Title : Harm, The Vorlon
Author : Jaggie 107
Disclaimer : JAG characters belong to DPB, CBS and Paramount – and I hope all parties will allow me to have fun for a little while, and replace them all when I'm done. Thank you.
Summary : Bud gets Harm and Mac into sci-fi.
Author's Notes: Series 8 timeline, AU, H & M are friends. Posted as a response to an HBX Ficathon challenge. (Prompt: A Vorlon said understanding is a three-edged sword, your side, their side, and the truth. (Anonymous))
Break Room, JAG HQ
"I don't understand, Harm." Mac was heard to comment as Bud entered the break room, heading for the coffee machine, smiling at the two of them as Harm answered her.
"I'm just saying that Petty Officer Marston may very well be innocent of the charges, but the truth of the matter is that she was at the Lieutenant's house that day, and I can prove it!"
"But if you do, you prejudice your own client," Mac protested. Harm shrugged his shoulders, knowing that his client was innocent of assault, but guilty of having precipitated the event by turning up at the home of her former lover; a fact which she had previously denied. In the ensuing silence, and having heard most of the discussion, Bud offered his comments.
"You're a Vorlon, sir!" Bud grinned, eyeing Harm over the top of his coffee mug. Harm scowled and shot his friend and colleague a dirty look.
"I'm a what?"
"Vorlon, sir. Creatures that can't breathe oxygen unless they're in an encounter suit."
"I know I shouldn't encourage you, Bud, but what the hell is an 'encounter suit'?"
"I'd be more concerned that he called me a 'creature' if I were you," Mac murmured as she grabbed for a pastry from the box on one counter in the room, taking a bite as she leaned back against the opposite counter and eyed Harm for his reaction.
"That's right! So, you equate me to a creature, Bud?" Now Harm was having his own fun, watching Bud squirm under the sudden scrutiny.
"Sir? No, sir! I'm just… I mean, you always go for the truth, sir… always!"
"And the point is?" Harm continued, trying his damnedest to keep a straight face as he glanced briefly at Mac, chewing happily on her pastry and watching the unfolding conversation in front of her.
Bud stared wordlessly between Mac and Harm, and while Harm continued to glare at him, Mac was devouring the remainder of the pastry and wiping her hands on a napkin that Harm had handed over without having taken his eyes off the younger man. As she threw the used napkin into the trashcan she leveled her gaze on Bud too, and he gulped. Both Harm and Mac were desperately trying not to laugh.
"I…er…it's just…well, you'd rather lose a case than win on a lie. Even if it hurts your client, you always go for the truth, sir!"
"And?"
"And that's what a Vorlon said, that 'understanding is a three-edged sword, your side, their side, and the truth'."
"And that's how you came to your conclusion, Lieutenant?"
"Well, sir…it fits!"
"He's right, Harm. It does. Harm the Vorlon! I like it!" Mac grinned at Harm, winked at Bud and left the break room.
As Mac departed she could hear Bud trying to defend her parting comment. " Sir, I didn't mean… I mean, the Colonel…"
"It's okay, Bud. I know what the Colonel meant; don't worry, I'll get to the Colonel later. In the meantime, you're saying that I am like a…"
"Vorlon, sir," supplied Bud helpfully, and Harm glared balefully.
"A Vorlon," Harm continued, "…because I seek the truth?"
"Yes, sir. I guess that there's your side, as defender of your client; the prosecutor's side, self-explanatory; and the truth."
"Thanks, Bud," Harm slapped the younger man on the back as he left the break room.
Between coughing fits to dislodge the piece of pastry that he had swallowed inadvertently, Bud managed a wheezy, 'You're welcome, sir.'
Mac's Room, JAG HQ
Mac looked up as Harm knocked against the wooden frame of her door.
"You know, Bud's right! I've been checking Vorlons out on the web," Mac grinned as she looked up at Harm. Dropping into one of the visitors' chairs in front of him, Harm groaned.
"Maaaac," he drew out, giving her a pained look. "You're not going to keep this up, are you? It's bad enough Bud being into sci-fi, without you encouraging him."
"I'm not the one calling you a 'creature'," laughed Mac, and Harm gave her a mock glare.
"So, what is it about a Vorlon that I'm supposed to have in common?" Harm decided to allow Mac to torment him a little longer. The more time she spent with him, the better he felt, even when she was tormenting him.
"Well…" Mac began, and launched into a list of attributes of a fictional creature in comparison to the very real Naval officer in front of her. "There's your ability to fly, although a Vorlon does it without an F-14."
"His loss," murmured Harm. Mac continued.
"There's the luminescence when a Vorlon sheds its suit."
"Are you saying I 'light up your world', Mac?" Harm's lips lifted in a knowing smile as he looked at Mac, who swallowed nervously but bravely continued.
"You once said you always knew where I was," Mac began, and met Harm's gaze briefly as they both recalled the occasion. Pulling herself back to the present she repeated more of what she had been reading. "A Vorlon has a heightened telepathic ability."
"Really!" Harm looked pleasantly surprised, and Mac regained her equilibrium and her humor as she conveyed her next item of interest in Vorlons. "Their sense of timing is nothing like a human's." At this she began laughing, knowing Harm's sense of timing was at best annoying, and at worst life-threatening! Although she had to admit, when it came to flying, his timing was perfect! Go figure, huh?
"Anything else I should know about?" Harm sighed in mock defeat, and Mac paused to look at her partner in earnest. The remainder of the article she had read had only heightened her belief that Bud had been right – Harm showed no weakness as an aviator nor as a lawyer. Other parts of the article painted the Vorlons as a supreme race of beings, but Mac decided that Harm's ego didn't need boosting any higher than it already was! His arrogance on occasion was both humorous and warranted, and at other times it was downright annoying!
"Wellll…" Mac drawled, "there is more on the Encounter suit."
Mac's Place
"So, Mac, about the Encounter suit; especially the openings…" Harm's voice was low and seductive, and Mac's breath caught in her throat.
The End
For those of you who might want to read the whole article, send me a PM/email. I can't post the addy here.
For those of you who have a less than clean mind, here's the paragraph in question!
The Vorlon Encounter Suit, a sophisticated bio-organic construct, supposedly covers every square inch of a Vorlon's body. Openings allow the Vorlon inside to leave the suit or only allow certain appendages to interact with the environment outside them.