Light Years by Kass Morgan

Author:Kass Morgan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2018-10-08T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

VESPER

Vesper woke up with excitement tingling in her stomach. Today was their first battle, and she couldn’t wait to emerge victorious from the simulcraft. Her squadron had been receiving top scores during the practice sessions, but the only number that really counted was their rank at the end of the tournament.

Vesper walked quickly through the residential wing, smiling and nodding at people who waved or called to her, but she didn’t stop to talk. It was time to focus and get into the zone with the rest of her squadron. But to her surprise and irritation, only Orelia and Arran were inside the simulcraft when she arrived.

“Where’s Rex?” Vesper asked, forgoing pleasantries.

“I’m sure he’s on his way.” Arran glanced at the countdown clock on the screen. “We still have five minutes.”

“Right…” Vesper started pacing back and forth. “Okay, I think there’s a good chance it’s going to be a rescue mission, so our strategy will be pretty simple—we just need to be faster than the other squadron. That’s good, because speed has never been an issue for us.”

Arran nodded politely, although she could tell he was mostly humoring her. Orelia was already seated in her chair, looking drawn and even more quiet than normal.

The door hissed open and Rex entered. His uniform was wrinkled and his brown skin looked unusually ashen. “Are you okay?” Vesper asked, squinting at his slightly bleary eyes.

“I’m wonderful. So sweet of you to ask.” He spoke slower than normal, and instead of bounding toward the captain’s chair and doing some obnoxious spin, he trudged over and lowered himself gingerly.

“Are you ill?” Vesper asked, more accusingly than she’d meant.

Rex rolled his shoulders a few times, then cracked his knuckles. “Never better. Just getting ready to kick some Squadron 4 ass.”

“Good,” Vesper said, choosing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Rex knew how important this first battle was. He’d rise to the occasion even if he was feeling under the weather. “Now, remember, their captain is Pru Kamal. I used to see her in the simulcraft at my old school, and she’s incredibly good at misdirection. So if this ends up being a combat mission, don’t get complacent just because it looks like she’s using a standard attack formation. She always has another plan.”

“Yeah, I know,” Rex said, wincing slightly. “You told me that about a dozen times this week.”

“I also told you to get here on time, but that clearly didn’t sink in.”

“I am here on time.”

“Three minutes before the mission starts isn’t on time.” Vesper knew she wasn’t helping matters, but she couldn’t control the frustration bubbling up inside her. They’d had a whole conversation last night about how much this meant to her. Why was he acting like none of it mattered?

He winced again. “Can you lower your voice, please?”

Vesper stared at him as cold dread seeped down her spine. “Are you hungover?”

Rex spun his chair around so he was no longer facing her. “Maybe. So what? There was a party last night.

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