Dishonour amongst Racers
Posted on Mon Dec 3rd, 2012 @ 11:01pm by Bomoor Thort & Berry
2,450 words; about a 12 minute read
Chapter:
Chapter II: Era's Dawn
Location: Swoop Stadium, Coruscant
Timeline: 1510 (Local Time), Day Six
OLD
Cheers erupted just as before and Bomoor looked down to the track to get a look at Allegan. He suddenly halted his clapping. Something was wrong - the masked figure mounting the bike was familiar, No, it couldn't be, Bomoor tried to reassure himself, focussing harder in the Force, No... It is... It's her! It was not Allegan, the experienced Swoop racer, sitting on the bike but instead it was none other than the yellow-green skinned young girl who should have been standing next to him this very moment. The cheering had begun to die down as the starting lights illuminated and the countdown began.
"Damn it!" growled Bomoor, "I've got to stop this. I need to get down to the track!"
NEW
“And remember, not too fast when you slide over the gels!” Eva shouted out to Berry.
The part-Aquar nodded from behind the bulky helmet, her skin hidden by a long-sleeved racer jacket. She tied the straps underneath her chin and plopped onto the bike. Watching the first racer didn’t make the race look so bad—it looked really easy, in fact! Well, not with the super-fast bike here…
It thrummed under her, and the girl was unused to being so close to so much metal. Weird…
From his vantage point at the edge of the Racer Bay (where spectators could see him best) Jesper’s green eyes narrowed at the screen. Something was off…Allegan was usually nervous, as a racer should be when given a time restriction in a race. Instead, today he was looking around as if examining the track for the first time. Maybe he had too much to drink last night…especially after Chip roughed him up. A cruel smile formed in the corner of his lips, drawing excited screams from the ever-attentive females (and males).
“Can you hear me?” came a voice in Berry’s ear.
“Yeah!” Berry immediately said back, then quickly lowered her voice to make it sound gruff and manly. “I mean…yeah.”
“Just drop it,” Eva snapped in the communicator. “All right, I’ll be telling you your time as you go, and MAKE sure it stays above 30!”
Berry whined, but her smile was a bit mischievous as she knew Eva would have to hear her. “Okaaaay.”
The countdown began, the lights steadily blinking. Berry just fixed her gaze on the light closest to her, her dark eyes shining behind the goggles. Green means go…green means go…
Go! Berry roared forward. Wow, everything looked so different on the ground than on the screen. She could barely see the slippy slips except when they were right in front of her. Whoops!
The bike sped over the slip and Berry could feel the bike start to turn when she didn’t want it to—right into the track wall!
Berry frowned and stuck a leg out.
“Berry watch out!” Eva shouted in her earpiece.
Berry waited for just the right quarter-moment, leg crooked. Closer…closer…and in less than half a second the wall was right in her face—well, more against her foot. She couldn’t hear the crowd’s collective gasp, as they were sure she would be flatter than something a Hutt sat on.
Instead, she pushed off the wall and rocketed across the track, a wild grin on her face. Yeah! Even at such high speeds she weaved around the grips, not hesitating to take advantage of the slips and bounce off the walls back and forth across the track, half the lap almost finished.
“What are you doing??” the mechanic yelled in her ear.
“Racing!” Berry replied as she charged forward. This racing stuff was awesome!
“No, you can’t race!” Eva barked. “Almost win, remember? You’re already on eleven seconds and you
have to slow down!”
“Awww,” Berry whined as she missed a gel slip for the sake of slowness. “But that’s not fun.”
“Money isn’t about fun, Berry.”
The part-Aquar pouted. “Fine.” She was starting to get the hang of this racing thing anyway and decided to entertain herself as she dilly dallied, zipping on a slip and letting the bike turn in circles, spinning across the track and around the other grips and slips.
Everything blurred around her, but she could feel the moment it faced forward to accelerate and break the spin.
“BERRY, you’re almost done!” Eva screamed, almost hysterical.
“Whaaaat??” the part-Aquar exclaimed, genuinely surprised. “Waaaah,” she cried as she quickly hit as many friction grips as possible.
Confusion spread amongst the stadium as the amazing stunts came to a halt. What was going on?
Jesper Tranth clenched his black-gloved hands, his expression severe. This Allegan lunatic had better watch himself or there would be more broken than his nose.
Bomoor shunted his way through the crowd and down the stairway to the Racer's Bay. He encountered the Gran security guard who had his back to the stairway as he watched the races. He turned as he heard the ithorian rumbling down the steps, "Woah! Hey buddy," he held his arms out, "The next race is starting. You can't get in here."
As he spoke, the final buzzer sounded and Beríá's bike shot off and out of sight. Bomoor let out a frustrated drone as his chances of stopping the race flew away. He gave the gran a stare and focussed on his next words, "But I'm a racer. You can let me in."
"You...are a racer..." the Gran's reply came slowly as Bomoor continued his fixation upon the soft-minded being, "I...can let you in."
Bomoor nodded a thank you, more as an apology for manipulating him rather than for letting him in. He ran forwards into the main room where Swoop Bikes of various designs crowded the floor. Most of them sleek newer model designs, with an open saddle on the top but there were a few older designs sporting a wider chassis and a tiny cockpit.
The racers were crowded by the viewing screen, watching Beríás bike run the track. She was almost halfway around already. Bomoor hoped that her force sensitivity would deliver her through the rest in one piece. Over on the other corner of the room was a woman shouting the race time into a communicator. Bomoor guessed she must be communicating with Beríá.
"You there!" he boomed, "What are you thinking sending Bería out onto that track? Do you even know her?"
It took the mechanic a half second to register she was being yelled at. She glared back at Bomoor. "Who the kriff is Bería?" It took another half second before Eva realized, but she quickly hid it. "What? That must be somebody else." She turned away.
At that moment, a grinding noise reverberated from outside on the track. Bería's bike had come to a halt. She had finished the lap, Thank the Force! Bomoor thought before hurrying over to the track entrance.
Berry sat on the bike, frowning a bit. Wait, there wasn't more?
"And now for a quick break, here's a rep from Choo Chips, here to talk about how great the choo is in their chips."
Berry's eyebrows raised, both at the mention of food and at the news of a break. Good! Her legs were starting to get stiff. The part-Aquar slid off the bike and waddled her way to the entrance, grinning. Maybe there was some food...and Boomy?
She waved at the Ithorian, laughing. "Hi!" Then her brows furrowed at the sight of Eva shaking her head and waving in a negative fashion. Huh?
"You can't act like you know him, Berry, or everyone will know you're not Allegan!" Eva hissed into the communicator.
Berry's gasped, and she pulled her goggles down even further. That's true! But then Boomy was already walking toward her and—
"What in the name of the the Unifying Force are you doing racing, Beríá? How could they possibly have allowed you to race? Who is this woman?"
Bomoor went to remove her helmet but she slipped away and ran into the bay. By now, the other racers were taking an interest in the antics. There was still some time before the next racer went on. Flyss Gover came forward, "Not a bad time, Allegan. 32:37 - already ahead of Duncan," he smiled, before realising something was afoot, "Hey, is everything all right here?"
"It most certainly is not," Bomoor droned, "Come here Beríá! We have to leave now!"
"Who are you talkin' 'bout?" Berry started saying in a gruff voice that was obviously a woman's. "I'm Allegan, the greatest racer ever—"
"Not so fast." Jesper Tranth himself strode through the gathering throng to glare down at the surprisingly short Allegan. "What's your game, Allegan? If that's who you really are!" He reached forward but was blocked by Eva, who jumped in front of Berry.
The mechanic glared back up at him. "Get back or I'll call security." If anyone found out then Berry’s time could be disqualified, and Allegan’s fate in the air.
Jesper just sneered. Discarding beauties was the norm for him. He drew his hand back, bringing it down at her—to have his wrist caught in “Allegan’s” hand.
The strange racer’s grip was strong, so strong that Jesper found he couldn’t move his arm. His green eyes widened in outrage. “Don’t touch me, you fake!” he hissed.
Berry threw his hand away and pulled off her helmet, expression fierce as her eyes flashed up at him in a glare to rival even Eva’s. “Don’t you touch her.” She threw the helmet to the ground, too, as she lifted her chin up at him. “And you’re gonna pay Al his money, right?”
Jesper’s look of outrage lessened slighty as he blinked with his long lashes. Something was tugging at his mind. “He’ll…get his money,” the human slowly spoke. But then he glared anew down at Berry and pointed a finger at her. What she didn't have in looks she made up in spirit, and Jesper was intrigued as much as he was angry. He smirked, one that usually brought his fans to their knees. “But only when I’m through with you."
The well-built racer advanced towards Beríá with his arms clenched at each side, trying to tower over the girl. Bomoor realised that this would be more difficult than he had hoped, "Get away from her!" he boomed, "I don't know what's going on here but it seems to me that a brawl here will only get everyone disqualified."
He twisted his neck and gave a glance to Eva. Was this the friend Berry mentioned? He could only surmise that this woman had somehow gotten Berry into this, "You there, you put Beríá up to this? Right now, I don't know who's worse here. The one here who threatened a young girl or the one who took advantage of her to win this race."
While Bomoor was not one to be cruel, these people had crossed a line. Berry would surely protest otherwise but, seeing the young girl's blissful ignorance, this woman had seen fit to draw her into this little Swoop Bike Scam. In his mind, she deserved what she got but he didn't want Bería in the middle of it.
"We must go now Beríá," he sternly advised, "I'm sorry but these people will have to deal with the Swoop Bike Authorities on their own."
At that Berry dug her heels in (hopefully not literally, the last time she was stuck for quite a while). She frowned stubbornly at Boomy. "No! I gotta finish this race so I can get Al the money 'cause his hand is squished so he can't race!" Her lips pouted to the side as she refused to look at the Ithorian. " And I offered so they could feed me."
Bomoor was in no mood to tolerate her behaviour. What he had wanted to be an escape from duty and difficulty had landed him right into the thick of it, "Sometimes, Beríá, we cannot help people. We can do what we can but some people put themselves in their own position, whether it by greed or addiction or even pure stupidity. This matter had already been decided - if your friend can't race then he cannot ask you to take his place. That is simply not allowed!"
The Gran bouncer had heard the trouble and come over by this point, "What's going on here? We need the next racer on now!"
The Ithorian looked to Berry, hoping she would understand and come with him.
Berry frowned stubbornly and picked up the helmet, shoving it onto her head. "I"m racing."
"She's racing," the guard slowly repeated, blinking.
Jesper Tranth crossed his arms, smirking. It was rare when he could be so amused without having to pay thousands of credits. A simple bribe this time may only take a few. "You can race, little green girl...I'll work my own magic for that. But if you win, heads will roll."
"I'll almost win!" she retorted, then turned over to Bomoor. She knew he didn't like this at all, but...she was gonna do what she was gonna do. She walked over to him and pushed her helmet up so she could crane up to see his tall head. "It's gonna be okay. Water-gods will look out for me." She took something out of her pocket and handed it to him, a silver credit chip. "You don't hafta stay...you have Thrane to worry about." She smiled faintly in understanding. "He's kind of a handful."
Bomoor looked at the Gran, suddenly dazed once more. Had Berry done that? He turned away from them, "I think that might be best..." he spoke, feeling himself become rather frustrated at the stubborn people surrounding him, "...but this will end badly."
He made his way out of the racer's bay and back up the stairs. He paused at the top, wondering whether to go back. But as the announcer rang out to beckon on the next racer, he shook himself and carried on out of the stadium.
It was best that he saved his patience for someone else more worthy (and more needing, if Berry felt Thane correctly). The part-Aquar shoved the helmet back onto her head and marched out to the bike, expression serious. Saving a life didn't take much effort, but more needed to be done than just punching. All she had in the galaxy—no, in the universe—was the honor of her word.
"Let's do this!"
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