I walked up to Maya and took her hand.
“Hey,” I said quietly.
“Hey,” she replied with a faint, miserable smile that damn near broke my heart.
The fucking pieces of shit were going to pay for this. Whatever punishment was coming their way, they deserved it for doing this to my Maya.
Maya was getting out of it, though. I’d do everything in my power to make sure of that, and if I had to, I’d drag Alysa into it too. Honestly, getting her on board probably wouldn’t even be that difficult. I doubted she’d be thrilled by the prospect of having to fetch her own meals from now on if Maya wasn’t around.
And if anyone was willing to participate in a little mild corruption for the sake of personal convenience, it was definitely Alysa.
“So,” Uden said, propping her face in her palms as she looked at Maya. “You got anything to say for yourself ?”
Maya took a step forward, and I instinctively tightened my grip on her hand.
I was about to say something in her defense when Maya looked back at me. The sadness in her smile eased slightly as she said:
“It’s fine, I can handle this much, she shot me a quick smirk, ‘‘you might not believe it, but it’s not the first time that I got in trouble.”
She slid her hand out of mine, walked up to Captain Uden’s desk, and gave her a formal salute.
“I’ve got no excuses. We all discussed it, and every one of us agreed to go through with it. I’m just as guilty as everyone else.”
Uden nods.
“A respectful stance." She raises her finger. The question is whether you’ll keep standing once the heads start rolling.”
Everyone in the room, including me, shuddered at the words, well, maybe excluding Alysa, who looked pretty amused.
Without the need for a grand speech or dramatic declaration, those few quiet words anchored themselves in the room, making the air in the room turn so heavy I could physically feel the weight of it pressing on my shoulders.
“Maya.” Uden spoke up again. "Wonder which way Canary's going to fly before it gets its wings plucked off."
Maya stiffened at the words.
Uden didn’t wait for a response and continued speaking.
“The way I see it, we’ve reached something of an impasse.” Captain leaned back slightly, letting her gaze settle on Bereth. “You told me everyone was prepared to resign over this. Officers included.”
Bereth drew a long breath, but Uden raised a hand before he could get a word out.
“Don’t. We all know that isn’t the case anymore, so let’s not waste another twenty minutes pretending otherwise.”
She glanced toward Bereth, who had gone timid under everyone’s attention, then toward the others. Whatever confidence they had walked in with that morning had already taken a severe beating. Some of them still looked determined enough to follow Bereth through with the threat, certainly, but being angry with leadership decisions was one thing. Throwing away a lucrative career over it was another.
When Uden looked back, Bereth’s expression had hardened.
“I did what I thought was right. Face it, this was inevitable.”
Uden gave him an intrigued look.
“That’s funny. You sound rather bold for someone who just completely botched their attempt at revolt.’’
Bereth gulped but didn’t say anything. Not that he had much of a comeback when everything she’d said was true.
But then, to everyone's surprise, Bereth opened his mouth again.
“We do not have the majority of officers, and yes, the rebellion is dead in the water. That doesn’t necessarily mean that this is over. Losing half your squad, even if the officer core were mostly intact, would be a very bad look for you, not to mention replacing several members would be an overall massive headache."
Uden gripped the resignation papers so tightly they crumpled in her fist.
“Are you threatening me?” Her voice had gone dangerously low.
“Not at all,” Bereth said calmly. “But whatever happens to us now, it doesn’t address the reason why this happened in the first place. There’s been a problem in the squad for a while, and ignoring it is what brought us here. Don’t you think that needs to be address—”
“NO.” Uden replied coldly.
“N-no ?“ Bereth stammered out, all previous bravado completely vanishing from his voice.
“I don’t think you quite understand the situation you’re in. This has nothing to do with politics. It all comes down to how much value each of you brings to the company.”
“Value ?” asked confused Bereth.
“Yes.” Uden replied frankly.
“I’d rather lose half the squad before I even consider the idea of firing Alysa.”
Hearing that, Alysa looked so smug she was practically radiating light.
“As an asset, she’s just that valuable."
“Hey !“ Alysa shouted, all the radiation of light washing off her face.
“Who are you calling an asset, you old cow ?“
Uden waved the glue bottle again, and Alysa pressed her lips tight. It would appear that someone had a handle on her. It was nice to know that she wasn’t completely out of control. I guess from now on I could expect our captain would be keeping Alysa at least somewhat in check, I will have to find some ways around it when she leaves again, though.
“Life isn’t fair,” Uden continued. “Like it or not, some people are worth more than others, it’s why you are here rather than working on a line in a factory.”
"Consequently, it’s also why people like Alysa get to do whatever they want, while you guys have to carefully stick to every single rule set in place.” She said, setting the glue bottle on the desk. “Speaking frankly, Alysa is irreplaceable. I doubt there is a single person in the whole world that’s half as talented as she is, and I’m not exaggerating. You’re all talented yourselves, and no, people like you aren’t exactly a dime a dozen. But given enough time, I could find a competent replacement for every one of you. Alysa, on the other hand, I could search for my entire life and not find a replacement that’s at least half as good.”
She paused.
“So yes, if it came down to it, I’d fire half the- no, the ENTIRE squad before I even think of firing Alysa. It’s easier to build a new squad around her as a core than finding her replacement, it’s as easy as that."
She folded the papers once before setting them back on the desk.
“It would hurt me dearly, sure,” she admitted. “But don’t confuse the ability to hurt the Ninth with being able to dictate how it’s run. You will get no such luxuries.”
A few expressions changed at that. Alysa glanced toward her, while Bereth seemed to shrink further into himself. Uden ignored both of them.
“Don’t get me wrong,’’ she said. “Every person standing in this room can be replaced. You, me, Alysa, everyone. Miracle Inc. existed before any of us joined it, and it’ll keep functioning long after we’re gone.” She paused, uncomfortable with how cold the words sounded. These weren't some random strangers standing in front of her. She had spent years beside most of them, and the thought of watching them walk away bothered her far more than she intended to show. “If six of you genuinely want to leave, I’m not going to stop you.”
Janis stared at her through one eye that had already swollen badly from the time I attacked her.
“Then fire her, and let’s be done with it. You claim her to be oh so irreplaceable, but I don't see what’s so special about her, she's nothing more than a massive liability in my eyes.”
Uden didn't need to think about the answer.
“I already said NO, and there will be no discussing it, I had made myself very clear on that.”
Funnily enough, Uden herself seemed a little surprised at her own words
Bereth’s jaw tightened. “So that’s it? You are just going to throw that on us and expect us to deal with it ?”
“That’s more than you deserve, I might add.”
“You’d seriously rather lose six people than replace one ?” Janis asked in disbelief
“Yes.” Uden replied coldly.
Uden’s eyes briefly flickered towards Alysa. For once, the girl had nothing clever to say. She stood still with her arms crossed, watching Uden without the slightest trace of her usual grin.
Then Uden turned back to Bereth.
“I will not allow others to dictate to me how I should run my squad. I will own all the successes and failures myself, if you don’t like that, well, the door’s that way.” She said as she gestured towards the door.
Bereth finally released a long breath. “Then I guess we’re done here.”
He turned toward the door.
“No, we aren’t.”
Bereth stopped and looked back over his shoulder.
Uden rose from her chair. “Leaving doesn’t simply absolve you of the consequences of your little rebellion.”
She stepped around the desk, going out of her way not to look at the enormous dent that I had left along one side of it.
“I could overlook it, you know, pretend that nothing ever happened.”
Bereth stopped, his face unreadable, yet he didn’t turn back towards Uden.
Janis gave a humorless laugh from where she was leaning against the desk. “Why do I feel like there’s a but coming?”
“Of course there is.” Uden folded her arms. “You would have to go back to your jobs, do your duties, just like you have done yesterday, and the day before that.”
Bereth turned to face her. “And if we don’t?”
There it was. Right at that moment I saw the look on Uden's face shift, almost as if she had been anticipating it all along.
“If you refuse to report for duty while you’re still active members of the Security Force, then this stops being a disagreement between a captain and her squad. At that point, you’ll be officially considered rebels who have willingly turned against the company.”
Uden’s expression hardened.
“Do I really need to remind you what happens to those whom the company brands a traitor?”
Nobody rushed to answer.
Uden let her eyes travel around the room while everyone else looked around nervously. Janis looked furious and was wiping the drying blood around her mouth. Marcus had lost most of his earlier bravado, while Narun refused to meet Uden’s eyes altogether. Tomas was visibly chewing the inside of his cheek, Johan remained irritatingly impossible to read, and Oba had separated himself enough from the group that his position was already obvious.
Uden let out a short laugh.
“So, I would assume we won’t have any quitters today, will we ?“
The silence stretched on until Uden spoke up again.
“So make up your minds,” she said. “Stay and do your damn jobs, or accept whatever consequences come with it. But you don’t get to squirm your way out of this one.”
Before anyone could reply, a deafening shriek of an alarm blared across the room.