Shadowed Stars The Children of Home

Book excerpt: The planet Home, on the other side of the collapsed wormhole, has thrived for twenty-two Earth years. Rico has been raised alone by his human mother and has often been told stories of Rayk, his Luth Bik father, who had sacrificed himself to save everyone before Rico was born. Rico, being half–Luth Bik and half-human, has felt like an outcast for most of his life. Despite the love of his mother, Aunt Eva, Uncle Slade, and cousins, he has felt alone and conflicted with the vastly different teachings of human and Luth Bik religions and cultures. He has been haunted by the question, “Where do I belong?” Rico is now about to set out on his first solo mission. A simple escort mission of a sick queen to a planet with a possible cure. The planet of Yanve is inhabited by humans, but their culture, due to a pandemic in the past, has adopted the wearing of masks, a practice that has remained and evolved to identify status in the society. Rico has decided to take his cousins along and get their training in the diplomatic field. Quinla is the eldest child and daughter of Slade and Eva. She has come out openly as a lesbian, and her past and present loves are on the verge of meeting. Nata is the middle child and the second daughter of Slade and Eva. She is trying to find her own identity as the crowded middle child. Jon is the youngest and Slade and Eva’s only son. He still has some growing up to do, and perhaps this mission can aid in that task. Obviously, the simplest missions are the ones that go wrong. Rico’s outcast status and solitude will shed his long-kept secrets as the mission goes forward. The children of Home will learn that there is a much wider scope to the universe. Two enemies will be encountered, and their threats will forge the young adventurers into the heroes they will become. One adversary will have desires to rule a single planet; the other plans to conquer the universe with powers that will test everyone that poses opposition to that goal. Navo Gorondo is the head of family security and will soon learn that the four young adults of Home’s two leading families are more than a handful. Great tragedy and despair can create inner strength that Rico and his cousins did not know they have.