Destiny - 9. Chapter 9

Destiny by Hawkeye

hawkeyestorys@yahoo.com

Chapter 9

Entering his bedroom, Nate crashed onto his bed. Feeling drained and mental exhausted, he was too lazy to have enough strength to help his mom make dinner. Looking at his comm-pad, he decided to call Derek and see how his day had been. After a minute, a hologram of Derek's head was projected into Nate's view. Nate said hi with a smile.

“Hi sweetie, how was your first day of training?” Derek asked while looking for something.

“Exhausting! There was a lot to absorb there.”

“I kind of figured it would be, but would you rather be here and having to do homework instead?” Derek tried to improve Nate's mood.

“Trust me, I got homework too. I have to study how the radar systems work and how to use them. Really exciting stuff!” Nate said sarcastically.

Derek snorted and laughed. “Well, better then reading Shakespeare! Strange language, I’m so completely lost.”

“Aww, I wish I could come over and read it with you.” Nate sighed at the thought of going over to Derek's place.

“No, I have other ideas about what we can do!” Derek winked at Nate, and gave Nate an evil grin. Sex was on Derek's mind, and Nate could tell.

“No doubt! Well, this lady doesn’t put out!” Nate giggled.

“Playing hard to get, eh? Oh, I like that!” Derek was clearly plotting out a plan in his mind.

“Now, what are you thinking about?” Nate asked, seeing that Derek's smile was getting bigger.

“Hehe, oh nothing!” Derek tried his best to act innocent, but Nate knew better that Derek was being a horny teenager.

“You'd better go jerk off before you cream yourself again!” Nate laughed.

“Just did before you called!” Derek retorted with a matter of fact look on his face.

“Lovely,” Nate rolled his eyes.

Thinking of a way to change the subject, Derek remembered what had happened today. “Nate, earlier Thomas invited me to your gang's table…” Derek paused to take a breath.

“Well, I sat in the chair next to Thomas' one, since it was free I thought it would be fine. But Thomas snapped at me for sitting in your seat.” Derek was disappointed and slightly hurt that he'd gotten Thomas mad at him.

“Hehe, did he really? Derek, I’m sorry for Thomas, he gets protective… It can be annoying, but I'll talk to him.” Nate felt warm and fuzzy at the thought that Thomas was protecting his chair, but he knew it was pointless in the end.

“No don't, it's okay. I can always sit at another table.” Derek spoke softly, thinking that he'd been rejected from Nate's group.

“No, you're a part of our group now, and I want you to take my seat.” Nate told Derek with a firm voice. He wasn’t going to let anyone tell his boyfriend where to sit. Derek could only smile, he felt that he was truly special to Nate. For the first time in his life, Derek really felt loved by someone outside his family.

“Okay.” Derek didn't know what to say in response to Nate's request.

“Well Derek, I'd love to talk to you more, but I have this manual I have to read, and I’m tired. Please don’t think of me as a jerk, because I just kind of want to lay down and rest, okay?” Nate didn’t want to hang up on Derek, but he could barely keep his eyes open.

“It’s okay, Nate. I have to finish my homework too. Sleep well, sweetie.” Derek smiled and blew Nate a sweet kiss. Nate pretended to catch the kiss and blow one back to Derek, before saying bye and hanging up.

Lying on his bed, Nate really wanted to have a quick nap. However, he still knew he had to talk to Thomas. So he sat up on his bed and called him.

“Hey, what's up?” Thomas answered the call.

“Nothing much, just tired from all the traveling and training,” Nate explained. Then he told Thomas all the details about his day, Thomas listening carefully to every word Nate said.

“Well, that's cool,” Thomas replied when Nate was finished.

“I was just talking to Derek before I called you.” Nate said, gathering the will to tell Thomas to let Derek take over his old seat.

“Oh, I see that's how it is, talking to him before me now! I’m hurt!” Thomas smiled, knowing that Nate would respond with a sarcastic comment of his own.

“Are you my boyfriend? Are you putting out?” Nate snapped back at Thomas with a smile, knowing that Thomas didn't know what putting out meant.

“Huh? What!? Wait!! What are you talking about putting out?” Thomas moved his head closer to the hologram, trying to figure out what Nate meant.

Nate giggled, knowing that he'd gotten Thomas hooked. “Nothing, never mind!”

“Oh no, you don’t! Are you saying you already did it?” Thomas and Nate had one thing in common; both of them were virgins, and were always competing to be the first to have sex.

Nate smiled, thinking about the special moments he'd shared with Derek up on the top floor. How Derek and him had made out and rubbed one another off. He snapped back into reality when Thomas repeatedly said hello.

“No, we haven’t gone all the way, just ummm….” Nate paused, trying to figure out how to explain their encounter to his straight friend without grossing him out at the same time.

“Made out, and a couple of other little things.” Nate finally said, not giving too many details.

“What other little things?” Thomas badly wanted to know.

“We jerked each other off.” Nate told Thomas bluntly.

“EWWW I didn’t want to know that!”

“YOU ASKED ME!” Nate laughed; it was Thomas' fault as he'd asked for more details.

“Oh, fuck off... must be nice!” Thomas said and crumpled up his face.

“Huh?!” Nate couldn’t figure out what Thomas meant by that.

“Well I’m jealous, Jen and I only kissed,” Thomas finally admitted.

“Really? When?” Nate was wondering when this had happened.

“It happened yesterday. We were at this park, talking and what not, and she just up and kissed me. Right out of the blue.” Thomas smile as he relived the memory.

“Nice! So I take it she likes ya, then?” Nate was feeling sad, knowing that she took his first kiss. But he was not quite sure if it was her taking Thomas' first kiss that bothered him, or the fact that Thomas was out on his own living his life, while Nate was somewhere else.

“I guess so,” Thomas smiled.

“Well, I have to go Thomas. Oh, can you do me a favor?” Nate said, remembering what Derek had told him early.

“Yeah sure, what is it?”

“I want Derek to have my seat at the lunch table. Okay?” Nate felt that since he was leaving, Derek should be the next one to have that seat.

Thomas sighed.

“You know it's been hard the last few days without you at school. It bothered me a lot when someone else tried to sit there.” Thomas almost cried when he admitted his feelings to Nate, that he missed him as his best friend at school.

“I know, Thomas. Don’t you think I know that? Please, just let him sit there. Do it for me, please?” Nate felt like he was going to cry too.

“I will. Tomorrow I will let him sit with us.” Thomas gave in to Nate's request.

“All right, thank you. If I get the chance, I'd like to see ya tomorrow after I get home, okay?”

“Yeah, that would be great Nate.” Thomas felt better and said his good-bye to Nate before hanging up.

Nate looked at the data-pad that was lying next to him, picked it up and laid down to read on his bed. Looking at the index page, he saw that there were 10 chapters in total. Thinking it would be a quick read, he got started on it. Halfway through the first chapter however, Nate heard a knock on the door. His mom opened it and told Nate that dinner was now ready. Nate sighed and pushed himself off of his bed. He walked into the dining room and saw his dad sitting at the table.

He sat in his chair nervously, unsure of what was going to happen. He looked at his sister and his mom. They were getting their plates of food. Nate reached over and grabbed a bowl of mashed potatoes, and started to gather his own dinner plate. His mom had made potatoes, roast beef and some carrots. He poured some gravy over his potatoes after putting everything else back on the table, and began to dig in. Nate watched his dad out of the corner of his eye, and could see that he had his left hand on the table, making a relaxed fist next to his plate as he ate. He never took his eyes off of that hand, not knowing if his dad was going to strike him or not.

Half-way during dinner, Dan was the first to speak up, telling Beth about what he'd be doing tomorrow.

“Also, the following day at 5pm, I will be training people how to properly utilize weapons, both hand-held personal weapons and the ship's defensive armament.” Dan informed everyone at the table as he finished.

“I also signed you up for the training, Nate.” Dan said, finally dropping the bomb-shell.

“What!?” Nate was starting to get pissed, as once again his father had signed him up for something without asking him about it first.

“I felt that the training with weapons would be useful to you. Since you'll be working on the bridge, you might need it in case of an attack.” Dan looked Nate in the eyes for the first time in days. He could sense that his son was pissed at him as they locked gazes.

“Dad, you need to stop doing that. Come on, Dad, enough is enough. I’m not allowed to see my boyfriend, I’m going to lose all my friends, I have to do all this stupid training, and now I even have to do weapons training.” Nate was pissed at constantly losing control over his own fate. He wanted to be able to make decisions that involved him by himself.

“Everyone on the bridge is trained to use weapons and to defend themselves in the event of an attack. Do you want to depend on someone to save your life?” Dan asked Nate bluntly.

Nate thought to himself and didn’t much like the idea, but he knew his dad was right. He sighed and looked at Dan. “All right Dad, but just don’t sign me up to anything else without asking me first. Okay?”

Dan looked at his son and knew he had a point, so he agreed to go over things with him next time. He explained that there were only two seats left in the class, and he'd had to get Nate signed up for it quickly.

Nate finished his dinner and went to place his plate and things in the dish-washer. He walked into his bedroom and laid on his bed to finish reading his homework. He managed to get it done in only a few hours since he was a quick reader. He looked at his comm-pad and saw that it was time for bed. Nate undressed to his underwear and slid under his bed quilt, reaching out to turn off his light as well.

Day 2 of 20

Sitting at his desk in the first class of the day, Nate saw that Tess was sitting at another desk across the room, and Iva had taken Tess' old place. She turned around and said hi to Nate.

“Good morning,” Nate replied.

“Sorry, I’m little shy,” Iva admitted.

“It’s okay. So… what do you think of all this?” Nate asked, referring to the training and the whole thing about leaving Earth.

“I’m not sure. I don’t want to leave, I'll miss my home in France.”

“Exactly! I know how you feel.” Nate was happy at finally meeting someone who shared his feelings, someone he could talk to about the big move.

“Yeah, it’s hard to leave my friends and my grandma and grandpa. I’m going to miss them so much, it hurts me to think about it.” Iva turned around to face in front, not wanting Nate to see her cry. Nate felt like a dick for making her cry, since his whole family would be going with him. His grandparents had died when he was very young.

He leaned over and placed his right hand on Iva's right shoulder, whispering in her ear, “I’m sorry Iva, I am. I know how it hurts to leave someone you love behind. It fucking hurts, and you can’t do anything about it.”

Iva turned around and looked at Nate, with tears in her eyes. Then she just nodded and turned around again.

After class was finished, Nate gave Iva his contact information and told her she could call him any time she needed someone to talk to. Iva smiled and left the room.

As Nate entered his second class, he saw Alex sitting at his desk, looking at his computer display.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Nate asked curiously.

“Oh hey, I’m just reading up on the ship computers' programming language. It’s really complex, but I think I can get a handle on it.” Alex looked at Nate and saw that he was wearing his plain clothes, a black T-shirt with white leaves printed on it with a pair of blue jeans.

“Yeah, sounds like fun!” Nate replied, although he didn’t even know what Alex was talking about.

“I like programming, but the math can be soo complex and confusing sometimes. Maybe you can help me out a bit?” Alex wanted to see if Nate would be interested helping him. Nate thought about it, but didn’t want to promise anything.

“I’m not sure Alex. I have to see how things pan out, okay?” Nate didn’t want to make a promise that he wouldn't be able to keep.

“That’s fine, we'll talk about it when the time comes.” Alex looked in front and saw that the teacher was just about to start the class.

As the teacher explained to the class about the escape pods on the ship, Nate was busy watching Alex as he did his lip dictation thing again. He was both amused and curious about it.

“Nate?” The teacher raised his voice to catch Nate's attention, making him snap his gaze back to the teacher.

“Right… Once you are in the escape pod and if there are 9 more people with you for a total of 10, the pod will close the door automatically. When the door locks, you'll be in stand-by mode, and your pod will be completely under its' own power and life support system. When the Captain gives the final order, your pod will eject out at high speed along with the others. You should already have your seat belts securely fastened by this time.” the teacher paused to let everyone take in the information, and Nate watched Alex raised his hand.

“Yes Alex?” the teacher said.

“What if we're not able to get everyone in? And what happens if no one else is around and you're alone in one pod?” Alex asked.

“Good question. Everyone will be assigned to a particular escape pod. Also, there are extra pods on the ship, in 2 pod to 1 person ratio. Your comm-pads are also more then just a music player, holophone and personal PDA in one. They also contain a personal tracking transponder which enables you to lock and unlock your doors, access certain areas with the proper security clearance, et cetera. The ship will track you at all times. If you are the only one in your pod and the other people assigned to it are dead or in another pod, the ship will automatically place your pod in stand-by mode. Also, you can semi-lock it yourself.” The teacher tapped a few keys on his pad, and a hologram appeared in the middle on the room. It zoomed in to show a layout of the escape pod's control panel.

“This is the button you push to close and semi-lock the door.“ the teacher indicated to the class.

After the class, Nate told Alex he would meet him at lunch. Alex replied that he might be late, but would meet Nate at the same table as yesterday's or another one near-by. Nate said bye and headed to his next class. As he was walking towards it, he spotted his little sister in the hallway. Missy ran up to Nate when she saw him and gave him a big hug.

“Hi bro, how are you doing today?” she asked Nate cheerfully.

“Pretty good, I was just talking to my friend.” Nate looked at his comm-pad to see if he was going to be late.

“Is he a nice guy?” Missy wanted to know about her brother's new friend. But seeing Nate check his comm-pad, she knew he didn't want to be late for his next class.

“Well that's ok Nate, I'll talk to ya on the train. Okay?” Missy looked at Nate and smiled.

“Will do!” Nate smiled back at her, knowing that she was his only sister, and that he needed to spend some time with her soon. Then he added, “I promise”.

Missy's smile grew 2 times bigger after she heard Nate say that.

Walking into his next classroom, Nate saw that Peter was looking at him and motioning him to speak with him. Nate had managed to read the whole manual on the radar system, barely finishing it in time last night. He walked over to Peter and looked at him.

“Hi Nate, did you read the manual last night?” Peter waited for Nate's answer.

“Yes sir, I've read the manual. I do have some questions though.” Nate replied. Peter looked to the side and saw that Anubis was about to start the class, so he told Nate they'd talk again after class.

“Good morning class. We're going to start on the ships' mainframe interface today, this stuff is pretty advanced. Everyone here needs to know how to access critical information to be able to do their jobs.” Anubis tapped some keys on his pad and activated the displays on everyone's desk. He explained to the class about how to change settings and remotely access other computers.

Just before the class was over, Peter asked Anubis if he could spend some time with Nate going over his assignment. Anubis nodded in agreement and let them know that there were 10 minutes to the end of class. Nate and Peter left the classroom and found an empty room next door. They sat down and discussed the radar system. Peter was able to answer Nate's questions without difficulty, and took some time explaining how the system worked.

“Okay, any more questions?” Peter said as he leaned back in his chair.

“So the radar sends out an invisible wave, and when it hits any object it bounces back to the radar's sensor and generates a reading. No, I think I've got it now.” It was simple enough for Nate.

“Good!” Peter leaned forward, took Nate's data-pad and downloaded another manual.

“Okay, I want you to study this tonight. It’s called Sensor Detection System or SDS. This is a more advanced alternate detection system to the radar.” Peter handed the pad back to Nate.

“Oh. Is this the newest system that we have?” Nate looked at the pad and saw that this manual was longer than the one he'd read last night, though it did have more pictures in it.

“Oh no, this stuff is outdated. We haven't used the Radar or SDS in over a hundred years.” Peter said.

“What?! What's the point of reading this then?” Nate felt like he was being forced to read pointless manuals, when he could be doing better things with his time instead.

“Radar and SDS technology were the base technologies that led to the sensor technology we use today. You have 3 more manuals to read after this one. Then we start training on the EMSDS.” Peter said as he stood up. Nate looked dejectedly at Peter, knowing he'd have more to do now. He stood up too, realizing that it was lunch time and he was hungry. He told Peter he'd read it and meet him again tomorrow.

After he took his tray of food from the food processor, Nate found his table and saw that it was empty. He sat down and started to eat his tacos. Being one of his favourite meals, it didn’t take him long to finish it and get a second serving from the food processor. When he returned to the table, he was happy to see Alex sitting there and eating his meal.

“Hey Alex,” Nate said as he sat back down.

“Oh, hi! I saw you going to the food processor, so I thought I'd join you.” Alex said as he wiped his lusciously reddened lips.

“That's cool. So, anything new and exciting with you?” Nate asked Alex, but he didn't expect much since they'd seen each other earlier today.

“Nope, just got homework from my programming class.” Alex showed Nate the manuals on his pad that he needed to read, and they looked more complicated than the one Nate had to handle.

“Geez, that seems like a lot of work?” Nate was slightly happier now that he didn’t have that much homework.

“Meh, it’s pretty easy for me. This might take me an hour or two to get done.” Alex said and continued to eat his lunch.

“Well, I know mine will take me all night, and I'll never get a chance to see my boyfriend.” As soon the words left his mouth, Nate realized he'd accidentally let out that he was gay. He looked down at his plate, hoping that Alex hadn’t heard those words.

“That's ok, I understand. So, what's his name?” Alex said. Nate looked at him, not knowing what to say. He was surprised that Alex hadn’t freaked out on him.

“Derek,” was all Nate could say.

“Is he cute?” Alex asked, grinning at Nate.

“ HE'S GORGEOUS!” Nate blurted out quickly and smiled.

“Easy, boy! Hehe, don’t cum in your underwear!” Alex giggled at Nate.

Nate blushed and looked at his plate shyly. ‘He's okay with me being gay, that's good!’ Nate thought to himself.

“Well, I’m happy too, now I know that I’m not going to be the only gay boy on the ship!” Alex said, and smiled as he finished his lunch and wiped him mouth like a gentleman.

“WOAH WOAH WOAH, WAIT, WHAT?!” Nate snapped his gaze towards Alex, trying to get his mind around what Alex had just told him.

Alex leaned over and whispered into Nate's ear, “I suck dick too!”

Nate giggled at how open Alex was about being gay and liking dicks. “I haven’t sucked anything yet though.” Nate blushed.

“You'd better get Derek naked soon, we're leaving in 19 days.” Alex said with a completely straight face.

Nate rolled his eyes, and tried to divert from that subject. “So, do you have a boyfriend?”

“I did, but not any more. We broke up last week, because I'm moving to Alpha, and he's not. It makes it easier on us, and besides we'd been dating for only a month.” Alex gathered up his plate, knife, fork and napkin and put them on his tray.

“A month?” As soon as Nate asked that, the bell rang, signaling that the lunch period was over. He wanted to ask Alex more about his ex-boyfriend, but now he'd have to wait until tomorrow. Alex and Nate waved good-bye to each other and headed off to their next classes.

After classes were over, Nate returned to his apartment feeling tired from his long day as usual. He thought about what Alex had told him, and he had some questions. He also felt some hope due to the fact that now he wouldn’t be only gay boy on the ship. As he walked to his door with his mom and sister, he saw someone sitting on the floor next to their front door. The person was looking at the floor, holding his face in his hands and not moving. As he got closer to the person, he realized it was Derek, and that he'd fallen asleep there. Nate smiled and looked at his mom. It was so cute, seeing him there waiting for Nate.

After his mom and sister entered the apartment and closed the door, Nate sat down next to Derek. He looked adoringly at Derek and nudged him a little. Derek just moved slightly, but didn't wake up. Nate smiled at the notion that Derek was a heavy sleeper. ‘At least he doesn’t snore’ Nate grinned to himself. He nudged Derek a touch harder, nearly making him fall on his side. Luckily, Derek woke up and caught himself just in time. As he straighted himself back up into a sitting position, he jumped a meter high when he realized that Nate was leaning over next to him.

“Jesus, you scared me!” Derek placed his right hand on his chest, trying to calm his rapidly beating heart.

“I’m not that ugly!” Nate grinned. Derek smiled at him.

“No, you're certainly not!” Derek leaned over and kissed Nate on his sweet red lips, not caring if anyone was around or not. He was missing Nate too much, and wanted to taste him.

“So, what brings you here today?” Nate asked after he'd tasted Derek's lips.

“I've got something to show you.” Derek jumped up and pulled Nate off of the floor with him. He never let go of Nate's hand as he led him over to the lift. Derek then pushed the top floor button, where they'd been going to be alone the last few times. It had become their special spot, a safe place for them to show how much they loved each other.

“What are you doing?” Nate couldn’t figure out what Derek was up to.

“You'll see!” Derek grinned and stole another kiss from Nate. He sighed, “Damn, you taste so good!”

“Horny today, are we?” Nate giggled. All Derek could do was smile and steal yet another, longer kiss from Nate.

When they got out of the lift, Derek led Nate over to the private balcony. He closed the door behind them, and told Nate to close his eyes. Nate hesitated, not knowing what was going on.

“Just close your eyes, it's ok. I got a surprise for you.” Derek told him for the second time. Nate closed his eyes, and he felt Derek pull him slowly around the corner. Derek then went behind Nate and hugged him tightly. He whispered softly in Nate's right ear, “Open your eyes, sweetie.”

Nate opened his eyes and gasped. His eyes teared up, and he took a tight hold of Derek's hand. He just stood there to take in the sight of something special, that someone had put time and effort into preparing for him, for the first time in his life. Nate felt very loved and cared for, and he couldn’t stop crying.

“Thank you soo much, sweetie!”