Welcome to Galactic Axia
Escape to Destiny
We hope you like the new jacket design of Escape to Destiny. Click on this cover to order your copy.
First in the exciting Galactic Axia adventure series, Escape to Destiny is the life-changing story of a boy becoming a man. Faced with a tragic past, coupled with an unjust present, Delmar Eagleman must rise above both on his journey to manhood.
Share Delmar's adventures and misadventures along life's path -- a path that takes him to the stars. His journey is more than just a journey of self-discovery but one where Delmar faces new fears and uncertainties as he becomes his better self in the process.
Escape to Destiny is our flagship book. It is the first in a 20-book series we plan to release over the next several years. Escape to Destiny is available through our publisher's website at AWOC.COM and all bookstores nationwide.
Available as a digital eBook download, Escape to Destiny is also available iPod, iTunes. and other electronic download formats, including Kindle.
Listen to a live radio interview with Jim Laughter and Victor Bretthauer recorded on September 19, 2008 from the KONP radio station in Port Angeles, Washington, hosted by Karen Nunan. Enjoy the interview, then visit our Contact page and let us know what you thought about the broadcast.
We hope you enjoy the following excerpt from
Escape to Destiny.
The transport was barely clear of the atmosphere when Buckner had the unit circle up so he could address them.
"Okay, listen up," he said to the assembled Trainees. "First off, I want to tell you that we are going farther out on this training flight than we told you." A groan went through the unit. "Instead of the small planet in the Freewater system, we'll be landing on an uninhabited planet a few systems over. It should take us three days to get there, so make yourself useful on this ship or D.I.A. Stoddard and I will exercise our creativity."
A hand went up in the back. "Yes?” Buckner replied.
"Sir?" began the Trainee. "Why did they change our destination?” Buckner thought for a moment.
"The reason for the change," Buckner explained, "is because of recent incursions by Red-tails near Freewater. The service needs to use our usual training planet as a staging area for the combat Troopers. We were transferred away from the incursions so we could train safely."
The compartment had grown quiet at the mention of Red-tails. "Any more questions?” Buckner asked. The group remained quiet. "All right, I'll brief you shortly before we land. Dismissed." The Trainees got up and moved off toward their berths while Buckner and Stoddard went forward.
Two days later the Trainees assembled around their drill instructor. "All right, listen up!” Buckner said as the hubbub died down. "We're going to be landing this afternoon and I want you guys to be ready. This exercise is a practice deployment on the surface. Have you been going over your equipment?” he asked. A chorus of 'yes sirs' greeted him in response. "Good," he replied. "On this maneuver you are going to be using field-strength weapons. Be careful. I don't want to have to fill out no paperwork on anyone."
The tension eased as laughter broke out. "That's better," Buckner said. "I don't want you too tense for this one. I want D.I.A. Stoddard to go over your squad assignments."
Buckner moved to the back wall and let his assistant take over. "Okay, here we go," Stoddard began. "Squads one and two will secure a perimeter around our landing zone. Squad three will create a defensive fence around the ship while Squad four sets up the communications and field command. You will have ten minutes before the ship lifts. If you aren't ready, tough. Each man will carry his own field rations and supplies. An enemy force will be trying to breech your position fifteen minutes after landing. Any questions?” he asked.
Before a hand could go up the alarm klaxon sounded. At first, the Trainees did not know quite what to do. One glance at the surprised look on Buckner's face prodded them into action.
The compartment speaker blared to life: 'This is not a drill! I repeat, this is not a drill. All hands to battle stations!' Buckner and Stoddard herded the Trainees out of the way of the regular crew racing for their duty positions.
The Trainees struggled into their pressure suits. Delmar whispered a silent prayer to the Unseen One, thanking him for the unending hours of pressure suit training they had received. Suddenly, the ship lurched sideways when something impacted hard near the stern. The faceplates on the suits snapped shut when the cabin pressure fell. Stoddard kept the Trainees still while Buckner raced forward. In a minute, he was back, his face ashen.
"Okay men, listen up!” he announced through his suit speaker. "We've come under attack by a contingent of Red-tail ships. One of their torps has damaged our drive system, and the Pilot is trying to bring us down. Squad leaders, take two men each and bring your gear forward. The rest of you get it on fast and prepare to exit the ship quickly. It looks as if your training is going to get a little more serious."
The ship lurched twice more. The inertial dampeners failed and they could feel the effect of inertia leak through the weakening drive field of the ship. Designated Trainees raced to the equipment lockers and soon returned with the supplies.
Buckner again slipped forward and was soon back with another report. "We've taken two more hits and the drive is failing," he said in a rush. "There are casualties up front and both the Pilot and Captain are injured. One of the Troopers is attempting to land us, but the ship is starting to buckle. Unless he can straighten this thing out, we’re gonna hit hard, so get prepared. Assume crash positions!"
The Trainees squatted low and braced against the bulkheads and support structure of the cabin. The ship lurched again when something exploded outside. They could hear the cry of tortured metal around them. Seconds crept by at a snails pace and they could hear the shriek of air outside the ship as it plummeted through the planet’s atmosphere.
The crash was more of a glancing skid than a straight vertical impact. The Trainees felt the ship bounce once, then again, then slide as it plowed into a field. Finally, the motion stopped and there was silence for a few seconds. Almost immediately, Buckner and Stoddard stood up on the leaning deck and ordered the Trainees to move out.
The hatch was partially buckled and it took Buckner and two Trainees to force it to open part way. Immediately, there was the zing of a shot near the hatch. A Red-tail energy beam burned through the hatch torching through the chest of one of the Trainees helping Buckner. Delmar recognized the man as Justus Beesder, their communications specialist. A medic tried to save the man’s life but he was already dead.
Stoddard and Buckner both drew their weapons and fired through the opening to provide cover for the Trainees. The young men tumbled out amid the dust and smoke from the crash and hit the dirt.
The first squad out fired toward the direction of the incoming shots and allowed the rest of the unit to scramble safely clear of the ship. Buckner and Stoddard ordered the Trainees forward to establish a safe perimeter around the crash site. Following Stoddard's example, the Trainees used low power settings on their blasters to gouge out trenches and then tumbled in.
The firing stayed steady and several enemy shots hit the ship. Delmar witnessed one crewmember hit as he came out the hatch and saw willing hands drag the wounded man back inside. The man’s severed left arm lay twitching on the ground. Buckner also saw it and ordered Delmar's squad to go back and assist the crew in getting out safely.
As they ran for the ship, Delmar's squad leader and another man was hit but both managed to roll safely behind an embankment of the dirt plowed up by the ship. Delmar and the rest made it into the ship just as the intensity of the hits on the hull increased sharply.
The rest of the crew was inside the hatchway. Several were badly injured and the ship would provide them with very little safety. One of Delmar's squad mates began to worry aloud and was quickly hushed.
It was then that Delmar had an idea. Remembering the weapons range demonstration about the blaster, he set his weapon on a higher setting. Aiming at the hull where it touched the ground, he squeezed the firing stub. White light filled the compartment as the ray bored a hole through the steel and into the rocks below. Delmar released the stub and surveyed his work. The hole burrowed only about ten feet below the ship.
Delmar grabbed a fire extinguisher and expelled the foam down into the hole he had just created, effectively cooling the sides. He eased himself down into the hole, trying to avoid any hot rock sidings that may not have cooled. He reset his blaster and aimed it at the still-cooling wall. He fired again, this time angling slightly upward toward the surface. He could hear Stan above him yelling at the DIs outside to clear an area.
Delmar fired twice more to lengthen his tunnel. Just as he was about to fire a third time, the roof began to cave in near the end of his last blast. Daylight streamed in through the hole and Delmar could see that his tunnel had come up behind a wall of rock.
The enemy weapons sounded terribly close as he emerged into the light. Several Trainees had formed a series of trenches and pits to provide cover from enemy fire. Ducking down into the tunnel, he called back to Stan at the other end to bring out the crew.
The last of them had just been lifted out into the trenches when an explosion ripped through the air. Delmar turned around to see that the central section of the ship was gone. Pieces of hot metal began to rain down around them, causing them to seek shelter. He shuddered to think that he had been in that section of the ship only a few minutes ago.
Darkness fell and the firing slackened until it became quiet. Buckner and Stoddard crawled around and checked on their Trainees, even though Stoddard had been hit. Wounded men filled the main pit where the ship corpsman provided what emergency medical treatment he could. Of the sixty Trainees, two had been killed and eleven wounded. This was going to be a long night.
You can read the rest of this exciting adventure by ordering a copy of Escape to Destiny from our publisher's web store by clicking on this cover.
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