Shooting Stars

By CiceroPhelps and Knights Templar

The warm sum beat down on his back and he could feel the dark fabric pull in the heat and warm his back quickly. The padding he wore on his shoulders only made him hotter and the sweat began to bead on his brow and back. The helmets padding began to stick to his head and he could feel his hair grow damp. He closed his eyes and envisioned his attack. He thought a moment and came up with the perfect attack.

He looked at all the other men there and told them what to do. They fanned out and took their positions. He walked up to the line and looked around to make sure that everyone was where they were supposed to be. He looked to the right and saw that one of his men was not in a favorable position and he gave him a signal and motioned him to the other side. He gave the line and his men a once over again and felt good with their positions.

He placed his hands under center, and barked out a cadence to make sure that the defense didn't key in on his commands and get a good jump on his linemen. "Hut one, hut two, hike!" Rick yelled and the center snapped the ball. Rick moved back in the pocket, looking over the field and checking his receivers.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a defensive back running towards him, and Rick looked to his slot receiver and threw it. He followed the ball and watched his receiver make the catch and fight for a few yards. He trotted up to the end of the play and yelled out some commands. The team got into formation. He took the snap and handed the ball of to his tail back, then watched as he cut hard and gained five, six yards before being brought down.

Rick kept up the pressure with the two-minute drill, keeping the tired opposing defense on the field and his revved up offense on the field. He ran back to the line and the referee blew the whistle. He looked around and saw that the Navy ROTC coach had called a time out. Rick looked down field and saw that they were on the Navy thirty-one yard line. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. As he did so he noticed a girl over in the Navy cheerleading section and before he knew it, he was thinking about how attractive she was. He walked back over to the huddle and looked at the men there.

"Alright boys, I say we go for the homerun here. I'm tired of messing around with these pukes and I just want to get off the field, we need a breather." They all nodded, and Rick tried to think of a play. He finally got one and looked at the others in the huddle. Rick looked at Rodney and smiled, "We're going to go with a P.A. 138 WR Cross. Rodney, it's you, I'm aiming for you over the middle, their regular starting safety is out and I want to take advantage of the back up." Rodney smiled and they broke out of the huddle.

Rodney split out wide to the left and looked at the man lining up opposite of him. The cornerback gave him a nasty look and told Rodney that he was going to "make that slow ass cracker his bitch," Rodney smiled and looked at him. He was white, and a cracker he may be, but he was by no means slow. Rodney had been going at it slow all day so that when Rick finally decided to go to the vertical passing game (deep downfield throwing) he would be able to torch the man opposite him for a few catches.

Rodney turned his head and focused in on the ball and waited for it to move so he could take off downfield. As he watched the ball, he thought about how he had gotten to this point and why he was playing football when he was in the Air Force ROTC. He shrugged slightly and remembered that is was a requirement for all ROTC male cadets to be involved in some form on extra-curricular activity so that they don't get into too much trouble. He remembered it was Hawaii; there was a lot of "trouble" to be gotten into, mostly the local girls. He saw the ball move and he took off.

The cornerback tried to hold him up at the line, but Rodney was a workout warrior and easily brushed off the stuff attempt. He knocked his man off and ran a few yards up the field and turned and saw that the ball had already been thrown, 'Rick threw is a little early, oh well, gotta make the catch anyway,' Rodney told himself in his head. He looked up and saw that the safety that Rick was trying to take advantage of was already breaking on the ball and was trying to line up Rodney.

He smiled, the man wasn't very tall, and had a small lithe frame that suggested that he was a bit underdeveloped for this sport. Rodney reached out his hand and snagged the ball out of the air using one hand and pulled it in quickly. He lowered his head and made contact with the safety. He spun after the initial hit and spun the poor guy off him. 'Easy as pie,' Rodney thought and took off down the field sprinting as fast as he could to try and beat the other safety to the end zone.

A few yards away, he knew he wasn't going to make it so he decided at that point to try and jump over the man. Rodney timed it and jumped as high as he could and the safety recognizing the move too late could only raise his body up and contort Rodney as he flew through the air. Rodney landed on his back with a thump and got up and saw that he had managed to get into the end zone and he spiked the ball, a no-no in the ROTC games, but he didn't give a shit that was a one helluva play. His teammates ran up and they all exchanged high fives as the ROTC refs penalized his team. It wasn't a big deal, just made the extra point a little less easy.

The offense got to the sideline and all got some water and watched as the AFROTC defense trotted out onto the field and the action resumed. It was mid way into the fourth quarter and the Air Force Cadets were leading over the Navy Cadets. But as the teams watched it became apparent that the Navy team had found an effective way to move the ball and that the lead was about to change again. It didn't take too long after the Air Force Cadets had scored before the Navy Team had retaken the lead.

Rick looked out onto the field with a disgusted look on his face and watched as the Navy Team took a five-point lead. Thirty-five to thirty was the score and there was only four minutes to move the ball downfield and get a touchdown. 'How sad,' thought Rick, 'that the defense had been so porous today that they've let the Squids back into this one?' He shrugged and sighed, it was going to be an interesting last drive. But all he could focus on as he trotted out onto the field was that girl in the cheerleading section.

Lisa tried desperately to pull the pathetic excuse of a skirt farther down her legs so that she was showing so much of her thigh. She screwed up her face in anger and swore to herself that when this was over, Sammy was so dead, and it wasn't going to be funny. Why had she let that little prep talk her into replacing the girl who had broken her leg while trying to make the top of the pyramid? That alone should have told her that this was a bad idea, not to mention an apparently dangerous one at that. Not that she was unfamiliar with skimpy costumes (she was a competitive dancer, after all), but never had she worn anything like this in front of so many people when all she was doing was exposing her backside.

As if Sammy knew that Lisa was secretly fuming at her, she leaned in and pointed out to Lisa that the Quarterback for the Air Force team was checking her out again. Lisa had noticed that before, but she tried not to notice too much because she did have a boyfriend, no matter how much he wasn't as attractive as the Quarterback.

Lisa blushed furiously a little and gave him a look. He was about average height, and looked like he was in good shape. He gave her another look and she could swear that he winked at her before he turned his back and Lisa could read the name on the back of his jersey. 'Hunter,' Lisa told herself, she would have to remember that name. He seemed cute.

Next thing Lisa knew there was the command to start cheering and Lisa reluctantly started cheering. She did as she was told and swore to herself that when this was all over, Sammy would have nowhere to run and Lisa would find her. As the cheering died away she heard some loud noises and watched as Hunter from the other team was running out of bounds he was hit late and thrown near the cheerleaders.

The girls scattered away from him because of the quickness and violence of his sudden appearance. He rolled over and gave a moan and muttered something under his breath. Lisa heard a whistle and watched as the ref went through the motions explaining the fifteen-yard penalty. She saw him open his eyes and he looked at her and smiled. She smiled back without thinking about it and extended a hand to him. He took her hand and jumped up.

"Thanks, cutie," Rick said with a debonair smile that told Lisa all she needed to know about him.

"Your welcome," Lisa told him back with a coy smile playing at the corners of her mouth. The slight smile betrayed what she was thinking. 'Oh god, he is cute, and he is dashing.' Lisa hid her thought from her face and just winked back at him. By this time Karl, Lisa's boyfriend, had rushed over and was getting in Rick's face.

"What're you doing talking to my woman you piece of shit fly boy? If you don't walk away, I'll fuck you up bad." Karl said as he pulled up into Rick's face. Rick backed away and sized up the little man in front of him. Rick was by no means a big man, five foot eleven on a good day, but this little guy must have had a serious Napoleonic complex that made him so aggressive. Rick just smiled.

"No worries shorty, I wasn't going to take your pretty lady." Rick smiled and trotted off. He intentionally winked at Lisa as he ran back; Rick could feel the anger welling up in Karl and he knew that he was going to be able to have some fun with this chump.

Rick got back to the huddle, and looked at everyone around him. All the eyes said the same thing and Rick knew that he was going to have to say something. "What? You all act like you've never seen a hottie before. What was I supposed to do? Not hit on her a little? Come on guys you know me better than that."

There was some laughter and Rick knew that they weren't so much mad as they were just anxious for the next play to be called. As Rick was going to tell the play Alan looked at him, "Well you have to try to some from somewhere seeing as how you haven't been to the well in quite some time with your sorry excuse for a girlfriend. (feel free to edit to your liking that is your character and your witty one liner).

Rick rolled his eyes and the huddle broke into laughter. "Alright you shits just go run around and I'll find one you open." They all shrugged and broke away to their positions and Rick walked to the line and got under center. He snapped the ball and took a few steps into the pocket and saw that Alan was going into a hitch and fired the ball and hit in as he turned and he managed to fight for a few more yards.

Rick looked at the scoreboard and saw that they were down to about a minute and half. He thought for a second and decided that they needed to run two or three more plays and then punch the ball in. He audibled at the line of scrimmage and changed the play. He snapped the ball and threw a quick slant to his tight end and watched as he fought for eight yards and got out of bounds.

The team reformed at the line and Rick barked a series of commands and the players moved around and took their new position. He looked up, fifty seconds left. He took the snap and handed the ball off his fullback and watched as he ground out sic yards and got them a first down. Rick looked over and saw that they were on the opposing team's twenty yard line. Rick held his hand and made a T sign. The refs blew the whistle and Air Force team took its last timeout.

Rick walked over to Coach Williams and asked her what he should do. She just gave him a look and shrugged her shoulders. Rick gave her a look over and admitted that she was pretty and that he would so do her if it weren't for that unhappy fact that besides her also being the football coach, she was also his instructor for History of Dogfighting.

"I don't know Rick, just figure something out, but I'll tell you, that safety for the other team really doesn't like you." Rick nodded. He smiled and told her, "That's what happens when you flirt with his girlfriends." Coach Williams just rolled her eyes and told him, "Just get back out there and win the damn game."

Rick trotted back out and looked at the clock, twenty seconds left and they were about fourteen yards out. Rick smiled, this was the shit he thrived on. He got to the huddle and looked at everyone else. "Alright, who wants the ball?"

Before anyone else could answer, Rodney said that he wanted the ball bad. That he wanted the ball more than he wanted to get laid later. Which was saying a lot for Rodney cause the man was always horny and always had some sort of perverse joke ready to make at someone else's expense.

"Well, maybe after you get the ball, you can take it to dinner and fuck it later," Rick told him and they all laughed, even Rodney smiled. "Ok Rodney, just go and I'll hit you about the three yard line." Rodney smiled and nodded and the huddle broke. Rodney ran out to the left side and started talking his smack with the cornerback and the man just smiled and muttered something about having it coming.

Rick snapped the ball and took a few quick steps and threw a lob to the left side and watched as Rodney pulled the ball down but wobbled after the catch. Rick thought for a moment that Rodney was going to get across the line but his foot hit the line and he went out of bounds. Rodney stopped about the two and before he could prepare himself, a flash came from nowhere and clocked Rodney right in his ear hole and sent him tumbling.

Karl had lined Rodney up for a late hit and had absolutely crushed the receiver when he wasn't looking. Rick was pissed and ran up and laid down his own hit on Karl and in an instant, both the offense and defense had bunched in the middle of the field and where yelling at one another. Rodney still lay on the ground moaning and grumbling about how "payback is a bitch," and he was gonna make damn sure that the sonovabitch was gonna get it.

After the confrontation on the field and both sides had been penalized the ball stayed on the two yard line and both teams went back to their huddle seething with anger. Rodney stood in the huddle, wobbling a little, but mad a hornet when a kid sprays his hive. Rick smiled and knew that he could take advantage of this.

"Ok, listen, lets do a QB option, and Rodney, I want you to lay a little lumber for me." Rodney gave an evil smile and nodded his head, oh he understood. "Alan, do me a favor and go take out that son of a bitch line backer." Alan nodded silently, not one for much talking when the situation didn't require it. They broke huddle.

They went to the line and Rick noticed that Karl had lined up on the opposite side of Rodney and the he was staring down Rick intently. Rick smiled, if Rodney didn't get him, he would get someone. Rick snapped the ball and immediately took off to his right and watched the play develop. The entire field seemed to slow down for him.

He saw Rodney rush over to his right and absolutely laid out two defensive backs who hadn't seen him coming and Rick could have swore he heard Rodney give a laugh. He moved up the field and saw Alan had indeed engaged the line backer but seemed to be losing the fight with the stronger player. Rick started to run faster and saw that he had a free run until he saw Karl cut off his move and stood there waiting for him. Everything sped up and Rick lowered his shoulder and pushed forward hard and hit Karl square in his chest and felt the small man give way. Rick pushed through and saw beneath him the white line that signaled to him that he had scored.

Rick pulled his body up and saw that time had expired and that they had won. The jumped up and pulled the straps on his helmet and ripped it off and threw it. He started to bound around yelling and hollering and the entire Air Force team came streaming onto the field and started to all jump around. The Navy Team walked off the field, all shooting back looks.

Rick pulled away from the celebration and looked for the cheerleader and to his dismay, couldn't find her. He shrugged his shoulders and didn't think too much of it. It was a Saturday, and the team had the weekend off and al over the age of twenty-one meant that they were going to be celebrating this one for the next couple of hours. Rick smiled, he'd find out her name. He turned and walked away.

Lisa peeked out from around the corner and watched as he walked away. She thought he was cute, but knew that she loved Karl, despite his bad temper. She watched his figure retreat and wondered what he had come over here to ask. She just shrugged and walked back towards the locker rooms so she could get out of that god awful cheerleading outfit.

CP's AN: We're ba-ack! I had this idea for the storyline here a while back, and decided to kick-start it with KT, over here. Hope you all enjoy it…very R/L centered…but it takes severe liberties with the timeline and historical data.