Seno grimaced as he came around. A smoking singe mark across his ship's nose showed where the last shot had grazed him. "Live fire practice, my dusty butt," he grumbled to the tiny cockpit. "The Quartermaster will tear us down if he hears of us using it outside the Races."

The other Mice envied that Seno got to fly the racing ships. As the only Mouse who didn't get shot out of the sky in five minutes, he was constantly on call for practice duty. The added bonus was that it got him out of maintenance duty on the Docks.

The other racers knew he gave as good as he got and treated him with respect. Only Daffy used him to take out his bad moods on.

Seno thanked the stars Mice weren't required to be there during practice sessions for on-spot repairs as required during real Races, or Daffy would be taking pot shots at them, too.

Wouldn't be the first time. Or the last. More than one Mouse had been killed by an "errant" shot while trying to get back to the Hole after repairing a ship mid-Race.

"You didn't get any action last night, did you Daffy? I'll eat my grav boots to find out differently." Seno focused on the large black duck the other pilot took his moniker from and hit the accelerator as he jerked the stick to the side sending his ship into a roll directly at his opponent. Seno cackled when Daffy predictably pulled up his nose to avoid the collision.

Seno shouted, "Coward!"

Strobing yellow light signalling the end of practice filled the mile-long arena where the Races took place - a misnomer if there ever was one. The ships engaged in down and dirty dogfights.

Seno directed his ship toward the docking bay, then grunted painfully as his body flew forward into the harness from the force of an impact from the rear.

After one shrill clarion alarm, the ships AI came over the speaker, "Warning! Warning! Fire in rear thruster! Ship explosion imminent. Activating emergency protocol."

The emergency systems launched him into the air. He grabbed the joysticks that gave him control of the seat's boosters. In space, the seat would have engulfed him in a protective bubble. Here on the Prinjales space station, he just had to guide the seat into the dock. Just in time to see Daffy standing at attention beside his own ship and getting dressed down by the Quartermaster.

"Take that ridiculous thing off your head!" The older, burly man said as he snatched the cap in the shape of a black duck with a long yellow bill off the young pilot's head. "Can't stand being bested by a Mouse, so you try to blow him up? Who's going to pay for that ship you just destroyed? You?"

Every man there snapped to attention at the low, sultry tones of Ricci that filled the bay as she sauntered out from behind Daffy's ship, trailing a hand along its belly. "You better pray Queen Cleopatra lets you fly in the next Race after that stunt, Daffy."

As she spoke, Ricci crossed to the man and trailed a finger across his back, looping around to his stomach. It looked seductive, and Daffy's eyes heated at her proximity, but Seno had grown up with Ricci in the Mouse Holes. He recognised the anger that roiled beneath the surface and knew she was lethal even when her ire wasn't up.

Seno's eyes fixed on Ricci so as not to lose a second of being close to her or, even though he knew she could hold her own, leave her in Daffy's presence unprotected. He unclipped himself as quietly as possible and padded slowly across the hangar towards the door.

Ricci stopped directly in front of Daffy, a hairsbreadth too close for polite company, and looked up into his face. Seno marvelled at the smoking lust she directed at him. She hated the pilot and had vowed his downfall for how he had traumatized the Mice, and especially Ricci's best friend, over the years. No one cared, because even though the Mice kept the ships and station in working order, most people saw them as lowlifes and treated them as such, or worse.

By carefully planned design, Ricci staged an 'accident' during a race that had her land, bloody and torn, on the Queen's lap. Lying in the Queen's lap, Ricci had whispered, "Help me!", then 'fainted' on the Queen's lap. The matriarch had clasped Ricci to her chest and called for her doctors.

It was an exact replica of how the Queen's actual daughter had died years before Prinjales was established. Ricci'sresemblance to Cleopatra's daughter helped, too.

Ricci would never divulge how she'd come by the information, whether by blade or bed, and it didn't help Seno's lovesick heart to push for details.

Now, almost a year later, Ricci practically ran Prinjales as the Queen's adopted daughter, something unheard of for a Mouse.

A shake of her head set Ricci's long black braid swinging. "You know the Queen doesn't approve of waste when resources are so hard to come by out here. That was a brand-new ship from the latest raids, too. She had high hopes for it in the Races."

Daffy sneered and leaned slightly closer to the woman before him. "I'll get her a dozen ships better than that."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Ricci said waving a long finger in front of his face. Daffy's frame tightened and his breath shortened as she trailed her finger up and down his torso.

Seno's stomach churned. He clenched his fists and couldn't force his feet to keep going.

"You are too valuable here as a Racer. You know the Queen likes winning more than anything else. She'll be ever so annoyed if she kills you out of anger over the ship you destroyed. Perhaps you have some ideas of how I can placate her?"

"Have supper with me tonight, and we can discuss how I can...make it up to her. I'm very...good...with my mouth." Daffy smiled down at Ricci with a leer that made Seno almost puke.

The diplomat she was, Ricci didn't recoil, but instead coyly dropped her eyes and looked up at him through her lashes. "I am otherwise engaged this evening. You know how the Queen likes to entertain and always wants me on hand."

Needs her on hand, more like, Seno thought. Word around the station was that the Queen was ailing from some space bug the doctors had yet to identify. Ricci taking over was a necessity. There were too many Daffys around who wanted control of this little far-flung empire for themselves.

"Maybe I'll be seeing you there, then," Daffy said. As he raised a hand to touch Ricci's cheek, she turned away, making it appear that she had planned to move in just that instant.

Seno slipped out the door and hurried down the hall to the gravlift where Ricci would meet him. When it arrived, thankfully empty, he hit the maintenance button to hold the doors open and knelt down inside as if he were working on a panel. Only when the doors swooshed shut did he stand.

Her rough beauty tugged at his heart. When he raised his hand to cup her cheek, she leaned into it then sagged into his arms.

"I've missed you so much," her muffled voice came from his chest. She gripped him so tightly his ribs protested. "You smell like the Mouse Hole and engine grease. It smells like home."

"You haven't been down to see me practice in a long time," Seno replied.

"It doesn't matter how many of Cleopatra's duties I take over, I've been watching you. Don't worry about that." Raising her face, he saw tears streamed from only one eye.

Seno gasped. He cradled her face and examined the dry eye closely. "When did you get fitted for a bionic?"

"A few months ago, at the Queen's request. I'll get the other one done soon. She said it's key for any ruler to have as many advantages as possible, and she's right, as always. I've been able to observe so many interesting things in the stands during the Races, as well as keep an eye on all you Mice."

Seno grinned and held her closely. "See anything you liked?"

She toyed with his collar and drew out a "Maybe."

Her smile faded. She pressed her palm to his chest.

"Here it comes," he said. When she gave him a quizzical look, he explained, "The last few times you've come down after my practice, it's always been because something happened."

She gave a huff of a laugh. "Yeah, I guess so."

When she didn't continue, he prompted, "And?"

For several long minutes she gazed into his eyes. "Do you love me, Seno?"

"More than life itself, you know that."

"And the things I've done...don't change that?"

He cocked his head to the side, unsure where she was going with this. "You don't act lightly. You've always acted in our best interest. The Mice have already seen an improvement in their conditions since you've been with the Queen."

She inhaled deeply through her nose. "When I am the Queen, I can make them even better."

"When?" he repeated the key word.

She nodded and absently polished a button on his dirty shirt. "Last night, Cleopatra signed a document naming me as her heir. It will be announced at the party tonight. She's planned a big fanfare with that old Earth song she loves."

"That 'We don't need another hero' song?"

Ricci nodded, eyes downcast. "I want to expand out into the Quadrant. I've already laid out plans, but I only want to do it with you at my side."

Seno tipped up her chin. "Something else has you upset?"

"The Queen wants me to take Daffy as my partner. He's been her favourite for a long time."

Ricci winced at Seno's involuntary hand clench on her shoulder. He forced himself to relax. "She doesn't know him like we do."

"There will be a race tomorrow to celebrate the announcement. You have to take him out. It's our best chance because it's only open to residents of Prinjales. You know you can because you do it every time you practice!"

"I can't race! I'm a Mouse!"

A wicked smile curled Ricci's lip. "New rules tomorrow when I'm Queen. Anyone can race. Including Mice. I even have a ship for you. A new acquisition brought in yesterday. The upgrade of the ship Daffy just destroyed."

"What if the Queen doesn't approve? Of me? She'll still have clout after you take over."

Ricci slid a hand into her pocket and bowed it open, revealing a vial of the organic lubricant imported from the next quadrant for use on high end ships. "The Queen gets sicker every day. The doctors can't identify the illness. She might not have much longer."

Seno's admiration of Ricci tripled. Long ago, one of the Mice had consumed a vial of that lubricant on a dare. He did it on the assumption a lubricant made from a plant wouldn't be deadly. When doing the routine tests every dead body was subjected to for quarantine control, the doctors didn't detect it in the Mouse's system at all. No one fessed up to what he'd ingested because they all would have paid. Finally, his death had been ruled of unknown causes.

"Daffy needs to be killed. During a race is best. Cleopatra will accept that. I know you've never taken a life, Seno, so I don't ask lightly. Are you with me?"

Vengeance born of years of his own and others mistreatment at the Racers' hands bubbled up inside him.

Seno brushed a stray hair back from Ricci's face. She was lethal, but fair. He was hers.

He pressed his lips to hers and smiled. "You know what I say? It's duck hunting season."

 ********************************************************************************************

Word count: 2000 words

Written for 2021 Layeth the Smackdown contest

Requirements: Within 2000 words, write a sci-fi story using Tina Turner's song "We Don't Need Another Hero" and two of the following list: Cleopatra, Donald Duck, Laika of Sputnik 2, Marie Curie, Elvis Presley

For your listening pleasure:

https://youtu.be/Gcm-tOGiva0