Welcome back loyal readers. Learn a bit here how the boys of the Lady Lex are growing up. The question will eventually be, can the properly mix their new found maturity with the street smarts that have served them so well. In other words, are they truly cadets of the Junior Sol Force Alliance academy? Read and enjoy.
Boys of the Lady Lex Chapter 43 "Family" Written By Douglas DD and Benjamin T. Collins
"How did you get in here? What are you doing here?" Admiral Whitaker roared as he tried recovering from the shock of seeing Jake Masters in his office.
"Well ya know, I AM Jake Masters, and getting into some lame office shouldn't be that hard for a man of my abilities."
"SFA headquarters is a secure building," Whitaker protested.
"Admiral, Admiral, Admiral," Masters said condescendingly, "do ya think you're the only high ranking SFA officer Jake Masters knows." Whitaker said nothing. "No, I didn't think so. Now, as for what Jake Masters is doing here, I come to collect what's owed me."
"I don't owe you a thing. You lost the item I paid you for."
The shadowy figure, hiding in a dark corner behind some filing cabinets, listened with great interest. What item were they talking about? Was it was he was thinking? Was Whitaker mixed up in that deal?
"Ya think? Ya think Jake Masters would just up and lose something that valuable. Well, I don't think so."
The only illumination in the room was the light on the admiral's desk "Look, let me turn on the lights so we can sit down and..."
The shadowy figure behind the cabinet felt a twinge of anticipation. Turning on the main lights would expose him immediately.
"Oh, no, I don't think so. Having the lights out suits me just fine. Keeps ya from seeing things I don't want ya to see."
"I don't owe you any money. You lost the item. Not only did you lose the item, but the great Jake Masters lost them to a group of kids!"
The man hiding behind the cabinets smiled. So, the item WAS what he was thinking of. And Whitaker was behind that entire operation. Very interesting.
"So they say. But Jake doesn't believe that for a moment. Cuz he thinks you swung the whole rescue to make Jake look bad so you won't have to pay up. You got what you wanted. The peace talks are stalemated, everybody is gonna think Jake Masters was behind it, you get your war, and with the boy rescued you think you don't have to pay. You planned it all to make Jake the laughingstock of the galaxy. Well, Mister Admiral, Jake Masters always gets in the last word. Always!"
Admiral Whitaker sighed. "You have no idea what's going on here. You screwed up your assignment. The agreement we had was pretty explicit. You deliver the goods and you get paid."
"The agreement never said nothin' about you taking the treasure and stiffin' Jake Masters. I don't remember hearing that part at all. Ya got one month to pay up or you're going down, Mister High-and-mighty Admiral."
The Chief of Staff of the Sol Force Alliance tried hard to hide his smile. "The end of the month you say?" he asked. "We had agreed on the end of the year?" he added for a bit of emphasis, hoping to keep Jake Masters from detecting his relief. In a month it would all be over and then he could see to it that Jake Masters was finished.
"I'm' bein' nice to ya admiral, though I can't for the life of me figure out why."
The life of you isn't going last much longer than that month, Admiral Whitaker thought.
The Admiral took a long time thinking, working to keep the smuggler off balance. "And if I don't pay up in a month?"
"Then I tell a few friends who write for certain newspapers about the treasure Jake Masters had, who told him to get it, who took it from him, and what it was being planned by a certain admiral with those Kriton bastards."
After another long pause Whitaker finally hissed out, "Okay, Masters. I agree. But only on the condition you disappear and don't contact me until the month is over."
"Jake Masters agrees, but with his own condition."
The Admiral glared at him, tiring of Jake's antics. "And what would that be?" he asked with menace.
"That ya admit to me right now that it was you who took the treasure away from him."
Admiral Whitaker let out his breath with a loud whoosh. If I deny it, which would be the truth, then Jake will break the deal and I'm out everything. If I admit to the lie, then he will think I truly doubled crossed him and will probably work to bring me down even after I pay him. Well, no matter, he can't touch me for a month, by that time the plan will have been executed, and I will have the means of Jake Masters's demise in place. Well, I might as well gain a little bit of ground by playing on his ego as I admit it.
"Okay, Jake. You're right. I took the treasure. No way a shuttle full of adolescent boys could ever take something from the great Jake Masters."
"Ya got that right, Admiral. See ya in a month. I can find my own way out."
Jake left the office. Admiral Whitaker thought about turning on the mail lights and staying to work, but decided not to. He had too much to think about, and his office wasn't the place. He turned off the desk light, leaving only emergency floor lights on, and left his office.
The shadowy figure stepped out from behind the cabinet. He waited a few moments, then turned on the desk light and unrolled the blueprints. He had been prepared to confront Whitaker about them. What looked like Whitaker's initials were on them. They had led indirectly to the death of an innocent boy, and directly to the death of a not so innocent hoodlum. Seeing Jake Masters in the admiral's office hadn't been all that surprising. His name had been linked to the blueprint. And Jake had been concerned about the Admiral double-crossing him!
Harrison Wolfe couldn't help but smile. Jake Masters was the master of the double cross. Whatever it was Admiral Whitaker had up his five striped sleeve he was out of his league when it came to dealing with that criminal mastermind. Jake Masters gave the impression of not being the brightest light in the galaxy, but nobody in the galactic underworld possessed his sharp mind and cunning ruthlessness. How Kalon Masters had gotten to where he was never failed to amaze Wolfe.
Poor Hawke, he thought with an ironic sense of amusement. It would be interesting to know how he would feel hearing that the Admiral of the SFA Fleet had just taken full credit for the rescue operation that a group of young boys, under his leadership, had indeed pulled off on their own.
Wolfe was certain he had the originals of the blueprint. There was no doubt the Admiral's seal was genuine. He wouldn't be surprised if he had them memorized and never looked at them. That has to be the case for they had been out of his possession for months. They did indeed have a great deal of value of sold to the right people at the right time, for they weren't the blueprints of a thing---they were the blueprints of a plan.
After watching the confrontation between Masters and Whitaker he knew the time to present the blueprints to Whitaker wasn't now. What he had in his possession, if they were genuine plans, was explosive material. It could bring down a lot of important people, starting with the Chief of Staff. Wolfe now wanted to wait to see how thing played out. If what he and his colleague were correct in how they interpreted the blueprints, the junior Olympics and the concurrent peace conference were the key times. The Admiral no longer had his threat to hold over the Ambassador to Kriton, the threat Jake Masters described as his treasure. But Harrison Wolfe also knew that forced had been set into motion that were going to be difficult to stop.
The English teacher rolled the blueprints back up and put them in their cylindrical holder. He turned off the light and left the office. Like Jake Masters, he also had his ways to get in and out of secure buildings.
Whenever Johnny Cooper tired of taking his duties as Cadet Commander seriously, he would sit and concentrate on his brother. He would think back to the early days of the Mustang Gang and the sense of abandonment he felt after his brother died. Then he would think about that unexplainable day on the "Wonder Boy" when his dead brother Craig spoke to him. He would concentrate on his words and used them to help him remember he no longer wanted walk the path he had been on, that he wanted to be the person his brother wanted him to be; to be the person Craig could have been if he hadn't given up and chosen to destroy himself with drugs. After his meditation he would rise from his seat and go back to what he had been doing so often, getting the boys in his crew to do the best they possibly could.
Yes, it was his crew now. Most of the boys had forgotten the sullen, rebellious Johnny Cooper who had tried to face down Master Sergeant Flint and failed miserably. When Mike was in jail after his arrest, the position of XO was temporality handed over to Travis Tucker, and while Travis had a knack for handling the day to day operations and paperwork, things Johnny still detested, he didn't have Mike's facility for handling the day to day personnel issues and the disciplinary issues that needed to be dealt with.
The other thing that made it his crew was the awarding of rank as Captain. He was now more than just the letters CO. He had been trusted with the rank to go with it---Captain. He had never been really trusted with that kind of responsibility. More than the Mustang Gang had ever been, the Lady Lex was his. The crew was more than his gang, it was his crew, and he was being trusted by the officers of the "Lexington" to do the right thing. More importantly, he was being trusted by her cadets.
Captain Hatcher had told Johnny he shouldn't handle disciplinary matters except as a last resort, but through Master Sergeant Flint he had set up a system to handle the problems through Travis. Johnny made the necessary decision, and Travis carried it out. Because of the rising level of pride and level of accomplishment of the crew there weren't very man issues to deal with, but it was good to have a system in place that allowed Johnny to do what he did best, inspire people to new levels of achievement.
An incident that occurred just before Mike, Ben, Andrew, Nipper, Trevor, and Douglas rejoined the crew illustrated how far Johnny had grown since his unceremonious beginning. He had gone to Master Sergeant Flint's small cabin to discuss a problem with Spencer. Spencer sometimes had problems forgetting that his obligations as a member of the crew superseded his obligations as a member of the Birds of Prey. After Flint told Johnny what kind of disciplinary action Travis should take, he challenged Johnny to a game of Cribbage.
Johnny enjoyed the ancient card game, which Flint had taught him just after the "Orion" games on Phosphorous Prime.
"What are we playing for?" Johnny asked.
Flint flashed Johnny a smile and said, "Don't you want to play just for fun this time?"
"Fuck no, I want to take you down.!"
"Watch the language cadet, it's unbecoming a CO."
"Fuck you," Johnny said playfully.
Flint gave Johnny an evil grin and said, "For that we play for 100 pushups."
"Make it two hundred, wuss," Johnny said.
Flint laughed and got out the cards. "And to think at one time I hated this gig and hated you even more. Now I wouldn't trade the Lady Lex for the flagship of the fleet."
"It's home isn't it?"
"The first home you've ever had Johnny. Right?"
Johnny fought off a sudden flood of emotion and nodded his head. The Lady Lex was indeed the first home he ever had. It was a home where he was loved and respected. It had changed from a place that had filled him with anger and hate to a home that gave him a sense of pride and fulfillment. It was a home that had provided him with a father figure in Captain Hatcher, and a big brother in Master Sergeant Flint. It was a home that had returned old friends like Mike to him, and while he still tended to be a loner, in part because of his position as cadet CO, it was also a home that had provided him with the kind of friends who would reach out and pick him up whenever he fell down.
Their games were always best of seven hands, and Johnny immediately got off to a bad start by being skunked in the first game, giving Flint a quick two game lead. Johnny game back to win two of the next three, but Flint ended up winning four games to two.
Johnny peeled off his shirt, revealing a smooth muscular torso. The body that had been thin but soft was now hard and toned. He got down and started his pushups. When he got to his third Flint laughed and said, "I remember that first day on the bus when I said do forty and you pooped out on two."
"I could've done forty if I wanted to," Johnny grunted. "I just didn't want you to think I was going to be your bitch."
Flint roared with laughter and said, "In some ways you haven't changed a bit, Johnny."
Johnny kept going, pushing past the forty mark, the fifty mark, the hundred mark. He knew he could do a hundred easily, but was now regretting his big cocky mouth. He wasn't sure two hundred was attainable. He had said it because he wanted to see Flint do it, but the fact the Marine hadn't flinched when he spit out the number probably had a lot to say what the big man was capable of.
Johnny was determined to make his goal. Two hundred pushups? Hell, that's only a hundred times as much as he did on the bus, and he was for sure a hundred times the person he had been then. He had quit weeks ago, but the effects of his years of smoking were still a part of him, even with the help of Doc Daniels. At one twenty-five, Johnny could feel himself hit a wall. He was laboring for breath, sweat pouring off his face and coating the smooth skin of his back and chest.
Flint said nothing. Johnny was certainly in far better condition than he had been on that bus so many months ago, but Flint had known from the start Johnny had picked a goal impossible to meet. For the Marine it would have been difficult, but doable, but for the seventeen year old laboring on his cabin floor, it was too much. Flint knew better than to say a word, to do anything that would indicated his lack of faith in Johnny. This was one of those times where a young man had to either find out what his limits were or to find out how capable he was of pushing himself beyond what he thought he could do.
Johnny had, in a way, just set up a test of his own manhood. He wanted to show his former tormentor he could do whatever he set out to do, and Flint realized this. Master Sergeant Flint, who was go good at pushing the boys through yelling, fear, and intimidation, was also learning something; how to sit back, keep his mouth shut, and let the boy on his cabin floor take a step towards becoming a man.
Johnny hit one forty and a wall. He fought for every breath. His arms ached. His lungs were on fire. His uniform pants were soaked with sweat, his skin was wet and glistening. He was ready to quit.
But then Flint got on the floor next to him, slamming push ups so fast he was almost a blur to Johnny.
"Come on girl. You gonna let an old man beat you? Young kid like you?"
Johnny steadied his aching arms and started up again.
"Come on. This isn't ladies night!" Flint goaded. "My seven year old niece could beat you right now using one hand! Come, on! Don't be so pathetic.!"
Johnny shut out the pain, the fire, the presence of the marine, the itching of his sweaty skin and narrowed his focus to cadence in his head. One fifty. One sixty. A second breath came. A slight lessening of the fire. His arms were shaking. His legs felt as if they could no longer hold him up. His back was aching beyond endurance. He shut it all out. Only the numbers were in his head. One eighty. He heard a howl of pain from somewhere, but he wasn't sure from where or who was doing the howling. One eighty-five. One ninety. A voice whispering in his head, "Ten more?" Craig? He shut it out. A voice yelling from outside his head, "Let's go little girl! Show me something!" He shut out the world. He started to count down. There was only five and four and three and two and one and....he yelled a scream the brought goose bumps to the skin of Flint...and ZERO!.
As soon as Johnny finished his last push-up Flint grabbed him and held his soaking wet body and for the first time in his life put his arms around another male as Johnny Cooper puked his guts out on the floor.
Captain Hatcher finished the report of the incident in the asteroid belt and set it on his cluttered desk. He smiled to himself. The subject of the report was one more reason why he was feeling almost giddy about the Lady Lex and her motley crew of cadets. No, he corrected himself, the one time motley crew of cadets. They were certainly not that any longer. They were displaying a pride and precision even he had never dreamed of when he conceived of the idea of the Lady Lex.
So much had stood in their way. So many obstacles had been put into their path. So many of the boys had been told all their lives they were losers. After their humiliating defeat to the "Orion" they could have thrown in the towel. Instead they had worked harder at their drills, harder at their studies, harder at their games, and taken pride in themselves and their ship. The "Lexington" was a source of pride that they had never experienced before. After their talk on the beach at Phosphorus Prime, Johnny Cooper had finally stepped into the leadership role for which he had been born. Sure there were still some malcontents left, but they were so few and the peer pressure on them was so severe, they were barely factors, and most were starting to come around.
Hatcher remembered how looking good for an inspection meant having the shirt tucked in to a shabby hand-me-down uniform. The Sunday inspection yesterday had been something much different. The new uniforms with their "Lexington" patches were immaculate, clean, pressed, and worn perfectly by the book, faces clean, serious, but with eyes full of pride. He knew the "Orion" crew liked calling his cadets the triple Ls, the LadyLexLosers. What the "Orion" hadn't seen even then, on Phosphorus Prime, as they steamrolled the boys of the Lady Lex, was the enormous heart these boys had already started to develop. The "Orion", and the entire fleet of Junior SFA Academy for that matter, were going to be in for a big surprise when the Junior Olympics started on Hawking's Planet.
Hatcher picked up the report and started to read it again. The incident in the report was one more reason he had to feel proud of the ship and its cadets. Yes, it was just one incident, but in his mind it was typical of the mindset the cadets of the ship now possessed. It had happened yesterday, during their last war games practice before heading to Hawking's Planet. The shuttles were practicing in the asteroids of the Omicron Phi system since the Olympic war games would take place in an asteroid belt. None of the academy ships could practice in the actual venue, but the asteroids of Omicron Phi were a convenient locale for practice. He tried to picture in his mind how it all played out.....
The "Wonder Boy" banked around the asteroid it had been using for cover. It was now time to come out from behind it. Douglas was certain flag was behind one of the neighboring asteroids. They were receiving the signal, but the asteroids often caused it to be cut off or distorted, one of the reasons the Olympic war games were going to take place in an asteroid belt. Nipper, as science officer, was handling communications. He had the source of the signal narrowed down. Douglas sent a quick signal to the other ships in his wing group to head for Asteroid MD-0088 in the agreed upon formation.
Suddenly the "Cape Crippleshaw" and "Moonduster" from Wing Group 3 came around form behind the asteroid. They, along with the "C.W. Murray" from Wing Group 4 had been using the asteroid to block them from the incoming shuttles of Wing Group 1. Douglas was now certain Nipper had been correct. The flag was on the other side of the asteroid. All they had to do now was get around the defenders and capture it. If the other shuttles in his two wing groups had received his command that should be happening any moment now.
Ben started evasive maneuvers, working to avoid the fire of the approaching shuttles. He knew that if Douglas's plan worked they wouldn't be the shuttle capturing the flag. They were the decoy to draw out at least one of the defenders. Drawing out two defenders was a bonus. With the "Crippleshaw" and the "Moonduster" approaching from different sides Ben would have to be at his best to avoid taking a crippling hit. Well, I am the best, he thought, and they're going to have to be damned good to get me.
Nipper told Douglas he had just received a quick signal indicating the "Aramis" was in place. All they needed was the "Caufield" and they would be springing their own trap. Ben made a quick zag, barely avoiding the fire of the "Moonduster".
"I'm getting an emergency signal," Nipper said. "From the `Murray'. It's heading straight for the asteroid and can't change course."
"Fake emergency calls are against the rules." Scottie said.
"That's right," Douglas replied. "Tell the attacking shuttles to hold their fire, Nipper. Scottie, see get us around that asteroid and pick up the course of the `Murray'. We're closer to it than any other shuttle."
Ben put the "Wonder Boy" into a tight turn around the asteroid. They picked up the signal of the flag, right were Douglas had predicted it would be. The flag, however, was not their worry. The careening shuttle was. Scottie quickly calculated its speed and course and shouted it out.
"Ben, we need to get between it and the asteroid and catch it in our grappling hook. Andrew, you need to get the hook out and ready as soon as we're close enough. Jesse we need to be ready for a thrust reversal. We'll need every ounce of fuel possible shooting into our rockets. Nipper you need to tell the `Murray' to have the grapple bar closest to our direction raised and ready for our hook." Douglas was shooting off orders with every confidence his crew would respond quickly and efficiently. There was a reason the "Wonder Boy" was the lead Lady Lex's lead shuttle.
Douglas got the comm and connected with the "Moonduster", which was the next closest shuttle. He quickly gave instructions to the CO of the shuttle. Shane Bordeaux, a freshman, was the CO. Shane had been convicted of extortion and assault, but now, at 14, he was commanding a space shuttle. The Lady Lex was the only ship in the junior academy fleet with commanders that young. Every commander on the Lady Lex knew it and every commander on the Lady Lex was ready and willing to prove they were as good or better than the upperclassmen who commanded the shuttles of the other ships.
Shane acknowledged Douglas's orders. The "Wonder Boy" was now perfectly synchronized with the "C.W. Murray". Scottie had fed Ben perfect coordinates and Ben had quickly steered his shuttle to meet them. Andrew had the grappling hook ready and had also raised two of the "Wonder Boy's" grappling bars. Jesse controlled the fuel flow, giving Ben enough to maneuver, but holding enough in reserve to quickly inject into the rockets when Ben reversed the thrust.
Nipper was busy relaying messages to the "Murray", the "Moonduster", and the "Caufield", which was now approaching the asteroid. They were working as a team, every boy on the four shuttles doing his job, every boy listening, every boy forgetting his own ego for the good of mission, every boy using his training and abilities.
Douglas knew they had only one chance to carry out his plan. If they missed the "Murray" it would careen into the asteroid killing six boys on board. He wasn't about to let that happen, and he knew his crew wasn't either. He had every confidence that one pass would be enough. Ben now had the "Wonder Boy" almost on top of the "Murray". Andrew checked the location of his hook and the bar on the "Murray" and dropped the hook a mere three feet. The hook clicked into the grappling bar. Andrew closed the hook as Jesse opened all the fuel cocks, something that should only be done in an emergency and only if every ounce of fuel pressure was available. Well, it WAS an emergency, and every ounce of pressure WAS available as Jesse had controlled the fuel flow perfectly.
As the hook grabbed the bar, Ben hit the reverse thrusters. The reserve fuel flow Jesse had created allowed all available fuel to feed the rockets and give them full reverse thrust. The G forces created were incredible, pushing the limits of the two ancient thrusters, and even with the inertial dampeners on full the boys were thrown forward with a snap.
Douglas knew all they had done so far was slow the process to allow more time for the final step. The "Wonder Boy" very simply didn't have the power to stop the momentum to the asteroid. All she could do was slow it down. Within seconds, however, another lurch sent them forward as the "Moonduster's" hooks grabbed the "Wonder Boy's" grappling bar. Shane Bordeaux's shuttle hit reverse thrust, as Jesse freed his last ounces of reserve fuel and Ben jammed the "Wonder Boy's" rockets into reverse again. The momentum had been slowed enough that the two shuttles riding each other were able to turn themselves and "Murray" away from the asteroid. The last step was for the "Caufield" to hook on and bring the three shuttles to a stop. The "Murray's" engines had been shut down as soon as Drake Evans, her CO, had discovered that his shuttle couldn't be maneuvered, and the actions of the "Wonder Boy" and the "Moonduster" had used up all their remaining fuel. Now all that was left was to wait for the "Lexington" to pick them up.
Captain Hatcher put the report down. He knew the dry write up didn't come close to doing justice to the actions of the boys in the shuttles. They had kept their cool, they had worked together perfectly, and they had shown themselves confident enough in their abilities to perform under fire. He wondered if the shuttles of the other junior academy ships, commanded by upperclassmen, would have fared as well. Hell, the thought, I wonder if some of our regular SFA shuttles would have fared as well.
There had been a worry that the problem on the "Murray" had been caused by another act of sabotage, but in this case an ancient pump had given out at the wrong time. Even a recent inspection had failed to detect a microscopic crack in the casing.
These boys deserve better, Hatcher thought. He smiled when he realized they had come a long way from pretty much getting what they deserved.
The investigation showed that when the "Murray" had decocted the "Caufield" the CO had ordered the rockets fired to block the path between it and the "Caufield". The rockets fired perfectly, but the crew heard a loud BANG, and the "Murray" lost all maneuverability. They could shut down the rockets to keep from gaining speed, but could do nothing else, including stopping its momentum. The shuttle was heading straight for its protecting asteroid and there was nothing they could do about changing course.
He looked again at the comments on the actions of his nephew, Ben. "Benjamin Collins was cool under pressure and showed superb piloting skills. His poise and skill helped save the lives of the crew of the `C.W. Murray'." There was a similar commendation for his nephew, Andrew and for Douglas and Nipper, the sons of his good friend Dr. Daniels, as well as for Scottie Brothers. There was another commendation in there, one he didn't care to read again. As he dropped the file back on his desk there was a buzz at his door.
"Enter."
It was Ely Storm. "Good morning, Captain."
"Good morning, Ely. To what to I owe the honor of this visit?" Hatcher had a pretty good idea why Ely was paying him a visit, but he was leaving it up to his Chief Engineer to tell him.
"Quite a show the `Wonder Boy' put on yesterday," Eli said in his usual to-the-point manner.
"Yes, it was Eli. It was nothing short of miraculous."
"It was also the result of good training and motivated kids.'
"You know, Scottie is really the only juvie in that crew.'
"Perhaps. But each boy in that crew is motivated to show what he can do. Motivated beyond your normal "gee whiz I'm just so special being a cadet on an SFA junior academy ship why should I put out anything extra" typical cadet. Every shuttle in the squadron would have done the same thing, the only difference being skill level, not motivation. You've turned this into one hell of a special ship, Steve."
"Give the boys and the staff credit Eli, yourself included. I just sat back and let it happen."
"You don't give yourself enough credit. I take it you read the comments on each boy," Eli said without a hint of subtlety."
"I know where you're going with this, Ely. You don't begin to fool me coming in all full of flattery. So, don't even start going there?"
"And just where was it that you thought I was going?" Eli said, feigning innocence.
"Jesse," Hatcher said quietly.
"You said it, I didn't. Feeling a bit guilty are we?"
"About what?"
"About your assessment of the boy and your treatment of him. I'd be hard pressed to control the fuel flow the way he did to get two full reverse thrusts out of those old rockets. And here's a thirteen year old boy doing it like an old pro."
"He did what he was expected to."
"Oh, cut the bullshit, Steve. That entire crew performed far beyond expectations, including your son!" Ely put a heavy emphasis on the word son. "You can't keep sweeping him out the door with the trash, Steve. He's you're fucking son and he just did you proud yesterday. As proud as Mark the great ever could!"
"I don't need to hear that from you El..."
"Yes you do! I've held it in long enough. He is one amazing young man and I'd sure be proud as HELL to have him for my son."
"He sucks at athletics and he..." "GODDAMMIT STEVE!!! Is that you have to judge him on? Sports? Didn't you see him on stage in the play? He was incredible! Poised, smooth, confident, just like the engineer on a certain shuttle."
"Yes, I saw him, but..."
"But what, Steve?"
"He's gay."
"You know that for a fact?"
"I saw him holding hands with Scottie, his roommate, and kissing him after the play. He doesn't know I did."
"And your point is?"
"My point is..." Hatcher saw the image of the two boys trading kisses. Of them holding hands. Of them being thirteen and fourteen and looking happy with each other. He saw Jesse so smooth and confident on stage. He saw the commendation he received for his actions on the "Wonder Boy". He still wondered what had really happened between Jesse and Mark the night Mark had been captured in Jesse's room. Conflicting emotions tore through his brain.
Eli stared him down. "Jesse is your son, Steve."
Hatcher closed the report, looked at Eli, and said nothing, dismissing him with his silence.
The captains of two SFA junior academy ships sat in their ready rooms, thinking about the meetings they had just completed with their top two cadets on the upcoming Olympics. Both ships were a day away from arriving at Hawking's Planet and there were still loose ends to be dealt with, especially since this was the first junior Olympics for both ships.
Captain Chase Hunter of the "Orion", the newest SFA junior academy ship considered his top two officers. Rich Zimmer was, without question, an ass licker. He should never have been given the position he now occupied. Even on a ship consisting of some of the cream of the junior academies, mistakes were made, and Rich was one of them. Had stayed on his old ship he would never have been given the position of CO, but he licked a few asses, gave the right answers to his essays and interviews and that, coupled with the fact very few seniors wanted to leave their old ships to finish their senior year on a new ship let him slide into the cadet CO position. Oh, Rich was smart enough. His grades were top notch, he excelled at baseball, and was even a decent strategist. But he was far too full of himself. Arrogant when he should be confident, far to confident when he should be humble. Rich would never make it to command status should he decide to make a career of the SFA unless he showed some serious changes in attitude.
Todd Brown, on the other hand, had the makings of a command officer. He should be Rich's CO, not the other way around. Hunter understood some of the factors in that decision, however. Todd tended to be outspoken, on the whole not a bad thing, but he had a tendency to express his opinions at the time it was the recipient of his sharp tongue was most vulnerable. When dealing with superior officers, sometimes the issue wasn't what was said, but when it was said. Hunter knew from the captain of Todd's previous ship that Todd would most likely have been the CO on that ship had he stayed. Hunter wasn't sure why Todd transferred to the "Orion" since most seniors were content to finish their junior academic careers on the ship on which they had started. But then, Todd rarely did things the conventional way.
His problems with the two cadets was compounded by the fact they didn't get along and didn't work well as a team. He knew they had once been best friends, and perhaps more (Hunter was perfectly aware of what happened on beds of the cabins of the mostly male junior academy ships, having participated in those activities himself as a cadet). He wasn't sure of what had gotten between them, but there was no doubt now that they were rivals rather than friends.
On the "Lexington" Stephen Hatcher's thoughts were somewhat different. Like Todd and Rich, Johnny Cooper and Mike Wakeman had been friends. They were both a major part of the infamous Mustang/Donkey Gang, a group of kids many considered to be the Robin Hoods of the youth underground. He didn't know how close they were as friends, but he knew they had once worked well together as a team.
When they came back together on the "Lexington" they were bitter rivals. Johnny obviously had no use for Mike, and he and Commander Creevy, in all their wisdom, had appointed them their top two cadet officers. It turned out to be a disasters, Johnny being too rebellious to truly lead, and Mike being too new to the position to bring Johnny around and handle the myriad of details any XO had to deal with. Yet, somehow, it had all come together. Mike and Johnny were a polished team. Johnny had worked to bury a lot of the wreckage of his past, and Mike had found out how to push the right buttons.
Hatcher had seen the potential for leadership in Johnny, and Johnny had finally responded. He may not have seemed the best choice at the start, he may not have seemed to deserve all the extra chances he had received, but in the long run the choice had worked. Johnny was the inspiring leader Hatcher knew he could be. Mike was skillful at taking the burden of detail off of Johnny, letting him do what he did best. Plus, Mike didn't take bullshit from anybody. He was tough, but he was fair. Once he established himself as junior XO most of the cadets became more focused on the success of the "Lexington" and less on their individual agendas. Word got around that being "hoofed" in the XO's office was not a pleasant process to endure.
Johnny and Mike had the "Lexington" fine tuned. The futures of a lot of cadets road on the upcoming games. Win the games and almost a third of them would be free of their sentences and could leave the ship. After the "Orion" games fiasco he wasn't sure if the crew had it in them to compete. He saw signs they did. Their acts of revenge on the "Orion", as much as he had to officially disapprove of them, showed there was a growing sense of pride. The way the crew behaved and worked the last day of the preliminaries showed they wouldn't quit and be pushed around. And the dedication they showed in the ensuing weeks gave Hatcher a sense of confidence he hadn't felt before. He had no doubt now the Lady Lex could compete. The question was, could the win? And the bigger question was, what would some of the boys do if they won their freedom? For a lot of the LLLs, the Lady Lex had become a home like they had never had in their young lives.
His nephews had to be found guilty of a trumped up charge so they could stay on board. They were good kids with a good family, and they didn't want to leave. Would some of the cadets actually consider tanking it in a game to make sure the Lady Lex didn't win and they could stay on board? He didn't doubt that the scenario could happen, and it was one he would have to bring up at the next meeting. It was his responsibility to make the cadets aware that a crew takes care of its own.
Todd was sitting on his favorite spot, the top of Rich's desk. He looked down at his former friend and current CO with his usual bemused look.
"Captain Hunter wasn't as sure as you about the outcome of the games. He seemed to think, as I do, that the Lexington' will be a factor. He seems to think that the good old Port Royal' was going to be tough to beat. He seemed to think the fact we have only a handful of seniors, most of whom came for the command positions available....don't look at me like that, Richie, I mean both of us...we just might not be as wonderful as you think we are. Or wasn't that the impression you got from the meeting?'
"Todd, you've always had a way of seeing the dark side of things. Maybe you need to lighten up. We kicked some serious ass against the triple Ls and we're going to kick some serious ass in the Olympics."
Todd started laughing uncontrollably. He laughed until the tears rolled down his cheeks. Rich gazed at him with a look of impatience. "Are you done now?" he asked as Todd started to gain a semblance of control.
"I always liked your sense of humor, Richie. At least back when you actually had one."
"And just what did I say that you find so funny?"
"Richie, Richie, Richie, they captured your pretty boy, Mark. They turned us into a garish shade of purple. In the war games they captured the flag..."
"They cheated!"
"They captured the flag," Todd continued. "They outhustled us the last day of the games even after we had their asses in a sling..."
"We were so far ahead we let down a little."
"The outhustled us," Todd continued once again. "And then to add insult to all that injury, they came on board our ship, YOUR ship, Richie, and not only swiped the school flag, but came back and rescued our captive, and, not only that, swiped one of our shuttles in the bargain. And then, to top it all off, we have to put up with whatever virus one of those so called losers managed to let loose in our computer system."
"The tricked us by..."
"Swiped, stole, took, grabbed, shuttlenapped, whatever you want to call it. They had it. We didn't. And then Richie, the kid who takes the flag is the same one who escapes from our ship. And rumor had it he was some kind of big hero on the `Lexington'. And you're telling me you're not worried about them, Richie? They're the only ship with fewer seniors than we have, and you know what? I don't think they give a rusty fuck. I think they believe in themselves, I think..." "SHUT UP! Just SHUT THE FUCK UP!!! I think they are the triple Ls. Lady Lex Losers. Every academy ship knows they don't stand a chance. I am so tired of listening to you, Todd."
"You're tired of listening because you know I'm right yet once again. What have you done to get us ready, Richie? I mean other than telling everybody how good we are. I mean what have you truly done to inspire this ship to step it up? Because believe it or not, there are those who think like me...that maybe the Lady Lex cadets aren't the losers you make them about to be. You have everybody so focused on that ship that our crew seems to have lost focus on the fact that there are six other ships." Todd rose from Rich's desk and headed for the door. Rich stopped him before he could step out.
"Why did you transfer to the Orion? Everybody said you would have been he CO if you'd stayed on our old ship."
"I planned on being CO here, too. I didn't realize your tongue had been so firmly glued to certain asses. And yes, I could have gone back and taken the CO position. But hell, Richie, things are so bad right now think where they'd be if you didn't have here picking up your mess every time you fuck up."
A few light years away, on a ship heading for the same destination as the "Orion", but from a different direction. The CO and XO of the "Lexington" were discussing their meeting with their captain.
"We're as ready as we're going to be," Mike said. "You've done a great job getting us there Johnny, just like in the old Mustang Gang days."
Johnny Copper shrugged. "I was just doing my job."
"That's the point, isn't it?"
Johnny shrugged again, trying to act indifferent, but not quite pulling it off.
"Not many seniors on this ship," Mike said. "Not even many juniors for that matter. Makes winning pretty tough, no matter how ready we are."
"Lots of tough kids. Lot's of kids who don't give up. And we got some guys with more talent than they thought. Plus, and I hate to say this, the officers, and teachers, and guys in the crew have been pretty good too." Thinking of the guidance and mentoring he had received from Hatcher and Flint, he flexed a sore biceps and added, "Some of them aren't even being assholes any more."
"You're sentence is over no matter what happens isn't it? As soon as you graduate, you're out of here, right?"
"Yeah."
"So really, you could've kept being a jerk, continued not to give a shit, lost your CO position, and, short of breaking some law, you're free as a bird at the end of August.
"Pretty much."
"So, why the big change?"
"Craig."
"That's it? Your brother? But why now?"
"Something happened. I know you heard about it. And I know if you weren't there, you wouldn't understand. Let's just say I'm doing what I gotta do, okay?"
Mike looked at Johnny with a new measure of respect. "Sure, Johnny. Whatever you say. I just have to say, I like what I see."
The boys got down to business and discussed the myriad of details that needed to be taken care of. Mike was the organizer of the details, while Johnny had the knack for either carrying them out or figuring who would. It was close to dinner when they decided to call it quits. Details or not, Mike was never one to skip a meal.
As the boys left the tiny cadet CO office, Johnny looked at Mike and said, "There's one more reason for my change, Mike."
"Oh? And what would that be?"
"I found my family," he said with a rare grin.
The JSFA "Lexington" was six hours away from Hawking's Planet, and a little over seventy-two hours away from participating in her first junior Olympics. For many on board the upcoming two weeks would be the most important of their young lives. And for all aboard, from the youngest cadet to the Captain of the ship, it would be their chance to prove they were no longer a ship of losers. It was their chance to show that the gamble taken on them was about to pay off. They were ready to show everybody participating, everybody participating, everybody involved in any way that the Boys of Lady Lex had arrived and were a crew to be reckoned with.
To be continued.....