Cadets: Young Defenders, #1

By Michelle Levigne

Behind every legendary ship are the little people who make the incredible discoveries possible.

 

In the case of the AFV Defender, they really are little: the children of the crew, growing up below decks, learning lessons on faith, honor, loyalty, and what it really means to be a hero. No matter what it costs.

 

Cadets long before they go to the Fleet Academy for official training, they are preparing for the day the fate of the Alliance, and maybe the Human race, lies in their hands.

 

CADETS:

Jorgan Pace, adopted son of Fleet medics, wants to be an engineer on a starship. Going to the Fleet Academy is far in the future. He's only ten years old.

 

When his family is transferred to the Defender, they meet two other families also traveling to their new assignment. Despite the short voyage, by the time they reach the Defender Jorgan has made a new friend and earned several enemies. When the bullies play a nasty trick on him, he uses his engineering skills to pay them back, which disappoints his parents. Then, when another nasty trick threatens to get Jorgan in even more trouble, it turns into an opportunity to put his skills to good use.

 

Problems with another boy's mechanical legs present a mystery for the new friends to solve together, and brings them face-to-face with a creature out of legend. At the end of their journey to their new home, Jorgan's efforts earn him a chance to meet his hero, Chief Engineer Jasper Lore of the Defender.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ye Olde Dragon Books
• Release date: Dec 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781952345524

Michelle Levigne

On the road to publication, Michelle fell into fandom in college and has 40+ stories in various SF and fantasy universes. She has a bunch of useless degrees in theater, English, film/communication, and writing. Even worse, she has over 100 books and novellas with multiple small presses, in science fiction and fantasy, YA, suspense, women's fiction, and sub-genres of romance. Her official launch into publishing came with winning first place in the Writers of the Future contest in 1990. She was a finalist in the EPIC Awards competition multiple times, winning with Lorien in 2006 and The Meruk Episodes, I-V, in 2010, and was a finalist in the Realm Award competition, in conjunction with the Realm Makers convention. Her training includes the Institute for Children’s Literature; proofreading at an advertising agency; and working at a community newspaper. She is a tea snob and freelance edits for a living ([e-mail] for info/rates), but only enough to give her time to write. Her newest crime against the literary world is to be co-managing editor at Mt. Zion Ridge Press and launching the publishing co-op, Ye Olde Dragon Books. Be afraid … be very afraid.  www.Mlevigne.com www.MichelleLevigne.blogspot.com @MichelleLevigne

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Ye Olde Dragon Books

P.O. Box 30802

Middleburg Hts., OH 44130

www.YeOldeDragonBooks.com

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Copyright © 2021  by Michelle L. Levigne

ISBN 13: 978-1-952345-52-4

PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED States of America

Publication Date: December 1, 2021

Cover Art Copyright by Ye Olde Dragon Books 2021

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information retrieval and storage system without permission of the publisher.

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Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author's imagination, or are used in a fictitious situation. Any resemblances to actual events, locations, organizations, incidents or persons – living or dead – are coincidental and beyond the intent of the author.

Meet the Young Defenders

Tie-In to the AFV Defender SF series

BEHIND EVERY LEGENDARY ship are the little people who make the incredible discoveries possible.

In the case of the AFV Defender, they really are little: the children of the crew, growing up below decks, learning lessons on faith, honor, loyalty, and what it really means to be a hero. No matter what it costs.

Cadets long before they go to the Fleet Academy for official training, they are preparing for the day the fate of the Alliance, and maybe the Human race, lies in their hands.

Jorgan: a new kid on the ship, an orphan adopted by Fleet doctors, with a talent for gizmos, and secret fears.

Tress: leader of the gang by default, with Talents ready to bloom, and a gift for attracting trouble, no matter how hard she tries to be careful.

Elli: raised by her older brother, and tormented by a new crop of bullies just when she's earned her place in Tress' gang.

Bo: musical prodigy with brittle bones and unsure if the Fleet or Enlo can use a boy without real legs.

Dafna: her love of solitude and dark, hidden places becomes an advantage when the Defender is threatened.

Kati: her Talent isn't cool like everyone else's, and she needs to learn the hard way that Enlo gives gifts to those who are willing to obey, no matter what.

CADETS

Young Defenders, Book 1

Jorgan’s Story

THE PEOPLE:

The Pace family:

Jorgan; age 10

Tila and Ben; Jorgan’s adopted parents; Fleet medics assigned to the planet Vayaneer, to find a cure for the spotted flux

Shayn; age 15

The Waylan family:

Tomas; Fleet life sciences tech

Ricard; age 12

Rand; age 10

Rona; age 9

The Speranzi family:

Tonio and Loryn; Fleet scientists

Bo; age 10

Maenta; Le’ankan Master; teacher, transferring to the Defender

Transport Ship Counterpoint:

Mac Coyle; doctor

Trufus; navigation maintenance tech

Earli; ship’s systems tech

Locations:

Songwing Educational Facility, Mondo City, Capital of Vayaneer

Kaylan Orbital Station, above the planet Vayaneer

Counterpoint, transport ship going from Kaylan Orbital Station to Sheffroab Station

Sheffroab Station

AFV Defender, E&D (exploration and diplomacy) ship

Chapter One

Songwing Educational Facility

Mondo City, Vayaneer

The sky threatened rain when the lunch period started, but Jorgan didn’t care. He needed to get outside, to the farthest edges of the recreation yard and away from his classmates. Being completely alone, with no other people around, didn’t hurt like being in a room full of people who wouldn’t talk to him or even look at him. Maybe if he was lucky, the incoming storm would drench him on his way back to the building, and he could go home.

He jumped off the pavement, over the short barrier of spicebush that smelled like cinnamon, and stepped into the shadows of the trees surrounding the school complex. Jorgan grinned and ran for his favorite tree. In less than a minute, he was up, high in the branches, hidden among the thick swoops of moss and leafy vines. Now, when no one could see him, they weren’t pretending he was invisible. He liked being invisible when he could choose to hide.

From his hidden perch, he watched the students who were either coming outside to play during their meal break or going home to eat. Jorgan wished he could go home to eat, but his parents were doctors and had their medical lab attached to their house. There were always people coming in and out of the treatment rooms. Always someone looked at Jorgan, then looked at his parents, and asked why he didn’t look like Tila or Ben, or his older brother, Shayn. Why did it matter so much to them that he had dark hair and the rest of his family had red? Or he had olive skin and they were pale and freckled?

Please, Enlo, Jorgan whispered, when he finished his blessing prayer over his food, why do the people on this planet have to be so stupid? It’s like I did something wrong because I’m adopted. Why?

He opened his meal sack. Voices caught his attention. He turned to look, and saw two boys, small enough to only attend classes half a day, looking at their tri-wheel. It lay on its side. From ten meters away, Jorgan thought the front wheel had come off. They were going to have a hard time riding the two-seater vehicle home. The two boys struggled to pick up the tri-wheel and hold it upright while they worked together to put the wheel back on. They stepped back. The wheel fell off and rolled away a few meters and the frame fell over. The two boys cried out, sounding more afraid than angry. Jorgan looked up at the sky. While he had been thinking and saying the blessing, some darker clouds had rolled in. Maybe he wanted rain, but those boys didn’t.

Everyone else had left the recreation yard. They were either eating inside the building or on their way home. He took a few bites of his rolled meat and cheese and bread, and slid down out of the tree. By the time he walked over to where the two little boys struggled to put their tri-wheel back together, they had tried three more times. When he got close enough, he could see the fork that held the wheel to the steering bar was bent. It looked like the clip that closed the open end of the fork was missing, and the chain that connected to the pedals, went under the two seats and made the back two wheels move, had fallen off. No matter how hard the two little boys pedaled, they wouldn’t move forward.

Do you need some help? Jorgan asked.

They yelped, startled by his voice. They turned around so fast they let go of the tri-wheel frame. It fell over again with a clang-bang. They stared at him for a few seconds. Jorgan held his breath, waiting for them to realize who he was, the son of the Alliance doctors, the one who didn’t look like his family. Then they would turn their backs and pretend he was invisible like almost everyone else here at Songwing. They might even be afraid of him, if they were too young to understand why no one should talk to him. Of course, Jorgan didn’t understand either, but he wasn’t going to ask. That would just make people laugh at him. When they weren’t pretending he was invisible.

It’s broken, the boy closest to him said. We ran into the wall on the way to school and we broke it. Now it keeps falling apart.

Jorgan tried not to smile. They wouldn’t understand that he was glad they weren’t afraid of him. They would think he was laughing at them. He knew what it was like to have people mocking him when he didn't do anything wrong or stupid. He took the bent clip from the boy’s hand, stepped over to the edge of the pavement, and put the clip down. A few tries, holding one end flat under his boot, while pressing on the other end of the clip with his other boot, straightened it enough to go back into place. It closed the end of the fork and held the wheel in place.

You are so smart! the other little boy said. His eyes got wide and he grinned, looking back and forth between the tri-wheel and Jorgan. It’s fixed.

Well, not yet, Jorgan said. The chain came off. It’s going to be hard to pedal home if the chain won’t move the wheels. This time he didn’t try to muffle his smile, when the two little boys’ smiles of relief turned to frowns again. Help me turn it over. I’ll show you how to put the chain back on.

They nodded and grinned, and in a few seconds they had the frame turned over so the wheels pointed up and the tri-wheel rested on its steering bar and the two seats, one behind the other. Jorgan put the rest of his lunch in his pocket, and used its wrapper to protect his fingers from the thick, dirty green lubricant on the chain.

He heard some voices and footsteps as he was working, but he couldn’t look away from what he was doing. Putting a chain back in the track and feeding it through the guides wasn’t really hard, but it could be tricky. The first little boy stayed close, watching wide-eyed, as Jorgan worked.

Someone called, Doni, what’s taking you so long? The other little boy ran away, toward the voice.

Jorgan pinched his fingers three times before the chain snapped into place. He stepped back, grinning, and wiped his dirty fingers on the wrapper. Then he looked up and saw four boys and two girls standing there, watching him. They were all older than him, maybe as old as Shayn. Jorgan held his breath, waiting for them to turn their backs on him, or scold the little boys for talking to him.

Doni and Pauli were playing wreck-it-races on the hill again, weren’t they? one of the girls said. She grinned when the two little boys shrugged and ducked their heads. Thanks for fixing it for them. It’s a long walk home.

Two of the older boys stepped around them and came over to turn the tri-wheel right side up again.

I’m good at fixing things, Jorgan said.

You’re Shayn’s brother, aren’t you? one of the older boys said. He smiled a little when Jorgan nodded. Yeah, he said you’re really smart. Are you really going to join the Fleet and be a starship engineer when you’re grown up?

I hope so.

Our fathers are part of the diplomatic team talking with the Alliance about our planet becoming a member, he said, gesturing at the other boys and girls. It’s taking forever. We sure hope we aren’t too old to go to Le’anka and study at the Academy by the time everything is official.

What’s it like on Le’anka? the other girl asked.

I don’t know. I’ve never been there, Jorgan said.

But Shayn said he was born there. She frowned a little.

Shayn’s older, the first girl said. He would remember better.

Jorgan didn’t tell them that his parents had adopted him three years ago. They had been assigned to Hahn’s Deep, the planet where he had been born, to fight the twitching sickness that killed so many people. Including Jorgan’s birth parents and his two older sisters.

We’d better hurry, she said, turning to Doni and Pauli. Mother will be waiting for us to eat. Thank you for helping them.

Jorgan nodded and wiped his hands again on the wrapper. He walked over to the water spout in the center of the recreation yard, to wash his hands and get the lubricant off them before it hardened. The sensors built into the stone rim of the barrel around the spout flashed yellow. Jorgan put his hands under the hole that dispensed soap. He rubbed it over his hands and looked up to watch Doni and Pauli and their sister and her friends getting on their tri-wheels to ride out of the yard.

He sensed movement behind him and turned. Four boys were heading straight at him. They grinned, teeth bared and white in the shadows. Their faces were partially hidden inside the hoods of their rain cloaks, which were pulled down low to their eyes. Jorgan moved around the water spout barrel, to put it between him and them. They turned in their path, moving around the barrel and following him. He caught movement from the corner of his eye and turned to see four more boys coming at him from the other direction.

Jorgan took a step back, but the other boys ran at him. An elbow hit his ribs, a foot hit the back of his leg, someone swung hard, the movement hidden inside a rain cloak. Jorgan went down. He refused to yell and give them any satisfaction. A foot hit him in the middle of his back.

Stop right there! Shayn, his big brother shouted, his furious voice echoing off the pavement and the walls of the school buildings surrounding the yard.

A heel scraped across the back of Jorgan’s head, shoving his head sideways so his face went into the pavement. His lip split. He tasted blood. His nose ached like it tried to snap in half.

The boys scattered. Jorgan tried to ignore them, but he heard them anyway.

What was that?

I didn’t see anything. What did we hit?

A big gust of wind pushed at us.

I felt something, but nothing was there.

And more stupid, nasty comments like that followed. It turned into muttering and laughter as Shayn pushed through the boys to get to Jorgan.

Shouts and running feet came from the far side of the recreation yard as Shayn helped Jorgan get to his feet. He pulled a wet cloth out of the bag he had been carrying. The boys in Shayn’s class level had exercise period before lunch. He was probably on his way to his locker to put away his shower gear when he saw the boys picking on Jorgan. The wet washcloth came in handy, wiping the blood and dirt off Jorgan’s face.

Doni and Pauli’s sister and her friends gathered around. Jorgan nearly dropped the washcloth when they scolded his classmates. The eight boys made faces at them and shouted back. Doni leaped forward and tried to punch one of the boys in the stomach.

We better get out of here. Shayn wrapped an arm around Jorgan and led him away at a run.

The brothers were still in the washroom, rinsing the blood from the washcloth, when one of the teaching assistants found them. He watched Shayn helping Jorgan for a moment, then shrugged.

Sorry, he said, his voice pitched soft so no one else could have heard. Then louder he said, Shayn Pace, you are to report to your next class session before you are counted tardy. Jorgan Pace, you are to come with me to Superintendent Daran’s office.

Professor Alyss stopped in front of her classroom door and watched Jorgan walk down the long open walkway to the superintendent’s office. He flinched when he heard the staccato tapping of her boots on the tiles, following him. The professor was one of the few teachers in this school who didn’t treat him like he was invisible. He didn’t want to think of what the superintendent would do to her if she stood up for him. Not that anyone had stood up for him so far, other than his parents. The superintendent and most of the teachers just didn’t like him, and