Thomas Meier was alone in the O Room, at least he was sure he was, when he took a conference call from head command. They were instructing him to relieve Anna of her duties and place her under arrest. To him this was a difficult thing to do as he was part of Oculus from the beginning with Anna in toe. She was ruthless, formidable and cunning. What she wasn’t however, was a team player. She saw herself as the one true heir to Oculus and that it was her ticket into the CIB. In her attempt to appear strong and in control, Anna had fumbled with what should have been an easy loose end to clean up. Although the O Room was Anna’s baby, it was now to become the block upon which her head was to be taken. “Have you anything else to say here Thomas, anything that could mitigate Anna’s punishment?”. Thomas could have said a hundred things. Anna for all her faults had overseen an impressive Operator program, the first of its kind. The playbook on how to Operate in the field was literally written by her. He could have taken up for her, but he didn’t. The CIB wanted any excuse to take this project over completely and fill it with their own people. Thomas knew he needed to be a team player and his new team was the CIB. He threw Anna under the bus. “I have nothing to say in Anna’s defence. I intend to place her under arrest and deliver her to Hillsleigh Row within the day as recommended”. “If that is your decision then Thomas, proceed. We understand you are putting loyalties aside here”. “What do you want me to do about the Operators? I think they still have a lot to offer”. The bureau’s chiefs conferred for a moment and came back with a direction. “Operators Fleet and Kennedy. They must be eliminated on sight. This embarrassing situation could bring down the entire Lens program, not just Oculus. If trust is broken with the public it could set the Commission back decades. We also have intel on Charlie Smalls. He has been visited on two occasions by persons unknown. He must be forced to hand over total control of Oculus. Once that is achieved, him and his loyalists must be dealt with also. People like Smalls are not salvageable. Once our guys have the keys to Oculus there will be no need for any of them”. Thomas pushed for an answer closer to what he was asking. “And what about Shiels, Moriarty, Campbell. There are eight or nine Operators there who need to be recycled into your new plan. They are irreplaceable and have invaluable experience with the tech”. The Bureau chiefs again conferred and returned to Thomas. “We believe Shiels is a problem that will need to be dealt with, in time. For now we want you to deputise him. Set him and the rest of the Operators on the fugitives. We will clean up what is left after that”. The transmission cut out, leaving Thomas no chance to respond. It was settled. He was going to order the internment and death of two of his fellow Oculus founders respectively as well as the deaths of the Operators who served them. He buzzed the the agents outside to come in. “Place Anna Stahl into our custody and have her seated in my personal transport. I also want these employees lifted from the Dev floor”. Thomas handed the agents a list of names of devs who were seen on camera having unscheduled meetings with Charlie. “Separate them, interrogate them”.
© 2024 Stephen J. Delaney
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