Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2005 05:06:22 +0000
From: Douglas DD DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Boys of Lady Lex Chapter 38

Welcome back, Loyal Readers. Ben and I decided since it would be a long time
before we can post again (maybe 2 weeks) we'd take the edge off and dip into
our backlog by posting chapter 38. We didn't think anybody would object.
Because we're posting faster than usual, we may have more uncaught mistakes
than usual, and for that we apologize in advance. We're sorry to leave you
hanging as Trev goes off on another reckless adventure, this one a bit more
dangerous than the one on the "Orion". I have a feeling you will be looking
intently for chapter 39. Let me warn you it will be close to two weeks
before we will be able to post it. So be patient and be ready to see what
our friend The Hawke does next. If you e-mail us, please don't expect an
answer for a while. But Ben and I will answer.

Boys of the Lady Lex
Chapter 38
"War Clouds"
Written By Douglas DD and Benjamin TC

KRITON FLEET HEADQUARTERS

General Elihu read the communique from Admiral Whitaker yet one more time. A
rare smile graced his face. He had the good Admiral right where he wanted
him. The Admiral was mot the game master he thought he was. Nobody outdid a
Kriton when it came to gamesmanship. The top secret document was short and
direct:

General Elihu:

I have it arranged that the peace and trade talks on Griffin will break
down. Our Ambassador to Kriton is ours and will do our bidding, no questions
asked. On the agreed date our fleet will be spread out, with ships at
Griffin for the peace and trade talks, at Hawking's Planet for the Junior
Olympics, and on maneuvers near the SFA/Kriton neutral zone. Many of the
ships normally dedicated to Earth's defense will be on special duty. This
will make Earth appear open to your feint as well as Kriton to ours. With
both of our fleets in sight our governments will be more than willing to
give us the power we ask for. Only the threat of war so real it can be seen
can stop the weakening of our military by the advocates of peace. The date
has been sent. It is now time to start the plan in motion.

Regards,

Admiral Whitaker
CIC SFA Space Fleet

Set in motion indeed, the General thought to himself. Yes, even with your
defense thinned you have the power to stop us if we approached Earth in the
usual manner. But our attack will not come in the way you think, and by the
time you discover what happened, we will have brought our new weapon right
behind your out of position thinned out defenses.

He pushed a button on his intercom.

"Send in Professor Kragh-Xan."

KRITON

Ambassador Bergen let out a big sigh. The e-mail in front of him was quite
succinct. Follow the outline sent to him at the conference on Griffin or his
son dies a slow, painful death. It was a stand far different from the one
the government had instructed him to take. Yet his orders also gave him room
for flexibility. However, he was sure the government didn't intend to give
him this much maneuvering room. He was certain if he followed the
instructions sent to him, war would ensue almost immediately.

I could resign, he thought, but that would only hasten the death of Matt. He
had not heard back from Myrna, but he hadn't expected to. He could now only
hope she would come through before he had to make a decision that would
decide the fate of billions of innocent people.

DESERT PLANET

"When do I get to go home?" Matt asked matter-of-factly. He was getting
tired of being alone in the isolated house on this unknown planet.

"I'd say in a couple of months if your father cooperates as we expect him
to," Jake Masters said.

"I hate you," Matt said in a voice void of emotion.

"The tone of your voice says different, lad," Jake said with a grin. "You
know you love me. You know you love me putting it up your hot, tight..."

"Shut up!" Matt screamed, this time allowing his pent up emotions to rise to
the surface.

"You know you want it," Jake said ignoring the outburst.

Matt wanted it bad. Matt didn't want it at all. He hated Jake Masters. He
loved Jake Masters. The conflicts of emotions tore at the twelve year old
boy. But above it all, he wanted to go home. He wanted his mother, his
father, his friends, and yes even his school.

"What are you going to do with me if my dad doesn't do what you ask?" Matt
asked for what seemed like the millionth time. He was hoping this time he'd
get the answer he wanted to hear.

"Big strong boy like you would fetch Jake Masters a good price on the
Lucifer slave market."

"You don't even like me do you? I'm just a thing to you. A place to stick
your big fat ugly hairy dick!"

"I love ya lad, but business is business. If it wasn't for that sad state of
affairs I'd make you another Kalon, make you a boy this old man would be
proud of."

"Then why don't you do it?"

"Lad, you think ya love old Jake Masters. But trust me, first chance you got
you'd run away. Course, I could just keep you here on this godforsaken hell
hole. Might almost be worth it."

"I'd rather be dead."

"And that, too, is a possibility," Jake muttered under his breath.

Jake's muttering went unheard by Matt. "I'm going to bed."  He turned to
leave the room.

"Want to sleep with Jake tonight?"

"No! Never again! Never!" After screaming that out, Matt left the room, with
the intent of going to his room to sleep alone, yet somehow ending up in
Jake's room, with his clothes off, waiting for his captor to enter and fill
his young ass. Jake showed no surprise at the prize lying in his bed.

THE LADY LEX: CAPTAIN'S READY ROOM

"You're asking a lot," Captain Hatcher said yet again.

"Only for one shuttle and a contingent of Marines. We will be in and out
within an hour. Your Colonel Stone is regarded as an expert in these types
of operations," Harrison Wolfe said.

"And you want the `Raptor'? She is the only modern shuttle we have. In fact
her stealth capabilities are state of the art. I still am not quite sure how
we managed to get her amongst all the hand me downs we were given."

"Having a good friend in Admiral Natter helps."

"Just who are you? You certainly are more than an English teacher."

"I am who I am," Wolfe said. "Colonel Stone will be here soon with the plan
for our mission. I just wanted to meet with you one more time before that,
to convince you of my sincerity and of my honesty."

"I am convinced of neither, Mr. Wolfe. I looked for any mention of the
kidnapping of this boy. I found none. How do you explain that?"

"Powerful people are behind this, Captain. People who wish to tilt the
precarious balance in our talk with Kriton to the side of war. I will leave
you know, Captain. Our plan is a good one." Wolfe left the captain's ready
room just as Colonel Stone prepared to push the entry buzzer.

"Come in, colonel," Hatcher said, "and sit down."

"Aye sir."

"Mr. Wolfe says you have a plan."

"We do. The man is quite a student of military planning for one who is
supposedly a scholar and a teacher of English. It's a good plan. The planet
is an old SFA outpost, one abandoned when we made peace with the Vordans. It
has at times been a staging area for smugglers, but I was unaware of anybody
using it in the past five years."

"Let me see the plan," Captain Hatcher said.

Stone handed it over, explaining the plan to the captain as he perused the
pages.

"It's a good plan," Hatcher concluded.

"Thanks. As I said, Wolfe was a big help." Stone said, "But I still don't
trust him. I don't know why you're doing this."

"I'm doing it because if there is a boy being held captive on the planet we
are obligated to rescue him, all the more so if the peace talks with Kriton
hang in the balance."

"And if there is no boy there?"

"Then somebody has taken us for first class fools."

Above the Captain's ready room a boy, dressed in only a black T-shirt and
wearing the make-up of a hawk, quietly left his station and crawled back to
his cabin.

THE LADY LEX: TREVOR'S CABIN

"Why did you ask the Birds of Prey to meet this afternoon?" Ian said. He was
sitting on Trevor's bed, loving the feel of his boyfriend's arm around him.
Since Trevor had apologized for his behavior after his grounding he had
never been happier. Their friendship and love had grown stronger. And better
yet, The Hawke was back.

"You'll see as soon as the rest of the Birds of Prey get here."

The first to arrive was Chandler, the Falcon. He saw Trevor with his arm
around Ian, and felt a slight pang of jealously. He had had a crush on
Trevor since he first met him, and couldn't understand what the macho, cocky
Hawke, saw in Ian. If I was his roommate, it would be different, he thought.

Next came Spencer the Condor, and a few minutes later, Dylan the Phoenix,
and Kyle the Harrier, arrived. All six were dressed in their school day
uniforms, red and gray tunic and gray pants. Trevor had changed and cleaned
his face after he returned to his cabin.

"What's this all about?" Spencer asked. "What's so important that we all
have to be here on Sunday our only free day?" Spencer was always the
toughest of the Birds of Prey to convince of anything. There were times
Trevor wished he hadn't asked the big, buff boy to join the group. But once
he was convinced of a plan, there was nobody better to have in your corner.

Trevor told them of the conversation he had overheard while crawling through
the ducts and what he had overheard this morning after following Harrison
Wolfe to the captain's ready room.

"What does that have to do with us?" Spencer asked. "The Marines are
carrying out the rescue. Do you think the Birds of Prey can do it better
than the Marines?"

"I have a feeling," Trev said.

"What do you mean you have a feeling?" Spencer asked pointedly.

"What I mean is, I think we're going to be needed."

"Oh, right. A trained group of Marines fail to rescue a little boy on an
unguarded planet, so the Birds of Prey just come swooping in to save the
day. You know what I think, Trevor?"

Trevor could feel his temper rise as Spencer voiced his objections.

"What?" Trevor asked angrily.

"I think you're trying to make up for the botched intrusion of the `Orion"
and for your getting captured. I don't want to have nothing to do with
this."

"Is that what everybody thinks?" Trevor asked.

His question was met with silence, which was finally broken by Ian. "I think
if we follow along it can't hurt anything. We stay out of range and we learn
things."

"And we get our asses in a sling again," Spencer said.

Chandler decided to inject his opinion. "Okay, so it's none of our business.
But since when did we decide we just get involved in things that aren't our
business. I thought we were all about doing things behind the scenes. I
thought we were all about being sneaky and shit."

"I'm going with Hawke no matter what," Ian said.

"So am I. Maybe this is about making up for the `Orion', but I don't care.
And if it's about Trev making up for being captured, well, Trev, I know I
forgive you. I mean we all screw up sometimes."

"This isn't right," Ian yelled. "This isn't right!" Trevor squeezed Ian's
hand trying to stop him. He knew exactly where Ian was going, and he didn't
want  Ian to say more. Ian ignored the squeeze as well as the look he
received from his lover. "Trevor got captured trying to rescue me when I
fell. He got captured so I wouldn't be. Isn't that what the Birds of Prey is
all about? About being there for each other?"

Once again there was a moment of silence, which this time was broken by
Spencer. "No shit? Hawke caught captured rescuing you?"

"That's right," Ian said.

"Well, fuck, Hawke, why didn't you tell us?"

Trevor wriggled uncomfortably. He didn't like being put on the spot. He
liked having Ian on the spot even less. But his hand had been called, and he
had to answer Spencer's question.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want you hating Eagle for getting away
while I got captured rescuing him. I know you guys don't always see him the
way I do and..."

"Stop right there," Chandler said. "Just come out with it. You and Eagle are
boyfriends, right?"

"Well, yeah, but...."

"But, if Eagle is good enough to be the boyfriend of the Hawke, he's plenty
good enough to be a Bird of Prey. It's time we quit treating him like he has
some kind of disease. It's time we're totally together in every way, because
if we aren't, then we aren't worth shit as a gang." That was a hard speech
for Chandler to give, because his heart still yearned for Trevor. He wanted
Trevor in every way, but he wanted to be a Bird of Prey even more. He buried
his jealousy of Ian and stood up for the group.

"Put it that way, Falcon, and I'm with the Hawke. You got captured standing
up for one of us. Now it's time to stand up for you," Spencer said. "Let's
follow the rescue team and see what happens. Let's just say it's a practice
run for the Birds of Prey." He wanted to add, and if you fuck up again Ian
I'll kick the crap out of you, but in deference to Hawke and the gang he
kept his mouth closed.

Dylan and Kyle fell right into line and it was agreed they would follow the
Marines rescue mission, but would not get involved. Going, following, and
returning undetected would be their mission's goal.

"You said they're leaving early in the morning," Spencer said. "What time
should we be on the `Raptor'?"

"The `Raptor' is the shuttle they're using," Trevor replied. "Because it is
harder to detect."

"Oh great, Hawke, and just how are we going to follow them, in space suits?"

"No. In the `Wonder Boy'."

"How? With all the new security stuff going on, we need an access code to
get into it."

"I have the access code," Trevor said.

"You do?"

"Yeah. It helps having two brothers on her crew."

KRITON FLEET HEADQUARTERS

General Elihu's meeting with  Professor Kragh-Xan had been long and arduous.
But the professor's discovery was the focal point of his entire plan, and he
had to be absolutely sure everything was in place. Over the next two months
forces would be put into action that could not be recalled.

The General went over his notes and recalled his conversation.

"The weapon will be ready?" the General had asked.

"It will be ready. For all practical purposes, it is ready."

"But it hasn't been tested."

"It can only be tested once. There is only enough known Xantium 4 to make
two weapons. The test will be a month before launch date, as we have
discussed."

"That's not soon enough. I've tested the worm holes. They work. I want the
weapon tested at the first possible opportunity."

"Which is a month from now."

"I expect sooner, so perhaps you had better go back to your precious
laboratory and take care of meeting your new deadline."

"Whatever you wish."

"Your prediction of the results is still the same?"

"At least seventy percent of Earth's population will be wiped out when the
weapon is launched."

The General smiled. Everything was riding on the Xantium bomb. Only two
existed. Probably, only two would ever exist. But it was the reason for his
entire charade with the Earth admiral. It was the only way he could sneak a
lone ship into the Earth's atmosphere and destroy the central planet of the
SFA. It was the only way he would become the supreme ruler of the Kriton
Empire.

THE LEXINGTON: CADET DINING HALL

"The Birds of Prey sure seem excited about something," Ben observed as he
surveyed the table where his brother's gang of friends were sitting.

"That can only mean trouble," Douglas said with a laugh, not realizing how
on the mark he was.

"Very true. I wonder what they are up to this time? There's not too much
trouble they can get to out here in deep space." Ben had no idea how off the
mark he was.

At their table The Birds of Prey were discussing the problem Ian had just
discovered in low voices. Ian had found out the "Wonder Boy" had been put
into a hangar to repair a small hole in the outer hull. It had probably been
put there by a small meteorite during their stay at Phosphorus Prime.
Normally, this wouldn't be a problem. Kyle knew how to pilot a shuttle out
of a hangar. The problem was that with the heightened security on board
ship, an entry code was needed to gain access to the hangar.

"Shit," Chandler whispered. "We have the code to the `Wonder Boy', but we
can't get to her. This really sucks. We need to board her tonight. I can do
some hacking to get it, but not that quickly."

"Don't be so sure," Trevor said. "Don't forget you're dealing with the
Hawke. The Hawke knows how to come through."

"What do you have in mind?" Spencer asked.

"I can't tell you. All I can say is just be prepared to board the `Wonder
Boy' as planned."

The boys finished their lunch. As Trevor bussed his tray Ben came up to him.

"You guys looked like you're really into something, bro," Ben said.

"Hey," Trevor said, pleased his big brother came up to talk to him. "We're
just talking."

"Looks like they have no hard feelings over you're being captured."

"They're cool with it."

"Good thing you're on the Lady Lex. Any other ship and you'd be on your
own."

"Whatever. They're my Birds of Prey. We stick together." Trevor knew those
weren't empty words. Ben invited Trevor to join him and Andrew for dinner.
Trevor said he'd think about it. As much as Trevor was envious of Andrew
being on Ben's shuttle and spending so much time with Ben, he still liked to
assert his independence.

Trevor knew he would need to go to the crew's quarters to find the person he
was looking for. But as he headed for an elevator, he was accosted by
Spencer.

"Need any help, Hawke?"

"No. I need to do this on my own."

"You do way too much on your own...or with Ian."

"Maybe. But this is something I gotta do alone. I don't want to spook this
person."

"Who?"

"I'll tell you after I take care of things."

"Hawke, can I ask you something else?"

"Okay. But hurry." Trevor was impatient, which was not unusual.

"Why didn't you leave Ian behind? You're the Hawke. He gets captured and he
just proves he's a dork which was something we all knew anyway. But you!
You're the Hawke! You get captured and it's a big deal. Like kind of a black
mark or something. You should've left him behind."

"I couldn't. He's a Bird of Prey."

"He's a dork."

"He's my...my...my boyfriend." There he said it. Said it to the big, buff,
tough, studly Spencer.

"He's still a dork."

Trevor felt his hands forming fists. Spencer was about to get a mouthful of
Hawke.

"So he's a dork. He's my friend. He's part of our gang. And even if he was
just a dork, I still couldn't leave him behind."

"He wasn't going to be hurt. I mean what were they gonna do to him, turn him
purple like they were?"

Trevor took a deep breath. "I left a friend behind. My best friend since I
was little. He died because I left him behind. I didn't kill him, but he
died because I decided to lock him up. I used to call him a dork. He told me
just because I thought Ian was dork didn't mean I couldn't love him."

"What do you mean he told you? I thought he was dead."

"A long story. Maybe you'll hear it some day when I think you're ready."
Only the boys who had been with him on the "Wonder Boy" the day they met the
dead and Ian knew of his meeting with Kiran. "But I will never leave anybody
behind again. No matter what it costs me. And that is how it should be for
all the Birds of Prey." Trevor took a deep breath. He was not a speech
maker. But he had to speak his mind or he would end up flattening Spencer.

"Whatever you say, Hawke." Trevor could tell Spencer wasn't entirely
convinced. Maybe some day he would be. But now wasn't the time to convince
him. He had to find the one person who could get him the code he needed.

"I gotta go get the code now."

"You sure I can't help?"

"Positive. But, thanks for offering." Another concession by Trevor. Trevor
was slowly learning his lessons not only in stealth and cunning, but also in
leadership, from Harrison Wolfe.

Spencer headed back to the cadet area. Trevor headed up the corridor to take
an elevator to the crew section. It was time to talk to the one person who
could help him get the code to the hangar area that housed the "Wonder Boy".

DESERT PLANET

Matt got out of bed. Jake had left it long ago to do whatever it was he did.
Matt noticed Jake had left his computer on. Jake normally wasn't that
careless. Jake had told him he could never get through the multiple
passwords and codes to log on and not to even bother. That hadn't stopped
Matt from trying, but Jake had been right; accessing the computer was
hopeless.

But, maybe this time it would be different. Matt moved across the room to
the desk that housed the computer. Every step hurt. Jake had given him lots
of whiskey, weed, and sex the night before, and every part of his body hurt
in some way. While Jake didn't smoke weed, he did like his booze, and had
plenty along with Matt. Maybe that was why he had made the mistake of
leaving the computer on.

Matt killed the screen saver, and saw the computer was logged into e-mail.
He wasn't surprised to see one of the last ones had been sent to his father.
He opened it and read it. One sentence stood out immediately. "Follow these
instructions at the conference or your son dies." What it said didn't
totally surprise him. He might only be twelve, but he knew the reason he had
been kidnapped was to pressure his father into making certain decisions. He
knew Ambassador Talon had been assassinated. He knew Jake Masters had been
the assassin. Yet, knowing all of this, and actually seeing it in writing
were two different things. Matt didn't know if Jake would actually kill him.
He didn't think he would, but he knew the slave market was no empty threat.

He scrolled back through the mail. There were more to his father plus a few
other that caught his attention. Some were to a Ba'Makrah, which mentioned a
beautiful, sexually experienced boy who might soon become available. There
also were some to and  from what appeared to be an encrypted address. What
little he could make out gave him the impression the mails were to and from
somebody high up in the SFA hierarchy.

He came to mail to a lady named Connie. He figured it didn't have to do with
him, but read it anway. "Hello, Connie, my love. Your Jake misses you." He
skipped over the next couple of paragraphs, saw it was more of the same, and
was about to move on when he saw his name mentioned. "I love the boy. Under
other circumstances he could be another Kalon, even if we have enjoyed the
pleasures of the bed together, something I never did with Kalon. But I can't
afford to keep him around. I can see even if his father cooperates I can't
let him return. He knows too much. Ba'Makrah is interested in him. He is
still young enough to have value....."

Matt had read enough. He knew he had to get away from Jake Masters. He
walked to the door that led to a large deck and started out at the desert
that surrounded the compound that was his prison. The problem was he also
knew there was no way out.

THE RAPTOR

The work crew of cadets finished outfitting  the "Raptor". All the boys but
one resented having to work on Sunday, their day off, even for only a couple
of hours.

"It better be pretty important," one boy said. "I mean this sure isn't
something regular when we do this instead of its normal crew."

As the boys filed out off the airlock back on to the "Lexington", one of
them held back. He unplugged a wire from the engineering station, pulled a
small device from under his tunic, plugged it into the port, then placed the
wire into the device. He hoped this was more successful than the one placed
on the "Wonder Boy." He had been told the device would send the shuttle out
of control into space, never to return. Instead it had homed in on the
"Lexington" and almost killed them all. The boy was happy to play saboteur
for the officer who commanded him, but not at the risk of his own life. He
had been assured this device was much more reliable and posed no danger to
him or to the ship.

He had been told to lay low after the "Wonder Boy" incident, but if anything
out of the ordinary arose, to find a way to sabotage whatever was planned.
This sudden outfitting of the "Raptor" on a Sunday by cadets other than the
crew seemed to qualify. The boy left the shuttle, knowing he had done his
job properly. None of the other boys noticed that one member of their work
crew was a bit tardy.

THE LEXINGTON: CREW QUARTERS

Like all the large starships, the "Lexington" was equipped to carry a
limited number of families. As a result, Brian McDowell had his own cabin.
It had direct access to the corridor outside, but was also connected to his
parent's larger cabin. It afforded Brian the privacy he so desired, yet kept
him connected to his parents, something he didn't always see as a good
thing. He bitterly resented being on the "Lexington", and since the fiasco
on Phosphorus Prime, the resentment had done nothing but build.

He was attempted to read a book, but found he couldn't concentrate. This
wasn't unusual. Reading was about all he did. He loved to read, but it took
him only so far. It couldn't erase the loneliness, boredom, and bitterness
he felt. It couldn't overcome the sense of defeat that crushed his soul
every day.

Brian almost jumped off his chair from surprise when he heard the knock on
his door. The visitor could only be one person, and that would be Zjan-Ren.

"Go away," Brian yelled. "Leave me alone forever!"

He was surprised to hear the voice of a boy come from the other side of the
door. "It's me, Trevor."

Brian got out of his chair and hobbled to the door and opened it. "What are
you doing here? We aren't supposed to meet until tonight."

"I'm not here about that."

"What are you here for?"

"Can I come in?" Trevor asked.

Brian hesitated, but finally let Trevor into his cabin. Trevor was impressed
with what he saw. The walls were covered with posters and pictures of
dragons. There were statues and models of dragons on shelves. The walls were
also lined with books. Harrison Wolfe must love this guy, Trevor thought. No
wonder he's my tutor.

"What do you want?" Brian asked coldly.

"Why are you all crippled?" Trevor asked in his usual blunt, undiplomatic
fashion.

"Why do you care?"

"I don't know. I just do. You're my tutor and everything. I mean you don't
see people all crippled much. I just wondered."

"I got hit by a drunk driver, okay?"

"So? Why couldn't they fix you? I mean doctors can fix everything."

"Almost everything," Brian said bitterly.

"Okay, almost everything then. But why not you?"

"Because one out of every one thousand people is allergic to the
regeneration meds. About half of them can get meds for the allergy and can
probably be fixed. The other half," Brian said with a bitter laugh, " end up
like me."

"I heard you really sucked in the sword competition." Trevor had been
willing to keep his mouth shut as Brian tutored him, but now, here in his
room, he wanted to know exactly what his tutor was like.

"You don't mince words do you? Maybe you should just leave."

"I don't care that you sucked. It was better than me. I didn't even get to
play baseball."

"I know you got the `Orion's' flag in the shuttle competition. And I heard
your crew got their ship's flag right of their ship. That isn't sucking."

"But I'm a baseball player. I wanted to play. I wanted to play bad. Even if
our team sucked, I wanted to play. You got to do what you wanted to do, even
if you sucked at it."

"Who said I wanted to do it?"

"If you didn't want to do it," Trev asked, "then why did you do it?"

"I don't know. Got talked into it I guess. All I did was embarrass myself
and my team."

"No you didn't. The whole Lady Lex sucked. Wait until the Olympics. You're
going to kick ass, just like the rest of us will.

"No, I won't. I quit. I'm not doing anything in the Olympics. Now, what did
you come here for? Just to give me a hard time?"

Trevor had no use for quitters. Sure he had told Ian he quit as the Hawke,
but what he said came from anger, not from the heart. He was the Hawke more
than ever, now. He knew, however, this wasn't the time to lecture Brian on
quitting. "No, I need a favor."

"You're something else, Trevor. You come in here and ask me private
questions and tell me I sucked in the competition, then you tell me you want
a favor."

"Are you good at keeping secrets?" Trevor asked.

"Depends."

"I need you to keep one. It's important."

Brian took a deep breath. "As long as the secret doesn't hurt anybody, I'll
keep it."

"It won't hurt anybody who doesn't know what's going on. Good enough?"

Brian hesitated, then said, "Good enough."

Trev proceeded to tell him about what he had overheard, and the plans of the
Birds of Prey. He knew he was placing a lot of faith in Brian, but in order
of his plan to succeed, he needed Brian. Brian listened intently as Trevor
finished.

"So what do you need me for?" Brian asked.

"I need you to get me the access code to the hangar the `Wonder Boy' is in.
Your dad is head of security and he's got to have the codes somewhere."

"You're asking me to steal something from my dad so you can go put you and
your crew in danger? Are you nuts?"

Trevor worked to keep his temper in check. This wasn't the time to have one
of his tantrums. "Nobody will get hurt. It's a practice session in stealth
for my crew. We won't get in the way of the Marines. But we want to pull
this off. We want to show ourselves what we can do."

"You know what you can do. You did it when you took the flags."

"Look, will you help us?"

Brian knew where his dad's code book was. He figured he could get access to
it by the time Trev needed it. But he also knew there was nothing in it for
him. The loneliness, the emptiness, the bitterness wouldn't go away. He
would open a safe, write down a number, and give it to the vibrant,
athletic, boy in front of him, and he would still be a defeated, useless
cripple. He looked at Trev, so full of himself, so cocky, so sure that no
matter what he did, he would succeed at it. He saw The Hawke.

But he had also seen the Trevor who needed a tutor. The one who treated the
study of history as a disease, and who was lost in the world of numbers. He
had seen Trevor not as The Hawke, but as a boy who could ignore and fail at
the things that didn't suit him. He saw Trevor's vulnerability. He had seen
something he, Brian McDowell, was better at. He took a deep breath, and made
a decision, one that was somewhat impulsive. It was one that, if he had been
mature enough to realize it, had the potential of being a life changing one.

"I'll get you the code under one condition?"

"What's that?" Trevor asked.

"That I get to go with you."

THE LEXINGTON: CADET DINING HALL

"You're letting WHO go with us?" Spencer asked incredulously as the boy sat
down for dinner.

"Brian McDowell," Trevor said forcefully.

"Why? Why the cripple who wussed out in the games? Who everybody says was a
fucking coward?"

"Because I want him to. He's my tutor. He's helping us. I want him to go
with us." Trev wasn't about to dig a hole for Brian by saying Brian had used
extortion to gain passage on the mission. Brian was going, and nobody had to
know the real reason. "He's my friend," Trev said with conviction. "And the
Hawke doesn't leave friends behind. But you know that already."

A few tables away, Ben and Douglas were sitting at their shuttle's table.

"Quite a heated discussion going on there," Douglas observed.

"Must be important for Trev to skip that invitation to eat with us. I wonder
what kind of trouble they're cooking up."

"Well, we said at lunch, what kind of trouble can they get into out in the
middle of deep space?" Both boys smiled at each other knowing what a stupid
question that was.

"Okay. He goes. But only if he gets us the codes," Spencer said.

"Duh," Chandler said. "Without the codes, nobody goes, at least not until
sometime tomorrow when it's too late."

"Don't worry, Spencer, we're just going to look, not to do anything,
remember?"

"Still. I don't like the idea of having him along. Bad enough having the
dork who got you caught with us."

"That's enough!" Trevor said. "Ill fight you all if I have to. Ian is a Bird
of Prey. I would've gone for any of you."

"You wouldn't have needed to," Dylan said.

"And what's he done for us lately, or ever?" Spencer said.

"He found out about the `Wonder Boy' being in hangar three, for one thing."

Ian sat silently, staring at his food, knowing that as soon as this mission
was over, it was time for him to quit being the Eagle. Eagles soared, and he
was a dork, pure and simple. Dorks crawled.

"I gotta say some thing," Ian said.

"Do we have to pay attention?" Spencer asked.

Trev stood up quickly, knocking over his chair. The boys at the adjacent
tables looked up.

"Roh, oh, trouble," Douglas said. "Should we go over there?"

"No. Let's let Trev work his way out of this, whatever it is," Ben said.

"Just shut up and let him talk," Trevor said. "And maybe it's time for us to
be a team, like we talked about,"

"I'm all for being a team," Spencer retorted, "as soon as your boyfriend is
willing to be a part of it and do things other than getting people
captured."

Trevor wished Ian had kept his mouth shut about the reason for his capture.
All he had done with dig himself a deeper hole.  He picked up his chair and
sat down. "What do you have to tell us?" Trevor asked, his voice shaking
some from anger.

"Well, first, Scottie changed watches with Tad Phillips. He's on the two to
four watch in the bridge tomorrow morning."

"So?" Spencer asked with a bite to his voice.

Ian took a deep breath. He didn't really want to leave the Birds of Prey.
What he really wanted to do was make Trevor proud of him, to become a true
part of the team, not because he was Trevor's boy friend, but because he had
earned it. He knew in his heart, if he didn't do it now, right her, then he
really would leave the team after the mission.

"The opening of the hangar door will be detected in the bridge. Scottie will
act like Carson did for us before. He will ignore it. It's not like
launching from a berth on the side of the ship. We'll leave before the
`Raptor' does."

"Great," Chandler said, trying to bring peace to the table. "The Brothers
brothers come through again."

"But if we leave before the `Raptor' does, we'll be seen hanging around the
ship."

Ian picked up a notebook he's stuffed under his chair. He opened it to a
diagram of the outside of the Lady Lex. "Not if we hang right at this spot
here." He pointed to a spot just of the stern of the ship. "It's her blind
spot, just like Kalon told us. Once you slide inside it you can't be
detected."

"Kalon told us that?" Spencer asked.

"Maybe you should pay attention in class sometimes, Spencer," Chandler said.
"Go on Ian. Sounds like you have a plan going."

"I do. As soon as the Lady Lex drops out of warp we launch and drift back to
the blind spot.. That should be right about oh three hundred and the
`Raptor' should launch within minutes after that. The hangar is farther back
than the `Raptor's' berth, so we shouldn't be seen while we drift back. Then
we have Scottie open the hangar door for us from the bridge."

Trevor couldn't help but smile. He didn't know what Ian had been up to all
afternoon, but apparently he had gotten even more accomplished than he had.

"So go on, what is it?" Trevor asked.

"We follow the `Raptor' at the farthest distance we can. She probably won't
have her stealth stuff on, because it eats a lot of fuel and she doesn't
expect to be followed. We move in every couple of minutes to make sure she's
still there."

"Great idea, Ian, but how do we even know what direction to follow it,
especially once we go to warp?" Spencer asked dubiously.

"Easy. I have the coordinates of the outpost planet."

"Say what? How did you get those? Let me see?" Spencer said..

"Colonel Stone is a bit careless about leaving stuff out on his desk. Guess
he didn't expect a Bird of Prey to drop in."

Now Trev's grin was about to break his face. Just like Harrison Wolfe had
been his mentor in the art of stealth and deception, he had been Ian's, and
it looked like Ian had learned his lessons well.

Ian pulled a sheet of paper out of the notebook. "We could get there first
if we wanted. but that's not the idea. We want to follow them and see what
they do and not get caught by them. Not getting caught by the Lady Lex will
be hard because it's going to be kinda hard to hide the fact we took a
shuttle. But what we don't want is to be caught by the `Raptor'."

Spencer looked at Ian with a new measure of respect. "So, you mean you
dropped into Colonel Stone's office and just stole this stuff?"

"Nah, he'd know it was missing. I made copies on his copy machine."

"Shit. Not bad work for a dork." Spencer looked at Ian and smiled at him for
the first time ever. "Not bad work for an Eagle either."

Trevor reached under the table and squeezed Ian's hand. "Good work," he
mouthed.

Ben and Douglas watched as the Birds of Prey finished eating and got up from
the table.

"I guess the solved their problems," Douglas said.

"Yep, and I don't know whether that's good or bad," Ben observed.

THE LEXINGTON: CREW QUARTERS

"Here is the code," Brian said as he handed a piece of paper to Trevor.

"Thanks. Meet us at hangar three at oh one thirty."

"You're not going to go leave at one and leave me behind are you?"

"Never. You have the word of The Hawke. I don't leave my friends behind."

"Did you say friend?" Brian asked quietly.

"Yes."

Brian smiled briefly, then put his unemotional face back on quickly. "I have
one more favor to ask," Brian said.

"What's that?"

"That Zjan-Ren never finds out I went with you guys."

THE WONDER BOY

So far it had all gone according to plan. Scottie had let them sneak out of
the hangar. The were now riding in the blind spot of the Lady Lex waiting
for the launch of  the "Raptor." Right at oh three hundred the "Raptor" left
her berth and took off in the expected direction. The "Wonder Boy" went
after her, Dylan maintaining the proper distance. The adrenaline through the
boys' blood streams more than made up for any tiredness they felt.

The boys went about their duties as Brian sat in the jump seat usually
occupied by Kalon or one of the other crew instructors. Except for Trevor
and Ian the rest of the Birds of Prey pointedly ignored him. But Brian had
one thing going for him that had nothing to do with him directly. The
redemption of Ian at dinner after he formulated the plan they were following
had shown a the tougher boys that things weren't always as they seemed; even
a dork can find occasion to soar like an Eagle.

THE RAPTOR

The crew of the "Raptor" consisted of eight men tightly squeezed into the
small student shuttle: Kalon Masters and Ensign Anderson, of the "Lexington"
crew to fly the shuttle; Master Sergeant Flint, Sergeant Masters, Corporal
Bennett, Corporal Eckstein, and Colonel Stone of the Marines: and Harrison
Wolfe. Kalon couldn't help but be amazed at how the English teacher managed
to get himself into the middle of things. Kalon piloted the shuttle with
Anderson acting as his engineer and navigator.

"We fly in warp for thirty minutes. When we drop out we should be about a
five hundred thousand clicks from the planet. Then we sneak up to it and
land near where the old SFA compound was," Colonel Stone said.

"All of the intelligence I have says there is little there in the way of
detection devices. The SFA took all their equipment when they abandoned the
outpost," Harrison Wolfe said.

"How recent is your intelligence, Mister Wolfe?" Colonel Stone asked.

"Admittedly, not very recent."

"Then we approach the planet with all caution."

"That's strange," Ensign Anderson said. "I just got a blip on our rear
sensor."

"Is it still there?" Stone asked.

"No, it just came and went."

"Do your friends have shuttles flying watch, Mister Wolfe?" Stone asked.

"They'd have to have a pretty large fleet to cover all the ground they'd
need to. I doubt it."

"It's probably just a glitch on the sensor. Even a new student shuttle like
this doesn't have the best equipment made," Kalon observed.

A couple of minutes later Anderson said, "There it is again." Kalon looked
down at his screen, but saw nothing. "Gone again."

Suddenly the lights flickered off,  the hum of the warp drive stopped, and
the "Raptor" fell out of warp, coming to a complete stop. The lights came
back on using emergency power.

"What happened?" Stone asked.

"I don't know. We just lost all of our power," Anderson said.

"This isn't something your friends who keep appearing on our sensors did, is
it Mister Wolfe?" Stone asked.

Wolfe didn't answer.

THE WONDER BOY

"They dropped out of warp," Chandler said. "Are we there already?"

"No, it's too soon according to these plans," Ian said. "Something must be
wrong."

"Drop out of warp," Trev ordered.

The "Wonder Boy" dropped out of warp. "There's the `Raptor'," Chandler said,
checking his instruments. Trevor could now see her out the window.

"She's on emergency power," Ian said.

"How do you know?" Spencer asked.

"By the way the navigation lights are flashing."

"What do we do now?" Kyle asked.

"You have the coordinates of the planet, right Ian?" Trevor asked.

"Right here," Ian said pointing to his notebook.

"And the coordinates of the place the boy is?"

"Yes."

"Well, then," Trevor said. "I don't know what happened to the `Raptor', but
somebody has to rescue that boy. It might as well be the Birds of Prey."

"I love it!" Spencer said. "Let's do it!"

All of the boys cheered except Brian McDowell. He was just realizing he was
getting more than he had bargained for.

"Put her in warp, Ian," Spencer said. "Let's go kick some ass."

THE RAPTOR

"Sir, a shuttle just dropped out of warp," Ensign Anderson said.

"Can you get weapons up?" Colonel Stone asked.

"Negative, sir. We have no power for the weapons. It's all currently in life
support."

"Then it looks like we might be in deep shit," Stone observed.

"I don't think so," Kalon said with a smile. "That shuttle happens to be the
`Wonder Boy'. That's who's been following us."

"The `Wonder Boy'? What are they doing following us. That's the shuttle of
Ben and Douglas. They're not that stupid," Stone said.

"Sir, the shuttle has just gone back into warp, on a heading for the
outpost."

"Goddamn it! Ben and Douglas are two of our most reliable cadets. What the
hell to they think they're doing?" Stone shouted.

"Oh, I don't think you're seeing Ben and Douglas dashing off to the rescue,"
Harrison Wolfe said with a smile. The Lady Lex was full of audacious boys,
but only one group had the skills and the audacity to steal a shuttle. "I
think you're seeing Trevor and The Birds of Prey."

Kalon looked out into space. "Well, whoever it is, good luck to them.
They'll need it."

To be continued.....