My birthday is in a few days, and as per usual...I get severely depressed and spend a lot of my time just thinking and reflecting on things. Once that is done I just get depressed and wander around...
Anyways, enjoy the chapter!
It was cold.
She was conscious.
She was actually able to witness the destruction Feral brought to the world of Endor, the carnage and sheer havoc, and seeing these things made them real, and seeing broken, eviscerated, shredded, and tattered furry bodies that had once been Ewoks, strewn everywhere was a reality she wanted to acknowledge, one that she did, and slowly, one she began to accept.
The Ewoks were always pitiful in her eyes, far behind the times with the rest of the galaxy, and generally looked at as nothing more than smelly vermin. The Ewoks strewn around her, most of them had agonized, terrified expressions on their faces, a sign of the suffering they went through before they passed on.
Perhaps they were still suffering and hadn't been able to pass on because of Feral.
That would explain why Sidious sent her here with haste.
Things were ripe with death at ground level. The obnoxious odor of decay and blood flew to the back of her nostrils, and she withstood a gagging cough, barely holding it back.
It hadn't been the first time she smelled death, but this was beyond anything she had experienced or witnessed before.
Slowly, she saw the Ewok.
A strange, small, furry creature, it stood three feet from her face and was no more than two and a half feet tall. It had one large, dark, curious, brownish eye, and a long scar running over the left side of its face, where its other eye had once been.
He had nothing but cauterized stumps where the stubby little finger-paws had been.
Completely covered, head to foot, with ragged, blood dried, and scarred brown fur.
It looked nothing like a doll.
Ventress remembered children would play with such things on certain worlds. They would hold it, squeeze it, cry when someone took it, but certainly throw it away once they outgrew the need to find such security in something inane.
In fact, when she first saw the creature standing before her, she thought it was ideal to turn into a doll or toy by stuffing it with fuzz.
But, she couldn't do that at the moment.
And, it smelled awful.
It was really an Ewok. It wasn't cute by any means, as she focused further, she could see a knife strapped to its scarred waist. It was all he wore, save for a thin burnt leather mantle barely covering a quarter of his head.
They watched each other, completely still, for a long minute.
The Ewok seemed puzzled and surprised to see her, uncertain of what she was, or what she intended.
Ventress sat up, with a light groan.
The sound apparently frightened the little fur ball as the Ewok rapidly stumbled backward, tripped, and fell into a pile of branches.
"Fudana! Fudana! Weechu den es'eesht! Meechoo jeerota! Meechoo jeerota no es'eesht gyeesh!" The Ewok squeaked.
Ventress scrutinized herself closely because of the exclamations, looking for signs of serious damage. Her clothes were torn, there were cuts as well, but she had no bruises nor sprains anywhere, and nothing was broken or irreparable.
She groaned again.
That did it for the Ewok. It jumped up, grabbed its knife, and held it defensively in her direction. Warily, it circled, poking the pointed weapon at her, clearly more fearful than aggressive.
"Get that out of my face!" Ventress smacked the weapon away with annoyance, sending it skidding into the brush several dozen miles away.
She would not be skewered by a teddy bear.
"Shall I kill the rat?" C-5YQ asked, examining the Ewok as it raised its hand with an open palm-where its high powered laser was located.
The Ewok regarded C-5YQ with terror, clicking its teeth and weeping.
Ventress shook her head, focusing on the Ewok as she spoke softer. "I'm not going to hurt you."
Gingerly, she glanced around.
The Ewok backed away with caution, teeth clicking louder as fear began to get the better of it.
"I just want to see what happened over there."
She knew the more she talked in such a placating tone, the more likely it would be that she would put the little creature at ease for a few moments at least. So, she and her modified droid slowly walked over to the charred remains of the speeders and droids, only half-melted piles at the base of the partially battered, blackened trees, and simply observed the wreckage.
Their movement was away from the Ewok, who, like a skittish cub, took this as a safe sign and followed the duo to the wreckage.
Ventress picked the droid scout's blaster pistol off the ground.
It was all that was left of it.
"I think next time we skip the chase." C-5YQ muttered.
"I agree. The need to blend in is becoming less and less needed." Ventress nodded.
"Feral must really hate you."
Ventress shrugged. "We have history, not all of it is good. It doesn't help I took his right arm and incinerated it."
The Ewok appraised the scene with his big, shiny eye, nodded, shook his head, and squeaked vociferously for several seconds. "Weechu stusl ehda bok chu-ock! Weechu es'eesht ehda! Weechu jeerota!"
Ventress looked all around her at the dense, but ravaged forest, then sat down, with a sigh on a fallen tree branch that was more than halfway burned. She was at eye level with the squeaking Ewok now, and they once again regarded each other, a little bewildered, a little concerned, and in Ventress's case with some contempt towards the idiotic creature.
"I'm stuck here...And I'm not even sure where I am. Feral hasn't gotten any smarter, even if he has gotten much stronger since the last time I seen him."
She put her head in her hands, partly to rub soreness out, partly to gauge the Ewok.
The Ewok sat down beside her and mimicked her posture exactly-head in its only finger-less hand, elbows on scarred knees-then let out a little sympathetic Ewok sigh.
C-5YQ glowered at the Ewok, wanting to flay it in that second. "You little rodent. You wouldn't happen to have a com-link or taken one from the bases on this world, and have that on you by any chance? You do more besides just mimic everything that you see?"
The Ewok blinked a few times-but only gave them a mystified look.
C-5YQ glowered once more. "Stupid contemptible creature. You are expecting too much out of this little filthy cretin. I hate Ewoks already. I am glad they will soon be eradicated like the vermin they are."
"I may miss them. They are a little amusing, if more than a bit stupid." Ventress added.
Suddenly the Ewok froze while its ear twitched, and it sniffed the air with its scarred nose.
It tilted its head in keen attention and alarm.
"What is it now?" Ventress whispered.
Something was obviously amiss.
Then she heard it.
A quiet snap in the bushes beyond.
All at once the Ewok let out a loud, terrified screech.
C-5YQ drew its pistol, jumping behind the log along with Ventress while the Ewok scurried beside them and squeezed under the log.
A long silence followed.
Tense, uncertain, Ventress focused her senses on the near underbrush.
She had expected the laser bolt to come from where it did-high, off to the right. It exploded in front of the log with a shower of light and bark splatter. She returned three short blasts, then just as quickly sensed the battle droid behind her.
Slowly she swiveled, to find a Super Battle Droid standing over her, its weapon leveled at her head.
It reached out its hand for the pistols the duo held.
"Give me your weapons or I'll blow your head off."
Without warning, a furry limb came out from under the log and jabbed the scout in the leg with a knife. The droid howled in anger and began jumping about on one foot. Ventress fired and hit the large droid squarely in the chest, flash-burning it.
The forest was quiet once more.
Ventress remained where she was, panting softly, waiting for another attack.
None came.
The Ewok poked its fuzzy scarred head up from under the log, and looked around while muttering in awe.
"Amoowa bont dangar. Weechu powa!"
Ventress looked at the creature, raising an eyebrow at the strange, squeaky language.
"Ee chee we maa! Weechu eleeo ehda. Weechu es'eesht ehda! Weechu na goo ehda den seefo meechoo. Weechu na goo ehda!"
Ventress hopped up, while C-5YQ moved all about the area, crouched, turned its head from side to side, and stared at the Ewok. It seemed safe for the time being, but considering they were in the droid ranks of Feral, one could never be too sure, even if they were non organic.
Feral's droids were known to torment other droids in the CIS army.
Ventress motioned to the droid, then to her chubby new friend. "Come on, we'd better get out of here while we have the chance. Can you translate to the little fur ball for me? Can you also translate whatever it is shrieking?"
C-5YQ made a humming sound that was close to uncertain. "Possibly, but it is a primitive language with a primitive dialect. It isn't meant for long conversations or speaking, I believe."
"Give it a shot."
"Weechu enya bingee kla noot. Pibooka? Vootok?" C-5YQ spoke, waving and pointing for emphasis.
"Meechoo danvay. Meechoo enya bingee pibooka stoja noot. Eedeeza, eedeeza, eedeeza vootok, na-chin seefo es'essht!" The Ewok replied while gesticulating.
"Weechu den dangar? Weechu enya chees. Weechu hatar? Na-chin seefo?"
"Meechoo akeeata. Meechoo den dangar. Meechoo den hatar. Meechoo bingee weechu bok chuu-ock stoja. Ehda uuta graks seefo, es'eesht, roda, entzahee roda, ooloo ooloo theesa! Ehda graks stusl theesa na-chin bok chuu-ock. Tana, Na-chin, theesa manna manna moktok ehda graks."
Ventress turned to her droid, not sure what to make of the conversation. "Is it safe?"
"It's safe. The Ewok is going to show and lead us to a clearing and another path. It is far away from where we are, and according to this Ewok, Feral is some sort of evil sky monster. He kills, cooks, eats, and celebrates the death of Ewoks and their young. He makes them sacrifice each other in his honor and he also sends their young and other fellows far away. They are only food to him. They are tormented day and night, and are fed little besides their waste in steaming pots." C-5YQ supplied.
Ventress found it amusing, this Ewok, so small and insignificant really believed its tiny little life mattered. In the grand scheme of things, it did not, and nobody would mourn the loss of the Ewoks from the galaxy, or raise a fuss, they'd be used for everything from food to clothing.
The Republic wouldn't spare any resources or time to such...Trivial matters concerning less than trivial creatures.
As they moved into the thick flora, the Ewok took the lead in just a few seconds. Ventress didn't trust the Ewok at first, but it shrieked urgently at her and nudged at her sleeve, refusing to give control to the odd, soon to be extinct little beast, she still followed it while smacking its finger-less hand away.
She let her mind drift for a while, letting her feet carry her nimbly among the gargantuan, battered trees. She was struck by the smallness of the Ewok who guided her, and by her own smallness next to these trees. They were all hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years old, some of them, and tall beyond any normal range of sight.
They were like the temples to the life-force she consumed as a Sith, they reached out to the rest of the universe, trying to soak in the infinite expanse.
She was dwarfed by the mammoth temples. She felt detached, almost a sense of being lost in this forest of giant trees, that were like mighty stakes, pounded into the surface of Endor to claim ownership of the world by some extinct species. The trees would always be here as they were older than time itself. They would be here long after they were gone, after the CIS, after the Republic, after the Rebellion, and even after Sidious's Empire...A part of these trees almost moved across time, and space, connected by the vibrant, vital force.
The pudgy midget bear, who kept beckoning them urgently deeper into the woods began to squeak once more, its high pitched tone oddly measuring more carefully than before.
"Coro...Chyasee gyeesh? Chyasee gyessh? Nude-la glek. Weechu powa. Weechu chyasee meechoo? Na-chin bont bugdoo! Na-chin den chuck ah-ah! Ees den che, weechu chyasee ees che! Weechu jeerota? Ehda graks na goo, thleek ees sheeu. Ehda graks yekyit ees den sheeu. Moktok manna manna."
Ventress stared at the creature, drawing her brows together.
C-5YQ reiterated the Ewok while translating to the best of his capabilities, which given his tendency for being partial to jungle worlds such as this, was really pushing the limits of his programming.
"It is asking if we can help. You are very strong and you can help. It is sad. You are very powerful and it wants you to help. It's fellows are starving to death and dying of dehydration. They have little to no food and no water. They have no freedom, and it thinks we can help them get their freedom again. He is asking if we are its friend, can we help please. Will we help its tribe. Also, it seems the evil monster here has taken away their names, and wants the Ewoks to only think of themselves as food. They have no names anymore. They are not allowed to sing, dance, nor love for if they do, they or their young will surely be tortured to death as a spectacle."
Ventress focused on the Ewok even more intently, feeling its desperation racing through it, and reached out with the force, driving it further into its fear and sadness while feeding off it, letting it stab into her like a white hot blade.
The Ewok grew desperate, screeching as it moved with hast. Sobs began to break through its scarred mouth as it rubbed tears from its eyes, "Ando! Chaaa chees eedada eekeekeek. Ees eleeoth enenah ehda graks entzahee roda na-chin. Chyasee gyeesh! Gyeesh!"
Ventress turned to C-5YQ with a brow raised. "And?"
"We're moving forward faster. This path is supposed to lead above the forest or it did. It is also far from the evil monster that kills, cooks, and eats its fellows alive. We'll be safe where we are going because it is far from the monster that eats Ewoks alive by four pieces, help us please, please."
Ventress nodded, a smirk crossing her face.
Looks like Feral was making better progress than she had anticipated, but he was also slacking, perhaps taking his right arm didn't make him see the error of his ways and he was bound to lead himself to his own doom after all.
No different than Grievous or Maul.
"Ees treek t'hesh!" The Ewok finished its long tirade, moving its arm for the duo to keep following.
Ventress reached for her light-saber, but just then a third Ewok ran forward, pushing the more aggressive ones out of the way, and shrieked a long string of something invective at them, in a quick, pointed tone.
At this, Ventress decided to hold off on drawing her light-saber.
C-5YQ was wary and annoyed, though. He started to draw his laser pistol from the hidden compartment on his legs. Ventress stopped him before he cleared his holster from the compartment, with a simple look.
"No need. They aren't capable of much. Never confuse ability with appearance, or actions with motivations."
Ventress was uncertain of the Ewoks, and a nagging feeling pulled at her the longer she was around them and watched them. Her droid held his arm, and held his pistol, as the Ewoks swarmed around, looking them over and hopping around.
Ventress refused to relinquish her light-sabers.
C-5YQ was just extracting himself from some collapsed vines, while the Ewoks chattered excitedly and animatedly to each other.
Ventress turned to the golden plated droid. "You can translate, but can you understand what they're saying word for word?"
C-5YQ rose from the ground, feeling himself for dents or rattles. "Planets like this are never good for my circuits, it's as bad as desert planets."
At the sight of his fully upright body, the Ewoks began squeaking, screeching, dancing, and shrieking among themselves while they began pointing and gesticulating even if they had no fingers or all of their limbs to perform the wild movements in the first place.
C-5YQ spoke to the one arm Ewok who appeared to be the leader. "Weechu dangar?"
"Den. Ees chyasee weechu. Weechu chyasee ees gyeesh! Ees weechu jeerota." Answered the furry creature.
"Meechoo, chaaa chyasee weechu?"
The Ewok nodded. "Chyasee ees! Ees chyasee! Meechoo bingee bok chuu-ock che chees."
"Esa? Weechu wermo. Ehda graks powa. Tana den mo."
"Weechu, chaaa powa! Weechu chyasee ees es'eesht ehda graks! Ees glek, ehda graks roda tana, tana manna manna moktok ehda graks! Gyeesh chyasee!"
Suddenly one of the Ewoks dropped its spear with a little gasp and prostrated itself before the glistening droid.
In another moment, all the Ewoks gathered including the one that led them followed suit.
C-5YQ looked at Ventress, photo-receptors dimming. Ventress regarded the battalion of kowtowing Ewoks in surprise, as at some invisible signal from one of their group, the small creatures began to chant a shrill in near unison.
"Weechu chyasee...Weechu powa! Weechu paamuk! Weechu goo paamuk, weechu es'eesht ehda paamuk! Weechu goo paamuk. Goo es'eesht ehda! Goo meechoo jeerota!"
Ventress looked at her droid with complete surprise, barely holding back her laugh. "What'd you say to them? What are they chanting?"
"They want us to help them from their current oppression...I think. They are saying you help, you power, we are power. We kill evil power, you light power. Light kill evil. You are their light friend." C-5YQ replied apologetically.
"You're not completely sure?"
C-5YQ cleared his throat, quickly adding on. "I am ninety percent sure that is what they want, but they're using a very primitive dialect...It's missing a lot in certain semantics and structure in general compared to the other languages spoken. I believe they think I'm some sort of god of golden light that has come here to battle the god of darkness that took over their world and give them back their freedom."
Ventress thought that was very funny.
She spent several seconds quietly laughing before she finally managed to quiet down and wipe the tears from her eyes.
"How about using your divine influence to get us out of here and moving towards their main base." Ventress suggested humorously.
C-5YQ pulled himself up to his full height, and spoke with an eerie calm. "Forgive me for my impertinence lord Ventress, but you didn't program me to impersonate would be deities, nor did my original creators. It's more than a little insulting and degrading for me to posture in such a way."
"Degrading?" Ventress asked.
She always knew this pompous droid was going to go gain independence of its own-and this might well be the day.
"To impersonate a deity isn't in my programming, not to mention you added very specific modifications that make me less than amicable with such things. I've killed and tortured thousands without remorse, if I were to impersonate a deity the implications are less than savory." He replied, as if nothing so obvious needed explanation.
Ventress moved toward the deadly protocol droid, a smile pulling on her lips. "Just do it so we can finish this."
She got no farther than an inch, before fifteen Ewok spears were thrust menacingly in her face.
"Move!" Ventress snapped in annoyance, shoving the spears so hard most of the Ewoks were flung to the ground and cried out in pain.
This caused even more to step forward, hopping up and down.
Ventress wasn't amused by the theatrics, and struck them down hard enough to crunch bones.
"Tell them if they do that again, I won't help them and I will hurt them. Whoever thrusts a spear at me will have to be killed."
"Akeeta. Weechu lurd. Weechu, chaa dangar seefo klektuhkuh chaaa...Chaaa, meechoo den chyasee weechu bont bugdoo bont ah-ah. Chaaa es'eesht weechu. Meechoo es'eesht weechu."
The one Ewok that they found jumped at the gathering Ewoks while dozens more, all bearing no arms and scars on their faces moved forward and began to squeak before they lost patience and started screeching loudly.
"Na goo!"
"Ees den dangar chaaa, chaa! Chaaa, chaa chyasee ees!"
Several of the Ewoks stamped their feet.
"Den! chaaa den chyasee!"
"Meechoo yekyit weechu na goo moktok! Meechoo thleek weechu jed! Chaaa jeerota!"
"Acha! Acha! Chaaa arandee akeeta na-chin treeta dobra. Na-chin yekyit chaaa jeerota chyasee."
The procession of Ewoks wound its way slowly into the dark, decaying Ewok corpse ridden forest. All of them were immensely frightened, inching through the terrifying maze of death and decay. The sun couldn't pierce through the crimson skies above, and the long criss-crossing shadows made the cavernous domains even more imposing than before.
The Ewoks wept, turning down each dense corridor of vines with terror. The crimson sky was very near the treetops to Ventress as she and C-5YQ were carried into the hidden Ewok village. She wasn't even aware it was a village at first-the tiny orange sparks of light in the distance she thought could be stars, were actually bonfires.
Ventress found herself being lead up and around intricate stairways and hidden ramps around the immense trunks, and gradually, the higher they went, the bigger and louder the lights became.
When the group was hundreds of feet up in the trees, Ventress realized the lights were bonfires-among the treetops.
She was finally taken out onto a rickety wooden walkway, far too far off the ground to be able to see anything below them but the long fall below. For one bleak moment, Ventress wondered if Feral simply pitched them over the brink to test them, or if he did it just to kill them in the most terrifyingly way possible to fuel his blood thirst.
The narrow platform ended midway, intersecting. The first Ewok in line grabbed hold of a long vine and swung across to the far trunk on the right-which Ventress could see had large cave-like openings carved into the titanic surfaces.
Vines were quickly tossed back and forth across the chasm, until soon a kind of bridge was constructed-and Ventress found herself moving across it, feet nearly silent, moving an inch at a time to maintain her balance across the perilous chasm.
She looked down into the darkness, finding her heart starting to beat a little faster.
It was a welcomed sensation.
On the other side they came to rest on a shaky, narrow platform that was hastily tied together, until everyone was across and safe. Then the diminutive creatures dismantled the webbing of vines, branches, and twigs, and proceeded into the tree.
It was pitch black inside, but Ventress could feel that what she was moving through was more of a tunnel through the trees, than an actual cavern that would be used to hide and sequester oneself from harm or weather.
The feeling of dense, solid walls was everywhere, like burrows in a mountain.
When they emerged, hundreds of yards beyond, they were in the village square.
It was a series of wooden and steel platforms, wooden planks, and rickety walkways connecting an extensive cluster of enormous trees together into a network that formed a home. Supported by this makeshift foundation was a village of huts, constructed of an odd combination of stiffened leather, droid and ship parts, daub and wattle, thatched roofs, and mud floors.
Small campfires burned before many of the huts-the sparks were caught by the nearby hanging vines, which funneled all the way to the ground where they became entangled.
And everywhere that she could see, were hundreds and thousands of Ewoks.
Woklings played games never going too far out of sight.
Some Ewoks played strange, resonant music on hollow logs. There was vast blackness below, vaster still, deeper than that, but here in this tiny village suspended between the two, Ventress could feel the warmth and light, and special peace around.
And, she couldn't be happier to turn that warmth into cold, that light into darkness, and that special peace into an insatiable fear.
The entourage of newcomers, captives, and Ewoks stopped before the largest hut, part of its roof caved in with a huge branch, and the leaves above showing a deep char from flames that had once burned without any end.
The droids were leaned, on their poles, against nearby trees.
They were then tied to a spit, and balanced above a pile of kindling that looked like a pit.
Ventress smiled in twisted glee, the Ewoks weren't intelligent enough or aware enough to use the force, or do anything beyond the stone age.
For her, a Sith, there was no better target, no better source of nourishment than weaklings that could do nothing for themselves.
And, the Ewoks were disgustingly weak.
A short, unkempt girl ran in from the salvage yard with a stack of trinkets and parts to varying droids and ships, coming to a stop in front of Watto who plucked everything hastily, raced off, and came back until there was nothing in her arms.
Her clothes were ragged, baggy, and thick with grime, and she had the look of someone who had been working in mines or in the hood of one too many cruisers.
"Why are you still here, Maya?"
"Fixing the cruiser and making sure the modified hyperwave generator is in working order. We don't want anyone coming back here raising a fuss about someone they knew exploding in the middle of space or got stuck in a black hole." The girl responded quickly.
The Toydarian threw up his hands in exasperation. "Never mind that right now. There's no time to worry about those idiots who look down at their noses at us. Get out there and win those races like you always do so we have funds! I've got some selling and betting to do!"
He flitted back around to the front of the store.
The girl made a face at Watto's departing back, sticking out her tongue in defiance.
He flew in from the front a few minutes later, laughing, shaking his head in amusement. "Idiots. They think because the engines on their racers are so big their picks are odds on favorites, we got them for triple or nothing!"
The girl was staring ahead, her gaze fixed on the empty shop. "Everyone thinks its the engines, and it is to an extent."
Watto snorted and flew into her face. "You better not lose, little girl!"
She brightened. "Everyone is too heavy on the thrusters and use them too soon. They make it too easy to win halfway through and they can't pitch their turns sharply or quickly enough. It's just like people who are fast on the draw, but not accurate on the shot."
In the centers of Mos Espa, Mos Entha, and Mos Eisley the crowds were beginning to thin as the population gravitated in increasing numbers toward the Race Wars location in the valleys. Most of the shops and stalls were already closed, and the rest were in the process of doing so. Owners and vendors were completing sales and glancing anxiously in the direction of the traffic's steady flow.
Cantina owners finished sales and brought their best bottles for the event.
Amid the confusion and bustle, several Sith probe droids slowly floated along, mechanical eyes traveling from shop to shop, from face to face, searching, scanning, and observing. Over a hundred thousand beings had filled the wastelands by midnight, lining the landscape or sitting in make shift seats, crowding onto the sand hills, filling all of the space they could.
The wasteland soon became a vast sea of color and movement and sound in the middle of the seemingly infinite desert.
People who closed down shops in the city opened up portable vendors around the spectacle, walking the rows, carrying food, drink, and even exotic herbs to smoke from canopied stands to sell to the onlookers. Everywhere, excitement and anticipation was building. The populations of certain seedy cities venturing out more and more, deafening the landscape with their noise until roars erupted.
The racers all began to emerge from the far side of the start line.
One by one the Podracers hovered into view, some towed by Bantha, some by hand, some by repulsors, but they were all part of a long procession of pilots, pit crews, and hangers-on.
Overhead, the trio of moons shone down with bright, gleaming glares.
As the racers moved onto the track in front of the stretch of valleys, one by one, they were recognized by the growing crowd of betters and onlookers. All of them alien species, save for one, small girl of near human species. She only waved in response, eyes traveling over the thousands gathered, her mind already focused on the race at hand.
When she turned to walk to her racer, she glanced into the sky, glancing at a distant, bright star, but continued on, watching some of her competition unhitch the Banthas so that someone in the group could lead them away.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw a Muun wander over from his own racer and begin examining someone else's. Moving along on his spindly legs, he worked his way around the powerful engines with undisguised anger, stopping finally at the left engine, and reached up twisting on a stabilizer, glancing around quickly to see if anyone had noticed.
"You won't walk away from this race with victory this time, slave scum. You're going to be a fireball." The Muun wheezed harshly, grinning.
Maya stood her ground, giving the Muun a hard look, her jaw set determinedly. "Don't hold your breath on it, Muun. I've won this more times than anyone else, out here in Race Wars, there are no rules. It's all or nothing."
The racers got into their pods.
Energy binders engaged, powerful electromagnetic currents arced between oaxial plates, locking the twin engines of each Podracer together as a single unit. Now the engines themselves began to turn over, their booming coughs and rumbles overwhelming the crowd's loud roar, overshadowed by a high pitch whistle as one set of engines began to pick up speed.
Spectators and pit crews moved hastily aside, clearing the start line a few hundred feet ahead that marked the beginning of the race. Up ahead, a Twi'lek dancer held them at bay with a red flag. Anticipating the green, the pilots gunned their engines, the massive casings shaking with the force of the power they generated, the cables that bound them to the Pods and their drivers straining to break free.
When the Twi'lek swung the green flag down, Maya jammed the twin thruster bars to the extreme forward position, sending maximum power to her sleek engines. The powerful engines roared like a caged beast, before they whistled, growing louder and louder until it was ear piercing, and she shot along with the rest of the racers in a cacophony of sound and flashing bright metal.
Sand kicked up in the wake of their acceleration, clouding the air in a whirlwind of grit.
In seconds, the girl was alone in the front, save for the Muun, which stayed on her tail the entire time. She slammed forward on the thrusters, engines shooting ahead, dragging the Pod and the girl after them, ripping the air itself as it propelled.
She pressed on with single minded determination, not bothering with anything but the dots in the distance that marked the location of the finish line. She tore across the desert flats, the whine of the Pod's engines growing steadily sharper, the land beneath fading to a blur of motion and light. The course was flat and open, and she pushed the thruster bars forward some more.
She was accelerating so quickly that everything about her turned swiftly to a moon drenched blur.
She could see the other Podracers, bright metal shapes whipping across the flats, engines throwing off fire and smoke as they steadily came into her peripherals.
She focused more power to her engines, increasing the gap she had on them quickly, her engines' screams turning into a piercing whistle.
In an open stretch and through tight corners, she knew there were no other racers that could match her. A flush of white-hot excitement burned through her as she caught the trailing Podracers pressing toward her position.
She moved forward on the thruster bars as they came up on her, giving herself space to maneuver. She moved ahead by a few inches, making them look as though they were standing still, angling left and then right, threading the needle of space she had left between them.
When she was certain she had them blocked, she fed power to the engines anew, and the g-force slammed her back against her padded seat. She stayed one pace ahead of the other racers.
Easing up, a snub-nosed Podracer, got ready to pass.
The finish was near and he wanted to be clear of the others when he navigated through the last stretch.
Maneuvering cautiously, he prepared to overtake on the right, she saw him, and quickly moved to cut him off.
He angled left for another try, then right, but he was cut off again.
She jammed the thruster bars all the way forward, and her racer accelerated with such speed that it rocketed right over the top of a cliff before the others could do anything to prevent it.
The dark crease of the canyon loomed ahead, and Maya threaded the eye of its needle opening with uncanny skill, racing into the cool shadows beyond, her engines humming anxiously, the energy binders keeping them in sync, the Steelton cables drawing on the racing Pod with just the right amount of give through the wicked turns to keep her pod from splitting apart.
Everything was clear and certain to her.
Everything was revealed.
Everything moved in slow motion.
She shot through the canyon, back out onto the open flats, and accelerated, careening forward.
One of the racers reacted instinctively, swinging right, missing her, and smashed directly into a massive rock formation.
Finally she shifted left, then right.
But, this time when the other racers moved to pass her, she pulled back on the thrusters, faking a slow down long enough to draw them left again. The instant they began their move, she jerked her racer hard to the right and accelerated, forcing herself to spiral halfway until she was upright, flashing down the final stretch of the course the Podracers tore, inch by an inch, the crowds of people and onlookers beginning to take shape ahead.
She whipped the thruster bars forward and back, disengaging, then slammed them forward so hard she was thrown back into her seat, the breath leaving her lungs. Her engines roared with the effort, and the steering rods groaned and bent.
The second person behind her tried to take the third, ramming them both into the sand and exploding in a massive fireball.
The girl flew overhead, the exhausts from the engines sending sand, fire, shrapnel and grit in a stinging spray.
Hanging on to maintain control, she crossed the finish line
Maya, at ten years of age, was one of the youngest, and current reigning champion of Race Wars.