Xera

11|Meg

Megovolos had touched down on Raiyfe the day after the announcement of the race was issued. She had been orbiting near Zofre when her ship radio picked up the royal frequency. She was confused to hear it so far from Vawe's airspace. The news struck her as odd. She had been to Raiyfe in her travels over the years; it was never one for bustling social events. She couldn't believe the sight when she began to pilot around the planet. New shops and structures and a system of infrastructure. Meg was slightly impressed but she instantly got the feeling that these things had not been there for long.

It took her a day to really understand what was going on in the galaxy. The flux of racers that came to the planet was a sight she hadn't been expecting. The registration tent had a long line from the moment she arrived. This allowed her to consider the race in a way she hadn't when she first heard the announcement. Like many in the galaxy, she had written off the Xera Grand Prix as a relic of a bygone era. She wasn't even born when the last one had been hosted. The thought of a new one occurring was something that took a while to fully set-in.

She had heard tales of her elders participating in the earlier XGP races of Vawe. Though, she had never been certain. She never knew her parents, let alone any elders before them. All of her information had come from a damaged file sheet that she had on her when she was taken in. She had been raised in a commune of orphans and thieves, on a world she could not recall the name of. A group of rebellious orphans and herself had run away from it when they were very young. All Meg could recall from the event was their escape ship being pelted with projectiles as they fled.

As far as she was concerned, those she fled with were her true family. However, they were not together for long after their escape. Their ship broke down and crashed onto another planet. Eight of them went down in the crash, Meg was among the three that survived. These remaining sisters protected each other and eventually managed to build a new craft that the three of them could flee in. The first hitch came when one of them contracted Ulimanoit, a vicious blood disorder that quickly ate away at her insides. The two remaining sisters buried her and departed, never even learning what planet they crashed on.

Her remaining sister stayed in her life for a few cycles. They were eventually separated during an excursion to Vawe. She did not find her again for two cycles. Upon locating her, Meg discovered that she now had a husband and two children. They never spoke again. Meg eventually refashioned the craft they built to become a single-person cruiser. Through the years, it became her best friend. Whenever it broke down, she'd find the nearest planet and get whatever pieces she needed. Then, once repairs were done, she'd venture back to the stars. She'd hop around, doing whatever she pleased, until it would be time to fix up the ship again. It had no official make or model. Meg had grown accustomed to calling it "the Firestarter."

By the time she touched down on Raiyfe to examine the race announcement, she'd spent over fifteen cycles with the ship. She was twenty-five cycles old and had spent most of those living among the stars. The notice of the race caught her extremely off-guard. Her childhood memories of the earlier races perked her ears up from the start. Then, things began to get suspicious. The radio announcements started playing nonstop, multiple times a day. Even attempts to change to other stations brought more race accountments. Meg ventured to a saloon to see if this was planet-wide...it wasn't. The radio at the saloon played older Xerian tunes until the moment Meg sat down. Then, the race announcements abruptly started again. It was as if she were being followed by the news.

It was this peculiarity that kept her own Raiyfe, waiting in the shadows. She wanted to observe what was really going on. Though she lingered in the darkness, watching every move around her, the accouchements continued to target her. Physical flyers were placed on the Firestarter windshield; people in royal garb approached her and told her of what she could win; she was even picked out by a demonstrator that was raving to a crowd about the race. Even when she was trying not to be seen, the news sought her out.