Two Days Later. July 13th, 2267. 09:30 Second Floor Board Room
Elias was sitting in the drab room with Kaius and Constantine. To say that he was stunned was a gross understatement. Kaius, for his part, was equally stunned at the findings that were being shared. Whatever positivity Elias had built up in the last two days was quickly, and violently, destroyed.
“You are positive that there is an apartment that our people go to overnight?” Elias’ voice quivered with anger, “How have we not known about this?”
“Positive,” Constantine said, “No one outside of this building has entered it. It seems the check-in scans were fabricated and they were being very tight-lipped about using it.”
“Where is it located?” Elias asked.
“Near the commercial district on Fourteenth Avenue,” Constantine said, “Effectively one block inside the blighted district that this building is located in. It’s about a forty-minute walk from our location.”
“Hold on, who’s entered it?” Kaius interjected.
“As you are keenly aware we have three couples on this mission. Draco and Katherina were arranged before leaving on this mission. Neither Castor nor Ellie was to be married to one another, but the two of them have gotten quite close…” Constantine was then interrupted.
“I received word from the home world that the two are set to be introduced as a pair when they get home from this mission,” Kaius said, “I was surprised by this recent change, now not as much.”
“Yes, they were enjoying private time with one another for some time now,” Constantine said, “Daphne and Viviana also spent an evening there, though I don’t believe anything untoward happened there.”
“Explain,” Elias all but hissed the command out.
“They dressed up all fancy like, for this colony, to attend a night club. The two left the club, looking rather inebriated, and got a cab then returned to the apartment. Using a local term, they were cutting loose. They took no notice of Quintinus following them.”
Kaius stood up and began pacing, “I already know what you’re going to ask, I’ll be ordering an audit of our finances. I’ll do it quietly with someone I can trust.”
“You are sure these are the only six individuals that have gone to this site?” Elias looked over at the stone-faced Constantine.
“They are the only six that we have confirmed to have gone to this apartment, but they likely are the only ones considering the timeframe,” Constantine looking emotionless, “I am not one to intervene in other relationships, but Daphne is not the one that rented this apartment. Katherina’s name is on the lease. I was able to listen to the call from the management company and it was her voice on the line.”
“Daphne may not have come up with the idea, but she controls our purse, she absolutely knew this was happening and wholeheartedly supported it.”
“Yeah, I’m not going to go there with a joke,” Kaius said, “Fucking hell, a third of our team members are behaving like children left alone for the first time in their lives.”
“With respect, I understand the reason why Draco and Katherina wanted to have some alone time with one another,” Constantine said, “That is within reason for a young couple. Asking for permission to use a hotel in the city would’ve been appropriate.”
“Constantine, I agree, the problem is that neither Castor nor Ellie were promised to one another, and their lewd behavior made them force both of their families’ hands. My lovely fiancé ought to be smart enough to not go to a nightclub and get drunk…”
“How do you want to pursue this?”
“I’m going to have a conversation with Daphne. Until you hear from me continue monitoring that building.”
Kaius stopped pacing and then spoke, “I think everyone on this mission is going to need to go through varying levels of reeducation prior to our re-entry into our society back home.”
“Some it will be a mere formality, to others…” Constantine let his sentence hang intentionally.
Elias nodded in agreement. The implication needn’t be expanded upon any further. They were crystal clear to him. Daphne’s behavior, in particular, had grown so outrageous for their societal norms that it was unlikely that even he could prevent retraining from occurring.
Retraining was an uncomfortable action to go through. In extreme cases, the person who you were ceases to be. Whatever obscure and esoteric processes went on in those great machines were beyond Elias’ knowledge and comprehension. But the outcome was keenly aware to him.
While the new persona that was created exemplified their society’s virtuousness, the fact that they had to be re-educated was a black mark on that person. That applied to children and grandchildren of those born in successive generations. Elias now had a very challenging decision to make, go through with the wedding to a retrained Daphne, or dump her and hope he can find another family to accept him in marriage.
“The two of you may go, you both have a lot of work ahead of you. Kaius, would you be so kind as to ask Daphne to come into my office when you pass by her, please?”
Constantine stood up and moved to the door. There was no longer any need to continue discussing the topic at hand. He had shared everything he had and his opinions on the matter. Kaius turned much more slowly and was still taking in the newfound revelations. Nothing made a damn bit of sense to him. But he followed Constantine out of the office.
Elias followed the two and headed straight to his office. He couldn’t look at any of his subordinates. He was just as angry at them as he was with himself for not running a better ship. Their actions were a reflection of his leadership. And at that moment he was found to be lacking.
When Elias got to his office he sat down and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath before blankly looking at the far wall next to the door. He was feeling a mixture of emotions. Disappointment reigned among them. Kaius’ voice could be heard asking Daphne to go to Elias’ office. Then Elias heard it again when Kaius more forcefully told her that her presence in that office was required.
“Such disrespect to authority,” Elias sighed once again.
He had pulled up the security settings for his office on the terminal when Daphne stepped into his office. She was scowling, though not necessarily at him. It was more like she was angry at having been ordered to do something. ‘Great, she’s in a pleasant mood,’ Elias thought as he closed and locked the door behind him.
The mood lights shifted to a light blue hue. That was indicative that electronic devices would no longer function. No recording, audio or visual, could occur in this setting. Daphne’s scowl changed to a combination of confusion and worry. Elias gestured to her to sit down.
“No, not that one, here,” Elias pointed at the chair closest to him as she tried to sit on the far couch.
Daphne complied without argument. Elias stood up and walked around his desk and leaned on it in front of Daphne. She didn’t maintain eye contact with him, whereas Elias leered down at Daphne. Her body language screamed she was guilty of something.
“I know about the apartment near the commercial district. I am going to ask you some questions,” Elias paused, “Understand that failing to answer any of these questions truthfully will result in dire punishments for you.”
Elias then grabbed a device and forcefully yanked Daphne’s left arm. There was little to no resistance given. He held her wrist tightly in his hand. She knew what the device was and Elias hoped that would prevent her normal behavior from coming forth in their debrief.
“Did you know about this apartment?” Elias asked.
Daphne nodded but said nothing.
“I need verbal answers,” Elias commanded.
“I did.”
“Did you set up the lease of the apartment?”
“No.”
“Did you stay at the apartment?”
“Once.”
Elias was struggling to contain his swelling anger, “Did you use operational funds to pay for this apartment.”
“I didn’t.”
“Did you approve purchases that were made up to look legitimate but were in fact for the apartment?”
Daphne in the meekest of tones possible answered, “Yes.”
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Elias’ arm lashed out and slapped her across the face as hard as he could. Tears began streaming down the stunned woman’s face. She didn’t know what to think, the slap was so unexpected. Then came a backhand across the other side of her face.
Daphne leaned down and stared at the floor as she sobbed and held her cheeks. The tears continued to flow as she began hyperventilating. The silence was deafening. For the first time in her life, she felt true fear and had no idea what was coming next.
“I honestly thought you were smarter than this. What in the fuck were you thinking?” Elias said in an accusatory tone, “Did it ever cross your mind that this facility could jeopardize the whole goddamned mission?”
Through sobs, Daphne answered, “We didn’t think anything of it. It was so we could let off some steam. And it was there for the couples to get some private time together.”
“And for new couples to form, irrespective of their families' plans or wishes back home,” Elias said angrily, “Who the hell are you to dictate these plans?”
“That was never my intention.”
“Did you bring back anyone with you after your soiree to the nightclub?”
Daphne gasped as her eyes bulged, a reaction that Elias clearly saw. She shook her head immediately and looked back up at him. The tears on her face were too much and Daphne quickly rubbed them clean.
“No, we just went out to dance and drink. We never even thought or considered bringing back anyone with us.”
Elias picked up his data slate and looked at the responses. She was truthful in all her responses. Except the last one, where it detected a minor deception in it.
“Did your partner in crime want to bring back a man to the apartment?”
Her head sunk again, and a meek head shake could be seen, “Yes.”
The answer appeared to be honest. The anger within Elias had changed to disgust. Such juvenile behavior was beneath them. But he never thought Daphne would behave in such a way.
“Take that damned thing off. Now why should you and the others not be confined to quarters?”
“Nothing illegal happened… Drinking is legal here. And no one was bringing locals back…”
“Alcohol is illegal you idiot,” Elias was pulling no punches, “What made you think you were above my orders? How could you have interpreted the order that enabled you to enjoy those drinks?”
“I didn’t think…” Daphne sniffled as she stared at the floor.
“No, you didn’t think. That’s the problem with you, everything is always about you. You never once thought about the mission, about the team,” Elias walked back to his side of the desk and stared out the window, “Your selfishness is mind-boggling.”
Daphne looked up, “You never once asked why I was delaying the wedding so. Why not?”
Elias turned around and slammed his fist onto his desk, “You never once spoke to me about the wedding in the first place. Not one God damned time. I was always the one that brought up anything about it. Worse than that, I was the only one actively engaged in conversation. It wasn’t until we came here that you came to me, but then that was because you knew you were in trouble and were trying to weasel your way out of punishment.”
“That is not true…”
Elias interrupted her, “Don’t patronize me with your lies. That is the reason you wanted to share a bed with me here. Never once have you confided in me any concerns you had. You’ve always spoken down to me as if I wasn’t on your level. Daphne, the uncomfortable truth that you seem to not understand is that you’ve never been on my level. You are so far below me; I’m reaching down to you and willing to elevate you but look at how you are thanking me for that. Are you aware of the social stigma of those who undergo re-education and training camps?”
“The families are looked down upon.”
“It’s more than that. It’s so much more than that. The societal scorn lasts two to three generations. Two to three you idiot, your great-grandchildren will bear your shame. You aren’t just affecting your children, but so many others. And forget about cushy government or political jobs, those don’t exist anymore. I gave you an out from that and look how you’ve repaid me. With disrespect and sheer contempt.”
“I’m going through that, I’m…”
“Not only are you not that special, but with your actions here the favors my family and I can pull cannot spare you from this fate. I don’t see how anyone on the board could be convinced to save you, and your family, from that fate.”
“I never wanted to be a baby factory,” Daphne sneered as she looked up angrily at Elias.
“You’ve never once mentioned how large a family you wanted. For fucks sake, look at mine, I have four siblings, only one of which was naturally birthed. You think we couldn’t have limited our children to four?”
“Who said I even wanted any?”
“All families must have children to grow our society. It has always been thusly and will always be so.”
“You don’t have to destroy your body to do that,” Daphne looked back down at the floor.
“Such a selfish thing to say,” Elias turned around and sat down in his chair, “And yet, it isn’t until you are on the precipice of destruction that you finally speak out. Why now?”
“My family should have…”
“No one wanted to marry you. My family and I were the only suitors that were willing to tolerate you,” Elias closed his eyes and shook his head, “Why shouldn’t you be restricted to this building?”
“It wasn’t my idea. I may have used the space, but it was not my idea,” Daphne let out a sad sigh, “I hadn’t even thought to do that, I hate this facility, but I didn’t even think of it.”
“Who did?”
“I don’t know,” Daphne looked up in teary eyes, “I really don’t know.”
Elias sighed, “Go to your room, you are confined there until I decide on your punishment. You are not to speak to anyone.”
Daphne stood up a broken woman and nodded. Her outsized personality had been crushed. Elias watched his petite fiancé leave the room. He shook his head, what in the hell was he supposed to do here?
There was so much work to do, but he couldn’t focus on any of it. His world had gone to shit today. What was he to do with Daphne? He didn’t fully believe that she wasn’t more aware of the apartment, but she had responded honestly. It was a mistake to have her take the lie-detecting device off early, but the damage was done.
There in his office, Elias would stew by himself. No meaningful work would be done. Worse yet, no decision on what to do with her either. A desire to rush to a decision was certainly present, but Elias fought against it. Lunch would come and go and there Elias waited in his office. Alone and with his thoughts.
16:45 Elias’ Office
Kaius was staring at the floor. His body language was clear to read. Constantine on the contrary wore the normal stony-faced visage he always did, though this time with the addition of a single emotion: anger. He leaned against a pillar. None of the men wanted to speak, not even Elias.
Elias was leaning back in his chair and staring at the ceiling. He swayed back and forth in his chair. After he sighed loudly, he decided to get this shit show started.
“Daphne wasn’t the instigator, but nor did she attempt to stop it. If anything, she was upset she hadn’t thought of that for a plan first,” Elias said.
“We found the money to fund it. It wasn’t hard since the rent on that unit was only three hundred credits a week,” Kaius said, “Damn near everyone has spent time there too.”
“It was Milo’s idea,” Constantine said, “Originally.”
“Agreed, Renata was originally against it, but she didn’t think Daphne would approve it,” Kaius waved a data slate in his hands.
“Initially she didn’t. It wasn’t until Katherina came to her, expanding on his suggestion of how to pay for it,” Constantine looked up at Elias, “They paid for it by overinflating the expenses. Ten credits here, ten credits there. According to Castor.”
“Did anyone bring a local back?” Elias asked.
The two men shook their heads in unison.
“No more than two people stayed there at a time. It was used to have sex in relative peace usually. No experimenting or casualness encounters occurred, Castor and Ellie were already quite close, probably too close before they consummated their relationship there.”
“Ellie told me she got her family’s blessing to marry Castor before they did the deed,” Kaius said, “The detector device didn’t go off, but didn’t give her full marks for truthfulness on that comment.”
“We’re surrounded by adults acting like blithering idiots,” Elias scoffed.
“More like horny toads,” Constantine said, “What do you want to do?”
Elias shook his head, “I don’t know. On the one hand, I’m happy that it wasn’t Daphne’s idea but on the other, I’m pissed that she is the most upset at not thinking of this. What in the hell?”
“I’ve canceled the lease. It cost five hundred credits to opt out early, but we’re done with it,” Kaius said, “I think we need to implant trackers in people.”
“I’m afraid my team must be exempted from any punishments or confinement orders,” Constantine’s body language made him appear constipated, “We need our work in the colony to continue unabated. But I will ensure such debased behavior is punished in my own way.”
“Dare I ask what that would involve?” Kaius casually said as he sighed.
“An unbearable amount of work, and an immediate cessation of weekend free time,” Constantine’s face looked contorted with anger, “I am going to work them into the ground, so they don’t have any opportunity to think about pulling stunts like this.”
“Is she not going to…”
Elias interrupted his second in command, “You are in charge of the books now. She lost that privilege.”
“Understood. I’ll do a full audit of everything to see if there’s any extra money missing.”
“Please do. Constantine, you have my thanks. Please let me know if you find anything else, I think I’ve kept you long enough.”
Constantine nodded, “This isn’t your fault Tribune.”
“It occurred on my watch. It absolutely is my fault for not policing and nipping the bad behavior in the butt the moment it started. That’s on me.”
“Nevertheless, I’m not sure any of us could have stopped what was happening here,” Constantine nodded then left the room.
Kaius leaned back on the couch and stared at the ceiling. He was just as upset as Elias was, though he was thankful one of his people wasn’t the primary ringleader of it. That ignoble honor fell to Elias as it was Milos’ idea all along.
“How do you want to handle discipline?” Elias asked quietly.
“Fuck if I know,” Kaius spat out, “Good God, what the hell has happened here? Was our discipline really this lacking?”
“I can’t keep everyone couped up here as much as I want to do that it will not work. We’ll be at each other’s throats by the end of the week. Viviana knew about it but said nothing and went there just once. Marion neither knew nor went to the apartment, not unlike the three of us.”
“What a fucking mess. Renata knew about the plan and was against it, but like Vivi, she said nothing publicly about it. Alberic heard rumors but didn’t believe anyone was that audacious to stoop to those levels. I’m not sure I believe Mirabella’s answers regarding it but that’s where we sit.”
“I’m ordering a four-day room confinement for those that are confirmed to have been at the apartment. Lights will be on from 06:00 to 22:00 daily and one meal a day will be served, but it will be nothing more than water, two supplements, and a sandwich,” Elias said, “Following that they will then spend seven days at home confinement with no recreational time. From 06:00 to 22:00 they are expected to work with the exception of forty-five minutes to eat lunch and dinner.”
“Give ‘em thirty minutes for breakfast at least.”
“Very well. Those that knew are confined to this building for a week effective immediately.”
“They are getting off light,” Kaius said, “But I presume you are aware of that.”
“I will make it clear that if their behavior does not change then a full detailing will be made to the re-education board. That should right the ship.”
Kaius then stood up, “At least we’re on schedule.”
“One more thing, Daphne is a clever girl. She may have rented another apartment elsewhere. If she did, then the audit should bring up more missing funds. If you find hard evidence of this, I want to know immediately.”
“Do I want to know what you’ll do if I find that?”
“I may take up Constantine on his offer.”
Kaius looked surprised to hear that. He didn’t think Elias was fully onboard to deliver final sanctions unto Daphne, but he was pleasantly surprised to hear that his superior officer had the willingness to do what was necessary to achieve success in their mission. A quick nod of the head and nothing more was spoken. Kaius headed out of Elias’ office to begin a painful audit. And a deadly one if any shenanigans with their finances were found.