The Next Best Thing to Heroes — Dan Devine

Jason Cull is one of the best and the brightest that the human race has to offer. At least, that's what it tells him in all of the Academy's brochures. The Earth has been conquered by a technologically superior race called the Grath, and while the rest of humanity toils away their lives in dank factories building equipment for the alien war machine, Jason and a select few are training to help fight their masters' battles directly. The only problem is that among the world's finest, Jason seems decidedly average. Then, just as graduation and the trials of war grow near, Jason and his closest friends find themselves kidnapped by forces who have other plans. Thrown into the midst of a resistance movement that wants him to fight against the Grath instead of alongside them, Jason must prove himself all over again.