There were 12 aircraft on the tarmac. Jinsoul’s Wyvern, Yve’s Sylphid and Minji’s Mave are the only three aircraft that stand out from the rest, due to the fact that half the competition was using old Earth and Martian aircraft that dated back to the 21^st century, contrasting with their much newer designs, from the 22^nd century.

As every pilot, regardless of whether they were a racer or a fighter jock knew, understimating one’s opponent due to their choice of machine was an often costly mistake.

The course ran around a row of mountains, that looked like a circular depression in the Solaris mountain range on satellites, nicknamed the Round Table. The course’s path would be fed to the pilot’s visual displays in the form of holographic rings. To stay on course, all the pilot would have to do was to follow the rings…. Which skirted the outer rim of the Round Table, and down into the flatlands in the middle, before descending even more, down into one of the myriads of canyons, and then back up above the peaks, the course then weaving through several Tiberium spires before the path looped back around the Round Table’s outer rim.

Full throttle. Flaps extended. Nose up. The air surrounding the airfield is filled with the sounds of rolling thunder as a dozen jets take off in pairs before streaking towards the mountains.

To Yerim, it was if the sky was filled with a big metal cloud. The noise of the jets was muted out by the headsets she and Jungeun wore.

Jinsoul taps on her helmet, opening a datalink to Jungeun and Yerim, connecting their iris cameras. Jungeun sees the image of the sky, reddened by the setting sun, contrasting against the dark shapes of the mountains below the Wyvern, as Jinsoul updates Jungeun on her progress, and on the Wyvern’s performance every 5 minutes.

Yerim gasps in awe at the view, suddenly wishing she’d taken Jinsoul’s offer to fly. The younger pilot looks up, watching as Jinsoul’s Wyvern streaks past, along with the Mave and the Sylphid trailing behind it.

Oh how I suddenly miss being at the controls. Flying drones just didn’t feel the same. Yerim in a way, missed the ‘responsiveness’ of being behind the controls of an actual aircraft, compared to flying a drone remotely, which reminded her of playing video games on her old PC back on Earth.

That rush that comes as one approaches the speed of sound, and then the airframe vibrating as one breaks the sound barrier, and then that feeling of euphoria, as one then realises one’s now flying faster than the speed of sound. Flying a drone remotely just doesn’t feel the same. And so Yerim decides, that once the SR-72 is ready, she would join the ARL’s manned class.

-

The race is 20 laps. It takes Jinsoul five to realise that only her Wyvern and Yve’s Sylphid are the only ones in the lead. Jinsoul glances at the skies, her own iris-cam, now linked to the front and rear radars, flashing blue as it scans the skies for signs of another aircraft.

And then an alert symbol flashes in the corner of Jinsoul’s field of view, indicating a high speed contact is inbound. The raven-like form of Minji’s Mave flies past, a black streak, between Jinsoul and Yves’ planes. Jinsoul catches sight of Minji in her seat, with a cluster of cables and hoses attached to her helmet and flight suit.

“Talk to me. What’s your status, Betta?”

Jinsoul scoffs, just soft enough for it to not register on her helmet’s microphone. Jungeun just knew when to interrupt her for an update.

“Betta to Owl, I’m kinda busy at the moment!”

Jungeun stumbles over her words as she taps into Jinsoul’s camera feed, remembering that Jinsoul had just hit the part of the course where the racers’ flightpath would take them through the canyon.

“Oh crap I forg-”

“Screw it. I’m still trying to catch up to Minji’s tail, while trying to keep your idol crush at least three plane lengths away from my own tail.”

“I- uhh- Acknowledged. If you can take Position 1 from our military spook friend and hold it, you’ll be good to go.”

“That’s easier said that done, but roger that.”

Immediately Jinsoul applies full afterburner, her Wyvern’s wings folding back into their slots as the jet propels itself past the speed of sound, in hot pursuit of the MASF pilot’s Mave, Jinsoul’s own aircraft almost casually weaving past spires of the glowing green Tiberium crystals before nosing over, diving straight into the canyon, following the series of holographic rings appearing in the helmet’s display.

A look in the mirrors tells Jinsoul that Yves is not far behind. She keeps the throttle of her Wyvern open in an attempt to maintain her distance

Back in the stands, Yerim switches off the live feed for her iris cam, instead watching the race from one of the massive holo screens. Next to her is Jungeun, rapidly conversing back and forth with Jinsoul through a headset, as Yves, Jinsoul and Minji cycle through chasing each other’s tails while attempting to out-distance each other each time either one of them takes the lead.

“New here?” Yerim turns towards the source of the voice, a black haired woman, whose features were hidden behind the teal surgical face mask she was wearing. And as Yerim turned to face the stranger, she noted that the stranger was clad in the same flight suit as Minji, with no attempt at concealing the Mars Aerospace Force patch on one shoulder, along with the twin moons emblem on the other.

“Uhh yup. Been on Mars for a nearly a month already.”

“Huh? Welcome to Solaris, kid. Haven’t seen you in the ARL races, on the ground or in the cockpit. First time, kid?” 

“That’s affirmative.”

“Been watching you from the way you walked up here. Got in a crash recently? Can tell from that limp in your step.”

Yerim hesitates, surprised at how observant the stranger is. But then again, it was to be expected of a military pilot. This one right here has to be either a strike jock or a recon spook, Yerim thinks to herself.

“Yep, though I’ve been making a rapid recovery. Docs say I’m physically well enough to fly.”

“I’m guessing that drone I saw crashing and burning in Solstice Canyon during my flight mission earlier was yours? You’re still pretty good to me. Despite your…loss.”

The stranger dispenses with martial formalities as she extends a hand.

“Siyeon. Second Lieutenant Lee Siyeon. Mars Aerospace Force, 3^rd Experimental Weapons and Evaluation Squadron.”

“Uhh I’m Yerim. Choi Yerim.” The purple haired pilot grabs hold of Siyeon’s hand. Something feels off and Yerim’s not sure if it’s the rather predatory vibe Siyeon gives off, or if it’s the fact that Siyeon herself just feels… off.  Siyeon merely gives Yerim a look, before nodding, then raising her wrist to reveal the small bar code tattoo on it as if to give Yerim her answer.

“You’re a ski-”  Yerim holds her tongue mid-sentence, holding back an untintentional slur.”

“Skinjob? Yup. That’s right. I’m a replicant.” Siyeon finishes Yerim’s sentence. Adding in the half-censored slur as she then chuckles, shrugging as her face mask conceals the wolf-like grin behind it. Siyeon was indeed a replicant, not quite android, not quite human. The product of advanced bioengineering, which most people on Earth saw as a form of witchcraft.

“No offence meant, Lieutenant, but from all my years on Earth. I didn’t think the Feddies let replicants in the military.” To which Second Lieutenant Lee laughs.

“That kind of discrimination is only an Earthling thing. Here on Mars and the colonies outside the Solar System, most Special Operations units and experimental squadrons make quite liberal use of replicants. Due to the sheer cost of creating a replicant ‘sleeve’, only the most skilled or most ‘valuable’ operators and pilots get to be reincarnated more than once. I personally have been reborn five times in total.”

Jungeun remains fixated on the live feed in her iris-cam, her headset blocking out the conversation between Yerim and Minji’s wingman.

According to Siyeon, there was indeed a ban on replicant production after 2049. But in 2122, after the Terran Federation formed and started to colonize the Solar System, the ban was quietly lifted on Mars, as the Martian faction of the Terran military along with the various outer colonies realized that while skilled soldiers and pilots could be trained quickly, exceptionally skilled ones, like most Special Forces units, and half of Minji and Siyeon’s squadron could not be as easily replaced. It was then decided by the Mars faction to allow extremely limited production of replicants, where the issue with empathetic ability was then solved by way of an implant in the original person’s body that would technically save the person’s consciousness and personality in the form of a disc, known as a cortical stack, or stack for short. To bring the deceased soldier back to life in the literal sense, all one would have to do was recover the stack (assuming it was undamaged) and literally plug it in to their new replicant body, colloquially referred to as a sleeve, which could shrug off any injury except those to the base of the brain. However, it was still possible to recover a person’s stack if the body was destroyed, assuming the base of the neck remained relatively untouched. The stacks used by the military were designed for use in extreme temperatures, so anyone that died in the cold or were burned to death could technically still be recovered and revived.

However, as Siyeon mentioned, the biggest issue that plagued most military personnel that were reincarnated into replicants, was the psychological shock from dying and then waking up in a not-quite human body. Some had full on psychotic breakdowns, some became reckless in the field, while some just came off as a bit odd in mannerism and behaviour.

And then the rest of the conversation is drowned out, by the sounds of the racers soaring past. Jinsoul now leading with a growing gap between her Wyvern, along with Minji’s Mave and Yves’ Sylphid trailing far behind.

“…which is why I don’t blame you if you get the impression that me and a couple other pilots from my squadron are a bit ‘off’ compared to Minji. Being reborn more than once tends to do that to people.”

“But then, you’re basically immortal.”

“True that. But it’s not worth it. Life as a fully biological android, is really, really not all it’s cracked up to be. Especially since your psyche gets pretty ed up after being reborn a few times.” And then Siyeon glances around, before leaning closer to Yerim, speaking in a lower voice.

“Also one more thing. The ARL isn’t ‘official’ as we both know, so there’s lots of shady things going on. Betting is a serious business in the ARL with up to millions of Martian credits involved. Us in the military that are involved with the ARL perfer to play the game as it was always intended, but there are those out there that are willing to rig matches through any means possible. You seem like a smart kid so I know you know what I mean. Your friends probably already told you before they brought you here, but I’ll tell you anyways so you’re clear. 

Stay away from any shady characters, don’t get involved in any shady business. You get me? Only trust your friends and mine. Anything weird happens, you go to Minji, me or any of our squadron members directly.”

Yerim merely replies with a nod

“Good kid.”

And then Siyeon melds back into the crowd, giving Yerim a two- salute as the racers pass overhead for the final two laps.

Jinsoul pulls up, the nose of the Wyvern arcing upwards as a set of numbers flash across her field of view. It was her lap time. Now under 2:37, which was quite fast, Jinsoul only had Yves to contend with. Minji in the Mave had retired sometime before lap 16, which wasn’t unusual, judging from the gear she was packing. Unlike her wingmen (with the exception of Siyeon), Minji was only really joining the races to test the performance of the MASF’s (and by extension the Terran Federation’s) new toys against the other ARL competitiors. Siyeon on the other hand, would test the hardware in the Air Combat category, which would be taking place tomorrow.  

Her knuckles, now white from keeping the afterburners lit, Jinsoul turns, as her iris cam, flashing blue, indicates another aircraft approaching fast. It shoots past, her iris cam identifying it as Yves’s Sylphid. Jinsoul merely chuckles, her Wyvern quickly catching up to the Sylphid, then breezing past, right as they passed the starting line, beginning the first leg of the final lap

Yerim’s tapped into Jinsoul’s feed. She feels her heart pause as she anticipates Yves making another high speed pass on Jinsoul. Yerim waits. And waits. And waits. But Yves doesn’t appear. At all.

Jungeun’s still watching on her own iris cam’s virtual feed. A diagram of the Wyvern fills her field of vision, with critical systems like the datalink, fuel, engine temp, oil pressure, hydraulics all marked in green.

“Owl to Betta. If you want to know how you’re doing, victory’s all yours. I’m monitoring all your systems right now. You’re about to reach bingo fuel, but I wouldn’t worry, cause it’s just enough to get you to the finish and down on the tarmac.”

“I can’t pick up Yves on all sensors though.”

“Don’t worry about her, she’s far enough behind you that you don’t have to think about her. Bring it home, buddy.”

And then on the other side of the line, Jinsoul can make out the sounds of Yerim cheering her on.

“Let’s finish this!”

And the crowd erupts as the Wyvern crosses the finish line, pulling an aileron roll as the sleek fighter zips over the starting line, digitally marked on the pilot’s nav systems. Jinsoul takes the opportunity to pull a few victory loops over the runway before beginning her landing approach.

Jinsoul remains silent, breathing deeply as a pair of drones buzz her taxiing fighter, waving the chequered banner over her before remaining in place, as a tow tractor is hooked up to her Wyvern

-

It doesn’t hit Jinsoul until she’s out of the cockpit, until she feels weights pressing against her sides, and realizes Jungeun and Yerim have both locked her in tight bear hugs. It feels surreal to Jinsoul. With her and Jungeun always having to retire early from the ARL races due to some unseen mechanical bug with the planes or some unfortunate of luck over the past month, itr was actually a relief to have finished one race, much less win.

What’s even more surreal is THE Ha Sooyoung herself, burgundy flight suit and all, walking up to Jinsoul, offering the blue suited pilot a handshake.

“Jung Jinsoul right?”

“I- uhh- Y-yes. That’s right.” Jinsoul fumbles over her words, returning the handshake as Yerim tries to restrain Jungeun, who’s just about ready to slip back into fangirl mode.

“And these are the rest of your team, I presume?” To which Jinsoul nods, as Yerim and Jungeun step over, introducing themselves, with Yerim still trying to restrain Jungeun.

“Yes. I’m sure you know your biggest fangirl Jungeun, and our purple haired prodigy here is Yerim.”

“Oh yes. I remember racing you both before I left for my Earth tour. Come to think of it, the way you raced tonight… It’s just like old times. I’ve never met anyone who could give me such a run for my money the way you two did.”

“I’m sorry about what happened to you though. Heard you had some engine trouble.”

‘Hey, don’t be. happens. It’s all part of the game, be it in the air or on the ground.”

And as the conversation drags on, Yerim catches sight of Siyeon, disappearing into the crowd with Minji and three other pilots. And as if Siyeon knew Yerim was watching, she shoots the younger pilot a glance, mouthing “Remember what I told you, kid.”

And then Yerim’s attention was drawn back to Yves, who offered a handshake.

“Jinsoul’s told me a lot about you. You look like you’ve got a lot of potential. Mayhaps I’ll be seeing you in the air sometime soon? After your plane is ready to take flight, of course.”

And now it’s Yerim’s turn to stutter, at the very fact that the person whose songs she was listening to just before the race was now talking to her, and was looking forward to actually racing her in the air.

“I- My gosh, I’m really honored, Miss Yves.”

To which Yves chuckles.

“I’ll be taking that as a yes. I’m looking forward to our race in the next round.”

 Yerim breaks into a giddy grin after. She’s still grinning alongside an awestruck Jungeun, until Jinsoul taps them both on the shoulders, reminding them that they do have a home to go back to.

A/N; here's a list of AU-related terms so far and what they mean (to be amended as the story progresses)

-Spook: Originally a slur for spies or analysts usually associated with the CIA and MI5 on Earth, the Martian slang has adapted the slur to refer to any member of the military. Most military members use the word ironically to refer to themselves.

-Feddie: A nickname for the Terran Federation, the federal government of Earth, Mars and the various space and planetary colonies under their jurisdiction. Earthlings see the term Feddie as a slur while Martians and colonists see it as a harmless abbreviation of the 'Federation' part of the name. 

-Skinjob: An Earthling slur for replicants.

-Replicant: An artificial human that's been cultured and grown in a laboratory through bioengineering. Essentially a biological/organic 'android', replicants have similar intelligence to a normal human being but they have superior strength, agility and physical resilience. Replicants created after 2050 can live as long as a regular human, which is 80-100 years with minimal signs of physical ageing.