“Dang,” Quentin said quietly. He grabbed the next ball, oblivious to the fact he’d just thrown the ball over a hundred yards in the air.
From the Ionath city Gazette
Pine leads Krakens to second-straight win
By Kigin the Witty
IONATH CITY (Associated Press) — You can’t keep a good veteran down.
At least that’s what Ionath fans are thinking following a 21-7 Krakens’ win over the Sheb Stalkers, a win that might as well be named “The Donald Pine Show.”
Pine missed two games with a broken femur, but showed that the time off didn’t affect him in the least. He went 21-for-34 on the day, throwing for 312 yards with two TDs and no interceptions. The Stalkers (3–2) came into the game with only one loss and were favored by nine points, but couldn’t find an answer for Pine’s accurate short-passing game.
“We did everything we could,” said Stalkers middle linebacker Brian Badrocke. “If we blitzed, he hit us short. If we didn’t blitz, he hit us long. It was a really long, frustrating day.”
The Krakens’ offensive line, which has given up eight sacks in the last two games, offered Pine laser-proof protection the entire game. It was the first time the Krakens didn’t give up a sack since Week One.
“Anyone could have thrown well with that much time,” Pine said after the game. “All the credit goes to the offensive line. They’re true warriors.”
Following Ionath’s come-from-behind win over Sky Demolition in Week Four, many Krakens fans saw a potential quarterback controversy between Pine and rookie Quentin Barnes. Pine, however, put those thoughts to rest with his flawless performance against the Stalkers.
The Krakens’ defense was a key factor in the win, holding the Stalkers to just 68 yards rushing while snagging four turnovers. Aleksandar Michnik notched three sacks, and Berea grabbed two interceptions.
The big story this week is the Whitok Pioneers (4–1) 24–21 loss at the hands of Orbiting Death (4–1). The Death’s win puts them in a three-way tie for first with the Pioneers and the Glory Warpigs (4–1), who put another mark in the win column with an easy 42–17 drubbing of Sky Demolition (0–5). The Pioneers’ loss is even more devastating considering the injury to league-leading quarterback Condor Adrienne, who suffered severe damage to his right elbow. Adrienne is out for three to four weeks.
The Bigg Diggers (2–3) defeated the Woo Wallcrawlers (1–4) 22-6. The Quyth Survivors (2–3) edged out the Grontak Hydras (2–3) in a 23–20 overtime thriller.
DEATHS:
Chicago, wide receiver for the Sky Demolition, was killed by a gang-tackle involving Glory Warpigs defensive backs Keluang and Wellington. League officials ruled it was a clean hit.
WEEK #5 PLAYERS OF THE WEEK:
Offense: Donald Pine, quarterback, Ionath Krakens. 21-of-34, 312 yards, two TDs, one INTs.
Defense: Sven Draupnir, linebacker, Quyth Survivors. Sixteen tackles, one interception, one forced fumble.
QUYTH IRRADIATED CONFERENCE STANDINGS
QUENTIN WALKED into the central locker room to find the place already half-full of players, and buzzing with excitement. The players crowded around the holotank in the center of the room.
“What’s going on?” Quentin asked.
“Oh yep,” Yassoud said, making room for Quentin. “Check out our first break of the season.”
The holotank showed two Human broadcasters, Christoff Berman and Dr. Mary Warwick, reviewing a holographic replay projected on the desk between them. The ESPN GameDay logo circled above them.
“The Orbiting Death’s upset win over the Whitok Pioneers puts the Death in a three-way tie for first,” Berman said. “But the bigger story is this injury to the Pioneers’ money-man, Condor Big-Playdrianne. Just how long is Adrienne out for, Mary?”
The replay froze. She poked the tip of a plastic pointer into the holographic display. In the display, Condor Adrienne had his right hand on the ground, obviously trying to keep himself from going down. A defensive lineman for the Orbiting Death, dressed in a white jersey with black trim and metalflake-red helmet, was also frozen in mid-fall, leaning against Adrienne’s arm. Quentin suddenly realized that Adrienne’s arm was bent the wrong way.
“As you can see here, the elbow is badly hyper-extended,” Dr. Warwick said. The replay moved forward another second, then froze. Adrienne’s arm bent further, and a bone poked out of his skin accompanied by a freeze-frame flash of blood. A groan of disgust rippled through the Krakens players.
The holo started to move forward, then backward in re-wind, then forward again, over and over to show the injury.
“Like a chicken wing!” Yassoud shouted joyfully.
Dr. Warwick continued. “Here we see severe bone and ligament damage to Adrienne’s arm. This will require major reconstructive surgery. He could be out three to four weeks while they rebuild the joint.”
Quentin felt bad for the man, but also felt a surge of excitement. With him gone, the Pioneers were no longer the unbeatable machine they had been for the first four weeks. The Pioneers’ win over the Krakens meant that even if the Krakens won out, and the Pioneers only lost one more, both teams would finish at 7–2 and the Pioneers would win the conference on the head-to-head tiebreaker. But if the Pioneers lost two games, the Krakens had a chance to win the conference outright. The Orbiting Death was also 4–1, but they only had to lose one more game — that week’s game, against the Krakens.
If the Krakens prevailed against the Orbiting Death, both teams would hold 4–2 records. However, that same head-to-head tiebreaker would this time favor the Krakens. Even though the Krakens’ shot at a conference title meant they had to win their last four games, the injury to Adrienne and the upcoming match with the Death made all things seem quite possible.
To Quentin, it felt like a shroud had lifted. In a two-game span, the team had gone from falling to 1–2 and losing its starting QB to crawling back to 3–2 with an outside shot at a title.
Two days of practice on the Touchback, then two days at Orbital Station One, home of Orbiting Death. Orbital Station One, “The Ace,” was even larger than “The Deuce.” Even the fact that Quentin was about to see yet another new world was not enough to offset his rage.
He was still on the bench, backing up a tanker.
IT WAS ONLY A FEW minutes after breaking out of punch space that Quentin found himself in the observation deck, looking out at another massive, mobile, artificial world. The Ace was an order of magnitude larger than The Deuce. Where The Deuce had seemed like a spherical sea urchin, complete with long, tapering spines, The Ace looked more like a medieval mace. Short, blue, stubby points dotted its spherical shape — the remnants of framework spikes, like on The Deuce, but with the area between filled in by harvested space debris.
Quentin walked up to Virak the Mean. “Just how big is that?”