Teep

Bright and early the next morning, Aaron ported to an out of the way spot he had chosen yesterday and walked through the full parking lot, stopping and waiting until the street was clear, he crossed over and entered the courthouse. Standing in front of the directory, Aaron let his eyes glance around the lobby, to anyone else, it looked like he was looking for the right floor, seeing that Judge Johnson was the family court judge, and on the second floor, Aaron went over to the stairs and started up, avoiding the heavy security around the elevators. Leaving the stairwell and entering the second floor, Aaron noticed all the people around the elevator and in the hall, there seemed to be an awful lot of people in suits, he thought.

Glancing through the small window of the doors leading to Judge Johnson's courtroom, Aaron not seeing the judge but a large number of people milling around, moved past the doors and found a small hall with a sign above it stating it led to the judge's chambers, entering through the closed door, Aaron made his way down the short hall and heard the Judge from yesterday complaining to someone about the circus that had descended on his courtroom. Walking into the small reception area, Aaron noticed the judge leaning against the doorframe, talking to the same deputy from the bank yesterday; about the same time they noticed him enter the room.

Taking one look at Aaron, the judge started laughing, "Here I was worried that you would have to fight your way through that zoo, and you walk calmly into my chambers dressed for a day on the beach, no one the wiser."

Grinning, Aaron nodded his head, "No one gave me a second glance, I think they are looking for someone dressed very formally to walk in, little do they know this is formal dress for Altare, after all, we're a tropical island nation." Pulling the extra P.A.D.D. out of his pocket, Aaron tapped his finger on the side of the case, "Where do you want to do this? What you are about to see on this device is not for every Tom, Dick and Harry that wants to gawk at it, in fact, once it has been viewed by you, it will be sealed to your DNA only...and I would frown on anyone viewing its contents without a warning, so I could prepare both young men ahead of time."

Nodding his head, Judge Johnson stood up and pushed a button next to the door, causing dead bolts to drop into place at both doors leading into his chambers, "We had these installed some time ago, my chambers are now sealed and they can only be unsealed by two separate keys from fellow jurists from their chambers or my key from inside mine. So shall we sit down in my office and get as comfortable as I probably will be, until we start."

Following the Judge and Deputy into the office, Aaron sat down in the empty chair around the small table and placed the P.A.D.D. on its surface. "Before I let both of you watch these recordings, I need to give you some background information." Looking up at the two faces across from him for a moment, as he gathered his thoughts, "It actually starts in a town in Ohio, walking out of a Chinese restaurant with take away, a young ten year old offered to give me a blow job for ten dollars, shocking me, to say the least, well, after finding out what was going on and why the boy in question was hustling on the street, we found out that his older brother had been caught, by his overly religious father, looking at porn on the internet, and in his anger, beat him nearly to death. The young brother ran away, and after a few days, found out through friends that his brother had been sent to a place to 'cure' his older brother of his 'sickness'. The only thing he did not find out is that the place in question had a habit of killing their patients if they did not convert quickly...no I'll take that back, after talking to the people in charge, none of the patients had even been discharged; most were tortured to death for the large sums of money they were paid to fix the problem."

Holding up his hand to stop the demands for names and addresses, Aaron continued, "the Captain of one of my ships demanded to come along when I questioned the father, so we could rescue the boy's brother, unfortunately, the father suffered a massive heart attack after giving up the location of this place to us, too bad really, I would have so enjoyed sentencing him to an early grave. We found Tommy and five others at that center, and rescued all six teens and brought them to Altare to be healed; the most seriously injured teen should be brought out of the artificial coma he has been in, this morning."

Aaron then turned around the P.A.D.D. so the screen was pointed towards both men and tapped the playback button, listening in on their surface thoughts as they watched the rescue unfold before their eyes. Seeing the flash of thankfulness his son never went through that from the judge's mind, as he realized that the boys being rescued were gay, Aaron relaxed, knowing the judge seemed to be a good accepting person. Shutting the replay off after it finished up with the surgical intervention on the teens, "Of course the full details are listed under each teen's number, and at the time we rescued them, we only knew the name of the boy's brother who set the whole thing in motion, it was not until each teen was released, that we found out his name, age and the other data, which is not included in this device, if you need the information, you will have to apply to our judicial system with a very good reason for us to identify the teen, since protecting them is our first priority."

Aaron watched as the judge looked very sick and he felt the anger radiating off the deputy sitting across from him, "what happened to the scum that did that to those boys?" the deputy asked, through gritted teeth.

"During the rescue, there was an explosion, of course we concentrated on rescuing the teens so the scum never made it out; I assume they perished in the fire," Aaron shrugged, looking calm and innocent as the deputy glared at him.

"Reading between the lines, it sounds like they got what they deserved, and even if we watched through the whole thing, I doubt we would find anything that would prove otherwise," the deputy slowly let go of his anger "And after all, even if we did, you have diplomatic immunity, which means we couldn't touch you."

Grinning at the Deputy, Aaron neither confirmed or denied that statement, and looked over to the judge after he finally spoke up, "Did Tommy tell you why he ended up in that hell hole, was it because he is gay?"

"From what I gathered from Tommy, his mother's new boyfriend is some religious nut who doesn't believe Tommy had the right to live, being gay and all, but I think the real motive is the boyfriend started selling off all of Tommy's belongings, even his horse that he bought with his own money. Most likely, they wanted him out of the way so they could steal everything he was entitled to; there are notes in the supporting documentation on the P.A.D.D. that the only reason he survived in that hell hole so long is that the people running that place knew he was needed for signatures, to sell off the property, until that was done, they mainly kept him drugged and kept themselves to non visible torture like electro aversion therapy."

"Electro what?" the deputy asked, but knowing he was not going to like the answer as soon as he asked the question.

"Electro aversion therapy...they would wrap the victims testicals with copper wire, and holding the other end of the electrical circuit above their nipples they would show pictures of half naked boys or men, and then touch the bare wires to the nipples closing the circuit, thus electrocuting the teen. Years ago, in the old mental hospitals, before anyone knew better, they used a voltage regulator...these people just plugged the wires directly into a large amperage circuit breaker and threw the switch, half frying the boys every time the wires touched them."

The deputy jumped up shouting, "Jumpin Jesus Son of a Bitch..." his body feeling the sympathy pain from the description.

Sighing Judge Johnson looked at the door leading to his courtroom "and Mark's Aunt and Uncle?"

Taking out a small isolinear chip inside a sealed case, Aaron slid it across the table "pure greed, Mark was so far back in the closet there was no clue he was anything but straight. This chip contains the exam and finding, including a recorded interview along with a duplicate copy of his asylum request and acceptance. It is keyed to be only opened by that particular P.A.D.D. And, if you..." Aaron programmed the security features, "place your thumb over the red scanner, it will be keyed to your living thumb print, and living DNA, only you can open it, or the Kings Bench, on Altare."

Pressing his thumb to the scanner, Judge Johnson waited until he heard the beep, "So what happens now? I have a courtroom full of people out there including irate child protection service case workers, and a state department official...hell it's a zoo out there, and I am surprised the media isn't camping outside the courthouse right now."

Aaron stood up and went over to the wall with the small one way window and gazed out into the courtroom as he thought over the situation and how best to respond, "Mark and Tommy are no longer on U.S. soil, so they are safe, so I am unsure why CPS is here or even how they found out...hell, how did any of these people find out? I expected maybe a representative from the state department; after all, I did get the lawyers involved and instead of quietly rescuing Mark like the others, I answered his formal request of asylum just as formally, so I figured a bureaucrat or two over that, not this mess out there now," Aaron waved at the window.

"I see a lawyer from the firm that represents my interests here in the States, and the Trust officer from yesterday. Over in the jury box, I see two couples and one of each looks like either Tommy or Mark, so I am assuming they are the parents or guardians, The others...so do you know who and why they are here?" Aaron turned away from the window so he could see the Judge when he answered, even though he had already picked up that he had no clue.

Instead of answering, the judge picked up the phone and once answered asked his clerk, "Charles, do you have a roster of who is in the courtroom and what business they have before the bench this morning?"

Glancing out of the window once more, Aaron noticed how quiet and still the courtroom had become, after the clerk picked up the phone and started reading off a list on his clipboard. Hearing sighing from behind him from the judge, he glanced over his shoulder to see the phone being put back into the cradle.

"Besides the two cases that are sitting in the jury box, no one else has made a notice of intent to speak before the court this morning." Fastening his robes, the judge took a long chain from around his neck and placed the key in a lock on his desk and turned it. The sounds of bolts being withdrawn could be heard, "the button next to the window will let you listen in, it's time to find out just who all these people are and what they want."

Nodding his head, Aaron, before returning to watching out of the one way glass, pushed the button and listened in as the clerk stood up, "All rise; court is now in session...the honorable Judge Baxter Johnson presiding."

Walking into his courtroom, Judge Johnson walked behind his tall desk and stared over the packed courtroom for several moments before sitting down and banging his gavel.

"I am more than a little surprised to see so many people in my courtroom this morning, especially in light of the fact that this was supposed to be a closed hearing, involving a minor. A hearing that would explain in detail, why said minor felt it necessary to apply for asylum with a foreign government...and that same foreign government, making a finding of a valid reason for asylum to be granted, followed through and did so." Judge Johnson reported as he gazed over his glasses at the silent courtroom.

"Before I make a ruling in that case, another disturbing case was brought to light and after reviewing the pertinent information, I am honor bound to make a ruling on that case, a case that I will recuse myself from overseeing, as the evidence that was presented this morning sickened me to the very core, and leaves me unable to make an impartial ruling." Judge Johnson signed his name to several documents and handed them to his clerk, "Patricia Ness and Devin Riley, stand."

Glaring at the two people who stood up in the jury box, with confused looks on their faces with underlying fear, "Patricia Ness...Devin Riley, you stand accused of Slavery involving a minor...Torture involving a minor...Pre-meditated Murder of a minor...fraud involving a minor...attempted embezzlement of a minor's estate." Glaring at them as they paled as each charge was read into the record. "After reviewing the evidence...I find more than probable cause to remand you over for trial in the superior court, and hereby order the bailiff to take both of you into custody at this time, and declaring you both a flight risk hereby deny bail until such time as an arraignment hearing can revisit the issue...I also hereby order that the following option come into play, that of the Kingdom of Altare, have the rights of extradition, as they are now the legal custodian of the minor in question...as such, I must inform you that the charge of pre-meditated murder or its attempt, is a capital crime in that nation...bailiff remove those people from my court." Judge Johnson banged his gavel down and watched with anger as the two were led screaming from his courtroom.

Seeing the stunned prosecutor sitting at his table, Baxter ordered "Mr. Prosecutor, I order you to my chambers at the close of this session to review and take into custody the evidence that will be used in the trial of those two defendants. I also herby order a complete blackout of the events names and dates surrounding this case," He banged his gavel for a second time.

Glaring at the couple left in the jury box for a moment, he picked up another set of documents and signed them before passing them to the clerk to process, "Now we come to the business that was originally planned for this court to hear this morning. When the sacred trust is broken of a parent or guardian to the child they are supposed to love and protect, it angers this court and it has always been the policy that the court will impose the maximum sentence allowed by law, minus one day. The reasoning being as it is harder for another court to overturn the findings of this court on the presumption of undue or harsh sentencing. In this situation, not only must I recuse myself from the bench overseeing this case, due to witnessing the evidence thus clouding my opinion, the secondary reason is that I know the victim in this case, and was a close family friend."

Sighing, Baxter called out, "Ned and Daisy Casey, rise."

Waiting until the defiant couple stood, Baxter read off his findings, "Ned and Daisy Casey, I herby remand you into the custody of the sheriff's department until such time as you appear before an arraignment hearing, on the charge of embezzlement and endangering a minor with extreme circumstances...due to the very nature of extreme circumstances being invoked, I herby order bail to be set at one million dollars each, until such time as another court should chose to modify this order...on a personal note, it saddens me that I cannot leave an opening to allow your extradition to a country that has a harsher penalty for endangering its most precious resource...our children." Banging of the gavel for the third time Baxter ordered, "Bailiff, take those two into custody and remove them from my court, I again order the prosecutor's office to my chambers after the close of session, to receive the evidence to be used to try both defendants in superior court."

Waiting until the two were removed by the sheriff's deputies, Judge Johnson leveled his gaze onto the occupants of his court. "Before I open the floor to new business...though it would be hard to determine if there is any new business to be brought to the court's attention as no one has contacted my clerk to state so, for the record. I notice that Mr. Clark is in the courtroom, along with Miss Albright, both representing Children's Services...approach the bench and state, for the record, your business."

Waiting for the two to stand up and make their way to the front of the courtroom, Judge Johnson scanned the crowd, trying to determine how many groups were represented, by how they clustered around each other.

"Your honor, as representatives of Children's Services, I am here in my capacity to follow up on the rumor that reached us yesterday of the minor in question requesting and being granted asylum, in my official capacity, all I request is the opportunity to question the minor to ascertain two facts...one, that they willfully asked for and received asylum...and two the names of the new guardians so the files may be closed out. " Mr. Clark told the court.

"Noted, and the inclusion of Miss Albright this morning?" Baxter made a few notes on his journal before looking up.

"Your honor, upon hearing from Mr. Clark this morning of you opening your court in this manor, I have a new case that was brought to our attention; one that I would ask you declare the minor in question in imminent danger and remove him from the foster home environment he is now in." She handed over a file folder to the clerk, who opened it up and paled at the pictures inside before handing it to the judge.

Opening the file while giving Charles a speculative look, Baxter also paled reading the damage done to the child in question, flipping through the file and pictures reading the end report from the doctors, he wanted to cry. Motioning a the bailiff over he leaned over whispering for the file to be taken to the individual in his chambers, after seeing the recording of how much damage he was able to heal on those he had rescued, he hoped he would be able to produce another miracle for this child. "So ordered...And the foster parents who committed this atrocity?"

"An arrest warrant is being requested by our department, but has yet to be issued through the local city police department...frankly your honor, the local police are dragging their heels in an effort to ignore the problem, citing the fact that the minor in question is assumed to be gay, to be a valid reason for a self defense case, as such they have yet to decide if they will hand it over to the city prosecutor's office for prosecution.' Miss Albright finished indignantly.

"Charles..." Baxter questioned, and his long time clerk pulled the details up in the computer, printed out the paperwork and handed it to his boss by the time he called his name. Signing the documents, Judge Johnson looked up and handed the paperwork back to his clerk, "An arrest warrant is hereby granted, and the sheriff's department is hereby ordered to begin an investigation of the city police department's handling of this case.

"Mr. Clark, I will try to arrange for a video conference with the minor in question so you may ask your TWO questions, I will also make available the visual recording of the actual asylum request of the one minor in question, which should satisfy all your questions. I make no promises as both minors in question are no longer on United States soil." Judge Johnson sighed in relief, once his bailiff returned to his side and whispered in his ear.

"Let it be entered into the record, that the minor in question will be transferred to the Altair Trauma Center, where the new procedures available will likely increase the minor's chance of survival from less than ten percent to ninety five percent, according to their medical director who has been contacted." Baxter banged his gavel once more, tiredly, before making shooing motions to the two standing before him, shooing them back to their seats.

"Any other new business...?" Judge Johnson asked looking over the courtroom, seeing no one move and not hearing anyone speak up, "I find it difficult to believe my courtroom is packed to this capacity for a closed hearing involving a minor...my court is not a media event where one can come to get their daily dose of amusement...this is your last chance, after this, the bailiff will be ordered to seal the courtroom and deputies will interview each person present as to their intentions, at the end of that interview, if there is no valid need for that individual to be present in the courtroom this morning, I shall find them in contempt of court and fine them five hundred dollars and a sentence of three days in jail shall be imposed."

"I shall ask one more time, all those with new business before this court will stand and be recognized," Baxter glared at those seated and when two individuals stood up, he pointed to the one who was closer, "You are?"

"Josh Lopez, your honor with the State Department." The man spoke as he started walking to the front of the courtroom, stopping when he was in front of the defense table he spoke again, "It was the intention of the State department to request access to the recording of the asylum request for investigation, but after your honor's black out order, I will need to contact my superiors to get further instruction and or a federal warrant to be able to view the recording...frankly, the whole episode is on very shaky ground as relations between the Kingdom of Altare could best be described as troubled, after an episode where one of their children was attacked during a shopping incursion this past weekend, yet at the same time, it is in our interests to find out everything we can about the situation that brought the person requesting asylum to that desperate point," shrugging his shoulders he added, "how can we fix a problem if we do not know what the problem is?"

Judge Johnson sat back in his chair and thought about what had been said, very valid points had been brought up, "I can see the state's valid interest in this matter, at this time, I deny a request for access to the recordings and enter into the record that the evidence is DNA locked...but I also make this stipulation, as the state does have valid concerns, I am ordering a continuance on this matter to be heard in this courtroom on July 21st 2004 at nine am, by that time, a list of questions will be submitted from the state to be gone over by this court and the minor in question will be contacted, permission will be asked of said minor, to video conference where the questions drawn up will be asked and answered, make no mistakes; there shall be no deviation for the written questions..." he glared at the man from the State Department, "if the minor in question denies the request, it is this court's intention to pass along the questionnaire to the Altare king's bench to have a certified copy of the answers returned to this court...it should also be noted in the record that as the minor in question is no longer on U.S. Soil, that the most that can be accomplished is the polite request of co-operations from the minor and the King's Bench."

"Thank you, your honor that seems more than generous, I shall get that list back to you as soon as possible." Josh Lopez nodded his head in thanks before walking towards the door and pointing to his partner to join him.

Having finished his note taking, Baxter looked up again, "And you are?" he asked the man who had made his way to the defense table.

"Special Agent Carl Stokes, your honor," Carl introduced himself, "my detail is twofold, to request an appointment with Aaron Stranton, who we were led to believe would be here this morning, and to provide needed security."

"How utterly vague, Agent Stokes..." Judge Johnson told him, "Will every member of the FBI please stand."

When half the audience stood up, Baxter became angry, "I will remind every member of the FBI that you are bound by my blackout ruling earlier, I find it very hard to believe that if your stated purpose was in fact security for his majesty, that you would have packed my courtroom, I find it odd that your agents are not out patrolling the building but instead packed into my courtroom in such a way if his majesty was in attendance in this courtroom as planned, he would, in fact, be trapped by the mass of your agents."

"May I ask who you are referring to when you talk of his majesty," Carl had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Smirking at the expression on the agent's face at being caught out, "Aaron Stranton, King of Altare, of course."

Special agent in charge, Carl stokes paled and looked behind him, the way his agents had arranged themselves could indeed lead one to believe he was going to try to intimidate someone, the fact the person they were going to do that to being royalty, and a head of state was not known, and troubling. "I...I see...I was not aware of that fact, I shall make the proper requests through the Altare embassy, then." Carl was sweating as he motioned for his men to leave quickly, the shit was going to hit the fan on this one, and the subject of their quest evidently was able to get past their net with ease which was also troubling.

Glaring at the three men sitting in the back of the courtroom, and before he could say anything to them, one of them stood up and made his way up front, "May I approach your honor, Thomas Jones, British State Department," he asked holding a sealed folder banded in red and white up, so it could be seen. "I and my fellow diplomats were en-route to the San Francisco Alteran Embassy, when word reached us that his majesty would be here this morning. I assure you the only interest we have is for his majesty to get this document, the lives of twenty seven children are at stake here."

Staring at the sealed envelope, Baxter made a decision as he turned his chair sideways so he could glance at the one way glass, if children were in danger, he could not deny the request "Bailiffs, seal the courtroom...wait right there," Baxter ordered, standing up and moving towards his chambers with the intentions of bringing Aaron back, only to be met at the door as the person he was going to retrieve walked into the courtroom.

Nodding his head and whispering, "I need a car to take me to the hospital to retrieve the young man in this file," as he passed the judge, handing the file back to him.

Walking around the desk, Aaron stopped in front of the British diplomat looking him over and scanning his surface thoughts, looking for deceit, not finding any, he glanced over at the folder, "You needed to speak to me?"

Having never seen the monarch of the Kingdom of Altare before, Thomas was not sure who this young man was until he noticed the signet ring on his right hand, glimpsing the dragon wearing a crown, he dropped to one knee, "You majesty, I come on behalf of our Queen, she begs of you for mercy for twenty seven children injured in a terrible accident, including her grandson." Thomas held out the sealed folder so it could be taken head bowed, neck exposed.

Taking the offered folder, Aaron broke the seal and opened it as he leaned against the high desk that the judge sat at, "Please get to your feet, your following the wrong protocol kneeling is only required in front of the Kings Bench before sentencing in Altare." Skimming the pages inside the folder, Aaron counted a full twenty seven pages, one for each victim, they ranged in age from twelve up to nineteen, well the queen's grandson was thirteen the rest were all young. Closing the file, he slapped it against the palm of his hand several times as he thought about what was inside, staring off into space, "How soon until the car is ready to take me to the hospital to collect the young man in that folder?"

"We have a car available and would be more than happy to drive you to the hospital," Thomas offered quickly, the longer he was around, the more apt, he was hoping, the answer would be yes.

No longer staring at the wall, Aaron returned to staring at the diplomat, "Neither one of us knows the way to this hospital, I bet," then with a grin he extended his mic from the communicator, all the while mentally having the conversation just repeating the words out loud on his side, so no one knew he was using another means of communication, "Chris, where are you?"

Getting the flash of surprise accompanied by the image of the Prince's bridge, "On board the Prince, taking him out of hibernation so we're ready to leave...why?"

"I need you to clear all moorings and take the Alteran Prince to his berth and take the Asclepius out of dry dock and make way to San Francisco...how long until you are back to Altair Trauma to take on Theo and John if you left now?" Aaron asked, as Baxter came back telling him the deputies were ready to drive him to the hospital. Covering the end of the mic, Aaron nodded his head, "I left a contact number on your blotter or Steve from Davies and Associates over there..." Aaron nodded towards the seated lawyer, "Can give it to you, I need to get a move on or that kid's ten percent chance is going to be awfully slim by the time I get there."

Glancing back to the deputy behind him that was related to the trust manager from yesterday, that was coming out of the judge's chambers and nodding towards him, Aaron turned back to the diplomat, "let's go, we'll talk in the car, the rest can follow along and pick you up at the hospital," Aaron did not wait for an answer before walking away dropping his hand from the mic.

"Do I dare ask why I am switching to the hospital ship, you've not gone out and raided some pediatric hospital have you...clearing mooring now, John and Theo are on standby and know to be at the dock in one hours time we are t-minus nineteen hours to San Francisco harbor." Chris asked as he rapidly contacted those still on shore and told them to pack and be ready at the dock sin an hour.

"Something like that, we will have twenty seven incoming from England, I will have Carl and Gordon meet you at the docks when you arrive to start prepping the bio-tubes, I'll let you know when I have a firm estimate on arrival time for the patients, Aaron out."

Exiting the private elevator, Aaron pointed to the open door to the police cruiser, silently telling the diplomat to get in, as he took the passenger front seat. Waiting until the police cruiser hit the open road a few minutes later, Aaron held up the folder as Thomas leaned forward so conversation was easier "The Asclepius is a destroyer class hospital ship, she can handle two hundred trauma patients when she is fully staffed."

"I take it there is some significance to the comment about being fully staffed?" Thomas questioned, wondering what they could do to help out since it was their people in need in the first place.

"Altair Minor and the state of the art Trauma center and hospital you've heard about is a month away from being unveiled officially...how the hell you guys found out about it early is a mystery," turning in the seat so he could see the diplomat in the backseat, "Don't get me wrong, the equipment and infrastructure is in place and ready to go, but staff is another problem, in fact this Friday was the day I would be doing the final interview and hiring of the core staff and support people...hell, if I even had the pilots I have one big assed jet fleet that could travel from the Island to England in a short two hours, and could start treatment before they ever returned...but without trained pilots to fly the damn things, they're useless. Officially we are not ready for another month for a good reason." Aaron locked eyes with the diplomat as they sped up now that they reached the highway and the siren was turned off, making it easier to hear each other. "Don't get me wrong, we will help these twenty seven and the queen's grandson, but you will have to bring them to the Asclepius, supplying your own medical personal to monitor and treat them during the flight,"

"We can do that," Thomas smiled; it was the least they could do, "Once the plane leaves it will be just over twelve hours flight time before we touchdown and from there however long it will take to drive to the docks so that gives us three hours to make preparations to get the lads into the air and make arrangements to have the local ambulance service meet us at the gate, so what time should I consider the ship docked and ready?"

"Four in the morning, San Francisco time," Aaron turned to face the front seeing the hospital up ahead after the siren was turned back on.

Sliding to a stop a few minutes later outside the emergency room, Aaron opened the door, stepped out, reached over and opened the back door so the diplomat could get out, as there was no door handle on the inside in the back.

"Aaron, are you almost done? We just finished up our tutoring session and are ready to start practice," Tim sent mentally, interrupting Aaron's train of thoughts.

"I should be back in a half hour, why don't you guys eat an early lunch, then when I get back, I'll link with each of you individually to monitor you porting down from the house to the med bay, I'll be bringing back a badly injured teen," Aaron sent back as he turned and handed a card with contact information on it to the diplomat, "Here is the number to call, in San Francisco, it's to the security firm that is watching the dock, they can put you in touch with one of the private ambulance services, my suggestion is to board your plane and fly to San Francisco now, and set up you HQ at our docking facility, it's set up right now as a warehouse and shipping center, not for patient transfer, so it is very primitive, and more than likely full of cargo waiting shipment back to Altare...so you'll have t make do."

Laughing back down the mental pathway at the excitement and picture of three teens dancing around in joy, Aaron walked into the hospital, only to hear his name being paged. Walking to the desk in the emergency room, a nurse confronted him, "go outside and in through the other door to triage, someone will help you, this door is for ambulance patients only."

"I believe I was just paged...Aaron Stranton," he gazed around the mostly empty emergency ward as the nurse informed him to go find the white phone on the all in the waiting room before turning to an orderly by the door, "Can you direct me to the pediatric ICU?"

Smiling, the young woman nodded her head, "Sure, follow me we'll take the back elevators, we can go directly to the ICU with them."

"Dr. Stranton STAT...Dr. Stranton, contact the operator, STAT," sounded over the hospital speakers.

Following the young orderly, Aaron smiled at her, "Thank you, I'll just follow along then."

The rude emergency room nurse looked up as the page went off one more time, this time asking staff to have Dr. Stranton call the hospital operator, running from behind the desk she nearly knocked down the head nurse yelling out "DR. STRANTON, WAIT UP...YOU NEED TO ANSWER THE PAGE."

Glancing back as he waited for the elevator doors to open, Aaron saw the group of staff standing in the hall, "Since you can't be bothered to lift a finger to help me, you can answer it and deal with the problem, as evidently, you have all the time in the world to do everything but help the people who need it," Aaron walked into the elevator as the doors opened while the young orderly giggled and leaned in and pushed the fourth floor button before stepping back out and waving. Aaron smiled as he heard the ass chewing starting directed to the rude nurse.

Mumbling to himself when the doors of the elevator opened and he walked out, "You know all I wanted to do today was ride my horse and spend time making love, but NOOOOO, I have to deal with pushy bureaucrats and unexpected emergencies...it's not fair," Aaron, seeing the look on the nurse's face as he stopped at the counter sighed, "I said that out loud didn't I."

Shaking his head as the nurse laughed and nodded as she asked, "Bad day?"

Sighing, Aaron leaned on the counter, "it didn't start that way, but it is rapidly going downhill...Aaron Stranton, can I see the duty nurse and the chart for Jesse Blankenship."

Jumping up from her chair, the nurse grabbed a chart off the rack "Right away, Dr. Stranton," just as the phone started to ring, and the speakers blared to life once more.

"Dr. Stranton, CODE BLUE...Dr. Stranton, CODE BLUE!"

Glancing up at the ceiling and giving the speaker mounted there the evil eye, Aaron sighed as the nurse handed him the phone "This is Aaron Stranton..." listening to the conversation that was all one sided he scowled at the chart he was skimming, before pulling the phone away from his ear and setting it down on the desk, all the while a high pitched voice was loudly talking almost not stopping long enough to take a breath. Glaring at the receiver, he moved the chart a short distance away and asked the wide eyed nurse, "Is this typical behavior for the staff of your hospital? The person on the other end of the phone is reading me the riot act, all because I did not answer a page that the emergency room nurse refused to help me answer, she just pointed to the doors to the lobby and told me to go out there and look for the phone on the wall."

By now, he had drawn a small crowd of Dr's and nurses as he walked away from the desk leaving the phone lying where he had set it down, glancing at the end of the chart for the room number, Aaron started for 3E.

"Umm Dr., what about?" the nurse pointed down at the phone lying on the counter where he left it.

"Leave it or hang it up, I don't care which, personally, I would let the bitch scream her head off, whoever wanted her to contact me will eventually get around to finding me, if they're quick enough," Aaron shrugged, as he entered the teen's room.

Reading through the doctor's notes on the surgery, Aaron removed the sheet covering the boy and as he read a particular section he glanced at the teen. Setting the chart down, he pulled the scanner out of his pocket, entered in some information and started a detailed scan, slowly moving the scanner from head to toe with the scanner set in emergency mode. Frowning at the readings, Aaron was interrupted by a voice, and turning towards it saw two people standing in the doorway.

"You are a hard man to get a hold of, Dr. Stranton," the one on the right told him with a smile, "Sam Sykes, Pediatric Surgeon, and my colleague Sandy Hester, Pediatric cardiologist."

Nodding his head, Aaron glanced around then, to see the phone still on the counter "Yes well direct your frown at the nurse downstairs, I heard the page and attempted to answer it, but was directed to a door and told to find the phone on the wall, once I arrived up here, the nurse was very helpful after she heard the page, but the person on the other end of it did nothing but start bitching me out for not answering in the first place...so excuse me for not really giving a damn until she ran down, to actually tell me what the page was all about, after all, I'm here standing in front of the patient I was coming to see."

Sandy glanced behind him and saw the phone still on the counter and really frowned, "Who did they say they were?"

Shrugging, Aaron rescanned the abdomen watching carefully the results on the screen, "Some bitch named Travers, don't really care, to tell you the truth...were you the ones paging me?"

Curious about what Aaron was holding and waving about the patient, Sam moved closer and looked over to see the device showing a detailed full color picture of the teen's abdomen, and he paled at the thought of opening him up again to correct the slow bleeding he saw on the screen, "Shit he's bleeding out again, he won't survive another trip to the OR right now."

Sandy, hearing Sam's words and tone rushed over and looked at the screen and blinked, seeing what looked like a real time video of inside the patient's abdomen.

Motioning the nurse in the room, Aaron ordered, "Prep him for Med Evac, my team is three minutes out," before turning to the two physicians, "you have two minutes of my time so make it quick."

Sam, not about to lose the opportunity he was given, cut through the small talk, "Long story short, we are both protégés of Theo's, he contacted us and we have between us, eight patients that we need to refer to you, as they don't have long without what you can offer them."

Moving out of the way for the gurney, Aaron blinked and simply told them, "One of you bag, the other help steer, we're out of here."

Thinking about it, Aaron waited until they hit the elevator before asking, "These eight can't wait until the hospital opens in a month's time?"

Riding the elevator up to the roof, Sam shook his head no, "Not really, two weeks tops, before it's too late, except for keeping them comfortable as nature takes them from us."

Creating an illusion with his mind, Aaron wove it around the two Surgeons and prepared to port out, while they saw him load the patient into a Med Evac chopper, the last thing he left them with was his parting words, as they got lost in the illusion, "Get the kids to San Francisco tomorrow after one p.m. the Asclepius will be docked at pier Altare one, call Theo, he will give you directions." Aaron lifted the teen with his mind and ported them to the trauma pod while the illusion showed them leaving by chopper.

Laying the teen in the bio-tube gently, Aaron hooked up the ventilator connection and placed the sensors and IV cuff, before slapping the red emergency cycle button, "guys, I'm back, do me a favor and one of you bring down something to eat and drink with you, I'll be in the med bay for a while. Just tell me who is going to port down first," Aaron sent with the feeling of love, all the while setting up the surgical housing.

"I'm First, Pete and Kevin are grabbing your lunch and one of those red bottled energy drinks, I'm going to help you run the console...okay, limiter is off and focusing...focusing and I'm there," Tim ended the last verbally as he ran over to the console and picked up the stylus "tell me what to do."

"I'm Ready and limiter is off," Kevin sent, as he closed his eyes and focused visualizing the med bay and ported in, holding several sandwich's on top of a red box, followed by Pete porting in also, after contacting Aaron.

"I'm proud of you guys, you've done real well so far, now it is more of building your stamina, just give it a few more days before even thinking about porting someone with you, "Aaron smiled as he flexed his fingers, making sure the servos followed along.

Pete walked around and snapped the top off the energy drink and inserted a straw in the top placing it where Aaron could move his head over a little and sip, holding it there until he finished the whole thing "Thanks Pete," he smiled at the beaming teen, before glancing up at the monitor and instructing Tim on the next set of commands.

Deciding that a sandwich might not be the best thing to eat while working, Kevin opened up the red box, broke one of the donuts into small bite size pieces and offered them to Aaron one at a time, while he laughed and told them he was going to end up being spoiled like those pharaohs of old, all the while concentrating on stopping the internal bleeding and removing the wire around the broken ribs, so they could be fused rapidly. Sighing and stretching his neck, Aaron told Tim to set the Autodoc while he closed the incisions, "Pete, would you pull my scanner out of my pocket, take the chip and insert it in the central desk, there should be a slot above the monitor that is giving real time data on Jesse here, once it is seated home, it will ask you if you wish to merge patient data; click yes and once it is finished, you can remove the chip and place it back in the scanner, thanks."

Finished, Aaron removed the gloves and cycled the airlock before moving to the other side of the bio-tube, hugging Tim and kissing him slowly as his hands stayed above the waist line as he still had work to do, "Thank you, you saved me hours of work by pitching in like that."

"What happened to Jesse?" Pete asked, as he came over for his hug and thank you kiss.

"Foster parent, or parents, beat him for being perceived gay, and he is, according to the scans, we'll have to wait till he wakes up to see what else caused the person to go off on him, the judge issued an arrest order, so maybe justice will get done," Aaron explained, as he moved over to greet Kevin and give him his thank you kiss. "What are you staring at?" before looking at the monitor and the numbers, "I see he is not healing as well as I had hoped, there is no way he is going to be released today, maybe tomorrow afternoon," he sighed.

Moving back to the central console to program in the treatment schedule, Aaron looked up at the smiling faces, "Has anyone talked to Tommy or Mark since I dropped them off topside this morning?"

"Chris took everyone else topside before he left to go get the Prince ready to sail, they took a lunch and he said they were going to get the poultry tractors set up while the others played, I guess." Tim volunteered, "I am not sure about Fred and Damien they seem to be slacking and not wanting to do anything but play, and not help out...they will if you ask them, but it's not like they just up and see something needing to be done and do it without being asked."

"Are they causing problems, or is it that they are not fitting in and don't know what to do?" Aaron asked, as he locked the treatment schedule into the system before pushing away from the central desk and standing up, "let's go topside and help Tommy and Mark out, that way it won't take as long and maybe we'll do a campfire supper or something on the beach," Aaron offered, as he grabbed the food from the counter and walked out side by side with his lovers.

Exiting the med bay and walking to the porting area, Kevin thought for a moment and the more he went over it, the more it fit, "I think Damien and Fred are the type that need more structure than they are getting, I think they excelled in school because of the structure and they knew what to expect, here, they are pretty much left to set the structure and it is too fluid, no one has complained about them not pulling their share, I think they would be happier if they had a structure, we agreed on one, if you think about it, we study in the morning, we know that the one who cooks does not do dishes, and the others wash their own dishes, with us taking turns doing the pots and pans, we know that after eleven and until lunch, it is time to practice mastering our talents, and we spend the time trying the new stuff with you, then we each have our hobbies and interests in the afternoon."

"I think I see where you are going with this, let me do some talking; maybe all they really need is someone to take an interest in what they are doing, like I do with all of you, let me see what I can do," Aaron told them before smiling, "Who wants to try porting topside, I'll be with you every step of the way and if I don't think you're ready, I'll tell you, whether one of the others is, no favorites ,not when it comes to safety."

Kevin stepped forward and closed his eyes concentrating, and after feeling Aaron's mind brush against his, felt he could do this, he gained confidence by knowing Aaron was watching and would stop him before anything went wrong. So picturing in his mind where he wanted to be, he was there opening his eyes he sent a metal "Yippee" back to the group that he had ported topside.

Emboldened by Kevin's success, Pete stepped forward and grinned before closing his eyes and concentrating he too ported to the surface without a problem, and sent back the image of his own victory dance to their minds.

Tim closed his eyes for a moment before opening them he just realized he did not have an image of where he was going, "I have no clue on where we're going, I don't think I ever really paid much attention to my surroundings up there."

"Well, you'll have to do something about that then, "Aaron smiled as he held out his arms so Tim could step into his embrace and snuggle close. Once Tim was close and had wrapped his arms around his waist, Aaron leaned over and kissed him while porting, releasing him from the kiss reluctantly, Aaron turned Tim around, "Take a good look, for future reference."

Looking around, Tim did not see anything that jumped out at him that he could use, taking a couple of steps away from Aaron, he slowly started to turn around looking everywhere for some landmark, besides the barn, he could use, he was afraid that if he used just the barn, he could end up anywhere instead of where he wanted to go, barns were all over the place after all. Frowning, he started to turn around to face Aaron and tell him he had failed when he glanced down and noticed the symbol painted on the ground near the barn, running over to it, Tim looked at the painted barn with the front of a cow wrapped in twin serpents standing in the doorway. Grinning, Tim looked back at Aaron who was following him, "I found what I need...I wonder," Tim trailed off as he imagined the fish farm he had visited a few days ago, building it up in his mind and picturing the barn with a fish in it near the building he ported.

Finding himself where he wanted to be, Tim whopped in glee before porting back to his starting point and ran and jumped onto Aaron laughing, "I did it..."

Grabbing the laughing teen in mid jump, Aaron whirled him around in a circle, "Of course you did, I knew all you needed was to find that certain thing to make it click in your mind." Setting Tim back down on the ground, Aaron kissed him once more, "let's get in there and see what trouble the others have gotten themselves into."

Walking into the barn, Aaron smiled; Mark was busy with his laptop over by the terminal; he kept glancing between the two, over near the doors, Kevin and Tommy stood talking and past them, he could see the rest of the guys out talking to Pete as they watched the horses prance around the pasture. Sensing Tim's thoughts and gaze, Aaron gently nudged him towards the doors, "Go on, the two of you have time for a quickie if you start now."

Making his way over to Mark's side chuckling as he watched Tim run out the door, cock flapping before it became too stiff to move much with his steps, Aaron looked over Mark's shoulder to see what he was up to and seeing he was comparing two records programs, he pulled over the extra chair and sat down, "How are you doing, Mark, are you settling in alright?"

Mark looked up from comparing the programs in his laptop to those already in use here on the Island in the terminal, and smiled, "Wilber is settling in nicely, and the rest of the herd is also loving every minute of the new pasture. Your herd is settling in nicely over on the opposite side of the horse pastures and they all were scanned and seem to be as happy as mine are. Broke Back is not very happy being separated from the other horses, but until he and they get used to each other, there..."

Aaron placed his hand on Mark's bare leg, just under where his shorts ended, stopping him from rambling, "Mark, that's great, your animals are settling in...but how are you settling in," he gripped the bare leg slightly before trying to remove his hand while Mark placed his hand there to keep it in place.

"Your touch feels good...it has been a long time since anyone has touched me," Mark sighed as he drew Aaron's hand up higher in his crotch, letting his hand go, once he placed it over his growing bulge so he could put his laptop down under the chair out of the way. Thrusting his hips up into the hand Mark slipped the back of his shorts down so after sitting back down, he slipped them off the rest of the way, enjoying the touch of Aaron's fingers on his hard cock. "Darren...I first met Darren two years ago, he is two years younger than me, and had an uncut cock which fascinated me to no end." Eyes closed as he felt the hand grip and gently squeeze his hard cock Mark continued, "I had seen him standing at the fair trough style urinal and it was the first time I had ever seen an uncut dick and instead of getting angry when he caught me staring, he moved closer. That was the first time someone other than myself had ever touched my cock and it did not take long before I shot my load all over the trough, I almost thought it would not wash away before it was found as they don't have a strong trickle to the water on those things. I opened my eyes after the orgasm hit me to see him licking my cum off his hand as he beat himself off...God he was so hot, I wanted him right then and only the fact of where we were, kept me from taking him right there when he pushed back into me to stay upright when his own orgasm hit him."

"We got together that week, every opportunity we could get away, but it wasn't until near the end after the crowds had gone home that we found enough time for him to suck me off for the first time, I think I nearly drowned him when I shot my load in his mouth and he sucked harder," Mark, lost in memory, tried to thrust in and out of Aaron's closed hand, much to his frustration, he could not get enough friction to really get off.

Aaron seeing Fred not that far away, watching them while playing with himself, motioned for him to come over, he had a plan. Fred, hurrying over, stood with his butt against Aaron's knees the hand now slowly stroking himself reaching over to capture the spot of fluid at the tip of Mark's hard cock.

Mark, opening his eyes as he felt another smaller hand touch his cock, looked on in lust filled awe at the hard almost five inches of hard cock with the skin alternating covering and uncovering the exposed head of the cock, catching the glimpse of the retreating finger carrying the drop of precum he moaned as the finger disappeared into Fred's mouth.

Aaron, reading Fred's intention from his surface thoughts, ported the lube to his hand and after applying a generous dollop to his fingers spread Fred's cheeks as Fred bent over at the waist and wrapped his mouth around Mark's very hard shaft, swirling his tongue around the head, tasting the precursor of the possible sweet offering.

Mark in seventh heaven with a warm young mouth around his cock, started moaning his pleasure before way too soon for his liking, he stiffened, "I'm...I'm.." he got no further as when he started to try to warn Fred as the teen increased the suction and tongue action around his head, causing him to fire his load, filling Fred's mouth.

Fred liking the taste of Mark's cum, swirled it around in his mouth before swallowing two times, and letting the last of it fill his mouth as Mark arched back and he pushed down on Mark's legs to keep him from tipping the chair over backward, all the while pushing back on the fingers working in and out of his ass, loosening him for what he planned to do.

Aaron pushed his third finger into the loosened hole slowly, and not noticing any resistance, brought the lube around with his free hand and squirted some in the palm of his hand that was working Fred's hole and once setting the lube out of the way, used the free hand to pull Fred upright off of Mark's still hard cock and removing his fingers from Fred's hole before lubing the hard cock up to Marks increased moans of delight, once slicked sufficiently, Aaron turned Fred around and guided him so his ass lined up with the hard cock he was holding, and giving Mark a pull, causing him to stand up, slowly slid Mark inside Fred, all the while controlling how fast Mark entered Fred.

Fred finally complete and feeling the cock sliding into him leaned over and kissed Aaron deeply on the mouth sharing the last of Marks load from a moment ago which Aaron took gratefully as he moved his hand out of the way once Mark was fully inside and stopped. Fred's mouth now clean of the last bit of sweet nectar Aaron stood up and captured Mark's mouth with his and kissed him through his moans of pleasure "I've...I've never..." Mark tried to say as Aaron caught his lips again silencing him as his hands moved to Marks hips and slowly pushed back, causing Mark to start to slip out of Fred's tight hole before stopping and pulling him back.

Smiling when Mark's body started moving on its, own Aaron picked up the lube and adjusted his own confined erection and moved away giving the new couple some privacy, or as much as one could, surrounded by everyone else. Coming up behind Tommy and Kevin in the barn doorway, Kevin kneeling in front of Tommy mouth moving over the stiff cock, pointing out from Tommy's body he got there just As Tommy stiffened, eyes locked on Mark and Fred firing his load into the very willing mouth belonging to Kevin.

Kevin holding the tip of Tommy's cock in his mouth felt the warm cum hitting the roof of his mouth and instead of following instinct and swallowing it he held it, tongue flicking across the tip of Tommy's penis until he felt nothing more being offered and crawled his way up Tommy to find Aaron's mouth above Tommy's head and pushed the teen's offering into Aaron's greedy mouth, tongue searching out every last drop being shared, Aaron felt Tommy's head as it moved down and the moans of pleasure in Kevin's kiss, as Tommy's mouth engulfed the hard shaft between Kevin's legs. Stealing one last Kiss, Aaron moved on outside where he heard David and Derrick whispering.

Moving closer and listening in, Aaron realized David did not truly understand that Derrick was truly submissive, "Watch and learn David, then later, after supper, meet me in the med bay," Aaron whispered in David's ear, as he came close to the couple before capturing Derricks mouth with his own.

Feeling David's hands on his back pulling his shorts off, Aaron stepped out of them as David moved in close smashing his hardness against his leg as he moved in to capture some of the kisses from Aaron. Releasing David's mouth, Aaron looked at Derrick who was panting, "Lay down and don't come until told."

Derrick, who practically threw himself to the ground in anticipation, watched as Aaron drew David down with him mouths locked in passion, moving to nibble on David's ear, "He is submissive, he will only enter you if you control him, suck on him while I prepare you," Aaron whispered into David's ear, before separating to capture Derricks mouth as David went to renew his attempts to swallow the hard piece of flesh jutting out from between Derricks legs.

Biting Derricks lower lip, not enough to draw blood, Aaron stared into the lustful eyes, "Don't come without my permission," before his mouth worked its way down Derricks arching body from the pleasure David was inflicting on him. Moving from Derricks body to David's , tongue trailing down David's back, Aaron flipped the cap open on the tube of lube still in his hand and squirted some onto his fingers and started to rub it on the exposed hole that David thrust closer to his fingers, when he felt the tentative touch. Slipping the first finger inside David and searching for the prostate, found the tight hole quickly loosen up enough to allow his second finger to slip in, twisting and turning with every thrust from his fingers, Aaron finally brushed against the prostate, causing David to arch and release Derricks cock as the pleasure hit him. Fingers being jammed up David's ass as he thrust back against Aaron's hand in the attempt to get more of his hand inside him, Aaron leaned up and over David's back so his mouth was near his ear "slowly work your way up Derricks body and when you reach his mouth, capture it and hold his hands down while I position you."

Doing what he was told, David slowly started to work his way up Derrick's body, pleasantly surprised when the thrusting fingers kept up with him. Grabbing Derrick's hands as he climbed him, he held them down behind Derricks head as he captured his lips and tried his best to suck his tongue out of Derrick's head.

Derrick groaned in pleasure as he felt the slick hand find his cock, his passion rose as his hands were captured and he was held down.

Aaron removed his fingers from David's hole now that Derrick was slick, he picked up the slick cock and aimed the tip at the empty hole where his fingers had been a moment before "Sit down slowly David," Aaron ordered as he guided the very hard cock into the loosened hole. Once David had sat down and Derrick was inside him Aaron moved so he was near Derricks ear and ordered "Derrick, fuck David, fuck him hard until he tells you to cum deep inside him."

Thrilled with finally losing his cherry, David held steady as Derrick thrust in and out of him, his head twisting side to side in pleasure as he fought for control, minutes later, sweat rolling down his face as Derrick was losing what little control he had left, David moaned out loud with pleasure, "Cum in me...fill me with your cum..."

Derrick, hearing an order to cum, gladly speed up and let lose, firing shot after shot deep inside David, groaning out louder with each shot that his body forced out of his hard cock. Finally spent, he laid his head back down panting, red faced and trying to hold onto the high as long as possible.

Noticing David start to stroke himself Aaron moved behind him, captured his hands and kept him from touching himself, lifting him gently off of the spent cock, Aaron caught Derrick smiling at him, "Derrick, suck David off and bring me his load," Aaron ordered, careful to move his very hard cock away from the slick hole that David was instinctively trying to fill with his hard cock as Derrick sat up pushing him back towards Aaron as he sat up so he could capture David with his mouth.

It did not take long before David, tight against his body, started to shiver, "Oh God...Oh God...I'm Cumming..." Aaron's arms tightly wrapped around his body trapping his hands near his chest David started to have the best orgasm ever, not to mention the first one from being sucked off.

Derrick mouth full of David's cum, waited until the cock in his mouth started to wilt slightly before standing up and kissing Aaron, letting him tongue out the offering he had been ordered to harvest for him.

Releasing the empty mouth, Aaron considered allowing his hard cock to slip into the warm body in front of him, a warm body that was trying its hardest to line up with his ever moving cock, but looking up, he spotted the outlines of the two choppers approaching in the distance, groaning in frustration, Aaron dropped his hold on David who turned around and was about to drop to his knees to play capture Aaron's cock, "Hold that thought until later; the delivery is on its way, and they can't wait until I have a chance to blow as the clock is ticking before the defense system brings them down." Grabbing his shorts, Aaron slipped them on while glaring at the timing of the pilots before walking back towards the barn.