Octagla 3: Semifinals

Did his coach feel the same way the year the second string line Isley was on became first string, created a little magic, and ended up in the Hall of Fame? That thought cheered him as he tried to rearrange his lineup to cover for the injuries and suspensions that were the cost of getting to the semifinals. Of the three players shipped to Gingezel for treatment, Chan, the hero that got them into the series would recover. Superstar center, Daron, with head injuries would not. And winger Ranga with his shattered hand was somehow seriously mixed up in drugs along with his drug lord father. What a PR mess.

Isley forced himself to put that aside. He had hard decisions to make. Tedia had to go. He had almost cost them getting into the series. That left him with no replacement for Ranga again. At least with Gengo arriving Red could move to first string and replace Daron. Isley made a face. Gengo. Son of the great Li. Why wouldn’t he play at his potential. Even without trying he was better than Red but he had refused first string. He was worse than Larr, who tried too hard to make up for being superstar Rall’s son.

But maybe, just maybe Larr could help the team out now. He’d shown he could roof run like his father. If he could do it consistently, that might give them the edge they needed. Roof runners had been out of style for over a decade so Menzaille would not know how to play against one. Menzaille was the worst problem they were up against - the only Galactic level Octagla goalkeeper to have a shutout to his credit, and he had several.