"Tears of Sorrow" [SNEAK PREVIEW] Author: Hugo "Animal" Chikamori E-mail: hchikamori@yahoo.com Rating: PG-13 Classification: Characters death... Spoilers: None, except whatever comes out of Animal's demented mind... Meg is married to my Character. I don't give a hoot how many flames that will get me. TOUGH. This will probably not fit into the continuity of the story-lines of my other stories Summary: A Tomcat crash in the Ocean claims the lives of two characters Disclaimers: The characters Harm Rabb, Jr., Sarah Mackenzie, AJ Chegwidden, Meg Austin, et al. belong in concept if not name) to CBS/Bellisarius. No profit is being made from this story, nor is any infringement intended, yadda yadda yadda...(Anyone wanna help out with the disclaimer?) Songs: "My Heart Will Go On." - Titanic Soundtrack (Celine Dion), "Fare Thee Well, Love..." -Rankin Family. NAS Oceana Radar Room, 1945 ZULU "Lieutenant Millen," Lieutenant Commander Phil " Metalman" Burrows asked, "Have you heard any trans- missions from Fast Eagle 101?" "None, sir...the F-14 dropped off the radar screen without any prior indication of problems." "Damn, SECNAV is going to be on my ass like a rabid dog." Was Metalman's acerbic comment as he looked at the blank radar screen. "How soon till we call out the search team?" "Far too long, sir...I think they've gone down somewhere." "Damn it..." JAG Headquarters 2100 ZULU The phone rang in the JAG office, as Mac picked up the phone when she heard it ring. She had known that Harm was going up with Animal, that day for a ferry trip that was to take an F-14A Tomcat to a squadron on board a carrier in the North Atlantic in return for a F-14A+, a GE re-engined aircraft waiting to be brought in for SLEP (Service Life Extension Program). "Major Mackenzie here..." she replied. Lieutenant Commander Phil Burrows' voice on the other end of the line caused her to become worried. "Mac, I have some bad news for you." "What's wrong? Metalman?" inquired Mac, who was now worried. 'What could have gone wrong?' Her fears were realized when Metalman replied somberly," We don't know for sure, but we lost contact with the ferry flight somewhere over the North Atlantic. They were out of Oceana about two hours when the tracking system saw them go off the screen and disappear. We think they may have gone down somewhere between the Newfoundland coast and Greenland." Mac's heart nearly stopped. Harm had gone back to flying, changing his designator. Operational flying was the lifeblood of a naval aviator, and as such, Harm was no different. He was not happy unless he had a stick and throttle in his hands. "Are you absolutely sure? Metalman?" "The USS Theodore Roosevelt has its aircraft combing the area for signs of the wreckage, but it may have just impacted and gone right to the bottom. They should have been onboard by now if they were on schedule." Metalman said. "What are the chances of surviving such a crash?" Mac asked. She feared that Harm and Animal were dead, but her heart did not want to accept that fear as absolute reality. She knew the answer but wanted to hear it from another person rather than from the machinations of her own mind. "Slim to none." Metalman said with absolute finality, "Especially since this is winter-time, the chances aren't good at all." MEG & ANIMAL'S HOME VIRGINIA BEACH, VA 2145 ZULU Meg had really had a rough day. It wasn't fun having to chase after her son on the only day that she had off in the past six months from investigations at the NIS. Sure she had the week-ends, but this wasn't as much fun as being home on a weekday when all the shops were open and her compatriots were stuck at work. Happily married for four years, Meg had enjoyed her work at the N.I.S. which had investigated criminal incidents within the framework of the Navy as well as the operational accidents. She had lost track of how many Naval Aviation accidents that she had covered. With her husband being a naval aviator, she was now more closely attuned with what the spouse of a naval aviator went through everytime, their husbands put on flight gear and headed up in their jet aircraft. Her deepest fear was that one day she might be asked to investigate a fatal crash involving her husband. Seeing the devastation on the widows' faces which she had consoled during her NIS investigations, had really struck her. Would she be as strong as they tried to be?; which never really was enough. The mandatory visitations after an accident were really hard to take. Many wives had indicated that they had nightmares where they saw the customary Navy black Ford sedan pull up to their driveway and two Naval officers getting out of the vehicle. They tried to think that it would never happen to them. They tried to think that their husbands were invincible, that nothing would get past them and their iron steeds of the air. That was her secret fear too, that one of these days, she would receive a visitation from the two messengers of disaster. While her mind was dwelling on those morbid thoughts as she was trying to make supper, the doorbell rang. Her first thought was 'that's strange. He said that he wouldn't be back until tomorrow afternoon.' Matt, their two year old son, had come to the top of the stairs as his mother came out f the kitchen. Meg looked curiously at the door. "Matt, stay there." Meg cautioned her son. "I wonder who that could be?" Meg said aloud as she opened the door. Two service blues clad naval officers, both equivalent in rank to her husband (who was a 3-striper commander), stood in front of her doorstep. Lieutenant Meg Austin?" "Yes?" She said quizzically. "You're Mrs. Chikamori?" "Yes?" "Mrs. Chikamori, we regret to inform you..." That was all Meg heard before an anguished cry that she barely recognized as her own, erupted from her throat. The officer stepped forward to prevent her from hitting the floor as she collapsed forward. Her anguished sobs, mingled with her son's screams of fright at seeing his mother collapse, filled the air as she buried her face in the tall officer's service dress blues. The two officers guided her to her own living room, but Meg's subconscious barely registered it. Her husband, the one person in her life that she had made a life with, was dead. Meg seeing the anguish in her son's eyes, had to make an effort to put aside her own grief to console a son who had now lost a father. Meg lifted her eyes to look around at the momentos lining their home. Four years of married life had accumulated a lot of memories. Pictures of Animal in his flight-suit, of them standing together at the beach. Of them together as a family for the first time at the birth of their son, Matt. Her eyes filled again as she thought of how much she wanted a large family. Animal had shared that wish, as he had been an only child and did not want to subject his sons and daughters to the same loneliness that he had felt while growing up. Their hopes, their dreams, all for the taking were now dashed to pieces at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in the wreckage of an F-14. Meg enfolded her arms around her son, the one little piece of Animal that she had left to hold on to; giving in to her grief. Little Matt cried too, not really understanding why his mother was grieving but out of fear of whoever had made his mommy sad. Meg whispered... "I love you...little Matt... you're the big man of the house now." Matt nodded still uncomprehending. OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL ASST. TO UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE 2145 ZULU "There's no word on the Tomcat which Lieutenant Commander Rabb and Commander Chikamori were flying." Clayton Webb said as he talked to the CAG of the USS Theodore Roosevelt. "Not even a blip on the screen indicating why they ended up going in. Damn, the President is not going to like this one. We've lost two decorated naval officers in the same fell swoop." Webb said,"The Congressional Medal of Honor Society is asking why the Commander wasn't taken off operational status when he was awarded the Medal of Honor." The CAG snorted,"You wanna be the one telling the Commander that he's being taken off duty?" "Has there been any sign that the crash was fatal?" "Other than the fact that the aircraft has gone off the radar screen?" The CAG asked sarcastically. "If I were you, I'd start notifying Tom Boone. Hammer's son and Animal are missing and presumed dead. Other than that. We haven't found any wreckage to signify that yet." "What is the chance of their possibly being found among the wreckage? We need some bodies to show for our search efforts if the worst has happened. These families need some closure." Clay replied to the CAG. "We're doing the best we can under the circumstances." The CAG said, sounding annoyed. "If the State Department can do something about the fact that the aircraft went down in international waters and get permission from the UN that we can mount a military forensics operation to find out what recovery procedures we can institute under the auspices of the United Nations, and do it quick...then we might be able to recover their bodies before the predators get to them." The CAG snorted, "Otherwise, we're just pissing in the wind." JAG HEADQUARTERS 2200 ZULU Rear Admiral AJ Chegwidden mentioned to Mac that she should head for home, but Mac was not in the mood to go home to rest. Harm was gone, as far as she knew. Metalman had dashed any hopes of that, since she had heard nothing from him in the past hour since his last call. "No, sir, I'm just going to get a few more files done for the case tomorrow." Mac heard herself saying. "Well, Major, don't work too hard. Take some time to recoup." The Admiral stated firmly. "If necessary, I'll approve a request for leave-time." "Thank you sir, but that won't be necessary." Mac said. USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN-71) 2120 ZULU (Iceland/Greenland Time) FALCON 145 - S-3 Viking "Hey, do you see what I see in the water?" the pilot asked as he looked over at the bobbing bodies in the midst of the oil slick. "Shit, it looks like the F-14." The co-pilot stated as he looked over at the wreckage. "Damn...the wreckage sank to the bottom, but the pilots managed to eject." "We're gonna have to find out what happened. Radio and see if they can get the helo out here and pull these bodies in." MAC'S APARTMENT GEORGETOWN, VA 2245 ZULU "Mac," the voice on the phone was startlingly similar to Harm's, enough so that Mac answered it with "HARM?" "No, Mac, it's Metalman." "What happened...have they found them yet? What's going on?" Mac blurted out. "No...I have some really bad news..." Metalman said. "They found the bodies." Mac dropped into the couch, her eyes blurring with tears. "No..." Mac repeated... "No...it can't be..." "I'm sorry, Mac..." Metalman was struggling to keep himself composed too. Animal and Metalman had gone to flight-school together and were the closest of friends. They had been through several wars together, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo. Now his best friend was dead. "What did they say happened." She asked...trying to see the sunset out of her apartment window, through her blurring eyes filled with tears. "They haven't recovered the wreckage yet." Metalman said. "Once we have the black-box, we'll know." "So what is going to happen to the bodies?" Mac asked emotionlessly...her entire system going into shock. "Have you heard from Clay?" "Nope...but as far as I know is that they will get a military burial at Arlington." Metalman replied. "I wanted to get in on the search for the wreckage, but they told me 'no', that I was too emotionally attached to the deceased to warrant risking another pilot. Decorated pilot is what they called it..." his tone was bitterly sarcastic. "I couldn't even go and search for my best friend. Damn them." Mac nodded quietly. She let him go and hung up the phone. Sinking back into her couch, she wept for the man that she loved...and for their friend, lost in the prime of their careers. "Every night in my dreams I see you, I feel you That is how I know you go on. Far across the distance and spaces between us You have come to show you go on." A WEEK LATER 1700 ZULU ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETARY "Commander Hugo Chikamori, United States Navy, was the consummate naval officer, and expert navy aviator. He strived for perfection and as the top U.S. Ace, in any service, he managed to achieve a record of kills in jet aircraft unequalled by any other airman. As a naval officer in the 2nd Korean conflict, he won the Congressional Medal of Honor while on a ground assignment for conspicuous gallantry above and beyond the call of duty at the risk of his own life. But beyond his accomplishments, beyond his heroics, beyond the Navy itself, he was a friend." Metalman said as he stood at the podium. "I spent many years with him, as friends, from the time we were young through our careers. Before his death, he told me that our duty was to our country no matter what. He sacrificed his life for his country. He will not see Matt grow up, play his first football game, graduate from high school, go to the Naval Academy, become an officer, get married. My friend will never ever see these things, but I still believe that no matter what the cost, he gave his life, because he loved his country. Animal, buddy, I will miss you. God rest, Godspeed." "Near, far, wherever you are, I believe that the heart does go on. Once more, you open the door And you're here in my heart And my heart will go on and on." Meg sat in front of Animal's casket, the image of a widow, clear-eyed, yet her face was lined with pain and barely restrained grief. Holding her hand was her son, Matthew. What their future would hold was unforseen. Meg knew that she had to keep going for the sake of her son. She listened to Metalman speak, barely holding in her sorrow. Matt looked up at her, his eyes looking older than his 2 years. He seemed to know that Daddy wasn't coming home ever again. The caskets were lined up and both were covered with the United States Ceremonial Flag, as befitting the caskets of two warriors. "Love can touch us one time and last for a lifetime, And never let go till we're gone. Love was when I loved you, one true time I hold to. In my life we'll always go on." Mac listened as Captain Thomas Boone spoke about Harm's exploits in JAG, as well as back in the fleet. She looked over at Trish and Frank Burnett who were trying hard not to break down. Mac's own heart was breaking seeing Harm's casket on the bier in front of them. "ATTEN-HUT!!!!" the honor guard unsheathed their rifles and brought them up to a 45 degree angle, as the CAG finished his speech. "PRESENT ARMS!!!" The rifleshots, though blanks, caused both Mac and Meg to start. The rifle salute echoed through the tree-grove in Arlington Cemetary. And a shallow whine was heard. They saw two flights of F-14s pass low overhead. The first comprised of VF-41 Black Aces aircraft paying their final respects to their commanding officer. The slot aircraft in the diamond formation pulled up into a vertical climb to complete the 'missing man' formation. The second formation consisted of 'Howler' squadron aircraft. Repeating the same maneuver, the Howler squadron paid their respect to one of their own. "Near, far, wherever you are, I believe that the heart does go on. Once more, you open the door And you're here in my heart And my heart will go on and on." A MONTH LATER MEG and her mother. "Meg, you have to move on. You can't dwell on his death like this." Her mother said. "I'm not sure that he's dead..." Meg said. "You went to his funeral, you saw him buried, and you're telling me that he's not dead? Meg... Please...stop doing this to yourself. Think about Matt. He needs another father-figure." "Damn it, mother. It was just too antiseptic of a process. The caskets weren't even open. It was a closed casket funeral. How can I even bury my husband or bury my feelings when I never even saw him for the last time?" Meg snapped infuriated. "The Navy never even let me say goodbye to the man I loved. If he were truly dead, I would know...but my heart says that he's alive!!!" "You're here, there's nothing I fear, And I know that my heart will go on. We'll stay forever this way, You are safe in my heart, And my heart will go on and on." Mac somberly handed her commanding officer a sheet of paper. "Major...Are you sure, you know exactly what you're doing?" Rear Admiral Chegwidden asked her. "Yes, sir..." Mac said. She knew that this would probably kill her career right then and there. "I don't believe that Harm and Animal are dead. With your permission, I want to search for them." "Major, let's face the facts, they were found in the water, if they weren't killed on impact, they would be dead of exposure in a matter of minutes." "Fare thee well love, Fare thee well love Far away, you must go Take my heart love, Take my heart love We will never meet, again no more" Mac nodded, "I know that, sir, but something tells me that they aren't dead. If they were, I'd know it." AJ sighed. "You know that I wouldn't be able to stop you. You're putting your career on the line, Major, but I'll approve your request. Just make sure that Webb doesn't do anything funny, or I'll break more than his nose." "Far across love, Far across love O're the mountains and country wide Take my heart love, Take my heart love No one knows, the tears I've cried." MEG'S HOME VIRGINIA BEACH, VA The phone rang. "Meg, it's Mac." Meg sighed in frustration, if it wasn't anyone else, she wouldn't have picked up the phone. Her husband was dead only a month, and already her 'friends' were trying to get her to go out with other men again. She fumed. 'The insensitive...' "Meg...are you there?" "Yes..." Meg sighed restraining the urge to hang up. "What is it? Mac?" "I don't believe they died, either." "So I'll drink today love, I'll sing to you love In paupers glory my time I'll bide No home or ties love, a restless rover If I can't have you, by my side" "You don't?" "You convinced me..." Mac said. "I don't believe Harm is dead either." "How do you figure." "It's way too simplified." Mac replied. "I don't think they gave us all the answers...behind why they went down." "Oh come back love, Oh come back love The sun and moon refuse to shine Since I've gone love, gone away love This lonely girl has had no peace of mind" CIA HEADQUARTERS LANGLEY, VA 1800 ZULU "What?" Clayton Webb said. "The DNA on Animal's blood-test two months ago and the corpse that you took the samples on don't match?" "Then what the hell happened?" Mac shouted. "You were the one that told us Harm and Animal were dead!" *****THE END**** OR IS IT?