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

“Proxima? You heard Preston. The Velibar own it,” Under grunted.

“I don’t care. You promised it. It’s in the contracts. We won. When we kick the Velibar out of there and send them home reeling, it's Bryson’s.” I wasn’t going to back down on this, even if we never set foot on the planet. I’d had enough of these people.

“Done.” Octavia locked gazes with Bryson, and he gave her a solitary nod. “Now, we need to plan a war. Any ideas?” She stared at me, and I shrugged. It didn’t stop her from pressing. “Arlo? You were the only one who seemed to take charge of the situation. We have to admit we weren’t prepared for an event like this. Our military fleet is a joke. All our ships are privately owned, with no tactical training whatsoever. This has to change. As of today, there are no more ranks.”

The room erupted in a cacophony of shouting from the CEOs. Octavia smiled at her sister but continued to stand at the head of the table.

“If you’ve had enough,” she said calmly once the noise leveled off, “there’s more at stake than your Corporations. Ellie’s had the right idea for decades. The format isn’t working. Several hundred years ago, things were dire on Earth. The entire planet was a tinderbox, ready to explode, and our predecessors decided we needed to attempt a different structure. It was intended to have a positive outcome for the people of Earth, only it became something entirely different. A competition for resources and power.

“This is a pivotal time for Earth. We will stand together. Pool the resources and create a defense that not even the Velibar will be able to contend with. And there cannot be a delay. We have no idea what they’re capable of. Does anyone object?”

I glanced from CEO to CEO, recognizing the acceptance on their faces. Their time was finished, but each of them would likely struggle to hang on to their place of authority during this war. Some would assume this was a temporary restriction; others might expect the Earth to lose out to the Velibar, and I was somewhere in the middle. Erik Trevors glanced at Jade and gave his niece a small smile.

“What’s happening at home?” I asked, breaking a silent spell and thinking about my parents.

“Earth is intact. Preston wasn’t lying about that,” Octavia admitted.

“What do the Velibar look like?” I asked.

“I could tell you, but I’d rather show you.” She tapped a Tab down, and the lights dimmed, a projection emerging from her screen, showcasing a being. The hologram stood roughly four feet on the table, but I had a feeling the creature was much larger. Its shoulders were wide, the waist ample. The clothing was brown, armored and shiny. Tentacles drooped over an oval mouth. Its head was bald and smooth, with ridges over two milky-white eyes. The voice that emerged was deep, gargling.

“You will be destroyed.” It spoke English, the words rusty but clear enough.

The image faded, and the lights returned.

“This is the sole captive we managed to contain during the incursion. He will only repeat the same phrase.” Octavia set the projector controls down.

“I suspect there will be no negotiations with the Velibar. They’ll come, and I hate to say it, but I support Octavia’s motion. The Primaries are disbanded,” Frank Under grunted.

I’d once despised the man with a fury, but seeing him back the only real alternative at a time the people needed it almost changed my view of the Sage CEO.

“I wish there was another option,” Eclipse said. “Something they’d never see coming.”

I cleared my throat, and all eyes fell on me. “I might have an idea.”

Epilogue

Eclipse and Octavia crowded behind me on Pilgrim, and I felt their anxiety as I accessed the message from the depths of the Milky Way.

“Before I show you, what was up with the last elimination event in the Race?” I asked Octavia.

“What do you mean?” It was obvious by her expression that she understood what I meant. “Fine. We had our doubts about Bryson and SeaTech, and we wanted to breach his security while you were in restart mode. You were too smart for that trick, though. Fortunately, it wasn’t him we should have been worried about at all. We never expected your team to see through the contest and destroy our probing drone.”

“It was a good attempt,” I admitted.

“Not good enough,” Eclipse mumbled.

“Here’s the message.”

Level Dark. Destination: Refuge. Location unknown. Assault imminent.

“And they’re near Paedra?” Octavia asked.

“That’s where the message originated from, but not the location they gave us.” I pointed at the second line. “Destination: Refuge. That sounds promising. But even they say the location is unknown.”

“We have to try,” Eclipse said.

I peered up at her. “Try what?”

“To meet them. Maybe they can help us defend against the Velibar.” She had hope in her eyes, an emotion I wasn’t mirroring.

“It’s impossible. That is nowhere near us. It’ll take…” Jade typed on her PersaTab.

“Jade?” I asked.

“Three years and nine months,” she responded from behind the two older ladies.

“By then, the Velibar will be roasting us over the spit.” I instantly regretted my choice of phrasing, but neither of them seemed bothered in the least.

“The Racer. We’ll fit her with a new technology. We’ve been stifling interstellar travel for years, and it’s time we stop that,” Octavia said.

“What? You have faster-than-light capabilities?” Jade asked, bumping her way to my pilot’s seat.

“The Corporations would have gone to unsafe levels trying to expand, to use resources from other systems, and we wanted them here, in control. Who knows what kind of disasters they’d have encountered? It wasn’t worth the risk, not yet.” Octavia sighed. “But there’s been no greater time than now. We’ll outfit Pilgrim with the tech. You’ll be able to reach it within weeks.”

“If we arrive at all. This is an untested technology, right?” Jade seemed nervous about this plan.

“That’s correct, but we don’t have the luxury of wasting time. We’ll outfit the