Ask Almost Like Flying

[Hera "The Joyful" Albion]

Hera sat quietly at a little table on the planet of Boonta. In her hand, a delicate cup of caf, and at her table, a small pastry. Sipping the caf, Hera waited for the Padawan she had requested to arrive. There was a mission here on Boonta, and there was only one Padawan she thought of who could help her complete it. Suddenly, the caf in her cup began to rattle, then the ground beneath her, then the table, then, finally, it arrived. A land speeder flew by the tables of the cafe at near break-neck speeds, flinging everything off every table that wasn't being held down.

Hera, along with a dozen other spectators, jumped up and screamed at the speeder in excitement. Today, like most days, was a race day on Boonta. And Hera needed Ezra Thorne for her machinations this day. Though she had to admit to herself, she could've attempted the race herself. She had rented a StarHawk Swoop anyway. But that was the keyword, 'rented,' there was no guarantee that her bike would be as fast as advertised or even half as reliable.

But Ezra was practically an expert in Hera's mind, especially after seeing how he drove a speeder-bike on Telos. Though more than wanting Ezra for his skill, Hera had a deep desire to reconcile with the young man. She had, effectively, nearly driven a wedge between Ezra and Dash. Her own former Padawan and his lover, someone who might even spend the rest of his life with Dash, and Hera had attempted to destroy their relationship. More than anything, she wanted Ezra to know that she wasn't out to get him and that she hoped he and Dash 'worked out.'

Of course, Hera was certain Ezra would never come if he knew that Hera was the one requesting him. Therefore, she had explicitly asked Zathria to keep it a 'surprise.' Now, assuming the bargain held up, Hera would owe Zathria a favor from this moment on. Sitting back down, Hera attempted to sip whatever she could from the cup of caf after losing most of the liquid when she lept from her chair earlier.

@Sreeya

 

[Ezra Thorne]

There was a loud revving of engines as a sporty speeder bike came into view. At long last, he was able to get away with bringing his own Razorfin with him. It was sleek, jet black and always commanded attention. Ezra stepped off and removed his helmet, putting his strands of hair back into place. He was dressed accordingly, his saber hilt stashed on his hip beneath the folds of his jacket. He locked the bike and applied security that was up to ISC standards. No one would come near this bike without him knowing.

He was thrilled to find that the rendezvous point was a caf shop. Ezra began to make his way towards the ordering area when he spotted Hera. His eyes narrowed and he looked down at his NalPhone for the mission brief. The description matched what she wore and where she was sitting. Was this a mistake or was this all a ploy? His jaw tightened as he looked at her. Whatever influence she had over Dash wouldn’t work with him.

“Councilor,” He greeted curtly, not taking a seat near her just yet. It was clear he wanted little to do with her, his arms crossed over his chest and his demeanor icier than usual.

@Black Noise

 

[Hera "The Joyful" Albion]

Hera smiled as she watched Ezra arrive on his speeder. Both the youth and his speeder were exactly what she needed in this mission. Standing up and waving, she gestured for him to sit as she called over the serving droid. "Hey! Whatever he wants, it's on me!" Even as the words left her mouth Hera hoped Ezra would take advantage of her 'generosity'. Hera read in a book that spending someone else's money could be cathartic if you were upset at that person.

Sitting back down, Hera ordered another cup of caf for herself. Looking Ezra up and down Hera did feel a bit underdressed. While Dash had always dressed well around Hera, Ezra dressed well, and Hera wore nothing more than what she wore all the time everywhere she went. Dressed in her green armor, a cloak, and with her lightsabers strapped to her back, Hera found herself as simple and identifiable as ever. Sighing, she settled into her seat and spoke up.

"I know you don't like me-" She started, her characteristic smile missing for the time being as she treated her words with the seriousness they deserved, "But I want to do what I can to reconcile between the two of us. I met with your father, personally and alone, and he was-" She paused for a minute, her smile returning, "Interesting. Straightforward, but cold, and distant. As if there were a thousand more important things he could've been doing. His opinions on the Jedi are harsh. Though I cannot disagree with any of the things he told me."

She paused for a minute, smile fading, before continuing, "He didn't ask about you. I would hope that means you two have a good relationship? Talk often?" Waving her hand as if to dismiss the questions as rhetorical, she redirected the conversation. "Regardless, I have a mission here where I need you, your speeder knowledge, and driving skills. However, I will not force you to stick around with me. Before I tell you what's going on, I am giving you the chance to leave. Guilt-free."

At that, she would lean back. The choice had been placed squarely in Ezra's lap now. Hera would not judge him no matter what he decided. That being said, Hera hoped Ezra would stay.

@Sreeya

 

[Ezra Thorne]

Ezra didn’t budge as she offered to buy him a caf, his gaze fixed on her. He still didn’t sit down, not entirely appreciating the tricks she had pulled to get him out here. As she spoke, it was almost all one stream of consciousness and verbal diarrhea. At some point she wove in meeting his father, calling him cold and distant. Where was all this going? Especially the line about his Pops not asking about him?

“My father knows to keep business and personal affairs separate,” He replied dryly, clearly a feat Hera hadn’t thought possible of her own padawan when she tried to tell them to split. Ezra scoffed as he grabbed a chair and finally sat down, snapping his fingers to order a caf.

“You know full well I’m not going to leave after making the effort to come out here,” Ezra said, “That was by your design, Councilor,” He took a sip from his caf.

“What’s the mission?”

@Black Noise

 

[Hera "The Joyful" Albion]

Hera smiled gently at Ezra's response. The young man was aloof and detached in his manner of speaking to her. But he was not dismissive, and he didn't take up her offer to leave. Clasping her hands together, Hera nodded and spoke, "Bigra the Hutt, local crimeboss and organizer of a few of the big local speeder races. He's come into possession of a group of fleeing force sensitive children. With the collapse of the Sith, the Empire's been hunting down and tightening their grip on every prospective group the Sith formerly had their hands on.

"I want to intercept these kids and give them a chance at a life away from the Empire and the Sith. But Bigra is terrified of Jedi, something about 'Do I looked like a fool?' and 'I'm not presenting myself to be arrested.' However, with every grand speeder race he holds, the winner receives their prize directly from Bigra." Sipping her caf, she watched Ezra's face before stating the obvious. "We're going to compete in his race. I will do everything in my power to assist you in winning, and you will win the race. This earns our direct audience with him whether he likes it or not, he will not balk from presenting the prize in person."

'Hutts are cowards,' Hera thought, 'but status is everything to them. Refusing to present his prize in person will make him look weak.' As the last few drops of caf swirled about the bottom of her cup, Hera stopped speaking. Instead, she would stand and begin making her way over to where her own rented speeder had been parked. She waited for Ezra's response, if he had anything to say at all, while she looked over the rusted piece of shit.

@Sreeya

 

[Ezra Thorne]

Ezra calmly listened to the plan, surprised that it involved racing. He wondered what kind of racer he could use. Normally he built his own, but this time he at least had his razerfin to work with. He made a face as Hera suggested assisting him in winning somehow, “I will win it,” He stated flatly, taking a sip from his caf, “You just hang back and watch.”

He didn’t even want to ask what the Hutt was doing keeping the children around to begin with. Ezra also wondered how Hera planned on not being an obvious Jedi. She was textbook Jedi as far as he could tell and would probably give herself away from a mile away.

Ezra hopped back on his bike and took off without looking back. The journey to the location only took him a few minutes. It would take longer for Hera to arrive in her jalopy, so he pulled out his Nalphone and entertained himself in the meantime. Most of it was furiously texting Dash (@Alhon )and asking if he knew Hera was going to surprise him with a mission.

Once she arrived, he walked with her to the sign up section. There was an elderly woman at a desk, the sound of speeders zooming by behind her. There was a decent crowd gathered and the Hutt was seated on an elevated box with multiple people fanning him.

“Racer name?”

“Risky Reed,” Ezra said with a vague shrug. The woman briefly looked up at Hera. Ezra followed her gaze, his eyes flicking down and up Hera’s form, before he turned back to the admin lady, “This is my mother. She’s here to cheer me on. Has been to all my races,” He said without missing a beat.

The admin lady looked at Hera and then at Ezra, "Your dad must be quite the looker," She said with a chuckle as she waved them through.

@Black Noise

 

[Hera "The Joyful" Albion]

As Ezra blasted off on his speeder without Hera, the redhead couldn't help but smile. He had a lot of confidence in his skills and a certain cockiness that some Jedi might disparage. However, that was precisely some of the reasons that Hera had requested him for this mission. Ezra had skills and experience in this 'sport' that Hera could easily acknowledge eclipsed her own.

Then she arrived and they walked together to the admin desk for signups. She stayed quiet for a bit, though at the admin lady's second remark, Hera couldn't help but lean into the charade. Wrapping an arm around Ezra, Hera grinned and remarked, "He takes after his dad in more ways than one!" Before moving on and releasing the young man with a laugh.

Within minutes, Hera was separated from Ezra. With the Padawan sent off to the maintenance area and the Councilor sent off to the stands, the preparations for the race could continue.

----------------------------------------------------​

'Music' played over the arena as the racers were led out to the starting line. The crowds in the stands roared with excitement as every new bike rolled out from the maintenance tunnels built under the stands. There were roughly two dozen competitors on a variety of modded bikes, even one damned fool driving a 48-Roller Wheelbike with two starfighter engines strapped to the sides. But the competitors that were actually worth a damn were a Masked human the announcer identified as 'Mute Mike' and a Weequay woman identified as the previous race's champ, Erti Foo.

It wasn't their names that stood out, nor even Erti Foo being mentioned as the previous winner, it was their bikes. Just as the crowd would roar and cheer at seeing Ezra's ride, they would similarly react to these two's rides. Mute Mike rode a heavily modified Flare-S Swoop with a well-disguised blaster rigged up to the front and an incredibly powerful booster attached to the engines. Erti Foo's own swoop, a Skyscythe V-132, clearly had the engines ripped out and replaced with something closer to a starfighter's.

Ezra would be able to note that something had gone seriously wrong with Erti Foo's attached fuel lines to her new engines. Most likely the damn thing would explode seconds after reaching top speed, but it was up to him if he wanted to tell her or not. The contestants were ordered to get on their bikes as the announcer spoke over the loudspeaker.

"Mount your rides, you crazy bastards! Bigra wants to see some clean racing, but we want to see blood! Give the crowd what they came here for! Get ready! Get set-!"

Spoiler: OOC

16/20 for Mike's mods, 3/20 for Erti's

@Sreeya

 

[Ezra Thorne]

Ezra was used to the cheers, the rush of the race, the thrill of the crowd. He felt right at home in all of this, and he breathed it all in. Hera would notice that the icy Jedi was actually looking genuinely happy. It was all in the eyes, even if he wasn’t the type to smile too much. Ezra popped his helmet on and swung a leg over his speeder bike, ready to get going.

He knew racers enough to know what sounded very off. His ears twitched the slightest bit as he glanced over towards Erti’s speeder. He knew she would be out of the game as soon as she took off, and it would be a terrible explosion. On the other hand, if he said something, she could potentially beat him. Blowing up and bad mechanics were all a part of the game.

But still…

“Your speeder is jacked,” Ezra called out to the Weequay, letting her do with that information what she would.

As soon as the horn resounded, he kicked off, his speeder revving to life. He was a blur of motions, zooming through the track as the race began and the crowds went wild.

@Black Noise

 

[Hera "The Joyful" Albion]

The crowd's roar matched the power put into the engines of the speeders. Within seconds, the bikes were out of sight and onto the track. With every eye in the crowd glued to the viewscreens, Hera began her work. She made her way through the crowd, careful not to interrupt any viewing from other racing fans. Her targets were the small group of elite guards all sitting together in a balcony booth. Roughly a dozen mercenaries working for Bigra the Hutt sat together and cheered on the racers from their locations.

-------------------------The race------------------------​

Luckily for Erti, she listened to Ezra and looked back when he remarked about her speeder. With the ease of someone who had worked on their vehicle a thousand times, she lept back to the engines and started fixing the fuel lines. Unfortunately for her, she would not be ready when the horn went off and the racers blew past her on the track. Mute Mike didn't have too good of a start either, his bike flamed out instead of blasting off the starting line.

For at the least the start, Ezra would easily hold the lead. Most of the other racers could even hold a candle to him as he took off. The track wound through a canyon, an open plane, and a special, massive cave system dug out under a mountain. What the racers had not been informed of yet was that the cave system had been set up with booby traps timed to go off on the second lap.

It would take until the first attempt through the caves for Erti and Mike to catch up to Ezra's lead, but they would slowly approach his tail. If he looked back, he would be able to tell that the twists and winds of the canyon and the cave were where Mike intended to make up his time, his bike and skill perfected to the tighter movements and precision turns. Erti, on the other hand, would begin to fall behind again in the caves.

Erti's bike excelled at speeding past the other racers on the planes, her speed unmatched by any of the other competitors. However, it would be overtly apparent she lacked the skill to take full advantage of her ride. The tight corners of the canyon and the caves caused her to brake unnecessarily, losing a lot of ground.

---------------------The background--------------------------​

Without much difficulty, Hera slipped into the back and blended with the mercenaries. While they would have easily recognized her as not one of their own had they taken more than a quick glance her way, the men and women were far more interested in the racers. Catching their conversations, Hera listened in for a moment to grab their attention.

"Erti Foo's a shoe-in for the victory! Badass ain't lost a race in months!"
"Yeah, but that ain't skill! She ain't pushin' the Skyscythe to 'er limits! Just takin' advantage of them damn engines she got! And look-it there! She had to fix 'em before she could get goin'!"
"Fuck 'er! Mike's got this one in the bag, I can feel it!"
"Mike just blew his shit on the track dumbass! He's lost his touch! Gonna take all race to catch up!"
"Mike? Erti? Ya'll lost ya damn minds! Did ya see the kid on the bloody Razorfin? Took off like a demon he did! That's the winner right there!"
"If ya think the Razorfin has a chance, put some money down! I bet half me contract on Erti!"
"My full contract on Mike!"
"I bet two of my contract's worth on the Razorfin! Come on Risky Reed!"

@Sreeya

 

[Ezra Thorne]

Ezra may have been a professional racer, but he wasn’t familiar with terrain like this. It was definitely not up global standards, and he had to make some extra harrowing turns. Ezra had a few near misses, but he navigated just well enough to avoid crashing. The part Sephi relied on his reflexes to get him through the course. At one point he was tilted almost completely parallel to the ground, the announcers screaming and yelling about him crashing.

At the last moment, he cut Erti off. Mike caught up and whizzed past him, hovering right over a large hole in the ground. Ezra wasn’t used to such bizarre obstacles in a course and he almost toppled into the opening. The two were neck and neck and most of the spectators were on their feet, biting their nails and screaming.

The finish was such a blur that no one could tell who won at first. The previews were slowed down and it showed the razorfin just barely eeking ahead.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN WHAT AN UPSET! NEWCOMER RISKY REED WINS THE DAY!”

The crowds burst into a combination of boos and cheers. Ezra did a victory lap for some showboating before coasting towards the VIP area where Bigra the Hutt was going to hand out the rewards. Ezra paused before going in, glancing around. When the mic was thrust in his face he blinked for a second, “Uhhh I want my mom to share in this moment,” He was looking progressively more irritated waiting for Hera to make an appearance.

He was standing outside a royal tent that had two gamorrean guards in front of it. Ezra could smell them even from here, but he kept his poker face on.

@Black Noise

 

[Hera "The Joyful" Albion]

The rest of the day would pass like a blur. With Ezra having won the race, money, and popularity, and Hera, having made friends with the Hutt's own guards, possessed more than enough leverage to negotiate with Bigra the Hutt. Perhaps Ezra would remember this day, perhaps it would be just another of the hundreds of missions he'd do before becoming a Jedi Knight. Either way, the young children saved this day would remember exactly to whom they owed their lives.

Ezra Thorne.

/end thread