Want to see the IRS meets the Men in Black? This is what they are. The nightmare of all paxton executives, it is said that parents of the management caste bring their children to bed with sentences to bed like: "Sleep now, or the Controllers will come and get you."

In spite of rumours of eating the children of embezzlers alive, the job of the Department of Controlling is a quite mundane one. In every company on this world and others there is someone who keeps an eye on the money and where it goes. With Paxton Arms, being a very large company, the number of these people is legion - as are their names since the individual members don't wear name tags when in official business.

The job of the DoC is to monitor monetary flows through Paxton and to ensure that no money is lost on the way and that no money is spent on useless endeavors. As such, they check the books of PA and fully owned subsidiaries, approve large investments and make sure that every good bought by Paxton money is definitely, physically where it belongs.

In reality their job is much larger in scope. The DoC operates in parallel and competition to PacSec's Corporate Crimes Division. Over the years, the DoC has managed to increase their privileges until it now forms a kind of intelligence service unto themselves. Agents of the DoC have the right to inspect the accounts of Paxton Arms employees and do so on a regular basis. The employees do not necessarily know this - unless the DoC decides to leave a few hints.

Indeed, the sinister image of the DoC is so on purpose. Even though it creates a certain paranoia among paxton employees, it undeniably helps keep corporate crime to a minimum.

With this in mind, the available resources of the DoC have been expanded. The DoCs Agents can now count on the latest in personal equipment and surveillance devices, have agents in most banks and work with all the resources of PaxSec at their beg and call. They operate out of a sealed compound next to but apart from the PaxSec headquarters.

Needless to say, PaxSec itself doesn't exactly like the Department of Controlling. Their agents turn up when they're least expected, take over cases whenever they wish to and generally don't waste valuable air to speak to lowly cops. Most cops think the DoC only gives Paxton a bad name and provide no return on investment whatsoever considering their budget.

In reality this view is exaggerated, though not by much. There are only a hundred members of the DoC at any given time. Considering the size of Paxton's holdings, this number is not large. The department counters this lack of personnel with technology. Several large dedicated Onnets sort through Paxton's accounting data on thirty-six hour basis and its agents are trained to place surveillance equipment wherever they may be needed. Rumour has it they are trained by some humanist expatriates on the run from HIRA.

Thus, despite a public image of omnipresence, the DoC simply doesn't have the manpower to keep an eye on anyone. Oftentimes, cases are simply dropped because they are not worth the bother. At other times members of the Corporate Crimes Division get anonymous pointers to where to look. But now and then the external agents of the DoC climb into their black limousines and drive into the night, silent and unseen.

There are two types of mines in question - fully owned ones and contract suppliers. The contract suppliers are generally less of a problem as Paxton doesn't have the right to inspect their books. These are normally only given a cursory look - which in the case of the Department of Controlling is still quite taxing.

The checks include seeing to it that the minimum working standards of Paxton Arms are held, looking over the freight papers with wares going to Paxton and talking to people about the state of affairs. All this is quite routine and taken in stride by the mining proprietors. After all, they are still badlanders.

The fully owned mines are another matter entirely. There, the DoC conducts full checks of the books, does a complete inventory and makes sure the mines are in order. This is usually the most dangerous part of the visits. Of course, neither miners nor managers are particularly happy about this. Consequently, agents of the DoC are stalled in their job. Not that this would impress them much. On the contrary, whatever the problems, the agents do their assigned jobs as cleanly and consistently as ever.

There is a copper mine in the Pacifica Range that is less than kosher. The local miners have made a deal with Wounded Knee smugglers, making them accomplices. The scheme runs like this: Every 40 days or so, the smugglers deliver a package of drugs to the miners. These then put them in marked containers with a few tons of copper ore. At their destination, Peace River, local partners of the smugglers pick up the drugs and prepare them for retail.

The packages themselves are simple metal cylinders filled with about ten kilos of pulverized drugs. The smugglers usually deliver about 10 of them. Not all of them are put in one container, at most three are sent in one container. Thus for several weeks the miners need to store highly illegal material. Clever as they are, they do this right in the parts storage. The container is labeled Clyinders, Metal.

So what happens when the DoC decides to make a surprise visit to this den of evil?

All sorts of things, of course. Weights are dropped accidentially, tires are cut and doors are locked. The agents and their loyal lackeys counter this with detcords, runflat tires and, especially, watchful eyes.