Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 15:18:02 +0000
From: Douglas DD DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Boys of Lady Lex Chapter 22

Greetings loyal readers. Ben and I have been dangling you from a cliff for
quite awhile now. It is time to find out the fate of the out of control
"Wonder Boy" and to wonder if the Lady Lex has more problems than appear on
the surface.Enjoy <Ben and Douglas>

The Boys of the Lady Lex
Chapter 22 "Searches"
Written By Douglas DD and Benjamin T. Collins

"Fire!" came the order from Captain Hatcher.

Major Zhan-Ren hesitated. He had seen right away the miscalculation Ely had
made. Ely was an engineer, not a weapons expert of a navigator. It was an
easy mistake to make. He still had forty-five seconds to fire.

"That was an order, Major! Fire!"

"Captain Storm was wrong, we have a little more time. Forty seconds!"

Hatcher didn't want to have to give the order again. His son Mark was on the
"Wonder Boy", not to mention his nephews Ben and Andrew and his best
friend's sons Douglas and Nathan. He didn't know if he had it in him to give
the order again. What did the Kriton expect? Why did a member of his
ruthless race even care about the fate of a shuttle full of Earth boys.
There would be no miracles forthcoming. The shuttle was doomed.

*****

"Now Nipper! Red!" Kalon yelled. Nipper pulled the red handle, cutting all
of the shuttle's power.  The cabin went silent and dark.

"Green! Pull!" Jesse and Andrew pulled their green handles simultaneously.
Before the air supply on the shuttle could be replenished after a mission,
the old air had to be bled out. If not done properly the process could cause
an action and reaction response, causing the air to push the shuttle like a
rocket engine. The bleeding process was a slow one, but it was possible to
blow all of the air out at once by pulling the emergency dump handles
simultaneously, a process that required two individuals.

Pulling the handles opened the pressurized air tanks to the vacuum of space,
causing all of the air to blow out of the bottom of the "Wonder Boy"
changing her trajectory so it would pass over the top of the Lady Lex.
Douglas, Scottie, Ben, Mark, and Kalon were strapped into their seats, but
the boys below decks weren't. Jesse and Andrew had braced themselves for the
sudden loss of gravity, ready to pull their handles as soon as the power
went out. But the loss of gravity coupled with the sudden change of
direction occurring right after caused them to get bumped around. The space
they were in was small, but banging against bare metal could still be
painful. Nipper had grabbed a hand hold, but the sudden changes caused him
to be banged around too. None of the boys knew if their actions had been
soon enough, and they rattled around in the dark, waiting for the horrific
bang of a collision.

The boys in the cabin could see out of the viewscreen. The Lady Lex loomed
in front of them, navigation lights blinking, dropping to the bottom of the
screen as the release of air caused the shuttle to rise. The image
disappeared as the "Wonder Boy" shot over the starship, missing it by half a
kilometer.

*****

Captain Hatcher was furious. "Major, I had given the order to fire! That was
what I meant! Fire now! Not fire at will! Not fire when you felt like it. It
was fire NOW! I don't know what the procedure is on Kriton, but in the SFA
orders are expected to be obeyed! Do you understand me, Major!"

Major Zhan-Rhen nodded his head affirmatively, staring straight ahead into
the viewscreen. Inside he realized while Captain Hatcher had given him a
pretty good chewing out he wasn't anywhere in the league of a Kriton officer
when it came to ass chewings. Outside he took what Hatcher dished out as a
good subordinate officer should, even when he was right. That issue could
always be raised later. It was bad form to ever show up a superior officer
in front of his men, something a few SFA officers still needed to learn.

What nobody on the bridge could understand was how Captain Hatcher could be
furious with Zhan-Ren for saving the lives of the boys, including his own
sons and nephews. There was an increasing perception that Captain Hatcher
was losing it, that the man who had commanded the best ships in the SFA
fleet was losing it as the commander of a ship full of boys.

"Commander Creevy, please initiate a rescue mission. From their maneuvers it
is apparent the `Wonder Boy' has either lost power, control, or both."

"I'm already working on it, Captain." Ensign Bond had been ordered to take
the larger "Lady Hawke" after the cadet shuttle and bring back its crew.
Bond was rounding up some other crew members plus Mike, Cody, and Stan off
the "Caufield" as cadet helpers.

Captain Hatcher found himself fighting a great deal of emotion. He knew he
needed a few moments to regain his composure if was going to lead his crew.
After all, he had just given the order to kill his own son. He got up from
the command chair and announced he would be in the ready room. "Let me know
about any change in status."

"Aye, sir," Creevy said.

Hatcher walked off the bridge and into his ready room, unaware that Ely
Storm was right behind him until he tried closing the door.

"I need a few moments alone, Ely."

"Like hell you do...sir."  Ely closed the door. "Right now you need a
friend."

Hatcher said nothing. He sat at his desk and stared at the opposite wall. "I
gave the order to kill Mark."

"I know. And Jesse."

Once again Hatcher acted like Ely had said nothing. "I had no choice."

"You're right, Steve. You had no choice."

"Zhan-Ren needs to be kicked off this ship. He endangered us all."

"He was right. In the rush, I did miscalculate. He saved your sons' lives,
without endangering the ship."

"It was damned close. Even a point blank hit would have sent debris hitting
us."

"This old lady already has plenty of dents in it. A few more wouldn't hurt
it much, and we can patch a hole or two pretty quickly."

The radio buzzed. It was Creevy. "Commander, the `Lady Hawke' is underway."

"Thanks, Commander."

Hatcher looked up at Ely, who was standing in front of the desk.

"What do you want?" Hatcher asked curtly.

"I want for you to be Steven Hatcher. The Steven Hatcher I know. The finest
captain in the fleet."

"What makes you think I'm not?" Hatcher was still obviously irritated.

"He would still be on the bridge, for one thing."

Hatcher's demeanor suddenly deflated. "Ely, my son was on that shuttle and I
have to give the order to fire on him and kill him. My son, Ely. What father
can do that and not feel torn apart?" It was the entire incident with Jay
all over again.

"Sons, Steve. Your sons were on that shuttle."

Hatcher sat silently. The slip hadn't been an intentional one. Would Ely
believe that? Did he even believe it himself? Why was it he wasn't connected
to Jesse? Why was it he wasn't even considering him when he gave the order
to fire? Good God, what kind of man am I? He's my son too, Dammit!

"And Steve...I'm the one who miscalculated the figures. If I'd done my
calculations right you would never have had to give that order.

Hatcher maintained his silence. Yes, I thought of that too, my old friend.

"Steve, permission to speak freely. As a friend."

"You already have been, Ely. In fact, you always have spoken freely."

"I swore long ago I wouldn't get involved in your family affairs."

"Then don't."

Ely let the comment drop. "Very well, then I will talk to you as the Chief
Engineer to the ship's Captain. During our shakedown cruise when we ran into
power problems Cadet Jesse Hatcher twice made significant contributions to
detecting and solving the problem." He went on to detail how Jesse had heard
the vibration in the impulse engine and had contributed towards finding the
source of the power failure. Hatcher sat and nodded.

"I am requesting that Cadet Hatcher receive a commendation for his
contributions in a potential crisis situation."

"Request denied. Anything else, Ely?"

"Yes. This comes from a friend. Wake up! You have two incredible sons, not
one, and you're missing out. Jesse has never done anything in his life but
want to please you."

"I'm not interested in so-called actors. Standing on stage is not what
pleases me. Maybe if he picked up a hockey stick or a baseball bat or found
something that interested me, that would be pleasing me." He didn't even
want to go into his thoughts about Jesse since the day the boy was born.

"Hockey? Baseball? Sports? That's all you see in your son? You're missing
out, Steve! Ever since the day you and I met I have had nothing but the
utmost respect for you, Steve. You are a great captain and a great man. But
you have one set of blinders on you that is poisoning all of that. You're
cheating your son, and you're cheating yourself. I can't help but find
myself questioning you as a father and as a man. As your friend, I'm
imploring you to become a father to your son. This is no longer the case of
just liking the jock over the actor and not realizing it. This has become
intentional and personal."

What do you know about me and my son? Hatcher thought to himself. To Ely he
said, "You said you promised you would never get involved in my family
affairs, Ely. That is still a good promise. You're dismissed."

Ely walked to the door, knowing this was not going to be his last try at
Steven Hatcher. He was going to get Steve to see what he was doing even if
it cost him the long and close friendship. He was also going to get in the
last word.

"Jesse never got hit by a door, you know. Think about it." He left the ready
room and left Steven Hatcher staring at the closed door wishing he had never
heard of the SFA "Lexington".

He walked out, disappointed in Stephen Hatcher and in himself. Forty years
in the fleet and he had never made a calculating error of that magnitude. I
should have stayed retired, he thought.

*****

The "Wonder Boy" was flying out of control. All the power was off and Kalon
worried that rebooting the system would cause the shuttle to turn back on
the Lady Lex. Something had gained control of the shuttle's computer and
Kalon didn't think it was a coincidence that the "Wonder Boy" had
immediately turned and headed back to the star ship. Now the issue was how
were they going to stop the shuttle? While dumping the reserve air had
changed their trajectory it did not slow their momentum. They were flying at
ninety percent of full speed and would do so forever without either finding
a way to use the engines to stop their momentum or running into something.
Kalon didn't like the second idea much, and had worried about hitting a
derelict ship after they had changed direction. Even though there were a lot
of derelicts in the mothball graveyard, there was even more empty space and
fortunately the "Wonder Boy" had found the empty space. Now they were out of
the graveyard and needed a way to stop the shuttle.

"Nipper, remember what Captain Storm showed you in class about disconnecting
basic power and life support from engineering?"

Nipper, who was still below the deck level, poked his head up through the
floor. He was barely visible in the emergency lighting.. He was a little
bruised from being banged around when the gravity went out and he had to
grip a hand hold to keep from floating through the hatch. "Yeah. It can be
done from the science station or from the engineering station."

"And both stations are unmanned. Jesse!"

Jesse floated up and poked his head through the floor hatch he had crawled
into. "Yeah?"

"Can you reach the wiring to the engineering computer without floating off?"

The hatch Jesse and Andrew had gone down was close to the engineering
station. Jesse lifted himself up, still gripping his hand hold and was able
to reach under the engineering control panel.

"Yeah, I can."

"Okay, I need you to unplug the computer."

Jesse looked at the various wires under the computer. He knew the computer
cord was green, but in the emergency lighting it was hard to make out the
colors, so he pulled all four dark cords. With almost everything shut down
he figured it wouldn't make any difference what he pulled. "Okay, it's
done."

"Nipper, go back down and throw the power switch." Kalon figured that with
engineering disconnected from the main computer, even if Nipper made a
mistake the engines couldn't kick in and send them careening back to the
Lady Lex. "And be sure you're on the floor. You too, Jesse."

Nipper used the hand holds to work himself back down the hatch. He pulled
the power switch back to on. Gravity, main lights, and life support came
back on. The engineering computer was dead. Kalon knew that even with life
support on their air supply was limited since they had dumped the reserve
air supply that allowed the air in the shuttle to be recirculated. Now that
they had power, however, they would also have communication and could find a
way to get back to the Lady Lex.

Nipper climbed out of the hatch, which was a bit more difficult now that
gravity had been restored. He went to the science station and ran the
program Ely had shown him, disconnecting the science computer form
engineering. He also disconnected it the pilot's controls to be on the safe
side. Even though the engineering computer was shut down, Kalon knew he
couldn't be too cautious.

One of the job of the science officer on the shuttle was communications.
Nipper brought up the communications program and rebooted it. He received an
error message. He tried again, but got the same message. Jesse figured he
knew what the problem was and went down under the engineering panel. He had
unplugged four cords earlier. Now that all the lights were on he could make
out the colors. He plugged in the blue cord and told Nipper to try rebooting
the communication program one more time. This time Nipper got the
communication program to come up. Whatever it was Jesse had unplugged it had
affected communications.

Behind the "Wonder Boy" the "Lady Hawke" was speeding to catch up. The "Lady
Hawke" was bigger and faster than the "Wonder Boy." It was a shuttle built
for deep space work. Ensign Bond had picked two regular crew members along
with Mike, Cody, and Stan. Mike was helping Cody, who was his navigator on
the "Caufield", with tracking the "Wonder Boy".

Stan sat belted in wondering why he had been asked to go and wishing he was
someplace else. Whatever happened to the runaway shuttle was of no concern
to him, so why should he bother to help. Mike noticed Stan's attitude, but
wasn't suprised. Stan was now his roommate, and his specialty seemed to be
to say nothing and to care about nothing. It was like he just existed. Mike
wished Bond had asked Ryan to be on the crew. Ryan was smart, Ryan cared,
and Ryan was his long time boy friend. Of course he wished Ryan was his
current roommate, too.

The "Lady Hawke" was rapidly gaining on the "Wonder Boy". Ensign Bond kept
hoping the cadet shuttle would regain power, or at least communications. It
would make his job that much easier. He remembered reading in the old
science fiction novels about tractor beams and deflector beams. He had often
found it amusing that for all the things that had come true in those old
stories, things extremely complicated like warp drive, no one had ever been
able to invent a beam that could hold or deflect things. How yearned for one
right now. In fact if there was such a thing as a deflector beam, Captain
Hatcher would never have had to give the order to fire.

Cody interrupted Ensign Bond's thoughts. "Sir, we have communication from
the `Wonder Boy'."

"Thank God."

It was Nipper's high pitched voice that came over the speakers. "SFA `Wonder
Boy' declaring an emergency." His voice extremely boyish, yet very
professional.  Kalon, you're doing a great job with these kids, Bonds
thought to himself.

"Answer it, cadet," Bonds said.

Cody answered the request for help, half excepting the "Lexington" to
override him. The crew on the Lady Lex knew they had sent the "Lady Hawke"
to perform the rescue operation. They maintained radio silence as the
monitored the chatter between the two shuttles.

Bonds had Nipper put Kalon on the radio. The two Ensigns went over their
plan. It was a simple one, one they both had practiced numerous times in
simulators but had never done live action. The "Lady Hawke" would fly over
the top of the "Wonder Boy" and past her. She would then  slow down and drop
a pair of grappling hooks. The cadet shuttle would then catch up the larger
shuttle as Kalon maneuvered the "Wonder Boy" toward the hooks. Bonds would
be at the controls, manipulating the hooks to catch onto two braces built
into the hull of the cadet shuttle for just that purpose.

Kalon knew this was no time for cadets. He put on his dark glasses and took
over the controls. The maneuver would be tricky, but if they missed it
wouldn't be a disaster. The "Lady Hawke" could fly past them and the whole
procedure could be tried again. Kalon's pride didn't find that acceptable.
The best pilot in the fleet would not need a second try. Douglas sat in the
co-pilot's seat calling out numbers as Ben sat in the jump seat, Kalon's
usual position. He watched Kalon's every move carefully. Ben knew what he
was meant to be now. Some day he would be a pilot with the same skills as
Kalon Masters, and the first way to get there would be to watch the master
pilot at work.

Kalon didn't disappoint himself or the cadets. Kalon found himself
respecting Ensign Bond's skills as the "Lady Hawke" paced itself perfectly
to the cadet shuttle. The two braces eased into the hooks as the procedure
went off precisely and without a hitch. The "Wonder Boy" was now under the
control of the "Lady Hawke". The boys on the cadet shuttle cheered wildly,
as did two of the three boys on the "Lady Hawke."

*****

Two hours later Ely Storm once again stood in front of Captain Hatcher in
the ready room. He was holding a box the size of a large dictionary. The box
had wires protruding from the sides.

"This is the culprit," Ely said.

"What is it?"

"A small computer. It was on a timer. The timer went to zero sometime before
the mission started. Apparently, once the timer hit zero this little
computer was going to give the orders to the navigation and engineering
computers of the shuttle, as well as to the main computer. Once the shuttle
got a certain distance from the Lady Lex, she would be ordered to turn
around and come straight at her target."

"Killing us all."

"Unlikely. The shuttle crew would have been killed for sure, and the damage
to the Lady Lex would have been crippling. But the Lady Lex has a tough
hide. The shuttle would have put a nice gash in her, we would have lost
quite a few lives, but it would have crumpled like an eggshell before going
in deep enough to destroy the Lady Lex."

"Who is doing this, Ely? Why would anybody want to sabotage our ship? This
isn't the first attempt. Even with all the extra security, somebody still
was able to install that device."

"I don't know who is doing it, Captain. I have my suspicions as to who is
planning it. But I don't know who the agents on board are."

"You said agents. As in more than one?"

"I think we have both a cadet and possibly a crew member working against us,
Steve. And we're going to need to find out who it is soon, before somebody
does get killed."

*****

Mark Hatcher stood in the shuttle bay. He looked at his younger brother,
once more checking out his bruised nose and face and his blackened eye.
There were a lot of things he wanted to tell him, but he said nothing. He
shook his brother's hand awkwardly and prepared to board the "Lady Hawke."
Just as he turned the door to the shuttle bay opened and his father strode
in. Just the three Hatchers were in the bay. Steve Hatcher gave Mark a big
hug.

"I'm so happy you're alive. So happy you're not hurt."

"I heard you gave the order to fire. And that it was countermanded by the
Kriton," Mark said coldly.

"Ely made a calculation mistake. The Kriton realized it. Son, it was the
toughest decision I ever had to make in my life. I would have given the same
order no matter who was on that shuttle. It was eight lives versus dozens.
And I didn't know if you had a bomb or something that would have created an
explosion destroying the Lady Lex and killing everybody. If it means
anything, Mark, if you had actually been fired upon it would have been the
last order of my career. As it is, it may still be."

"Don't quit dad. The `Orion' still needs to kick your ass. I understand what
you had to do. Ely talked to me earlier. I wanted to hate you at first. But
I don't."

"I didn't want to lose you, Mark."

"What about Jesse? Did you think about him, too?"

"You were both on board that shuttle. You were both equal."

Whatever, Jesse thought to himself silently.

"You should never have been captured, Mark. You risked everything to help
your brother. You know he wasn't in a life threatening position."

Mark looked at his dad incredulously. He kept seeing him in ways he had
never seen him before. And he began to wonder for the first time just what
it was about Jesse his father detested. "I didn't know anything. And you
don't know a thing about what happened. Now, I gotta go." Without a smile or
a wave, Mark boarded the "Lady Hawke." He would soon be back home on the
"Orion." He just hoped his return wouldn't be a disaster.

*****

Trevor finished telling Johnny about his stealing the chocolate, then
returning it. The make-up was wiped clean from his face. Johnny was sitting
on Ian's bed. Ian was sitting on his desk chair and Trevor was sitting on
his own bed.

"Why did you return it?" Johnny asked.

Trevor knew he would ask that question. He didn't want to tell Johnny about
his relationship with Harrison Wolfe. At least not yet.

"I just wanted to see if I could take it and return it without being caught.
And I did."

"Are you the guys who set off the kitchen alarm right before the general
alarm?" Johnny asked.

Trevor smiled.

"Nice job, Trevor."

"It's Hawke."

"Hawke?"

"Bird of prey. Master of stealth."

"Are you going to be my master thief?" Johnny asked. "Get me what I need for
the New Mustang Gang?"

"I have a better idea," Trevor said.

"What?"

Trevor told him. Johnny Cooper had conflicting emotions inside him. Johnny
Cooper the delinquent frowned. Johnny Cooper the cadet CO smiled.
Remembering what had happened to the Lady Lex the night before, Johnny
Cooper, CO, won easily.

"This is just between us three," Johnny said.

"I want one other person," Trevor said. Ian frowned on hearing that. What?
I'm not good enough for you? he thought.

"Who?"

"I don't know yet. But I will when I see him." Then he looked at Ian and
smiled. "And so will you."

*****

Todd glared at Mark. "It has to be pretty embarrassing, coming in on a
shuttle from the ship you supposedly boarded and humiliated." Mark said
nothing. Todd flipped some printouts on his desk. "It says here you were
caught because you rendered aid to an injured cadet. Interesting that cadet
happens to be your brother. And the cadet who backs him up happens to be his
roommate. And the captain of the ship happens to be your father." Mark
remained silent. "It would be interesting to have a chat with the cadet CO
on the Lady Lex about what really happened."

"He wasn't there, sir."

"Probably not. I've heard he's pretty much worthless. Like most of the crew
over there." He gave Mark a humorless grin. "Of course they got you didn't
they? Your little brother did in fact."

"The facts are right there on your desk, sir."

Todd threw Mark another grin. "Right. The facts." He shuffled the papers
around again. "Officially you were captured while rendering aid. I can't
officially punish you. But I have little control over the reactions of the
crew. You're dismissed, cadet."

Mark left the office. He was seething inside. How dare he doubt his word?
This was supposed to be simple. Easy. Cut and dried. His life would be just
like it was before. Then he remembered what Commander Creevy had told him.
Just because he wasn't being officially punished didn't mean he was off the
hook with his fellow cadets. He realized now what she meant. He was going to
have to prove himself all over again.

*****

Matt woke up early on Monday morning. He had his bed to himself. Jake
Masters had slept in his own cabin. He found himself liking Jake Masters,
but it didn't bother him that Jake didn't come in to sleep with him. He
certainly wasn't going to volunteer to sleep with Jake, but he wasn't going
to turn him away either. He had found out more about Jake's code of life.
Jake liked to kinds of people for sex. Women his age and younger, down to
late teens or early twenties. And young pre-teen or early teen boys. The boy
had to be special however, but not too special. Kalon had become like a son
to him, which in Jake's code of ethics made him untouchable. Matt had turned
him on that morning "Sam" had caught him naked and jacking off. But it had
been more than that. Jake knew about Matt's reputation as a party boy. He
wouldn't say who, but somebody Matt partied with had told Jake a lot about
him. This caused Jake to misread Matt and come on too strong to him.

"My mistake, lad. And Jake Masters don't make too many mistakes. But you
were awful sexy there, ya know."

Matt could laugh about it now, especially since Jake turned out to be a
wonderful, caring man. Not to mention a man who had taught him a few
unbelievable tricks in bed.

"I can show ya some things to do with the chicks, too, lad," Jake had told
him.

"No thanks. Not interested."

"Ya see. Jake didn't read ya totally wrong then, did he?"

Matt's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his cabin door. He knew it
was Jake by the knock.

"Come in."

Jake came in, wearing a beautiful red and greed silk robe, with yellow
dragons embroidered on it.

"We should be gettin' some news soon, lad."

"What kind of news?"

"The news that says when you get to go home."

"Oh." Matt knew better than to dig deeper. Jake only told him what he wanted
to tell him and no more.

"In the meantime, you wouldn't happen to be a bit horny would ya lad?"

"Just like you told me. I'm twelve."

"Good answer," Jake said as he shed the robe and crawled in next to the hard
naked young boy.

*****

The next few days saw the Lady Lex fall back into its routine, at least as
far as the cadets were concerned. Classes, alternating with duty stations,
plus watches, meals, and some free time. The boys were ready to come around
again, hoping it wouldn't be interrupted like the previous one was. A lot of
free time had been lost cleaning the mess left behind by the intruders, not
to mention all the goings on after the "Wonder Boy" adventure.

It was Thursday, and for Douglas that was a class day. He was in Kalon's
class, learning more about shuttle operation. Half of the class would be
classroom instruction. Then Wing Group 1 would take their shuttles on a
short excursion. Kalon would be riding in the lead shuttle, which was the
"Wonder Boy." Ely and Ensign Anderson had worked on the torn out wiring and
checked and double checked the computer. It was ready to fly again. Ensign
Bonds, who taught Wing Group 2 would ride in the "Caufield" and Lieutenant
Maxwell, a member of the bridge crew, who taught Wing Group 3. would ride in
the "Buford."

The cadets were given a navigation problem to solve. Kalon paired them up
randomly without regard to crew. Ben found himself paired with his brother
Trevor. Douglas was paired with Mike. Another pairing, one that Kalon was
watching carefully, was Johnny and Scooter. It didn't take long for that
pairing to heat up.

"Sorry you're not my roommate any more, Scooter? Remember when we got
threatened to be kept together forever. I bet your gay self liked that idea.
Do you find me hot, Scooter?"

"We have an assignment to do," Scooter protested.

"Always the good guy, aren't you? Is that why you and Murdock get along so
well?"

Kalon walked up behind Johnny. "Johnny C, I thought you were supposed to be
supplying the leadership to your fellow cadets. Looks more like a bullying
session here."

Johnny turned and was about to give Kalon one of his patented smart mouth
answers when he remembered the thrill of sitting in the command chair of the
Lady Lex, the anger at her being violated by the intrusion, and the plans he
and Trevor were working on. "Maybe I just need to work with somebody else,
Kalon."

"Part of command is being able to work with everybody."

"Yeah, well, maybe I'm not ready for that part yet."

Johnny's confession surprised Kalon. It may have been the first time he
admitted he wasn't perfect. Kalon was not about to push Johnny at this
point. A baby step forward had been taken and Kalon was not about to have
Johnny take a giant leap backward. Scooter was in Johnny's crew, so there
would always be ample opportunity to get the working together.

"You realize you're going to need to work with Scooter as a member of your
crew, right?"

"Yeah. But that's not sitting here being next to him. Besides," he added
with a slightly mischievous grin, "I can always have TJ do the dirty work."

Kalon knew exactly who to match Johnny up with, and he switched Scooter with
Mike. Now Johnny's old fellow gang member would be his new partner.

"Oh, so the Mustang is willing to work with a plodding Donkey now is he?"
Mike asked with a wry smile.

"Don't get your hopes up. Working with you is better than working with that
whimp."

"He's cuter than I am, though."

Johnny couldn't help but chuckle. "How did I end up with a gang of faggots.
I get you, Ryan, and TJ. I bet TJ's brother is one of them, too."

"And you loved every minute of it. I know the rest of the gang did."

Johnny's eyes clouded over momentarily. "Maybe it was fun then. It's not
now. And you know I never did anything with you guys. I just liked the talk
then."

"I know you didn't. You missed out on a lot. Even the other straight guys
had fun. They did right to the end."

"Let's change the topic. Like maybe to what we're supposed to be doing."

Mike nodded. It was the first time since boarding the Lady Lex Johnny had
been willing to talk to him about anything. Like Kalon, Mike was noting the
subtle changes in Johnny's attitude.

Douglas sat next to Scooter, watching him whip out some calculations.
Scooter was obviously bothered by the short session with Johnny. Scooter
said nothing to Douglas, he just crunched numbers in his calculator, acting
like the rest of the world didn't exist.

"Don't let him get to you," Douglas said.

Scooter ignored him. He knew if he said a word the tears would start to
flow. The only thing keeping him from a total breakdown in front of the
crews of the Wing Group was the calculator in his hand, so he kept putting
in numbers even though none of them made any sense to him.

"Let's go on the `Wonder Boy' for a few minutes."

Scooter kept crunching numbers, his fingers moving furiously, his face
becoming red. Douglas could see by his body language that he was about to
lose it. He put his arm around Scooter's shoulders and led him away from the
work space, through the airlock, and on to the shuttle.

Kalon saw them go and said nothing. Douglas had been made a shuttle
Commander for a number of reasons. One was he was good at dealing with
people. It was time to give him the chance to do just that.

Ben watched them disappear. For some reason he felt a momentary pang of
jealousy. He went back to working with Trevor. Douglas was just going to
help out a fellow cadet, he knew. But seeing his hand around Scooter's
shoulder as he led him into the shuttle somehow hit him wrong.

Trevor and I doing math problems together is pretty much the blind leading
the blind, he thought. He looked at the book in front of them. None of it
made any sense, but he tried anway. He was happy he had Scottie as the
navigator on his shuttle. He could go anywhere they told him to go, but he
sure as hell could never figure out a course on his own.

Trevor looked up at his big brother. "Ben?"

"Yeah?"

Trevor wanted badly to tell Ben about The Hawke. About Harrison Wolfe. About
stealth. Instead he said, "When are you going to do with me the things you
do with Andrew?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. The things."

Ben sighed. "Just tell me what you mean." He was pretty sure he knew what
Trevor meant. But he wanted Trevor to say so. He never thought Trevor was
interested in those things. That Trevor was never interested in having sex
with him or with Andrew. So he said nothing on the chance that he could be
wrong. Ben knew Andrew inside and out. He could read his moods and wants.
Trevor, on the other hand, was always a mystery to him. Trevor always
managed to show his cocky attitude, but Ben knew there was a great deal more
to him under that shield. Andrew was sweetness and sugar, while Trevor was
piss and vinegar.

"Never mind." Trevor had his mask on. The mask that hid his emotions and
made his face blank.

"Just tell me." Ben was getting frustrated with his brother.

"Why don't you like me?"

"I love you, Trev."

"Yeah. You love me because I'm your brother. But you love Andrew more. You
do stuff with him. You don't even talk to me. You like him. Why don't you
like me?"

Ben glanced over at the airlock to the shuttle. He looked back at Trevor,
the ducked away from his bother's intense stare. He didn't know what to say.

*****

Douglas sat in the command chair of the "Wonder Boy". Scooter sat in the
pilot's chair. The tears he had been fighting could no longer be held back.
His body shook with sobs and he fought to regain control of himself. Douglas
sat quietly and waited.

When Scooter finally calmed down, Douglas said calmly, "It's more than just
Johnny isn't it?"

Scooter nodded.

"Want to tell me about it?"

Scooter sobbed and fought them. He cried and stopped. But in between it all
he told Douglas about Murdock, and how he was a bad cadet, how he hated
being in charge of watches. He told Douglas how it wasn't in him to be in
charge of things. How he was a follower. He told Douglas about his nice life
in Florida and his many friends. He told how he got screwed in court and
ended up here with a shipload of hoodlums when he hadn't done anything
wrong. He told how his whole life depended on them winning the Olympics, and
how he hated everything about the Lady Lex, and how he especially hated
Murdock and Johnny Cooper. He told Douglas how he was gay and how could a
gay boy lead anybody anywhere in this ship.

Douglas listened patiently. When he was sure Scooter was finished he said
his piece.

"First, being gay has nothing to do with anything. We have enough gay boys
on the Lady Lex to create an entire wing group. In fact, I think we already
have. Come on Scooter, I'm gay," (Scooter's eyebrows went up when he heard
that) "Mike's gay," (something everybody knew). In fact from what I've seen
the only two guys in our wing group who aren't gay for sure are Johnny,
Trevor, and Stan. I don't know about Carson. I mean he's only 10."

"But I'm in charge of all the watches. All 200 of us."

"So?"

"So. Nobody listens to me. I fall asleep on watches. Nobody respects me.
Murdock hates me. I hate him. I don't know what to do!!!"

"Look, you assign the watches, right? And I know you keep assigning yourself
the shittiest watches. I can see that on the watch posting. Maybe starting
next week you give yourself the best watches."

"I'm trying to be fair."

"Fuck trying to be fair. Is Murdock being fair to you? No! Are you making
everybody happy by trying to be fair? No! You put a lot of work into the
watch schedule. Your reward should be the primo watches, WHEN you assign
yourself one. You're in charge of the schedule. Act like it. You're getting
shit about the schedule anyway, so quit trying to make everybody happy. You
lose rec time doing the schedules, then you put yourself into some two in
the morning watch. You go there exhausted, then you fall asleep."

"But what will Murdock say?"

"If he says anything, tell him he can make the schedules if he doesn't like
it."

"He'll kill me!"

"He's killing you anway, Scooter. He's killing you from the inside out.
Stand up to him. Tell him he put you in charge and you were going to do it
your way. I mean do the Captain and the XO stand shit watches on a ship? I
don't think so. Do Mike and Johnny stand them? No. Should you? No. You have
around 150 boys to assign after you take away all the ones who don't get
watches. You don't know most of them, and you sure don't have to make them
happy. It's time to make yourself happy."

"I have to do what Murdock tells me."

"Did he tell you how to schedule yourself?"

"No."

"Good. Then do it the way you want. And if he asks, tell him you gave me the
job and this is how I'm doing it so I can have the time to do that job.
Stand up to him. You've never had to deal with people like Johnny and
Murdock. They'll take everything they can get until you tell them, no more!"

Scooter didn't look convinced.

"Look, just try it. I mean it can't get any worse, right?"

"I guess. I'll try it for next week. But you better be right."

"I don't know if I'm right, Scooter. But you're hurting and I'm trying to
help you to fix it."

Scooter shrugged, but looked a little happier.

"One more question for you," Douglas said.

"What?"

"How are you and Jeff getting along?"

Scooter blushed and then said, "I think I'm in love with him."

"Is the feeling mutual?"

"I don't know."

"See, you now have one more thing to find out."

The boys got up out of their chairs. On impulse, Scooter gave Douglas a big
squeeze and hug. "Thanks, Douglas. I didn't know what do to. I've been so
unhappy."

"Look, Scooter. You have no reason to keep it all inside. You can always
talk to me, to Ben, to Mike, and if you handle it right, to Jeff."

The boys walked back into the shuttle bay. The classroom session was
finished. It was time to split up into crews and, for the first time, have
the entire Wing Group in space at the same time.

*****

Harrison Wolfe watched Wing Group 1 come slowly back to the Lady Lex. He sat
back on his recliner looking out of his cabin's port, reading his printed
e-mail once again and thinking how Wing Group 1 was light years ahead of the
other three groups. Knowing the personnel in the group, and knowing Kalon
Masters, he wasn't surprised. He had just finished teaching his last class
and was waiting for dinner to be served. He was suprised at first to see the
four shuttles coming in, but once he saw who they were, he smiled. The cream
always rises, he thought.

He knew the shuttles didn't go far and they flew in a very wide loose
formation. He had seen Kalon's plan for his Wing Group. The trip had
probably been short, but very educational.

Harrison looked at the letter one more time. It was from his dear friend
Myrna and was about the sudden death of Ambassador Talon, the Earth
Ambassador to Earth. He read it carefully, trusting her observations and
opinions as he usually did. The Ambassador collapsed after a trade
conference meeting. The official cause of death was a heart attack. Harrison
Wolfe knew better. He was waiting to get Myrna's list of who was at the
trade conference and who was at that meeting. The Ambassador definitely did
not have a heart attack, he thought. I wonder who it was who took my place
as the master assassin.

He was glad he turned the job down. He didn't know exactly where it came
from, but he was aiming to find out. He had a good idea where to start, and
so far his search hadn't disappointed him. He looked at the books lining his
walls and thought about how often he and the characters talked to each
other.

"So many of you have acted on gut feelings," he said aloud, "and they've
paid off so often. My gut feeling is this old bucket of bolts holds the key
to what happens with us and Kriton. I don't know why I thought a ship full
of society's loser boys would be a focal point. But so far, my friends, my
instincts have been right. My gut feeling that whether we go to war or have
peace will be decided by these boys, and I want to be sure the decision they
make is the right one; the one I want.

*****

Trev walked back from dinner on his own. The flight of the wing group had
been fun. He wished there was more for the weapons officer to do, but he was
to help with navigation and communication. He had fun, even if Johnny had
left most of the decisions to TJ, his pilot. Mike, Douglas, and Travis were
all good commanders, but Johnny seemed to leave everything to TJ. Oh well,
he thought, Johnny was a good gang leader even if he was a bad commander.
How did he ever become the cadet CO? Adult decisions had a way of confusing
Trevor, and that decision was one of them.

Trevor thought about the plan he had given to Johnny. Now he just needed the
right boys in it. He was the Hawke. He needed more birds of prey. He knew he
would have to take in Ian, even if he was a dork. But Ian had shown himself
to be loyal, and he knew Ian worshipped him. What he needed know were two or
three boys his age who were boys of action. He needed boys he could show the
things Harrison Wolfe was teaching him. He could think of reasons not to
pick anybody in his Wing Group. This was different from the New Mustang
Gang. This was going to be secret even from them.

He turned the corner and crashed right into a boy. They both fell to the
floor, then got right back up.

"Watch where you're going!" the boy shouted.

"You watch!" Trev said.

They both glared at each other, fists clenched. Trevor recognized the boy,
but didn't remember his name. He looked to be 12 or 13. He was bigger than
Trevor, and incredibly cute. Trevor didn't think about the cute, he thought
how mad he was at this boy for running into him. Trevor pushed the boy and
the boy pushed him back. Trevor raised his fist, ready to belt him, and he
could see the boy wasn't about to back down. They were about to go at it
full blast when Trevor dropped his fists.

"What's the matter, you chicken? You afraid to fight?"

"No, I'll fight you if you want. But I have a better idea. My name is
Trevor."

The boy looked at Trevor like he had lost his mind, but gave his name. "I'm
Chandler."

While the boys were both still glaring at each other, they backed down a
little. Trevor knew he had found a raptor, and if he needed to fight him to
get him he would. But first he had one more thing to tell him.

"You can call me Hawke. Do you like birds of prey?"

To be continued..........