NEW ASSIGNMENTS

==========================================================================================================================

JAG Headquarters

"Good morning Sir, Ma'am." Gunny said.

"Morning Gunny," Mac said.

"Hey Gunny any idea when that column by Sam is going to be out?" Harm asked.

"Not sure, but I could ask Ashlyn." Gunny said.

"Who's Ashlyn?" Harm asked.

"Dr. Spaulding, Sam's best friend. Don't you ever pay attention?" Mac asked, before Harm could respond, AJ came out of his office.

"Commander, Colonel, my office." The Admiral called.

"Aye Sir," They replied in unison and went to his office.

"At ease and be seated." The Admiral said opening a folder. "We have a situation in Norfolk."

"A situation Sir?" Harm asked.

"It seems that Ensigns keep ending up with their heads bashed in down in Norfolk.  Two are in comas one is dead and a forth is in the base infirmary." AJ stated.

"Is there any clue to what's happening?" Mac asked.

"None, that's what we need to find out," AJ said.

"When did this start Sir?" Mac asked.

"Right after the Army-Navy game," AJ began.  "There was some fighting at a hotel up in New Jersey between enlisted and officers, I don't know if it's related."

"Fights?" Harm asked.

"Yes Commander, fist fights.  Old fashioned knock down drag out fights. The hotel manager on duty was pretty quick.  She was able to diffuse the situation." AJ said.

"Sir, exactly what are we supposed to be doing?" Mac asked.

"You two will be investigating the latest incident.  Ensign Price was the latest victim." AJ said. "He's alive and so far the only witness."

"Aye aye, Sir." The three said standing up.

"Dismissed," AJ replied.

NORFOLK

Mac and Harm left the offices to go home and pack.  Harm picked Mac up and they drove off.  During the trip, Mac wanted to find a way to bring up the past weekend, there was no way to do it.  She had finally decided to take matters into her own hands and not wait for Harm to make the first move.

Arriving in Norfolk, Mac and Harm made their way to the base commander's office to discuss the current situation.

"I can't believe this is happening." The CO stated.

"Sir, do you have any idea what prompted these attacks?" Harm asked.

"Commander, I don't know.  After the problems in New Jersey, I thought everything was over.  I thought wrong.  The hotel manager stated that there were problems between the Army Cadets and enlisted men as well." The CO said. "I wonder if this is spillover."

"I'm curious as to how she diffused the situation." Mac commented.

"According to her report, all military guests were required to give branch, rank and social security number at check in.  As the fights broke out she would find the highest-ranking person she could and let them deal with it.  She also threatened all the Cadets and Midshipmen with notifying their respective academies of the fights.  She never told us who was involved in the fighting.  She did provide us with a list of hotel guest of all non-academy guests." The CO said handing them a file.

"Why did she exclude the names of the midshipmen?" Mac asked.

"Apparently, there was a reporter there whose father was career Army from West Point.  She convinced the manager not to report the students. She told her that their careers would be ruined before they even got started." The CO commented with a laugh.

"I guess something is to be said for Army brats." Harm mused.

"Besides, those Midshipmen haven't even graduated yet." The CO said.

"Well, we will get to the bottom of this Sir." Harm said as he and Mac stood to leave.

"With as little incident as possible," The CO said. "The Navy doesn't have time for this."

"Aye Aye, Sir." They replied and left.

Outside the office, Harm stated, "I want to go talk to Ensign Price."

"Ok, while you do that I think I am going see where these people are currently stationed." Mac said.

BASE INFIRMARY

"Good afternoon Petty Officer. I'm Commander Harmon Rabb; I'm here to see Ensign Price." Harm said.

"Yes Sir, he is in room 6." The Petty Office replied.

"Thank you." Harm said and walked down the hall.  "Ensign Price?"

"Yes Sir," Price said trying to stand up.

"At ease, I'm Commander Rabb from the Judge Advocates office. I'd like to talk with you if you're up to it." Harm said.

"I'm up to it Sir. What can I do for you?" Price said.

"You can start by telling me why you ended up in here." Harm said.

"Was coming back from liberty and I got cracked on the head, Sir." Price replied.

"Ensign, do you remember anything else?" Harm asked.

"No Sir, the last thing I remember was walking towards my ship and then waking up here." Price replied.

"I'll be here for a few days.  Here's my cell number, if you remember anything, call me." Harm said. "Get well."

"Thank you, I will Sir." Price replied.

Mac wasn't having any better luck with those she spoke to. No one knew what was going on. It was getting late in the afternoon and Mac's stomach was growling.  She walked towards the infirmary in search of Harm.

"Hey there, wanna take a marine for some food?" Mac asked as Harm approached her.

"Sure, on or off base?" Harm asked.

"Off, I think we can have more privacy." Mac said.

"Sounds good," Harm said as they walked to the car. 

"No one I spoke to knew anything." Mac said as their food was served. "What did Price have to say?"

"He didn't remember anything." Harm said shaking his head.

"Harm was there anything 'common' about these four ensigns?" Mac asked.

"Not that anyone has come up with." Harm replied. "They were all in the same class as the academy."

"What I don't understand is most of the ones involved in the fights at the game aren't even in Norfolk.  I don't think that is the connection." Mac said.  "I think those were just isolated incidents, common at any football weekend that involves mass quantities of alcohol and team pride."

"That would do it." Harm said.

"Harm, do you think we are looking at this from the wrong angle?" Mac asked.

"What do you mean? We are trying to find out who is beating up Ensigns." Harm said.

"Let's forget who for a second and let's ask why." Mac replied. "These four ensigns graduated together.  I wonder how many are from that same class?"

It was a good point; they were all in the same class.  They quickly finished lunch and returned to the base.

CO'S OFFICE

"Commander, Colonel what can I do for you?" The CO asked.

"We'd like a list of all Ensigns assigned here from the same graduating class as the four ensigns that were attacked." Harm said.

"See my admin. she should be able to get it for you." The CO replied.  Harm and Mac left the office. 

The Admin for the CO was a civilian.  She was about 20 years old and appeared to be bright.

"Excuse me Ma'am." Harm said. "We need a list of all employees who graduated from the Academy in 2002."
"Yes Sir, just give me one moment." She said as she typed something on the computer.

"Thank you, Miss…" Harm said not knowing her name.

"Amanda Adams." She replied with a smile. "So are you Academy people as well?"

"He is I'm not." Mac replied.

"Ahh, one who worked her way up," Amanda said with a smile.

"We all worked our way up." Harm interjected.

"Some just worked harder than others," Amanda said. "Here's your list.  If you need anything else, let me know."

"Thank you, Amanda." Mac said taking the list.  Mac and Harm left the office and went back to the car.

"So much for whites and gold wings," Mac teased.

"No accounting for taste." Harm shot back.

"Aww, is the flyboy upset that the little girl wasn't impressed with his smile?" Mac laughed.

"Do you want to get to work on that list or did you want to stand here and insult me?" Harm said.

"I can do both, I like to multi-task." Mac said with a smile.  "Come on let's go."

They went back to Mac's room and reviewed the list.  There was nothing out of the ordinary, but that was their job, to find the missing link.

BACK IN VIRGINIA

Ashlyn was having a terrible day.  It was as if all of Stafford Country was having one kind of a trauma or another.  Every time she went to take a quick break, an ambulance pulled up.

"Twenty more minutes," She said to the nurse.

"You hope." The nurse replied.

"Oh no, I have been here for the last 36 hours, I am out of here." Ashlyn stated as she put up her feet.

"Dr. Spaulding," another nurse said. "There's a patient to see you."

"Ask Dr. Radcliff to handle it, please." Ashlyn said.

"He specifically asked for you." The nurse replied.

"Ok, on my way." Ashlyn said dragging herself up.

"Hey Doc," Gunny said with a smile.

"Gunny, are you okay?" Ashlyn asked.

"Fine, I knew you were getting off shortly. I figured you would be tired and need a ride home." Gunny said.

"That's so sweet, but I have my car here.  I will need it." Ashlyn replied.

"Not a problem." Gunny said.

"Hi Ashlyn," Tiner said. "Mind if I drive your car?"

"You guys are too much." Ashlyn laughed. "Give me 20 minutes and I'll be ready to go."

Gunny and Tiner sat in the lounge and waited for Ashlyn's shift to finish.  An ambulance pulled up with a child who had fallen off her sled and was injured, just as she was putting on her coat.

"Gunny, I have to take care of this. If you want to go, it's fine." Ashlyn said apologetically.

"It's fine. I'll wait." Gunny said and then turned to Tiner. "You take my car and go, just pick me up on the way to work."

"Ok, see you tomorrow." Tiner said and left.

Gunny stood off to the side and watched Ashlyn with the little girl.  She was so gentle and tender as she calmed her down and cleaned her wounds. 

An hour later, Ashlyn was ready to leave.

"You really didn't have to wait." Ashlyn said.

"Yeah, I did." Gunny smiled.

"And why is that?" Ashlyn asked.

"If I had left, I wouldn't be able to do this." Gunny said as he kissed her.

"So, was it worth the wait?" Ashlyn giggled.

"Definitely, how about some dinner?" Gunny asked.

"I'd love to." Ashlyn smiled.

They left the hospital and drove north.  Once they made it to Alexandria they chose a small casual restaurant and relaxed over a good meal and a bottle of wine.

"What made you pick this wine?" Ashlyn asked.

"Sam was raving about it." Gunny laughed. "I figured I should try it."

"That's Sam, pushes her ideas on everyone." Ashlyn laughed.

"You guys are so different, how did you end up such good friends?" Gunny asked.

"Her father was stationed at the Presidio of Monterey, when we were kids, and she was a typical Army brat.  The wild child, we met in school and 6 months later her father was sent to Germany.  We wrote all the time.  Sort of like that movie Beaches, we became best friends through letters.  When she decided to go to NYU for grad school, she convinced me to do the same.  Her mom died when she was born and her dad died a few years ago.  I'm her only family now." Ashlyn said.

"That must be hard for her." Gunny said.

"Who Lucy?" Ashlyn laughed. "Don't let her hear you saying that.  She's always been very independent and says she doesn't need anyone."

"What about relationships?" Gunny asked.

"She's had a few. She's never stayed in one place long enough.  Alexandria is where her apartment is, but she's only here about 2 weeks a month total. Sam's not the conventional type; she meets a guy, it's usually very heated for a while and then she drops him, she's never wanted anything serious. Why do you ask?" Ashlyn replied.

"No reason.  Although Tiner is kind of taken with her," Gunny laughed.

"Really? Sam said he was adorable, like a little brother.  I hope he's not really interested." Ashlyn said, "Sam would crush him."

"I think we should let them worry about it. I want to know more about you." Gunny said.

"What do you want to know?" Ashlyn asked.

"Everything," Gunny said with a smile.

They spent the rest of their dinner talking about their childhoods.  Gunny was amazed to learn that Ashlyn was an avid baseball fan.  She also spent her free time at a local clinic in DC, providing medical care to those without insurance.  She had a good sense of humor and loved classis movies.  Gunny just stared at her as she spoke.  In his eyes, she was the perfect woman.