Starlance

Raven Squad: Second Storm (Military/Spy-Fi RP) (COMPLETED)

Boraro
Fireteam Hammer, Île de la Tempête

---

Ebrima set Skye down upon her request, although his left hand hasn’t left her shoulder until she could take five steady steps in a row. After that, he went astound the room looking for shoes at least more or less the right size and an intact plate carrier.

"Leave Oracle to me....blimey, you have a heart in there, Ebrima." Skye retorted.

”No heart to this.” He shook his head, ”This technology has gone off the rails once already, and it would have done so again. I don’t do half measures, this gets put to bed for good. Oracle’s masters can cry about it.”

Adam cleaned the corner, LMG raised, stunned at the sight of what he saw, as he saw Ebrima next to Skye, one kitted as normal, the other clad in nothing but a PLA officer's coat.

"What the fuck?" His voice pierced, the LMG staying high, just in shock horror. "Boaro, this is..."

”Not what it looks like.” He didn’t even look up at Adam as he lifted up a dead man’s shoe to read the size, moving onto the next one upon learning the body wore only size 34.

"I fucking know what you did, Ebrima. And I hate to admit it....but it was the right thing to do. We stick to her story. Or else we all fucked. We'll figure out where this rabbit hole goes when this is finished." Adam coldly retorted in his typically Polish accented voice

”You figure out what you need, I only work here.” Ebrima shrugged, having finally found a helmet that didn’t have pieces of skull and brain inside of it and handing it to Skye. Bad enough they’d have to ditch all armor in favor of space suits in a bit, but he’d still prefer to minimize the amount of time a single stray round could take out his boss and potentially leave it to Adam to deal with Oracle. As much as he liked the Pole, ironing out the creases left by what happened here today sounded like an ‘ice pick’ kind of job, meanwhile Adam read more like a ‘hammer’ to Ebrima.

"No more contacts left down here. But there's another path to the control room, more of them between us and them. I'm going to need help. Boaro, you with me?"

Ebrima didn’t even answer, simply stacking up behind Adam and tapping him on the shoulder.

---

Ebrima watched Adam set the breach, swapping out the people deleter Skye had given him earlier for the shotgun. With a slug still in the chamber, he topped off the M1014’s magazine tube and ghost loaded a ninth one, both surviving tricksters detaching from his armor and creating the images of Skye 1.0 and Sam. ”Ten we can take. On your go.”

The Pole went in first, perhaps forgetting the decoys didn’t mind being shot at or more likely wanting to get real guns in the room as fast as possible. Fake Skye followed almost in step with Adam, the breached door wide enough and went straight for the center of the room, the black exo barreling down on them getting the Artemis operators’ attention as Ebrima hugged the right wall, the shotgun’s authoritative bark announcing the need for several death certificates in rapid succession - all closed caskets. Trickster two had done its job, at the unfortunate cost of its life. Silicone Heaven would welcome it with open arms, no doubt.

Between that and what Adam, Purna and Eloise did to the hostage takers, their intended victims would all definitely need therapy. It was then, checking over one of the hostages for strays that he caught the tail end of Athena’s boasting and Skye’s putdown.
”How is it we have an entire blimp, yet the most hot air for miles is coming out of the e-girl?” He noted drily to Adam, simultaneously holding the backup transmit button on his vest. This crew was starting to rub off on him, but the area was clear and they were probably all dying horribly in space in a few hours, when else but now could a serious situation be disregarded a little bit?

---

”If we go, we may die. If we stay, we die.” He shrugged as Skye gave them the option to opt-out, ”Hardly a choice.”

He handed the railgun to Adam. ”Should still be plenty of fun left in it.” In the same vein, he dropped off his M 25 with the crew holding Laura captive, ensuring to note that it was loaded with thermobarics. Then to the pile of Artemis gear for fresh magazines and an HK 416, removing the optical sight and making sure the visible aiming laser option on the PEQ box worked, because he didn’t expect to be able to shoulder their rifles in the space suits. The Kukri stayed. Although if it got lost up there, he could imagine Purna pulling his soul from the afterlife just to kick his ass about it. Still, a significant improvement over expecting to fight about it and only one walking away from it like Ebrima thought it would turn out not even a month ago.

Turns out the sizing wouldn’t be ideal either, the top of his comms cap rubbing against the helmet whenever he turned his head and the gloves just short enough to be wearable while annoyingly pulling on his fingers.

"How are you doing Ebrima? Any questions about what we can expect?"

”First diving, now space.” Ebrima complained as he put the suit’s joints through the motions, figuring out how he could and couldn’t move. ”Rose is dying for putting us through this alone.”

DELTΔ HYPER (Anti-Gravity Racing, Cyberpunk/Solarpunk RP)

Sunday June 4th, 2094, 14:00
Montréal, Federated American States

The Race

”VSS, Stirling out and walking.” Alistair answered her question before she even had time to ask.
”Look at that, she blinked.“ Bea chuckled, ”She’s a mortal after all.”
”Safety ship will be a few laps, the wall’s in a bad shape.”
”Another shot at Jamie. Tips into turn one?”
”He’s pretty solid there, but you might compromise him for turn two, he sticks low.”
That was a nice idea, unfortunately Harrison happened. In the end it was a net positive as Jamie, Bea and Jenny passed the stricken ships of Max and Layla in quick succession.

It lasted an entire five laps. Almost. And then it happened again, right in front of her.
”Fuck me.” She yelped as she gunned the throttle and threaded the needle between Kais’ ship on the right and Jamie’s that came across the track much like his teammate 15 laps ago, slipping through across the runoff on the inside of turn 13 and looking back to see how others have fared.
”You alright?”
”Yea, are they? And check for debris damage, I felt a hit on the right side.” It was like getting flicked on the arm with a finger, except somewhere on the side of the ship.
”Hart looks ready to lay down and wait for it to end.” Joking, means they were both OK.
”And let me know what car he drove to the circuit so I can be on the lookout on the way to the airport. What is this now, crash four if we count qualifying? Bloke’s a missile.”
”Damage looks minimal, are you getting any warnings?”
”Nope, we’re fine on my end.”
”Makara up next then, he may have picked up some damage on the first restart. The ships are comparable, but he’ll have more control. If you can’t take him off the line, don’t rush, wait for an opportunity.”
And then she bungled the restart, Jenny slipping past her with a clever move through the hairpin.

”Crash behind you, Falkner and Hornfleur, both continuing.”
”Copy.”
”Uhh, disregard my last, it’s a VSS for debris.”
”Fuck’s sake!”
Jenny got a good launch, slipping away from Bea when the latter had to explain to Layla behind her that the door was closed and she’d have to settle for P8. At least she had a front row seat to Jenny’s pass on Harrison, making an attempt to capitalize but he shut her out, forcing her to back off lest she spear right in the back of him.

For Bea, it had been an uneventful race, though fans would obviously disagree. P7 and P10 were much in the spirit of the entire weekend - not great, not terrible. Although a freelance photographer positioned just in the right place at the right time took a picture of Bea, Ava and Astrid laughing about something right after the Zygon disqualification was formalized. P5 and P8 were better by a small but notable margin.

---

DELTΔ HYPER

Episode Nine: The Wall of Champions

---

”Bea, what a statement to wrap up 5th place, though some would argue you were very lucky with the Zygon penalties and conflicts ahead. Would you say you are finding the fine balance between patience and aggression in your ship to ship racing?”

”I think it’s less finding balance and more that I’ve had nine races to figure out how the ship will behave in certain situations and anticipate. Watch me get worse when the summer upgrades change that.” She grinned, some much-needed stability and pilot mods upgrades in the final stages of computer simulation testing.
”As for the finish, of course it was lucky, but that’s racing. It’s still money for the team at the end of the season. The next one will be earned. Maybe so will Zygon’s.” She shrugged, a mischievous smile replacing the previous one. ”Hypothetically - and I’m of course asking for a friend - think FIAR will be extra careful scrutinizing everyone for the next few races, or just them? Because when I got caught cheating on a math test, it wasn’t the entire class that got checked before every test for the rest of that year.”
“Bea!”
”Hey, what’s the last time you needed… The thing where you have X over Y like a fraction, but without the line and in big brackets?” She intentionally glossed over Aurora’s actual point of complaint.
“Combinations?”
”Yes, that.”

---

Sunday June 4th, 2094, 15:32
Montréal, Federated American States

As the first-time P3 driver made her way to the media pen, someone snuck up on her. It was a vicious assault: sudden, fueled by manic energy and very much called for. One of the tightest hugs of Jenny’s life, a top ten for certain, possibly top five.
”Sooooo, what’s it like?” Bea took advantage of Jenny being taken by surprise to throw her arm around her shoulder and start leading the confused Yorkshire lass in the direction she’d been going before, ”Spill the tea and leave no details out. Where are you putting your new silverware? Mantle piece? Right by the front door, so everyone who comes over sees?” Yes, the trophy went to the team and Jenny could order a copy, but why let that detail spoil the occasion?

---

Bea Ward @MadBea:
[A wide-angle view of the inside of Carrera Condor ship bay, bustling with activity but taken carefully to not show anything critical, but several large objects can be seen near each ship, covered with tarps]

And this won’t even be our final form.

#CarreraCondorFA #FormulaAG #AGRacing

Xinny: I think that’s the Alicorn behind Ava’s ship. If you look on the top part of the engine, those ‘bumps’ spaced evenly around it look a lot like the combustors on the Pegasus-II. And if you compare any on track pictures of the nozzle, it looks different to this one.
Hotstuff: blud shows up 2 mins after posting and drops CIA level image analysis like its a normal sunday
CloroxEnjoyer: What’s the hump on the underside of the ship?
Xinny: No clue. Best guess, something to do with cooling or air intake.
MadBea: That’s where the snacks go.
NorthWest: So how many points from previous races is Zygon losing, because what are the odds of this being discovered on the race they deployed it? At least Silverstone, right?
CarreraCarmen: Absolutely shameful from Zygon.
DarkStar69: Inferior culture can’t hack it fair and square.
_PsychoFish_: I’m very sorry you never had a father to raise you properly.
UrbanMaverick: I mean a not insignificant chunk of the Zygon fanbase run on that Korean Ubermensch mindset so still dumb but it balances out.
Shel1: Zygon fans been real quiet since this dropped.
Cylonking183: LMAO, you think other teams don’t cheat?
User420: At least they don’t suck at it.
IronBeer: We should all look up to Fitzroy Orbital AG, they failed on their own merit. Mostly Henry’s though.
Zero: Speaking of, pretty excited about seeing who took that over. My money’s on Russians. Ural is developing like crazy through Dakar, Kamaz through Rally and related divisions, meanwhile UAZ have been talking about ‘finding new avenues of innovation’ for three years and there’s even talk of the Marussia brand coming back.
HotStuff: rush P1, cyka blyat
DohnJoe: @TruckerTim had enough and is finna show them how shits done
TruckerTim: I’d rather enter the race with my ute than touch that mess.

---

Carrera Condor NPCs

DELTΔ HYPER (Anti-Gravity Racing, Cyberpunk/Solarpunk RP)

DELTΔ HYPER

Episode Nine: The Wall of Champions

---

The plate of poutine sat in front of the Carrera Condor pair. ”Oh!” Ava perked up, looking from the paddock roof toward Turn One where one of the support series’ racers had just passed through, making Bea look as well.
”What?”
”You missed it. Someone nearly dropped it into turn one.”
The camera could see that was a lie. It could also see Ava swapping the water glasses - her sparkling water for Bea’s plain - while the Brit was distracted, hoping the Al-Saqr pair answered her prayers. Then she got a little worried when Bea stabbed the pile of fries with her fork like she was putting the sword into the stone, ending up with a sizable bundle of them with a heavy gravy covering.
“I wouldn’t want to fall into your grasp if you were a cannibal.” Aurora noted drily.
”Why?”
”Because you’d start chewing before she stopped breathing.” Ava explained, looking at the camera and pointing at Bea, ”She overslept and missed breakfast again.”
”What do you mean ‘again,’ it only happened once before.”
”That’s exactly what ‘again’ means.” Ava replied flatly without a millisecond’s pause.
”You talk too much.” Be grinned as she moved Ava’s hand holding the fork closer to her mouth as if she could silence her with it.

---

Saturday June 3rd, 2094, 14:32
Montréal, Federated American States

Qualifying

”Projected P10. Feedback on the lap?”
”That was one of the qualifying sessions ever.” Bea verbally shrugged. The straights and faster corners were working out well, making up time for the chicanes where the ship was bouncing all over like a mountain goat on meth and turn six, where Bea needed to be extremely persuasive to convince the ship it wasn’t a 45 degree corner and they do, in fact, need to turn the other 45 degrees as well. Ava fared worse, stringing together a comparable lap with wiser use of ELS only to drift wide in the last corner and tap the Wall of Champions.
”About what we expected from the sim runs. Still ploughing hard, but Turns 2 and 10 are manageable due to the banking. Where did we lose to Max?”
”Turns three, four, thirteen and fourteen.” Alistair read out the two chicanes.
”Stability?”
”Yes.”
”Figures.”
”It’s the rapid direction change.”
”I know, the AG unit can’t keep up and it unsettles the ship.”
”Upgrades are coming over summer. Just a bit more patience.”
”You do realize who you’re asking for patience, right?”
”Yes. I need a raise.”

---

DELTΔ HYPER

Episode Nine: The Wall of Champions

---

”Bea, how are you feeling about the rumours that Jen is being considered by other teams? Do you feel she deserves it after a long stint in Fitzroy, or do you think she could wait out to see what is coming in Fitzroy's new future?”

”She’s definitely earned some recognition. As to what she could or should do you’ll have to ask her, why should my opinion matter?” Bea simply shrugged.

---

Sat 03/06 16:06 JEN [Batt: 21%]

———— Monday - 21/06/2094 ————

> Hiya, when are you flying out to the factory?
> Monday morning, why?
> Would you have time to meet for lunch sometime this week? I’ve got something big on my mind I’d like to talk through.
> Throw enough shit at me and see what sticks? 😛
[“Jen” reacted with 😀]
> Eww!
> But sort of.
[You reacted with 😀]
> Thursday work for you?
> Not unless you consider a croissant at Heathrow breakfast.
> I thought you were leaving next Monday?
> For the factory, yes. I’m leaving for Pikes Peak on Thursday.
> Well, lead with that!
> You asked about the factory. I’m free Tuesday whole day and Wednesday until maybe 1600.
> Tuesday works actually. I’ve got the whole day off.
> Whole day you say?
> Yep.
> I’ve got an idea.
> [Image of the Vernal Gale docked in a marina in Hull]
> I’m in!
> Forecast looks favourable. At 12 on the dock?
> I’m there.
> What should I bring besides a swimsuit?
> Lunch?
[“Jen” reacted with 👍]
> Boat has two fridges so go nuts.
> You ever dived before?
> In a swimming pool as a kid. Why?
> Bring some climbing gear and send me measurements for a wetsuit.

———— Sunday - 27/06/2094 ————

> [A photo of sunrise behind the Rockies.]
> [A photo of the original 2018 VolksWagen I.D. R.]
> [A photo of Bea, Daniel Ogier and Max Wedgewood standing in front of Bea’s KrAZ 1055, arms around each others’ shoulders.]
> [A 360° panorama from the top of Pikes Peak.]
> [A drone’s view video of the hairpins near the top of Pikes Peak, a car too far away to be identified racing up the mountain.]
> I thought they installed guardrails?
> They were going to.
> Buuut?
> The fans nearly lynched them over it.
> Jesus Christ…
> It takes away from the track’s character.
> Your nickname really checks out, doesn’t it?
[You reacted with 👍]

———— Saturday - 03/06/2094 ————

> Idea for tomorrow: We don’t want Dorian right behind us. Truce to get a ship or two between us and the French charge? I think a candidate is right up the road.
[Seen]

---

Carrera Condor NPCs

DELTΔ HYPER (Anti-Gravity Racing, Cyberpunk/Solarpunk RP)

DELTΔ HYPER

Episode Nine: The Wall of Champions

---

Ava seemed to be enjoying the weather, Chilean Air Force wraparound aviators all she needed. Bea for her part looked to be halfway to misery, with a t-shirt one size too big to help with ventilation and having doused her baseball cap with cold water just prior to the cameras rolling, chinos on both counts leaving the artistry of their cyberlegs on display.
“Beatrix, Ava welcome to Canada!”
”Hey, look, they’re changing the format.” Bea pointed to the kitchen as both Carrera Condor pilots waved hello to Aurora, ”We’re getting snacks during the interview.”
“Hmm, yes, but not quite.” Aurora nodded, handing them an envelope.
Ava read the card inside and looked to Bea, shaking her head and giggling. ”They want us to make poutine! Okay, I knew it was going to be Canadian themed, but come on!” Ava chuckled, showing the card to the camera.
”Aw, shite.”
”What?”
”Cooking and I… it doesn’t mix.” Bea laughed uneasily.
The camera panned to show a pair of fire extinguishers just out of the shot.
“We've got the fries all cut up for you, but it's up to you to make the gravy and the cheese curds from what we've provided, and add anything else you think tastes good from the ingredients on the table.” Aurora continued, smirking. “Though don't look at that maple syrup....that is for another interview. And just to add to the spice… check the text at the bottom.”
”Oh!” Ava’s face lit up, ”Well that’s interesting.”
”What?”
”We’re trying Al-Saqr’s, Valkyrie get ours.”
”If Harrison and Nora get sick, we know whose they had.” Bea snickered.
”Kais, Layla,” Ava whispered loud enough for the camera to hear with a smile, ”Spicy. Make it spicy.” She pointed to Bea behind her back as they moved over to the kitchen, the Briton’s intolerance of capsaicin fairly well known.
”Anyway, how bad can it be?” She addressed Bea again when they made it to the kitchen and started going over the assembled ingredients.
”Six years ago, I went to a friend’s house to watch a movie and we decided to make bread pudding. We ended up burying the baking dish in the garden to cover that up.”
”How? How did you manage that?”
”Grew up in a household with a private chef, that’s how. Archaeologists excavating Highgate will get a surprise one day.”

What followed was a quick series of cuts.

”Nonono,” Bea stepped away from the assistant handing her an apron like he was sick, ”No more layers, I’m boiling in my own sauce as is, I’ll take the splash risk.”
”Man the fryer then, the oil won’t hurt your arms.”
”Fits the spirit of why I got them, actually.”
”Cutting board’s yours too, then.”

”Wuust-uh-shuh.”
”No, that can’t be right. You’re pulling my leg.” Ava shook her head as she stirred the gravy in the saucepan.
”That’s how it¨s pronounced! Swear!” Bea stopped dicing a sausage and raised her right hand.
”How is it that your people invented English and yet can’t speak it right?”
”Because it’s three languages in a trench coat, taking other languages into a back alley and mugging them for spare words.”

”It’s a Canadian dish, hand me the Molson will you?”
”Were you really going to put Canadian beer into something a Frenchman and a Belgian will eat? Do you hate them or something?” She sneered dismissively, opening a bottle of Duvel between her thumb and index finger before handing it over.
”What’s wrong with Canadian beer?”
”Where do I start?”

”Small batches!” Ava yelled over the sizzling of the fryer.
”What?” Bea leaned over to hear better.
”Fry them in small batches or the oil will cool down too much.”
”Riiiiight. That does make sense in hindsight.”

The result wasn’t terrible looking, though Dorian would probably disagree on principle: Golden-brown fries topped with garlicky beef stock gravy, toasted cheese and diced stir fried sausage and a sprinkling of spring onions.
”See, it wasn’t so bad.”
“And you didn’t even need to bury any evidence.”
”Et tu, Aurora?”

DELTΔ HYPER (Anti-Gravity Racing, Cyberpunk/Solarpunk RP)

Sunday June 20th, 2094, 19:57
London, United Kingdom

Highgate, Fitzroy Close

The green and red Civic stood in the driveway, engine off and the three passengers that had been crammed in the back seats already outside, but the driver and front seat passenger yet remained.
Last minute contemplation. Outcome one, clear up muddy water. Outcome two, a very awkward two hours. Look at her, thinking about stuff before doing something. ”Before we go in: I know your teammate is always your first opponent. But you and me, we’re good, right?” Bea started uncharacteristically seriously.
”Yes?” Ava tilted her head in mild confusion, ”Why?”
”I talked to Jen at our drifting thing. Someone wants to rescue her from the mire she’s in at the moment. And if this is anything like JAGF in ‘91, this will get the dominoes going.” She called back to the shakeup that saw her shifted from Nordic Call to MMR’s junior team, ”Jamie’s most likely done, the rumors about Cassie hating life at Zygon are fairly loud, Max is overdriving the MMR ship week after week-”
”And if someone like Cassie or Max get that second Silver Apex seat, Ben Hale might be gone from their junior programme. I get it.”
”As might be Amber Beck from Nordic Call’s the way she’s driving if they keep Bjorn… Well, the way he’s driving.”
”Think Ousamane for Vladimir?”
”Hmm. Nah, can’t see that.” Bea shook her head.
”Me neither. Kofi can’t develop that ship by himself and I hear Vladimir’s feedback is actually good.”
”Unlike his racecraft.”
”Anyway, where are you going with this and is it related to me not signing an extension yet?”
”If it comes down to it, you know that for whatever it’s worth, I’ve got your back, right?”
Ava mulled over Bea’s words. ”Thank you.” The women shook hands, a smile on both of their faces, one better hidden than the other. ”I’ll start to worry if they’re still deliberating after the summer break.” Ava seemingly brushed the concerns off.
”Anything I should know before we go in?” Ava gestured to the main door.
”You know my dad already. My sister’s a lot like him, without the racing enthusiasm, but I expect her to ask about the team from a sponsorship perspective. Please don’t get our funding pulled.“ Bea spoke in jest, but on the other hand that chance was there. Eva would one day have that financial responsibility to the company and even if Bea would never hold it against her, it would still suck. ”There will be four big dogs.”
”Nice!”
”My mum will ask you questions about safety. Be honest, she’s a lawyer, she always gets to the truth. I couldn’t get away with shite as a kid.” Bea groused.
Ava laughed. ”For whatever it’s worth, I’ve got your back.”

---

Tuesday June 22nd, 2094, 14:21
Flamborough, United Kingdom

Vernal Gale

The 60 foot yacht gently bobbed up and down as it lay anchored off the Flamborough Outer Headlands Nature Reserve on a sunny day, offering her passenger and singular crew member great view of the open North Sea to the East and the white cliffs of East Yorkshire to the West.
“I’m telling you: The fish came right at me.” Jenny spoke from one of the deck saloon’s couches.
”Maybe it liked your hair?” Bea suggested to Jenny, sporting the sky blue and white of Yorkshire’s flag on her pixie cut that day, while stowing away their diving gear. ”Vibrant colors and all?”
Having previously pulled into Breil Nook to scale the more kindly cliffs, taking advantage of the water just below to cushion falls - mainly for Bea’s benefit - and get up close to the Atlantic Puffins that had been reintroduced to the coastline, devoid of fear of humans due to many of them being raised in captivity before release, they then sailed out a hundred-odd meters to slightly deeper water where the HMS Seriema rested at 18 meters deep to dive to the small warship, the shallowest of 12 that had been intentionally sunk to form artificial reefs around the coastline. The outing was organized a bit hastily, but what the Hell, they both had a day off and the Vernal Gale happened to still be in Hull at the time from Bea’s parents’ trip to Scotland.
"I could get used to this." Jenny gestured around herself with one hand, a bottle of cider in the other one, "A yacht’s going on the wishlist for when I start making the big bucks."
”Let me know if you want help cramming for the captain’s exam.”
"Nah. I’ll be rich, I’ll just hire a crew. Create jobs and catch more bronze."
”I see you’ve got life all figured out.”
"You bet. I should start practicing though. Bosun," She pointed at Bea with a smile, "Reef the anchor and set course for the… port side!"
”Stop it, or you’ll walk the plank.” Bea laughed through the facepalm. ”You reef the sails and the port side is just ‘left.’ But yeah, it’s a great way to get away from the circus.”
"Get away? I thought you thrive in the media hubbub."
”The sport fans, yes. Art fans, kids and dogs. I had to sit through a ten minute Gossip interview yesterday.” She groaned, ”No, I don’t have an opinion on Knight’s new relationship, nor the hat the wife of the Earl of Harewood wore to Silverstone’s opening. Sleep with whoever you like and wear what you think looks good but leave me out of it, I don’t care.” She banged the back of her head against the side of the superstructure she was leaning against as she spoke, drowned out by Jenny's laughter.
"Aww, poor you. I get where you’re coming from though. I’m about ready to walk out every time someone asks about the team’s sale."
”I have to admit, willing that tub into points is an amazing way to distract people from that, Miss points scorer.” Bea reached up and behind her with her own bottle for a toast, ”Am I assuming correctly that ‘something big’ you wanted to talk through is related?”
"Yep. Just want to bounce some ideas off you."
”Well, go on! Spill the tea!” Bea left the diving gear be and leaned over the edge of the the deck saloon, ”And do you want an ear or an opinion?”
“If I ask for the former, would I be spared of the latter?” Jenny asked half-heartedly, Bea miming zipping her mouth closed in response. "I’ve got several offers in my inbox for next season-"
”You do remember that I had the exact opposite problem, right?" Bea interrupted her, ”Not sure how much help I’ll-"
"Silver Apex!" Jenny excitedly blurted out an interruption of her own, followed by two seconds of silence from both women.
”Woah…” Bea’s brain finally got enough traction, too late to continue.
"Yes, I know it’s a poisoned chalice, but chances like this are one in a million! I don’t want to be overly cautious and end up in SuperCat, or rot in- In Fitzroy Orbital AG forever." Jenny caught herself before she breached and NDA by accident.
Before Bea could take a breath to speak, Jen was back in gear, pacing back and forth on the stern deck.
"But Andy’s telling me Valkyrie are also interested in giving me Dorian’s seat." Bea silently moved a loose line from the spot on the floor where Jenny turned on one end of her trajectory, "But I’m not sure about that. I’m leaving one disorganized mess, I fear if I go there I might be stepping into another."
”Valkyrie seems to be on the uptick.” Bea tried to offer a counterpoint.
"When they’re not haemorrhaging critical staff and millions in fines if the news is anything to go by." Jenny paused mid-stride to look at Bea at the ‘haemorrhaging critical staff’ bit before resuming her journey from port side to starboard and back, "And weird as it is I almost feel like the pressure would be less at Silver Apex because they’ve got Amy and the other driver just has to keep pace and not be…"
”Hart?”
"That. But on the flip side I’d need to keep pace with Amy-bloody-Stirling and, yeah, I’m good, but that thought would give anyone pause, right? Well, maybe not Kais."
”Nothing gives Kais pause.” Bea shook her head.
"Plus going to Silver Apex means a lot of chrome, Valkyrie seem more lenient with that. And at Valkyrie I’d stand a much better chance of becoming the number one, even if I only have a year’s experience over Paul and didn’t come up through their junior programme." Jenny stopped pacing, finished the rest of her drink and turned to Bea. "So what would you do?"
”Honestly, I’d choose life over Silver Apex.” Bea answered without thinking, somehow managing to keep a straight face through Jenny’s rant. That was a side of the Yorkshire lass Bea never knew existed and had frankly taken her aback almost as much as the offer to go from the absolute bottom of the ladder to the very top. ”But what works for me doesn’t have to work for you. I’m not being helpful, I know, but I really don’t think I can help. This is your decision, no one else can make that for you. Just, whatever you do, set up a safety net first. I didn’t and sat a year out on the sidelines.”
"Yeah, of course." Jenny mused as she re-upped both their drinks, "Good talk. Rubber ducking helps, thanks."
”Well, whichever way you go,” Bea raised hers with a smile, ”Here’s to the world returning to the way it used to be: Me chasing down your tail lights.”
Jenny returned the smile and sat back down - Bea imagined to catch up on oxygen debt - while she went back to stowing away the rest of the diving gear. ”One last work thing.” Bea looked up from the air tanks, ”I’m thinking of trying to talk León into letting me try Le Mans next year, performance and scheduling gods willing. It’s three drivers to a car, would you if you could?”

---

Sunday June 27th, 2094, 20:31
Near Colorado Springs, Federated American States

Pikes Peak Recreation Center

The video opened with a view of the Sun setting behind Pikes Peak, slowly zooming out and interspersed with quick shots of both a modified 4x4 KrAZ 1055 Rally1 truck and the 2093 Carrera Condor AG ship being thrown around the iconic hillclimb course, the zoom out slowly bringing two helmets and two carved glass crystal trophies placed on the windowsill into view. The crystal beside Bea’s rally helmet - a red and white design inspired by Colin McRae’s Rally of the Lakes 2005 helmet - declared her first place in the Open category while the one next to Bea’s ‘dry’ AG helmet - a neon green European dragon with red details crawling over a coal black helmet she used to run in JAGF - claimed third place in the Unlimited category. The camera drone then whipped around to bring Bea into the frame, sitting inside a log cabin, feet on the table and looking more smug than a cat that got away with eating a canary. ”Still got it.” The smug smirk gave up the stage to a broad grin, ”I’m not going to pretend there wasn’t an element of luck involved, buuuuut… Luck’s part of the gig.” She shrugged, swinging her feet off the table and sat up straight.
”I was still riding the high of Silverstone when I arrived here, and then the truck, the ship, the weather and the crowd all came together. This of course wouldn’t have been possible without Maślanka Motorsport who allowed me the honour of being the first to drive their latest hillclimb special, so go check them out, they look like strong contenders for WRC when they debut next year. The onboard and a look at the heart of that beast will go live tomorrow as usual. It wouldn’t have happened without León signing off on it either, so if you want to see me here next year be sure to let our media team know this was great PR, thank you. Big thanks to Dan Ogier for blowing his tyre.” She giggled, ”I owe you a rematch, and congratulations on keeping it out of the trees and right side up. Soft suspension on those Ivecos, reflexes of a time-travelling cat to keep a hold of that. And thanks to everyone who showed up and stopped to chat. What a weekend.” Definitely one to remember.
”And, with Montreal looking promising from what data we have right now, the ride might continue!” She knocked on the hardwood table immediately afterward, ”We’ll see for sure in…” She checked her watch, ”Six hours.” She paused, leaning forward to the drone with a conspiratorial whisper. ”Seven if I stick to the speed limit.” Cut to a few frames of both the truck and ship crossing the finish line before the video ended.

IronBeer: ‘Seven if I stick to the speed limit’ Please! Fat chance of that.
MadBea: Baseless. Accusations. 😀
IronBeer: Look me in the eye and say that. 😛
MadBea: I think I left the stove on.
_PsychoFish_: Well if Walther ‘I don't wear a helmet for anything over 8 minutes on the Nordschleife.’ Röhrl and Colin ‘If in doubt, flat out.’ McRae are her big role models, it’s a small wonder she hasn’t taken off yet.
AndesAG: thats more Ava’s thing
MaciejMaslanka: Pleasure was ours. See you next year?
MadBea: Deal!
Sol_de_Mayo: I don’t know if they knew exactly what they were doing giving her that truck or if they were holding their breath the entire run.
MaciejMaslanka: It was a great stress test.
NineIron: Imagine racing a spaceship and basically a monster truck on the same day and nailing both.
Briat77: Shame she can’t bring that game in FA. Maybe she should stick to what she’s good at.
Crossfit_Crusader: You’re still being a sore bitch, really?
MissedApex: Riding the Silverstone high? I hardly had time to recover from Silverstone.
UrbanMaverick: In hindsight I agree that second bottle of calvados may have been a mistake.
DohnJoe: get fucked, Caroline!
Xinny: I was there. I saw that KrAZ with the top off. Supercharged opposed-piston six cylinder engine mated to a 12/3 sequential gearbox. Low center of mass, high compression ratio, three reverse gears to get out of ditches quick. This thing will dominate, can’t wait for the detailed breakdown!
hotstuff: too bad they stopped giving out custom watches to category winners, you missed that by what, seven years?
MadBea: Eh, Carrera signed a Breitling sponsorship in Monaco, I’ll live.

---

Carrera Condor NPCs

Raven Squad: Second Storm (Military/Spy-Fi RP) (COMPLETED)

Boraro
Fireteam Hammer, Île de la Tempête

---

The kept moving forward with the resolute certainty of a main battle tank, not bothering to go around problems and instead powering straight through. To quote a certain Russian that used to kick in doors for him: “The fucking fun stops here.”

Three PLA soldiers were felled by the same shot.

A soldier took cover behind a server rack, only to be crushed underneath it when Ebrima boost-sprinted toward it and tipped it over with a drop kick.

An entire fire team was blown up when the shoulder of the one throwing a frag grenade ceased to exist.

It was mayhem, all because Skye was irresponsible enough to give Ebrima a gun that could bitchslap bad guys with the power of god through half a meter of solid concrete. At the same time one could wonder who put that woman in charge and yet at the same time how do you counter a team of insane chaos gremlins of this caliber, even if they weren’t carrying a platoon’s worth of firepower, when the unhinged sides are encouraged?

He followed Skye’s lead after they breached Zhao’s office, keeping his weapon at low ready until Skye started shutting down, instinctively pointing it at Zhao despite that not being able to do much.

He didn’t know much about computers, only what he picked up during the time he knew Enri from her exasperated rants, but he knew that if you were transferring music from a computer to a phone and the bluetooth connection dropped, the transfer was obviously interrupted. A non-functioning computer likewise couldn’t receive data. Transferring data was not transferring either, rather it was making a copy and then deleting the original. And the brain was just a biological computer. Orrather, a computer was an electronic brain, but eh, details. He was just about to put two rounds in the clone’s forehead when Skye dropped like a sack and Skye 2.0 opened her eyes. He kept his shotgun trained on the newly living body, unsure who was in the driver’s seat.

Ebrima’s teeth ground when his sister was mentioned, reflexively turning around and jabbing Zhao in the throat with the muzzle of his shotgun to shut him up. After the old man recovered and reached out to be handcuffed, Ebrima seized him by his dominant hand, squeezing and striking it with a part of his exo’s frame, breaking his wrist and fingers to make sure he wouldn’t do something stupid. He learned that the hard way in Sierra Leone. Abass didn’t need to die that day.

The stream of highland pleasantries confirmed Skye 2.0 was actually Queen. Let’s not tell her how close she was to getting domed just a few seconds earlier.

”Wilk, Boraro.” Ebrima got on comms, getting nothing in response. Of course.

What a situation: Skye 2.0 flapping on the floor like a fish out of water, Rose already upstairs, Zhao gloating like only a self-important cunt could and an uncertain threat from their own side looming on the horizon. ”I couldn’t have simply died in Colombia…” He groused, gears spinning in his brain. ”You, shirt!” He commanded Zhao, holding his left hand out in demand. ”Stand over there, face to the wall!” He ordered once he had it, very easy to imagine an African warlord with a beret two sizes too small about to execute someone with a gold-plated AK for looking at him wrong in his place before he threw the shirt over Skye 2.0 like a blanket. Too small blanket... Good, it provided a needed excuse, this could work.

He walked over to where Zhao was and cuffed him to a pipe in the wall, jogging out of the respawn room and office, tripping over Skye 1.0 on the way out, the body’s head rolling over and giving Skye the experience of looking into her own - not by proxy, actually hers - dead eyes, to where a few dead Chinamen lay and returning with one’s BDU jacket and another’s service pistol, throwing the second jacket over Skye. ”I will be back.”

Either he was a genius or this was the dumbest plan of the month, anywhere in the world.

Skye could only watch a handcuffed Zhao get escorted out of the room by Ebrima. He could vividly imagine the seething hatred of Skye at the moment as he and Zhao stepped through the door of the office and into the bunker. And just before they turned and disappeared from view, Ebrima moved the pistol he was holding on Zhao from his front to his back, taking a longer step to actually end up beside and slightly ahead of Zhao and fired twice, immediately dropping Zhao and the Chinese pistol, raising his M1014 as he turned around and sent three shots into a Chinese body to his right, kicking the dropped pistol over to it as he turned back.

Ebrima returned to the respawn chamber with a Chinese army officer’s trench coat he found in the office in his hand. Laying it out on the floor, he moved Skye 2.0 onto it, like getting a casualty onto a stretcher and wrapped her up, keeping her out of his field of view as much as he could. ”Got your backs, boss, however many you might have.” He grabbed his own sidearm back, slung her over his shoulder almost effortlessly on account of the exo, shifting her around so she wouldn’t get pinched by it if he had to move quickly and sending a Trickster with Skye 1.0’s appearance ahead as he started making their way out of the bunker.

”Wilk, Boraro. Queen is down but breathing. Question nothing, will explain when able. On the way out now.” He cautioned Adam as soon as they reached a part of the bunker where he knew comms worked, switching to a second channel. ”Oracle, Boraro. VIP is KIA by hostile forces and Rose is already in space.”

If he did everything right, neither looting the pistol off the dead Chinaman nor returning it would be visible on his helmet cam - or anyone else’s who might have had one, including Skye’s original body - and as far as anyone investigating would know, an injured but alive Chinese soldier they didn’t dead check killed Zhao rather than risk other powers getting their hands on him.

DELTΔ HYPER (Anti-Gravity Racing, Cyberpunk/Solarpunk RP)

Sunday June 20th, 2094, 13:00
Silverstone, United Kingdom

The Race

Her start may have been a solid five of ten, but Paul and Cassie’s high speed kiss offered a chance at redemption. Side-by-side with Cassie through Luffield - who was scared more would be one hell of a mystery - until Harrison looked around the outside of Copse, her defensive move unsettling the Carrera Condor ship and allowing Harrison to sail past her down the inside with a switchback as she drifted out, pacifying her unruly ship on the edge of track limits only for Harrison to get overtaken again halfway to Maggots with a mighty burst of her ELS.

Layla made a good attempt when Bea had to move off the line to block a lunge Cassie was setting up, but Bea held her line, leaving her just about a ship’s width on the outside of Abbey, translating into forcing her to the inside of Farm and leaving Layla the choice of either driving into the side of her or backing out, the Jordanian wisely choosing the latter.
”If that had been Jamie, we’d have another red.”
”Manners, Bea, and focus.”

She was relentless. If she wasn’t making an honest attempt at an overtake, she at least feinted to keep the driver ahead of her guessing. She braked for corners early or slightly off the racing line, compromising her entry but also forcing the driver behind her to take a suboptimal line and making up ground when she got early on the throttle and shot out of the corner. According to León, that had been a common tactic of his grandfather’s. Cassie’s ship was on par on speed, but wounded from the collision, leveling the playing field. Harrison’s was faster, but he seemed to be struggling with stability, something Bea was having problems of her own with, but also a wealth of experience. Layla’s may have outpaced hers, but was held back either by worse handling or the presence of a rational brain on board, playing it safe and letting several opportunities go to waste.

Near the end of the race, Layla and Dorian had turned their sights on each other for a few laps, allowing her to build up an energy reserve that would come in handy when she overcooked it into Village and lost three positions, leading to her Herculean drive in the final minutes of the race.

Full speed through Maggots and Becketts past the struggling Zygon sled - Cassie.

Down the straight out of Woodcote at full energy deployment - Dorian.

A last lap feint around the outside of turn 17 and down the inside of Club to get through, straight to the finish - Layla.

Only then did she realize she hadn’t been breathing since Stowe.

”Fuck me that was close!”
”But it counts!”
”Tell me where we are! I see it on my HUD, but I want to hear it.”
”P5! Fucking brilliant, that!”
”Note for mechanics, check exterior for Al-Saqr green. Note two, you all are drinking on me next Saturday. You’ll have to celebrate without me today, sorry.”
”They already are.”
”As they should. YES!”
”Bea, fantastic job today scoring our first top five in as many years.”
”Thank you, sir. We’ll try to keep them coming if possible.”

In parc fermé, she could be seen shaking hands, patting shoulders and trading quips and compliments with the four other drivers she tangoed with throughout the race.

”You two gave me quite the scare at the end. Where did you come from?” She threw an arm around Dorian and Layla’s shoulder each, having to tiptoe to reach. ”You can’t do that to me, or my hair will turn grey and I will have to ask Jen to hook me up.” She grinned mischievously.

”Shame about the start. For you, not me, likely would have had me otherwise.” She addressed Cassie seriously before switching to a jovial tone, ”Those were some battles. You weren’t taking out that I didn’t visit you in the hospital on me, were you? I was going to, but then PR happened.”

”You should fumble qualifying more often.” She appeared from behind Harrison’s ship, offering the Kiwi a handshake and a smile. ”As you can see, we have heaps of fun in the midfield. Thanks for the race.”

DELTΔ HYPER

Episode Eight: The Chain

---

Bea ascended the Delta Hyper stage, waving and blowing kisses at the crowd. She sauntered up to the back of the couch, vaulting over the backrest to take her seat.

”Bea Ward, P5 and at home, you must be on top of the world, and definitely shocking fans with what have been outstanding performances so far? What a fight you gave in the midfield, you must be exhausted after that!”

”Uhh, yeah. Still catching my breath.” She beamed with a smile so bright one could easily mistake for a canal defense light, ”I mean, the top is five floors above, but realistically speaking, I’m on cloud nine. Though I shouldn’t have said ‘Pinch me!’ within earshot of Jen. She’s fast like a cobra, even out of the ship.”

”And well, what about your last minute overtakes, tell us how it felt?”

”Ah, it was beautiful. No strategy, no shitebox holding you up on a track you can’t hold your arms out at, much less overtake, just the drivers, the machines and the mechanics that built and tuned them before the race.” She jabbered excitedly, striking a camera drone with her elbow by accident. ”This? This is what racing is! Isn’t it, Silverstone?” She turned to the crowd.

”Do you think the hype coming from other teams looking to sign you this season has any substance?”

”I don’t know. It could be empty paddock talk, it could be some people regretting a missed opportunity.” She leaned back comfortably on the interview couch with a shrug, allowing herself this bit of smugness. ”After all, you can’t believe everything you hear in the media. They’re always hungry for drama.” She briefly paused with a shit-eating grin before leaning forward and patting Aurora on the shoulder, ”I jest.”

---

Bea Ward @MadBea:
"Hear ye, hear ye! Yours truly will be in attendance at the 178th Pikes Peak International Hillclimb, Friday 25th to Sunday 27th.
Because León is not at a high enough risk of heart attack. 😛
We have a ton of fun in store both for rally and AG fans alike in the Pikes Peak Open and Exhibition classes, plus I also owe @DanOgier a whooping and I think @Wedge_MMR is going too.
I’m looking forward to seeing if the American Crowd can match the noise of Silverstone, because my ears are still buzzing from this weekend.”

#MadLads #PikesPeakInternational

CarreraCarmen: Poor León getting called out like that. 😀
AndesAG: Three overtakes in a lap. Holy. Shit.
Richie: Ogier is cooked. #RallyBrave
DohnJoe: or she finna die next week
Briat77: Did you really use ‘cooked’ in 2094?
CrossfitCrusader: Sucks about Paul tho.
Zero: Caused it himself and screwed over Neves.
LaughNess: Poor lass needs some luv’ aye?
Mate0: Why is she actually gooood? I don’t want to like the Pirata, but I’m running out of arguments by this point.
MadBea: Appreciate the honesty.
Sol_de_Mayo: We were the ones waving the Argentinian flag on Thursday, we got your back! #RallyBrave
Shel1: First the donuts in Copse, then this. Best money I spent this year and that’s counting the skydiving gear!
UrbanMaverick: I love the sunglasses.
GaryFrom indiana: Not that you need them in UK.
UrbanMaverick: Fair.
ForzaGl0ria: Trova donne single attraenti nella tua zona: [link]
ForzaGl0ria: Please ignore that, I got hacked! Anyone know how to delete comments on here?
HotStuff: what the fuck is villarosa doing lately
CloroxEnjoyer: Struggling.
Xinny: It’s the stability. She’s always had problems with that. Give Felix time to cook.
CloroxEnjoyer: I just worry he’ll need a rat under his hat to cook that good.
TruckerTim: Reset the ‘Races since Hart fucked it’ counter.

Siobhán Manning @GalwayGirl:
"On behalf of MadLads, Escuadrón Villarosa and Carrera Condor fans in general, thank you, @TeamValkyrie, for letting us have Felix.
Glad @ValkyriePaul is OK. Hope you like marzipan (the real stuff, from actual almonds!)
[Image of a cake shaped like the Nürburgring, done in Valkyrie colors, with marzipan models of both of the team’s current ships and figurines of Paul and Dorian with comically oversized helmets stood atop it]”

#FormulaAG #AGRacing #ValkyrieAGRSport #CarreraCondorFA #MadLads #Escuadrón_Villarosa

That same sponge cake with banana and chocolate flavoring would arrive by post to the Valkyrie headquarters later that week.

---

Carrera Condor NPCs

DELTΔ HYPER (Anti-Gravity Racing, Cyberpunk/Solarpunk RP)

Friday june 18th, 2094, 20:30
Silverstone, United Kingdom

Late Shift

”Mierda. This is a hell of a day. You must be exhausted?
Well, this is the life. Tomorrow tends to be easier. Fridays are always crazy. And Sundays? Well, if you put it on podium, you are getting hearing damage.”

”How long have you known me?” Bea kicked off against the wall and rolled over to Ava on her chair, ”11 months now? A year? And you still can’t comprehend fan interactions recharging my batteries?” The Brit chuckled.
”No.”
”Monaco was worse. At least we had that Argentinian brewery and the Breitling execs, they seemed to care, but most of them…” Bea held her head in her hands, ”They are there to make sponsorship deals with AG racing teams, you would think they would do some homework.
‘Why do the ships have engines on the back, doesn’t the antigravity generator push you forward?’
‘Why don’t all teams copy last year’s winning ship?’ ” She mocked with appropriately stupid-sounding voices, ”And my favourite, some gossip journo asking ‘Wouldn’t it be easier to understand if they gave gaps between ships in meters rather than seconds?’ That was exhausting.”
”You can’t expect business people to understand the sport.“ Ava shrugged, ”You’d be just as lost in business.”
”True, and guess what? That’s why my sister takes over the company, not me.” bea crossed her arms in defense, snapping her fingers as she remembered something. ”But speaking of my family, my mum wants to meet my coworkers. You’re invited to dinner on Sunday at eight. Beef Wellington. Real beef. Can you make it or is it a bad time?”
”I’ll be there, if you tell me where.”
”Great! I’ll drive you after we’re done here, just let me know ahead of time if you’ll be going back to your hotel or if I should set up the sofa for you.”
”The sofa? I’m not good enough for the guest room to you?” Ava smiled.
”I don’t have a guest room. I don’t need a big house, I barely spend half a year in it anyway. If you lay down by the front door, your legs will be in the neighbor’s garden.” Bea laughed, joined by Ava. ”Anyway, I’ll get going, don’t stay up too late. I’ll pick you up at your hotel tomorrow at seven. See you then” Bea waved as she walked backwards toward the door.
”Good night.” Ava waved and turned back to her terminal before Bea’s head reappeared around the doorframe a few seconds later.
”Oh, and you owe me 50 Pesos. Got out of that Merc under my own power. Thank you, Rocklin Augmentics, for full-length cyberarms. Back will be sore tomorrow though, I’m already starting to feel that.” Bea grinned, ”I take payment in Frugelés or Arbolitos.”
”Your pronunciation is getting better.” Ava simply chuckled before the Brit disappeared again and she plunged back into the data from her last practice session.

---

Saturday June 19th, 2094, 14:00
Silverstone, United Kingdom

Qualifying

The number 18 Carrera Condor ship tore across the circuit, flowing gracefully through Abbey and Farm, ploughing through Luffield like an overloaded van with baking sheets under the front wheels, blasting through Copse at full throttle, wobbling through the left-right-left-right of Maggotts and Becketts while somehow gaining time on Max through there, which would spawn a short series of video edits of that section of her qualifying lap spliced together with some of her more suicidal cornering back in WRC, and charging across the Hangar Straight into Stowe, where she pulled her little stunt in the Mercedes W11 earlier in the week over which she received a sternly-worded e-mail from FIAR and made a friend of the elderly engineer looking after it and several of its siblings.

She also brought a special helmet for her home race, the unhinged Husky covered in signatures and messages from kids from the schools she’d visited earlier in the season replaced with a more serious design, split into four equal sections displaying the flags of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

”Nice one! That’s provisional P1, we’re expecting P9.”
”Yeeees! Fueled by the crowd’s vibes, let’s go!“ She hollered, fully aware that bit would be broadcast. ”I have no clue how I didn’t bin it on entry to Becketts, the ship felt ready to roll over.” She laughed the tension of the lap away.
”You know what that was?”
”What?”
”*BEEEEEP*ing. Spectacular.” Alistair called back to Bea’s cheer after qualifying in South Africa.
”Haha. Don’t jinx us. Ah, it’s better than practice, but Luffield is still painful with this understeer.”
”Felix and the crew claim they’ve got a workaround, hang in there, both of you.”
”I still can’t believe our luck with that signing.”
”Maybe we should send them a cake? At least a thank-you note?”

---

Saturday June 19th, 2094, 21:47
London, GB

Richmond, Lauderdale Drive

Over the years, Bea’s bedroom had rapidly become a sim room with a bed and wardrobe. What was initially just her computer and a driving sim rig, which itself was quickly swapped out for a full motion model, was soon joined by a full motion flight sim with small changes made to it to mimic an AG ship control setup. And it was getting a lot of action that evening, with six rally mechanics each with a beverage of choice and both of the rigs hooked up to a computer each, one pair was trying to beat Bea’s personal best times in Dirt Rally 19’s driver-codriver coop mode, the rest trying to hold their pints in throughout the Dubai circuit in the official FA 2093 game in VR.

In the adjacent living room, Bea and a thin, tall man with a brown mohawk sat on the couch, drinks in hand and feet on the table, the day’s Junior Formula Antigravity race on the TV.
”Sae, how is yer teammate takin’ th’ fact you’re up ten points an’ leadin’ 5 tae 3 in qualifying?” Gareth Burns, Bea’s former co-driver and present co-driver and owner of the Black Isle Rally2 team, asked.
”If it bothers her, she’s good at hiding it. Doesn’t sound like her though, we’re both alike in that regard, say what we think.”
”Tactless? Ow!” Gazza suggested, earning himself a friendly metal elbow to the ribs.
”Blunt.” She finished her sentence. ”But I don’t think she minds. We’re not that far off on actual pace. Well, I hope she doesn’t mind.”
”...Soonds like her loss if she does? Think o’ everything she can learn from ye?” Gareth tried to lift the mood.
”Ah, who knows? Maybe I’ll get tired of FIAR and the politics soon and go elsewhere. Pro touge looks fun.”
”Ye cannae dae that tae yer poor ma’.” He objected with genuine concern.
”No, I can’t.“ She shook hear head, ”Rallycross then.”
”Sae no running back tae rallying either?”
”I would be lying if I said I don’t miss the co-driver. Can’t shoot the shite over the radio like that. Whenever I’m learning a new circuit, I still partition it out into pace notes and they play in your tartan twang in my head. Except now when they’re wrong, I only have myself to complain about.” She grinned past her beer.
”Awright now, that only happened four times, that’s less than twa times a season! How many times did ye break th’ car in impossible ways?”
”Three times… In the first year.” She had to admit defeat. ”Worst comes to worst, I can try commentary. Though I may be a tad…”
”Blunt?”
”Tactless, for that.” She grinned.
The conversation froze as on the screen in front of them, Elise Vogel and Alice Thovex got into the mix, the battle for P10 lasting from Abbey all the way to Brooklands where Thovex’ zeal finally gave way to Vogel’s experience and the Carrera Condor junior driver pulled ahead to a cheer from Bea.
”Ah heard Caroline’s still a salty twat?”
”Worse than you remember.”
”Absolute cunt.”
”Rich people, right?”
”Word.”
The two almost stopped cackling when a loud round of cheers signalled two mechanics finishing their rally stage and actually surpassing Bea’s time by six thousandths of a second.
Bea pointed to the door. ”Do we break the delusion?”
”Ye read mah mind.” Gazza sprang out of his seat.
She finished the rest of her beer. ”A second faster or I’m taking you all to Pikes Peak next week.”

DELTΔ HYPER

Episode Eight: The Chain

---

@LadyAmber

”Bea, what's your question for Paul?”

Bea sighed. ”Why must you spring this on me like this, you know I’m less decisive than the parliament.” She groaned into her hands.

She took upwards of 20 seconds to think of something of any value, taking a breath to apologize for wasting Aurora’s time when it hit her.

”If there was one area you could expand the scope of the Mulder Foundation into, anything at all, what would it be? Or would you leave it as it is because that’s how your mother intended it?”

---

@MrSkimobile

“Now for your question. Turn the sheet over.” Aurora instructed.

”How do you decide what to paint? What to share, put out there, show to others, and what to keep inside?”

Bea read out loud.

”I think you grossly overestimate the amount of thought that goes into anything I do. At least things that only concern me.” She answered with a shake of her head immediately, the stark contrast to figuring out what to ask proving her point. ”If I’m doing a tutorial for some specific technique, then I’ll choose things that will work best with what I’m doing. Say, when I wanted to try a different way of blending colors, I painted a big eye with central heterochromia because of the way the iris looks. Otherwise, whatever strikes my fancy is what gets painted.” She explained a bit more in detail.
“Did anyone ever come to blows over your paintings?”
”Not that I’m aware of, no.” Bea shook her head, momentarily taken aback by the question. ”The odd auction aside, anything I paint that I don’t keep ends up given away to my fans, who are all well behaved, or to hospitals and I would hope no one is fighting there.”
“And did you?” Aurora sneaked in Kais’ other question.
”Not over paintings.” She shook her head.
This time it was Aurora who looked surprised. “The way you phrase that implies you got into a fight?”
”Some people lack elementary wisdom, such as not talking shite about the parents of their classmate who has titanium knuckles.” Bea shrugged, ”*BEEP* you, Lyndsey.” She added, an amused grin breaking through.

---

Carrera Condor NPCs

Raven Squad: Second Storm (Military/Spy-Fi RP) (COMPLETED)

Boraro
Fireteam Hammer, Île de la Tempête

---

When the Cameroonian emerged from the armory, his armor was sporting a fresh red tone to his camouflage. He dried off the kukri’s blade with the sleeve of one of the Artemis mercs before sheathing it, after shaking the wearer’s arm out of it, and turned his attention to his new Benelli M1014, an old but proven semi-auto workhorse known to perform the Disappearing Head magic trick just as well as the Origin and somehow do it with only about five and a half moving parts. This one came with a holographic sight as well, how nice of them.

And while he was shopping, he also grabbed a few incendiary grenades. Wouldn’t want the world-ending freaks to be cold in their last moments, after all. But a shadow was descending over them. Quite literally as the bimbo momentarily blocked out the Sun during her arrival. Who let a child run a PMC? Later, perhaps, he might consider his words out of line, but in the moment he couldn’t have less patience for Athena’s antics if one paid him, simply walking past her before she had a chance to regroup. Still a job to do. He followed Skye out of the ruin of the R&D building, checking the charge of his two remaining Tricksters and seeing two full bars with quiet satisfaction. He deployed the second Scout drone, setting it to follow 50 meters directly above Athena and tag hostels on her HUD while the one he set up before followed after him.

Oh yes. As if they weren’t cheating enough before, Skye, Athena and Ebrima now had wallhack. And it was just as much a bloodbath as it sounded like to the point of Ebrima almost feeling bad for them had he not known their end goal.

It had been a real weird few months. How little stood between him being killed by a world-ending neurotoxin and being none the wiser. How little stood between him being unaware of all of this or even being approached by Artemis and dying here, on the geoengineering rig or anywhere else Raven left smoldering ruins in their wake. That poor bastard, right there? The one that just got crushed underfoot by Athena? That could have been him.

Better be lucky than good, right?

The CAV skidded to a halt by the hole leading into the command center, breaching the bunker requiring his full focus once more. The trio leapfrogged through the bunker in a hail of lead, tungsten and white phosphorus thanks to his raid of the armory in the R&D building, cutting down PLA troops like a weedwhacker until a pair of exo operators timed it well, the one disadvantage of the tube-fed 1014 being the reload time, especially when coupled with having loose shotgun shells dumped into the drum magazine pouches.

Ebrima ducked the first burst with no small amount of help from the Tricksters, both of the drones alternating between between recharge and being active to make sure he was never without coverage, though steadily depleting both in the all-or-nothing fight. The closer one got clubbed in the face with the stock and swiftly kicked away, a problem to be dealt with later while the other soldier sent a three-round burst into his abdomen, the rounds striking like hammer blows but ultimately not enough to stop the Cameroonian’s momentum, the PLA soldier getting shoulder checked and carried along with the charging albino while he jammed the barrel of his sidearm into a gap between thigh plates and emptied the magazine, either the bullets or bone fragments turning the Chinaman’s femoral artery into shreds judging by the amount of blood coming out. But turning to address the delayed problem, Ebrima was faced with the sight of the soldier falling and Skye swearing.

It would seem the trend of other people’s misfortune being his good luck was continuing as the last dying action of some PLA troops was to disable Skye’s exo, which meant Ebrima now had a railgun, trading it for his MDRx and magazines. He may have lost wallhack indoors, but now he could ignore most cover.

This really wasn’t Rose’s day.

DELTΔ HYPER (Anti-Gravity Racing, Cyberpunk/Solarpunk RP)

Sunday June 6th, 2094, 14:00
Principality of Monaco

The race

”Green!”

Bea had a ‘3,6’ start - not great, not terrible. Layla was struggling ahead though, made evident by Bjorn getting by her that easily. Bea would follow two laps later, a well-timed use of ELS and a better exit out of Portier making it look effortless. Kais was next, being held up by Astrid’s damaged ship ahead. But she wasn’t just holding him up, Bea could vividly imagine the gap between Astrid and whoever was ahead of her growing corner by corner.
”Al, can we get that scrapheap out of the way? So we can actually have a race for crying out loud?”
”We’re on it. Save your energy and try a repeat of Portier to get by Kais.”

Trying a repeat of Portier didn’t work, Kais being much more on top of his ship than Layla was.
”Okay, Bea, update: Astrid’s ship isn’t dangerous so she can’t be meatballed.”
”Mate, that’s a load of shite, it’s not fit for competition!”
”It’s what it is. Focus on hitting your marks.”
”Hit my marks, they’re impossible to miss at this pace, did the stewards forget to pack the black and orange flag or what?”

”Safety ship is out, keep the delta positive.”
”What happened?”
”Hart’s ship is all over the track.” Alistair confirmed a second later as Bea passed Han, the Korean recovering from the collision. Free position. ”Looks like Hart’s out and Han is rejoining the race.”
’A second junker on the track, grand… On the plus side, Han’s interview might be spicy.’

The fight with Kais, brief as it was, was the most fun she had in the 45 minutes of the Monaco race. Not like it had a lot of competition. And then Astrid had to screw even that up.
”Astrid just slammed into Kais right in front of me.” She reported as she slipped past Kais’ slowing ship, first hoping she made it through before the safety ship deployed and then surprised one wasn’t necessary.
”It doesn’t look like you picked up any debris.”
”NOW can we get her off the track? Is she dangerous enough now, or does she need to take someone out completely?”
”Leave that to us, you worry about getting past in the meantime.”
’At least you had the bloody decency to take yourself out when you rammed Han in Italy, get the fuck out of the way!’

”That’s P12.”
”Just shy of a useful finish.”
Still better than what she expected to walk away with, even if she didn’t have any points in hand.

---

DELTΔ HYPER

Episode Seven: Roll the Dice

---

”Bea, a quiet race from you and not from Ava either. Was it frustrating to be unable to overtake Astrid?”

”I felt like mister Bean trying to get past the old lady in the stairwell. And for what? She’s not even in points. Any other track she’d be P19. What a joke.” Bea was uncharacteristically bitter, even more so than in Cape Town.
”Happy to see Nora seems to be the same.” Her tone shifted to a more positive note, ”At least that’s something.”

---

Sunday June 6th, 2094, 15:00
Principality of Monaco

Post race

Having finished up her talk with Aurora, Bea fell into pace beside Ava, always having to extend her steps when the two walked anywhere together. Wasn’t that long ago when she saw an image of them side by side walking toward the camera, except with pointy ears and a longbow across the back photoshopped to Ava and an axe and Gimli’s helmet over Bea.

”Congrats. Well done on surviving Sainte Devote. I saw you get caught behind Astrid. Not easy to overtake, right?”

”See this?” Bea finished her bottle of water and held it up, ”That’s this race.” She crumpled it up with one hand and threw it in a trash can they were passing by. ”Let’s leave it in there, where it belongs, and find some nicer topic for conversation.”

”Still getting used to my legs. Finding my feet, as they say in English...”

So naturally Ava followed it with a pun. She was learning. ”Just because the yacht party’s over doesn’t mean you cannot still end up in the marina, Ace.” Bea chuckled.
”Oh? You and what army?” Ava teased in response.
”Don’t test my fans.” Bea poked back without a hint of a pause.
”Point taken.”

”My mother and father came out to see me. Would you like to meet them?”

”Sure! I have a feeling you’ll be meeting mine in two weeks time anyway, let’s go.”

---

Bea Ward @MadBea:
"Congratulations to @JennyFOAG for a well-deserved point and better luck next time, @ASZenix. It was fun while it lasted..

Something special is cooking for Silverstone. Don’t miss it.”

#CarreraCondorFA #FormulaAG #AGRacing

DadManWalking: I got up at five in the morning for this…
UrbanMaverick: Lmao even Bea couldn’t think of anything to say about this snoozer.
Zero: Watching Astrid here was painful.
SmolNjol: If you can’t overtake a crippled ship, maybe look inward.
Crossfit_Crusader: Overtake HOW? Try down the outside, you get pushed out because Astrid’s ship ain’t turning and if you go down the inside, you’ll get pushed out the outside of the following corner for the same reason.
DohnJoe: mf didn’t ya see the race at all? tried down every corner, no dice
YorkshirePudding: POINTS FOR JENNY, FUCK YEEEEEAH!
Shel1: And more for Kofi too!
NorthWest: And Bjorn. Not like it’s saving his career tho.
MissedApex: DTM is calling his name.
Xinny: I’m wondering what Burkhart is cooking, because if the rumored deal with Sarif Industries goes through and we get some driver augs from this century for the second half of the season plus whatever he’s working on, oh my.
CarreraCarmen: I just wish they’d up the stability. Ava’s ship was shaking like a Chihuahua that saw its own shadow after every crest.
Xinny: CC bought their repulsors and magpacks from Southern Cross and they made some improvements to theirs, so it’s possible.
TruckerTim: Aurora: “What's going through your mind before you hit the throttle when the lights go out?” Jamie: [link]
IronBeer: Well, the lights are well and truly out in there.

---

Monday June 7th, 2094, 10:39 local
Buenos Aires, Argentina

”The Ranch” (Carrera Condor Formula AG Team headquarters)

It was the same-old meeting room, the same debriefing. Well, one face was different.
”To begin with: I know you’ve already met, and you know him well by reputation, but this being his first official team meeting I thought It would make sense to officially welcome Felix on board.”
”Thank you, León, and to everyone else for the warm welcome. I’m looking forward to working with you all, and to taking the ship which my predecessor already did amazing things with to new heights.”
”And with that, let’s start with the only thing that worked out flawlessly at Monaco.” He handed off to the team’s head of communications.
”All four of you did an outstanding job representing the team, although I’d like to have a few words with Bea after the meeting. I know some of you don’t like the media, or the politics,” The portly Colombian glanced at Ava and bea respectively, ”But if life was never bad, how would you ever know that it’s good?
In addition to Breitling extending their deal with us until 2099 and Sarif Industries all but closing the deal behind the scenes, PolarVault are very eager to work with us.”
”Norwegian biotech company.” Bea’s hologram leaned over and whispered when Ava looked confused.
”No joy.” Ava shook her head
”We spoke to them at the casino, just after the waiter spilled wine on Ben Hale.” Bea tried to clarify, ”Vat-grown fish and neural link response time optimization.”
”Ah, now I remember.”
”They are hoping to break into the South American market, so we’ll need Ava to do some PR work with them in Argentina.”
”I like how you put vatfish before faster reflexes.” The whispers continued.
”We’re also still in talks with a Spanish fashion and a British financial company, but that will still need some time.”
”I like salmon, but it’s hard to get.” The Briton shrugged.

Some time later…

The meeting room cleared out, leaving just Flávia and Bea’s hologram practically at opposite ends of the table.
”Now. About the Princess…”

---

Sunday 06/06 22:11 JEN [Batt: 48%]

———— Wednesday - 02/06/2094 ————

> If I had a penny every time my luggage got lost flying to Monaco, I’d have two pennies. Which is not only not much, but it’s also extremely tiresome.
[You reacted with 😀]
> Two years in a row!
> Oh nooo!
> When are you landing?
> Still over the Atlantic. AA are serving quinoa pancakes, send help.
> Oh no, something healthy and without sugar!
> And since when are you in alcoholics anonymous? 😀
> Aerolíneas Argentinas.
> And I don’t think you appreciate the horror of it. It tastes like burning plastic smells.
[“Jen” reacted with 😀]
> Have you tried not eating it?
> I overslept and missed breakfast, it’s this or starvation until dinner.
> [Image of Jenny holding a blueberry muffin with a bakery display case in the background.]
[You reacted with 😀]
> I should get better friends... 😛

———— Sunday - 06/06/2094 ————

> Congratulations on your first points in the top tier!
[“Jen” reacted with ❤️]
> Thank you. It feels unreal, like I blinked and suddenly the race is over and someone’s yelling ‘P10!’ into my ear.
> So you’ve had a taste. Welcome among the addicted. 😀
> A year late if you ask me, genuinely surprised what you can accomplish with that tub.
> Haha, yep. I caught some of your overtakes on the big screens. I mean, outside through Haute? Down the corkscrew?
> At that point I was going for a maneuver kill to borrow a word from Ava’s previous job to be honest.
> I kept waiting for another safety ship. 😀
> Something, something, desperate measures? I still don’t know how you got past.
[“Jen” reacted with 😀]
> Magic!
> Could I borrow your Hogwarts textbook?

Monday 07/06 22:11 DAD [Batt: 98%]

———— Saturday - 29/05/2094 ————

> Movie night at eight still on?
> Still on.
> Should I bring snacks?
> I have chilli crisps and wasabi pistachios.
> Understood, bringing my own. 😛
[“Dad” reacted with 😀]

———— Thursday - 03/06/2094 ————

> Good luck in Monaco! We’re holding our breaths here.
[You reacted with ❤️]

———— Sunday - 06/06/2094 ————

> Race done and dusted, do you want anything from Monaco?
> Besides cognac?
> I was just going to ask, thank you.
> It’s almost like I know you or something. 😛
> You have Dan Ogier to thank though.
> Should I ask your mother and sister?
> I’ve got so many perfumes between the three of us my carry-on is clinking like an alcoholic’s bag.
[“Dad” reacted with 😀]

———— Monday - 07/06/2094 ————

> You told me Margaret borrowed the car for a date.
> Does the statute of limitations apply here? 😀
[“Dad” reacted with 😀]
> What I’d like to know is how you covered it up?
> A lady never tells.
> Did you get your old rally mechanics to come up from Biggin Hill and fix it up?
> ...
> I asked two of my old rally mechanics to come up from Biggin Hill and fix it up.
[“Dad” reacted with 😀]
> It’s almost like I know you or something. 😛
[You reacted with 😀]

---

Carrera Condor NPCs