Children of a Doomed Sun — David Jones

Quinn Sanders enjoys a life of popularity and privilege in a wealthy Dallas suburb as a star athlete and student. His perfect life is upended when the United States government shows up unannounced and spirits him to a remote installation where he is informed that not only has an advanced robotic alien race called the Betas made contact, but they have bargained technology for the right to take Quinn and two dozen other adolescents from around the globe to a remote planet 30,000 light years away from Earth to train them in the use of a latent mental power called The Focus.

The other students quickly learn to cultivate their mental talents, but Quinn struggles with his first tastes of failure and inadequacy. It doesn't take long to discover the tenuous hold their hosts have on control of the massive training installation as the students are beset by ancient war machines and bizarre alien lifeforms. Only with the help of his new friends and mysterious allies can he hope to survive the perils of the distant and hostile planet and uncover the horrifying secret of their hosts; a secret that threatens the existence of Earth itself.