Date: Wed, 01 Sep 2004 21:35:48 +0000
From: Douglas DD DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Boys of Lady Lex Chapter 23

Greetings loyal readers and welcome back. Ben has written another
interesting chapter, once again something way different from anything Lady
Lex had had before. We hope you enjoy the letters. They will tell you a lot
about the characters on the Lady Lex. I know you think we post slowly enough
as it is, but with school starting our postings will be even slower. Ben and
I are both sorry, but don't worry, we will see Lady Lex to the end. We
actually have it written through chapter 30, but those chapters aren't ready
for posting yet. Plus, we've lost our proofreader, which may slow us down
even more. Please be patient. We both hope to make it worth your while.
<Douglas and Ben>


The Boys of the Lady Lex
Chapter 23
"Dear Mom"
Written By Douglas DD and Benjamin T. Collins


	Captain Hatcher walked into his ready room holding a cup of steaming hot
coffee. He sat in his chair behind his desk and sipped it. He held his
Pittsburgh Penguins coffee mug with both hands to his chest and leaned back
in his chair.
	"Computer, Captain's Personal Log: Friday, April 8, 2226."
	Captain Hatcher took a sip of his hot coffee and then thought for a second
before continuing on.
	"The decision I had to make this Sunday last was the toughest decision I
ever had to make since the time I shot down Jay. But this decision was even
tougher that then because my own flesh and blood was on that shuttle."
	"Last night I sent the cadet watch on a fool's errand just so that I could
get some alone time on the bridge to do some thinking. Linda had tracked me
down up there and sat with me. We got talking about different things and of
course our conversation ended up on the Wonder Boy and continued on to
Jesse."
	"She told me that I had to make a decision that no father or mother should
ever have to make. She couldn't tell me if I made the right decision or not,
I just thank God that my decision wasn't needed at the end."
	"Then our conversation ended up Jesse. I know I am not much of a father to
him. But we have nothing in common. We are so different from each other.
Linda told me that if I look closely that Jesse is more like his father then
Mark is. That's a laugh. HA! She continued to tell me that I should get to
know Jesse better. But with my work schedule and Jesse being a cadet now, I
hardly ever see him. Besides, what would we talk about? His interests and
mine are so completely different."
	"On Saturday, which is tomorrow, I am supposed to take a cadet shuttle to
Earth so it can fly in a formation during Ambassador Talon's memorial
service. All the junior academy ships were requested to send one shuttle
each. I was going to take the Lady Hawke and assign her a special crew of
the top cadets but after discussing this with Commander Creevey, Ensign
Masters and our new female chief shuttlecraft mechanic, Lieutenant Danni
Sartini, I decided to take the Wonder Boy and her crew. I am sure I will get
some shit about it because it is the shuttle with my nephews, my dear
friend's sons and Jesse on it, but they definitely proved themselves this
past Sunday."
	"Lieutenant Sartini assures me the "Wonder Boy" will be ready to go first
thing tomorrow morning and that there will be no side effects or other
catastrophes that might have been caused from that box that was planted on
the Wonder Boy that caused it to be hurled towards the Lexington."
	"I have an incoming call from SFA command. This is Captain Stephen R.
Hatcher, Commanding Officer, SFA Lexington. End Log."

  *****
	Andrew crawled onto his bed. It was now rec time in the evening. Nipper had
watch and he figured this was a good time to write home to his parents. He
missed them dearly. He broke out a special letter writing computer where all
he had to do was hand write on the screen and it would turn his letter into
a format that could be sent electronically to his parents.

Dear Mom,

How r u doing? I am doing ok. My best friend Nipper is on watch, so I
decided to write you a letter. I miss you very much. I wish I was home right
now. I know Trev and Ben miss you too.

How is dad, Tom, Ray, and Maria doing? Do they miss us? We might be able to
see you next week. The shuttlecraft that Ben and I are on is going to be in
the memorial formation for Ambassador Talon's memorial service. This should
be kewl. I can't wait. It will be good to see earth again. I hope I can see
you when I come home.

I got back my history test today that I took yesterday. I got a 100 on it.
Trev failed it. This is his second test he failed for history. Dr. Kula, our
history teacher wants Trev to come in for special tutoring and Trev isn't
too happy about it.

Trev is acting weird lately. He is reading a lot of old books with pages to
them. He don't usually do that. He spends a lot of time with his roommate
Ian and 2 new friends of his. Their names are Chandler and Kyle. They call
themselves the birds of prey. Trev calls himself the hawk, but he wants it
spelled hawke. I don't know why. Maybe because of the Lady Hawke. Maybe
because his favorite teacher spells his last name with a E at the end. His
favorite teacher is our English teacher, Mr. Wolfe. He is pretty cool but
hard. But I am getting A's in his class too.  Matter of fact, I am getting
A's in all of my classes. Trev is getting C's and F's. If he doesn't get his
grades up, he won't be able to play baseball.

Uncle Steve told us today that when we get back from earth about a week
later we will move the Lady Lex, that is what we call the Lexington it is a
nick name for her. But he said we will move the Lady Lex to Phosphorous
Prime. It is a planet that is trying to join SFA and they hope that this is
a sign that their request will be granted.

Uncle Steve said that Phosphorous Prime is a lot like earth. It was
uninhabited up to about 50 years ago when some settlers from Earth went
there to start a new life. I guess they aren't advanced in their
technologies like earth is because I guess they prefer to live a much more
simpler life.

Uncle Steve said that the Governor of the planet is excited about our
arrival. He said he rather have a ship full of delinquents on it then normal
kids. Because he knows we are tiring to better our lives and turn it around.
I guess the governor went to jail when he was younger for fraud but turned
his life around. I don't know that is what Uncle Steve told us today.

When we get to Phosphorous Prime we will be practicing baseball and war
games in a community called Ghent. I guess it was a small village that had
been abandon for some reason. I am not sure why. I guess the village needs
some major cleaning up and refurbishing and the ball field isn't in good
shape and needs lots of work on it too, but Uncle Steve said we can fix this
stuff up as a part of community service.

Ben is going out for the baseball team like me. My bo...best friend Nipper is
going out too but we don't think we will make either team because we are too
young. But we still can try out. Trev wants to try out for the team too but
Uncle Steve told Trev that he would like to see him try out for the hockey
teams he is going to coach. Trev never played hockey but he is really good
in baseball so I bet he plays ball. I hope he does.

I don't like my math teacher Sister Agatha. She is really mean. I am getting
an A in her class but she is mean. Trev is constantly getting in trouble in
her class. He likes to mouth off at her and make her mad. He loves pushing
her buttons. Trev got his knuckles slapped with a ruler a lot of times. He
even got his butt spanked with a ruler once. He won't give her the
gratification for it. He hides his emotions on it in front of her. But don't
worry mom, Trev is okay.

Ben is doing really good as a shuttlecraft pilot. He is having fun with it.
He says it's almost as fun as baseball. Ben said that maybe he will be a
shuttlecraft pilot when he grows up. I still want to be a vet when I grow
up. Trev still wants to be a professional baseball player when he grows up.
My boyfriend nipper wants to be a concert musician. He is really good on the
violin. Nipper, me and Chaplain Kyle wrote our school's alma alder. It is
really cool. I will attach a recording of it to this letter. Tell me what
you think about it.

Chaplain Kyle is my favorite teacher. He organized an orchestra band. I play
my trumpet and nipper plays his violin. There is this boy named Tyler who
plays the cello. This boy Greg plays the saxophone. TJ who everyone calls
Hamster plays the guitar. Trev is playing the drums in it. His roommate Ian
plays the piano. Ian is really good. Trev has no rhythm on the drums but he
is getting better. We even have a flute, clarinet, French horn, tuba, viola,
coronet, and a bass players in the orchestra. I am the only trumpet player
but we have 2 coronet players. Nipper is the number one chair for violin.
There are 3 other violinist and 2 viola players. Our orchestra is pretty big
but most of the boys in it never played before and they are learning. I wish
Ben could be in the orchestra but he puts all his spare time into the Wonder
Boy and Douglas.

My recreation time is almost up. So I better go. I love you Mom. Tell Dad I
love him too. I hope to see you when I come home next week for the funeral.
I miss you so much.

Love,
Andrew
  *****

	Johnny Cooper went into the small office that him and Mike shared to
perform their CO/XO duties. He sat in his chair and pulled out a cigarette.
He lit it up and took a deep drag. He wasn't allowed to smoke because he was
a cadet, but he managed to swipe a pack of cigarettes from an officer who
wasn't keeping a watchful eye on it. He knew if he would be caught he would
get in deep trouble, but basically he didn't give a shit.
	"Computer, Cadet CO log: Today has been an interesting day. I had a meeting
with Captain Hatcher that idiot of a person. I have him fooled and wrapped
around my finger big time. I told him that I didn't think it was wise as a
cadet commanding officer to be a shuttle commander too. I mean I have to
give orders to the different shuttlecraft groups and it would be harder to
control them on a shuttle and not on the bridge. So I told him that I wanted
to turn TJ into the shuttle commander for the Buford. I also told him that
since today we received a new addition to our shuttle fleet today that I
wanted to turn it into a special shuttle. Since the wing groups consist of
four shuttles each, 17 shuttles wouldn't work right. So this 17th shuttle
will be a special ops shuttle. After all it was a stealth shuttle for black
ops before they retired her model and decommissioned them all. So I listened
to Trevor who is quite a leader and I changed his mind on certain things and
this is the bullshit that I convinced Hatcher on."
	"The 17th shuttle is known as the Raptor. Trevor named it after some
dinosaur in a book called Jurassic Park. I guess Raptor means bird of prey
or some shit like that. Since Trevor and his friends are just twrips, I
appointed Spencer Harris as shuttle commander. He is a new member to the
mustang gang. He is a senior like me. He has quite a list on his police
record too. He was convicted of rape, kidnapping, blackmail, and terrorist
threats. This junior, Kyle Osborne, convicted of grand theft auto, selling
black market items, and scamming and fraud will be the pilot. Trev will be
removed from the Buford and he will be the science guy on the Raptor. At his
request, Ian is to be placed on the Raptor too. I don't care for Ian. He is
too much of a wimp, but I gave in to Trevor on this. Ian will be the
engineer guy. This computer hacker that Trevor met named Chandler will be
the navigator. The weapons guy will be very interesting. He is a sophomore
and his bright fiery red hair matches his temper and his odd, psychotic
behavior. I do believe he is completely insane. He gets really excited and
all weird like when he is around or talks about fire. Of course he is
convicted of arson. His name is Dylan McIntire and he is one of the boys
from Australia. He has a thick Australian accent that makes his antics all
the more intriguing.  I will let Spencer and Trev think they are in control
of this newly form black ops group, but in all reality I am in complete
control."
	"Trevor told me they all have call signs now. Trevor is known as the hawk.
Ian is known as the Eagle. Chandler is the Falcon. Dylan is the Phoenix.
Spencer is Condor and Kyle is Osprey."
	"I will put the birds of prey in two three man living quarters. Trevor, Ian
and Chandler are in one room and Spencer, Kyle and Dylan are in the other
room. The birds of prey will be notified first thing tomorrow of the change
in quarters and shuttles. I know Trevor knows that I went to see the old man
tonight during rec time to discuss this. I am surprised he isn't here asking
me what happened with it."
	"I still need to come up with three new boys for the Buford. With me,
Trevor and Ian being pulled from it, it leaves three vacant spaces. TJ will
be the shuttle commander, Jeff will be the pilot and that fag Scooter will
be navigator now. So I have to find special people to take on the roles of
science, weapons and engineering. I need to choose carefully for this. It
has to be someone loyal to me."
	"There will be some room changes too. Besides the crew of the Raptor which
I just spoke of, the Buford Boys will be the only other ones to have a room
change. I am not sure what they will be yet, it will all depend on who I
pick to be the other crew members on it. Of course I need to convince Kalon
and Commander Creevey on who I feel should be picked. Because they have the
final say in the shuttle craft crew selections, unless I go over their head
again like I did today when I went to see Hatcher. I am also working on
getting my own sleeping quarters. I am not sure if it will happen, but I am
trying."
	"At first I didn't like nor did I want the responsibility of being the
cadet Co but now I am finding out it has its benefits and I will use them to
my advantage. I will use them to prove to everyone that Johnny Cooper is
someone and not a loser and that no one fucks with Johnny Cooper."
	There was a knock on the door. Johnny quickly put out his cigarette and hid
the butt. He fanned away the smoke.
	"Enter"
	Trevor came walking in. He could smell the smoke in the air.
	"Is that cigarette smoke?"
	"Yes it is my fellow mustang member. Here have one" Johnny reached into his
secret stash and gave Trevor a cigarette. He took and smelled it.
	"Let's light up and I will tell you how my meeting went."

  *****

	Douglas crawled into his rack. This was the first night since he first had
sex with Ben that he was sleeping alone. Douglas looked over at Ben's rack
and saw him laying there on his side facing the bulkhead. Douglas was going
to sleep with Ben tonight but Ben had told him that he wanted to sleep alone
tonight. Douglas was worried and noticed that Ben was acting strange ever
since the navigation class. Douglas turned his attention to his paper
journal and began writing in it.

Dear Journal,
Today is April seventh, two-thousand two hundred and twenty six. It is a
Thursday.  Today during navigation class, Johnny the asshole was acting like
a bastard toward Scooter. So I took Scooter aside and talked to him. I think
I made him feel better. I hope so. He told me that he is in love with a
friend of his named Jeff. I know Jeff and he is a good guy.

Ever since that class though Ben has been acting strange. I don't know why.
I asked him what was wrong and he wouldn't tell me. He even told me he
wanted to sleep alone tonight. I love Ben very much. But he is so hard to
figure out at times. It is like he is very insecure when it comes to
relationships. Maybe being a middle child in a large family has something to
do with it, but I am not sure. I am no psychologist to figure out that
psychology bullshit. All I know is that I love Ben so very much. He makes my
life so complete.

I originally stayed on this ship so I could prove to David that I am better
then him. But I became a cadet so I could be with Ben. I think and feel that
becoming a cadet was a greater sacrifice then staying on board the Lady Lex.
I also know that the reason for becoming a cadet is more true and noble then
my selfish reasons for wanting to stay on the Lady Lex in the beginning.
David or no David, there is nothing that would convince me to leave the Lady
Lex as long as Ben is here with me.

Captain Hatcher informed me and my Wonder Boy crew that we will be
participating in Ambassador Talon's funeral services. I think that is so
cool. He told us today that three shuttles are going to Earth for the
services. The Wonder Boy will be in the memorial fly by formation consisted
of other junior academy shuttlecrafts. I wonder if David and Mark will be
there?

The second Shuttle, the Lady Hawke will consist of 6 boys who will be in a
ground formation to help render honors to the late ambassador. TJ, Scooter,
Johnny Cooper, Mike, Travis, Tyler, Greg, and Eric will on that honors
detail. I am willing to bet that Johnny will fuck things up and make a big
scene of some sort. I can't believe Captain Hatcher is letting him go.

Captain Hatcher didn't tell us who the third shuttle was going to be. But
this shuttle will be participating in the recession as a special shuttle
carrying the Ambassadors body as it goes towards the Sun. There will be a
lot of shuttles in this recession. Each ship in the SFA fleet will have one
shuttlecraft in the recession. The shuttles will escort the coffin shuttle
as far as safety will permit them and then the coffin shuttle will continue
on into the Sun and disintigrate.

I am looking at my Ben and he is asleep. I hear him snoring a sweet snore. I
love him so much. I wish I knew what was bothering him. Why can he be so
thick headed at times. God I love him. Someone is at the door. I wonder who
it is. Its past taps.

I am back Journal. It was Trevor. I told him he better get back to his room
before one of the Marines caught him. He said the Hawke can stealth his way
past them. That boy concerns me. He is nothing like Ben or Andrew. He is
definitely his own person. Trevor told me that he talked to Johnny Cooper
and the Captain told him that he is being assigned to a new shuttlecraft
called the Raptor and that the Raptor will be the third shuttle to go to
Earth for the funeral. Trev rattled off who the crew is on the shuttle but I
can't remember who. I think he said Ian and some kid named Dylan.  I bet Ben
and Andrew will be happy that Trevor gets to go to Earth with them. I must
say though, I think Trev is getting involved with the wrong people on board
here. Trev spends a lot of time with Johnny Cooper it seems like and I could
have sworn I smelled cigarette smoke on Trevor's breath tonight.

When we go to Earth, Nipper and I are going to try and go to mom's grave.
Nipper wants to play her his violin for her. I sure do miss my mom. My heart
cries for her every night. Life just isn't the same without her. I get mad
and confused at times on why she died. She was a good lady and I can't
figure out why she had to die. I know Nipper misses her very much too. So
does Dad, but Dad won't show it. But I can tell.

I am yawning up a storm here and I have first watch in the morning. So I
better call it a night. Good night Journal the keeper of my most inner
thoughts.

DDD

  *****

	Mark Hatcher went to his quarters to write his parents a letter. He sat on
his bed and pulled out a letter writing palm computer. He begin writing his
thoughts.

Dear Mom and Dad,

School is really sucking right now. Everyone is alienating me because I got
caught on the Lexington even though I did get caught because I rendered aid
to him. At least my shuttle team are still my friends. David is on thin ice
too because he left me, his partner, behind and didn't attempt to save me or
find out what happened to me.

The shuttle I am on, The Ramses, has been chosen to fly in the funeral
procession as the shuttles escort the coffin shuttle to the  Sun. The
funeral is for that ambassador guy that offered dad a job on Kriton before
dad quit SFA and took on the Lexington.

There is this girl cadet on the Orion. Her name is Theresa. She is really
beautiful. She has golden blond hair and blue eyes. Her skin is pale and
smooth. She is going to be my date to the Spring Fling Dance. She is a
freshman like me but been attending the academy since the 8th grade. I think
you will like her mom.

I heard that  three weeks after you arrive Phosphorus Prime you will be
playing us in hockey, baseball and fencing. I guess you guys need to play
each junior academy in each sport that will be played in the Olympics before
the Olympics get here. I can't wait to play against you dad. I know you are
coaching the team Have you chose the team yet?

I have to go. Theresa just got here and she wants me to help her with
biology homework. Thanks mom for the care package you sent with me when I
came back from the Lexington. I hope to see you soon.

Mark

  *****

	Harrison Wolfe went to one of the many bookshelves in his living room. He
removed a few books that were hiding a secret door. He opened the door and
pulled out a small communication classified transmitter. He only used this
when he use to accept tasking from his former employee. It's been a while
since he used it. He punched a few buttons to ensure that his message would
be encrypted. Then he spoke.
	"The worm in the green apple climbed Mt. Fugi. The umbrella is up and the
milk is sour."
	Harrison Wolfe turned off his transmitter and put it back in its secret
compartment. He then went to get some special tools that he had hidden. He
needed to get ready for his trip back to Earth. He managed to convince
Captain Hatcher to let him be one of the five crew members to go to Earth
for the funeral. Since he was head teacher, he felt it was best for him to
go, but he just used that as an excuse to get him on the Lady Hawke.
	Harrison opened up another secret compartment and pulled out an illegal
sniper laser rifle.

To Be Continued...