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Title: Nightingale: Escort Duty
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
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.
0100 Zulu 28 August 2004
24 hours away from Guam
“CAG, you have a minute? Harm asked as he caught the CAG walking through the Raptor’s ready room.
“Sure, Hammer. What do you need?”
“I promised my Echo Flight the two days they lost training while we were still in port at Pearl and we have a three day lay over to swap out some munitions and wait for the arrival of the USS Guadalcanal. I request that they would be part of the advance crews to allow me to fulfill that promise.”
“Granted. Anything else?”
“I heard from my contacts at NG, they have another squadron ready for pick-up. Do you think the Skipper might want to send the Howlers?”
“Let’s go see.”
Chris and Harm left the ready room and headed for the Captain’s day cabin.
“Captain, you have a minute?”
“Sure, CAG. Come on in and bring Hammer with you. From the looks on your faces, one of you, if not both, is up to something that I might not want to hear about.”
“Sir, I have authorized sending in Night’s Echo Flight as part of the advance party. It allows Harm to keep the promise he made in Hawaii for using two of their days for training.”
“I don’t see a problem with that.”
“Harm’s contact at NG told him that they have a squadron of Echoes to hand over. Harm asked if we want the Howlers to get them?”
“How long will they be gone?”
“We’re currently a day away from Apra Harbor and will spend at least four days in port. If we can arrange tankers for refueling points along the way, the Howlers’ can take off later this evening – two days to fly there – 2 days testing – 2 days to return aboard … a week maximum, which would put us close to Okinawa when they recover aboard.”
“Can you get it arranged within a couple hours, Harm?”
“Yes, sir. It will only take three phone calls and one message with the coordinates for the air refuelings.”
“Captain, I’ll need to call Apra to revise our munitions swap out and will need authorization to make a ship-to-shore call.” Captain Pike asked.
“Harm, make your calls from here. If it only takes three, it will let me know it’s possible or if it’s just a pipe dream.”
“Yes, sir.” Harm pulled his cell phone out and dialed Patrick. “Hi, this is Rabb. Has the Navy scheduled who’s going to pick-up? Good, will call you back in a few. Nobody is scheduled yet.” Harm dialed a second number. “Sir, this is Hammer. We would like to be the ones who pick-up. Only a week and wouldn’t have made the area yet. We’ll need two pit stops between us. Thank you sir. Approved and A/Rs being set-up, sir.” Harm redialed the first number. “Hi, this is Rabb again. Expect company in two. All we have to do now is wait for the message, sir.”
“You ever going to tell us who you called, Harm?”
“The CEO of NG and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, sir. The CEO has become a friend of mine and he owes the Nightingales for the Naval contract they received for the new Echoes. We were the Navy’s test pilots for the Echoes and they took our suggested changes to the plane, which just made them better. The planes the Raptors and you flew yesterday are slightly different than the first ones we received. The Nightingales’ chain of command when we’re at home base is Admiral McGuire, Admiral Magnum, and the President.”
“Where does Chedwiggin come into play since I know four of you are lawyers?”
“We’re only under his command authority when we’re on official JAG business. We were given a written a Presidential order on the squadron’s duties and responsibilities over the objections of the SecNav after he heard that my three-person chain of command had agreed to deep select me for promotion to Captain and give me this command. Which, also, allows Colonel Rabb and myself share quarters aboard any ship we’re on. There’s the possibly for Sam and his wife to do the same if he happens to marry one of the squadron ladies or transfers to her ship if she works on a different carrier.”
“Holy cow. I knew that the President was supposed to walk the Colonel down the aisle for your wedding but I never considered any hidden reasons behind that. Then, I’m honored to be one of your friends,” Captain Ingles said.
“It’s another reason why there isn’t a Flag officer commanding the Patrick Henry Battle Group when the Nightingales recovered aboard your ship. Your chain of command shrunk to what my normal command structure was, while mine added two levels. Sir.”
“I read that in the classified material that Melissa carried aboard but didn’t understand what it meant until today. Is there anything else you want to bring up that I may have missed reading the six-inch thick folder?”
“I hope you get along with Vice Admiral Thomas Boone, sir. He’s the Kitty Hawk Battle Group commander, sir.”
“I know the Admiral’s reputation and met him at your wedding. He said he was your god father and flew with your dad off the Tico.”
“Yes, he is and he did. I cannot think of anything else that we haven’t discussed already about the documents.”
“Very well, get out of here and go fly or do something.”
“Hammer, before I forget, when we get into the AOR, we’re going to have one of your flights on ready five alert at all times. Any problems with that?” CAG asked.
“No, sir. We were flying six at a time when we were the replacement crews for the ‘Top Gun’ instructors.”
“How did that go?”
“A few students happened to pick the wrong pair or flight to tangle with to start their mission and they never got out of the box. The most victories any of them got were two and they were the regular instructors. After the last flight of the day, Mav and Ice wanted to go six-on-six and it wasn’t a pretty sight hearing their kill tones going off before any of them ever got a lock-on tone. Maverick was so mad at us that you could see steam coming out of his ears and during debrief, his wife was laughing about it. I can’t wait to hear what he’s going to say about us sending another eight crews through the school due to major crew position changes or new crew members assigned to the planes.”
“Anything to cause trouble, huh, Hammer?” CAG asked and Captain Ingles just shook his head.
“According to Charlie, someone had to knock Maverick down a few steps in the ego department. And Charlie is his wife by the way. Come to think about it, Mac says the same thing about me when I’m flying,” Harm laughed. “By your leave, sir.”
1800 Zulu 05 September 2004
Communist Party Headquarters
P’yõngyang, North Korea
Note: The North Koreans will be speaking in English.
“For the last time, gentlemen. We are going to adhere to the United Nations and disassemble all our nuclear production plants,” President Chang-Kai Song announced to his three-man military council. He was angry with them for only wanting to disassemble the nuclear power plant that caused this entire matter to get out of hand.
“Sir. They don’t know about the underground military plants that we have built. We make it a point not to allow people in military uniforms guard them. All the Americans know about these locations is that they’re plain textile manufacturing plants. They don’t know what’s built beneath them. We need those plants to keep producing needed military hardware. The CIA still thinks that we still purchase military hardware from China and Federation of Russian States, but we haven’t done that since 1970. Our agents inside the US government and CIA headquarters have never heard or seen any reports to contradict our belief,” General Wan-Koo Jeong said.
“That still doesn’t change my mind,” President Song said.
“Well, we’re sorry to hear that and hoped you would still be around to see Korea made whole,” General Jin-Hien Bae said as he slid his forty-millimeter pistol out from its holster and emptied the entire clip into Song.
The door opened to allow a Navel sub-lieutenant into the room, who bowed before Admiral Tai-Hee Son. “Sir, we received this important message from our sub in the South China Sea. Captain Jeong dispatched me as soon as it arrived.”
To: Fleet Headquarters
From: KNSM Wan Song
We have spotted a second US military Battle Group entering the Sea of Japan from the south. The battle group consists of: one Nimitz carrier, two cruisers, two Burke destroyers, two Spruce destroyers, four frigates, two supply, and one LHA. At current heading, and if speed is maintained, estimated joining forces with previous smaller Battle Group within the next twelve hours. We are currently unable to follow new group due to unknown number of attack submarine escorts.
“General, a second American Battle Group has entered the Sea of Japan and is estimated to join the first within the day. We must launch our attacks against the military airstrips in the south and sink the first carrier before these carriers make their rendezvous. Then, when the second group gets within safe striking distance, we must sink the aircraft carrier and at least damage the marine carrier. To win this war, we must have air superiority,” Admiral Son briefed the other two on his suggestions as to how to proceed.
“Jin, I agree with Tai. Once we knock out the land bases and these two carriers, your ground forces will have finished off the pitiful southern armies. The only thing the Americans can use against us in the air will be heavy bombers and easy prey for my MIG-29 squadrons.”
“Very well, what do you suggest to send at the carrier?”
“Four wings – MIG-29 high, MIG-23 middle, Su-25 low, and split a MIG-21 between middle and low.”
“Good, one hundred ninety-two planes should be able to sink the eight American ships in the first group. Place eight similar wings on hold for the second attack. They will join the first to go against the second. Send the remaining sixty wings southward and destroy all available landing strips. How soon will you be able to attack?”
“My crews will be ready in ten hours, sir.”
“Tai, while the American ships are busy will the planes, use your attack submarines to help out.”
“Excellent.”
“X-Hour is 0400 Zulu.”
“Gunsmoke, this is Waters 21,” the USS Kitty Hawk’s E-2 Hawkeye called in.
“Waters 21, this is Gunsmoke.” Gunsmoke was the Battle Groups CIC call sign. “Go ahead.”
“We got multiple bogies inbound to our location 140 miles out – track indicates inbound to you.”
“Roger, Waters 21. Keep your head down low.”
Lieutenant Walker picked up the phone. “Bridge, this CIC.”
“Go ahead.”
“Waters 21 has picked up multiple bogies inbound 190 miles out and vectors indicated they inbound Gunsmoke.”
A Klaxon sounded throughout every ship in the Battle Group. “Battle stations, Battle stations, this is not a drill.”
“Admiral on the bridge.”
Admiral Thomas Boone stepped onto the bridge. “What’s up, Captain?”
“Sir, our E-2 has picked up multiple bogies inbound with indications that they are headed our way.”
“Captain Ross, get all our birds airborne and flash a message off to the Patrick Henry requesting any help they can send us.”
“Aye. Aye. Sir.”
Captain Ross picked up the phone. “CAG, flush everything ASAP.” He punched another button. “Comm, flash a message to the Patrick Henry requesting assistance. We maybe under attack from multiple bogies, they are 190 miles out. Inform Fleet Headquarters Japan, Pearl, and the Pentagon.”
********
Aboard the Patrick Henry
********
Launch the alert five aircraft was heard throughout the ship. The Night’s Bravo Flight was currently flying CAP for the Battle Group and her Alpha Flight on alert status. The crews of Alpha quickly finished their checklist, started engines, and taxied to the catapults. The signal from the catapult crew gave each of the crews the signal to run up their engines, the pilot saluted the catapult signal officer and they were soon off the deck. The blast deflectors were lowered and four S-3 Vikings were locked into the catapult’s shuttle as four alert-15 crews ran out the hatch to get into their planes. The four Bravo Tomcats would need fuel before heading towards the USS Kitty Hawk … after the Vikings filled Bravo’s fuel tanks, they would top off Alpha’s.
“Batman, Alpha 1. Sit rep?”
“Alpha 1, we just received a flash message from Miss Kitty. There were multiple bogies inbound Gunsmoke. Vikings launched to refuel Bravo and top you. As soon as accomplished, the vector to Miss Kitty is 047 at 210 miles. Gunsmoke frequency is 188.7. Alert-15 will launch immediately for CAP. Call when departing the area, we will have Vikings up and ready when you return.”
“Roger, Batman.”
********
Twelve minutes later.
********
“Batman, Night Alpha and Bravo departing area.”
“Good Hunting Nights.”
It took the Nightingales a little over twenty minutes to cover the distance between the two carriers. When they were within 100 miles, Harm could see the sickening sight of smoke rising from the all eight surface ships in the Kitty Hawk Battle Group.
“Beth, you got anything on your scope?”
“Negative, I don’t show anything in the air other than the eight of us.”
“Sweets, you see anything?” Beth asked Jen.
“Negative, Skates. Scopes clear.”
“Go-Go or Flea, you got anything?” Beth asked Bravo’s lead RIOs.
“Negative here, Skates.” Go-Go replied.
“Same here, Skates.” Flea said.
“Sam, take lead. I’m going high and contact Batman.”
“Roger.”
Alpha 1 and 4 yanked back their joysticks to gain attitude. When they reached angels 75, Harm called over the radio, “Batman, Alpha 1.”
“Go ahead Alpha 1.”
“Our scopes are clear … I see eight, I repeat eight, Miss Kitty ships on fire and appear to be sinking. Need SAR immediately.”
“We’ll launch SAR aircraft … send a flight low to see if there are survivors. We will be standing by.”
“Roger. Break. Alpha 2, go low and check for survivors.”
“Roger. Three follow me.”
“Bravo, keep your eyes open.”
“Roger.”
“Combat spread, three.” Sam informed his wingman. “We’ll go low and slow as possible … look for survivors.”
“Roger.”
Sam and Cassie dropped as low as they could and flew as slow as well.
“Two, I have numerous rafts.”
“Roger, I have some over here as well. Break. Alpha 1, we have spotted numerous rafts.”
“Roger. Break. Batman, Alpha 1. We have spotted numerous rafts.”
“Roger. Your on scene commander … SAR and Vikings inbound your location.”
Beth kept watching her scope and just as she was giving up hope of seeing anything, eight blips appeared.
“Harm, I’ve got eight planes on the scope at 010 and angels 20. IFF shows they are friendly.”
Harm switched his radio to 188.7. “Unknown Friendly aircraft, this is Night 1, and we show you inbound to our location at 010. How do you read?”
“Night 1, this is Blackjack 219, read you 5x5 with seven chicks. We need go-go juice badly.”
“Will be on scene shortly. Are there any more Miss Kitty planes behind you?”
“Two damaged Blackjacks escorted by another. Everyone else didn’t make it.”
“Roger.” Harm toggled the intercom. “Beth contact Batman, we have eleven Blackjacks with two damaged. Have the Vikings buster here.”
“Roger.”
********
Aboard the Patrick Henry
********
“CAG set your wing to wartime conditions.” Wartime conditions kept a flight airborne at all times, “Launch two bee flights to get the Nights on the deck. Who’s flying CAP now?”
“Howlers’ Flight Charlie.”
“Place the rest of Howlers with a flight of bees in the batter’s box; Raptors with a bee; that should get the Night’s on the schedule as a complete unit.”
“Aye, Aye, Sir.”
“XO, signal Watertown, Waterfront, Shiloh, Porter, and Howard to leap ahead to help with the SAR. Contact the Canal to launch helos when they are within range. Contort the Battle Group. We’ll back off seventy-five miles from where Kitty Hawk was patrolling to give us more room just in case they try coming after us as well.”
“Aye, Sir. Contorting the Group.”
“What happened Wan? There are four land bases still in operation and we needed them knocked out before I can start our ground operations.”
“They were more efficient in getting their planes airborne to intercept the package sent to destroy them.”
“We must postpone the attack on the second carrier in order to protect our forces. So, send everything you’ve got but the MIG-29s at one base at a time to ensure it’s destroyed. We must be sure the Americans can only attack us by air using long range bombers or by sea.”
It had been a long six hours before Captain Ingles had called a meeting aboard the Patrick Henry to brief the Battle Group.
“Gentlemen, a little over six hours ago, the North Korean’s launched an attack against all the places where aircraft could land in South Korea. Their attack destroyed every runway, including the International Airport in Seoul, except for four military bases in the southern most portion of Korea. Aircraft from the destroyed bases have consolidated at these locations and are expecting a second attack. While the North Koreans were attacking these bases, they sent approximately five complete air wings to attack the Kitty Hawk Battle Group, which sank all eight surface ships that were currently part of it. Our detached SAR group has only picked up fifty-eight Mk6 life rafts and our SAR helicopters have picked up an additional 225 personnel who were in the water. Out of the 7,482 personnel in the Battle group, we have only located 1,755. We will continue to look for more survivors but it appears the rest are gone. Our two supply ships will take all the wounded personnel aboard and set sail for Japan with two frigates acting as escorts. Our CODs will be flying back-and-forth carrying supplies and the survivors from the Kitty Hawk Battle Group. The other five elements of her Battle Group, 2 cruisers, 2 Burkes, and her attack sub; have been attached to us and have departed their home port.
“Two other Battle Groups will deploy to our location as fast as they can. We need to survive until their arrival. We will launch a ‘Alpha’ strike minus one squadron held for CAP purposes at the closest air base to us until it is no longer usable. That will allow us to move closer to the coast. The land air bases will do the same and do their best to survive. All air units from Japan and Okinawa have departed and should be arriving in theater shortly. Captain London, the Patrick Henry will be sending all of our six helicopters to the Guadalcanal to give us room to recover the two squadrons from Okinawa. All CICs will monitor the Henry’s frequency since we will have Hawkeye’s and Tomcat’s in the air twenty-four seven for early warning purposes.
“The President has authorized the Rules of Engagement that will allow you to fire at any non-friendly ship or aircraft in your area without being fired upon and will be shortly addressing Congress to declare a State of War between North Korea and the United States. Dismissed.”
The personnel for the second briefing walking into the room: Captain Pike – CAG; Captain Rabb – Nightingales; Lieutenant Commander Medwick – Tuna – Raptors (F14E); Commander Mel Alberts – Patch – Howlers (F14E); Commander Jason Tomas – Doc – Diamonds (F/A18); Commander Gary Erickson – Bart – Red Hawks (Hawkeye – E-2C); Lieutenant Commander Tim Palmers – Sting – Bumble (Prowler – EA-6B); Commander Ben Smith – Ski – Snowbirds (Viking – S3B); Commander Charlie Walls – Stork – Shadow (Whale – ES-3A); and Lieutenant Commander Ken Dean – Toy – Blackjacks (Kitty Hawk’s F-14D).
“Gentlemen, take a seat. We’re transferring our Sea Hawks to the Guadalcanal and the Nightingale’s COD to NAF Atsugi to make room for two inbound squadrons, a Hornet – Jokers and a Viking – Parrots. It will be slightly crowded for parking space as well as sleeping accommodations until our CODs finishes transporting the survivors of the Kitty Hawk Battle Group to Japan. To help solve the parking problem, we’ll lock elevator number one to the flight desk and use it for parking planes on.
“We’ve authorized an ‘Alpha Strike’ against their air base in Hambõng. The Bumble’s, Diamond’s, and Jokers’ will be loaded heavy for SAM targets. The Raptors and Howlers will be their escorts while the Nightingale’s will escort twelve Air Force bombers: four B-2s; four B-1s; four B-52s; which will be loaded with as many GBU-37s and gravity bombs they can carry. They will go for fuel tanks, runways, hangers, and planes on the ground and hopefully make that base unusable. The Blackjacks remain here for our CAP as our maintenance crews finish repairing their battle damages. A replacement F-14D will be arriving with the bombers to bring the Blackjacks back to full strength and our total planeload to 106. One Tomcat squadron will remain aboard for any strikes against Korean targets. Briefing in four hours. Brief your squadrons and get some rest. Dismissed. CAG and Hammer stay for a moment.”
The other commanders got up and left the room. “CAG, when Lundy and Cowboy arrive aboard, you’ll need to brief them.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Harm, since your squadron takes up twenty-three rooms, I’d like to make a request to move everyone into five eight-person, one double, and a single that are in the same location aboard the ship. It will give us twenty-one rooms to house the three extra squadrons we have acquired. I don’t want an answer from you about this now since it violates the quarter’s regulation requirements. Ask your squadron if they will agree to waive the rule but it must be unanimous. Let the CAG and me know ASAP what your answer is.”
“Sir, I know the single room is for Ace and the double is for Mac and me. Would you have a problem if everyone agrees but two ladies and we use that double for them, which moves Mac and me into one of the eights with other ladies?”
“Hummm, your private time will be drastically cut but if Mac and your roommates don’t have a problem, do it. Your Presidential fraternizing waiver will protect everyone involved as long as the reasons that you are quartered with the other squadron personnel are documented. So, I’ll have no heartburn over that situation myself if your ladies don’t.” Tobias shook his head. ‘He’s the cause of more headaches than anyone in the Navy. I can’t wait until Singer gets wind of this. She’ll go ballistic.’ “Dismissed.”
Chris and Harm walked out of the conference rooms and headed in different directions. Harm went to the air wings’ break room with the hope of locating his crews but found the room empty. ‘They must have gone to the ready room to await my arrival.’ As soon as he opened the door, he heard: “Hammer’s always running late.”
“Very funny, Mac.”
“Your welcome squid.”
“There’s an ‘Alpha’ strike briefing scheduled in about four hours. There’s another Hornet and Viking squadron coming aboard shortly. The Captain has requested ‘us’ to give up our double rooms to make room for the additional crewmembers and move into five eight-person rooms, a double, and a single. Ace, you and I don’t get a vote in the matter. It’s totally up to the ladies to say ‘yea’ or ‘no’ to the request. Ace, let’s disappear and let them discuss the request. We’ll be in the break room when you want us to return.”
Sam and Harm walked out the door and walked to the break room.
“I suggest we break into flights like we do at home,” Meg suggested.
“Does anyone want to keep their present quarters?” Kate asked.
“I do,” Lobo said.
“So, do I,” Go-go added.
“Anyone else?” Meg asked.
“I guess not. Jen, go get the boys,” Mac laughed.
“You’re funny, Mac,” Beth said.
A minute or so later, Harm, Sam, and Jen returned.
“They don’t look like boys,” Arianna laughed as she quoted what Mac said.
“There are only two who would call us boys, which are Mac and Beth,” Harm replied. “I don’t think Miss Smarty six here would say that, so that leaves you Mac.”
“He’s getting good at that, sis.” Beth smiled as she spoke.
“You’ve got to remember he’s a legal weenie as well, sis.”
“How could I almost forget that little point?” Beth slapped her head and made the entire room start laughing.
“Ok, you two. Don’t quit your day jobs to become a comedy team, because if you did you might starve.” Harm’s comeback had the others laughing harder as they saw the expressions on Mac and Beth’s faces. “So, what’s the verdict?”
“No,” Meg answered.
“How many wanted to keep their two-person room?”
“Just two, why?” Kate asked.
“I’m not going to get angry or anything, but it’s what needs to be done to help the ship. Will these two people have any problems being roommates in the double room?”
“Why are you asking that question, Harm? The regulations state we’re required to have singles due to our rank but we chose to release one back to the ship to be used by someone else. It was empty until the Blackjacks landed today and their CO was given that room. We took a double because we are authorized to bunk together and gave Sam my single quarters to use. That gives him the ability to rest well and not have a bunkmate that will be on a totally different schedule. So, I don’t see you changing that one bit. If they have no problems with being roommates, that will put you in a room with seven to eight females, which is also against the same regulation.” Mac was curious why he asked the question like he did.
“I’m just curious if they would have problems because I’m guessing they are in different flights from ours and most likely Alpha and Bravo.”
“How do you figure that they might be from Alpha and Bravo?” Anna questioned not believing that he had guessed correctly.
“Well, let’s see: they wouldn’t be in Echo, Delta, or Charlie. Echo flight has been working hard to learn about each other and wouldn’t mind spending their free time together because it will help them out in the long run. Charlie just spent their whole three days together while we were at Guam in a single downtown hotel room. Delta spent their entire week in Hawaii in the same hotel room. It wasn’t Kate since Beth has to leave with her plane to allow the ship to take on two other squadrons. Kate wouldn’t mind sharing a room with members of Alpha since it’s whom she spends her off-duty time with anyway. There’s only one person in Alpha who separates her self from other members and that’s Lobo. She has nothing against any of us, it’s just she has things she rather do, like lifting weights. That helps her relax and nobody in Alpha has or sees a problem about that, either. The other person who objected has to be from Bravo and is probably Go-go. She’s too new to the flight and does the same things that Lobo does to help her relax.”
“Is he always like this, Mac? Meg? Kate?” Cece was amazed that he guessed correctly who had objected as everyone saw the three XO’s nod to indicate a yes.
“It’s why it’s so hard to surprise him with anything, Cece. You have been with us since we formed and have seen how many times we’ve tried to surprise him with something we thought he didn’t know about but found out we were wrong. It’s something he learnt from Admiral Chedwiggen, even if he won’t admit that to anyone,” Mac flatly replied.
“Was I correct with who objected?” Harm asked.
“Yes, squid. But that still don’t solve the ships’ problem,” Mac replied.
“Lobo and Go-Go, would you mind being roommates again?”
“No, sir.”
“Kate, Meg, Beth, Jen, Anna, and Mac. Would you mind having me as your bunk mate?”
“That’s a silly question to ask since it’s against the regulations,” Kate said.
“Just answer the question, please.”
They looked at each other then to Mac especially and saw her shake her head yes and each of them did the same.
“Good, I’ll tell the CAG and Captain that we agreed to the Captain’s request.”
“What about the regs?” Mac asked.
“Our Presidential fraternizing waiver is written to allow either of us to share quarters with a squadron member as long as he or she is an officer. I actually didn’t really read the document to see how it was worded until after receiving Captain Ingles’ request to change our quarters. I read the document after the meeting and the Captain was correct on how section two is worded. All, we have to do is sign these two waivers declaring the reasons why we’re waiving the personal housing space requirement. It’s not like you haven’t seen me wearing just boxer swimming trunks or I haven’t seen you in your European swimsuits.” ‘It’s a good thing they had found that clothing store that carried what some people would call itsy bitsy tiny, bikinis labeled European swimsuits.’
“Beth! We had a long talk about what people should wear at the beach when we arrived at the cabin on the beach … we agreed to wear decent swimming apparel. That thing your call a swimsuit that you purchased at Waikiki is nothing more than a band-aid – you might as well go nude considering what it covers. I told you that I don’t want my girlfriend, fiancée, or wife being on a beach completely nude. You didn’t wear that thing out on the beach when you went with them to Waikiki, did you?” Sam’s irritation was clearly heard by everyone in the room. They had hoped that they would be the next couple or persons in the squadron to get married since they were the only ones who had a real date since Harm and Mac got married, but the way Sam had been acting, trying so hard to change how Beth acted and dressed, irritated almost everyone in the squadron.
“Yes, we did talk about that but I didn’t agree to become a person that I’m not. If I happen to be on a beach where partial nudity or complete nudity is allowed, then by George, I’m going to go that way. I did and as a matter of fact – I purchased that swimsuit in Hawaii. We were on our way to Waikiki to see the famous beach and all of us bought one to wear. We had someone cut the price tags off in front of the cashier. It was worn the rest of the day until I got back to the cabin and you blew your stack seeing me in it. I couldn’t take your attitude then on how it appears to you or what your interpretation on others feels about how I act around my brother and sister. As far as I know and have been told by everyone in the squadron that they have no problems seeing me act the way I do. Unless they lied about it but they know they better have a real good reason to lie to Harm. They’ll be gone faster than they could blink for breaking his ‘Golden’ rule of that truth is everything no matter what happens. The only person that has any problems with how I act or dress is YOU, mister. It’s why we will never make it to the alter unless you make a serious attitude adjustment.” Beth turned away from Sam and was engulfed by Harm, who hugged her.
“Sam, stop fighting with sis and accept her the way she is. I have stopped trying to talk her out of treating me like a ‘real’ family member with her public displays of affection towards me. So have the other members of the flight after she adopted that same attitude with them as well. It’s something you’ll have to live with or just plainly move on.” Mac tried to make him understand he couldn’t change a person if she was unwilling to change and neither of them was willing to compromise about this issue.
“Well, Beth, I guess that settles the issue that’s been bugging me for a long time. I hope that we still can remain friends.” Sam turned to Harm. “Sir, I request to be dismissed before someone says something they don’t really mean and it causes trouble in the squadron.”
“Very well, dismissed.”
Sam left the ready room.
“Please don’t change how you interact with anyone, especially Sam, since it appears that they have broken up. It wasn’t meant to become more than friendship between them. She is like me and will have no problem if one of you tried for the brass ring with him,” Mac stated.
“Thanks, sis.” Beth changed hugging partners.
Harm looked over the faces of everyone and knew they got the message clearly. Each of them had worked extra hard to be where they currently were … on a carrier in the middle of a war zone and actually flying active missions even though they had yet to see any combat since all they had done was be the Air Force bomber planes fighter protection.
“I’ll just make one comment and let it drop. I’ve been in a squadron before where someone was being punished or ignored by the rest of the squadron … it wasn’t very enjoyable time. Beth was there and she can tell what she saw and so forth about that time. Moving on probably is the best thing for them even though, right now, they might not feel that way. But with help from everyone here, they will get through it and remain friendly. To change the subject, ladies, if each of you will step up here and sign this document, with Kate and Alpha signing the second waiver as well, you’re excused to leave to pack up your belongs in your current quarters and move into your new one as soon I find out their cabin numbers.”
Everyone got up to sign the first waiver and some milled, waiting for their roommates to sign, before heading to their quarters. The six ladies from Alpha and the command section stood around the front as they watched each other sign the second waiver. If they had looked around at the others in the room, they would have seen the envious look the tallest female in the squadron was giving them. Lieutenant Kathleen Morgan – Big Red – Charlie Flight Leader glanced quickly at them as she left the ready room.
********
Four Days Later
********
‘Where are all my exercise shirts? I think I packed more than two.’ Harm thought as he searched and searched his locker. He could only find two of them and they were found in his hamper.
“Harm, are you looking for something important?” Meg asked as she walked into their quarters and saw the mess that Harm had created. She heard him mumbling something, as it appeared that he didn’t hear her. To get his attention, she walked through the mess and touched his bareback. “Harm?”
Harm jumped and banged his head on the locker header. “Ouch, that hurts.” He looked to see who startled him. “Meg, what’ya need?” Harm looked irritated at her for laughing but it was funny to her.
“I’m sorry to be laughing so hard but you should be used to people sneaking up on you since you live with Mac and she’s a Marine after all. You must have not heard me enter the room, or the question I asked you when I saw this mess you created, because I’ve seldom seen your room this messy.”
“I’m not mad that you startled me or laughed about my reactions. I’m mad at myself, since it appears that I only packed two exercise tee shirts and both of them are dirty. I had planned to do laundry, work out, and basically relax today. I really didn’t want to get into a flight suit today at all if it could be prevented but I can’t walk around the carrier like this.” Harm pointed out how he was dressed like she couldn’t see that he had everything but a shirt. “So, I guess I’ll get out of these clothes and put on a flight suit, then do laundry first, so I can ditch my work clothes for the rest of the day.” Harm sat down on a bunk and removed his tennis shoes, then threw them as hard as he could into his open locker.
“Whoa, simmer down there Harm. I’ve never seen you lose your cool like this.” Meg was as concerned about Harm as the others. His moods seemed to fluctuate from good to bad way too often and they had prayed that this down day would help him find the answer to whatever was bothering him so much. He was shutting everyone out and, when asked what was wrong, the only thing he would say was ‘I’m doing my best to come up with a answer to that question.’ She thought back to the day of the first ‘Alpha’ briefing, the actual mission, and when he had been the last of the planes to land just in time to hear the word that Admiral Boone and Commander Keeter had been picked up but were in serious but stable condition. They all knew that Harm was being pulled into two between doing his duty and wanting to be with his godfather at the hospital. It seemed to help him some when his mother called to let him know that Frank and she were flying to Japan to be with Tom at the hospital. But she didn’t think Harm being pulled apart was the real reason for his moodiness. She opened her locker, pulled out a tee shirt and tossed it at him. “Here try wearing one of mine; it might fit you.”
“Meg, there’s no way one of your tee shirts will fit me.”
“Come on, just try putting it on, even if it’s just to prove your point.”
Harm located the tag and pulled it over his head. “I’ll be a monkey’s uncle, it fits. Thanks, Meg.” Harm flashed a smile.
“I’ve got a confession about that tee shirt. It’s actually yours.”
“Huh? You took it out of my locker without asking?”
“Honest, I have never been in your locker.”
“How did you get it, then?”
“The first day we moved in here. We were discussing nightgowns and sleepwear. Kate and Jen showed everyone the gowns they brought to wear and we agreed they wouldn’t be appropriate to answer the door without putting a robe on. Between the six of us, we only have one robe. Anna and I didn’t even pack any sleepwear. We, the four of us, had forgotten the little changes a female must do to live aboard a ship since we seldom spent time aboard a ship. Sure, three of us have been aboard a ship many times before, but it has been a long time ago and it was never longer than a few days. We seldom had a roommate to worry about either. So, your wife opened your locker and pulled out a tee shirt for each of us. If you paid close attention to how we dress for bed, you would have noticed they all have ‘Property of the US Naval Academy’ written on the fronts and that the tee shirt goes down halfway to my knees. Mac said, ‘now we don’t need robes and Harm wouldn’t mind one bit for you to wear it.’ Are you going to get mad at Mac for doing that?”
“No, I understand why she did that. I have no problem with all of you using my shirts to sleep in and I’m honored that each of you trust me enough to allow me to live in the same quarters. Considering there have been times when I happened to arrive after someone comes out of the head after finishing taking a shower and they are just wearing a smile.”
“Get your shoes on and let’s go to the laundry room and get it over with. I finished mine a couple hours ago but I’ll need one of those…” Meg pointed at him. “…For tonight unless you rather I sleep like I do at home.”
“I don’t have a problem with the conditions you or the others sleep in. I got everything down to the little details of how you and the others look permanently logged up here but, as Mac pointed out, somebody else may have problems.”
“Oh! You’re bad.” Meg slapped Harm on the arm.
“I can’t help enjoying the very fine scenery each of you have to offer.” Harm smiled as he stuffed the last of his laundry into the laundry bag. He looked up to see Meg’s embarrassment showing. “Hey, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about. You’re a drop dead gorgeous woman and a true natural blonde.”
They walked to the laundry room and luckily found that nobody was using. Harm put his clothes into the washer. “Meg, can you watch my clothes for a couple minutes, I’ve got a quick errand to run?”
“Sure, no problem.” Meg wondered where he needed to go.
“Thanks.” Harm left the laundry room and walked towards the clothing sales cabin. He had wanted to do something special for his roommates but didn’t have a clue what to do until a few minutes ago. When he got into clothing sales, he walked over to the souvenir clothing display case. When the shopkeeper saw him standing there, he walked over to him.
“Sir, is there anything I can get you?”
“Yes, I want purchase some XXL souvenir tee shirts. I would like to eight Navy, eight marine, and sixteen Patrick Henry shirts if you have that many in stock?”
“Let me go see, sir.”
The shopkeeper went back into the stockroom and returned shortly carrying a box full of tee shirts. “Yes, sir. We did have that many and still have plenty more of each kind, it seems that there isn’t many people your size aboard the ship. Are these all for you?”
“Just four of them are, but the others are for gifts.”
“Do you need mailing cartons for them?”
“No, thank you. I just need a box to carry them in to my quarters.” Harm got his wallet out and handing the shopkeeper a credit card. “Put it on this.”
“You can have the box. Your total bill comes to $638.40. Sign here, please sir.”
“Thank you for you help, Petty Officer Melton.”
“Captain, we should be getting some special tee-shirts in shortly from our supplier on the next COD.”
“Mark eight of them in my size and hold them for me. What’s so special about them? Can you do that?”
“They are ‘Nightingale’ tee shirts. They are totally blue with a F-14 on the front with Nightingales written on top and VF-213 on the bottom in yellow printing. We tried a test order after receiving word that your squadron would be aboard this trip and they sold like hot cakes. I promise that there will be eight shirts held for you after they come in.”
“Thanks, make that eighteen then. Let anyone in the squadron know when they arrive. As soon as I can, I’ll come back to get them and hope you have enough for the entire squadron.”
Harm picked up the box and hoped another washer was empty to wash the new shirts.
“Meg, I’m back.”
“What’s in the box?”
“You’ll find out later, I promise.”
“Ok. I’ll catch up with you later on then.”
********
One Hour Later
********
Harm stored his freshly washed clothes in his locker and left. There was a weight lifting competition today and he wanted to be there to support Cassie. When he got there, he saw about a hundred people had come to watch the competition and saw a large number of the squadron. It made him proud to see them supporting her like this.
Cassie felt badly about refusing the Captain’s request to move into an eight-person room. The main reason why she refused is that her flight was more gorgeous than Angela had been. They could have been super models. She felt like the ugly duckling comparing herself to any of them and she hadn’t come to the point to where she felt comfortable being seen with them off-duty. She was so stoked and into the competition, that she didn’t see her entire flight had come to watch. She had just finished pressing a new personal best when she finally looked at the huge crowd gathering for the competition. Only two people remained and they had to match her lift. The first person, a Hornet plane captain, barely lifted the weight off his chest before calling it quits and the last one got the weight up, but couldn’t completely lock his arms. Luckily for him, his spotter paid close attention to the lift and prevented the dumbbell from crushing his chest. She closed her eyes as she jumped for joy for winning and felt people surrounding her to give her a group hug. When she opened them, she saw that her entire flight and Kate were the ones hugging her. That’s when the ice between them finally began to melt.
“I’ll speak for everyone here. We’re proud of you, Cassie. One of these days, we hope that you will join us when we do something as a flight.” Kate looked down into Cassie’s brown eyes. “You might not like Harm or me much but everyone in the flight, including us, likes you just because your you.”
“Thank you. I’ll work on my insecurities as hard as I can and one day soon, I’ll be honored to do just that.”
“It will be us that who will be honored, Cassie,” Mac said.
Cassie headed off to shower and change. At the back of the group, Harm silently slipped away. Captain Ingles and Big Red walked over to Alpha to see how they were enjoying the down day and asked where Hammer had disappeared.
“Ma’am, what’s wrong with Hammer?” Kathy asked.
“Don’t know what it is, he’s been like this since the first Alpha strike and just clams up when any of us including me ask him about it,” Mac said dejectedly. “We want to help him but…”
“Colonel, I think I know what’s eating at him and I believe I’m the cause of it. Hammer commands the Navy’s best fighter squadron and feels like it is being misused escorting ‘Air Dales’ in and out of Korean air space. The War Room wanted to ensure that the bombers would return safely to their bases, which I agree with, so they wanted the best ‘Air Force’ squadron protecting with the bombers from the south and the best ‘Navy’ squadron protecting the eastern bombers. I was ordered to use your squadron for that purpose by the man himself. During the three ‘Alpha’ strikes, the other squadron’s have run into sixty to seventy enemy planes each time and only downed less than half of them even carrying the –54s. When he dropped off the waivers for your quarters, he asked me to reconsider my decision about you flying the escort portion of the mission. When I called the squadron commanders for the next briefings, I saw him getting more and more frustrated with your assignments. Do you have an idea where he disappears to while on board?”
“Sir, he’ll either be on Vulture’s Row or the fan tail observation deck,” Beth chipped in.
“Skates, I know that he normally can be located standing or sitting on Vulture’s Row. When did he start using the fan tail observation deck?” Mac asked.
“Do you remember who he said he saw Christmas Eve?” Skates flashed a smile.
“Jenny Lake.” Mac answered as a light bulb light up. “It’s where his dad saved her life.”
“When we’re home and if something is bothering him so much that he won’t talk to you or me about, where do we know he will be if he disappears?”
“At the Vietnam memorial talking to his dad. He knows that deck had a very special meaning to his dad and it would be the place he would disappear if he wanted to talk to his dad while aboard a carrier.”
“Skates, if I didn’t know that Hammer was so totally in love with the Colonel here when he was here before returning to JAG, it would have worried me about how close you two appeared to have gotten to be. Just between the people standing here and me, I saw the you of two on Vulture’s Row a few times hugging each other and saw either you or him entering each other’s quarters and leaving the next morning. I saw how depressed he was when he was here and knew for certain neither of your would cross a certain line, so I said and did nothing about it.”
Beth’s jaw just about hit the deck that the Captain knew that Harm and she had spent quality time with each other during that cruise. “Sir…”
“Water under the bridge, Skates. Don’t worry about it. You got him through that time and I’m sure Mac, you, and the others will help you get him through this one as well. There’s nothing I can say to help him get through this. If I did, it would probably make it worse since his duty performance is still textbook perfect. I trust each of you to keep this among yourselves and him.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you for your insight. We will figure away to get him over this,” Mac replied.
“I know you will. I will keep suggesting to the War Room to allow your squadron other duties beside playing escorts. The other two ‘Echoes’ squadrons don’t really understand what their new plane can do yet and the ‘Jokers’ were last year Pacific Fleet ‘E’ winners, so they should be good enough for that duty next time. Enjoy the rest of your off duty day, ladies.”
“Thank you, sir. We will,” Kate said for the group.
“Colonel, I need to speak with the command section privately if it is possible?” Kathy quietly asked.
“Beth, Anna, and Jen go locate my missing husband and drag his six to our room. We’re going to get his head out of his six today. This has gone on long enough,” Mac ordered.
“Ma’am. Yes, Ma’am.” The three stood at attention and departed.
“Come with us, Kathy.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
They headed for their room and saw Gunny Ingles on the way.
“Gunny, get some Marines for guard duty and have them report to our quarters to guard the door. Their orders will be that nobody, I repeat nobody, will be allowed to leave that room until I release them,” Mac ordered.
“Ma’am, what about the…”
“Gunny, I said nobody and I mean nobody. Do you understand?” Mac said.
“Ma’am. Yes, Ma’am.”
“Mac, Harm’s not going to like that.” Kate said.
“Tough titty said the kitty, he’ll get over it or he’ll find himself eating some deck,” Mac laughed.
“Come on in, Kathy. You have the floor?”
“Ma’am, I would like to step down as Charlie Flight leader.”
“Why?”
“This marine is feeling overwhelmed from the responsibility, Ma’am. I’m the youngest and lowest rank member of the flight as well as the squadron. It’s getting to me so much that I’m not sleeping or resting well … so far it hasn’t effected my performance but if this last much longer, it might and….” Kathy burst into tears and they stood up to comfort her. They were still comforting Kathy, when Skates opened the door with Harm being tailed by Anna and Jen.
“Ma’am, we located the Captain on the fan tail observation deck and followed your orders to escort or to drag his six here. There is a squad of marines outside guarding the door. Do you know why?”
“They have received orders not to allow anyone to leave this cabin until they’re released by me. So, squid you better not try leaving until we get something settled after Kate, Meg, and I tell you why Kathy is here.”
“Ok, Beth, Jen, and Anna, take Kathy over to the other side and try to help her calm down, while Mac, Kate, or Meg briefs me what’s going on.”
The four went over to the other side of the room to let the four-command section officers privately talk.
“Harm, Kathy’s feels she is in over her head being the Charlie Flight leader and asked to step down from the position. She has not been sleeping or resting well since we went into active combat mode.”
“Ok, who do you nominate to replace her as flight leader?”
“You know that answer without asking us, so don’t play innocent on us about it,” Mac spat at Harm.
“Power down ladies, I’m not playing innocent. I value your inputs before making a decision … it’s like what happened when you found out that Mac needed a permanent ride and dropping the Hornet’s entirely. If you remember correctly, you three came up the solutions and I just signed off on it. I’ve told each of you numerous times that I’ll ask for your input, even if they seem silly or stupid, for everything that affects this squadron. The powers-to-be might give me the majority of pats on the back about what this squadron has done or will do. I give you the freedom to make decisions about the squadron and try to give everyone the glory as much as they allow me to. So are you going to tell me who you think should replace her as flight leader?”
“I’m sorry for jumping down your throat about that. … It’s Sam.” Mac said.
“Do you agree, Kate? Meg?”
“Yes, we do.”
“Mac, go tell one of the guards to have Gunny find Sam and Chief Thompson and bring them here ASAP. While we wait for Sam and Chief, let me talk to Kathy?”
They nodded their heads in agreement.
“Kathy, could you come here please?” Harm asked.
Kathy stood up and walked over to Harm. “Sir.”
“Kathy, sit down and relax.”
“Yes, sir.”
“The XOs just told me that you’re feeling overwhelmed and asked to step down as flight leader. That correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Kathy, I know that you’re the youngest member of the squadron as well as the lowest ranked. Is that part of the reason why you feel overwhelmed?”
“No, sir. I took you for your word when we tried out for the squadron that rank or service had nothing to do with who was selected or what position they flew. The command section was going to select the best person for the job, period. I do recall hearing a few people complain about it but they weren’t any of the people who made the final cut or the additions to the squadron.”
“I figured that would ruffle some feathers and over ruled some of the people who others selected due to the impression they gave me whenever I would talk to them. I’m glad to hear that the ones complaining about the selection progress didn’t get under our radars to sneak into the squadron.
“Your maybe the youngest and lowest ranked in the squadron but you’re one of the best pilots that we have. Just look at your final mission tally at ‘Top Gun’, if I remember correctly – you scored a 10 – there were eighteen crews that went and you’re tied with only three others for 4th place. That last mission was the hardest combat simulation test that I’ve ever seen. Even Beth will tell you that it frightened her and she has thirteen confirmed air-to-air victories as well as a flying ‘Double Ace’ when she is sitting behind Sam.”
“I understand that, sir. I’m just so tired and worn out that I’m scared that I’m going to make the wrong call and get my entire flight killed.”
“If I agree to let you step down, do you think you could handle being a section leader?”
“Yes, sir. If she will agree to be my wingman?”
“Meg?”
“Sir, Lobo and I have no problem with flying as her wingman. She has beaten us more times than we care to admit when we have inter-squadron air battles.”
“Good. Effective immediately, Lieutenant Morgan, with Jen as your RIO, you will be flying Alpha 2. As soon as Mac allows it, go pack your belongings and move in here if you don’t mind having me around.”
“Sir, I’m honored that you let me step down and be part of Alpha. I have no problem with living in the same quarters with you.”
“Meg.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I want you to go with her and see the Captain first. Kathy will need to sign the Alpha’s quarter waiver. Ask for volunteers to help her get moved.”
“Yes, sir.”
They heard a knock on the hatch.
“Enter.”
Gunny Ingles stepped into the room.
“Ma’am, we have Commander MacKenzie and Chief Thompson outside per your orders.”
“Very well, Gunny. They will be allowed to leave after we talked to them.”
“Ma'am. Yes, Ma’am.”
Sam and the Chief walked into the room as Gunny shut the hatch.
“Sam, I need for you to take over Charlie Flight. It’s not because of your break-up with Beth but Kathy has requested to step down from the position for personal reasons. The timing is just accidental. I’m proud of Beth and you for not allowing what happened to affect your duties. You’re my brother-in-law and she’s my sister – I was hurting for both of you and didn’t take either side of the issue.”
“Harm, I know that Mac or you never took sides – nobody in the squadron did either or if they did they never said so. I’ll be honored to take over Charlie Flight.”
“You know you still can go back and give Maverick another shot at you.”
“I’ll do anything for a good cause. We’ve got to keep his crew on their toes.”
“Chief, you will need to switch the names on Alpha 2 and Charlie 1 when you get the chance before they go up again.”
“No problem with doing that, sir. We’re used to changing names on the planes and well as moving my crews around. Alpha 2’s and Charlie 1’s ground crew and plane captain will be moving as well.”
“Do as you see fit there, Chief. You know your people and whom they work for best. You two are dismissed.”
“Yes, sir.”
Sam and the chief departed the cabin.
“Ok, why did you have Beth, Anna, and Jen drag me here for in the first place?”
“Harm, you have been as moody as my grandmother is,” Anna said.
Kathy looked at Anna when she heard how she was speaking to the Captain.
“Kathy, when we are in our quarters or alone – these birds, oak leafs, and bars turn to dust and disappears. So, get comfortable calling us by our first names or nicknames,” Mac said.
“Don’t forget to tell her that she might walk into the room and see one of us walking around as naked as a jaybird.” Jen laughing said.
Kathy’s face got red, almost as red as Harm’s was on the beach in Hawaii.
“You mean you allow your husband to see them nude and they see him like that as well, Co…. Mac?”
“Yes. We kinda forced the issue at him when we were in Hawaii. Anna and Jen wanted to get a suntan without having any telltale swimwear lines and you know the only way to do that. Harm refused to leave the cabin until I dragged his six out onto the beach – then each of us stood up and slowly posed for everyone and had Harm comment on what he liked or dislike about whom he saw. Then, he posed for us.”
“Ok, I can deal with that and after I’m officially legal to live with you … I’ll be honored to pose likewise, then it won’t see such as shock for you to see and know that….”
“We’ll deal with that then, Kathy. We need to figure out what has been bothering this thick headed brother of mine.” Beth hugged Kathy as she spoke.
“Now, answer Anna’s question.” Jen stood up.
“I’m frustrated with how we’re being used and not getting an answer to as why we’re being used like we are.”
“After you pulled your disappearing act after Cassie’s win, the Captain walked over to us and explained it. He wanted to explain it to you but …” Kate answered.
“I know… I went off to pout like a little kid and shut down instead of talking with you about what was bothering me. I know that I shouldn’t do that and it hurts each of you but...”
“Yes, you did hurt us and we understand you’re trying hard to change that, honey. We’re not mad about that. We wanted to help you but couldn’t.” Mac turned his face towards her.
“What did the Captain say?”
“The War Room wanted the ‘best’ squadron to protect the ‘Air Dales’ and the President ordered him to use us for that purpose. The Raptors and Howlers are still learning about their new birds and couldn’t be used. The Jokers were not at full strength with two broken birds and missing a crew, so they couldn’t be used until they had some time together to get back into the saddle. Don’t even ask about the Diamonds or Jokers, they won’t be used to escort a balloon. You remember the number of bogies we saw on our attack screens on the first Alpha strike?” Meg continued what the Captain said.
“Yes.”
“Well, those two and half squadrons of Tomcats only downed less than half of them and they let the rest escape. There were only sixty of them and we had thirty Tomcats loaded for air-to-air going against them. Have you seen the AWAC’s battle tape of the battle?” Jen added.
“No.”
“Well, Mac, Jen, Meg, and I have. Those arrogant crewmates of ours waste too many –54s on the same plane. For some unknown reasons, each of them were only carrying half of their combat loads and simply ran out of missiles to use,” Beth angrily spoke.
“What about their guns?”
“Not a single one of them got within gun distance … don’t know why they didn’t or why none of the –9s were used either but they returned to the carrier with them.” Beth was getting angrier as she continued.
“So given their performance with the first mission, we were stuck until the Captain and CAG felt that the Jokers could handle flying as the bomber escorts. Now, they’re sure that they can and on the next strike mission – it will give the Captain more ammo to get us onto the forefront.”
“Ok, I understand and I’m sorry about how I’ve been acting.”
“We know and each of us love you … try not shutting us out if you can prevent from doing so.” Anna said.
“I promise.” Harm smiled.
“Good, it settled then. It’s nice to see that smile again.” Meg said. “Mac, I told Harm earlier today about his shirts.”
“Oh, why?”
“I came back to the room to get something and Harm was looking for a shirt to wear today. The only ones he had left were dirty and he was fixing to put on his flight suit to go down to wash clothes.”
“I’m sorry, honey. But it was better then… Jen and Kate get your gowns out to show him.”
Jen and Kate got up and opened their lockers to get their gowns. They were beautiful but totally shear, and would leave nothing to a person’s imagination if someone saw them wearing them.
“I see and since I don’t need my imagination about what the clothes’ cover on all of you except for Kathy. I see that it would be inappropriate for them to answer the hatch without a robe and I also know that Anna and Meg sleep in their birthday suits, which would be highly un-appropriate for them to answer the hatch like that.”
“We only have one robe between us and it was the simplest solution I could think of without us running down to clothing sales to see if they had any robes, which I doubt they have.” Mac smiled. “I figured you would get a kick out of the idea of us wearing your shirt to sleep in. I know it causes me to have very satisfying dreams.”
“Speaking of that, it reminded me of the gifts I got for each of you today which now includes Kathy.” Harm got up and opened his locker door to pull out the clothing sales box. “I picked these up for each of you.” Harm hand each a Navy, Marine, and two Patrick Henry shirts. Before he handed the set to Kathy, he pulled another Academy shirt out to go in with it. “Now, each of you have five nights worth of sleepwear and saves someone the next morning from sitting in the laundry room washing them.”
Kathy was shocked to see all of them get up and give Harm a kiss, which couldn’t be considered a just friendly kiss for they were on the lips and not very short. She couldn’t see if they were open or closed mouth ones but guessed they all were open mouth ones for she saw that their lips were moister then they were beforehand. She got the courage to get up and kiss him as well; she found out that they were opened mouth ones as he probed her lips with his tongue and she happily welcome it into her mouth then deepen the kiss. Everyone thought they heard her moan just before the kiss ended but wasn’t sure.
Kathy spoke after she calmed down from the endorphin high she just felt. “Whoa! Your lips should be considered to be a weapon to the female sex because you just made me c….”
“Well, that’s a first.” Harm hugged her. “Thank you.”
“No, thank you.” Kathy blushed.
Mac now knew whom the 8th person filling into her Heinlein idea as she watched the way Kathy was looking at Harm. She had seen the same looks from time to time from the others since see got bored one night and went to the bookstore to get some reading material. She seldom picked up any science fiction books to read but there was something about the front cover that caught her attention and what she read on the back cover hooked her into purchasing it.
********
Three Hours Later
********
Harm walked into the cabin all sweaty from the work out he had just put himself through and saw that it was empty. ‘I’ll go take a shower and grab a nap.’ He quickly stripped and grabbed his towel. While, he was in the shower. The ladies had returned from packing Kathy’s things up and she begged off from doing anything for awhile so she could grab a nap. She laid down into her new bunk and was quickly asleep. Harm finished his shower and walk into the cabin failing to see the sleeping red head. He put on a pair of boxers and stretched out in his bunk. The eight-man cabin had an advantage over the single or two-man cabins for Harm; due to he could actually lay completely flat on his back while in his bunk. Soon, he was asleep too. About thirty minutes later, he was woken up due to a woman’s scream and got up to investigate. He saw Kathy laying there thrashing in the middle of a nightmare so serve that she was talking in her sleep.
“Charlie 4, you got a MIG on your six … brake left … bail out … come on, please bail out … NOOOOOO.”
Harm knelt down beside her bunk; she had been given one of the lowers, and as gently spoke to her as he tried to wake her up.
“Kathy … wake up.” He waited a few seconds and got no response. “Wake up.” Still got no response. ‘She thinks she flying her plane, maybe this will work.’ “Charlie 1, this is Alpha 1.”
“Go ahead, Alpha 1.”
“You’re fallen asleep and are in a dive. Wake up.”
Kathy immediately woke up.
“Captain.”
“Kathy, it’s Harm. You were having a nightmare. Do you have them often?”
“Yes, almost every night since the first Alpha strike.”
“Do you normally talk in your sleep?”
“No, I don’t think so and if I have before now, it would have woken someone. On our first deployment, a couple of the Charlie’s had some and talked during them but their roommate got them out of them. They talked about it to the rest of us then so if I had talked in my sleep during one of my nightly nightmares … they would have woke me up and told me about it.”
“How much sleep have you been getting?”
“Maybe two to four hours a day depending if I didn’t have a second nightmare.”
“Ok, grab one of the gift tee shirts and go wash your face after you change. Trust me, I know something that may cure you from having so many so often.”
“I do trust you.” Kathy reached into her locker and grabbed the top tee shirt. She washed her face and changed into just the tee shirt. She picked up her discarded clothing and dropped them into her locker’s hamper. “Now, what?”
Kathy saw that Harm had returned to his bunk but wasn’t lying in the middle of it but was lying next to the bulkhead. “Come here and lay down with me.” Kathy did as she was asked and curled up next to Harm using his shoulder for a pillow. He put his arm around her and slowly started rubbing her back. “Close your eyes and relax.” Kathy closed her eyes as he continued to slightly rub her back and occasionally playing with her hair. “Try to go back to sleep.” Within no time, Kathy was fast asleep. Harm heard the hatch open and saw Mac enter the room. He held his finger to let her know that Kathy was asleep.
“Sarah, no wonder she was so tired … she’s been having nightly nightmares and only getting two to fours of sleep each night. I got back to the room about an hour ago and nobody was here. I decided to take a shower while I was doing that, I’m guessing they got back from packing her stuff and she decided to take a nap. I didn’t notice she was even in the room when I finished my shower and I needed a nap myself, only to be woken up a short time ago by Kathy screaming and talking in her sleep as she was in one of her nightmares. She needs to rest so badly and it’s why you see us like this now.”
“I understand completely. I saw the others just before I came down and wanted to check on her. I had a strong feeling something was wrong.” Mac stood up and walked to her locker to grab a tee shirt. She stripped and put the tee shirt on before crawling into Harm’s bunk. “Can you scoot over just a bit towards Kathy, so I don’t have to lay completely on top of you.” Harm scooted over and she grabbed a blanket to cover all three of them up as she curled up on the other side of Harm. When Kathy’s hand felt Mac’s hand on top of Harm’s chest, her finger’s interlaced with Mac’s fingers and she let out a long sigh then snuggled closer to Harm. Mac must have been tired herself as she too quickly fell asleep.
“Isn’t this a pretty sight? Harm’s sandwiched in bed by two women. Who has a camera, we are missing out on some good blackmail material here,” Beth said as the other six stood beside Harm’s bunk. Kathy was the first one to wake up and saw Mac’s face inches away from hers. The last thing she remembered was lying down next to Harm and him playing with her hair. When Kathy tried to remove her hand from Mac’s, it woke Mac up.
“How…”
“I felt something was wrong with you and came down to check. Harm told me about the nightmares and his solution. I crawled into the bunk with the both of you to put off the smart alec comments if the others caught you in bed with Harm.”
“Who us?” Anna asked as she grabbed the blanket and pulled it off them, which started the five standing besides the bunk laughing.
Mac looked up and Kathy turned her head and knew they had been busted, for they saw the five others standing beside the bunk.
“Would you all stop making so much noise? I woke up with a headache.” Harm asked not even opening his eyes.
“It’s probably a hunger headache. When’s the last time you ate?” Meg asked.
“After I finished my laundry and right before I went down to see Cassie’s win.”
“What time it is?” Kathy asked.
“Local or Zulu?” Kate asked.
“Zulu. Isn’t that what the ship uses?” Kathy said.
“0300.” Mac responded.
“Sierra Hotel, I slept for five hours and didn’t have a single nightmare.” Kathy was so happy; she rose up slightly and grabbed a hold Mac’s head then kissed her. Then she laid a kiss on Harm. Everyone heard her moan and knew it was a moan.
“Does that mean we can hop into bed with Harm if we happen to have nightmares too?” Beth shyly asked.
“Yes, sis.”
Beth leaned over Kathy and Harm to hug Mac and to lay a huge kiss on her, which in the process she lost her balance and landed on top of them. She turned to thank Kathy and laid a kiss onto her as well.
“If this is going to end up happening often, whoever the 3rd lady is – she’ll have to bring her pillow with her.”
“Why is that, bro?” Beth acted innocent since she was lying on top of him and could feel what he was talking about.
“I highly doubt that who’s ever lying like you currently are will be perfectly still the whole time she’s there and I like to protect the family jewels from getting hurt.”
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