[h2][color=fff200]Behind the Scenes at Valkyrie AGR Sport Complex - March 1st, 2094[/color][/h2]

Deep inside the office complex a team principals meeting was being held. The conference room was well appointed with a dark mahogany conference table and plush leather swivel chairs. A sideboard had assorted pastries, coffee, and tea. The people in the room represented the combined corporate owners and the current crew chief, Dominic Ricci. The president of the owner’s board was Leopold Koch. Leopold was the man who had called the meeting. 

Leopold called the meeting to order. His cool steely eyes turned to regard the five men and three women in the room. 

[color=f6989d]“I have called this meeting to implement a team change.” [/color]

He held up a hand as protests went up around the room. It was highly unusual to make a significant team change this close to the season starting. The pre-season was done at this point and bringing a new team member in a key position was practically unheard of. Leopold steepled his fingers to continue now that he had their attention. 

[color=f6989d]“We have been given a golden opportunity to work with a legend. I honestly was a little shocked to get the opportunity. Let me lay out my reasoning before we vote on this. I am telling you now that this must happen or Valkyrie AGR Sport is in trouble.” [/color]

His cold eyes seemed to bore into each of their souls as he met their eyes to make his point. 

[color=f6989d]“Point one, Dorian is getting older. Our team should be placing better and winning more often. Our equipment is state of the art and on par with Silver Apex. Pilots are where we are lacking performance. Last year’s rookie was a disaster. Dorian is a solid performer and provides some consistency but we are not staying competitive.”[/color] 

He glanced around at them all and saw contemplative looks and agreement on many faces with a few angry and dismissive ones. 

[color=f6989d]“Point two, the rules we have to race under are stricter about augmentations for pilots. We have to find a way to help our pilots be competitive without them. We know the rules for them are not going to change any time soon. We need to make a change here if we want to stay competitive.” [/color]

He looked around the table once more and saw more thoughtful looks from them this time. He noticed Dominic was shaking his head and his lips were pressed into a tight thin line. Dominic had been supporting the line for further augmentations for the pilots. He wanted to pay for research to take to the EU racing board to get the regulations changed. He had suggested they try to steal a racer from another team that already had the body augmentations to get around the regulations. That was a can of legal worms waiting to explode. 

[color=f6989d]“Point three, we have a promising new rookie who is a natural talent. He has great potential. Paul Mulder has the potential to get us to the winner’s circle but he needs the right coaching and support. What we have been doing is not working. We have a new rookie this year because last year the rookie was unable to continue the season after injuries from the crash.”[/color] 

He left the reason for the crash unspoken. The board knew and had approved Dominic’s trial use of drugs to try and up the rookie's response times. The result had been disastrous. He could see the unspoken knowledge on the faces around the table. Dominic’s expression was darker and more mutinous. 

[color=f6989d]“I believe we can all agree that Dorian’s reign is coming into his twilight years. We need to start looking for our next primary pilot. I also believe that we can all agree that Paul has the most potential of any pilot we have looked at in the last 3 years.” [/color]

He looked around to see where the board sat with this statement. It was about as divided as he expected. Paul's performance could be stellar in one race and he would botch the next. Dominic was again in disagreement. Leopold was well aware that Dominic didn’t like Paul. He also felt it was personal jealousy. Paul was very easy to get along with and had a positive upbeat attitude. The media had loved Paul and seemed to dote on him and exclude others when he was around which included Dominic who was a diva in his own right. 

Leopold nodded and took a deep breath before releasing the information they had been waiting for. 

[color=f6989d]“I believe that part of Paul’s inconsistency comes from not having the full support of his mother. It would help our team if his mother was willing to do interviews to support Paul. I received a call from Alicia Mulder. She will put her full support behind Paul but only if Alexander Knight is the Team Principal and Crew Chief. And Knight will have full control of all team decisions.”[/color]

As Leopold expected the board room exploded into chaos. He knew that the board liked the illusion of control. He was old enough and experienced enough to know that the board was part of the problem. They needed one person with a vision making the calls. They had too many bosses and followers. Too many conflicting opinions and strategies. They needed a strong leader to take the team to the next level. Leopold agreed with Alicia that Knight could get them there. But he would only do it his way. Leopold knew Knight and had worked with him in the past. He knew the snow job that happened to Knight had been unfair to him. He never dreamed that he could be coaxed out of retirement in any form. Leopold had approached Knight a few times in the past and had basically been told to stuff his offer where the sun didn’t shine.  

After an hour of heated arguments and debate, Leopold felt gratified when the board vote went his way. Dominic left in a rage after being fired. He did leave with a great severance package. Leopold felt no regrets as he left to make the arrangements needed. The hiring contracts would have to be sent right away. They would announce the changes just before qualifiers in Auckland. Leopold left with a smile. This would be a season to watch. He could feel it. Team Valkyrie would rise. 

[hr]

[h2][color=fff200]Friday March 3rd, 2094 6:00 AM somewhere over the Pacific[/color][/h2]

Alexander had taken a redeye flight from Los Angeles. His daughter had surgery on Monday. He stayed with her as long as he could before joining the team in Auckland. He wanted to be sure she was stable and on the mend before he left her. She was responding well to the new implants and her body was healing, no signs of infection or rejection. He was dog tired and only functioning on coffee. He had managed to sleep on the flight over. Exhaustion was stamped on his face as the events of the last week caught up with his overtaxed body and emotions. He had struggled to rest as worry, fear, and nightmare about what could have been kept him from sleep. He could have lost his little girl. She was one of the only points of sunshine in his life. It didn’t matter that she was an adult. She was still his princess.He would do anything for her. 

He sighed as he looked out the window of the plane. He couldn’t believe that he was headed back into the belly of the beast. He had sworn when Audrick died that he would never get involved in racing again. If it had been anyone else that had called him, he wouldn’t have trusted the offer or the reason. Alicia had not spoken to him since Audrick’s funeral. He had tried reaching out to check on her and Paul. She had shut him out of their life. He understood why. He had told her what he suspected his former racing team had done that had taken Audrick’s life. He still felt lingering guilt and anguish over that. It was not his fault. He had not known. He still felt like there was something more he should have done. It was not his burden to bear but he felt it anyway. Alicia knew the lengths and depths that some teams would go to for a win. He knew for her it was about protecting her son. He also knew it had to be killing her a little to see him willingly putting his body in harm's way the way his father had. He rubbed his face in frustration. He had to admit to being humbled that she would trust him with her precious child. He wondered why after all this time. 

Arianna, his daughter, would be okay once more thanks to Alicia’s help. She had delivered on her promises. Arianna had been given state of the art implants and a neural enhancement integration chip with synthetic nerve manipulation and stimulation to replace the damage to her spinal cord and nervous system. The implants would allow her to function normally. She would walk and dance again. He closed his eyes as memories of her bruised and tattered body flashed behind his eyelids. He would never forget seeing her like that. Would he ever get over the fear of losing her again? He wanted to wrap her in cotton and hide her behind walls for the rest of her life. Unfortunately she was too much like him to live that way. Now if he could only focus on helping Paul. He needed to protect him and teach him how to protect himself. He owed it to Audrick and Alicia. Maybe he could redeem some of his past mistakes by helping him. 

[hr][color=gold][center][h1][i][b]DELTΔ HYPER[/b][/i][/h1][/center][/color][color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Episode One: Finding their Feet[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color]
[hr]

[h2] [color=gold]Before Qualifying Rounds That Morning[/color] [/h2]

Alexander had flown in the day before. He had introduced himself to the team. He told them to just do their jobs as they normally would. He would be observing to see what changes needed to happen. He called a team lead meeting so he could get a better understanding where they were. There was a pit crew, an engineering crew, a marketing team, and never forget the personal trainers and doctors to keep the pilot’s in top shape. Everyone had their part to play for success. He knew that him taking over the team would throw them all for a loop and shake them up. 

He was still shocked that Alicia had managed to make it happen. He would never have agreed if they hadn’t given him full control of the team decisions in writing. It was spelled in his contract which had a lawyer review before he signed it. He felt as protected as possible going into this. He couldn’t deny to himself that he felt a thrill of challenge to be back in racing. He had missed it. It would be different this time though. He was not in the pilot seat. The ships now were faster than they were back in his day. The requirements needed to race them were different too. 

Alexander remembered Dorian. Dorian had been a competitor but hadn’t been a bad guy. He had always had that aloof gentlemanly air. He was so prim and proper. Alexander had to chuckle at some of the memories of conversation with Audrick about the stuffy racer. They had not hated the guy. If anything his feelings about Dorian were neutral. He had never really viewed Dorian as one of his main competitors. Dorian was simply one of the members of the pack in the chase for the cup. Their meeting had gone about how he expected. Dorian was surprised and shocked to see him and then gave him the same laid back formal greeting he had in the past. 

His meeting with Paul had been very different. Paul was shocked to see him. He greeted him warmly with some distance and caution. He wondered what Alicia had told Paul about him. He knew that Paul was aware of the past and his relationship with his dead father. He would wait to have that longer conversation with Paul when he was going to be on the racetrack. He wanted his head in the game. He told them all he was just observing today. 


[h2][color=fff200]Saturday March 4th, 2094, After Qualifying Rounds[/color][/h2]

Alexander had tried to get out of the meet the press section of the day. He was exhausted and frustrated. Paul had botched his qualifying round. He couldn’t help but wonder if his presence was the cause for his nerves. If the boy apologized to him one more time for it, he was going to put his boot up his ass. Leopold had told him to suck it up and do his job. Knight growled a little as he saw the signal that he was next on the interview list. 

Alexander had already seen the surprise press announcement that Leopold had taken great pleasure in that morning. Leopold had held the press conference as the media had noticed him in the Valkyrie paddock. The media frenzy his return had caused was still going. There was so much speculation about why now, especially with Paul Mulder as the rookie driver. The media had taken great pleasure in pulling out old footage and folding it into new montages about his history in racing. He couldn’t deny that Valkyrie was dominating the media with his return. Not all of it was good press though. He had put his headset on and only used comms to speak to the team the rest of the day. He had literally blocked the press from his attention. 

Alexander had worn jeans, a black t-shirt, and work boots today. This had happened so fast they hadn’t had time to even get his uniform made yet. He was lounging on the couch and doing his best not to glower at the approaching reporter's hologram. He was sipping on his tenth cup of coffee for the day. He felt like he was only awake because there were metaphorical toothpicks keeping his eyes open. He didn’t bother to roll his eyes as he saw the light on the camera flash yellow letting him know he was next on her agenda. 

Alexander tried to smile but it probably came out as a grimace of pain. He tried to settle his face into neutral. It was the best he could do for now. He nodded to her that he was ready as he saw the camera aim towards him and the green light blinked twice to indicate it was recording before staying solid green. 

Aurora’s perky personable voice grated on his already exposed nerves. He almost bit his tongue not to growl as she called him Alex. The only people who got to call him Alex were his close friends and family and she wasn’t one of those people. 

[color=ec008c]"Hello Alex, welcome to Delta Hyper! It's amazing to have a legend of the first season of Formula Anti-Gravity back, how does it feel to be in the paddock and working with Valkyrie AGR? I imagine you must have had some interesting conversations with your old grid-mate, Dorian, and with Paul?"[/color]

Alexander bit back with a growl as he replied. [color=00aeef]“My name is Alexander not Alex, Aurora.”[/color] 

He gave her a very pointed look that she should remember that in the future. This interview was going so fantastically he thought. Maybe it would make Leopold rethink using him in the marketing and on the documentary. He could only hope. 

He sighed and rolled his eyes before taking a deep breath and putting his game face on. He probably looked constipated but Leopold would just have to deal. He put a lopsided smile on his face before he responded to her first question. 

[color=00aeef]“Thank you for the warm welcome Aurora. I never thought I would come back to racing. I was given an offer even I couldn’t refuse.”[/color] 

He thought that statement was more truthful than she would ever know. That brought a playful smirk to his face. 

[color=00aeef]“I don’t know that everyone would call me a legend. I think you flatter me Aurora.”[/color] 

He gave her a playful look. Yeah he remembered how to deal nicely with the media. At least she had not lobbed him a hard ball question. This one was fairly lighthearted and expected. 

[color=00aeef]“Well Aurora as you heard, my return to racing was sudden and unexpected. I haven’t had much time to talk much with Dorian and Paul yet. Matter of fact I didn’t even start until yesterday. I have had to hit the ground running. Dorian and I were always friendly competitors. I would say our meeting went about as I expected. Dorian has always been a gentleman. Paul and I don’t know each other yet but we will get there in time.”[/color] 

He paused and took a breath before putting on a serious face. 

[color=00aeef]“This weekend I am getting the feel for how the team is doing and seeing how everyone operates. You can tell all the racing fans and your viewers to be watching to see what changes are coming to Valkyrie AGR Sport.” [/color]

He stopped and gave her a wink and a confident look. 

[color=00aeef]“I am sure this season is going to be exciting. I can’t divulge team strategy though. I am sure you understand.”[/color] 

He gave her a big smile and a wave goodbye. [color=00aeef]“See you next time Aurora.” [/color]

He looked smug as he got up and began to walk off without waiting for her reply and headed back to his hotel room. He needed sleep. Jet lag on top of his already exhausted body was taking a toll. If anyone else disturbed him before 6 am someone was going to die.