Chapter 25 (Elvis Vaghoon)
A dawn of a new day shone its light into Elvis's office. But even the warmth of the sun did nothing to stir him from his status reports and profit margin readouts. Elvis had little or no time for pleasantries and often saw himself the king of his domain. And the current achievement against the Minbari war cruiser only made him bask in the success of his own divine spirit.
But a small issue slowly crept into his view. Elvis picked up his data pad that had the most recent up-to-date reports about the Minbari prisoner situation. According to the report, the initial count of fourteen prisoners was underestimated. As it stood, security teams had managed to swindle out a total of forty-four Minbari, mostly children hiding in the deepest recesses of the Minbari cruiser. Now they were being held in cells and were currently using the resources of the facility. Something he was paying for.
This had to stop now. Elvis leaned over his desk and activated his intercom. "Security teams, I want all the Minbari prisoners transported to the loading bays immediately."
After he heard the confirmation, Elvis calmly cleaned his desk and made his way to the loading bay. Upon arrival, he looked over the helpless Minbari standing in a chaotic group, ready for his commands. Then one of them confronted him.
"This is an outrage. I demand that you release us at once." This female Minbari seemed more in her prime than the others, perhaps the oldest of the lot. Elvis wasn't sure but he assumed she was the leader.
"What's your name, Minbari?"
She said nothing. Her eyes frowned and her mouth set in anger. Elvis did not like the attitude of this female thing. I'll enjoy watching her suffer.
As he glanced around the bay and saw children and adult Minbari huddled together, Zack favored him with her name. "I believe she's called Delenn."
Delenn glared at Zack before focusing on Elvis. She said, "If you think by threatening us that we will divulge information, then you are sadly mistaken. You have only captured children and a few worker-caste Minbari. They hold no valuable information. I demand you release us at once."
Elvis considered the remark for a moment, trying to hide his impatience even as it began to boil into blunt rage. "Your ship attacked my installation. In my books you are all guilty of attacking us." He thought of a reason to justify his evil plan. "Besides, we are in a state of war. I don't have to do anything you say."
Delenn looked back, eyes blazing. She appeared the most intelligent of the bunch and so far the others hadn't said a word. But Elvis looked at the overhead digital clock and saw that the time was beginning to drag on. He wanted to wrap this up now.
He called to his security officer, "Zack, did you find out any relevant information from these people?"
"Sorry, sir, they were either tight-lipped or they didn't know anything."
"So you are saying they're useless to us."
"You could say that, sir." Zack replied, but Elvis could tell by the look in his eye that he had another agenda.
"Very well." Elvis gestured towards the access locks on the far side of the loading bay. They were used to allow small bots and vessels in and out of the facility without decompressing the entire bay. The fifteen air locks each had two gigantic doors with a depressurizing chamber in the middle that was controlled by their respected control stations in the main loading bay.
"I want all the Minbari into air lock one. Time to take out the trash," Elvis ordered, before turning away.
Then Zack interrupted his momentum. "Mr. Vaghoon. Sir," he paused, hiding his desire. "I would like to request that the female Minbari, Delenn, and her friend come with me to the holding cells. I believe they might hold more information and…"
Elvis glared at Zack. He knew that desiring look anywhere. "And what, Zack?"
Zack appeared anxious, but he spoke up anyway. "I would like to…"
Elvis spared him the embarrassment. He knew all too well the desire he had for the two female Minbari and he couldn't blame him. He felt a smile grow on his face and responded in kind. "You would like to interrogate them personally. Okay, I see no harm in this; I leave those two in your care." He turned towards the stunned Minbari, "In-fact, I think I will oversee the execution of the rest…Keys…"
As Elvis moved, crews nudged the frightened Minbari into the gigantic airlock chamber. Children stared around in all directions, not knowing their fate and some of the senior Minbari watched with panicked eyes, belying their cold expressions.
Delenn rushed forward. "Please do not execute the women and children! You can do what you want with me, please. I'm begging you!"
Elvis turned and faced her. He felt nothing for the Minbari filth and began to regret his decision to hand her over to Zack. But she was dragged away before he could change his mind.
The Minbari were tossed into the grimy metallic room with flashing amber lights and reinforced steel doors that slowly dripped with condensation. The walls, floor, ceiling were made completely out of metal and some of the children fell into the tracks that lined the entire room. With a wave of his hand, crews activated the huge doors and they closed shut, the rumbling from the motors echoed painfully.
The deafening din caused the Minbari great pain and they squeezed together with hands on ears. As Elvis entered the small control room, he stared at the cowering prisoners through the dirty reinforced window.
Once the inner door slammed shut, the control panel went green. He pulled out a small metallic key and inserted it into the locking mechanism. The Minbari could do nothing but stare. Some cried in fear, as they knew what was coming, but Elvis felt no compassion for them. He knew he was doing everybody a favor.
With the first turn of the key, the entire chamber flashed red. A warning. Such a drama for something so small, he thought. Then someone interrupted his pleasure time.
"Sir, is this completely necessary? You're going to space women and children."
Elvis turned and discovered Garibaldi standing there with his weapon in his hand. Luckily he had it pointed to the floor and seemed in control of his emotions.
"You know what this race has done, Garibaldi. They wouldn't hesitate to do the same to us."
"I know, but we are more civilized than that. We should demonstrate our resolve and not act like cowards. You've made your point."
"You are overstepping your mark, Garibaldi. These people arrived at this facility with malicious intent. I will show no mercy."
He turned the key to its final locking point and the outer door slowly opened, releasing a burst of air that catapulted the inhabitants towards the outer door, smashing skulls and breaking bodies until the gap was large enough to allow the mutilated corpses into the vastness of space. He grinned. "Garbage disposal is my specialty."
Garibaldi looked appalled, but Elvis didn't care. Elvis left the launch bay twirling the key in his hand and whistling an old tune, ignoring the stunned looks and sick glares. After all, this was his place and if needed, he could sack everyone and get a new batch of crew. There's always a long list of eager workers.
With satisfaction feeding his stomach like a three-course meal, Elvis returned to his computer terminal and began the search through the female employee database. The fresh new recruits looked appealing and it didn't take long for him to find his new victim. He leaned forward on his desk and pressed his intercom.