by T. A. White
"Stick to the plan, and we should be fine—probably."
It was that probably that gave Kira concern.
A hand waving from the pit drew their attention. Odin aimed a roguish smile at them. "There are things to do and races to win. This is no time to stand around with your mouths hanging open."
The side of Finn's hood bulged in a suspicious manner.
Kira slapped at the bump. "Now, now, let's not go being stupid."
If Jin jeopardized their cover because of his problem with Odin, she would eviscerate him. She'd like to see how he managed if she disabled his optics and antigravs.
Jin grumbled but didn't do anything further as she led Finn over to Odin.
"I don't think this is where you're supposed to be," Kira said.
"There was an issue making contact," Odin explained, untroubled by the threat underlying Kira's words.
"What kind of issue?"
"The kind that will need your involvement to settle. In the meantime, I took the liberty of setting up our station." Odin gestured to the array of equipment in front of her. She pulled out a comm set complete with mic and handed it to Finn. "You're going to need this if you want to keep up appearances."
His distaste was obvious as he took it.
Kira couldn't blame him for his reluctance. As a Tuann, he was used to much more advanced technology. For him, the headset would be akin to a human using a tool from the stone age.
"Where's the package?" Kira asked.
Odin jerked his chin at the stands. "It's close by."
Kira glanced up at the stands, her interface already scanning for her niece's familiar face. Her shoulders relaxed as several seconds passed where she couldn't find a single sign of Elena.
Good. It looked like her niece was taking this seriously.
If even Kira, someone very familiar with her, couldn't find her, others wouldn't either.
Coupled with Graydon’s and Roake's presence in the stands, Elena couldn't be much safer. If anything happened, she could approach either group and receive protection.
From the starting line, a sharp buzz announced the next group.
From the pits around her, those racers who weren't already at the starting line headed toward the rest.
"You're up," Odin said. "Go be reckless."
"That's exactly the thing we don't want her to be,” Jin yelled from the depths of Finn’s hood.
Kira ignored the two, stepping onto the waveboard that was already waiting for her, having been cleared by the team officials.
Its engines softly hummed as its weight left the ground. Kira pointed its nose toward the starting line.
Kira was the last to arrive. Those already assembled ignored her after taking one look at her older model board and the modest hoodie she still wore. It was clear they classified her as a non-threat.
Kira was okay with that. She'd rather be overlooked and underestimated than be guarded against.
Waverunners had a habit of going after those they saw as a threat. She'd prefer to avoid any attempts at dethroning her on the starting line.
While they were occupied with each other, she also took note of them.
The Haldeel teen from before was there, her hoverboard a little different than her competitors.
There was evidence it had been modified for her species, eight protrusions where her prehensile appendages could wrap around to hold her.
It was a pretty smart design, allowing the Haldeel to lower her center of gravity and reduce the wind resistance.
Besides the Haldeel, there was only one other non-human competing in this bracket. A Tuann wearing an unfamiliar style of armor.
The man glanced at her before dismissing her in the next moment in favor of keeping an eye on the rest of the competitors.
All of whom were human and sporting various types of exoskeletal armor.
Jin whistled in her ear. "Aren't they spiffy? Look how their armor shines."
Kira snorted to herself. That armor might look pretty, but it would be dead weight when they got started.
"I wonder if they know that grade armor is useless in this environment," Kira said.
"Doubt it," Jin responded. "No one in this group is experienced."
If they were, they'd know you needed a much higher-class armor to survive a crash.
"Seems the quality of competitors has fallen," she said softly.
A pity.
Waverunner races weren't a place to venture recklessly. If you didn't have the talent, you could very well end up a bloody smear on the pavement.
"You concentrate on doing what's needed. Leave any would be idiots to their own devices," Odin instructed.
"Enough chatting. The race is starting," Jin said.
"Roger that."
In front of Kira, a human strode onto the course, a flare gun held at his side.
Engines rumbled to life.
The official pointed his gun into the air. Silence fell.
A boom sounded, and a flare of light shot into the sky.
Kira stomped the heel of her foot on the throttle. Her board heaved before coughing and shuddering. She landed hard; her board lifeless as the rest of the waverunners rocketed forward.
SEVEN
"WHAT JUST HAPPENED?" Kira asked in disbelief as the racers left her in a cloud of dust.
Literally.
They'd already formed a pack.
She was supposed to be in that pack, smack dab in the middle until she made her move. Not still standing on the starting line with a dead board.
"Doing a system check now." There was strain in Odin's voice.
"Jin, what did you do to my board?"
"Nothing out of the normal," Jin defended. "I made a few last-minute adjustments based on your most recent training results."
Odin's head jerked up. "You didn't touch the power distribution, did you?"
Silence echoed over the comms.
"That may have been one of my fixes," Jin allowed.
A growl came from Odin. "You idiot. I adjusted the antigravs to compensate for the differences in the planet's gravity."
Kira closed her eyes and tipped her head back as she put together what had happened. The two changes must have canceled each other out. The board's safety protocol would have shut the engine down to prevent engine failure when she floored the throttle.
"Oh." Jin arrived at the same realization seconds later. "That could be a problem."
A stream of curses came from Kira as she hopped off the board. She yanked out the repair tools she stored on her person. The habit she'd picked up as a Cur would stand her in good stead now.
Squatting beside her board, she stripped off the emergency panel and stared inside, thanking every piece of luck she had that she knew how to do emergency repairs. Otherwise, it was very likely she'd be heading to her ship with her tail between her legs at the end of this race
"What are you doing?" Odin asked.
"Fixing both of your mistakes." To Jin, she instructed, "Keep an eye on the pack. I want to know the second they've begun their approach to the tower."
"You're not thinking—" Jin trailed off.
"You got a better idea?" Kira's movements were precise as she made the adjustments. "If so, I'm all ears."
"So much for flying under the radar," Jin said mournfully.
*
Titters and laughter filled the air as the grounded racer’s plight became clear.
"Someone's having a bad day," Solal observed as the racer fiddled with their board.
Ignoring the comment, Raider sat forward, his gaze locked on the small figure.
It was the first time Raider had shown a spark of interest in anything in weeks. The typically arrogant human had become even more cold and combative since Kira and Elena’s disappearance.
Where Graydon's oshota had earned the Tuann’s respect during the journey to Jettie, Raider could be said to have earned the Tuann's fear. He was the opponent no one wanted to deal with. Some of that came fro
m his vicious way of fighting, the rest on the fact he could take an extreme amount of damage and keep going.
To everyone's surprise, he fit rather well among Graydon and Wren's oshota.
"What is it?" Graydon asked, picking up on his preoccupation.
Raider nodded at where the racer was attempting to make repairs to their board. "They're rather good."
"Why do you say that?" Wren asked, looking over to see what held Raider’s attention.
Raider didn't answer immediately, instead studying the racer more closely. His eyes narrowed. "Not many of today's waverunners know the technical side of their boards. They only care about going fast and performing cool stunts."
Wren frowned. "How short-sighted of them."
Raider made an expression like he agreed. "It's rare to see someone who can attempt repairs on the fly like this."
Even more so considering the pressure the individual had to be under.
"Could you do it?" Graydon asked.
A confidence that bordered on cocky chased across Raider's face before he shrugged. "Of course. All the Curs can. It's a training requirement."
"Could Kira?" Wren asked.
Raider paused. His gaze returned to the racer, a coldness to it.
Graydon guessed they had their answer.
Wren leaned forward, studying the racer with a renewed interest. If that really was Kira down there, she had a lot to answer for.
Wren hadn't been happy when he was informed of her departure. The only reason he hadn't gone after her immediately was an order from the Overlord. Otherwise, he'd have hunted her down.
Graydon considered the racer. The chances of it being Kira were astronomically small, but the woman had surprised him in the past.
"They're wearing a mask," Solal noted.
Raider shook his head. "That's not conclusive evidence. Many of the racers wear helmets."
Except those racers also wore armor, whereas the racer below was clad in a flimsy long-sleeved garment with the hood pulled up. Why would they go to the trouble of covering their face with a mask that would do nothing to protect their head in the event of a crash?
Graydon could think of one reason—to conceal their identity.
"Should we go and retrieve this racer?" Baran asked.
Graydon's oshota all perked up at the question.
Graydon hesitated, sharing in his oshota’s desire to do exactly that. He shook his head. "We don't have enough evidence. If we're wrong and Kira is anywhere on this planet and hears wind of it, she'll go to ground."
The woman was nothing if not stubborn in the pursuit of her goals.
Disappointment crossed Amila's face. Even Solal seemed put out at the suggestion.
"Isn't that interesting?" Raider said with a low whistle.
"What is?" Amila asked, cocking her head.
"That person removed the limiter. Bold move," Raider explained. "With waverunners, people don't understand it’s not how fast the board can go, it’s how much your body can withstand. The limiter creates a biofeedback with the pilot. It regulates the power output based on that person's condition. Not many waveboard runners are adept at making those second by second judgment calls. Without the limiter, you remove your upward limits, but you also have a lot more difficulty with control."
"Why do it then?" Solal asked.
"It's likely there was a conflict in the sequence of commands in the drive chain. This is the fastest way to fix that." Raider thought about it for a second. "And the most dangerous."
"More and more this person resembles Kira," Graydon said grimly.
Raider grunted. "It does smack of something she would do. It's certainly reckless enough."
The question remained whether it would be enough. Already the clump of racers had separated into two packs, one that lagged behind the first as the leaders started to draw away from the main body. They were almost through the first third of the course.
After this would be the tower, a nearly vertical climb up to an air buoy nearly two thousand feet above the ground. From there would be a breakneck descent heading into the gauntlet, a series of obstacles designed to thin the herd and test the racers' speed, maneuverability, and luck.
"Once the race is over, I want that person intercepted and brought to me," Graydon ordered.
His oshota acknowledged the order with determined expressions, anticipation in their bearing.
Graydon looked at the racer. Soon, he promised himself.
"This should be a good show," Raider said softly. He leaned back, peering over his shoulder to the row where Devon and his friends waited. "Yo, kid, if I were you, I'd watch that racer."
Devon's expression was serious as he nodded.
Ziva straightened. "Why? Is that person important?" Her expression brightened. "Is that Kira?"
The Luatha surrounding the children all looked down at the racer with renewed interest, where before they'd seemed bored with events. Their Overlord may have rescinded Luatha’s claim on Kira, but that didn't overshadow Kira's appearance in their hearts. A good number of them still felt gratitude and appreciation for her actions on Ta Da'an.
Raider smirked. "Just watch."
Graydon leaned forward. "Thanks for that."
The human knew very well they were trying to keep Kira's absence quiet.
Raider’s reaction was to send him another grin.
"Do you know something we don't?" Amila asked, studying the human closely.
Raider jutted his chin at the pits beneath the stands where the race teams were. "He seem familiar to anyone?"
The man he'd indicated had his back to them.
"Finn," Wren said.
To the casual observer it wouldn't be obvious, but Roake recognized their own. It was in the way the man moved, his size and bulk, his awareness of what was going on around him. There was no doubt; he was oshota, through and through.
"I can't think of a single reason why a controller would shield their identity," Raider said in an idle voice. "Can you?"
"It does seem unnecessary," Wren observed.
Raider smirked and nodded at the race. "There are two ways to win a race with a set up like this. You're first over the tower—or you're last. The thing most don't understand is how treacherous the wind currents are up there. The slightest turbulence can send you into a free fall. Stuck in the middle of the pack, it’s hard to draw out your greatest speed. Most won't even try for fear of crashing. But fall too far behind and you'll never catch up to the lead by the end."
"You're saying that person is hoping to be last over the tower," Amila guessed.
Raider's expression was devious "Do you know why we're called the Curs?"
Amila frowned. "I believe it is a term for a dog."
"That's correct, but you're missing the nuance behind that term." Raider watched the rider work. "In our language, that name has negative connotations. Simply put, it's considered an insult. It's another word for mongrel or mutt. Often called a mixed breed or someone who is unfriendly and aggressive."
Wren considered him. "Why would an elite force take such a name?"
"It's a reminder."
"Of what?" Amila asked.
"Kira built a family out of people others considered the dregs of society. When she gave us that name, it was so we would remember that no matter how others saw us, what was important was how we saw ourselves. She took something that should have been bad and made it a name to be respected. Curs are fighters. We're the junkyard dogs of the Consortium. Vicious and loyal only to our own. We decide how we win or lose. No one else."
From what Graydon knew of Kira and Raider, the description fit.
"Apt," Wren said.
"You think so?" Raider tilted his head at the racer. "I always thought that name suited Kira best."
*
Finished with the repairs, Kira slapped the panel into place and straightened.
"You're running out of time. The leaders of the pack will clear the first third of the race in less tha
n two minutes."
"What are you talking about? That's plenty of time." Kira hopped onto her board, grinning at its throaty purr when she activated the engines. Its rumble felt a lot like home after a long absence.
"Much better," she said to herself.
She lifted her head. "Locate targets."
On her ocular interface, small squares appeared, little arrows above them. The squares were spread throughout almost a mile of the course, the leaders tightly clumped together with the pursuing pack a little less uniform. The racers framed by the squares were little more than fast-moving specs at this distance.
"Let's get started then." Kira tucked her hands into her pockets as she zoomed forward. Her stance was easy and relaxed as the board slowly picked up speed. It was only when she approached the first obstacle that she got serious.
Commonly referred to as the rhythm section, it was a group of continuous jumps. Many waveboard runners used it as an opportunity to show off, executing flips and twists that did little more than add time to their run.
Kira hit the first jump and held her stance, soaring over the second and third to save time. She hit the final jump and kept it short, heading into the berm without a hitch in speed or positioning.
"Good. There are three more berms coming up, each shorter than the last. Stay low and to the outside," Jin advised.
Kira adjusted her balance, swaying left then right then left again as she followed the twists and turns.
She came out of the final turn fast, the next jump appearing before her in a blink.
"Incoming fire."
Kira flipped, rotating her body to move the board from its original position. Heat flashed past her, narrowly avoiding her.
Jin whistled. "Close, close, close."
Kira came out of the flip as the lasers lit the air up beside her.
"You’re still operating in the green," Odin informed her.
A good thing. Had any of the lasers scored a direct hit, she would have taken damage and a reduction in the number of points she could get for the event.
The lasers were designed to simulate battle conditions. Because what was more fun than a race? A race where you could get knocked out of it at any moment, of course.
"The Haldeel sure like their fireworks," Odin said.