Chapter Sixty Two
AN – I am taking some liberties with the NJROTC things. I know some people who did JROTC, but apparently they got ranked only once a year. I am having Mattie fast track just because this is her junior year of high school. Author's privilege.
1900 Local Time
USS Patrick Henry
Mac stood up on Vulture Row watching the sun go down, she had become a permanent fixture up there with her fiancé taking off constantly. She hated the fact that they were going to catch the person after the sun went down, but they really had no other choice, she only hoped that they could pull it off.
She watched the plan go into action, with the person in charge of maintenance telling everyone that they cleaned up the software and were going to proceed installing it in the navigational systems. Deek was standing down below watching the computer guys go. There was a clatter and Deek turned around briefly. Mac saw a seaman pull a disc out of his pocket, replacing one disc with another. Mac grabbed an MP and got on to the deck, but it was too late, Harm and Em were already in the air.
"Seaman Jarvis, you are under arrest for destruction of military property," Mac declared to him as she started reading him his rights.
"Doesn't matter now ma'am, your family up there is as good as gone," he said smirking.
"Why did you do this?"
"I believe you know my uncle, Sadik." He said grinning evilly.
She blanched at that name. "Oh God." She ran up to the LSO and told him to get Harm down as soon as possible. She got on his frequency, "Hey Harm, you have to get down before the navigational systems go."
"I thought you guys gave the tech guys dummy discs."
"Seaman Jarvis switched discs, I saw from where I was standing. Deek ended up turning his back for a split second, and I saw Seaman Jarvis switch discs."
"Okay Mac we are heading back now." Just as he said the words, the computers started flipping out again.
"Hammer, not again!"
"It's okay Kanga, I got us down once, I will get us down again, besides, we are closer to the carrier this time."
He griped the stick and called the ball all the while, Mac was holding her breath. He caught the number three wire and climbed down. He threw his helmet down and ran up to Mac.
"What the crap happened!"
"Sadik came back to haunt us. Apparently his nephew was in ROTC with Ensign Kromer. They were all friends, and when you came on board, she wrote home about you and Emily. Apparently you guys are well liked on board. Anyway, his nephew was friends with Seaman Jarvis and they sent the computer virus to Ensign Kromer on blank discs hoping that she may use them to do some things on board."
"If you didn't already kill the bastard, I would have done it for you."
"Harm how many times is that fiasco going to come back to haunt us?"
"I don't know, but hopefully this is the last of it. It seems that they were coming specifically after me though this time."
"Or they could have been using anyone of our family members to get to me." Just then, Mac's breath got caught in her throat. "Harm, I have to call the kids, just to make sure."
"We will go down and make a call now if it will put your mind at ease."
They made their way down to the com room and placed their call.
Ring . . . Ring . . . Ring. . .
"Mackenzie/Rabb/Johnson/Zhukov/ and for the time being Coates residence," Mattie said into the phone. "How can I direct your call?"
"Well, this would be Mackenzie and Rabb wanting to speak to a Johnson."
"Mom, Dad." Hearing her Dad's name be brought up, Mackenzie looked up from the playmat and started squealing. "Where are Sergei and Jen?"
"They are riding the horses in the back. Uncle AJ came over to help with Mackenzie, and to help me with my physics homework. I hate aerodynamics."
"Well baby, get used to it, you will be taking a ton of it when you get to the academy." Harm said to her. "What are you working on?"
"Bernulli's equation."
"That is a simple one," Harm said as he started explaining it to her.
"You know Dad, I wish you were home, you are so much better at physics than Mom."
"Well, your Mom can do English better than me."
Mac started to gets angsty. "Mattie, is everything okay there?"
"Yeah Mom. Are you almost done with your investigation?"
"Just got done."
"Are you going to make it home in time for the NJROTC competition?"
"I hope so."
"Well, I hope you get there. I made drill team on first try and Lieutenant Commander Netters said that he had never seen anything like that before. Said I really knew how to handle a rifle. I really don't understand what it means, I have been twirling batons since Mom enrolled me in baton twirling when I was four."
Harm got this big grin on his face, and then it fell when he realized he wasn't going to be there. "Good job baby, I didn't know your Mom did that."
"Thanks Dad. I have to go now, do you want to talk to anyone else?"
"No, we are good."
"Tell your sister I love her. I love you too sweetie."
"Love you too Dad. Don't pull any Rabb tactics."
"I won't.
"I will see you tomorrow Mattie."
"Bye Mom, bye Dad."
Harm hung up the connection. "This sucks Mac. My daughter is going to be doing her drill team exhibition, and I won't be there to see it. I understand why we are here, but damn, I wish I could be there too for my girls."
"You may not be able to see it in person, but you can watch it happening while it is going on."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, there will be a lag of a couple of seconds, but Mattie's school is rigged for wireless internet. I will hook the DVR into the computer and send it to you while it is happening."
"Is that possible?"
"I will try, if not, you will get it twenty minutes later and you can see the entire thing."
Harm's stomach started to growl. "Look who it is this time who needs to be fed, lets go get some chow Stickboy." Mac teased him.
"Sounds like a plan Ninja girl."
They walked into the officer's mess hall and found something to eat. Harm settled on a Caesar Salad, and Mac settled on a hamburger. They found a seat at a table and were joined a couple minutes later by Captain Ingles, the CAG, and Emily came a little later.
"Why are you looking down Rabb?" The CAG questioned him.
"Mattie joined NJROTC and Harm is pouting about missing one of her NJROTC exhibitions."
"What is the big deal? You should be happy your kid is following your footsteps."
"It's not that, I am missing her drill team thing tomorrow night at the school. I missed Mackenzie learning how to crawl, I'll probably miss her first word, her first steps. I already missed all that with Mattie!"
Captain Ingles looked up and smiled, "She made drill team? I didn't know your little girl could handle a rifle."
"She takes after Mac." Harm said smiling. "Mac took Mattie shooting one day, and it seems like she has a knack for it, and apparently she is really good at twirling the things too."
"You know Harm, if the Navy wanted you to have a family. . ." The CAG started.
"They would have issued you one," he finished. "I just thought being at JAG would shelter my kids from what I had to go through when I was young."
The rest of the officers agreed in unison. Mac spoke up, "I am sending the video though, it is going to be at the high school."
"That should be refreshing, we already get the M3 hour anyway."
"What is the M3 hour?" Mac asked.
The Captain smiled even more, "Your fiancé comes in every morning and gives updates during breakfast about you, Mattie, and Mackenzie. The M3 hour. All of the accomplishments, the problems that Mattie is having with boys, etc."
"We fill up the hour?"
"No, he just can't stop talking about you." Em said. "Are you sure about taking Brennen?"
"Yeah, Sergei is setting him up in the room with Mackenzie. He will be fine Em." Mac smiled at her cousin. "In fact, I talked it over with your Aunt Mabel, and she is bringing him JAG on Friday and I am taking him for the weekend to see how it goes. He should be fine."
"You haven't met a hard headed three year old."
"No, but I have been putting up with a hard-headed Rabb for nine years." She kidded.
"Mac, you wound me."
They finished up their dinner and said goodbye to the rest of everyone. They knew that Mac would have to leave soon for home and they wanted to spend a couple of more hours together alone.
AN - The next couple of chapters deals with how life goes on even with someone you love overseas, this I have lots of experience with.
