Author's Note- Hello everyone! I hope you liked the previous chapter, and here is the moment you've been waiting for!
Freelancer is Copyright of Digital Anvil and Microsoft!
Chapter 2- The Race
Tayls woke up early, since his anticipation wouldn't let him sleep any longer. He pulled on his usual attire, then brushed his teeth and then proceeded to the bar.
"Mornin' Tayls! You're up early, but I guess you would be today!" Verne said with a friendly smile.
"Yep, today's the big day. By the way, can I get some waffles?" Tayls asked.
"Why, for the soon to be, best racer at Battleship Hood? Of course you can my boy! Have some blueberry waffles, just imported the fruit this morning!" Verne said laughing.
"Thanks Verne!" Tayls said and dug in to the warm and fluffy tartness of the waffles to build up his strength.
After breakfast, he headed to the docking bay and hopped into the cockpit of Tri-Edge, then proceeded to request a launch. The bay engineer acknowledged his request and opened the airlock, allowing Tayls to fly outside.
In the bar, Lily watched him fly off to meet up with Hovis from the large bay window. "Please, Tayls … be safe." She whispered.
"Alright, Hovis, I'm here, so let's get started, eh?" Tayls said through the comlink.
"Ha ha ha! You got it kid. It'll be a shame to see you burn, but hey, that's the price of sportsmanship!" Hovis laughed over the frequency.
"I may surprise you Hovis, I've beaten everyone else, and you're all that's left." Tayls said smugly.
"We'll see soon enough, won't we kid?" Hovis laughed again, as the two ships pulled up to the first ringlike structure, used as the starting gate to the large circular track.
"You know the rules kid. One lap. No shootin' or bumpin'. You ready?" Hovis asked.
"Bring it on old man." Tayls said confidently, and grabbed the joystick steering control tightly.
"Welcome Racing fans! Today we have a special match for you! Long-time racing champ Dexter Hovis, verses the new kid rising through the rank, Tayls Rendar! Place your bets and make it quick!" Verne, who doubled as the racing commentator boomed over the radio frequency.
As the countdown of the clock began, both racers revved their engines, trying to beat the other for the first jump.
"3 … 2 … 1 … GO!" the digital readout flashed as both racers gunned their cruise engines and rocketed through the gate.
"Hovis takes the early start, but Tayls is right behind him! This is gonna be one hot race folks! The opponents are neck and neck for the lead!" Verne yelled this and other various comments as Tayls shut him out and focused on the track, and avoiding the asteroids.
About at the first checkpoint, a fourth of the way through the tracks, Hovis's Cruise Engine's suddenly failed and he slowed to a stop. Tayls took this lucky chance and zoomed on by, taking the lead.
"Damn damn damn! Divert fuel and power to cruise engines! I can't lose this race!" Hovis swore in his cockpit; as he got the cruise engines started again and zoomed on to try to catch up with Tayls.
Tayls meanwhile had made it to the second checkpoint and had started through the clear part of the track, however, racers had to be careful because there were explosive gas pockets near invisible to the naked eye all around the track here. Luckily, Tayls had memorized where they were and was able to somewhat avoid them, as he kept to the inside of the track, like Lily suggested.
Hovis wasn't so lucky. He stumbled right into a gas pocket and the explosion damaged his right wing and blew the gun right off. As he saw Tayls pull past the third checkpoint, he decided it was time to pull out his ace in the hole. "Alright boys! Show yourselves and give this kid something to think about!" Hovis yelled over a secure channel.
Tayls was a few rings short of the goal, when several laser shots collided with his shields. A cruise disruptor penetrated his engine, and disabled his cruise engine, returning him to normal speed while Hovis quickly gained up.
Ignoring the fighters, Tayls gunned his afterburner, and streamed on, knowing that missiles had no effect on the after burner, which could match the speed of the cruise engine closely.
As the two ships pulled up on the final gate, Hovis rammed into Tayls's ship, causing him to go into a spin, however, his starboard gun just barely grazed the finish line before Hovis's hood, earning him victory of the race after all!
"Noooooooo!" Hovis screamed defeated.
"Ha! That's what I call lucky! Cheating nets you nothing old man!" Tayls said triumphantly, as he did a barrel roll out of excitement.
"And Tayls wins it! We have a new champion folks! Let's hear it for Tayls Rendar!" Verne yelled over the comlink as many cheers were heard in the background.
"Grr…. Not bad kid. I guess you earned the title after all." Hovis said with amazement at how well the kid handled himself even though he was in excruciating odds.
"Thanks Hovis. Perhaps next time, you won't need to cheat." Tayls said with a smile, although you couldn't see it over the intercom.
Both ships flew back to the Hood, and as soon as Tayls got out of the cockpit, he was slammed into the hull by a practical glomp from Lily.
"You did it! That was so cool!" She said happily while hugging him tightly.
"Erm, thanks Lily." Tayls said with a bit of red in his cheeks, as she took the hint and let go.
"Come on! Uncle Verne and everyone are waiting at the bar for a celebration!" she said pulling him along to the bar.
As he entered the bar, Tayls was swarmed by handshakes and pats on the back. No one had ever beaten Hovis, which had made the old man smug and treat everyone like dirt, but after being beaten by a teenager, he let off, and went to the Omega 7 system, to check up on his merchant business.
Lily went over to the corner, where she was approached by a man in a smart business suit. "Your friend has quite the pilot skills, as you have the eagle eye target abilities. You two would make a great team for a mission." He said to her.
"Ah! Um … well, we've never actually gone on a mission together before…" Lily said embarrassed while looking at her 17 year old friend across the bar, getting into a song with some of the other racers.
"Well it just so happens that I have a mission offer for you two. If you are interested, meet me in the hangar bay by your ships. After all, the Autumn Bloom is known for its extreme firepower, and Tri-Edge is known for its incredible speed and handling, plus the ability to mount custom weapons. The two pilots have their own legacies as well." The man said with an impressed tone.
Lily watched him walk off, and was somewhat interested in the mission, since she was feeling a bit bored anyway. "Besides, maybe a mission with Tayls will be fun. It'll be just like when we would play together as kids…" she said giggling to herself quietly, then walking over to join the victorious racer for some more celebration.
A/N- I wonder what the mission could be? And why is Lily embarrased about taking a mission with Tayls? Find out in the next Thrilling installment of Racer's Trials! Also, if you would like to enter a character, send me a pm with a description of your character, occupation, and your ships name and design.