GATE - War of Two Worlds Part 1

V01 - Chapter 1 War of Two Worlds RM

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--- United States, Earth, Georgia, Fort Benning, Rangers Headquarters ---

January 27th, 2025

First Lieutenant Sarah Rose is walking through the Ranger Headquarters, passing all the other Rangers. She is one of the Ranger logistical officers who help manage Ranger equipment requests, deployment operations and everything else Rangers need when going into battle or training.

Sarah heads into the officer lounge and sees First Lieutenant Charles Johnson, Captain Bailey Robinson, Captain Charles Casaus all sitting there. They are all enjoying their morning breakfast as they laugh at some story.

"I see all the boys sitting around while the lady doing your work," she said sarcastically. All three of them look at her and laugh.

"Morning Sarah," Johnson said, "Do you ever sleep?"

"You need to stop coming in so early to do your CO(1) work," Charles said.

"Sometimes," she replied and then turns to look at Charles. "And someone has to do it. He rarely leaves his office and when he is at our staff meetings he is not mentally there."

"I feel bad for you guys," Charles said and then turns to look at Johnson. "They took away your command and replaced it with someone who is not a Ranger."

"That is the brass for yah," Johnson comments as he shrugs it off.

"Come on guys," Bailey said. "Be nice to the Major."

"You always defend him Bailey," she responds with. "Why is that? It seems like you two know each other. None of this makes sense. He shows up last month out of nowhere and we rarely see him. Morale is low within the unit."

"Sarah's right," Johnson said, "I don't mind having my first command taken away, I'd just like a reason. I have no idea how a non-Ranger takes command of a Ranger unit."

Bailey leans back into his chair and he responds hesitantly, "I don't know him well, but we did cross paths once. Look, I am not defending the dude. The past month has been very unprofessional, it is just the one time I met him, he wasn't like this."

Sarah listens carefully to what Bailey has to say. She comes from a long military bloodline, dating back to the Revolutionary War. She had learned from her father to read people, especially military ones.

Sarah thinks back to when their new Commanding Officer for Vanguard-7 — Major Jackson Sharpe — took command last month. At the time, it had shocked everyone in the unit. Almost no one liked him, and he had done little to address it.

Sarah wonders if Sharpe wanted everyone to hate him.

However, nothing about Sharpe make sense to Sarah. She had tried to learn more about him and had come up with nothing.

Sarah shakes her head, exasperated, "Well I came here to remind you three that we have a staff meeting at 0910."

"Thanks, First Lieutenant," Charles said.

As Sarah leaves the door, she hears the three officers making some strange commotion. Then she hears them calling her name.

Sarah rushes back and sees them looking at the television. She looks at what they are watching, and her eyes widen in disbelief.

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Sharpe finishes putting together his Colt M1917 pistol for the third time. It does nothing to distract his troubled mind. He places his pistol back onto his desk. He lets out a soft breath as he glances around his recently assigned private quarters.