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Title: Nightingale: Deployment
Classification: Harm/Mac; Skates/Other
Type: Crossover – West Wing & Aero Girl’s story – Clearing Skies
Rating: 13 (Adult Situations, Language)
Spoilers: Up to True Callings, Everything Afterwards Never Happens
Feedback: Welcomed But Not Expected
Feedback email: TZMaverick@xxxxxxx.xxx
Disclaimer: This is for entertainment purposes only. These characters belong to CBS, Paramount and DPB.
Author's Notes: This is my opinion and not to offend any other writers but I consider Aero Girl and Startrails68 in the top 5 of all the JAG fan fiction writers available today. (One of my other top 5 writers, is semi-retired.) So, this series (I hope) is totally dedicated to them.
Author’s Note 2: Thank you Soleil and Kate for giving up your time to ‘Beta’ read my work … Give that I write as I talk sometimes – it makes your job awhole lot more difficult.
Author’s Note 3: Rating Change at the end to ‘R’ — due to content — some may find it offensive un nature.
1300Z 10 August 2004
HQ JAG
Washington, DC.
Harm had been at his desk at JAG for five hours trying to clear the stack of Wills and Freedom of Information requests the Admiral had dropped into his lap yesterday, when he received the call to report to the situation room at the White House. He had seen Colonel MacKenzie and Lieutenant Coates leave their offices and headed for the break room. He got up and headed for the break room himself.
“Morning Mac and Jen.”
“Morning Harm.” Mac replied.
“Jen, I need you to come with me to a short notice meeting and bring that file with you that I had you work on last week.”
“Yes, sir. Let me grab my cover and the file. It will only be a moment.”
“Mac, not sure how long this meeting will last. Have Meg finish up the extra work the Admiral dropped on us yesterday and let him know that Jen and I are gone.”
“What should I tell him where you two went when he asks?”
“It’s Nightingale business and has nothing to do with JAG or his sphere of influence. If I miss my guess, he won’t ask at all – he’ll demand or order to be told. Anyhow, it doesn’t matter how he asks because if he keeps acting the way he has been since we got married, I’m pulling the Nights out of here permanently.”
“Are you going to warn the Admiral of that possibility?”
“I know the Admiral can do no wrong in your eyes … I want you to think about who’s always getting chewed out about things going wrong in this place even when more than a single person does whatever to throw things slightly off of the normal routine. There are things that I’ve done years ago … some of them even before you was assigned here and he continues to harp on them like they happened yesterday. Other people have made mistakes but its never talked about which makes me feel like his whipping boy all the time. Does anyone ever get called to the carpet when squadron responsibilities call me away? I guess that they don’t because before I can even get to my office when I get back … he’s got me in his office and getting on to me about what happened when I was gone.
“When the squadron finally got here to Washington, a group of the squadron asked me if there was anything that I could locate some work for them … they are use to having additional details or jobs to do with their time while onboard a carrier or when they are at home station. We have almost two full squadrons of people and there are only some many jobs to go around. I asked the Admiral but he required them to be attending law school even if they were just be helping Harriett in the office.
“So, I went to the CNO and the maximum we could find enough funding for was eight. When I asked for volunteers to attend law school, we had more volunteers than we had funding for. I gathered all them up to tell them why I was putting their names in a hat to ensure them that I wasn’t going to play favorites with anybody. You know whom I picked out of the hat while I was blindfolded: Beth, Jen, Erica, Christina, Kathleen, Abby, Christie, and Lisa. Even with complying with his requirements for them to work here … they could be flies on the wall by the way he treats them, which includes Kate and Meg. When they clear out the Will and Freedom of Information baskets or win a difficult court case … does he even acknowledge their effort? But he sure does acknowledge them if they happen to miss to dot an ‘I’ or cross a ‘T’.
“To answer your question: No, but hell no am I going to give him the courtesy of warning him about what may happen when we return from the Pacific tour. Honey, you can do what you want to about it and I promise you that I won’t be mad at you in any way. All I ask is for you to watch how he treats the members of our squadron family and you will see that I’m right.” Harm leaned down and gave Mac a kiss. “I gotta go now or we’ll be late for the meeting.”
Mac had never ever seen him this upset and angry about something as she watched him walk out of the break room. “Call me if you’ll be running real late? We have a dinner reservation at 1700.”
“Promise.”
“This meeting is classified with level five security. Captain Rabb, what is the Lieutenant doing here?” Mr. Nelson, the SecNav asked.
“Sir, according to the memo we received from the CNO last week concerning security levels, my squadron’s XOs, my aide, and myself are supposed to have level fives. Here is the paperwork to upgrade our security levels, which I’m supposed to turn it over to Miss Cregg. Since we just finished filling out all the documents last night, we were going to make a special trip over here today until I received the phone call a half an hour ago. So, we are killing two birds with this single trip.”
“That’s still doesn’t give her clearance to sit in this meeting, Rabb.” The SecNav was getting pissed at ‘Harmful Rabb’ again.
Before Harm could say another word, the Chairman of the Joint Chief’s, Admiral Tomas Magnum, walked into the room.
“Take your seats. Is Captain Rabb here?” Tom looked around the table and only noticed the single female Navy Lieutenant sitting next to whom he thought was Captain Rabb. He had just been confirmed to be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and hadn’t yet met the most publicized Navel officer in recent history.
“Yes, sir.”
“Where are the rest of your personnel, Captain?”
“Sir, when I spoke with the SecNav earlier, he didn’t say to bring anyone else with me. Since we had to bring some documents to the press secretary, I decided to bring my aide with me and hoped to get Ms. Cregg to give her an impromptu tour of the White House.”
“Didn’t you get that memo from the CNO last week concerning security level clearances for your squadron?”
“Yes, sir, we did and I have the paperwork right here to hand to Miss Cregg as soon as we can today.”
“Refresh my memory, Captain, on who are your executive officers and introduce your aide to the people sitting here?”
“Colonel Sarah Rabb, Commander Catlin Pike, and Lieutenant Commander Meg Austin are my XOs and this is my aide and radar intercept officer of Alpha 4, Lieutenant Jennifer Coates.”
“That’s what I’ve been briefed on who they were. So, where are they now and how soon can they get here?”
“Sir, all three should be currently at HQ JAG right now trying to finish some legal work.”
“Well, I don’t like the idea of all of you having to work two separate jobs. You might consider dropping the free legal work that you do for the JAG when you return from the Pacific. Don’t you also have a level six cleared member in your squadron as well?”
“Yes, sir. Commander Samuel MacKenzie currently holds a level six.”
“Captain, change your paperwork to level six and have him come to the meeting as well. You will need to know what’s in Sam’s record if the time comes when you really need to make a decision about what he does. Now, get those four people here without delay. I’ll brief ‘Hickory’ that this meeting will be delayed until their arrival and, Mr. Nelson, he’s not going to very happy to hear about this.”
“We’ll get right on that, sir.” Harm turned to Jen and asked her to change his paperwork as he picked up the telephone to call JAG.
Meanwhile at HQ JAG
“Attention on Deck.” Someone called out as they saw the Admiral walk into operations from returning from a meeting at the Pentagon.
“As you were. Where’s Captain Rabb?”
“Sir, he was called out for a meeting dealing with his squadron.” Lieutenant Simms answered the Admiral’s question.
“Get him on the telephone and get his six back here immediately, Lieutenant.”
“Sir, I don’t know where this meeting is being held in order for me to call him since he’s no longer authorized to carry a JAG cell phone or pager unless he’s on an JAGman investigations. The last person he talked to before departing with Lieutenant Coates earlier was the Colonel.”
AJ saw Mac step out of the office to see what all the commotion going on in the bullpen was about.
“Colonel Rabb, where in the blazes is your partner at?”
“Sir, he wouldn’t or couldn’t tell me where he was headed or when he would be able to return.”
“My office, now Colonel. Lieutenant Simms, I don’t want to be disturbed for anything. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.” Harriett’s face turned red from getting slightly chewed out by the Admiral for something that she had neither a clue about nor did she know what had gotten him this pissed off about.
The Admiral stopped at the door to allow Mac to precede him into his office and loudly slammed the door behind him.
“Colonel, what in the heck is the meaning of this?” AJ handed Mac a folder for her to read.
Mac opened the folder and quickly glanced at its contents. “It states that I had been transferred to the Nightingales since Harm accepted the commanding officer’s position, sir. How?”
“It’s got Rabb written all over it.” AJ was fuming over finding this document in her personnel file at the Pentagon. He had gone down to personnel to see if her last OPR had been posted in it or he was going to find out why it hadn’t been done.
“Sir, Harm didn’t have anything to do with this. I was with him at every meeting about the squadron during that time frame and this wasn’t one of the subjects ever discussed. Something did seem funny that I was required to be at every single meeting concerning the squadron.”
“I still feel he had something to do with this and I’ll go to the SecNav to have this withdrawn from your records. Have a seat, Colonel.”
“Sir, it won’t do you any good to go to the SecNav about this because the Nightingales do not report to or are even under his command. But there’s another very important matter that I need to tell you about the squadron when you have time.”
“What? To whom do they report then? I’ll have time after I get this mess straightened out.” AJ slammed the offending file down on his desk, which made Mac jump.
“The Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral McGuire, sir,” Mac softly answered his question since she had never seen the Admiral act like this before in her presence. ‘Maybe this is what Harm meant when he talked about the way the Admiral treats him almost daily since Harm is in here every day and most times the Admiral’s voice can be heard out in the bullpen but not clearly enough to understand what was being said.’
“I’ll call him then.” AJ picked up the phone and dialed a number.
“CNO’s office, Mrs. Wilson speaking. How may I help you?”
“This is Admiral Chedwiggen. I need to speak with Admiral McGuire ASAP.”
“Sorry, sir. He’s out of the office right now.”
“Do you know where he can be located or when he will return?”
“Sorry, sir. I wasn’t here when he left, so I have no clue as to be able to answer either question. Can I take a message to give to him when he does return?”
“No message. I’ll try to call back later on.” AJ slammed the phone down. “Damnit, he’s not in either.”
“HQ JAG operations, this is Lieutenant Harriett Simms. How can I help you?”
“Harriett, I need to speak with Mac ASAP.”
“Sir, she is in with the Admiral.”
“Well, interrupt the meeting.”
“Sir, the Admiral said not to disturb them.”
“Harriett, who would you rather have made problems with? A four star and a Captain or a two star if you don’t put me through to her?”
“The two star … hold on one second, sir.”
Harriett pressed the intercom to call the Admiral.
“Harriett, I told you not to disturb us.”
“Sorry, sir. Captain Rabb’s on line one and needs to talk to the Colonel ASAP.”
“I’ll take care of it. Thank you, Harriett.”
Admiral Chedwiggen swore to himself because Mac said there was something important she needed to talk to him about and they had just sat down when they were interrupted by Rabb’s call. He still hadn’t gotten far on whom Mac worked for straightened out either. He reached over and placed the call on the speakerphone.
“Rabb, you better have a very good reason to have Lieutenant Simms disregard my orders,” AJ yelled.
“Sir, I need to talk to Mac privately about some squadron business.”
“Denied. You can just say whatever you need to say to her so I can hear it as well. The Colonel works for me and not at your beck and call even if she’s your wife. You understand what I just said, Captain Rabb?”
“Yes, sir. Hold on for one second, sir.” Mac and AJ could hear music as Harm had placed them on hold. They heard, ‘Damnit’, when somebody finally picked up the phone after a minute of listening to that elevator music.
“Admiral Chedwiggen, this is Admiral Thomas Magnum. Captain Rabb called Colonel Rabb to discuss VF-213 business, which you don’t have a need to hear about what he needs to inform her about. So, I’m giving you a direct order to put her on the telephone handset NOW or I’ll see that you’re transferred to Iceland within the hour to be in command of a single-manned guard shack. Understood, Rear Admiral?”
“Yes, sir.” Mac had never seen the Admiral move so quickly as he picked up the handset to hand to her and close the speakerphone connection.
“Sir, this is Colonel Rabb.”
“Colonel, here is Harm.”
“Mac, collect Meg, Sam, and Kate because I need your four to report to the White House situation room ASAP. Do not tell anyone where you are headed. A police escort will be waiting for you in the parking lot and should be arriving now. Can do, Marine?”
“Can do, Flyboy. Bye.”
Mac hung up the phone. “Sorry, sir. I’ve got to leave.”
“When will you be back?”
“I don’t know when it will be, sir.”
“Well, I can’t have my people running all over the place and not know where they are going or when they will return. So, I’m giving you a direct order to tell me where you are going and when you are returning.”
“Sir, if you want to know that information, I highly suggest you talk to Admiral Magnum about it, since he’s apparently at this meeting with Captain Rabb. If I may ask a question about whom you consider your people?”
“Captain Rabb, Lieutenant Coates, and yourself of course.”
“Sir, Captain Rabb and Lieutenant Coates are not your personnel, they are VF-213 personnel on loan by their commanding officer to you when they feel like having something to do instead of just sitting around their hanger doing nothing. And from that file you just showed me … that includes me as well, even though I was never informed about the transfer, and as far as I know nobody in the squadron knows anything about it neither.
“I must leave now or do I need to inform Admiral Magnum why it took me so long to respond to Harm’s call if he should ask. There’s a police escort waiting downstairs to escort me right now.” Mac could see the red and blue lights flashes coming through the office window.
“Very well, Colonel. But we haven’t finished talking about this or what you wanted to tell me about Rabb’s squadron.”
Mac left the office in such a rush that she didn’t shut the door behind her. The Admiral saw that the door was still wide open and he got up to shut the door. But before he closed it, he heard Mac’s voice as clearly as it would have been if she were standing in front of him.
“Meg, Kate, and Sam grab your covers and come with me now. No questions and we have to move now.”
“Yes, Ma’am. Where we going, Mac?”
“Classified. You’ll know it when you see it.”
The four jumped into the elevator and ran out to Mac’s Corvette and Meg’s Cobra. They pulled in behind a police cruiser and sped off.
19 Minutes Later
Mac, Kate, Meg, and Sam were escorted into the situation room and walked up to where Harm was sitting. “Sir, Commanders Austin, MacKenzie, Pike, and Colonel Rabb reporting as ordered.”
“At ease and take a seat. Jen, go inform the Admiral that all our squadron personnel are here and accounted for.”
“Aye, Aye, Sir.” Jen got up from her chair and disappeared into a smaller room where the Admiral was temporary working.
“Harm, what’s this all about?” Mac asked in a low hushed voice as the others listened in to hear his answer.
“I don’t have a clue as to why you four are here, but from hearing an earlier conversation, the SecNav is in a world of trouble for not informing me to bring you in the first place.”
Jen soon re-took the chair she was sitting in. Within a few minutes, the secret service opened the door to allow CJ Cregg and the President to enter. The president started to speak before he even got to the table.
“Since we’re all here now for this meeting, we can begin. Captain Rabb, you said you have some paperwork to give to CJ. Please hand it over to her now, so she can leave and finish processing it. If there is time remaining in the normal White House working day after this meeting concludes, your people and you will need to see her. If not, report back here in the morning after my staff meeting to finish the process.”
“Aye, Aye, Sir. It will be as you asked.”
“Very good. Admiral Magnum the floor is yours.”
“Thank you, sir. This meeting is for level five personnel or above – everyone has been cleared to hear what is about to be discussed before someone questions why all the personnel from the Nightingales are present. As soon as we conclude this meeting, they will meet with Miss Cregg for their pre-cleared level five or six clearance security level badges and CIA badges if they do not have them already.
“Six months ago, the CIA briefed the Joint Chiefs that their agents in the western Pacific region began picking up details of a possible military coup in North Korea and possible invasion into South Korea. The details the agency have been given us have been sketchy at best but we know enough to bring more people into the loop of what is happening over there.
“Screen please. There are three military officers involved with this possible coup.” A picture of a North Korean Army General appeared on the screen. “This is Army Commanding General Jin-Hien Bae. General Bae commands the fourth largest standing army force in the world.” Tom changed pictures on the screen. “This is Air Force Commanding General Wan-Kea Jeong, who commands the world’s third largest air force, even if seventy percent of his fighters are considered obsolete. Give respect to the quantity that he will be able to place airborne at any given time.” Tom changed to the last picture of the three-person coup gang. “This is Navy Commanding Admiral Tai-Hee Song, who commands the ninth largest navy command in the world. Lights, please.
“These three commanders are part of the hardliners behind the North Korean nuclear programs and feel that North Korea should be among the world’s leaders in nuclear technologies. According to the CIA reports, they have been working behind the scenes with the other hardliners to force the current Premier to build nuclear plants for electrical power among other things. Their plans were going fine until the US brought the UN in to deal with the nuclear plants and the Premier started to can the entire process, which, in turn, brings us here today.
“Normally, the 7th Fleet would have enough Carrier Battle Groups to provide the Kitty Hawk Battle Group with a back-up or two. But these are not normal times since we currently have to deployed five battle groups to protect our shores from terrorist attacks. Coupled along with those deployments, we have four battle groups deployed in the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf areas. Which leaves us one unattached Battle Group remaining, the Patrick Henry’s; she was scheduled to return to Mediterranean to replace the Constitution but that was cancelled due to this possible coup.
“The former Chief of Naval Operations, who Admiral McGuire replaced, ordered to downgrade the Navy’s air wings to have only one F-14 squadron in them, which the USS Kitty Hawk was one of the first carriers to do so. We looked at the six battle groups that are currently in American waters and the USS Patrick Henry was the only carrier that had yet to been downgraded, which doesn’t count your squadron Captain Rabb. If the ball does go up over there and with the quantity of air frames North Korea can put into the air at once, we want as many Tomcats as we can get into the theater as possible. Since February, the Patrick Henry has been using Pearl for a homeport and her air wing is using MCAF Kaneohe Bay as their home base until things settle down in North Korea. Captain Rabb, your squadron is scheduled to depart Washington for its normal rotation to the Patrick Henry on or about the 18th, if I remember correctly.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I understand you have made arrangements to crew rest at Fallon before heading towards the islands.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Admiral, your teleconference is ready to proceed at your convenience,” the tech running the equipment announced over the room’s speakers.
“Excellent timing. Bring it up on the main screen, please.” Tom said when he pressed the video room switch. The main viewing screen split in half with two faces appearing in them. The commanding officer of Top Gun, Captain Pete Mitchell, appeared in the left hand portion of the screen while Captain Tobias Ingles, the Patrick Henry’s Battle Group commander appeared in the right hand side.
“Good day, gentlemen. I will deal with Captain Ingles last since it will let him know when to expect the Nightingales’ arrival in Hawaii.” Tobias nodded his acceptance of the order. “Pete, I understand that you have some pilots down with a bug and requested my permission to use the services of the Nightingales for the final exercises of the two classes you currently have running. Is that correct?”
“Yes, sir. If the Nightingales can leave Washington tomorrow… they will have enough time for crew rest before the final exercises begin Thursday.”
“Captain Rabb, will your squadron be able to do that?”
“Yes, sir. The entire squadron can depart Washington within two-hour notice anytime it’s needed to do so. My only concern with this request is that none of us are qualified to fly the MIG simulator planes they use there. If we could reconfigure our normal rides with the ‘Top Gun’ equipment, then it would be feasible and enjoyable for us to do so.”
“What do you mean by reconfiguring your planes?”
“We’re scheduled to depart here in our full war time air-to-air condition which includes twelve live missiles and a full store of shells in our gun. It’s no problem for our maintenance crews to download this material from our planes and load up the ‘Top Gun’ equipment the school has since it has an excess of Tomcat simulated equipment available.”
“Pete, any problem with what Captain Rabb suggests.”
“No, sir. We can do easily.”
“Very well then, expect the arrival of the Nightingale package tomorrow. Anything else you need to discuss.”
“No, sir.” Pete’s face disappeared from the screen.
“Captain Ingles.”
“Sir.”
“When is the Henry scheduled to depart Pearl?”
“The morning of the 22nd with the air wing coming aboard that afternoon, sir.”
“The Nightingales are scheduled to bring their entire squadron of twenty planes, which will mean you will need to leave a Hornet squadron behind. They will require that you assign one pilot and two navigators to fly their F/A-18F planes while they are aboard. I want them to be the best available aviators from your Hornet squadrons for this purpose and they will fly as wingman with the Nights Echo flight. The reasons why they will fly as wingmen is due to the fact that the leads are ‘Top Gun’ trophy winners, as well as every crew member on the Nightingale roster.”
“I knew that a few of them had won the trophy, since a few of my crews had been in the last few classes, but didn’t know all eighteen of them had done so. I see no problem arising from my crews flying as wingmen for them.”
“Good. You will need to send a crew to Hickam to meet the C-5B arriving there on the 13th with the special equipment that the squadron requires to have aboard the Henry. Captain Rabb, insure Captain Ingles receives a classified message about what to expect to receive. I’m sure you will brief Tobias why you require this special equipment to be aboard the Henry once you arrive in Hawaii.”
“Aye, Aye, Sir.” Harm looked over the Jen to ensure she noted of the requirement of the message.
“Sir, since the Nights are arriving early, should I have Captain Pike put them onto the schedule for the local CAPs we are currently flying?”
“No, I think that they should be given a ‘Thank you’ vacation for solving my ‘Top Gun’ crew problem. So, continue with the schedule you have currently have worked out. That’s all I have to say at the moment. Any questions you need to ask Tobias?”
“No, sir.”
“Captain Rabb will bring your staff up to speed on what we have discussed here and be careful on your deployment to the operations area. It could get extremely hot very quick.”
“Understood, sir. See you in a few days, Hammer. Ingles out.”
President Bartlet looked at his watch. “Admiral, is there anything else you need Captain Rabb’s crew for? If not, they should be dismissed and allowed to see CJ to finish their identification papers.”
“No, sir.”
“Good. Captain Rabb, after you finish with CJ, you need to see a couple people at Langley to pickup their intelligence information on the region and you have a whole lot of things to accomplish before wheels up tomorrow. I’ll call CJ and tell the Director to expect to see someone from your squadron. Good luck and good hunting if it comes to that.”
“Yes, sir. If we have the entire squadron in the air, then they better have more than one air wing going against us, because the lowest number any of our crews simulated shooting down from Maverick’s crew was eight planes. Personally, I believe that we’re the best Naval fighting squadron in the world. Let’s go Nights.”
Before the doors closed behind the last member of the Nightingales, the President continued issuing orders.
“Admiral, you’ll need to call Dover and have the ‘Bravo’ bird launched immediately and the freighters at Andrews to expect receiving cargo for her.” At every stateside military airbase, they place planes on alert status. The highest priority they place these planes is: Alpha, where the crews are sequestered to allow them to take off within a certain time limit, which is usually less than one hour. The next level of priority is Bravo. Similar to Alpha status, the plane is pre-flighted and sealed to prevent tampering. The crews flying the Bravo’s are rotated every so often, normally every four hours thus allowing them to go about their normal lives. There is a four-hour window to allow the base to get a Bravo plane airborne. “If I’m wrong about the Nights, which will be the first time, they will have everything heading towards the freight yard within the hour and, with the four-hour launch window the ‘Bravo’ has, the freighters should be ready to load the plane up when she arrives.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll get right on that.” Tom picked up the phone to call Dover and Andrews.
“Now, Mr. Nelson. What were you thinking when you called Captain Rabb earlier today, and caused this meeting to start 30 minutes late?”
“Sir, this meeting was for level five cleared people or above and…”
The President slammed his hand down onto the table and startled everyone remaining in the room.
“Get this through your thick head, you don’t think about anything when it comes to the Nightingale squadron. I know that you call its commanding officer “Harmful Rabb” and you despise the man. It was the reason why nobody in that squadron is under your command, which includes his wife, Colonel Rabb, if you didn’t already know that. When Admiral McGuire briefed me on who he had selected to command the Nights, I had a nice long talk with him and other Admirals about the person and the possible problems that could arise from it. Boy did I get an earful of information about Harm from the people I talked to and almost fired you on the spot. If you’re thinking about finding out to whom I talked about Harm and punishing them about it, forget it. It will be the very last thing you ever do in your life, if you can understand that.
“You have a command problem that you will need to straighten before the Nightingale’s return to home base and that’s with Admiral Chedwiggen. He has taken upon himself to make Harm the office whipping post for every little thing that goes wrong in his office even if he isn’t even there and will be even more pissed when he learns that Harm has the capability to remove all Nightingale personnel from that office and that includes his wife, Sarah. Sarah, Meg, Kate, and Harm are probably the best lawyers in the Navy and frankly I don’t know why Harm hasn’t already removed his people from there. I got the feeling that he’s thinking about it real hard and will probably wait to see if things are the same when they return. If they are, Harm will pull his people and it will take an act of Congress to get them back. Your Admiral is under the impression that they work for him. I expect Admiral McGuire and yourself to let him know the true facts after they depart tomorrow and to do this separately. Am I making this clear enough for you to understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Now, get out of my sight before I lose my temper further and request Sam to take care of a problem before he leaves tomorrow.”
Mr. Nelson turned pale at the mention of Sam and almost fell over his own feet trying to get out of the room. He was part of the initial task force in setting up the Nightingale squadron and heard the warning Miss Cregg gave to General Stewart that day.
“Is there anything else to talk about, Tom?”
“No, sir. I think that just about covered it all.”
“Well, I hope things will cool off in Korea but I’m afraid that we will end up in a shooting war with North Korea and if that happens, China will likely step in like last time to protect North Korea from falling. It’s the last thing we need to happen but if it does, we will not stop things like we did last time, because, God willing, there won’t be a North Korea to worry about anymore when we finish the fighting.”
The President got up and left the room, leaving his Joint Chiefs to digest what their commander-in-chief had just said and started making plans to win a war that they didn’t want.
Harm and crew arrived at CJ’s office door only to be met by CJ waiting in her secretary’s office for them.
“Harm, if everyone would follow me to security, we can get your pictures taken for your identification badges and you can be on your way.”
“Ok, CJ, lead the way and we’ll follow.”
They walked down the hallway and into the security office. There were three people waiting for them to arrive and called Kate up to the desk first. After verifying Kate’s identification, she was asked to take a seat in front of the camera. Jen was the next victim, then Meg, Mac, Sam, and finally it was Harm’s turn. They were each handed two identification badges. Sam and Harm badges were a different color.
“I guess we need to split up to cover all the places we need to visit today. Who wants to volunteer to go with Sam to Langley?” Harm looked around for a volunteer.
“I will,” Mac volunteered since she knew some people at Langley and could maybe cut through some of the red tape it would take to get the informational documents they needed to take with them to Hawaii.
“Since you drove your ‘vette here, you two can leave immediately. Is there anything you have open or need to pass onto the Admiral?” Harm asked.
“No, my desk is clean. Everything Kate and I were working on was finished this morning. We were fixing to head over to the squadron to finish the deployment schedule. Just grab my briefcase and bring it home when you leave there.”
Harm looked at Sam to ask. “Did Beth drop you off at HQ JAG this morning or did you drop her off at Andrews?”
“Beth dropped me off. I’ll be glad when my vehicle is finally repaired from the hit-and-run accident it was involved in last week.” Sam replied.
“I guess the rest of us need to head to HQ JAG to pickup our briefcases and vehicles.” Harm said.
“I don’t, Harm. I grabbed my briefcase before leaving there earlier.” Meg grinned.
“You have any JAG business in it or anything you need to pass onto anyone, because we need to drop everything back into the Admiral’s lap today?” Harm said.
“No, remember we were only working on wills and Freedom of Information Act documentation since the Admiral was told we were departing next week.”
Harm turned towards Jen. “Jen, was there anyone else coming into JAG today to work with you?”
“No, sir. I was the only one that had anything remaining to do, which I passed off to Commander Imes, the acting Chief of Staff, this morning. So, all I need to do is slip in and grab my case before I can head to the squadron.”
“Anyone else need to pass off anything to Commander Imes or Admiral besides Meg and me?”
When Harm heard silence, he knew that he was the only one who still had stacks of files to get rid of. “Ok, I need you to be as quiet as possible and get your brief cases then head for the squadron. Meg, since you’ve got your car, could you take Kate and Jen to JAG? Kate, when you go upstairs to get yours, could you grab Mac’s as well? I want everyone out of there before the Admiral blows another fuse after I drop the foot high stack of files off in the middle of his desk on my way out of there.”
Everyone agreed to his suggestion because they didn’t want to be around JAG when the Admiral was upset about something and departed the White House. Harm escorted CJ back to her office and had some coffee with her, because he would miss their normal weekly meeting. It would, also, give his people time enough to get away from HQ JAG before he arrived there. CJ and he sat down in her office to enjoy the short time he had to visit with her.
“Harm, what’s going on at HQ JAG that you want your people away before telling the Admiral about your early departure?”
“I haven’t got a clue as to why the Admiral has been acting like he has since Mac and I got married, but he has been treating me like a whipping post since then.”
“I’ve heard that rumor. Is there anything I can do to smooth things over between you two?”
“I don’t think you can and it’s causing me to seriously think about pulling all my people out of that environment.”
“That’s really serious. Are you sure that it will be for the best?”
“I really don’t know if it’s for the best or not. It’s not what I really want to do but he’s forcing my hand, because I won’t have my people working in that type of environment and I don’t need to feel degraded almost everyday. Anyhow, my dear friend, I hate to say this but I gotta leave now.” Harm looked at his watch and saw that Meg, Jen, and Kate had a thirty-minute head start and hoped it had been long enough.
“I know. Please be careful out there and bring home everyone alive. I don’t like what I’ve been hearing about the situation.”
“I promise to do my best to do that, CJ.”
Harm stood up and gave CJ a kiss on the cheek.
“Call me anytime you need to talk on my cell phone?”
“Are you sure about that?”
“I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t sure. Either Mac or I will get back to you as soon as possible if we miss your call. So leave a message if we don’t answer, please.”
Harm pulled into the parking lot at JAG and didn’t see his three officers vehicles there. He slowly got out of his vehicle, dreading walking into what he now called the ‘lion’s den’. Lieutenant Simms must have been watching for his arrival, for as soon as he walked into operations, she got up from her desk and made her way to his office. Harm slowly and quietly as he could close the door behind them and closed the blinds.
“Sir, the Admiral wants to see you as soon as you returned.”
Harm picked up an empty copy paper box and started dropping all the files the Admiral had given him yesterday afternoon.
“Sir, did you hear what I just said?”
“Sorry, Harriett. The Nightingales are leaving tomorrow and I want to make sure all the open files that Meg and I have are in this box. The Admiral is just going to have to wait until I’m sure that they are all in this box before I report in to him.”
“But, sir, making the Admiral wait is just going to get you into more trouble.”
“Well the Admiral will have to learn that I’m here on my own time and only report to him when I’m on JAG business. I’ve been on Nightingale time since leaving the White House situation room a hour ago.”
Harm pulled out his two new identification badges and threw them into his brief case. When they landed inside, Harriett could see that they were level six security badges from their color. Harm tore a piece of paper out of a notebook and wrote down a couple telephone numbers, which he handed to Harriett.
“Harriett, when I step into the Admiral’s office, I need you to call the top number. It will be Admiral Magnum who will answer. Tell him that I may be having trouble with the Admiral and I need him to call the Admiral on his private telephone. The other numbers are for your eyes only; they are Mac’s and my private cell phone numbers. If you need to talk to either of us while we are away, please feel free to do so because Bud and you are part of our family. If Bud needs to talk, you will need to dial the number for him. Now, if anyone asks Bud or you if either of you can get in contact with us, they must have level six clearances in order for you to volunteer the information that you can. Not even the Admiral or Webb has that high of security clearance. If I may give you a hug before I go?”
“Permission granted Harm and I will keep this secret.”
Harm hugged Harriett before opening the door while carrying the file box and walked to Tiner’s office.
“Tiner, is the Admiral in?”
“Yes, sir. He has been waiting for you to return and you may go straight in.”
Harm knocked on the doorsill and heard the Admiral say enter. Harm walked up to the desk.
“Admiral, I understand you wanted to speak to me?”
“Give the man a cigar. You’re right I want to talk to you about some things, Captain. What’s in that box?”
“The wills and Freedom of Information files you handed Meg and me yesterday to complete.”
“Are they finished?”
“No, sir. They are not.”
“What’s the excuses this time, Rabb?”
“Neither Meg nor I will have time to finish them; we will be leaving for the Pacific tomorrow.”
“Why wasn’t I informed of this change?”
“You just were, sir.”
“Not by you but by someone who was authorized to change your schedule.”
“The Nightingales are my command. As its commander, I have the right to change our departure schedule if a situation arises to warrant the change and I don’t have to clear anything through you about that, SIR.”
“That’s so, Rabb. Do you know anything about this?” AJ pulled a file from his desk and tried to hand to Harm but he still had his hands full with the box. “Since you can’t read it right now, let me tell you what it says. It states that Colonel Rabb no longer works for me but that she works for you. If that the case, I’m charging you with breaking the fraternization regulations.”
“No, sir, you won’t and can’t.” Harm just about had enough and dropped the file box down in the middle of the Admiral’s desk. “If you have that document in your possession, there are only two places where it could have come from. One is in Mac’s records at personnel at the Pentagon or in the safe at the White House. You haven’t been to the White House for anything since Mac and I were married, so that only leaves the Pentagon. If you hadn’t been so outraged about that document and took the time to looked a couple pages deeper into her file, you would have seen a written Presidential waiver to the OPLAN on file in there as well. So, there’s no way you can hang that charge on either of us and make it stick without jeopardizing your cushiony job and kill your dream of becoming the CNO.”
“You cannot disrespect my authority over you and my personnel.”
“If you consider any member of the Nightingales or myself to be under your command authority, you’re sadly mistaken, Admiral. There are three people who have command rights over me when the Nightingales are here at home base and that doesn’t include your lordship.”
Admiral jumped up from his chair livid with rage at Harm and wanted to drag him over the desk to give him some wall-to-wall counseling. Before AJ could think about saying something else, his private telephone rang.
“Admiral Chedwiggin, how can I help you?”
“This is Admiral Magnum. Is Captain Rabb still in your office?”
“Yes, sir. He’s still here.”
“Tell Harm that he can go now. You will need to report to my office at 2100 tomorrow and you are relieved of duty until then, pending an Article 32 investigation on the charges brought up against you for conduct unbecoming.”
“Yes, sir.”
Admiral Magnum didn’t even say goodbye but just hung up the phone. AJ just sat down into his chair and wondered how the Chairman knew Rabb was in his office.
“The Chairman said for you to leave and I’m to report to his office tomorrow afternoon.”
“Well, prepare yourself for some rough waters ahead due to the treatment you have shown my personnel and me if I’m not wrong about the atmosphere of the meeting that I just left and you will definitely have company during the process.” Harm came to attention and walked out of the office without being dismissed. He stopped at Harriett’s desk to pickup his brief case and cover that she had thoughtfully carried to her desk. He winked at her as he walked out of the bullpen. He heard the Admiral to tell Commander Imes that she was the acting JAG until he returned tomorrow afternoon.
Harm and Mac stepped out of the Nightingale hanger to watch the COD and C-5B take off with their people and equipment. It had been a very long evening for the command section of the Nights. The base transportation commander wasn’t happy to have called in extra crew bus drivers to pick-up the 398 squadron personnel deploying from their residences but it was part of the Operations Plan or Op plan he had signed off when the squadron was formed and stationed there. That Op plan allowed all the squadron personnel to leave their private vehicles at their homes and for the base transportation people to provide transportation to and from the hanger during deployments or whenever a crew was scheduled to fly any type of mission. Harm had brokered the Op plan so his flight crews didn’t have to drive home after a tiring mission or worry about someone stealing their vehicles when they weren’t there due to tighter security at the Claremont Association Complex.
“Harm, the Admiral showed me a document he had copied from my personnel file yesterday about me being member and an executive officer of the Nightingales. Did you know about it or have anything to do with it?”
“Mac, I found out about that yesterday when Admiral Magnum informed me while we were waiting for you to come from HQ JAG and no, I had nothing to do with it. Until yesterday, only three people knew it existed and they are our bosses so to speak.”
“Good, then I didn’t lie to the Admiral when I told him you didn’t know anything about when it was written or posted into my file. So, how did he take it when you told him we were leaving today?”
“Like I figured he would … ticked and yelled about it for not being informed about it and wouldn’t accept me telling him. He has a meeting with Admiral Magnum this afternoon and told Caroline that she was acting JAG until he returned afterwards. I got a feeling he’s going to have to eat a whole lot of crow this afternoon during that meeting and if he doesn’t do that. I’m afraid that he will be transferred or asked to retire immediately. The CNO, Joint Chiefs, and the White House have been getting reports on how he has been treating Nightingale personnel, which is a no-no in their eyes since we’re giving up our free time to do some work for him. After answering questions from some people there before you arrived, it gave me the impression that they weren’t very happy about the situation and were fixing to do something about it. Sarah, I can’t be sure if he’s still mad about being left out of our wedding or if he had been ordered to act like that towards us or … I’m truly sorry it got to this point but he wouldn’t even speak to me civilly about anything.”
“I’m sorry, too. He’s like a father to me. I tried to talk to him about it yesterday but you interrupted us before anything could be said.”
“Honey, why don’t you give him a call and maybe it will help him solve whatever his problem is and let him know that neither one of us wants to get into a ruckus over the situation since we cannot leave the base at all.”
“I think I will do that. Please don’t stay up much longer, you need your sleep as badly as the rest of us before our cross country flight this afternoon.”
“I’ll turn in shortly after giving the squadron its final briefing.”
Mac went to their room in the alert area while Harm walked back towards the ready room.
“Good morning everyone, don’t get out of your seats due to me walking into the room.” It is customary to rise to a standing position at attention when a senior officer walks into the room. “We need to take our Hornets with us on this trip. Kansas?”
“Sir.”
“You’ll be flying Echo 3 while we are deployed. The Henry will provide you with a Navigator while we are aboard.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Waxy, you’ll fly Echo 4 until we reach Kaneohe Bay. The Henry will have a crew for her and you can return to your regular position.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Flame or Slick – I need one of you to volunteer to fly in Bravo 3 during this deployment.”
“Sir, I will since I have flown with Dice on our last qual trip,” Flame spoke out to volunteer since Harm really wanted her to do so anyway.
“That’s means I move behind Ce-Ce right, to allow Dino to slip behind Ace.” Meg smiled as she spoke.
“You ladies are getting to know what I want to happen before I ask. Tell me what I’m thinking about now, Tex.”
“Haven’t got a clue, sir.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask this since Cassie and Arianna returned from Fallon but kept putting it off. The question is to everyone who’s dual qualified in our planes, do we, as a squadron, need to keep the Hornets if we can get them replaced with Tomcats?”
“No, sir. We have been talking about that since you briefed us this morning about Dino being a permanent member of the squadron and will need a permanent ride. And we have come up with a crew swap situation if we can get two more Echoes,” Meg said.
“Go ahead and tell me what you have come up with.”
“Well, Kansas and Waxy want to return to the front seat. That leaves B3, E1, E3, and E4 without RIOs. Flame has volunteered to remain in B3. Go-Go has volunteered to move to B1. Tex volunteered to move to A3, Sweets goes to A2, and Dino going into A4 since the Navy frowns on having family members permanently assigned to the same ship. There are three ladies aboard the Henry, who was in the squadron qualification program (SQP). They have told us that they made a huge mistake withdrawing from the competition early and have asked to be considered if we ever had any openings in the squadron. We checked their SQP sheets and they were good, which doesn’t mean they would have made the final cut or not.”
“Let’s see … A2, A3, A4, B1, B3, E1, E3, and E4 will have different crews. That means it will make Maverick’s day when he sees them arriving for school. I like that. Let me make a few phone calls and I’ll return in a minute.”
Harm walked through the crew quarter’s door, then into Mac’s and his room.
“Mac, do you know that the ladies have figured out a permanent crew position for you?”
“Yes, I was part of the discussion and want to have my own ‘Top Gun’ trophy since I’m a real member of this squadron.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“Thanks, love.”
Harm left and pulled out his cell phone.
“Hello, Patrick speaking. Who in the blazes is calling me at 1am in the morning?”
“Hi, Patrick. It’s Hammer.”
“What can I do for you?”
“You have any Echoes ready to be picked up on your ramp?”
“Yes, we have twelve brand spanking news ones. We figured we’d wait until we had a full squadron available for pick-up to tell the Navy that they’re ready. The Navy wants to get them out into the fleet as soon as possible and we need to build 120 of them. We’re going to tear apart the ‘D’ models and rebuild them as Echoes to save money all around for everyone.”
“Good, expect two Hornets to arrive in a couple hours to pick-up two for testing and release. I got something in the works for us to go to a total Tomcat squadron. You’ll have to strip them of their blue paint and repaint them with the dull gray.”
“Get me the tail numbers … I’ll get my people on prepping the two best on the ramp right now.”
“They are E3 and E4.”
“Just as I figured what they would be. When will you know for sure?”
“Have Claire expect a call from CJ if it gets approved within the hour.”
“Ok. I’ll let you go and get busy while I wake up my people. Bye.”
Harm hung up and selected another number.
“Magnum.”
“Admiral, this is Hammer.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, sir. We’re wondering if you’ll give us permission to pick-up two of the new Echoes sitting on NG ramp as trades for our Hornets?”
“Permission granted, what about the extra crew positions?”
“My ladies have been talking to the ladies on the Henry, there are three of them who withdrew from the training program before they were cut and decided they had a mistake. I believe they thought my warning about the Navy re-installing its previous standard of two Tomcat squadrons per air wing was hot air or something. When my ladies found out that Sarah was a real member of the squadron and would need a permanent seat, they came up with the solution of trading our Hornets and flying strictly Tomcats. I think they all fell in love with what the Tomcat brings to the table versus what the Hornet does.”
“Very well, you have my blessings and it will make the President happier to have two more ‘cats in the AOR. Make it so, Hammer and good hunting if it’s required.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Harm hung up and selected another number.
“CJ Cregg.”
Harm looked up as Mac came out of their room with a smile on her face and she walked up to give him a huge hug. “Morning gorgeous.”
“Harm, your married and what would Sarah say if she heard that?”
“Why don’t you ask her yourself since she’s standing right beside me as I speak?”
“Ok, what do you need?”
“You need to call Claire and tell her the switch is on. She will fill in the details. She is expecting your call.”
“Ok, put Sarah on.”
Harm handed the phone to Mac.
“Hi CJ.”
“Just wanted to be sure that Harm was telling the truth about your standing beside him when he greeted me on the phone and to be sure if it’s ok to call either of you on your cell phones while your away.”
“Yes, I was and I agree with him that you’re gorgeous. If you don’t call us, I will kick your six when we get back.”
“You big flirt. I’ll call you there and I need to call Claire right now. Bye.”
Harm and Mac walked into the ready room.
“Ok, ladies, change of plans. Need two RIO volunteers to fly in E3 and E4 from Charlie or Delta flights to pick-up our new birds … wheels up in thirty minutes with the plane’s documentation. NG is expecting you and I want you to go into crew rest when you get there. Have munitions load two planes worth of munitions aboard the C141B for transport. Kansas and Waxy, do your test flight tomorrow and if they are in A-1 condition after the post checks, load up and meet us at Fallon. The crew switches you came up with will be effective immediately. Have the plane captains change the names on the planes before we go wheels up in thirteen hours. One of the RIOs from Alpha or Bravo will fill in for the missing RIOs in Charlie and Delta during the ‘Top Gun’ missions if Kansas and Waxy don’t arrive in time. Any thing else?”
“You’re the best, Hammer, for doing this for us. Just think, Ace, we’re going back to school and I will bring back that ‘Super Gun’ trophy this time. How about the eight of you, are you going for it also?” Arianna said.
“I’m going to do my best to get more than the eight we ended up with the first time,” Lobo said.
“Same here and won’t be happy unless I got at least ten.” Dice said.
Harm let them talk a few more minutes. “Ok, let’s get E3 and E4 launched and hit the racks.”
2300 Zulu 14 August 2004
MCAF Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii
“Kaneohe Approach, this is 60176 on 117.9. How do you read?” Captain Sara Bailey spoke over the radio.
“60176, this is Kaneohe. Read you five by five.”
“Kaneohe, we’re 10 miles out and need landing instructions.”
“60176, we don’t have you on our schedule to be landing here.”
“Kaneohe, do you have clearance for the Nightingale package?”
“60176, yes we do and are expecting them within the hour.”
“Kaneohe, we are the first plane of that package and have their ground personnel aboard. Landing instructions please?”
Sara never cussed when she was mad. “Shoot, it figures a bunch of jarheads couldn’t read the message traffic to expect a C-141B as part of the Nightingales, wait until Hammer hears we had trouble getting landing instructions.”
“60176, you’re cleared to land on runway 01 – winds are calm – turn to 145 and descend to angels 5.”
“Roger.”
“60176, you are on glide slope and start a slow descent to 1000 feet.”
“Roger.”
“60176, you are still on glide slope … continue your decent and call when you have the runway in sight.”
“Kaneohe approach, we have the runway in sight. Thanks for your help. 60176 out.”
A few minutes later 60176 landed on runway 01 and got off the runway at it’s midway taxiway. A follow me truck showed up a couple minutes later and they followed it to their parking spot. When 60176 was transferred from the US Air Force reserve unit at Andrews to the Nightingales, she was sent to Lockheed, completely re-worked, and striped of all paint then painted with the colors she sported during the bi-centennial years. She was the prettiest ‘elite’ support transport in the entire US military. The USAF’s Thunderbirds C-141B was painted camouflaged. The Navy’s Blue Angels C-130H and Nightingale’s COD were painted like the rest of their planes in their squadrons. The Navy wanted to do the same thing with the C141B until Harm went to the President and showed him the picture of 60176 that the Air Force used for publicity for the bi-centennial celebration.
Once they came to a complete stop, the engineer opened the door and chalked the plane. She placed the ground wires to the two points the large plane required to have, which allowed people entering or refueling the plane to discharge any static electricity from their bodies. If not done could cause a fuel cell explosion. Two large buses pulled up in front of the plane and the Nightingale ground crew personnel exited the plane and made a luggage brigade to load their bags aboard the buses, which included the transport aircrew. Once all the people and luggage were off the plane, Sara and the engineer shut the door and placed a seal on the door to ensure no unauthorized personnel entered the plane while it was unattended. The plane still had the two Echo plane’s munitions aboard as well as a few other classified items.
The buses pulled up in front of base operations and let Commander Catlin Pike off the lead bus to go inside the building. She went inside to find out where they were going to park the Nightingales and saw Captain Ingles, Captain Pike, and three-aircrew waiting for her.
“Welcome to Kaneohe, Commander.” Captain Ingles greeted Kate. “You know Captain Pike and these ladies are the three volunteers for your squadron. You may remember them from your squadron’s qualification program.”
“I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting any of the other crew members who were part of the qualification program, sir. I was TAD to HQ JAG during that time filling in for the Colonel while she went though RIO school.”
“Then, may I present Lieutenant Delia Sampson – Lion, Lieutenant Erica Jones – Kane, and Lieutenant Melissa Isler – Dot, this is one of the three executive officers of the Nightingales, Commander Catlin Pike.”
“Have each of you been briefed that you’ll be serving as radar intercept officers and that this is permanent?”
“Yes, Ma’am. As we told our friends who are in the Nights, we made a mistake withdrawing so early and are very grateful that you reconsidered us to be members of your squadron.”
“You do know that you’ll be flying with a ‘Top Gun’ pilot and you will eventually be going there yourselves as soon as we think you’re ready for it. We will be sending or re-sending eight crews back through the course due to major crew changes and that will give the school’s commander a bigger headache than the one we’ve already given him already.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Captain, is there a large room available where we can brief Captain Pike and you about the changes we that we made in the Nightingales since we last deployed aboard the Henry.”
“Yes, it is already set-up for us. Shouldn’t we be headed out to the ramp for their arrival?”
“They are still 20 minutes out, sir.”
“How do you know that?”
Kate removed an earpiece and showed the Captain. “It picks up the squadron’s private radio frequency anywhere within 90 miles, sir. Does the base know that we are landing fully loaded for combat?”
“Yes, they are aware.”
“Did our cargo get loaded aboard the Henry?”
“Yes.”
“Sorry about all the questions, sir. Hammer has been telling me to ask them. It’s time to go prep the ramp.”
The Nightingales dropped to 500 feet above the ocean when they were just 2 miles from the base, then over flew the base and stood their planes on their tails before landing.
“Alpha stopped … Bravo stopped … Charlie stopped … Delta stopped … Echo stopped” was heard over the private squadron radio channel.
All twenty planes shut down their engines at the same time; canopies opened at once; ladders extended at the same time; and crew members exited their planes. It had almost become second nature to each flight except Echo flight but they didn’t make a single mistake. They marched up to Alpha and reported in and posted. Then Harm marched them up to report to Commander Pike.
“Ma’am, Nightingale squadron arrived safely.”
“Very well, Captain. This is General Tom Thomas, Commander of Kaneohe. You know Captain Ingles and Captain Pike. I’ll introduce the three Lieutenants in the briefing.”
“Welcome to Kaneohe, Captain. I have never seen an arrival as well choreographed as the one your squadron just performed.”
“Thank you, sir. We adopted it from the ‘Blue Angels’ and ‘Thunderbirds’ but expanded it somewhat since they fly a maximum of seven planes whereas we fly twenty.”
“Captain Rabb, I understand from Commander Pike that you have some things to brief Captain Pike and me about concerning your squadron before starting the more private briefing.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll be with you in a moment.” Harm turned towards his squadron. “Nights, load aboard the buses. Gunny, come with us. Chief Thompson, check the birds and we will send the buses back to pick your crews up.” Harm turned back to Captain Ingles. “After you, sir.”
“Captains, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll welcome the three new members into the Nights.”
“Please run your normal post-flight briefing you run for your squadron, Harm.”
“Thank you, sir. Bluebell, you have the floor.”
“Yes, sir. Lieutenant Eric Jones – Kane, please stand up.”
“Woody, Kansas, or Waxy. Chose please.”
“I’ll take Kane, we have flown together before. I’m Lieutenant Julie Anderson – Woody.”
“Lieutenant Delia Sampson – Lion, please stand up.”
“Kansas or Waxy.”
“I’ll choose Lion. I’m Lieutenant Christiana Foster – Kansas.”
“Lieutenant Melissa Isler – Dot, please stand up.”
“She’s with me. I’m Lieutenant Julie Johnson – Waxy.”
“Welcome to the Nights, ladies. Your flying partner will be your roommate aboard ship as well as home base in Washington. They will tell you everything you will need to know. Hammer, I’m finished with the introductions.”
“Kane, Lion, Dot and Sirs. The airplanes you saw flown in here today are not the same as the F-14 Tomcats that are currently part of the Henry’s air wing or any other air wing in the Navy. They are the F-14 ‘Echoes,’ which will be replacing all the current ‘C’ and ‘D’ models in the fleet. They are more powerful; flies higher; better armed; and faster than any fighter ever produced. During the past two years, all eighteen full crews of the Nightingales have gone through the ‘Top Gun’ course at Fallon NAS and have brought home eighteen ‘Top Gun’ and one ‘Super Gun’ trophy. If you haven’t heard about the ‘Super Gun’ trophy, it is a new trophy awarded to the crew who finished the final exercise with a perfect record. Which is a single crew going against twelve of the ‘Top Gun’ instructors and has only been awarded once. My brief is the combination or joining exceptional crews and the plane are the reasons why we have garnered those nineteen trophies as well as been back-to-back receivers of the Battle ‘E’, Safety ‘S’, and Clifton Trophy. Our ground crews, security, COD, and C-141B personnel have won back-to-back trophies in their fields as well. We have had to expand our trophy case twice since we moved into our home at Andrews.
“The equipment offload from the C-5B aircraft at Hickam and loaded aboard the Henry are the ‘new’ engines that are used in the ‘Echoes’ and spare parts are not available within the Navy pipeline as of yet. Our C-141B crew will be available to pick-up anything the Patrick Henry Battle Group needs from the states as well as any parts we happen to run out of. Likewise our COD will replace the normal plane and crew that the Henry normally carries. Any questions?”
“When will these Echoes be available to the other squadrons?” Captain Pike asked.
“Sir, I know that NG Florida has ten ‘new’ Echoes sitting on their ramp right now. They had a full squadron available until I swapped out our Hornets for two of them. I know the Raptors and Howlers have twelve planes each and I can call my sources to see when they will have a full squadron available. Kansas or Waxy, you were there a couple days ago, did you get a tour of the assembly line?”
“Yes, sir. They were putting the finishing touches on two more ‘new’ birds while we were there and was schedule to do their post-production flight test the day after we departed.”
Captain Pike turned to Captain Ingles. “Sir, I request we have Harm grease the wheel to allow the Raptors be the squadron to pick-up these ‘new’ planes.”
“Agreed. Harm, how long does the process take for a swap out?”
“If I can get your clearance today. The Raptors take off right afterwards and fly directly to Florida, crew rest, fly the four-hour test and acceptance flight, land and go through the post flight checks. If the planes are A-1, they can leave that day and crew rest at Fallon. Then, fly back here the next day. Even if Murphy pays a visit, I say a maximum of four days total – they can go and return before the Henry sets sail.
“Make it happen Captains.”
“Aye, Aye, Sir.”
“What are our orders until the Henry sets sail, CAG?”
“Anything you so desire to do, Captain?”
“Suggestions, Ladies.”
“Sir.”
“Yes, Woody.”
“As Echo Flight leader, I would like a couple days of flight orientation and flight practice.”
“Excellent, you’re reading my mind again. But only two days, you’ll have plenty of time to get some more in before we arrive in the area of responsibility or AOR.”
“No, sir. Only Bluebell, Tex, Dino, and Sweets can do that. The rest of us just ask ourselves what you would do in this situation.”
“Very well. Ce-ce and Big Red, do you want a couple days for joy rides?”
“No, sir.”
“CAG, can we get a Hornet or Tomcat flight for Echo to fly against the day after tomorrow?”
“Sure, I’ll send a Howler flight up against her and no –54s.”
“We now carry the –120s versus the –7s. Can we use them, sir? Woody asked.
“Sure. They should be used to being extra careful since they go against Hornets.”
“Are you going to tell them about our ‘new’ ability?” Woody asked as she was thinking about the tactics they would use.
“No.”
“Thank you, sir, because if you were, we were going to go high over the radar ceiling.”
“Just how high can you go, Lieutenant?”
“Sir, I’ve only been as high as angles 60 but our maximum ceiling is over 75. As far as I know there’s only one crew who has been close to that.”
“Who’s crazy enough to take a Tomcat that high?”
“None other than Hammer and Skates, sir.”
“You knew that answer before you asked it CAG.” Tobias was shaking his head not knowing what kind of trouble a full squadron of Rabb/Hawkes trained crews were going to cause him. The others didn’t cause trouble the first time they were aboard but they were just getting to know each other – now they have had almost three years of flying and training together.
“Ok, ladies. Seven day passes to the entire squadron except Echo’s flight and their ground crews. We will make up for losing the two days when we can later during the deployment if we can. Squadron, dismissed.”
“Harm, we need to start the other meeting?” Captain Ingles suggested as he watched six members join their commander.
“Sir, we need a secure room to do that.”
“One has been arranged for us. Follow me?” Tobias turned and walked out of the theater. There was three staff cars parked outside for them.
“Gunny, why don’t you ride with your father, which will allow you to catch-up a little bit before we arrive at our new destination.”
“Thank you, sir.” Gunny Sergeant Melissa Ingles saluted her commander and quickly walked to get into the car her father was getting into. When Captain Pike saw her, he excused himself and went to get into another vehicle. The Nights just chuckled seeing that happen. Mac and Jen joined Harm and got into the car that Chris had gotten in while Meg, Kate and Sam got into the last one.
“Why didn’t you ride with the Captain, CAG?” Harm smiled while asking the question.
“You know why, Harm. When they are together, they are chatterboxes and I want to rest my ears before having to live with them and a full squadron of ladies for the duration of this deployment.”
“Are you implying that my ladies are a bunch of talkers?”
“Not one bit but we now have 396 more women that will be aboard the Henry and 39 of them are allowed in the same places as me. That’s going to make life aboard the Henry very interesting to watch the interactions between the normal crew and your people.”
“CAG, you might want to pass the word that we have a full recon team among the 28 Marines as well as a number of black belts. One of those black belts put five Marines into the hospital for grabbing her six while at the gym,” Mac calmly said as she saw Harm and Jen look at her. She knew they could see what Jen had termed her ‘flame’ eyes.
“Thank you, Colonel. I was pass that good advice on.”
They pulled up at Base Operations and three hours later the meeting was finished. The Raptors and CAG were leaving in the morning to pick-up their new rides. Captain Ingles and CAG headed back to Pearl escorted by the Gunny because of the brief case of classified documents that Kate had turned over for them to read when they could and so they could be secured in Crypto’s safe aboard ship.
“Well, that went better than I expected when we handed the Captain a copy of the Presidential Order allowing us to share quarters aboard ship as long as we keep everything within the regulations when we’re not in our room. I’m glad that you got that approval, sailor. It would make this trip feel longer than it will be. Don’t know about you but I got use to having a warm body in bed with me because I hardly sleep at all when you’re not home.”
“You want to share the wealth there, Colonel?” Jen shyly asked.
“Jennifer?” Harm’s face turned red.
“Gotch ya!” Jen turned to run before realizing they were still in flight suits as she saw Beth and Arianna walking up to them and salute.
“Sir, I have secured four beach cabins at Bellows AFS for the eight of us. The rest of the squadron made other plans and declined to join us. They all have our cell phone numbers in case of trouble. I, also, secured two Humvees for our use since the cabins are fairly well isolated from the other 96. Anna and I have already pick-up your luggage and loaded them aboard the vehicles. Can we make like trees and leave this hot tarmac?”
“Let’s roll.”
They pulled up and parked in between the two middle cabins. They decided that Sam and Beth would take the cabin that was separated from the other three. Mac and Harm was given the middle cabin with Meg/Kate and Anna/Jen taking the other two. They went inside to shower and change clothes. After taking his shower, Harm decided to step outside to look around. As soon as he stepped out the door, he turned and ran back into the cabin then slammed the door.
“Harm, what’s wrong?” Mac heard the door slammed and Harm was sitting down on the sofa.
“Mac, it looks like I’m going to restrict myself to the cabin while we’re here.”
“Why? Mac opened the door wearing nothing but a towel and saw Jen and Anna lying on the beach.
“All I see is Jen and Anna sunbathing?”
“Yes, take a closer look there Marine?”
Mac did so and saw that both of them were completely nude and didn’t see an extra towels or swimsuits anywhere around them. As she started to turn around, she saw Meg and Kate walk out of their cabin carrying a towel just as nude as Jen and Anna were. “I understand why Beth insisted that Sam and she got the isolated cabin.” Mac laughed as she walked in and grabbed Harm’s hand. “Come on, sailor, it’s too nice outside to keep yourself cooped up inside the entire week we’re here.”
“Mac, I can’t for a number of reasons.”
“Ok, spill.”
“The most important is that I truly love you. If I went out there, it’s a good possibility that my body will betray and mislead you on how about I feel about you. I’ve been on the beaches in Greece and other places where total nudity is allowed. All I’m going to say is that those places didn’t need a flagpole from my body’s reaction to seeing all those naked women there. The only one that I have not seen nude is Meg after just accidentally seeing the other two just now … I’m afraid how they and I will interact afterwards.”
“I know you love me and trust you totally. So, get up off of your six and strip, mister. I’ll grab you a towel and the sun block.” Mac chuckled at Harm’s embarrassment in seeing very beautiful single women totally nude and how his body reacted by it. “Is that why I can never get you to go down to the pool when we’re home?”
“Yes.”
“Your slower than a turtle there, sailor … get a move on before you have one pissed of Marine on your six.” Mac got impatient and walked over to helped Harm strip. “Everything.” Mac pulled his boxers off and kissed him while she was still kneeling down.
“You’re making this harder to do, Marine. And I bet your loving every minute of it.”
“It’s not often that I get to let some air out of that ego or yours.” Mac grabbed a hold of his hand and pulled him out of the cabin and down to the beach. She took off her towel and laid it down on the sand.
Harm felt five sets of eyes staring at him as Mac yanked off his towel and laid it down on the sand. He kept his eyes staring at the ocean and he was willing himself to keep them looking that way.
“Glad you joined us Hammer,” Kate said.
It sounded to Harm that she had a huge smile on her face.
“Glad to be here as well, Kate.”
They all knew that something was wrong with Harm because he enjoyed talking to them and always would look at the person who he addressed.
“Harm, you might as well as get comfortable with them being nude because you’re not moving from that spot until you start acting normal. So to speed that process up, I’m going to ask you to really have a real good look at each of them as they pose for you. I’ll tell you something right now, you’re currently hurting each of them by acting the way you are.” Mac was getting angry about how he was acting and let him know about it.
“How am I doing that?” He heard all of them get up and walk over to where Mac and he were sitting.
“They are just like me and work hard to keep their bodies in shape. They think they are pretty or beautiful and I agree with their assessments. They are not ashamed of their body and are giving you the honor by allowing you the pleasure of seeing them in this state because they trust you with their lives as well as their mental health. For, if you weren’t the man you are, they wouldn’t feel comfortable being on this isolated beach like they are. You’re a strong man, who could easily overpower any of us including me and take what isn’t yours to take or offered willingly without permission. There are other things we have talked about but that’s for another time and place. Understand, I know this is something we haven’t talked about before and this isn’t trying to make you so embarrassed that you look like a beet?
“Ok, Mac. I understand what you’re saying and I truly am not trying to hurt anyone. They are all beauties and make some world classed models and actress look like Aunt Tilley’s cow. I’m very grateful that they allow me to be part of their lives and this will make it difficult for me to see them fully dressed and …”
“We know Hammer. We will be the same way about you, too.” Jen gentle hands cupped Harm’s head to turn it towards her.
“Every one modeling will tell you what they truly like about their body or dislike. Your task is to comment of what you like or dislike. Don’t hold back with anything as long as you’re honest and explain your comment if the person says that hurt. Agreed?” Mac looked up and saw everyone nod his or her head. “I’ll go first.” Mac stood up and slowly turned in a circle as five pair of eyes looked at her body. “I like just about everything about my body even though I think my hips are too narrow.”
“Nice tattoo Mac on your six. Is that what I think it is, a pair a gold pilot’s wings and a pair of roses?” Jen asked.
“Yes, I got this after meeting Harm at the Rose garden. I just about, you know in my …”
“We understand.”
“Harm?”
“Breathtaking.”
“Anything you would change?”
“Yes, but not in the your way you look.”
“Who’s next?”
“I’ll go.” Jen stood up. “I wish my six wasn’t so big.”
“Jen, stand still. You got a tattoo of a pair of wings on your six as well. When did you get that?”
“The day after I was release from the stockade. I was picked up for running a con game at a bar while on liberty and Harm was assigned as my lawyer. It was during Memorial Day weekend and for some reason the brig was going to be closed for five days. He didn’t want me to spend the time in the DC jails. He saw through my ways to ditch him when we visited some old friends of mine. We even tried at my father’s but Harm sensed it was the reason why I was such a troublemaker. So during the night, I stayed with Mac and spent the daylight hours with him … he’s the first person ever to care for me … he told me that I have choices to how I was going to live the rest of my life and that showed me that I could do better. Look at me now, a commission officer and doing something I never ever thought that I could.”
“Harm’s like that with everyone.” Mac said. “Comments, Harm.”
“I’m honored, Jen. Don’t ever get your hair cut off short and if I’m not mistaken – it has more to do with the reddish tint you have than what most brunettes have from seeing it other places.”
“Next?” Mac asked.
“I’m the next youngest.” Arianna stood up to model. “I wish that I had bigger breasts than I do.”
Harm said. “Stop turning, Anna.” Harm rubbed his eyes thinking he was seeing a tattoo. “Does everyone have a pair of wings tattooed on her six?”
“Wait and see if they do, big boy,” Meg laughed.
“Why Anna?”
“When you came to Italy for that trail … you told me that truth was everything and nobody could be wrong if they always tell the truth. So I got that tattoo to remember the promise I made to myself that day to always tell the truth.”
“Comments Harm?”
“Arianna, just like Jen don’t cut your hair short. You might consider letting a little grow someplace else if you’re around others like this a whole lot. The reason why is that some people believe it tells others that you like women even if one just does that because they personally like the way it looks or feels. I don’t judge a person on what he or she does with their body as long as long it isn’t illegal. What a person does behind closed doors and with whom doesn’t matter to me either. You’re a smallish lady and I would hate to hear about some over-muscled bimbo forcing herself onto you. So please, for my peace-of-mind would you…?”
“I understand and will do that. I’m still learning some things about American culture that totally different than things are in Europe and no one ever told me that. I’ve never been with anyone that way but hope that one day I’ll meet the right person to give them that gift.”
“Next.”
“I’m the next youngest.” Meg stood up and slowly turned around. “I wish my hair wasn’t naturally curly but as straight as Anna’s or Jen’s is. I would love to have hair like them.”
“Harm?”
“Meg, never ever do what Anna did.”
“Ok, why?”
“There are very few natural blondes in the world and is almost shameful for a natural redhead or blonde to do that. I saw your tattoo, why?”
“A week after getting out of the hospital after Hemlock shot me in the head. Ollie told me that you lived at my bedside and only took time away to go after Hemlock. As soon as you got him, he said you never left even after I woke up from my coma. You took me to my apartment and took leave until you knew that I could manage on my own. That really pissed Allison off, she tried so hard to get you into bed with her that she could bite nails into and if I wanted you that way was to give you this.” Meg held her hand up with her thumb, index and pinky up and the middle and ring finger folder into her palm.
“It’s my turn.” Kate stood up. “I just too skinny all over but it makes no difference what I eat, I cannot gain anything.”
“No, you wouldn’t look right any bigger Kate. And why the tattoo?”
“I got it after the weekend we spent together as a real couple. You showed me that there are men who wants the whole me and not what’s between my legs.”
“Ladies, this has been a wild experience for me. I guess I’m supposed to model for you as well. But before I do that … each of you are truly beautiful and there’s nothing on anyone of you that I would change if I could … even with the minor change I suggested to Anna which I said its more for her protection more than anything … if the way you are were changed then it wouldn’t be what makes you who you are.” Harm stood up and slowly turned around for them to look at him. “Any comments, if not I’m going to take a dip in the ocean and maybe it will cool me off some.”
Once Harm was out of hearing range, Anna asked: “Sarah, your not really considering what you told us the other day, are you?”
“Hold that though while I make a phone call …”
“Hi, is someone sleeping? You know that thing I talked you about a while ago … can you come over to our place?
“Wait until he sees this surprise?” Mac grinned.
Meg, Kate, Anna, and Jen looked at each other with confusing written all over their faces until they saw Beth running as fast as she could naked as a jaybird.
“Sis, are you sure you want me to do this with you knowing how I feel?”
“Yes. I’m sure.”
“Harm … Harm … come here please?” Mac yelled.
Harm climbed out of the water while the ladies watched him. He, no longer felt embarrassed to be seen naked in front of them until they moved aside to reveal Beth standing behind them. His jaw about hit the ground as Beth twirled her finger once he got closer to the group to tell him to model for her, which he complied with.
“Shoot … I was just about over my fantasies about him, sis, and now you allowed me to see him in this gloried state.”
“Your turn to model and tell us what you like or dislike about yourself.”
They all sat down as Beth slowly made her turn.
“Beth, you didn’t. When did you do that? You have a tattoo on your six just like all of them.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Nope. Mac stood up and modeled; Jen; Anna; Meg; and finally Kate.”
“I’ll be a marine’s real sister.” Beth said. “I like my body but I’m too short. Well, I got the tattoo at our next port of call after you saved my life on the Seahawk.”
“Don’t cut your hair or remove the strip ….” Harm said. “Now, sis. You’re not too short for the important things in life. I’m going to go up and cook a meal for everyone.” Harm got up and the ladies watched him until he entered into the cabin.
“I must get back to the cabin before Sam wakes up.” Beth said. “Sis, remember what I said when we talked about nude beaches, well Sam told me what I said he was going to say about it. I’m ok with it right now even if I disagree with him.”
“Ok, sis. I don’t want to stir up trouble between you two. So you better start heading back to your cabin but before you go … give me a hug and kiss.” Meg, Kate, Anna, and Jen looked other places when the kiss lasted longer than they expected it to. They watched Beth run back down the beach towards Sam and her cabin. When she finally disappeared, Mac said: “To answer Anna’s question before I had Beth to come down here is … Yes, I have really thought it through but you’ll need to ask yourself that very same question and come up with an answer before I’ll even consider approaching Harm with it. Understand?”
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