Greetings loyal readers. Ben and I have been dangling you from a cliff for quite awhile now. It is time to find out the fate of the out of control "Wonder Boy" and to wonder if the Lady Lex has more problems than appear on the surface.Enjoy
The Boys of the Lady Lex Chapter 22 "Searches" Written By Douglas DD and Benjamin T. Collins
"Fire!" came the order from Captain Hatcher.
Major Zhan-Ren hesitated. He had seen right away the miscalculation Ely had made. Ely was an engineer, not a weapons expert of a navigator. It was an easy mistake to make. He still had forty-five seconds to fire.
"That was an order, Major! Fire!"
"Captain Storm was wrong, we have a little more time. Forty seconds!"
Hatcher didn't want to have to give the order again. His son Mark was on the "Wonder Boy", not to mention his nephews Ben and Andrew and his best friend's sons Douglas and Nathan. He didn't know if he had it in him to give the order again. What did the Kriton expect? Why did a member of his ruthless race even care about the fate of a shuttle full of Earth boys. There would be no miracles forthcoming. The shuttle was doomed.
"Now Nipper! Red!" Kalon yelled. Nipper pulled the red handle, cutting all of the shuttle's power. The cabin went silent and dark.
"Green! Pull!" Jesse and Andrew pulled their green handles simultaneously. Before the air supply on the shuttle could be replenished after a mission, the old air had to be bled out. If not done properly the process could cause an action and reaction response, causing the air to push the shuttle like a rocket engine. The bleeding process was a slow one, but it was possible to blow all of the air out at once by pulling the emergency dump handles simultaneously, a process that required two individuals.
Pulling the handles opened the pressurized air tanks to the vacuum of space, causing all of the air to blow out of the bottom of the "Wonder Boy" changing her trajectory so it would pass over the top of the Lady Lex. Douglas, Scottie, Ben, Mark, and Kalon were strapped into their seats, but the boys below decks weren't. Jesse and Andrew had braced themselves for the sudden loss of gravity, ready to pull their handles as soon as the power went out. But the loss of gravity coupled with the sudden change of direction occurring right after caused them to get bumped around. The space they were in was small, but banging against bare metal could still be painful. Nipper had grabbed a hand hold, but the sudden changes caused him to be banged around too. None of the boys knew if their actions had been soon enough, and they rattled around in the dark, waiting for the horrific bang of a collision.
The boys in the cabin could see out of the viewscreen. The Lady Lex loomed in front of them, navigation lights blinking, dropping to the bottom of the screen as the release of air caused the shuttle to rise. The image disappeared as the "Wonder Boy" shot over the starship, missing it by half a kilometer.
Captain Hatcher was furious. "Major, I had given the order to fire! That was what I meant! Fire now! Not fire at will! Not fire when you felt like it. It was fire NOW! I don't know what the procedure is on Kriton, but in the SFA orders are expected to be obeyed! Do you understand me, Major!"
Major Zhan-Rhen nodded his head affirmatively, staring straight ahead into the viewscreen. Inside he realized while Captain Hatcher had given him a pretty good chewing out he wasn't anywhere in the league of a Kriton officer when it came to ass chewings. Outside he took what Hatcher dished out as a good subordinate officer should, even when he was right. That issue could always be raised later. It was bad form to ever show up a superior officer in front of his men, something a few SFA officers still needed to learn.
What nobody on the bridge could understand was how Captain Hatcher could be furious with Zhan-Ren for saving the lives of the boys, including his own sons and nephews. There was an increasing perception that Captain Hatcher was losing it, that the man who had commanded the best ships in the SFA fleet was losing it as the commander of a ship full of boys.
"Commander Creevy, please initiate a rescue mission. From their maneuvers it is apparent the `Wonder Boy' has either lost power, control, or both."
"I'm already working on it, Captain." Ensign Bond had been ordered to take the larger "Lady Hawke" after the cadet shuttle and bring back its crew. Bond was rounding up some other crew members plus Mike, Cody, and Stan off the "Caufield" as cadet helpers.
Captain Hatcher found himself fighting a great deal of emotion. He knew he needed a few moments to regain his composure if was going to lead his crew. After all, he had just given the order to kill his own son. He got up from the command chair and announced he would be in the ready room. "Let me know about any change in status."
"Aye, sir," Creevy said.
Hatcher walked off the bridge and into his ready room, unaware that Ely Storm was right behind him until he tried closing the door.
"I need a few moments alone, Ely."
"Like hell you do...sir." Ely closed the door. "Right now you need a friend."
Hatcher said nothing. He sat at his desk and stared at the opposite wall. "I gave the order to kill Mark."
"I know. And Jesse."
Once again Hatcher acted like Ely had said nothing. "I had no choice."
"You're right, Steve. You had no choice."
"Zhan-Ren needs to be kicked off this ship. He endangered us all."
"He was right. In the rush, I did miscalculate. He saved your sons' lives, without endangering the ship."
"It was damned close. Even a point blank hit would have sent debris hitting us."
"This old lady already has plenty of dents in it. A few more wouldn't hurt it much, and we can patch a hole or two pretty quickly."
The radio buzzed. It was Creevy. "Commander, the `Lady Hawke' is underway."
"Thanks, Commander."
Hatcher looked up at Ely, who was standing in front of the desk.
"What do you want?" Hatcher asked curtly.
"I want for you to be Steven Hatcher. The Steven Hatcher I know. The finest captain in the fleet."
"What makes you think I'm not?" Hatcher was still obviously irritated.
"He would still be on the bridge, for one thing."
Hatcher's demeanor suddenly deflated. "Ely, my son was on that shuttle and I have to give the order to fire on him and kill him. My son, Ely. What father can do that and not feel torn apart?" It was the entire incident with Jay all over again.
"Sons, Steve. Your sons were on that shuttle."
Hatcher sat silently. The slip hadn't been an intentional one. Would Ely believe that? Did he even believe it himself? Why was it he wasn't connected to Jesse? Why was it he wasn't even considering him when he gave the order to fire? Good God, what kind of man am I? He's my son too, Dammit!
"And Steve...I'm the one who miscalculated the figures. If I'd done my calculations right you would never have had to give that order.
Hatcher maintained his silence. Yes, I thought of that too, my old friend.
"Steve, permission to speak freely. As a friend."
"You already have been, Ely. In fact, you always have spoken freely."
"I swore long ago I wouldn't get involved in your family affairs."
"Then don't."
Ely let the comment drop. "Very well, then I will talk to you as the Chief Engineer to the ship's Captain. During our shakedown cruise when we ran into power problems Cadet Jesse Hatcher twice made significant contributions to detecting and solving the problem." He went on to detail how Jesse had heard the vibration in the impulse engine and had contributed towards finding the source of the power failure. Hatcher sat and nodded.
"I am requesting that Cadet Hatcher receive a commendation for his contributions in a potential crisis situation."
"Request denied. Anything else, Ely?"
"Yes. This comes from a friend. Wake up! You have two incredible sons, not one, and you're missing out. Jesse has never done anything in his life but want to please you."
"I'm not interested in so-called actors. Standing on stage is not what pleases me. Maybe if he picked up a hockey stick or a baseball bat or found something that interested me, that would be pleasing me." He didn't even want to go into his thoughts about Jesse since the day the boy was born.
"Hockey? Baseball? Sports? That's all you see in your son? You're missing out, Steve! Ever since the day you and I met I have had nothing but the utmost respect for you, Steve. You are a great captain and a great man. But you have one set of blinders on you that is poisoning all of that. You're cheating your son, and you're cheating yourself. I can't help but find myself questioning you as a father and as a man. As your friend, I'm imploring you to become a father to your son. This is no longer the case of just liking the jock over the actor and not realizing it. This has become intentional and personal."
What do you know about me and my son? Hatcher thought to himself. To Ely he said, "You said you promised you would never get involved in my family affairs, Ely. That is still a good promise. You're dismissed."
Ely walked to the door, knowing this was not going to be his last try at Steven Hatcher. He was going to get Steve to see what he was doing even if it cost him the long and close friendship. He was also going to get in the last word.
"Jesse never got hit by a door, you know. Think about it." He left the ready room and left Steven Hatcher staring at the closed door wishing he had never heard of the SFA "Lexington".
He walked out, disappointed in Stephen Hatcher and in himself. Forty years in the fleet and he had never made a calculating error of that magnitude. I should have stayed retired, he thought.
The "Wonder Boy" was flying out of control. All the power was off and Kalon worried that rebooting the system would cause the shuttle to turn back on the Lady Lex. Something had gained control of the shuttle's computer and Kalon didn't think it was a coincidence that the "Wonder Boy" had immediately turned and headed back to the star ship. Now the issue was how were they going to stop the shuttle? While dumping the reserve air had changed their trajectory it did not slow their momentum. They were flying at ninety percent of full speed and would do so forever without either finding a way to use the engines to stop their momentum or running into something. Kalon didn't like the second idea much, and had worried about hitting a derelict ship after they had changed direction. Even though there were a lot of derelicts in the mothball graveyard, there was even more empty space and fortunately the "Wonder Boy" had found the empty space. Now they were out of the graveyard and needed a way to stop the shuttle.
"Nipper, remember what Captain Storm showed you in class about disconnecting basic power and life support from engineering?"
Nipper, who was still below the deck level, poked his head up through the floor. He was barely visible in the emergency lighting.. He was a little bruised from being banged around when the gravity went out and he had to grip a hand hold to keep from floating through the hatch. "Yeah. It can be done from the science station or from the engineering station."
"And both stations are unmanned. Jesse!"
Jesse floated up and poked his head through the floor hatch he had crawled into. "Yeah?"
"Can you reach the wiring to the engineering computer without floating off?"
The hatch Jesse and Andrew had gone down was close to the engineering station. Jesse lifted himself up, still gripping his hand hold and was able to reach under the engineering control panel.
"Yeah, I can."
"Okay, I need you to unplug the computer."
Jesse looked at the various wires under the computer. He knew the computer cord was green, but in the emergency lighting it was hard to make out the colors, so he pulled all four dark cords. With almost everything shut down he figured it wouldn't make any difference what he pulled. "Okay, it's done."
"Nipper, go back down and throw the power switch." Kalon figured that with engineering disconnected from the main computer, even if Nipper made a mistake the engines couldn't kick in and send them careening back to the Lady Lex. "And be sure you're on the floor. You too, Jesse."
Nipper used the hand holds to work himself back down the hatch. He pulled the power switch back to on. Gravity, main lights, and life support came back on. The engineering computer was dead. Kalon knew that even with life support on their air supply was limited since they had dumped the reserve air supply that allowed the air in the shuttle to be recirculated. Now that they had power, however, they would also have communication and could find a way to get back to the Lady Lex.
Nipper climbed out of the hatch, which was a bit more difficult now that gravity had been restored. He went to the science station and ran the program Ely had shown him, disconnecting the science computer form engineering. He also disconnected it the pilot's controls to be on the safe side. Even though the engineering computer was shut down, Kalon knew he couldn't be too cautious.
One of the job of the science officer on the shuttle was communications. Nipper brought up the communications program and rebooted it. He received an error message. He tried again, but got the same message. Jesse figured he knew what the problem was and went down under the engineering panel. He had unplugged four cords earlier. Now that all the lights were on he could make out the colors. He plugged in the blue cord and told Nipper to try rebooting the communication program one more time. This time Nipper got the communication program to come up. Whatever it was Jesse had unplugged it had affected communications.
Behind the "Wonder Boy" the "Lady Hawke" was speeding to catch up. The "Lady Hawke" was bigger and faster than the "Wonder Boy." It was a shuttle built for deep space work. Ensign Bond had picked two regular crew members along with Mike, Cody, and Stan. Mike was helping Cody, who was his navigator on the "Caufield", with tracking the "Wonder Boy".
Stan sat belted in wondering why he had been asked to go and wishing he was someplace else. Whatever happened to the runaway shuttle was of no concern to him, so why should he bother to help. Mike noticed Stan's attitude, but wasn't suprised. Stan was now his roommate, and his specialty seemed to be to say nothing and to care about nothing. It was like he just existed. Mike wished Bond had asked Ryan to be on the crew. Ryan was smart, Ryan cared, and Ryan was his long time boy friend. Of course he wished Ryan was his current roommate, too.
The "Lady Hawke" was rapidly gaining on the "Wonder Boy". Ensign Bond kept hoping the cadet shuttle would regain power, or at least communications. It would make his job that much easier. He remembered reading in the old science fiction novels about tractor beams and deflector beams. He had often found it amusing that for all the things that had come true in those old stories, things extremely complicated like warp drive, no one had ever been able to invent a beam that could hold or deflect things. How yearned for one right now. In fact if there was such a thing as a deflector beam, Captain Hatcher would never have had to give the order to fire.
Cody interrupted Ensign Bond's thoughts. "Sir, we have communication from the `Wonder Boy'."
"Thank God."
It was Nipper's high pitched voice that came over the speakers. "SFA `Wonder Boy' declaring an emergency." His voice extremely boyish, yet very professional. Kalon, you're doing a great job with these kids, Bonds thought to himself.
"Answer it, cadet," Bonds said.
Cody answered the request for help, half excepting the "Lexington" to override him. The crew on the Lady Lex knew they had sent the "Lady Hawke" to perform the rescue operation. They maintained radio silence as the monitored the chatter between the two shuttles.
Bonds had Nipper put Kalon on the radio. The two Ensigns went over their plan. It was a simple one, one they both had practiced numerous times in simulators but had never done live action. The "Lady Hawke" would fly over the top of the "Wonder Boy" and past her. She would then slow down and drop a pair of grappling hooks. The cadet shuttle would then catch up the larger shuttle as Kalon maneuvered the "Wonder Boy" toward the hooks. Bonds would be at the controls, manipulating the hooks to catch onto two braces built into the hull of the cadet shuttle for just that purpose.
Kalon knew this was no time for cadets. He put on his dark glasses and took over the controls. The maneuver would be tricky, but if they missed it wouldn't be a disaster. The "Lady Hawke" could fly past them and the whole procedure could be tried again. Kalon's pride didn't find that acceptable. The best pilot in the fleet would not need a second try. Douglas sat in the co-pilot's seat calling out numbers as Ben sat in the jump seat, Kalon's usual position. He watched Kalon's every move carefully. Ben knew what he was meant to be now. Some day he would be a pilot with the same skills as Kalon Masters, and the first way to get there would be to watch the master pilot at work.
Kalon didn't disappoint himself or the cadets. Kalon found himself respecting Ensign Bond's skills as the "Lady Hawke" paced itself perfectly to the cadet shuttle. The two braces eased into the hooks as the procedure went off precisely and without a hitch. The "Wonder Boy" was now under the control of the "Lady Hawke". The boys on the cadet shuttle cheered wildly, as did two of the three boys on the "Lady Hawke."
Two hours later Ely Storm once again stood in front of Captain Hatcher in the ready room. He was holding a box the size of a large dictionary. The box had wires protruding from the sides.
"This is the culprit," Ely said.
"What is it?"
"A small computer. It was on a timer. The timer went to zero sometime before the mission started. Apparently, once the timer hit zero this little computer was going to give the orders to the navigation and engineering computers of the shuttle, as well as to the main computer. Once the shuttle got a certain distance from the Lady Lex, she would be ordered to turn around and come straight at her target."
"Killing us all."
"Unlikely. The shuttle crew would have been killed for sure, and the damage to the Lady Lex would have been crippling. But the Lady Lex has a tough hide. The shuttle would have put a nice gash in her, we would have lost quite a few lives, but it would have crumpled like an eggshell before going in deep enough to destroy the Lady Lex."
"Who is doing this, Ely? Why would anybody want to sabotage our ship? This isn't the first attempt. Even with all the extra security, somebody still was able to install that device."
"I don't know who is doing it, Captain. I have my suspicions as to who is planning it. But I don't know who the agents on board are."
"You said agents. As in more than one?"
"I think we have both a cadet and possibly a crew member working against us, Steve. And we're going to need to find out who it is soon, before somebody does get killed."
Mark Hatcher stood in the shuttle bay. He looked at his younger brother, once more checking out his bruised nose and face and his blackened eye. There were a lot of things he wanted to tell him, but he said nothing. He shook his brother's hand awkwardly and prepared to board the "Lady Hawke." Just as he turned the door to the shuttle bay opened and his father strode in. Just the three Hatchers were in the bay. Steve Hatcher gave Mark a big hug.
"I'm so happy you're alive. So happy you're not hurt."
"I heard you gave the order to fire. And that it was countermanded by the Kriton," Mark said coldly.
"Ely made a calculation mistake. The Kriton realized it. Son, it was the toughest decision I ever had to make in my life. I would have given the same order no matter who was on that shuttle. It was eight lives versus dozens. And I didn't know if you had a bomb or something that would have created an explosion destroying the Lady Lex and killing everybody. If it means anything, Mark, if you had actually been fired upon it would have been the last order of my career. As it is, it may still be."
"Don't quit dad. The `Orion' still needs to kick your ass. I understand what you had to do. Ely talked to me earlier. I wanted to hate you at first. But I don't."
"I didn't want to lose you, Mark."
"What about Jesse? Did you think about him, too?"
"You were both on board that shuttle. You were both equal."
Whatever, Jesse thought to himself silently.
"You should never have been captured, Mark. You risked everything to help your brother. You know he wasn't in a life threatening position."
Mark looked at his dad incredulously. He kept seeing him in ways he had never seen him before. And he began to wonder for the first time just what it was about Jesse his father detested. "I didn't know anything. And you don't know a thing about what happened. Now, I gotta go." Without a smile or a wave, Mark boarded the "Lady Hawke." He would soon be back home on the "Orion." He just hoped his return wouldn't be a disaster.
Trevor finished telling Johnny about his stealing the chocolate, then returning it. The make-up was wiped clean from his face. Johnny was sitting on Ian's bed. Ian was sitting on his desk chair and Trevor was sitting on his own bed.
"Why did you return it?" Johnny asked.
Trevor knew he would ask that question. He didn't want to tell Johnny about his relationship with Harrison Wolfe. At least not yet.
"I just wanted to see if I could take it and return it without being caught. And I did."
"Are you the guys who set off the kitchen alarm right before the general alarm?" Johnny asked.
Trevor smiled.
"Nice job, Trevor."
"It's Hawke."
"Hawke?"
"Bird of prey. Master of stealth."
"Are you going to be my master thief?" Johnny asked. "Get me what I need for the New Mustang Gang?"
"I have a better idea," Trevor said.
"What?"
Trevor told him. Johnny Cooper had conflicting emotions inside him. Johnny Cooper the delinquent frowned. Johnny Cooper the cadet CO smiled. Remembering what had happened to the Lady Lex the night before, Johnny Cooper, CO, won easily.
"This is just between us three," Johnny said.
"I want one other person," Trevor said. Ian frowned on hearing that. What? I'm not good enough for you? he thought.
"Who?"
"I don't know yet. But I will when I see him." Then he looked at Ian and smiled. "And so will you."
Todd glared at Mark. "It has to be pretty embarrassing, coming in on a shuttle from the ship you supposedly boarded and humiliated." Mark said nothing. Todd flipped some printouts on his desk. "It says here you were caught because you rendered aid to an injured cadet. Interesting that cadet happens to be your brother. And the cadet who backs him up happens to be his roommate. And the captain of the ship happens to be your father." Mark remained silent. "It would be interesting to have a chat with the cadet CO on the Lady Lex about what really happened."
"He wasn't there, sir."
"Probably not. I've heard he's pretty much worthless. Like most of the crew over there." He gave Mark a humorless grin. "Of course they got you didn't they? Your little brother did in fact."
"The facts are right there on your desk, sir."
Todd threw Mark another grin. "Right. The facts." He shuffled the papers around again. "Officially you were captured while rendering aid. I can't officially punish you. But I have little control over the reactions of the crew. You're dismissed, cadet."
Mark left the office. He was seething inside. How dare he doubt his word? This was supposed to be simple. Easy. Cut and dried. His life would be just like it was before. Then he remembered what Commander Creevy had told him. Just because he wasn't being officially punished didn't mean he was off the hook with his fellow cadets. He realized now what she meant. He was going to have to prove himself all over again.
Matt woke up early on Monday morning. He had his bed to himself. Jake Masters had slept in his own cabin. He found himself liking Jake Masters, but it didn't bother him that Jake didn't come in to sleep with him. He certainly wasn't going to volunteer to sleep with Jake, but he wasn't going to turn him away either. He had found out more about Jake's code of life. Jake liked to kinds of people for sex. Women his age and younger, down to late teens or early twenties. And young pre-teen or early teen boys. The boy had to be special however, but not too special. Kalon had become like a son to him, which in Jake's code of ethics made him untouchable. Matt had turned him on that morning "Sam" had caught him naked and jacking off. But it had been more than that. Jake knew about Matt's reputation as a party boy. He wouldn't say who, but somebody Matt partied with had told Jake a lot about him. This caused Jake to misread Matt and come on too strong to him.
"My mistake, lad. And Jake Masters don't make too many mistakes. But you were awful sexy there, ya know."
Matt could laugh about it now, especially since Jake turned out to be a wonderful, caring man. Not to mention a man who had taught him a few unbelievable tricks in bed.
"I can show ya some things to do with the chicks, too, lad," Jake had told him.
"No thanks. Not interested."
"Ya see. Jake didn't read ya totally wrong then, did he?"
Matt's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his cabin door. He knew it was Jake by the knock.
"Come in."
Jake came in, wearing a beautiful red and greed silk robe, with yellow dragons embroidered on it.
"We should be gettin' some news soon, lad."
"What kind of news?"
"The news that says when you get to go home."
"Oh." Matt knew better than to dig deeper. Jake only told him what he wanted to tell him and no more.
"In the meantime, you wouldn't happen to be a bit horny would ya lad?"
"Just like you told me. I'm twelve."
"Good answer," Jake said as he shed the robe and crawled in next to the hard naked young boy.
The next few days saw the Lady Lex fall back into its routine, at least as far as the cadets were concerned. Classes, alternating with duty stations, plus watches, meals, and some free time. The boys were ready to come around again, hoping it wouldn't be interrupted like the previous one was. A lot of free time had been lost cleaning the mess left behind by the intruders, not to mention all the goings on after the "Wonder Boy" adventure.
It was Thursday, and for Douglas that was a class day. He was in Kalon's class, learning more about shuttle operation. Half of the class would be classroom instruction. Then Wing Group 1 would take their shuttles on a short excursion. Kalon would be riding in the lead shuttle, which was the "Wonder Boy." Ely and Ensign Anderson had worked on the torn out wiring and checked and double checked the computer. It was ready to fly again. Ensign Bonds, who taught Wing Group 2 would ride in the "Caufield" and Lieutenant Maxwell, a member of the bridge crew, who taught Wing Group 3. would ride in the "Buford."
The cadets were given a navigation problem to solve. Kalon paired them up randomly without regard to crew. Ben found himself paired with his brother Trevor. Douglas was paired with Mike. Another pairing, one that Kalon was watching carefully, was Johnny and Scooter. It didn't take long for that pairing to heat up.
"Sorry you're not my roommate any more, Scooter? Remember when we got threatened to be kept together forever. I bet your gay self liked that idea. Do you find me hot, Scooter?"
"We have an assignment to do," Scooter protested.
"Always the good guy, aren't you? Is that why you and Murdock get along so well?"
Kalon walked up behind Johnny. "Johnny C, I thought you were supposed to be supplying the leadership to your fellow cadets. Looks more like a bullying session here."
Johnny turned and was about to give Kalon one of his patented smart mouth answers when he remembered the thrill of sitting in the command chair of the Lady Lex, the anger at her being violated by the intrusion, and the plans he and Trevor were working on. "Maybe I just need to work with somebody else, Kalon."
"Part of command is being able to work with everybody."
"Yeah, well, maybe I'm not ready for that part yet."
Johnny's confession surprised Kalon. It may have been the first time he admitted he wasn't perfect. Kalon was not about to push Johnny at this point. A baby step forward had been taken and Kalon was not about to have Johnny take a giant leap backward. Scooter was in Johnny's crew, so there would always be ample opportunity to get the working together.
"You realize you're going to need to work with Scooter as a member of your crew, right?"
"Yeah. But that's not sitting here being next to him. Besides," he added with a slightly mischievous grin, "I can always have TJ do the dirty work."
Kalon knew exactly who to match Johnny up with, and he switched Scooter with Mike. Now Johnny's old fellow gang member would be his new partner.
"Oh, so the Mustang is willing to work with a plodding Donkey now is he?" Mike asked with a wry smile.
"Don't get your hopes up. Working with you is better than working with that whimp."
"He's cuter than I am, though."
Johnny couldn't help but chuckle. "How did I end up with a gang of faggots. I get you, Ryan, and TJ. I bet TJ's brother is one of them, too."
"And you loved every minute of it. I know the rest of the gang did."
Johnny's eyes clouded over momentarily. "Maybe it was fun then. It's not now. And you know I never did anything with you guys. I just liked the talk then."
"I know you didn't. You missed out on a lot. Even the other straight guys had fun. They did right to the end."
"Let's change the topic. Like maybe to what we're supposed to be doing."
Mike nodded. It was the first time since boarding the Lady Lex Johnny had been willing to talk to him about anything. Like Kalon, Mike was noting the subtle changes in Johnny's attitude.
Douglas sat next to Scooter, watching him whip out some calculations. Scooter was obviously bothered by the short session with Johnny. Scooter said nothing to Douglas, he just crunched numbers in his calculator, acting like the rest of the world didn't exist.
"Don't let him get to you," Douglas said.
Scooter ignored him. He knew if he said a word the tears would start to flow. The only thing keeping him from a total breakdown in front of the crews of the Wing Group was the calculator in his hand, so he kept putting in numbers even though none of them made any sense to him.
"Let's go on the `Wonder Boy' for a few minutes."
Scooter kept crunching numbers, his fingers moving furiously, his face becoming red. Douglas could see by his body language that he was about to lose it. He put his arm around Scooter's shoulders and led him away from the work space, through the airlock, and on to the shuttle.
Kalon saw them go and said nothing. Douglas had been made a shuttle Commander for a number of reasons. One was he was good at dealing with people. It was time to give him the chance to do just that.
Ben watched them disappear. For some reason he felt a momentary pang of jealousy. He went back to working with Trevor. Douglas was just going to help out a fellow cadet, he knew. But seeing his hand around Scooter's shoulder as he led him into the shuttle somehow hit him wrong.
Trevor and I doing math problems together is pretty much the blind leading the blind, he thought. He looked at the book in front of them. None of it made any sense, but he tried anway. He was happy he had Scottie as the navigator on his shuttle. He could go anywhere they told him to go, but he sure as hell could never figure out a course on his own.
Trevor looked up at his big brother. "Ben?"
"Yeah?"
Trevor wanted badly to tell Ben about The Hawke. About Harrison Wolfe. About stealth. Instead he said, "When are you going to do with me the things you do with Andrew?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean. The things."
Ben sighed. "Just tell me what you mean." He was pretty sure he knew what Trevor meant. But he wanted Trevor to say so. He never thought Trevor was interested in those things. That Trevor was never interested in having sex with him or with Andrew. So he said nothing on the chance that he could be wrong. Ben knew Andrew inside and out. He could read his moods and wants. Trevor, on the other hand, was always a mystery to him. Trevor always managed to show his cocky attitude, but Ben knew there was a great deal more to him under that shield. Andrew was sweetness and sugar, while Trevor was piss and vinegar.
"Never mind." Trevor had his mask on. The mask that hid his emotions and made his face blank.
"Just tell me." Ben was getting frustrated with his brother.
"Why don't you like me?"
"I love you, Trev."
"Yeah. You love me because I'm your brother. But you love Andrew more. You do stuff with him. You don't even talk to me. You like him. Why don't you like me?"
Ben glanced over at the airlock to the shuttle. He looked back at Trevor, the ducked away from his bother's intense stare. He didn't know what to say.
Douglas sat in the command chair of the "Wonder Boy". Scooter sat in the pilot's chair. The tears he had been fighting could no longer be held back. His body shook with sobs and he fought to regain control of himself. Douglas sat quietly and waited.
When Scooter finally calmed down, Douglas said calmly, "It's more than just Johnny isn't it?"
Scooter nodded.
"Want to tell me about it?"
Scooter sobbed and fought them. He cried and stopped. But in between it all he told Douglas about Murdock, and how he was a bad cadet, how he hated being in charge of watches. He told Douglas how it wasn't in him to be in charge of things. How he was a follower. He told Douglas about his nice life in Florida and his many friends. He told how he got screwed in court and ended up here with a shipload of hoodlums when he hadn't done anything wrong. He told how his whole life depended on them winning the Olympics, and how he hated everything about the Lady Lex, and how he especially hated Murdock and Johnny Cooper. He told Douglas how he was gay and how could a gay boy lead anybody anywhere in this ship.
Douglas listened patiently. When he was sure Scooter was finished he said his piece.
"First, being gay has nothing to do with anything. We have enough gay boys on the Lady Lex to create an entire wing group. In fact, I think we already have. Come on Scooter, I'm gay," (Scooter's eyebrows went up when he heard that) "Mike's gay," (something everybody knew). In fact from what I've seen the only two guys in our wing group who aren't gay for sure are Johnny, Trevor, and Stan. I don't know about Carson. I mean he's only 10."
"But I'm in charge of all the watches. All 200 of us."
"So?"
"So. Nobody listens to me. I fall asleep on watches. Nobody respects me. Murdock hates me. I hate him. I don't know what to do!!!"
"Look, you assign the watches, right? And I know you keep assigning yourself the shittiest watches. I can see that on the watch posting. Maybe starting next week you give yourself the best watches."
"I'm trying to be fair."
"Fuck trying to be fair. Is Murdock being fair to you? No! Are you making everybody happy by trying to be fair? No! You put a lot of work into the watch schedule. Your reward should be the primo watches, WHEN you assign yourself one. You're in charge of the schedule. Act like it. You're getting shit about the schedule anyway, so quit trying to make everybody happy. You lose rec time doing the schedules, then you put yourself into some two in the morning watch. You go there exhausted, then you fall asleep."
"But what will Murdock say?"
"If he says anything, tell him he can make the schedules if he doesn't like it."
"He'll kill me!"
"He's killing you anway, Scooter. He's killing you from the inside out. Stand up to him. Tell him he put you in charge and you were going to do it your way. I mean do the Captain and the XO stand shit watches on a ship? I don't think so. Do Mike and Johnny stand them? No. Should you? No. You have around 150 boys to assign after you take away all the ones who don't get watches. You don't know most of them, and you sure don't have to make them happy. It's time to make yourself happy."
"I have to do what Murdock tells me."
"Did he tell you how to schedule yourself?"
"No."
"Good. Then do it the way you want. And if he asks, tell him you gave me the job and this is how I'm doing it so I can have the time to do that job. Stand up to him. You've never had to deal with people like Johnny and Murdock. They'll take everything they can get until you tell them, no more!"
Scooter didn't look convinced.
"Look, just try it. I mean it can't get any worse, right?"
"I guess. I'll try it for next week. But you better be right."
"I don't know if I'm right, Scooter. But you're hurting and I'm trying to help you to fix it."
Scooter shrugged, but looked a little happier.
"One more question for you," Douglas said.
"What?"
"How are you and Jeff getting along?"
Scooter blushed and then said, "I think I'm in love with him."
"Is the feeling mutual?"
"I don't know."
"See, you now have one more thing to find out."
The boys got up out of their chairs. On impulse, Scooter gave Douglas a big squeeze and hug. "Thanks, Douglas. I didn't know what do to. I've been so unhappy."
"Look, Scooter. You have no reason to keep it all inside. You can always talk to me, to Ben, to Mike, and if you handle it right, to Jeff."
The boys walked back into the shuttle bay. The classroom session was finished. It was time to split up into crews and, for the first time, have the entire Wing Group in space at the same time.
Harrison Wolfe watched Wing Group 1 come slowly back to the Lady Lex. He sat back on his recliner looking out of his cabin's port, reading his printed e-mail once again and thinking how Wing Group 1 was light years ahead of the other three groups. Knowing the personnel in the group, and knowing Kalon Masters, he wasn't surprised. He had just finished teaching his last class and was waiting for dinner to be served. He was suprised at first to see the four shuttles coming in, but once he saw who they were, he smiled. The cream always rises, he thought.
He knew the shuttles didn't go far and they flew in a very wide loose formation. He had seen Kalon's plan for his Wing Group. The trip had probably been short, but very educational.
Harrison looked at the letter one more time. It was from his dear friend Myrna and was about the sudden death of Ambassador Talon, the Earth Ambassador to Earth. He read it carefully, trusting her observations and opinions as he usually did. The Ambassador collapsed after a trade conference meeting. The official cause of death was a heart attack. Harrison Wolfe knew better. He was waiting to get Myrna's list of who was at the trade conference and who was at that meeting. The Ambassador definitely did not have a heart attack, he thought. I wonder who it was who took my place as the master assassin.
He was glad he turned the job down. He didn't know exactly where it came from, but he was aiming to find out. He had a good idea where to start, and so far his search hadn't disappointed him. He looked at the books lining his walls and thought about how often he and the characters talked to each other.
"So many of you have acted on gut feelings," he said aloud, "and they've paid off so often. My gut feeling is this old bucket of bolts holds the key to what happens with us and Kriton. I don't know why I thought a ship full of society's loser boys would be a focal point. But so far, my friends, my instincts have been right. My gut feeling that whether we go to war or have peace will be decided by these boys, and I want to be sure the decision they make is the right one; the one I want.
Trev walked back from dinner on his own. The flight of the wing group had been fun. He wished there was more for the weapons officer to do, but he was to help with navigation and communication. He had fun, even if Johnny had left most of the decisions to TJ, his pilot. Mike, Douglas, and Travis were all good commanders, but Johnny seemed to leave everything to TJ. Oh well, he thought, Johnny was a good gang leader even if he was a bad commander. How did he ever become the cadet CO? Adult decisions had a way of confusing Trevor, and that decision was one of them.
Trevor thought about the plan he had given to Johnny. Now he just needed the right boys in it. He was the Hawke. He needed more birds of prey. He knew he would have to take in Ian, even if he was a dork. But Ian had shown himself to be loyal, and he knew Ian worshipped him. What he needed know were two or three boys his age who were boys of action. He needed boys he could show the things Harrison Wolfe was teaching him. He could think of reasons not to pick anybody in his Wing Group. This was different from the New Mustang Gang. This was going to be secret even from them.
He turned the corner and crashed right into a boy. They both fell to the floor, then got right back up.
"Watch where you're going!" the boy shouted.
"You watch!" Trev said.
They both glared at each other, fists clenched. Trevor recognized the boy, but didn't remember his name. He looked to be 12 or 13. He was bigger than Trevor, and incredibly cute. Trevor didn't think about the cute, he thought how mad he was at this boy for running into him. Trevor pushed the boy and the boy pushed him back. Trevor raised his fist, ready to belt him, and he could see the boy wasn't about to back down. They were about to go at it full blast when Trevor dropped his fists.
"What's the matter, you chicken? You afraid to fight?"
"No, I'll fight you if you want. But I have a better idea. My name is Trevor."
The boy looked at Trevor like he had lost his mind, but gave his name. "I'm Chandler."
While the boys were both still glaring at each other, they backed down a little. Trevor knew he had found a raptor, and if he needed to fight him to get him he would. But first he had one more thing to tell him.
"You can call me Hawke. Do you like birds of prey?"
To be continued..........