1500 Zulu 21 Jun 2002
White House Situation Room
1600 Penn Avenue

The vast room, and the bleak lifelessness of the darkened screens that lined its walls, would give the casual person a chill.” The only light in the room came from the small table lights that were sitting in front of the people gathered in there. What had brought this most unusual group of government workers together this morning was the major publicity problem they had on their hands. Or, rather, the major publicity problem they would have if they couldn’t come up with the solution of fulfilling the promise the President had made in last night’s State of the Union Address to Congress. Around the table were: Presidential Press Secretary CJ Cregg; the Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Nelson; National Security Advisor Nancy McNally’s top military assistant, Retired General Edward Stewart; National Security Advisor Nancy McNally, and Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Thomas McGuire.

“President Bartlet’s Address to Congress put us between a rock and a hard place with female Naval combat pilots. Why in god’s name did you allow his speech writers to put that in, Miss Cregg?” Mr. Stewart’s face turned red with anger as he turned to address her. They had been down this road before, with numerous turf battles between them ever since she had been appointed press secretary. More importantly to him, he hated losing, and it was magnified a thousand fold if it was to a woman.

“Well, to answer your question and settle your chauvinistic mind, ‘I wish Nancy had brought somebody other than Ed to this meeting. He and I have never gotten along for one reason or another.’ I stopped by their offices before coming down here for this meeting and looked at the speech they handed him yesterday. What he promised the American people wasn’t in the speech given to him, so it was just as much as a surprise to them as it was to you and everybody else in the entire country. So, if you want you can take your anger about it on someone, please go and ask the man himself why he included it in the speech. The reason we are here this morning is to find the solution and not place blame on who did or didn’t do what concerning the speech. We all have better things to do than to play catch-up with the ramifications it will cause if this little tidbit gets into the hands of the press, which they will blow it completely out of proportion just like they did over his illness. So does anyone have any suggestions on how we can accomplish the goal of having a all-female Naval Fighter Squadron?”

“Miss Cregg, the Navy doesn’t have enough appropriations remaining to purchase the new planes that would be needed to form a new squadron, nor does it have enough spare planes sitting around either. My staff suggested that we could transfer people around various squadrons until we have the come up with enough for a new squadron, or just transfer women into one already on the books.” Nelson sat straighter to relay the solutions his staff had come up with.

Admiral McGuire grimaced and shook his head when the SecNav mentioned his staff. They were officers there that no other Commands wanted around; case in point was one Commander Lindsey. Lindsey was a decent lawyer but not even Admiral Chegwidden, who could sell water to a drowning man, couldn’t locate anyone in his command to take him on his or her staff. “Mr. Secretary, that calls for transferring up to 330 personnel around, if we use the worst case scenario for airframes. We have tried mass transfers in the past, but it takes those squadrons off the line until they train up to the needed unit cohesion required of them for combat situations. We have found that transferring three new aircrews or up to fifteen new members into a squadron didn’t affect their combat readiness, but anything more than that does. Sir, if you order this of us, we will knock out ten squadrons off the line just to locate enough lady aviators or ground crew personnel, which would force us to bring home half of our carriers currently deployed.”

“Damn, there’s no bloody way in hell we can afford to bring home half the fleet to accomplish this asinine idea he has about having an all-female squadron.” Ed murmured.

“So, has all the bitching you have made since last night made any difference, Edward?” CJ smiled, as she knew what his answer would be.

“No.”

“Doesn’t that suggest something to you about the futility of your viewpoint?” CJ knew she had him when he just turned in his chair and slumped down into it.

<Flashback – 18 Jan 2002>
The National Security Advisor assistant sitting in for the vacationing Nancy McNally, Edward Stewart had rushed out of the morning Presidential Staff meeting with the hope of catching CJ Cregg before she departed for parts unknown on her errand for Bartlet. CJ hadn’t gotten past the President’s secretary’s office door before he called out to her. “Miss Cregg, may I have a word with you?”

“Of course, Ed. Please be brief since I don’t know how long this errand is going to take.”

“What was behind the meaning of bringing up the Air Force’s press release about the all-female B-1 aircrew in the staff meeting this morning?”

“There isn’t anything behind it. Since I’m the press secretary, it’s my job to brief anything that he will soon be getting asked questions about. I’ve already had a dozen calls about it this morning and nobody west of the Mississippi is awake yet. But what you can’t seem to see is that your buddies in blue are manipulating you as well as the press. They saw the additional funding the Navy received when women were placed in the cockpit as well as on their ships, and they want a bigger piece of the budget. They know you’re a retired blue suiter and will fight tooth and nail for them to get it, too. But they know what your opinion is on women-in-combat, or their public affairs office would have never released that story to the international wire services. I still don’t see how Nancy puts up with your attitude. I’ve seen enough to understand your feelings on the subject, and it seems fairly clear to me what you believe a woman’s role should be.”

“Are you implying that I’m a chauvinist?

“You know what they say, Ed. If the shoe fits then it fits, wear it. Have a good day. I’ve got to run.” CJ left Ed standing there with his mouth opened. ‘One of these days, I’ll get back at you for that little remark.’

Unknown to Ed or CJ, President Bartlet had stood in the doorway leading into his secretary’s office. He had intended to retrieve a file from her desk but stopped when he heard the entire heated conversation between two of his staffers. ‘I think I’ll drop a little hint in this afternoon’s combined NSC/Joint Chiefs meeting about an all-female Naval Fighter Squadron since the Navy was the first to place women in combat roles and see how that sticks in his craw. I know that CJ and Abbey will be thrilled about the idea since neither one thinks that I do enough for the ladies.’
<End Flashback>

“Which brings us to two major problems along with the manning one, Miss Cregg.”

“What are they, Admiral?”

“The biggest problem will be locating the airframes for this project. Are we going to use F/A-18s or F-14s? That answer will gives us a definite goal as to what the manning problems will be. The D model F-14 Tomcat is the worse choice of the two. Even with the Navy converting to an all F/A-18 fleet until the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter comes off the production line, that doesn’t gives us any help with airframes since the planes the F/A-18s are currently replacing are the older A and B model F-14s, which have exceeded their service times.”

“What if I can provide a solution to the airframe problem, Admiral, would that help?” Miss Cregg broke out with a huge smile remembering the 1 am phone call that had woken her up earlier this morning.

<Flashback>
Ring… ring… ring… CJ groaned as she reached over and located the telephone, which was ringing off the hook. As her hand grasped the cold handset, she opened her eyes and spied the alarm clock. ‘One o’clock… why do I always get woken up in the middle of the night!’ “Hello, this is CJ Cregg. Who’s calling and why?”

“Good morning to you, Cheesecake. I see nothing has changed since we were in college. You were always grumpy being woken up in the middle of the night even then.”

When she heard the woman call her ‘Cheesecake’… it could only be one person. “Clare, what in heaven’s name are you doing calling me this late at night? I know we haven’t talked very much on the phone since I started work in the West Wing. You hook one yet? You’re not sick or anything like that? Your mother ok? How’s life treating you in general?

“Slow down, CJ. As fast as you are asking questions leads me to think that you got ants in your bed again. Are you still eating cheesecake every night before you turn off the lights? If I do even look at a piece of cheesecake not to mention eating a slice every night, I would look like the Goodyear blimp within a month. You don’t know how good you got it by being able to eat anything you want, when you want, and how much you want. Enough of that though envious woman talk, I’m doing great otherwise… did you hear that I got promoted to VP?”

“No, I haven’t, since you rarely call me anymore.”

“You know why I don’t… the press would get the wrong ideas about an executive from Northrop calling somebody in the White House every day or night. Not to mention the times when we would be able to talk since we are both single and have lives to live. We know that we’re don’t talk shop but you should know by now how things inside the beltway get blown up bigger than it really is. You know those little rumors that never seem to die but keep growing and growing and since I work for a defense contractor and you’re a senior official, I figure it was best to keep contact down to the minimum.”

“I know… it just that I miss talking to my friend and somebody who doesn’t live or breathe the capital lifestyle.”

“CJ, you sound depressed. You still having nightmares about what happened to Simon?”

“Sometimes… but I’m better now. I’ve been escaping the house every Thursday when we are home.”

“Sounds serious… who’s the guy?”

“We’re just friends, Cat. Nothing more.”

“Spill…”

“He’s a Navy lawyer that I met a few weeks ago over some questions the president was getting from the press about the terrorists’ tribunals. We have a standing invite, which is not a date, to meet for coffee and sometimes dinner.”

“Give — what’s he look like?”

“He’s someone who I have to look up at. I remember reading his bio correctly which is 6’4” … brown hair … green-hazel bedroom eyes.” CJ shuddered, thinking about how handsome Harm was. “You’ve probably heard of him, considering where you work.”

“How in the world would you think that, Cheesy? I seldom deal with appropriations and I have yet to met any lawyers from the Navy.”

“He’s not just a Naval lawyer… he’s a pilot and flies a Tomcat… who has two DFCs...”

“Commander Rabb! Good god girl, he’s every woman’s dream and you have a standing date with him!?” CJ held the earpiece away from her ear and put a finger in it to wiggle around to help ease the ringing caused by Clare’s shout. “Details?”

“Clare, there’s no details to give. We just meet to talk, have coffee and sometimes dinner together once a week. I’ve been trying to tell everyone at work the same thing, but they don’t believe a word about it either. We’re just friends like you and I are, nothing more and nothing less, understand?”

“Seriously CJ, don’t let this one get away if you can.”

“Couldn’t hook him anyway, he’s totally dedicated to his partner. Whenever I can get him talking about personal stuff in his life, it revolves around her, and I know that she is the only other woman he does see outside of work. And besides, I’m just glad to have a male friend that isn’t always trying to find ways to get me into the sack or someone who tries to impress me about stuff they know about the happenings inside the beltway. But you didn’t call to wake me up to talk about my love life or lack of thereof … so what’s it about?”

“Glad to hear you finally found an outlet… I was starting to worry about you a whole lot since we seldom talk much anymore. I miss having these talks. Anyhow, I saw the speech last night and might have a solution to a problem raised from it. I’ve got a morning meeting with the CEO in DC today and it’s like this…”
<End Flashback>

“CJ, how could you have a solution to that problem? I have had Mr. Nelson working on this for the past few months since the president casually mentioned it to us in January. As far as I know, without requesting a half of billion emergency funding budget for this special project, Nelson’s staff or nobody else have located one.” Nancy flatly stated before turning towards Mr. Nelson. “Correct?”

“That’s what my staff have informed me and what all the reports coming in from the air staffs have indicated as well.”

“The Navy agrees with me on that point, so how does the press secretary know of one and the experts don’t?” Nancy looked confused and perturbed.

“I received an early morning call from my roommate at college and currently a Vice President in the Northrop-Grumman Corporation.”

“So, she’s a classmate of yours. How does that provide a solution to our problem with airframes? It’s not like we have a half billion lying around doing nothing.” Ed couldn’t help himself from taking a poke at CJ.

“Actually, it does solve a problem and we do have the necessary funds, Mr. Stewart.”

“Huh?”

“After receiving Clare’s call, I called and woke up someone over at Justice to see if what she told me was possible. They told me it was legal for the US government to make use of any confiscated funds or materials located from any type of seizure cases as they see fit. Normally, they bank the cash and sell off the disposable materials like land, houses, vehicle, boats, planes, etc..”

“Ok, I understand, that but what does this have to do with our situation and Northrop-Grumman?”

“During the 90’s, Northrop-Grumman had a foreign sales contract with Iran and was building them A model F-14s. About halfway through that contract, the US Government seized the contract from the Iranian government for numerous reasons, which I’m sure we’re all familiar with. That didn’t hurt Northrop-Grumman, since they still had open contracts with the Navy and the foreign sales contract had already been paid in full in advance. There were 16 planes ready to be delivered to the Iranians but they weren’t able to deliver them due to the seizure. Instead of them letting these 16 planes sit around to gather dust, they re-worked them into our standards, which allowed them to get ahead of their production and delivery schedule with us for an extra bonus.”

“So, what? Who cares if Northrop-Grumman was paid for work that they never delivered on or got a production bonus?” Ed furiously spat.

“If you be quiet and let me finish, Ed, I’ll be all too happy to tell you. As I was saying, Northrop-Grumman didn’t know if this seizure was valid since they still haven’t received any court documents … they had still had a valid contract yet to fulfill. Just before they shut down and moth balled their F-14 assembly line in St. Augustine, they built sixteen F-14s...” Before CJ could finish what she was saying, the phone in front of her rang. “Excuse me for a moment.”

“CJ Cregg.”

“Ma’am, sorry for the interruption but there’s a Miss Elliott needing to see you. She says it’s about a conversation you had with her earlier. We just received orders from ‘Hickory’ that she’s cleared to enter the situation room since your just using it as a conference room.”

“Ok, send her in.” I wonder how she got permission from Bartlet. There’s something going on that he hasn’t told me about going on behind the scenes.

The door opened and Clare Elliott stepped into the room. From the look on her face, the room didn’t phase her one bit. As she got closer to the table, all the men sitting there stood up.

“This is Clare Elliott. My college roommate and Vice President of Northrop-Grumman.” CJ introduced the people around the table to her. “It’s good to see you. The Corporal said that you needed to see me about the conversation we had this morning.”

“Yes, CJ. As I told you this morning, I had a morning meeting with the CEO of Northrop-Grumman here in DC. I just came directly from that meeting to give you some good news hopefully and will also help out our company.” She opened her briefcase and pulled out her notes. “What I didn’t tell you this morning, CJ, is that meeting was to be here at the White House with President Bartlet.” Clare yawned. “Excuse me, it’s been a long night for me. Since the speech last night, we are NG have been working and come up with a solution to solve your problem as well as a problem for our company. I’m not sure how much CJ has told you but we have a production hanger gathering dust bunnies. We came here this morning hoping to get some relief to allow us the ability to use this hanger for other things. Unknown to you, the President wants us to re-open the production line to start producing the F-14 Tomcat. He said quote, ‘I don’t feel that the Navy made the correct decision in stopping purchasing the F-14 and to use the F/A-18s totally until the F-35s or something else comes online. They are going to piss and moan about it but they will reverse that decision immediately or I will fire anyone disagreeing with my decision about this.’ Unquote. Well, that took us by surprise but our accounting department had figured it would take the tiny sum of 16 million to clear the hanger of the airframes currently sitting in there.

“So, this is what we at NG have to propose to you today: It’s a once in a lifetime deal if you can get justice to provide the necessary legal documents for it. If you provide us with 16 million to cover the cost of clearing and re-opening the assembly line and the necessary legal seizure documents, we will provide you with sixteen brand new F-14Ds as well as pay for half the cost of the programming that will enable the Tomcat to carry the AIM-120 missiles.

“We agree with the President as well as some naval experts who weren’t too keen on the idea of the F/A-18s holding down the fort until the F-35s or whatever comes online. A lot of people came to realize they were right and that some people were wrong to put all our eggs into one basket from what transpired in the Arabian Sea a few months ago. I’ve only read what the print media has said about it and you should be thankful that one of our Tomcats was there. There were only three fighters airborne at the time and one of them was shot down by the MIGs.

“Why would we agree to this: it’s simple. 1) We have this hanger just sitting there costing us money to maintain. 2) When and if the F-35 goes into production, we need to be able to re-tool this assembly line to meet our projected production rate without building a totally new hanger. 3) Even with the news the President gave us this morning, we still are required to fulfill the contract with the government of Iran and will be required to build 16 additional airframes and ship all 32 of them to Davis-Mountain when we re-open and re-tool the production line anyhow. Which will cost us additional funds for shipping and the storage there.”

Mr. Nelson cleared his throat after thinking about the current budget when Miss Elliott mentioned a dollar figure. “That sounds like a win-win solution to me. The easiest way to pay for the re-opening of the line and the AIM-120 programming is to move one F/A-18 from this year’s budget into next year’s. Does everyone agree that this is the solution to our immediate problem and the ‘new’ problem that rose up this morning since the President doesn’t want to limit the fleet to all F/A-18s?”

“That’s sounds good to me, Mr. Nelson, but it still leaves us one problem to solve.”

“What’s that, Admiral?”

“Currently, the Navy doesn’t have anybody with the proper experience to be the commanding officer of the squadron. The entire squadron will come under the microscope of the press, and that’s not counting the interest the American public will take in them, and some of them will have to have been known for their flying abilities beforehand — especially its commanding officer. They all cannot be total unknowns to the public, and there’s only one pilot currently unattached to a flying squadron who is well known and fits all the requirements of the posting except being female. The executive officer of the squadron can be a female, since the XO’s rank can be below the commander’s and we have already trained a person for that billet.”

“You have, Admiral. Why wasn’t I told of that?” Mr. Nelson turned towards the Admiral after getting very red in the face.

“Mr. Secretary, when we started hearing the rumors about an all-female squadron coming out of the White House, we knew it was only a matter of time before it was going to happen. So, we started taking steps toward meeting that goal. The commander’s position was the only one that we couldn’t get a real good handle on. If the rumors were false, it wouldn’t have caused the Navy any heartburn other than wasting a slot by sending someone through flight school. It did cause me some discomfort from Admiral Chegwidden when I poached one of his lawyers for the project.”

“So, who did you steal from JAG for this project, Admiral?”

“Lieutenant Meg Austin.”

“Meg! You tasked her for the XOs slot?” CJ suddenly interjected and shocked the entire room.

“Sounds like you two have met, Miss Cregg.” Admiral McGuire had turned towards her when he had heard her exclamation.

“Yes, I met her along with Commander Puller. We were at Bethesda waiting to hear any updates on Commander MacKenzie’s medical condition when he was admitted there a few weeks ago.”

“You’re not considering Commander MacKenzie as the new squadron CO, are you, Admiral? He’s too young and brass even to be a Lieutenant Commander. If I had my way about it, he would still be a Lieutenant JG if not out of the Navy entirely,” Nelson remarked unhappily. Both of MacKenzie’s promotions had come directly from the White House, which had over stepped his command authority.

“No, he wasn’t even in the running for that billet. We were thinking about someone else that was in his old squadron for that billet if we could get the President to consider a couple slots for male pilots. I know this defeats the concept of an all-female squadron. Since this squadron will be under a microscope for awhile, we would like to include him as well into this squadron. Commander MacKenzie and his RIO are the Navy’s first ‘Aces’ since Vietnam. The press and public would go crazy if we broke up that team this soon after their medal ceremony.” ‘The SecNav is going to flip his lid when he hears the name of the person we want to be it’s CO. Not even to mention what AJ will want to do to me when I poach another officer from him.’

“What? You want to put that hotheaded officer into this very highly altruistic squadron. Don’t you people realize that he almost murdered a man in cold blood in front of witnesses?” Stewart suddenly realized whom they were talking about. ‘It was my cousin who that bastard almost murdered.’

CJ though back to the morning after Sam had been released from Bethesda when she asked a similar question. As soon as he woke up from his drug-induced coma, Sam’s friends, his sister Sarah, and her friends had stood a 24-hour guard over him to prevent him from completing the instructions in his orders concerning undesirable people to the American government. It was almost a week of constant badgering to get him not to finish what he started at HQ JAG. CJ had been there off and on during the whole process because Beth had begged her to help … she actually cared about what it would do to the people she had grown close to. She watched both Beth and Harm sit in a corner of the room just staring at the walls when they weren’t trying to talk to the mule headed young man.

“Yes. Lieutenant Commander MacKenzie had very good reasons to despise Clayton Webb. Mr. Webb had abandoned him on the mission to retrieve fellow service members, as well as other factors that are too highly classified to discuss here. And it took everything his recently discovered sister, his friends, and her friends could do to talk him out of following the sealed orders which he had opened before flying home. The only reason you’re so pissed about it, Ed, is that Mr. Webb is your cousin and the man who left Sam in the field without a pot to piss in.”

“Be that as it may, that still doesn’t excuse what he did. If I had my way, he would be in Leavenworth for the next hundred years instead of walking around a free man. I would like to tear him a new asshole and will do my best to see that he is punished for what he did to Clay.”

“Even though we never see to agree on anything. I should give you a fair warning Stewart about doing anything more about it. Commander MacKenzie let everybody there read those orders since they weren’t classified and let me put it this way … they were cut and dry as well as being ‘cart blanc’ about whom those orders could be applied to.”

Everyone looked at CJ when she warned Stewart about what MacKenzie’s orders said and then at Stewart’s shocked face as it dawn on him that MacKenzie could get away with eliminating anybody if he felt justified by doing so. It sounded like Fleming’s fictional character James Bond but the CIA had those types of people on their pay roll but they called them sweepers. As far as everybody sitting at the table had heard about those orders, it was limited to intelligence agents, but apparently they were dead wrong. They now knew where CJ had spent those three days she was sent on a Presidential assignment at and she was part of the inner circle who had talked MacKenzie out of finishing what those orders stated for him to follow. They had also forgotten that she was the President’s point person when MacKenzie and Hawkes had returned from their mission protecting the fleet from its attack, which made them the darlings of the Navy and the entire country due to their efforts. CJ had spent the entire time with them while they were in the District and had considered it to be a paid vacation from the halls of the White House before the CNO had pulled Sam away for that poorly planned recovery mission. She was their hostess and tour guide during that time and she had found two more non-political people who cared for her as a person.

“So, who are you considering for the CO slot, Admiral?” Nelson looked like he was getting madder by the minute and was fixing to blow his temper at the Admiral.

“Mr. Secretary, it won’t do any good to mention his name until we have confirmation from the President that it would be ok with him to have two males to serve in this squadron.” Admiral McGuire was playing politics and really didn’t want to piss-off the SecNav anymore today if he could prevent it.

“Very well, Admiral. It’s understandable not to release a name until confirmation has been made.” SecNav made a mental note to have his staff find all the unattached pilots who had high enough rank for a command level position and who they were. He had some ideas on who he wanted to fill the position and there were others he didn’t want to ever think about.

“I’m fairly sure the President will allow us to put off purchasing a single F/A-18 for the funds to allow us to purchase the needed planes for the squadron. So, we will go with that understanding and start training people for all the slots except its commander and one other pilot until we get an answer one way or the other. Also, it would make great public relations if it were possible to have these new birds painted something colorful other than that drab looking gray and have them home based here out of Andrews. Yes, I know that this will be an operational unit and shouldn’t have a different paint scheme but there are some things I cannot discuss before meeting with it’s Commanding Officer.” CJ smiled at the group since she knew some things they didn’t. The President had picked her to be the chairperson of this group and had given her his notes on the subject. They indicated he wanted more from these ladies than just to be a operational squadron … sure some people would balk at the idea but…

“That’s a great idea Miss Cregg. There’s an unused alert hanger at Andrews that we could use and the other authorized color scheme for Navy planes is one the Blue Angles fly with. So, I currently see no problems with having the Tomcats painted like them. If that is what he wants that is?”

“It is. Are we all in agreement on how to proceed with the solutions to the problem except for two squadron positions?” CJ looked at the five people and they all remained quiet. “We will meet back here in a month for a status update except Miss Elliott here since nothing else other than the airframes concern her and hopefully I will have you answer to your last problem remaining.”

1800 Zulu
HQ JAG
Falls Church, Virginia

“Attention on Deck.”

“Carry on.” Admiral Thomas McGuire said as he walked towards Admiral Chegwidden’s office.

“Is he in, Petty Officer?”

“Yes, Sir.” Tiner reached down and called into the Admiral’s office. “Sir, the CNO is here to see you.”

“Send him right in, Tiner.”

“Aye. Aye. Sir!”

“Admiral, you can go straight in.”

“Thank you, PO Tiner.”

Admiral McGuire walked in and shut the door behind him. Admiral Chegwidden rose and stood at attention when the door opened.

“At ease, AJ. I’ve got some business to discuss with you about one of your officers. I’m basically here to prevent the damage the SecNav could do to the Navy and one of your people by coming here today.”

“Which one is that, Tom?”

“Commander Rabb.”

“What’s Rabb done now?”

“He’s not in trouble, but you could lose him to a project the White House is working on. Did you see or listen to yesterday’s State of the Union Address?”

“Yes, does this concern the all-female squadron?”

“Yes, we just don’t have any command pilots that could fill the CO’s slot and they want someone who is well liked in the public’s eye to fill it. There aren’t any other pilots who fill that requirement other than MacKenzie, and he’s too junior for the position. I know that Rabb just returned here after 6 months deployed on the Henry and just pinned on Commander. I wouldn’t be asking your opinion if I could see any other way around it.”

“Well, for his future service in the Navy he’s way overdue to have a command billet either as executive officer or Chief of Staff at least. I had plans on requesting BuPers to slate him for either one of the HQ JAG Hawaii or San Diego slots when they next become available. He’s just too good of a lawyer to lose again for a flying job.”

“If he takes this job, you wouldn’t be losing him as much as you think, AJ. This new squadron will be home based here out of Andrews and since the President wants as much publicity out of this new squadron as he can get. We’ve come up with cutting down their sea time in half it normally is, as well as sending them to air shows like the Blue Angels, so they can be seen flying around the country as much as possible. He would be TAD here when they are home to work for you since he’ll have two executive officers, one ground crew and one crew, to run the day-to-day operations of the squadron. Besides that, you would not be losing him but will gain the services of two another JAG qualified persons who will be part of the squadron since there is a JAG slot as part of their manning requirements, in addition to having unlimited access to the entire squadron roster to boot when needed when they are home.”

“I don’t have another JAG qualified personnel in my command who are qualified to wear wings besides Rabb.”

“Yes, you do. Remember when I poached one Lieutenant Meg Austin from you? Well, we have been hearing White House rumors about an all-female squadron for sometime now and my staff came up with her name.”

<Flashback – 18 Jan 2002>
Admiral McGuire had just returned from a meeting with the SecNav, who had returned himself from the afternoon meeting at the White House.

“Ronda, inform Lieutenant Wells that I’d like to see him ASAP.”

“Yes, sir.”

Later that evening, Howard Wells stood up as he saw his date for the evening walk into the Butterfield 9 restaurant.

“Evening, Loren. You’re earlier than I expected, from what you told me earlier today.”

“Evening, Howie. Yes, the Commander had me doing some research for him but I got it done faster than I had expected. So, how was the rest of your day?”

“Exciting...” Howie wanted to jump for joy with excitement when the CNO had given his new assignment earlier today.

“What’s gotten you so overjoyed that makes it difficult for you to talk?” Loren’s radar went into overdrive with the limitless possibilities Howie’s excitement could do for her career.

“The CNO gave me an assignment to come up with a name for a female executive officer for some project in the works. It’s the first important assignment he has tasked me with since I’ve arrived there. Sometimes I feel about as useless as…”

“Howie, you’re not useless. So, how you gonna come up with a single name for the job?”

“I don’t have the slightest clue. Do you know the number of female officers there are in the Navy? It’s an impossible task for a single person to accomplish.” Howie had finally realized how hard the job was going to be and didn’t relish working that hard to get it anything done. He had joined the Navy to finish getting his master’s and nothing else mattered to him.

“Let me think about it while we eat and I might be able to help you…”
<End Flashback>

“I remember now, since I was fixing to move her back to HQ JAG. But she’s not considered to be part of my command anymore since you did that.”

“But she still carries a designator of a JAG lawyer … she actually has three different ones now.”

“Can this be discussed openly with Commander Rabb?”

“Sure and anyone else you want to discuss it with, as long as they know that it’s a state secret until its officially announced.”

“Great.” AJ reached over to toggle the intercom. “Tiner, get Rabb and MacKenzie in here ASAP.”

“Aye. Aye. Sir.”

“MacKenzie?”

“Lieutenant Colonel Sarah MacKenzie, she’s one of the main reasons why I think Rabb returned here to JAG as soon as he could after only 6 months on active flight duty.”

A few minutes later, they heard a knock on the door.

“Enter.”

“Commander Rabb and Colonel MacKenzie reporting as ordered, sir.”

“Have a seat. Admiral McGuire, may I present my senior lawyers, Commander Rabb and Colonel MacKenzie. He came here to discuss something that could affect you Commander and possibly as well as you too Colonel if I’m not wrong in my thinking.”

Admiral McGuire outlined the proposal and all aspects of the assignment that his office had come up with, along with the deal that he just made with AJ.

“When will you need an answer, Admiral? It’s nothing that I want to agree to right now without talking it over with some colleagues.” Both Admirals saw Harm glance over at Mac as he spoke and knew that whom he was talking about when he said colleagues. The CNO and AJ had discussed the what ifs a number of times concerning AJ’s best team and what they could do to keep them together if they ever realized the special bond they had.

“Understood. I know the SecNav is going to have kittens when he hears about who we want for the job but Tough Shit.” Admiral McGuire smiled as he saw the undercurrents flowing between these two junior officers. “AJ, since this is highly important to the Navy and if their case load is light enough, could you grant them next week off under my orders to allow them the time to talk and think about it until next Friday afternoon?”

“Harm… Mac… ” AJ inquired.

“Well, I don’t have anything important on the books since I just finished the Nelson appeal.” Harm flatly stated.

“I don’t have anything pressing either, Admiral.” Mac added.

“Good. You’re both off duty until next Friday afternoon and I don’t expect to hear a peep out of either of you until you have fully discussed this. Dismissed.”

2300 Zulu
125 Charles Street
Solomons, Maryland

“Good evening. I’m assuming you’re Harmon Rabb and guest.” Helen Bauer cheerfully greeted them as they walked into the front door of her bed and breakfast, Solomon’s Victorian Inn. “You must have made better time than you had expected coming in from DC?”

“Evening, Ma’am. Yes, we did. The traffic wasn’t as bad as one would expect on a Friday evening on the beltway.”

“If you would sign in the register book, I will show you to your room. Please call me Helen.”

“Thank you, Helen. This is Sarah and I’m Harm.”

Harm though about what to write down. He made his decision and quickly filled out the required items in the book. He placed his arm gently around Mac’s back while they followed Helen outside of the main house to the carriage house, where they climbed a short flight of stairs to the only room on the second floor.

Mac gasped for air as she saw the beautiful Victorian decorated room before her: a huge marble doublewide whirlpool tub, which overlooked the four-poster king-size bed. As she followed Helen through the room, she was led through the seating area onto a balcony, which had splendid harbor views. ‘This must cost a fortune and I adore Harm for bringing us here to talk things over… but what’s he up to?’

“This room is called Harbor Sunset, it’s our finest room available. Breakfast is served at 7 and checkout is at 11. Oops, silly me… you’re staying here until Thursday. If you happen to change your mind about staying that long, we won’t penalize or debit your credit card until after checkout time. We hope you enjoy your time here and there are visitor guides on the table there if you want to see the sites. Is there anything else that I can help you with tonight?”

“No, thank you, Helen. Everything is wonderful. Thank you for honoring the late notice reservation.”

“No problem, it’s our off season and we’re seldom booked completely full during it. Enjoy your evening and we will see you in the morning if you come down for breakfast.”

“Good night, Helen.” Mac was too unsure how she would sound if she would have said more than that.

“Night, Ma’am.” Harm replied as Helen walked out and closed the door behind her. He turned around with a huge beaming smile on his face as he realized that Mac was speechless from the grandeur of the room.

“You ok, Mac?”

“Sure flyboy, but we could have stayed home and discussed what the Admiral wants you to think about and saved the enormous cost this trip will entail.”

“No, we couldn’t. Something would happen to disturb or disrupt what we need to talk about. I said we, with a capital W, needed to talk about this. Only the Admiral knows where we are at the moment, and he approved leaving our pagers and cell phones back home in DC. It’s just you and me… it’s too important of a decision for me to make unilaterally, Sarah. I made that mistake once and don’t want to make a repeat performance of it.”

“You must be real serious about this if you called me by my given name. You do that very seldom and only when you want to get my full attention to what you want to say or do.”

“True. There’s one slight request I need to make from you… ”

“What’s that?”

“No snapping comments or comebacks this week. I want us to be truly serious about discussing us, so there won’t be any misunderstandings on what is said or unsaid. I know that I’m not one to talk… ”

“Ok, Harm. I promise to keep my witty remarks to myself. I want a promise from you that you’ll open up and let me know what you’re thinking about, ok?”

“Sarah, I’ll promise to do my best… it’s just so hard letting go. But I’ll try my very best or I’ll have not one lady kicking my six from coast-to-coast but two.”

“I can understand why I might want to kick your six, but who is the other?”

“Beth.”

“I don’t understand her sometimes. I figured she worships you for what you’ve done for her. But what was that kiss she laid on me about?”

“Oh, that… Beth wants me to be totally and completely happy. She knows me well enough to know that I won’t be happy with any other woman beside you. I’m not sure of everything she told you that night, but she has been there for me so many times when I wasn’t sure how we stood. That showed her that even if we never got together that I wouldn’t be good for any other woman, cause I would never be able to repair or replace the huge piece of my heart that would depart with you. Doing things her way, that kiss was the only way she knew that would shock you enough to prevent you from saying things she wanted to hear but couldn’t hear.”

“I’m glad that I was wrong about what I was thinking. I truly like her and was very serious about becoming her best girl friend.”

“I found out later that she was worried that you might have though differently and hoped that you would ask me about it. She considers you to be her sister that she kisses her real sisters just like that — lips to lips so I fairly safe to say it — you better get use to being kissed by her. Anyhow, she has her sights set on your brother. She flatly told me that she is waiting for your permission to pursue him with all her heart.”

“You think that he’ll be a good match for her?”

“Well, there were only four people other than Beth that got to know him aboard the ship when they wasn’t flying and the Air Force crew on his mission. They all said about the same thing about him — he’s a gentleman and cares for his crewmates. He even cares for the ones who were disturbingly unfriendly towards him. From what I could piece together, it had more to do with how his last name was spelled than anything else. Most of them thought that he was related to you and were punishing him for what happened to X-Man, even though he had nothing to do with it. They even treated me similarly when I was still there until the tail hook incident. That’s a round-a-bout way to answer your question, but yes, I feel that he’ll be a good match for her. Much better than the personal affairs idiot she was engaged to.”

“I agree and will call her sometime tomorrow if you have her number at Pax.” She knew that Harm would know the number, and if it were anyone other than Beth… she would have been as green as her uniform about it.

“Sure do. If there’s anymore you want to know about my Sis, you’re going to have to ask her yourself. I feel there’s things that should be just between you two, if you’re serious about wanting to be her best girl friend.”

“Ok, I get the point. Enough talk about your girl friend and lover.”

“Sarah… ”

“Oh right, dropping the sarcasm… just teasing you. What are the sleeping arrangements since there’s only one bed?”

“I was hoping that we could share the bed… even if we don’t doing anything but sleep in it.”

“Sure, I’ve got no problems as long as you don’t hog the covers. It’s colder down here by the Bay than it is in DC.”

Mac woke up curled up Harm’s embrace the next morning feeling more refreshed than she had felt in ages. ‘It’s 9am, I missed eating breakfast and could care less.’ She had to go to the bathroom but didn’t want to disturb him by getting out of bed. ‘He looks so peaceful and content. I could just lose myself in his arms and never want to be anywhere without them around me.’ She closed her eyes and started tracing his face with her fingers as she tried to get a better picture of him in her mind. The call of nature and her empty stomach finally got the best of her, and she had to move out of his arms. As she started to move away, his arms around her suddenly tightened even more, like he was almost holding onto her like his life depended on it.

“Harm… Harm… I’ve got to get up or else I’ll have an accident.”

She felt him release her and she went into the bathroom. She was almost finished when she heard a very agitated voice coming out of the bedroom.

“Mac… Mac… Sarah… ”

She couldn’t do anything until she finished her business but listen to the sleep talk coming through the partially closed door.

“Please come… don’t marry… I can’t… Sarah.”

“Shush… it’s ok flyboy, I’m here and not going anywhere.” Mac cradled Harm in her arms, slowly rocking him, but his nightmare just wouldn’t let go. ‘Holding and rocking isn’t doing any good, I wonder if…’ Mac started kissing Harm on the forehead and all over his face but his lips. It seemed to be helping some but the nightmare continued to hold him. She gasped for air as his arms shot out around her and put her into a vise-like bear hug. ‘I’ve got to do something more drastic to break him out of this but I can’t wake him suddenly by throwing his butt onto the floor.’ Mac wetted her lips and laid a huge lip-lock on him. She was taken back by the intoxicating effect it was having on her as she had to put more and more into the kiss to break the nightmare’s hold.

Harm’s nightmare was slowly being replaced with a pleasant dream of being in bed, holding, and kissing his marine. His conscious mind finally woke to the point where he realized that it wasn’t a dream: they were actually kissing each other while she was grinding herself into his pelvis.

Mac heard him groan, feeling his grip loosen around her and his hands start roaming all over her back. She then broke the kiss and opened her eyes to look down at his face. His bewitching eyes were open and staring up at her, and felt the enormous passion generated by the intensity of the kiss tripled from what it was. ‘I couldn’t even stand up right now if my life depended on it.’

“Morning, sorry to wake you but you were having a whale of a nightmare. I tried everything I could to wake you otherwise but… ” Mac’s face turned beet-red from embarrassment as she realized she was still grinding herself on him.

“Morning to you, beautiful. I enjoyed getting woken up like that and hope that you’ll always want to wake me up that way.”

“Be careful for what you wish for… ” Mac kissed Harm again but broke it off when the grumbling from her stomach could be heard. “As much as I would like to continue this… ”

“That’s my hungry marine talking. What time is it?” Harm had given up looking at any clock or watch as long as Mac was around.

“9:28.”

“I can’t believe that we slept over nine hours without waking up. We missed breakfast no wonder you’re hungry for food.”

“I woke up close to a half a hour ago, so you slept longer than I did. So, up and about there, sailor.”

“You pick where and what we’re going to eat,” Harm said as he walked into the bathroom.

A short time later, they walked down the stairs to look for someplace to eat. They were almost to her corvette when they walked by Richard Bauer, who was working in the front yard.

“Morning, Mr. and Mrs. Rabb. Do you sleep well last night? I’m Helen’s husband, Richard.”

“Morning, Richard. This is Harm and I’m Sarah. Yes, we were more tired than we realized last night cause we slept like two logs and missed eating breakfast. Is there an IHOP or a nice place where we can still get breakfast around here?” Mac couldn’t help from yawning. “Sorry, I’m not fully awake yet… need my java to get fully awake.

“No apologies needed, Sarah. I’m the same way in the mornings. Sorry, there’s no IHOP but the best place in town in my opinion to eat breakfast besides here is The Captain’s Table over on Lore Road. It’s a little over a mile down Charles Street to where Lore Road cuts across it. Helen said that you two looked bushed last night and not to disturb you for breakfast. If you need directions or have questions about what’s available around here and don’t feel like reading about it, please feel free to ask either one of us. Go enjoy yourself.”

“We sure will and thank you.” Mac looked at Harm as he held her door open as she got in on the passenger side without asking if he could drive.

They found the restaurant easily and decided to sit inside instead of using one of the outdoor waterfront tables.

“Good Morning, my name is Sally and I’ll be your waitress today. Do you need menus or know what you would like to eat? Coffee?” They already knew what they wanted to eat, so they gave her their orders and watched her filled the two large steins full of coffee before leaving.

“Harm, I hate to bust your bubble or sound like I’m pushing, but what’s this all about? First, you’ve been asked to take a career step upward and you hedge your answer. Second, you insisted on talking to me about it before you even considered giving an answer to in front of two Admirals no less. Third, you’re letting everyone around here assume that we are married. Four, you made me promise to drop all the sarcasm this week. ‘You don’t know that’s the only way for me to keep myself from getting in too deep and getting hurt by you.’ Five, this morning you had one of the strongest nightmares that I’ve ever witnessed. I did everything I could except throw your butt around the room trying to break its hold on you. You promised me that you were going to be completely open this week, so you might as well start explaining those five.”

Harm had expected Mac to start questioning him about what was going on but hadn’t counted on her keeping a mental list ready to fire off at him when she started asking questions. But this was Mac; his gung-ho marine who played no-holds barred and took no prisoners.

Before Harm could start answering her questions, Sally had returned with their orders. They had ordered pancakes and sausage, which had surprised Mac that Harm would even consider ordering meat in the first place. It was a bigger surprise when they saw the stack of five pancakes that encompassed their entire plates and their sausage was together on a separate plate. “This is the house’s specialty syrup, Kings. It’s thicker than maple syrup. Please try it and we have the policy if someone doesn’t like it — we will replace your pancakes, so you can use plain old maple syrup or anything else on them and as well as giving the customer their meal for free for trying our suggested syrup.”

“You must be very proud of the syrup to make that offer?” Harm smiled. He had never heard of ‘Kings Syrup’ before this. “Whatta say, Sarah, are you game at trying it?”

“Sure, why not. You know me that I’m always game to try something new.” Sarah looked to see Harm’s expression if he had caught her double meaning statement.

Sally topped off their coffee cups and left them to eat in peace.

“I thought that I already answered one of those questions last night … I don’t want us to misunderstand what is said between us. There has been too much of that between us already. So, I’ll answer the easiest question left of the four remaining ones — the reason why I’m letting everyone here assume that we are married is that I’m hoping and praying that by next Friday we will be on the same page to where we would be. No, I’m not going to assume that you will agree to marry me and be my life-time partner … just hopeful that you might consider the possibility.”

Mac almost choked on the bite of King syrup covered pancake she was fixing to swallow when Harm casually stated one of his hopes for this trip. “You never have actually asked me to marry you yet, Harm.” She took a huge swallow of coffee to try washing the lump that seemed to be stuck in her throat and tried changing the subject. So, she took a smaller bite of food. “Humm, this is actually good.”

“I know that I haven’t properly asked you yet. I’ve been in lo….” Harm turned red as he stopped talking. ‘I’ve gotta get this said and just hope for the best.’ “Sarah, I’ve been in love with you since the Rose Garden and didn’t realize that until I returned to flying. I’ve been wanting to tell you since I returned from the Henry but…”

“But, what?”

“I guess I was waiting for the right time to come around to do it. It dawned on me yesterday in the Admiral’s office that there was never going to be a right time if I kept waiting for the right moment … so I’m going to hang my six into the wind so to speak and hope that someone doesn’t shoot it off.”

“Why is this the right moment?”

“Basically, to explain why I don’t want to take this new assignment. I knew you would wonder why I’m seriously considering telling them ‘thanks but no thanks’ next Friday.” Harm reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out his aviator wings. “Out of all the people in the world, the only person that I truly wanted to understand the reasons why I returned to flying was you, Sarah. It wasn’t to leave you, but it was something that I had to finish in my life. I can sleep peacefully now that I have my answers and I left on my own terms, not due to other reasons beyond my control. So these are yours now, cause I don’t need them anymore.” Harm placed his most prized uniform device in Mac’s hand. “I went back to see if I still had the ability to be the best of the best. It’s still there, but it felt different being there than it ever did before. Being a Naval aviator isn’t something everyone can do. It takes a special person who must have the burning desire to fly especially in the Navy, but it gives others the impression that we all have the same arrogance and cocky attitudes. No matter what I tried to do, I couldn’t get myself back into the proper mind-set and it took Sis to point it out to me what was missing. When we were flying, it felt like it always did but when we were on the ship, it was another matter. She basically told me that the reason why I couldn’t do that was because my heart was breaking from being separated from you.

“I was a total basket-case while I was on the Henry. The only time I could only get more than two hours of sleep at one time is when Sis would hold me and rock me to sleep, which she had to do every three to four days before it effected my performance. I needed Beth’s support almost constantly, or I would have fallen apart and became a total basket case. I know that I put her through pure hell trying to fight off the feelings she has for me from getting deeper, and it’s another reason why I returned to JAG with the hope that it would end her misery. But when I returned home, I was in a worse situation than I was in before I left the Henry, because I had nobody to turn to for comfort at all. I felt like a stranger and it seemed like nobody even wanted me around them any more. All I had was the cold computer screen to keep me sane. I know that I probably used all her allotted communications time up dealing with my problems and still don’t have the slightest clue on how I will be able to repay or repair the damage that it caused her.”

Mac really hadn’t comprehended everything Beth had told her or the reasons why she lost it so totally that day on the Henry until today, as she had stopped eating to look at Harm opening himself like this. It was something she had never seen from him even in her wildest dreams. Seeing him this vulnerable and open was restoring the broken heart he had caused when he’d closed himself off from her in the past, as well as the Grand Canyon crack that had formed in it when he had returned to flying. Before she could speak, she watched Harm pull out an envelope and hand it to her before excusing himself from the table. She slowly opened it up:

Dear Sis,

Please for Harm’s sake, yours, and mine… listen and look into his eyes when
he is trying to talk to you. I don’t know what he would do to himself if you left
him before he got everything out that he needs to say to you. I can only hope
you know where this Red Rock Mesa is located, so we could at least go there
to bury the body once we located it. That’s how scared I am for his well-being.

Luckily I’ve been here at Pax for the past six months to allow him the freedom
of picking up the phone to hear my voice. There were times after he left the
Henry, I wasn’t sure if he would still be alive until I heard from him the next
day and I couldn’t pry a promise from him that he wouldn’t do something that
stupid. I have gotten over the heartache and welcome the brotherly love that
he gives me. I think that I’ve fallen for your ‘newly’ found brother and I’m
asking for your permission to pursue what my heart is telling me about him. But
I won’t if you feel that I’m on the rebound and couldn’t love him like he
should be loved by another. I would have rather said these things to your face but am frightened of
how you would react if I did so. Call me a coward or anything you want to
call me for doing it this way. Please call me this morning to tell me if you
got this letter, how you feel about what I’ve wrote, and if I have your
permission. I’ll totally understand if all of them are negative in nature and
will not hold anything against you for it. My cell phone number is (210)
555-5683, which is actually a hoot… 5683 is love spelled on the phone keys.

Love Ya,

Sis — Beth

‘She loves Harm almost as much as I do. I don’t understand her selflessness about it … she’s willing to stand by and let another woman be in the place she wants to be so badly. I never had the strength to do that with Harm… there hasn’t been anybody in his life that I considered worthy of his love and attention.’ Mac sat there thinking so hard that she missed seeing Harm return from the restroom and even didn’t notice the few tears running down her face. But Harm did notice and knelt down beside her.

“Sarah, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Bull, you don’t normally cry over nothing. So…”

“Beth’s a better person than me! She loves you so much that she’s willing to let you go. That’s something that I’ve never been able to do since we met in the Rose Garden. There hasn’t been any woman in your life that I’ve ever liked even a little bit… I wanted you all to myself but thought that you never wanted me that way.”

“Sarah, I’ve always wanted you that way but I’ve been too scared that you didn’t want me. You have accused me of holding back… Well, yes I have, cause I’m so frightened that if I let go, there would be nothing left of me if something ever happened to us. There has never been any person in my life that has had that type of power over me, not even my father. I know now that I’m not the only one who is scared of what would become of me if that happened.”

“I know that, she told me that too. Now, what’s this about you turning down the job?”

“Let’s take a walk on the beach while I try to explain why I want to.”

“Sure, just let me call Beth before we do that.”

“Ok, you do that while I pay for the meal. You want me to pick-up a large coffee for the walk?”

“Sure, see you in a few minutes.” Mac got up and headed for the telephones to call Beth, to let her know the answers to her questions and to ask her come over here in the morning with Sam.

Harm and Mac walked out of the restaurant and drove back to the Inn, which was sitting close to the public beach. The wind had picked up slightly and there was an extra coolness to it since it was coming off the Bay, so they went to their room and picked up windbreakers for their walk on the beach.

“Ok, Harm. This silence is killing me, now start talking before I get violent with you.” Mac jokingly said to break the tension surrounding them.

“There are numerous reasons why I think I shouldn’t take this posting. The most important one is you and how it will affect you with me going back on active flight status. I know that you don’t like it when I’m flying and I don’t want to put you through the stress it causes. It’s taken me over 6 months to get my feet back under me at work and with you from the short stint from flying last year and I don’t want to lose that.”

“You heard the Admiral as well as I did … you’ll be TAD to JAG more than you will be over there at Andrews by the way they laid out the squadron’s operations. So I don’t see a problem there with you being out of the loop as far as JAG is concerned. As for you flying all the time, well I’ll deal with it as long as I know that you’re mine and know that…”

“And know what, Sarah?”

“I’ve been thinking long and hard since we’ve returned from our last trip about why I reacted the way I did when you left last year. There were a lot of things I wanted to tell you that day, but I couldn’t quite figure out how. I didn’t want you to leave cause I was scared that you would never come back to me and that’s why I couldn’t be happy for you. I have seen every person that I’ve ever cared for, leave for one reason or another. My mother left cause she couldn’t take any more abuse from my father. My father tried to do his best to take care of me but would always leave me alone for his precious bottle. Chloe had to leave because we located her father and he wanted her to live with his parents. The men that have floated in and out of my life had their own reasons to leave, which I’ve never completely understood until now.”

Harm stopped walking and turned toward Mac. He reached his hand out to cup her chin and raised it so she could see his face. “Sarah, I promise you this … no matter what happens … I will always be part of your life and hope to plan the future with me beside you step-for-step.” Harm lowered his head and sealed the promise with a kiss.

“Are you sure you want to be mixed up with me that way? You know my track record and it’s pretty lousy.”

“You might want to ask yourself the same question about getting involved with me since my track record is poorer than yours. But to answer your question there, yes … I don’t want to get involved with anyone other than you.”

They continued to walk down the beach holding hands and talking. When they started back to their room, they decided to walk down the street sidewalk to see the storefronts. They walked past a couple massage places, bookstores, novelty shops, a White Castle restaurant, and a flower shop. As they were approaching the flower shop, Mac suddenly stopped.

“Oh my god, it couldn’t be…”

VOQ Room 112
Patuxent River NAS

A excited young woman’s voice could be heard throughout the Patuxent River Visiting Officers Quarters, waking up a few of its residents. Lieutenant Commander Elizabeth Hawkes — Skates was celebrating the telephone call she had just finished with her ‘sister’, Lieutenant Colonel Sarah MacKenzie. Beth rushed to her bedside to quickly turn off the beeping alarm clock that she had forgotten to turn off when she was woken up by the phone. ‘I hope Sam doesn’t have any plans for tomorrow.’ Beth decided to break her normal weekend ritual of pampering herself with a bath while being stuck at Pax River by jumping into the shower with the hopes of catching Sam. She looked down at a desk calendar to see what his routine would be this morning and then glanced at the clock. ‘If I hurry, I can catch him as he returns from the obstacle course.’ Since he had been released from the hospital he’d been trying very hard to return to the shape he was in before the ‘mission’. It had taken him four solid months of hard training time, but he was very close to returning to what he considered full strength.

“Hi Sam. I was hoping to catch you as you were returning from the course. How was your run?”

“Great! I’m completely back to full strength and shocked the gunny by breaking the course record by thirty seconds.”

“Outstanding… you think can take tomorrow off from training?”

“Sure but you need not ask… I’ll do anything with you if you let me. So, what’s up for tomorrow, or is it a big secret?”

“Just a small road trip to Solomons, Maryland. Your sister and my brother are vacationing there this week and she asked us to come see them tomorrow if we could. I know that Sis and you haven’t been in one place long enough to talk about stuff.”

“She say that or are you meddling again?”

“No silly, I’m not meddling. She wants to talk to you about everything. It was a just a big shock to her when she saw the pictures you gave her in that letter. Besides that, I’ve gotta see how Harm is doing in person cause I’ve got to kill this nagging suspicion that he’s not telling me everything like he normally does.”

“If I didn’t know better about the situation between Harm and you, I would say there’s more to you two than meets the eye. It will be great to see Sis and not worry about military protocols. Can you get it cleared with Meg for the time away, since we’re always on alert status but can’t fly for some unknown reasons?”

“Can do. You going to finish your routine?”

“Yes, that way you’ll know where to find me when you want to. That’s why I wrote it down on your desktop calendar in the hope that I could talk you into working out with me other than the morning runs.”

Knock. Knock. Knock. Lieutentant Commander Meg Austin stopped talking to her counterpart, Commander Caitlin Pike, who had just arrived on station this morning.

“Enter.”

“Ma’am, do you have a few minutes to talk?”

“Sure, Skates. This is Commander Caitlin Pike. She will be the co-executive officer of the squadron and just arrived this morning. Kate, this is Elizabeth Hawkes — Skates. She is Ace’s RIO and our senior RIO evaluator even though I outrank her. If scuttlebutt is correct, she will move behind Commander Rabb if he accepts the CO’s position.”

“Harm’s going to be our boss?” Kate said what she was thinking without realizing it and moved her hand over her mouth. “Did I just say that aloud?”

“Yes, you did, Kate. Skates, Kate here was Harm’s partner at JAG before me.”

“I see. It makes you wonder why almost of all the females in Hammer’s life are being gathered together in one squadron with him in command.”

“That puzzled me too when I found out that Kate was ordered here from San Diego, especially after I saw the date on her orders. It was the day when I had told them that I would accept their offer to go to RIO school. It looks like there was somebody behind the scenes is doing this for reasons unknown to us. But I don’t really care about finding out the reason or who’d done it. I’m just glad to see Kate — it’s been awhile since we’ve been in the same place at the same time. The last time if I remember correctly was at the Seatac Naval Base and that was almost four years ago. Now, what did you want to talk about, Skates?”

“I was wondering if Ace and I could have a couple days’ leave to make a small trip over to Solomons. His sister is visiting there until Friday and it would be the first time they have had to sit down face-to-face and actually talk.”

“Denied. If she is there then Harm must be too. Can you contact them and ask if they could possibly come over here in the morning?”

“I do have the number they are staying at and will have to call there since they don’t have their cell phones or pagers with them per the Admiral’s orders. All I can do is ask. If that is ok with you, Ma’am?” Skates sarcastically said.

“Yes, they are free to visit here, Skates. Dismissed.”

“Aye. Aye. Ma’am.”

As soon as Skates left the office, Meg heard the outside door slam. “Damn, she’s pissed and I can’t fault her for being that way either. If they don’t release us from this base restriction soon, I feel we may lose her and we really can’t allow that to happen. She’s getting fed up with feeling pinned up and not knowing what they have in mind for her or us. I can’t really blame her one bit. It took a Presidential order to allow us to travel to Bethesda when Ace was hospitalized. I don’t know if she noticed it or not but they had people following us everywhere we went while there. Hopefully, she will be able to talk Colonel MacKenzie into coming here tomorrow otherwise we’re going to have to find away to settle Skates down and prevent her from leaving us permanently.”

Beth was furious and got angrier as she walked back to her VOQ room. ‘All I’ve have done in the past six months is sit on my six and do nothing but wait. I can’t leave the base for anything without getting permission from the Commander, which she won’t allow either. They won’t answer any questions and tell me to follow orders like a good little sailor. And when I talk about resigning, she does everything possible trying to talk me out of it except allowing me to leave the base.’ Beth got halfway to her room when she spied the entrance to the base gym. ‘That’s where I can go and take out my frustrations.’

One Hour Later

Ring… Ring… Ring…

“Commander Austin.”

“Ma’am, this is Base Security. We need you to come to the Base gym ASAP before more people get hurt.”

“Huh! Why should I get involved with a fight at the gym?”

“Ma’am, Commander MacKenzie asked us to call you. He’s inside trying to calm down his partner and prevent her from putting more people in the hospital. We’ve already sent three people to the emergency room and think there could be a few more inside the building.”

“We’ll be right there.” Meg hung the phone up. “Come on, Kate. The shit has hit the propeller — it appears Skates is tearing up the base gym and its users. They have already sent three to the hospital for treatment.”

“You’re got to be pulling my leg, Meg. As little as Skates is, she couldn’t do that much damage to put someone in the hospital.”

“She sure can since she has a 3rd Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do if that answers your question how someone her size could do that.”

“Holy shit. Let’s hurry then.”

Kate and Meg ran to the gym and after showing their IDs, the SPs allowed them to enter the building. They heard someone reading the riot act to someone else and guessed that this was where they could locate their Lieutenant Commanders. Opening the door leading into the main gym floor, they saw the two men lying on the floor not moving, with their two Commanders being chewed-out by a man dressed in PT clothes. Meg couldn’t be sure who the man was until she could see his face. Things just got worse as she saw Admiral Franks. Meg stopped. “Admiral Franks.”

“Commander Austin, can you tell me the meaning behind this? Since all I get out of these two is ‘Yes or No Sir’.”

“Sir with your permission, may I question them?”

“By all means. I would like to know why five of my marines are in the hospital.”

“Commander Hawkes or MacKenzie, would either of you care to explain what happened?”

“No, Ma’am.”

“Commander Austin, consider these two restricted to the base pending discipline actions.”

“Sir, we’ve been restricted to the base for the last six months and nobody will tell us why? It isn’t like we’re sitting on a base outside the United States and couldn’t leave due to terrorist threats.” Skates spat out trying to provoke the Admiral into explaining why they were stuck on base.

“I know, Commander, but just like you have been following orders so have I. The CNO is the one who placed the order to keep your lot on the base and I warned him that this could happen if they didn’t explain it to you. He stated that it wouldn’t happen and if it did, he would take care of it. So, Commander Austin gather your crew and I’ll call you when I have the answer to what to do with these two…”

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