Chapter Six - Heavy Hitters

Chapter 6 – "Heavy Hitters"

USHS – Mercy, CVN-71 Battlegroup; September 4, 1994 0845hrs

"Commander Nakamura, all I have to do is get you to sign a few forms here and you should be fit to be released when the helo from the TR gets here." Dr. (Captain) Conrad grinned at him as he held out the clipboard with the forms.

"Thank you, sir…" Animal reached out a hand and shook the doctor's hand. "I appreciate everything you've done for me, sir." Animal had managed to get dressed in shipboard khakis; just his aviator's wings above the left breast pocket and his new silver oak leafs on his collars. The pain in his shoulder was just a dull ache…and there was no longer any fear of further damage to the tendons and muscles – just careful watching over the wound-site to ensure there was no infection. Eventually the bandages would come off and he'd start on his rehabilitation to get back to flight status.

"You just get better, Commander; and I wanna see you back in the cockpit of that Tomcat."

"So do I, sir…" Animal looked up at the ceiling of the room; seeing beyond its confines, towards the sky, "So do I…" he repeated. Conrad could hear the longing in the naval aviator's voice; this was a man who lived to fly. Then the naval aviator looked over at him, a warm smile on his face and said, "Look, Captain, if you ever want a ride and get clearance from the TR's CO, I'll take you up." Dr. Conrad grinned as he heard this; he sure wouldn't turn down a ride in a Tomcat. "That's a promise, sir."

"Are we interrupting anything?" a voice was heard outside of the room as a blonde haired, blue-eyed stubborn Texan of Irish descent peeked around the corner, "Hello, sirs…" She got smiles from Commander Nakamura and Captain Conrad.

Dr. Conrad looked at her then at Animal, "Well, Commander, I guess your helo is here already…" he grinned. "You have a good trip back to the TR."

"Thank you, sir." Animal said as Meg entered the room followed by a non-descript man in a dark black jacket. He was carrying a briefcase with handcuffs; one side attached to his wrist; one attached to the handle of the briefcase. "Good morning, Lieutenant." Animal looked over at Meg in question.

"Good morning, sir. I just wanted to introduce you to the man who is going to turn the prosecution's arguments into Swiss cheese." Meg grinned at him. "Uncle Ollie, meet Commander Toshio Nakamura."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Commander." The man said as he extended his free hand. Animal shook it.

"Pleasure to meet you too, sir." Animal replied as he looked over at the man, "I presume what's in that briefcase is what's going to drop a Mk. 82 LGB in the middle of the prosecution's case?"

"Exactly, Commander…" the man said, "You have a lot of heavy hitters on your side…Commander, including the JCS. They want to see this false accusation go away and I have the tools to make it go away for you." Animal looked at the man in surprise, he hadn't been expecting the JCS to go to bat for him.

Animal looked over at Meg with a look of gratitude. Meg moved in closer to him in a move that hadn't gone unnoticed by Uncle Ollie; "I think the prosecution is going to have a really bad day, sir." She said with a grin as she looked at him. Animal looked over at her, she was tall, at least an inch taller than he was; and gorgeous, he noted. Animal was above-average in height in terms of his ethnicity; most Asians were between 5'4 and 5'7" with very few specimens few specimens over six feet in height.

Ollie looked over at his niece. Was there another reason why Meg wanted him to do this for her? He grinned at Meg raising an eyebrow in question. Nope; whatever Meg was thinking, she was keeping it to herself. Sometimes Ollie couldn't tell what Meg was thinking and he thought to himself. I sure hope it's not infatuation…but his twenty-five year old niece was no longer a youngster and she could make her own decisions for herself as to who she wanted to get into a relationship with. It appeared that his niece's partner was going to have some competition. When he'd first come on board the TR, he'd noticed how protective that partner, Harmon Rabb, was it…was around his niece. He'd thought that there had been something going on between the two of them, but there wasn't. There couldn't be…especially since they'd be in contravention of several military statutes. It'd been a while since he'd worn the service Class A uniform of the Corps, but he knew for a fact that there were statutes regarding that sort of thing. And he was absolutely certain that the both of them knew it too; they were both in the same chain of command.

However, Commander Nakamura was another story. Considering the fact that the commander was in a totally different chain of command, the higher-ups would look the other way and considering just what the commander was nominated for…the commander's road to higher rank would be smoothed for him. Ollie suddenly had a flash vision; of Meg…in a hospital bed holding a baby with a man by her side; they were both looking down at the baby; it was only for a brief second, but it caught him off guard because the man standing beside her in the vision was the same man who was standing beside her now. He shook his head. Well stranger things have happened, he thought. Believe me; I've seen a lot of them in the course of my career. He'd keep what he saw to himself. He'd probably get locked up in a mental institution if the higher-ups ever found out that he was having visions. He'd had one the night before he found out that Dan had been killed in battle; they served together and it just so happened that Dan was on a LRRP that night where they'd been ambushed by VC. That was the one vision that had unnerved him and he thought that they had gone away since he'd hadn't had one since then until now. He'd made a promise to Dan that if anything happened to him that Ollie'd take care of the family; and he'd kept that promise. Dan's kids were grown up now, but he didn't intend to stop taking care of them. Dan would have wanted it that way. His mouth tugged into a wry smile; Maybe Meg's met her intended; all the more reason why I'm here right now…and it's another damned good reason why I have to save this man's career from this false accusation.

"Well, I think we'd better not keep the helo pilot waiting." Animal looked over warmly at Meg. "He might take off without us."

Animal had gotten yet another surprise when they got to the flight deck of the USHS Mercy; the helo was a Marine bird, "Welcome aboard, sir…Glad to see you back on your feet…and congratulations on the promotion." Animal looked over to see the man who had gone in with him to Hill 175. Marine Captain Jimmy Wild Crow; an Apache-American Marine Corps helo aviator with one helluva wild man reputation now because of what they both had gone through on that hill. Nope…he was definitely wrong that the helo pilot meant to transfer him back to the TR would up and leave on him. This Marine aviator had gone through hell with him and stuck by him. In fact Captain Wild Crow had saved his life.

Animal gave him a wide grin, "Good to see you too, Jim…" He locked eyes with the helo pilot. "Name it…" he promised the man. If someone did a favor for you that saved your ass, you had him call what he wanted; and you got it for him.

"Jim Beam…sixty proof…" The Marine Aviator told him, a big grin on his face.

"You got it, Jim…" Animal gave him a thumbs up. He'd find a way to get him that…five full friggin' cases of it and what's more, he was gonna put Jim in for the Cross if he couldn't get it any higher than that. If Jim Wild Crow hadn't planted his ass on that hill, risking his own life…and sat through heavy fire waiting for Animal to get hauled back on board, Animal would have been planted on that hill, permanently. So Animal owed him big. In fact every damned one of the Marines who had gone in there that morning on Hill 175 deserved a medal, they'd come through hell. And Animal intended on making damned sure that they all got recognized for their heroic actions.

Jim looked over at him, "Wanna take the right seat? Sir? You get to see the first sight of home comin' in…considering you were out when we touched skids on the TR the last time."

"Thanks…" He got into the right hand seat and strapped himself in. There was a slight twinge of pain from the left shoulder as he buckled in but…well…he needed to be restrained in the seat.

Meg and Uncle Ollie arranged themselves in the helo and strapped in too as the Marine helo raised skids and flew off towards the aircraft carrier. Meg had a wonderfully wide smile on her face as she felt the wind blow through her hair. "It's been a while since you've done this, right? Uncle Ollie?" She had to raise her voice to be heard.

"Yes, Meg, it has…" Ollie was looking at the open side door…The last time he'd been a passenger in a UH-1 while wearing silver oak leafs or black ones (since the subdued ones were what you wore with camos) was almost fifteen years ago in peacetime and he was also having memories going through his mind of being a Marine Recon 2nd Lieutenant in the middle of a war that nobody who had to fight it wanted to be in; far from home, the thoughts of Mom and apple pie going through their heads, and how they hoped to hell that they would make it home…in one piece. And sometimes even those wouldn't go through their heads because they were too busy trying to stay alive. The boots on the ground were the ones that had to do the fighting and the dying; not the brass, not the politicians. Maybe there wouldn't be any more wars if the politicians were the ones that had to do the fighting.

Flight Deck, USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), 1005hrs

It wasn't more than fifteen minutes later when the skids touched the no-skid on the TR. The CAG and the rear admiral were waiting for him by the hatch entrance of the island and so was Harm who looked as though he had an unreadable expression on his face when he saw Meg and Uncle Ollie in the back of the helo. Animal stepped out of the helo; helped Meg down, reaching up a hand to hold as she jumped down from the door to the no-skid. She gave him a bright smile which he returned. Ollie thought, Yup, there's something going on between the two of them; of course they probably didn't know it themselves either.

Animal and Meg practically walked in lockstep towards the hatch, coming to a stop; snapping to attention and saluting the rear admiral and the CAG. Ollie casually walked over bringing up the rear.

"Welcome back aboard, Commander." RDML Pointer said, "I see you're in proper uniform." He grinned looking at the silver oak leafs on Animal's collars.

Animal looked over at Harm, "Commander Rabb…" he said formally.

Harm locked to attention and saluted him, "Sir…"

Animal formally saluted him back, "So…when do we have to be in Yokosuka?"

Harm replied looking over at Meg, "The court has freed up a court date about six days from now on the tenth. We'll have to leave the TR by tomorrow."

"Good. That'll give me time to write up award citations for the Marines that went with me to Hill 175." Animal said. "Sir." He looked over at Rear Admiral Pointer. "I'd like to formally request award citations for the men that were with me. Captain Wild Crow risked his life under heavy fire to save mine and he deserves the Medal even more so. If he hadn't sat through the heavy fire and waited till I was on board to lift skids; at the risk of his life and at the risk of potential catastrophic damage to his helo, I wouldn't be here right now."

"I agree with you, Animal. I just hope the Marine Major General at 29 Palms and the Commandant of the Marine Corps see it that way…and the others?"

"Bronze Stars with V device for the four who provided cover fire from the helo, Silver Stars for the two men who dragged me to the helo under fire. And a Bronze Star for the guy in the right hand seat beside Wild Crow."

"OK…you write up the citations and I'll make sure that I get them out to the JCS…with a get on this as soon as possible"

"Thank you, sir."

"Animal…" At the informal address, Animal looked over at the admiral. "It's damned good to see you back on your feet. You looked like you were completely out of it on the litter."

Animal nodded, "Thank you, sir. I'm glad to be back on my feet too."

"And I'll be even happier when you finally make it back into the cockpit…" Pointer stated looking at him with a fatherly grin, "…where you belong…" he finished then he looked over Animal's shoulder to Ollie who was just standing to the side, "Good to see you again, Colonel."

"I'm just a civilian now, Jim…but it's good to see you too…Admiral." Uncle Ollie if he had stayed in the Corps would be wearing stars too now, Meg thought, as the two men reached out and shook hands.

Animal looked at them, "Damn…" he said sotto voce to Harm, "Everyone knows everyone around here…I'm starting to feel kinda left out…" he jokingly said.

Harm just looked at him with an expression that said…yeah…evidently so… He looked over at RDML Pointer, I can't believe that he actually flew with my father, it's incredible to run into people who have actually served with my father…it's incredible to know just how much influence my father had with the men that he flew with. CAG Boone; RDML Pointer…it's…unbelievable.

When the reunion broke up, Animal remembered that he had some citations to write, excused himself and headed for his quarters.

Meg looked over at Harm who was looking at her with a wide grin, "So…did you have a good time with Animal?" Harm asked her as Meg looked at him with her eyebrow raised in question…A long moment of silence as his smile widened even further then he asked mischievously "…hold hands?"

Her eyes narrowed as she growled "Shut up, sir."

If Harm's grin got any wider, his face would split in half. Oh, he was going to tease her about this endlessly.

Animal's Quarters, USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) September 5, 1994; 0210hrs

He was back on that hill…the bullets were still flying…the North Koreans were coming up that hill…and he was nearly out of ammo. He looked back, the helo wasn't there...Where the hell was it? Animal fired more shots from his M4. Damn empty…last two clips…insert… charging handle…aim fire… Now they were right on top of him…only 20 feet away. Firing with his good hand he jammed the muzzle of the M4 into the face of one North Korean who was right on top of him and blew his head off. Pulling his M9, he turned only to feel a burning sensation at his stomach…while the foul breath of a North Korean soldier filled his nostrils. He looked down to see a knife sticking out of his stomach…as his vision started graying around the edges.

Hyperventilating, Animal snapped upright in his rack. As an O-5 he rated his own private room now; so his sudden gasp and subsequent jolting upright didn't wake up anyone else. It was a dream, I'm alive…but damn it, it seemed so real. If I hadn't been quick enough; that would have been what had happened…The realization of that possibility send a cold shiver down his spine. He pulled his legs out from under the blanket; it felt too hot, too constrictive, too unbearable. His heart pounded in his chest and he had to take several deep breaths to try to calm himself. He closed his eyes as he sat on the edge of the bed thinking, Damn not this now…on top of having to rehabilitate myself back to flying status. He had killed a man in battle before, in the air when his shells tracked along the fuselage of the Iraqi ace's Sukhoi Su-27 and shattered the cockpit canopy and the Flanker had gone into a terminal dive which ended with the Su-27 slamming into a wadi; no ejection; no chute. But that death was impersonal, it was an aerial battle pitting one man in a machine against another man in a machine. The realization that there was a dead man in the cockpit of that Flanker wasn't as personal as what had happened the morning of August 29, 1994.

Until that day he hadn't known death close up, personal…the death that he'd delivered to so many North Korean soldiers on that morning on Hill 175; personally, face to face. The look of momentary terror on the face of that North Korean soldier when he realized that his life was about to end as Animal's finger tightened on his M-4's trigger and three rounds blew the top of the North Korean's head off. Then the guy who in the dream had got him, but in real life, had gotten Animal's 9mm right through his right eye into his brain and the subsequent spray of blood as the back of his head exploded outwards as his brain fragmented into pieces from the force of the 9mm bullet going through it. Animal realized that he was now a killer; that he'd delivered death with his own two hands; not at the hands of a 20mm Vulcan cannon.

He got up and looked in the small mirror above his desk…turning the light on above it. Did he feel anything? Expecting to see the 1000 yard stare, the cold, emotionless dead eyes of a stone-cold killer, he was surprised that there was still emotion in his eyes, still the same Toshio Nakamura that had always been there; the one who cared about his friends, the one who tried to do the right thing, the one who still wanted a family and someone to share his life with. He tried to reconcile the one who had done the deed on Hill 175 with the one that he saw in the mirror and he couldn't. Like Meg had said, "Sometimes you need to know that there are people there that will walk beside you and support you when you can't fight the battles on your own." He practically slumped in the chair by the desk…and covered his face with his hands, sobbing, letting all the emotions that he had kept pent in…after the battle; out. He was alive; his enemies, dead… they had families whom they would never see again, at least in this life; because he'd taken theirs. Yet he knew in the back of his mind; that it had come down to his life or theirs. And he had wanted to come home…to live and the reason why he fought the way that he did, was so that he could live. Would he always carry that guilt? Yes. Could he live with the fact that he was alive…as a result of his actions? He took a hard look at himself. Yes; he finally came to that realization after sitting for what seemed to be forever in the chair. It had come down to survival of the fittest and he intended to walk out of that situation and he had fought like a demon in order to be able to do so.

But just one realization wasn't enough. He knew that he had to talk to someone about this; or the gnawing doubt and the guilt in his mind would eventually take over and consume him.

CAG Bridge, USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), 0735hrs

The C-2 Greyhound caught the three-wire. "Looks like mail-call and they're waiting for passengers...today." CAG Cartwright said as he looked over at the COD. They were unloading bags of mail from shore. Personal mail-call and official communiqués from shore command that couldn't be wired over. Then it would be back in the air after taking on passengers who were headed to Yokosuka. "Are they all going on the same COD?"

"Well, you know that COMBATGRP won't let Rabbit take up an F-14…he'd probably eject if he got an ACLS/AP light on." Hoss snorted at his DCAG's pronouncement and then barely restrained full-blown laughter as DCAG asked, "You think we have to send a Master at Arms to keep Rabbit and Animal separated?" Hoss had a wide smile at that.

"You think we should?" smirked Hoss.

"Well, I wouldn't want Animal to get charged with aggravated homicide or murder." DCAG said, "If Animal were to get a hold of Rabbit, he'd probably pitch him out the hatch of the COD at Angels Two Five. It'd be a long way down for Rabbit, not that I care what happens to him, but I'd rather not have blood on Animal's hands."

"Nice to see you care…" Hoss snickered.

"I like Animal…he's a good guy and a great stick and I don't want that asshole Breckin to get the top of the greenie board. If he does, he won't shut up about it for the rest of the cruise and I don't want to have to lock Breckin in a meat locker just so I can give my ears a rest." Hoss started laughing his head off at DCAG's comment.

"OK…I'll have the Marines send a Master at Arms and keep them separated at different sections of the aircraft." Hoss said, his smile wide. "At least then they won't have to clean up blood from inside of the COD at the end of the flight."

Flight Deck, USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), 0935hrs

Animal stood at the hatch, the flight deck was really quiet as opposed to the usual noise of F/A-18C Hornets and F-14s being launched off the carrier deck, but they still wore hearing protection.

"You miss this, Harm?" Animal asked; noting how Harm looked wistfully at the Fourteens and the Eighteens on the flight deck.

"Every single day…Animal…" Harm said looking down the flight deck at some parked F-14s. He looked over at Animal's shoulder, the lumpy bandages making a lump underneath Animal's summer whites with shoulder-boards. They both carried their officer's caps under their arms tight to their torso as they knew that any gust could send the caps flying down the deck of the carrier and become FOD or get sucked into a jet aircraft engine and cause a catastrophic failure. Meg was also in whites as was Harm. They were headed to Yokosuka and Yokosuka UOD was summer whites.

Animal's shoulder-boards were brand new, acquired at the TR's PX; the three full stripes of a commander glinting in the morning sunlight as the sun streamed down on them from a seventy five degree angle from the eastern horizon. Harm could see Meg out of the corner of his eye sneaking peeks at Animal's shoulder-boards and at the one row of scrambled eggs on his newly acquired white officer's cap.

The deck crewmen had already taken out their bags to the COD and loaded them into the cargo section of the aircraft. They needed to make sure that they had the proper uniforms for their stay in Yokosuka. Animal was hoping that it would be brief.

"Good to see you again, sir." He looked over to see Gunny Enders stepping over to stand by his side; he was wearing his service C's the khaki shirt with tan and Marine green gunnery sergeant stripes, and the service trousers, clipped to his waist was a web-belt with his sidearm by his side, and his cover was the standard Marine Overseas Cap which was attached to his web-belt and neatly folded over. "Congratulations on your promotion…"

"Looking official, Gunny Enders…" Animal looked over at him. "And thanks…"

"CAG figured that there may be some tension on the flight, so he wanted me to act as Master At Arms to make sure that there wasn't any bloodshed, sir. Probably because he didn't want you pitching Commander Campbell out the back end of the COD, sir, at twenty-five thousand feet; might be a little messy." Evidently Rabbit's reputation had made it around to the Marines' side of the boat and Gunny Enders next comment confirmed it, "We don't like him either." The Gunny said quietly.

When it was time to load, Gunny Enders made them wait until Commander David Campbell and his attorney, Commander Ted Lindsey were on the plane before they were allowed to board, just to prevent any confrontation between Commander Campbell and Commander Nakamura. The look that Commander Campbell gave Animal when he saw the full three stripes of a commander on Animal's whites was chillingly hostile. Gunny Enders pinned Campbell with his gaze and letting him see the sidearm at his side, he stated clearly, "Cool down; sir." Commander Campbell saw Gunny's hand by his side-arm and blanched.

Everyone strapped into their seats. Their seating arrangements were two to a side, so Meg decided, "Hi, Gunny, would you mind if I sat with Commander Nakamura?"

Gunny Enders looked over at Animal, "Gonna be good, right, Commander?" He smirked at his battle-mate. Meg and Animal looked at each other and gave each other a smirk.

"Yup; we'll be good." Meg said. Gunny Enders nodded, grinning at the both of them. I think those two are a matched pair and they don't know it yet he smirked to himself and sat down in the seat in front of them forming a barrier to protect Commander Nakamura if Campbell tried to do anything. Harm sat down on the seat opposite theirs occasionally looking over to see what Meg and Animal were doing to Gunny Enders' never-ending amusement. Eventually, they heard the props start up and the movement of their C-2 heading to the catapult. Animal wasn't sure he liked the fact that he couldn't see anything and the indeterminable wait for the cat-shot was agonizing. But of course, the punch in the back was the same…the same feeling of being thrown off the end of the boat; though not with the power that the two TF30s produced…and they were airborne. "Wonderful...we're airborne" Meg murmured leaning over to Animal and whispering in his ear to be able to be heard.

Animal said to Meg, "But it still doesn't match an F-14…"

Harm grinned and commented loud enough to be heard over the noise of the props, "Nope…" Meg and Animal looked over at him, "Nope…it sure doesn't. The power in those engines…when you crank her up to full military power and you're bucking against the hold-back and just waiting for the plane-captain to crouch down…and let 'er rip. There's nothing like it." Campbell looked back towards Harm in surprise. The dumbass hadn't realized that Harm was a former naval aviator; probably hadn't even noticed that Harm was wearing wings. Krennick was sitting behind Campbell and Uncle Ollie was sitting behind Animal and Meg; his briefcase still hooked to his wrist. The hopes, dreams and career of one Commander Nakamura riding on what was contained in that tape that was locked in that briefcase.