"This is FUN....WE'RE HAVING FUN!"

[Adrian Lynd]

The suns were setting and that suited the two teenage Sith in all black just fine. They were undercover, their lightsabers were not on full display, instead they wore a black cloak covering them. They looked like poorly dressed off worlders who did not understand that black was not the color to be wearing on Tattooine. Their Master's collective idea of a sick joke when they acquired the cloaks for them.

"Adrian, it's been three weeks. Isn't there an easier way to do this?"

The sixteen year old Sith nodded quietly, his blue eyes betraying a since of annoyance that he was hiding just beneath the surface.

"Easier? Absolutely, but then we're drawing the attention of the Ji'dai. We could walk in and steal the money to fund our endeavors on Coruscant, that would be much easier, but then the holonews might pick it up and we might be noticed. Subtlety is our cloak of darkness that we must hide behind."

The other sixteen year old sighed.

"Yeah but podracing Adrian? We're relying on someone else to win, we can't cheat because of what you just said and we're splitting the winnings with the pilot who by the way hasn't shown up just yet. It all seems too risky."

Adrian sighed audibly.

"Look, it's going to be fine. Xextos are notoriously late and famously good podracers. He'll be here and we are going to win, that pod is fast and we got it at a steal. Plus...when was the last time we had some actual fun Sirius?"

As Adrian finished reassuring his Kage comrade, a speeder that appeared to be swerving back and forth sped towards them at a rather alarming velocity.

"This must be him now..."

"I'm...I'm not sure...."

He squinted his golden eyes at the speeder.

"...IF HE SEES US!"

Both young men immediately jumped out of the way into the sand, the coarse and still hot sand burned their skin especially the pale and delicate looking skin of young Sirius. The speeder turned sharply and dug into the sand and grinded to a halt. Adrian was the first to stand up and brushed the sand from his cloak and dark brown hair. He shook his head in disgust as his blue eyes narrowed on the speeder. The door opened with a hiss and there was a distinctive odor that rushed out of the cockpit. Out stepped a four armed creature, he used his left upper arm to pull himself from the speeder while the remaining three held bottles of assorted and opened alcoholic beverages.

"TASGANO...is....*hiccup* BOW BEFORE...*hiccup* THE KING OF LEGEND OF....KINGS...OF *hiccup...gag...* TASGANO....ERR....PODRACING.

Sirius pulled himself to his feet and shook his head staring dumbfoundedly at the scene. This was not going well, this was not a good sign and they should just give up and get the money through some other means, but Adrian was right when was the last time they actually had fun? The young Kage shook his head.

"...He's drunk Adrian."

"HOW DARES YOU...PRETTY BOY...*hiccup* I am...perfectly....sObEr."

The Xexto took a drink from each of his three arms that had a bottle in it.

Adrian brought his hand to his forehead and sighed again. This was bad. The race was in the morning...

"Thanks...I hadn't noticed."

Said the young Sith, blatant sarcasm dripping from every word. He turned his attention to Tasgano, whom he was more than a bit annoyed with.

"Greetings Tasgano, your reputation as a racer proceeds you. I am Devan and this Andres, we haven't much time we'd like to show you the pod which is in the hangar behind us if you're feeling up to it?"

"GREAT TASGANO *gag...belch* IS ALWAYS UP...TO THE TASSFKF....AT....TASKS...UP."

He took three more drinks and raised his free hand in the air pointing towards the hangar.

"ONWARD...!"

As he took a step towards the hangar the entire planet seemed to start spinning. He staggered and looked up at the twilight sky....

"Six...SIX SUNS? I THOUGHTED TWO?"

He took another drink and then without warning projectile vomited all over everything in front of him, the two Sith quickly stepped aside as everything went black and he fell face first into the sand unconscious.

Sirius watched the famous podracer faceplant in a pool of his own vomit. He glanced to Adrian.

"This is going well..he's going to suffocate if we don't get him up and as much as I'm not opposed to that, we're all in on this right now and..."

Adrian nodded with obvious annoyance oozing from his aura.

"Grab his left I'll grab his right and we'll get him into the hangar. The pit droids are working through the night, brew some caff and I'll shoot him up with some adrenaline in a few hours to wake his ass up."

The two young men sloshed through the vomit filled sand, knelt down, the warm and disgusting smelling stomach contents soaking through the knees of their trousers, they each lifted up the unconscious Xexto pilot and started to drag his motionless body towards the hangar. Painfully aware that his mouth was still dripping vomit and of course that his clothes were soaked in it which in turn was soaking them in it.

"I'm glad we're having fun Adrian."

"Just shut up."

The two Sith carried the Xexto into the hangar and set him down on the floor. They had a lot of work to do and sleep was now not on the agenda. They had been hoping that the famous racer could assist the pit droids with some minor problems with the power coupling and some high pressure indicators that they were getting when the engines were at idle. All of this would have to be done by them now and while they were both competent, neither one of them had the experience in dealing with these sorts of things. They worked late into the night and into the early hours of the morning, their fingers were blooded and hands covered in grease. The pit droids were competently incompetent. One would fix something or tighten down a transducer and the other would remove the same transducer and replace it with a fresh one, they were a model of inefficiency. It's no wonder why Podracing was so dangerous, the speed wasn't your enemy it was your own mechanics and pit crew that plopped you into a metal death trap that traveled at near supersonic speeds.

As the suns crept up over the horizon, Sirius threw a bucket of water on the passed out Tasgano, once he sat up arms flailing wildly Adrian jabbed him in the neck with a syringe filled with Adrenaline. He had researched the dosage last night, he didn't want to kill the imbecile...not yet at least.

"Tasgano, we've got to get to the track. There is some caf waiting for you, maybe take a mug for each arm? I want you to look at the pod when we get there..."

The Xexto stretched out his right upper arm and extended his index finger and pressed it against Adrian's lips....

Shhhhhhhhh human....Tasgano's head hurts...

Sirius snickered uncontrollably at seeing Adrian shushed. There was not a Sith in the academy who would dare even think about doing that to him and yet this non force sensitive podracer with a drinking problem did it without batting an eye and Adrian was going to let him get away with it.

"Well that has you told. Shall we?"

The Kage Sith grinned at Adrian, the suns were killing his naturally pale skin and the sand had been torture in and of itself. It was a constant annoyance, he couldn't even clean himself properly after answering the call of nature without sanding getting involved which redefined the word unpleasant for him. Yet seeing Adrian slowly tortured but this weakling and not being able to do anything about it, made it all worth it.

Adrian shot his fellow Sith a glare and nodded. The group then begun their journey to the track. As it was they had been scheduled for inspection at about 0845 and that gave them plenty of time. As they arrived, the pod and pilot went through inspection they paid their entry fee and went to the garage area to work on the pod. It was now nearing race time, they had about an hour to go before the Boonta Classic and everything but the pilot seemed to be in great shape. Adrian climbed into the pod and fired the engines and the high pressure light came on again. He motioned for Tasgano to come over and he pointed to it. The Xexto nodded and rubbed his head with two of his hands...

I'LL LOOK AT IT!

He made his way over tot he right engine and stared down at it being sure to keep clear of the exhaust. The noise was overwhelming and his head was not feeling it, but he pressed on. He knelt down and found the problem, he carefully reached in and slightly loosened bolt. The light went out on the dash.

"ENGAGE THE HOLDING BRAKE AND REV THE ENGINES"

Shouted Tasgano, Adrian nodded from the cockpit and pushed the throttles forward. As he did the light came on again as Tasgano was bent over staring at the bolt. He saw it move ever so slightly and then. PFFFFFFT! The bolt shot off like a slug and smashed straight through Xexto's forehead before exploding out the back, covering one of the pit droids with blood and brain matter as Sirius' jaw dropped. The Xexto fell foward lifeless and into the exhaust which shot his body across the garage ripping his limbs off as they crashed into innocent bystanders and opposing pit droids.

It had all happened so fast. Adrian's mouth hung open as he stared and the gruesome scene. His reaction was delayed, but he quickly hit the kill switch and the engines shut off. He looked at scene behind him, the blood and limbs everywhere and let out a defeated breath before leaning his head against the throttles and closing his eyes.

One of the pit droids rushed over and summoned a medical droid who rushed to the various pieces of Tasgano before realizing there was clearly nothing he could do. The medical droid made his way to Adrian and Sirius who had now approached the pod but hadn't spoken yet.

::Sirs. I regret to inform you, but the injured man did not survive.

Sirius raised an eyebrow at the droid and then looked at Adrian, whom he was feeling some pity for. He placed a hand on his fellow Sith's shoulder...

"Thank you, but I do believe we figured that out already. Your services are no longer needed."

::HMMPH. How rude! I was just doing my job, I swear you outlanders have no manners whatsoever!::

The droid buzzed off muttering as it got further and further away.

Adrian felt the hand on his shoulder and lifted his head up just in time to see the droid leaving. He rest his head on the throttles again and then smacked it into them a couple of times lightly.

"Adrian...dude, I think we should cut our losses and admit defeat here. There is other ways to get the money and at this point..."

Adrian sprang up in the seat and jumped out of the pod and narrowed his eyes at Sirius.

"NO! This is FUN...WE ARE HAVING FUN!!!!!"

The pale teen crossed arms in front of him.

"I don't think Tasgano is and besides what are we going to do now?"

Adrian's upper lip twitched and his eyes flashed red before he regained control of his emotions.

"Oh I'll kriffing fly the damned thing! How hard can it kriffing be if that dead drunken imbecile can do it I certainly CAN. Ugggh this is why you never trust a walking, talking, and overgrown insect to do anything! Just...just get me a helmet Sirius and fix it with the race officials please."

Sirius did just that while Adrian familiarized himself with the ins and outs of the controls and the droids finally solved the over pressure problem that Tasgano gave his life for. Sirius returned twenty minutes later and handed Adrian the helmet. The two Sith moved the pod out to the starting grid and Adrian put his helmet on so the cameras didn't catch his face. Sirius hid in the background. After the ceremonies had ended Adrian climbed into the pod and strapped himself in. When the command was given to start the engines the young Sith threw the switches in unison and the two powerful and massive engines groaned to life. He lowered his goggles as the rest of the field's engines fired to life as well. He looked around at his competitors and took a breath, for the first time in his life his nerves were starting to overpower his confidence. What in the hell was he doing here?

He took a breath and watched the lights and then the ceremonial gong he slammed the throttles forward and the g-forces pushed him back in his seet, the hot gasses and wind stirred up super heated sand which pelted him in the face and goggles, the hot sand, practically glass at these temperatures caused small cuts on his face.

One of his competitors a four engined dug cut him off and slid right in front of him as they were going through the first canyon, it was already a tight squeeze as the pods stacked up nearly single file jostling for position. As the canyon widened, one of the tri-engined racers tried to edge him onto the service ramp. Adrian’s right engine hit the ramp lightly but it forced him into a roll, as he passed over the competitor inverted he glared down at him and maintained control, he continued to the roll and came down right beside him, the end of the canyon was coming and it was single wide, Adrian fell behind and let the other racer go first to avoid a crash that would kill them both.

Once clear of the canyon they were among a long more or less straight away filled with rocks. Adrian dodged through them, a competitor attempting to pass him was not so lucky and smashed into one in a ball of fire. Adrian smirked. He was now in third place.

As they crossed the start finish line in front of the grandstands, he was closing in on the tri-engined racer who had tried to force him onto the service ramp, the Dug had a sinister look on his face as he took a hydrospanner out and chucked it Adrian who had to duck to miss it. This was FUN. He reminded himself as he hit his boost and sped past the cheating dug.

He was now in second place. The rest of the lap proceeded much like the first, but he was closing on the leader. As they crossed the star finish line to begin the final lap he was directly behind the leader. This was easier than he expected, which made some sense to him, he was a force sensitive highly trained Sith, of course he was good at this. What a joke.

Through the canyon they approached a service ramp, and a Tusken raider took a shot at them, it nicked the engine fairing of Adrian's pod but everything seemed to be fine, he glanced at the panel and everything appeared good. He pressed on, as they exited the canyon and into rock field, Adrian and the first place pod were side by side, his opponent hit his boost, but Adrian hit his at the same time. The first place pod crept slightly ahead briefly, but had to take evasive action for a boulder allowing Adrian to take the lead. Then as he was approaching the start finish line to win the race a lone blaster bolt struck his right engine. Oil sprayed out of the engine and Adrian had to take immediate action to save his life, he had to cut the throttle which he did to avoid asymmetric thrust and going into a spin that would surely kill him. His competitor passed him and crossed the line a split second before Adrian did….he had lost…to a…….he glanced through the smoke as he slowed to a halt and moved out of the way….another KRIFFING XEXTO!!

Adrian sat in his pod for a long moment as Sirius finally approached.

Sirius looked down on his fellow Sith who still had his hands resting on the controls, he wanted to pity him but part of him thought that this was funny.

"I mean that wasn't bad, we got second...and we got most of our money back, but there was a separate entrance fee for you...and we had to pay for the damage caused by Tasgano's corpse...so all in all this cost us around 1,500 credits...when you count conversion charges. So...did you have fun?"

Adrian gripped the throttles tightly and his head snapped toward Sirius.

"Have the droids get the ship and follow my lead."

Adrian hopped out of the pod and pulled the hood of his cloak up covering his still helmet clad face, but Sirius could certainly see his eyes had taken on a red hue. He started marching towards the winner's circle and the podium. The winning Xexto was being handed the credits in honor of his victory.

Whispering "Adrian, you've got that look in your eye...lets talk about this. We don't need attention..."

"You cheated, admit your forfeit."

"PFFT Silly human, it is not my fault your pod was inferior and failed at the most inopportune moment."

The Xexto reached down with his lower left arm and grabbed some sand and chucked it at Adrian, which hit him in the face.

Adrian grit his teeth and stood there unflinching, he clenched his fist.

"I hate sand."

Adrian raised his right hand and lifted the Xexto off the ground with the force, he then closed his hand and the Xexto began choking.

"I'm sorry, I'm done kriffing with you and everyone else here on this worthless kriffing planet...The winnings. NOW."

The Xexto's lower left hand grabbed a blaster and got a shot off striking Sirius in the shoulder, who fell to the ground.

Adrian glared and crushed the neck of the Xexto and let his lifeless body fall to the ground, he drew his lightsaber while the crowd scattered. He picked up the case full of winnings, for first second and third place. As he was doing so their ship landed near them. Adrian kicked Sirius in the leg.

"Get up, lets go..."

The two Sith boarded the ship and took off, quickly leaving the planet. Once in space...Adrian went to the back and retrieved the med kit.

The Kage's eyes had changed from their natural gold to a bright Sith Yellow.

"Well....that was fun.....I got shot, you murdered a Xexto and stole the money like we should have done in the first place...oh and....did I mention....I GOT KRIFFING SHOT!!!!!"

Sirius ripped his cloak off and then tore his shirt off wincing in pain.

"But at least Adrian Lynd got to have his fun...so it's FINE...EVERYTHING IS FINE."

Adrian took the disinfectant out and applied it to Sirius' wound. He remained mostly silent as he bandaged it up.

"Yeah....I kriffed up, but hey....I'm a Podracer now..."

The young Sith grinned awfully proud of himself given the circumstances. The two Sith continued about their flight and made their way back home, feeling a mix of both defeat and odd accomplishment.