Thanks for returning the Lady Lex. This is another chapter jointly written by Ben and me. You get to take another look at Captain Hatcher and wonder if he is a bit offline or a master psychologist. Ben and I would love to get more e-mail from our readers. We would like to think a lot of you have been sticking with us through the slow times. Things should be speeding up some now as we have upped our chapter reserve from four to ten chapters. Please let us know what you think.
The Boys of the Lady Lex Chapter 49 "Commanding Officers" Written By Douglas DD and Benjamin T. C.
"What a luxury," Mike said as he soaped up Ryan in the shower. "When's the last time you and I have been able to fit in a shower together?"
Mike was carefully cleaning off all of his long time boyfriend. He could remember when he was 12 and Ryan was 11 and they had just met. He remembered how the morning shower was just the way to get rid of their morning horniness. Not much washing could be done until they had finished getting each other off. Then it would be off to school, when they went, or off to see Johnny to find out what he had in mind for the Mustang Gang.
Ryan braced himself against the shower wall, asking for what Mike wanted to give him. Mike eagerly pushed his engorged penis into his boyfriend's muscular, tight ass, as the warm water of the shower ran over them both.
Mike and Ryan weren't the only ones to have pent up tension the morning of the games. Some let it loose with a partner, or by jerking off. Some wanted the tension to remain, feeling it would give them a competitive edge. Each boy handled it differently. Ben and Douglas passed on morning sex, but Trevor was so keyed up he needed to relieve himself. Ian was happy to help out. Andrew and Nipper could never get enough of each other. Scottie and Jessie had more than taken care of their needs the night before. And so it went throughout all of the seven JFSA ships as horny, keyed up teens got ready for the competition of the day.
The Lady Lex had drawn the "Orion" for its first game in baseball. Douglas, Ben, and quite a few other players were upset by the draw, wanting to compete against a different academy ship. They all felt they had seen enough of the "Orion".
Their game was an early one, scheduled for nine in the morning, the major reason Ben and Douglas passed on the sex. After an early breakfast, the team was bussed to the baseball complex. The complex had six fields; three full-sized ones and three with shorter dimensions for the JV teams.
Douglas was hoping to be the starting pitcher and was disappointed to find out it would be Dusty O'Brian, a big, skinny, left-handed 16 year old. Douglas knew Dusty was a good pitcher. He had pitched in youth league baseball before becoming more specialized in auto theft, but Douglas wanted to be the one to shut down the hated boys from the "Orion".
The Lady Lex team felt they were ready. They had practiced hard. They looked sharp in their new uniforms. They were motivated. They felt like a team. They were sure the results would be much different from the disaster on Phosphorus Prime. They couldn't have been more wrong.
The "Orion" won the coin toss and chose to be home team. They sprinted out onto the field, looking determined and ready to play. David was the starting pitcher for the "Orion". He established himself early by plunking Douglas, who was the number two hitter, squarely in the ribs. Ben followed by hitting into a double play on the first pitch to him. It went downhill from there.
Dusty couldn't find the plate and walked the first two batters. He finally threw a strike and David laced a double off the left field fence, scoring two runs. An infield single and another walk loaded the bases. Lyle Miller, the "Orion's" catcher put a 2-0 pitch over the fence for a grand slam home run, and suddenly the Lady Lex found itself down 0-6. The air had been quickly taken out of the Lady Lex team. Dusty managed to get out of the inning with no further damage, but he was gone by the third, leaving the score at 0-9. He was replaced by Eric Larsen, who was not an experienced pitcher but was on the mound to save innings for the better pitchers.
A play during the fourth inning seemed to sum up the game. David was on first and on a 2-0 pitch darted for second. Ben's throw was on the money, but David slid in with his spikes high, knocking Douglas over and causing him to lose the ball. Douglas looked to the umpire for him to call David out on the obviously illegal slide, but the ump said nothing. David got up and dusted off his uniform, a triumphant grin on his face. Stealing a base in a one sided game was bad enough, but coming in with a hard, illegal slide rubbed it in even worse. At that moment there was no doubt who held the upper hand, and not only as far as the score was concerned.
Ben, seeing the slide, was halfway to the mound, ready to rumble, when the first base ump stepped in front, reminding him he didn't want to be ejected from a meaningless game. Ejection from a game meant sitting out the next one as well. Ben resignedly went back behind the plate as Douglas took his position at second. David led off second, feeling he had gotten a small amount of vengeance for the recent irritations the boys of the Lady Lex had meted out on the "Orion".
After five innings the Lady Lex was behind 0-14, had had only two hits, and the team was relieved to have the game called due to the mercy rule. The high hopes of the bright sunny morning had been quickly dashed before noon.
"I don't get it," Douglas said to Ben as they ate lunch in the hotel. I mean it's not just that we lost, we got killed. It's like all our work didn't mean anything."
"Oh, it meant something," Ben said. "But it felt like something was missing. I just can't figure out what, but there was something missing from our team. I mean after David stole that base, when they're up over ten runs, and slides into you like that we should have all been pissed off beyond reason. And yet nobody did or said a thing." He looked directly into Douglas's eyes. "Even you."
"It didn't seem worth the effort."
"Then maybe it needs to start being worth the effort, no matter what. If we don't figure that out real soon, the Lady Lex is going to be history."
Jesse could feel the pain sweep through his body as two players from the "Spirit's" hockey team slammed him hard against the cold glass of the rink. He felt like every bone in his body was shattered. But to Jesse's unfortunate luck, his bones weren't shattered, thus keeping him in play.
Jesse looked up at the scoreboard. That same pain swept through his body when he saw the score 7-0 against the Spirits. How could they be losing this bad to a team who didn't win a hockey game all season? If the Lady Lex was playing the worst team first, what was it going to be like when they played the better teams like the "Orion" or "Port Royal"?
The time was ticking away. Only a few more seconds and the slaughter would be over. Jesse was unable to move after being slammed into the wall. He looked down at the farther end of rink where all the action was taking place. It was only him and the "Spirit's" goalie at this end of the rink. Jesse's eyes were diverted as the hockey puck emerged from the crowd of banged up sweaty bodies and was now wide open in front of the Spirit's goalie. This was Jesse's chance to score-to keep them from losing a shut out. He gathered what energy he had left and started skating toward the puck. The time was ticking away. It was now in single digits of the third period. Jesse lifted his stick as he approached the puck to swipe it into the goal.
The goalie, who wasn't paying all that much attention to the puck, thinking it was still in the crowded mess on the other side, wasn't protecting the goal like he should have. He was overly confident since the game was almost over and they were 7 goals ahead. Then he saw Jesse come out from the corner of his eye. He quickly went to get into position as he saw Jesse's stick raise into shooting position.
As Jesse brought down his stick, his skates got tangled up in each other and Jesse fell to the hard ice, missing the puck all together. The buzzer sounded and the game was finally over. Jesse slid across the ice and slammed into the all too familiar wall. He looked up and from a distance he saw the disappointment look on his father's face. Once again he had screwed up.
Things didn't go much better in the JV baseball game. Trevor was the starting pitcher, as cocky and full of himself as ever. Trevor threw hard. He threw very hard. But he wasn't always sure where the ball was going. Douglas and his coaches had continually advised him he didn't have to blow the ball by people, that location and changing speeds was more important than throwing his hardest. He continually ignored the advice, loving the feel of throwing a ball as hard as he could. The result in his first start was disaster. While he struck out the side in the first inning, he also walked four batters and gave up two hits, leading to a five run first inning.
Unlike the varsity, the JV was able to score runs against "Orion" pitching. A two run homer by the Hawke enabled the Lady Lex boys to cut the gap to 5-3 after the first, but the Hawke continued to have control problems, and by the time a replacement was put on the mound, four more runs had scored. At the end of a long, not very well played game, the Lady Lex found itself on the short end of a 12-10 score.
Trevor shook his head after the game. He knew he could pitch better. Ten runs should have won the game easily. Next time he would just have to try to throw the ball harder.
Zjan-Ren watched his fencing team warm up for their first match. He was concerned with Young McDowell. He knew Young McDowell had it in him to win, but he still didn't trust himself. He still hadn't found that balance. But Zjan-Ren had done all he could; it was up to Brian now.
"Zjan-Ren, I heard you lowered your standards to work with these...humans. Such disgusting creatures."
Zjan-Ren turned around and saw a Kriton standing behind him. He stood about 6 feet 8 inches high. His shoulders were broad and his arms were well defined. His face was worn and weathered, and he had a distinct three inch scar that ran from under the patch that covered his left eye down to the bottom of his earlobe. His black and silver hair was done up in a pony tail that hung down to the center of his back. He had on a black leather vest with gold trim. His black pants were held up with a shiny black sash and attached to the sash was his baklava.
"Major Chu-Qun," was all Zjan-Ren said.
"It's Colonel Chu-Qun, now Major."
"Colonel? Who did you bribe or kill for the promotion?"
"You haven't changed any, have you Zjan-Ren even though it's been a long time since we've seen each other."
"Not long enough," grumbled Zjan-Ren. Zjan-Ren made no attempt to hide his true feelings about Chu-Qun and that he was not happy to see him. For Chu-Qun carried the baklava of fire whereas Zjan-Ren carried the baklava of water and those two families never got along. But, ever since Zjan-Ren and Chu-Qun had met at the Kriton Academy, they had been long time archrivals.
"So you come to see us Kritons take the matches? These humans are no competition for us you know," said Chu-Qun who loved to needle his adversary.
"Actually, I am the `Lexington's' fencing team's coach and a Kalair of one."
Chu-Qun's eye grew wide. He knew what it entailed to be a Kalair. For one thing when a Kriton vows to become a Kalair or private teacher and mentor in the art of sword play, he must kneel before his student. And if Zjan-Ren had vowed to be a Kalair that met he carried out the Kriton tradition.
"You kneeled before a human? That is a disgrace to our race."
"Only you and a few others of your house of ill-repute would think that."
"I am a Kalair to one of my students on the team as well. And he is worthy to have a Kalair because he is Kriton. Which human did you kneel and vow too?"
"Young McDowell. The boy standing over there alone in the corner." Brian stood by himself. He looked weak and frail more then ever. He was shaking and had a petrified look on his face.
Chu-Qun left out a loud boisterous laugh. "That is the human to whom you lowered Kriton standards? You should be shunned from our society for this. I am Kalair to Young Ghargh. As you can see, he will take this championship hands down." Chu-Qun waved a bragging hand towards a Kriton student. He was big, cocky, and arrogant looking. He was practicing with another Kriton and took him down quickly with no mercy or effort. Zjan-Ren was impressed with what he saw and he was worried because he knew he would be almost impossible to beat, but he wouldn't dare show his concern in front of Chu-Qun or Young McDowell.
"So how did you train him? By dangling live desert rats in front of him and teaching him false balance?"
"False balance? Kriton balance is anything but false."
"Kriton balance is false if you balance on the wrong thing."
"The balance I teach Young Ghargh is true. The balance you teach that poor excuse of a living creature is false. You can not teach true Kriton balance to a human."
"You are wrong Chu-Qun. If you feel that only Kritons can have balance, then your balance is based on something that is unbalanced and therefore you will fall."
"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH" yelled Chu-Qun as he pulled his baklava from his sash and exposed the fiery blade. Just as quick, Zjan-Ren pulled his baklava and exposed his watery blade. He was ready to duel with Chu-Qun. Soon all eyes were upon the two Kritons.
"Colonel Chu-Qun!" yelled another Kriton who was in the Arena. He was a little older then Chu-Qun and Zjan-Ren and looked to be a more seasoned Warrior. He was more distinguished looking then Chu-Qun.
"General Tor-Stog, he is a plague on Kriton Society and I am the cure," said Chu-Qun.
"Not here," is all Tor-Stog said. Chu-Qun let out a disgruntled sigh and had his flaming blade disappear. Zjan-Ren still had his baklava exposed and was still in defense position.
"Your day is coming Zjan-Ren. You and the other human lovers like Ambassador Ka will see that Kritons are far superior then humans. And that day is soon."
"Enough," bellowed Tor-Stog.
Chu-Qun straightened his sash and vest and walked around proudly and tall.
General Tor-Stog gave a quick look over at Zjan-Ren. "I've never met you Major Zjan-Ren, but General Elihu speaks highly of you. So that leads me to not trust you." He then turned and walked away.
Once they left, Zjan-Ren relaxed some and retracted his watery blade. He placed his baklava back on his sash. The announcement was made that the first match was about to begin and all participants were to go to their proper starting positions.
Unlike the baseball team, which lost because of poor play, and that unknown, missing factor Ben had mentioned, the basketball team was simply overmatched in size, quickness, and experience. They, too, played the "Orion", losing 49-77. The JV fared better, losing by only five points, 34-39.
Yet, even as bad as the shellacking was, and as inexperienced as they were, the Lady Lex varsity boys felt they were capable of doing better. It was almost as if they had taken the floor expecting to lose, and all they had done was fulfill their expectations. When they learned the baseball teams had lost just as badly, a wave of depression hit them. The scores from the rest of the day were going to do nothing to alleviate the air of gloom that was settling over the Lady Lex boys in a hurry. In fact, the rest of the day would do nothing but destroy the confidence the Lady Lex cadets had found, and make them wonder, once again, if the only things they were good at was invading ships and creating havoc. When it came to competing in a "normal" way, were they really the Triple Ls as characterized by the other academy ships?
Brian stood in the image-maker room. His palms were sweaty and his heart was pounding a mile a minute. His stomach was tied up in knots and he could feel himself breathing heavily and if he wasn't careful he would hyperventilate. Soon the image of Tim Whitaker appeared.
"Damn it, why him again?" asked Brian to himself.
For the Olympics, in order to win a match, you had to earn three points and win by two. To earn a point in the broad sword match, you just had to stab your opponent in the chest or decapitate him. For Tim it wasn't much of a problem. He earned his first two points by stabbing Brian in the chest. The third point Tim went for the head. Tim couldn't believe that his match up was so easy. Brian barely put any effort into the fight. If the other cadets fought like Brian did, the "Orion" would have no problem winning this event.
Brian came out of the image-maker feeling defeated and beaten. He knew he should have tried, but he just didn't like the idea of trying and still losing. He didn't belong here. Just like he doesn't belong in the Birds of Prey.
"The only thing worse then a Kriton teaching a human to sword play is that human playing like you did," said Ghargh with a smirk. Then he left with his Kriton friends.
Brian watched them as they disappeared in the crowd. Brian knew right away he didn't like Ghargh. He felt a hand on his shoulder and, looking up, saw his Kalair.
Johnny Cooper ran his fingers through his hair. It was finally getting some length to it since Master Sergeant Flint gave the cadets permission to grow theirs to regulation length. Johnny wished it was his long hair that he had when he first came to meet Flint. He always felt like Samson with his long hair. How it gave him strength. And since he had to have his head shaved, he just didn't feel strong anymore, both physically and mentally. But since his hair started to grow back, he felt himself becoming stronger again. Becoming the leader he once was when he led the Mustang Gang. He remembered the humiliation he felt when the Orion cadets saw the bald headed boys of Lady Lex. Everyone was laughing and staring at them... making cruel remarks and just trying to bust any egos that the Lady Lex cadets had.
Not only the hair was made fun of, but their hand me down welfare uniforms were nothing to show off either. The "Orion" cadets in their clean, crisp, new uniforms flaunted their wealth. Johnny was glad to see the day come when Scooter's Dad donated crisp clean uniforms to the cadets of JSFA "Lexington". Now with their new uniforms, and regulation haircuts, they showed that they belonged in the JSFA. But then after today, the first day of the Olympics, the only thing they proved was that they could lose all the events in which they participated. This was not good. Johnny knew that at the end of the month he would be free and had no reason to fight, but then he thought of the guys who helped him to get through this, and that their futures depended on the win. Mike was there all the way for him. Trevor and the Birds of Prey pulled off some of the best ideas he ever had like capturing the flags from the other JSFA vessels the night before the banquet of rules. Not to mention gathering intelligence to help them in the war games against the "Orion".
Finally Johnny reached Captain Hatcher's hotel room. He knocked on the door and heard a bitter "enter." Johnny opened the door and walked in.
"Explain yourself, Cadet!!" demanded Hatcher. He was obviously not in a good mood.
"About what?"
"You know damned well what. We managed to lose every event today. And not only did we lose, but we were blown out of the water. Your crew looked pathetic out there and they are embarrassing to the fleet. They showed no reason why they should have been out there participating to begin with."
"It's not my fault..."
"BULLSHIT!!!" yelled Hatcher as his veins were flaring from his neck and anger radiated from his eyes. "You are their commanding officer, and you managed to lead them below the bottom of the barrel."
"Hey you look here!!" Johnny's own temper started to get the best of him. "I had nothing to do with the way they played today. I wasn't on the fields or ice or involved with any of the other events."
"That's right. You weren't. And that's the problem."
"You expect me play all the sports? I can't do that. No one can do that."
"No, I don't expect you to play all the sports. I expect you to lead your crew, and give them what they need, to show those other cadets who we are. God damn it Cooper, I put you in charge with expectations of great things and all you did was let me down time after time after time. Get your head out of your ass and do what you're supposed to do."
"Wait just one God damn fucking minute. I didn't ask for this job. You gave it to me, remember? I didn't want it, but you would let me quit. So don't you go blaming me for not winning today's invents. If it's anybody's fault, it's yours for picking me to be the CO to begin with."
"Is that how you truly feel? That this is my fault and that I should have never picked you as CO?"
"Yes!!"
"Fine, effective immediately, you are no longer the cadet CO. I demote you to the rank of crewman. Do I make myself clear?"
"Permission to speak freely?"
"Permission denied!! You're dismissed."
"Fuck you then!!! You know, you might put the blame on me and make me to be the scapegoat here, but its not going to work. I'm not the one to blame here. Not this time. If we lose the Olympics Captain, it's your fault not mine. Just like it is your fault that you lost a son, not Jesse's."
"That's enough!!! Get the hell out of my room."
"I'm just getting started," yelled Johnny. He figured if he was no longer CO and that all his responsibilities were stripped from him, he might as well give the Captain a good piece of his mind. "You put time and effort into me, giving me multiple chances as CO, but not once did you give a chance to Jesse to be your son. You are so fixated on Mark that you don't see what kind of person Jesse truly is. If you ever get your head out of your ass and see what Jesse is truly worth, you will realize that you favored the wrong son all these years."
"DISMISSED"
"Fuck you and your dismissal. I'm not done yet. I'm no hockey player and definitely not SFA material, yet you devoted all your time and energy into trying to make me be something that you felt I could be. Well, Jesse is a hockey player and he is one hell of a JSFA cadet, but you are too damn blind, bullhead, and your head is so far up your ugly white ass that you don't see that. And I am willing to bet that you are the only one on this ship who does not know the truth about what happened the night Mark the intruders invaded our ship and set the sprinklers off in our quarters. I've got news for you. Jesse captured Mark fair and square. Then he covered it up, not only to save Mark's ass but to save yours as well. Because Jesse knew you would have done something to try to cover up Mark's mistake and Jesse didn't want you to have to make a decision like that. So he became the scapegoat, out of love for you and a brother who does not deserve it."
"Crewman, I'm warning you!!!"
"Can't handle the truth? What can you do to me? You already busted me down to the lowest rank. I listened to you the past several months. Now its about time you listen to me. Jesse is your son and you are one poor excuse for a father."
Hatcher raised his hand as if he was going to strike Johnny. Johnny didn't flinch. He stood there strong, ready for the strike. But it didn't come. Johnny stared directly into Hatcher's eyes not giving way.
The silence and tension was profound and heavy. Both of them didn't move, trying to stare the other one down. But neither of them was willing to give in. The longer they stood there, the more intense the situation grew. Neither of them was willing to back off. But finally, Johnny broke the stare, turned around, and headed towards the door. As he was halfway through the door he turned and looked directly at Hatcher. "It's a crying shame, if you were half the father you are a captain, you would have been father of the year several times over." Johnny then turned and left, shutting the door behind him.
Mike stood outside in front of the hotel as the boys of the Lexington got into formation. The sun was barely rising. With yesterday's poor performance, not only was he told that he was now the acting CO, but that he was to muster the cadets at sunrise and stress how important this was.
Mike didn't like the fact that he was now CO. Johnny had had his problems as CO, but he had come around and was actually doing a decent job. The two of them had been working well together as team. He felt this was wrong. He felt this was going to cause more harm then good on the morale of the cadets. But Mike had no choice except to follow orders. It was too late now for Johnny. Now it was up to him to lead the Lady Lex to victory.
Finally, all eyes were on the Donkey. Mike took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Now it was his time to give the motivational speech. He finally spoke.
"Cadets, I want to stop the rumors that are flying around. It is true that Johnny Cooper has been relieved as Command Officer and that I am assuming temporary command." The formation stirred some, most of them not liking the news. "Yesterday was a rough day. We've just got to push on."
"But we're not good enough," said Tyler who was standing in formation.
"Yeah, there's no way we can win. They're all too good for us," said Greg.
The formation started to concur with mumbles and grumbles.
"Bullshit!!!" said a voice from behind.
Everyone turned to see who said that. They were amazed to see Johnny standing there. Johnny proceeded to the front of the formation.
"Don't start feeling sorry for yourself, girls. We are survivors of the street. If we had that attitude out on the streets, where we all came from, we would be dead. You all know that. We had to live in conditions that those good for nothing assholes on the other ships never had to experience. We never gave up on the streets regardless of how tough it got. We dug through dumpsters for our next meal, we dealt with drunks as abusive parents, we fought through drugs and rape, yet we all survived. We didn't give up. We couldn't. Because there was no other place to turn. Now, that's not true. There is a place to turn. It's here, the Lady Lex. This is our home, our refuge, our safe haven. And if we don't fight for it, like we fought on the streets, we will lose her. She's been too good to us to let that happen. She hasn't failed us yet, and we won't fail her now. She might be old, but she is mighty. And no other crew could have turned her into what she is today except us. Those rich assholes on the other ships have always been given everything on a silver platter. We had to work for it, earn it. We put in long sleepless nights, worked until our bones were so sore we could barely move. Just like on the streets, we survived. And now, after one bad day, are we going to let those rich punks take away the only true thing we earned for ourselves? I don't think so. We need to show those fuckers that you don't need a special uniform to be number one." Johnny begins to tear off his uniform in pieces. "Did we have these uniforms when we survived on the streets?"
"NO!!!!" yelled the formation as they were getting pumped up by Johnny's speech.
"That's right we didn't. We might have lost on Phosphorous Prime, but we did kick some serious ass in our hand me downs. They expect us to be just like them. Well fuck that. I'm too good to be like them. We are not the boys of the Orion', the Port Royal' or any other fucking JSFA ship. We are the Boys of Lady Lex and we are going to take names and kick some ass. Let's stop trying to be someone we're not and be who we are." Johnny finally shed his new uniform and just stood there in his boxers.
"Your uniform, Johnny," said Ian.
"I have a uniform. It was the one I was issued when I first arrived on the Lady Lex. It was good for me then, and it's good for me now. I'm not them, so therefore I am not going to be like them." Johnny reached down and took out his Gerber tool from his torn uniform pants. He opened up the blade, grabbed his hair with his other hand, and cut off a giant lock. "Who are we?"
"The boys of Lady Lex" shouted the crowd.
"I can't hear you!!! Who are we?"
"THE BOYS OF LADY LEX!!!" Then the cadets started to chant "Lady Lex" as they got all pumped up and ready to kick some serious ass on the second day. But first, they needed to take care of a few loose ends.
Captain Hatcher and Commander Creevey stood next to the other CO's and XO's as the teams were marching onto the parade grounds to receive yesterday's scores and today's instructions. Hatcher was shocked when the last group entered the grounds. It was his cadets. All of them were wearing their worn out, second hand uniforms that they were issued when they first boarded the Lexington. But on top of that, each and every cadet was bald. As the boys marched in proud and confident, they turned to reveal who was leading them.
"What's he doing here? He is supposed to be on the ship as per your orders," said Commander Creevey. Captain Hatcher smirked and stood a little taller. She looked over at him amazed. "You knew he was going to show up today, didn't you?"
"Of course I did. I knew what buttons to push yesterday to get him where he is at right now. And you know what? I don't recall giving any orders. I seem to have forgotten." A pensive look came over his face. "Of course, he pushed a few of my buttons too, but maybe they were ones I needed to hear. But that's beside the point."
"Captain, they are wearing their old uniforms and they all shaved their heads."
"Yes they are. And I am willing to bet that Johnny motivated them to do so. Amanda, I think we are in for a real treat today. I think the boys know it's time to show who they are, and that they truly belong here with the rest of the fleet."
Commander Creevey looked back at the boys. They were a motley looking crew, but they had a certain energy emitting from them that the other teams lacked. She couldn't pinpoint what that energy was, but she was sure Captain Hatcher was right. That they were in for a real treat.