In this chapter the Lady Lex starts to regain her own identity. The question now arises, is the real love affair in this story going to be between the boys and the old ship. From derilict to operating starship...is she setting the example for our deliquents. This is a Ben chapter. Enjoy. -love Douglas and Ben
The Boys of the Lady Lex Chapter 17 "Back to Basics" Written By Douglas DD and Benjamin TC
Mike sat on the floor with his crew. He still didn't know the boys in it all that well, except for his boyfriend, Ryan. Even after a few meals together they hadn't really formed a bond. Eric, 14, his pilot, was totally hot looking, but surly as hell. Cody, 14, was a fellow Texan, and another sexy boy. Cody couldn't keep his eyes and hands off of Carson, his 10 year old roommate. Mike had a pretty good idea of what went on in their room at night. He knew nothing did with Ryan and Eric. His last crewman, and his own roommate, Stan, was an enigma. He seemingly never talked. In fact, most of them seem to be absorbed in their own world. Mike could talk to Ryan, of course. They'd been friends since grade school. And Carson was a lively little chatter box, but his talk never went anywhere, unless it was sexual innuendo. Mike wondered how he could turn this group into a crew. So far he wasn't having much success. They were just six guys in a group, and seemingly unwilling or unable to work towards a common goal. But Mike wasn't going to stop trying. He had kept the Donkey Gang together, so he figured he should be able to make this a cohesive team too. Cody and Ryan congratulated Mike on being picked as cadet XO. "Thanks guys," he replied. "Well, we've all looked at the six papers. Now we need to vote on a name." "Pick yours," Eric said. "Nobody really cares about the name of that bucket of bolts anyway." "Right on, dude," Stan said. Mike knew Ryan didn't want his. Carson had picked "Old Yeller", and as much as he liked Carson he hoped Carson didn't insist on his name. Cody had picked "Smaug", for the dragon in "The Hobbit". Mike didn't mind having the name of a dragon; he just didn't want it to be a bad dragon. Mike wasn't totally in love with his name either, but in some ways it fit the group of disaffected boys he was saddled with. He had picked "Holden Caufield" from "Catcher in the Rye". They all sat on the floor silently. The discussion was obviously at an end. "Well, Cody, I guess you can get out an H to put on the name board. Welcome to the SFA `Holden Caufield'." As they started putting the name board together, Kalon Masters strode in. He knew Ben thought he was standing outside the door of the shuttle bay, and as long as Ben thought so that was all that was needed. Mike walked up to him and asked right out, "Kalon, I don't know how to turn this group into a team. Talking with them, eating together, nothing helps. They are all in their own world." Kalon looked at him and smiled. "Donkey, maybe you don't want them to be a team. Maybe you want them to be a gang."
Johnny Cooper had the opposite problem. All his crew did was argue and nobody listened. Unlike Mike, he received no congratulations on being named cadet CO. As far as everyone was concerned Johnny was an asshole and was being given responsibilities only because he was the oldest boy on the ship and had once led a gang. Trev was the only boy in the crew to listen to him. Ian thought Johnny was leading Trev into trouble, but he wasn't sure why he thought so. He was sure that he liked Trev, and liked him a lot. He saw more to Trev beneath his cocky, loud mouthed exterior then most others did. Scooter and Jeff detested Johnny, and made no secret of it. By the time class was over, they had all agreed not to agree. Their shuttle remained unnamed. Johnny didn't see how they could come up with a name by Tuesday, but he really didn't care. Fuck, we can always pull one of the names out of a hat, he thought. Johnny was more concerned about his sole New Mustang Gang member, Trev, and the failure of his little mission to pilfer the candy. With the candy he had something with which to bribe the younger cadets and to truly form a gang. Fuck this CO shit, he thought. If I work hard to screw it up, Hatcher will fire me, then I'll have time to lead something really worthwhile. And if he doesn't fire me I'll just let Mike do all the work. After all, isn't that what an XO is for? Johnny looked at the names in front of him. He immediately dismissed Scooter's choice for a name. His idea was "Song Bird". He didn't know where Scooter came up with that name, but he didn't give a shit. He looked at Jeff's choice. Jeff had chosen "Pennywise", the child eating clown from Stephen King's IT. Jeff knew that Pennywise was a villain, but weren't they all? Ian picked Inigo Montoya, a Spanish swordsman in the book The Princess Bride. He then looked at his only member of the Mustang gang's paper. Trevor had picked Jim Hawkins, a boy from the book Treasure Island. Trev was busy reading two of Kalon's comic books. One was Treasure Island and the other was The Count of Monte Cristo. He was reading them in hope that Mr. Wolfe would teach him the ways of stealth. Johnny looked at his own paper. He could care less what the name was so he just picked something he heard in a story that his mom use to tell him when he was just a tiny fellow. His choice was The Big Bad Wolf, from a story called The Three Little Pigs. He finally looked at TJ's, his pilot's, choice. He never heard of the name before. Matter of fact, his choice was the only name that he had ever heard of from all the choices. He finally looked at his pilot. "TJ, you will be flying this piece of shit shuttle that we got. You choose." He shoved all the papers towards TJ.
TJ looked at the papers. Then he looked up at his crewmates and read from his paper. "General John Buford was a cavalry officer for the Union Army during the first American civil war. He was out numbered and all odds were against him, but he and his men managed to keep the high ground during the first day of a three day battle at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Because his men were brave and fought hard and kept the high ground until the union army could come and take up positions for the remainder of the battle which was a total of three days long, the Union Army won that battle and most historians say that because of that battle, it turned the war around and the Union army ended up winning the war. So I chose John Buford from the book Killer Angels which is about the battle of Gettysburg because we need to overcome those same odds and come out like Buford did by keeping the high ground and maybe, just maybe, we can change this war that SFA put on us kids and show them that we have every right to be in an academy like those well-to-do boys."
Everyone was stunned at TJ giving that short speech. TJ didn't talk much, but when he did, it was always so intelligent and wise. Everyone agreed that their shuttle would be called John Buford.
After class, Johnny was walking by himself to his next class. He wanted to walk with Trevor to make sure that Trevor was still on his side, but Ian managed to pull Trevor away and walk with him to their next class.
Johnny's route was blocked by a group of six boys. He seen all of them around, but he never really socialized with them before. He knew the one boy was a senior like he was and would be getting off of this pig about a month after he did. Even though they shared the same classes, he never bothered to get to know the boy. "Johnny," said a tall boy who was obliviously the leader of the them.
"What?"
"We never formally met. I'm Travis Tucker. Everyone calls me T, which is short for T-Rex. I am the shuttle commander for the "Fagin". This is my crew. We call ourselves Fagin Boys from the book Oliver Twist. We want you to know that we are tired of this bullshit that Colonel Stone and Captain Hatcher are putting us through. We are behind you 100%."
"Let me get this straight. You want to be on my side? You want to become members of the new and improved Mustang Gang?"
All the boys nodded their heads. "Yes we do. None of us want to be here like you. What ever you want us to do to show the other boys that you are our CO, we will do it."
Johnny smiled. Finally things were going his way. He wished he had that crew instead of the crew that he had, but nevertheless, this could work to his advantage. The wheels were already turning in his head.
"Introduce me to your crew."
"This is my pilot, Gary Banks." Gary smiled. He was quiet but he knew he wanted to follow Johnny like his roommate, Travis did. He respected his roommate very much. Although nothing has happen in their room yet, Gary would fall asleep hoping that Travis would want to try sexual stuff with him. But Gary was too quiet and too scared to approach Travis about it. Gary's 16 year old body stood about 5' 8" tall. He was one of the few juniors on the ship. He had golden brown hair and brown puppy dog eyes. When he smiled, the corner lip on his right side would go up a little higher then the other side. All the girls loved his crooked smile, but he could care less for them. Gary was arrested for prostitution. But it was the money that he earned that bought the meds and doctor bills for his dying mother, who ended up dying two weeks after he was sentenced to juvenile delinquent school. That was over a year ago. Gary had one more year to serve and he was free.
"This guy here is RJ Polaski. He is my weapons man."
"Is your brother, TJ?"
"Yeah," said RJ.
"He's my pilot for my shuttle."
"I know."
Johnny liked the idea of RJ wanting to be on his side. This could be a tool to get TJ on his side as well. Johnny was beginning to like this.
"Over here is my Engineer. Matthew Alan Hauser. But he goes by his middle name, Alan." Alan was tall and had broad shoulders. He was a swimmer and a very good one at that. He won all sorts of awards in school. But a month before coming aboard the Lexington, he was charged and sentenced for selling illegal items on the black market. He was working with an adult man, but when Alan got caught, the man forgot all about him and left him to hang out and dry alone. Alan had beautiful blond hair and bright blue eyes. His 16 year old body was definitely one of the hottest ones in the sophomore class.
"This little red head cello player is my navigator. His name is Tyler Young. And standing next to him is Greg Wheeler, my Science guy." Greg and Tyler were roommates. Tyler was of average height for his age of 13. He had red hair and was very cute. On his off time he loved to play his cello. He missed his own cello, but Chaplain Kyle had one for him to use for the ship's orchestra. Tyler only has been a juvenile delinquent for three months. He was at a party drinking beer, smoking weed, and having sex with boys. The party was raided and Tyler was caught. This was the third time Tyler got caught at an underage party. The first time he just got a warning. The second time he was sentenced to community service. But this time, the third time, he was sentenced to one year at a juvenile delinquent school.
Greg was short for his age. He was 12 years old and had bleached blond hair and brilliant blue eyes. He was pale and awfully quiet. Like Tyler, he didn't really care for Johnny or the way he did things. But Tyler and Greg both felt that they should follow their shuttle commander regardless what they thought. Greg had no parents to speak of. At least parents he wanted to speak of. During the first 11 years of his life, his parents treated him like he never existed. Then one day he ran away from home. He met a group of boys from the wrong side of the tracks. He ended up getting caught while trying to steal a car. His parents were called into court and they told the judge to throw the book at him hard. They could care less what happened to him. The judge listened to Greg's parents. So he sentence Greg to juvenile school for 18 months. Greg and Tyler really liked each other. They had both been sleeping in the same bed for about a week now. The most sexual thing they down was hump each other, letting their dicks rub each other, as they both cum thin, clear cum over each other. Johnny looked at the boys in front of him. He could tell that Travis, Gary, Alan and RJ were sincere in becoming friends with him and becoming part of his new game. He was unsure about Tyler and Greg. He pretty much had them figured that they were only following their shuttle commander's lead, if they liked it or not. But he knew they were young and he could with them over like he was trying to win over Trevor Collins. Now he had to make some other changes. And he knew where he had to begin.
Trev was so glad the day was almost over. It was now his recreation time. But instead of playing games with the other boys, he decided to pay a visit to his English Teacher. Trevor was carrying two comic books. They were "Treasure Island" and "The Count of Monte Cristo". He rang the bell to Harrison Wolfe's quarter. He had used "Treasure Island" comic book to help him write his paper for English class on what he wanted to name the shuttle. Now he hoped to use the comic book "The Count of Monte Cristo" to get his English teacher to teach him the ways of the stealth. The door opened. Harrison towered over the young boy. He had a pipe in his hand, the smell of cherry tobacco rubbed against the nose of Trevor. "Yes Cadet Collins?" "I read "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "Treasure Island". I want you to be the preacher in that prison that taught the Count how to read and sword fight and other things. The Lexington is my prison and you are my preacher. I want you to teach me the ways of the stealth." Harrison's face was expressionless. He looked down and saw the comic books in Trevor's hands. "Are those the versions you read?" "Yes." Trevor held up the comic books proudly. "Follow me." Harrison Wolfe led Trevor into his simple quarters. Trevor looked around and only saw a recliner with a reading lamp and an end table with a pipe cleaning kit, a book, and a highball glass with some clear liquid in it sitting on the table. The only other thing the room had were shelves that had many old books on it. Trev thought that his living room looked like a library more then a living room. There was no television, no computer games, nothing but books. Harrison Wolfe went over to a shelf and strolled his finger along the spines of some books. He found what he was looking for and pulled out two books and then went to Trev who was standing in the middle of the room. "These aren't my first edition copies. I have those on Earth. These are editions that I loan out to my English students. If they get lost or tattered, it doesn't matter much. I want you to read them both and then give me an oral report on who you most resemble, the Count or Jim Hawkins. And don't try getting the answers out of those lame excuse for literature. Get it from the version that was intended to be read." Harrison gave Trevor two books, "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "Treasure Island". "If I read these, will you then teach me the ways of stealth?" Trevor was thumbing through the thick books that were given to him. He wasn't much of a reader, but if it meant learning the ways of stealth, he would read every book in Harrison Wolfe's living quarters if need be. "Read those classics, Cadet Collins, and come see me when you are ready to give me your oral report." Harrison Wolfe escorted Trevor out of his quarters. Trevor was asking so many more questions about the ways of stealth, but Harrison was ignoring them all. Once the door closed and Harrison was by himself once again, he took a puff on his pipe and smiled.
Ben lay propped up in his bed. He was reading his history assignment. Douglas was sitting on his own bed with his feet on the floor. He had just finished his reading assignment. He was so happy that the next day was Sunday and they got late sleepers and there was no school or work. He had a watch Sunday night, but it was an early one. So he didn't care too much. "Douglas?" "Yes Ben," "Why'd you do it?" "Do what?" Ben put his book down. "You know. Kiss Tina." Douglas could see still some remnants of pain on Ben's face from the kissing accident. He let out a deep breath and walked over to Ben and sat down on the edge of his bed. "Ben, she forced herself upon me. I want nothing to do with her. She is not who my heart longs for." Ben felt a tightening in his stomach. He was scared to ask the question on the tip of his tongue. He knew what he wanted the answer to be, but he was afraid that it would be the opposite. But he finally blurted out his question. "And who does your heart long for?" Douglas smiled. He knew there was no turning back now. He knew it the day he first kissed Ben in sickbay while he was sleeping. Without saying a word, Douglas leaned over like he did in sickbay a few days ago, closed his eyes and gently kissed Ben on the lips. Ben let out a small moan as strange feelings he never felt before shoot through his body. Ben closed his eyes and instinctually parted his lips a little. Douglas felt Ben's lips part and he took that as a sign. He then gently slid his tongue into Ben's mouth and it was greeted happily by Ben's tongue. The two boys kissed passionately for several minutes. Then they broke the kiss. "Now you know who my heart longs for," smiled Douglas who had feelings of warmth and excitement running throughout his body. Douglas never felt something so right as what he just felt. "No, not really, so you better show me again," smiled Ben. Ben knew that his heart longed for the one who longed for his own heart. He pulled Douglas back on top of him and the two boys started kissing again. "Douglas, I don't know how or when or why, but I am falling in love with you," said Ben as they kissed. Douglas stopped kissing and looked down into Ben's beautiful hazel eyes. "Ben, I fell in love with you the first day I saw you being brought into sickbay wounded. I knew there was something about you, but I didn't know what. Then after all those hours and days I sat next to your bed while you were sleeping, I realized what it was. It was love. Ben I love you!!!" Douglas then kissed Ben again. This time their hands started to roam each other's bodies. Ben reached under Douglas's shirt and rubbed the palm of his hands over the bare back of Douglas. This sent shivers up and down Douglas's spine. Without realizing it, Douglas lifted his arms above his head. Ben instinctly removed Douglas's shirt and then Douglas did the same to Ben. The boys loved the feeling of their bare chests touching each other. Douglas was still lying on top of Ben. They still had their pants on, but both of them were tented out and started to show a sign of a wet spot from their precum. "Douglas I am so sorry I hurt you," moaned Ben as he kissed Douglas and ran his hands all over him. "Don't worry about it. It's over and we both know the truth. And the truth is that we love each other." Douglas then started to rub his tented pants up against Ben's tented pants. Both boys kicked off their own shoes onto the floor as Douglas humped Ben and they kissed. Ben reached down and unbutton and unzipped Douglas's pants. Douglas Helped Ben and he removed his pants and precum stained white briefs. Ben looked and saw Douglas' hard, dripping boner. He took his finger and wiped it through the pee slit, picking off some precum. He kissed the tip of his finger where the precum was at and then he wiped it on Douglas's lips. Douglas immediately kissed Ben and then helped him out of his pants and boxers. Ben was leaking precum like one wouldn't believe. Douglas lay on top of Ben and kissed him. He moved his body so that his leaking 6" dick rubbed against Ben's 5 ½ " dick and their precum lubing each other up. Both boys held each other very tightly as they met each other's rhythm. "Douglas, I'm gonna..." Ben shot thick white cum in between him and Douglas. But just as his first squirt exited out of his aching dick, it was joined by a shot of thick white cum coming from Douglas's aching cock. The two boys moaned in ecstasy and they used their stomachs and chest to rub and mix their cum into each other's bodies as they kissed and hugged. Douglas went to move and get up, but Ben grabbed on to him and pulled him close to him again. "No Douglas. Let's sleep like this tonight. Ok?" Douglas felt the cum in between them. It was like their cum, that was gluing them together at that moment, was the seal of their love for each other. Douglas smiled and kissed Ben once more. "You realize if we sleep together tonight, I won't be able to sleep without you again?" Ben smiled. "I love you Douglas!!" He then pulled Douglas tighter to him. And soon the post orgasmic adventure caused him and Douglas to fall asleep in each other's arms.
Brian sat in Zjan'Ren's quarters. Sitting on a flat stone was his sword. Brian sat on the floor in the dull red light wondering what his new teacher was doing. Zjan'Ren came out wearing a red satin robe. On the back of the robe was an embroidered picture of his baklava with the water blade exposed. Zjan'Ren pulled out his baklava and the watery blade rose up from its bamboo handle. Zjan'Ren laid his sword next to Scott's broad sword. "To seek balance, you must know who you are. I am Zjan'Ren, the third family of Kriton. Many centuries ago, a fiery mixture of liquid and gas formed Kriton. It was this fire that created the first family of Kriton. They carry the Baklava with the fiery blade. Then massive winds came and cooled down the fire. These winds brought the second family of Kriton. They bare the baklava with the wind blade. With the wind came water. It was this water that brought the third family of Kriton. And as you know, we carry the Baklava with the watery blade. The planet finally cooled down to form solidness. It was this solidness that brought the fourth and final family to Kriton. They Young McDowell bare the Baklava with the solidness blade. It is these four families that balance out Kriton. You take away one of these families, the others would not survive. They rely on each other for balance. For it is balance that makes us for who we are." Brian watched Zjan'Ren intently as he explained the Kriton culture. He didn't realize he was going to learn all about it. He thought he was just going to learn how to sword fight Kriton style, but he was beginning to learn that there is more to balance then learning how to sword fight. "I ask you Young McDowell. Who are you?" "I'm Brian McDowell." "Nah" said Zjan'Ren disgustedly. "Not your name. I know your name. Who are you?" he touched Brian's chest. "Who is Brian McDowell?" Brian didn't know how to answer that. Matter of fact he had no answer. He just didn't know. He just answered Zjan'Ren with a dumbfounded look. Zjan'Ren nodded. "What is your balance in life?" Again Brian didn't know how to answer this. He answered this question with the same dumbfounded look as he did with the first question. "Young McDowell, you seek yourself and your balance. As we all must do. I will guide you the best to my ability to help you find yourself and your balance. But I must warn you Young McDowell. You will be traveling down paths. Dark paths. Evil paths. Paths that no sane person would want to travel down. But it is these paths that will lead you to yourself and to your balance. But before you take your first step down these paths, you must commit to it. For once you start there is no turning back. Young McDowell. I ask you one more time. Do you want to seek balance? Do you want to find yourself?" Brian let the questions soak into his head. His stomach got all tight inside. He felt his hands trembling. He was trying to figure out what kind of sword fighting Zjan'Ren was going to teach him. He never has been to a sword fighting class like this one before. But he felt a part of himself, a part that he hasn't felt since his accident two years ago, to take that first step. The step that would seal his fate to seeking his balance and finding his true self. Brian read somewhere that Kriton students called their teacher's Elder. So Brian looked into the Kriton's dark eyes and said "Elder Zjan'Ren I wish to seek balance and find myself in the process. Will you guide me?" "Young McDowell, are you sure this is what you want?" "I am sure Elder Zjan'Ren." "There is no turning back once you start." "I understand fully." "You must adhere and obey everything I show you. Listen to everything I tell you. And most importantly trust me at all costs. Can you do these things?" "Yes Elder Zjan'Ren. I can and I will." "Then Young McDowell go back to your quarters. Get a good night sleep and tomorrow we will take the second step. Good night." Zjan'Ren stood up and walked backed into his bedroom, leaving Brian alone with the sword and baklava. This has been a strange night. Brian gazed at the baklava. He heard so much about them, but never truly saw one in person until he had his ill-fated duel with Zjan'Ren. Brian reached over the stone and grabbed the bamboo handle. As he picked up the baklava he felt a strong surge of energy come from the handle and into his body. Brian dropped the baklava and was thrown hard against the wall. He pulled himself up and went back over to the Kriton sword. He didn't know why he was doing this, but he tried to pick it up again. More energy surged into his body, causing him to be thrown harder into the hard metallic wall. Brian thought that every bone was broken in his body. Zjan'Ren stood in the door to his sleeping quarters. "Young McDowell. One cannot use the baklava if he does not have balance. You are dismissed." Zjan'Ren turned and went back into his sleeping quarters. Brian pulled himself up off the floor. His body was aching and hurting. He grabbed his cane and hobbled his way back to his quarters where he fell to his bed and fell into a deep sleep without even taking his clothes off. Those two energy surges had drained every ounce of energy out of him.
Captain Hatcher, Commander Creevey, and Colonel Stone sat around the conference table listening to Mike and Johnny telling them the decisions they made for the command crew. It was an agonizing session because Johnny and Mike couldn't agree on much, but they finally made the decisions. Johnny did his best to get his new found gang members in key positions. He didn't succeed in all of them, but he did get some of them in. Unfortunately for Johnny, Mike managed to get some boys he despised into key positions as well. But he knew he could work his way around it. "Okay, let's go over this one more time," said Command Creevey. "Your command leaders are as follows, highest ranking first. You Cadet Cooper is CO and Cadet Wakeman is XO. Then we have Cadet Douglas Daniels as Operations Officer, Ryan Thumbleton as Chief Engineer, Gary Banks as Weapons Officer, Scott "Scooter" Starr as Science Officer" Johnny grimaced at the sound of Scooter's name. Commander Creevey continued. "TJ Polaski as Navigator, Ben Collins as Master Helmsman, and finally Ian Brothers as Communications Officer. Is this correct?" "Yes Ma'am" said Johnny and Mike in unison. "Then for Class Department Heads, we have Travis Tucker as Senior Class Leader, Jeff as Junior Class Leader," Johnny grimaced again at the name of his roommate who he despised very much. "Toby Boswell as sophomore leader, Eric Larson as Freshman Leader, Scottie Brothers as the 8th grade leader with Cody O'Shey as his assistant, Tyler Young as the 7th Grade Leader with Jesse Hatcher as his assistant, Trevor Collins as the 6th grade leader with Nathan "Nipper" Daniels as his assistant, and finally Carson Brothers as the 5th grade department head with RJ Polaski as his assistant." "Yes Ma'am" said both cadets in unison once again. Johnny didn't like all the choices that were made. But he figured he could pursue that nerdy quiet boy Stan to his side, as well as Ian. He could tell that Ian was taking to Trevor and he would use Trevor to get Ian on his side. TJ he figured he could eventually win over. It would be difficult though. Toby Boswell, he was unsure of. He hadn't met the boy, but he planned on winning him over too. Eric was a smart ass and on the wild side. Johnny had no doubt that he could win Eric over. As for Scottie and Cody, here again he was unsure. But if he could win Ian over and use RJ to win Carson over, then he could possibly win Scottie over. He knew he had Trevor in his pocket, but as for Nipper that was going to be a tough catch. A very tough catch. But he was sure that if he could win Nipper over, then winning Douglas over would be easy as taking candy from a baby. As for Ben, Scooter and Jeff, he knew there was no chance of winning any of them over, but he didn't want them. He didn't need them. Soon, he will have his new Mustang gang up and running again and no one would be able to stop him. "Okay boys, I think you did an excellent job. I don't agree with choosing my son as an assistant department head, because he is not a leader like his brother Mark is. But you will find out soon enough and have to work around your mistakes. Tomorrow night at 2000 hours we will have a meeting with the newly appointed cadet officers. Then Monday at morning quarters we will announce to the rest of the crew who their leaders are. Now is there any questions?" "I do Sir" said Johnny. "Yes Cadet?" "I been doing some studying on air wing formations. I noticed it is a common practice to have an even amount of shuttles and/or fighters in a formation, so everyone has a wing man. We only have three shuttles per group. I suggest we change that. And I took the liberty to draft up the air wing teams." Johnny handed Captain Hatcher a computer pad with the information on it. Captain Hatcher looked over it. He noticed that in air wing 1, which was his air wing, he had added the "Fagin", commanded by Travis Tucker. He nodded his head in agreement. "I can see your point Cadet Cooper and unless Commander Creevey or Colonel Stone objects, I say these changes will take effect immediately." "No Objections Sir" said Creevey as she looked through the list. "None here Captain" said Stone. "Then with that said and done, I suggest you get to bed. It's almost midnight and this took longer then any of us planned. Good job boys." Johnny and Mike left the conference room. Mike wanted to talk to Johnny, but Johnny ignored him and went on his way.
Commander Creevey yawned after coming out of the conference room. It has been over an hour since Johnny and Mike left. She and Captain Hatcher had had a meeting afterwards with Colonel Stone to discuss how the boys were coping and adjusting. Colonel Stone remarked that his men calmed down a little, since the boys are getting into the groove, but they were still hard on them and would be until they leave the Lady Lex. Commander Creevey walked to Sickbay. She walked into the lab and checked on the status of the tests that she and Dr. Daniels were running on that strange agent that almost killed Ben Collins. Afterwards she walked out and saw that the light was on in Dr. Daniels office. She knew that Ben was no longer in sickbay and no other patients were spending the night either. She walked into the office and just like the several night prior, Dr. Daniels was a sleep in his chair with a highball glass in one hand, the picture of his dead wife in the other. A bottle of whisky on his desk. She took the glass from his limp hand and placed it on the desk. She then went over to the filing cabinet and grabbed the blanket that was sitting on top. She laid it over Dr. Daniels and turned out the light and left.
Scooter sat at his shuttle crew table eating his breakfast. Everyone but Johnny was there. Scooter hated his life on board the Lady Lex. No one liked him because he was the watch bill coordinator and thanks to Sergeant Murdock he ensured that Scooter was the most hated person on the ship. Plus, Johnny didn't make things any easier for Scooter. Johnny came storming into the room. "Why the hell you give me the balls to four watch? I am the CO. I don't stand watches." Scooter immediately felt tears building up. He didn't want to confront Johnny today. He just wanted to be alone. "Hey Fag boy, I am talking to you. Why did you give me that watch?" "Because it was your turn in rotation," said Scooter with not much confidence in his voice and staring down at his bowel of cheerios. "I am the CO and I don't stand watches." "Sergeant Murdock said no one is exempt from standing watches. The only exceptions is that certain people don't have to stand night watches, but they still have to stand day watches. You are not one of those expectations." "I am now. You take me off that watch bill" Scooter just sat there looking at the little round pieces of cereal. He didn't say a word. He just sat there. "Hey, I'm talking to you!" Johnny reached for Scooter's shoulder and twisted it so Scooter would look at Johnny's angered face. "Get your hands off of him!!" said Jeff who was already standing up ready to defend Scooter. "This doesn't concern you Jeff. Sit down and shut up." "If it concerns Scooter, then it concerns me." Jeff was ready to rumble.
"Is that so? Then concern yourself with this!!!" Johnny grabbed Scooter and yanked him up from the table and heaved him over the table knocking Jeff down. Food splattered everywhere.
Jeff immediately stood up and dove across the table at Johnny. The two boys fought, knocking tables and chair and boys over. Travis immediately went to help Johnny, but before Travis could throw a punch, Mike intercepted it. Soon a combination of a giant fist fight and a giant food fight had broken out on the mess decks. There was yelling and screaming going on as food and fists were flying through the air.
Colonel Stone walked onto the mess decks. He was fuming with anger. He nodded at Master Sergeant Flint and Flint gave the word to the other Marines. A group of Marines brought in three fire hoses and started to hose down the boys. Soon, the boys settled down and the hoses were turned off.
"FORMATION!!!" yelled Stone.
The boys quickly formed up in formation according to their shuttle crews. They were covered in blood, food muck, and water.
"You boys are a disgrace to this outfit. You all want to win the Olympics, yet you can't work together as a team. My men have been easing up on you the past few days and I can see that was a mistake. Okay boys, I guess we have to start from the beginning."
The boys moaned at the sound of that.
"Silence! This doesn't require talking or noise on your part. For the next two hours half of you will do exercise in this mess you made until you all puke. While the other half go to the barber shop and get their head shaved down to the skin again."
More groans broke out.
"You boys want to act like first weekers, then I will treat you like first weekers. After the first half is done getting their heads shaved, then the second half will go and the first half will then exercise in this mess. Then once all of you are shaved and puked your guts out from exercising, you all will work together as a team and make this mess deck inspection ready. This will be done before evening chow. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sir," said the group of boys who weren't too happy.
The 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders filed out and headed to the barber shop as the freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors began to exercise. Since Ben was excused from exercising, he had to lay face down in a pile of food muck while his shipmates exercised.
Johnny vowed to himself on his second set of pushups that by the time the Olympics were over, the Lady Lex will have had two funerals. And he knew which two they would be.
Captain Hatcher, Commander Creevey, Captain Storm, Major Zjan'Ren, Dr. Daniels, Lieutenant Colonel Stone, Ensign Masters, Chaplain Kyle, Harrison Wolfe and a few other officers and teachers sat in the ready room. These officers and teachers made up the team who would coach and instruct the academic, sporting and military events for the Olympics.
"Okay, as you know we have just over four months to prepare our boys for the Olympics. This doesn't give us much time. Especially if they continue to act like they did this morning at breakfast. So we are going to have to work hard and fast to get these boys up to the levels they need to be. Now Commander Creevey is our JSFA Academy Olympic representative. She has some things we need to know. Commander, the floor is yours."
"Yesterday, I had a teleconference with JSFA Academy Olympic Committee and the other Junior Academy Ship's Olympic Representatives. I wish it was a pleasant meeting, but these ships are out for blood and they all have us in their crosshairs. They all feel we don't belong here and they were quite blunt telling me that."
"How did you respond?" asked Major Zjan'Ren.
"I told them that any professional military officer of SFA would say. I told them to kiss my Irish arse and that come August they are going down."
Everyone laughed and cheered. Commander Creevey smiled. She then got back to business.
"OK, Ensign Masters, you will be in charge in getting the cadets prepared for all the events involving shuttle crafts as well as helms control for the big War Game at the end of the Olympics. "
"Not a problem. My pilots will be ready. None of them are good as I was at that age, but we do have some natural talent."
"Major Zjan'Ren. You will be the fencing coach and hand to hand combat coach"
"Aye Ma'am:
"Dr. Daniels. You will be coaching the JV and Varsity baseball teams."
"My glove is all oiled up and ready to go."
"Mr. Wolfe. You will be over all in charge of the Academic events for the Olympics." Commander Creevey handed Harrison Wolfe a computer pad with the events listed on it.
"Colonel Stone, you will be in charge of training the cadets in all the military competitions except for the War Game. The War Game will be taught by the prospective officer in charge of a particular station and their role in having a battle."
"I been going over marching drills, cadence, rifle movements, uniform inspections and a few other things. They are sloppy and a disgrace, but I assure you that they will be ready for the competition."
"Thank you Colonel. And finally Captain Hatcher. You will be coaching the JV and the Varsity hockey team."
"Consider my skates on Amanda."
"Now everything can be done on this ship to prepare for the Olympics, except baseball. Captain Storm assured me that the hockey rink he is setting up will be ready for practice by next weekend."
"I must tell you Steve. The rink ain't pretty, but it should work."
"I'm sure it will be just fine," assured Captain Hatcher.
"What are we going to do for the baseball field?"
"Once we get out of Mothball Graveyard, we will be taking up orbit around the planet Phospherous Prime. In the town of Ghent in the Northwest Colony, we will have a few acres to practice our on ground tactics, away team drills, and there will be a baseball field there for us to practice on. Phospherous Prime is only a day away from Earth, so it won't be that bad of a commute."
"I've been to Phospherous Prime. The weather there is perfect," said Captain Storm. "Plus they got great fishing there."
"Now for all sporting events. We are required to play at least one game or have one competition for each sporting event with each JSFA Academy ship. We came up with a game schedule for each sporting event. The games will begin in May. That gives you all a month to get your teams ready."
"Captain, how long will it be until we are able to leave Mothball Graveyard?" asked Chaplain Kyle.
Captain Hatcher smiled. "Ely can you answer for me please?"
"I'd be happy to answer that. We have been getting a lot of help recently. Many people have been going above and beyond the call of volunteering and I am happy to say that on Saturday, April second we will fire up the impulse engines and stretch the Lexington's Legs for a short two hour trip. We are just going to test the waters."
Everyone applauded and cheered at the sound of that. They couldn't believe that after a month of this, they were actually starting to make progress. After the cheers died down, they finished up there meeting and everyone went on their way. They agreed that tomorrow when the cadet ship's leaders are announced, the announcement of their first short trip will be announced as well.
The next few days were long, but the week went quickly. The boys worked hard to get the ship ready to go underway. In between watches and working on the ship and their classes, the boys were drilled hard by the Marines, treating them like they were treated during their first week stay on the Lady Lex.
The boys seemed to like the choices made for the cadet leadership positions. There were some gripes and complains on certain positions, but it was one of those things where you can't please everybody.
The day finally arrived. For the first time in over twenty years, the bridge to the SFA "Lexington" was alive with anticipation. The cadet command leaders sat at their stations. Ben sat in the helms chair. He ran his fingers over the control panel. All he had ever flown was the "Wonder Boy" and that was only a few times this past week. Kalon went over the controls with Ben and will be standing right next to him to guide him in his maneuvering.
Sitting next to Ben on his right was TJ, the navigator. He been studying the charts and files, hoping he didn't make any wrong calculations. Kalon worked hard with TJ as well. Sitting on the left side of Ben was Douglas, the Operations officer. He was glad his station was right next to Ben. He looked at his roommate and lover. Even though they only had sex that one time after they made up from their fight, he longed to do it again. He wanted to do it sooner, but with the way they been working the past week, they were too exhausted to do anything. Douglas thought tired or not, he wanted to have sex with Ben again as soon as they get back from their two hour test flight.
Captain Hatcher sat in his command chair. Johnny Cooper stood next to him. He got confirmation from the senior officers that the ship was ready to take flight. He took a deep breath and stood up.
"The chair is yours Cadet Cooper."
"Mine?"
"You are the cadet CO, right?"
"Yes, but..."
"No buts. You need to learn how to command from that chair and there is no better time then the present. Don't worry, I will be here."
"Who says I'm worried?" Johnny sat in the Captain's chair. He liked the feel of it. He felt power that he never felt before.
"OK Cadet Cooper. Give the orders to stretch this old girl's legs."
Johnny did a quick once over the check off sheet. He then looked at the view screen in front of him that showed Mothball Station. He felt an excitement in his stomach that made him hard. He couldn't believe he was commanding a starship.
"Mr. Collins. Ease her out," ordered Johnny with a grin.
Ben took a deep breath. He put on the shades that Kalon gave him on his maiden flight and he pressed a button that started to play Stevie Brock's song, "Flying", which he considered his theme song since it was the song that helped him to take flight for the first time. Douglas kept a watchful eye on his station but from time to time he gave Ben a reassuring smile. Ben pressed the engaged button and shifted it into gear. The Lady Lex was moving under her own power.
To Be Continued...