Welcome back loyal readers. Ben and I apologize for the long delay between posts. Life just has a way of getting in the way. Between school, Ben going on a trip, Ben getting sick, and just things happening the writing has bogged down some. One of our readers said it best in an e-mail to us. He said Lady Lex started as a spring/summer project and suddenly it took on a life of its own and life intruded upon it. How true. Ben and I keep a 7 chapter difference between the one we post and the one we just finished. Well, the next chapter is still a work in progress, so we decided to post this one, even though it will cut the gap to 6 for now. Well, whatever the reason, I hope you enjoy it, and the two week wait hasn't dulled your apetite for our story. We will work hard to get the next one out quicker, but then, as you all know, life keeps getting in the way or art. <Regards, Ben and Douglas>
The Boys of the Lady Lex Chapter 33 "Capture the Flag" Written By Douglas DD and Benjamin TC
THURSDAY, MAY 19th
THE BIG BOARD FOR THURSDAY:
SCORING ON WEDNESDAY
ORION 152 LEXINGTON 52
TOTAL SCORING
ORION 581 LEXINGTON 133
Today's games:
WAR GAMES!
Thursday was war games day. For some it would be their only competition. For others it was their second. Every cadet had a role to play. Often it was the war games that would make or break a ship, either in a practice game or on the Olympics.
The war games would involve two groups in the morning, the shuttle wings and the ground group. After a break for lunch, the two starships would compete against each other under the command of their senior cadet staff. A few of the boys flying shuttles had returned on the regular afternoon and evening "Lady Hawke" flights between Ghent and the Lady Lex the day before, but most would be flying up to the "Lexington" after breakfast. Since the "Lady Hawke" couldn't handle the task, Captain Watson had his shuttles ready to help to keep the games moving and on schedule. The flights started at seven a.m. and by eight all of the boys involved with the shipboard games had been shuttled up to the "Lexington". Most of the boys involved took part in the ground games. The morning session was set to go from nine until noon.
The war games used to be saved for last. That way the boys only had to be shuttled down and back up once. However, some of the captains tried scheduling them in the middle to break up the routine, and found it worked out pretty well. The two problems with doing it that way were the logistics and the fact that sometimes a ship could put away a close game with a good showing, making the last two days meaningless. On the other hand, the closing ceremonies and marching formations could actually be done on the last day of competition rather than the day before. Each set of captains was free to schedule it how they saw fit. Most of them opted for the Thursday war games.
As the boys arrived on the Lady Lex, the ones in shuttle wings took their places, while the ones with bridge duties took theirs. Since the top cadets had both shuttle and bridge duties, the scoring for the morning competition would be based on the performance of the shuttles only. Most of the important bridge functions would be performed by the regular crew. It would be different in the Olympics where cadets protecting the mother ship against shuttle attacks was one of the scored events.
At precisely nine a.m. the shuttles left their mother ships and headed for the prescribed battle area. The game was a sophisticated space version of capture the flag. Each squadron of shuttles had to protect its own flag as well as attempt to capture the flag of their opponents. The scoring was based on hits. Computers on the shuttles kept track of simulated weapons hits from other shuttles. The value of a hit was based on the simulated damage it created, with the most points coming from a "kill". A "killed" shuttle was automatically out of the competition. As Mike had explained to Ryan, it was actually possible for damaged ships to have simulated repairs done by the crew allowing them to return to action. Capturing the opponents flag and or successfully defending one's own flag, while not guaranteeing a win, was worth a large number of points as well as being good for bragging rights.
Even though Mike, the commander of the "Holden Caufield" was the junior XO of the "Lexington", Douglas, as commander of the lead ship of Wing Group 1, was the wing commander. The honor was determined by competitions between shuttles and wing groups similar to the one the boys in which the boys were about to engage.
The ships of both squadrons had to follow a shuttle from the "Bon Homme Richard" to their flag. They had to maintain total radio silence during the journey. Douglas was interested to find out the shuttle leading them, the "Ben Franklin" was being commanded by the XO of the "Bon Homme Richard", Commander Lee Henry. Douglas had heard stories about the XO. He was openly gay for one thing. Official policies against gays were long things of the past, even in a military type organization like the SFA. That didn't preclude unofficial policies from being in force, however. How a gay was received varied from location to location, from ship to ship, depending on the attitude of the crew and the captain
One thing for sure, the promotion of a gay was almost always based on merit, not on the kiss ass who is it you know system. Rich became cadet CO of the "Orion" because he all but buried his gayness between his sophomore and junior years, virtually renouncing Todd as a roommate and friend in order for him to kiss the right asses. Todd, though far better qualified than Rich, became the cadet XO based on merit, though he found himself liking the XO position more than he imagined. Todd was openly gay, often having sex with other cadets, though avoiding a relationship. The junior academies had always looked the other way when horny teens ended up in bed with each other, gay or not, but frowned on relationships between officers and subordinates.
When Captain Watson's first XO was given command of his own ship, Watson had to pick a new XO. When a ship's executive officer position opened up, the captain was given a list of three to six names. The top three qualified applicants in seniority automatically made the list. Senior command could add up to three more names, some of them because of their qualifications, some of them for mastering the art of ass kissing. Sometimes the three senior applicants were the same officers senior command would have picked, making for just three applicants. The way Douglas heard the story was Commander Lee was the least senior of five applicants, but the most qualified. Admiral Natter himself had approved his application. Captain Watson was extremely impressed with the young Commander. Captain Watson also knew he had some very conservative members in his crew. Before making his choice he let it be known that any crew member with an objection to a gay XO should feel free to voice his or her objection. Five came forward, three officers, one petty officer, and one technician. Watson thanked them for their time, had all five transferred off his ship the next day, and named Lee as his XO. The tone on the "Bon Homme Richard" had been set.
Douglas was shaken from his reverie by Scottie, his navigator. "Signal from the `Franklin', sir." Since radio silence had to be maintained until the "Go" signal was broadcast, communication had to be visual. The "Ben Franklin" flashed her exterior lights three times, indicating they had arrived at their flag. Douglas couldn't see it, but knew a radio beacon would soon be turned on, and they soon would be able to hear it. The range of the beacon was limited to increase the difficulty of finding an opponent's flag, but without the beacon it would be impossible to find and capture.
Douglas had Scottie flash their lights twice in acknowledgment, then had him flash two long and two short flashes, signaling the squadron to fly into their starting formation. The other shuttles complied. Some of the other commanders resented taking orders from a boy who was not only a freshman, but wasn't even a juvie. However, they had to reluctantly acknowledge the fact that the "Wonder Boy" had by far had the best scores in their own war games and Douglas had earned his position. Mike had quietly dealt with the loudest complainers long before the games started. Douglas was the commander of the squadron, but Mike, as cadet XO, carried the hammer.
Suddenly a steady beeping could be heard over the communications system. It was the radio beacon on their flag. It had been activated. Douglas ordered that channel shut off to quiet the noise. The game of capture the flag had begun.
Douglas and the other commanders had rehearsed their battle plan over and over. Wing Group Two would be the scout group. Its four shuttles would go off in different directions, running a hunting pattern. They knew the flag would be within a certain distance, but in three dimensional space that still meant a huge area had to be covered. The "Raptor", while technically not part of the squadron, was also assigned to be a scout ship. It wasn't listed on the squadron list, which was legal as long as it followed the escort into the war games zone with the rest of the squadron. Wing Group Four was the defense group. No matter what happened its four shuttles would remain behind to protect the flag. Wing Groups One and Three were the attack groups. Once a scout ship located the enemy flag, the attack group would head for it, following the plan that had been drawn up.
Douglas sat nervously in his command chair. This was going to be the hard part. The waiting. Waiting for action, whether it was the message that sent them scurrying for the flag or having to defend their own flag if they was discovered first, it was the action they all wanted, not the waiting.
As soon as the flag's beacon was turned on the five scout ships took off in five different directions. Douglas had thought about using half of Wing Group Three to also scout, but he decided to hold them in reserve. If nothing had been found with the first half hour he could always release them.
"Operation Grape Stomp is under way," Douglas announced to his squadron, the radios now active, but set for low range. Nipper was already trying to tune his radio and his sensors to pick up anything incoming. Nerves were on edge. Every boy, including the ones on the "Wonder Boy" wished they were one of the scout ships. At least they would be doing something.
Andrew, Nipper, Ben, and Douglas each had a screen that read what the sensors picked up. They saw the white dots of the squadron shuttles blinking along with two green dots belonging to the two observation ships, the "Ben Franklin" and the "Lady Hawke". The "Franklin" was the neutral observer, while the "Lady Hawke" had observers from the Lady Lex, among them Kalon Masters, Harrison Wolfe, Amanda Creevey, Ely Storm, Doc Daniels, and Colonel Strong. Hitting a ship flashing a green light meant an automatic shutdown of the ship's power system and was scored as a kill for the opponent. It was important to watch their location carefully. Two other neutral ships were in the battle zone; the shuttle from the "Bon Homme Richard" which had led the "Orion" squadron into the battle zone and one from the "Orion".
Marshall Dugan, the commander of the Lady Lex's "Hari Seldon", was the first to pick up the signal of the enemy flag. His navigator and science officers quickly calculated the exact location of the flag. The navigator immediately radioed the coordinates with the message, "Vineyard discovered."
Miles Everett, the pilot, did a quick loop to get the "Seldon" away until the attack group arrived, at which time it would join the attack group. It never got the chance as two yellow enemy blips quickly closed in. Two shuttles from the "Orion" pounced on Lady Lex shuttle . It was simply too old and too slow to get away from the state-of-the-art "Orion" shuttles. The "Seldon" started evasive maneuvers and got some shots off. They had a moment to cheer about as a red blip appeared on one of the "Orion" shuttles, but it was a glancing blow. Right after two red interior lights flashed on suddenly, indicating they had received enemy hits.
"Into the well," Marshall shouted as Miles started a maneuver that would drop the nose of the "Seldon" ninety degrees. He never got a chance to finish it as all the battle lights in the cabin flashed red right along with all the instruments. They had taken a direct hit and had become the first kill of the war games. Their weapons array froze instantly. They had a two minute delay to bring their shuttle under control before the engines would be shut down as well. The war games were over for the "Hari Seldon". They would spend the remainder of the time drifting in space.
As soon as the main body of the squadron received the message from the "Seldon" the nervousness of doing nothing was quickly replaced by a strong surge of adrenaline. Scottie punched in the coordinates sent by the scout ship, Jesse engaged the engine and the "Wonder Boy" was off, leading the attack group to the flag. The "Lady Hawke" followed the attack squadron while the "Ben Franklin" stayed behind to watch the possible defense of the "Lexington's:" flag.
Douglas had no idea if their flag location had been detected. No yellow blips had appeared on their sensors, but Douglas knew the sensors were old and not always accurate. As the shuttles neared the location of the "Orion's" flag they split up on the "Wonder Boy's" signal. The feeling was they were more likely to capture the flag by coming in from many directions than they would be by attacking the defenders en-masse.
Just before reaching the spot where the "Seldon" had heard the signal Douglas had Ben do a drop. The plan was to drop under the plane the squadron was following at the same the "Ender Wiggins" and the "Moonduster" did a rise over the top of the plane. The maneuver was planned to occur before they came within sensor range. But the sensors of the "Orion" shuttles were much more sensitive than they had figured. A yellow blip had appeared for just a fraction of a second on the sensor of the "Iroquois". Word went out to the defenders instantly and three were deployed to find the source of the blip.
It didn't take long for the main attack force to realize they were badly out numbered. The "Orion" attack force had not yet left the area of the flag, leaving them to help the defending squadron. The boys realized the only reason the attack force was still there was they hadn't yet found the Lady Lex's flag.
The three ships going after the stray blip were the "Sioux", the "Sagittarius", and the "Ramses." It didn't take long for the swift craft to overtake the "Wonder Boy".
"Three yellow blips at eighty dash four," Scottie announced as the three "Orion" shuttles appeared on his sensor screen."
"Evasive maneuvers," Douglas ordered, wondering how they were detected so early. As much as Kalon Masters had tried drilling into the boys the superiority of the "Orion's" equipment, the boys didn't really pay any attention to it. They had the inherent confidence of teen youth, though it was often tempered by its ever present counterpart, the lack of self-esteem that helped so many of them become cadets on the Lady Lex.
The boys had practiced evasive maneuvers during shuttle classes, but most of them involved evading one or two opponents. Trying to escape three opponents was seen as close to impossible, a fact that didn't discourage Ben at all. He had the "Wonder Boy" zigging, zagging, and looping, putting maximum stress on the inertial dampeners. A red light flashed on indicating a minor hit on the roof. Andrew anticipated a turn by the "Sagittarius" and caught it ahead of its engine compartment, disabling it. The boys wanted to cheer as the light on their sensor screens changed from yellow to red, but they didn't have the time for celebrating. The playing field was now a bit more even, however, as they only had to dodge two shuttles.
Ben kept up his maneuvers, dodging the weapons fire of the two pursuing shuttles, but edging ever closer to the "Orion's" flag. The "Wonder Boy" crew still felt they could capture the flag from behind and underneath while the rest of the squadron distracted the defenders from in front and above. All Ben had to do was keep evading his pursuers and hope the crew of the "Sagittarius" didn't get their engines running again. Andrew had struck a crippling blow, but not a fatal one.
Kalon Masters, observing the action on the "Lady Hawke's" sensor screen was talking to Ben out loud, as if his pupil could hear his instructions and encouragement. "Turn left and drop there Ben! Yeah! That's it! Good job, Ben. Keep way from those bastards. You're ten time better than they are." Kalon knew the superiority of the opponent's equipment, but he also knew Ben was better than three-quarters of the SFA pilots he'd seen. If Ben worked it right, even with his comparatively slow, clumsy shuttle, he could evade his pursuers.
On the "Ramses" Brandon, the navigator, realized that he was getting the signature signal of the "Wonder Boy."
"Hey, David," he said to the shuttle's commander. "Isn't your buddy the commander of that shuttle?"
David looked at the signature. "Hell, ya, he is." He quickly radioed the squadron commander and received permission to do a solo run at the "Wonder Boy." Everybody on the "Orion" knew of the strong feelings he had regarding Douglas. Nobody on the "Orion" was worried about losing. Three on one? Two on one? One on one? It didn't matter. The "Orion" wins, the "Lexington" loses. The squadron commander had no qualms about toying with his opponent. He instructed the "Sioux" to rejoin the main squadron and instructed the commander of the "Sagittarius" to not pursue the "Wonder Boy" if he got his engines back online.
On the "Lady Hawke" Kalon watched as the "Sagittarius" broke away and the "Ramses" remained as the solo pursuer. "Those arrogant, cocky bastards," he said to no one in particular. "So they want to do it one on one do they? Kick his ass, Ben? Now you're twenty times better than those assholes."
"That's the shuttle Mark Hatcher pilots," Colonel Stone observed. "The one with the kid who hates Douglas."
"That's David's ship?" Dr. Daniels said as he watched the sensor screen in front of him intently.
"It is," Stone said. "This could be very interesting."
"I understand Hatcher's son is a good pilot," Creevey said.
"Not as good as Ben," Kalon said emphatically. "He didn't have me as his teacher."
Ben and Douglas were both surprised to see one of the two pursuing shuttles break away, but when Scottie said the remaining shuttle was the "Ramses" they both understood. The game had become personal. It was David versus Douglas. Mark versus Jesse. This was for more than mere points in a meaningless preliminary contest.
A voice came over the radio. It was David's. "It's just you and me, Douglas. And you know you've never beaten me. I have the best ship, the best shuttle, the best pilot, the best crew, and I'm a far better commander than you. Now I'm going to prove it."
Ben didn't wait for David to finish as he pulled the "Wonder Boy" into a dip and a loop, giving Andrew a brief moment to line up on the "Ramses". Andrew fired, getting a glancing blow just under the wing mount. A red light flickered on the sensor screen at the same time two red lights lighted up on the wall of the "Ramses".
"Bastards," David mumbled. He then ordered Mark into an attack turn. The quicker, more agile shuttle was able to get the "Wonder Boy's" stern in its sight. Tim Whitaker, the weapons officer, took aim at the opposing shuttle's stern, but Ben had already put the "Wonder Boy" into a tight reverse loop, causing the barrage to miss entirely, while bringing the shuttle over the top of the "Ramses". Andrew was able to get another shot off. He managed to "destroy" the tail section. While this section meant nothing as far as maneuvering in the vacuum of space went, it meant something psychologically. The fact it netted the "Wonder Boy" some points meant nothing to either shuttle.
"Nice shot!" Kalon shouted as he watched the red light flash in the "Lady Hawke's" screen.
David cursed again as red lights lit up the back part of the cabin. That was two hits. Not only that, the computer indicated the first hit had initiated a slight air leak. He put Rabbit and Parker, his science and engineering officers to work fixing it. He then turned and started chewing out Tim for missing his target. His tirade was interrupted by a quick lurching to the left and up as Mark worked to match a maneuver by Ben.
"What are you doing?" David shouted.
"Would you believe piloting this shuttle?" Mark replied.
"And if you would shut up and let us do our jobs, maybe we can get the bastards on the next pass," Tim said. He wanted to say more, but he knew not to push David too far.
David was ready to say something when Douglas's voice came over the radio. "I hear the grape season was a bad one this year. They were a tad bit sour. But if you put your feet on them and stomp them they...." "Shut up, Douglas. You know you can't win." David flicked off the radio. "Get on their tail and stay there," he ordered Mark.
Mark complied as the tension started easing in the cabin of the "Ramses". So far the "Wonder Boy" had made them look bad. Kalon Masters and the observers on the "Lady Hawke" were proud of the performance of Douglas and his crew. The neutral observers from the "Bon Homme Richard", while impressed with Ben's piloting, all agreed the "Ramses" should have finished off the "Wonder Boy" long ago.
The "Wonder Boy" and the "Ramses" looped and whirled as they chased each other, shot and missed, teased and taunted, all the while the "Wonder Boy" creeping closer and closer to the flag. Mark kept getting the "Ramses" on the tail of the "Wonder Boy", but Ben kept maneuvering out of the way. Tim's shots were coming closer and closer to their target. Ben knew he couldn't avoid the shots forever as Tim's timing got better and better.
On the "Ramses" David had regained his self-control. He now had the common sense to stay out of the way of Mark and Tim, letting them do their jobs as his shuttle came in for the inevitable kill. A freshman commander was a rarity on a regular junior academy ship like the "Ramses" and David's burst of immature behavior was a big reason why.
"We can't remain the prey and win this," Ben said.
"You're right. We need to change that position. We need to get them in front of us for awhile. Andrew will take care of the rest," Douglas said. Andrew nodded his head in agreement.
Ben's twists and loops were keeping them from being hit by weapons fire, but they didn't allow them to get into a position to fire back. Their maneuvers were now strictly defensive. For a moment, Ben brought got their tail perpendicular to the "Ramses" allowing Andrew to get a shot off that was wide of the mark.
Okay, Ben thought. This is where I do it. This is where I reverse our roles. He kept the "Wonder Boy" moving up and away from the "Ramses." As the "Ramses" maneuvered to get back on the tail its opponent, Ben started a twist and a drop.
From the "Lady Hawke" Kalon saw what Ben was doing. "No, Ben, no! Don't do it! It won't work!"
Creevey saw it too, and knew the maneuver was doomed to failure. Even if Ben could pull it off perfectly, it wouldn't work.
"What are you doing?" Jesse asked as the loop and twist continued.
"A Double Quinlan Loop. Now let me concentrate. Be ready Andrew, I'll have you on their tail in no time."
Ben kept his shuttle twisting and looping, doing what he'd read about so many times and tried in the simulator so many times. His success rate and gotten better, but he had yet to pull if off successfully in the shuttle. This would be a good time to do it, he thought.
The "Wonder Boy" twisted, looped, turned, and got itself to the point the opposing shuttle would least expect it. He came out of the Double Quinlan loop perfectly, right where he wanted. It had been almost impossible to track the "Ramses" on the sensor screens during the loop. The equipment simply could not keep up with the speed of the maneuver. If Scottie's computer precalculations were correct he should be coming out right on the tail of the "Ramses", unless they had accurately calculated what he was doing..
The loop completed, Douglas looked to see where the "Ramses" was, but before he could even focus on the screen all of the red lights on the ceiling, walls, and floor lit up. The "Ramses" had just scored a direct hit. The "Wonder Boy" was dead and out of the games. Jesse brought the shuttle to a stop and shut down the engines. The boys sat in shock, stunned by the turn of events. The "Ramses" had figured their maneuver out perfectly. It was almost sitting in wait for them as they come out of the double loop.
"Sorry to spoil your glass of wine, loser," David said over the radio. "Once again you have failed to beat me."
All the Douglas's crew could do now was listen to the progress on the radio. The "Orion's" attack force had been wiped out. Fifteen minutes after the attack force had left the flag to attack, an "Orion" scout had discovered the location of the Lady Lex's flag and quickly captured it, killing every defending ship. Even though there were fifteen minutes left, this part of the war games were over. The game ended either when both flags had been captured, all the shuttles of one side had been wiped out, or time expired.
The "Orion" defenders, upon hearing all of the Lady Lex's squadrons had been wiped out, whooped and cheered over the radio. They starting leaving their positions around the flag to meet up with the rest of the squadron. Only two "Orion" shuttles had been "killed" and one, the "Sagittarius", disabled. It was now time to celebrated their big win.
"Something's funny," Douglas told his crew.
"What's that?' Ben asked.
"According to the rules, once all the shuttles have been killed, the observer ships will radio the two squadrons and declare the game over."
"Okay. So what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?"
"There's a little over ten minutes left in the game. I haven't heard the message broadcast."
"Maybe they forgot," Nipper said.
"I very much doubt that. Let me see the list of kills," Douglas asked Nipper.
Nipper handed him a printout with the names of all the shuttles in the squadron. Douglas read it and smiled. "I think somebody just might be in for a big surprise."
The probe that served as the flag of the "Orion" sent out its homing signal. The signal would keep broadcasting until noon, when the game was officially over. The "Orion" shuttles paid no attention to it as they moved away from it to meet the rest of their squadron, leaving the probe unprotected. At 11:56 Tim asked the crew of the "Ramses" if they had heard the broadcast ending the game. They all agreed they hadn't.
"That means the game isn't over," Tim said.
"So what?" David asked. "All their shuttles have been killed."
"No," Mark said, catching Tim's drift. "All the shuttles listed on their squadron list have been killed."
"That's all they are allowed to have is the shuttles in their squadron."
Tim disagreed. "The rules said any shuttle in the group that follows the neutral shuttle into the battle zone is eligible. It doesn't have to be a squadron shuttle. It can be one being repaired. An extra one hand. As long as it's assigned to the academy ship and follows the neutral shutte." The time read 11:57.
"Shit!" David said. "Mark turn this thing around and make full speed for the flag!" David knew the "Ramses" was the closest shuttle to the flag as he had been speeding to catch up to the rest of the defenders.
Parker set the engines to full power and the "Ramses" accelerated back to the undefended flag. The crew watched the electronic clocks change to 11:58. They picked up the signal from the probe as they hit full speed, racing back to the flag, not knowing what to expect. A red blip showed up on the sensor screen. It was the "Wonder Boy". Then the yellow blip of an enemy shuttle appeared at the corner, near to where the flag was.
"Can't you get us going faster?" David yelled at Parker.
"I have it pushed beyond what the book says to give her," Parker said.
The "Ramses" crew could see the yellow blip nearing the blue one of the flag. "Prepare weapons for full fire," David said.
"Weapons ready!" Tim replied.
The yellow blip was coming close to merging with the blue one. The clocks flicked over to 11:59.
"FIRE!" David yelled.
Tim's finger, which had been poised at the firing button, pushed, just as the grappling hook of a shuttle grabbed the flag. The clocks hit noon, the laser beam of the "Orion" hit the "Raptor" broadside, but it all made no difference. The game was over, the weapons would have no effect, the "Ramses" would not get credit for a kill, and the "Raptor" had the flag.
The cadets of the "Orion" sat in stunned silence as the crew of the now powering up Lady Lex shuttles cheered. The "Raptor" sped past the "Ramses" as Trev yelled into the radio, "SCREEEEEEEEEE!!!! THE PURPLE PEOPLE EATERS ARE HERE! EAT MY SHORTS LOSERS!!!"
Game one was over. It was time for lunch.
To be continued.....