Page 16 of Star Champion

Sighing, she pushed past him to go inside and change clothes. Her sore arm bumped up against his, but she made sure no hint of the vivid bolt of pain appeared in her face.

One of Nico’s requirements for her to play in a club was a private dressing room. This bar had generously offered their utility closet. Complete with a mop and bucket. She kicked them out of the way. A quick look around to make sure no one was nearby to witness her transformation, and then she ducked inside.

Nico grabbed the door handle so she could not shut him out. “Look, Jemm. Being a manager is no easy job. When ya didn’t show I had to hurry back here to do damage control. You think it was easy to keep the crowd from running off? Socializing and telling them you’d be worth the wait. It’s what I had to do to keep this from turning into a disaster, while you were off—”

“I'm here now, right?” She shut the door in his face and unzipped her leathers with an angry yank. She could not suffer him acting affronted anymore, as if the jarring incident on the plains had personally inconveniencedhim. She stripped down to her black, company-issue long johns worn under the leathers. The high-tech absorbent fabric would be put to good use under her bajha suit.

“Jemm?”

Silently, she counted to three. “What?”

“It might not seem like it sometimes, but I do worry about ya.” His tone gentled. “I’m sorry. I know you’re good at what you do, the driving. I also know the mine bosses are heartless bastards. Whatever happened today, I hope it goes no further. Because it won’t matter if you’re innocent; you’ll still be found at fault.”

Like Nico was the day he lost Kish, his wife and best friend.

She pressed her lips together, her hand flat on the closed door as if she had touched it to her brother’s cheek. “Some rules changed—in the drivers’ favor. I think I’ll be all right.”

“Good, because there are scouts here. Here in Narrow Margin. From the pros.”

The galactic league. She cracked the door to the broom closet and peeked out. “How do you know?”

“I saw them come up the street from the direction of the docks, looking around all disgusted and determined, like they were digging for something valuable they lost in the trash. Then they walk into Narrow Margin, a middling fight club, and settle in for the evening—on a Sixthnight? It ain’t no coincidence, Jemm. They’re here to see you.”

Her insides flipped. “How would they know about me?”

“Word of mouth. A lot of folks come and go with the ore trade, as ya know. Could be one of them saw you compete, and took word off-world.”

If only…“This story’s getting more farfetched the longer you go on,” she scoffed.

“Farfetched, but true all the same.” Nico thrust his chin out. “One of them isVash Nadah.”

She went still. AVash Nadah?They were descendants of the clans that saved the human race and founded the Trade Federation. Royals. Now one of those godlike beings was going to watch her play bajha.

Not gods. Upper class was upper class, and none of the elites deserved her awe. “How do ya know they’re not from here? We don’t know every cog in the compound.”

“Ya know it when ya see the real thing, Jemm. He ain’t a mongrel like most of what we’ve got here. He’s from worlds afar.”

“Worlds afar…” She savored the words aloud, letting them melt on her tongue like the heavenly and expensive treat ice cream she had tasted but once.

He sighed with dramatic exasperation. “Jemm, if your eyes get any wider, they’ll fall out. Get changed. They’re about to start the games.”

She pushed the door shut. Scouts! Were they really here to see her? Was there a chance they would offer her the opportunity to play off-world? It would be the answer to all her dreams, and those of her father before her. She could get her family off-world and not have to wait decades to do it.

And if they found out she was a female? What then?

Nerves kicked her pulse higher.

Quiet your mind. No fretting about what might be; it was time to play. Her job was to play a few matches tonight, win them, and that was all. Taking into account the current, battered state of her body and mind, that alone would prove challenging enough.

She felt herself calming as she drew on her bajha suit, sleeve by sleeve, leg by leg, a cherished ritual. It was a salve for the outside world. Always had been. Bending to secure her boots, she closed each fastener with respect.I’ll need ya here with me tonight, Da.

More than she ever had.

The bar owner had shrewdly saved the best for last, forcing Klark to suffer through ten laughably bad amateur matches, with the top three winners slated to play against Sea Kestrel. Yet, he found himself enjoying the farce, entertained all the while by the derogatory, running commentary by Raff Xirri and Yonson Skeet, two of the most celebrated pro players in the galaxy. Fortunately, no one seemed to recognize them. The patrons no more expected to encounter sports celebrities in a back-alley fight club than they did a prince. The poor lighting and hovering vape smoke further helped cloak them in anonymity.

Finally, the lights flashed as the announcer took his place in the center of the ring. The star attraction’s matches were imminent.

Sea Kestrel. Klark felt the player’s presence in the club before he saw him. He used his mind as much as his eyes to scan the perimeter of the bajha ring, his body taut with a heady and unaccustomed sense of anticipation. Then he finally found him.

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