The Eyes of Fate (Currently in Rewrite)

Chapter 50

"A desert story, huh?" Vyper said, looking straight at Ranger. Sentinel noticed that he wasn't looking at any of them, and that he had that faraway look in his eyes again, like he was looking through a scope. "You're finally gonna fill us in on what happened before you got arrested?"

"I am. Like Sentinel said earlier, I trust you guys. Besides, I can't be the one to pussy out." Ranger's eyes lit up for a moment as he grinned at them. "I'll be breaking some laws by telling you guys about what I was up to though. Think you can handle being criminals?" 

They all chuckled at that, and the mood lightened noticeably. Sentinel shared a grin with Chesyr before they returned their attention to Ranger.

"Okay, for those of you who don't know," Ranger looked at Sentinel and Chesyr. "I am, or rather was, Staff Sergeant Racelynn Caisfar. I was a U.S. Army Ranger who advanced until I was with the Special Operations Group. I was the youngest to do it, and soon after the youngest to lead my own squad. A lot of the older guys, who had been operating longer than I had total time in service, thought that I was just a move by the brass to 'diversify' the SOG. There was, before I joined up, some talk that SOG was just a 'club for old guys to feel good about themselves'. It was only partially true.

"While it is true that a lot of the squad leaders are older guys, and a lot of the squads had been running with the same guys for years at a time. It made it so that you knew how everyone would react, and it wasn't uncommon for one team to loan a guy to another rather than try to bring in somebody entirely new. So suddenly having a nineteen-year-old in their midst, I'm sure they thought I was just some shiny new toy for the higher ups to wave in front of the public. Because of that, I was assigned a team of other 'diversity hires'. I was put in charge of a team of female operators, with specialties in reconnaissance and sniping. 

Ranger smiled, wide and happy. His eyes were faraway again, but Sentinel could see a glint in his them. 

"Once we got settled into our duty station, things were good. For a few months, anyway. We were a well oiled machine, getting our jobs done quickly and efficiently. High speed, low drag, felt like we were damn near invincible. Yeah, I was pretty distanced from the other guys in the NCO club, but it brought me closer with my team. We ate together, we drank together, a few times we even fought together when some asshole wanted to open his dumb fucking mouth.

"It was probably because we were so close that I noticed when they changed. Slowly, at first. One or two of them were more withdrawn, more quick to get angry with each other, or with me. Even Van."

"Van?" It was Vyper that asked what they all were thinking. He looked confused, and a little hurt.

Ranger shook like somebody had thrown water on him, gasping and shooting upright. He looked at them all for a second, then put his head back down. His eyes were watering, the tears not quite spilling over, as he answered.

"Vanessa Moore. We all called her Van. She and I were..." He trailed off.

"Close," Fang finished, a knowing tone in his voice. 

"Very close," Ranger nodded. "We never did anything about it. We couldn't have, since I was her direct superior. I was always curious why nobody ever said anything about how affectionate we were with each other. Guess I figured that one out pretty quick."

"Oh no." Chesyr's voice was quiet, and filled with horror. It took Sentinel a second to realize, but then his stomach clenched with dread.

"She had gone off on me after a mission. We were drinking in the day room, the whole team, and I'd put my arm around her without thinking. She screamed at me and then ran off. The other girls were all exchanging looks, but I couldn't read them. I asked, but they told me I should just let her cool off for a while. So I waited until the next morning  to go check on her. Her door wasn't locked, so I let myself in."