Kaaza Tosca - Intro
"Oh! A huge wreck from Quadinaros right before the finish line! What looked to be the first good race in months for poor Ben has turned into yet another disastrous performance, handing over fourth place to Kaaza Tosca!"
The announcer's voice rings out through the stadium, barely audible over the roar of the crowd from getting to witness such a spectacle. Surely some of the cheers were for Kaaza herself, earning one of her best results so far this season. While she wasn't gunning for the lead each week like some of her opponents, she did manage to hoist herself up the championship rankings by finishing consistently. Consistency was key for Kaaza. Racing in the Mid Rim was much safer than racing in the Outer Rim. Pod racing had become a sport in the Mid Rim, while it was stuck in the past of grudge matches and playing for keeps in the Outer Rim. Despite the additional safety, however, there still was a risk of death or horrible injury, which Kaaza couldn't risk. Not at the current point of her life.
She throttles down her racer, feeling herself pulled forward in her seat at the deceptively quick deceleration these machines were capable of, and turns off the course to head toward the garages. She gives the audience a wave as she drives underneath one of the main grandstands that's lifted above the track, another safety feature not found in the Outer Rim. Audience deaths also plummeted here with grandstands hoisted out of harm's way of an errant racer incapable of steering.
She turns her pod into the garage, waits for mechanics to push platform carts underneath the engines and cab, then flips the kill switch. The racer creaks as the repulsion engines shut down, allowing the pod to settle on the carts under its own weight. She undoes the straps holding her into the seat, followed by the her helmet, setting it on the side of the pod. Now unmasked, the twi'lek unbuckles additional straps holding her lekku against her head to prevent unnecessary pain from them moving around.
As she pushes herself up and out of her seat, swinging her legs over the side of her pod, one mechanic standing on the far side of the garage and leaning against the wall claps slowly for her. "What a race," he says, though Kaaza can hear the subtle sarcasm laced between the words.
Kaaza jumps down the small distance to the ground, eschewing the steps available to her on one of the platform carts. "Didn't enjoy your day as a pit crew?" she asks sharply before turning heel to the door to the garage and shutting the doors with a hiss.
Now, with limited ventilation, the garage starts heating up faster from the two large engines.
The Gran man offers a grandiose shrug, trying to play it off as a joke. "It's a bit much, isn't it?" he asks. "This whole charade of being a crew member. I thought we had a simple deal."
"The amount of spice you wanted?" Kaaza asks with a snort. "Be thankful it went off as smooth as it did," she continues, walking over to the man, effectively cornering him. "Security here doesn't check the crew. And customs," she says with a devious grin, "never checks the pod itself."
She stares down the man's three eye stalks for a few seconds before he finally gives in with a grunt, shifting his eyes away from the twi'lek.
Stepping away, Kaaza turns to another member of her crew. "Aldo, get this man his order."
With a nod, a much larger man walks to the other side of the room and wheels a toolcart over to them, unlocking a cabinet on it. Opening it up, he reveals many jars of various different spices.
"Now we're talking," the customer says, rubbing his hands together and leaning down to look at the contents.
In one fluid motion, Kaaza kicks the metal cabinet door shut, causing a loud clang to ring out through the garage. The customer reels back, surprised, but Kaaza, Aldo, and her other normal pit crew are unphased.
"Not so fast," Kaaza says with a grin. "Which toolbox is yours?" she asks.
The man tries to save face, his shocked expression breaking into a grin itself. "Of course," he hisses, standing up and walking over to his own toolbox, which he unlocks as well and hoists up a huge bag. Grunting all the way, he carries it over to Kaaza and drops it at her feet with a thud and the jingling of a great deal of metal.
Kaaza kneels down, unzips it, and starts pawing through the contents. The bag is packed to the brim with coins.
"Do you know how hard it was to get this much wupiupi," the customer asks, obvious dissatisfaction in his voice.
"Not my problem," Kaaza replies dismissively. "Credits are worthless to me." Once confirming there was no trickery, she zips the bag up again. "Right, this is yours now," she says, patting the toolbox full of spice. "If there's any issue, you'll be hearing from me again."
"There won't be any iss-"
"You're free to go," Kaaza continues, cutting the man off. The customer clicks his tongue, but doesn't say anything further. He takes the key from Aldo who stares at him coldly, locks the cabinet, and wheels it toward the main hanger of the garage where the other crews are starting to pack up.
When he's out of sight, Kaaza walks over to one of the engine of her pod racer. She feels around on the paneling, lifting up a false panel, and pulling a lever underneath. A hidden compartment pops open on the side of the engine.
"Pack it up, please, Aldo," she says to her main mechanic. "I'm going to talk to fans. I'll be back in half an hour. Be ready to leave."
"Yessir," Aldo responds, easily picking up the bag.
Kaaza makes her way through the crew area toward the back entrance where spectators knew to wait for their favorite drivers. Several were already out here, mingling with fans in their own circles. A few spectators flitted between circles, but many were satisfied to just be around their favorite driver.
A small hubbub raises from several people as she makes her way out, a smile now on her face, and some run over, calling her name out.
She spends some time talking with people, signing autographs, and even taking a few pictures. After several minutes, she sees two newcomers to her circle. A young twi'lek child eagerly pulling her father toward her. Kaaza tells others to make room for them, much to the small girl's delight. Kaaza kneels down and greets the child. "Hi there, little one. What's your name?"
The girl looks up her excitedly, her lekku raising up, at a loss for words. She looks to her dad for permission, who gives a nod. "Lelaleta," she says. "We came all the way from Ryloth to see you raise."
Kaaza's lekku shivered in surprise, a small movement that most people around her would have missed, but that certainly was not lost on the small girl or her father. Coming all the way from the Outer Rim was no small feat, time-wise or money-wise. "Wow, you really did that all for me?"
The small twi'lek nodded happily. "Are you going to race on Ryloth soon?"
The dad laughs. "We watch the local races when we can, but she insists there's no one better than you. I saved up for months to make this trip possible."
Kaaza is thankful for the dad to have spoken up. Her lekku twist into a "thank you" for everything he did for his daughter. She focused on holding this position as she prepared herself to lie, hoping not to disappoint this child.
"Very soon, I hope," Kaaza says, leaving enough room for doubt by not making a full commitment. She had never actually been to the twi'lek home planet. She was born on Nar Shaddaa, and quickly found herself in the hands of the Hutts. She also knew how much worse pod racing in the Outer Rim was, with deaths being nearly an expected part of the job if you competed long enough.
Holding her lekku still with all her willpower, Kaaza is pleased when Lelaleta lets out an excited cheer. Kaaza tells the girl's father he can take a picture of the two of them. Then Kaaza gives Lelaleta and autograph, and waves goodbye when the girl tells her their ship back to Ryloth is leaving that night. It seemed like a whirlwind trip for them, probably all they could afford.
With a sigh, Kaaza stands up again, thanks all her fans for coming out, and excuses herself back into the pit.
She leans against the wall just inside the garage with a sigh, her lekku still twitching giddily as she thinks about the twi'lek father bringing his daughter all the way out here. A pang of sadness strikes her when she thinks that she'll probably never race on Ryloth like Lelaleta wants.
Kaaza takes a few minutes to herself, now sitting quietly against the wall, before making her way back to her personal garage.
When she enters, she sees everything packed up neatly into as few boxes as possible, the hidden panel on her engine closed once more.
She looks around the room, catching Aldo's eye.
"Have a good time?" he asks her, seeing her lekku move. He couldn't understand the twi'lek unspoken language, but he had learned to pick up on very basic emotions.
Kaaza nods. "Yeah, good time. Now then," she slams her hand down on the racer's engine. "Let's get all this on the trailer."
Next Scene
