Okie, exausting weekend, I am still, very much half dead. Lack of sleep will do that, I think. :P
Anyway... this part is rather short, but it happens. Some people have voiced that Harm and Mac are being to angry with eachother, perhaps it's residual season 9 on my brain. Or perhaps it's because her best friend was planning on missing the wedding. I think, had we had more Harm and Mac scenes on Adrift 1, there would have been a hell of a lot of tension/issues.
Special thanks to: SarahRabb705, Froggy0319, Nikki, harmsgirl-03, cool cat, Harmfan, Jackia, sailorgirl, starryeyes, XBlueShadowX, Anaika Skywalker, FoxyWombat, soontobeffwriter, maidenpride, BrokenSkye, Claire Vincent, Charmboy, Lyssa Grace, zeilfanaat, Fic-Chic, cbw and anyone else I missed. :)
Enjoy
Jackz
PART 7 - A Mother Of A Storm
0205 Zulu
Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean
"2-4-1 this is Washington Center, what's your intention?" The storm had proven to be a bit more of a doozy than anticipated. They'd been tossed about some, but Harm was not worried, on the contrary, Tomcats were built to withstand hurricane force winds. If anything, he was safer in the jet, than outside. 'Water's cold out there.' He shook his thoughts.
"Washington Center, this is 2-4-1, we intend to land at Andrews." Harm came over the intercom, speaking with the center who he had been directed to once the communication to the Henry began faltering. After receiving confirmation that Washington Center had Harm on their radar, he proceeded on receiving weather information. They were flying straight into a cell that would, more than likely, make the trip that much more bumpier. Harm, following the direction of the center, changed his course and re-checked the fuel, counting that they had more than enough to fly the new path and land safely.
Finally given some time to chat, he looked through the rearview mirror at Mac. She looked positively horrified. After this one, she was definitely never getting on a plane with him again. "Mac, how you doing?"
Swallowing, she looked at his reflection and couldn't even manage a smile. Screw Dramamine, she needed a whole bottle of valium to make it out of this one. "I would probably be puking my guts out if I wasn't so damned scared. . .but, I am fine thanks."
Harm chuckled. "Don't worry, at our speed we should be able to hit Andrews in less than half an hour." He felt slightly guilty that she was in this situation with him. "Besides, these baby's can fly straight through a hurricane without a problem."
Mac nodded, knowing it was true. Still, it didn't shake the uneasy feeling as the clouds zoomed past them. The lightening strikes in the horizon, gave her a glimpse of an ocean that she knew was probably freezing. She recalled a time when Harm had told her that punching out made you an unsure. Well, he was damn right about that one. She should've been in Georgetown celebrating her engagement, not flying in some super jet to try and make in time for the wedding. Actually, if things had been different, she may have already been married, her husband being the person flying the jet. Sighing, she rolled her eyes at her thoughts. She loved Mic, at least, some part of her did. It was another bolt of lightening, one crashing closer to the plane, that brought her out of her thoughts and into the present. "Harm. . . Promise me we'll make it."
Harm checked his rearview again wishing he could ease Mac's distress. "I've been through worse, Mac."
"Promise me." She insisted.
"I promise."
Mac took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then swallowing a bit of bile that had risen. "How do we wind up in these messes?" Closing her eyes, she gripped tighter to her seat, praying to God that the bumps would stop.
Harm sighed, it seemed that there was some cosmic force destined to make trouble for the two of them. True, they had their good moments, but perhaps the more exciting parts of their relationship, were those adventures of theirs, the ones that always landed them in trouble. "Dunno Mac, but we've gotten out of all the others, we'll get out of. . ." He didn't have time to finish his sentence. The plane unsuspectedly dropped downward.
"Did you do that?" Mac half yelled out in shock. She'd been on planes with Harm before, they never did THAT.
Harm checked his instrument panels, everything seemed to be fine, except for the altimeter that registered a height lesser of what he'd been flying moments earlier. "No, we must have hit an air pocket." Quickly checking his radar and cursing that he didn't have a real RIO in his back seat, Harm contacted Washington Center. "This is 2-4-1 again, I see a bad patch of weather on the way about five minutes in, can you confirm?"
Through the lines came a scratchy reply that sounded faintly close to "Affirmative. . .turn left three zero degrees."
"Roger that." Harm made his adjustment and for a brief moment the ride was better, until they reached another sour spot. "Washington Center this is 2-4-1, we have just headed into worse weather, I repeat, we've headed into worse weather."
"Navy 2-4-1, how far are you from the carrier?"
Harm sighed, if he was closer to the carrier he wouldn't be trying so zealously to land the damned plane at Andrews. "About 250 miles away, you're closer."
"Proceed 2-4-1." The center left the airways again and all there was in the cockpit was silence between the two friends. Mac didn't want to disturb Harm as he was too busy trying to make sure the plane stayed up in the air. Right when he made another adjustment to try and find better weather, it happened.
Warning lights started going off on his instrument panel. 'Oh shit.' He said to himself, not wanting to scare Mac. He quickly shut down the warning alarm and tried to look into whatever was causing it, things weren't looking good. Then, the plane took another dip, one that dropped the nose in a sharp angle. He heard Mac scream and immediately went into action, taking control of the plane fully by himself. "Mac, hold on. . . it's going to get worse, there is a mother of a storm on the radar."
Mac looked down at the small screen in front of her showing the reds and greens that could only be their on board Doppler. "Oh, God, please make it stop." She steeled herself, tensing her body, this could not be happening.
His heart nearly broke as he heard his Marine's pieces being chipped away, she was rarely that vulnerable. "Mac, just close your eyes, I promise to get you out of this, okay." He grunted as he spoke, fighting against controls that were suddenly unresponsive. To make problems even worse, all of a sudden, the plane had lost power. "Oh no." Grabbing a flashlight, he got a look of his instrument panel. "This is not good. . . We have to punch out."
"WHAT?!" Mac yelled at him. Those two words were not ones that she wanted to hear again. Especially after ejecting over Russia. She swore that the jolt screwed up the muscles in her neck forever. "Harm, please tell me you are kidding. . . please!"
"I can't keep it in the air, Mac." He fought again, only managing to barely fly the aircraft on trim.
"But you've been flying. . . It's been hell but. . ." Mac wanted to find an alternative that didn't come to them being jettisoned out of the plane and into the cold waters of the Atlantic.
"Something took the power out. . .Mac, listen to me do as I say, I can't keep her up much longer." He grunted again, fighting a plane that would not be controlled.
"Okay." She gave in, finally accepting their fate. Besides, they were Batman and Robin, destined to survive anything. After this, it would be a hell of a story to tell.
"Lock your shoulder harness, lower your visor, put your mask on and move your arms across your chest." Harm commanded and received a 'done', once Mac did as told. "You did this once before."
A flash of fear coursed through Mac's mind, what if they didn't make it? She couldn't die without him knowing. "Harm. . .I need to tell you something. . ."
"Don't worry, I'll see you down there." He dismissed her and not because he didn't want to talk to her, but because they had no time. "I've lost her, I'm ejecting us NOW!" Pulling the cord, Harm felt the boom of the canopy being blown away, followed by that of Mac's seat. But, his seat wouldn't eject, it was almost as if he were strapped onto a missile headed swiftly into the ocean. "Eject, damnit eject!!"
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Wow, I should have ended it here on Friday. Hmmm. (makes a mental note)
Charmboy - I think several people missed the Renee/Mic chapters LOL!
XBlueShadowX - Renee and Mic seemed a bit chummy at times, they would have done wonderfully together. ;)
Nikki - As long as he doesn't turn into Barbarian Harm, it's all good LOL!
eridani - Glad you think it's good. It's true you have to invent, not too much to work with with what breadcrumbs we get off the show.
froggy - How's about we stick Renee and Mic on that island that the folks on LOST are on? Nah, I need them for a few more chapters and I need Renee for the next story. Warning: Expect more Renee and Mic LOL! - And yes I am a huge Nip/Tuck fan, started watching from day one, just get pissed they don't actually film in Miami. I am here going "Hey!! That's not there!!" ;) - E-mail me, there is a petition going around to keep Nip/Tuck on the air.
BrokenSkye - There are parts "missing" from the story because they go along with whatever happened in the actual show, which most of us have seen. Like Loftness plucking Harm's feathers during his first qual on the Henry. Basically, I didn't want to run through my badly labled JAG VHS tapes to try and find the issue with his landing. Hehehe. ;)