The Sparrowhawk thrummed around him, relishing the danger they were in. Together. Vash had always felt connected to her somehow, from the first moment he'd touched a hand to the controls, guided through her by some man of Korso's who was saying something that Vash hadn't listened to. Words about how she was temperamental, that other pilots had struggled, and Vash had sat in her chair and known in some untouchable part of his soul that they were meant to be.

The perfect fit.

Danger had always been on their heels, and now it nipped at them. The Sparrowhawk had lost some of its cracked grey casing - Vash could tell by the way the left side of him felt lighter. Not the ship, but him, like they were one in the same, merged together. It wasn't an unusual feeling - he felt it always when he flew her, but now his senses were heightened as he shot through the racetrack like a crack of lightning.

The others were behind him now, the plant out of the race thanks to Andi, probably spinning somewhere in that interstellar cloud and waiting for some Thedes-Korso pick-up. It didn't matter. It had only incited a new kind of competitiveness in Vash - one that made his blood run hot.

It wasn't about the prize - it wasn't even necessarily about winning. How often had he been told before that he couldn't do it? The Academy hadn't thought he was worth it - his abilities too weak, too mild, his attitude too wrong. After everything, Ambrose hadn't even wanted to see him achieve it, even if it was a trap, even if he might have been flying directly into their hands. There was nothing Vash wanted more in the world than acceptance and approval from anyone who would offer it to him - and as the Sparrowhawk screamed towards those last few parsecs he knew he would grab for it with whatever he had.

Out the transparisteel of the 'hawk's windows, Vash could see the race end ahead - a spinning interstellar tunnel which would lead him to the finish line. It spun in hoops at the other end of the asteroid field, and like light he flew between and around, narrowly avoiding mines and loose debris. Something else clipped another part of the Sparrowhawk's outer shell and that slipped away without acknowledgement. Losing it was making them lighter - faster.

But the Sparrowhawk was not the ship supposed to reach the tunnels first, and those spinning hoops could sense its data export from a mile away. As Vash and the 'hawk dove in together, a bright band shot out from within the tunnel towards them - a magnetic lasso, to push them away and halt them in place. The 'hawk vibrated and slowed, and Vash felt his breath hitch in his throat. No, no, he thought, but it was only for a second, because this was just a hiccup and nothing more - they had already built up so much speed through the race that the magnet couldn't hold them, and the 'hawk continued it's downward spin into the bright red lights of the tunnel.

There was light at the end of it, just a speck but it was coming up fast. Vash could taste it. But the magnet had been the first failsafe for if the Thedes-Korso plant didn't make it to the finish line first - the tunnel was the second. It spun faster as Vash travelled through it, and he glanced up sharply as he noticed it closing in. "You've gotta be fuckin' kidding me," Vash said to no one but himself and the Sparrowhawk, leaning into the console and joystick to push them further and faster and faster.

Another bit of outer casing ripped off, sending sparks down the 'hawk's side. It hurt. The ride was getting bumpy now, the walls too close, jerking and touching them and ripping more and more casing away. The speck of light suddenly seemed so far away, and for a second Vash's heart felt like he'd dropped off a great height without a net. The Sparrowhawk didn't have powerful shields - she was light and fast and stealthy, not built for the crushing weight of intergalactic steel wrapping around her. They'd be turned to pink foam.

"Come on," was all Vash could say, teeth grit, fingers trembling as he pushed the ship to her limit. They had to win - there was no choice. Raena was at the other end of that tunnel, as were the rest of his crew. At the mere thought of her, something hummed deep inside of Vash, in a part of him that often lay dormant save for the times she'd helped him. Underneath him, he could see the Sparrowhawk like lines of neon blue and white. The vision flickered and failed almost immediately, but Vash blinked a desperate tear away and clutched for it again. It flickered back, and out, and back, and he looked up ahead of them, then down again, and closed his eyes. This was no time to panic. He knew what to do and how to do it - he could fly through anything.

Vash took a breath, grinned, and closed his eyes.

With their speed already at its limits, now was the time to rely only on luck - of which Vash was certain he had plenty of - and as part of the tunnel closed ahead of them he knocked them to the side and kicked out the engines. The Sparrowhawk spun into a freefall, picking up speed as it went, until it shot them out in those last few desperate seconds, and with the closing tunnel went the remainder of her casing. In the light of Terminus, the Sparrowhawk was lit up in all her glory - a bird in the night sky, all white and silver and red streaks. Vash and the 'hawk spun from the finish line, his laughter filling the cockpit.

Until they slowed, and specks of lights from new ships flooding from Terminus caught his attention. Not race ships - fighters, all aimed for him.

Vash smiled. The danger wasn't over yet.