Chapter Four - A Debt to Repay

Chapter 4 – "A Debt to Repay"

JAG Headquarters, Washington DC, August 30, 1994; 0745hrs

"Lieutenant Commander Rabb, Lieutenant JG Austin, Come with me…" Rear Admiral AJ Chegwidden stated. Both officers hailed; fell in behind him as they headed towards the admiral's office. When they stepped into the office, Meg and Harm looked over in surprise as a familiar sand-blonde-haired officer in service khakis with silver oak-leafs on his collars nodded his head. "Commander Lindsey has been borrowed back from NAVINSGEN…Take a seat; all of you." He paused for a long moment; his brow furrowed. "Commander, Lieutenant Commander and Lieutenant; I know you three have just come back from Cuba and I hate sending you all out on yet another out of country excursion, but I've just received a request from Congress and the Joint Chiefs of Staff for an investigation to award our nation's highest military medal for valor; evidently, they want you to go to the USS Theodore Roosevelt which is currently on station off the coast of North Korea. A TARPS F-14 was downed in North Korea by enemy fire day before yesterday. The nominee who is currently on board the hospital ship USHS Mercy; is currently recovering from two gunshot wounds to the shoulder and a concussion sustained when he was grazed by a 7.62mm from an AK-47. Evidently the nominee rustled up enough senior officers' jimmies to get his Angel flight to get his squadron-mates out. The nominee is a naval aviator, Mr. Rabb, but it was a ground encounter. He went along with the solo Marine helo gunship when the other two gunships weren't ready to go."

"That sounds like a suicidal mission, sir, into Indian country without air cover." Harm commented looking intently at the admiral.

"Well, Commander, it certainly was suicidal but evidently he was quite willing to lay down his life for his squadron-mates." AJ looked at Harm then twisted his face into a contemplative expression, "The Marine aircraft commander was crazy enough to listen to the naval aviator when he ordered him to go in. When they got there, the naval aviator jumped out with the Marines…and proceeded to lay down cover fire so that the two naval air crewmen who had been downed were rescued. That wasn't the part that got him the nomination. What got him the nomination was when he ordered the Marines back to the helo and stood his ground covering their decampment. Evidently he managed to cause over 150 casualties to the North Korean side of the battle; with another 30 being hit by fire from the two UH-1 Helicopter gunships who managed to refuel and take-off about fifteen minutes after the initial gunship left the carrier. The TARPS aircraft that went through the battle area after the carnage happened got these images." Chegwidden passed over the file which had the TARPS pictures and clearly on the camera footage was the images of the North Korean soldiers' bodies strewn all over the hillside." AJ looked at each of them… "And eighty three point three percent of this carnage was caused by just one person. This was a man who was willing to die to help his fellow men escape. Not only that, but while he was decamping from his position, he also managed to shoot a North Korean soldier who was leveling a RPG at the helo which his comrades were in; this was after he was wounded twice and had a bullet graze his head. I have also been told that the nominee in question has been confirmed for a battle-field promotion to O-5 which is effective as of now but hasn't been presented yet due to the fact that the Commander is still in the hospital recovering from his injuries."

"It sounds like this officer seems like he's another Rambo." Krennick ventured; looking at the photos. "There're bodies on top of bodies, sir. And you're saying he walked away from this, sir? Then he must be impossible to kill."

AJ looked at her, "I don't know that he's invincible, I doubt it, but he certainly made quite a few North Koreans think that he couldn't be killed; those North Koreans found out that they were going to have a very bad day. For most of them; it was their last."

"Sir," Meg said, "I'd say, camera footage, witness corroboration of the events that took place, I'd say this was a slam-dunk…sir…if they're planning on awarding the Medal."

"I'd normally say that this is a slam-dunk too…" AJ paused…

"Why am I sensing a but…here? Sir?" Harm asked.

"Evidently the squadron XO has leveled a charge of disobeying a direct order and disrespect to a fellow officer against the Commander not to mention the highest of which carries the death penalty if it was done deliberately - hazarding an aircraft. I have a feeling that it's a vindictive charge…but I need you to ferret out the details…" AJ stated. "Lieutenant Commander Rabb; Lieutenant JG Austin; you two will investigate the Medal of Honor nomination; Commander Krennick; Commander Lindsey; you will investigate the allegations. If you find evidence…that goes to trial. Commander Krennick; you're defense; Commander Lindsey; you are prosecution."

"Admiral. Who is the naval aviator in question? Sir?" Harm asked, he had a sneaking suspicion…there was only one naval aviator that crazy enough to do this.

"One…Commander…Toshio Nakamura…"

"Thank you, sir…" Harm said. Meg looked over at her partner. He was pale and silent; his lips pursed.

"Dismissed…"

JAG Headquarters, Washington DC, 0820hrs

"I thought that it was him…" Harm said quietly as he strode down the hallway.

"Harm, you look like you've seen a ghost…" Meg said as she tried to keep up with her partner's long stride. "Who is this Commander Nakamura?"

"A man with honor and integrity…" Harm said looking down the hallway. "I know for a fact that the Article 15 is a vindictive charge. He'd never disrespect another officer without a very damned good reason. When we get aboard the TR, we need to get a hold of the TARPS mission communications tape."

"Harm? What will that prove?" Meg was looking at Harm with a curious expression.

"I think the XO is hiding something." Meg hadn't seen Harm this furious in a long time. "Meg, You remember Lieutenant Williams; how the tape helped us find the artillery coordinates were kicked…reversed when we were at 29 Palms?"

"I remember, Harm…" Meg thought, Uncle Ollie got us that tape.

"I get the feeling we're going to find just what the XO is hiding in that transmission tape. And I know for a fact that Lindsey or Krennick won't even look for them…so it's up to us…" Harm paused. "And I'm going to do whatever I can to save Animal's career…"

"Harm…he was your flying buddy, wasn't he?" Meg realized the reason why now.

"Not just that…he's the man that taught me how to fly and fight in the F-14 Tomcat. He's the one who pushed me to my limits and beyond…and I owe him my life many times over. Yes, we flew together too…in the Howlers…we flew missions during the Gulf War; He was flight lead; I was his wingman. He's gotten me out of more scrapes that I got myself into during my second cruise than I can count on all hands and feet…I was way too cocky and he settled me down and taught me some more of how to get the most I could out of the F-14. He also helped me to get my first and second kills; the only two kills that I've ever managed to get – he was my wingman on both of them. He saved my life…I intend to save his career." Harm looked at her directly in the face.

Meg was silent; Harm when he went on an obsessive mission was pretty much unstoppable.

USHS Mercy, Sea of Japan, off the Coast of North Korea, September 1, 1994 0730hrs

"Good morning, sir…" Animal heard a bright, cheery, young female voice; pretty close to him, coming from roughly the fourth quadrant, just about his ten o'clock within his line of sight as he opened his eyes slowly. "I see you're awake…sir." The voice continued, "Commander…" She held up her hand, "How are you feeling?"

"Better; now that I don't have a flock of Ewoks dancing on my skull…" He said, as the young woman laughed, the Ewok reference referring to the movie he saw with a group of fellow Lieutenants JGs about ten or eleven years ago. "So…what can I do for you…uh…"

"Lieutenant JG Alannah Murray, sir. I'm one of the nurses…here on the Mercy…you're on a hospital ship, sir. The doctors had to do some arthroscopic surgery on your shoulder to take care of the damage, to make sure that the damage didn't become irreversible. The admiral made it absolutely clear to the doctors that he expected you to be able to return to a cockpit. As soon as possible I believe his words were. A doctor will be by to give you the full scope of what they had to do. Now I need to check your vision though…" she grinned at him. She was a cute redhead with hazel eyes and a bright smile; her dimples were showing as she favored him with one of her smiles. Smart as a whip, Animal thought as she went about her checks of his vision with an instrument checking his responses, it seemed as though she was confident in her ability to do her work as professionally as possible. Then she held up three fingers splayed out. "So, sir, how many fingers am I holding up?"

"I think, three from the looks of it…" Animal squinted. He'd been out for so long that the light was rather bright in the room to his eyes.

"Well, it seems like you're doing just fine, sir. The concussion was mild…and your pupils are dilating normally; the concussion symptoms are practically gone, sir…other than the sensitivity to light, which you're showing by your squint, which should be gone in a couple of hours. So I'm sure you must be hungry, sir…"

"Yeah…Lieutenant, I think a little food might do me some good." Animal favored Lieutenant JG Murray with a smile of his own to which her own smile brightened even more if that was possible. He wondered how he must look to her; a beat up middle thirties naval aviator with a busted wing.

"Well, I'll tell the food specialists to rustle you up something; sir, they should be by shortly. And I'll see you at about 1000hrs again to see if there's been any improvement in your sensitivity to light…sir. You have a good one, sir." Another bit of motion came from the door as a khaki clad individual came walking in, "Good morning, admiral…sir." Lieutenant JG Murray had snapped to attention.

"Good morning. How's my naval aviator doing? Lieutenant Murray?" Animal had tried to lock up to attention, but that was hard to do when one was lying in a hospital bed.

"He's doing fine; sir, I was just in to check his concussion symptoms. It looks like they're just about gone, sir, other than the sensitivity to light…" The admiral grinned at her as she gave him a smile.

"As you were, Lieutenant and thank you…" the admiral said and looked over at Animal with a big grin on his face, "So you're lazing around, huh, Animal…flirting with the nurses" he said this looking over at Animal and then over at Lieutenant JG Murray who grinned back at him, "and having a grand ol' time…Now, I don't know how long the bone yankers intend to keep you incarcerated here so I figured that I'd better let you know so that you're not out of uniform when they do finally send you home…to the TR." He grinned holding a couple of rather nice looking US Naval award boxes. "Firstly…Lieutenant Commander Nakamura… attention to orders or at least the best that you can do from a hospital bed…repeat after me…raise your right hand, I, Toshio Nakamura, do solemnly swear…"

Animal lay…and raised his right hand up as well as he could approximate the position from his hospital bed "I, Toshio Nakamura, do solemnly swear…"

"…that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States…"

Animal finally figured out what was going on, "…that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States…"

"against all enemies, foreign and domestic,"

"…against all enemies, foreign and domestic,"

"that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely,"

"…that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely,"

"without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion;"

"…without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion;"

"and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."

"…and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God…" Animal finished…proudly.

"Congratulations, Commander Nakamura…" Rear Admiral Pointer said, with a smile as he handed him the now open box revealing the silver oak leafs of a full three-striper commander." Rear Admiral Pointer grinned at Lieutenant JG Murray, "Would you be willing to do the honors, Lieutenant JG Murray?"

"With absolute pleasure…sir" Lieutenant JG Murray smiled at Animal, with a slight twinge of mischief; other than a little light flirting, there were no romantic leanings towards the Commander. He was handsome though, she thought, some lucky girl will probably get him one of these days, but she was going to enjoy her time helping him to get to the point where he could get back on his feet and leave the hospital ship. She leaned in to his hospital bed, put her left hand on his arm…careful to not aggravate his shoulder and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek…whispering in his ear…" Congratulations…Commander…on your promotion…" and straightened to see her immediate superior; Captain Cliff Conrad, USN Medical Services, the doctor, who had a pie-eating grin on his face as he stood to the side of the admiral. "Sir…" Lieutenant JG Murray snapped to attention.

The doctor acknowledged the presence of the admiral. "Good morning, sir." Then looked over at Lieutenant JG Murray with a grin, "I see you're making acquaintances with our patient, Nurse Murray…"

"Under the auspices of admiral's orders, sir…" The captain knew that, but he couldn't resist the opportunity to tease the young Lieutenant JG.

"Admiral…sir…" the captain said. "Commander…" he paused referring to the naval aviator by his now proper rank… "Nakamura was extremely lucky that the bullets that entered his left shoulder weren't a little more to the right, sir…luckily both bullets that punched through his shoulder ended up going through the muscle tissue instead of shattering his humerous. If it had, he would have been medically down-chitted from flying ever again except in the case of a civil aviation light prop. He would have failed every military flight physical he ever took from then on. Your aviator dodged one helluva bullet, no pun intended. We were able to repair the damage to the muscle tissue and stitch up the connections of the nerves arthroscopically, the nerve responses were slightly slower…right after surgery…but they have returned to normal from what I can see with the left hand," Animal was flexing the lower left arm and clenching his hand and releasing it. "…the rest is time and the ability of the muscle tissue to knit without scarring. But barring any medical complications; sir, he'll be back in the cockpit…after intensive physical therapy. But it won't be this year, quite possibly the first half of next year too. And then there's the matter of your recommendation, sir. The Joint Chiefs will probably be hesitant to put him back in the cockpit, since that would risk losing him to a possible operational accident."

"What do you mean, sir?" Animal said nervously to the captain. Why would the JCS want to keep him out of the cockpit; a job that he'd been trained for?

A familiar voice was heard coming from the doorway and Animal's eyes followed the voice to its originator; a tall 6'4" officer in khakis; and he grinned as he figured, Rabb, "What he means…sir… excuse me, admiral, sir, is that there's been a recommendation sent up official channels for an award to be signed off on by the President of the United States…"

"Lieutenant Commander…" RDML Pointer grinned, "You must be the JAGs that Washington has sent me…"

"Yes, sir…I'm Lieutenant Commander Harmon Rabb; this is my partner Lieutenant JG Meg Austin."

"Sir…I'm Commander Allison Krennick and this is my investigative partner Commander Theodore "Ted" Lindsey…" A pair of khaki wearing silver-oak leafed commanders followed the initial pair into the hospital room.

"They sent me four JAGs…to investigate one medal?" RDML Pointer asked as he looked at all four of them.

"No, Sir, I'm here to investigate Commander Nakamura on allegations of violations of the UCMJ Article 89 Disrespect toward superior commissioned officer; Article 90 Willfully Disobeying Superior Officer; Article 92 Failure to Obey Order or Regulation; Article 110 Improper hazarding of vessel or aircraft and Article 133 Conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman." Commander Lindsey replied; eyes blinking owlishly behind his glasses. Both the Admiral and Animal looked at each other in disbelief and rising anger; as did Harm and Meg.

Rear Admiral (upper half) James E. Pointer's eyes narrowed ominously and he growled, "That mealy mouthed son-of-a-bitch. I didn't think he'd have the balls to do it…He's thrown a monkey wrench into that well-deserved Medal."

At this Harm looked over at Meg and whispered sotto voce in her ear, "We need to get that tape before it gets doctored."

Meg nodded. She thought to herself she may have to have Uncle Ollie on stand-by, yet again to give her a copy of an un-doctored tape. "Looks like that's gonna be so fun…" she said wryly.

"Who, sir…" Commander Ted Lindsey asked, "Exactly who are you referring to, Admiral?"

"The VF-41's no-load XO; Commander David Steven Campbell, call-sign Rabbit…and it's not fondly given."

"Vice Admiral Mitch Campbell's son?" Commander Krennick asked.

"The very…his reputation precedes him every where he goes; referring to the Commander, and it's not a good one." Rear Admiral Pointer growled. "I want you to dig every damn piece of evidence that you can find to quash this allegation; nip it in the bud…Commander."

"Sir…" Lindsey said, "I can only investigate impartially to see if there's any merit to Commander Campbell's allegations, sir."

"Son…you look like you'd rather hide under a rock yourself…than to face any adversity." RDML Pointer snarled pinning Ted with a nasty look as he got into Commander Lindsey's face. To Lindsey's credit the commander didn't flinch. "Now…stand here and be silent while I award this hero another medal…" He turned back abruptly to Animal, "On 29, August, 1994, On Hill 175, North of Pusan, North Korea, Lieutenant Commander Toshio Nakamura while heroically repelling a heavy North Korean attack was wounded three times, twice in the shoulder; once with a bullet grazing his head. Even when wounded he continued to fire upon the enemy until the attack was repelled. His injuries sustained in battle necessitated his evacuation to a hospital ship, travelling with the battle group, for emergency surgery. He is hereby awarded the Purple Heart. His heroic actions while sustaining injuries in combat are in the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service." He held out the box, showing the Purple Heart medal to Animal…then to Harmon Rabb, Meg Austin, Krennick, and Lindsey. "This man is a hero; not someone that would have been a candidate for an Article 15. I want you to do your jobs, and get this man the justice that he deserves." He fixed each of them with a glare. "And if you find anything that implicates Rabbit in the railroading of my naval aviator, I want you to take him, jam a braising skewer up his ass and roast him over a hot flaming barbecue! Am I clear on this?"

"Sir. That could be undue influence in a JAG investigation;" Commander Krennick warned the admiral. "Let us do our jobs, sir…and the justice that comes will be what will be deserved, sir."

"I believe they have a term for that…Commander Krennick…and it's Justice is Blind. And I don't want that sight-impaired bitch to fuck this up. Understood? Commander?" Rear Admiral Pointer snapped out, looking at Commander Krennick with a look that if it could kill; would have fried her where she stood.

"Aye-aye, Sir."

"You two get the hell out of my sight…" To avoid further confrontation with Rear Admiral Pointer; the two commanders snapped to attention and about-faced walking out of the room, in lockstep. "Now you two…" Rear Admiral Pointer, looked over at Harm, "Commander Rabb, you're going to be doing the investigation into the award?" Animal was looking over at Harm with confusion and at Lieutenant JGs Austin and Murray as well as the doctor. "That you're going to do what it takes to get him that medal?"

"Sir, that is our intention, every bit…but if I might add, Sir, I believe that the evidence for the defense of the Commander is in the transmissions made on that TARPs flight that night, sir."

"Son, do you have a personal interest in the allegation case?" Rear Admiral Pointer asked, curious as to why the young Lieutenant Commander was so interested in the other case.

"Let's just say, sir, that I have a debt to repay…at least a little bit, sir." He looked over at Animal. "He saved my life…on many an occasion;" he looked over at Animal as he said this. Admiral Pointer knew exactly what Rabb meant; those two somewhere along the line had crossed paths or served together, "I intend to do what I can to save his career, sir."

Admiral Pointer looked over at the man standing in front of him. He noticed with upraised eyebrow the fact that the tall young JAG officer, Lieutenant Commander Harmon Rabb Jr. had on naval aviator's wings; dedicated, persistent, will dig to get to the truth and quite willing to do whatever it took to get the job done…all the qualities of a Naval Aviator and evidently this young man had ended up taking them into his new job. "I like you, son…you do credit to those wings you're wearing." Pointer paused for a long moment eyeing Harm assessing him then suddenly asked him, "Tell me somethin'; young man. You're Hammer's son, aren't you?"

"Yes, sir." Harm looked at the admiral in surprise. "You knew my father?"

"I'm a long time Black Ace…son," The Admiral said to him, "I served with VF-41 off the Tico…in 1968…I was there the night your father went down. He did it right, it was triple A that got him. Tong tried to help him get his F-4J out to feet wet; stayed on Hammer's wing for as long as Hammer could limp that jet, but Hammer lost hydraulics; he'd been hit in the port engine five times and had a fuel line ruptured; his controls locked up and he had to punch out. Tong orbited as long as he could past bingo fuel…but couldn't stay long past that or he'd have gone down too. My wingman was covering my six as I took out the Triple A site that got your father. I was a JG at the time…when I served with Hammer and Tong, just three months in to the cruise; replacement crew for all the crews we were losing during that damned war; your dad was my guru…he helped me get my feet wet with regards to squadron duties, and we'd often chat about home and how he missed you and your mom and what he wanted to do when he got back. Your father was a damned good flier, son and he's missed. Do me something, Commander, you find the stuff that saves my naval aviator here, and I'll shield you from any fallout."

"Aye-aye, sir."