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nikkeisimmer · 3 months

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JAG post.

Excerpt from my JAG fanfic - "Rising Flames"

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1930 ZULU; PENTAGON, E-RING, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY, WASHINGTON, DC

The couple hurried through the Pentagon corridors, resplendent in their white service uniform, heading towards the SECNAV's office. The SECNAV was a four year politically appointed post so Republican Senator from the great state of Texas and former RADM Mike Metcalf, USN (ret.) callsign Viper.

The former Rear Admiral (upper half) nodded to Animal. "Good afternoon, Admiral, good to see you, Animal." RADM Mike Metcalf was Animal's Battlegroup Commander on his last cruise in 1996. RDML Mike Metcalf had coordinated the overseeing flights over the Bosnian regions and kept the battlegroup in the area when the Bosnians started firing on each other. The Black Aces couldn't shoot back unless they were fired upon but of course the then-Rear Admiral (lower half) had planned a deceptive enticement. Animal would run a TARPS mission at 7,000 AGL. through the Carpathian Mountains. And the Serbs had bit the bullet, they'd fired on Animal's TARPS bird and it was all-out war. His usual back-seater hadn't been trained on TARPS so he'd had to fly with Wrench who was qualified and Wrench managed to get clear crisp shots as Animal was jinking away from the Triple-A. Then they'd hit it with GBU-86s along with targeting the sites with LANTIRN on a following mission inside of five hours. Triangulated with a satellite image of the area, they could tell if there had been movement by the Triple-A platforms and hit the new location with ease.

"It's good to see you too, sir." Animal said acknowledging Sen. Metcalf's obvious position as Secretary of the Navy; an obvious appointment as he like Sen. John Lehman was a former Naval Officer and Naval Aviator instead of being completely oblivious as most civilian appointments were.

"Admiral, as you know, we have a very tenuous situation. Islamabad was hit with a vacuum bomb." The SECNAV indicated as he showed them a map on the projector. "This section along Abeyd-Asam Street and Khalid Wali Avenue. There was an explosion as the fuel-air bomb went off. There's structures flattened three-quarters of a mile wide and the casualties at last count were thirty-five thousand people and the number is rising. The scary part of it is that it is a weapon of mass destruction that these terrorists can cook up in their own back yard labs. Set off a few in the different neighborhoods across the city and there would be casualties in the hundreds of thousands. If you can't breathe because all the air has been sucked into a flammable mixture; you're dead. If you get injured by the blast wave, you're dead. It's a terror weapon."

"It's the same as the MOABs we drop out of our planes, only they put theirs on wheels and drive it into place incognito if that's what you're telling me they did."

"That's exactly what they did, Admiral Nakamura." Animal looked up to see a gray-haired man step in to the room; aquiline nose, and hard steel-blue eyes and a sharp angular jawline complemented his features.

"Gibbs, you ever think about retiring?"

"Not really." was his curt reply.

Meg saw her husband stiffen up in the presence of the senior NCIS agent. His friend and her former JAG investigative partner, Harmon Rabb, had nearly gotten railroaded into a murder charge by this very man. They had accused him of the murder of a JAG Lieutenant by the name of Lieutenant Loren Singer. Harm's first-degree murder charge but all was certain until Gibbs had an inkling that something wasn't right about the whole pattern of evidence they'd found up to that point and told the whole crew to look it over one more time. Animal still was wary of the NCIS senior special agent and thus both the NCIS agent and Animal were pretty frosty with each other - neither was sure about the other. Two alpha males circling each other each looking for a weak point they could utilize on the other.

"All the animosity between the Russians and us may end up having to be tabled..." NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs said, "the Russians just found out that the sub that launched a nuclear torpedo against our battle-group that failed to detonate, had a couple other crew on board. The bodies recovered showed three men of middle Eastern origin who weren't supposed to be there and and several Azerbaijani crew members who had somehow enlisted in the Russian Navy incognito. The Politburo didn't sanction this attack on Second Fleet and are backpedaling."

Meg narrowed her eyes,"So what does that have to do with the Judge Advocate General command, Gibbs?"

"JAG has always been a big help in the past with this sort of investigation. Vice-Admiral. Don't know if your predecessor told you but they've been quite helpful in ensuring we have cooperation. "

"Well the lead investigator on all those situations is flying F/A-18Fs off the deck of the USS Allegiance, Gibbs, under my chain of command as the COMSECONDFLEET." Animal set his jaw in a gritted, unpleased expression. "He's the XO of the boat and technically should be chained to a chair, but you ever try to tell Rabb to do something?"

SECNAV Metcalf snorted, "I heard about his exploits from Nelson and Sheffield. I hear he's a handful; much like Captain Mitchell. Maverick was a handful when I was CO at Topgun. Set the hard deck at Angels 10. Guy technically digs a hole going after Lieutenant Commander Hetherly. Guy was a cowboy. I hear he still flies hard but has tempered his style. He should have had four stars by now but I hear he got tagged with up or out. So he's just riding a chair at NSAWC serving out his time in uniform because NSAWC doesn't want to drop an asset like him. He can teach others and be mentoring other instructors."

"That's the way it should be done. The guys who have the balls to do what needs to be done technically should be the ones leading." Animal growled, "The rules may be the rules, but sometimes, the situation goes beyond the limits of the rules. Then you need the guys willing to break the rules to get the job done."

Animal looked over at the SECNAV and at Gibbs, "The ones that will still stay within the Geneva Convention of Rules of Warfare that is. I don't want Rabb being boots on the ground..." He said with some finality, "...when the damned Russians finally figure out which fucking country sent them on this stupid expedition of insanity. He's staying where I'm telling him to stay. Go find Mackenzie and Webb! Let them go down. Conmand Master Chief Yeoman Coates will probably be able to help me in that. She generally keeps track of who she served with, so, Gibbs, whatever happened to Gunnery Sergeant Galindez. I knew he worked a few field operations with you guys?"

"Went back to the Corps, after his in-country squeeze got blown away by Kabir, to become a Master Gunnery Sergeant. Admiral. He just didn't want to be boots-on-the-ground afterwards."

SECNAV said, "Admiral, the current CNO plans to vacate and we've just gone to the UN to form an Allied Command that will bring together every one to act against the ARP in the different countries affected. With this explosion, we've seen what they intend to do. The British have already reinstated their Fleet Admiral position from WWII. I think their aim is to gain control of the Allied Command. We suggested the idea to the UN Security Commission. I'd say we take control rather than the British; the President had asked me to find someone capable enough to take over full Allied Supreme Commander position and he's going to get the Secretary of Foreign Affairs to insist that we get control since we came up with the idea. This position has never been in use since WWII and neither has the rank. You'll be the first to wear it since Chester Nimitz and you are going to be Supreme Allied Commander for the Joint Task Force that will take the war to the enemy."

At this Meg's jaw dropped open as she looked at her husband.

"I presume that the Supreme Allied Commander is responsible for the Allied push against the Arab Reunification Party?" Her husband asked as he looked over at the SECNAV who had dropped this shocking bit of news.

The out-going Chief of Naval Operations Joanne Pruette stepped into the room, "Afternoon." She looked over at Animal, "Thanks for coming,"

"Well I wasn't expecting this."

"Ordinarily the President would in his role of administering his duties as Commander in Chief, however with the outbreak of hostilities between the Russians and us, understandably he's tied up." CNO Pruette said. "I couldn't think of a better officer to fill my shoes than you, Admiral Nakamura." She then turned to Meg, "Ordinarily, I'd be hesitant to put a JAG who is married to such on the command staff of the Supreme Allied Commander as it goes against the UCMJ, but you are aware that these are strange times and as such we need the most capable officers and matrimonial status no longer matters. We are fighting against an enemy that does not care about anyone other than furthering their own twisted idea of what family and relationships should be... Admiral Toshio Nakamura;" the CNO stated, "under the authorization conveyed upon me by the President of the United States to invoke his power as Commander-in-Chief under Congressional mandate, I am here to administer the oath of office. Step forward; Front and Center." Animal snapped to attention and marched over to Admiral Pruette; stopping in front of her. When he came to attention in front of her, she said, "Attention to Orders; raise your right hand. I..."

"I, Toshio Masahiro Nakamura, do solemnly swear that I will protect and defend the Consitution of the United States from all enemies foreign and domestic; that I bear true allegiance to the same, that I will truly, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, faithfully execute the duties of the office on which I am about to enter, so help me, God." Meg noticed that his voice was firm, proud and she knew for a fact that he was staunchly loyal as an American citizen and a loyal officer in the Navy of the United States of America.

"Congratulations, Fleet Admiral Nakamura. You are the first to wear this rank since Chester Nimitz and since the office of the Chief of Naval Operations has gone to the most senior and high ranking officer in the United States Navy, I stand ready to be relieved, sir."

"I relieve you, Ma'am." Animal said, then leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "Isn't it great? No more meetings with angry senators about budget overruns? Aren't you relieved?" He gave Admiral Pruette a wicked grin as he snapped back to attention as Admiral Pruette burst out laughing as SECNAV Metcalf looked over at the former CNO with raised inquisitive eyebrows expecting an explanation. He chuckled wryly when he got told what Animal had whispered in her ear.

Animal been handed a pair of Fleet Admiral Boards. He could order them directly from the Uniform Supplier as he was currently the only five-star fleet admiral in the US Navy. Meg and the SECNAV slipped off his Admiral's boards and put the Fleet Admiral's boards on. The five silver stars formed a pentagonal shape with the top-most point of the pentagon being the point of the fifth star. Each five-pointed star was linked to each other by one arm of another five-pointed star. The top most head of the apex five-pointed star ended up pointing towards the neck of the wearer of the shoulder-boards.

"Fleet Admiral Nakamura..." Admiral Pruette said to him when the boards were placed on his shoulders, "I believe two minutes allowed for a PDA."

Animal grinned at her then turned to Meg whose eyes were brimming with pride for him. He extended his arms and Vice-Admiral Megan Renee Austin-Nakamura, her own golden shoulder-boards with three stars, stepped into his embrace, with her lips meeting his in a tender kiss.

"Congratulations, my love." She whispered. She didn't want to let go but the PDA only allowed for two minutes. Then stepping back she snapped to attention and said formally. "Congratulations, sir!" The Stars and Stripes reporter was here to cover the whole news-story and snapped pictures of both the kiss and the formal address. As the PDA was usually a part of every promotion ceremony, it was certainly well-known to other military personnel and thus would not bring a hue and cry about seeing a picture of two wedded admirals embracing and kissing since it was well known that the JAG was married to COMSECONDFLT who was now the new CNO.

After that burst of pride over his promotion, Animal realized something and he paled. "Oh shoot!" He muttered putting his head in his hands.

Meg and Joanne looked at him in consternation, "What?" They asked.

Animal looked up at them with a long-suffering look, "Well, I guess I'm going to have to have the unenviable task of telling Command Master Chief Yeoman Jennifer Coates that we are moving lock, stock and barrel back to Washington DC." Animal informed her.

Meg and Joanne looked at each other and nodded. They both knew Jen had just managed to scrape together enough to buy a fairly decent condo in Norfolk, close to Norfolk Naval Station. Oh she was going to be majorly pissed off.

Animal continued muttering laconically, "This may be the shortest Fleet Admiralcy in history."

"Oh, it can't be that bad..." SECNAV Metcalf said looking over at the newly minted Fleet Admiral "an O-11 scared of an E-9?"

Animal gave Viper a morose look, then picked up his cell-phone putting it on hands-free and laying it down.

"Command Master Chief Coates!" Jen's brusque command NCO voice barked.

"Command Master Chief. The meeting is over and I have some bad news,"

"Sir? How bad could it be?"

"Bad" Animal said. Pruette, SECNAV, Gibbs and Meg looked at each other. "I just got the post for CNO."

"Well...that doesn't sound so bad, sir..." Coates' voice sounded cheerful.

"The post wasn't the bad part..." Animal explained silently inferring the logistics of what that entailed.

It sunk in, "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME?! Sir! They want our asses in WASHINGTON?! 24/7?!" Animal winced and SECNAV Metcalf pulled his head back from the general location of the phone.

Animal favored those in the Pentagon office with him with an I am so dead look. SECNAV Metcalf grinned at him with a better you than me...

"If you don't mind, sir...I'm going to hang up, have a melt-down and then call my realtor." Coates muttered caustically.

"OK, Jen..." Animal tried to say as penitently as possible. He was absolutely certain that his yeoman was most definitely not happy about the whole deal.

"I'll see you and the Vice Admiral when you get back from DC, sir." Animal had his helo pilot cooling his heels at the Pentagon helo pad. . There was a helo pad on base which was active. Meg was already making arrangements to have the Navy Yard pickup their vehicle at the Pentagon since they would be flying directly home to Norfolk. It was a long ride to Norfolk.

But Animal's Cessna 172 was moored over there at Chambers Field as a rather quick way to get to work and then there would be a flight back home to DC. Even during the winter months his eyesight was still good enough to get in his Cessna and fly it back home.

With access to the Office of the CNO he could technically, call upon the helo to take him and his wife to work and not have to move in from Norfolk to DC, but that wouldn't be proper and it would be improper use of military funds and equipment on personal transportation.

He looked over at the SECNAV, "Sir, what is the next part of the agenda."

"In this current situation, your wife's staff command goes up one rank. So she is authorized to put on four stars. Her subordinate commands will also go up one rank. The RLSOs however will remain O-6 positions. The rest of the staff commands go up one rank as well in the national command positions except at the regional. positions. All promotions in a time of global war are merit-based. FADM Nakamura. Staff officers that do not see combat will still continue as time-in-rank based. Promotions will favor merit and heroism on the field of battle."

"Aye-Aye, sir."

"I'm not gonna sit here and blow sunshine up your ass, Fleet Admiral. This is going to be a tough one. We may, like WWII, need the Russians on our side. This time we're not fighting the Germans or the Japanese. It's everybody against Islamic fundamentalism. That's going to be the war. Anybody that doesn't want their female family and friends to have wear an abaya and one of them hoods all over the place will need to pick up a gun and prepare to fight." SECNAV Metcalf stated staunchly. His salt and pepper hair and mustache was now mostly salt. The lines on his face were much deeper and he wore glasses and he looked at Animal with a taciturn serious look. "Those fundamentalists that advocate their jihads against the West need to be eradicated. They think we're vermin; we need to start thinking about them like that."

Meg said, "Sir, that's not a stance that will win you re-election."

SECNAV Metcalf looked at her, "Vice-Admiral, re-election isn't in my sights, when this whole thing blows over, if it blows over, I want to be on my ranch and enjoying the rest of my days. I've had enough of Washington politics. This ol'warhorse doesn't like being harnessed. I'm gonna go home and ride the range for awhile and enjoy my time left. But while I'm in the Office of the Secretary of the Navy; if I don't treat the threats from the ARP seriously, people at home are going to die in the thousands if not hundreds of thousands."

That was definitely Viper talking there, Animal thought, he'd always been a straight-shooter and didn't like the circular bullshit going on within the Capitol. He much preferred the Pentagon and talking with his fellow straight shooting line officers. Viper had been a good A-4F, F-4 and F-14 aviator and NFWS adversary tactics instructor as well as commanding officer of the Topgun school. Animal had gone through Topgun after he'd tallied three: an F-15J, a MiG 29 and an Su-27.

McDonnell Douglas, now merged with Boeing was not too happy about that in 1990. They'd said the F-15J was being piloted by an inferior pilot inferring that a JASDF pilot was not as good as a Western pilot until they found out that his adversary was a Japanese-American naval aviator and that it was a battle that had lasted 26 seconds in total between the time that Animal engaged and by the time he'd sent a Sidewinder up the F-15J's starboard burner can.

Needless to say, the fallout from Boeing's rep saying this was massive. They'd had to retract the statement.

And that had prompted the Air Force to challenge the Navy to a similar duel, no live missiles, just TACTS to see just how lethal the F-14 was against the F-15. Animal vs. the F-15 with the Boeing rep flying in the backseat of an F-15D two-seater. against a fully charged up and ready to go crew of Animal and Scooter in their F-14A. The F-15D's pilot was a Red Flag instructor well versed in the art of adversary combat tactics and ready to fly fangs out. The battle lasted 23 seconds. The first kill shot tracked straight up the F-15D's port burner can. The second engagement lasted 17sec. Animal elected not to get into the phone booth and lobbed a Sparrow shot in his direction after he locked the guy up with his AWG-9. The Red Flag pilot flying his F-15D didn't even see the missile coming. The third and final engagement lasted 48 seconds. Animal started from a defensive position with the F-15D on his tail in an apparent re-enactment of the engagement that got him his first ever kill. And the same result, the F-15D pilot and the tech-rep got killed thus proving the old adage that the longer a fight goes, the less likely you're going to survive the fight.

It had been soundly proven that the F-14 was truly the winner in that engagement. Even a Western pilot couldn't stand up to Animal in an F-14. US Navy training and on top of that he had to land on an aircraft carrier afterwards in the fight over Japanese soil.

What was even more satisfying to Animal was seeing the Boeing rep empty his stomach contents all over the ground. Rumor had it that he couldn't keep down anything for a week.

The Japanese had tucked their heads and were penitent after learning their lesson for a second time to not get uppity. They'd been beaten decisively, American warplanes had gotten seven kills in that brief conflict, a number that later became eight when the news of Animal's F-2A shoot-down. Of course their hackles were raised when they found out who they considered a Nikkei had been one of the American "navy pilots" who had shot down one of their top F-15J aircraft in a fight that had only lasted 26 seconds from start to finish with the American warplane in a defensive position at the outset and that he'd tallied twice against the JASDF; one each of what was considered their top two aircraft. In total 2 F-2A's, 1 F-15J, 3 F-1s and 1 F-4EJ. Animal didn't count that F-2A in his personal kill tally and always said his kill count was three but it was later found out that the US Navy had counted it and that his official tally according to the United States Navy was one Mitsubishi-built Boeing F-15J Eagle; one Mitsubishi F-2A Japanese Falcon; one Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 29 Fulcrum; and one Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker. That was really going to piss the Japanese off but well, so it goes.

It was that fact that Animal had tallied that made him somewhat of a celebrity at Topgun and many of the instructors wanted to go one on one with him to see if the tactics they were teaching actually translated to the aerial combat arena. Animal was there to learn and he conducted himself accordingly. Making sure that he learned aspects of one vs one, one vs two and one vs. multiples.

The MiG 29 and Su-27 were both equipped with fire and forget BVR Archer missiles which were dangerous missiles. The US had not put out a true fire and forget mid-range air-air missile. Currently F-14s could only carry the AIM-7 Sparrow and that one was a pain in the ass because one had to keep the AWG-9 lit on the target until it hit.

Unfortunately, it happened that if one had a two or three vs multiples you could get overwhelmed by odds firing a cold-nose missile: if it had its own radar or heat-seeking nose it would keep going after the target or was only going to get thrown off by a decoy flare. And most times the missile hit regardless of how many flares were dropped.

With the speed of fifth-gen fighters and super-cruise BVR could be closed to knife-fight in an instant and thus end up with his medium-range missiles being entirely ineffective. If the missiles had active radars of their own then they would be truly fire and forget. And the F/A-18F's truly needed actual BVR medium range missiles. The AIM 120 was supposed to do that for the Navy and Air Force but they were only starting to get the missiles with any regularity. Who knew what the Navy would be up against out there.

"So we watch to see what happens with the results of the Russian investigation into the matter. If they find ARP propaganda, that's who we'll target and this time it won't be a military attack with only reprisal in mind, it needs to be a full scale war. The Islamic Fundamentalists want jihad, we'll bring it to them." Gibbs explained further.

The NCIS Special Agent looked to the Fleet Admiral, "We'll need to move you in quickly in about three to five days. Hopefully we'll have that amount of time. The problem is that I don't think we have that time. Everything is primed to go off in the Middle East and we're concerned about the ARP's little offshoot of islamic fundamentalist radicals that still call themselves ISIS. The ones that are pulling off shit like this to draw focus away from the Arab Reunification Party is doing. It's their little task within the organizational structure of the Arab Reunification Party. We want our military leadership structure in place to lead the Allied response to these radicals and to cement our leadership at the top of the Allied command structure. If we don't the majority of our allies are not going to be able to communicate with the systems that we have in place. Our system is more widespread in terms of technological usage within our weapons systems and in terms of logistics. I don't know all the ins and outs but communication is going to be key."

"Gotcha on that one, Gibbs..." Animal looked over at the former CNO, "Joanne can you send me a 411 on the info for my perusal tonight so I can begin to formulate an attack plan of action so that I'm able to get us in key strategic position to take over as Supreme Allied Commander when we go to make a strike on the ARP." Animal grinned, "I trust our NATO allies will fall in line pretty quickly, with the exception of the former Warsaw Pact, and the Chinese and Russians are going to be a barrel of monkeys to work with in combatting the Islamist threat. I can see my days are going to be fun." He said sardonically. He looked over at Meg who was looking wryly over at her husband. "Where is Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie, the Under-Secretary of State's Marine Liaison? I need someone with legal knowledge and an in with the Marine Corps. Joanne, does Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie report to the Commandant of the Marine Corps as well?"

Joanne Pruette smiled as she looked over at Animal who was taking over. She knew she'd made the right choice. "General Barrett will be available and yes, Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie, as Marine Liaison at the Pentagon reports to him, sir!" She acknowledged that Animal was now of higher rank than she.

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This is what I do when I'm not writing Simsfic.

#jag tv series #jag tv show #jag ff #Harmon Rabb Jr #Sarah Mackenzie #Meg Austin #Meg Austin Nakamura #Toshio Animal Nakamura #Leroy Jethro Gibbs #Harm and Mac #Tosh and Meg #non-Sims

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