"North Of 49"

Author: Haruo Nakamura

E-mail: hhNakamura

Rating: M

Classification:

Spoilers: N/A

Summary: (1999 started fic) Nanoose Bay Weapons Testing Facility, British Columbia – a joint-operated Royal Canadian Navy – United States Navy weapons testing facility has been compromised by protesters and a group of disgruntled Royal Canadian Navy personnel attempt to abscond with a 5Kt SUBROC – This is an AU of an AU – wrap your mind around that. Animal has NOT been yanked off active flight duty in this AU (of an AU).

DISCLAIMER: The characters Harm Rabb, Jr., Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie, Meg Austin, AJ Chegwidden, Bud Roberts, Harriet Sims-Roberts et al. belong (in concept if not name) to CBS/Bellisarius. Animal and all OC characters are the property of Heather and Toshio Nakamura. No profit is being made from this story, nor is any infringement intended.


JAG HEADQUARTERS FALLS CHURCH, VA, MAY 31, 1999, 1730 ZULU

"Lieutenant Commander Rabb, Major Mackenzie, a word with you..." the Admiral walked past the offices heading towards his own office.

"Yes, sir." Lieutenant Harmon Rabb Jr. and Major Sarah Mackenzie replied in unison as they looked at each other wordlessly and followed Rear Admiral AJ Chegwidden into his office.

"Rumor has it, that the Province of British Columbia has been seeking to strong-arm the weapons stock-piles located at the weapons facility in Nanoose Bay Weapons Test Facility." Admiral Chegwidden said." It seems as though we may have an international incident on our hands. The Canadian Federal government has ordered the Nanoose Bay seabed to be annexed, but the facilities themselves are on British Columbia soil and could be annexed by the British Columbia provincial government."

"Is this a legal matter, sir?" Mac asked, wondering what this would have to do with the JAG Corps."I would think that the State Department would have more to do with this than JAG."

"Hi, Rabb...Mackenzie." came a very familiar voice. Mac rolled her eyes as she realized just exactly who it was. She looked over and damned if she wasn't right.

"Webb..." Harm growled in disgust, "What's the State Department gotten itself into this time?"

"Well, just that we need a quiet JAG investigation into the going-ons at the Nanoose Bay Weapons Facility. CINCPAC has asked for JAG's top investigators and well, your names came to the top of the list." Clayton Webb looked at Harm and Mac who had identical expressions of distaste in their eyes. He continued. "It is a Naval facility jointly governed by the Canadian Navy and the United States Navy, so hence your names were submitted to SecNav."

"Defence Secretary John Weisman has asked that you see what is going on at the facility. You are to obtain the appropriate papers for travel to a foreign country. And you will be asked to register yourselves in the nearest United States Consulate for diplomatic visas which would be in Vancouver, then report to CFS (Canadian Forces Station) Jericho Beach to hop the nearest helicopter to Vancouver Island."

"Oh, just lovely..." Mac said sourly. "Well, that does give us a good excuse to go visit Canada, right?" she aimed that comment sarcastically at Webb.

"It just so happens that your favorite friend, the nutcase, is over in Comox for Maple Flag, right now..." Webb looked at his itinerary, "Or is scheduled to be deployed to Comox, British Columbia right now."

"Well, at least we'll know someone there..." Mac sighed. Harm just groaned; his day wasn't about to get any better or so it seemed at the particular moment.

VF-41 BLACK ACES SQUADRON, MAIN BRIEFING ROOM, MAY 31, 1999, 1830 ZULU

"Burrows, how many times do I have to tell you?" Captain Toshio Nakamura, callsign Animal, growled at his long-time 'friend' or more like annoyance, Lieutenant Philip 'Metalman' Burrows. "You don't shoot down a bogey...without ID'ing it first and making absolutely sure it's a bandit. You damned near knocked off a Hummer two weeks ago at Fallon and the Wallbangers CO hasn't stopped yelling at me. Jesus Christ, Metalman!"

"But it was just a training exercise and I hadn't fired a missile in so long of a time. I was starting to get rusty. Besides, the Hummer was in my target zone. I was going after the drone." Lieutenant Burrows whined, the expression on his face simply annoying the hell of out Animal.

"Don't...Don't start...Burrows. When you talk, I get annoyed, and when I get annoyed; me and annoyance do not make a good combination." Animal snarled. "Just don't do it AGAIN...Understand?"

"But, sir..."

"Burrows, what part of N-O...don't you understand?"

"Uh, the N part, or the O, I never really could get..."

"Shut up, Burrows, Just shut up..." Animal shook his head and looked for something light and lethal to throw at him. "I want you to safe every thing on your aircraft. Understand? When we go to Maple Flag...I don't want anything unauthorized coming off your rails or your damned aircraft and that even means oil drops don't FALL off your aircraft without prior orders to the affirmative." Animal glared at him malevolently. "If they do, I'm going to make you maintenance officer on a garbage scow in Portland!"

"Yes, sir, understood, sir...would you like me to call the moving van? Sir?" Metalman grinned an infuriating grin.

"A moving VAN? What for?" Animal gave him an incredulous look of disbelief.

"Well, sir, you don't want falling parts and other assorted paraphernalia falling off the aircraft so I presumed the safest method of transport for this particular aircraft would be via moving van, sir." Metalman explained; he still had the aggravating grin on his face. Animal counted to ten-million, grinding his teeth. It was all he could do to keep from exploding,

"Metalman...you're very ingenious in your methods of keeping the needs of the Navy ahead of your own, however in this particular case, NO. You will fly the aircraft, you will restrain yourself from accessing the trigger mechanism in your aircraft to your numerous weapons, no matter how appealing it would be or how particularly rusty you may get in your skills. The Navy and its very loyal personnel follow orders without questions, without second guessing, and no matter how much you may consider the senior officers to be cluster-fucked idiots, you will follow orders to the letter, do you understand what I am trying to tell you or is this floating past your ear-drums at a very rapid rate without appropriate comprehension?" Animal looked amiable, the calm visage belied the fact that at any particular moment, the captain could explode.

"Is this a multiple-choice question?" Metalman blinked, his face as innocent as he could make it.

"I said, do you understand what I am saying, you little INSIGNIFICANT WORM!" Animal erupted in a ear-splitting bellow. "JUST SHUT UP AND DON'T TOUCH THE FIRING MECHANISM ON YOUR WEAPONS IN YOUR AIRCRAFT!" Animal thundered. Metalman was inspecting the wall to see if there was buckling in the bulkheads from the sound-waves of the exhortation. "ARE YOU LISTENING, BURROWS!?"

"Yes, sir..." Metalman knew automatically, that he had pushed the CAG as far as was tolerated by his Commander of Air Wing Eight. Any more aggravation and Animal would quite possibly demote him for insubordination.

"And wipe that damned grin off your face. I'm getting sick and tired of looking at it." the CAG's voice was a whiplash.

"Uh, one question...sir." Metalman asked, as deadpan as he could make his face appear.

Animal cringed inwardly as he said..."What is it...Burrows." It was more a tired statement than a question

as if he didn't want to hear the question (which he really didn't, but that's besides the point).

"When are we supposed to be at Maple Flag, sir?" Metalman asked; an in the clear question.

Animal sighed in relief. Sometimes it was aggravating to have a conversation with this particular officer who seemed to be hell-bent on driving him insane. "In two days. We leave tomorrow at 1000 ZULU."

"How many of us are going?" Metalman thought to ask.

"Six crews including you, myself, Maegyn, Kimber, Spud and Wolf and our RIOs. Does that answer your question?" Animal said.

"Yes, sir..."

"Dismissed."

Metalman nodded, and about-faced to exit the room. Animal growled, "Hey, Metalman..."

"Yes, sir..."

"When we get to Maple Flag..."

"Uh, sir?" Metalman stopped amount and half-turned to look questioningly at the CAG.

"Kick some ass up there..."

Metalman nodded as he grinned back at Captain Nakamura "Yes, sir..."

VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA, JUNE 1, 1999, 2030 ZULU

Harm and Mac collected their luggage at the ground floor International Arrivals Level and immediately headed for a taxi when a man in a suit stopped them with a "Lieutenant Commander Rabb, Major Mackenzie." Many people had stopped to stare as United States Navy and Marine Corps uniforms were uncommon in Canada. United States military personnel were allowed to travel in uniform since they were going to a friendly country, just hopping across the longest undefended border was a simple flight or a car ride.

"Yes..." Harm and Mac turned to face the hailer. The man looked like a non-descript diplomat. Owlish features and a sharp beakish nose completed the picture of a ground-hugging, boot-licking diplomat, whereas that notion was quickly dispelled by the grin that the diplomat displayed.

"Lieutenant Commander, Major, I hope that you had a nice flight. I'm Chris Medley...with the United States Consulate in Vancouver. We have a ride for you over to the Consulate building. Your visas are being processed by the Canadian Consul and should be approved by this evening. Did you happen to see the sights in Vancouver?"

"Sorry, never been here before." Mac replied.

"The closest I've ever been to Vancouver is to Bremerton." Harm commented remembering an investigation he had undertaken with Meg and Kate, "It's not a great memory, if you get what I mean."

"I know..." Mac laughed at Harm's expression of distaste, "Kate and Meg told me about it. I don't think you ever want to get close to one of those suit-case bombs again...do you."

Harm snorted derisively. "Yeah...whenever I feel the urge to end up becoming a lantern without lightbulbs required, I'll think about visiting Bremerton again." The drive to the United States Consulate on West Pender Street was very quiet, but scenic, if one called going up Granville Street with 6 lanes of traffic and numerous buildings scenic.

Mac inquired,"So, did Animal ever tell you about Vancouver?"

"Hmmm, not much. Just that he was happy that he was in the States and a US Naval Aviator. I guess he doesn't reminisce much about this place any more. Don't know why, it's pretty nice. He was born in New York, but he spent an year up here in Canada with some distant relations" Harm replied casually glancing up at the tall buildings and noting just how relatively small the downtown core was in comparison to DC.

"There are nice places around here..." the consulate bureaucrat stated as he mentioned Mission, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Ruskin." This is urban sprawl, but when you get out into Maple Ridge-Mission area, it's lovely rural countryside."

"Maybe we should get Animal to show us around some of the places that he's been. He must have had some experience with the locale but it may have been forgotten. It has been a while since he was here last." Harm suggested. "Of course after we finish up this investigation and after they finish up with Maple Flag."

Mac sighed as she relished the thought of doing just that; the countryside was an especially heart-warming view for her. After years of living in the city and rarely getting a chance to go for a real honest-to-goodness vacation in a rural setting, it would be panacea for the soul. The plain-clothed Marine security at the consulate was a stark contrast to the uniformed guards at the different embassies around the world. In any case, this was symbolic of how relaxed the consulate was around Vancouver. Harm and Mac's uniforms were sharp contrast to the comfortable atmosphere that pervaded over the United States Consulate.

The Head of the Consulate welcomed them to a private office, "Well, the British Columbians seem to feel that any warship of the United States Navy carrying nuclear weapons in this area is a violation of their nuclear-weapons free zone. Now, we all know that the Nanoose Bay Weapons Testing Range is a jointly governed military installation. Both the Canadian Armed Forces and the United States Navy use the installation to test their conventional weapons. We have clearance to test our SUBROC and ASROC nuclear tipped anti-submarine stand-off weapons system, however, we do not like to test them here due to the diplomatic fallout that would more than likely happen." Harm raised his eyebrows at the pedantic tone the diplomat was taking. As if the Canadians were some sub-species of human beings.

"Do you still test them with conventional warheads?" Mac asked.

"Yes, we do. We still have the Mk. 46 homing torpedo which we have used on numerous dummy submarine targets that we have planted along the Strait of Georgia seabed. We have had relative success with the warhead, but lately we have been having more and more demonstrators in rubber dinghys stray purposely into the testing site and we have had to tighten security at the range."

"How have you usually tried to keep the demonstrators from entering the restricted area?" Harm queried the Consulate officer.

"We've usually kept them out by megaphone. But they are starting to get braver and venture in between patrols. We have asked however for a test of a W55 warhead in the area..."

"Which is...?" Mac looked at the Consulate officer sharply.

"A nuclear tipped depth bomb, which we are planning on testing."

"And what is its yield?" Harm asked.

"It's a five kiloton weapon."

Harm and Mac looked blankly. The diplomatic officer continued, "It has a destructive range of over 8 miles."

"And how wide is the Strait of Georgia..." Harm asked another probing question.

"It's about 50 miles." the diplomatic officer replied.

"So, you're planning on irradiating about one-sixth of the width of the Strait of Georgia." Mac interjected, her tone cold, "I don't blame the British Columbites for getting ticked off."

"Columbians..." Harm interrupted, his face deadpan.

"Excuse me?" Mac asked.

"British Columbians." Harm replied."That's what residents here are called."

"Oh..." Mac said."Really..." she gave Harm a sarcastic look as if to say, 'Alright smarty-pants.'

"Yes, really..." Harm grinned at Mac." So, sir..." he returned his gaze to the diplomatic officer,"what would you like us to do."

"I'd like you to go over to Nanoose Bay and find out what is going on over there. I've heard some strange goings-on over there and I'd like to know what exactly is going on." the diplomatic officer said.

"And who do we report back to." Mac didn't like this being shuffled off to do whatever for the time being.

"Me...I'm Cliff Menzies with the Foreign Service." the man stated perfunctorily. "And now, Lieutenant Commander and Major...I believe you two have a hotel room to stay in and your diplomatic visas should be approved by morning. You'll be catching a UH-1 Helo over at CFS Jericho Beach. Enjoy your stay in Canada." Harm and Mac looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.

NANOOSE BAY NAVAL TESTING RANGE NANOOSE BAY, BC, CANADA, 0325 ZULU

Canadian Armed Forces Navy Sub-Lieutenant Mark Evan Myers grinned as he looked over the latest supply sheets. The US Navy was bringing in an SUBROC W55 warhead. Which meant that security was to be tightened up at the Naval Testing Range facility. After 10 years of being in the Canadian Armed Forces Sub-Lieutenant Myers, Royal Canadian Navy, wanted out. He hadn't had an exceptional conduct record but that still didn't keep him from being refused his resignation until 15 years service was completed. He was locked in. His friends in the military were feeling the same way. After 10 years of service, the Canadian Armed Forces should be able to let him go. But they had insisted that he serve out his full term of service. This new wrinkle in his desire to get out left him embittered and grasping at straws on how he could be induced to leave the service early.

Sub-Lt. Myers looked over the spec sheets of the SUBROC weapon. The SUBROC was a depth bomb, but it also had a remote detonator which meant that it would possibly be able to be remotely detonated, depending on what the safe mechanism would be. He had been waiting for just the right opportunity. He knew that the yield on the weapon was 1 kiloton, and had a surface blast radius of 4 miles. The diameter of the devastation would be at least 8 miles if used underwater. He picked up the phone,"This is Sub-Lieutenant Myers, I'd like to have Master Corporal Severn, CPO 2nd Class O'Grady, and Master Seaman Davids in my office immediately."

"Yes, sir." the assistant said. The one thing Sub-Lieutenant Myers liked about this assistant was that he didn't ask any unpleasant questions. He just did as he was ordered.

A FEW MINUTES LATER

As the ranks filed in, Sub-Lieutenant Mark E. Myers growled, "I want you to shut the door."

"Yes, sir." CPO O'Grady said as he hastened to comply.

"This is classified information. The Americans have decided to test-detonate a W55 warhead on a SUBROC in the Strait of Georgia. I want you to keep your eyes and ears open. I want to grab that weapon. It's a chance that we won't get again. Gentlemen, our retirement investment is here..." The smiles on the faces of the conspirators, if anyone else could see, were chilling.

VIRGIN RECORDS, BURRARD STREET, VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA, 2245 ZULU

AN:Back in 1999 Virgin Records was still on Burrard Street in Vancouver

Harm and Mac, almost bored out of their minds, trudged wearily through the enormous record shop, as they awaited confirmation that their diplomatic visas were approved. "You know. I've never been in a Virgin Records store until now." Mac observed dryly as she looked at the three levels located in the store. "Movies upon movies, CDs upon CDs...how many more items can they cram into a store?"

"I don't know, any more and they wouldn't have space to move around." Harm muttered as he stepped around a pair of Japanese exchange students who were busy discussing in loud Japanese about how good a particular movie was or whatever the heck that they were talking about. Their backpacks seemed to extend into the aisle and block about three quarters of it. "Excuse me." he said as he slipped past. "What time is it..." Harm thought to ask.

"2250 and 14 seconds ZULU, 2:50 Pacific Standard time, now 21 seconds..." Mac replied instantaneously.

"Did I ever tell you that you could possibly work for a automatic time retrieval service?" Harm quipped. "Once you get out of the Marine Corps, that is."

Mac grinned at him and replied smugly, "Now why would I do a thing like that? Get out of the Marine Corps, that is."

"Didn't think so, but you know, it's always nice to have a second career planned" Harm replied as Mac shot him a rather dour look.

"Once a Marine, always a Marine, Harm." Mac replied as she picked up a video on Guadalcanal. Mac's cell-phone rang. Eyeing it she saw the ROAM feature on. 'Surprise that it even worked.' she thought. "Major Mackenzie." she said.

"Major Mackenzie." Senior Diplomat Cliff Menzies' voice was clear though the cellular connection. Ah the wonder of electronics. Menzies did not elaborate other than to say,"Your diplomatic visas have been approved."

"Great..." Mac said, and hung up. "At least we can now get out of here." Coaxing Harm from looking at a movie in his hand, she convinced him to drop it and get out of there.

Harm and Mac found the escalator and headed up to the main floor of the Virgin Records store. Finding the Burrard Street exit, they hailed a north bound taxi to the US Consulate.

2320 ZULU

Upon retrieval of their diplomatic visas, they headed towards CFS Jericho Beach. This was in the West Side of Vancouver near the University of British Columbia. The diplomatic envoy's vehicle stopped in front of the green and white building of the Canadian Armed Forces Station and let them off. The Canadian Armed Forces Jericho Beach detachment was a small base with about a thousand personnel. It was even very lightly guarded. Anyone could get on base and off without being hailed or stopped. Harm just shook his head. Security was very lax in Canada. If one tried to get onto a military installation in the United States, one got one or two hails almost immediately and if one didn't stop, they got a 5.56 steel-jacketed round between the second and third ribs on the left side.

Harm and Mac walked up to the front desk. "Lieutenant Commander Harmon Rabb Jr, and Major Sarah Mackenzie, US Navy/Marine Corps JAG." Harm and Mac flipped out their IDs at the officer at the front desk.

"Yes, sir." the Master Corporal at the desk replied as he punched a button on a telephone,"Sir? Two JAG officers are here to see you."

"Yes, I know...The US Consulate advised me, send them in."

"Commander Rabb?"

"Yes..."

"Major Kevin McDonough will see you now."

Harm and Mac were ushered into a room where a man sitting down in a desk wearing a light blue Canadian Armed Forces shirt and a greyish-blue set of pants sat. The shirt was offset by blue epaulets with two and a half gold braids on each along with the requisite gold embroidered 'CANADA' lettering. The man had an aquiline nose and dark brown eyes, and his black hair was cut short and was slicked in a casual way across his head. His uniform was kept crisp and neat and there was an air of professionalism about him that Mac instantly detected.

"Major Kevin McDonough, I presume?" Mac asked as she introduced themselves to him. "Major Sarah Mackenzie, United States Marine Corps, and…" she gestured to the tall officer in service blues, "Lieutenant Commander Harmon Rabb, United States Navy.

"Yes, Major Mackenzie." Major McDonough said, "We have a Huey ready to take you to Comox...the pilot should be warming up the engine right now. I presume the United States Navy sent you here to figure out what was going on?"

"Yes, Major." Harm replied this time for Mac who was busy looking at the numerous paintings of Canadian Armed Forces aircraft depicted on the wall. "They did. Of course, though we're not too sure as to what is going on over there. Hopefully you might be able to enlighten us as to what the problem is…"

"Well, isn't that just great." Captain McDonough grinned, "Well, the Department of Defense just asked me to be your guide. We'll be catching that Huey very shortly so I hope you have your gear packed and ready. Nanoose is not really that suited for dress blues and all that, so that's why we're offering you lodgings at CFB Comox. Hopefully you have your khakis in a separate bag. We can lock up your gear over here."

Harm didn't really care for that idea, but given the fact that conditions over in Nanoose Bay would probably not do good things to his uniforms, he reluctantly acquiesced, handing his uniform bags containing his other uniforms to the Master Corporal who had miraculously appeared out of thin air.

HELICOPTER PAD JERICHO BEACH DETACHMENT JERICHO BEACH, KITSILANO VANCOUVER, BC CANADA 0015 ZULU

"This is Lieutenant Pete Burns..." Captain Kevin McDonough yelled, as they hustled over to the helicopter, over the noise of the rotors turning, "He'll be flying us over to Comox. From there we will go over to Nanoose Bay to check the situation out.

"Great..." muttered Harm, "Did I ever tell you that I hate helicopters?" he muttered to Mac.

"C'mon Harm, Let's go." Mac smiled sweetly at him. "Oh it's only when the million parts stop working that you have to worry…besides these things are just like our UH-1s back home."

Harm glared at her and rolled his eyes. "Give me an F-14 anyday." complained Harm as he reluctantly got into the Bell CH-146 Griffon which was the Royal Canadian Air Force's equivalent to the Bell UH-1. The helicopter lifted off as soon as Capt. McDonough sat down.

CANADIAN FORCES BASE COMOX, COMOX BC, CANADA, 0015 ZULU

"Fast Eagle 101, Comox Approach, VFR landing clearance Runway three zero." Animal radioed, clipping his MBU-14 to his HGU-33/P flight helmet.

"Roger that, Fast Eagle 101, Say your type?"

"Roger, Fox One Four."

"Welcome to Comox, Fast Eagle 101...Cleared for runway three-zero" Comox Tower radioed back.

Metalman was flying 'welded wing' all the way in. The two Tomcats touched down almost simultaneously. The six F-14s, once on the ground, taxied over to the main tarmac and shut down. They were instantly eyeballed by a bunch of Canadian CF-18 Hornet jockeys.

"Say, dose are a nice set of wheels." the lead CF-18 jockey by the name of Captain Lucien DeLarme, who had a slight Quebecois tinged accent.

"Thanks." Animal commented casually as he walked by accompanied by his fellow F-14 pilots.

"Mebbe, we could…buy a flight in one of dose Tomcats..." Capt. DeLarme asked.

"Yeah...how much you got?" Metalman retorted.

"Er...fi-teen do-llars..." The Canadian Forces fellows hooted with derision.

Animal turned to them and said, "Sorry, If you had two million, then we might be able to start negotiating. But fifteen bucks, sorry, save it and go buy yourselves a Labatts Blue..." he still remembered that much from an year of living in Canada with some relatives that he could barely remember. He preferred Coors or Guinness.

"You know that we know Canadian terrain a lot better than you Yankees." One of the others grinned. "Heck, I flew with the Snowbirds. Nothing beats flying over Cold Lake, inverted."

"How about in-to Cold Lake, inverted..." snorted Kimber.

Metalman guffawed derisively, "They know Canadian terrain...Ha ha ha...I'd hope so." He snickered at Spud, "Nothing like a farmer's wife waking up in the mornin' to find a stray CF-18 in her back yard...'uh, say, do you know which way Cold Lake, Alberta is...EH?'"

"Hardy har har, Yankee...you know we're gonna kick your asses." the Canadian CF-18 pilot replied.

Animal grinned ferally at the Canadian fighter jock, "We'll see...about that, won't we?" he shot the Canadian fighter pilot a harsh look. It was just about that time that the Canadian fighter pilots noticed the silver embroidered eagles on the shoulders of his flight suit, and their brains equated the silver eagles meant 'higher rank'.

Their combined shocked and amazed looks were comical as they stood up straight. "Sorry, sir." they chimed as they stood at attention.

"As you were..." Animal said; as he snickered at the younger RCAF aviators. Young cocky attitudes tended to get people killed and he'd been a squadron commander long enough to know that if they didn't keep a tight squadron, the young bucks would keep planting themselves in the dirt. Hopefully their Lieutenant Colonel would keep a tight rein on them. The fact that they were one of the elite squadrons in the Navy, if not the best, was the tradition of the Black Aces. As the first F-14 squadron to get kills, the onus was on them to keep up the standard of excellence. The Canadian pilots were no pushovers, and hence the U.S. Navy sent their best squadron to compete against them. As did the USAF with their 555th FS now flying the F-16Cs. The US Marines sent the VMFA-314 Black Knights with their F/A-18Cs. This would be an all out mock war. No holds barred. Animal knew that they would be flying from Comox to Cold Lake. The engagements would take place over Cold Lake, but it would make it seem like a carrier air strike, if they departed from Comox every day of the Maple Flag contest. The Aggressors were to be based at CFB Cold Lake. The other aircraft of Blue Force were to be based at CFB Comox. "Let's note that this exercise is training. Don't get hot-headed." He looked at both the US and Canadian aircrews. Maegyn stepped to his side beside him. "This is the VF-41 Black Aces Commanding Officer. Commander Maegyn O'Bannon. She'll be one of the two flying circles around you guys."

"YES SIR!" the crews chorused.

"The other…will be me." Animal growled ominously causing several members of the Canadian Armed Forces to gulp. "On my six." Animal barked at the Black Aces that were standing around him. "Let's go see if they've got some accommodations for us.

CANADIAN FORCES BASE COMOX, COMOX BC, JUNE 2nd, 1999, 0115 ZULU

Harm and Mac were sequestered separately in barracks at CFB Comox, due to the fact that there were not many quarters available over in Nanoose Bay Weapons Testing Facility. The rooms were dark, dank and the furnishings consisted of a bed with painted steel railings and it reminded Mac of her boot-camp days.

"At least we have hot water..." Harm said consolingly.

"It gets shut off at 2200." Major McDonough replied. Mac groaned.

Mac stated, "Well, we saw your quarters, let's go see mine. Major, now where is the Visiting Officer's Quarters for females." she asked.

"Well, we don't seem to have any right now...you'll be in the same Base Officer's Quarters as every other female officer." Major Kevin McDonough replied.

"Oh, goody..." her tone implied that she wasn't too pleased.

Just then they heard, "Hey, Animal, I told you that Pinky was the retarded mouse and Brain was the one with the big head." Mac looked curiously at Harm as Harm shrugged his shoulders. Harm recognized the voice as that of Lieutenant Phil Burrows. Who knew what Metalman was talking about anyways.

"Look, Burrows, I don't give a flying shit about which bloody character is what...do you think I'm of the age that I still watch cartoons? Considering I'm older than you by about a decade" Animal's voice sounded rather cheesed off as it rang down the hallway. Just then they saw two khaki-clad pilots walking past Harm's bedroom door.

"Hey, ANIMAL..." Mac said cheerily.

"Mac, what you doing here?" Animal's cheery voice returned the hail.

Major Kevin McDonough saw the face of his old school buddy looking at him. He gazed upon his friend's face that he hadn't seen in a long time. Animal had lived up in Canada for about a year, going to school, with some distant relatives of his and he had made friends with a Kevin McDonough who was about two years younger than Animal. "Tosh?" he asked hesitantly. He looked at his friend's khaki collars with eagles on them. Animal was higher rank than him. But then again, the Royal Canadian Air Force promoted a hell of a lot slower. After working radar at Tinker for some time, Kevin had recognized US military insignia. "Is that you?"

"Kevin?" Animal exclaimed as he took a closer look at the RCAF officer. "Kevin McDonough?"

"Yeah..." Kevin replied.

"Long time no see, buddy..." Animal said, grinning at him as he extended a hand to shake his friend's hand.

Noticing Mac and Harm, Animal grinned, "So, Harm, this guy causing you grief?"

"Nope..." Kevin interjected.

"I wasn't asking you...Kevin..." Animal replied. It was at this point that Kevin noticed the silver eagles on Animal's collars. His brain synapses clicked in and he noticed that the silver eagles represented Captain, two ranks higher than Lieutenant Commander and Major. "Harm thinks that he might be getting a raw deal on this room...there's gotta be something better than this piece of crap room that he has to share with a bunch of low ranking fuzzbutts." Animal looked at Major McDonough.

"Sir?" Kevin replied."You mean you out-rank me?"

Animal just nodded subtly, the shock on his friend's face was enough amusement for one day. "Hey, you're a Major, right...Kevin, surely you can get him a room that's decent, whattaya say?"

"I'll see what I can do...uh..."

"Tosh, just call me Tosh...like old times..." Animal replied. "Except when we're in uniform in company of superior officers."

"Let me see what I can do..." Major McDonough departed the room very quickly.

Animal shut the door. "So, Mac, you wanna tell me what's going on?" he asked quietly.

Mac rolled her eyes as she said, "I could never keep a secret from you, could I..."

"Asian intuition...ya gotta know that already, Mac..." Animal grinned.

"Well..." she looked meaningfully at Metalman. Animal knew immediately what Mac was implying.

"Hey, Metalman, go buy yourself an ice-cream cone...or something..." Animal ordered Metalman.

"I'm not really all that hungry right now..." Metalman objected.

"Disappear...Metalman..." Animal growled ominously, a hint of steel in his voice.

Metalman took the hint and got lost. Mac said, "Animal, we have a big problem. The British Columb-ians..." she shot a meaningful glance at Harm who looked innocently up at the ceiling, "want to annex Nanoose Bay Weapons Facility."

"I heard mutterings about that..." Animal said, "My great-aunt always sends me newspaper clippings in her CARE packages."

"Newspaper clippings?"

"Yeah, newspaper clippings..." Animal said, "Y'know, from the local newspapers, the Province, the Sun..."

"Oh...I thought they were tabloids..." Mac said.

"Naw...just the Province looks like one. The Sun actually looks like a regular newspaper..." He held up one. Emblazoned across it was a big head line reading "PREMIER TAKES HARD STANCE ON NANOOSE" It was the Province.

"Oh, just great." Mac said. "A local newspaper and I pass it off as a tabloid." she muttered.

"Look, you're going to have to read the paper up here to find out what the atmosphere is like. You're dealing with civilians and I can't give you much of a hand. I've got a group of flyers up here and an dissimilar air combat training exercise to run between Cold Lake and Comox and I'm going to have work up to my ears." Animal remarked. "You're on your own on this one." Harm and Mac looked at each other. "What else aren't you telling me?" Animal growled.

"Yeah…there is something else…" Harm uttered looking over at Animal. "But it can't leave this room."

"Spit it out." Animal levelled an annoyed look at Harm.

"We hear some disgruntled RCN personnel are going after the next SUBROC that's coming into Nanoose Bay. It's absolutely confidential information. Classifed Top Secret." Mac stated

"Shit, do you have a pile of crap on your hands now…" Animal muttered. "How the fuck do you manage to get yourself into these things?"

"I don't know, but it seems more common nowadays." Harm retorted looking disgustedly out the window. "You know. Today started out by getting hauled into the room and being commandeered by a spook."

"Webb again, huh?" Animal muttered.

NANOOSE BAY WEAPONS FACILITY, NANOOSE BAY, BC, JUNE 2, 1999, 1125 PST

The USS Kincaid (DDG-965) sliced calmly through the waters as it approached the dock. The US Navy sailors waiting on the dock for the ship to moor, were only noticeably noisier than the heavily armed United States Marine guards who were also on the deck. The W55 was a potent weapon and security measures were high. The Marines were under an order to shoot to kill if anyone other than authorized personnel even made one step onto the pier.

SSGT Mike O'Callaghan was the Marine security team's leader and he held his M-16A2 at port arms as he kept an eagle eye on the dock. There was no way that he was going to allow anyone a crack at this warhead. It was too dangerous of a weapon. But other plans were in motion, other plans that included the use of this warhead.

But right now, all SSGT O'Callaghan wanted was a nice beer and a warm bed. He gazed out over the calm waters of Nanoose Bay and the small dock that the USS Kincaid had docked against. It was going to be an interesting two week deployment here at this little Canadian test range.


AN: This fic is an alternate universe of an alternate universe where Animal doesn't get yanked off active flight status when he receives the MoH. This is in the Meg/Animal universe.