"Raider is competing," Jin said abruptly. "His status as a Cur and previous wins allow him to skip the quals and appear in the final races."
That explained his presence at least. Raider was the careful sort. She could see him gathering information on his potential opponents before the main event.
It wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that Roake and Graydon’s oshota had attended to see Raider and Devon race.
If that was the case, they weren’t here because they knew of her presence.
It was all a massive coincidence—or so she tried to tell herself.
"Stick to the plan, and we should be fine—probably."
It was that probably that gave Kira concern.
A hand waving from the pit drew their attention. Odin aimed a roguish smile at them. "There are things to do and races to win. This is no time to stand around with your mouths hanging open."
The side of Finn's hood bulged in a suspicious manner.
Kira slapped at the bump. "Now, now, let's not go being stupid."
If Jin jeopardized their cover because of his problem with Odin, she would eviscerate him. She'd like to see how he managed if she disabled his optics and antigravs.
Jin grumbled but didn't do anything further as she led Finn over to Odin.
"I don't think this is where you're supposed to be," Kira said.
"There was an issue making contact," Odin explained, untroubled by the threat underlying Kira's words.
"What kind of issue?"
"The kind that will need your involvement to settle. In the meantime, I took the liberty of setting up our station." Odin gestured to the array of equipment in front of her. She pulled out a comm set complete with mic and handed it to Finn. "You're going to need this if you want to keep up appearances."
His distaste was obvious as he took it.
Kira couldn't blame him for his reluctance. As a Tuann, he was used to much more advanced technology. For him, the headset would be akin to a human using a tool from the stone age.
"Where's the package?" Kira asked.
Odin jerked his chin at the stands. "It's close by."
Kira glanced up at the stands, her interface already scanning for her niece's familiar face. Her shoulders relaxed as several seconds passed where she couldn't find a single sign of Elena.
Good. It looked like her niece was taking this seriously.
If even Kira, someone very familiar with her, couldn't find her, others wouldn't either.
Coupled with Graydon’s and Roake's presence in the stands, Elena couldn't be much safer. If anything happened, she could approach either group and receive protection.
From the starting line, a sharp buzz announced the next group.
From the pits around her, those racers who weren't already at the starting line headed toward the rest.
"You're up," Odin said. "Go be reckless."
"That's exactly the thing we don't want her to be,” Jin yelled from the depths of Finn’s hood.
Kira ignored the two, stepping onto the waveboard that was already waiting for her, having been cleared by the team officials.
Its engines softly hummed as its weight left the ground. Kira pointed its nose toward the starting line.
