Chapter 2

Mac met with Harm the following day in the interview room that he had been allocated for his investigation. She reported to him as just another witness for him to question.

"At ease Petty Officer," Commander Rabb said sarcastically.

"Very funny Harm," Mac retorted. "You find anything yet to substantiate any charges?"

"Nothing," he told her. "From his military record Chief Petty Officer Merker appears to be a respectable seaman. No other charges of this nature was ever reported against him."

"Same with me," she told him. "This might just come down to her word against his if she pursues it into court."

"I know Mac," he agreed. "But she insist that she was raped by the Chief, and we have to pursue the matter to the end."

"I know," she said. "But if we're wrong, we'll be putting a black mark on an innocent man."

"so, what do you want to do?" He asked of his partner.

"I guess I'll have to continue with my cover," she answered him.

"Anything happening there?" Harm asked.

"Well, I had my first initiation last night," she told him.

"Really?" He responded quizzically. "How was that?"

She didn't want to go into too much detail about what went on during the Wiccan ceremony. Especially about her dancing around naked in the open. So she just gave Harm the minimum of details of what went on during her initiation, including the ashen dust that the CPO had blown in her face.

"Any chance that the ash might have been a hallucinogen?" Harm asked.

"I don't think so," she told him. "I mean it didn't seem to have any effect on me, or the others. Especially not anything of a sexual nature."

They continued discussing the cases further, going through the personnel records of the other members of the congregation before finalizing their report.

"So what now?" Mac asked.

"I think that maybe you should go back for a bit longer," Harm suggested. "If we're going to submit a final report to the Admiral, I think we should be as thorough as possible."

Mac was a bit hesitant about that prospect. So far everything was fairly innocent, other than the nakedness practiced by the other members. But she finally concluded that Harm was probably right and that a full report would be best served if they were as thorough as possible.

So she left the interview room and called in the next member of 'her' congregation, she did this so as to keep her cover intact.

When she returned to her barracks CPO Merker was there waiting for her.

"Hi there Sarah," he said to her. "So, what did the JAG guy want with you?"

"He was asking a bunch of questions about us actually," she feigned ignorance. "Do you know why?"

"People are scared of anything new," he told her. "You must have realized that already."

"I guess," Mac agreed with him.

"You still want to continue with your initiation?" He asked her.

To add authenticity, Mac pause momentarily before answering him.

"Yes," she finally said. "Yes I do. No ignorant JAG Officer is gonna deny me my religion."

"Good girl," Merker smirked. "We'll meet again tonight. Same place."

"Okay," Mac responded. "See you then."

They each went their separate way.

'If the Chief is a rapist, ' Mac was thinking to herself. 'He sure is acting aloof about it all.'