Swoop Dreams2003 short story by Mark Newbold Seventeen years before Episode IV – A New Hope It was a hot summers day. Sun drenched picnic parties enjoyed their afternoon in the enormous natural bowl that swept down the side of the mountain towards the shallow lake below and on the glistening lake itself water speeders trawled lazily across its smooth surface. As days on A-desando went it was the very picture of pleasance. There didn’t seem to be anything that could spoil its charm. Suddenly the sound of engines could be heard echoing around the picnic area, roaring and howling like dragons. Small children, startled out of their sleep began to cry. Adults jumped with a start, dogs began to bark and yelp and in a second the tranquillity was broken as two small brightly coloured swoops blasted over the lip of the bowl and down, weaving through picnickers like busy insects, blaring their horns and screaming wildly. In a panic the sun revellers grabbed their belongings and scrabbled to their feet, diving for cover from the two tearaway vehicles. Alerted to the disturbance, two security speeder bikes swung into action, roaring at full throttle towards the two swoops that were nearing the edge of the lake. The swoops picked up speed, tearing through the course sand that lined the lake and then onto the shallow waters. Unable to follow, the speeders slowed and began to circle the lake as the swoops raised their flight ceiling and blasted across it, coming out the other side and weaving into the hills beyond. The first security biker, a tall lean man dressed in a black, orange and grey leather uniform, reached for his comm unit and called in. “Lake control, this is Sergeant Tomoni. We’ve got two swoopers cutting across Lake Mazapamano heading through the hills towards Ponon City, doing two fifty, three hundred klicks, over.” The radio crackled in reply, the reception broken up by the intense affect of the A-desandian sun Tri-Lomon. “Copy Sergeant, we’re sending an intercept speeder to head them off at Ponon Pass.” The sergeant nodded and slipped his comm back into his thigh pouch, jerking a thumb in the direction of the pass and motioning for his colleague to follow him. They could still see the two swoops kicking up dust as they headed into Ponon Pass, weaving and dodging as fast as they could, but knew that their speeders wouldn’t be able to catch them. These punks were Souper Swoopers. Souper Swoopers was the name given to young swoop gangs on A-desando, and there was a large concentration of them in the Ecaps City area. Ecaps City, the capital of the world of A-desando, was awash with these gangs. From kids as young as five or six right up to teenagers and beyond, Souper Swoopers were becoming a growing nuisance in society and caused havoc and mayhem wherever they went, roaring around on their heavily modified swoops. But as Tomoni watched the swoops skip across the pass he couldn’t resist a grin. After all, he knew these particular Soupers. The two Soupers could see the blockade ahead of them, whizzing towards them at upwards of three hundred klicks per hour, and the Trandoshan swooper glanced across at his human partner and grinned. “Shall we go around?” The human boy, ocean blue eyes and a grin as wide as his face shook his head and hunkered down into the steering vanes of his swoop. “Nah, too easy. Keep going. We’ll see who blinks first.” The Trandoshan shook his head and laughed a hearty laugh. He always enjoyed riding with his human friend, even though both his own family were vehemently against him fraternising with warm bloods and the humans much the same for befriending a reptile. But the young Trandoshan didn’t care. He and the human boy would be friends for life, the first such friendship between human and Trandoshan, he’d make certain of that. Whatever life threw at them, nothing would break that apart. Not even this angry looking blockade. The human boy gave his brightly coloured swoop a kick of speed and the vehicle bucked, almost losing control. He had a look of deep concentration etched into his young features, his long mousy brown hair flowing behind him like streamers. The blockade was set, but the boys had decided it wasn’t a case of surrender. It was a case of catch me if you can. And just as they thought they’d managed to evade the blockade and scoot high over it their bikes began to inexplicably lose power as they found their escape thwarted. The human had no choice but to apply the air brakes and slow his swoop down, and with a snarl of annoyance the Trandoshan did the same. Both boys spotted the small, modular power sink and astromech droid attached to it that was aimed at them and realised with regret that it was the droid that had outsmarted them. The boys stopped their swoops just past the blockade and the Trandoshan stepped off, body language primed for action. The human remained on his swoop, tousled hair a mess, the grime of high-speed pursuit staining his face. Sergeant Tomoni, a towering A-desandian of a man, dismounted and placed his hands on his hips in a visible sign of disappointment. “Boys, you’re under arrest for five violations of city speeder law, three violations of disturbing the peace and two city noise level violations. Do you have anything to say?” “Yeah.” The human boy Jan Lomona turned and slipped a grin to his Trandoshan buddy Treesk. “My Mom’s gonna kill me.” “And how many times have we told you not to do that!” “You tell me not to do anything!” Jan flung his arms around in a mad huff and slammed into the couch, scattering pillows everywhere. Treesk stood stolidly in the corner of the room, watching his friends’ tantrum with a cautious eye, physically unable to truly smile but seeing the humour nonetheless. Sieera Cetting Lomona, Jans mother, picked the cushions off the floor and threw them back into place, slapping her rebellious sons legs off the table and staring him down. “I will not have you constantly bring this family into disrepute. I don’t care how bored you are, you will do as you are told, when you are told, am I understood?” “I understand you just fine Mom.” Jan struggled to find the words he was searching for. “I didn’t mean to get into trouble, things just…got out of hand, that’s all.” Treesk stepped forward in his friends defence. “We were testing the swoop for our next competition and got carried away. Once we saw Sergeant Tomoni come after us we should have stopped, but we didn’t.” Sieera gave Treesk a long sideways glare. She didn’t trust Trandoshans as a race at the best of times, and she certainly didn’t trust this one. Any species that ate the bones of their parents’ as a rite of passage clearly didn’t have enough respect for their elders, and she could almost sense Treesk sizing her up as a starter. “Sergeant Tomoni is the law, and in these parts we obey the law.” She turned back to Jan. “Your father fought a war so that we could be free of law breakers like you. He fought a war for justice and order, not rebellion and anarchy.” She breathed deeply thorough her nose as she heard the back door swing open. “When are you going to learn?” “When you teach me something useful.” Jan muttered under his breath. Sieera turned and stared at him. “I beg you pardon?” “Nothing. Just going to tidy my room.” Jan nodded to Treesk to follow and the two boys leaped up the stairs before Jans father Narn could enter the room. Sieera, hands on hips, turned as her husband entered the living room and shook her head. He took off his Imperial officers cap and stood beside her. “Your son causing trouble again?” She brushed a fleck of dust from his shoulders as she gave him a scowl. “How come he’s my son when he’s misbehaving and your son when he’s not?” Narn sat on the couch and flicked the holovid box on to catch the evening news. “Because the only son I’m proud of is probably deep into a book learning about military history, or following orders from his commanding officer.” Narn smiled as he thought about their eldest son Hijjin at his A-desandian Security Services headquarters. “For a seventeen-year-old adolescent he’s one hell of a man.” Sieera sat beside her husband and placed her hand in his. “So what about your other son?” Narn’s features darkened as he looked up the stairs to where his twelve-year-old headache was knocking about. “He’s got a lot to learn. And I’ll make certain he learns it.” “Move your foot Treesk, it’s in my mouth!” “Well jump down then, puny human.” Growled Treesk, and Jan held back a snort of a laugh as he launched himself the remaining three meters to the ground and balanced himself as Treesk followed. He checked left and right, making sure none of his family had seen him sneak out of his bedroom window and scampered away towards the garage. His swoop had been brought here by Sergeant Tomoni, and locked away by the lawman. Jan scurried to the garage door and checked the code. Damn, it had been changed. He waited for Treesk to catch up and gritted his teeth. “The codes changed. I bet Mom did this.” “Don’t you have the override?” Treesk asked, warily checking all around in case they were discovered. Jan shook his head. “If I did we wouldn’t be here now, would we?” He paused for a second and then suddenly dived out of sight. Treesk was left flat-footed, not knowing which way to move and froze as the shunting sound of a droid came around the corner. “Oh, Aurran, it’s you.” Jan crawled out of the bush and patted the old droid on the shoulder as Aurran looked at the two boys. “Master Jan, your father is looking for you.” “He is?” Asked Jan, nervously glancing around. “What does he want?” Aurran stared blankly back at his young charge. “He didn’t say, but he seemed agitated.” The droid looked at the two boys and down at the keycode access lock to the garage. “Is there anything I might assist you with?” “You could open the garage door old pal.” Asked Jan quickly, stepping back to allow the droid room to open it. Aurran gave the approximation of giving young Lomona a sly sideways look and punched in the keys to the garage. The door slid upwards, revealing the swoop that Jan and Treesk had been working on for so many months. A true Prairie Swoop, perfect for two Souper Swoopers like these boys. Jan patted Aurran on the shoulder again and ran inside. “I won’t forget this. One day it’ll be you, me and Treesk against the galaxy.” Aurran turned around and continued his walk around the Lomona family grounds as the swoop roared to life. “Of course it will Master Jan.” The swoop growled and revved as Jan gunned the engine and drew back the throttle, and before Treesk had even got his backside fully on the rear seat he sped out of the garage and away down the drive of their home. He could just see his mother and father run out of the house to stop him and managed to give a sarcastic wave at his elder brother Hijjin as he returned from his shift at A-desandian Security Services. He couldn’t resist a loud yee-haa as the grit on the road lifted like bubbles from a bath and the vast plains of the Ponon Pass awaited him. “Honaro Desiato. I can’t believe it.” Frans Latka brushed the long bolognese twirls of hair out of her face and curled a lip in disinterest. “He’s just another swooper. What’s so special about him?” Treesk gave her a look as if she was completely insane and folded his arms. “Because he rides for Assallam Astronautics. The best team in the sector. He’s going to become sector champion one day and race in the Core Worlds.” He looked back towards the gathering on the prairie as he leaned back on the swoop. “And one day so are we.” Jan nodded and thumped Treesk on his huge scaly arm. “You got that right buddy.” He turned back towards Frans and smiled. “So what you been up to today? Homework I guess?” Frans smoothed the material down on her summer dress and nodded, pulling her hair away from her face again. “Yeah. If our history droid recalls the Battle of Fedarn one more time I’m going to braid its logic circuits. I think it needs a memory wipe.” Jan grinned as he sneakily slipped his hand into that of his girlfriend. “What droid doesn’t?” He gave her a goofy grin. “Apart from Aurran of course.” “Of course. Wherever would you be without your conscience droid?” Jan frowned as he glanced at Treesk, checking that his best friend wasn’t listening in on the boyfriend-girlfriend conversation. “What do you mean, conscience droid?” Frans smiled out of the corner of her mouth and gave Jan a coy smile. “Nothing.” Jan let go of her hand and faced her, a look of consternation etched into his smooth features, his long hair blowing in the rising breeze. “No, c’mon, that’s not fair. What do you mean?” “I mean everyone in class knew why you weren’t at lessons today. Most of them are here to watch you race.” She grinned again. “And besides, Sergeant Tomoni’s daughter is in my exobiology group. We all know you were arrested. Again.” Jan gave her his best approximation of a roguish grin and shrugged his shoulders. “Well I can’t help it if I’m public enemy number one, can I?” “I guess not.” Treesk nudged Jan back to reality and pointed into the distance at a growing dust trail that was straight-lining its way towards the gathering on the prairie. “Looks like Desiato is here.” The three of them all pushed away from the swoop and walked towards the larger gathering, Jan and Frans hand-in–hand and Treesk walking just in front. The Trandoshan boy was growing larger and brawnier by the day, another growth spurt kicking in like a stampeding Bantha. While Jan was sizeably taller it was Treesk who looked further along the rocky road to adulthood. Jan noted this as his twelve-year-old friend stood at the back of the gathering and waited as he always did for his presence to be noticed and the people to make way for him to walk through. Jan and Frans followed and stopped as an open ended circle formed for the approaching swoop to park in. Honaro Desiato waved at the assembled kids as he skidded his ZA-453 Assallam Astronautics swoop to a halt and basked in the warm applause his dramatic entrance afforded him. He stepped off the bike, his four arms and three legs all moving in unison as he walked towards the crowd to sign autographs and meet and greet. Jan and Treesk could barely keep the grins from their faces as he moved round the circle towards them, chatting easily to fellow young swoopers. As he reached Jan the young boy thrust his hand out towards one of Honaro’s four and shook it vigorously. “Hi.” Was all Jan managed to say, suddenly star struck. Desiato grinned as he released Jan’s hand. “Hello there.” He took a sheet of flim from an assistant and began to scrawl his name on it. “Who shall I make it out to?” “Huh?” Said Jan as his fixed grin started to make the sides of his face hurt. Honaro motioned to the flim. “The autograph. Who do you want it made out to?” “Me please.” Replied Jan, and then closed his eyes in consternation as he bump started back to his senses. “Jan Lomona.” “Yan Lo-moan-aa. There
you go.” Jan took the flim and
grinned as he pocketed it, watching Honaro move to Treesk. His Trandoshan friend seemed unfazed by
Desiato’s celebrity and smoothly asked him a handful of technical questions
about the swoop, arms folded as if he was gabbing with a close friend. Wish I could be that relaxed. I felt like a canyon rat caught in the
headlights. Oh well, one day people
will know my name… Honaro was about to move away when Frans leaned forward and made to ask him a question. Honaro paused, not expecting the pretty red head to ask a question and smiled at her. “I was wondering,” began Frans, and Jan felt a cold chill run up his spine and the hairs stand up on the back of his neck, as if he knew she was going to ask something awkward. Honaro smiled again as he waited for her to speak. “Your girlfriend Asura. Where is she?” Honaro seemed to falter as the direct question hit him, and images of his beautiful blue-skinned Twi’lek princess, seconded in the Honeymoon suite at the local Red Star Hotel, throwing a tantrum because the five star facilities were way below what she demanded brought a cold sweat to his brow. She was beauty personified, a fantastic lover and a smoother ride than his ZA-453, but the maintenance… “She’s being given a guided tour of Ecaps City by the governor.” He winced as he imagined the scene. Ecaps, A-desando’s capital city and a poem in sculpted metropolitan architecture, being criticised by Asura as if a rowdy class of three-year-old school children had designed it. If he escaped this trip without causing a diplomatic incident he would be amazed. “Oh, right.” Continued Frans, clearly disappointed. “Because I read in the Chancai Express that she was supposed to be coming with you, and I wanted to ask her about her hair.” Desiato, Jan, Treesk and about ten other males in the vicinity all gave her a confused look. “Her hair? Erm,” started Honaro as he struggled to answer her question. As a Twi’lek she had no hair, only her long and sensuous lekku that trailed down the back of her lithe back. Of course, she had hair. It just wasn’t on show to the general public. “Yeah.” Continued Frans brightly. “I want to braid my hair like that too.” Frans bunched her hair into two large ponytails and swung them around the back of her head as Honaro gave her another quizzical look and moved on down the line. Jan looked at his girlfriend as if she had just grown a second head and shook his own at her slowly. “Wow. Did you stay up all last night rehearsing that? If you wanted to embarrass me couldn’t you have just thrown up all over him?” Frans released her hair and swung it about, spraying it all over her face and shoulders before scooping it back into tidiness. “One day Jan Lomona, you’ll learn to appreciate me.” She tucked her hands into the front pockets of her summer dress and leaned against her boyfriend. “And when you do, you’ll understand why I do things like that.” Jan rolled his eyeballs at his crazy girl and nodded towards Desiato as he moved away from the group back towards his swoop and followed at a saunter. “I doubt that very much.” Honaro rode his ZA-453 the short distance to where all the other swoops were lined up in a row on the grid. Thirty swoops all heavily modified and emblazoned with brash livery, along a sixty-four metre line. It was the Assallam Astronautics riders duty to start the race, number three in the Young A-desando Prairie Swoop Championships, and to award the winner with a trophy and a trip round the track on the back of his ZA-453. Jan slipped his race gloves on and began to button up his cream leather flight jacket as Treesk fiddled with controls on their swoop and Frans adjusted his seat for a single rider. The other twenty-nine racers were doing the same. Team mechanics fussing with the vehicles, girlfriends, boyfriends or whichever sex was relevant were wishing their loved ones good luck, or high-fiving their adrenaline to higher levels. Treesk noted Honaro watching with an interested eye, his own days as a young swooper not so far behind, and turned back to their swoop. All the adjustments were complete, and the Trandoshan could see no good reason why this vehicle couldn’t win the race. It was now all down to his A-desandian friend. “Remember what we discussed,” said Treesk as he handed Jan his flight goggles and watched as Frans tightened the strap under his chin and fastened the clasp. “Tight on the turns and power out of the corners – “ “And don’t let anyone slipstream you, I remember.” Jan grinned and patted Treesk on the shoulder. “Get the jooba juice on partner. This race is as good as won.” He turned to Frans and held her hands again. She took a deep breath as her young boyfriend, who suddenly looked so dashing in his jacket, helmet, goggles and boots, gave her a kiss on the cheek, despite the smirks from all the other boys around them. He stood tall and stepped onto the swoop, kicking the engine to life and revving her hard. Frans and Treesk walked back from the race line and into the general pit area where all the other mechanics and crew waited together and looked up at the screens that had been hooked up to the pit tents poles. All along the ten-kilometre track, hover cams were waiting to record the action and send it back to the pits, and a large screen had been erected for the sizeable and growing crowd to view. On the periphery of the gathering a number of local officials had gathered to oversee the proceedings and check for trouble, among them Sergeant Tomoni who watched it all with a faint smile on his face. He hoped young Jan made a good account of himself, and that a healthy interest in genuine swoop racing would focus his mind on other matters. Like going to school and listening to his parents once in a while. As the roar of the engines increased in intensity he turned and nodded in acknowledgement as a broad, deeply tanned man dressed in an orange and purple overcoat stood beside him. Tomoni turned on his speeder seat to face him. “Ade Lomona. What’s so vitally important that it brings you back to A-desando?” Ade pulled his hand out of his pocket and pointed to the grid. “My nephew. Boy needs a father figure, since his own barely acknowledges him.” Tomoni frowned and shook his head. “Narn’s a good man, you know that. He wants to do right by the boy. If Jan acted more responsibly, like his brother – “ “The last thing Jan’s going to do is be anything like Hijjin.” Broke in Ade, cutting Tomoni down with a hard glare. “All Hijjin will do with the rest of his life is say yes and salute to someone more important than he is. That’s what serving in the military is all about. But Jan,” He put his hand back in his pocket and grinned. “Jan will listen to nothing but his conscience.” Tomoni frowned again and turned back to the meeting. “If you’re right, that will make him a very dangerous man.” Ade began to walk away from Tomoni towards the pit area and the growing roar of engines and threw a look over his shoulder. “I’m counting on it.” Frans smiled and ran up to Ade with her arms open and embraced him warmly as he entered the pit area, and Treesk gave him a firm handshake as the large man ran his hands through his long hair and lifted up a complimentary Duarga, flipping the cap and taking a swig. He motioned towards the grid as Honaro walked along the line to the fifteenth swooper and the gap in the grid five metres forward where the race starter dropped the flag. Desiato looked down the line, left and right and then up to the race timekeeper who had started the countdown. 5... 4… 3… 2… 1 Desiato dropped the flag and they were away, exploding from the grid and kicking up a cloud of dust that engulfed the professional swooper. He turned to watch them roar away into the distance, a smile of nostalgia and pleasure stained with the greasy oil of the grid. Six swoops broke off into an early lead as the first of the three laps began, lifting up and down the dewy plains of the prairie. Running through the Ponon Pass was one of the longest and widest prairies on the entire planet, a perfect location for swooping, and a definite bonus for those Souper Swoopers who lived between Ponon and Ecaps cities. And given that Jan’s parents owned properties in both locations he had the best of both worlds. Jan sat in a comfortable seventh position throughout the first lap, tailing the first six swoops and tracking their race lines through the markers that made the racetrack. He flipped off a film of flim that had greased up his goggles and gritted his teeth, hunkering lower on his swoop as he began to leave the race for eight position behind him and focused his attention on the sixth place swoop. It was a factory Desando Dynamic, one of two from a team that was sponsored by the starship giant, and he got the bright red of its livery in his sights and reeled it in, slipstreaming it and breaking out from behind as they swung into a long arc that brought them back on themselves and facing out towards the skyline of Ecaps City. He briefly watched the many vessels lifting off and landing and imagined himself as one of those pilots, plying a trade on any world other than A-desando. Just wait, one day, this place will just be a bad memory…Secure in fifth position he made a series of swift adjustments to his fuel intake on a dash board pad expertly designed and set up by Treesk and felt a surge of power as an auxiliary tank came online. He ducked his head even lower as the second lap came to a conclusion and he crossed the line tying for fourth place with a Qerradenz IKGUT-4 Swoop. He gave the pilot a cocky grin as they swung away from the finishing line and down a shallow dip to the start line and the pits, where he gave Frans and Treesk a quick wave. Frans was jumping up and down on the spot alongside Ade who was smiling coolly in satisfaction. Treesk gave his friend a quick glance and turned back to his own pad, checking the telemetry and systems on their home made swoop. While fourth wasn’t a bad position, he knew it could be improved upon and lifted his comm unit to his ear pits. “Jan, you’re four point three seconds behind the third placed swoop. The laps average three point two minutes in duration, so you have to make an increased effort of – “ Jan’s static crackled voice burst through the ether. “Treesk, I’m busy right now. Give me the stats when I get back!” “I needn’t remind you the value of a podium finish to a non-sponsored team like us.” Jan threw the swoop into another tight turn and powered out of it expertly, gaining visibly on the third placed rider. He gripped the steering vanes even tighter and gritted his teeth again. “No, you needn’t.” Jan could almost smell the hot fire from the rear of the third placed swoop and as it dodged and weaved to lose him he could see that it was the second Desando Dynamics factory swoop. He grinned widely as he noted its red-clad pilot. Dap Teks, a friend since pre-school and an excellent racer. Jan and Dap had played together since they were toddlers and had developed an enjoyment for speed at an early age. Dap was one of his best friends and closest rivals, and had been spotted and poached for a factory spot the season before. And so while Dap had all the luxury of a billion-credit race team at his disposal, Jan had the jury-rigging and on-the-spot invention of the amateur team racer. He wouldn’t swap that independence for anything. Jan checked the track ahead and saw that the race was
nearing completion. He was still two
swoops lengths behind Dap, but knew he had enough in the tank for one more
good push. He waited until the final
narrow chicane, and for Dap to slow as he sped through it, careful like Dap
always was not to stray outside of the markers that delineated the edges of
the race line. Jan didn’t slow a jot,
speeding up behind his friend and slipstreaming him as he accelerated away
from the chicane. Jan knew he had him,
and pulled out to overtake as the finish line came hazily into view. He could see the first and second placed
swoops cross the line a good twenty seconds ahead and looked to his left at
Dap as he glanced across at Jan, the two of the almost lurching in their
seats to make their swoops go just that fraction faster. But it was Jan who gave a whoop of joy as
his battered and cobbled together old Wezzwen
TVL-8672 Souper Swoop crossed the line a metre ahead of the state-of-the-art
Desando Dynamic’s package. “Did he get third, did he?” asked Frans
anxiously, squeezing Ade’s hand as the towering man looked down at Treesks
pad. The Trandoshan was running his finger down the display and then looked
up at Ade with a satisfied nod. “Third position.” It was mayhem
in the pit area. Fans were wildly
applauding the first two swoops that had run an amazingly good race, and
Honaro Desiato was congratulating the winner, a serious looking Entallian
with a squint in his eye. Jan jumped off his swoop and into the arms of his
girlfriend, hugging her tightly and then embracing Treesk, who while not used
to being hugged gave his friend one in return. Jan still hadn’t noticed his uncle in the background and broke
out a huge smile when he spotted the familiar bright attire. “Ade!”
He dug out another hug for his father’s brother and pulled his helmet
and gloves off, dropping them onto the seat of the swoop. His face threatened to split apart from
his wide smile. “Did you see the race?” Ade nodded and
smiled proudly. “Sure did. Top race.” He turned to
Treesk. “You did a great job there.” The Trandoshan
nodded at the compliment. “Thank you Mister Lomona.” “That’s Ade to you pal.” He gave Frans another squeeze around the
shoulders and motioned up the hill towards where Sergeant Tomoni’s speeder
detachment was sitting. “I think you
might have impressed somebody up there.” Jan followed Ade’s gaze to the hill and spotted Tomoni deep in conversation with his daughter, and Jan grinned as the policeman gave him a quick wave and swung his speeder around to head back to Ponon City with the three other speeders. Ade ruffled Jan’s unruly hair and gave him a wink. “Stay on the right side of him you’re halfway there.” Jan drew a long breath and nodded. “Shame my family can’t make the same effort.” Ade thought about defending his brother and sister-in-laws choices as parents, but then thought better of it. After all, Ade had never been a father; he’d only been a son like Jan was. A son with an older brother, who always did the right thing, was never in trouble and flew through school with top marks. Ade’s elder brother was called Narn, and Narn was Jans father. Ade had all the sympathy in the world for his young nephew. “Kid, you keep flying like that you won’t need other people’s efforts.” The foursome began to walk through the pit area towards the winner’s rostrum where Jan would receive his trophy for third place. People were constantly slapping him on the back, and a large group of dubious looking Quarren acknowledged him in glee, waving a large bundle of credits at him. Jan crossed his eyebrows in confusion but nodded back nonetheless. As they approached the podium, Honaro broke away briefly from the hullabaloo of the ceremony and gave Jan an impressed nod, placing his hand on his shoulder. “That was a great race, just what prairie racing is all about.” He pointed at one of the factory Derrelex swoops and raised an eyebrow at Jan. “How would you like to be riding for one of the big teams next season?” Treesk looked directly at Jan, and Frans squeezed his hand tightly. A run in a factory team was every prairie racers dream, and it could only lead on to bigger things, like system and sector championships and eventually a spot on the galactic swoop circuit where races would be held all over the galaxy and life would be…everything a sentient being could dream of. Jan looked around the pit area and the disorganised mayhem therein, and down at his girl Frans, Treesk and finally up at uncle Ade. The elder Lomona raised his own eyebrow at Jan, and the young swooper knew exactly what his uncle was saying. In fact, Ade was the only Lomona apart from his cousin Sharn who was on even remotely the same wavelength. “I appreciate the offer, I really do, but there’s a whole galaxy out there and I want to see it on my terms. Besides, I don’t think racing swoops is the way my life’s going to go.” He motioned to Treesk. “But if you’re looking for a hot mechanic you could do a lot worse than this guy.” The Trandoshan nodded at his friend in gratitude as Honaro smiled widely. “I’ll put in a good word. Besides, anyone crazy enough to turn down the offer of a lifetime is someone worth listening too. You’ll go far.” He leaned in to the group in a conspiratorial manner. “Stick around for a while. I’ve got to take the winner on a lap around the circuit, but after everyone has gone I’ll give you kids a run around too.” He smiled at Frans. “And perhaps I’ll persuade Asura to give you some of those hair tips you’re after.” Honaro walked back to the holocams and meet-and-greets of the press conference as Jan straightened his racer jacket and tried to tidy his hair. The winners were being called to the podium and he was first up to collect his prize. Jan Lomona walked towards the rostrum and stepped up, accepting the applause for being the highest placed non-factory racer and lifted the trophy above his head. And through the arms of the trophy, rising into the skies above Ecaps City he could see freighters and cruisers lifting off and making their way away from A-desando to the galaxy above. That’ll be me one day. And once I’m gone I’m never coming back. Swoop Dreams2003 short story by Mark Newbold Seventeen years
before Episode IV – A New Hope Histories – An early insight into the life of Jan Lomona and where many of his traits and friendships sprang. Here we learn that not all of his early years were spent in Ecaps but divided between there and Ponon City. Also we learn of his long friendship with Dap Teks, another future Governor of Ecaps, as well as the influence of both Ade Lomona and Aurran. We also see that his life, while strict, was far from underprivileged, and that he was the schools bad boy. Cast of Characters Jan Lomona Treesk Narn Giappa
Lomona Sierra
Cetting Lomona Hijjin Lomona Frans Latka Ade Lomona Honaro
Desiato Asura Sergeant
Breen Tomoni Dap Teks |