Month Three, Day Twelve

Cho's maid tightened the sash around his waist one final time before stepping back, and he admired himself in the mirror. This was a brand new tunic, and he had to admit he looked quite dashing in it.

"I-is that all, my taller?"

He looked down at the drone, contemplating what to say next. She was such a pretty thing, not too short, and with lovely purple eyes. Just the way he liked it- that was why he hired her after all. But he had to get to work.

"That is all," he said. His maid bowed obediently from where she stood. Good, he thought. She was still listening. He adjusted his tunic one more time, pleased with it, before he left.

He walked elegantly through the halls of his penthouse suite. He loved this apartment, but it wasn't the citadel. It wasn't the mansion of his dreams. But that was okay- for now. He was going to get what he wanted.

"Sir? My taller," a stout older woman called out to him from the kitchen as he passed. "I was thinking, today can I take the children to the park and-"

"No," he said sharply. "None of that shit," he glared at his nanny and she nodded shakily.

"Yes, of course, sir."

"And for Penle. Gruel only today for lunch and dinner."

"Sir-"

He held up his hand to signal for her to stop talking.

"I don't want to hear any arguments. And if I found out that you disobeyed me, that's your job on the line. You understand?"

"Yes sir," she spoke with bitter malice lacing her words, but he didn't care. That little shit Penle deserved it for breaking his priceless vase.

"Good. Glad we are in agreement," he said with a glare. She was a decent nanny, keeping the boys out of sight and out of mind, but sometimes she didn't know when the fuck to keep her opinions to herself.

Cho looked at her one last time before he left the room, heading for his private elevator to get to the landing pad on the roof of his penthouse. Private roof, private ship, private chauffeur… Just the way he liked it.

The elevator ride was short, being only one floor, but long enough for Cho to admire the gold detailing against the mirrored walls. One of his favorite features of the apartment. The elevator doors dinged, and Cho stepped out onto the roof. Large glass walls around the edges kept some of the high altitude wind at bay, but not all of it. As his long tunic whipped around his legs, he walked to the waiting ship and chauffeur.

"Good morning sir," the short irken said with a quick bow. Cho didn't respond to his lowly driver, choosing instead to get up into the ship through the already open door. He sat in the plush velvet seats, and waited impatiently for his driver to get going. Luckily, the flight to Ngaozhik shipyard was a short one.

Cho smiled thinly as he thought of his place of work. Ngaozhik. The last name of his first wife- after all, it was her shipyard originally. Ugh. Veivei. That ungrateful prude didn't know how to run a shipyard even if she was handed instructions in large text. It was only natural that he took over. Only natural that he was the one to get it when she so tragically passed away, not her stupid parents. He grinned at the thought of her passing- he always got a swift shock of adrenaline at the gleeful thought that he got away with it. That he got everything he deserved out of that marriage. He went into it with nothing, really. Just some business experience and his smile, and he landed an heiress and a small fortune. What a shame she betrayed him like that in the end.

"Sir? We're here."

Cho was jolted out of his thoughts by his chauffeur, who had turned around in his seat looking at him expectantly.

"Ah, good," he said, opening the door himself to step out onto the platform. His ship was parked on his own private ship pad, adjacent to the main offices of the shipyard. He didn't want to walk far, after all. It certainly wasn't luxurious to do so.

As he strolled the short catwalk to the offices he looked out across the shipyard. It had been in business for almost a thousand years, and the dirt and grime coating the place made it look every single year. The facility sprawled out towards the grimy ocean waters, a holdover from hundreds of years ago when they built boats. Now, large cranes and supporting structures for the spaceships occupied the ancient docks. They built mostly voot cruises, taxis, and other mid size ships here. The larger intergalactic vessels were built in the spaceport that orbited the moon L'aimu. They were too heavy to be built on the planet after all.

Cho scowled looking at it. Disgusting. Yes, this place made him rich, but being here was always such a chore- and the risk of accidentally bumping into one of those smallers. Disgusting filthy poors…

He shrugged off his feelings as the sliding door opened to the offices, and he plastered a smile across his face. His architects and designers were busy in their crummy workspaces, working on creating his next moneymaker. Perhaps they could design him a new space-yacht. Three was a good number to have, he thought.

"Sir?" a small voice pulled him out of his thoughts and he looked over to see one of his architects.

"What is it?" he grumbled. Bothered already? His day had barely started.

"I finalized the plans for the Koren project. Would you like to see?"

"No," he said sharply. "Show it to Alke, I don't have time for it now."

"Y-yes sir…" the architect took a small step back, looking down in shame. Cho huffed and moved on, walking past that useless wretch to head to his office.

He had a private office, of course, with views of the ocean and the city. Custom made desk, custom made bookshelf… No expense was spared here. He even had office blinds that he could pull when he was busy. He smiled as he approached it. It was a comfortable space for him.

"Good morning, sir," his personal assistant said as she walked up to him. She was a pretty thing, like his maid he had hired her for her looks. Soft blue eyes and a nice figure. Sometimes he wanted to take her right in his office- but he hadn't yet.

"Morning, Seli," he said back, eyeing her eagerly, something she either ignored or didn't notice.

"I have that list of layoffs you requested," she said, seeming to not be pleased with the tablet she held out for Cho.

"Good," he said simply, picking up the tablet and scrolling through the list, not caring about any of the names his eyes skimmed over. The company was close to record profits this year and Cho knew just the thing to push them over the edge. The company wouldn't miss these losers, they weren't working hard enough anyway.

Satisfied that the list looked long enough, Cho scrolled to the top and read the first name. Perfect, just who he asked for.

"Seli, I want to start this off personally. Send in Kel Zerk."

"Of course, sir…" she glared at him before she walked away, which Cho watched in delight. He almost wondered if he had time- no. Probably not.

Cho shrugged the thought off as he sat down at his desk. He has plenty of time for that- roughly two months if the average length of his previous secretaries' stays were anything to go by.

Cho pulled his computer out of the top drawer and set it down on his desk. He liked things neat and tidy. The only other thing he kept on his desk was now a framed picture of Meva. Both to keep up appearances and also to motivate him. Besides, she wasn't bad to look at from time to time. It was also a bit of a brag to all his associates that came through. He landed her, and they didn't.

With a small chuckle at the thought of his successes, he booted up the computer, and opened up the production logs. All on schedule… In fact, a bit above it. The biggest ships they had in production down here were private intergalactic pleasure cruisers. Smaller than yachts or passenger ships, meant for short trips between neighboring planets and moons. Just big enough for a pilot, some crew members, and the very wealthy owners of the ship. Cho himself had six of them, each newer than the last and fancier as well.

He clicked through the order requests. Lots of taxis this time of year it seemed… Must be that new company down on the east end needing inventory, he thought. Eh, he approved the request. That would definitely boost profits this year.

"Sir…" a timid voice called out from the front of the office and Cho smiled eagerly.

"Come on in, Kel, have a seat," he gestured smoothly to the chair in front of his desk.

"Thank you sir," the shorter man said as he sat down. Cho grinned seeing how nervous the little twerp was.

"Of course."

"Am I- am I in trouble, sir?" he asked tentatively.

"Trouble? Oh no, no of course not," Cho chuckled gleefully. "You're just fired."

For a moment, Kel sat still in his chair, almost looking like he wasn't breathing.

"E-excuse me, s-sir?" he whispered.

"Fired. Heard of it?" Cho leaned back casually in his chair. "It means you don't have your job anymore. Do I need to spell it out for you?"

"But sir, sir I'm always ahead on my production and-"

"And encouraging your coworkers to ask for raises, is that right?" Cho cut off with a glare. His ex-employee went pale immediately. Did he really think Cho wouldn't find out? He had a few loyal spies in every section of the company. Nothing happened here without him knowing.

"I just- I was just making conversation! Please, my brother is very sick and I-"

"Put away the pity party now," Cho snarled. "I don't give a shit about your mangy brother, or your excuses. I know what you did…"

"I'm sorry, please s-sir I'm sorry so please don't fire me!" the pathetic wimp looked like he was going to cry.

"Besides your blatant disregard for company policy," Cho continued unbothered, "you're always only barely above quota. I wouldn't call that a success, would you?"

"Sir, please, I s-swear I'll do better! I'll keep my head down, I-I'll… I'll increase my quota and stick to it!" his large pink eyes filled with tears- there were the tears, Cho thought with an eye roll.

"Will you now?" he said boredly.

"I will! Please, I need this job! Sir I'll do anything-"

"Beg."

Kel froze and looked at Cho in confusion. "I… I am…?"

"No, no," Cho said with a laugh. "Beg. On your knees, if you want it that badly," he said with a snicker. He was curious to see how far this waste of space would go for his measly paycheck, and it was always nice to get some free entertainment.

The former shipyard worker stared at Cho with wide eyes before forcing himself to speak.

"Sir, please… h-have some decorum," he muttered.

Cho laughed. "Decorum? Who are you to make demands? You want your job or not?" he watched in glee as the man seemed to consider the offer, looking away like he was ashamed. Finally, after what felt like too long, Kel slowly kneeled down on the floor as he looked back up at his boss. Cho in turn grinned at this development.

"That's more like it."

"I n-need this job," he said in a shaking voice. "My brother is sick, he c-cannot work, I have to support him."

"Go on."

Kel gulped. "We'll get evicted if I can't… If I can't…" he squeezed his eyes shut. "There aren't many shipyards h-here in Goyyan, I can't leave my brother to go to space! Please, sir, I need this job."

Cho considered him for a moment, then leaned forward onto his desk to get as close as he could to Kel.

"Tough shit."