Chapter 14:

Ari work up to the high pitched beeping of her alarm. She groaned and rolled over and felt along the night stand for the alarm. She smacked the button and silenced it. Sitting up, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and got out of bed. She looked at the chair and saw PROXY was switched off. Once she changed into the clothes she had set out the night before, she walked out of her room, went down the hall and knocked of Fang's room. When he didn't respond, she forced the door open with the Force. She walked in a found a lump hidden by covers. Only a furry red ear stuck out. Ari tickled the ear, resulting in Fang jumping out of bed and grabbing her wrist.

"Relax, I just came to wake you up." Ari said, jerking her wrist out of Fang's grasp.

"Oh, sorry." He yawned. "I'll be out in a few minutes."

Ari left his room to go wake Dak up. She knocked once and the door slid open. Dak was standing on the other side, dressed in similar cloths as Ari, but his shirt had grease spots covering it.

"Good, you're up."

"I heard your alarm go off. Is Fang up?"

"Yeah, I'm right here." Fang said walking out of his room. He had a beige tank top on with a dark brown vest over top of it. He had on black shorts. The golden arm band stuck out against his red fur.

"Are you guys ready?" Ari asked.

"Yep." Dak replied

Fang nodded his head.

"Let me go and get PROXY then we'll be ready." Ari said

She walked into her room and found PROXY standing in the doorway.

"Ready PROXY?" she asked

"Of course, Master." He nodded

Ari nodded and walked out, with Fang, Dak and PROXY following. They walked to the back of the shop and hopped in to the hauler. Dak was in the driver's seat with Ari in the passenger seat and Fang was in the back of the hauler, with the swoop bikes. They were going to meet the rest of the team at the track.

The ride to the track was quick, lasting only about ten minutes. Dak stopped at the front gates, and Ari hopped out. She was greeted by the rest of the team.

"Are we all here?" She asked Christophe.

"Yes. We were just waiting on you." He replied

"Alright. I'll go sign us in." Ari walked up to the tent set up outside the gates. She walked in to face two guards sitting at a table.

"Ari Marek, leader of the Rogue Riders." She said.

"Identification sheet please." Asked one of the guards.

Ari pulled out a flimsy sheet and handed it to the guard. He scanned through it and handed it back to her.

"All clear." He said

Ari nodded and hopped back into the hauler. Once they were in the gates, the team headed for the pit in the very back of the garage. She passed by Jett and Viper. Jett was looking up at her, giving her a sneer. She ignored him and tried to focus on the day's events. She expanded out with the Force and searched for anything that could potentially harm her or the team. She couldn't sense anything.

"Okay, let's unload." Dak said hopping out of the hauler.

Ari nodded and stepped out. The garage area was filled with loud noises and lots beings moving around. Beside the Rogue Riders were the Sand Hunters. On the other side of the Sand Hunters, were the Storm Runners.

"Dude, we're finally here! This is exciting!" Fang said walking up behind Ari.

"I'm glad you're excited." Ari smiled. It did feel good to be at the track. She walked into the hauler and helped unload.

The entire track was abuzz at midday. After they unloaded the hauler, Dak and Fang went back to get the rest of the Swoop bikes. By the time he arrived back, the track had opened up to the general public. Ari was separated from her team most of the day. She had to stay in the leaders pit, where spectators were allowed to converse with the leader. Even though they were just the leaders of rough and tough swoop gangs, they were considered celebrities among the people of Tatooine.

Ari hated the attention. She would rather be with her teammates than in the leaders pit, dealing with the general public, the majority of whom she considered idiots.

The leaders pit was located on a cliff edge, overlooking the final stretch of the course. She was standing at the railing, watching Chutta take his turn on the course. So far, Jett had the fastest time of 32.67 seconds. The second fastest was Nawibo Ibonek from the Sand Hunters with a time of 32.98 seconds. Some of the Rouge Riders had gone, but none were close to the top. But they still had a chance. Fang, Christophe still had to race and so did she. And they had the extra time at the end, after everyone went out on the track once.

"Calo of the Strom Runners to the starting pit." Called the announcer over the intercom.

Ari looked behind her to see Calo walking out of the pit. Well, running was a better description. She smiled at her friends enthusiasm. A tap on her shoulder made her turn around. A brown Rodian stood behind her. Putting on a warm smile she greeted the stranger.

"Hello." Ari said putting her hand out for a handshake.

"Master, it is me." The Rodian said

"PROXY, what are you doing? You don't need to conceal yourself." Ari said shaking her head.

"I didn't want to attract attention. Holo droids are very rare and valuable." PROXY replied

"You've got a point. Why are you up here? I thought you were staying in our pit area."

"I was until I over heard two humans and a Duro talking about you. They said something about their plan almost being ready. I came to warn you and help protect you."

Ari looked over to find Jett and Viper. Viper was talking to S'ati, but Jett wasn't in the pit. Searching with the Force, she found him in the Black Krayts' pit area. He was working on his swoop bike.

"PROXY, you realized you can't stay up here. This is the leader's pit. You are going to have to leave at some point or they'll kick you out." Ari said turning to face the track once more.

"Alright, but I will be watching you from afar then. The black haired one said something about an unexpected surprise." PROXY turned and walked out, leaving Ari to ponder over Jett's words.

'An unexpected surprise?' She thought. 'What is he planning?'

Ari looked to her left, towards the starting point on the track. She could just barely make out the bright green and neon orange of Calo's swoop bike. She heard the bang of the gun and Calo was off. His bike was a blur in the distance as it raced across the sand, dodging various scrap plies and rocks along the track. Once he passed the leader's pit, it became impossible to see as a result of the dust cloud the bikes stirred up. She turned around to the screen which had all the times of each racer. In big, bold letters was Calo: Storm Runners: 32.65. She smiled. Calo was now in first place, beating Jett by .02 seconds.

Calo was done so that left four more racers until it was her turn. Ari turned and left the tent heading towards the Rogue Riders pit. She wanted to do one more check on her swoop bike before she hit the track. As she walked out of the tent, she noticed PROXY following her from a distance, still in his Rodian disguise.

She entered the pit to find only Dak and Christophe still there.

"Where is everybody?" She asked Dak, who was cleaning the grease off of a hydrospanner.

"I heard Fang say something about food, and the team just disappeared." He grinned.

"I'm not surprised. Has everything been going ok?"

"So far, so good. The only complaint is Chutta had a vibration. Turned out to be a loose bolt. Nothing major."

"How are you doing, Christophe?" She called across the pit.

"Fine." he said simply, not looking up from his bike.

Ari only nodded in response. Christophe didn't like to be disturbed when he was focused on his bike.

She walked over to where her bike, Black Shadow, sat. she hopped in and flipped the switch on. Checking the console, she saw a flashing light above the fuel gauge. She shut the bike off and lifted the hood for the fuel pump. She didn't see anything wrong.

"Hey, Dak. Can you come check this out? I've got the fuel light on, but I'm not seeing anything wrong." Ari yelled

"Hmm, I'm not sure what the problem is. Out of fuel maybe?" Dak said scratching his head.

"No, I filled it yesterday before we loaded it, see." She unscrewed the cap off.

"Let's see then." Dak walked off to his tool box, mumbling about what it could be.

"Hey Christophe, could you be ready to go in my place? I'm not sure if I'll be ready by then."

"Yeah, when do you go?"

"In a few minutes."

"I'll go let the official know." Christophe hopped into his bike and left the garage.

Dak came back, carrying his tool box.

"I've got the feeling this will take awhile. Got watch the racing, I'll contact you via commlink when I'm done." Dak said pulling out his tools.

Ari walked out to the railing. Like the leader's pit, the garage viewing area sat on the edge of the cliff, but they were in the middle of the track.

"Ari, I thought you were up next." Fang said walking up behind Ari. Chutta, Neku and some of the other Rogue Riders were with him.

"Something's wrong with the fuel gauge. Dak's making sure everything's okay. Christophe is going instead." She said turning back towards the track.

Fang only nodded and turned to watch the racing.

Ari focused on the far end of the track, where she could see Christophe's dark blue speeder at the starting line. Suddenly he was off across the track. As he reached the middle of the track, a massive explosion erupted and engulfed his bike.

"Christophe!" Ari yelled. She jumped over the railing and dropped 40 feet onto the track. Using the Force, she eased her landing and sprinted across the track to where Christophe's bike sat, burning and smoking.

"Christophe!" she yelled when she reached the wreck.

The smoke was thick and it stung her eyes. Christophe had a dome cover for his bike, but it only opened from the inside. She had to get the dome open or Christophe would suffocate from the smoke. She couldn't destroy the dome, the glass could harm Christophe. A thought crossed her mind. Relaxing herself, her right hand starting sparking with lightning. She directed it towards the place on the dome where it latched to the actual bike. She heard a click and the dome pulled back. Smoke came billowing out of the cockpit. She reached in, feeling for Christophe's arm and pulled him out. By the time she had dragged him out, Fang had caught up to her.

"Here, I've got him." He took the Twi'lek and carried him firefighter style.

One of the medical speeders had finally reached them. A droid had hopped out and guided a medical capsule to them. Fang eased him onto the stretcher and allowed the droid to rush him away. Another droid guided Ari to the speeder.

"I'm fine." She coughed

"We must check you for smoke damage." It said.

"Go, I've got things handled here." Fang said walking with her

Ari knew there would be no point arguing with Fang. And she wouldn't stop coughing. A quick trip wouldn't hurt. She hopped into the speeder and they drove off the track.