by
Laurence Moroney
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE:
YA Sci-Fi
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After
conflicts in Korea, Pakistan and the Middle East turned nuclear, the
world stood on the eve of destruction. Realizing that we only have
this one precious planet containing all of humanity, the United
Nations pulled us back from the brink, and started a new,
multinational effort to conquer space. Many years later, the peak of
achievement for any young person is to be admitted to the Space
Academy. Previously available only to a precious few, it has recently
opened enrollment to anybody who can meet their strenuous entry
criteria. Space Cadets is the story of the first African-American
girl, Aisha Parks, to enter into the academy, where she learns that
the more some things change, the more they stay the same, and despite
the honorable intentions of the academy, there are some dark secrets
being kept – secrets that could be the end of us all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPTS
(Please
choose only ONE to use with your post):
Excerpt:
Training
It never
failed to give her a thrill when she saw the moonscape rush by
underneath her ship, and the blue curve of Earth rise above it. Aisha
smiled at its beauty.
Down
there, girls her age were wondering about homecoming dances, and what
dress they’d wear, or which boy would ask them out. She was much
happier here, piloting her ship, zipping at breakneck speeds across
the Moon, and getting ready to break into deep space.
“I
think I see them,” said David, her navigator and co-pilot, sitting
in one of the wing pods to her right. “Two-seven-zero karem
one-nine-eight.”
“Confirmed,”
came the clipped voice of Soo-Kyung, her gunner. Aisha glanced to the
pod on her left and her eyes met Soo-Kyung’s. The Korean girl
smiled and nodded.
Aisha
always wanted a visual confirmation. Comm lines could be hacked and
voices faked. Soo-Kyung knew this instinctively. That’s what made
them a great team.
“Okay,”
said Aisha. “Weapons hot. Let’s check them out.”
She
punched in the coordinates, and the ship turned towards their target.
“Visual
range in five seconds,” said David.
“I see
them,” Aisha replied. Her heads up display started to light up with
targets. Squares projected on her canopy, wrapping tiny dots that
could easily be mistaken for stars to the naked eye.
“That’s
a lot of ships,” she said, awe sneaking into her voice.
“That’s
a bloody awful lot of ships,” said David.
Soo-Kyung
was business as always. “Orders?”
“Can
you confirm ship type?”
“They
are mostly type-three fighters. About eighty of them.”
“What
else?”
“A
single mothership. That’s the target.”
“No
other fighters?”
“A
couple of type-ones, but hard to tell with all the movement.”
The
fighters were moving around the mothership, following what looked
like random patterns, making it hard to get a radar lock.
“Are
they moving to intercept?”
“No,
sir.”
“David,
probe the edge of their defense shield.”
His
gentle voice sounded in her earpiece. “Yes, Sir.”
David
took the ship forward slowly, while Soo-Kyung watched the behavior of
the enemy fighters. They knew from experience that these ships could
turn from defense to offense in the blink of an eye. If they didn’t
react, they could find themselves surrounded and destroyed in
seconds.
“We
are at the edge of previous attack ranges,” said Soo-Kyung.
“Recommend that we hold at this position.”
“Do
it.”
The ship
halted, and they floated in space, watching the enemy.
“Any
update on ship types, David?”
“The
best I got is maybe two or three type-ones, the rest are definitely
type-three.”
She
wished she had read the spec books more closely, but was glad David
was there. “Turning radius of type-threes?”
“Two
hundred degrees,” he answered, almost in reflex.
“Distance
of fighters from the mothership?”
“Average
about three hundred clicks.”
Soo-Kyung
raised an eyebrow. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Yes,”
said Aisha. “Full frontal assault, all shields on front.”
“If we
leave our back exposed--”
“Hopefully
they won’t get a chance. Maximum throttle, straight at the
mothership, direct all energy to front shields.”
“Including
lasers?”
“Including
lasers. We’re on bullets and torpedoes. Can you do it?”
She
heard the smile in Soo-Kyung’s voice. “Done.”
“Good.
And fire at will.”
“Roger.”
“David.
Punch course in.”
“Course,
aye.”
“Manual
control to me.”
“Roger.”
“Here
goes nothing!”
Aisha
punched the program, and she felt the craft lurch as they accelerated
forward. She continued its burn, getting faster and faster as they
approached the enemy ships.
“Ships
turning to intercept.”
“Acknowledged.”
She saw
the enemy ships swarming to intercept. Suddenly their random patterns
stopped, and they turned, almost as one, bearing down on her. They
opened fire, but the forward shields held.
“Intercept
in five seconds,” said Soo-Kyung. Aisha marveled at her ability to
stay calm, and it seemed the more stressful the situation, the calmer
she was.
And just
like that they flew through the squadrons of enemy fighters, on a
course straight for the mothership.
“They’re
turning to intercept.”
Time
seemed to slow down in her mind. The mothership approached weapons
range at a painful crawl. The enemy fighters, now behind her, were
slowly turning to follow them, with a clear shot at Aisha’s tail.
She’d turned off their lasers, directing their energy to the
shields, so they’d need to be close for ballistic weapons to be
effective.
It was
going to be tight. Once the enemy fighters had turned around, the
back of Aisha’s fighter was exposed. The lead ones had almost
turned, and were ready to open fire.
But then
Soo-Kyung had her target locked and opened up with everything she had
on the mothership. Direct hits, but the ship stayed intact.
A hit on
their right wing made the ship lurch.
“Now
would be a good time, Soo-Kyung.”
Aisha
looked to her left, seeing her friends’ face deep in concentration.
Another torpedo launched, hitting a module to the rear of the
mothership's bridge. A small explosion was followed by several large
ones, but before the ship was destroyed, Aisha’s ship was hit
again. This time right in the engines.
Aisha
felt her ship lurch. Red lights all over her console. The reactor had
taken a direct hit. It was about to go critical. Her heart was
beating hard. She reached for the eject buttons, hesitating long
enough to see the mothership go up in a ball of flame.
The
moment’s hesitation was enough.She felt the ship lurch as the
reactor gave out. Her mind slowed as the white flash enveloped them.
She had enough time to realize, with resignation, that she was dead.
Both co-pilots too.
The
simulator door opened, and Captain Simms’ craggy face looked in at
her.
“You’re
dead. All of you. Again,” he said. Disapproval in his voice. “I
thought you guys were better than that.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR
Bio and Links:
Laurence
Moroney is the author of more books than he’s prepared to admit.
After several best selling programming books, his first Young Adult
novel “The Fourth World” became a #1 book on Amazon Kindle,
spawned two sequels “The Million Year Journey” and “The Legend
of the Locust”, and is currently being shopped around studios for a
potential movie. “Space Cadets” is his latest, a cutting edge
science fiction novel, based on real science that starts a new series
charting out humanity’s course to the stars. He’s presently
working on the sequel “The Quiet World”, which he hopes to finish
in 2015. For his day job, Laurence works as a Developer Advocate for
Google, where he is constantly counting his blessings for being part
of the best workplace in the world…
Find him
here:
Space
Cadets Blog: http://join-the-cadets.blogspot.com/
Space
Cadets Website: http://www.join-the-cadets.com/
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/lmoroney
Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Laurence-Moroney/e/B001ILFKMS
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