65
29
39
Bumberpuff, Cormorant
CB
8-1
270
66
1
65
Cay-O-Kiware
LG
12-0
625
36
10
67
Chat-E-Riret
DT
12-2
632
32
5
6
Cheboygan
WR
8-0
360
9
2
54
Choto the Bright
LB
6-0
400
31
7
69
Crawford, Tim
DT
7-10
565
21
2
27
Cretzlefinger, Luciano
FS
8-0
265
56
1
49
Darkeye, Samuel
LB
6-5
310
25
5
81
Denver
WR
8-10
318
12
4
22
Dimitrovgrad
SS
8-6
274
10
3
96
Frost, Cliff
DE
6-11
532
28
6
14
Goldman, Yitzhak
QB
6-4
265
33
9
13
Halawa
WR
9-6
320
11
3
9
Haney, Trevor
QB
6-7
275
23
3
80
Hawick
WR
8-8
282
16
8
95
Khomeni, Ibrahim
DE
6-10
525
27
6
76
Kill-O-Yowet
LT
12-2
513
38
12
71
Kimberlin, Michael
OG
8-0
615
32
12
85
Kobayasho, Yotaro
TE
7-1
380
37
8
28
Kopor the Climber
FB
6-0
415
25
5
92
Mai-An-Ihkole
DT
10-11
650
45
15
20
Martinez, Jay
RB
6-2
304
25
3
91
Michnik, Alexsandar
DE
6-11
525
33
12
82
Milford
WR
9-0
305
11
4
38
Montagne, Rebecca
FB
6-6
330
21
3
2
Morningstar, Arioch
P/K
5-10
185
29
10
93
Mum-O-Killowe
DT
12-6
600
19
4
26
Murphy, Yassoud
RB
6-6
335
28
4
21
Naimi
CB
7-9
285
10
1
72
Palmer, Rich
DE
8-1
425
20
2
64
Pishor the Fang
LB
6-4
400
20
1
66
Procknow, Jason
DT
7-8
612
20
1
33
Sandpoint
FS
8-6
295
11
1
57
Shayat the Thick
LB
5-11
439
36
6
62
Sho-Do-Thikit
LG
13-1
600
42
19
70
Shun-On-Won
RG
12-1
585
29
3
63
Shut-O-Dital
LT
12-8
580
24
5
25
Snuffalupagus, Tommyboy
FS
8-2
288
51
1
87
Starcher, George
TE
7-6
400
32
11
11
Tara the Freak
WR
6-3
360
23
2
50
Tweedy, John
LB
6-6
310
28
8
48
Tweedy, Ju
RB
6-6
345
26
7
23
Vacaville
CB
8-7
335
16
5
58
Virak the Mean
LB
6-2
375
44
4
75
Vu-Ko-Will
RT
11-11
579
51
10
31
Wahiawa
CB
9-6
320
11
3
40
Weasley, Katzembaum
FS
8-1
282
51
1
24
Wolf, Nancy (r)
FB
6-5
322
25
0
73
Zer-Eh-Detak
RT
12-8
690
21
4
BOOK FOUR
The Regular Season
34
Week One:
Isis Ice Storm at Ionath Krakens
A report from the Creterakian Ministry of Religion (CMR) to be delivered directly to the Emperor of the Creterakian Empire.
THE CHURCH OF QUENTIN BARNES
• URGENT UPDATE •
The Church of Quentin Barnes (CoQB) has continued to grow at an alarming rate. The CMR recommends that the CoQB be moved up to the level of Potential Major Threat. The Non-Creterakian Intelligence Agency (NCIA) has already listed Barnes as a Category One threat on the Chart of Potential Revolutionaries.
The CMR is struggling to keep accurate track of this religion’s explosive expansion. Three years ago, the CoQB was a small provincial religion on the planet Yall in the Sklorno Dynasty. Our comprehensive report of last year placed the CoQB membership at 22.5 million, with dioceses on all five Dynasty worlds.
Since that estimate, Barnes led the Ionath Krakens to victory in Galaxy Bowl
XXVII, where he was named the game’s Most Valuable Player. The game was watched by an estimated 305 trillion sentient beings, a number that does not count potential viewers from the Prawatt Jihad, which could, conservatively, push the total viewership to over 500 trillion sentients.
In the months after the Galaxy Bowl, the CMR estimates that membership in the CoQB tripled to roughly 68.4 million sentients.
With donations coming in from such a large membership, the CoQB’s financial resources have grown exponentially. The organization is actively using these funds in an aggressive proselytizing campaign that includes missionary work, funding of nonprofit charities, corporate and political donations, and even broadcast advertising on sports-related entertainment programming.
Of even greater concern is something unprecedented in the history of Sklorno-based religions — the CMR has observed non-Sklorno species joining the CoQB. While the number of non-Sklorno members is currently statistically insignificant, if this trend persists there is no way to accurately predict just how large the church could become.
Fueled by the GFL’s exploding popularity and broad appeal to multiple species, our sociologists believe that Quentin Barnes is now the most recognized sentient in history. The CMR wants to emphasize that we are not saying Barnes is the most recognized sentient in football, or in sports, but in the history of all known existence.
NCIA continues to request pre-emptive approval for using any and all containment strategies on Barnes. Plans are being drafted to discredit him in the eyes of his Sklorno followers. In addition, the NCIA has prepared an undisclosed containment facility should the need arise to remove Barnes from public view for an as-yet-to-be-determined amount of time.
At this time, neither the CMR or NCIA recommend the assassination of Quentin Barnes. However, the NCIA maintains its previous stance that should the CoQB grow to a confirmed number of over 100 million followers, Barnes must be liquidated on the grounds that he is a threat to the Creterakian Empire.
The CMR awaits the Emperor’s response.
CONFLICTS.
Drama.
Pressure.
Expectations.
Those things drained away like rain-driven mud sliding off a rock to reveal the hard, unforgiving surface beneath. Because at their core, at the essence of who they were as sentient beings, the Krakens were athletes, born and bred for a few scant moments of game-time glory.