Space Race (Space Race 1) by Nathan Hystad (book recommendations for young adults .TXT) 📕

The entire area experienced a shockwave as the blue gateway shimmered into place. Nothing happened.

“Reports?” I heard Eclipse asking through the All-Call.

“No signs of anyone,” a captain said.

“We’ve sent in a probe, but it went dark,” from another.

I stared at it, the giant shimmering energy barrier, and had never felt so small in my life. Here in my Racer, I was a speck compared to the universe. Billions of stars, and systems within countless galaxies. It was almost laughable that we’d tricked ourselves into assuming we were the only ones. Humans. The arrogance of us. A lush world, and what did we do with it? Corporations. A Board to oversee them.

“Arlo, why are you laughing?” Luther asked.

I hadn’t realized I was. My eyes watered as I turned to him. “This is it, Luther. This is the moment everything changes.”

He chuckled lightly. “You want to know something?”

“What?”

“I never liked the way things were.”

“Me neither,” Jade added. Her fingers grazed her black earrings, and I knew she was thinking about her brother.

“I have to agree.”

The blue began to fade, and not one ship seemed to be moving in our vicinity. It was as if the entire region near Neptune was holding its breath as the gateway flickered, and soon the massive structure glowed brightly. The center was clear again, but it wasn’t our constellations beyond. I spotted the Squids approaching the opening, at least a dozen of them. Red power began pulsing in flailing tentacles as they headed for us. They were primed for a deadly invasion.

“R11, are you prepared?” I asked, risking a glance at Preston on our feed from Obelisk. He was frozen like everyone, a smile spreading across his face. It set knots in my stomach to see him like that.

“On your mark.” The robot’s voice was steady from the bridge of the Defender.

The Squids were gathering, methodically and with confidence. In front of them were smaller vessels. The Squids were so huge, these were tiny dots against the dark hull. Hundreds of the flyers were moving alongside the behemoths.

They were closing in on us, and I took one more peek at my grandpa. He turned toward the camera and waggled a finger at it, still smirking. His hands went to the dash console, and the screen went blank.

“Damn it. They’ve overridden my lock,” Jade shouted.

Obelisk began to pivot, heading for the incoming Squids, who were almost at the entry point to our solar system. As much as I wanted to destroy some of them in the process, I didn’t want Preston Lewis to get through. I had too many questions for my grandfather. “Octavia, Eclipse, we’re ready.”

“Do it,” they said in unison through my earpiece.

“R11, fire.”

Jade clutched my arm as we all watched the fireworks. The Hub was packed with a giant Core, sealed in the clear containment box, and Jade had figured the only thing powerful enough to crack it was the primary weapons built into the Defenders.

It turned out she was right again.

The Defender’s blast rushed from the barrel attached to its underside, striking the Hub. The detonation was extreme. One of the Squids had protruded beyond the circle, entering our space, and the other Defenders began to fire. Their blasts struck its hull, breaking past the shield, but as I’d expected, that quickly changed. Their shield intuitively adjusted. This all happened in a split second as the Hub’s explosion grew. One breath, it was a ball of Core fury; the next, it erupted, enveloping the entire extent of the gateway, taking the Defender R11 was stationed on with it.

“A black hole,” Jade whispered.

The opening began to pull the drone circle into its angry maw, and pieces of the Squid caught in the blast swirled into the pit. The other two Defenders tried to escape but were dragged in, their thrusters burning so brightly, I thought their ships might explode before they were sucked away.

“Back! Everyone retreat!” Octavia shouted through the All-Call, but most of the fleet had already begun escaping, not wanting to get caught in the deadly current we’d created.

We were far enough to avoid the pull, and as quickly as it had arrived, the shuddering power flipped off. Gone. The entire gateway, including the drones, was devastated, and I searched the area for Obelisk, but she was nowhere in sight. Either she’d been swept into oblivion or had passed through the access before all hell broke loose.

“We won!” Luther cheered.

Though they weren’t registering on the radar, I saw a small enemy flyer speed through the debris, then another. I zoomed on them, finding them to resemble an arrowhead, with two tentacles drooping from behind.

“There!” I shouted. “Varn, Chen, Lina, with me!” The other three Racers and I sped toward the Velibar fighters. They were smaller than our ships and moved quickly. Jade was at work, trying to determine how many we were facing, and she tallied the count at nine.

Varn’s voice carried through the dash speakers. “Nine. No problem.”

I sped after one of the triangle flyers, which appeared to be attempting to intercept me, and broke off just as it dove for a head-on collision. Luther trailed fire after it and struck its hull. The thing exploded.

“Apparently, they didn’t have time to adjust the energy pattern sensors like the Squid had. Hit ‘em hard and fast!” I informed the others.

Luna Corp took a pair down, and I cringed as I saw Lotus’ Racer lose a battle with their opponent. The ship exploded into a million pieces.

Varn and I destroyed another three, and Sage was relentless in their pursuit of the last two. The flyer that had killed Lotus’ team was moving erratically, speeding away, and Jade asked Luther to change tactics. “Keep it alive. We’re going to need information.” She was right.

We made a plan and recruited a nearby ice hauler into service. Guiding the flyer toward it, the hauler tossed its energy net out, catching the enemy in a neat bundle. We sent a current through, and