Daria 5

by Martin E. Silenus

“Thanks D, Beast, Frosty, Poe you all set?” I ask.

  With confirmations all round we attach our harnesses to the winch reels and Poe begins lowering us down to the deck of the Villa. Night creature sounds from the jungle, sounds of the movement of the sea against piers, whisper of a light breeze in the Palms and brush. All is at peace and rest.

  The Villa door is not locked, we just walk in, and Beast stays outside in the shadows as insurance of one of them rabbiting. Frosty and I follow the maps in our helmets to the large bedroom suite where our targets are snoring peacefully. There are empty wine bottles and a strong smell of hash in the room, so I’m pretty sure we could have driven a tractor into the bedroom and not woke them up. The sleep of the drunk and drugged is very deep. I press the injector gun against Hennessey’s neck, trigger it, small hiss, he twitches once, but doesn’t move. I pass the injector gun to Frosty and he administers the anesthetic to the neck of the Corp Ass. Bundle the two of them into a rescue harness, attach them to the winch lines from the Ship, and Poe reels us up.

  Very neat, precise, soundless, invisible, no trace, the two of them just disappear from the resort Villa and no one has any idea of what could have transpired. Maybe they went skinny dipping and the Saltwater Crocodiles had a late night snack, who can say?

  Poe sets course for 55 Cancri e even as we carry the two sleeping drugged lumps down the hallway to their respective cells and dropped onto the plastic sleep platforms.

  “Hey sailor, you looking for a good time?” whispers D.

  “Perhaps pretty woman, what are you thinking of?

  “Come here and I’ll show you as its more fun than just talking about it.”

  Sexual role play, isn’t it just the best fun?

  We ran each one of these naked executive criminals through the Virtual Reality interrogation routine while they were under a chemical cocktail of Muther’s special design. She said you can’t lie while you have this in your system. Along with that she injected them with some nanotech that monitored them from the inside out and would display any issues and reactions to questions. Think of it as an internal Lie Detector Muther said.

  Anyway the crooks figured that they were bragging to their friends and bosses and so spared no detail of their activities. Each one of them had plenty of surprises. Of course we recorded all of their conversations. If for nothing else it was a look into the workings of the executive criminal mind.

  D collected the critical admissions of guilt from the three of the executives as she planned to present it as evidence in her address to the Board of Directors. Then she went back to work with Frosty on the Business Resumption Plan for Lynas Corp and their recommendations as to who was going to be promoted to replace the absent executives.

  Once we had the executives empty of their sins we stuck them back in their respective cells and kept them sedated for the balance of the trip to 55 Cancri e. It was just easier that way not to have to listen to them bleating and promising the world if we turned them loose.

  However Beast had a sporting idea that we could release them on 55 Cancri e and he could enjoy a couple of days hunting them down and killing them. It’s an interesting concept and I have to give Beast full marks for an original idea that feeds his passion for hunting.

  “I’m not sure Volar would approve of the hunting.” I note.

  “He would when we tell him that I’m hunting the cause of his ugly mining scar and dead creatures.” xmits Beast.

  “Not to mention the breach of the agreement and the corporate corruptness.” I add.

  “Volar strikes me as the type who expects non-financial payment for violations.” xmits Beast.

  “I don’t doubt you are correct on your assessment but in this instance I think burial at the bottom of this godawful mining scar is sufficient.” I reply. “Besides which you get to have your way with the shooters of the creatures at the mine sight.

  “Sigh, I guess that will just have to do.” xmits Beast.

  “Enough of you guys planning killings, for goodness sakes.” scolds D.

  “Ah, but such talk over green reptile/human hybrids was acceptable wasn’t it,” I reply.

  “But that was different, that green son of a bitch whacked me in the head,” says D.

  “You both recognize that the perceived victim always has sufficient motivation to reciprocate and justify their violence.” I note.

  “Is that exclusively a human character reaction?” asks D.

  “Not in the least, I’ll attack for any reason at all as I’m a Wolf, I don’t need to be wronged first.” xmits Beast.

  Chapter 23: Court and Sentence

  I addressed the three “ex” Lynas executives as they sat naked trembling chained to a table in a mixture of terror and outrage.

  “Durward Beardsley Addington IV, Theodore Hennessey III, and Avery Ellis you stand accused of corporate, criminal and moral crimes against humanity.

  I must confess I am of two minds about this situation. On the one hand I am supportive of the endeavors of Lynas Corp in its mining activities as I am very supportive of advanced and further advancing Technology which consumes the rare earth elements that Lynas Corp provide. The Corporation therefore provides a much needed service, it is inherently valuable. Lynas Corp is staffed by some solid hard working miners, factory refining workers, administration, Technology folks that any firm would be delighted to have as staff. Folks that work extremely hard within the boundaries set forth internally by Lynas Corp.

  In the midst of these purposeful, useful, services in demand in a corporation of hard working, rules abiding folks there existed your three worthless pieces of skin. Pieces of human shit that felt that they were so entitled, so special, so elite, that no rules either within the corporation or legally external to the corporation or even moral rules of decent conduct need apply to them. So elite you are above all reproach. You neglected and abused your position for personal gain, were a liability for the corporation, abused expense accounts well past any decent maximums, stole from the corporation, created dummy third party false companies that submitted false billing for services never rendered that were never received so you could pocket more money to pay for your excessive vices. You abused your staff who attempted to work to “best practices” and best of breed” yardsticks in their corporate efforts. Threatened, demoted, fired excellent employees that declined to throw away their moral values to cover up your legal and corporate crimes. The three of you are or were a cancer in the corporation bleeding it to death. I use the past tense “were” as you are no longer employees of Lynas Corporation. You have been terminated with cause. And you will be replaced by internal staff who have worked very hard to keep the corporation afloat while you three did your best to bleed it to death. Lynas Corp will re-organize and re-focus and will go on to success and the Board of Directors is fully aware of your transgressions.

  Well, you pieces of shit that are so very special, so elite, so entitled I am here to inform you that your accounts receivable tab for your actions is currently overdue and payable and you will forfeit your lives to pay that bill. Payback time for your hubris actions has arrived. You will be taken to the bottom of the open pit strip mine on 55 Cancri e by me, you will be bound and gagged and I am going to bury you alive in the bowels of the mine for your collective crimes against the corporation, legal crimes and moral actions against fellow humanity.” I state.

  That was when the screaming, sobbing, hysteria, panic, vomiting and defecation started. I walked out on them and closed the soundproof door. They could discuss the matter amongst themselves for the next couple of hours while we got into position on 55 Cancri e. I have to tell you that it made me feel great to terminate these criminal rats, cut out this cancer, to give hard working folks another chance to keep Lynas Corp afloat.

  Chapter 24: Directing the Board

  D and Frosty have the Board of Directors in a meeting on the Virtual Reality Suite on our ship. They stand at the mine site on 55 Cancri e watching the activity while D addre
sses them and provides them with a Reality Report on the Mining Company they were supposedly directing. D provides an External Audit view of the accounting anomalies, fraud, theft, breached agreements, the sins and violations and fraud of the Chief Executive Officer, Durward Beardsley Addington IV and his VP second in command Theodore Hennessey III and his Corporate Assistant and their personal violations and transgression of the law. She presents the admission of guilt of each of the executives as recorded in their interrogation. Also the coercion and internal communications from concerned employees attempting to do a proper job when working for corrupt senior management. Good people with sound ethics forced to resign as they refused to participate in and/or cover up the fraud and business anomalies and inconsistencies.

  Frosty addresses the Board of Director Membership and explains to them what they have empowered and their liability both financial and criminal. In addition he points out the extremely damaging bad press that will negatively impact the investors whom will surely yank their investments at the first whiff of such a colossal public relations disaster of this scope. Frosty then moves on to their Proposed Business Continuation Package and what they are going to authorize the company to accomplish. The repatriation of the mine sight, the retirement packages to all of the good employees forced out of the company, the appointment of new senior management from the ranks of existing staff with compensation packages for the duress while under the corrupt senior management group.

  At first there is outrage, bluster and threats, followed by denial and waving of personal credentials, more denial, followed by reluctant acceptance of the accountability and responsibility for allowing such a disaster to have occurred, followed by eager support of the proposed activity plans to save their own personal asses and avoid financial ruin, criminal charges, personal liability, public disgrace and humiliation.

  D and Frosty have all the legal documents in the Proposed Business Continuation Package and can field with ease any of the legal questions that the Board Members have, including accounting techniques to properly reflect the write downs and re-valuation of the mine. The Board is enthusiastic to sign and make all this unpleasantness go away.

  D and Frosty remind and stress that if any of the Board of Directors leaked even a hint of this corporate disaster that all of the evidence as presented in the meeting would be turned over to the authorities with the end result each Board Member becoming insolvent, broke and incarcerated. And not the least the butt of great humiliation for complete family members in the eyes of the social justice of the masses. The commotion will continue for months, even years.

  Chapter 25: Execution

  “So tell me Hennessey” as I glare at the piece of shit across the desk, “What in the world made you renege on the deal with Volar?”

  “Mr. Southam, you must understand that I advocated vigorously adhering to the agreements, but our CEO and Board of Directors would have no part of it. The stockholders are demanding a healthy rate of return on investment and with our recent challenges we have been unable to deliver. Once we got the agreements in place and this nasty Pirate business out of the way the Board literally demanded that we mine the absolute maximum and postpone the agreements with Volar until we had enough REE to ensure that we had a very healthy ROI for our stock holders. Had we not acted in this manner I can assure you we would have been removed from the company and replaced with those who would and could follow the Boards directives.”

  “But that’s not all the story is it Hennessey?”

  “It most certainly is Mr. Southam, I can assure...”

  “Stop”, I hold up my hand. “I’ve heard all the obfuscation bullshit and boilerplate from you that I am going to Hennessey. You are in serious debt with some very bad individuals for gambling, drugs and a certain courtesan that you are very fond of. In addition you have been fabricating certain expenses under a fake maintenance company and submitting them for payment. Then using the fraud payments to keep the cartel off your ass. You’re barely squeezing by and you had to produce a huge profit from this mine so that you could reap an enormous bonus to get you financially solvent again. So you rolled over on your agreement with me and with Volar. Your wife and kids have no idea how much shit you are into and none of you are inclined to curtail your lavish lifestyle.”

  Hennessey is a sobbing mess, gone is his slick polish demeanor replaced by the nasty weasel backstabbing son of a bitch I knew he was from our first meeting.

  “I can explain, it’s not like you think...

  “You’ve made a terrible mistake Hennessey in betraying our agreement with Volar. And you have made an even more serious mistake backstabbing me. Remember I’m the guy who cleaned your Pirate problem up.”

  “I can pay you whatever amount...”

  Whack, I punched the son of a bitch full in the face, broke his nose, snapped off some front teeth, and knocked him over backwards out of his chair. He lay sprawled and bleeding on the floor. I walked around the desk attached retention cuffs to his wrists and legs, picked him up over my shoulder and walked off the ship and down into the mine trench and toss him in the dirt beside the useless Chef Executive Officer, Durward Beardsley Addington IV, and Hennessey’s utter waste of skin poof/lover Corporate Assistant, Avery Ellis. The CEO and poof were bound, gagged and their eyes were so big they looked like they could pop right out of their heads. Both of them had urine, feces and vomit on themselves and they were shuddering and shaking in shock.

  I walk over to the Komatsu bulldozer. It starts up with a roar and plume of black smoke from the chrome exhaust stack. I give the machine a moment to warm up, checking all the gauges to ensure they are in there operating temperature range, select a gear, lower the blade and push several tons of dirt over the three of them. The last I saw of them they were wiggling and flopping around like worms on a hook as the large wave of black dirt flowed over them. I took my time and made sure I was neat and thorough working the dirt down tightly to ensure proper compaction. Back bladed it to smooth it, park the Komatsu and shut it off.

  It’s overcast, dark, cold wind with scudding clouds, unpleasant to be out. The air smells bad, industrial bad, a toxic smell that leaves a bad taste in your mouth and probably yellow stains on HVAC equipment. Beast and I walk over to the cafeteria where the miners were having their noon break. It got very quiet as the twenty odd men realized that something was not quite right. We knew who we were looking for as Volar had provided a video of the three men shooting his creatures. Not for food, or survival, but for the sport of killing something, shot the creatures to ribbons and piles of bloodied meat, then posed for photo ops and selfies.

  “We’ve come for the three bastards that slaughtered the creatures.” I announce.

  There is quiet and no one moves, I hear a voice quietly say “fuck off asshole.”

  “One more chance to stand up and admit your guilt.” I announce again.

  Beast is padding slowly across the cafeteria toward a table of three ambulatory imbeciles, dirty hands and faces, greasy unkempt hair and filthy clothing.

  I close the entrance and exit doors to the cafeteria and lock them, then I trigger the remote in my pocket and a three dimensional hologram begins playing in the center of the cafeteria. The assholes in the hologram are the three pricks at the table. There is a murmur of discontent as the staff watches the slaughter of the creatures. I walk towards the table of three assholes.

  “That would be you three assholes that slaughtered those creatures for no good reason wouldn’t it?”

  The guy on the left end of the table suddenly bolted left along with the guy in the middle. Beast was in the air before they were even fully standing, he smashed the first asshole into the wall, then got the second one by the neck snapped it like a carrot and opened him up from throat to crotch with his rear foot spur. The asshole just blew open and guts, intestines and viscera slopped out onto the table and floor. Beast dropped him in a heap grabbed the first asshole who was just getting up ripped out his throat and disemboweled
him too. The cafeteria was hysterical pandemonium as men thrashed tripped fell over chairs and tables attempting to get out of the way of the brawl. The asshole on the right end of the table came directly at me with foot long hunting knife. He was slow and sloppy, he made a stab move and a slash and I stepped inside the swing radius punched him in the face and broke his knife arm at the elbow. He is screaming as I break his other arm, I reach down and pick up the hunting knife, then I destroy his left knee with a brutal kick, examine the knife closer as the guys screams louder and flops around, I smash his other knee joint to fragments, more screaming, begging me to stop, stop, with my left hand I pull him up in front of me and with the right arm and fist with his hunting knife I swing under hand and drive the blade up under his chin hard enough the point of the knife come out the top of his skull. He spews blood, shudders and shakes in death throes, as he does I carry him over to where the rest of the men are crowded in a corner attempting to get the locked doors open.

  “Is there anyone else here who thinks it’s a great idea to slaughter the creatures of this planet?” I demand in a cold hard voice.

  I move amongst the men so they can get a good look at the dead son of a bitch I am carrying.

  “No, well that’s good, this mine is now closed, you men will use the equipment to fill in the mine up to the original level of the surrounding terrain, ensuring the surface is rock free, back bladed smooth, then you will pack your equipment for transport and you will and your belongings will be picked up for the return trip. Are there any questions? No, then get to fucking work!”

  I carry the dead piece of shit back and throw him on the floor with the other pair of disemboweled dead assholes.

  “A couple of you men carry these piles of shit out and toss them in the mine pit and bury them!”

  Beast and I watch from a distance at the flurry of activity as the men now motivated to a new level of industrial effort work like demented beavers to fill in the outrageous mine open pit scar. While we are out of the path of the mining machinery we are close enough to be seen by the mine workers. Our extremely dangerous judgmental presence keeps motivation high.