SEVEN
"WHAT JUST HAPPENED?" Kira asked in disbelief as the racers left her in a cloud of dust.
Literally.
They'd already formed a pack.
She was supposed to be in that pack, smack dab in the middle until she made her move. Not still standing on the starting line with a dead board.
"Doing a system check now." There was strain in Odin's voice.
"Jin, what did you do to my board?"
"Nothing out of the normal," Jin defended. "I made a few last-minute adjustments based on your most recent training results."
Odin's head jerked up. "You didn't touch the power distribution, did you?"
Silence echoed over the comms.
"That may have been one of my fixes," Jin allowed.
A growl came from Odin. "You idiot. I adjusted the antigravs to compensate for the differences in the planet's gravity."
Kira closed her eyes and tipped her head back as she put together what had happened. The two changes must have canceled each other out. The board's safety protocol would have shut the engine down to prevent engine failure when she floored the throttle.
"Oh." Jin arrived at the same realization seconds later. "That could be a problem."
A stream of curses came from Kira as she hopped off the board. She yanked out the repair tools she stored on her person. The habit she'd picked up as a Cur would stand her in good stead now.
Squatting beside her board, she stripped off the emergency panel and stared inside, thanking every piece of luck she had that she knew how to do emergency repairs. Otherwise, it was very likely she'd be heading to her ship with her tail between her legs at the end of this race
"What are you doing?" Odin asked.
"Fixing both of your mistakes." To Jin, she instructed, "Keep an eye on the pack. I want to know the second they've begun their approach to the tower."
"You're not thinking—" Jin trailed off.
"You got a better idea?" Kira's movements were precise as she made the adjustments. "If so, I'm all ears."
"So much for flying under the radar," Jin said mournfully.
*
Titters and laughterfilled the air as the grounded racer’s plight became clear.
