"Well now that you have met, I shall bring you three to the next Branch." The group had discussed in Dr Thomas's office on the objectives of his Branch before setting out to another part of the building.
Taking their feets through turns and straights, they eventually reached the next Branch. "Now, we are in front of the OPS DIV branch. Let us head in."
Unlike the first one, the OPS DIV branch did not have any restrictions when entering. They walked rightwards until they reached the end. There was an open door into an office, just like first one. Inside sat a man in his number 3 uniform.
"Everyone, I believe you have met Colonel John yesterday. He is the head of the OPS DIV." Siara gave a simple introduction and afterwhich they talk about the functions of this Branch.
"As the name suggests, OPS would mean operations and it involves planning and execution of an activity. Our Division is in charge of both Secret OPS and Open OPS Teams," Colonel John explained. "Our Branch will be the ones planning out those missions. When finished, we send the mission out to the respective camps and my subordinates shall execute them."
"Sir, if I may ask. If the missions are so important and the plans are created in this office, why is there no additional security like the R&D department?" Sato asked curiously.
"Good question. You have not worked in the military before and so you would not have known this. All plans are sketched and created on the computer. But not just anyone can log into them," Colonel John explained. "There are multiple steps to logging on. Firstly, a Data Authentication Check (DAC) card is needed to be inserted into a channel. This will help you get into your personalised account after entering your password. However, this isn't enough. You would then have to use the finger print scanner to confirm your identity. It is a triple authentication process."
Finishing up with formalities, the group left again and head to the basement of the building. This time, they require to pass through another guard check. There is no signs like the other two branches that somewhat gave a hint of what they do. All the place had was a straight hallway down and slightly dimmer lights. It gives off a strange feeling between a mental asylum and a jail corridor. On the sides of the corridor was a titanium metal door with no windows whatsoever, preventing people from seeing inside.
At the end of the hallway that stretched 50 metres was another security guard. He stared into the three trainee's eyes intently before losing eye contact. They could still feel the sharp stares on their backs. They turned right and have reached a door that required a card swipe to get in.
Siara used hers and the door opened her to the sight and sound of keyboards constantly clicking. "We have finally reached the Data Management Branch. I tend not to come here as you can see it is a pain in the ass to even enter this office."
Colonel Cyrus was awaiting their arrival at the door and he brought them into his office. "Well good afternoon everyone. Welcome to my humble home, the Data Management Branch. I see Ms Siara has already told you how displeased she is with my office. We get the same remarks a lot!"
The head of the branch gave off a rather friendly vibe as he joked a little with everyone.
"However, there is a reason that this Branch needs to be underground, " Colonel Cyrus started his explanation. "When you first entered the floor, you noticed one metal door on each side right? Those rooms are Data storage centers and they take up a lot of space. In addition they tend to get very hot and so we have to create a cooling system so as to not damage our storage area. Thus our Branch was built in the basement with the storage centers."
"Ok now I will explain what my Branch does. It is simple and can be summarised in three words. We churn data. Anytimes a division requires some form of information within the past 50 years, we will generate it out for them and send it to the respective bases via the intranet." Colonel Cyrus spoke fluently. "You may ask, what do you do if you need data on the years after 50? Simple, there is another Branch in charge of that, but they are located somewhere else in a classified location."
In the end, the meetings with the three branches had come to an end and they went ahead to eat at the office cafeteria. The perks of working at the Manpower Base was that the food was free of charge and to add on, it was delicious. There would be a rotation of menu choice, between 20 courses and they would all be prepared by an Autocook.
Sato chose to go for a chicken masala with white rice, a bowl of seaweed soup and caesar salad. He savoured every bite as if it was his last meal. This was the first time he ate so much as he usually tried to scrimp and save some money. He even went for seconds which that caught the watchful eyes of the trainees, Myra and Holly.
Regardless of that, he continued to enjoy his meal. After eating lunch today, i can probably skip out on dinner, thought Sato happily.
When the group had finished their meal, Siara went to the food retrieval area and took a tray of food back with her. They then left the cafeteria.
"The next task for my day is to bring General Gray his meal. Usually, he does not have time to come down here to have his meals and I would bring it up to his office." As they reached the front of his office, two bodyguards stood upright and still. They looked and saw Siara, to which they immediately opened the door for her after knocking and reporting who was here.
Inside the large beautifully designed office of the Major General, was a sense of familiarity for Sato. This was the place that he had slept. This was the place that the general stood. This was the place he had saw the general in his undergarment.
He blushed slightly as he noticed Gray wearing a pair of round black glasses. It made him look extremely clean and smart. His clean shaven face with no flaws on his face made him look like a perfectly polished gem. He looked up to find the group of four, scanning the crowd with his clear azure blue eyes. You could almost taste the intensity of his glare. He finished his stare on Sato. .
"Leave my meal here." With that, he continued on with his work and the group excused themselves. It was then when the few of them could finally breathe normally. The atmosphere in the room was stiffling for everyone.