Needing to be closer, Zane gently pushed Aurora to the ground, cradling her head as he did so. She made a surprised noise, but Zane kept his lips locked on hers. He couldn’t get over the softness of her skin, how her lips perfectly molded against his, and how her hair made a cocoon around them. It was the most beautiful moment Zane had ever experienced in his life.
When she pushed her hands through his hair, Zane lost all train of thought. He lightly placed his body over hers, loving the way she felt beneath him. He explored her neck, hungrily grazing kisses down her chest.
It was only when she started breathing harder, that Zane realized where things were going. If he didn’t stop now, he never would.
At some point his plan had backfired. Hooking up with her was only making him want her more. It took all his willpower to end it.
Zane sat up abruptly, putting his hands behind his back so he wouldn’t be tempted to touch her again. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”
Aurora slowly sat forward, digesting his words. She brushed her hands through her knotted hair. “You’re right. What was I thinking, kissing a guy who just insulted me not ten minutes earlier.” She stood up, but Zane stood with her, grabbing her wrist before she could stomp away.
“Shit.” Zane ran his free hand across his temple. “I’m sorry. Again. I just don’t know how to do this.”
“Do what?” Aurora challenged. “Hook up with a girl you obviously don’t think very highly of? What have I ever done to you?”
“Nothing,” Zane sighed. Man, he was making things worse. “I’m sorry. You don’t understand—”
“You can trust me,” Aurora quietly stated.
When he didn’t say anything, she looked back up at the sky, where a shuttle could be seen landing in the far distance, streaming white vortices trailing from behind, marring the hazy blue sky.
Could he trust her? He wanted to.
Zane shook his head, sending hair into his eyes. “We’re not good for each other. You wouldn’t talk to me anymore if I told you about my past.”
“Isn’t that up for me to decide? At least give me the chance,” Aurora muttered, looking down at her feet.
He knew he shouldn’t give her hope that anything good could happen between them, but he found himself agreeing anyway. “I’ll try, but I’m not sure I’ll be any good at being friends.”
Aurora nodded. “Okay, well, let’s try just hanging out.” They sat back down together, but this time further apart. The sky moved from a brilliant blue to a rusty twilight. Aurora didn’t pester him with questions or try to get him to open up. She sat there perfectly comfortable, happy even, in silence.
An explosive boom shook the ground, disturbing their quiet reverie. Vibrations traveled up his leg, causing them to tremble. Zane glanced around, bewildered. Aurora stood up and tilted her head back, looking up at the sky, her face marred in shock.
Zane looked up.
Black smoke streaked the sky. An Apollo Alliance shuttle on approach for landing was on fire and looked more like a streaking meteor on an impact course with Earth. Its entire left wing was consumed in orange flames, causing black smoke to trail behind. The shuttle twisted at an odd angle before it finally righted itself on a semi-controlled path to the SpacePort. Zane didn’t take his eyes off the landing shuttle.
“What happened?” he asked when the shuttle finally landed. He heard sirens in the distance.
“It looked like something shot it.” Aurora grabbed his arm. “Pull up the Grid.”
Zane nodded, at a loss for words, as he selected the Grid on his techiwatch. While it loaded to the local news station, he watched Aurora. Her face was pale as she twisted her hands together.
A female reporter’s voice pulled him from his thoughts.
“This is Veronica Harley with Broadcast 5 News, live from our station in downtown Orlando. We are just receiving reports that an Apollo Alliance shuttle has been hit by an explosive device as it was landing. The shuttle was returning from the moon, carrying six astronauts and a cargo hold of precious metals. It appears the shuttle has landed safely.”
Veronica glared off camera, as if something else caught her attention. There was a moment of complete silence, but she quickly recovered from whatever was happening off screen.
“I’m being told we have a man identifying himself as a member of TerraUnited on the line, the organization now famous for its increasingly violent protests against human interference in space. Hello, sir. Can you please tell us what you know?”
A gruff, male voice replied, “Yes, the Apollo Alliance must be stopped. This is our opening salvo against this destructive organization.”
“Are you saying TerraUnited is responsible for the shuttle catching fire?”
“We will not be swayed,” he vehemently stated.
“How were you able to attack the shuttle?”
The man laughed. “We have a wide variety of weapons.”
“And how were these weapons acquired?”
The man ignored her. “The human race has become an infectious disease that is now spreading to worlds beyond our own. How can they possibly think that drilling on the moon would not adversely affect the symbiotic and delicate relationship between planet and satellite? The Apollo Alliance simply does not know the harm it is causing. What’s next? Once we have consumed all the resources on the moon, do we move on to the next planet, the next solar system? When does it stop?”
Zane heard the caller hang up and watched as Veronica Harley tried to recover the newsfeed.
“It appears that TerraUnited may have evolved from a group of people with a legitimate concern to a more fanatic, hostile one.” She looked down, as if looking at notes.
“Recent polls suggest that the Apollo Alliance’s popularity is growing, likely attributed to returning payloads of minerals which seem to be making a difference. These materials are used in junction with our diminishing fossil fuels for energy.”
“We need the Helium-3. Why can’t people understand that?” Aurora held Zane’s arm in a death grip, and all of the blood had drained from her face. “Do you think they’ll be okay?”
“Who? The astronauts?” Zane asked, trying to keep up.
“Yeah.” She looked back up to the sky. “They were on fire.”
Zane didn’t know what to do; he had never comforted anyone in his life. He patted her hand and tried to make a joke. “TerraUnited? More like TerraRists—” He stopped when he realized how stupid that sounded and tried again. “I’m sure they’re okay; the news chick said so. We don’t have anything to worry about.”
Aurora took both of his hands in hers and turned her body into his, but her face remained facing the sky above. He bent forward to better hear her whispered words.
“Lord, guard and guide the men who fly
Through the great spaces in the sky,
Be with them always in the air, in dark’ning storms or sunlight fair.
O, Hear us when we lift our prayer, for those in peril in the air.”
Zane slowly wiped the tear that fell down Aurora’s cheek as she repeated the old navy aviation hymn, her skin soft and warm under his touch. Every time this girl spoke, she shocked him to the core. He’d do anything to deserve her, but was afraid even his best wouldn’t be enough.
SKY
The humming buzz and beep of instruments echoed through the once-quiet simulator bay as Sky marched around the room. Eight shuttle simulators were running simultaneously while Sky barked out instructions.
“We’ll repeat these maneuvers until you can do them in your sleep!” Sky snapped. With his shoulders back, chest out, and chin held high, he knew he looked like an arrogant ass, but he needed to make an impression. The attack on the Apollo Alliance space shuttle two weeks ago had pissed him off. There was no way in hell he’d let his cadets fail.
If he didn’t ensure each pilot cadet completed the appropriate maneuvers and followed the correct procedures, then it would be his fault if anything ever happened to them.
Even though the Academy knew they all wouldn’t make it, he’d be damned if he had any of their deaths on his hands. And with the limited selection the Academy had to choose from, they needed every single one of them.
Sky turned to one of the cadets at the beginning of the simulator row. “Rick, it’s time to burn. If you don’t do your de-orbit burn now, you won’t have directional control when the shuttle re-enters atmosphere.”
Sky watched as Rick flicked three engine-firing switches into the upright position and began his simulated de-orbital burn. Rick simultaneously pulled the joystick back, slightly pitching the shuttle for a better re-entry angle. Usually, the shuttles were operated by a crew, but for this training assignment, Sky wanted to see if they were able to handle the lengthy re-entry procedure without help.
The glass navigational screen lit green as Rick finished his burn. “Great job, Rick. Now land that sucker.”
Sky left Rick to land his shuttle, watching for anyone else he could help as he passed by simulator after simulator. His thoughts drifted to TerraUnited. They were becoming a much larger problem than he anticipated. Why couldn’t they see that the world was out of options?
Oh, right, because most don’t see. After living at the Academy and in space for the past four years, he’d gotten used to seeing everyone’s eyes. But that wasn’t normal. Not many lived like that outside the Academy.
He paced behind the last simulator in the bay where he had an unobstructed view of Aurora Titon’s screen. He watched Aurora expertly maneuver through the de-orbital burn procedure and position the shuttle for re-entry. The navigational screen turned green.
Impressive.
Maybe the late-night sessions in the simulators were doing her some good. He knew Aurora didn’t think anyone noticed her late night dates with the sims, but he had. How could he not? His office overlooked the simulator bay.
The other night when she failed to correctly dock with the space station, she had yelled out at the simulator and proceeded to stomp out of the bay. The maneuver was too advanced for her at this point in flight training, but he had no doubt she would go back every night until she got it.
Sky smiled at the memory. He hated to admit it, but the heiress was proving herself to be a decent pilot.
As Aurora’s shuttle streaked down through Earth’s upper atmosphere at over twenty thousand miles per hour, a red glow appeared outside the window screen. When the air molecules outside of the shuttle continued to heat to over three thousand degrees Fahrenheit, the red glow grew brighter until it almost matched the color of Aurora’s hair.
Sky’s breath caught in his throat. He felt like he should say something instructional, but nothing came to mind. She was handling everything extremely well.
While the shuttle descended toward the SpacePort, Aurora steered the shuttle for landing. Her body looked so small in the instrument-intense environment, yet she handled everything with ease. Aurora pulled the joystick back, pitching to land.
Her arms strained to hold the heavy nose of the shuttle up.
She wasn’t going to make it.
Sky watched as Aurora struggled to keep the nose of the shuttle pitched up and keep her feet on the rudders simultaneously.
The shuttle pitched.
Aurora slammed all of her weight down onto the right rudder, trying to control the shuttle. But as her focus moved to correcting her rudder pressure, she lost her battle with the joystick.
The shuttle’s nose gear hit the runway first.
“Umpf.” Aurora’s body shook with the simulated impact, hitting her head on the screen.
Fuck, the girl wasn’t wearing her seatbelt. Maybe she wasn’t ready for this.
“Aurora, why aren’t you strapped in?” Sky moved into the simulator, taking a seat in the back instructor chair.
Aurora’s head whipped around and a strand of hair stuck to her forehead. “I couldn’t reach everything without un-buckling.” Aurora’s shoulders slumped.
Sky fought the urge to coddle her. Just because she was a girl and a Titon didn’t mean she’d get special treatment from him. “That’s why most pilots are male. Physically we’re just stronger.” Sky wasn’t trying to be sexist. It was a fact.
“Are you saying I fly like a girl?”
Sky laughed. “Um, I guess so.”
Aurora rolled her eyes. “Right. Women can’t do what men can do, right? What century is this?” she muttered.
Sky licked his lips. “I so don’t want to go there. I was just saying that women are smaller, physically. You don’t have the height, reach, or muscle strength that men do. I’m not saying women can’t be pilots. I’m just saying you’ll have to work harder.”
Aurora clenched her jaw. Sweat had her shirt sticking to her curvy frame. Sky tried to remain unaffected. This is why women shouldn’t be in the cockpit. They’re distracting!
“What are you saying, Sky?” Aurora looked at her feet. “Normally my co-pilot would reach the instruments on his side of the panel. I’m not wearing heels because you told me not to. If I had that extra height today, I would have been able to use full deflection on the rudder and reach everything else I needed to.”
“You know the shuttle rudders move, right?” Sky asked before he was able to stop himself.
When Aurora spoke, it was in a voice so soft that Sky leaned forward to hear her. “No, I obviously didn’t know that,” she whispered. “I mean, I don’t usually need the extra height, but that would’ve been good to know.”
A bead of sweat trickled from her collarbone and down the front of her v-neck Apollo Academy T-shirt. Sky watched its slow path until it disappeared underneath Aurora’s shirt. He imagined following its trail with his tongue.
When Aurora cleared her throat, Sky averted his gaze, hastily standing up. He obviously needed to get laid. Pushing those thoughts aside, Sky wiped his sweaty hands against his pant legs. When they were dry, he pointed to the small control unit on the lower left side of the captain’s chair. “There’s the control.”
“Thanks. I wish you would have told me that sooner.” Aurora smiled.
Yeah, but he wasn’t giving her special treatment. You would have told anyone else.
“Well, you should’ve asked. Either way, you lost control of the shuttle. Even if the rudder pedals were extended, you still would’ve struggled keeping the nose up. I’m going to talk to Coach Harris. He’s going to have to get you stronger.”
Sky maneuvered out of the simulator, bumping into the back instructor control panel as he did so. Shit. If he didn’t stop bulking up, he was going to have a hard time fitting in the cockpit.
Not looking back to see if Aurora was laughing, he yelled, “Class dismissed.” Sky pulled the aviator glasses from his polo, slipping them on as he stalked out of the room. He couldn’t let Aurora Titon, of all girls, get to him. She had the power to ruin everything for him, and he wasn’t going to let her.
AURORA
Aurora woke up before the sun even had a chance to make its lovely orange debut over the Atlantic Ocean. She had tossed and turned all night, thinking of the day ahead. Her teachers thought it was time to move on from simulation training to a few actual flights. She couldn’t be more excited to get a chance to fly the XT-101, but the attack on the shuttle a few weeks ago still haunted her. She pushed those dark thoughts away; they weren’t attacking the Academy and she was tired of the simulator.
The Apollo Alliance shuttle was designed with transportation and safety in mind, not for agility, which was what saved the crew the day it was attacked. The XT-101, on the other hand, was an extremely advanced high-altitude supersonic trainer. No one would be able to shoot her down, and if they tried, she felt safe knowing the second seat was occupied by a UAV computer processor, which allowed a ground pilot to take over in an emergency.
Either way she would have to complete the training, so that’s what she would focus on. Today’s training flight would allow her hands-on experience in the safest manner possible, while also forcing
her to make fast decisions. They would be operating at extremely high speeds and altitudes where they would have to make life and death decisions in a timely and efficient manner while also under extreme pressure.
Beep. Beep.
Aurora’s techiwatch reminded her that she wasn’t flying but still in bed, going through all of the emergency procedures that had been drilled into her the past two months.
Her techiwatch alarm began beeping repeatedly; incessantly reminding her it was time for her day to officially begin. Like she could forget. Aurora turned the alarm off, pushed the warm covers back, and jumped out of bed. She hastily dressed in her jumpsuit and pulled her hair back into its usual French braid. When she finished, she looked in the mirror and liked the way the flight suit looked on her. She pulled on her favorite pair of lace-up boots. Sensible and stylish.
Now that she was dressed with plenty of time to spare, she thought a light breakfast might settle her nerves. She looked over to Kaylana’s bed, hoping to find her awake, and willing to have breakfast with her at such an early hour. To her surprise, Kaylana looked halfway awake, angrily rubbing her eyes. And since she was already waking up, Aurora decided to take her chances with a grumpy Kaylana.
“Want to go get breakfast with me?”
Kaylana moved a pillow to cover her face.
Aurora sighed and was about to give up when she heard Kaylana mumbling something underneath her pillow. She moved forward, trying to hear her better. “What?”
Kaylana lifted the pillow. “Yeah, yeah, sure. Just let me get ready.”
A few minutes later they made their way into the cafeteria. The smell of synthetic eggs, bacon, and toast filled the air, unsettling her stomach. They might be running out of energy resources, but at least they had food covered. Nothing was natural anymore, but she wouldn’t know the difference anyway.
As usual, she selected a bowl of yogurt with granola, not wanting to have an upset stomach later in the day. If she puked, she’d never live it down.
The Apollo Academy Page 11