A/N. Right so the extra long delay from chapter two to this chapter was all because the usb key I had with all the information and plots and stuff for this (and all other stories I'm writing) was destroyed by my enthusiastic niece (grrrr) so I have had to rewrite and reorganise the story. I hope the delay won't be as long for the next chapter ;) thanks guys.
The New Guys in Town
Chapter Three – In the Navy
Meanwhile, in Washington D.C. JAG HQ.
"Tiner! Get Rabb and Mackenzie in my office ASAP!" Admiral Chegwidden bellowed.
"Aye Sir" Tiner responded and at once set off in search of the duo, wondering what the hell they had done to piss him off now. They weren't in their offices and it was still too early for lunch, even for Colonel Mackenzie's stomach. Noticing Lieutenant Sims nearby he stepped up to her.
"Ma'am, have you seen the Commander and the Colonel?" he asked.
"Yes Tiner, they're in conference room two" she smiled.
"Thanks Ma'am" he smiled back and set off to the conference room. He smiled again as he approached to the laughter inside. The entire bullpen preferred it when they weren't fighting. He knocked and waited until he heard the Commanders amused voice say "Come in" before he poked his head around the door.
"Sir, Ma'am, the Admiral wants to see you both ASAP" he told them. They looked at each other and Tiner was once again witness to their silent communication, which Harriet had once jokingly referred to as MacRabb Com.
"We'll be right there Tiner" Commander Rabb told him. He watched the younger man nod and disappear before he turned to his partner. "Come on Mac, let's go" he started to gather the files and Mac followed suit as she joked.
"What did you do this time Harm?" she smirked. Harm rolled his eyes.
"Come on Marine, let's go" he repeated with one of his affectionate nicknames. A few minutes later, Tiner had announced them and they were stood at attention in front of the Admirals desk.
"Commander Rabb and Colonel Mackenzie reporting as ordered Sir"
"At ease, take a seat you two" he told them. He signed his name on the report in front of him and then turned to look at his two senior attorneys. He pushed two sets of orders at them. "Here are your new orders" Truth be told, he was very upset that he was losing them, but he also knew that whatever their actual assignment was, it would be a career maker. They both frowned as they read the papers. Mac's initial reaction was surprise, surprise that there were no details on the order, surprise that the orders had come directly from the President himself and surprise that she was being assigned to an Air Force base in Colorado, then it hit her, she was being separated from Harm. Before the Full implications of that had sunk in, Admiral Chegwidden spoke again.
"I have no idea what you'll be doing down there but it must be important to request both of you" He internally smiled at the look of relief that came over both of the officers faces, just when would these two wake up and see what they meant to each other. "You have four days to pack, your flight leaves from Andrews AFB on Friday night. You are to report to Cheyenne mountain on Monday." Here he paused, before he continued, "You two are damn fine lawyers, you have permission to chose two members of staff to go with you. The Military has provided a house for you two and another for the others you take" he smiled to himself at their reaction that they would be basically living together. "I assure you, that your accommodation is more two apartments in a house with only a common room" their relief was evident as they glanced at each other, knowing what sort of problems sharing a bathroom could have caused. "Anyway, you have the rest of the day to clear your offices and reassign you cases. Don't forget to tell the Roberts that they have an extra week to pack as they have children and that their new house has also been provided"
"How did you know we'd ask Bud and Harriet, Admiral?" Harm asked.
"Because he'd be like a lost puppy without you two and they're your best friends" he responded, "Plus I know they'd help you both a great deal in your new roles. Now get outta here" he ordered and dismissed them. They snapped to and gave a perfect 180.
"Aye aye Sir" They said, just before they reached the door, the Admiral spoke up again.
"Damn fine serving with both of you"
"Yes Sir, thank you Sir" Harm replied with a huge grin.
"It's been a privilege Sir" Mac smiled.
"Go" the Admiral continued in a gruff voice. They walked from the Admiral's office, across the bullpen to Harm's office.
"Wow," Mac said, staring at the orders. "You ready for this sailor?"
"Are you?" he smiled.
"Seriously Harm" she sighed as she sat down, "This is obviously something huge"
"I know, it looks like our lives just got turned upside down"
"Should we tell Bud and Harriet now or after dinner?" Mac asked as she looked at her watch.
"Now I think," he smirked at her, "You and your stomach Jarhead"
"Hey! I'm a healthy growing girl." She gave him THE smile the one that was sincere and heart warming and just made him fall in love even more. His own smile faded slightly as he stared at her brown eyes. He cleared his throat after a few seconds.
"Maybe we should ask them to join us for lunch and we can tell them then" he suggested.
"Good idea flyboy, I'll ask them on the way to my office," she quickly got up and walked out. God that man was going to be the death of her. The next few days were very surreal for Mac and Harm. They handed over their cases, told Bud and Harriet, put their apartments up for sublease and packed all their belongings. Their cars and their belongings were being shipped with them (an advantage of having a military cargo plane being your transport). They touched down early Friday morning where an eager looking Staff Sergeant lead them to their house, gave them their keys and documents, gave them a quick salute and drove away.
"Wow, he was way too hyped for this time in the morning" Harm grouched.
"Yeah well, lets crash for the rest of the morning and I'll see ya later flyboy" she smiled.
"Yes later ninja girl"
Mac let herself into her section of the apartment, noting there was no actual lock leading into her small sitting/dining room. Ah well, she could trust Harm to knock. She walked into the bedroom and smiled. This wasn't so bad, fairly spacious but definitely not huge with built in wardrobes. She walked over to a door on the other side and saw it lead to the bathroom which had a corner bathtub, a walk in shower and toilet and sink. Excellent, she smiled to herself, she loved her baths. She quickly changed and fell onto the bed, absolutely exhausted.
Harm had decided to first check out the common area and noted it was basically a large sitting room with an open plan kitchen and a dining table, on the far side there was a door which led to the back garden, (something he decided to check out in the morning, when he could actually see it). He turned the light off and walked to the door on the opposite side to where Mac had gone and looked around his living area. Unbeknownst to him, it was identical to Mac's only switched around. He too changed and fell into bed.
Mac awoke several hours later with a yawn. This bed was sinfully comfortable. She stretched and lay staring at the ceiling for about 5 minutes before deciding to get out of bed and start dragging in her stuff. She pulled on a pair of sweats and a vest top from her sea bag and, after brushing her teeth she stepped out into the common area. Barely glancing around, she walked out onto the drive and started unloading all the boxes from her 'vette (well the few she had managed to squeeze in there) and then proceeded to the trailer attached to the back of Harm's SUV. She and Harm had decided that this way they would be able to get all their things to Colorado) She quickly found the box marked 'kitchen' and sighed in delight.
"Coffee time" she whispered to herself. Walking into the kitchen, she placed the box on the side and pulled out the coffee maker and put the coffee on. Finding the cups wrapped up, she unwrapped one and made herself a black coffee, they would need to find a local store to get some milk so she could have a milky coffee later. She had just taken her first sip when Harm's door opened and he walked out. He had pulled on a t-shirt but was only wearing his boxers other than that.
"Morning Marine" he smiled, "Is that coffee?" he asked.
"Sure is" she answered forcing herself to stay looking at his face, "You want some?"
"Yes please" He sat down at the breakfast bar and grinned, "So how far have you got with your unpacking?"
"The three boxes in the 'Vette and this one" she gestured towards the half empty box on the side as she pushed some coffee towards him.
"Thanks" he smiled and took a mouthful, "So we need to unpack and then maybe we should go for a drive, ya know to familiarise ourselves with the area?" he suggested hopefully.
"Sounds good flyboy. We need to go food shopping too" she told him.
"Ok," he frowned for a second and then continued , "how are we gonna sort that out, we just gonna buy what we eat and label or do ya think we could deal with shared grocery shopping" Mac looked at him whilst she answered.
"No reason why we can't share, I mean it's not like I don't know what you eat" she reasoned.
They made quick work of moving their things into their new house and decided to take Mac's 'Vette out as it was a nice day. That evening Harm was making dinner for Mac and himself whilst they discussed the chore rotation. As Mac teased Harm about his famous meatless meatloaf she suddenly stopped laughing. She mentally berated herself. She was flirting with Harm! Yeah they teased each other all the time, but here she was actually flirting. She knew it was a subtle distinction but it was still there.
"Mac, are you ok?" Harm asked. He had watched her go silent and wondered if he had done something wrong.
"Yeah, I'm fine, sorry for zoning out" she flashed at quick smile at him, well it was really more of a grimace but never mind.
"Right, if you're sure?"
"Yeah, I'm good" Harm stared at her, as if trying to gauge her response. Mac stared back trying to show him she really was fine. Harm set down the knife he had been using to chop vegetables and decided that now was the time for honesty, after 7 years together, he just knew.
"Mac, I think we should talk"
"No" she replied.
"No?" Harm questioned.
"No" she repeated. "We always say the wrong thing to each other and we can't afford to not be speaking right now, we have an assignment which is evidently of huge importance, please" she begged him not to do this.
"Then when Mac" he said frustrated, "I pull, you run, you pull, I run" he sighed and turned away for a moment before turning back to face her. "I love you, I always have, I just couldn't handle it before" he admitted quietly.
"You said 'not yet'" Mac reminded him.
"Yes, I did and you almost married Brumby. I was a fool"
"So was I" Mac told him.
"Where does this leave us?" he asked, slightly afraid of the answer.
"Maybe we should step away from this for a while Harm, I don't want to run and I'm not, I just think we should have some space"
"OK" he agreed, "However long you need but I will be fighting for you properly now Ninja girl" They finished preparing and eating their meal and just before Mac went to bed, she turned back to look at Harm.
"Just so you know," she started, "I love you too" she smiled and quickly walked into her apartment completely missing the huge grin on Harm's face.
Before either of them knew it, Monday morning had arrived. They dressed in their uniforms and drove to the Cheyenne mountain base as instructed.
"So what do ya think so far?" Harm asked as they made their way towards the sign in desk.
"What the hell is an Air Force base doing under a mountain?" she asked him.
"Yeah that's what I thought" they reached the desk and the Airman jumped to attention as they approached.
"Sir, Ma'am" he greeted.
"At ease" Harm told him, "I'm Commander Rabb and this is Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie"
"Yes sir, I've been expecting you, if you'll just sign in, I'll let Colonel O'Neill know you're here" he picked up the phone and dialled an extension, "Colonel O'Neill, I have Commander Rabb and Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie waiting for you ... Yes sir ... Sir? ... erm yes I'd say they were both quite tall Sir" the smaller airman stammered. Harm shared a grin with Mac. "Yes Sir" the Airman finished and hung up. He turned back to Harm and Mac and told them, "The Colonel will be here with his team soon"
"Thank you" Mac told him whilst subtly glaring at Harm to stop him from laughing. Ten minutes later, the elevator doors opened causing Mac and Harm to stop discussing what gift they were going to get little AJ Roberts for his Christmas present.
"All I'm saying, Danny boy, is that paint balling is fun and we'd have a blast. It'd really inspire team work, don't ya think?" Jack said as they exited the lift.
"Jack, we spend all day, every day in the dirt getting shot at, why would I want to spend my free time in the dirt, getting shot at?" Daniel responded.
"Because it's fun, you remember fun?" Jack countered, "Come on Carter, T, what do you guys think?" he asked, turning to them.
"I think we should greet our new JAGs" Sam told him.
"Indeed" Teal'c agreed. Jack grumbled to himself before turning to Mac and Harm, who snapped to attention at the senior officer.
"At ease" Jack waved them away, "I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill, that's with two l's" he told them.
"Commander Harmon Rabb" Harm told him, shaking Jack's offered hand.
"Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie" Mac introduced.
"Lieutenant Colonel Sam Carter" Sam smiled at them.
"I'm Dr Daniel Jackson and this is T Murray" Daniel introduced.
"Okie Dokie, shall we?" Jack gestured towards the lift. They all entered and Jack swiped his security card. The doors closed and Harm and Mac looked at each other curiously. Jack noticed this and decided to see what made their resident lawyers tick.
"Sooo, JAG HQ huh?" he started.
"Yeah, that can get pretty quick and crazy" Harm told them with a quick flyboy grin.
"I can imagine it's pretty interesting up there"
"Yeah but Harm still has to go on an adventure every now and then, flying tomcats" Mac grinned. Harm rolled his eyes.
"And you always have to come and drag my ass out of whatever rubbish I seem to find myself in." He smiled. Jack looked up at Sam and caught her eye. She nodded slightly. They both knew that these two felt more for each other than the regulations would allow. Jack knew there was a story behind these two, he hoped that whoever they had chosen to assist in legal knew all their stories and they were willing to share.
"So Sir, what's our assignment. All we know is ... well that we were to report here." Harm continued as the silence continued.
"We'll get to that, we're taking you to meet General Hammond first Rabb"
"Of course, I take it we'll find out about the civilians at that time?"
"Do we have to refer to us as civilians after 8 years?" Daniel moaned.
"Yes Danny boy"
"Jack, for the millionth time, it's Daniel!" he snapped. Further debate was halted as the elevator doors opened. The rest of the journey was uneventful, all arguments between Jack and Daniel were avoided by clever teamwork from Sam and Teal'c. When they arrived at the briefing room, Janet was waiting for them. She saluted the senior officers and then introduced herself.
"Major Dr Janet Fraiser, CMO" she smiled.
"Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie" Mac smiled and returned the salute.
"Commander Harmon Rabb" Harm returned.
"So Rabb, I gotta ask, where did the name come from?" Jack asked in a way that Harm realised was not insulting or offensive.
"It's a family name, I'm Harmon Rabb Jr, my dad, Harmon Rabb Sr was also in the Navy, he got shot down over Vietnam" he told them, surprising Mac and himself with how open he was being.
"God, that's awful, how old were you?" Sam asked.
"Five" he mumbled. Mac gently rested her hand on his shoulder.
"Harm?" she asked.
"It's fine Mac" he tried to smile, "We laid it to rest and I have Sergei now"
"Yes, ok" she smiled.
"My half brother on my father's side" Harm explained, then seeing the curious looks he confirmed, "After he was shot down, he was a POW held by the Russians, then he was taken in by a family" There was a silence for a few seconds until Jack asked the question that was bugging him.
"Mac?" he questioned.
"Nickname" Harm smiled, "Right Jarhead?"
"Sure Squid" she smirked in return.
"Oh come on Mac, any nickname but that"
"Ok stickboy" Harm groaned at that. They were interrupted by General Hammonds arrival.
"Good morning people, I'm General Hammond. Have a seat everyone" he turned to Harm and Mac. "Commander, Colonel. You've signed your confidentiality forms so I'll just cut to the chase. The President wants a new version of the UCMJ for the SGC. With the nature of the work that goes on here and that we have all different militaries and civilians here not to mention the special visitors that you'll learn about shortly, he feels that some of the current laws are no longer acceptable t the mission. You're assignment along with ..." he paused and looked at the file in front of him, "Lieutenant Roberts and Lieutenant Sims will be to draft and finalise the new UCMJ and brief any new JAGS and upholding the law here as well" there was a long pause until Mac finally spoke.
"Permission to speak freely Sir?" she asked.
"Go ahead" Hammond nodded.
"Sir, this is nuts! The UCMJ has worked for decades. What's so special about this base?"
"Maybe you should read these" Hammond gave them both files identical to the ones that the CIA agents had been given a few days before. Harm was speechless. A stargate, Goa'uld, Jaffa, Tokra, ancient Egypt!" Mac was right. This is nuts. He looked up at Mac who stared straight back. He knew from their silent MacRabb that she felt the same way.
"Let me guess ..." Jack said suddenly, "This is nuts, crazy, wacko, three French fries short of a happy meal?"
"Something like that" Mac mumbled.
"I assume you would like some proof?" General Hammond asked.
"With all due respect Sir, yes" Harm responded.
"Ok we have SG8's scheduled return in 4 minutes, so follow me" Ten minutes later, Harm and Mac were shocked and back in briefing room being further advised on their job and that they would need to go straight to sick bay for a physical. Their minds were still spinning as they were checked over by Dr Fraiser. She smiled at their expressions.
"Don't worry Sir, Ma'am, the shock will wear off"
"Hey Doc, are they done yet?" Jack asked.
"Yes Colonel, all done, they are both in excellent health"
"Sweet, we can get on with the tour, I've heard the cake is chocolate today and I really want some" he smiled at Sam who rolled their eyes.
"Yes Sir" she indulged. "Maybe we should show them to their offices?"
"Yes, show offices, good idea" Harm liked Jack, he was obviously together and very laid back guys but there was something about him that demanded respect even if he was joking about cake. He couldn't help but think how Admiral Chegwidden would react, having this man under his command. He had to stifle a laugh over that and at the idea of him getting on Mac's bad side, he knew there would be fireworks if that happened. Upon arriving at their offices, Daniel took over the tour.
"We decided you having separate offices would be best, so I've come up with this, Commander you're on the left and Colonel you're on the right" They had walked into an average size room with two desks and two doors leading into smaller offices similar to their old ones at JAG.
"We figured the two officers you have coming could work in this area and you in your offices, apparently it's a similar way to how you work at JAG HQ" Daniel added.
"Yes this is great, thanks" Mac smiled, it was similar to the bullpen at JAG complete with the glass windows with blinds for the offices.
"Well we're going for lunch now, do you guys want to join us or would you rather settle in here first?" Jack asked.
"What do ya say marine, I know you're hungry" Harm smirked. She attempted to give him an evil but smiled in return.
"Lead the way sailor" Lunch was a fun affair with all the officers getting to know each other well.
"So how did you come to work here Daniel?" Mac asked.
"I sort of figured out how to work the Stargate ... well ... I mean how the address system works. Sam was the master mind behind the computerised DHD that we have" Daniel explained. Sam blushed.
"Well me and several others at the Pentagon"
"Ah come on Carter, stop being so modest, you make the rest of us look like ... we're stupid" he finished lamely. They all laughed.
"So do we get to go off world" Harm asked eagerly.
"You will need to take the off world assessment but I can't imagine why you wouldn't pass" Sam smiled.
"Whoa wait a second Harm, maybe we should settle in before we go off world, I mean we've just got back from you outrunning a nuke and you took that dive into the Atlantic, let's take a break" she smiled.
"You're right, besides we have our hands full at the moment" Syd and Vaughn suddenly appeared next to the table.
"May we join you?" Syd asked.
"Sure, have a seat" Sam offered.
"Yeah, the more the merrier, I always say" Jack drawled.
"Thanks" Syd and Vaughn sat down.
"Oh, I'm sorry Agents Sydney Bristow and Michael Vaughn, this is Commander Harmon Rabb and Lieutenant Sarah Mackenzie" Daniel made the introductions.
"Which Agency are you with?" Harm asked as they shook hands.
"The CIA" Vaughn answered. Harm glanced sidewards at Mac. She knew what he was thinking, can't get away from the damn spooks.
"What's wrong?" Sydney asked. She saw the look and had wondered about it.
"Nothing, we just know a guy by the name of Clayton Webb. He sort of always gets us stuck in life threatening situations. He's a spook too"
"Clayton Webb ... Why does that name ring a bell, Vaughn?" Syd frowned.
"He was the Agent in charge of reviewing my apparent death, the one who you said knew more than he let on" Vaughn smiled remembering his wife's attitude when they had first met Clayton Webb.
"That sounds like Webb" Harm laughed, humorously.
"What Harm means to say is that we've been on one too many assignment s where we could have used that extra information" Mac offered.
"This man sounds like he has no honour for his fellows" Teal's stated.
"That's putting it mildly, he tried to insinuate that Vaughn was a traitor" Syd told them.
"Too bad for him it wasn't the truth" Vaughn laughed.
"So where we're you based before here?" Harm asked as he dug into his vegetarian pasta.
"The LA joint task force field office"
"Sounds interesting"
"Well ... we were never quiet"
"SG1 report to the control, SG1 report to the control room" the intercom announced.
"Ok kids, lets go" Jack ordered, "You guys can come as well, ya need to know exactly what we deal with here"
A/N. Ok so I know this chapter was all about JAG but I can assure you that the main element of the story comes into play in the next chapter and then the chapter after that we have the British team arriving. I did kinda get carried away with the JAG transfer, (sheepish grin). Please please please leave some reviews, thanks luv Nicki xoxo
