E120 FLC CHALLENGES SCT CTLR WHEN NOT ISSUED TFC OBSERVED ON TCASII PASSING WITHIN 2 MI AND 600 FT.

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WE WERE ENRTE FROM LAX TO PSP. AS WE APCHED PDZ ON V388; WE WERE GIVEN A CALL FOR CITATION TFC AT 9 O'CLOCK POS. I MAY HAVE GIVEN A 'LOOKING' CALL. IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE TFC CALL; ATC GAVE US A HDG TO 290 DEGS AND I BELIEVE A CONTINUED DSCNT TO 6000 FT. HE HAD PREVIOUSLY ISSUED 7000 FT. IN MY RESPONSE OF THE NEW ALT; I ASKED IF THE VECTOR WAS FOR TFC. HE SAID YES; BUT IT WAS NO LONGER A FACTOR AND WE SHOULD TURN 20 DEGS L TO JOIN V16. HIS HDG CLRLY WAS NOT GOING TO GET US ON V16; SO I STARTED TO TELL MY FO TO COME L ABOUT 10-20 DEGS MORE. I DID NOT FINISH AS I SAW TFC ON TCASII AND OUTSIDE. MY FO NOTICED IT AT THE SAME TIME AND IMMEDIATELY CLICKED OFF THE AUTOPLT AND SLOWED OUR DSCNT. THE TFC APPEARED TO BE A MIL BLACKHAWK HELI; XING R TO L. I DO NOT REMEMBER THE INITIAL ALT FROM THE TCASII; BUT I BELIEVE IT WAS WITHIN 1000 FT. WITH A TURN TO AN INTERCEPT WE WOULD HAVE BEEN DIRECTLY CONVERGING AND EVEN LEAVING OUR HDG AT THE 20 DEGS L AS DIRECTED BY ATC; WE WERE UNCOMFORTABLE CLOSE. THE CLOSEST ALT FROM TCASII WAS 600 FT; AND I'M FAIRLY CERTAIN WE WERE NEVER CLOSER THAN 2 MI. HAD WE NOT RESPONDED BY SLOWING THE DSCNT; THE ASSIGNED HDG MAY HAVE PUT US IN A NEAR MISS SIT. ATC'S NEXT XMISSION WAS AN INDIGNANT 'I GUESS I'M GOING TO NEED TO GIVE YOU A HDG;' INSINUATING WE COULD NOT FIGURE OUT HOW TO JOIN A COURSE. I WAS NOT AND AM NOT CONCERNED WITH HIS ATTITUDE. MY CONCERN LIES IN THE DANGER OF THE SIT. HE WAS PROBABLY VERY BUSY AND MY FO AND I BOTH NOTICED THAT HE SEEMED FLUSTERED. WHEN HE GAVE US A SPECIFIC HDG TO JOIN V16; I MENTIONED THAT WE WERE SLOW TO JOIN BECAUSE OF THE HELI TFC. WHEN HE GAVE US A FREQ CHANGE; I ASKED IF HE WAS AWARE OF THE HELI. HE SAID HE WAS AND THAT IT WAS NEVER A FACTOR. I DO NOT AGREE AND TOLD HIM SO HE RESPONDED BY ASKING ME IF I WANTED A NUMBER. I DECLINED. I WAS NOT AND AM NOT INTERESTED IN GETTING HIM IN TROUBLE. I WAS NOT AWARE IF HE WAS EVEN TALKING TO THE MIL HELI AND DID NOT WANT THE SIT REPEATED FOR SOMEONE WHO WAS NOT AS VIGILANT AS OUR CREW.