[center][h1][b]Sunday 16th June, 2094 Silverstone, Northamptonshire, England Race Day [/b][/h1][/center] Paul went through his normal race day routine. He went through his final checklist with Carmella and made sure all systems were working. [color=fff200]Paul: “All systems green. Ready for the race to start.” [/color] Paul was sitting in his starting position in P7. The ship alive and purring the engines warmed up. Paul in sync with the ship. Paul taking those precious moments before the race began to appreciate how lucky he was to get to do this for a living. He lived a truly blessed life. The ship felt like an extension of his body. Paul was beginning to note that he was seeing gains from the neural interface cognitive training that the training team had come up with. He was processing the vast amounts of data the ship sent him faster and easier. The response time between his thoughts and the ship were getting faster. Paul continued to train like a demon possessed to improve between races. He worked on ELS and overtaking skills. He had improved a great deal but he knew that to stay competitive he had to push not only his competitor’s limits but his own as well. Paul’s skills were improving. You could see it when looking at video recordings of his performance. His racing lines were becoming cleaner and his ship’s moves more graceful. Paul knew that even though he had been racing for a long time, he was at the beginning of his professional career in racing. There was still a lot to learn that only came with experience and pushing your limits and finding out what you were capable of. Paul unconsciously kneaded the material of his racing gloves to ensure fit and flexibility for handling. He was focused as the countdown finished and he hit the throttle. The entire field of ships leaping into action at once in an almost eager surging wave. The leaders breaking away at the front of the pack. The first few corners showed the competitive nature of this track as positions changes and overtakes were already taking place. Paul kept right on Hyeon-Ae’s fins. He kept his racing line clean, maintaining good control of his ship. Paul had started the race behind Hyeon-Ae with Bea nipping at his heels with Layla in front of Hyeon-Ae and Cassie in front of Layla. The atmosphere of the race was electric with tension and excitement as pilots frustrated from the tight conditions at Monaco let loose at Silverstone trading positions and paint. Paul stayed on Hyeon-Ae’s tail building up his ELS system. Hyeon-Ae pulled away from him on the Wellington Straight. She had to slow to maneuver through the Brooklands curve before the Luffield corner. Paul saw his opportunity as he caught up to her at Brooklands. He made his move in Luffield and slipped past Hyeon-Ae on the outside, his better handling allowing him to take the corner faster. He then went charging after Layla who Carmella informed him was 0.5 seconds in front of him. He did his best to close on Layla as she pulled away from him in a faster ship. He was slowly gaining on her through the smaller curves. He caught up with Layla at Stowe and went flying past her at Vale as Paul dove down and hugged the inside curve of the track as Layla’s ship drifted to the outside edge needing the extra room to make the turn. Paul’s confidence was high as he now had Cassie in his sights. He was making up time in the corners charging his ELS. He was defending well and managing to keep ELS from hitting from the rear as he charged towards the Zygon ship in front of him. Paul knew it was going to be tight. He was charging hard down the outside catching up to Cassie as she slowed for the corner. There was enough room for a ship on the outside. Paul made a calculated decision to go for it. He charged for the opening he saw for Cassie to aggressively defend trying to shut him down. The Zygon ship drifted further into his space due to its poorer handling and Cassie’s aggressive maneuver. Paul didn’t have any time to avoid the collision as the ship drifted into the racing line he was taking. While Paul had been aggressively trying to overtake Cassie, Cassie had been just as aggressive in defending. Neither of them were willing to yield the line. The resulting collision knocked his ship off the mag track and sent it hurtling through the air and flipping before landing upside down and sliding into the barricade by the edge of the track. The crash happened quickly and Paul’s senses were reeling as his body was flung around inside the cockpit against the restraints. The ship was hit from the side sending him into a lateral flip. His entire body being shaken and thrown against the restraints at high force. Paul blinked as he tried to figure out what had happened. His HUD had red flashing alarms all over it. He could hear Carmella screaming in his ear asking if he was okay. Paul was confused and disoriented. Blood was rushing to his head from being upside down. Paul could hear his heartbeat and thought that was odd. It was weird how his heartbeat sounded so loud and the rest was just a hushed and blurred background noise. After about 30 seconds it was like the world was done holding its breath and noise came crashing back into his head with awareness. He had crashed. Pain blinked thinking it was too bright as the flashing lights in his HUD sent pain through his head. He groaned and managed to hit the emergency release in the center of his restraint harness. He fell down into the canopy. He rolled over and managed to pull his legs free. He knelt and groped for the side latch clumsily. He felt so odd like his brain had been disconnected from his body. He managed to open the side hatch and went to bend over to go through it to have his head jerked back. He was confused for a moment as he ran his hand to the back of his head and found the cord that connected his neural interface to the ship. He managed to unclip it and release it. He then fell out of the side hatch as it released. He crawled out. He blinked as the light once again sent searing pain through his head. By this time, the medical personnel were responding. They began leading him off the track. He stumbled along being pulled between two burly paramedics. He waved at the crowd to let them know he was okay. He certainly didn’t feel okay but he knew fans and other drivers would wonder how bad he was injured if it at all. He stumbled off the track and out of sight whisked away for medical treatment. [hr] [color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Post Race Interviews[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color] [hr] Paul had been checked out thoroughly by the team’s paramedic that traveled with them to races, Konrad Badowski. Konrad accompanied him to the local emergency room where Paul was poked and prodded to ensure he didn’t have any broken bones. He did have a mild concussion from his head bouncing around. He didn’t hit anything but he had been thrown so violently his brain had bounced around in his skull. His neck was stiff and sore and he had bruises all over his body but especially where his body had been thrown against his restraints. Paul had thanked the doctor who gave him something for the pain. He had the worst headache. Paul had been released after treatment several hours later. All Paul wanted to do was crawl in bed and go to sleep. His body felt sore and his head ached. He felt like a used dish rag that someone had wrung out. But obligations came first. For the first time this season, Paul looked disheveled and shaken up as he took his seat gingerly on the Delta Hyper couch. Paul just wanted to get through this so he could sleep. He already knew what they were going to ask him. [quote][color=ed1c24]Aurora: "Paul, a disappointing result for you. Cassie seemed to think there was nothing she could do- was that a rookie error from you or did she defend too aggressively?"[/color][/quote] Paul wearily sighed as he answered looking directly into the camera. [color=fff200]Paul: “I haven’t had a chance to look at the footage of the race but I would argue that we both played a role in the crash.” Paul shrugged and looked over at Aurora. “I want to win just as much as the other drivers.” [/color] Paul gave Aurora a lopsided smile. [color=fff200]Paul: “I might be a nice guy but I want to win. I was charging hard and aggressively going for the outside line. Cassie was aggressively defending and trying to prevent me from passing her. Neither of us wanted to concede the line. I had the outside line and was halfway past her when contact was made to the side of my ship. Racing incidents happen. What we do isn’t for the faint of heart. Cassie and I will face each other again.” [/color] [hr] [center][h1][color=fff200]Social Media[/color][/h1][/center] [center][b][color=fff200]Team Valkyrie AGR @TeamValkyrie: [/color][/b][/center] Dorian Hornfleur took 7th place at Silverstone. Team Valkyrie wanted to let fans know that Paul Mulder did suffer some minor injuries in the crash but is recovering quickly and you will see him back in action for the Canada Grand Prix. [hr] [color=fff200]OfficeDrone#12:[/color] Silverstone was certainly exciting. [color=fff200]SuperfanAGR54:[/color] Disappointed with Mulder’s performance at Silverstone. [color=fff200]DantheMan:[/color] Can the team even rebuild a ship before Canada? [color=fff200]BatDave:[/color] I am still Batman. [color=fff200]Superfan2075:[/color] Rookie error by Mulder. [color=fff200]DadBod89:[/color] I think Paul’s answer was the right one. Racing incidents happen. [color=fff200]Hater101:[/color] Paul was stupid to try that overtake. He caused the crash. [color=fff200]Papabear34:[/color] Paul’s crash hurt the team’s points. [color=fff200]Nana2050:[/color] It is good to hear that Paul will be okay. [color=fff200]GeorgeFly:[/color] Paul has been a very consistent pilot. I am more inclined to believe his version of events. [color=fff200]ValkyrieFan56:[/color] Can the team be ready by Canada? [color=fff200]Weedhead81:[/color] The grass is always greener and sweeter on the other side. [color=fff200]SexyM@m@5:[/color] Can we talk about Dorian’s stellar comeback? [color=fff200]Paulmulder4eva:[/color] At least Paul is okay. I was so worried about him. [color=fff200]Britball12:[/color] Paul didn’t have the skill to pull off what he was attempting. It was a classic rookie mistake. It’s sad that it cost Cassie too. [color=fff200]!YouSlow!:[/color] Paul’s crash drama shouldn’t overshadow Dorian’s racing comeback glory! [color=fff200]Bertha:[/color] Paul has been skating all season. What about the points it cost Cassie? [hr] [hider= Team Valkyrie Characters] https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zrLx5XUgYiVm6KjTpFTWZtJvXc0MX77enkLzINHujKw/edit?gid=0#gid=0 [/hider]