Stacy Ireland: The Providence Daughter (Book 1)

Stacy Ireland

Book 1: The Providence Daughter

by

cd phillips

SMASHWORDS EDITION

*****

PUBLISHED BY:

Phillip Casteel on Smashwords

Stacy Ireland:

The Providence Daughter

C0pyright © 2011 Phillip Dewayne Casteel

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

*****

Dedicated to my daughter

cd

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 - Goodbye

Chapter 2 - Welcome

Chapter 3 - Attack

Chapter 4 - Barracks

Chapter 5 - Mind-melt

Chapter 6 - Calculus

Chapter 7 - Psych Lab

Chapter 8 - Symbols

Chapter 9 - The Six

Chapter 10 - Pandora

Chapter 11 - Gaming

Chapter 12 - The Annihilator

Chapter 13 - Alka and Zotia

Chapter 14 - Cerulan

Chapter 15 - Command Guards

Chapter 16 - Billy

Chapter 17 - Row Two

Chapter 18 - D.D. Arthur

Chapter 19 - The Defender

Chapter 20 - Intruder

Chapter 21 - Wait

Goodbye

Inside the Command Campus’ maze of winding tunnels, transparent domes, and massive structures, lies two very exclusive training schools nestled just inside the massive Terraflight and Ethernaut Corps facilities. The first is an elite academy for future ethernaut commanders. The second is a small training center, called the Lyceum, for dragon navigators. Together they form Purgatory’s greatest hope for a secure future.

All right now, come along recruits.

The murmuring pack of children inched along the narrow hallway. Many allowed a hand to drag along the rail or along the thick blue glass that separated the viewing hall from the Dragonling Lyceum. Beyond the glass, dragonlings tussled over a large brown cloth sack. From seemingly nowhere a burst of water fell upon the six or so struggling creatures and a large brown dragonling broke away from the group and took to the air. Instructor Fenster said, That is a Chinese Horned Dragon. They are the largest of the Eastern dragons. They also have the power to create rain or in this case create a clever diversion. The dragons are playing thatch. It’s like keep-away. At that moment the dragon with the thatch whipped its head around and heaved the sack through the air and it was then snagged by a wiry golden wyrm swooping down along the glass separating the children from the Lyceum. As the children gasped Stacy thought she heard one of the dragons holler nice catch and another threaten to batter the show-offs.

Stacy grabbed Rain’s arm and whispered, Did you hear that?

Yeah, it’s like keep-away.

No, the dragons. Did you hear what they said?

Rain leaned back and stared at Stacy for a moment. No, I didn’t hear anything.

Fenster stepped in front of a gray metal door and ascended the three metal steps beneath the door. She said, Please step over here children. There will be plenty of time to become familiar with the dragonlings.

The comment created some excitement among the children. Fenster said, Please quiet down. Then motioning to the doors she said, Here’s where Ethernaut Training School begins.

The children pushed forward until they were gathered closely together in the small landing. Stacy used the opportunity to slowly move to the back of the group. She was still hearing voices and hoped to hide in the back until they stopped. Fenster stood before the children with her sharp chin pointed proudly upwards. Her thin lined lips were pressed together in a shallow pucker as she waited for the children to settle down and become completely quiet. Finally when everyone was still she said, Listen up. This is probably the last time I will see many of you. Let me say how proud I am of all of you. You represent the strongest class of children I have ever taught at Primary and the largest selection of students to become Ethernaut recruits. The instructor paused and Stacy thought she saw Fenster’s harsh expression relax for a very brief moment. Then she tightened back up and locked everything into place before she said, I am especially proud of Rain, Angelina, and Stacy who have been chosen to be the first girls ever to attend Ionian Ethernaut Training School.

This was the moment that Stacy should have been standing erect so the others could see her and acknowledge her accomplishment. But now the voices and the screeches were too numerous to ignore. She dropped her head and jammed the tips of her fingers hard against her temples. She knew Fenster was still talking but she couldn’t make out the words. There was too much noise. She quickly glanced at the other children before a loud screech made her wince again. Didn’t the others hear it? At that moment Harley Atkinson popped Stacy in the arm with a quick jab of his fist. She grabbed her arm and her eyes watered as she fought back a whimper. Harley whispered, Girls are losers. You belong in the Terraflight School with the rest of the girls.

Angelina stepped between Harley and Stacy. Given that she was the tallest girl in the class, Angelina leaned down over the shorter boy and said, You got a problem Atkinson? Harley said nothing and stepped away. Damon Justice and Andre Lee, Harley’s sidekicks, giggled and poked fun until Harley punched Damon in the arm. Damon grabbed his arm and Andre stepped back and stopped laughing.

Angelina looked at Stacy and smiled. Stacy smiled back. She knew Angelina only acted tough. If she wasn’t so tall she couldn’t pull it off. Angelina had never done a mean thing in her life. All the same Angelina did seem to enjoy acting the part and Stacy sure appreciated having her around to fend Harley off.

Fenster raised her voice, Angelina and Stacy can you please focus your attention up here. The girls looked up just as the gray door swung open and out stepped a tall round man with short black whiskers and sad charcoal eyes. Fenster leaned over and whispered something and the man nodded his head. Then Fenster turned to the children and said, Recruits this is Admiral Dedalus. He will be in charge of your training from this point forward.

Dedalus turned and opened a small metal box on the wall and inserted a key into an unseen slot. He turned the key and large metal plates began to slowly move across the glass of the Lyceum. In less than a minute the walls had closed and the voices in Stacy’s head had been silenced. With that Fenster bowed her head and moved through the children to leave. As she passed by she reached out and touched Stacy’s hand. Their eyes met. Fenster didn’t say a word. She didn’t need to. Instructor Fenster had always made it very clear that she expected a lot from Stacy. This was one last reminder.

Welcome

Welcome recruits. I am Admiral Lakely Dedalus of the Ionian Ethernaut Fleet. Unlike you I was not part of an ethernaut class of recruits. I went through Terraflight School. I was trained in defense of local facilities and peoples. I was trained to independently maneuver and command a Terrafighter G41. I fought in six campaigns and never lost a ship. After the destruction of the Omaha and Lanzhou Terraforming facilities there grew a great concern that Exo-Alien forces could put an end to the Earth’s rehabilitation project and possibly destroy the colonies on La Silla and Purgatory.

The mention of Exo-aliens caught everyone’s attention including Stacy’s. It was a word only the adults used. Kids called them turtles. Stacy couldn’t remember the first time she heard someone say the word Exo-alien. It just seemed like something that everyone knew about before they ever arrived at school. The first time Stacy remembered seeing an Exo-alien was when she was about five. It was a holiday weekend at Primary and she was one of about a dozen children who had not traveled back