Date: Thu, 03 Jun 2004 18:05:58 +0000 From: Douglas DD DD Subject: The Boys of Lady Lex Chapter 7 Greetings and welcome back readers. This is another Ben chapter, with a twist. Because the chapter didn't quite end up the way we wanted, Ben did an extensive rewrite. During the rewrite I kicked out some ideas for Chapter 8. However, we decided one of my ideas actually worked better in Chapter 7, so we plugged the whole scene into Chapter 7. The scene is marked as mine, but I'm sure, the alert readers you are, that you will see the difference in style. The big question is, just how can Nipper have such a hard time finding his father, who is right there on the same ship? As usual this chapter contains sex between consenting minors and is copyrighted by the authors. Enjoy, and we hope to see you back for Chapter 8, soon. The Boys of the Lady Lex Chapter 7 "Rude Awakenings" Written By Douglas DD and Benjamin TC Douglas felt himself in slow motion as he frantically ran down the dark passageway. It was like he was running through tunnel vision and the ambient noise was magnified a thousand times. He heard his heart go thump thump, thump thump, thump thump. He was out of breath because the hands of panic, confusion, and fear all held a tight grip on Douglas's lungs. He couldn't catch his breath. He kept looking over his shoulder as he ran down the corridor in a slow motion. He wanted to run faster, but something was keeping him from doing so. He rounded a corner and came to a complete stop. There was a tall dark figure blocking his way. Douglas's eyes widen then a flash a light blinded him as he felt a phaser hit his chest. Douglas screamed as frantically sat up in bed. "Lights" he said as he tried to get his heart from beating a mile a minute. He felt himself out of breath and he had broken out in a cold sweat. "It was only a nightmare," he said to himself. He then peered over the side of the bed to see if Nipper was in his bunk. But that wasn't a nightmare it was reality. Nipper was still missing. Douglas felt so helpless. He wanted to find his brother. He loved him and misses him very much. He and his dad would be leaving in two days to go back to Earth to see if he had stolen away on a shuttle that was bound to Earth. They would have left sooner, but the earliest shuttle leaves in two days. He knew that Captain Hatcher and his dad made all necessary arrangements and phone calls to find his brother, but he still worried about him. He just hopes that they will find him without being harmed or anything. As he lay there trying to block out the image that his nightmare left behind and thinking about Nipper, his heart was overtaken by sadness. At this point he really missed his mom. A tear trickled out of the corner of his eye and buried itself into Douglas's pillow. He knew if she would have never died that Nipper wouldn't be missing now. A part of him wanted to blame her for dying. A part of him wanted to blame his father for bringing them here. A part of him wanted to blame himself to not paying enough attention to Nipper. Douglas was mad at the world and he found blame in everyone for the missing of his brother. The Sandman finally visited Douglas once more and he drifted off to sleep, hoping that he wouldn't wake up to another nightmare. Soon Douglas was running in the dark corridor once again. ***** Andrew woke up. Nipper was facing away from him. He could hear nipper sniff and cry softly. He scooted close to his friend and put his arm around him. "It's ok Nipper. You will no longer be one of us tomorrow." Nipper backed in closer to Andrew. Andrew propped himself up on his elbow so he could hear Nipper talk in a barely audible tone. "It's not that. I miss my mom." "I'm sorry." "If my mom would have never died, I wouldn't be in this mess. Why did she have to die?" "I don't know," said Andrew. He could feel sympathy tears starting to form. "How did she die?" asked Andrew before realizing that was a stupid question to ask. "She was sick with cancer. My dad was away on assignment. He tried to get home in time but he didn't make it. I was the last one to see her alive." "You were?" "She was in the hospital. I had my violin with me. She use to love to hear me play my violin. She said that my violin music was the closest to heaven on earth. My grandparents and Douglas went to the cafeteria. I told them I wanted to stay with mom and that I wasn't hungry. Douglas said he would bring me back something." Andrew put his hand on Nipper's shoulder as he paused. Nipper was just staring out into the dark room as he told Andrew his story. "I played her favorite song, `Tears of a Mother'. She closed her eyes and smiled as I played it. Once I finished she said that was the best I have ever played. She then made me promise never to give up violin but continue to play it throughout my life. Then she asked me to play her favorite song one more time. So I looked at her pale sweet face and I placed my violin under my chin and I played her song a second time. I put down my bow and I looked at her..." Nipper paused as the image flooded his memory and a lump formed in his throat. Tears started to flow down even more so then they were to begin with. "I looked over to her and I thought she fell asleep. I walked over to her and kissed her on the lips good night. Then the doctors came running in and pushed me out of the way. They tried to revive her, but it was useless. I was yelling what's going on? She's sleeping!!! That's all she's sleeping!!! My music put her to sleep!!! I kept saying that over and over. Then the one doctor came up to me and said he was sorry and that she was gone. I wouldn't believe it. I kept telling him that he was wrong!! That my music is a like a lullaby to her and she was just asleep. The doctor told me that her vital signs alarm went off at the nurse's station right before I finished playing my song a second time. By then Douglas came up with my food and he saw what happened. I fell into his arms as he began to cry. I cried in his arms and told Douglas to tell me that she was only asleep, that my music put her to sleep. But Douglas told me that she died. "I'm sorry Nipper," said Andrew who wasn't sure what else to say. He was helpless. He wanted to take the hurt and pain away from Nipper, but he didn't know how or even what to say. "I didn't go to her funeral. I wanted to, but I just couldn't. I kept telling myself that she wasn't dead. That she was just asleep. My dad wasn't there and I was mad at him for that. Douglas told me to go to the funeral because I would regret it, but I didn't want to go and my grandparents didn't force me. I should have listened to Douglas because he was right. I should have gone. Unlike dad, my mom was always there for me. And I couldn't be there for her one last time to say goodbye. "I became my dad turned my back on her. So a few days later, Douglas took me to the cemetery and he left me by myself at her grave. I talked to her for a few minutes and told her that I was sorry for not going to her funeral. I then took my violin and I played her favorite song for her. And that is when I vowed that I will only play that song at the cemetery for her. So from that point on, every time I visited the cemetery, I would bring my violin with me and I would play her her song. The only time I didn't player her song when I went to the cemetery was the day that Captain Hatcher met my dad there. I didn't know I was going to go that day and I didn't have it with me. But before I came here, I played it for her." Nipper wiped his swollen wet face. His nose was running and Nipper wiped his hand on his sheets. "You think she heard me play?" "Yeah, and I bet she was smiling too," said Andrew. Nipper became real quiet as he thought about his mother. Andrew snuggled in closer to Nipper and leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I love you," said Andrew softly. The two boys laid there in silence. ***** Scooter jerked his head up. He had fallen asleep. He had to stop and think where he was. Finally he remembered. Right after he jacked off, he went to sleep, but Master Sergeant Flint stormed into his room and told him that he had first evening watch. He was to watch the corridor that his room was on. He said that after two hours on watch, someone else would come and relieve him. He shook his head and rest it against the bulkhead. He had sat on the floor after roving the corridor for 15 minutes. He looked at his wrist to see what time it was, but he forgot that him and the other cadets weren't allowed to wear watches. So he went over to the small table where there was small clock sat and saw that he was only asleep for a bout 30 minutes. Scooter wondered what had woken him up. He stood up and walked down the hall. He heard movement inside of a room like someone was trying to crawl into bed. He tried to remember who slept in that room. He thought one of the boy's name Dan or Jan or...Stan. That's it. It was Stan. Scooter then roamed the corridor for a few more minutes and sat down in his old place. Before he knew it, darkness covered his eyes once again. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING CADET????" Scooter jumped up from a sound sleep. He blinked his eyes and shook his head trying to orientate himself. There only inches from his face was Sergeant Murdock. He was yelling and spitting into Scooter's face. Scooter was scared shitless. "Why were you sleeping on watch Cadet? You just killed all of your shipmates!!! You fell asleep and someone came in and slit all their throats!!!" Scooter's heart sunk. He started to cry. Was what he heard earlier someone killing the other cadets? He started to cry and fall out of attention. "Get back into attention Cadet!!! Because you fell asleep, a fire broke out and burned everyone to death, including you!!!" Scooter was confused now. "Huh?" "Cadet, we don't stand watches just to stand them. We stand watches for safety reasons. We stand watches to help protect our shipmates while they get some sleep. Watches are very important Cadet. Now drop and give me 50 push ups." Scooter wiped his tears. He finally figured out that the other cadets weren't dead. Sgt. Murdock was just trying to scare him on what could have happened to the other cadets when he had fallen asleep at his post. Scooter assumed the position. "Permission to begin, Sergeant." "Down!!" Scooter dropped in the down position doing his push ups. He held that position. He knew he couldn't go up until he was given permission too. After 5 seconds but it seemed like 5 years, Sgt. Murdock yelled "Up". "One Sergeant." Scooter held himself in the up position until he was told to go down. Finally after 15 minutes, he finished his push ups and his arms were beyond feeling like Jell-O. They were dead. "Did you learn your lesson, Cadet?" "Yes Sergeant!!" "We shall see!!! You have the next two hours." Scooter couldn't believe his ears. He was tired and didn't want to stay up for another two hours. He just wanted to crawl back into his bed. The Sergeant left and scooter walked the corridor once gain. He was yawning up a storm and tried to fight back the sleepies. His feet were a little sore, so he sat down. He didn't realize it was going to be a bad mistake on his behalf. "CADET!!!! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!!!" Scooter jerked awake. He realized he fell asleep again. How could he be so stupid? His arms were already dead from doing pushups only and hour ago. Now he will have to do some more. "YOU JUST KILLED YOUR FUCKEN SHIPMATES AGAIN!!!! I GUESS SLEEP IS MORE IMPORTANT THEN YOUR SHIPMATES!!!" "No sergeant, it's not." "YOU COULD HAVE FOOLED ME!!!!" Sergeant Murdock stormed down the hall opening the doors to the rooms yelling for everyone to get up. Soon the corridor was filled with yawning boys standing at attention in front of the door to their room. Some boys were wearing just their skivvies. Others had on their skivvies and a t-shirt. There were even two boys who were completely naked and they were looking like that both of them had been crying most of the night to begin with. "COMPANY, YOUR WATCHSTANDER, CADET STARR, THINKS THAT HIS SLEEP IS MORE IMPORTANT THEN STANDING WATCH AND PROTECTING HIS SHIPMATES," yelled Sgt. Murdock. "So since his sleep is more important then standing watch, I will let Cadet Starr go to sleep. It is currently 0300. I will let him sleep until 0800. Cadet Starr, go to sleep." Scooter didn't know what to make of this. Why was he humiliating him in front of the other boys? He looked at some of them and he could tell they were pissed at him. Because of him, they were awakened a lot earlier then they were supposed to be. Scooter sheepishly headed towards his room. "Where are you going Cadet?" asked Murdock. "To my room to go to bed." "Oh no. Cadet Ben Collins and Cadet Mike Wakeman, Bring Cadet Starr's bed out here now." Ben and Mike quickly went into Scooter's room and pulled the bed out into the middle of the passageway. Then they took their positions once more in front of their doorways. Both of them were a little out of breath. "There you go Cadet Starr. Go to sleep now. All of your shipmates will stand watch while you sleep." Scooter stalled and hesitated, but Sgt. Murdock finally scared him enough to crawl into his bed. Scooter wanted to tell Murdock off, but he was just too scared to do so. He wanted to so bad, but just couldn't find the courage within himself to do so. "Company, Sing Rockaby Baby," said Murdock. Only a handful started to sing, but Murdock stopped them and told them to sing nice and loud and he wanted to hear everyone sing. "Rockaby baby, on the tree top. As the wind blows the cradle will rock. When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall and down will come Scooter cradle and all," sang the boys. They sang it a second time but this time light and soft. Scooter pulled the blankets over his head and cried. Why was Murdock doing this to him? Why was he even here? "Company!!! Assume the Push up position. For the next five hours while Cadet Starr sleeps, you will practice your marching movements, your exercises and any other thing that I can come up with. Now drop!!!" Scooter couldn't sleep. He lay there under his covers listening to the orders being shouts. He heard Murdock yell "about face, parade rest, attention, right turn, left turn, sit ups, eight count body builders, leg lifts, and other agonizing things. Finally eternity ended. Sgt. Murdock yelled "Reveille" and Scooter got up. He looked at all the boys around them. They were totally exhausted. He could see hatred and anger on every boys face. He wanted to tell them that he didn't sleep either, but he was afraid to open his mouth. "I hope you had a good night's sleep, cadet. Now, you won't have to stand watch any more. I am making you the watch bill coordinator. You will assign your shipmates the watches they need to stand. You will come up with the rotation. You WILL NOT put your name on that watch bill. Do I make myself clear?" "Yes Sergeant" "Very good. Company, you have twenty minutes to get dressed and be back out here. Move!!!!' ***** "That fucken asshole. Falling asleep like that. I tell you, if I get my hands on him, I will kill him!!!" said Johnny as he dragged his ass into his room. Ben didn't pay attention to him. He hated Johnny with a passion and there was nothing that would change his mind otherwise. He just tried to ignore him and hoped that he could get a new roommate soon. Ben pulled on his coveralls. He couldn't help but see Andrew do all his exercise and drill commands completely naked. He saw that Andrew's room mate was naked too. Ben wanted to know what was up between them. He noticed that both of them looked like they have been crying most of the night. That hurt Ben because so much he wanted to comfort his little brother. So much he wanted to talk to Andrew. But he hasn't had a chance to do so. He wanted to talk to both of them in the worst way, but the opportunity was just not presenting itself. ***** Ely walked into the hangar where the shuttle was that they used to get to and from the Lady Lex. He heard loud music blaring from the inside of it. Ely believed he heard the words "Pour some sugar on me" entering his ears. He entered the shuttlecraft and there sitting in the pilot seat was Kalon Masters. He sitting in the pilot's seat with his feet propped up on the console, whittling a piece of wood. "Computer, end song," said Ely, but the music was so loud that the computer didn't hear the command. So Ely had to turn it off manually. "Hey what did you do that for?" said Kalon as he turned to see who turned of his music. Pieces of wood fell to the floor from him to join the other pieces that were scattered below him. "Ensign Masters, I have an assignment for you." "Call me Kalon, ok Pops?" Ely just grumbled at the sound of being called Pops. "Here is a list of the shuttlecrafts here in Mothball Graveyard that we can have. I want you to go out there and access them and see what it will take to get them up and running." "Cool, I can do that," said Kalon as he took the computer palm pad and started looking over it. "You coming with me?" "No I have other things I need to worry about. With all our gear being stolen from the Geldon Raiders, I still need to find parts and tools, especially gravity generators." "Still no luck, huh?" "No, but I am farther on this now then I thought I would have been when I first arrived here. It wouldn't be so bad, but the Excalibur is out there floating around with lots of parts we can use, including the generators, but there is no way SFA will let us have them." Kalon's eyes filled with mischievous sparkles at the sound of this. The light bulb defiantly went on in his head. He couldn't tell Ely what he was thinking, because Kalon learned a long time ago that it is easier to ask for forgiveness then to receive permission. "Pops, you think I can take a few of the cadets with me? Maybe I can teach them a few things." "I don't see why not. I'll let Colonel Stone know." "Thanks Pops. I will make the necessary arrangements and we will start on this first thing this afternoon." "Very good. Thanks Ensign Masters." Ely then left the shuttle. Kalon turned on his music one more time, smiled and turned his attention to his whittling once again. ***** Captain Hatcher sat in his living quarters going over some paper work. His door chimed. "It's open." Dr. Daniels walked in. "Hi, Steve." "Larry. Any news?" "Nothing. Douglas and I will be leaving in two days for Earth. You realize we won't be back, even if we do find Nipper." Steve nodded his head in silence as he let out a disappointed sigh. He understands Larry's decision and he knew there was nothing he could say to change his mind. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to change his dear friend's mind. "I will conduct a physical on each boy before I leave. And when I get back to Earth, I will see if I can find you another ship's doctor." "Very well, Larry. And if there is anything I can do." "You did all you can already Steve." "I'm sorry Larry." "Don't start blaming yourself Steve. There is an outbreak of people blaming themselves for one reason or another already; I don't want to add you to the list." "I wish things would have worked out different. You realize I had you down as the coach for the baseball team that we have to from. I'll be coaching the hockey team." "I would have loved that. Douglas would have liked it too. I'm sure. I need to get started on their physicals if I want to finish them before I leave." Larry turned and started to walk away. "Larry," said Captain Hatcher. Dr. Daniels stopped in the entrance of the door and turned around. Captain Hatcher didn't say a word. "I know" said Dr. Daniels and he left. ***** The boys lined back up in the passageway. Sgt. Murdock was gone, but Sergeant Flint was there yelling and screaming for the boys to get a move on. Once all the boys were out of their rooms they were told that in one week, they will start their classes. But between now and then, the boys would be put to work on fixing up the Lady Lex and try to get her space worthy. Although that would take at least another month before she was space worthy. Then Flint told the boys that today and tomorrow they will be seeing the ship's doctor for their physical and to make sure that they are healthy and nothing wrong with them. A big burden just fell off of Nipper's shoulders. He was finally going to see his dad. He knew his days a misidentified cadet will soon be over. But there was a part of him that wanted to stay behind as a cadet. That part of him was the part that told Andrew that he loved him. Nipper then thought that maybe, just maybe his dad would let him still be Andrew's roommate. Then Nipper's thoughts changed as once again, Sergeant Flint had said it was time to go eat breakfast. ***** "It's open," said Captain Hatcher only about a half hour after Dr. Daniels left his office. The door opened and in walked Sgt. Murdock escorting Mike the Donkey. "Captain, here is the cadet you had asked to see." "Oh yes, come in." Mike walked in and stood at attention in front of Captain Hatcher as he was told to do so before entering the room. He wasn't sure why the Captain wanted to see him. He tried to hold back a yawn. He was extremely tired, but he tried not to show it. Plus the two pieces of toast and one hard boiled egg for breakfast just wasn't enough for his donkey stomach. "Cadet Wakeman, I been looking through your record. I see that you have played some hockey." "Yes Sir. I have." "You any good?" "I like to think I am Sir." "According to your stats, you are not only good but very good. And in your record, it states that you are a leader too. A leader of gang who steals stuff, but still a leader." "What's this all about Sir?" "I'll tell you. Besides the normal academic and military events in the Academy Olympics, there are two sport competitions. There is a junior varsity and a varsity league in both baseball and hockey this year. I will be coaching both Varsity and JV hockey teams along with Sgt. Murdock here. I want you to be the team's captain. Help me find the players I need so we can win this." "Are we going to have tryouts sir?" "As soon as we get our hands on some gravity generators, we will turn Hangar Bay 1 of the Lady Lex into a hockey rink." "So are you up to this?" "Hell Yeah." "Cadet!" yelled Sgt. Murdock. Mike realized his mistake. "Hell Yeah, Sir." "That's what I like to hear," smiled Captain Hatcher. "You're dismissed." "Uh Sir, I have a question." "Yes Cadet." "What's in it for us?" "What do you mean?" "Do we get out of work details or anything?" "Cadet, the only thing that I will be willing to give the team in return is no watch standing between 2200 and 0600. The team will continue to be on work details, do your academics and homework, and get up when the rest of the cadets do for PT and whatever else Colonel Stone will have you guys do. Now if you don't like those conditions, then you don't have to play on the team." Mike bit is bottom lip. He wanted more, but he knew he wasn't going to get more. But the chance to play hockey again was too much to pass up. "Ok Sir. Thanks." Mike was then escorted back to the others. ***** Kalon Masters stood in front of six boys. These were the six boys that he chosen to take with him on his secret mission. He knew if he told anyone what he was going to do, he would be forced not to do it, so he didn't tell anyone. "What are we here for Sir?" asked Ryan. "First of all, don't call me Sir. Call me Kalon. That is the name I was given by Jake and that is the name I want to be called." "Who's Jake?" asked Andrew. "Jake was the man who raised me until I was 16." "Wait a minute? Jake as in Jake Masters?" asked Johnny Cooper in disbelief. "Jake Masters as in the notorious smuggler?" asked Mike. "One and the same." "So like you were one of us then," said TJ. Nipper couldn't believe what he was hearing. First he comes to a place he didn't want to go to, then he get mistaken as a cadet and no one would listen to him and now he with a group of criminals and the only adult there was a criminal himself. Nipper scooted closer to Andrew to get some comfort. Nipper had a very bad feeling in his stomach. "You can say. I chose you all for specific reasons. With the exception of these two munchkins," he pointed to Andrew and Nipper, "All of you were members of the Donkey Gang." "It was the Mustang Gang before I left it." "Whatever. Look we are in a desperate need of tools and parts for the Lady Lex. Especially when it comes to gravity generators. I know where to get them, but we have to be quiet and sneaky about it." This caught Johnny's interest. "Why?" "Over half of the stuff we need is on the Excalibur that is floating in this junkyard. All we have to do is fly on over there and help us to the pickings." "Why us? And especially these two little faggots?" asked Johnny. Mike gave an evil glare at his old friend. He knew Johnny was straight who might have indulged in gay sex a little, but he didn't like when he used the word faggot in a derogatory manner. "An alarm system has been installed in the Excalibur so what is about to happen, won't happen. I can't pull this caper off by myself. I need the help of the Donkey gang who can get through this alarm system easily. As for these two munchkins, they're small in size for one of the things we have to do, to get in." "What's in it for us?" asked Johnny. "A better chance for winning these stupid Olympics. So you guys in?" "But what happens if we get caught? I ain't going to no work farm," said Ryan. "Relax, we won't get caught." "I don't want to steal," said Andrew very quietly. "I'm with Andrew," said Nipper as he took Andrew's hand in his without realizing what he was doing. "Listen here faggots. You will help us or else." Andrew then had an idea. "Sir...uh I mean Kalon. If me and Nipper promise to help you out and not tell anyone about this, after we are done can Nipper go see the ship's doctor?" "You're not going to squeal us out, are ya?" asked Kalon. "No Kalon. I won't. I just want to see the doctor because...my leg has been bothering me and Colonel Stone won't let me go. He said I am just faking it to get out of the work and exercise," lied Nipper. Kalon quickly thought it over. "Ok, deal. Now lets all get on the shuttle. I have our plans there." Everyone piled onto the shuttle except for Nipper and Andrew. Nipper turned to his friend. "Thanks Andrew." He kissed him on the lips and then ran onto the shuttle with Andrew quickly following behind. Kalon was about ready to close the door to the shuttle when Captain Hatcher came on board. "Ensign Masters, I want to see you outside." Kalon let out a disgruntled groan and powered down the shuttle. "Now, don't touch anything." Kalon climbed out of the shuttle and went up to Hatcher. "What is it Boss?" "Where are you going with those boys?" "To check out the other shuttles of course, like Pops said to." "Then maybe you can tell me why I just got off comms with a very angry Mr. Chan because someone tapped into his computer system to get details on the alarms systems onboard the Excalibur?" "I don't know what you are talking about Boss." "You know damn well what I am talking about. You were going to steal parts off of the Excalibur, weren't you and don't you dare lie to me." "Not steal, just borrow." "Look, these boys have a criminal record. It is up to us to help them clear that record and start new lives. We can't do that if we allow them to do things here that they did that put them here to begin with." "But we need the parts." "And we will get them honestly and fairly. No stealing or acquiring, or borrowing from the Excalibur. And If I find out that you have taken something even as little as an ion dust particle from the Excalibur, I will make sure you will never pilot again. Do I make myself clear?" "Ok, don't get your undies in an uproar, I won't go to the Excalibur. You win." "Good, now go on about checking those other shuttles." Captain Hatcher then left the hangar. Nipper popped his head out. He wanted to stick his head out a lot sooner, but Johnny wasn't letting him. He wanted tell Captain Hatcher who he was, but by the time he finally got around Johnny, it was too late. Captain Hatcher had left. "Alright guys, plans changed. We're not going to the Excalibur to get the parts." The boys were disappointed. Kalon climbed into his pilot's chair. "There is more then one way to skin a cat," mumbled Kalon to himself. "You guys go back with the others, I have some calculations to do." The boys didn't want to go back, but they did. Nipper tried to take this moment and runaway, but just as they exited the hangar, one of the Marines spotted them and escorted them to the others. ***** (Author's note: This portion was written by Douglas DD) Well, the Captain had been quite clear. Don't take anything. Follow SFA rules and guidelines. Be a good example to the boys. And have no unforeseen accidents. Well, he thought, nothing the SFA can do about accidents. He heard a noise behind him and saw four boys come in with an escort. "You wanted to see us?" the oldest asked with a bit of a smirk on his face. "Yes. For those of you who don't know, my name is Kalon. Since I'm going to be in charge of you for a few hours. I have to take a newly repaired shuttle on a little shakedown cruise. I thought I'd show you a little of the fun side of being on space." "Whoohoo," the Johnny said. "I suppose we should be thrilled." "Maybe yes, maybe no. But you're stuck on this little cruise, so you might as well take advantage of it. I know you're four names, but I don't know which name is attached to whom. I know I met some of you this morning, but I forget your names, plus we have some new faces. So, if you would kindly introduce yourselves." "I'm Johnny," the oldest said. Kalon nodded. He thought of what he had read in the boy's file. If not the true leader of the pack, he certainly aspired to be. But in the process he was putting off both the staff and a lot of his fellow cadets. But he had tons of potential. "I'm Mike." Mike was younger than Johnny, but older. He had a lot of leadership potential, but was often too laid back to truly use it. The staff would love to see him rise to the occasion. "TJ." Small, quiet, smart, athletic. TJ was a good one to try to win over. The fourth boy was much younger than the other three. "My name is Trevor." His high voice was a contrast to the teen voices of the other three. He was hot-tempered, and tough, but a good kid from a good background who got screwed. The younger kids were already looking to him as their peer leader. The staff liked some other choices better, but it was decided to take a look at what Trevor was made of. Kalon explained to them that he would be the only crew member on board. The trip was going to be within the confines of the mothball yard, and no co-pilot was necessary. The boys would be given some specific tasks to do, but for the most part they could look out the windows and enjoy the ride. He didn't tell them there might be some unexpected excitement. He released them back to their escort, telling them that they would meet at shuttle bay door 3 after lunch. An hour and a half later the shuttle left the ship after Kalon made sure everybody was properly dressed, strapped in, and that each boy understood his duties. Kalon gave them a good look at the Lady Lex, drifting not far from the space station, then headed out around the ship's graveyard. He took things slowly at first, but soon was doing some loops, twists, swirls, and accelerations that strained the small gravity and acceleration generators on the shuttle. The boys were awe struck by the beauty of space, and by the maneuvers of the shuttle. "This is so cool!" Trevor cried out. Even Johnny, as much as he tried not to show it, was overwhelmed by what he was seeing and experiencing. They saw they were approaching a large ship. "Is that the Lady Lex?" Trevor asked. "No, dummy," Johnny replied. "We passed it at the start." "Passed her," Kalon said. "We passed her. Ships are female." "Well, fuck them then," Johnny said with a snorting laugh. Nobody else joined in. Even Mike, who still worshipped Johnny didn't laugh. He was too caught up in the moment to see any humor in Johnny's remark. "The ship you see," Kalon said, " is the `Excalibur' one of the finest ships in the fleet in her prime. Now she's awaiting her fate, which is usually dismantling or sale for parts or to be turned into a freighter. And hope that the last thing doesn't happen to that proud ship. She's too good to be hauling ore between mining planets. Dismantling would be a far better fate." "Then what's going to happen to her?" Trevor asked as they came in closer. He was fascinated by the beautiful ship floating outside the shuttle. "Well, boys, she's going to....." but before he could finish an alarm went off and red lights were flashing on the instrument panel. "What's going on? What are those sirens?" Johnny asked. "We seem to have lost control of our steering," Kalon said. "The power to it as been cut for some reason." "So what will we do? Are we going to crash?" "Calm down. We have backups. Mike, flick that switch next to you that says thruster back-up to the 4 position." Mike calmly flicked the switch. At the same time Kalon gave TJ instructions, which TJ carried out. Nothing seemed to be working as the shuttle kept weaving around and the alarm kept howling. "Johnny, I need you to flick that blue switch to off." "Blue switch? What blue switch? I don't see a blue switch!" Johnny looked all around the small instrument panel in front of him. Trevor reached over and flicked one down to the off position. "That one dummy," he said, feeling a small measure of revenge. "The one that's blue." The switch had shut the howling alarm off, but the lights were still flashing. "Um, Kalon, we're getting very close to that ship," TJ pointed out calmly, as if they were doing a routine docking. "Yeah, thanks TJ. I can see." Johnny saw the "Excalibur" fill the windshield as the shuttle turned right into it. "We're gonna crash!" he yelled. "We're gonna hit it!" "Johnny shut up," TJ said. "Just sit there and shut the fuck up!" That was a major speech coming from TJ, who like Mike, had served under Johnny in the Mustang gang. Johnny, had always been cool and in charge. Well, he'd heard that space could bring out the best and the worst in people. There was a loud thud and screech as the shuttle banged into the "Excalibur". "Not to worry, boys, we have our shields on. It sounds worse than it is." Mike couldn't help but notice Kalon hitting a switch before the collision. The shuttle looped away from the "Excalibur", then returned, hitting it once again in the almost identical spot, before looping away once again. A third thud shook up the shuttle before it looped around and hit the big ship one more time. Mike could see that the big starship was moving, and, as the shuttle looped a fifth time, was amazed at how accurate the strikes of the out of control craft were. Mike could see Kalon hitting the same switch before each strike. The fifth loop found the shuttle losing speed, and this time the strike had it almost stuck to the big starship. The "Excalibur" had gained a fair amount of acceleration from the first four strikes, and this time as the shuttle clung to the dented hull of the starship, Kalon flicked a couple of switches, increasing the acceleration of both vehicles. TJ noticed that the flashing lights on the instrument panels had gone off. "Do we have control back?" he asked Kalon. "Well, well, it seems we do. Let's get this thing back to the space station before we lose it again." He maneuvered the shuttle away from the starship and headed back to the space station. "Sorry to scare you boys, but space can be like that. It looks like the backups finally worked. Now I have a ton of paperwork to fill out." "That was scary," Trevor said. "It was interesting," Johnny said with a snort. He was starting to get his swagger back. "Very interesting," Mike said, looking at TJ knowingly. Mike was in the co-pilot's seat and could see Kalon fight down a smile. There was no doubt in Mike's mind that the stunt was planned, but he couldn't figure out why. ***** Ely commanded the three shuttles from the Lady Lex. Using the small tractor beams that each shuttle had, the brought the "Excalibur" under control, just short if it's colliding with the Lady Lex. "Well, gentlemen, Kalon's unfortunate breakdown is our fortunate gain. I mean, his shuttle is a little banged up and is going to need some serious work on a couple of panels, and there are a few dents on the side of the beautiful "Excalibur", but we just happen to have a starship parked right off our port bow. And that starship has a working gravity generator. Now, I know we can't take anything from the Excalibur, however, we need to hook up the Excalibur to us to keep it from floating into us until the yard workers can come and take her away. This should buy us enough time until we find our own generators and we don't have to worry about that dinosaur one failing on us." Ely spent the rest of the day barking out orders to the cadets of running conduits and cables and getting ready to hook up to the Excalibur. Ely checked the master box in engineering. "Hey Stan, go ahead and put the front panel back on, this should do it." Ely went over to the bulkhead where he would pull the switch. He turned around and saw Stan putting the panel on. He thought it took Stan a little long to do it, but he didn't care as long as it got done. Nipper and Andrew came into the engineer space. They spent most of this time helping Ely in Engineering. Nipper was sure that Ely wouldn't recognize him, but Ely was too busy to listen to what Nipper had to say. Nipper wondered over to the master control panel. He looked at it and felt some sort of accomplishment in himself, because him, Andrew, Ely and Stan all worked together on it. Nipper turned his head as he heard Ely yell "Stand By!!" Ely threw the switch when he got the okay from Captain Hatcher. The Master Control Panel erupted into sparks and explosions. The front panel blew off the control panel hitting Nipper. The power surged and then went out. A fire erupted and Ely quickly put it out. Then he called away a medical alert. ***** "What's the damage?" asked Hatcher as Ely walked into his ready room. "Once again, Murphy is against us. That power surge not only screwed up my engineering, but blew out half the circuits on the Excalibur. We tried taking one step ahead, but ended up falling back five steps. We are on emergency power right now." "What made the control box blow up like that." "I don't know. It was hard to tell after the fire and explosion, but it looked like that two wires were crossed. I know I had them right because I tripled check them, but somehow they got crossed and it turned everything into toast. It had to be those two wires crossed. Nothing else would have done the extent of damage that was done." "Is it fixable?" "If I had the parts. But my hands are tied. You should of let Masters do what he was going to do in the first place." "No Ely. I won't!!! We need to be good role models here. You know that. As soon as we start letting them go back to their old style of doing things, then we lost. I won't let that happen on my watch. We will get this ship up and running and we will win those Olympics. And we will do it honestly." "It's going to take more then just honesty to get this bucket of rust and bolts running again and you know it. We need to bend the rules and maybe even break a couple if we are going to succeed. If we don't Steve, we lost. You know it, I know it, those boys know it. Now rules are made to be broken. We need to start playing hard ball." "I will NOT play hardball. And that's final." "How about a little softball then Captain?" Ely and Steve turned towards the door. They never heard Harrison Wolfe, the English teacher come in. "Softball?" asked Ely. "I have some connections and I found out where our stolen parts are. They are in a warehouse in the city of Ghent on Grismire IV." "Isn't that black market territory?" asked Ely. "Yes it is Captain Storm." "How do you know this?" asked Captain Hatcher. "I can't say, but trust me that they are reliable sources." "Let's go in and get them," said Ely excitedly. "I am not buying stolen stuff out of a black market," declared Steve. "No Captain, you shouldn't buy stolen stuff. That's why I suggest you let me, Captain Storm here and Kalon Masters go in and acquire it." "You mean steal it?" "No Sir. The parts were given to us, correct?" "Yes." "Then we are just going in there and retrieving what is rightfully, ours." "Steve, God help you if you say no. I mean I don't like the idea of going there with that Masters fellow and I don't know this guy from Adam, but if we got a chance to get those parts, by damn let us Steve." "Mr. Wolfe, how do you play into this? Who are you?" "I'm just and English teacher who wants to see his students succeed." Steve took a deep breath and thought quickly. Then he left out a big sigh. "Alright, go ahead, but be careful." "Hot damn," yelled Ely. "Thank you sir. We will leave in one hour. We should be back within a week." Ely and Harrison Wolfe left the Captain's ready room. Steve fell into his chair and just shook his head. He just hoped he made the right decision. He then looked up as the door chimed and opened. In walked Dr. Daniels. "Larry, how is he?" "He'll be alright. He has some minor abrasions, minor first degree burns and some bruised ribs, but nothing too serious. Now I have a question for you. How the fuck was he mistaken as one of the cadets?" To Be Continued...