Chapter Four

JAG Headquarters, Falls Church, VA, 0730hrs

The officers filed slowly into the boardroom where Rear Admiral upper half AJ Chegwidden was standing waiting. "Good morning sir." They said individually as each officer entered. Each hail was acknowledged by a brusque nod as the admiral looked on with a saturnine stare.

"Be seated." AJ intoned solemnly and Liandra took her seat to the left of the admiral. Harm took a seat opposite her. The rest of the lawyers filled in the seats with the exception of the endmost position opposite the admiral who sat at the head of the table. Animal took that seat as the visiting NAVINSGEN.

"So…Captain Nakamura. What does your report have to say?" AJ grunted as he fixed Animal with an expression filled with antipathy. "Does this mean that this office is required to follow the assignment duration rules?"

"Sir, I have no doubt that most of the attorneys here are some of the best in the business. Needless to say though, sir, you are not doing their careers much of a favor with keeping them assigned in Washington when their talents could be used among the JAG RLSOs However, seeing as how the JAG office runs like a fine-tuned Swiss watch I am recommending that you still have final say of assignment duration. I see no need to stick my nose in any further into affairs at JAG." Animal looked at each of the officers, not smiling. His tone was ominous as he looked over at Liandra then back at AJ. "Though I am less than impressed by certain traits such as insubordination, as far as I've seen the officers under your command are satisfied with the assignments that they are given; that the personnel will stick up for one another and this entire organization at JAG works together as a cohesive team."

"So does that mean that your investigation is finished, sir?" Mac asked. Her voice made it absolutely clear that she was relieved that this NAVINSGEN inspection left the JAG office intact. She wasn't too sure about Captain Nakamura – she would have to ask Harm about him as it was well-evident that Harm had served with this captain.

"It is finished for the foreseeable future, however I certainly hope to be well-clear of any further investigations into the JAG office in the future." Animal stated clearly as he internally hoped that a transfer would come soon but it didn't seem likely until he received his rear admiral rank. He didn't enjoy the staff duty and wished eagerly for the smell of the sea. He was a line-officer through and through and lived for deployments. He especially didn't like going around making enemies with the Judge Advocate General office as he had a fellow friend and former shipmate serving there. "So without further adieu, I will pass this report to the Naval Inspector General. You will receive a ruling on how he perceives this report in a few weeks. Sir." He stated as he locked eyes with AJ.

"Thank you." AJ said.

"By your leave, sir." Animal stated as he locked to attention. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see the looks of relief on the faces of the JAG officers and a look of 'Good Riddance' on the face of Lieutenant Commander Liandra Gracen.

"Dismissed, Captain." AJ stated calmly.

CNO's Office, Pentagon, Washington DC 1300hrs

"Good work, Animal. Chegwidden is very attached to his officers and the good ones he does keep past what would normally be considered a good career plan. Unfortunately, that stymies the upwards progression of an officer's career." Admiral Kasczanowski stated as he looked over Animal's 130 page report on the inner workings of the Judge Advocate General's office. "We will have to look into that. I see you have a friend inside who gave you a hand?"

"Yes, sir." Animal stated quietly as he pondered whether Harm could get into trouble for that or feel that AJ would consider that as a betrayal of trust.

"Well, I also have an insider there. I trust you have heard of Ensign Harriet Beaumont Sims, She just transferred into the JAG office. Well, we're talking with her about joining the Naval Inspector General's office?"

"Is that so, sir." Animal stated. Animal had seen the perky blonde ensign flitting about the office and usually Lieutenant jg Bud Roberts was not far behind.

"Yes, Captain. But we also need a formal JAG liaison officer between their office and ours." Admiral Kasczanowski stated as he looked intently at the report. He read for a few more moments. "I think I've got the officer that could possibly do that role. She is a damned good lawyer and a great top-notch investigator. In fact she has been recommended to the judiciary when she receives her third full stripe." ADM Kasczanowski grinned evilly at Animal. "In fact. In her role, she will spend half her time at JAG, half her time with the Naval Inspector General to ensure that we operate within legal parameters in our investigations. She will report to the JAG Chief of Staff while she is with JAG and she will report to you when she is at the Naval Inspector General's office. The orders have been couriered over to JAG and she will report on Monday."

"Any idea who this officer is, sir?" Animal thought to ask as his mind churned over who could possibly be seconded from JAG to NAVINSGEN.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll find out, Animal. And I'm sure, she'll keep you on your toes. After all, you two butted heads." Animal's face fell. Not her…anybody but her… he thought to himself. She despised his guts. If he ended up with her as the JAG Liaison, he was going to be soooo dead.

JAG Headquarters, Falls Church, VA. 1300 hrs

AJ crossed his arms. "This is a JAG liaison trial run. Considering the fact that JAG needs to oversee the mandate of the Naval Inspector General's office to see if they are doing everything legal and above board, I'm sure that this position will be satisfying to you. Lieutenant Commander Gracen."

"Sir? The Naval Inspector General's office?" The look on her face was horrified shock. "They can't be serious." She paused for a moment to study the admiral's look on his face. "Can they?" She asked.

"As serious as any request from the Chief of Naval Operations, Commander." AJ replied. "I understand that you have serious problems with the conduct of the recent Naval Inspector General and I'm sure all of that is personal rather than professional. As far as I've heard from Lieutenant Commander Rabb, everything he did was above board and professional. I certainly do not know where he rubbed you the wrong way, but I'm sure that you need to cut Captain Nakamura some slack. After all, he will be the superior officer that you report to while you are at the Naval Inspector General's office." He barely resisted the urge to laugh as he gazed upon Lia's expression of horror. "Yes, you will be working with Captain Nakamura closely." AJ figured that it was a toss-up of whether she could hold her military bearing or run out of his office screaming.

Her mouth worked soundlessly for a moment in indignant outrage, but stifled her complaints and said nothing but "Yes, sir." I'm sure Harm had something to do with this. He's soooo dead!

Office of the Naval Inspector General, Washington Navy Yard, Washington DC, Monday, 0730 hrs

Knocking on the door of Captain Toshio Nakamura's office, Lieutenant Commander Liandra Gracen looked sourly at the nameplate. Of all the things that were distasteful to her, this was probably the worst. Captain Nakamura was her superior officer and the officer that she had to report to at the Office of the Naval Inspector General. When she was processed in at the front desk, she had to report to him to let him know that she had arrived.

"Enter!" was the barked response to her knock. She wordlessly opened the door, turned to close it and smartly walked to three paces in front of the desk and came to the position of attention. "Sir! Lieutenant Commander Liandra Gracen, Judge Advocate General's office, reporting for duty to the Naval Inspector General's office, sir!" she stated crisply and well within the bounds of respect.

"Very well, Lieutenant Commander. Welcome to the Naval Inspector General's office." There was just calm civility emanating from the captain. "As the Naval Inspector General's chief of staff, I will be your reporting officer." Captain Nakamura continued. "Anything to do with the Naval Inspector General's office will be run through me and the Naval Inspector General Vice-Admiral James E. Bennett. Clear?"

"Crystal, sir." Lia stated, her countenance impassive.

"Now…to personal matters." Animal said, his eyes not betraying any hint of trepidation. "You and I butted heads during the NAVINSGEN investigation at JAG. I trust that there will be more cooperation coming while you are under my command?"

"Yes, sir." Lia nodded, her response carefully weighed to not show any displeasure at this turn of events.

"Sir…the only thing that I ask, sir…is that the mess has plenty of raspberry filled donuts, sir!" She looked smug as she gauged his reaction to her statement.

Animal winced to her satisfaction. He knew exactly what incident she was referring to. "I will make our culinary specialist aware of your requirements. Lieutenant Commander."

"Thank you, sir." Lia stated. "If I may ask, what exactly are my duties here."

"Well, Lieutenant Commander Gracen, your duties are to ascertain the legal boundaries of the methods that we utilize to carry out our investigations. In that regards, we do not wish to overstep our authority - in doing so, with the benefit of a Judge Advocate General liaison, we establish and fine-tune the operating procedures in such a way that we do not overstep those bounds. I believe that this is something that you are well-capable of doing and would help the Office of the Naval Inspector General greatly." Animal stated quietly as he looked at the naval officer standing in front of his desk.

"I appreciate the trust that the Office of the Naval Inspector General has in me." Lia admitted. "I will endeavor to do the best that I can to meet those expectations while I am assigned here."

"That's all that we expect. Lieutenant Commander." Animal replied. "Now, I'm sure that you are eager to get on with the assignment so, I will let you get to it. Dismissed. Commander."

"Yes. Sir!" Lia braced to attention, paused for a moment, then about-faced and marched smartly to the door to open it and exit.

That wasn't so bad. Lia said to herself as she exited the door and closed it behind her. He actually seemed human this time around. But she didn't want to be here and frankly, the only reason why she was, was the fact that she was ordered to be here. Captain Nakamura was brusque and no-nonsense and that damned blue-ribbon with the white stars made him an untouchable. Frankly, the Navy figured he could do no wrong. She'd bide her time here, do her duty efficiently and then at the first possible chance, get the hell out.

The day was filled with in-processing details, and an appointment at 1330hrs with the SECNAV's chief of staff (and as she had heard from Harm, the god-daughter of the Secretary of the Navy, Lieutenant Commander Tracy Manetti), after clearing it from Captain Nakamura. At 1325 hrs on the dot, Lieutenant Commander Liandra Gracen made her way to the Secretary of the Navy's set of offices and smartly knocked on the door of the Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Commander Manetti.

"Enter!" Lia could hear a trace of the old-Virginian accent coming from a slightly cognitively dissonant view of an equally short Asian-American woman, with straight black hair tightly curled in a bun to the back of her head. That set her inquisitive mind wondering as to where an obviously Asian woman would get an accent like that.

"Lieutenant Commander Liandra Gracen reporting."

"Come in…come in…sit down and take a load off." Manetti smiled as she leaned over the table to shake Lia's hand. "Well, so you're the new face in Captain Nakamura's office?"

"Yes'm" Lia replied. "Evidently it's a small office and they needed someone to legally advise the NAVINSGEN."

"The scuttlebutt was that you and the Captain butted heads during the NAVINSGEN's investigation of JAG." Lia heard warning bells go off in her head. Evidently Manetti was fishing for information.

"Ma'am, that's privileged information, between the Captain and myself." Lia replied opting to keep the info to herself. As much as she may have disliked the Captain – maybe dislike wasn't the right word, but she sure as hell didn't trust him after the investigation at JAG, she wasn't going to give any info to the SECNAV's emissary on the workings of the office.

"Well, since he is an O-6 and a well-decorated one at that, you will have to treat him with kid-gloves, Lieutenant Commander." Manetti grinned.

"Oh?" Lia looked at her curiously – wondering what the Asian-American Lieutenant Commander was getting at. "…and how would you know that? If I might ask, Lieutenant Commander."

"No yōna suki ni hanasu" Manetti grinned at her, her brown eyes twinkling in merriment. "like speaks to like…" she explained herself. "As you can tell, my Italian last name speaks to my being adopted by my loving Italian-American adoptive family. In heritage, however, I, like Captain Nakamura, am of Japanese descent though, with my last name, causes a bit of confusion amongst those who aren't familiar."

Lia opted to look surprised. "Well, the Virginia accent threw me for a bit. So how do you and Captain Nakamura know each other?"

Tracy smiled as her old Southern Virginia upbringing "Well…I really shouldn't speak of others while they aren't in the room, that's akin to gossip, but I'll tell you, Captain Nakamura and I, on occasion, will make it out to the Japanese festival at Virginia Beach. After all, Virginia Beach and Miyazaki Japan are considered sister cities." She paused for a moment. "We tend to celebrate our Japanese heritage."

The two officers looked at each other for a long measuring moment before Lia broke the silence. This was a part of the Captain that she had never guessed about, that he had a life beyond the military. He was so taciturn and almost grouchy. Was it a sense that he didn't want to be there in the Office of the Inspector General. She contemplated that internally. He seemed to have a bone to pick with JAG during the course of the inspection, whether that was through resentment of having been taken off active front-line duty or not, she couldn't hazard a guess. All she knew was that she was treading a landmine-filled temporary duty at the Office of the Naval Inspector General and all because Rear Admiral Albert Jethro Chegwidden had insisted that she be the one that went to join that office, yanked from her comfortable job as a legal attorney.

The following week she would be at JAG finishing up some cases that were going to trial so the weekend would be busy. She was hoping that with the new assignment at NAVINSGEN, that she would be still able to take the week off that she was planning the following month. And just as it would have it, the week fell in during the time that she was at NAVINSGEN so she would have to put in to the Chief of Staff at NAVINSGEN for that week off. That meant that this week was going to be filled with getting up to speed on everything that needed doing.

She groaned audibly as she looked over at Lieutenant Commander Manetti who in turn looked over at her curiously. "Is there a problem, Lieutenant Commander Gracen."

"No, just thinking over the amount of work that I'm going to have to get in just to get up to speed at the office." Lia stated as she sighed, knowing that it was going to involve some late nights at work just to get the bulk of the work done that she needed to be familiarized on.

"Well, LCDR, that's one of the reasons why I called you in for this meeting. I used to work with the Office of the Naval Inspector General and frankly, I'm here to give you a hand during the first week here." LCDR Manetti said. "We'll be working together until you familiarize yourself with what needs to be done. I know that you're working back at JAG next week; so what we have to do will probably have to be spaced over two weeks, this week and the first week that you're back two weeks from now."

Lia looked surprised, but breathed a sigh of relief. At least then she wouldn't have to constantly be knocking on Captain Nakamura's door for instruction on what to do. Evidently the look of relief on her face did not go unnoticed by LCDR Manetti because Tracy laughed and said. "Now let's go see if we can knock down some of that work before secure and see if we can get you ahead of the power-curve."