Meltdown - Part 2 - 179

[Complicated sequel, with NCIS cast, written by Bellisario. It is a fast paced, complex, detailed, convoluted dual plot with segways and lots of electronics. It didn't use JAG background music and was difficult to synthesize into summary.] The obsessive compulsive, no people skilled, Lt Cdr. Faith Coleman was assigned as Harm's defense counsel. She tried to steam roll over H until he backed her up. She resented his "job interview" questions and claimed that she had nine homicide defenses, all wins. He essentially told her to "sit down, I hope your legal arguments are as squared away as your briefcase." Gibb met Maj McBurney, the prosecuting attorney, who called it a "slam dunk"; and when Gibb told him that "I only got him because he was protecting his brother," McBurney said not to show "that kind of doubt" on the stand. Gibb said he was in a hurry to get the case over with. McBurney was doing his pistol quals and placed all shots in the head, because "it cuts down on appeals." McBurney was assigned Hs office by Chegwidden, and Coleman, Manetti's office. H told Coleman that he had met with Singer and argued, she left, he followed, argued some more in her car, phoned his brother Sergei using his cell phone so he could see her eyes when she told him it wasn't his baby, because he rarely believed anything S said. By the time the time of death was established, he already looked guilty, so decided to trust navy justice instead of navy cops and didn't cooperate with them. McBurney had the foul-mouthed, hippy, head-banger, forensic technician, Abby Scioto, wear a "professor" costume when testifying in court instead of her usual punk dress. There was a metal sliver in S's head, ferrous metal matching the railing at the overlook; blood of S on the concrete; a plane ticket for 6am Jan 6th in her pocket; also a Benzinger's napkin with Sergei's cell phone number in H's handwriting. Stomach contents was a bar mix within 2 hours of eating. During cross, Scioto had to remove her fake glasses to read and seemed to be discredited. Dr. Mallard (Duckey) said that the body, found Apr 22, had been in winter ice - "say about 3 1/2 months," 20 wks pregnant, severe blunt force injury to posterior skull, numerous fractures from going over the falls, and a tattoo of a "stalking leopard" was tattooed on her left buttock. She had died from drowning not the trauma.

Gibb interviewed H again without counsel. He just talked about finding no phone call to Sergei after being told of S's death. H said "that's what phone booth's are for." He told H that he seemed to have made a lot of effort to eliminate Sergei as a suspect. H retorted "that's how you got your man," Gibb replied "I know." On the stand, Gibb said the body was found 1.3 miles below the falls, car was found in a parking lot next to the falls, 2 sets of prints: S's and H's, H knew S was pregnant, unsure who the father was, denied the request for DNA sample, and was generally uncooperative. On cross, Gibb admitted he'd sent a request for H's DNA profile (illegal) which didn't go through. Asked why, he said "I thought at the time he was the killer." H wrote a note to Coleman to ask Gibb if he still thought so. Gibb answered: that his gut told him "no, he wasn't the killer." McBurney tried to chastise him at the elevator saying that he could handle circumstantial evidence but "screw-up's and flip flops on the stand, I cannot." Gibb's assured demeanor just left anything McBurney said fall flat. Abby called McBurney and had them all come to discover that a cover (military hat) found near the falls was actually H's. Gibb told Abbey that she better never call the attorney's again, to call him.

Gibb and his "director" were shown watching the interrogation of Amad bin Atwa on their "big screen television." bin Atwa had passed money to Hassan Mohammed some time during the past 10 days when they had lost track of him. Gibb was told to "wrap this JAG case up fast" so he could go interrogate bin Atwa personally. Gibb seemed to show Blackadder, who's brother had been killed by terrorists and wanted to be involved in their capture, a bit of antagonism. He had told her to mind her own business or she was fired, then told her she had two days to gather all the information possible on bin Atwa. She came back in a day with a CD of info, but it didn't have anything personal about him so he sent her back to do it right. She finally got the requested information on Atwa so Gibb left for his interrogation. Agent Tony DiNozzo told Blackadder that the case against H just seemed too easy, "it doesn't sit right" that the body floated for so far but the hat was found near the falls. Blackadder said "it seems alright to me."

Bud testified that he saw H grab singer by the elevator to get a dinner appointment with her, after she had originally said no. Coates said she overheard H and S arguing at Benzinger's. S was pregnant, H thought Sergei was the father, S denied it and said she was giving the baby up for adoption. Coates said that she saw the same anger in in H that she had seen in her father when he hit her mother. S left and H followed her. Abbey found quartz, feldspar, and kolimite in Hs hat - river silt, from the spring thaw, but nothing like that on S body. She said that the cover was a "spring thing" and couldn't have been in the river for 4 months, so it must have been a plant. They called Gibb, who was on a ship, and told him that he was right about H. Sergei had same blood type as H, and wasn't the father of the baby. Every Wednesday, beginning in May, S had paid for dinner for two with her credit card, at a different restaurant but at the same time. A canvass with S's photo brought up a "Tiramisu incident" and a waiter who gave a description of a sandy haired man. Also the plane ticket wasn't to San Diego (SAN) as they had thought but to Shannon Ireland (SNN)! Gibb told them to cross reference the description with the JAG security log for the past 4 wks to find someone with a grudge who had access to H. They told H that he was off the hook and H recognized the name of their suspect. He told them to "tell Gibb, I owe him." DiNozzo interrogated Cdr Lindsey about the $5,000.00 check he cashed the day of S's death, and its re-deposit the day after. Also hinted at "latent prints" on the hat. Lindsey claimed that S was blackmailing him about the baby and threatening his family. They had argued and he grabbed her when she fell over the railing. He didn't call for help because the river had already taken her and he was afraid. DiNozzo caught him in the lie because S's blood was on the concrete and she had to be picked up and thrown over the railing. He also told Lindsey that, with his blood type, the baby couldn't have been his either.

Gibb had a gourmet dinner with Atwa and impressed the man with his knowledge of cuisine. "Marines travel," he told Atwa, and asked if the food was what brought him to Nice. No, it was the women, Atwa said, and offered that the best food he'd ever eaten was in Toulon. Gibb argued that he'd eaten there last summer and the "kibbeh was bland, gouzi mushy and gmameh inedible." Atwa countered that the "gmameh he'd had there last week was incredible" so it must be a different cook. So they traced that 10 days ago the Hawala money brokers in Toulon transferred money to the Hawala in Tunis. Gibb's group had no "assets" in Tunis so the "people up the river" would want all the credit. Gibb called Blackadder and DiNozzo to the gulf. They found that 5 million in cash had been signed for, four days ago, by Khalil Sahari, the director of the Institute of oceanography in Tunis. Aboard the ship, also having large screen TV's and lots of computers, they "called up" that the institute had purchased an unmanned submersible for 5 million in Sorrento, that all the attacks had been within 4 days of picking up the money, all the ports with naval facilities within 58 hours sail of Sorrento - both Naples and Cannes were too secure. Gibb wanted a list of all the research vessels leased in the last year over 90 tons (needed to carry the submersible) and the name of the Deep Blue Explorer magically popped up on the screen, leased by Sahari's institute. He wanted the "coastal cops'" records of any "nav plans" filed to the area and found that the "Explorer" it was sailing for "Cadiz," which, when cross referenced in their computers, was found to be close to Rota Spain where a carrier had just pulled in after being in the Gulf. From a van on the dock they did face matching until they found that the captain of the vessel was really Mohammed. Blackadder was staring at the captain and Gibb had to tell her to stop, but it was too late they were spotted. The ensuing gun battle left a bunch dead and Gibb facing off Mohammed who was holding a live hand grenade. Mohammed dropped it and Gibb shot him then was blasted backward down the stairs. He lived and when Blackadder apologized with "I almost blew it," Gibb told her "what do you mean, almost?" Lindsey was said to have "copped a plea" to involuntary manslaughter for eight years in Leavenworth.

Ice Queen - Part 1 - 178

[Complicated conjoint show w/ NCIS. Lots of electronics and fast paced legal posturing.] Tommy, A boy scout, missed his target and shot his arrow into the woods, hitting a decomposed body. Agent Gibbs & Blackadder of NCIS investigated. Gibbs told Tommy he could "shut out" any bad dreams, claiming that he had seen something terrible when he was young and done it. He gave Tommy his card and hat and promised a tour of the department. They found a decomposed body with it's face eaten away by crows; but, not its hands or feet. Blackadder, bantering with agent Dinozzo, revealed that her brother had died in the attack on the USS Cole. The Medical Examiner, called Ducky, estimated the death to be about 3 weeks previous. The body was a blond, pregnant, JAG officer. The first of many odd "flashback" type episodes (shown in posturization effect and apparently representing the view of the corpse) seemed to prompt Gibbs that the body hadn't been dropped there but had floated into the trees. They were all shown letting themselves through security into MTAC, where they watched as Amad Ben Atwa was captured. He was the terrorist who had given explosives and money to Hasan Mohammed who had then executed the attack on the Cole. Blackadder demanded that she be allowed "in on the kill" and Gibbs faced her down that the agency wasn't for her personal revenge and she better "get it" or pack up and leave. They had a discussion about obtaining the baby's DNA to "finger" a suspect at JAG - and Blackadder was the only one who worried that it was illegal to use military DNA for anything but ID'ing military personnel. Gibb's intended to use it, if he could. Found a metallic sliver embedded in corpse's skull.

Gibb and Harm bristled at each other from their first meeting. Chegwidden turned down H's request to conduct a concurrent JAGman investigation. C intervened in the argument and took H to calm down. H wouldn't say anything about relation with Singer - who they deduced was missing. Then C realized that Gibb's was "setting them up" allowing them to talk because hearsay wouldn't apply when Gibb's questioned C he would have to tell everything that H had said. H said "he wouldn't be that devious"; C replied that "he reminds me a lot of you." C then called Gibb's on his plan and said that "the only thing H told me was that he didn't kill Singer or know who did." They found blood on a bridge that matched Singers. Manetti revealed that the bartender had told her Singer was seeing a civilian - thereby revealing H's unofficial investigation - which then Mac showed that she didn't know about. Blackadder wanted to go for H's jugular but Gibbs said that H was so good that if they didn't tie up the pieces H "would do an OJ, even without a defense attorney." H called Sergei from a pay phone. He was preparing for his wedding to Galina, had been in country 3 weeks earlier, hadn't seen Singer since H had made her call him, and believed Singer when she said that the baby wasn't his. Abby, a weird nurd-like, path tech said that Singer had died within 2 hours of a snack at a bar, and found Sergei's Moscow cell phone number on a Benzinger's napkin. Ducky surprised them all with findings that Singer had been frozen and therefore killed between the 4th and 6th of Jan. The fetus' blood type showed that H couldn't have been the father.

Gibbs was shown in private conversation with "Director" (Morrow) who asked about their "prime suspect." Gibbs told him it was H. "Director" told him that, as their top interrogator, he needed to wind up his murder investigation quickly because he was needed to extract info from Atwa who intel said was planning another "grey hull attack." Coats told Gibbs of hearing H's heated discussion with Singer at Benzinger's. Marines found a Navy hat near the murder site and H's fingerprints were found in Singer's impounded car. Gibbs interrogated H at his headquarters. He hadn't read him his rights so H postured that he could leave. Gibbs threatened to tattle to C, so H stayed. Gibb's played mind games with H, trying to entrap him. Blackadder emailed Gibbs to "read him his rights" but Gibb's didn't. Dinozzo told her that Gibb's was "setting him up." H banged his hand on their two-way glass, causing feedback in their microphones. Gibb's got harm defending Sergei and bullied him into saying that he had written Sergei's phone number on a napkin from Benzinger's for Singer. While H was making excuses for Sergei, Gibb's began telling him his rights. H said he waved them and forcefully asked Gibb's if, with his experience, he could tell if someone had murdered someone. Gibbs claimed that he could so harm demanded him to look into his eyes and "ask me." While Dinozzo was cuffing H, Gibbs continued his attempts at entrapment by deceitfully asking "would you kill for your brother?" [Continued in next episode]

Second Acts - 177

[The "conclusion" of one part of the "back story," and setup to another part, which will "cleanse" the show of some worn out bad guys] Petty Officer 3rd class Steven Wilson single handedly stopped a suicide attack on Marine Corps camp Stronghold Freedom saving his platoon, and Stewart Dunston of ZNN, on national television. He refused to talk to Dunston but Jennifer Bruder saw him on television and recognized him as her husbands partner, thought to be killed in the collapse of the World Trade Center. When she confronted him he also refused to talk to her so she reported him as the imposter, Matthew Divine. Harm represented the wife of dead Tom Bruder, identifying with her "need for closure." Turner defended Divine in his hearing before the board. H couldn't compel Divine to talk to Bruder, even though she wanted it, so he called her to testify at the hearing in front of Divine. Her teary-eyed story prompted Divine to finally reveal that he and Tom were basically shyster investment bankers conning "new money" to cover old losses, and were penniless and considering bankruptcy when the planes hit the building. The ceiling collapsed on Tom and with his dying breath requested a "promise never to let his wife find out." Divine wanted to start a new life so joined the MC becoming an exemplary soldier. The board found him guilty of fraudulent enlistment but retained him on active duty.

The SECNAV told Chegwidden he "had to" proceed with action on Lindsey's report. C said that Sheffield had "lost confidence in his ability to lead" and the SECNAV told him to refute the charges. Back at the JAG office, without invitation everyone gravitated into Cs office where he said he was considering resigning & that L had "dredged up every irrelevant smear he could put his hands on." His office was causing too much "bad press" and problems for the poor Chief of Information. To soften people's dismay he slipped that he and Meredith were planning on getting married. Ls report called Mac a "security risk" and H a "loose cannon showing a consistent and reckless disregard for responsibility." They all were puzzled on how L could obtain all these details in just a week without having legal access to confidential personnel files. L was shown deleting all the files on his laptop computer. M presented the dossier of rebuttal they had prepared and challenged Cs offer to resign because he was thinking that L was being personally vindictive and that his staff was just getting caught in the fallout. She told him of Ls threat to H to "split up the group and scatter them to the four winds." So Cs offer to "fall on his sword was no accepted." He dismissed her but, pausing, said "thanks." The SECNAV acknowledged that he probably "picked the wrong person for the investigation because L had a 'history' with C." Then he was shown verbally reaming out L in front of C, telling him his report was highly biased and that now L would be investigated. The SECNAV said "get out of the building ASAP" and "goodbye." He apologized to C, said his "confidence was restored," and that he would be getting an official letter of apology. Sheffield finally admitted that he had forced Traci Manetti, who had just returned from TAD in Pearl Harbor, into JAG as his "eyes and ears." He said that when she read the report she was incensed and "scathingly" called it "a hatchet job." She will only be with JAG for a couple more weeks then he had "another assignment" for her.

Expectedly, it was Harriet who meddled and not only slipped to Meredith Cs engagement intention; but, kept digging in deeper until M was upset that C hadn't "officially" discussed it with her. Meredith's demeanor showed surprise and hesitancy but she basically talked about how it was C who hadn't done things the "right" way. She stormed out, standing him up for dinner, exclaiming "we'll get back to this when you're more prepared and I know more about what's going on."

Sergei had flown in for a visit and introduced H to Galina Boricova, his stewardess fiancé. When H said that they hadn't parted very well, Sergei said that "he had gotten over it. He was lonely then but not any more." He said that he had not heard from Singer and H told him that he had forced her to make her last call to him. He told Sergei that he thought Singer was "lying" to him about who the father was for her baby. Sergei didn't believe H and said that her pregnancy was just a "coincidence" with their "one night stand." Singer, he said, was "a woman who had no trouble with more than one man at a time." H apparently believed Sergei and agreed to go to Russia and be his best man.

Fortunate Son - 176

[Part 1 of a pivotal episode in the "back story" plot of JAG] A Marine Corps aviator, Lt Bao Hien, was caught in an INS raid at a warehouse where a sweatshop found and told the police that he was "looking for something to steal." Completely out of character for a "hero" Harm didn't believe the story but he was not forthcoming w/ Harm, Turner & Coates either. After H confronted him with people smuggling he said that he had been rescued from Vietnam by soldiers when Saigon fell and he was merely trying to rescue those inside. His Vietnamese wife of one year also denied people smuggling but didn't know why he would steal. She had met him through Sunshine Brides a company who arranged mail order brides. Two of the sweatshop girls, Suong Khui, 15 years old, and Ly Truong, 14, refused to speak unless they were granted asylum. INS told T that Hien's credit card had been used to pay for 4 ship containers they believed had been used to smuggle people. T found that Mrs. Hien had worked in the sweatshop. Coates obtained a computer list from the secretary at "sunshine brides." When H talked to the sweatshop girls he had flashbacks of the 14 year-old Vietnamese girl, Gym, who he met when he ran away to Vietnam to look for his father with a man named Stryker when he was 16. She had been killed by Laotian border guards. T advised Chegwidden that they should proceed with a court martial against Hien but H said he wanted to continue the investigation... which C allowed. Then H followed up and obtained a ledger of "blackmailed" aliens by the owner, Danh Tu ("mother"), which he gave to INS for their "assistance." Mrs. Hien then said that when she had been married to Hien "mother" arranged to get her sister, Nam Ha, out in a container but had been holding her for ransom as they gradually worked off her purchase price by paying for containers. H obtained INS papers for the sweatshop girls so they would testify, then arranged: the arrest of "mother"; the citizenship of Mrs. Hien's sister and Hien's non-judicial punishment.

SECNAV Sheffeld visited JAG and commended H for "friendly fire" case and T for "empty quiver" case. Then told C that the Washington Post had been demanding an explanation of why 2-star admiral attorney is joyriding in a jet and ejects. He said that he had confidence that JAG would stand up to the investigation and sent Ted Lindsey to perform it. Lindsey began by assuring C that he held no grudges for when Cs promotion board passed him over for captain. Then proceeded to "dig up" dirt and do a "hatchet job" with the facts. He told C that he was investigating: "misallocation of personnel, lawyers traveling as tour groups when one would do, slight of hand with TAD requests, misappropriation of government property (i.e. H commandeering a Humvee in George Washington Nat'l Forrest. Interviewing Bud he maligned Cs "permanent, temporary assignment of Harriet to his office, stretching the definition of TAD. When Lindsey talked with Mac (who was acting as a judge) he commented on her career which had flourished despite "scandals of a dead husband and an affair with your CO." He said she must have a "special friend" who is an admiral." As she tried to walk out, he grabbed her elbow and got stared down until he apologized and threatened never to do it again. Interviewing Coates he commented on her "nasty near-court-martial for UA." Coates told him of Singers 5 mo maternity leave which he seemed not to be aware of. He maligned that both M & H had stayed to replace B after his injury as inappropriately excessive. T began his interview with Lindsey saying he "couldn't believe what he saw when he got there: the Cdr dumping aircraft, the Col re-routing an entire sea rescue on a hunch, H & B flying to Australia at the drop of the hat." Lindsey wanted to record it so he repeated that "they have the most unorthodox interpersonal dynamics of any group I've worked in which can be the only explanation for their exemplary track record… and that he liked working there." Finally he walked in to Hs office and H commented that he was "saving the best for last." Lindsey whined that H had "shot a gun in the courtroom, and personally burned through $1/4 billion of equipment in his career, 9/10 of it after he left flight status and became a lawyer." Also that "you've got more than enough to recommend a court-martial but you keep squandering navy time." "And the board though you were better than me," he said. H confronted him with having the "good child syndrome" where "I'm the bad son but get all the breaks." Lindsey advised that their days of getting the breaks were over because he was recommending that his friends at JAG all be reassigned. "Interpersonal incest around here makes it impossible for chain of command to function." He then left taking the wrong hat.

Empty Quiver - 175

Chegwidden appointed Mac as interim JAG while he recovered at home with an injured back, hand and foot and his new dog that helped save his life in the mountains. Meredith tried to help name the dog using Shakespeare names but nothing worked until it got into Cs chair and he said "get out dammit." The dog responded to his "name": dammit.

H defended Lt O'Dell the disbursing officer aboard a carrier who was being "framed" for fraud. (Unrealistically) Judge Helfman was progressing with the hearing without adequate investigation being done. H wanted to go aboard his ship but was told no by M. She didn't order him not to go so he went anyway. When he got there he found Turner just leaving to go to the USS Crawford on an investigation and the base going to lockdown. He was stuck on base and couldn't get back by Helfman's time of 1500. He told O'Dell to go ahead with the hearing and if he found anything on board his ship he would talk to the convening authority. H printed out all fax's and copies from the machine's memory and found several conflicting memo's and letters for armored cars sent after O'Dell was arrested but over his signature. The Master Chief helped H discover that PO Marin was the likely suspect. Marin disappeared from the ship and intercepted an armored car which was delivering $10 million for use during deployment that he had re-routed for 1 hour earlier than expected. He tried to escape in a boat because of the lockdown and was arrested before he got away.

Turner investigated a missing nuclear torpedo warhead from the submarine Crawford. He meticulously re-traced the entire 19 hr loading process. First four torpedoes were temporarily stored in tubes while the rest were loaded. When the ship went off shore power the ship went dark for a moment. When the lights came on a PO noticed the "loaded" tag on one tube had fallen to the floor. He put it back on without looking and hung the "empty" side. When they finished loading they moved three of the torpedoes from the tubes back to the racks- leaving the one with the mislabeled tag in the tube. Water slugs were fired believing the tags without checking so the torpedo dropped out onto ocean bottom below pier.

Heart and Soul - 174

The government was taking legal action against a contractor of defective aircraft Heads Up Display (HUD) units. Chegwidden wanted Harm to take him up in an F14 in order to "understand" the problem which was making pilots disoriented. C loosened his belt before a maneuver, hit his head on the canopy and accidentally pulled the ejection lever blasting him out of the plane an into a snowy forest. His survival gear consisted, in part, of a rubber raft, tent, matches and a condom (no winter clothing). He set up the tent and built a fire on a flat snowy place, chipped a trough in a frozen log, built a fire, heated rocks, melted snow in the trough and caught the water in the condom- both to drink and to mark an arrow in the snow. The fire melted the ice on the lake he had made camp on dropping him and his gear in the water. Freezing he began hallucinating about being by a fire with Meredith on Valentines day and receiving the large silver heart inscribed with: "A woman would run through fire and water for such a kind heart," words from Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor.

H was told that "he had done enough" by "dumping a two star in the forest" and should go back home. Instead he took the worn Hum-Vee he was offered for transportation into the forest to look for C. He found Cs original camp site but he was gone. Just as the search helicopter had picked up the signal beacon C was attacked on the arm by a wolf knocking him into the raft which slid down the mountainside. The helicopter saw the signal look like it was on a snowmobile then disappear. C fired his signal flare but it misfired and hit a log setting it on fire. It kept him warm enough until an abandoned dog found him. He followed the dog to some garbage cans. Hs Hum-Vee wouldn't start so he began following Cs trail on foot and was frustrated because C kept moving around. Finally he stumbled into a diner and asked to start a search party and offered a reward. The waitress pointed to a booth in the corner where C was sitting huddled in blankets drinking coffee. He was taken to the hospital where he met Meredith and told her that he loved her. Startled she thought he was under stress so he told her of the heart and said "I've had to run through fire and water to get to the feelings I have, are you backing out?" He also introduced her to the "other lady" - the dog which he had decided to adopt.

M was judge on a case where Turner was prosecuting PO Matthew Cantrell for putting a small video camera in the female head ostensibly to look for mice. Bud's only defense was that he was doing it in the line of duty and as a favor to the women to "prevent the mice from making electrical sparks and fire while the women were using the facility." M didn't buy it for a minute and told B & H to work it out before she had to rule on it asking B to "look at my face" and see if he would like the verdict. B & T negotiated him out of the service. M tried to keep Cs disappearance a secret but Coates, who she had sworn to secrecy in order to watch the phones, told Tiner then Harriet then B then T. Finally the whole crew knew more of the details than M.

Friendly Fire - 173

Chegwidden assigned Mac and Bud to prosecute, and Turner to defend, Lt Cdr David Ridley who killed three and wounded three British Troops in "friendly fire." Harm was appointed Judge to both M & Ts surprise and questioning of his "objectivity." H told M that he wouldn't do any "pay back" for when M was on the bench but that didn't seem to be very assuring to M. He asked for Coates as his trial clerk who read books about judges being "most effective when they are invisible" and that "asking a lawyer to be a judge was like asking a boxer to be a referee." When H seemed to take umbrage T pointed out that there were "hunters who killed saber-toothed tigers with sticks and stones while there were others back at the cave who were not so courageous but wise and fair." H asked if they were afraid that he wouldn't "divvy up the meat fairly." Coates told him that he was a "natural born killer." H kept claiming he was going to be impartial and fair; however, he was anything but. During Ms opening statement he stopped her then corrected her then let T editorialize to his hearts content and overruled Ms objection. When the SECNAV came in to observe the proceedings H called them to the front and admonished M regarding favoritism.

Ridley & Lt Cdr Barry, his wingman, were coming back to the coral sea from a long mission requiring 5 refueling's when they saw ground tracer fire. He requested permission from AWACs to use his machine guns but they told him to "hold." Instead he descended ostensibly to "take a mark" and saw some "green fire" so he dropped a laser-guided bomb just as AWACs radioed that they were "friendlies." The only thing T could come up with as a defense was the combined use of stimulants and depressants making him "paranoid and jittery" even though they were commonly prescribed by the flight surgeon. The SECNAV questioned Cs appointment of an aviator as a judge and tap danced trying to influence for a conviction without being seen as undue influence. He commended M & B on their first day and commented on the level of hostility. M suggested to him that if he wanted to help he should "not sit on my side of the trial." M called Lt Kaufman from the AWACs plane, T deferred his cross so H began asking questions which seemed to favor the defense and overruled Ms objections. She told him that "if I'm going to loose this case I'd like to do it without any help from the bench" and asked him to recuse himself on grounds of bias." The SECNAV stopped his car and talked to H who had to threaten him with unlawful command influence. C refused to remove H from the case so M wanted to resign from it. C wouldn't accept that either.

T pressed the point of mixing "go and no-go pills" with the flight surgeon and asked for him to make a conclusion. M objected. H sustained the objection then did Ts job for him. T editorialized and baited the doctor but H overruled Ms objection. Then B objected to something and H sustained it so M began letting B do the objecting and cross examining. H debriefed with Coates and figured out what had happened but couldn't tell anyone. Coates found that "judges must refrain from helping any party that assists their case." So he gave exculpatory evidence to M & B knowing of their integrity. They gave the electro-magnetic resonance report from the AWACs to T who realized that it was the generator that they were trying to fix that sparked and Ridley had mistaken for fire. Ridley was found "not-guilty" but H found his activities as inappropriate and ordered a Field Evaluation Board to consider his future as an aviator in combat. The SECNAV told H that is 1st assignment to the bench was "distinctive." C wanted a volunteer for a couple of months as a judge and H told him to "count me out." He said that he was more of a "hunter" and when C looked puzzled said "the type to hit saber-toothed tigers with a stick." So C appointed M as temporary judge.

Each of Us Angels - 172

[A well written role playing episode which used Iwo Jima footage for inserts] An old man visited a grave in Arlington and found a young girl sitting on the gravestone. He told the story of who's grave she was sitting on to the girl which was a role playing episode. Bud = Dr Rayburn, an arrogant, abusive doctor who diagnosed several people dead who weren't; Mikey = PO Rowe, a wounded corpsman who lost an eye and hit on Connors (Coates); Harriett = Joni, a compassionate nurse at odds w/ Rayburn over corporal James Tanner, an 80% burn victim who he was just letting die; Turner = seaman Thomas, orderly, who talked to dead soldiers as though they were alive while taking them to the morgue so their buddy's didn't feel bad; Chegwidden = Catholic chaplain dispensing advise; H = Lt Ron Graham who was declared dead by Rayburn, but stopped his nurse (Mac) from pulling blanket over his head; Mac = Beverly, a nurse who fell in love with Graham; Coates = Ens Jane Connors, a flustered, "greenie" nurse chased by Rowe; and Meredith = Lt Marianne, an unfeeling, distant, chief nurse.

Rayburn used the formula "age plus percentage burn equals likely hood of death" to figure Tanner had 102% likely hood of death and withheld care except for morphine. Joni criticized him but he belittled her for not knowing the formula. During a bombardment Joni was wounded and knocked unconscious by friendly fire. Rayburn said she would never awaken but she did. Rayburn also chastised Beverly for talking to the unconscious Graham but she did and he woke up "to see who was talking." Beverly and Graham fell in love and they "played doctor" in the storage room. He told her that he had promised his old football friend and hometown that he would "bring back James Tanner from the war." She affirmed Graham's statement that he wouldn't be able to keep the promise. When Tanner died Graham felt guilty. She told him that "Each of us are like angels w/ one wing and can only fly by embracing each other." The ship was hit by a kamikaze and set afire. Beverly ran back to the ward to turn off oxygen tanks & helped evacuate patients but was killed by falling equipment.

The old man telling the story eventually confessed that he was really Graham (H) and had married Joni (Ht) after Beverly (M) died. He was met at the cemetery by his granddaughter (also played by Ht with altered voice) who looked "a lot like her grandmother."

Standards of Conduct - 171

Harm rear-ended Mrs. Motley, an old lady, in heavy traffic when she suddenly slammed on her brakes while he was distracted by violent honking from the car behind him. When trading information he found that his insurance had just elapsed. The next day Raymond Harrick, her attorney, called offering him a $30K settlement for her whiplash injury. Harrick already had doctors letters and had filed in court even before H told them that he didn't have that kind of money. H asked Turner for help as his attorney but he refused. Bud was offended that he was not asked but helped anyway & found that Harrick used an insurance co accomplice who didn't send renewal notices; then, he set up an accident with actors and filed fraudulent whiplash lawsuits.

Lt Jeremy Duncan, a computer expert, slandered the SEC Defense and the Governor of Virginia claiming that the Psycoustics audio program used in Marines new helmets was defective. His CO wanted to court-martial him but the SECNAV wanted it handled quietly. M was assigned to investigate and used the helmet. She was convinced it was defective and arranged for a letter of reprimand and resignation. Civilian attorney Harlan Bradford downloaded a JAG boilerplate resignation from the web and got Duncan out of the Navy. Psycoustics filed a grievance when the navy pulled the plug on the helmet development claiming Duncan had sabotaged the 3D audio program while looking at their source code. M got very upset and Chegwidden assigned H to assist her in investigating Mad Hamster to "bring balance." M & H later found that the sabotage was true and he had stolen it for Bradford's "Mad Hamster" video game company. M tried to get Psycoustics to sue them but they wouldn't. She was angry but gave up. H didn't and discovered that Duncan was still on terminal leave so hadn't been discharged yet. He was brought back and court-martialed. The trial wasn't shown but T was shown standing w/ him for sentencing where he got 1yr hard labor, $50,000 fine (his signing bonus from Mad Hamster) and dishonorable discharge.

H received a Silver Star for saving the fleet from a nuclear missile by letting it chase him in his F14 until it ran out of fuel. T was shown receiving a medal as well but it was not mentioned. H noticed a "first computer" on Ms desk and she said it was for little AJs "fifth birthday" coming up in a couple of months. H had a flashback to when they had promised each other to have a baby together in "five years if neither of them were married." Then H had hallucinations and dreams of M being pregnant as well as Renee, Harriett, Coates and Singer. He got a post card from Renee saying that she was pregnant with twins. Tiner suggested that he "dodged a bullet with that one." When he finally discussed the "slip of the tongue" w/ M she thought it funny and asked if he wanted "out of the deal" or had thought that she wanted to "move up the timetable." He said "No." She said "you're a silly man."

Complications - 170

Bud went before the readiness board with testimony from C, H & T. (Unbelievably) Capt Masters asked if he could run or scramble up a ships ladder then said he shouldn't expect promotion with limited duty and that he would just be dead wood preventing another good officer from having a career. Until the board notified him by letter he was back at jag Line of Duty determinations, OP NAB instructions and updating case law- i.e. "grunt work." One claim for disability from Lt Fred Keefer caught Bs eye because it was for eye injury ostensibly from a North Korean Laser Gun. B went to the field to investigate, spoke to Dr Rayburn, ophthalmologist, who said his eyesight seemed to get better then got worse again after B starting delaying the proceedings. B did a stake out of Keefer's home and caught him looking into a laser in his garage. Buds letter finally came which accepted him to permanent limited duty.

M & H investigated the death of Krista Cuban, the 16 y/o daughter of Major General Chet Cubin, during surgery for thyroglossal duct cyst. It was declared an unexpected cardiac failure of unknown reasons but the General didn't believe it. He conducted his own "investigation" and believed the surgeon, Cdr John Bartel, to have acted negligently because he acted defensively trying to blame the anesthesiologist. Bartel had been telling his usual jokes disturbing Dr Cheryl Ashley at the time when Krista's blood pressure suddenly dropped and she went into ventricular fibrillation then died. A nurse recalled that Bartel had nicked the jugular vein and had spent time trying to blame Ashley instead of saving Krista. Then on the stand the nurse recanted her testimony saying that she had been intimidated by General Cubin and his threats. Ts motion for dismissal of charges was granted and General Cuban charged with undo command influence. Cuban testified that he had been trying to put the "fear of God" into them to find out what really had happened and Judge Helfman said she was going to send for court-martial. M asked for 24 hours to present "new evidence" (that she was hoping to find). M wondered if was really Bartel and went to hospital to check toxicology results. The duty pathologist said that the blood was normal except antibodies for hepatitis- which she had never had. M interrogated the original toxicologist, Dr Stodamyer, saying "would it surprise you that DNA test showed two persons blood in the sample" and asked what the Clindamycin level had been the first time he ran the sample. He finally admitted that he didn't want Ashley to suffer for being distracted by Bartel when she pushed the drug in fast instead of letting it drip in slowly. He diluted her blood sample with another persons blood and ran the test again with a lower result. With the new evidence the judge didn't want to rule and asked H and M to "work it out."

Singer was granted full maternity leave as she had decided not to have an abortion. H wanted to talk to her and grabbed her elbow when she started to walk away from him. Bud saw their talk. She finally relented to talk with H at Benzinger's and taunted H by ordering beer and saying she was going to take up smoking. She denied that the baby was Serge's but he didn't believe her. She said she was going to put it up for adoption upsetting H who told her to call Serge and talk to him. H said that he didn't want another Rabb to live life without knowing his father and asked her to give the baby to him. She said "no" H said "over my dead body" then "I'm not done with you yet" after she had walked out. Their discussion was overheard by a woman at another table and Coates.