Albion station was larger than either Kiera or Emily expected, the promenade itself had over twenty levels. Some of the shops, restaurants, and entertainment venues took up multiple levels; One of the venues dropped people from the very top of the promenade to the bottom and then launched them up again.

Various entertainment offers were advertised on screens that changed every few minutes, none of which were available in the virtual empire. It was the Empire’s way to counter VR addiction and keep people living normal lives. They passed by some kind of restaurant with a screen of a mecha race.

“Oh, let’s stop here, I think it’s the Glad league!” Kiera said.

They walked into the restaurant, there were several screens showing the race with all kinds of people gathered around tables and at a bar watching it. A white cat robot with red and blue stripes was in the lead followed by a winged humanoid.

“Pierson is in the lead coming to the track with Reynolds right on his heels, but what’s this! Eddings is zooming ahead, he’s passed Spiers, dodged around Kipner, look at that he’s zooming past Reynolds and has overtaken Pierson! The Crimson Comet is in the lead as we reach the third course of the race! It’s anyone’s race folks!” the announcer on the screen said, his volume raising with each sentence.

A star fighter zoomed past the two leaders, the sections shifted and rearranged themselves into a humanoid figure, the joints that allowed the transformation visible as it changed modes and landed on the track, skating down it.

“He’s still using the dinerian couplers for his switch apparatus, it’d be smoother if he went away from the hydraulics and used a magnetic slide. It’s what’s been holding him back all season, the wingtips will give him too much drag at this point. It’s a problem with the 715 Raptors. He'll take fourth at best,” Kiera said.

“Interested in the races, sweetheart?” a yellow gelatinous humanoid asked, two darker yellow spots appearing to face Kiera, “Blue eyes, long blonde hair, nice slender waist... I’ll teach you all about these races and then I’ll teach some things that’ll never have you wanting a solid again. He’s going to win.”

“I’m fourteen and fifty chips says he loses.” Kiera said, not taking her eyes off of the screen, “One fifty Amalia Wilson wins.”

“Hope you can pay up girl,” the yellow humanoid smirked, “Eddison has this in the bag.”

“Pierson’s going to deploy his plasma cannon, it’s going to swing right and crash into Reynolds. Kipner is going to crash into them both, Spiers will slow to avoid it, giving Wilson the opportunity to pass them all and win the duel against Eddings,” Kiera’s eyes flickered between the racers on the screen. Her commentary was noticed by the people around her. Some glanced at her before turning to the screen.

The back panel of the cat robot opened up, and a cannon rose from it. The barrel of the weapon swung towards its nearest competitor, the motion overbalanced the robot and sent it colliding into the winged one that was attempting to pass. The orange and blue monkey tried to activate its foot jets to jump over it, but his timeline was off and crashed into the other two. Behind it a humanoid mecha propelled by rocket engines in its feet and back slowed down to avoid the pile up. The blue and green fairy mech easily dodged around them, producing skates as she landed on the track, not transforming at all. The announcer called everything as it happened, his voice rising in volume and excitement as each event happened.

“You’ve been watching for ten seconds! By the Emperor how did you know what was going to happen?” a two headed man asked, one head turning to Kiera.

“Pierson always approaches the final track in a left to right pendulum sweep. The right panel didn’t open as fast or smoothie as the left, indicating there’s some mechanical failure and adding anything that would put the mecha off balance would cause it to veer sharply to the right and crash into it. Pierson’s been having an issue with his gyros all season and they haven’t addressed it.

“Reynolds always tries to pass on the right for the Garik cut maneuver, Kipner’s reaction time has never been great which is why he can’t eke out anything above third and Spiers plays it too safe,” Kiera explained, “Wilson has been wake riding a lot this season and she’s really gotten the hang on that Darner. She’s been the darkhorse all season, but she has a real shot at winning the whole thing.”

“Wilson is catching up on Eddings, the ace pilot doesn’t seem to be too worried as they enter the battle zone. Eddings rotates, his arms open up into plasma cannons and he fires, one than the other as he weaves! He might have to spend more time at the practice range because Wilson is dodging them as if they were just flags on a solemn! Spiers is starting to catch up, Kipner is free from the wreck, but neither Pierson or Reynolds have recovered!

The fairy mech drew a rod from her leg and and ignited it, a periwinkle beam extending from the blade. Wilson surged forward, dodging the plasma bolts as Eddings continued to fire. The head of the red mech turned forward and increased its speed, its plasma blasts firing randomly. The fairy swung to the outside of the track, the announcer stating their every move. With a burst of speed the fairy closed the distance, taking a blast to its sword arm that spun the robot and took off its arm.

The spin turned into a pirouette, the fairy using the momentum to draw and another beam sword from her left leg to a roar from the patrons of the restaurant. Nova’s head turned around again to look at Wilson as it entered the last curve, shifting towards the outside of the track to avoid Wilson’s sword side. That seemed to serve Wilson well as she darted into the inner lane and pirouetted again, her blade cutting through Nova’s arm as he turned it to fire. The loss of the limb over balanced the mech and it fell to the track, bouncing twice.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“The coupler is a weak spot and Wilson knew that,” Kiera commented as the red mech stood up and shot forward, “It wouldn’t have been with the magnetic slide, especially against a beam sword.”

A blast to its leg from behind sent the mech sprawling onto the track again, Spiers’ mech flew by it, the orange and blue monkey dodged around it and chased after the fairy. It had too much of a lead and it passed over a black and white checkered line on the track. The line changed to a green field with blue letters that read “Wilson wins!”

There were some cheers in the crowd and a lot of grumbling as the screen turned to the race standings. Wilson in first, Spiers in second, Kipner third, and a dozen others marked DNF. With the race ended Kiera turned to the gelatinous man, “I believe you owe me two hundred chips.”

“You cheated somehow!” The alien blubbered, “You’ve not sixteen, you shouldn’t be in this bar, children can’t bet!” He morphed into a serpent and slipped along the floor further into the restaurant.

“What a sore loser,” Emily commented, “Do you know what he was?”

“A glorp,” the two headed alien said, “Poor man’s shapeshifters, gelatinous and full of themselves, think they’re great infiltrators and spies but they’re always obvious. Unusual to see such pretty girls as racing fans. You only into the Glads?”

“All of them,” Emily said, “We rarely miss a race, and we need to go or we’ll miss our shuttle to Adair.”

“One moment,” the alien said, “Asteroid Field, who do you have winning the championship race, Scorseby’s Enterprise is looking really good.”

“Terabyte,” Kiera said, starting to leave the bar, “Pilot over mecha always. Knuckle Duster’s had a good showing, but he’s only three points ahead of her!”

She walked with a spring in her step as they made their way through the station to the planetary shuttles. Talking to other racing fans, impressing at least one of them by her analysis made her happy. She usually only had Jac and Emily to talk racing about and Emily wasn’t as into it as she was, which Kiera was fine with. She never thought of Emily as a servant but a friend who she spent all day with; she preferred if they didn’t have everything in common. They arrived at their gate with plenty of time to spare and soon were heading towards the planet that would be their home for the next two years.

Kiera spotted her brother the moment they deshuttled; he wasn’t hard to miss. After the death of his wife, Amadeus Astria didn’t remarry but took consorts instead; a rumor among the servants said he was looking for someone that would be able to bring him the same joy as his wife dead but had been unable to so he would take a new consort every few years; some he had multiple children with, others only one. Not all of them were human. Jacquin was an Alteran, a red skinned species built for moving at high speeds, possessing prodigious dexterity, and incredibly quick reflexes. They also had short attention spans and went from activity to activity, a trait that isn’t always to their benefit. Jac lacked that aspect and didn’t have the reflexes of a full blooded Alteran, but he did have their swept back horns that cut down on wind resistance and increased aerodynamics.

“Jac!” Kiera called running over to him and throwing her arms around him. Jac laughed, meeting her halfway and returning the embrace just as intensely.

“Kiera, it’s so nice to see you again! Did you travel—ah there she is!” Jac said, letting go of Kiera dashing to give Emily a hug with as much enthusiasm as he gave his sister, “Emmy! Good to see you!”

“Oh, H-hi Prin—” Emily started.

“No titles here!” Jac interrupted, “Just Jac and you are no longer a handmaiden!”

Emily blinked, stepping out of the embrace, “Yes? That’s why I’m here with Kiera!”

Jac took them to the baggage claim, then out to his hover car. His retainer was nowhere in sight, “Kiera has signed up for intense military training to give her the best chance to get into Danelar. In the military there are no servants, no bodyguards. I don’t keep any, either. While you will technically be her handmaiden until she enters service and you are required to stay with her until then, you won’t have any duties that we won’t do as well. You are free to pursue any hobbies that you would like to as well. I’m envious of your friendship, I never got along with my retainer, he thought I moved too fast.”

Emily looked at Kiera who just beamed back. Kiera had already been talking with both Jac and her older sister, Tamariel about Emily. Like most of the retainers and handmaidens chosen to be the imperial children’s companions, Emily was an orphan. Her father was killed in a military conflict and her mother died in childbirth from complications that were missed during her pregnancy. Elise had insisted that she raise the girl herself rather than let the Governess take care of her. Emily learned alongside Kiera, trained in swordsmanship by Amadeus Astria, the only handmaiden who could make that claim, and did everything Kiera did from bicorn riding to her own servants training in sewing, cooking, and other domestic tasks. Emily was more than a servant, she was Kiera’s best friend.

“I’d like to learn to pilot alongside Kiera, if that’s okay. I also enjoy cooking, can I still do that for Kiera?” Emily asked, “I was expecting to go through the same training she does.”

Jac laughed, “I planned for that. You’re just like Chalice.”

The ride to Jac’s house took an hour from the spaceport. He lived in a small, quiet city that boasted everything the larger cities had, dance halls, a playhouse, theater, shooting range, a mall and other amenities with half the population. It was also only thirty minutes away from the mecha racing track that Jac trained at and forty-five minutes away from the Torrent Ocean. Jac’s house was a two story building with rooms to spare, he had a gym where he practiced his swordsmanship, several guest rooms, a kitchen that Emily almost lost her mind over, a swimming pool and his own simulator.

Jac was a professional mech racer on the Gladiatorial Circuit, a multi-stage race that combined the speed and thrill of a course race with intense duels and battle. All Gladiatorial races took place on a winding track that always included off track racing and fighting. From a young age Kiera had been fascinated by it and her older brother happily talked to her about it and they messaged each other sporadically. Race season saw their communication increase and they would watch the races together while on a call making their own commentary. It’s what let Kiera call the race that she saw earlier that day. It was her second favorite type of racing after the Asteroid Field races which were exactly what they sounded like; mecha flying through a no holds bar race through a course in an asteroid field. It could be cut throat and was always intense.

“Go ahead and get settled in,” Jac said, “We don’t start training until tomorrow morning. Just so you know when I mean tomorrow morning I mean bright and early at four-thirty in the morning.

Kiera unpacked, the statement about waking up early for training just excited her. As promised she sent a message to her parents letting them know that she and Emily had arrived at Jac’s house safe and sound. This was it, the first step for her to become a mecha pilot.