Sorry this took a bit of time to post, I was waiting for to fix its issues. Okay, there is actually ONE part left. I had too much lawerish stuff that I deleted because I was bored reading it. ;) I am hoping to post part 18 either at the end of this week or on Monday. Have mercy on me, it is a holiday weekend and I am working most of it by choice cos X-mas is coming up and since my folks are divorced, I now have a HYPER extended family – (Try an extra 8 members.) and I LOOOOVE buying them X-mas presents. And I am one of these, I gotta get done shopping two weeks before Xmas type of persons. Sad part, I hate malls and hate shopping ::shrugs::: go figure.
Okay, so there is one part left that will be nice and will tie up ALL lose ends, well, lose ends pertaining to this story. ;)
Thank you for being patient. I do have a small story to post during sometime in December, an all NC-17 story which I've been putting aside until the right time to do a lot of work on it. The time has come ;)
Enjoy the ride is almost over.
Jackie
Thanks to: XBlueShadowX, LieutenantjgMegAustin , maidenpride21, froggy0319, Navy Babe, Hieros Gamos, Charmboy4, blonde-brain, Anaika Skywalker, Charmboy4, zeilfanaat, Nikki, jaggurl, achaon, cbw, Manda May, FoxyWombat, zeilfanaat, Jackia, DD2, xobabygurlxo, Kitty25, Lori, amanda cook, joanoa, G, Cristina, Lori, BrokenSkye, ami, iammusic, unknown, mandaj97, Jagfan724, ashnic6289, KittyX25, Deb, KittyX, mara-rabb,sothernqt, Jenny & Stace, for all the feedback. :) You lurkers - :::points::: you too. ;)
PART 17 – The Payback and the Lies
The Next Day
1320 Zulu
JAG Headquarters
Falls Church, Virginia
Harm sat in AJ's office, nervously waiting round two in front of Judge Naughton. The Admiral was late in coming into the office. But there was a look of victory and perhaps hope? "Sir? Is there news?"
"Some." He slid into his chair and smiled at the Commander. "That girlfriend of. . I mean, the Colonel presented me with some information last night that I believe will definitely help your situation."
Harm looked at the Admiral, patiently awaiting for the man to tell him what the information was. "Well?. . Sir?"
But, AJ kept the suspense until they walked into court and he swore in a witness for the prosecution, Petty Officer Second Class Amanda J. Nichols.
When Mac and Captain Ingles had had their conversation about SECNAV Nelson's involvement, he brought up another point. Actually, more like another person. A day after Harm, Renee and the crew had left the Henry, news about the supposed attack got around to Petty Officer Nichols, who went to the Captain in order to dispute the allegation. She was the one that had seen Renee blowing a kiss at Harm as she stepped out of his stateroom. "Petty Officer Second Class Amanda J. Nichols. . . I am an electronics technician aboard the USS Patrick Henry." It wasn't very difficult to get the young woman to appear in behalf of Harm's defense, the Patrick Henry was in need of some repairs and was headed towards Norfolk.
"I assume you know the layout of the ship very well, then?"
Petty Officer Nichols turned her head and smiled slightly. "To coin a phrase: like the back of my hand, sir. . ."
AJ smiled at the young woman's spunk. "What happened on the night of February 22nd?"
"I couldn't sleep. ." Smiling, she sat up straighter in her chair and looked out towards the group of people in the courtroom. "I have the Navy in my blood, sir and I love being on a carrier. Sometimes, I just like to walk around the ship. . ." She got a dreamy look in her eyes, a look that signified how much she loved her job. "I am still in awe at how efficient a carrier can be."
"Did anything strange happen that night?"
Petty Officer Nichols looked over at Harm and then back to the Admiral. "Yes, sir. . when I got down to the JAG stateroom, the hatch was open and a civilian came out. The whole exchange between them was odd."
"Can you point out the civilian? Is she in the court today?" The Admiral turned around, looking out towards the group of people in the courtroom that day.
The Petty Officer looked out and immediately pointed towards Renee Peterson. "Her. . the blonde. . .in the first row, last seat." It was surprising that Renee was actually going to court, despite how 'traumatic' the whole experience seemed to be.
"Let it be put on record that Petty Officer Second Class Amanda J. Nichols has pointed out Ms. Renee Peterson. . ."
Judge Naughton made a note of that and nodded towards the Admiral. "Noted, please continue Admiral."
AJ turned to Petty Officer Nichols and walked slowly up to her with his arms folded across his chest. "You said that the exchange between the Commander and Ms. Peterson was odd, how so?"
"Yes, sir. . . as she went out, she turned and blew a kiss at him. . . then she moved towards me. I asked if I could help her and she said that everything was great."
"What happened next?" AJ turned towards Lindsey, walking in his direction and turning to block his view of Petty Officer Nichols.
"I glanced into the open hatch and found Commander Rabb with marks on his chest that were bleeding. . . I suggested he get a look at it and then was on my way."
"In your opinion, did it appear that Commander Rabb had raped the woman who had walked out of the room?"
Lindsey stood up from behind the prosecution's table. "Objection, calls for an opinion."
Naughton glanced at Lindsey and then back towards AJ. "He asked her opinion, overruled. . answer the question Petty Officer."
Petty Officer Nichols sighed deeply and glanced towards Harm. "In my opinion, sir. . . it seemed more like SHE had raped the Commander. . . I mean, I am not an expert, but if a man had attacked me, I wouldn't be blowing kisses at him."
The people in the courtroom laughed at her comment and was quickly controlled by Naughton's gavel.
"Thank you, Petty Officer. . . No further questions." AJ turned away from the bench and took his seat next to Harm. He patted the younger man on the back. Harm just couldn't help but chuckle. "Like I was going to say, Commander, you have quite a girlfriend." He whispered to Harm and then watched Lindsey.
Lindsey paced for a few moments trying to make the Petty Officer nervous, which was not working at all. The woman just stared at the Commander, slightly irritated by childish tactics. "When you took this walk around the ship, were you with someone?"
"No sir, I was just. . ."
But, Lindsey didn't give her a chance to finish. He inched towards her, his voice taking a tone used to break witnesses on the stand. "You were just going around waiting for something sensational to happen? Let me guess, you came here now because this is a popular case, do you want to be popular Petty Officer?"
AJ stood up quickly. "Your honor, prosecution is badgering the witness."
"Commander, do you have a question for this witness?" Naughton was quickly getting tired of Lindsey's tactics. "If you don't, please sit down and stop wasting our time." Naughton watched Lindsey try to formulate something, but apparently the wind was taken from his sails. "Commander Lindsey?"
Lindsey glared at the Petty Officer and shook his head. "Nothing further."
AJ stood up with a slight smile on his face, he realized what he was about to do was going to shake up everything in the Navy, but he didn't care. No politician was going to rail road any one of his people. "Defense calls Secretary of the Navy Nelson to the stand." There was a cumulative gasp which Naughton brought under control with his gavel.
Nelson walked in with a look that would kill anyone within seconds. He trudged up and headed towards the stand, waiting to be sworn in. He wouldn't have been there, but AJ's subpoena had arrived early that day and he couldn't do anything but oblige.
"I do not have this witness in my list, either, your honor." When Petty Officer Nichols was called in, Lindsey had protested, but the Judge had given AJ some leeway. This time, it wasn't just some woman on a ship, Nelson was a big wig. He glanced towards Nelson who looked back, hoping that his objection would be noted by the Judge.
"Your honor, this witness has some information that can clear my client and bring charges of perjury against Ms. Peterson."
Naughton didn't want to piss off the head honchos of the Navy and when an Admiral brought in someone like Nelson, it wasn't just for its entertainment value. "Swear the witness in. . . but, I am warning both defense and prosecution, no more theatrics."
It was evident from Harm's expression that he had no clue what was going on. What was the SECNAV doing testifying at his hearing? Was he on their side? Was he a character witness? Did he know something that no one else did? He glanced at his CO who was waiting for Lindsey to swear the SECNAV in.
Nelson wasn't a fool and though he wasn't the type to admit defeat, he knew why he was there and that AJ was going to tear him to pieces. Rather than let that happen, he decided to testify on his own accord. "Your honor, Admiral, I know why I am here, if you don't mind, I would like this to be quick."
Naughton turned to the SECNAV. "You are sure of this, sir?" There was a mixture of trepidation and intrigue on Naughton's appearance along with a chill in the air that spoke volumes. Somehow, it was know that by the end of the day SECNAV Nelson would be out of the job.
Nelson glanced out towards Harm, there was a look on his face that stated Harm was to blame for his predicament. Though he was positive that Rabb would never have done what Renee claimed, it was his involvement in all of this that had him on the stand. The whole courtroom remained silent while he chose his words. "Last week I received a call that there had been an accusation of rape against a JAG lawyer. . . And I was surprised to find it to be Commander Rabb."
AJ, who was standing behind the defense table, stepped out and stood a few feet away from Nelson. "Did you do any investigation to find out the truth?"
"To be honest, no, Admiral. I merely contacted Captain Ingles, skipper of the Patrick Henry and told him to go through with pushing for an Article 32. . ." His gruff voice hinted at no sign of remorse, he spoke as if it meant nothing to him.
"What exactly did you say to Captain Ingles?"
Nelson glanced out into the courtroom and maintained silent for a moment. It was then that Naughton persuaded Nelson to answer the question. "I told him that if he didn't make sure Rabb was found guilty, that I would have him driving a garbage barge up and down the Hudson river."
The normally silent courtroom was filled with gasps and muttered words. Though threats often occurred within the political arena, it was very different to hear someone with such power basically put himself on the chopping block.
"What did Captain Ingles tell you about the accusation?"
Lindsey chose this moment to stand and try to make an objection, but Nelson waved him off. "I want to answer this, eventually, I'd have to. . . Admiral, Captain Ingles told me he didn't believe Rabb was guilty, the Corpsman onboard did not find any physical evidence of rape, only the marks that Ms. Peterson had been beaten. Also, Petty Officer Nichols had come to him about the occurrence bellow decks. . . It all happened within a few hours, Ms. Peterson had gone to Captain Ingles over night. . . So I told him that the moment he ran into Rabb that he had to be put in custody."
"Why did you threaten Captain Ingles, Mr. Secretary?" AJ got the answer he already knew, the one Mac had told him just a night before. Nelson had basically threatened Ingles to push on through with Rabb's article 32.
But, there was one other thing that no one knew and if Nelson was going down, he wanted to make sure someone else did as well. "Ms. Peterson had contacted me the evening of the occurrence. . . She told me that if I did not make trouble for Rabb, she would portray the Navy in a negative light on her TV show. . . We do not need that sort of publicity and I can only imagine just how much trouble she would have made for us."
"So you, decided to make a deal that would probably cost a Naval Officer's career?"
Nelson chuckled slight and shook his head. "Admiral, you of all people should know what it is like, you risk one person to save others."
Brining his arms across his chest, AJ just stood there for a moment, realizing just how much of a politician the SECNAV was. "With all due respect Mr. Secretary, we don't leave our men behind. . . neither do we use one of our own as a scapegoat."
After the SECNAV was done, Renee went back to the stand, still pretending to be a wreck from what had happened. But, there was something different there an anger that AJ could see in her eyes that wasn't there last time. Not needing to beat around the bush, he went straight for the jugular. "Ms. Peterson, did Commander Rabb rape you?"
She motioned towards Harm, her composure changing completely to the look of a madwoman. Her hands swear gripping a handkerchief so tight that she began to bleed from her palms. She glanced towards the judge and then back at AJ. "You all are so stupid to not see the bigger picture with all of this. . . Commander Rabb and Colonel MacKenzie had a RELATIONSHIP. . . They had a relationship, he left her for ME."
"Ms. Peterson, answer the Admiral's question." Naughton said. His feelings for Renee and the show he liked so much had started fading through the course of the trial. Now, he sat there, disgusted with what evil people would do. "You're already in trouble for perjury, Ms. Peterson, I suggest you comply."
The doors of the courtroom opened and Harm felt something in he air that made him turn around. His eyes met with Mac's who shot him a small smile as she looked around, trying to find a seat. Lindsey had finally gotten around to calling her, but for all of his attempts, it appeared that the Admiral had already blown the case wide open. Renee caught the small exchange between Harm and Mac, her eyes shooting them both daggers.
"No, Commander Rabb didn't rape me." She spat out, still eyeing the silent exchange between the two officers.
Walked towards her, blocking her view of Harm. "How did you get those bruises on your body?"
"One of the members of the crew, I told them that if they didn't do it, they would suffer the same wrath as Harm." Renee scowled at the Admiral, she never did like the man or anyone else at JAG for that moment. Though, back then she would have tolerated them for Harm. Now, she loathed them. "You don't know what it's like to lose what you've always wanted."
"That's where you are wrong Ms. Peterson." AJ said, recalling how much it had destroyed him when his wife and him had separated, it had been one of the worst moments of his life. "I've loved and lost, what you did was despicable. . ."
"That's because you are just as brain washed as he was. . . YOU ALL ARE. . .You are all MAD!!" She started waving her hands wildly on the stand, a motion that had Naughton springing into action, asking the Marine guard to haul Renee out of the courtroom. But, he didn't notice Renee reach and grab for his side arm. As they were heading down the center aisle, she pulled it out and put one shot into the Marine. "I always said you would pay, Harmon Rabb!" She pointed the gun at him, poising to shoot.
AJ stood just a few feet away from Harm, his hands up in surrender. "Renee, put it down."
Mac glanced at Harm and before Renee could see their interaction, one hand reached for the weapon, the other made contact with the side of Renee's face. It took a second for Mac to bend Renee's arm backwards, taking the weapon from the woman before she could do any more damage. Renee foolishly struggled against Mac's grab, something that caused her to be swept from her feet and down to the ground with the Marine's knee against her back and the weapon pointed at her head. "Don't move." She keep a watch on Renee as AJ and Harm headed towards the Marine guard. "Is he going to be okay?" When she received an answer of the affirmative, Mac took a deep breath and said, "It's over Renee. . . it's over."
----
Sorry! Don't have the willpower to jot down anything witty! ;)