Southwest Shipping - Part 5

[ElJefe]

No fictional characters were harmed in the production of this installment. Sadly, none of them got laid, either. Don't expect that to last.


Southwest Shipping

"Have a seat, Ms. Mortellaro. How may I help you?"

For a younger Hispanic female, the law office of Carmen Vasquez, Esq., was definitely old school in style. Lots of leather and books, and an expansive desk with few mementos. One wall held a handful of certificates and diplomas, along with what Natalie thought must have been a portrait of some professional group that Carmen must have belonged to.

"So, I'm an investor and one of the principals in a new start-up in the slaving industry. I was recommended to you by one of the other principals, Will Stoudemire."

"Oh, how's Will doing these days? Good man for a slaving startup."

"He's doing well. Will and I were discussing the legal aspects of our new business, since I'm not from Texas and not as well versed in local law as he is, and he told me about something called a Texas FINO arrangement. So, I stumped him, I asked him if a person could enter into a FINO with a legal person, like a corporation, and he said he had never heard of such a thing."

"Nor have I, and I've set up several of them. May I ask what piqued your interest in such an unusual arrangement?"

"This is confidential..."

"Of course."

"We're researching an innovation in the industry that is key to our business model, and we've been using real slaves to test it. But our development team needs feedback from the slaves. That's been...awkward. The slaves are afraid to say anything that will get them in trouble, and the dev team generally disregards their input as coming from, well, forgive me, they see them as brainless bimbos with nothing to add."

"I don't mean to tell you your business, but what are the backgrounds of these slaves? I mean, well-educated professional people can be enslaved, too, even if that's not as common as enslavement for those with less social-economic development."

"I hadn't looked into that," Natalie confessed. "I guess you think that the team would come around if they knew so-and-so had once been a research chemist who had gone bankrupt?"

"That's the idea."

"Well, I had another idea. The other day, Will was showing me our prototype, and he convinced me to, uh, 'use' it. And I thought we were the only two in the building, so I stripped down like a slave to try it out. You know, for more fidelity."

Carmen raised an eyebrow. "You were playing slave?"

"Not exactly playing, but I just wanted to see how the equipment would work on a real slave. And it turned out that I spent, oh, a half-hour, maybe more in that role. I mean, I was trapped, I couldn't just stop 'playing slave', as you put it."

"I see."

"So, afterward, we were talking, and he explained to me that what I did could be taken as evidence of self-enslavement, so I asked him what a person could do to protect from accidentally enslaving themselves, and that's when we started talking about FINOs."

"Oh, I think I understand now," said the curvy woman behind the desk. "See, FINOs are for couples where one of the partners is sexually submissive, and enjoys being treated like a slave. A FINO allows them to run around in public naked, leashed, and collared without running afoul of the Beetlejuice rule."

"The Beetlejuice rule?"

"It comes from an old movie," Carmen explained. "There was this demon, or ghost-thing named Beetlejuice who preyed on the recently dead. He'd promise you the moon, but he was actually a sort of used-car salesman in the afterlife, just after the equivalent of hookers and blow and not really caring what happened to his 'clients'. Anyway, if you said his name, Beetlejuice, three times, he'd appear and try to cut you a deal. And you never wanted one of his deals."

She continued. "It's not a statute, it's just case law that's sprung up around the 34th Amendment. And it's not like if you walk down the sidewalk naked in a collar and say, 'I'm a slave' three times that you automatically become one, but it's not a given that a court wouldn't rule that you had, indeed, enslaved yourself. And a FINO protects you against that. You can run around naked, 'Yes, Master' this and, 'No, Master' that, even be given to someone for sex or labor, and if someone tries to enslave you, oops, you're already in a FINO and can't have two owners."

Natalie replied with new understanding. "Ah, and that brings me back to my original question. It occurred to me that the team would take feed back from one of the partners much more seriously than they did that of an ordinary slave, so I could...use our innovation a few more times, and help develop it. But I don't want to risk enslavement to do it, and..."

"Oh, I get it. You want to be in a FINO with your startup. Well, let's think this through. I tell people that a FINO is an indenture wrapped up in the protective blanket of a personal services contract. So, let's say your company is unsuccessful. If you were a slave, you would just be auctioned off with all of their other assets. But if you were in a FINO to provide services, your obligation would end when the company dissolves."

"I'm trying to see a downside."

"Well, the obvious one is that you don't have choice according to the terms of your contract. Let's say you are obligated to provide slave services on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And next Monday rolls around, and there's really no good reason for you to play slave. But some corporate officer orders you to strip and collar, you have no choice even though it's a waste of your time. If you don't, you're in breach of contract, and the penalty is usually an extension of the contract or even a real term of indenture."

"So, be careful what I sign."

"Absolutely. And you'll need to find a licensed slave psychiatrist to evaluate you and be your monitor for the duration of the contract. See, the law is written to protect spouses, women mostly, from entering into a FINO as a condition of marriage. You had men who promised to be life partners, then indentured their victims, then pimped them out. It was just an evasion of the pimping and pandering laws by abusing the FINO contract until the legislature caught up with them and changed the law."

"I'm guessing that this psychiatrist couldn't be an employee of my company."

"The FINO law establishes that they must represent the provider's interests and not the recipient's so that would take care of that. What you are proposing is a very novel arrangement. I would think it would take a few hours of prep work on my part before I could be comfortable with moving forward with such an arrangement, and there are no guarantees that I wouldn't find a fatal flaw with the idea."

Natalie licked her lips. It was a big step, but it might really move things forward. "Would I arrange your retainer with your secretary?"

————————————————————

"Good morning, Ms. Midlothian."

The image on Natalie's monitor was the same as the last time she contacted the investor, a home office with a window behind the desk displaying a view of the ocean that would make a real estate agent weep.

"Please, I told you last time, you can call me Minerva. And it's good to see you!"

A small dog barked, unseen in Natalie's monitor. What was the damn thing's name? Something Japanese.

"I see you have your little furball with you."

"Kaiju! What is it? You need Mommy?" Minerva lifted the little bundle of energy to her lap, which seemed content that the human was paying attention to it. "That's a good boy. That's a good boy!" She turned to face the screen. "So, what did the other shareholders have to say?"

"I think we're all happy to have you onboard, but there was a concern about the size of the investment."

Minerva frowned. "That's ridiculous! I can have the amount wired to you this afternoon, you can verify it's all there yourself."

"No, no, that's not the problem at all." Does she even know how this all works?, she wondered. "No, it's that you'd have a much bigger stake than the other investors, and they're concerned about giving up control to someone who doesn't have that much experience as a CEO." As in, no experience.

"I don't see why I shouldn't have control in proportion to my investment. Are you suggesting that my voting rights be diluted or something?"

"No, it's just that they'd be much more confident if you only had three major shares."

"But then we'll still need to raise more capital in order to launch. That's stupid, you're turning down money."

"Honestly, I think we'll be able to find more investors before we run out of development money, especially with another five point four million. And we can always reconsider if business conditions warrant."

Minerva paused, thinking for a moment, as she stroked the little terrier in her lap. "I'll still be able to buy out other investors, won't I?"

"Well, if they want to sell, yes. I mean, as the saying goes, a thing is worth what you're willing to pay for it. But most of the other investors are adamant in that they don't want to sell until we at least get to a go-no go decision."

"Hmm." Minerva sat back in her chair, her dark curls cascading over her shoulders. "I need to think about it. Can I give you an answer sometime tomorrow?"

"Sure. Just message me. And to be clear, we're offering 45 percent, commensurate voting rights, for five point four. I'll send you the details."

"All right. I'll let you know. Ciao!"

Natalie had been reading the other woman's face, but the last thing she recalled before Minerva's frame on the screen collapsed was how achingly beautiful was the sight of the breakers in the window behind her. Maybe I'll retire in Malibu someday.

Later that day, Carmen got back to her. Her professional opinion was that entering into a FINO with a corporation was "unusual, but workable". She had a list of slave psychiatrists who might be approached to be the monitor for such an arrangement, and recommended the name at the top of the list, one Dr. Barbara Lee. If Natalie wanted to proceed, she could start drawing up an agreement now, or she could wait until discussing it with the company.

Natalie told her to get started, the sooner the better.

————————————————————

Natalie sat opposite Will, her iced coffee on a folded napkin on his desk. They'd just returned from a tour of the warehouse floor, where Will had explained why they had moved the cages from one configuration to another. Natalie was impressed at the cages' construction, reminding her of portable jail cells. She'd asked why they had both bars and a layer of chain-link fencing, and he'd informed her that the bars provided strength and that the chain link prevented slaves from reaching through the bars.

"So, have you heard from little Miss California yet?" He seemed at ease, pleased with his team's progress.

"Got a message back just yesterday. Once I waded past all the irrelevant stuff, there was a link to a signed agreement and another link to an account with the money."

"And you've vetted her, right?"

"Trust fund baby like we thought. Everything checks out, though, the feds won't come after us. Or her. Daddy was that Marcus Midlothian, she was on the celebrity sites for a while before they moved on to the next big thing."

"Any chance she inherited her daddy's ability with money?"

"Not from what she sent me yesterday. Lots of rookie questions, dumb rookie questions at that. It's like she's playing mogul using a bad movie script as a guide."

Will took a sip from his coffee. "Maybe she isn't the right investor for us."

"The others don't mind. And I can pass up one point eight mil, passing up five point four is something else, though."

"Reckon you're right."

"Say, Will, I wanted to mention something else."

"What have you got?"

"So, hear me out on this." She paused nervously, hoping he wouldn't oppose her. "I noticed the feedback session from the slaves the other day didn't go so well. And I was thinking, it would probably go better if we had at least one guinea pig that the team took a little more seriously. And I thought back to when you convinced me to take a ride in the ULD, and the only reason I didn't speak up was because I didn't want the slaves to know that I'd been next to them on that one trip."

"How do you know they don't know?"

"I asked the one that I took to the back room at Worldwide if she recognized me, and she said she didn't."

"And you believed her?"

"I...I think so. Anyway, remember when I asked you if someone could enter a FINO with a corporation? I asked the same thing to Carmen Vasquez, you know that lawyer..."

"Oh, I know Carmen pretty well. Continue."

"Well, she said it could be done. So, I was thinking..."

"Wait." He gestured for her to stop. "I think I know...no, on second thought, let me hear it."

"You see, if I was in a FINO with Southwest Shipping as my 'owner', I could be a test subject when you guys fly, which is soon, right? And I wouldn't be at risk for accidental enslavement. I mean, none of us want that."

Will put his fingertips to his temples. "Wait. Wait. Just...wait. So, you want to enter into a FINO, not with a person, but with the company...a company that you're part owner in...just so you can strip down to your birthday suit, put on a collar, and go for an airplane ride?"

She grinned. "Yeah, I know it does sound kind of crazy. But it wouldn't be for just one airplane ride. I could participate in several of the flight tests, and then when I put my clothes back on, the team would probably take what I have to say a lot more seriously than it would from those other...women out there."

He stared at her, reached for his coffee, sat it back down and erupted in laughter. "Oh, my. Oh, my, my, my. That's the best one I've heard in a while, and it isn't even April Fools. Where do you come up with this stuff?"

"I'm serious!"

He stared at her again, then softened. "Yeah, I expect that you are."

"And...?"

"I'm not sure you understand just what you're contemplating. For example, let's say we fly you to Pocono. There's nothing to prevent, say, Dan from meeting you when you got off the plane, bending you over and fucking you whether you wanted that or not, and then stuffing you in a kennel for the night."

"I'm sure we could put appropriate controls on that..."

"No, you really don't understand. When you're in slave mode, you're not in charge any more. You're nobody special. Anyone...I've got an idea."

"What?"

He played with his coffee cup, thinking about something. "Before you enter into a FINO, you need to be graded. You've never been graded, have you, little Yankee girl?"

"Well...of course not."

He grinned. "I think I can disabuse you of this notion. Block out a few days from your schedule, 'cause it'll probably take you a few days to recover, and I'll take you over to HCI and get you graded. Then if you're still in, I'll give it some thought. But I'm pretty sure that'll be all she wrote. Especially when you find yourself prancing around in your birthday suit in front of all the horny teenagers there."

A woman simply didn't get to Natalie's age without enduring plenty of unwanted attention. What did he think she was, a blushing virgin? And after he'd had her every which way but lose after that one dinner date? "Don't most Texas women do that right when they turn 18? I'm pretty sure if some blond cheerleader type can deal with it, I can handle it."

He smiled. "All right, you're on. Let's see if you can handle a collar as well as a profit and loss statement. Expect to get a few forms in your inbox."

————————————————————

Natalie called Dr. Lee's office and made an appointment, and the forms Will had promised arrived in her inbox the next day. There was something about a "Premiere Grading Package" that she saw Will had expensed to the company (just as she had Ms. Vasquez's fee), instructions for grading, and a Power of Attorney form. That perplexed her until she understood that she would technically be HCI's property for the duration of the grading, and that she needed a free person to "manage her affairs" for those few hours, that person being Will. She looked over the document, saw that it gave Will the power to sell her at auction, and decided to talk to him about it before signing.

There were suggestions for "Getting the Highest Grade", and they included appearing at the front desk nude and restrained by one's handler, removing all hair below the neck (!), getting one's hair styled (the Premier package included styling, but it was easier to work with hair that had already been done prior to arrival), and preparing a "block routine that was sure to please" (whatever that was).

Little girls right out of high school do this. You can handle it, she thought. She could get waxed tomorrow, get her hair done the next day, and...too busy the day after that, could she get graded on a Sunday? She decided to make it next Monday. He said she'd want to take a couple of days off, so...nothing for Monday or Tuesday, she could make the team meeting on Wednesday. Perfect.

————————————————————

"Hey, Will, I wanted to talk to you about that grading." She had gotten him in a meeting, but he'd stepped aside to take her call.

"I understand if you want to back out. I mean, I get that you're dedicated to making this work, but..."

"You just stop right there! What makes you think I'm backing out?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking, you know, just in case you did."

"I'll have you know, I'm getting waxed 'down there' today just so I'll be ready to go." She immediately regretting sharing that, it was more than he needed to know.

"Oh, so they won't have to shave your slave cunt bare for the block right there at HCI. Well, that's right considerate of you, I'm sure that'll help your grade."

"Will!" The man could be so exasperating. "The reason I called is that I had some questions on some of those forms."

"Well, what do you got?"

"Ok. First, there's that power of attorney. It seems a lot more extensive than it needs to be. Why can't it just be limited for a few hours, while I get my grade?"

"Just trying to get you highest grade. I mean, I got the impression that you weren't happy with Choice, and that's what your grade would be if we didn't pull out some of the stops."

"But what does giving you the power to sell me have to do with my grade?"

"The fewer the restrictions, the higher the potential sale price, and the higher the potential sale price, the better the grade. If you ever were to put yourself up for sale, your grade could actually go up based on the amount of the winning bid. Now, of course, if you were happy to settle for a lower grade, I could take that out."

"Not on your life. And you better not make me regret this."

Will sighed. "I've been a slaver since getting out of UT, this is my one big shot at becoming a multi-millionaire, and I'm going to shoot it down all over one piece of mid-grade pussy."

"Mid-grade!?"

"Ok, well, moderately high-grade. Fact is, I've auctioned off women to Arab sheikhs for more money that you'll ever fetch, women who could give a supermodel a run for their money. Look, Natalie, you're a very, very pretty woman, but your best asset isn't your body, it's your brain, and that's not what's about to get graded here. What we're doing here is the equivalent of the nerdy girl on the chess team stuffing her bra so she can compete with the prom queen. Only when you're butt naked, there ain't nothing to stuff, you understand?"

"Ok, ok, so I'm going to pretend to be a bimbo up for sale. Now, what's this bit about a 'killer block routine'?"

"Well, you want to look as good as you can on the block. So, if you have any special moves, something cute that'll get the buyer's attention, you want to practice that. And you don't actually go to the block, but they make you run through your block routine for your grading."

"No, no, you don't understand. What is my 'block routine'?"

"Oh...now I get your question. It's spiced-up slave yoga. Or actually, slave yoga is just a toned-down block routine that soccer moms can do without scandalizing themselves. That stuff we were doing at your place, before we, well..."

"Before we fucked each other's brains out. Yeah, I remember. So, I have to do that stuff where I show off my tits and ass as if I was getting sold. What's my routine?"

"I guess you really don't have one. Maybe I could help you put one together."

"You guys. Always angling for a little more 'stress relief'." Although to be fair, another tumble with Will would be interesting. And fun.

"I got a better idea. You wanted to get to know our slaves a little better, didn't you? Well, why don't you come over after work tonight and practice your block moves with them? I mean, they're all pros at this. They've all been sold at least once, some maybe two or three times. They're used to dancing to my whip, we could put you in the line up, and they could give you tips."

"You're serious?" She didn't think it possible that he was.

He sighed again. "Ok, let's say you're serious about this FINO thing. Each day we run a test, you're going to strip down slave naked in front of them and wear a collar. Then you're going to spend hours locked in the ULD with them when none of you have anything to do. Then they see you naked when you get to your destination. Then you all get kenneled together for the night. Did I mention you're still slave naked with them? Then you all do the thing the next day, and you don't get your collar off and your clothes back until you arrive back at the warehouse. Are you sure you don't want to have some sort of relationship with these girls?"

There was no denying his logic, that was why the project needed someone intimately familiar with the business like Will. "No, no, I understand, that makes perfect sense. Ok, I'll bring my stuff over tonight and, 'work out with the girls'. What time?"

"Come over at seven. I'll tell Mike you want to speak with the slaves and send him out for dinner. That should give you time for a good workout before he gets back."

"All right, seven then. See you then."

[Belinda]

This could definitely be novel length. You are so good at the details. This is the most comprehensive explanation of this world I have every read. The details of enslavement and a fine expansion of side stories such as the FINO agreements. You do have a true gift as an author.

[jeepster]

Awesome chapter! This story keeps building at every turn, keep it up!

[Scman493]

I love where this is heading. She simply can't help herself. Please get her in with the other slaves and make her realize she is no different. Let her "slave stupid" brain take over and let her be used by the other slaves while they are alone....no mercy. Then let the employees use her just like her sister slaves. Thank you for writing.
Will

[ZeeChromosome]

You are so good at the details. This is the most comprehensive explanation of this world I have every read. The details of enslavement and a fine expansion of side stories such as the FINO agreements.

Belinda is 100% correct, Jefe, you've spelled things out with great clarity and have done it organically as things come up, without a giant exposition-dump at some point.

I was thinking that exact thing while reading this. It was very adroitly done and it's a mark of true talent as an author.

Zee

[imreadonly2]

Will,

I’ve been thinking about our investment and I had a few ideas to run past you. I don’t have your experience, so I don’t know if any of these ideas are practical. However, I’ve been doing a lot of reading, and I wanted to get your professional opinion.

1) Is the time the girls are spending during shipment being wasted? It seems like if they are left to communicate with each other, they could start rocking the container back and forth, or create all sorts of mischief. It would be cruel to cut them off from 12 hours, so I was thinking a VR headset might be a practical solution.

Professor Sarah Hollister has done a lot of research on this, and a VR headset can be a very practical device for training slave girls, as a lot of the training is simply repetition, and a computer never, ever gets tired of taking the girl through the same mantras and exercises. Even if the girls were Prime, they could benefit by learning a few simple slave commands (“Spread”, “Squat”, “Bracelets”) in Arabic or Chinese or the language of wherever they were to be sold.

Alternately, a virtual reality simulation of their auction in a market SIMILAR to the one they are to be sold at might, according to the research, improve the girl’s block price. I emphasize SIMILAR because Professor Hollister emphasizes that a girl should always be afraid and uncertain when she steps onto the auction block. I seriously can’t see how she can be anything but, although it’s impossible for me to imagine what that might feel like. Anyway, Professor Hollister says repeated masturbation is a powerful form of operand conditioning, and “market acclimation”, as she calls it, improves a girl’s peformance on the block.

2) A virtual reality headset might allow for longer voyages, with a cargo ship instead of an airplane. Of course, the girls would need to be taken above deck to be “fiddled” or “danced”, like the old-time slave ships, but I’m guessing the crew would view that more as a perk than a chore. The real advantage of a longer voyage is more time for training. A girl might be boarded on an empty oil tanker in Houston as a new collared slave girl, and emerge in Dubai 6 weeks later as a Prime pleasure slut. Hard to say if this would work, without a practical test, and I know your shipping trained girls, but it’s worth some experimentation, I think, as it could seriously improve our margins, by lowering costs and raising revenues.

3) Block chain might be a good way of allowing the buyers and sellers to monitor the girls arrival, shipping, and unloading together in real time. You could keep track of their vitals and such through their slave collars, and if you wanted to put a camera in their cages they could even watch as the girls were put through their paces by the computer, and stimulated to orgasm – or punished – during their VR training. I think that might build interest in the inventory at the market even before they arrive, and you might even be able to sell the feed on the Internet, assuming it was entertaining enough. Thoughts?

4) Would a temporary branding be practical, both for inventory management and brand promotion? Maybe a small, elegant logo between the cheeks, so buyers could see our logo during inspection and sale, but in a way that makes it obvious it will fade over time. Sort of like the bumper sticker car dealers put on their cars, although I'm guessing the car doesn't HONK when you slap a sticker on it.

I know these are a lot of new ideas, but I really think there is so much potential in what we are doing here that I wanted to take a moment to blue-sky with you. The good news is that this certainly won’t be the most outrageous thing I’ve suggested recently, ha-ha.

Natalie