Against the Tide - A New Elysium Story [Complete]

34. Prison Break-In

Major General Yaremova moved through the hallways of the facility like a tiger on the prowl, with Meyer and another Saiph Guard following her closely.

He had barely been a part of the Saiph for a week, and he still didn't quite understand the strange hierarchy among the members of that elite task force. Their tasks and duties varied from dangerous off-world missions to mundane paper work, and those assignments did not always correlate directly with their ranks. So it had been to his great surprise that he hadn't started at the bottom of the food chain and instead spent most of his time since his promotion trailing after Yaremova as she walked around the facility and intimidated people.

Meyer had been promoted to the rank of Sergeant, but the other guard walking with them today was still of higher rank and more senior. Consequently, he found himself wondering why Yaremova had chosen to bring himself along today, and not somebody of equal rank to the other guy. In fact, in these past days, he had often found himself wondering why this woman needed a personal guard in the first place. Purely objectively, she was probably the most terrifying person he had ever met. And he had come face to face with an augmented woman who had fist-fought a scandroid and beaten his superior to death.

But as the trio stepped through the doors of General Neris' office now, he wondered if he might have to correct that assessment once more.

The rooms and offices of the commanding officers were one of the few buildings above ground floor, so they had windows. At their entrance, Neris turned away from the window through which he had watched an incoming ship approach the landing pad, and raised one of his perfectly arched eye brows at them.

General Neris was tall and broad-shouldered, and like most Hunters in excellent physical shape. Other than two impeccably shaped arches above his dark eyes, there was not a single hair on his head. On his face, two pairs of long scars stood out against his dark skin, running from his ears along his cheek bones, where they made a sharp turn down toward his jawline.

It wasn't that Neris had a particularly menacing appearance. He didn't look much different from most other senior Hunters who had served before the days of the Purge. It was Yaremova's reaction to him that made Meyer wary of the man. After they had saluted, Yaremova, that woman who could usually intimidate anyone by just so much as throwing a glance at them seemed to shrink a few inches as the General addressed her.

"Major General Yaremova," Neris nodded. "Thank you for coming."

Neris cast a glance at the two Saiph Guards with his eyebrow still raised, and Yaremova seemed to be reading his thoughts.

"I trust them, Sir," she said.

Meyer felt a tingling sensation at the back of his neck, and straightened his posture. He clasped his hands behind his back to keep them from shaking.

"Very well," Neris said. "Then let's begin. First of all, I need you to explain to me what you were thinking when you came up with the new duty rosters, Major General."

He turned to look back out of the window, toward the launch pad. The name was somewhat misleading – more than half of the surface consisted of a large metal gate, submerged in the ground like a giant maw, that served as the entrance to the facility's hangar and docking bay. These days, the gate stood open pretty much around the clock, as ships were coming and going at an increased frequency.

"I have been informed that the facility is undermanned. Ground personnel is struggling to keep the facilities operational. The orbital stations are running on twenty-two hour shifts," Neris elaborated.

Meyer could see the tension in Yaremova's back muscles underneath her uniform.

"It is a necessity, sir. Given recent events on Symoa and Aenara, and the incident with Lieutenant Dixon's squad, we will have to accelerate the timeline for Purification. I am aware that we need more recruits, and I sent out some of those people specifically to bring back more candidates," Yaremova explained.