Welcome back once again loyal readers. Sorry for the long delay, but the vacation was great. :-) We left off with Trevor the Hawke going off on an adventure, without a great deal of thought or planning. Sorry to keep you hanging there, but now it's time to see if our Hawke learned his lessons from his failures during the "Orion" intrusion. Enjoy and please write us at TheHakaanen@hotmail.com
Boys of the Lady Lex Chapter 39 "Lady Luck" Written By Douglas DD and Benjamin TC
Lady Luck can be a difficult woman to figure out. She can be on your side one moment, then lure you into a sense of euphoria-a feeling that all is right with the world and everything is going the way you always knew it was destined to go. Or she can suddenly turn on a you and slap you in the face. How Lady Luck treats you can be a matter of timing, of location, of planning. Good planning can sometimes keep her at bay, but Lady Luck can be a bitch and ruin the best plans. And sometimes, even the worst of plans can work as the fickle lady shows her sense of humor and lets you stumble to success.
"Well," Spencer said. "Now what?"
"What do you mean now what?" Trev asked. "We go in and rescue the kid. That's what!"
"We don't have a plan. I mean we were just going to watch the mission and kind of take pride in doing it without being caught. Now suddenly we're doing the mission. At least with the `Orion' we had a planned even if it didn't work."
Kyle had put the "Wonder Boy" into orbit above the coordinates of the compound. Trevor silently thanked Ian's thoroughness in copying the plans left on Colonel Stone's desk.
"What can be so hard about it? We land on their runway. We go in and find the kid. We take him back out. We take off. End of story," Trev said with an air of cockiness he didn't really feel. "But what if they have weapons and guards?" Spencer said.
"The probably have guards. And weapons. But they won't be expecting us," Ian said.
"So we just drop into their landing field unannounced, and then walk in and out?" Spencer said.
"You're supposed to be the commander. Make some plans," Trevor said.
"He's the commander. You're the leader of the Birds of Prey," Dylan said to Trevor. "YOU make some plans."
"How about, WE make some plans," Ian said. "We are supposed to be a team, after all." Brian shook his head wondering how this group ever got anything accomplished. All they ever seemed to do was argue.
Spencer was about to tell Ian to shut up, when he remembered who had stolen the plans and maps, and who had told them about the location of the "Wonder Boy". Instead he unrolled the maps Ian had copied.
"We don't know what room he's in," Chandler said.
"It's not that big a building," Trevor said as he looked over the maps and plans, not realizing the scale drawings made the building appear much smaller than it really was. After a few minutes he said, "Look, I have some ideas. Tell me what you think." Trevor proceeded to outline his plan. Each of the other Birds of Prey gave some input, even Ian, who suddenly was being looked upon with more respect by the group. Brian now saw that underneath the arguing and posturing there was a growing sense of teamwork among the boys. And not for the last time he couldn't help but be almost turned on by the make-up and skimpy garb of the gang. He almost wanted to take a look up each T-shirt, knowing none of the boys wore anything underneath them.
"Okay," Kyle said, "the plans are all cool except for one problem."
"What's that?" Chandler asked.
"I've only landed a shuttle on a planet a couple of times, and that's been in the daytime with a crew member sitting where Brian is. I've never landed at night. And you want me to land on a field with no lights."
"How do you know it has no lights?" Ian asked.
"Why would they leave them on? Who is going to land there?" Chandler asked.
"No, we want you to do a vertical landing in the desert, like the plans say," Trevor said.
"I don't know how," Kyle said.
"What do you mean you don't know how? Kalon taught you right? Didn't you pay attention?" Spencer asked somewhat angrily.
"Well, I did. But, you see, I've never done it, except in a simulator. And now you guys want me to do it for the first time and do it in the dark? I don't think so."
"Just try to land it," Spencer said. "If it's dark we'll wait until daylight."
"This is all so lame," Kyle said. "We're going to get killed or all captured or something."
"If we wait until then they might have the `Raptor' fixed then we won't have a chance to do the rescue," Trevor said.
"So we take the chance," Dylan said. "I say land it."
"Okay," Kyle said. "It's your funeral."
"No, it's OUR funeral," Ian retorted. All Brian could do was shake his head.
Jake Masters looked out of his bedroom window into the night. The horizon was lit up. Connie was coming sometime tonight. He had sent his ship to pick her up. He needed somebody other than the boy Matt. He needed somebody adult. Somebody female. He loved Matt, and that was becoming a problem. Matt could never be Kalon. He'd gone too far with him sexually. He knew Matt could never be returned; he knew too much. He would either keep him, sell him to the slavers, or have him killed. Keeping him was the least likely, because he knew once the boy found his fate he wouldn't be nearly as pliable.
The compound had six of his men remaining. The rest were crewing the "Mephisto". They had been running on radio silence since leaving Hawking's Planet, which was Connie's home world. How fitting the Olympics would be there. She could get off looking at all the teen boys in tights.
He didn't know when the "Mephisto" would be returning. He estimated within the next four to five hours. For now, it was time to get some sleep to prepare himself for Connie. The woman had a way of sapping one's energy. But then, so did the boy Matt.
Jake crawled into his bed, wondering if he could wake Matt for a romp. You're getting too old for such things, Jake, he said to himself. Connie will give you all you can handle. But in a few days he would have a session with the boy and Connie together. He knew the young boy considered himself gay, but Connie had a way of getting almost anybody turned on. Besides, Jake thought, just before he fell asleep, he always has me to turn him on.
Kyle was relieved to get a homing beacon. Having the coordinates and actually finding a place in the dark were two different things. Chandler, the navigator, was relieved, too. At least he could find the place now, even if he couldn't see it. Without it, he would never have been able to precisely zero in on the compound. Lady Luck gave a twitch of a grin as the boys listened to the beep of the homing beacon.
The boys looked down as the "Wonder Boy" approached the surface.
"Look. it's all lit up!" Trevor exclaimed. "That is so amazing."
"I can see the runway," Kyle said. "We're in luck."
"So let's land," Spencer said.
"They're going to hear us and see us," Ian said.
"By the time they do we'll have out plan going. Let's everything ready, because as soon as we land we're on the ground," Trevor said.
In spite of his nervousness, Kyle placed the "Wonder Boy" perfectly on the runway. The only person awake in the compound heard the landing and figured it was the "Mephisto" returning. He thought about waking Jake, then decided he'd find out soon enough.
Kyle taxied the "Wonder Boy" to the compound's edge. It was time for action
The nocturnal beasts pawing the sand by the runway growled at the noise and the lights of the incoming shuttle. The planet had once been rich with life, but now only a few species of flora and fauna remained. The planet had been heating up and drying out for centuries. For it to be habitable by humans full time it would need a great deal of terraforming. Because if its remoteness, terraforming the planet was not worth the expense. Some day its free oxygen would be gone and all indigenous life would disappear. For now, the hardiest species still survived, and the animals known as desert rats were among the hardiest and meanest of the species on the planet.
"Okay, how long before we get shot at?" Spencer asked.
"Probably any second," Trevor said, looking at the well lit compound. His plans had called for the runway being lit and visible. It was more than visible, it was lit like they were expecting somebody. His plans had also called for the compound being dark for the night. That wasn't the case at all.
"Maybe we should have done a vertical landing," Trevor said. "I don't like being here in the all these lights."
"I could try a hop," Kyle said.
"A what?"
"A hop. I just go straight up, travel into the dark, turn on the landing lights, and land it in the desert. We're so close to the ground it's different than trying to do it from up in space. I mean, I could try. Kalon showed me how."
Trevor looked out at the lights again, then looked at Spencer. "Fuck, go for it," Spencer said.
Kyle cranked up the vertical thrusters. He raised the shuttle to about 100 feet in altitude, then moved it into the darkness. He turned on his landing lights. He knew anybody in the compound could see where he was landing, but he was not about to put the shuttle down in the dark. He set the shuttle down rather roughly then quickly killed the lights. They were still close to the compound, but were protected by darkness.
"Great," Dylan said. "So now instead of being shot on the runway we'll get shot here in the desert. You know they had to hear and see us move."
The boys watched the compound with anticipation. After fifteen minutes they lost patience. Nobody was coming out. Somehow, they'd escaped detection.
****** Jake Masters was awakened by the sound of rocket engines. He walked to his balcony window and looked out at the runway. It was empty. Damn, I must be dreaming some pretty vivid dreams.
He called downstairs. A sleepy guard answered the phone.
"Did you just hear anything?"
"Nothing."
Jake hung up and looked out the window. Maybe I should have called for a twenty-four hour security watch until the "Mephisto" got back. But then, who knows we're here? He went back to his bed. I need to get more sleep. That boy was keeping him awake much too often. Not that Connie will help that problem.
The desert rats growled as the shuttle flew over them and came back down to the other side of them. While the shuttle had sat on the runway it didn't interest them. The had all too often felt the sting of the electric wires strung around the runway. But now, the flying thing was in their territory. It was time to see if it had anything of interest, like food.
"Okay, then, it's settled," Trevor said. "Once we get into the compound, we split up until one of us finds the boy. Then we radio we found him and we all meet up."
"How will we know where to meet?" Spencer asked. In the rather complicated arrangement the Birds of Prey had, Spencer was the shuttle commander, as appointed by the officers of the Lady Lex, while Trevor was the nominal leader of the Birds of Prey. What Brian didn't always realize was that while the boys argued and griped at each other, they all had a mutual respect for each other and were friends. They had learned how to make the arrangement work in their own way, but they didn't always pick the smoothest way to get something accomplished.
Ian picked an electronic device off the table. "Simple, we set this down at the spot we left from. Our radios pick it up and points us home. Just like we've talked about."
"I'm not stupid, Ian. I figured that out. I was asking how we picked the spot."
Ian blanched some at Spencer's comeback, but said nothing. Trevor was too busy concentrating on their plans too notice the condescending tone in Spencer's voice.
"I has to be like Ian said. It's the place we split up."
The boys talked and argued a while longer. Finally, Trevor said, "Okay, let's go. No offense, Brian, but you're going to slow us down, so you stay here and guard the shuttle."
"Yeah, sure. Guard it from what? Rats?" Brian had no idea how prophetic that question would be.
The boys left the shuttle, taking only a back pack with supplies which Spencer carried. Brian watched them run into the hot, dark night. He watched as their black clad torso disappeared, followed by their white bare legs.
Brian left the shuttle's hatch open to the hot desert night, a move he would soon regret.
"Can you fix it?" Ensign Anderson asked Kalon Masters, who knew much more about engineering than Anderson did, even though Anderson was assigned to engineering. Kalon had made many modifications to shuttles, a lot of them not exactly following the specs of the manufacturer or the rules of the SFA. Kalon wanted to get the "Raptor" spaceworthy as quickly as possible, not only to rescue the kidnapped boy, or to get whomever had taken the "Wonder Boy" out of trouble, but to have a showdown with his long "dead" foster father.
"Something is connected to the engineering computer," Kalon said. "It could be some kind of explosive. I don't want to remove it without some help from the `Lexington', and communications are down. We can't radio out."
"So, we just sit?" Sergeant Flint asked.
"Unless the Colonel has a better idea," Kalon said, looking at Colonel Stone. "Removing the device from the computer would be his decision."
"I have a feeling those boys will be returning within the hour. If they haven't, I will make a decision. By that time we will be overdue at the `Lexington' as well, and they should come searching for us."
"And if we're all lucky, they might even find us," Kalon said cynically.
Captain Hatcher sat in his ready room holding his prized hockey puck. He knew it was the same puck he had given Ambassador Ka. He could tell by the markings. He tossed it around in his hand. Yet, why did it sometimes feel so different?
I'm imagining things, he thought. I better get back to the bridge. We should be hearing from the "Raptor" soon.
He set the hockey puck back on its shelf and left for the bridge.
"Captain on the bridge," Ben said. It was Ben's duty day, and he was at the con, working on reading instruments with the crew officer of the day.
Captain Hatcher was about to sit down when Ryan entered the bridge.
"Captain, sir," he said, somewhat out of breath.
"What is it cadet?"
"Sir, the `Wonder Boy' is gone.
"What do you mean gone?" Ben and Hatcher asked simultaneously.
"Gone. As in not in the hangar."
Hatcher glared at Ben. "Mr. Collins, do you know anything about this?"
"No, sir. Nothing. I swear!" He didn't bother mentioning that the first name to pop into his head belonged to one of his brothers.
Hatcher got on the intercom and called for Commander Creevey. "Commander, I need to find out who wasn't in their assigned class or at their assigned station this morning. Now!"
"Yes, sir." Creevey didn't know what the urgency was, but she checked into it immediately and called Hatcher back, giving him the names.
"Captain, you might have noticed that the missing students belong to the group known as the Birds of Prey. The group that made the foray to the `Orion'."
"Yes, I do indeed. Thank you, Commander."
"Not a problem, sir. I take it this has to do with the disappearance of the `Wonder Boy'."
"When did you find out about that?"
"Captain, when I ask questions, I ask more than just the ones I've been instructed to ask."
Captain Hatcher smiled and looked back at Ben. "Well, Mr.Collins, it would appear your brother and my nephew seems to have once again created a bit of a stir."
Ben worked to fight off a smile. Yeah, he thought, that would be Trevor all right.
Hatcher went to work to find out more about the missing shuttle and waited for news from the "Raptor". What me missed for the tenth time since he took command of the Lady Lex was a glowing blue light on his hockey puck, accompanied by a light beeping sound. The light was supposed to stay on until the puck was touched, at which time a message would be played. However, a bug in the chip cut the light off after about a half hour. Luck is not only timing, but also so many other factors, including technology working properly.
Light years away, a figure sat in the shadows of his opulent office, wondering if Hatcher had ever thoroughly checked out his prized possession. His messages had gone unanswered.
Matt looked at the bottle and joint on his dresser. He was tempted. Very tempted. Jake was in his penthouse room two stories up. He had never felt so alone. So lost. He looked at the calendar on the wall. Each month had a picture of a cute naked boy, this month a blonde posed on a black blanket, sporting a hairless erection, and read. "Jerry. June Boy of the Month. A twelve year old demon." The calendar was a special treat from Jake. Is that what he would be doing soon? Posing naked for some nude boy calendar to be sold in the notorious markets of Lucifer? He'd heard you could get anything there. He now knew it to be true.
It was Monday, June 11th. Maybe. If it was past midnight, anyway. He looked at Thursday, June 14th. Circled in red. His birthday. Thirteen years old. A teenager at last. Except nobody cared. Not even himself. He pulled the calendar off the wall and flung it across the room.
Jake didn't care. All he wanted was his ass. He hated Jake. He loved Jake. He wanted Jake up his ass. He wanted to kill Jake. He wanted to kill himself. No way he was going to be somebody's slave. He wanted his dad. He wanted his mom, his little brother. He wanted to go to a party at Tim's house.
He grabbed the bottle and opened it, letting the hot, pungent contents sting his mouth and warm his insides. Mokanna juice, his favorite alcoholic beverage. Strong, spicy, sweet, powerful. He worked to drain it, feeling it working on his brain and small body almost instantly. Feeling it make him relax, feel euphoric, feel at ease. Feeling it mask the pain in his heart. He set it down, already half empty, and grabbed the joint. Jake always left something on his dresser. He rarely missed a chance to use the gift.
Matt lit the joint, inhaled, let the smoke circulate through his lungs before he blew it out. He took another big swallow of Mokanna juice. The room was already starting to spin, as if moving his problems around so they would fling out of his brain and into some corner. He took another hit, another swallow, another big hit, then drained the bottle. He wasn't looking for the slow way to euphoria, he was looking to get there instantly. He flopped on his bed, naked, and watched the room spin, watched his problems spin out of his head, watched them go to the dark corner. He would stay out of that corner. He didn't want any of those thoughts to return to his brain. He giggled, watched the colors of the ceiling change, wished he had music on, and let the numbness of weed and alcohol take over his brain and drive the ugliness out.
"Wires," Chandler said. "The whole place has electric wires around it."
"Why?" Kyle asked. "Who is going to try to break in here? Nobody lives here. There's nothing alive here."
"I don't know. Maybe they're trying to keep boys from the Lady Lex out," Ian said. Nobody reacted to his attempt at humor. But he noticed something else. "The funny thing is, they're not very high. I mean, let somebody on your back we can get right over them.:
The boys could see Ian was right. Spencer, who was the biggest boy, acted as the ladder. Chandler, Ian, Trevor, Dylan, and then Kyle all scrambled over the fence. "Why so short?" Ian asked. "Some adults could almost get over by themselves."
Nobody was interested in coming up with an answer, especially since they had just discovered the flaw in their plan. There was nobody to boost Spencer over the fence. They were about to get into a shouting match to affix blame for their mistake when Chandler said, "You can come over it on your own Spencer. It's off."
"Are you sure?" Spencer said.
Chandler boldly grabbed the wire at the top of the fence. Nothing happened. "I'm positive."
Trev never failed to be amazed at the things Chandler could do with electronics and computers. "How did you do that?" he asked.
"I saw a wire leading from the fence to that box on the side of the building. I went over and turned off the power."
"Wow. How did you figure out the code?"
"Code? I'm a genius. I didn't need no fucking code.
Okay. so how did you do it?" Kyle asked
"Simple," Chandler answered a bit smugly. "There's a switch that said, on and off. I turned it from on to off."
The boys had to stifle giggles as they learned another lesson about luck. Sometimes luck was just a matter of being in the right place and finding the right switch box.
"No word from the `Raptor'," said Lucas, who was the cadet manning communications. Lucas was a fifteen year old sophomore, arrested of breaking and entering as well as assault. He played on the varsity hockey team. Hatcher liked his aggressiveness, which made up for a distinct lack of talent.
"Then I think we may want to follow her planned route." Hatcher gave the necessary coordinates and had Ben engage the engines. He also told the cadets that they would have regular crew members shadowing them. There was no telling what lay ahead.
"Okay," Trevor said. "There are five of us. The building had seven floors according to the Marines plan. He probably isn't on the first floor, so we'll skip it for now. Ian, you got the second floor, Dylan, the third, Chandler the fourth, I'll take the fifth, Kyle you got the sixth, and Spencer, you take the top floor. Make sure your radios are on. We gotta be quick. It's 11:30, so coordinate." The watches were set to Lady Lex time, where it was 11:30 in the morning. Trevor had no idea what time it was in the fortress. He just knew it was some time in the middle of the night.
The boys walked up to what looked like the front door to the building. Trevor pulled on the door and it opened. He wasn't surprised. Who was going to break in? But that didn't explain the electric fence. Trevor let the thought pass out of his head. He wasn't one to spend much time worrying about details. He was a boy of action.
The boys entered a lighted lobby. "Where to now?" Spencer asked.
"Well, the marines plan had them running up the stairs with their weapons searching each floor."
"Great. We don't have weapons. And where are the stairs?"
Ian looked at the map that was with the plans. "Through that door. But we could take the elevator over there."
"Sounds good to me," Chandler said, not realizing the Marines planned to use the steps to avoid being stuck on the elevator.
The boys scrambled into the elevator, bushing buttons for each floor. "Hey, there is no button for the seventh floor," Spencer said.
"Guess you use the stairs," Dylan answered. "Unless you're too out of shape."
"Shut up."
Ian was dropped off at the second floor, Dylan the third, Chandler the fourth, and Trevor stepped off at the fifth, leaving Kyle and Spencer to go up to the next two floors. Trevor found himself in a dimly lit hall with no idea where to go. The map said the floor had twenty bedrooms, which was why Trevor picked it. He was quickly realizing the building was much bigger than he originally thought.
The fourth, fifth, and sixth floors were mostly bedrooms, the fifth with the most. Ian had the only copy of the map, so Trevor had to go by his memory. Two of the bedrooms were bigger than the others, but he couldn't remember how they related to the elevator. He decided to go to his right and explore. He knew from the Marines plan that most of the bedrooms were empty. With the exception of the one with the boy, he hoped all the ones he looked in were empty.
He decided to go right, which turned out to be a mistake. The Marines map only showed half of the floor, the half with the bedrooms. The other half was offices, abandoned research rooms, and storage space. After making a couple of turns, Trevor decided to head back. This was obviously not the way to the bedrooms. When he got to the second junction of corridors, he realized he must have missed his original corridor. In fact, he realized he was hopelessly lost.
Brian sat in the pilot chair of the "Wonder Boy", trying to imagine what piloting the shuttle was like-how the power of it all would feel, how he would feel, how he would love to control something big and fast and powerful. I can't even control my own body, he thought bitterly. What makes me think I can be in control of a space craft?
The only noise he heard was the soft hum of the life support system. The instruments were all in sleep mode, their monitors and lights dark. Only the engineering panel showed any signs of life. He sat back in the big seat, built to be sat in for long periods of time at the highest level of comfort. Why did I want to come? he thought. Did I think it was going to make me into some brave hero or something? Yeah. like a cripple could do something heroic. I'm so totally useless to the Birds of Prey. They barely acknowledge my existence. I'm just in their way. And all they do is squabble and argue. I can't figure out how they end up agreeing on anything, but they do. They're going to be caught, when it gets light I'm going to be caught, and we're going to be the prisoners of whoever is on the planet for the rest of our lives. He could feel the tears start to well up. Fuck it, he thought, I'm not going to cry. That's all I do is cry. I hate the Birds of Prey. I hate me for wanting to go with them. I hate my parents for making me go with them instead of letting me live with Uncle Barry and Aunt Rose. I hate the doctors who said I can't be fixed. I hate the driver who did this to me. I hate my body for being allergic to the drugs that could regenerate me. I hate Zjan-Ren for not leaving me alone and embarrassing me at the games. I hate everything and everybody. I hate the word luck, because all of the luck I have is bad. I hate life, because life is ugly and unfair.
His thoughts were interrupted by what seemed like a change in sound. He listened intently, but all he heard was life support. He decided it was his imagination, and started to go back to his depressing thoughts, when he heard something again-only this time it was much more obvious, a sound from outside-a quiet gurgling growl. What could be outside? Isn't this a dead planet? It had to be guards from the compound. They had to have seen the shuttle land. How could they miss it? The runway had been lit up. The landing lights had been on when they made their little hop. Somebody had to have seen them-it would have been incredibly lucky if they had not.
He heard the sounds again, closer and louder, right outside the open hatch. Not only could he hear the gurgling and growling, he heard what sounded like feet crunching the desert sand.
Brian grabbed his cane and got out of the seat. Whatever was out there, he was going to close the door and keep it out. He hobbled to the door, but the sounds were gone. Once again, all he heard was the hum of life support, the sound that made the shuttle seem alive. His feet and his cane squeaked some on the floor. He stood at the door peering into the dark The door was turned away from the compound, so all he could see was the inky black of night, and above him the light of distant stars and galaxies. The desert was still. I'm getting paranoid being all alone out here, he thought. I must be more afraid than I thought. I'm hearing things.
The desert was quiet, frighteningly dark, incredibly lonely. Brian stuck his head out the door and drank in the warm air. His mind said the quiet was too quiet-a quiet that was almost unnatural. He got ready to turn into the cabin when he thought he heard the sound of breathing. He listened. There was no doubt. He heard what sounded like air being exhaled, and it wasn't his own. More quiet and then a soft gurgle. Brian felt his heart pounding hard, he felt the blood rushing through his head as fear built up inside him.
He listened. Quiet once again. I have to close the hatch, he thought. I have to get completely in the cabin and close the hatch. He reached for the handle when he heard a loud crunch followed by a horrific shriek, then saw two shadows leap from the dark desert and crash into his chest knocking him to the floor. Two creatures, the size of armadillos, but much sleeker, scurried over him and into the cabin, gurgling and growling. He turned to get a better look at them, when there was a thump on his chest as two more creatures leaped through the door. One of them looked down at Brian, flashing a mouth filled with two rows of thin, sharp teeth. It gurgled, drooling on Brian's chest, then dropped to the floor and went to join the other three creatures.
Brian felt the fear well up in him, turning to panic. What are they? What are they going to do to me? There's nobody here to help me! Surprisingly, the creatures didn't attack him. Instead they headed for the navigation station, which was the one closest to the door. All four of the desert rats, as the first inhabitants of the planet had dubbed them crawled under the station. It wasn't human flesh they wanted, it was the insulation, the computer circuits, the plastics, all items much tastier and more refreshing than the tough plants of the desert. Brian looked on helplessly as one of the rats bit into a wire under the control panel, ready to start his scrumptious feast.
Paco Cartwright woke from a sound sleep. He swore he heard something in the hall. In fact, he plain swore. What a disaster this job turned out to be. A chance to work for the legendary Jake Masters. A job full of high adventure. Something to test the toughest of men. Yeah, right, Paco thought. I've been here for two weeks and my adventure is keeping Jake's catamite in line after he gets wasted and wanders around the compound. Life with the great Jake Masters. Baby-sitting an alcoholic twelve year old.
He was promised big money for his job. Well, big fucking deal, thank you very much. It was the thrill, the risk, the doing something wonderfully illegal that appealed to his macho ego. Not being an overpaid baby sitter so Jake Masters could have some tight ass that he picked up from some Lucifer slaver in his bed.
As much as he wanted to roll over and go back to sleep, Paco figured he'd better get up. The boy was usually so wasted on his wanderings he could hurt himself, or walk outside and walk into a desert rat fence. Twice he'd had to turn him around back to his room. He was always naked, a fact that didn't intrigue Paco at all. Naked boys weren't his idea of fun. Besides, even if he was interested, he knew better than to touch the property of Jake Masters. If he didn't go out to check on the boy, Jake would be pissed and he not only wouldn't have any adventure, he wouldn't get paid either.
Paco put on a pair of sweats and a raggedy T-shirt and went into the hall, trying to rub the sleep form his eyes.
"I can't believe Trevor took the `Wonder Boy'," Douglas said for the fifth time since he'd heard the news. "I just can't believe it."
"He better bring it back on one piece, or he's dead," Ben said.
The two boys were sitting at the "Wonder Boy" lunch table with the shuttle's crew. They all looked over at the empty Raptor table. They all had mixed emotions over the theft of their shuttle. On the one hand they hoped the Birds of Prey succeeded at what they were doing. On the other hand they were angry because it was taken without their knowledge or permission.
"Trev just gets weirder and weirder," Ben said. "I thought the `Orion' business would end that but it hasn't."
"He should have been on our crew," Andrew said. "All us Collins brothers together."
"Then who would've been left out?" Jesse asked. "I mean, we are the best shuttle crew on the Lady Lex."
"I just feel like Trev and me keep drifting farther and farther apart," Ben said.
Andrew cuddled up next to Ben, giving him a big hug. "You have me, your Otter. I'm Trev's twin."
"I know, Andrew. And you know how much I love you. But I want Trev the same way, but he's so off on his own. And now he's going to be in such deep shit when he gets back I don't know if anybody can save him."
"We can," Andrew said. "We're his brothers."
"I don't know if that will impress Uncle Steve at all."
"Or my dad," Jesse added.
"Same guy," Scottie said.
"Yeah. Don't remind me," Jesse said.
"I just have a feeling Trev is going to wish he stayed wherever he is. I just hope he's not in trouble," Ben said.
"Knowing your brother, he's probably in major trouble right now," Douglas said.
Trevor turned a corner for what seemed like the hundredth time. The corridors looked alike in the dim light and he was now totally lost. He wished he could find at least the stairs or the elevator. Forget finding the boy. That was impossible. Even the Marines couldn't find him in this place. Trev was ready to give up. If the rest of the Birds were as lost as he was, they better start getting out of here so they could take off before daybreak, whenever that was.
Another corridor popped up. This is like a maze, Trevor thought. Everything leads to the same place and looks the same way. He wished he could find the main lights to get the corridor brighter. It was time for another decision. He figured last time he turned right, so this time he'd turn left. He made a quick turn around the corner, hit something solid, and fell on his butt.
Trevor shook his head and looked up. Towering above him was a man with a dark beard, long hair to his shoulders, and a muscular six foot four frame. The man glared down at him, seeing an 11 year old boy wearing just shoes and a T-shirt. He could follow his smooth, bare white legs up to a hairless crotch which the pulled up shirt wasn't covering. His eyes followed the boy's torso until he saw his face, which was made up to look almost like it was feathered. Even in the dim light he could make out the lines coming from the boy's eyes. Paco wondered why only the emergency lights were on.
He glared down at the boy lying in front of him in the dimly lit hall. "And just what the fuck do you think you're doing here?"
Brian saw what the creature was doing. He picked his cane off the floor and crawled towards it. The creature ignored him, concentrating on gnawing at the insulation of the wires under the navigation panel. Another creature was starting to bite the plastic on a circuit board. Brian yelled at them, trying to scare them off, but except for one which turned and bared its teeth for a moment, they ignored him and kept munching as they emitted little gurgling sounds of pleasure.
Realizing just yelling wasn't going to be enough, Brian raised his cane and whacked the closest creature on his back. The creature next to it turned and let out a horrific yowl, baring his teeth, and then hissing and growling, like a cat, only much louder. It turned and made a sudden, powerful leap at Brian. Brian swung his cane, hitting it in mid-air. The contact sent it flying out the hatch, screeching and caterwauling.
YEAH, I should've turned out for the baseball team instead of being on the fencing team.
But his burst of confidence was short lived. He could once again feel the fear rise in his throat. He knew he couldn't let the creatures eat through the wiring and circuit boards or they would never be able to leave the planet.
The creature he had first caned, turned back to his meal with a determined single-mindedness. Brian got on his knees, raised his cane over his head, and brought it down on the creature's back with all his strength. This time he got the rat's full attention. It backed out from under the console, turned, and showed his full mouth of needle sharp teeth. Brian remembered how quickly the creatures had leaped on him at the hatch as well as the quick, powerful leap of the one he knocked through the hatch. He raised his cane once again, knowing there was no way he could stop the same kind of attack from close quarters.
Trevor wasn't the only boy who was lost. Spencer and Kyle wandered the sixth floor together. Spencer wearing only his sleeveless black shirt, Kyle dressed similarly, but with his sleeves intact, both boys with their Birds of Prey make-up on their faces. Spencer couldn't find stairs to the seventh floor. The elevator only had buttons for the first six. There was a key slot above the six. Both boys figured a key was needed to get to the top floor. The map didn't show what was on the floor. It only said penthouse. Both Spencer and Kyle were sure the kidnapped boy was in the penthouse. They just needed to find the way up.
On the second floor Ian could see he wouldn't find the boy. The floor was all empty offices and rooms. When the SFA left they had emptied the compound. Jake and his gang of smugglers only used the bottom floor and the upper three. The second, third, and fourth floors were empty. Dylan and Chandler were running into the same problem as Ian. The floors were dark and obviously in disuse.
The boys on the unused floor wanted to get on their radios for new instructions, but their orders were to not use the radio until the boy was found. A sudden voice was not what a searching boy would need. Spencer was beginning to wonder if the boy even existed. Chandler saw the entire operation as futile. They could never find the boy on their own. Ian knew the boy was somewhere, and he knew his boyfriend would find him. He had every confidence they would return to the Lady Lex triumphant.
The desert rat tensed to spring. The rats were slow moving animals on the ground, but were equipped with powerful haunches allowing them to take long leaps. The quickness of their leap also served them well as weapon. Brian sensed the upcoming motion and, still on his knees, had his cane in front like his sword. The rat started its leap, but Brian timed it perfectly and jabbed it in the face. The animal staggered back, blood spurting through its nose. The other two rats, hearing its howl of pain stopped their munching and turned around, baring their teeth and hissing. Their long, sharp, thin teeth were built for tearing into the tough rubberized plants of the desert, and were perfect for gnawing at the plastics used in computers and electronics. The original SFA contingent quickly learned to find ways to keep the desert rats away from their electronic devices.
Brian could tell, however, that other than some painful bites, the teeth, as dangerous as they looked, didn't seem to present any kind of fatal danger. He wasn't eager to test his theory, however.
The blow to the creature's head, while painful, didn't appear to be fatal. It growled and gurgled, blood dripping out of its nose. The other two creatures moved in on Brian. Once again he had his cane positioned like a sword, instinctively using the lessons Zjan-Ren had so patiently taught him. He was oblivious to the fact he was doing exactly what he had been trained to do. His movements were almost automatic. He went on the offensive before they could make their powerful leaps, hitting them on the face and head. One of them also started bleeding from its nose, but the third scooted out the door. The creatures appeared to be not only stupid, but cowardly. They also had a temper when hurt, however. They both moved in toward Brian, teeth bared, ready to leap. Brian looked at the teeth thinking maybe they were more dangerous than he had originally thought. He lifted his cane once again, but his sweaty hand lost its grip and the cane slipped out of his hand and flew out of the open door behind him. The rats saw the weapon fly off and knew the two legged creature was now theirs.
Matt was naked on his bed. The bed was huge, comfortable, soft. His room was luxurious. Yet there was no doubt in his head it was still a prison. He giggled. My fancy prison. Until Jake gets rid of me. He was stoned and drunk. He looked at the colors coming off the ceiling. Colors that weren't there, but were falling to him anyway. He has his hard dick in his hand, jerking off, thinking he should find Jake, thinking he didn't need Jake, thinking he didn't need anybody. I got my dick. That's all I need. Just me and good old Little Matty. He pounded on his young boy cock, tripping on the weed, until he was sure there were only two things in his existence, his cock and the colors dripping from the ceiling.
Trevor looked up at the big man in front of him. He was caught again. Trevor the Hawke, master of stealth and deception, and on two missions he had been caught twice. Only this time it was for real. This time he might become a real prisoner, like the boy they were supposed to rescue. Or even worse, he might be killed. His heart pounded with fear, but he kept his mouth shut, kept his emotions under control. His instinct was to get up and run, but he stayed on the floor, waiting to see what the man would do next.
Paco kept looking at Trev in the dim light. He didn't look quite right, but it was probably the make-up and the bad light. His hair looked different, but in the two weeks he'd had his job, the boy had done some strange things.
"I get tired of you're wandering around. You must be stoned again."
Wandering? Stoned? What was he talking about? Trevor thought. Then the light bulb went on. Shit, he thinks I'm the boy. I might get out of this. Now how did I act the time I got really stoned?
"Yeah. I feel so good," Trevor mumbled slowly. He wasn't sure what the other boy's voice was like and he didn't want to use a clear sounding voice.
The big man reached out with his hand. "Come in, take my hand. Jake would kill me, or worse yet, not pay me, if something happened to you."
Trevor took the big hairy hand and flinched at the strength of the grip, but didn't say anything. He stood up, trying to be unsteady, trying to act high.
"Let me take you to your room. Jake should put a lock on it and keep you in it. Not that you can escape from this place. That's impossible."
That's what you'd like to believe, Trevor thought, unable to believe his luck. In not much time at all, your precious boy is going to be off this planet. Trevor staggered some more and Paco lifted him off the floor in one motion. He carried Trevor under his well-muscled arm. Trevor tried to keep track of where they were going, but it was more difficult than he thought. Paco stopped, opened a door and put Trevor on the floor. The room smelled of marijuana.
I thought so, Paco thought. Got himself stoned and then dressed up like some kind of little faggot freak. "Here you are. Don't leave. Paco will be watching. You leave again I'll whip your ass." Paco thought of the pleasure he would get whipping the bare white ass he had seen under the T-shirt. He was getting to dislike this boy very much.
Paco pushed the boy into the room and shut the door. The boy had seemed pretty far gone. Paco decided he would wait outside for a half-hour. By then the boy would be passed out and he could go back to bed. Another crisis averted, but he knew he had better keep his watch outside the room from now on.
Trevor tried to see what was in the room. It was dark. It appeared to be a living room. He found a switch and turned on a light. There was nobody in the room, but he could see two doors. He walked to one of them, opened it, and saw he was in a bedroom, lit only by a couple of dim lights. On the center of the bed was a naked boy jerking off. Beside the boy was a bong and a bottle of alcohol. Oh great, Trevor thought, he's stoned and drunk, and now we have to get him out of here. So much for good luck.
The "Lexington" swept through normal space hoping to pick up a homing beacon from the two missing shuttles. Captain Hatcher wasn't sure they would pick up anything, but they would find nothing staying in one place. The "Lady Hawke" stayed behind at the rendezvous point in case the shuttles returned. Hatcher wanted to do the searching with the Lady Lex so he could help or retrieve a shuttle in trouble.
"Captain, I have a homing beacon," Tyler Young, the cadet on communications duty, said. He gave the coordinates as Hatcher ordered a course change.
Well, he thought, one down and one to go.
Brian watched as the two rats poised to leap. This time he knew he was helpless to stop them. He dropped on his back, his hands ready to protect his face. But Lady Luck was still playing her games. It the rats had had any intelligence at all, they would have attacked as a team. But life in desert with no real enemies had made them incredibly dumb. Only one of them leaped. Brian was able to get his good foot up and catch it in the gut, throwing it against the side of a console. It screeched loudly and leaped out the open door. Having watched two of its cowardly mates desert him, as well as a third get sent flying, the last rat jumped out the door, leaving Brian alone. Once again the only sound was the soft hum of the life support system.
Brian looked at the blood on the floor. He needed to clean it up. He needed to get his heart beating normally. He needed to make sure the creatures hadn't damaged anything before the crew came back. He needed to close the hatch. He needed to go home and be in his own bed and never do anything this stupid again.
Except for Trevor, the Birds of Prey had all returned to the first floor lobby, realizing simultaneously, but independently, their search was futile. They gathered around the corner from the elevator, not wanting to be exposed to anybody suddenly coming out of it.
"Where's Trevor?" Chandler asked.
"I don't know," Spencer replied. "You don't think he got captured again do you?"
"Not my Hawke," Ian said. "He'd never let that happen."
As the boys speculated as to his fate, Trevor tried to think his way out of his dilemma. He was on the fifth floor. He was sure he had found the boy he was looking for. The boy was obviously wasted. The big guard was now manning his post outside the door. He was never going to get the boy out of the compound without help. Calling the rest of the Birds of Prey could put them at risk if they were quietly moving about the building, but he knew in order to complete the rescue he would have to take the risk.
He switched his handset on, setting it to all call. "Hawke to raptors. Hawke to raptors. Hawke needs fly over." This was their code for an assistance call to everyone.
Spencer turned on his handset, answering Trevor's call. "Condor here."
"I found him, Condor. I need help getting him out. You need to try to get everybody together. "
"You're in luck. Everybody is here. Tell us what you need."
Trev didn't know how they all had gotten together, but he wasn't going to turn down yet another lucky break. He quickly explained the situation and his plan for getting the two of them out of the room.
"Kind of like the `Orion' rescue," Spencer observed after Trevor finished. "Only this time it's just us pulling it off."
"That's right, just us, The Birds of Prey," Dylan said with a hint of pride.
"I have an idea," Ian said.
"What?" Spencer asked.
"Stop on the second floor first."
"Shit, now what? Did you forget your pacifier?"
"Dammit, Spencer," Chandler piped up. "Not now. And maybe not ever. Ian has been right on with his ideas since we started. What are you getting, Ian?"
"If the boy is in the shape Trevor says he is he sure isn't going to be walking out of here. I have just the thing to help us."
Except for Spencer, the rest of the boys were slowly learning to trust Ian's intelligence. He might not be the one they would want in a fight, but his brainstorms seemed to always come right when they needed them. Ian, for his part, was gaining more and more confidence in his ideas and as a result was more and more willing to express his ideas.
They got on the elevator and stopped on the second floor. Ian told them he'd be right back. The boys held the door open as they watched his black T-shirt flop over his bare white ass. It only took him a couple of minutes to return pushing a wheel chair.
"I saw this in one of the store rooms. We can roll him right out of here."
"What about when we hit the desert?" Kyle asked.
"Then we drag him if we have to."
Chandler hit the button for the fifth floor. Trevor told them he would have his homing beacon on so they would be able to find the room. The boys now knew the biggest problem with the plan was even though they had the homing beacon to follow, they didn't know the layout or even the distance between the elevator and the room.
The elevator stopped on the fifth floor and they quietly exited. The lessons on stealth were now going to be more important than ever. They clung to the sides of the corridors, following Trevor's homing signal. Ian was a distant last, pushing the wheel chair as quietly as he could.
Spencer got to a corner and stopped. The corridors were still dimly lit, the guard apparently not thinking he would need any extra light. This would work to their advantage.
"He's there. Right in front of that door. And that's where Trev's signal is coming from," Spencer whispered. "Time to put the plan into effect."
Chandler, who was the closest to Trevor in size, stepped into the corridor. "Hey dufus!" he yelled. Paco, who was sitting on a chair outside Matt's room, looked up. Even in the dim light he could see a boy with a black T-shirt, bare legs, and a face covered with make-up. What the hell, he thought. No way that boy got by me, I was awake the whole time.
The lessons of the "Orion" fiasco were well-learned. Paco got up out of his chair and started down the corridor. Their version of the rescue of Trevor was ready to be put in motion.
"Come and get me, dumb shit," Chandler challenged as he danced in the corridor.
Paco could feel his temper rising. "You little fucker, this time I'm tying you up!" he yelled. How the fuck did that little whore get by me? Paco wondered once again as he moved up the hall with surprising quickness for such a big man. Chandler didn't bother moving fast. He wanted to stay in the man's sight. He did a little dance again, then edged around the corner of the adjoining corridor. As Paco turned the corridor he was jumped by Chandler, Dylan, and Spencer. Even with Spencer's bulk, they had a hard time bringing Paco to the floor. The big man was almost able to get himself off the floor with the three boys hanging from him, but they were finally able to keep him down long enough for Kyle to hobble him with the rope they had pulled out of their supply backpack.
The boy rushed the wheelchair to the room and barged in. Trevor had managed to get Matt sitting up on the bed. Matt was confused at seeing the half naked boy come in. He was certain it was a hallucination. The weed Jake had given him was extra powerful and produced beautiful, sexy, half naked boys for him to jerk off to. Even with Trevor pulling him up off the bed he wasn't convinced the boy in his room was real. But he was willing to follow him anywhere.
"Want to toke some weed?" Matt asked.
"No. Not now. We gotta get you out of here. I'm Trev the Hawke."
"Hey," Matt slurred. "I'm Matt the whore. Are you Jake's new boyfriend?"
"I don't know who Jake is," Trevor said impatiently. He looked at his watch, hoping his Birds were close. Moving Matt was going to be harder than he imagined. Matt was out of it. He stood by the bed and watched as Matt started to masturbate again. "Let's get high and have sex," Matt said. "You're better than Jake who is ugly and hairy and you're not."
Matt reached back on the bed trying to find his pipe, but Trevor knocked it away. He admittedly found Matt to be cute and sexy, but this wasn't the time for any of that. This was the time to be the master of the situation in every way. This was the time to be The Hawke. But there wasn't much else he could do until his Birds got there.
"Hey. You lost my weed. That sucks. You're a bad boy."
"Yep. But I'm going to rescue you."
"I hate Jake."
"Sorry. I hope you like me."
"I hate you. You lost my weed."
Trevor was getting exasperated. He was checking the time again when he heard a commotion outside. The Birds had arrived! Now if only they could subdue that Paco dude they'd be home free. The first person coming through the door was Spencer. Trevor almost wanted to kiss him he was so happy to see his face. The other Birds followed him in. When Trevor saw Ian his heart leaped, especially when he saw the wheelchair.
"So this is our kidnapped boy," Spencer said. "Interesting."
"Yep, and stoned out of his mind," Trevor said. "His name is Matt."
Spencer put Matt on the chair and strapped him in. The boys quickly pushed him out the door. Matt tripped out, losing all awareness of where he was or where he was going, but still furiously masturbating himself. They side stepped Paco, who was trying to free his wrists and was trying to pull his tied heels apart. Dylan, the boy form the Australian outback, had had plenty of practice tying animals. Keeping Paco hobbled had been easy once they got him subdued.
They pushed the chair into the elevator and punched the one button. As the elevator started down, Matt had an intense orgasm, sending flashes of light through his brain, and thin boy cum over his chest, stomach, and pubic regions.
"Oh wow, so good, so good, so good," Matt said with a dumb smile.
The Birds of Prey were too busy to react to Matt's orgasm. Matt got yet another ride into the courtyard and to the edge of the compound. Now came the hard party, getting Matt across the sand to the shuttle.
Spencer gave Chandler the backpack. He had Kyle and Dylan boost Matt on to his back. "I don't think he even weights a hundred pounds," Spencer said. The boys ignored the wet sticky cum covering Matt as the lifted him up.
Spencer staggered across the sand. Matt was pretty much a dead weight, and Spencer frequently had to get help readjusting him. Ian had his radio locked on the "Wonder Boy's" homing signal. They soon saw shadow of it in the starlit desert. They were almost home free.
Jake woke up with a start. He looked at his clock. It was a few minutes after three. The "Mephisto" should have landed by now. He went to a window and looked out at the lit landing field. It was empty. It was too late for Connie tonight. He would leave instructions for her to stay in a downstairs room. He was horny now. He wanted his boy Matt. It wouldn't be long and he wouldn't be able to have his smooth soft skin any longer, or his gorgeous, hairless dick.
He got up not bothering to get dressed. He grabbed a silk robe from the back of a chair and headed to the elevator that directly served his penthouse apartment, taking it down to the fifth floor. He stepped off, turned two corners and came across Paco, who had just freed his wrists.
"What is going on? What happened?" Jake demanded.
"He's gone."
Jake grabbed Paco by his shirt and yanked him up. Jake was smaller and older than Paco, but he was still a very strong man. "What do you mean GONE?" Jake screamed.
"I mean I thought his friend was him, but his friend was somebody else and his friends were somebody else and they were all wearing make-up and shirts and shoes and nothing else and all those boys..."
""What boys? What are you talking about, all those boys?"
"The boys in the make-up with no pants. who...." Paco, the macho mountain of a man was rapidly being turned into spineless jelly.
"Shut up! Just shut the fuck up, you big dumb ape. How can there be boys here? Are you crazy? I can't believe I hired a fuck up like you! Boys in make-up! And you expect me to believe it? First chance you get you are off this planet."
"It was all these boys, I swear," Paco said meekly.
Jake dropped Paco back to the floor and left to roust the remainder of his men. How Matt managed to tie up Paco was beyond him, but he did know one boy was not going to get far. Besides there was nowhere to go. Jake shook his head. Half naked boys indeed, the thought. What a crazy asshole.
Spencer's back was ready to give out. He was a big kid, but carrying Matt through the soft sand ended up being more work than he thought. For most of the distance Matt had passively clung to him, but every now and then he had jolted awake and tried to wrestle away. The other boys helped steady him until Spencer could finally dump unceremoniously on the deck of the "Wonder Boy".
Brian breathed a huge sigh of relief as the boys appeared out of the darkness. He had never been happier to see anybody. He was even happier when he saw the naked boy clinging to Spencer's back. After Spencer dropped him to the deck, the boys dragged him to a seat and strapped him in. Brian strapped himself in as the boys quickly went through their pre-flight checklist. Ian introduced Brian to Matt and quickly told him the story, explaining Matt's zoned out condition.
"Hey, is this blood on the floor?" Kyle asked.
"Where?" Spencer asked. "Here, on the side of this station."
Damn, I missed a spot, Brian thought. "It's mine," he said. "I got a sudden nosebleed." Brian had no desire to tell the story of his confrontation with the desert creatures
"Are you okay?" Kyle asked.
"I'm fine." They bought it, Brian thought. Now if the rats didn't bite through anything important I won't have to say anything. They wouldn't believe me anyway, forgetting the gnawed on wiring would serve as proof.
The "Wonder Boy" was about warmed up and ready for take-off. None of the boys had any idea that just a half-mile away another space craft was coming down on the lighted landing field. The "Mephisto" was returning.
"Ready to take off," Kyle said.
"Then go for it," came Spencer's order.
Kyle lifted the shuttle straight up, The boys felt the shuttle shake as something touched the ground, but Kyle righted it quickly. He hovered briefly, then engaged the rockets. The "Wonder Boy" shot out and them up, roaring into space on a tail of fire.
Jake Masters ran out to the landing field to meet the incoming "Mephisto". He was followed by the five men he had on the planet at the time. The "Mephisto" would not only have Connie, it would have more men to help find the missing boy quickly.
Paco was still sitting in the corridor, wondering what had happened to him, how he had been overwhelmed by mere boys. Or maybe he wasn't. Maybe Jake was right, he had imagined half-naked boys wearing make-up. Maybe he'd been smoking the same shit as Jake's boy. He shook his head back and forth, trying to get a grip on reality. He was afraid to move for fear of stirring up another group of boys.
Jake heard the roar first, then turned and saw the blaze of fire streaking to the sky. "Who is that?"
"I don't know," one of the men answered. "It's a some kind of space craft taking off from the desert."
Jake stared at the rising line of fire. If Matt was on that space craft, a huge pay day was going into space with him.
"Get the `Mephisto' after it, now!"
"We can't Jake. It needs to refuel. It can't leave the ground for at least an hour."
The fire was disappearing into a point of light. Jake's anger rose even higher as he watched. One thing for sure, he thought, Paco is totally insane. There was no way some boys could have pulled off a rescue like this. It had to have been a professional force, probably SFA, and Whitaker either planned the rescue, or would be able to find out quickly who did. Whichever way it was, somebody was going to pay.
Chandler gave Kyle is coordinates to return them to the Lady Lex, which, they hoped, would still be waiting at the same spot they left. It should be since it was staying stationary to rendezvous with the "Raptor". Kyle engaged the warp engines, and the shuttle quickly left the isolated desert and its hot sun behind.
"I can't believe you guys got him," Brian said in an awe struck whisper. Thinking of the botched up plans, the constant bickering, and his own confrontation with the rats from the desert, he added, "We were so lucky."
"Luck, hell," Trevor said. "We're the Birds of Prey. It wasn't luck, it was all skill!"
As the "Wonder Boy" raced back to the Lady Lex with the Birds of Prey and the mysterious Matt, the boys couldn't help but wonder if they would be returning as heroes, or as disobedient, delinquent boys who would be in more trouble than they thought possible. Was the rescue luck? Was it skill? Whichever it was, they knew they would need a ton of luck to survive Captain Hatcher and Commander Creevey.
To be continued.....