A Friendly Demonstration
Chapter 54
Even before he was fully awake, or opened his eyes Harm was aware on some subliminal level that he was not alone his bed. That thought alone was sufficient to bring a warm smile to his face and opening his eyes he switched on the table lamp on his nightstand before he half rolled to his left and lay in silence for a few moments while Gill began to wake up.
Gill's eyelids fluttered in time and then as she opened her eyes she squinted against the comparative brightness of the light, but once her eyes had adjusted she opened them fully on the first thing she saw was a tossup-headed Harm smiling down at her.
Gill smiled in turn, "Good morning, you."
"And good morning to you, too," Harm replied as he leaned in to kiss her gently.
Gill sweetly returned the kiss, and when Harm pushed himself back on his elbow, breaking the kiss, she smiled up at him, "M'mm… I could get used to this," she murmured.
Harm could almost swear that he felt his heart skip a beat. Was Gill making a veiled suggestion that they should move in together on a permanent basis? Now, that was an idea with which he found no fault whatsoever, but there were lots of practical facets to the idea that needed careful consideration.
Gill looked up at Harm, a puzzled expression on her face as she wondered where, mentally, he had just gone, "Harm?"
"H'mm…?" Harm then realised he had been silent for a few seconds too long and smiled apologetically, "Trying to figure out where I'd gone?"
Gill nodded, "Exactly."
"I was thinking, and trying to be as quick as I could, about what you just said, about getting used to this… Well, I was thinking pretty much the same thing, and yeah, I love the idea of getting used to us waking up together, but…"
Gill sighed, "Yeah, but… Anyway, what time is it?" she asked, promptly changing the subject.
"Zero six twenty-eight," Harm said in reply, but with the awful feeling that somehow or other he had just massively upset Gill.
Gill took a deep breath, "Okay, time to rock and roll!" and throwing the covers off, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up, reaching for the terry cloth bathrobe carelessly flung over the back of the chair in front of the dressing table, or as Harm persisted in calling it, the vanity. Harm watched, with a tinge of regret as Gill wrapped the unlovely garment around her slim, tank top and boxer shorts clad figure, wishing it was a weekend so that he and Gill spend more time together, rather than a mid-week morning when, in a hurry both getting ready for work and looking after Mattie, they would barely have time for a snatched kiss goodbye.
"It might be a good idea if you jumped into the shower now, while I pop downstairs and make a start on getting Mattie ready for the off."
"H'mm… What? Oh, yeah… okay…" Harm said distractedly as once again jerked from the depths of thought to the present reality.
Gill paused at the door, and half turned towards him, an expression of concern on her face, "Harm, are you okay? That's the second time in just a couple of minutes you've been off God knows where!"
"Yeah, I'm fine, I guess. It's just a couple of things were bugging me…"
"Like what?" Gill challenged.
Harm gave her the kind of smile that took the wind right out of her sails and made her wonder if her knees were going to be able to keep her standing. Harm then, even if unknowingly, completed Gill's discomfiture, "Like wishing this was a weekend so we could spend the whole day together."
Gill gasped as her cheeks flushed pink, "That's just being plain greedy!" she laughingly admonished him.
"And that is wrong, how, exactly?" Harm grinned.
"Oh! It just is!" Gill said hotly, "and that still doesn't excuse you from getting out of bed and getting into the shower, before I need it!"
A still grinning Harm obediently knuckled his forehead, in the manner of Victorian sailors, and responded with a crisp, "Aye, aye, ma'am!"
"Clown!" Gill threw at him and then, before he could come up with yet another riposte, she grinned and all the way through the door.
Still chuckling Harm swung out of bed and headed across the landing to the bathroom, positive that he could hear Gill's soft laughter as she patted down the stairs.
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Gill tapped lightly on Mattie's bedroom door, "Mattie, time to get up, I know it's early, but we've got a lot to do this morning."
To Gill's surprise, her tentative approach was met by an astonishingly alert, "It's okay, Gill, I'm awake!"
Gill raised her eyebrows, she seemed to remember as a teenager finding it extremely difficult to wake up early in the morning, but opening the door she found that not only was Mattie wide-awake, but that the light was on and Mattie had already manoeuvred herself into her chair, and had positioned it halfway between the chest of drawers and the bed, on which lay one of her half-packed cases.
"I made a start on packing while I was waiting for you," Mattie said cheerfully. "I think I've got most of everything I'll need, except for my bathroom stuff."
"Even the nighties?" Gill smiled.
Mattie returned the smile with one of her sunniest, "After what you said last night about hospital gown's leaving my butt hanging in the wind, then especially the nighties!"
"Ah, you can learn! There's hope for future civilisation after all!"
Mattie was still smiling although she did try to scowl, "You have been hanging with Harm for far too long!" she complained.
Gill for back a few minutes to the strangely unsatisfactory conversation she and Harm had just add, but smiled she replied, "You are just gonna have to learn to cope with us, then. Because I have a feeling that Harm and I are going to be 'hanging' for a long time yet."
Mattie finished folding the light sweater she had in her hands and carefully placed it into the open case, and with a sly, sideways look at Gill she allowed a mournful expression to settle on her face as she complained, "I'm doomed."
Gill only laughed and then said, "And that is just about enough tomfoolery for this morning, let's get you in and out of the shower and dressed, so that I can start to get ready to head back to London."
Mattie gave Gill a shrewd look, and spun the chair so it faced the bedroom door, "Ready when you are!"
Gill followed Mattie to the bathroom, but as was now their routine, sat outside on one of the spare kitchen chairs that Harm had put there just for Gill to sit on while she waited. Not that she had ling to wait, Mattie had long since learned to shower at Navy speed, and even washing her hair, which she did this morning, added no more than five or so minutes to the time she took to complete her ablutions.
But while she showered she thought back to the few words that she and Gill had exchanged about Harm and Gill 'hanging', and was sure she had detected a note of wistfulness in the Englishwoman's voice. For a second or two she considered mentioning her thoughts and feelings to Harm, but a moments consideration was sufficient to hit that idea swiftly clean out of the ball park, as she remembered how she had pushed Harm into declaring his true feelings towards Mac – and look how well that had turned out! 'Nope, Mattie Grace Rabb,' she told herself, and just as Gill had said, 'is perfectly capable of learning, especially from her past mistakes, and more especially when they were such a doozy as the one that had precipitated the Mac crisis.'
Gill gave Mattie a hand to pull on her underwear and jeans and then sat on the bed while the youngster finished getting dressed and then wheeled across in front of her bedroom table, on which was propped a mirror and plugging in her blow dryer, plied that and hairbrush in an effort to dry and tame her unruly hair. Gill watched her for a couple of minutes before she said, "Uh, Mattie, I know… well at least we all hope that you're only going to be in Stoke Mandeville for three or four days, but you'll probably want to wash your hair while you're in hospital…"
Mattie stopped brushing her hair for a moment and twisted in her chair so that she could see Gill, "Yeah? Damn straight I'll want to wash my hair, maybe Thursday or Friday at the latest!"
Gill nodded, "Yes, that's more or less what I'd worked out, but the thing is, hair like yours takes a lot of drying, and I was wondering if you'll have enough time to look after it properly… You know what hospitals are like with their carefully planned schedules."
"So?" Mattie demanded.
"Well I was thinking maybe you ought to take a packet of shower caps with you."
"Shower caps?" Mattie looked blank.
"Yes, plastic shower caps. One use and throw away…"
"Uh… I don't have any," Mattie confessed.
Gill nodded, "Okay, well, I know Harm will be going to visit you this evening, so I'll come along with him and bring you in a pack."
"You don't have to do that!" Mattie objected.
Gill smiled, "I know, but I want to… Just to see you in one of your nighties, if for no other reason! But I do know what I must do, and that's get showered and dressed before I leave it so late that I'll be marked absent from place of duty!"
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Gill may not have been in the Navy, but it seemed that the British Army could shower and dress just as quickly, as she and Mattie – her hair now tamed and dry – turned up in the kitchen at practically the same time and just as Harm slid the spatula under four rashers of back bacon destined for Gill and Mattie's plates. The different cuts of meat, or even the same cuts but with different names than used back Stateside had him confused, but the couple of times Gill had persuaded him to go the stores with her, she had gently guided him through the strange mysteries of the local butchers' shops to her satisfaction even if Harm had grumbled about dead animals.
"You're only getting bacon because it's a special day," Harm grumbled to Mattie as he slid two of the rashers onto her plate, "And you're only getting bacon because it wouldn't be fair to give Mattie some and not you!" he told Gill.
Gill kept a perfectly straight face as she addressed Mattie, "Say thank you to the nice man, Matilda."
Mattie shot Gill reproving glance at the use of her full, former name, but then seeing the mischief in Gill's eye Mattie adopted angelic smile and beamed up at Harm, "Thank you, nice man."
Despite himself Harm was forced to grin, "Just watch it, pain!"
Gill and Mattie have finished with him yet stop Gill cast an appraising eye around the kitchen and noticed the lack of a pan in which Harm could have cooked the eggs, but there was a large plastic bowl soaking in warm soapy water in the sink. Gill rapidly put two and two together," Did you do the eggs in the microwave, Harm?"
"And what if I did?"
Mattie gave a little crow of laughter "Wow, Harm! Cooking by Polaroid? I thought that was against your religion!"
"You really are piling up the score, squirt! But as it happens, I am quite willing to learn to use new technology."
Gill, with vivid memories of spending the best part of one afternoon reading Harm's laptop computer of all sorts of worms, viruses and Trojan horses nearly choked on her bite of egg-covered toast, prompting Mattie to ask, "Gill, do you know something I don't?"
"Oh, yes I do, but I'll tell you later, sometime when we're alone. I think we've picked on Harm quite enough for one breakfast!"
Harm shook his head in resignation, "Hey, I got broad shoulders, I can take it. Besides you two need to remember what they say about payback!"
Gill and Mattie both broke into chuckles at what they both well knew was an empty threat. Harm after gazing at them in some perplexity for a few seconds joined in the laughter.
All too soon, to Harm's mind, breakfast was finished and Gill prepared to leave for Stanmore via St John's Wood. Harm seized on the excuse of walking her out to scoop her into his arms and kiss her thoroughly before she had a chance to open the front door.
Slightly breathless, Gill leaned back against the support of Harm's hands on her waist, her own hands resting lightly on his upper arms. "Wow! What was that for?" She smiled as she relished the feel of his firm muscles under her fingertips.
"Does there have to be a special reason?" Harm asked.
Gill's smile grew slightly wider, "No, there doesn't… And sometimes that makes the kiss all the more special!" But then her smile faded, "I really do have to get going, but I told Mattie that I would see her this evening, and I've made a bet with myself that if I do, then I might just happened to bump into a dishy Yankee sailor there."
Harm grinned even as his ear tips reddened, "One day, I am going to kill Sue Marshall for that!" he declared.
"No you won't!" Gill said fiercely, and then grinned, "That's something I cried first dibs on months ago!" Then using her hands on his arms as leverage Gill quickly raised on her toes and planted a swift, gentle kiss on Harm's lips, "Goodbye Harm, I'll see you this evening. Goodbye Mattie! She called out in a louder voice.
"Yeah, 'bye, Gill see you later!"
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Mattie handed Harm the last of the plates to be returned to its stowage.
"That the last of it?" Harm asked.
Mattie nodded, "Yep, that's it." Harm turned and leaned back against the kitchen worktop, "And you're all packed?"
"All packed," Mattie confirmed, "and the bag is on my bed, all ready to go!"
Harm grinned, "Way to go, squirt! And I reckon we've just about got time for another coffee before Hawkes arrives… Unless of course, you don't want another coffee?"
Mattie looked at him in despair, "Please tell me you didn't mean that?"
"What, about you not wanting another coffee? I have a feeling that it will be a cold July Fourth in DC before you turn down an offer of coffee!"
"Yeah, you got that right." While Harm busied himself with coffee grounds and filter papers and a fresh supply of water Mattie pondered over a question that had just occurred to her. "Harm, how come you call your driver Hawkes… I mean I know that's her name, but when you talk about Jen or Julia, that's what you call them, by their first names."
"Well, it's a question of degree. Firstly I've known Jen for years, and Julia for about six months, secondly they are both senior enlisted members and are in their mid-and late twenties and they are mature enough that I know that they won't overstep the mark. Hawkes is very junior, she's a PFC, she's very young, and I haven't known her very long. It might also interest you to know that I don't call my regular driver, Corporal Morrison, by her first name either. And again it's a question of not knowing her very long. There's a very fine line between informality and familiarity, step over that line and you are stepping into fraternisation territory. As Navy regs state, 'undue familiarity', no matter how innocent in intent."
Mattie nodded, "Yeah, when you put it like that…"
"Good, and now drink your coffee before PFC Hawkes arrives!"
PFC Hawkes arrives punctual to the second, after ringing on the doorbell stepped back, and recalling yesterday's advice from the Captain, stepped off the ramp to one side. Mattie made her usual meal of speeding down the ramp, leaving Harm to carry her case and secure the door behind them. By the time he had done that Hawkes had returned to the car, opened the front passenger door for Mattie and popped the trunk.
Once again, and to Mattie's frustration, Harm and Hawkes hovered anxiously nearby as she carefully transfer herself from her wheelchair into the car. Once she was settled she took a quick glance at captain and driver, and giggled silently as she saw that they looked more relieved than she felt. The wheelchair and case were rapidly stowed in the trunk and Harm slid into the back seat.
"Are you all set, Hawkes?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Right, let's get this done!"
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The thirty-two mile journey should have taken only three quarters of an hour, but the morning traffic on the main route between Northholt and Stoke Mandeville made the journey about fifteen minutes longer than it should have. Harm had become concerned that they would be late and had to bite his tongue in order to prevent himself from becoming a backseat driver; Hawkes was driving competently, handling the big sedan with confidence, and it would do neither her nor Harm any good for him to undermine that confidence.
As it was, they arrived in the hospital parking lot with just over five minutes to spare, and Hawkes aware of the time pressure pulled up at the hospital's main doors.
Harm jumped out and had Mattie's gear out of the trunk before Mattie had and snapped her seat belt and lifted her legs clear of the car. Once again Harm and Hawkes stood by in case Mattie's uncertain legs let her down, but once again the teenager managed the transfer if not smoothly, then at least as competently as Hawkes had driven.
"I don't expect we'll be too long, Hawkes, just long enough to get Mattie settled in and then it's straight back to London."
"Yes, sir. I've checked with the GPS and the best route is the way we came and then straight on to the city, as normal. I just hope we can get there a little quicker…"
"It wasn't your fault, Hawkes, the routemaster service obviously didn't take the traffic into consideration, and by the time we head back, I bet most of the traffic will have gone!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Okay, park up, and then wait in the reception are for me. I shouldn't be long!" he repeated before he turned to Mattie, "Ready, squirt?"
"Yeah, s'pose so… But Harm, this really sucks. I hate hospitals!"
"I just bet you do, Mattie, but look at this way: This is just one more step on the road to recovery. Doctor Jameson, the guy my pal at Bethesda recommended is one of the top guy in this hospital, which is the top hospital in the whole of Britain for spine injuries. And they'll fix you up in no time!"
Mattie gave him a cynical grin over her shoulder as she powered up the ramp alongside the steps, "Nice try Harm, but we both know that you can't know that! What if they can't do anything for…?"
"Hey, hey, hey! Knock it off with the negative thought waves, squirt. Think beautiful thoughts about your recovery! Don't be so negative, be righteous for once!"
Mattie exploded into laughter, "Oh God, Harm, where did you get that line of horse pucky!"
"Oddball, from Kelly's Heroes… I thought I told you that already?"
"Not that I can remember," Mattie shook her head.
Harm just broadened his grin and followed Mattie as she wheeled through the automatically opening doors, where a quick glance was enough to see the front desk. Harm strode easily across the floor, noting that the carpet was almost industrial grade and obviously chosen to prevent unsteady legs from slipping while allowing the easy passage of wheelchairs and, he supposed, gurneys.
Approaching one the three middle-aged women ensconced behind the counter he smiled easily and said, "Harmon Rabb, my daughter, Mattie is being admitted for observation and assessment."
Busy fingers flew over a keyboard and Rosemary Atherton looked up with a professional smile, "Mister Rabb, of course. And this young lady is your daughter?"
"Yes."
"Right… A nursing assistant will be along directly to take Mss Rabb to her room. There's no real need for you to stay, but you are welcome to do so if you wish."
"Thank you, yes. I'd like to stay to see her settled, but…"
"Ah, there's always a but!" Mrs Atherton agreed as she offered Harm a slim folder. "This is just an outline of what we do here, with a list of the facilities that are available to parents and children, together with a list of prohibited items and general information, including the optimum visiting times. We don't enforce strict visiting times after two pm, as physio and treatment schedules sometimes clash with the so-called normal visiting hours."
"Prohibited items?" Mattie asked doubtfully.
"Yes, basically anything that relies on a wire free signal, mobile phones, PDAs, and the like. We can't risk having strange radio signals interfering with the hospital machinery. Having said that, PDAs and laptops can be used, provided they are connected by cables and logged in to the hospital intranet. It's all in the folder Miss Rabb."
"That's secure?" Mattie asked.
"As secure as it can be I'm told. I use the infernal machines all day, but I don't really understand the technology behind them," she smiled up at Harm as if looking for support.
"I think I'm with you on that, ma'am," Harm agreed, much to the lady's relief.
"Excuse, me, sir" a strange voice interrupted, "Rosemary, you have a new admission for us?"
"Helen, yes. Helen, this is Miss Rabb, she'll be going into 109, with Miss Woodman. Miss Rabb, meet Helen Newton, she's on the team that looks after our patients on that corridor, she'll take you down there and see that you get settled."
Mattie put on a brave grin as she looked up at Harm, "I guess this it, huh?"
"I guess, so, squirt," he agreed softly, dropping to one knee to envelope her in his arms.
"Damn! I freaking hate saying goodbye to you!" Mattie said in low voice as she hugged Harm as fiercely as he was hugging her.
"I know, Mats, I know. But it's only for a few days this time!"
"It had damn well better be!" Mattie growled as she and Harm let go of their hug and Harm climbed back on to his feet.
"Okay, Miss… Newton, let's get this done!"
Harm watched as Mattie wheeled herself away under the guidance of the nurse assistant, who was also carrying Mattie's case before he turned back to Mrs Atherton. "It was my understanding that Mattie was to have a private room, but you say she's sharing with another girl?"
"I don't know where you got that idea," a completely unruffled Rosemary Atherton replied, "Yes, she is sharing. Once patients are no longer in a critical condition, we find that it helps their recovery if they have company. Obviously if there is a personality clash, then things will be arranged to suit all parties. But I don't see a problem with Miss Woodman. She too is temporarily wheelchair bound after a climbing accident, but she's about the same age as your daughter, and yes, there might be a slight amount of initial friction, but we're happy that they will settle down quite happily together!"
And with that Harm would have to be content, so making his farewells he turned to scan the reception area for Hawkes and almost immediately spouted her hovering just inside the doors. Quickly crossing the expanse of carpet between them, he smiled and said, "Okay, Hawkes, let's go! Straight to the office, please!"
"Aye, aye, sir!" Hawkes responded crisply, "It's quite a way to the car, sir," she added apologetically.
"Well, lead on then Private!" Harm commanded with his easy smile.
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Harm strode across the bull pen, waving off the "Captain on deck" shuffle as he made his first appearance of the day but stopping at Jen's desk as she asked, somewhat anxiously, "How's Mattie, sir?"
"Not enjoying her day… well… she wasn't up to the time I left, but you know how up and down she can be. They've put her in a room with another teenaged girl, so God knows…"
Jen winced, "If she's anything like Mattie, can you imagine the havoc they could cause, sir?"
"It doesn't bear thinking about! Now, Yeoman Two…" he turned his attention to Julia Martinez, "I take it that you've compiled the first sight file?"
"Yes, sir, it's on your desk!" Julia responded with a grin.
"I knew it would be," Harm agreed, "But is there any chance of it being joined by a mug of coffee in the foreseeable future?"
Julia pushed her chair back, "On it, sir!"
Harm went on through into his own office and seating himself at his desk, he picked up the first sight file, groaning at the thickness of it. How come, so much correspondence could flood into his office in jut the twenty four hours since he had cleared the previous first sight file? With a determined jut of his chin Harm resolved to clear this file too by the end of the working morning, and flipping open the file cover he picked up the first folio. It was, it turned out, a charge sheet from the Captain of the destroyer USS Frank J Fletcher, charging a CS 3 with dereliction of duty, after a fire broke out in the destroyers main galley. An NCIS report from the team at Rota – attached, Harm grimly noted – had investigated the fire and found that it had been caused by used chef's cloths, impregnated with cooking oil, being allowed to fall onto hot burners while the CS 3 had taken an illicit break to go topsides to smoke a cigarette. The Captain of the ship wanted JAG assistance in that he wanted to hold a special court martial aboard ship and requested that JAG provide a defence attorney. The Fleet Jag on the Eisenhower would prosecute. Harm noted with relief that the Captain had added that apart from a couple of smoke inhalation cases there had been no casualties, and that his damage control parties had quenched the fire within thirty minutes. But he added, and Harm could almost hear the bitterness in the man's voice, the ship was now without a galley for the enlisted crew members, and the officers' galley was hard pressed to provide the ship's company with one hot meal a day. Even more importantly the ship was now headed for Naples where she would have to remain for at least three weeks while the galley was refurbished and re-equipped.
Harm marked the top sheet of the bundle "Open a case file," next to the 'seen 'stamp, while he mentally passed in review his officers, to make up his mind who would be best suited to that assignment.
And so it went on. Each folio had to be read, and a decision made as to what action, if any, needed to be taken.
Harm drained his mug of coffee without really being aware of it, although he had looked up from his work long enough to thank Martinez when she had brought it in to him.
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Secretary of the Navy Edward Sheffield sat back behind his desk and rubbed his hands together gleefully, as he relished every word of the conversation he had just had with the officer he had chosen to assume the duties of JAG pro-tem.
"Admiral, this is the Secretary of the Navy. I have just finished speaking with the CNO and the Secretary of Defence, and they have agreed with me that you are to assume the duties of JAG for the US Navy and US Marine Corps. I expect you to be at your desk in Falls Church, at zero eight hundred hours on Monday morning. That gives you almost a week to tidy up what you have in front of you now. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Mister Secretary, that is quite clear!" the voice on the other end of the phone said heavily, obviously not at all happy with his new assignment, "And I hope it is equally clear that I have carte blanche to sort out the present mess and anything else that might need rectifying both at Falls Church and at any other JAG office world-wide?"
"Of course you do, Admiral! That's why I want you in this position!"
"Very well, Mister Secretary, I shall do whatever is needed, but remember, if push comes to shove I may need your support, and if that support is not forthcoming, then I will retire!"
"That sounds remarkably like a threat, Admiral!" Nelson said coldly.
"No, that's not a threat, that Mister Secretary, is simply a statement of fact. If you screw me around on this, then I am out of the door!"
Sheffield allowed himself a brief chuckle, after all, he had won and could afford to be magnanimous, "Your stipulations are noted, Admiral!"
Now he picked up the phone again and called his PAS, "Can you come in please, Mrs Mayberry, and bring your dictation pad, please…"
Mrs Mayberry tapped on her boss' door less than a minute later.
"Take a seat Mrs Mayberry. Now, I want you to send an e-mail, marked 'Personnel in Confidence' and addressed to all JAG Offices world-wide, and to all Staff, Force, Fleet and Shipboard JAGs. Classification, 'restricted', precedence, 'immediate'. Subject line is 'Change of Command'…"
Penny Mayberry's pencil flew over her pad as she jotted down in shorthand the Secretary's words. She hesitated once only when he mentioned the name of the officer who was to replace Major General Cresswell, and her eyes flew to his, "Mister Secretary…?" she asked, shattering protocol.
"Just write down what I said, please, Mrs Mayberry," Sheffield said with just a touch of displeasure in his voice.
"Yes, of course, Mister Secretary, I don't know what I was thinking."
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It was mid-afternoon when the fruits of Edward Sheffield's machinations and of Mrs Mayberry's labours arrived at Julia Martinez's computer terminal with the musical 'ping' that alerted her to the arrival of an urgent e-mail addressed to the Force JAG NAVFOREUR's rarely used e-mail account. With a slight pout of irritation at the interruption as she waded through the folios she had already retrieved from the Captain's desk, she opened the e-mail and read it, and as she did her eyes grew round in surprise, "Oh… my God! Jen! Jen, come and tell me I'm not seeing things!"
Jen gave her friend a curious look and got from her desk and walked around behind Julia so that she could see the other woman's VDU over her shoulder.
Jen read the e-mail and her mouth too dropped open in shock. "My God!"
"Exactly!"
"You'd better print that off and take it straight in to the Captain," Jen gasped.
"My thoughts exactly!" Julia agreed, "But it might be better if we both presented it to him?"
"Scared, Julia?" Jen grinned.
"No… not exactly scared, but…"
"Yeah, okay, I'll come and hold your hand!"
"Thanks! You're a real friend!" Julia smiled.
Three minutes later Harm scowled at the knock at his door. He was sure he had told both Coates and Martinez that he wasn't to be disturbed, so if either was daring enough to disturb him in the face of that prohibition, then he supposed whichever one it was must think the matter important enough to risk his ire, "Enter!"
The door opened and to his surprise both his Legalman and his Yeoman crossed the floor to face him at his desk.
"Well?" he snapped.
"Sir… this immediate e-mail has just arrived from the SecNav's Office, and we thought we'd best bring it straight to your attention…" Julia said uncomfortably.
"Yes, sir!" Jen added to support her friend.
"Well give it here!" Harm growled and held out his hand.
Taking the sheet of paper he read it, and then re-read it before her raised incredulous eyes to the two young women, "Is this some sort of joke?" he demanded.
"Not by us, sir!" Jen protested, and it certainly looks like it came from the Pentagon, it set off all the bells and whistles on Martinez's computer and it's only programmed to do that in very special cases!"
"Well… if this accurate… You have read it?"
"Yes, sir!" came the expected chorus.
"Well… you'll appreciate just how much of a bombshell this is! Please do not discuss this with anyone before I have had a chance to authenticate it! To that end, Yeoman Two, when you get back to your desk, get me a line to the SecNav's office!"
"Aye, aye, sir!"
Harm nodded, "Thank you, ladies, dismissed!"
Jen and Julia returned to their desks, and looked at each other before Jen making sure there were no other ears in the vicinity got up and closed the door that led to the bull pen, leaning back against it for added security.
"I can't believe it… but you saw the name of the officer replacing General Cresswell?"
"I saw it, but I don't believe it either!" Julia breathed.
Jen shook her head, "Incredible, I know. I wonder how the hell the SecNav pulled that one off! But I'll bet that's one very pissed off JAG pro tem…"
"Yeah," Julia murmured, "Rear Admiral (Upper Half) A J Chegwidden!"
