Greetings once again to our readers. Ben and I were a little slow posting this chapter. We always want to stay 10 chapters ahead of posting in our writing and we postponed writing Chapter 24 because we were getting lost in revisions and revisions of revisions, so we decided to catch ourselves up. Of course Ben loves introducing a lot of new character.. Sometimes I wonder if he doesn't add them so I can kill them off. (I WAS JUST JOKING BEN!!). Being an even numbered chapter this is a Douglas chapter. It doesn't really go anywhere, but it does help you to get to know some of the characters a little better. As always Ben and I invite you to e-mail us at TheHakaanen@hotmail.com. And as usual you should be over 18 to read this and it's copyrighted material.
Thanks for reading and do come back. -Douglas and Ben
The Boys of the Lady Lex Chapter 14 "Settling In" Written By Douglas DD and Benjamin TC
Admiral Whitaker paced his office on his flagship, SFA "Yorktown". He was obviously angry. The news from the SFA officer on his view screen was bad enough, but the slight delay between them was just enough to send him over the edge.
"Dammit Bryce, am I suddenly surrounded by incompetents? I picked the cream of the cream for this project, and you're all performing like you were first levels and a goddamn junior academy ship. Let me count this all off. You let Natter find out, who lets Hatcher find out, that we took over the juvenile offender schools. You somehow let him get his fucking gravity generator back. You kidnap the wrong boy. Now I find out the energy pulse that is so central to our plans somehow got used by one of your underlings. And not only was it used, it was used on Hatcher's goddamn nephew! And just what the hell was HE doing on Lucifer? How did that happen Bryce! How did the pulse end up getting used in that whole botched affair?"
"Sir. Major Arlington took it out of my safe thinking it was a normal pulse pistol. Things were happening quickly on Lucifer when we found out the Lady Lex was stealing the generator."
"How did he get into your safe? Did you leave it unlocked?"
"No, sir. He had the combination." Captain Bryce Olson sat at his desk, cursing the delay, and preparing himself for Whitaker's explosion.
"GODDAMMIT TO HELL, BRYCE!!!!! And he just opened it up and took it??? Just like that???"
"No, sir, I asked him to get it. I forgot I had put the energy pulse capsule in it. I thought it was locked in the safe box inside the safe. I swore I had emptied the pulse pistol of the capsule."
The ensuing delay was even longer than the built in distance delay. "You didn't think, Bryce. You managed to just be plain stupid! Why did you need that pistol? Don't you carry your own weapon?"
Bryce sighed. "Sir, you have to understand Lucifer doesn't allow weaponry on the surface of it's planet. It's one of the secrets to its success. Only their police can be armed. By keeping it in the safe in the office I was working to stay away from trouble with the law. And we never expected anyone to make a try at the generator. We were just going to collect our money, and wait for the raider to come back after it dropped off the boy. Things happened quickly."
"Well, fortunately the boy lived, though I wouldn't have mourned his death for very long. But I have enough problems with Hatcher and that project of his without having his nephew getting killed. But the bad news is, they know about the energy pulse. Those two doctors know, though I don't know how they saved the boy without the antidote."
Bryce sat there stunned when he heard the admiral's last statement. You son-of-a-bitch, he thought. You had the antidote! You knew that boy was sick. You knew it from your sources on the Lady Lex. You know he was probably going to die, and you sat on the antidote. You were worried about Hatcher, my ass. You probably figured his nephew being killed would distract him just enough to make him less of a problem. How did I get myself into this mess? I still believe in end result of our plan, but I don't believe in Whitaker. He's a dangerous megalomaniac, and after we succeed in bringing down the Kriton's, I'm going to go after you admiral, because you are lower than Venusian pond scum.
His thoughts were disturbed by Whitaker's voice on the comm. "I was able to quash an investigation by SFA intelligence. I put that small time doctor in charge of examining the agent. Like he will have the time or means to do anything. Let him go chasing alien bad guys, just as long as nobody discovers that Agent Yellow was developed by our own SFA scientists. Bryce, Agent Yellow is a big part of our plan. If anything else happens to compromise it, you will regret the day you were accepted as a cadet on a junior academy ship."
Like I don't already, Captain Bryce Olson thought after Whitaker signed off.
Douglas walked into sick bay after dinner. It was free time now. Instead of heading for the recreation hanger to socialize or participate in playing games, he went directly to sick bay to see his roommate. He had been out for three days, now. When he got there he saw the Ben's empty food tray was still on the swing out table over his bed. Ben was asleep. He still looked pale, but he looked better than he had the day before, when he had come within a breath of dying. Ben's hand was lying loosely at the side of the bed. Douglas pulled up a chair, sat down, and took Ben's hand in his own.
He sat there doing nothing but holding it and looking at the boy in front of him. He wanted to memorize every curve, every hair, every freckle on his face. He wanted to imprint the shape of his lips, his eyes, his nose, his ears in his own brain. He knew that yesterday the feeling he got when Ben regained consciousness was something indescribable. He couldn't think of anything but Ben the rest of the night. He couldn't wait until his roommate could return to his room.
A half hour passed of his doing nothing but stare at the sleeping boy and holding his hand. He couldn't just look any longer. He got up from the chair, bent down, and kissed him lightly on the lips, and sat down again.
Ben's eyelids fluttered and he woke up. The first thing he saw was Douglas smiling at him. Then he felt his hand in his roomie's.
"Good evening, Sleeping Beauty," Douglas said. Was I the handsome prince waking my love up with a kiss? Douglas thought. My love? Did I really think that? Am I falling in love with him?
"Hey," Ben said sleepily. Am I happy to see him, Ben thought. But I had such a weird dream, like he was kissing me awake. But that couldn't possibly be true. "Is that my hand you're holding?"
Douglas let go, embarrassed. He'd had hold of it for so long he didn't realize he was still holding it.
Ben move his hand out and touched Douglas. "Keep it there, please. I liked it."
"You're sure?" Douglas asked.
"Yes. Very sure," Ben said quietly.
Douglas took his hand again and held it, their fingers interlocking. "How are you feeling?"
"Better. Tired, but better." He hesitated, then said, "Even better now that you're here."
Douglas said nothing. He squeezed Ben's hand a little tighter and smiled.
"What time is it?" Douglas told him, and Ben said, "Why aren't you at rec time?"
"Because I wanted to be with you." This time it was Ben's turn to say nothing and squeeze tighter.
Their reverie was disturbed by Dr. Daniels entry into the room. Dr. Daniels noticed the two boys holding hands, but said nothing. The boys made no attempt to let go of each other. They both saw no reason to, as they instinctively trusted the ship's doctor, Douglas all the more so because the man was his father.
"Hello, boys. Looks like you're taking good care of Ben, son." Douglas blushed but didn't let go of Ben's hand.
"I thought my being here would help him."
"Oh, it looks like it has." He bared Ben's chest and set an instrument on it. He took Ben's vital signs. "You're doing fine, Ben. Great in fact. I think you should get up and walk around the sick bay some. Douglas will be glad to help you, I'm sure. I'm going to give you more to do each day. It won't be long and you'll be at full strength.,
Dr. Daniels helped Ben out of the bed. Ben put his hand on Douglas's shoulder, and Douglas led him slowly out of the room and around the sickbay, as Dr. Daniels returned to his office. By the time they got back to the bed, Ben was close to exhausted. As Douglas helped Ben back into bed, he couldn't help but notice his smooth muscular ass sticking up from his hospital gown. Oh, god, that is fine, he thought.
Douglas put the covers back over Ben. "I guess it's time for me to get back. Rec time is almost over." He took Ben's hand in his and squeezed it. "See ya, roomie."
"See ya." Then Ben took a deep breath and said, "Douglas?"
"Yes."
"Don't think this is weird, okay? It's probably the drugs and things they've been giving me, but I was dreaming about you when I woke up."
"Really?"
"Yeah, really."
"What was the dream about?"
Ben took a deep breath, not knowing why he was bringing this up. Maybe it WAS the drugs and stuff they were giving him. "I dreamed you were kissing me." Ben blushed, waiting for Douglas to laugh, or worse yet walk out on him.
Now it was Douglas's turn to take a deep breath. He didn't have the excuse of being sick or drugged up for his decision. But he made it anyway. He'd actually made it when he'd given Ben that first kiss just before he woke up. "You mean like this?" He leaned over and gently kissed Ben on the lips.
Ben swooned, and almost passed out from the feelings that coursed through him. "Um,,yes. Like that."
Douglas smiled and walked out of the room. Ben figured that was one of the two things Douglas would do, but he didn't think it would quite be like that. Ben put his hand to his lips and touched them. I can't believe he actually did it, he thought. He smiled, closed his eyes, and was instantly asleep - exhausted and happy.
Johnny pulled Trev aside in the rec hanger.
"How's it going, kid?"
"Fine." Even after his help when they lost gravity, Trev didn't like Johnny Cooper. But on the flip side, Johnny's sheer badness, attitude, and charisma
fascinated him. He was torn between walking away from Johnny and following him anywhere.
"I'm thinking I have a way of you paying me back what you owe me."
"I don't owe you nothing," Trev replied sulkily.
"Who made you the first member of my gang? Who got you down off the ceiling?" Johnny said.
The word gang perked Trev up. He wanted to belong to something, and Johnny's gang seemed the thing. He quit sulking and asked Johnny what it was he had to do.
Johnny didn't bother telling Trev that the gang consisted of only him and Trev. And after the Captain makes his announcement in the morning about him being fucking CO, the chances of his getting anybody else gets slimmer. The whole idea of having the New Mustang Gang was to get at authority. And now the captain was making him part of authority. It would be hard to recruit members as the cadet CO. After tomorrow most of the boys on the Lady Lex would see him as a sell-out. But then, he always managed to find a way to turn things to his advantage. This shouldn't be any different. He just needed to find a way to make the boys he needed become more loyal to the cadet CO than to the Lady Lex. And Trev was going to be his start.
"Well, kid, see those ducts up there in the ceiling?"
"Yeah."
"The ones on the far left go right over the kitchen pantry. The pantry has our snacks. I think it's time we get to have midnight snacks, don't you agree?"
"I suppose."
"Do you have watch tonight?"
"Yeah."
Johnny was disappointed. He wanted this done before the captain made his announcement. Well on to Plan B.
"But not tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah." Trev was a boy of few words.
"Okay, then. Meet me in my room tomorrow night right before lights out. I'll show you what to do. Oh, and Trev, tomorrow the captain is going to make a dumb announcement. Whatever he says it doesn't change a thing between us, right?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"Great. You know it doesn't. See you tomorrow night."
Trev took off, and Johnny turned the other way. Free time would be over in ten minutes, so he might as well head for his room. As he turned he bounced into Mike.
"Watch where you're going, faggot."
"That's a hell of a way to talk to you're XO," Mike said with a grin.
"Fuck you."
"Do you mind telling me what's eating you? We were buddies once, remember?"
"That was before you became a faggot."
"I was a faggot then. I might have just been 12, but I was gay and you knew it."
"That was then. This is now. Don't mess with me."
"Something happened to you, Johnny. What was it?
Johnny pushed him aside, started to walk away, and then turned to him. "And don't think I was impressed with the way you were kissing the captain's butt. And you won't have to worry about being my fucking cadet XO for long, because Johnny doesn't kiss ass, and he's shucking his job right about the time the captain announces it. So just stay out of my life and out of my way, okay?"
Johnny walked away, leaving Mike shaking his head. The Johnny he knew was a tough hard street kid, arrogant, cocky, and more than willing to take on authority. But he was also fair and loyal to his friends. Something had happened to Johnny, and Mike had a pretty good idea he knew what it was. Johnny had pulled him out of a few tough spots when he was younger. Maybe it was time for a Donkey to help out a Mustang.
Christopher Collier, the captain of the "Yorktown", paged Admiral Whitaker. "The `Orion" has left warp space and is off out starboard bow, Admiral."
"Very well, thank you, Captain."
The Admiral paced his ready room as a shuttle left the "Orion", commanded by a senior cadet. It didn't have a full crew, just the CO and his pilot, a junior, and a 15 year old sophomore passenger. The young pilot expertly guided the shuttle into a hangar, and the sophomore debarked. He was immediately escorted to the Admiral's ready room
"Cadet Whitaker reporting as ordered, sir," Tim said, standing at attention in front of his father.
"At ease, cadet. Have a seat."
"Thank you, fath...., er sir."
With the proper formalities out of the way, Tim sat. His father pulled an envelope out of his desk, got up and walked to the couch, and handed it to his son.
"This is it. You get no other copies of this disk. Don't let anyone us it or even see it. And only let those you trust know about it. But, make use of it. That's an order, son."
"Yes, sir."
"This is your ticket off the "Orion". Play your cards right and next semester you're home and in the school of your choice. I'd rather see you get the discipline the academy can give you. I know about your reputation as a party boy, but a deal is a deal. "Orion" beats Lady Lex and wins the Olympics you're free."
Tim had blushed at the mention of party boy. He accepted the envelope with the disk and put it in a pocket inside his tunic. He got up off the couch and looked up at the imposing figure of his father.
"Stand at attention, cadet."
Tim didn't. He merely walked out of the ready room, saying nothing, closing the door a bit harder than necessary. His father didn't move. He stared at the door shaking his head, wondering where he had gone wrong raising his son.
Tim was escorted back to shuttle hanger five. His father had given him the disk with most of the questions for the academic part of the Olympics. He had given him his way off the "Orion". But he hadn't given him the thing he wanted most; a hug.
Tim sat cross-legged on his bed, wearing just his uniform pants. David sat at the desk, and Mark was on his bed on the other side of the room. They were both fully dressed in their cadet uniforms. Mark wasn't trying at all to hide his disdain for Tim.
"Are you sure you can do it?" Mark asked.
"I said I could, didn't I?"
"Why is your father doing this?"
"He has his reasons. But, like all of us he doesn't want to see those assholes win."
"My father is the captain of that ship, you know."
"I know, Mark. And now you have to decide what's most important to you, your fellow cadets and this ship. Or a group of delinquents you don't know. I don't see how your father makes any difference here. I mean in the end, wouldn't he still be proud of his perfect son for winning?" For once Tim had the upper hand on Mark, and he was making the most of it. "And me getting those questions doesn't guarantee we will win, it just helps give us the upper hand. Some things still have to be won on the playing field." He picked up his fencing foil and whipped it in front of him.
Mark looked at David. He was torn between being loyal to his father, and giving his team the best chance of winning, even if it wasn't entirely fair. Oh well, he thought, from what I've heard it's not the first time cheating will have gone on during the academy Olympics.
"Okay, I'm in. But for now just the three of us know, right?"
"Right," Tim said. "David?"
"I don't even have to think about it," David said. "Just the fact somebody whose name I refuse to say is on that ship is enough reason for me. I'm in."
Mark and David got up. Both of them had duties to attend to. Tim had fencing lessons in a half hour so was excused from his duties for the day. Mark and David left the cabin and headed up the corridor outside. From the other end a small 11 year old boy, his uniform tunic unbuttoned, snuck around a corner and walked into Tim and Mark's room.
Tim was waiting for him, hugging him as soon as he came in, pulling his loose tunic off him. "Hi, Greg." He bent down and kissed his cute red lips and rubbed the back of his hand across the young boy's smooth cheeks.
He opened up the boy's pants and pulled them and his underwear down. "We have to be quick," Tim said.
"I know." Greg was already naked, standing in front of the older boy, his dick tall and proud. Tim shed his uniform pants and pulled Greg onto his bed. If Mark ever finds out about this, I'm dead, I blow everything he thought, as Greg's small boner entered his mouth, but it's worth it. The two boys made good use of the half hour.
Millions of kilometers away, Mark's brother Jesse was showering. His roommate, Scottie was standing under a shower head across from him. There were two other boys who looked around 15 or 16 whom Jesse didn't know, as well as Scooter and TJ, two boys he knew, mainly because Scooter was in charge of scheduling the watches, not to mention he was always in trouble with Sergeant Murdock.
Jesse's eyes were on Scottie, however. For whatever reason, he couldn't stop looking at him and thinking about him. He knew his feelings were wrong, but that's how it was. He knew he was the captain's son and shouldn't have feelings for a boy. He knew even better he was Mark's brother, and Mark would kill him for just having these thoughts. But he also knew nothing would come of his thinking, because he was sure Scottie would never be thinking of another boy the way he was thinking of Scottie.
"Hey, Jesse, who are you thinking of?" Scottie said with a leer.
"Huh?" He shook his head and came back to reality.
"Don't you even know you have a boner?"
Jesse looked down and did a full body blush. The other four boys in the shower looked at him, the two strange teens looked at him and laughed, while TJ and Scooter looked and nodded knowingly. Jesse fought back tears, and ran out of the shower, grabbing his towel and draping it around him. Scottie followed him out and put an arm around him.
"Hey, it's okay, Jesse, we all get them."
"I'm the captain's son," Jesse said, fighting back sobs and pushing Scottie's arm away.
"Yeah, I think we all know that. But what does it have to do with getting a boner in the shower?"
Jesse already had his underpants and pants on over his wet body. He didn't even bother to dry off.
"It has everything to do with everything. I'm not supposed to think the way I think." He ran out, still shirtless, water dripping off his wet hair, not stopping until he got back to his room.
Scottie took his time drying off and getting dressed, figuring his roommate needed some time to calm down. Damn he's a sexy boy, Scottie thought. Too bad he's the captain's son, or I'd be working to get in bed with him. I haven't had a boy in so long, it sure is tempting to. But he'll probably just stay a jerk off fantasy.
When Scottie entered the room he saw Jesse lying on his stomach on his bed. What surprised him was that Jesse was totally naked, his cute, hard bubble butt sticking up in the air. It was all Scottie could do not to walk to the room and put his hands on it. Instead he pulled off his T-shirt, shower shoes, and sweats. He was now naked as well. He dropped on his bed, laying on his back.
"Hey, roomie, how are you doing?"
He made out Jesse's muffled, "Leave me alone."
"Come on, Jesse, getting a boner in the shower is not the end of the world. It's happened to me."
"I don't care!"
Scottie sighed. "And so what about your dad. I thought you joined us to show your dad up. So who cares what he thinks. And how is he going to know anyway?"
"You don't get it do you?"
"No, I guess I don't. You don't like your dad. You want to show him up. And you worry what he'll think because you got a boner in the showers. You're right, I really don't get it."
Scottie remembered one thing Jesse said in the shower. "I'm not supposed to think the way I think." Well, Scottie thought, from what he's told me his dad thinks he's a wimp. His dad thinks his older brother is perfect. And now he's worried about one more black mark. That can only mean one thing. For better or worse, he was going to take the plunge. He got up off his bed, sat down next to Jesse and place his hand on his moist back. He fought back the urges flowing through him. God, if I'm not careful, I'll get the next boner, he thought.
"What you're tying to say, roomie, is that boner didn't come on because you were thinking of some girl you left behind on Earth, did it?"
"Leave me alone."
"You got it because you were in a shower with naked boys. That's what you're afraid of, isn't it. Those boys turned you on."
"No."
"You're afraid you're gay aren't you? You're afraid what your dad would think. You're afraid that no matter what you do, he'll hate you for it, and it will just make your brother Mark more perfect. Am I right?"
Jesse managed to say a shaky "No" between deep breathes and sobs. Scottie lifted Jesse up, held him close, and let the tears fall on his bare shoulder. For Scottie, having Jesse's naked skin against him was sexual and it wasn't. It was sexual, because that's the way it was, a beautiful boy's naked skin against his own. It wasn't sexual, because of the tears of that beautiful boy hitting his shoulder and flowing down his own bare chest.
"It's okay, Jesse. It's okay. Cry all you want," Scottie whispered. "I'm here for you." He pulled Jesse tighter until he cried himself out. Jesse let go of Scottie, lay on the bed with his back to him and closed his eyes. Scottie stretched out next to him and draped his arm around Jesse. Jesse made no attempt to move it. He just lay on the bed with his eyes closed and said nothing. Scottie lay quietly next to him, his arm around him, working hard to make sure his boner didn't touch Jesse's butt, which was so close, yet so far. Jesse's breathing soon fell into a rhythm, and Scottie got up and back on his own bed.
The PA came on, announcing lights out. Then somebody played taps on a muted trumpet. Must be a recording, Scottie thought. He turned the bedroom lights off, took his dick in his hand, and started masturbating. I've got to be nuts, he thought to himself. I think I'm falling in love with the captain's son.
Brian McDowell was staring up at the ceiling. He had his own room in the officer's area of the ship. Since the Lady Lex didn't have a full compliment, there were plenty of empty cabins. Unlike the crew cabins, they had working showers.
I could've gone to that Kriton's cabin, Brian thought. But I didn't. I wanted to, but I didn't go. I can't fence any more. Why did I even bring my foil? Why am I even here? Everybody here lives in the crew section. Dad said some of the officers' boys lived here in the officer's section. Well they all went and joined up with the juvies. Go figure.
I'm just a worthless nobody that nobody cares about. That Kriton would've just laughed at me. Because everybody knows what Kritons are like. What is he doing here anyway?
"Swordplay is all about balance," he said. Yeah right, and how can I be about balance when I'm nothing but a cripple. I hope I don't see him again. And I'm throwing my foil into the disintigrator tomorrow as soon as I can.
Andrew finished his first playing of Taps. He cleaned his mouthpiece. He'd been using a trumpet that had belonged to Reverend Kyle, and it had been a nice trumpet. But he now had his own trumpet, and it felt like an old friend in his mouth. He took the mute out and placed it in the case. Chaplain Kyle had Chief Anderson set up the PA in his room so he could play taps right from the room. He knew he had to wait for the lights out announcement, then push a button and play. He also knew in the morning he'd get the only wake up call, five minutes before everyone else. Then right at 0600 he would play reveille. Only he wouldn't need a mute for that. He giggled when he thought about how that would sound over the PA.
"What are you giggling about?" Nipper asked.
"You," Andrew said as he wiped his trumpet with a dry cloth.
"Uh, uh. What was it?"
"Playing reveille in the morning and scaring everybody, even over the PA."
"Yeah. Especially, me."
"You'll hear my alarm go off first."
"And go right back to sleep, so I don't lose five minutes sleep every morning because I have a nerd as a roommate."
Andrew leaped off his bed and emptied his spit valve on Nipper's head. Nipper pulled Andrew to the bed. The two naked boys wrestled briefly, then looked at each other in the eyes, staring intently. They kissed, as deeply and passionately as only two preadolescents could. Nipper broke it off, saying, "I think my dick needs to be sucked, Andy." Andy was a name only Nipper could use. To everyone else, he was Andrew.
Andrew got up, messed his bed up more, got back onto Nipper's bed and took a 69 position. Nipper had watch that night at 0200, and they both knew he would need to get to sleep quickly. This would be their first time having sex since their ill-fated blow jobs in the shower when the gravity failed, but they went at each other like they'd been doing it for years.
Andrew licked along Nipper's shaft, from the base up to the head, taking extra time at the sensitive spot under the head, then licking along Nipper's pee slit. Nipper licked and sucked Andrew's balls, and then moved up his roommate and lover's hard shaft. Since both boys were dry, there was no precum to lick off, but both boys didn't know better or even care. All they knew was they loved sucking on each other's dicks, and they loved the feeling their lover gave them. Andrew let Nipper's thin three inch shaft slide into his mouth, licking it and sucking on it, his head starting to bob as he did. He suddenly felt something wonderful as Nipper's warm, moist mouth enveloped first his cock head and then his cock. Soon both boys were sucking hard, hips moving, slowly fucking each other's mouth.
Andrew moaned in surprise when he felt Nipper's finger trace along his butt crack, then slide between his cheeks. Nipper wasn't sure of what he was doing, but he knew he liked the feel of Andrew's butt. His finger reached Andrew's rose and stopped. Nipper rubbed on it, and knew he was doing the right thing when he felt and heard Andrew's guttural moan. He pushed on it harder, and Andrew fucked his mouth harder. His finger went to Andrew's ring. Nipper paused and it went through, causing Andrew to moan loudly, shake, shudder, and have a dry cum in Nipper's mouth. Nipper could feel Andrew's ass squeeze on his finger, as he had his own incredible dry orgasm. The two boys lay in their positions, exhausted. Then Andrew turned around and kissed Nipper lovingly on the lips. The two boys slid under the covers, and cuddled. Nipper checked to be sure his alarm was set to wake him in time for his watch, then cuddled up to his boyfriend, and feel asleep with him.
It had been an interesting night on the Lady Lex. Some of the gay boys were starting to fall in love. Some of the straight boys were figuring out that humping your roommates between the legs beat jerking off. And most boys did just that, masturbate, fantasizing about girls or boys or both, depending on their leanings. Of the 200 horny adolescent and pre-adolescent boys in the ship, very few of them did not leave their seed somewhere that night, and for some of them it was merely because they weren't sexually mature enough to do so yet.
It was Thursday Morning, March 24th. Andrew played his first reveille, right on time at 0600. He could almost hear the collective groan from 200 boys. Just as he said he would, Nipper had awakened with the alarm, and fell back to sleep. Andrew vaguely remembered Nipper's alarm going off, and Nipper putting his uniform on, sans underwear, and heading for his watch. He didn't remember Nipper coming back, and sliding into bed next to him, kissing Andrew's balls and dick under the covers, before kissing Andrew's lips and then falling quickly to sleep.
"That is way too loud, Andy. You didn't have to play it in my ears."
"I didn't, but I wanted to be sure it woke everybody up."
"Yeah, but you have the PA system. They didn't have to hear it live through the whole ship."
Andrew pounced on Nipper and pulled him out of bed, the bedding falling to the floor with the boy.
"Let's pee and get dressed and get breakfast. Today should be a cool day."
Nipper got up, threw his bedding back on the bed, and went into the small head, Andrew coming in right behind him.
"You gonna pee with me?" Nipper asked.
"Don't we do everything together?" Andrew said with a grin.
They stood side by side, naked, peeing into the toilet, their streams crossing, each boy watching the other, their combined piss filling the toilet bowl. Nipper shut the lid and flushed.
"That was fun," he said, remembering what had happened in the shower before the gravity failed.
"Not as much fun as it's gonna be when the shower in here starts working," Andrew said with a leer.
Nipper whacked him hard on his bare ass cheek as the boys stepped down into their cabin.
Scooter set up Ben's bed table and put his breakfast tray on it. He knew he had to hurry, because he had class. This wasn't his regular duty day, it was his class day, but Adam, the boy who was supposed to have sickbay duty on this day woke up vomiting, so Scooter was asked if he could take care of Ben while Doctor Daniels took care of Adam. Scooter already had a slip signed by Doctor Daniels excusing him for being late to his first class. But Scooter wanted to hurry, because that first class was his shuttle wing group, and he didn't want to miss any class if he could help it.
"You're Scooter, aren't you?"
"That's me," Scooter said with a friendly smile.
Ben stared at the cute blond boy, feeling himself stir some at his sexiness. I guess I must be getting better, he thought. This is the first time I've felt something going on down there. And he is cute, but I better quit staring.
"I hear you're like me," Scooter said.
Oh, god, Ben thought. He's gay? He knows I'm gay too? How many gay boys are on the ship?
"How's that?" he asked nervously.
"You don't belong here either. You got screwed like I did."
"That's what I think, anyway," Ben replied. "Me and my brothers both."
"And you're the boy who got stuck on that shuttle with your little brother."
"That would be me."
"What were you doing on it, anyway? I've heard lots of rumors."
Nosy kid, Ben thought. "We were just exploring," Ben said. Yeah, exploring each other's bodies, he thought. Fortunately, nobody had mentioned Andrew's uniform being found on the shuttle bay floor, and the fact that Andrew had boarded the shuttle stark naked. At least nobody had mentioned it yet.
He watched Scooter fiddle with the television monitor across the room.
"What are you doing?'
"Getting you ready for class."
"Class? I'm stuck here in bed, I can't go to class."
Scooter opened a satchel and pulled out two books. One was titled "Space Shuttle Handbook and Manual." The other was "Space Shuttle Pilot's Manual." They both looked formidable.
"You didn't think you were going to spend the day slacking off did you? First class is at 0800. Have fun." Scooter cleared the table, showed Ben where the remote was, and left.
Ben liked Scooter. He wasn't like most of the rest of the Lady Lex offenders. He was sweet, and well, human.
Ensign Kalon Masters surveyed his charges. Oh, how far the mighty have fallen, he thought to himself. The son one of the great space smugglers and pirates, an office of the SFA, the finest pilot this side of the Gamma Epsilon system, and here I am reduced to baby sitting a group of unruly adolescents, most of whom could really care less about being here. Are we ever going to mold this group into a team in the short time we have? Hell, he thought, are we ever going to even be able to fly a shuttle?
His first class consisted of the boys of Wing Group One. Each group had three shuttles attached to it. The first classes were being held in the shuttle bay of one of the shuttles. In fact, it was the same shuttle bay Ben and Andrew had been in when they left on their adventure. After two sessions, they would meet at the hanger that was being used for recreation and group meetings. There, they would get lessons on the simulator. They would be pushed into learning about shuttles and operating them much faster than normal cadets, because time was precious. If it takes hand picked cadets weeks to learn proper shuttle procedure and operation, how are we even going to teach this group of ragtag kids how operate them in a few weeks? But hey, he thought with an inner smile, I learned pretty fast didn't I? I was flying bigger ships than one of those shuttles when I was 10.
Wing Group One consisted of the shuttles commanded by Douglas, Johnny, and Mike. The shuttles were as yet unnamed. The job of naming them would come in Harrison Wolfe's English class. The assignment for naming the shuttle and the reason why was due on Tuesday for Wing Group One.
Kalon looked at the class roster. In the crew commanded by Douglas was Ben, Scottie, Nipper, Jesse, (and I'm not treating the Captain's son with kid gloves, Kalon thought), and Andrew. Kalon couldn't help but smile when thinking of the adventure Ben and Andrew had on the "LadyHawke".
Johnny's crew consisted of TJ, Jeff, Scooter, Ian (Scottie's younger brother), and Trev (Andrew's twin brother). Kalon wondered if the twins ever changed places. If they did, they weren't going to get it by him, he thought.
The third crew in Wing Group One was Mike's. He had Eric, a 14 year old thug, who had been arrested for armed robbery, Cody,14, who had been arrested for grand theft auto and assault with a deadly weapon, Carson, Scottie's youngest brother, who at 10 years old was the youngest boy on the Lady Lex, Ryan, Mike's boy friend and fellow Donkey Gang member, and Stan, a quiet, moody 15 year old.
"Okay guys, you should all have your instruction manual and your pilot's manual," Kalon said.
"Why do we all need a pilot's manual?" Johnny asked. "TJ is my pilot. I don't need to know how to fly the thing." Captain Hatcher still hadn't made his announcement, and Johnny figured he could be the class smart ass. In fact, he thought, I could be the smart ass even if he'd made the announcement.
Kalon was about to answer when Scooter walked into the shuttle bay. Kalon was about to say something about being late when Scooter handed him the note from Dr. Daniels.
"I guess everything is set up then," Kalon said.
"It works," Scooter replied.
Kalon turned and flicked a switch on the panel behind him. "Okay guys, Ben is now connected to us by closed circuit. How about everybody wave to him."
Ben was on his bed in sick bay watching as the picture of the shuttle bay came on. He could see the boys in his class wave. He didn't fail to notice that quite a few were sending him a one-fingered salute. He smiled and got ready to take notes.
Kalon proceeded to answer Johnny's question. "Everybody needs to know how to more than one job on a shuttle. And that is especially true for piloting. Yes, you have a regular pilot. He's the one who will get the bulk of the instruction. In fact the pilots will be excused from duties on some days to join pilots in another group for special instruction. But everybody will have basic knowledge of how to pilot a ship, and that includes the CO."
"All I gotta do is give orders," Johnny said with a smug smile. "The rest of them can just be my drivers."
Kalon walked up to Johnny and grabbed him by the collar of his tunic. "This ain't some classroom where nobody can touch you and you can get the last word, punk. This is life 101. And you may think you're some tough dude, but let me tell ya, I was doing stuff at your age you haven't even dreamed of. And nobody, but nobody could out fly me. What have you got to brag about, other than being locked up here?" By the time he finished he had Johnny raised almost off the floor. Kalon's first instinct was to drop Johnny on his ass, but he knew he needed Johnny and his crew on his side, so he let go, but he didn't move his stare. The first person to break the stare off was Johnny. Kalon saw that as a small, but important, victory.
The boys watched the exchange, but nobody said anything. None of them wanted to cross Kalon. TJ looked at Scooter, his look saying, "How did we get stuck with this idiot as our CO?"
Kalon then went over some things in the manual, and took the class on a tour of shuttle one, the shuttle that was docked outside their shuttle bay. He pointed out where each crew member would sit when doing their regular job, and spent time going over the behavior of a shuttle; what it could and couldn't do. Or what the designers said it couldn't do.
Kalon told them a story to end the class. He was assigned to the "Renegade" and was chasing a smuggler. He knew what a smuggler's ship was capable of. They had a lot of their safeties turned off and as a result could often outmaneuver an SFA shuttle, even though the shuttle was much smaller and more agile. Kalon knew how to take a shuttle to and beyond its designed safety limit, and as a result after a lot of sparring, he ended up in front and above the smuggler's ship, while the two other SFA shuttles were still trying to punch numbers into their flight computers. Of course he didn't make a big issue of the fact that as a former smuggler pilot, he knew exactly what limits even a smuggler's ship had.
"My point is, not to do something dangerous, but to think out of the box. Know what your ship can do, and then take it there, and a step beyond. Be bold, but not stupid. To do that, you need to know your ship upside down and backwards. Shuttle ships are capable of doing more than the design says they can, but you can only take it there if you know your ship as well as you know your own dick." That got a titter from the class just as the horn went off signifying it was time to move on to the next class. Douglas was not alone in feeling this was going to be his favorite class.
The monitor went blank in Ben's room, but it soon was back on as he watched the older boys of Wing Group One join the older boys of some of the other wing groups in Harrison Wolfe's English class. He listened to the opening discussion on the assignment of naming the shuttles. Ben had his idea, and he knew Douglas would be talking to him about it before the Wing Group met again on Saturday. He thought his idea was great for somebody who loved baseball, like he knew he Ben, Scottie, Nipper and Andrew did. He wasn't sure about Jesse, but he hoped if Douglas liked his name they could convince Jesse to accept it. After all, it had literary meaning, baseball meaning, and more.
Matt paced the room he had been put in on the "Honey of the Stars". A month ago he had been happy. A good enough student. A fair athlete. A party boy who could seduce almost any boy he wanted, even high school boys much older than his 12 years. Now he was a prisoner, for reasons nobody could or would tell him, and so far it looked like the pervert from the ship he just came from wasn't going to leave. For the moment everybody seemed to be in some kind of meeting. He wished he could go through the locked door of the cabin and smash things on the space yacht. He was angry at his situation, and full of hate towards his captors, who obviously weren't alien space raiders, but officers of the SFA Navy itself.
Meanwhile, two decks above, a not so friendly meeting was going in the lounge of the space yacht. The men were looking at the image of Admiral Whitaker on the view screen. There was no delay. The "Yorktown" had arrived from warp space an hour ago and was now drifting a couple hundred kilometers from the space yacht.
"I expected the smugglers and civilians to be idiots," Admiral Whitaker said arrogantly, "but not my own hand picked officers." The broadcast was being scrambled. The captain of the "Yorktown" had no idea what the rendezvous was about, except that it had to do with the upcoming Kriton peace conference. Captain Collier was one of the top COs in the fleet, and Whitaker knew he had too much integrity to be drawn into his conspiracy. On the other hand he couldn't think of any better captain to be in charge of his flagship, unless it was Hatcher, and he hated Hatcher, and hatred that went back years.
The men in the room were silent, but they noticed a stirring from the big stranger who had brought the boy from the raider. All but the nameless man sitting in the shadows of the corner were SFA naval or marine officers.
"The entire idea of the kidnapping was to force the hand of Ambassador McCarty. With his son our captive he would be forced to use the energy pulse on the Kriton Ambassador. Who would have ever have suspected our own Ambassador to shoot their Ambassador and give him a deadly disease. But some IDIOT had to load the wrong cartridge into a pulse pistol! We weren't even going to use it in a pulse pistol, why the HELL was it in a pulse pistol cartridge. What the fuck were you people thinking?"
"Maybe, sir, we just aren't trained for covert operations like this. You needed to use intelligence agents and not regular officers."
"I needed to use officers I could trust. I don't trust Intelligence. Now we need to decide where we go from here. We have to do something with the boy. And find another way to eliminate the Kriton Ambassador at the conference. Fortunately we still have time. The conference isn't until August. But we need a plan, and we need it now!"
Sam, the mysterious man from the raider broke the silence. "The boy would be easy. I can sell him at the slave market on Lucifer for a nice price. He's a prime specimen of a boy."
"Lucifer has a slave market?" Captain Bryce Olson asked.
"No. Lucifer is in competition with Shakanru Prime as the luxury resort planet of the galaxy. Come on Bryce, get real? Or do you SFA guys all have your heads buried in the sand?"
"Who are you?" The Admiral's voice boomed from the comm system.
"You should know boss. You hired me." The man came out of the shadows and into the line of sight of the room's com-camera. "Jake Masters, at your service, Admiral. We meet at last."
"I hired you to do a job that wasn't done. The gravity generator went to the Lady Lex. The energy pulse left your hands. And the wrong boy is on your ship."
"I thought your Sam," Olson said. "My God, Jake Masters is dead!"
Jake Masters ignored him.
"Admiral, while I don't give a flying fuck about your grand scheme to start a war with your hated enemy, I do love your money. And I do want to say that so far I've done exactly what you've hired me to do. I got the generator. I arranged to get the boy. I put the energy pulse in a safe place. Unfortunately, I had to deal with the amateurs you call officers. Makes me wonder what my son sees in your slipshod outfit."
"You're fired, Masters. You can pick up your money at our agreed place, but you're through."
"Not so fast, Admiral. You can't fire me for two reasons."
"Which would be?"
"First, I know where the bodies are buried, and who to tell. You fire me and your little scheme is all over the Vids, newspapers, and Internet before you can get the words out."
Jake Masters was sure he could see the admiral turn pale as he started into the monitor, but he could detect no emotion on his face.
"And the second reason I shouldn't fire you?"
"Well, because I have a plan, of course."
To be continued.