"There are a few more rules – like limited contact. If the AI determines you've been targeting other players for contact, you'll be assessed a penalty and have to sit in the penalty box. The AI will give you a warning when it predicts contact, so even if you're not a very good flyer, you'll know that you have to change directions.
"We follow a standard Kokushi formation - a defender and two attackers. The defender's role is to make sure they're always between the attacking team and our goal. For Loose Nuts, that was always Jack. For our new team, Marny and I will trade that position back and forth until we figure out who makes more sense. I'd say you probably want Jack to take that on your team, Jenny, since he was one of the best defenders in the league we played in. You and Ada can work out the attack between you. Nick will coach from the gallery and give you strategy.
"At this point, there's no reason not to just play. Your AI will tell you when you're doing something wrong. Any questions?" I asked.
"You think we can really play against other teams?" Jenny asked.
"Absolutely," Tabby answered. "The only way to get better is with competition. I think your bigger problem could be that Jack will have to give up the defender spot. Level B teams aren't likely to score on him, and the AI could bump you up to Double-B if you aren't careful."
Jenny looked at Jack appraisingly. He was easy to underestimate.
We'd already talked through ten minutes of the remaining half hour before our match. I felt guilty abandoning Jack to Ada and Jenny, but I had the ulterior motivation of getting Marny and Tabby some time working together.
"I'll give us a three minute count-down and you have the ball first, okay?" I punched in a three minute countdown to start the match. At one minute the computer would switch the gravity to zero-g.
Marny, Tabby and I jogged to the orange end of the court. "How about you attack first, Marny?"
"Aye. Can do, Cap," she said.
"I've got your back, Marny," Tabby said.
"You might be careful with that, I'm expecting to run into a lot of walls with it," she retorted, which earned her a smile from Tabby.
Twenty minutes isn't a lot of time to play, especially if two of the players are learning the game for the first time. As predicted, Marny had more trouble than Jenny. She was agile, but had a poor understanding of the cause and effect of arc-jet boots and gloves. More than a few times, she slammed into the wall at a high enough rate of speed that we all winced. We'd quickly decided that keeping score didn't make sense. It was fun to see Jenny, and Marny for that matter, learning and gaining skill at a game we'd grown up playing. When gravity was finally restored, we gathered at center court.
"What'd you think?" I asked looking between Jenny, Marny and Ada.
Jenny's face was alight with excitement. She was an enthusiastic, if not overly skilled attacker. "I can't believe I never played on Terrence, it's so much fun. I'll have to figure out how you use all of the barricades, though." Every pod-ball court was set up differently and had different obstacles and barricades between the opposing team's goals. One of the skills you developed was how to utilize different objects to quickly change directions or fake out your opponents.
I nodded and looked to Ada. "What'd you think?"
"I'm with Jenny. It's fun." She grabbed Jenny's hand in a show of solidarity.
"Marny?"
Marny's chest was still heaving from exertion and sweat beaded up on her face. "I wondered when you'd get your revenge on me for those boxing workouts," she said.
Tabby put her arm around Marny's shoulders. "You did better than I thought you would. You just need to spend more time in zero-g so you're not fighting your mass so much."
"Thanks, but I'm toast. I haven't worked that hard for twenty minutes in a long time," she admitted.
"Jenny, what's the level of the match you signed us up for?" I asked.
"Let me look," she said. After a moment she replied, "Double-B."
"Marny, are you up for it? I'm afraid if we put Jack, Tabby and me in, it won't be fair to the other team," I said.
"What level did you guys play?" Jenny asked.
"Mostly A, sometimes Double-A," I replied.
"Sure. Give me a minute," Marny answered.
"You'll have five, which is when we're due on Red Court," Tabby answered.
I returned the pod-ball and we trekked out into the hallway. Lena, Jack and Mom were waiting for us, looking at the different doors.
"Are you guys playing?" I asked.
"No, silly, we want to watch," Mom replied.
"Oh. We're on Red," I said. "Jenny, while you're up there, you should find an open B match."
We entered the court and met the team we were set to play at the center, as was customary. I held my hand out to the first player I met.
"Liam Hoffen," I said.
"Teodorov, call me Tedo," he said. His grip was hard and he tried to crush my hand. I hadn't mined for almost a year, but still had plenty of strength so I resisted and pulled my hand free. He gave me a smarmy grin.
"Are you local?" I asked, ignoring his manner. I'd seen plenty of pre-game ploys to psych out opponents and I figured he was just playing me.
"We represent Oberrhein," he said. His accent sounded Russian to me.
I shook the hands of his teammates – Georgi and Mihael.
"Good to meet you. We're part of the Loose Nuts Corporation. I take it you're on the Tipperary expedition," I said.
"Enough talk. Are you sure you want to play in this league with your women?" he asked.
Involuntarily, I raised my eyebrows, I wasn't used to people making that type of reference and wasn't sure exactly how to handle it.
"We'll try to keep up," Tabby said and walked toward our goal. I was impressed she hadn't gone off on the guy, but her posture announced that she was looking forward to mixing it up.
"Remember, we're playing Double-B. Just because he's an ass, we can't play too hard," I said when I joined her by our goal.
"Right."
Her one word response was a bad sign.
Formal pod-ball games are broken into three periods. Each period is scored independently. If a team wins both of the first two periods, the match is over.
The first period was a disaster for Loose Nuts. The Oberrhein team was better than I'd have expected for Double-B play and with Marny's lack of skill, it turned into a two on three match. I felt bad for Marny because tactically she was able to see that she was the weak link and it bothered her. I'd expected Oberrhein to play like they talked – over confidently. Mostly they just worked us over, setting picks on Tabby or myself and getting Marny alone so they could score.
We didn't lack for our own scoring, but being outnumbered for the entire period caused us a lot of problems.
"I'm sorry, guys," Marny said, as we rested between the two periods.
"You're doing great," Tabby said. "This is a really good team."
"I know, but they aren't having any trouble scoring on me," she said.
Nick, who'd been quiet in the coach's box the entire period, joined us for the intermission. "I looked them up. They're Single-A and Double-A players. Georgi, the fast one, played pro. You shouldn't feel bad. They probably couldn't find another match, so they're playing down."
This perked Marny up a little. "What can we do about it?"
"It's good experience," I said. "You're definitely learning the hard way, though."
"We need to get out of the two-on-three business," Tabby said. "They're leaving Georgi free to score while the others block me and Liam."
"You're right," Nick said. "I say we pull the defense."
I looked at Nick appraisingly. It was a bold move, he was suggesting that we bring Marny away from the goal.
"Won't they just get an easier run on our goal?" Tabby asked.
"Not a lot easier. When Georgi breaks free, the other two are picking up Tabby and Liam one-on-one. Georgi scores on Marny every time," Nick said. I winced at his brutal honesty.
"So, you want me to pick up one of the other two so Liam or Tabby can run down Georgi?" Marny asked.
"It should be Tabby," Nick said. "You need to free her up. She's as fast as Georgi and about fifty percent at stopping him when they're both free. Liam is only about thirty percent."
I shook my head. Only Nick could put that all together from a single period of play.
"I'm in," I said. Tabby and Marny both nodded.
At the beginning of the second period, pulling our defense turned out to be a terrible idea. Mostly because Marny hadn't figured out how to successfully plant a pick on the much faster Oberrhein team. About halfway in, however, she started figuring it out. The player I'd initially talked to, Teodorov, was the slowest player and most often setting up on Tabby. Once Marny figured out how to intercept him, Nick's plan started to work. By the end of the second period, we'd brought the score back to a tie. It was more than I'd hoped for and at least we would be able to play a third period. We were all a little disheartened, as the best possible outcome for the match was a tie, but I, for one, would see it as a victory.
"Frakking Mihael is playing dirty," Tabby said.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"He's rabbit punching me when we're in a knot. I'm gonna kick his ass if he keeps it up," she said.
"You want to forfeit the match?" I asked.
"Are you kidding me?"
I knew better than to push it.
"You outscored them by five in the last half of the period," Nick said. "Expect them to adjust. I wish I had more advice, but at this point I'd say keep doing what you are."
Marny was losing steam. She was in top physical condition, but her mass got in her way when playing pod-ball. She was exhausted.
I had to ask. "You have another period in you?"
"Aye, Cap. It's a moral imperative."
The third period started off much like the second had ended. Nick's plan was working well. Georgi appeared to be slowing and Tabby was getting stronger. I'd finally shaken off the cobwebs of not playing for a year and having to adjust to my prosthetic foot. I started to feel like we had a nice shot of winning the period.
I saw it happening. I just didn't have the capacity to do anything about it. When flying through zero-g, better players have the ability to use their opponents to change direction and as long as they don't contact them too hard, it's all legal. Where this gets dirty is when the player who gets pushed doesn't have enough time to adjust, getting pushed into contact with one of the obstacles at just the wrong angle.
"Marny, impact!" I yelled through my headset. My warning wasn't going to help. She didn't have the ability to counteract the new forces Mihael had placed on her. She was spinning out of control and her arm snapped across a turnbuckle.
Both Tabby and I rushed over and I watched with disgust as Teodorov picked up the pod-ball and lobbed it into our goal.
Medical emergency. Restore gravity. I said to my AI. Immediately the lights in the court came back up and we all settled to the floor.
"I think it's broke, Cap," Marny said. It was an understatement; her arm was bent at an impossible angle.
Tabby was hot. "He did that on purpose," she spat.
"Careful," I said. I'd seen it too, but it was another matter to accuse someone of trying to hurt an opponent. Mihael had done a nice job of covering his actions.
A medical technician wearing a Belirand uniform and carrying a kit jogged onto the court. He quickly applied a patch to Marny's arm. The relief in her face was immediate.
"Looks like a nasty break, but we'll fix you up. I'm afraid you're done with pod-ball for a few days, though," he said. "Let's take you to the clinic and we'll set that bone."
We stood back up with Marny and started to walk out.
Mihael, apparently not the brightest in the bunch, stepped in our path and put a hand on Tabby's shoulder. "So you forfeit?"
I was a couple of steps away and knew we were headed for trouble. I tried to get to them, but I was too late. He'd have been okay if he hadn't put his hand on her, but it was more than she could take. She grabbed his hand and twisted violently, driving him to his knees. We all heard a pop as she broke something in his arm.
"You bitch! That's assault. You broke my wrist," he said through clenched teeth.
"Get the frak outta my way," Tabby growled, letting go of his arm.
The technician spoke to his AI and my heart sank. He'd called for security and another medical technician. We followed the tech over to the clinic where he started working on Marny after asking us to stand in the hallway.
"Tabitha Masters." Two men approached. They were wearing side arms and had 'Belirand Security' emblazoned on their chests.
"That's me," she answered. I wondered how much trouble she was in.
"You need to come with us."
A BITTER PILL
I'd been sitting in the security office waiting room for two hours when Mihael came in. He was accompanied by another man and a woman, both in their late twenties. Mihael trailed slightly behind the man who had shoulder length black hair. I was surprised when the group walked directly up to me instead of checking in with the officer at the desk. I stood to meet them.
"Hoffen?" The dark haired man asked. He spoke softly and with a Russian accent similar to Mihael's.
"That's me," I said and held my hand out to shake. It was something that Big Pete had drilled into me.
He looked at my hand for a moment and then back up at my face.
"You need to keep a better handle on your crew," he said.
They were here to file a report on the incident. I'd already given my statement and Tabby was being held until they decided how to proceed. According to Marny, penalties from Belirand could be steep.
"I don't believe I know your name," I said allowing my hand to drop to my side.
"I'm trying to decide what we're going to do about this," he said, ignoring my implied question. "I hate to get off to such a bad start, especially since we'll be living so close to each other."
"Petar, we need to punish the bitch. She broke my wrist," Mihael said.
I took a step toward Mihael. "Watch your mouth," I said.
"You would think someone in your position would be more conciliatory. I have the power to cause you a great deal of problems," the one named Petar said. He was clearly the leader as both Mihael and the woman hung on his every word.
I caught myself. I wanted to let him know what I thought about his power, but he was right. If Mihael pushed, it could put a substantial crimp in our plans.
I nodded, accepting his words. "He's talking about my fiancé who, might I add, dropped him like a rock with a simple wrist lock. But you're right. You have some power here. What do you want from me?"
"I want you to keep your bitch on a leash," he said looking in my face, daring me to react.
We stood there for thirty seconds staring each other down and I choked back several responses.
"Do we have a problem here?" The security officer on duty had noticed our standoff and approached.
I broke eye contact and responded. "No, officer. I was just explaining to Petar and Mihael how badly Tabby felt for the misunderstanding."
I saw the glimmer of a smirk cross Petar's face. I so badly wanted to wipe it off.
"If she makes an apology, we'll consider this matter closed. I wouldn't want bad blood with our future neighbors," Petar said, still looking at me.
The officer said. "That seems more than fair."
"At dinner tonight," Petar said.
"What?" I asked.
"In front of my crew," he said.
"Are you frakking serious?"
"I'd take the deal, Captain," the security officer answered. "There's a chance the magistrate could refuse to let her traverse the gate."
I looked at him. No way was Tabby going to be okay with this.
"You'll let her walk, now?" I asked.
"Yes. Send me a recording of a sincere apology and I'll dismiss the matter. If she
doesn't deliver, I'll have to pursue the matter further."
"I'll make it happen," I said.
"Wait here," he said and walked away.
"We're done," Petar said, looping an arm possessively around the woman whom he'd ignored up to this point.
I turned away and waited for Tabby. A few minutes later she emerged, following behind the officer. She smiled sheepishly and I was glad that Mihael and Petar were already gone.
"What'd you say to them? They said I was going to be locked up for several days," she said, once we were in the hallway.
I steered her in the direction of the ship. We had two hours before the expedition banquet and I thought it would be best if we didn't mix with other crews for a while.
"You're not going to like it," I said.
She stopped and placed a hand on my shoulder. "What?"
"You have to apologize to Mihael."
"Right. That's not going to frakking happen. He broke Marny's arm. Are they going to do anything about that?"
"No. They're not. You know how hard it is to prove that he intentionally redirected her. And, we were playing a Double-B match."
"What's that got to do with it?"
"There's an expectation that you have decent, basic skills if you're playing Double-B," I said.
"So they can play dirty?"
"That's not the point."
"What is?" Tabby's face was getting redder by the moment.
"The point is, they're threatening to not let you continue with the expedition if this doesn't get resolved."
That set her back. "They'd do that?"
"Yes. I don't like it any better than you do, but there are a lot of people depending on us. You need to fix this," I said.
"Frak. I'll do it. But this isn't over."
"Tabby."
"Don't Tabby me. He broke Marny's arm. He'd better stay clear."
"Knock it off. Belirand's watching us now. You're going to stay clear of him."
She turned without saying anything else and stalked down the hallway. I didn't like that I had to be the heavy in this, but Marny had warned us to stay clear of Belirand and we hadn't been able to do that for more than an hour. I didn't like the position Tabby was putting me in. We continued on to the ship, Tabby two meters in front, shoulders set in defiance.
Buccaneers (Privateer Tales Book 8) Page 6