The Tiger's Eye

A debrief

Lynn's POV
I walked off the plane with Zao and Manfred as we headed towards the barracks a long mission with tempers flaring is enough to make any well trained soldier need some sleep. I walked in and dropped my plate carrier followed closely by putting my weapons next to my bed, I woke up to Meghan standing over my bed kinda freaking me out since she was just staring at me before she spoke "come with me, Mike and Harry want you for the debrief" I sighed and pushed myself up to my feet stretching before I followed her towards the building. She spoke "so we got told you and Andrew got into it" I nodded and replied "He's a tyrant, he got a bit of power and started getting pissed off we were talking during a gunfight that he wasn't taking part in. I wanted to wring his fucking neck out right then and there" she nodded before replying "I get that but he still is your team's leader, even if you don't like him." I replied with boredom in my voice "I'm painfully aware, unfortunately" she chuckled before speaking "I saw your body cam footage, you got down"
      I laughed "sometimes a gunfight is just what you need" she nodded before replying "since you offered, wanna do my taxes?" I rolled my eyes "My dear, I barely want to do my own" she laughed before replying "amen" as she stopped and turned gripping the door handle "ready?" I took a deep breath and steeled my nerves before nodding she pushed the door open and I walked into the dimly lit room. I heard Harry "would you prefer the light dimmed or on all the way?" I replied slowly "Dimmed, if it's all the way on it might damage my eyes" I sat down as Mike asked "So what do you have to say for yourself?" I replied in monotone "nothing sir, tempers flared" he nodded before playing my body cam as I threatened to kick his ass. I sighed as Harry paused the video and looked at me "what happened leading up to it?" I replied "he was bitching and moaning because we were talkin while doing our jobs. He thinks he's running a tight ship but he's just being an asshole. Zao, Manfred and I are all already tired of it. If I could I would request a transfer to another team" Mike asked "I thought you guys were friends?" I replied sourly "we were, and then he started being a dick"
      Harry revealed "you've got to get through 9 more missions before you become full fledged operators and get new teams. Can you do it?" I nodded and replied "Yessir, of course" Mike spoke "ye got a lot of potential, you're our best recruit. We wouldn't want to lose you because you couldn't deal with a dick of a commander" I smiled at the revelation of my position in the recruit ranking before Harry spoke "do try to keep your temper in check, if you allow your anger to control you, it will consume you. Like a fire, it will burn away everything you knew and leave you alone in a barren wasteland of ash and memories" I thought over his words before nodding and asking "what do you recommend sir?" He replied after a second "that is a path you must find on your own, all I can recommend is to drink some tea and look within yourself to find your true self" I stood and asked "is that all you needed sir?" He nodded "Meghan will bring you back to your barracks"
     I saluted before following Meghan out into the hallway before I repeated "Look within yourself to find your true self? What kind of Uncle Iroh bullshit is that? What does it even mean?" Meghan chuckled before looking back "It'll reveal its meeting in time, don't worry about it so much." I sighed in frustration before asking "Is it too late for me to go to the range?" She checked her watch "yea, it's almost 2" I asked surprised "seriously?" As I grabbed her wrist and lifted it so I could read her watch. She laughed openly and asked "You know you have a watch too right?" I sheepishly released her arm "sorry about that" she ran her fingers through her hair "it's fine, so what have you been up to in the years since we last saw each other?" I asked in return "anywhere we can sit and talk?" She nodded "I know a place" as I followed her. We sat at a small table and I started "well I got into an ambush in Africa and held one of my friends while he died, then I got sent to somalia to capture some pirates"
She nodded "a nasty place, shame they have to live like that" I replied looking at my hands "then we got a target in Afghanistan and I fired a 40 Mike Mike HE into a room..... I didn't know the women and children were in there. That'll haunt me the most, killing terrorists that's the easy part.... it's the innocents that get caught in the crossfire.... that's what kills me" she gasped before speaking "that sounds.... awful." I looked up with bloodshot eyes "yeah... yeah it was. I try to come to terms with it but I can't, it felt off... I should've known" Meghan spoke softly "we've all done things that haunt us, we've all made mistakes that've cost lives. We have to remember them and learn from them, not beat ourselves up over it. War is chaos, things happen so fast your brain struggles to keep up with it. You made the best call you could with the information you had" I tried to convince myself she was right but failed "I don't know, I should've trusted my instincts. They told me it was the wrong call but I did it anyway" Meghan sighed before standing.
She looked at me "come with me" I silently stood and followed her as she brought me to the tallest point on the base. I could see the lights of a distant city, they looked gorgeous. I could see headlights on a highway that ran past the base, people going about their lives. I glanced at Meghan and saw the lights reflecting in her eyes, she looked gorgeous before she looked over "what do you see?" I looked back at the area "well I see the city, lights, there's a plane above us. People driving on the thruway, there's a small herd of deer down there" Meghan asked again "how would you describe this? Everything you're seeing?" I answered after thinking it over "peaceful, just. No ones doing anything evil, they're just people keeping their heads down trying to make it through" Meghan asked "why do you fight? Why join the Legion?" I answered without thought "I want to make a difference, even if it's just saving one person. I want to be like John Stryker Meyer and be a bad ass soldier who beats the odds. I want to change the world" Meghan leaned on the railing "you can't change the world without making mistakes and learning from them, think about it. You've spent your entire career learning from older soldiers and making mistakes being shown how to do things right."
I nodded as she nudged me with her elbow "don't let that lesson control you, learn from it and trust your instincts next time" I looked over and joked "ever thought about being a therapist?" She laughed and replied jokingly "and hear other people's problems? I got enough of my own" I replied looking down at the golden grey light my eyes painted the landscape "I think you're pretty well set up, better than me. I'm falling apart at the seems over here" she replied "give it time, you'll settle in and your seems will disappear" I laughed at the bad joke before speaking "I hope so, I'm tired of feeling out of my element, I've been in the green berets so long it feels weird not seeing my teammates faces" she spoke once more "well get used to seeing mine, I'm gonna start training you something fierce since we all know SEALs are better than the berets" I replied with a shit eating grin "oh yeah? You'll have to prove it tomorrow" she straightened at the challenge "you'll regret that" I shrugged and replied "maybe so"
      I sighed as I mused "I guess I should get back to the barracks before any wild rumors about us start spreading" Meghan asked "oh you mean like the ones Erik's been saying?" I froze and looked "what?" She replied "Erik's been spewing theories about us" I pinched the bridge of my nose "I'm gonna kill him" Meghan laughed before replying "it's pretty cute you're that worked up over it" I rolled my eyes and asked "do I even want to know what he's saying?" She replied with a small laugh "He's saying you love me and how you think I'm so hot and all this stupid shit" I muttered to myself "atleast he's right about one thing" Meghan replied "hmm?" I straightened "nothing, just thinking out loud. Anyway I'm off to sleep, I'll see you tomorrow" she waved as I walked down the staircase and back to the barracks. When I walked in and sat on my bed I heard Zao from the bunk above mine "So how was your date?" I replied tiredly "it wasn't a date, I got advised by Harry and Mike to stop threatening to fight Andrew."
He laughed before replying "I could've told you they'd say that" I laid down and replied "I'll get my revenge when we do training tomorrow" he sounded surprised "we've got training tomorrow?" I spoke "yea, Valkyrie wants to work on some stuff. She's the proctor for tomorrow" Manfred complained "Scheiße(fuck), she's so much stricter than Mike. Mike is terrifying but Meghan has such high standards I feel like I'm gonna die after training with her." I chuckled as I replied "well bro, she's from America. Our military is the best in the world, our standards are tougher because we're way too proud of our military to allow anyone else to be better than us" he replied grumpily "you fucks and your money, you're just better because you guys keep throwing money at the problems" I replied "don't forget that we have a stronger manufacturing capability" I heard Jackson on the other end of the barracks "will you fucks go to sleep? It's 3 in the morning" I laughed at his anger knowing he was just tired of hearing people he was scared of talking, I spoke "night boys, I hope you're ready for tomorrow"