| Subject: To Fight the Good Fight part 5 |
Author:
Heather K
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Date Posted: 14:25:01 07/28/02 Sun
In reply to:
Heather K
's message, "To Fight the Good Fight part 1" on 14:03:03 07/28/02 Sun
1425 EDT
JAG Headquarters
Eight days had passed since Harm received the letter from Mac. Eight days without a word of news, good or otherwise. Eight nights of restless pacing, eight days of non-stop work. Eight times Harriet had dinner invitations rejected, Sturgis had lunch invitations turned down. For eight days the junior officers and the enlisted personnel stayed away from Commander Rabb in fear of his 'fragile' state of mind, as one Petty Officer called it. Basically it was eight days of torture.
Respite found its way in the guise of news on the ninth day. Unfortunately, the age old adage 'No news is good news' held fast. At 1505 EDT, Admiral Chegwidden received a call from the base hospital at Ramstein, Germany.
"Tiner, get me Commander Rabb immediately."
"Right away, sir." Tiner went off in search of Commander Rabb, holding his breath knowing that whatever the admiral had to say to him couldn't be good. "Commander Rabb? The Admiral needs to see you right away."
"What is it, Tiner? Is about the Colonel?"
"I wouldn't know, sir," Tiner answered. "Commander Rabb reporting as ordered, sir" And with that Tiner closed the door and left the Commander to the Admiral.
"Sit please, Commander. I received news today regarding the Colonel," the Admiral put up his hand to stop Harm from interrupting him. "Let me say what I have to say, then the floor is yours.
Harm, the call came in from the base hospital at Ramstein. The Colonel's team reached their objective and managed to either imprison or... stop... their target- the militia. There was a long and intense firefight and the Colonel's team was caught in the no man's land between the two camps. One of the men on her team was killed and 3 were injured, most were just minor abrasions. Colonel MacKenzie suffered a gunshot wound to her shoulder as she was attempting to pull one of her men to safety. Wait, Commander, I said when I was done." The Admiral paused to make sure that Harm was actually going to remain silent.
"As I was saying, she pulled one of her men to safety. The man she pulled had a wound to his stomach and would have bled out in the field if it weren't for MacKenzie's quick thinking and undue personnel risk."
"Sir, please. Is she alright?" Harm couldn't help but interrupt.
"What? Oh, sorry, Commander. Yes, Mac is fine. She was unconscious for a long time because the size of the bullet that hit her- the wound was rather large and bled quite badly. She had the bullet removed from her shoulder about 3 hours ago. They are going to stabilise her and transfuse her before they return the teams home. Mac's a hero, Harm. She's been nominated for a medal for her actions and the Marine she saved is going to be fine. All in all, we lost 3 men, including the 1 on her team, and 8 were injured, including Mac."
"And the militia? If that was what was so important-"
"Gone, detained. They will finally stand trial for the war crimes they committed against the Bosnian people. They fought the good fight."
"Thank-you, sir." Harm stood at attention waiting to be dismissed.
There was a a long minute of silence.
"Rabb, you don't want to know when she gets in?" The Admiral asked. Harm's constant concern that had lasted 9 days seemed to have suddenly disappeared. When Harm didn't answer him the Admiral's face hardened and with a noticeable bite in his tone of voice he dismissed Rabb.
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