FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

"Docking bay twelve, sidle up 'tween those shuttles!" Jack huffed in the hot confines of his EVA helmet as he dogged shut the hatch to the No Safety Measure's cockpit, sealing inside his captain and mate. "Power from engines to shields an' weapons, scaly lady. Use 'em if ya need 'em!" The holler bounced in the small confines of the airlock as they married up to the temporary refueling platform, chaos swirling outside like a miasma as other racers struggled to fill their tanks. It was a flat affair interspersed with fat, spherical containers sporting long hoses and pumps held in place by hardy harpoons dug deep into heavy asteroids nearby. Course correcting jets would ensure any errant impact be a temporary inconvenience, the dock staying true to the race course. Several more could be seen in the distance, one blooming in a rosebud of an explosion as some fool shot a gas tank directly either by accident or in some effort to thin the competition.

"You stay safe! That's an order! I'll open the fuel hatch when the docking arms enga-"

"Nah, just hold station." Jack grinned, squeezing tight his oversized snub nose revolver from the locker where he'd stowed it. The overhead klaxon sang a silent song in the escaping atmosphere, the zipping tracers and floating corpses painting a macabre dance across the steel refueling dock outside. War, pure and uncaring, was being waged between the different pilot's crews as they struggled to refuel and keep their opponents from following suit. Several rounds already were plonking off the fuselage like pin balls in an arcade.

Jack felt his eyes lock with some nameless mechanic for… who cared actually? The ship was on the far side of the fueling dock with its crew frantically connecting a fat hose to a fuel inlet, their attention glued to the slowly opening airlock hatch keeping Jack trapped inside his own little coffin. Without the engines churning its rush of power zero gravity gripped at his guts and lifted him from the deck, his boots reaching back to plant on the wall behind him as a grin stretched across the Human's pale face…

There had been a game he'd played back in the day, a fleeting memory that fluttered across his mind like trash on a strong whirling breeze… A simple little pastime children would play in the orbiting space stations and garages where Sevar would teach their youth the art of the wrench. One team, known as the 'in-bay', would launch themselves from wall to wall while the opposing team, the 'out-bay', would attempt to smash them with weighted spheres. It was similar to an old earth game known as dodge ball if it had a baby with base ball. If four players were struck, the teams would switch. The first to get five members to the far side of the garage won. A simple game with simple rules; utilize the zero gravity to your advantage, learn that there is no up nor down and become an acrobat in the weightless confines of the garages. It was nothing more than a game to teach the children how to move about in weightlessness of space.

That being said…

The airlock slammed open as Jack launched himself with the force of a gleeful child looking to prove himself to his friends. Rounds zipped by his suit to pancake into the far hatch as the Human missile made a beeline for a floating corpse. Jack's oversized revolver made no noise as it jerked in his hand, the recoil sending the mechanic in a spinning arc that left him clutching the listless body before releasing it on a lazy path towards his attackers. Angry rounds meant for him instead pierced the jerking body of the long dead man as Jack rammed into the first of the now panicking crew, the extra weight of his implants carrying through to press the poor mechanic against the wall of his own captain's ship. Jack's revolver shouted a muted bark into the side of second man's head, his free fist pummeling into the struggling Human's gut with enough force that he felt a muted pop beneath the EVA suit. Blood pooled in his eyes as Jack shoved him away, more rounds eating the space between him and the No Safety Measures, as other crews struggled in their own life and death firefights. Several shots zipped far too close for comfort as the panting Human stowed his revolver to flick open the half-secured clamps around the now dead crew's refueling hose. The third and final crewman found a quick and fiery death at the hands of the No Safety Measure's Icebreaker, the invisible beam melting a hole through suit and flesh as easily as a hot knife parted butter. The shot continued on to bore a sloppy crater in the side of the enemy shuttle, its edges running like hot cheese down to the refueling port's deck to pool in a rapidly freezing pile.

"I thought ya couldn't target other ships at the docks?" He huffed, ripping free another clamp and tossing it to the void. "I guess if no one see's ya break the rule..."

"Jack, get back here and just use ours!"

"They would 'ave lit me up like a spotlight! En route back now!" Lights twinkled off the deck as Jack set his legs once more, his head turning just in time to see the barrel of a rifle peeking from the slowly opening airlock of the very shuttle he was pressed against. "Shi-" Cold fire lanced through the man's leg as a lance of ballistic hatred tore through his EVA suit at the same moment he pushed free with all his might. "Gaaah! Fuck you!" Pain twisted Jack's vision as he fumbled for his revolver, only the surety of cybernetics guiding his alloy fingers around the grip and the accuracy of bio-mechanical assisted aim sending a round into the counterattacking pilot looking to avenge his crew. The compensating round jerked the man's head back as he stood tethered in his own airlock, the back of his helmet breaking apart like a shattered egg as Jack sailed through the sea of Hellfire back towards the No Safety Measure.

"Jack! Sit rep!"

"Took some fire," Grunts and a hiss of pain filtered across the channel as he floated into the No Safety Measure's fuselage, the fueling hose drifting free while he pulled tight on a sealing cord around his thigh. Thick tape at his belt was next, covering both the entry and exit wounds as warnings blared about a suit breach in his helmet. "Refueling now!"

"What about you? How bad is it?"

"I'll be limpin' like ya did after our first time, focus! Shiiiit… missed bone I think- no I wouldn' be movin' if'n it hit bone." It had been a long time since Jack had been truly shot, his infamous armor usually taking the brunt, yet there was no time to dwell on the growing throb in his left thigh at the moment. Gritting his teeth, the mechanic reached up to grab the refueling hose and shove it hard into the inlet, slapping the securing clamps home like they owed him money and dance his fingers over the stark yellow panel to begin the flow of high-quality fuel into the No Safety's hungry gullet.

"This isn't the time to joke!" Lix hissed, squeezing her pilot's chair with her thighs as she watched the fire storm outside. Several more crew fell to concentrated fire from an incoming vessel as Helena bullied her way into a spot, her own crew zipping to work with flight assisted EVA suits. She didn't see Mo'Ona… "Lix to Helena, it's pandemonium down here, watch your guys!"

"Thanks for the heads up, sugah. We're old hats at this." That… was true… still, Lix turned the Icebreaker towards the sleek yellow racer to ward off several opportunistic shuttles that thought to end the champion's reign early. Not that she needed to, as a top side missile battery sent several deadly side winding streaks of death at the errant rookies. So many people were breaking the no ship-to-ship combat on refueling dock rule! Where were the officials?

"I need me some of those. Missiles are so cool. Fuel at half, Jack how's that leg?"

"Quit whingin' over me, I-"

"Hows the freaking leg?" The Kux'lar's hiss was less a captain ordering her crew mate and more a mate demanding her Human fall in line…

"I'll be alright. The race, scaly lady. Don't trip up 'cause you're worried 'bout me." She knew he was right, she did, but it didn't stop her angry growl. His jaunt across a literal war zone had been foolhardy, even with her covering fire from the Icebreaker. The fuel reserves rose far too slow for her liking, the needle crawling with less urgency than the situation demanded. Jack on the other hand simply turned to press his back against the No Safety with a grin as he panted, his eyes turning to the stars, away from the refueling deck and floating corpses and the frozen trail of blood leading from his thigh. "This is nostalgic ya know? Don't blow a gasket, I'm not freakin' losin' blood- I mean, I am. It's just…" Jack sighed, smiling wide and content as a hail of micro-missiles sailed away into the black, their journey a long and lonely one off towards the galactic center. "Hahaha, if'n I don' look at the dock an' shit I can pretend I'm right back at home!"

Tick tick tick… went the fuel gauge…

"I mean look at tha'! Council ships overhead an' lasers and PDC fire… jus' like Momma used to make. Only this time the whole galaxy watchin'. Yeah… the whole damn galaxy is watchin'…" Lix grimaced, staring at her external camera feed as Jack's head turned to gaze at the distant hulk of the Racer's Heart, her focus on the race shattered as she noticed the fleet of drones circling the action like vultures hovering over a fetid corpse. Just like last night, their lenses shone with an electronic detachment, capturing every shot and death for the entertainment of the masses.

"Was it like this uh, when you…"

"Waaay worse, scaly lad- shit!" Jack ducked as a round sparked off the No Safety Measures not too far from where he was crouched. "How far are we from full?"

"Close enough that I wanna call it… I can't raise Skrunks on the comms either."

"He'll be aight, he's a wiley lil' guy." Several dull booms made Lix raise her hackles, watching as her mate popped off several rounds towards the aft end of the ship before sliding open his revolver's comically large cylinder to release empty shells into the void. "But yeah, shit was way worse back in Sevar. Look at those fuckin' droolin' shit heels!" Jack laughed as he shoved home fresh rounds, Lix allowing herself a moment to gaze out her cockpit at the distant space stations full of slathering fans and the lines of massive whale-esque ships looming above like gods. "Fuck 'em all, Lix! Fat an' lazy off o' us. Lookin' down at everyone dyin' down here wit' glee, the fuckin' bastar-"

"Jack! Focus, babe." Lix hissed, her tail slapping the receptacle it lay in. "They don't matter. None of them matter right now. It's us and the No Safety Measures right now. Okay? I need my Jack in gear."

"Yeah… yeah, you got it." She watched him smack his injured thigh, throwing his head back in agony before shaking it off. "Hows the fuel?"

"Good to go! Get that hose off, I'm tired of being in the crossfire, they're fucking up my paint!"

"Good copy!" With strength only bio-mechanical implants could muster, Jack ripped the fuel hose free and broke the securing clamps, plugging several shots into its length for good measure. Fuel, kept to an optimal temperature by internal coils, vaporized into clouds of mist before ice ate away at the rapidly cooling liquid still inside. Any opposing racer hoping to fuel up behind them should have been faster… Lix was up and away before the inner airlock was fully open, atmosphere warnings fading away to a green seal check as Jack staggered in behind her. "Leg?"

"Shot."

"I'm going to bite your dick."

"Later," The infuriating man chuckled, digging into the medical kit bolted to the wall. Glancing back, and wishing she hadn't, Lix bit her lip as she watched her Human strip halfway to reveal a through and through wound on his leg that he jammed the nozzle of a can into with a cursing hiss. A spray, a sizzle, and the stomping of a boot precluded the sound of tearing bandages as Jack filled the wound cavity with a substance called Quik-Flech, a lightly infused compound of nanites and clotting agents that would seal most wounds until real medical assistance could arrive. It burned like liquid fire and could cause long term damage if left for days, but in the short term would save life and limb. "Fuuuuhuhuhuhuuuck tha' smarts like a Saturday night tattoo."

"Maybe don't get shot, dumbass!" Worry flooded the pilot, her head snapping back to look at her mate as the No Safety Measure's swerved.

"Sage advice, fly straight now."

"Fuck you, ya pasty monkey fuck!"

"I love it when ya talk all wet, ya scaly ulcer!" Jack's smile lasted only until he turned around, his crooked grin replaced with a pained grimace. The walls rocked as the race continued unabated, his still bleeding wound filling his suit before it was discarded like limp trash. Now free from the hefty cover, he could see the extent of the damage. "Thank whoever the fuck watches us from on high… shit…" Whatever round the opposing team had used had been small caliber, his entry and exit wounds weren't terrible, but still painful. Sizzling flesh boiled at the ragged edges of the round's exit from his thigh, blood and medicine falling to the floor in small pools. "Fuckin'… losing nanites in that bleed…"

Needs must…

Hobbling his way into the engine bay, Jack pulled the cylindrical handle of a spanner from his belt, slapping the metal onto the side of the blazing hot work of art and machinery that was the No Safety's beating heart. It didn't take long for the tool to turn red, the mechanic taking a deep breath before pressing the heated implement into the bleeding injury. Chunks of flesh cauterized as Jack clenched his jaw, beating the deck with a boot until the flow of blood ebbed. Mindlessly, he repeated the process on the opposite side, the pain just as searing.

"Fuckers… fucked up my good pants!"

"Jack!"

"Fuckin'… yeah?"

"Got one on my tail already, last I saw on the port quarter!"

"Copy!" Pain lanced Jack's leg like a spear of hate as he lurched to his feet, running to midships for the utility panel he'd installed. Within moments, the little display flickered to life with an image of a wedge-shaped craft right on Lix's tail pipe. "Twenty degrees, aft and low! It's that Tulis guy!" Lix glanced back only for a moment, but long enough to see her Human rip his inhaler of painkillers from a back pocket for a deep, double hit. When he next opened his mouth, it was to billow smoke while he shook his head like a beast gnawing on meat. One glance at his leg stayed her complaints…

"The one wit-"

"Doesn't matter what he wants, evade starboard side!" Jack hollered just as a burst of red-hot tracers burst from Tulis's nose cannon. Bracing, and biting his tongue as another wave of agony flowed from his leg, Jack watched as they zipped by only feet from the No Safety's hull. "Bet your tail a missile lock is creeping up your spine!"

"Already got it screaming in my ears! Prepping chaff!" Glitter rained behind them as Lix banked into a roll around a looming asteroid, a volley of micro-missiles tracing a line of impacts along the hardy rock's face. "Yeah, chase my crimson ass, dick wipe!"

"I don't remember you havin' such a potty mouth!" Jack grinned, feeling a heat rise in his neck that had nothing to do with the temperature inside the ship.

"I learned it from a bad influence! Gnah!" The world spun, rocks and missiles flying by the cockpit view as Lix dropped her ship though a tight opening in a small asteroid. Bits of stone sheared away in a shower of grit as the edges of the No Safety scrapped the walls. "Shit! He's still on me."

"Icebreaker, it can swivel 'round one-eighty!"

"But-" Lix thumbed the controls, watching as the targeting array blurred before settling on the nose of Tulis's craft. Jack's pilfered targeting system zeroed in on the following ship like a starving animal after the scent of blood. One little press was all it would take. He had no room to maneuver, threading the same gap as she had, there would be little he could do aside from watch the nose of his ship melt. Only…-

In fourth place was Aaron Tulis, another Human looking to nab the prize money to move his family off Alto III's frozen surface

Angela's voice rang in the Kux'lar's memory like a thorn, wedging itself between her thumb and the fire select switch. Missile lock on warnings screeched like a struck banshee, her eyes flicking between her laser lock and Tulis's ever approaching nose…

"Damn it." The Icebreaker roared to life, spitting a stream of translucent heat across Aaron's bow. In a panic, the hopeful pilot dipped his ship as plating melted to reveal the delicate innards of his precious racer. Directly into the stone below… Dust billowed in a plume of rock as the front of the vessel crumpled like paper, the drive bells igniting in a cloud of quickly dying flame and freezing vapor. Shards zipped through the void of space to embed in the No Safety's rear, one lodging deep between her own thrusters. The missile lock on faded, replaced by breach warnings and damage displays. "Damage alert! In the engine bay!"

Jack was already on the move, grabbing a hanging oxygen mask as he passed through the small connecting corridor. Sparks danced across the rear edge of the bay, a klaxon roaring its disdain overhead.

"Alright girl, talk to me. Tell me what's got y- oh." A nearby panel, its surface alight with readings, told him all he needed to know. A severed cable, fluids leaking, external damage… external… Sighing, Jack looked to the nearby EVA suit still covered in slowly drying blood. It was time to go back outside. After a quick patch to its leg, of course. The sound of the airlock siren nearly sent Lix careening into a nearby asteroid, her mind still reeling at the expanding cloud that used to be Tulis behind her. The creeping guilt vanished as she saw Jack haul a set of magnets and a patch kit over his shoulder before the door slid shut with a click.

Airlock pressure equalizing

"What the fuck? Jack, what the fuck!" Rage flooded the 'Roid Racer, her top half twisting to unleash a reptilian roar at the man as he once again went off to do his own shit without communicating! Were all men like this? Human, Kux'lar, Hux, they all gave her a headache! "If I live through this, I'm going lesbian!" Cameras tracked the Human as he slapped one magnet, then the other, onto the side of the No Safety's hull, inching along like a beetle towards the aft end of the ship. Micro-missiles and the return fire of PDC's flashed in the distance below them, a duo of pilots jockeying for position as another pair broke hard trying to drag each other into their own cross hairs above.

Even now the ever-present fleet of camera drones followed, their tiny engines working overtime to keep up. Lix hissed at one that hovered nearby, watching Jack creep along like a silent sentinel. Others hovered near the combating racers while another batch followed Helena close by, her sleek yellow shuttle gaining steady ground on Lix's tail.

"Where… Skrunkles, sitrep?"

"Laggings a bits. Lettings the crowd ahead clear outs! Gonna jets when the field opens! Lots of racers backs here."

"Good copy, keep in touch." Claws flicked over the comms panel as more pressing matters came to light. Power readings began to drop while heat warnings popped off one by one, a damage indicator blaring about electrical breaches in the aft end of the ship. Right where her Human was currently mag locked. "Jacky, how's it look back there? I've got all sorts of warnings going off and it's getting hot in here!"

As for himself? Jack was having a blast. Tethers held him fast to a duo of disk-shaped magnets between the No Safety Measure's powerful drive bells, their edges red with heat. A rent of metal opened a portal deep within the No Safety, one he gazed into with open fascination at a piece of debris lodged inside. What little paint was left upon it was unmistakably Aaron Tulis, the man getting one last lick from beyond the grave.

"Got some hot repairs ta make back 'ere! I see ya power problem, gotta make some buck splices!" Huffing in his helmet, the mechanic bodily grabbed the sharp shard and tore it free with a dull protest of steel on hull, sparks arcing between his arm and the still live cables. "Oooh, baby baby, ya spicy! Gimme another kiss, right on my wet mouth!"

"I'm so fucking jealous of my own ship…" Lix suddenly found it quite difficult to focus on the race, her fangs nibbling at the edge of a ruby red lip as her Human laughed over the comms. Still, it was getting pleasantly warm for someone who was cold blooded. Lix shook her head as Helena pulled alongside the No Safety, the more advanced ship striped yellow and black like an intergalactic hornet.

"Got you a ding, baby girl? Need some overwatch?"

"Usually I'd say no but my mate is back there… so I'd owe you."

"Nah nah, not at all, darlin'!" The image of the elite racer, her hair still perfect, flickered to life across Lix's comms. She couldn't help but wonder what she'd look like with hair… ridiculous, of course… but still… "Ya a joy ta race. Not to mention, keepin' ya boytoy safe is pretty hot." If Lix hadn't been blushing before, she sure was now…

"You know it! When I win this race, he'll be all mine for a victory celebration!"

"That be the spirit!"

Jack felt the familiar tingle of electricity running along his arms, harmlessly raising his hair and dissipating along the much more powerful inner power core that ran his implants. Barrel splices were effective, if slow, requiring a clean cut on either side of the many cuts in cables before sliding them home in a new sleeve to be tightened down and quickly zapped with a portable welder. Of course, first were the cables for power distribution. Simple enough to recognize and diagnose thanks to proper color coding which made him just as hot and heavy as when Lix flagged her tail at him. Others were less obvious, requiring a quick trace with a pointer finger to determine which wire went to which system.

"Alriiight… let's see her-" Sparks and screaming metal showered off the dorsal side of Helena's ship, the zippy shuttle banking hard as a series of mass driver shots zoomed by like streaks of lead lightning. Jack's neck popped as he searched the stars, his mechanical eyes painting a sleek sliver of black with power indicators. "Fuck, six o'clock high, seventy degrees! Silent runner, evade!" Another salvo of melon sized ball bearings tore through space, ripping passed the No Safety Measures by feet, so close Jack felt as if he could reach out and catch one.

"Jack? Jack! Get inside! Gnah, fucker is trying to get a lock!"

"Got to finish these repairs. We'll lose too much speed in the straights without power distro!" Streaks of mass drivers tore chunks of stone away from the asteroid, shards of ancient rock pummeling the hull and missing Jack by inches. Even still, the dedicated mechanic kept his nose in his work, ignoring the flashes of pain in his back as the shotgun blast of grit peppered both him and the ship. "Try not gettin' shot, yeah?"

"Working on it!" Gnashing her fangs, Lix snapped the controls left and right, up and down, desperate to break the encroaching missile lock. Chaff glittered from her belly launcher, yet it only bought time. Images of Jack, of her mate, vanishing in a cloud of fire and vapor- "No no no… come on… please…" Swerving, Lix nearly chipped the paint from her hull as she slipped around a slowly spinning asteroid, attempting to break line of sight. Even still, the dogged racer kept on her tail, the blood in the water leaving her vulnerable. "Where's Helena? Shit… uh…"

"Who even is this fucker? We gonna die screamin' in the void to some nameless piss bitch?" Jack glared at the pursuing vessel, ducking his head as another series of shots sailed overhead. "Bastard! Quit shootin' my ship!"

"It's my ship!" Lix hissed, nipping at the air, her eyes squeezing in fear as the lock-on warning grew smaller and smaller. Asteroids were growing smaller, the chances to break line of sight becoming less. "Come on, come on!" Breaking, swooping, banking, rolling- nothing was shaking the ever encroaching volley of rocket propelled death. Whoever this pilot was, the sneak attack had zeroed in on Lix's tail perfectly. Dread crawled up the Kux'lar's throat as, finally, the lock-on warning blared a green lock. "Shit…"

"Sorrys!" Missiles went wide as several red-hot lines of mass driver shots bored through the cockpit of the attacking shuttle, its trajectory suddenly straight and true as her dead pilot ceased dancing her through the stars. The Spitfire roared above the now drifting tomb, just barely within race limits, her oversized rail-gun still red with heat. "Was catchings ups. Helena dealings with cannon fodder toos."

"Skrunks! Saved by the rat."

"Wants a treats for it."

"Round on me in the Racer's Heart." Lix heaved a sigh of relief, her tail sagging as she steadied the No Safety. "Jack? How's things looking back there?"

"Last conduit fixed up, weldin' in a patch now." Jack grinned from his position between the drive bells, waving up at Mo'Ona who had taken up formation beside them. Fittingly, the very debris that had sliced deep within the fuselage was now welded over the same hole it had made… as well as it could be at least. "How are ya readin's lookin'?"

"We're back in optimal heat range, I've got full control of power distribution too. Now get your pale monkey ass back in the ship, we're coming up on the straight away and I'm not losing placement cause I'm going slow!" Lix hissed, her ire burning until Jack returned, stumbling through the airlock to lean on her pilot's seat. "Sit down! Your leg…"

"Focus! I gotcha, gonna show ya somethin' real neat." Jack stripped from his EVA suit once more, blood dripping onto the deck as he bodily flipped away Lix's tail and forced himself behind her.

"J-Jack?!" The Kux'lar squeaked as she was shoved forward, the seat of her flight suit crinkling as his pelvis was forced under her rear. "W-We're in the middle of a ra-" Words stuck in her tightening throat as her Human leaned heavily on her back, heat blazing in her cheeks as Helena, Skrunkles, and several others aligned beside her in formation for the straight away sprint. "Wait wait wait- we can't, can we? W-we…" Rough, metal hands slipped over her paws, clenching… grabbing… breath came quick and short, thoughts drifting to sordid, unfocused activity. Surely he wasn't… they were surrounded… but they couldn't see… Could they?

Even beyond the racers still were the fleet of drones and periodic stations of fans… they… they couldn't see in the cockpit right? Couldn't see this… this position?

"J-Jack, what are-"

"Hush ya maw up." His hand forced her paw on the throttle, accelerating along with what was left of the other racers. Of the original forty, only about thirteen were left now… none of that mattered as the No Safety rumbled below them- below Lix, her paws clenching as the vibration made her very aware of Jack's position. Was h- oh, by the stars he was.

All around them, the drive plumes of their rivals grew as speed was poured on like a delicious sauce, shields and weapons dying as the asteroids thinned to nearly nothing. What had once been a dance was now a sprint, heat levels rising and systems deactivating to make way for more and more power.

Lix felt herself pressing back into Jack's bulk, her fangs nibbling at her lip as she struggled to split her focus between the open space ahead of her and the building ache in her belly. Skrunkles and Helena began to pull ahead, along with several other racers who simply had better equipped ships, yet that didn't matter. Not now… not with the heat of her Human seeping into her back and her tail wrapping around his waist, trapping him… right where he belonged-

With a jerk, Jack pulled her claws from the throttle and bent the poor confused Kux'lar nearly half over, forcing her claw under a panel near her thigh.

"What?" Anger, disbelief, perhaps a little bit of betrayal… Lix didn't know what she felt in that moment.

"Oh, trust me, scaly lady. Ya gonna like this." There was a button… Jack had installed a button under her seat… The moment his finger pressed into her claw, making her depress the button herself, she felt everything change. The effect was immediate, heat warnings rising yet still within acceptable levels as the speed indicator slowly began to rise. With a yipe, Jack forced Lix back into position, her paws returning to the controls as the No Safety Measures vibrated and rumbled and shivered.

"What's happeni-ngh! J-Jack…"

"Oh, just ya wait." It was as if he didn't even notice how he was making her huff and twist her tail! This was insane! He needed trai-

"AHHHHHHHHH!" Stars burst in Lix eyes as within the span of a blink the No Safety's speed indicator registered nothing but an error, her paws desperately vying for control as the joystick wavered wildly. Skrunkles banked to the side as he was nearly crushed, Lix zooming ahead as her drive plume slowly changed from a stable orange to a concerning blue, motes of byproduct drifting into the void before freezing. "What's happening? Unh-!"

Euphoria…

Lix had never felt speed like this…

And were it not for Jack's hands on her paws she'd had veered wildly off course… how… how far ahead was she?

The sudden burst in speed had confused the pilot, her situational awareness vanishing as she jerked ahead of the competition like a runner on drugs. Yet that… that wasn't even the most pressing issue… The heat, the speed, the first place position was all icing on the cake that was the pressure of Jack's presence pushing into her back like a wall of muscle and steel. Thoughts that should never pass through a Kux'lar's mind wrestled in her scaly head, forcing her to snap her maw and kick her legs.

"H-Hard to control!"

"Ohhhh yeah it is! Ohhhh yeah, that's why I'm all over ya!"

That he was.

That he very much was…