Seth had decided that he hated rakghouls. It only took one look at the twisted face, hunched back, mucus covered body and completely soulless black eyes for him to make up his mind on the subject - It was hard to believe that these shrieking abominations had once actually been sentient.
And they also had a nasty fetish for attacking the outcasts living in the filth of Taris' underbelly, as one was demonstrating now. This particular outcast was pressed up against the grating of the gate, fingers clawing at the gatekeeper through the small holes they fit through. Fearful tears left tracks through the layers of grime on his face as he begged for the gate to be opened as the silhouette of an advancing rakghoul became ever prominent behind him. Seth's demands for the gate to be opened fell on deaf ears, even with the man's wife, he presumed, sobbing for the gate's guard to listen to him.
But the guard was adamant in his refusal and no one, especially a teenager, was going to change his mind. Carth had gone to speak with the Undercity outcast leader, and Seth had only Mission to back him up in the situation as Zaalbar had also gone off in search of food for trade from the village's trademaster - he was hungry again. And while at first he'd been excited for an opportunity to get to know his new friend more, this wasn't exactly the circumstances under which he'd have liked that to occur.
"Any of your basic training prepare you for something like this?" Mission's tones were solemn to match her expression as she watched the man's wife collapse to the ground in despair.
And suddenly, Seth was reminded of moving target practice and he had an idea. "Actually," he said as he whipped out his pistol, "yeah." He marched forward, determined, straight up to the front of the gate. "Get down." He ordered the outcast, who quickly complied, wedging himself into the corner of the gate.
The rakghoul stepped into the light and Seth had to fight hard to keep his rather generous meal down. The many stories of horror and violence, though accurate, could not have prepared him for this moment.
It had the hunched back and slimy body he had been told about - that was no problem - but the face was one of the sights that would haunt him for the rest of his life. On one hand it was a twisted beast, but on the other it was still distinctly human and what probably used to be a handsome one at that. But now the eyes were wild with a mindless, savage hunger and the mouth full of black needle-like teeth was twisted into a hideous grin, pale green saliva dripping from its maw.
Seeing its prey cornered, the rakghoul let out a undulating cry of triumph and threw itself into a rough gallop. Seth fired his pistol, but the shot went wide due to the erratic movements of the creature. But the shot did draw its attention away from the outcast; it was now charging straight at the gate.
Fighting panic, Seth stilled his shaking hand and held his breath. Following the sniping instructions he received in basic, he let the target come into his scope, rather than trying to put his sights on it.
He fired once. Twice. Three shots were delivered dead center to the target. The Rakghoul's momentum still carried it right up to the gate. For a moment Seth was face to face with the beast before its dead body fell to the ground and lay still.
Seth released the breath he held been holding and turned to the gaping gatekeeper.
"Wanna open that gate now?" he asked, his sense of humor intact even through the most stressful situations despite the fact that his voice still quivered a bit as he delivered the line. The keeper nodded numbly, stunned by the skill he had just witnessed and threw the lever to raise the gate. The outcast on the outside ran to his wife and embraced her tightly, both weeping with relief.
The woman looked up tearfully into the man's eyes. "H-Hendar I... I..." Hendar interrupted her place leaning in and kissing her passionately.
Seth averted his eyes, embarrassed. He felt as if he was intruding on these two.
Just before Seth was going to try to get their attention, they broke their kiss and turned to him. It was the woman who spoke first. "Thank you... if you hadn't of killed that.. thing I don't know what I... I..." she could not continue, overcome with emotion, she began crying into Hendar's shoulder.
He rubbed her back soothingly. "Shhh… Hester, it's okay." Hendar turned to Seth. "I owe you my life, death would have been a mercy if you hadn't killed that thing! If I had anything more than the clothes on my back they would be yours. I only wish I had half of your courage."
Seth shrugged modestly. "It's what I do."
"Thank you," Hendar replied sincerely.
Hester dried her eyes and looked back up to Hendar's face. "Come Hendar, let's get back to the village." He nodded, rubbing her back gently and together the couple started walking towards the collection of makeshift huts and tents.
"Hey wait!" Seth called after them. They turned back to face him and he tossed something to Hendar. "For you two."
They both stared in pure awe at the fifty credits in the palm of Hendar's hand.
Mission had to admire her new friend. While most men would have watched on, he'd stepped forward to fell a charging rakghoul - and rather than ask for reward, he continued to give generously from his own pocket to those he'd already helped. She could count the number of people with such kindheartedness on one hand, and even then, most of them had long since outgrown the arrogance of their teenage years. No, Seth was something special.
The thought also brought up her own lack of charitable acts. And from the sound of Hester's voice, even clothes on Hendar's back would soon be gone. "Well I've just never had the money to do random donations!" she reasoned with herself, before an unsettling thought crossed her mind. "Great, now I sound like-" Mission cut her own thoughts off. She did not have time to think about Griff now. No time to start going off about that schutta either. She would deal with those problems when the time came, not before.
She looked over to Seth, who at the moment was using his studiously polished and shined datapad as a mirror to fix his hair.
"A real stickler for perfectionism that one... but cute." The thought had barely formed itself before Mission shut it down quickly and forcefully. She was in the Undercity. Of the more appropriate places to start developing a crush on someone, she did not think this was one of them.
On top of that, the idea of developing a crush on a Republic soldier was outlandish and ridiculous to her. He'd be around until he could get past the Sith blockade, and then be off to see the rest of the galaxy while Mission continued about her life on Taris. It was logistically a poor decision, in addition to the absurdity of the thought that a stand-up guy like Seth would ever end up with a girl like her. No, Mission cut the very idea off before it could develop in her mind any more. Still, as she looked on at the young man fixing up his appearance, she thought there could be no harm in making a friend.
She looked over to Carth, who was also watching Seth with no small amount of amusement. "Are we gonna get going? If we're going into the sewers, we might as well get it over with."
Carth shrugged. "Well if Mister Beauty-Queen over there ever finishes up over there, then..."
"Hey!" Seth was scowling at Carth. "I work darn hard on this sir!" he asked, gesturing to his hair.
Carth shook his head. "When a rakghoul tries to kill you, chances are that your hair will be slightly less than perfect afterwards. You can finish fixing it later. And I've told you not to call me sir."
Seth rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry, sir. It's what I do. Hey Mish, where are we going exactly?"
Mission allowed a raise of her eyebrows at the nickname, but repressed the need to comment so that she could answer his question. "The lower sewers, there's an entrance nearby and if we move quickly and quietly, we probably won't encounter any more rakghouls."
Seth winced. "Does it have to be the sewers?"
"Do you want to get into the Vulkar base?"
"Yeeeah," he replied slowly.
"Well then you have to get through the sewers," she retorted with a smug cross of her arms.
"Why is it that the bad guys always have to put their back doors in places like the sewers? Why can't they put them somewhere nice for a change?" She had to repress the urge to laugh - he'd obviously seen far too many holovids.
Mission grinned maliciously. "Because if they did that, then the dashing heroes wouldn't get to avoid stepping in... certain things."
Seth groaned.
The stench of the sewers felt more like an assault on Seth's nostrils than anything else. It was one of the worst scents that the boy had smelled in his young life, aside from witnessing mynock reproduction for a general studies biological report back at the academy. To this day he could not stand the smell of concentrated garlic, it was too similar.
This time though, he doubted he would find a match for this smell in any food he would eat.
He forced himself to breath through his mouth, but it didn't help much. It was like he could taste the air around him as well. The urge to vomit came back with a vengeance.
Mission, who was leading the way, stopped suddenly and went rigid.
"What's wro..." he trailed off. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He jumped and tackled Mission to the ground. "GET DOWN!" he shouted at the others.
Carth and Zaalbar flattened themselves against the floor just as an explosion thundered in the air right above them.
Mission was about to thank Seth but he and Carth had already risen and were sprinting down the hall, Seth clutching his sword and Carth his blasters. She glanced up and saw a Gammorean standing at the end of the hall hefting a grenade launcher, proceeding to fire again.
The grenade did not get far due to Carth blasting it in midair. However, the detonation did cause them both to reel back from the concussion. Seth, not wanting to let the Gammorean have another shot at them, threw his sword at it. The blade hit it directly in the torso, causing it to drop to its stubby knees, squealing in pain and spraying viscous green blood on the floor.
Running up to the squirming alien, Seth pulled out his blaster, shot it again, and it stilled. Carth clapped him on the back as he approached the felled Gammorean. "Not bad Private, not bad at all."
Seth grinned. "Thank you sir. But we should probably keep moving, fighting rakghouls in here would be a nightmare."
"What're Gammoreans doing down here anyways?" Carth asked as they began to move again.
"Slavers," Mission replied quietly. "They probably attacked to get their hands on Big Z." The Wookiee let out a woeful roar. "Don't worry, Big Z. As long as I'm breathing they won't get their hands on you!"
They continued on, this time with their pathfinder Mission leading the way with Carth and Seth close behind her, scanning the shadows for more Gammoreans and Zaalbar acting as rear guard armed with two vibroswords.
For the next half hour, they trudged through the dripping and creaking tunnels, on the alert for any rakghouls or Gammorean ambushes. It was Mission who finally broke the tense silence. "Soo… uh, Seth? How did you end up joining the Republic Navy?"
Seth shrugged. "I grew up on Coruscant, and got pulled into the gang life out there pretty quickly. When I tried to leave the gang, things got ugly, and I wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. So when I was thirteen, I applied for the Coruscant Military Academy, took a couple aptitude tests, and got accepted on a full-ride scholarship to study and enlist."
"Wow," Mission breathed. "That's amazing. But how did you get shipped out so..."
"So young?"
Mission twiddled with her lekku, embarrassed. "Sorry if I offended you, I hate it when people start talking about my age too."
Seth waved his arm dismissively. "Nah it's okay Mish, I got over that issue a long time ago. I got used to it, you might say. Of course the constant 'You're all just brats fresh off the teat' dressing-downs I got from the drill Sergeants might have-" he cut himself off and looked back up at Mission apologetically. "I guess I've gotten a little off topic."
She shrugged. "That's okay, I can get a little long winded myself."
Seth smiled before continuing. "Well first off; the Republic needs all the help they can get. So on the more densely populated Outer Rim planets, the recruiters were ordered to lower the bar for minimum draft age, quite a few of my friends quickly found themselves on transports to the academy for high scores on those aptitude tests I mentioned. As for everyone already at the academy, we'd already committed to the cause and our training was accelerated - the Republic has to turn out as many trained recruits as possible to make up for the massive loss on the front lines. The drill sergeants gave no quarter in basic training, I believe they called it 'making men out of us momma's boys.' I remember this one sergeant, a real hard-nosed son of a vorrok, he seemed to take a certain satisfaction from running me into the ground." He laughed, realizing he'd once again strayed off-topic. "But now just months later here I am, slogging through the crud and muck straight from the rich and noble backside of the great planet Taris."
Once again silence settled on the group, and Carth looked over at Seth with sympathy. The boy had had the carefree and wild time of adolescence cut off prematurely short, forced into the world of turmoil and darkness that was war.
Soon after Seth's monologue, the hallway ahead was cast with a shifting purple light, like sun rays filtering through water. Turning the corner, they came upon a large energy shield. It stretched all across the hallway, completely cutting off their route.
Carth glanced back at Mission. "And I assume this would be...?"
She grinned. "The back door into the Vulkar base."
"Well then, you should probably get to work." Seth jerked his head toward the control panel on the side of the shimmering barrier.
The Twi'lek nodded and set to work punching an elaborate series of numbers into it. Nothing happened, so she frowned and repeated the code more carefully. This time, the barrier rippled for a few seconds before fading away. "There you go," she said chirpily. "One open door. Now do you see why Gadon sent me with you?" She directed the question towards Carth, referring to his protest earlier to the idea of bringing another teenager along on their mission. While the captain had been none-too-enthused by the plan, Seth had seemed excited to bring along someone his age, and Carth had reluctantly agreed that both Mission's skill with computers combined with Zaalbar's strength could only benefit them in the long run.
Mission hoped that helping them complete this task for the Hidden Beks would eventually lead to an invitation into the gang. She'd been struggling for so long to find a place where she belonged, and the Beks seemed like the only logical option for her at this point.
Yet, she wondered why she felt more comfortable with these two strangers than she'd ever felt with Gadon, Zaerdra, and the others. She glanced over at Seth, who smiled politely at her before leading the way beyond the fallen barrier, and wondered what would become of her new friendships after the assault on the Vulkar base concluded.
Carth stared dumbly at the sight before him. A rancor crouched in the far end of the vault-like cavern they had come to, and it was right in front of the heavy metal blast door that led to the Vulkar compound.
"And when, I wonder, were you going to deign to tell us that there is a freaking rancor guarding the back door?" he asked tersely.
Mission's cheeks went a deep purple as she blushed embarrassedly. "Umm... surprise?"
"I might have an idea," Seth said after some thought, tentatively. Carth nodded permission to go on, and the boy proceeded back down the hallway they'd come from, beckoning the others to follow. He stopped at a corpse of a Gammorean they had run across earlier and by the looks of him, had been killed a few days ago.
"Okay, here's the plan; we take Chubby here, put a mine on him, toss him into the rancor's den and let its hunger do the work for us."
Carth scratched his chin, considering Seth's plan. "Could be a bit messy."
Seth stared incredulously at him. "We've been slogging through rakghouls, pigs with axes, and the crud and used Tarisan ale of the city above us, I can't quite see this getting any messier," he retorted.
A few minutes later they were dragging along a Gammorean corpse with a plasma mine stuffed in its mouth - a fact that Carth was rather disturbed that he found funny. And then, after enlisting the help of the legendary strength of the Wookiees, they tossed it into the waiting rancor's metal lair.
The rancor reacted almost immediately to the new meat it was offered, stumbling forwards, possessing an excellent sense of smell to compensate for its poor eyesight. When it came to the Gammorean corpse, it wasted no time in devouring it, mine and all, in less than ten seconds.
Seeing this, Seth ducked behind the door with the others and hit the detonation button on his remote. There was a muffled boom followed by the tremors of a huge beast hitting the durasteel floor.
The group emerged from their hiding place and saw that the rancor had indeed been killed. Seth moved closer to marvel at the fallen beast, secretly impressed that his plan had worked. He stood there for a few moments before running to rejoin the others at the blast door Mission was hacking. With a small victorious shout from her, the door slid open... to reveal two Vulkar guards behind it.
The startled guards reached for their weapons but did not get them out in time to stop Carth and Seth from whipping out their own and pulling the trigger. Their now-headless bodies slumped to the floor, revealing an elevator behind them.
They were in.
"Carth are you sure the elevator to the lower level is around here?" Mission asked. They had been wandering around for almost half an hour without success.
Carth studied the datapad that Seth had downloaded the map of the compound onto. "Well this thing is pretty complex, I think we may have taken a few wrong turns..."
Seth sighed, also tired of fruitlessly wandering. "You think? It seems to me that you might... might..." he trailed off.
"What is it?" Carth and Mission asked in unison.
He stood there for a few seconds without answering, sniffing the air instead. And then he suddenly turned and sprinted into a passage perpendicular to the one they were in. Carth and Mission exchanged a glance, and the older soldier shrugged before gesturing to follow, first easing into a jog before breaking into an all-out run. They all pursued Seth, however difficult it was. Often they could barely see his form turning the corners at a breakneck speed.
Mission was flagging and Zaalbar was beginning to breathe heavily when Seth turned one more corner and a blaster shot rang out. Fearing the worst, Carth cautiously poked his head around the corner. The sight that greeted him was what looked like a kitchen with a smoking guard droid chassis lying on the floor and Seth at one of the counters with a large nerfbuger poised at his gaping mouth.
"Ahem."
"What's wrong sir?" Seth asked, the burger still just in front of his teeth.
"What is that?"
"I believe it's still called 'lunch' sir." He then proceeded to take a barbaric bite out of it.
Mission covered her mouth with a hand, barely containing her fit of giggles as Carth slapped his palm against his forehead. "We are in enemy territory with a specific objective in mind, Private! Is eating the only thing that comes to mind right now?"
Seth put up a hand defensively. "I'm a growing young man sir, I need nourishment!" Still holding the now quarter eaten nerfburger, he turned to four more of them lying on the counter in front of him covered in thermo foil and began to stuff them in his backpack for later.
Carth struggled to keep a straight face and even tone, a red flag rising in the don't-trust-anyone section of his subconscious as he realized just how much the young man was growing on him. "Private, we have to keep moving, that's an order."
Seth sighed. "Yes sir."
"Did you have to get five of them?" Mission asked Seth some time later, referring to the nerfburgers. They had found the elevator to the garage and were now picking through the various rooms in the lower level, searching for the security storage room as it was marked on the map.
"Probably, once I got some caffa on the drill chiefs shirt and I didn't get any food for the rest of the day and come the next morning I found myself devouring a good quarter of the rations provided for the recruits, I think that the cooks were more impressed than anything else."
"Alright," Carth interrupted. "Barring any unforeseen map misunderstandings, the security storage room should be riiiigghht... Here!" he punched the button to open the heavy door they had come to.
A workbench in the back of the room held the object in question; the prototype accelerator didn't look like much, but the six Vulkars guarding it made Carth pretty sure that it was the valuable piece of equipment the Beks had ensured it was. The Vulkar guards looked up from a game of Pazaak they'd been playing at the room's central table, startled at the intrusion, and immediately reached for their blasters.
Seth sighed and looked over to Carth. "Are things always this complicated?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Tell me again sir, why was I the one elected to carry this thing?" Seth asked Carth as he shouldered the backpack carrying the prototype accelerator. Despite its size, the piece of machinery was much heavier than expected, and Seth's bones groaned under the extra weight they were now supporting.
A smile flickered across Carth's face. "Well, you're a growing young man, you need exercise."
Seth grunted. "Well I'll also probably benefit later in life from not having my back broken! Seriously, it feels like its about to telescope!"
"Oh come on, its not that heavy."
"Yeah? Do you want to carry this sir?"
"No not really, thanks for the offer though."
When they did reach the entrance to the Bek base, it was all Seth could do to not just drag the accelerator behind him. The greeting they received from the guard at the door was much different than the one they had gotten on their first visit, the woman was actually smiling. Evidently she knew what was in the bag. Without having to be prompted, she opened the door for them.
The news of their success spread like wildfire. Once inside, they were surrounded by ecstatic Beks who all seemed to want to shake their hand, clap them on the back, or, in Seth and Mission's case, just start hugging the breath out of them.
It took them quite some time to muscle their way through the throng of Beks and into Gadon's office. Once inside, Seth dumped his burden onto the desk of the gang leader and proceeded to collapse on top of it, breathing heavily.
"Next time sir, you can have the honor of carrying it," he gasped.
Gadon reached into the bag and pulled out the cylindrical object. "Nice work," he praised them. "I'll get my mechanics installing this on our swoop right away." He passed the accelerator to Zaerdra who carried it out of the office.
"Now… about our deal, Gadon," Carth reminded him abruptly.
"Right. I promised I'd let you ride in the swoop race and I never go back on my word. And I'll even go one better, you're going to ride the swoop with the prototype accelerator on it!"
Seth stared at Gadon incredulously. "My alarm for ulterior motives is going off, if I were in you position I'd have my best rider on that bike, so that means there must be a catch, out with it."
Gadon smiled. "Don't worry yourself, as a gang leader you learn to trust your instincts, and you have the look and feel of a racer about you. While you don't have time to practice, you can at least get a feel for the kind of bike you'll be riding." he turned his head towards Mission. "Take him down to the maintenance bay and tell Tor-Fy to give him the basics."
"Can I stay and watch?" she asked hopefully. "I've never actually seen the inside of a swoop bike."
"You can stay Mission, just don't go wandering off, you're not a Bek yet."
Mission folded her arms and scowled. "I don't think I'll ever be." she muttered under her breath, recalling a conversation she'd had with the Vulkars' top lieutenant, Kandon Ark, before she killed him. She gestured for Seth to follow, and together they left the office.
Gadon turned to Carth and Zaalbar. "And if you two could assist with our other preparations for the race..."
"We're here to help." Carth agreed.
"Thank you, we'll need all the help we can get."
The two turned to leave, but Carth turned around. "Seth is right. You have to be crazy to just let some inexperienced teenager take over your best bike. What's going on here?"
Gadon sighed. "I won't lie to you, we never had time to totally eliminate the instability in the-"
Carth cut him off. "Bottom line please."
The gang's leader took a deep breath, and Carth just knew he was about to hear something that wasn't going to make him very happy. "Alright, there is a chance that it could overheat and explode if you push it to hard during the race."
Carth saw red. "So you just let a… boy attempt to race a bike that could blow his still youthful ass to kingdom come?"
Gadon was still calm. "My mechanics are working on the accelerator's stability as we speak. It should be at least a bit safer in the morning. Besides, what other choice to you have?"
"I could ride the bike! I have nothing left to live for anyways except for revenge, and Seth isn't even a man yet!"
"Even you know that's not your best option. You're trying to rescue your Commander, and you know for the sake of your Republic your safety is paramount to help her." At Carth's still-fuming expression, Gadon pointed out, "Besides, he said he trained at the Coruscant Military Academy. If he could pass those flight sims, he's going to be just fine on a swoop bike."
Carth sighed. He'd seen Seth's marks on the starfighter simulation tests. And while Carth was a talented pilot, one of the Republic's best, there was a huge difference between his experience piloting dreadnaughts and freighters and the skill necessary to maneuver smaller, nimble craft such as a starfighter or swoop bike.
Whether he liked it or not, Seth was the best rider to put on that bike. Carth took a heavy, shuddering breath at the thought of resting the fate of their Commanding officer, and by extension the fate of the Republic, on the shoulders of a sixteen-year-old boy.
"How'd you end up with the Beks, Mish?" Seth asked as he followed her down to the garage, descending the stairs and hallways leading into the bowels of the Bek base. The air around them seemed much more moist than the air in the surface. When he'd asked Mission, she had told him that it used to be a water purification plant before it was bypassed by the direct purifiers placed at sea water intake pipes. Even afterwards, water still ran through the pipes in the walls and that was the reason for the condition of the air in the lower levels. The humid air was a small price to pay for the advantages to the arrangement; since they had no problem obtaining cleaning water, they did not have a pest problem that plagued most of the lower city.
"My brother ran with them for a while," she answered simply, and Seth was certain there was more to the story.
"I didn't know you had a brother," he gently pressed.
Mission shrugged. "Yeah. His name's Griff, and I owe just about everything I know to him. Taught me how to pick a lock, how to shoot a blaster, hell, everything I do to scrape by out here he taught me."
"What happened to him?" Seth asked. By the way she talked about him, it was almost as if he were gone… and he was preparing for some answer of how he'd met his end running with the gangs.
But her answer wasn't what Seth had expected. "He ran off with some schutta. Lena. She caught his eye dancing in a cantina one night and he followed her right off planet. She didn't want her to come with, and he said he'd come back for me, but that was six years ago, so I'm not holding my breath."
Seth took a breath. "Wow. That's… I'm sorry."
"Hey, this stuff happens, right?" She laughed humorlessly. "What's a street urchin without a sob story? So there's mine."
Seth put a hand on her shoulder gently. "You're worth a lot more than getting left behind on Taris, Mission."
She smiled genuinely, but shrugged his hand away, eyes downcast as a blush crept up on her cheeks. "Yeah, well, we're here, so let's stop talking about me and start talking about this race you're gonna win tomorrow.
They reached the maintenance bay they were greeted by a Rodian wearing grease stained coveralls. As Mission conversed with the alien, Seth studied the bay around him. Swoop bikes lined the walls, some with their engine components exposed, others simply sitting there, waiting to be serviced. Tools were scattered across the many workbenches, the floor and occasionally a hydrospanner was still clenched to an engine component. Draven and Iggy would have loved it here; they used to go mess with the small speeders the drill instructors used in their spare time. Seth wondered what happened to them. He wondered if they were even still alive.
The boy was shook from his thoughts as Mission and the Rodian came over, and he couldn't have been more thankful for their timing. Those thoughts tended to have more of a downward spiral than up most of the time.
"This is Tor-Fy," Mission said. "She's the head mechanic here. Tor-Fy, this is Seth Avery."
Seth stuck out his hand and the Rodian shook it with a surprisingly firm grip. "[I suppose you want to get started then?]" she asked.
Seth nodded. "Ready as I'll ever be."
Tor-Fy nodded. "[Good. Have you ever piloted anything before?]"
Seth nodded vigorusly. "Yeah, I've only been given the basics, but my CO said I had a knack for it. I was first in my class."
"[That will help you, a swoop bike's controls are similar to a starfighters, minus the weapons systems of course.]" she gestured to the bike behind her. "[Get in, let's see how good you are.]"
Seth climbed in the open cockpit of the swoop and started familiarizing himself with the controls. The Rodian was right; the basic layout was almost identical to a starfighter's, though it did have a few extra controls, such as a shift stick, which, of course, was not needed for a starfighter due to the insertion of a hyperdrive. He started up the engine, but because of the magnetic field Tor-Fy had put in place, it went nowhere, so Seth could get used to the bike without having to take it out onto the street. It roared to life, the noise drowning out Mission's shout of excitement. He turned the steering mechanism right and the bike leaned to the right. He pressed down on the accelerator with his foot and the engine revved loudly. The braking flaps worked as well, opening out on either side of him as he pressed the controls. It was not the hands on training he would have liked, but it would have to do.
He let the engine idle for Tor-Fy to come over. "[So, what do you think?]"
"Does it come in black?"