The Tycoon of Escher
Chapter 1
Down in the smoggy factory domes of House Escher on the planet Necromunda, the work never ended. With a chug chug chug the production lines tirelessly churned out weapons and ammunition for the imperial guard and imperial navy personnel. Lasguns, naval shotguns, bolt guns, auto guns, pistols, flamers, heavy stubbers, melta guns, plasma guns, frag grenades and countless other small arms were built at an astonishing rate to meet demands.
It was very hard to make a good profit with the highly competitive pricing wars on Necromunda. Every other manufacturing house on the planet tried desperately to obtain every single contract, cutting costs and wages to the breaking point just to remain competitive.
Every year the wages and working conditions decreased as every year the cost of living increased. Every year more and more were forced into the criminal gangs of the under hives just to scrape out a living from this exhausted hive world. Every year millions went under in absolute poverty.
It was hard to get rich, but if you were ruthless enough, lucky enough and had wealthy enough parents then it was possible to claw your way even higher to get hold of some real wealth.
Regina Dior of house Escher was such a person, someone with upper middle class parents (both medical doctors), the profound good fortune to make climbing higher even possible, and someone who combined both the cold blooded ruthlessness, nastiness, amorality and intelligence needed to claw her way up to becoming a billionaire tycoon.
Regina gazed out the window of the overseer's bedroom and office of her mighty factory at the factory floor below. She watched everything like a hawk, calculating, looking for anything that would make her more money.
The factory was filled with grossly underpaid house Escher women, who were currently all doing unpaid overtime under threat of being fired. These women worked feverishly fast, working themselves to an early grave with their sheer speed, all to avoid losing the pitiful wage that Regina paid them.
Regina liked to fire people without warning, just to keep everyone on their toes. She forced her worker to work so hard and fast that it caused them sickness and injury, and then simply replace them with new desperate people with undamaged bodies that Regina could ruin for her own gain.
Regina's tactics resulted in the afflicted workers becoming unemployable after working for her, ultimately causing them to rely on relatives for survival or to starve, but it also resulted in a lot of extra profits for Regina Dior so she didn't care less about the fates of these workers. There was no room for humanity on the road to success, one could only climb up by dragging others down.
"Regina darling, bed is getting cold without you my love," said the seductive voice of Regina's latest concubine Sally Ruth'sgal.
Regina shuddered with desire and turned her head to look at the naked red headed bombshell in her luxurious bed. The busty naked woman lay invitingly on top of the sheets with her legs spread.
Like many of the women in house Escher, Regina Dior was a lesbian. House Escher gave birth to so few men that heterosexual women had a truly rotten time. The population instead used the few males as sperm donors for reproductive purposes and relied on their fellow women for their sexual needs. Generations of natural selection had then favoured lesbians and bisexuals who formed romantic couples, letting the double income of the couple's give their children a survival advantage over the straight women who didn't. Generations later the female population of house Escher were almost all lesbians or bisexuals.
Regina gazed at the inviting sight of Sally's wet vagina and was so terribly tempted to stop gazing at the workers and enjoy her expensive high quality concubine.
Regina gave in to temptation and slipped out of her business pantsuit before crawling onto the bed in her underwear. Regina instantly buried her face between Sally's legs and messily ate out the much younger woman.
Regina was grey haired and ancient, it had taken many many decades to claw her way to wealth and power. She was in fact 150 years old and kept alive and healthy by very expensive rejuvenation cycles with the best imperial medicine money could buy.
The cosmetic surgeons had done a wonderful job in getting rid of the uglier side effects of old age, keeping her attractive enough to keep the pussies of her string of concubines nice and wet.
Regina was far too sensible to ever marry her lovers. She had no intention of sharing so much as a single credit of her wealth with these women when she inevitably dumped them for someone younger and prettier, and that was always easier if you didn't have a divorce to deal with.
Every 5 years or so Regina changed concubines, keeping her bed continually occupied with women under 25, all of them the sexiest women money could buy. Sally was only 19 so still have a few years to go before she was replaced.
Sally moaned passionately as Regina sucked on her juicy wet young pussy, exciting her wonderfully. Sally had been a bikini model before Regina's agents head hunted her as a professional concubine, and she wasn't cheap to keep like this. It cost ten thousand credits a day to keep hiring Sally as Regina's exclusive full time prostitute, but she sure was worth it!
Many orgasms later Regina lay in bed with Sally passed out beside her. Regina didn't sleep much, her mind was far too active to be still for long.
Regina got up, still naked, and sat down in her luxury leather chair at her work desk. She turned on her desktop cogitator and checked to see that the highly coded messages about certain illegal deliveries had been received. Regina sent no replies electronically, she didn't like electronic paper trails that led back to her.
What the messages said through their code was that Regina's criminal associates had received another shipment of stolen property for Regina's factories to use.
The use of stolen property was the secret to Regina's ability to make a profit while still producing weapons and ammunition cheap enough to get contracts over her competitors. Whenever someone in House Escher robbed their neighbours and needed to sell the stolen property no questions asked, Regina's associates would buy it no questions paying a pittance that the thieves still took (because they stole the stuff for free in the first place). The stolen property was then melted down in the factory smelters, leaving no trace of it and providing all the raw materials needed for weapons production.
A constant stream of stolen metal flowed into Regina's factory from all over House Escher territory, making a profit at the expense of her entire House.
And not only from Escher territories either. Regina was perfectly happy to trade with the criminal elements of the under hive, the scavies, the outlaws, the caravan raiders out in the ash wastes and even with criminal elements in other Necromundan houses. All that she cared about was cheap metal, no matter how illegally obtained.
Regina could certainly make her business viable using more legal methods, but to maintain the life of luxury she was accustomed to she needed the extra profits that came from crime.
Electricity was likewise something that Regina did not like to pay full price for if she could help it. Hive Primus on Necromunda had massive fusion generators that provided abundant terawatts of affordable base load electrical power, but why settle for affordable when you can get it for free?
Regina owned putrid slum apartments all over the cheapest and nastiest areas of House Escher territory, and charged as much rent as she could get away with. Every power box in every single crappy shit hole apartment had been secretly rewired so that about 20-30 percent of the power flowing through them was actually directed back to Regina's factories. Regina of course made the tenants pay for every single watt of this stolen power in their utilities bills, getting large amounts of power completely for free.
Regina of course bought some power the legal way, the local government departments were not totally stupid and would notice if a massive factory was not buying any electricity at all. Regina simply bought only just enough legal electricity to avoid criminal investigations.
Regina had risen to wealth by knowing who it was safe to rip off and knowing what she could actually get away with. While some fools illegally stole power directly from the powerful hive power utility companies, this was a suicidal thing to do in the long run. Powerful players like the utilities responded to theft against them with deadly force. It was much safer to prey on the poor who could not hit back.
By working employees to an early grave with gruesomely low wages, buying stolen materials for a tiny fraction of the cost they would legally be worth, and getting a large amount of power for free, Regina had ensured that she could undercut the competition while still make a nice amount of profit for herself.
Regina sat naked at her desk and emailed the departmento munitorum about renewing the contract to supply them lasguns and lasgun power packs for the imperial guard. She also emailed them about a shipment of flamers, and various other military contracts.
The main source of wealth on Necromunda came from selling weapons and ammunition to the imperial guard and other imperial military forces. The departmento munitorum had the limitless wealth of taxes from a million worlds and this wealth flooded into Necromunda daily to buy the weapons needed to continue the never ending wars of the 41st millennium.
Regina's fortune was built on a combination of the manufacture of these military supplies and to a lesser extent on real estate. Her biggest source of wealth was this massive factory dome she lived in. She owned the entire dome and had filled it with a massive factory that manufactured goods around the clock.
Regina finished her correspondence and went back to bed with her yummy concubine.
***...
Out in the ash wastes of Necromunda, a predatory cannibal tribe of outlaw waste raiders stood watch as starving captives combed through the ash with crude metal detectors. The tribe needed metal to trade with the mysterious House Escher benefactor who alone was willing to trade with these wanted outlaws.
The benefactor gave them water, food and weapons in exchange for exorbitant amounts of metal, and without her they would all be dead years ago.
The surface of Necromunda was completely covered by 15 thousand years worth of industrial ash from billions of factory chimneys, a thick layer of sooty grey filth many miles in depth. It was a desert of soft ash dunes as far as the eye could see, a desert that got higher by the day as ever more ash was belched out of chimneys.
Buried under this ash was 15 thousand years worth of lost bits of metal. It was down there somewhere, but very difficult to find.
The planet Necromunda had run out of resources. The natural mineral deposits were all completely exhausted, the fossil fuels were gone, everything was dug up and used long ago.
The rich could afford to import resources from other planets of course, but on a world with such cut throat price competition the factories simply could not afford the costs of imported metals.
Instead the planet turned to cannibalising itself to meet demands for more metal. Every landfill, every rust pile, every bit of junk from the past was being ruthlessly scavenged to meet demand. Even the buildings themselves were starting to fall victim to the demands for metal and life was getting harder by the day.
The tribe survived by kidnapping people and forcing them to look for metal without feeding them. When they died of starvation the tribe ate what little meat remained and captured new people to replace them.
Formerly the tribe had raided the highways to steal trucks and vehicles to survive, but the planetary defence force had brutally retaliated, wiping out most of the tribe and putting a price on the heads of the survivors.
Fortunately their benefactor had been willing to trade with them, sending out a gang of house Escher representatives to do business with them.
With times so tough in the hives, a never ending stream of desperate people were wandering around the ash wastes to prospect for metal. The tribe then stole whatever metal these people found and kidnapped them to be worked to death combing through the ash for metal.
So far the starving wretches had found a bucket full of old bullets and shotgun pellets, a few bullet casings and some random bits and pieces of old metal such as lost zipper pull tabs. It was no where near enough, not even 1 percent of what they needed just to buy the water they needed to survive.
The tribesmen wore thick coats stolen from their victims, gas masks, helmets, gloves and boots. Under the coats they wore stolen flak armour and they carried backpacks full of supplies. Their benefactor had sold Necromunda pattern lasguns to them at exorbitant prices and power packs at even more exorbitant prices.
On their helmets were fastened unused lasgun power packs, letting the inbuilt solar panels recharge them sluggishly in the dim gloom that penetrated the polluted atmosphere. Ammunition was far too expensive for these men, that's why they used lasguns over cheaper weapons. Lasguns slowly regained ammunition for free.
The tribe directed their slaves across the endless expanse, desperate for each tiny fragment of metal found. They needed to get no less than a metric ton of metal just to get the water the tribe needed to survive.
It was not going well. So the tribe killed the slaves early, drained their blood and used a crude portable distillation unit to extract purified water from the blood. It required the entire charge from a precious full lasgun power pack, but it would keep them all alive for another 3 days before needing more water.
The tribe ate the bodies, using a low power setting on a lasgun to cook the meat with a few shots and then went off to rob and enslave more prospectors.
***...
Down in the lawless frontier of the under hives, a band of outlaw gangers from house Escher returned from butchering the inhabitants of a fungus farm. The gang had taken every last scrap of metal the farm had contained, as well as everything else of value.
The criminal associates of Regina Dior smiled as the outlaw gang approached them laden with loot.
Regina's associates had permanent dealings with every outlaw gang they could find, deliberately trading only with those that no one else would do business with. The lack of competition meant that they could charge ludicrous prices and the desperate outlaws would pay, they needed these unscrupulous merchants just to survive.
Regina's associates took everything the outlaws sold, but paid them less than half of what it was worth. This forced the outlaws to murder greater numbers of people but Regina's associates didn't care. All that mattered was getting cheaper materials for Regina's factory, the cost in lives and public order were irrelevant.
***...
Regina Dior woke blissfully to the soft kisses of Sally. Sally then went down under the sheets and gave Regina's pussy a wonderful lick.
Regina sighed in contentment as the gorgeous concubine ate her out. It felt so wonderful.
Regina came sleepily in orgasm and stretched out on the bed in complete relaxation. Sally's head emerged from under the sheets and passionately kissed Regina, Sally's mouth smelled like pussy.
After enjoying the pleasures of the flesh for a while, Regina finally got out of bed and into the shower with Sally for yet more pleasures of the flesh as well as the usual hygiene reasons for having a shower. A lot of people died each day so that Regina could enjoy her fleshy pleasures, so much ruin just so that one person could have a marvellous time.
After a fun time in the shower with her concubine, Regina had her personal chef make her a cooked breakfast and then ate naked at the table with the equally naked Sally in the dining room next to the bedroom office. After yet more pleasure with Sally, Regina was finally dressed and ready for work. Sally had an appointment booked to get some beauty treatments later this morning so she gave Regina a big kiss goodbye and left wearing the scanty attire she always wore when wearing clothes at all.
Regina smiled happily and went to inspect her factory floor.
The factory floor was deafeningly loud as manually operated machinery worked on metal to make weapons and ammunition. It was desperately understaffed, with existing staff having to work twice as hard for no extra pay. Unemployment was so high that these people were desperate enough to put up with anything just to avoid being fired.
Regina proved this point by deliberately squeezing the breasts of random employees to see if they reacted, determined to fire any who objected. The factory women knew better than to resist and simply tolerated the workplace sexual assault. Regina smiled and stopped molesting the staff.
Regina inspected the women as they worked, looking for any reason to fire someone and replace them with a younger fitter worker. Regina liked to hire only young and pretty workers if possible and freely fired any who were no longer pretty enough. Regina only hired women who slept with her during the job interview and she liked to sleep with the prettiest ones periodically at times like now when her concubine was away.
Regina felt a flush of sexual desire and looked at the women in the factory, trying to decide which one she would sleep with. The women all knew how this works and they lasted a lot longer if Regina slept with them regularly.
Regina noticed a gorgeous young blonde woman hard at work operating a metal press by pushing a button repeatedly, she was the most beautiful in sight so she would be the one.
Regina came up behind the young lovely and kissed her neck sensuously. The woman tensed and gasped softly, but still kept operating the press. Regina nibbled on the woman's ear and she moaned softly, deliberately making excited noises to keep from being fired.
Regina decided that the woman only needed one hand free to operate the press and could use the other hand to pleasure Regina.
Regina used an alcohol wipe to clean and sterilise the blondie's free hand and then slid the hand down the front of her pants and into her panties. The woman understood what Regina expected her to do and her fingertips immediately started stroking Regina's pussy even as the woman kept working.
Regina moaned and started undressing the blonde woman, unbuttoning the woman's top and unhooking her bra to expose the young woman's breasts. The woman moaned as Regina started sucking her nipple.
Regina played with the poor factory worker until Regina had an orgasm. The blonde woman had not even slowed down in her work and had not had any orgasm of her own. Regina didn't bother redressing the woman, and the woman could not spare even a moment to stop pushing the button and get dressed, so she simply sat with her top unbuttoned and bra hanging loose, boobs on display until her next break in a few hours time.
Regina liked that the woman could not return her modesty, Regina was a colossal pervert who didn't care less about other people's discomfort. Regina might be back to play with the blondie later so it was more convenient if she was already undressed.
Not for the first time Regina considered banning employees from wearing anything more than bras panties and shoes to work. It was only the fact that they were in a dangerous workplace that she even let them wear other clothes.
Regina decided to at least think about banning unnecessary clothing at work. It would look great and give Regina pleasure, also it would make the workers bodies more accessible to play with.
Regina inspected the quality of the workmanship on the products, she personally didn't care less if it was good or not, but it had to be acceptable to the departmento munitorum customers or Regina would lose the contract.
Regina immediately noticed quality issues with the metal items blondie had been pressing when Regina was distracting her. Regina then fired blondie on the spot, but let blondie spend the next few hours in bed with Regina to "change her mind". Regina let blondie pleasure her as a casual worker replaced her pushing the button, and then fired blondie anyway without even giving her some severance pay.
Blondie had been fun in bed, but not fun enough to make Regina reconsider firing her. Only the really good lays got second chances with Regina.
***...
Regina was really annoyed a few days later when both the imperial guard and the imperial navy opened a recruiting centre right next door to Regina's factory!
This was a disaster!
The factory was now completely empty of workers. Thanks to Regina only hiring pretty young healthy women, every worker in her factory was eligible to join the high paying imperial navy and had all enlisted!
The imperium was apparently massively stepping up recruitment in the surrounding sectors to raise forces to combat some xenos threat called "hive fleet leviathan", and the poverty stricken hivers were flocking to enlist in the higher paying military roles.
No one was even interested in applying to work at Regina's horrible factory, the only applicants were all people already rejected by the military recruiting centres for being too old or too unhealthy.
Regina had a massive contract, in fact MANY massive contracts for weapons and ammunition that needed to be completed by the end of the day, so Regina had no choice but to hire these second rate workers. She then had to hire even more of them because they were much slower than the healthy young ones had been.
Regina herself and her handful of loyal management staff who had not wanted to enlist all had to themselves work on the factory floor training the new workers. Regina herself had to do actual work on the production line herself just to make the deadline for the contracts.
***...
"Where are the fucking new metal shipments!" Regina screamed at her criminal associates a few days later.
"Sorry boss, but no one is stealing much anymore. All the young hivers who usually commit the thefts are now mostly enlisted and gone, and those that stayed behind have enlisted relatives sending home pay checks. Crime is at an all time low." one of the gang women said apologetically.
"What about the ash wastes and the under hive?" Regina pressed.
"The ash wastes can't get enough prospectors now and we had to drop the prices on water just to keep them alive as an asset. Barely getting any metal at all from the ash wastes now compared to before. The under hives are still producing metal but they have never been enough to meet all needs alone. The metal mostly came from the local thieves," the gangster explained.
"Fuck! What the fuck are we going to do about this?" Regina shouted.
"Buy metal legally?" The gangster suggested.
"That would cost a fortune! I didn't become a billionaire just to then drop back down to a mere multi millionaire! I need to make this as profitable as possible. I'm already paying far too much hiring far too many of these useless ugly workers." Regina exclaimed.
The gangster couldn't think of anything and Regina stormed off. She needed to think of something, some way of making this profitable like it had been in the past.
Regina stormed into her luxury office/bedroom, startling Sally awake from a nap with her angry entry. Regina sat down in her office chair and tried to think.
Sally was wearing bright red bra and panty lingerie and she stretched sensuously on the bed. Sally then provocatively crawled around on the bed on all fours.
Regina took off her pants and panties, pointed at Sally and then pointed at her own pussy. Sally obediently crawled under the desk and Regina spread her legs and braced her feet on the table as Sally began eating her out.
The oral sex helped calm Regina down and she thought about the situation as Sally did the job she was paid for.
Regina needed metal, labor and power to make weapons, and needed additional chemicals to make ammunition. The ammunition precursor chemicals were easily obtained on the highly chemically polluted planet Necromunda but the other three things were more problematic.
Power of course was already mostly stolen for free from tenants and could not be easily reduced even more in cost without someone getting wise. Labor was of course abundant but no longer as profitable as the young and strong were being enlisted en mass. And now the formerly very cheap metal was becoming a lot more expensive unless a new illegal source was found.
One of these three things had to go down in cost for Regina to enjoy the profits she was accustomed to, but how?