Now This Is Podracing!

[Ayden Cater]

@[member="Cira"], @[member="Sarge Potteiger"], @[member="Jorus Merrill"]


Ayden sighed and mirrored the Prex's bridge pinching before he began explaining. "There was a trio of wanna-be crime lords. I was working some trade agreements in the Outer Rim from Corellia. They started trying to muscle in, demanding the standard protection racket scheme. When I wouldn't pay up, they started roughing up the trade ships. So, I sent Sarge to deal with them, and make sure that the message was clear not to mess with the trade ships. Obviously... Something went wrong." Ayden leveled a hard gaze at Sarge before turning back to Cira. "It was a Toydarian, a Dug, and a Hutt running the scheme. Not exactly the most likeable bunch out there..."

 

[Jak Sandrow]

Jak watched Siobhan go [just seeing her out like a gentleman], and then got back to work on the pod. It was very rusty, and the powerlines were corroded almost through. It was a wonder how it managed to finish the race last time. He got to work.

About half an hour later, he heard Allaina come in the door.

"Alright, Jak, give it to me straight. I need a pod. How long will this take and what do you need me to do so I don't get smushed into some rocks?"

"Hand me that laser caliper, will you? Thanks." He measured the diameter of the wiring, then went back to the workbench. "If you could get started ripping out the cooling tanks, that would help." Cutting some wire, he started soldering it in place. "This could take a while. When does the race start?"

 

[Cira]

"Nek take it!" Cira swore under her breath. "And just what does this mean--"

That's when they heard the first strings of melody behind them.

"Sarge!!! The man they call Saarrrge...!"

 

[Jorga the Hutt]

"He robbed from the rich and he gave to the poor
"Stood up to the Hutts and he gave them what for
"Our love for him now could fill up a barge
"The Hero of Malastare, the man they call...Sarge.

"Not my best work," said Connory. "It feels...derivative. Like I'm ripping someone off. Then again, it's not like a hero of Sarge's calibre comes along every day. Afternoon, folks. Y'all seem mighty interested in this statue."

 

[Cira]

Her eyes went wide, mouth slightly agape again in the growing shock. The hand pinching the bridge of her nose went flat into a facepalm.


One could hear her mutter in disbelief. "This seriously must be what it feels like to go mad ."

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

Without another word, Sarge turned on his heel and went straight back to the ship. Once there, he shut the cockpit door, locked it, then twisted his helmet off. Placing it on the console, he sighs and pulls a small flask from his belt.

It was nothing special, the flask. A simple metal one. But the sentimental value was enormous. It had been Aydens, 400 years ago.

The real Ayden's.

Smiling sadly, he lifts the flask to his lips and lets liquid fire sluice down his throat to light a fire in his belly.

Resting his head back, he shuts his eyes and lets his mind race.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

Tegaea raised her eye brow at the picture of Siobhan in a dress. "So that's what you were doing on company time on Hapes, huh? 'Pacifying the natives' sounds like you were seducing them into your bed." Was Tegs jealous? Maybe a little. But also annoyed at Siobhan's impromptu AWOL excursion.

"So, they're looking to take over after the race. We'll be ready. Nice meeting you, Heli. Siobhan, we'd better get back."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

"I'd earned a vacation. And I kept tripping in high heels. They bloody hurt," Siobhan muttered to herself. You'd think a matriarchy wouldn't force you to dress like a doll at cool parties, she thought, glowering at Heli, who looked as innocent and shameless as usual. After all, it was in her nature to be a snoop, so the human had no reason to complain.

"Make love, not war And some aristos with money like you now, that's good. Brings in contracts," Heli said with a satisfied smirk. "Pleasure meeting you, Tegaea. Do pop by when you're done conquering the planet."

"Nice seeing you, Heli! There'll be payback for this," a still annoyed Siobhan said before Heli pulled her into a quick kiss, with the Cathar's tail stroking across her cheek before the Cathar pulled away and shooed them out.

Siobhan followed out after Tegaea when suddenly Heli gently grabbed her by the shoulder when Tegs already out of earshot. "So that's the Tegaea who jumped on a gunship with a lightsabre, yes? You really go for the slightly heroically crazy, authoritative ones."

Siobhan still looked annoyed, but her features softened just a bit. "Someone totally sane would drive me nuts. She's a very special woman," she said sincerely, though she was not the sappy sort.

"Hmm. Red isn't my colour, but she seems fun. Now don't wreck the whole planet while I'm still on it."

"She is. Right. I have the endorsement of Heli Peregrinas, I am so relieved!" Siobhan said sardonically, hurrying out after Tegaea as they left Club Ishtar. For once there had been no bar fight, maybe their reputation preceded them. She waited before she said anything until they were out of the bar.

"So our charming competitors have a little contingency plan. Figure they'll strike after the race. Unless they're really brazen. What's our counterattack plan?"

 

[Qae Shena]

@[member="Jak Sandrow"]

"It's tomorrow morning, Jak," Allaina said with a sigh. Sure, they had plenty of hands to get on making this thing go, but the time frame they were working with said they were incredibly stressed. They had to get this done, and soon.

Fortunately, the local ninja named Zero had done a great thing and procured her a map of the track, which would be incredibly valuable to Allaina's studies. She was going to have to learn every part of that track as best she could in order to handle it well. She just hoped it was to scale, at the very least. And that there were no surprises waiting for her.

So, ripping out the coolant tanks, Allaina set to work in the pod, tweaking the controls to be a little more to her liking, especially the independent fuel feeds. That was going to have to be spot-on the entire time. Couldn't have a fuel feed problem, after all.

 

[Malica Drezyan]

Inside the Omega transport, Malica crouched in the pilot's seat trying to catch the reflection of her face in the windshield. She was applying makeup from a compact onto a large bruise on her face, graciously given to her by her favorite trainer and shamless sadist @[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]. Tegs and Siobhan had not wasted a minute integrating Malica into Omega Pyre, using cargo holds and empty hangars to practice combat between missions. The month had staggered by, leaving Malica with a couple broken ribs, a concussion, and thick skin. She felt tougher, much tougher than the subservient dancer they had rescued from Tatoonie.

Malica removed her commlink from her flight suit and contacted @[member="Tegaea Alcori"]. She continued to apply makeup as she spoke into the grated minispeaker on the comm's console. "As much as I love babysitting our ride, I'm getting restless, boss. Got any leads on Massive Dynamic, yet? We're getting a bit stir crazy." Malica glanced over her shoulder into the hallway to look for @[member="Hevana Martin"], who she had assumed was the creator of a large crash that echoed from the back of the ship.

“You all right down there?" Malica shouted from the cockpit to Hevana, hoping that the woman wasn't banging her head against the hyperdrive from boredom. All this way to Malastare and they might not even get to see Allaina pod race. Tegs and Siobhan may have thought they were rewarding Malica with a break by assigning her to guard the transport and provide it with minor repairs, but she was anxious to get in on the action. Sore muscles could rest later.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

Tegaea picked up her commlink. "@[member="Malica Drezyan"], thanks for being so patient. Join us at Trant's swoop joint. I've got a special mission for you. I'll explain it when you get here, please hurry."

When Siobhan caught up, Tegaea gave her a grin. "So that's the famous cat girl, huh? She's cute, if you're into fur. Come on, let's get going. They should be ready with the pod very soon. Though I'm hoping we don't do this race for nothing. These mercs might be dangerous. But...I've got some weapons with me to even the odds," she said with a grin.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

Given the fact that they had an important mission to complete, Siobhan's punishment for going AWOL would have to wait a bit. Siobhan returned the grin. "Fur's fun, you should try it sometime! She's cool, even though she's a bloody troll. Though she isn't an authoritative redhead with hot muscles. They drive me wild," she said to her, waggling her eyebrows a bit.

"Shiny new toys?" she asked amused. "Heh. Do leave some hostiles over for me. We'll win the race, then beat the mercs and anyone that crosses us."

 

[Jak Sandrow]

"Okay, so we need to put manual control of the fuel feeds to the cockpit. You're going to need a few extra tanks of fuel, so we'll integrate that into the engine. We're going to need to get some new coolant tanks, otherwise you'll burn out right away. Lastly, we'll need to tweak the intake scoops so that you get more turn control. Let's get to work."
It was a few hours until they were finally done. The pod sat there, colourless as of yet, and Jak studied the engines with a well-trained eye. It looked good enough to fly. In fact, with a good touch of paint, it would definitely go far. Literally and metaphorically.
"Well, what colour do you want? Should we stick with the purple, or should we go Omega Pyre orange?"

 

[Malica Drezyan]

Malica smirked, snapped the compact closed, and darted out of the cockpit to grab her weapons. Never sure what crazy mission Tegs would assign her next, she threw a few syringes of carsunum into her satchel and, for good measure, a gold dancer outfit. "Tegs says to meet them at Trant's shop!" She yelled to Hevana as she clipped a blaster pistol to her waist. Malica figured Hevana would meet up with them later, if she wasn't too busy catching up on her beauty sleep.

The pod racing competition had drawn crowds from across the galaxy and Malastare was in a fit of festivities. From the ship, the masses of people looked manageable to navigate. Amidst them was quite a different story. The garbbled Dug language saturated the air as Malica pushed her way through the narrow streets. The city was filled with creatures of all different species. She spotted an armed Wookiee beside a Mandalorian and studied them from afar. What was a Wookiee doing on Malastare? Before she attracted their attention, Malica ducked under the dropping overhang of an outdoor cantina and continued on to meet Tegs. Credits fluttered everywhere, passing between palms and tentacles: confident bets on the winners of the great race. A projected Huttese voice bellowed across the city, encouraging tourists to visit the many fine establishments surrounding the arena, anxious to sleaze them out of their creds. Malica cursed for forgetting to grab a stim before exiting the transport; the difference in gravity was already wearing on her humaniod body. She tripped over a Dug and hurried to get away in order to avoid the legendary temper of the Malastare native.

Malica approached Trant's run-down swoop joint and spotted her superiors. “Reporting for duty, ma'am.” She smiled at Tegs and added in a little salute. She'd really come to respect Tegaea during her training, and while Malica was goofing around a touch with formalities, she was ready to do whatever the redheaded commander asked of her.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

@[member="Tegaea Alcori"], @[member="Allaina Mare"], @[member="Malica Drezyan"]

Siobhan had reached Trant's swoop-shop shortly after Malica arrived and smiled at the girl, returning the salute with an amused look, taking a drag from a cigarette she had just lit.

"At ease," she said in an amused tone. "Good to see you, Malica. Looking good. Just in time for all the fun on this enticing, super gravity world," she said to her warmly. "Ready for some action?"

Siobhan liked Malice quite a bit and was happy that Omega had been able to recruit her. Of course, the fact that Malica was quite easy on the eyes helped a lot, but seeing the girl rise from subservience was gratifying as well! Moreover, she had proved herself a skilled fighter.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

@[member="Cira"] @[member="Sarge Potteiger"] @[member="Ayden Cater"]
"Loathe as I am to break away from this..."

Jorus watched Sarge retreat from reality and the village.

"...I'm thinking time's running short, but our list of allies ain't. With Sarge's name in our back pocket, we could walk though all manner of unpleasantness. Where to, boss lady?"

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

Tegaea watched as Malica sauntered up. She had a body to die for, and she had certainly seen it up close and personal enough to judge! She had also turned out to be an unusually good trainee in melee and ranged combat. When it came to close combat @[member="Malica Drezyan"] fought like a cornered nexu, and had laid a few heavy blows even on Tegaea!

"Excellent. Look, the pod's almost ready, and the race starts soon. I need you to do what you do best; go saunter around the enemy camp, Massive Dynamic and their mercs. Keep your snooping a secret as much as you can, and report back on exactly their moves, then wait in a good position near there for when the race starts and give me up to date info on their actions. Any questions?" Tegaea was in her authoritative mood, which seemed to turn at least some of the girls on even without her trying!

 

[Qae Shena]

@[member="Jak Sandrow"] @[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] @[member="Tegaea Alcori"]

"Omega Pyre orange, of course!" Allaina said. Yep. She had a pod. She had a map. She had a lot to do, however, which meant that she was going to need to get ready for the race. All of a sudden, her stomach churned. She was going to be high-speed racing in a pod, just above the ground, at speeds as fast as an Imperial fighter, through tighter turns than an asteroid field with no ray shielding.

Yep. Nervous, all of a sudden.

With everyone there, she held the map in her hands, studying it for a moment. "I think my job here is done until tomorrow," she said tentatively, wishing for a few moments to study this map and a hard drink to calm her very suddenly frazzled nerves. "Where can I crash out for the night?"

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

@[member="Allaina Mare"]

Allaina was understandably nervous and under a lot of pressure. After all, she would be racing at top speed in a pod that had just now been rescued from the scrap heap through her and Jak's expertise and turned into something serviceable.

No shielding, top speed, and pod racing wasn't meant for humans. On the other hand, some little kid who one day turned into an annoying, violent brat had managed and Allaina actually had a pilot's license!

Fortunately, Siobhan Kerrigan, her partner-in-explosions, was there to be reassuring and...hopefully more. "Looks like the pod's done. Good work," she said approvingly to Allaina and Jak. She saw the nerves, Allaina would be weird if she hadn't been nervous, so she approached her.

"I booked a room, right around the corner. Got drinks as well," she said innocently, patting Allaina on the shoulder before giving it a soft squeeze, raising her eyebrow suggestively. "You look like you could use the time to relax a bit. Then you'll rock the track tomorrow and go home with the big prize."

 

[Jak Sandrow]

Jak looked at his - their - pod, at its simple efficiency, and at its raw power in its engines. He started to work on the painting, this image

in the forefront of his mind. He could pick up on her tiredness in her voice; this was a higher-gravity world, it was taking its toll on everyone. He heard someone come in, then heard Siobhan ask Allaina if she wanted to sleep in her place. He also heard the suggestiveness in Siobhan's voice. Why are all the good-looking girls lesbians? he thought, bemused.
"I took the leisure of installing a working caf into the bar, for tomorrow." he said to Allaina.
He suddenly realized that she was thinking of all the worst ways to crash. "Hey, hey. Don't get in a tizzy. The pod has a crash-proof frame, and it has a backup ray shield just in case. We'll pick you up if you crash, and you'll suffer a few scratches, no more. Besides, it won't crash." He stretched to get rid of his sore back. "Night, Siobhan. Night, Allaina." He then turned back to the pod and started painting again.