As he looked out from his suite Korvis admired the work the clan had done setting up their first track for the swoop races. It would be a short in town run through Yuanming but had plenty of excitement as the twists and turns of track would provide plenty of opportunities.
His top three men had volunteered to to do the test run. Shimrah, Juda and Kanal all strode up to the start finish line of the circuit to begin the first race.
Kanal stood next to his swoop, staring at the small crowd that was starting to creep up. The notice of a small test race had only been announced twenty four hours before. The Reaver turned to look over his swoop. Everything seemed to be alright with it.
“Make sure you put your mask on boys,” Kanal said with a smile, “I wouldn’t want my dust to hit you in the face.” He laughed.
His helmet produced the laugh like snort in typical mechanized fashion. Shimrah threw one leg over the swoop and punched the ignition, causing it to rumble to life. He looked over to Kanal and rapped his knuckles against his helmet.
“Don’t worry about me. Just make sure your mouth is closed so you don’t choke on my exhaust.”
Juda looked disgruntled as the swoop in front of him was being fueled and primed for racing. Ordinarily he didn’t take part in these things. More comfortable handling bets, the odds of him winning a race himself were not in his favor. Still, the droid readying his craft assured him that he ‘couldn’t lose’ as long as he followed a series of steps and protocols that were as foreign to him as Devaronese.
“Lets get this karkin thing goin’ eh?” He spat, as he saddled the rattling contraption.
As it appeared the racers were ready Korvis looked down at the start finish line. These preparations seemed to take forever but it would be worth it for the upcoming Kote Kyr'ram. Signaling to the starter of the race Korvis brought the droid cameras up on the screen in front of him. He watched the lights change from red to yellow then Green as the riders took off.
Red. Shimrah gently squeezed on the throttle lever, giving it a little gas. The idle rumble of the swoop began to pick up with intensity.
Yellow. He shifted his foot ever so slightly on the clutch, finding the peg on the ball of his foot so that his footing was perfect when he transitioned gears so it wouldn’t be too awkward all the while continuing to clench the throttle.
Green. The Mandalorian released the air brake with his left, clenched the throttle with his right, and kicked the clutch into gear with incredible precision and timing.
With the amazing jump off the line, Shimrah turned his head back to see how extensive his lead really was.
Juda punched it as soon as that light turned green. If he learned anything from his son, who was growing in notoriety as a swooper, it was to go full throttle.
Atleast until you were unable to do so.
Shimrah pulled out in the lead, clearly aware of this rule and the competitive Juda growled and gnashed his teeth as specks of dirt kicking up from his Zabraki brothers wake pelted his tattooed flesh.
“Gutter-dog.” He spat, bearing down on the throttle as he looked over his shoulder to see that Kanal wasn’t too far behind.
Kanal pushed the accelerator with his foot only for his swoop to stall out. “Sithspit,” he cursed at this swoop. If one of those two had done anything to his bike, they would not hear the end of it. He kicked over the controls again and the swoop started up. With a roar he was off barreling down the first part of the track trying to catch up to Juda and Shimrah.
As the light went green Korvis watched as Shimrah and Juda took off like rockets with Kanal following a bit behind. The trio sped out across the bridge leading onto Yuanming. With all three swoops being the exact same the best places to overtake one another would be on the turns in the track.
The first one was a hard left that would take them along the edge of the spaceport.
Juda began to close in on Shimrah before entering the turn, he was swinging wide, so Juda saw his opportunity as he hugged the inside. Neck and neck, as Juda passed the spaceport, the track straightened back out and the Proconsul punched it once more. His engines screamed as fire roared out from them, propelling him forward with speed and intensity. It was enough of a burst to take the lead.
He watched on as Juda was able to edge a lead out, inch by inch and foot by foot he watched the gap widen, putting him in second place. When he came looked back down at his vehicle’s display, he noticed he had made an error in shifting, causing the vehicle to top out. Shimrah kicked the shifter, causing the vehicle to lurch forward with acceleration, just in time for <@322812082338922507> to catch up.
Kanal took every advantage of Shimrah’s mistake as he heard his opponent’s engine top out. He pulled up alongside the other racer and gave him a smile through his helmet, knowing that Shim couldn’t see it, but he knew that he would think he was doing it.
The last straight stretch before the race takes a busy turn. Korvis and Shooter watched the monitors as Kanal and Shimrah pulled up aside each other.
“Bet you a drink that one of them overtakes Juda on the next turn.” Shooter declared.
“Bet,” the Consul replied as the test team approached turn 3. A hard ninety degree turn straight into the heart of Yuanming spaceport. A still active spaceport with ships coming and going and the normal mix of loaders, cargo and workers flying around.
Juda zipped through the spaceport and ducked as a loader droid nearly took his head off. It spouted expletives and shook its tiny fist but was immediately spun around in the wake of Shimrah and Kanal as they shot by.
“Come on, boys!” Juda shouted as he weaved in and out, his perception snapping off on the fly judgements as he navigated his cluttered surroundings.
As the trio blazed through the active starport, Kanal watched as Juda’s lead grew. He saw Shimrah take a turn a little too wide as he moved to avoid a passing speeder. Shimrah crashed through luggage carts that were moving to the unloading area. It was a funny sight to see the Quaestor of Deathwatch wearing ladies underwear on his head, as he left the clothing carts behind. This was the opportunity Kanal needed to move into second place and he took it.
“Son of a schutta…” Shimrah muttered to himself while removing the clothing that was obscuring his vision.
He knew that he still had plenty of time left in the race and that taking silly chances now would only end up getting himself, or someone else killed. At first the thought of someone else didn’t bother him, but these were his people now, he couldn’t pancake someone and expect no repercussions. Shimrah regained control of the speeder and turned the throttle, giving it some more juice, hoping to catch up to Kanal on the next turn.
“Correlian Whisky,” the consul stated as he turned to Shooter.
As the serving droid turned to leave both Korvis and Shooter went back to watching the race. Juda had held the lead for 2 turns now and was looking like the favorite to win the race. The next turn was set up halfway through the spaceport. It went through a hanger then out the main gate to another hard right before being back on the bridge to the island.
“It appears as though a freighter is about to land in the hanger. Shall we divert the racers?”
“Not at all. We don’t want this to be too easy on them do we.”
Seeing the path of the race take the trio through an active landing zone thrilled Kanal. He could see Juda just ahead. A freighter had begun its decent and was about to land. Juda turned to swing wide around the ship. Kanal decided that this would be his chance. He threw all throttle he could into his swoop and headed straight at the landing craft. The freighter just missed hitting the back of Kanal’s ride and he could feel the thrusters heating his back.
“That was too close” he said with a laugh.