Victory Over The Sun

Chapter 3- The Meeting Place

First days are always nerve-wracking. But what tops them all are the first days in which you are faced with a person who has openly displayed a distaste towards you.

This was Locke's day today. They were driving to the Hitech factory in order to get to know their engineers and do their seat fit. Their teammate Nikita Mazepin was also going to be present for the same reasons. Locke knew they were going to have to get used to this and be civil with Nikita for the duration of the season, but they had accepted this begrudgingly. For the whole drive to the factory they had been wondering how they were going to react when meeting their new teammate and the way they would interact with him throughout the season but as they neared the car park they attempted to push it from their mind, and relax before the day began. Instead of overthinking, they turned to humming along to the radio, which was currently playing There Is A Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths. Despite the lyrics being somewhat depressing, they found it helped lift some of their anxiety.

They turned into the car park and parked their car outside the factory, but didn't get out immediately. They sat steadying their breathing and after a couple of minutes they checked their phone, seeing they had a good luck message from Mick, which they quickly responded too, a small smile spreading across their face. Following this confidence boost, they got out of their car and wandered up to the entrance to the factory. They opened the doors into the reception area, where they were greeted by their team principal, Oliver Oakes. He was stood up straight, framed by the Hitech branding spread across the lobby wall. 

"Hi Locke, welcome to Hitech Grand Prix," greeted Oliver. "Here is you access pass for the main area of factory. I'm going to give you a tour of the crucial areas, and then we'll meet your engineers and Nikita for your seat fits later. He's not joining our tour as he's driven for us in previous years."

"OK, cool. Thanks," responded Locke.
"One more thing before we get started: I know you and Nikita haven't got the greatest history with one another but I need you to put that behind you for this season. You're teammates. You are going to need learn to co-operate with one another and it can't get in the way of racing," added Oliver, running a hand over his dark hair, to which Locke silently nodded. They obviously hadn't been planning to cause any trouble with Nikita, but they felt that if trouble did come up, then the team were likely to lean more to one side than the other.

"Yeah, of course," said Locke finally.

They began their tour of the factory with Oliver, but their mind couldn't help but wander slightly. What Oliver had said kept gnawing at their mind, making them feel slightly uneasy. A lot of the factory was pretty self-explanatory to someone who had been involved in motorsport for many years, so the tour passed rather quickly. This brought them to the workshop.

"This is the workshop," introduced Oliver. "This is where your seat fit will be taking place and where the engineers and mechanics will be working on the car." He started making his way through the door, so Locke followed him.

As they walked into the workshop they were almost immediately hit by the frosty chill they always felt when walking into a tense situation. They scanned their eyes around the blank-walled room. They saw a group of engineers stood around a computer on the right of the room, meticulously discussing some minute detail relating to the car. A gaggle of mechanics were working together in the centre of the room to prepare a seat to be moulded shortly. And at the back of the room, talking to one engineer, presumably his race engineer, was Nikita, looking onto the rest of the room seemingly distant from it. Locke took in the details of all of the engineers, noting that they were all male. This was until their eyes rested on female engineer who was heading their way.

"Hello Oliver," greeted the rather smiley engineer, turning to Locke. "You're Locke presumably. I'm Delilah Finch, your race engineer for this season."