A/N: When that coin was flipped that wasn't the end of JAG, there were other people to take into account, than Harm and Mac. Here is a short story that looks at what could have happened to any of them.
Give Me a Hand and I'll Make It!
Major General 'Biff' Cresswell, the USN and Marine Corps JAG, trailing a comet-like tail of Doctors, Nurses and his Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Colonel Jack Burney, swept into the side ward, and stopped in front of one of the beds. The slight, pyjama and bathrobe clad figure of Lieutenant Natalia 'Tali' Mayfield sat to attention as best she could in the bedside chair and then, despite the fibre glass cast on her left leg, made as if to come to her feet.
"As you were Lieutenant!" Cresswell growled, "This is an informal visit, I've just come to find out how long it is before we can expect to see you back at JAG?"
Tali Mayfield bit her lip, "Not too long, I hope, sir… Just as soon as they've fixed this…" She glanced downwards at her curiously shortened left forearm, which instead of ending in a hand, terminated in bandages wrapped neatly around the stump of her wrist.
Cresswell nodded, "Great. I'm hearing good things about your progress, Lieutenant – remarkable thing, considering…"
'Yeah, considering...' Tali thought bitterly, 'Considering that it was only five days ago that I had been fighting for my life and the lives of the others and had taken an AK74 hit through my left wrist. Instead she tried to smile, "I can't wait to get out of here and back to duty, sir!"
"Good! That's what I like to hear," Cresswell replied, but at the same time he narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. For some unexplained reason, he felt that the junior officer's enthusiasm didn't quite ring true. Not that that was any great surprise. Mayfield was a very attractive young woman and for her to suddenly lose a physical part of her must have come as a hell of a psychological as well as a physical blow.
Nevertheless he coughed almost apologetically, "Well, when you do return to duty, you'll have to look pretty sharp. General Ormond has recommended you for the Silver Star to go along with your Purple Heart.
"Th… thank you, sir…" Tali stuttered.
"No thanks needed, Lieutenant. You earned that medal – more than earned it from what I hear. So you just concentrate on getting better and getting back to duty so that you can receive it in the appropriate manner!"
"Aye, aye, sir!" Tali snapped out in response.
"Good… well done, Lieutenant!" With a curt nod to his officer, Cresswell spun on his heel and once again, trailing his entourage after him he swept out of the ward.
Lieutenant Tali Mayfield waited until the door had closed behind her erstwhile visitors and sat in her chair, staring with loathing at her mutilated wrist and sobbing silently as the tears cascaded down her face, as she tried to remember…
xxxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
It had been routine, a field investigation in Afghanistan into an alleged attack by US Navy F/A-18s that had resulted in a local clinic being destroyed, together with loss of civilian life. Tali was deployed as the FJAG based on the carrier JFK, so Captain Baker had detailed her, accompanied by her Legalman Second Class, Yates, and an Afghan interpreter to check out the site of the alleged air raid and come up with any evidence that would either corroborate or contradict the locals' claims.
They had been helo'd directly in to the stricken village by a Seahawk UH-60, and had made themselves known to the village headman and his council. The locals weren't too happy at dealing with a woman, but Tali persevered and by the exercise of great tact and patience and accompanied by the drinking of much tea, had eventually reached an agreement with the council. She would inspect the crater – all that was left of the clinic – and if there was any evidence of USN munitions then she would recommend that the Carrier Group land a detachment of SeaBees and at least clear the ground so that rebuilding – at the Navy's expense – could start.
However, not all the council were predisposed to look favourably on the activities of the infidel, and at least one member of the council, Tali noted, had deserted the protracted negotiations, openly sneering at the brazen, bare-faced western woman as he did so.
The visit to the bombed site revealed that the Afghani's had at least some support for their claim that it had been US warplanes that had destroyed the clinic, amongst the rubble were pieces of at least two JDAMs, marked with USN stencils, incontrovertible proof that the building had been successfully targeted by US airplanes. Why the building had been targeted in the first case, was in Tali's opinion, irrelevant. There must have been some reason for it to have been hit, but the priority now was to compensate the village for the deaths and rebuild the clinic. The blame game could wait, and as far as the FJAG was concerned, the matter was above her pay-grade anyhow.
So it was with assurances that compensation and rebuilding at the Navy's expense would be forthcoming that Tali gravely shook hands with the headman and with her Legalman and interpreter climbed back aboard the waiting UH-60 for the two hours return flight back to the JFK.
The engines fired, the rotors spun and the helicopter, in its own dust storm rose, a little unsteadily into the air. The crew chief, a Naval Aircrewman Petty Officer First Class, relaxed into his seat and yelled out to Tali, "Routine run ma'am! Lieutenant Bridger is short time; he won't be taking any risks! And anyway, we've got these two guys watching out for us!" he used his thumb to indicate the pair of door gunners, each crouched behind an M240 machine gun and scanning the ground below and ahead of them.
Tali nodded, hiding a smile, the AW 1 was barely into his mid-twenties, at least half a dozen years younger than herself, while the two gunners who were even younger hardly looked like they should have been out of high school. And as for Lieutenant 'Big Jim' Bridger, she had spoken to him on a number of occasions over the last six months; the last time just a few days ago, and she knew just how keen he was to get back to his wife and the new daughter he had yet to meet, and she also knew, because he had showed her, that he kept a laminated photograph of his family in the breast pocket of his flight suit, and a second copy of that same photograph taped to the fascia of the helo he flew.
As she looked around the inside of the helo Tali's smile faded to a frown as she contemplated the lanky figure of LN Two Yates, his M-4 Carbine carelessly slung, muzzle down over his shoulder, and his eyes almost completely shut as he apparently dozed away the miles back to the carrier. Yates was Tali's personal burden. Oh, he was a competent Legalman, but he wasn't proactive enough to suit Tali's style. He was quite content to sit back and wait to be told what to do, apparently he had picked up an attitude from the Sergeant Tyree character from the old movie, 'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon', he never volunteered an opinion and his almost invariable answer to any query not strictly within his purview eliciting a lazily drawled, "Well, ma'am, that ain't hardly my department," and that, while amusing in a movie, was damned aggravating in real life, particularly in the real armed forces!
Tali frowned and for about the forty eleventh time tried to make up her mind just what she was going to do about her unsatisfactory Legalman, she had just about decided to ask the JAG – General Cresswell – to have orders cut transferring him back to JAG HQ in DC, where he could settle into a humdrum, routine existence, and not have to make decisions, and where he could wait out his enlistment. He certainly wouldn't be getting a recommendation from Tali, if he should – an unlikely event – decided to re-up at the end of his present contract.
A slight nod confirmed her reluctant decision and she set about mentally composing the requisite letter of request and that's when things went to hell.
There was a blinding flash and a deafening crash from the front of the helo and Tali's surroundings became a maelstrom of whirling, spinning and falling machinery as the helo plunged earthwards, auto-rotating helplessly about its centre of gravity.
The AW One looked across at her in shock. "Hold on! We're going in!" he screamed.
Hardly had the words left his mouth and Tali, reacting to them, had grabbed the frame of her canvas seat when the helo struck the iron-baked ground of Helmand province, and everything in Tali's world went black.
Tali swum back from the darkness and up into a world of pain. Her left ankle hurt abominably and she realised that she was still strapped into her seat. Shaking her head to clear it only brought about a wave of nausea and she retched helplessly, and she fumbled with her seat belt buckle. Almost simultaneously she became aware of the smell of burning and a stab of pure panic swept over her. She was stuck inside a burning helicopter! That realisation brought about a fresh burst of energy and she grabbed her knife from its sheath on her web equipment, slashing furiously at the belt that imprisoned her. Cut free, she fell forward onto her hands and knees, and almost vomited as she recoiled in horror. Legalman Two Yates had obviously failed to secure his seat belt and had been thrown from his seat on impact. He now lay on the deck of the helo, his neck twisted at an impossible angle. Just past him she could see the hunched figure of the Crew Chief as he crawled backwards to her, tugging at something in his hands. With a sick feeling Tali realised he was dragging one of the young gunners to the door and as her hearing cleared, she could hear the youngster wailing, "Momma…!" as his blood spurted from his shoulder.
Tali gulped and ignoring the pain in her leg, she crawled forward to help the Crew Chief, "Okay, I'm with you… come on let's get him out of here!"
The crew chief, his own face twisted in a grimace of pain gave a terse nod, "I'm with you, ma'am!" and together they hauled the wounded gunner out through the helo door and into the afternoon sun.
A quick examination of the casualty showed a six inch gash high on his right shoulder. Tali was no battlefield medic, but it appeared to her that the injury wasn't too serious, unless the unfortunate gunner bled out. "First aid kit?" she gasped.
"In the helo," the crew chief acknowledged and then as Tali made to stand, he noticed that she was unable to put any weight on her injured leg. "I'll go!" he insisted and as fast he could he scurried back into the wrecked aircraft, reappearing a couple of minutes later with a medical haversack.
"Okay, I've got this," Tali muttered between clenched teeth, "Check on the others!"
"Already have ma'am. Your interpreter is out cold, your Petty Office is dead… so are both pilots and the other gunner," he added sombrely.
"What the hell happened?" Tali demanded, as she ripped open the medic's bag.
"Looks like we were hit by a missile ma'am! The whole front of the helo is blasted to hell!"
Between them they sprinkled clotting agent on the now mercifully unconscious gunner's wound and with the chief propping him in a supine position, Tali made the best attempt she could at wrapping a bandage around his chest and shoulder, to hold in place the shell dressing she had positioned over the gaping wound.
"We're lucky this thing hasn't gone up like a July Fourth rocket!" the crew chief commented thankfully as they laid the gunner down on as rock free a patch of earth as they could find.
Tali nodded, "What now?"
The crew chief looked grim. "I don't want to scare you unnecessarily, ma'am, but if we were brought down by hostiles, then it's likely that they'll come a looking for us… just so they can video the crash and prove their claim to the world, ma'am…" his eyes looked troubled.
Tali realised without having to be told what at least one of his concerns were. "Okay, so first things first. Let's get the bodies out of the helo…"
"It's not going to be pleasant, ma'am… there was fire…" the crew chief reminded her.
"I know, AW One, I know… but we don't leave our people behind do we?"
"No, ma'am!"
"Right… once we've got the bodies out… is there an SAR beacon on this bird?"
"Yes, ma'am. But whether it survived the crash…"
"Well, that's one thing we'll have to find out, isn't it! But if it's operational, let's get the damned thing up and running!
"Aye, aye, ma'am!"
"Now, what about food and water?"
"Only what we've got on our belts and in our pouches, ma'am."
"That's not good…"
"No ma'am."
"Okay, let's see if we can get that beacon working, and then…"
"Ma'am?"
"And then, AW One, if you're right and we're going to have insurgents crawling all over us, let's see what we can do about defence!"
"It might be better if we could move away from the helo, ma'am?"
"That's not an option… Your gunner is too badly hurt to move, the interpreter is till unconscious… and I … well… I think I've broken my ankle. What about you?"
"Banged up my ribs some ma'am. But I'll be okay…"
"You sure?"
"Yes, ma'am.
"Right, so what have we got?"
"Well, there's your guy's carbine and your pistol, and the two M240s, over a thousand rounds for each of them."
"Hopefully that will be enough!"
"Uh… ma'am… can you shoot?"
"Farmer's daughter from the Cumberland Gap… I'm no Davey Crockett, but I can generally hit what I aim for!"
"That's good to hear, ma'am!"
"Yeah, I guess…" despite her injury and her concerns, Tali managed a grin, and was heartened to see a corresponding lightening in her one conscious companion's expression.
"So… if you can haul the hardware out here, AW One… shit… I can't keep calling you that… what's the hell's your name?"
"Trewcastle, Ma'am. Andy Trewcastle."
"Okay then Andy, let's get set up!"
Tali concentrated hard, examining the immediate area and trying to remember what she had learned in her long ago days in ROTC about mutual support and interlocking field of fire. Of course with only two hands to defend the position, she could only hope and pray that help would arrive before the insurgents found the crash site.
Five minutes passed before Andy returned to her side, a trace of a grin on his face. "I've got the beacon working ma'am, but the thing is, it's only got its battery… there's no power from the helo to keep it charged."
"How long?" Tali demanded.
"Until the battery runs out? I'm not sure, maybe eight hours…"
"H'mm… Tali looked at the sun, now beginning to sink towards the western horizon. Okay… let's keep it going until full dark and then switch it off until the morning."
"Aye, aye ma'am. Now… where do you want this gun? The other one's pretty banged up and I don't reckon it would be safe to try to use it…"
Tali muttered a quiet "Damn!" And cast her eyes about, "At the moment, I don't have any idea… it all depends from which direction the bad guys come, if they come at all!"
"There is that," Andy agreed doubtfully.
But the bad guys came. At first it seemed that there was a dozen of them. Tali rolled into her chosen position amongst the rocks and snuggled down behind Yates' M-4 and squinted through the sights at the raggedly dressed Taliban, easing the fire selection lever and taking up the first tension on the trigger. A few yards away Andy Trewcastle set himself up behind a further cluster of boulders, the salvaged M240 on a makeshift support and locked and loaded.
Tali licked her suddenly dry lips, and waited until the insurgents were only about two hundred yards away, "Okay, Andy, short, controlled bursts, let 'em have it!"
The ripple of fire from the M240 and the three round burst from Tali's M-4 knocked four of the approaching insurgents to the ground, leaving them sprawled in their blood alongside their weapons, while the remainder of the group broke and dived for cover.
A babble of voices came to Tali's ear and to her grim pleasure it seemed to her that there was surprise, dismay and confusion amongst the voices, but that didn't stop her from loosing a further three round burst as one of the insurgent poked his head around one of the numerous rocks in an attempt to pin-point her and Andy's position. The rounds missed, but not by much and she had the satisfaction of hearing his wail of dismay as stone fragments and shards of baked hard earth splattered into his face and eyes.
"That ought to make 'em think twice!" Tali called out to Andy.
Andy's "Yes, ma'am," sounded strangely strangled and Tali turned an anxious face in his direction, "Andy, are you hit?"
"Andy shook his head, "No, ma'am, just caught my poor ol' ribs on a stone!" he joked, but Tali could hear the pain in his voice.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure!" Andy insisted and then with a note of urgency in his voice added, "Watch your front!"
Tali snatched her head around to the front and saw to her horror that four of the insurgents had risen to their feet and were racing towards her, AK74s beginning to blaze as they fired from the hip. Tali instinctively took half a breath and then rapidly but smoothly squeezed the trigger three times. Two of the Taliban crumpled forward and the remaining two once again dived for shelter but this time they were only about sixty yards short of the two Americans.
Tali gulped her few seconds of inattention had nearly cost them everything. Now determined not to miss a thing, she blinked the sweat from her eyes and checked her ammunition. Not so good, three full clips, that was ninety rounds plus say twelve rounds left in the clip on the weapon. Of course she had her M9 pistol, but that was very much a weapon of last resort plus she only had two clips for it, a total of thirty rounds.
Still, there were at least half a dozen insurgents crumpled in the open, so she and the AW One had reduced the odds against hem by about fifty percent, and the remaining insurgents weren't making any aggressive moves… so what the hell were they doing? Then it came to her. The sonsabitches were waiting for reinforcements. They obviously didn't like the odds of three to one that were already in their favour, so they had sent for help from their buddies.
Tali scanned the distant horizon and her heart leapt to her throat, there were two… no… make that three plums of dust heading towards them, and they were coming quickly…
"Andy!"
"Ma'am?" The reply was weak and nearly masked by a cough.
Tali took a breath and crawled from her cover the few yards towards her companion where she saw to her shock that the front of his flight suit was covered with blood and there were splashes of blood on his weapon and the ground around it.
"Shit! You're hit!" she exclaimed.
"No, ma'am, I guess those ribs I dinged have tore up something inside…" Andy gasped, "I'll be okay if I can just rest awhiles."
Tali saw to her alarm that Andy's eyes were fluttering closed, "Damn it, Andy, No! You stay awake! Stay with me sailor! And that's an order!"
"Aye, aye, ma'am…"
Tali bit her lip and raised her head to peer over the makeshift parapet, where she could now seer three technicals, mostly Russian and Japanese made pick up trucks mounting machine guns had pulled up and were disgorging another dozen or so insurgents. Gently moving the injured crew chief to one side she laid the M-4 down next to him and eased into position behind the M240. Checking her aim, she fired a burst, about a dozen rounds into one of the vehicles, occasioning more squawks of alarm, and to her gratification a smouldering fire started amongst the rubbish gathered in the vehicle's cargo bed.
One of the new arrivals – and Tali was sure he was the village councillor who had stormed out of the meeting – was doing his utmost to incite another attack, and so with a cry of "Allahu Akhbar!" a wave of Taliban began a dodging, scuttling advance towards Tali.
Squinting through the sights she released burst after burst of 7.62mm fire, hitting sat least one more insurgent and driving the others back to ground. But again they were nearer her position. Much nearer than she wanted.
Her vigilance heightened and vaguely aware of being thirsty, Tali kept up short bursts of fire intended to keep the enemy pinned down while she waited… waited for what? She wondered. When the sun went down the advantage would be all on the Afghani's side and she, and Andy would be helpless to prevent whatever those sonsabitches had in mind.
A sickening impact on her left hand was accompanied by a wave of pain so intense that she never experienced one like it before. Incredulously she looked at the mangled remains of her hand and moaned, desperately fighting to prevent herself going into shock, and then becoming aware that Andy had crawled across to her and taking a dressing from the medic's case he wrapped I tightly around the remains of her ruined appendage.
"That ought to keep the flies off ma'am," he coughed, leaking blood from his compressed lips, "You're doing real good!"
"Not good enough, Andy! When it gets dark…"
"Yeah, I know ma'am, but remember, we still got some daylight left…"
"Yeah, right…" 'But not much…' Tali thought and then rolled back to her weapon, carefully cradling her injured limb, and fired another burst at the hint of movement in the rocks about fifty yards away.
A low thrumming sound suddenly filled Tali's ears and a pair of grey shapes, Royal Navy Lynx helicopters, flitted cross the sky, flashes at their noses showing that they were engaging the enemy vehicles with their 20mm guns. One of the bigger Russian technical heaved into the air as a deluge of 20mm shells raked into it, exploding and bursting into flame. That was enough for the remainder of the insurgents, they broke from cover and some scrambled aboard their remaining vehicles in a desperate attempt to get out of the area. Those who ran for it on foot made the wiser choice. Another pass from the Lynxes and the area was well illuminated with burning vehicles, burning bodies draped over them and machine guns dismounted by the weight of fire poured on them.
Another, louder, engine note sounded and a further Royal Navy helicopter, a Merlin, settled down no more than twenty yards from Tali's position, disgorging what seemed to her to be a whole company of soldiers.
"Sergeant Telfer!"
"Sir!"
"Check for survivors and have numbers two and three sections clean up this filth!"
"Aye, aye, sir! Corporal Warren, check that Yankee chopper for survivors! Corporal Wallace, check for hostile survivors and collect any loose weapons. Corporal Hill - perimeter defence - move it!"
A burly figure, his personal weapon, an SA-80, held at the ready, cautiously approached the wrecked UH-60, "Anyone there?" he called softly.
"Over here!" Tali responded, her voice rendered weak by relief.
"Bloody 'ell, Corp, it's a bloody woman!" the British voice resounded with surprise.
"An' what if it is. You bloody idiot. Half the world's population are bloody women. Wake up and smell the coffee!" Then in a quieter voice, "You're alright now, love, the Royals are here!"
Tali eyed the RM Commando Legend on the Marine's shoulder title and the dagger patch on his upper arm and smiled wearily in relief, "That's Lieutenant Love to you, Corporal!"
The Marine grinned in appreciation of what he saw as the petite officer's spirit and replied, "Aye, aye, ma'am. Now… let's see just what we've got here… Medic!"
xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
TBC